CS January Joy

❄ A fic a day to keep the January Blues away.❄ ❄CSJJ on tumblr❄ ❄CSJJ on AO3❄ ❄CSJJ on FF.net❄ ❄Guide for Writers❄

[csjanuaryjoy]

CSJJ 2021: FAQ

Sign ups for #CSJJ 2021 are about to go live, but in case you have any lingering questions, here’s what you need to know!

I love writing, but I am slow, will something small be OK?

Absolutely! This is all about spreading joy not stressing about deadlines, a drabble - or even a haiku - will be absolutely welcome.

I love writing, and I have an MC to share, is that OK?

if you have a new fic that needs to be more than one chapter long and it will wrap up by the end of January, then you're good to share as part of this event. If you've got a chapter of an ongoing fic, or something that you'll still be posting after January, then sorry, but it's not right for this event. If you're in this position, drop us a line, and we'll see if we can help you figure something out. We may be able to help you find a scene that could stand alone to share as a sneak peek. 😁

I don’t really understand cross-posting for CSNLNY, what does that mean?

We know that producing two separate pieces for two separate events is a big ask so if you want the fun of participating in both, but without even more work, let us know. We’ll work with the @neverlandnewyear​ crew to get you one posting date and both events will share your fic/art! Double the fun without double the work! 😘

I don’t have any ideas!

We’ve got you covered - there’s a #CS prompt tag on CSJJ that you can browse and we’ll have a brand new post of prompts all about the joys of January to share to help spark ideas. And if that’s still not got your juices flowing, join us on the discord and we can chat!

I have TOO MANY ideas

We love that! You're welcome to post more than once if you want to do two prompts or share something that has two parts

I want to do art and a fic.  Is that okay?

THAT IS AWESOME.  Let us know if they go together or if you want to post them separately, or even if you're working with a shipmate on a piece together.

I really need to be able to post at a certain time.

We're happy to help!  There's going to be a sign up form and you can tell us all about your posting needs to make it as easy as possible.

Can you guys just assign me a date?  I need a deadline.

Totally.  Once we get the sign-ups, we're going to look at a calendar and assign requested dates and everyone else and post those for you to see and plan.

So the only deadline is my posting date? I don’t have to check in with you before that, do I?

If possible, we’d like to see your piece a couple of days before posting. This is just to help us say lovely things about your work when we reblog it! It doesn’t have to be completed and this is not a hard rule, if you won’t have anything to share until your posting date, we completely understand. 😊

The prompts don't correspond to a date, do they?

Nope.  They're just for more joy and to spark creativity if you need it.  Use any one for any date, mash two of them together--whatever works is great.

So it doesn’t matter if I don’t like your prompts - or someone else wants to do the same one as me?

Not at all! The prompts are just there to help you with ideas, if you have ideas already, that is Fantastic! And two people can absolutely use the same prompt - in the very first CSJJ, January 1st kicked off with a double bill of two different fics inspired by the same prompt!

What’s the deal with the header?

We made the header so that all of the CSJJ posts can use it.  Eye-catching art can help fics to stand out on tumblr and this gives your fic art without you having to do anything - and it shows that you’re part of this event.  It's slim and simple so you can post anything--art, story, haiku--under it without getting in your way.  Please feel free to save it and use it for your post!

So I have to use that header?

Nope. If for any reason you don’t like the header, don’t feel like you can’t join the event if you don’t want to use it, we’d rather you joined in and had fun!

So there are no rules?

Basically!  Just joy across the dash for all of January.  Post on your date, we'll repost it to make sure you get plenty of love, and enjoy all of the amazing fic we're going to have.

When are you opening sign ups?

Sign ups are now closed. We’re so excited to see what you share!

You haven’t answered my question!

No problem - send us an ask and we’ll do our best to help.

[lifeinahole27]

CSJJ Day 31: “Knead Your Loving”

A/N: Here it is, the final day of @csjanuaryjoy! I am so happy to be the endcap on what has been a fantastic month!! Have some lighthearted smut-glitter with inferences of terrible pornos. Thanks to @sambethe for looking this over and finding all my dumb errors and liking the same silly things I like about this one. (FYI: I have been up for 20 hours and worked both jobs today, finished this fic, and had too much caffeine. Please forgive me for such a title.)

Prompt: My friend keeps lecturing me on the importance of self care and I booked a massage to shut them up.. But my masseuse is the anonymous stranger I fucked at Christmas.

Rating: M to be safe?

So far, 2017 has been… less than kind to Emma Swan. That’s the way she’s putting it right now, at least. She won’t claim it’s anywhere as bad as 2016 – she’ll give it a couple more months before she claims that. But January has not been very gentle with her.

