Hi! So this fic is six months in the making and I am proud to finally be able to share it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Prologue
"Why don't you just go and talk to her?"
Regina jumped at the sound of David's voice right next to her ear and involuntarily flung the book she had been trying to read across the room. She turned to glare at the boy, but David was unfazed as he hopped over the back of the couch with a loud bark of laughter. He planted himself on the cushion right next to Regina and stole a handful of popcorn from the bowl in her lap.
"You are very annoying," Regina grumbled, pulling the bowl out of his grasp.
"And you're avoiding my question?" David pointed out with a smug grin.
Regina rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over stomach, not meeting David's eyes.
"I can't," she finally mumbled. Had David not been sitting millimeters from her he would have completely missed it.
"And why not?" David asked, his features softening at the uncharacteristic vulnerability he was seeing in his friend.
"Look at her," Regina whined pointing to where Emma was sitting at the large dining room table playing a very loud game of Monopoly with a group of the other contestants.
"What?"
Regina rolled her eyes and rubbed a hand down her face. "Ugh, why are we friends?"
"Because you think I'm charming," David answered smartly earning himself an unimpressed look. "I don't get what the big deal is. You've got no problem talking to her when we're all rehearsing. Why is it such a big deal to go over there and talk to her now?"
Regina wishes she had David's casual attitude about things like this. Lucky him. Every time she even tried to talk to Emma, outside of giving constructive instructions while they were working with the choreographer or vocal coaches, she would chicken out and run in the other direction. It was embarrassing and Emma probably thought Regina hated her.
"It's not that simple," she argued, unable to explain what she was feeling in a way that her friend would understand.
"It really is," he argued back. "You go over, you sit down, and you talk to her. Seems pretty simple to me."
"You don't understand," Regina grumbled, leaning back into the couch, sulking.
"I think you're making a big deal out of nothing, Regina," the boy countered, starting to get frustrated with his friend. "You like her right?" He asked.
"Obviously," Regina answered with an eyeroll.
"Then do something about it," he told her, elbowing her in the ribs to get his point across. "Don't just sit over here and let your chance slip away because you were too afraid to do anything about it. We're not gonna be here like this forever and you'll only regret it later if you don't."
Regina was silent for a moment before a smile spread across her face. "When did you get so insightful?"
"I have my moments. Now go," he said snatching the bowl of popcorn from her lap and shooing her from the couch.
She stood up and took one step toward the dining room before spinning around to face David again. David raised an eyebrow at her when she didn't say anything. Regina chewed at her bottom lip and brought her hand up to her stomach.
"What's wrong now?"
"What if she doesn't like me?" Regina questioned in a small voice.
"Trust me, she does," David assured her. "Now go."
Regina smiled one last time before turning on her heel and heading for the table.
X
Emma couldn't keep the grin off her face as she took the stairs two at a time. She skipped down the hall to the room she was sharing with Neal, Killian, David, and Regina and swung the door open.
Killian, who had been lazily strumming his guitar in his bunk, jumped at the sudden intrusion.
"What the hell, Swan?" he demanded his voice squeaking slightly.
"She talked to me," she announced, her grin splitting her face in two as she closed the door behind her to avoid any unwanted ears.
"Who?" Killian questioned, not entirely following.
"Regina," Emma said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She crossed the room to sit on the edge of David's bed.
That got Killian's attention. He set his guitar aside and scooted to the edge of the bunk, giving Emma his full attention.
"Really? How'd that go?"
"It was awesome," Emma told him with a sigh.
"What, no details?" he questioned when Emma didn't say anything else on the matter. "You've been chewing off my ear since bootcamp about her and that's all I get? No fair, mate."
Emma playfully rolled her eyes at the boy. "You have no patience."
"Excuse me for getting invested. Out with it, Swan."
"There were a bunch of us playing Monopoly downstairs, but Regina wasn't she was just in the living room reading a book. David was the first one out of the game and I saw him go sit with her. Next thing I know, Regina tapped me on the arm and asked if she could sit and watch. I couldn't even talk, I was so shocked. It was embarrassing, all I could do was nod. One of the guys flipped the board when he lost all his money so everybody quit then, but Regina stayed and asked if I wanted to play Connect 4. I said yes of course and that's how I spent the last hour," Emma told him with a dreamy expression on her face.
"That's it?" Killian questioned.
"What do you mean "that's it"?" Emma countered, raising her eyebrow in confusion.
"I mean, you ran up here to tell me you played a boring game with the girl you've had a massive crush on since we started this competition. I would have thought you'd have kissed her with that ridiculous grin you've got on your face, mate," he complained, throwing his hands up in exasperation and flung himself back against his pillows.
