Merry Christmas, andiirivera I was your Secret Santa! I had a great time getting to know you through the cssecretsanta2k18 event. I know I said I would do an aestetic, but I ended up writing a story as well. It's a hate to love and neighbors au. I hope you like it.

I would also like to thank hookedonapirate for betaing it and for her help and support.

She hates him, she really does. He is her worst nightmare come true, she can't describe it any other way. He is arrogant, selfish, sexy, attractive; well okay the last two aren't relative to her current situation, but they are true. And worst of all, he is her neighbor and the only chance to help salvage the christmas party.

But first, let's go back to how her hatred came to be...

5 months ago

The first thing she notices when she wakes up is the loud music coming from outside. Actually, she notices it before she even wakes up, since it's the reason why she has woken up. Ugh… she can't even conjure up such complicated sentences before she's had her coffee, especially today, because she'd only slept for 4 hours. Yesterday was Ruby's birthday and they had imbibed enough in order to need a gallon of coffee before she can feel human again. That's why she needs the noise to stop, like yesterday, even if yesterday she wasn't drank—there she goes again with the complicated sentences.

She makes up her mind to investigate the source of the noise —it's in her work title after all. Well kind of; detective and investigator aren't the same thing. She puts on her robe over her pajamas, wears her slippers and walks out the front door. The scene that greets her is a tall, handsome and very sweaty man carrying a box out of a moving truck. The sexy man hasn't seen her yet, and it's a good thing because her lack of caffeine makes her drool (yeah, we will go with the lack of caffeine as the cause). After a moment, she hears another voice coming from inside the neighbor's house.

"Killian, where do you want the couch?"

The sweaty man answers while disappearing into the house, "In front of the tv would be preferable," and oh no, he has a british accent as well, like he wasn't sexy enough.

Emma comes to her senses, and after she clears her throat (not that it's dry from watching him lift the box, not at all) she calls out, "Excuse me, could you turn down the music, and the noise while you are at it?" And yes she knows it wasn't the most polite thing to say to her new neighbor, but she really needs coffee to function.

The man puts the box he's holding down and turns to her. That's when she sees that his black hair is paired with a set of the most beautiful blue eyes she has ever seen. Not to mention a small amount of chest hair peeking out of his sweaty t-shirt (but she does mention it because it's worth being mentioned).

"My apologies, love, we didn't mean to disturb your morning. We will try to keep the noise down," he replies with a smile. Then he extends his hand while moving closer. "Killian Jones, your new neighbor," he points to the man who is emerging from the house, "and this is my brother Liam.

" Just keep it down," she repeats, and is ready to go back inside.

"And who might you be? We should know each other, especially considering how close we will be," he says with a wink.

Oh great! Her new sexy neighbor is a flirt; well of course he is, looking like that. "Emma Swan, and we really should not get to know each other," she responds and finally goes into her house and slams the door shut, hoping she can now get on with her morning in peace. But as she gets out of the shower, she notices that the music hasn't been turned down at all, only the opposite. It is louder!

Oh that means war, Killian Jones.

And that's how it goes from there. She asks him to do one thing and he does the opposite instead. For example, she had asked him not to block her driveway with his car, since he also has one where he can park his car, but no, he keeps doing that so she has to call him each time she wants to leave or enter her driveway. Which is ridiculous, especially with her work hours being all over the place. Also, she'd asked him to keep his dog chained in his yard and then the cutest dog ever is basically camping in her yard. The worst of all was when he started leaving his trash bags near her door! The man is doing everything he can to get on her last nerve! With big success as well.

Emma isn't being very friendly to be honest. She is stealing his newspaper regularly and leaves it used in his mailbox. Also, said mailbox isn't very upright anymore, but that one was an accident; she had miscalculated the distance to her driveway by some meters...

So how can she depend on him to help her save her party? He really is her last hope.

Emma gets a call from her sister in law in the morning, asking her in a cheerful, very Mary Margaret way if she needs to bring anything to the party, since Emma insisted on hosting it this year. She just knows she can do it, she could for once be the organised one.

Emma has her own house and all this space, well okay maybe not a lot, but there is space. Also, her brother and sister in law always host the party, and Emma had wanted to do something for them, especially with how close Mary Margaret is to giving birth. Emma wanted to take this stress out of her hands. That's how she ended up hosting this year's family party. Which includes more than family, really.

