In my Once Upon A Time fanfic, Friendly Shores, we see the whole universe get flipped. Rumple’s a hippie, Emma’s a pirate, and “Mr. Gold” is now “Mr. Charming.” All our beloved characters get wildly different personas, except for Killian, who’s left wondering what the hell is going on.

In this scene, he’s been successfully fighting off the lascivious advances of a certain lady pirate, but who knows how long that will last . . .

He was just stepping out of the bathroom, shaking his wet head and with a towel around his waist, when he realized Emma was sitting cross-legged on his bed. He noted with relief that she was fully clothed.

“Good morning,” she said. “Thought I heard you shower last night.”

“That one was for self-preservation,” he replied. “This one was for hygiene.”

She layed back on the bed. “Wanna pick up where you left off? Or are you still doing the noble prince thing?”

He clenched his jaw, realizing that it was slightly sore from doing that so damn much. “Why are you here?” he asked.

“Curiosity.” She rolled up off the bed and sauntered over to him, extending her hand until she hooked a finger just under the edge of the towel, low on his belly. “That’s quite a happy trail you’ve got there.”

His eyebrows went up. “Happy trail?”

“Mmmm-hmmm. That’s what we call it when the hair starts here,” she touched his chest, “And then trails down, to here…” she moved her finger slowly down, following the line of soft hair, back to the edge of the towel. She leaned in to deliver the coup de grace.

“I’ve been thinking about how you felt against me…and I’m betting you’d feel even better in–”

“Emma…” he reached out to grasp her wandering hand before it could slide inside the towel, and he twined his fingers with it, bringing it up to his chest.

“Seriously,” she continued. “You don’t have to be a martyr, here. What your Princess doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

He gave her a wry smile. “What my Princess doesn’t know is already hurting her. And me.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means,” he said, kissing her fingertips, “That no matter how ungodly tempting a morsel you are, I have to remain a gentleman for the time being.”

“Careful,” she said, with a slow, calculated grin. “You’re starting to sound like a challenge.”

Find out where all this delicious tension goes in Friendly Shores, available at Fanfiction.net or on Archive of Our Own (AO3).