The gang was spread out in the booth, their starving stomachs sated with the endless buffet of pizza at CiCi's. On one side, Owsla was clinging close to her mother as she sat on his lap. Next to them, Phishie was taking up one forth of the table with her sketchbook. In the other seat, Bucky sat with her back against the wall, already haven taken the liberty of putting her feet in Natasha's lap.
"Rose, I think you have enough cheese."
Natasha looked up at her girlfriend "It's good this way."
Phishie pipped up, not bothering to even look up from her artwork. "Nat, you're basically having cheese with a side of bread."
Nat made a pouty face as she looked back at her meal. "There's some pepperoni in there too..." she had pilled her plate with hot slices of pepperoni Alfredo pizza... And then proceeded to top it with all the parmesan cheese its juices could hold.
"I can count 5 pepperoni slices total"
"Well... whatever its still delicious."
Catching her girlfriend's eye roll in the corner of her own vision, Nat gave the blonde's ankle a little tickle. Bucky visibly jumped in response, managing now to shriek in shock and discomfort. The face that glared back at her was positively murderous. When the blonde didn't take immediate revengeful actions, Natasha knew there would be serious retribution later... she just couldn't bring herself to care at the moment because had been driving her crazy all day... and not in a bad way. For now, Natasha decided to happily munch on her cheese with a side of bread.
"Open up Owsla, here comes the train... Chugga chugga chugga chugga..." the spoon of goop landed safely in Owsla's little mouth. "Choo-choo!"
For Owsla's dinner, they had brought the rest of the pod goop since it was the only thing the alien had asked to eat so far, thanks to the unshrinkafication process or whatever it was called. Bucky watched as her brother fed the thing. The thermos they had brought it in was Abby's so it was all pink with flowers. The blonde had seen her brother in many weird situations before... But she was pretty sure alien in lap with flower power thermos acting like a mother hen took the cake.
Sonny wiped Owsla's face to where some pod goop was dribbling down her chin.
"Careful!" Nat warned. "You can't rub too hard or the makeup will come off."
"Oh yeah..." noticing a blue spot, Sonny smudged the foundation back into place.
Although a lot of her blue skin was covered by the clothes she wore, her face had still been a huge concern. Thanks to Natasha's knowledge of makeup however, she was easily able to cover it up with some foundation and concealer. This way little Owsla could go outside as long ad the makeup stayed in place.
Bucky sighed as she watched her brother play mommy. When she thought about it, Natasha was right. Owsla had never given her reason to be suspicious of the little alien. Still, no matter how much she tried, the young DJ could not get that nagging feeling off her mind.
"Finished."
The gang looked up as Phishie leaned back in the seat to stretch, muscles cramped from being hunched over her latest masterpiece. The gang looked over to see her creation.
"Look Owsla!" Sonny pointed at Phishie's sketchbook. "It's you!"
Bucky examined the sketchbook and sure enough, there it was. The drawing had perfectly captured the adorable being's charisma with a huge smile. In the drawing Owsla seemed to be running towards you, all four arms spread wide, most likely playing airplane. Behind her a small figure seemed to be running after her who Bucky assumed was her idiot brother.
"Phishie!" Nat exclaimed, jumping up out of her seat.
"Rose!" Bucky in turn exclaimed, her feet falling out of her girlfriend's lap, the sudden movement almost sending her pasta flying.
"Phishie, I told everyone to be careful! Drawing Owsla in her true form is NOT careful."
The gang looked at her, shocked at her sudden outburst. Phishie meanwhile, shrunk back in her seat a bit. Natasha was mad. Phish, unlike Bucky, had never clashed heads with her before. Bucky cringed in sympathy for her friend. It was true Bucky and Nat fought often but Rose had always told her she had never been truly mad at her before. Bucky hadn't really understood what exactly that meant till about a year ago, the first time she had legitimately pissed her off.
That time, Bucky had made the mistake of saying Natasha's phone call with her was a "waste of her time". She hadn't actually meant it, she was just busy and stressed out but Nat had made sure she regretted it. The red-head had refused to talk to her for a week and whenever she attempted to talk to her, Rose would excuse herself saying she "didn't want to waste Bucky's time". When she finally did talk, Nat screamed at her for five minutes, angry tear spilling down her face.
Yeah... You didn't want to piss Rose off. (little did Bucky know she had gotten off lucky)
Acting quickly before Rose could blow up and say something she would regret, Bucky grabbed Natasha's hand, pulling her to sit back down. "Rose, calm down. No one will find out. Look qt Sonny, people draw him as an alien all the time and no one thinks he's extraterrestrial. You're being irrational."
"That's completely different!"
"How?"
"Because those actions don't potentiality endanger all of your lives!" With that, Natasha stormed away on the verge of tears. Watching her go, an awkward silence befell upon them all.
As the seconds passed, it dragged on and on. At this point, it would take an idiot to break the ice. Luckily, they had one
"So who's going to go get her?" Sonny asked, looking between the two teenagers.
"She's just over reacting."
"Yeah but if nothing else, she's kinda our ride home." he argued.
"Can't you just call Roadhog?"
"Can't. It's his day off and he texted me earlier saying he was busy."
"Doing what?"
"Wouldn't tell me." Sonny pouted.
"Why don't you do it Bucky? You've fought with her the most so you should know what to do." Phishie pointed out.
"You're the one who made her mad in the first place!"
"Yeah, but, isn't emotional support sort of like, part of your job as her girlfriend?"
