Alternate Universe
Prompt: "I have to bring a date to this holiday party but I'm not dating anyone so I brought my friend instead" and I took it as an opportunity to write a fake dating AU. Also my gift for bartonne on Tumblr for Captain Swan Secret Santa

Emma Swan could really do without the excessive amount of Christmas that was everywhere throughout the month of December. It wasn't that she was a Scrooge, it was just that the gaudy lawn ornaments, overly peppy music, and the consumerism that turned normal people into crazed maniacs hunting for the best deals made her want to just stay inside the whole month and avoid everyone at all cost.

Her best friend, Mary Margaret, on the other hand, was almost the complete opposite. She was at least the type of person that Emma could stomach (her decorations were a little excessive but not ugly, she hated pop versions of Christmas songs, and she adamantly refused to endanger her safety on Black Friday), but that didn't mean she didn't go a little overboard on occasion.

The two women were perusing the aisles of TJ Maxx one afternoon in mid-December when Mary Margaret informed her of the annual Christmas party she was putting on with her husband, David.

"Robin promised that he would get Regina to make her apple pie, you know how special that is. And there's a friend of David's from the station, Graham. He just moved here and he's looking to meet new people and David says he's a great guy," she babbled, doing a downright horrible job of hiding the fact they were trying to set Emma up.

Emma had to force herself to stifle a groan. "Are you sure? The last person you tried to set me up with was a 'great guy' too, and he turned out to have a psycho ex-girlfriend and an unhealthy obsession with the Wizard of Oz," she pointed out.

Mary Margaret was slightly affronted. "Walsh was a rare exception. I found David and need I remind you who introduced Ruby and Belle? My track record speaks for itself. And I just want you to be happy," she insisted, stopping the cart to lay a gentle hand on Emma's elbow.

"Well it doesn't matter, because I'm kind of seeing someone anyway," she lied offhandedly, and she regretted the words the instant they passed her lips.

"Emma, why didn't you say anything earlier?" Mary Margaret exclaimed, her excited squeal drawing the disapproving glances of several nearby shoppers. The brunette ignored them, instead throwing rapid-fire questions at Emma. "What's he like? Is he handsome? Wait, I don't know him, do I?"

"It's nothing serious, I promise," Emma said, trying to get back in line with the truth as much as possible. She honestly was not involved in any sort of serious relationship.

Mary Margaret was oblivious to Emma's sudden discomfort. "Bring him to the party. I want to meet him and I'm sure everyone else will, too," she ordered, brushing past Emma toward the front registers.

Emma was left standing behind her, marveling at the situation she had gotten herself in.

She arrived back at her apartment three hours later, laden with shopping bags from her excursion to the mall. Just as she liked it, she got all of her obligatory Christmas shopping done in one day. It meant she spent less money and also didn't have to face the madness more than once. The trek up the stairs seemed to have caused the bags to triple in weight and she was fumbling with her keys when her neighbor popped up beside her.

"Ah, Swan. I thought you weren't a fan of this holiday?" Killian Jones said, taking half of her bags from her without her having to ask him. As usual, she felt her heart speed up just a little and the downright gleeful feeling that came over her whenever he was around. It was nearly impossible to not have some sort of reaction around him, what with how absolutely attractive he was.

"I'm not, I just know how to act like it for the benefit of my friend," she smiled, unlocking the door and kicking it open. She dropped the bags she was carrying unceremoniously on the couch on her way to the kitchen, while Killian set the ones he had taken on the chair with a little more care than she had shown.

"Ah yes, the famous Mary Margaret, how is she?" he asked, flopping himself down on her couch and settling right in, which wasn't that uncommon of an occurrence, really. Ever since she had moved in and met the insanely attractive guy that lived across the hall from her, he had managed to worm his way into her life with weekly Chinese food and the occasional drinking buddy when one of them had a rough day at work. It was the main reason that she never allowed herself to think about the other feelings she felt for him that were brewing in her chest.

"You know an awful lot about my friends for never having met them," she said, leaning her head into the room as she rummaged through the fridge for the beers he had taken to keeping at her place.

He chuckled from his place on the sofa, his dark head turning in her direction. "You've only complained about how into the holiday season she is about twenty times, love. That's not including all the other stories you've told me."

She traipsed into the room, offering him one of the beers while simultaneously nudging his feet off her coffee table. "Yeah, well, I've gone and royally screwed up this time," she announced, sitting beside him and draping her legs over his. She had learned long ago that it was an extremely comfortable position that sometimes led to him rubbing her feet as she griped about her latest stake out or paperwork or the dumbass that had cut her off while driving that day. She tried to tell herself that it had nothing to do with the feelings she had on him that felt a lot like a grade school crush.

"Oh do tell. 'Emma royally screwing up' stories are my favorite," he teased, earning him a punch in the arm.

Yeah, definitely like a grade school crush.

"Mary Margaret was obviously trying to set me up with a guy David met at work and I led her to believe that I met someone," she cringed, realizing how absolutely ridiculous the situation was. Seriously, who lied about being in a relationship?

