Virgil was walking through the hall, heading to his art studio with the intention of gathering his materials and setting to work on an idea that wouldn't leave his thoughts. It was a painting he'd been thinking of making for his father as a gift for he and his late mother's anniversary. His father valued every anniversary spent with his sons in place of their mother. After all, their union as man and wife was why all five of them were there in the first place.
As Virgil passed the door leading into Gordon's bedroom, he overheard whispering and low voices from beyond the cracked bedroom door. Pausing, Virgil took a step closer and leaned his head in.
"You really should go have Virge take a look at its Al, I mean it could be something bad." Gordon said, voice low. Virgil raised an eyebrow in question. What in the world was Gordon talking about?
"But I don't want to find out what it is. I mean, I thought it was a wart. But it's just gotten bigger, and I don't think warts should be getting this big. What if it's something bad like a tumor or something?" Alan could be heard saying.
"Okay, have you been consulting doctor web browser again you little hypochondriac?" Gordon asked, following a groan of protest clearly from Alan. When Virgil peeked in the room, he watched Alan swat Gordon's hand from his head where he'd been ruffling Alan's hair playfully.
"No, I have never done that. Besides that's Scott that does web diagnostics and it's not even for himself, you know it's for us." Alan hissed. Virgil had to wonder though what it could be that his two younger brothers were going on about. He figured he'd wait just a little longer.
"Let me see it again." Gordon could be heard saying to his younger brother.
"Which one, I have one on each wrist. Remember?" Alan asked before he could be heard muttering lowly. Gordon must have made the decision for Alan because the youngest began griping about Gordon having cold hands.
"Of course, I've got cold hands genius, I just took a cold shower after that run you made me go on with you." Gordon balked. "Now, hold still."
Virgil shook his head for a brief moment until he heard an exclamation of understanding.
"I know what this is. A friend of mine had one, his grandfather called it a bible bump. He got rid of it by smacking it with the spine of a bible."
Virgil tilted his head and walked away. He wanted no part of whatever Alan and Gordon were about to do. As he was getting ready to round the corner, he stopped and turned around.
'Better stop them doing whatever it is they're about to do. I feel like I've heard of a bible bump before, but where?'
Unfortunately, Virgil was too late to stop whatever Gordon and Alan were about to do. Right as he opened the door without knocking, he watched Gordon swiftly swing a bible sized book and smack Alan's wrist. The younger yelped in pain, immediately curling over his throbbing wrist with gritted teeth and a pained expression.
"Oh my god!" The fourteen-year-old howled, holding his wrist to his stomach.
"Alan!" Virgil said, quickening his pace meanwhile Gordon interjected with a question of his own.
"Are you alright?" Gordon asked, not expecting Alan's reaction to be so extreme.
"God, damn it! Gordo! That really hurt!" Alan snapped, still cradling his wrist with his other arm.
"Well, I didn't think it'd hurt you that much. Niall didn't tell me it hurt when his brother did the same to him, he just said it got rid of the bump!" Gordon said firmly, not meaning to cause his brother pain.
"My god, it hurts so much!" Alan hissed, gripping his wrist in his other hand, and crouching down, holding his limb in his lap which at the same time was cradled between his legs and his torso as he practically folded up.
Virgil swiftly knelt next to Alan, firmly grasping Alan's elbow, and turning the limb out towards himself so he could inspect the damage. Alan's arm shook slightly, clearly the pain was still throbbing merrily away. A quick look at the wrist and Virgil could see an already slightly bruised area. Virgil palpated the injury. Alan hissed but didn't try to pull away. With his inspection completed, Virgil released Alan's throbbing wrist in exchange for the other.
Upon inspection, it dawned on Virgil what the bumps were that Gordon called a bible bump. It was a ganglion cyst and Alan apparently had one on each wrist.
"Sprout, you know I can get this other bump to go away if you'd like to follow me to the infirmary."
