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It wasn’t unusual for one of his boyfriends to ask him to pick up some things from the store before returning to their dorm. Looking at the list in the text from Nie Mingjue, Meng Yao had a good idea of what was happening back at the university. So along with buying the asked for pads; he grabs some painkillers, some small candies, restock on the tea, a new electric heating pad since the last one died, and placed a takeout order to be delivered to their dorm.
With his arms full, he opened their door to Lan Xichen laying face down on the couch while while Nie Mingjue sat on the floor, rubbing his boyfriend’s back. The mustached man looks up and huffs with relief. “Do you have the pads?”
“I do and food is on the way.” Meng Yao pulls the bundle out of the bag and hands it over before leaving to put the rest away.
“Xichen, my love, you need to get up.” Mingjue mutters, gently trying to pull their boyfriend off the couch.
“Nooo…” Xichen whines, clutching the hot water bottle to his stomach and trying hard to stay in his spot. It was cozy and warm compared to the cold air of the room.
“There’s a hot bath and your really nice pjs.” The largest of them bribes, already getting his boyfriend off the couch and semi-guiding him to the bathroom. “Walking helps from my experience, helps move the blood to other places.”
“Blood is already moving.” Xichen complains, legs stiffly moving along. Despite the protests, he was convinced to get in the hot bath and most of the complaints stopped. Mingjue got to work on cleaning the bloodstains out of Xichen’s clothes with rubbing alcohol. From the bathroom sink, he had a good view to keep an eye on Xichen while he worked. The man was usually fine, but he occasional passed out in the tub during his periods and that concerned both of his boyfriends.
With the pants done, Mingjue refilled the hot water bottle, put a pad into the new underwear, Xichen dried and into his pajamas, tea made, and food delivered; it was now Meng Yao’s turn to watch Xichen. Under the thinly veiled lie of it being laundry day, Mingjue went downstairs to wash Xichen’s clothes with the rest of their stuff.
Meng Yao turns on the tv and pulls up the Legally Blonde musical, getting him and Xichen situated on the couch with the cheap chinese takeout. Petting Xichen’s hair, Meng Yao got the pleasure of listening to Xichen sing to the songs between mouthfuls of overcooked rice and too sweet bean buns.
Growing up with women didn’t make Meng Yao an expert on periods, but he was fairly acquainted with the range of how periods could affect people, which often made him concerned about his boyfriends’ periods. When asked to consider seeing a doctor, Xichen would wave it off and mention how Mingjue’s used to be way worse than his own, which did not ease Meng Yao’s concern at all. The upside was that Mingjue had gone to the doctors and was now on birth control, so Meng Yao never personally got to see the rage, carnage, and bloodshed that others would mention in passing.
As the musical’s cast were doing their bows, Xichen looked up at his boyfriend, a bit nervous. “I’ve been thinking…”
Meng Yao pauses the video and looks down, giving his boyfriend his full attention.
He takes a breath. “Wei Wuxian’s periods don’t bother him.” Meng Yao tilts his head, confused as to why his brother’s boyfriend was relevant, but let him continue. “He talks about his cramps hurting, but it doesn’t seem to incapacitate him. Like yesterday, he was running around and doing cheerleader drills and being happy, if he hadn’t mentioned being on his period, I wouldn’t have known by how he was acting.”
Meng Yao nods, carefully keeping the knowledge that Wei Wuxian usually buries his true emotions deep deep down so that he can appear unaffected by the horrors of his life.
“If I went to the doctor or gynecologist,” Xichen finds his boyfriend’s hand and holds it, “would you come with me?”
“Of course.” He smiles, squeezing his hand and leaning down to kiss the other’s forehead. “Is Mingjue also joining us?”
“I haven’t asked him yet,” Xichen admits, “but I will! Can we watch Legally Blonde again?”
Meng Yao nods and restarts the video. He internally cheers about being asked first. He logically knows that Xichen loves them both, but his emotions get the better of him and makes his worried about his place in their relationship. Mingjue and Xichen had been sweethearts since childhood and started dating in middle school, while Meng Yao only joined them a few years ago in high school.
Mingjue came back halfway through the rewatch, arms full of laundry.
“I can fold them.” Meng Yao offers, carefully moving himself out from under Xichen.
Mingjue pauses and squints at Meng Yao. Normally, he’d fold the laundry while they continued watching whatever musical they wanted, pretending to not also watch it with them.
Standing on his tippytoes, Meng Yao whispers that Xichen needs to talk to him and steals the laundry basket. With great confusion, the large man moves into place to be Xichen’s new thigh pillow. Meng Yao folds the laundry on their kitchen table, pretending to give them privacy for the conversation in the small area. As he finished folding, they were whispering and he could hear familiar words from Xichen. Looking over, Mingjue was kissing Xichen’s face, who looked so happy he could cry.
Giving them a little more time, he put away the laundry and reheated the rest of the takeout. Moving the last of the takeout to the living room table, he took up residence at the other end of the couch. Xichen trapped him there by putting his feet in his lap, a familiar cat trap.
Despite the pain and hormone induced depression, Xichen was happy. Soon he’d be happier.