Title: Boogie Shoes
Author: pbandfluff
Rating: T
Genre: Mindless, mindless fluff
Summary: Sometime in a Swan Queen future, Henry and Rebecca Swan-Mills plan a surprise for the first annual Storybrooke Talent Show.
A/N: I blame this on YouTube, and video clips of So You Think You Can Dance. The performance herein is wholly imagined as Lauren Froderman and Billy Boyd's jazz duet on above stated show. I suggest watching the video before reading this. The story of the shoes is taken in part from the performance, and the title is directly ganked from the song used. I never said this was high art, folks. Somehow, in my headcanon, I'm convinced that Fairy Tale World blood gives you talent in one or more of the arts, and that Henry and my made-up Swan Queen child, Rebecca, can dance like no one's business. I saw the video and immediately this story jumped into my head. Blerg, I'm getting a cavity from this fluff.
"Where are our children?"
Emma glanced at Regina with a smirk, taking small pleasure in her wife's agitation.
A couple of months beforehand, a few of Storybrooke's members had proposed the idea of a town-wide Talent Show to be hosted in the new school auditorium. The idea had spread like wildfire all the way up to City Hall, and preparations had begun for auditions and ticket sales. Most of the town had come crawling out of the woodwork with their talents, and those planning the event had promised an excellent show.
The night of the show had finally come, and Emma and Regina had started the night off sitting with their children, enjoying the night out and giving support to their friends, but Henry and Rebecca had been needed to man the curtains for a few acts so the backstage crew could have their turn on stage, and had yet to return.
"It's fine, 'Gina," Emma murmured, leaning back in her seat and taking Regina's hand in her own, "They told us they might have to get a seat in the back."
Regina pursed her lips, glaring at the stage as she threaded their fingers together. Emma chuckled and restrained herself from stealing a quick kiss to wipe away the sour look. Some things would never change, Regina's impatience and distaste for lack of control being two.
"Are you laughing at me, Miss Swan?"
The tone was sharp, but the soft look in Regina's eyes gave her away. God, Emma loved that look. That was the look she lived for. She grinned brightly, not caring who managed to see them in the crowd, and leaned forward to press a deep kiss to Regina's lips. Sixteen years of marriage hadn't dulled how Emma felt about her wife, and even small moments like this, kissing in their seats, surrounded by the rest of the town, gave Emma a thrill.
She pulled away after a long moment and gave a lop-sided grin. "Of course I am," she breathed, darting in for another quick kiss, "Miss Mills."
"And now for our last act!"
The booming voice through the speakers made both Emma and Regina jump and break the moment between them. Emma watched with a grin as Regina whipped her head around to glare at the announcer. Someone didn't like having her personal moment interrupted.
"This act is a particular treat," the young man on the stage continued, "And has been kept secret from most of us involved in the Talent Show. Known to us only by pseudonyms, I am proud to present the final act of the night, the audition judges' top choice, the moment most of us have been waiting for, performing in Storybrooke for the first time, Duke of Cornwall and Lady Odette!"
The crowd cheered and Emma and Regina clapped as well, craning their necks to get a good look at the stage.
This particular act had been the talk of the town, rumors of fantastic performers spread out from friends of the audition judges, and everyone had been abuzz trying to figure out who the mysterious Duke of Cornwall and Lady Odette were and what they were going to perform. Regina had stuck her nose up at the idea of gossiping about such trivial matters as a talent show, but Emma had caught her snooping around in the audition applications, something she was not going to let her wife live down for a while.
The plush velvet curtains of the stage suddenly began to slide open slowly, each 'chink' of the chains raising the crowd's anticipation, before finally settling with a soft 'whoosh'.
"There's no one there."
Emma realized how silly she sounded stating the obvious about the same time Regina rolled her eyes and bit the inside of her cheek to resist retorting, but it was true. The stage was empty, and as the moments ticked on and no one appeared, the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves.
The floor-level curtains to the right of the stage shifted, and Emma found herself following the crowd's example and holding her breath to see what would happen. When a head of curly brunette hair finally appeared, Emma groaned and only just resisted slapping a palm to her face. Of course it would be her daughter that interrupted the whole thing. Emma could hear Regina inhale sharply, and knew if she looked over to her wife, she'd see a very annoyed Regina.
"Sorry to disappoint, folks," her daughter called out, waving weakly at the crowd.
Emma paused. Wait, Rebecca sounded mic'ed. Did that mean…?
"Hey, Becks!"
Emma looked up and saw her son race past her down the aisle. He sounded mic'ed as well.
"Henry!" Rebecca cried with a smile, breaking through the curtain and starting to climb the side stairs to the stage, "Are you part of the final act?"
