#hugobelle

[clean-plum]

Lycabelle with a little bit of hugo vlad? Yes please!!

[seventharchive-07]

hugobelle uwu

[scarletwritesshit]

🦇Hugo x Belle🦇Something About Sentimental Value

Clearly, Wise was asleep. As if she couldn’t assume from the current time, she could hear him snoring from the shop floor, thanks to the thin walls and apparently there being such thing as soundproofing in this building. At least he was a rather heavy sleeper. He wasn’t one to be disturbed by the vigorous computer work that Belle occasionally did during absurd hours, or the occasional nighttime stray that happened to wander into Random Play.

Not often did someone come through the doors at one in the morning seeking a movie to rent. Those who did often rented the more... questionable types of content, usually tapes intended to be watched in solitude. The look on their face when a tired young lady would come to the counter to check them out was quite often priceless, but Belle couldn’t care less what they were seeking out. She knew damn well the secrets kept within the store’s inventory. She was most certainly aware that such tapes were within their possession. And all she honestly cared about was getting paid.

The opportunity for these few and far in between transactions was why she left the doors unlocked at night, when many would assume they were closed. Open arms for the desperate to earn a few extra Dennies never hurt anyone. And in the position that their savings were in, those few extra Dennies were something that Wise and Belle could very well use.

A few weirdos walked through those doors, on occasion. Nothing she wasn’t already used to, though, given her eccentric dealings in the past.

For once, as a break away from the screen, Belle had temporarily retired the Bangboo for the night and was manning the front counter herself. All of this computer nonsense that she wished that she could pass off to Wise yet remained, but she was wide awake and it was better to use her time to get something done than to try and count on him to do something to some degree of success in the morning. Knowing him, he was probably going to nab some of the store’s stock and proceed to watch it for himself. Maybe she should start charging him a rental fee…

As she was skimming through a magazine out of complete and boredom, Belle heard the door bells ring as a customer walked into the shop. She peered over her magazine to get a glimpse of who had come seeking a tape at this hour, but she noticed that this visitor was most unusual. His profession, if one could call it that, wasn’t exactly that of someone you’d find so openly crawling around the store.

Being all too familiar with his slimy nature, there was no chance that he could be up to any good prowling around Random Play. Belle narrowed her eyes, and kept a sharp watch as the blonde-haired beast glanced over the shelves. He didn’t exactly seem to be browsing the tape selection with much intent; it was more as if he was standing by, idly waiting for something.  An opportunity, perhaps.

“…Can I help you find something?” Belle asked.

He turned to look at Belle with an eerily delighted gaze, as if he were seeking her attention more than a suitable tape for the night. She couldn’t help but stare into his silver and red eyes, though he made her tremble internally despite the brave mask she donned. Their meetings were, thankfully, few and far in between, but she knew him well enough to call him by name. And she knew more than enough about him to realize that he was up to no good.

“My dear, what do you think I’m here for?” he said, slipping a silver coin into his pocket.

Belle rolled her eyes. “Hugo, I swear if you start asking me for ‘no ordinary treasures,’ I’m going to see you out myself personally.”

“You know me all too well,” Hugo said, with his fangs protruding from his grin. “Way too well.”

“It’s kinda obvious,” Belle said, putting down her magazine. “You know, you aren’t really going to find much in Random Play. Just a bunch of videos that Wise only suggested we carry so he could watch himself.”

“Ah, but I find that rather hard to believe. This building also serves as your residence, does it not?”

“What gave that away? The freight train snoring upstairs?”

How she wished that she could be Wise right now, blissfully sleeping the night away fully unaware of Hugo’s presence. But no, she just had to be downstairs alone with him, along with some Bangboo, but they really didn’t count as company, especially when they were charging for the time being.

“Hence why I find it hard to believe that there is nothing of value here,” he said, resting his arms on the desk.

