Allegro

Elektra Natchios was a cold-hearted bitch. She would probably steal candy from a baby, eat it in front of them, and then proceed to laugh about it. Something about her was just terrible. Was it a result of child neglect or over indulgent parents? Well, that was the big question of life, now wasn’t it. Real talk: Natasha was sick and tired of being compared to Elektra at every part of her career. Natasha was better than her, no questions asked. It was tiring being compared to someone so obviously below her. But this season, Nat knew that she could easily assert her superiority. After all, she did have an in with Tony.

Nutcracker season was a time Natasha had started dreading as soon as she outgrew her Clara days. It felt like a chore to dance the same few roles every year. For most young girls, they grew up dreaming of one day being the Sugar Plum Fairy. Natasha had already danced that role multiple times, so that wasn’t what she was auditioning for this year. This year she wanted to be the Snow Queen. Well, she didn’t just want it, she knew she would get it. The Snow Queen got to dance a beautiful and romantic pas de deux, which was one of Nat’s favorite things to perform. She knew Elektra would be going for Sugar Plum as always, so she had no real competition. She had Snow Queen in the bag.

Because she’d been dancing with the company as a principal dancer for quite a few seasons now, Natasha didn’t do much to prepare for her auditions. She ate her normal breakfast of two scrambled egg white, one banana, one cup of raspberries, a green juice, and an iced peppermint tea. Of course, she did a brief core workout and stretching session before making her way down to the bus stop.

On the short bus ride to the company, Natasha popped in her AirPods and listened to the Nutcracker soundtrack. She started with Chinese Dances, her resident favorite song of the ballet. The music in all the Tchaikovsky ballets was just amazing. As she listened, she mapped out the dances in her mind. Though, while listening to Chinese Dances all she could picture was the mushrooms from Fantasia.

Upon arrival at the company, Natasha went into her dressing room and unpacked her dance bag. She also took her street clothes off from on top of her leotard and tights. Normally she would put her wrap skirt on top, but they weren’t allowed for auditions. She began to warm up her feet at the barre before getting her pointe shoes ready. They weren’t new shoes, so there wasn’t that much work to be done. She tied her ribbons and dipped them in rosin before warming up en pointe.

After warming up, Natasha made her way into one of the rehearsal studios where the auditions were being held. This audition was only for the company members, not the little kids who would also be in the production. As she approached the rehearsal room, she spotted Bucky Barnes sitting on the floor outside the door.

Bucky was one of Natasha’s best and oldest friends. They both started at the company in the same month and immediately took a liking to each other. Bucky had this gorgeous, long, chestnut hair that was almost always pulled back into a bun. Today he was wearing a white t-shirt and black leggings, common attire for a male dancer’s audition. Perhaps the most striking feature about Bucky was his metal arm. It had been severely broken in some accident in high school to the point of amputation. But now it made for one badass appendage. 

“Hey, Bucky,” Natasha greeted, walking over to him.

Bucky smiled up at her from his seat on the floor. “Hey, Nat. Feeling ready to crush your audition?”
“As always,” Natasha replied. 

Bucky got up off the floor and dusted off his legs. “I’m just relieved to know that I didn’t get fired. But I’m counting on Tony just making me a party guest now. He hates my guts for no reason.

The last ballet that they performed was Swan Lake. Natasha, of course, was Odette and Odile. Bucky was supposed to be Prince Seigfriend, but he got replaced by his understudy just days before the first performance. It was seemingly out of nowhere, but his understudy had just been doing a better job at rehearsals. Tony had insinuated that Bucky would be fired, but that did not happen. Natasha was, honestly, not surprised. Tony had just wanted Bucky to come back better and with a fire under him.

“Well obviously you don’t want to be a party guest, but what do you want to be?” Natasha inquired. 

“Well, I’d love to be the Nutcracker, of course,” Bucky answered. “But I’m really not expecting to get it. I’m hoping for Clara’s dad.”

“I want the Snow Queen. She’s just so beautiful and graceful, I feel like I could pull it off,” Natasha said.

“You could for sure pull it off. You know, when I was a kid, I always dreamed of getting some huge role in a ballet. But I think I always knew that leads were mostly reserved for girls. But then, my third year in the Nutcracker, I got Fritz,” Bucky stated.

“It’s amazing that you haven’t progressed past that level all of these years,” Elektra said from the other side of the door frame.

Elektra was a complete and utter bitch. She was one of the other principal dancers, but she certainly was not friendly. She always made sure it was her versus Natasha, and not in a friendly way. Natasha was, of course, better, but it was still annoying to deal with. Elektra was absolutely stunning with long, black hair always pulled up in a perfect bun and cheekbones and a jawline that could slice through a rock. As terrible of a person as she was, Natasha had to admit that she was gorgeous.

