Chapter Text
"Very good."
And then he bit her, nipped right at that little spot Belle thought was a secret, and the jolt that traveled up her spine made her mouth open against her will.
"Rum!"
"Belle." He tried to sound stern, but she could hear the glee in his voice.
"Sorry," she murmured. He shifted as if to put his mouth to her again, but she reached down to grasp his shoulder and he immediately pulled back, looking up at her.
"Was that...not okay?" His expression seemed nearly worried, and she shook her head vehemently.
"No! No, it was wonderful. It's just..." She shifted uncomfortably. "How did you know about...that place?"
He cocked his head, unsure. "Your cunt?"
"No, the..." She squirmed. "Above it. Where you bit." He looked at her without comprehension, and she could see his mind sorting through her words, turning them over like a stone.
"What are you talking about?"
She looked at him helplessly. Maybe he didn't know? Maybe it was simple coincidence?
And then a light came on in his eyes, a delighted smile spread across his face, and he impishly brought a hand up, settling his chin on his fist as he raised his eyebrows.
"Oh," he whispered. "That."
Belle thought it might be a good idea to sink into her bed and perish. She wondered if he could use his talented hands and his mouth to press her down, past the sheets and blankets, through the bed frame, and into a wonderful oblivion where she wouldn't have to look at those knowing, shining eyes, knowing what she knew and what he knew and all the knowledge about the impatient thing between her legs that licked flames across her body and wanted his mouth on her again.
And yet, she couldn't tear her gaze from his or stop herself from grinning. Because, underneath the layer of embarrassment that coated her mind, she felt a fizzing sort of anticipation, of confidence, of happiness.
Of the promise of quite a lot of fun, if she could just get past this damn hurdle.
Rum was still looking at her, that broad smile goading her on. His teeth were normal now -- he must have dropped that glamour after, well, losing his concentration -- and she decided that liked his looks even more now. He was certainly not the ugly monster he saw himself as.
Just a very smug bastard.
"Aren't you ever going to speak, Belle?"
She refused to open her mouth. He liked to talk, so let him talk them through this.
"Fine," he purred. "Even though you're the one who brought it up. I think what you're referring to, sweetheart, is technically called a clitoris."
So he did know about it, then. Belle felt slightly surprised. She was older, and no fool -- she'd heard other women and girls giggling about it together, had read about it, had explored it herself enough times to admit that her clinical curiosity had long since crossed into simple desire.
But everything she'd heard and read pointed to most men knowing or caring very little about this whole clitoris topic, and she'd sort of assumed it was something women had to learn and teach, an illicit knowledge that most men weren't privy to.
And, before tonight, she certainly hadn't planned on giving a lesson to the beast she'd -- despite knowing he was at least intelligent and sometimes generous -- generally assumed would rut away her innocence and carry on with his various sinister deeds without much of a thought to her pleasure. Who was she to convince him otherwise?
But she was learning quite a lot about the Dark One in quite a short time.
And of course the bastard knew! And of course he would tease her.
She ignored the oddly cheerful voice in her head that told her that she sort of liked him teasing her, and her teasing him.
It occurred to Belle that she hadn't spoken in far too many seconds.
"Yes," she nodded slowly. "I didn't think most men knew about that."
"As I told you, most men are fools." Rum laughed, low and soft. "It's quite a bit more fun when everyone knows what they're doing."
Belle suddenly felt a little self-conscious. Of course he'd have known; who knew how many women he'd had?
"I do read a lot," she said, feeling sheepish, "but obviously I don't have much...practical experience. And I'm sure you've had so much..."
He furrowed his brow. "Is that what you think?"
She rolled her eyes. "You don't have to be noble for me. You probably haven't made many deals with virgins, but you've lived a long time...and you can be charming...and you're not unhandsome."
He barked out a short laugh but, after a pause, met her gaze. "I can assure you, I have had far, far fewer women than you think. And not since before..." He trailed off, making a vague gesture at himself.
Belle wondered who he'd been, then. Before becoming the Dark One. She looked at him questioningly, and he shrugged a little sadly.
