A/N: Hey! I'm a tumblr-based fanfictioner, so these are all from my tumblr blog
I update there hella faster than here, so if you want to see chapters sooner, you should go follow me and keep an eye out!
Reviews are extra appreciated and be sure to follow this fic if you can't wait for more!
"Well, Ruby, I've got to hand it to ya. You proved me wrong. You win," Emma admitted, handing her friend five dollars.
"Don't I always?" Ruby asked with a smirk, accepting the money gladly. "You really ought to trust people, Emma."
Emma shrugged. "It's kinda my job to be the skeptic around here. Everyone else is too cheesily optimistic for me to feel comfortable." She let out a sigh of content, watching Graham play his acoustic guitar for the small crowd gathered in her bakery. "I can't say I'm all too disappointed to lose the bet, though. I'm really glad your Multiplication Theory is working."
Ruby nodded and pulled out a pad of paper from her bag. "Now we move on to phase 2," she said, clicking her pen and holding it over the paper.
Emma moved closer and peered over Ruby's shoulder. "Phase 2?" she asked.
"Yeah! You see, I've got this all worked out!" -Emma raised an eyebrow- "I've got a lot of time on my hands, okay?" Ruby exclaimed with a blush.
Emma laughed. "Enlighten me, Ruby. What is phase 2?"
Ruby straightened her posture to look more professional. "Well I'm glad you asked, Ms. Swan! Phase 2 is to help spread the word about your bakery. You need advertisements! Posters, flyers, cards, etc. We're also going to make you your very own website!"
Emma nodded. "Well that sounds all fine and dandy, but what will the materials cost?"
"Haven't you ever been to Belle French's privately owned library? Locally owned businesses get their first hundred poster, flyers, and cards for free!"
"Belle owns a library?"
"What rock have you been living under? Didn't you just help her with her brunch? Haven't you guys been friends for years?"
"I didn't know she owned a library!"
"Wow, Emma."
"Whatever, Ruby. You didn't even know Mary Margaret worked here until last year!"
Ruby ducked her head. "I thought she just- hung out here a lot! Like I did!"
"No, Ruby. You're a very rare case," Emma said with a snort. Then she looked over at Graham who was wrapping up the final song in his set.
She grabbed a chocolate croissant and walked over to him.
"Here you go, Graham," she said, handing him the plate. "Thanks again for doing this, it's really helped the business out a lot."
"It's not a problem at all. I like the perks of playing here, too."
"Free croissants?"
He smiled coyly. "Yes, that's one of them, I suppose."
Emma grinned. "What are the others?"
"Well it always smells nice, the audiences are polite, and I get to look at a very beautiful woman every day I'm here."
Emma could feel her cheeks turn crimson within seconds. "Who, Ruby?" she asked, even though she knew he meant her.
He set his guitar down next to him. "I was wondering if you wanted to... go on a date with me?" Even though he didn't look the part, Emma could sense that he was a little nervous.
A loud bang came from nearby as a customer fell off their chair. "Sorry," came a familiar cheesy southern accent. "Sorry," they muttered again, fixing their sunglasses.
Emma looked back at Graham. "Uh- uh-uh," she stuttered.
"I mean I know it's weird because if it doesn't work out we'll have to see each other all the time, but why not give it a go, yeah?"
"Yes! Yes, of course, sure-" she agreed excitedly. Then she took a deep breath and put on a calm face. "Yeah, I'm cool with that if you are," she said nonchalantly, pretending to examine her nails.
"Awesome, I'll pick you up at 8!" Graham cheered, packing up his guitar and heading out.
"Yeah..." Emma said with a smile, watching him leave.
Ruby approached her friend, her mouth wide with glee. "I knew it! I knew it I knew it I knew it! You guys totally had the hots for each other!" she cheered.
Emma blushed and let Ruby shake her by her shoulders. "Yeah, it's whatever," she replied quietly.
"This is the best day EVER!" Ruby whooped. "Celebratory cupcakes for everyone!"
The people in the shop perked up.
"Nonono, she's just kidding!" Emma exclaimed, crushing their hopes. "No way in hell am I making free cupcakes for anybody," she added under her breath.
"So, Killian... how was your evening at home the other night?" Victor asked suspiciously as he walked into their office, pulling off his gloves and coat. "Were you able to relax and gather your thoughts?"
Killian cleared his throat. "Indeed I was," he responded, pretending to look busy on his computer.
Victor made some sniffing noises. "Hmm... that's... that's kind of strange... do you smell that?" he asked, looking around.
Killian rolled his eyes. "Smell what? I don't smell anything."
Victor tapped his chin. "Hmm, that's weird... it kind of smells like... like a big heap of-" he paused, "-bullshit! That's it! Bullshit!"
"What?" Killian whirled around in his seat.
"Yeah that's right you lying liar! I caught you in the act," Victor said smugly.
Killian shook his head and stuck out his chin. "I've no idea what you mean, mate."
"Oh yes you do," Victor shot back, jabbing an accusative finger in Killian's personal bubble.
"Get that blasted thing out of my face," Killian growled, smacking the finger away.
