entitled; a pirate christmas
summary; "25 five days of christmas with our favorite one-handed pirate."
rating; t
prompt; snow
disclaimer; I own nothing more than the little plot bunnies running through my head.
notes; this one... was fun. i love myself a mad hook brotp~ too lazy to edit things out rn, so if you see mistakes, i'll fix them later.


all's fair in love & war

.

"So Killian…"

The pirate turned his attention from the magic picture box to the small boy sitting beside him, a brow shifting upwards at the nervous look Henry was giving him, "What is it, lad?"

"I was wondering… You're good with girls…right?" Henry asked, his cheeks flushing bright red as the question left his lips.

Killian grinned, but nodded, "Aye. Is there a young lass that's caught your fancy?"

"Yeah… Her name is Grace." Henry nodded, "But I think she likes someone else… And to be honest, the guy's kind of a jerk."

He couldn't fight the snort that left his lips, "Grace? As in Jefferson's little lass?"

Henrys brows furrowed for a moment before he nodded, "Yeah, her. Is there something wrong with her?"

"Nothing's wrong with her, lad." Killian answered, shaking his head a bit, "Her father and I have a bit of a history together is all."

"You know Jefferson?" Henry seemed a little surprised.

"Aye. We met on one of my many visits to Wonderland." Killian explained, unconsciously reaching up to rub the back of his neck, "He kept me from losing my head at one point - and I do mean that literally."

"Woah…" Henry mumbled, looking up at him with awe.

"Now, we were talking about you and Grace," Killian continued, "What is it you need my assistance with?"

"Well, I want to tell her that I like her… But I kind of want her to see how much of a jerk the guy is first." Henry mumbled, "But I don't really know how to do that without embarrassing myself in front of both of them."

Killian's brows furrowed in thought, and his gaze somehow made its way back to the screen that was showing some Christmas picture show Emma had put him to watch while she was at the station. At the moment, there were two groups of children flinging balls of snow at each other.

He smirked.

"Where are they right now, lad?" he asked, pushing himself off of the sofa and walking over to the coat rack by the door for the thick coat Emma had gotten for him when they'd initially changed his wardrobe.

Growing all the more confused, Henry pushed himself to his feet and followed Killian through the room, "Um… I think I heard him say he and Grace were going to be hanging out near the park after school… Why?"

"It's been snowing for days, and Jefferson's letting Grace out of his sight? To spend time with a boy, no less…" Killian's brows furrowed for a minute before scoffing, "Highly unlikely."

Henry looked as confused as ever, so Killian just grinned down at the boy, "Trust me, lad, I'm going to help you. And if my hunch is correct, we might even get some help from a dear old friend…"

.

Just as Killian suspected, the minute they arrived he spotted Jefferson - face hidden behind the day's paper on a park bench a few yards away from where Grace was sitting on a swing with a young boy messing with a wooden stick in his hand.

"Stealth never really was your area of expertise, old friend." Killian called out as he and Henry continued their trek through the snow.

Jefferson's gaze jerked from his daughter to the two of them just as they came to a stop in front of him, "Killian? What are you doing here? I thought Emma was keeping you under constant supervision?"

Killian snorted, "I've got Henry with me. He'll suffice."

Jefferson's attention turned to Henry, whose attention seemed to be lost on his daughter. Brows lifting, Jefferson looked back at Killian, "I don't think it's you he's here for, no offense."

Killian chuckled, "Aye, you would be correct. Seems our young lad has a bit of a fancy for dear Grace."

It seemed those words were enough to snap Henry out of his stupor and his cheeks burned red as he looked up at Jefferson, "Um, I…"

Jefferson stared down at Henry with a rather calculating gaze, and for a good minute there, Killian thought he might have to play his plan out a little differently, but Jefferson sighed, "Better than that kid." He pointed towards the boy still entirely enraptured in his makeshift sword, "All he's been doing for the past thirty minutes is try to impress her with his sword skills, which really can't even be considered skills the way he does it."

Killian snorted and moved to sit on the bench beside his friend, "I have a plan…"

Henry huddled closer, and he, and Jefferson, gave Killian their full attention.

.

Emma was doing her last drive around town for the day when it happened; she got a text from Snow saying that Henry and Killian had left the house without telling her or Charming where they were going. Scowling; she tossed her phone onto the passenger seat and started her search for the two children she seemed to always be babysitting as of late.

