From: AEMG18 in
Idea: Daddy!Steve takes his twins Wanda and Pietro to the ballet studio of the famous Prima Ballerina!Natasha.
Special Request: No request.
So, the original request only had Wanda, but it hurts my soul that Wanda doesn't have her bro, so I included Pietro. And, well, I thought it was sexist and cliché that the girl is the one that wants to do ballet and the boy other things, so I'm gonna beak that too. Anyway, AEMG18, hope you don't mind. Enjoy!
Little warning: all grammatical mistakes that I make when the kids are talking are made on purpose, just saying. The rest are just cause English is my third language and I'm still at school, so bear with me please.
Small, bare feet pound down on the hardwood floors. Steve groans and buries his face into his pillow, knowing what's coming. Not even a second later, the door bursts open –and it's only because of the protections that it doesn't make a hole in the wall, he learned his lesson– and twin shrieks of "Good morning, Daddy!" resound around the room at the same time that two weights jump on top of him, cackling all the while.
"C'mon, Daddy, c'mon! Get up! We have to go!" exclaims the boy and Steve peers up at him. His baby boy; looking more like him every day with his blond hair and blue eyes.
"Yeah, Daddy, let's go! We have to get there before everyone else!" his little girl, with her mother's reddish-brown hair and a lighter shade of his blue eyes. Today it's their sixth birthday, and the fifth anniversary since their mother walked out of their lives without looking back. And despite not even remembering their mother, his kids are the happiest they could be. Well, except right at this moment. "C'mon, Daddy! Get up!"
"You promised!" they chorus and finally Steve relents, turning to lie on his back so his kids can nestle over his chest. They gaze up at him with expectant smiles and he grins cheekily. "Daddy!" he laughs and bends down to kiss first one little head, and then the other.
"Happy birthday, Pietro; happy birthday, Wanda." He tells them; a smile stretching up his lips when Wanda beams at him a Pietro wriggles closer. "What about I make your favorite breakfast?"
"Yes! Wait, no! It will take too many time! We need to go now!"
"Wan, it's seven thirty in the morning, the studio opens at nine. I think we have some time."
"But, Daddy!"
"No buts, Pietro. First breakfast, then you make your beds, brush your teeth and at eight thirty we'll go." The children pout, giving him their trademark puppy-looks. Too bad he's immune. "None of that. C'mon, chop-chop." He pats their backs, and when they still refuse to move, he resorts to wrapping his arms around their little bodies and getting up, keeping one kid under each arm and simply walks out of the room, down the hall and to the kitchen. His kids laugh all the way.
At eight thirty on the dot, Pietro appears in the bathroom with his shoes and blinks innocently as Steve puts on them. As he steps into the living room, he sees Wanda waiting at the door, his coat in her hands and already bundled up in hers and the scarf Bucky made for her wrapped around her neck. By the time he turns around, Pietro is ready too, with his own scarf to match, this one made by Sam. Seriously, those two had learned to knit just to make his twins the scarfs and a sweater for him. They really need to get on with the adoption papers so he can return the favor.
When the door is closed and locked, Steve takes one hand in each and leads his kids to the elevator, chastises Wanda when she tries to go for the button when she knows that it's Pietro's turn and straps them in their car seats when they get to the car. As soon as he's gotten the engine going, Wanda shouts for him to put on her playlist. Pietro protests, but Steve shushes him.
"It's her turn, Pietro. We'll put on your playlist on the way back."
And with that, they're off. As they cross the bridge form Brooklyn to Manhattan, Wanda sings along to Beyoncé, crooning about understanding how it feels to love a girl and listening to her, because she knows how it hurts. Steve isn't sure if she knows what the song is actually about, but laughs when she tells him that he's the best man there is to be as the song strikes it's final cord.
"Thank you, sweetie." She beams at him from the rearview mirror and quickly returns her eyes to the panel displaying the next song before telling him to skip this one.
Pietro is half asleep when the arrive, but the exited shrieking of his sister wakes him immediately and in no time he's right there and squealing with her. Steve thanks the Gods that the studio has a parking for the students, because he's sure they've burst and eardrum and he doesn't wish that to anyone else.
He has to forcibly grab their hands so they don't run to the entrance without him and they practically drag him all the way there like a couple of dogs that haven't gone for a walk in a week. The young woman at the reception looks up when they enter and nudges her partner, who smiles amusedly.
"Can we help you, sir?" three heads swivel towards them ad the kids are off again, tugging their father to the desk and stepping up on the stool put there for that specific reason. It looks comic, how they share a little space made for two feet instead of four and with their little, adorably expectant faces turned up to Steve.
"Uh… yeah. I enrolled this two last week? This is their first day." The twins nod in tandem and the young man chuckles. His partner pats his back and gets up, disappearing into the back door as he types in his computer.
"Names?"
"Wanda and Pietro Rogers." The man types some more and nods, whistling.
"You two are lucky! You got into Natasha's class." The kids blink and he smiles. "She's the owner, she used to be prima ballerina in the Bolshoi, you know?" Wanda gasps, and grips her brother's arm tightly, not taking her eyes from the receptionist.
"Natasha Romanoff?!" Pietro's eyes almost pop out when he nods and practically starts vibrating from the excitement.
