Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership over the characters and settings in this work for they belong to Once Upon a Time's creators and ABC.
Written as a Secret Swanta (Swan Queen Slack) gift for nenysan.
"Come on, Mom!" Henry beckoned excitedly, throwing open the passenger door of the sleek Mercedes roadster.
Regina remained in her car for a moment. She briefly glanced upwards at the rear-view mirror, noting the obnoxiously yellow Bug parked in the distance. Emma had called early this morning. So early, in fact, that Regina had assumed there was some new town emergency. She couldn't imagine another reason for the blonde to rise before eight, especially on a Saturday.
Emma had instructed she bring Henry to the stables with a breezy air of confidence, as if she had asked – and Regina had complied with – dozens of spontaneous requests in the past. "Wear something you can get dirty in," she had added lowly before curtly hanging up.
Regina observed her reflection. She ran a quick hand through her hair and stepped outside to join her son. She followed Henry towards the stables, her heels sinking into the dew drenched grass. She spied several buckets of small, coloured balls scattered, somewhat randomly, around the perimeter of the stable. At the entrance of the large wooden doors stood the Charming clan, Granny and Ruby, all of whom appeared to be speckled with an array of bright paint.
Emma thought she would never be so lucky as to witness the day Regina ditched her blazer for casual clothes. In her plain white t-shirt and dark wash denim jeans, Regina still managed to look more put together than all of them combined. She was also, Emma observed, not without her signature black stilettos.
"Really, Miss Swan." Regina said incredulously. "In what realm did you ever think I would willingly participate in paint balloon fight?"
"It's paintball," Emma corrected, "And that's why I didn't ask. I knew you'd say no."
"Please, Mom," Henry begged, "We won't have even numbers otherwise"
"I'll watch Neal," Regina offered.
"Come on, Regina. It'll be fun," David chimed in.
Snow passed Neal over to Granny. "Yes, I'll be on your team."
Regina laughed. "Not if you want me to play. If anyone's getting taken down, it's going to be you by me."
Catching her mother's eye, Emma smirked.
Ruby clapped her hands together. "Ok then, so it'll be Regina, David and Henry against Snow, Emma and me."
Henry passed around small bags of paintballs. "And no magic," he added, looking between his mothers.
Emma nodded, arming herself with an arsenal of yellow filled paint balls. "No magic."
Having abandoned her heels long ago, Regina crouched low behind a stack of golden hay, patiently waiting for her last target to show herself.
Charming had been the first to be eliminated; his lumbering footsteps and short, laborious breaths had eventually given away his position to Ruby, who had bombarded him with several crimson paintballs, in an extraordinary display of athleticism. Snow, as she had anticipated, had proven to be a formidable opponent. Ultimately, it had been Henry that had brought her down while feigning injury – a move, Regina had to admit, she was both shocked and impressed by.
Two hours, three rounds and a multi-coloured paint path of destruction later, only two people remained. The others, having grown tired of waiting to see whose competitiveness would prevail, had retired to Granny's for lunch. Regina moved slowly past the paint splattered stalls, peering into each one to check for any signs of Emma's blond mane.
Regina heard a rustle of straw in the next stall and rounded the corner swiftly, her hand, expertly closed around her last purple paintball. Emma, who had clearly shared her strategy for approach, came to an abrupt halt in front of her, just managing to avoid a collision.
Frozen, Emma held her paintball above her head. "Drop it."
"You drop it," Regina replied, edging closer.
Regina knew it was only a silly game. Even so, she still need to win. The fierce emerald eyes, only inches away, had no intention of backing down. Her gaze dropped down to pink lips, parted in a stifled breath. Experimentally and with her hand raised, Regina proceeded to inch forward. She watched, in amusement, as the blonde brows creased in confusion.
Regina smiled. She was close to tasting victory. And so, she did the only thing she could think of – she leant in.
The bell affixed to the diner door rang softly as Regina and Emma strode inside. Snow could see a broad streak of purple paint smeared down the length of Emma's singlet.
"Well, who won?" Henry asked his parents as they reached their table.
Emma flicked her hair to one side, revealing a violet line which, from what Snow could ascertain from her seated position, appeared to encircle her neck.
"I did, of course," Regina replied matter-of-factly.
"Only because you cheated," Emma protested.
"I did no such thing!" Regina scoffed, sliding onto the bench next to Henry. "The rules were no magic - I never used any."
"What happened then?" David asked, cradling a sleeping Neal in his arms.
Emma huffed and Snow observed her cheeks flush with colour as she dropped down dramatically onto the seat beside theirs. "I don't know, nothing."
The pair ate and Snow continued to watch them, curiously. Every so often, they would look up at each other and then promptly look away. After a moment's deliberation, she dismissed their unusual behaviour and returned her attention to stirring the her coffee, busying herself with mixing until she could no longer see the white granules of sugar in the frothy foam.
"I'm stuffed!" Emma exclaimed, laying a paint smeared hand over her stomach, streaks of dried, bright yellow paint adorning the back of her hand.
"What about dessert?" Henry said, his big, brown eyes looked pleadingly towards Regina.
"Let's have it at home," Regina suggested as she stood from the bench. "Emma, would like to join us?"
Emma stared blankly at the former Evil Queen. "What?"
"Unless you don't have room for dessert." Regina grinned, almost wickedly.
Snow took a long sip of her coffee and glanced beside her, at her daughter, who had now turned as red as Ruby's apron.
Emma touched the back of her neck, scratching nervously before she stood to follow. "Well, there's always room for dessert."
And in that precise moment, as Regina turned towards the door, David started coughing, violently.
"David!" Snow exclaimed, clapping him on the back. He only continued to cough, pointing towards the exit.
Snow's eyes grew wide with recognition as she followed his finger to Regina's departing figure, where two yellow handprints were impressed upon the backside of dark blue denim jeans.