From Tumblr: Anon Ask - Does ABoT!Rumple mind Belle's sexual naivete?

[nym_wibbly]

Is BOT Rumple frustrated because of Belle's lack of experience? He's scared to ask her to focus on giving him pleasure but does he mind?
~ Anonymous

No, he doesn’t mind. He gets frustrated with himself at times, at the urge he has to hold back and not share himself fully. He accuses himself of being a coward, but often for the wrong reasons - and this is one of those times. It’s only in the most recent chapters of the story that he’s really got his head around the idea that Belle is game for anything, that she loves to pleasure him as much as he does her, that she’s generous and open-minded enough to try something even if she’s dubious about it, and that the only thing holding her back is lack of knowledge. I’m not sure he trusts her even now to tell him if he’s upsetting her/offending her sensibilities/doing something she doesn’t like.

It’s a trust thing, for Rumple. Every new step in their relationship feels like the most terrifying trust-fall to him. He’s afraid of offending her, of asking for something she doesn’t like. He’s afraid of losing her, losing what he loves. Driving her away in disgust. Once he stopped arsing around and trying to frighten/impress her with the Big Powerful Beastie Routine, that was never going to happen. And he’s never pulled that on her in bed - that’s a hard limit even for his knee-jerk defensiveness!

I don’t think Rumple’s had many blowjobs in his life - he really wanted to do that with Belle, but couldn’t bring himself to ask her until the moment was right. He was secretly hoping she’d figure it out, but of course she’s not going to do anything innovative without some clue that he’ll welcome it. She’s afraid of hurting his manly manhood by doing something wrong, for a start, and her imagination doesn’t really run to thinking up new tricks, other than the ones her body comes up with in the throes of passion. Rumple was stunned by her “shrug, welp, here goes” response to that request - to realise she had no problem at all with the idea of sucking his cock, other than being unsure quite how to go about it, and afraid of embarrassing herself if she did it wrong.

He loves her naivete. I think he’s starting to miss it a bit as she moves past it. No, that’s not quite it. He regrets that he didn’t take a risk from the start and seduce her, be seduced by her, enjoy the journey of discovery with her fully, rather than busting her hymen like it was a nasty chore she’d want over and done with, then running away ‘til she smacked him upside the head for being an arse. Belle can sort of imagine how different it could’ve been between them. But Rumple, even with his history of relationship disasters, knows how incredible it could have been for both of them if he’d screwed up his courage from the start, and gone in with an open heart and mind the way Belle did. He’s truly sorry for that.