"She's the bestest there is!" exclaims the boy just as the young woman returns with three papers in her hands. She makes an impressed noise in the back of her throat when she gets a glimpse of the computer screen.
"Natasha's class? Nice!" Steve pats the twins' heads before they get out of control. "Ok, paperwork before anything else. This is for you, sir, please fill in all the blanks." She hands him the first paper and a pen. She then turns to the kids. "And this is for you. I'm gonna need your full names, age and your sizes you we can get you the proper equipment."
She slides the papers across the counter and Steve smiles amusedly. It's made to mimic the official document, but it's decorated with dancers and ballet shoes so it's more child-friendly. The twins get to work, their handwriting too sketchy for anybody to understand but them and Steve is relieved that the one he's been handed asks the same things as the ones for the kids. He supposes it's more for show so the kids feel useful and like grownups than anything else. Once he's finished, he signs with a flourish and hands the paper back. Pietro glances up and tries to do the same, his tongue sticking out from the side of his mouth as he writes his names and crosses it over. He smiles, proud of himself and stretches his arm to give the paper back. Wanda takes a little more, adding a smiley face for good measure.
"Thank you so much. Now, time to say good-bye to Daddy and I'll take you to the class." Steve kneels on the floor and envelops his kids in a big hug. He gets a kiss on each cheek and then they're off, grabbing the woman's hands and walking down the hallway. He straightens up and sighs.
"Don't worry," says the younger man. "Natasha is the best, she'll take care of them." Steve smiles at him and leaves.
Today's class is just an hour long, given that it's just a demonstration and that none of the kids has the necessary equipment to do anything, so Steve decides to wander around Manhattan, get a coffee and when it's time to head back buys his kids a muffin each and returns. When he gets there, there's a bunch of parents speaking with their kids, and he sees the twins off to the side, speaking animatedly with each other and gesturing wildly. He watches them with a fond smile on his lips until Pietro sees him and they come running.
"Daddy, Daddy! It was so awesome! Miss Romanoff is amazing and she showed us super amazing things!" exclaims Wanda when they get to him.
"Yeah, and she did our hair too!" adds Pietro, and it's then that Steve notices at yeah, their hair is different. Instead of the wild, 'I woke up like this' mop of blond hair Pietro had when he'd dropped them off, he has it parted and slicked to the side, sinning with gel. There's a little lock of hair curled over his forehead, and Steve doesn't know if it got out of the perfect combing or if it's there on purpose. Given the perfection of the curl and that it also has a shiny quality, he's betting on the second. Wanda's hair is also slicked back into a tight bun at the top of her head instead of the simple ponytail he'd made for her before they'd left the house. There's a blue ribbon tied at the base, complimenting her t-shirt perfectly.
"Wow… you guys look like professionals!" they giggle, pleased, and take his hands when he offers them. They walk out, Wanda skipping and Pietro swinging their clasped hands.
"So, will we be coming next Thursday?"
"YES!"
It's not until the middle of the school year that he finally meets Natasha Romanoff. The twins have been singing praises and practically writing odes about her, so when they tell him that she'd like to meet him, his first thought is about damn time! Not that he says it in front of them, he instilled a swearing jar for Bucky and Tony, so it would be hypocrite for him to do the same.
"Ok, is there something you'd like to tell me before? Did you two do something?" they beam and shake their heads.
"It's a surprise, Daddy!"
"A good surprise!"
Well, if they say so. Steve nods and tells them to go change so they can leave for the studio. Wanda comes out first, wearing cream tights and the studio's issued black leotard with the words BW Romanoff Ballet Studio in white under the logo: a red hourglass with the silhouette of a ballerina performing a relaxed arabesque, the back leg low so it fits inside the red. She trots to him, her ballet shoes in one hand and her hair 'things' –as she says– in the other. Steve pats the stool next to his and she hops over, placing the hair ties, comb and the ribbon she got the first day next to him before turning the stool so she's giving him her back. Thankfully, when they're practicing Miss Romanoff doesn't require her students with long hair to wear a bun, just a ponytail so their hair isn't on the way.
As he combs and draws it back, Pietro makes his appearance, dressed just like Wanda but instead of the wide neckline in the leotard, his is smaller and with a cut in the middle to resemble a polo shirt. He already has his sneakers and his ballet shoes in his hands. Once he's done, he ties the ribbon around the hair tie and then pats her back.
"There, done. Now go get your leg warmers and the jacket, we leave in five."
The return two minutes later, their legs donned in black leg warmers and Wanda with her sneakers on her feet. They put their jackets and Steve helps them with the zipper. At exactly five minutes, they're out the apartment complex and he's buckling in the twins and then himself. It's Pietro's turn to pick the music, so he puts on his playlist and they tell him about a new kid in their class. When they get there, the twins seem even more eager than usual. They each grab one of his hands and tug him inside. There's some parents there already with a bunch of kids waiting too. Michelle and Peter –the receptionists– wave them and motion them closer.
"You're here, awesome! Go right in, the twins know where to go." They nod and start tugging him towards the hall. The sound of an acoustic guitar can be heard, and the twins go wild. They let go of his hands and run into the last room of the hall.
En la terra humida escric, "Saps que estic boig per tu"
Em passo els dies, esperant la nit
Com et puc estimar, si de mi estàs tant lluny
Servil i acabat, boig per tu
He peeks into the room and finds the woman in question bend over the guitar, singing with a melodic voice and his kids completely riveted a few feet from her. She looks up at them and smirks.
