foolishmortals | This is fine. It's fine. We're fine.

This is fine. It's fine. We're fine.

[Well that was.

Something.

Underneath everyone’s door they’ll find a slip of paper, in shaky calligraphy, that reads:

INVITATION

Meet in the Dining Room.

Do not bring alcohol of any sort.

Upon arrival into the Dining Room it’s clear that this is very much...not a party.

The center of the room is cleared of all tables, and instead has all the chairs arranged in a circle, facing inwards. On the tables pushed to the side are jugs of water, cups, plates of saltines, and several hastily-made pamplets that read on the front ”How to cope with Child homicide” that contains an advisory list:

Try not to think about it.
Do not get hysterical.
Crying is permitted, but keep it within a reasonable volume. (For the consideration of fellow mourners)
Maintain civility
Do not plunder the belongings of the deceased.
No drinking or gambling your sorrows away. Set an example.

Standing in front of one of the chairs already is Mr.Arrow. He clears his throat as people start to slowly come in.]

I gathered you all here because I believed it would be conductive to group morale if we all worked through our feelings regarding recent events. Talk about your feelings with one another, but not with me.

[He steps back a little, out of the circle of chairs, in what seems to be an invitation for people to sit down and discuss with one another.]

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Because I have new friends now, Gaston.

[And because they can't yet. But, details.]

Real friends who didn't leave me for dead under a harpsichord.

Come now, Lefou. You know I had to go and kill that Beast!

[ He scoffs, waving a hand. Spoilers no one has told him yet that he's in deep shit with Lefou. ]

Yes, they told me about that new...friend. A "demi-god," was it?

[ He smirks. ]

Well, I'm here now. You don't need him any longer.

[He could make a remark about how Gaston did such a great job at killing the Beast, but then he keeps talking and he's slapped dumb at how much he was not misremembering what a dick he is.

LeFou squares up his shoulders, fire in his eyes.]

Maui is a greater man than you could ever be.

[ Gaston just stares for a moment, stunned.

Then he starts to laugh. Because of course it's a joke. Lefou, turning on him?

Impossible. ]

[LeFou just clenches his jaw and gives him a look that could level buildings.]

"Le Duo" is over, Gaston. I'm done with you.

[ That shuts him up. The laughter stops abruptly, and he looks back, his expression just as serious and dangerous as Lefou's. ]

It's time to stop this, Lefou.

You're right, it is.

[ He stares. Hard. Then nods, once, a quick, sharp there, that's over with. ]

Good.

I never want to hear about this Maui again.

No. I mean, I'm going to stay with him.

I spent my whole life dogging behind your footsteps, begging for scraps of your attention! I let you use me, because I thought that was the closest that someone like me deserved to love! But I'm through being kicked around by someone who never cared about me!

Maui loves me. You can't isolate me anymore, because I've made my own family.

[ SHE'S SO PROUD

THAT'S HER PAPA ]

[SHE TOLD YOU GASTON.

She’s so proud of her new friend.]

[ oh shit

he's serious

And all at once, in a flash that will be all too familiar to Lefou, Gaston's obnoxiously unflappable ego turns to rage. ]

You are nothing without me, Lefou.

I made you. Do you understand that? Do you remember how they used to treat you, before I came along?

Everything you have, anything...approaching respect you might have earned, everything you are is because of me.

[ .mov ]

[His heart is pounding so hard he feels like he’s going to pass out. He hasn’t breathed in the last few minutes, he’s sure. But somehow, his voice only trembles a little.]

You’re wrong. I’m too good for you, Gaston. I remember how the village treated me before you, and I know how they treat me after you, too.

Why would I take back someone like you, when I could choose a man who pulled up the sky and lassoed the sun and still took the time to see something worth caring for in me?

Whoever this man is...he's lying.

[ About the sun. The sky. And most importantly... ]

A man like that could never care about you.

He doesn't know you like I do, Lefou.

You don’t know me at all. You never cared to know me, you only cared about how having me next to you made you look better! You made me feel worthless. I thought my life would be over if anything happened to you. But I survived you, and all the abuse that you put me through!

