Hello! I'm 1/6th of the trashies and I give to you the 4th day of the 12 Days of Christmas! Hope you guys enjoy it!
Four calling birds- Bring forth the fluff!
Regina chuckles sarcastically as she catches sight of the packed mall, and she mentally kicks herself for being such an idiot.
A blasted, always-focused-on-work idiot who left her Christmas shopping for the last minute. Just like last year.
And the year after.
Idiot, she berates herself once again.
And it doesn't help the fact that there are parents yelling everywhere, children cries wafting down the main hall, obviously afraid of sitting on a stranger's man lap with a fake beard made of polyester shit.
It's not that she hates Christmas, in fact she adores the whole festivities and gatherings that came along with it. No she doesn't hate Christmas, just hates the fact that her tight schedule, her demanding job makes it difficult for her to finish buying all the Christmas presents and leaves her with yet another tight schedule for preparing the family dinner, a tradition she's picked up the moment her godson was born.
But anyways, there's no use to getting pissed at the world for her deciding on law as a profession, there's no use in getting mad at her tight schedule when it was her the one that decided she could handle a couple of college lectures on law and other sorts of shit that are not needed for abogacia. And she loves her job, truly, she does, it's just this whole season. This whole holiday, pressing a weight on her shoulders because everything has to come out perfectly, everything has to be amazing —and it is time's like this where she hates her perfectionist side. Wishes nothing more than to spend this holiday with a family of her own, curled up on the sofa with a baby whose chubby cheeks tint deep crimson as the giggles subside, her husband smiling and pulling the both of them even closer to him—
Bump!
A body runs straight into her legs, almost toppling her over with the momentum, making her lose grasp of the small purse she had in her hand, dropping all of it's contents onto the floor.
"Roland, watch where you're going!"
A British voice calls out, but she still can't see the owner's face, is still too caught up with the small body that's sheepishly eyeing her, his cute brown messy curls molding around his beautiful chubby face.
"I'm so sorry, m'lady, my son here can be quite the trouble maker."
"No worries," she smiles down at the cute kid, instantly forgetting about her Christmas shopping list, stressful day and longing holidays' nights for a moment. Then she playfully rubs the top of this child's head to which the little boy smiles brightly and giggles, dimples full on display. And God, she hates and adores at the same time the effect she has on kids, the effect they also have on her. "I'm pretty sure I was the one not looking in front of me, so, sorry Roland." With that, Regina offers him her hand to shake, to which he smacks as if it were a high-five, causing Regina to laugh loudly at him.
"Do I know you?" The now suddenly familiar British timbre calls out and this time Regina's eye rake over his body, before settling on his face. She decides that yes, he seems very familiar to her but still can't pinpoint why exactly, who is he, and she tells him so, to which he chuckles and nods along.
It is, however, when they both bend down to pick up her purse that Regina catches sight of his tattoo, and her body goes rigid with hatred from that day and a little bit of awe at how incredibly amusing this whole situation is.
Once again the both of them in the very same mall they met, a year ago, with the same damn Santa Clause beside them on his chair ho-ho-hoing as he tries to calm down a baby girl resting on his lap.
Regina stands up straight suddenly, Robin following suit as he hands her her purse.
"It's you," Regina murmurs, voice amused suddenly at this whole situation as she eyes him suspiciously.
And this time, when Robin looks at her, realization dawns on him.
—
She needs to find that godforsaken Nerf arrow for her beautiful god-son, Henry. Ever since he saw the ad weeks ago he'd been babbling non-stop about it, saying how cool it was, how he wants it for Christmas, how he'll love her forever if he gets it. Of course he said that about the PS4 (which between Henry's mother, and Regina, is wrapped already and hiding under Regina's bed).
So yes, she loves spoiling her little prince, the little boy that arrived into her best-friend's life as a surprise and changed them, both of them, for the better. So she loves him, and if that means spending these last few days before Christmas standing up in queues after queues in exchanged for his beautiful smile, she'll do it countless of times, every day.
But the problem is that she's been looking for that damn bow for days, to no avail. Online shipping taking over seven days for it to arrive, definitely past Christmas. So she came here, after Henry's mother suggested the place.
