Author's Note: Gotta say... one of the most annoying things I've encountered so far in fanfiction is googling "Henry Jacinda Once Upon A Time Fanfiction" and having the first like 4 results be HENRY AND IVY FANFICTION. Like google get it togetherrrr.
I feel like there's not nearly enough Henry/Jacinda stuff out there in the world, not to mention Hencinda (is that the ship name? probably not lol) hurt/comfort, so I'm here to, as always, fill a gap.
He was so jumpy tonight.
Every ceiling creak from the neighbors moving around, every footstep, every squeak of the door had Henry flinching. He'd had to take the battery out of his clock because the ticking was starting to send him into a spiral of panic.
It was true that he'd mostly avoided talking about his encounter with Nick with Jacinda because he hadn't known what to make of the birth certificate. But now that they'd talked it all over, it was proving to be a whole lot more than that. He'd been kidnapped. Not only that, but he'd been kidnapped by someone he thought he could trust, in a space he thought he was safe in. If something like that could happen when he was just riding in a friend's car, who could say what would happen in the safety of his home?
Henry had taken every precaution possible. He had locked his doors and windows, closed his curtains, had a baseball bat from Roni at the ready, and even had a checkup system in place with Detective Rogers. He was making it incredibly difficult for anything bad to happen, and on top of that, Nick was dead.
He had nothing to worry about.
Or that was what he was trying to convince himself after he'd knocked a book off of his kitchen counter and the thump it made had sent him reeling back into the wall in a full-blown panic.
"Get it together, Mills," Henry muttered as he carefully picked the book up, put it firmly on the middle of the table so there'd be no chance of it falling, and walked into the kitchen to make himself some dinner. He settled on a salad but mostly just picked at it, everything tasting sawdusty and dry.
His head hurt tonight. Detective Rogers had dragged him to a walk-in clinic to get the bump Nick had given him checked out and there hadn't been any sort of concussion, but it was throbbing tonight. Henry gave up on his salad and downed some Tylenol with a few sips of water before crashing on the couch.
Unfortunately for him, he was the type to watch all sorts of action packed, murder-centric shows and movies. There was nothing in his Netflix cue that looked remotely relaxing save for a documentary on dolphins that he really wasn't in the mood for.
TV, it seemed, was not going to work as a distraction. A book, then? Henry got to his feet and wandered over to his small, temporary-apartment-bookshelf, randomly selecting a novel.
Grimm Fairytales.
Henry let out a groan and threw the book back onto the shelf, falling back onto the couch and burying his face in his hands. Tonight was really not his night.
His phone buzzed, and Henry jumped, inhaling sharply at the sudden vibration on his thigh. By the time he'd gotten his shaking hands to function enough to pull his phone out, it was buzzing again.
It was Jacinda. Henry let out a breath and relaxed against his couch as he skimmed the familiarly voiced messages.
'Hey, Henry Mills ;P'
'How are you tonite?'
Henry half-smiled at the goofy face emoji she'd sent along with his name. Part of him was regretting calling her out on her tendency to use both his first and last name, because now she'd never do it without some sort of self-consciousness... but, then again, it'd become a sort of inside joke for the two of them, and he liked that.
He deliberated how to reply for awhile, then gave in and just told the truth.
'Not great tbh. Want to give a man some company?'
That was dumb. That was dumber than dumb. What did he expect; that Jacinda was just going to up and leave Lucy at 11 o'clock at night? True, Sabine was there so it wasn't as if she would be alone, but...
'Pbly shouldn't leave the house rn,' Jacinda texted back. 'But if you want to come here my door is always open :)'
And before Henry knew exactly what he was doing, he had grabbed his wallet and his coat and blasted out of the door.
W / T \ Y
Jacinda opened up on the second knock, like she'd been feet away, just waiting for him to show up. "Henry, hey," she greeted him, opening the door wider to allow him room to enter. "Come on in."
Sabine was sitting at the kitchen counter on her laptop, but she quickly started packing up when she saw Henry had arrived. "You kids have fun..." she said teasingly as she disappeared into her bedroom.
Jacinda rolled her eyes, amused. "You want some cocoa?" she asked. "Or... wine? Or wine in cocoa? No, that'd be gross."
