"Ruby's making a commercial for Granny's," Belle said late one evening.
"That's nice," Gold responded with, not even looking up from the book he was reading. He had little interest in the new morning show for the town they found themselves trapped in.
"She's quite excited about it," Belle continued with.
"I don't know why. Everyone knows about Granny's already."
Belle shrugged. "Have you considered making a commercial for the pawn shop?"
His eyes didn't even waver from the page, though she noticed he hadn't actually flipped the page in some time. "No."
"But no one ever comes in there."
"People come in there all the time."
"Well, yes…but never to actually buy anything. When was the last time you actually sold something to someone?" His pause told her everything she already knew. "See! You can't even remember! They only come in to accuse you of things you didn't do and to get you to do something for them that you don't want to do."
"That's just fine with me," he muttered and finally flipped a page of his book.
"I'm going to be on the show." That finally got his attention and he carefully placed a bookmark in between the pages of his book (Belle noticed he flipped back a couple pages first before doing so) and closed it up, setting it on the table.
"Does that mean you're going to be leaving bed even earlier every morning?" The words came out almost as a growl.
Belle grinned and waited for a moment, letting him stew and worry, before she answered. "No. It's just a once a week thing. They have me doing a book discussion every Tuesday. I'm going to start this week with Anna Karenina."
"Excellent choice." He knew she had been reading that book this week and would no doubt finish it a few days before she went on the air for the first time. He had no plans to watch this new show, but he knew he'd be tuning in every Tuesday to watch his love discuss her passion. He didn't quite like the thought of others getting to vicariously share that passion but if Belle was happy, if Belle wanted it, then who was he to complain? "I'm still not doing a commercial for that bloody show."
"Oh come on, Rumple. Here, I even wrote something for it." She pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket and tossed it on the table.
He gave her one of those looks and picked it up to glance down at it and quickly let out a snort of derision.
"What?"
"Free parking? Really?"
"I thought maybe folks needed an incentive to come in. It seemed like a good way to not eat into your profits while eating into the town's." She left the words and the mayor's out of it. But he knew very well what she meant.
"There is nothing but free parking in this town." Regina never had been good at instituting things that would increase the town's coffers. He continued to read Belle's idea for a commercial. "Can you actually imagine me saying this? 'Birthday coming up? Maybe an anniversary? How about…'" And his voice turned dark, sultry, and just a tiny bit evil. "'Valentine's day…' Somehow I think this will keep more people away. Perhaps I should do it."
"Well, fine. It's up to you…"
"Obviously…"
"I just think it would be a good thing is all. Just keep it in mind, maybe?" She picked up her own book from her lap and let the subject go. She had said enough.
Belle sat down with a bowl of popcorn in her lap. "It's almost time, Rumple! Get out here or you'll miss it!"
"And that would be a bloody shame," he muttered.
"What was that?" Belle asked, her voice just a little too sweet for him to believe she hadn't actually heard him.
He came around the corner, still dressed in his pajamas and yawning. It wasn't even eight in the morning and while Belle enjoyed getting up at dawn, Rumplestiltskin tended toward sleeping in. Belle often had her morning tea and read a little before crawling back in with him to wake him up. This day she had crawled back in only briefly before throwing open the curtains and forcing him out of bed.
He stopped and stared at the bowl she held in her lap. "Popcorn, dear?"
"Well, we're watching something. It seems popcorn is appropriate. Have you eaten breakfast?"
He blinked once…twice...and shook his head. Sometimes he thought he never would completely understand this woman who was brave enough to fall in love with him. "No. Um…let me just get my tea." Tea and popcorn. Somehow it just didn't quite go together, especially at the rather ungodly hour of 7:50 in the morning. But if it made Belle happy, he would go along with it.
He fetched the tea, added a spot of milk and a couple teaspoons of sugar, and returned to her. She patted the couch next to her and he immediately sat down. It didn't matter what they were doing. As long as he could sit next to her, knees touching and her hand often straying to rest lightly on his thigh, he was happy. She held out the bowl and he just couldn't deny her. He took a handful of the buttery concoction and choked it down, gratefully finishing it off with his tea.
