Beauty and the Monster-A Namjin AU story

Chapter 10

In the deep wooded thicket, Maurice opened his weary eyes to bright sunlight shining through chartreuse leaves. His head pounded.

He willed himself to sit up, but was knocked back into a lying position by the throbbing in his head.

Maurice felt a light touch on his chest. A somewhat familiar old woman handed him a cup of water.

"Drink," she commanded.

She saved me, he realized.

Gaston has hell to p-my son!

Maurice thanked Agathe profusely. She insisted that he had to stay and rest. He insisted that he had a missing son, and his health was little concern at the moment. Agathe relented and sent him on his way with a few medical herbs.

Gaston has hell to pay.

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Namjoon had finally awoken and joined the world once again. While he was no more friendly than usual, he was somehow less cold. He didn't glower at his servants. He no longer sent Seokjin away with a ferocious roar. 

Seokjin had taken to reading stories to Namjoon while he slept. Now that Namjoon was awake, he had the added bonus of being interupted by snarky comments every few seconds.

"'Love can transpose to form and dignity. Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore...'"

"'And therefore is winged cupid painted blind," Namjoon finished lamely.

Seokjin looked up from his book. "You know Shakespeare?"

"With my parents?" Namjoon sighed, "It would be a miracle if I didn't know him."

"Romeo and Juliet is actually my favorite play," Seokjin blushed a bit.

He rolled his eyes. "Why is that not a surprise?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know, all that heartache and pining that makes zero sense to begin with. They had only just met and...bleh!" He shuddered. "There's so many better things to read."

Seokjin raised his eyebrows. "Like what?"

Namjoon sat up and made for the door. Seokjin followed him curiously until they arrived at...a library.

It wasn't just any library. Magnificent shelves upon shelves of literature, elegantly illuminated by the sky from a glorious skylight. The shelves were practically crammed with books. Simply put, it was Seokjin's dream come true.

"There are a few things you could start with, and...Seokjin? You're smiling. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" Seokjin beamed, "It's amazing!"

Namjoon was awestruck. His smile was something else. He had never seen it before. He wouldn't mind seeing it again.

"I...I guess it is. If you like it so much, it's yours."

He smiled again. If all it took was a library to make a man like Seokjin grin like that, Namjoon decided he would give him every library in the world.

Namjoon caught himself. What was he thinking? This was unlike him.

Meanwhile, Seokjin was on cloud nine.

"Have you really read all of these books?"

"Um, not all of them." He shrugged. "Some of them are in Greek."

Seokjin eyed him curiously. Then he giggled.

"Is that a joke? Are you making jokes now?"

Namjoon shrugged once more and cracked the slightest smile.

"Maybe."

The days that followed were different. Different, but not horrible. Not at all.

Namjoon and Seokjin found themselves spending more and more time together. It was unexpected, of course, but it somehow felt right. 

They started to enjoy each other's company despite their initial hesitance.

The two would even eat together, which was especially odd considering their first attempt at dinner together. At first, Seokjin was a little shocked by Namjoon's table manners. Within days, the two of them were drinking their soup straight from the bowl and laughing with tomato stained smiles.

They decided to take a stroll around the castle grounds. Despite Seokjin being bundled in a coat of wool and Namjoon in a coat of coarse fur, they appeared the perfect pair. And they felt like it, too.

"'The air is blue and keen and cold,'" Seokjin read from one of his many new library books, "'And in a frozen sheath, enrolled. Each branch, each twig, each blade of grass seems clad miraculously with..."

Namjoon stopped. Seokjin did the same and looked up.

"'...Glass.'"

If the author of Seokjin's book had decided to write his masterpiece in the courtyard of Namjoon's castle, he would have had the exact same description. For the entire world around them was so delicately covered in crystal. It was like something out of the sweetest dream. Its magic rivaled that of the castle's.

"It's like I'm seeing it for the first time," Namjoon marveled. He stared into the distance for some time. "Is there any more?"

Seokjin smiled shyly. "Um, yes. 'But in that solemn silence is heard the whisper of every sleeping thing. Look. Look at me. Come wake me up. For still here I be."

He observed Namjoon. The beast. The monster. For some reason, he couldn't see that monster as easily anymore.

He's sweet, and almost...kind. 

But that couldn't be right! What happened to that ravenging beast who tore through the palace with rage?

If his stories taught him anything, however, it was that the harshest exterior can often hide something softer.

I wonder why I didn't see it there before.

He scooped a snowball off the ground and threw it at Namjoon. He smirked in return and piled up a snowball so large that when he threw it, it knocked Seokjin off his feet. And then, to Seokjin's amazement, he laughed.

Namjoon was lucky his face was covered in fur. If he was human, Seokjin would have seen him blushing like mad. 

Seokjin was unlike anyone he ever met. They could laugh together and talk to each other. Something he hadn't done in many years.

When they touched, he didn't shudder at his paw.

Namjoon could feel himself growing fond of Seokjin. He never wanted to, but then again...no one ever looked at him like that before.

News of the two spread through the palace like wildfire, of course. Who could have guessed they would come together on their own?

Believe it or not, there may just be something there that wasn't there before. 

(Fun fact: Romeo and Juliet is my least favorite play. I totally get how Namjoon feels lmao. Anyway, thank you so much for reading this far! We're already on chapter ten! See you next time~)