For DaneetheRockstar <33
First of all, trans mass. Second, if I have absolutely horrid cramps then he does too.
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Cali woke up early this morning for once. Well, maybe not early, its nearly 10 o'clock but this weekend nearly everyone had been out late at night. As far as he can tell, he's the first one awake.
The sleepy state stretches before heading down to the kitchen, he needs breakfast. Yogurt sounds good, last time he checked they still had a tub left. Cali gets downstairs and is about to make his food when he hears a soft groan from the living room.
Well that can't be anything good.
He hesitantly walks away from his still empty bowl on the counter and peaks his head around the corner. Someone's laying on the couch, curled up in fetal position and facing the couch's back. All he can see is that they're still in a pair of fluffy pajama pants and an old looking T-shirt, and that their mop of hair is a tangled mess, so they probably just got up. The concerning bit, and what makes him walk over to the couch, is the very audibly labored breathing along with occasional quiet whimpers and moans.
Once Cali gets closer he can recognize the mystery state as Mass. Mass, who's never out in the house wearing pajamas, Mass who hates being in the living room around this time of day because of how many people show up, Mass who should be holding a cup of Dunkin's coffee by now. That Mass is curled up on the couch in a little ball, at 10am, sounding to be in some kind of pain. "...Massachusetts? Are you okay?"
"Mm," Mass didn't move from his spot or answer the question, only slightly humming to acknowledge Cali being there. Why wasn't he being told to fuck off? What kind of witchcraft is this? Is Mass dying?
Taking that as a bad sign, he sits next to the smaller state, first checking Mass' temperature with a hand to his forehead. "Well, you don't have a fever." He feels fine, slightly cold if anything but Cali runs hot so its probably just the heat difference in climates.
Mass huffs, "I know that," his voice sounds strained and there was a lack of an insult at the end of that statement. Cali is officially concerned.
"Then what's wrong? You don't look or sound too good."
"Its just cramps, 'm fine." He is not fine, he feels like he's dying. Luckily, Cali doesn't believe him for a second, though he does miss the mark just a bit, "You are not fine, and what do you mean 'just cramps' what were you doing that would make you cramp this bad?"
Oh yeah, no one knows. Hm, well, he'd certainly care more if he wasn't suffering but seeing as he is, in fact, suffering, outing himself isn't something he can manage to give a fuck about. He's only closeted because he doesn't want the annoying bastards to know any more private information on him than necessary, he's not worried about how anyone would react, seeing as their opinions don't mean shit. It'll be fine.
"No, period cramps."
Cali takes about two seconds to process that information before it clicks, "oh,"
When it does, he quickly decides he's not gonna bug Mass about it and use this newfound knowledge to help.
"Can you move?"
Mass sighs, "No."
"Okay, just give me a second, I'll be right back." With that, Cali gets up off the couch and disappears through the door. Mass sighs again and tries to relax on the couch before immediately tensing back up and curling up even more, relaxing is moving and that is not fun at the moment. It feels like someone's stabbed him and twisted the knife, he knows logically that he'll be fine but this is probably what dying feels like.
Cali is getting the heat pad from the hall closet, it's filled with some sort of beads or rice. He goes back to the kitchen and puts it in the microwave to heat up. Okay, he has the internet and he could ask Mass but he doesn't know much about how to help here and he has a feeling mass doesn't wanna talk right now. Who could help... if Mass even wants help, but Cali hasn't been cursed out yet so wanted or not, Mass probably needs help.
Interrupting his thinking, the front door opens and in walks Maryland, a bag of donuts and a cup of coffee in hand, both with the Dunkin logo. He goes right past Cali and sets the coffee on the counter, for when Mass wakes up, and sits down on a stool to enjoy his pastries. Cali clears his throat to get Mary's attention.
"W'at?" The state's mouth is full but that's not gonna stop him from answering.
"Can you- just- go peak into the living room, please."
Mary raises an eyebrow but does so anyways, seeing mass, who still hasn't moved from where he's curled up on the couch. He goes back to the kitchen, now very worried. "What's wrong with him?"
