Chapter 14 – The one where Regina ships it.
"I think they would be very hot together."
Regina's laugh is a rich, husky laugh that sends Emma into a tizzy, and very nearly gives the fans heart palpitations, too, because the girl who'd asked Regina what she thought of KavaReina is literally wobbling away from the microphone to collapse back into her seat. The army of KavaReina fans present at this panel is overwhelming and their cheers of approval are deafening, but there's a pretty strong group of Freyalan fans who make noises of protests as well, rising up in defense of Emma and Ruby's supposed relationship.
"Hey, I love all the ships," Ruby pipes up, laughing as she maneuvers herself to sling an arm around Emma and Regina both. "I agree with Regina— Kavalan and Reina would make a super hot couple!"
That placates the fans when they see the three women getting along so swimmingly on stage, but Tumblr is alight with photos and gifs afterwards, their diehard shippers arguing over the slightest twitch of a lip or any body language that might say differently.
"Emma looks really uncomfortable... #lovetriangle"
"Ruby's trying her best but she's clearly jealous."
"First she dumps Graham, now she's making the moves on Emma. I stan Regina but that's pretty sleazy"
Emma tries not to pay attention to social media, she really does, but one can only ignore so many cruel words before they start to take their toll. She hates that Ruby and Regina are getting harassed over this too, but Mary Margaret's the one who reminds her, "Even if you never joined the show, Emma, there would be shipping wars and online bullying over some other actor or character romance. That's just how things are. You can't feel responsible for that."
"Maybe things would be slightly less crazy if they didn't think Ruby and I were a couple." Emma sighs, pouting to herself as she stands in the middle of the crafty tent, examining the table's offerings and trying to decide if she wants to get a plate of fruit to be healthy or to grab a handful of the various chocolate bars in the candy bowl.
"Everything would be less crazy if everyone was just honest about who they wanted to be with," Henry says diplomatically from where he's making himself a cup of coffee, and Emma squints at him before doing a double take, because—
"Since when do you drink coffee?"
"I love coffee," he says defensively, straightening up as he puts a lid on his steaming cup, and he may finally be of average height for a newly eighteen year old, but he's still scrawny as a beanpole.
"Right, and it's got nothing to do with the fact that Ivy is an avid coffee drinker," Emma deadpans, quirking an eyebrow at him. He blanches and instead tries to change the conversation.
"Leroy said I could shadow him this season."
Leroy is their A cam operator, and he's already got his full camera team hired for the season, so it's a bit of a big deal that the man is allowing Henry to learn from them. Generally, having too many bodies on set can be a hindrance, so despite the blatant conversation switch, Emma allows it and smiles encouragingly.
"That's great, kid! He's a hard guy to impress. You must've done something right."
Bobbing his head, he walks alongside her as they head out across the lot and back to stage five. Emma makes sure to snag a few chocolates from the candy bowl before they go.
"Yeah, and he said that if I learn quickly, he might hire me on to be their camera trainee next season, since their current trainee is moving on to that new superhero show next year."
"Really?" They nod their thanks to the PA that opens up the big bay doors to let them through, meandering through the familiar stage towards their current greenroom. "I thought you were interested in applying for film school after you finish high school."
"There's always time to go to school, Ma," he says, plopping down in Regina's empty chair while Emma takes a seat in her own labeled chair. "But he's giving me a job opportunity, a chance to learn hands-on on a real film set, and Kingdom Come is a pretty big show. Not everyone's lucky enough to get a shot like that. I can always go to school after, if this show ends or if Leroy decides not to hire me back."
"That's true," Emma admits, chest warming at how reasonable he is and how he's thought this through. "I suppose nothing really beats hands-on experience in the field. Whatever you decide to do, I'm proud that you're going after what you want."
"Thanks, Ma." He grins, notes Regina entering the room, and pops up from her chair.
"Sit, sweetheart," she says, waving at him to stay, but he shakes his head and moves for the door.
"Leroy's letting me shadow him this season. I'm gonna go see if camera needs help loading in." He grins and side-hugs her before disappearing, so Regina sits down in her chair next to Emma and quirks a brow.
