To Find Love: Romanogers One-Shots

It's All Uphill From Here: Part 4

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If you asked Steve what he was most afraid of, he would probably say something like snakes or failure. However, if you asked him at this exact moment, he'd probably say asking Natasha to senior prom. He wasn't even sure how Sam and Bucky had managed to convince him this was a good idea, but somehow he'd ended up standing in front of the doors to her dance studio waiting for practice to end. It's not common for him to pick her up after dance, especially ever since she'd switched to the studio an hour away, but special times called for special... whatever you would call this. Pick ups? That sounded stupid.

He wasn't sure how he'd know when her class was over, but he figured he could wait until at least five o'clock. Unfortunately for him, by the time five o'clock rolls around, his nerves are so bad he can hardly walk correctly. He's never felt so terrified walking into a dance studio and immediately wants to backtrack when he walks in on a bunch of girls talking loudly and moving around a locker room. The girls almost all stop to stare, but Natasha is at his side before they can ask him anything.

"Hey," she grins, wrapping her arms around one of his. She's still wearing her black dance leotard and pink tights, so Steve knows her class only just got out. She's even still wearing her pointe shoes.

"You're out on time," he states stupidly. She rolls her eyes and guides him back outside, careful not to step out of the studio in her pointe shoes.

"Early, actually," she corrects. She glances over her shoulder into the locker room then turns back to Steve. "Give me two minutes."

He nods and the door shuts in his face. He waits outside the studio anxiously and exactly two minutes later, Natasha is walking back out. She's really only pulled joggers over her tights and traded her pointe shoes for some easy slip-ons, but she still looks great.

"I wasn't allowed in there, was I?" he asks sheepishly. Natasha smiles and shakes her head as she wraps her hands around his arm again. "Sorry. I just thought I'd come pick you up since I haven't in a while."

"I appreciate it," she tells him. Her dance bag swings from her shoulder though it's only carrying her pointe shoes. "Why'd you really come though?"

And just like that, the nerves return to his stomach. He blushes as Natasha looks up at him and he feels like an idiot as he stutters out some excuse about just wanting to see her. She laughs and he blushes harder.

"You saw me two hours ago at school."

"Maybe I got lonely!" he exclaims. Natasha shakes her head, still bubbling with laughter as they approach the subway. She lets him off the hook, thankfully, and they both find some seats on the subway.

They talk quietly during the ride and Steve can almost convince himself everything is perfectly normal. However, on the walk home from the subway, they pass Sam's house and Steve remembers why he'd really gone to pick Natasha up.

"Would you go to senior prom with me?" he blurts out. Natasha stops short and Steve prepares himself for rejection. He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly and looks at the ground as he says, "That's why I picked you up. Sam and Bucky thought it would be a good time to ask since we'd be alone and could even go out for dinner, but I got nervous and forgot about the dinner part, so here I am blurting it out on the sidewalk. It's okay if you don't-"

He's cut off by Natasha's lips meeting his. He startles and Natasha pulls back quickly. She takes a couple of extra steps backward and Steve's confused as to why until he realises it puts her out of his reach in case he lashes out. Even a year later and she's still struggling to recover from Alexei's abuse.