Jane had no idea what she was doing. She had no idea how to do this, and she was fumbling all over herself trying to make it look natural. She knew how to do a box step, sure, but to make it look like she was having fun – let alone enamored with – Clint Barton was something that she was having much more difficulty with. And he knew it.
"Hey," Clint grinned at her, moving into position as the music started. He intertwined their fingers together, murmuring, "Relax. Coulson's right; I've done this so many times with Tasha; I could do it in my sleep. Besides, your job is just to follow my lead."
"How?" she asked, a blush crawling up her cheeks.
"Look at Tasha. She hates Loki's guts on a lot of levels, but she's grinning like she's love-struck anyway. Laugh if it'll help you loosen up. Loki says you like to slap people; I've had that done to me too, if you'd rather."
Jane snorted, looking down at her feet as they began to step to the music.
"Look at me," Clint said, taking his hand from her waist for as long as it took to hook his finger under her chin and tilt it back towards him. "And don't forget to smile at the momentary love of your life."
"This is so weird," she hissed, forcing a fake smile onto her face.
He raised his eyebrows, his version of agreeing with her, Jane supposed, and said, "Yeah, but you'll get used to it. What are you going to do if you become queen of Asgard and have to attend all of those balls?"
"Asgard hardly is the type of place for balls; they're more about post-battle, drunken revelry."
Clint snorted, looking at Thor over her head as he admitted, "That doesn't surprise me."
"And, besides, even if there were balls, I would be dancing with Thor."
"Until some ugly old general stepped in and stole a dance. What would you do then?"
"Smile and laugh at all of his stupid jokes?" she guessed, cringing at the idea.
"Bingo. Might as well start practicing right here. Forget about convincing Phil; the best thing you can do is convince yourself. If you can't look at me and do that, move closer and put your head on my shoulder."
Jane took a deep breath and then laughed, her eyes drifting closed as she stepped up, rested her head on his chest and let him take over. Her arms snaked around Hawkeye's waist and one of his hands came up to run through her hair.
Maybe she could do this after all. It was actually pretty easy when she was doing it with Clint Barton.