She's always been number one. Always winning first places, awards, special mentions, everything. Front pages loved her gorgeous features, judges admired her technical skills and were charmed by her bewitching smile and her competitors loved to hate her. They're such fools for thinking they can compete, Regina often thought, or had been taught to think at least.

Her striking confidence didn't fail her for tonight's competition either, although it would be one of the most important nights of her life. If she won –no, when she would win– she would hold the North American record of consecutive first places in her category. It's just one dance amongst plenty of others, there's nothing to worry about, she convinced herself.

Once again, she was quite the sight: as she walked in the hall, her crimson dress was elegantly flowing around her, reminding the curves formed by a rose's petals. Her dark chocolate hair formed a perfect, slick bun tucked at the base of her skull, on the level of her ruby red lips that curved into a seducing, and yet innocent smile. Her flushed cheeks increased her regal expression, just like her deep brown eyes, accentuated by a soft smoky makeup, showed nothing but self-assurance. Regina Mills had no reason to be anxious about tonight.

Or so she thought.

Her turn eventually came and everything went according to plan, just like she was used to. She performed a flawless choreography, all eyes on her, the audience unable to look away from her grace with their breath held back as she danced a story passionately. The emotions she used for her performances were raw, but no one ever truly knew exactly how much of her heart she put into this. For Regina, it was all or nothing, and she had had enough of nothings.

The music ended, her chest rose up and down quickly as she stayed in place, coming back to reality as the audience clapped and acclaimed her with distinction and admiration. She elegantly walked back towards her seat, awaiting for the score the judges deemed worthy of her performance. The cardboards varied between 8,5 to 9,3, giving her an average of 9,1. So far, she had the best score and the second place currently went to a man with a score of 8,6. Easy. Would have loved more competition this time, Regina thought.

But then he walked on the wooden floor. "Our next concurrent is Robin Locksley," echoed from the speakers. A tall, sandy blonde man she had never seen before, but who still seemed familiar to her, stood in the middle of the dance floor. She let her curiosity narrow her eyes and fold her arms over her chest, waiting for the music to start so she could judge this mysterious man herself.

The orchestra started playing and the gentleman started to move with such precision, finesse and passion. She would never admit it, but she lost herself in his moves and lost track of time as she observed him secretly mesmerizing her.

Sooner than she expected, the song came to an end and everyone applauded him, except for her. She had too many questions clouding her mind. Was he a threat? Was he really as good as the public seemed to acclaim him? Why did she seem so appealed by his moves? Who was this Robin Locksley?

Once the judges announced his score, Regina knew who he was; he was the man who stole her title.

9,2.

He beat her from 0,1 point.

I'm gonna snap his neck and make him pay for everything he took away from me, this bast– She raged inside her head, but then she saw him walk in her direction. Fuck, She thought. Why the hell was he making her so nervous?

Turned out he simply walked past her and went to hug an old lady behind her. The white haired woman obviously was his mother since they shared the same smile and deep blue eyes. Regina clenched her jaw upon seeing the two of them, thinking her mother would absolutely never hug her so honestly and be so joyful for her. She hated him, absolutely despised him. "Where's the champagne when I need it," She grumbled to herself as she let the others around her clap to welcome the next competitor.

###

Second place. The best of losers. Beaten by a total stranger. Her record, the title that was rightfully hers, taken away from her by an unknown thief. That was all she could think about during the reception held after the competition. She was moody, snapped at people who tried to tease her, but still managed to preserve a classy façade with the hint of a fake smile plastered on her face as she sipped her drink and observed the crowd around her.

"Milday," She heard from behind and turned around, failing to identify who the voice belonged to before doing so. Her eyes narrowed when she recognized the man.

"Well, well, look at what we have here," She mumbled and looked at him up and down, trying to control the sudden urge to punch him in the face and break his perfect nose.

"Robin Locksley, at your service," He replied with a slight, formal bow.

"So I've heard," She mumbled and took a sip of champagne. What the hell did he want with her? Probably just rubbing his victory in her face, as if she didn't feel humiliated enough. God, she just wanted to leave this place.

"I simply wanted to let you know that your performance blew me away," The man started, which took Regina by surprise. Was he telling the truth or was he simply mocking her? "I was honoured to finally see you perform in person. I always had a great deal of admiration for your talent and your grace, and you did not disappoint tonight. It was one of the greatest performance I've been given to see."