[Angry tears sting at his eyes, but he fights them back.]

I would’ve done anything for you, Gaston. But you never, not once in all those years, did a damn thing for me!

Abuse?

[ He narrows his eyes. Lefou had been...a problem ever since they'd left Maurice in the woods. Gaston had known he'd have to get him back in line and soon.

But he'd never anticipated this. ]

I'll tell you what I did for you. I raised you up. I gave you status. Power. I gave your life meaning. All things you never would have had on your own!

[ But that's only the least of it, isn't it? He pauses. ]

And I kept your secret, Lefou.

Tell me, does your demigod know what you are? What you did? How you begged me to indulge your sick little fantasy?

What do you think he would say, if he could see you like you were then?

[deadpan]

I’m sure he would be shocked to find out that his Fiancé prefers the company of men.

Of course he knows. My new captain knows, and my family, and my friends. And I think, at least on some level, the village knew it too. They didn’t know what to say to me, after you were gone. They treated me almost like your widow which, well, fitting, because I was the closest thing you ever had to a wife.

[How do those wedding plans look, Gaston? PRETTY GOOD, IT DOESN’T SEEM]

It’s not your secret to hold over me, it’s my secret to tell. And I’m through letting you hurt and threaten me with it.

Edited 2018-01-31 12:17 (UTC)

[ Gaston's expression contorts into something even uglier and more hateful. Insults wrapped in betrayals and false accusations, but perhaps the worst of it all is how utterly unaffected Lefou seems by what Gaston had been sure would be the killing blow.

And then, of course - a word, a phrase, a revelation, that Lefou had tossed aside so carelessly. As if it didn't even matter - when once, to Lefou, it would have mattered most of all. ]

What do you mean, after I was gone?

[He's vowed not to tell Belle or the Beast about the happy ending that he wasn't sure they could get anymore. About the wedding that might not happen, and the curse that may never be broken.

But he doesn't have any such qualms about telling Gaston.]

You died the night you led the mob to the castle, Gaston. You lost.

[ He stares at the mirror, through the mirror to the man on the other side. Once, Lefou would have done anything for Gaston. That much is true. Once, the thought of Gaston's death would have killed Lefou, too.

What had happened?

He shakes his head, refusing to believe it. To accept it. ]

You're lying.

You wish.

[Said with enough sass to make all of his adorable teenager friends proud.

But then something sad crosses his expression.]

Look, Gaston. I've moved on from you. But if you can learn something in that place, like I did, then...maybe you can come out a better person too. In fact, I hope you do, I really do, because you were my best friend. But you're not what's best for me, anymore.

[ After all of the contempt, the unprecedented hatred, the sudden and unexpected discovery that Lefou had, against all probability, grown a spine...the last thing Gaston had expected to see was that sadness in Lefou's eyes. It's an expression too genuine to be faked, and he blinks, momentarily unsettled.

Le Duo. It had never happened, not in the way Lefou had wanted. It was never going to happen. And yet, neither had Gaston turned Lefou away. Reflected glory might not really have been as good as the real thing, but it was better than nothing, and of all the people in the village, Gaston had chosen to share a corner of his spotlight with Lefou.

There had been a reason for that. And now, past all the anger he feels, the venom, the rage at Lefou's daring to betray him, something else pricks at his chest.

Regret?

Could this have been avoided?

Could he have said, done, something to keep Lefou from looking at him with such sorrow, such empty hope?

But as quickly as it had arrived, that confusing, unpleasant feeling of vague unhappiness is gone, replaced by something much more familiar. His expression hardens, eyes growing small and narrow as he glares at Lefou. ]

I was the best thing that ever happened to you.

Someday you'll remember that.

[LeFou wanted to hate him. He wanted it to be that easy. He was better off now, without Gaston. But the boy Gaston had been had given LeFou hope once, had made him feel like he wasn't alone.

He wouldn't have grieved him, if part of him didn't still love the boy that he'd once been, or the brave war Captain who had saved his life and those of his other men.]

Not anymore.

[With that, he gets up and walks out of the room, and prays that the mirror's view can't or doesn't follow him.]

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