#verse ttba

[dealmxkerofgold]

He saw the moment it happened — the moment his Belle awakened.

With a smile, Rumple reached for her hand and brought it up to his lips, kissing the back in the old-fashioned way that was totally at odds with his 'rough cop' style, then down to rest on his chest, against his heart.

“ You have no idea how happy I am to see you back, Mrs Gold, ” his smile turned into a grin, as if he was saying an inside joke only the two of them were privy to, but his eyes softened and he stroked the simple golden band on her ring finger ( Mr and Mrs Weaver would always be a part of them, cursed or not... and he had to admit that, as much as he loved their life as it was before the curse, he couldn't look back with anything but fondness and even a twinge of nostalgia at the life they built as Detective Weaver and Ms French, at the time they spent in his small apartment that she somehow made feel like home ) , “ Or would you prefer 'Mrs Weaver'? ”

@bluebellestorybrooke ( Belle ) gets a starter in our Rose AU just because we talked about them getting married as Weavers and... well, I couldn't not make this cute idea into a sweet, with just a tinge of melancholy, starter)

[bellecourageuse]

@golden-dxrkness ( Rumple )

[from here]

@bellecourageuse asked: ❥ (... for sender's muse to jump into receiver’s arms after a dangerous moment/being apart for a long time)

"Belle..." He exhaled. After a moment, he seemed to realize that this was real, she was real. Rumple wrapped his arms around her, eyes closing. "Belle."

“ Rumple, ” his name a sigh on her lips, relieved and content in equal measure, Belle tightened her own hold on her True Love when she felt his arms wrap around her - finally, finally, they were home i.e. back in each others' arms - and let one of her hands slide up his neck so she could stroke his hair, all the while pressing adoring kisses everywhere she could reach: his cheek, his jaw, his neck...

She kissed the spot just below his ear right before whispering “ I missed you ” ( even though no-one else was listening to them at the moment, Belle still kept her voice low, the little admission that hopefully conveyed the full spectre of what she felt during their forced separation meant for his ears only regardless ) and then she pulled away - not far but just enough to have a good look at her lover's face - one of her hands still stroking the locks where they curled against his neck and the other rising to cup his cheek as she asked “ Are you alright? ” in a concerned, gentle yet insistent tone that implied she wanted an honest answer.

[virixdescent-technician]

🔪

Peridot blinked in surprise. This certainly wasn't the first time the technician had had a weapon pointed at her, nor was the first time it was done by a complete stranger. Of course this would happen, that was just her luck wasn't it? She wasn't armed, but she could use her ferrokineisis if things went further south. Peridot stood rigid and stared back at the stranger.

"Excuse me?? What's the meaning of this?"

[dealmxkerofgold]

The Golds were surrounded by adults as soon as they made their presence in the courtyard known — Henry, Ella, Regina, Tiana, her mother, even Wish!Hook, all gathered around the happy parents, each trying to get a peak at the newborn girl cradled in a beaming new father's arms and congratulating the couple, the soon-to-be-cast curse all but forgotten for a handful of precious minutes, paling in comparison with the new life just brought into the world.

However, as Lucy appeared in the doorway, apparently having heard the commotion, all the delighted exclamations died down and the small crowd parted, making a clear path between Rumplestiltskin and his great-granddaughter.

Rumple looked at Lucy, then at his new daughter and took a deep, shuddering breath, suddenly a little nervous ( up until then, Lucy was the only child he interacted with since Gideon, so naturally, he spent a lot of time with her, which was bound to change because of the new baby their family just welcomed, and he wasn't sure how Lucy was gonna take it ). But one quick touch and an encouraging nod from his wife was enough to soothe his nerves and make him move. Adjusting Rose in his arms slightly, Rumple made his way over to his granddaughter, everyone watching his every step with soft smiles on their faces, and knelt carefully in front of her so they would be at an eyelevel and she could get a better look at the newest member of the Charming-Mills-Swan-Gold-Jones clan.

"Would you like to meet the newest member of our family, sweetheart?" Rumple questioned, softly, as if a louder volume would somehow disrupt the moment.

Rose stirred, opening her blue eyes – the exact shade of her mother's – and moving her tiny hands as she looked up curiously at the older girl.

@bluebellestorybrooke ( Lucy ) gets a starter of her first meeting with Rose because you said "Imagine Lucy playing with Rose" and that's all I've been able to think about ever since 😁🥺💗

[dealmxkerofgold]

Adding onto that Princess!Belle x Imp!Rumple AU, with time Rumple probably started doing small (and not so small) things for the benefit of Belle's father and their kingdom and formalizing them in the form of deals he makes with Belle, only he asks for ridiculously small things in return: like a book from the castle's library or something like that or even just some extra quality time they spend together, like taking a leisurely walk through the forest.

