Beware Lurking Squirrels'

CS Genre: Roommates AU

"Keep your grimy paws to yourself, you bloody git!" Killian slurred as he stumbled his way toward the car.

Emma bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud as she took hold of her idiot roommate's arm and steered him in the right direction. This was going to be a long evening, but at least it was sure to be entertaining.

"Are you yelling at a squirrel, Killian?"

He turned indignant eyes her way as she opened the passenger side door and gently shoved him inside. "Swan, that beast was attempting to make a pass at you. Your honor must be protected."

At that she couldn't hold back her laughter for another moment. "I hunt down creeps of the human variety for a living. I think I could take one little squirrel, although your chivalry is duly noted."

Killian fumbled with the seat belt, growling in annoyance as it flat out refused to go into its slot. "And your bloody car hates me!"

Emma continued to chuckle as she leaned over him and buckled the belt. "I really doubt either that the squirrel was hitting on me or that my car hates you."

He crossed his arms and gave her a long look as she slid into her seat behind the steering wheel. "What other explanation could there possibly be for the malfeasance of both, Swan?"

He shot her a triumphant grin as though pleased with his irrefutable logic.

Emma rolled her eyes. "I don't know. You've got me there."

He nodded sagely, squinted in the bright light of the setting sun, and lowered the passenger-side visor. After a moment, he peered into the mirror on said visor and then began to chuckle.

"Something funny?"

"Look, Swan!" he said, opening his mouth as wide as he was able (which incidentally wasn't all that wide) and then grinning like a loon. "Blood. I have blood in my mouth."

"Yeah, that's what happens when you get your wisdom teeth removed," she said, turning her eyes back to the road.

"Does this mean I'm a bloody git, too?"

Emma laughed again, she simply couldn't help it. "Do you really want me to answer that question?"

He turned suddenly wounded eyes in her direction. "Do you really think that about me, love, that I'm a git?"

Her heart stuttered. No, Killian. That couldn't be farther from the truth. If only you knew how much I love you…

"You know I don't" she finally said, determinedly keeping her tone light.

The answer seemed to please him. He nodded once, and then turned quietly back to his side of the car. Silence reined for long moments, until curiosity got the better of Emma. She turned toward her passenger in time to see him fish out his phone, open his (literally) bloody mouth and snap a selfie.

"Killian, what are you doing?"

He swiped his finger along the screen, nodding in satisfaction as he tapped for a few moments and then looked up at her. "I sent Dave a picture, love. Figured he'd be amused at my mouth's current state of bloodiness. He knew the doctor robbed me of my wisdom teeth…my teeth?…my wisdom? That doesn't sound right."

Emma rolled her eyes, grinning. "I better keep a close eye on you. The way you're going, your mate is going to be abel to mock you until you're eighty."

Emma had met Killian seven years ago when she and her best friend Mary Margaret Blanchard moved into the off-campus apartment Killian shared with David Nolan. Emma and Mary Margaret had lived in the dorms for two years before they decided it was time for a change. After perusing roommate notices and talking to those posting them, they'd decided that Killian and David sounded the most normal, the least like serial killers, and the most responsible.

Not to mention the hottest. Emma's mind was quick to remind her. That British accent of Killian's probably has the power to make a girl pregnant just by listening to it. And…well, the man's looks were even more smoking hot.

Within five minutes of moving in, Emma was in love. She remembered the moment like it was yesterday. One moment she was struggling to wrestle her mattress onto the bedframe, and the next, Killian was there in her doorway.

"Need a hand, love?"

She'd eyed his left arm, in a cast after a nasty fall during a skiing trip, and shot him an amused grin. "Is that supposed to be a joke?"

He'd chuckled then, stepped into her room, grabbed the mattress with his right hand and dragged it into place. "No, I was being quite serious."

When he'd looked up at her, flirtatious smirk in place, his eyes as blue as the summer's sky, she'd suddenly realized that she was utterly lost.

She had no chance at all after that.