Sé molt bé que des d'aquest bar, jo no puc arribar on ets tu.
Però dins la meva copa veig, reflexada la teva llum,
Me la beuré…
She motions the twins and they smile, opening their lips and singing with her.
Servil i acabat, boig per tu.
She closes it with a final, lingering note and sets the instrument down. Pietro and Wanda clap and giggle and she laughs with them, getting up from the floor and walks to them. They take her hands and tug her to him.
"Come, Natasha, come! Daddy's here!" she looks at him and smiles, and he can't help but return her smile. She looks young, probably his age, but still a little young to be teaching instead of dancing herself. He'll have to do some research.
"Mr. Rogers, nice to finally meet you!" she says, offering her hand for a shake.
"Likewise. You're practically a goddess for these two, you know?" they blush all the way to their ears.
"Daddy!" he chuckles and they pout at him.
"Anyway, they told me you had to speak to me?" she nods and smiles, settling her hands over their shoulders.
"Yeah, I do! Remember that a few weeks ago we gave them a paper for you to sign?" he blinks and then it comes to him, something about recording one of the classes to send it somewhere. He nods and her smile brightens. "It was for auditioning for a ballet play, and they got the leading roles!" his eyes practically pop out of his skull.
"Really!? That's amazing!" he kneels and opens his arms. They come barreling, almost throwing him to the floor. "I'm so proud of you guys!" they giggle excitedly. Once they've calmed down and Steve is on his feet, he realizes something. "Wait, does that mean that they don't come here anymore?"
"Oh, no. none of that. It just means that they'll have to come in on Saturdays too and practice over the week. I know it's not easy to do so at home, so if you'd be comfortable with bringing them an hour early or come get them an hour later, they could do it here." He thinks it over and then looks down at the twins.
"Well?" they shriek and jump around hugging each other and everything. Steve chuckles and smiles at Natasha. "I think that's a yes."
Over the next month an a half, instead of dropping the twins off and leaving, Steve stays, watching them practice. They have the leading roles for the Swan Lake, the children version of course, and he wants to give them his full support. He even brings his sketch pad and draws them to commemorate the moment. He also gets close with Natasha, who sits with him during the hour that the twins and two other kids are practicing for the play. Turns out that an expert comes to help them, so she's just there to give the kids her support.
Steve chuckles as Pietro puts on his concentration face and goes about performing a pirouette. He starts sketching his figure, the way he bends his arms and his right leg before performing the jump. He makes the 360º and the teacher claps at him. His face completely lights up and Wanda jumps to him, hugging him around his neck and Steve can't help but turn to a new page and sketch that moment too.
Natasha chuckles from her place at his side and he looks up to flash her a proud grin before returning to the drawings. Andrea, the expert, asks for her help and she goes and demonstrates with him what Pietro and Wanda will have to do for the play. They hadn't been as trilled with it when they found out that they were to interpret a couple, but because it's the children version, there's not much about it except for a hug at the end, so they relaxed. He even drew their scrunched up faces when they'd asked if they would have to kiss; it had been hilarious.
He looks up again when he's finished with the sketch if the twins hugging and he can't help but smile at the sight Wanda mimicking the first arabesque Natasha is holding. He bites his lip as he draws that too, first a small figure and then a bigger one, both in the same position, legs stretched up behind them and faces upturned.
Steve dedicates the remaining time in perfecting his drawing, making the crisscross pattern of the ballet shoes ribbons over Wanda's ankles and the delicate swell of her little arms; the graceful arch of Natasha's neck and the sharp point of her feet. When Peter enters to tell them that the class is ready, Steve is writing his initials on the border of the drawing and setting the sketch pad aside to receive his kids in his arms.
"Well, how's it going? You think you can keep up?" he teases, poking their sides and making them giggle.
"Yes, Daddy!" the chorus and turn to Natasha when they hear her approach.
"They're doing great, Wanda has her part down to a T; you, on the other hand," she turns to Pietro, settling her hands over her hips and looking at him with a stern look. "You need to work on your posture. Promise you'll practice a bit more at home." She kneels in front of him and grabs his hands. He pouts but nods. "Good boy, that's all you need to change, ok? You know the steps and when you have to enter and to exit, you just need to hold your back straight. You think you can do that for me?" he nods again and she smiles. "Awesome. You do that, and you'll be the best Prince Siegfried of history." He brightens up immediately and she ushers them away to change their shoes and get to the class. He smiles at her and she raises a brow. "What? You have to be a bit tough if you want them to shine." He laughs and shakes his head.
"I didn't say anything!"
A few weeks later, while they're driving back to their apartment he sees the twins looking at him funny from the rearview mirror. He raises a brow and blinks.
"You guys ok?" Wanda's grin widens and so does Pietro's. The boy wriggles in his seat and giggles.
"You're sweet on Natasha!" he singsongs and they burst into hysterical giggles. Steve's ears go red. Busted. He tries to change the subject, ask about the class, but the just laugh harder.
"W-What? That's not true! I–!"
"Liar, liar, pants on fire!"
"You were all mushy with her today! We saw you, Daddy! Heather even asked me if you were dating!"
"We weren't mushy!"
