a/n: i'm still working on i see the light (now that i see you), but with the emmys tonight, i got inspired.

"Stop jiggling your legs, Emma," Killian spoke from behind Emma, curling another piece of her hair around the curling iron.

Emma breathed deeply to try to calm the somersaults and butterflies in her stomach. But it did nothing. Her nerves were running high because this was finally her night and everything in her life has come to this moment and what if she didn't win and what if she made a total ass of herself and pulled a Jennifer Lawrence and-

"Emma, do you want me to burn your ear off?"

"So-o-ory," Emma whined, dropping her head back as Killian moved to her left side, finishing up the final touches of her gentle curls.

"Want to talk about it?"

Emma sighed and groaned and what if she didn't win-

"I'm fine," Emma grumbled out.

Killian's face popped into Emma's vision with his signature eyebrow-raise and Emma sighed because of course the man that had known her for her entire life knew that she was lying. Shit, he knew her better than she knew herself.

"What if I don't win, Killian?" Emma asked, her voice quiet because he was the only person to know her insecurities and how she was constantly questioning her decision to go legit with her acting career and how her fears kept her awake most nights and how she was running on literally three hours of sleep at the moment-

"Blasphemy, Swan. Of course you'll win," Killian retorted and Emma snorted as Killian turned off the curling iron and swiftly pinned back a piece of her hair with two diamond-studded barrettes.

"But what if I don't?" Emma whispered and suddenly Killian was in front of her vision again, kneeling down on the carpet in front of her, where they sit in her bedroom mere hours before the red carpet began.

"Emma, if you don't win-which I sincerely doubt will happen-, we'll return here and binge ourselves sick on ice cream and wine and curse the Oscar gods for not giving you the award when we and everyone else know that you deserve it."

Emma took a deep breath and nodded subtly at Killian and he sat up slightly, brushing his lips across Emma's forehead in a gesture that took her back to elementary school and middle school and high school and college and every twist and turn that led them to here. Emma knew that she was lucky to still have her closest friend at her side, even after nearly twenty-five years of friendship that never wavered and never made her doubt his intentions.

He was there before she shot into stardom at the age of twenty-two with the lead role of some seriously cheesy action flick that she can honestly say she never watched.

He was there before she was left broken-hearted and pregnant at the tender age of seventeen.

He was there before life kicked her down and told her to not trust anybody and everyone wanted something from her.

Killian was there when she was five and he was six and she had just gotten her new dress dirty in the sandbox because a little boy had pushed her in. He was there to wipe away her tears and tell her that she still looked pretty in her white dress and from that day on, Emma was never alone again.

"Now let's get up and get into the car and drop some jaws, yeah?" Killian asked with that gentle smile on his face (the one that made Emma's heart jump and twist and no he was only her friend dammit-)

Emma nodded and took Killian's outreached hands, pulling herself up from the plush chair and running her hands over the material of her white dress. Killian's jaw had dropped when she had stepped out from her closet with Ruby close behind, her curves a tight fit within the dress. Emma had also noticed how his jaw clenched and his eyes darkened, but she just chalked that up to the lighting in her bedroom.

It had been twenty-five years of friendship between them. Why would it change now?

(It would change because Emma missed him whenever he was gone and felt happy and safe whenever he was with her and she had finally confessed to herself and to Ruby after a long night of tequila and Love Actually on Valentine's Day that she was head-over-heels in love with him and she finally realized why it had never worked out with any of the other men she had been with.)

(It seemed like all of those men knew what Emma didn't know.)

(Go figure.)

"Let's do this," Emma murmured and Killian's smile brightened and oh shit she was in deep.

"You're jiggling your leg again, Emma," Killian spoke quietly in the large auditorium, where they sat only a few rows from the large stage and in only moments, Emma would find out if everything she had worked for would finally pay off and what if she didn't win-

Killian took her hand and ran his thumb across her skin, her heart pounding for an entirely different reason than her nerves. Emma took a deep breath as a young starlet walked across the stage to the microphone to name the nominees for best lead actress.

"You've got it in the bag," Killian whispered into her ear and Emma's eyesight was beginning to blur because she couldn't take the nerves anymore and she just needed to know if she had finally won.

"If I do win, you may have to come up with me because I don't know if I can walk on my own," Emma whispered back and Killian laughed under his breath as the young actress began talking on the stage.

Emma didn't hear most of what the woman said, her nerves making it nearly impossible to focus on anything other than the feeling of Killian's hand around hers and the statement of her name from the woman's mouth as she opened the envelope-

"Emma!" Killian exclaimed and everyone was cheering and standing around her and Emma finally focused on Killian's face and he was smiling and holy shit- "Emma, you did it!"

Emma began shaking as she stood from her seat, Killian's hands wrapped around hers as he tugged her in close and wrapped his arms around her. Emma could feel the tears building behind her eyes because she finally fucking did it, after working her ass off for a full ten years with Killian by her side as her trusty makeup and hair stylist who didn't get paid until she finally made it big.

"I told you, love. I told you that you would win," Killian spoke into her ear and Emma pulled away, tugging Killian along because she didn't trust herself to walk on her own.

Killian's hand remained tightly within hers as they walked up the aisle and made it to the stairs, where Killian kissed her cheek (and lingered for a moment, if Emma could trust her mind) and allowed her to go up the steps on her own. She wanted him by her side as she walked across the stage to receive the statue of the golden man because she would not have been here without him by her side throughout her entire life.

Emma took a deep breath as she took the statue into her hands and turned to the microphone, the cheering of the crowd turning into a light buzzing as she cleared her throat. Her hands turned sweaty as she held onto the statue and shifted from foot to foot in her sky-high heels.

