Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT

Author's Notes: In the not so distant Storybrooke future sometime after the previous season. Prompt is "my friend set me up on a blind date and i can't really refuse because they think i've been single for ages so they think they're doing me a favour and we have a massive fight about it that ends with us saying "i love you" for the first time"

Misinformed

Maleficent scoffed, waving her hand dismissively and turning to walk away. "That's a ridiculous notion, Regina. I do not require the company of another. I'm a dragon, we are solitary creatures. And besides...I have Lily now," she said with a roll of her eyes, walking toward the front door of Regina's mansion.

"Mal, wait! I...I'm worried about you, dear. You have this...infinite sadness in your eyes and I want to help. Please give Zelena a chance. She's really quite interesting and much kinder now," Regina caught up with her friend, and slid between her warm body and the door to prevent her exit. Though, of course, that doesn't prevent the use of magic and Regina isn't about to bind or lock Maleficent's magic right now. They were equals. More than that they were friends and friends didn't do that to each other (though there was a time she might have done that to her only friend). She needed to convince the stubborn dragon to see reason. "You haven't dated in years and I thought...maybe you would like romantic company," she added despite what Maleficent had just said to dissuade her.

"Regina..." Mal sighed, closing her eyes as her head tilted toward the floor. "I appreciate the worry, really I do, but I'm fine. Lily in my life and you as my friend are sufficient. I don't need someone to warm my bedsheets," she explained looking up at Regina before deciding to take the back door. "Goodbye, little queen."

"I already set up the blind date!" Regina called after her, a tone of desperation in her voice. "I can't tell my sister you flaked on her. She would be devastated," she said.

Maleficent spun on her heel to glare at Regina. "Then tell her the truth. I had no clue about this arrangement nor did I have any interest in such a thing. Tell your sister that you were meddling in lives not of your concern!" she all but growled through grit teeth, the fire behind her blue orbs flickering into life.

Regina paused mid-stride, mouth agape at what her friend had said. "If you weren't so set in your stone-age ways and stepped up to bat you may actually find out that more than a few humans are respectable, kind, lovable even. Jesus, Mal it's like you don't want to be happy!" she taunted back, shoulders squared as she stared down her opponent.

"Villains don't get a happy ending. We know that now more than ever, Regina. Even you can't catch a break and you've not even scraped half the amount of villainy I've committed in my long life. Let me live my life without that pointless hope for a better future," Maleficent said, jaw clenched so tight it looked like it would ache later.

"I'm not saying happy ending. I'm talking about happiness. There's a difference, Mal!" Regina's hands balled into fists as she pleaded with her friend. She couldn't stand to see Maleficent so upset, both with life and at present, toward her. Of all the people she had known, Maleficent deserved happiness more than anyone else. All the trouble and heartache she had been through was enough to fill an encyclopedia set for the largest library in the world. Maleficent was nearly almost not reunited with her daughter, for crying out loud! Regina continued to stare at the dragon, eyes quivering with emotion.

"It's not for us," Maleficent's voice was cold as her hand raised to magicked herself out of her in a swish of her wrist.

"But I love you!" Regina yelled unbidden, then gasped and held her hands over her mouth in shock.

Maleficent froze on the spot, arm still raised as she watched Regina with chills running down her spine. That was more than unexpected. She had never expected to hear those words pass Regina's lips, not even on her death bed in this land, plans to whisper the words herself to her little queen as a parting gift flitting through her mind. But now...after all that has happened, after Regina losing another love, she finally realized her feelings for the dragon?

She took a breath of air in through her nose and out through her mouth to steady herself before speaking. "Then why set me up with your sister?" she asked in the quietest voice Regina had ever heard.

"I...I don't know," Regina breathed, tears at the edges of her eyes because of her revelation. She was so careful to never reveal how much Maleficent meant to her in the Enchanted Forest, to never say those three words because though her mother was gone it was severely true that love was weakness. And she in turn hurt Maleficent before the dragon could hurt her when she broke their affair off, stole back the Dark Curse by force. "I thought...if you were entangled with another, with...someone too close to me I would get past these feelings but you would still be close. I want Zelena to be happy too but the thought of her happiness depending on dating you kills me. I don't want you with anyone else. I want...you to be with me," Regina's gaze slowly raised to meet Maleficent's, fear evident in her eyes.

Maleficent sighed. She shook her head as she crossed the distance between them. "Oh, little queen. That is all I ever wanted too," she said, caressing Regina's cheek affectionately.

Regina's anxiety melted away with a slight chuckle, relief washing over her face. "Why are things always so complicated with us?" she asked lightly.

"People do crazy things. When they're in love," Maleficent proffered, bending down to capture Regina's lips in a sweet kiss.

"Is that from Hercules?"