Allegro

Natasha Romanov was beginning to get on Elektra’s nerves. She felt like absolutely everything was a personal attack. Honestly, Natasha was the one who was obsessed with Natasha, not Elektra. Elektra was not too happy that Natasha had come to her house to confront her, but she’d also gone to Natasha’s house, so she couldn’t be mad at her for that. Well, she couldn’t directly express to Natasha that she was mad about it. She would let Natasha know she was mad about it through her treatment of her.

The day after Natasha stormed into her apartment, Elektra already had her Sugar Plum part down and ready to rehearse. She wasn’t confident Bucky would be as prepared as her. He seemed really upset about the parts being switched. For that, she genuinely felt bad. The reason Elektra had tried to get the parts switched in the first place was because she wanted to extend the olive branch to Natasha. Now that it was obvious that there was irreversible damage, Elektra regretted doing it in the first place.

“So, I guess we have to do this,” Bucky said, walking up to Elektra backstage.

Even though they’d just learned their part, there was a full run-through scheduled as the show premiered in two weeks. Elektra was not looking forward to it. Between the dance moms and the little kids, Nutcracker performances were always a hot mess backstage. There was always someone crying.

“Yeah, but we can do it,” Elektra said.

“We’ll see,” Bucky replied.

Elektra sighed. “Bucky, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah? For what?” Bucky prompted.

“I’m sorry for taking your role away from you without consulting you first. It was wrong of me,” Elektra apologized.

“Oh please, you’ve never been sorry for anything in your life,” Natasha said, walking over to them.

“Natasha, this conversation does not involve you,” Elektra warned.

“It does now,” Natasha said.

“You know what, I don’t want to get into this right now,” Bucky stated. “I know you guys hate each other, but neither of you hate me. So please, do this for me. Don’t start fighting with each other right now. Hold it off until Nutcracker season is over.”

“I can’t promise it that long, but I can promise it for today,” Natasha said.

“Then leave me alone,” Elektra requested.

If Elektra would’ve known all it took for Natasha to walk away from her was to request being left alone, she would’ve done so a long time ago. Maybe Bucky getting in the middle of things would turn out to be beneficial after all. Bucky was emotional and even easier to manipulate than Natasha was. 

“Is Tony watching today?” Bucky asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet to stretch his arches.

“Hell if I know,” Elektra responded. “He probably will be, actually. He’s gonna wanna make sure that he did the right thing with switching the parts.”

“Hopefully he sees that he didn’t,” Bucky muttered.

Sometimes there was collateral damage to actions, that was something Elektra and Bucky would both just have to accept.

“Bucky, you’re a great dancer. You could pull off literally any role. If you dance this well, it’ll prove to Tony that you can perform amazingly even with only a little time to learn it,” Elektra said.

Bucky blushed. “Do you really think so?”

“I do. Bucky, I honestly would refuse to dance with you if you weren’t good,” Elektra said.

Elektra was lying through her teeth. She didn’t think Bucky was an outstanding dancer. Yes, he was good and they danced well together, but he was in no way revolutionary. She just wanted him to dance with confidence and stop being pissy with her. Sometimes Elektra wondered if there was something wrong with her. It felt like she could never make, or keep, friends. Bobby was the only consistent person in her life. She’d have to make some very conscious efforts to be nice to Bucky if she wanted them to have a relationship, which she genuinely did.

“You’re really good, too,” Bucky said.

Elektra beamed at him. “Thank you. I’ll buy you a smoothie after rehearsal if we do good.” 

“That sounds great,” Bucky said.

There was a while before they had to go on stage, so Elektra just relaxed and watched all the little kid drama unfold around her. One thing she noticed was that the posse of little kids who had been following Natasha around were still following her around. Elektra had thought they only liked her because she had the coveted role. She couldn’t lie, that was part of the reason she wanted to be the Sugar Plum Fairy in the first place. There was definitely a level of clout that came with the role. Obviously Elektra would not be getting any of it. 

“So, which dance mom do you think will be the first one to have some sort of a breakdown on our first performance day?” Bucky asked, leaning back against the wall.