Henry laughed, rubbing his ear awkwardly. "Cocoa would be great, actually," he said. He had based book-character Henry's love of hot chocolate off of his own; it was his go-to comfort drink when he was feeling unsettled. "You wouldn't happen to have any cinnamon, would you?"
"Have you met Sabine?" Jacinda snorted, walking backwards into the kitchen in that half-awkward, flirty, teasing way of hers. "We have a fully stocked kitchen even if it means we use our last cent for groceries. She has cinnamon."
Henry smiled, but he felt a twinge at the thought of Jacinda's money troubles. He knew they existed, of course, but she always made so light of them. The thought of her and Lucy going without dinner made him feel physically troubled.
Jacinda plugged in the kettle and pulled two mugs from the cabinets, dumping packets of cocoa in with little puffs of brown dust. "So... not having a great night?"
"Yeah," Henry admitted, sitting down at the counter and resting his chin on his hand. "I'm just wicked jumpy. Every time I step too hard it's like my body thinks Nick has suddenly come back from the dead to serial-kill me or something."
He laughed, but he'd never been quite as good as Jacinda at making light of heavy things. Jacinda looked at him sadly, leaning her forearms on the counter opposite. "He's gone, Henry," she told him firmly. "He's never coming back. He'll never hurt you or anyone else again."
"Yeah, I know." Henry sighed and rubbed at his forehead. "My brain is being perfectly logical. My fight-or-flight instinct... not so much."
"Well, I've never been kidnapped before, but my guess? That's pretty normal," Jacinda assured him.
The kettle clicked off, Henry barely stopped himself from jumping, and she turned away to pour the boiling water over the cocoa powder. Henry sighed again and let himself take comfort in the domesticity of her movements. He had never watched her make hot chocolate before, yet there was something warm and familiar in the way she bustled around the kitchen, gathering spoons and spinning them in the brown liquid two at a time.
"It'll be hot," she warned as she set one mug down in front of him. "Don't burn your tongue."
"You got it, mom," Henry teased, sending her a wink and making sure to blow extra-deliberately into his mug.
Jacinda rolled her eyes again but laughed, glowing into her own mug just as deliberately. "You know," she said, speaking very casually. "If you wanted to spend the night here, you'd be welcome too. If it made you feel a little more at ease, anyway."
In regards to Nick, yes, spending the night at Jacinda, Lucy and Sabine's would make him feel a whole lot more at ease. In many other ways... not so much.
"I couldn't intrude," he said awkwardly, trying to hide behind his cocoa but finding it still too hot to sip.
"If it was intruding, I wouldn't have offered," Jacinda countered with a smile. "If it makes you feel better I'll even make you sleep on the couch."
Henry laughed, but in reality he was just trying to figure out where else Jacinda may have wanted him to sleep. She wouldn't possibly... no. Not with her daughter around. Not that he thought Lucy would mind, but it would still be a little... inappropriate.
"Fine," he relented. "It would actually be really nice to be able to stay here for the night. But only if it's no trouble... and you let me make breakfast."
"That you'll have to take up with Sabine," Jacinda told him, grinning. "Let me go set up the couch. I think we should have some pillows and blankets lying around somewhere."
W / T \ Y
Come to find out, that pillow and blanket set that was supposedly "lying around" had come straight from Jacinda's room.
Or, that was Henry's theory, anyway, because they both smelled infallibly like Jacinda's distinct coconut shampoo. While Henry loved the scent, it was making it a little difficult to get his heart rate to settle.
On top of that, he could just... feel Jacinda. She slept in the room right next to the living room and it was like her presence was leaking through the walls. There was no way he'd be getting a good sleep with that going on.
That being said, the hormone-induced unsettled feeling he was experiencing on Jacinda's couch was a lot better than the skittishness he would have felt in the empty confines of his own apartment. He didn't regret taking Jacinda's offer of staying over for a minute, even if he'd have serious bags under his eyes tomorrow as a result.
Henry was up before his alarm and set about the kitchen finding something to make for breakfast, as promised. It was true that he hadn't talked to Sabine about taking over her usual job as resident cook, but he just had to hope that she'd be okay with it for one morning.
