Discover Top Posts Tagged with #belly upset

J = Jet Lag

A/N: I’ve been away at a conference and I’m just back, so I thought it’s about time for the next part the collab by @its-a-goddamn-heartbreak and me! You can find part one HERE (choking), part two HERE (drugged), part three HERE (seasick), and part four HERE (fever). We hope you enjoy this part just as much as the rest!

McKenzie slumped back against the wall of his dorm room, ducking his head low so as to avoid banging it on the underneath of the top bunk. How he'd managed to draw the short straw here and end up with the bottom bunk, he didn't know - but he felt it ever more keenly here, in the land of the shorter stature. He'd already felt like a giant walking through the streets of Tokyo, and he was slightly worried about the rugby team they'd be playing - it was very possible they might flatten them all.

He hitched a grin onto his face as he clutched his iPad in his hands and tapped on the screen, listening as the ringing dial tone echoed about the empty room.

Bridie glared at her textbook. She had midterms coming up, and this particular module was absolutely refusing to be understood. She’d been banging her head against this chapter for the whole morning, and she still couldn’t answer the stretching questions at the end. Pulling her laptop towards her, she opened up a new page of notes, hoping that reorganising the information would make it sink in better. As she began typing, a little blue icon popped up in the corner of her screen. She clicked on it, her face lighting up as she waited for the connection to establish.

“Hey McKenzie!” She greeted enthusiastically. “How are you? How was Dubai? How’s Japan? Tell me everything!!”

“Hey!” He tried to inject a tone of cheeriness in his voice as Bridie’s picture pixeled into view. “Dubai was great! It was so hot though, I thought I was going to melt halfway through the game! How are you getting on?”

“I’ll bet!” Bridie exclaimed. “Did you win though?”

“Of course,” McKenzie puffed himself up slightly, then banged his head on the top bunk. “Ouch!” The iPad wobbled as he put one hand up to rub the top of his head.

Bridie sniggered. “You’re a melon… But Japan! I’m so jealous, I want to hear all about it.”

“It’s great,” he said, but he was struggling to keep his voice at that jaunty bouncy level as usual. “I feel like an absolute giant though… we went for a walk once we’d dropped our cases off here this morning, and it’s so so different to anywhere else I’ve been.”

“Arrghhh,” Bridie groaned frustratedly. “I want to go so bad! What else have you done today? Please tell me you’re going to go and experience stuff while you’re there, not just chuck a ball around a field…”

“Course!” He replied. “I think we’re going to some temples tomorrow after training, then… uh, I can’t really remember where else… but somewhere!” He rubbed his hand across his face, the cogs in his brain working slowly.

“That’s so cool! You have to take pictures for me!” Bridie demanded. She picked her laptop up, going to lie on her bed. “What about tonight? Not gonna lie, I didn’t think you’d have time to call with how you guys are always together.”

“You’ll have to watch - your snapchat is gonna get bombarded!” He smiled, leaning back against the wall; he felt overly tired, like his limbs were being weighed down. “The guys have gone out to a karaoke place, I think.”

“Oh fun!” Bridie grinned. “They do it different over there, like in private booths, and you can order food up and stuff, my dad told me.” She paused, peering curiously at McKenzie. He looked exhausted, which she guessed was to be expected, but she couldn’t tell if the pallor of his skin was real or just a trick of the light. “Why aren’t you with them? Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, yeah - I’m…” He tried to think of how to reply, forcing a smile back onto his face. “I’m just tired…” He finished lamely, hoping she’d believe him.

“I can imagine,” Bridie said gently. “They really work you hard, huh?”

“Yeah,” he nodded again; he felt a wave of tiredness and longing sweep through his body, and he wished he could have a hug from her. “How are you getting on?”

“Heh, you know,” she shrugged. “Exams are kicking my arse. I just want to run away to the countryside until they’re over. The usual.” She chewed her lip, a knot of concern forming in her belly. He really did seem worn out, his face drawn and his eyes tight. “Maybe you should have a nap Kenzie,” she suggested. “Or at least a lie down?”

“Well, I’ll be a distraction from studying any time you want,” he suggested kindly. “I tried to have a bit of a nap earlier, but it’s like, I’m tired, but I’m not tired tired, if you understand?”

