Chapter 12

A/N: Hey there. Been awhile. This isn't actually the entire chapter, but I felt inclined to update, so here's like 3/4 of what this chapter was supposed to be. The last part is supposed to be a football game, hopefully I get around to finishing that up soon.

"And here's your coffee, Regina," Granny said, sending a warm cup of pure heaven across the countertop and into Regina's eagerly waiting hand.

"Thank you, Granny," Regina responded automatically, accepting the beverage and immediately pressing it to her lips. It was a coffee or I'll kill you kind of Monday morning for Regina, who had been up nearly half the night studying for the history test that she'd somehow forgotten about.

Just as Regina shut her eyes to savor her coffee and began running over the history facts she'd crammed into her unwilling brain the night before, the clanging sound of the doorway's bell echoed unceremoniously. Regina opened one eye, and was entirely unsurprised to see Emma and Gold bustling through the door. Well, there went her hopes of extra studying for the morning.

"You've got a problem," Emma said to Regina seriously, as she and Gold hastily approached the counter that Regina was leaning against. Regina arched an eyebrow irritably and took a step back from Emma, who was standing far too close for her immediate liking. Not to mention, 'you've got a problem', was not Regina's favorite way to be greeted.

"I have many problems, Ms. Swan, one of them being your horrendous morning breath," Regina retorted. Gold cracked up, and Emma rolled her eyes.

"Could I get a bagel and a coffee, please, Granny?" Emma called out to Granny, who nodded in acknowledgement, and looked over at Gold for his order.

"Just black coffee for me," Gold said casually. Granny nodded again, and bustled off to prepare their orders.

"So, I was at soccer practice this morning, and I had an… interesting conversation with Belle," Emma began, returning her attention to Regina. Regina knit her eyebrows in confusion, unsure how a conversation with Belle could have any pertinence to her life.

"Are you sure it isn't Gold who has the problem?" Regina interrupted, half sarcastically, half out of genuine bewilderment.

"Positive," Gold snapped irritably, glaring at her.

"Belle kind of… Well, Belle asked me how long you and Robin had been dating for," Emma said slowly, looking at Regina fearfully. It was a real testament to how truly exhausted Regina was that it took her a solid five seconds to process this information, and what it meant.

Regina hated many things, but if there was one thing she really hated, it was when her private affairs became public without her knowledge or permission. And if Belle French, a freshman, was asking Emma about Regina's relationship with Robin, it meant that, somehow, she and Robin's relationship had become public knowledge. And since Regina was certain that she had not broadcasted the information anywhere, and was reasonably confident that Robin hadn't either, there were very few other options as to how it had been spread around.

Regina immediately wheeled on Gold.

"Oh, please, tell me that you did not take it upon yourself to discuss my private life with your wench," Regina hissed at Gold quietly, but venomously enough to let him know that his death was coming up very shortly if she was correct. Just as Gold opened his mouth to protest, Mary Margaret, David, and Killian walked into the diner to join them at the countertop.

"Whoa, what is going on?" Snow asked anxiously, sensing the tension between Gold and Regina.

"Oh, the usual, Regina is just in the middle of threatening my life," Gold answered casually, rolling his eyes and gratefully picking up the cup of coffee that Granny had pushed over the counter towards him. Snow and David, who seemed thoroughly unsurprised by this information, looked over at Regina for confirmation.

"Emma has just informed me that Belle French had a few questions about Robin and I's relationship this morning at soccer practice," Regina tried to explain calmly. She watched as the information registered in Snow's mind, but did not fully reach David's.

"Wait, but how would Belle know anything about you and Robin? You guys haven't told anybody yet," he asked Regina confusedly, clearly missing the undertones to the conversation. Killian, who had claimed his usual standing position next to Emma, laughed quietly at this.

"Keeping up as usual, mate," he said quietly, earning a soft chuckle from Emma.

"An excellent question, David. I also was wondering who would be moronic enough to tell her anything," Regina snapped, glaring fiercely at Gold.

