Chapter Text
"Look, papa! The flowers are blooming!”
Rumpelstiltskin turned as his son darted to the side of the path where, indeed, a lovely patch of wildflowers were growing. He smiled as his son picked a few, even setting his pack down to give his shoulder a rest. Leaning heavily on his walking stick, he was perfectly content with simply watching his son.
Spring was here. Perhaps that was a good sign.
“Papa what are these on the bushes?”
Rumpelstiltskin limped over to where his son was standing, peering at a long white flower with something akin to antennae sprouting from the petals. They didn’t look friendly at all.
“I’m not sure, Bae. Come along. We should get back on track. It will be a little ways to the market still.”
They’d been making this trip once a month for as long as they could remember. It wasn’t a long trip from their small village in The Frontlands to Longborne, but with his son’s boundless energy and his leg it was hard. Still, it was usually worth it. If not for the profits that allowed he and his son to eat for another month, but also for…
“Miss Belle!”
“Hello Baelfire!”
Belle was always present at the market, though Rumpelstiltskin suspected it was more out of love for her craft than any actual necessity. She’d told them once her father owned a flower shop in Avonlea, and she made the treck to Longborne to sell what he often couldn’t and to try her own hand at becoming a master florist. Not only were Belle’s flowers always in gorgeous bloom, but the arrangements she made for the many people who wanted to brighten their homes were flawless. But the true allure of Belle, besides the beauty that put any flower to shame, was her absolute boundless kindness. He couldn’t recall ever seeing a frown on her lips, and she always greeted his son with a smile. That, if nothing else, was enough to make him fall for her. He supposed he’d fallen for her ages ago.
“Papa! Belle has some of those flowers!” Baelfire said, tugging at his father’s cloak. “Look see! Just there!”
Rumpelstiltskin’s brow furrowed as he peered at a vase, cascading with the very flowers Baelfire had seen on the bushes.
“They’re honeysuckle.” Belle said with a smile. “They make a little bit of honey in their stem for the birds and butterflies to enjoy.”
Baelfire cooed in awe as Rumpelstiltskin peered around the market for an open stall. His usual was around the corner, in the back. They were late. If they didn’t hurry… “Come, Bae. We must set up.”
“Bye miss Belle!” Baelfire said cheerfully.
Something akin to disappointment crossed Belle’s face. “Goodbye Baelfire. Rumpelstiltskin, I’ll come by your booth before the end of the day. I need more thread for embroidery.”
“Of course.” Rumpelstiltskin said easily, unable to worry when she was smiling at him like that.
Their stall was empty, which the spinner was grateful for. As they began to set up for the day, Rumpelstiltskin resisted the urge to peer at Belle from across the market. This was another reason why he favored this stall so. A man stopped at the stall, buying a rose from her and presenting it to the woman on his arm, who erupted into a fit of giggles.
“You should give her flowers.” Baelfire said, watching the exchange. “That’s what you do when you like a girl right?”
Rumpelstiltskin faltered, nearly knocking over the whole display of blue yarn. “Y-yes. I suppose.”
“Did you give mama flowers?”
“Sometimes.”
“You should give Miss Belle flowers.”
The very thought of doing something akin to courting Belle had far ripple across Rumpelstiltskin’s chest. It was true the woman was always nice to Baelfire, and had never looked at him as any less of a man for his limp, but that must have simply been because she had no idea of how it came to be. No. Courting a beauty like Belle when he was so old already and lame was out of the question.
“I think Miss Belle has quite a many flowers.” Rumpelstiltskin said.
“She didn’t have any of the flowers that grew along the path! Baelfire said. “If you hurry you can go pick some before the day ends!”
“Bae, you know we can’t. The stall…”
“Alright…” Baelfire sighed, obviously not at all happy with the turn of events. “Can I get some honey bread today?”
“If you help get the thread sorted, then yes.”
Baelfire beamed, quickly getting to work, and when his chore was done, he was darting off to the sweet stall, no doubt to charm them out of two pieces of bread.
The rest of the day passed without incident. Once they had enough, Rumpelstiltskin sent Baelfire off to get the bread and food they would need for the month, the boy much more accepted than him. Little by little, the crowd thinned, the day coming to a close and everyone going back to their homes.
“Just a little longer.” Baelfire protested as Rumpelstiltskin began to pack the remaining thread.
“Bae…”
“But it’s not sunset yet!”
The tell-tale signs of the setting sun was already painting the sky. Rumpelstiltskin very much wanted to be on the road and at his home before nightfall. If they didn’t hurry…
“Oh good you’re still here.”
Belle appeared, a sheepish smile across her lips and a bundle of blossoms in her hand. “I’m sorry. I meant to come sooner.”
“It’s no matter.” Rumpelstiltskin stuttered, frozen in place as she looked over the thread.
“Miss Belle do boys always give girls they like flowers?” Baelfire asked, moving around to tug on her dress.
Rumpelstiltskin’s cheeks burned, and he exchanged a look with Baelfire, who only smiled at his papa.
Belle smiled at him. “Sometimes. It’s the most common way to show a girl that you like her.” She kneeled down, giving him a grin as she whispered conspir. “Do you have a girl you wanna give flowers to?”
“No.” The boy answered quickly, turning his attention to the flowers in Belle’s hand. “Did someone give you those flowers because they like you? Do you get flowers?”
Belle blinked, seeming to have forgotten the flowers in her hand. She gave the boy a smile, reaching out to ruffle his hair.
“I brought these for you, so I could show you how they make honey.” She laughed as the boy gasped, watching Belle closely as the grasped one of the long tubes coming from the flower. “You take them like this. Yes that right. Now suck from that end.”
The boy followed Belle’s instructions, humming as the sweet honey touched his tongue. Belle smiled, turning back to select her spools of thread.
“Next time I won’t take so long to make it over.” She promised Rumpelstiltskin as she put the usual amount of coins in his hand.
“It’s no matter.” He said, shaking his head as he tried to remember how to talk. “Will you be able to make it home alright?”
“Of course.” She said, then looked at the sky with a worried look. “And you?”
“We’ll manage.”
“Miss Belle!” Baelfire was pulling on her skirts again, his father now packing up their cart. “Does anyone give YOU flowers? They must if they like you, right?”
Belle giggled. “You can give flowers to anyone you like. Just like I gave flowers to you.”
“But do YOU get flowers?”
“Not usually.” Belle said with a shrug.
“Do you wish someone would give you flowers?”
Belle glanced to Rumpsletiltskin, who seemed to be doing his best to ignore the conversation entirely. The blush feathering his cheeks, however, gave him away. Belle smiled.
“Sometimes.” Belle confessed. “Yes sometimes I do wish someone would give me flowers. Because that would mean he liked me too.”
Baelfire seemed to beam as Belle ruffled his hair and the boy returned to his father’s side. She straightened, giving Rumpelstiltskin a smile as he loaded his wares up, ready for the journey home.
“I’ll see you next month, yes? I can’t survive without my embroidery thread.”
Rumpelstiltskin gulped, nodding. “Y-yes. Of course.”
With a smile and a wave, Belle turned, going back to her stall to make her own journey home. It took the spinner all month to get his courage up, but it was the talk of the market when Belle arrived late to find a bouquet of wild roses tied with a blue thread at her stall. Try as they might, no one could get her to tell who her secret admirer was. He felt the same for her, and that was all that mattered.