again i hadn't posted this here yet because i didn't want to break up operation kraken, but...whatever. my take on the jello scene.
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"Well, you're quite real, aren't you?"
Maybe it's the low rumble in his throat or the gleam in his eye, but Emma's stomach gives a sharp kick. She swallows it down and flattens her expression, grabbing the pirate by the shoulder and none too gently swiveling him around.
Stupid, flirty pirate.
"Go," she grumbles, her voice coming out softer than she'd expected, "eat your jello."
Still holding onto the collar of his bathrobe—in the back of her mind, she realizes she'll never get over seeing Captain Hook in a fluffy white bathrobe—she guides him down the hospital hallway.
"Where are we going, Swan?" He asks, eyebrow raised as he balances his wobbly plate of jello. "So eager to get me alone?"
"We're—you're going back to bed," she says, instantly cringing at her slip up. His lips curl up slowly, and to her surprise, even though she's handed him an innuendo on a silver platter, all he does is grin, as if genuinely pleased.
They round a corner and Emma releases him, shoving him through the doorway of his hospital room. She still can't believe he managed to get out of his cuffs, especially without his hook! She pushes down a bubbling respect for him. God knows she's had to pick her share of tricky locks, but handcuffs are a different story.
She wonders how long it took him to pick the giant's lock on the top of the beanstalk, and quickly the thought jumps back to a few days ago, in Rumplestitlskin's cell. You abandoned me on that beanstalk.
Her stomach twists again, and she crosses her arms to push the thought out of her mind, inadvertently shaking her head.
"How the hell did you even get out?"
He smirks at her over his shoulder. "Love, you are not the first maiden to leave me chained up in bed and to escape by my own devices."
She should've known. Emma crosses her arms as Hook climbs back onto the hospital bed, but rather than get in and under the covers, he sits on the edge, as Emma had only an hour earlier. He glowers at the plate of blue jello, watching it wiggle with open disdain.
"Are we quite sure this isn't still alive," he deadpans, not taking his eyes off it. Emma doesn't reply, rather walks up in front of him and pins him with a smug smile, suggesting he should figure it out for himself.
His eyes are the same color blue.
Whoa, okay, where did that come from?
"Eat, so I can put you back into your cuffs."
"Or," he says from underneath his lashes, "you could tie me up now and feed me, darling."
She snorts. "In your dreams. Eat."
He shrugs as if to say worth a try. Hook—or would he be just Killian, without the hook on, Emma wonders, though she'd never dare say it aloud—sets down the wobbling jello on the bed and reaches around for the fork, sitting on the tray of food on his bedside table.
Clearly unprepared for the consistency, he stabs the jello with his fork the way one would for meat. "Ah," he murmurs to himself, so quietly Emma thinks he doesn't realize he's spoken. He watches the substance wiggle with a surprisingly childlike fascination, before lifting the fork to his lips.
But the pirate's hand shakes too much, the plate is too far a journey from his mouth, and so the jello jumps from the utensil before it can reach his mouth. It lands in his lap with an inaudible plop, and both Killian and Emma stare at it for a moment. He swipes at the blue jello again, only for the fork-full to plummet to the floor.
She's about to laugh when she sees the stormy look in his eye. He's annoyed, but moreso, he's upset—and instantly she understands why. Suddenly, his mix of shame, anger, and missing hand scream out at her: it's as if he feels as though he can't even feed himself.
She's never really even thought about the lack of left hand and how it must be a hassle; she never really notices, or thinks of him as a one-handed man.
She wants to tell him that if he was sitting at a table and wasn't eating the bounciest edible substance known to man, there wouldn't be a problem. She wants to tell him not to be angry. She wants—
But Killian would crow her for her pity, so instead, she reaches down onto the tray and hands him a spoon, saying, "Here, try this. Jello is meant to be eaten with a spoon."
He flicks his gaze between her and the utensil in her hands. A wordless agreement passes through their locked eyes, his face ripples with emotion, and suddenly the sly, knowing grin is back firmly in place. The wall is up.
He plucks the spoon from her, and this time successfully maneuvers the jello into his mouth. His expression twists with surprise, and then pleasure at the sweet aftertaste. "Fascinating," he whispers.
Killian takes another bite, and then points the spoon at the tray's other untouched foods, barely swallowing as he says, "What is the white substance?"
Emma realizes she's been watching him eat with a small smile on her face, suddenly grateful his attention was on the jello and not her. She turns to look at what he's referring to, smirking when she recognizes it.
She raises an eyebrow. "Whipped cream," Emma says, and she knows what's coming next.
His grin is absolutely wicked.