Chapter Text
Buster had never really had a family. Well, perhaps that was a bit of a lie. He’d had one once, long ago. His mother had passed away when he was quite young, and for years it had just been him and his father. But even he’d had to leave eventually, leaving Buster a theater, a legacy and a bit of a predicament. The young koala had never been interesting in settling down, his heart belonging firmly to the preforming arts, and he had no closely related family with whom he could potentially bond. As thus, he’d quickly resigned to the idea of spending the rest of his days alone, surrounded perhaps with friends and colleagues, but none he could truly call family.
But then the performers came into his life, spurned by a desire to achieve that he couldn’t help but cultivate. Suddenly he was surrounded by people he’d put anything on the line for, even his precious theater, in order to protect. And they, though certain ones tended to deny it, would do just the same. It was an odd group, rag-tag and coming from all walks of life, but he loved them. Although you’d never hear him say it out loud, he’d found his family.
So it was no surprise that, when Rosita stumbled in one morning, looking like death incarnate, he’d immediately leapt to his feet and rushed to her side.
“Rosita, are you alright? You don’t look well.” He asked, looking her over. Her shoulders were slumped in exhaustion, eyes lightly unfocused when she glanced at him. She urged a tired smile onto her face, giving a little sniffle before she spoke.
“I’m fine Buster. Things are just a bit hectic at home is all. Half the kids are going through growth spurts and the rest are all just getting over colds. I must have picked up a bit of a bug from them. I should be right as rain in a few days.” She assured him, but the koala still tilted his head in concern, placing a hand on her arm.
“Are you sure?”
“I pulled through finals week for my engineering degree with a nasty case of pneumonia. It’ll take more than a simple cold to take me down.”
“Alright, if you’re certain. Gunter’s already back in the practice room. But if you start feeling any worse I want you to come tell me alright?”
“I promise Buster.” She replied, before tromping off in the direction of her partner. He stared after her for a moment before being distracted by a familiar engine rev, heading outside to meet Mike.
The rest of the morning passed much as usual, Buster moving between the different performers and giving them direction as needed. Rosita’s voice was straining a bit on certain higher notes and she was taking more breaks than usual, often choosing to sit and cool down by the air vent while Gunter practiced his solo moves, but otherwise the mother seemed to be holding up fine.
It wasn’t till the day was nearing mid-afternoon that he noticed something amiss. As he glanced into the dancing duo’s while he passed, he noticed her leaning against the wall, her head leaned back against the cool paneling. Frowning, he opened the door and softly called in.
“Rosita?”
At her lack of reply he and Gunter glanced at each other in concern and made their way over.
“Rosita? Are you alright?” He asked once more, taking a knee and reaching out to gently shake her shoulder. This seemed to wake her from her doze and her eyes sleepily opened. She lifted a hand and rubbed at them as she fully sat up, giving a yawn.
“Buster? Oh, did I doze off? Sorry.”
He disregarded her words, choosing instead to settle a hand on her forehead. He grimaced and pulled back, looking at her with a series gleam in his eyes.
“Rosita, you have a fever.”
“A fever? Oh Buster, I’m sure it’s not that bad. I’m just a bit waa-“
Her protests slurred into a groan as she tried to stand, swaying violently on her feet for a moment before sinking back to the ground, head in her hands.
“Alright, that’s it. You’re going home. No if’s ands or buts.” The koala declared before she could try and argue again.
“Gunter, could you help me get her outside?”
Rosita slumped a bit between them with a sigh, evidently giving up on her protests. As they helped her through the main stage towards the parking lot, the rest of the team quickly caught sight of them and made their way over.
“Rosita? Did something happen?” Meena asked, looking the woman over for injuries and the mother smiled at her.
“I’m just feeling a bit sick. Nothing to worry about. I’ll be good to go after a bit of rest.”
“Johnny, may we borrow your truck? We’re going to take her home.” The director asked as the others crowded around.
“Oh, yeah of course.” The gorilla said quickly, digging through his jacket and handing him the keys. He noodled in appreciation and, gently shooing the worried others out of the way, they started once more for the parking lot, the koala giving a call over his shoulder.
“We’ll be back soon, just keep practicing in the meantime!”
With that they helped her out to the black pickup, settling her comfortably between them in the front seat and setting off. Rosita’s house wasn’t all that far from the theater, thus why she walked every day, but by the time they reached it she was dozing again and Buster gently shook her awake as Gunter parked. They helped her out of the car and to the door, Buster fishing the keys out of her purse.
