A/N: As promised, here's the prequel!

Also inspired by a prompt as part of the Send me the first line to a fic and I'll write you the next lines challenge on tumblr.

Enjoy!

Even Toasters Get Hooked

He learned the hard way not to stick his hook in the toaster.

He'd been fumbling with the apparatus for over twenty minutes before he finally accepted he wouldn't manage to free himself without asking for help. And so, he called her.

"Killian, I'm sorry I had to leave earlier today, but you need to stop sending me those dirty texts otherwise I won't get any actual work done - and that means it'll only take me longer to get back home to you." She said over the phone, clearly trying to sound irritated. But, he could read her like an open book even without seeing her face and he simply knew she was smiling through her reprimand no matter how harsh she tried to sound.

"Don't worry, Swan. I'm done filling your mind with my darkest desires - for today." He could practically hear her rolling her eyes at that. "That's not why I'm calling you, though."

"Oh…" She trailed off, worry and concern ringing on her voice before she even asked for further information. "What's going on, then?"

"I… seem to have gotten stuck. I've tried but this metallic monster won't let me go. I need your help, love."

"Wait, what?"

"This hot, shiny silver thing you call a toaster." He hesitated, the name sounding foreign in his tongue, and he wondered how people in this realm came up with such ridiculous names as phone, toaster, and radio. Emma still hadn't managed to convince him that the latter had nothing to do with another bizarre word, radioactive, by which all he understood is that it was something to be feared, something that could go boom unpredictably.

She chuckled. "Killian, what have you done to the brand new toaster we just bought for the apartment?"

"I've not touched it - yet. And lest you want to see it torn to shreds I suggest you get over here and save me, saviour."

She couldn't help the goofy grin that took over her face with his words. Stupid, adorable idiot. "You know I'll always run to save you. I'm on my way home."

She entered their apartment to find Killian sitting on the kitchen floor, cradling the toaster in his right arm - his hand actually caressingthe side of it - his hook sticking up from inside the metallic monster as he had already detached it from his brace, which he now used to support his head as he contemplated the thing with a look of - fondness? - in his face.

"Don't tell me the two of you have been bonding while I was gone."

He looked up at her and rolled his eyes, quickly getting up and bringing the hooked toaster over to the kitchen counter so she could assess the situation.

Before sparing so much as a side glance to the object, Emma put her hand on his shoulder and asked him earnestly, "Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?"

He smiled and pulled her closer to press a long overdue kiss to her lips. Waking up to a Swan-less bed had been torture, even if she'd told him the night before she'd have to wake up earlier today.

(He had asked her to wake him up so they could have breakfast together - which, obviously, she didn't do.)

(She did leave him a note on the nightstand that read I miss you already, as well as a coffee cup from Granny's and a tiny wee sandwich he remembered her referring to as a bagel.)

(He ate it all in two bites and was still hungry enough to paddle over to the kitchen and try his luck with the shiny object that was supposed to warm up bread.)

"I missed you this morning, love."

"I missed you too." She kissed him one more time and ran her hand down his arm to squeeze his hand lightly before turning to the toaster.

She raised the object to her nose level, turning it upside down and shaking it quite aggressively. The hook wiggled a bit inside, but only moved from its original position by a few inches.

"Right," she said, putting the toaster down with a sigh, "what do we do now?"

"Perhaps we could use some sort of lever to raise the hook from it?"

Emma nodded and moved to take a fork from one of the drawers and present it to him. He merely raised an eyebrow at her. "What? That's the closest thing to a lever we have around here."

They took turns stabbing the toaster with the fork to try to release the hook but all they managed to pull out of it was a uselessly bent fork.

"That's it, I've officially ran out of ideas." She said, letting out a defeated sigh and sinking into a stool.

"You know there's only one thing we can do now, darling." Killian told her with a solemn expression in his face.

"Is there really no other way?" she asked, the frown pinching her brows and the pout on her lips making her look like an actual child.

He shook his head slowly. "I'm afraid not, Swan."

"Okay, but do it quickly then. I don't want to see it." She said, crossing her arms over her chest and turning away from the sentenced toaster.

"As you wish."

Killian opened one of the kitchen cabinets and produced a frying pan from it. He came back to the counter and held it over the toaster, letting the pan hover over it for a few moments before swiftly pulling it back over his shoulder and whacking it down square on the poor thing with a loud clonk!

He whacked the toaster a couple more times before setting the pan on the side and exclaiming, "Victory at last!"

Emma turned around to see him clicking the hook back into his brace with a proud grin on his face.

"Well done." She kissed his cheek as a prize for his efforts. "Now you're in charge of dumping the corpse."

"It'll be my pleasure to dispose of this bloody monstrous thing." He said, collecting the remains of the toaster into a plastic bag with a satisfied smirk.

"Just promise me you'll won't try sticking your hook into the next one we get." She said, giving him a sideways glance.

"Aye. Fishing bread out of a toaster with my hook is a feat I don't intend on attempting ever again, love. Next time I'll sacrifice a fork instead."

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