Summary: Henry's not blind. He's been even more perceptive of his mother's feelings than the townsfolk, and it's even obvious to them.
Title based on the quote by John Lennon "Living is easy with eyes closed" which reminded me of what Killian told Emma in season three about how not having her magic makes it a lot easier for her to run back to New York.
...
Henry's not blind.
This guy, Killian, who had come to their apartment and given his mother the so-called case that had taken them here to Storybrooke, obviously likes Emma a lot, and he's pretty sure she might even feel the same way. But then he's sitting in Granny's Diner pretending to text Avery, when really he's watching them and then Killian comes over, somehow still wearing that too-heavy too-long leather coat and tells him they're going sailing while his mother works on avenging his father (how weird to think that)'s death .
So now he's watching the stars and learning how to use a sextant and getting stories that all sound like half-truths about his dead father, and he can't stand the way everything in this town feels like its missing something except for the one thing that came here with them.
"You really like my mom, don't you?" And the startled and questioning look that appears on Killian's face gives him all the answers.
…
Henry's not blind.
Even all the half-truths make sense now, but that doesn't keep the thought from crossing his mind, once Regina has introduced him to Robin Hood, that his other mom's going to show up any minute, arm in arm with Captain Hook, and tell him they're dating too. Somehow though, Killian Jones has disappeared and, even though he's got his memories back now, Emma's eyes look more walls-up than usual.
Not to mention, Hook's not around anymore. The sailing trips have been given up for days with Regina, not that he's minding, not really, but he knows something must've happened, and whenever he asks about him, everyone grows quiet and awkward, except for Robin Hood, who tells him that the pirate's been seen lurking around the docks.
And so, one afternoon he convinces Ruby, who's watching him at Granny's, to take him to the docks so he can talk to Killian Jones.
They stare at the deep blue waters of the Storybrooke harbor together and don't say anything, except for Hook's comment on how his mother probably wouldn't approve of this, until Henry breaks the silence. "Whatever you did, I'm sure she'll forgive you. She has to."
The pirate captain just stares at him with a pained look in his eyes. "If only things were that simple, lad."
…
Henry's not blind.
He knows things have been different between his mom and Hook ever since they got back from the past. She's barely explained it to him, but he'd watched as Killian carried his nearly-frozen mother into the apartment, and then later, when they'd laced their fingers together and no one had commented.
He remembers what his mother had said about Walsh-who had actually ended up being a flying monkey-and how she would always use the excuse that he was okay with Walsh, so he couldn't be that bad. When she asks him one morning at breakfast what he thinks about Hook, he lets himself repeat a warped version of what she'd said in New York: "I like how happy he makes you."
He pushes her inside to ask the pirate out, and gives an excited yes two days later when Emma asks if he'd like to go sailing with Captain Hook again. Yet, when they're on the boat, he finds Killian Jones asking him a question: "Somehow your mother has gotten it into her head that you don't like me, is that so?"
Henry laughs and reassures him that, no, that isn't the case at all, and that he just wants to make sure that she's doing this for herself, and not for him.
Henry might not be blind, but Emma sure can be sometimes.
