I also have to thank atruthuniversally for commenting on every chapter! It makes my day reading your comments every week.
Enjoy!
Chapter 7Emma was nervously waiting in her room for Killian to arrive to pick her up before they headed over to the circus on campus.
She told him that he didn't have to come and pick her up, that it wasn't a real date and all that jazz, but Killian insisted.
"It's all about impressions, right?" He asked.
But because of that, now she was completely over-thinking everything. It was supposed to be a bit cooler out this evening, so she was wearing a long sleeved henley with a comfortable pair of jeans and her favorite beanie. But now she was worried that what she was wearing was entirely too casual for the evening.
A knock on the door broke her out of her thoughts.
"I can hear you overthinking in there Swan, open the door." Killian said.
A smile spread across her face and she laughed a bit as she pulled the door open.
"How exactly did you know that?" Emma asked, "You couldn't even see my face."
Killian smiled at her. Emma was relieved to see that he was dressed as casually as she was, in a pair of blue jeans with a leather jacket covering what she assumed to be a long sleeved shirt. The chain for his dog tags was peeking out from the collar of his shirt.
"I don't necessarily have to see your face to know what you are thinking Emma. I just know you well enough to know that you would be nervous about this," Killian said, extending his hand out to take hers.
She turned back to grab her ID badge and dorm keys, tucking them into the back pocket of her jeans before reaching out and taking his hand.
She paused outside of her door to make sure she heard the locking mechanism slide into place before they made their way across campus to the main square between the upper and lower campuses.
Apparently they had opened both campuses up to allow them access to the circus tonight.
The Circus came to campus at least twice a year, but Emma had never once gone. She never had any reason to.
Until now it seemed.
"Did David or Mary Margaret say anything to you about where to meet them here Love?" Killian asked her.
She and Mary Margaret had made up during the days between their fight and tonight, but Emma still considered things a bit frosty between them. She hadn't entirely forgiven her for the comments that she made about high risk students looking a certain type.
"David said they were going to be arriving a bit later in the evening, he had a group project that needed to be finished tonight prior to coming. Ruby said her and Victor would be here, but didn't specify when they would be here." Emma said, trying to remember the conversation she had had with them two days prior.
"Well then, looks like we will have a bit of time just to enjoy ourselves for a bit before getting hounded by the dogs." Killian wagged his eyebrows at her, causing Emma to throw her head back and laugh.
Killian smiled at her and lead her down to the entrance of the circus tents that were sprawled out along the square. A security officer asked to see their ID badges, and gave them both a wristband that showed that they were upper campus students.
According to security, there were some tents that the younger students weren't allowed to access and they had to have a wristband to denote the difference between the two groups of students.
Killian looked at Emma after that description, shrugging his shoulders in a 'whatever' type gesture.
He took her hand back in his as they began walking down the main aisle of tents, seeing all of the food and drink vendors lining the stalls off to their right, while all of the games and activities were scattered long to their left.
Lighting up the far corner of the grounds was a large ferris wheel, its blinking lights shining in random patterns along it's spokes.
The Grand Stands in the Main tent took up about half of the square, looming up over the rest of the festival like some kind of red and white ghost.
"Hungry, Love?" Killian asked her, gesturing with his chin towards one of the food vendor's tents.
"Sure." She said, following his lead.
He bought them both corn dogs, despite Emma's protests, and settled them down at one of the standing tables while Emma hunted down a beer for both of them.
Emma noted the woman at the stand checked her wrist band when she ordered the beers, so that was what security was likely talking about when they mentioned the younger students not being allowed to have at the tents.
"I don't think that I have had the pleasure of having a corn dog before now, Swan." Killian said, setting down his food and gratefully taking the beer from her when she came back over to where he was waiting.
"There are probably a lot of 'American' delicacies that you haven't had the pleasure of having before now either. Have you heard of a thing called deep fried butter?" Emma said, laughing at the look of disgust that crossed his face.
"I will probably just stick with the corn dog for now then if that's the case."
"We are at a circus Killian, their specialty is deep fried anything. Deep fried ice cream, butter, bacon, twinkies-"
"What in the devil is a twinkie?" Killian asked.