“Hmm, well, definitely not Clara’s mom,” Elektra said.

“Yeah, Clara is way too old for her mom to have a breakdown,” Bucky said.

In reality, the little girl dancing Clara was only twelve. That really wasn’t very old at all, but it was too old for your mom to be screaming or crying backstage. Usually the moms who were crying backstage were moms of the really little kids.

“I think it’ll be that one,” Natasha said, pointing to a mom chasing her young daughter around. It was unexplainable, but she just gave off the vibe that it didn’t take much to make her cry.

Bucky smiled. “Good choice. She definitely won’t be able to handle the pressure. Just not cut out to be a dance mom I guess.”

“Was your mom a dance mom?” Natasha asked, sliding down against the wall and to the floor.

“Not at all. I had to force her to put me in dance,” Bucky explained.

“Really?” Natasha asked, smiling.

“Really,” Bucky said. He sat down next to her and extended his legs in front of him. “It was very unheard of in my town to have a boy in dance. There was no way my parents would’ve put me there in the first place. But I was so obsessed with dance. I would dance around the house constantly. And one of the neighbor girls did dance, which I was so obsessed with. There was almost no option but to put me in dance.”

“Well I’m glad they did,” Elektra said.

“What about you? Was your mom a dance mom? Or maybe you had a dance dad?” Bucky inquired.

“Definitely neither. My parents never even came to watch my final shows, let along come to rehearsals. They put me in dance so I wouldn’t be at home,” Elektra said.

Bucky frowned. “Oh. That’s sad.”

Elektra shrugged. “It’s just the way they are. It was what they did instead of getting me a babysitter. Although I did have those as well.”

“You never talk about your family,” Bucky stated.

“Neither do you,” Elektra refuted.

“Well my parents didn’t traumatize me or anything,” Bucky said.

“Then why do you think mine did? Because you don’t talk about your parents either and allegedly they didn’t traumatize you, so then there isn’t anything that should make you think my parents were bad,” Elektra defended.

Even though Elektra’s parents hadn’t been great, she didn’t like for people outside of the family to insult them. She felt protective over them. They did their best. Or what they thought was their best at the time. And obviously her childhood hadn’t been too terrible if she was a successful adult. Successful in the terms of her career, at least. Who was Bucky to question her parents’ parenting? He wasn’t a parent and he didn’t even seem close to his parents.

“Based on the way you’ve talked about your childhood, I just assumed your parents weren’t the best,” Bucky said.

“Then tell me why you don’t talk about your parents, either,” Elektra demanded.

Bucky blushed. “It’s not like I’m making some sort of an effort to not talk about them. There’s just no reason for me to talk about them. They’re just normal parents. And my childhood wasn’t great. Not great because of them, but because I was gay and did dance.”

“And your parents didn’t help with that?” Elektra pried.

“I hid it from them, what could they do,” Bucky said.

“I feel like they should just know,” Elektra said.

Bucky responded, “Well, I guess we’ll see how well that works out for you once you become a parent.”

Bucky and Elektra continued to talk about their parents for a little while until the conversation gradually died down. It wasn’t the most pleasant conversation because they were both very defensive. No one wanted to admit it when their parents weren’t great. At least they could relate over something. Elektra would have to remember that for later.

“It was okay,” Tony stated, clicking his pen rapidly against his thumb.

“That’s all you have to say?” Elektra asked, leaning against Tony’s chair but not sitting in it.

Something about Tony’s office always made Elektra feel a little uneasy. It was probably because she knew he’d had a lot of sex in their, specifically with female company members. It seemed to her as though he had some sort of a power kink. He loved getting with company girls, whom he held a lot of power over. Not only did Tony have sex with company members in his office, he also had pictures of them on the wall. It just all added to the uncomfortableness.

“What do you want me to say?” Tony asked.

“I want you to say that you made the right decision,” Elektra answered.

Tony sighed and leaned back in his desk chair. “I can’t tell you that.”

“Why not?” Elektra demanded.

“Because it won’t be true,” Tony said. “It’s way too soon for me to know if it was the right choice. I’ve only seen it this way once.”

“Look, I put a lot on the line to make this work,” Elektra said.

