Fate has it out for him. Of that, Robin Locksley is sure. He was just trying to mind his own business and kick back a few with John before John started his shift. Things don't get terribly hectic in the Rabbit Hole before 9 -10 in the evening. There's a small influx to the bar around five, naturally, but then things don't speed up again until then.
It was just after half past seven when he saw her, moping about at the bar like she'd just been delivered the worst news. And then the feeling crept in, the one where he needed to comfort her and he kicked himself for it because she's not his to comfort. He doesn't even know why he got the feeling in the first place but he did and that's what had him asking John to excuse him and subsequently heading towards hallway girl—Regina.
She's as witty and stunning as ever and she doesn't disappoint in comebacks. The moment he walks over, their verbal banter has set off like a rocket. And she is firing without any warning shots.
Then there's also the fact that she's sexy as hell as she tips back her first drink.
He hasn't bothered with his yet because he's too busy watching her. And he knows he should stop but he can't help himself.
"What?" she snaps.
"Oh, I knew you'd be a mean drunk," he grins.
She rolls her eyes, "I'm not drunk."
"Ah yes, I forgot you've got a stick up your arse already when you're sober."
"Go to hell," she says bitterly before she downs another.
Robin still hasn't taken one yet and now he thinks not to. Clearly, she's very upset over something and he doesn't want to push or pry too hard. Perhaps, this wasn't such a great idea. He should've left her alone to pout her way through her misery.
But he doesn't want to leave her alone. He can't leave her alone.
Bloody hell. Why's he always feel the need to be some knight in shining armor? And as annoying as that is he still remains.
"So what did he do?"
"Huh?"
"Your lover boy. You don't come here on the piss for nothing. Unless you're a drunk, which is entirely impossible since you're no fun," he teases.
"First of all, not all drunks are fun and, two, maybe I'm just not fun around you because I don't like you."
Her face is scrunched up in disdain but he just chuckles.
"The last thing I want is to be liked by you."
That's a lie and he knows it. If he had the chance to be liked by her, he'd take it without a doubt. Not because he fancies her or anything, but merely because he'd win the sort of bet he's got going on in his own head. In fact, so long as fate, or whatever it is, squishes them together, he plans on following through. He just wants to be right.
That's really why he's staying. To prove a point.
"Well then your wish has completely come true." The ice in her voice is piercing and he can't help but wonder what the bloke did to her.
Probably cheated or something like that. And for a fleeting moment he questions how anyone could cheat on her. She is an incredibly gorgeous girl; he'll give her that, so it'd be ridiculous to bail on her. He'd expect someone to stay, if for nothing other than her phenomenal body, of course.
The problem then is what he's supposed to say now. He's not really one for comforting the ladies—satisfying them, that's totally up his alley, but this is something entirely different and he just knows it. She also doesn't seem much of the type for pity so he scours his brain for a way out, but with a way to keep the conversation going because he just can't go. Not yet.
He goes for daring because the worst thing that could happen is that she gets offended and throws her drink in his face and, while that isn't exactly desirable, he isn't afraid to try her a little bit. "Seems you granted his as well."
She leans back, eyes wild and mouth curling inward into a fine line. She stays silent for a moment, presumably to gather all her rage in that pretty little head of hers. He thinks for a second that she might explode. How adorable. "Fuck you," she finally barks at him.
"If you'd like," he smirks.
She stands up then, body rigid and—are those tears?
Oh wonderful going Robin, you great sodding tosspot.
He hadn't really expected that reaction because she just seems like the type of girl who has thick skin and can take a few hits; probably needs them too because everyone else walks on eggshells around her. But apparently, Robin has crossed a line.
"I'm leaving," she mutters softly.
"Wait," he instinctively grabs her hand and rather than ripping it away, her eyes grow big again for a split second before glancing down at their hands. He's got a knack for needing to grab her, and who knows what that's all about, but he feels the need to pull her back every time she goes to walk away.
"I'm sorry," he finishes.
She seems unaffected and squirms her arm a little to get it out of his grip.
"Look I'm about as big an idiot as that boyfriend of yours but I won't let you walk away." He's looking at her intently and he feels a lump rise in his throat. He has no idea why that came out of his mouth and he instantly tries to come up with ways to take it back. "Because… I bought these drinks and we aren't going to waste them."
