Notes: Hello everyone!
You didn't think that I wouldn't write the duel mentioned in the last chapter, did you?
Here we go!
The queen opened her eyes with the feeling of lips running across her hair, face, and neck the next morning. Robin stood on his elbow, glaring at her fondly.
As she smiled involuntarily, she tried to adjust to the morning sun. She muttered in her sleepy voice. "Good morning."
He pulled back her hair on her forehead. His fingers especially lingered on her face. "The sun has risen right now. Good morning to you too, Milady."
"It's Your Majesty." She replied with a serious expression adorned with a scowl, but when the prince laughed she couldn't help it and immediately joined in. She felt too happy to hold back her anger even at the slightest joke.
He continued to look at her as if she were the most precious thing in the world as she laughed. So much so that after a while, Regina also stopped laughing and locked herself in his blue eyes.
Her lips were still in a curl as she slid up a little on the pillow. "What? Why are you looking like that?"
"I thought there was no better start than the first morning we woke up together, but your laughter surpassed even that."
Blood suddenly rushed to her cheeks, she chuckled vaguely as her chocolate eyes sparkled. Then she grabbed the man by the shoulders and pulled him to herself, quenching the longing on her lips.
She kept the kiss short, and parted her lashes, tilted her head to the side. "You don't think much anyway, thief." Her velvet voice held the shadows of all dark desires. "There are better things."
He glued his upper body to the woman. "Would you mind teaching me to think of better things, Your Majesty?"
"Try to persuade." Her lips moved slowly, as if whispering a sin. "You have to make an effort for a queen to be your teacher. Deserve it."
"Do you know that I am highly persuasive? Honestly, I'm broken."
"Unfortunately, your reputation did not reach here. You'll have to show it yourself."
Robin slid his knees between Regina's legs, stood on top of her with his whole body, his eyes fixed on her eyes. His confident smile, the dimples in his cheek, the way the pine scent reached her nose had a serious effect on the queen's heartbeat. By the time the prince answered with his lips, she had already risen from the earth into the clouds.
"What meal are you planning to cook today?" Robin asked, looking at her reflection in the mirror of the vanity.
"What meal?" Pulling her crimson lipstick from her lips and placing it on the table, the queen turned slightly in her chair.
"Did you have such a wonderful evening that you forgot our duel?" He replied with a flirtatious smile, but his shoulder was lightly slapped by the woman beside him.
She slid her hand from her chest to her stomach to straighten her perfect dress, flipping back the long skirt gathered behind her. "I didn't think we were really going to do this."
He grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to him. "Why shouldn't we?"
"I don't know... Cooking, walking in the woods, waking up happy mornings. Normal stuff. It's just…" She searched for the right word. "Weird. It feels weird, in a good way. It's been 12 years since I had a relationship like this."
Robin smiled. "A relationship. It's weird to hear that from you too."
She bent her waist back and gave him a sweet stern look. "I'm not heartless, thief, stop making fun of me."
"I know a heartless person can't make me feel this way, there was just a time when I was so desperate. Sometimes I feel like it's a dream that we live, that you look at me like that."
"I think we've done a lot of things to make you believe it's real." She placed a quick kiss on his lips. "Let's go, so I can win this duel." She laughed as she took his arm and walked to the door.
Her magic, which had been protecting them from all prying eyes for days, had managed to get all the kitchen staff out, and the room was entirely theirs. Both were rummaging through cabinets to get their own supplies.
"So what are you doing?" Regina asked as she placed a basket of apples on the counter.
Finding all her supplies, Robin took off his cloak and placed it carefully on the chair. He raised his voice in a tone suitable for dinner. "Boeuf bourguignon."
The queen's eyes widened as if in disbelief. She put her hands on her hips and assumed an interrogation position. "Which cook did you trick the night into making that meal, and more importantly, where did you hide it?"
"If you don't believe it, you'd better not have heard that I'm making crème brûlée."
"If I had known that prince education at Sherwood was to do crème brûlée, I would have made Henry take classes as well." She said with the same sarcasm, and reached into the closet to collect her last supplies.
