Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dirk was very concerned about his flourishing garden. Picking all the ripe, mostly ripe, vegetables he could find, Dirk wondered if there was enough room in their mini fridge for all of it. If not, they would have to take a trip to find a fridge, not filled with rotting food.

Quint was concerned; winter was approaching fast this year, and at least two weeks before the first flurry would have normally fallen. If winter arrives when Quint’s calculations say it will, then they have at least one week to prepare for the continuous frost. To arm the treehouse for the winter, they would need many things, like some sort of insulation and a way to cover the windows. Maybe Quint could whip something up quickly?

Her spear sailed through the empty can, It moved! Despite her initial fear of the moving can, June was happy that they could make some sort of contact with other people, and maybe her parents eventually. She couldn’t wait to see them and tell them all about the friends she had made and what they had all done. They would never let her out of the house again, if they even had a house. Quint said something to Dirk that morning about a frost and winter approaching, so June decided to get some things. Necessary things, she would tell herself. But in reality, she just grabbed some Christmas movies, snacks, and that scarf she always wanted but could never bring herself to actually get. It was super warm.

Jack sat on top of the treehouse, reflecting, he’s made peace with himself over the last few nights. He’s apologised for the radio incident multiple times since then, even though his family said that it was okay, he still felt bad. Maybe it was, like, something that related to his trauma? Probably. Jack never knew why he acted like he did, probably just very deprived of something, but he didn't know what. Convinced that giving his friends an apology present would help his guilty mind, Jack took hold of the zipline and fell in front of Joe’s Pizza. Quest ‘Apology Present’ was a go!

“No, we may have an ‘Understanding’ now, but I will not let you gum up my fridge with your human slop!” Chef crossed his arms, shutting the ‘employees only’ door in Dirk's face.

So much for that, Dirk really will need to go on the search for that fridge. He’ll ask about that later at dinner, maybe Jack or June will help him. Boy, he sure hoped someone did, fridges did not smell good nowadays, and they probably would have to go all the way to the Lumber Party store for one. For now, this basket of squash has to be used for something soon. Dirk thought of looking through his mom’s cookbook, he remembered a stuffed butternut squash that she always made him. He’ll try to make that.

Quint was making a list of all the things they would need for the winter when Dirk walked into the treehouse, setting the basket of ripe squash onto the table before leaving for his room upstairs. Or up the ladder in this case. So, Quint was finished with his list, tacking it to the cupboard for himself later. But for now, he needs to get some weather readings for the next week to be prepared.

“So much for waiting around for the search party,” Quint mumbled as he retrieved a Barometer.

June made it back home right when Quint climbed onto the roof with a Baro-whatever, one of his tools.
“Hey, Quint!” June called.

“Uh, yeah?” Quint was focused on not falling from the roof with one hand while the other was occupied by his barometer.

“What should I do with these movies? They’re Christmas ones.”

“On the movie shelf, after the Halloween movies, and before the chick flicks, friend.”

“ ‘Kay.”

June ran inside to reorganize the movie shelf, and she wondered, Why did they have chick flicks?

He ran through the street, Rover just behind him, with a gym bag of stuff in his mouth as Jack led him back to the treehouse. Just as Jack climbed the ladder with the bag over his shoulder, he smelled something vaguely of brown sugar from the grill they kept on the deck. Going to take a peek at the food, Jack was stopped by Dirk.

" ‘Nuh uh, you go inside, pal.” Dirk pushed Jack back by his face.

“But why?” he whined. Whatever was in there smelled good.

“What's with the bodybuilder bag?”

“Oh, I got some stuff for you guys while I was out today!”

“Well, you can share after dinner, it’s almost done.”

Jack took the hint and ducked inside the door. “Alright!”

Dinner was amazing! It not only filled Jack's food meter, but it also tasted like heaven. Dirk started to talk about a fridge, probably for the rest of the food he had harvested. But Jack didn’t listen fully, only when June shouted, “Alright! Fridge quest!” at Dirk as they high-fived.

“Hey, guys!” Jack called as he shot up to grab the bag he left by the door. “I got something for you.”

“Unless it’s a fridge, I won't be impressed,” Dirk shouted from his place by the window.

“It’s way better than a fridge, it’s..” Jack pulled a handful of paper packets from the bag, “Seeds! For next year, thought you would like a variety next time.”

“Aw, heck yeah!”

“And for you, Quint.” Jack reached into his bag for another thing; this time, he pulled out a pack of telescope lenses, which were quickly grabbed. For June, he grabbed that one scarf she wanted since school started last year.

“You Dork!” June laughed. She stood and pulled the scarf she had taken earlier that day from her bag next to the TV.

Well, that foiled his plans, man! Jack will have to find an even better and bigger present for June!

“Sorry, dude! Beat you to it.” June answered as she sat back down at the table, oddly enough for her to notice it, her stomach hurt. She hoped she didn't have food poisoning.

“Enough presents for today, though I do appreciate the lenses, friend, but we have more pressing matters!” Quint piped, grabbing the list off the cabinet. “We need things for winter, or we will die of hypothermia and cardiovascular failure.”

