100 Theme Challenge #69: Villain. Enjoy my new OTP
"You are not a monster. A villain in the tale of others, but the hero in mine. Rumple, you are not someone to be feared by me, are you?"
"No."
Storybrooke was quiet at night. The place quieted after eight o'clock at night, everything from the general store to the library to Granny's Diner down the street. To be honest, Rumple hated it, feeling that after eight o'clock he was even more cut off from the world. Not that they would even accept him if he went strolling down the street with his limp abound and his so called 'scary' face, like the children liked to say.
Rumple never closed at eight o'clock like the rest of the town. He was notorious for being out of the bubble, closing his doors at ten o'clock at night because it wasn't like he had anything else to do at home. His house was empty, even when his footsteps rang through the hallways and a fire roared in the living room.
But one night she came home. With a confused look and chocolate curls, she asked if he was Mr. Gold, and wondered if he would protect her. It was the first time that he had closed early because he had an argument with Regina and he closed with the rest of town. Yet she had come in anyway, completely disregarding the closed sign that hung from his door.
"Sorry dearie, I'm closed," he had said without thought, not even turning around to see who was there bugging him. He wasn't tolerable for deals, no matter how tempting the reward would be in the end.
"Are you Mr. Gold?" she had asked. Rumple knew that voice anywhere, the voice that he had thought was lost long ago when he still went by a different name.
He turned slowly to face her, heart soaring at what it was already believing but mind screaming that it was another trap for him to fall into. Yet as he turned and saw blue eyes that were wide and confused and so familiar but needed his help, Rumplestiltskin knew that he wasn't dreaming like all the times before.
"I was told that you would protect me, and that I should tell you Regina locked me up," she spoke, breaking him through his own thoughts and memories.
Still, some part of him was unbelieving that she was really here in front of him. He hobbled up to her, some part of him noticing that she backed away slightly but held her place like the brave lioness she always was, and placed a hand on her shoulder, gently squeezing it so that he could actually feel her and make sure that she was there.
"You're real," he breathed.
The next thing that he knew was that he was holding her in his arms and a choked sob was trying to make its way through his throat. She was stiff in his arms, his Belle didn't know who he was, but didn't immediately push him away like he thought she might.
"Yes…yes I'll protect you…" he murmured, knowing that she could hear him. His voice sounded so broken, so close to tears, he had to collect himself. It was at his words that she pushed him away.
"Do I know you?" she asked, with confused, her body language making it obvious that she was uncomfortable.
Rumplestiltskin pulled himself away, reminding himself that there would be plenty of times for that when she remembered, when everyone remembered and they would be together finally after all these years.
"No, you don't," the words stabbed his heart but he barreled on, "but I will protect you."
And she smiled at him, that smile that he hadn't seen for years, and everything was perfect in the world. It didn't matter that his son was still missing, that the curse was still unbroken, that everyone in town hated him, or even that the town closed at eight o'clock either way, because she smiled at him that way and he was whole again.
"I remember!"
The first words that she had spoken to him, besides his name, and it was perfect. She remembered but she still ran into his arms, declaring love and joy and tears were all strewn at him and once, and he realized that not only was he whole to have her, but she had finally found him, and they were both whole.
"I love you." Even now the words healed something and made his heart warm in ways that he thought had long since iced over with hate and desperation.
"And I love you too," he replied without hesitation.
She laughed and cried, sharing kisses and hugs. And everything was perfect with the world again.
Yet he couldn't help but ask the one question that sat on his mind since she moved in. The once question that sat on his mind when she hugged him and kissed him and had their dates (however they were interrupted the question still lingered). It had been almost two weeks, and things had been hectic, but he still worried most about the question that lingered over his thoughts.
'Belle, my Belle, really doesn't mind being stuck here with the beast, the villain of the story for her true love?'
He could hear her answering the question, chiding him that he knew the answer and that she was more than happy, but he couldn't help the lingering doubt that plagued his mind and made it so he couldn't concentrate on his work that he so desperately needed to think about.
She was making dinner, and even though she had burned more than enough meals, he still thought that everything that she cooked was better than any meal he had ever had before. She enjoyed cooking for him either way, so to him it was a win-win.
"Belle?" he spoke gently, a tone that she had grown to recognize as his one that he used when he needed to talk. She turned away from her food immediately, giving him all her attention.
"Yes Rum?" she asked. There was worry in her voice, and he realized that his Belle was scared she had done something wrong.
'Wrong to anger the beast…' he thought sourly. His face pinched, and she could see hers grow more worried.
"What's wrong?" she asked, putting away the knife she had just been using to cook and coming closer to him.
"Are you happy hear?" he spewed the words forth before he even had the chance to think about what he was asking.
For a moment there was silence and Rumple feared that everything he had been thinking over the days had been true. She hated him, wanted to leave, but she simply had nowhere to go without him. He was the crutch holding her back, for once he was someone else's crutch and not the other way around. Then her face relaxed, and he could breathe again.
"Of course I'm happy here. There's no other place I would rather be," she told him, "why do you ask?"
"Are you sure you want to be here with the beast, the so called villain, in so many stories?"
"You are not a monster. A villain in the tale of others, but the hero in mine. Rumple, you are not someone to be feared by me, are you?"
"No."
And it was the truth; he would never harm her, even if his own life depended on it. She knew he felt that way, and while he could lose his temper, he would never do anything to harm her. The way that she smiled at him and made his heart glow, it was better than any deal he could think of.
"You are not the villain, you're my hero Rumplestiltskin, and I love you," she whispered at him.
"I love you too," he breathed.
She smiled, they kissed, and all was right with the world. And Rumplestiltskin believed, for the first time in his life, he was the hero of his own tale.