Avengers Preferences and Imagines

SMAU: The People We Are (Natasha Romanoff)

A/N: Hey hey! SOOOO this is probably literal trash cause I haven't written in FOREVER but here you have it, folks. Sorry for being MIA, things have not been great for me lately. Regardless of how bad I'm sure this is, I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

PROMPT: The universe provides you with clues and glimpses as to who and where your soulmate is until you finally find each other.

The scene unfolding in my mind's eye was blurry as it always was. It was distorted; almost as if it had been filmed by a camera that was tragically out of focus. I could not make out anything distinctive in my surroundings; only the rough and blurry outlines of the things that filled the room. I spun around the room trying to pick up more of my surroundings, but my efforts didn't get me very far; the scene around me offered no explanation. But either way, I suppose that I didn't need one, I knew what this was. I knew what this was because I had been seeing the same thing for years. In all that time it had never changed, no matter how much I tried to glean more information from it, it would not yield to me. So I stopped spinning, stopped fighting it, and shut my eyes.

The room was dimly lit; the last remaining light of day was flitting in through the blinds, sending dull streaks of light throughout the empty room. My ears quickly picked up on the soft yet somber music that was echoing throughout the room; seemingly filling every part of the room to the brim with its enchanting melody. Although I knew it was a fruitless effort, my body was drawn to the music, and it took everything in me to continue watching and to not break out into dance. But I forced myself to remain still; to be a silent observer. As I kept watching, as the music continued to swell around me, I realized that I wasn't alone. Everything was still out of focus but I could have sworn that out of all the things in the room, she seemed to be the clearest. I watched as she danced in perfect time with the music; never faltering, never once missing a step. The details of her face remained out of focus to me, but regardless I couldn't bring myself to look away.

In the mist that illuminated the room, I could only stare in wonder as I watched the dim lighting reflecting off her perfectly styled copper hair as she moved around with ease. As she moved in perfect time with her flawless routine, she never once held my gaze. If she knew of my presence, she never let onto it. Watching her move had me mesmerized, and I longingly wished that I could be a part of the audience; so that I could watch her captivating performance head-on. Oh, how I longed to be a part of that audience! Instead I settled for observing her indirectly; watching her through the wall of mirrors in the studio. And although her face was still out of focus to me, I couldn't help but be drawn in even further. Viewing her performance through the mirrors, as if I was one with the invisible audience she danced for and the feeling made me long to know her even more.

The music climbed towards its brilliant crescendo, and she effortlessly kept up with its demanding pace, moving faster and faster until I was certain that nobody could truly move that fast, and look so graceful while doing it. Her movements slowed and trailed off with the melody until she was left standing still staring out at her imaginary audience. The final beats of the music faded out she dropped into a slow, graceful bow towards her unwatching audience before flouncing off to the far corner of the room. The scene began to fade away before my eyes as she peeled her immaculate point shoes from her feet and began to pack them away into her duffle bag.

When I awoke from the all too familiar dream, the somber melody was still echoing in my head. As always the moment felt so tangible; as if I could reach out and grasp it between my fingers. The dream was always so enchanting and surreal that I would give anything to fall back asleep and see it again, to be immersed in it; but it was something that I had no control over, it came when it pleased. Of all the glimpses, moments, and information that the universe had allowed me, the repetitive dream was my favorite by far. I walked over to my closet where I kept the box of mementos that I had been able to gather thus far and pried the lid from the elegant box. Once upon a time, I had used it to store my various headpieces but when I started receiving these belongings of my soulmates, I decided that they deserved to be kept somewhere beautiful, and purchased a new hatbox for my headpieces so that my collection of clues could be stored in the more ornate one. I carried the box back to my bed with me, placing it down on the soft duvet as I peered inside. A gentle smile danced across my face as I began to remember how I had come to be in possession of these items, and the memories that accompanied each item in the box.