It was evident that he wasn’t exactly willing to leave empty handed with the way he was eyeing up Belle. He knew from pure intuition alone that behind the shelves and stacks of cheap movies for rental lied a goldmine of memories shared between Belle and Wise. Old miscellaneous souvenirs, remnants of projects that they had worked on together, and many other relics of their past had so little physical value, yet they meant a great deal to them in terms of sentimental value.

Unfortunately, those were precisely the type of “relics” that Hugo was seeking out.

“Do you really want some of our old crappy notebooks? Or maybe the wrapper that has been lodged in the couch cushion for maybe six years now?”

“There is no doubt that the memories your brother has shared with you are quite precious,” he said, gently lifting up her chin. “It’s almost enough to satisfy my cravings for a good, long while.”

“O-our notebooks? Enough for you? Do we truly matter that much in some underground market where our old nonsensical scribbles hold so much value?”

“Oh, dear, I believe you completely misunderstand me.”

He stroked the side of her face with his bare thumb, then slid his hand down the side of her neck.

“What I want is something that is so important, so valuable to your brother. Something of his that cannot even come close to the value of anything within this store. Something, or someone, who is irreplaceable to him…”

His hand was resting on the side of her neck. The way he rubbed his thumb across her skin was so eerily soothing, despite his claws being mere centimeters away from the major arteries in her neck. Belle couldn’t manage to pull herself, even with the knowledge that Hugo’s soft touch was greatly contradicted by the pain she knew that he could inflict upon her.

“D-do you want me? Do you want to take me back to your shady hideout, or whatever?” she asked.

“I couldn’t bear to cause such distress to a beautiful lady,” he said, taking hold of her hand and giving it a gentle kiss. “But it still must be known one way or another that I lay claim to you.”

He glared up at her and sank his fangs into the top of her hand. Belle’s jaw clenched tightly, rendering her unable to call for help. She couldn’t understand why she felt so reluctant to cry out, but perhaps it was simply the habit of not causing too much of a ruckus to those resting in the building. Hugo released her hand and she pulled back it, watching a small amount of blood trickle down her hand.

Some dripped onto the counter. It was something that she would have to remember to clean up before Wise made his way down the steps in the morning.

The pensiveness and anxiety in her eyes seemed to be entertaining Hugo greatly, and the sight of the crimson red staining her hands only drove him even more feral. With a fresh, open wound on her hand, Belle was practically presenting herself as a slab of steak to a rabid predator driven mad by hunger.

With her hand still trembling from the sting, she attempted to use her other hand to wipe off the blood, but could hardly manage as she winced in pain. The palm of her other hand became stained as well, creating an even greater mess than the one she started out with.

“Darling, your hands don’t deserve to be sullied with blood, whether it be yours or mine,” he said, once more offering his hand. “Allow me to…offer my assistance and clean you up.”

Belle, still holding her sore hand, wasn’t sure the best course of action to take. He clearly was on the hunt, and not for treasure, but Belle feared the consequences should she excuse herself from such a customer of hers. Reluctantly, she placed the palm of her hand into his, and as promised, he licked the blood clean from her hand. The only trace of injury now where the two fang marks.

“So sweet,” he said, holding back the temptation to bite once more. “So, so sweet, fitting for such a sweet lady…”

Belle was stunned into silence, having her hand gently held by this unfortunately attractive man and having her thoughts swayed by this quite literal sweet talking. It was all around a weird situation, for someone harboring such a strong desire to feast on her blood specifically. Given her history of cooperating with Thirens, the strange foes she had faced, and so on it certainly wasn’t the most unusual thing she had encountered.

“Just…say you’re starving, or something,” Belle finally muttered.

“That is quite the animalistic way to put it, is it not?”

“The sides of your mouth are already stained with blood. You’ve done more than plenty to make yourself look like a beast.”

“Ah…how…improper of me,” he said, wiping off his mouth with the back of his hand. Hugo placed her hand gently down onto the table, surprisingly considerate of the fact that it was rather sore. “But you just taste… far, far too good.”

