ℰ𝓉𝒽ℯ𝓇ℯ𝒶𝓁 － ℬ𝓊𝒸𝓀𝓎 ℬ𝒶𝓇𝓃ℯ𝓈 𝒳 𝒪𝒞

𝒜𝒸𝓉 𝐼𝑉

A/N: Comment and vote loves <3 This chapter mentions a lot, so read the content warnings!

CW: ED discussions and mental challenges with it. Ballet, and how fucking brutal it can be sometimes and finally some mentions of blood and wounds. I know you all are like probably are like 'What the hell? This is a wholesome Christmas fic, why am I here!?' Literally I didn't plan for this to be as deep as it is, but we're here and I hope you enjoy this.

~

Lana ran across the street after spotting Rebecca walking again.

Five days of practice had gone by, and she didn't ever get new shoes. Five days it had also been since she saw Bucky, and not one number that called her was him.

Did he not really like her as she thought? Was she fantasizing about getting the best of his actual feelings in the situation? He gave the basic cues that he wanted her a lot, but it was confusing.

This morning Lana had gone to the store to buy Rebecca new shoes, along with purchasing a burger, fries, and a shake. She couldn't hear the reprimanding from Mistress Adeline any longer and wanted to help Rebecca.

She did the math in her head. It had to be someone in the family was sick, someone had to be hurting, and the medical bills stacked. Bucky went to the pharmacy to get medication in such a hurry. Rebecca shows up with an insufficient amount of money for shoes and has a single granola bar for lunch every day. Bucky was in a worker's uniform. This couldn't all not be tied to the same thing.

Peter had an emergency to attend to with his Aunt May at the homeless shelter she volunteered at and couldn't make it to practice today. Yes, his wealthy aunt worked out of the kindness of her heart.

But today, Lana figured she could just spend time with Becca in class to get information and fill in the dots.

Trailing behind her, Lana tapped her on the shoulder quickly.

Spinning her head around, Rebecca's brows raised. "Oh, hi, Lana."

"Hey! I got you something," Lana reaches over into her bag and digs through it, pulling out a brand new pair of pointe shoes and holding them out to Rebecca.

Rebecca's expression drops into shock. "What-"

"I got these for you. I just noticed you didn't buy them, and I wanted to return the favor for sharing your granola bar with me the other day-"

Before she could finish, Rebecca jumped into Lana's arms. She smiled so wide and squeezed her as tight as she could. "Oh my God, thank you so much," she gets tears in her eyes. "I haven't had a new pair in so long. My feet were really starting to hurt."

"You can't let them get this old. You can really hurt yourself," she points, continuing to walk toward the theater.

"I know," she sulks.

Lana thinks back to Bucky for a moment, biting back her smile. "Is your brother still picking you up?"

Becca nods. "Yeah, he does every day. Why?"

Lana shrugged nonchalantly. "Just wondering. Did he drop you off too?"

"Yeah. He got home late last night and was grumpy because of it this morning. He has to work all day and always picks me up after his shift."

"Are you two close?"

"Yeah. It's just..." she trailed off, looking down at her feet as she walked. "It's just hard lately."

"Can I ask why?"

Tears form in Rebecca's eyes. She wipes her still stuffy nose. "My mom is, um... she's sick."