Allegro

Natasha Romanov was not easy to befriend. Elektra was tired of coming to work and knowing that she had a “rival”. It was never what she wanted. She assumed that becoming friends with Bucky would make it easier for her to become friends with Nat, but she was wrong. In fact, befriending Bucky seemingly made it harder. But Elektra wasn’t someone to easily give up on a challenge. 

Because they’d been working on their dances for a while, they were starting to do bigger rehearsals on the stage, with the orchestra. Elektra loved being able to dance in their auditorium. It was an exhilarating experience for her. It was also super awesome to be able to see everyone and their dances, especially since there were little kids in this show. Elektra felt like somewhat of a mentor to the kids.

Bigger rehearsals also meant that Elektra would get to see Natasha without having to seek her out. She had a feeling Natasha would be more open to it if it happened in a natural environment. Elektra and Bucky decided that they would spend all day watching rehearsals in the auditorium, not rehearsing their dance. They’d already spent enough time on it. In fact, they’d had multiple teachers come in and tell them it was the best snow pas de deux they’d ever seen. Even Tony came in and said that, although he didn’t like Elektra or Bucky much. It felt like it was meant to be.

Natasha’s rendition of the Sugar Plum Fairy was the best Elektra had ever seen. Something about her movements were so fluid and her connection to the audience was absolutely insane. Elektra could not take her eyes off of Natasha the entire time she was on stage. She still thought she was better than her, but she could admit that Nat was amazing.

“That was… just… wow,” Elektra sputtered, going backstage to meet Nat as she finished her performance.

“Thanks, I guess,” Natasha said, pushing past her to get to her dressing room.

It wasn’t much, but it was progress. It seemed like Nat might be opening up to the possibility of at least being friendly towards Elektra. Honestly, Elektra wasn’t really sure what she was looking for in their relationship yet. What she really wanted was a close, female friend who had the same job as her. That could potentially be Natasha, but she wasn’t sure that was what Nat was looking for. In fact, it seemed like Natasha didn’t want any relationship at all. 

Elektra sighed and walked back over to Bucky. He was still sitting and watching the rehearsal. She sat next to him, slightly leaning against him. 

“How did it go?” Bucky asked.

Elektra shrugged. “I dunno. She could’ve been worse. She wasn’t necessarily rude but she also didn’t want to talk to me.”

“That’s a good sign,” Bucky said.

“I just almost feel like why am I trying. Like, what would I get out of the relationship? I feel like things are fine as they are right now: the two of us just don’t really interact at all,” Elektra said.

“Honestly, that’s probably your best bet,” Steve responded.

It probably was a little too late for Elektra to try to become friends with Natasha. Elektra could just stop talking to her at all and everything would be fine. Why did Elektra even want to be friends with Natasha in the first place? Realistically, it was because she was ashamed of the way she’d treated Natasha. When Nat assumed that Elektra had danced with Bucky to ruin her life, she realized how much of her time she had dedicated just to pissing Natasha off. It was honestly embarrassing.

How could Elektra even have a redemption arch? Everyone at the company knew her for being a bitch to Natasha: it was her reputation. It had been her reputation for so many years, it was almost impossible to change that now. Maybe she’d have to stick with the being rude thing. After all, who was it hurting?

Yes, she’d just continue to be rude: that was the final verdict. But she wasn’t going to go out of her way to do it. Elektra would no longer go into Natasha’s rehearsal studios or dressing room to torment her. All of the rude comments would have to take place in a natural setting. 

“I don’t wanna watch the party scene, let’s go rehearse our dance,” Bucky suggested, getting out of his seat.

Elektra stood up and followed him into the hallway before saying, “I don’t feel like rehearsing and we don’t have anything actually scheduled for the rest of today, so let’s just go home.”

“You go home, I’ll hang out with Nat,” Bucky said.

“I’m good with that. See you tomorrow.”

Nutcracker season was, of course, at the same time as Christmas season. Elektra’s family had never been religious, but they were Christmas celebrators. Though, Elektra’s version of Christmas was always the perfect, pristine, magazine-ready, hired decorators type of Christmas. She’d never been able to experience the family-centered Christmas. Lots of people were jealous of her childhood because of how wealthy they were, but she was jealous of that unconditional family love other people got.