“Mmmm,” Bridie hummed, looking unconvinced. “I guess.”

“Do you have any grand adventures planned for while I’m over here?” He asked, hoping he’d sound normal and interested.

“Not that I can think of…” She pondered for a second. “I think I might take the boat down to Loch Lomond once my exams have finished, but nothing major. What’s your schedule like when you get back? You free at all?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna have some… rest time,” McKenzie took a sharp intake of breath as his head gave an achy throb. “Recuperate, all that stuff, y’know?”

“Hey, you ok?” Bridie frowned down at her screen. McKenzie’s face had screwed up in what looked like pain - only for a second, but she was certain it had happened.

“Uh huh!” McKenzie replied, a little too quickly, his voice higher pitched than usual.

“Hey, no. Don't do that!” Bridie ordered sharply.

“What?” McKenzie’s eyes went wide, uncertain about being reprimanded.

“Just tell me what's wrong,” she wheedled. “You're clearly not quite right.”

“I - I…” McKenzie started, then he sighed heavily. “I don’t know…”

Bridie ran a hand through her hair. He looked really rather dejected, and she had the sudden urge to wrap her arms round him and not let go until he cheered up. Or rub his back until he fell asleep. Or… She really wasn’t sure where this was coming from - she wasn’t at all used to worrying this much. But he was six thousand miles away, and there was so little she could actually do for him. “Sorry, sorry. I’m not mad, I’m just worried. You’re looking a little peaky. If it’s not that you’re tired, are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

“I’ve felt kinda funny since the flight…” He admitted, biting his lip. “I’ve never really done long-haul before, and I just feel like I’ve been run over.”

“Ohh…,” she trailed off, unsure what to say that wouldn’t sound patronising or insincere. “Could be jet lag? Did you sleep at all last night?”

“Not… not really?” McKenzie cast his mind back to the night before; everything was such a blur, from them playing on the pitch in sweltering heat, then scrambling to get all their stuff into bags and to the airport for their onward flight to Japan. “I kinda catnapped on the plane for a bit… but we were on a bit of a high.”

“Hmmm… And you’re what, nine hours ahead? So still…-” She paused, having to count on her fingers. “Still a whole five hours ahead of Dubai I think. I’m not surprised you feel a bit run down.”

“Is it common like?” He asked. “I’d always kinda thought jet lag was a bit of a joke…”

Bridie tapped away at her keyboard, searching up the term. “Yeah, um, it’s a legit thing. For some people it’s worse than others I think, but especially bad if you travel east. Ah, here. It says: ‘Jet lag is a temporary sleep disorder that occurs when your body's biological clock is not in sync with the local time zone you are in.” So basically like, your body still thinks you’re here, and that might be what’s making you feel bad…”

McKenzie frowned slightly. “So it’s to do with sleep?” He said. “So it wouldn’t account for feeling… anything else?”

She glanced up from website she was reading. “Well, it’s not just sleep. If your...everything’s a bit out wack, so it can make you feel physically unwell too. Why?”

“It’s just…” McKenzie took a slow breath in, a cold shiver running through his body, as he looked down at the image of Bridie. “I don’t feel that great really…” He replied vaguely.

“Oh hun…” Bridie’s brow wrinkled sadly. “I’m sorry, that’s rubbish.”

McKenzie sighed, nodding his head slightly, drawing his knees up slightly closer to his chest. “I wish you were here.”

A bashful smile tugged at Bridie’s lips, and she turned away slightly, her hair obscuring her face. “Alright big guy, here’s what we’re going to do. It’s a semi-reasonable time to go to sleep over there, right?”

“Well, yeah…” McKenzie nodded again.

“Ok. Go and get yourself a glass of water, get into something comfy, and have a lie down. I’ll be right here, so if you can’t sleep it’s not a problem we can just talk, but I think you should at least give yourself a chance - and give your body a rest.”

“I’m - kinda already in my pyjamas,” McKenzie admitted, his cheeks going a little pink.

“Brilliant.” She smiled encouragingly. “Looks like we’re on the same page here then. Come on, you can’t be comfortable all hunched over like that.”