Henry bounded up the center stairs, hopping onto the stage and turning to face the audience, "That's what they tell me."
He was dressed in a white shirt and a grey pair of jeans with a set of blue suspenders hanging around his waist that he twirled slightly as he stood in place.
Rebecca walked over to center stage and took a place next to Henry, "Are you Duke of Cornwall?"
She was in a grey dress with a collar, cinched at the waist by a magenta belt, with ruffles at the bottom that swished as she walked.
"You got that reference, did you?" Henry grinned, rocking back on his heels. "Prince Henry, Duke of Cornwall," he explained to the audience, garnering a few groans and laughs. Emma and Regina chuckled; leave it to their son to use a historical reference as a pseudonym. Emma was quite proud, she - and Regina, though the latter would deny it - had tried for days to decipher the names.
"Well, did you get my reference?" Rebecca preened.
Emma blinked; Rebecca was part of the act?
Henry's face crumpled in concentration, "Lady Odette? Lady Ode- Oh!"
His slapped in leg in victory and pointed at Rebecca, "The Swan Princess. Nice one, sis."
This time the audience did laugh, and Emma heard Regina groan.
"I'm going to kill the person who ever pointed that out to her," Regina hissed through gritted teeth. Emma bit her bottom lip and tried not to laugh. She had been the one to point it out to Rebecca, accidentally, and Regina still hadn't gotten over the few weeks when Rebecca was six that she had insisted on being called Odette, "As was befitting her title," little Rebecca had proclaimed, before wreaking havoc on the Swan-Mills household. Suffice to say, Emma hadn't 'fessed up to that crime.
"So what's all the ruckus over? I heard the town's been talking about this act for days."
Her daughter's voice snapped Emma out of her thoughts, and she turned her attention back to the stage.
"Well," drawled Henry, shoving his hands in his pockets and slowly walking down the length of the stage, "I read this story…"
"Oh my god," Rebecca groaned dramatically, dropping her head into her hands, "I thought we were over your story phase. If there's another curse, just please, leave us in ignorance!"
Henry grinned sheepishly with a shrug as the audience burst into laughter. The curse at this point was something the residents of Storybrooke laughed about and poked fun at quite often, and Henry had made it his kind of badge of honor to get teased about all his obsessive book reading.
Emma glanced at her wife to gauge her reaction.
Regina's attitude towards the curse and its breaking fluctuated from moment to moment, and Emma only hoped that Regina would find enough humor in the skit to not be upset.
But Emma needn't have worried, a wry grin tugged at the corners of her wife's mouth while she tried, in vain, to hold in a chuckle. Emma quickly pressed a kiss to the hand entwined with hers before giving her attentions to the stage once more.
"No, no, no, this is different," Henry insisted, "It's about a prince-"
"Oh here we go," Rebecca muttered in a stage voice, drawing a few laughs from the crowd.
"-who owns a pair of magical shoes," Henry finished, pulling forth a pair of bright blue Converse, bedazzled and glittered within an inch of their life, from seemingly nowhere.
"But the prince is lonely, and has no friends," he continued, holding up the pair of shoes as Rebecca began to inspect them, "So he magicks his shoes to split."
Here Rebecca made a motion of dipping her hand into Henry's back pocket, and came out with another pair of Converse, these hot pink, decorated in much the same way. Emma stifled a laugh - Rebecca hated the color pink.
As Rebecca frowned at the color choice, Henry swept downstage. "The prince loves to dance, and had always wanted someone to dance with him, so he tells his shoes to go find a friend for him, and that when he is nearby this new friend, that they should start dancing with each other."
Rebecca scrunched her nose and walked towards Henry, fingering the pair of Converse, "Like shoes could actually make someone dance."
Henry smirked, then snapped his fingers. Rebecca yelped as her own feet snapped to attention and marched to the middle of the stage. Emma felt a flash of concern; they weren't actually using magic, were they? But as she watched her daughter forcibly put on the "magic" shoes, she could tell by the way the laces had been pre-set that it was all just a well-rehearsed part of the skit.
Henry lazily walked over to his sister and put on his "magic" shoes as well. When they were done, he grabbed both sets of old shoes and tossed them offstage.
"And now," he announced with a flourish of his hand, "for some music."
Through the speakers came the sound of someone setting a needle on a record. As the opening trumpet notes of a song sounded, Rebecca crossed her arms and pouted in place. Henry held out a hand to her, but she shook her head defiantly. A few seconds later, her right foot began tapping back and forth to the beat, and her arms began to loosen their hold. Then came her whole foot, and a smile started forming on her face. The left side joined in, and soon Rebecca was bobbing along to the music.
"That's it," Henry cried out over the music, "now you've got it!"
