Chapter 13

Only a Storybrook High, home football game could have convinced Regina to spend her Friday night freezing her ass off alongside the rest of the student body of her high school. On this record-breakingly freezing October night, Regina found herself up in the bleachers, sandwiched between Gold and Mary Margaret. Emma, who was the recently crowned captain of the soccer team, had been too enthralled in deciding the starting line up for their team's first game of the season next week, so she hadn't been ready in time to be picked up by Mary Margaret and was on her way to meet them.

Of course, Regina had never missed a home football game. Especially not the first one of the season, as this one was. Having your mother as the principal sort of required taking on at least some appearance of school spirit. Besides, Daniel, David and Killian had been on varsity since freshman year. What kind of girlfriend would she have been if she hadn't gone to every single game to cheer him on? Probably the same sort that would cheat on him in one of their best friends houses and eventually flee the school.

Anyways, now that Robin was on the team, Regina found herself signed up for another season of obligatory perfect attendance. Not that she really had anything else to do on Friday nights, seeing as her friends, the only people she had any interest in ever speaking with, also attended every game. And not that she wasn't also extremely interested in watching Robin running around, doing impressive, athletic things while wearing tight pants and a jersey that particularly brought out the blue of his eyes. Regina had been informed that Robin was already a starting wide receiver, that he was number 23, and that he was very good. Shocking.

At least, most of her friends attended every football game. While it wasn't super unusual for Gold to occasionally bow out of a game to go and do whatever Gold-like things he liked to do in his free time, Emma and Snow were extremely devout fans. Despite her general lack of understanding and dislike of the sport, Mary Margaret religiously attended every game to support David, obviously. Her attendance was even more crucial this season, as David had just been made captain of the team. And while Emma, who was, to her credit, extremely athletic, stubbornly insisted that she only went to all the games because of how passionately she loved football, Regina was pretty sure that her perfect attendance had more to do with the fact that Killian was the quarterback of the team.

So, alas, there in the stadium sat Regina, Gold, and Snow, kept from hypothermia only by the warmth of the hot chocolate they were all drinking (with Gold stealthily spiking his with whiskey). They half paid attention as the opposing teams were warming up on the field, opposite one another. Regina had only been able to spot Robin in the huge pack twice so far. She hoped for better luck during the actual game.

"Alright, I'm sorry, but does he absolutely have to be sitting so close to her? He's really just asking to get punched, doing what he's doing," Gold suddenly burst out angrily. He was, of course, referring to Belle, who was sitting next to Will Gaston three or four rows in front of them. It took a considerable amount of effort for Regina not to laugh at Gold's rage, considering the fact that Will and Belle just so clearly were not sitting in a threatening manner, as they were surrounded by several other freshman that they were both actively talking with.

"Chill, she'll hear you. Personally, I'm not really in the mood for another screaming match right now," Regina responded immediately, instinctively smacking Gold on the shoulder.

"Oh, come on, Gold, they're barely even touching. Nothing to worry about," Snow said kindly.

"I'm not-"

"Oh, that's right, I forgot you weren't worried," she played along, nodding indulgently.

As Gold was clearly preparing to launch into a full lecture about just how not worried he was, Emma slid into their bleacher next to Snow.

"Hey. Oh, hot chocolate, that's going to have to happen for me in a second. What's Gold not worried about?" Emma greeted, said, and asked casually.

"Nothing-"

"He thinks Will Gaston is making moves on Belle down there," Regina explained, nodding towards where Belle and Will were sitting so that Emma could judge for herself. Emma looked to where Regina had indicated and gave a snort of derision.

"Those are pretty shitty moves," she said, laughing. Gold whipped out his flask and gave his hot chocolate a heavy upgrade, looking very irritated. Emma's interest visibly peaked at the sight of the flask.

"You know what, actually, it's obvious that Will is trying to get Belle to sleep with him, sitting next to her and not even talking to her like that. You should probably fight him," Emma said dramatically, looking at Gold hopefully.

"No, you can't have any."

"You're driving anyways, dingus," Mary Margaret reminded Emma, playfully flicking her on the shoulder. She also handed Emma her cup of hot chocolate so that she could have a sip, which Emma received gratefully. As this exchange occurred, preparations to begin the game began on the field.

After a brief welcome from the announcer and a classically awkward performance of the American National Anthem by Storybrook High's band, both teams ran off in opposite directions towards their respective benches.

"Wait a second, what team are we playing?" Emma suddenly questioned, taking Mary Margaret's hot chocolate again and taking a hearty sip.

"Baelfire High. Why?" Regina responded, surprised that Emma didn't already know who the team was playing. Regina would have expected her to come prepared with all sorts of predictions and statistics about the outcome of the match.

