Belle loved to take baths, they were warm and she didn't have to think about anything other than getting herself clean. Her papa always told her that her mother loved baths as well, another thing Belle had in common with her. After moving to Villeneuve and beginning to help out more on the small farm, she learned to savor her time in the warm water that soothed aching muscles.
She would relax, book in hand, and let the word around her fall away as she lost herself in fair Verona. Sometimes she'd read it aloud, her papa able to hear her through the thin walls of their home. He'd be carving something small at their kitchen table, sharpened blade slicing easily through the wood as he listened to Belle's voice. He would quote along with her in places, the ones he knew by heart about love and tragedy.
Some nights she wouldn't even bring a book with her, she'd stare up at the ceiling and let her thoughts wander. She would imagine what her life would be like if her mother had lived, how happy her papa would have been to have her by his side forever. Surely things would be different in Villeneuve. How could anyone, even the villagers, not be affected by Belle's mother? She would even hazard to guess that Gaston would steer far away because her mother would surely have put him in his place.
The one thing that didn't change through the years was that bathing was meant to be a solitary endeavor. It was a moment where she didn't have to deal with other people, she could just close her eyes and make all her problems go away with a simple daydream. She'd assumed it would be much the same after marriage because surely the tub wasn't big enough for two people.
Adam had swiftly proved her wrong.
He loved baths as well, more so now that he didn't have to worry about being weighed down by fur ("It's not funny, Belle, I could have drowned!"). It took some getting used to for both of them—Belle liked to sprawl out and Adam was something of a snob when it came to bath oils—but they managed after the first few times.
Adam would sit with his back against the edge and Belle settled carefully in his lap, his arms spread along the sides while she read (not Romeo and Juliet, he'd threatened to throw it out the window last time) or talked. It didn't really matter because she loved how warm he was and the vibrating of his chest when he laughed. She could pass hours like that, breathing in the scent of lavender and feeling his chin against the top of her head when he spoke.
Even years after they were first married, her favorite time to spend with him was during the early evenings when they would bathe as their supper was prepared. She would recline against his chest and watch as the steam curled upwards in a sensual dance towards the vaulted ceilings, disappearing just before they could reach the mural of blue skies and golden butterflies.
"I've some news for you," she says one night, voice soft yet echoing all the same. Adam lets out a noise that made his chest rumble against her back, urging her to continue. She found that he didn't talk when it wasn't necessary, preferring to make sounds of varying decibels that Plumette helped to decipher. "Actually, I want to ask you something first."
"What is it, love," he asks. She turns her head to gaze up at him, finding him with his head tilted back and those lovely blue eyes of his nearly glazed over. He always got so dreamy in these moments, his mind floating away from anything that wasn't Belle.
"What do you think of the name Maurice? Mo for short, of course." He makes another sound that Belle remembers to mean he's thinking. After a brief pause, Adam shrugs and seems to sink slightly further into the hot water. "I've always loved it, but I suppose I'm biased."
"Is your father asking about grandchildren again? Just tell him we're trying our hardest and that he'll have to battle Lumière over potential names." Lumière was always quick to put in his name whenever the talk of children comes up, but Cogsworth is even quicker with his withering knock it off before I knock off your head look. The expression even worked on Adam from time to time, which is good considering their finances would never have been sorted out otherwise.
"Well, they better have that battle figured out in the next eight months or else they'll be too late." Belle rises and steps out, wrapping herself up in one of the large, sheet-like towels that was set out on a table. She waits a moment for the news to sink in, smiling as she turns back towards her husband. Adam was still lying in the bathtub, looking very much like he was trying to decode a secret message. When he does figure it out, his jaw drops and he looks up at Belle like she was an angel come to earth.
"So that's why Plumette hit me when I offered you a glass of wine earlier. Hey, wait a moment, you told Plumette before you told me? That's just not fair!"
"Be honest with yourself, darling, she's far more capable than half the people in this castle."
This was for the 30 Days of Beauty and the Beast thing over on Tumblr and the prompt was bath.