Chapter Text
Chapter 1 – Fake Relationship
“Ruby, I need your help.”
The red lipped looked up, confusion on her face. “That’s unusual. What is it, Ems?”
Emma sat next to her, looking at her briefly before answering. “I...,” she mumbled, picking on her nails. “... Need a date.”
“I’d be honoured,” Ruby mockingly raised her hand to her chest. Emma smacked her arm as she failed at hiding the chuckle that left her lips. “Fine, elaborate.”
“So, okay - you know the party Tink’s gonna throw next Saturday?,” Ruby nodded, raising an eyebrow. “She... Invited Neal.”
Her eyes widened suddenly as she let out a gasp. “That bitch!”
“Ruby!,” Emma sighed, slightly impatient, for some reason. “Don’t blame her, they’re old friends.”
Ruby huffed. “Anyway. Let me guess, you need a fake date to kill the guy.”
“Precisely.”
She looked away, face crumpled in a thoughtful frown. Emma could hear the engines in her head work, looking through memories and thoughts. Her eyes suddenly brightened and she gasped. “I think I have the perfect guy.”
Even though Emma loved her friend, she had to admit she was frightened. Not only because Neal was going to be there - and it would be the first time they would see each other since he left and never came back, leaving Emma alone and, well, pregnant -, but also because she was sure she didn’t know said guy, and was scared of how he was: if he was nice or an ass, sweet and charming or flirty. There was no way she could know, so the only thing she could do was waiting until Saturday.
Okay, this is... good enough.
Emma stared at herself on the mirror, proud of the look that took two hours to be made. She didn’t regret, though – she needed to look damn good. Her blond locks were falling loose over her shoulders in light waves. The make-up was quite hard to do, since Ruby was getting ready at her own house and Emma was supposed to grow up and do this alone. In the end, it turned out better than she expected – thank God. Her dress was one she found deep inside her wardrobe, not too tight to expose her body, but enough to show it. It had a similar shade of green as her eyes’ and the skirt ended right above her knees. She didn’t even remember when she bought that dress, but she definitely liked it.
Her phone suddenly started buzzing and she ran top pick it up. “Hello?”
“Hey, Ems!,” Ruby’s voice sounded excited. “So, I’m coming over in about ten minutes with your new boyfriend, okay?” Each time she thought about it, it seemed weirder.
“Um, okay.”
“Okay, bye!,” and the line went silent.
After tossing her phone and other stuff inside her handbag, she looked around for her heels. Ugh, heels.
As she promised, Emma’s doorbell rang ten minutes later, and she opened it, revealing a dolled up Ruby and holy crap.
The man standing next to her friend was impossible. A few inches taller than her, wearing a dark-blue button-up shirt under a leather jacket and black jeans. Of course she had first looked at his body – she was only human, after all – and of course it was because she was slightly shorter than him. But then she looked up and had to gather all her strength to not gape at the sight.
His eyes – his eyes. She couldn’t figure out the tone of blue in them, so she decided to stick with the hella blue eyes. He had a few days old stubble, successfully making it look ridiculously attractive. And yes, he managed to make bed hair not look relaxed, but sexy.
How?
“Emma, I’d like you to meet Killian Jones,” Ruby started with the introductions. “Killian, this is Emma Swan, your girlfriend for the night.”
Emma never thought she’d have to make her best to focus on forming words. “Oh, um... Hi.”
Only then, she realised he had been staring at her, and that sent that small alarm on the back of her head off. She automatically put her arms around her middle, immediately recognising it as a self-protection move.
He seemed to snap out of his own daze after Ruby looked at him with a wolfish grin. His lips suddenly quirked up in a cocky smirk. “Hello, love.”
An accent, she thought, frustrated. Just great.
“Well,” Ruby said. “I’ll stop at Victor’s first, you two can go ahead.”
Both nodded in agreement and Emma ran back inside to fetch her purse, closing the door after she was out. She could see Ruby’s silhouette in the end of the street as she turned around the corner and focused on the man that was opening a taxi’s door for her.
“Gentleman?”
He smirked at her again. “I’m always a gentleman.”
She got in and he followed her, communicating the address to the driver and then it hit her. She was really going.
They didn’t talk during the drive to Tink’s party, which left them in an awkward silence. A part of Emma was screaming that this was a bad idea she shouldn’t have accepted it. She didn’t even know the guy, now she was going to pretend to seriously date him.
But another part of her kept whispering that this actually felt right. She wasn’t tense or nervous – well, she was kinda nervous, but that had nothing to do with Killian -, she was just feeling a bit awkward. She was actually too comfortable around him, not being too self conscious about his thigh brushing against her in the bumping of the car every now and then or the way his eyes darted towards her when he thought she wasn’t looking.
The car finally stopped, and Emma’s heart raced. She was doing it; it was way too late to go back now. He got out and held the door open for her. She straightened the front of her dress once she was out and looked at him expectantly, not knowing what to do next. He looked as lost as her for a second, before his face formed a grin and he gestured her to go in. She started to walk, constantly reminding herself to relax and try to look comfortable with him. Not that difficult, honestly, a part of her brain retorted.
As she walked, she could feel his heat behind her and almost jumped when his hand touched the small of her back. She opened the door to the bar and felt his arm go around her waist. Heart racing once again, she found herself leaning a slight bit onto him, and she was glad she was supposed to act as though they were in a real relationship. She looked around, searching for known faces, when she spotted Mary Margaret’s. A sight of relief left her before she could repress it and she walked towards her best friend, Killian doing his best to keep up.
Mary Margaret’s face lightened up when she saw Emma, but a frown replaced it when she noticed the attractive and strange man with his arm around her friend’s waist. She opened her mouth to question, but Emma lifted a hand. “I’ll tell you everything in five minutes. Now, where’s Tink?”
