"Ruby, my paper on body language is due to on Friday, I have to get some research done!" Emma had never been very good at the "puppy eyes" method, probably because she rarely had to use it, but the situation was dire so she was pulling out all the stops.
Ruby rolled her eyes at her friend's desperate attempts.
"No way am I letting you lock yourself in your room on a day like that," she said, arms crossed in front of her chest, emphasizing her already impressive cleavage.
The brunette's eyes suddenly lit up and a mischievous grin stretched her blood-red lips.
"OK, you don't wanna waste your day in a café? The football team has practice in 20 minutes."
"So?" asked Emma with as much disinterest as she could put into a single word, but her eyes shifted around nervously.
"Sooo, you're gonna come with me and make googly eyes at my loser of a brother while I pretend to not care whether or not Victor will ask me out again," said Ruby, nodding in approval to her own plan.
It was Emma's turn to roll her eyes.
"First, no, I'm not. Second, I don't do googly eyes," she glared at Ruby to prove her point. "Third, if the captain of the football team and, accidentally, the most popular and chased-after guy on campus is a loser, I don't wanna know what you think I am."
Ruby opened her mouth to reply but Emma cut her off.
"And last, we both know that Victor's got it bad for you and will probably get a leg broken during practice if you take your piece-of-cloth-that's-supposed-to-pass-for-a-skirt anywhere near the field. Along with that amount of," Emma's hand waved in the general direction of Ruby's seemingly endless legs. "… legs."
"I'll have you know that piece of cloth cost five times as much as what you would consider an actual skirt. And I remember you telling me I looked rather fetching in it."
"Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly thinking you would wear it while the sun was still out and there were professors all around," fired back Emma but her lips were twitching upwards.
"Trust me, Ems, it's better this way. People can't handle me when the sun is down and the moon is out," Ruby winked and grabbed her friend's hand, dragging her towards the football field.
"Ruby!" Emma was past the stage of trying to save her dignity and dug her heels into the ground like a stubborn child.
"Oh, and for the record, Killian is a complete loser. Trust me. You are perfect for each other."
That last part affected Emma enough to give Ruby the chance to start pulling her along once more.
"Hey, I saw you at practice today," was the first thing out of Killian's mouth when he came home that night. "What were you and Swan doing there?"
"Aye, captain, contrary to popular belief, you don't own that field, the players on it, the benches or the panties of all the girls on them," replied Ruby sarcastically without looking up from her task of painting her toenails.
Victor had asked her out again.
Killian snatched up the little bottle of nail polish before she had even realized how close he was.
"But I do own this now," he declared, waving the object in front of her face like the five-year-old that he was.
"Gimme that!" demanded Ruby, trying to steal it from him.
"Ah, ah," he held it higher, making it impossible for her to reach it without getting up and ruining the nails she had already done. "Not so fast, luv."
"Ugh, I told her you are a total loser," mumbled Ruby, trying to seize her nail polish.
"You told who what?!" he dropped his arm in surprise and indignation and Ruby snatched the black nail polish back.
"Ha! See? Loser." she stuck out her tongue at him.
"Ruby!" Killian growled in warning, only succeeding in making his sister roll her eyes.
"Oh, relax about it. It's not like it matters. I can tell Emma you watch The Princess Bride every night and write in your dairy with differently coloured pencils and she would still think you are the definition of amazing."
"I do not watch it every night and I do not have a da- wait what?" Killian's eyes suddenly lit up, a silly grin stretching across his whole face.
"Oh My God!" Ruby slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Emma fancies me?" by that moment Ruby would have been scared that her brother's face would split in two, if she wasn't too busy worrying about her own life.
"Killian, Killian, you can't tell her I said that!" she got on her knees on the couch, painted toenails completely forgotten. "She's gonna kill me!"
And in the next second the pleading was gone and Ruby narrowed her eyes.
"And then I'm gonna kill you!" she growled, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at him.
Killian rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to reply but she cut him off.
"And I'm gonna tell her you feel the same way!"
Ruby could count the times her brother had shut his mouth faster than he fired a ball on one hand. This was one of them. Her eyes sparkled with glee. Touchdown. She had always known there was something there but she hadn't been confident enough to play matchmaker. Until now.
"Who says I do?" he said defensively, trying to turn the game around, but it was too late.
"Oh, please," the girl rolled her eyes and sat back down, returning to her task. "Could you two just bang already and get it out of your systems so that I don't have to cut sexual tension along with my stake every time I invite Emma to dinner? I really don't like the flavour it adds to pork."
"I don't wanna just bang Emma Swan. OK, Ruby?"
His offended voice, the edge of anger in it, made her turn her head around and take in her big brother's glare and clenched fists. She scrutinized him for a few seconds and opened her mouth as if to say something serious, something about taking risks and having hope and finding each other. But then she remember that just because Mary-Margaret was with David, visiting his grandparents, it didn't mean she had to take her place and just settled for rolling her eyes at him as usual.
"Well, it's a place to start."
Killian groaned and turned to go to his room but stopped at the stairs when his sister's voice floated from the living room.
"And God knows… ok, maybe not God, but I do, that you both haven't seen any action in a looong time. It's depressing! You're depressing me, Killian!"
The football captain took a deep breath, fighting the desire to strangle his sister. This is why their parents needed to buy a second house.