Regina stared at him, even more lost now than she was before. Well apparently it wasn't good enough, she thought but kept the words for herself. "Listen, I don't know who you are, but what you're doing right now is rude, uncalled for and very disrespectful. So I suggest you walk away, go find whatever fake blonde you paid to be by your arm and ask her for a dance to show off a little more and enjoy your 2 seconds of glory, because nights like tonight won't ever happen again, do you understand?" She said in a low, firm tone, looking directly in his eyes to show she was far from kidding.

The man seemed taken off guard by her threat, but the smirk that quickly replaced his stunned expression threw Regina off even more. "Well, that's quite the fire you've got there," He told her. "I understand you might think this could be a way to mess around with you, but I don't enjoy my victories like that, although that might be a hint of how you treat people who get second places," He replied, making Regina purse her lips. Oh the bastard thinks he's being clever? I'll show him what clever looks like. But before she could give him one of her signature snarky comeback, he continued to speak. "But I was being sincere. You really are a magnificent dancer, Regina Mills, and your talent is unique and undeniably hard to match, even if I robbed that title from you. That was good for my ego however, considering your reputation," He added with raised eyebrows and then took a sip of his drink, leaving Regina speechless for once.

"You're insufferable, you know that?" Regina spat at him once she could manage to speak.

Robin smirked once again and nodded. "I've been told," He replied casually, making her roll her eyes.

The woman looked in the orchestra's direction when she recognized the first notes of Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky and she sighed. She wasn't in the mood for this fake masquerade. She just wanted to get home, change into her pyjamas and eat ice cream while watching a movie on her couch.

"Care for a dance, milady?" Robin's voice pulled her out of her fantasies.

Regina frowned and stared at him once she heard his invitation. "Wasn't I clear enough before or are you simply too stupid to understand? I don't like you. I want you to get out of my way," She replied sharply.

"Oh, come on, Regina. I saw the way you looked at me while I danced; we both know that's not true. You're just pissed because your pride had a real hard time tonight," He said to her confidently with raised eyebrows and offered his hand. "What if you considered this as another competition then? Measure your talent to mine and we'll see who truly is the best," He added when he saw her clench her fists.

Regina scoffed and looked away once the words left his mouth. "You don't stand a chance."

"Then what do you have to lose?" He replied instantly.

Regina stared at him and pursed her lips, reflecting on what she should do. "Fine," She finally answered. "But consider yourself warned that you'll be humiliated in front of everybody standing in this room," she added firmly, taking his hand and walking in the middle of the dance floor, pretending she hadn't noticed his smug, victorious grin.

Hand in hand, taking position in the middle of the room, they started to move together, danced and turned, each step forming a perfect, smooth routine with irreproachable timing. They moved with intense passion, with fire burning in their eyes, welding them together as perfect partners, as if they had rehearsed this dance a thousand times together.

Nonetheless, it was still a competition, although both of them had to remind themselves that constantly. They both fought to lead the other, but, by the end of the song, they had forgotten to notice who exactly was doing what. It all came naturally, effortlessly.

Her dress swirled around them like a silky red ribbon tying them together. They seemed to glide graciously on the polished floor, and the people around the room only had eyes for them, for the mesmerizing harmony they created.

They only had eyes for each other.

Hearts beat faster, breaths became slightly jerky but still under control, his smirk made her cheeks flush to match the color of her lipstick and her dress, her determined glare made him flash his dimples in a charmed, yet playful smile.

It appeared that the song finished as soon as it started, and Regina had to unwillingly admit that a part of herself was disappointed of how quickly time seemed to have passed. The crowd cheered, forcing the two dancers back to reality although they didn't pull back immediately. "Unfortunately, I think it's a tie," Robin murmured to her, managing to get a smirk from his not easily impressed partner, who unbelievably seemed to have forgotten about her previous moodiness.

"Well I guess we'll have to go for another round," She told him with a low voice, their faces still fairly close, or at least enough to feel each other's quick breaths hit their skin.

Funny how it was a tie for most of the night, until, on the first stroke of midnight, refreshments were more than needed. When Robin turned around with two glasses of champagne, the enchanting woman in red had disappeared. Confused, the man scanned to room to see where his enigmatic partner and competitor could have gone, but then someone tapped on his shoulder. "Sir?" One of the members of the staff said. "She left this for you," The man added and gave a small piece of paper to Robin. The dancer opened it and couldn't help the wide smirk on his face when he read her neat handwriting.

You lose.