Emma laughed at the expression on his face. "Don't say it like it is some kind of dirty word." Emma had to pause to try and contain the laughter that was threatening to explode out of her. "It is a dessert pastry."
"You Americans and your deep fried monstrosities." Killian said, finishing off his corn dog and taking another swig of his beer.
Emma finished off her food as well and took to walking on Killian's left side, looping her arm through his so he could use his hand to hold his beer.
They walked beside a bunch of high schoolers trying their luck at the games before heading back towards the main tent to see a lot of the performers.
Killian and Emma's eyes widened when they walked into the tent. While it housed the main stage area where a group of trapeze artists were performing, there were also a bunch of other performers entertaining the students in random circles around the tent floor.
He pulled her to a stop in front of a performer who was currently breathing a small stream of fire over a younger students marshmallow.
"Can you do that Swan," Killian asked, pointing at the gentleman, "Breath fire like that?"
"Yeah, I can actually," Emma said, watching the performer with a pang of jealousy. While she didn't hope to be a circus performer, she was jealous of the fact that he was free to use his gift as he saw fit, without anyone trying to keep his powers under lock and key like hers were.
"Ohh, David look, A fire-breather, how cool is that?"
Killian and Emma both turned to see Mary Margaret pulling David along towards the performer, Ruby and Victor following close behind.
Emma's brows tightened at the insinuation and she felt Killian's wrist move to wrap around her shoulders, rubbing them in a comforting manner.
David recognized them first. "Killian, Emma! There you are!"
"Emma! So good to see you here." Mary Margaret pulled her into a hug as soon as she reached the couple. "Killian, you know David and Ruby. And this is Victor, Ruby's boyfriend."
Killian raised his beer in greeting.
Emma turned back to see the fire-breather looking at her.
"You a fire wielder?" He asked her. She shook her head mutely. "Light up the night little lady."
The performer winked at her before spinning into his next trick, making a shower of little flames bloom up from his hands and spraying out like fireworks.
The younger kids watching cheered, looking in awe at the act.
"You alright Love?" Killian asked her, wrapping his arm tighter around her shoulders.
"Yeah, I will be." She gave him a small smile the she hoped was reassuring. He smiled back at her and gave her a quick kiss to her forehead.
"I see you guys have already found the alcohol, did you already eat?" David asked them.
"Yeah, we got here about an hour ago, where did you come in?" Killian asked.
"We got in over by the ferris wheel, why?" David asked, having to speak up to be heard over the crowd cheering in the main stands.
"Because the food vendors are on the other side of the grounds mate." Killian said, "Emma and I can show you."
Killian turned to lead the way towards food, wrapping his arm around her. Ruby came up along side of her as David fell into conversation with Killian.
"Nothing going on between the two of you, huh?" She said.
"Ruby…" Emma started, really not wanting to get into it with her friend right now.
"Don't worry, I won't. But I just wanted to say that I haven't seen you this happy in all the time that I have known you, so am I glad for whatever this is. Okay?" She said, giving Emma an encouraging smile.
"Thanks Ruby. He does make me happy." She responded. Emma made an attempt at changing the topic, "Is Victor going to try winning any of those prizes for you?"
"While Victor might be an excellent scholar and all, I don't think he would be amused by the games they have set up here. They aren't meant for anyone to easily win, and he would spend more of his time complaining about the game than actually winning." Ruby explained, "What about Killian? He express any interest in winning you any prizes tonight?"
Emma looked back up towards Killian, watching him and David laughing over a joke as they continued to walk through the grounds. "He hadn't mentioned anything of the sort to me yet. But knowing him, I wouldn't put it past him."
They did eventually find a way to all of the games tents after finding food for the rest of their friends and getting fresh beers again for everyone.
David tried to cheat out one of the strong man games, winning on his first attempt at playing, but the game runner looked at him with a questioning eye after he did it for the second attempt.
It was when Killian snorted under his breath that the gentleman told him he had to switch which game he was playing to one of the ones meant for someone with his kind of strength.