"Not me, as I was about to tell you before these three butted in," Gold responded calmly. Regina arched an eyebrow, slightly unnerved by Gold's calm reaction to being accused not only of spreading a secret, but of sharing it with Belle, in particular. Normally, by now he either would have called Regina something so vulgar that she was too angry to respond, or they would be engaged in a full fledged screaming match in the middle of Granny's.

"And why should I believe you?"

"Because Belle and I aren't exactly on… speaking terms, at the moment," Gold replied hastily, looking so genuinely eager to change the subject that Regina actually found herself believing him.

"Alright, how else would she know, then? I can't think of anyone else who might have told her," Regina thought aloud, pointedly glancing around the circle, using her stare to encourage the person responsible to speak up. Emma cleared her throat obviously, and sighed.

"If you would let me get a word in here and finish my story, actually, Regina… You did," Emma said uncomfortably, shifting awkwardly on her feet and averting her gaze. Everyone looked over at Regina in confusion. Regina pursed her lips, feeling both confused and aggravated, as she was positive she had never had a casual, life updating conversation, or really, any kind of conversation, with Belle in her life.

"I see. And when exactly did I do this, Ms. Swan?"

"When a different group of freshmen saw you and Robin making out by his car after school on Friday," Emma replied smugly, seemingly now unable to stop the amused grin from spreading across her face. Meanwhile, all the blood seemed to drain from Regina's face. Oh, that.

Regina opened her mouth to say something in she and Robin's defense, but no words came out. All of her friends roared with laughter. Meanwhile, Regina contemplated throwing her cup of scaldingly hot coffee into her own eyes.

She didn't have long to consider this, however, as Robin happened to arrive exactly as the laughter began.

"I'm hoping that what I think I just overheard is not actually true," he said, biting his lower lip, and looking around at their friends. Unfortunately, this just made them laugh even harder.

"Sorry, mate," Killian replied, offering a conciliatory pat on the shoulder to both him and Regina, whose scowl only intensified.

"So, what inspired this late afternoon conversation that apparently couldn't wait?" Gold obviously couldn't resist questioning. Regina and Robin exchanged a loaded glance, clearly weighing whether or not it was the right time to lose it on their friends about the fact that they never got a moment alone. It was really their friends' fault that they had been driven to such an extreme display of public affection. Obviously.

It had been a week since she and Robin had endured the family dinner from hell with Cora and Zelena. And the week leading up to Friday's fateful make out session had been just as, if not more, tragically chaste and void of physical contact for Regina and Robin. An unkind combination of conflicting schedules, unfortunate exams, one psychotic mother, and a justifiably needy five year old had again prevented the two of them from being the horny teenagers they so desperately wanted to be. So, by the time after school Friday had rolled around, inspiration for a 'conversation that couldn't wait' was running rather high. All it took was a coy, passing comment from Regina as they walked to the parking lot, concerning her growing list of things she might do to entertain him should they ever actually end up alone, before she very abruptly found her back pressed up against Robin's car, her face in his hands, his lips against hers.

Looking back on it, while it may have cost them the secrecy of their relationship, Regina found that she didn't regret it at all. She was pretty sure that nothing was worth not getting to kiss Robin.

"We're just… undisciplined. And embarrassing. And disgusting," Robin finally answered with mock shame (obviously making the decision not to say anything to their friends about their increasing sexual frustration).

"Ashamed," Regina added severely, smirking at Robin. At this, the friends made their way out the door of Granny's.

"And disgusting," Killian teased, mock punching Regina on the shoulder as they embraced the wind of the bitterly cold Storybrook morning.

"Already on the list, Killian," Mary Margaret pointed out.

"Underline it," Emma called out from the front of the group, where she was walking between Killian and and Gold.

When the group arrived at school, while the rest of their friends nearly injured themselves fighting to get through the doorway and into the warmth, Robin pulled Regina back.

"What is it?" she asked him confusedly.

"If everyone knows about us now, does that mean we can be… you know, a little… less discrete?" Robin asked slowly, clearly struggling to find the right words. Regina somehow had not yet considered this.

