Chapter Text
Brynn glared at the contents of the small blue and yellow cardboard box in her hands with no small amount of exasperation and irritability.
Only one tampon was left. One.
In her defense, she’d had a rough past two weeks, what with her rock concerts with Sieg, then Sieg getting kidnapped by the Shadow Decree, and her transforming into an Esper, and joining the Esper Union- buying a new box of tampons hadn’t really come up as a priority.
Now though, she was teetering on the edge of disaster.
She and Sieg were putting on a small benefit concert for the surviving Hazlitt refugees in the park that day. She could deal with the cramps fine, but…her outfit had expensive white shorts. She really didn’t want to have to resort to using toilet paper or wearing multiple layers of underwear again either. Sieg was already at the venue waiting for her so they could rehearse. She didn’t have time to go to the store now.
Brynn sighed as she racked her brain for a solution. After unwrapping the tampon and putting it to its intended use, she set off to find the only person she could go to for help. Standing in front of his office door however, Brynn felt the pull of hesitation.
…Maybe she shouldn’t bother Drew with this. He had more important things to do than help her with “Lady Problems” after all. The first time she’d asked Sieg if he could go buy tampons for her he’d nearly choked to death on a sandwich. He was bright red in the face after coming back from the store with the goods too, acting as though he’d stolen them. These days Sieg was a lot more chill about doing such favors for Brynn. The notion of going through all that awkwardness again with Drew though was giving her second thoughts.
The office door swung open all of a sudden. Brynn tamped down the urge to flee like a child about to be caught being somewhere she shouldn’t be.
“Miss Brynn,” Drew greeted her politely as though he’d been expecting her for an appointment. “May I be of service to you?”
“Um,” she swallowed and took a breath, ignoring the rising heat in her cheeks. “Yeah. Listen, I need a favor. I’m out of tampons and I got a show today, so I can’t go get more right now. Could you pick some up for me and bring them over?”
“Of course.”
That- That was shockingly easy. Drew said that with a straight face and everything. Not even an ear twitch.
“What size would you like?”
The Valkyrie needed a second to process the question. No one had ever asked before. And she’d never thought to specify.
“Regular’s fine,” Brynn said, a small smile tugged at her lips as relief undid the knot of worry in her stomach. “Thanks Drew. You’re a life saver.”
Drew stepped out of his office to walk with her to the entrance of the Esper Union HQ.
“That is my prerogative as a gentleman. Would you like me to pick up anything else for you?”
“No thanks. Just the tampons.”
“You don’t experience any type of discomfort outside of bleeding at these times?”
“Well I get cramps, but they go away after a while.” The Anubis’s eyes peered down at her, ears swiveled in her direction. Brynn sensed she had his undivided attention.
“…Painful?”
“I mean, when I woke up this morning it felt like my uterus really fucking hated me. That’s why I’m still here and not with Sieg. I needed a little while for it to pass. But I’m fine now.”
Mostly.
As long as she didn’t think about it.
-Yeah, she got the feeling Drew didn’t believe her either. Especially after rehearsal at the park where he showed up with not only the promised and badly needed tampons, but medicine specifically suited to treat menstrual pain, and vitamin water.
“Miss Brynn, I understand your music is important to you, and it’s wonderful what you and Mr. Siegfried are doing for the refugees, but please remember to take care of yourself as well in the future. There’s no need to force yourself to endure pain unnecessarily.”
Brynn accepted the items graciously with a nod.
“I’ll remember that. Thanks again. You saved me and my shorts,” she chuckled.