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Sparkly golden disco lizard - ha! That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.
I had similar thoughts, especially because i prefer Rumplestiltskin when he’s scaly (and actually has a personality), because he’s so much more fun.
We all know that Rumple's got lots of self-loathing, among other things connected with the way he looked in the EF because it represents how inhuman and monstrous he is.
Now imagine for some reason he and Belle end up back in the EF at some point in the show... or maybe EF 2 in S7...
And Rumple grows scaly and golden and sparkly and lizardy again and he hides from Belle because he is ashamed, because he can't bear to see the expression on her face when she sees the reminder of who he truly is...
But when Belle eventually finds him - because she always does - she takes one look at him and just... smiles and runs up to him and envelopes him in a tight hug and has the audacity to sigh contently against a very baffled Rumple.
Because as much as she loves his human form, as much as she loves him in any form, period, this Rumple - the sparkly golden disco lizard - is her Rumple, the one she met first, the one she got to know first, the one she fell in love with first.
And she missed him... she really did.