Normally, Elektra would decorate her house on December first. This year she’d fallen behind. Because she lived in an apartment complex, she was unable to have a real tree. It was fine, the fake trees looked more perfect. Elektra didn’t really do garland, but she did have fake snow to drape around. It looked really nice along the mantle. She also used blue and white decorations because it felt more sleek.

Elektra texted Bobby when she got home from the company and asked him to get there as soon as possible. She knew he’d rush there, he was so obsessed with her. Within ten minutes, Bobby was in Elektra’s apartment with two peppermint mocha frappuccinos. Somehow he’d gotten the vibe that they were going to be decorating for Christmas.

“Darling, you’re perfect,” Elektra complimented, grabbing her drink from him the moment he stepped through the door.

“It’s all for you,” Bobby said, leaning in and kissing her cheek.

“I thought we could put up the Christmas tree today,” Elektra said. “Though it seems like you knew that, considering you got us Christmas drinks.”

“I was craving them. We must be connected,” Bobby said, smiling at her.

“Well, I already grabbed out the box,” Elektra said, gesturing to the box.

Bobby nodded and walked over to it, taking all the pieces out. He’d put it together last year, but only after she’d tried for hours and he forced her to take a break and let him do it. This year, she didn’t even try. As Bobby assembled the tree, Elektra sat and went through all her Christmas ornaments: inspecting each one to insure perfection.

“You know, fake trees look nice, but I always miss the smell,” Bobby stated, putting together the tree.

“I could burn a winter candle to try to make up for it,” Elektra suggested.

“Yeah, that would be nice,” Bobby said.

Elektra walked into the kitchen and pulled open her candle drawer. She loved to have candles on hand for any occasion. Though, she had to admit, the Christmas ones were her favorite. Winter by Bath and Body Works was the candle Elektra selected, as it just smelled exactly like Christmas. She lit it and set it on the counter. The only thing that would make this better would be Christmas cookies.

“I want Christmas cookies now,” Elektra said, pouting.

“That would make it a real Christmas celebration,” Bobby said. 

“I mean, I could run down to the store real quick if you’d like,” Elektra offered.

“Only if you want to, baby,” Bobby said. “I’m sure you’ve had a long day of rehearsals.”

“Eh, not really. Maybe I’ll just make some,” Elektra said.

“I’ll help you decorate if you do.”

Elektra walked around her kitchen and grabbed all the ingredients needed for sugar cookies. Although her childhood Christmases were not very family-centered, she had made sugar cookies quite a few times, usually with friends. As she was rolling out the dough, Elektra realized something: she didn’t have any cookie cutters. Now, this wasn’t really that big of a deal. She could just run to the store and buy some. But Elektra hated grocery stores, she didn’t want to do that. It was just her luck that she knew someone in the building.

Elektra knocked on the door to Natasha’s apartment quite loudly, just in case whoever was home was in a different room. And it worked. After the first knock, Matt opened the door.

“Hi,” Elektra said, quickly.

“Nat isn’t home,” Matt plainly stated.

“Oh, I’m not here for Natasha,” Elektra said. 

Matt raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Well, I’m currently working on making some Christmas cookies,” Elektra explained. “The cut-out kind, of course. Well, as I was rolling it out, it occured to me that I don’t actually have any cookie cutters. You guys are the only people I know in the building, so I figured I’d come and ask.”

“I didn’t even know you lived here. I also don’t know if we have cookie cutters. I guess I can go check,” Matt said.

“How about you let me look for you,” Elektra offered.

“Yeah, whatever,” Matt said.

The thought of Matt rummaging through his kitchen drawers to find cookie cutters as a blind man was a terrifying thought to Elektra. Even if Elektra and Natasha didn’t get along, she was completely fine with Matt. Matt probably wasn’t completely fine with her. Walking into the apartment, it looked very similar to her own. Of course, it wasn’t a loft, but it had the same vibe. She followed Matt into the kitchen.

“I honestly don’t know which drawer it would be in,” Matt admitted. “I don’t know the last time I made cookies. And I don’t know the last time Nat made cookies that weren’t just gingerbread.”

“Gingerbread cookies are cut out cookies,” Elektra stated.

“Not the way she makes them,” Matt replied.

