Disclaimer: Don't own Once. Still trying to break the fourth wall so I can pull out Regina and hug her, but thus far have not been successful.
A/N: This is for my Secret Oncer from Oncers Spread Love (or something like that, since I seem to get the name wrong every 5 seconds) but anyways, this is for the lovely we-aim-to-misbehave. I have never written Rumbelle before, or read more than maybe one story of it, and actually haven't written a hetero pairing as my main characters since I was probably 13, so this will come as a shock to the rest of you, but she is a wonderful little shipper and deserves it! And for my wonderful SwanQueen followers, don't fret, it's still in there if you squint.
Now, on to the Rumbelle Fluff!
"Rumple, it's not a big deal, really."
Rumplestiltskin's eyes narrowed, taking in the blanket spread out on the lawn, the half unpacked picnic basket off to the corner, and the two recently filled glasses of a deep red wine. Everything was set out so perfectly, after all his planning to ensure this lunch went without any setbacks, yet here they were.
He sighed, softening his gaze as he looked up to his love—his little Belle. She was filled to the brim with compassion for others, a fact he'd known from their first encounter on, but it was the situations like these that made him ache just a little for the cruelty of Lacey. It was not to say that he wished for the sinister identity to return, for Rumple loved Belle like no other before and would do anything and everything to ensure her safety, but it was the little things that he wished could be different on such occasions.
Belle was inherently good, though, and that was what made him love her as much in the first place. How fitting was it that her very nature that had drawn him in and made him strive to be a better man was what now kept them apart?
The impish man was being a tad ridiculous in his exaggerations, of course. Belle was still his in every way that a woman could actually belong to another person, but in this exact moment she was finding reason to stray from the lovely little picnic he had planned.
"But, Belle, I thought you wanted us to do this; to try being us for real." He frowned.
Her laughter bubbled out her cherry red lips and floated into the air, surrounding him as her soft eyes bore into his own burning ones.
"And I do. I love that you went to all this trouble to set up a picnic for us like this. It's romantic and surprising to me, only making me love you more for your efforts. However, we can't just leave him here like this, Rumple," Belle reasoned.
He directed his gaze back to the very source of his current anguish, narrowing dark eyes on the animal in question. It seemed that Pongo had managed to stumble upon their little lunch—literally speaking. Something had injured his front paw, causing the normally rambunctious dog to whimper and wine for help.
"You know, Dearie, I could just fix him up and let him be on his way," Rumple suggested, waving his hand flamboyantly in the air. His fingers were just twitching to magic their problem away, but one look from Belle had him slowly lowering the arm in defeat.
"We've talked about this, Rumple—no magic unless there's an emergency. You know I don't like what it does to you, even when your intentions are good. If you want to be an honest man, then we have to do this like normal people."
Rumplestiltskin sighed in defeat, an entirely new feeling after spending hundreds of years in a constant stream of wins. When it came to Belle, though, he could hardly hold her at fault. He begrudgingly began to pack their things back up into the basket, watching Belle dump her wine into the grass before grabbing his own and downing it in one gulp.
There was no such rule against him using a bit of the magic from this world, after all, and something told him this was going to be necessary for a long rest of the day.
Belle shot him a glare of displeasure but remained silent, folding up the blanket to place on top of the basket and heaving the entire ensemble into the air. Rumple reached out to take it from her, the chivalrous thing to do, but Belle just quirked an eyebrow and looked down at Pongo.
"Rumple, he's hurt. You'll have to carry him to the car," she pointed out.
He visibly deflated, looking down to the dirty dalmation and then back to his own perfectly tailored suit in disgust. This was literally the last thing he wanted to be doing, yet Rumple found himself hunched over and carefully lifting the heavy dog into his arms at Belle's request.
When had the dark one allowed himself to become so soft, anyways?
Belle's face lit up with a smile at his acquiescence, looking quite pleased that he was doing as told with only a few minor grumbles. She walked right up, planting a soft kiss on the corner of his lips, and suddenly the whole dog fiasco seemed worth it. Rumple's shoulders raised a bit on confidence as he trudged after his love through the grass to head back to the car.
Before long, they were at the Storybrooke Vet's office. Archie, the ridiculous bug turned therapist, was standing out front with a worried frown. Belle had phoned him on the way over to inform him that they'd found Pongo injured.
Rumple handed the whimpering dog over with a scowl, letting Archie know that while Belle may have been able to get away with this, he was certainly not pleased with the dog's owner.
"Dr. Hopper, I suggest you keep a better watch on this dog of yours in the future. I wouldn't want him interrupting any more of our little outings." A sharp look from Belle had him quickly amending his statement, adding, "or getting injured again."
For such an innocent little thing, she was certainly persuasive.
~~ONCE~~UPON~~A~~TIME~~
The next such incident occurred three days later, as Rumplestiltskin was setting up a table in his pawn shop to use for a romantic dinner. He was still trying to win over Belle's trust, and this seemed to be the perfect idea that would woo her all the same.