“Okay…” McKenzie tried to prop his tablet upright, so he could lie on his side and still be able to see her.

“Hey, water first,” she reminded him softly. “Even if you don’t drink the whole thing. Or you’ll wake up feeling horrible - planes really dry you out.”

“Okay bossy boots,” McKenzie chuckled slightly, reaching down the side of his bed and bringing up a water bottle, which he shook gently at the camera, before taking a swig. “Happy?”

“Yeah. Yeah I am actually. Thank you,” Bridie teased, shifting her screen so that she could revise some flashcards while they talked. “Alright, try to look a bit more like you might actually try to sleep instead of like you’re lying down because I told you to, that’d be great.”

“Why don’t you tell me about what you’re studying?” He suggested quietly. “Teach me, via face call.”

“Aha, if you want. I guarantee you’ll find it boring.” She picked the first card off the top of the pile. “So, sustainable building is important because our buildings consume up to 50% of the physical resources in their environment. Once built, they continue to be a direct cause of pollution because of the emissions produced in them or their impact on the ground.” She paused, studying his face on her screen. His eyes were drooping closed, and she felt a slight ache in her chest just looking at him; it must be so awful to be sick and so very far from home. She plucked up the next card. “Sustainable building materials must be highly durable and can incorporate different technologies, such as capturing carbon dioxide. There are other original techniques, such manufacturing concrete with recycled tyre rubber; using the mud from sewage plants for making bricks; reusing industrial waste materials such as rock, ash, mud…”

Bridie was brought out of talking by the rustle of sound, looking up at her screen she saw McKenzie had taken hold of his tablet and sat up on his bed again.

“You can’t sleep sitting up, hun,” she joked, although she felt a slight sense of consternation now that his too-pale face was more in the light. “Everything ok?”

“No,” McKenzie mumbled, wrapping his free arm around his midriff and leaning forwards slightly; he took a couple of slow deep breaths in and trying to convince himself that the burn in his chest wasn't the creep of stomach acid. “I can't lie down…”

“What’s wrong?” She pressed softly. “Can I help at all?”

“I feel…” He stifled a hiccup into his hand. “Really sick…”

“Awwh babe, I’m so sorry,” Bridie sighed. “Try to relax, I know it’s not nice.”

“Yeah,” he said slowly. “I'm - I'm sorry…” He stifled another hiccup into his hand. “Maybe I should go - let you study.”

Bridie looked doubtful. “Is there anyone there with you?”

“Nah, they've all gone out…” He shook his head minutely, and that small action seemed to compound the way he was feeling. He clapped his hand to his mouth as his stomach gave a little lurch, and he forced himself to swallow hard.

“I’m not letting you go through this by yourself,” Bridie said adamantly. “It’s bad enough that you’re so far away. Studying can wait.”

“You're… you're so lovely, y'know?” McKenzie told her, now massaging his stomach with his free hand.

“Yeah, yeah.” She brushed him off. “You’ve done this for me how many times?”

“I think - hic! - we're even…” McKenzie answered, then groaned as his stomach cramped again.

“Yeah.” Bridie replied. “Exactly.” McKenzie’s face twisted, and she felt her hands twitching; the need to make sure he was alright was like an itch under her skin. “Deep breaths Kenzie, you’re alright. You feeling really rough?”

“Yeah…” He sniffed, he could feel hot tears burning at the back of his eyes, but he didn't want to let them spill out - this was bad enough without him crying too.

“Oh Kenzie…,” she consoled him gently. “It’ll be okay. I’m not going anywhere.”

“This is a nightmare…” McKenzie muttered, shifting his leg from underneath him as it had gone to sleep.

“You’ll be fine in a couple of days,” Bridie said, uncertain whether that would be helpful to him at all. In reality, it could be over a week until he felt better, but she was sure that he wouldn’t want to hear that.

“I've got training…” He said mournfully.

“Usually people don’t get sick from jet lag, so I doubt this’ll last that long,” Bridie reassured him, although she found it a little ridiculous that he was thinking about training when he was feeling so unwell. She wondered if he’d be feeling this anxious about it if he’d come down with food poisoning or a virus. “As long as you get a good sleep tonight, it shouldn’t put a spanner in your training schedule…”

“I'll do my best…” He replied. “I am tired… just don't feel like sleeping is an option yet.”

