Hot Chocolate (This Side of Paradise) – An innocent one-shot of Emison before their lives got complicated. Written with kayweston, because she's adorable and helps me finish these stories. This may turn into a series between the two of us about Emily/Alison innocently exploring before Ali disappears. Enjoy xx

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The Hastings house is quiet, but not silent. The sound of crickets chirping outside can be heard through the window as early spring air flows in, settling in a cool blanket over the five girls spread out in Spencer Hasting's bedroom.

On the bed, the witty book smart brunette is lying on her side with a heavier set blonde girl on the other side. At the foot of the bed, dear Aria with a light pink streak in her hair lies very still, snoring softly.

Alison DiLaurentis lies spread out in the large chaise, her electric sparkling blue eyes half open as she scans the room. Her eyes land on the body on the window sill, curled up and angled away from her. She feels a strange feeling in her heart as she glances at the angelic girl, and then she feels a very strange feeling in her stomach, going to her core, as she sees the large exposed areas of skin from the angel's shorts riding up and her shirt slightly lifted.

Deep down, in a place that she wasn't ready to admit to other people, Alison knows that Emily Fields is the only person who makes her weak- the only person she can be herself around. Slowly, she pushes herself up off the chair and tiptoes over to the window, frowning as she sees all the little goosebumps on the smooth tan skin. She can't sleep- not when her mind is going a hundred miles an hour with thoughts of Emily who lies less than a few feet away from her.

Cautiously, the blonde leans down, her fingers daring to touch Emily's face, and she lets her lips ghost over the brunette's, barely touching each other. She feels butterflies explode in her stomach as she quickly pulls herself away while Emily stirs, but doesn't wake. Her heart pounds out of her chest wildly as she holds her breath, but the brunette doesn't open her eyes.

"Yes."

Alison's eyes shoot wide open and her ears perk up as she realizes that Emily is speaking, or rather, mumbling in her sleep.

She stands, frigid, waiting for another word to be spoken, but none comes. Frowning, Alison leans down again near Emily's ear, her lips tracing over it.

"Baby," she whispers but the term of endearment sounds so foreign. She tries again. "Emmy. I love you."

She pulls away quickly and watches as the brunette stirs and shifts.

"I love you too, Ali."

The words are faint, and almost incoherent, but Ali can hear through the thick sleepiness. Alison sighs. She wants to know for damn sure if the brunette has feelings for her or not- whether Emily is gay or straight, is irrelevant to Alison. She'll always care for her regardless. It's how she herself feels that terrifies her, it's what keeps her up at night.

Luckily, she thinks, Emily is a fucking saint- the girl can do no wrong. She would never use the fact that Alison liked (loved?) her against her, would never view the queen bee in a negative light as weak or vulnerable. But Alison is who she is- vicious, cruel, vindictive, and jaded. And Emily is who she is- kind, sweet, loving, and timid.

Timid. It's the one thing that bothers her the most about the brunette. If only her mermaid knew how beautiful she was, how much value she held- she could destroy Alison's queen bee position in seconds. And sometimes Alison thinks she wouldn't mind that at all. Because if there's anyone she'd want to see take her spot, it's Emily. Someone who truly deserves it. And Emily sure as hell does with how she tries so hard to be good- no, great-

"Ali?"

The blonde jumps a bit as she sees sleepy brown eyes staring at her confusedly as the swimmer's body adjusts to sit up.

"Emily you scared me," Ali scolds lightly with a frown, her eyes narrowing as they always do when she's teaching people a lesson.

"Sorry," Emily mumbles half asleep, a sheepish smile taking over her sleepy features and Alison fights the urge to smile back. "Why are you awake?"

"I couldn't sleep."

"Why?" Emily asks with furrowed brows as she stifles a yawn.

"I've got a lot on my mind," Alison confesses truthfully, going over to sit adjacent to Emily on the window sill. She loves these moments when she can let her guard down, like there's no one else in the world except her and her mermaid.

"Like what?" Emily asks innocently.

"You don't want to know," Alison dismisses her with a shake of her head and stares out the window.

"I always want to know," Emily points out casually and as their eyes meet again, Alison is taken aback by the sincerity shining through in them.

"Emily," Alison says slowly, trying to avoid talking about it. "Some things are better left unsaid. Understand?"

"No," Emily shakes her head, still half asleep, and Alison quirks her head curiously. "Say what you need to. It'll make you feel better."

"Let's go make hot chocolate," Alison says jumping to her feet and looking at Emily expectantly who looks back with a confused glance. It's the first thing that comes to her mind- Spencer's parents have the best hot chocolate mix. And she's never been one to actually confront how she's feeling, a true emotional avoider.

"Okay," Emily agrees with a nod and sits up, stretching, and Alison gulps as she watches her shirt ride up even more as she pulls her arms up.