"I don't want to drink with you," she grimaces.
"Well if you'd like princess, we can go set you down at the other end of the bar, and I'll keep sending shots your way."
"Stop calling me that."
"Stop acting like it and I will," he retorts quickly.
"I do not act like a princess," she pouts again and it's almost laughable because she's acting exactly like a child and he means to tell her so but the look in her eyes is defeated so he just can't.
Oh to hell with it.
He smacks her barstool. "Then sit down and prove it. You're gonna tell me this bloody story and for every bit that you tell, you'll take a drink until you are too drunk to do anything but sit down."
"So what, you can take advantage of me like you do every other woman?" Her bite is back which is a relief.
And it has Robin smiling easily. "I'll behave myself. Besides, you'll be throwing yourself at me by the time this is all over." He winks at her and she scoffs.
"You are far too confident and full of yourself."
"So are you."
She scowls down at him then at her barstool. "And what does me getting super drunk prove?"
"You don't like me?" he offers.
"Obviously," she tilts her face up.
"Then sitting down with someone you don't like and getting vulnerable, seems pretty valiant to me." He tilts up an eyebrow.
"I'm not gonna be vulnerable. I am not vulnerable."
"Everyone is vulnerable."
"Not me."
He chuckles, "Okay, princess."
"Stop calling me that," she reiterates angrily.
He doesn't say anything but lifts both eyebrows so that she understands that he sticks by what he said earlier. She just frowns, then plops back into her chair.
"I'm not a princess," she grumbles. "And you will be the last person I'd ever let see me be vulnerable."
"We'll see about that."
"Let's drink," she snaps.
[:]
It doesn't take many drinks. She's a lightweight, he can tell. Her words are starting to slur together, just slightly, but not enough, so that she's still fairly coherent. He finds it funny. He expected her to cave but it turned out to be much easier for him to be right than he thought. Truthfully, he can't help but feel a bit of a swell of pride.
It will be over tonight. His whole little mystery game will be all solved. He just has to know a bunch of details (ones that will probably turn him off from her), bed her and then be done with her. Easy as pie. Then he can go on living his life and forget about the elusive hallway girl.
If only it was that simple.
She's downing another shot right before she finally addresses the primary issue, "He didn't cheat."
He looks over at her, surprised by the revelation.
"But he just couldn't keep his mouth shut," she continues.
What could it be then? Did he dump her? Rotten luck but it could be worse, right? At least, he didn't cheat; that had to have been a relief. But according to the girl's expressions, it seems like whatever he did was far worse. But what could be worse than cheating on someone?
Although, they did seem to be in a rather different situation, since last he saw of her, she was still peeling herself away from his room in the mornings. So if they aren't exactly a couple, cheating would be irrelevant and that eliminates any other couple problem. Unless she wanted to become a couple and he turned her down, which frankly wouldn't surprise him. Women are all so needy. That's why he always goes for the sleazy girls because those you can sleep with and have no attachments afterwards.
But girls like the one he's sitting with now, they're high maintenance and think that they know everything. Not to mention, they want everything their way and if that doesn't happen, then at best, the girl dumps him and at worst, she stays with him and spends the rest of her days bitching about that one thing that pissed her off ages ago.
This is exactly why Robin doesn't do long term relationships. They turn into some bonafide disaster because the man wants more sex and the woman wants more of the relationship so they basically get married to satisfy each other, wind up with kids and then hate each other for being stuck that way. Eventually, they may get a divorce but that won't stop them from tearing each other to absolute shreds beforehand.
His mum and dad were a prime example. Both came from family money so they were inherently wealthy, and so it goes in his family history, that they must keep up the pedigree. Two rich, good looking folks marry and produce children only to make those children suffer through all the late night screaming and door slamming. And, of course, it hadn't helped Robin that he was an only child so whenever his parents wanted to use him as bait well, he had to take the brunt of it.
One time (and perhaps, the only time), Robin's family went out for a day at the pool, he had decided that he wanted to swim like all the other kids in his neighborhood, so he jumped right into the deep end sans any kind of floatation device or ability to swim. Sad thing was, his parents hadn't even bothered to notice. They were too busy fighting about something stupid that had happened earlier that day. Had Marian's family not been there that day, Robin probably would've drowned.
