Written for Inspired by OQ week, Day 2. Inspired by the gorgeous art by ankareeda. Set in season 4A. Marian's never been brought back.
Movie Night
When Regina closes the door behind herself, she sighs and rests her back against the wooden surface, her eyes fluttering closed.
Who knew that trying to fight the Snow Queen would be so hard?
She's so tired she can barely stand, the only thought in her head is bed. Groaning, she pushes away from the door and takes off her coat and then shoes. When she straightens, Robin is standing in front of her in the hallway, a warm smile on his face.
"Welcome home, love," He says as he wraps his arms around Regina and presses a kiss to her lips. She murmurs something in acknowledgement and sighs, for a moment resting her forehead against his. "How was your day?"
"Awful," she admits when Robin pulls away from her and arches an eyebrow at her curiously yet worriedly. Regina explains, "Emma and I couldn't find anything to defeat the Snow Queen, but we're not giving up yet. Tomorrow I'm going to teach Emma some magic tricks and then, maybe, we'll have more ideas. But now I don't want to think about any of it. All I want to do is go to bed."
Robin's face turns into a sheepish grin which makes Regina frown.
"Is something wrong?"
"I think your bed plans will have to be delayed," he tells her, biting his lip in that way that even now makes Regina's heart flutter with affection for the handsome man. "Come here."
Robin takes her hand and Regina follows him out of the hallway and into the living room. Her eyes widen in surprise when she sees Henry and Roland sitting on the floor with a blanket over their laps, both boys holding bowls of popcorns in their hands.
"Hi, mom," Henry greets her, a smile spreading across his face.
"What's going on here?" she asks confused, turning from Henry to Robin.
"We decided to have a movie night," Roland replies from beside Henry, grinning from ear to ear.
"Of course we can delay that if you're too tired," Robin quickly adds, squeezing her hand tighter in his.
Regina's eyelids are heavy, her legs are barely supporting her and she's pretty sure that as soon as her head hits the pillow, she'll fall asleep. But Henry and Roland have already made popcorn, the blankets are prepared, and the movie is already turned on but put on pause for Regina.
Robin beside her is just as excited as the kids.
When Henry and Regina first introduced Robin and Roland to the movies, they'd both been fascinated. The younger boy couldn't get enough of cartoons, he loved watching SpongeBob Squarepants and the Simpsons (Regina thought he was a little too young for the latter, but the puppy face won her over).
Robin got addicted to the TV shows. He started binge-watching Game of Thrones and then he found historical series which interested him to no end and it surprised Regina a lot. Then, one day, he accidentally clicked on a Disney movie.
When they'd watched the Robin Hood for the first time, Robin hadn't uttered a word. Roland was excited about it, but found it strange that his Papa was a fox. When they watched it for the second time the following evening, Robin couldn't stop complaining about all the things they'd gotten wrong. He was offended by being portrayed as a fox, and Regina found it hilarious.
She cannot help the smile that spreads across her face at the memory. Sighing, she says, "We can watch the movie, but if I fall asleep you cannot poke me to wake me up."
Henry laughs at her narrowed eyes when she says the last words and promises not to wake her up.
Regina excuses herself to take a shower and get changed, and when fifteen minutes later she comes down she finds that the boys have already settled in their seats and are chatting about something. She sits down on the couch beside Robin and cuddles into his side, smiles when he presses a kiss on top of her head.
"Lights off," Henry says and Roland jumps from his position on the floor, rushes to turn the lights off. When he returns and sits down beside Henry, the older boy finally turns the movie on.
As soon as the movie starts, Regina groans and rolls her eyes, "Seriously?" She should've guessed that they would want to watch Frozen of all things. "I've spent enough time with Elsa today, I really don't feel like spending my evening watching her story that I've heard too many times," she says turning to look at Robin who just grins at her and pecks her lips.
"Maybe it will help you find a clue on how to defeat the Snow Queen," Robin says with a shrug and Regina rolls her eyes again but doesn't say anything else, only rests her head against Robin's shoulder and focuses on the screen.
She's seen the movie a few times with Henry already, and they've both found Olaf hilarious, and Elsa a little bit badass, and Regina must admit she thought she had something in common with the blonde (the whole isolation thing and hurting the people you love) until she met Elsa in real life and realized that they're nothing alike.
Despite that, she watches the movie with fascination, and her smile turns into a grin when she notices just how interested Robin is. He's heard Elsa tell her story as well, and Regina knows that now he's comparing things he's heard in reality with what is shown in the movie.
The part where Anna and Kristoff are searching for Elsa has always been a bit boring for Regina, so she lets her eyes close only for a moment to skip the uninteresting scene. She shifts a bit on the couch and listens to what the characters are saying...
(…)
"Regina, love, wake up," is whispered right into her ear.
Regina's eyes snap open and she quickly pulls away from Robin, looking around the dark room until she notices the subtitles on the TV screen and remembers the movie.
"You fell asleep," Robin whispers quietly, and she can see a grin on his face, "As did the others,"
Regina rubs her eyes a bit and then looks down to find Roland's head on Robin's lap as the boy sleeps soundly, and Henry is curled on her side on the sofa, his mouth opened in his sleep, head thrown back in what looks like an uncomfortable position.
She cannot help but chuckle quietly.
"Did you like the movie?" Regina asks quietly as she slowly gets up from the couch, groaning when her muscles stretch. Robin slowly stands up as well and takes Roland in his arms, making the boy grumble in his sleep.
"They got many things wrong. But, I must admit, it was quite good. At least Elsa wasn't portrayed as fox."
Regina chuckles at him before picking up a blanket from the floor and putting it on Henry – he's too heavy to carry him to his room, and these days he has trouble falling asleep, so Regina doesn't have the heart to wake him up and risk that he spends the rest of the night without sleep. She kisses him on top of his head and tucks the blanket around him one more time before she turns off the TV and follows Robin up the stairs.
When Robin returns to the bedroom after putting Roland into his bed, Regina's already curled under the covers in the middle of the bed, sleeping. Robin smiles as he climbs into the bed and wraps his arms around Regina.
He's asleep in a moment.