“Thank you guys, I really appreciate the help. Once I get some rest I should be just fi-”
As Buster opened the door a veritable explosion of sound erupted from behind it. Rosita’s face became confused for a moment before she shook her head.
“Right, the kids only had a half day. Well, so much for the peace and quiet.” she sighed before stepping inside, the other trailing behind her.
As the door clicked shut behind them there was a sudden lull in the ruckus, before there came a chorus of shouts and the sound of stampeding feet.
“MOMMY!”
The piglet’s rounded the corner in mass, their eyes going wide with gasps of delight as they spotted them.
“UNCLE BUSTER! UNCLE GUNTER!”
Normally Buster would have found the nicknames endearing, adorable even, but he found himself a bit too terrified to notice as the kids rushed them. Rosita braced herself with the poise only someone who’d been practicing for years could achieve, but Buster and Gunter weren’t so lucky. As the swarm launched themselves at the three the latter two were almost knocked off their feet, Buster actually collapsing back against the wall under the weight of the multiple children clinging to his torso and legs.
“Alright, alright everybody calm down. They won’t be here long, they were just helping Mommy-”. She gave a chuckle at their antics as they tugged at her legs, lifting her hands to calm them. Before she could finish though, she gave a little groan, pressing a hand to her head as a wave of dizziness passed over her. The children stilled when they noticed, releasing Buster and Gunter so they could crowd around their mother.
“Mommy? Mommy, what’s the matter?”
“She’s just feeling a bit sick, so we brought her home. How’s about you all help us get her into bed?” Buster tried and the kids jumped to action, most rushing off while a handful stayed behind to lead them through the house. They successfully made it up the stairs to find the rest waiting by the open bedroom door, just finishing fluffing the pillows and straightening the comforter as they walked up. Rosita smiled warmly at the sight.
“Aww thank you my dears.”
They helped her into bed and she looked down at the kids watching worriedly at the beds’ edge with a smile.
“Why don’t you all go play downstairs while I talk with your “uncles”?” she suggested and the children were out of the room in an instant, even closing the door behind them as they went. Once they were gone Rosita turned to them with a look of appreciation.
“Thank you both so much for the help. I’m sorry for being such a bother today.”
“Bother? You’re no bother! You’re sick! Of course we’re gonna help you!” Gunter replied and she gave a chuckle.
“Either way, you should probably be heading back to the others.”
“Are you sure you’ll be ok here alone?” Buster asked and she shook her head.
“I’ll be fine. Norman should be home from work in just a few-“
She suddenly paused as though something had occurred to her and gave a frustrated groan, letting her head fall back against the pillows.
“Oh damn it.”
Gunter and Buster jumped a bit at the exclamation then regarded her in confusion, the koala speaking once more.
“Is something wrong?”
“I just remembered that Norman is out of town for a business conference till tomorrow morning. Well, there’s not much that can be done about it now.”
The two men glanced at each other and exchanged a nod.
“Alright. Gunter, head back to the theater and let the others know they can go home. I’ll stay here for the night.”
“What?! Buster, I couldn’t ask you to do that! You’re so busy lately!” Rosita chirped, jerking back upright.
“Well, it’s a good thing you’re not asking me then. Besides, how are supposed to recover if there’s no one around to keep an eye on you, hmm?” He replied, handing the truck keys to Gunter. The mother considered his words for a moment before giving a sigh and relaxing once more.
“If you’re sure...”
Accepting her surrender, Gunter headed out, boisterously bidding the piglets farewell whilst Buster stayed behind to fetch a few books for the sick singer and pull the lamp closer within her reach. He paused when he felt eyes on him and turned to see Rosita staring at him. He cocked an eyebrow and she sat up a bit to meet his eyes better.
“Buster, are you really sure about this? I know you’ve been busy getting ready for the new show.”
To be honest, she wasn’t wrong. The instant he’d announced their new project, the workload had picked up quite a bit. It was to be a unique one, that’s for sure, and when he’d announced the theme the others had leapt headfirst into the fray, but that also meant even more long nights for him than usual. Still...
“Rosita, it’s fine. I’m happy to help. Besides, we don’t premiere for a few more months. One missed work night won’t bring everything crumbling down. Now get some rest.” He assured her, moving to the door and opening it. He winced at the wave of noise that leaked in from downstairs and quickly fetched a thick blanket, pinning it over the doorway to help block the clamor. With that he took a deep breathe, braced himself, and headed downstairs.