"Yes, you were! You were so close there wasn't even an inch between you!"
the rest of the drive continues in similar matter, with Steve trying to deny his crush on his children's ballet teacher and said kids trying to prove it. When they reach the apartment complex, Steve is both delighted and cursing the gods when he sees Bucky and Sam waiting at the door. Wanda and Pietro fall silent for a moment when they see his best friends before going wild, screaming their names and waving excitedly. They're unbuckling their seatbelts as soon as he parks the car and running at full speed towards them in the next second.
"Uncle Bucky!" screams Wanda, jumping into his arms.
"Uncle Sam!" Pietro this time, doing the exact same thing.
By the time Steve reaches them, they've switched, Pietro hugging Bucky and Wanda Sam, and the blond chuckles at the face Sam makes when Wanda squeezes too tight.
"Ok, guys, that's enough. We all know you love you're uncles but there's no need to kill them with hugs." The kids giggle and let go and Steve knows he's lost why they done on their mischievous grins.
"Uncle Bucky, Uncle Sam, Daddy has a crush!" their eyes almost bulge out. Sam is the first to compose himself and looks up at Steve for a second, flashing him a devious smirk before returning his gaze to the twins.
"Really, now? And who is it?"
"Natasha!" the couple stay silent for a few seconds before they burst out laughing. Steve's face heats up, Wanda grins in satisfaction and Pietro giggles along with his uncles.
Steve, as the only one with a working brain at the moment, goes about opening the door and going up to his apartment, the rest following. It's not until a few minutes after they've entered the apartment that Bucky and Sam calm down, whipping tears from their eyes and flopping onto the couch with a tired sigh. Steve opens his mouth, his cheeks still slightly pink and Bucky snorts, which unfolds into another round of laughter. Steve sighs and motions his kids over to the kitchen so they can have a snack and do their homework.
He knows it's going to be a while before they calm down, so he goes about doing house chores; he gathers all the dirty clothes in the hampers and loads everything in the washing machine. Then, seeing as the dishwasher is done, he turns it off and unloads it, setting everything in it's place and loading it with the dishes of the kids' snack once they've finished. He decides to make pizza from scratch for tonight's dinner –the twins love making shapes with the toppings–, so he puts on an apron and gets everything out. The dough will have to rest for an hour or so, so if he wants Pietro and Wanda to have dinner at their usual time, he has to start now.*
Ten minutes in, Bucky and Sam appear, hands linked and eyelashes spiky from the tears. Wanda looks up from her homework sheet, something about colors and shapes and waves at them before returning to her task. Pietro stays concentrated on his own sheet, writing his name over and over, but waves at them and mutters a soft "Hi, Uncle Sam; hi, Uncle Bucky!" without looking up. They ruffle their heads and Sam seats with them while Bucky goes to Steve.
"Hey." Starts the man, and even though is simple enough, Steve knows better than to relax. "So… Natasha, huh?" and there it is. Steve sighs and kneads the dough for a few more seconds before making a ball and setting it into a bowl. He covers it with a moist kitchen rag and turns to his best friend.
"I don't have a crush on my kids' ballet teacher." He says in his most serious voice, but the image is broken when Pietro snorts. He sends the little shit a glare before returning his gaze to Bucky's shit-eating grin. "I don't!" Wanda looks up and gives him an unimpressed look.
"Daddy, I saw you making heart eyes at her when she was helping me hold my third arabesque."
"The entire class saw you!" chimes in Pietro, a giggle behind his words.
"Looks like you have a crush, pal." Tells him Bucky and slaps him on the back. "You know we're going to have to go to make sure she's good enough, right? We can't have our Stevie dating a psycho." Sam nods along, and he looks like he's barely containing the laughter at bay. The twins straighten up, they're eyes sparkling.
"Yes! Come meet Natasha! You'll see, she's the bestest! She's nice, and pretty, and smart, and funny, and nice and–!" as the kids keep complimenting Natasha, Steve is mentally screaming.
Natasha hums as she prepares the music for today's class. She loves helping this kids chase their dreams or just have a sport to practice after school. She's been doing ballet since she could walk and it is her passion. Unfortunately, three years into being prima ballerina for the Bolshoi she'd fallen and broken her ankle, ending her career in the Russian ballet. However, not all had been lost. With the money she'd been saving in case something like this ever happened, she traveled a little, stayed in Catalonia for a year before she moved to New York and opened her own ballet studio. Just because she couldn't dance professionally didn't mean she had to stop completely, after all.
She looks around the room and smiles. She'd done it. She has a beautiful studio, a lot of talented students and a loving cat. She couldn't be happier. She hears a distant shout and the pitter-patter of small feet and she can't help but smile. Speaking of talented students…. A second later, the door of the class bursts open and the Rogers twins come in, big, toothy smiles and sparkling eyes as they search for her and when they find her standing by the stereo, they come running.
"Natasha!" she laughs and kneels to their level to receive the customary bone-crushing hug. She knows she shouldn't have any, but these two are by far her favorite students. They're talented, hard-working and absolutely adorable, there's no way not to love them. It doesn't help either that their father is as hot as hell.
"Hey, guys!" she pats them and separates a little, smiling at them before directing her eyes to Pietro. "Have you been practicing on your posture?" he grins and nods so fast that his hair is a disaster by the time he stops. There sound of approaching footsteps makes their faces change completely. Natasha opens her mouth to ask what's wrong but they shake their heads.