The colder-than-average weather means everything hurts just a little more. Running after criminals in bitter chill doesn’t work as well as in the more temperate weather, so she’s bruised and bumped and has spent more nights with her feet in a tub of hot water than she can really count.

There’s a text waiting for her when she gets home from work, Snow’s cheery message of greeting reminding her there’s a reason she got her a gift certificate to the local spa.

“Treat yo’ self,” Emma mutters out loud, her eyes gliding across the letters as they appear in the message. She can’t remember the last time she did something as simple as relax. She’s been perpetually on the move for what feels like her whole life, but at least the pace she keeps now is up to her instead of being shoved from one home to another in the foster process.

She closes out of the messaging app and dials the number on the certificate before she can talk herself out of the decision. There’s still another week before her son comes back from a winter vacation with his adoptive mother, and it might be nice to hit the reset button in celebration of the new year. Get a massage, clean house, refocus herself, and be ready for whatever the next eleven months might throw at her.

Keep reading

[csjanuaryjoy]

It’s our final CS January Joy fic and it’s a stunner from @lifeinahole27

[optomisticgirl]

CSJJ Day 31: A Stubborn Pirate

Happy last day of Captain Swan January Joy, shipmates! I forewent writing a long fic (because of a verbose and finicky muse), but I did a picset with a tiny blurb. @lenfaz @csjanuaryjoy

The next time Killian said he wasn’t as stubborn as his older brother, Emma was going to remind him of this situation. 

She’d told him to wait until her father got there to take down the Christmas lights the two of them had hung on the outside of their blue Victorian house. It wasn’t because her husband lacked a hand - he’d more than proven over the years he could do things better with one hand than most people could with two. No, it was because it had snowed the night before, and the roof would be slippery. The last thing she needed to do while heavily pregnant was drive her husband to the hospital due to an injury from taking down Christmas decorations.

Killian Jones was a stubborn man, however. 

Emma had assumed when he disappeared upstairs he was working on the nursery, so she had kept herself busying by starting the tedious process of taking ornaments of the tree. She was in the midst of wrapping one her parents had gifted them - a wooden swan head and hook in the shape of a heart that had absolutely not made her cry - when she heard a muffled curse that sounded like it came right above her head. Before she could even frown a body dressed in all black fell right in front the bay window and into the freshly fallen snow. 

Heart hammering in her chest, the wooden ornament she had been wrapping clattered to the floor as she raced out the front door, the thought of putting on a jacket or slipping into her boots never crossing her mind. As fast and carefully as she could, Emma made her way down the slippery steps and around the front porch until she reached the prone figure of her husband. 

He was laying face up in the snow, groaning slightly and with a string of multi-colored lights still wrapped around his hook. Falling to her knees next to him, she carefully touched his cheek and said his name, praying to a God she wasn’t sure she believed in that he was okay. A groan met her question, and after a few seconds his eyes blinked upon until that familiar shade of blue was visible. The first thing the idiot said, of course, was why was she outside without a coat on - a question that was met with an annoyed huff on her part.  

After determining that nothing was broken - except for probably his pride - she got them both inside, muttering the entire way about how she told him the roof would be slippery, and why couldn’t he have just waited for her father like a sane person. To his credit Killian didn’t argue either point. Busying herself in the kitchen so she didn’t end up giving him more of a third degree, she wasn’t one bit surprised when he stepped up behind her - the snow covered clothes he had been wearing replaced with fresh, dry ones - and wrapped his arms around her, hand and hook resting on her very pronounced belly. 

She accepted his whispered apology with a nod of her head, but reminded him his swashbuckling and dangerous days were behind him with the arrival of their son any day. She needed him - they both needed him. He nodded in understanding, and promised to wait until David came by to finish the job. 

Her father didn’t even try to hide his laughter when she told him hours later. 

[distant-rose]

CS JJ 31: Bundling Against the Cold

Notes: Hi lovelies, it’s been awhile. I’m slowly but surely coming back from the dead. It’s a process. Anyway, hopefully this story will relaunch my productivity for writing. I’ve been sorely lacking in that department. Anyway, this is my submission for @csjanuaryjoy. Apologies for how short it is but I hope you enjoy it anyway. A special thank you to @shireness-says for constantly dealing with my absurdity. Summary: Though life is good at the moment, but for Emma Swan, it hasn’t always been. Trauma tends to form scars in different ways and a coping mechanism of hers comes to light when unloading her possessions from the Bug - an absurdly large mountain of blankets. Word Count: 2,000+ Rating: T

Emma has always had a contentious relationship with winter. Though she’s no longer a lost girl on the streets, she still remembers the cold nights of her teenage years when she wrapped herself in ratty blankets and cardboard, trying to keep the chill from seeping into her bones. The numbness in her fingers and toes, the clattering of her teeth and the fear of possibly dying alone in her sleep has stayed with her and she doubts they will ever leave; tattooed traumas embedded on her heart that no one sees but she’s very much aware of them.

