Allegro

Elektra Natchios was a presumptuous bitch. For her to come into her space and accuse her of using sex as a manipulation tactic was absolutely unacceptable. She couldn’t stand for that. Natasha had never used sex to get something she wanted and never planned on doing so. Even though Elektra hated her, accusing her of that was low. Natasha couldn’t just let her accuse her of something that serious. She needed some sort of a comeback. But she didn’t have one. All she had was that Elektra was seemingly in love with Matt. Maybe that would work.

“Oh, I certainly did not have sex with Tony,” Natasha defended, standing up out of her chair.

“He told me differently,” Elektra said.

“Well he lied,” Natasha stated.

Tony must have lied because they certainly did not sleep with each other. Natasha had never even considered doing that. She knew he slept with a lot of the company girls, but she was not one of them. Why would he tell Elektra that they had sex? How was that beneficial to him?

“I don’t know why he would do that, there’s no motive to do that,” Elektra said.

“There is no universe in which I would have sex with Tony Stark,” Natasha stated.

“Oh, so Tony lied to me?” Elektra asked.

“That’s exactly what he did,” Natasha answered.

“He has no reason to do that,” Elektra said. “And the fact that you had sex with him explains a lot. Karolina and I are just as good as you and you know it.”

“Just because you sleep with everyone who wants to have sex with you doesn’t mean I do the same,” Natasha said.

“Oh, please, Matt is the only person who wants to sleep with you,” Elektra said.

“You’re just mad that he doesn’t want to sleep with you,” Natasha said.

“I’m very over Matt,” Elektra defended.

“Yet every time you see him you try to fuck him,” Natasha said.

Matt would never cheat on Natasha and she knew it. He was both loyal and obsessed with Natasha. But something about Elektra made her nervous. Elektra was very attractive and seductive. She’d never met anyone who could resist her charms. In that way, Natasha and Elektra were similar. Actually, they were similar in a lot of ways.

“Don’t forget that he wanted to fuck me before he wanted to fuck you,” Elektra said.

“Why do you have to ruin everything in my life?” Natasha exclaimed. “I know you hate me because I’m a better dancer than you, but for the love of god, leave my personal life out of this!”

“You’re the one who called me a whore, you can’t be mad about my rebuttal,” Elektra defended. 

Natasha scoffed. “Oh my god, you called me a whore first.”

“And that makes it okay?” Elektra asked.

“I’m very close to slapping you right now,” Natasha said, taking a step towards Elektra.

Before Natasha could resort to physical violence, Bucky walked into the room. He probably heard the commotion and had to come figure out what was going on. A part of Natasha was glad he came in before she could hit Elektra, but the other part of her had been waiting years to slap Elektra.

“What’s going on in here?” Bucky asked, stepping in between the two girls.

“She called me a whore,” Elektra and Natasha said at the same time.

Bucky gently pushed Natasha back into her chair, presumably to distance her from Elektra. “And what started it all?”

“Nat had sex with Tony,” Elektra claimed.

“What? No she didn’t,” Bucky said. “She’d never do that. And she’d have told me if she did.”

“Exactly, I’m not like that,” Natasha said.

“Then why does Tony always give you everything you want?” Elektra asked.

“Because I’m a good dancer,” Natasha said.

“And so am I,” Elektra said.

“They’re also good friends,” Bucky added.

Natasha frowned at him. “That has nothing to do with how I get good roles and you know it. I didn’t go to the Vaganova school for nothing. I have the best technique of everyone in this company.”

“If you’re so amazing, then why aren’t you dancing for a better, more reputable company?” Elektra asked.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Natasha shot back.

The thing about Natasha dancing with her current company was that she loved the people there. As a young dancer, she didn’t have too many options of companies to join. And with Bucky and Tony, she fit in at the company immediately. With everything going on with Elektra, she was beginning to question whether or not it was really the place for her. But she couldn’t ask Matt to just completely uproot his life for her. Or, rather, for Elektra.

“Okay, I feel like we might need to get Tony to mediate this,” Bucky stated.

“What? No. He’s biased towards her,” Elektra objected.

“Well we can’t just continue on with two of our principal dancers hating each other,” Bucky said.

“Yes, let’s go to Tony,” Natasha agreed.

