Prompt from Nevermore: Can you do a Forte x Beast story? Where the attraction is mutual, perhaps Belle does leave or never shows up, and somehow Forte is granted a different form similar to Beast's and gets his master to fall in love with him?
…
Forte had been a young man when he was given the job of conductor at the palace, the Prince only being slightly younger than himself.
The man was spoilt, that much was true.
The curse was unnecessary though, surely?
And why was he cursed to have the same curse placed on him? Such claws were not helpful when trying to write and conduct music.
Outside, a snowstorm raged and if Forte looked closely, he could see the yellow eyes of wolves waiting in the distance. They wouldn't dare enter the castle, not with two beasts roaming around.
Out of the corner of his eye, Forte spotted the door to his chambers opening up, Adam slinking into the room, clearly trying to make himself seem smaller than he actually was.
Not surprising after the argument, they had only a few hours ago.
With the petals continuing to fall, they couldn't just sit around here and hope someone stumbled on them.
Adam had given up, but Forte wasn't willing to.
Another petal fell, and the castle rumbled.
Once the sound came to a stop, Adam nervously cleared his throat, "Is that a new song?"
"Hmmm."
"It's very… it sounds like a love song." Adam frowned, "Can't you play something else?"
"One of us has got to think about true love."
Adam scowled, storming out the room as Forte rolled his eyes.
….
That night, they ate together, occasionally meeting each other's eyes from across the table… until Adam shoved his face into his food, causing Forte to roll his eyes.
"You're a Beast in appearance, there's no reason to forget all the manners I know you were taught."
He forced the Prince on long walks through the icy gardens (the only way he was going to get fresh air after spending hours moping over that rose). During these walks, Forte would talk the Prince through his latest composition, and how he was seriously considering giving Fife a solo part after all his hard work during the last concert.
On their latest walk, he realised that Adam wasn't following him anymore, prompting him to turn around and frown. Following the Prince's gaze, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of the frozen lake.
How many times had his pieces of music been inspired by this very lake?
That evening, as they sat down for dinner once again, Adam chose to sit next to Forte.
…
Oh dear.
This was new… new and a bit alarming.
From the ballroom (which was getting cleaned for some strange reason), Forte watched as Adam walked through the snow on his own.
He could never be called a Prince Charming…. But there was something there that Forte had never seen before. He knew the servants were starting to gossip amongst themselves, many unable to stop themselves from sneaking glances at him as he moved through the corridors.
He only heard passing conversations…. Mostly mutters about 'never believing it' and 'who'd have thought?'.
He needed to get out of here.
As he headed into the gardens himself, he frowned when he heard the humming coming from beneath a stone arch in the middle of the garden.
"I do believe that's one of my compositions." He chuckled, watching as Adam cur himself off, spinning around as Forte smirked at him, "One of my more… romantic ones."
Adam rolled his eyes, "Alright. You've made your point."
Taking a seat next to the Prince, Forte listened as the winter silence was broken by the sound of laughter and joy from the other servants, "They seem to be having a good time."
"Yes…" Adam sighed, "… and yet, when I enter the room, all laughter dies."
"It's not exactly much different for me."
There was a brief moment of silence, before Adam suddenly perked up, "Why don't we run away?"
"… What?"
Gently, Adam took his paw, "Follow me. I have something to show you."
There was a brief moment of silence, before the Beast suddenly perked up, "Why don't we run away?"
"…. What?"
Gently, the Beast took his hand. "Follow me. I have something to show you."
….
"What is that?" Forte asked, as Adam removed a book from the shelves.
"A gift… a book that truly allows you to escape." He opened it up and blew away the dust, resting it against a book stand. On the pages was a highly detailed map, gold patterns of stars moving all around.
"Wow." Forte whispered, mind already turning to ways to replicate this wonder and view in music.
"It was her cruellest trick of all." Adam sighed, "Just another curse. The world has no place for creatures like… us." He gently took Forte's hand and pressed it against the pages, "Think of the one place you've always wanted to see… find it in your mind's eye and feel it in your heart."
Forte stared at the pages for a few moments.
He knew exactly where he wanted to go.
Seconds later, they were standing in the middle of an abandoned classroom, dust all over the room, faint scribblings on the chalkboards.
"Where did you take us?" Adam asked.
"… This was my old classroom."
Adam frowned, glancing around the room. "It's odd, thinking of you as a student."
Forte wasn't listening though, too busy glancing around the room, "It's so much smaller than I remember. I learned everything in this room." His eyes fell on used to be his old desk, automatically reaching out to touch it, only to see his clawed paw.
"Enough." He snapped, "Let's get out of here."
…
"Well, I saw him in the main hall, and he was composing a new piece of music which sounded beautiful, and.. and I just asked if we should dance together tonight? I never thought that he'd say yes! What was I thinking?!"
"No Master, it's perfect!" Lumiere reassured him, as Adam splashed about in the bath, "The rose only has four petals left, and we can't afford to watch you two dance around each other for another decade. You can tell him how you feel!"
"I feel like a FOOL!" Adam pushed himself to his feet, "Forte has never shown any interest in me, not even when I was a man! Why would he now?"
"Don't be discouraged!"
"Enough!" Adam moved to leave, only for Mrs Potts to block the way, Lumiere moving to join her, "You care for him, don't you?" He begged the Prince, "Some beautiful candlelight, dancing along to one of his compositions, he won't be able to resist."
"Yes! And when the moment is right…" The feather duster trailed off with a little giggle
Adam frowned, "Well, how will I know what the moment in right?"
"You will feel slightly nauseous." Cogsworth sighed.
"You will do fine Master!" Lumiere glared at his companion.
"Yes." Mrs Potts agreed, "Just don't be so nervous and tell Forte how you feel, because if you don't, I can promise you cold tea for the rest of your days!"
"In the dark…" Lumiere scowled.
"… and covered in dust!"
"Dark and very, very dusty!" Shaking, Lumiere's attitude changed again, "Right, let's get your hair brushed, your horns shined and nails trimmed!"
….
"Oh, how I wish I could wear my finest conductor suit for this." Forte smoothed out the fancy suit, glancing over at Adam, who was wearing a similar suit in blue.
Adam opened his mouth, as if to say something, only to snap it shut again and hold out his arm for Forte to take.
Forte stared at the arm for a few moments, before slowly taking it, allowing himself to be led into the middle of the ballroom, bowing to each other as Fife started his solo, the soft sound echoing around the room.
And then they started to dance.
As the dance went on, Forte couldn't help but feel like something had changed between them
And the thought wasn't terrifying.
Not anymore.
Quickly, before Adam could pull away, he leaned forwards and kissed the other beast on the lips.
And there was a flash of bright white light.
