Chapter Text
After many days peering at his reflection in a mirror, Kuroo comes to admit that he has become a horrifyingly ugly beast. His claws are too long that he hurts everything he touches, his fangs are too sharp to make eating without biting his tongue easy, and his once-lovely skin is now scarred and covered with bulging veins. He was once the most handsome prince in all of the lands, but true to the witch’s words, his selfishness and spoiled personality had morphed him into a monster he sees in the mirror’s reflection.
As he looms over the delicate, cursed rose the witch had given him, he has finally accepted his fate to forever remain an ugly beast. He regrets not being kind to the poor old woman who came to his door begging for help, but the damage is done and he is to live with the curse and words the old woman had left him.
“If you could learn to love another, and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken.” He remembers the enchantress’s booming words. “If not, you are doomed to remain a beast for all time.”
Since then, he hasn’t left the castle grounds in over three years. When Kuroo looks back, he regrets being a spoiled and selfish prince; he had been ruthless to his subjects and inconsiderate of his loyal servants, all who have also been cursed into the bodies of furniture—due to him treating them all as objects. His castle over the years lost its prized beauty and elegance: the paintings of his previous form had been torn up in one of his fits of rage, the once magnificent gates reduced into bars of rust, and the rose gardens have been ravaged by villagers who despised him and wanted him to stay away from the nearby town. He is hated by all, rejected by all, and abandoned by all except his servants.
He watches another rose petal falls; he has only so much time left before he spends eternity as the hideous beast he is.
Tsukishima Kei lives with his brother in a cottage in the outskirts of the town. Their parents had passed away when they were very young, and as a result, the two brothers made it their utmost priority to work and live comfortably together.
Kei spends his early morning walking up the dirt road that leads to the local schoolhouse. He enjoys the silence that the classroom brings in the morning, and he enjoys the scent of chalk and ink as he cleans the blackboards and organizes the primers—the time allows him to be alone with his thoughts and think of what the day’s lessons should be. As the time ticks forward, his students would come into the small classroom and sit down, placing their tin boxes of lunch and hats in the closet in the process. He also loves the noise the classroom and his students bring—he teaches students who walk from the town’s farms and spend the sunrise feeding the animals before coming; he loves teaching to students who he knows each one of them have potential to strive for higher, and he loves finally hearing children who struggled for so long reciting the alphabet finally being able to read.
Many townspeople frequently tell Kei how difficult it is to hear him sometimes; he has a soothing voice, soft blue eyes, and a quiet personality, but in the classroom, he commands these traits to use to his advantage. Strange , he hears other people whisper behind his back as he leaves to go home. Strange how a man who spends all his time teaching children has the most patience and perseverance of us all.
The only person who is able to see the times where Kei loses his patience is Akiteru during the afternoons where Kei comes home, silently fuming and tight-lipped. It’s hard to tell when Kei is angry, and sometimes even Akiteru has to look up twice to notice how hard his younger brother grips a jar or handle. When Akiteru asks him what had happened, it takes awhile for Kei to answer, but when he does, it is a quiet answer.
“Akiteru, why do all of the townspeople see me as strange?” The brunette older brother has lost count of all the times he would hear Kei mutter this. He has lost count of all the time the young, quiet teacher would return home deflated, and lost patience over why the other townspeople would treat him—and his brother, too— so coldly.
Was it because the young blonde man constantly has his nose in a book, with his eccentric brother constantly creating new gadgets and machines that eats coal and puffs out smoke? Was it when Kei would have a pensive, wistful look of wonder in his eyes as he reads about Persian poetry, or Mongolian folktales, or ancient Arabic philosophy on the existence of this universe? Did other treat the brothers rudely because of how Akiteru is seen not seen as an engineering genius but rather a failure, with his inventions constantly exploding or erupting in a horrid fire?
These are few of the thoughts that constantly plague Kei, and over the years, the number of questions have only increased.
There are only so many books in the world available that can distract Kei from his loneliness.
“ For goodness sakes, ” Kei hears his brother yelp outside, and runs out of the cottage to see Akiteru in front a smoking, sputtering machine. “How on earth did that happen?” Akiteru exclaims as he coughs and wheezes from the smoke. For the past few weeks, he had been working diligently on an idea to create a contraption that could reap wheat by itself from the fields and has been under the jeering taunts of the villagers; the brown haired engineer has worked stubbornly on making his idea work in time for the upcoming fair, but the awkward, screaming object— Akiteru proudly calls it a “machine”— has stubbornly resisted cooperating with its creator.
“Akiteru, are you alright?” He cautiously approaches his brother who fumes as he is completely covered in ash.
“I’m about ready to give up on this hunk of junk! This idea is never gonna work, Kei, and the townspeople were right to think I was crazy to even try!” Akiteru angrily kicks at his failed invention and slumps down on the ground in a huff.
“Now, you always say that. And you always figure out a way to make your ideas work.” Kei gently chides his older brother and bends down to clean up the toolbox spilled on the ground. “Do you remember who was the one who fixed our stove? And you were the one who made that lamp last week! I don’t have to go out and buy candles for when I want to read at night.”
“I mean it, this time! I’ll never get that horrible contraption to work.”
“Yes, you will. And you’ll go to that fair tomorrow and win first place.” Kei smiles and sets the toolbox next to the brunnett. The engineer pouts and turns his head away with a huff.
“... and you’ll become a world-famous inventor.” Kei adds. His brother doesn’t immediately turn his head, but the blonde sees the tips of his ears turn pink. Akiteru always has picked himself up with the encouraging words from his brother. And sure enough, the engineer turns and peeks up at Kei.
“Do you honestly believe that?” Kei gives a nod and a grin, and within a few seconds, Akiteru is back to work, rummaging through his tools and snapping on his goggles.
“Hang on tight, Kei! I’ll fix this up in no time, and this machine will bring us a new life in no time!”
True to his word, it takes only a few more hours until the two brothers stand before the machine, pleasantly humming and blowing out small puff of air now, and watches it move in the pasture in front of them. There’s a look of disbelief and wonder in Akiteru’s eyes; he holds disbelief that his skills were actually—true to Kei’s words—able to transform something that he had initially believed reigned from hell, and wonder for the possibility that he could very well win in the fair! From the corner of his eyes, Kei spots villagers craning their necks, scratching their heads in disbelief that the lunatic who always failed in the past finally succeeded.
Kei puffs out his chest in pride for his older brother and holds his chin high.
Early in the morning the next day, Akiteru finishes packing the heavy machine into a cart with a grunt and tightens the reins on the horse. He wipes the sweat away from his brow and grins at his younger brother who emerges from the kitchen door.
“Are you sure you want to go to the fair alone? Will you be able to carry your invention by yourself?” Kei asks with raised eyebrows and hands his brother a neatly wrapped parcel and a sack that contained a few day’s worth of supplies.
Akiteru gratefully accepts the parcel and catches a wonderful sniff of cinnamon bread. “Of course, of course, don’t worry your pretty little head about me!” he exclaims and climbs onto his horse. “You should be asking me the first thing I’m going to do when I come back from the fair with the winner’s money! I promise you Kei, people are gonna realize what a genius I am with this invention here! Goodness, by the time I get back—,”
“I know, I know. We’ll be able to leave this town.” Kei shakes his head with a smile. “No matter what may happen, know the pride and admiration I hold for you, my brother.”
He watches his brother leave into the dark forest further down in the horizon, the early rays of dawn running to keep up with the cart. He mutters a quick prayer for the brown-haired man and prays for his success. Kei stays outside even after the dust kicked up by the cart settles, even after the sun gave up running after the cart, even after his brother enters the dark, unsettling forest.