“Wow, dude, way to put it lightly,” Dirk added, earning a glare from Quint.

“Anyway, we will need lots of blankets for starters. Tarps, too, transparent ones, and-”

“Just give us the list! We’ll figure it out tomorrow when we go out!”

“Yeah, you and Jack take one half, and Dirk and I will take the other half. Just make sure that the items are from places around Lumbar Party, I do not want to walk all over tomorrow.”

“Of course, friend! Tomorrow you will receive your half of the list along with Big Mama, we’ll take Rover and my go-kart.”

“M’kay, well, i'm, like super tired so I think I'll hit the hay for tonight.”

“Alright, goodnight, June!” The three yelled up in unison as their friend climbed the ladder to their secluded rooms. Or, two secluded rooms divided into four via curtains and makeshift beds. Jack and Quint on the left side, and Dirk and June on the Right. They had to change the arrangement after the whole Thrull and Resocc incident, especially after the king wretch destroyed the treehouse.

“What’s up with her? She doesn’t usually go to bed until, like, 9:30?” Dirk asked.

“I dunno, she’s been irritable all day, major mood swings, do you think she’s coming down with some sort of malady?”

“Mala-whata?”

“Sickness, Dirk.”

“Oh.” Dirk rubbed the back of his head, “Maybe it's just a lady thing, my aunt said to never question a lady about her behaviour, so.”

"Your aunt is an intellectual woman! My cousin said the same thing last Thanksgiving.”

Jack can’t say the same thing; the only woman he knew closly was his mom, and that one foster sister who snuck him food and stuff when he was grounded. And they never talked about that stuff around him.

Waking up that morning was like any other for any other person, other than June, who had the worst pain in her stomach. She thought food would fix it, but as soon as June shoved a granola bar into her mouth, she wanted to retch it back into the package. That didn’t help, so June sat at the table with Quint, waiting for the others to wake up for the quest that day to get it over with.

With a groan, June stood as Jack finally climbed down the ladder. He stretched in the middle of the room when Jack noticed everyone staring at him.
“What?”

“Nothing, just grab your list and let's head out.” June tossed the notepad Quint left on the table to Jack after she pulled her list off it.

Dirk had already started Big Mama and cleared it for the stuff they needed, which included the fridge, duct tape, clear tarps, a staple gun, and staples. Easy enough, but this damn stomach ache wouldn’t go away! You would think that after enough near-death experiences and injuries would kinda numb the pain, but NO! Even as the group parted ways and said their goodbyes, it was still persistent.

On the way to Lumbar Party, June was still wizzing out about her stomach. Dirk hoped she didn’t have food poisoning from the loaded squash last night. That would make him not only the worst friend, but Chef would also have major fun making fun of his cooking. He just drove, hoping June would make it to Lumbar Party without throwing up. A few groans here and there made him nervous as Dirk didn’t know if she was in pain or if it was a “I'm going to throw up” groan.

They made it to Lumber Party not soon enough. June walked ahead of Dirk, impatient to find what they needed so she could go home and sleep off whatever this was.

“Uhh, June?” Dirk questioned.

“What?” She answered not so softly as she opened the doors to Lumbar Party.

“I just, um, well, are you okay?”

June turned, “Yeah? What do you mean?”

“Well, you’ve been, like, really angry today, and you said your stomach hurt. I just wanted to make sure you weren't hurt.”

June sighed, “I’m not injured or anything, my stomach is just in knots, and I think it's messing with my emotions or something. I don’t like it just as much as you do.”

June picked up a toppled shopping cart and started to fill it with rolls of duct tape. She had to use the bathroom, but now was not the best time. June started toward the restroom sign and looked at the aisle products as she passed them.

“Hey, Dirk! I’m heading into the bathroom, don’t find everything without me!”

“ ‘Kay!” Dirk shouted from an aisle.

Dirk was looking for the tarps; he couldn't decide on which one, so he grabbed both and laid them across the kid's seat, onto the staple gun! But he was interrupted by June’s scream. Dirk quickly abandoned the shopping cart to dart toward the bathroom, grabbing a pipe from the plumbing aisle as he went.

June went into the bathroom, checked all the stalls, and sat down to pee, as one does. But as soon as she did, her undergarments felt sticky, and when she looked down, she saw blood. A lot of blood! And she didn’t have any pads or those tampon things, her mom used. June screamed, maybe out of fear, or out of frustration, but she screamed. Big mistake. Because in the next half a minute, Dirk burst through the ladies' restroom door.

“June! What happened?” Dirk exclaimed, then he heard the girl crying. Woah. That did not happen, especially to the badass that is June Del Toro. “Uh, June?”

Dirk put down the PVC pipe and walked to the closed stall door. He knocked a few times and heard June get up and make herself decent. He stepped back. Did he go too far by going into the girl's room? Should he leave? Before Dirk could act on any of his thoughts, June opened the door and went straight at Dirk. He thought he would be getting a beating or at least a hard thump on the head. But June just hugged him, she reminded Dirk of his sister a lot.

