Work Text:
There weren’t a lot of things Emma Swan hated. Traffic jams? Annoying, but that’s what came with living in the city. Bail jumpers that put up a fight? Not great either, but it was usually worth it if she at least got the guy and had her check by the end of the night. Early morning jogs? The first few days were a nightmare, but she eventually found herself looking forward to having thirty minutes to herself before her day started.
But blind dates? She really hated those.
She’d spent twenty minutes telling Mary Margaret as much when her friend had first brought up the subject at lunch a few days earlier. “Absolutely not. I don’t want to go out with any of the guys I know, let alone some stranger who could turn out to be a textbook creep.”
“Hey!” Mary Margaret protested. “”You really think I’d try to set you up with someone like that?”
“Uh, have you forgotten Walsh already?”
Mary Margaret pursed her lips. She’d gotten her with that one. “Okay, so I wasn’t the best judge of character there. But, Emma, I know you’d hit it off with this guy. At least give him a chance? If you do and it doesn’t work out, I’ll stop trying to find dates for you. Promise,” she added before Emma could object again.
Emma couldn’t believe she was actually considering it. “You mean that? No more blind dates, introducing me to guys at parties, or making profiles on dating sites for me behind my back?” She and David had both given her hell for that one.
“None of it. I’ll even bet you twenty bucks that this date will go better than you think.”
She knew she’d already lost this one; Mary Margaret really was determined where her love life was concerned. “Deal,” she sighed. “So, have you already talked to this guy? Any idea of what we’re doing and when?”
“You two are going to the movies Tuesday night. Meet him by the ticket booth at seven-fifteen.”
It was simple enough. She hadn’t given the plan much thought at first. There was a new action movie playing, one Mary Margaret knew she wanted to see. Emma assumed that’s what she and her mystery date would be watching. The best (and only good) part about a movie date was knowing there would be little opportunity for awkward small talk. And popcorn, she loved popcorn.
Emma arrived at the movie theater at five after seven, wearing jeans, a sweater, and her favorite leather boots. Mary Margaret hadn’t told her what Mystery Man looked like or would be wearing, so showing up early seemed like the best option for him to locate her easily. Taking a seat at the bench by the ticket booth, her eyes scanned the marquee for the night’s showings. The action movie she’d assumed they would watch was playing- but not until nine. That only left two other options for the seven-thirty showings: a kid’s movie featuring animated dinosaurs, and a slasher flick about a serial killer who preyed on college kids in dorms.
Something told her they wouldn’t be watching the dinosaur movie.
It made sense: tomorrow was Halloween. Emma hadn’t given the day much thought this year thanks to her hectic work schedule. Her stomach churned as she contemplated the idea of watching a horror movie with a stranger. It’s not that she was scared of them, per se. She just preferred to watch them in the comfort of her own apartment.
With all the lights on.
In the middle of the day.
Wonder if this is Mary Margaret’s way to get me to cuddle with Mystery Man if I get scared she thought bitterly.
Emma had just made the decision to act sick and go home, twenty bucks be damned, when she heard a familiar voice. “Swan?” She glanced up and saw a head of dark, messy hair and a pair of blue eyes looking down at her.
“Oh. Hey, Killian. You, uh, here to see a movie?” What a dumb question. But maybe that was a way to get rid of him faster. She didn’t exactly want him to know she’d agreed to another one of Mary Margaret’s set ups. She’d first introduced them to each other at David’s birthday party over a year ago, and ever since she’d been trying to get the two of them together with nothing but protests on Emma’s part. Killian Jones was gorgeous, funny, polite, and very much single, but those were all reasons why she knew they wouldn’t work. He didn’t need a girl with her track record coming in to make his life complicated.
“Aye.” He smiled at her, but it wasn’t the cheeky, borderline cocky one she was used to. He looked shy, a bit nervous even. “I have a date, actually.”
She refused to acknowledge the way her heart sank just the slightest bit. She had no reason to be upset; Killian had no ties to her other than being a friend of her friends. He was free to go on a date with whoever he wanted.