"Listen, Natasha! You hafta be real nice, ok?"
"Yeah! Uncle Bucky and Uncle Sam are here to make sure that you're good enough for Daddy so you hafta be on your best behavior!" Natasha blinks, surprised and confused.
"I'm sorry, what?"
Wanda and Pietro huff and make to explain but the voices of their uncles stop them. They all turn to the door and see the couple there. Natasha takes them in, a man with pale skin and long hair, a five o'clock shadow over his chin and an intricate tattoo all over his left arm, silver lines as if it were robotic. The other man has dark skin, really short hair and a kind look in his eyes that sets her at ease immediately. The twins take her hands and tug her towards them.
"Here! This is Natasha. Natasha, this are our Uncle Bucky and our Uncle Sam." Introduces Wanda, pointing at each man before fully turning to her uncles. "See? She's really pretty and loves us very much, she's perfect for Daddy!"
"She's the bestest!" chimes in Pietro, swinging the hand still wrapped around Natasha's. The woman raises a brow and looks at the couple with a raised brow.
"Mind telling me what's this about?" Bucky grins unrepentant and Sam gives her an apologetic look.
"Our little Stevie gets heart eyes at the very mention of your name, so we had to make sure he's taken care of."
"Daddy's sweet on you!" supplies Wanda, making Natasha's eyes widen and Sam to face-palm.
"Really subtle, Wan." Mutters the man under his breath and the girl looks at him with a confused face.
(Un)Fortunately, the conversation is cut when Andrea arrives, followed by the other two students and the twins have to get to work. Natasha motions the couple out and tells Andrea that she'll be back in a bit. As she closes the door, she can hear Heather asking what's going on.
"My uncles are here to make sure Natasha is good enough for my Daddy." Responds Pietro and the girl makes an offended sound.
"But Natasha is the best! She's good enough for anybody! For kings even!" really, this kids are too much.
"Yeah, and we told them that, but they said they had to make sure." Shaking her head, Natasha steps forward and into her office at the other side of the hall, where Bucky and Sam are already waiting.
"Ok, mind explaining what's really going on?" she asks as she closes the door and motions to the chairs as she sits behind the desk. They sit on the chairs and she notes as Sam looks at the smaller chair between the bigger one. The man looks up and gives her a sheepish smile.
"I'm so sorry about that, I'm actually here to meet you. The twins talk nonstop about you and Steve now too, so I wanted to meet the famous Natasha." She chuckles and offers him her hand.
"Well, here I am. Natasha Romanoff."
"Sam Wilson." They shake hands and then they turn to Bucky, who grins unrepentantly.
"I am here to make sure you're good enough." He sticks his hand forward nonetheless. "Bucky Barnes." She takes it and shakes it.
"Yeah, about that, good enough for what?"
"For Steve!" she blinks at the man and sighs, straightening her ponytail.
"You think I'm dating the father of my best students?" she asks in a deadpan voice and gives them an equally impassive stare. Bucky fidgets, caught off guard, and looks at Sam for assistance. His husband shakes his head and raises his hands in the universal don't-look-at-me-pal gesture.
"W-Well I… um… yes?" Natasha huffs.
"Well, I'm not. Do you think you can just come here and judge me because you feel like it? You have some nerve! You have no right and even less to get two children roped up into it. Do you even know what you've done? As much as I love those two it doesn't mean that I'm going to be in their lives that way. I could be dating somebody, did you even think of that?" Bucky flinches because no, he hadn't thought of that. He knows that the twins love their father to pieces, but they've also been asking for a mother and why they don't have one for some time. Natasha sighs, bringing him out of his head. Sam rubs his arm. "Look, Steve is a really nice guy and I'm not going to deny that he's really attractive. However, that doesn't mean I'm going to be anything more to Wanda and Pietro than their ballet teacher. My relationship with Steve is none of their business and definitely none of yours. If it goes to more that friendship it will be on our terms and without you meddling in, am I clear?" Bucky nods and Sam bites his lip to contain the chuckle, he really looks like a chastised child. "Now please leave, I have work to do. Steve usually stays with them in class, but I'm going to have to ask you not to. They have a big day in a few weeks and they can't afford to be distracted."
Bucky nods and gets up without a word, lost in his thoughts. Sam mouths her a final 'sorry' and they leave.
The following day, Steve appears after she's finished one of the senior dancing classes with a teddy bear with a rolled up piece of paper between its paws. She's still wearing the dress Mrs. Hastings, one of her students of her dancing class, gifted her for her birthday last year. The old woman was like a grandmother –well, they all were– and her husband was a really skilled dancer but unfortunately not a good teacher, so they'd recurred to her and they were always laughing every time she stepped over his feet. Fortunately, Mrs. Hastings, or Jenna as she insisted she call her, was a fast student for her advanced age and had learned the basics pretty fast.
Anyway, Steve appears with the teddy bear in his arms and a completely adorable pink flush across his cheeks right after her dance class while all her students are still there. She's in the middle of reminding for a final time how to put her feet while she turns to Mrs. Costa when Michelle comes in with a shit eating grin and saunters towards her, complimenting arm postures and dresses all the way until she's at her side.
"Hey, Boss, you have a visitor." She looks at the girl, takes a second to process the look and she knows that whomever it is, she'll be in a world of teasing by the time they leave. But she already suspects who might be.
