Y’know, even though what happened is heartbreaking, the OQ fandom dying out is something I’m actually not afraid of at all. But even though you feel that way, Leah, I promise you, it is not silly that you still want to read cute AUs, and fluffy fics, and see nice fanart of our OTP.
I want that, too. I want that so much. Just this morning I was re-reading @somewhereapart‘s Dimples Queen kitty fic, because I wanted a bit of cute.
Now more than ever, we need fluff. We need a little bit of happy. We need stories like Baker’s Dozen, and The Reconstruction of Regina Mills, and Boy, and Her. We need a little happy in our lives.
We also need stories that are healing, things that’ll help us grieve, but also remind us of that one thing I am absolutely certain about amidst the poop that is A&E’s writing and character development – we are Outlaw Queen.
We are Robin Hood and Regina Mills.
We are these stories, and it is up to us to keep them alive.
To write about the thief who fell in love with a not-so-evil Queen.
To write about a heartbroken woman who found love again and let light back into her life.
To write about two parents who loved their children more than anything and that love, that devotion bound them together.
Stories about pixie dust, and lion tattoos, and Robin’s fingers threading through Regina’s hair, and Regina smiling like she’s never smiled before – open, bare, vulnerable, and so deeply in love.
It’s up to us to keep Outlaw Queen alive. OQers? We are resilient and fucking fantastically creative. We went through two seasons of our OTP being separated, facing odds that seemed overwhelming, a storyline about rape that was never really respectfully addressed on screen, and despite all that, despite never really getting to have Regina and Robin on screen together for more than a few measly minutes, we loved them deeply, passionately, whole-heartedly. Despite the ever-growing pile of shit not in their favor.
We loved them. We love them.
And y’know, even though Robin died, even though A&E decided to go in a different direction (I really think the writers just had no idea what to do with Robin’s character after the baby storyline was so horrifically received, and they catastrophically dropped the ball by never respectfully telling that story or allowing the audience to get to know Robin on a deeper level)…
What Robin did for Regina was powerful and heartbreakingly beautiful. He loved her so much, he was willing to sacrifice himself to save her, without thought, without question. THAT, I will hold onto. THAT is the Robin we know and love.
And for the length of one tunnel walk, we had the OQ that originally made us fall in love with Regina and Robin. We had a glimpse of their beginnings days in season three.
The thief who fell in love with a woman hiding behind her masks, trying to wall herself away, who fell in love with a mother that protected his son, someone fierce, stubborn, sassy, and unexpectedly the second chance he didn’t know he needed.
We got a fucking parallel to where they started (man, I really hate these writers. When they actually try, they can write OQ, which is why this is all so devastating).
For a moment, the writers gave us what we wanted, the sass, the fire, the tension between Robin and Regina. Conflict, resolution, devotion, tenderness.
And as I sit here, tearing up, I know that he was Robin – our Robin – until the very end. He did what he started off doing the second he stepped into Regina’s life, shouting “Get down!” and then “Milady. You’re injured.”
I won’t stop writing stories about him, or a love story that swept us up, suddenly and all at once.
I don’t think other writers will either, nor gif makers, or artists.
After all, we are Outlaw Queen.