A/N: better late than never, right? @oqcelebration
They are not together, so she doesn’t get to be jealous of the bookworm on his arm.
It might feel another way, but the truth is that is not her arm anymore, even though, God, it feels like it should be her arm.
But she made her feelings clear, after the fourth time he nearly died because of her. People keep coming to get her. Ghosts keep haunting her. And they keep isisting on attacking her by attacking him..
“It’s not safe for you,” she whispers, shaky breaths tickling his ears as they lay together, her healing magic still thick and heavy against his skin, “We, we can’t do this, Robin, if I lose you…”
“You won’t.” He has a habit of making promises he can’t keep. She hates it.
“I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, you’re the target. You. They won’t attack Henry, he’s just a boy. But you? You love the Evil Queen, and I’ve taken so many people’s loves away…”
“So don’t take another,” he pleads, “don’t take my love away from me.”
“Robin…” she admonishes, but he hears nothing of it, will not stop begging her, imploring her, praying for her to let go of her fears and let them be.
They talk around in circles. He tries, but he does not convince her. They are stubborn people, but in the end, he cannot convince her to stay in the relationship, and so, they are over.
“You can walk away from me, but you can’t ask me to leave you,” Robin says, before he leaves her mansion for what she knew was the last time. “I’m with you, always. Even if you won’t let me near you.”
“Please don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.”
It’s the only time she has ever begged for anything from him.
“Please just move on, let us move on from each other. Let me know you are safe and alive and where I can’t hurt you.”
She didn’t think he’d listen to her, at first. He was always…there. Sweet, and respectful, allowing his son to run up and hug Regina when she just seemed to need his affections the most. And she cherished those moments, truly, cherished the time she’d have an arm full of Roland and catch the knowing, beautiful smile of the handsome man who was hers. She couldn’t have him, couldn’t, and they could never be together, but she still felt this sense of…belonging to him. They were soulmates, after all.
She thought she had prepared herself for this moment, for the time that he found someone new.
But she hadn’t, not if the quick jump in her pulse is any indication, the loss of her breath, and the inability to look away from the two of them.
It makes sense, she thinks. She’s not sure if the Dark One is Belle’s soulmate, but they fit, the two of them, and they cannot be together, either. Because Regina and Rumple are too dark, too evil, too destructive for love, for these beautiful souls they are somehow tied to.
And so, now, Robin and Belle are untethered, free, and looking for new companionship.
God, the two have so much in common, she should have seen this coming…
He’s laughing at something she says, he’s reaching across the booth to hold her hand, and no, no. Not here, not at Granny’s.
She suddenly has this rage, this burning anger at him she knows has no right to be there. How dare he? He knows this is hard for her, couldn’t he just move on…in private first? Slowly introduce her to the idea? Maybe give her a heads up that he’d be traipsing about with the dark one’s librarian, that he’d hold her hand like that, grasping at fingers, pulling at palms. If she had some warning that he’d share a look with her that’s so mind-blowingly seductive, maybe she could have handled this better…
“Regina,” Snow calls to her from across the table.
She huffs, exasperated at Snow for asking such a question, and exasperated at herself for being so obviously not okay that Snow even needed to ask to begin with.
“Fine,” Regina mutters, taking a sip of coffee, “Sorry, what were you saying?”
But Snow has followed Regina’s stare, locking in with the reason for her distraction.
“Oh Regina,” Snow soothes, her eyes still on Robin and Belle, “Regina…”
“Just stop,” Regina snarls through clenched teeth. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Alright,” Snow “so, the school board meeting is next week, and…”
Robin! Stop it! She hears the bitch squeal with laughter. The sound is nauseating.
God, she’s going to be sick. She’s actually going to be sick.
“I’m not feeling well,” Regina groans, standing up quickly. She makes a beeline for the bathroom, trying to keep her eyes anywhere but on Robin and Belle, but she has to walk right past them, so that’s not quite easy, so she can turn, and look towards the bar, and —-
She smacks right into someone…into…Robin.
“Regina?” he asks, so god damned innocently, “you alright?”
“Like you give a shit,” she mutters before she can stop, and then she’s damn near running to the bathroom before he sees the flush of embarrassment those words have caused.
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