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Jake knew something was off the moment he woke up. His body ached in ways he was all too familiar with. He hoped he had enough time to get up and shower before dealing with it. His hopes were crushed the second Joel got out of bed.
“Hey Jake? Why is there blood on the sheets?” The worry in his tone was almost enough to forgive how annoying it was to wake up like this. Jake groaned and sat up, praying to whatever gods were listening that it wouldn’t be that bad.
It was that bad. Blood stained the sheets, top and bottom, his sweatpants that used to be gray had now turned stiff maroon, and worst of all, the duvet cover hadn’t even been safe from Jake’s body’s rebellion.
“Hooray. This.” Was all he said before flopping back down. Jake SERIOUSLY did not wanna handle laundry while his body was attacking him for not getting pregnant.
Joel hadn’t handled this much before. His mom didn’t talk about periods much growing up and his sister was a lot younger than he was. A few quick googles told him chocolate, heating pads, blankets, comfort food, ibuprofen, and snuggles would help. And judging on Jake’s reaction, doing the laundry for him would probably help too.
“Babe? I’m gonna run some errands really quick, I’ll be back before you know it okay? I love you!” He kissed Jake’s forehead, grabbed his keys and threw on some shoes and drove to Target in his pajamas. He knew Jake already had a menstrual cup so he didn’t need to get pads or tampons or anything so he walked straight to the food aisle. He grabbed Jake’s favorite chocolates, snacks and drinks — texting their nutritionist to see if he could make an exception for boyfriends in pain. He bought a couple heating pads, extra strength ibuprofen and at least 3 more blankets.
“Planning a date night?” The cashier asked in that annoying suggestive tone people get when they think he’s still a minor.
“My partner’s dealing with shark week right now.” He mumbled as an explanation, already mentally checked out and thinking about what takeout Jakey would want for dinner.
“Girl’s on her period, eh? Must suck for you man! She ask you to get all that?” The cashier continued unwarranted. That pissed Joel off.
“First off, he’s my boyfriend. Second, he didn’t ask nor should he have to, because he is in pain right now and the last thing I want as his boyfriend is for him to be in pain. It’s called the bare minimum, dude.” He paid and walked out, not wanting to deal with anymore of that bastard’s comments.
He placed everything into his car and was about to drive off before a girl approached him. She couldn’t have been more than 15 or 16.
“Hey I was behind you in line just now and I just wanna say, your boyfriend is really lucky. If you weren’t taken I’d probably ask you out.” Joel blinked. What exactly was he supposed to say to that?
“Uhh. Thank’s kid. But I’m actually 24 and you look like you’re 14.” The girl looked shocked and Joel just smiled and got in his car. “Jesus, I don’t look that young do I?”
When he got back he found Jake sitting on his phone in new sweatpants on the couch.
“Joel? Where’d you go? You didn’t have anything planned?” Jake immediately asked, suspicious but not angry because he knew Joel. His boyfriend wouldn’t do anything to hurt him intentionally. Joel just set everything down and took them out of the bags.
“I wanted you to feel better.” He smiled and walked into their bedroom, stripping the bed and replacing the duvet cover. He sat back down and cuddled Jake. “So tell me everything. I wanna know every symptom so I can personalize your care package for next time.” He placed a kiss on the nape of Jake’s neck. Jake relaxed into him, already eating some chips.
“You really didn’t have to do all this.” He leaned back and kissed Joel. “Basically it’s like cramps and sometimes a fever and chills and sweating, especially the first few days. And muscle aches. It’s like the flu decided congestion wasn’t enough and started punching your stomach from the inside over and over and over. And also I cry a lot. What are you typing?”
“I’m writing it down so I can remember.” Joel kissed the top of his head and wrapped the blankets around them. “Do you wanna watch a movie?”
Jake spent the rest of the day cuddling his boyfriend or laying his head on his lap, watching movies and eating junk food.
The next day Joel attempted to make chicken soup from scratch. It was very salty but still mostly edible. They spent the rest of the week cuddling and doing whatever Jake wanted to do in the moment. It was honestly the best week of Joel’s life, seeing how happy he could make Jake.