Mary Margaret always invites her step-sister, Regina, and her family, which unfortunately for Emma, means Robin, her son, Henry, the cutest six year old, Roland, and Regina's sister, Zelena. Zelena is always so judgmental and critical, and Emma really doesn't want to fail this year.

Which she already has, considering it's the day of the party and she doesn't have anything planned. She is panicking, big time. It's isn't her fault her last case had her deep in the zone this past week. She only came home to sleep, so how could she possibly remember to plan a party?

She knows her sister in law, would be so happy to help her and wouldn't even mention it. But Emma doesn't want to let them down. Especially when they were there for her since David's mother adopted her at 16. Plus, she said she would do it and she damn well plans to. She is determined in that way. Some would call her stubborn, but thankfully those people aren't here now, but if they were, they would help her with the party, so that wouldn't be a very bad thing.

So that's why Emma decides to swallow her pride and knock on her neighbor's door hours before the party.

She is waiting, but she doesn't hear any sound, which is especially weird for her loud neighbor. Oh no, maybe he isn't home. He could have gone to his brother's home for the holidays or his girlfriend's, even though Emma is sure he doesn't have one. But what if he does? He could be there helping her instead of Emma, but she is certain his perfect girlfriend wouldn't wait until the last minute to plan a party. And now Emma is angry because of his imaginary girlfriend. Maybe she is even from Canada. Emma is really overthinking this.

In that moment, the front door opens to reveal a very sleepy and half dressed Killian Jones. His hair is a mess and his eyes half asleep. He looks so... perfect. She means because he is there, of course. Nothing more. Of course.

"Thank God, you are home," she says with relief in her voice.

"Swan? What are you doing here? Why are you happy to see me?" He sounds so confused, which makes him even more adorable. Did she think he's adorable? Well he is, but why did she think that?

I need your help, and I need it now."

"I can certainly give it to you now, love" he flirts. "

"Come on Jones. I am serious, I have a very important situation and you are honestly the only one who can help me."

"Of course, Emma. Tell me what do you need."

"Come with me." She looks at his form, his pajama pants hanging low at his hips, clears her throat and talks again. "Dress first and come with me."

"Oh so this need of yours wants me clothed? That's a shame," he replies with a smirk, opens the door wider so she can come in and turns to go to his bedroom, probably, to dress.

Meanwhile, Emma is waiting in his living room looking around with a smile on her face— a fact she will definitely deny if asks about it. For the first time since she woke up, the day is finally looking up.

Killian can't believe he woke up to his beautiful, fierce neighbor knocking at his door, and it wasn't to tell him to move his damm car from her driveway. She really hates it when he does that, he thinks with a big smile on his face while he's getting dressed to see what he can help her with. He is willing to do just about anything for her. Which is why he insists on blocking her car, so he can be sure she has returned home safely from work. He is already half in love with her, even if they only mess with each other's minds half of the time. Okay, all the time. He just loves working her up.

He is very curious how he can help her. He was also so confused when she'd said he was her only hope. Okay, she didn't tell him that, but he likes to be a bit more dramatic. He understood from the look on her face that she was very stressed out, so he flirted hoping to relax her a bit. He likes to think he can at least do that for her.

While they are walking next door, she asks him if he is working, and he answers that the Christmas break had begun last week. He is a history professor, so he gets two weeks off.

When they enter Emma's home, she shows him her living room and announces, "We need to make this Christmas-party-ready in 5 hours!"

"Come again, love?"

"I am hosting a party and I don't even have a tree."

Killian looks around the room and noticed the lack of festive decorations and also the mess. "Tell me love, did a tornado hit the neighborhood that only affected your home?"

"Haha, you are hilarious, Jones. Now, will you help me?"

She looks so distraught right now in her pajamas and her hair in a messy ponytail, her green eyes pleading with him. Which makes him to want to take her in his arms and kiss her, so she can relax. But what he can do is assure her he will help her. He only has to make a phone call, he thinks.

"Yes, love of course. So... do you have any decorations for this party of yours?" he asks tentatively.

Emma is biting her lip, looking so nervous, and answers with a shake of her head.

"Alright then. We need to go to the store, luckily we have a bit of time. First, we should make a list with all the things we need," he declares eagerly.

