Shall we dance? | Valentine's Day Oneshot

ACT II: MIDNIGHT

Cinderella and David walked outside the Castle in a secluded path towards the secret garden. Here, as the night stars shone down- wasn't it just sunset before?- David was alone with Cinderella. His dream Princess.

It was her who broke the silence.

"If you don't mind me asking...what happened with your family?" she asked him kindly.

"Kind of a similar situation to yours," David answered. "They- well, my mom and siblings, at least- they treated me as well as they were able."

Cinderella looked to David in sadness- a knowing sadness that comes from a shared abusive past. "I'm sorry."

David forced out a smile. "It's not your doing."

Cinderella stopped and took his hand.

"Poor David..."

The pair gazed in mutual understanding of shared experiences. Words have power, like magic spells, and both had experienced some of the cruelest power that words could inflict.

"Don't worry. You're safe here, with me," she added. "We can do whatever you want here, away from their words that they weave against you."

David swallowed. "Well...usually I'd love to dance with you, but...I'm out of practice. I took ballroom dancing for years, 'girls love guys that can dance,' and all that, but...I never really...got to show it off. Every girl gravitated more toward my brother, or anyone else, really, and- well, I don't want my grand dance with you under the stars to be...lackluster. Last time I danced under the stars, I wasn't exactly the most...smooth. So..."

David locked eyes with her. "Can I just...be with you?"

Cinderella smiled. "Absolutely, my dear David."

The time that passed next was a blissful blur, as David and Cinderella walked and talked under the stars, walking a garden path behind the Castle that led to a secret garden.

It was here the pair talked more about their lives, though it was mostly David talking about his life, since he was pretty spot-on with what Cinderella's life was, having heard and seen the various stories. He told her about how he'd dreamed of meeting her, of- eventually- dancing with her, and how he hoped he was worthy to be her Prince one day, maybe even with a little magical transformation of his own. As David's mind wandered mid-thought, the pair arrived at the secret garden.

——
Music, and a song: "A Secret Garden" by Patrick Doyle
——

David was slightly surprised to find that the grass felt wonderful. Normally, he would be cautious (or nervous, or paranoid) of getting possible dirt or mud on anything, but even laying in the soft grass proved delightful. Less surprising, perhaps, was that Cinderella's dress remained sparkling clean as she lay next to him looking at each other under the stars. They both smiled and admired each other, and both inwardly determined that there was magic in the air.

Eventually, David spoke.

"Did you know that..." David paused, trying to word his thought correctly. "That myself...my brain...isn't exactly normal?"

The beautiful blue-dressed Princess giggled sweetly. "That's one of the things I like about you, but...go on."

He gulped. "For whatever reason, for my whole life, there's this...sensory experience I've always wanted to have. Part of what makes my brain different is a different...focus to different sensations, almost, and one of them is...your dress."

Cinderella smiled and shifted onto her side, propped up on her elbow. "Is that so?"

David chuckled sheepishly. "I know it's- weird, but it- ...it just seems soft, and magical, and cozy, and soothing, and...home."

David moved his star-gaze to Cinderella's beautiful eyes. "Really, it's more like...you're my home."

Cinderella's eyes widened ever so slightly as his words touched her heart and emotion flowed through her. She shifted again so that she was on top of David, grabbed her dress, and brought as much of her dress poof as she could to surround David like the softest, most soothing embrace of magic that ever existed.

David gasped and blushed, eventually slowly pulling Cinderella closer to him, her now laying on top of him, resting her head in the crook of his neck as she felt his heartbeat and he felt her dress and love.

After a while, Cinderella shifted to meet her gaze with his, resting on him, and they admired each other's eyes. They were both like oceans- David's a strong yet murky, lighter blue, and Cinderella's were a deep and dazzling darker blue. Both noticed the other's were literally sparkling- David thought nothing of it as everything about Cinderella was beautiful and magical to him, while Cinderella admired how she could tell her enchantment she had bestowed on him earlier that day was visible in his eyes. She loved how unique he was- even his eyes weren't quite normal, weren't quite straight-on and together, and Cinderella reaffirmed to herself that it was that precise kind of uniqueness that made David so special.

Then, the faint shimmer of magic that Cinderella could see in David's eyes faded as the clock began to chime midnight.

Ding

Cinderella's eyes widened. "I...I think you should leave..."

David blinked. "What-"

"Back to your suite at the Castle," Cinderella quickly added, holding his hands to stand up together and meet his gaze with hers. "I forgot that in giving you the same enchantment that Fairy Godmother gave me, it also has the same spell expiration- the last echo of the last bell of the last stroke of midnight!"

Ding

David's eyes registered that same worry. "One or all of my family probably has my phone-slash-magic-mirror location data on, so they could've been tracking me this whole time- maybe even gotten my suite number! They could be waiting for a figurative ambush right now!"

Ding

Cinderella gasped slightly at the quickly-passing time. "Come with me!"

David nodded and held the Princess' hand, and together they ran towards the hopeful privacy of David's Castle suite. If it wasn't for their panic, David would've stopped in blushing awe at the way Cinderella's sparkling dress flowed as she ran with him in the starlit night.

As time passed and the bells continued to chime, one after the other after the other, the two made their way back into the Castle.

"Your family will know you're here," Cinderella spoke hurriedly. "Are you sure you'll be okay, at least for tonight? At least until tomorrow? We can meet again at the Royal Table, maybe?"

"I'll be there," David answered. "For you, I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Cinderella smiled with a subtle sadness at having to leave him, and hesitated for only a moment before kissing his cheek and walking away.

David swallowed and smiled brightly, lingering and basking in the moment for a few precious seconds before he entered his suite, closed and locked the door, and sat in a chair next to the fireplace across from his bed.

For a while, David sat alone, and said nothing.

Eventually, his phone buzzed, and David dared to look at it.

It was his mother.