"Uhh," Is he allowed to answer that? Mass didn't say.. anything, really. "One second." Cali grabs the heat pad out of the microwave that beeped a short while ago and rushes to Mass, leaving Mary standing in the kitchen as a very confused crab man.
Cali sits down and hands Mass the pad, who snatches it and briefly stretches out to situate it against his stomach before re-curling up around it. He sighs in relief, still hurts but slightly better is still better, "Thanks."
"No problem," Cali smiles, "So, Mary is in the kitchen, he wants to know what's up. What do I-"
Mass cuts Cali off, "Tell him to come in here." Mary is- good. He wants Mary.
Cali does just that, coming back as soon as he left, flag covered state in tow. As soon as they get there Mary sits next to Mass and is barely holding back from checking him over and smothering him, he can't do that yet, he needs to know what's wrong first. So far, what he does know is that Mass looks like shit. "You look horrible hon,"
"Wow thanks, so kind."
Mary snickers, "Well, at least you're okay enough for sarcasm. What's wrong?"
"Well- y'know, I'm not sure where to even begin, why can't we talk about this later." Mass has 99 problems and lacking skill in avoiding questions isn't one.
"Massachusetts."
He groans and decides telling Mary might be for the best, "Fine. Period cramps are a bitch, I came out here earlier to watch tv, cramps kicked in bad enough that I couldn't get up, I've been suck here since."
"Oh hon," Mary scoots closer and pulls Mass into his arms, careful while moving him to not make anything worse. He situates the coffee bean half in his lap and tucked against his side, trapped there in a hug. Mass huffs but otherwise accepts his fate without a complaint, electing to just lean against Mary and rest his head on the other's chest.
Mary thinks over Mass' explanation before coming to another concern, "When did you say ya got down here?"
"...This morning?"
"Hon, it's still morning. How long were you stuck here?"
Mass mumbles an answer, he's not one to admit to a weakness and in his opinion this is more embarrassing than a reason for anyone to possibly worry. "Hm? Couldn't hear that Mass."
"5am."
Mary stares at Mass, "You've been here for 5 hours?"
"Well, I was almost able to sleep for most of it and- what. Why are you looking at me like th-" He's cut off by Mary squeezing the hug tighter. Cali however, who's been sitting quietly on the arm of the couch on Mass' other side, finally speaks up. "Have you eaten anything?"
He sighs, "No, I want to but food smells nauseating right now and nothing is edible."
"Would you try to eat if I got something?"
"Sure."
With that, Cali hops up and goes to the kitchen, quickly pulling out his phone and rummaging through the fridge. A short while later he comes back with a bowl and spoon which he hands to Mass. The contents of the bowl don't have any specific strong smell and look like a thick, slightly yellow-white goop with tiny brown speckles. He pokes a it with the spoon, "What's this?"
"Greek yogurt with some honey and cinnamon. I make it for breakfast sometimes and google said the calcium is good for helping with cramps, it shouldn't be too hard to eat either but if you don't like it we can try something else."
Mass hums and tries a small spoonful. It's surprisingly really good and once he realizes it's not gonna make him throw up he's suddenly much more aware of how hungry he is. The bowl is empty in less than five minutes.
When he finishes eating he hands the bowl back to Cali, who sets it down on the coffee table, "So, you liked it?"
"It wasn't bad."
Mary pokes him in the shoulder, "Don't be an ass."
Mass snorts and replies in the driest sarcastic tone possible, "I'm an absolute ray of sunshine, what are you talking about." He flops back against Cali, who's sitting right next to them. Now his top half is leaning against Cal while he remained sitting on Mary's lap, turned at an angle. Cali is not used to the affection in the slightest and will quietly panic but he's not complaining, cuddles are nice and Mass is relatively nice to him so there isn't an issue to be had.
They settle into a peaceful silence, Mary and Cali deciding to themselves that they can freak out about this later, not wanting to disturb the moment with any gay panicking. Mass' cramps have eased up and now that he's eaten all he can feel is tired. He drifts off to sleep, subconsciously snuggling closer to the warmer states, and they quickly follow.
If anyone else woke up and came into the living room then they didn't mention it. Simply leaving the sleepy states to rest and too scared of pissing off Mass to really tease anyone over the matter.