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Momo had spent a considerable amount of time in her room the past couple days. She wasn’t intentionally trying to be bitter about the situation, but apparently that’s how it was coming off.
She missed when it was just her, her dads, and Luna. Two dads, two daughters. Except now there were three daughters and the same number of dads as before, so that always meant at least one daughter would be left out. Momo felt more and more like that was always her. She knew it probably wasn’t true, but that worry remained.
Her and Luna were twins, but Luna was still the older twin; and since she now had a little sister that officially meant that Momo was a middle child. She held onto hope that the “we’re twins” clause would hold up, but she still got “well, TECHNICALLY…” every time she used it. They were four minutes apart, how much maturity could Luna have even gained over Momo in the four minutes she had on her? It wasn’t like Momo was able to use this wide, wide age gap to her advantage, either-- people suddenly supported the “twins” clause when Momo tried taking advantage of her youth. She couldn’t win.
For as long as she can remember, Momo has had this ritual she performed with her dad each night. They’d go out on the roof of the cave, and just… be, for a little while. Apparently they’d done that since Momo was a little baby, but she found that hard to believe. Every night, for 12 years? Psh. It made her happy, though, that she had something for herself that she got to share with her dad, something nobody else had.
...That was, of course, until two weeks ago.
Momo was happy! She made sure to first acknowledge this was in no way her little sister’s fault, and that she loved her very much. She couldn’t say she didn’t resent the baby a little bit though, and would roll her eyes whenever Panda scooped her up.
Two weeks ago, her sister was born. Two weeks ago, everything changed.
At first, Momo understood. She was old enough to understand why she wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with her dad as she wanted, and she accepted that without arguing. It sucked, but she took it with a smile and a nod.
The first time she was rejected, she understood. The second and third times she was rejected, she understood. The fourth time she was rejected, she had said that she had understood.
“I’m sorry sweetheart, but I’m busy with Aurora right now…”
If she had a nickel for every time she’d heard that.
She had asked every couple days if there’d be any chance they’d be able to sit on the roof like they liked to do, and always got similar answers. Her patience was beginning to falter.
It was a routine, and she did very poorly with her routine changing. Luna, bless her heart, had suggested they go out on their own to hopefully make up for it, but it wasn’t the same. Of course, Momo had undergone periods of time in which she couldn’t go out with her dad before, but it always came back around-- she was becoming less and less sure it would this time, though. It wasn’t like Aurora was going anywhere anytime soon.
But, yes, she was trying her hardest not to seem bitter about it. She, unfortunately, had to sacrifice being social for that to avoid showing too much emotion. Momo was never the most social girl, but she had always tried her hardest when she could-- she wanted to be social, she did, but she only recently became verbal. She needed time to grow into it.
It was those troublesome evenings where she stayed inside that were the most awkward, the most uncomfortable. She did nothing but sit on her bed and daydream, waiting for the evening to be over and she could bid the tension farewell for another 24 hours.
One could say her energy was at a slow decline throughout the day, starting decently high in the morning and dropping to a fifth of what it was by sundown, all in painful dread of the evening. She didn’t let it interfere with her schoolwork; as a matter of fact, it was the only thing keeping her sane. It was a decent distraction.
It got harder and harder for Momo to hold in her feelings, but she endured it. She felt like a pot that was about to overflow, unable to turn down the heat.
This brings her to this current evening. She’s overwhelmed, as per usual, with everything around her. The family of seven had just started dinner (aside from Aurora, who was on a different schedule) but Momo was having trouble thinking about anything else. Her dads are making small talk and flirting with each other as they do, while her uncle gushed to everyone else about something that was probably a movie, she missed the first part of it.
A wail cut through the noise in the room, which meant Aurora was awake. Panda and Charlie both stood up from their seats at the same time, hushed “I’ll get her”s overlapping each other before Charlie gave in and sat back down, with Panda scampering away to tend to the infant.
That was all it took for Momo to explode from her seat, run from the table into her room, and slam the door shut. It was over before it started, and Momo’s heart was beating a mile a minute as she leaned against her door. She knew her family would say something, but she avoided listening by focusing on the noise it made when she ground her teeth-- she was trying to not make that a habit. She produced a half-growl, half-scream noise from her throat through her teeth and drove herself into her bed, burying herself into a mess of pillows and blankets.
Her claws dug into her pillow as she slowly felt all the regret pour over her. She wanted to vent to someone about this, but the last thing she wanted was to appear pitiful. Her dad was just busy now, he’d be back for her soon, yeah, she’d live.
But… Why was this so hard!? Why couldn’t she just have five minutes alone with her dad?
Momo tried to ignore the feeling of another weight sitting next to her on the bed. She didn’t lift her head from the pillow, and only reacted when she felt a warm paw on her back. It was probably one of her uncles. Momo lifted her head up, and--
“Momo…”
“D-Dad?”
Panda sat close to where Momo had been sitting, a soft smile on his face, his eyes tinged with concern for his daughter. Momo’s stomach leapt, she hadn’t expected this one bit.
“That was quite an outburst,” Panda chuckled, taking his paw off of Momo’s back. “What’s wrong, pumpkin?”
Momo hesitated for a few long seconds, wondering if this was it. If this was the time to break, and spill all of the feelings she’d been hiding for the past weeks. Her mouth opened as if to say something, but it closed again. Momo shook her head in defiance, feeling tears well up in her eyes. She knew there was no going back now, she knew her dad saw that she had begun crying when she had promised herself not to cry, let alone let her dad see her cry. She pawed at her eyes in an attempt to dry the tears before they fell, but that soon became redundant when the sobbing started.
“I-I Just…”
Panda pulled Momo in close, rubbing a paw up and down her back. He stayed quiet, allowing Momo time to become coherent.
“I miss you, daddy!” Momo cried into Panda’s fur, hugging him back like it was the last time she’d have the chance. She could hear Panda shushing her from above. “You’re always with Aurora, y-you never want to spend time with me!”
“I had a feeling that’s what this was about,” Panda sighed, pulling Momo away so he could look her in her teary eyes. He smiled warmly at her, which comforted her. “I’m really sorry, sweetheart. It’s been stressing me out too.”
Momo sniffled. “Really?”
“Yeah!” Panda lilted. “It’s the highlight of my day!”
Momo leaned into Panda again, letting him hold her. She didn’t reply, only sniffling again and making a futile attempt at drying her face.
“...I know exactly what you’re going through, pumpkin,” Panda soothed, closing his eyes. “I’m a middle child too.”
Momo nodded against Panda.
“I always felt like Grizz was the cool one who could be friends with anyone, and that my little brother was way more talented, and I always wondered who I was. I felt like I didn’t fit in at all, I felt like I had no talents or redeeming qualities, like I’d never live up to either of my brothers,” Panda recalled. “But one day your uncle Grizz told me something I’ll never forget, do you wanna know what that was?”
Momo looked up with expectant eyes.
“He said, and I’ll never forget it,” Panda began. “You’re the glue that holds this family together.”
Momo blinked.
“It sucks being a middle sibling sometimes, but you just gotta remember that, sweetheart,” Panda used a claw to gently move a tuft of Momo’s fur away from her eye, the one with a spot over it. “You’re the glue that holds us together. I promise we can spend more time together from now on. I’ll pawn Aurora off on my bros if I have to. You deserve to be prioritized, and I’m so, so sorry I made you feel like you didn’t.”
Momo smiled for what felt like the first time in days. If she didn’t know better, she’d think her dad had started crying too.