Wise continued snoring loudly from the upstairs. From the sound of things, there was absolutely no chance of him waking up to such a deplorable sight should Belle agree to relieve some of Hugo’s cravings. She looked back and forth between her pricked hand and Hugo’s pleading eyes, as if she was debating her answer to his silent pleas to indulge himself.

All hell would break loose, should he cause Belle to die. Surely, he had to be smart enough to leave her in a somewhat stable condition. Belle clenched her fist and looked away from him, shamefully charmed. He had such gentle eyes for a predator…for someone that could bite her throat out if she made one wrong move.

“Oh, dear,” Hugo said, walking behind the counter. “No need to be so shy.”

Belle looked up to see him looming behind her. He placed his hand on her neck, gently pulling aside the collar of her shirt to further expose the bare skin of her neck and shoulder. The contrast of his warm fingers and cold rings sent a tinge through her body with every inch he stroked. She tried to relax, taking deep breaths and attempting to calm her heart rate so she wouldn’t be drained as rapidly. But Hugo’s touch was teasing the entirety of her body and she almost wanted to pull him down into her neck just to get it over with.

Belle looked down to the side, allowing her hair to fall out of the way for easier access to her neck. She didn’t utter a single word, but with her flesh exposed in such a way, Hugo took it as an invitation to feast on her blood. She tried to keep her hands steady on the desk and repress any signs of nervousness, but it was rather hard when her palms were becoming uncomfortably sweaty.

She could still see his shadow looming over her as he leaned down into her neck. Belle wanted to close her eyes and brace herself for the pain, but she just couldn’t. Her entire body felt frozen stiff with the force of Hugo pinning her against the desk, rendering her immobile with her weight if not with her nerves.

Hugo nuzzled further into the side of her neck, then licked it slowly. Belle’s whole body cringed from the feeling of his cold saliva, but she held herself tense in place. Should she attempt to instinctively back up, she would only find herself further pressed against his body.

Not like she had the option of going anywhere anyways. Hugo had her hands pinned to the counter, further stinging the one he had nibbled on prior. Belle had come to hardly notice this pain as she was blinded by the surge of adrenaline. His hold was firm, yet he was taking this as a prime opportunity to indulge in the sensation of her fingers for himself.

“Such a beautiful lady,” he whispered. “I almost feel guilty for doing this to you.”

Giving no time for Belle to counteract, he sunk his fangs into the side of her neck. She bit her tongue and tensed up her hand, but the growing tension in her body only made it feel worse. Belle would have to relax if she still had the goal of surviving this encounter. She tried taking a deep breath, but she felt that if she inhaled too much, her windpipe would, in turn, be punctured by Hugo’s fangs.

Belle was very rapidly becoming lightheaded. She was losing strength in her legs and she felt like she could collapse at any moment. Just how much was he planning to take from her? Belle was starting to wish that she had suggested him feasting off of her brother, but Hugo seemed especially insistent on her being his prey for the evening.

The tension in her body eased as her body lost the willpower to resist. Belle was becoming tired, and combined with her exhaustion from being up into the late hours of the night, she was doomed to pass out sooner than later. At least she wouldn’t collapse face forward into the counter, as Hugo kept a firm grip on her body preventing her from falling. If only she could muster up the strength to tell him that her body wasn’t as abundant with blood as he hoped so.

Tired. So…very tired.

Belle’s eyes became heavy, and she hardly had the strength left to fight to keep them open.

After a few minutes that felt like grueling hours passing by Hugo finally released his fangs from her neck and loosened his grip on her body. Despite this, Belle still couldn’t quite move with muscles still stiff from anxiety yet weak from hemorrhaging, but she at least could muster a deep breath.

“Such a good girl for your first time, dear,” he said, giving her a gentle kiss on the neck where her wounds were.

As if that would make it any better.

Well maybe it did, but just by a little.

