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Mack wakes up to a pain in his abdomen and a stickiness on his thighs. He groans as he slowly wakes up, looking to his right and seeing Will sleeping peacefully. He pauses for a second, just looking at Will. As he realizes what that pain might mean, though, he sits up quickly. Looking down at the sheets, he sees the red soaking through. Seeing the evidence of his worst nightmare, he flings himself out of bed.
Oh God, he thought, what was he gonna do? His period wasn’t supposed to happen for another week, he was supposed to have more time. As he continues to panic over the blood on the sheets, his breathing picks up and his tears start falling.
Will, as if sensing Mack's panic, tries to roll over, right into the bloody sheets. Mack makes a sound of distress and quickly stops him. He takes a shaky breath as he stops Will from moving, taking a second to panic over what to do. He finally decides he needs to wake Will up. He won’t be able to clean everything while Will is still in the bed. He takes a steadying breath, trying to calm down. It doesn't work. He shakes Will as quickly as he can, whispering at him to wake up.
Will finally wakes up, and groggily wipes his eyes. “Mack, what- ” He cuts himself off after seeing Mack’s panicking face. He sits up in bed, face alert as he looks around. He finally looks past Mack and sees the blood on the sheets. “Mack?! Are you hurt? Why is there blood?” He grabs Mack by the shoulders looking him over for any injuries.
Instead of responding, Mack just starts crying harder. He tries to give Will a response, calm him down and reassure him, but he can’t find the words. Will sees the panic and worry on his face and takes a different approach, “Mack, baby, just breathe.” he says as he rubs Mack's arms, offering comfort, “It’s ok, I just need to know what happened. Are you hurt?” Mack shakes his head, and lets out a shuddering breath. ‘Will, please just - go to the other room” he starts pushing at Will, trying to get him off the bed. “I’ll clean it, I promise. Just - leave.” he starts crying harder when he finishes, still pushing Will to the door.
Will stops his pushing and pulls him into a hug. “Mack, I'm not leaving you while you're panicking like this” he pulls back just enough to look mack in the eyes, cradling his jaw with one hand. “Just let me help, baby. What happened?”
Mack just closes his eyes and looks down. “I, I don't know how to say it.” He turns away from will and crosses his arms, trying to regulate his breathing. “You have to understand, it's not like - I'm not a girl, Will. I'm still a boy, I just -” he cuts himself off and takes a deep breath, finally turning to look at will. “I started my period. I didn’t, it was supposed to start later. I'm so sorry that I ruined the sheets, I'll clean them and buy you new ones. Just please - go sleep in the other room while I fix this” He continues trying to push Will away as he finishes, avoiding eye contact.
“Mack, baby, just stop,” he once again stops Mack, lifting Mack's head, making him look Will in his eyes. “Listen, I don't care about the sheets, or any of it, I care about you. I know you're a boy, this doesn’t change anything, this would never change anything in my mind. You’re still Mack, still the boy I love." Mack finally stops moving, letting Will hug him again. He tucks Mack’s head into his shoulder, offering Mack the comfort he needs..
As Mack’s breathing evens out, and the tears finally stop falling, Will starts talking again, “Here’s what we’re gonna do baby, We’re gonna go into the bathroom and get you into the shower, and you're gonna take as long as you need to get comfortable. I'm gonna clean the sheets and order you any supplies you might need, and we’re gonna cuddle until you feel better, ok?”
Mack slowly nods, looping his arms around Will's middle and squeezing. “Thank you, Will” he mumbles into Will’s neck. He slowly untangles himself from Will and starts heading to the bathroom connected to the room. Will follows right behind him, and as he goes to turn the lights on, Mack stops him. “Can we - can you keep them off?” he wraps his arms around his middle, looking down at the floor. Wills looks confused and opens his mouth to ask why, but Mack keeps talking. “I just, I don't wanna see myself. I don't feel comfortable in my body when I'm like this.”
Will slowly nods in understanding, and keeps them off. He shifts instead to the shower and turns it on, before turning to mack. “Now, do you want me to stay here, or would you rather I leave?” Will asks. Mack tilts his head thinking it over, “I.. I think I wanna be alone right now.”
Will nods his head, “Then I'll be right outside the door when you need me.” He leaves the bathroom door slightly cracked, just in case Mack needs him. Now, to be honest, Will has no idea how a period works. He grew up with women in the house, but whenever they talked about that kinda thing he would tune them out. He decides to call his sister even though it's the middle of the night and she’ll be cranky that he woke her up. She picks up after the first few rings.
