Galactiquest

Jun wandered through the Virgo’s halls. A tough decision had to be made today, and Ranger Kim was trying to hide her dread.

“Hey, JK, you hear about the mandatory physical?”

Jun kept walking, too lost in thought to hear the question.

“Hey! ...Hey Jun!”

That jolted her out of her thoughts. She nearly broke her neck to see who addressed her. It was just Aiden. The dark-haired ranger felt somewhat relieved. Somewhat.

“Ah, what--what were you saying?” Jun tried to play off her jumpiness.

“Did you hear about the physical exam?” asked Aiden.

“Ahh, yeah. It was just on my mind…” It had been on Jun’s mind all day.

“I’m not doing it.”

“...What?”

“I’m not gonna take the physical exam.” Aiden reiterated.

Jun looked around. “You… do know I’m like the worst person to tell that to, right?”

“Yeah.” Aiden’s lip curled defiantly. “Still not gonna do it though.”

“Is there some kinda ideological reason you’re not, or…?”

“Nah. I just hate doctors.”

“Oh.” The dark-haired ranger sighed. “To tell you the truth, I might not either.”

Aiden raised his eyebrows.

For obvious reasons, doing a physical exam would not be ideal when pretending to be a man. This wasn’t the first one Jun took, but things were different now. It was all fun and games before. Being found out on Earth would’ve meant a slap on the wrist, maybe a story in the news, but now, halfway to Mars with no way back, the consequences were much greater. Much scarier. The rookie didn’t realize it would be this serious.

“It depends…” Jun started walking again. “I gotta get going. See you later.”

They saw each other again much later on. This time, Jun shakily clutched a prescription bottle in one hand. The less-experienced ranger felt a mix of emotions, but mostly fatigue.

Jun weakly finger-gunned at Aiden. “Hey, stranger.”

“Hey, yourself.” He quirked an eyebrow. “Are you...okay? You look garbage. ...What’s in the bottle?”

“Testosterone.” Jun gave a wan smirk. “They noticed a deficiency during my blood tests. Earlier today, I got a runthrough of the exam from somebody who took it. I dunno if it’ll like, change your mind or anything, but it helped me feel better, knowing what to expect. It’s basically the same one we took when enlisting.”

“You said there were blood tests again?”

“Yeah.”

Aiden looked away, narrowing his eyes. “No thanks. I heard enough.”

“Oh well.” The dark-haired ranger shrugged.

“So, what now? You gonna report me for skipping my exam?” the blond one asked nonchalantly.

“I can’t. I was planning on doing the same thing.”

He scrutinized Jun. “Actually. There’s something I do wanna know.”

“Huh?”

“What did they do that made you all shaky like that?”

“Shaky?” Jun looked down at the container in her twitching hand. Maybe she was a little shaky. “O-Oh that, hahaaaaa… I don’t really like physical exams that much.”

“You must not, for you to want to skip out.” He had a blank expression. It looked almost sympathetic. “What made you go through with it?”

“Heheh, I’m practically married to the regulations…”

Aiden grimaced. “How depressing.”