Warning: heavily implies sexual assault, but only once near the beginning.
The last year of high school starts off rough. Natasha had spent almost every day and night at the Rogers' house and her mother had decided it wasn't a good thing. Fortunately, Natasha was nearly eighteen years old and Ms. Rogers had stood up to Ms. Romanova in Natasha's defense. The short argument had ended when Sarah threatened to call the cops on Svetlana's negligence unless she promised to leave the two kids alone. After that, Natasha had officially moved into the spare bedroom.
On the first day of their last year, Alexei is out of jail. He manages to approach Natasha during the one class she has without one of her three boys and pulls her into an empty room. If the teachers notice either of them missing from first period, none of them say anything. It isn't until second block when Sam notices she isn't in class that their disappearance is noticed. Steve gets a text in the middle of his English class from Sam only to get one a second later from Natasha.
"Can I use the restroom?" Steve asks. The teacher eyes him suspiciously, probably aware Steve has his phone out, but Steve leaves before he's stopped.
He runs into Sam in the hallway and the two run to where Natasha had said she was. Steve doesn't allow himself to panic as he opens the closet door and sees Natasha in a heap on the floor. Her hair is a mess and her shirt is on crooked. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened when she looks up and reveals a giant purple hickey on the side of her neck. Steve drops to his knees in front of her and wraps his arms around her protectively. Sam stands guard in the doorway while Natasha cries and Steve tries uselessly to comfort her.
"Natasha, what happened?" Steve asks, mentally preparing himself for the answer he knows he's going to get.
"Alexei," is all she has to say for Steve to hate himself. If he hadn't been so confident things were going to be better this year, he would have remembered the look on Alexei's face when they'd walked into the school building that morning. He would have made sure she was safely in her class and laughing with Maria before leaving to his own. Instead, he had just waved then left for his math class.
After Natasha had stopped crying, Steve and Sam took her home. Bucky calls during third period, demanding to know where they were at. Sam walks out of Steve's bedroom where Natasha was no more than a head poking out of a blanket in Steve's lap. They hadn't parted since the first moment Steve had hugged her and Sam was pretty sure they weren't planning on it. It doesn't matter because when Bucky arrives thirty minutes later, he's carrying enough candy and soda to last even the four of them a day or two.
"How ya feelin', Nat?" Bucky asks Natasha, handing her a package of Sweet Tart ropes candy. She takes it from him and shifts so she's sitting upright beside Steve instead of lying on his lap.
"Horrible," Natasha mumbles, curling closer to Steve. She grimaces but none of the boys say anything. Instead, Bucky gives her a soft smile and hands over her favourite soda.
"You know," Bucky begins, "There was this one time I thought it would be funny to prank Mr. Taylor. Yeah, turns out it wasn't a very great idea because I..."
Bucky launches into story after story about the times he'd tried pranking all his least favourite teachers. The group is familiar with some of them, but the distraction works and pretty soon, Natasha's laughing along with them just as carefree as if it were a regular study session.
* * * * *
Winter comes and Sam bets Bucky had can't use a baking sheet as a sled. It's Christmas break and they're all a little worn out from extra homework the last few days of school, so no one objects to the bet. Steve brings his own sled and Sam brings the baking sheet. As it turns out, Bucky brings his own as well so they arrive at the sledding hill with one sled and two baking sheets. The snow is too fluffy for the baking sheets the first few times, so Steve paves the way by doing a couple of runs on his real sled. Once the sledding trail is fully formed and ready to use, Bucky sets down his baking sheet and gets ready.
"You gonna film this, Wilson?" Bucky asks, struggling to fit his whole body on the narrow sheet. Sam already has his phone out and doesn't bother answering. Bucky gives him two thumbs up then starts down the hill.
It turns out the baking sheets work wonderfully. Steve and Natasha decide to stick to the normal sled, but Sam and Bucky are having too much fun on the metal sheets to heed their warnings. It's their fifth time down and Sam suggests they go at the same time. Steve doesn't have enough time to tell them it's a bad idea before they're flying down the hill together. Unfortunately, luck is not on their side and Sam hits a bump. He spirals out of control, knocking Bucky off his baking sheet and sending him flying. Natasha and Steve wait to go running down after them until they see blood on the snow.
Bucky is fine, but Sam is missing half a tooth and his lip is bleeding from where the chipped tooth stabbed him. Natasha packs a snowball for him to hold on his mouth then gathers up the baking sheets. Steve grabs his sled and Bucky helps guide Sam back to the car so they can make an impromptu trip to the hospital.
