Fic: Harmless - Chapter 14
AU: Belle arrives, bruised and bleeding, on the doorstep of a lame spinner and his son. On the run from the war and its causes, her short stop-over becomes something else entirely.
A/N: I suck at updating, I know, sorry! I’m still amazed that this story won best woobie!Rum at the TEAs! Enjoy, my loves!
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
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Gaston is smiling as he leads Belle through the crowd, and his hand on her arm is too firm, almost painful. She knows it’s only a reaction to the urgency of the situation, the severity of the dangers they face. He’s risking life and limb to sneak her into her own father’s castle, and all for a chance to say goodbye to a man on his deathbed.
Belle knows she will never be able to repay this kindness. To be caught would spell the end for them both, and yet still Gaston’s hand still half drags her through the swarming market day crowds of the city, toward the golden palace gates Belle remembers so well.
Fic: Comfort In Words
Title: Comfort In WordsRating: very NC-17
Pairing: Bay Gold/Graham Hunter
Summary: Bay and Graham go shopping for books; no books are found
A/N: So this is actually a really smutty prequel to my Bay/Graham and Rumbelle fic that’s sort of college!AU. But this alone is basically just your straight up college!AU. With a lot of smut. Bay looks like this because I started this well before Nealfire.
For Fyre because she promised me Rutherglens in return.
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Bay Gold had discovered, through a good few months of trying desperately to be clandestine, that Graham Hunter had a certain exhibitionist streak to him.
Fic: Yellow (Sunbeams, blondes, and lemon shampoo)
Title: Yellow (Sunbeams, blondes, and lemon shampoo)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Baelfire was running away, but Neal prefers to chase. He starts another new life in another new world. Swan thief.
A/N: WOOO FINALLY NEAL POV. Thank you Manhattan! For Celina, but let’s face it, all my swan thief fics are for her :)
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Baelfire’s only been in this world without magic for a few days, and he hates it already.
It’s a disappointment: it has taken him so much longer than he’d expected to get here, and he’s been dreaming of settling someplace far away from fairies and magic and the dark for so long. He wanted to get to this place, the world he was promised so very long ago, and know peace.
Ficlet: Ashes and Lime
Title: Ashes and Lime
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 2x15 ‘Manhattan’
A little Nealfire ficlet for Celina, who prompted ‘Neal’s pov from after Emma leaves him at the bar’. This came out a lot more Rumple-centric than Swan Thief, but it’s all there!
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There’s not a lot I remember about my father that doesn’t suck
Emma’s face when he’d said that… gods above, it was the weirdest mix of understanding and horror that Neal had ever seen. As if she hadn’t, all those years ago, been the only person in this whole fucking universe - this world, and the last, and knowing his luck, the next as well - who could see through all his own bullshit. As if she believed him.
Ficlet: Mourning Period
Title: Mourning Period
Rating: G
Summary: How Rumpelstiltskin’s doghouse became full of chickens.
(Already posted here, but am archiving so I needed to post on its own)
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Fic: Harmless - Chapter 13
AU: Belle arrives, bruised and bleeding, on the doorstep of a lame spinner and his son. On the run from the war and its causes, her short stop-over becomes something else entirely.
A/N: It’s been months and months, I know, but here it is! Because this fic is nominated as Best Woobie!Rum in the TEAs, and I thought that deserved another chapter. So enjoy dearies!
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
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Harmless
Chapter 13
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Rumpelstiltskin wishes, oh how he wishes, that he had been the one to volunteer to go alone, and that Bae could have stayed with Belle.
Someone has to go to collect their cart and horses, and splitting up is safer than travelling together. But logic does little to soothe Rumpelstiltskin’s mind.
In regards to Manhattan’s press release…
I will be disappointed if Neal is Baelfire.
See, I disagree: I don’t think the story needs to be “Where In The World is Baelfire?” I think delaying finding him, at this point, would just drag out a plotline which - in show terms - has already gone on for 300 years. I want Neal to be Bae because that brings a load more problems than anyone ever accounted for, and puts a more interesting dimension on things than a longwinded, tedious search that ends in him either being a) a villain who’s disguised himself all along, b) random man 1 who’s moved on with his life, or c) teen!Bae for whom it’s been only a few months and is just relieved to see his papa.
