Always Okay ─ n. romanoff ✓

ten

SASHA had never felt quite as uncomfortable as she did during the fifteen minutes Nat was passed out. Spending time alone with Steve felt like running a sword along her tongue over and over again, but it wasn't like she could run. Natasha's unconscious body was slung over Steve's shoulder, her chest lifting and falling slowly.

"Where are we going?" Sasha asked. Steve adjusted Nat's body.

"I have a friend," he said. "Sam. He's a good guy. Hopefully he'll let us in."

"I can't imagine any flaws in that plan." Sasha rolled her eyes. "Be sure to tell him that we're fugitives and that you committed grand theft auto."

"Are you always this sarcastic? Natasha doesn't care when you say this stuff?"

"I'm not usually this bad, I'm just under pressure. But she doesn't care what I do unless I get in her way. The most we ever interact is accidentally running into each other in the hallway at midnight. Besides, I was me long before we were us." Sasha paused. She studied Steve's face. "You doing okay after the...the article about your kid?"

Steve shook his head.

"I should have been there. Maybe I could have stopped it." He laughed sadly. "Hydra knew about my daughter before I did. Doesn't say very much about me."

"Okay, dude, there's literally no way you could have known." Sasha adjusted the sword holster on her back. There was more she had to say, but she figured it was better not to get his hopes up. She had this nagging feeling that there was something off about all of this Alexandra Carter business, a suspicion that had arisen when those articles flashed across the screen. Hydra had killed Howard and Maria Stark, Fury, and undoubtedly many more. So why was Alexandra the only one missing? They had wanted her for something. Sasha just didn't know what yet.

When Steve and Sasha finally reached the edge of one of DC's residential neighborhoods, Natasha began to stir. They set her down behind a large tree, Steve standing guard while Sasha took on the task of waking Natasha up.

"Hey, guess what?" Sasha exclaimed loudly. "I just set up an online dating profile for you, and you already have a match! His name is Aaron, he's twenty-nine, and he works in an Apple store! You guys have a date tomorrow at seven!"

Natasha's eyes fluttered open. She smirked at the sight of Sasha's pale, freckled face in front of her, every inch Sasha's body covered in ash. Even her long red hair was coated in a layer of the fine black powder.

"Hey," Nat said tiredly. "Where's Steve?"

Steve popped his head around the tree. Natasha extended her arms expectantly. Sasha grabbed Nat's wrists and yanked them as hard as she could. Nat slammed into her, Sasha's virtually exposed skeleton jabbing her flesh. That was new. Or, more accurately, that wasn't something she'd felt in a while. Before she could point it out, though, Steve interjected.

"My friend Sam's house is right there. We should probably get out of the open."

He started walking toward the house he'd been pointing to. Sasha and Nat shared a quick look before following him across the street. Steve unlocked the fence, leading Nat and Sasha around back to a sliding glass door. He rapped his fist against the glass a couple times and stepped back. The door slid open a minute later, revealing a younger black man wearing workout clothes.

"Hey, man," the guy, who Sasha assumed was Sam, said.

"I'm sorry about this," Steve responded. "We need a place to lay low."

Natasha leaned into Sasha ever so slightly. "Everyone we know is trying to kill us."

There was a pause. "Not everyone."

The three of them filed inside. Sam looked around the yard before locking the door in place and yanking down the blinds. Sasha could respect that. There was no such thing as being too careful when you had a wanted superhero and two notorious assassins in your house.

★★★

Twenty minutes later, Natasha and Sasha sat on the bed in Sam's spare bedroom, Natasha gingerly adjusting Sasha's bangs. Sasha swatted her hands away.

"I'm going to wash it in five minutes anyway," she said, then added in a much louder voice, "If someone ever finishes up in the bathroom!"

Steve walked out of the bathroom and tossed his hand towel to the side.

"It's all yours, Sasha." He took Sasha's place on the bed as Sasha stood up and made her way to the bathroom. She shut the door gently, then removed the baggy sweatshirt she'd been wearing all day. Now wearing just a tank top, she examined herself in the mirror.

"Fatass," she murmured to herself. Sasha pulled the elastic out of her hair, letting her pin-straight locks fall past her waist. She turned herself toward the shower and surveyed herself from that angle.

"How is that worse?" she hissed. Her words died in her throat when Sam's muffled voice came through the cracks in the door.

"I made breakfast. If you guys...eat that sort of thing."

Sasha laughed to herself. She turned the shower knob, releasing a downpour into the tub.

"Sasha!" Nat yelled, knocking against the door. "Food!"

"I need to shower!" Sasha yelled back. "Maybe next week."

She didn't need to see Natasha's face to know that her eyes were rolling. No more knocks on the door ever came, though, so Sasha proceeded to get fully undressed and step beneath the stream of water. Red hair clung to her back, hot water dripping down her whole body. Her stomach ached, having been filled with nothing but water for a couple of days. She ignored it and started lathering her hair with shampoo.

It wasn't good enough. It was never good enough. But she would get there if it killed her. Just a few more days.