“You put a lot on the line? You put a lot on the line?” Tony scoffed. “Oh please, I’m the one risking my ass over this. If this doesn’t work out, it’ll mean nothing for you. It could mean my job for me. I decided to go out on a whim and listen to you, don’t make me regret it.”

“Trust me, I won’t,” Elektra said.

As Elektra peered more around the room, she noticed that there were a lot of pictures of Natasha and Tony together. More than there were of him with any other girl. Something about it felt a little off. Natasha had always insisted that she and Tony were friends, but it seemed like there may have been a little more of a backstory than just that. Elektra always loved to accuse Natasha of sleeping with Tony just to mess with her, but maybe there was some truth to that statement.

“If you do, I promise nothing good will come of it,” Tony said.

“I don’t think you’re allowed to threaten me like that,” Elektra said.

Tony smiled and leaned forward. “For the record, that was not a threat. However, if I wanted to, I could threaten you. There’s nothing to stop me.”

“And you don’t think that’s a little fucked up?” Elektra asked.

“Well I won’t be threatening you, so it doesn’t really matter how I feel about it,” Tony answered.

Okay, it was official: Tony was definitely interested in some type of power play. It seemed like he was coming onto her a little bit as well. Tony wasn’t bad looking, but Elektra was definitely not interested in pursuing a relationship with him. She wondered if there was a company member he was currently screwing around with. Most likely one of the younger girls: they were easier to manipulate. Part of Elektra wished he would have an affair with one of the dance moms just for the drama.

“You know, you’re an odd guy,” Elektra stated.

“I don’t see that as an insult,” Tony said.

“It wasn’t particularly meant as one,” Elektra said.

“So, are you excited to start rehearsal week next week?” Tony asked, changing the subject completely.

“Considering the fact that I just got a new part, no,” Elektra answered.

“A part you practically begged me for,” Tony reminded her.

Elektra rolled her eyes. “I did that just to make Natasha happy and you know it. And I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason you did it, too.”

“I did it because there’s a better romantic connection between Natasha and Alexei than you and Bucky,” Tony said. 

“Bullshit, Bucky and I are amazing,” Elektra argued.

“Bucky and you don’t have romantic chemistry. Chemistry, sure, but definitely not the sexual or romantic type. I don’t expect you to have that chemistry for obvious reasons, but you can’t be mad about me going with a different couple,” Tony said.

Elektra sighed and sat down in Tony’s chair. This was frustrating for her. She just wanted Tony to admit that following Elektra’s advice had been the right decision.

“Have you slept with Natasha before? Or are you currently sleeping with her?” Elektra demanded.

Tony’s face flushed red. “What? No, of course not.”

“See, I find that incredibly hard to believe,” Elektra said.

“She’s in a relationship, Elektra,” Tony said.

“But she wasn’t when she first came here,” Elektra stated.

“Just drop it,” Tony demanded.

Based on his reactions, it seemed that Tony and Natasha had, in fact, slept together. Why else would he be so embarrassed and defensive about it? It explained the hierarchy of the company, considering Karolina and Elektra were just as good as Tony. But Tony had always hated Elektra. And Karolina would never dream of sleeping her way to the top. Natasha had an unfair advantage because she was willing to use her sexual appeal in her favor. Elektra wasn’t going to deal with it anymore.

Elektra stood up and walked to the door. “Thank you for confirming my suspicions,” She said.

Elektra marched down the long hallways from Tony’s office to the dressing rooms. Instead of walking into her own, she went into Natasha’s. She couldn’t stand for this any longer. Natasha was sitting at her vanity, taking her hair out of the perfect bun. Elektra hated how everything about her was perfect. Everything other than her personality. There had to be some way for Elektra to get Tony and Natasha to see that they were equally as talented.

“Natasha, we need to talk,” Elektra voiced,

Natasha turned and looked at her. “I’d appreciate it if you’d knock before entering my space. What do you need?”

“I need for everything to get figured out, I can’t deal with how things are anymore.”

“What things?”
“This obscene hierarchy that places you at the top.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, please, I know you didn’t fuck Tony because you think he’s attractive.”