Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Robin Hood, etc.
Summary: Everything between Marian and Robin are mixed up and at a stand still. Can an intervention make things right again? Set after "Tattoo?"

Note: Thanks so much for all the amazing feedback on my other stories!! I've planned for this to be an actual story, with plot, etc. That is, if you want to see it continued. Would love feedback on continuing or not. Please R&R.


The Usual Need Not Apply

Prologue

Robin and Marian are fighting.

Again.

Through the years, I have been witness to many such disputes. They are all different, and yet the same. They start for various reasons. A word spoken out of turn. A tone misinterpreted. Or, as usual, the irrational unwillingness of one to give in to the other's benign request. Which, in turn, produces the same reaction and creates a perpetual cycle of willful misunderstandings and stubborn silences.

And that brings us to this moment. To the current…dispute.

I call it a dispute, though it goes much deeper. The years of separation, the leaving itself, have caused a chasm of mistrust to form between them. It is not a chasm they cannot or have not crossed since Robin's return. In truth, each have reached out to the other in their own ways. Touching for a moment, then slipping back to their respective sides.

To protect themselves. To protect each other.

For these are no longer times for childish games. Lives can be cut short by one wrong move. Or a lingering look observed by the wrong set of eyes. Or a simple smile across the courtyard intercepted.

The danger separates them more than they themselves. The parts they are forced to play are changing them in ways they do not understand. The lack of proper contact is slowly eating away at them from the inside.

In short, they are being denied what they need the most: time and each other.

That is why, this time, I feel I must act.

As there is a pattern to their disagreements, there is also a pattern to their reconciliations. It usually requires outside intervention. And it usually goes like this:

1. Make a fool of one.

2. Make sure the other is watching.

3. Create a conflict outside themselves that requires collaborative effort.

4. Stand back and watch the sparks fly.

At least, that's how it usually goes.

Now, it is time to see if the usual still applies…

To be continued…