Work Text:
Konata’s mouth was dry, her body was tired, her eyes could hardly stay open. She had gotten onto her game to do a few daily quests after Yu-chan, her dad, and herself had finished celebrating Yu-chan’s moving in. But once she logged on, her guild mates instantly hounded her about doing a quick raid.
She looked at the time: 2:00 AM. “Quick raid” wasn’t the word she’d use to describe the epic quest she had just gone, on but she was proud of the work she and her team did. Konata removed her headphones, shut off her computer, and laid down to sleep. But she heard something strange coming from the next room.
It was crying. Maybe Yu-chan was homesick? It was her first night here, after all. Her young cousin was much too frail to really do much on her own. For all Konata knew it was her first night away from her parents.
Konata heard a door open. She heard the occasional suppressed sniffle as Yu-chan made her way down the hall. Should she check on her? What if she’s embarrassed about being home sick? Konata got out of bed and put her ear to the door.
*Clunk* a large metal machine rang out in the distance. The fridge? No, too much metal on metal for that sound. ‘Alright,’ she decided. ‘Time to see what she’s up to.’
Konata opened her door and made her way down the hall into the kitchen. Empty. The bathroom? Also empty. She heard another sniffle but this time coming from the laundry room. ‘What is she looking for?’
Konata rounded the corner. “It’d help if you turned on a light,” she said, hitting the light switch.
“Eeek!” Yu-chan shrieked through a shiver, making Konata jump back as well.
“Ohmygod sorry Yu-chan! I didn’t mean to scare you!” she said apologetically.
Yu-chan looked over her shoulder at Konata, tears running down her face.
“Yu-chan whats…” Konata stopped. She saw what the problem was. The young girl’s pajama bottoms were completely soaked around her butt. “Oh…” she said, her face turning red. She didn’t know how to deal with this.
Yu-chan wasn’t just embarrassed, though. She was mortified. “I’m sorry Big Sister,” she said through tears, putting her sleeve to her face to hide her crying. She turned to face Konata, the fabric on her lap darker than the legs on her pajamas. “I couldn’t find my protection... I thought if I used the bathroom before I went to sleep I might make it at least one night without... peeing myself ,” she said, choking out the last words and beginning to cry harder. She knew Konata would find out about her bedwetting eventually but she thought she might be able to hide it from her cooler, older cousin for at least a couple of weeks.
“Protection?” Konata asked. “Like a trinket or shield?”
Konata’s thick single-mindedness amused Yu-chan enough to get her to chortle instead of cry for a moment. Yu-chan bashfully explained “No...like...underwear. Like, um…” ( ‘Please don’t make me say it!’ she thought to herself.)
“Oh.” Konata said nonchalantly. Then put all the clues together. “OOOoooooh, like diapers!”
Yu-chan jolted with intense embarrassment at hearing the word and started to tear up again.
“Wait, no sorry! I wasn’t thinking!” Konata interjected quickly, not wanting to upset the young girl. She walked over to the washing machine. “Hey don’t worry about it. Here, you turn it on like this.” She moved right on past ‘the protection’ and changed the subject to how to work the washing machine. She hoped that might comfort her cousin.
“Th-thanks Big Sister,” Yu-chan said sheepishly.
“Don’t mention it,” Konata replied. “Come on, you can sleep in my bed for the rest of the night. We’ll have to be up in a few hours anyway.” She began walking back to her room.
“Um...Big Sister…” Yu-chan said.
Konata turned back around. “Yeah?”
Yu-chan looked down at her wet pants. “Do you think I can borrow some pajamas for the night?” Her face turned even redder. She then added quietly “If you don’t want to risk me ruining them I understand…”
Konata turned and started walking back to her room. “No problem,” she said, raising a thumb in the air.
The two laid side by side in the small twin bed. Konata had fallen asleep not long after laying down and had rolled one arm over the younger girl. Yu-chan rested quiet in her arms. She knew Konata was hardly adept at taking care of kids, so less by design and more out of necessity she treated Yu-chan as just another one of her friends. But Yu-chan was relieved. A friend was exactly what she needed tonight.