"How less discrete?" she responded, slightly anxiously. Robin rolled his eyes and shot her a look of amused exasperation.

"Meaning am I allowed to take you right here on these front steps?" he answered sarcastically.

"Oh, that's all? Sure, go for it," Regina couldn't resist quipping back at him. She also couldn't resist the smile that spread freely across her face. God, she liked him so much, she heard herself think for probably the tenth time in the last 30 minutes.

"Well, perhaps we ought to work our way up to that. We could start with… hand holding? A little risky, I know, but I think we could pull it off," Robin proposed, grinning widely back at her.

Regina really had always hated holding hands with Daniel. She just felt so… conspicuous. Like she was begging to be stared at, or talked about. Every single person at Storybrook High, staff included, knew that she and Daniel were together, and in love, and destined to get married and have twelve kids and on and on, and she just personally despised feeling like she was throwing these 'facts' in everyone's faces even more. Not to mention the intense pressure it made her feel to make these things come true. Looking back, she could see how this might have been slightly irrational and self absorbed. She certainly could have avoided a thousand and one arguments with Daniel if she hadn't been so stubborn about such an innocent and ordinary thing.

Yet, she realized that the idea of holding Robin's hand in public didn't make her feel anxious, or uncomfortable or as though she were doing him some sort of favor. It just sounded kind of good. And normal. This was odd, considering that people were much more likely to stare at her and Robin than they ever were at her and Daniel, as she and Robin were new and unexpected, while she and Daniel were practically in the history books.

"But if you're worried about it, or not ready, I would completely understand," Robin added softly, seeming to take her silence for doubtful hesitation. This only made her want to do it more. The fact that he genuinely was giving her a choice in the matter.

"I think I'll survive," she finally said simply, surprising herself by just how easy it was to take his hand and pull him through the doors.

People were definitely staring a little bit. As they made their way down the entry hallway, which housed a majority of the freshman lockers, Regina definitely experienced that familiar burning sensation of knowing people were watching. And it was clear that Robin was having a similar experience, because after about 10 uncomfortable seconds of being so intently observed, he turned his head to make eye contact with Regina, who had very intentionally not been making eye contact with anyone.

"I'm actually starting to believe that you really might be some sort of regional royalty in this school, with the amount of attention you seem to attract," Robin said to her quietly, smirking. Regina couldn't resist laughing softly at that.

"Mmhm, probably wondering what such a regal, evil queen like me could possibly be doing, slumming it with a thief like you," she teased, softly nudging his shoulder with hers. In reality, Regina felt it was a lot more likely that they were wondering what the incredibly sexy, new British guy possibly saw in her, other than an exceptional amount of emotional baggage, a sarcastic and dry exterior, and a mediocre at best physical appearance. She kept these thoughts to herself, however.

"Well, in their defense, they think I was just a thief. But you know I was actually just a drunk," Robin joked in response as they turned the corner of the first hallway, a million underclassmen eyes following them, and Regina laughed again. Oh, damn it, she liked him so much. She wondered if it would really be that much more catastrophic for her reputation if she just slammed him against the nearest locker and replicated the make out session that had landed them in this position in the first place.

As Regina was considering this obviously very practical option, she and Robin came upon perhaps the only thing in the world that could have been interesting enough to upstage their relationship's public debut.

In a scene that Regina would have solidly bet her life would never in a million years occur, she found herself witnessing Gold and Belle, interlocked in a literal screaming match in the middle of the hallway, standing by the locker of Gold, who looked as though he would like nothing more than to hurl himself off the roof of the building. Surely, this was some sort of daydream created by the Lord himself, designed to satisfy Regina's forever desire to see Gold publicly humiliated, due to how much he always seemed to enjoy seeing his friends openly roasted, while always managing to avoid the flame himself. But never did she actually believe that this deep seeded, and probably very unfriend-like wish of hers would ever be satisfied!

Regina and Robin stopped dead in their tracks so that they could watch this spectacle unfold.

