AN; This is the result of me being sick and bored for two weeks. I'm sorry if it sucks. Anyway, Happy New Year!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Draw Me Like One of Your French Girls

Natasha swore under her breath as she stretched her sore muscles. Today's training session had been brutal. Only a week ago, she had been cast in a ballet and now the real preparation had begun. As the best dancer of the company, Natasha held herself to a very high standard of perfection. She would not stand for any less, but sometimes it took a toll on her body. Her doctor admired her dedication, but after one too many sprains, had grown concerned that she might permanently injure herself while maintaining that standard.

"Listen up everyone!" Peggy Carter, the ballet's choreographer and retired ballerina herself, called, "I know that we usually have photographers take pictures for our promotional posters, but the company has decided to change it up a bit. In addition to having the photographers attend during dress rehearsals, we will also have an artist draw some posters by hand. Maria thinks that this will boost ticket sales, so each of you will have to come in at scheduled times to have your portrait drawn."

There was a mix of excitement and groaning at the news. Natasha was indifferent. She already had to pose for the photographers, so having her portrait done shouldn't be all that different. As long as this didn't interfere with her training, it was fine.

Wanda excitedly bounced up to Nat with her brother, Pietro, in tow. "Are you excited for the artist, Natasha?" She asked in a thick European accent. The Maximoff twins were originally from Sokovia, but had been touring with several ballet companies around the world since they were 16.

"Not really," Natasha answered. "I don't see what the big deal is."

"It's just like back home!" Pietro explained. "We lived in a very poor area and our theater saved money by having an artist draw the posters."

"Then I guess this reminds you of home." Nat said as she gathered her bag.

"Very much so. Its always fun to dance for the artists, especially the cute ones." Wanda winked at Nat while her brother sighed long sufferingly. "Well, we had better get going. We're meeting Darcy, her newest boyfriend and some others for dinner. Would you like to come?"

Nat shook her head. "No thanks, I need to get some rest." Privately, Natasha thought Darcy was ruining her own dream of being the best in the company by always hanging around boys.

"There's more to life than dancing, eating and sleeping, Natasha." Pietro told her softly. "Live a little."

"I am living. And don't let Peggy hear you say that, Pietro. See you guys later." Natasha called as she sauntered out the door.

Natasha unlocked the door to her apartment twenty minutes later and was immediately greeted by her cat. She mumbled a 'Hello, Koshka' and made her way into the kitchen to get dinner ready. She put out a dish of Fancy Feast for Koshka and went about making her own food.

Placing her dinner of baked chicken and broccoli on her small kitchenette table, Nat settled in for another night by herself. After washing her plate, Nat brushed her teeth and changed into her pajamas and then curled up on the couch to read a book. At precisely nine o'clock, she put her bookmark in the book to mark her place and went to bed. As Koshka curled up next to her, Nat sighed.

Pietro was right, there was more to life than this, but this was also what made her the best ballerina. She did envy Darcy though. Like many people, Natasha longed to find love, but with her dancing, it never worked out. Her previous boyfriends always complained about her long hours and strict diet. At one point, Nat tried to date a fellow dancer, but their relationship didn't work out and the drama bled over into their work place.

Nat drifted off to fitful sleep, thinking about lost love, Koshka's steady purr sounding in her ears.

X-X-X

The first thing Natasha noticed when she showed up for training the next morning was the petite blond man talking to Peggy. He wasn't very tall, but definitely taller than Natasha's 5'1" frame. He had thickly framed glasses that held bright blue eyes beneath them and was gesturing animatedly while he spoke. In his right hand was a thick sketch book and he had a pencil shoved behind his ear.

Nat glanced at him long enough to gather that he must be their new artist, vaguely decided he was cute, and moved on to the bar for her warm up stretches. As usual, Nat was one of the very first ballerinas to arrive, so she had the room all to herself for a few minutes. Soon enough, the others filtered in one by one, in varying stages of wakefulness. Nat had to smile a bit when she saw Darcy with her large coffee cup and her hair slightly messier than normal.

"Morning, Darcy." Nat said kindly. Despite not agreeing with some of the things Darcy did, Nat considered her a friend. One of her only friends.