“Talk,” Mary Margaret’s voice had the ‘mother’ tone Emma didn’t appreciate much.
She filled her friend in, not letting any details out, including her fears towards having to face Neal tonight. Once she was finished, Mary Margaret had an unreadable expression on her face.
“Okay.”
Emma frowned. “Okay?” She did not expect that. She expected a furious pep talk about responsibility and ‘you shouldn’t have agreed on this, Emma.’
“Yeah,” Mary Margaret pushed off the bar where she was leaning on. “He looks like a nice guy.”
The frown deepened in the blonde’s face. Okay…
“Emma?,” the familiar yet terrifying voice she was dreading to hear for years spoke right behind her.
She froze, and watched as the pixie haired brunette’s eyes widened as she made up a crappy excuse to leave them alone. Emma followed her with her eyes and saw her stop next to a dark-haired person. When he turned, she realised it was Killian and understood the way his eyes sent a message. ‘On my way.’
She turned around and faced the chocolate eyes she once loved with such tenderness. “Neal.”
He gave her an awkward smile, scratching the bridge of his nose – something she remembered he did when he was anxious or nervous. “How’ve you been?”
Seriously?
“I’ve been great!,” she faked a smile. "How about you?"
"Eh, I've been better, honestly." Good. "Like when we were together and stuff."
Hell no.
She was about to reply, not even thinking of how to do it, when a voice that sounded like an angel's spoke.
"There you are, love."
She held back a sigh of relief. Thank God.
Killian approached and snaked his arm around her waist, kissing her temple. She didn't even flinch. A little smile escaped through her lips, and it wasn't even intentional. What...?
If a word could describe Neal's expression, it had to be bafflement.
She looked up at Killian and he was looking down at her, a big smile on his face. He then looked up at the frozen human standing in front of them, stretching out his free hand. "Killian Jones."
Neal's face crumpled into a grimace as he took his hand, shaking it strongly. Men... "Neal Cassidy."
"It's nice to meet you, Neal," Killian's smile succeeded at pissing him off even more. She almost laughed at scene, but she controlled herself.
"Yeah," was Neal's response.
"So, did you two just meet or are old friends like Mary Margaret is to Emma?"
She didn't know how exactly he knew that, because she never told him, but she kept quiet, watching the moment without missing a detail.
"We... We used to date, a few years ago."
Was that... Was that a flick of hate she saw in his eyes? His hand surely tightened on her hip, but he kept his perfect smile on. "Ooh, competition, then?"
She faked a giggle and smacked him on the chest. A part of laugh was real, due the tone of disgust printed on Neal's face. Priceless.
"Okay, Jones, let's go, David said he needs to talk to you." That was a lie, but who cares?
He nodded - even though he has no idea of who she was talking about - and turned to Neal. "See you around, Neal."
"Yeah," was all Neal could reply again, watching them go towards the bar and sitting on the stools.
Emma could still feel his gaze on her after some minutes of small talk about their jobs and tastes and fake yearning looks and doey eyes exchanged with Killian.
"So, that was the bastard?," he said after ordering two beers.
"Yup," she answered, popping the 'p'. "Ruby told you?"
"Every detail she knew. But, even if she hadn't, Swan, I would've recognised him anyway."
"How so?"
"You're sort of an open book."
She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Am I?"
Whoa, was she flirting? With a sex god who was pretending to be her boyfriend? And it's still the second beer?
"Aye," he said. He looked right into her eyes and just... Stared. He then tilted his head slightly to the side. "Just... Who are you, Swan?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Okay, that was definitely flirting. But she had a boyfriend for the night, so she simply ignored the voices squealing that it was a mistake inside her head.
"Perhaps I would," he wasn't smiling anymore.
Only then she realised how close they were, faces a few inches apart. Was there some sort of natural magnetism between them? How could she not notice they were getting closer at each word they spoke? She couldn't stop her eyes from darting to his lips, and, apparently, neither could he. His look went back up, but not to her eyes. He was looking at something over her shoulder, without moving his head. He suddenly smirked.
"He's glaring," he whispered, amusement clear in his voice.
She chuckled. "He better be," she said on the same tone.
All of a sudden, her whole mind just went 'oh, what the hell' and she just went for it. She felt herself leaning forward, and he met her halfway. And she certainly did not expect his lips to be so soft. He hesitated at first, but none of them could ignore the jolt of electricity the touch of their lips sent through their spines. She leaned even further, hand coming up to caress his stubbled jaw, as his went to her waist, slowly sliding it up over the back of her ribs to place it just below her shoulder blade, a.k.a. the uncovered part of her dress, pulling her closer. She hoped he didn't notice the shiver that ran through her body, but, judging by the grin she felt against her mouth, he did.
The kiss wasn't hungry or desperate. It was more like soft and tender. Anyone who looked at them now would see a grownup couple regressing to the time when they were high school sweethearts, the lightness and warmness of the kiss reflecting the 'old days'. No one would even believe they just met that day.
She opened one of her lids to see a stomping Neal storming out of the bar, the birthday girl dodging the people in front of her to follow him. She smiled into the kiss and broke it, slightly breathless. "He's gone," she whispered, resting her forehead against his, her hands still cupping his cheeks.
"I know," is all he replied before he was kissing her again, just like a moment ago.
A part of her kept reminding her the whole night to find Ruby and thank her for the rather brilliant idea.
If someone told Emma a week ago she would be dating Captain Innuendo, the flirt yet insufferable smug bastard and professional at the art of putting on some puppy eyes within two weeks after they were introduced by one of her closest friends, she would have punched them in the face for wasting her time by saying such stupid things.