A/N: Man this was a long one. Okay so this is my first foray into Beauty and the Beast, and naturally it's inspired by the 2017 film. This is a little (2600 word) insight into LeFou and his feelings for Gaston! Please enjoy!

P.S, it's unbeta'd, it's midnight and my eyes hurt - there will undoubtedly be mistakes, but I'll catch them tomorrow.

~Lumiere~

"LeFou old man, what is wrong?" Lumiere caught sight of the short man sat on one of a wall's staring into the distance. The newcomer to the castle had taken refuge with his thoughts on one of low walls by the stable, hoping for a moment alone but with little luck.

"Nothing, of course." LeFou jumped up and dusted down his trousers.

"Is it, erhh whats his name… Stanley? Has he upset you?" Lumiere clapped a hand on the smaller one's back and the pair sank back onto the wall.

"No it is not Stanley, he is well I believe." LeFou admitted quietly.

"Come, come, tell Lumiere." The butler smiled winningly and LeFou let a small smile grace his features.

"I know you do not like the name, and it angers Belle so much that I dare not speak with her about it, but it is Gaston." He glanced up at the butler, who's expression had not so much as frozen but had become rather tense and LeFou babbled into the silence. "I know he was a horrible man, and I am glad I realise before I damaged any of you seriously but he was my life – for a very long time. It is hard to …"

"Get rid of the memories, of that I have no doubt dear boy." Lumiere said with a sigh. He stared at LeFou for a moment before a smile graced his features. "But luckily boy this is France! We have many men who would be happy to entertain a charming gentleman of the court like yourself! Not just Stanley! Come come, I will fix you up with a few men, Plumette, my darling Plumette has this friend in the next village along…" Lumiere wrapped his arm around a now helpless LeFou and dragged him off inside the castle, his unending patter of cute men running around LeFou's head.

~Mrs Potts~

It took two weeks for LeFou to fend off the suitors that Lumiere had found for him. In the end it was as Plumette spied LeFou's hasty retreat that she smacked her fiancée about the head and told him to stop meddling. It would also be Plumette that would send Mrs Potts to LeFou's aid.

He had been hiding out in one of the smaller ballrooms when the housekeeper found him, wheeling her tea-trolley in front of her.

"Ah there you are dear." She clucked and sat down on the chair next to him, the dust sheets still shrouding the furniture. "Didn't think you'd get away with hiding here did you? This is Chip's favourite sulking spot so I'm well aware of the allure this ballroom has to offer." She smiled and patted a silent LeFou on the hand before pouring two cups of tea.

"I…"

"Old habits die hard, besides I've yet to find a situation that isn't remedied by tea. Now how are you?" LeFou was taken aback, he expected her to question him about Gaston, and he warily sipped at the sweet tea but nevertheless answered her inane questions.

Fifteen minutes later he was quietly recounting stories of Gaston.

"I know he was a monster, I saw it when were on the battlefield but on the battlefield it was different – you had to be strong and resilient or you got yourself killed. Gaston made sure both of us survived those dark dark days." He shrugged and allowed Mrs Potts to fill up his cup again.

"War turns men into monsters love." She smiled sadly.

"When the war was over and we came back to sleepy Villeneuve, it was practically untouched by the horrors we'd seen. At first he had nightmares, but we never discussed it and then a couple of weeks after coming back he seemed to shrug it off. He went and decided to be the strongest, bravest man in the village – which wasn't hard." LeFou admitted. "He would hunt excellently, on occasions we would fish but he preferred guns to patience, we would spend hours riding through the countryside, just the two of us, talking. It was wonderful, especially after all the bloodshed and the wars. Occasionally he had a temper but I would always be able to calm him down. Then he became fixated on Belle."

"Oh luvvy." Mrs Potts soothed as a tear leaked from LeFou's eye. "Now I know it's much easier said than done but you really must put such a horrid man behind you." She patted him on the hand. "Now come along, I can help you get your mind off things…" LeFou baulked. "No no I don't mean in the foolish endeavour Lumiere tried, blasted man has more mustache than sense, no come along Madame De Garderobe is choosing the new fabrics and she will need help, and something tells me young man that you have quite the eye for fashion."

~Belle~

"LeFou?" The voice was guarded but he scrambled to his feet and made a hasty bow to the woman stood before him.