The man had jumped in after him, clothes and all, to fetch him out the water. And even as they emerged from the water together, his parents still hadn't noticed. It wasn't until Marian's father was carrying him out of the pool, with Robin nearly retching in an attempt to clear his lungs of the water, that they'd been ripped away from their argument to notice their son almost dying.
Robin's mother was the first to react, screaming and then running over to fuss all over him, calling him her "poor baby" and asking if he was okay. Of course, he was very young at the time and didn't have much of a backbone to tell his mum to shove off and that perhaps if they paid him more attention, this wouldn't have happened.
Robin's father, on the other hand, was being diplomatic, professionally rising from his chair, not even bothering with Robin's wellbeing, and shaking Marian's father's hand and thanking him for saving "his boy."
And while his father (and mother) did look entirely concerned, it was all for show because the second after Marian's family left, they were back at each other's throats and ignoring Robin. His father never even asked him one time if he was okay. To be fair, for awhile, the subject of their argument was Robin, although it was merely to accuse the other of being a poor parent, when in actuality they both were.
That's how Robin's life went and that's how any relationship he would attempt at, would go. So he knows it's best to forgo the whole stupid thing and just have sex.
That's why he left Marian and that's why he hasn't looked back since.
"And what does that mean?" he asks as she guzzles yet another shot.
He thinks to tell her to slow down but maybe she needs to loosen up some. Besides, she's in his charge and he's going to be sure to watch after her.
"It means that he has a great capacity to do exactly what I don't want him to do."
Robin chuckles, "Yes, he must have forgotten the cardinal rule: Never do something Princess wouldn't want."
She rolls her eyes, clearly not amused. "Oh please, your reaction would've been far worse."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes because you have the emotional capacity of an ant," she sneers.
"I heard that ants can be very emotional creatures. How dare you?"
"Shut up."
"Oh good come back."
She turns to face him totally now, her knees knocking against his as she swirled around. She looks intently at him. "I love you, you know that."
He nearly spits out his drink, but instead, swallows hard. It goes down the wrong tube and he can feel as the tequila burns its way through his windpipe and his nose. He's certain he'll never be able to breathe properly after that. He coughs wildly, trying his best to clear out his respiratory passages. "What?!"
She's laughing then and it's something truly exquisite. He nearly forgets that he was choking to death just a few moments ago. "See, I told you."
"What?"
"You have no emotional range. You're essentially emotionally damaged. A stranger said that to you and you practically lose all sense of logic."
"Well, that isn't exactly a phrase you take lightly, m'lady. I mean, I'm flattered but you are merely a stranger."
"Oh please, as if I'd ever mean that line for you."
He knows she's meant that her lover had told her this but he can't help but play games.
"It's okay, your secret is safe with me, love," he winks.
"If I ever took an interest in you, you'd be shouting it from the roof tops."
"Well you just haven't given me a chance to climb to the top of The Rabbit Hole yet."
"Please do, and don't return." She gives a fake smile.
He rises then, reaching for her hand and lightly brushing his lips across her knuckles. He hears her breath hitch for a second and he relishes in the satisfaction it gives him. "As you wish, Your Majesty."
"Oh I've been upgraded?"
"Well yes because that sounds like the demand of a queen, probably an evil one, of course, but a queen nonetheless." And then he starts his journey away from her.
"Where are you going?"
"To fulfill your wishes."
"Oh stop being overdramatic and come back over here," she calls after him.
He tries to fight the smile itching to dance across his face and he doesn't turn around, instead he marches onward to the hallway in the back. He really just needs to use the loo but he used it as an opportunity to screw with her.
Once he reaches the hallway, he turns to see if she has followed, which she hasn't. He's briefly disappointed but he peeks his way back into the main area to see her sulking back to her barstool. At least, she moved. He considers abandoning his need to relieve his bladder and returning to her but he's really got to piss so he turns back to his original direction.
Bladder satiated, he goes back to his—well, not his—hallway girl. Except, he finds that his seat has been taken by another, a man with a near buzz cut and abnormally large ears. Well, that was fast.