They end up being told Sam's lip will need stitches and a dentist will have to fix his tooth. Mrs. Wilson shows up ten minutes after Bucky calls her and scolds them both for doing something so stupid. Steve and Natasha split a bag of Dorito's from the vending machine, watching in amusement as both of their friends are yelled at in the front lobby in front of several guests. (Sam's lip is fine after a couple of days, but the dentists can't fix his tooth until after Christmas so he struggles to eat anything that isn't a smoothie; Steve's unamused, Natasha just laughs, and Bucky doesn't let him live it down.)
* * * * *
Natasha's spring recital is more important this year. She gets her role soon after school starts back up and practices hard every day. She's applied to various dance schools all over the world in hopes of getting an offer as well as enough scholarships to cover almost all the costs. With her dancing one of the leading roles in Sleeping Beauty for her studio's advanced dance recital, everything kind of hinges on a flawless performance.
Steve's already incredibly proud of her. She's danced her entire life and moved up the ranks so quickly that as of last year, she'd been sponsored to attend a more prestigious dance academy in New York. It's about an hour away by subway, but she goes every day and every evening she comes back absolutely glowing. She's never been more exhausted and Steve's worried she's pushing herself too hard, but he's also never seen her so alive and happy so he doesn't ask her to stop.
"I'm fine, Steve," she assures him one evening after he voices his concern. She's only just arrived back from practice even though he knows her class ended three hours ago. It's only eight o'clock in the evening, but her eyes are drooping and she's falling asleep on his bed. They're supposed to be working on a lab project together, but Natasha can hardly focus.
"Just don't burn yourself out, alright?" he asks. She nods and looks back down at the notebook lying underneath her. She picks up her pencils and scribbles another note from her textbook. When Steve asks her a question only two minutes later, she's fast asleep. He smiles and quietly gets up from his desk. He knew she'd fall asleep which is why he'd insisted she take his bed while he took the desk.
Carefully, so as not to wake her up, he moves her notebook and sets it aside. Next, he grabs her textbook and puts it on the floor before pulling a spare blanket over her. She moans happily and relaxes even more. Steve smiles and softly kisses her cheek, something he's started doing more often.
"Goodnight," he whispers, turning off his desk light and walking across the hall to her room. When she wakes up in his room the next morning, she'll be confused about why they switched rooms. Until then, though, Steve wasn't going to risk waking her up just so he could spend the night in his own bed. Besides, with free-range in her bedroom, he can steal back all his hoodies she's slowly started stashing away.
* * * * *
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.
"I just... it's cute when you ramble," Natasha says quietly. Torn between blushing or reassuring Natasha he isn't going to hurt her, he stays still. "But, it's a yes to the prom question. Just in case you didn't get that."
Steve chuckles and reaches for Natasha. He grabs her hands and pulls her to his chest. Still laughing quietly, he cups her face and kisses her softly. They both smile into it and when they break away, Natasha lets out a short laugh as well. The moment is ruined when loud cheering to their right startles them.
"Go, Stevie!" Bucky and Sam scream from a window. Steve turns bright red as they cheer some more, having forgotten they were standing in front of their best friend's house. Instead of turning red like Steve, Natasha joins the cheering and pumps her fist over her head. Bucky and Sam both laugh and a split second later, they're on the sidewalk beside Steve and Natasha, teasing and congratulating them.
* * * * *
May is the hardest month of all. Natasha skips senior trip just to get three more last-minute rehearsals in before the big show. The class trip is supposed to get back two hours before the performance and Natasha just can't risk getting back late or skipping any practices, so she skips the trip instead. Bucky, Sam, and Steve whine for a day before they realise they're not going to change her mind. They do make her feel bad about her decision which makes them feel bad in return and they spend the next night watching movies and promising Natasha they aren't upset.
During the few days her class is gone on their senior trip, Natasha practices hard. Ms. Rogers worries over her, though Natasha feels like part of that worry is just because she doesn't have Steve to fret over at the moment. She does listen when the older woman tells her to be home right after practice the next day. A part of her feels bad for Ms. Rogers and the fact that she's kind of invaded her home, but the other part knows Steve's mom would rather be bankrupt than not have Natasha living with them.
"You have everything you need, right?" Ms. Rogers asks as Natasha trips over herself to get to the theatre. It's finally time for her first performance and Natasha is nearly in tears she's so nervous.
"Yeah," Natasha replies, checking her dance bag once again. Ms. Rogers opens the door and they both hurry to the subway station down the street (Natasha isn't sure why Ms. Rogers wants to come so early, but she's not going to say no as the extra support is probably the only thing keeping her together right now).