“Elektra, you talk a lot of shit for someone who’s always an understudy,” Natasha shot back.

“Oh please, you’re scared of me and you know it,” Elektra retorted.

Before Natasha could respond, the rehearsal room door swung open. Natasha walked inside, closely followed by Bucky and Elektra. In the front of the room was a long, white table with three people in front of it. In the middle was Tony. He basically oversaw everything that happened at the company. He had no real ballet experience or knowledge, but he had the ultimate casting decisions. On his right was Maria Hill, one of the ballet instructors. She was Natasha’s personal favorite, as she often instructed the pas de deux, her favorites. On Tony’s left was Peggy Carter, the ballet director. She was a dance teacher as well, but her main job was to oversee everything relating to the production. Based on the judging panel, Natasha felt pretty confident about getting her role.

Everyone from the company filled into the room, chatting amongst themselves. Natasha was never one to talk to others in the rehearsal room: she felt as though it was unprofessional. Because everyone was a company member, they didn’t get any time to warm up. It was assumed that everyone had come early and was already ready to go.

Tony stood up from his chair and walked to the center of the room, glancing around at all the company members.

“Well, it looks as though we’ve reached Nutcracker season again, now doesn’t it?” Tony stated, pacing around the front of the room. A few company members laughed at that statement.

“As always, we do have your requests as to what part you want. Of course, I do completely disregard that. We’re looking for talent, regardless of your preferences. We’re going to begin by doing a combo at the barre, followed by a combo at center. After that, we will be breaking you down into smaller groups to better assess your individual talents. Now, Miss Maria will take over to lead the exercises,” Tony lectured.

Natasha made her way to the front of the room and stood at the very front of the middle barre. She wanted to make sure that she was easily seen. Through the mirror, she could see that Elektra took the spot next to her. 

Maria got up and stood at the front of the room, right in front of Natasha. “I’ll be conducting this like any other class. We’re looking for technique mainly. In the further auditions we’ll focus more on the musicality and expression. Do your best to keep up and look nice if you want a decent role,” she stated.

The class began with plies, as they often did with Maria. Natasha stared herself down in the mirror, trying to ignore her surroundings. If she glanced around, she’d likely see her competition and get thrown off her game. This wasn’t a problem for the plies, tendus, or rand de jambes. Where it did become an issue, however, was the adagio.

“Now, we’re going to do develope for four counts, pique arabesque, arabesque balance, develope side, plie rond de jambe to arabesque, reverse, pique up, arms in fifth, lower down, develope side, plie rond de jambe, plie on four, step, pique balance, develope side, rand de jambe into grande rand de jambe, fifth, and reverse.”

It was the end of their barre audition, so Natasha’s eyes began to wander along the mirror. She looked at everyone, but her eyes kept flickering back to Elektra. As she watched, her piques were even higher than Natasha’s. The rest of the combination, Natasha’s eyes were glued on Elektra, making sure that she was doing better. She saw Elektra smirk at her through the mirror. She knew exactly what she was doing.

“Now clear the barres away so we can begin in center,” Tony instructed from his seat. 

All the dancers grabbed the barres they were at and moved them to the sides of the room. 

“You might want to work on your flexibility if you want to stay a principal,” Elektra hissed at her as they set the barre down.

Natasha didn’t respond. She had a strict no-talking policy at auditions. Besides, she didn’t have anything to say to that. Natasha had impeccable flexibility and flawless technique. Her mom had shipped her off to the Vaganova school at a young age and it showed. Elektra had done, what, a few Joffrey summer intensives? She didn’t even have half of the training Natasha did. It was obvious to anyone who saw them. 

“Remember, we will be splitting you up into smaller groupings after this. There you will be placed against those vying for the same parts as you. This is not the day to be lazy,” Peggy said from her seat, scribbling down notes even as she spoke. 

Natasha was, quite frankly, distracted during their entire center exercise. She couldn’t stop thinking about what Elektra had said and looking at what Elektra was doing. All her thoughts were replaced with thoughts of her worst enemy.

The audition was over before Natasha even realized it. They had an hour before they would start the smaller group auditions, so Natasha decided to hang out in her room and just wait to see who would stop by. She knew everyone in the company quite well, it was inevitable that at least one person would want to chat about the auditions.

Natasha walked into her dressing room and turned on her fairy lights. She knew they were basic, but she felt like they made for a much cozier environment. She left on her outfit but slipped an oversized sweater on. Believe it or not, being warmed up quite literally included being warm. She wanted to be ready for whenever her audition group went. 

The vanity in Natasha’s dressing room had arguably the best mirror in the entire company building. She sat down in front of it and leaned into it, inspecting her face. Compared to Elektra, she felt so inferior. Well, when it came to beauty. Elektra had features that were sharp in all the right places and soft in all the right places. Natasha wasn’t ugly, per say, but she was nothing next to Elektra. 

