Time: To get away from Tommy and Thor
Place: The hospital wing
It had been three days since Aj first visited Steve, since then she had been down to see him as much as she could. She'd spend hours downstairs just talking to Steve about her day or just watching a movie on her iPad.
"They you are Avs, I've been looking for you" Wanda said as she walked into Steve's hospital room.
"Why?" Aj asked, pausing play on her movie and looking over at her sister.
"Because Thor and Tommy are driving me crazy and I need you to save me"
"Well you can stay with us" Aj smiled at Wanda, nodding to the seat next to her.
"How is he?" Wanda questioned as she sat down.
"Nothings changed" Aj sounded disheartened.
"He's strong Aj, he's gonna get better" Wanda attempted to lift her sister's spirits.
"That's all everyone keeps saying but they don't actually believe it, I know they don't. They've all given up hope. They speak about him like he's already gone" Aj said frustratedly.
Wanda nodded, she knew exactly how Aj felt.
"It's always I'm sorry about your dad or I bet you miss him or your dad would tell you this or your dad would want you to do this.
They speak about him like he's dead but he's not. He's still here" Aj continued to rant.
Wanda truly understood her little sisters frustration because the same thing had been getting to Wanda a lot recently,"I know they do, it's annoying but just because they've all lost faith doesn't mean that we do"
"Why does the bad stuff always happen to us? Why can't we ever just be happy?"
AJ's simple yet profound question hit Wanda like a slap across the face, her words leaving Wanda both speechless and in thought. Truth be told, the sisters hadn't had a whole lot of luck with happiness, every time they were happy something always seemed to come a long to detriment it. Wanda couldn't answer her sister's question because she didn't know why.
"We've just been unlucky in the past that doesn't mean to say that we can't move past it"
"Wanda,we both know that everything that's happened is impossible to move on from"
"It's not impossible, we will never forget it, all that trauma and pain is something that will stick with us forever but we can move on from it. Our pain only makes us stronger" Wanda reminded Aj.
"I don't feel strong" Aj whispered.
"And that's okay, you don't have to right now" Wanda pulled Aj onto her lap, wrapping her arms around her protectively,
"Everything will work out Avs"
"How do you know?"
"Because despite not feeling it right now, we're strong and we can get through whatever life throws at us just like we've always done"
"But what if-"
Before Aj could finish her sentence Thor walked into the room.
"You've got to be shitting me" Wanda mumbled under her breath, she had come down here to escape him and Tommy.
"Aj your mother wants you" Thor told Aj.
"Why?" Aj questioned as she looked over at her uncle but Thor just shrugged.
Aj was trying to think of all the things she'd done today that could mean she's in trouble, she did tell Sam to fuck off earlier maybe that was why or maybe it was because she had told Tommy he had shit for brains when he said something stupid earlier, she also remembered throwing a cup at Thors head, she couldn't remember exactly why she had done it but she was sure he had given her a good reason to. Thinking about it, there was a lot she could be in trouble for.
"Well I'm about to die,wish me luck" Aj shrugged as she got up and left.
Wanda admired how unbothered her little sister was about being in trouble. She was tempted to go watch it all unfold knowing that whatever Nat would say to Aj would just be met with smartass answers from the 9 year old, but Wanda decided she wanted to see her dad for a little longer.
———
AJ entered the living room of the compound, finding her mom and Uncle Clint already present both with unreadable expressions on their faces, they watched as the 9 year old sheepishly walked into the room.
"Hey Aj" Clint offered her a small smile which she returned as she gave him a little wave.
Natasha sighed, "Aj sit down"
Aj frowned at her mom,"Why?"
"Ava-Jay" Natasha warned, giving the girl the 'mom glare'.
Aj huffed as she flopped onto the couch, strategically thinking about the ways she could get out of this one. She could pull the 'mentally unstable' card or the 'I shot my dad' card, she knew those would probably be the easiest scapegoat, but Aj was very good at arguing and she was well aware she could argue and talk herself out of this one. The girl smirked as she looked up at the two adults.
Natasha rolled her eyes, "Stop that. You're not winning this one" She scolded, Nat knew her daughter well enough to know she was going to try and talk her way out of whatever trouble she was in.
"I have no idea what you're talking about" Aj said innocently.
Natasha scoffed, "yeah right of course you don't. You might be able to outsmart the rest of the idiots around here but I know all your tricks"
"Not all, I've got a few new ones up my sleeve" Aj winked.
Natasha kept a serious look on her face as she spoke to her daughter however she was fighting a smile of, the kid was funny, even Natasha couldn't deny it. "Whatever. Why did you tell your brother he has shit for brains?"
"He put a cereal bar in a bowel of milk and then asked me why it wasn't working, I just personally think that's a really dumb thing to ask" Aj pointed out.
Clint started wheezing at her explanation finding it hilarious, "I feel like that one's reasonable"
"Clint!" Natasha snapped harshly as she glared at him.
Clint immediately stopped laughing, clearing his throat before he spoke again,
"I meant to say, Aj that's no reason to be horrible to your brother, it's not his fault he's an idiot"
"Regardless if he's an idiot or not you shouldn't say things like that, you're also not supposed to swear you know that Avs" Natasha added.
"Shit is barely a swear word" Aj argued back.
"You also told Sam to fuck off this morning and then you called him Bucky's little bitch" Natasha reminded Aj.
"I called him what?" Aj asked slightly shocked, she didn't even remember saying that, she was sure she probably did though, it sounded like something she would say.
"Bucky's little bitch" Clint repeated through his laughs.
"In my defense, you guys swear all the time" Aj tried to reason.
"We're adults, you're 9! It's completely different" Natasha remarked.
"Well I wouldn't know any cuss words if you Adults watched your language, maybe you guys should be more cautious, there's little ears around you know?" Aj stated.
Natasha shook head head before speaking, "Maybe you should just behave yourself and then you wouldn't be grounded"
"Maybe you...Wait I wouldn't be what? I'm what? You did what?" Aj gasped in disbelief, Natasha had been close to grounding her daughter many times but Aj always found a way out of it.
"You're grounded" Natasha shrugged.
"You've got to be shitting me!" Aj groaned as she threw her head back onto the couch.
"It's not all bad kiddo, your only real punishment is you have to spend the whole weekend with Nate. He can get annoying" Clint chuckled.
Natasha hadn't really grounded her daughter, Aj wasn't really in trouble, Clint and Natasha were just messing with her before they got to tell her the good news.
"You don't understand Uncle Clint my life is over, I'm grounded. She's actually grounded me" Aj huffed dramatically before her head snapped over to Clint, "wait what did you say?"
"I said that your only real punishment is spending the whole weekend with your cousin" Clint repeated.
"Huh?" Aj frowned in confusion before she was knocked onto the floor by a sudden weight crashing into her.
"SURPRISE" Nate yelled as the two of them crashed to the floor.
Aj gasped, realizing what was happening, "HOLY FU-"
"Ava-Jay" Natasha warned.
"Fudge! I was gonna say fudge" Aj saved herself from swearing before pulling Nate into a hug.
——
A/N: The cousin Duo are back😎
Thank you for reading🫡