Summary: Killian had asked at the beginning of their relationship, that fateful New Year’s night, how exactly one went about dating the crown princess. Turns out, those are things he’ll have to figure out as he goes. A sequel to “and he called her love amongst the snowflakes”. ~6.2k. Rated M for mild smut. Also on Ao3.
~~~~~
A/N: A year ago, I wrote @owlways-and-forever a modern royalty fic for the 2019 CS Secret Santa exchange - and she liked it so much she (and several others) asked if I’d consider writing a sequel. And I said yeah, of course, I’ve already got ideas and a structure - and then I just… never had the time to write it.
This is that sequel. Finally. Sorry it took so long.
Special thanks, as always, @snidgetsafan, who deals with my nonsense and my terrible concept of verb tenses. She also made me the AMAZING art above. You’re the best, darling.
Emma, Crown Princess of Misthaven, is everything a man could dream of - and Killian counts himself the luckiest bastard to be granted the honor of courting her. Dating Emma isn’t like dating any other, less prestigious woman, however, and the further they go along, the more he realizes there are guidelines to the endeavor, little rules he has to discover for himself. There isn’t a list, per se - but if he were to make one, it might look something like this:
1. Her well-being is more important than your own.
There’s a great debate amongst the powers that be - whoever they are - about whether his dating the princess while employed as her brother’s security detail is a conflict of interest.
Personally, Killian is torn. Mostly, he doesn’t think so - after all, he spends most of the year in an entirely different city from Emma, two and a half hours away as Leo attends university. Most of the time, she’s not around to create a conflict of interest.
On the other hand, he can see where these concerns are coming from. Now that he doesn’t have to pretend otherwise and forcefully steer himself back to a focused mindset, those times when he is in Emma’s company he’s so absolutely dazzled by everything about her. It’s easy to see where some would be concerned about his ability to protect her younger brother. There’s the matter, too, that his feelings may one day cloud his ability to prioritize her brother in dangerous situations - neglecting his job in the process.
So, his superiors come up with a compromise. During the school year, when Killian is with Leo at the prince’s university, he continues with his job as normal. On school vacations and during summers spent at home, however, he cedes his duties to alternate personnel and takes a posting behind the scenes, monitoring the security cameras in the public areas of the palace. It’s a periodic demotion, technically - no one has ever pretended that monitoring the security cameras is fascinating work, even though he didn’t get into this business hoping for non-stop excitement - but Killian is happy to take it if it means that he and Emma can be together.
(Not that it would have stopped them, he knows - he’s far too smitten, and she’s far too stubborn to break off their relationship for something so small as security concerns.)
Hey so several months ago @shireness-says, @ohmightydevviepuu and I were chatting about our great love for 3B canon divergence, specifically the kind in which there’s no second curse so Emma and Killian remain in Storybrooke and are forced to deal with their shit.
I mean, it’s the best, right? Emma facing her feelings. Confronting her past with Neal. Preventing her defenceless baby brother from being named after the man who knocked her up and left her in jail. That sort of thing.
Killian pining. Emma pining. Alll the pining. Secret sex. Slow-burn feelings.
There’s just so much potential for goodness.
So what we need, we’ve decided, is a Renaissance. Like the Neverland one, only in Storybrooke with no curse.
A no-curse renaissance.
We’ve written some fics for it. As have @winterbythesea and @elizabeethan. We’d love some more.
There’s a collection on AO3 now, you can find it HERE. Submissions are open and we welcome them, any fic you think suits the theme, please let us know.
This is *not* an event. Just a movement. Just to say that if anyone finds the inspiration for a little no-curse fic, we’ve got a home ready and waiting for it.
I saw the future. There were so few bees left that they cross-bred beekeepers with them so they could better connect with them.
I was taking a test to identify plants (I won because some dude thought pineapples were berries) and after that I met a beekeeper who worked inside of a giant glass beehive and had little antennas and a dope ass beard.
I am absolutely OVER THE MOON to announce that there WILL be an event next year!!!!
@thejollyroger-writer and @stahlop will be stepping up and taking over the reins of the event in January and we will be off the races for a FOURTH year of EPIC CS SUPERNATURAL GOODNESS!!!!! Everyone please go welcome them to the event and start thinking about how you want to participate!!! I’ll still be around to lend a helping hand and OF COURSE I’ll be screaming, flailing, and reblogging ALL the incredible offerings!!! @winterbaby89 and @profdanglaisstuff will be staying on in the background for much needed support and logistics.
It has been an honor and a privilege serving at the helm of this event for the last three years, but I am VERY ready to hand it over!! Thank you all so much for all the love and support, both from participants and the fandom at large!!!