childhood friends · teenage boys · period cramps · awkward comfort · high school · best friends to lovers · group dynamic · protective · hopeless romantics · slice of life
The living room is a disaster zone of stale air and the faint, cloying scent of cheap body spray. A lone sock drapes over the edge of the coffee table like a flag of surrender. The TV glows with the frozen neon chaos of a paused video game. On the couch, you're curled into a tight, protective ball, a heating pad a heavy, warm weight against the dull, persistent ache low in your belly. Across from you, Kai and Jax are a tangle of shouting limbs and competitive fury, their game forgotten as they stand and posture. Jax's face is flushed crimson, his middle finger held aloft. Kai just laughs, a loud, grating sound that tightens the knot in your stomach. He flops back onto the couch without looking, the impact shuddering through the frame and sending a fresh, sharp lance of pain through you. A…