Summary: Cisco pressed soft kisses on her shoulder and followed the lines of the tank top she was wearing. "Come on sweetie," he said as he squeezed his arms tighter. "What is it?"
Caitlin let out a deep breath and slumped against him. "I just got my period," she said. Which, okay. Not exactly what Cisco had been expecting. His girlfriend continued, rambling: "And I got them earlier than normal so I wasn't prepared and I don't have any pads here, only tampons, but toxic shock syndrome is a thing and I don't like using those at night, and I ruined your boxers, and I'm feeling all gross, and I just…" Caitlin trailed off, squeezing her eyes shut.
xxx
Caitlin gets her periods unexpectedly in the middle of the night. Cisco's being an epic boyfriend. That's it. That's the story. Fluffy fluff fluff with mentions of blood, because, well, periods.
A/N: TMI time: I recently stopped taking the pill and just got my first real periods again, and it's been killing me and I remember why I, as a lesbian, decided to keep taking the pill in the first place. So I took out my pain and frustration and wrote about it.
Warning for mentions of blood and periods. Nothing too graphic, though.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
It had to be close to four in the morning when Cisco woke up. His mind was fuzzy and without his glasses in the complete dark, he couldn't read the alarm clock to be sure of the exact time, but he knew it had to be way early. Only a few hours earlier had they managed to defeat and lock up the meta that had been endangering Central City for over a week. No one at STAR labs had slept much the past few days, so when Caitlin and him stumbled into his apartment the night before, they both had just changed into something comfortable and crawled into bed. They had been exhausted and were planning to sleep past noon.
Which is why it was weird that Caitlin was currently in the bathroom, cursing loudly.
"Babe?" Cisco muttered. He heard the tap run and he figured his girlfriend – which after four months still felt weird yet awesome to think about – hadn't heard him. "Caitlin, are you okay?" he asked louder as he scrambled to sit up.
"Don't come in!" she yelled back, which didn't make Cisco worry any less. He was reaching for his glasses on his nightstand with one hand while leaning back on the elbow of his other arm when he saw some light coming through the door. Caitlin must've opened the bathroom door which was immediately in front of his bedroom door. "And don't look!" Caitlin added loudly.
Cisco stopped his search for his glasses and turned his head to where he could hear Caitlin walking. "Huh," he uttered, confused.
"I said don't look," Caitlin repeated forcefully. Cisco held his one hand up in surrender and closed his eyes.
"My eyes are closed, I don't see anything. What's going on?"
"Nothing," Caitlin responded as she opened and closed a drawer. "Go back to sleep."
"Cait, darling, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Cisco. Go back to sleep," she repeated, and Cisco could hear the door of the bathroom close.
Cisco fell back against the pillow and closed his eyes, but still listened carefully. He could hear the toilet flush and then the tap running again, Caitlin muttering and cursing under her breath. After a few minutes, when it became clear she wasn't going to come back to bed any time soon, Cisco sighed, turned on the nightlight, put on his glasses and made his way over to the bathroom.
He knocked on the door before calling out. "Caitlin? Can I come in?" He didn't get a response so he opened the door slowly. "Caitlin? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Caitlin said shortly. Her focus was on the sink, where she was scrubbing away on the piece of fabric she was holding under the running tap.
Cisco walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He could feel how tense she was, spine straight and shoulders locked while she kept scrubbing away. He pressed soft kisses on her shoulder and followed the lines of the tank top she was wearing. "Come on sweetie," he said as he squeezed his arms tighter. "What is it?"
Caitlin let out a deep breath and slumped against him, her hands falling still in the sink, the water still running. "I just got my period," she said. Which, okay. Not exactly what Cisco had been expecting. He just pressed his lips against her neck as a silent encouragement, because with this little information he wasn't sure what response she wanted or needed. Luckily his girlfriend continued, rambling: "And I got them earlier than normal so I wasn't prepared and I don't have any pads here, only tampons, but toxic shock syndrome is a thing and I don't like using those at night, and I ruined your boxers, and I'm feeling all gross, and I just…" Caitlin trailed off, squeezing her eyes shut and closing the tap with more force than needed. It was only then that Cisco took a decent look in the sink, where he could see the baby blue boxers Caitlin had put on to sleep in, with some bloody outlines in the fabric.
Cisco sighed, thinking of a way to comfort his girlfriend. He held her closer, rubbing circles with one hand over her lower stomach. "Hey, it's okay. You got most of it out," At least, he assumed she had. "And the rest will come out when I put it in laundry. And if not, then I'll just buy new boxers. It's no big deal." Caitlin let out another deep breath and nodded. Cisco nudged her hip so she would turn around and face him. Still holding her close. "Let's deal with this tomorrow and just go back to bed now, okay?"
Caitlin nodded and kissed him softly, her forehead pressed against his, taking in the moment. Until, all of a sudden, she let out a small gasp and her eyes flew open. "The sheets," she said, and all of a sudden she was running into the bedroom, flicking on the big light.
Cisco could hear her muttering "No no no," over and over again as he followed her into his bedroom. She was throwing of the pillows of the bed and pulling back the covers. Nothing was on there, luckily, but the cover sheet had red spots on it. "Nooooooo," Caitlin whined as she pulled them off of the matrass. She sank to the floor and she looked like she was on the edge of crying, holding the bloody sheets in her hands.