"When does he drink coffee?"
"Ivy," Emma says simply, to which Regina chuckles in understanding as she pulls out her sides to go over her lines. Emma holds up her handful of chocolate bars. "Chocolate?"
"Ah, the fastest way to my heart," Regina teases, grabbing a bar and quickly tearing it open, and Emma blushes and chews on her lower lip, wondering on Ruby's cryptic hints.
Emma's confused and gay.
Regina has become the biggest flirt at conventions and events, and Emma can never quite figure out how she's supposed to respond when Regina makes suggestive jokes about KavaReina and Ruby's sitting at her side still pretending to be her real-life girlfriend and, really, why can things never be simple?
"I have read the fanfics!" Regina laughs wickedly, beaming at the fans as they squeal in delight. "The KavaReina fans are so talented, it honestly blows me away."
"Have you read them too, Emma?" the fan proceeds to ask Emma, and before she can muster up an acceptable reply, Regina says,
"She has! There was this really good one that got published into a book, so I gave her a copy. We both have one."
Emma smiles in embarrassment, hoping the question goes no further because yes, of course she'd read the book Regina had gifted her as a joke, only to enjoy it more than she probably should have considering it started out as fanfiction of her character.
"Hey, where are the Freyalan fanfics?" Ruby jokes, trying to get in on the teasing when there's audible grumbles from within the audience. "Freyalan fans! Get on it!"
The cast laugh it off, moving the questions forward and having a blast on stage. Later, social media is a bit of a snappy monster. The KavaReina fans are raving over Emma and Regina's real life friendship and making the GuardianQueen hashtag popular again. The Freyalan fans are... kind of pissed to have their territory intruded upon, and they loudly clap back with, "Emma and Ruby are together in real life, deal with it! #Freyalan #RedSwan"
Ruby and Ivy are the first to hop on the "let's play nice" bandwagon, dropping careful tweets here and there, along with various selfies of all the women in friendly poses.
RealRubyLucas: Y'all keep asking me what it's like bts. Honestly? I love all my coworkers! We're all great friends and we love all our ships! #Freyalan #KavaReina #ShipAndLetShip
MissIvyBelfrey: So thankful to get to work with these beautiful ladies. Who needs shipping wars when everyone can bask in love? (heart eyes emoji) (kiss emoji)
Regina makes an appearance on social media too, posting all kinds of photos on her Instagram with all the cast and crew. She and Henry take a lot of selfies around set together, but there are multiple shots of her with Ruby and Emma as well, carefully cultivating a close friendship for the public eye.
ReginaMills: Just saw outtakes from our last promo; EmmaSwan76 and RealRubyLucas look beautiful together! I adore my #KingdomCome family. #Freyalan #KavaReina (heart emoji)
Most fans are happy to believe the stories they're given. Some want to dig their claws in and create drama out of nothing. And... okay, maybe there's a bit of actual drama, in that Ruby's secretly dating Belle but publicly dating Emma for PR and Emma is secretly in love with Regina and Regina is the fucking Queen of mixed signals and confusing the hell out of a useless lesbian (Emma)... but still. At least there's no love triangle.
"There's no pleasing them, is there?" Emma sighs afterwards, tossing her phone aside after glancing through the snippy group-email from Gold about non-fraternization policies. He complains and badgers them for the sake of holding up appearances, but as long as he continues to pine over Belle, the rest of them are in the clear.
"Never is," Ivy laughs, who has her own hands full with the fans now tentatively shipping her with Graham's character after Queen Drizella managed to put a spell on Troy and turn him to her side. There's also a small fanbase that seems to think shipping the venomous Drizella with the angry and spiteful Reina is a good idea, so Ivy and Regina have been dancing around the Reizella hashtags with amusement and a ten-foot pole.
"After this show ends, I'll be glad to be rid of all this shipping nonsense," Emma decides, picking up her phone when her email alert goes off. "The acting life was fun, but I'm happily retiring after Kingdom Come."
