A/N: Written for darkduelist25 as part of Captain Swan Secret Shipmates...because we both enjoy gaming, and I wanted Hook to get in on the action, too.
Games that Lovers Play
The first time that Hook was introduced to gaming, Emma Swan was in the kitchen making a snack for her son. She'd long since tuned out the sounds of Henry's latest first person shooter, her thoughts travelling elsewhere, to a certain pirate who was coming to visit that Saturday afternoon. Emma hummed, her efforts more off key than on, and not really caring as she emptied the freshly popped popcorn into a large bowl. A knock sounded on the apartment door. "Come in!" she called, grimacing at the layer of grease and salt on her fingers.
Emma threw the empty popcorn bag in the trash can and walked over to the sink to wash her hands. Strong, muscled arms slipped around her waist a couple minutes later, and warm, familiar lips pressed a kiss along her jaw, just below her right earlobe. "Hello, darling," Hook purred.
Smiling in response, Emma turned to face him, so that his arms pinned her against the sink. "Hello yourself," she grinned. "Henry's out in the living room. Why don't you go join him while I finish up in here with the refreshments?"
He smiled crookedly and kissed her on the nose. "As you wish." He backed out of the kitchen, eyes riveted on her, smoldering with half a dozen unspoken innuendos.
Emma shook her head and returned to her preparations, pattering about the kitchen with bare feet. She had nearly finished fixing their drinks when she heard her son yelp in surprise, followed by a loud crash. Dropping the bottle of soda in her hands, Emma ran into the living room, heedless of the mess that had surely splattered on her kitchen floor.
Henry lay pinned on the floor by Hook, an exasperated expression on his face.
"What happened?" Emma demanded.
Her son's eyes flicked toward the television screen, where the words GAME OVER flashed mockingly amid the flames and smoke in the background. He heaved a sigh. "An NPC threw a grenade at me."
-/-
The second time Hook was exposed to gaming, Henry was playing a fantasy rpg. Wiser for his last experience, the pirate sat quietly on the couch, observing with a critical eye while Henry's character ambled about the village wreaking havoc. Eventually, however, Hook was unable to contain himself. He peppered Henry with any number of questions, and Emma looked up from her book, smothering her laughter. "But why are you chasing the chickens with your sword?" and "Isn't walking into people's homes and smashing their belongings rather rude?" or "Why do keep throwing yourself off the cliff and reappearing at the top?"
"He's stuck," Emma finally explained, "and bored."
Hook appeared to consider this. "And what is this objective that puzzles you?" he finally asked Henry.
Henry explained the problem he was having in one of the dungeons, and the pirate smirked. "Travel back to that dungeon, Henry, and let the old pirate have a look around with you."
Henry quirked an eyebrow, clearly skeptical, but complied. A few minutes later, Hook had sprawled on the floor next to Henry, his leather coat shed, and the two of them were scouring every inch of the dungeon together, chattering about traps and weapons at a pace that made Emma grin to herself.
With Hook's help, Henry managed to progress further in the dungeon, and in fact did so much better at solving the puzzles and dispatching his enemies (Hook offered any number of interesting strategies and tactics to deal with them, particularly when Henry became swarmed), that it eventually became something of a ritual for them on the weekends that Henry stayed with Emma (Regina forbade any video games on week nights, lest it interfere with school, and in the interest of consistency, Emma enforced the same). The pirate would wander in, plunk himself down next to Henry, and spend a few moments in silent observation, analyzing whatever game Henry happened to be playing, before the two men proceeded to launch into another gaming adventure together, with Hook as the advisor and strategist.
Neal had never taken Henry up on his invitations to game with him, mumbling excuses about not being very good at it. Yet here was Hook, participating with nothing more than his words and eyes, like it was nothing. And no matter how dubiously Henry had accepted Hook's help, there was no mistaking the shine in his eyes every time they sat down to analyze and plot their way through another gaming quandary.
Who would have thought something as simple and normal as gaming would have brought together the two most important men in her life?
-/-
Henry and Hook really made quite the team, Emma realized with surprise one day, watching them game together. It was evident by the shared grins and easy laughter that they enjoyed these gaming sessions immensely. But Emma didn't miss the look of wistfulness in Hook's eye when he thought no one was looking, how his fingers twitched when Henry laid the controller down beside the pirate, game paused, to use the restroom.
Hook was having fun, but he was sharply reminded of his missing hand every time they played.
-/-
"All right," Emma told the pirate when he was visiting one night. It was Regina's week to have Henry, and therefore the ideal time to take the risk. Emma reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out a controller, thrusting it into his lap. "You said it was my turn to pick what we did for entertainment this evening. I pick this."