The two of them stumble out into the hallway into the darkness, and Alison leads the way to the kitchen, creeping down the stairs softly. She doesn't want to wake the other girls, doesn't want anyone in her world right now except Emily.

Caught up in her thoughts, she doesn't notice that she almost misses a stair and is about to tumble forward as Emily grabs onto her from behind and pulls her back, flush against her body.

"Careful Ali," Emily whispers in her ear worried but it sends shivers down Alison's spine.

"I'm fine," she says nonchalantly pulling away from Emily, trying to get her body to cool down from the brunette's touch. Because, goddamn it, why is it Emily who does these things to her? Alison is no innocent child- she's seen her fair share of dirty movies and videos, she's read books, she knows that this twisting feeling in her stomach she feels every time Emily touches her or gets too close is her body reacting positively to the brunette.

Her mind starts to wander as she saunters into the kitchen if Emily feels it too- and she almost whimpers out loud as she feels wetness pool at her core while at the mere thought of Emily being turned on too. She's a little confused, this is new for her- she's never gotten that wet before so quickly, not even when she went out with Noel Kahn and he kissed her. He was lovely, and he smelled good, but he was a little rough and cocky, two things that Alison was and Emily definitely wasn't. Maybe it's true, opposites attract.

"Did you hear me?" Emily's voice snaps her out of her thoughts again.

"What?"

The brunette chuckles and smiles softly. "I asked if we should make hot cocoa for all the girls."

Alison vehemently shakes her head and it confuses the questioning brunette so she clarifies. "Emily," she says stepping forward boldly and staring at the beautiful brown eyes she dreams of. "This is our little secret. Just me and you. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Emily's voice trails off as she murmurs yes, and Alison smiles her charming DiLaurentis grin at her and bounces off to the cabinets to find the cocoa.

"I have this dream," Ali tells her in a husky quiet voice as she comes back over to Emily holding the cocoa powder. "We'll run away to Paris right? And we can spend a lazy afternoon at the Louvre. We can get chocolat chaud from Ladurée and go through the museum, wouldn't that be nice?"

"What else would we do?"

The question back catches Alison off guard- her mermaid is always too timid to answer her. But the brown affectionate eyes have darkened slightly, and Alison suddenly wonders what exactly is going on in the brunette's mind.

"What would you like to do?" Alison asks curiously, keeping her voice husky, as she steps forward so her face is mere inches away from Emily's.

"I…um…"

"Tell me," Alison purrs, not knowing the full effect she has on Emily but will quickly learn as the girl becomes putty.

The swimmer is awe-struck. Alison has never been like this around her- and she's not even sure what this even is. She's wholesome, innocent, and pure- she has no idea what her body is doing and her cheeks turn bright red as she feels her panties get a little wet- it makes her nervous because she doesn't understand.

"I told you, so you have to tell me now," Alison leans forward and whispers it in Emily's ear. Now she's just interested in pulling the truth from Emily. She's Alison DiLaurentis- she can pull the truth out of anyone, she thinks. She needs to know. It's eating away at her.

"We c-c-c-ould get a nice hotel," Emily stammers and the blonde swallows, realizing where Emily's mind subconsciously was.

"And then what?" Alison asks, her voice dropping to a hushed whisper.

"A-a-and, um, we could, uh, cuddle," Emily suggests innocently and Alison's face softens, her smile genuine as her eyes gaze at Emily's body.

She catches the fact that Emily isn't wearing a bra- neither of them are, and she sees that Emily's nipples are hard, straining against her shirt- and it causes an intense heat to shoot straight through Alison's body.

Emily looks down to follow Alison's eyes and realizes in embarrassment what she's looking at.

"I-"

She tries to cover herself up as her cheeks flush dark red but Alison, with lightning speed, steps into her and grabs her hands, pinning them to her side. The blonde doesn't understand where this audacity is coming from- it's an exciting, sexual energy, she knows this much. But she's never felt this adventurous with anyone else.

"Don't," Alison shakes her head. She presses her body against Emily's and hears the brunette let out a gasp at the feeling of Ali's own hard nipples pressed against her. "I like it."

"I-i-it's not weird?" Emily asks fretting over her body's sudden reactions.

"No, Em, it's not," Alison sighs as she breaks away and grabs the hot cocoa before over to the cupboard and grabbing two mugs.

"Why do they do that?" Emily asks in a tiny voice and Alison almost drops the ceramic pieces as she realizes what Emily exactly is asking.

"Haven't you ever watched a naughty movie before?" Alison teases with a sparkle but when Emily shakes her head, she realizes just how innocent the brunette is.

"Oh," Alison frowns, not fully convinced yet. This sweet girl in front of her… she must have seen something. Anything. She tilts her head slightly and scans Emily, head to toes. But the timid brunette merely shakes her head once more and blushes fervently.

"Oh."