"That was a long time ago. Life takes many twists and turns, past and future."
At that moment, a series of images filled Belle's mind. A castle filled with sunlight, a young boy with inquisitive eyes smiling and holding a laughing baby. A man and a woman watching them, backs toward her, holding hands. The sun catching the woman's dark curls...the couple, late at night, hidden in tangled sheets and slick with sweat. The man's hand running through those curls that looked so similar to her own...
She blinked several times, and the images were gone. Rum was also blinking, a confused expression on his face.
"Yes," he mumbled. "Many twists and turns."
Belle didn't know what to say, didn't want to intrude, and the little voice in her head tugged at her thoughts impatiently.
If neither of you is going to talk about anything of substance, how about his tongue takes some twists and turns on that clit you both like so much?
Be quiet, Belle thought back.
Oh, come on, insisted the voice. You've been thinking about it ever since you kissed him. Brave enough to mention the heat of your cunt, but not enough to admit how wet you are, how you want to feel him inside you, how much you really do want his eyes burning into you as you come, each thrust of his cock tearing your innocence and bringing you so much knowledge, him spending himself inside of you and his essence taking root in your womb--
Stop, demanded Belle.
Tell him you want his mouth on your hard little clit again, you brave girl.
"As much as I liked it, I'm NOT going to say I want his mouth on my clit!" cried Belle, and she was so filled with adrenaline that it took her exactly four seconds to realize that she had, actually, just said that out loud.
She -- once again, curse her pale skin -- turned red as Rum snapped back to attention, his eyes flashing with gratitude and amusement.
"Ah yes, we're straying off the subject again. Back to the matter at hand."
"Sorry," said Belle miserably. "I've been fighting with myself a little bit."
Rum grinned. "I've been doing some of that tonight, too. I wonder if we've been fighting about the same thing, my lovely Belle." His.
"I think so, my dashing Rumplestiltskin." Hers.
The spark of pleasure in his eyes told her he'd caught the term of ownership.
"Well, Belle, if we're going to be here all night, I have to insist that we get back to me teaching you about some of that practical experience you so tantalizingly lack." He moved back between her thighs. "Tell me what you want."
His voice was both soft and hungry, and Belle understood, with a thrill, that there would not be much more talking.
Or, at least, polite conversation.
"I don't know," she said honestly. "I did like it when you...were on my clit, but I'm not sure what else might feel good."
"'Clit' is pretty much the same thing as 'clitoris', but it sounds quite a bit dirtier, doesn't it?" mused Rum. "Of course, I'm not complaining about hearing it come out of your mouth." He studied her. "Since we don't quite know what works, I'll have to examine all of this very seriously to find the best course of action."
"A very serious sort of study," giggled Belle. "Purely scientific."
Rum nodded and pulled a theatrically stern face, making her giggle again.
"Well, on with it." He paused, considering, and then bent his head and gently dragged the flat of his tongue up her left thigh.
Oh. It was wonderful, but Belle wanted more.
"Clit again," she ground out.
"Patience," he growled, and placed a chaste kiss on her right knee. By this point, Belle knew they'd mutually agreed to let the little sparks be. She knew, with another little thrill, that the strange kisses had never been a spell, never been a mistake. A nudging, hopeful little thought slipped through her mind, but she pushed it away and refocused.
"No!" she whined.
"Demanding little thing." Licking her right thigh. "All that pent up energy." Dipping his nose against her curls. "I'll make it better." A kiss on her stomach. "Kiss it better." His voice faltered, ever so slightly, and then came back stronger. "However long that takes." The tip of his tongue delved just between her folds, and she gasped.
"More."
Rum giggled, looking up into her eyes.
"You might want to hang onto the sheet, love."
And her fingers closed around the fabric just as his mouth met her fully.
The books, thought Belle, lied.
Because this was so, so much better than what they'd said. Better than anything she'd ever experienced by herself.
As his teeth caught the edges of her folds, his tongue flicked around her clit, his warm breath stoked the fire in her stomach as he inhaled her scent and taste, she wondered briefly if she might die. If this was how she went, she could accept that.
