*cough* beauty and the beast au *cough* wow sorry sugar, I've got this really weird cough.
pls don't get that cough taken care of i am having the time of my life with these aus omg π thank you for this one especially beauty and the beast is my mom's favorite fairy tale so it's special to me π₯² and when @disterra did this art a couple months ago i had an idea that i put only in the tags so okay twist my arm i will elaborate on it 3 months later π₯°
it all starts with the rose of course. a man decides to take one because he's an asshole. the beast, john, sees him and threatens to take him as a prisoner. the man immediately offers his son in his place. no hesitation or remorse. just "noo i'm just an old man :( take my young son instead!" john thinks the whole thing is strange but agrees. like wow this guy has to be really desperate to give up his own son, right? who does that?
soon after, the son arrives at john's palace. john is expecting tears and more pleads for mercy. instead, he gets a fairly unbothered pretty boy awkwardly waving at him as he says, "hi, i'm bob." john proceeds to spend the rest of the day trying to scare this guy but to no avail. he's just not bothered by anything. john goes to sleep feeling unfulfilled and annoyed. the dad probably would've been a whole lot more fun.
the next morning, john has a breakfast feast prepared and goes to look for bob. he finds him in the library, just peacefully reading away. john asks bob why he hasn't tried to escape. bob shrugs and says that he has a huge library, the entertainment of the beast, and he doesn't have to see his dad ever again. it's like paradise. john tries again to scare him. bob just blinks in his face. what the hell did bob's dad do to him?
for a while, bob isolates himself, mostly sticking to the library or his room, but he starts to explore and befriends all the animals john has in his palace and his servants too. john's servants tell him that he needs to try and win bob's heart, that bob is his true love, but he ends up just scaring bob with his temper. eventually they have a fight where john decides he's done. when bob threatens to run, john tells him to leave.
john watches bob go, devastated. it's not long before bob is attacked by wolves. he barely gets a scratch on him before john rips apart the entire pack. unfortunately, john is injured during the rescue. bob insists on dragging him back to the palace even as john reminds him 72 times that he agreed bob was free. bob is like thanks i'll take you up on that offer to go and get attacked by wolves again. shut up and let me help you!
back at the palace, bob tends to john's wounds and they finally have a real conversation. john learns a little about how bob's father treated him. bob learns a little about john's life before. this is when they start to see each other for who they really are. john falls harder for bob and bob starts falling for john too. however, no matter how close they get, john keeps a physical barrier between them. no touching. no hugging. no touch at all. they can never really be together. not while he's a beast.
