The Devil Told You That

PRIVATE rp blog for Once Upon A Time's Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold. Multiverse and selective shipper.

[rumplestiltskingold-blog]

mayorbelle

“Oh? Someone seems quite cheeky today.” 

[mayorbelle]

+ rumplestiltskingold

                                                                              … It was raining.

In hindsight, such an occasion wasn’t as much of an O D D I T Y as such a blunt statement of the obvious insinuated —— ( it was Maine, after all ) —— but today …                     Oh,  the  sky could just as well have been raining rose                     petals   and   tiny,  radiantly   glittering   jewels ———                     nothing could spoil the mood that had a wide smile                     spanning the  expanse  of  the  brunette’s  face  as  she                     tightly clutched to her Rumple’s arm.

                              They were going to look                                   for a wedding dress.

Beaming widely as the shop she had priorly visited came into view, Belle  could  hardly  resist  tightening  her  grip  around  his  arm  in boundless  excitement,  that  very hold seeming to be the only thing separating her from skipping jubilantly through the glass doors.  Oh, they  were  really  doing  this.  They  were  picking  out her wedding dress.

                    ❛❛ Oh ——— there it is! ❜❜

[rumplestiltskingold-blog]

Rumple's smile widened at the tighter grip on his arm, his love's happiness radiating like the summer sun. As he glaced at some of the wedding dresses displayed prominently in the shop's windows, the pawnbroker admitted that this happiness was hard to disbelieve or hide away in fear of it being ripped from them. This was simply one in a series of amazing pinpoints on the road to their wedding. Gods, how long had they waited for this day?

Turning to her, Rumple nodded. "Indeed. However, I doubt the dresses in the windows are any of the ones you're looking for?"

His brows raised. Oh, he needn't have put in question. Rumple knew Belle well enough to know that she didn't really go for the more ostentatious numbers that shops like this pronounced to the world. Belle prefered simpler but more elegant cuts and ornamnets, dresses that complemented her slender but curvaceous form, that emphasized the near spritely beauty that took hold of her from the moment she was born.

Lifting her hand, Rumple pressed a gentle kiss to her hand. "Lead the way, dear fiancé."

[mayorbelle]

[ ❛ O-oh sweetheart … ❜ ]

Hardly surprised at his near-immediate envelopment  of  her  in  his embrace, the crackle of emotion in his voice and that obvious leech of  self-loathing  suckling  on  the  vulnerability  of  the  moment had Belle’s heart further sagging in her chest. Oh, this wasn’t his fault — It … it wasn’t about blame.           But oh, she also knew that he had likely already so concretely drifted down           that  maudlin  path ——— he  had  likely  veered  in  such  a  direction  the           moment that he had first stepped into the kitchen mere moments ago.

He needed to know otherwise.

Eyes instinctively drawing upward as assuredly as if he had placed his  hand  underneath her chin and tilted them upwards himself, her head slowly shook.

          ❛❛ You haven’t failed me. We just —— ❜❜

A deep breath of exhalation censuring her words,  she  brought  a  gentle hand  up  to caress his cheek before leaning forward to rest her forehead against his. Oh, nothing about what they were was ever ‘just’ anything. But  if  they  were to have any chance of progressing forward, something needed to change.

                    ❛❛ Something isn’t working. ❜❜

[rumplestiltskingold-blog]

'Something isn't working.'

The words rolled over and over in his head, beating him back harder than any club, sword, or bat. Another wave of guilt battered his mind at his Belle's warm forehead gently touching his. His love was so kind. Even now, even when it was clear that she was depressed beyond measure, she didn't want to blam him.

But there had to be something he could do to help.

Rumple squeezed her hand. "I can take more care of the twins at the shop, love, until you can get your rest." His thumb rubbed the soft skin with as much adoration as he felt. "The back room would need some fixing, but they can fit there easily."

But what if this wasn't something temporary? The pawnbroker ignored the aching thought as he offered a small, encouraging smile to his love. No. His love had been through so much, too much. She hardly deserved to have her own mind become the asylum that she had wasted away inside of for twenty-eight years. They could get through this. It would pass. He knew it.

[mayorbelle]

                    … Not simply fatigue.

Oh,  those  words instantly seemed to echo in her ears like the monotonous Victrola of her mind that had been reiterating the  same  fear  over  &&  over for the past several weeks.  She wasn’t tired, not so simply as she had tried to  convince  herself  into believing. It was something that extended beyond what even she could conceive, and the fact that …

                    ’ … It’s worrying. ’

… The fact that her behavior had Rumple so concerned —— ( and so tightly gripping her hand in his worry ) —— incited a whole new churning sensation in  the  pit  of  her  stomach, cordial smile sliding from the brunette’s face as she felt her rising anxiety coat the back of her throat like bile.

❛❛ It’s ———————      … I’m worried too, Rumple. ❜❜

Emotion crackled her throat as she spoke, everything seeming to come bubbling to the surface in one fleeting moment.

                    ❛❛ All these … late nights and long days …                                         I thought I’d be able to H A N D L E it, but ———                                             I’m just so exhausted all the time … ❜❜

A soft sigh interrupted her speech for only a moment, voice lowering to a rather … melancholy whisper.

