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After three weeks, a long and slow road trip, and at least two almost-anxiety attacks later, Nico found himself at the boarder of New Rome.
"Absolutely no weapons inside the boarder!" Terminus, the god of boarders and the strict and honestly pretty odd protector of Rome insisted. Nico wasn't that sure what the god counted as a weapon, even after all this time, but gave up his knives to Terminuses assistant, Julia, who, now that Nico thought of it, seemed to have grown a lot since he last saw her, anyway. "You too, other adolescent. Give up your weapons."
Will followed Nico's example and gave up his slingshot and dagger, and they were let through into the city. Nico was planning on going to see Hazel and Frank after the appointment, he hadn't told them that he was coming yet.
It took them a moment of walking up and down the streets until they found the right place. It wasn't an official office, since the woman they were going to meet mostly worked outside the city. Inside they met the woman Will had gotten in touch with. She was about averate height, with short black hair and slightly tanned skin dotted with freckles.
"Ah, you must be Nico and Will," she greeted the two, gesturing them to come further. "I'm dr. Talya Foster, feel free to just call me Talya though."
Nico nodded as a greeting, quietly entering the small 'doctor's office' kind of room Talya was leading them to. Will, however, greeted her properly. "Yes, it's great to meet you dr. Talya, I'm Will, and this is my boyfriend Nico."
"So I hear that you came here because of some persistent joint pain, correct?" Talya sat down by her small desk with a small laptop. How could she even use that? Except if she was legacy or the offspring of a smaller god/goddess.
"Yeah," Nico opened his mouth for the first time around this new face. "Mostly in my legs and back."
"I see. Do you know anything that could cause this? Any history with similar pain, discomfort, or other symptoms, any family history you know of?" Talya started taking notes, writing on the laptop.
Nico brought one of his legs on the chair and effectively hugged it. "I've had pain like this since I can remember, I think, which honestly isn't very much, but it's gotten worse lately. And I think my sister and mamma had pain similar to mine too."
Nico fidgeted on his seat, a bit uncomfortable but understanding why Dr. Talya had to ask about family.
"As for what it could be, we don't know for sure. At first I thought that it could be POTS but I recreated the tilt table test and it was a negative," Will chimed in from beside Nico.
Talya nodded, thinking for a moment. "We could test your mobility, first things first. Joint pain is often caused by either hyper-, or hypomobility or by other causes, and it could be helpful to know where you stand on the scale."
Nico wasn't entirely sure what she meant by that or what he'd have to do, but nodded anyway. "Sure? What do I have to do?"
"First we could check your hands. Here, can you do this?" Talya asked, before bending her pinky finger with her other hand to the wrong side slightly. Nico mimicked her, and his finger bent a bit further than Nico felt like looked normal. Then he was instructed to do it on the other side. His right pinky actually bent more than his left. "Alright, so pinkies are positive. Now can you make your thumb touch your forearm?"
Nico tried. It bent easily. He looked back at Will, who was also attempting to do the things with him, and found that he couldn't make his thumb bend towards his forearm at all. Odd. Was Will hypomobile? Nico did the same on his other thumb easily.
"Thumbs positive. Alright can you stand and hold your arms out like this?" Talya stood up and held her arms out like a t-pose. Nico complied. "Alright, I'm going to touch your arm really quick to measure the angle, okay?"
Nico just nodded and watched curious as Talya used a wierd ruler to see in what angle his arms were. Surprisingly his arms weren't straight as Nico thought they were. But then again, what in him was straight?
"One about five degrees and the other about eight, not quite enough to be counted for points on the Beighton score, but still more than most have," Talya told him.
"What's the Beighton score?" Nico asked. Was it rude to interrupt? Probably, but then again he feels like he should know what he's being graded on, apparently.
"It's a nine-point score that's used in diagnosing hypermobility," Will told him. That made sense, Nico guessed.
"Yes, that's true. It doesn't take many of the smaller joints into account, however, so I'll have you do some more test that aren't on tge Beighton score," Talya nodded. "Now please stand up and try to extend your knees back."
Extend his knees back? Like in the wrong direction? Nico didn't know that was possible, but tried to do so until his knees couldn't. It didn't feel like much, really like his knees didn't extend at all, but Talya mumbled a 'that's a positive', and suddenly Nico wasn't as sure anymore.
"Try to lay your hands flat on the ground without your knees bending," Talya instructed him next, and Nico tried. It was easier than he had thought, if he was honest, even if it took him a moment. "Alright so your score is seven out of nine, and six is enough for adolescents to warrant a diagnosis of hypermobility."
Nico nodded his head absentmindedly, mulling that over his head. It took a bit of processing, but soon enough Talya started asking him seemingly random questions, that didn't really seem connected to hypermobility or joints.
"Any allergies?"
"Citrus fruits tingle. I still eat them though. I think I have a pollen allergy too but it's not really bad."
"Any reactions to tomatoes, fish, peanuts, strawberries, anything like that?"
"No, but I don't really eat peanuts over all."
"When you stand up do you ever feel light-headed?"
"Pretty often."
"Does your heart feel like it's beating out of your chest any time you are standing?"
"Rarely."
"Have you ever fainted?"
"A couple times. Most of them were a direct result of using my powers."
"And the ones that weren't?"
Nico looked at Will, looking for reassurance. Will put a comfirting hand on his shoulder.
"...Malnutrition, dehydration, and once from a bad flu."
"I see, you've gotten better?" Nico nodded. "That's good. Headaches, migraines?"
"Also a side effect from my powers, I think, but my head does hurt from bright lights and loud noices."
"Neurodivergency?"
Nico looked at Will. "He has ADHD, dyslexia, and I think he might have something else too but nothing else is diagnosed." Well that was news for Nico, Will hadn't told him anything about him thinking that he had something.
"When you eat something, do you ever have difficulty swallowing it without drinking something?"
"I mean kinda? It depends on the food though."
"Do you ever swallow anything wrong?"
"Like when it feels like I got it in my lungs? Sometimes, but only drinks."
"Any digestive issues?"
How did that relate to this? "No."
"Do you ever feel like your stomach is bloating?"
Still, how is that related? "No."
"Alright. Do you ever feel lightheaded when stading still for amounts of time?"
"Sometimes."
"Any heart problems or history with heart problems?"
"I don't have any I think and don't know of any history."
The appointment continued like that for about ten minutes longer, dr. Talya asking Nico to stretch his skin, test his neck mobility (which was, in her words, 'like a noodle'), and some other quick guestions.
Near the end, Talya started to explain her thoughts.
"So, Nico. You are very clearly hypermobile and it also inferences with your daily life from what I've heard. I have reason to suspect that you might have either HSD, hypermobile spectrum disorder, or hypermobile eds. That's a genetic disorder belonging to Ehler-Danlos family of syndromes that affect the collagen in your body. For example people with hEDS struggle with joint instability and pain, some have a form of dysautonomia like POTS or IBS. I also think that you might have POTS despite Will trying the tilt table test and it coming out negative. I need you to understand that if you do have this, it is something that won't go away. You'll have to live with this."
Nico felt himself dissociate as he stared at the blue floortiles, processing the sentencing. Will thanked Dr. Talya, but Nico didn't catch what they were saying. Will guided Nico to tge edge of New Rome to retrieve their weapons, and as soon as they were on their way out, Nico fell into the first shadow he stepped on, pulling Will, who was holding his hand, with him.