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Kylee is entrapped in bed, with a raging headache, droopy eyes and severe cramps. Today is Friday. Despite her initial insistence of wanting to attend class, her mother forcibly encouraged her to stay at home and rest for the duration of the day. She’s been enduring the pain at school for 2 days straight, even opting to participate in Physical Education as a self-assuring gesture that this period of hers means nothing, despite the heavy flow. A decision she highly regrets having done now. The false alarms she gets in her stomach as she debates whether it’s just cramps or the overwhelming urge to relieve her disgusting bowel movements makes her perpetually exhausted and, quite frankly, irritated about her own body. She hates how icky she feels, not wanting to bother getting up from her desk in fear of staining her pants from the sheer force of gravity of just mere standing. If only the bathroom wasn’t so far away.
Her mom said she probably got it from her, adding a list to the other weird bodily habits that she’s inherited from her parents. Though dysmenorrhea is anything but rare, she can’t help but feel alone knowing that other girls have light periods and relatively manageable pain. Kylee often has to plan her week around it, gauging on how she can micromanage her physical and mental well-being, but painkillers and careful scheduling can only do so much.
Kylee rolls over in bed, hand on abdomen, feeling the nausea wave all around her. She glances at her digital alarm clock on her bedside table. 3:35 pm. Steph should’ve been here by now. Steph promised to come over after she gets ready with her stuff after school. They promised to sleepover, an activity they do every weekend ever since they got together. Steph initially wanted to cancel after hearing how Kylee skipped classes due to her period, but Kylee told her that she desperately needs all the emotional support she can get right now. After all, the idea of not seeing Steph for an entire weekend makes her tear up a little. Things like this shouldn’t matter, but her hormones definitely override her ability to think critically at a time like this.
Kylee lays restlessly on bed. She hasn’t had any sleep. The pain prevents her from doing so peacefully. Going on her phone doesn’t do wonders either, since the glaring blue light can easily sting her tired, green eyes. What’s taking Steph so long, she wonders. It should be an early dismissal today.
Just as that thought emerges, a familiar cadence of rhythm can be heard going up the stairs. Even before hearing a knock on the door, she immediately knows who stood before it.
“It’s open,” Kylee asserted weakly. Steph immediately walks in with her somewhat boyish academic backpack and a cheap white take-out plastic bag you get at those hole-in-a-wall restaurants. Her hair looked somewhat messy today, albeit oily despite the frigid temperatures.
“Hey Ky,” Steph walks over to the bed, placing an affectionate kiss on her sweaty forehead. She stares at her for a bit and smiles sympathetically. “That bad, huh?”
“I feel like absolute shit,” Kylee grumbles.
“Third day, right?” Steph asks.
“Yeah,” She slowly slides her way up to a sitting position. “Still as heavy as ever. Thank god we don’t have school tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Steph sits down at the edge of the bed. “We can just chill all day. And you can get plenty of rest and downtime” she says while affectionately ruffling Kylee’s head.
“What happened while I was gone?”
“Oh, uh, nothing much. I brought your homework for you,” Steph sets down the plastic bag on the floor and her backpack. “But that’s like the last thing I want you to do right now.”
“How much is it?”
“3 pages for math and 5 pages in bio. Supposedly we were supposed to have none for bio, but Cartman had to go and piss Ms. Stevenson off,” Steph says dejectedly.
“Typical,” Kylee crosses her arms, “I’m glad we share the same classes together though. I don’t think I can handle asking Cartman for notes.”
“Yeah,” Steph gets her handkerchief to wipe the sweat from Kylee’s forehead. “Do you want to rest some more? I can leave you be while I do my stuff.”
“No, no. I want to keep talking to you. It’s been so boring lying here all day.” Kylee glances down below. “What’s in the bag?”
Steph tries to contain a smile by biting her lip. “Uh, what bag?”
Kylee raises her eyebrow, “The one on the floor.”
“Hm?” Steph swiftly turns around to look at it. “Oh yeah. I was hoping you’d ask. You sure you want to know?”
“…Yeah?” Kylee says hesitantly.
Steph leans in closer, cheekily smiling at this point. “Seriously?”
“Yes, Steph.”
“Are you sure you’re sure?”
“Yes, Steph!” Kylee throws her arms in the air. “I’m 100% sure!”
“Okay, okay. Calm down,” Steph says while putting her arms out defensively. “I’ll get it, okay?”