"Fair enough. It's not for everyone. The film life is pretty soul-consuming, you have to really love it to survive it." Ivy's phone buzzes with an email alert too and she skims through it. "Ooh, a cold-reading party at Belle's loft for the finale. Have you heard anything about it yet?"
"Nope." Emma emails back her RSVP. "Belle's been super tight-lipped about the finale. Wonder what she's plotting now?"
"She and Ruby keep going around grinning like Cheshire cats," Ivy notes. "It's kinda creepy."
"Glad I'm not the only one who's noticed. I'm learning to fear Belle when she smiles like that."
For once, she's not entirely sure if she's terrified or...
"Are you... are you serious?" Regina asks, and it's hard to read her expression when she's just staring across the table at Belle, eyes wide and dark, the finale script clutched in her hands. Emma isn't looking at either of them; she's too busy gawking down at the script in her own hands, eyes hungrily skimming over the words in disbelief.
"I'm entirely serious," Belle says, smug. "Go on, read it out."
Regina hesitates, eyes flickering between the script and Belle and Emma, before finally she settles her gaze on the blonde sitting next to her with a shaky exhale. Her heart is thudding loudly in betrayal and she hopes no one can hear it. Green eyes flicker up to meet hers, just as wide and surprised, but it's all Regina needs to take a breath and begin.
"You remember?" Regina whispers, eyes glittering. "After all this time—"
"I can't believe I ever forgot," Emma breathes out, too shaken by the genuine wetness in Regina's eyes to continue staring at her. Nervously, she stares back down at her script, tongue darting out to lick dry lips. "Your Majesty..."
"My name, Kavalan," Regina demands hoarsely. "We've been through too much for that."
"Reina." Emma blinks at the page. Kavalan sinks to her knees before Reina, clutching the Queen's hands and pressing her forehead to the woman's thighs reverently. Slowly, Reina sinks to her knees as well, their foreheads slowly pressing together. "My Queen. My... my love."
Regina swallows down the lump in her throat, fingers tightening against the pages of her script. Reina and Kavalan are both crying silently when they finally kiss, hands in each other's hair, clinging to one another like it's the first time they've been able to truly breathe. The music crescendos and then the screen cuts to black, a long awaited romance left on a cliffhanger, promising a game changer in the next season.
Slowly, brown and green eyes both lift to stare at each other, not quite able to believe that it's happened. Five seasons of their sizzling chemistry forcibly kept apart, all to culminate into this desperate, passionate, long-awaited reunion in which they'll be closer than they've ever been before.
"KAVAREINA!" Mary Margaret suddenly screams, throwing her arms up into the air with a shriek of excitement, and Regina visibly jolts back while Emma falls right out of her chair with a plethora of curses, and absolutely no one notices Ruby and Ivy sneakily recording the entire thing on their phones with the biggest grins on their faces.
As excited as most of them are about KavaReina finally being canon, things get a little weird on set, too. Mary Margaret and Ruby are the biggest supporters, of course, and David thinks it's a brave but wonderful move, but Graham is quieter than usual—which is saying something because the man has never been very talkative in the first place—and Regina constantly catches him giving her odd looks when he thinks he's being subtle. Gold's reaction to this entire thing is to brood and tolerate it, and when the girls press Belle for information, she shrugs and admits she'd invited the man out for drinks and plied him with so much alcohol that he'd drunkenly agreed to her ideas for the KavaReina romance. By the time he'd been sent home in a cab and woken the next morning to a raging hangover, she'd already had his signature of approval on a rough draft and had her writing team brainstorming and working on the script.
(Ruby is proud. Terrified of her girlfriend's manipulative prowess, but proud nonetheless.)
Of course, actually filming the long awaited scene is a whole other matter, especially when it comes to one of the actresses expected to participate in the lip lock.
"I don't know if I can do this," Emma whispers harshly, green eyes large and wide with panic, and Ruby and Ivy are all that stands between her and the emergency exit door at the back of the studio.