“That’s nice.” Emma tried to sound like she meant it. “You’re welcome to wait here if you want.” She gestured to the vacant half of the bench. “I’m still waiting for someone.”
Killian looked back and forth from her to the empty seat, as if contemplating whether or not sitting beside her was the best idea. That was fine. Maybe he didn’t want his date to see him with a girl he obviously knew and get the wrong idea. She, on the other hand, really didn’t care at all about what her mystery guy would think of them together. He finally sat down after a moment, crossing his feet at the ankles and tucking his hands in the pockets of the leather jacket she knew he rarely went anywhere without.
They chatted idly for the next ten minutes or so, talking about work, the weather, David and Mary Margaret’s Halloween party he’d missed for his niece’s birthday dinner. It was only after a quick glance at her phone that Emma realized it was twenty minutes after seven. “Oh, geez.” The slasher movie started in just ten minutes.
“Something wrong, love?”
“Looks like my date is either running late, or a no show. I’ll wait a few more minutes to give him the benefit of the doubt.”
“Aye, my date is tardy as well. Why don’t you call him and see where he is?”
“That’s not really an option,” she admitted, smiling sheepishly. “I got talked into a blind date, so I have no idea who I’m meeting or what he even looks like.”
Killian barked out a laugh. “Well, that’s a coincidence. David wasn’t willing to give me much information about my date either.”
She laughed with him until she realized what he’d said. “Wait, did you say David set you up tonight?”
He nodded, his eyes widening. Looks like just come to the same realization. “And I’m assuming Mary Margaret was behind your plans?”
“Yeah.” She didn’t have to ask to know they were both thinking the same thing: they had been set up with each other. Some blind date.
“Well, um.” Killian reached up to scratch a spot behind his right ear; it was something she’d noticed him do before when he was nervous or embarrassed about something. “Look, Swan, I really don’t want to make you uncomfortable. We can see a movie, but if you’d rather go home and forget this happened, I won’t take it personally.”
Emma could tell he meant what he said. But she hated the idea of jilting him, even if he’d been just as clueless about this whole set up as she was. That, and she saw no reason to miss out on popcorn. “No, that’s okay. I guess you’re not the worst company in the world,” she teased. His answering smile hinted he hadn’t expected her to stick around.
They hurried inside to get tickets, sodas, and popcorn before the movie started, Emma insisting to buy her own despite Killian’s offers. He acted as if he owed her something to make up for the blind date not being so blind after all.
The trailers were coming to an end as they entered the half empty theater and took seats toward the back. In between running into Killian and the truth about their set up, she’d somehow managed to forget what kind of movie they were watching. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as the theater darkened and the film’s menacing opening score began to play. It’s just a movie she thought to herself. One about a deranged killer and a lot of blood.
They made it thirty minutes into the movie before the first jump scare. But, to Emma’s surprise, Killian nearly lept out of his seat at the same time she shrieked, earning them both looks from the other moviegoers. She never would have guessed that Killian Jones, with his leather jacket and tattoos, would be just as scared of a horror movie as she was.
By the time the movie’s goriest scene had come around, he had hidden his eyes in her shoulder no less than five times.
“That was something else,” she said when they exited the theater after the final credits had began to roll.
Poor Killian was still pale faced and wide eyed. “Uh huh.”
“You okay?” She’d never seen him at a loss for words before.
“Yeah. Erm, sorry about all that, by the way.” His cheeks reddened as he motioned back to the movie theater.
“Not one for horror movies?”
“It’s not that I don’t like them! I’m just used to watching them in...different environments.”
“Like your own place with all the lights on?”
“Exactly.”
“Y’know, tomorrow’s Halloween. I have a really well lit living room if you’d be up for another movie night. Maybe even a little less scary.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Might even get a kiss goodnight if you’re lucky,” she added, surprising herself even.
His answering smirk spoke for itself. “Well, what kind of fool would I be to say no to that?”
They both got lucky in more ways than one the next night.
Mary Margaret was so thrilled she never even brought up the twenty bucks Emma owed her.