"You know, it's too bad you're such a weirdo," Emma said, taking a thoughtful bite from her grilled cheese. "You're kinda cute."

Killian raised his eyebrows. "Th—"

"But really pathetic. And douchey." She shook her head, tsking. "What a waste."

Killian looked at the ceiling. Emma had a truly bizarre way of giving people compliments: she had to sandwich them in between several insults, as if she had to reassure the other person that they had more things wrong than right with them.

"So," Emma said, brushing crumbs off her jeans. "What's your deal?"

"My deal?"

"Yeah, what's with the whole—" she waved her hand vaguely, rolling her eyes—"troublemaker-, free-spirit-, whatever-you're-going-for-thing? Your parents get divorced? Or are you still mad about us dumping the tea in the harbor?"

"I'm pissed mad about the tea," he deadpanned. The number of times people had used that joke against him…

Emma smiled. "I knew it."

The smile lingered on her face as she pulled on the crust of her sandwich. Killian watched her, feeling a wave of anxiety settle in his stomach. Maybe he was seeing things, but that smile…

"Look, Emma," Killian said, shifting uncomfortably. "I don't know how tell you this, but…" He closed his eyes, cringing at the awkwardness of the situation. "I'm really not up for getting stuck in one of those bad-high-school-movie tropes."

She looked up. "'S'cuse me?"

"I appreciate what you're doing, and I'm really flattered, but I'm just not into the whole wacky-art-girl-teaches-the-boy-how-to-live-in-the-moment-and-they-fall-in-love-thing." He twitched an apologetic smile at her. "But thank you for trying, it means a lot."

Emma opened her mouth, her tongue clicking against her teeth."Oh…" she said in mock dawning comprehension; then heaved a sigh, snapping her fingers. "Damn it. And I was really hoping you were going to turn me into a prom queen, and help me show up the mean cheerleaders."

Killian raised an eyebrow. "I beg your pardon?"

"Listen, Gideon, I'm not trying to turn our little situation into She's All That, or anything," she said flatly."I was just trying to be friendly to the moron who had to crash my drama club because he can't grasp the concept of detention. It's just sitting still for an hour, like—what's even hard about that?"

"I thought you promised not to call me Gideon."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you—I lied."

"Oh."

For a time, they sat there in silence: Emma continued to stare at him, while Killian hummed to himself and trailed his eyes around the ceiling, avoiding her gaze. The tinkling of the entrance bell made them both look over to seeVictor and Ruby entering the diner.

Victor looked less than pleased to see Killian sitting with Emma; Ruby seemed not to see him at all, completely ignoring him as she and Victor took their seats.

To Killian's disappointment, Ruby took the seat next to Emma, which left Victor to sit as far away from him as possible on the adjacent seat.

"You guys took your time," Emma remarked, her mood having lifted considerably at the sight of her friends. "Where were you?"

"We actually worked today," Victor grumbled, resting his head on the table. "It was horrible."

"Balcony's finished," Ruby said, picking at Emma's abandoned sandwich.

"Anything happen with Rory?" Emma asked hopefully.

"Well, they're definitely broken up, so I doubt our Juliet's going to be all that convincing when she finds Romeo dead," Victor said dryly.

"She wasn't going to be convincing anyway," Ruby snorted, and the three of them laughed. Killian smiled vaguely.

"I'm lost," he said, looking between the three of them.

"Door's that way." Victor pointed.

"Victor, if you can't play nice with the other children, you can't play at all," Emma said in a sing-song voice. To Killian, she said, "Rory and Phillip were joined at the hip when we first started working, but they've got this huge drama between them and some girl from another school. We couldn't figure out whether or not they were still together."

"Sounds fun," he remarked. Ruby and Victor exchanged a wry glance with each other, but didn't say anything. "What?"

"Oh, don't worry about them," Emma said, batting a dismissive hand. "They're just being rude."

Killian blew out a breath slowly. "Right."

"What's your name again?" Victor asked, looking at him with the same disdainful expression as before. Killian stared at him for a long time.

"Killian."

"Killian," Victor repeated, trying it out. "Killian… Killian what?"

"Jones."

"Killian Jones…" he mused, nodding slowly. He held out his hand. "I'm Victor Whale. I'm a genius."

Killian's eyebrows shot up. "That's an interesting way to introduce yourself," he remarked, shaking his hand.

"I don't believe in modesty," Victor said flatly.

"Clearly."

Victor released his hand, and started playing around on his phone. Killian looked across the table at Emma and Ruby bemusedly.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"Nope," Emma said cheerfully. "Victor's an ass to everybody. Aren't you, Vicky?"

Victor murmured something, swiping his finger across the screen.

Emma cleared her throat and elbowed Ruby. "And Ruby's been meaning to introduce herself properly."

Ruby rolled her eyes, before flashing him a humorless smile. "Ruby Lucas. Out of your league."

"Ruby," Emma frowned. "What did I say about playing nice with the other children?"

Ruby shrugged, tearing at the sandwich, while Killian awkwardly tapped the table with his fingers, drumming out a rhythmless pattern. He searched his mind for something to say, anything to say, to change the subject, but Ruby's words kept echoing in his head.

Emma was the next one to break the silence, although after he heard what she said, he thought he might have preferred enduring the awkward silence.

"He's not that bad," she scoffed. "I mean… sure, he's a little weird. Maybe a little creepy. And sad. And the bad-boy thing really isn't working out for him, even though I feel like he thinks it makes him super cool…"

"You know," Killian said, raising his voice slightly. "I am sitting right here."

"Yes, I know," Emma said with raised eyebrows. She turned back to Ruby. "I thought you liked accents."

"I like Graham's accent, because it comes out of Graham's face," Ruby said pointedly.

"There's nothing wrong with Gideon's face," Emma shrugged, then swore, snapping her fingers. "Killian's face, sorry."

Killian miserably slumped in his seat as the girls continued their cavalier critique, Ruby explaining in great detail why Graham was clearly superior to him in every way. Emma came up with half-hearted defenses, making sure to throw in plenty of modifiers to the half-compliments she gave him:

"He may not be the brightest bulb, but I'm sure he could pull a 'C' if he tried."

"Maybe he doesn't know he looks stupid. Maybe he thinks 'emo' is still a good look."

"Ruby, that's not fair. Lots of people suck at gym."

"And on that note," he sighed, getting up from his seat. "I think I'll be leaving."

"Leaving?" Emma repeated, half-rising in her seat. "Already?"

"Yeah, I've got…some kind of homework." Killian offered the group a tight smile. "Been a pleasure. Really."

"But I didn't even—" Emma broke off, biting her lip. He raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah?"

Emma squeezed her eyes shut, apparently thinking fast. With a frustrated noise, she opened her eyes and held out her hand. "Okay, give me your phone," she ordered.

Killian frowned, holding his phone defensively against his chest. "Why?"

"I just want to put my number in," she explained, plucking it out of his hands. She punched the keys with her thumbs, murmuring the letters as she spelled out her name. "Here," she said, handing it back. "Text me when you've got a free evening or afternoon or mor—actually, no, not morning, I'm not a morning person."

"Why?" he repeated, blinking a little at how fast she talked.

"Birds' chirping, mostly—I hate birds."

He looked at her impatiently. "That's not what I meant."

"I know, I know. Let's just say, I've got—" Emma waved her hand—"vague things to discuss with you." She smiled knowingly, placing her hands behind her back. "You'll be interested. Trust me."