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Amethio rereads the last text he got as he makes his way through the isles of the dingy 24 hour store, basket in hand and Ceruledge next to him because its presence generally deters people from trying to talk to him.
“Surprise period at 1am and I have a singular pad, please send help”
It’s not the first time that he’s gone shopping on behalf of his sister, so he’s prepared as he skims the isle signs and makes his way to where the menstrual products are located.
She used to be embarrassed about shopping for herself, so obviously as her big brother, he stepped up to the task. Now she no longer has issues with buying tampons and the like, but it’s currently 1am and she’s preoccupied with being in pain and washing blood stains out of her comforter, so here he is on an early morning shopping run.
The fluorescent overhead lighting bothers his eyes, but he won’t be here long. Just a quick in and out, it should only take a few minutes.
First up is pads. His eyes dart across the different options until he finds what he's looking for. 30 regular strength pads with the wings on the side to keep them in place. Alright, easy. Now for the tedious part: choosing tampons.
It’s not difficult per say, because he knows exactly what to get, but it seems that regardless of where he goes, whether it’s a superstore or dingy corner shop, that there’s always brands upon brands of different types of tampons that make finding exactly what he needs a complete pain in the ass.
And of course, he’s never been shopping in this specific store to be able to grab and go. He sighs and crouches down, setting the basket on the floor as he starts his search. It’s so easy. Just a box of cotton tampons with both regular and super strength absorbency, that’s it. That’s all he needs, so it should be simple.
He starts flipping through some of the boxes. Not cotton, skip. Light absorbancy, skip. No applicator, skip. Only super strength, skip. His eyes settle on a familiar brand - these ones are usually good. He picks up the first box he sees, turning it over to glance at the back for the information. Let’s see-
“Amethio?”
He’d recognize that voice anywhere. Sighing, Amethio turns to face Friede. No one else would be stupid enough to talk to him with the way that Ceruledge looms behind him. No one except Friede, of course.
“Uh - fancy running into you here” Amethio watches as Friede glances between the basket with the pads in it and where Amethio is still holding the box of tampons, looking moderately uncomfortable.
It’s a new look for Friede, given he usually sports some type of insufferable expression. Based on the basket in Friede’s own hands and the fact he’s even in the menstrual product isle, it’s not hard to piece together what he’s here for.
“I presume you’re shopping on behalf of someone else, so don’t feel obliged to make small talk”
That’s usually why people are embarrassed about being caught in the isle. He finds it annoying when people are embarrassed about buying hygiene products for someone else. At least when people are buying for themselves he can understand the nervousness, but he’s certain if Friede had ever had a period before, he wouldn’t be staring at the tampon isle like a beached Magikarp.
Content to ignore Friede’s presence because it’s truly unfortunate they both ended up at the same 24/7 store, Amethio resumes reading the back of the box he’s holding. Cotton, regular and super strength, cardboard applicator, floral scented.
Wait-
Scented. Why the hell do scented tampons exist? That seems so unnecessary. He’s not the target demographic for these products, so maybe there are people who like and use scented tampons. But for some reason that stupid little “Floral Scented!” sticker infuriates him, and he finds himself frowning and setting the box back on the shelf with a little more force than necessary.
“Ceruledge?”
He turns to where his partner is looking at him, somewhat concerned.
“Floral scented tampons, Ceruledge. I’d rather grab a hot metal pan with my bare hands than be caught buying scented tampons of all things. My disdain is justified”
Without saying anything, his partner points to one of the boxes near where he’s crouched and Amethio picks it up, quickly glancing over the information and making sure it’s not scented, before setting it into his basket and standing up.
“Thank you, Ceruledge. At least one of us remembers what to buy”
Now to go pick out some gummies. They should probably have-
“Wait, Amethio”
Part of him hoped Friede would be fine to do his shopping without trying to talk to Amethio, but he’s not that surprised, really.
“What do you want?”
He expects Friede to be ready to annoy him, but instead he’s looking sheepish and avoiding eye contact with Amethio, awkwardly bringing a hard to the back of his neck.
“I just want to say that I’m aware some people start out one way and end up - um, a different way. Everyone should be comfortable with who they are, so know that I support you and don’t see you any differently”
What on earth is he talking about? Starting out one way and ending up another . . . what does that even mean? He sighs. It’s way too early in the morning to be trying to figure out what's going on in Friede's head. The support comment bothers him, though. It's not that he doesn't care what Friede thinks, because he does value his input on their battles, but the implication he needs Friede's support rubs him the wrong way.
“Respectfully, I could not care less if you support me or not. Now-” he points to the basket “based on the fact you still haven’t grabbed anything, I’m going to assume you need help?”
