♕ SWAN.

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Baelfire knew more than anything he wanted to make things work – their relationship was too important to simply let go of just because he would graduate before her. Still, he understood why Emma placed the question between them, their situation tended to break couple apart. “I haven’t either and I don’t want to feel this way towards anyone else but you.” That was true enough on its own. She meant so much to him regardless of how long they knew one another, their connection was nearly instant. Her confession made his heartbeat quicken, filling his cheat with more emotions. “It’s not out of line at all,” Baelfire expressed, turning to meet her gaze. “I’m in love with you too, I pretty much knew it for a while now. But I was a little afraid to say anything – if you didn’t feel the same way. A few months or not, I know how I feel.” He couldn’t deny it any more than he could stop breathing. They were young and inexperienced, yet neither could lie and say otherwise.

Just having her arms around him was enough to send a shiver down his spine – being so near, it was comforting despite his nervousness. They could easily keep kissing one another, easily fall into the warmth and new sensations sparking from an unfamiliar ( though soon enough accustomed ) touch. Baelfire gave a reluctant nod. “I’m sure the other Gryffindor’s wouldn’t be too happy about us losing points. But we can spend tomorrow and so many more days together. I just hope your brother doesn’t get too overly protective.” He didn’t know David well, but that quality was obvious. As they made their way to the common room, he reached out to take her hand on the way, happy to finally be able to do such an act, no matter how small, without hesitation.

Emma laughed, nodding. “They definitely wouldn’t be happy about us losing points for our house.” She didn’t want to go back to the Gryffindor common room for she liked the idea of being alone with him, but it was probably a good idea in the long run to avoid further temptation and not get in trouble. She smiled at the prospect of tomorrow and the other days following, but Emma sighed at the very mention of her brother. “Honestly?” Emma questioned. “I don’t know, Baelfire. He tends to be very protective of me around guys I like, but I’m sure he won’t be overly protective... I hope.” She was about to say something else about her brother but Bae taking old of her hand was enough to distract her. Emma could barely figure out what to say-- what to talk about on their walk back to the common room. 

          Welcome to Once Upon Another Time RP! 

Are you a fan of Once Upon a Time? Do you miss being part of a community that you can watch the show with week by week? Are there different happy endings you wanted for your favorite character(s)? Do you have questions left unanswered? Here at onceuponanothertime-rp you can experience and explore all of that and more! 

We are a blended ask-based and para-based canon-divergent role-play group for Once Upon a Time. Our story began immediately following Snow Falls (1x03) and we are slowly diverging onwards every Sunday. Due to our AU weekend coming up, our next episode change, to Red-Handed (1x15), will be on Monday, July 6th! We are a group that encourages community storytelling, creativity, and fun. 

Some of our most wanted characters are: August Booth, Leroy/Grumpy, Granny, and Archie Hopper. If you’re not interested in any of those characters, please take a look at our characters page to see who’s available and send in an application. And please feel free to send any of our characters an ask.

*gif used with permission from the creator.

“Yeah, I’ll be right by your side if that’s what you want. If Henry doesn’t understand why now, he will eventually. You wanted to protect him, there’s no fault in that. What about the woman who adopted him, is she going to be cool with me sticking around?” Neal might now know how to be a father but he was willing to be there everyday and do anything he could. If Henry didn’t want him there or accept him, he’d earn the right to be in his life – just like he planned to do when it came to Emma. Even if she wasn’t asking anything of him. Of course, Neal still had the issue with his dad to deal with yet in retrospect, he didn’t have to tell Rumple who he was. That didn’t mean it wasn’t going to be hard being in the same town as the man he spent lifetimes running from. And honestly, when the curse was broken, he’d have more explaining to do. He only hoped Emma would accept him after knowing the truth. He was happy she took the key chain back so willingly. If things hadn’t turned out well, he would have kept it on him all the time. “It was one of the first things I got for you. I stole it but people say it’s the thought that counts.” He smiled afterwards, seeing her face light up. “Good because I don’t think I’d ever be able to find one like it.” Neal knew ending his engagement with Tamara would be hard – he did care about her, after all. But a second chance with Emma, it was something he never thought he’d get. The kiss was filled with warmth, the lessened space between them feeling natural, as if being far apart would cause physical pain. “I do too, more than anything else. I’ll have to go back to New York soon to break things off, but that can wait a little while.”