"Your highness." He said simply and dithered awkwardly. "I will leave." He pointed to the doorway behind her, but up on the battlements, they couldn't exactly walk past one another, without one sliding down the roof and falling…just like Gaston had… LeFou swallowed hard at the thoughts, as the memories started to invade and was relieved to feel Belle catch his elbow as he swayed on the spot.

"LeFou what's wrong?" She was alarmed, as she guided him to the safety of the tower steps. She sat him down and watched the tears fall from his eyes with a sigh, but she said nothing and waited for him to tell her.

"I'm sorry Your Highness." He hiccupped.

"Coming up here was a bad idea for you LeFou." She budged him on the stairs and sat down beside him.

"I know, but I wanted to see the sunset." He hastily wiped away the tears.

"Next time, maybe bring someone up with you?" She said simply.

"No-one really understands." He shook his head and went to stand.

"No, probably not. The Gaston I knew was a thoroughly horrid man that had little time for me as a person and saw me only as a prize." Belle said simply and LeFou let out a defeated sigh.

"That's the man I'm starting to remember." He admitted. "I always thought I spent more time with the Gaston I knew and loved, but more and more all I think is the blood thirsty, power crazy Gaston that died here." LeFou dropped his head into his hands and he felt Belle's soft touch on his back.

"I don't understand at all LeFou, I barely understand love. I had no wish to be in love before I met Adam – I wanted to see the world and travel and invent things and read. Now I do all of that with Adam by my side. He still doesn't agree with me that Romeo and Juliet is still one of Shakespeare's greatest plays and he hogs the covers of a night but I have seen grief." Belle held both of LeFou's hands in hers. "I watched my father mourn my mother every day for as long as I can remember."

"But your mother was an undoubtedly lovely person."

"She was, so I am told."

"Gaston was not."

"Love is not picky LeFou. Romeo and Juliet both die for their love, Catullus is spurned by his Lesbia who dotes on other men, Sappho longs for women that she has to send away to be married, Dante mourns his Beatrice – none of these relationships are ideal and yet we have written about them. We have created odes and poems and plays, all in the name of love, whether it be hopeless or fulfilled – love is what has kept us going." Belle said passionately and LeFou is awed by the woman in front of him.

"You were always too good for him. Regardless of my own jealousy, you outshone and outstripped him in every single way." LeFou's sudden declaration left Belle smiling.

"Come down from the rooftops LeFou, you are always welcome in my library – we can sit, have cake and I will introduce you to some of the most beautiful places in the world." Belle was still holding his hands, only now she stood and LeFou allowed the Princess to lead him back down the stairs and into the library. He allowed her to dazzle him with literature for three hours until dinner, when his head was spinning with words he didn't understand but he had listened to with rapt attention. She made it seem all so beautiful.

~Beast~

LeFou was now learning to read, at Belle's encouragement and he would be found with some of the easier books in various places around the castle. Belle had been right in a way – books made everything seem a little easier. But at the warmth of the sun, he had put down the book while he sat in the rose arbour and looked at the flush of nature around him.

It was moments like these that he missed Gaston.

Sure the real Gaston would never have sat with him in the gardens, not sat there with a book enjoying the sound of the birds… no the real Gaston would have aimed some form of pistol at said birds and called them lunch. But LeFou didn't have the real Gaston, he had the makebelieve one.

"Do you mind if I join you?" A gruff voice pulled him back to reality and LeFou was startled into a clumsy bow at the sight of Prince Adam before him.

"Er yes, please of course, you may. I'd be honoured…" He stammered and was amazed when the prince let out a soft laugh.

"Thank you, you can go back to staring into space." He nodded and took a seat on the opposite stone bench, leaving LeFou to shift awkwardly and fidget. "Are you okay?" The prince enquired as LeFou fumbled with his book.

"Yes, of course, sorry if I am bothering you I can leave?" He made to stand but the prince waved a hand and LeFou sat shakily once more.

"You are LeFou, you were Gaston's right hand man?" He enquired.

"I thought you ordered us not to speak of him?" LeFou said quietly.

"I did not order, I requested, it would appear my old reputation is still preceding me." The prince frowned. "But nevertheless, you were close to him?"