Natasha felt very comfortable and at home in Tony’s office. She’d spent many hours of her life in there. Not having sex, of course. Just talking and hanging out. Tony was friends with both Natasha and Matt. Matt was friends with Tony even before Natasha was, seeing as he was one of the company’s biggest supporters. It was nice for them to have a go-to dinner guest or person to grab drinks with. His office almost felt like a second dressing room to her.

“So, you two have obviously been butting heads a lot recently,” Tony stated.

“That’s an understatement,” Natasha said.

“And this isn’t a new occurrence,” Elektra said. “We’ve never gotten along with each other.”

Tony leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. “Interesting. Well, I can’t have that. I don’t like company drama. I won’t allow for company drama to be happening while I’m in charge.”

“So how do you suggest we fix this?” Natasha inquired.

“Oh, I don’t care how you fix it. But if it isn’t at least mostly cleared up by the time our Nutcracker performances are over, I’m firing one of you,” Tony threatened. 

“I can’t deal with this,” Natasha vented, walking into her rehearsal studio with Alexei.

“You need to calm down and just let it go,” Alexei advised.

“I can’t,” Natasha said. “I can’t risk getting fired.”

“Tony loves you, he would never be the one he’d fire,” Alexei said.

Alexei was starting to become one of Natasha’s friends. Being partners with him made her remember how great he was. He had gorgeous lines and was a very supportive guy. He was very much like the hometown guy in a Hallmark movie, though Natasha would never dream of dating him. Natasha could never replace Matt. Today Alexei and Natasha had decided to match their outfits, with Natasha in a lilac leotard and Alexei in lilac biker shorts. Now that they were the Snow King and Queen, they probably should’ve been in white. But they’d be in those costumes soon enough.

“But we only have two weeks to become civil with each other and with everything she’s done, I’m not confident I can get there,” Natasha said.

“Natasha, I don’t think you’ve ever not been able to do something in your life,” Alexei said.

Natasha smiled. “Well thanks for the confidence boost.”

“It’s just the truth,” Alexei said. “You can get along with anyone you want to if you just try. You’re charming and personable.”

“I think she is, too. Just not to me.”

Ever since they started rehearsing for Snow instead of Sugar Plum, they’d stopped working with Maria. Or, rather, Maria had stopped working with them. She’d still been working on the Sugar Plum stuff with Bucky and Elektra. It stung a little bit to know that Maria was working with them, but she’d promised to come and rehearse Alexei and Natasha sometime during the week. The only question was when. Well, even Maria didn’t know that answer. It was really all dependent on when Elektra and Bucky could pick up their dances. Both of them were great dancers, but Natasha and Alexei just learned dances faster than they could.

“Okay, I’d like to rehearse the lift today,” Alexei said. “I feel like I’m just not really hitting it.”

“We can do that,” Natasha said.

Alexei and Natasha began with her two grand jetes and then went through the entire dance. The lift went much better than the last times they’d rehearsed it. Natasha would honestly admit her fault in that, as she had recently been dead weight. The Elektra situation had just been weighing too heavily on her mind recently. Maybe clearing it up would help both of their performances, ultimately making the show better. That would explain why Tony was so insistent on them fixing it.

“Your turns were crazy amazing in that,” Alexei enthused, picking up Natasha and spinning her around.

Natasha laughed. “Thank you. And you were amazing at everything, as always.”

“I’d hope so, I mainly just hold onto you the entire time,” Alexei said. 

“You lift me quite a bit, that’s something you could mess up,” Natasha stated.

“Hey, you’re the one who was messing up our lifts,” Alexei said, smiling at her.

“I can’t argue with that,” Natasha said. “I’m very glad we got switched to the more romantic characters. And to a dance that actually has lifts, even if I was fucking them up earlier.”

“This is the perfect dance for the two of us,” Alexei said.

“It’ll be even more perfect when we have a twelve year old sitting behind us, staring at us the entire time,” Natasha said.

Alexei smiled at her. “Hey, Clara is cute this year. Don’t hate on her.”

“I just always feel so awkward with scenes where there’s someone just… watching me,” Natasha stated. “But it happens in every single ballet I’ve performed in. It was especially bad in Swan Lake, honestly.”

“Swan Lake is so amazing though, I love it. I’m really glad we had the opportunity to perform it together: I did feel bad for Bucky, though,” Alexei said.

“I feel bad that he’s been last minute switched out for you in the past two shows. I know it bothers him a lot,” Natasha stated.

