Vash awakens early in the morning to his abdomen on fire.
He barely manages a gasp as waves of pain leave him paralyzed in bed. While trying to control his breathing, he feels a sticky sensation between his legs. He lifts the bedsheet with a shaking hand to find a red mess below.
Now he knows why he was getting pangs in his middle for days prior. He’s menstruating.
Vash lets go of the sheet and lies in bed to figure out how to fix this predicament. He doesn’t want to get up when he can barely move, the cramps leaving him breathless. The blood will stain the sheets, the same sheets Melanie gave him when he decided to stay at the orphanage for an extended amount of time that's slowly turning into a permanent stay. He needs to clean the sheets before the mess turns into a permanent stain. It may be too late but that doesn't mean Vash won't try. His clothes will stain too, though that's less important.
Vash braces himself on his elbows and lifts his upper body, huffing as he sits upright. The uncomfortable mess between his legs becomes more obvious when he shifts. He grimaces. It will take a lot of effort to clean up when all he wants to do is curl up and lie in bed.
He reaches for his prosthetic resting on the nightstand and attaches it easily enough. Then he slides his legs to the edge of the bed, stilling when a cramp hits him before gingerly standing up on shaky legs. Shuffling towards the dresser, he grabs clean clothes and heads to the bathroom. The pain leaves him taking off his clothes at a slow pace, making it onerous for such a simple task. He drops his clothes on the floor to be dealt with later. By the end of it, Vash is left panting and holding himself up by the sink counter while naked.
Now he needs to wash the residue off his skin.
After his short break to gather his remaining strength, Vash takes a few steps towards the shower stall. He opens the door and steps inside. With a hand braced on the wall, he turns on the facet and frigid water rains down on him. The pain makes him easily ignore the coldness. He soaps up a shower scrub to clean his lower body fast before the pain becomes too much again. Within seconds he puts the scrub away, turns off the facet, and steps out of the shower stall to sit on the toilet before his legs give out. He sits there for a couple of minutes with his head in his hands, letting out stangled breaths, waiting for the nausea and dizziness to go away.
The leftover water on his skin makes him shiver so he reaches for the towel next to the sink to dry his body off. Next, he grabs his clean clothes left on the counter and pulls them on, not without lining his briefs with layers of toilet paper. It’s the best he can do for now.
Vash grits his teeth at how much he’s out of his depth here. He only had to deal with this once a year and for three days at most. He guesses that having a normal and relaxed lifestyle that doesn’t involve him running constantly is going to make this situation a regular occurrence.
Cleaned and feeling less gross, he leaves the bathroom with his soiled clothes in hand to gauge the damage he made on his bedsheets. He has to clean them.
Vash takes off the bedsheets, bundling them up in his arms along with his clothes before leaving the bedroom. He trudges across the orphanage to head for the laundry room, leaning against the walls at times when he needs to catch his breath. Reaching the laundry room, Vash unceremoniously drops the sheets in the sink basin. He plugs the drain and turns on the facet. While the water fills up the sink, Vash heads to the kitchen for something that will take care of the burning pain. He opens the medicine cabinet to find a bunch of bottles for different ailments. Grabbing one labelled for pain relief, he drops a pill into his hand and places it in his mouth to swallow it dry. Hopefully, it doesn’t take long to work its magic.
Vash heads back to the laundry room. The water has filled a third of the way so he turns the facet off and pours soap into the sink. He starts scrubbing the stains off the sheets.
The dark stains, of course, won’t come off.
His bitterness amplifies the cramps, making him lean over the sink to hang his head. He’s exhausted, he’s upset, and he’s ruined the sheets Miss Melanie gave him. If he had known this would happen and had noticed his symptoms, this could’ve all been avoided. The pain and frustration make him squeeze out a few tears. No one's awake so he doesn't have to hide.
Right on cue, he hears footsteps approaching and freezes. He can only hold his breath until the steps stop right outside the laundry room. He looks up with water still in his eyes.
It's Miss Melanie.
He must look awful since she hides her surprise with concern as she soaks in his sorry state. Her eyes land on the blood-stained sheets in the basin. His eyes also land on the sheets but with shame.
“Vash dear, are you hurt?” Melanie asks.
Right, she doesn't know. No one knows, except maybe Wolfwood.
“No, it’s—” He can't hide this nor the pain making him hunch over the basin. “Something else,” he mumbles.
Only the sound of his laboured breathing fills the silence.
Melanie stands next to him. She gently holds his flesh wrist and pulls the rest of his hand out of the murky water. “I’ll take care of this,” she murmurs. “You need to rest.”
Vash frowns down at the water. “But I—”
The same hand that held his wrist rises to pet his damp hair away from his face. “You’re not well,” Melanie says sternly but not without kindness. “Let me help.”
