Written as a request on Tumblr for the Dark!OQ post-proposal reaction

He remained perched nimbly on the thin balcony railing, slowly lowering his bow and watching with a smile as she froze momentarily, head still and eyes no doubt focused on the ring dangling from the arrow as she tried to understand what to do.

Bold in every way but this, in matters of the heart - well, her heart, at least - and it had taken him quite a while to convince her to allow the tenderness of him in when their frantic coupling - the pair of them often pulled together in the heat of the moment when teeth and nails were used to mark deeper than their barbed words ever could - had turned into a need to simply feel one another. Into bellies slick with sweat and heavy pants shared as bodies trembled together in the aftermath of them.

It'd been hard to get her here. Hard to convince her that he wasn't to be stolen from her, that he wasn't the man she'd lost nor would he allow himself to be but here they were.

His heart beat a little faster as he watched her finally move to unravel his note. He was quite sure her fingers - fingers that had ended lives with a simple flick - were trembling and he wanted to go to her, to keep her anchored in this moment because he knew how her mind wandered, knows the places it takes her even in the best of moments but he stays rooted. This is something she needs to decide on her own. She knows he's here, she'll come to him if she needs.

He focused, instead, on the long silken strands of her freshly brushed ponytail, on the bare expanse of her back left uncovered by one of his favourite dresses on her - she wears it to torture him, he swears blind that she does - and not on his want to know her answer. Never had he thought himself capable of feeling like this. There had been the beginnings of something with Marian when they'd been younger but nothing had come of it and, eventually, he'd taken to assuming that his life was to be spent alone.

…and then she'd come into his life.

She was like no other that he's ever known. Powerful, regal, nimble, daring, bold and achingly beautiful. She could be terribly frightening in her fury but then astoundingly soft in her tenderness, two ends of a very long spectrum. Every colour, every shade of her that he got to see only made him want her more.

"An adventure, hm?"

He grinned, taking her question as his cue to leap down from the balcony and move further into the warmth of their chambers. "The biggest we've faced, I fear."

Her shoulders bounced with a laugh she kept him from hearing before she turned her head but not her eyes so that he was able to see her profile, to see the smile curling at her lips. "Do you feel you're prepared for such an undertaking?" She shrugged, trying to keep an air of nonchalance despite the way he could still see her fingers trembling as they held tight to the parchment with the ring held in her palm.

"I do indeed, Your Majesty," he replied softly as he finally reached her and was able to place his palms on her hips, resting his chin on her shoulder after pressing a kiss to her neck. "It's one such adventure that I'm quite desperate to undertake with you by my side," it's not too often that they're sentimental but in times like these, they're quite adept at it. "You see, I've come to find that I can't function without you, my love. You are my dearest friend, my equal and my partner in all aspects of this life we live. I understand that marriage has not meant what it is supposed to for you in the past but know this…I will never ask of you more than you are willing to give, I will never think of you as my property to do with as I please. I will live my life with you in mind and by my side. We are a team. I do nothing without you and I do everything for you."

"Robin…" she breathed on a shuddered breath, turning in his arms to press their foreheads together as she asked, "is this what you really want?"

He laughed softly, lifting his hands from her hips to cup her jaw as he tilted his head up enough to press a kiss to her lips before he nodded and told her, "It is the only thing that I want. So what do you say, Your Majesty?" he pulled back enough to look into beautifully dark eyes brimmed with tears, "will you marry me?"

She lifted a hand to stroke through his hair before cupping the back of his head and nodding, "Yes," and confirming her answer with a bruising kiss.