Steph leans down as if she has all the time in the world, moving at a snail’s pace. She extends her arm, touching the white, opaque handles with delicate care by her fingers. She pauses for a bit, and then turns to look at Kylee with a serious expression.
“But are you sure though?”
“H’you bitch,” Kylee playfully kicks Steph’s side as she laughed at her response. “I’ll stain myself if you keep this charade up.”
“Alright, alright,” Steph quickly grabs it by the handles with brute force. She puts the bag on her lap to retrieve a rectangular black box. She places it on Kylee’s lap, for her to examine it in its entirety.
“Vans?” Kylee looks quizzically at it, “Steph, you really didn’t have to-“
“No, uh, look inside,” Steph interjects.
Kylee carefully lifts up the lid with two hands. She peers right through its contents. It isn’t shoes, much to her relief, but an assortment of items. Inside is a dark blue transparent small pouch of spherical chocolates wrapped in a nice, neat bow, fuzzy green pajama socks, a lavender-scented lotion bottle, a tiny brown glass bottle, a green heatable compress pad and 3 bags of heavy overnight pads. Kylee stares at the sight in awe.
“I, uh, thought it would be nice to make you a sort of care package,” Steph says while rubbing the back of her head. “I noticed you’ve been overworking yourself the past few days. And to top it off, you’ve been doing it while on your period. So I figured getting you things that’ll help it hurt less.”
Kylee is just frozen, individually scanning each of the items displayed right before her. Taking it all in.
“…Do you like it?” Steph asks hesitantly.
Kylee quietly closes the box and sets it to her side. She wraps her arms around Steph in a tight embrace. She smiles dumbly by her shoulder. “Thanks Steph. This was really sweet of you.”
Kylee feels Steph wrapping her arms around her waist, reciprocating the hug. She plays with her curls affectionately as she sinks her face against her side of her neck. Kylee likes it when Steph plays with her hair like that. Usually her hair is off-limits from being touched, especially due to a little someone pulling on them to get her attention. But she trusts Steph enough to be nice and gentle with her. Just like she trusts her with other facets in life.
“…I’m sorry if I stink,” Kylee says to break the silence.
“You don’t,” Steph inhales deeply. “You still smell just the same to me. You’re like the cleanest person I know.”
“Hm, I guess. I just….feel really icky right now,” Kylee sighs, letting go of the hug to look at the box once again. She re-opens it to look at everything with a sense of amazement. “Can you explain each item to me? I know they’re pretty obvious, but…I’m just wrapping my head around how you got to put all this together.”
“Well,” Steph grabs a hold of the overnight pads. “These are Always Maxi. Thought you might need some extra. I know how heavy your period is, so I got the thickest kind with wings.”
Steph sets it down in front of her to continue rummaging through the box. “And this is a heating pad. I got it in your color. You can fill it up with hot water and place it on your belly,” Steph squishes it around a bit. “Want me to fill it up for you? Unless you feel hot right now, you know, since you’re sweating.”
“Nah, you can fill it up. I’m actually really cold right now. Guess it’s just a cold sweat.”
“Gotcha. Be right back,” Steph plants a quick kiss on the cheek, then heads out the door. Kylee looks back at the box and feels her heart fluttering all over again. Just how long did it take for her to compile everything? Even getting her the brand of pads she normally uses. Just when she was lost deep in thought, Steph returned carrying the filled-up weighty pad on her hands.
“You can put it here,” Steph demonstrates by putting her hand on her own lower abdomen. She slowly gives it to her. “Careful, it’s hot.”
Kylee places it below her stomach, feeling the nice heat radiating on her skin. It actually does feel nice having applied heat and pressure on that area. Like the pins and needles she’s feeling deep in her uterus is starting to dissipate little by little.
“Anyways,” Steph resumes to digging through the box. “This is eucalyptus oil. It helps aid in nausea. You can smell it, and it should help.”
Kylee gives the eucalyptus oil a few quick sniffs. It’s quite strong, almost like a combination of Vicks and a lemony citrus menthol. The sheer strength of the scent seems to have her nausea fade away a little.
“And this here is some dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is the best for periods,” Steph unties the bag and sticks one morsel out for her. Kylee eats the chocolate from her fingers. She likes how melty and rich it is in her mouth, with that added tinge of bittery dark chocolate goodness.
“I made sure it’s not *too* bitter, since I know how you are with bitter food,” Steph says as she haphazardly re-ties the bag with the bow back on, only for it to look like a crude attempt at emulating the original form. “I didn’t wrap it by the way. It was wrapped like this in the store.”
