Character A is pretending to be their friend's lover for the sake of the friend's family. Character B is said friend's sibling.
She watches Killian Jones storm out of his own house and wonders when exactly this whole weekend went so horribly wrong. A few instances come to mind.
Possible It-all-went-downhill-from-here moment #1
She bumps into him and almost covers his shirt in mulled wine. She has not been hanging around the kitchen's doorway, with its fake-as-can-be mistletoe, scotched-taped by someone, who, if Emma has to guess, was operating with one hand. She is not that smitten, thank you very much. But the fact remains that when she looks up and it is Killian who almost got a first degree burn as a Christmas present, Emma doesn't rush off.
She hesitates. She lingers. Probably seeming distracted to everyone else and completely obvious to herself. She waits and waits and starts wondering if she should storm off in a huff or just grab him by the lapels and snog him senseless, as his brother would put it.
Killian's chuckle is only a little forced and he scratches behind his ear for just a second and then makes the decision for her. He takes her hand and lifts it to his lips. She barely feels the brush of his mouth but his breath is warm and heavy on her skin and Emma swears a proper kiss would've been less sensual. She certainly hasn't had one she enjoyed as much as this.
/
No, as nice as it is to relive that one, she should go further back.
Possible It-all-went-downhill-from-here moment #2
She almost missed it, busy as she is with staring at Killian Jones catching every popcorn Robin's kid throws at him. With his mouth.
There are certain things that should not be attractive and acting like a 5-year-old, in the company of an actual 5-year-old, should be one of them. But when Killian catches her staring and grins proudly (he did catch every single one), she quickly averts her eyes. And that's when she sees it.
Elsa is most definitely not gonna make the top of that tree, no matter how much she frowns and huffs at it. Emma laughs quietly at her for using her people tactics on a dead plant and is just about to go save said plant from being toppled over when she sees Liam comes up behind her roommate. She sees Elsa jump when his hands come to rest on her hips and almost hears her indignant yelp when he lifts her up without much preamble.
Emma wants to laugh again but then she catches Killian's frown that melts into concern when he meets her eyes and all she wants is to scream in frustration.
/
Possible It-all-went-downhill-from-here moment #3
Elsa barges into Killian Jones's house, which is in the process of being decorated and over-decorated by about a dozen people. This country, these airlines, these unprofessional people, her own failure to predict a freaking snowstorm and some more are the topics Elsa tackles before having even unwound her scarf, hair covered in snowflakes but her cheeks not even tinged and her lips set in a scowl that Emma calculated will need at least three glasses of wine to soften.
Whiles she's at it, she also calculates that Liam's eyes have grown about three times their usual size.
/
Possible It-all-went-downhill-from-here moment #4
At Liam's fourth knock the door flies open. The man behind it is panting like he's just ran a marathon, he has a kid cradled in his right arm and a plastic hook with a red bow on it at the end of his left one. His cheeks are red and his eyes so damn blue. His laughter spills from the house and fills the frigid air with the closest thing to physical joy Emma has ever encountered.
"Liam! About bloody time!"
He reaches to pulls the other man into a hug but then realizes his arms are occupied and laughs again.
"Roland found me the most perfect present, don't you think?"
Liam laughs and his brother's gaze moves to her and Emma reminds herself to close her damn mouth.
/
Possible It-all-went-downhill-from-here moment #5
"Shit! Liam, turn around!"
"What? You already said 'yes'! No takebacks, Emma!"
"Ugh, stop being 12 for a second and turn around. Elsa's flight was cancelled and she left her key with me."
"Well, what are you two going do, if I take you back?"
"What kinda question is that, you perv?"
"Keep your knickers on, lass. I'm just saying there's nothing to go back to. Just tell her to come to Killian's as well."
"Oh, does she get to play your girlfriend too?"
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm sure your friend is much more sensible than you and doesn't need an excuse to join a Christmas party."
/
Yeah, alright. It was all her damn fault.
The It-all-went-downhill-from-RIGHT-here moment #6
"You didn't tell me Elsa is going home for the holidays."
"Well, I didn't know you were so concerned with the comings and goings of a person you having even met."
"Emma."
"Don't Emma me and don't point your finger at me with that look of moral judgment."
"I'm not letting you spend Christmas on your own."
"Good thing I'm not asking your permission then."
"Emma-"
"Don't-"
"You are not staying here. You are coming to my brother's party."
"No way."
"Emma Swan."
"Liam Jones, I'm not tagging along like the friendless friend."
"That's an oxymoron."
"You're an oxymoron!"
"And that makes no sense."
'You make no sense! I've never met your brother and he just came back, I'm sure you have tons of catching up to do and-"
"Precisely. He just came back and he is throwing a bloody party. Everyone wants to see him, trust me with or without you I'm not gonna get Killian to myself tonight."
"Whatever. I don't wanna be that person."
"What person?"
"The pathetic tag-along person."
"Emma."
"No."
"Fine, we'll say you're my girlfriend."
