Half and Half

Chapter Seventeen

Gaston rolled his eyes. "I don't need to hear someone who's not a parent lecture me about my sons."

"Well see, I normally don't lecture my customers but you haven't ordered anything so you're loitering," Hades told him. "So order your food, get your food, and then get out."

Turning to Beast, Hades said, "Whatever his total is, increase it by five."

"Gladly," Beast said with a small nod. He wasn't going to ask why Hades wanted to add to Gaston's total but if it aggravated the Frenchman, then Beast was all for it. He might not have been able to punch Gaston but he'd take what he could get.

Besides, he knew with Ben coming to the Isle soon, it would be better if he didn't make a complete enemy out of Gaston. He knew there'd be no way Gaston would ever be an ally of his but anything he could do to make sure Gaston didn't put his sights on Ben...

"I'll have my usual then," Gaston said, pulling Beast out of his thoughts.

"Which is...?"

Gaston rolled his eyes. "What, did Hades not teach you what customers' usuals were?"

"No, surprisingly, he assumed people would realize I lack the ability to read minds and know that I wouldn't know what they usually eat right off the top of my head," Beast snarked. "Clearly he overestimated you."

"You really think you're in a position to be smug right now?" Gaston asked, stepping closer to the counter so that his face was almost touching Beast's. "I'm not the one on an Isle full of my enemies, each one of us wanting nothing more than to see you suffer."

Beast shook his head. "But you are on an Isle with an impenetrable barrier around it so why don't you make life easy for the both of us and tell me your order so I can ring it up and you can leave?"

Gods, the stories Belle would tell about you not taking no for an answer seem tame now, he thought. I swear, if Belle 'tidied' up the stories and I find you hurt my wife in anyway...well I mean I'm already on this Isle for the rest of my life and really no one would miss you Gaston. Maybe your sons but it doesn't sound like your daughters would.

Mentally shaking his head, Beast pulled himself out of his thoughts to record Gaston's order. And if the total was increased by ten rather than five...well whoops. How was he supposed to know how a cash register worked?

"Good. He's finally gone," Hades said after the door closed upon Gaston's departure.

Beast nodded before sighing softly. "Thank you, by the way. For earlier. I...I'm aware that you're not the fondest of me—."

"That would be what we call an understatement," Hades said, his voice low as he looked over at Beast. "I wouldn't be 'fond' of someone who meddled in my job because he thought death was too good for the villains. I would despise someone who actively made my job harder than it needed to be and put kids in a position where they'd be in harm's way."

Put my child in a position where she was in harm's way, Hades thought but held his tongue from saying it out loud. The adoption hadn't been made finalized yet, for understandable reasons as Belle was focused on winning the upcoming election. And Hades didn't want to put a target on Mal's back if, for some reason, Belle didn't end up winning and the adoption promise died before it could live.

"So...why step in when Gaston was here?" Beast asked, pulling Hades out of his thoughts.

Hades gave Beast a look. "I may despise the ground you walk on but I promised my wife I'd give you protection along with your sunspots when they're here. Having Gaston kill you is not providing protection now is it?"