Summary: Mills Mechanics has made a fortune producing Compandroids, remarkably lifelike androids that are nearly indistinguishable from humans and designed to be a perfect companion for the wealthy people who commission them. Built to the specifications of their respective owners, Emma and Killian are no exception to this, but still find themselves drawn to each other in a way that defies all logical explanation or programming. Haunted by a sense of loss even when happily living their separate lives, their circumstances have them returned to the factory headquarters at the same time, and they are astounded to discover that the face they’ve fallen for in their dreams is that of a fellow robot. If two lovers are made to be together, can anything truly keep them apart? Do you need a soul to have a soulmate?
Author note: After months of work and stress, here it is, my contribution to the Captain Swan Little Bang 2018! What can I say? I love androids, and I’ve had this story kicking around in my head since at least 2016 or so, but just couldn’t find the time and inspiration to put it down in writing until joining the cslb gave me a deadline to push me through that block. I need to send a big thank you out to my amazingly supportive cslb beta, @branlovesouat and to @wordsmith-storyweaver and @krustybunny for their encouragement.
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Just like that, She was everything. He didn’t know how else to express it. One moment he was just going through the motions as required and the next he felt. There was an awareness of her, that she was something beautiful, perfect, and rare. And she was looking at him the same way he was at her.
He heard a voice over the loudspeaker behind him, “Cognition is running on full auto and he’s attuned to the female.”
“Hey, there, buddy,” greeted the technician standing nearby with a tablet. “She is a stunner, isn’t she? Well, it’s your lucky day, cause I’m pretty sure she’s the one you’ll be paired with.”
The loudspeaker sounded again. “Looking that way. I’m just finishing up the compatibility studies but I don’t think we’ll have to get one out of storage. We can just test them together.”
“Should I wait to switch her over?”
“Nah I’m almost done here. You can go to physical and cognitive.”
He watched as the tech tapped various inputs into the tablet to turn the female’s automatic functions on, and marveled as she cocked her head and stared at him, mouth dropping open in surprise.
She’d never seen him before and yet, she had no doubt that he was the one. She didn’t know any truth more complete than that. His body, his heart, whatever he was, he was hers and she was his. God she needed to be with him- to know him, feel him and taste him.
The tech laughed at the two androids reactions, nudging the male with an elbow before turning to the female. “Looks like she’s into you too. Don’t go falling in love sweetheart. He’s just a fling.”
Notes: And here it is! My Captain Swan fanfiction debut. (And Tumblr debut, you can thank @distant-rose for walking me through posting step by step since I’m hopeless) I’d like to say a big thank you to @captainswanbigbang and to everyone who was a part of CSLB, you were all amazing and so so supportive, it was so great to be a part of this experience with you all! I’ve had a busy few weeks but I’m off now and I fully intend to immerse myself in all your fabulous work!
I’d also like to say an extra thank you to @givemelovelikecs for being my beta, for keeping me right and cheering me on. And also to @gingerchangeling for not only bringing this story to life with her artwork (here) but for also being the third pair of eyes this story needed to keep from totally embarrassing me.
Summary: Emma Swan doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to relationships. And now, fresh out of prison and with a baby in her arms, the opposite sex is really the last thing on her mind. At least until Killian Jones. He becomes her most loyal and trusted friend, but Emma’s unsure if friendship will be enough for him. Or for her. Will she be brave enough to risk her heart again? And how will things change when they find themselves amongst the meddling folks of Storybooke, Maine?
In retrospect, the day she met Killian Jones had to have been the unluckiest day of Emma Swan’s life to date. Not in major ways, mind you, but in regards to smaller misfortunes, December 6th was definitely up there. It was the day Emma decided that despite the common belief, bad things did not in fact happen in threes, they came by the freaking bus load, one after the other after the other in the crappiest game of dominos ever.
When they’d met she’d been the epitome of a frazzled teenage mom, her hair had been pulled up in a messy bun that wasn’t so much a deliberate messy bun as it was a greasy matt that hadn’t been brushed in two days… maybe three days? She’d been dressed in ill fitting thrift store clothes and spit up and had smelled rather unpleasantly of sour milk. Henry had been screaming, her breast pads had been leaking… Basically she was just in desperate need of a shower and a lie down.
All in all, it wasn’t the best first impression she could have given.
“Please,” she leans back in her chair, tucked as they are in the corner of the bar, her knee brushing his beneath the table. She licks at the rum that lingers on her bottom lip and feels the tug of heat low in her belly when his gaze lingers. When he presses his foot forward until his boot tucks up against hers. “You couldn’t handle it.”
He hums, reaching forward and curling his fingers around her wrist, his thumb tracing back and forth along the tattoo sitting pretty at her pulse point. They’ve been dancing around whatever this is for months – and she doesn’t know if it’s the rum or the shadowed corner they’ve found themselves in or him – but she’s suddenly very tired of acting like she doesn’t care.
“Would you like to make a wager on that, darling?”
She smiles, flipping her hand until her fingers tangle with his. He looks surprised, but he hides it admirably with a smirk – his thumb ring cool against her skin.
“i would, actually.”
“Is that so?”
She leans forward into his space and lets her nose bump his. She can smell the rum on his breath, that bit of orange he had in his old fashioned earlier. “If you can kiss me without – “ she places her hand on his thigh beneath the table, delighting when he jumps and the whole damned thing jolts. “ – getting excited, then you win.”
He tilts his head, lips brushing hers the barest amount. “What do I win?”
She shrugs. “Whatever you’d like.”
He hums, hand releasing her wrist to drag up her arm instead, tangling in the ends of her hair before curling around her neck, nudging her closer. “And say I do, get excited, as you say,” he thumbs the space just under her ear and her breath catches in her throat. “What do you win?”
“Where have you been?” He comes crashing through the jungle like a man possessed, his hair half a mess and his coat twirling about his ankles. He has his sword drawn like he intends to do battle, his entire body hurdling to a stop when he finally take her in – pants rolled to her knees and feet dangling in the water.
“I, um,” she wiggles her toes in the water, suddenly feeling stupid for the indulgence. But the jungle was just so damn humid, and she hasn’t been able to breathe for a second, and –
“I found a waterfall,” she explains.
He drops his sword by his side, blinking at her. Silence stretches between them and she looks over her shoulder for her boots, suddenly feeling like crying, though she doesn’t know why. The exhaustion, probably. Worrying about Henry and – god, Henry. He could be anywhere and here she is – sitting with her feet in the water. Lounging like she’s on a holiday vacation.
“I’ll just be a minute,” she mumbles, pulling her legs from the water. “I need to get my – “
His hand is gentle on her shoulder, his sword back in it’s sheath and his leather jacket in a neatly folded bundle next to her boots. He looks smaller without the coat. Less pirate captain, and more –
More Killian.
“Nonsense, Swan,” he doesn’t toe off his boots, but he does sit next to her, angling his face into the cool spray of the water. She’s never noticed the line of his jaw before, the flip of his dark hair at the nape of his neck. “We can spare a moment more.”
They sit in the silence together, and she doesn’t overthink it when her head finds his shoulder.
It All Starts With a Dance 