Melanie moves Vash away from the sink, guiding him out of the laundry room with a hand on his back. He cringes when the water on his hands drips to the floor but Melanie pays no mind to it. Melanie brings him to the kitchen and sets him down on a chair, leaving him for a moment to grab a bottle from the medicine cabinet and fill a glass with water. Then she searches for a bottle of antiseptic and a cloth before setting the supplies on the table next to him. Melanie damps the cloth with the sanitizer. Vash startles when she kneels in front of him. Before Vash can object to how she doesn’t need to do all this for him Melanie cuts him off.
“Hold out your hands,” Melanie instructs.
Vash does what he’s told and Melanie wipes his hands clean. She leaves the cloth on the table once she’s done and picks up the bottle of pills. She takes one out.
“I took one earlier,” Vash rasps.
“Was it this one?”
Looking at the bottle, no, he took a different painkill. Vash shakes his head.
“This one is specially made for cramps,” Melanie says with a smile. She places the pill in his hands. “You’ll feel better sooner with this one.”
Vash swallows the pill with the help of a glass of water. Melanie leaves his side again, opening a cabinet at the far end of the kitchen. She grabs two small packages and sets them on the table beside the bottle.
“I don’t think I gave you these.”
It’s packages of sanitary napkins.
Vash flushes in embarrassment. Those would help a lot.
Melanie places her hand on her shoulder. “Wait here while I put on clean sheets for you.” She leaves him alone in the kitchen.
Vash sits in silence. He glances at the package Melanie gave him and decides to make a trip to the nearby bathroom with an arm around his middle. By the time he’s shuffling back to his seat, Melanie is already back holding the supplies he needs.
Melanie motions with a tilt of her head. “Come with me.”
Vash follows her with slower footsteps. She slows to follow his pace next to him, not wanting to leave him behind. Vash tries to pick up the pace but he’s exhausted and drained from the cramps. Entering his room, he sees fresh sheets accompanied by more pillows neatly made on the bed. A weight comes off Vash’s shoulders at the sight.
Melanie places the supplies on the nightstand before turning towards him. “Get some rest. I’ll make you something once you’ve rested.”
Vash hangs his head. Fresh tears line his eyes. “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me, dear.” Melanie holds his hands. “Take a pill every few hours, okay? And let me know if you need help with anything.”
Vash nods and Melanie takes her leave, quietly closing the door behind her.
Vash climbs into his freshly made bed, removing his prosthetic and dragging the sheets up to his chin. He feels much better than when he woke up a while ago. The painkillers are kicking in, turning the cramps into a dull ache rather than a sharp one, allowing to Vash shut his eyes for rest. The exhaustion pulls him into a deep sleep within minutes.
Vash wakes up hours later when the suns have risen further in the sky. It’s almost noon. There’s still a dull ache in his abdomen but nothing like earlier. He crawls to the left side of the bed to take another pose of medicine. When he places the glass of water down, there’s a knock on the door. “Come in!”
Miss Melanie pokes her head in with a tray in hand and a bowl sitting on top. “Good morning, dear! I made soup that’ll give you some energy.” She sets the tray on the nightstand.
“You didn’t have to,” Vash stutters. He could’ve gotten out of bed and grabbed it from the kitchen.
Melanie shakes her head. “It’s no problem for me and you need to stay in bed,” she scolds with a light tone. “You must be hungry.”
With the pain not weighing him down, Vash’s stomach growls at the prospect of food.
Melanie sets the tray over Vash, its legs resting on either side of his thighs. Vash holds the spoon placed beside the bowl and tastes the soup. The vegetables and broth fill his mouth before he swallows it. The soup tastes amazing as expected from Miss Melanie’s cooking skills.
“It’s really good,” Vash compliments.
Melanie smiles as she sits on the bed next to him. “I’m glad you like it.”
They chitchat as Vash digs into the soup.
“Nicholas is worried about you,” Melanie tells him.
Ah, right. Vash is surprised Wolfwood hasn’t barged into his room yet since he didn’t show up for breakfast.
Melanie sees the pensive look on his face. “I held him off for now.” She winks. “But I can’t promise I’ll be able to hold him back for long.”
Vash chuckles. “Thanks.”
Once he’s done eating, Melanie grabs the tray. Before she leaves, she reminds him to get lots of sleep and that she’ll be back to bring him lunch and dinner. Vash lies back done on the bed. With nothing better to do, Vash closes his eyes to get some rest as told, hoping it will make his period pass faster.
