Mistaken Timer || Angst Gafou Drabble
because when I read the prompt HERE my brain decided to do an evil and I had to share the pain
For as long Gaston and Lefou could remember they had been side by side. Inseparable, Le duo. When they were teens, they had been told about what the timers counting down on their left forearms meant, and what would happen the first time they hit zero. Gaston’s number was far larger than that of his friend, prompting him to congratulate the other boy. As time had went on, their numbers kept shrinking.
Then came the distraction of Gaston deciding he was done waiting for the timer, as it was showing another few decades. He wanted to settle down in his prime. ❛❛ Oh, Lefou, I can’t keep waiting. I don’t have a matter of months like you. ❜❜ Distraction after distraction, folly after folly, Gaston never quite being satisfied. That was when Gaston set his eyes on Belle, when he started to break under pressure.
With time, Lefou stopped paying any attention to the countdown on his own arm, focusing on keeping Gaston safe from himself. When his friend fully snapped, leaving him alone under the harpsichord, the kind hearted man worried to no end. Unaware of the timer finally reaching mere minutes. He watched as Belle ran to try and stop it all, something Lefou knew even he could not do at that point. It was chance that he had looked at his arm during the wait.
Three minutes! He looked around, seeing no one in sight. Not even the moving objects he had been interacting with since entering the castle. Something wasn’t right. He knew something wasn’t going the way it should have. Eyes scanning the area and glancing back constantly to the timer. He felt sick, his stomach felt like there was a pit in it, his heart felt like it was attempting to escape his chest. Then the timer hit zero.
Slowly the reality set in, and Belle’s horse gave him a nuzzle in an attempt to comfort him. ❛❛ It was the wrong timer, Gaston…. ❜❜ he whispered. Belle and Adam, oh he remembers Adam now, came down and Lefou put on a mask of happiness. He was happy, but more than that he was sad - sadder than he had thought possible. ❛❛ Gaston is going to love this, Adam, loosing you affected him the most - I think. ❜❜ His old friend’s smile faltered and confusion hit Lefou. Until it finally became clear.
He ran from the room, onto the grounds. Looking for a sign. Any sign of his best friend, of his other half. When he found him, the man dropped to his knees. It wasn’t fair.