They start writing down all the necessary things, from decorations and gifts, to drinks and food. Based on their limited time, they decide to go easy on the food, they will have chips and dip, and essentially everything that will need maximum 15 minutes to prepare.

The trip took longer than they thought, being Christmas Eve and the stores were full with last minute shoppers. They return from their shopping spree with only two hours and 30 minutes left.

She immediately starts to place the decorations while Killian cleans the living room. After that, Emma goes to get ready while he prepares the food and drinks in the kitchen.

Only 15 minutes before the guests are due to arrive, Emma comes out of her bedroom dressed in a red dress and her hair in a high ponytail.

Killian has to blink twice when he first sees her. She looks magnificent, so very beautiful.

"Emma you look…"

"Christmas-party-ready?" she asks with a small smile, and the way she says it sounds so hopeful and carefree, which is very different from this morning.

He chuckles. "Aye, you are. But also very beautiful," he can't help but add.

"Thank you, Killian." She speaks in the most sincere way he's ever heard, "I mean for everything you did today. You didn't have to, especially since you hate me, but you were amazing, I couldn't have done it without you."

"Of course, love. But just to make things clear, I definitely don't hate you, and you are amazing yourself," he replies and takes a step near her.

She blushes and looks away for a moment. "I didn't even ask, did you had any plans for today? If not, you are definitely welcome to stay at the party. You did basically organize it after all."

"Actually," he mutters and scratches behind his ear, "I was invited to my brother's house for the holidays."

Emm knows his brother is a 2 hours drive away, so he wouldn't make it in time even if he leaves now.

"Oh, you should have told me so." She feels awful she kept him away from his family.

"And leave a woman in distress alone? I would never do that to you, Swan," he declares sincerely while touching her chin bringing her eyes to his.

"So you left your family for me on Christmas?"

"Aye," he simply replies.

During their discussion they had grown very close and now they are only centimeters away. Emma leans closer to kiss him just as the doorbell rings.

She takes a step back and looks into his eyes. She sees something she would never expect from him—desire. He does hate her after all, right? She is doubting that more and more.

"So, will you stay at my party? I have some really good food choices."

He laughs and agrees, "I will just go to my place to change in to something more appropriate and be right back." He is looking down at the clothes he'd thrown on this morning.

"I will be here," she says as the doorbell rings again.

The party is a huge success. Even if her brother scrutinized Killian carefully once he came back, since David couldn't understand why Killian was present at the family party. She doesn't have time to explain how they don't hate each other, but what could she say? I totally forgot about the party, and Killian helped me save it at the last minute. Yeah, no she wasn't going to do that.

But Mary Margaret was so happy about everything and Zelena only made one or two passive aggressive comments about her home. That is definitely what Emma considers a success.

A few hours later, after they had drinks and opened up the presents, she receives an emerald teardrop necklace, which matches her eyes, from Killian. This is so strange since he wasn't invited to the party in the first place. But hey, she isn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, or at the silver necklace to be more precise. Killian helps her put it on and his hand lingers for a moment longer on her neck, sending a shiver over every inch of her skin, and it has nothing to do with the weather.

Everyone stays for a little while after the clock strikes midnight because tomorrow it will be a very busy day, especially for those who have kids.

Killian stays until later to help clean up. He says it is only fair since he helped in the beginning.

"So," he says awkwardly, while holding a garbage bag filled with all the trash from the presents, "I guess I should be leaving as well."

"Yeah, you could do that," Emma begins while taking a step closer to him, "Or you could not do that."

Killian sets the trash bag on the floor and moves in front of her. "What do you propose I do then?" he asks while placing his hands on her hips.

"Well you could kiss me," Emma replies, dropping all pretenses that this isn't what she has been thinking about all night.

Killian closes the distance between them, and they both move closer so that their lips touch. They both go into that kiss with everything they have and stay connected until the need to breathe becomes a necessity.

Emma touches her forehead to his and whispers, "Merry Christmas, Killian."

He smiles and answers "Merry Christmas, Emma," before he starts kissing her again.

The trash bags stay on the floor, along with their clothes until the next morning.

That was the first party they hosted together, the first of many actually. It becomes their new tradition to host it yearly, but they usually plan for it a few days prior.

The following year, Emma isn't so annoyed with her neighbor. Mrs Lynn is a very nice lady. Emma's roommate/boyfriend, on the other hand, has his moments.

The end.