X-Men One-Shots and Preferences

A Beast but not a Monster- Hank McCoy

A request by GlamRockCrash

I can't quite explain the entire request without fully giving away the whole story but it basically deals with Hank's insecurity as Beast, or more specifically, how people perceive him in Beast form.

Insecurities on Hank's part (I don't know if this would fall along the lines of body image issues, but that's what come to mind for me), panic attacks, and everything associated with it.

This...this had to be a dream, that was the only explanation he could think of. This was a dream....or more like a nightmare.

Hank McCoy closed his eyes and counted back from ten, hoping this dream/nightmare would dissolve and everything would go back to normal.
He opened his eyes and looked down to his hands. Still blue.
He looked to the mirror to see the rest of his body; still blue and hairy.
How did this happen, Hank thinks, how was he supposed to revert back to his human form now? This wasn't even supposed to happen in the first place!

The purpose of being in the lab in the first place, the reason he had designed and taken that new experimental medication was so his human form would last longer and that he wouldn't need to administer as many doses as he currently had to. This was supposed to allow Hank to pass as human and walk out in public without people shunning him or looking upon him with terror and fear of his beastly form.

Instead this new drug had done the opposite. Now Hank was berating himself as this felt like a repeat of what happened last time; last time, he had taken the injection in an attempt to attack his mutated cells and essentially 'cure' him only for the cells to be enhanced.
History was repeating itself yet again.

In the middle of his anxiety and existentialism, Hank didn't notice the door to his room open until he heard your voice, "Hank, I'm home!"

"Hank?" you peak into the bedroom to notice a quick blue blur disappear from your line of sight. You notice the blue hairs on the floor and realized Hank was in his natural Beast form again. This wasn't new to you as you have seen the man in that form, but he was always self conscious about it.

"Hank, what's wrong?" you follow the hair trail into the walk in closet and open it up slightly to see the man you call yours curled up on the floor, knees pressed together to his chest like a ball.
"Hank?" you kneel down and press a hand on his shoulder, the reactive flinch not going unnoticed by you, "Hank, please talk to me."

"I...I let it happen again," he mutters. "What? Hank I don't understand." "I thought I could tame this beast again as I tried to do before," Hank elaborates in his distraught state, "But all I did was let history repeat itself."
Once he was a little calmer, he proceeded to explain to you the situation.

"Oh, Hank," you sigh once he was finished, "why would you do that to yourself?" "I wasn't trying to cure it this time, (y/n), honest," Hank insists, "I...I just wanted the meds to last longer, that way I wouldn't need to dose up on it so much anymore." "Why dose yourself on this stuff at all?" you huff, already knowing the answer. "You know why," Hank huffs back, "you know the ways people stare when...I look like this. The stares, the looks of fear, like I'm some dangerous, rabid wild animal that can snap at anytime. I'm not, but they can't see past that." "Then that's their problem, Hank, and who cares what some bigots think when their opinions don't even matter in the first place."

There was silence before you continue, "Will...will you be able to revert back to your human form?" "I...I don't think I can," Hank admits, "believe me, I've tried. I tried to use the reversal for this serum in case it back fired, but it didn't do anything. I'm stuck like this...maybe forever."
"Well...that's not a bad thing," you assure, "and...you know I've always preferred this version of you." "Yeah, you say that now," Hank retorts, "will you be able to say the same when you're out in public...with me. Holding hands...sharing a quick kiss, all those other things people can do." "Do you really think that low of me?" you ask, feelings hurt. "No, (y/n), that's...that's not it at all," Hank insists, "It's just...I know it's not easy being with me, being with...a very visible mutant."