Work Text:
Todd’s POV:
It didn’t immediately click in his sleep-fogged mind why his stomach was aching and he could feel wetness against his legs. In fact it wasn’t until Todd sat up and through his many blankets aside did he realize what had happened. The dark stair against white sheets was unmistakable, even in the dimness of one a.m. He was a week early and wasn’t prepared for a nightly visit from his period.
“Shit,” Todd cursed under his breath, scrambling to get out of the bloodsoaked bed. “Shit, shit shit.”
He quickly stripped the mattress, bundling the stained sheets under his arm and grabbing a random pair of sweats from his dresser along with his toiletries pouch. He padded down the long hallway as silently as possible until he reached the communal bathroom which he hoped was empty.
Apparently the universe took pity on him because the room was vacant and he quickly dropped the various items to the tiled ground. First thing Todd did was strip out of his dirtied bottoms and put on the extra sweats, but not before taking the necessary measures to avoid another leakage. He then grabbed his bottom sheet as it was the most stained of the two and turned on the water of the sink closest to him. It was ideal to wash so much fabric in such a small basin, but it was all Todd really had access to at the moment.
He tried to be as quiet as possible as he scrubbed the blood out with hand soap and cold water, but it wasn’t very effective and he soon found tears welling in the corners of his eyes. It was all a bit much, he always dreaded this time of the month and the dysphoria that came along with it and his anxiety was even worse with the pressure of getting caught hanging over his head. Todd bit his lip to stifle the pitiful sounds that wanted to escape his throat, horrified at the idea of someone hearing him and waking up, even if it was just his friends that lived in this hall.
He didn’t know how the other poet’s felt about people like him. It wasn't like they ever talked about the queer cominuty before and seeing as he was both trans and gay he was excalty eager to find out if they would hate him. He hoped they wouldn’t, the poet’s were the only friend he ever really had and he didn’t want to lose them.
“Todd?” Neil’s voice echoed in the quiet room only the sound of running water and fabric against fabric accompanying the question. “Todd are you alright?”
“Go away Neil,” His voice wavered pathetically, scouring twice as hard to try and hide the blood before Neil saw it, but of course it was impossible.
“Is that blood?” Neil sounds even more concerned now and the tall boy rushes over, “Oh my god, what happened?”
Suddenly two hands are pulling at his face, forcing him to look Neil in the eye as the actor searches for a non-existing injury.
“Where are you hurt?” Neil sounds desperate and he can’t understand why the other teen is so distressed.
“No where, just, just go back to bed,” He still has tears streaming down his face, causing his voice to be all blubbery and high pitched.
“No way, Todd, I’m not going to bed when you’re on the verge of death, I mean,” Neil looks at the sheet still on the ground and the one in his hand. “You’ve lost a lot of blood. You, you need to go to the nurse.”
“No, no, no,” Todd mumbles, tearing himself away to continue cleaning. “I just need to clean these up and, and then everything will go back to normal.”
“Todd, you’re kind of freaking me out.” Neil chuckles nervously. “Let’s go to the infirmary.”
“No, Neil, just go back to sleep and let me deal with this.” He begs slightly, just wanting all this to be over and Neil shifts beside him and he lets out a sigh of relief, thinking Neil listened to him for once.
But of course, Neil wasn’t giving in that easily.
“Why is there blood on your pants?” He turns to see Neil holding his old pajamas up and inspecting the red-stained crouch. Todd’s eyes widen in panic and he quickly rips the clothing away from Neil. Todd doesn’t answer the question, anything he could say was stuck in his throat. “Todd, you’re shaking, just tell me what’s going on, maybe I can help.”
Neil has this really soft look to his face now, a sweet smile pulling at the corners of his lips as he reaches towards Todd. Todd can’t help the way his heart stutters at the comforting look on Neil’s face and leans into the touch as Neil clutches his biceps to ground him. He finds himself getting lost in the security Neil’s eyes offer and feels an odd sense of safety.