"Erm, excuse me," he speaks tentatively when he's approached them, "that's my seat."
The man turns to look at him. Ah, an abnormally large nose to match his enormous ears. "Sorry, mate ya missed ya chance."
His accent had to have been northern somewhere in the UK (not often that he'll run into someone like that here) but Robin had no clue where, nor did he really care to try and figure it out. He's just really annoyed at this point. Perhaps, it's futile. He debates on whether to tell the man to bugger off or if he, himself, should just bugger off. Obviously, she isn't too concerned with who's in her company and Robin honestly shouldn't be sweating it too much.
She's just some girl.
"Right then, well you two have a lovely evening. I have a princess' wishes to fulfill," he smiles disheartened.
The man next to Regina just furrows his brow, unsure of what Robin means, while Regina frowns.
Bingo. That was the expression Robin was hoping for. She's such a sucker, just like all the other girls he'd bedded from the club. And he imagines beginning to laugh and telling her so, but the cockiness must have already reached his face because she starts to squint her eyes at him like she's caught onto something.
"Well, if you must go," she says airily, face pointing upward.
He knows she is aware of his antics this time. But two can easily play at that game. "Yes, so thank you for the drinks. I know how much you wanted me to stay the whole evening but I just don't think I can do this because of the—" he gestures around his mouth to indicate a problem with hers, "—thing, you know?"
Her jaw drops open and the other bloke is just looking between them.
"What thing?" he asks.
"Oh just the festering mouth sores and what have you," Robin interjects nonchalantly.
Regina's mouth gapes open further.
"Oh well, this was nice but I have to go…" the guy says slowly and then stands, immediately bolting afterward.
Before she can say anything, Robin jumps in, "Give me your phone."
"What? No."
"Yes hurry," but he needn't say anything else because it's on the bar top so he snatches it up.
"Hey!" she yells.
Passcode.
"Damn it. Punch it in now. Trust me," he hisses.
She mulls it over, looking at him warily.
"If you don't hurry, I can't do it," he warns.
"What?"
"I'll tell you in a second. Punch the damn code in."
She finally does it and Robin hollers out to the bloke walking away, "HEY YOU!"
The guy turns around just in enough time for Robin to open the camera and take a picture. Then, he turns back to face Regina and plops back into his newly vacated seat. Regina is still looking at him confusedly but before he tells her what he is up to, he turns his back to her, as well as, turns the camera around on them. "Say cheese."
She tries to cry out a no but he's already taken the picture and turns back to face her with an impish grin. "You're quite… photogenic."
"Shut up." She snatches the phone away to look at the picture "I'm deleting this."
"Wait don't," he pleads.
"No, I don't want it on my phone."
He sighs, "Then will you at least send it to me."
"No because you'll blackmail me with it or something," she answers shortly and returns her gaze back to the screen to delete it.
"I won't," he says hurriedly. "I promise. 'S too good a picture to go to waste. Please."
She huffs out dejectedly. "Fine." She hands the phone back over to him. "Just send it to yourself."
He takes her phone and navigates it, clicking the share button, then the message icon. It pops up in a new iMessage and he types his number at the top. He wonders if she'll save it or delete it. Fleetingly, he hopes for the former. But when the second is up, he clicks send and watches as it zips off to cyber space.
"I did it so that should your mouthful of festering sores get around to anyone else, you have proof he was here with you and you can easily tell others the same about him." He references back to the preliminary photo.
"Wow you're so clever," she scoffs. "Now give me my phone back."
He holds out the phone to her but doesn't quite release his grip. Her hand settles atop his and his hand warms a little despite the chill of her touch. He levels his gaze with hers and it's almost as if they're children fighting over a toy but it's so much more than that. He doesn't relent for several seconds and neither does she, but they hold their eye contact.
She has really beautiful eyes. Has he ever noticed her eyes?
Their link is broken by a ringing sound, and the both jolt back. Thankfully, Robin is smart enough to clutch onto the phone so that it doesn't fall to the ground and probably shatter. He hands it to her quickly but not before glancing to see who the caller is.
Graham.
She pokes out her bottom lip and he watches as she mulls over whether or not to answer and it appears that she goes against answering it, because she sets the phone down face first on the bar top.
"You that pissed with him?" he inquires.