It was a Saturday, which meant there was no rush to get Lucy off to school and the food truck started a couple hours later than usual. Henry had ample amount of time to whip up some pancakes and make a few glasses of fresh orange juice before a sleepy Jacinda came out of her room.
"Now this is something I could get used to in the morning," Jacinda declared, smothering a yawn with the back of her hand and sliding into a seat at the kitchen counter. "You really made breakfast?"
"I told you I would," Henry said with a smile, setting a plate of pancakes and a glass of juice in front of her. "It's just from a box."
"Well, it smells delicious," Jacinda told him, and dug in. "And it tastes just as good."
Henry opened his mouth to bring up last night, to thank her for the cocoa and the place on the couch and for keeping him company when he was freaking out, but just then Sabine came wandering into the kitchen.
"Well this is a sight," she said, eyes skating between Henry and Jacinda. "Did you-? Last night?"
"I slept on the couch," Henry blurted, his cheeks going bright red.
"You do realize my daughter's room is right next to mine, don't you?" Jacinda told Sabine, scandalized at her insinuation. "What kind of scarring do you think I want my kid to have?"
Sabine shrugged and reached around Henry to grab a pancake straight of the stack and take a bite. "You used a box?" she accused with a mock-disappointed sigh. "I really don't know if I can let her keep you around."
"Hey, I didn't burn down your kitchen, just be grateful for that," Henry shot back, holding up his hands in defense and then turning to make himself a plate.
W / T \ Y
"We might have to invest in a new guest bedroom if this becomes a habit," Jacinda teased as she opened the door to let Henry in.
He winced, though he wasn't in quite as much of a mood for bantering as he had been yesterday evening and even that morning. He was tired and already sick of this... PTSD or trauma or whatever it was. "Sorry."
"Don't be," Jacinda told him firmly. "Cocoa?"
"Only if it's no trouble."
"Yes, it's very hard for me to plug in a kettle," Jacinda snarked, shaking her head all the way into the kitchen.
They sat on the couch instead of at the counter that night, close enough that their knees bumped. "If you ever want to talk about it," Jacinda said softly, "I would be more than willing to listen."
"Thanks," Henry told her, and meant it. "Trust me- I'd love to talk about it and get it out of my system... I just don't know what it is at the moment. I guess the thing that just keeps coming back into my brain is that... Nick's car should have been somewhere I was safe, and it lead to me being kidnapped. So how can I trust anywhere I am again?"
"Well..." Jacinda hesitated, contemplating as she swirled her hot chocolate. "Why do you feel you can trust coming here?"
"Because I trust you," Henry replied, staring at her eyes. They matched her cocoa, almost, but maybe it was just the light. "And there's something about being here that just- it just takes all the fear out of everything. I don't know; maybe it's that I'm not alone, and if someone breaks in or something, I can shout and you guys will know where I am and what's happened. Or maybe it's just..." He shook his head. "I don't know. I really don't know. It's like you just feel like... home."
Jacinda smiled, but there was the tiniest bit of discomfort in her eyes that made Henry immediately fumble into a backtrack.
"Which is crazy, right?" he said, scoffing theatrically. "I mean, I haven't even known you for a year."
"Yeah," Jacinda replied with a weak, unconvincing laugh. "Crazy."
Henry tightened his grip around his mug of hot chocolate. He was tired tonight. Burnt out, drained.
Wishing that this really was his home, that he could come here at night and receive the comfort and warmth he was feeling now every single day of the rest of his life, that that wasn't completely insane and overstepping way too many boundaries all in one giant leap.
Jacinda got up. Henry couldn't help but notice that she had only taken about two sips of her cocoa before she'd picked up her mug and brought it to the sink. "Well," she said, with her back still turned. "Good night."
"Good night," Henry echoed, swallowing.
In the hours that followed, while he lay wide awake on the couch, he thought he heard Jacinda crying.
W / T \ Y
Henry wasn't sure exactly how Jacinda would feel about him showing up on a Sunday night. There was work for her and Sabine and school for Lucy bright and early Monday morning, and having him hanging around and getting in the way of their down-pat morning routine might not have been the best way to repay her for his new couch-bed.
So Henry stayed home. He played an old mixtape, then stopped it. He tried finding a white noise app on his phone but found that all the sounds were too grating and turned that off, too. He lay in his bed and stared at the ceiling and tried not to jolt upright at every noise that came from above and outside.
