Little Gaston

Chapter 5

Belle turned to Gaston, who was still cowering behind his arms, and put a soft hand on his back, ignoring the flinch she felt.

"Gaston, can we talk about this a little more?" Belle asked, mindful about the young headspace she was talking too.

The man was still trying to hide behind his arms, and the sight was something that Belle had never thought she would see.

She had always known him as arrogant and strong, and never one to back down from a fight. The stories about his hunts and tavern brawls were a very familiar topic in the village.

She was used to him being loud and brash, not silently crying, and the behaviour did make a difference to her. The part that she wasn't so fond off, the loud and opiniated man, was perhaps just a shield, or perhaps not all that there was about him.

Just like Adam, the beast on the surface wasn't what was underneath.

Behind the man, there was also this scared little boy hiding in there, the one who really thought she was bewitched by the Beast and just wanted to save her from the monster. The one who sucked his thumb and even when he had been scared to death from the monster had still taken her in his arms and tried to protect her.

"Gaston?" Belle asked again when he didn't answer her, this time the little lifted his arms a bit and peeked out with tear-stained eyes, his cheeks flushed from the crying.

"Talk?" he asked, looking apprehensive. Gaston was normally good at talking, but right now it was difficult to make his brain work.

The words were always difficult when he approached his headspace, and it were those moments he just liked to sit in front the fire, brooding in silence until the herbs finally started to work and the fuzzy episode passed completely.

"Yes, talk," Belle said with a smile, and Gaston nodded, trying to focus and managing to crawl back out of headspace, immediately feeling the embarrassment of having been into one. But he knew that if he pretended there was no embarrassment, people wouldn't realise it and pretended all was normal as well.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Gaston asked, crossing his arms over his muscled chest, trying to pull himself up and appear a little more intimidating than he was, and ignore the much more intimidating Beast who was breathing loudly in the background.

"You are a little," Belle said, and Gaston didn't even acknowledge the statement. There was no real hiding it now, but he didn't want to admit it out loud either. Belle didn't let his silence deter her, continuing to talk as if he had answered her, "I was thinking, me and Adam are caregivers, and you are hurt right now, and you seem to have a difficult time controlling your headspace. Perhaps we can help you out a little, until you're better?"

"Who is Adam?" Gaston asked, trying to not let the shock of what she had said freeze him up. Did she offer to take care of him? When he was a snivelling baby? Perhaps she didn't exactly realise how young his headspace could be. Or perhaps she just felt guilty that he had gotten hurt while trying to safe her. But he knew she would soon find out that her offer was more work than she could expect.

"I am Adam," the Beast said, making Gaston blanch.

"That thing is a caregiver?" he gasped out, already knowing that this wasn't going to work out, "he's going to kill me,"

"Unlike you, I'm not a murderer maniac who doesn't think his decisions through," Adam said, feeling miffed and Belle was once again glaring at him for his harsh words, making him try to make himself seem a bit smaller. Adam breathed a sigh of relief when Belle aimed her attention back to Gaston.

"He's very sweet, once he gets his temper under control," Belle said, hissing the last part to the Beast, who seemed cowed by the reprimand, which did surprise Gaston a bit.