"It's not that I'm mad, it's just I don't really want to talk to him right now."
"Mhm," the doubt in his answer bleeds through.
"I don't."
"Why? Afraid, he'll say he loves you again?" he jests.
"No, it's not even the 'love' thing that I'm upset about."
"Oh?"
"It's that he got pissed off and acted like a child," she pouts.
"Oh," he suppresses his laughter because she isn't doing much better, honestly. "So you're mad because he's mad because you didn't say I love you back?"
"Yes. He called me a bitch all because I wasn't ready to make a really huge jump in our relationship—no, not relationship because we aren't a couple. So is it so wrong to not want to say it back?" Her eyes meet with his again and she's desperate. He knows that she wants to be told that she's done the right thing.
And as much as Robin likes to dig under her skin, this time he can't disagree, and he tells her so, explaining that he sees no fault in wanting a relationship solely based on sex and nothing more; it's safer for all parties.
"Thank you!" she exclaims. "Why does no one else get that?"
He shrugs.
"Wait." She straightens up. "We don't like each other. And I'm not going to sit around and agree with you or find common ground."
He smirks and pauses, allowing for other sounds enter in. That new Shut Up and Dance song is playing and inspiration strikes. He hops down from his stool and extends his hand. "Good. No more talking. Dance with me."
She looks at him as if he's lost his mind. "Oh like hell you'll see me out there dancing, least of all, with you." Her last few syllables drip with contempt.
"Oh c'mon princess. You want to forget about your lover and you don't want to converse with me so get your arse out to that dance floor right now and dance with me.
"No!" she answers adamantly.
"Hey, you wanna know why I call you princess? This is one of those times. So," he extends his hand again. "Dance. With. Me."
She deliberates, casting her eyes between the dance floor and his open palm. She finally narrows her eyes and settles her gaze on his face. "So if I dance with you, then you'll stop calling me princess?"
He nods genuinely.
She looks at him dubiously but slips her hand in his palm anyway. "Fine. But one dance."
The crowd has just started to pile into the place and several are already headed to the dance floor. The next song was about to come on, so he tugs her hand and got to the floor just in time for the start of Talking Body. It isn't exactly the prime song he wanted to start with, he notices, as the tune starts but he begins to move, regardless.
He looks to Regina who's shaking her head. "I'm not doing that!" she yells over the music.
"Oh yes you are!" he hollers back and reaches for her hips, which she protests at first but then shuts up when he raises his eyebrows. He begins to rock her hips to the beat of the song and once she starts to go on her own, he coasts his hands up to her arms and lifts them, moving them also to the beat. Eventually, he releases those too to let her do it herself.
She apprehensively moves her body to the beat and she yells again over the music, "I look stupid!"
"So?"
"So, I don't want to look stupid in public."
"No one is looking at you!" he laughs.
"You are."
He breaks his dancing for a moment and raises his brow again. "And suddenly you care about my opinion of you?"
She stops for a moment too. "No," she answers defensively.
"Okay then," he grins, "then dance."
It takes her a bit but she begins to loosen up as each song passes. She's rather fascinating and enjoyable when she loosens the reigns a bit. And of course, she's hot as hell, especially when she shakes her arse, which Robin totally wasn't looking at. Oh, who is he kidding? He'd lost all will power not to look when a remix of Baby Got Back came into the playlist. He steadily told himself not to look while it was playing but somewhere around, "'Cause you notice that butt was stuffed deep in the jeans she's wearing," he'd given way to temptation.
It was totally worth the look and had he not been at least somewhat of a gentleman, he would've probably gone for it. The hips were daring enough though.
The song is changing again and Regina perks up.
"I love this song!" She hollers out and begins to move to the beat, singing along to the music of The Night is Still Young.
Robin chuckles and begins to move with her.
She's let her hair loose and is shaking it everywhere, nearly hitting Robin in the face. He finds that he doesn't mind, though. She looks so carefree and he enjoys looking at her like this.
His hands have found her hips again and his touch sticks with her sway. They've moved even closer to each other. She smells of lavender and sweat and it nearly drives him mad.
The song hits its break down right before the chorus which shifts into a slower beat and without thinking he grips her hips tighter and turns her, so her backside slams into his front. Clearly, she's going with instinct, too, because she instantly starts grinding onto him.