Emma and Mary Margaret had spent junior and senior years with the guys, and it was the best time of her life. Well, at least until David and Mary Margaret started dating seriously. Very seriously. After that, she and Killian started spending more and more time together outside of the apartment because…um...awkward!

David and Mary Margaret got engaged and married and subsequently moved out on their own just after graduation, but Emma and Killian opted to remain in the apartment, as they'd both landed jobs in the general vicinity. (And, Emma's inner voice reminded, because I no longer even want to contemplate living somewhere without Killian.)

She supposed one day she would have to tell him the truth about her feelings for him, but…well, things were good just as they were. What if she bared her heart to him and he didn't feel the same way? She couldn't lose him; she just couldn't. If that meant living with him in a very platonic situation for the rest of their lives, never confessing her love, that's what she would do.

"Squirrel, squirrel, squirrel," Killian muttered, bringing Emma's mind back to the present. "That's a funny word, Swan. Squirrel."

She laughed again. "You do realize I'm going to mock you mercilessly as soon as you're back to your old self again, don't you?"

"Now Swan," he said as she pulled into the car park of their apartment and helped him from his side of the car. "This is serious business, this battle with the squirrels. Take a look at that one, there. I believe he's hatching a plot to murder us in our sleep tonight."

"Don't worry Killian," Emma said absently as she fumbled for her keys, "until you're healed I'll be on squirrel-watch. I won't let them murder you; although I can't guarantee I can stop them from throwing acorns."

"Thank you, Swan," he said seriously. "Is it any wonder that I love you?"

Emma suddenly dropped her keys, turning shocked eyes in his direction. "Wh…what did you say?"

"That I love you?" he asked, as though it was an established fact that she should have known.

"Do…do you really?"

Killian rolled his eyes. "Of course! You've been the sun, the moon and the stars to me since the day you moved in. I love you to the very depth of my heart. I've longed to kiss you properly for years. I don't suppose I ought to kiss you now with my bloody mouth, though. Bad form, aye?"

The tears sprung to Emma's eyes. He doesn't know what he's saying. He's still high out of his mind with those anesthesia drugs. Don't read anything into it!

But oh she wanted to. With everything in her she wanted to believe it. Wanted to say those three little words back to him.

Instead she took a deep breath, retrieved her keys, unlocked their apartment, ushered him inside and forced a chuckle. "Yeah, I'd appreciate it if you kept your bloody mouth to yourself for the time being."

~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~

Killian groaned as he woke the following morning, the pain throbbing dully in the back of his mouth. Why the bloody hell had he ever agreed to the wisdom teeth extraction? This was torture.

"Ready for your pain meds?" Emma asked, stepping into his room, glass of water in one hand and bottle of pills in the other.

"Aye," he said, sitting up and running a hand through his disheveled hair. "You, love, are an angel of mercy."

She laughed, handing him the items in her hands. "I had my wisdom teeth out the year before Mary Margaret and I moved in here, and believe me. I know what you're going through."

He grunted as he took the painkiller and then pressed the cold, empty glass against his aching jaw. "You wouldn't know where the ice pack is, would you, Swan?"

"Ahead of you there, Jones," she said, turning back toward the door. "It's waiting in the living room. Thought you might want to hang out in there for a while. Keep me company while I make breakfast."

He nodded, getting to his feet and padding after her.

As the meds took affect and the pain slowly receded, Killian's mind began to wander, jumbled memories from the day before coming to mind.

"Just how bloody ridiculous was I yesterday, Swan?" he asked. "Did I say anything I'll regret?"

Emma looked away, twin spots of red coloring her cheeks. Then, after taking a deep breath she looked up again, a forced smile on her face. "Well, you had some pretty choice words for Storybrooke's squirrel population."

He looked at her closely, and more memories came to mind. I love you to the very depth of my heart. I've longed to kiss you properly for years. Bloody hell, had he actually said that to her? He'd kept his feelings severely under lock and key for years, convinced she didn't, couldn't possibly, feel the same way. Had he destroyed all his careful control in one, high-as-a-kite, moment?

