Faith and Trust: Better Than Pixie Dust

Chapter 7

A few weeks later, Regina slid into her seat beside Robin in class. "What are you doing for Halloween?" she asked, giving him a hug.

"Never really celebrated it," Robin admitted, "but our dorm is doing trick-or-treating. Why do you ask?"

Regina let out an exasperated sigh, exclaiming, "You're missing out! The reason I'm asking is because I was thinking we could come up with costumes. I was thinking maybe Black Widow and the Hulk?"

Robin's features immediately shifted from an expression of skepticism to one of excitement as he considered her idea. "That's an excellent idea," he said. "but I don't want to plan our costumes together, mine's going to be a surprise. I want to see your reaction, you haven't really seen me portray a character yet."

Regina laughed, knowing he was right. "Okay, you're on."

"And I have one more suggestion," he added, "I've been meaning to introduce Killian to Emma, so you should invite her as well."

"Okay," Regina readily agreed. "That'll be good, I haven't seen her in awhile- and it'll mean my mom won't say no to me coming."

Robin looked like he was about to say something, but stayed silent, and at that moment, Malena walked into the room and the lesson began, so Regina never found out what he was about to tell her.

The night of Halloween was a Friday night, so she and Robin had decided to forego their study session in favor of meeting later with the rest of their friends to go trick-or-treating.

At five o'clock sharp, Regina was outside of Emma's door, costume and bag for collecting candy in hand. As she did every year, Mary Margaret had offered to help Regina with her hair and makeup, so it had become a tradition for the two girls to get ready together at Emma's house for whatever Halloween celebration they had planned that year.

"Emma tells me that you're trick-or-treating at one of the college apartment buildings this year?" Emma's mom asked as she pinned Regina's hair up so it would fit under the wig she'd be wearing.

Regina nodded. "Yeah, when I asked a friend what he was doing for Halloween, he said that he and our friends were going trick-or-treating, so he invited us to join them."

"He? What's his name? What's he like?" Mary Margaret asked, an excited sparkle in her eye that seemed all too omniscient for Regina's liking.

Regina laughed, her cheeks growing warm and turning red. Leave it to her best friend's mom to notice that detail and try to turn it into more than it was. "His name's Robin, we have a class together, so I've known him since right before classes started- but don't get excited, we're just friends. Close friends, but no more than that."

Emma laughed, a knowing smile on her face. "Don't believe her Mom, she's talked about almost nothing and no one else since the semester started. And they coordinated costumes for tonight too."

"We talk every day, of course he's going to come up when I talk to you," Regina protested. "And we didn't really coordinate, just with what we are, he wouldn't tell me what his costume actually looks like."

"If you say so…" Emma and her mom said in unison.

Once they were ready, they heard the doorbell ring. "That'll be Robin." Regina said, jumping up and running to the door.

When she opened it, it wasn't Robin but the Hulk who was waiting for her. Robin had completely transformed into the character by making his skin green instead of buying a costume. Thankfully it was an unusually warm October night, so Regina didn't think he'd be too cold.

"Hulk want hug!" he roared, coming toward her with arms outstretched.

Laughing, she went into his embrace. She gasped when he lifted her and spun her around before setting her back on the ground.

"Hey! Be careful with my best friend!" Emma protested, a caution that was diminished by her laughter at Robin's antics. She and her mom were standing in the entryway to the kitchen.

Mary Margaret introduced herself to Robin, smiling all the while, and with that they were off.

They met everyone at Robin and Will's apartment. There were a variety of costumes, but Regina couldn't help noticing Zelena's. She had straightened her hair and was dressed as Kim Possible. She saw that Robin thought it was a good costume as well, as he chose that moment to walk over to her. Jealousy flared within Regina, and she attempted to distract herself by introducing Emma and Killian. But as she did, her gaze drifted to where Robin stood laughing with Zelena.

Soon they left for trick-or-treating. Their bags were soon full of treats, and Will suggested they all come to his and Robin's apartment for a candy exchange and to watch a scary movie.