"Who?"
"Steve Rogers, he came ten minutes ago. He asked for you but I had to tell him you were in the middle of a class. He looked like a lovesick puppy." She snickers and pats her cheeks. "Rosy cheeks and everything. He has a gift for you, by the way. And I sent him into your office, he's been there for a while."
Natasha sighs and waves the girl away, ignores the smiles from half her class and tells them she'll see them next Monday before she walks out the door, down the stairs and to her office. She takes her hair out of the braid it's been trapped in and combs it with her fingers, it's gotten too loose and she has another class in fifteen minutes so she has to redo it. She enters her office in a hurry, making Steve jump from his place seated in one of the chairs.
"Steve, hey; sorry to keep you waiting, I was in a senior dancing class." She gifts him a smiles and circles her desk, opening the drawer where she keeps her hair products and grabs her comb. "What are you doing here? Is everything ok with the twins?" she combs her hair and then braids it, snapping the hair tie in place.
"No, no, all's good. I just came to apologize for yesterday." She looks up at him and his blush intensifies as he offers her the plushy. "I was going to bring flowers, but I thought that it was too cliché." She smiles and takes the bear, smoothing over the fur at the top of the head and peeking into the rolled up paper. She can see some lines, but she can't make out the image.
"And this?"
"Oh, I made it." She looks up and he chuckles nervously, averting his eyes and rubbing the back of his neck. She slides it out of the circle of the teddy bear's paws and sets it aside so she can unroll the paper.
It's a drawing, multiple actually, all of herself. The paper is big, almost doubling the size of the one he usually brings to the classes so there's enough space for three full figures and small but intricate doodles around them. The first is similar to the one he showed her of her with Wanda, only that now the child isn't present. The lines are smooth, from the upturn of her nose and the slope of her arms to the points of her feet and the ribbons around her ankles. The second one shows her mid stretch, she's seated on the ground and her upper body is draped over her left leg, her elbows almost touching the points of her feet. Her eyes are closed and it almost looks as if she's asleep, with the shadows of her lashes over her cheeks and the line of her spine completely relaxed. And the third one is as she's mid turn in a pirouette, her eyes sparkling and the curve of her arms casting a shadow over her abdomen. Her tail of hair is in the air and in a big curl as if it's performing it's own dance.
Her mouth falls open. The drawings are amazing, they look so real it's almost as if you put it on pause and it will continue if you wish of it to do so. She's almost afraid of touching it and smudging the pencil, but then she notices the fine shine and figures out that he'd probably varnished so it wouldn't degrade.
"This is… amazing…" she murmurs as she traces the line of her spine; it goes downwards to the little curve of her lower back and then slightly higher to her bottom and then continue with her raised leg. She looks back at him and gifts him with a shy smile. "Thank you." Her eyes flicker for a second to the plushy and ads as well. "And don't worry, I wasn't actually mad about that. They just caught me by surprise, it's all."
"Still, I'm sorry. Though from what I heard Bucky got an earful for it, so…" she chuckles along with him. She eyes him as he looks around the room; his smile is truly beautiful and they way his muscles bulge under the impossibly tight shirt makes her think about what Bucky had told her. If he was as attracted to her as she was to him, maybe…
No, bad Natasha. This is Steve, the father of two of her students. So what it he's hot, sweet, a great father and temptingly single? She's a professional, and that means not lusting over the parents of her students. Her resolve shatters when he ruffles his hair and looks back at her, the blush still present and a shy smile. Ok, maybe she can, and she already has his kids' stamp of approval, so she might as well make the most of it.
"So… yesterday I got some interesting information." She informs casually, checking her phone to see how much time she has left before her next class; ten minutes. Well, she'll have to be fast. She doesn't even bother to hide the smirk when his flush darkens and his back goes rigid.
"O-Oh, yeah?" he swallows painfully. "What's that?"
"Apparently, you have a crush on me." Her smirk morphs into a sweet smile; unfortunately, Steve has his eyes closed as he groans so he misses it. "Hey, c'mon, it's not so bad." She circles the desk until she's in front of him and looks up at him with a teasing smiles. "I think you're handsome, too." She stretches up on her tiptoes and presses a chaste kiss to his cheek. He gapes at her, a surprised and disbelieving look on his eyes. "How about we have coffee someday and see how it goes?" he nods slowly, a small, sweet smile pulling his lips upwards. " Awesome! I have to go now, see you tomorrow?" he nods again and she kisses his cheek once more before dashing to the door. Before she leaves, she turns and winks at him. "I'll give you a call to get that date set up."
A few days later, during a couple of hours in the morning when Natasha doesn't have any classes scheduled and the twins are at school they meet up in Steve's favorite cafeteria for a pastry and hot chocolate, because both were craving something sweet and he said that the best hot chocolate in New York was in Brooklyn. When he'd told her as they walked there she'd scoffed, but now that she's tried it she tells him that she'll be a regular from now on. He laughs and flags down a waiter so he can get them the "bomb". Natasha raises a brow, but Steve just grins and keeps his mouth shut. Ten minutes later, the same waiter comes out of the kitchen with a giant cup** of hot chocolate and sets it carefully on the table. It has whipped cream in some places to mimic land, a little plastic boat on the chocolate and figurines resting on the cream and the boat.