"No, I will NOT lower my voice!" Belle legitimately shouted at Gold, who was basically cowering into his locker at this point. Regina desperately wanted to know what it was that Gold had done to inspire the sort of rage that only he could from such a generally sweet and docile girl.

Regina and Robin exchanged a glance, as though confirming with one another that what they were both witnessing was actually taking place. But both remained silent so that they didn't miss a second. Every other student in the hallway seemed to be using a similar strategy.

"Belle, please, you know that we aren't… anything serious," Gold tried to interject calmly. Regina fought the urge to roll her eyes at this, seeing as she knew just how serious Gold really was about Belle, despite his fiercest protests.

Much to Regina's confusion, however, Belle did not look even remotely phased by this response.

"That's a lie, Robert, and you know it," Belle replied almost immediately. Regina was pretty sure she could actually feel the shock suddenly displayed on her face. No one, and she really meant no one, knew Gold's first name apart from she and her friends. And even they absolutely were never allowed to use it. It was Gold's father's name, who they all knew he despised more than anyone. Not that he ever admitted any of this directly to them. Being friends with Gold required the very keen ability to hear and analyze whatever small details he might occasionally, accidentally drop, and to know that any further questioning would be met with the most ferocious resistance and criticism in response. For instance, that when his father wasn't too busy binge drinking and emotionally abusing Gold and his mother, he spent his time engaging in very unauthorized trading schemes and con artistry, which he referred to as 'deals'. A little tidbit Regina had pieced together over the years. She imagined that Robin hadn't even known Gold's first name yet, until Belle had announced it. Regina was fairly certain that she could count on one hand the amount of times in her friendship with Gold that she had heard him addressed by his first name.

And, much to her impossibly further surprise, Gold didn't even seem to realize what Belle had just done, or, at the very least, he didn't seem to be concerned about it at all. It was as though he were… accustomed to having her call him that.

"Belle, if you want to be with me, you're going to have to accept that I am the way that I am-"

"I want to be with you, not who you want everyone else to think that you are!" Belle retorted angrily. For whatever reason, this was the comment that seemed to make Gold aware of the situation he was finding himself in. He suddenly looked wildly around at everyone watching them, and Regina saw the familiar expression of when he was about to go full on beast mode and say something truly horrible fall upon Gold's face. Regina was quickly very afraid for Belle.

"This is who I am! And let me make something very clear, dearie, I am absolutely not going to answer to you. You are nothing to me, you're… another conquest, at best. You're nothing! And if you were naive enough to think that I actually have any sort of real feelings for you, that's on you," Gold practically hissed at her. Yep, that pretty much checked all the boxes for unnecessarily vicious, cruel and humiliating. But, much to Regina's disbelief and, honestly, somewhat to her admiration, Belle held it together. It was obvious that what Gold had said deeply hurt her, but she managed to simply shake her head and smile sadly, as though she'd been expecting him to respond that way.

"There's good in you. I see it. I've always seen it. And I thought I could wait for you to see it yourself, but even I have a limit. Until you can admit how you actually feel about me, and let go of this beastly persona that you're so obsessed with, I'm done," she said to him, much more calmly and rationally than Regina could believe was even possible in such a situation. With that, Belle slammed Gold's locker for him, and simply stalked away as though she were not brutally aware of the fact that every single person in the hallway was watching and judging her, and the shocking moment in history that had just occurred before their eyes.

"So… has anyone seen Gold today?" Emma asked uncomfortably as she slid into her usual seat at their lunch table. She was the last of the group to arrive, apart from Gold, who was, understandably, absent.

For the last four class periods, the hallway screaming match that had transpired between Gold and Belle was literally the only thing anyone seemed capable of talking about. How shocking it was that two such incredibly opposite people could ever be together in the first place. How incredibly unexpected it was that Gold would ever in a million years have a secret relationship with a freshman, especially one as innocent and bookish as Belle French. How low-key impressive it was that Belle, of all people, was the one who apparently had managed to get a notorious badass like Gold to care enough about her to humiliate himself so publicly.