“It’s pretty good for store-bought chocolate,” Kylee laughs. “You have such a juvenile way of decorating things.”
“Sorry if I’m not as good with arts n’ crafts as you are,” Steph playfully pulls down Kylee’s hat to her eyes. Kylee lightly punches her arm in response. Steph brushes it off by grabbing a hold of the next two items from the box. “This here is a lavender-scented lotion bottle and some socks. Uh, sometimes when I’m sick, my mom likes to massage my feet with lotion and cover it with fuzzy socks. Not sure why but it helps a lot,” Steph looks away for a bit, scratching the side of her cheek. “I was thinking of doing that for you. If, if you want that is.”
“Oh, uhm, sure if you don’t mind handling my feet,” Kylee said bashfully.
“Er, alright. You can, lie down,” Steph says nervously.
Kylee slides her way back down, hoping to god that she hasn’t stained the bed in the process. Steph grabs a hold on one of Kylee’s legs on her lap, opening the lotion bottle with a *pop*. She squeezes a considerable amount to her palms and utilized friction to slather it on both surface levels on the hands. Steph applies pressure with her thumbs from the heel of the foot all the way to Kylee’s toes in an upwards, stroking fashion. Kylee is trying hard to stifle her laughter, but the sensation is both oddly pleasurable and extremely ticklish.
“H-hey!”
“It tickles, huh? You get used to it,” Steph laughs amusingly while reading her expression. “My mom often has a habit of pressing too hard to the point it hurts a bit.”
“It, it really doesn’t h-hurt for me,” Kylee still giggling at the sensation.
“That’s because I’m like gauging my strength,” Steph responds confidently. “It’s supposed to feel good after all. Don’t worry, this part doesn’t tickle that much.”
Steph proceeds to sliding her fingers against the web of Kylee’s toes. It’s such an odd sensation, but it does feel nice. She proceeds to individually coating each toe with her thumb and fingers in a circular motion. She bends the foot a little bit towards the back to give it a nice stretch. Kylee is amazed by her dexterity and skill, the way she handles her foot with care.
“Wow, you’re really good at this,” Kylee says.
“Nah, I’m just remembering what my mom does to me,” Steph responds, grabbing one of the fuzzy socks to slip it on Kylee’s foot. “How’s it feel?”
Kylee stares at her covered foot, curling her toes a little. “It feels weirdly clean.”
“Awesome,” Steph grabs the lotion bottle again to re-apply more of its substance onto her hands. She eggs Kylee to move her other foot towards her with a “C’mere” motion with her hands. “Other foot.”
Kylee puts her un-lotioned foot on Steph’s lap. Steph continues to do the same massaging process. Kylee finds the entire gesture to be really nice and comforting. It’s still ticklish and odd, but she distracts herself from giggling by watching how good Steph is with her hands. She mentally promises to take better care of her feet from now on. Or maybe not, so Steph can do this for her again.
“For some reason, this makes me feel like a baby,” Kylee says while watching Steph massage each of her toes.
“Well, you are my baby,” Steph responds genuinely.
“Pfft. That’s really corny, Steph.”
“Hey, I’m trying to take care of you, and this is the respect I get?” Steph says while feigning offense. She covers the foot with the other pair of socks. “Alright, done!”
“Thanks Steph,” Kylee instinctively curls both her toes to feel the soft, oily sensation. “Do you do this to your own feet?”
“Eh, not really. Only when I feel like it,” Steph shrugs. “It takes a lot of time to do after all.”
“Makes sense,” Kylee shrugs back.
Steph grabs a hold of Kylee’s hands. “I’ll clip your nails for you too.”
“Uhm, thanks Steph, but isn’t this a little bit excessive?” Kylee says with hesitation, a little embarrassed with how long her nails have gotten over the week.
“C’mon, just let me indulge you a bit.” Steph wipes her hands with her handkerchief to remove the slippery content from her hands. “Is it in the drawer?”
“Yeah.”
Steph retrieves a pair of nail clippers from the bedside drawer and takes her jacket off to place it on Kylee’s lap to catch the residue. Kylee would normally question how Steph doesn’t get grossed out by having her own jacket be the one to catch her nails, but she appreciates the gesture nonetheless. Kylee doesn’t want to admit it, but she likes all the attention she’s been getting from her so far.