Belle slowly turned her head around to see him with a considerable amount of blood on his face. Not the least bit surprising, but still a shocking contrast to the gentleman who was serenading her moments prior.

“You uh, have a little something on your face,” she managed to mutter.

“Ah, apologies for my lack of manners. Worry not about me, as I believe that it is best that your concerns lie within yourself,” he said. “Rest your weary body and allow me to carry you to your quarters.”

Hugo was being surprisingly considerate for someone who had just welcomed himself to feast on her like that. Belle was quite lightheaded and his offer was quite tempting, but she still had greater concerns and a shred of dignity left.

“But what about the shop? I still need to lock it up.”

“Do not concern yourself one bit,” he said with a wink. “A thief knows his way around locks quite well.”

Belle was too tired to be concerned with his methods and motives, so she allowed him to carry her up the stairs into the bed. Wise was still fast asleep as he had been throughout the entirety of the night, completely ignorant of his sister becoming a meal just moments prior. Hugo nudged her door open gently and laid Belle down on her bed with a surprising amount of care. He carefully rested her head on her pillow and pulled her blanket over her body before closing the door and silently making his departure.

The following morning, Belle slept in for quite a long time. Much longer than Wise, which was almost unheard of. She awoke with her neck feeling quite sore, and so she made her way to the bathroom to observe the damage. The wound was surprisingly clean; he must’ve taken it upon himself to clean her of blood. Despite this, the presence of the bite wound was still rather obvious.

Belle wrapped it in some gauze and pulled her shirt up further, hoping that Wise wouldn’t look too hard or care enough to mention. She held onto the banister tightly as she walked down the stairs as she was still feeling lightheaded and rather dizzy.

“Belle,” Wise said as soon as he caught a glimpse of her, “did something happen last night?”

What did he mean something? What could he have possibly heard?

“W-What do you mean?”

“There’s a little bit of blood on the counter. I was worried that you had gotten hurt.”

Crap. She had completely forgotten about the wound on her hand. The blood staining the counter, the sheer obviousness of its location, everything about it altogether. And when she realized this, she once more became conscious of the stinging that lingered in her hand.

“Uh, nothing!” she said, covering her hands as best as she could with her sleeves. “Nothing at all. Just got a nasty papercut digging through some old crap. Nothing bad. I promise.”

Wise looked at her as if he didn’t believe her story one bit.

She didn’t believe herself, either. Not with the pain as a result of that handsome devil feasting on her last night.

[seventharchive-07]

A hugobelle summer

[scarletwritesshit]

💍 Hugo x Belle 💍 Stealing Hearts Is A Few Steps Up From Jewelry

Hugo ran his gloved fingers across the surface of glass jewelry display counters. The smooth leather slid across the surface, leaving not a single trace of his touch. Under a glimmer of moonlight that peered through one of the mall windows, he held up his fingers and rubbed them together. Pristine and clean, he noticed, as if the case had no knowledge of the concept of airborne dust particles.

"Remnants of filth nowhere in sight," Hugo said. "Not one speck of dust to be seen in this entire establishment."

"Their cleaning service must be stellar. Either that, or everyone carries a feather duster with them and insists on wiping after every breath~," Belle observed.

"Yes...and while it looks untouched, I suggest you keep it that way and keep your hands to yourself, dear."

Belle quickly pulled her hands up and in from the case she was inching towards touching, showing Hugo that her fingers grazed upon nothing and no objects were misplaced within her grasp.

"I wasn’t touching anything."

Hugo grabbed her by the wrist. "Come. Our hours for 'shopping' run thin."

Belle stumbled over her feet as Hugo dragged her forward, the soft soles of her shoes echoing throughout the deserted mall-corner jewelry store as they smacked the ground. Hugo quickly shot her a glare. She could hardly tell between the darkness and his mask concealing his eyes, but he seemed rather serious, sharply hushing her. Belle narrowed her eyes, equally offended, but kept silent to avoid sparking further argument.

