Tender

"The Savior and The Queen have been seen fighting over Storybrooke rooftops. Could this be another chapter on their feud? After last year situation with The Dark Savior both supers hadn't been seen together and one can do nothing but wonder what may have spurred this encounter. Witness have reported that the aura that normally surrounds the Queen has turned into a slightly paler purple. Is this perhaps a symbol that the former dark enchantress is losing her edge? More at nine!"

Emma switched the TV with a groan as she threw the remote to the couch cushion's she had been resting on until then. Her head throbbed as well as her ribs and her right hand. Her knuckles were no longer caked with the layer of slowly drying blood she had cleaned after entering in the apartment but they were still red and swollen from where she had tried her best to clean up the gashes on her skin. Hissing and pushing her tongue against her teeth as she maneuvered her body once again she threw a nasty look to the now unlit TV.

"Losing her edge?" She mocked, her good hand touching her ribs cautiously. They ached but nothing like they had done before. At least she now could breathe. Fortunately, it seemed that her powers were already kicking in. "It didn't feel like it when she was kicking my ass."

Emma knew that her anger was misplaced but the mention of the Dark Savior had made her clench her teeth until she had felt her gums hurt; the month and a half she had been transformed into her evil persona had almost rendered Storybrooke into chaos and it had in fact been the Queen the one who had stepped out. Which it may have been strange for the media but not for Emma herself.

As much as she despised having her ass handled every other time the two of them sparred, Emma had learnt to respect her enemy; most villains tried to destroy whatever they wanted to destroy while whispering dark threats as they walked up and down Storybrooke's streets. The Queen, however, had appeared even before Emma had decided to try the suit and hidden persona. She had a twisted moral and owned some formidable powers but, just as she had those, she also had a code. One Emma had briefly seen through her dark days when the woman had reached to her, asking her to come back from where she had let herself fall. Begrudgingly, she had needed to admit that the Queen was not the woman she had thought she was and so they had let the other do their thing while they remained on their lane. A peace offering of shorts.

Until today.

Moving carefully, she reached for the cold compress she had made just as she had pealed her suit out of her bruised body, the red leather of her doublet still glowing faintly from where the Queen had grabbed and pushed her; tendrils of magic had crawled up Emma's skin before the full impact had thrown Emma away. Applying the compress on her ribs and letting out another hiss, she closed her eyes just as she checked her own powers, the slowly -but still quicker than normal- stitching her flesh.

Not a second after she let her body fall back on the couch the main door of the dimly lighted apartment opened quietly, the pitter patter of the rain that had been falling nonstop during the entire afternoon becoming stronger for a second as Emma let out a growl. Opening her right eye just in time to catch her flatmate's profile before she turned to look at her, one brow raising almost immediately as brown eyes fell on the way she kept nursing her side, she nodded slowly from where she was, trying her best to look as good as new and failing considering how Regina's eyes widened.

"Gym again?" Regina asked, approaching the couch, the sound of her stilettos against the floorboard echoing behind her. It had always amazed Emma how the other woman could go to work with those and never come back with a sprained ankle and she, in fact, had asked her about it a month after starting to live together, almost three years ago. The brunette had laughed for the first time after that and sipped on her drink while whispering "magic". The drink had been wine if Emma's memory served her right.

"Yeah… tried to lift more than I could." She replied trying not too hard on rolling her eyes at the white lie. It had become her usual explanation; gym and her disastrous luck with the equipment on it. So far it had worked and her powers allowed her to go to the actual gym with her body as good as new. Not that she was obsessed with gym of course.

(Perhaps a little.)

Clicking he tongue, the brunette sat on the couch while picking the remote, holding it on her left hand as her right hovered over Emma's bruised fingers. Shivering as she could feel the woman's blunt fingers almost tracing her skin, the blonde hero closed her eyes for a second before the sound of the TV being switched on again made her blink while exhaling loudly.

"Want me to take a look at that?" She heard at her side.

At first neither Regina or she had considered the other interesting enough to be more than the woman they shared a roof with. However, as time had passed and Emma had learnt about the woman's terrible relationship with her mother and Regina herself had been there when Emma had gotten the letter from the adoption facility she had been put back when she had been a toddler with the harsh "Sorry, there is nothing we can do" written between fake polite words that had done nothing to assuage the blonde's pain, they had found themselves trusting in each other, becoming friends. Or something close to that. Ruby had told Emma more than once that she needed to kiss Regina one of those nights they used the excuse of no work the day after to drink until everything that was left of them were wandering eyes and even more wandering hands. Emma, however, could be The Savior but chickened out every time.

And something like that happened in that moment as she stared at Regina's concerned eyes.

"I'm good." She grunted just as Regina's lips opened, halting in mid-movement before curving into a soft smile as the woman nodded turned her attention fully towards the TV.

"Watching the news again?" Regina asked while tilting her head, eyes narrowed as she saw the clip of The Savior and the Queen fighting. The video had definetely been taken by a phone and the glowing aura of the Queen seemed slightly blurred as she moved back and forth from The Savior's attacks. The brunette words were laced with criticism and Emma nodded slowly as she probed her ribs once again; tender but definetely better than a few minutes prior. Excellent.

"They could say something interesting." She replied, smiling smugly at Regina. The brunette, however, seemed more invested on the clip of the fight, now on loop.

In the video The Savior had just used her own power to push The Queen to her left. The black-clothed woman, however, had used her magic to propulse herself back to where she had been standing a few seconds prior, kicking the Savior on the ribs and retreating before the masked blonde could do anything about it.

On her couch Emma felt a blush dusting her cheeks, embarrassment of having been caught with such a cheap trick growing inside of her. On the other hand, Regina hummed, eyes trained on The Queen's movements as she landed back on the rooftop's surface.

"Too hasty." She commented. "She could have done better."

Emma's head snapped; it had been a long time since she had heard Regina talk about either her alter ego or the villain. Last time, perhaps, it had been when she had come from her room after been returned back to normal, Dark Savior gone and hair still white while trembles cursed her body. Regina had been checking something on the kitchen's table and had suggested to see anything on the TV, never once pressing Emma to speak to her. The blonde had passed out that night next to the other woman's side, all residue of the dark magic power gone from her by morning.

"You think so?" She asked. "I think she did a pretty good job."

That was another part of their banters; Regina seemed to truly hate the Queen's fight style and even though Emma technically didn't like the other super it was undeniable for her the woman's ability to fight.

"Savior had certainly improved I think. Queen over-did that last curse."

Which, now that Emma looked at it, at the way the arcane symbols appeared around the woman's fingers before transforming into the tendrils she was so accustom to by now, she thought that it could be true. However, a villain with the name of the Queen had its own right to over-did it from time to time, at least on her book.

Regina laughed at that observation and caught her wounded hand, rendering Emma useless. As usual, the blonde felt a sudden prickling sensation on her skin, one that made her shiver as Regina looked at the wounds, now much less worrying-looking than before.

"You're a disaster." The brunette muttered softly and Emma had to chuckle at that.

"And dinner is on you." She replied instead. "I did it yesterday."

"I think I recall some burnt chicken. Yes."

Emma stuck out her tongue just as Regina get rid of her high-heeled shoes. Sighing, the blonde watched as the slightly older woman closed her eyes in pleasure, hands caressing her calves as she did so.

Someday, she promised herself, not seeing Regina's closed fists as her magic crackled just beneath the skin nor the woman's warm glance on her direction. Someday she would tell Regina.

Just… not today.