May I have this dance?
Songs I listened to while writing:
So Close By Jon McLaughlin
Home By Gabrielle Aplin
Human By Daughter
Over The Love By Florence & The Machine
Power & Control By Marina and The Diamonds
I started this short fic after seeing this prompt on Tumblr "You suck at dancing but you're doing it the middle of a bookstore to the crappy music on the radio and I think it's pretty damn cute" and I immediately thought about Rumbelle. This might not get many reads but this was just swimming around in my head and I had to write it down because I thought it would be a pretty cute fic and maybe something I can add on to later on merge with something else. Anyway, I'll stop writing and let you start reading. (I actually wrote this way before writing the fic haha. I think I just got really excited.) Listen to those songs above while you read and I promise you will feel it lol and if not sorry I know I really felt Rumbelle in all the songs I listened to. Maybe I was just looking for something that wasn't there but oh well all the songs are beautiful anyway.
Belle gathered her blue dress in her small hands and began her dissent up the long ladder staring her in the face. Rumple had insisted she clean the book shelves every single day or he would remove every single book on the shelves. Believing him fully, Belle had just stared at him with a beaming smile on her face and a rhythmic thumping in her chest. She didn't care about his threats though. He had put the library in just for her and she knew it, even if he insisted that he certainly did no such thing. Belle giggled as she pictured Rumple. He had blushed and started stuttering, trying his hardest not to look Belle in her eyes.
Humming a song her mother had taught her long ago, when she was merely a child, Belle began swaying back and forth as she started dusting the shelves one by one.
"As I walk'd thro' the meadows
To take the fresh air,
The flowers were blooming and gay;
I heard a fair damsel so sweetly asinging
Her cheeks like the blossom in May."
Quickly finishing the last remaining shelves at the top, Belle once again gathered her dress in her hands and carefully began her climb back down the ladder. She reached the bottom moments later and sighed happily when her feet touched the ground. Heights were not her favorite thing. Belle continued humming cheerfully as she grabbed the old brown ladder with two hands and moved it over to the side to reach the shelves closer to the bottom.
"Said I, Pretty maiden, how came you here
In the meadows this morning so soon?
The maid she replied: For to gather some may,
For the trees they are all in full bloom."
Belle started singing the next lines of the song and spun around in a circle as if she was back in her castle in the middle of a ball. She had always loved the lively music and dancing, though her partners always complained she possessed two left feet. Being the stubborn girl she was, she had brushed their words aside like pollen blowing in the wind and continued dancing happily. She felt like she was finally free, like she was flying high in the sky.
She began moving her feet slowly, as if she were doing the waltz, rather clumsily, but she continued on all the same, humming as she began dusting shelf after shelf after shelf. She lifted book after book and dusted under each and every one. A routine she had done more times than she could count on her two hands.
"Said I: Pretty maiden, shall I go with you,
To the meadows to gather some may?
O no, sir, she said, I would rather refuse,
For I fear you would lead me astray."
"My, my aren't you a sight for sore eyes," Rumpelstiltskin proclaimed from his spot at the door. He had heard the singing and just couldn't help himself from entering the library and sneaking a peak at his little maid. He certainly was surprised when he saw her singing and trying to dance as she cleaned the shelves lining the library walls. He had to stop himself from laughing, for fear of being caught too soon. Funny as it was though, he couldn't look away.
Belle jumped at the sound of his voice and her singing halted, she spun around quickly and put her hand over her heart. "How long have you been standing there?" She stuttered, her cheeks warming in embarrassment.
Rumpelstiltskin walked further into the room and flashed Belle a grin as he sat himself in the chair sitting by the fire place. "Just long enough dearie." He singed as he tapped his fingers against one another.
Belle raised her eyebrows and set her dusty rag on the table beside her. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and pursed her lips. "Say whatever you want to say. I know you can't help yourself."
He to raised his eyebrows. "I was merely enjoying the view. If you wish to continue on with whatever you were doing," he replied smuggling as he wiggled his fingers in the air, "then get on with it. Just know I'll be sitting here all the while, enjoying the view." He cackled from his place on the chair. The fireplaces light casting shadows on his face.
"Well," Belle replied as she moved closer to The Dark One, "I would like to see you try dancing, it's not as easy as it looks."
Rumpelstiltskin raised up in his chair and grinned. "Who ever said I didn't know how to dance dearie."
Belle's forehead crinkled in confusion. "When have you ever danced?" She asked him curiously. "You're the dark one. What use is dancing to you?"
A loud obnoxious laughter erupted from him and he stood to his feet quickly. "I know a lot more than you would think. I did do some dancing in my time."
Smiling, Belle giggled quietly and shook her head.
"What is it dearie? Rumpelstiltskin looked at Belle in confusion. He hadn't said anything funny had he? Rumpelstiltskin looked to the ceiling as he thought back to his earlier words. No, he hadn't said anything remotely resembling a joke.
Shrugging her shoulders, Belle stepped away from the book shelves. "I just didn't beg you for much of a dancer." She lifted one eyebrow and shook her head slowly. He was just full of surprises wasn't he?
The room grew quiet and Belle watched as the fire in the hearth crackled.
"I could teach you." Rumpelstiltskin mumbled quietly, looking at everything in the room but Belle.
Belle's head snapped up quickly and a small smiled began to show on her face. He couldn't help but raise his head and look towards Belle. Her bright blue eyes sparkled in the fireplace's light. He could see the excitement on her face.
"I'd like that." She said as she looked into Rumpelstiltskin's eyes.
Rumpelstiltskin cleared his throat and nodded his head. "Well then."
"Well then." Belle echoed, a smile on her face. "When would you like to start?" She asked shyly.
"How's now sound?" He asked, as equally as shy as Belle.
Belle moved closer to Rumpelstiltskin and swallowed. Placing her hand on the lower part of his arm. She looked up at him through her lashes and trembled under his warm gaze. "Now sounds perfect."
Authors Note: If anyone would like to know the song Belle was singing it's called "As I Walked Through the Meadow" By Lesley Nelson-Burns