A/N: This turned out longer than I expected and that's why it's late. Anyway, I hope you'll like it. Reviews are greatly appreciated.
He'd taken the mask off. He hadn't been thrilled about walking around in a cape and a mask he could barely see through but Neal had insisted on them being Batman and Robin this year and he'd relented. Of course that had resulted in Snow being Batgirl and, if he had to be honest, she looked ridiculous. But then again so did he. The things they did for their son. He'd been obsessed with comics ever since Regina had given him all of Henry's old comic books after he'd left town and they had had no choice. Regina had even lent the Mercedes to David for the night. She'd put a glamor spell on it so that it could pass as the Batmobile.
Neal had been on cloud nine and the smile that hadn't left his face all day was worth every inconvenience. He'd been so tired that he hadn't even protested when they'd ushered him to bed more than an hour ago. And David had been relieved that he didn't have to wear the uncomfortable mask anymore although he was still stuck with the costume.
The atmosphere in Granny's was very different from the frenzy of the trick-or-treating. Alcohol was being poured, conversations were brewing and couples were kissing all over the place, already drunk. The party was at its peak. There'd been a fuss earlier because the apple bobbing contest had been canceled. Regina had said the apples had been stored incorrectly and they'd all spoiled. There'd been general disappointment and that alone proved how much things had changed. People were upset that they wouldn't get to taste the apples that came from Regina's own apple tree. They trusted her now and viewed her as a leader. He did too. But her presence that day was... influencing him in ways he preferred not to think about. Every time she got close or he heard her voice, it resonated deep inside him, calling to certain parts of him. Parts that were hard to hide with the jumpsuit he was wearing. So he tried to stay as far away from her as possible but that presented him with another problem.
Regina and Zelena had had the brilliant idea to appear as the Gotham City Sirens. Zelena was Poison Ivy and Regina was Catwoman and the irony in the choice of costumes wasn't lost on him. They'd convinced Emma to be their Harley Quinn so that they'd be in full glory. And of course that meant that Hook was the Joker. The irony was again not lost on him as he'd wanted to strangle the pirate ever since he'd walked into the diner with Emma who was wearing the ridiculous T-shirt that said 'Daddy's Little Monster'. She also had the gun and baseball bat of Harley which were nice touches and would've been even nicer if she'd just use them on her husband.
David was on good terms with Hook but when he'd seen their couple's costume, he'd felt like a father who had to protect his teenage daughter from the bad boy she was smitten with for some inexplicable reason. So he was trying to avoid them too lest he gave the Joker what he deserved.
With two landmines that he was trying not to step on Granny's had turned from a cozy place to relax to a small crowded space that was suffocating him. He'd harbored himself–that damn irony again–at the bar and was on his third glass of whiskey. He usually didn't drink so much but he needed to drown out his thoughts. His efforts were only mildly successful as his gaze kept drifting to Regina whose costume had undergone some changes. The leather pants she'd dug up from the old days in the Enchanted Forest were still untouched but her leather jacket looked more like a vest now as she kept using magic to shorten its sleeves. She'd also pulled the zipper lower and her camisole was peeking from underneath. To differ from him she'd opted for ditching the mask from the very beginning and instead had settled on a diadem with cat ears that she was still wearing but she'd lost the tail and the whip.
David had to make ridiculously big efforts not to stare at her and even then he'd find himself ogling her cleavage. There was just something in the curve of her lips and the sway of her hips that drove him insane that evening. He was bound to stare at her just like he'd been bound to make wrong decisions during the first Curse. And then it dawned on him. It was magic. Regina's magic. It made sense. She'd been slowly undressing–sort of–all evening. The only thing left to find out was why the hell she would do that.
He saw her sneak out to the back of the diner a few minutes later and decided to follow her and clear things up. He wrapped his cape around himself to hide the result of the spell and headed after the caster.
He found her in the back alley, leaning against a wall, puffing out a breath, her cheeks flaming red. It had been warm inside but out there the situation was different. Yet, Regina still seemed to be hot. He cursed himself at the thought.
"What's going on?" David asked, his voice booming in the silence of the alley. It startled her and she jumped a little, making him feel bad even despite his anger at her.
"David." Regina sounded rather distressed to find him there and he was certain he'd caught her rad-handed.
"It's magic, isn't it?" he came to stand in front of her, looming over her. "What you're doing to me," he clarified. "It makes me..." he trailed off, unwilling to say it. His cape was still covering him. She knew very well what was going on. She didn't need evidence.
"Aroused?" Regina asked, something like fear in her eyes, but that didn't make sense.
He closed his eyes and nodded shamefully.
"I tried to stay as far away as possible, I swear." She was upset, her voice quiet and trembling as if she'd burst in tears, and he was just lost.
His eyes snapped open to look at her, his brows knitting. "What are you talking about?" he asked, more uncertain this time. She was right. Now that he thought about it, she'd been avoiding him all evening. All day actually.
