Work Text:
You were sleeping peacefully in your comfy bed when your alarm went off, making you grumble under your breath and reach out blindly for it. You had work in about an hour and a half so you needed to get up or risk being late for what would probably be the fifteenth time. Even though you really knew better, you had a habit of staying up way too late on work nights. What else were you supposed to do? Just give every last bit of yourself to your dead-end job? No! Spending way too many hours every night doing things you enjoyed was how you took at least a little bit of control of your busy life. That’s what you told yourself, anyway.
Most of that time at night lately had been spent out late at a local restaurant that had opened up several months ago. It was a Barbeque place that had what was probably the spiciest food in town, and the rumors of outrageous levels of heat kept customers coming, it seemed. You had always been a big fan of spicy food so naturally you had eventually found yourself in one of the restaurant’s many tables to see what all the hype was about - and it did not disappoint. Your burnt taste buds could vouch for it.
At first you had kept going for the food, happy to have found a place that could satisfy your taste for spice. It wasn’t until your third visit that your real reason for becoming a regular presented itself.
You’d been sitting alone at a booth in the corner away from the rest of the customers when the chef, the owner of the place, had personally delivered your food to you. He had introduced himself in an almost comically exaggerated way with one hand on his hip and your food lifted high in the other. He told you his name was Red Son, the greatest chef the city had to offer and he was impressed to find someone with such a refined palate such as yourself. He told you that your meal would be on the house that day after insulting the rest of his clientele as unworthy peasants as a thank you for being a loyal customer with a snap of his fingers that sparked out a small flame and a flip of his hair.
You couldn’t help the grin that spread across your face at the memory of how you met your now-boyfriend. You unlock your phone and wince at the bright screen that blinds you for a second before checking to see if you had any unread messages.
‘You will reign triumphant over every enemy in your path today, make sure they remember your name with FEAR. I look forward to seeing you today.🔥’
You couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled out, your smile growing even bigger than it had been before. He’d gotten used to your schedule and would occasionally make sure you woke up to a motivational good morning text. At first his incredibly strict and proper speech behavior was hard to get used to, but now you couldn’t imagine him speaking to you any other way.
‘They’ll run screaming, don’t worry >:)’
You send your reply and yawn as you push back your blankets to finally get up for the day. It isn’t until you sit up that you realize something is wrong.
“Oh no…no no no..”
You throw the blanket all the way back and let out a frustrated sigh at the red stain on your sheets, “Nooo..I just washed these!” your pained groan didn’t do anything to help your now-sour mood.
Now that you were awake and aware, the unpleasant cramping in your abdomen was making itself more apparent, and you can’t help but want to curl up at the awful sensations hitting you all at once.
You quickly stand to awkwardly waddle towards your bathroom, grimacing at the sticky feeling between your legs. Luckily you got up at your first alarm so you’d have time to take a quick shower before rushing out to work today.
—
Your day went about as frustrating as you imagined it would. Your cramps had gotten increasingly worse as the day went on, and the painkillers you had taken did little to actually ease the pain. 8 hours of hell later, here you are, walking to your car.
You plop down into the driver’s seat and take a moment to just breathe. You wanted to cry, but you also wanted to scream out in anger and kick at whatever you could reach, but you keep your composure to pull your phone from your pocket and bring up Red Son’s messages from earlier. The two of you had exchanged a few back and forth texts throughout the day, but since you’d both both been working it wasn’t anything of any real substance.
‘Im not gonna be able to come by the restaurant today im sorry. Not feeling good so im just gonna head home.’
You toss your phone to the passenger seat before buckling yourself in and letting out the biggest sigh you’d made all day. You just needed to get home and get to bed, that's it. You’d feel better if you could just take a nap and maybe eat some chocolate or something.
You didn’t even have the willpower to stop for anything to eat on your way home.
—
Changing out of your work clothes and into your pajamas was the most liberating thing you’d done all day. The tight constricting jeans had been torture against your sensitive stomach, and your fuzzy sleep pants were like heaven compared.
Your small one bedroom apartment wasn’t exactly tidy but cleaning was the last thing on your mind right now. You’d get around to watering your plants and doing your dishes later tonight. Probably.
