He was really the one who started it. She noticed the change a week after she'd given him the cell phone, and the name she'd programmed in for herself, Emma, had been changed to Swan.
"Did you do this?" she had asked.
"Does that surprise you?"
Why was that his go to response whenever she questioned him? Of course it surprised her. He knew far less about electronics than he did compasses or star charts, but he seemed to find a way to use whatever he was given. Her pirate was multifaceted.
When she got home that night, she changed his nickname from Hook, which she'd quickly punched in when she'd set up their phones, to Killian. He'd proven he was more than just that appendage attached to the end of his arm.
A few days later, after they'd eaten lunch and he'd excused himself from their booth at Granny's, she picked up the phone he'd left on the table top and checked her profile. It now read "Princess." She took out her own phone and thought for a minute, and then entered the word "Tiger." She grinned wickedly, thinking about just how wild he could get these days, after she'd returned his heart to his chest. Just thinking about the last time she'd called him Tiger, in the early, early hours of the morning, caused her pulse to race.
This became their habit and their own personal game:
Blondie.
Pirate.
Sunshine.
Blue Eyes.
Magic Lass.
Puppy. He'd hated that one.
And then one day she'd picked up his phone and read the four letters there.
She programmed the same word into her phone that day, and their game had ended. They'd found the perfect word for each other: Love.