I know it's probably been done but Belle and Killian start a book a club and their membership grows as time goes by.
Spoilers for the books 'Treasure Island' and 'The Count of Monte Cristo' I guess?
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Building a friendship with Killian Jones had been the last thing on Belle's mind when she very literally ran into him in the library one afternoon. If anything, the only thing on Belle's mind at the time was to make sure she didn't trip over the pirate, who had commandeered the floor between the fiction and children's sections and was surrounded by piles of open books from both.
"I was searching for maps and star charts of this realm," He had explained, hand nervously scratching behind his ear. "But I stumbled on this tale of a cat and two children home alone. Enlighten me, lass. Why exactly would a cat need a hat?"
Belle couldn't help the smile that escaped her at his question, having tried to answer the same question for Will several weeks earlier, with only a little success.
"Because a cat wearing a mat or a bat would be rather silly, don't you think? Even for a rhyming children's book?" She had replied with a smile.
Hook had returned her smile with a grin, and quietly asked where he could find the maps he had come for in the first place. Belle pointed to a line of atlases several aisles off. Killian moved to pick up the piles of wayward books he had pulled down in his curiosity, and Belle knelt to help. Once they finished re-shelving the books he stood up and she would have been content to let him quietly go his way, but caught sight of a certain book at the bottom of the shelf and decided not to hold her tongue. Maybe someone as eager to read as Killian Jones clearly was would appreciate her skills and expertise as a librarian.
"If you want a book to read you might try Treasure Island," She suggested off-handedly, trying to sound casual but gauging his reaction to the suggestion. "It's technically a children's book but there's a lot of surprising depth to it."
Belle held the book out for him and Hook shifted his eyes between her and the proffered text. "Is that your professional opinion?" He asked, eyebrow quirked up in consideration.
She shrugged. "There's not much of a line separating personal and professional for me when it comes to books and stories. If I recommend a book it's because I like it and I want someone else to enjoy it too. Maybe even learn something from it."
He watched her for a moment before his face lit up in acceptance. "I'll bite," He said casually, taking the book in hand. "If this book is as good as you seem to think then I may be back, lass." Hook strolled out of the library, door softly shutting behind him as he turned down the street.
From the way he had skipped past the maps and atlases all together, Belle briefly wondered if Hook hadn't lied about coming into the library for maps in the first place, if maybe he'd been looking for a good book instead.
Several days later she found him sitting alone in Granny's, nursing a coffee and the last few pages of Treasure Island. She quietly approached him, ready to ask if he was enjoying the book, when Killian beat her to the punch and broke the silence between them with his own quarry.
"Jim doesn't go back for the rest of the treasure?" He questioned out loud, before nodding his head in approval. "Smart lad. He'd make a decent pirate. Or at the very least he would survive a good while. A smart pirate knows when to cut his losses."
"So you don't think he ever went back for it? Not even years down the road?" Belle asked, still standing by his table.
Killian shook his head. "No, I don't. I'd say he made a comfortable living for himself out of what he took from the first haul. The lad was resourceful, there's no reason to think he wouldn't have made something of himself with that sort of financial security."
Belle paused for a moment before asking her next question. "So what did you think of Long John Silver?"
"A man of dubious moral grayness with a soft spot for children acting as a mentor to the protagonist? Parts of him veered a tad close to the heart, I'll admit, but he's actually turned into a favorite of mine, given the descriptions of him and his character."
"He's a fascinating character, that's for sure. Not the sort of grey-colored character you see in a children's book," Belle agreed.
Killian looked at her appalled. "Is that all you have to say about the man? He's an interesting character? Surely a bibliophile like you has more to say on the subject than that? Have a seat, lass. We need to hash this out," Killian nodded to the chair across the table from him, Belle taking the offered seat.
They spent the next several hours and three cups of coffee arguing and discussing the moral grayness of Long John Silver, the importance of the practical and virtuous Dr. Livesay, and the over-arching themes of the coming of age story as a whole. By the time evening had come around and they each realized they needed to be on their way, Hook was grinning at her in enjoyment of their discussion.
"So the pirate approves then? Of my choice in books?" Belle asked, happy with the way the afternoon had turned out.
"You took a gamble lass, giving me a book about pirates, but it paid off. Well done. What else have you got?"
Belle quickly learned that Killian Jones was a voracious reader. When she suggested he read the first Harry Potter book, he had been affable enough to the idea. But two days later she found him scouring the library shelves for the next book in the series, and another two days after that he was searching for the fourth book. Belle asked Emma about Killian's seemingly insatiable reading habits but the sheriff just smiled widely, a sparkle coming to her eyes.
"He uses them for answers," Emma explained. "There's so much about this world that Killian is still learning, all the cultural nuances and references and stuff. The books help him answer questions he doesn't even know he has. I mean, you should've heard him and Henry at dinner the other night. They started separating Storybrooke citizens based on Hogwarts houses. Apparently you're either a Ravenclaw or a Gryffindor?"
The next time Belle saw Hook at Granny's, coffee and the seventh book laid out on the table, he loudly proclaimed Sirius Black to be one of his favorite characters ever, and insisted Belle join him in discussing the potential depth of J. K. Rowling's use of star constellations and flowers as characters.
