LunarSinner said:
Hmmm, I had a little idea of a prompt; One weekend during a storm, the power goes out. Instead of playing video games, Bae decides to play a board game that all three of them can play together. (Bae possibly teaming up with his dad to beat his mother ^_^)
Tinuviel-undomiel said:
Squeee! Maybe Belle and Gold can dance at some point in this verse.anonymousnerdgirl said:
Adoption!verse: Belle and Bae play a prank on Gold.
Gold was thankful that they had at least settled into the cabin before the freak storm hit. The rain wasn't so bad, but the wind was a bit disconcerting this far into the woods. He was a little afraid one of the trees might come down through the roof – had the leasing agent been keeping up with the property and having the dead trees removed? He should have checked before he brought his family up here. What if something happened?
"You know," Belle said from her perch on the window seat. "I always liked the rain."
She'd retreated there not long after the storm started with a glass of wine and a book, both of which were laying forgotten on the floor as she stared absently out the window. Bae had somehow misplaced his bongos (though Gold was pretty sure that if he were inclined to look into it they could probably be located in Belle's suitcase) and had retreated to his video games. It was a lazy day, at least. Which honestly, was nice. Gold was stretched out on the sofa listening to the rain on the roof and watching Belle and Bae in turns. He couldn't honestly remember the last time he was this happy, or this relaxed.
Suddenly, the house shook with a lightning strike nearby, followed quickly by a loud rumble of thunder that damn near made the windows rattle. Bae looked startled and conflicted, as though debating to himself whether or not he was too old to go hide under a bed while Belle, who had been looking at the place it hit, had damn near fallen off her seat in her surprise. Gold kept his chuckle to himself, instead coming over to stand next to her (after discretely moving her wine glass onto a table so that if she did fall she at least wouldn't stab herself) and look out the window.
"It was right there," she said with eyes wide. "I swear, the lightning hit that hill right there. I've never seen a lightning strike so close."
"Did you make a wish?"
"Are you supposed to make wishes on lightning strikes?"
He shrugged.
"Honestly I don't know. It just seemed like you should commemorate the occasion somehow."
She tossed him a long suffering look as another, smaller, strike happened a bit further away than the last one and out of view of the window.
"Do you get thunderstorms up this way often?" Belle asked.
"I don't know," he confessed. "I've only been up here a few times myself."
"Why not?"
"No one to go with," he said with a shrug.
Belle looked like she might say something again, but another two strikes in quick succession had Bae leaping to his feet and discarding his game on a table. A third, harder than the first two had him quickly coming over to sit next to his mother. He was trying to be casual, and didn't cling to her, but his rigid body language and wide-eyed glances told the whole story. Belle didn't draw any additional attention to him, draping an arm over his shoulders and pulling him against her comfortingly without even looking at him.
Gold had to resist the urge to smile. He should probably be jealous that Bae had instantly gone to his mother for comfort and not him, but honestly wasn't that what mothers were for? Your first and best source of comfort and love and safety? Fathers were those things, too, but it was different. Belle would always be Bae's safe place, and she would have been even had they both been in the picture all along (and my wasn't that a pleasant picture?). Of course, that didn't mean he had nothing to offer. He sat down on the other side of Bae, making sure the boy was surrounded on both sides. He'd been prone to panic attacks and anxiety as a child, he knew small spaces sometimes helped.
"The storm probably won't last much longer," he said conversationally. "The wind is pretty strong, so it's moving fast."
"You're right," Belle replied. "I just hope it clears before dark."
Another lightning strike, and then the power flickered. Belle squeezed Bae just a little tighter and he wondered if perhaps this aversion to the thunder was learned rather than innate. The power flickered again, and then once more before it went off completely.
"What happened?" Bae said nervously.
"The power just went out," Gold said as casually as he could. "It probably happens up here all the time with all the trees. I'm sure once the storm passes they'll put the lines to right."
"And in the meantime," Belle said cheerfully. "We play a game. You and your dad got games in the city, right?"
Bae nodded.
"Well, go and get them!"
Bae looked a little reluctant to leave, but went off on his mother's instruction anyway.
"He's trying so hard to be brave," Belle said proudly once he was out of earshot.
"Not a big fan of thunder?"
"You noticed?" she said with a slight blush creeping across her face. "No, I'm not. It's silly and I try not to let him notice but...he notices."
Gold didn't say anything right away, unsure of exactly what to say to comfort her when another thunderclap had her jumping again.
"Oh God, it's so stupid," she groaned with a nervous giggle at the end.
He wanted to hold her. He wanted to put his arm around her the same way she had done with Bae and hold her close and keep her safe. But that was what husbands and lovers were for, not co-parents, not friends.
"Not at all," he consoled. "You can't help a fear response."
"I just wish he didn't get frightened," she admitted finally. "I hate that I made him scared, too."
"He might outgrow it," Gold replied. "Or he'll grow up to lead a perfectly happy life someplace where there are a lot of droughts."
She shot him a withering glance, but he chuckled and she relented.
"Do you think the power is coming on soon?"