Eventually, the room got to be too stifling, so Henry got up and threw on a sweatshirt. It was almost one in the morning but he barely noticed, wide awake and mind whirring away as he walked down to the street level and into the crisp night air.
There was no one around. The streets were dead. It was like all the life had been sucked out of Hyperion Heights, stored into a little drawer that would be opened at around 8 o'clock am when the rush-hour traffic would spring into existence. Henry only came across one figure, a shadow in an alleyway that he hurried past. He wasn't afraid of city nightlife; hadn't been for a long time. But after what had happened with Nick, he didn't know if he could really handle any more attacks.
Unfortunately... that's exactly what he got.
Henry was just turning the corner when a hand grabbed the back of his jacket and dragged him nearly off his feet. A small knife curved around his throat and a surprisingly feminine voice hissed in his ear, "What did he tell you? What do you know?"
"What?" Henry gasped, struggling to get out of his attackers grip. The person's arms holding him in place felt small but strong, wiry, and he was almost positive now that it was a woman keeping him captive.
He could overpower a woman, right? If nothing else, he had the advantage of size. If he could just time it right, he might be able to get away.
"Hansel," the woman hissed, and Henry's blood ran cold. "What did he tell you about the Coven?"
"What?" Henry choked out again. "I don't- I don't know about any coven! Hansel- Nick- was just some guy with a crazy messed up mind that decided to latch on to my book to help him- I dunno, cope or something!"
Abruptly, Henry was let go. He spun around, hoping to catch the face of his attacker, but she was already gone in a swirl of black cape.
His knees gave out. Henry staggered against the side of the building, his heart hammering wildly and his mind racing faster than ever. He needed- he needed-
Jacinda.
Jacinda's was close by here. If he could just get there, everything would be okay.
He ran.
W / T \ Y
Henry raised his fist and started hammering on the door. He was practically wheezing for breath, having run at a full sprint all the way to Jacinda, Sabine and Lucy's apartment.
There was a full twenty-three seconds when there was no response, and then the door flew open. "Henry!" Jacinda cried. She was wrapped in a bathrobe with her hair in a loose braid, and was staring at him in astonishment... and some anger. "What are you doing here; it's two in the morning!"
Crap. Henry hadn't even thought about the time. And with the way he'd just been banging on the door, he'd probably woken up half the floor, much less all the residents of Jacinda's apartment.
"Jacinda-" he started, ready to blurt out an apology and get out of her hair.
She held up her hand, stepping closer. For a bizarre second, Henry couldn't figure out if she was going to slap him or kiss him. Then her gaze trained on his throat. "Is that... blood?"
Henry raised his fingers to his neck and a sharp sting radiated from his skin. "Yes," he said, swallowing. "That is blood."
"I think you should come in," Jacinda decided, dragging him inside before he could reply and shutting the door behind them. She quickly turned the lock and slid the deadbolt into place, then lead Henry to the couch and forced him to sit down. "Talk. Now."
"I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk," Henry said, rubbing around the cut spot on his neck. "All of a sudden this- this woman grabbed me out of nowhere and stuck a knife to my throat and started demanding that I tell her what I knew about a..."
He trailed off, shaking his head.
"About a what?" Jacinda pressed, narrowing her eyes at him. Henry briefly wondered where Sabine and Lucy were and how he had managed to not wake them up, but he decided not to worry about that right now.
"About a... a coven," he sighed finally. "She seemed convinced that Nick had told me about a coven. I said that Nick was crazy and didn't know what he was talking about and she just... let me go and vanished."
"Like... into thin air?" Jacinda asked dubiously.
Henry gave a clueless shrug. "That's kind of what it looked like," he admitted. "But it was dark and she was wearing a cloak and she probably just ran away. Right?"
"Right," Jacinda echoed. She took a seat next to him on the couch and let out a long breath. "Well, Henry Mills, you certainly know how to attract danger."
He leaned back with a long groan. "Yeah, you know any home remedies for that? 'Cause I could stand to get rid of that particular trait."
A flicker of a smile crossed Jacinda's face. "No," she said. "But I do know a home remedy for insomnia."
Henry's lips quirked. He knew what was coming. "Cocoa?"
"Cocoa."
