Tangerine x Female Reader
Warnings/Genre: Meet-Cute âą Romantic Comedy âą Light Angst â Fluff
Summary: After a brutal breakup, Lemon drags a miserable Tangerine to a country line-dancing bar. Instead of a terrible night, he meets youâthe ranch owner who teaches the grumpy Londoner to dance⊠and maybe smile again.
The breakup had been messy.
The kind that left Tangerine staring at his phone at three in the morning wondering how everything had gone so wrong.
He wasnât usually the sentimental type, but this one had stung.
Which was exactly why Lemon had decided drastic action was necessary.
âYouâve been sulking for three days,â Lemon announced, tossing him a jacket. âWeâre going out.â
âIâm not in the mood.â
âExactly why weâre going out.â
Twenty minutes later, Tangerine found himself standing outside a bar that looked like it had been pulled straight out of a cowboy movie.
Country music spilled out the doors. Boots stomped on wooden floors inside.
Tangerine stared at the sign.
âLine dancing,â he said slowly. âYouâve lost your mind.â
Lemon grinned. âTrust me.â
Inside, the place was loud, warm, and packed with people laughing and dancing in rows across the floor.
Tangerine leaned against the bar immediately, unimpressed.
âIâm not doing that,â he muttered, watching a group spin and clap in perfect rhythm.
Lemon clapped him on the back. âGive it ten minutes.â
Ten minutes later, Tangerine was still leaning there, drink in hand, when someone bumped into him.
You turned around, cheeks flushed from dancing, boots dusty from the floor.
Your smile was quick and bright.
âYou look like youâre having a terrible time.â
He raised an eyebrow. âThat obvious?â
You glanced toward the dance floor, then back at him.
âYou donât dance, do you?â
âNot like that,â he said.
âWell, thatâs tragic.â
He snorted slightly. âIâll survive.â
You tilted your head, studying him.
âWhere are you from?â
âThat explains it,â you said.
âWhatâs that supposed to mean?â
âYou lot look like someone asked you to wrestle a bear whenever music starts.â
Tangerine let out a quiet laugh before he could stop himself.
âOh yes,â you said, already pulling him toward the floor. âYou look like you need it.â
Behind him, Lemon nearly fell off his barstool laughing.
Tangerine stood awkwardly in the middle of the line of dancers like someone had dropped him in a completely different planet.
You stood in front of him, demonstrating the steps.
âOkay,â you said patiently. âStep right, step left, little kick, turn.â
He stared at your boots moving across the floor.
You grabbed his hands lightly, guiding him through the first few movements.
He kicked slightly too hard and nearly lost his balance.
âDonât call me that.â
âBut youâre learning!â
The next song started, and somehow he was still there.
Every time he got something right, your eyes lit up like heâd accomplished something remarkable.
And for the first time in days, he felt the knot in his chest loosen.
By the third dance, he was actually⊠smiling.
âYouâre improving,â you said proudly.
âDonât exaggerate.â
He wiped a hand across his forehead, slightly breathless.
âYou own this place or something?â
You laughed. âNo. But I do own a little ranch about fifteen minutes outside town.â
He raised his eyebrows. âYouâre serious?â
âGot horses, land, the whole thing.â
âThat explains the boots.â
You nudged him lightly with your shoulder.
Across the room, Lemon raised his drink toward Tangerine in a silent told you so.
Tangerine rolled his eyes.
Then he looked back at you.
âYou teach this often?â
âThink you could teach a bloke with two left feet?â
Your smile softened slightly.
âI think youâre doing just fine.â
For a moment, the noise of the bar faded.
It was just the music⊠and the way you looked at him like he wasnât broken.
Like he was someone worth laughing with again.
âReady for round four?â
He hesitated only a second before taking it.
âYeah,â Tangerine said quietly.
And somewhere between the stomping boots, the spinning lights, and your warm laugh beside himâŠ
The breakup stopped feeling like the end of something.
And started feeling like the beginning.