He stared at the controller in his lap as if it were a snake that would bite him. "Emma, I can't."
"Nope," she said, sitting down beside him. "I don't want to hear that defeatist attitude. I want to hear you upbeat."
He plastered a sugary fake smile on his face, waving his hooked appendage in the air. "Emma, I can't!" he exclaimed brightly.
"That's more like it," she smirked.
He rolled his eyes. "What's all this about, love?"
"Fun," she told him seriously, knowing that if she made this about him, she'd never succeed in her objective. "You promised to show me some, remember?"
He arched an eyebrow. "Well, if it's fun you're after, love, I'd say I've shown it to you in spades," he drawled, a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. "And that's not even counting our bedroom games, darling. But," he purred in her ear, changing tactics, "if it's games you want, I'd be happy to show you a few...more advanced ones." His blue eyes smoldered, and Emma swallowed thickly, looking away. Damn pirate. She closed her eyes.
"No," she told him, "I want to play video games."
Hook stared at her a moment, his confidence melting away into insecurity. "Emma," he said, his words soft and exhausted, "I'd like to love, really, but-" He stared down at his hook with no little amount of regret, the shame and self-loathing of his loss etched onto his face for the first time she can remember.
"There are gamers who play one-handed," she told him, thinking he might be persuaded if he knew he wasn't alone. "You wouldn't be the first." He shot her a look brimming with skepticism. "No, really. I'm not just saying that to make you feel better." He remained unconvinced, so she went for broke. "Henry has a birthday coming up in several weeks. Don't you want to surprise him?"
He issued her a long look. "Love, I know what you're doing," he informed her.
"Is it working?" she said hopefully.
He sighed, glancing down at the controller in his lap. Emma could sense his resolve crumbling. She held her breath. "Do I get to play the game I'm good at afterwards?" he asked with a cheeky lift of his brows, tongue sliding along his lower lip for emphasis.
"Only if you can beat me," she winked, waving her controller at him.
He grunted, but determination flared in his eyes at the challenge. "Then let the games begin."
-/-
The first week they played, the sessions were short. The controller slid out of Hook's lap more often than it stayed cradled against him, and he ended up too frustrated and embarrassed to enjoy a moment of it. Emma beat him easily and repeatedly.
Afterward, feeling guilty, Emma considered offering him a consolation prize, but the searing glare he gave her each time shut Emma down before she could even reach for him, the words dying before they could form on her lips.
-/-
The second week they played, Hook laid the controller in his lap vertically instead of horizontally; it slid out of his lap slightly less often, but always at the most inconvenient time in the game. Emma still beat him without any real effort, winning every game. Having learned her lesson from the week before, she didn't even so much as lean over for a kiss. She knew Hook didn't begrudge her her victories; he had never been the sort of man who needed to win every little thing, to be propped up by keeping others down. But she was afraid, nonetheless, of inadvertently rubbing in her success.
"Come on, sweetheart," he said after he'd had some time to cool down from the raw, negative emotions the experience tended to evoke in him, "it's a bit late for me to be getting back to my ship. Let's go to bed."
She looked at him hopefully, and he chuckled. "Sorry, darling, sleeping only. Rules are rules." He stood up, pulling her toward him. His breath warmed her ear as he leaned in close. "Besides," he whispered, "I hardly see why I should be the only one left frustrated afterward." He grinned, and Emma followed him into her bedroom, cursing herself and her big mouth.
-/-
The third week they gamed together, long after Henry was in bed asleep, Hook's controller seldom slid out of his lap. It was a minor victory, but short-lived, because the stability meant Hook suddenly faced another problem altogether: mastery of the actual controls. Trying to coordinate his fingers to do all that he wanted them to do proved an even more frustrating experience. Eventually, Hook figured out how to use the palm of his hand as well as his fingers, and this lessened his frustration a tad.
Emma still beat him easily.
-/-
The fourth week that they played each other, Hook's manipulation of the controller was awkward, but much improved from when they'd started. There were moments when the shift and reach of his fingers was almost graceful, and the controller no longer slid out of his lap.
Emma still beat him, but she was forced to finally put a bit more effort into it.
-/-
The fifth week they played against each other, gaming had become as much a bonding opportunity and ritual for them as it had been for Hook and Henry. There was more camaraderie and less cursing (on Hook's part, not Emma's), and Hook at least enjoyed the experience, even if he didn't win.
Emma still beat him, but she had to work for it.