"Emma," he said, ducking his chin and reaching to scratch behind his ear. "Did I…did I say something about…about you?"

She froze and looked away. "Yeah, you might have said something."

Killian took a deep breath. Well, this wasn't how he would have chosen to go about this conversation, this revelation, but it seemed his drug-addled brain had had other ideas. "Would you come here? Sit with me. I think we need to talk."

He waited until she was perched beside him on the couch. She sat on the edge, looking as though prepared for flight. His heart sank. "What exactly did I say, love?"

"You…you told me you love me," she said in a small voice, so quiet he almost missed it.

"I'm sorry," he said, his heart plummeting. Her body language was unmistakable. It would seem he was about to get his heart broken, and given the depth of his love for this woman before him, he doubted it would ever mend again. "I didn't mean to burden you."

She shrugged, obviously trying to look nonchalant. "No biggie. You weren't exactly yourself. We all say things we don't mean sometimes."

Things we don't mean? Is that what she thought?

He looked up quickly, hearing the sadness in her voice. Had he misread the situation? Was she disappointed in her belief that his drug-induced statement was insincere? Slowly, a small flame of hope lit within him.

Killian brought both hands to her face and gently raised her chin until he could look into her eyes. It was unmistakable, now, the longing there. The hope began to flare yet brighter.

"Is that what you think, Swan?" he asked softly. "That I didn't mean it?"

He saw shock and surprise enter her eyes. "Well, did you?"

The moment of truth had arrived. "Aye, Swan," he said with conviction. "I didn't want to burden you with feelings I believed were unrequited, but, yes, I love you. I love you with everything within me; have nearly since the moment we met."

The tears rushed to her eyes and spilled over, and he moved his hands until he could catch them with his thumbs. Without warning, she hurtled forward, arms surrounding him, tackling him, hand going to the back of his head, holding him close. "You idiot," she said, laughing through her tears. "Of course your feelings weren't unrequited. I've loved you forever!"

Joy bubbled up within him and spilled out into a delighted chuckle as he held her to himself, hands rubbing over her back. "I'd like nothing more than to kiss you right now, love, but my mouth is still a bloody mess."

She pulled away, brilliant smile on her lips. "Yeah, that's a bit of a problem, but we have our whole lives to make up for it. Just, get well, soon, okay? I think we've waited long enough."

Notes:

-As I said at the end of the last update, this week's story was my favorite to write. I had lots of fun with this one!

-I've seen people write roommate au's before. I've also read some where Emma and Killian have feelings for each other but are afraid to bring it up—until one or the other of them is drunk, or otherwise not quite in their right mind. It's an interesting idea, but I wanted to take a slightly different direction—thus the wisdom teeth extraction thing.

-I actually didn't get put under anesthesia when I had my wisdom teeth removed, but rather just had local anesthesia (this is something, incidentally, that I don't recommend. It was not a fun day!), but I've had way too much fun watching my siblings and others being totally crazy after they HAVE been knocked out for the procedure. Some of Killian's craziness comes directly from them. My brother, for example, thought his bloody mouth was hilarious and decided he just HAD to take selfies of it. My sister was the one who had the anesthesia-induced squirrel phobia—only she was afraid of being mistaken for a squirrel with her puffy cheeks. (My uncle is constantly railing at the squirrels who like to come steal produce from his garden. My sister was afraid he'd mistake her for a squirrel and shoot her with his bb gun!)

-Well, we've nearly survived another hiatus! This, being the last Friday of the hiatus, brings me to the last of my officially planned Fluffy Friday one shots. I've had many people suggest I continue this beyond the hiatus, and I've sstarted coming up with several new ideas for future installments. As always, any prompts you might have would be greatly appreciated—I'm particularly interested in what people would like to see with deleted scenes, canon divergence scenes and Lieutenant Duckling.

-Since I've reached the end of the stories I've already written, I can't really give you an "up next", because I'm not entirely sure where I'll go with this (although I do have one pre-written story that might fit the bill; we'll see) So, I guess next week will be a surprise!