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"We need to go to the store," Lian said as she flopped into Damian's passenger seat, tossing her bag into the back.
"Why?"
"We just have to go to the store," Lian insisted, sinking in her seat.
"Do you have money?"
Lian blinked.
"I also need to borrow ten bucks."
"Not until you tell me why we need to go to the store," Damian argued, putting his car in reverse and backing out of the parking lot. "I'm not stopping just so you can get candy or something arbitrary."
Lian was quiet for a minute as they drove, glaring out at the road like it had personally wronged her and laughed while it did so.
Damian thought she had given up her bid for a spur of the moment shopping trip when she mumbled something he couldn't hear.
"What?"
"I said I need pads."
"Like," Damian furrowed his brows, thinking over what kind of pads she needed. Cotton pads? Note pads? Gauze pads? "Gauze? We have some at home. Did you hurt yourself?"
"No, not," Lian started, sneering at him. Then she glanced around like someone might be listening to them. "Not gauze. I mean I got my period at school, and the nurse gave me a pad, but I don't have any at home."
Oh. Oh that was a new development.
Damian was aware of puberty and the changes it brought, even within their own home. He remembered Lian being mortified when Roy had taken her shopping for training bras, and her mood swings had been worse the last few months. Jason had sat him down one day and told him that Lian was just going through things and needed to be cut some slack and to go easy on her.
But, as far as he knew, this was her first period.
"Oh," Damian mumbled, feeling the weight of her embarrassment in the car. "Alright. We can stop."
Lian muttered a quiet 'thanks' and Damian switched gears and lanes to head to the grocery store instead of home.
"Do you-"
"I don't want to talk about it," Lian said, and Damian shut his mouth. He could respect that, he didn't particularly want to talk about her period either.
When they got to the store, Damian pulled into a spot as close as he could get. They both started unbuckling, and Lian froze.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm not letting you go in alone," Damian shook his head. "I'm going with you."
"No you're not."
"Yes I am," Damian insisted. "You're 13. I'm not letting you go into the store by yourself."
"I don't need my big brother watching me shop for girl stuff," Lian glared at him and threw herself out of the car, slamming it behind her.
Damian scrambled to follow, wallet tucked in his pocket.
"And as your brother, I'm not letting you wander around a grocery store in Gotham alone," Damian argued. "Also, technically, I think I'm you're uncle."
"Whatever you are, it's a pain in my ass," Lian huffed, shoving her hands in her hoodie pocket. "Just don't be weird about it."
Damian rolled his eyes and followed her into the store.
The two of them wandered towards the pharmacy section, the signs above the aisles listing off dental care, hair care, pain management.
Above one aisle, it said feminine care and family planning. He'd never been down the aisle before.
Lian paused beside him, staring down the empty aisle like she couldn't make her feet move.
Damian felt bad for her. At least when he went through puberty, his voice deepened over the summer and he didn't have to worry about it at school.
"C'mon," Damian mumbled, putting a hand on her arm, tugging her hoodie sleeve.
Lian dragged her feet as she followed him, walking as slow as possible as they started surveying the shelves.
Damian tilted his head, eyes scanning the boxes. What were wings? Why were there so many different sizes? Were tampons better? What brand was best? How did cups....work?
"What," Damian started, furrowing his brows, staring at a box of cotton pads. If those were cotton, what were the other ones made of? "What, um, kind do you need?"
"I don't," Lian shook her head, her jaw shifting as her teeth ground together. "I don't know. I guess I should have asked the nurse."
Damian reached out and grabbed a box, turning it over to read the back. He didn't know how heavy her flow was, he doubted she would even know, this being her first one. Did they sell a variety pack?
"Maybe we should call someone," Damian suggested, starting to fish his phone out of his pocket. Perhaps Gordon or Brown or Cain would be of assistance. Lian's hand shot out and grabbed his sleeve, and when he looked at her, she looked about ready to burst into tears.
"Please don't," she whispered, embarrassment evident on her face.
He nodded, using her grip to his advantage and tugging her closer so he could wrap an arm around her shoulders. He rested his chin on top of her dark hair and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as she wrapped both arms around his torso.
"You're alright," he assured her, and she nodded against his chest. "If we get the wrong ones, we can stop again in the morning, alright?"
Lian nodded again before pulling back with a sniffle, and Damian put the box back on the shelf.
"Do you want pads or tampons?" Damian asked. "Lets start there."
"Um," Lian bit her lip, glancing back and forth between the two sections. "Tampons kind of scare me. I don't know if I really, uh, want to use those yet."
Damian nodded, directing his attention to the boxes of pads. Why were there five sizes? How big did they need to be?
He glanced down at Lian, who was holding onto his arm and nervously chewing on her thumbnail as she took in the many options. She was just as clueless about this as he was.
"How about we get these ones?" Damian suggested, reaching for a box that said it had wings in the third size, right in the middle. After a moment, he grabbed one that said 'overnight' on the front, just in case. "Is that alright?"