-/-
The sixth week they gamed together, Hook was comfortable enough to do it after a couple of beers. They bantered and flirted as much as they gamed, and Emma was so aroused by the end of it that she nearly threw the game just to find some release. But Hook's knowing smirk, spied out of the corner of her eye, told her she'd been had. Their verbal sparring was as much a game to him as the ones they'd battled out with controllers (designed, no doubt, to make her fumble and leave him victorious). Irritation took hold, and Emma decided to kick his ass. It was a point of honor, now.
She beat him, but it was a near thing.
-/-
The seventh week they played, Hook's fingers and palm tapped and shifted with ease, his reactions automatic. Their gaming was fierce, reflexes and senses enhanced by taut nerves and a heightened awareness between them both that it had been seven weeks since they had had sex. But it was their verbal sparring that dominated, the flirting and innuendos flying through the air like magic, searing them both with the heat of anticipation and need. Emma's cheeks became flushed, her palms sweaty, and Hook's eyes became glassy, the tips of his ears a deep pink-though neither of them would have admitted it even if they had been aware.
And then it happened. With nimble movement of his fingers, and a slight shift of his palm, Hook executed a devastating combo. Emma's PC went down. Permanently.
"Shit," Emma breathed, half from wounded pride and half from glee as Hook flung aside his controller, wasting no time with gloating.
He pounced on her, pinning her to the couch; every nerve in Emma's body felt as if it were on fire as Hook pressed the length of his body against hers. With a smug grin and the exultant fire of victory in his eyes, Hook ripped through her clothes with one long, enthusiastic tear of his hook, and set about collecting his winnings.
He made love to her as fiercely as they'd gamed, taking no prisoners. But in the end, when they were both left gasping for breath, flushed from head to toe with afterglow, and utterly limp with satisfaction, Hook fixed his blue eyes on her and declared with a self-satisfied smirk, "Well, darling, I believe we both won that one."
-/-
"Are you gonna do it?" Emma elbowed Hook in the ribs as Henry finished tearing through another expensive present from Regina with a shout of excitement, springing from his chair to embrace his mother in gratitude. Regina stroked her son's hair with a smile that was both loving and sad, then released him to open another gift. "Go on," Emma urged, pushing the pirate forward.
Hook peered over his shoulder at her nervously, clutching the thin, wrapped present in his hand. Henry looked up as he approached, a smile lighting his face. "Hook!" he greeted cheerfully, glancing at the present in the pirate's hand. "Is that for me?"
Hook chuckled, his nerves disappearing in favor of amusement. "Aye, whose else would it be?" he teased. "Is there another lad with a birthday around?"
"Nope!" Henry answered happily.
"It's from your mother," Hook explained a Henry ripped open the wrapping paper. "I mean Emma," he clarified after an arch look from Regina.
"Hook, too," Emma chimed in, not about to let the pirate downplay his own share in it. The game fell out, and Henry leapt from his chair to hug and thank them both. Hook's eyes were suspiciously wet, his expression stunned from this first display of open affection from Henry. Emma blinked against the tears in her own eyes and cleared her throat. "In fact," she continued, as if they had never been interrupted, "Hook has something else he'd like to add to that."
Hook glanced at her. Emma nodded in encouragement. He walked over to the gaming system and turned it on. He slipped the disc of the fighting game he and Emma had practiced with into the system, adjusting the volume on the television while he waited for the game to load.
"What's he doing?" David murmured in her ear, watching the pirate with open curiosity. It was a look mirrored by everyone else in the room. "You'll see," she answered with a proud smile. "Watch."
Hook swiped a controller off the shelf next to the system and settled onto the couch, his manner self-conscious. After selecting the appropriate menu options to fight against one of the system's NPCs, he began to play. The room was utterly silent as her boyfriend demonstrated what he could do with a controller, one-handed. His maneuverability wasn't as smooth, his reflexes not quite as quick, probably due to nerves, but his gaming was impressive nonetheless.
The burst of applause after he finished appeared to surprise him, and Henry ran over to throw his arms around Hook, causing the pirate to blush. Emma watched with a smile as Henry pulled Hook back over to the couch, determined to play a round with him, even as he chattered about plans to play co-op with Hook on the new game that had been gifted to him. David sidled over, leaning against the back of the couch to watch. Mary-Margaret shook her head with an amused smile and turned her attention to cleaning up the mess of wrapping paper Henry had left in his wake.
"So when did this happen?" Neal asked in a low tone, appearing suddenly by Emma's shoulder. The jealousy in his tone wasn't quite subtle enough to be wholly undetectable.
"A few months ago," she answered calmly, "but Hook didn't start learning to use the controller until about seven, almost eight weeks ago."