Killian on the other hand, seemed to become unnaturally stiff at her confession. "You didn't though, did you?" he asked, averting his eyes and staring instead at a loose thread on her sock.

"No, that's the problem," she said, noting how he visibly relaxed. She really shouldn't allow herself to hope that maybe her feelings weren't one sided, knowing it would only mess things up between them if she was mistaken. But sometimes he made it really difficult. "And now, Mary Margaret is insisting I bring the guy to the Christmas party she's having. I can't tell her I lied because then she'll get all pouty and I'll be a jerk and then she'll still try to set me up, and I can't bring a guy because I don't have one."

Killian pondered her situation, his fingers finding the loose thread and twirling it between his fingers. "You could bring someone with you," he began slowly as if he was trying to coax her into an idea. "You just don't have to tell your friends you're not actually dating him."

"What, bring a fake date?" she scoffed. "There's no way I could find some guy that would be willing to pretend to date me for a single night and get Mary Margaret to believe it."

"You don't have to find someone, I'll do it," he offered, trying his hardest to appear indifferent to the idea, but she knew him well enough to recognize the eagerness in his smile.

She simply stared at him, a little disbelieving that he would offer to help her. Instead of showing how touched she was, she played it off by resorting to their familiar banter. "What if I've kept you away from my friends all this time for a reason?"

"I always assumed it was because you wanted to keep me all to yourself, love," his voice lowered and his tongue ran across his bottom lip in a way that was practically obscene and turned her blood to fire. She didn't tell him that he was actually pretty spot on. She knew her friends would love him and she didn't want to have to start sharing her time with him.

So naturally her reaction was to punch him again.

"But do you really think they'll buy it?" she asked hesitantly, but she was still considering the option. They did have a way about them that could pass for a couple, but she didn't know how she would feel knowing that he was only pretending to have feelings for her while she decidedly was not.

"That depends, are you normally this violent in regards to your romantic partners?" he asked indignantly, rubbing the spot on his arm that she had struck twice now.

She did her best to appear apologetic, reaching over to rub her own hand over the red mark. "Are you sure you're up for it, Jones? I've told you about how overbearing my friends can be," she warned, wanting to give him one last chance to back out.

"Make your friends believe I'm infatuated with you? Shouldn't be too difficult," he said. Her heart rate picked up at his words, but the nonchalant way he said it made it come across like his confession wasn't any sort of grand confession at all.

Instead, she shoved down the disappointment she felt and gave him her most grateful smile. "Then it's a date."

In hindsight, bringing Killian Jones to the Christmas party may not have been the best idea.

Not that he wasn't the epitome of the perfect gentleman and winning over everyone in the room. No, it was the exact opposite. Like how he put his arm around her so casually and leaning into him felt so right or how he looked completely enamored by her. At one point he kissed her forehead as if it was the most natural thing in the world and if she was some 19th century woman in a corset, she probably would have swooned. It was messing with her head and causing her stomach to backflip every time his fingers casually brushed her arm or any time his blue eyes lit up and crinkled when he smiled at something she said.

It was perfect, but none of it was real. They lied about him being her neighbor and said they had known each other for a couple weeks rather than months. From what she could tell, no one suspected anything. She even caught Ruby giving her a discreet thumbs up when Killian was talking about soccer with Robin.

"I can tell he really likes you," David told her as the two of them stood in the kitchen, raiding the pantry in search of Mary Margaret's personal cookie stash.

Emma tried not to show how much the words cut through her. Killian may like her, but she had to believe that it was in the friendly neighbor way, not the way she felt about him.

"He's pretty great," she said honestly, trying not to let David see her face.

David eyed her curiously, but he knew her well enough to know not to push her where she didn't want to go. "Well it's nice to see you showing interest in someone. I'll still punch him in the face if he hurts you though."

"Are you saying you approve?" she raised an eyebrow. It was a rare thing that David didn't have at least one complaint about someone she showed interest in.

"I'm saying I didn't want to kick him out the moment he opened his mouth, which is actually an accomplishment," he teased.

She opened her mouth to remind him about his part in the Walsh ordeal, when Mary Margaret stuck her head into the kitchen to call them back to the living room, and also to yell at them when she found her personal cookie stash on the counter between them.

Emma spotted Killian on the other side of the living room next to the tree and he welcomed her to his side easily, taking the opportunity to lean her head on his shoulder.

"How do you think we're doing, love? Are your friends sufficiently convinced?" he whispered in her ear. His breath was warm on her face and she reveled in the closeness to him.

"I'd say they are. David actually gave you his seal of approval," she grinned up at him.

He hummed his contentment, tugging on the strands of her blonde hair at the small of her back.

"Emma, I have something for you," Ruby slid up next to them, a sly grin on her face.

She grabbed the small box suspiciously, wary of the way that everyone in the room was trying to inconspicuously watch her as she pulled at the ribbon. The moment she lifted the lid, she understood why everyone was hovering.

"Mistletoe! You guys have to kiss now," Ruby exclaimed, looking extremely pleased with herself.