Much to the confusion of Regina, Gold and Snow, this answer caused Emma to do a full on spit take, and sputter back into the cup.

"No, I wasn't drinking that or anything," Snow said sarcastically, snatching her cup back.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Gold asked in bewilderment.

"We're playing Baelfire?' Emma dramatically attempted to confirm. Regina was quite confused by this extreme reaction to such a seemingly un-extreme thing.

"I'm sensing that you have some sort of issue with that," Regina said snidely. Emma just put her head in her hands and started shaking it.

"Baelfire is where Neal Cassidy goes to school," she groaned miserably, raising her head again. Oh. The spit take suddenly became a lot more understandable.

As previously mentioned, Killian and Emma's iconic, on again off again relationship was practically law at Storybrook High. There wasn't a single guy at their school who would have the balls to touch Emma with a ten foot pole, for the very legitimate fear of being assassinated by Killian. But, this iron law only extended to the males of Storybrook; it didn't quite reach the neighboring Baelfire suburb. And Neal Cassidy, Baelfire High's star linebacker, definitely hadn't gotten the memo.

The summer going into sophomore year, Regina and her friends had spent an uncharacteristically large amount of time going to parties and fraternizing with other teenagers who did not reside in Storybrook. As this was the summer that her father and Henry had died, if Regina wasn't busy being holed up in her house, sobbing her eyes out and contemplating how it was possible to be so miserable, she was very eager not to be in Storybrook. Not to mention the fact that in the wake of their deaths, Regina had found it considerably more difficult to stomach her mother and Zelena, who had been nothing but hateful parasites towards both Henry's, and was quite desperate to be as far away from the two of them as possible. Looking back, drinking in neighboring suburbs was really the only thing compelling enough to get Regina to go outside that summer. It was also what began Daniel's passionate infatuation with drugs and partying.

As she recalled, Killian and Emma had been going through a particularly rough patch that summer. For obvious reasons, Regina hadn't really had the energy to keep track of every little fight between them, but she did specifically recall that Killian had kissed Rose Green at some party of his, causing obvious drama and heartbreak. This, naturally, had set Emma on an intense course for revenge, which she had found in Baelfire High's Neal Cassidy. Neal was handsome, wealthy, and a star athlete: He was perfect and, naturally, Killian was horrified. Much to Killian's misery, Emma and Neal had stricken up a legitimate summer fling, complete with a few dates and late night meet ups. Regina was actually convinced that Emma had started developing true feelings for him, before he abruptly broke off their relationship when the school year started. Obviously, Killian had jumped back in to reclaim Emma's affection as soon as possible, but Regina suspected that he would not soon forget his rival, Neal Cassidy.

"So what? It's not like that relationship was going anywhere," Gold said simply, giving a snort of derision. Emma glared at him.

"Shut up, Gold. Does it upset you to see him?" Snow asked her softly. Although Emma was unlikely to admit if she were upset, Regina was curious to hear the answer anyways.

As expected, Emma shook her head vigorously.

"I just don't want it to distract Killian. You know what an idiot he can be, and this is a really important game for Storybrook to win," Emma said, sighing. Regina would agree that Killian doing something stupid was an extremely valid concern.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe a display of toxic masculinity from Killian is exactly the spice this game needs," Regina couldn't resist quipping. Snow smacked her on the shoulder and wrapped an arm around Emma comfortingly.

"I'm sure everything will be fine, Emma. David and Robin will keep him in line."

Based on the events of the first half, Snow's prediction was accurate. Killian seemed to be channeling his jealous rage into completing epic fifty-yard passes, dancing around thrashing linebackers, and waving up at Emma and the rest of them whenever he got the chance. While she had to admit his performance was impressive, Regina was not particularly looking forward to enduring Killian's inevitably inflated ego after the game.

Robin was playing spectacularly as well, as he was the one catching the majority of Killian's insane spirals. Regina was a little embarrassed at her inability to stop grinning, as she watched Robin skillfully outmaneuver defenders and run two of Storybrook's three touchdowns into the in-zone. Up to now, she'd never considered athletic talent to be a particularly endearing quality: it was a little toxically masculine and brutish for her taste. But, then again, she'd never seen Robin play. He was quick, agile, and obviously talented. And, Lord, did the blue jersey do wonders for his body.

Storybrook was leading Baelfire 21-14 at the half. Meanwhile, up in the stands, Gold had become considerably more drunk than was appropriate for a high school football game. Honestly, if they were good friends, Regina, Emma or Snow probably would've insisted they drive him home. Instead, they took advantage of his drunken state to get him to admit things he probably wouldn't otherwise. Catching Gold this vulnerable twice in one week was completely unprecedented.

"Come on, Gold, it's a simple question!" Emma had just finished exclaiming.

"It's a disgusting question-" Regina began to interject, before Emma steamrolled over her.

