Chapter Text
A sharp gasp left Bridget as Uliana’s leering face materialized from behind her shutting locker.
“Bridget,” Uliana’s smooth voice dripped like honey from a bee’s nest, “Just the princess I was looking for.”
To her credit, Bridget very valiantly fought her nerves, though the villains’ keen eyes locked in on the tremor in her delicate hands. “I hope you’re not still upset about the feathers. I didn’t mean for anything to happen–”
“Water under the bridge,” Uliana waved off, “I came with a little peace offering.”
She snapped her fingers, and Hook presented her with a little plastic baggie.
“Really?” Bridget’s eyes gleamed with promise, eyeing the ginger snap Uliana pulled out.
“We’re certainly not bakers,” Hook supplied, “but we do hope it’s to your liking.”
Her teeth sunk into the, admittedly charred, cookie, tasting it over. It may not have been the most well made sweet, but there was no twinge of disgust in her features, as if already too taken by the spell to notice.
Or maybe she was just excited at the prospect of breaking through to the villains.
The sharp of Uliana’s elbow jabbed into Hook’s side.
He disguised the startled wheeze by clearing his throat. “So,” he smoothed his hair back, flashing a charmed look toward the taken princess, “what do you think?”
The rest of their crew creeped forward, carefully as if afraid of startling her like a deer. Morgie slipped through the railing, keenly joining Maleficent in studying the results.
Her eyes jumped forward to meet his gaze, politely slipping a hand over her mouth as she finished chewing. “It’s lovely! Did you–” Her lashes fluttered, as if heavy with sleep, the brown of her eyes melting with warmth as she traced over his features. “Did you, um, sprinkle more cinnamon after they finished baking?”
“Yeah,” Hook replied breathlessly.
He didn’t actually know. He had been too busy dodging Morgie’s enchanted snowballs of flour.
And yet, his skin tingled under how fixed her gaze was. He was used to strange looks, noncommittal glances at his hook, the occasional girl mistaking his aura of danger for the thrill of adventure.
But Bridget’s stare was warm, like a campfire under the stars with the crew that raised him. No, it wasn’t quite the same. This was gentle, admiring, and he wondered, fleetingly if it stirred the same, nearly primal jump in Bridget’s chest as it did in his.
His name fell from her lips, “Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are?” Her head tilted to the side, as if to better examine his face. “Your eyes look like they're cast in amber in this light. I bet they’re beautiful out at sea.”
Heat seared through his ears, Morige’s barely repressed snicker ringing through him.
He had never been more thankful for Uliana’s bruising grip on his arm. “We’ll see you at Castlecoming, then.”
“You can think about Hookie’s gorgeous eyes until then,” Morgie giggled, earning a warning glare.
Bridget bit her lip, eyes still magnetically drawn to Hook’s tugged along form as she nodded.
His lips curled into a smirk, fleetingly catching her hand enough to brush his lips delicately against the back, “Save a dance for me, darling.”
He could practically feel the vibration it sent through her, managing a cheeky wink as Uliana yanked him away.
Hook, line, and sinker.
“I love you, James! Did I mention that?”
They had counted on Bridget making a love-spelled fool of herself at Castlecoming.
They hadn’t, however, counted on her being on the stage, microphone in hand, professing her apparent love to all in her frilly rose-lined gown before Merlin’s apprentice could even announce the rigged votes for Castlecoming queen.
Maleficient watched the sight thoughtfully, the smallest laugh of cruelty on her lips. “Fascinating. I wonder if the intensity varies depending on the amount consumed…”
Hook really didn’t understand the rest.
“Monsieur Naveen!” Bridget called to the jazz band on stage, “A beat, if you will.”
The Maldonian Prince whistled to his band, the blare of a trumpet spurring on the group, presenting her with an upbeat symphony of saxophone, drums, bass, and the Prince’s prized ukulele.
“Did I mention,” Bridget’s honeyed voices sang into the white and gold microphone, smiling widely as her eyes found Hook in the crowd with little difficulty, “that I’m in love with you? And did I mention there’s nothing I can do? And did I happen to say I dream of you everyday? So let me–”
“Shout it out loud!” Morgie’s rambunctious voice yelled from the crowd below.
“If that’s okay,” Bridget giggled, “if that’s okay.”