Her fear of the cold is the reason the Bug is full of blankets.

They’re the one item that Emma refuses to leave behind and always buys regardless of the absurd pile up. She has one for every place she’s lived; a fleece throw blanket with a coyote on it from Phoenix, an old patchwork quilt from Albuquerque, a faux fur leopard print from St. Louis and a frayed overused green basketweave throw from Tallahassee. She even has a stained and beaten up Bruins blanket from her stint in Boston despite her distinct lack of interest in the sport.

Keep reading

[csjanuaryjoy]

@distant-rose makes sure we are all nice and warm with this final submission for this month! While reading this, we’ll all be snuggling with our blankets wishing we had a pirate to keep us warm!

[lassluna]

CS January Joy Day 31: Bad Times, Good Decisions.

AN:  The final entry of @csjanuaryjoy​ I’m so happy to be a part of it for the fourth year. Thank you for all the people who contributed to it and all the readers who showed there support. 

Continuation from Part 1: Ao3 FFn

Bad Times, Good decisions

Emma hasn’t had the best holiday season. If she’s honest, it’s been pretty rough.

She was forced to go to Thanksgiving with Mary Margret and David as an apology for completely ghosting them for Halloween. Honestly, looking back, Emma doesn’t know what she was thinking.

Emma knows that they just want the best for her, so avoiding the party and spending the night and day with a complete stranger was just stupid. He could have been a real creep.

“Did you at least have a good time?” Mary Margret asked. “Ruby said you were having a good time.”

Emma nodded. She had, It had been great. “But it’s over. It was just a one time thing, a spur of the moment friendship.” She insisted. Because that’s all Emma can handle. David puffed out his chest in a bit of protective instinct. Mary Margret had simply taken Emma’s hands.

“Emma, those walls of yours…” She says trailing off. “They may keep out pain, but do you think that they might also keep out love too?” She asks. “Maybe this guy is worth lowering your walls for?” 

Keep reading

[csjanuaryjoy]

The final entry in this years January Joy by @lassluna. Great conclusion to a sweet story!

[carpedzem]

The Darkness || @csjanuaryjoy

my take on how the darkness works. it didn’t tun out how I imagined but it’s still pretty close :) big thanks for @captain-emmajones who supported me a lot and to all discord ladies who helped!

[csjanuaryjoy]

It’s the last day of Janaury and we are blown away by this drawing from @carpedzem  🤯❣️

[willexxmercer]

COMING SOON

A Few Nice Words

A Captain Swan Modern AU fic for @csjanuaryjoy

After everything she’s been through in life and more, Emma Swan makes a living working in real estate in Hyperion Heights, an affluent neighbourhood. When she goes home at night, though, it’s to an empty apartment where she spends her time hoping she can find something to kickstart her life and give her more to look forward to.  When she receives a call from a potential new client, a Mr Killian Jones, she throws herself into the search for the perfect condo for him.

As a musician, Killian Jones has always been transient, never staying in one place for too long.  Hyperion Heights seemed to be the next place to be to try and work on his career, so he contacts Miss Emma Swan, local real estate agent, and gives her a very simple list: condo, price not an issue, not on the ground floor, and two bedrooms so he can convert the spare room into a soundproofed studio.

Emma likes when her clients have simple lists.   It’s easy to close the sale and move on to the next one.  But when Killian keeps turning down every option she shows him, she decides to dig deeper and find out what might be acting as a barrier to him finding a new home.  What she finds is a tangled mess, a dark past, and an angry client who just wants her to stay out of it.

Killian likes things to be simple, and his past is anything but.  So, when he finds his agent digging into his past, he decides he will stop at nothing to make sure his past stays in the past.

Obviously I wanted to be able to post a full fic for this event but it’s been a weird month and I found out a week ago that I have two weeks to pack up my life and move.  Hopefully, I can get this written within the next month but for now, enjoy this teaser!  Thank you to the mods for organizing this event and I am SO SORRY I wasn’t able to post this on time!

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged when I post the full fic!

[csjanuaryjoy]

What a fun concept and a gorgeous picset!  We can’t wait to see the full fic from @reggieshamster when it’s finished!  😍

[snowbellewells]

CS January Joy Day 30: “Save Me the Last Dance”

(Apologies for the confusion to anyone who saw this fic posted a couple days ago. I was accidentally early and on the wrong day, so I took it down and am reposting now.  Hope you will enjoy!!)

