They were strangers until they found each other, standing outside the Headmaster's office, both with bloody knuckles and LeFou with a black eye.
It had been a defining moment for them both.
LeFou had learnt that offering to tutor the tall budding hunter meant he had a protector for life.
Gaston had learnt that he did, in fact, care for the small, bumbling boy, despite what he kept telling himself.
(The other boys had learnt not to mess with either boy ever again.)
After a period of being stared at through a stern glare, Gaston piped up, "Please, monsieur, Étienne did nothing. It was self-defence. I was the one fighting Pierre."
The Headmaster scowled. "Very well. Be on your way, Étienne."
The forty lashings Gaston received were undoubtedly worth it.
He traces them with his fingers early mornings, knowing that he took them for LeFou. And he would take them twenty times over to keep Étienne safe.
But LeFou doesn't need to know that.