                                              ❛❛ … What if I’m not meant to be a mother? ❜❜

[rumplestiltskingold-blog]

"O-Oh, sweetheart..."

His heart almost stopped at the near inaudible yet devastated question, his arms instinctively wrapping around his Belle. How could she even think that she was anything less than a devoted, caring, and wonderful mother? Their children loved her, grew fussy and eventually inconsolable if she wasn't near... Surely she must have known that.

Tears gathered in his eyes, his voice lowering, "Have I truly failed you so much?"

He'd tried so hard to divide the work between them, but maybe he hadn't tried hard enough. Maybe he should have kept caring for the children when he noticed a few signs of Belle's emotions fraying. He should have noticed this sooner, should have even pestered to take more charge when she was clearly faltering.

What had he done?

[mayorbelle]

Mmm;  the warmth of the freshly reheated tea was a salve as it slid down her throat, the brunette gently sipping at the beverage as Rumple sat down opposite  her.  Oh,  of  course  he  knew —— aside from her weary and … D I S T R A C T E D  presence  at  the  kitchen  table, that  ironically  enough tired  answer  that  she had proffered seemed to be given on an exhaustive loop nearly every time he inquired after her welfare.

                    He had likely grown to expect it at this point.

However, as often as he had counteracted such exhaustion in  its  various forms, she could hardly deny the slight light of stunned awe that crept into her  stare  as  his fingers curled around hers, clear && visible  W O R R Y eliminating any other claim at pretense.

                       / Oh. /

                    ❛❛ Things have just been busy, Rumple ——                    with the shop and the library and the twins. ❜❜

[rumplestiltskingold-blog]

"I know."

Oh, did he know. His various occupations as town lawyer, property owner, shopowner, and landlord already took up a good amount of time on their own, but now they had twin one year olds to care for at home. More often than not, when his turn to care for them arrived, his shop's cluttered back office transformed into a miniature nursery for his darlings, a few silencing and barrier spells turning it into a baby-proof fortress while he conducted his affairs. This wasn't even mentioning those earlier days when Claire and Cayden decided that their Papa needed to be home now and instinctively summoned him to their side...

Rumple had raised a child in poverty before. He knew the stress, the burdens, the fear always in the back of his mind... But this was...something else. Something he as a father didn't experience.

"I understand that exhaustion very well, sweetheart. But...I don't think this is simply fatigue."

Rumple sighed softly.

"More and more, I've seen you go...distant. Detached. As if you're worlds away. And it...it's not like you, Belle. Not even when the worst of magic or tragedy has hit have I seen that happen. It's worrying."

[bobbydentaphilessupportgroup]

The Outsider

[the-best-teacup-archive]

   I’m so sorry.        It was a remembrance, wasn’t it?

[onceuponadaily]

[thechloris]

Favorite Character Meme

One/Seven Objects: The CANE

[purplelephantsarewrong]

[rumplestiltskingold-blog]

TOP 10 TV SHIPS  05. Belle and Rumple

“I love him. All of him. Even the parts that belong to the darkness.”

[the-best-teacup-archive]

   the only thing i’ve got  is  m y  b o y        and they’re gonna take him away from me.

[piccolascintilla]

(x)

[the-best-teacup-archive]

now when two people both want something the other has, a deal can always be struck, but you know what i want. what is it you want? i want you to answer one question and answer it simply. what’s your name? it’s mr. gold. your real name. every moment i’ve spent on this earth, that’s been my name. but what about moments spent elsewhere? what are you asking me? i think  y o u   k n o w.

[mayorbelle]

          ❛❛ I know it sounds … b a c k w a r d s ,               but  I  really  want  you  there. ❜❜

                              ( squeezes his hands )

          ❛❛ … Please, Rumple? ❜❜

[rumplestiltskingold-blog]

"Oh, Belle...how can I say 'no?'"

( reaches up and caresses her cheek )

"Yes, love. I'll help you pick out your dress for our wedding."

[mayorbelle]

          ( gently nods )

                    ❛❛ ——— It does. ❜❜

[rumplestiltskingold-blog]

"Then I'm confused. I don't see why you would want me to go with you to pick our your dress...if you don't want me involved with picking your dress."

[mayorbelle]

❛❛ But what about the surprise of it?           It’s not just … s u p e r s t i t i o n … ❜❜

[rumplestiltskingold-blog]

"Does that mean you wish me to leave you out of any decisions involving my wardrobe for the ceremony?"

[mayorbelle]

❛❛ Well, I wasn’t sure if I should at first —— ❜❜

                    ❛❛ —— Y O U  know … Groom isn’t supposed                     to see the bride before the wedding … ❜❜

                              ( smiles with a bit of a … mischievous glint to her eye )

                    ❛❛ But  you’re  only going to be seeing potentials,                               right? So you’ll just see dresses I might                                         wear —— there’s no harm in that,  I                                                 don’t think. ❜❜

[rumplestiltskingold-blog]

"I suppose it won't be...so long as you make no permanent decisions regarding the dress. Or ask me to help you choose it. Of course..."

( rubs the top of her hand )

"You could forget that foreign superstition and not worry about it at all."