I have had this basic idea floating around in my head for a long time, and almost psyched myself out of it. Since I had wanted to do it for so long, it was like I forgot how I wanted to go about it (if that even makes any sense!) I had the lyrics of the oldies song “Save the Last Dance for Me”  (and probably repeated viewings of “The Wedding Date” too! ;) spark the actual idea, and then that line of Killian’s (“Go on, charm your princes…”) so I simply needed to fill in the rest around that imagined scene.  Thanks so much to @csjanuaryjoy for giving me the chance to finally get this done by focusing on something fun and a little spicy, but most of all - happy and free of angst.  

***This takes place in some post- Season 6 world where they all returned to the Enchanted Forest, as I had always hoped they would do at the show’s end…

She knew exactly what she was doing, of that he was certain. Killian felt his tongue slip out to graze his bottom lip hungrily as he watched his love work the room, unable to tear his eyes away. ‘The saucy minx,’ his subconscious chuckled while he shook his head at his own body’s helpless reaction to his princess wife - even after nearly six years of marriage. Emma Swan - well, Emma Jones - was truly a marvel; that fact had never once changed, from the very first day he had laid eyes upon her in the charred and smoking remains of a refuge camp, all the way up to the present moment as she smiled and curtsied in her formal gown and jewelled tiara.

It was clear to Killian that she would never cease to take his breath away - and the quick, smug glance she cut at him from the corner of her eye, while the foreign dignitary from Agrabah she was greeting with all proper pomp and polite reserve was bowing to her, told him that she knew it as well. Though Emma might still be that “tough lass” he’d taken her for as they climbed the giant’s beanstalk, when she still didn’t trust him and made a formidable adversary cloaked in distrust and suspicion as much as her denim and leather, Killian also got to experience the softness and warmth beneath her armor, more so than he’d really had a right to hope for at the outset.  After half a decade of marriage, he was privy to the perfect way her body fit in his embrace, how she rubbed the chilly tip of her nose in the hollow of his throat as she fought against waking in the morning, and the sensual slide of her skin, the softest and most enflaming sensation he had ever encountered, against his own. Yes, Killian knew all those parts of her well, and hoarded each one as the finest treasure, the way any good pirate would. And because he knew her mind and her secrets, he also knew when she was teasing him - as she was doing just then.

Ostensibly, Princess Emma had every reason not to come immediately stand beside him and enjoy his sole companionship. Some three years prior, her family - and most of the inhabitants of Storybrooke - had chosen to return to the Enchanted Forest, their true home and intended birthright, feeling the responsibility to heal and repair their land and set it to rights could no longer be ignored. It had taken hard work and time, not to mention much diplomacy and negotiation, to see the renewal of Misthaven to full prominence and strength, the way it had been once upon a time, but as this celebratory ball commemorated, their homeland was once more taking its place as a center of government and commerce worthy of note. The turnout of their numerous foreign allies and partners for this occasion proved it even more definitively. As the crown princess, it was Emma’s duty to greet the visiting nobles and gathered emissaries, to listen and make them feel welcome. However, though his Swan cared deeply for her country and her people, she was not one to linger in meaningless pandering and conversation when she could avoid it. Normally she would have made short work of the rounds that were necessary, but he could tell she was set on tormenting him, determined to keep her distance for the sake of driving him slowly insane with need.

The vision of her in the red dress she wore - off the shoulders with fluttering cap sleeves, but fitted all the way throughout the bodice and over her hips to the knees where it flared out in what was called a mermaid skirt (though he knew that term would make Ariel’s brow crinkle in consternation and perplexity if she heard it). The shimmering gown was bright red, and reminded him vividly of the vision she had been at the first ball they ever attended together, the first time they had danced, when he couldn’t have imagined just how much they would come to mean to each other. His mouth went suddenly dry as she leaned over to speak playfully with the diplomat’s young daughter, and deliberately gave him a look down the fitted bodice that no one else would catch. She could tell exactly what it did to him, if the wink she sent his way was any indication.

Keep reading

[csjanuaryjoy]

@snowbellewells brings us a beautiful snap shot of CaptainSwan in love, so perfect!

[captainswanatk]

CSJJ Day 30: Skating Lessons

Full disclosure: this month got away from me and I’ve been under the weather for a lot of it. I’d had another story I meant to post instead, but it wasn’t cooperating. So I put this one together instead. Then I was having some technical difficulties, but better late than never right? This is a short fluffy family AU where Emma thinks back on when she first met Killian. Not my best, admittedly, but I hope that  it at least makes someone smile.

