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believingispowerfulmagic · 7 years

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“Muse”

For @oqpromptparty 44. Regina picks up the newest book by her favorite writer. Another best seller that she can’t get enough of. What she doesn’t realize is that the heroine from those books is inspired by her and the books were written by her sweet, handsome but oh so shy (at least in RL) neighbor Robin.

“I’m going to get the mail. You go inside and put your things in your room. And if I see a shoe on the stairs…” Regina Mills let the threat dangling the air as she stared at her preteen son.

Henry rolled his eyes as he shouldered his backpack. “Okay, Mom. I promise to not leave my shoes on the stairs.”

She nodded, watching as he bounded up the walk. He paused, waving to their next-door neighbor. “Hi, Mr. Locksley!” he called out.

“Hello, Henry,” Robin Lockley’s familiar British accent floated across her lawn. She glanced over to find her quiet neighbor waving back at her son. He wore an oversized green sweater over what appeared to be a white button down shirt and paired with khakis. A blue scarf was wrapped around his neck. Regina didn’t know what he did exactly--he tended to keep to himself and their few conversations usually went two ways: general pleasantries or him asking her random legal questions--but she believed whatever it was allowed him to work from home.

Robin lugged his garbage pail behind him, reminding her she would need to put hers out later, as he asked Henry a few questions about his day. Henry answered enthusiastically and Regina smiled as she pulled the mail out of her mailbox.

“Keep working at it,” she heard Robin tell Henry. “You’ll get it and who knows? You might end up being a math wiz.”

“I doubt it,” Henry said with a scowl. Regina bit back her laugh, knowing how much he detested math.

Robin then glanced over, spotting her. He grew more sheepish and she noticed his eyes didn’t quite meet hers. “Good evening, Regina.”

“Good evening, Robin,” she said softly. The poor man always seemed like a horse that was easily spooked and she wished she knew why. “How are you?”

He nodded. “I’m good. I see you got a package.”

She glanced down and her heart sped up as she spied the familiar brown back with the black and blue Amazon tape around it. Regina knew it could only be one thing--the book she had preordered the moment she could.

“Yes, I did,” she said, wanting to end the conversation so she could open it. Regina began to push Henry toward the house. “Excuse us, we need to eat dinner. Good night, Robin.”

“Night, Regna, Henry,” Robin called to her retreating form.

Once inside, she sent Henry to his room while she headed straight to the kitchen. Regina pulled a pair of scissors from the drawer and got into her package. She opened the lid and marveled at the book inside, the latest from best-seller Rob Hood’s red-hot series: Drowned.

The cover showed the lead character, Roni, dressed in a bathing suit and in the ocean, reaching her hand up as if trying to get away from drowning herself. Intrigued by it, Regina opened the cover to read the summary printed on the inside flap:

Roni Morales is looking forward to a quiet and relaxing vacation with her rapidly growing son, Jack. She wants to spend as much time with him before he hits the dreaded teen years and considers himself too cool to hang out with his mother. Two weeks spent at the beach seem perfect of them and for the first week, it is.

Until a body washes up on shore just outside their rental house. The police dismiss it as a drunk drifter who wandered into the sea but Roni’s gut tells her there is more to the story than they are letting on. She suspects a cover up and begins to investigate on her own, even calling in annoying but resourceful journalist Aidan Byrne for help.

It’s a race against time to solve the mystery before Roni needs to head home and go back to work. She, Aidan and Jack gather as much information as they can without arousing suspicions…or do they? Will they solve the mystery or will Roni’s vacation end in disaster?

The rest was praise for Rob Hood’s writing and his captivating characters. Regina set the book aside to start dinner, giddy with anticipation for Roni’s newest adventure. Maybe this time something would actually happen between her and Aidan, as the tension was so thick she was certain she could cut it with a knife. But before she could find out, she needed to get Henry fed and check his homework. So she did her best to focus on that.

It was difficult though. Regina loved Roni and really identified with her. She knew most fans said that and she had read comments about how they admired Roni’s dedication, her persistence, her “bold and audacious” personality, and so much more. Yet Regina felt her connection was deeper—like she was Roni. They both had grown up in affluent families with Puerto Rican backgrounds, only children to a loving father and a borderline abusive mother. Both had excelled in school, studying law and passing the bar on their first tries. After losing the loves of their life (Daniel for Regina, Matthew for Roni), both became workaholics before adopting their sons.