She let out a squeak, a high-pitched, needy noise that made her cringe slightly, and her lover rubbed her knee reassuringly.
"I like those sounds you make, love," he murmured. "No shame in letting me know how I please you."
His nose pressed against her entrance as he skimmed up to take her between his teeth again, and that warm fire flamed to a new high as she bucked her hips against him.
"More," she cried again, and she could feel him chuckle against her, feel the vibrations slip inside her and echo across her body as he sucked her so damnably sweetly.
As he lifted a hand to cup her breast, she sensed the edge of a cliff approaching, the fall growing longer and steeper the more his hands and mouth played with her. Belle could only comprehend that she wanted to throw herself from it, let the flames inside her consume her.
She could barely think, but a word surfaced through her gaze.
"H-harder?" It was only a question in that she simply didn't know if he could -- could he possibly improve upon this? Could he possibly give her even more of this?
He paused, and she shuddered as she felt him pull her clit lightly out with his teeth, stretch her, and release her with a guttural groan.
"If you'll have it. You do have very good taste, in more ways than one." She could hear him grinning, and he ran his thumb gently along the underside of her breast. "Tell me if it's too much."
"Just do it!" she snapped, and she smiled as Rum laughed, loud and exhilarated, meeting her eyes.
"If I'm being honest, the thought of having you at my mercy is quite entertaining." He huffed sheepishly, and Belle thought that if he could blush, he would have. "And if I'm being very, very honest, Belle, the thought of me being at your mercy is even more...delightful. Tread lightly, love, or I won't last."
"You'll last because I wish it," she teased, reaching down to stroke his forehead, his cheek. "I insist."
His eyes shone. "I have to? I must?"
"You must." Her heart pounded, and she felt a connection spark and build between their eyes.
"Tell me." His voice was hoarse.
"I command you, Dark One. Please me."
His face disappeared, and Belle waited expectantly to feel his lips on her center.
But how strange -- he seemed to be licking at her entrance? How--
And then he drove his tongue inside her with one hard thrust, and she cried out as she felt her walls clench around him.
Smug bastard with a silver tongue, she thought wildly.
Until death do you part, and perhaps even after, whispered the little voice.
Belle didn't have much time to think about that odd little thought -- funny how being fucked by the Dark One's tongue had a way of rendering everything else irrelevant.
She thrust her hips hard against him, over and over, savoring the feel of him on her, in her.
He pinched her nipple hard, and she saw her cliff, impossibly high and steep, sliding toward her.
"Rum..." She could only devote enough energy for a whisper. Climbing now, higher and higher...
He withdrew, pulling himself up to lie above her.
"Let go, Belle."
As his mouth met hers, she had just enough presence of mind to hear him moan as he drove two fingers inside her, feel the pleasure-pain of his nails scratch across her walls, and see the spread of stars across her vision as he scraped once across a wonderful spot, twice again over that really-quite-incredible spot, three times over and she never wanted it to stop, she could hardly breathe, couldn't remember her own name--
The cliff gave way, the world went white, and she screamed.
She was falling now, waves of pleasure dragging her down at impossible speed, the fire burning across every inch of her skin as her lover thrust in her, pulled at her, hissed in her ear that she was so lovely, was taking him so well, good girl, so wet, so warm...
The waves began to recede, and Belle let her face fall into his neck as he coaxed her down, the last shivers of her climax fading into a pleasant fatigue.
"Was that okay?" A faux-innocent voice drifted lightly into her ear, and she shoved Rum's shoulder as she pulled back to face him, their heads settled snugly in the pillows.
"You evil man, acting like I'd hate that, that it would be the noble choice to refuse me!"
"Not evil, love, just dark. If I were evil, I'd have pounced on you and had my way without a first thought, let alone a second. I wanted to know you wanted it."
"Take your clothes off," Belle said suddenly.
"Quite the change of topic, frankly."
"No, I mean it," she said. "I want it. I want you."