“Woah, okay, um, June? You alright?” Dirk said awkwardly, trying to decide whether he should return the hug or leave the ladies’ bathroom to continue the conversation.

Between ugly sobs, June replied, “I just got my period and I don't know what to do!”

“Oh! Okay, uh, just, yeah.” Dirk lifted June by the underarms and set her down in the stall she was in. “Just wait here a second.”

June didn’t want to cry, but she did, she didn’t want to tell Dirk, but she did, and June didn’t want to let anyone see her like this, but she has. She sat down on the toilet and waited as Dirk buzzed around the bathroom. This was no doubt uncomfortable for him, but she could not care right now; the pain in her stomach was the only thing on her mind. June sighed; she wanted the day to end already.

On the other hand, Quint and Jack almost had their list complete; they grabbed a plethora of blankets, sleeping bags, and various camping supplies. All they needed now was a good heater, which was, of course, at the other end of the Mall. So the two decided to make it a game. While Quint and Jack raced on either side of the opening to the food court, Jack had another side quest, he searched each store window quickly. He hoped he could find June her apology gift to finally fill that empty hole in his gut. That’s when it caught his eye, a pop culture store with records! And that band she liked had an entire album on display! Side quest: Achieve June Del Toro’s apology gift is complete! And with that-

“Jack! What happened to our race? You never allow me to win!” Quint called from the supply store at the end of the building.

“Coming! I just finished a side quest!”

With everything they needed, the two boys made their way back to Rover, who was outside chewing on a car door. He perked up when he smelled the two and went running back to sit stoically next to the go-kart.

“Hey, boy! How are you doing?” Jack asked as he petted Rover down and gave him belly rubs.

“Stay focused, friend, we need to get back home and rendezvous with the others!”

“Of course, pal, on it!” Jack replied, getting on top of Rover and making sure the blankets behind him were secure.

Surprisingly, Dirk knew a lot about periods, even more than June did. He scoured the ladies' bathroom for a dispenser, which he pried the top off of and grabbed multiple different-sized pads.

“I don’t know what kind will work for you, but I do know these are what you need.” Dirk passed the handful of products to June, who closed the door to fix herself. “And we can make a quick detour to a nearby CVS and clothing store. Get you some new stuff and the proper things to help you deal with your period.”

June figured out how to put the pad in, but it was uncomfortable with her soiled pants.

“Yeah, that would be great.” June opened the stall door to Dirk picking up the PVC pipe, “Thanks, Dirk.”

“Hey, anytime! My sister had really bad periods, and so did my aunt. They made sure the one thing I was knowledgeable about was menstruation.” Dirk turned and made a gagging noise, “God, I sound like the Quint dork.”

June laughed, “Come on, let's get this over with so we can go home.” And made her way out of the bathroom with Dirk following behind her.

“Is that everything?” Dirk asked, loading the items from the shopping cart into the back of Big Mama.

“Yeah, all we need to do now is find my things and we’ll be good to go.”

“Alright! Let's get a move on!”

It's been at least another two hours after Jack and Quint returned from their quest before Big Mama came barreling down the street. Quint just started making off-hand jokes about Dirk and June that sounded a little bit like jealousy so Jack was thankful they put an end to that, plus, Jack thought Dirk was either secretly gay or thought of June as a sister. Maybe both? He didn’t know, but Jack was just glad they both made it back safely.

“Hey! What took you so long?” Quint yelled from the second-floor window.

“Had a little bit of a hiccup and had to take a detour!” Dirk yelled back, unloading Big Mama, “But it’s good now!”

June took a separate bag out of the back seat and made her way up the ladder. She didn’t spare a glance at Jack; June just looked tired. Wow, Jack was jealous of her tiredness; that was a new low for him. By the time June was back outside, the boys had finished unloading Big Mama and started the process of lifting the items into the tree house via pulley system. After the group was done unloading and organizing the supplies, they had exhausted themselves, and Dinner was just around the corner. Quint and Dirk had gone outside with Dirk’s cookbook and a basket of ingredients, presumably to make dinner, so Jack was left with June inside as she unpacked tea into her own personal box of snacks.

“Whatcha doing?” Jack dragged as he looked over her shoulder.

“Oh, uh. I’m just putting away a tea Dirk told me to get. He said it would help my stomach.” June replied.

“Nice, nice. Cool, cool.” Jack said, “But, uh, why?”

“He said that it had ‘Built in painkillers’ or whatever.”

“No, why is your stomach hurting? Are you okay?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, it's just a normal thing.”

Jack was sceptical but let it go, opting to play video games instead of making his dream girl angry at him. Again. So Jack sat on the couch to play video games as June oversaw Quint and Dirk outside cooking something with cut-up squash in it. The playful banter (that kind of sounded like flirting) drifted with the smell as dinner was prepared.