What he found was absolute chaos. Free to play, the children were going absolutely nuts, chasing each other around, jumping on the furniture, throwing balls and other toys to each other, and generally being kids. As he stepped off the landing several of them saw him and ran over to swarm around his legs in excitement. He froze and looked around in panic as they laughed and tugged at him, at a loss for what to do. Something suddenly landed on his back, nearly knocking the breath out of him, and he just barely managed to catch the kiddo as they climbed up over his shoulder and fell with a giggle. Gently holding them up in front of him, he felt little feet once again clambering on his back and then a weight settled on his head. A piglet’s upside-down visage appeared in his view as they leaned over into his face, a grin on the youngsters face.
“C’mon Uncle Buster! Play with us!”
Buster gave a nervous hum, feeling sweat bead on his forehead. Oh boy, he may have bitten off a bit too much this time.
“Umm, maybe in a bit kid.” He replied, glancing out at the chaos. No way was Rosita gonna get any rest with all this going on. Well, seems like he had a step one at least. And, while he didn’t know much about children, he had more than enough practice at wrangling theater casts. Swapping the piglet he held over to one arm, he glanced between him and the one on his head.
“Cover your ears you two.”
Though looking a bit confused, they did so, and he lifted two fingers two his mouth, giving a loud whistle. The pandemonium stilled as the kids turned to look at him in curiosity. Gently setting down the two clinging to him, he crossed his arms and addressed the crowd.
“Alright everybody, listen for a minute. You’ve been sick before right? And your mom always took good care of you, right?” He asked, keeping his voice calm and friendly, and a chorus of “Right!”s met him.
“Well, right now she’s not feeling well, so now our job is to take care of her. And the first thing we need to do is make sure to keep the noise down so she can rest, ok?”
Again there came a clamoring of replies and he felt a tug at this pant leg, looking down to see one of the kids looking up at him questioningly.
“Is there anything else we can do to help Mommy?”
He smiled down at the child, reaching down to ruffle their ears as he thought. Rosita still had a fever, if not a very high one, so it was probably best they dealt with that first.
“You guys have a medicine cabinet?” He asked and the kids leapt into action, grabbing at his hands and tugging him towards what he assumed was the kitchen. They lead him to a cabinet near the sink and he had to grab a few of them as they climbed up on the counter in an attempt to get into it, grabbing a stool and peeking inside himself. It was well stocked thankfully and he quickly acquired cold medicine and some Advil, even finding an ice bag tucked away in the back. He sent the kids to fill it and grabbed a glass of water in the meantime, thanking them when they swiftly returned. As he moved to return upstairs though he found the entire group tagging along at his heels and paused on the first step.
“You don’t you all stay down here and clean up your toys while I take this up to your mom?” He suggested and they scrambled off, some even giving him little salutes before they left. He swiftly headed upstairs before they could change their minds, quietly slipping back into the bedroom. Rosita was dozing when he walked in and she awoke when he set down the items on the nightstand, smiling sleepily at him as she sat up.
“Oh, thank you Buster.”
“No problem.” He replied, measuring out the correct dosage on the liquid medicine. It was advertised to taste like blueberry, and it most certainly smelled that way, but something told him it probably tasted more akin to burnt tire rubber.
“I know this won’t be the most pleasant but you know the drill.”
She gave a chuckle and took the capful of blue slime from him, swallowing it down with a grimace and chasing it with a gulp of water. Even this simple a task seemed to take the energy out of her and she laid back down with a tired sigh, falling back into a doze almost immediately. Buster carefully arranged the ice bag on her forehead and, leaving the Advil and water on the dresser for her, quietly slipped out.
When he made his way back downstairs, he was more than a little surprised by what he found. The kids had cleared out the toys lying about in mere minutes and now appeared to be...cleaning? Some were darting about with wet rags wiping things down, others were going at the corners and under chairs with the hose from the surprisingly quiet vacuum and there was even a group in the kitchen wrestling with the mop and a bucket of water. Buster couldn’t help but feel himself taken aback at the sight. The piglets he’d become acquainted with were almost always a force to be reckoned with, constantly running about with their focus jumping from place to place as they caused chaos. So the sight of them doing something so constructive out of the blue was just odd. Admittedly, they weren’t exactly the most proficient at the job, with a few of them wielding long handled Swiffer dusters with such ferocity he was surprised something hadn’t been broken yet, but they were still cleaning.
“Uhh, what are you guys up to?” He asked one of the kids dashing by and they paused to look at them.
“Oh, well Mommy always cleans after she gets home, but she can’t if she’s sick, so we’re gonna do it for her! We don’t want it to be all dirty when she feels better!” They replied with a grin and Buster felt his heart swell at the sentiment, a grin stretching across his face as well.