"She has a point." The goblin admitted.
"Sonny!"
"Bucky." Sonny stared at her seriously. "Stop acting like you don't care and go after her. She's probably already feeling guilty."
Bucky stared at him for a long moment before sighing. She hated when he was right about this stuff and... He always was. Having watched from the sidelines through every fight Rose and her had, he knew exactly what to do and what was happening. Sometimes when the two of them where being particularly stubborn, he'x yell at both of them till they were friends again.
"Uh... guys? Where did Owsla go?"
The siblings glanced at the honey blonde for a long moment before looking back at Sonny's lap. It appeared he had misplaced something. A certain blue, four armed, mau5 eared alien something.
"Ah!" Sonny shrieked in shock. "My child is missing!" A few customers sent questioning glances their way.
"Shut up!" Bucky whisper-yelled. "Do you want the whole restaurant to start panicking?"
Phishie got up first. "I'll go look for Owsla. Sonny, stay here in case she comes back. You-" she said, pointing at a certain blonde. "Can go after Natasha."
"But-!" Bucky groaned as Phishie left, leaving her no choice but to go after her girlfriend. After grabbing a cinnamon roll (because no one should have to go man hunting hungry) she scanned the restaurant for any sign of the brunette. Suddenly a certain navy hat stood out against the crowd. It was Owsla! Bucky smiled to herself. She wouldn't have to find Nat if she got to Owsla first.
"Owsla!" Bucky pushed through the crowd trying to catch up with her. "Owsla?"
Bucky looked around frantically. She had just seen her! Where could that walking blue thing have gone? Turning around again, Bucky watched Owsla walk down the hall to the restrooms and push open the ladies room.
"There you are..."
Making a mad dash after the child, Bucky caught the door before it shut all the way.
"Found-"
"Nattie?"
Bucky faultered as she watched the alien cross the room and hug Natasha's leg... she was going after Rose?
"Nattie!" Owsla tugged on Natasha's shirt. "Answer me!"
At first, Bucky found it strange Nat wasn't answering the child... in till she realized she couldn't. A gag like noise filled the room as Nat attempted to throw up and began gasping for air as she resumed crying. Bucky could see the glisten of tear splattering her hands that were clutching the porcelain sink beneath her for dear life. A conversation with Phish from a while back struck her like a lightning bolt.
"Phishie, tell me about these panic attacks."
"She told me not to tell you..."
Bucky rolled her eyes. "Which is exactly why you're going to tell me."
"She'll start crying and it will seem like everything is normal in till she stops breathing. She told me she literally forgets how. Eventually the only way she can breathe again is involuntary puking. Then she'll cry in till it happens again. It just keeps going till she calms down."
"...and how long does that take?"
"Depends. She stopped telling me about them but I don't think that means they stopped happening..."
Bucky could only watch as the vicious cycle of choking, crying, and dry heaving continued. She felt like somewhere, in the back of her mind, she knew what to do. But here, in the middle of it all, she couldn't remember. All she could do was stare as the scene played out in front of her, watching as someone she cared about seemingly chocked to death.
Owsla hugged Natasha's legs. "Nattie? What's wrong? Please tell me."
Natasha struggled to get out the words but eventually managed to choke out something in between sobs. "I... I can't... lose them," she took a deep breath, trying to calm down but it only lead to hyperventilating. "They"re so... important... to me."
"Am I important to you Nattie?" the child blinked up at Natasha's crying figure above her.
"Yes!" Nat cried. "Karmina, Aurelia (phishie)... even Sonny, and most of all Bucky."
Finally, Nat's shaking limbs couldn't hold her up anymore and gave out. Natasha slowly crumpled to the bathroom floor. Owsla only continued to hug her but this time, around the neck.
Suddenly, Bucky felt her spine crawl. Something had changed. And Bucky had a very bad feeling about it.
When Owsla spoke up again, there was an odd glow in her eyes, her voice coming out much more monotone than usual "You've sacrificed a lot for her... your heart has changed."
Was it just Bucky or did Nat seem a lot calmer? She wasn't chocking anymore. She wasn't gagging anymore. It was as if Natasha had had a normal crying fit the entire time.
"What are you so worried about Nattie?"
"There are so many things that could go wrong if people knew about Owsla and while I want to protect her, I don't want anyone to get hurt because they did something stupid!" Nat's outburst set off a whole new round of worried crying and fresh tears down her face. "Don't any of them understand what could happen? How do I protect what's precious to me when I'm so weak?"
"You're not weak Nattie. And everyone knows what danger they're potentially in. Don't worry, it'll be alright."
As Owsla talked Bucky watched Rose's breathing become slower, her grip become steadier and her sobs quiet.
When Rose looked up, she could see the dazed, trance-induced look on her face.
Bad feeling confirmed.
Remembering that there was this thing called legs useful for this thing called walking, Bucky pushed open the door.
"Rose! Are you ok?"
When Natasha looked at her, her face was calm and bright. All traces of her crying fits were gone.
A warm smile spread across her peach features. "Yeah I feel a lot better... Why is Owsla here?"
Bucky narrowed her eyes. Did she not remember what just happened?
Slowly Natasha stood up, the little Owsla cradled in her arms who had fallen asleep. "Thanks for coming after me..." putting a hand at the back of her neck, she pulled her girlfriend into a warm kiss.
And that was that. But Bucky couldn't tell if she was imagining the tingle that permeated the warmth of Rose's hand.