AO3

It looked like a scene taken right out of the pages of a fairy tale. The ground is covered with snow and the trees behind the ice skating rink are full of lights. There’s hot chocolate being sold at one stand and hot cider at another. A couple of food trucks serving a number of delicious treats are nearby. All around are couples and families with children of all ages. From the babies bundled up in snowsuits all the way up to the teenagers who are too cool to hang out with their parents with kids of nearly every age in between. The ice skating rink is full of skaters, from the wannabe hockey players and figure skaters to the people barely able to stay upright. There’s music playing and people laughing and it’s as if they’re all trapped in some kind of winter wonderland.

A pretty little girl of five was standing a few feet away from the ice skating rink, her long blonde curls spilling down her back. Her cheeks are pink from the cold making her look like more of an angel than usual. Her sparkling blue eyes are looking at the rink with a mixture of awe, curiosity and a hint of suspicion. One of her mitten covered hands is holding on to her mother’s. The other is absently playing with the ends of her scarf. A smile appears on her face as she spots a handsome man with dark hair and eyes the same shade of blue as her own out on the ice. Everyone always tells her that she is the spitting image of her mother, save for those blue eyes.

Keep reading

[csjanuaryjoy]

On a cold day, @captainswanatk warms us up with this family fluff and we couldn’t be more grateful for it!

[wingedlioness]

CSJJ Day 30: Only One Way This Could Go

A bloody ancient prompt from @loving-cs-fanfiction​ : I need a fic where Emma and Killian are soul mates and everyone knows (because their soul mate identifying symbols are like super visual), but they act like rivals and say they “don’t want to be forced together”, but are actually secretly dating after a drunk hook up.Who wants to write the 3-trope pretzel for me to read?

Thank you @csjanuaryjoy & @lenfaz for putting this together! Can’t wait to go back and read all the things now that this is done. <3  Thank you @scapeartist & @tnlph for the encouragement!

Rated: heavy T, 3500 words, AO3

It was a beautiful day out. The sun was shining through the diner windows, a blue cloudless sky beyond making Emma a bit wistful for…

“When are you two going to get together already?”

She raised an eyebrow as Ruby slid into the booth next to her. “I will enjoy this cocoa in my own time, thank you very much.”

“Ha ha,” Ruby grunted dramatically and threw her arms on the table, head flopping on top. Emma rescued her mug out of the way of the brunette’s hair, scooting as far away as she could get. “Hey! Don’t you dare put my true love at risk!”

Her eyes flicked involuntarily to the leather-clad Brit at the counter, and even in a split second she knew the grin on his face was due to their antics. She refocused on her friend’s theatrics instantly, last thing she needed was to give her more fodder.

“Why won’t you just dooooooooo it?” Ruby whined into her arms.

Emma felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up, grateful to see her sister.

“She at it again?” Snow nodded towards the woman sprawled in front of them. They exchanged an eyeroll as a muffled wail escaped. “You know, she does have a point though.”

“Oh come on, Snow.”

“Emma, he’s your soulmate. There’s no question, so what on earth is the problem?”

Just from Snow’s words, Emma felt the mark on her neck pulse harder, pushing her towards the man currently sweet-talking Granny into baking his favourite pie or something else equally ridiculous.

“Alright, if we’re going into the soulmate crap, my cocoa and I are out of here.”

Keep reading

[icapturedkindness]

CSJJ Day 30: count on me (i’ll be there) [1/2]

Summary: “I made a new year’s resolution to be better at showing people I love how much I care…but now all I want to do is kiss you” Post-Neverland 3A canon divergent.

A/N: Pan never came. This is pro-everyone but it is anti-swanfire romantic. It is though pro-swanfire broth.

Thanks to  @lenfaz for her help and advice. You’re the best! 

Rating: PG | a03

+++++

New Year, New Me. Emma hates this cheesy, over-used, and quite frankly tacky line. Within the first few days of January she has seen it freaking everywhere – in TV commercials with “healthy” yogurts, on the radio with jockeys reminding everyone of their new years’ resolution, and even on Facebook statuses of people she didn’t give two shits about.

Most of those annoying New Year’s resolutions she has seen have to do with weight loss, or ditching an unhealthy addiction, or some very few people with the ‘spend more time with family’ promises. But unlike them all, Emma has a quite simple resolution:

Show people (even if I hate them) how much I care and value their presence in my life.

  Taking out a writing pad from the desk in the Sheriff office, she grabbed a pen and titled it in capital letters, PEOPLE I CARE ABOUT (EVEN IF SOME OF THEM ARE A PAIN IN MY APPARENTLY ROYAL ASS), and quickly after scribbling a “1.” writes down Henry Mills.

He’s the most obvious and easiest one to show. Her darling boy would be happy if only she took him to Granny’s, then got him an ice-cream, and spent some time reading the fairytale book.

The other’s, however, were much trickier.

