Bloody hell Liam!

"So she's really not your lass?" Liam asked for the umpteenth time.

Killian groaned. He should have expected it, should have told Liam the second he found out that he was rooming with the charming bookworm, rather than a random guy he'd be paired up with.

"It was a mix up, but neither of us have time to find another place, plus we've already paid for the semester remember?" He insisted.

"Well she is certainly something." Liam teased, helping to hang some of his clothes. "Brunette, just like you like 'em." Liam encouraged, elbowing him in the side lightly. "Perhaps this is just fate's way of-

Killian sighed.

"Liam! Stop. I don't need any help." His brother was always going on and on about this. "I'm here to study, to get my degree, not to sleep with every brunette on bloody campus!" How his brother had gotten it into his head that he preferred brunettes, he'll never know.

"She's spirited." Liam added. "But a bit clumsy, probably able to get you to loosen up a bit." He listed.

"She has a boyfriend." Killian snapped. "And we've already discussed this." He told Liam.

"Did you now?" He said mockingly.

"We're roommates, we can't be at each other's throat half way through the term because we've gone and made things more complicated than they need to be."

"Ah yes, typical little brother, terrified of making things more complicated than his calculator class-."

"Calculous!" he corrected. "A calculator does math, Calculous I a type of math dealing with derivatives and-" Liam waved him off like he always did when he started speaking about school.

"Please don't start with that again." He groaned, placing a hand to his chest in mock pain.

"Serves you right making Belle uncomfortable." Killian replied, trying to hook up the last of the cables in his TV.

"So you're on first name basis?" Liam asked.

"Bloody hell!" He groaned, "Will you stop trying to set me up with my roommate?" He asked, making Liam break into laughter.

"Sorry Kil, you're just so easy to mess with." He replied. "I'll stop." He promised.

Killian was about to protest, but Liam raised his hands in surrender.

"I'm only teasing." Liam said, swinging an arm around his shoulders. "But please don't spend every waking hour studying and working; have a little fun for me?"

Killian nodded. "I'll try." He replied. "When do you have to go back?" He asked, trying not to sound as desperate as he was. Liam's grin faded.

"In the morning." He admitted. "I'm just lucky that I'm friends with the Captain, otherwise, they wouldn't have given me leave at all." Liam reminds him. Killian nods.

"The Navy is where you belong Li." He replies. "You'll get time off before Christmas right?" He asked. Liam nodded.

"I'll try my best, little brother." He replied.

"Younger!"

Both brothers chuckled. "But let's not talk about saying goodbye just yet, we still have a few more boxes to get from your truck and then you need some groceries right?" Killian nodded.

Just then they heard a knock on the front door, Killian peered out just in time to hear Belle and a lass he didn't recognize with dark brown hair and red highlights squeal as they embraced each other.

What really got Killian's attention was the dark tights and low cut tank top shirt the lass was wearing. He was a gentleman, but even he had trouble tearing his eyes away from indecent places.

"The summer was soooo boring without you, Belle." She complained. "I've got so much to tell you!"

Belle was grinning brightly. "Ruby, we've spoken every day." She reminded her, stepping away. "And this time, I have something to tell you."

But Belle's friend, Ruby saw Killian and Liam lurking. She gave a wolfish smirk.

"Please tell me you're Belle's roomie's hot brother and not her boyfriend." She said with a wolfish smirk. Killian couldn't help but shift nervously at her forwardness. "The name's Ruby, I'm Belle's best friend." She introduced. "And I'm totally single."

Belle sighed. "Ruby, this isn't my roommate's brother, this is my roommate." She said. Killian smirked.

"I'm Killian." He introduced. "This is my brother Liam, the brother you're looking for."

Liam smiled, taking Ruby's hand and kissing it as he did Belle's earlier. However, she didn't blush, she just met his eyes with a challenge.

"God Belle, there's two of them, you've lucked out." She said. "Can we trade? Please?"

Belle rolled her eyes. "Come on Ruby, Aurora can't be that bad."

Ruby gave her a blank stare. "The girl doesn't own a piece of denim. It's all pleated skirts and pink anime crap." She complained. "You know how much I hate pink." Belle sighed.

"Sorry Rubes." She commented, patting the other girl on the shoulder. "You're welcome here anytime." She tells her.

Liam nodded in agreement. "Yes, my brother here would love to share a dwelling with such a lovely lass such as yourself." He insisted. Killian knew that tone in his brother's voice, it was the tone he used to charm the pants off the bar waitresses when he's off duty. "My brother Killian here is a real gentleman."

Bloody hell.

Killian knew what that meant.

"Oh really?" Ruby asked. "Is he a regular Prince Charming?" She asked.

Liam smirked. "Hardly, a lass such as yourself needs something more exciting. Killian's more of a pirate captain, but an honorable one I assure you." Killian rolled his eyes. His hand ran through his hair with irritation. He wanted the ground to swallow him whole right about now. He absolutely hated it when Liam did this, convince a lass to give him a shot.

"Smart man." Ruby responded. "Glad you can see I'm no Snow White."

"Brother, shouldn't we be going?" He insisted, shooting an apologetic look at Belle as he attempted to end this and drag his brother out, but the older man shook him off.

"Belle usually calls me Little Red riding hood, but I think I'm more the big bad wolf." She assures him, stepping back into Liam's space. "I'm a biter." She warns. "And my Ex used to say I nearly ate him alive."

Belle sighed, her hand covering her face which was red from her friends innuendos. "Oh my god Ruby. Stop." She insisted. "Peter did not say-"

Killian took the opportunity to firmly drag is brother out of there. Saying a quick 'See you later!' to Belle.

As soon as the door closed, Killian glared harshly at his elder brother

"What?" Liam asked innocently. "She's a brunette as well." He insisted with a glance and a waggle of the eyebrows.

"That was the most embarrassing thing ever." He complained. "Things are already tense enough with Belle, and now-"

Liam rolled his eyes. "That Ruby lass is a good looking one isn't she, quite the challenge if I'd ever seen one, could really help you loosen-

"Liam! What did I just say?" He complained.

"You said not to try and set you up with your roommate, you never said anything about her friend."

"Bloody Hell Liam!"


For those Captain Swan fans out there, I want to assure you, Captain Swan is endgame for this, but Emma won't be appearing for a good while, I want to develop Killian and Belle's friendship and other relationships before I bring in Emma. I don't want Captain Swan to be the focus of this, but when it happens, it will definitly be a big arc.

For Rumbelle... I'm not a big fan of their ship as of now, but I'm not going to immediately vilify him either so we'll see how successful that is when he makes an appearance, also much later on, for the same reasons as Emma, I want to develop Belle independent from her relationship first. Rumbelle with have a few complicated arcs because their relationship seems nothing BUT complicated.

Just as a warning, for those of you who HATE seeing Belle or Killian with anyone but Gold and Emma respectively, there may be references to other relationships. Especially Belle.

Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews and support for this little experiment.

~Luna