"Hi, Nat-Nat." Darcy answered as she moved through her stretches. "Did you meet Steve yet?"

"Who?"

"The blonde guy. He's going to be our artist." Darcy answered as if it were obvious, discreetly pointing at Steve.

"No, I haven't gotten the chance. Do you know him?" Nat glanced over at him again. He was still chatting away with Peggy and the older woman was laughing.

"Yeah, he's my boyfriend's best friend." Darcy shrugged. "You would know that if you had come to dinner last night." She teased.

"I had plans." Nat raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, I forgot how much attention Koshka demands. How is my favorite little monster?"

"Koshka's good. She ate my curtains two days ago."

"That's my kitty." Darcy said with glee. Darcy had given Koshka to Nat after her cat had had kittens. Darcy still insists that Koshka was her favorite of the litter.

"Alright, everyone." Peggy called, "It's time to get started. Before we begin, I would like to introduce Steve, our artist. He's going to be coming to rehearsal for the next few days to do some rough sketches. He's also going to be doing your individual portraits."

"Hi, everyone." Steve smiled. "I look forward to working with you. Just pretend I'm not here and if I get in the way, please tell me."

And with that, Peggy started them on their routines and Natasha completely forgot about Steve. It was really no different than being photographed while dancing. Darcy would find times here and there to make faces at Steve, which he returned, and Wanda giggled every time she saw him.

They kept on with their training as normal through out the day and when Peggy called it a night, Natasha happily went through her cool down routines. She was halfway through when Darcy dragged Steve over.

"Nat-Nat, this is Steve." She said proudly. "Like I said earlier, he's Bucky's friend."

Nat vaguely recalled that this Bucky person was the latest and greatest of men in Darcy's life, so she smiled politely at Steve. "Hi, I'm Natasha."

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am." He shook her hand. "You're a wonderful dancer."

"Well, she should be." Wanda said coming up behind them. "She never does anything else."

"I don't have time to do anything else." Nat shot a pointed glare at Wanda.

"You have tomorrow off." Pietro joined in. "We all do. We should go get lunch together."

"That sounds perfect! I'll tell Bucky to come with us. Steve, you're coming too." Darcy declared, typing away at her phone.

"I don't really think I should-" Nat started to protest, but was cut off by three pairs of eyes glaring at her.

"You can take one hour off your rigid schedule and have a little fun." Darcy said, looking up from her phone. "If you don't come willingly, we'll just have to have lunch at your apartment."

"Alright, fine. I surrender to being social." Natasha held her hands up in surrender.

"Great!" Wanda cheered. "We'll meet at noon at IHOP, where Natasha will have pancakes for the first time in ten years, I'm sure."

"Excellent. See you tomorrow, guys." Pietro waved at them and hustled his sister out the door.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Steve. It was nice meeting you." Nat smiled.

"It was nice meeting you too, Natasha. See you tomorrow."

Natasha made her way home that night, completely oblivious to the fact that her group of friends was good and determined to set her up with Steve.

X-X-X

The next morning, Natasha woke up at 6am like every other morning, ate a healthy breakfast of oatmeal and fruit, and then ran on her treadmill for an hour. Sundays were the one day a week that she had off, but she still planned to use them to better herself. After a good long run, Nat went through her stretches and what limited moves she could go through in her small apartment.

After a hot bath, Nat made a trip to the nearest grocery store to get the next week's essentials. Normally, she cooked all her food for the week on Sunday so she could eat as soon as she got home from the studio. That wasn't going to happen today, so she needed some quick, healthy meals for the week.

By the time she finished stocking her food in the fridge, it was a quarter until noon. So, she grabbed her purse, patted Koshka goodbye, and walked out of the apartment. It was a ten-minute walk to IHOP, so she had plenty of time.

As she walked through the double doors of the IHOP, rambunctious laughter immediately told Natasha where her friends were. While poised and elegant on stage, Wanda and Darcy were anything but off stage. Natasha waved off the hostess and made her way over to the group. Pietro, Wanda and Darcy were there, along with Bucky, but Steve had yet to show.

"Nat-Nat! I was just about to hunt you down!" Darcy exclaimed once catching sight of her.