After a short silence, the answer came. "I didn't know that lasagna is also cooked in princess education, Your Majesty, our feelings are mutual."
The Queen turned to the man behind her suddenly frowning, wondering how Robin could surprise her even more when her eyes met with the ingredients on the table. Had he just guessed her meal by looking at the ingredients, or had she accidentally given him a clue about it?
Realizing what she was thinking, the man laughed. "I'm not as bad as you think, huh?"
She didn't think he was bad, on the contrary, Robin was the most wonderful man she had ever seen, and she felt like the luckiest woman in the world to have him. Yet the queen's ego refused to tell her this, her competitive greed prevailed. "We'll see."
"Aren't you going to tell me your dessert?"
"If you're so good, find it yourself." She said while shrugging.
He walked away from his table and came to the table where her supplies were. "Hmm... Apple, cinnamon. Apple cookies? You're cheating, you know I love apples!"
She stopped right in front of him, leaving very little space between them. "Don't be a spoilsman, Robin. You know I like vanilla, and crème brûlée is made with vanilla. Besides, it's not a cookie, you aren't as good as you thought."
"But…" The prince's sentence disappeared between the lips of the woman he loved. Regina quickly silenced him before he could protest.
The blond man who can let her win without even cooking, opened his eyes with a shaky breath as they pulled away from contact. He could have picked her up and put her on the table right there and ignored the bet, but he knew the queen would accuse him of fearing defeat. "You're cheating again."
"Do you want to appeal again?"
"Are you going to answer in the same way?"
"Try me." She winked.
He excitedly protested, eager to get a kiss again. "You know you can convince me when you kiss me. So, this is chea…"
His sentence was still unfinished, but this time it was not the queen's warm lips, but a cold little spoon that slammed into his lips. He disappointed by the unexpected move, the woman laughed. "Focus on your meal, you can't win for fear of defeat."
After two hours of dealing with each other more than their meals, they were ready for the presentation. Two people in the middle of the cluttered kitchen left their plates on the table for the decision phase.
Robin did not neglect to pull out Regina's chair. She was always the owner of his heart, even though she was his rival at that moment. He didn't feel like taking a break from showing love to her even for a second.
After he sat down his chair, he said "Ladies first."
The queen took the fork that the blue-eyed man held out, carefully placed a piece of lasagna she had cut with the knife, and handed it to him. When the prince reached out to take the fork, her free hand took hold of the outstretched hand and gave a sweet smile.
The fact that he was going to eat the food that his queen made was already a cause of happiness in itself, but eating from her hand gave the man a feeling of heaven.
The moment the fork passed between his lips, the taste that enveloped his tongue doubled, maybe even tripled his pleasure. He couldn't deny that it was one of the tastiest meals he'd ever eaten, and he wasn't going to deny it anyway.
Regina looked at him curiously, as if she wanted to read Robin's thoughts as she cut a piece for herself and ate it. "What are you thinking?"
"It would be more accurate if you asked how I felt."
"What are you feeling?" She chuckled as she corrected the question and took another bite of her own masterpiece.
"I feel uneasy that you keep eating that perfect thing." Reaching out, he pulled the plate in front of her in front of him, took the fork in his hand and started to devour the whole plate quickly.
"Robin, take it slow, oh okay…" When she realized he wasn't listening to her, she sat back and just waited. The imminence of the victory increased her enjoyment even more. "I guess my opponent in this competition is not your prince identity but your outlaw identity. Both are fine with me, but I'm starting to worry about your drowning."
"Anyone who ate this would forget who they were. There's no need to pretend you don't know." He kept stuffing big chunks into his mouth.
The Queen proudly raised her head and winked. "You think I don't know that?"
"My love, you are wonderful, I bow before you in reverence." The woman laughed as he stood up and actually bent over.
"Your turn. I'm wondering, come on."
Robin prepared a bite from his plate, like Regina, and slid the metal between her red lips. It was his turn to watch with delight as her eyes closed and chewed the food. He obviously didn't look completely defeated.
When her eyes finally opened, it was her turn to comment. "How can you treat lasagna like it's the best thing you've ever eaten when you can do that?"