It was three o’clock in the morning. Dawn was still hours away, but they nonetheless had to make haste.

Flashlights weren’t Hugo’s style, for as flashy of a man he was. Such choice of tactics caused some difficulties for Belle, who only had the assistance of the glimmering moonlight to help her browse her prey and navigate the maze of display counters. Though, even with her vision impaired by squinting her eyes, Belle could see the radiance of every bracelet and ring shining brilliantly. If they looked that beautiful under the cover of darkness, then Belle could only imagine how glamorous they would be under some proper lighting. With her being in such close reach, she felt as if she could snatch each and every one of them out for herself for the sole purpose of seeing just how shiny they were under the sunlight. Hugo would probably allow her to do such, if she knew how to properly steal, that was.

As Hugo was observing his surroundings, checking for any traps or security guards that may be on the prowl, Belle kept her steps light and head high. Despite her attempts at maintaining an imposing posture, it was not enough to mask her anticipation for her first official heist as part of Mockingbird. As soon as Hugo turned away, Belle dropped the scowl she barely managed to hold anyways as she was in awe over the silence and isolation of a shopping mall after-hours.

"My dearest partner in crime," Hugo said, his whispers melting into the deathly silence, "your enthusiasm is reminiscent of my very own younger...compatriot."

"Eh?" Belle gasped, freezing as if she did something wrong.

"She too, was enamored by the thrill of her first time heist. If her hands were bigger and her grip nimbler, she would have swiped everything that her little heart desired."

"If only I could do that," Belle said, "but you won’t even let me touch the glass."

"That’s because you haven’t quite learned precisely how to, my dear," Hugo said, stopping in his tracks to swipe some of the glass with his fingers, leaving not even a single streak behind.

"By the way, has anything caught your eye?" he continued.

"A lot of things. But stealing them would be wrong."

"Us breaking in and being here is already 'wrong.'"

"Oh. Well, yeah you have a point actually. But how do you plan on getting us out of here unscathed?"

"You’ll see in due time," Hugo said with a barely visible wink. "Now, we must make haste. Don’t force yourself, but at the same time, the night isn’t getting any younger."

Belle nodded her head and continued scavenging the display cases. There was so much that she wished she could take for herself, jewelry and keepsakes big and small. The only real factor stopping her was that if she turned up with a big bracelet coincidentally matching the one reported missing, some heads are bound to be turned. Belle couldn’t put the blame on Hugo, either, as saying it was a gift "from her boyfriend" would rat him out almost instantly. Going for something a bit more inconspicuous would be the safer option for the time being, such as a pin for her bag or an adornment for her desk.

Belle was still new to this whole “phantom thief” thing. She couldn’t tackle the larger prey quite yet, not with her identity of both video store owner and Proxy at stake.

With her hands held behind her back, Belle continued stepping along, bending down and keeping her quiet "hmm’s" of curiosity confined to her mind. She waddled along on the tips of her shoes, as if that would make her any better than the light-footed Hugo. Every necklace and every ring shone in what little light was gifted to them through the windows, capturing her attention and distracting her gaze. With Hugo by her side, practically everything and anything was within her reach

She opted to play it safe, at least for now.

Against the back walls away from the jewelry-stocked display counters were displays neatly packed full of handcrafted figures. Some appeared to have been cut directly from solid crystal, others hand sculpted down to the finest details. Bangboo, cats, therians, humans, the cases housed figures of everything for all.

A glitter of purple within a display counter caught her eyes and stopped her from scanning instantaneously. A Bangboo figure, bedazzled just enough to stand out but not so much as one would think it costed millions, made eye contact with her.

That was the one.

The perfect size to sneak out with her little hands, and just small enough to not direct too much attention to her. But how was she to pull it out of the counter without the whole mission going awry? She narrowed her eyes and became lost deep in her thoughts. Or at least, she appeared to be thinking.

Hugo took notice of her lack of advancement and turned around. Belle was still thinking "very hard" and was “quite focused,” so he backtracked and looked down through the glass case.