Cisco crouched down next to her. Caitlin looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry for ruining your sheets," she said in a small voice.
Cisco shook his head lightly, trying to bite back a smile. He kissed her and tried to pry the sheets out of her hands. "It's okay," he said.
"No it's not," Caitlin responded stubbornly, clinging onto the fabric. "You love these sheets. They go with the Milky Way bedspread, it's the same shade of purple. And now they're ruined."
"It'll wash out. And if it doesn't, then I have an excuse to buy another galaxy themed bed spread." Caitlin glared at him, but Cisco just kissed her forehead. He pulled her the sheets out of her hand before helping her get on her feet. "See, nothing got onto the matrass itself. It's all good." He held Caitlin tight with one arm and pressed kisses all over her face, something that usually would make her giggle. It seemed to comfort her, because she nodded and slumped back against him.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly. Caitlin started nodding, probably as an automatic response, before pausing and shaking her head no. She shrugged. He'd thought so. "Tell you what. How about you take a long, hot shower? We'll put the sheets under the running cold water, and after that we'll toss everything in the laundry machine. In the meantime, I'll quickly run down to the night store down the street and get you some pads. How does that sound?"
Caitlin thought it over for a moment, the small frown between her eyebrows appearing and disappearing again rather quickly before she nodded. "Thank you," she nodded as she let Cisco steer her back to the bathroom. "And I'm sorry."
He kissed her cheek. "It's okay," he said. He moved to turn on the shower for her so it could warm up, and he put the part of the sheets with the bloodstains on them in the sink and turned on the tap to let cold water run over them. As Caitlin started undressing, Cisco grabbed two of the fluffiest towels he could find and put them on the radiator, so they would be warm by the time Caitlin got out of the shower. He kissed her before she slipped into the shower and he closed the bathroom door behind him. He quickly pulled on the jeans he'd tossed aside last night, grabbed his jacket, wallet and keys, and left.
Ten minutes later Cisco returned to his apartment. He could still hear the water running, which was good. He dropped the bag on the kitchen table and took out the pack of pads. He put those in the bathroom, together with a clean pajamas for Caitlin – an old T-shirt of his, clean underpants, and sweatpants – before returning to the kitchen. He put some milk on the stove and while he was waiting for it to boil, he went back to the bedroom to change the sheets.
As he was remaking the bed, he thought of the other times during their relationship that Caitlin had gotten her periods. He couldn't remember her being this emotional. Then again, knowing Caitlin, she probably kept perfect track of her cycle and wasn't usually surprised, like she'd seemed now. He made a mental note to ask her sometime about this, so he could know what to do and if he had to buy stuff beforehand if she stayed over. He had no trouble buying tampons, he just preferred not to do so in the middle of the night. He wasn't going to ask tonight though. Maybe in two weeks or so.
By the time the shower turned off and Caitlin got out of the bathroom, Cisco had remade the bed and turned off the light, only the dimmed light on the two nightstands lighting up the room. He'd changed in a similar pajama outfit as he'd put out for Caitlin, and he had made two cups of hot chocolate. And not the powder package kind either, the chocolate was only half melted, the cup steaming on the nightstand.
"Hey," Caitlin said as she sat on the edge of the bed, toweling her hair dry. "I put the stuff in the laundry machine."
Cisco nodded. "Perfect." He handed her the cup of cocoa. "Here you go, drink up."
Caitlin smiled and took a sip of the cup before placing it on the nightstand on her side. She crawled into bed underneath the covers. She slung one leg over Cisco's and cuddled close into his side before grabbing the mug again and drinking some more of her hot chocolate. She sighed happily. "You are the best boyfriend ever. Seriously."
Cisco smiled. "And you are the best girlfriend ever," he responded. "I love you."
"Even though I ruined your boxers and sheets?"
"I'd love you even if you bled all over my entire wardrobe," Cisco replied dramatically yet truthfully.
Caitlin giggled and let her head rest against his shoulder. "I love you too."
They finished their hot chocolates in silent before they both moved to turn of the light. Caitlin quickly found her way back to Cisco, cuddling into his arms.
"I love you," Caitlin said, half asleep yet feeling safer than she'd been her entire life.
Cisco smiled and kissed her cheeks. "And I love you. Sweet dreams, my love."
"Sweet dreams," Caitlin muttered back, before falling asleep in Cisco's strong arms, off to dreamland.
A/N: I wrote this in the middle of the night in the spur of the moment. All mistakes are my own, and comments to point out those mistakes are greatly appreciated.
Also, in my mind, Caitlin had an implant from when she was with Ronnie, but had to have it replaced just as she and Cisco got together, and she decided against it because she didn't want to wait that many years again before possibly starting with kids. They could stick with condoms until then. This is the first real periods she had in years and it's bad. Cause you know. That's what I (sorta) have. Caitlin being all TMI about this and talking with Cisco about this and Cisco being a supportive boyfriend in general that doesn't get all 'iew' when periods get mentioned apparently wasn't going to be written, because Caitlin wanted to sleep. But yeah. There's that headcanon no one asked for.
I hope that everyone of you who experiences bad periods, has someone like Cisco that knows how to take care of you.
Thanks for reading, I hope that you liked it!