The day passes without incident. Vash sleeps for most of the day, taking painkillers every couple of hours while Miss Melanie brings him food. He ends up reading late into the night, not tired enough to fall asleep until the moons are high up in the sky. He puts the book away once fatigue clouds his vision, turning off the nightlight before falling asleep within minutes, his last dose of medicine for the day forgotten.
Vash wakes up with a pounding headache and an equally painful abdomen. He grips the sheets and squeezes his eyes shut—he overslept and forgot to take his meds before falling asleep.
Vash writhes, breathing hard as he thinks about how to resolve this dilemma. The pills are on his left side and he stupidly left his prosthetic beside it too where he can’t reach. Vash groans in pain and annoyance.
By some miracle, there’s a knock on the door before it opens. Melanie has great timing.
“Good morning Miss Melanie, can you pass me the bottle?” Vash croaks.
Melanie’s footsteps approach the bed. There’s a sound of the pills rustling as she picks them up and a heavy weight sits on the bed next to him.
“Thank you—” Opening his eyes to grab the bottle, Vash looks up to see Wolfwood staring at him with a frown. He gapes.
“What’re you doing here?” Vash wheezes, almost dropping the bottle onto himself.
Wolfwood raises a brow. “What, didn’t expect me to visit you while you’re not well? You never get sick so I had to see what got you down for the count.”
Vash puts on a strained smile. “Ah, nothing special.”
Wolfwood frown deepens at his words. Vash looks away from that look to pour a pill into his hand and place it on his tongue. Wolfwood hands over the glass of water and Vash takes it, sitting up to swallow the water along with the pill. Before putting the bottle away on his right side, the label on it catches his eye.
Menstrual pain relief.
Well if Wolfwood didn’t know before now he does, or maybe he didn’t bother reading the label. Knowing Wolfwood though, who’s too observant and meticulous for Vash to hide anything from him, he did.
Vash puts the bottle and water on the nightstand to his right. He shifts to lie down and oh—he needs to go to the bathroom.
He braces himself on his arm as he sits up. “Can you pass me my arm?”
Wolfwood wordlessly picks up his arm and attaches it for him with a click. Vash was going to do that himself but at this point, he’ll take any help without complaint. He slides his legs to the edge of the bed.
“Where’re you going?” Wolfwood questions behind him.
“I need to go to the bathroom,” Vash grits as he stands up.
Vash makes a great show of hiding his pain as he walks to the bathroom, keeping his stride and breath even. When shuts the door, he inhales gulps of air. He can do this.
Vash grabs a sanctuary pad and makes quick work of replacing the old one with the new one, all the while his head spins and his body protests with an intense cramp. When he opens the door, Vash reaches close to his limit. He grips the door frame, the only thing that’s holding him up as he slumps against it. He raises a hand to his forehead, the prosthetic cooling his burning skin. His body hurts too much.
He hears Wolfwood call him before he’s lifted within seconds and carried to bed. Wolfwood drapes the bedsheets over him and feels the temperature on his forehead.
Wolfwood clicks his tongue. “You're running hot.”
Vash rolls his head to the side and groans pitifully. “Head hurts.”
Wolfwood ponders for a second before he leaves. Vash closes his eyes and waits for the painkiller to give him relief, however long that’ll take.
Something cool covers his head and eyelids and he lets out a questioning noise. Before he lifts a weak hand to touch it, Wolfwood’s voice stops him.
“It’s just a cold cloth.”
Vash welcomes the small relief and gesture.
Somehow, he dozes off and wakes up with a lot less pain bearing down on him. Peaking his eyes open, he sees Wolfwood at the corner of his vision. He looks further down to see him reading one of his books. Vash closes his eyes again to take a longer moment to discern his surroundings: he’s tucked into Wolfwood’s right side with his face against the other's hip. The now-warm cloth still sticks to his forehead.
A hand on his head brings him out of his thoughts as Wolfwood mindlessly cards his fingers into his hair. Vash lies very still until the hand leaves. He waits a few more minutes before opening his eyes again.
This time Wolfwood notices his gaze. “Feeling better?”
Vash slowly sits up, the cloth falling into his lap. “Yeah. Thanks.”
He leaves the cloth on the nightstand and zones out for a few seconds. The nap and pain left him disoriented. Vash jumps when Wolfwood holds out a bowl in front of him.
“Melanie brought you these. She said it’ll give you some energy,” Wolfwood explains.
Vash holds the bowl that contains dried fruit. There are raisins, dates and apricots. Vash picks up a raisin and nibbles on it. Wolfwood lets him eat in peace, turning back to the book he was reading. Vash eats the fruit within minutes.
Wolfwood takes the bowl and leaves it on the nightstand before going back to the book. Vash stares at him, waiting for him to leave. Wolfwood doesn’t need to look up to notice his gaze on him.
“What?”