  Since coming from the godforsaken island of Neverland, the town has been surprisingly quaint; living up to it’s small town reputation. Of course as Sheriff she is still pretty busy as after all it’s a town full of fairytale characters who have grudges double her age, and the patience and understanding of toddlers. Scratch that, she’s sure the toddlers have much more grace and acceptance of everyone else and this new world than the grown-ups do.

Yet, with her having spent some actual quality time with her parents – the three of them growing much closer as Emma voiced her anxiety about finally having parents and how weird it all feels (especially since they’re freaking Snow White and Prince Charming and the same age as her), they’ve been quite understanding and let her have her space when she needs it, but are also there when they know she’s pushing them away.

She jotted down her parents name, another obvious choice.

She’s also reached an agreement, and dare she say, almost friendly relationship with Regina, her once quite nefarious archnemesis. Henry divides his time between the two of them as he pleases, and Regina has now not begrudgingly but quite openly accepted Emma’s role in Henry’s life. They’ve even had lunch together quite a few times with Henry and sometimes Snow joining them in. Emma might even consider them on friendly terms now.

Regina Mills is added to the list as well.

Keep reading

[csjanuaryjoy]

An awesome canon divergent fic from @icapturedkindness for you all today!

[shireness-says]

Coming Soon: Seeking Shelter, Seeking Solace

1895. Emma Swan answers an ad in the paper from a man looking for a wife in order to flee Boston - only to arrive in rural Storybrooke, Minnesota and discover that her intended husband is dead. Left with no other options, Emma takes a position at the local tavern alongside the sullen, dark-haired barkeep with demons of his own. But what will she do when the forces she’s worked so hard to escape reappear in the new life she’s building, forcing her to turn to this unlikely savior for aid?

Presenting my contribution to @csjanuaryjoy​! Which, true to form, has spiraled from an anticipated 15k for the whole fic to 10k for one chapter, and the other two unfinished. I promise some delicious marriage of convenience, pining, and even some action. This will begin posting in a few days, so let me know if you want to be tagged! In the meantime, enjoy this preview:

Emma can’t help but fidget in her seat as her train tears across the Midwestern landscape. Though this was her choice, she still can’t help but be nervous; after all, this is a very different world from Boston, the only home she’s ever known. She’s used to bustling streets and the lap of the waves against the docks at the harbor, not these miles after miles of plains and crop fields. It’s almost enough to make her second guess this whole thing.

It’s not a mistake though, she knows. She’d needed to get out of Boston, as quickly as possible, and this had been the best of a variety of bad options. Emma has never been particularly romantic, even as a little girl, but in the few imaginings she’d allowed herself of her future, answering a newspaper ad for a wife had never factored in. Then again, her fantasies had never anticipated the particular situation she’s trying to escape: a man who wouldn’t hear no, who was willing to pursue her relentlessly, from city to city, always a threat on her tail. The security of marriage, and of distance, had only made sense. And then again, she’s never been sentimental ; true love isn’t something she anticipated in a union, or even particularly believed in, for that matter. 

The man she’s travelling to meet seems kind, she consoles herself with knowing. Emma hadn’t been particularly picky in selecting a man from the handful of querants in the paper, but Graham Humbert seems to be a good one. He’s the sheriff of a small town in Minnesota, who found himself lonely and wanting companionship.

I can darn my own socks and cook my own dinner, though neither with any exemplary skill, he had written. I’m not looking for someone to look after me in that way, regardless of what my friends’ wives think; I’d hire a lady to do the cleaning if that was the issue. I’m searching for someone to speak with at the end of a long day, someone to listen and to laugh with. I don’t believe myself to be a sweeping romantic, but I will be happy to give and receive a kind of gentle affection. Maybe we can come to love each other in time; I would be happy with that too, though I am not counting on it. 

She’d liked that about him, that amiable practicality so evident even in his letters. It’s what had made her agree to travel to Minnesota with the intent to marry him, really - the feeling that they viewed a union in the same way. There will be a trial period, of course, a month during which to decide whether the two of them will suit each other before anything is formalized - but Emma is determined to make it work. What other choice does she have?

The train will be pulling into Storybrooke soon - a tiny dot on the map, where Emma doubts anyone else will be alighting. All of her belongings have been tightly packed into two measly carpetbags in order to, hopefully, start a new life. Maybe it’s foolish, but Emma had splurged on a new, sleek jacket before she’d left the city, a cheery blue to pair with her navy skirt and white blouse in an attempt to impress. Mostly, she wants to look neat more than anything else: a capable woman, one who won’t be afraid to adapt to a new life with a minimum of fuss, one who won’t make Sheriff Humbert’s life more difficult. Pretty is of secondary concern.