Morgie rocketed onto the stage, bowing his entire body forward, presenting her his open palm.
“I met this boy who rocked my world like it’s never been rocked,” their bodies twisted in sync as she sang, Morgie replicating her steps perfectly, a simple swing dance that glided to the smooth jazz. “And now I’m living just for him and I won’t ever stop. I never thought that it could happen to a girl like me, but now look at what you’ve done!” Bridget shrugged playfully as Morgie swooned off stage, “You’ve got me down on my knees! Because my love for you is ridiculous! I never knew–”
“Who knew?” Morgie chimed in, pulling the microphone to his level before flinging it back up.
It snapped back into her hands, glowing a faint green, as if magnetized. “–that it could be like this! My love for you is ridiculous! My love is R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S,” she chanted, limbs bending to replicate the vague shape of letters.
Morige stood to attention, grin splitting wide as he copied her makeshift cheer, “R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S.”
“It’s–”
“–ridiculous!” Morgie shouted gleefully, hyping up the growing crowd.
“Just–”
“–ridiculous!”
“And I would give my kingdom for just one kiss. Well, did I mention?” Her hand slipped into Morige’s outstretched one, spelling temporary iridescent green stairs to guide her descent onto the dancefloor. “That I’m in love with you? And did I mention? There’s nothing I can do. And did I happen to say? I dream of you everyday. So let me–”
“Shout it out loud!” the enthused crowd cheered, as if bewitched by the music.
“–if that’s okay,” Bridget hummed, “if that’s okay.”
Hook craned his head. Now that they were on level ground and had garnered an audience, it was growing more difficult to discern their movements.
It wasn’t clear to him who had initiated it, through the crowd, he saw Morgie and Bridget, hand in hand, swinging each other around as they sang.
“I gotta know which way to go, c’mon give me a sign. You gotta show me that you’re only ever gonna be mine,” She twirled underneath Morgie’s arm, a flash of the soft pink of her flowing dress and the dramatic deep green of his branching sleeves. “Don’t wanna go a single minute without you, ‘cause if your heart just isn’t in it,” Morgie whirled her around, her brilliant pink hair whipping as he dipped her back. Her bright, upside down smile met the crowd again, and Hook became increasingly aware that it was not for them, those sparkling, faraway eyes still finding him, “I don’t know what I’d do!”
She spun back on her heel, Morgie’s snaking arms looping around her and setting her free like a playful python. “Because my love for you is ridiculous! I never knew–”
“Who knew?” Maleficient’s icy breath ghosted along the shell of his ear in a conspiratorial whisper.
"–that it could be like this. My love for you is ridiculous! My love is R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S.”
“R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S.” Now Morgie was merely amongst the sea of Merlin Academy students joining in the routine.
“It’s–”
Bridget was pulled along by Morgie once again, the delicate pink lace of her dress haloing around her as she was twirled around.
“Ridiculous!”
The crowd parted in waves.
“Just–”
His heart hammered quicker than the bass.
“Ridiculous!"
Morgie let go.
“And I would give my kingdom for just one kiss–”
Her dizzying steps lost footing, topsy-turvy. He hardly had time to process what he was happening until his arms caught her stumbling frame, brown eyes large with equal surprise as she fell against him.
“Come on now!”
The song ended with a final trumpet blare. Bridget’s chest rose and fell with labored breaths, though he never escaped her gaze, the deep brown of her eyes swallowed wide by blown out pupils. He felt a rush of wonder, at just how clear her eyes were. He would have thought that spells like this blur the vision, but the dark of her pupils were so glasslike, he might have been able to see what she saw in him if he looked closely enough.
Ah, but those eyes were not just taken, they were expectant. A confession warranted a reaction of some sort.
He supposed Uliana wanted him to reject her now, that it would be an embarrassment to have her confess an apparent love in such a grand and public way by a known heartbreaker only to be shot down.
Not to mention a lot easier than entertaining this little… dalliance.
Then again, he pondered as Bridget’s pounding heart thumped against his chest, maybe there was something else here. Something deeper to explore.
The long game, he’d tell Uliana, were she to ask.
A smirk pulling at the corners of his lips, his eyes flickered between those captivated eyes and her glossy, painted lips, shifting his arms to hold her waist properly. “How about that dance, love?”