With that meeting and another book recommendation, this time for The Little Prince, the Storybrooke Book Club was inadvertently formed. Killian and Belle met once a month at the same table in Granny's, exchanging ideas and thoughts about their latest reads. The only unwritten rule was that the books they chose could not be about their world or anyone they knew. It made choosing stories rather difficult at times, considering the range of titles that the lives of their friends, family, and acquaintances covered. But over the months the two worked their way through countless classic titles; Don Quixote, The Road, Gone with the Wind, A Midsummer Night's Dream. It didn't seem to matter what they read, they ate up every word and shared their thoughts eagerly and loudly at their table at Granny's. Unfortunately for them, Granny herself seemed to think they were being a little too loud, but immediately silenced any complaints she had when Belle asked her to recommend their next book and join them at their next meeting.
Granny was quick to suggest The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and even dragged Ruby along for the meeting. The two became regular attendees, providing more coffee, fresh perspective, and the first two additions to the 'club'.
One month, when Henry was assigned a book report at school on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it was Killian who suggested bouncing ideas off of the group members for his homework.
"Are you sure this is entirely within the rules of Henry's school? Couldn't he get in trouble for not coming up with his own ideas?" Belle worried as Henry jotted down a particularly insightful set of notes from Granny about Mark Twain's examples of hypocrisy of justice in 'civilized' society.
"Don't think of it in such rigid terms as being within or without of any rules. Think of it as utilizing resources," Killian suggested. "Besides, the lad's always been dead clever in his literature studies, and he's only using this session as a means to find ideas. The analysis and writing will be all Henry, isn't that right lad?" The pirate turned a meaningful eye toward the young man who was still scribbling quickly in his notebook.
Henry twisted his head toward Killian, eyes still locked on his pencil dancing across the page. "See? Rule compliant and book smart. I told you she was a Ravenclaw," Henry said.
"Now lad, I thought we agreed she was a Gryffindor like your grandfather Dave," Hook insisted.
The next meeting saw Archie join up when Belle mentioned to him a passing fancy to read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
"You really don't mind reading about mental disorder and a, well, frankly a poorly run mental institution?" Granny had questioned, sounding genuinely intrigued at the doctor's interest in the book.
"Not at all. I mostly see it as a series of power struggles and character studies. Take Nurse Ratched for example. She's tyrannical in her absolute control of this mental ward and a great antagonist for this story," Dr. Hopper had insisted to them all.
Killian's response had been adamant and fast. "That Ratched woman is bloody wretched and terrifying. The sort to give a man nightmares till the end of his days."
Archie had given Killian a sideways look that Belle was fairly certain he reserved for his patients when he was subtly trying to make them see things his way. "But doesn't she have to be wretched, in order to make the points clearer? Without such a blatant antagonistic character Randle P. McMurphy wouldn't have a worthy adversary. It would be him against an invisible system as the enemy. Ratched has to be that controlling for McMurphy and the other patients to figuratively beat the system."
Hook had laughed loudly at that. "Cricket, you're quite possibly off your rocker, but you make a fair point all the same."
As their latest book club meeting drew to a close, Belle asked everyone for a suggestion on the next book they should read, and was surprised when Killian decided to suggest a book, having never done so in any previous meeting.
"The Count of Monte Cristo," He said, fingers fidgeting on the table nervously. "Swan mentioned it might be a good story."
Belle had read the book before, knew Emma had too, and wondered if it being a 'good story' was all that Emma had said about the book.
Everyone else in the group was on board with the idea though, and Belle could see the palpable relief wash over the pirate when his suggestion wasn't rejected.
"Well then, looks like we're reading The Count of Monte Cristo," Belle announced in finality.
A month later, Killian led an impassioned discussion about his chosen book, focusing on the themes of vengeance, loss, and taking justice into one's own hands with such gusto that Belle wondered how long he had been meaning to suggest the book to the group, and if maybe he hadn't read it already before and just wanted someone to talk to about it.
If anyone else in the group noticed his extra fervor about the book they didn't say anything, only joined in with just as much zeal and enthusiasm.
"The Count's already lost his connection to humanity by then," Ruby noted. "His quest for revenge cut him off from his emotional state, from his very humanity. He was already going to kill the three men for putting him in prison."
Killian shook his head vehemently. "It's the death of Faria that does him in. Faria's affections for the Count tie him to his humanity and it's only when Faria dies that Dantes loses that connection and desire to love and feel. Even then, Dantes goes on to perform several good deeds for those who were kind to him before his imprisonment, then he devotes himself entirely to his revenge with no way of redeeming himself."
"But he had already set himself on the path to revenge by then," Ruby said. "I'm not saying he couldn't come back from it, I'm just saying that even while in prison he didn't want to. He wanted his revenge more than he wanted to move forward."
"Dantes was living in the past, you mean?" Archie chimed in.
"Exactly!" Ruby exclaimed.
Killian buzzed in. "So if he had perhaps joined up with one of the people he helped afterward, maybe that merchant whose ship he replaced, then he could have made a new name for himself? A new life? But instead he chose revenge and innocents were hurt even as he succeeded."
Listening to Killian argue and talk with the other group members Belle remembered what Emma had said before about Killian using the books as a means of learning about this realm. While that was definitely true, Belle was starting to realize that Killian was using the books just as much to learn more about himself, to come to terms with his own past. Reading stories of redemption, revenge, and adventure all helped him grow and find his own way in the world. They were an escape into a classroom of life, teaching him things he hadn't known needed learning.
Belle found herself smiling at the thought, because really, what were stories for if not learning?