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You groan when you walk into the kitchen. You skipped lunch because you lost your appetite, you were craving peppermint ice cream which the school didn’t have, you felt disgusting despite already showering twice today, and of course, you haven’t gotten the chance to take more painkillers for a while. Needless to say, your period was making you feel like complete and utter garbage. Not helping was the fact that you had to help Kalim with some alchemy extra credit. You didn’t want to do it, but you needed to if you wanted to improve your grade. Kalim’s eyes dart to you.
“Y/n! Thank you so much!”
He throws his arms around you, making you release a small growl of annoyance. You greatly admired Kalim and considered him a good friend, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be really annoying at times like this. You pull away, guiding his hands off you.
“Let’s just get this over with. If we’re done early enough, maybe I can nap.”
“Hmm… you’ve been napping a bit lately. Are you coming down with something?”
“I’m fine.”
You start gathering the ingredients immediately, reading the notes and comparing them to what you have. You have just enough, which was by design. You and Jamil both agreed that having anything in abundance around Kalim threatened him putting way too much of any ingredient into the potion. You nod.
“Alright. Let’s get to making this stupid potion.”
Everything was going fine. While the amount of the ingredients was just right, you didn’t expect the order to change anything. However, it did.
And that’s how you came to, face to face with yourself.
You look around in a panic. You weren’t looking in a mirror. That was you ! So, was there a clone of you?! You look down, seeing markings on your arms you don’t have, wearing clothes you’ve never worn.
“Wha- WHAT THE?!”
You run to the refrigerator, looking into the reflective surface as if it were a mirror. The face you saw looking back was Kalim’s. You were Kalim!
“KALIM! WE SWITCHED BODIES!”
“Y/n…?” The voice came out of your body. “Wh… why am I you?!”
Jamil sighed.
“ This is why I insisted on looking over you two! I knew you were gonna screw something up! Let me see that!” He power walks to the table and looks at the notes. “Agh! You guys put everything in the wrong order!”
“The order doesn’t matter,” Kalim urgently said. “...right?”
“It does matter, Kalim! You needed to put in the glistening powder before the root! The root’s the activator, and the powder is what stops it from going off right away! That’s the reason it blew up in your face!”
You groan in anger, but Kalim suddenly looks strange. He has this confused look on his face. Jamil waves a hand in front of him.
“Kalim? Are you even listening to me?!”
“Ugh… why do I have a tummy ache?” Oh no. “And… why do I feel so gross?!” OH NO…
“Kalim…” Your eyes dart across the room, pulling him aside to a corner. Jamil quickly follows you, but you’re not bothered by that. In fact, you expected it. You whisper to him. “Listen. Do you have any idea what a period is?”
Jamil’s face lights up in horror, but Kalim still seems confused.
“Of course I do. A period as in classes, right?”
“No! Kalim…” You search your mind frantically to figure out how you can explain it to him without getting too embarrassed. “Sometimes, girls get these things called periods. Basically, for about a week, we bleed… down there. And right now… I… have it.”
He looks down at the lower half of his body in terror before his eyes look up at the ceiling and he passes out. You catch him before he can make contact with the cold hard floor.
“KALIM,” you and Jamil both shout in unison.
You gently drop him to the ground and Jamil rushes over, picking him up and carrying him to the lounge, laying him down on one of the carpets. You follow close behind.
It’s weird, seeing your body separate from you, knowing it isn’t you in there, but your friend. You sit down beside him, a hand gently placed on his back. Jamil hisses at you in annoyance.
“Seriously? Of all the days you two wind up switching bodies, it’s a day where it would make Kalim pass out?”
“Hey! It’s not my fault biology hates women! You think I choose to live in abject misery for a whole week every month?!”
The dorm leader trapped in your body starts to stir, and you sigh in relief.
“Kalim! You’re awake.”
He groans. He looks down at the body he’s in and makes a sound of pain.
“Am I… really bleeding?”
You sigh.
“Yes, Kalim.”
“Am I gonna die from blood loss?”
“You’re not gonna die,” you laugh. “If you could die from it that easily, I would’ve kicked the bucket a long time ago.”
Kalim brings his legs to his stomach, groaning.
