Chronic Pain Awareness Month 2022

Infinity Train (Book 2) - Prompt 9 : Period - Lake/Jesse

Prompt : Write a fic where a character is on their period, which is incredibly painful on top of their usual chronic pain
Chronology : Post-book 2
Headcanons : Lake has chronic pain, Nonbinary!Lake

Lake's monthly was horrible every single time.

For one, metal is a lot harder to get out of clothing, so they had to be extra careful to not have any leaks, which meant more regularly changing out their supplies. That came with its own wave of dysphoria because they knew this was a girl thing. They had to endure it because Tulip did and Tulip was a girl. Sure, they theoretically knew that trans guys got it and they were living proof that not everyone who got it was a girl, but that did little to change how they felt about it.

On top of the dysphoria and the inconvenience of it all, it was also painful as fuck, especially when combined with their chronic pain (another byproduct of Tulip). Because not only did they have to deal with the excruciating ache of their abdomen cramping as hard as possible to try and do its monthly duty, but that also aggravated the burning pain in their lower back and legs, oftentimes then bleeding up into their rips, shoulders, and neck.

They lied in bed, curled in an odd position to try and at least partially eliminate the sharp pains going through their body. Jesse leaned in through the doorway with a sympathetic smile on his face. "Are you holding up okay in there?"

"Fuck off" Lake growled, not wanting to deal with his over-the-top cheeriness at that moment. Jesse frowned but, instead of leaving, entered fully into the room and sat on the edge of the bed. He had something in his hand and Lake was going to ask what it was, but he tossed it to them before they could even get the first word out. They flinched at first because it was rather warm, but they quickly recognized it to be a sack of rice. "What do I do with this?"

"Put it on your stomach" he instructed. "I'm not going to even pretend to be an expert on this, but from what I looked up, heat helps"

They did as they were told and breathed a sigh of relief because he was right. While not an instant fix, the warmth did help to relax the clenched muscles a little bit, as well as just feeling nice on the other pains ailing them. "You're right"

"Per usual" Jesse joked, grunting in pain as Lake lightly punched him in the side. "Have you taken pain meds?"

"I haven't been able to get out of bed"

"I'll bring you some" the boy promised, getting up and going to the door.

"Thanks, Jesse" Lake muttered out. "You're the best"

"Yeah, yeah"