There's silence between them, and after Alison starts to boil water she gets dangerously close to the brunette again. They both gasp slightly and when her lips are inches from Emily's, she feels her breath become rapid and loud, and it makes her own breathing labored, and it makes her hungry.

"Then I'm gonna have to show you some things," she whispers huskily and touches Emily's lips with her own – slowly, deliberately, softly. She nearly loses her mind when she hears Emily's very quiet, almost silent moan. This delicious feeling of control is wonderful, it sets her body aflame.

"S-sorry," Emily stutters as they pull apart and Ali looks at her through hooded eyes.

"For what now?"

"I…I…"

"You're okay," Alison reassures her, diving back forward, unsure of when she's going to get another chance to do this to Emily. Her hands reach behind and tangle in her hair as she presses Emily into the fridge and kisses her hard, the way others have kissed her before, and it's hot- it has both of them trembling- and it's passionate. But it's not them. Not yet.

"Wait," Alison breaks and steps back. Emily has to catch her breath, dangerously close to losing all sense of control. She doesn't understand this fuzzy haze that settles over her brain when Alison's lips are on hers- it's like she's paralyzed, and she likes it, but she doesn't want to slip up and do something dumb.

"Show me how you feel," Alison breathes, nervous for once. She doesn't want to push Emily away- not by a long shot.

So the brunette walks forward, and Alison can see hesitancy written all over her face while her hands shake.

She doesn't touch Alison really. She just steps in, tilts her head down, and lets their lips find each other, slowly and curiously. But she becomes more sure of herself and kisses Alison like she has something to prove.

It's tender, and it's everything Alison's been missing from her life- soft, sweet, affectionate- as if she's someone's everything. And well, she wasn't really anyone's anything. Her parents didn't care for her, neither did Jason, Noel had his eye on a zillion other girls, and everyone treated her as if they were afraid of her or lusted after her- nobody treated her like this.

The soft, gentle hesitancy that Emily presented made Alison melt. It wasn't that Emily was afraid of Alison, she knows that. Emily is merely afraid of messing things up. And Alison can sense that.

They hear a whistling from the stove and the two jump apart, breaking their transfixion with each other. They stand for a few seconds, staring, before Alison blinks and shakes herself out of it.

Emily wants to talk about it, she wants to say something- anything really- as Alison goes over to shut off the stove. But there's rustling upstairs and the two hear footsteps.

"Seriously, what are you doing at four thirty am?" Spencer asks, eyes half shut, as she rounds the corner into the kitchen with Hanna and Aria in tow.

"Making hot cocoa, sharing secrets about things you will never know about," Alison teases dryly with a wink towards Emily.

Hanna snorts from behind them.

"So basically you dragged Emily down here to bore her to death?"

"Watch it Hanna," Alison snarls and the sleepy blonde wakes up a little at the warning tone as she winces. "Emily has secrets of her own. Don't you Em?"

Emily stammers but Spencer cuts in with a retort. "Like what, Ali? What secrets could she possibly have? Like she skipped out on swim practice five minutes earlier than everyone else?"

Emily blushes again, it's moment like these when her friends fight about her that make her uncomfortable.

"I guess you guys don't know her like I do," Alison dismisses them with a smug tone and glances at Emily, a twinkling in her eyes. The brunette smiles back softly, and Aria quirks an eyebrow.

"Did we miss something?" Aria asks slowly, picking up on the vibes but Alison quickly shuts her down.

"If you must know, I was just giving her tips on how to kiss Ben," Alison waves her off and Emily thinks she feels herself suddenly crumble on the inside at the reminder of her boyfriend. Out of the corner of her eye, Alison sees her crestfallen face and she swears under her breath.

"Whatever, I want hot cocoa," Hanna insists as she stumbles to the counter and Alison rolls her eyes.

"Of course you do," she says in a biting tone and Spencer knocks her shoulder as she brushes past her.

"Watch it," the youngest Hastings warns.

Alison rolls her eyes and walks over to Emily who looks at her with sad puppy eyes.

"Don't give me that look," she says in a very hushed voice while the other three girls talk.

Emily doesn't answer, her face sullen and looking away.

"Emily please, don't," Alison orders but there's a tone of begging underlying the command.

"Just teaching me?"

"I don't know what that was," Alison lies harshly again. But she tries to ease the brunette back to a resemblance of comfort. "But I didn't mind it. Okay?"

Not wanting to fight with Alison, the brunette sighs and nods.

Alison turns her head to see the others busy around the stove, and she steals one last chaste kiss from the brunette who looks at her, shocked.

"Fuck Ben," Alison mutters darkly as she shakes her head and goes over to the girls, making snide comments left and right to them as she releases her frustration.

Emily sits at the corner of the counter, shocked. She looks up, and sees Aria staring at her with questioning eyes. The brunette shrugs, and Aria offers a sympathetic smile. And Emily wonders if she knows exactly what is going on. Because, she sure as hell doesn't. And she wonders if she ever will.