“I’m sorry, my friend,” you whisper. “I’m afraid the painkillers wore off about an hour ago and I haven’t had a chance to take more.”
“You mean you’ve been walking around like this for a whole hour ?! HOW?!”
“Well, when you’ve been getting it for years, you kind of get used to it.”
“THERE WERE MORE ?!”
Jamil shakes his head.
“Calm down, Kalim! I’ll go get you some painkillers.”
“Usually, I take two,” you tell him. “But if you want, you can probably take four since you’re not used to the pain…”
“FOUR! PLEASE! ”
Jamil rolls his eyes, leaving to get the medicine. Kalim curls himself into a ball, holding his legs close to his chest. He starts whimpering in pain, and you put a hand on his back as a way to weakly soothe him.
“I’m sorry. I know it hurts.”
“How do you do it, y/n?! HOW?!?!”
“Like I said, I’m just used to it.”
Jamil comes back with four painkillers and Kalim snatches them as quickly as he can, swallowing all four at once. His servant sighs.
“Look, I’ll run down to the school store real quick and grab everything we need to switch you back. Can I trust you two not to do anything else stupid while I’m gone?”
You nod.
“Don’t worry, Jamil. I don’t think Kalim’s gonna be doing much for a while.”
Kalim makes a weak sound of pain and Jamil sighs again, this time out of pity rather than disappointment.
“Okay. I’ll be quick. Hang in there, Kalim.”
…
For about thirty minutes, you’ve sat by Kalim’s side, stroking his hair. Being out of your body and in his meant you felt absolutely no pain or cramps, but you weren’t sure it was worth it if it meant your friend had to suffer. Throughout this, he kept making sighs of “ it hurts, ” “ I feel so bad, ” “ why does it hurt so bad? ”
“I don’t get how you do it,” your friend groaned for the third time. “You looked so normal. How can you be normal when you feel like this?!”
“Life goes on. I can’t just disappear for a week, as much as I want to.”
“But it huuuuurts…”
You normally would’ve been put off by his whiny attitude, but you knew the exact pain he was feeling. If you were being honest, he was just echoing what you felt every month. It was a little cathartic for you, as if he was telling you the pain you felt was valid. You continue to stroke his hair.
“I’m sorry, Kalim. I’ve always said I wanted a guy to get a period for a day so he could understand what it’s like. But when I said that, I wasn’t thinking of someone sweet and innocent like you! I was thinking of someone who deserves it, like I dunno, that Vil guy from Pomefiore or something.”
Kalim clutches your hand.
“He doesn’t deserve this pain! No one deserves this pain! You definitely don’t!”
You smile and pat him on the head.
“Thank you.”
His legs relax, no longer curled against his abdomen. He still seems miserable, just not as miserable as before.
“Are the painkillers kicking in?”
“I think so. But I’m really tired. Did you get no sleep last night?”
“I think I got about ten hours, actually. I fell asleep around 8 pm and got up at 6?”
“S-so you don’t just bleed and hurt during this?! You get really tired, too?!”
“Yes. There are a lot of things that happen. You’re just experiencing the worst of it right now.”
“...is this why you’ve been mean to me the past couple of days?”
Your face falls into a frown. Is that how he interpreted everything you did since your period started? Suddenly, all examples of your crabby attitude come to mind. Even today, you were annoyed and dismissive of him, all because you were exhausted and wanted a nap. You must’ve been so far in your own head, you didn’t realize how bad you hurt his feelings!
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come across-”
“It’s alright. If I was forced to live like this for a whole week, I think I’d be pretty mad, too.”
Jamil comes into the room, everything in hand.
“Alright, you two! Let’s switch you back!”
…
Later that night, back in your own body, you’re reading in your bed. It’s your favorite love story, though you would never admit to reading it. It’s one of those embarrassing love stories. You’d rather not be made fun of by the rest of the school’s populace for reading something so gushy.
You hear a couple knocks at your door. You growl to yourself, but do your best to keep your composure. After your conversation with Kalim, you realized how wrong it is to unjustly take your anger out on others, even if you have a good reason to be upset. You take a deep breath and sigh, putting the book on your nightstand and walking up to the door.
“Who is it?”
“Y/n! It’s me!”