"Ok, wow…" laughs Natasha before grabbing her phone and snapping a picture. "I am definitely coming back here. Steve smiles and offers her a spoon and the waiter returns with two straws big enough for the cup. The start eating, drinking with the straws and scooping up cream with the spoons. The little boat sways and Natasha pushes it out of the way with a chuckle. "These are so cute! Can I keep them?" Steve laughs and scoops one of the little people out of the whipped cream.
"Of course, you should see the twins' collection. They change them every month, so we come once or twice to have breakfast here and they can have the new ones. The owner calls them the 'Bomb Twins'." They share another laugh and then Natasha asks about the kids life, how are they at school and their likes and dislikes. Then she asks about Steve's and finally he gets to ask about hers. The waiter appears at some point and gives Natasha a moist towel to clan the figurines and asks if she'd like the box. She does and he comes back moments later with it. She puts everything where it should and looks at the time.
"I really should get going, I have a class in half an hour and I have to change." She asks for the check and turns to Steve, who is already taking out his wallet. "Oh, no way! I'm paying." He frowns and she hushes him. "No pouting, I invited you, I'm paying. You can pay for next time." She winks at him and accepts the check from the waiter and gives the man the money and a reasonable tip. She gets up, grabs the box and wiggles her fingers at him until he takes her hand and she can tug him up and out of the cafeteria.
"Technically, I took you here." He complains Steve once again. She grins and swings their clasped hands.
"Oh, c'mon, stop whining. We can go out another day and then you can pay. Deal?" he pretends to think it over for a few seconds before nodding, satisfied. They reach Natasha's car and she looks up at him with a sweet smile. "You want me to drop you off somewhere?" he thinks it over, he really should drop by the office and let his boss know he's still alive and turn over some of his finished projects, but he really doesn't feel like it.
"Nah, don't worry. I live a couple of blocks from here, I'll be fine."
"Don't you have to go to work?" asks Natasha then, confused. She opens the car and puts her purse and the box with the toys in the passenger seat.
"I work from home, remember?"
"Oh, right! I forgot." He snorts and shakes his head in fond exasperations. He hesitates for a second before leaning over and pressing a sweet and chaste kiss onto her lips. As he separates, his lips stretch up into a goofy smile. Natasha blinks and huff, a soft blush rising to her cheeks. "Oh, shut up." They laugh together and Natasha gives him a fast kiss before entering the car. She rolls down the windows and basks in the sight of a matching blush spreading over Steve's cheeks before speaking again. "Give me a call when you decide what to do next, 'kay?" Steve nods and grins before waiving as she speeds off.
Two months later, Steve is holed up in his study, riding an inspiration wave. He's in front of an easel; smoothing paint over an already traced drawing of a woman curled up on a couch, her hair piled up on top of her head in a messy bun. She has a book on her lap and one hand is twirling a lock of hair absentmindedly, the arm covering her face. She's dressed in a hoody much too big for her, the edge draped over her knees and leaving the rest of her naked legs to the air.
Steve smudges the edges so the only thing that's neat is the woman, making it impossible to stray form her. He changes the brush to a smaller one and starts painting her, red hair, pale skin, and grey hoody. Then he ads the smaller details: copper strands in her hair, a twinkle in her ear, the shadows of the soft afternoon light, the creases on the cloth. Finally, when he's certain that the paint of her wrist is dry, he makes a little silver chain and two charms: an N, and a ballet shoe.
He leans back and takes a deep breath, setting his tools aside and stepping back to admire the piece. He scratches his arm, where paint had found it's way in his frenzy to make the painting. He can feel more spots all over his body, but right now he couldn't care less. He looks over to the side, where four more paintings are drying away from the floor and small, grabby hands. They're all of the same woman, all of them in various domestic states: stretched on a bed, leaning on the railing of a balcony, seated on a kitchen counter with a coffee mug clasped in her hands and the most important one: dressed in tights and leotards, arms stretched to the sides and performing a deep bow.
He's just finished setting the last of the paintings with the others to dry when there's a knock on the door before it flies open. Wanda appears, clutching something in her hands, Bucky is behind her, a shit-eating grin on his face. Oh, boy.
"Daddy, what's this?" she holds it up, and Steve's eyes almost bulge out of his skull. It's a bra, a blue, lacey bra that matches with his eye color to perfection. The bra Natasha had worn the last time she'd stayed the night.
"It's… um…" he raises his eyes and sends his friend a pleading looks, but Bucky shrugs and leans on the doorway, clearly intending to make Steve get out of this on his own. He knows of Steve's relationship with Natasha and he respects their wishes to keep it form the twins for a while; to see how things go before letting them know. However, that doesn't mean he's going to help him get out of this one. "It's a grown-ups thing." He decides on before striding to his daughter and grabbing the article of clothing. He's pretty sure they hadn't shed the bra on the living room, so he decides to use the oldest parenting technique: turn the tables. "Where did you say you found this?" Wanda's cheeks light up: Bingo. He adopts his 'tough Daddy' stance –as Tony put it once– and stares her down. "Well?"
"In your room." She mutters, fiddling with her fingers and looking off to the side.
"And what were you doing in my room, Wanda?" really, he loves them to bits but he's going to have to establish some limits if they keep doing that, even more now that they could stumble in some strayed article of clothing form Natasha. Again.