“Are you actually going to be sick d’you think, or are you maybe just nauseous?” Bridie asked tentatively. “Because you know like, sometimes it can mess with your belly just when you’re too tired.”

“I keep getting like… weird spasms,” McKenzie said, “I don't know. I feel pretty bad…”

“Alright,” Bridie said soothingly. “We’ll see how you go then, hm? How can I help? Distraction? Bit o’ quiet?”

“I like hearing you talk…” McKenzie admitted, feeling his cheeks pinken slightly. “Just about anything…”

“Okay…,” Bridie hesitated momentarily. “Have I ever told you about the time my dad took my friends camping and Seamus got stuck up a tree?”

“No, you've not!” McKenzie replied, settling back so he was leaning against the wall again.

“Alright, so me and my dad, we used to go camping a lot,” Bridie began, settling in for a potential long afternoon of storytelling, “and a lot of my friends never really left Belfast. So when I was about seven, for my birthday, I demanded that we take them with us. Just so it wasn’t so weird that we did it, and because it was my favourite thing, I don’t know. And I think he was worried about being the only adult in charge of so many kids, but I was absolutely set on it, and he’s never really been very good at saying no to me. So he packed six of us into the car and took us out of the city to this place we used to go all the time. It had everything you know? I think that’s why we went so often. Like, there were nice places to walk, and a reservoir nearby, and a rope swing over a stream not too far out, and my personal favourite - the climbing tree.”

“I used to have a climbing tree as a kid…” McKenzie mumbled, smiling as she spoke.

“Yeah?” Bridie grinned. “Aren’t they the best?”

“Absolutely,” he agreed. There was something soothing about the rhythm of Bridie's voice.

“Yeah, so there’s this tree. And I’ve been climbing it since I could walk basically, but the boys being boys didn't believe me.” She continued her story, sensing that McKenzie wasn’t really up for much conversation. “So the little idiots decided we’d have a competition to see who could get up and down fastest.”

“Mmhmm? I tried to do that with my brother once,” McKenzie mumbled.

“Did that work out for you?” She asked drily. “Cos it definitely didn’t for them.”

“No, it didn't…”

She chuckled. “You’ll have to tell me about it sometime! Anyways, Darragh went first and he went up really fast, but coming down was harder and Orlaith cried the whole time, she was so scared. And then it was Seamus’ turn. And he went up OK, until he got nearly to the top and looked down.”

“I - um - sorry!” McKenzie had sat bolt upright; he could feel sweat trickling down the side of his face as though he’d been running at full pelt.

“Hey, you're alright,” Bridie soothed softly. “What's wrong?”

“I - I…” McKenzie bit his lip as the tears that he'd tried to hold back spilled out onto his face. “Ugh, this is so stupid.”

“Oh Kenzie…” Bridie chewed her lip, trying to find a way to comfort him and coming up empty. She was feeling a little useless, sat there on the wrong end of the call.

“Sorry, sorry,” he swiped furiously at his eyes again. “I’m sorry about this… I just don't know what to do!”

“You don’t need to be sorry,” Bridie said insistently. “Sometimes you need to have a good cry, especially if you’re feeling lousy.”

“Yeah, it's just…” McKenzie sniffed. “I feel so far away.”

“I know, but I’m sure you’ll feel better soon and then you’ll enjoy being so far away! And then you’ll be home before you know it and you’ll wish you weren’t,” Bridie smiled encouragingly.

“I won't,” McKenzie said stubbornly.

“Oh you will.” Bridie rolled her eyes. “When you come back to this weather you really will.”

“I’ll get to be with you though,” he mumbled.

“You’re a sap,” Bridie chuckled. “I promise I’ll stay right here as long as you need…”

“You’re so good to me…” He smiled, then his stomach cramped again and he doubled forwards, pressing his hand to his belly. “Ugh…”

“Think I’m just about average to you to be honest,” Bridie muttered, slightly at a loss as the image in the screen bounced about with a clatter, until she was just looking at the slats of the top bunk. “You’re ok Kenzie.” She raised her voice, hoping he could still hear her. “Take some nice deep breaths for me, yeah?”