“Well, what can I say to that kinda enthusiasm? Here, gimme one of those cloths.” He replied, tugging off his jacket and dropping it on the coat rack.
The piglet tossed him one and he dove into the fray alongside them. Damn it if they wouldn’t make this place shine by the time Rosita was up and about. They swept, moped, dusted and cleaned for what felt like ages, one of the kids even arranging a division of their siblings to go start sorting laundry. By the time Buster glanced up from the work it was beginning to grow dark out. Fishing out his phone, he discovered it was closing it on dinner time. He straightened up, feeling his spine pop, and gave another, quieter, whistle to get everyone’s attention.
“Ok guys, I think that’s good for today. Let’s get cleaned up.”
The cleaning supplies were quickly put away and they once more assembled in the living room. He could see that, despite their childish enthusiasm, most of the kids were beginning to run out of steam. He crossed his arms once more, looking out over them.
“I think you all deserve a break. Why don’t you mess around in here for a while your Uncle Buster fixes dinner?”
Most of the kids flopped down on the couches at his words, but a few remained standing and scurried over to tug at him.
“Can we help?” One asked and he smiled, patting them on the heads.
“Well, aren’t you hard workers? If you want to, sure.” He replied and they gave little cheers as they followed him out to the kitchen.
“So, what can I refer to you little helpers by?” He asked as he opened the fridge and they announced themselves as Perry, Gail, Tess and Caspar. He greeted them in return and turned back to the fridge to see what he had to work with. The thing was fully stocked to the brim, just as he’d expect from Rosita, so ingredients would be no problem. He tapped his fingers against the door with a thoughtful hum. What to make? He was a pretty decent cook, if he did say so himself, and a number of recipes swirled around in his head. It should be something easy and fairly to make, he didn’t want to spend three hours cooking this evening. His mind finally settled on a nice stew he remembered and he began to pull vegetables and other ingredients out.
“How’s about you guys help me wash and peel these?” He suggested, piling potatoes, carrots and the like into the far side of the sink. The kids leapt into action, one taking up a station at the sink to begin scrubbing and then passing the freshly cleansed veggies to the other safety peeler wielding tots. Buster quickly found a large bowl for them to put the finished goods into and went to work looking for all his cooking instruments. He discovered a huge pot almost half as tall as himself in one of the lower cabinets and, with quite a bit of effort, hefted it up onto the stove. While the little ones were distracted with their own task he went to work, chopping up various herbs and other ingredients to add to the pot. In addition he set aside a far smaller pot to the side for Rosita. While he wasn’t sure if the illness was effecting her stomach or not, a light vegetable soup would probably be better suited for her right now than a thick stew. Faster than one would have though he was being handed a full bowl of peeled veggies and he began giving them various kid-safe directions, handing him various things and washing spoons and such. They ended up having to pull out the mop again when one of the kids dropped the bag of flour they were bringing him, but otherwise things seemed to go quite smoothly.
Just as he was setting the pot to simmer for a while, a cry of rage and a chorus of dramatic “OOOOOOOH!”s came from the living room and he nearly dropped the lid he was holding in his panicked scramble to get out here. He rounded the corner and 20 pairs of eyes turned to look at him, one piglet still starting at the tv in frustration where a few of them seemed to be playing some racing game.
“Is everyone alright?” He asked, suddenly feeling out of breath, and the group nodded, one pipping up from within the crowd.
“We’re fine. Nelson was just in first place on the last lap and Carla blue-shelled him.”
“Who does that?!” said piglet cried, throwing his hands up in exasperation and Buster shook his head in relief. He got both pots set to go and quickly cleaned up, joining the kids in the living room while he let them simmer. They were in the middle of an intense tournament of sorts, the 4 players swapping out after every few races and Buster soon found himself entranced. He’d never seen a game form and break friendships so quickly before. Before he knew it the timer he’d set on his phone rang and he went to go finish up on the dishes, taking them off the heat and adding a last few seasonings. He prepped a tray for Rosita and then stuck his head into the living room.
“Dinner’s ready! Could you guys wash up and get the table ready while I go take this to your Mom? Just don’t touch the stove.”
A clamoring of excited shouts greeted him and the game was quickly abandoned as they ran to follow his directions. Leaving the chaos to unfold behind him, he made his way upstairs.
The singer was awake when he entered this time and looked a bit better than before, some of the flush gone from her cheeks. She looked up from the book she was reading and smiled when she saw him.
“Ah, Buster! How are thing’s going down there?”