The living area had several cups sitting around in various places along with a discarded shirt here and there and you make a mental note to take the bra that slung over the back of the couch to the clothes hamper later.
Your bedroom isn’t much better off than the living room with your unmade bed and a bunch of socks laying around. Ignoring the mess, you go to your closet to dig out a box you knew your heating pad was buried in somewhere and do a mental cheer when you find it. You start towards the bed before you notice the red stain from this morning and sigh loudly. That was a problem for future you.
You head back to the living room and plug your heating pad into an outlet before letting yourself fall face first into the couch. You tuck the heating pad into the waistband of your pajama pants and pull the blanket laid out over the back of the couch down over you. You definitely deserve a nap. You bury your face into the small pillow you keep on your couch and close your eyes.
You don’t remember falling asleep.
The noise of your front door opening and closing loudly wakes you suddenly and you’re about to panic before you hear Red Son call out.
“Darling? Are you here?”
You sit up slowly and give him a small wave, “Hey. Over here.”
You’d given him a spare key to your apartment after a couple of demons had been running wild through the city and caused some damage to your apartment building that resulted in you being trapped inside. For peace of mind you’d given him the key to make sure someone would be able to check in on you in case anything ever happened.
At first when he would visit, he’d never use the key - he’d always knock. But after weeks of you telling him it was okay to just let himself in, he finally caved and started to just come inside. Not without a gentle knock beforehand, though.
He shrugs out of his jacket and lays it across the kitchen counter before crossing the room and you immediately notice how concerned he looks.
“Are you alright? I never heard back from you after you said you weren’t feeling well. I tried calling after you didn’t respond to my messages.”
“Oh, I forgot to turn my phone off silent after work today, im sorry.” You unlock your phone to see countless texts you hadn’t seen and 4 missed calls.
You also notice you’d slept for about an hour and a half and glance at the window to see the sun had already begun to set and a soft rain had started to patter against the glass.
“What’s the matter?” He takes a seat at the other side of the couch, still wearing that concerned expression, “Are you ill? Did something happen today?”
You can’t help the soft chuckle as you lean against the side of the couch with your cheek pressed to it, “Um. You could say that. Its just, yknow. Cramps.”
He looks puzzled for a moment. “Cramps? You mean like- oh.” The second the realization hits him you see his face go from concerned to embarrassed.
You can’t help but smile at him, but as another cramp hits you grimace in pain and hold a hand over your abdomen. “Ow…”
He glances down to where your hand is pressed against, “What’s that under your hand?”
You tug the heating pad free from the waistband of your pj pants and lay it down on the floor, “My heating pad. Heat helps with the pain usually but its not getting hot enough to help any. It’s old, need to go buy a new one.”
Another cramp hits you and you wince again.
“Is there anything I can get for you? Is there anything I can do to help at all? I’m not exactly well versed on this type of thing but anything you need I can attempt.”
You shake your head and smile at him, “Ive already taken medicine for the pain and can’t take anything else for a couple of hours.” You look over at the tv and back to him, “Want to lay with me and watch a movie?”
“Of course.” He hums softly before scooting closer to you so he can wrap his arm around you but instead lets out a startled noise as you tug him down next to you.
“Lay with me?”
He chuckles and uses one arm to cushion his head and wraps the other around you to pull you close and you bury your face into his chest. You breathe in his scent and sigh happily at the smells you recognize as his cooking at the restaurant.
You look up quickly, realizing something, “Wait did you close the restaurant early?”
“No, I called in a favor from a friend to take over for the rest of the day. His father runs a noodle shop so surely he can manage. He’s quite the noodle brain, though.” He seems to think about something for a moment, “I already have a bad feeling about that decision, actually.”
You can’t stop the laugh that escapes you, but the sudden movement brings out another sharp cramp and you press your face into his shirt to whimper.
He reaches up to brush your hair away from your face and repeats the motion in a comforting gesture, “Have you eaten anything? Are you hungry? I could make you some tea at least.”
You shake your head, “No appetite and I don’t wanna move.”
He nods and reaches for the tv remote.