"Not since it happened. If you ask me, he's probably half way to Antarctica by now," Killian answered her, shaking his head in continued disbelief.

"Should we try and call him, or find him, or… I don't know, do something?" Mary Margaret wondered anxiously. Regina felt that the odds of either of these options going well were quite slim, but she remained silent, seeing as she had no idea what they should do either.

"I really would just like to know what incredibly moronic thing he did to upset her so much. Belle is normally so… sweet," David contributed thoughtfully. Regina was wondering this herself.

"Um, why don't you ask him yourself?" Robin said abruptly, nudging Regina's shoulder to gain her attention.

Regina immediately looked back over her shoulder to see none other than Gold sauntering towards their table, as though this were a perfectly normal Monday afternoon. Unable to believe her eyes, Regina squinted and examined her friend a bit more closely as he closed the distance between him and their table. Ah, yes, under closer inspection, it took Regina about half a second to deduce that Gold was clearly heavily intoxicated. His too-long, shaggy light brown hair was more tousled than normal, his dark brown eyes were much more vacant than they probably should have been, his shirt was unbuttoned one too far, and he seemed incapable of walking in a perfectly straight line.

No one said a word as Gold carelessly slung back his vacant chair so that he could plop himself down into it. They all just stared at him, mouths agape.

"What?" Gold slurred after a moment of very awkward tension. Knowing it was completely inappropriate, Regina fought the urge to crack up at Gold's chosen coping mechanism.

"Uh.. Hey, Gold," David finally broke the ice, giving a very uncertain smile. Gold offered no response besides an indignant crossing of his arms.

"How are you, mate?" Killian asked him tentatively. Oddly, Gold completely ignored him too, and turned to stare at Regina instead.

"So, Your Majesty, I heard that you and Robin Hood over here made your little affair public this morning," Gold managed to get out without garbling his words too much, in a very weak attempt at starting a conversation about someone other than himself. Regina imagined that Gold had to be quite drunk if he really thought they were going to spend a single second discussing her and Robin after his performance this morning. And, though his speech wasn't too terribly slurred, his breath in Regina's face told a very different story.

"I'm sorry, Gold, could you please repeat that? I couldn't hear you over the whiskey on your breath," Regina snarked, arching an eyebrow. Much to her surprise, Gold just cackled.

"Christ, Gold, are you drunk?" Emma whisper shouted at him. Gold merely shrugged.

"Wouldn't you be?" Robin clearly couldn't resist quipping, entering the conversation for the first time. Regina, again, stifled her laughter, knowing it would do little to help get the answers they all wanted out of Gold.

"I've been drinking. Doesn't mean I'm drunk," Gold responded vaguely, as though this were a perfectly satisfactory explanation.

"Gold, it's… noon. On a Monday. During the school week," Mary Margaret clearly couldn't resist fussing. Regina was unsure as to why Snow thought this was useful information to draw attention to.

"I'm fine," Gold snapped back sassily.

"Because showing up at school in the middle of the day blackout is something that fine people do," Regina commented sarcastically.

"Well, it's five o'clock somewhere. Alright, Gold, out with it. What the hell did you do to Belle?" Killian interjected, obviously unable to restrain himself.

"Oh, I don't think I really want to talk about Belle right now," Gold responded, his voice suddenly unnaturally cheerful and impish. He then reached across the table to take Emma's napkin, which he immediately began shredding into small pieces distractedly. Regina felt her eyebrows shoot upwards. Obviously the situation was more dire than even she'd realized.

"Come on, Gold, you know we're going to find out eventually. You might as well just tell us now," David coaxed him persuasively. Gold briefly considered this theory. The fact that he even did this was convincing evidence of how drunk he must be.

"Well, on Saturday, I went to a party," he said after a moment of anticipatory silence, as though that would clear all of their questions right up.

"Whose party?" Killian asked indignantly, as though personally offended that a party had taken place without his knowledge.

"Some senior's."

