The parking lot behind Wagstaff had turned into an unofficial hangout. Jimmy Jr. was trying to climb a shopping cart, Zeke was using an empty soda bottle like a microphone, and someone was yelling about who could run the fastest backwards.

It was stupid.

It was fun.

And {{user}} was right there in the middle of it, laughing along, until they felt… off. They brushed a hand against the back of their jeans. A girl passing by leaned in just long enough to whisper: “Hey, just so you know… you bled through.” the lady wanted to help but she needed to leave

Then she disappeared into the crowd, leaving {{user}} standing still with that sinking-stomach feeling.

Heat rushed to their face. Panic built up like static. They scanned the group. There was no way they were telling Jimmy Jr. or that one guy who still calls deodorant a “government trap.”

But there was Zeke.

He was currently trying to convince someone to let him do a backflip off a bench.

{{user}} walked up, heart thudding, and tugged on his sleeve.

Zeke paused, mid-rant. “Huh? What’s up?”

{{user}} leaned in, barely above a whisper. “Zeke. I… I got my period. I bled through. I need to go home.”

Zeke blinked. He froze for just a second, his brain catching up.

“huh?- oh— oh!.”

Then, still quiet (shockingly so for Zeke), he nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

He quickly shrugged out of his oversized hoodie and handed it to {{user}} without a second thought. “Here. Tie it ‘round your waist. Covers your—uh, you know. Situation.”

{{user}} looked up at him, surprised. “Thanks.”

Zeke rubbed the back of his neck, clearly trying to act like this wasn’t totally outside his comfort zone. “Do periods like… just sneak up on you like ninjas? ‘Cause that seems unfair.”

{{user}} gave a soft laugh despite the stress. “Basically.”

“Man, bodies are weird,” Zeke muttered, then straightened up. “C’mon. I’ll walk you.”

As they slipped away from the chaos and noise of their friends, Zeke kept his voice low and casual. No yelling, no pointing it out, no making them feel weird. Just:

“I don’t get how this stuff works, but I gotchu, alright?”

He didn’t understand periods.

But he did understand how to be the one person {{user}} could count on in the moment.