Just being Belle.

On a sunny morning, Belle left the cottage were she lived with her papa. As every other day of the week, she had to get some groceries. While she wandered around town, her thoughts kept turning towards the book she was currently reading. Belle was notorious because of her nose that was always stuck in some book. But her tales of far of places, dashing sword fights and princes in disguise were Belle's only source of comfort in the little town she wanted to leave so badly.

When she arrived at the market square, Belle decided that she was in no hurry to get the groceries and settled herself beside the fountain in the middle of the square. She had to know how this story ended. Belle loved identifying herself with the heroine of the stories she read, but the love interests of the heroines were mostly faceless to her. Belle found it difficult to picture a nice and good-looking man who would accompany her on her life's adventures. The men around town were not appealing to her, not even in the slightest way. Besides, they never gave her any attention and Belle was satisfied with that. She had no interest in the prejudiced and small-minded townsmen. The only man in town, who was interested in her, was Gaston.

Belle had no idea why the image of Gaston suddenly crossed her mind while she was reading. She just read a part where the main character had a romantic rendezvous with her secret lover and there was absolutely nothing about that passage that made her think of Gaston. And yet she did… Maybe one of the townspeople had spoken his name and her subconscious picked up on it. Or maybe it was the fact that he came to her house last night. Again. She'd had a hard time ditching him; her papa had been her lifesaver when he came to check up on her. Gaston had cornered her in the stable when she came to feed Philippe. He'd had loudly fantasized about how beautiful their seven future sons were going to be with a mother like her. He had put one of his arms around Belle's shoulders, while with the other hand he tucked away some loose strands of her hair. Belle had felt intimidated (mainly by his words – she didn't even want to think about giving birth to seven children), but was also touched by the sweet little gesture. Not that she was going to admit this to him. Gaston would always be a narcissistic, egomaniacal and rude man. And he disliked reading. The two of them would barely last a day as a couple.

But for a moment Belle pictured Gaston as the secret lover of the heroine in her book. The heroine had prepared herself for this moment for a very long time. She ordered a lustrous gown, made of a fabric that almost looked like gold. It really complimented her brown eyes, her brown curls, even her curved body. They met in a lovely rose garden, which belonged to a castle nearby. The moment he laid eyes on her, she smiled shyly at him. Butterflies were soaring through her stomach when his welcoming kiss swept her off her feet. She let her hands roam on his muscular body and even dared to dip her hands underneath the shirt of the hunter once. This resulted in a trail of hot kisses; first on her neck, but slowly making their way down…

The townspeople shot curious glances at her direction when Belle started to laugh in the middle of the market square, only accompanied by one of her books. Some of them heard her mutter: "That was ridiculous" before she got caught up in her book again. The villagers shrugged. This was typical Belle behaviour.

_

This is my first fan fiction that I ever dared to publish. I found the prompt on a Disney Livejournal community and the whole scene played before my eyes, so I decided to write it down. Currently, I am playing with the idea of writing a multi-chaptered Beauty and the Beast fic, but we'll just see how it goes (: Reviews and tips are very much appreciated!

~ Fishawish