Belle was trying really hard to meet new people. She'd made the mistake in her last town of waiting for other people to notice her, and after three years she had realized that nobody would miss her if she left. That was the day she'd started looking for a new job in a new town, and then she'd ended up here. She was going to make friends, or she was going to die trying.
So, when the waitress Ruby had told Belle that The Rabbit Hole was a popular after work destination she'd made a point to make it to happy hour the following Wednesday. She'd been a little nervous until Ruby had appeared out of nowhere and greeted Belle like an old friend.
It turned out to be a good thing that Ruby was there, because Belle had definitely not been prepared for the reality of being the new girl in a small town. The men in the bar were hovering awkwardly, and if she'd been alone it wouldn't have been nearly as funny (and probably more than a little off-putting).
"Excuse me," Belle heard from over her shoulder right as a tall stranger leaned onto the bar next to her. "You look familiar."
Belle was trying to figure out how she could possibly know this man when she heard Ruby speak beside her.
"Keith…" Ruby said with a warning tone to her voice.
"No, I'm serious!" he replied. "You look really familiar."
"I don't know," Belle said. "I just moved to town this week."
He hmmed like he was thinking before he suddenly snapped and pointed at her.
"I've got it!" he said. "Have you done porn?"
Belle almost couldn't believe he'd actually said that and she actually started laughing more out of shock than anything else. It was definitely the worst pick up line she thought she'd ever heard. He was looking pleased with himself, apparently not realizing she was laughing at him and somehow that just made it even funnier.
"So…" he said in a low voice, leaning in a little. "Can I get your number?"
"Oh my God," she forced out, wiping tears from her eyes. "No, sorry."
He seemed flustered, but now Ruby was giggling, too, and that set Belle off again so he seemed to decide it was time to get out while he still had some dignity left.
"That was so bad," Belle said to Ruby once she had herself more or less under control. "Is he alway like that?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Ruby replied. "But that was really bad, even by his standards."
They both drank in silence for a few moments and Belle was mostly past her giggles when Ruby finally spoke again.
"We need to get you a decent date," she said authoritatively, sitting up and looking around. "Do you like guys or girls or what?"
"Guys," Belle replied. "Although I appreciate the open-mindedness."
Ruby was scanning the bar over Belle's head, and not for the first time Belle wished she was just a little bit taller when the other woman gasped and Belle turned to see what she'd seen. There was a guy at the bar looking at the two of them with a shy look on his face. He was pretty attractive – and tall – and Belle was sure that this town wasn't going to offer up anything much better than him.
"I think he could work," Belle said to Ruby.
"Yeah," Ruby replied a little dreamily. "I mean...I don't actually know him. But yeah, he's pretty good looking."
Belle smiled at the stranger invitingly, hoping he'd take the hint and come over to them but instead he just turned abruptly and hurried away. How disappointing. Belle pouted and turned back to Ruby just in time to see Cyril on the other side of the room talking to the bartender. She was so excited to see the second person she knew in town that she could barely stand it.
He seemed to notice her not long after she'd noticed him, and when the bartender walked away from him he came over and joined Belle and Ruby where they sat.
"Hello, Belle, Ruby," he said as he looked between the two. "How are you?"
"I'm doing great," Belle said, kicking her injured foot up and holding it so he could see that she'd gotten into a pair of heels without much incident. "Thanks again for all your help earlier."
"Don't mention it, it was my pleasure."
"This sounds like a fun story," Ruby said with a wolfish smile. "So what happened?"
"It's a long story," Belle replied at the same time that Cyril said it's nothing, but Ruby wasn't willing to let it go.
"No secrets!" she exclaimed. "At least, not yet. You just got here!"
"I got locked out of my apartment a couple days ago and had to get some help to get back in," Belle said, carefully avoiding the part where she'd been naked at the time. "Cyril was nice enough to let me back in and patch up my foot after I stepped on some broken glass or something in the street."
"How sweet!" Ruby said, looking towards Cyril. "I didn't know you had it in you, Mr. Gold."
He looked like he might blush, but right at that moment the bartender returned and offered him an envelope which he accepted and tucked into the inner pocket of his coat.
"It's been nice seeing you ladies," Cyril said once the bartender had left. "You have a lovely evening."
Belle was a little disappointed that he couldn't hang out anymore, but they would definitely see each other again at some point so she shook off the strange mood and went back to her new friend and her drink.
Cyril hadn't expected to run into Belle French at The Rabbit Hole while collecting rent, but it had been a nice surprise. He wasn't used to seeing a friendly face while he was collecting rent, and he had been meaning to check on her after he'd bandaged her foot up. He'd been worried about her, and now he knew she was okay. So there was no reason to go see her again, which he found just a little bit more disappointing than he wanted to think about.
He was so absorbed in thought that he didn't notice that Keith Something-or-another was on a beeline to slam into him. Cyril was able to pivot enough that the taller man bumped into his shoulder rather than straight into him, but there was still a collision.
"Watch it, Scales," Keith said before Cyril could even come up with his own response, and then turned and tried to walk away.