"Why Ruby, I didn't know you felt this way about me," Emma joked, masking the way her stomach had plummeted and the urge to run had risen up. Not that she hadn't imagined kissing Killian, because she most definitely had. She had just never pictured it being in front of her friends while he was faking feelings for her.

He must have felt the way she tensed beside him, but with her friends staring and both of them knowing Ruby wouldn't back down, he simply tugged her closer by the waist and pressed a short, quick kiss to her lips. When he broke the kiss, he lingered in her space. For a few blissful moments, Emma reveled in the peace of being so close to him.

"An actual kiss you guys," Ruby huffed, which caused Mary Margaret to scold her from across the room.

Emma didn't think too hard before closing the minuscule distance between them to pull him tightly against her by the lapels of his leather jacket and crush his lips to hers again. He let out a short grunt and inhaled sharply before responding to the kiss, opening his mouth and sliding his tongue across hers. Her hand found its way to his hair and she let herself have a few more precious seconds of bliss before she pulled away, breathing heavily.

Robin whistled and Ruby clapped, saying that "that's what she was looking for" but all Emma could register was that Killian was breathing just as heavily as her, his warm breath fanning across her face and his hand gripping her hip tightly.

And that was when Emma knew she was totally screwed. She didn't maybe like her neighbor and one of her best friends, she definitely did. And it wasn't a schoolyard crush, it was real that could possibly develop into something more and that was when she knew for sure that she couldn't do this.

She pulled away from him with a shy smile that everyone in the room would mistake for lingering awkwardness over kissing the guy she was kind of seeing in front of all of them, but the look in Killian's eyes told her he knew it was because of something else.

If she wasn't mistaken, she thought she saw hurt and extreme disappointment flit across his face as she pulled her hand away from his.

After the party, Emma all but barricaded herself in her apartment to keep Killian out. It had hurt too much to have one afternoon where she was with him, but not with him and she just couldn't go back to how things were.

She almost broke the radio silence on the second day when he knocked on the door pleading for her to talk to him, begging for a chance to explain.

On the fourth, he was waiting for her when she came home from work, his jaw set with determination and his eyes harder than she had ever seen them. "We need to talk," he said sternly.

The look on his face didn't leave room for argument. She nodded quietly, shuffling past him to unlock her door and let him follow her in. He didn't move to what had become his spot on the couch and neither did she.

"You've been pushing me away ever since the party and I just want to know why," he insisted. Almost all the fight had left him since the hallway and he looked simply desperate.

"I just thought it would be a good idea to take a break from seeing each other so much. Sort through some things on my own," she looked down, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

He looked vulnerable when he shifted on his feet and asked "Is this about the kiss? Because I never wanted to push you, I swear to you, Emma-"

"No, no it had absolutely nothing to do with the kiss," she insisted, hearing the obvious lie in her own voice. Of course that mean that he heard it loud and clear.

"That's a lie and we both know it. You were faking having feelings for me, why would that kiss change anything?"

"Because none of it was fake for me!" she threw her hands up, turning around to look at him. She could feel the sting of tears beginning to prickle behind her eyes. He stared at her, his expression void of any emotion save confusion.

"I like you, okay?" she shrugged. "I like eating Chinese food with you at two in the morning and falling asleep on the couch watching crappy TV. I like falling asleep on you because you carry me to bed and I like when you fall asleep first and we end up staying on the couch all night, and part of it is because you make breakfast and your pancakes are the best, but the other part is because I like waking up with your arm around me. I like how you make me feel important and like I don't have to change or be anything but myself with you." A stray tear escaped and ran down her cheek but she didn't move to brush it away because she was so intently focused on him, trying to gauge his reaction.

Killian had watched her with increased amazement for the duration of his confession, but it was the tear that spurred him into action. He took two long steps towards her and had her in his embrace in seconds. His fingers tangled in her hair as he pulled her closer, her nose pressing into the hollow of his throat and he brushed a kiss across her forehead.

"Why do you think it was so easy for me to pretend at the party? I've been half in love with you since you yelled at me for making you drop that stack of case files the week you moved in," he said, his thumb swiping the solitary tear from her cheek.

Emma pulled back, astounded. He chuckled at her incredulity. "Come, love, you can't have honestly believed those were platonic foot rubs," he joked, running his hands down the length of her arms from her shoulders to tangle their fingers together.

"I mean I kind of hoped they weren't," she muttered honestly, leaning into him and breathing in the scent that was uniquely him.

He laughed again, a small breathy thing that hung in the space between them, making the tension thicker than it already was. "I don't want to push you, but does this mean I can stop hiding how much I care for you?" he asked, letting go of one of her hands to tuck a strand of loose hair behind her ear. He looked so open and hopeful, but she also saw utter devotion in his eyes.

"Only if I can do the same," she said, leaning her cheek into his hand.

She didn't think even the sun had ever shone brighter than the smile that stretched across his face.

"It's a deal," he said, and he leaned down to kiss her, softer and slower and deeper than the one they had shared in Mary Margaret's apartment.

So in hindsight, bringing Killian Jones to her friend's Christmas party may have been the best idea she'd had in a long time.