W / T \ Y
Henry was sound asleep on the couch when the sound of hushed voices drew him awake. He groaned a little and sat up, rubbing at his face. A twinge of pain from his neck brought the events of last night rushing back and he shut his eyes again, resisted the urge to let out a second groan.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty," came Jacinda's teasing voice. Henry opened his eyes and twisted around to see her sitting at the kitchen counter with Sabine and Lucy.
"Hey, Henry!" Lucy chirped. She was dressed and her backpack was resting against the door, and Henry felt a defined surge of guilt that he had decided to crash at Jacinda's house so very late on Sunday night. Well. Early on Monday morning, really, but there wasn't a huge difference.
The night before, Jacinda had sat with him in silence, both of them sipping at their cocoa, until Henry's eyelids had started to droop. He didn't remember much after that, just Jacinda taking his mostly-empty mug and covering him with a blanket. That woman really went above and beyond the call of duty.
"Hi, Lucy," he replied finally, rubbing at his face and getting to his feet with a stretch. "Sorry about me crashing here last night. I hope I didn't wake you up."
"Honey, you probably woke Mrs. Jenkins with the racket you made last night," Sabine told him candidly. "And she's deaf."
Henry cringed, and Jacinda sent her best friend a reprimanding glance.
"But we are so glad you turned to us in your time of need, because what are friends for?" Sabine added, flashing a Sherlock-style fake smile that lasted about two seconds.
She was teasing, and Henry knew that, but the guilt still built up higher in his chest. "No, Sabine, I way overstepped coming here last night," he said, rubbing at his ear. "I'll get out of you guys' hair now. Good luck at the Rollin' Bayou, and have a great day at school, Luce."
"Henry-" Jacinda tried, but he quickly moved out of the kitchen and out the door.
He made it about four steps down the hallway before Jacinda had followed him, grabbed his arm, and stopped him in his tracks. "Slow down, Henry Mills," she commanded firmly. "Sabine is just a tease; you know that. She didn't mean any harm. I'm glad you showed up last night. I wouldn't have wanted you to be home alone after someone held a knife to your throat."
Henry swallowed at the memory. "She's right," he said, a little plaintively. "She's completely right, J. I showed up with no warning at two in the morning. That's not very responsible behavior and it probably totally messed with all your sleep schedules."
"I can handle a couple hours loss of sleep," Jacinda said with an eye roll. "It's not a big deal, Henry, it really isn't."
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Speaking of sleep, you look like you haven't gotten a good night's rest in years."
Henry shrugged, burrowing his hands into his pockets. "It's like the only time my mind quiets down enough for me to sleep is when I'm on your couch," he admitted. "Which is... not great, considering I can't stay there forever."
"Well, you can stay there as long as you need," Jacinda told him.
"Thank you." Henry let out a deep sigh and rubbed his eye. "But I really need to stop burdening you. I have caused more than enough mess in you and Lucy's life as it is over the past few months... the least I can do is let you rest in peace."
"Henry..." Jacinda began, but he carefully tugged out of the grasp she still had on his arm.
"I'll see you later, Jacinda," he said.
W / T \ Y
It was only nine o'clock, but Henry was trying to wind down enough that he could, hopefully, get more than four hours of sleep that night. He had turned off his phone, having read just about everywhere that screens keep you up, and was sitting on the couch with a cup of tea and a book.
That was when the doorbell rang.
For a second, Henry froze, mind racing. It wasn't late, no, but it was still pretty far into the evening. Who would be coming to visit now, and without any warning? Had the strange woman from the street last night come back? Or an unknown partner of Nick's?
Slowly, Henry rose to his feet and picked up the baseball bat he still hadn't returned to Roni, creeping towards the door. He slowly undid the bolts, turned the handle, and-
"Jacinda!"
The bat fell out of his hand and to the floor with a loud clatter that made Jacinda flinch. "Hi," she said, waving awkwardly. "Uh... thanks for not knocking me out."
Henry let out a breath and rubbed at his forehead. "Sorry," he muttered. "I thought you were... never mind."
"I texted," Jacinda told him. "To let you know I was coming."
"I turned off my phone."