The toy store is packed, and messy, and if there's a manager here she'll have his or her head for being just so unorganized with Christmas just around the corner.
She's trying once again to find that blasted bow —is getting quite frustrated with it if she were being honest— and so far she's found only the plastic one made for little kids, not the one made for a twelve year old, and countless and countless of plush toys thrown haphazardly here and there, many of them being birds.
For a moment Regina considers turning around and leaving this packed place behind, going to a sports' store and buying him a real bow with real pointy sticks, but she sticks around, smacks herself inwardly at how horrible that thought was.
Regina moves around countless of people, countless of toys, looking here, there, everywhere to no avail.
Until finally, finally she catches sight of it, the last one on the shelf on the far end of this crowded hall. Looking at her, calling her to it and she almost cries with joy at the beautiful bow, the design already engraved in her head with the countless of time's she's seen the ad.
She needs to touch it, needs to have it in her arms so she can weep quietly at the feel of it safely in her hold, so she walks closer to it, everything around her slowing down as her focus is entirely on this damn—but beautiful— thing, her precious never-ending nightmare.
Regina's smile grows brightly the moment she comes inches away from it, it's neat detail calling out to her the very same way it called out to Henry.
She's about to touch it, grab it and make a beeline for the queue, before another hand is also reaching for the fucking bow and in an instant everything starts moving again around her, can feel her heart beat increasing, her anger too as she reaches for the other end of the box, and pulls it towards her.
"Hey! I saw it first!" Regina calls out and it sounds way too needy, verging on desperation, but who can blame her, though? She's been trying to find this thing for years, decades (it feels like it). She won't let anyone, especially not a handsome man as himself take it away from… Wow he is hot, with his crisp white shirt and those bright blue eyes and—
"Well, m'lady, staring at it doesn't really count now, does it?" the man chuckles and pulls a little bit on the box, pulling her in the process.
And shit, why must his voice cause so many naughty thoughts already when he's fucking taking this precious gift away from her? When he's being so fucking rude to her?
But she's determined to win, determined to buy the thing and get out of his hair real quick.
"Fine," she says after a moment before continuing, "What will it get for you to give me that nerf bow?"
The man simply chuckles, loudly now, clearly amused at her.
"I'm sorry, m'lady, but no can do."
Regina simply huffs a breath and crosses her arms in front of her chest, like a petulant child about to throw a tantrum.
"I would like to speak with a manager," she lets out, always using fear as a technique to get whatever she wants.
He merely smiles brighter and nods.
"Okay, now tell me Miss…"
"I'm not telling you my name."
God, she's insufferable, she knows that she can be quite stubborn at times but this, wow, she's being quite the joyous chic so close to Christmas!
"Well, Miss. Grinch, do you see a manager around here?" he playfully jests before dropping the bow into his shopping cart full of those darn plush birds she saw on her way here, several of them chirping when the box falls on top of them.
She ignores his reply before eyeing his cart suspiciously.
"Why would you buy all of those birds?" she changes the topic, suddenly interested on the contents in his cart, trying to find a way to manipulate him into letting her have the damn bow.
"I'm teaching my son how to hunt," he replies, a proud smile on his face and that does it for Regina, she growls and rolls her eyes. The man starts chuckling then, obviously enjoying her distress quite a lot.
Regina merely sighs, whispers an "Enjoy the gift," before she's turning around, intent on making that darn walk of shame down the group of savage parents trying to buy something for their child.
"Wait!" he calls out and Regina turns around, hoping that her façade worked and his sympathy won out. "I'm joking," the man lets out with a sheepish expression before he calls for a retailer their way.
The woman, dressed in an elf costume, happily makes her way towards them, a permanent smile on her face.
"Tink, can you please take these to the back? There are just too many around the store."
And yes, at least there's something Regina and him can agree on.
He pushes the cart towards the woman before pulling the box with the bow from it.
Regina stares at the both of them with a confused expression before Tink nods her head and says, "Whatever you say, boss."
Ain't that a kick in the nuts?
Regina groans inwardly and closes her eyes. Thank God she didn't start yelling atrocities about the management, or him —although she was quite rude to him and she still needs that damn gift.
"Well this is embarrassing," Regina confesses after a moment.