"I hope so," he said somberly. "At least if the storm passes, we can go outside and swim. And the water heater and stove are on gas, so we have that. But the food is going to go off and we'll have to go shopping again."
She nodded, jumping a little at the next lightning strike and moving her hand closer to his. He thought about touching his fingers to hers, but Bae's return had him jerking his hand into his lap.
"I brought all of them," Bae said, depositing the boxes on the table. "I wasn't sure what you wanted to play."
He heard Belle follow him.
"Oh, what about Scrabble?" she said excitedly, picking up the box.
She sounded so excited, Gold was inclined to agree with her suggestion no matter what it was, but Bae looked horrified.
"Mom, no," he said, sounding more like a war veteran than a ten-year-old.
"Oh come on, Bae," she replied. "It was one time."
Bae didn't relent, shaking his head and putting the disputed game under the table. Belle stuck her tongue out at her son, and Gold couldn't decide whether or not he wanted to know what that was all about.
"We could play Monopoly?" he suggested instead, deciding he'd ask both about the Scrabble incident separately and later.
"I am not playing Monopoly with a landlord," Belle teased.
"Twister?" he said with an innocent smile.
This got her to look at him incredulously and burst out laughing. Bae was just looking at them like he couldn't decide if he was embarrassed at their behavior or not, and began setting out the box containing Clue.
"I'm Mister Green," he said definitively. "Dad can be Colonel Mustard and Mom is Mrs. Peacock."
"Alright, then," Gold said, taking his yellow piece and setting it down between Bae's green and Belle's blue. "Clue it is."
The nice thing about Clue, in hindsight, was that there was no real skill required to beat it. There was, of course, the critical thinking aspect, but unlike Scrabble (which, Belle had to admit, she had a bit of an advantage at) it was a fairly even playing field between the three of them. They played a handful of games, barely keeping track of who won (although it was usually Arthur) – but keeping excellent track of who the murderer had been – Belle (or rather, Mrs. Peacock) had 'done it' twice.
The storm eventually passed, but the rain lasted awhile longer, keeping them inside. She didn't mind so much, though. They were having a good time and she kind of enjoyed this. It felt more like a life than their time at the hotel had, more like a family afternoon together than a special occasion. Still, though, at some point it became too dark to continue with boardgames anymore.
Arthur had found some candles and flashlights and they simply sat around and talked and waited for the power to come back on. Somehow it had come out that Belle had danced as a teenager, and Bae had asked her to show him some things. Using her phone to provide music, they had gone through a simple waltz while Arthur watched, before moving on to things like the Macarena and the Electric Slide. Novelty dances Belle had picked up from weddings and school dances, for the most part. Belle and Bae were both breathless and giggling within an hour.
"What do you want to try next?" she asked as yet another song came to an end.
"Let's do another one from when you were a kid," Bae said. "What about the Charleston?"
"I'm not that old!" Belle shrieked in a laugh.
"Oh," he seemed to consider it. "Dad, do you know it?"
"Your dad's not that old either, brat!" Belle swatted Bae playfully and he ducked and flopped onto the sofa.
"I actually do know the Lindy Hop," Arthur supplied, causing Belle to look at him with shock.
"Why on Earth do you know the Lindy Hop?"
"I took ballroom dancing a lifetime ago," he said with a shrug. "Some things just stay with you."
"Well, you're going to have to show your son," she teased him. "He does have a school dance this year, after all."
"Two problems with that," Arthur replied with a smug grin that said he had no intention of helping her with the dancing lessons. "One, I don't think they do the Lindy Hop at school dances in fifth grade and two, I only know how to lead."
Okay, fine, if he wanted to be difficult then two could play that game. Or rather, three could and she had help. She leaned down to whisper her plan into Bae's ear, and he was just as eager to participate as she had hoped he would be. If Arthur noticed anything amiss in their incredibly obvious scheming, he didn't say anything. Instead, he picked up her phone and started fiddling through looking at her available music and draining his glass of wine. They'd both been drinking a little bit and both were in that pleasant stage between sober and tipsy where things were just a little bit more amusing than they should be and time didn't march on quite so slowly.
"Find anything you like?" she said sitting down next to him and taking a sip of her own drink.
"You really have bizarre taste in music," he said with a teasing grin.
"Half of it is Bae's," she admitted. "Some of it is for jogging, some of it is stuff I've had since college, and the rest is just songs that got stuck in my head from the radio."
"That is quite the patchwork assembly."
"Well, I don't see you having anything better to dance to," she pointed out.
"Fair enough," he said. "If we were at home, I do have an old wind up record player we could have used."
He would, of course, have one. And she let the at home slip of his tongue go, not wanting to call attention to things he didn't want her to know about.
"Well," she said standing up. "Are you going to show me this dance or not?"
He froze, hand holding his glass in mid-air as he took in what she said.
"Come on," she continued. "You can't just drop the 'I know the Lindy Hop' bomb and not expect me to take advantage. What else are you going to do with no power?"
"I haven't done it in ages," he demurred. "I'm probably not very good anymore."
"Still better than me," she pointed out. "Anyway, Bae wanted to see, remember?"