“Kalim?” You open the door to see your dorm leader holding a pile of blankets and a couple of pillows. You shake your head. “Kalim, what in the world are you doing here?”
“Now that I know just how awful you feel, I wanna help you feel better!”
He smiles as big as he can and a faint laugh escapes your lips.
“Kalim, I really don’t think that’s necessary-”
“COME ON!”
He rushes inside and drags you to the bed, quickly seating you down and throwing everything onto the foot of it. He quickly starts covering you in the blankets one by one. You can’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. He stops after he’s tucked in the fifth blanket, throwing a couple pillows beside you.
“These are my favorite kinds of pillows! They’re so nice and soft! They’re a whole lot comfier than the school’s pillows, if you ask me!”
You laugh again.
“Thanks, Kalim. But I don’t really think this is necessary. Just… let me feel miserable in peace.”
You said that as a joke, but he could tell that there was a harsh truth in what you just said. The feeling in the air suddenly shifts, and he pauses for a moment. He quietly puts a hand on your shoulder.
“Is there anything I can do to help? I don’t want you feeling miserable.”
You sigh, lying down on your side and resting your head on the pillows he laid beside you.
“I don’t know what I want you to do. But you can stay if you like.”
“Okay.”
You shift a little more before smiling.
“You’re right. These pillows are pretty comfy.”
“Right?!” He looks at your dresser. “Ooh! What have you been reading?” He reaches for the book. Your voice comes out in a growl.
“Don’t touch that!” He flinches back and you sigh. “Sorry!”
Kalim smiles wide.
“No, I’m sorry! I need to respect personal boundaries!”
You look to the side.
“Can you keep a secret?”
“Of course!”
“It’s a romance novel…”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. It’s my comfort story when I’m… yeah.”
He looks away for a moment, contemplative.
“Oh! I know a pretty good love story!”
“You do?”
“Yeah! You know the sultan that the sorcerer of the sands used to be an advisor to?”
“Yes. What about him?”
“He actually had a daughter!”
“The princess who was deceived by a swindler pretending to be a prince, right?”
“Yes! Stories say she was a great beauty, too! But the thing is, she didn’t want the palace life. She snuck out one day, and that’s when she found her true love.”
You roll your eyes. It sounded like he was about to tell you one of those childish cliche fairytales you always heard growing up.
“Let me guess? Some prince charming riding on a majestic horse?”
“No! She fell in love with a smart and resourceful street rat who saved her from a bad guy about to hurt her!”
“Really?”
“Mhmm! The thing was, her father didn’t want her marrying a commoner. He only wanted her to marry other royalty. That’s why he was on board with her marrying the deceiver pretending to be a prince.”
“I see.”
“But then, the sorcerer of the sands revealed the imposter and became sultan himself! After that, the princess was allowed to marry the street rat she fell in love with!”
You smile.
“It’s a good thing he did that, then. I can always admire someone who sticks up for others in the name of true love.”
“Me too!”
You yawn.
“Do you know much more about the romance between the princess and the street rat?”
“Well, I don’t know for sure, but my parents used to tell me some stories about them when I was a kid. I’m not entirely sure they’re true, though.”
“Can I hear some of them?”
“Of course! One night, supposedly, the street rat snuck into the princess’s castle and whisked her away on a magic carpet ride. People from all over the world saw them flying and singing that night. He wanted to show her everything the world had to offer. He’d even given her this beautiful white flower that she wore in her hair for the rest of the night.”
You wanted to reply with a remark along the lines of “ that’s nice ,” but your eyelids were falling down. You were already kind of tired before Kalim barged into your room, but now that you were covered in blankets on one of the softest pillows you ever felt in your life, you were falling into sleep pretty fast. Kalim didn’t notice, droning on.
“Now, I don’t know if this next part is true, but my mom used to tell me that the sorcerer of the sands knew the street rat. He’d hired him to do some special job that nobody else was capable of doing. And part of the street rat’s reward was the magic carpet he used to show the princess the rest of the world! So really, the sultan was the perfect matchmaker! Isn’t that nice?”
He waited a few moments, and was surprised when he didn’t get a response. He looked down at you to see you fast asleep. He smiled, turning off your lamp and quickly exiting your room. Despite how quick he was, he made sure that the door didn’t slam, only making a faint click as it closed.