Unfinished Business

Free as a Bird (Lennison)

I wanna write a dumb fairytale Lennison AU where George is a gardener and John is a prince and he somehow turns into a white peacock and Geo has to help him somehow?

Perhaps Swan Lake inspired... Or maybe like that one story with the prince that turned into a bird to fly to his lover's tower... What other stories are there on human to bird transformation?

Something Beauty and the Beast inspired? John got turned because he was an absolute bastard and has to get Geo to like him or else he'll be stuck?

Somehow, I dig a bit more the idea of John changing voluntarily.

Mayhaps he *asked* to be turned into a peacock so he could be free from his royal duties? Y'know, Free as a Bird? Maybe he was just chilling around the gardens, and found George doing his thing, and in classic fairytale fashion fell in love at first sight?

He could even be like those selkie-type shapeshifters who have coats of feathers and when they put them on they become the creature in question? Those coats are usually an instrument of abuse in those stories tho...

I propose John constantly trying to gift or lend his own coat to George because he *wants* to be taken by him away from his boring castle life, maybe Geo tells him about hikes and further places he's visited and John wants to see it all but knows he'll never be allowed so he tricks George into unadvertedly stealing him?

Ooooh, maybe Julia was a shapeshifter and Alfred stole her coat and had John with her, and in classic fashion she eventually found it and escaped, leaving even her son behind in her frantic need for freedom.

And as John grew he sprouted his own feathers and his dad forced him to pluck them out, but he secretly had a coat of his own made from them, as a way to get himself out if needed.

Maybe Alfred finds it later and locks it away because he can't have his son abandoning him too, and John has to ask George to find it for him, because he can't trust anybody else to do so, fearing they'll keep him too.

And when George finds it, he tries giving it to John and proceeding with life as usual, but Alfred figures out he was the one who did it and they both escape before they can be arrested.

So, they head for a different kingdom and fall in love in the way, and John keeps discretely offering George his coat, but Geo always gives it back and tells him to be more cautious.

Even when John fricking explodes and tells him in the clearest way possible that he wants to be his, George just hands him the goddamned thing for the thousandth time and tells him that he should belong to no one but himself, but he'll gladly love him if he so desires.

So they get a nice house with a giant fricking garden and live happily ever after and John is sometimes human sometimes bird and Geo loves him all the same The End.

I wasn't expecting this to flow so easily but damn, whaddaya know. Peacock Prince John and Gardener George, cool.

Oooh, the posibilities.

Maybe this John in particular, having always been raised and repressed by his father, isn't quite the rash quick witted and headstrong little bastard John usually is... I mean, deep down he sure is but he probably was never allowed to show it... The character development he could show as he slowly grows more comfortable in George's company, first in the castle and later on the run...

I had the thought of them coming to find John's aunt Mimi, Julia's sister, and her taking them in for a while as they hide from royal guards. Maybe she's the one who notices John's interest in George and gives him the idea of offering his coat...

Mostly I want her to reassure John that his mother loved him, but she loved her freedom more, and despite having already passed away by the time he makes it out, she lived her life to the fullest on her last years, and she never stopped missing him.

Bonus thoughts: Ritchie is probably around as a royal tailor or smtn. I mean, someone must've taught John to sew so he could actually craft his own coat, in absence of his mother, I couldn't quite see him just plucking all his feathers and giving them to someone else, it'd be the same as giving himself away. So Ringo probably sits down and teaches him some basic stitches and how to properly attach feathers to fabric, after a few failed attempts.

Damn, now I want Paul around too... Another servant, maybe? John's handbutler ((male equivalent of a handmaiden? Idkidkidk)) who carefully covers his tracks and sweeps away his stray feathers, careful to never touch them or let anybody else do so either? Or he could be George's pal down at the gardens, covering after him while he and John break away, a good friend that deserved better.