“Just finished with dinner. Was just bring you up yours.” He replied, and her eyes widened in surprise, just now seeming to see the tray he carried.
“Oh, Buster! You didn’t need to-“ she began, her words halting when she noticed the cocked eyebrow he was regarding her with. She smiled sheepishly as he set the tray in her lap, reaching over to feel her forehead as she examined the food. Her temperature had gone down for sure, but she was still feeling warmer than normal. Grabbing her mostly melted ice bag, he made a quick trip downstairs to refill it, passing the kids diligently, if a bit clumsily, following his suggestion. When he returned she was just tasting the soup and her eyes lit up in delight when she looked up at him.
“Buster, this is delicious!” she exclaimed and he chuckled, setting the ice bag on the dresser.
“Thank you. I’m glad some of my cooking skills carried over from college. When you’re done you should try to get some more rest, if you feel up to it. I’ll be back up to get the bowl later.”
As he turned to leave a hand closed around his wrist and he glanced back to see her regarding him with a warm smile.
“Really Buster, thank you for all of this.”
He smiled back at her, flipping his hand over to it rested in hers and gave a light squeeze.
“Any time Rosita.”
With that he took his leave and left her to her dinner, venturing back downstairs to dish out to the kids.
While something told him this was a far calmer dinner than normally occurred in the house, he was still forced to wrangle 25 young kids as the late night and long day began to bring out their silliness. More than once he had to keep them from adding things to their sibling’s dishes while they were looking away, though they did manage to slip past his notice a few times. (He had to admit though that watching one nearly sneeze themselves silly after their neighbor dumped a decent mound of pepper on their spoonful was far funnier than he should have found it.) Eventually they made it through the meal and he could see the tiredness hanging in the children’s movements, the day finally catching with them. He sent them to get ready for bed while he gathered the dishes and they stumbled off without a single complaint. While they were brushing their teeth he went to check on Rosita and found her sound asleep, the empty bowl set on the dresser. With a smile he collected her dishes, settled the ice bag in place on her forehead and bid her a quiet goodnight. He found the kids already in their pj’s and made quick work of getting them settled in bed. He switched off the lights and was moving to leave when a voice called out to him.
“Uncle Buster, will you read us a story?”
He turned back to see many pairs of expectant eyes watching him from the dark and he shook his head with a chuckle.
“Alright, but just one.”
He headed to their bookshelf and began fishing through the tomes there. They had quite a collection it seemed and he soon came across a book of Scottish fairy tales that seemed intriguing. Leafing through it for something mundane enough (he knew the Scottish tended to have a penchant for the darker side of folklore), he settled down at the foot of the bookcase. Soon he found something he thought might work and cleared his throat, all the kids settling down in anticipation.
“Once upon a time, a beautiful princess was born. Soon however her aunt grew jealous of her and cursed her to be light as a feather...”
*
Buster awoke in darkness to the feeling of a blanket being draped over him. His eyes flickering open, he blinked in sleepy confusion. From the plushness beneath him, he deduced he must have fallen asleep on the couch while waiting for the next batch of laundry to finish. He glanced around, finding the outline of someone standing next to him in the dark.
“Wha...who...?” he slurred sleepily and the shape chuckled.
“Whoa, calm down. It’s just me. Rosita called earlier and told me what happened.” Norman replied and Buster gave a tired noise of understanding, immediately slumping back down against the cushions. The pig gave another laugh and patted him on the shoulder.
“Thanks for looking after her Buster.” He murmured and Buster gave a little hum.
“No...problem...”
*
When the koala awoke one more it was light out. He yawned and sat up, trying feebly to tame his flyaway hair as he gave a long stretch and felt his back crack.
“Well, looks like someone’s awake.”
He turned sleepily toward the kitchen doorway to find Rosita standing there in a robe, a mug in each hand. There was still a bit of frogginess to her voice, but she looked leagues better than she had the day before and he smiled at her.
“Looks like someone’s feeling better.” He bantered back and she gave a laugh, coming to sit beside him and hand him one of the mugs. He took a long sip of the coffee inside and gave a happy sigh, the two settling into a comfortable silence.
“Thanks again for everything yesterday Buster.” Rosita said at last, swirling the last of the drink around in her cup.
“I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here.”
“Oh, I’m sure you would have been fine.” He replied and she gave him a playful shove on the shoulder.
“I’m being serious. I wish there was some way for me to replay you.”
She fell into thought for a moment before turning to him with a smile.
“Well, I’m sure I’ll figure something out. Speaking of, we’re having breakfast soon. Would you like to join us?” She asked and he grinned back at her.
“I would love that.”