The two of you browse through movies before settling on some comedy neither of you had seen before. You had turned over to face the tv with your back to his chest and you both settled into a comfortable position. You were glad he decided to come over, the comfort of being held was helping you feel better.
It was about twenty minutes into the movie when Red Son mumbled something behind you, “You said heat helps, right? I could-” He hesitates for a moment before reaching down for your hand to lace his fingers together with yours, “I could..make my hands warm for you if it would help you any.”
You felt his hand growing hotter in yours and you blushed, sometimes you could forget your boyfriend had magical fire powers. He made it a point to never use them around you in fear of you getting hurt.
“Would it help if I made my hand hot enough to ease your pain for a bit?” You couldn’t see the blush dusting his cheeks but you somehow knew it was there.
“That…actually sounds really good, yeah.” You take his hand press it against your lower stomach. He jerks his hand backwards the moment it touches your shirt and you laugh, “It’s okay, im literally putting your hand here. It’s fine.”
“Just…want to be sure…is all…”
His hand is indeed warmer than the heating pad was and you want to tease him for how stiff he feels as you place his hand back over your stomach. He can’t help the deep red blush now covering even the tips of his ears.
The two of you had shared plenty of intimate moments in passing. Kissing here and there. Cuddling while watching movies, you’d even slept in the same bed together several times. But to Red Son this felt far more intense and vulnerable for some reason. He was in uncharted territory and had no idea if what he was doing was actually helping you.
“Is this okay? Tell me if my hand is too hot. Or, ah, not hot enough.”
You nod, “Maybe a little bit warmer?”
You feel the warmth get to the perfect temperature and tell him how perfect it is. He keeps his arm wrapped around you, palm right under your belly button. He can’t seem to focus on the movie and instead just listens to your breathing.
He hadn’t expected you to become such an important part of his life so quickly. The day he’d come out to introduce himself to you had genuinely just been out of appreciation that someone enjoyed his food enough to become a regular customer. He had no idea he’d become so attached. He’d never been one for intimacy and relationships but something about you just calmed his every nerve and he wanted to keep that feeling close. He wanted to keep you close.
It seemed like in no time at all he realized you’d fallen asleep again. He presses a soft kiss to your shoulder and gently untangles himself from you to rise up from your couch.
—
You stir from your nap and wrap your blanket tighter around yourself. You turn over to nuzzle your face against Red Son but instead find just your pillow. Your eyes slowly open and you’re confused to see that your boyfriend isn’t still on your couch with you, but the moment you sit up your nose is met with the most mouth watering scent and you see him in your kitchen.
He notices you and smiles warmly, “Have a good nap? How are you feeling?” The tea kettle in his hand has steam spilling from it.
“Yeah. A little tired still, but im feeling okay.”
He pours the both of you a cup of tea and brings them to your coffee table before going back to grab two bags you hadn’t noticed before.
“I had something delivered for when you woke up since you said you hadn’t eaten anything.”
You don’t know what he ordered but it smells amazing and you suddenly realize just how hungry you are, “Yeah, i’m actually pretty hungry now.”
You finally notice that your living room was spotless. All of your dirty dishes and clothes that had been littered around the area were gone and you could see that the dishes had been washed and placed in the drying rack on the sink.
“Did you clean?”
He seems a little embarrassed and nods, “I wanted to make sure you were able to fully relax and not have to worry about any chores. Your laundry is also in the washing machine right now. I made sure to get your bed sheets as well.”
Your face flushes a deep shape of red and you gasp, “My sheets? They had-!! They were-!”
He gave a light chuckle, “I’m aware. That’s why I put them in the wash. I’m sure you’d much rather we sleep in your bed tonight.”
You hide your face in your hands to hide your embarrassed blush before squeaking out a small thanks before peeking through your fingers at him, “You’re staying the night?”
“If you don’t mind. The rain outside has gotten bad. I’d also like to stick around to make sure you’re taken care of.” His smile is warm and you return it earnestly.
He hands your take out container to you and breaks your chopsticks apart as well before passing them over. When he sits next to you, you immediately lean over to lay your head on his shoulder and he lays his head down on top of yours.
Maybe getting your period wasn’t the worst thing in the world.