As he soon came to realize, adjusting to his new human body did not simply happen overnight. There were a lot of habits he had to relearn, a lot of changes he had to make. Getting used to the movements of his new form was one thing. As a Beast he was used to making fast, aggressive gestures that came with having such a huge body, but there was a certain lightness and sensitivity to being human, and he found it odd that it didn't take as much effort to move his arms and legs as it used to, and that it took more time to move across a room than it did before. It wasn't difficult, just strange, like getting a new haircut or breaking into a new pair of boots.
He hadn't told Belle this, but the morning after the enchantment, he'd tried to put his foot down on a lower part of the staircase and ended up falling down a whole flight of steps instead, nearly crashing into a suit of armour as he hit the landing. He deduced that thinking in Beast steps instead of human steps had been the source of his fall but still, he still felt quite stupid over the matter and was glad that no one was there to see him when it happened.
During his first breakfast together with Belle, he'd spent a long time staring at his spoon before she picked up on what was wrong and showed him the correct, human way to hold it, but even then, he dropped it a few times because he wasn't so used to it feeling so heavy in his hand, or putting in his mouth in a way that didn't require him to bend his muzzle all the way over. He got the hang of it eventually, although he made a bit of a mess along the way.
There was the bathroom to relearn (he'd done his business like a Beast for ten years after all), and sleeping on a bed that actually supported all his weight, wearing stockings and boots, having hair that only covered a few parts of his body, even his reflection was something he couldn't make sense of anymore, for even though he wasn't a Beast, he wasn't the spoiled eleven-year-old he had been before he was cursed either. In the end he just gave up trying to make sense of the young man he saw in the mirror everyday, reasoning that Belle was the only one who really knew who he was, and that was good enough for him to be perfectly honest.
On Monday morning, Belle was reading a book to him in the library and only stopped once when she looked up to notice the troubled expression on his face.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
He nervously fumbled with his hands, "I thought this would be so easy," he told her in a tenor voice that didn't really sound like his anymore.
"Well your reading is improving," she pointed out.
"No," he said, "I mean I just feel as if I'm…not good at anything anymore. When I was a Beast I adapted to a lot of the problems I faced from not being a human. I learned to eat, dance, dress and read, even though it was difficult. I thought these things would just carry over when I changed back…but now I feel like I have to learn these things all over again. I just keeping on tripping and dropping things, I feel so clumsy, all the time, and I don't mean to be."
Belle smiled and gently put a hand on his shoulder, "But you're adjusting so well," she said, "And think about it; Mrs. Potts and the others haven't used or seen their hands in ten years. They're probably all going through the same changes that you are."
The prince let himself imagine how strange it must be for his servants to be using their hands to work the same apparatus they had been for ten years and thought she had a bit of a point. He ruffled his hair anxiously. "I just think there's something wrong with me," he admitted.
She shifted herself across the carpet to be closer to him and carefully put down her book. "Well I don't think there's anything wrong with you," she said.
She moved her hand to his cheek, looked into his familiar blue eyes, and then kissed him. And for a moment he forgot to think, because this was probably the only thing that made sense, the only thing about being human that really felt natural. Gently, he passed his hands across her hair, her neck, realizing without claws she was completely open for him to touch, to feel, without the fear of hurting her. He pulled her closer to him, marvelling again at how well his human body fit against hers and then, feeling a bit more daring, angled his mouth and started kissing her back.
And at some point while they both sat there kissing, he began to think a certain thing that men and women did after marriage, and wondered if she would ever agree to do that with him, maybe when they'd been together a bit longer, when he'd become a bit more adjusted to his new body. He realized there was a whole window of opportunity open to him now that he was what he had wanted to be for her all along.
At last she pulled away from him, taking a few minutes to recompose herself because she hadn't expected to be kissed like that before, "You seem perfectly fine to me," she said.
He smiled and then kissed her again, lightly this time, as a way of showing his gratitude. For he realized that she was the only one who could ever see past his ugly exterior, who had learned to love him, who had broken the spell and had freed him so that he may start a new life together with her, not as a monster, but as an ordinary man.
Adjusting to his new human body did not simply happen overnight, but this was one thing about being human he could most easily see himself getting used to.
I know similar fics like this have been done from the POV of the servants becoming human again, but that doesn't mean the prince can't share his own side of the story right? This is just a random idea that came into my head when I was rewatching the ballroom scene from the movie last month, particularly the part where the Beast appears to have "mastered" eating with a spoon and which then made me wonder if he'd still have difficulties eating from one when he became human. I'm not sure if my idea really "works" but sometimes I like to experiment, plus I needed something that would let me take a break from my other BATB story for a bit. Anyways, thanks for reading! :D