Burning the Midnight Oil
(stylized in all-lowercase) is an Once Upon a Time fanfic by shmulia, published on November 21, 2020 as a One-Shot Fic. Basically speaking, it is Once Upon a Time with additional vampire characters, taking elements from Buffy the Vampire Slayer although not to a fusion-fic level. It takes place in an alternate version of the series' Season 2, with the conflict of that season removed and replaced with the new one involving vampires.
After Regina's curse on Storybrooke is broken, life just goes on as usual with Emma Swan still as the town's sherriff and the Saviour. Several months later, vampires start appearing because it turns out that Storybrooke is located above a Hellmouth... and life still goes on as usual as the vampires are mostly peaceful and Emma only needs to go vampire-slayer on the occassional troublesome ones. Emma's patience is tested however when a vampire named Killian Jones AKA Captain Hook keeps either trying to woo her or plotting revenge on Rumplestiltskin AKA Mr. Gold. Just as Emma and Hook are getting along, a new problem shows up in the form of a curse corrupting the vampires one-by-one.
Burning the Midnight Oil contains examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Dracula is a genuine good guy here (at least until the curse corrupts him) and complains about how he is usually portrayed in media.
- During the canon counterpart of the fic's time period, Hook is willing to kill other people and conspire with other murderers in his revenge mission against Rumplestiltskin. This fic's version of Hook, despite being a vampire, is completely friendly besides towards Rumplestiltskin.
- all lowercase letters: Officially speaking, the title is "burning the midnight oil" and not in title-case.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: David is not happy to find her daughter regularly getting night visits from Hook. In the end, he is still not very happy when it is confirmed that Hook is Emma's True Love.
- Dracula: Dracula is one of the vampires that shows up in Storybrooke thanks to Hellmouth. As far as the story goes, he is actually a pretty normal guy who complains about how he is portrayed in the media, although he becomes one of the early feral vampires whom Emma has to kill in self-defense.
- In Medias Res: The fic starts with one of Hook's attempts at asking for a bite on Emma, before going back, recapping the first season of Once Upon a Time and explaining how vampires appear in Storybrooke afterwards and how Emma and Hook first met.
- Mercy Kill Arrangement: When the heroes have made an anti-feral talisman in form of a ring for Hook, he still asks Emma to stake him before he hurts anyone if the ring doesn't work.
- Must Be Invited: The vampires can only enter homes if invited. It serves as a relationship mark for Emma and Hook. In Hook's early visits, they play cards while being separated by the loft door that keeps him out. In the middle of the story, Emma is willing to invite Hook, but Hook doesn't want to out of fear of going feral. By the end of the fic, Hook can enter her loft just fine wih her permission.
- Our Vampires Are Different: The vampires in this fic are basically Buffy vampires (have fangs; drink and suck blood; nocturnal; Long-Lived; Must Be Invited; turn to dust upon being killed, which usually involves a wooden stake to the heart; can't shapeshift to bats, despite Emma's comment), except they are not Always Chaotic Evil.
- Shipper on Deck: Mary Margaret catches Emma and Hook playing cards during Emma's supposed "quiet night in" and starts teasing and matchmaking them.
- Shout-Out: The whole fic is one to Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the vampires and the Hellmouth. Emma even calls her stake "Mr. Pointy" like the Slayer does at one point.
- Stalker with a Crush: Subverted. Hook is obviously in love with Emma and he only visits her family's loft when she is conveniently alone. They also keep running into each other when Emma is patrolling. Emma naturally accuses him of stalking her, but she senses no lies when Hook denies it and it really is just a Contrived Coincidence.
- Touché: The first time Mary Margaret tries to matchmake Emma with Hook, Emma says she can't do that while David is unconscious. When Mary Margaret points out David wouldn't like it if he gets to hear it, Emma just stays silent before conceding the point.
- True Love's Kiss: An Once Upon a Time staple, although Regina mentions that the people involved in the kiss has to be involved with the curse too in order to break it, hence Mary Margaret and David kissing each other all the time doesn't affect the curse corrupting the vampires. It's only Emma and Hook's goodbye kiss that accidentally breaks it.
- Varying Competency Alibi: Hook's argument when Emma accuses him of stalking her and her family is that if he really does, she wouldn't have noticed.