Dinner was plated, and everyone sat at the table with a plate and fork. A bottle of cold water was Jack's choice of drink, Quint's was a juice box, Dirk didn’t drink anything other than rainwater, and June had a hot tea. Straight tea, no sugar, no milk, nothing. Jack and Quint glanced at each other. They were very disturbed by this as June sipped her tea with a straight face.

“Okay, I’m not going to beat around the bush. What’s with you guys today?” Dirk asked, taking a bite of squash, “Ever since June and I got back, you two have been touchy about June and her feelings. If you want to know, just ask her, she’s sitting right there.”

“Um, okay,” Quint turned to June, “Are you sure you’re okay? The tea you’re drinking has natural painkillers in it, and I know for a fact it does not taste good.”

“Um, yeah? No? It’s complicated, I don’t feel good, but it’s not something anything can be fixed.”

“Oh no! Did you break something? Are you sick?” Jack asked quickly.

“No? I just got my period, it’s normal.”

A second of silence passed, Dirk swore if either of these dorks say anything about it they’ll get a worse beating than anything he ever did in school. Quint put his head down on the table as Jack giggled.

“What, what’s so funny?” June asked.

“I forgot girls had those, I crossed it off in my possible ‘what could be wrong?’ list.” Quint dejected, kicking Jack under the table, who also forgot about periods despite how prevolent they are to him.

June snorted, “You have a ‘what could be wrong?’ list?”

Quint sighed and went back to eating his squash, Dirk patted his back as he laughed. That’s probably why June didn’t feel good today; she probably still doesn't, but Jack knew enough about periods from both his own experience and from foster homes that they hurt badly, especially without any sort of powerful painkiller.

By the end of the night, the four were peacefully sleeping, or they were supposed to be. Currently, June Del Toro, the most badass girl in the entire apocalypse, was curled up into a ball on her makeshift bed of sweaters and a comforter over a car mat, crying in pain. She tried to stay quiet, but every so often, there would be a sharp pain that ran through her whole body that would make June seeath. Was it supposed to feel like this?

Jack woke up as usual, put his binder back on, and did the usual hygiene, which was only brushing his teeth and hair. He walked out of his room and ran right into Quint, who was ready for the day, holding a blanket in one hand and the staple gun in another. When he got fully downstairs, Dirk explained how Quint went out to make weather readings and came back in a real big hurry.

“Yeah, as soon as I woke up, Quint was telling me to help him tape up the windows with that clear tarp. It’s an impressive actuary, he cut them to the right size and they look like normal windows from the outside.” Dirk added a tea bag into a cup of hot water, “Now he wants to staple a whole bunch of blankets to the walls, something about insulation? I dunno, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Uh, is he going to be doing this all day?” Jack asked.

“He’ll go until he’s done, but I gotta take this to June and go see if I can harvest anything else from the garden.”

Jack watched as Dirk climbed the ladder to the second floor and disappeared into their shared room. Now, Jack felt like he had nothing to do, nothing productive to do. Quint was building defences, Dirk was helping June, and he was gathering food, and Jack was just there. He wanted to be helpful, but how?

Chapter Text

Jack got an idea! It's probably not his strong suit, but it’s an idea! Jack went to Joe’s Pizza to find Bartle and see if he could make a fireplace for the treehouse or something for Quint to use. But when he entered Joe’s, Jack was only able to find Chef napping in the back room.

“Chef?”

Chef sputtered as he woke up, “W-what? What do you want, fleshbag?”

“Where is everyone?”

Chef turned in his makeshift bed of Pizza boxes, “In your language, it’s called hibernating; the monsters went home for the cold months. Now leave me alone.”

He was then shut out of the back room by Chef, who used his tail to push Jack into the sitting area. Jack was dumbfounded for a second, but he regained his composure. He could have guessed that the monsters hibernated, but Jack also thought that they had more ‘humanity’ than that. Jack was going to go home, but he remembered something.

He knew where Bartle lived!

“Bartle! Buddy! You here?” Jack called from outside Bartle’s garage.

Jack received no answer, but he went in anyway, startling Bartle from his nap. Which was not as graceful as Jack would have thought. Bartle groaned from the floor, where he landed after falling off his couch.

“Human Jack, I beg you, why have you come to disturb my sleep?”

Jack walked in and shut the door to the garage. “I just need one itty-bitty favor.”

“No,” Bartle picked himself up with his magic and positioned himself unharmoniously on the couch. “I need to conserve my magic for my use; the dwelling I have chosen is not as concealed as I thought it was.”

“But-”

“No child. Come back after the winter season is over.” Bartle used his magic to open the door, push Jack outside, and close the door again. Leaving Jack again, dumbfounded. He stood, huffed, and Jack made his way back to the treehouse, feeling underly defeated and a tad bit cold.

More produce and more food, it should be a good thing now that they have a fridge, but the amount of it Dirk has had to toss feels like wasting it. So he went inside, hoping Quint had some sort of insect killer for his parsnips. But Quint was still in a frenzy, stapling blankets to the walls and a half-set up heater off to the side of the TV.

