The Beauty and the Beast (Seventeen Meanie story)

Chapter 1 - The Bookworm

A/N: Heyyo! Sorry for already having to delay the first official chapter, but something came up yesterday and I didn't have time for updating! I hope you will like the chapter.

Side note: I've mentioned it in the introduction, but in case you didn't read it, I originally wanted to keep the characters of Gaston and LeFou, but the first time I wrote the name Gaston in the draft I legit bursted out laughing, so I made up some Korean names for them so I won't die every time they appear. I just randomly generated some names with a random name generator so they aren't meant to refer to anyone in case there are people with the same names lol.

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Now after this dramatic entrance and introduction, let's jump a few years forward in time.

Our actual story begins in a small village, where lived a boy. And of course many other people too, but as you might have guessed already, this boy is the main character of our story.

The boy lived near the edge of the this small village in a small house with a small garden, with his older brother. If you asked the people in the village, they would probably all agree that the two brothers were the local weirdos.

The boy was tall and slim, had black hair and wore round glasses most of the time, and by his looks and in general it's not hard to guess that he was the living definition of a stereotypical bookworm. He spent most of his time reading in his room, reading outside in the backyard, reading on the streets so he doesn't have to talk to anyone, or reading at his favorite place: the library. He had a few friends, but most people didn't give a shit about him, or when they did, they whispered behind his back about how he only cares about his books.

But who was he to care? Books are better than people. Books don't judge.

As for his brother... well, let's talk about him later.

Right now as our story begins, this boy was sitting on the edge of the fountain in the center of the village, reading his book, not caring that everyone was minding their own businesses around him: people were doing their daily tasks, selling stuff, buying stuff, going to the bakery, and what they enjoyed most: gossiping.

'Wonwoo hyung-' called out his name suddenly his best friend who was sitting next to him. The boy - Wonwoo - didn't even look up from his book, just hummed, signaling that he is ready for another batshit stupid question from the younger. 'Do you think clouds have feelings?'

There it is, thought Wonwoo and from the corner of his eye he gave a judging look to the other boy, who didn't even realize it because he was busy staring at the blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds, having a radiant bright smile on his face that made everyone's days better. He wasn't called a human sunshine for nothing.

'They don't' said Wonwoo turning back to his book. 'Clouds are made of water and they aren't capable of emotions.'

'You are so annoying' pouted the younger.

'Let Seokmin live, Wonwoo-yah' added another cheerful voice from the younger boy's other side. It was their other best friend who was also staring at the sky... without asking stupid questions.

'He asked for my opinion, Jisoo hyung.'

'It was a rhetorical question' argued Seokmin. 'Obviously clouds have feelings. Look, that one is shaped like an elephant! Do you think they look down at us too?' he sighed dreamily.

'Of course. They look down at you and say look, that one is shaped like an idiot' said Jisoo, shoving Seokmin's shoulder playfully. The youngest of the three giggled loudly at that and Wonwoo grimaced, thinking shit, here we go again...

Don't get him wrong, he loved his best friends. The three of them knew each other since they were little kids, and Seokmin and Jisoo were basically the only people in the village Wonwoo tolerated the company of. But recently (and by recently I mean in the past 5-6 years) Wonwoo started to find himself third wheeling all the time. Because somehow sometime in their teenage years, Seokmin and Jisoo started developing feelings for each other.

The problem was that it could be seen by literally everyone in the village except for the two of them. They were being so obvious that newcomers would think they are actually a couple, and Wonwoo had to bear with their endless rants about how awesome the other is but they are actually scared to confess their feelings for each other because what if the other doesn't like them back and if it ruins their friendship. They kept complimenting each other and were constantly touchy even in public, but neither of the two realized the other's miserable attempts of flirting, and Wonwoo stopped counting the number of times he felt secondhand embarrassment because of them a long time ago.

But he didn't have any other friends to hang out with, so he had to put up with that.

Wonwoo closed his book and stood up from the edge of the fountain.

'Alright, I think I should head back home by now' he said, stretching his arms and back.

'Already?' asked Jisoo absently while he and Seokmin were still shoving each other left and right between chuckles. Wonwoo assumed he is asking out of pure politeness as the duo would probably rather be by themselves now.

'Yeah, I need to check if Cheol hyung needs help with any- oh crap' whispered Wonwoo, his eyes fixated on something in the crowd of people.

'What is it?' asked Seokmin. Jisoo's eyes narrowed once his gaze followed Wonwoo's and spotted what the younger was looking at.

'Not what, but who, Minnie' he said. 'It's Gyeongsu.'

'Oh, that fucking bitch' slipped out of Seokmin's mouth, making Jisoo glare at him for cursing.

'It's okay, I'll deal with him' said Wonwoo. He knew he can't avoid running into Gyeongsu because it always seemed like the man is literally everywhere. He was the heartthrob of the village (at least in his own opinion) and everyone wanted him for some reason. It was like if he had a cult. But the main problem was that recently Gyeongsu found his new interest when it came to marriage which just happened to be Wonwoo.

For what reason? Even Wonwoo didn't know.

Everyone else thought he was weird, weird for reading all the time, weird because of his weird brother, and weird for not socializing and only hanging out with Seokmin and Jisoo. Even Wonwoo could agree that he was being weird, and he didn't think of himself as pretty or handsome either. Jisoo was pretty and soft with a beautiful smile, always nicely combed black hair and smooth fair skin while also always being kind and helpful to everyone. Seokmin was handsome with his sharp jawline, black curly hair and the mole on his cheek; his smile and silly jokes brightening everyone's day. But Wonwoo...? He never felt like he was anything special.

And for some reason this narcissistic idiot called Gyeongsu decided to court him out of all the people in the village. Wonwoo had a slight suspicion it wasn't because he was so irresistible, rather because he wasn't obsessed with Gyeongsu and it hurt the man's ego.

'Are you sure you can handle him?' asked Jisoo.

'Don't worry about Wonwoo hyung' waved it off Seokmin. 'Last time he roasted Gyeongsu so bad that it took the guy three to five business days to recover.'

'I wish he just gave up already but that's the problem with people who have shit for brains' said Wonwoo. He sighed. 'I'll see you guys tomorrow, I need to see how Cheol hyung is doing at home' he added.

The three friends said goodbye to each other but Jisoo still looked pretty skeptical about Gyeongsu. Seokmin saw the concern on his face and held the older boy's hand and began talking to him while walking away. Even though he couldn't see their faces, Wonwoo just knew Jisoo is probably on the verge of a heart attack from having Seokmin hold his hand.

Wonwoo sighed and turned towards the street that led to their house with his book in his hand. He is almost home-

'Wonwoo-yah!'

Shit.