"You're not gonna hit me with a book too, are you? I think I've had enough books thrown at me today." Alan said, still cradling his wrist between his knees and his chest.
"No, I can deaden the area, insert a needle, and draw the fluid out and done. Probably a little less painful than Gordon's method." Virgil offered. Alan's face paled slightly at the mention of Virgil sticking a needle into his wrist, but when Virgil raised that eyebrow…Alan obeyed. It wasn't often that Virgil could get his little brother to obey, but occasionally the twenty-one-year-old was successful at making his brother do what he said."Come on, kiddo."
Alan stood with Virgil, walking with his brother as he exited Gordon's bedroom. Before they got too far though, Virgil asked Alan where he and Gordon had obtained a bible from. Alan gave him a quizzical look and he shook his head.
"It wasn't a bible; it was Gordon's copy of The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster."
The look Virgil gave Alan showed his disbelief and he shook his head while palming his face. "I just had to ask."
"Well, they do always say that curiosity killed the cat." Alan replied.
"Yeah, well. This time satisfaction did not bring him back." Virgil said in answer. "Come on, you."
Virgil grabbed Alan by the scruff of his neck, pulling the youngster along until they'd entered the infirmary. The older brother directed Alan to one of the cots and then he busied himself with gathering his supplies. Truthfully, he'd rather be gathering his materials for the painting that he'd been thinking of doing, but he figured he'd better treat Alan's problem before Gordon got it in his head to smack Alan again. He didn't really want to deal with the fallout should there be a repeat.
"Okay, lay back for me. Okay, kiddo?" Virgil questioned as he donned a pair of gloves and started injecting different areas around the cyst to deaden Alan's wrist. Alan flinched at the pinch of the needle, but he resisted the urge to jump and run. Virgil sat on the cot next to Alan and after a few minutes wait, he inspected Alan's wrist. The younger was appropriately deadened around the cyst. "Okay kiddo, relax your arm for me."
"Relax it how? I can't feel it." Alan snarked, looking the other way while Virgil eased the needle into the cyst. Virgil focused on his task, drawing the plunger back and watching as the fluid drew up into the cylinder.
"Hey Sprout, check this out." Virgil said, glancing up to watch with humor as Alan looked and quickly averted his gaze.
"I hate you so much right now." Alan groused.
"Oh, you know you love me. And this is the less painful option as opposed to what Gordon did earlier." Virgil said as he pulled the needle from Alan's wrist after he'd gotten the fluid build up out. "Now see that wasn't so bad."
"Yes, it was. I think I'll just let Gordo hit me again next time." Alan mumbled.
"Okay, I'll be sure to remind you of your screaming like a little girl this afternoon if there is a next time." Virgil said as he looked at the fluid collected inside the syringe.
"Would you please quit staring at that with such interest? It's creepy." Alan said, feeling like he needed to call his brother mad scientist instead of his brother.
"I was checking to make sure the fluid looks okay. It's supposed to be this color. If it was anything else, I'd be concerned." Virgil said before he reached across to the nightstand to grab the roll of ace bandage and the gauze square. "Okay, I want you to keep this pressure wrap on for the next day at least. It'll keep your body from filling that cyst back up."
Alan let Virgil wrap his wrist joint and by the time that was done, Alan effectively couldn't bend his wrist.
"Let me know if your wrist begins to hurt, either of them. Even the one that Gordon treated for you." Virgil said as he stood with Alan. "Now, be gone little brother."
"Thanks Virge." Alan said before he exited the infirmary, jogging from the immediate area in hopes that Virgil wouldn't pursue him for any experiments.
A/N: Okay, so a little background story behind the theme of this work. When I was a kid, maybe eleven...my older brother had developed a ganglion cyst on his wrist. He kept fretting and our dad told us some bad advice that we took to heart. Our mom later remarked that we were her little idiots because we listened to our dad's advice. My brother asked me to hit his wrist as hard as I could with our grandfather's bible, let's just say that Alan's reaction was very reminiscent to my brother's reaction.