"You weren't at home yesterday! I saw you!"
"Saw me where?" Killian asked nervously, shifting in his seat.
"At Emma's bakery. You thought I wouldn't recognize you with your glasses and hoodie, but we've been friends for too long. I know how to spot you. And anyways that was the same hoodie you borrowed from me a week ago!"
"Well shit, mate. You got me. I was doing some reconnaissance, alright?" Killian mumbled, scratching the back of his neck.
Victor narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "No, there's more to it than that. If you wanted to do reconnaissance you wouldn't have done it yourself. That's not your style, Mr. Jones. You would have asked me to talk to Ruby or maybe have even hired somebody else to do it instead. In fact..." Victor rested his chin on his fist in thought, "...now that I think about it, you've been taking an awful long time with this job. Deadlines like next week normally don't mean anything to you. You can do jobs like this in a few days max with your wily ways." He looked up from his musings. "Why haven't you been brutally sabotaging her business?"
"I- uhm... I just want to go about this carefully is all."
"Carefully, he says!" Victor scoffed. "Carefully my ars, Jones! You once screwed a woman and then blackmailed her into selling her store to you, and yet you want to go about this one carefully."
Killian held out his hand to try and quiet his co-worker. "Listen, Whale, I know I've done some... regrettable things in the past for this company, but I'm trying to clean up my act."
"Why would you do that? You know that Gold approved of your previous methods."
"Well it's wrong, okay?"
There was silence as they both leaned back in their chairs and stared at each other, waiting for the other to stop.
"Waiiiittt a minute," Victor started in realization. "You like that chick, don't you? You like Emma Swan!"
"Shhhhh! No, I don't!" Killian cried.
Victor shot up and opened the door to their office. "Hey, everyone," he shouted into the large room of cubicles before him. "Killian Jones has a crush on-" Killian slapped a hand on Victor's mouth and pulled him back into the room, only to see his friend collapse onto his chair in laughter.
"You've gone soft, mate," he teased.
"Whatever," Killian grumbled, folding his arms and sinking deep into his chair.
It was quiet again.
"Sooooo, when did you knoww?" Victor asked in a lovey voice, clapping his hands into a fist and swaying his seat.
"Know what?" Killian asked with malice.
"Don't play dumb! When did you know that you liked her, of course!" Victor continued, still using his lovey voice.
"I- I don't know. I just did, okay? Can we not talk about it, pleeease?" he begged.
"I'm not letting you off that easy, Jones. We're going to talk about this all day!" Victor needled.
Killian sighed. "Fine," he muttered, "what do you want to know?"
"Your favorite thing about her?"
"Her determination. And her hair. Her voice is really nice, too." He started squirming with enthusiasm. "She also has a really neat sense of humor and-" Killian stopped when he realized Victor was nodding a little too eagerly. "No. No, I'm not doing this. You just want to make fun of me."
"Whaaaat?" Victor cried as he held his hand over his heart, taking offense by the comment. "Of course not, Killy-man. I don't think it's weird or hilarious that you know this much stuff about her having only spoken to her once!"
"Hmph."
Victor smiled. "Look, man, for real, I think it's nice that you like her. In fact, I may just want you two together."
Killian blinked in surprise. "You- you what?"
Victor shrugged. "Why not? You've never been in a long term relationship before. I'm interested to see what happens." He put a hand on Killian's shoulder and said, in an overly dramatic voice, "I'm here for you, man. I'm invested..." he pointed from his chest to his friend's, "...in your future."
"Well even so, how would I... ask her out? I work for the company that wants to crush her dreams and darken her future! That's not exactly a nice sentiment for a relationship." Then he looked down at the floor and clenched his fists. "Not to mention she's interested in another man." He stared intensely at no one in particular and growled, "Graham."
Victor waved the thought away. "Graham schmam. You're way classier than whoever this guy is. You wear a suit everyday!" he exclaimed, gesturing to his co-worker's outstanding fashion game.
Killian pouted and set his chin on his fist. "Well wearing a nice suit isn't going to make her like me. She's not that type of girl." He thought back to his memories of Graham somberly. "He can play the guitar..." he whimpered.
"This is ridiculous!" Victor cried in outrage, leaping from his sitting position. "You are Killian Jones! You're a powerful, rich, sexy, and well-dressed man who's probably a really adorable softie on the inside! There's nothing in that sentence that a girl doesn't like! You're straight out of a Young Adult novel!"
"You think I'm sexy?"
Victor ignored him. "You're going to go up to Emma and ask her out on a date or so help me god I will drag you down to that bakery myself and make you!" he yelled, heaving Killian out of his chair. He began to straighten out Killian's wrinkled jacket and flatten his hair.
"There's just one problem," Killian began to explain, pacing around the open space. "She's already agreed to go on a date with that Graham person at 8 tonight."
"Then we'll just have to change her schedule," Victor said with a mischievous grin, holding out his phone. "We're going to make an order. And you're going to help her finish it."
