Just because I ship these two so much. I don't own any rights to Once Upon A Time or any of its characters. Enjoy!
Henry had been the first to notice. There had been a subtle change between the two of them; something was suddenly there that he was certain hadn't been there before. So, being his usual self, he decided to investigate it. After much sneaking around and several strange looks from the rest of his family, he finally caught them alone together. Hook and David were sat by a corner table at Granny's. Surprisingly, no one else seemed to notice them despite the usual busy lunch-time crowd. He didn't approach them- he simply ducked away into a booth by the door and carefully watched them. It seemed pretty normal at first; they were just sat talking to each other. Then a small movement caught Henry's eye. It was hardly noticeable to someone who hadn't been watching them so closely. But very slowly, their hands moved together and suddenly their fingers were intertwined. Nothing else changed; they continued to sit and talk just like they had been doing the whole time. A smile broke across Henry's face as everything fell into place. Quietly he slipped back out of the door, that smile never once leaving his lips.
The second to notice was Regina. She was taking Henry out somewhere for the day and decided to arrive early to pick him up. She went to knock on the door but found it was already open. Not thinking much of it, she opened it and stepped inside. It was unusually quiet and as much as she loathed to admit it, the silence did worry her.
"Hello? Henry?" Regina called out cautiously, instinctively curling her fingers in preparation to summon a ball of fire at any given moment.
"Oh! Regina?"
Regina turned around at the sound of her name to see David sitting on the couch blinking up at her in surprise, Hook right beside him. They were sitting unusually close and David's hand was hovering in midair near Hook's chest. Instantly she noticed the mixture of surprise, shock, and wariness that mirrored on both of their faces. They remained in silence and Regina felt almost uncomfortable under the stares of the two men.
"Mom?"
Regina turned around and her face instantly lit up as she saw her son stood at the foot of the stairs. Together they walked out the door, Regina forgetting her encounter with David and Hook until she was driving Henry back home at the end of the day. When she asked him about it all, he did was smile and look away and instantly she knew what she had stumbled upon. But she too made a silent promise to keep it all a secret. The two men would find their own way of telling everyone eventually.
Emma figured it out next. She had been sat with David and Henry when a knock sounded on the door. Emma stood to answer it but suddenly her father appeared right in front of her, blocking her way.
"I'll get it, " he said just a little too quickly before opening the door, stepping outside, and shutting it behind him. At first, Emma thought nothing of it until she turned around to see her son with an unusually large grin on his face.
"Okay kid, what do you know that I don't?" she asked with a teasing smile as she walked back over to him.
"I can't tell you, " Henry said simply "But I'll give you some hints"
"Oh, so you wanna play that game, do you? Fine, hit me" Emma smiled at the excited glint in her son's eyes.
"Okay well, have you noticed anything different about him lately?"
"Who? David? Well, I guess so. He's seemed kind of... happier"
"Good. Okay, what do you think is the cause of that?"
"Probably whatever or whoever is on the other side of that door"
"So, who do you think is out there?"
Just as Emma was about to answer, the door re-opened and David stepped back inside. The door was quickly shut but just for a moment, Emma caught a glimpse of the person outside the door and her breath caught in her throat.
"What was it?" Henry asked when he noticed his mom was lost for words.
"Oh, nothing important" David muttered and quickly shuffled off. Once he was out of earshot, Henry turned back to Emma.
"Was that?"
"Yes, it was" Henry smiled at her disbelief.
"So, he and David are?"
"Yep"
"Finally! God, I've been waiting for the two of them to stop dancing around each other" Emma and Henry looked at each other for a moment before both bursting out laughing.
The next one to put the pieces together was Snow. She and David were down at Granny's for breakfast. Snow was sipping on her coffee, mindlessly gazing out of the window while David sat opposite her reading a book. She enjoyed times like this when a simple, comfortable silence rested between them. But gradually, she began to notice David seemed a little restless. He didn't appear to be irritated, it just felt as though he was itching to do something but Snow had no idea what. His fingers kept gently curling around the edges of his book, his leg would occasionally start bouncing under the table, and his eyes constantly flicked to the side. Snow became curious but felt that David wouldn't be very open to talk to her about it, so she carefully watched him and every time his eyes left the pages in front of him she would attempt to follow his line of sight to try and figure out what had caught his attention so completely. Eventually, her eyes followed his perfectly and they came to rest on Hook's face. He was sat a few tables across from them with his nose also buried in a book which was a rather odd sight in itself, Snow realised. She was just about to draw her attention back to her rapidly cooling coffee but then Hook's eyes briefly flashed in her direction. But Snow realised it hadn't been directed towards her, but rather at David.
Curiosity piqued once more, she watched him from over the brim of her mug and he seemed to be doing exactly the same thing as David was; twitching fingers, bouncing leg, flickering eyes. After a while of watching the two men, she saw them finally make eye contact. It was extremely short and both of them immediately turned their heads back to their books, seemingly embarrassed. But then she saw a small smile form on David's lips and she looked over to see Hook's face mirroring it. It was then that she finally realised what the two of them were doing- they were playing some form of game. About every thirty seconds, one of them would cast a quick glance in the others direction and they tried to catch each other out. Neither of them seemed to be aware that Snow was watching them as they subtly rallied back and forth. She watched their antics and bit by bit it all started to unfold in front of her. The way they looked at each other, the silly game they were playing, the smile and faint blush that would form on their faces after making eye contact. As it all fell into place, Snow found herself smiling. Shock, anger, jealousy, even just a little surprise was what she knew she should have felt but, for some reason, the only emotion she could feel was happiness.
Once her and David finally left to go back home she didn't miss the almost childish pout on Hook's face or the glance that David cast back as they walked out the door. But when David saw the look on her face and asked her why she was smiling so much, she simply bumped up against his shoulder and continued walking.
The last ones to realise what was happening were Hook and David themselves. David was at home with Snow, Henry, Emma, and Regina. They were all sat in various places around the room, sipping on coffee or hot chocolate. Despite nothing life threatening happening, the day seemed to have exhausted everybody, so they sat in a peaceful silence. But that silence was suddenly broken by a gentle knock on the door. All eyes turned to Emma as she slowly dragged herself up and opened the door.
"Hook?" Emma questioned, slightly confused as the pirate stepped into the room.
"I just came to say hi" Hook replied as everyone stared at him, slightly bewildered.
"Well, hello then" Emma mumbled before flopping back down next to Henry on the couch. Everyone's attention quickly drifted away from Hook and silence rolled back into the room. Only Henry noticed that Hook had gone straight towards David and sat right down next to him, but he chose to not say anything. Drinks were finished and one by one, they all began to drift to sleep. Henry leant up against Emma, Emma resting her head against Henry's, Snow lying across the other half of the couch, and Regina curled up in an armchair.
"I think I could get used to this" Hook smiled to himself.
"Used to what?" David raised an eyebrow.
"All of this" Hook waved vaguely around them "Being around you lot"
"I could get used to you being around" David smiled shyly and turned his head away. But Hook gently placed his fingers on his chin and tilted his head back towards him. They stared at each other for a moment before Hook slowly shifted his body forwards and pushed their lips together. David melted into his arms as they slid around his waist, pulling him closer to Hook. It was soft and gentle, not like anything David would have expected from the pirate, but it said everything it needed to say. Once they parted, David rested his head on Hook's shoulder and Hook wrapped his arms around him. As they drifted off to sleep wrapped in each other's embrace, Henry carefully opened one eye to look over at them. The sight of the two men cuddled against each other gave him all the information he needed and he shut his eyes once more. Finally, the two of them had figured it out too.