Emma and Mary Margaret lost it then, laughing at their friend's misfortune and having to retry his wins on the second game. David didn't do as bad as Emma thought he would have considering the circumstances.
They continued making their way around through all the games tents, swapping stories and drinking amongst friends. Killian even won her a small purple bear at one of the games. It was the most fun that Emma had had in as long as she could remember.
After her fourth beer, she was feeling a pleasant buzz. She and Killian were hanging around the main tent still, watching as a group of acrobats swung from silk ribbons hung from the ceiling. Mary Margaret and David had already left for the evening, stating they had an early morning ahead of them. Ruby didn't let them off the hook that easily, yelling a few crude comments after them, much to everyone's enjoyment.
Ruby and Victor had also left for the evening, taking the chance for some time alone before Victor's roommate returned to their dorm for the night, while also avoiding whatever David and Mary Margaret were surely getting up to in her room.
Emma wasn't necessarily ready to head back to her room for the night, but she didn't want to hang around the circus anymore.
Something Elsa and her had done a few years back on one of their school breaks popped into her head, and she turned to look at Killian.
"Hey, did you want to go somewhere else?" Emma asked, placing her hand on his arm to get his attention.
Killian turned towards her and gave her a smile, "Sure, what did you have in mind love?"
"There is this game that a friend of mine used to play whenever we had the chance, where we sneak into the tunnels under the grounds and try and avoid the guards, wanna play?" She asked.
The smile on his face turned absolutely sinful. "That sounds like an interesting game. Lead on Swan."
A broad smile broke out across her face as they made their way out of the stands, both of them laughing and giggling as they both stumbled a bit getting down the stairs. Emma wasn't drunk, far from it, but she was buzzing on both the alcohol and Killian's presence.
Emma took his hand as she lead them across the campus towards one of the closest entrances to the tunnels that she could remember.
As she and Killian ducked behind a bush to avoid the detection by one of the security guards nearby, he shrugged out of his leather jacket.
"What are you doing?" She whispered at him.
"Covering your shirt up Love, the light color would give us away in an instant." He explained, throwing the jacket over her shoulders.
Emma made quick work of pushing her arms through the sleeves and moving to tuck most of her hair under her beanie. It was always Elsa's white blonde hair and love for blue shirts that usually got them caught by the guards.
As soon as the guard was past them, she tapped the leg nearest to her, signalling him to follow her towards the grate in the ground.
When she looked down, they could see light shining from the main tunnel towards the offshoot that lead towards this entrance. Perfect.
She wrapped her hands around one side of the grate and pulled, the heavy metal shifting enough that she could pull it further off to the side for her and Killian to climb through.
"You first, I have to move this back into place before we keep going, otherwise they are going to send a ton of people in after us.
"You sound like you have done this a lot." Killian whispered back to her has he began making his way down into the tunnels.
"Almost every week when Elsa was here." She replied as she began following him down, sliding the grate back into place.
"This Elsa lass sounded like quite the hoot." Killian said as she landed next to him.
Emma took his hand and began leading him down towards the main tunnel area.
"Okay, there are multiple little passages and nooks which aren't lit to hide in down these tunnels, so we just need to make sure that we avoid the guards for as long as possible." Emma explained, tugging on his hand to draw him out further.
They began aimlessly wandering around the tunnels, just exploring and having fun. They had seen a few guards make passes down different shoots of the tunnels without coming very close to them yet.
They were whispering quietly to each other when they heard the footsteps approaching.
"Shit, hide." Emma said, pulling Killian with her into the nearest side tunnel, tucking into an alcove before the guards came past.
He pressed his body against her, tucking her tightly into the alcove to make sure they both were out of sight. She felt his chest brushing against hers every time he breathed, the chain for his dog tags bumping into her collarbone.
He hadn't started out the year wearing them, considering he told her that he had been discharged from the Navy, but he mentioned to her he had taken to wearing them on occasion to remind himself where he had come from.
Emma wrapped her hand around the tags to silence the noise they were making as they moved against one another. Killian unconsciously took another step closer to her in response to the action, eliminating any non-existent space between them.
