A/N: This is for my very sweet friend Katie (hook-come-back-to-me) as it's her birthday today!
"HOLY SHIT!" Killian heard a voice shout from the apartment next door along with the stomping sound of running feet. He leapt up from his couch and tossed the book he was reading on the coffee table and grabbed the first thing he could use as a weapon and opened his door to find his new neighbor Emma breathing heavily in the hall.
"Are you okay?" he asked holding up his weapon and looking around the hallway from anything that could have freaked her out.
"Yeah I'm fine," she breathed, "What's with the spatula?" she asked furrowing her brow in confusion.
"It was the first thing that was within arms reach, now what the bloody hell are you screaming about? I assumed you had a home intruder or something," he explained.
"And you were planning on fighting off this intruder with a spatula?" Emma questioned.
"It was the first thing I grabbed and as it would appear there is no home intruder so the spatula is a moot point. Now what in the bloody hell were you shouting about? You can give a man a heart attack that way."
"There is an enormous spider in my shower," she said tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, "So maybe your spatula can come in handy after all."
"Right, well show me this huge scary spider then," Killian said raising his eyebrow at her.
"What are you insinuating? That because I'm a woman I can't take care of a damn spider?," Emma crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Well to be fair love you screamed bloody murder and ran out of your apartment. Now do you want to go take care of it together?" Killian said gesturing to her door so she could go in first.
"Fine, only because I'm not using one of my spatulas to touch that thing," Emma walked into her apartment, waving for Killian to follow her, "It's in there," she pointed towards the bathroom. Killian tightened his grip on his spatula and nodded opening the door.
"All right it's just a spider Killian, you can kill a spider," he muttered to himself as he crept over to the shower and pulled back the curtain, "BLOODY HELL!" he yelled once he saw the huge hairy tarantula that had taken residence in his neighbors shower.
"Everything all right in there?" he heard Emma call from outside the room.
"Just fucking peachy," he called back and turned back to the spider. He crouched down and slowly inched his spatula closer to it, "Now come on mate don't make me look bad in front of her, just let me dispose of you," he raised the spatula ready to strike when suddenly the tarantula scuttled towards him, "OH GODS ABOVE NOPE BYE," he sprang to his feet and quickly backed out of the bathroom to see Emma laughing at him from her kitchen.
"Laugh all you want, Swan but that thing is the size of my bloody hand! And I wasn't expecting it to fucking run at me!" he said.
"Hey I don't blame you, that thing is a monster. Did you even know spiders got that big?" Emma asked.
"Yeah but I figured they lived in some godforsaken place far away, not in my next door neighbor's shower," a feeling of realization flooded through him, "Wait do you know that one bloke on the second floor? Jefferson I think his name is; a tad well let's say eccentric?"
"Yeah what does he have to do with the literal monster in my shower?" Emma asked.
"I think it's his, I remember he asked me to house sit once and there was a similar beast in a tank in the living room. Perhaps he escaped?" Killian shrugged.
"Well it's worth a shot, I'll go ask him about it. Thanks for all your help," she nodded.
"Oh no Swan, I'm too invested in this to stop now. I need to see it through to the end," he smirked at her, "Now are we going to go get that spider evicted from your shower or not?"
Emma gaped at him as if she couldn't believe he was still there but shrugged, "All right well let's go," she turned and walked out of the apartment and he followed her down to the second floor. He pointed to the door to the infamous neighbor's apartment and Emma knocked. The door flung open to reveal their neighbor wearing a top hat, cravat, and bathrobe.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
Emma glanced at Killian and widened her eyes and glanced back to the man in front of her, "You're Jefferson right?" He nodded, "And you have a spider for a pet?"
"Had, my dear Alice escaped from her tank," he said forlornly.
"Well she escaped to my shower," Emma smiled.
"I see and why is he here?" Jefferson turned to Killian.
"He was trying to help me get your spider out of my shower," Emma sighed.
"Why does he have a spatula?"
"It's a long story, will you just go get your spider out of her tub?" he pointed to the stairs with the spatula and raised his eyebrows at Jefferson.
"Of course, take me to her and I'll get her out of your hair," Jefferson smiled and followed Emma and Killian back up the stairs and into her apartment.
"Hey Alice, long time no see. Did you have a fun adventure?" he said scooping his tarantula into his hands and strolling out of Emma's bathroom. Killian glanced out of the corner of his eye at Emma who met his eyes and shrugged. "Yes they do make a good team, I think they'd work quite well together," Killian heard Jefferson say.
"I'm sorry mate what did you say?" Killian asked.
"Oh Alice thinks she's quite the matchmaker, but I keep telling her to keep her legs out of other people's business. But when she sets her mind to something, there's no stopping her," Jefferson said absentmindedly stroking his spider with one of his fingers.
"Right, well you have her back. Thanks for getting her out of my shower," Emma said.
"It was no trouble, have a good rest of the day you two," Jefferson nodded at both of them and walked out of the apartment closing the door behind him.
"Match making tarantulas, now I've seen it all," Emma said running a hand through her hair.
"Aye but perhaps she's onto something," he took a step closer to Emma and smiled at her.
"Perhaps," Emma smirked at him and reached for his spatula, "I still can't believe you came running out of your apartment with a spatula for a weapon," she smiled fully at him.
"Well I wasn't going to just sit back on my arse when I thought you could be hurt," Killian responded, "Even though I know you could save yourself from anyone who dares lay a hand on you if you didn't want them to."
Emma felt a shiver run down her spine, suddenly realizing she never had anyone care about her as he had before.
"Well maybe we can put that spatula to good use?" she asked. Killian chuckled and raised his eyebrows at her.
"My my Swan, I never expected a thank quite like that," he smirked at her.
"I meant to cook with you dork, would you like to make some dinner with me?" she asked feeling more bold than she had in her life.
"I'd love to Swan," he smiled at her. They made some dinner together trading quips and anecdotes back and forth while cooking and during the movie they decided to watch as they ate. Killian looked at his watch as the credits began to roll.
"Oh crap it's getting late, I have work tomorrow morning otherwise I'd love to stay longer," he said apologetically.
"No no I understand, we all have work and I imagine working with ships probably means you wake up pretty early," Emma said.
"Aye, I usually have to get up at the bloody crack of dawn," he whined slightly.
"Ouch that doesn't sound fun at all," she scrunched her nose and shook her head at the thought of being up before the sun.
"It's definitely not," he responded getting up from her couch, "But tonight has been, thank you for dinner."
"It's no problem, thanks for trying to rescue me with a spatula," Emma smiled. A beat passed between them, Emma felt her eyes flick down to Killian's lips. She threw caution to the winds and leaned up and kissed him lightly. She felt him stiffen in surprise before he began to kiss her back, hands drifting to her waist. She broke the kiss with a sigh, her hands still gripping the lapels of his jacket.
"Good night Killian," she said breathlessly.
"Good night Swan," he breathed and began to walk out her door but stopped himself. He poked his head back in her apartment, "Would you like to possibly go out to dinner with me sometime this week?" he asked, his eyes shining with hope.
"Sure," she smiled and nodded. Killian's face cracked into a wide smile as he closed the door and went back to his apartment. He was certainly going to have to thank Alice for her matchmaking abilities.