"I'll ask again. Between Mila and Zelena, who was the better kisser?" Gold looked back and forth between Emma and Regina, his eyes slightly vacant and droopy, before smirking his favorite impish grin.

"Well, I actually liked Mila. But I have to say that Zelena is, objectively, much hotter. Much better body," Gold slurred slyly. Regina was unable to resist dramatically pretending to throw up, while Emma and Snow roared with laughter.

"And what about Belle?" Snow suddenly asked Gold boldly. It was clear that she'd been waiting to broach the subject. Regina respected her audacity. But the way that the mention of Belle's name so obviously affected Gold, in his obviously very inebriated state, actually made Regina feel sorry for him. She watched his eyes travel to where she was sitting a few rows in front of them. Honestly, the fact that Gold was so obviously in love with her was sort of starting to make Regina want to get to know her.

"What about Belle?" Gold replied miserably.

"Well, how does she rank on the… hotness scale?" Emma asked, noticeably working very hard to suppress her laughter at the question. Regina, personally, was just quite interested in what he was going to say. In her entire tenure as Gold's friend, she had never seen him behave this way towards a girl, and she couldn't deny that she was intrigued. Gold was so… unavailable, and seemingly above romance entirely. He was cold, bitter, and even cruel at times. His interest in soft, sweet, innocent Belle was fascinating to Regina. And a little bit adorable.

Gold's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance at Emma's question, and he shook his head.

"No. Belle is beautiful," he said simply, as though this should have been obvious to anyone with eyes. Regina felt her jaw drop.

Just as Snow, Regina, Emma of them were about to delve deeper into this emotional gold mine, the Storybrook crowd suddenly became intensely animated, full of outraged shouts and angry slurs.

Emma tapped on Ruby Lucas, who was standing in the row directly in front of theirs. Ruby, who was outfitted in black leather pants and a bright red cropped sweater that revealed her entire, flawless torso (in the sub-freezing weather), whipped around excitedly.

"What the hell just happened?" Emma asked curiously.

"You didn't see?! That Baelfire linebacker just absolutely throttled Killian! He sacked him!" she cried.

"What?!" Emma yelped, before quickly rising to her feet to get a better look at the field. Regina and Snow followed suit, while Gold, seemingly unfazed by the events taking place around him, remained seated between them, taking another hefty swig from his flask.

Obviously, there were other Baelfire linebackers who could have sacked Killian, but based on the mayhem transpiring on the field, Neal Cassidy was the obvious culprit. Killian, who was screaming curse words so loudly that they were audible to Regina thirty stands away, was being actively restrained by Robin and David as he tried to charge at the Baelfire defensive line. And a stalky Baelfire player, who could only be Neal Cassidy, was bellowing back with almost equal ferocity. Their school counselor, who often doubled as a sports referee, Archie Cricketson, was looking very disgruntled as he attempted to minimize the escalating conflict between the teams.

"Nice going, Emma. Look what you did," Regina simply couldn't resist joking. Emma buried her head in her hands, and sunk back into the stands miserably as Regina and Snow burst into uncontrollable laughter next to her.

"He's such a moron," Emma repeated miserably. Regina and Snow took each of Emma's arms and pulled her back into standing position in between them.

"Come on, the play is starting back up again," Regina said, prying Emma's hands from her eyes.

Well, the next play was a disaster as well. Killian was sacked yet again by a different Baelfire defender.

"Well, Killian certainly isn't getting laid tonight," Gold said snidely, cackling from his sitting position, obviously having interpreted the crowd's disappointed groans. Emma kicked him in the side of the head with her foot, which only made him guffaw louder.

"Do you think he's alright?" Snow asked concernedly. Emma was too busy hiding her eyes and moaning to answer her.

They watched as Killian rose furiously from the ground, still holding the football. Mr. Cricketson blew his whistle, signaling Killian to return the ball to him. And then they also watched as Killian obviously and very publicly lost his mind. Instead of tossing the ball into Mr. Cricketson's waiting hands, Killian turned swiftly in the direction of Neal Cassidy and absolutely pelted the ball into his… groin? Neal Cassidy swore loudly as he fell to the ground in pain. The Baelfire fans, rightfully, made their rage known. Regina, on the other hand, couldn't help but crack up.

"Men," she couldn't help commenting in awe.

"Sorry, Ref! Bad aim!" Regina heard Killian shout smugly, as he trotted away to go and huddle up with his team. Regina watched as David, the new and obviously humiliated captain of the team, began shouting loudly at Killian.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Emma screamed at the top of her lungs, as though Killian could hear her.

"How is he not in trouble for that?" Snow exclaimed. Regina laughed.

"He's getting yelled at by David. He's in trouble alright."

