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It was the weekend before Christmas. All the stores were packed with people getting last-minute gifts, or wrapping paper once they realized they were out, or whatever. Christmas stuff. But Martyn had already done all of his holiday shopping, thank you very much, and he just wanted to get out of Walmart with his groceries and his life intact. That proved not an easy feat, as every line was practically a mile long.
After standing in line for nearly twenty minutes, Martyn was finally, finally, in sight of leaving. Just one more customer until he was at the head of the line. He could even start putting his items on the conveyor belt, behind the little separation bar! As he did so, he merrily hummed along to the tune that was his ringtone. And then he realized, shit, his phone was ringing.
“You've reached Martyn Littlewood,” Martyn said as he answered the phone, not bothering to look at the caller ID. He shuffled his phone between his shoulder and his face, so he could continue to put his groceries on the conveyor belt as he talked.
“Martyn in thy Littlewood!” The voice of his roommate, Ren, yelled into his ear, “You still at the store?”
“Oh! Ren! Yeah, I'm next in line.”
A pause from the other end, “Shoot, so you wouldn't be able to grab anything else?”
Martyn huffed a sigh, already beginning to load his items back into his cart, “What do you need?”
Ren squeaked with excitement, “You're the best, dude! I reeeeally need some pads.”
Martyn finished loading things back into his cart and pulled out of line, heading back to the main store area. “Liiiike legal pads, or what?” asked Martyn, once he'd fully processed what Ren had said.
“No, no, just the regular kind,” Ren laughed, “Brand’s Always, the purple ones that say overnight.”
Stopping in his tracks, Martyn moved his phone off of his shoulder and into his hand. He was fully bewildered, what the hell did Ren mean? How could a pad of paper be overnight?
“...Dude?”
Oh, right, he had to respond. “Elaborate on what you mean by pad.”
“Like, um, let me think of a metaphor here…” Ren trailed off for a moment, “Oh! Red winter is coming!”
“Red winter,” Martyn deadpanned.
“Y'know, it's shark week!”
“I genuinely have no idea what you're trying to say here.”
“C'mon Martynnn, work with me,” whined Ren.
“I can't work with you if I don't know what the veinbound we're talking about!”
“I'm on the rag, Aunt Flo's visiting, having painters in, communists in the gazebo! Come on, Martyn!”
“Ren, I'm a fool, just tell me.”
“Oh my void, Martyn. I'm on my period!” said Ren, now audibly annoyed. Oopsies.
That was…unexpected. Without even thinking about it, Martyn blurted, “But you're a guy.”
“Martyn,” Ren sighed, “Just get the pads, okay? We can talk about it when you get home.”
Ren hung up, leaving Martyn to have a crisis and also find the menstruation product section all by himself. Welp.
Luckily, he found an employee who was able to point him in the right direction. All the while, Martyn thought. Thought about Ren. If Ren was on his period, then did that mean Ren was a girl? Or, shit, her period? Was Ren trans? Except Ren had introduced her/him themself with he/him pronouns when they first met, so… wait, would that mean Ren was a trans guy, then? That would make the most since actually, since how else would he be having a period? Martyn, most cis man alive probably except for doing drag in college (did that count as being trans?), had certainly never had one. So yes, that made sense probably, Ren was a trans guy.
And there were the pads. Martyn quickly found the brand and kind Ren had asked for, throwing a package into the cart alongside a carton of eggs and a head of lettuce. As he turned back towards the registers, Martyn realized he probably shouldn't be assuming things. Maybe Ren was cis too, maybe he had some sort of hormone imbalance or something, that was a thing, right? Either way, it was private, not really any of his business.
People on their periods liked chocolate, right? As he stepped back into line, Martyn grabbed a chocolate bar from one of the little side display shelves, a Snickers, which he knew was Ren's favorite. Then, looking at it, he realized it was kind of small, and grabbed another one for good measure.
The line was shorter now, as the day was winding to a close, and Martyn got to the front of the line much quicker than before. The cashier gave him an odd look upon scanning the pads, to which Martyn smiled brightly, and somewhat condescendingly, back.
