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Belle didn't know how long she'd been staring at dragon, but he hadn't noticed, so she had no reason to stop.
It wasn't often she'd seen Beast so... relaxed. They should walk like this more often; be in each other's company in silence in the garden of his castle, admiring the stars that decorated the night sky.
At least that was what she was supposed to be doing, but the poor girl found herself admiring something – or rather, someone — completely different. How could she do anything else when Beast was next to her, knowing what a gentle soul his intimidating appearance hides?
The way his eyes lit up whenever he saw her, the little gestures to make sure she was safe, his shyness when he accidentally touched her…
She loved him.
Belle loved Beast, and she was pretty sure there was a small chance that dragon would love her back. A girl can dream sometimes, right?
Her insistent desire to get to know him better has borne fruit, and here they are, looking at the stars, alone, and no one bothers them. Even the children, who were now helping Hiroka with all their might. If the singer didn't know any better, she would have said that they had an unofficial date. However, she did not dare to tell him about it, otherwise he would have vanish in an instant.
"What's the matter?" dragon's voice made her blink and shake her head, so that she fell back from heaven to earth.
Beast was looking at her now, one eyebrow raised.
"What?" she managed, straightening up.
«Oh no, did he catch me looking at him?»
"It's just that you looked at me so much that I thought you needed something." he informed her, and the girl wanted to sink through the ground.
She felt the heat rush to her cheeks, and instinctively played with the hem of her dress, looking away with a nervous laugh.
"I just..." she tried to find a suitable excuse.
Her eyes searching for something in him that could be a good enough reason for her gaze — besides her complete fascination with the dragon, of course.
"I was wondering if I could... move closer to you?.. It's getting a little cold…"
«What the hell did I just say?!»
Oh, she hated to admit it, but Hiroka was right; she was a terrible liar, especially when it came to lying on the spot. Her friend always revealed her lies, and Suzu always had to deny that she was bad at it.
Belle mentally cursed herself, refusing to look Beast in the eyes, as he was most likely throwing her one of his dreadful looks, and worse, her own face seemed to be burning. The dragon cleared his throat.
"Well, if you're cold..." he muttered.
Now it made the diva look up and discover that Beast himself blushed slightly.
Before he could retract his words, she moved a little closer and leaned on him with a satisfied smile on her face, and dragon in turn covered her with his cloak.
For the first time, her poor ability to lie led to something incredibly pleasant, because Beast radiated such a soothing warmth that Belle could easily be calm in the absolute cold, just having a dragon next to her.
"Thank you." she whispered, and he mumbled something back to her.
And she started looking at dragon again. Beast was clearly avoiding her gaze now, and he was awkwardly holding his hands behind his back, obviously trying to avoid being touched. Belle understood that he was uncomfortable, but he was not tense, so she allowed herself to relax a little.
It was painful. In fact, it hurt her how much her heart yearned for him, for his voice, his eyes and every little thing in him. Was it possible to feel that way? To love someone so much that you couldn't find another way to express your feelings other than crying?
She used to have such feelings for her mother, for whom she cried the loneliest nights, but besides her, Belle had never felt such feelings for anyone before, especially romantic ones.
"Beast?" she called softly after a couple of minutes, and he looked down at her.
"Yes?" he asked, pushing her to continue.
Diva couldn't tell if he noticed the indecision on her face or not.
«I love you.»
"I like your eyes." she said instead of her true thoughts and tried not to wince at the improvised phrase.
It's true, she liked his eyes — very much — but it sounded too random. Again, her terrible ability to lie is to blame. Beast frowned, but nevertheless, his cheeks turned slightly red, and he turned away with a chuckle.
"They remind me of a falcon, if that makes any sense." she added with a casual shrug to cover up her little gaffe.
To her great surprise, dragon grinned again and turned to her with a barely noticeable smile on his face.
"You are not far from the truth." his words made the girl frown slightly.
"What do you mean?" she asked, so that he would satisfy her curiosity.
Beast rarely talked about himself, and this was a topic that interested her very much.
"My totem animal is, if I remember correctly, an eagle."
This little bit of information made her eyes sparkle like the stars above them, and dragon had to bite his tongue
"That explains your constellation." She commented with a chuckle, and it was dragon's turn to frown.
Belle noticed his confusion and began to explain further. Even if he usually kept an impassive expression on his face, she understood what he was thinking, and dragon appreciated it.
"Everyone has their own constellations. You have one too, but I couldn't figure out which one. Now I know – over there, look!" and she pointed to a spot in the sky.
Of course, Beast was hard to find a constellation, and of course Belle noticed it too.
And she giggled. The sound was divine to him, but dragon was too shy to admit it to her, so he snorted and glared at her.
"Sorry, sorry. Let me help you."
Thanks to her help, it only took him a few seconds to find the constellation.
"I see it now." he nodded.
"Those stars over there form wings, and the rest form a body. I wish you could see them the same way I do. It's just amazing."
«Like you...» he thought, but didn't say it out loud.
Her eyes were fixed on the stars above them, and Beast couldn't help but admire her. Sometimes it seemed to him that Belle was like a walking star herself, too ethereal and beautiful to be real.
During her performances and concerts, it was easy to say that she looked like everyone else. However, whenever dragon spent time with her, even if it was in broad daylight or under a moonlit sky, when she was just Belle and not the most popular singer in the world U... she shone brighter than the sun itself.
They were complete opposites of each other: he was tainted by his bad reputation, radiating nothing but negativity and rage, while Belle could cleanse even the darkest corners of this world with her light. How could someone like her be in the company of someone like him?
Beast would never know, but what he knew for sure was that he was grateful to her for staying by his side, for completely ignoring his words about her leaving him alone. Her presence made him feel needed, her smile made him feel loved, and the expectation of meeting her again made him want to live.
When it finally dawned on him that he had feelings for this fragile-looking girl, he panicked for various reasons. What was he supposed to do? Forget about his feelings? Ignore them? Confess? These feelings were completely new to him, and that's why he decided to just... continue to enjoy her little company in silence.
He loved her.
Beast loved Belle, and he could only dream of her loving him back one day.
"Silly dragon, now you're staring at me." her voice rang out, and he turned away irritably and blushed.
His reaction made her laugh.
"It's alright, I don't mind, unless there's something you wanted to tell me?" she asked, and even while still leaning on him, she tilted her head slightly to one side.
Beast dared to meet her gaze, and her eyes, as always, were full of kindness, but he could also see that there was expectation in them. His breathing was ragged.
«I... love you.»
"Forgive me. I was lost in thoughts because of what you told me about the constellation." dragon said instead of his true thoughts, and a hint of disappointment flashed in the girl's eyes for less than a second before she nodded understandingly.
"There are a couple more things that I can talk about in more detail. Do you want to listen?" she suggested, and Beast took this opportunity to distract himself.
He just nodded back so she could continue her story.
They both decided to put aside their desires and longing for each other, unaware that their dreams were three words away.