Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

59. Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

"Happy birthday, Daphne," Madame Touha says with a smile. Daphne is warming up when Madame Touha walks in.
"Thanks, Madame!"
"Where's Peter?" Daphne frowns at Madame Touha's tone. She said it with a smile. It sounded like she knew something was afoot.
"He told me he needed to do some stuff at Avengers Tower before coming to class. He should be here soon!" Daphne smiles nervously.

Daphne's stomach has been doing flips all afternoon for whatever Peter had planned for her and the mischievous gleam in Madame Touha's eyes prove that she also knows what's going to happen. Or at least knows Peter has a surprise for Daphne. As if on cue, Peter barges in.
"Sorry, I'm late!" He's panting. He probably swung to the ballet school.
"You're not, actually." Madame Touha cocks an eyebrow at him.
"Oh, really? Cool-" He rushes back out to the changing room without saying hi and Daphne stops stretching. She stands up straight and crosses her arms, cocking her head at Madame Touha.

"He's up to something, Madame, and I hate it." Madame Touha chuckles.
"Oh, I know." She waves with her hand.
"Please, tell me something about it. Anything? Please!" Daphne pleads. Madame Touha shakes her head and a spark of betrayal shoots through Daphne. "Gah, mean! You know I hate surprises."
"You'll love this one." Madame Touha raises her eyebrows and Daphne groans out loud. She decides to focus on warming up again, but she grumbles through the entire process.

Not much later, Peter walks back in. Madame Touha walks to the sound system and plugs in her phone. She scrolls through it, taking her sweet time finding the file and Daphne shoots a glance at Peter. He's got a cheeky grin on his face and he's not looking at her. She really wants to punch him. "Alright, let's start with the pas de chat lifts today."

...

They finally finished learning the entire choreography properly. All that is left now, is making it look perfect. It had taken Peter a few classes, but he's completely comfortable with Daphne in his hands now. He knows exactly what he can and can't do. As expected, lifting her was his favorite thing to do. His goal was to make this pas de deux as easy for her to perform as possible.

Peter started to notice that he loves listening to her dance, in addition to watching her. The sound her pointe shoes make on the wood flooring is music to his ears. The way she manages to land so softly when she leaps is still a mystery to him, but whenever he got to watch her practice some moves without him, he'd be completely entranced by her. She is the most graceful person he's ever met.

Daphne is already so pretty to him when they're in regular clothes; when they're not dancing. But she somehow manages to elevate her beauty to a level Peter didn't even know existed when she dances. When she wears her pointe shoes. Peter stares entranced as Daphne glides across the floor with a wide smile on her face. His chest warms and tightens and he can't help himself; he has to smile along. He holds his breath when the realization hits him. He loves her.

...

"Let's go!" Peter is practically bouncing out of the school. "I promised Mr. Stark we'd be there by eight!"
"Pete, I'm sweaty and gross, I wanna shower first," Daphne laughs. He purses his lips and nods.
"Alright, alright-" he smiles. "See you there at eight thirty, then?" Daphne thinks for a second.
"If I run, then yes, I could make that." He grabs her shoulders and presses a long peck on her cheek, making Daphne blush. He lets his nose run across her cheek until he touches the tip of her nose. He smiles and softly says:
"You better sprint, then." And sprint she did.

...

Daphne has a duffel bag over one shoulder and the tote bag with snacks she got that day on her other. She quietly rushes into Avengers tower, saying hi to the receptionist, who congratulates her on her birthday. When she gets into the elevator, she drops her bags on the floor. She looks at herself in the mirror. Peter told her to wear something comfortable, like pajamas. She's wearing sweatpants and Peter's Midtown Tech hoodie.