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“Loki, will you please just listen to me?” Stephen pleaded. "I think we need to get you some help."
The swinging fevers had seen Loki drifting in and out of delirium for days now, but his lover looked lucid enough this morning for Stephen to attempt another intervention.
“There is n-no need,” Loki muttered through chattering teeth. “I’m f-fine.”
“Like hell you are!” Stephen barked. “We are going to the hospital right now.”
“Here?” Loki began to panic. “Can’t you boom-boom- whoosh us home?”
Stephen took a deep breath. "We are thousands of miles away, Loki. Doctors back home aren't familiar with the diseases endemic to these tropical countries. It could be a number of things, dengue fever, chikungunya, or God knows what your alien immune system is fighting right now!"
“No…” Loki moaned and burrowed deeper into the silk sheets as another violent shiver wracked his quivering frame. "I just need to sleep this off.”
His body ached with a bone-deep lassitude that left him in no doubt that this was no ordinary ailment, but Loki was not going to ruin it by spending the rest of the vacation in a hospital. After all, this was their first official one since they had become…well, official, and right now Stephen was looking officially, royally pissed.
“Just give me more of that Tylenol and I’ll be right as rain, you’ll see…”
“You can’t even keep water down,” Stephen ranted. “What makes you think - ”
His diatribe was cut short when Loki suddenly fell off the bed onto the floor like a sack of potatoes and began retching violently.
“That’s it. I’m calling the ambulance." Stephen's fumbling hands could not dial the numbers fast enough. "Just hang on!"
“I'm afraid it is malaria.”
"Malaria?" Stephen's mouth fell open. "Are you sure, Doctor? We've only been here a few days. Doesn't it take weeks for the symptoms to appear?"
The doctor wordlessly handed Stephen the formal pathology report.
Stephen gave the piece of paper a quick read-through and cursed under his breath. "You and your alien immune system."
"I'm sorry, Stephen."
Stephen regretted his words instantly. "Don't be. It's not your fault."
"Did you take your malaria prophylaxis before your travel?" The doctor asked.
"I take it back," Stephen said viciously. "This is your fault. You should have taken the pills like I told you."
"This wasn't supposed to happen," Loki moaned. "Now they’re going to have to slice me open and wash my innards in brine like a common thief!”
Stephen could not believe his ears. “What?”
“Is there really no other way?” Loki whined. “There’s hardly any magic left in me to heal a cut, let alone a gaping belly."
Despite the seriousness of the situation and utter ridiculousness of Loki's conjecture, Stephen could not help but laugh. "What on earth are you talking about?"
The Vietnamese doctor who had been patiently listening to the bizarre conversation shook his head and spoke in halting English. “We don’t do that anymore, Sir.”
"Huh?"
"During the Vietnam War, there was no access to medical treatment. The Viet Cong doctor would remove the contents of the patient's abdominal cavity and place them in a vat of saltwater. It was thought to sterilise the organs and purge the body of malaria."
Stephen's throat went dry. "My God."
"It's true," Loki said feverishly. "I saw it once with my own eyes."
The doctor cast his patient an odd look. "You…saw it?"
Before Stephen could stop him, Loki broke into a series of vehement nods. "The poor man was screaming but the doctor just kept tugging and tugging - he was more a boy than a man, really, couldn't have been older than seventeen - "
"Loki," Stephen interrupted. "That's all in the past. They have medicine for it now."
He then swiftly shot the doctor his most reassuring smile. "Ignore him, Doctor. He's just delirious."
"Right…" Still looking a bit suspicious, the doctor decided it was time to escape his strange, foreign patient. "If you have no more questions, I'll work on getting Mister Odinson on anti-malarial medication right away."
"Of course. Thank you, Doctor."
As soon as the doctor left the room, Loki's hand reached for his boyfriend's.
"I'm sorry, Stephen."
"Alright. Where is my Loki and what have you done to him?" Stephen teased. "I've never heard you apologise twice in one day before."
"You were looking forward to this trip. It was all you talked about for weeks," Loki mumbled. "I know how much you wanted to ride the junk boat and gallivant around Ha Long Bay like the pirates back in the eighteenth century."
Stephen carefully sat on the edge of the bed and stroked the back of Loki's hand. "It's okay. We can always return another time."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You said you wanted to explore the entirety of the Cu Chi tunnel network, all 150 miles of it."
"The guide book says you would literally be crawling on your hands and knees at some point," Loki said dreamily; his voice, though weak, was full of longing. "It sounds absolutely romantic, don't you think?"
As horrible as contracting malaria was, there was only one thing Stephen could say to his war enthusiast lover. "You are such a nerd."
Instead of offended, Loki only looked sad. "It's okay if we can't come back, Stephen. I know this trip has cost you a lot of money."
"Hey," Stephen called softly. "I care more about you than hotel rooms and junk boats and tour tickets. I mean, yeah, they're non-refundable, but so what?"
Loki still looked very unhappy so Stephen gave his hand a tight squeeze.
"We're coming back, because I love you and I want to make you happy. If that means scuttling around underground tunnels in total darkness for hours then…let's do it."
Loki instantly brightened.
"When you're better," Stephen stressed. He knew that look on Loki's face; he had seen it before a hundred times. "And I don't mean today, or tomorrow, or this week, for that matter."
"A week?" Loki screeched, horrified. "I'm going to be here a week?"
"Two, actually," Stephen sighed, pulling his chair closer. He might as well get settled in. "But I'm sure it's a lot more comfortable than disembowelment."
Loki blew a raspberry. "Some vacation."
FIN