"I wanted to play with the iPad." Steve frowns and crosses his arms. Breaking rules, now? What was happening?
"What day is it today, Wan?"
"Wednesday."
"And what days can you have the iPad?"
"Weekends."
"You know you're going to loose a day for breaking the rules, right?" she looks up, puppy eyes already at full force. "You know that doesn't work on me. Now go finish your homework. Know that I'm really disappointed in you and that you only have Sunday." The girl hangs her head and walks out of the room. Bucky gives her a comforting pat on the head when she passes next to him. When he's sure that the girl has returned to the living room, he bursts out laughing.
"Oh my God, your face! I should've recorded it, it was hilarious!" cackles Bucky as he enters the room. Steve groans and sets the bra on the table, snaps a picture and sends it to Natasha with 'Guess what Wanda found today?' before turning to Bucky.
"You're never going to let me forget this, are you?" his only response is another bout of laughter as his friend leaves the room.
That weekend, as they cuddle in her couch, Natasha brings up the subject.
"Steve, when do you think we should tell the twins about us?" she asks, her fingers never stopping their massage on his hair. He shifts, raising his head and moving away from her neck so he can look at her in the eyes. Her hands fall to his cheeks and she caresses his cheekbones.
"I don't know, I've been thinking about it since Wan found your bra," she chuckles, remembering how hard she'd laughed when she'd seen the picture.
"That was hilarious."
"It was embarrassing, thank you very much." He grumbles, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, I think we should do it soon, imagine we told them after a year, they would kill us." They laugh again and Steve lowers his head to her chest again, pressing his ear right over her heart. "We could tell them next weekend, you could come over for dinner and we'd tell them." She thinks it over, her fingers returning to his hair.
"Sure, ok. You want me to bring something?"
"Nah, just you." He pauses a second before adding. "Maybe you could get some of those pastries we love so much, it's possible that we'll have to grovel."
She laughs so hard that they end up on the floor.
As expected, when the twins find out that they're together they jump around the room overjoyed and demand that she stays the night so Daddy can make her his famous pancakes for breakfast. She's already had them, but they don't need to know that. They spend the afternoon playing games and they watch a couple of movies all cuddled together on the couch, Wanda draped over Natasha and Pietro over Steve while the couple press their sides together and entwine their fingers.
And when its time to go to bed, the twins ask for Natasha to help Daddy tuck them in. She helps them change into their pajamas, something they wouldn't allow If they weren't half asleep already –because they're big now, and all that–, and reads with Steve the following chapter of their book. They fall asleep cuddled together in Wanda's bed, so Steve takes Pietro and carries him to his room. As Natasha is about to follow, Wanda's little hand grabs her and pulls her down. Natasha presses a kiss to her brow and the little girl smiles.
"N'tasha… will you be my mommy, now?" the woman blinks, opens her mouth and closes it again before gathering her thoughts and smoothing the girl's hair back.
"I would like that, but we'll see how it goes with your father first, ok?" the child nods, and settles in.
She stays for a few seconds longer, smiling softly down at the little girl. Yeah, she would like it very much.
BONUS:
The audience breaks into applause and whistles as the dancers line up and bow, the two lead dancers stepping forward and bowing again, hands clasped together and smiles wide. They're young, around nineteen or twenty and it reflects in the twinkles in their eyes. In the cacophony of applauses, the shout of a young child breaks through and they look down just as the owner of the voice climbs the side stairs and barrels towards them.
"Brother, Sister!" he shouts and the 'man' kneels in time to catch him, using his momentum to twirl him before settling him against his hip. The child is much younger than them, around nine or ten. The audience 'Aww's as the boy leans over and kisses the woman's cheek. He then point over into the crowd and the three siblings see their parents clapping and waving. Their smiles stretch even wider and they wave back as they file out of the stage, the little boy skipping between them.
Thirty minutes later, the teens are hugging their parents, kissing cheeks and even shedding a few tears. They've done it; they're the prima ballerina and primo ballerino of the New York City Ballet.
"I'm so proud of you!" gushes their mother, her eyes glassy as she cups the girl's cheek, turning to her brother and combing his hair to the side. Her red hair is up in a chignon and her makeup is scarce, her pride evident for all to see. "So proud…" the oldest siblings smile and envelop her in a big hug. The youngest clutches his father's hand tight, smiling brightly.
"Love you, Mom," whispers one of them, the sentiment echoed by the other.
And… that's it! Did you like it? AEMG18, what do you think? Is it as good as you expected it? I really hope it is. Anyway, I have midterms next week, so I'm not going to write anything from now on. That means that if it usually takes for me to write something in a month/ month and a half, the next one will be two months or more. I know, it sucks, but I need the best marks I can have to get into a good college.
Ok, maybe I'll write something, but like in the study breaks, so not much. I'll mostly read something or stuff myself with chocolate and nuts. Sorry, folks.
*- Ok, I don't really know if pizza dough has to rest, I do know it has to if its bread dough, but I'm not so sure with pizza. I could look it up, but I'm too lazy, so please, if there's any chef in the audience, don't kill me if I made a really big mistake.
**- This thing exists, you can find it on Amazon, it costs 25 dollars.
Love you all and until next time!
PS: the song Nat's singing is "Boig per tu" by Sau, but listen to Shakira's cover, is better than the original XD.