A/N: So I don't usually do these, but here we are. So this fic is loosely based on the play Cyrano de Bergerac, which most people know as "the guy with the big nose who tells the other guy what to say to get that girl to like him." So, there are four chapters left after this one and Belle and Gaston do date for most of them. If that's a problem for you, then you have now been warned. I wouldn't change what happens if I could, and I can't because this is a commission fic. Thanks to everyone who's enjoyed it so far, we are almost halfway done!

Chris Gaston was tall with dark hair, a broad chest, and a pleasantly dim personality – Cyril was pretty sure he was going to end up hating him. The new fire chief was just far too likeable, and Cyril seriously needed to get better at saying no to Bellissima French because he was knocking on the man's door to deliver her message after only having met him twice before.

"Oh hey Mr. Gold," Chris said as soon as he opened the door. "What can I do for you? Is there a problem with the lease or something?"

"No no, nothing like that," he replied. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure."

Chris had done a decent job of getting himself settled into the apartment since Cyril had seen it last, but there were still boxes sitting unopened in most of the free spaces of the room.

"So…" Chris said, looking around awkwardly. Right, Cyril still had to ask him out for Belle. This was going to be ridiculous.

"Are you seeing anyone?" Cyril asked, and Chris' eyes almost bugged out of his head. "That came out completely wrong," Cyril continued before Chris could say anything to make this even more awkward. "I had a young lady ask me if I could get your phone number for her because she'd like to get to know you better."

"Oh!" Chris said, visibly relaxing. "Who is it?"

"Belle French, the librarian. Apparently, you saw her last night at the bar and didn't say anything."

Chris had a pensive look on his face, so Cyril decided to continue.

"Brown hair? Blue eyes? An accent you wouldn't soon forget…"

"Was she the tall one or the short one?"

That's right, she'd been with Ruby.

"Ah, the short one."

"She was really pretty," Chris said a little bashfully. "They both were."

"So can I tell her you'll meet her for coffee?"

"Oh God, no!" Chris replied with wide, terrified eyes. "No, please no."

"Why not?" Cyril asked. He could not imagine a universe in which you wouldn't agree to at least try dating Belle French, and even though Chris Gaston could probably do a lot better with women than he could, it still didn't make a lot of sense.

"I'm not good with girls," Chris said miserably, collapsing into a chair. "I can't talk to them! I get all nervous and sweaty and then I throw up…"

That news shouldn't make Cyril feel so smug, but Chris Gaston had looks that could make girls track him down, so the fact that apparently Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome couldn't handle talking to the women made him feel a little better about his own deficiencies.

"That could be a problem," Cyril replied, looking around the room again. "Haven't you dated before?"

"Yeah, but I'm okay once I get to know them. Do you think she'd be willing to get drinks instead of coffee? I'm a lot funnier to drunk girls."

"Probably not," Cyril said even though he had no damn idea what Belle would be willing to do. The idea of the two of them drinking and then leaving the bar together was a bridge too far and he wasn't going to facilitate it. "She's a very intelligent woman," he continued, trying to twist the knife just a bit. "And very well read."

Chris groaned unhappily and covered his face with his hands. Cyril was thrilled – he'd been a good friend and brought it to Chris Gaston, and Belle had been turned down. So now everything could go back to normal and –

"Can you talk to her?" Chris asked. "I mean, you're her friend, right? Can you explain that I'm just really bad at this kind of thing?"

"Don't you think you should do that yourself?"

"But she sent you to talk to me."

Damn.

"Do you like her?" Cyril asked instead.

"I don't know her," Chris replied. "I mean, she's real pretty but...I don't know. This is all really weird."

"So you want to get to know her," Cyril said.

"Yeah. But I don't want to throw up on her, either."

"Why don't you try writing her?" Cyril replied. He had to get himself out of this situation by any means necessary, because there was absolutely no way in hell he'd survive relaying messages between these two. "Or would you end up vomiting on the letter?"

"Write her...yeah, that's not a bad idea!" Chris said eagerly. "A letter. I can do a letter. Can you help me write a letter?"

"I don't think that's…"

"Just look it over," Chris continued. "All I need is somebody to proofread it and make sure I don't say anything stupid, you know? Please, Mr. Gold! I would owe you so much!"

Cyril was really going to regret this.

"So he wants to write me a letter?" Belle asked Cyril. He'd come to visit her in the library to tell her about his conversation with Chris Gaston, and she was so excited. "That's really old fashioned, isn't it?"

"In a bad way?" he replied and she thought about it for a few seconds before answering.

"No, not in a bad way. I just can't remember the last time I got a love letter. Maybe in high school?"

"Well, maybe it's time that you had one?"