"Yes your highness." LeFou was apprehensive as to where this conversation was going.

"Please do not worry, I have grown up somewhat in the time I spent as a beast. I was forced to evaluate myself and those of my servants that had been trapped into staying. Not to mention a crash course in diplomacy with Belle – well she is training me somewhat." He admitted with a smile. "Do you miss him?"

LeFou was taken aback at the question and he gawped for a minute before answering.

"Sometimes." He said carefully. When Adam raised an eyebrow he continued. "In the months that have passed, I have also been evaluating." He shrugs, laying the book back on the bench. "I have been evaluating whether I was in love with the real Gaston, or the one I made in my head."

"Carry on." Adam had laid his book down as well.

"I think of all the things I adored about Gaston, his smile, his physique, his eyes, his hair, his skills as a hunter and as a horseman, his skills as a soldier. But they are all physical traits – I made up his personality. He would never have allowed me to read as I am now." LeFou risked a glance up at Adam who's brow was furrowed. "I have confused you."

"A little, but I am not a man of much experience. Before Belle and the curse, I was frivolous and I used many a woman."

"So did Gaston." LeFou sighed. "I made up this personality that under it all he cared for me, but he was too afraid to show it. There were nights during the war when we only had one another but it was rare that he had not charmed a widow into offering her bed for the night while I got the floor with the animals." LeFou shook his head. "I was a fool."

"Love makes men into fools…"

"Your wife has given me some rather varied examples of unfortunate loves." LeFou gave a small smile.

"I do not doubt." Adam grinned back at the smaller man. "But love is love, and you were in love with a form of Gaston, even if it was not accurate." LeFou stared at the Prince, as he lapsed into silence and Adam frowned briefly before talking again. "If you wish, there is a pond at the east side of the estate, have you come across it?" LeFou nodded. "You may make it into a small memorial for Gaston, to help you come to peace with everything that has befallen the pair of you." Adam said quietly. "I did the same for mother in this arbour. I made sure these were planted for her, in her memory after she died. It brought me peace in a time of turmoil and chaos. It gave me closure. I could talk my anger and pain out to a place dedicated to her memory."

LeFou was touched by the kindness of the monarch before and he let out a gruff thank you in return.

"I will tell you another secret as well LeFou." Adam leant back against one of the stone pillars. "I have done the same as you. There was a woman named Helene, a courtier, one of the first women I ever danced with properly, at my coming of age ball. I thought she loved me, I had created so many dreams in my head about her, and I let my heart run away with itself. But it was a foolish errand. She cared little for me, she wanted some manipulation over my father. It transpired she had been spurned by him, and her revenge was to bed his son and heir. She gloated at the pair of us and that was the first time I felt my heart snap a little." Adam explained all of this quietly and LeFou was stunned.

"I am sorry Your Highness."

"For what? If I had married Helene as I wanted, I would never have met Belle and sometimes the path to happiness has a few diversions along the way. Maybe lightning will strike a tree to ensure fate's course is carried out, or maybe, there will be a servant stumble with a platter, or a horse running amok in the stables. Fate is tricky LeFou, but have faith." He smiled and picked up his book once more.

"If you don't mind your highness I will go back to the castle."

"Feel free my good man, give my love to Belle, but don't tell her where I am – she is desperate to get me to read Tristan and Iseult and I have to pretend I have some principles before I give into her." He winked and was soon lost in the pages of the book.

"Yes Sir." LeFou laughed softly as he strolled back up the gravel path.

"Hey there watch out!" A voice called and a bay horse went sprinting past LeFou's right side, scaring the smaller man into darting into the kitchen doorway, he sent a servant almost flying – the silver platter almost slipping from the poor man's grasp until it was caught neatly by an unknown figure. Only he wasn't unknown. Stanley was there steadying the redfaced man before smiling at LeFou with a genuine happiness.

"There you are!" Stanley let out a laugh. "I have been looking everywhere for you!"

"I was catching up on my practice." LeFou explained with a wave of the book.

"Oh, would you like me to help you, we can head to the lake, it's a beautiful day?" The other man shyly offered and LeFou couldn't help but smile.

"Would you mind?"

"Not at all, come let's go now! Do you know what Princess Belle calls reading?" LeFou shook his head as he linked arms with Stanley once more. "She calls it therapy."