Work Text:
“Omi-kun.”
Sakusa shifted, sighing slightly as he turned his head towards the voice without opening his eyes. “Hmm?”
“Omi-kun, I need your help.”
He cracked an eye open and in the dimness of the bedroom, he saw Izumi hunched over by the bed. She looked embarrassed and maybe a little scared. "Okay," he grunted. "I'm coming," he said. "Roll off me. You're heavy," he grumbled at Atsumu, who was laying across his back.
“Dun wanna,” Atsumu slurred from where his face was pressed against Sakusa’s shoulder blade. Though he still huffed and rolled onto his side so he wasn’t pressing Sakusa into the mattress anymore.
Sakusa heaved himself out of the bed, swinging his legs over the side and ever grateful that he and Atsumu got into the habit of never going to sleep naked. He stood and tossed their flimsy blanket back over Atsumu before shuffling towards the dresser for a pair of sweatpants. "Alright, what did you need?" He asked, following an impatient Izumi out of the bedroom.
She was silent for a long time once the bedroom door was shut and they were just standing in the middle of the hallway, the stifling summer heat making sweat drip down his back almost instantly after leaving the cool temperature-controlled bedroom. Izumi was definitely in the middle of getting ready for school, she was halfway into her school uniform, but she was still wearing her pyjama bottoms. “Um…” She hesitated, but Sakusa just leaned against the door frame and waited for her to feel comfortable. He was still a little surprised that he was dragged out of the bed instead of her actual father. Though, he’d been a parent to her for 9 years now, since she was 3, so he would never shirk the responsibilities. “You’re trans, right?”
Sakusa raised an eyebrow, mostly because this wasn’t new information. As soon as Izumi was old enough to start asking questions, they were open with her about why she had two dads and why her father’s boyfriend used to be a women’s volleyball player. “Yes,” he said patiently. He was desperately hoping that she wasn't about to start asking how he knew he was trans and thinking that she was. Not because he would be upset if she were trans, but because he was all too familiar with the prejudice and he didn't want to watch her go through the same pain he went through.
“So. Um… do you still get your period?”
Oh. He hadn’t thought much about it, but Izumi was about that age. “I do sometimes, though my testosterone injections make them infrequent. Did you start yours?” He asked, pushing himself off the wall and leading her towards the bathroom as she nodded. “It’s nothing for you to be embarrassed about,” he reminded her, “and even if I hadn’t been home, your dad knows what to do. He’d never make fun of you for it.”
Izumi nodded silently and watched as Sakusa opened the cabinet under the sink and pulled out a basket. “But… I don’t know how to use the… stuff. I don’t wanna ask daddy how to use them.”
“Ah.” Sakusa hummed. “Well, I can go over it with you, but there are instructions in the box if you forget. Plus, the internet probably has a ton of information on it. Though admittedly I’m a little old and way past the age of having to look up this particular thing.” He chuckled. He pulled a few boxes out and lined them up on the counter. “It’s probably going to be a little overwhelming at first, but trust me, you’ll get the hang of it. And you can use anything in this basket as long as you let me know if you empty a box. The last thing either of us needs is to start bleeding without the materials.” She nodded and Sakusa went through the differences between the sizes of pads and tampons and the different shapes. “If you run out at school you can ask a teacher or the nurse, it’s nothing they haven’t dealt with. And if you run out in public, at a restaurant or something you can make one out of toilet paper like this.” He showed her how to wrap it up in a crude replication of a pad.
She looked a little lost, but Sakusa wasn’t surprised. It was a lot of information to take in. “Last thing,” he said, “tampons.” He watched her flush a little. “I know, they’re weird. But, they make sports more comfortable and they don’t… squish…. When you sit,” he said, grimacing at his own phrasing. “They take some getting used to with how to uh, get them up there and I am going to show you how, but you have to promise me something.”
“What?”
“Tampons can make you really sick if you aren't careful with them. I want you to never sleep with one in. Take it out before bed and wear a pad. And never wear it for more than four hours. Six if you really can't change it, but never longer." He kept steady eye contact, wanting to really hammer home the point that tampons, while convenient were dangerous. "Pads can sometimes cause an infection if you don't change them often enough, but trust me, I doubt that at any point you're going to be leaving a pad on for too long. They're gross. But tampons can hospitalize you because they keep all those dead skin cells inside your body until you take the tampon out."