"Mm, and what did you do there?" Snow progressed the discussion, casually tearing off a piece of her cookie and popping it into her mouth.

"Oh, nothing too interesting. Sold some molly, then some coke. Then I drank some alcohol. I won 500 bucks off of some morons playing cards. Then I won a beer pong tournament too. You know, the usual," Gold responded cooperatively, shrugging his shoulders again and continuing to demolish Emma's napkin. Regina did find it rather amusing that these really were the kinds of activities they could expect from Gold at a party.

"Alright, Gold, we get it, you're a rockstar. At what point in the night did you fuck up so badly that your girlfriend publicly humiliated you in front of the entire school two days later?" Emma finally asked forcefully, obviously fed up with the suspense. Regina couldn't say she minded Emma's tact.

Gold, however, seemed to mind it very much, and for the first time began showing signs of the hostility that they'd all been expecting. He lunged across the table toward Emma, and aggressively slammed his fist into the table in front of her tray.

"Belle is not my girlfriend! Or did you miss that part this morning?" he snapped ferociously. Emma remained impassive.

"Oh, now that you mention it, I actually did gather that from your discussion in the hallway," she replied, smirking.

"She is not my girlfriend. I'm at perfect liberty to do whatever I please, with whoever I please," Gold continued irritably, seemingly unaware that he had basically just admitted what he'd done.

"Oh, yikes, Gold… who was it?" Robin asked Gold, looking a bit more sympathetic than Regina probably would have preferred. Robin's comment also helped fill in any remaining confusion for the others.

"Oh my god, Gold! You cheated on Belle?!" Snow exclaimed in utter shock and outrage.

"It can't be cheating if you're not in a relationship to start with," Gold argued self righteously.

"Oh, you are such an asshole!" Emma scolded him, reaching across the table to smack him upside the head. Gold swatted her hand away immediately.

"We. Are. Not. Dating!" he practically roared in response.

"Even still, why would you do an idiotic thing like that? You know you like Belle a hell of a lot more than whatever senior was dumb enough to hook up with you," Regina said. Of course, it wasn't as though Gold had ever directly admitted how he felt about Belle to her, or any of them. But Regina felt that the combination of witnessing Gold tearing Belle's clothes off at Killian's, his consistent denial about his feelings for her, and the fact that he allowed literally only her to use his first name, gave her sufficient license to assume something about his feelings.

"Maybe that's exactly why I did it," Gold finally sighed, catching Regina off guard. She was rather surprised by his honesty.

"Sure, because that makes sense," David contested, rolling his eyes. Of course, David wouldn't be able to understand. Regina, however, very much could.

"She had to learn eventually," Gold muttered almost incoherently.

"Oh, come on, Gold, learn what?" Emma asked him, as though what he were suggesting was completely ridiculous. Gold shook his head, clearly having had enough of this interrogation, and stood up from the table.

"She needed to learn that I'm a beast, as she put it, and that I'm not going to change for anyone," he said, sounding much more upset than he ever would have allowed them to witness sober.

Regina was suddenly struck by all the times and ways that Gold had been there for her throughout her life. Most relevantly, when Daniel had so brutally destroyed her. The nearly thousand times he'd threatened Daniel's life, called him every crude and detestable name under the sun, or even been her personal body guard so that Daniel wouldn't dare approach her. And Regina really found herself hurting for him. Sure, she and Gold had their (frequent) ups and downs, their sarcastic skirmishes and occasional screaming matches. But at the end of the day, there were very few people who had been in her life as long as he had, and who she knew so unwaveringly had her back. And for the first time, whether he wanted to admit it or not, Gold needed her to have his. And Regina was determined to succeed.

"Come on, mate, I'll drive you home. I can't see a reason for me to be at school, anyways," Killian volunteered, standing with him. Everyone was clearly too worried about Gold to bother pointing out all the many reasons Killian probably should have been at school.

They watched silently as Killian casually escorted Gold out of the cafeteria and into the parking lot, as though he'd never been there at all.