“I’m trans.” Todd blurts out, biting his lips nervously when Neil’s face is taken over by shock.
“Huh?” Was the intelligent reply Neil managed to get out, eyes as wide as dinner plates.
“I’m trans,” Todd repeats, voice wavering timidly as he speaks.
“Oh, OH, so that’s, I mean, so you’re really not hurt?” Neil mumbles awkwardly, the same way every teen at an all boys school does.
“No,”
“Well, I,” Neil gives this funny smile and Todd breathes easily once more, “I don’t really know what to do now.”
“To be honest I don’t either.” They’re both giggling slightly, endorphins rushing through them the second their anxiety disappeared.
“Oh, god,” Neil chuckles, “I really thought you were about to die, that was terrifying Toddy.”
“Yeah, I can imagine that would be scary.”
“Yeah, well,” Neil grins, “let’s clean up and get back to bed, we do still have classes in the morning.”
“You should just head back now, this is going to take a while.” Todd sighs, turning his head to look at the damaged fabric.
“Don’t be silly, Todd,” Neil lightly chastised, “I’ll help, we’ll get it done quicker together.”
So the two of them start scrubbing once more, each taking a different sheet and cleaning beside each other. They worked for a little while with little success and it got to the point where they weren’t really trying any more.
“I think we should just cut our losses and throw them out before we’re caught.” Neil states after about half an hour of scrubbing mindlessly.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Todd mumbles softly and sighs. “What the hell am I supposed to sleep on?”
“You can share my bed for tonight,” Neil offers, face bright red as he speaks and Todd can’t help, but blush as well. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t harboring some romantic feelings for Neil for almost three months now. “And tomorrow we can get some new ones from Hager.”
“Are, are you sure you’re okay with me sleeping with you tonight? I mean the beds are pretty small.” Todd trails off and Neil gives him a small smile.
“Of course, Toddy.”
The two boys grab the spoiled sheets, throwing them in the large trash can that sat in the corner of the bathroom and covering them in paper towels to hide their tracks. The two can’t help, but giggle slightly as they head back to their room. Todd grabs his pillow and places it beside Neil’s as the actor changes his shirt because some water got on it when he was washing.
“What side do you want to sleep on?” Todd asks, staring at the small bed with hidden anxiety. He didn’t want to do something weird when in bed with Neil, he didn’t want the other boy to figure out about his crush.
“I really don’t mind,” Neil replies and gestures for Todd to climb in.
Todd hesitates for a mere second before crawling in and pressing as far against the walls as possible to give Neil plenty of room. Neil shakes his head slightly and climbs in after him, pulling the blankets up as he did to cover them both. Todd tries to breath normally, but he can feel the heat from Neil’s body against him and he can’t focus on anything other than the fact that he’s in bed with Neil Fucking Perry.
“I can hear you thinking over there, Toddy.” Neil teases and he tenses at the sound. “Can I do something to help calm you down?”
“Y-yeah, sure,” Todd mumbles in response.
Todd jumps slightly when Neil wraps his arms around his waist, pulling him away from the wall and against the actor’s chest. Todd can’t deny that it feels amazing to cuddle against Neil’s chest, to feel the rise and fall as Neil breaths. Suddenly long, nimble fingers are playing with his hair and Todd lets out a sigh of contentment at the feeling against his will.
“Isn’t this better than pressing against that cold wall?” Neil asks after a moment and Todd nods, a tiny bit embarrassed at the admission. Neil hums and Todd can feel the vibration against his chest and sinks deeper into the comfort of Neil’s arms.
After a second he can feel something press against his forehead and is shocked to realize it’s Neil lips. He freezes for a second before pulling Neil closer to him and pressing himself flush against the actor. Neil sighs and what he can assume is relief when he does this.
“Goodnight, Toddy.” Neil mumbles quietly, pressing another kiss to the top of his head.
“G’night, Neil.”