Steph trims her nails with careful consideration, making sure she doesn’t accidentally nick Kylee’s skin in the process. Kylee wonders when it was the last time she took care of her own body. She is always hyper-vigilant in regards to cleanliness and organization, but even she neglects certain aspects of her health without even realizing it. This is especially true when she’s caught up with her studies or whatever crazy hijinks she got herself into. Mostly the latter.
“There. All done,” Steph blows against both of her set of nails. She grabs her jacket to dump the nails to the trash can across the room, patting it around for any hidden ones. As she puts her jacket back on, they hear a knock.
“Bubbe, I brought some soup.”
Steph opens the door. “I’ll take it Mrs. Broflovski.”
“Oh Stephanie, thank you so much for taking care of my baby girl,” She hands the tray to her. “Be very careful not to spill it.”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” Steph retrieves it, blushing modestly.
“Do you want anything to eat yourself? We have some pasta that I can re-heat for you,” Sheila insists.
“Oh, no thanks. I’m not hungry yet. But thanks for the offer,” Steph responds.
“Okay, well like I said, if you need anything, anything at all, the kitchen is all yours.” Sheila tip-toes to see Kylee lying on the bed. “Are you okay, Bubbe?”
“I’m fine, mom,” Kylee assures her. “Really.”
“Do you need any Ibuprofen?”
“I can handle it, don’t worry,” Kylee tells her, as if Ibuprofen has had any significant change to her pain.
“Alright Bubbe. Eat well, alright?” Sheila whispers a “thank you” to Steph before closing the door. Steph walks towards Kylee with the tray of food. Chicken noodle soup.
“You hungry?” Steph asks.
“No, not really,” Kylee says. “But my mom will get extremely worried if I don’t eat now.”
“I’ll feed you,” Steph insists.
“Really Steph, it’s fine.” Kylee laughs. “It’s not like I’m dying you know?”
Her eyes widened a bit as she realizes the weight of her sentence as it slips out. She saw Steph froze a bit from that statement. Steph hands her the tray, trying to hide how visibly uncomfortable she got. “Sorry Ky, I just, get really worried you know?” Steph glances away a bit worriedly. “Like I know it’s just your period, but,”
Kylee looks at her sympathetically. It’s normal that Steph would often get uneasy whenever Kylee is bedridden. After all, she did almost die that one time. And a couple of other instances. She grabs a hold of her hand, trying to give her a reassuring smile. “I know, Steph. It’s okay. You’re already doing a good job taking care of me. I’m feeling better already.”
“Yeah?” Steph’s eyes brightened.
“Yeah, dude.”
“Heh, dude. I like it when we call each other that for some reason.”
“Yeah,” Kylee says. “It tends to slip out. Sometimes I like to think that we were guys from another life or something.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Steph smiles at her softly. She nudges her. “Go ahead and eat.”
“Eh, I’ll just take 5 spoonfuls at most.”
“You gotta eat more than that, you know?”
“Yeah, I know,” Kylee quotes with her fingers. “but like I would rather not eat anything at all, so this is practically my limit at this point.”
“Hmm, alright,” Steph responds with subtle concern.
Kylee starts scooping up the noodles with her fork, feeling Steph’s gaze burning at the back of her head. She mentally pictures Steph as like a service dog, who waits on her hand and foot to detect any signs of her needing anything like her life depends on it.
“Uh, what was lunch today?” Kylee asks to defuse the awkward silence.
“Oh, uh, pizza. Since it’s a Friday,” Steph responds as if she just snapped out of a daze.
“Oh right,” Kylee says embarrassed. “Uhm, nothing else happened?”
“Seriously, dude, nothing. Kathy was busy working her ass off for the science fair, and Cartman was busy being, you know, Cartman,” Steph said exasperatedly. “You know, whenever you’re gone, she clings onto me the most. She kept harping on about her yeast infection, which is the last thing I ever want to divulge to you about.” Steph looks at Kylee’s food for a bit apologetically. “Sorry.”
“Hah, don’t worry,” Kylee chuckled a bit. “I’m just about done eating.”
“Oh, here, lemme take it from you.” Steph gets Kylee’s tray to place it on the bedside table. She gives her the bottle water that came with it. “I-is your heating pad getting cold now?”
“Um, a little?,” Kylee takes a few sips of her water before settling it down.
“I’ll go reheat it for you,” Steph instinctively reaches out to grab it from her.
“No, Steph,” Kylee swiftly catches her hand. “Can you, just, lie down with me?” She pleads while feeling the heat go to her face. “I-I think….I’ll get warmer that way.”