She swallowed hard and nodded. “Okay. I promise,” she said, eyeing the tampons distrustfully. “I don’t think I need the tampons.”
Sakusa chuckled. “Maybe not, but let me show you how to use it in case you change your mind. I came from a family where my mom didn’t have this talk with me and I spent years putting these in wrong and it was so uncomfortable,” he huffed. Sakusa unwrapped one of the tampons holding up the pink applicator and showing Izumi, who looked very red in the face. “This is what it looks like.” He flicked the hard plastic, “This is an applicator. Not all tampons come with this, but don’t worry, one step at a time. This,” he pointed to the string, “is going to hang out of you once the tampon is situated and the actual tampon is inside this plastic.”
Izumi nodded, following along so far.
Sakusa made a loose fist. "Pretend this hole is your vagina," he said, inserting the applicator into his fist. "You just push the applicator in like this until just the grip sticks out, then push this little handle in." As he pushed the tampon came out of the applicator, visible poking through the top of his closed fist. "Then, once you can't push the handle in anymore, you pull the applicator out." He did just that. "Then just make sure this string is tucked into your underwear and not hanging out and you're done."
“This is the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever witnessed,” Izumi mumbled, “And you’ve seen my dad.”
Sakusa chuckled and smiled. “Yeah I know. But wouldn’t you rather know?” He dropped the applicator in the trash can and held just the tampon in his hand. “If the tampon doesn’t come with an applicator, you just push the cotton bullet up there, but you have to use your fingers to push it up further otherwise the second you sneeze your going to feel it trying to push out and that, my dear, is very uncomfortable.”
He packed everything back into the basket and left it on the counter. “I’ll leave you to finish getting ready for school, any more questions?”
Izumi looked at the basket and shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.”
Sakusa left her alone in the bathroom to finish getting dressed for school and went to the kitchen to make her some tea to bring with her to school. He also pulled her bento out of the fridge and microwaved her some miso soup for breakfast.
When Izumi reappeared, she was still looking a little flustered, but she sat down at the counter and took a deep breath. “Itadakimasu,” she mumbled, taking the bowl of soup happily.
“Izzi," Sakusa said, waiting for her to look at him, he slid one little orange pill across the counter on a napkin. "This is a pain killer, there are some in the basket in the bathroom too. I'm giving it to you to help with your cramps and the general discomfort that comes with this time of the month, but only ever take one, okay? And if you're at home there are other things we can do to help alleviate the pain."
“Thank you, Omi,” she said softly, taking the pill and swallowing it down with a little bit of tea.
"Alright, any more questions about periods?" Izumi shook her head. "Cool, I'm going back to sleep," he said, though he leaned forward and kissed her on the top of her head. "Have a good day at school. I love you."
She smiled. “Hey Omi?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t tell daddy?” She asked softly.
Sakusa softened. “Oh honey, I’m definitely telling your dad, but I’m not going to go into all the details, okay? He needs to know though because if I’m not around you are going to have to turn towards him if you need help.”
She looked pouty as she poked around at her miso. “Fine… I love you too.”
Sakusa crawled his way back into the bed, draping himself across Atsumu’s shoulders.
“Wha’d she need?” Atsumu grumbled, not moving despite the additional weight on him.
“She’s ‘becoming a woman’.” Sakusa chuckled.
“Wha’d ya mean.” Atsumu rolled slightly, peering at Sakusa through tired eyes.
Sakusa chuckled and brushed his hair back. “She started her period.”
"Oh," Atsumu said dumbly. "God, you musta hated hearin’ it referred to as becoming a woman, huh?”
Sakusa chuckled. “Yeah, I did. I still do. She asked me not to tell you. She’s embarrassed.”
Atsumu hummed. “Should I make a uterus cake with strawberry filling? To celebrate her hitting this milestone?” He teased.
“You’re disgusting. If you do that I’ll divorce you. And I’m pretty sure Izzi will come with me after that.”
Atsumu laughed. “You’re probably right. Good thing I don’t want to waste food like that. Though I probably will order her a heating pad and a body pillow. Maybe a pack of black underwear. Actually, I don’t know what size underwear would even fit her.”
"Just the heating pad and body pillow will probably be enough." Sakusa chuckled. "Now shut up, we still have a couple of hours before we have to wake up." He said, nudging Atsumu back onto his stomach before laying down with him.
Atsumu was silent for a few seconds, though all good things must come to an end. “Am I getting old?”
“You’ve been old. Sleep.”