While I am a diehard swanqueen shipper I went down the Redqueen rabbit hole and became obsessed so now...
Redqueen au where Regina and Red start dating pre-season one during the curse (like before Regina even has the idea to adopt Henry) and at first, it starts off as another form of petty revenge on Regina's part, but it slowly spirals out of control until by the time Emma shows up the two are married and have been raising Henry together for ten years. Like, I'm imagining Regina just showing up to Granny's one day for breakfast, and she sees "Mary Margaret" and "Ruby" laughing together, and she remembers how they were friends in the enchanted forest and so she can't resist starting to flirt with Red just a little. And it's all just a bit of harmless fun, right? After all, it isn’t like it's going anywhere or like it means anything, and neither of them will remember the next day anyway. Except Regina is already starting to get bored with the curse, and maybe she already finds Ruby at least a little attractive, so she keeps doing it. Especially when, as time goes on, Ruby starts to flirt back. And slowly, it stops being about Snow at all as Regina starts spending more and more time at the diner coming by for lunch or dinner and sometimes staying late until close with the two of them talking and forming a genuine connection. And I honestly can't decide if they get together before or after Henry is adopted because on the one hand, I like the idea of Henry being the one to get them together with Red becoming smitten with the clearly overwhelmed new single mother and getting Regina's attention by being the only one who can help calm Henry down in those early days after Regina brought him home but on the other hand I also like the idea of them being an already established couple who end up choosing to adopt Henry together. Either way they get together and are happy up until Henry gets the storybook and realizes about the curse so he goes and gets Emma who breaks the curse and I'm imagining season 2 with Regina and Red having a full blown divorce arc with Red taking Henry and going to stay at Granny's with her and Emma basically trading off custody of Henry and Red is angry and torn between her loyalty to Snow and the rest of her friends and her lingering feelings for Regina with Regina having her redemption arc Kickstarted by her desire not just to get Henry back but to prove herself worthy of him and Red and the two of them slowly falling back in love again