“Yo dork, when are you going to be done with the home improvement?” Dirk asked from behind Quint, making him jump from the ladder he was on.

Quint Fell right into Dirk's arms.

Quint sighed as he jumped down from Dirk’s arms, “When these blankets are all set up for winter! With June out of commission for this week, we should be working on surviving the winter! But Jack’s gone, and you have to harvest our food and-”

“Slow down! Quint, dude, take a break real quick. Just go make June some tea, and I’ll finish this wall for you.”

Quint considered, then nodded, heading to the grill outside where they kept the kettle. Dirk, on the other hand, picked up the discarded staple gun and went to the half-up, half-down blanket to finish the job. Dirk could hear Quint as he made his way through the treehouse, trying not to spill any of June's tea. He’ll ask about the pesticide later.

Quint opened the door to June's room, quickly stepping around the messy floor to reach a hunched-over red ball on the bed. June turned as Quint set down the teacup on a box, her red hoodie constricted enough to hold her hair together even though she hadn’t brushed it.

“Here you go, friend, sorry you have to go through that now,” Quint said, pushing some clothes into a pile and picking up the granola and candy bar wrappers littered around her room.

“It was going to happen sometime soon,” June snapped, flopping down onto her side, “I just wish my mom were here.”

Before he knew it, Quint was sitting next to a crying June, he didn’t know what to do! He was conflicted about hugging her, patting her back, or just leaving. But Quint stayed, sitting next to her until she calmed down.

“Man, I just want to go do something and not have my uterus try to explode itself.”

Quint snorted, “There’s a heater downstairs that still needs to be put together if you want me to bring it up?”

June sipped her tea, sighing, “Yeah, thanks, Quint.”

Quint disappeared downstairs to gather the remaining pieces and tools for the heater. As soon as they were all gathered in a box, Dirk stepped down from his ladder, staple gun in hand, and the wall behind him was clad in blankets of all kinds. His strength was admirable to Quint, who possessed little physical strength to begin with, and Quint didn’t know why other than that. But he was not jealous; that was obvious.

“Did June take her tea?” Dirk asked, pulling a water bottle out of their new fridge.

“Uh, yeah! She wanted something to do, so I’m going to have her work on this heater so I can finish stapling the ceiling and our rooms.”

“You, uh, need some help there?” Dirk asked, looking away quickly.

“Sure, friend, if you wouldn’t mind?”

“Of course not, just.” Dirk took the box, setting down the water, “There, we should do June’s room first so that she can rest and all that.”

“Affermative! Let’s go!”

Quint ran around the room, gathering a few blankets and the discarded staple gun. He then climbed the ladder with Dirk right behind him, who was teetering the box of electronics in his hand. Helping Dirk with the box, Quint pulled on his arm, but he knew he wasn’t doing much other than making his friend's face turn a pink color.

June had stood by the time they entered her room; the pile of clothes Quint started had grown, along with the floor space. She was sitting on the floor by a cluttered coffee table. June seemed to be organizing her ‘desk’ but was actually just trying to pass the time until the tea started to work.

“Sup’ got some things for you to work on,” Dirk stated as he dropped the box next to June with a loud thump that made Quint cringe as he was starting on the walls of her room.

“So,” she drawled, “Where’d Jack go?”

“Last I saw, he was headed to Joe’s Pizza for something,” Quint answered, looking up from where he was working and yelping from a staple going through his finger.

“Don’t know what he was there for, probably to finish putting together an apology present that he feels we need.” Dirk retorted from his spot on June's bed, where he had been passed the staple gun.

“Apology present?” June asked.

“Oh, yeah, for the whole, wizzing out over the radio thing the dude did.”

“Oh,” June whispered as she picked up a screwdriver, her lower stomach finally calming from its uncomfortable state.

“Well, friends, I find our work to be exceptional!” Quint yelled from the second floor. He finally finished putting up the blankets, making the inside of the tree house look like a homemade McDonald's play area. Everyone else had made their way downstairs by lunchtime that day, Jack and Dirk had taken up the video games as June worked on the heater next to them.

“Hm.” Quint sounded when he received no response, a frown working onto his face. He was so underappreciated in his time.

Jack, frustrated, yelled out. Dirk had just beaten him in a game, but that reminded him of his gift for June. So he stood and quickly climbed the ladder to wizz past Quint into his room, where he grabbed the record off his desk, making Quint yelp. Jack, with how forgetful and distracted he can get, forgot he got June an apology gift as soon as he got it home and wrapped, opting to play video games and harass Quint about the number of times he tripped yesterday.

"What is that?” June asked, setting down the screwdriver she held, and instead she grabbed the wrapped package from Jack.

"So you remember when I got you that scarf yesterday, and you already had one? Well, I may have gotten you something different to make up for it.”

"Oh,” June tore at the packaging, revealing the last album her favorite band would ever make; that one depressing thought made her emotional. Why? She didn’t even know! But she was seconds away from crying when Jack pulled the record from her hands and played it on her record player, successfully distracting her from her breakdown.