Emma forced a smile at the thought of Regina. Since Regina had a problem with Emma being in town from the very start, Emma had no doubt in her mind she would treat Neal the same way. “I doubt it.” She replied, “Her name is Regina and she’s the mayor of this town. Regina thought I was here to take Henry back and hasn’t been willing to get to know me since. I don’t trust her and she had me arrested by setting me up a few times. I try to be civil with her and yet she still despises me.” Emma was sure that if Regina knew who Neal was, her behavior towards Emma would only get worse, but she could easily deal with a woman of Regina’s character.

She remembered the day he had gifted her with that stolen keychain. It was always one of her most treasured possessions, even after he had broken her heart the first time all those years ago. Emma was almost shocked that she had allowed her walls to come down and give into her feelings for Neal so fast. Maybe it was foolish of her to get involved with the same person who broke her heart when she was a teenager, but they both grew up and she was willing to give him a second chance again. It was almost like forces beyond her control had a hand in bringing them back together. “I’m glad you don’t have to leave yet but when do you have to go?”

“I think I’m starting to like the idea of surprises,” Neal replied. He was glad Emma was so happy, able to feel safe and protected. All he ever wanted to do since they met was do right by her. And now that they were planning to start a new life together, things couldn’t be any better. He accepted her hand, her touch able to comfort him, making him acknowledge how lucky he was to finally belong somewhere with someone after so long. Neal tool a moment to get himself situated in the driver’s seat. “You’re certainly optimistic about it, I’ll give you that.” A smile came to his face. “If you think we can do it, who am I to argue? But we can’t go in without a foolproof plan. And if there’s any sign of trouble we pull out. It’s a lot of money but not worth the jail time. With the cash we’d bring in, we could do so much with it. As it just so happens I know a guy who’d be willing to buy them, someone who’d actually pay what they’’re worth rather than try and pull a fast one on us.”

“I hope you’re not either, unless you have a preference?” he asked with a light laugh. Neal always found himself happy around her, able to keep a smile on his face. “I got lucky. The guy was a drunk. He’s forget to lock the case, he was basically asking to get took. There were no security cameras, so clean getaway. They’re super pricey. I’d say twenty thousand dollars, easy. Enough to get us to Tallahassee and a new life. But we have to be smart about this, Emma. If anything goes wrong, that’s a lot of jail time to serve, which is why I never mentioned them before. We were handling ourselves just fine, but with this life we want, we’re going to need the money.” Without it they couldn’t buy a house or get the papers they needed to make a clean start. Not to mention they had to be careful, they had to avoid certain places and he knew well enough that crossing state lines didn’t free someone of their crimes. Neal finished changing into his cloths, wishing they could spend more time in the hotel. He watched her tale the dreamcatcher and stash it into her bag. That’s one thing to decorate their house with. “I’ll be sure to be very polite,” he added before grabbing his jacket. “As ready as ever. We should hit the road and figure out where we’re going next.”

“Either bed or backseat. I’m not picky. What can I say, you know me too well.” And the truth was Emma did. Besides the secrets he kept regarding his past, there wasn’t anything he hadn’t told her – from the point he escaped Neverland and onward anyway. Neal was as open as he could be, and when it came so something more personal, he said what he could. “Back in Phoenix I worked as a janitor at this high-end jewelry place. The manager was a drunk. He’d forget to lock the case to the expensive watches. I grabbed a couple cases and I stashed them in a locker at the train station. They’re still there.” They’d go for a lot of money and it seemed as if the heat died down. And they were a good distance from Arizona “I’ll keep that in mind,” he mentioned, taking a moment to grab his scattered clothing from the floor before starting to get dressed as well. “I hope that means you’ll walk around like that more often.”