"It's magic, yes." She licked her upper lip, drawing his gaze to her mouth and he wondered how it would feel to kiss her senseless. "But it's not only you," she continued, startling him out of his daydream. "It's affecting me too."
Now he was completely lost. She wouldn't do that to herself which meant something else was up. "Regina, what's happening?" he looked into her eyes, his concern distilled from the anger now.
She took a deep breath. "It's a succubus curse," she whispered.
"A what?" David's brows shot up. He was more scared than shocked actually. He assumed what that meant but he was afraid it could be worse than he thought. Either way they had to find a solution which meant he had to know what they were dealing with.
"A succubus curse," she repeated, crossing her arms defensively, making him take a step back. "It affects me and the love interests of my closest people. Which means you and Hook."
He went back through the day and, in fact, Regina had been keeping her distance from the pirate too. He hadn't payed attention to it because the two of them weren't that close but they'd barely interacted all day. They'd even refrained from their usual verbal skirmishes. "How- How did it happen?" he asked. He was stalling really, afraid to ask what he actually wanted to know because he didn't know if he'd like the answer.
"It was in the apples," Regina said through gritted teeth, darkness clouding her gaze. She was ready to go on a personal vendetta.
David understood now why she'd called off the apple bobbing contest. The apples hadn't spoiled. They'd been cursed. She'd saved the others from the same fate. Or maybe even a worse one. He looked away, feeling guilty for being so quick to jump to conclusions and blaming her. "Any idea who might have done it?"
She shook her head. "None," she said, uncrossing her arms and balling her hands into fists.
"How does it work?" he asked to take her mind off the culprit. Fueling her anger wouldn't get them anywhere.
"I trust you've figured that out," Regina said coldly, allowing herself a look towards his groin.
He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze even though he was still wrapped in his cape and she couldn't see anything. "I'm familiar with its effects, yes," he felt warmth in his cheeks. "But how does it manifest itself? If you're the one who ate the apple, how come I'm affected too?"
"It makes it so that I appear more attractive to you," she said, unwilling to disclose more details. "Magic doesn't operate according to logic," she reminded–patronized really–him instead. "Magic is emotion." Her little magic lecture made her relax. Or maybe it was the fact that she knew more than him. Either way it was good to see her a little less on edge.
"How does it affect you?"
"The same way it affects you. Only, my pent-up arousal generates heat that will kill me eventually." That was why she'd been remodeling her costume all evening. She'd been trying to relieve some of the heat from her system. "It's like an ultimatum to make me act on the urges the curse awakens in me." She was so cool and collected, speaking as if her life wasn't at risk.
"How do we stop it?" He'd ran out of other questions so he had to ask what he'd been afraid to all along. Besides, the new information put things in different perspective. They didn't have time to waste. They had to find a solution.
"We don't." It was the answer he'd been scared of. He didn't have time to panic though because Regina continued. "Luckily for me, it's Halloween. The magic will disappear at midnight."
He wanted to ask why but as much as another magic lecture would probably be good for her nerves, there had to be something they could do other than sit around and wait. There were still good two hours until midnight. "Will you make it till then?" the question just stumbled out of his mouth but he was glad it did because he wasn't certain he'd have had the courage to ask it otherwise.
"We'll wait and see," Regina shrugged as if it was no big deal, avoiding his gaze.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" he raised his voice a little. She was frustrating him. He wanted to grab her and shake her to make her come to her senses but he wasn't certain he'd be able to take his hands off her if he did it so he kept them to himself.
"There is." She looked at him, hesitating.
"What is it?" he urged, barely keeping himself at his spot. He was ready to run off and find whatever they needed to ward off the threat as soon as she told him what it was.
"A kiss," Regina whispered, averting her gaze once again. "Hopefully." He almost missed the addition as she whispered it.
"Hopefully?" He needed clarification.
"Yes. The effect it will have is inversely proportional to your..." she searched for the word, "fondness of me. The less you like me, the less it is needed to keep the curse at bay." He could see the tears gleaming in her eyes.
It made sense. If someone didn't like you, getting them to kiss you was an accomplishment. If they were in love with you on the other hand, not so much. And that was the worst part of the curse. Because the more he loved her, the less he could help her. It wouldn't stop him from trying though. He'd broken curses before. With kisses nonetheless. But for this one he'd need an anti True Love's kiss, and he didn't hate Regina that much. He'd never hated her that much.
He moved closer to her, desire shooting through him but he didn't pay attention to it. "A kiss it is then," he said as he took her face in his hands. Her cheeks were so hot that they burned his flesh but he didn't let go.
"David," she whispered, her voice breaking from fear. Or guilt. Or despair. He didn't know. All he knew was that he couldn't hear that sound ever again because it would break him. So he didn't give her a chance to speak again.
He covered her lips with his, not really sure what to do. It probably didn't matter what sort of kiss it would be. Only that there was one. So he opted for a slow one, hoping it would slow down the effect of the curse. He felt her hands tugging at his cape but she didn't want him to stop for her mouth opened to him when his tongue slid over her lips. As it entered her mouth, he felt a tear against his skin and just the thought that she was blaming herself for the whole mess squeezed his heart so viciously that he had to pull away and take a deep breath.