He was in his finest suit, candles decorating the various shelves and a table set with two covered meals. All that was missing was Belle, and if he had timed things correctly, she should be approaching any second.
A little jingle rang from above the doors, grabbing his attention quickly as he smoothed out his suit and turned to face his love with a winning smile.
Instead, he was met with a slightly bloody and dirt-smudged Emma Swan.
"Miss Swan, to what do I owe this interruption? As you can see, I'm in the middle of something, so if you could make this quick—or better yet, go elsewhere with your problems, that would be lovely," he snarked, making it clear she was expected to see herself out.
There was no way Rumple was going to allow yet another of his perfect dates planned for Belle fall to spoils because some incompetent fool was unable to function for ten minutes without requiring his aid.
Emma flapped her lips like a wish out of water, making jerked sounds as she tried to get her bearings on his rejection when she clearly hadn't expected it so quickly.
At that particular moment, Belle chose to enter from the back room, and for an entire ten seconds of bliss, all he could see was how gorgeous she looked in her shimmering pink dress and perfectly sculpted curls. He was reminded in a quite striking way how very much a princess she was, and it took everything in him not to run to her and take her right then and there. Well, either that, or place her up high on a pedestal in the clouds where he could protect her from any gawking eyes.
"Emma, are you all right?" she shrieked, rushing over to the blonde in the doorway and right past him.
And the moment was gone.
"I- uh…" she flopped a bit longer, looking to him as if afraid to speak after his blatant dismissal. Seeing that Belle would not be letting this go, he just nodded in exasperation. Maybe it would at least be a quick thing.
"There's an ogre over on Mifflin street," she blurted out.
"Perfect, right by Regina's home, so I'm sure she'd be more than willing to handle it to protect all her precious things," he spat with a cocky smirk, turning back towards his preparations as if she was no longer in the room and lighting the last of the candles.
"She… well, Regina is a bit incapacitated at the moment." The sheriff fidgeted, and he watched as Belle reached out a caring arm to steady her.
"Meaning?" He didn't really care, but there was a slight peak of his interest to hear this little tidbit.
"Well, I sort of tried to shoot the Ogre, and when she saw it coming right at me, Regina hit it with a blast of some magic thingy. Only, it backfired since her magic's been so weird lately, and she's currently a little bit… unconscious."
"Then it appears your problem is solved," he spoke, a little too much giddy glee in his voice.
Belle's warning look zapped that right out of him.
"How did the ogre get here?" Belle asked, pointedly ignoring him all over again.
At this, Emma blushed profusely, and he wondered what kind of trouble she'd gotten into exactly.
"That's not really important…" The blonde looked away sheepishly.
"Why of course it is, Dearie. I can't very well help you if you don't tell me that. It could greatly affect what I do."
"Right," Emma sighed, looking to Belle for help. For once, though, his love didn't seem to sense the discomfort, but rather looked on in wait for the answer.
"Let's just say I was practicing… magic with Regina and we somehow managed to open a small portal that it managed to climb through before we could close it."
It was clear that there was more to the story, just as it was clear that Emma Swan had no intention of saying another word about it. She was looking at him pleadingly now, clearly hoping that he would abandon all his plans without a second thought—as always—and come to the town's rescue.
"I don't know what you expect me to do about it, Dearie. I'm not using magic, as you well know."
Emma quickly nodded stepping further into his shop, unfortunately in the opposite direction of the door he so desperately wanted her to exit.
"Yes, I know, but the Blue Fairy is missing and people are gonna get hurt. Can't you make exceptions for life or death situations?" The blonde tried.
He was about to deny her, again, knowing that he could deal with the aftermath at no cost to himself once the date reached completion, but then Belle beat him to the punch.
"Rumple, I think that perhaps I was a bit harsh with the whole no magic rule. While I'd prefer you didn't use it, I'd rather you use magic to be a good man than to purposefully let people get hurt," Belle spoke, sounding more definite in her words as she went on.
He should have expected the answer, really, but it still came as a surprise that the one time he didn't want to use his magic for anything, he was being told he should. The fates really did have a twisted sense of humor when it came to Rumplestiltskin.
And so, begrudgingly, he stormed out from his little dinner set-up without another word. The poor troll never saw such anger-filled magic coming, but at least the town had been saved again.
~~ONCE~~UPON~~A~~TIME~~
"Achoo!"
This time around, Rumple wasn't surprised by the interruption. His shoulders slunk in acceptance, turning from his spot in front of the water's edge. He had been sitting with Belle along the shore, sipping from glasses of wine, and the night was only beginning.
He was slightly less surprised, if possible, when the person evidently seeking to interrupt his date was none other than Regina.
She was clutching a hand to her face, looking worse for wear with her hair blown out around her.
"Why, Regina, to what do we owe this elegant interruption?"
The Queen seemed to pause a moment to compose herself before looking up to him, eyes red and watery. "I need your help." Her voice was deep, hinging on a tone of seriousness that he only found lacked her usual charm.