It had been a low blow, bringing Bae into it (Bae, who was quietly inching his way towards the door to the kitchen), but worth it because Arthur huffed, flipped the phone to a song he apparently felt might work, and stood up. He took her hand and led her to the center of the room.
"Alright, first thing's first..." he said and he began to run through the steps with her, occasionally glancing to where Bae stood across the room from them to make sure his son was looking.
Eventually, he stopped looking at all, as Belle was a less than ideal student, making him repeat instructions two or three times before getting it. By the time Bae had returned to the room from his errand, they had already had to restart the song three times and she could tell Arthur was getting a bit annoyed by her seeming inability to master the dance.
"Would you like to take a break?" she suggested finally. She felt a little guilty, as she knew he cared too much about her to become angry but he did clearly need a moment to decompress – she'd have felt more guilty if she'd made him really do any moving for this lesson, but she'd been the one doing all the twirling and bouncing while he mostly stood in one spot and told her what she was doing wrong.
Bae was trying his best to look innocent, but Belle could see he was nearly vibrating from excitement. She dropped onto the sofa, hoping she could keep Arthur's attention on her and not on their son long enough for her plan to work out. He eyed her suspiciously, though, and she drained her wine glass just to have something to do.
"Can you show me where the wine is?" she asked.
"It's in the kitchen," his voice containing an unspoken you know that which she chose to ignore.
"I only saw the one bottle," she fibbed. "And it's empty now."
He narrowed his eyes at her, but nodded as she grabbed both their empty glasses and went to the door that Bae had just returned from.
"Could you get the door?" she asked him as sweetly as possible. "My hands are full."
He still didn't look like he believed her, but once again he said nothing, instead reaching out and taking the knob. His eyes widened in shock as he registered something sticky smeared on the knob and Bae started laughing uproariously at the joke they'd managed to play on his father and Belle couldn't contain her grin.
"What is this?" he said, looking at his hand in confusion.
"It's honey," Bae supplied from his perch on a chair. "Mom told me to do it."
"Traitor!" Belle yelled with a laugh.
"Oh, did she now?" Arthur said, a wicked grin rising on his face as he looked at her. "I suppose you didn't really have that much trouble learning the dance, either."
Belle bit her lip and shook her head. He seemed to consider her for a moment before lunging forward and snaking his clean arm around her waist. She yelped, trying to pull away but unable to do so without risking dropping the glasses she was carrying. Damn, she'd made a mistake with her distraction. Bae was close to falling over in amusement as his father held his mother pinned tight and slowly – so, so slowly – raised his sticky hand to her face. Oh, that bastard!
Belle gritted her teeth and shut her eyes tight as she felt him rubbing the sticky honey across her cheeks and forehead. She couldn't even move her head, as every time she attempted to her hair began sticking unpleasantly to her skin.
It took her awhile to figure out that he'd stopped, her eyes fluttering open to look at him. He was smiling down at her with good humor and she could hear Bae trying desperately to catch his breath from how hard he'd been laughing at this little game. Her heart was beating a little faster from her proximity to Arthur, and he was breathing harder than usual despite not having been exerting himself all that hard. Their eyes met for a second and Belle felt her breath leave her for a moment, as though she'd felt a small electric shock. Or maybe that was the actual electricity, which flickered back on suddenly with a hum.
"Awesome," Bae said cheerfully, climbing off his chair and reclaiming his DS from its spot on the table. "The blackout is over!"
Arthur released her in an instant and she almost swooned from the loss of support.
"I'll just put these in the dishwasher, then," she muttered just to have something to say.
"Let me, um," he looked around nervously. "I'll get the door for you...hey, Bae? Can you clean this off for me?"
"Oh, sure," Bae said, moving through the open door to get a dishtowel. Belle had a fleeting thought of every time she'd ever been put off with 'in a minute' when asking him to take his damn clothes upstairs, but it passed as he breezed back out past them to clean the door.
Arthur took perhaps a bit longer than necessary to wash his hands, but that was alright, she needed a moment to load the dishwasher and settle her thoughts anyway.
"Sorry about that," he apologized as she put water on a paper towel and started to blot the sticky mess off her face.
"Oh, don't worry about it," she said with a smile. "We started it, after all."
"I won't deny that," he said with a wink. "But still, I shouldn't have grabbed you."
"Is that what's bothering you?" she tried her best to sound unaffected. "Don't worry about it. It was all in good fun. Besides, we never did get our dance, did we?"
He offered up one of his watery smiles at that sentiment.
"No, I suppose we didn't," he replied. "But it was a very clever distraction, Miss French, I assure you."
"It wasn't just a distraction," she said idly. "I'd like you to show me sometime when I'm not just trying to let Bae slip away unnoticed."
"Some other time, then," he said. "When it's not just a distraction."
"I'll hold you to that," she promised as she blotted off the last of the honey.
"It's a date, then," he said idly as he looked away. She felt that low tug in her gut again that she'd come to associate with him saying those sorts of things. Someday, she was going to have to figure out how to cope with that growing attraction. But that wasn't going to happen tonight.