"Are you sure?" His gaze was hopeful, uncertain, hungry, and warm all at once.
"Yes, yes! Now, please!" Belle no longer felt tired. Instead, she felt only need.
"Oh, all right." Belle turned to unbutton his shirt, but he waved a hand and, in an instant, the room was plunged into an impenetrable darkness.
"What happened?" She ran her hands across the sheets, seeking him, and took hold of his hand. "I can't see you!"
She heard a sigh from somewhere near her.
"You don't want to see me...like that. I'd feel much more comfortable if you couldn't, in fact."
Belle wanted to shout in frustration.
"I have seen you! I've seen you and I want to see more. You think I'm not self-conscious about the way I look, Rum?"
He snorted. "You're beautiful. Any man would give his most valuable possessions just to see you, touch you, taste you..."
"I'm giving you something pretty valuable," Belle pointed out. "Isn't it fair that I get all of you in return? It's not like I got the benefit of magical darkness when you got your eyes all over me."
"Perhaps." His voice was hesitant, and she could tell she was wearing him down. "But you didn't need it. Not a flaw on your luminous skin, in my humble opinion."
"Yours is just as luminous," she whispered -- and, before she could lose her courage, she rolled over and sat up so she was straddling him. She still couldn't see him, but she could tell that she was positioned fairly correctly by the presence of a leather-clad bulge against her thigh. The coarse material and heat of him felt good against her skin, and she shifted so that she could drag herself over him, the leather catching her clit and making her inhale sharply.
She wasn't the only one affected. Below her, she heard a tortured moan.
"Fine, sweetheart. You win."
A blink, and the room was restored to its low light. She pursed her lips.
"Rum, your clothes are still on."
He met her eyes. "So they are."
"Please take them off," she whispered, and he gazed at her deeply.
"Okay." And then, so low she could hardly hear it: "For you."
A pause, another blink, and he was bared to her, her eyes automatically drawn to the glints in his flesh.
"Oh," she murmured, and she placed her hands on his shoulders and drew her hands down his lean arms.
"I can put them back on." He laughed, not one of his theatrical giggles but a soft, nervous breath.
"No," Belle shook her head insistently, tracing across his chest. "You're...you're beautiful."
She ran a thumb experimentally across his nipple, and he shivered and closed his eyes.
"Remember what I said, darling Belle. I won't last forever."
A wicked thought occurred to her.
"Oh?" She began to drag her entrance up and down his thigh, watching his cock stand stiff at attention. He was not insubstantial, and she felt a thrill race down her spine at the thought of him stretching her walls, molding her to him. "How long do you think you'll last?"
"Minx," he growled. "Here I am, vulnerable, and a blushing little virgin is trying to hold dominion over me."
"I don't think I'm trying," she shot back, running her fingers down the sparse hair on his stomach and up onto her own torso. "I think I'm succeeding."
"I'll punish you, dearie."
"How?" Belle felt the last of her fatigue slip away, and the warmth between her legs reignite anew.
"I need a caretaker for my...rather large estate," Rum smirked. "I'll force you into my employ, make you clean my castle and serve my meals."
Belle thought again of the sun-filled castle, and pushed it gently away to the back of her mind. "That doesn't sound so terrible."
"Ah, but you haven't heard the best part. I'll dress you up in a pretty gown -- gold, perhaps, as I'm rather fond of the color -- and wait for you to get insolent with me. Then, when you run from my wrath, I'll chase you down and...and drag you to the library, where I'll tear your dress away in fistfuls and have my way with you in front of the fire until you beg for release and remember who you belong to."
"For someone who teases me about my books," Belle pointed out, "you seem to have read quite a lot of them."
He laughed, and his eyes glinted. "I can do other things you haven't read about in books." His voice dropped to a hiss. "I can grow your maidenhead back, bend you over my table, take you over and over. I can erase your memories temporarily, make you think you're a poor princess I've captured and taken aboard my ship to slake my lusts. What would you do for those things, Belle?"
She grinned. "Anything."