Lian nodded, shoving her hand back in her pocket.
"Can we go home now?" Lian asked, and Damian felt bad. He'd never seen her so embarrassed. She was normally the most confident kid he knew.
"Are you in any pain?"
"Just uncomfortable," she mumbled.
"Why don't you go get something from the candy aisle?" Damian asked, and Lian's grip tightened on his sleeve. "I'll meet you by the register?"
Lian nodded, and Damian followed her out of the aisle as she headed for the grocery section, hands in her pockets and feet shuffling like they were made of lead.
Damian turned and went to the pain management aisle, surveying the heating pads. He was certain they had one, but she should probably have one of her own.
Beside the ones that plugged in were some in the shape of elephants and polar bears that said 'microwaveable' on the front of the box. Damian grabbed a polar bear and went to the soap aisle. He grabbed a bottle of bubble bath that he knew Lian loved as well.
A quick Google search also told him he should get some kind of wipes and pain medicine, which he did, balancing everything in his arms as he made his way to the front.
Lian was waiting there with a bag of peanut butter M&Ms in her hand, scanning the drinks in one of the coolers.
"You can grab one," Damian said as he approached her. Lian's eyes widened when she saw all the things he had in his arms, but she listened anyway and pulled out a Sprite.
Damian took them from her and went to the register, letting the cashier scan each thing and bag them while he fished out his wallet and paid with Jason's credit card.
"Thanks for taking me to the store," Lian said once they were back in the safety of the car. She dug through the bag and came back with her drink, taking a swig of it and setting it in the cup holder. "And for, you know, all of this."
Damian nodded as he pulled out onto the main road towards home.
"I am not completely insensitive," Damian said, raising a brow at her. She rolled her eyes and pulled the heating pad teddy bear out of its box, running her hand over the soft fabric. "I bet Ahki will let us order pizza for dinner, if you want."
Lian smiled at him, pulling her knees up to curl into a ball as much as possible.
When they got home, Lian flopped onto the couch and grabbed the remote, pulling her candy out of the bag.
"Are you hungry?" Damian asked, taking both of their backpacks and depositing them at the bottom of the stairs. "I can get you a snack if you want."
"No, I'm okay," Lian shook her head, then tapped her heel on the couch cushion. "Sit."
Damian nodded and sat down near her feet, letting her use his lap as a foot rest.
"Do you," he started, squeezing her shin as she turned on a trashy reality television show that she and Jason loved. "Do you have any questions?"
Lian shrugged a shoulder, popping another M&M in her mouth.
"Just want to sit here," she said, and Damian nodded, pulling out his phone and getting comfortable.
Damian had almost fallen asleep by the time Jason and Roy got home, their chatter rousing him from his half-awake state.
"Hey, kiddos," Jason said, toeing his boots off while Roy strode in with his shoes still on. "Harper."
"That sure doesn't look like homework," Roy said, ignoring Jason's protest. He put his hands on his hips as he approached them in the living room, taking in the bag on the coffee table, the teddybear/heating pad Lian had held to her stomach, the empty bag of M&Ms, and the instruction pamphlet that Lian made Damian read to her.
"Uh, Lian?" He asked, raising a brow at her. "Something you want to talk about?"
"Nope," she said, then started gathering up her things into the bag. "I'm going to do my homework upstairs."
Once she had everything in the grocery bag, Damian stood up to stop her before she could leave.
"Are you alright?" He whispered, and Lian nodded, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.
"Love you," she mumbled.
"Love you too," he said, resting his chin on top of her head before she let go. Then she was off, scooping up her backpack and heading up the stairs.
"Can we get pizza for dinner?" She called once she was almost out of sight.
"Uh, sure," Jason said, brows furrowed as the two men watched their daughter vanish from sight. They waited until they could hear her bedroom door close before they both turned to Damian.
"Did you," Roy shook his head, brows furrowed. "What happened?"
"She got her first period at school," Damian explained, shoving his phone back into his pocket and going to grab his own backpack.
"Why didn't she call me?" Roy asked, hands falling to his sides. "I would have gotten her from school."
"She got what she needed from the nurse," Damian shrugged a shoulder, passing both of them to sit at the dining table "And we stopped at the store on the way home. She's embarrassed, she didn't want me to call anyone."
Roy scowled, looking at the stairs and back to Damian, looking at war within himself.
"I'm going to go try to talk to her," Roy decided. Then he stepped forward and planted a kiss on the top of Damian's head before following his daughter upstairs.
"That was really sweet of you, Honey," Jason said as he sat down in the chair beside Damian, putting a hand on his shoulder. Damian shrugged.
"She was scared," he explained, opening his math book. "I used your credit card."
"Thats fine," Jason waved it off. "But really, Lian is lucky to have you for a big brother."
Damian blushed under the praise, then Jason leaned forward to give him a kiss on his forehead.
"Well, I learned from somewhere," Damian raised a brow at him. "I want peppers on the pizza."
"You got it, Babes," Jason grinned, ruffling his hair as he got up to order dinner.