Rumpelstiltskin’s storyline is, for all that he’s involved with everyone, essentially self-contained and isolated because his goals are so simple: find Bae, reunite with Belle, keep his babies safe. It makes it a lot more interested, in my opinion, if the question is more ‘how do I coexist with/get along with/make an extended family with the people I’ve rejected, manipulated and hurt all this time?’ rather than simply ‘where is my baby?’
gepardo asked: Bae/Graham, Gold catches them
“Oh, you could lock the door, son!” Gold cried, as he slammed the bedroom door shut again as fast as he’d arrived, and Bay fought the urge to die of mortification, or to laugh helplessly into Graham’s bare chest, or just to freeze and wait for the world to end: he didn’t know at all how to react.
Then the door burst open again, and Belle’s smiling, apologetic face appeared, her eyes squeezed shut, “Sorry, we’ll knock next time,” she promised, “Be safe, boys!” she chirped, happily, and blindly lobbed a packet of ribbed Trojans and a bottle of lube onto the bed.
The door closed again, and Graham dissolved into helpless laughter as Bay stared at the things on the bed, and the closed door where his new stepmother had just appeared and vanished again, “Thanks!” Graham called, jovially, and that was what broke him: Bay collapsed, he couldn’t breathe he was laughing so hard, and Graham had to kiss him again to shut him up.
Fic: Charming & Me
Title: Charming & Me
Rating: PG-13 at most
Summary: Bae and Gold’s dog gets injured, and Dr French patches him up. Mr Gold soon finds that he’s becoming a second-hand hypochondriac, taking his son’s dog in for check-ups just to see the pretty veterinarian. Rumbelle vet!AU. No FTLand backstory or magic.
A/N: Chip’s Christmas present, because her puppies are her babies and I rarely write fic about actual fluffy animals, but when I do, I do it for her. MERRY CHRISTMAS KELPIE, ENJOY YOUR GIFT <3
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Sometimes, Gold regretted allowing his son to get a puppy for Christmas three years back.
Not often, though. The pup had always been a test of his considerable patience, but really, he was very fond of Charming. Even despite the fact that the dog had peed on the carpet and smashed Gold’s favourite lamp within hours of being in their home.
He’d heard that golden retrievers were placid, calm animals. He had been lied to somewhat, it seemed. Charming was sweet, but often overexcited and exuberant when he was happy, which lead to clumsy accidents.
Fic: Harmless - Chapter 12
AU: Belle arrives, bruised and bleeding, on the doorstep of a lame spinner and his son. On the run from the war and its causes, her short stop-over becomes something else entirely.
A/N: Yes, it’s been over a month. And I’m sorry for that: real life took a turn for the insane and this fic is brain-eating enough that it got pushed aside. Anyway, again there are asterisks where any readers who dislike any kind of mature content can stop and start up again. Enjoy!
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
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Harmless
Chapter 12
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On their last day in their home, Belle awakens to the sound of her family cooking downstairs. She is pleasantly drowsy as she pulls her boots back on and climbs down to the main room. She has a husband and a son waiting for her. That’s enough to ward off the twisting unease in her gut, and for a few minutes more she can forget that they’ll ever have to leave.
The conversation over breakfast is kept deliberately light, not touching on their immanent journey, on the scare of the morning nor the emotion shared. Nothing is said of anything more than the wool they have to sell at market, and the gossip Morraine passed on to Bae while they played together a few days before.
Fic: Harmless - Chapter 11
AU: Belle arrives, bruised and bleeding, on the doorstep of a lame spinner and his son. On the run from the war and its causes, her short stop-over becomes something else entirely.
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
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Harmless
Chapter 11
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Rumpelstiltskin sits, calm and still, and tries desperately to breathe. He truly believes that it is only Belle’s arm about his waist, her dark head on his shoulder, her fingers wrapped around his, that keep him from falling apart entirely.
He has never been further from the village than Longbourne, save for his time on the front lines. He does not think on the days he spent as a soldier, not ever, even if his leg is a daily reminder.