It seems like hours and seconds at the same time by the time Natasha arrives at the theatre. Ms. Rogers kisses her cheek then goes to wait at the front doors while Natasha rushes inside to get ready. The dance studio has hired makeup artists that get to work on her as soon as she's dressed and sat down. Within an hour, her makeup and hair are done and she just has to wait for the show the begin.
When there's only five minutes until the curtains open, Natasha nearly passes out. Steve had texted her there were at least five scouts in the audience and she had no doubt they were there to see her. She manages to stay upright and fully conscious and right as the curtains open, she takes a deep breath and follows her fellow dancers on stage.
* * * * *
After the performance, it takes Natasha a total of seven minutes and thirty-two seconds to come crashing into Steve. He barely has time to figure out what's going on before she's scrambling out of her arms and moving on to hug Ms. Rogers, Bucky, and then Sam. She's not in her fancy tutu anymore, but her hair and makeup are still flawless and her leotard and tights are covered by a tracksuit. Steve would love to kiss her breathless, but he doesn't want to get her in trouble before her second show in five hours.
"So, how did it go? What did you think?" Natasha asks, looking between all of them anxiously. There's really only one thing on Steve's mind and he feels really stupid after he blurts it out.
"I love you."
Of course, everyone around him laughs, but he doesn't take it back. Natasha grins widely and gives him a short kiss (it's much shorter than it should have been if you ask Steve). Bucky tells her it was beautiful and easily the best performance they'd ever watched. Natasha lets him know he's full of crap and asks for Sam's opinion.
"It was gorgeous, Nat," he replies. Natasha just beams and talks with them a little while longer before she's forced to go backstage again and wait to begin her second performance later that night. Steve, Sam, Bucky, and Ms. Rogers all wait up for her when she gets home at midnight just because they bought a cake and want to celebrate.
* * * * *
Graduation day is busy. None of them really remember it, if they're honest. One moment, they were listening to some old guy talk and the next Ms. Rogers was squishing them all together for a photo. Bucky's family steals him away after a few minutes and Sam's does as well. Ms. Rogers gets so many photos of the group, though, Steve's pretty sure she won't need anymore. At least, that is until she takes another five hundred photos of him and Natasha doing any and every pose they can think of.
"Ma," Steve finally says, giving her an annoyed look. Natasha's on his back, still grinning widely and making all sorts of faces. Ms. Rogers takes three more photos then relents.
"Fine," she agrees, "Let's go get lunch."
Steve and Natasha say goodbye to all their friends even though there's a big graduation party tomorrow night where they'll see them all again, then follow Ms. Rogers to the car. They change out of the caps and gowns before walking into the restaurant, but that doesn't stop Ms. Rogers from telling the wait staff they had just graduated. They get more cake at the end of their meal then head home. When they step inside, there's a thick envelope addressed to Natasha from the Royal Ballet in London, England that makes them all forget Ms. Rogers had grad presents.
Natasha takes her time opening it, leaving them all in suspense as she pulls out the letter and begins to read. She doesn't read it out loud and her face doesn't give away any hints. Steve's on the verge of ripping it out of her hands to find out for himself if she got in when she suddenly screams and throws herself at both Steve and Ms. Rogers.
"I got in! I got in!" she shrieks, nearly deafening them. She shoves the letter at Steve and grins widely as she recites what he reads. "Full ride scholarship and everything."
Steve pretty much forgets his mom is right next to him as he gathers Natasha in his arms and kisses her fully. Her excited shouts are muffled momentarily and she melts into his touch. Both of them smile halfway into the kiss and pull away when Natasha starts to laugh again.
"I'm so proud of you," Steve tells her. And it's true. The pure love and joy he feels for her mixing with the pride he has for her in this moment are too overwhelming and he finds himself kissing her again, unable to find any other way to express just how much he loves her and how proud of her he is.
"Alright," Ms. Rogers says, drawing them apart. She's smiling as well and has to fight Steve to hug Natasha next. She glares playfully at him over Natasha's shoulders then smiles at both of them as she pulls away. "I think this calls for even more cake."
As if she knew exactly what that envelope would hold and had prepared ahead of time, Ms. Rogers goes to the fridge and pulls out a huge chocolate cake. Steve's eyes widen and he's pretty sure he's never seen a cake that beautiful. He doesn't get long to admire it before his mom is cutting it and handing out pieces, kissing their cheeks and telling them both she's never been prouder.