"Um wow okay," Emma spoke and her voice shook. She took the statue into one hand and tugged down on the three-quarters sleeve of her dress, feeling the silky material under her fingers and it brought her back to Earth because she fucking did it. "I just have to say that I really didn't know that I would win this tonight. Just ask my makeup and hair guy."

Chuckles echoed across the audience and Emma met eyes with Killian on the left side of the room from her, only three rows back with a wide smile on his face.

"I"-Emma took another deep breath because her voice began to shake again and she could feel the tears building behind her eyes-"I just don't know what to say. I mean, thank you to the Academy for thinking I actually deserved this award and thanks to David Nolan for giving me this role and becoming a father to me when I was on the verge of giving up. Thank you to his wife, Mary Margaret, for baking me cookies when I had a late shoot because she knew how much I hated those."

Laughter fell over the audience again and she looked at Killian again, whose gaze was unwavering. "And I just have to thank Killian Jones, whom many of you know as my makeup and hair guy. But what you don't know is that we have been friends for nearly twenty-five years and he has been through everything with me and-oh shit-here I go crying."

Emma sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes, not caring that she just cursed on live television since she knew that the five-second delay was a thing. "No matter what crap I went through growing up, that man was with me every step of the way, ever since that little boy pushed me into the sandbox when I was five and ruined my favorite dress. I love you so much and just…without you, I might still be stuck in Maine as a waitress at our favorite diner."

'Aww's swept over the crowd and Emma ran her hand through the loosening curls of her hair, her gaze still on Killian as he deftly wiped a tear from his cheek. "And I just have to say to all of the kids out there who feel like they don't have a family and feel like they're unloved or unneeded and are trapped in the endless cycle of the foster system, please-please-know that you are loved and you are important and that if I can fucking make it, you can too."

Emma held up the statue and blew a kiss to the crowd as she began to walk toward the backstage with the presenter at her side. She continued to shake even as she was hidden away from the crowd and hurried through the press conference, answering questions that Emma couldn't even remember. All she wanted was Killian back in her arms again and to finally tell him everything she felt because she was tired of hiding all of it.

She was tired of being afraid of her past.

And Emma finally got to see into his eyes when Killian finally found her after the show ended, the crowds filling the sidewalks outside of the theatre and his arms wrapped around her again like she belonged there (and she did belong there).

"I'm so proud of you, Emma," Killian spoke, his voice thick and heavy with emotion.

Emma nodded into his shoulder and all she wanted to do was go home and just be with him and ignore the stupid after parties because she was never about that life anyways. She just grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the street, down where they had agreed with the driver to meet after the ceremony. Killian didn't ask her what she was doing, as if he simply understood what she was doing.

Emma guesses that she must've actually been an open book to him.

"Champagne?" Killian asked as he stepped from her kitchen, his suit jacket off and tie loosened and button-down rolled up to his elbows.

Emma nodded as she reclined on the couch, her legs wide under the long dress and propped up on the plush ottoman in front of her. She tugged the barrettes out of her hair and silently hoped that she would make the best-dressed list because then it would make the pain of her heels and barrettes worth it. Killian stepped down the single step from the kitchen into the living room, carrying two champagne flutes and the bottle in his hands. He poured a generous amount into each glass and placed the bottle back onto the wooden coffee table beside Emma's ottoman, plopping down beside Emma and handing her a glass.

"Cheers," Killian murmured as the glasses clinked and they both threw back the glass, the liquid easing down their throats.

Emma needed the liquid courage to finally confess to Killian how she felt (how she always felt) and she just needed to say the stupid little words and the burden will be off her chest but what if he didn't feel the same-

"How does it feel to be an Oscar-winning actress?" Killian asked, his position matching Emma's on the couch, his feet propped up on the coffee table.

Her hands began to shake again because she was so full of nerves from the entire night and she told herself to just calm down- "Pretty cool, I guess. I still can't believe it."

Killian's hand gripped Emma's again and her heart nearly jumped out of her chest and she was so in love with him. "I knew you could do it, love."

"I meant everything I said up there," Emma said quietly, not trusting her voice at its normal volume. "I wouldn't be the same without you."

Killian lifted Emma's hand to his mouth and his mouth brushed the back of her hand, setting her skin aflame. "I feel the same way about you. If you weren't there to support me through school, the bastards would've gotten to me."

Emma smiled at him because she had been worried all through high school when the bullies would call Killian cruel names, solely because he enjoyed hair and makeup and the glamour of it all. She was so afraid that she would be suddenly friendless, but Emma continuously supported him through all of his endeavors, just as he had with her.

a/n: im still working on i see the light (now that i see you), but with the emmys tonight, i got inspired. here's the dress emma is wearing and the inspiration for working on this prompt.

"I didn't mean only that," Emma said, swallowing back the heavy knot in her throat. "I meant everything I said."

Killian eyebrows furrowed for a moment, then suddenly eased as Killian must've connected the dots. "Emma-"

"Killian, I'm in love with you," Emma finally said, whispering and her heart pounding. "I don't know how long, but I'm in love with you and I just had to-"

Killian suddenly moved forward and his lips met Emma's, the press gentle but passionate and Emma was going to burst into flames from the heat of it all-of their tongues tangling and teeth clattering and breathes mingling and moaning together. The empty glasses were forgotten on the couch, spilling out the last of the champagne in the glasses, as Emma was pulled closer to Killian, her legs falling over Killian's.

Killian pulled back with his fingers tangled in Emma's curls and said, "I've been waiting for you to say that for the past ten years."

Emma chuckled under her breath and surged forward again. "Shut up."