She sees the town coming long before the train pulls into the tiny station, roofs and chimneys rising above the flat landscape and copious corn fields. Somewhere in this state, she knows, are hundreds and thousands of lakes; however, they’re nowhere to be seen here. Storybrooke itself is a bare cluster of buildings seeming to group around a single main street, with homesteads and farm plots doubtlessly stretching out to the surrounding area. It’s a whole different world from what she’s used to, but that’s the entire point, really; no one will think to look for her here, in the rural midwest as the wife of a sheriff. 

When the train finally pulls into what passes for a station, a single cramped building with barely enough room for a ticket office and a luggage closet, a man is waiting on the platform, sheltered from the late-spring sun by an awning off the station roof. The star-shaped badge on his coat and the way he shifts nervously from foot to foot make Emma think this must be the anticipated Sheriff Humbert. His hair is rather more golden than the sandy blonde-brown color Mr. Humbert had tried to describe in his letters, but Emma supposes that’s to be expected. She likely didn’t give a perfect description of her appearance either. 

Quickly, she gathers her bags and alights to the station platform with the assistance of a young porter. The man waiting quickly doffs his hat, playing with the brim in another nervous gesture. “Miss Swan?”

Carefully, Emma arranges her face into something she hopes passes as an amiable smile. “Yes, that’s me. And you’ll be Sheriff Humbert, I presume?”

“I - well, no,” the man who isn’t Graham Humbert stutters out. “I’m David Nolan, actually. One of the deputies here.”

Unexpected - but there are countless excellent reasons that Deputy Nolan might be sent instead. Trouble can happen even in a small town, dozens of minor disputes that can somehow only be settled by the sheriff himself. “In that case, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Nolan. I must admit, I was expecting Mr. Humbert. Pardon my mistake.”

“About that —” Deputy Nolan cuts himself off, looking curiously uncomfortable. It sets Emma a bit on edge, but there’s no way to dance around it - not when she doesn’t have all the information.

“Yes?”

Deputy Nolan swallows heavily, visibly, his fingers tightening around the brim of his hat again before he drags his eyes to meet hers. “I’m sorry to tell you, Miss Swan, but Graham - Sheriff Humbert - died two days ago.”

Of all the things she thought he might say, all the ways she imagined this might go, that certainly wasn’t one of them.

[csjanuaryjoy]

Hello to this new take on a classic trope - with a CS twist, of course! We’ll be checking back in when @shireness-says starts posting!  😍

[sherlockianwhovian-deactivated2]

CS JJ Day 29: Whispers of Hope

Here’s my contribution for day 29 of @csjanuaryjoy​ 2020! Thanks to the mods @lassluna​ and @pirateherokillian​ for putting the event together this year! <3

Summary: Emma reads Killian’s journal from the missing year and discovers just how lost Captain Hook was without the Saviour at his side.

Also available to read on: A03

Taglist: @hollyethecurious​ @kmomof4​ @sals86​ @awkwardnessandbaseball​ @jennjenn615​ @theonceoverthinker​ @wyntereyez​ @winterbaby89​ @superchocovian​ @courtorderedcake​ @ultraluckycatnd @tiganasummertree​ @therooksshiningknight​. Let me know if you’d like to join the list!

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The Jolly was retrieved from Blackbeard almost seven days ago now. Once again I am a Captain at sea with his ship and crew and yet… I am not fixed or whole. I thought that she was what I was missing, my home and the life of a pirate, but it’s an entirely different ‘She’ that determines my course nowadays.

We may be divided by realms, but our story is not finished.

Of that I’m sure.

…

Another month goes by, an almost endless amount of sunrises and sunsets, but I’m no closer to making a decision on my future.

I have no desire to pursue my revenge, which leaves me with little drive to continue onwards at all. The men have sensed a change in me, especially Smee, and I’m unsure how much longer they’ll turn a blind eye before mutiny becomes an option.

Keep reading

[csjanuaryjoy]

Such a great peek into Killian’s mind durring the missing year. Love it @sherlockianwhovian (also welcome back to the land of the living)

[thejollyroger-writer]

Take My Hand, Just Carry On

A/N: My second contribution to @csjanuaryjoy ! This is 300% pure Lieutenant Duckling fluff, with Emma being sick and tired of hiding her relationship and Killian being very much in love with her. Special thanks to @shireness-says for her incredible input and letting me bounce ideas off of her, and @ultraluckycatnd for offering another set of eyes. Enjoy!

Summary: Unbeknownst to her parents and her kingdom, Princess Emma of Misthaven has been in love with Naval Lieutenant Killian Jones for a while now, the two of them in a secret relationship that only a few know about. But when The Jewel of the Realm is attacked, Liam and Killian need to spend some time in Misthaven to recuperate, just as King David and Queen Snow take a trip… Is this the perfect opportunity for Killian and Princess Emma to make their courtship public?