She was completely aware of all the places his body touched hers, connected from thighs to chest. His hand was pressed against the wall next to her head while his wrist was resting against her back underneath his jacket. The footsteps sounded closer, and he shifted slightly, pulling her closer to him while tucking one of his legs between hers to tuck himself in closer to the wall.
Emma hadn't thought through the size of the space when she pulled him into it, only thinking that they needed to get out of view of the guards. And Killian was a larger person than Elsa ever was, so a space that might have fit her and her friend wasn't exactly as conducive to Killian's larger frame.
"Did you see anything?" They heard one of the guards ask. Emma saw the beam of the flashlight shine down the tunnel over Killian's shoulder.
"No I didn't, you are just seeing things Jennings." Another guard responded.
"Must be, too many nights working. Riggans is increasing the patrols all of a sudden…" He said, voice trailing off as he continued down the tunnel away from them.
Emma looked at Killian, smiling up at him in relief.
"That was close." He whispered down to her, a broad smile spreading across his face as well.
Neither one of them made any move to exit their little alcove, or put any space between their bodies.
Killian's eyebrows furrowed as he continued to look down at her. "...Emma," He said in an almost warning tone as her hips shifted against his.
Emma pulled down on his tags, using her other hand to wrap around the back of his head and bring his lips down to hers.
Her eyes shut as he continued to press his lips against hers, and she felt as his hand moved from the wall to tangle in her hair, pushing her beanie off her head in the process.
Killian pulled back from her for a moment, and she opened her eye to look at him.
His pupils, already wide from the dark of the tunnel, had swallowed up the sky blue of his eyes. He licked his lips, seeming to make up his mind about something before leaning back into her, kissing her with more force, his tongue sweeping into her mouth, silencing her gasp of surprise.
His body pressed into hers fully again, her back hitting the wall behind her as he continued to ravish her mouth. Emma kissed him back with just as much fervor, enjoying the feel of his mouth, his body against hers.
She moved her hands, releasing his tags and running her hands down his back, her hands eventually landing on his hips. She pulled him forward, wanting to feel more of him.
"You are going to be the death of me, Swan." Killian groaned, pulling away from her mouth.
Emma made a small sound of protest before he moved his lips to kiss along her jaw and neck. His hand and wrist moved down her body as well, the wrist settling on her lower back and his hand splayed between her shoulder blades.
She placed her fingers through the belt loops on his jeans, pulling his hips sharply into her's, feeling his arousal pressing into her hip bone. He bit down on her collarbone in response, sucking a mark on the spot. Emma moaned, she felt like she was on fire. One of her hands pushed under his shirt, splaying out on his back.
Killian hissed and pulled back from her a bit breathless. His hand moved to pull hers out from under the back of his shirt.
"What's wrong? What did I do?" She asked, pulling her other hand away.
"You are burning up Love." Killian said.
Emma huffed in response. She didn't know why her powers reacted like that, increasing her temperature without her even thinking about it.
"Probably for the best anyway Emma, wouldn't want a guard to walk over to find me ravishing you in the tunnels." Killian said with a smirk.
"Let's head somewhere a bit more private than," Emma said, moving past him slightly to look out into the tunnel. No one was in their little side tunnel, so she pulled him behind her towards the grate where they entered, both of them giggling like teenagers and trying to shush one another at the same time.
They made it out of the tunnels without getting caught and chased each other across campus back towards the dorms. They made it back to Killian's building first.
"Did you want to come up Love?" He asked, still holding onto her hand.
Emma hesitated. She didn't know what she wanted all of a sudden. She had enjoyed herself in the tunnels with him, she really did, but she didn't know if she wanted it to go any further than that just yet.
Killian seemed to read it all on her face. "We don't have to do anything Emma. I even have a spare bed made up for a guest if she would like." He said jokingly, remembering Emma's first visit to his dorm.
Emma laughed. "Lead on then, Sailor." She said, gesturing towards his building. She moved easily over to his other side so he could keep his hand free while they navigated to doors in his building.
Emma smiled up at him as he unlocked the door to his suite, wrapping her arms tightly around him as they made their way in for the night.