winters-summer-santa

[winters-summer-santa]

Part 3 of 3!

Back in Business - chapter 3/3

Final part of my RCIJ gift for @winterswanderlust!  Cometh the hour, cometh the smut!

Rating: E

Word count: whole fic 20,068, this chapter 6,320 

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2]

AO3 link

Belle was subdued after her discovery of Gold’s past, and the reason for the library closure, and tried to distract herself with work.  She spent the rest of the day putting everything she owned on shelves and in drawers, purchasing kitchen items and cleaning products, and putting the finishing touches to her new home. The sunflowers that Gold had bought her were still in reasonable condition, and she bought a cheap glass vase in place of the beer glass they had been sitting in. They lent a cheerful air to the lounge when she placed them on the table, and Belle glanced around as she drank a glass of wine, trying to visualise what colours would go best on the walls of her new home.

Her first night’s sleep was somewhat restless, the new place with its unfamiliar noises and thicker curtains a little hard to get used to, but she still woke early, determined to go for a run to blow away the cobwebs of the past few days. She pulled on tights and a windproof top over her sports bra, cramming a hat down over her head and snatching up a pair of gloves. The beeping sound of a reversing truck was coming in through the window, harsh and strident, and she shot it a frown before making her way downstairs and into the library. A hammering on the doors made her blink.

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[winters-summer-santa]

Part 2 of 3!

Back in Business - Chapter 2/3

Part 2 of my RCIJ gift for @winterswanderlust

Rating: whole fic E, this chapter T

Word count: whole fic 20,067, this chapter 7,763

[Chapter 1]

AO3 link

The storm had passed by the time the next morning dawned, but the skies were still grey and dull, and the air had grown colder. Snow was coming, according to the too-cheerful weatherman on the local news, and Belle shuddered as she ate toast and peanut butter. She felt good, though. There was a spring in her step and a flutter of excitement in her belly at the thought of getting one step closer to opening her very own library. Assuming the Mayor would agree, of course, but now that she had Mr Gold’s permission to use the building, she hoped that would be forthcoming.

Ms Gale looked surprised when Belle told her the news, but smiled warmly.

“I can’t believe he agreed,” she said. “You’re not the first to try, but you’re certainly the first to succeed. Did you like - agree to give him your first born, or something?”

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[winters-summer-santa]

@winterswanderlust greetings from Santa!  Here is part 1 of 3 of your RCIJ gift.  It kind of grew legs and got away from me, alas, and I exposed my true identity by accident to someone who replied to one of the snippet posts (necessitating a hasty delete of my reply to them), but otherwise the process went okay XD 

I hope you enjoy it :D

Back in Business - Chapter 1

My RCIJ fic for @winterswanderlust, which I split into three because it got out of hand XD.  Prompt: sunflowers, out of business, AU.  The total fic has UST, a little angst, some smut and a side of Ruby Slippers

Also on AO3

As a child, Belle French had once read a Ted Hughes poem called November, which began with the line “the month of the drowned dog”. The poem had filled her with an unfamiliar and unwelcome sense of foreboding, and now that she was in the northern hemisphere, in the dark and cold of winter, she was reminded of it. She missed Melbourne, with its hot sun and long stretches of sand and the way the evening air was filled with the shouts of children playing on the beach and the scent of flowers. Her father’s decision to pack up and leave, moving halfway around the world to a town in Maine, of all places, had been hard to accept. She found November in Storybrooke to be dark and ominous, filled with leaden skies and heavy rain, the wind bitingly cold and on the cusp of snow. The two-bed home they had rented failed to keep out the wind entirely, and Belle had lain awake the first night, listening to it whistle and moan, an unquiet soul in the strange house that was already too quiet, too bleak. Her father had changed since her mother had died, grown bitter and withdrawn, and while she could understand wanting to run from everything that reminded him of his old life with the woman he loved, it didn’t fix the pain. It didn’t fix anything.

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[winters-summer-santa]

@winterswanderlust I am definitely more than halfway done with your gift, which is fortunate given the way time is running out on me.  Have a snippet.

Ruby grinned at her, leaning on the table on her elbows, eyebrows twitching suggestively.

“So, you managed to talk your way around Gold about the library, huh?” she said.  “He make you sign away your soul, or was it something way dirtier?”

Belle gave her a level look, which made Ruby’s grin widen.

“He’s really not that bad, you know,” said Belle.  “He was really interested in the library, and the books I was planning on buying.  I mean - okay, he doesn’t strike me as the world’s most sociable person, but he seems fair, at least.”

“Hmm.”  Ruby reached into the open bag of chips in front of her, watching Belle.  “Give me your first impressions of him.  I’m interested.”

“First impressions?”  Belle tried not to blush as she remembered that one of her first impressions had been how much the sound of his voice and the glint in his eyes turned her on.  “Uh - well, I guess he seemed polite?  Good manners, very well dressed, like he spends a lot of time picking outfits so everything’s just so.  Fastidious, I guess.  Like everything he wears is perfect and his shop is spotless and he has these long fingers that he handles things really carefully with—”

Ruby was staring at her, but she couldn’t seem to stop talking.

“—and everything he does is so deliberate,” she went on, “like the movements he makes and the way he gestures, and he looks at you and it’s like he can see into your soul, or something.”

“Oh my God,” said Ruby, leaning forward, eyes wide.  “You like him!”

“I didn’t say that!” protested Belle, blushing fiercely.

“Didn’t say what?”  Dorothy set a glass in front of her, and she snatched it up hurriedly, stirring ice cubes with a straw.

“Belle wants to bang Mr Gold until he can’t walk even with that cane of his,” said Ruby offhandedly, and Dorothy giggled.