Now his wife wishes for him to hold her hand and leap into an abyss, and all Rumpelstiltskin can do is sit and stare at the rough grain of their kitchen table, and hope to all the Gods that his nightmares are worse than reality. That the horrors to be faced won’t tear them all limb from limb.
Fic: Ink Stains and Pencil Shavings (1/3)
Title: Ink Stains and Pencil Shavings (1/3)
Rating: this chapter is PG-13 at most, rating may increase later
Summary: Belle French finds herself drawn to one of her students’ fathers, and Mr Gold doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.
A/N: this is the companion piece to Chalkdust, and basically the story from Belle’s point of view. Not identical, but the same timeline. Because I felt like things needed explaining, and had scenes I wanted to put in that didn’t make it. Prior knowledge of that fic is probably not needed.
This is set in an entirely non-magical AU ‘verse. Meaning that there was no Fairytale Land backstory.
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Belle had learned early in her teaching career that there were days that could go an awful lot worse than this one.
Her first job had been in a school in the bad part of Sydney, working with children who were already just a few years away from their first criminal records. She’d done her best, and never regretted the experience, but once the first window had been smashed she had decided that perhaps it was time to move on.
But still, with death threats and smashed windows as a frame of reference, Belle is not at all shocked or upset when Benjamin Gold - complaining somewhat melodramatically all morning of an aching stomach and nausea - decides to throw up his lunch all over the middle of the classroom floor.
Fic: Harmless - Chapter 10
AU: Belle arrives, bruised and bleeding, on the doorstep of a lame spinner and his son. On the run from the war and its causes, her short stop-over becomes something else entirely.
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
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Harmless
Chapter 10
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Belle awakens from her slumber with a terrified scream on her lips. She would be been distressed - once upon a time she had sobbed through whole mornings - but now is an everyday occurrence, and it can be dealt with if not banished entirely.
Every night she dreams of ogres and castle dungeons, of scourges and flayings, and every day she spends trying in small ways to forget.
Fic: Harmless - Chapter 9
AU: Belle arrives, bruised and bleeding, on the doorstep of a lame spinner and his son. On the run from the war and its causes, her short stop-over becomes something else entirely.
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
Baelfire wakes early, to the sound of his papa hobbling around in the kitchen. It’s too early for spinning - they need the sun risen for the light to be good enough, and papa eats breakfast before he works, always - and yet Rumpelstiltskin is out of his bed and leaving their home.
Bae knows that something important happened yesterday, that Belle and his papa have not agreed on what to do about the knight. He glimpses Rumpelstiltskin’s face as he passes Bae’s cubby, and it is set with something Bae has only seen a few times before: his papa is determined, his jaw set against the fear that so often grips him. Whatever he is leaving so early to do, he is terrified.
Papa’s fear should not cause Bae to feel the same, but it does, every time. Papa is a coward, but he is also one of the few fathers in the village still able to look after his son. The few other men in the village of fighting age are sickly or lame, as Papa is. Papa is in the best shape of them all.
Fic: Harmless - Chapter 8
AU: Belle arrives, bruised and bleeding, on the doorstep of a lame spinner and his son. On the run from the war and its causes, her short stop-over becomes something else entirely.
A/N: I’m sorry this update took so long, but this chapter was one of the hardest I’ve ever tried to write. And it wouldn’t have come out in any form I like without Marchie’s help, so she deserves all the thanks for that. It also denotes a rating change: this chapter is M-rated. I have put asterisks where the M-bit starts and ends, if anyone wants to skip it.
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
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Harmless
Chapter 8
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For all that their differences have been brokered and sorted through, Rumpelstiltskin still feels an odd current of tension hanging in the air through the rest of the day.
He spins with Bae outside, and the boy is wise enough to keep his mouth shut and not ask about the knight he met on the road, or his parents’ conversation inside the house. He knows better than to ask for answers that he doesn’t want to hear.
Rum sees nothing of Belle, and is somewhat glad of it. Their conversation that morning had been a little too intense, too personal, for him to want to talk again so soon.
