Tangled Threads
Chapters: 31/38
Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Chapter 31: Droplets
Rumplestiltskin stood in a narrow mid-day shadow, wondering if there was a limit to how many times one could reasonably rue a tragedy of one’s own making. Presumably, the universe cared little about past trauma, because if it did, none of this would have happened. At the very least, he wouldn’t currently be teetering on pea gravel, trying to avoid both its tell-tale crunch and an unforgiving wall of rock-dash stucco.
Hiding, like nearly everything else, had been much easier as the Dark One. He’d been happy to set the pain and shame of his foot aside. To forget about it entirely, in fact, while he strutted around the Enchanted Forest and a castle, both; where he had everything his heart desired.
Except Baelfire.
Rumplestiltskin had endured centuries, made an entire persona of lying in wait. Never before had the seconds crawled so. It was unseasonably warm, the first day in two weeks without rain. Last night, he hadn’t been able to sleep at all; not that he needed to, per se, but it was a respite from troubles that became torments at sundown. If nothing else, sometimes he’d wake free of the headachy, faux hangover that the heat was stoking, now.
How much longer could it take to eat lunch?
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