“Seriously?” she said, and pulled a face as she slid onto the seat next to Ruby.  “Well, I’m probably not the best judge when it comes to guys, but you gotta admit the man can wear a suit.”

“Agreed,” said Ruby, passing over the bag of chips.

Dorothy took some, pushing them into her mouth and crunching on them.

“Probably into some kinky shit, though,” she said, licking salt from her fingers and reaching for her glass.  “Looks like he has a sex dungeon and gets off on spanking.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” said Ruby, and they both snickered.

“Ooo-kay, so I’ll be getting so drunk I don’t remember any of this conversation, then,” said Belle lightly, poking at the ice in her drink, and the others chuckled.

[winters-summer-santa]

*pets reindeer*  @winterswanderlust a very happy Sunday to you!  Santa has been working hard on your prompt and now has a part A (Rumbelle meeting) and a part C (Rumbelle smut) mostly done.  I’m just lacking the part B.  While I try to work out how they get from first meeting to giving each other all the orgasms, I present a small snippet.

Belle realised that her mouth had fallen open, and she snapped it shut, her eyes wide.

“That’s how you see me?” she whispered, and his mouth twitched.

“Yes.”

His voice was a soft rasp, a cat’s tongue against bare skin, and she felt her abdomen clench as he met her gaze, as he seemed to see through to the heart of her.

“Why did you come?” she breathed.

“Because I wanted to see you.  Alone.”

Belle took a step forward,

“Why?”

He was silent for a moment, looking at her, and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“I think you know,” he said softly.  “But ask me to leave, and I will.”

[winters-summer-santa]

@winterswanderlust I have almost 5,000 words of your fic written, so we’re getting somewhere!  My elves have been instructed to send you a snippet, and this is the one they chose

At just after four-thirty in the afternoon, it was already growing dark, the thick clouds adding to the sense of approaching night.  Rain was drumming against the sidewalk by the time Belle scurried past Granny’s, and she shot the diner a furtive glance, its cheerful, warm light tempting her to duck inside and wait out the downpour.  After a week in this town, however, she was well aware that the rain was probably only just getting started, and from the directions Ms Gale had given her, Mr Gold’s shop was not far.  She pushed her chin down into her collar, hunching her shoulders, and quickened her pace, feeling a wave of relief go through her as she spotted the lit sign hanging outside her destination.  Mr. Gold: Pawnbroker and Antiquities Dealer.

The shop was faced with sea-green clapboard, and she grasped at the rain-spattered door handle, pushing open the door.  A bell above tinkled merrily as she ducked inside, and she quickly shut the door behind her to keep out the rain.  She shook the water from her palm, instinctively wiping it against her coat as she looked around.  The shop was quiet and seemingly empty, its floor laid with shining dark wood.  It smelt of beeswax and very faintly of the musty scent of old books.  A counter was in front of her, with an ancient cash register placed to one side of it.  Paintings in a myriad of sizes were hung on the wall behind in ornate gold-painted frames: landscapes and bowls of fruit and people in clothes that were two centuries old or more.  Clocks ticked in a low, comforting rhythm, and lamps with shades of colored glass and painted silk sat in sconces on the walls, sending out a yellowish light that gave the place an air of something out of its time, pulled from the nineteenth century into modern day America, a tiny capsule of the past frozen in the present.  The shelves of the shop held a myriad of objects: porcelain figurines and glittering glass vases, ancient toys in scuffed cardboard boxes, old books and silver plate.  Glass counters stood in front of the shelves, shining warm light onto the treasures within, tea sets and trinkets, necklaces and netsuke, jade and jewellery.

“May I help you?”

Belle jumped, her head turning towards the back of the shop.  A man had appeared, standing in front of a thick, patterned curtain, his hands folded over a gold-handled cane with a dark, gleaming shaft.  He was short and slight, dressed in a slim-fitting dark suit that had to have been made for him.  It was a three piece, the waistcoat over a silk shirt the color of rich claret, the tie a lustrous black.  His face was angular, with high cheekbones and a long nose, framed by soft sweeps of brown hair just starting to turn silver at the temples.  Dark eyes ran over her before snapping back up to meet hers, and she was suddenly very aware that her hair was plastered to her head and rainwater was dripping from her coat in a steady stream to pool on the floor around her.

“Are you Mr Gold?” she asked, and his mouth lifted at one corner.

“Well, it is my shop.”

[winters-summer-santa]

@winterswanderlust: a quick, but important question.  Do you prefer original floofy-haired Gold or short haired Gold?  I’m good with either, but if you have a preference, let me know!  Also if you have a fav season of OUAT for Gold’s look.

btw I’m loving writing your prompt.  I have 1,300 words and they haven’t even met yet but it’s all good.

[winters-summer-santa]

@winterswanderlust I actually have words on a page!  They’re all borderline smutty, but still!  Words!

I was thinking of setting this fic in sort of late fall/winter.  I know we’re heading into summer right now, but summer doesn’t really fit the mood of this fic.  Hope you’re okay with that.  *sleigh scoots away again*

[winters-summer-santa]

Good, good, this is ticking all my boxes! AUs rule! I ship Ruby Slippers too so yay! Okay, I'll get on with it :)

*sleighbells ring*  @winterswanderlust it’s Santa here!  I love your prompt, and I’m starting to think about how to fill it.  Would you prefer modern AU or FTL?  Anything you want me to steer clear of?  Any side characters you particularly like or can’t stand?  Any squicks or triggers to avoid?  Also, how do you like your smut?

[winters-summer-santa]

*sleighbells ring*  @winterswanderlust it’s Santa here!  I love your prompt, and I’m starting to think about how to fill it.  Would you prefer modern AU or FTL?  Anything you want me to steer clear of?  Any side characters you particularly like or can’t stand?  Any squicks or triggers to avoid?  Also, how do you like your smut?