“You feel up to dancing?” Jack asked her, offering his hand. Which she took and was immediately whisked off her feet and spun around like a Disney princess. She was having fun! Quint had, by then, appeared next to the couch where he was pulling Dirk up to dance with him as well. June never thought that Quint would be the one to make the first move.

They danced to at least four songs, spinning and twirling, even though it was not the spinning and twirling type of music evident by the electric guitar and yelled lyrics. But the fun would have to end by the start of the fifth song. June felt a pain, it was sort of like her normal cramps, but it was everywhere from the left side of her hips to the right. And she felt the blood seep out of her body like a jellyfish. June tried to ignore the uncomfortable pain in her lower abdomen, but the spinning was making her nauseous and dizzy. The pain grew, giving her a newfound hate for periods as her eyes darkened until she couldn’t see, her legs grew wobbly, and June fell to the ground, still awake, but unable to see and unable to seize the fear she felt welling in her brain.

And Jack? He was terrified, he was spinning June around again right as the climax of the fifth song reached, when she got this look on her face after he set her down. She looked like she was having a seizure with her eyes, darting in every which way before stalling, which was when she fell. Everything stopped: Quint and Dirk’s awkward shuffle, the music, even June's breathing stopped for a moment.

“Whoa! June! June!” Jack called, falling next to June, who was on her knees and holding herself in a ball. What was happening to her, even Jack knew that this amount of pain was not normal for cramps. Something might be wrong, seriously wrong.

“Here!” Dirk had leaned down by then and pulled June over his shoulder. She thrashed and hit Dirk in the back, “Go make her a tea and get her a painkiller, will ya’?”

Quint nodded, pulling a rope from the ceiling, dropping a box marked ‘first aid’ that he swiftly opened to dig through. Meanwhile, Jack started on the tea, dropping a bag into a cup while he waited for the kettle to boil outside.

What happened? In the span of a few minutes, June was super happy, then she slouched and trembled on the floor. Jack couldn’t help but think that last spin was what pushed her over the edge, he should have noticed how she was sweating before that. God, how could he be so blind and selfish! It’s like the radio situation all over again!

The kettle pulled Jack out of his thoughts by screeching, sounding a little too much like the king wretch. Filling up the cup and watching the red liquid swirl for a second before returning inside. It was a lot colder outside than Jack remembered; he shivered as he walked back into the large living room.

June did not look good. Dirk sat beside her after they reached her room. June was shivering, pale, and crying. June told him she couldn’t see, everything felt numb except for her stomach. Quint entered soon after, followed by Jack, and they set her up enough to guide her to take the pill and tea. June’s eyes were still frantic as the three boys talked among themselves about what could have happened and what they could do. With the monsters gone until the spring, they had no way of medically helping her or knowing what was wrong.

Quint took June her dinner in her room that night, even though her protests of “I'm okay now” and “I won't fall” sounded through the treehouse. Quint just signed and handed the girl her dinner and refilled her tea, patting her shoulder when she took them.

“Just rest for right now, our adventures can continue another time,” Quint said as he opened the door to leave, which earned a grunt from June.

“I hope June is okay and this is nothing serious,” Jack said, picking at the cooked turnip slices with his fork.

“I concur, friend,” Quint added, taking a bite.

“She should be fine, my aunt said that the first one was always the most difficult, but she never said anything about the blindness and shaking.”

“We can hope,” Jack replied, finally eating the beige lump and finding it not disgusting.

“Hey Quint, when we plant next year, could we go on another pesticide run, but for bugs this time?” Dirk asked, finally finding the time to talk about it with all the action going on.

“Oh, sure, Dirk. I’ve been meaning to venture to get more weed killer, too.”

“Why’d ya’ need that?” Dirk asked with a mouthful.

“To fully kill off Ressoc's tree,” Quint took another bite, “The stump is still there, and it has saplings growing off of it.”

They finished dinner, and Quint and Dirk offered to clean, while Jack checked in on June. She was still curled into a ball on her bed, taking a nap as her half-eaten plate sat beside her. Jack smiled and pushed her hair away from her eyes. June has always been so cute in the ‘if-you-do-anything-I-don’t-like-I-will-kill-you’ kind of way. Jack took the plate down the ladder to Quint, who was suspiciously close to Dirk next to the tub where they cleaned their dishes. Or maybe Dirk was suspiciously close to Quint?

Jack wished he knew how to make June better, how to make this next week fun despite the cold and hurt, but he’ll have to make do with awkward family games and very bitter tea for the time being.

Chapter Text

The four teenagers worked on the Treehouse on their own for the next week. June fixed the small things, Quint finished the winter defences, Dirk pulled the rest of his garden, and Jack found something to do! Along with going on quests for the rest of his family, he saw something to do!

Jack jumped from building to building, playing his own game of the streets are lava as he searched for the rest of Quint’s newest list. He needed another few thermal blankets from the fire station for their bedroom. Speaking of bedrooms, they get so cold now, Dirk told Jack that even though his room was finished, it still got below the 32 degrees Fahrenheit mark. He was worried they would get hypothermia.