"Oh." She bit her lip, suddenly looking very unsure of herself. "If you'd rather just be alone, I can-"
"What're you doing here?" Henry asked quizzically, peering at her. She was dressed in sweatpants and comfortable shirt, like she was ready for a cozy night in. It wasn't like her to just invite herself over for a date or... whatever they liked to call it when they spent time together, but that's certainly what it looked like she was here for.
"You said you couldn't sleep unless you were on my couch," Jacinda said, hands on her hips. "And since I couldn't bring my couch, I... brought myself. Maybe just having someone here would... help?"
Henry dipped his chin, touched. "I don't want to trouble you-" he began, even though he was dying to accept her offer.
"You aren't," Jacinda told him firmly. "I don't think you understand, Henry Mills. I want to be the person you go to when life gets screwy and you need a crash to couch on or hot cocoa or..."
She trailed off, cheeks darkening. "But if you want me to leave I'll go home."
"No!" Henry cried, surprising himself at his sudden exclamation. "No. Come in. I'd love to have you stay with me."
Jacinda bit back a smile and made her way into his apartment.
W / T \ Y
He was so jumpy tonight.
Every brush of Jacinda's arm against his, every accidental touch of her bent knee on his thigh, every exchange of eye-contact had his heart stuttering a little and setting off at a ridiculous speed. But this was the good kind of jumpy, the good kind of unsettled, the kind that left a pleasant buzz in his limbs instead of a feeling like he was going to choke on his own breath.
"I don't have any cocoa," Henry apologized once the silence got too thick. He and Jacinda were sitting on the couch, the curtains drawn and the TV off, neither of them sure what to say. "I think I've got a bottle of wine, though? Maybe some rum but I'm not sure how much there is."
"It's alright," Jacinda told him, waving away his offers. "I already brushed my teeth and probably shouldn't be drinking too much on a Monday night."
Henry cringed, not wanting for it to have come off like he was trying to get her drunk. He wasn't sure if it would be weird for him to get up and get himself a drink, if there was some guest-code that said that leaving someone on your couch without anything to entertain them was bad hosting.
It was really too bad he wasn't as good at hosting as he was at overthinking, because then he would have had this evening in the bag.
"You look tired," Jacinda commented, putting her hand on his knee. Henry gulped. "I didn't mean to keep you awake by showing up tonight."
"No, no, I know," Henry assured her. "I just, um... I don't have a guest room, and-"
"I'll sleep on the couch," Jacinda said, smiling faintly. "You've crashed on mine enough recently that you deserve to sleep in a proper bed."
"Yeah, but you're over here and keeping me company as a service to me," Henry reminded her guiltily. "I should at least let you have the bed."
"Not the bed. Your bed," Jacinda rejoined. "You need a good night's rest, Henry Mills, and nobody gets a good night's rest on a couch."
Henry raised his eyebrow. "You're not exactly helping to convince me to let you sleep on the couch, then."
Jacinda let out a deep sigh and twisted her body so she was lying vertical on the couch, her feet in Henry's lap. She stretched her arms somewhat theatrically above her head and nodded. "Mmm... so comfy."
"I'm not going be your personal footrest all night," Henry joked warningly. He gave her sock-covered feet a quick pat and then carefully transferred them from his legs to the cushions. "But fine, you've convinced me, if you're sure you're alright here."
"I'm wonderful," Jacinda told him firmly.
He smiled, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Then... goodnight, Jacinda."
Almost as suddenly as she'd laid down, Jacinda hopped to her feet and took two quick steps towards him. She rested her hands on his shoulders and leaned up, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "Goodnight, Henry," she whispered in his ear, then turned away with rapidly darkening cheeks to lie back down on the couch.
Henry grabbed a quilt from the closet and pulled it over her curled up form before walking into his bedroom and half-shutting his door. He changed into his pajamas and laid down in bed, eyelids slipping closed.
He fell asleep too quickly to do much thinking, but when he woke up the next morning, Henry came to the realization that a home remedy for insomnia wasn't so much the place, but the people who were nearby.
Author's Note: I couldn't have them kiss for... obvious reasons, but I hope this was good enough ;)
Man, that was really fun! I wasn't expecting this to go anywhere but that got pretty long for a spontaneous unplanned oneshot XD
(also, did anyone catch the Emma/Hook tribute in one of the first "scenes"? ;)