"It is, isn't it?" The man whose blue eyes shine brightly confirms, and Regina's pretty sure she's blushing, her insides suddenly warming at this whole situation before she scrunches up her nose at him and bites her lip.
"I'm sorry for my rudeness, I can be quite stubborn at times."
"Really? I didn't notice!" he playfully jests before he signals towards a closed cashing register and asks her to follow him. "I'm Robin, by the way." He offers his hand for her to shake and Regina shakes it gladly, her eyes landing on his intricate tattoo for a moment —God, she's alway had a thing for men with tattoos— before replying.
"I'm Mrs. Grinch."
To which Robin laughs and nods, already attracted to her wit before starting to wrap the gift and engaging in conversation with this beautiful lady in front of him.
Forty minutes later, when she's driving down the road with the windows down (she's feeling giddy and excited for the very first time that day) she looks over at Henry's present again, a small but bright yellow paper peeking her interest.
A detail she didn't notice before.
So she pulls the bright yellow paper from the gift, confusion quickly changing to amusement as realization dawns on her, and she laughs loudly at the words scribbled down.
Drinks are on me, Mrs. Grinch!
—Robin
A small bow and a phone number underneath.
Regina folds the paper, safely tucks it inside her front pocket, a bright smile appearing on her face at the thought of getting to know this beautiful idiot a bit more.
—
"Why did you even grab the bow?" Regina asks amusedly at the memory.
"Well, Mrs. Grinch—"
"It's Regina," she smiles at him.
Robin offers her a bright smile before continuing. "Well, Regina, I saw you standing still in the middle of the store as you just stared at this odd looking thing, so I wondered why the hell not pull your legs a little bit!"
"It was embarrassing—"
"But fun, I just wish it lasted longer," he offers her and Regina scoffs before looking down at his kid once again, the small child entranced by Santa's ho-ho-hoing —Regina had to hand it to the man, he sounds very real, really in character with the man from the North Pole, and she smiles at the sight of Roland.
"Did he finally learn how to hunt?"
She arches her eyebrow at Robin, who lets out a boisterous laugh in response, still too amused with what happened a year ago.
"In the twenty-first century? Frankly that was the first thing that came to my head and now that I think about it, it was really stupid."
And Regina just shakes her head amusedly before crouching down until she is face to face with Roland. "Your papa is crazy." Suddenly caught up in the whole Christmas' spirit and the joyfulness that comes from it.
Roland simply giggles and nods, agreeing almost immediately to it before turning his attention once again towards fake-Santa.
"Do forgive me, m'lady, if I was too straight forward last year." His hand sheepishly travels to the back of his head and he scratches a bit there, a movement that Regina finds quite adorable.
"What for?" She asks the minute she stands straight and crosses her arms in front of her, truly confused with his words.
"I left you a note, but I never received a call in return I just thought—"
Oh
Oh
Once again damn her blasted, always-focused-on-work idiot self because now she remembers, now she remembers that note she tucked safely in her pocket. Now she remembers how disappointed she was when she pulled that bright yellow paper from the washing machine a few days later, the one that once held the promise of something new, but once pulled out of the machine held nothing but ink spots, nothing readable. Now she remembers how she wanted to come back to this place, to his store and make a fool of herself as she explained what happened to her. But the smarter, stubborn side of her prevented her from doing so.
And amongst casework after casework, lectures after lectures, Regina now remembers how she simply forgot about it.
Robin looks a bit disappointed in front of her, and if there's something she doesn't want right now, is to have a repeat of last year. So she gives him a sympathetic look and bites her lower lip, before explaining everything to him.
"You should've just come by. I would've just given you another note after I laughed," Robin deadpans and his eyes are staring intently at hers, blue orbs meeting coffee colored ones, an attraction felt so deep between the both of them already.
Regina blushes after a second and breaks their eye contact, looks at the countless of stores before her eyes land on a familiar one on the far end.
She looks at him again, determination and awe filling her to the brim before she asks.
"Care to embarrass me again?"
Robin chuckles and nods his head, before he's turning on his heels and calling Roland to him.
"Oh, I've been dreaming of it."
Months later when family members ask the couple how they both met, they'll chuckle at the same time and without breaking eye contact they'll say…
We both reached for the bow.