June’s period was finally over, though. Now, she was back to her normal, still grouchy but a little less, self! But Jack's began a week earlier than it was supposed to, so now he was the one with cramps and really bad stamina. This led to Jack falling off the rooftop, right into the imaginary lava and the real-life snow, in front of the fire station. Now he was soaked and cold. Not fun.

The place was still a wreck from the king wretch, memories Jack preferred to forget, but the zombies were still contained, so he didn’t have to do much other than grab the blankets from a locker. But that was when he saw something faint from outside, a purple cape. Maybe it was a new monster caught in the cold? But Jack saw, as she turned, a human. There was another human!

“Hey there!” Jack yelled across the parking lot.

The girl jumped, dropping the axe she pulled out of a fire truck. “A human?”

“Yeah! It’s so nice to see another human out here! Are you a part of the search party, or are you just traveling?”

“Search party?” The girl asked, abandoning the axe to walk with Jack.

The girl's complexion was darker, and she had frizzy and poofy hair. Her cape reminded Jack of Batgirl. But who was he to pick apart another's outfit? Even if it was cool. The girl was also taller than he was, almost Dirk's height, probably older than Jack.

“Oh, yeah. There’s a search party for humans coming across from New York!”

“Oh! Really?”

“Yeah, do you want to meet the others? I'm sure they would be super happy to see another human around.”

The girl hesitated a moment, “Sure, my name's Evie.”

“Sick, my name's Jack. Come on, it’s this way.”

The two made it to the treehouse just before lunch, which to Jack was a win as he skipped breakfast and was sure that Evie would be hungry if she was all by herself back there.

“So, where are you from?” Quint asked, settling on the seat in front of Evie.

After arriving at the treehouse and drying off, the four decided to get pizza from Joe’s Pizza, which Dirk was currently making in the back. Jack could hear Chef’s half-awake yelling when Dirk made a loud noise or if June laughed too hard.

“I’m from Maine, my group got dismantled, and I ended up running for my life away from a horde of zombies for a while.” Evie took an offered tea from June, “I get breaks here and there, though, zombies are slow.”

“You can say that again! I just power walked away from that unconventional babysitter for the first 3 days after she got zombified.”

“Really, what made you lock her in that closet then?” June asked.

“She kept stumbling in front of my experiments, I didn’t want to cause any major bodily damage. Just in case.”

Evie frowned, Jack noticed it before she hid it with her cup of tea.

“Alright twerps! Orders up!” Dirk walked out of the kitchen, a pizza in hand.

Said pizza was then dropped on the table unceremoniously, splattering sauce onto the table. Chef was going to kill them once he woke up.

“Well? Dig in!” Dirk shouted as he sat down, shoving a whole piece of pizza into his mouth.

After the group's filling lunch, they decided to take a break. Or, it was more like Dirk forcefully pulling Quint away from going to his lab as soon as he was full. Quint, now slung over Dirk's shoulder, grumbled. Evie followed them, though a few steps behind, through town and into the public pool. Now that it was winter, the pool would finally get some use as an ice skating rink rather than a dirty swimming pool.

“Hold it,” yelled Quint, who was on his own two feet now. “If I'm going to partake in this activity, I'm going to make sure we’re not going to die.”

Quint sat by the edge of the deep end, doing something the group couldn’t see, before moving to the other end. Evie stood by the door, eyes going between the three kids lacing up ice skates and the boy feverishly running up and down the side of the pool. Would these kids lead her to that search party? And if they did, she should probably be nice to them for now. So, Evie stepped forward, away from the door.

“Do you guys have another set of skates?” She asked, feigning shyness just for the sake of it.

“Of course! Here you go!” June pulled another two skates from her bag, which seemed to be filled with just skates. Odd.

“Thanks,” Evie mumbled, pulling the skates on.

“Good news!” Quint was finally done pacing the side of the pool, doing math on his fingers. “The pool is safe for skating.”

“We knew that Dingus, now here, put some skates on and lets get to it.” Dirk pulled Quint down next to him.

Jack was the first one on the ice despite never having ice skated before. June was the second and probably the most experienced out of all of them, hence the hockey obsession. Evie was next. Though she was wobbly, she got the hang of it soon enough. Even with how oblivious they were, the last two waited for each other to step onto the ice together. Dirk held Quint up from falling more than once.

June skated circles around them, doing some spins here and there, and effectively making Jack swoon at how cool she is. Dirk laughed at Quint as he almost fell, again, and he held the smaller boy up by his waist. Evie almost barfed at these love-sick bafoons, living their life like they didn’t care what happened. Maybe she could use that in her plan?

Oh, she could definitely use their feelings against them.

The group wore themselves out by the time it was dinner, with hockey and various other games. Ice skating takes a lot of core strength. June explained it to them at one point, but Jack didn’t listen; his chest hurt too much, and he couldn’t wait to get home. Though it seemed Quint did, and it gave him an idea for a new invention, so he rambled the entire way home. Rover greeted them at the treehouse for the first time in a while. He’s been cooped up in his glorified dog house for the entirety of the winter so far. And as Rover crushed Jack underneath him, there were the large steps of what he thought was a dozer. It wasn’t.