Vash picks at the bedsheets. “Aren’t you going?”
Wolfwood continues reading. “I got nothing else to do today.”
“You don’t have to stay,”
“Somebody’s gotta keep you company.”
“I’m not going to be much company while sleeping.” The pain earlier zapped all of his energy.
“That’s okay,” Wolfwood answers easily. Then, he puts the book down to look at him. “Do you want me to stay?”
Vash bites his lip. He wouldn’t mind Wolfwood’s company but he’s not going to get anything but grumpy and tired vibes from him.
“Sure.” The closest yes he’ll give.
Wolfwood takes it as a yes. With Wolfwood preoccupied, Vash curls up on his side with his back facing him. It takes him a while for him to relax enough to doze off with Wolfwood a few inches away from him but he manages. He doesn’t completely pass out, vaguely hearing Wolfwood leave the room for a few minutes before the bed dips again when he returns. Soon a scraping sound fills the room. Vash doesn’t question it, electing to stay in his half-dozing state as the sound fades into white noise.
Vash doesn’t know how much time passes before there’s a hand carding through his hair.
“Spikey.”
Vash hums. He doesn’t move.
“You gotta eat something.”
Vash grunts as he turns to lie on his back. He sits up with a slouch and looks over at Wolfwood who presents him a plate with toast with jam and a variety of nuts. Vash takes the plate and chews on a piece of toast. The familiar scraping picks up and Vash turns to see Wolfwood carving a piece of wood that’s somewhat shaped into a thoma. Wood flakes fall into the cloth he has on his lap.
“Are you gonna eat?” Vash asks.
“I already did while you were sleeping.”
Vash watches him curve the wood as he eats. When he finishes, Wolfwood takes it from him and places it off to the side while he takes a dose of medicine. Instead of lying back down, Vash leans back to rest against the headboard and stares at Wolfwood as he carves. “What’re you making?”
Wolfwood holds up the wooden thoma. “Some toys for the kids. Should’ve gone with something simpler than this.” He turns it around to show off its jagged edges.
“I think it looks good so far.”
“Took a few tries to get to this little guy,” Wolfwood hums.
Vash watches him smooth out the hard edges of the toy with a knife before turning to look at Wolfwood’s face, then inching down at his shoulder. He decides to move closer, leaning his head down on Wolfwood’s shoulder to watch the wood carving. Wolfwood answers by shifting to make his shoulder more comfortable to lean on. They sit in cozy silence, only breaking when Wolfwood provides commentary on his task and Vash makes small noises as responses.
Dinner approaches and Vash thinks he’s well enough to join everyone at the table.
“Are you sure?” Wolfwood asks.
Vash smiles. “Yeah, it’ll just be for a little while.” He doesn’t want to worry the kids too much.
Wolfwood is right next to him as they head to the kitchen and when he’s attacked by kids at all fronts, asking him if he’s okay. Vash placates them easily with a smile and a pat on their heads.
Before Vash can help Melanie and Livio with the cooking, Wolfwood wrangles him to sit at the table and entertain the kids instead. Vash doesn’t put up much of a fight. After dinner, everyone heads to the living room where the kids set up a board game. Vash sits next to Wolfwood on one of the couches to watch the game unfold. Livio joins in on the fun and Wolfwood provides tips on how to win. Miss Melanie looks on with a smile as she relaxes in a sofa chair.
Before the game finishes, Vash is nodding off on Wolfwood’s shoulder. Interacting with everyone has him exhausted, staying longer than just a little while. Wolfwood notices and excuses themselves for the night, accompanying Vash to his room.
Before Wolfwood can grab his carving things and leave, Vash’s voice stops him.
“You can stay and finish your carving,” Vash suggests, willing away the red on his face.
Wolfwood grins. “Sure thing.”
After a trip to the bathroom and taking a dose of painkillers, Vash attempts to fall asleep while Wolfwood returns to his carving. Lying on his back leaves him restless, moving his limbs this way and that so he lies on his side. That becomes uncomfortable too. He tosses and turns before huffing and facing Wolfwood. Vash squints at him before shuffling closer and pressing his face into his side.
Wolfwood rests a hand on top of his head. “Can’t sleep?’
Vash shakes his head.
Wolfwood puts the wood and utensils to the side and slides down the bed to Vash’s height. He turns off the nightlight before wrapping an arm around Vash and the other under his head. “This better?”
Vash buries his face into Wolfwood’s neck. “Yeah and thank you. For the company I mean,” he whispers.
Wolfwood hums in acknowledgment, settling comfortably next to him. It doesn’t take long for Vash to fall asleep to Wolfwood trailing his fingers down his back.
Wolfwood stays by his side for the rest of the next week until he’s better.