“Will what- It’s the middle of the night”
Will breathes a sigh of relief when he hears her voice. “What do you use while on your period? And like what stuff do you like”
On the other side of the phone Grace groans, “You called me in the middle of the night to ask me about my period?? I’m going back to sleep”
Will rushes to explain himself, hoping she doesn’t hang up “Wait please, I need your help. Mack started his period at my house and I don't know what things he needs” Will explains all that he knows to his sister, hoping for her help. After asking a few clarifying questions, she finally starts giving him the information he needs.
In the bathroom, Mack steps into the shower after it warms up. He has it on the hottest setting, needing that burning feeling so that he can calm himself down fully. He just stands there, letting the water flow down his body. He doesn't have the energy to do anything other than that. He hates this feeling. The feeling of being in the wrong body, and not being able to change it. He hates that this happened tonight of all nights, in Will's bed. He’ll apologize infinitely for ruining Will’s night and his sheets.
In the other room, Will finally gets off the phone with his sister and makes a mobile order to be delivered. He sighs and puts his phone away, before starting on his next plan of action. He turns to the bed and strips the sheets. He throws the soiled sheets in the laundry room, he’ll worry about cleaning them later. He grabs some clean sheets from the linen closet and finishes making the bed. He finds the most comfortable blankets he owns and also puts that on the bed. He’s sure Mack will want some comfort when he’s done in the bathroom.
By the time he’s done with the cleaning, his online order is delivered to the door. He goes and picks it up, bringing the bags back into his bedroom. As he’s sorting all the things he bought he hears the shower shut off. He quickly grabs the boxes of supplies and the change of clothes before walking to the bathroom door.
“Mack? Can I come in?” he doesn't get a response, but Mack opens the door wider for him to step in. When he walks in he sees Mack in just a towel, standing with arms crossed, looking like he's trying to hide away. “I didn’t know what you might need, so I called my sister” Will says as he sets the boxes down. “I got pads and tampons so take your pick.” Mack smiles a little as he looks at Will, before grabbing the pad box and the change of clothes. “Um, can you stay outside while I change?” He asks hesitantly, but Will just nods and immediately walks out.
Mack smiles to himself as he watches Will leave. He always makes sure Mack’s comfortable first before doing anything. He gets dressed and situated quickly, and turns to the closed door. He grabs the doorknob and takes a steadying breath, working up the courage to walk outside.
When he walks out of the bathroom he sees a pile of things on the bed and Will trying to organize it all. Mack stops in the doorway “What’s this?” he asks. Will looks up from the bed, stopping his movements
“Um, well, I figured you’d be uncomfortable when you got out of the shower, so I bought some things I know you like.” he pauses, “And grace recommended some stuff that helps her, so” He finishes talking and turns to show mack everything he got.
“Grace recommended a heating pad for cramps so I got that, and then I bought some pain killers and I also got some soft things that I thought you might like.” He holds up each object as he says it before setting them back down. Mack sees a small bear plushie and a soft looking blanket.
Mack’s eyes start to water again, but this time not from fear. He’s just so grateful for Will today, He loves this man so much. Will rushes to Mack’s side, thinking he did something wrong. He cradles Mack’s face, “Baby what’s-” he gets cut off as Mack begins to giggle. He wipes the tears that started falling down his face, and wraps Will in a hug. “I just love you so much” he says, voice muffled from his face being shoved into Will’s neck. Will wraps his arms around Mack, returning the hug. “I love you too, baby, Always.” Will says, kissing the top of Mack's head.
They finally untangle from the hug when Mack lets out a yawn. “Tired?” Will jokes, moving over to the bed. Mack just nods and follows him over. Will starts getting everything situated on the bed. He plugs in the heating pad and moves the stuffed animal and blanket he bought over to Mack's side.
“You just get comfy, baby. I’ll go get you some water for the pain killers.” Will says, watching for a second as Mack starts moving to the bed before heading to the kitchen. He grabs a random glass from the cabinet and fills it with water.
When he walks back into the bedroom he sees Mack snuggled up in bed, the blanket wrapped around him like a shield. He has the little bear clutched in his arms, and looks about ten seconds away from falling asleep. Will speeds up, grabbing the painkillers and bringing them to Mack’s side.
Mack looks up at him as he approaches, sitting up so he can take the pills. When Will sees that he swallowed them, and makes sure he is comfortable again, he finally heads to his side of the bed and slides in. Mack immediately slides closer to him, pulling himself onto Will so that he can lay on his chest
As Mack feels Will's breathing even out, he can’t help but be overwhelmed with the love he has for this boy. Not only did Will comfort him while he was panicking, but he cleaned up the mess Mack made and went out of his way to buy things for him. Yeah, he’s definitely gonna marry this boy.