CS AU story idea from oncertwice: Emma and Killian are teenagers, and he is the older brother of her best friend and she's always had a crush on him?

Thanks for this story idea Nicki, I loved writing it!

There will be another part to this story, I will probably post it later this week.

Hope you guys like it!

Emma always spent most of her free time with her best friend Ruby, whether it was after school or on weekends. When they weren't in school they would usually hang out at Ruby's place. Emma really liked it there, she felt more at home in that house than in her own. Growing up in the foster system made her skip from one family to another quite often, so she never took the time to get attached to any of her foster parents. Plus, she was now 16 and she planned on moving out on her own as soon as she could. In the meantime, she spent all of her time with her best friend and it helped that her friend's parents loved her as if she was their own child. Ruby and her parents knew how she felt in her foster parents' house and didn't mind her spending that much time at theirs.

Even if it seemed as if they were always glued at the hip, it wasn't the case. Emma knew when her friend wanted some time alone, and she let her have it. She would leave her in her room and Emma would go in another room in the house, mostly the living room, to go do her homework or to read a book. There was a reason that she would always go to the living room, not only was it the common space of the house, but Emma always secretly hoped to get a glimpse of Ruby's older brother. She had developed over the past year this secret crush on him, but she was too shy to admit it to anybody.

Today, like any other day of the week, Emma went back to Ruby's house after school, and feeling that her friend needed some space; she went to crash in the living room to do her math homework. She sat down on the floor, pulling her legs under her and depositing her books and notebook on the coffee table. It was the third time now that she was reading the same question in her handbook, and she kept frowning and biting her bottom lip trying to understand the question. Math really wasn't her cup of tea. After the fifth read, Emma was exasperated so she closed her book forcefully and she banged her head on it, the action making a loud thud.

"Careful there, Swan, wouldn't want you to hurt that pretty head of yours." Said a lilted voice that Emma knew too well. She raised her head and turned it towards the source of the voice. Killian was standing at the living room entrance, looking as handsome as always. Emma could feel this heat rising up to her cheeks and butterflies dancing in her stomach. She wanted to respond something, anything, hopefully something witty, but couldn't the only thing she mastered to project was an embarrassed smile. He chuckled at her reaction and walked into the room, passing next to her so he could sit down on the couch and felt her heart beat faster at his sudden proximity.

"So what has you in such an aggravated state?" he asked as he leaned his upper body forward, resting his forearms on his knees. Emma's mouth went dry, and she had a hard time meeting his gorgeous blue eyes that made her feel giddy, so she lowered her gaze. As usual he was walking around barefoot, she didn't know why she found it extremely sexy seeing him walking around in his jeans and t-shirts, barefoot.

"Um, my math homework. I really don't get algebra, apparently." She answered with a shy smile.

"I completely understand, it isn't my forte either." He replied to her with one of his smirks. "Leave your homework aside. Do you want to play a video game to change your ideas a little?" He stood up, walked towards the console, pressing the button turning on the device. He took one the joystick and handed it to her. "What do you say, love?"

She looked at it hesitantly. "I don't really play videogames." She admitted as she took the joystick, brushing his warm hands in the process, making her feel more nervous.

"Doesn't matter, it's just for fun." He took the other one and went to sit back on the couch. Emma was still sitting on the floor; she wanted to sit next to him but felt completely frozen, and she had a feeling that if she got up she would make a fool out of herself, since her legs were completely numb.

"Why don't you sit on the couch? You'll be more comfortable than on the floor." He said as he nudged her on the shoulder. She complied and sat next to him.

"So, what are we playing?" Asked Emma as the TV screen went black before seeing some logos appear on the screen.

"Something to help ease all that school pressure," he replied, and as he finished his sentence, the main menu of his game that appears on screen.

"Mortal Kombat? Seriously?"

Killian chuckled at her response. "Yes, seriously. You'll see you don't need to know how it works, just hit the buttons and it will do the work for you. And believe me when I say that it will help you relieve some of that stress that you carry on those shoulders."

They both chose their characters; Emma decided to go with Johnny Cage and Killian with Raiden. The first round started and she didn't know what the hell she was doing, but she did as he said and starting hitting random buttons and surprisingly it worked. She was hitting Raiden, but not enough to make her win. Frustrated that Killian won, Emma readjusted herself on her seat and when the second round started she decided not to let herself be vanquished by him.

They played for an hour, Killian laughed at the way she moved her upper body as she moved the joystick, the way she stuck her tongue out as she concentrated on beating him. She teased him back when he lost, well the few times he lost and he was surprised to see that competitive side of her and he liked the fire she had inside of her, a side that he didn't know she possessed. They were interrupted by Ruby when she came to announce that dinner was ready.

During dinner, Emma felt Killian's gaze on her while she was eating. It made her feel self-conscious and nervous. When she decided to lift her eyes, he was looking at her intently, a look that he had never given her before, one of interest.

She could feel herself blushing, as she looked away. She couldn't help her eyes from fluttering, wondering if she had imagined that look. She looked back at him, and he was looking down at his plate with slight smirk. She left that night confused, could it be that Killian was interested in her, or was it only her seeing what she wanted to see?

A couple of days passed, and she tried to forget the look that Killian had given her during that supper, not wanting to get her hopes up over something that might mean nothing. But she couldn't—she often daydreamed and dreamed that he cast her those lingering and loving looks, and that he would come and see her, professing his love for her. But who was she kidding, he would never be interested in her, he could have any girl he wanted and he wouldn't ever settle for a girl like her. A girl that not even her own birth parents wanted to keep, a girl that so many foster families had grown tired of. Plus, she was practically a sister for him. Despite all of her reasoning, a small part of her wished that she was wrong.

It was Saturday and Emma decided to go to the bookstore to browse at some books. As she entered the store, she went to stroll around one of the aisles. She heard a familiar laugh on the other side of bookcase, so she decided to walk to the end of the aisle and peeked around the other side of the bookcase. She felt her heart tightened so hard that it hurt, and she felt stupid and ashamed at the sight that was before her.

It was Killian's laugh that she had heard, and he had his arms around the shoulders of a blond girl, pulling her closer to him.

She was such a fool for thinking that he would ever be interested in her.