Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was an oddly cold and glum autumn night. Rain poured over Mezagosa, the dark and clouded sky helping to obscure the warm-colored leaves of the autumn shrubs and trees. As such, a frigid breeze was brought to Paldea. All of team star’s bosses had met up in Giacomo’s surprisingly clean dorm to play Mario Kart Deluxe as a squad. Well, almost all of them. The ever-kind and self-sacrificing leader of the Caph Squad, Eri. She had texted the groupchat saying “She was busy with homework,” but Penny didn’t exactly believe her. 

Eri did have homework often, but Penny knows Eri well enough to know that she never does homework outside of class. She’s pretty gifted, so she’s able to get all her assignments done in class. Penny’s thoughts were interrupted by a “LET’S GOOO” from Giacomo and a “Are you fucking hacking or something!?” from Ortega. “Giacomo does not deceive, therefore thou is purely awful at this game.” Atticus chimed in with his usual Shakespearean lingo. “Yeah, y'all are just bad.” Giacomo added. “Fuck off emo boy.” Mela yelled. “You’re just mad that you suck Mellie.” Giacomo shot back. “You’re awfully quiet, boss.” Ortega said quietly to Penny. “Oh! Sorry.."Penny whispered. Atticus chimed in the quiet conversation with, “Are you perhaps concerned for Eri?” “...yeah.” Penny admitted shamefully. She thought she shouldn't be worried for Eri, she knows Eri can handle herself, but she still found herself worried for her only friend not at the sleepover. 

“Quit talking like we aren't here.” Mela barked at the three having a whisper-conversation. “Ah, apologies Mela.” Atticus responded politely. “You know, I think we should go check on Eri. After all, the round just ended. It's perfect timing.” Ortega proposed. “Didn't she say she was doing homework though?” Giacomo asked. “Trust me, Eri won't care. If anything, she’ll be happy to see us.” Mela said. “Well then, onwards to Eri’s dormitory.” Atticus remarked.

Chapter Text

Eri groaned. She was loosely covered in a thin volleyball-printed blanket, her hair was in a messy bun, and eyebags hung like nooses under her eyes, her face lacking its usual face paint. She heaved a heavy sigh and sat on her bed, lying on the backboard with a burnt orange body pillow sandwiched in-between. She was in a Piers band t-shirt and plaid red & black pj pants. And she felt fucking awful. Her stomach was absolutely killing her, her back and legs ached like there was no tomorrow, and she was so, so tired. She could hardly get up from the sheer pain and discomfort, let alone the light-headedness and headaches that came from trying to get up.

This was normal for Eri, hell, it's normal for any woman. Yep, periods. She normally got it pretty bad, worse than both her female friends, especially on the pain and bleeding factor. But this is much worse than normal. So much worse. The heat pad that lay on her stomach and the Advil she had taken earlier were not doing hardly anything, and she was having to use double the normal amount of tampons she normally uses. Arceus, this was awful. She was playing on her Rotom phone before she felt the pain sharpen in her abdomen like a sudden Mach Punch to the gut. She clenched her stomach and groaned again. She found herself squeezing her eyes shut to avoid the pain. Normally she could deal with period pain pretty well, but this time was different. She heard a loud knock at the door, and was barely able to get the door without passing out, it taking almost 5 minutes. She reached for the door handle to answer the door.