Normally he should have defended his own meal, but his honor wouldn't allow it. Indeed, that lasagna was the best meal he had ever eaten. "Because it was! You know I'm not lying."
"It's just food taste, and I know I have good food taste. I won't let you give me this race." She pulled the plate in front of him, as Robin had done, but continued to eat without violating etiquette. "What did you use in this?"
"I'll only tell you if you tell me what you used for the lasagna." He must learn and try the recipe.
"Red pepper."
"Leave of Daphne."
The duel turned into an argument when they were in the same mess in the dessert category. Tinker Bell entered the room as their voices were echoing between the kitchen walls, but they didn't even notice she came. Two extremely stubborn royal powers clashed, trying to convince each other that only the other's meal was better.
"It's your right to win, preparing the dough for that pie is not the same as mixing two or three ingredients."
"I know how difficult it is to set the right consistency of crème brûlée, Robin, please stop being stubborn. You only say it because you love me."
"Don't get my love involved, Regina, I know what I've eaten."
If Regina had entered this competition with someone else and was even the most talented chef in the world, she would definitely claim that her own meal was better; but her friend was standing there making a great effort to give the trophy for her opponent. For God's sake, Tinker Bell doesn't want to fall in love if love makes people talk that much nonsense.
"Oh, what a coincidence, I know what I've eaten too. It doesn't even compare to apple pie."
"Anything with apples is good!"
"I know it is, you silly, I use apple shampoo!"
"What?" Tired of turning her eyes to whoever spoke, the blonde woman couldn't understand how it came from food to shampoo. What are they doing?!
"For God's sake, I smell your hair every second, don't you think the apple is a decisive criterion for me?" The prince replied.
The Queen frowned in anger. Even his sweet words, which he did not neglect, could not calm her. "Just because you like apples, you can't do an injustice. This is not fair!"
"Realize that you did the real injustice to the lasagna. I would consider that an insult to red pepper."
"And is it your job to defend the pepper?"
"How did they get to this day without destroying their kingdom, my God?" Tink finally decided to intervene and tried to get herself noticed. "Hey, can you just be quiet for a second? You are acting like a child!"
"Yes, it is my job to defend the pepper!" Robin took a step towards her.
"Admit it now! Your meals were better!" When the queen reflexively slammed her hand on the table, the flour blew up and painted the prince's face white.
"Are we getting into this? Okay!" He picked up a handful of flour from the table and threw it at the woman whose dark red dress was already full of flour stains, she looked so funny when her black hair turned white instantly, but all the prince thought was that she would look beautiful even when she was old.
"Robin! You will pay for this!" She dipped her hand into the flour bag and blew a handful of white powder towards him. Her laughter echoed in the kitchen as the man with flour in his nose and throat began to cough.
The shouts of a few moments ago were now replaced by cheerful voices. The environment, covered with a cloud of white smoke, had turned from a courtroom into a playground. When the bag was half empty, the queen preceded the prince, snatched it from the table and poured it over the man's head in the blink of an eye.
When the dust cloud descended to the ground and finally opened his eyes, met a very cheerful woman.
"I hope you realize you've been cheating all day. Not befitting a queen, Your Majesty."
"You are not like children. You are children." The couple jumped in surprise, realizing the presence of Tinker Bell, who had suffered from the flour war and was all white.
"Tink, you scared me!"
"Did I scare you? I've been here for minutes, you didn't even notice me because of bickering." She said, trying to clean up. "I still don't understand how you got from apple pie to apple shampoo."
Although they did not want to laugh at the reproach of their friends, after a while they could not help themselves and started to laugh.
"As if you didn't have a fight before. Okay, I learned that I shouldn't come between you. Whatever you do, just don't bother me in my bathroom." She wouldn't have been involved in this chaos if she had left minutes ago, but it had happened. There was a brief silence as she got out of the kitchen, and the two adult children left alone.
The queen took the prince's arm and led him out of the messy room. They also needed a long bath. "Boeuf bourguignon was very good."
He placed a kiss in her white hair. "Lasagna was better."
Notes: Love makes you silly even if you're a queen or a prince, I really enjoy writing them like this. 😂
I hope you like it too.