It's animalistic how he pulls her even tighter to him and she grinds harder as he does so. His face buries in her hair on the side of her face and he begins to meet her for the grinds.
He's so turned on but Regina seems unaffected since she still dances, speeding up her grinds as the song does and slowing them back down when the chorus breaks.
If this was any other girl, he'd have turned her about again and kissed her roughly and passionately, but she isn't just some girl. No, he knew somewhere during their little dance party, that she isn't. He still doesn't fancy her or anything, but he knows she's just not the type of girl he can do this to.
So, he sticks with dancing and their sweaty bodies sticking together for that.
As the song fades out into:
How dare we sit quietly
And watch the world pass us by
Robin slows them down and turns Regina back around. She has a huge smile plastered across her face. He's looking carefully at her because he can't get over how great she looks when she lets it go and genuinely has fun.
"What?" she asks.
The left corner of his mouth lifts. "Nothing. You want another drink?"
She nods excessively and he grabs her hand, leading her back to the bar.
[:]
They sort of overdid the latter half of their drinking. Well, Regina did anyway. Robin's feeling pretty good but he's still coherent enough.
It's well into the wee hours of the morning when the cab they called leads them to her apartment. He stumbles out of the cab (maybe he's more drunk then he will admit) and scurries around to open Regina's door.
She tumbles out into his arms, causing Robin to exert an oof! and she's cackling like a mad woman. He guides her to the front and tells the cabdriver that he'll be back then drags her to the door.
"Which one's yours?"
She gasps.
"What?" he asks worriedly.
"They took my keys." Her eyes are wide as she turns to him. He has to be careful not to laugh.
He sighs, "Brilliant. Will anyone let you in?"
"Yeah, click 414."
He does as she says and buzzes.
"Hello?" A voice comes over the intercom.
"Yeah, hey," Robin speaks nervously, "uh, I have Regina and she left her keys at the club, so can you let us in."
He hears a hefty sigh and then the door buzzes and he lugs Regina, who's yelling, "Thanks Sulyyy," in the door.
No elevator. Great.
"Can you walk?" He knows she can't and he thinks about just leaving her there but he instead bends and lifts her, heaving her over his shoulder.
"Hey!" she cries out but that's the extent of her protest.
"What's your room number?"
"108. Don't worry the door's unlocked."
No stairs. Good.
So he follows the signs on the bottom floor to room 108, manages to get the door open one handed while the other had found a nice place on her arse.
Her apartment is nice and swanky but he doesn't pay attention to much detail because his only concern is putting her down.
He finds the black leather couch and lets her down gently onto it.
"You know, when I was thinking about a man taking me home, I never thought it would be you," she laughs.
"Why, when taking women home is my profession?"
She's still laughing but manages a, "Trueeeee."
"Okay, well, I have to go home. I have things to do tomorrow. Are you gonna be alright?" he patronizes.
She sits up and sways, proving that to be a poor choice. "Now look who's Cinderella."
"Yes, well I'll be a pumpkin any minute, so I must go. Will you be okay?"
She nods and falls back on the couch.
Robin stays for a second and watches as she probably passes out. He considers staying but that could only end poorly, so he makes his way for the door.
"Hey thief!" he hears after him.
He turns back, "Yes?"
"I still don't like you."
He chuckles, "Good. Feeling's mutual. Goodnight pr- Regina."
And with that he closes the door behind him.
[:]
Robin has no idea what time it is when he finally gets back to his own place but he knows it's really late, or early, rather, because John is home on the couch.
"Hey man!" John calls out as Robin shuffles his way in.
"Hey," Robin answers wearily.
"Home so soon? I thought you were, for sure, going home with that black haired chick?"
"Nah, I just took her home and left."
John shifts to the edge of the couch seat, "Wait what?"
"Yeah, I just wasn't feeling it tonight."
"Damn," John falls back again. "She was hot. I can't believe you passed that up. You seriously got nothing out of that, man?"
That's when Robin slips his phone out of his pocket and opens up his messages. He smiles at the most recent message in his phone, from a phone number he doesn't know just yet. Inside is a single picture of him and Regina.
"Nope. I got something better."