Rumpelstiltskin limped into the library. The place was officially closed, but Belle had invited him to drop by for dinner. However, he stopped at the library desk. Belle wasn't anywhere around, or at least anywhere he could see. After checked to see if she was shelving books, he at last looked in Belle's office, the place she spent the least amount of time. Sure enough, there she was. Her eyes were glued to her computer screen and she hadn't noticed his entrance. He cleared his throat and Belle jumped and turned to face him,
"Oh, it's you! Come look at this, Rum." He obediently stepped forward and peered over her shoulder at the computer screen. Belle pointed at it, "Look at this! People have written stories about us! Look, it's really us!" One look at Belle's face told Rumpelstiltskin he wasn't going to get away from this any time soon. He pulled a chair over and sat beside Belle, reading along with her.
There was a wide variety of stories. Some of them were funny and Belle would laugh as he would sit in ashamed silence, and some of them made Belle tear up. With those stories, Rumpelstiltskin would always pull her close and stroke her hair whispering it was alright, she was alive, he was alive, and nothing was going to change that any time soon.
After a while, Belle found a story rated M. Rumpelstiltskin was about to say something, but held back. If Belle was going to read off the internet, she had to recognize that there some things that weren't appropriate and how to avoid reading those things. The story started out simple enough. It was an innocuous, mundane situation. Then, in the blink of an eye, somehow story-Belle ended up bending over a table as story-himself took her from behind. A quick glance at Belle showed her eyes bugged and her whole face beet red. Rumpelstiltskin slammed the computer screen shut,
"Well, I think that's enough reading for today!" he said with a nervous smile. Belle looked up at him, all big eyes and quiet, innocent voice,
"Was he doing…that to her," she paused and whispered, "from behind?"
"Yes."
"Is that…enjoyable?" she said quietly. Rumpelstiltskin ran a hand through his hair and refused to make eye contact as he reluctantly said,
"I, I would guess so." Belle was silent. Rumpelstiltskin hazarded a glance at her face. Gone was the sweet innocence. In its place, he found a different Belle. This Belle was a strong, confident woman, and oh god how he wanted this new Belle. She stood up and he suddenly became aware of just how tight her dress was, how it seemed to hug her in the places only he was allowed to look. She stood in front of him, breasts grazing the lapels of his suit and she looked up at him through her lashes as she said,
"Well, why don't we find out?"
Early the next morning, they stood on the library stoop together. Belle turned to Rumpelstiltskin and said,
"That was enjoyable. Perhaps we could…read again sometime?"
"I would like that very much. Tomorrow evening, then?"
"Tomorrow evening." Said Belle with a smile. Rumpelstiltskin returned it. He kissed her hand, then turned to go. As he walked back to the pawn shop, he silently thanked the fangirls of the world. If they kept writing like that…he was going to be a very happy man.