Regina's eyes searched for Robin in the midst of all the chaos. She found him quickly, standing unproblematically off to the side, conversing with another teammate.

Just as Regina began plotting possible ways to spend some quality and much needed alone time with Robin after the game (with him remaining in the football jersey, if possible), Mr. Cricketson blew his whistle to signal the beginning of the next play. The Storybrook offense and Baelfire defense resumed their normal pre-play formation, both Killian and Neal seemingly having regained control of themselves.

Mr. Cricketson blew his whistle once more to begin the play, and the football was snapped back to Killian. He caught it easily, and began looking for a target as the Baelfire players attempted to break through Storybrook's offensive line protecting him. And then Neal Cassidy, who had been neutralized by three Storybrook defenders for the entirety of the game, managed to break through Storybrook's defenses. Neal, resembling an irate bull, now had a clear line for Killian.

The rest of the play happened in slow motion for Regina, who had, of course, been watching Robin the entire time. Robin was an outside receiver: while he was spectacular at catching Killian's passes and running quickly up the sideline in the opposite direction of the huddle, tackling angry linebackers was absolutely not in his job description. Nonetheless, Regina was suddenly watching Robin sprint at full-speed towards the side of Neal Cassidy in some ridiculous, heroic attempt to stop him from getting to Killian.

Killian, who had, at this point, noticed Neal rushing towards him, managed to dart out of the way just in time for Robin to block Neal with his entire body, taking the entire brunt of his force. Both Robin and Neal crumpled to the ground immediately.

"ROBIN!"

Regina was on her feet and running down the steps of the stand before she even had time to think about what she was doing, or how incredibly embarrassing her panic probably was. She was vaguely aware of the fact that Snow and Emma were following her, but all she cared about was getting to the bottom of the stands and closer to Robin.

She ran aggressively into the divider between the stands and the field, Emma and Snow rushing up behind her. Both of the teams on the field were surrounding what could only be Robin lying on the ground, as Neal had already gotten up and was walking around.

"I can't see him," Regina heard herself say. Regina knew that she was probably going to be teased mercilessly for this very public display of feminine concern, but watching Robin get hurt like that was horrifying. She hadn't experienced a feeling of such genuine panic in a very long time.

"Regina, I'm sure he's fine," Snow said easily, placing a hand on Regina's back.

"Look, he's getting up!" Emma exclaimed, pointing, as Robin, supported on both sides by Killian and David, began limping off of the field.

Regina audibly sighed in relief, but didn't make any attempt to return to her seat.

"David! Killian!" she suddenly heard herself shout. David, who was apparently within earshot, looked around for a brief moment before recognizing her. He seemed to realize that she obviously wanted him and Killian to bring Robin over to her, as he said something to the two of them and they shifted their direction towards where she, Snow, and Emma were standing. Regina at this point made eye contact with Robin, who suddenly looked even more embarrassed than she felt.

By the time they made it over to where the three of them were standing, play had already resumed back on the field.

"Do my eyes deceive me, or did the evil queen of Storybrook High just publicly sprint down ten flights of stairs to come and check on her boyfriend?" Killian teased immediately.

"Did my eyes deceive me, or did my boyfriend just completely save your sorry, jealous ass?" Regina snapped back. Killian scowled, as he and David finally set Robin down.

"Are you alright, Robin? That looked brutal," Emma said pointedly, glaring at Killian.

"I'm fine," Robin assured them all sheepishly, staring up only at Regina. She ducked down under the bar standing in the way of the stadium and the field, and leapt down onto the grass in front of David, Killian and Robin. Her position was now mostly invisible to the spectators in the stands. Emma and Snow followed.

"You absolute ASS, Killian Jones!" Emma bellowed, just as soon as he and David turned to face her and Snow. Regina felt that whatever argument was about to ensue between them would be an adequate distraction for her to speak non-platonically with Robin.

"Are you alright?" Regina immediately asked him breathlessly, running her hands over his chest instinctively. Robin, still obviously very uncomfortable with all of the attention, held her hand to him and shook his head dismissively.

"Regina, I'm perfectly fine, I promise," he reassured her, easily pressing his lips to the inside of her palm.

"Good. So I don't have to feel like a bitch for telling you how incredibly stupid that was?" Regina said. Robin laughed loudly.

"Not a single thing about how heroic I am? How adorable I look when I'm wounded? I'm only stupid?" Robin questioned playfully, arching an eyebrow.

"Your idiocy just forced me to undermine my entire reputation, if you didn't notice," Regina snapped. But it was difficult to deliver the point without smiling back at him. Robin just grinned widely at her.

"What?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"Nothing, I just… like when you're concerned about me," Robin said quietly, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips. Regina's heart skipped about twelve beats.

"Stupid, heroic, thief."