With the ambiguous idea of Natasha’s gingerbread cookies, Elektra started to search his drawers. It felt like a little bit of an invasion of privacy, especially considering the fact that he couldn’t even see what she was doing. Matt just leaned against the counter and watched her. Well, maybe watched wasn’t the right word for this. He was… there.

“So, you live in this building? Since when?” Matt asked.

“Since forever. Since I got a job at the company,” Elektra answered. 

“But Nat never even knew,” Matt stated.

“I mean, I didn’t exactly think that she’d be happy to know we live in the same building,” Elektra said.

“I can’t say you’re wrong,” Matt said.

Elektra found a few basic cookie cutters in the third drawer she searched. There was an angle, a star, and a heart. Maybe not the most perfect for Christmas, but it was the only option. She could still find a way to decorate them to look Christmas-y.

“Well, I’ve got them,” Elektra announced. “I’ll wash them and bring them back when I’m done.”

“Yeah, whenever works for you,” Matt said, walking back into the living room and sitting down on their couch.

“I, uh, guess I’ll see you soon,” Elektra said, walking out of his apartment and into her own.

Bobby had the tree all set up by the time Elektra returned. She was surprised at his efficiency, especially considering the hassle it had been last year. He’d also already strung up the white lights. For some reason, Elektra felt a little upset about that. Probably because it was normally a two person activity and he’d just taken the liberty to do it himself. She appreciated him trying to be helpful, but it was very important to Elektra to be independent. 

“Hey, baby,” Bobby said. “Did you get your cookie cutters?”

“I did,” Elektra responded. She walked into her kitchen and started to cut out some cookies. “Although I guess the purpose of making the cookies was to kill time until you got the tree put up, so it isn’t even that necessary now.”

Bobby furrowed his eyebrows. “I thought you wanted Christmas cookies.”

“Kinda,” Elektra said.

Elektra wasn’t trying to be rude to Bobby, but it felt like it was. With all this talk of moving in with each other, things were just getting a little weird. Elektra was starting to question whether or not she should continue her relationship with Bobby. She did love him, it was just hard for her to imagine the relationship progressing any further than where it currently was. And Bobby had made it clear that he was expecting both marriage and children.

“I’m sorry. I would’ve set it up slower if I would have known,” Bobby apologized.

Bobby walked over to her and started setting her cut-out cookies onto a baking sheet.

“I’ll help make these,” Bobby offered.

Although Elektra didn’t really want Bobby’s help, she didn’t protest. It wasn’t worth it to fight with him over… well, anything, really. Elektra just wanted to maintain a peaceful, casual relationship. Though it looked like that might not last much longer. Elektra cut out as many cookies as there was dough for and threw them into the oven. Instead of making frosting, she decided to move onto the tree.

“Did you buy new decorations for this year?” Bobby asked.

“No, I’m sticking with the blue and silver again,” Elektra answered, walking into the living room and opening her boxes of decorations. 

Elektra had mainly just bulbs and they were all varying shades of blue and silver. The red and green felt too tacky for her to put up in her home. She wanted everything to look perfect. Because it was impossible to strategically decorate trees, Elektra just began placing the bulbs as she saw fit. Luckily, Bobby recognized that she wanted to be able to do it herself and left her alone. 

“I’m gonna make the frosting for our cookies,” Bobby stated as Elektra decorated.

“Go right ahead,” Elektra said.

Bobby made the frosting and decorated all the cookies. Elektra was fine with it, seeing as she didn’t care too much about them. If she cared about them even an ounce, she’d be upset about it. She couldn’t stand someone not letting her have complete control. That was probably something she needed to go to therapy and deal with, honestly. 

“Here, I washed the cookie cutters so you could bring it back,” Bobby said. “Well, I washed all the dishes.”

“Thanks, baby. I’ll bring them back right now so I don’t forget,” Elektra said, grabbing the cookie cutters from his hand.

Elektra made her way to Matt and Natasha’s apartment with a baggie of five cookies. She figured she’d give them some since they let her use their cutters. 

Elektra knocked on the door more confidently than last time, knowing now that Matt wasn’t going to be rude to her face.

The door opened quickly. Only, the person standing inside it wasn’t Matt: it was Natasha.