"So how much of this thing do I have to watch?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "Just until we get to your commercial."
"I still can't believe you talked me into it."
Belled smiled with pride.
Rumplestiltskin opened his mouth to speak, but Belle stopped him. "Shh…it's starting."
They watched the rather insipid opening, followed by Whale's terrible "love doctor" shtick. Belle giggled at it and Rumplestiltskin groaned.
"He's really quite awful, isn't he?" Belle asked.
"Is he as insufferable in person?" Rumplestiltskin knew she probably had to deal with him in the studio.
"More so," Belle said, giggling again.
The first commercials on weren't his. One was for the mechanic, promising free towing and a brake check. Rumplestiltskin rolled his eyes as Belle jotted down the number. "They're the only mechanic in town," he pointed out, rather helpfully he thought.
"You never know when it might come in handy." Belle shrugged and set the notebook aside.
The other commercial was for a bar called The Rabbit Hole. Belle was sure they'd driven past it before, a rather seedy place on the outskirts of town. "Vile place," Rumplestiltskin muttered.
"You've never been there then?" She looked at him out of lowered eyelashes.
"Just to collect the rent."
They sat through another ten minutes of the show before they get to the next set of commercials. The first one up was the one for Granny's Diner. Both Rumplestiltskin and Belle stared at the screen in complete silence. Neither was able to say a word for the first thirty seconds or so. Belle finally managed to speak. "Wow that is really…"
"Bad? Horrible? Terrifying?"
Belle nodded. "All of the above, certainly. Poor Ruby. I don't know what to say to her when I see her next." Ruby had been so proud of her commercial. Belle suspected she hadn't actually seen it and now that she had she knew she'd be pretty embarrassed by it. She guessed not everyone was comfortable in front of the camera. Maybe Belle could help coach her for a redo in the future. The producers of the show had said she was a natural for television.
Almost as soon as Ruby's disaster of a commercial ended (with Rumplestiltskin snorting out "avacadoes"), the screen flashed to a shot of Gold's Pawn Shop. Belle squealed as the voice-over he had done for the sequence of images someone had taken of the shop began.
"I have your life?" she muttered and turned to look at him.
"I might have changed your script a little."
Belle noted he at least had the good graces to look somewhat chagrined. "Really now?" she murmured, raising her eyebrows at him as she looked back to the screen.
"I thought that was much more 'me.'"
"I'm sure." She paused to listen to his next on-screen words. "Those puppets were people? Oh Rumple, can't you turn them back?"
He cringed slighty. "Unfortunately not. And that was not my fault. That was Jiminy's fault."
She gave him a sideways look. "Archie, really? There's a story there I want to hear later and I suspect it is not Archie's fault." With a slight huffing noise, she turned her eyes back to the screen. "Poisons and potions and curses. Oh great. That will get people in if nothing else will."
"Mission a success then," he said and smiled at her, patting her lightly on the shoulder.
"Hardly," she muttered. "You changed nearly everything I had written down."
"Now now, I did keep some of it," he protested.
"Right. And what is with that accent Rumple? You don't talk like that." He had a lovely speaking voice, certainly accented, but different than how he spoke in the commercial. It had shocked at first. It wasn't the voice of her beloved.
"I was going for Scottish used car salesman." He turned to her, a rather wide grin plastered on his face. "Did I succeed?"
Belle just shook her head. Her love would always surprise her in some way or another. "Admirably I'd say." He leaned close to her and wrapped his arms around her. She scooted closer to him and leaned toward him to place a chaste kiss on his cheek. "If one can really call that admirable that is." Belle giggled.
Rumplestiltskin smirked and leaned forward to capture her lips in a somewhat less than chaste kiss. After a moment, Belle pulled slightly away. "Well, at least you kept the bit about free parking." Rumplestiltskin laughed out loud and kissed her once more.