"Ew."
"Oy. I'll have you know you can do much worse, Emma Swan."
"I can and I have but that's like… incest."
"I have only one moronic sibling far as I know but you sure fit the bill."
"I'm. not. coming."
"Look, we'll say we just started dating so Killian doesn't get suspicious. We're not PDA people so that's covered. And you have an excuse to be there or whatever it is that you require."
"And then?"
"Then we amicably break up and continue to hang out or you get over yourself and we tell everyone how ridiculous you are."
/
The thing is, not a single person at the damn party probably thinks she and Liam are dating. She doesn't think they've touched a single time tonight.
But when Killian's eyes came to rest on her in his doorway and the million dollar question 'and you are?' came with a cute head tilt and a somewhat confused look, as if he was trying to place her (because he probably didn't expect random strangers knocking on his door), Emma just didn't feel like going for 'your stupid brother's sad friend who has nowhere to go so decided to crash your party'. So she sent Liam a half-helpless, half-threatening look and watched him roll his eyes and smoothly half-lie with 'my date'.
The thing is, not a single person at the damn party probably finds issue with Liam and Elsa having a deep discussion by the gingerbread village that ends with the blonde grabbing the older Jones, much in the same way that Emma was daydreaming of grabbing the younger one not even an hour ago, and smashing her lips against his.
Not a single person except Killian. Who is currently storming out of his own house.
"Jones, wait!"
She groans and runs after him, only grabbing her scarf off the top of the coat rack to make hypothermia's job at least a little bit harder.
"Killian!"
He whirls around, the cloud of his breath obscuring his face for a second. It is freaking freezing, overambitious and oversized snowflakes coming down all around them, and Emma sees his eyes widen as he catches sight of her.
"Bloody hell, Swan!"
He has his coat off and around her before she has even managed to catch her breath.
"This wasn't what it looked like," she plunges right in as her hands grab the lapels and tug his coat around her without too much prompting.
"It looked like you need better friends and my brother needs a reminder of what good form is."
"You looking for that in the snow or..?"
He chuckles at that to her great pleasure, even if it's gruff and kinda confused. She sure doesn't look like a slighted woman.
"I decided to cool off before I give him a good talking to. He's my older brother and-"
"And you don't need to give him any talkings."
Killian's eyebrows jumps up and she sees a shiver run through him and feels her own teeth coming together forcefully.
And just on the off chance that she is about to be told off, Emma decides to avoid the audience for a bit longer and instead moves closer, putting her hands on his forearms. Killian's brows furrow in confusion.
"Emma, if this is your idea of getting back at Liam, I'm not go-"
"God, no," she scowls and squeezes his arms to get his eyes to focus on her again. "I don't have anything to get back at him for. Honestly, I think I'm gonna enjoy seeing him and Elsa butt heads. It's a toss whether they'll make each other more bearable or even less so."
"Lass, I have to say, I understand nothing. You're… you're not upset about this? Aren't you and Liam-"
"No, no, we're not anything. I mean, yes, in the last year he's probably become my best friend and only I know exactly how much he has been missing you but…"
Killian's smile fights its way through his bewilderment at that and Emma wants to curse herself for creating any drama between those two.
"We're not dating. Never have, never will."
"Then why did you lie to me?" he shakes his head, more sad than judgmental, which is what really gets to her probably.
So she just shrugs and looks away. That last for a solid five seconds, until she feels his arm slip around her waist to draw her closer and she reaches to hold his coat in place around them and talks herself into looking at him as well.
"I'm kinda done being the charity case wherever I go,"
It manages to come out somewhat defiant, no matter how sheepish she is.
Killian tilts his head to the side, much like he did the first time, considering her again, and she thinks maybe he wasn't trying to place her before. Maybe he really did.
"So you pretended to be my brother's girl?"
A nod.
"But then he hit it off with your friend?"
"Roommate. We're… Elsa takes her time to warm up to people, your brother excluded apparently. And I've been told I'm quite prickly. But, yeah, we're getting there. I think."
"Prickly," he says the words as if he's testing it out. "No, I think not. Perhaps a bit chilly though."
Her body shivers in response and Killian steers them around and back towards the house with a laugh. He stops her at the top porch step though.
"Just…" he pulls back with a teasing grin and Emma feels the cold rush back in, tightening her arms around herself. "Let me make sure I have this right before I allow you into my house again."
Emma grunts in impatience, jumping a couple of times in place to keep herself warm, which only makes the bastard grin harder.
"No, I'm not dating your brother."
"And anyone in general?"
Emma takes her time with that one, watching him swallow, the teasing look slowly morphing into something more sincere and almost apprehensive. She sees her chance and she takes it.
"No, I'm dating no one in general or no Jones in particular."
He picks up her queue with a delighted grin and two steps into her personal space.
"Would you like to rectify that?"
He glances up and this time when she catches sight of a sloppily taped mistletoe, Emma doesn't hesitate. But she does linger.