His thumbs stroked soothingly at her cheeks and he noticed that they were just as warm as before. The kiss hadn't worked because he cared about her. And because he cared, he had to do something. He couldn't watch her die from excessive heat in her system. Fire had always been her weapon against the world and he was sick of the goddamn irony.
He let go of her face and grabbed at the back of her thighs, picking her up and bracing her against the wall.
"David," she shrieked, her hands flying up to his shoulders and grasping at them to keep her balanced. "What are you doing?"
"Keep quiet," he growled. He wasn't mad at her. Just at the whole world. And when she nodded with wide eyes and hands holding on to him as if her life depended on it–and it actually did–he crashed his mouth against hers and pulled her to him, his crotch meeting her center. He started grinding against her and she moaned, parting her lips against his. He shoved his tongue in her mouth and she let go of his shoulders, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. She wasn't used to receiving so he'd take the curse out of her system forcefully if he had to.
She pulled back, gasping for air, but he didn't need air. He needed her safe. So he kept moving his hips against her, peppering kisses over every inch of skin he could reach and he was satisfied to find that she had cooled down a little. She was still way too hot though so he picked up the pace, his mouth attaching to her neck, trying to suck the heat out of her like a vampire.
A loud moan escaped her and he stopped sucking on her pulse point. "Don't make noise," he warned.
"It's alright. I cast a soundproof shield around us." She barely managed to get out the words between sounds of pleasure. Her nails dug into his shoulders and for the first time that day he was grateful he was Batman because the jumpsuit prevented her from leaving marks on his skin.
The noise hadn't been his main concern though. What troubled him was the way his body reacted to the moans that poured from her lips and to the wanton image she made with her mouth wide open and her eyes closed in bliss. Later he'd blame it on the curse but right then he knew what it was. The thing that he hadn't been able to say before. He wanted her. At that moment he was pleased to touch tan skin and kiss her scarred lip. He was pleased to weave his fingers through black shoulder-length hair. He was pleased to feel her body tremble against his as the orgasm washed over her. And the way she threw back her head and cried out his name pushed him over the edge too.
Regina's breath coming out in short hot puffs against his skin brought him back to reality. He cupped her face again and brought his lips to her forehead to check her temperature. He was relieved to find that she'd cooled down as some of the arousal had been expelled from her system.
He helped her step down. Her gaze was cast downwards, an awkward silence settling over them and squeezing the air out of him. Because the thoughts in his head were so loud that there was no way she hadn't heard them. There was no way she hadn't read them in his body language and absorbed them through his kisses.
"We should probably get back inside," Regina spoke, looking at him, all business. "We were gone a long time."
He wanted to say something, reassure her that everything was fine, that it wasn't her fault. But hope speeches didn't come so easily to him. Especially when nothing was fine and it was his fault. So he just nodded.
Regina magicked a tissue and wiped the lipstick marks she'd left on him. "You go on ahead. I'll fix my makeup first," she said as she conjured another tissue and started wiping at her own mouth, a mirror appearing in her other hand.
He nodded again and headed for the diner, leaving her behind. As he entered, he thought that he had to clean himself up too. He even stopped in front of the restroom but he figured it would be a waste of time to try to get his jumpsuit off by himself.
He found Snow and Zelena sitting in a booth, laughing. The two had bonded a lot over the children and were now practically best friends but it was still strange to see them like this. Though Snow had liked Zelena a lot before they'd learned she wanted to steal their baby.
"David. Where have you been?" Snow asked when she noticed him which took longer than he'd expected, having in mind that she was facing the direction from which he came.
"I went to get some fresh air," he lied. "It was getting rather hot here." He looked around, surprised to see the diner half-empty. It was still early. He couldn't spot neither Emma, nor Hook. He wanted to ask about them but Zelena spoke first.
"Have you seen my sister? She disappeared at some point." She turned slightly in her seat to take another look at the diner.
He'd opened his mouth to respond when he realized he didn't know what to say.
"I'm here, sis." He heard Regina's voice behind his back. "I wanted to freshen up." She came to stand next to them. Her lipstick was reapplied and so was her mascara. To hide the fact that she'd cried, probably.
"The whole idea of dressing up as the Gotham City Sirens was to be the Gotham City Sirens, you know," Zelena snarked. "But we've barely been together for three minutes. First, you disappeared. And now Emma's gone."
David gave Snow a questioning look.
"She and Hook said they'd go for a walk," his wife filled him in.
"A walk, my ass," Zelena said. "He was ready to eat her alive the way he was kissing her." She and Snow exchanged knowing looks.
This time David wasn't mad. At least Hook was countering the effect of the curse with his own wife. Unlike him.
He looked at Regina. Her cheeks still had some color in them but it was her red-rimmed eyes that were bothering him. The Gotham City Sirens might have been out of business that night but he'd fallen under her spell and now she was the one who was drowning. And the irony of it all was dragging him down like an anchor, sinking his ship.