Alexei frowned. “Oh. Well, maybe I should go talk to him and apologize. I feel bad that it keeps happening. I want him to know that I feel bad.”

“Honestly, I’d wait a while to do that if I were you,” Natasha advised. “He’s still pretty upset about it. I’d wait until after Nutcracker season is done.”

“I have a different idea,” Alexei said.

“What is it?” Natasha asked.

“You could invite both Bucky and I over. Maybe even Elektra. Then we can all hang out and learn to get along,” Alexei suggested.

“I guess we could do that, but it might turn into a shit show,” Natasha said.

“It’s already a shit show, how much worse can it get.”

Bucky and Elektra were still working on the beginning of the Sugar Plum variation when Natasha and Alexei walked in. It seemed as though they were struggling a little bit. Natasha considered offering to help, but ultimately decided against it: it would likely be taken in an offensive manner. They stood in the doorway, waiting for them to finish and notice them standing there. It only took about two minutes before Bucky glanced in their direction, his face lighting up upon seeing Natasha.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Bucky asked.

“We had a proposition,” Natasha said.

Elektra scoffed and rolled her eyes. Obviously she was not taking what Tony had said seriously. Or she was willing to risk being fired for the chance that Natasha may be fired. She was wearing the classic black leotard and pink tights today, which Natasha found humor in. It made her look like the young dancers she was obviously trying so hard to become a mentor towards. Elektra was surely not a good role model.

“So, what is this proposition?” Elektra asked in a mocking tone.

“Come over to my place on Saturday night, both of you,” Natasha invited.

“The week before our show? No thanks,” Elektra turned down.

“Actually, next week is our dress rehearsal week,” Bucky said. “Besides, do you really want Tony to fire you? This would prove to him that the two of you can get along.”

Elektra sighed. “Yeah, fine. I suppose I’ll come. Could I at least bring my boyfriend along or something?”

“Of course. And Bucky, bring Steve along, too,” Natasha said.

“I can do that. You know, I think he’s actually at your place right now, hanging out with Matt,” Bucky stated.

Natasha smiled at him. “Yeah, that is true. I think it’s very cute.”

“Gotta love a good bromance,” Alexei said.

Steve had just left when Natasha got home to her apartment. She was really happy that Matt had been able to enjoy a day off with one of his friends. Well, recently all his days had been off days. Natasha had no idea what he did while he was at home, not working. He couldn’t really watch tv in the way a sighted person could. And his only hobby was watching ballet. His whole life practically revolved around his job. Well, and Natasha, of course.

“How was rehearsal?” Matt asked from his usual spot on the couch.

Natasha sat down next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. “Well, Tony threatened Elektra and I by saying if we don’t make up before the show closes, he’ll fire one of us.”

“Wait, what?” Matt asked, turning to look at her.

“I doubt he’d actually do it,” Natasha said.

“Nat, this isn’t something to just brush off,” Matt said. “He very well could fire one of you. This feud is going too far: you need to get along with Elektra.”

“I’m sorry, Matt, but I don’t really think that you’re the person who should be giving me career advice right now,” Natasha said.

“That was low,” Matt said.

Even though it was a low blow, Matt didn’t seem at all hurt or upset. He’d probably just learned how to deal with the stupid things Natasha said. He knew that she didn’t mean it and that she loved him more than she loved anything else. In fact, as soon as she’d made the job about his career, she’d regretted it. It’d taken a long time for Matt to open up to her about it, so it was unfair of Natasha to weaponize it against him.

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Natasha apologized.

“Besides, it isn’t my fault that I’m not working right now,” Matt defended.

“Then whose fault is it?” Natasha asked.

“Some lady wrote a negative Yelp review. Very very negative. And now no one wants us to represent them,” Matt explained.

Natasha frowned. “Oh, Matt, I’m so sorry.”

Matt shrugged. “It’s okay, sometimes it’s nice to get a break.”

“Well, I’m going to extend the olive branch to Elektra by having her over on Saturday,” Natasha explained.

“Are you sure that’s the best idea? She’s been pretty brutal in the past,” Matt warned.

“It’ll be okay, Bucky and Alexei are going to come over as well. Plus, Elektra is going to bring her boyfriend and Bucky is going to bring Steve. I think having her boyfriend here will make her a little more chill,” Natasha said.

“You know, I hope you’re right about that,” Matt said.

As it turned out, Natasha was only a little bit right about that.