"Something catch your eye, darling?" Hugo asked as he stood from behind.

"Hmm...this purple Bangboo figure in particular, but getting it out is proving to be a real puzzle," Belle said, acting as if she had a clue as to what she was doing.

"You can drop the act, dearest. I’ll handle this step."

Belle, curious, looked up to see Hugo rolling a coin in between his fingers. He glanced around before flipping it once in the air. Almost the instant it landed on his thumb and pointer fingers, he flicked it at such astounding velocity, shattering one of what Belle could only assume was a component of the security system. The coin was launched with such strength that it rebounded directly back onto Hugo’s fingers. He wasted no time welcoming its return and flicked the coin back out once again.

Shatter.

Rebound.

Flick.

Repeat.

Hugo executed his onslaught with such flawlessness and grace that Belle’s jaw dropped to the floor. In the span of a few seconds, the coin made its final rebound, only to be laid to rest in Hugo’s hand.

"So... does this mean we can get to breakin’ and stealin’?" Belle asked, at a loss for words.

Hugo dismissively waved the coin at Belle. "Not quite."

He strutted closer to the display case, and Belle took the message and backed up to give him room. She thought that he was about to shatter it with his arm or a weapon, but he stood there quietly, perplexed. Then, taking the same weapon of mass destruction that he used to disarm the security systems, he began tapping on the glass with its edge.

"…What are you doing?" Belle asked.

"Ah, reinforced glass like this is virtually impossible to break with mere brute force. But everything claimed to be indestructible has a fatal weakness."

Tap, tap, tap.

Suddenly, Hugo stopped moving the coin around the glass.

Tap tap.

"Right here," he said, holding the edge of the coin firm on the glass. "Here. You take ahold of it."

"And... now what?" Belle said as the coin was passed to her, still held firmly in position.

"Strike the glass with the coin at this exact position with all of your might."

Belle, though she failed to see how a small coin could shatter reinforced glass, kept her questions to herself and listened to Hugo’s orders. She carefully lined up her shot, then slammed it into the case at a speed comparable to a black belt’s karate chop. In an instant, the glass shattered into a thousand shards, big and small. While frozen in utter disbelief, Hugo retrieved the coin from Belle’s hand and flipped it.

“I told you,” he said, smugly.

Belle reached in to grab the Bangboo figure, but Hugo swiftly scooped it up before she could even disturb a speck of glass.

"Not so fast, darling. You have yet to learn the art of causing no more than no disturbance than what is necessary," he said, lightly tossing the Bangboo into her arms. "Come. Let’s make our grand exit and pull the curtains on tonight’s performance."

"Aren’t you going to steal something for yourself?" Belle asked, confused by the lack of valuables in his possession.

"Ah, not tonight. This excursion was for you and you alone."

"Wasting an opportunity just like that?~ "

"It’s not a waste if my future mastermind leaves with a token of her first success. Now, we mustn’t linger much longer. Hang on tight, my darling.~”

Before Belle could react, Hugo snatched her by the waist and pulled out a grappling gun, shooting it upwards into the ceiling panel that they descended from. Ascending into the labyrinth of ductwork and support beams, the two of them left behind no traces of their presence, other than the remnants of the security system’s greatest fumble yet. Like a bat taking off into the night sky, Hugo’s coat spread out behind him, catching wind and making for a smooth ascent. Before crawling back, Belle repositioned the ceiling tile just as it was before, making sure to leave absolutely no trace of their path.

In the morning, during what would be considered normal opening hours, all operations were immediately put on hold upon the first sight of the shattered glass. Employees and bystanders alike were puzzled by the scene. No sign of exit or entry, no traces hinting to an identity, and no valuables missing, except that of a single Bangboo figure. A phantom intruder with perhaps ulterior motives for stealing such a specific trinket…they could only trace the name of the perpetrator to an organization and nothing else.

Mockingbird.