conqueror of beasts

 The last few days he'd spent in his dorm room continuing to wallow in his misery. When Hans wasn't off charming the student body and in their shared room, Gaston spent his time locked in the bathroom, sat in the tub with a bottle of whiskey, headphones in as he listened to The Black Keys on repeat.

 That was how he ended his holiday break. Although, he'd elongated the days a bit by sleeping off his drunkness and didn't start attending classes again until two days after everyone else had returned.

 It was rare that Gaston caught Belle in the hallways and this was due to how different their class schedules were. He hadn't seen her since winter break, when she'd broken her ice skate and that was partly because he's been avoiding her but also, perhaps because she was avoiding him as well.

 So, when he saw her in the middle of a class transition, walking the opposite direction he grabbed her arm and pulled her aside into an empty classroom.

 It'd been months since he'd even smelt liquor, he was trying to curb his drinking habit but deep down he knew that returning to the bottle was inevitable so he gave all his alcohol away to the first interested party. Now though, he was kind of thankful that Hans' Christmas present to him consisted mostly of whiskey.

 With a bottle in hand, Gaston put on his jacket and headed out into the snow, planning to go somewhere in town. Where he could be alone without any questions because if this whole ordeal taught him anything, it was that he needed to take a few moments to think. 

 All the stores in town were closed, fair enough when considering the time. The sun would be up in a few hours, school would be back in session and if he was successful Gaston would have the worst hangover ever. 

 He made his way over to a bench on the side of the small road that ran through the middle of the little college town and sat himself down, bottle of whiskey resting on his knee while he his finger brushes his lips and he recalled the kiss he shared with Marie a few hours before hand. 

"I don’t want you to think of this as a mistake, Gaston." 

 It wasn't a mistake. Kissing her had felt so right, even now with the current circumstances facing him, Gaston didn't see it as wrong. The truth of the matter was that he'd asked Belle out on a date only a few minutes prior to the kiss and while that didn't necessarily mean that he and Belle were together, it did mean that they were starting something. 

 Which also meant that Gaston owed Belle and explanation, preferably before word got back to her-- things always spread ridiculously fast at this cursed school-- from someone other than Gaston himself. As her wondered how Belle would take such information, he took a long swig from the bottle. 

 Telling Belle about his faux pas wasn't the only thing Gaston needed to do, he also had to make a decision-- Marie or Belle? Although, at the rate he was going it would sooner just as be neither of them. As Gaston did have a rather miraculous knack for ruining any and all of his romantic endeavors. 

He took another drink.

 Perhaps he could decide after this date with Belle, that was, if there still was a date after this whole thing was said and done with. The truth was, all the rights to decision making between Gaston and Belle, lay within Belle's hands-- As they always have. She would decide whether Gaston was worth her time and Gaston had decided long ago that she was worth his.

Now, however, he wasn't so sure he was worth anyone's....

"Right then... If you need me I'll be at the nearest church, trying to find Jesus at the bottom of a bottle of vodka."