A Friendship Is Born
A Thousand Years
When a young, 10 year old Rumplestiltskin meets 9 year old Belle and instantly become friends. Their Friendship grows stronger and stronger over the years but it will be put to the test when Rumple’s affections are won by the beautiful miller’s daughter Milah.
~ RumBelle ~ AU ~
Chapter One: - A Friendship Is Born
Little Rumplestiltskin was walking home from Market with his Guardian, Maria. After his birth mother had died of fever during the early days of the ogre war when he was 8 years old, his father later abandoned him and he was placed into Maria’s care.
Maria was a Spinner. She was a kind woman who treated Rumple as if he were her very own. She would comfort him when his childhood fear of darkness made him cry and she would always make him his favourite food; meat pie, when he had done a good days work. Rumple giggled to himself thinking of how Maria said he always worked hard so she would make him a meat pie most days.
On the day of Rumple’s 10th birthday, Maria presented him with his own little spinning wheel. He always had to use Maria’s spinning wheel when he helped her with the sheep wool so he was very happy when he came downstairs that morning to his special birthday surprise and he smiled brightly, running over to her and hugged her tightly,
“Thank you so much Maria” he said happily and Maria smiled brightly and hugged him back gently and knelt down so she was eye level with him,
“You’re more than welcome Rumple” she said with a gentle tone and Rumple became bashful,
“Urrrrrm…. Maria?” he asked nervously and shuffled his feet a little,
“Can….. Can I ask you something?” he asked timidly and Maria smiled,
“Of course you can little one. You can ask me anything” she said gently and Rumple remained timid,
“I…. could I…. would you mind if I…. called you mama?” he asked quietly and Maria’s eyes widened in surprise and they filled with happy tears and she wrapped her arms around him gently and hugged him,
“Yes… yes of course you can” she whispered and Rumple smiled and hugged her back,
“I love you mama” he said happily and Maria giggled as happy tears ran down her cheeks and she smiled brightly at him and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead,
“I love you too my little Rumple” she replied gently as they continued to hug each other.
-
Maria smiled as she glanced over her shoulder as she watched little Rumple walk behind her with a bored expression as he carried a little basket of remaining wool they had failed to sell at market. There was quite a bit of wool. Business had become small for Maria and she didn’t have much money. Why was this? It was because of a little problem she liked to call, ‘The Sherriff’. He was constantly upping her taxes, he picked on her because she was now a single mother.
She stopped walking and went over to Rumple and knelt down and smiled softly,
“How about this?.... I’ll take the rest of the wool home and you can go and get yourself some fresh fudge from the sweet store” she said gently and placed two silver coins in his small palm and he smiled brightly as she took the basket and he giggled,
“Thanks mama!” he said brightly and hugged her before running off and she smiled gently as she watched him go.
-
Sometime later, Rumple giggled as he exited the sweet store with a little brown paper bag of fudge and he instantly reached his small hand in to retrieve a piece when suddenly…,
“Gaston give it back!” said a girl’s voice and Rumple looked towards where it had come from and saw a small girl, his age jumping up at a tall boy who was holding a book out of her reach and laughing with a mean smile,
“Awwwww what’s the matter?” he mocked,
“Is the little baby gonna cry?” he said as he and his entourage laughed and the little girl pouted as she jumped trying to retrieve it and Rumple glared and stomped over,
“Hey! Leave her alone you big bully!” he shouted and when he realised what he had done and saw the grown up boy glare at him, he soon became scared as Gaston approached him,
“Oh you want me to leave her alone? And what? Are you gonna make me you little coward?!” he said angrily and Rumple shook with fear,
“I…. Errrrrm…. I….” he thought for a moment before glaring up at him and held up his tiny fists,
“Yeah…. Yeah I will. Now…. You better give her, her book back before…. Before I get really angry” he said with timid bravery and the little girl smiled as she watched the small boy stand up for her but Gaston and his friends burst out laughing,
“Oooooooo….. Oh please…. Please don’t hurt me…. Here take the book have mercy on me” he said in mock fear holding the book out towards Rumple and when he reached for it, Gaston threw it behind him and it landed in the mud and his friends laughed louder,
“Come on guys there’s got to be something better to do than this….. See you later coward” he said to Rumple with a glare and walked off.
-
Rumple sighed sadly and went and picked the book out of the mud before wiping it clean with his cloak and he looked at the girl timidly,
“I…. sorry I couldn’t be braver…. Your book’s all muddy now… but I cleaned it as best I could” he said with timid guilt and the little girl giggled as she took the book gently,
“It’s ok and….. I….. I actually thought you were very brave” she said timidly with a gentle blush and Rumple looked at her surprised,
“R… really?.... well I…. errrrrm…. I…. I’m Rumple” he said politely with a bow and she giggled and curtsied politely,
“I’m Belle…. Errrrrm thank you….. For saving my book for me” she said gently with a blush and Rumple smiled, blushing himself as he shuffled his feet,
“You’re…. you’re welcome” he said timidly and Belle smiled softly,
“Errrrrrrm…. Rumple?” she asked quietly, becoming nervous,
“Do…. Do you want to be my friend?” she asked quietly and he smiled brightly before nodding,
“Yes please” they both giggled and Belle smiled brightly,
“I’ve never had a friend before” she admitted and Rumple smiled,
“Neither have I….. I guess….. I guess that makes us…. Best friends” he said timidly and Belle smiled and nodded,
“Yes! We’ll be best friends forever!” she said happily and twirled around with a giggle and Rumple giggled too and held out the small brown paper bag with a blush,
“Would you like to share my fudge with me?” he asked timidly.
-