"So I gathered," he said cockily. "Just make it quick, Dearie, I'm enjoying my evening and would like to keep it that way, as far away from your sniveling as possible."
"It seems that Snow's pet rabbit died and Emma tried to bring it back to life."
He didn't even try to hold back the chuckle that came out at this news, knowing from the girl's lack of experience and Regina's desperate expression that the results were likely quite disastrous.
"And..?" he pressed, waiting to hear the rest of the story before he could turn her down with a smile.
She sighed, turning for a moment to sneeze harshly into her elbow.
"Bless you, Regina," Belle piped up, earning a half smile, half glare from the older woman.
"And she inadvertently brought back to life every dead rabbit from Storybrooke. Only, they ended up being a bit magically enhanced," she explained.
"How so?" he asked, a bit of curiosity peeking through.
"Well, as Henry put it, they appear to be 'bloodthirsty zombie bunnies.' Now is that enough information or must we stand here all day talking when there is a town to save?" Regina snarled.
"And you can't take care of this little problem because…?" This was beginning to sound like a frivolous waste of his time, and it was becoming clear that he would have to find better places to hide with Belle in the future.
"Because, as you may be able to tell, I'm highly allergic to rabbits. I need to be near them to destroy the creatures, but I can't get near them without sneezing my head off, which keeps me from being able to do the magic. You're the only other one here with the power to get rid of them."
Rumplestiltskin had experienced defeat in his life before, but none quite so readily accepted as this. He didn't need to wait for Belle's approval to use his magic, as she was already up and attending to Regina's reaction from the rabbits. In fact, there was nothing that would solve the current problem, so he accepted that once again he was playing the role of saving the town without complaint.
As he stalked off, slowly stumbling through the sand on his bad leg, he had resolved to rid the town of their latest problem. Maybe he wasn't meant to be with Belle, seeing as every time they were together, yet another interruption occurred. Maybe he had done too much evil to get his little Belle any longer.
So Rumple accepted his role in charge of saving the town, but that was not the only resolution he made.
In the back of his mind, Rumple imagined putting one of the fluffy white rabbits into Regina's bed as a gift for later, and his grin at the thought of revenge was enough to bring back just a bit of the hop to his step.
~~ONCE~~UPON~~A~~TIME~~
"Rumple, come on. I know you've been wanting to spend time together, and we will, I just need to grab something from the library," Belle explained patiently, grabbing his hand in her own as she led him towards the door to the building.
He sighed, no longer arguing as he let the small woman pull him towards the library. There was a certain level of defeat behind his movements, shoulders hung low as his gaze met the ground. Was this all they would get? A few stolen moments that were constantly being interrupted by life? Even now, when they had planned to just sit down and watch a movie together, Belle herself had an interruption because she left some book at the library.
Was it too much to ask for a simple date night? He was no simple man, by any means, but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate the little things every once in a while. And most importantly, he knew Belle loved them almost as much as she did being a decent and helpful person.
He sulked along behind her, taking some joy out of the fact that she was holding his hand like a teenager would, and was so lost in thought that he just about ran into her when she abruptly halted inside the doorway.
"Surprise!" She cheered, turning in her spot and wrapping her arms around his neck with a beaming smile.
Confusion filled his mind before Rumple looked up and took in the scene before him. The library had been set up for a nice evening, complete with a catered table, fine wine, and a soft orchestral music playing in the background.
"I'm afraid I don't understand…" This was not what he'd been expecting.
Belle just smiled at him, reaching up on the tips of her toes to pull him into a kiss, meshing their lips together as her soft lips stroked against his own cold ones. She tasted faintly of cherries, which he hungrily accepted as the kiss deepened before both had to pull away for air.
"Everyone felt bad that they kept interrupting our dates after they saw all the effort you'd gone to for me, so we talked and decided to reward you with this. Do you like it?"
Even if he had hated the entire plan, there was no way he could have said no to the hopeful look she was giving him. It was strange how Belle was the only one able to elicit such a reaction from him, but here she was, proving once again that the Dark One was becoming the Whipped One instead. Oddly enough, he didn't mind.
"I love it, Belle. You sure we won't be interrupted this time?" he asked, his voice dropping to a whisper as they were standing so close.
"Well, Ruby will be bringing over the food shortly, but everyone has promised that any problems will just have to be dealt with without you, or at the very least detained until tomorrow morning."
"Tomorrow? Will I be otherwise occupied tonight, then?" he smirked devilishly.
"Oh, absolutely." She grinned, pulling him in for another heated kiss. "Dance with me, Rumple?"
And again, he found himself unable to deny her such a simple request. It didn't matter what they were doing, he was just thrilled to have a night all to themselves, which would apparently be going in his favor later on. That was definitely worth as many dances as she desired.
And so, for that night, Rumplestiltskin danced with his Belle in the dimmed lights of the library. The next morning he would be bombarded once again with odd request for help, specifically one from a young Henry who insisted that his mothers had magically stuck themselves together, but it would become so routine that it didn't even compare to the time spent with his love.