She didn't have to search for long, though; she turned the corner that led to the town's small park and spotted three familiar heads ducked behind a park bench.

Brows furrowing at the sight, Emma quickly parked her car and got out. She wasted no time in walking up behind them just as the three of them started throwing snowballs at a young boy near the swings.

Not wanting to be accused of being the one to hit him, Emma quickly fell to her knees behind the three of them, scowling. "What the hell are you idiots doing?" Emma hissed, smacking Killian and Jefferson on the back of the head.

"Ow," the two of them hissed, turning to look at her with sheepish grins.

"Nice to see you, too, love." Killian mumbled, rubbing the back of his head, "Care to join us?"

"In tormenting a kid with snowballs?" Emma asked, glaring at the two men and giving Henry a disapproving look, "Really?"

"He was boring Grace to death." Jefferson muttered, sneaking a glance over the bench before ducking down once more and looking at Emma, "Now she's fighting the urge to laugh because he can't figure out where they're coming from. I'm taking care of my daughter."

"By beating on a kid several years younger than you?" Emma snorted, "Such a wonderful father."

The man had the decency to feel ashamed, but just as she turned to scold Henry and Killian, she was hit by a snowball on the back of the head and was stunned silent.

Eyes wide, the three men turned to the left, expecting to see that the young boy had figured them out. Instead they were faced with a grinning Grace, a couple of snowballs in her own hands.

"You never were good at hide and seek, Papa." she mumbled, before turning to look at Emma with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry about that, I was aiming for my papa, but I'm not all that good at throwing."

Reaching up to rub the back of her head where the snowball hit, Emma let out a small, surprised laugh, "Ah… It's fine."

But it wasn't fine; she turned to face the three males once more and when her gaze locked with Killian's, the idea clicked in everyone's mind.

Henry shouted, "Snowball fight!" and she grabbed Grace's hand and ran. They made it as far as the monkey bars and the slide when Emma pulled Grace into the small area in between them.

"Make as many snowballs as you can." Emma told her, a small smile on her lips before starting on her making some herself.

As she was making them, though, she made sure to repeatedly check to make sure the boys wouldn't be popping up to surprise them. She was sure they were currently loading up on snowballs themselves, but they were three, where she and Grace were just the two of them.

Once she was satisfied with the number of snowballs they'd made, Emma muttered, "Okay, I think we're good for now. Once we start running out, we'll take turns making some while the other throws, okay?"

Grace nodded, the gentle girl Emma had gotten used to gone as she looked at Emma with a fierce determination in her eyes.

Smiling softly, Emma picked up four snowballs in her arms and carefully peaked at the bench the boys were hiding behind before beckoning Grace to follow her out. The minute the stepped away from the safety of their hiding spot, the snowballs came.

"Argggh." Emma growled, moving to block Grace as she started throwing her snowballs in their direction. She couldn't see who, but she was sure she'd hit one of them; and while they were messing around, she couldn't help hoping it wasn't Henry she'd hit.

Clinging to Emma's jacket, Grace moved to throw her own snowballs towards them; Emma was pretty positive Grace had hit Henry. Twice.

She grinned before grabbing Grace's hand again so they could run back towards their hiding place. Just as she started running though, Grace's hand was pulled from hers and Emma was tackled into the snow. "Wha-!"

"I'm going to call this a victory, love."

"You cheater!" Emma shouted, squirming under his hold until she was looking up at him, glaring at the stupid smirk on his lips, "That's not fair…"

"All's fair in love and war, Emma. You'd do well to remember that." he murmured, his eyes half-lidded as he leaned down to brush his lips against hers.

When he pulled back, Emma wanted to do nothing more than pull him back in, but a glance behind him showed an incredibly uncomfortable-looking Jefferson and Emma pushed him off of her. Pushing herself up, she turned to look in the direction he was avoiding. Standing where she'd been standing was Henry, leaning over to give Grace a small kiss on the cheek.

There was a small flutter in her stomach, a flicker of unease coursing through her at the sight of it, but she smiled regardless; Killian was helping Henry with Grace all this time, "All's fair in love and war… Heh."

"Indeed." Killian mumbled, picking out the flakes of snow in her hair before leaning into steal another kiss from her with a grin.

This man was going to be the death of her.

[tbc.]