Those two girls were so frustrating. Anyone with eyes could see that Emma had a huge crush on Regina and Regina, who didn't seem to like anyone, had a soft spot for Emma. The only problem was they were too afraid of being rejected and making things awkward for the group to do anything about it. But from what David told Killian about the chats he had with Regina, they had nothing to worry about.
"Up until this afternoon, I thought she hated me," Emma argued, slightly offended by her friend. "I call that a win. You could at least pretend to be happy for me."
"Congratulations, you played a child's game for an hour. Happy?" Killian asked with a smirk.
"You're an ass," she said and tossed a pillow at the boy.
"I think you should just get it over with and kiss her already."
"Were you not listening when I said I thought she hated me?" Emma questioned, catching the pillow Killian threw back at her.
"Have you met the girl? I think that's just her reaction to stress, it's me she really doesn't like," he pointed out.
"You're kind of an acquired taste, buddy," Emma told him with a shrug.
"I'm a delight."
"No, you're not." The grumbled response came from the bunk above Killian where Neal had been quietly snoring up until now.
"You wound me, love," Killian pouted, dramatically slapping his hands over his heart.
"Shut up," Neal grumbled, rolling over to face Emma. "But he is right Em. You and Regina have nothing to worry about, so just tell her already."
"You guys don't get it," Emma countered looking down at her hands to pick at the skin around her fingernails.
"If you say so," Killian said reaching for his guitar again.
"I think you're worried for nothing," Neal offered. "Just go for it. Sometimes you've got to take the risk."
Emma let Neal's words sink in for a moment before she nodded her head. She knew he was right of course and Emma really wanted to believe that she could just go and tell Regina that she liked her and everything would be alright and they'd live happily ever after as famous pop stars. Life didn't work like that; it wasn't a fairytale, especially not for her. She had to make sure this wasn't going to blow up in her face and ruin their friendship.
"Baby steps," she finally said in a quiet voice.
Neal sighed, but nodded his head. "Whatever you say. Don't take too long though, Em."
"Yeah, I don't think I can take much more of this," Killian added absently as he plucked at his guitar.
Emma nodded and smiled up at Neal while flipping Killian the bird.
"Now that we're done gossiping, do you mind?" Neal grumbled, rolling over and pulling the blanket over his head.
Emma stood from David's bed and left the boys to their quiet time with a small smile on her face. Regina talked to her for almost an hour without yelling. That was something to celebrate.
~Five Weeks Later~
It was the fifth week of live performances and they were killing the competition. Nobody expected the group made up of previously eliminated solo acts to make it very far, but by some miracle they exceeded everyone's expectations and gaining hoards of fans by the minute. From the second they sang at a judge's house, they captured America's hearts and now had a very real chance of taking the whole thing.
They were scheduled for a 5 am rehearsal and for once the boys were the first ones up. Neal was in the bathroom while Killian and David were stumbling around in the semi-darkness, trying to get dressed.
"Are the girls up yet?" David questioned with a big yawn.
"Swan! Regina!" Killian yelled. When no sound came from the girls' side of the partition that separated their bunk from the boys', he shrugged and continued searching the mountain of clothes on the floor for a t-shirt. The girls' side of the room didn't look like their closets exploded.
"Wake up the whole house why don't you," David whispered, giving the other boy a look.
"Why the hell are you two screaming?" Neal grumbled as he trudged out of the bathroom with his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth.
"The girls aren't up," Killian informed him. "I'm on it," he said pulling a shirt over his head and smirking at the other two.
"Keep it down while you're at it," Neal muttered, starting to look for his own clothes in the pile by the window.
Killian rubbed his hands together before tiptoeing around the temporary wall right up to the bunk. In the dark, he could see the outline of Regina in the top bunk, her arm hanging over the edge. He smirked to himself as he sucked in a deep breath.
"Wake up sleeping beauty!" He yelled as he flipped on the light.
Regina jumped and started to sit up blinking against the light as Killian cackled.
"What's going on?" She muttered sleepily.
"What the fuck man?!" Emma yelled, shooting out from under the blanket behind Regina. She looked pissed.
Killian's face fell and his eyes grew to the size of saucers.
"David, you owe me twenty dollars," he hollered with a chuckle.
Regina growled and threw a pillow at his head.
"What?" David questioned, confused, hurrying around the wall. "No way," he whispered when he saw Emma and Regina in the top bunk together.
"Neal, get a load of this," Killian called, quieter this time, for the other boy.
"Why are you still yelling. It's 4 o'clock in the morning for crying out loud," Neal complained as he came to a stop beside David.
"Look who finally got a clue," Killian pointed out smugly.
"About damn time. It's time to get up."
"Always a pleasure, Neal," Regina sassed at his retreating back.
"Fuck off, Regina."
"I think they're happy for us," Emma whispered, pressing her forehead into Regina's shoulder.
Everyone in the room rolled their eyes at the blonde.
***What do you think? Should I continue?