Cyril bristled and before he could think the better of it, he reached out and grabbed the other man's arm.
"Is that it?" Cyril asked as soon as Keith looked back at him. "The best you could come up with was scales?"
The bar had gotten quiet as soon as Cyril grabbed Keith's arm, but now you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone was watching to see what would happen and Cyril was absolutely not going to back down.
"Whatever, man," Keith replied. "I don't have time for this."
"It just seems like you could have done better," Cyril continued, stepping back and relaxing his posture as much as possible. "You see a man who looks like, well, me and that was the very best you could do?"
"Oh like you're so damn clever?"
"I'm definitely more clever than that."
"Prove it."
"Let's start small," Cyril replied, rolling his eyes and trying to figure out where to start. "You could have gone cinematic: I'm sorry, sir, the audition for Swamp Thing is next weekend." There was a nervous giggle that went through the room and which gave him some courage. "Oh, so this is what would have happened if Crocodile Dundee slept with the crocodile!" He continued, drawing another laugh. "You could have been vulgar, I've never met a man who was ribbed for her pleasure! or cultured Oh my God I loved your performance in Phantom of the Opera. Literary: Have you caught Captain Hook yet?"
There was a smattering of applause when he paused and he took a deep breath before beginning again. Keith was looking around in annoyance which just egged Cyril on further.
"There's also complimentary," he said. "I absolutely loved you in Fantasia! or frugal, you must save a fortune on the dentist because those little birds do such a good job cleaning your teeth. Or even herpetological: excuse me, sir, will you be needing a heat lamp?" He stepped forward into the taller man's space for this last little twist of the knife. "All those ideas and you went with scaly?"
Everyone was laughing and applauding now, and Cyril knew that he'd won.
"You need to back off," Keith said darkly.
"Or what?" Cyril asked, refusing to back down to this man. Keith took a swing, but Cyril had been expecting it and dodged just in time for the fist to whizz past his ear. It was precisely the move he'd been hoping for, and it was a matter of seconds to slam his cane into Keith's solar plexus. Keith doubled over immediately and Cyril shoved him over to a deafening round of applause from the rest of the bar.
He felt like he could conquer the world as he walked out the door and into the street.
Cyril had a breakfast meeting with Regina Mills the next morning, and by the time he got to the diner she was already waiting for him.
"Good morning, Cyril," she said with a knowing smile as soon as he sat down. "I heard you had some fun yesterday."
"And what would that be?" he asked.
"Don't be modest," she replied. "Apparently you made quite a scene at The Rabbit Hole. It's all anyone is talking about this morning."
"I'd hardly call it a scene," he said. "It was more of a disagreement."
"It was a scene," Ruby the waitress said. Cyril hadn't even noticed she was cleaning up the table next to theirs, but she didn't seem at all embarrassed about having been eavesdropping.
"See?" Regina said. "It was a scene. Ruby agrees."
"You should have seen it," Ruby said to Regina. "Belle – you know, the new librarian? – she couldn't talk about anything else all night. It was absolutely nuts."
Regina's smile had a knowing quality to it when she turned back to face Cyril.
"You hear that?" she said to him. "Belle couldn't talk about anything else. Ruby, would you say that it sounds like Belle has a little bit of a crush on someone?"
"I dunno," Ruby replied, picking up the stack of dishes that she'd been clearing off the table. "Could be?"
He could feel himself starting to blush and he knew that had been Regina's purpose in pushing the issue, but it did give him a lot to think about. Belle was very sweet, and he was sure she had flirted at least a little bit the night before (although she'd also been drinking). His imagination was running away with him and try as he might he could not make himself stop believing it.
Cyril was polishing a silver candelabra in the pawn shop when Belle suddenly appeared again. She was wearing a sweater and a short skirt and smiling brilliantly.
"Hey," he said as soon as he saw her. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I have a little favor I need to ask you," she said, leaning against the counter coyly.
"Do you?" He was trying really hard not to notice how pretty she was, but that was a losing battle. She was so beautiful and ever since this morning he'd been running Regina's teasing through his head over and over again. Belle definitely didn't like him – but what if she did?
"This is so embarrassing," she replied. "But I have a little bit of a crush on somebody and I need your help."
"Really? Do tell."
"Well, I know I've only been in town a little while, but there's this guy I saw yesterday and I think I'd like to get to know him better."
He felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest at her words. Had he been that different? Was she even talking about him? He was almost definitely overreacting, but it felt a little bit like he was floating above himself and watching the whole conversation as a spectator.
"Where did you see him?" he asked.
"At the bar," she replied and he felt like he was soaring. "We didn't get a chance to talk, but I think he liked me, too, and I was hoping you could help me set up a date."
Suddenly, everything was crashing down around him. It wasn't him. She didn't like him, it was some other man from the bar. Cyril felt like he'd been punched in the stomach and it took all his willpower to keep it off of his face.
"And how can I help?" he asked once he was sure that he wouldn't vomit feelings at her if he spoke.
"I've been asking around, and he lives in one of your buildings. He's the new fire chief, Christopher Gaston."