Packing up the car and driving home was a bit of a blur, as it often was. Why remember things you do literally every day? What's the point? So much better to zone out and scream along to songs on the radio. Hm. Would that hold up in a court of law?
“Your honor, in my defense, I was singing a Sparkbird song,” Martyn murmured to himself as he pulled into his parking spot, right beside Ren's bright red sedan. Kind of the color of blood. Huh.
He dug into his pocket for his phone, about to call Ren to request help with groceries, but then he remembered that periods were usually supposed to hurt. It'd be kind of a dick move to make Ren work when he was in pain. He put his phone back into his pocket, and determined himself to get every single bag. The setup was rather precarious, but luckily, the elevator had finally been fixed last week, so he didn't have to take the stairs to his fifth-floor apartment.
Martyn got into the elevator alongside a neighbor he vaguely recognized. He nodded at them politely, but remained quiet throughout the ride to his floor.
Upon arriving at his and Ren's apartment, Martyn realized he didn't have the hands to get his keys out to unlock the door. His best option was to knock with his elbow, which he did. A minute passed, and he received no response. Sigh.
He set a few grocery bags on the ground to free a hand, and then rummaged around in his pocket for his keys. He unlocked the door, and brought the groceries in.
The first thing Martyn saw upon entering the apartment was Ren, curled up on the couch in a pile of blankets. He vaguely remembered seeing Ren in that position around the same time the month before, and then the month before that, and the month before that. Huh. Guess this period thing wasn't new, and Martyn was just fully oblivious.
“Ren,” Martyn greeted, “Got your pads, and some chocolate too.”
Ren’s eyes shot to Martyn and he immediately jumped up. How he so quickly got out from under the blankets was a mystery.
“Woah, thanks dude! Didn’t think you'd actually get them, honestly, and chocolate too? Oh- wait, let me help you with those guys,” Ren stole a few bags from Martyn's arms, quick to start putting the groceries away in their proper places.
“Why wouldn't I?”
“Hm?” Ren glanced up sheepishly, “Oh. Because you were being kind of weird about it over the phone?”
Martyn bumped his hip against Ren's, purposefully knocking him into the wall, “Yeah, just cause I was being weird doesn't mean I wouldn't get them for you. Idiot.”
“Ah. Right.”
They settled into a comfortable, but quiet, rhythm. Martyn handed Ren the groceries, Ren put them away, assembly-line style.
“Did you lock the car?” asked Ren as he put a box of cereal into the proper cabinet.
“Think so, yeah,” Martyn handed him a box of Kraft mac and cheese.
It was common that Martyn forgot to do so, resulting in it being stolen at one point by Ren and Martyn's friend, Cleo. But was it really stealing if they were friends?
…Probably, actually.
Eventually, all of the groceries were put up. Ren led Martyn to the couch and pushed him down onto it. He arranged Martyn in a suitable position among the blankets and pillows and stuffed animals, and Martyn let him do so with no complaint. He always did. Ren snuggled in beside him, once he was satisfied, and they laid like that for a while.
Quite frankly, Martyn had thought Ren was asleep, but then he spoke. “So…I'm trans. You probably already figured that out.”
“Mhm,” Martyn murmured, halfway to sleep himself. His eyes were already shut, though he was just resting them. Or so he told himself.
“I thought I told you honestly, guess I forgot,” said Ren with a nervous laugh, “You're…fine with it though, right?”
Martyn hummed, thinking it over for a moment. Ren was the same old Ren he'd always known, right? It didn't really change anything, not really. Ren looked like a guy, acted like a guy, he was a guy. More than that, he was Ren. Him being trans didn't really change that.
Martyn cracked an eye open. “Doesn't matter, you're still you.”
“Right. Yes,” Ren's face exploded into a bright smile, “Thank you.”
“Don't need to thank me for common human decency,” said Martyn, burrowing his face into Ren's chest.
“Guess not, huh?”
Martyn shook his head.
“Well…goodnight, Martyn.”
“Night, Ren.”