"Relax," Ruby says, hands held out as if trying to calm a wild animal. "It's just acting, Emma. You can get through it."
"I have to make out with Regina!" Emma hisses. It's the final day of filming and the last scene they need to film is also the last scene of the finale, which means she and Regina have to lock lips in front of the cameras, not to mention the entire crew.
"We made out in front of the cameras plenty," Ruby points out, because the show has gotten pretty ballsy and Belle can't exactly say she doesn't indulge in some gratuitous sex scenes once in a while. (And that terrifying grin did make an appearance the one time Emma and Ruby had to get near-naked for a Freyalan sex scene. No one talks about that, ever.)
"That's not the same!"
"Well why not?" Ruby asks, quirking a brow, and she knows exactly why not but she's going to be a dick and force Emma to admit it. Emma groans, flipping her the bird, and Ivy chuckles and slings an arm around Emma's hips to give her a side hug.
"It'll be fine, Ems. Don't think so hard about it."
"Easy for you two to say," Emma grumbles. "You don't need to film a makeout scene with someone you have feelings for."
"Ah, she finally says it." Ruby chuckles, taking up her place on Emma's other side and leaving the blonde sandwiched between her two brunette friends. "Pretty sure she's got the hots for you too, Em. I mean, it's kinda hard to fake that kind of natural eye-sex."
"God, yeah, you two set things on fire," Ivy hums in agreement.
"That's... It's not..." Emma flounders, looking for excuses, and Ruby and Ivy exchange amused glances. "She just teases me to entertain the fans! You know how they are..."
"That's a weak ass excuse and you know it, Swan. Now get out there and kiss your woman so hard she realizes she wants you in real life."
Ruby and Ivy each grab Emma under the arm, hauling her further into the studio towards the stage they're filming on, ignoring each and every one of Emma's frantic protests.
Regina, likewise, is panicking just a little bit on the opposite side of the studio, but instead of some pestering friends, she has an annoying gnat latching onto her arm.
"Don't be nervous, Regina! Emma adores you."
"I'm not nervous," Regina hisses, shaking Mary Margaret off only for the woman to scamper to her other side instead.
"I know it can be scary to do an on-screen kiss with someone you're attracted to, but look how well that turned out for David and I!"
"I'm not—" Regina sputters, angry and embarrassed, only for Mary Margaret to give her a knowing look.
"I know you, Regina, even if you don't like that fact."
"Stop acting as if we were ever friends," Regina scowls, arms crossed tightly, but her fire is quickly dwindling, and as much as she hates Mary Margaret for being a naive, annoying, idiotic brat who gets things handed to her on a silver platter, it's been a while since she's been around someone who's known her since childhood.
"I wish you would let go of the past," Mary Margaret sighs. "I'm not responsible for my father's actions—"
"But you certainly didn't complain when he used his contacts to get you a role that had been mine."
"Would you have done the same for me?" Mary Margaret counters. "If Cora had been influential enough back then to knock me out of the running and get you a starring role that had been mine, would you have told anyone what happened? Would you have given me back the role?"
"Please, you were everyone's favourite Disney kid with the rich white daddy," Regina snaps, bitter. "I was an unknown Latina girl from downtown Brooklyn. I never stood a chance."
Mary Margaret stares, stung. She's never been particularly aware of her privilege, nor had it thrown at her face. But she's always admired the way Regina fought tooth and nail in the industry and never let anyone trample her down, and some part of her is finally old enough and mature enough to understand why Regina had to try twice as hard as anyone else.
"I'm sorry," she says softly. "I never thought of that. I should have."
"I don't care about your apologies," Regina mutters, turning away.
"That's fine. I'm years late. I understand." Mary Margaret steps around her to face her again. "But right now, you're nervous, and I just want to tell you that it's all gonna be okay. Emma's crazy about you, has been since the very first day you brought her on set. We all see it, we've all watched you two for the past five years. Your scene together is going to be amazing, I just know it. So don't be scared."
She gives Regina's arm a quick squeeze, smiling wryly before walking away and leaving the older brunette staring after her in deep contemplation.