She even looked like Roni, based on descriptions for the books. Roni had “soulful” brown eyes and plump red lips along with tanned skin. She had black hair of varying lengths in the books, though she had cut it short at the end of the last one. Often described as “petite,” Rob Hood write that Roni felt taller due to her confidence, her take-no-prisoners attitude and the large collection of heel she owned. Her salary as a successful lawyer helped her stay impeccably dressed, whether in a skirt suit or something more casual. The only physical differences were that Roni embraced her curls while Regina tended to straighten hers and that Regina had a scar about her lip thanks to a childhood neighbor’s cat. Still, when she had posted a picture of herself to an online fan community, they had all agreed she looked like Roni and someone at the bookstore had once asked if she was the model on the cover.

(Of course, the other main difference between her and Roni was that Regina didn’t solve mysteries in her spare time. She gardened).

It often made her wonder about Roni’s elusive creator, Rob Hood. Everyone knew it was a pseudonym but no one knew his real name. There was no picture with his bio anywhere nor did he do radio or TV interviews, only print. They only knew Rob Hood was in fact male because his publisher and numerous interviewers confirmed it. Was he shy? Scared of fame? A convicted felon? No one knew and no one knew really who inspired Roni, except she was a neighbor of Rob Hood’s. He then said nothing else about her.

Whoever she was, she had to be an amazing woman though Regina doubted she was as amazing as Rob Hood had made Roni. She managed to balance a successful law career, motherhood and solving crimes while still managing to flirt with the handsome and gentlemanly Aidan. No wonder people loved her.

A door slammed, jolting Regina from her thoughts. She caught sight of Robin through her kitchen window, watching him fill the bird feeder he had hanging on his back porch. He was just as mysterious as Rob Hood. In the time she had known him—six, maybe seven years—he hadn’t offered many clues about his life. All she knew was that he was British and that he moved to Storybrooke after some kind of loss as he had a familiar air of sadness around him when they first met. Regina also knew he spent Christmas in England with family as she collected his mail for him (and he also always brought back little knick-knacks for Henry). And she had once caught him shooting arrows at a target, watching him land bullseye after bullseye and admiring his physique for a few moments.

Otherwise, she knew little else about him. He was a quiet conscientious neighbor who was always nice to her son. In the end, she figured that’s all that mattered.

Robin looked up and noticed her. He smiled, giving her a little wave. She returned it and he headed back into the house. With a deep breath and reminder that Roni was waiting, she returned to her dinner preparations.

Robin set his bird seed down and headed back into his study. A blank Word document was open, waiting for Roni’s next adventure. His agent and his publisher had encouraged him to take a vacation but was happy to stay home and start on his next book. Vacation meant going away from his muse, Regina, and not being able to talk with her and Henry. Even though he did try to keep his conversations with Regina brief as he knew she read Rob Hood’s books and loved Roni. He worried she would be angry if she ever realized that she was essentially Roni and that he had taken everything she had ever confided in him to create a character.

He couldn’t bear to lose her.

So he limited their conversations so as not to reveal something he shouldn’t have. Especially as he already pushed it but asking questions about the law to help write his books. Regina probably thought he was weird but she always answered his questions, explaining things in an uncomplicated way without much legalese attached. He loved listening to them.

Of course, he could also listen to her just read the phone book. He loved her voice, loved her smile, how much she loved her son, how she exuded confidence and leadership…Robin just loved her. He hadn’t thought he would find love after losing Marian to cancer so soon after their wedding, but after moving to Storybrooke to get away from the memories, he discovered his beautiful and kind neighbor. Since he was still grieving it had taken some time, but Robin was soon inspired by her.

By the time Roni was on her second adventure, Robin was in love with Regina. Still all the reasons he kept his distance from her meant he couldn’t just ask her out either (though he doubted he was her type. She probably liked go-getters, powerful business men and not quiet writers like him). Instead, he used Aidan to say everything he ever wanted to say to Regina, though directed to Roni.

Maybe one day he would say them to Regina.

Maybe.

#once upon a time #outlaw queen #oq au #oq ff #oq prompt party #oqpromptparty

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