Now imagine one day Rumple asking for one single red rose from the royal garden, through which they just so happened to be strolling at the time... yes, I absolutely mean this as a kind of reverse version of the iconic Rose™️ scene)

[dealmxkerofgold]

In the light that streamed through the doorwindow, Belle actually looked like an angel that, for some reason ( perhaps, by mistake? because he sure as hell did not deserve it ), was sent to brighten his lonely existence, and, for a moment, Gold just stared at her — at her beaming smile and her eyes, the loveliest shade of blue he's ever seen, and her cheeks, rosy from excitement ( she must have acquired a new book or had a good chat with Ms Lucas, he noted absent-mindedly, as if the reason for her excitement was so obvious... and to him, it was ) — and the nasty little voice inside his head that guided so many of his actions in the past suggested he forgot about the silly endeavor he'd decided to pursue this morning, grabbed his cane and accompanied the love of his life to diner for lunch.

Gold shut that voice up — perhaps, for the first time in his life, but he was going to do the right thing. He was going to let Belle go. She'd brought so much light and happiness into his life, he owed her that much.

So he limped around the counter to stand directly in front of the librarian, his cane forgotten, took her small hands into his slightly larger ones, took a deep breath and began:

"Belle. I..."

The plan that he formulated in his mind in the quiet of his too large house this very morning was to let her down easy, to start from afar and explain to her his reasoning in great detail.

But now that he was actually going through with it, holding her hands and looking into her deep blue eyes that have always been so understanding and compassionate and even loving when she looked at him, he found he couldn't bear to drag this out longer than was absolutely necessary, so he went on, as quick and calm as he could, even though his voice sounded as if every word hurt him on its way out.

"Sweetheart," and he mentally scolded himself for using this endearment because the word itself and the memories of all the times he called her that made him soften — his voice and his eyes, and a small, sad smile even lifted the very corners of his lips — and now saying what needed to be said, pushing her away hurt even worse, "I am a bitter, violent, ugly man. If you’d known all the horrible things I've done, you wouldn’t give me the time of the day, let alone love me. Which is how I know that what's going on between us is wrong and we need to stop it before everything gets complicated."

Unable to deny himself the pleasure of caressing her soft, delicate skin one last time, he cupped Belle's cheek with one of his hands, stroking his thumb over her cheekbone, looking almost enchanted and certainly on the verge of tears.

"You are a beautiful, kind, intelligent young woman, who's got a bright, happy future ahead of her. You deserve someone much better than me. Someone who would love you and cherish you in the way I will never be capable of. So, I guess, what I'm trying to say is..."

With great reluctance, he moved to pull away, dropping both his hand from her cheek and her hand from his hold, taking a deep, shuddering breath in an attempt to regain his composure even as a single tear made its way down his own cheek:

"Good day, Ms French."

[ OPEN for Belles; set either in the au where Belle wasn't locked up during the first curse or in a human au ]

[dealmxkerofgold]

His sleep has grown heavier after the shooting — apparently, his body needs more energy now to both function as close to normal as possible and repair itself — but there are still two things that never fail to wake him: Rose's cries and Belle's nightmares.

Rose is sleeping peacefully for once in her cradle beside their bed ( they moved it as close as possible, partly so that it would easier for him, fresh out of hospital, to tend to her during the night and partly because his near-death experience reminded both him and Belle just how easily they can lose each other or their baby and made something primal and protective rise in both of them — he surely felt that wave of protectiveness grow and spread inside himself, and judging by the look Belle sometimes has in her eyes when she's lost in thought, looking either at him or their daughter, by the little gestures, by the way she always tries to be close to either on of them or, ideally, both, he is willing to bet she feels that wave, too ).

But Belle's cheeks are wet with tears and she's got a haunted look in her eyes and she can’t stop shaking.

She's had a nightmare and he knows all too well what it was about, from the previous nights' experience.

In her dreams, he dies.

He's not sure whether he should feel touched or concerned.

“ Belle, ” he calls her, in a tone so gentle it feels wrong and right at the same time ( the curse — not his personal curse, used as it is to how human he's grown in the past couple of decades, but the one that brought them all into this neighborhood — fights with his nature, but now that he fully remembers who he is, it doesn’t stand a chance ), and pulls her in close, leaving her enough space to move so she wouldn’t feel trapped, slipping one of his arms around her shoulders and taking her hand with the other, bringing it to rest against his heart, its slightly accelerated beat palpable through the thin material of the t-shirt he wears to bed, so she can feel that he's alive and right beside her, and kisses her temple, murmuring reassurances into her hair:

“ It's alright, sweetheart. I’m alive. I’m here. It would take a lot more than one little bullet to force me to leave you and Rose. ”

That last one is both his attempt to lighten the mood and the truth Belle's not yet aware of.

@bluebellestorybrooke ( Belle ), look what I found in my drafts! Apparently, this was supposed to be a reply to one of the 'my muse is having a nightmare, how does yours comfort them?' type of memes which I, for some reason, never sent...

[virixdescent-technician]

💪 Pick my muse up {from obscrutias of course}

"Eeep!!!" The green gem made a rather undignified noise at being hoisted up so suddenly without warning, an event which seemed to correlate with being on the petite side. Startled, she craned to look at whom had seized her, squirming slightly.

"Obscrutias? What was that for?"