She thought about that and smiled. It was desperately romantic, wasn't it? It was something that could come out of one of her books. The more she thought about it, the more thrilling it was.

"You're right," she said. "I do deserve a love letter!"

He smiled at her in response. He had a ridiculously nice smile, and she wondered if he knew it. He had to, surely somebody had told him before. She just hadn't really noticed it before now, is all.

"Let me buy you a coffee," she said. "I have lunch in like, twenty minutes and I owe you for being such a good friend."

"You don't have to," he replied. "It's been no trouble at all."

"No, really. I'd really like to. I know I just moved here, but you've been such a good friend so far. It'll be fun!"

"Okay," he said. "Sure. Coffee sounds great."

She was so relieved. She had a friend she had a guy sending her a love letter, and things were really starting to look up for her.

Cyril had invited Chris Gaston over for dinner and proofreading of the letter. His place was much nicer than the one Chris rented, and after Belle had been so excited about the letter he couldn't bear to let her have a bad one. Something told him that the letter Chris as going to come up with would probably be a little underwhelming, so the proofreading would probably be rather intense.

"Thanks again for doing this," Chris said. "I know I'm not great with words, but I worked really hard on this and I think it really says what I was thinking."

"Dear Belle," Cyril read out loud from the page Chris had handed him. "Hi, how are you? I'm really good. You are very sexy. I was really excited you wanted to go on a date. Do you want to get a drink sometime? Chris." Cyril looked over at Chris trying to decide if this was serious or not, but Chris was just looking at him like an excited puppy and Cyril had the sinking suspicion that this was honestly as good as he could do. "You cannot send this to her," Cyril said at last. "This is something you'd pass to a girl in your geometry class in the tenth grade. You can't mail this to a grown woman."

"Why not?" Chris asked. "You told me to write what I was thinking and this is what I was thinking!"

"Okay, you can't send a letter like this," Cyril said. "You have to make it more romantic. Soften some of the rough edges."

"So what would you write?"

"Well, to start off, replace dear Belle with 'my darling Belle,'" Cyril said, waiting for Chris to write the new greeting down. "Then you need to talk about how you feel. What were you thinking the first time you saw her?"

"I thought she was really hot," Chris replied bashfully.

"That's easy," Cyril said. "So instead of that, you say 'your beauty inspires me.'"

"That's really good," Chris replied as he wrote. "What do I write now?"

"What did you do after you saw her?"

"I uh...I ran away."

"Why?"

"I was getting really sweaty."

Cyril was beginning to wonder how he was supposed to turn this sow's ear into a silk purse. Chris Gaston was nice enough, but he was awkward and shy, and just a little dim. There wasn't anything wrong with any of it, but Cyril thought Belle probably had bigger ideas about him.

"Write 'your presence overwhelms me, and I find myself drowning in you.'"

"Wow," Chris said as he wrote the last words. "You should write this letter."

"No, I can't do that," Cyril replied. "Your letter was fine."

"But this is so much better. Please, you've got to help me out."

He shouldn't do this. It was pitiful and bordering on creepy, but at the same time he had seen Belle's face when she'd said that she hadn't had a love letter since high school. She'd never accept it if he knew where it came from, but if he gave Chris this little jump start then Belle would be happy and would never, ever have to know the truth.

"Alright," Cyril said at last, snatching the paper. "You will definitely owe me a favor after this."

"Yeah, of course," Chris said. "Anything you want, just name it."

"I'll let you know," Cyril replied, already feeling words starting to build up inside of him until he couldn't even stand it anymore and he just had to put his pen to the paper and write.

My Dearest, Belle, he began, slowly so he could watch the ink as it spread and settled. Sweet Belle. The hours since our last meeting tick by like years and still I am bereft. My life seems divided now into two distinct periods – before Belle and after Belle, and I can never go back to the man I was before. Can it really only be two days since we last met? He crossed out the last few words, because this was from Chris and Chris and Belle had never properly met, and replaced it with since our eyes first met in that crowded bar?

I'll never know what you saw in me, what in my sinner's heart called out to you and yet you looked at me and saw worthiness. Sweet beautiful Belle, you draw me like the tides to the moon. I laid eyes on you and was speechless at your beauty and charm.

Please, sweetest Belle, let me know you. Let me know your heart and soul. I want to learn you like a poem, I want to know your dreams and your joys and your sorrows. I'll be dying a little each second until I receive your response, sweet, darling, Belle.

Yours in all ways,

He almost signed his name but then caught himself – this was not a letter from him, it was from Chris Gaston who had retreated to the kitchen to check on dinner so Cyril could write. Still, though, Cyril couldn't quite bring himself to surrender the letter, either. Instead, he signed with an ornate C. It was close enough, and it was the best he could do for right now.