Rebecca grinned, then struck a pose, nodding Henry over. Henry shuffle-stepped, then began to walk over, as if led by his shoes. He turned around, and tapped on Rebecca's foot with his toes, striking his own pose as Rebecca's feet kicked out as if in response.
Emma was impressed with both of them. The moves seemed so natural, it was easy to believe they were both being led by their "magic" shoes. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Regina was impressed as well and had leaned forward in her seat to get the best view.
But as the lyrics of the song kicked in, both of their jaws dropped as their children burst out into a full jazz routine to what they could now identify as 'Boogie Shoes'. Dumbly, they slowly turned to stare at each other, then just as slowly rotated back to the stage. The audience went wild, cheering as the two danced their way across the stage, going nuts when they performed their first aerial of the number.
Emma was completely in shock as she watched Henry and Rebecca. When had they learned to dance? And when had they gotten so good at it?
The dance was just goofy enough to fit both of their personalities, and a grin tugged at Emma's face as bits of both of them peeked through their performances.
When the song and dance ended with Henry and Rebecca sitting next to each other on stage with huge grins across their faces, Emma was the first one out of her seat, letting out a loud 'whoop' and clapping like a mad woman. Regina wasn't too far after her, letting out a loud whistle and a yell of her own. The crowd was on their feet in an instant, cheering for the siblings as they took their bows. As they jogged off-stage and the announcer concluded the show over the noise of the crowd, Emma found herself mobbed with townsfolk wanting to congratulate her and Regina. She was accordingly polite, but allowed herself to be tugged by Regina towards the backstage exit. As her children emerged from behind the curtain, she swept Henry up in a hug that was awkward for his large frame while Regina cradled their daughter in her own hug.
"What'd you think?" Henry rumbled into her shoulder, pulling away slightly with a grin.
"Kid, where did you learn to dance?" Emma asked in disbelief, shaking her head as she switched children with her wife.
"I taught him," Rebecca piped up from under Emma's arm, "We've been practicing for weeks."
"You were wonderful, both of you," Regina gushed, wrapping an arm as best she could around Henry's shoulders.
"The credit goes to Becks," Henry said, gesturing at his sister, "She came up with everything: the story, the skit, the dance, the costumes…"
"Except for the pink shoes," Rebecca protested before burrowing her face in her mother's shoulder, not used to the high praise of her brother and mother.
Emma leaned over and brushed back some of Rebecca's hair. "You did really good, kid," she whispered in her ear, squeezing the arm she had around Rebecca's waist slightly.
"I think this calls for dinner at Granny's," Regina announced, pausing with a thoughtful look before adding, "As soon as Ruby gets the diner open."
Three sets of eyes shone with the promise of greasy burgers and fries with shakes on the side (two chocolate with cinnamon and one vanilla).
Rebecca leveled a stare at Henry, "One car?"
Henry nodded solemnly, "It'll go faster."
Grinning wickedly, Rebecca snagged the keys from Emma pocket before she could protest, and darted away through the crowd, throwing a 'Last one there's a poison apple!' over her shoulder. Henry took off after her, barreling through the crowd as he did so.
Regina rolled her eyes, "Our children, ladies and gentlemen. The sixteen year-old and the twenty-eight year-old, yet they act like they're 2 again."
Emma chuckled, wrapping an arm around Regina's waist before leading them towards the exit.
"Admit it," she cajoled, pulling Regina close to her and leaning down to whisper in her ear, "You love it like this."
Regina hummed, wrapping her own arm around Emma's waist, "With two almost grown children, a wife of over a decade and a half, and my happily ever after waiting for me when I wake up every morning? Of course I do." She turned to smirk up at Emma, "How silly of you to ask, Miss Swan."
Emma just rolled her eyes, trying to control the warmth in her chest, and pressed a kiss to the edge of Regina's mouth. Often times Regina's romantic streak emerged at the most inconspicuous moments, like now, and Emma was still caught off guard at how deeply Regina felt and how deeply she felt about Regina.
"C'mon your majesty," she said, proud that her voice only shook a little, "Your carriage awaits."
As she held the door open, Regina paused and turned to her with a grin.
"If I'm the Queen," she drawled, "And you're my Knight in shining armor, does that make our children the court jesters?"
Emma laughed into the night sky as she followed Regina to their car where Rebecca and Henry were already waiting.
"C'mon, Ma," Rebecca called out, "I'm starving! And Henry's buying!"
"Hey! I didn't say that!"
As she chuckled at her children's antics, she took a moment to look at the scene before her. Her wife, perfectly poised and beautiful in the front seat, her son, a grown man, in the back, arguing with her daughter, the likeness of Regina in so many ways, but all hers in spunk, all three waiting to go have family dinner.
Regina had the right idea.
She did love her happily ever after exactly the way it was.