Rated T for almost-smut, 11k words

Also on AO3!

Not for the first time, Emma asks herself why she even has to be here. These council meetings are easily the most boring thing she has ever had to endure, none of it ever involving her and none ever of interest to her. Trading with other kingdoms, news of where the wars are taking place, disputes between nobles.

And Emma, Princess of Misthaven, cares about none of it.

Instead, with the words of the nobles around her barely registering in her mind as it wanders, she is thinking about all the things she would much rather be doing right now. She could be in the library, curled up with one of her favorite books, or out riding one of her horses across the pasture. She could be eating lunch, she realizes as her stomach rumbles, pack herself a nice picnic and take it down to the beach, using it as an excuse to go down and watch the ships come in, waiting for her perfect blue-eyed sailor to return from his voyage. Turning back towards her mother near the head of the table, she realizes that her brown eyes are staring right back at her as if she has realized that instead of paying attention to the council meeting, she is focused on something else entirely.

Some one else entirely.

But then her father says something that grabs her attention: “ The Jewel of the Realm has taken some damage and some of the naval officers on board have been injured,” King David says, and Emma feels her stomach flip at the words.

The Jewel of the Realm is the Jones brothers’ ship.

Keep reading

[csjanuaryjoy]

@thejollyroger-writer is trying to kill us all with this fluff and we can’t get enough. At least we’ll all die happy!

[captainswanatk]

CS JJ Day 29: It’s Like Candy

Here’s my submission for @csjanuaryjoy January Joy. I’m so sorry that it’s late! I was having computer issues, but better late than never? This is an AU that didn’t turn out quite the way I wanted it to, but that’s okay. Thanks to @lenfaz for letting me participate.

Summary: Emma Swan had a problem and his name was Killian Jones. Killian, who was essentially candy in human form. Emma had always had a sweet tooth, ever since she was a kid. She had a weakness for sugar and unhealthy foods and now said love for sugar had spread to include Killian.

Word Count: 2,234

This had to stop. At least that’s what Emma Swan told herself as she found herself grinning at the text message on her phone like a complete idiot. A text that consisted of exactly two words: what’s up? That’s it. That’s all it said. But it was enough to have her smiling like a fool.

You’re what’s up, Jones, Emma thought.

She hadn’t meant to fall into whatever this was she had going with Killian Jones. It had started off innocently enough. As innocently as one night stands could ever be, that was. Emma hadn’t intended to go back to Killian’s ship with him that first night.

Really.

Keep reading

[caprelloidea]

CS JJ Day 29: Hearth

Summary: In which Emma is always cold, and Killian is always warm.

Rated: M

Warnings: Smut, angst

Words: ~6k

Notes: Much love and gratitude to the organizers at @csjanuaryjoy! Inspired by a prompt from @seethelovelyintheworld, who requested a fic where Emma is cold and Killian is warm, and by the beautiful sketch she drew, which you may find below.  Also tagging @icecubelotr44.

Also on ff and ao3

It’s only when she’s taken everything out of the satchel twice – packing it carefully back in after the first, and tearing it right back out – that Emma allows herself to pout. She treats Neverland like a place of action. Whenever she’s still, it’s a place of mourning, eternal youth and sorrows, and she can’t hardly stand it. Can’t hardly sleep either. There are sounds echoing through the forest – grating, unnatural noises that belong in the winding, industrial alleys of poorly kept city blocks.

That, and she’s sure she’s never been this cold in her life. So she searches for the sweater she’d brought along, with no luck.

Keep reading

[csjanuaryjoy]

Poetic smut with Captain Swan finding they balance each other perfectly from @caprelloidea

[killianslefthook]

Happy New Beginnings

My contribution to @csjanuaryjoy ♥

Summary: It’s New Years and Emma and Killian decide to make it a quiet one this year. With the town sleeping off a hangover and a quiet, snow-coated Storybrooke, they decide to enjoy the new year together with new beginnings and resolutions. 

A/N: I actually wrote this the week of New Years so it may be a bit outdated considering it’s late January but it’s set in January so it counts :) I hope you enjoy this giant fluff-filled post because that’s all I wanted it to be. Just something to make you all smile because the last year has been hell and we all need some CS fluff in our lives. Please enjoy and thank you for letting me take part in CS Jan Joy! 

Warnings: *MAJOR FLUFF ALERT. This couldn’t be any fluffier if I tried.

Read here or on Ao3

Keep reading

[csjanuaryjoy]

A major dose of sweetness full of family feels and Captain Cobra from @killianslefthook is just the thing for a winter afternoon and a late-January pick-me-up 💖