Parasite *•.¸♡ 𝙏𝙤𝙣𝙮 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙠'𝙨 𝘿𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧 ♡¸.•*

Burden

Receiving no answer, he tries again, this time a bit more firm with his voice, "Ariana?" She cringes at his 'angered' voice. Although he is only raising his voice out of concern, she doesn't understand that. Clearly, she believes, she upset him. She jumps up and wipes her face making sure no tears or signs of her crying are visible. She slowly opens the door with her head down.

    Stark releases a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding when he sees her small figure slowly poke out the door. Her body seems to be smaller as if she was cowering. He notices that she doesn't release her gaze from the ground. Her face is slightly hidden by the hair that frames her face. "You okay kid?" he asks rather awkwardly.

    This grabs her attention; no yelling, no anger, no irritation, no threats, no curses. He was asking her if she was okay. She shifts her eyes to look at the man who stands before her. She notices a slight hint of concern and confusion on his face. Searching for any anger towards her, she finds none. This still doesn't ease her mind, however. "I'm sorry," she apologises, her voice barely breaking a whisper.

    "For what?" he asks. 

For what? For everything. For not being enough, for not doing enough, for making you spend money on me, for being a burden, for wasting your time, for bothering you. The list could go on forever. She doesn't know what to say. Trying to find anything that might be the answer that Stark is looking for, she finds nothing.

    "Do you want to come back to the table and eat? We don't have to talk about it if you don't want," he offers. She slightly nods her head while biting her lip. She watches him walk out of the room and follows, keeping a safe distance between them. She notices him utter something to F.R.I.D.A.Y. but she isn't able to make out his words.

    When they come back into the room, the team is all engaging in different conversations. They turn to look at both of them enter, but they quickly move their attention back to whatever conversation they were a part of. Ariana takes a deep breath and sits back down at the end of the table. She remembers the statement that Sam, sitting to her left, made earlier and contemplates if she should make a joke. Before she begins to eat, she taps Sam on the shoulder. She immediately regrets it, but there's no turning back now.

    He turns from his conversation and tilts his head at her. The people that were in his conversation look at her as well. She takes a deep breath before asking, "should I go get a new batch, Wilson?" Not understanding, his face contorts with confusion. "Or should I ask Rogers if you did anything since he wouldn't want me to be poisoned?" she adds with a little smirk to hide the terror that grips her heart.

    The grasp on her heart is relieved as she hears a couple of laughs and she is able to breathe again. She begins to eat her meal and listen to all the conversations at the table. She can never just focus on one conversation. She has to hear what everyone is talking about. Sometimes it ends up messing with her because there are times when the words would just mush together or form into a sort of gibberish.

    She doesn't speak for the rest of the meal, instead, she opts to listen to every word being said. That is one of the things she picked up from her previous 'owners' as she calls them. She learned that she always needed to listen, always needed to be on edge. Because things could be going fine and suddenly, out of nowhere, everything is wrong; and what was once a happy moment turns into a dark memory. She always needed to listen to hear what she was doing wrong, it wasn't like they would ever tell her. They would just ignore her mistake until she made it so many times that they had to blow up at her about it. She frowns, thinking about how nothing she did for them was ever good enough. How nothing she does for anyone is ever good enough.

    When she finishes her meal, everyone else had already completed their meal and put their dishes and utensils in the sink. She walked over to the sink and started washing the dishes as the rest of the team sat to watch a movie. She is lost in thought as she mindlessly scrubs the dishes.

    Pulling her out of her thoughts, she feels a tap on her shoulder that makes her jump. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Wanda apologises.

    "Oh no, it's okay," Ariana smiles as she places a plate in the drying rack.

    "Want to watch a movie with us?" she asks.

    Ariana hesitates as she washes the pan, "I don't know, I'm not done with the dishes."

    "That doesn't matter, it's not like you had to do them in the first place," she shrugs. Is this a trick? "Come on," she whines, grabbing Ariana's hand that is still wet and dragging her with her. She stumbles after her and sees everyone situated on the couch. Wanda grabs a seat next to Natasha, and Ariana stands behind the group contemplating where to sit. She feels like if she chooses to sit by one person, the other people will be offended that she didn't sit by them. She is frozen as the people sitting on the couch turn to wait for her to sit down.

    Luckily, Bucky pats the seat next to him motioning for her to join him. She sits in between Bucky and Steve. It is funny looking at the difference in stature. Two large buff guys and in between sits a small slim girl. The movie plays and soon Ariana is pulled into the world of fictional characters. She always loved movies, books too. Anything that got her out of her life. It's a form of escapism she uses a little too often, but at least she has a healthy coping mechanism.

    The small girl had fallen asleep during the movie. She had looked exhausted, so it made sense that she didn't make it all but halfway through the movie. She had accidentally rested on Steve who was happy to be used as a pillow, for he believed that she trusted him. In reality, she had not noticed that she had fallen against him. If she knew that she was leaning against another human being, she would have instantly recoiled and shuddered, mumbling an assortment of apologies before rushing to her room.

    The lights turned on and Steve turned to wake the sleeping girl, but Natasha stopped him. "She needs her sleep, she looks exhausted," she whispers. Steve nods his head slightly in agreement. But what was he to do with the sleeping girl?

    Thankfully, he didn't have to worry about it for long. Her father figure, Tony, gently picked her up and carried her to her bedroom careful not to make a sound. Steve helped him open the door and turn on a lamp that slightly lit up the dark room. Tony placed her on the bed and she wearily opened her eyes. She was half asleep and wasn't fully there. Ariana looked at both of the men that stood in her room and she internally groaned. She didn't have the strength to worry anymore. She figured that whatever happened, happened. "'Night kid," Stark said ruffling her hair gently and giving her a smile; she wasn't too bad after all.

    She watched the men leave her room to her confusion. She shrugs it off and is dragged back into her state of sleep.

Ariana wakes up in a state of panic. It is not eased by the room that is pitch black. She fumbles over to the nightstand before being able to turn on the lamp. Her eyes dart around the room and she grounds herself; it was just another nightmare. She thanks the gods that she didn't scream; it most likely wouldn't have ended well. Looking at the clock she saw three thirteen.

    She sighs, knowing that she will have to wait until at least five before being able to walk around without suspicion. She drags herself out of bed and realises she is still in the clothes she wore yesterday; so they hadn't changed her.

    Remembering them tucking her into bed leaves a warm feeling in her chest and she releases a tear. Not the type she usually had falling from her eyes. It was a happy tear. Her smile fades as she realises that they must have had to carry her to her room. She's going on twelve mistakes and it kills her that she hasn't been punished for any of them. Why are they so lenient?