“Guess my rides here, see you around!” Evie yelled as she climbed onto the back of an enormous monster. It rivaled Blarg’s size. No, scratch that, it was bigger than Blarg.

“Okay, we all agree that was a bit weird, right?” Dirk said.

“Agreed!” All of them agreed.

“She may just have been nervous; we don’t know how long she’s been out here. And having a sort of net to fall back on, or a warning, seems like a good plan for a loner.” Quint retorted after, finding a logical solution.

“Yeah, it must have been so lonely without any friends.” Jack was finally free from the slobber attack, but was now impossibly cold. “I say we take this conversation inside.”

“And done!” June shouted, standing over the finished radiator.

“Finally! How do we work this puppy?” Dirk was clad in a blanket and was playing video games with Quint on the couch.

“You just puch this button.” June pushed a button labeled ‘power’, “Then you turn this dial to the temperature you want!”

Jack came out of his room in dry clothes and with combed hair. Rover decided that he liked the treehouse more than his dog house, so he lay by the window next to the couch. The group was huddled in front of the TV, a heater blasting as they watched the two play a horror game. Oh, yeah. Halloween was in a week or so.

“Whatcha playing?” Jack asked as he jumped over the side of the couch.

Quint replied with the one game he refused to play before the apocalypse, though he was shivering as he button mashed the controller.

“You never played that with me? You were always too scared.” Jack retorted.

“Well, after almost dieing the amount of times we have, it kinda lost the fear factor.” Quint died in game. “And I'm also playing with someone who is not as competitive as you, friend.”

“Alright you dorks, I'm going to make dinner, don't press play till I'm done.” Dirk said, tossing Quint the blanket he was using.

“What are we having?” June laid on the floor under a blanket, enjoying the heater.

“I don't know, probably something with celery and squash.” Jack stated, petting Rover.

“Oooh, I'm gonna go help, and prolly suggest something.” June hopped up from her spot on the floor, winced once she was up but continued outside after grabbing a jacket and her scarf.

Jack shrugged before sprawling out on the couch to stretch as Quint picked up one of his inventions from his workshop table and began tinkering beside him. Jack watched him for a good ten minutes. It looked to be a sort of neon sign.

“I can hear you thinking Jack.” Quint eyed the boy next to him, “and this is for the search party, so they can find us easier.”

The two fell into silence again, only interrupted another ten minutes later when Dirk kicked the door open, letting in a gust of super cold wind.

“Dinners served!” Dirk shouted as he led June inside, who held a pot.

They all sat down to eat, except Rover, he was passed out in front of the heater now that they moved it. Soup was dished out to each person, and it was in fact made of squash and celery, along with garlic and a couple other vegetables.

Then, there was a knock in the door.

“Uuuuh, anyone expecting company?” Dirk questioned, opening the door.

The person on the other side was non other than Evie herself, shivering.

Pausing their meal, the group led the young woman to the heater, pushing Rover over a few inches, and sat Evie down on the floor.

After it seemed like she recovered, which to Quint seemed too quick for the beginnings of a hypothermia patient, Evie offered an explanation. The quartet gathered their bowls of stew and sat on the floor in a semi circle to hear her part of the story. Evie felt like she was reading to kindergartens as she recited her perfect pity story.

After Evie returned to her hideout she found it had been raided and stumbled upon a few other humans, who then threatened her into giving them the rest of her provisions and her weapons. After they left Evie sought refuge in a few stores and shops, but she had gotten lost ever since her monster friend had wandered away. Evie told the group of childish teens that they were her only option, that her first thought was to go to them.

Quint would have called bullshit, if the rest didn't belive her right away.

That night Quint stayed up in his hammock, thinking. Evie had been given a bowl of soup and the couch for the night. Quint was annoyed at the plotholes in her story and how close she seemed to be getting to Dirk and Jack. But everyone else seemed to trust her, so he'll trust them.

He really didn't trust her as he saw her open their room door. And definitely didn't trust Evie when she started to investigate their room, opening drawers and pawing through crates. Quint couldn't see her on the other side of the curtain but he gathered enough Intel to be wary of her from now on.

That morning was weird, everyone got up as usual, had breakfast, and did the normal chores. Until Evie pulled Jack aside quietly, thinking no one noticed. They all did.

“Jack!” Evie said, a little too cheerfully.

“Whoa, uh, hi?”

“So, I was just upstairs, you know, looking for something to do.” Jack began getting nervous, he's by no means clean and haven't cleaned up any of his clothes, including his binders. “But I found something else, does the rest of the group know you're a girl?”

Jack's eyes widened, there was no way Quint was right last night, that she was evil? right?

“Oh, um, not really.” He's sure Quint knows, but, Evie wouldn't out him. Jack could hope. “I don't really- I mean-, I'm not a girl.”

Evie smirked, she had jack caught.