"I do love it when people say that." He reached up to trace her lips. "But it's never sounded so sweet as it does from your lips. The things I could do with that single word..."
She shivered pleasurably at the thought, and thrust against his thigh in retaliation. The slight roughness of his skin felt even better than the leather, and she let out a ragged breath.
"Again, not so terrible." She smiled down at him. "But, speaking of maidenheads, I've still got mine, you can't last forever, and you've made no move to take it."
He moaned and grabbed her hips.
"Is that what you want?"
"Yes." She laced her fingers through his and let out a yelp as he tightened his grip and rolled over, gently pinning her down beneath him on her back.
"Well," he said, "I'm enough of a gentleman that I won't make you do all the work on top this time."
Belle squeezed his hand playfully. "You just want to be in control."
He shrugged, smiled impishly. "Sometimes. Sometimes, being out of control seems...tempting."
They were both quiet for a moment, and he stroked her cheek, pushed her head off her forehead.
"I need to know one more time, Belle: Is this what you want?"
She nodded emphatically. "Yes...please, yes."
"I can't take it back."
"That's why I want you to."
He looked at her, his eyes full of warmth.
"Okay. Tell me...tell me if I should stop."
She nodded and shivered again -- in a different way this time -- as he lined himself up against her.
And then he was pushing inside her, excruciatingly slow, and she felt a dull ache as the head of his cock met her walls.
He gasped, and she felt herself redden.
"Belle...so tight, love. So wet for me."
He pushed in further, and the ache became slightly more pointed as she felt him stop, like there was something blocking his way.
Because of course there was.
She suddenly felt very vulnerable, but she nodded again up at him. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her head. The warm little spark fizzed through her body.
"Tell me," he said again.
"Please...take me." She squeezed his hand and shut her eyes.
He squeezed her hand back, his warm skin against hers, and shifted his hips as he pulled back and out of her. Belle was confused as she felt the very tip of him rest against her entrance.
What was he--
He thrust forward, his hips pushing toward hers, and for the merest fraction of a second she wondered what all the fuss had been about.
And, all at once, she felt her maidenhead give, tearing away from her with a rip of pain, and her virginal walls burned as they were forced apart, stretched open and raw by his very, very hard cock.
"Rum," she gasped, and threw her arms around him to dig her nails into his back.
"Belle, love, I'm sorry." He pressed his lips to hers, nuzzled her cheek, and she felt the spark strengthen and begin to fight against the pain.
He looked at her with concern. "I'll stop, Belle, let me--"
"No, no." She tightened her grip around him, willing him to stay inside her. "Just stay still, please."
"As you wish." He buried his face in her neck, whispering words of comfort. "The pain will fade, sweetheart. Focus on the pleasure."
He kissed her again, passed his thumb over her clit, and she felt, under her growing desire, the burn and the stretch begin to recede.
"So brave, my Belle. Taking me so well, so soft and lovely."
"I feel very vulnerable," she whispered. "With you here, doing this for the first time, feeling this pain and inexperience."
Rum pulled back and shook his head. "Everyone loses their innocence, love. We've all felt this way. It's so common as to be unremarkable." He quirked an eyebrow. "What isn't common is being a cursed man with monstrous skin who hasn't been intimate in hundreds of years and is afraid to reveal himself to a beautiful woman. I should feel vulnerable. And perhaps embarrassed -- you had to take off your clothes before I even let myself do more than kiss you. Any man in the world would say I'm a fool."
Belle giggled. The pain was nearly gone now. "You were very adamant about not taking my virginity, and now you're confiding in me. I suppose there is bravery in you, too."
She thought, again, that he might have blushed had he been able, and she felt him tighten inside her. "Ah, and look where that got me, playing polite." He rubbed her clit again, and Belle slowly lifted her hips to press herself firm against him and feel herself clench along his length. She did this a couple of times, keeping her face innocent, and enjoyed the look of pained desire that passed over her lover's face.
"How does it feel, Belle?" She could hear him fighting to control himself. "May I...move slowly?"
"Just a minute." She pressed against him again, harder, and couldn't keep from letting out a laugh as he winced, catching on to her game.