There was a short pause that made Kylee nervous. Maybe she was asking too much from her already? She suddenly feels conscious about her sweaty palms. Does she actually stink after all? Steph has a history of being nauseated by blood, so could it be that she actually is grossed out by the whole situation?
Steph moves on to the bed behind her, silently slipping under the covers. She wraps her arms over her waist as she presses her body onto Kylee’s back, burying her face in the nape of her neck. Kylee can detect the warmth of Steph’s body heat, as well as that distinct “Steph” smell despite facing away from her. It’s like a combination of the pine cones from outside and cheap store-bought perfume. Kylee savors the action in total bliss.
“Thanks, Steph,” Kylee tells her softly. “Sorry about this.”
“What are you apologizing for?” Steph continues to nuzzle against her. “I was hoping you’d ask.”
Kylee smiles from that response. “Can I put this heating pad away?”
“Sure,” Steph says. “Did it help lessen the pain?”
“It did actually,” Kylee responds, placing the pad on the floor. “I just wanna be able to cuddle without having anything in the way.”
Steph softly chuckles from that. Kylee can feel Steph’s hands being placed directly on her stomach. She whispers in her ear. “Usually when I’m on my period, I sometimes rub my stomach like this to ease the pain a little,” Steph rubs the abdomen in a clockwise motion for a good while. “Feeling better?”
“Mhm.” Kylee lets out a satisfied sigh. Truthfully, it doesn’t really do anything for Kylee in terms of lessening the pain, but the fact that Steph is trying to alleviate it for her is what makes this action genuinely pleasurable to her. She is basking in the physical affection, purely melting into her very essence. It was just what she needed.
“I was waiting so long for class to end just to come and see you,” Steph plants soft kisses at the back of her neck. “School is boring without you.”
Kylee can feel the goosebumps rise from her skin due to how sensitive and ticklish she is around that area. She can’t help but softly giggle at the affectionate gesture. “You have such a cute laugh too,” Steph kisses her cheek. “I can listen to it for days.”
“Is that why you keep tickling me?” Kylee asks teasingly.
“I don’t know. Maybe,” Steph lightly scratches the back of Kylee’s neck to garner a response, in which she does. “I just like seeing you happy.”
They revel in the silence for a bit, just savoring in each other’s presence. She wonders if Steph is feeling the same way as her. The calming peace of just having the two of them relax in each other’s arms like this. But a nagging thought soon emerged within. Steph is doing so much for her already, going above and beyond to make her feel comfortable that she can’t help but feel guilty for selfishly enjoying this. Kylee turns her body around to face her. “Am I…really not bothering you?”
“No?” Steph responded, appearing quite taken aback at this.
“I mean, like, seriously. Wouldn’t you want to spend your weekend doing something fun instead?” Kylee insinuates.
“But I am having fun. Besides, I think I’ll feel guilty having fun knowing that you’re in pain.”
Kylee sighs. “C’mon Steph. I mean, I don’t want to tie you down to having you deal with my period,” Kylee’s voice quivering a bit. “I-I can handle it on my own. I’m used to it. It’s a waste of time having to deal with…..this.” Kylee has always hated this aspect of her body. It annoys her. It frustrates her. It grosses her out. She’s so used to carrying this burden alone, without asking for any help. The last thing she wants is to drag someone down with her.
Steph looks at her in concern, wiping away Kylee’s tears. Kylee didn’t realize she was crying until Steph started doing that for her. She quickly became embarrassed and wiped her eyes vigorously with her own hands. “God, sorry,” Kylee sniffs. “Just my hormones. I hate being this weirdly emotional.”
Steph still continues to wipe away her tears. She grabs a hold of her hands and rubs them softly with her thumbs. She kisses them. “It’s not a waste of time if I’m with you.”
Kylee stares at her to detect any lies from that statement, only to come out empty-handed. She sniffles and gives a chaste kiss to her lips. “I’ll make it up to you one day.”
Steph kisses her back.
“You already are.”
They smile at each other through a deep, tender gaze, slowly feeling the drowsiness settling in. Steph closes her eyes to kiss Kylee’s eyelids, nuzzling her nose onto hers. She hugs her closer to rub her back underneath her shirt. The aching cramps are still there. The blood flow is still as heavy as ever. She’s still nauseous and her headache prevents her from being able to think straight. But she’s glad to know she has someone who’ll still be there at her worst. That she’s not alone anymore. Kylee thinks that to herself as she finally falls asleep in her arms.