“Oouuhh…” She heard him groan. “Brrruuuaaarrpp!” The belch was low and loud across the speakers of the tablet, but it was still facing the ceiling. She winced. She really hated that he was having to deal with this by himself - that none of his teammates had stayed around or checked on him.

“Oh hun, that sounds rough,” she murmured. “I’m so sorry…”

The tablet moved, and McKenzie picked it up again, he was trembling slightly as he brought it back up. “I - I think ‘m gonna lie down again…”

Bridie nodded. She’d travelled a lot, and though she’d never had jet lag this bad - had never even met anyone who got jet lag to this extent - she was fairly certain that some rest would do him good. “Alright babe,” she said gently, pausing as it suddenly occurred to her that that wasn’t a word she’d used often. “If you can, I think it’s a good idea.”

“Yeah…” He groaned slightly as he lay down on his side, holding the tablet so half of his face was in view. “Will you still talk to me?”

“Of course! Whatever you need.”

“Thank you…” He spoke softly. “Tell me ‘bout your climbing tree?”

Bridie smiled pensively. “Okay,” she began. “Storytime. Are you sitting comfortably?” She waggled her eyebrows as she asked the question.

“As much as I can be,” he answered back, his body felt heavy as he lay there.

“Alright, where was I?” Bridie mused, trying to remember where she’d left off. “Oh yeah, Seamus. So Seamus got to near the top much quicker than Darragh, but once you get up high the branches are much thinner. And I think he must have been trying to work out whether he could get away with stopping where he was and coming back down from there, or he wanted to see how far he’d come, I don’t know to be honest. But either way, he got up there and he looked down. And then he just...froze. Like a cat. And we couldn’t see his face because he was so far away, but we could hear this noise, and we eventually realised he was crying, and being the mean kids that we were, obviously, we started poking fun. And then I guess eventually we realised he was actually stuck and we started trying to help - like, give instructions and stuff.”

“Mmmhmm?” McKenzie sniffed a little, tears were still periodically leaking out of his eyes as he listened.

“Yeah, so we’re like shouting up to him where he can put his feet, trying to get him to come down, and he just won’t move, he’s petrified. So I went up cos I knew the tree best, and I got to just underneath him and I pulled on a branch and the tree kinda swayed. Like I said, we were high up and it was all getting thinner. So the tree moves and he screams bloody murder, and the first thing he says since he got stuck there is telling me not to come higher. So I’m trying to persuade him to just move his feet down, cos it’s perfectly safe like, I do it all the time, don’t be such a baby. And I was so tempted to just grab his ankle and pull to get him moving, which in hindsight was a terrible idea and I’m glad I didn’t go through with it.”

McKenzie’s eyelids were heavy, and he struggled to keep them open as he listened to Bridie’s soothing voice; he positioned his head so his ears were free so he could hear, and he allowed his eyes to close.

Bridie smiled sympathetically as she watched him curl into his pillow, and lowered her voice slightly so that she wouldn’t keep him awake. “Well, we’re up there a bit, and at some point someone went to fetch my dad - probably Orlaith, because she’s a big sister and was responsible even back then. So my dad rocks up, and demands I come down. And then he climbed this tree, but because he was a lot bigger than any of us, he couldn’t get anywhere near Seamus because the branches wouldn’t take his weight…” She trailed off, watching McKenzie’s face closely. His eyes had drifted shut and his jaw had slackened, his lips parting slightly so that she could hear the slow, gentle puffs of air that escaped them. He looked...really young, and really vulnerable, neither of which were words she associated with him. She waited a little, just in case he wasn’t properly asleep, but he didn’t seem to notice that she’d stopped talking.

“Sleep well McKenzie,” she whispered, as she reached out to end the call.

#emeto fiction #kinda #belly kink #belly ache #belly upset #upset stomach #jet lag #burping #cramping #skype calling fic #angst #hurt/comfort #long distance hurt/comfort #Bridie #McKenzie #ABC collab #abc challenge