"This is the thanks I get for being a gentleman? For being vulnerable?" He swore as she playfully pinched his nipple but still didn't move, and she felt a wave of gratitude.
"Thank you for staying still," she giggled, half-joking and half-serious.
"I will punish you. On the floor, on my bed, wrists bound...I swear with everything in me, love."
She pulled him down, pressing her nose to his.
"Aren't you going to stop talking and fuck me, Dark One?"
And then he tugged her clit hard, slammed into her hard, and laughed as she squealed at the sensation.
"I'm not going to talk politely much more, Belle, but I insist you be very, very vocal with me."
His voice trailed off into a groan as he thrust into her, then again, setting a rhythm that Belle knew would bring her a cliff very quickly. He opened her so well...
"So fucking tight, Belle, so warm." He grabbed the curve of her ass to pull her closer, push himself deeper, and Belle instinctively wrapped her legs around his hips, mewling as he hit that wonderful spot inside her.
"Oh, that's where it is?" He thrust again, hissing in pleasure, and she moaned and nodded wildly. "Good girl, that's it, tell me how to please you."
Belle could feel her blushed flesh inflame at his words, felt her walls clench hard, and cursed inwardly when she saw the gleam in Rum's eye.
"You like it when I praise you, beautiful Belle? You really are a good girl." He huffed out a laugh. "Pretty little bookworm, little virgin, did you have a handsome teacher who gave you pet names and had no idea how aroused you got sitting in his classroom?"
As a matter of fact, she had -- he'd looked a little like Rum, with longish dark hair and a cane -- but she wasn't about to admit it.
"I'll bet you did," he singsonged, stroking her clit, pinching her thigh. "Lovely Belle blushing behind her book, pretending she didn't want to be bent over a desk with her swollen little clit between her thighs, being talked off by her teacher as he fucked her senseless."
"Next time," he grunted, bending to kiss her breast, "I might like to explore that little fantasy."
Next time. She caught his words just as he seemed to realize what he'd said, and grinned up at him as his eyes sparkled.
"Next time, or the time after that," she gasped out. He was so big, and the ache was so good, and the cliff was near. "Maybe I could be the teacher. You seem -- oh -- to quite like praise yourself."
"Quiet, lovely Belle."
"Never, dashing Rumplestiltskin." She let her hands roam his skin as she felt herself climbing, felt his thrusts become faster and wilder.
"Come for me, good girl."
"Come for me, brave rogue." Higher now, nearly there...
"You first, love. I'm a gentleman."
"No, you. I'm a good girl."
She had just enough time to hear him choke out, "Together, then," before the world exploded.
And she was yelling his name over and over as he shouted hers, and yesyesyes this was how it was supposed to be, all hot and full and coming around him, squeezing so hard she thought he might brand her walls somehow, and then he was spilling hot inside her and maybe he really would brand her with his seed, her maiden blood repaid with something new, and God it was all so perfect and it always would be--
The waves faded, and her conscious mind came back as she, panting, felt him soften and withdraw from her.
"Oh." He made a noise of great satisfaction and collapsed beside her, stroking her hip lazily. Turning to look at her, he smiled smugly as he took in her similarly disheveled state.
"Good enough for a deflowering?"
"Yes," she breathed. "We'll definitely have to set up some kind of employment situation." She giggled. "As long as I get to punish you, too."
"Of course." He smiled broadly. "I wouldn't agree otherwise. But, for now, I feel a need for sleep that I haven't felt in years. Care to join me?" He moved closer to her, almost shy, and she took his hand in hers.
"Of course. Yes. Always."
She placed a gentle kiss to his lips and welcomed the now-quite-strong spark. She didn't know what it was (though she had an idea), but they'd have plenty of time to figure it out together.
"That spark..." he began. "And those...visions? Did you--"
"Later," she said softly, moving toward him, and he nodded.
"Belle," Rum whispered as he pulled her to his chest.
"Rum," Belle whispered back into his glinting skin.
Yes, this summons had been a very good idea.