𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓 // 𝐦𝐮𝐟𝐜 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬

✗ 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐌𝐄 [ 𝐬𝐦 ]

IT WAS DARK AS SCOTT stumbled out of bed, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He should have been asleep, considering he knew he had an early practice in the morning, but as he turned over to feel the bed beside him being cold, he quite simply couldn't. As he moved through the hallway, he noticed how the bathroom door was slightly ajar, the dimmed down light shining into the hallway, and bouncing off the otherwise plain and now dark walls.

"Are you coming back to bed?" He yawned, gently knocking on the door. Scott knew better than to just walk in when someone was in the bathroom, but he did have an odd feeling about her going to the bathroom with the door open. "Dawn, are you alright?" Peeking into the room, he noticed his girlfriend hunched together against the tile–wall, clutching a balled up towel to her stomach. "Hey, Dawn — what's going on?" Scott spoke gently, entering the room before crouching down in front of her.

"Period cramps." Dawn groaned in response, visibly in pain as another cramp hit. Truth was, Scott knew how painful a cramp was, though he could never wrap his head around the discomfort and pain a period cramp brought. Dawn, on the other hand, was not new when it came to the field of period cramps. She had been experiencing them quite a bit, though it had never seemed to be a regular thing. However, it was uncomfortable, to say the least, and she had lost a lot of sleep over it.

Scott released a deep breath as he sat down, shivering as the tile–floor touched the bare skin of his thighs ( after all, he had assumed he would be able to head back to bed, and had not put on anything more than the boxer–shorts he was already wearing ). Gently, he moved her so she was laying with her head in his lap. "What can I do to make it better?"

               Dawn looked at him, before shaking her head a little. "No, Scott, you have an early practice, I can work this out by myself. It's nothing I haven't done before—,"

               "No." Scott replied shortly, cutting Dawn off. "I am not going back to bed. Sure, I've got an early practice, but do you really think I'll be able to sleep knowing you're in here, in pain?" The Scotsman raised an eyebrow as he looked at her, gently moving the hair out of her face. "Now, I'll ask you again — what can I do to make it better? Sing? Dance? Get you something to eat, to drink? I don't think there's a lot of stores open at this hour, but you know, I can make something work with the always–open gas station down the street."

"I'm going to ask you to go on the tricky mission to retrieve my pills for period cramps, which are located in our little medical–basket." Dawn chuckled lightly, her eyes following the footballer as he shuffled out from underneath her, finding the tray of pills in their box. He cracked one out, leaving it on the edge of the sink when vanishing.

Shortly after, he returned with a glass of water and a banana, handing them, along with the pill, to Dawn. "It says on the box you should take this kind of pill with food." Scott offered quietly, making Dawn smile as she sat up. Within seconds, she had swallowed the pill and eaten the banana, leaning back against the wall. Scott took the same seconds to fetch some clothes for the two of them, returning dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. For her, he had brought another one of his hoodies, along with the same pair of sweatpants that he remembered she had worn the night before.

                "Here you go." Scott smiled, sitting down next to her again. "How long does it take for the pill to work?"

                 "Considering I more or less ' allowed ' it to get this bad, it might take a while longer for it to work." Dawn sighed, resting her head against his shoulder, still clutching the curled up towel to the lower region of her stomach. Scott understood why she held it there; to keep the pressure on there. He also noticed how she was trying her best to control her breaths during a wave of cramps, something he recognized from whenever he had cramps himself. Hell, it hadn't been many weeks before this night, that he had been substituted off during a match due to stomach cramps, and though his would never be as bad as Dawn's ( or any girl who experienced period cramps ).

They sat there like that for a while — Scott hadn't brought his phone, and his wrist–watch was placed on the bedside–table in the couple's shared bedroom, so he had no chance of checking the time. After a while, he came to the understanding that Dawn's cramps seemed to come to an end, as her grip around the towel loosened. Shortly after, he heard light snores, realizing she had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder. Carefully, he moved around, picking her up, making sure her head was still resting against his body as he carried her back to bed.

Scott knew he would be incredibly tired in the morning, when he had to leave for practice, but he knew it would be worth it. Quite like he had said to Dawn, he would not be able to sleep in the bed alone, if he knew she was in the bathroom, curled up and in pain as she fought the cramps. Therefore, he knew even better how he had to make it all worth it as he snuggled up close to her underneath the covers in their bed, his nose buried deep in the crook of her neck, slowly sinking back into a peaceful slumber.