“Hey,” Tony said, walking into Natasha’s room.

Natasha blushed and leaned away from the mirror. “Hi. Shouldn’t you be consulting with Maria and Peggy right now?”

“They’re just choosing groups, that’s boring to me,” Tony stated.

“How did you feel it went?” Natasha asked.

Tony leaned against the door frame. “Good overall. Bad for you. What happened out there in center? I mean, you were still better than everyone else, but you can do better than that, Tasha. I know you could do that combo in your sleep, and you danced like you were doing it in your sleep.”

Natasha flushed. She had no idea that her performance was so obviously off. She had felt like she did decently.

“I’m sorry, Tony. I don’t know what was going on. I was just distracted. It was like I was just going through the motions,” Natasha said.

“Go get some coffee or something, get into it. You’re not our only principal: your role isn’t secure,” Tony warned.

“I’ll run to Caribou. I’ll do better,” Natasha promised.

“Good, it’s what I expect from you,” Tony stated before walking out.

Suddenly the amount of pressure on her to do well was greater than ever. Tony explicitly said that she didn't have her role in the bag. That had never happened before. 

Natasha grabbed her wallet and walked out to the hallway, towards the vending machines. She had told Tony she was going to Caribou, but she didn’t want to have to take her pointe shoes off and then put them back in the span of an hour. She would just buy an energy drink or something.

When Natasha approached the vending machine, there was someone buying vitamin water. Karolina Dean. One of the principal dancers, and nicest people Natasha knew.

“Hey, Karolina,” Natasha greeted, walking over to her.

Karolina smiled at her. “Oh, hi, Nat. It’s good to see you. I was just buying a water, gotta stay hydrated.”

“I was going to get some caffeine, try to stay awake,” Natasha stated.

“That’s a good idea,” Karolina commented. “You looked amazing this morning, by the way. I’m sure you’ll get a great casting.”

“Awe, thank you. I could say the same thing about you,” Natasha responded.

“Maybe I’ll see you in the audition room later today?” Karolina said.

Natasha smiled at her. “Oh, I’m sure you will.”

Karolina turned and walked back to her dressing room as Natasha put her card into the vending machine. She bought a Starbucks caramel frappuccino in a bottle, figuring it was probably the best thing to wake her up. It felt like she was cheating on Caribou.

“Nat,” Natasha heard Bucky call from inside his dressing room, “Come in here quick.”

Sighing, Natasha walked into Bucky’s dressing room. She was scared about what was to come. Oftentimes Bucky was dramatic about things, which was not really what Natasha needed. She loved him more than anything, but it was just true. 

“What’s up?” Natasha asked as she entered his room.

“You have to see this,” Bucky stated, handing a vase of flowers to her.

“It’s… flowers?” Natasha questioned, smelling the roses.

“Steve had them sent here for me because of the auditions today,” Bucky gushed.

Steve was one of the trumpet players in the pit who had grown up as Bucky’s best friend. Now, they were in a pretty serious relationship. It was still relatively new, so Steve tended to do these cutesy things for him. Natasha remembered when Matt used to do that kind of thing for her. She thought it was absolutely adorable.

“”I’m so happy for you guys, you’re adorable together,” Natasha said, sitting down in the armchair in the corner of his room. 

“Don’t tell him I said this, obviously, but I think we’re probably going to move in together soon,” Bucky said.

“At your place or his? He has a roommate and your apartment is, no offense, quite crappy,” Natasha stated. 

“We want to get an apartment by yours,” Bucky answered. “We absolutely adore that place. Everything there is so clean and bougie.”

“It’s also not cheap. Matt makes enough money that we can afford it, but don’t expect it to be cheap,” Natasha advised. 

“We’ve both been saving. We’ll just have to see how it goes,” Bucky said.

Natasha was going to ask him about how they’d decorate their place together, but she was interrupted by a ruckus in the hallway. There was a lot of talking, laughing, and way too much squealing.

Bucky walked out to see what was going on with Natasha trainly closely behind him. A group of company members was surrounding a spot on the wall, presumably the audition groupings and times. It seemed a little early for it to be released, but maybe there were clear levels of dancers this season. Natasha waited for it to clear up before she approached it.

Confronted with the audition list, Natasha decided to look for Bucky before herself. Surprisingly, he was in a group with some principal male dancers. It wasn’t surprising because he was bad or anything, it was just evident that Tony had a strong distaste for him.

Skimming over the list, Natasha quickly found her name: at the very top because they would begin their audition on the hour. There were only two names on the line next to her own. Karolina was expected, she was gorgeous and amazing. Natasha was happy they got to audition together, they could push each other to their best. However, the other name made her feel the opposite. She knew she couldn’t dance her best with her in the room.

Natasha was going to have to audition with Elektra.