"So...they do this a lot?" The envy in his voice increased a little.
"Henry has invited you to play loads of times," Emma reminded him, using every ounce of self-control not to snap at him that he had no right to get mad at Hook for stepping in where Neal clearly hadn't made an effort to. "I'm sure he'd still welcome it if you initiated." He grunted in reply. What she didn't say, but that they both already knew, was that it was too late; even if he started gaming with Henry, the special bond had already been formed with Hook. Gaming would always be associated primarily with the pirate, now.
"All right, pirate," David said as he rounded the couch and sat down, Henry and Hook's game concluded, "let's what you're really made of."
-/-
"Thank you," Hook told her, long after everyone had left, and the birthday boy had fallen asleep.
Emma knew from his tone what he meant; she and Hook understood each other so well that some things didn't need to be articulated. She shrugged. "No problem. Henry loved it. I knew he would."
"Aye," he agreed, settling on the couch next to her and drawing her into the shelter of his arms, "but this was never really about Henry, was it? Not completely."
"No," she admitted, feeling a little embarrassed. "But you know why I said that."
"Of course." He twirled a lock of her hair in his fingers. "Thank you for giving a part of myself back to me, love," he murmured into her ear.
She blinked, twisting around to stare at him. "What part was that?" she wondered.
"The part that had lain dormant for over three hundred years," he said slowly, still twirling her hair. "The part that thought I might be capable of being a father one day."
"I don't understand," she croaked, ignoring the heavy implications of his admission. "What does that have to do with playing video games?"
"After I lost my hand, I thought-foolishly, I now see-that certain doors were closed to me for good, such as marriage or being father to a small child such as an infant." He swallowed. "But then Bae came along in Neverland, and I thought maybe I had a chance, maybe I could be a father to an older child, my beloved Milah's boy...but he rejected me. After that," he intoned thickly, "I gave up on the notion altogether." His blue eyes locked with her own. "Until you and Henry." He shifted restlessly. "You gave me back my confidence, darling, every bit as much as Henry gave me back hope for that dream."
Emma flushed. "You're, uh, welcome."
He smiled at her and planted a kiss on top of her head. "Shall we play, love?" He jerked his head toward the gaming system.
"Sure," she agreed. "Same stakes as before?"
"Same stakes," he agreed, "but with a twist."
"And what's that?" she asked skeptically.
"If you win, I stay over tonight and we have mad, hot, passionate sex in your bed," he grinned.
"And if you win?"
"If I win," he said slowly, his expression turning more serious, "we have a talk about marriage and children."
"All right," she surprised herself by saying. "Game on, pirate."
-/-
She threw the game. They both knew it.
Hook set down the controller and faced her, an impish grin on his face. "Now, then, Emma, if we're to get married, I want loads of children," he teased, in an obvious attempt to dispel the awkward tension between them.
"Loads?" she snorted. "Try one or two."
"I'm willing to negotiate," he assured her, wrapping his arms around her waist. He kissed her on the nose. "Say, five or six instead?"
She punched him on the shoulder. "Keep negotiating, pirate!"
-/-
He caught her by surprise a week later, after she finished the dishes and settled onto the couch next to him. "Let's do this properly, then," he said, producing a gold ring with a glittering ruby that was flanked on either side by smaller diamonds. Emma stared in shock. She hadn't expected a real proposal this soon after their talk. Still, it wasn't as if they hadn't been dating for months. Or courting, as he always referred to it.
Hook lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles gently, his blue eyes shining with a vulnerability that Emma hadn't known he even possessed. "Emma Swan, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
"Yes," she whispered in an unsteady voice, "yes I will!"
A relieved grin lit up his face. He slipped the ring on her finger and pulled her into a tight hug, which quickly metamorphosed into something else entirely when Emma pulled back to kiss him.
"Well, then," he said, chest heaving as they broke apart, "take it to your bedroom to celebrate?"
"That's a good idea," she smiled. "I'll play you for it."
A/N: I know this fic had some Henry in it, but it was primarily about Emma and Hook and how gaming sort of helped develop their relationship and push it toward the next level. Hence, the title. Also, I don't personally know any one-handed gamers, but I know they are out there. I've seen one of them demonstrate technique on Youtube. I have no idea what actual issues they encountered while teaching themselves, or how long it took to become good, so I'm claiming full artistic license on the length of time it took Hook. If it makes you feel better, we can say he and Emma only played a couple times a week, or something, if seven weeks seems too long. ;)
Oh, and bonus points to anyone who can spot the 10 Things I Hate About You reference!