Regina took advantage of the candy swap to get rid of as much candy that wasn't chocolate as possible. The guys teased her about it, saying she shouldn't've taken anything that wasn't chocolate so she didn't have to go through this process. She brushed off their criticism, stating that it would've been rude to not take the candy, and Emma, being the loyal friend that she was, agreed with her.

They all crashed on couches and chairs around the apartment to watch the movie with bowls of popcorn provided by the generous hosts at strategic points around the room. Although she wasn't the type of girl to ever admit that she was scared, Regina felt chills go down her spine as she watched, despite the indifference she wished she felt.

At one point during the movie, one of the main characters died. The vantage point from which the scene had been filmed allowed viewers to easily put themselves in the character's shoes, and therefore experience the character's death in as lifelike a way as possible on the big screen. Watching the scene, Regina's terror grew to a degree that she could feel herself fighting the urge to scream as she imagined what her own death would feel like: struggling to breathe, her heart and limbs shutting down...

Suddenly, something grabbed her from behind, wrapping around her neck and head. She screamed, thrashing on the couch to escape whatever was engulfing her.

"Shhh," Robin's soothing voice whispered in her ear. His arms moved to rub her shoulders. "It's all right, it's only me."

Regina sat trembling violently, her head in her hands, trying to ease her rapid heart rate, the combination of fear and humiliation a dead weight on her shoulders that she couldn't shake.

"Hey," Robin was in front of her now, crouching so his eyes looked directly into hers. "Let's go to my room for a minute."

She took the hand he offered and followed him down the hall.

Once they entered his room, he closed the door, then guided her to his bed. She collapsed on his soft bedspread and he sat on the floor beside her, his height ensuring that he still was able to look directly into her eyes.

"I'm so, so sorry," he told her. "You're usually so receptive to my teasing that I thought you'd just laugh. I truly didn't mean to scare you that badly, and I promise you it will never happen again. Can you ever forgive me?"

She gazed into his eyes, filled with remorse and something else that was so tender it melted the part of her that had frozen with fear only moments earlier.

"Of course," she reassured him. Her hand reached out of its own accord to rest on his shoulder. "It's not like you knew I'd have that reaction- like you said, I hadn't reacted that way before."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Do you want to talk about why it scared you so badly? If for no other reason than that I don't do it again?"

She closed her eyes, then nodded slowly. "I had an awful dream the night before my last day of being thirteen. In the dream, I was close to death, and the inability to breathe, the lack of control over my body…" she trailed off. "It was terrifying. So I've been scared of dying- the physical act of it, not afterwards anymore," she added with a small smile, "since that night."

He nodded, seeming to immediately understand. "So the movie was too close to that for comfort then."

She nodded, then had a thought that had her bolting upright. "Robin, what'll people think of me?! They must think I'm some immature wimp who can't even handle a scary movie on Halloween…"

He moved to sit on the bed beside her, offering her the comfort of his arms around her. "Let them try. If anyone dares to make fun of you for it, I'll be happy to have more than a conversation with them," he told her, the fire in his eyes so fierce that she couldn't do anything but believe him.

Regina's heart swelled at his willingness to defend her. "But still, what if-"

"What if I tell you my worst fear?" he interrupted. "Would that help ease your mind?"

She considered it for a moment. "Maybe…"

"Sharks," he said simply.

She was sure her face looked puzzled with the uttering of that one word. "Sharks? Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging you or making fun of you in any way- I just don't understand."

"It's hard to put into words- just know that they do. So much so that I've never been able to watch The Little Mermaid. I like swimming in the ocean though, as long as my feet touch the ocean floor."

"I love Disney movies, but that one's not my favorite," Regina admitted. "The only things you're missing out on are a few of the songs."

Robin laughed. "Good to know. Now, shall we rejoin the others?" he asked, rising and offering her his hand.

Together, they walked back out to the main room. Regina thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the night, and as she lay awake at Emma's later, she couldn't help thinking that despite the one incident, this had been her favorite Halloween to date.