Emma Swan 1000% asked Killian if he wanted to hang out with her at Granny’s. 1000%. No one will convince me that Mr. Killian my-lips-are-curse-gotta-protect-my-Swan Jones asked Emma to chill with a cup of cocoa in Gossip Central Restaurant. Nope. Emma asked him to hang, because she likes spending time with him. And her playful mood and attempts to get him to relax and have fun are proof. #all the feels
My favorite part about this scene is how she is 100% trying to flirt with him and he’s so frustrated by it. He’s like, “Why now, Swan? Why couldn’t you have been this way when I could ENJOY it?”
So Crash Course in Emma Swan here, though she vehemently denies it to anyone who would ask, by this point in the story, she already internally considers herself in a relationship with Killian Jones.
The thing about walls, though, is that they work in both directions. They not only keep people OUT, but they also keep her IN. It takes a lot of effort for her to allow herself to show that side and those feelings because they’re behind a wall, so it’s much easier to be a bit prickly, especially with people (like Captain TLK-I-Will-Win-Your-Heart up there) who she knows won’t be so easily shaken by it.
But earlier that night, Emma walked into Regina’s library and IMMEDIATELY zeroed in on the fact that something was wrong with Killian Jones and that it had to do with her. And from that moment on, her whole demeanor changed. She flirted, and teased, and held his hook, and glanced back to make sure he was following her out (which, bless him, he thought was her scolding him for the hand at her back, the poor darling), and asked him on a hot chocolate research date, and magically invaded his personal space, AND FUCKING GIGGLED.
She made the effort to push through the walls because she thought he might be getting discouraged about their relationship. Progress for Emma comes in bursts because she has to build up energy to get through her own barriers and habits. Kinda like this:
She gets to the same place, and she hits a lot of the same milestones along the way, but because it comes in bursts instead of steady progress, it can even seem like she is actually regressing sometimes.
I’ve kinda gone off on a bit of a tangent here, but I just really wanted to point out how big an effort Emma is actually making here and why, because I think it adds so much depth to their relationship in 3B, and really gives a nuanced perspective about why things were so rocky for so long.
my top 10 ships of all-time (2022 update) #7. emma swan & killian jones – once upon a time “Just because you learn that you come from true love doesn’t mean you believe that you’ll ever find it. But thanks to you, now I have.”