"I'm on time." Nat protested, looking at her watch.

"Which means you're late!" Pietro laughed. "Come, sit down."

Natasha rolled her eyes, but did as he said. She ended up sitting next to Darcy with the empty chair she assumed was meant for Steve on her right.

"Nat, have you met Darcy's new boyfriend, Bucky?" Wanda asked gleefully.

"You know I haven't, Wanda." Nat rolled her eyes. "Hi, I'm Natasha. Its nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." Bucky smiled. Looking over her shoulder, his smile got even brighter. "Hey, Steve. Come sit down."

Nat turned and sure enough, the artist from yesterday had arrived. Today, he was wearing a blue collared shirt that matched his eyes and tan suspenders. Interesting.

Catching Nat's eyes, Bucky laughed. "Yeah, Stevie here's a bit of a hipster. But don't let that scare you off." He winked.

Nat smiled politely, wondering what he meant by that. She spent the next two hours chatting aimlessly with her friends, and they really were her friends. She just didn't appreciate them as much as she should sometimes. During those two hours, she'd learned a great deal about Steve. His ma was a nurse, his dad had died in Afghanistan, he felt deeply about causes he believed in and had a bit of a temper. He was a bit of an old soul, but that was ok. Natasha was pleasantly surprised to find that they had a lot in common.

Almost all too soon, lunch was over and everyone had to go do this or that and Nat was disappointed to have to say good bye to Steve. But she understood that she'd be seeing plenty of him in the near future because they would be working in the same studio until the recital.

X-X-X

Natasha was right. Over the course of the next few months, she got to see Steve all the time. He was at the studio almost as much as she was, either taking quick sketches of the ballerinas or doing personal portraits. At first, she only ever spoke to him while Darcy and the Maximoff's were around, but soon they often found themselves alone in conversation.

Her friends also made a point to force Natasha to socialize every Sunday afternoon. Despite her protests, Nat cherished those times. It had been so long since she had regularly done something outside of dancing and it gave her more time to spend with Steve. While she was still determined to be the absolute best, she was also starting to realize that maybe she could have a life too.

Meanwhile, Darcy and Bucky had gotten pretty serious. This wasn't like Darcy's past boyfriends who would be gone after a month. Nat could tell that Darcy really seemed to like Bucky and she was happy for them. Its not everyday that your best friend falls in love.

However, the closer they got to the recital, the more and more Natasha was aware that her time with Steve was running out. Logically, she knew that she would still see him on Sundays and that they had really become friends, but she would miss seeing him almost every day. Peggy had mentioned that so far, the studio was pleased with Steve and his work, so there was a possibility that they would hire him on a permanent basis, but Nat didn't want to get her hopes up.

She was pondering all this as she was being fitted for her costume. After the fitting, Steve was going to do the rough sketches for her final portrait and all the photographers would take her picture as well. Then they were going to do a dress rehearsal, which both Steve and the photographers would attend. Then Steve would finish all his posters and he would be gone.

"Hey, Nat. You ready?" Steve called, disrupting her thoughts.

Nat blinked. "Yeah, I'm ready. Where do you want me?"

The photographers and Steve spent the next half hour directing her into different positions and stances. Once they felt they had everything they needed, the photographers moved off into the corner to work on their computers, giving Steve and Nat the illusion of privacy.

"Listen, Natasha. There's been something I've been meaning to ask you." Steve started, still looking down at his paper.

"Go ahead." Nat answered, not moving from her pose.

Steve put his work down to give her his full attention. "I, well. Would you have dinner with me? Tonight?"

"Sure, but I'm seeing you tomorrow at lunch." Nat reminded him.

"I know, but I mean as a date." Steve blushed.

Nat blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah." Steve stammered. "I really like you and I was hoping you might like me back."

"Of course, I do. But," Nat trailed off. She wanted to try a relationship with Steve. She'd be crazy not to like him, but with her job, she didn't think it would work.

"Look Nat," Steve held her gaze, "I know how important your dancing is to you. I know it wouldn't be a conventional relationship where we spend all of our time together. But I'm willing to try if you are."

Nat smiled. She wanted that more than anything and maybe, just maybe, this time, it would work out. "I'd like that."

The End.