Friede waves his hands around,
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you’d need my support to - uhm” he cuts himself off and sighs, “your help would be great, thank you”
He really doesn’t understand this guy. Maybe he’s sleep deprived, it is 1am, after all. He’s pretty sure by the time you hit 30, staying up later than 8pm becomes increasingly difficult, so Friede must really be struggling by now. And it shows.
“Okay, first off, I’m assuming you don’t know anything about who you’re shopping for. If that's the case, you’re going to want hypoallergenic products. Most pads are fine. These ones are standard and fairly comfortable” he points to a box, “so they’re a solid choice, and then there’s overnight pads which are way longer and way less comfortable, but good at preventing leaks”
Friede blanks for a moment, before putting both boxes in his basket,
“That makes sense, yeah. With the tampons, what are the different sizes?”
Amethio glares at him,
“They’re not sizes, they’re absorbancies. People have different flows. Lighter flows will be fine with regular or light absorbancies, but heavy flows will need super strength tampons to prevent bleeding through them every hour”
Next to him, Friede dumbly nods along, still looking out of his comfort zone. Amethio wasn’t like that when Conia explained this stuff to him, so he figures this must be a Friede thing.
“Now, for someone who has never used tampons before, the plastic applicators are easier to use. Some people prefer them over the cardboard ones, anyway. It usually says down here whether it's hypoallergenic or not, see? This one is a variety pack with all strengths present, so it should be fine”
This time, Friede doesn’t miss a beat when taking the box from him and setting it in the basket.
“Anything else?”
He takes a moment to consider if he missed anything, before grabbing a pack of liners off the shelf and tossing it at Friede.
“Some people like to wear these for a few days after their period ends to prevent spotting. Or just in general. Other than that, you should be good”
“Thanks for your help, you’re a real lifesaver”
Amethio waves him off.
With that settled, he’s finally able to make his way to the candy isle, stopping in front of the gummies to pick out the sour Snom candies that his sister likes and pretending not to notice Friede looking at the chocolate bars next to him.
“Does chocolate really help with cramps?”
You can stop following me, now.
“No, candy and sugar don’t help with the pain part. But, if you ask me, having an organ tear itself apart once a month is a perfectly valid reason to indulge in foods you like”
Friede pauses to fiddle with the handle on his basket before grabbing a few of the chocolate bars.
“Ah, okay. What helps with cramps, then?”
He resists the urge to tell him that search engines exist for a reason.
“Yoga and painkillers are the go-to” Amethio turns around and places a few sports drinks in his basket, “As well as staying hydrated. Pain varies by person so some people don’t have bad cramps. Use your discretion with who you’re buying for”
Pads, tampons, gummies, drinks, and they have painkillers at home.
“You’re very knowledgeable about this stuff”
Ignoring him, Amethio taps his foot a few times. Is he forgetting something? He feel like he is. Oh- that’s right. He makes his way to one of the drink coolers and fishes out an energy drink.
“Huh- you’re getting that at 1am?”
Seriously.
“Your commentary is unwanted, but for the record, caffeine can help with headaches.”
Not that anyone is going to be drinking this at 1am. He's getting this as a thoughtful gesture and to ensure he doesn’t have to go shopping again if she wakes up with a headache. Because as content as he is to go on a corner store run at 1am, he would rather be asleep right now.
“Right, sorry. Thanks again for your help”
With everything from his list gathered, he’s finally ready to leave. Friede added an additional five minutes to his corner store plans, which he doesn’t appreciate.
“I’m going to check out now. If you really want to say thank you, then go linger around the store for a few minutes so I don’t have to deal with you when I leave”
Finally, Friede’s insufferable smile returns to his face and he waves his free hand in the air,
“Message received. I will go stare at the frozen pizzas so that I don’t disturb the generous prince as he checks out”
Amethio blinks at Friede. Why is he talking to him like he’s not here? He’s a little put off by how Friede decided to use his pronouns in some kind of third-person commentary instead of just talking to him normally, but he really wants to leave so he elects not to say anything about it.
He commends the rest of the Rising Volt Tacklers for being able to put up with that thing, Amethio doesn’t have the patience for that. At least the cashier has the sense not to make 1am small talk with him, so Amethio finds himself walking out the door in record time, making short work of sending out his Corviknight.
“Sorry girl, took a bit longer than expected. Let’s go back and then you can sleep all you like”
She coos softly and Amethio takes a moment to scratch the soft feathers under her chin before stepping back to recall Ceruledge and hop onto her back.
As he flies over the city, he can’t help but think back on Friede’s behavior. Maybe it was just embarrassment over shopping for hygiene products, but he wasn’t acting nearly as annoying as he usually does and seemed really out of his element.
He thought he’d be glad for a reprieve from Friede’s usually idiocy, but instead he found it more disturbing. So he’s just going to pretend this conversation never happened and hope Friede goes back to normal.
Thankfully he gets the impression Friede isn’t going to bring this up again, which is a small victory.