"Hey, look, Graham! I'm really so soo sorry to cancel, but someone just made a huge order of turnovers for tomorrow, and if I'm going to get even close to finishing it on time I'll need to work really late tonight!" Emma explained in a rush, desperately clawing for ingredients and mixing dough at the same time. "Really? You understand? Awesome! Thank you so much. Maybe another time soon, okay? Thanks, I've got to go!"
Emma sighed and continued her work, mercilessly beating dough with her fists, trying to take out her anger. Why why why does something always have to go wrong somewhere? she thought with frustration. I mean it's great that someone is ordering this stuff from me, but tonight of all nights?
"I guess I can't complain," she grumbled as she set her oven in the bakery's kitchen. She had figured that the rest of the night would be just her and the turnovers, but she was surprised when she heard a knock on the front door. She couldn't see who it was since it was dark out, so she approached the door slowly. As she got closer, she recognized Killian Jones; The man who wanted to buy her business. Her eyes rolling back into her head, she unlocked the door and opened it. "What do you what now?" she asked seriously. "If you're here for my shop I've already said-"
"That's not why I'm here," Killian interrupted, shouldering his way inside.
Emma followed him in. "Sure, just walk on inside. Whatever, it's cool," she said sarcastically, her voice tinged with a little bit of anger.
Killian coughed straightened his jacket out of habit. "I'm... sorry for my intrusion, Swan. I've been taking a lot of time to think lately-"
"- Is that really so rare that you had to come all the way over here and tell me?"
He ignored her. "I was thinking that maybe we should... go out sometime... to discuss... the future," he attempted, wincing at his poor choice in words. Why had his natural charisma suddenly left him?
Emma folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow. "The future?" she repeated in an 'are you kidding me?' voice. Then she turned her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. "Waiiit- are you asking me on a date?"
Killian tightened his tie, feeling his face turn red. Luckily the lights in her store were dim enough that it wasn't obvious. "No- I mean to discuss the future of your... business! If you'll just hear me out."
She smirked. "Right, of course. My business." She sucked in a breath and tapped her fingers on the nearby counter. "Well, alright. When do you want to do this 'future discussion'?" she asked, making air quotes with her free hand.
He cleared his throat. "Well... I was hoping to do it tonight, if possible. The night is still young after all."
She frowned. "Well I'm kind of busy with this order I got. I need to make sixty apple turnovers by tomorrow."
Killian remembered Victor's phone call back at their office. He shrugged. "I could help you finish. Then maybe after that we could... uh go somewhere?"
Emma couldn't help it. She smiled softly. Who would have guessed that a guy whose job it was to practically ruin her life would like her? But then her natural defenses kicked in and she became her regular ol' skeptic self. This is some kind of test... some kind of trick to get to my shop, she thought. How would she handle it? A plan seeped its way into her head. She could break him. Little-by-little until he gave up his tactic. Give him all the hard jobs, make him feel really out of his element. It seemed perfect.
"I guess... I guess there's no harm in talking," she said finally. "I'll make a deal, then," she announced.
Killian took a few steps forward. "I'm listening." He nodded at her expectantly.
"You help me bake my turnovers, and I'll let you buy me a drink," she declared, holding out her hand.
"You've got a deal, Swan," Killian agreed, taking her hand firmly in his and shaking it. He had to focus extremely hard to hide his glee.
She grabbed an extra apron off the hook by the kitchen door. "You'll want to wear this," she explained. "Wouldn't want to ruin that nice suit of yours, right?"
Killian accepted the apron, which was a pretty shade of powder pink, and slipped it over his head, tying the strings in the back. The embroidery on it read 'Daddy's little girl' on it. "What's this?" he asked, his voice a little shrill. He'd never worn anything so ridiculous in his life.
Emma glanced over and giggled. "Sorry, that's Mary Margaret's. She got it as a birthday gift from her dad. We keep it around so we can laugh at it. I guess you'll be the first person to use it. Fitting," she said with smug grin, realizing just how many evil things she could do to test his patience.
"I guess it's in a pleasant font," Killian joked lightly, standing beside her and awaiting instructions.
Emma tilted her head to the side to try and hide the upward tug of her lip. "Alright, here's the recipe," she started to explain, pointing at her book. "We're going to need some apples, of course, which are in the back of the fridge..."
The next two hours went surprisingly smooth. Having the two of them, they managed to make the turnovers in record time without incident. "I'm impressed," Emma admitted, interested that Killian had withstood all of her attempts to make him uncomfortable- which were plentiful. "Have you had any experience in the kitchen?"
He removed the oven mitts hugging his hands after setting the last tray of turnovers on the counter. "Oh, just a few cooking classes from college. Nothing big," he said, removing the apron and hanging it on the hook. He then turned to face Emma. "So... that drink?"
Emma opened her mouth to turn him down- to break their deal. But she found she couldn't. It would be unfair. He'd fulfilled his side despite all the crap she'd tried to throw his way. The least she could do was her part. And anyways, maybe there was more to business-hoo-ha-Killian-Jones than she thought. "A-alright," she replied at last, removing her apron as well. "I guess it can't hurt to talk."
