"You… want to what?"

Saphir straightened up at Clopin's question, "I want to run my own puppet show… in another area of the city."

"…. What's wrong with mine?"

"Nothing but- but- " Saphir took a deep breath, "- Esme's allowed to dance now with some of the older women and the musicians, I just… want to be useful as well!"

"You are useful!"

"Sitting there with a tambourine isn't that useful!" Saphir rolled his eyes, reaching into his bag and pulling out a few home-made puppets, "See, I'm not going to steal any of your puppets! I made my own!"

"Okay… do you have some stories in mind?"

Saphir nodded eagerly, "I've read loads of stories and I've made the puppets for them! I can do this, I promise!"

Clopin stared at his younger brother for a moment, wondering when this brat had the audacity to grow up like this.

"Alright." He smiled warmly at Saphir, "Why not?"

He barely caught Saphir as the younger teen leapt in for a hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

…..

"Woe is me! Such a sad and horrid life do I endure!"

Belle paused in the middle of the street, letting her Father continue walking on ahead of her as he chattered about his latest invention, eyes landing on the colourful puppet show to her right, a crowd of children all around it.

The speaker clearly wasn't a girl.

"And why, oh why, should one as beautiful as you be so terribly sad Mademoiselle?"

A second voice, although the same person, this time imitating the posh accents of most of the upper class.

Moving closer, she examined the puppets.

"Why Monsieur! How could you not know?!" The female puppet was dressed in a pink, garish dress which was very similar to the new fashions.

And just as hideous.

Belle couldn't help but giggle.

The male puppet, however, was dressed in black cloth with the beaked mask of a plague doctor attached to the face. Those outfits never failed to make her shudder for some reason, unable to explain the unease she felt, even on a puppet.

"A doctor should be able to see that I suffer from a broken heart!"

Taking a seat on the edge of the fountain, Belle watched the show with interest, unable to stop the smile from appearing on her face.

"A broken heart? Who has broken your heart?"

"That scoundrel! Prince Emilio!"

The children all started to boo, indicating that this was not the first time they had come across the 'villain' of the story.

"Prince Emilio?"

The female puppet nodded, "He promised to marry me! He told me that he loved me and then he ran off with the Duchess!"

Another round of booing.

"Not to worry!" The Doctor announced, "I have just the cure…one kiss!"

Belle couldn't stop herself from laughing, but thankfully, so did the children.

"Just one?" The female puppet sounded disappointed.

"Yes… the choice of who, is up to you." The Doctor puppet moved to turn away, only for the female one to quickly grab him, spinning him around as she pressed their 'lips' together.

The crowd of children all cheered as their parents came back from whatever they'd been doing, several of them placing a few coins in the hat that sat next to the stall.

Belle supposed that it was easier to leave children with a travelling entertainer, rather than drag them around during the daily visit to the markets.

She waited until the crowd of children dispersed, before slowly making her way over to the stall, lightly clearing her throat. When that garnered no reaction, she rapped on the wood.

There was a BANG, followed by a pained "ow", before a head popped him, emerald green eyes meeting her own hazel ones.

"Sorry." She whispered, "I just… wanted to ask about the play?"

"M-My puppet show?" The young man seemed completely shocked by the question, "Did-did you not like it?"

"Actually, I loved it!" Belle was quick to reassure him, "I wish I had your imagination for story-telling."

She watched as the young man flushed slightly at her praise. "It was nothing." He whispered, "I just…. Read a lot of books."

"Really?!" Reaching into her satchel, she pulled out the book she was reading at the moment, "Have you read this one?"

The young man examined the cover for a moment, before a soft smile appeared on his face. "Yeah, It's one of my favourites. Have you read it before?"

"This is my second time." Belle confessed, "Far off places, daring sword fights, a prince in disguise…. I love it."

"You have good taste." The young man was now leaning against his stall window, their faces mere inches away from each other, "Do you go to that fancy school near Notre Dame?"

Belle's face fell slightly, "Only boys are allowed to go there."

"Their loss." The young man shrugged, "You're probably smarter than all of them put together." He looked away, just as a small group of boys from the said school rushed past, "To be fair though, I think I'M smarter than that lot."

One of the boys looked over, sneering at the pair of them, before continuing on his way.

"Snobby brat." The young man rolled his eyes, "I bet he's never had to work a day in his life." He glanced down at the hat by his stall and winced, "Speaking of which, I'd better get back to it, otherwise Clopin will never let me run another puppet show alone again."

"What story are you doing next?"

For a moment, the young man stared at her, before a dazzling smile appeared on his face. "Maybe I'll do our favourite story. Maybe some of the children will be inspired to read it."

Oh, how Belle longed to stay and watch that.

Unfortunately, they were only in the city for a few hours, before they had to travel back to their town.

"I'll have to come back one day and see it."

The young man's face fell slightly, but he nodded in understanding. How many people moved in and out of Paris on a daily basis?

How many people had he talked to, that he never saw again?

"Yeah…" He whispered, "… You'll have to."

They gave each other sad smiles, before Belle started to move away and head back into the crowd. As she moved to try and find her Papa, she couldn't help but think there was something familiar about the young man.

….

"What's wrong with you?" Esmerelda hissed over dinner that night, "You're all… ditzy."

Saphir didn't rise to the bait, staring at his plate with a soft smile, mind clearly somewhere else.

"Leave him alone." Clopin quickly stopped Esme from cuffing her brother around the back of his head to get his attention, "Eat your food, okay? Imelda worked hard to cook this."

He would let his brother have his daydreams.

First love was always like that.