The time has come for another yaoi Disney retelling. This time of Phoebus and male!Esmeralda.
Chapter 1: Out There
Phoebus walked through the streets of Paris with his horse Achilles, looking for the Palace of Justice. He was looking at his map before crumbling it into a ball and toss it aside. "You've been gone for a couple of decades and they change everything." He said to his horse.
Then he saw two guards saunter by and decided to ask them for directions. "Excuse me, but can you tell me where to find the-" But they kept walking without looking his way. "Never mind, I guess".
As he kept walking, Phoebus began to hear beautiful music in the street. As he turns on the right corner, Phoebus sees two gypsy men in bright colors and jewelry playing music. One is a middle-aged man playing some kind of wind instrument with a small white goat jumping around a plum purple hat, and the other is a teenage boy playing a tambourine, while a young boy sits on the ledge above watching the performance. All three of them are shoeless, as typical with most gypsies.
A woman and a little barefooted boy wearing a brimmed hat are walking by when the boy catches sight of the street performers. The boy eagerly tried to run towards the performers, before his mother stops him by grabbing his hand and walking away quickly. "Stay away, son, they're gypsies," The woman says with fear and distaste. "They'll steal us blind." Phoebus heard the mother say as she dragged her son who's waving at the goat.
Phoebus threw a handful of coins into the hat, amused by the dancing goat. Right at that moment, the teenage gypsy turns around to face him, having noticed the man was staring. Phoebus' eyes widened, he's a gorgeous boy with smooth, glowing caramel skin, wavy, thick black hair, and bright emerald eyes. He's dressed in purple pants, a sash wrapped around his slim waist, and a loose white peasant shirt that slides off his shoulders. His golden gypsy jewelry jingle with every movement.
"Wow", Phoebus uttered as he watched the teenage gypsy dance to the melody, capturing the attention of the passing spectators. He found that he could not look away from this gypsy who gave him a playful grin, batting the tambourine lightly in a near sensual manner, and his striking emerald eyes shine on the man enchantingly.
Their stare was interrupted by a loud whistle coming from the boy on the ledge, who then hopped out of sight. The gypsies take this as a signal and stopped the music as they see two guards that passed Phoebus were breaking up the crowd and advancing towards them.
The goat grabbed the hat with its teeth, but accidentally spilled the coins. The beautiful boy attempted to run but saw the coins scattered around the ground, so he went back to scoop up as many as he could while his musician partner already fled. Just then, the teenage gypsy sees the two guards standing over him menacingly.
"Well, what do we have here?" the fatter guard mused.
"Alright gypsy," The taller guard said as he made a grab for the hat, his gloved hand clasping around the brim as the teenager glared. "Where'd you get the money?"
"Stole it, no doubt" the fatter guard chimed.
The gypsy shot him with a withering scowl. "For your information, I earned it." he said in a sneer voice, tugging the hat free and backed up, narrowing his green eyes threateningly.
"Gypsies don't earn money." The taller guard responded and rolled his eyes in audacity of the teenager's claim.
"You'd steal it!" The fatter guard of the two grabbed the boy by his shoulders, said boy struggled to break out of his iron grip.
"You'd know a lot about stealing," The gypsy gritted his teeth as the tall guard pulled at the hat again. He'd seen them abuse their authority, for instance, he caught one of them eating an apple without paying and threatened the seller when he tried to argue. Phoebus raised a blond eyebrow at the events unfolding in front of him.
"Troublemaker, huh?" The taller guard said, as he took the hat from the gypsy's hands.
Zaphyr immediately took back the hat. The fat guard grabs the teenager who then kicked the tall guard in the face and freed his arms.
"Maybe a day in the stocks will cool you down!" The fat guard jeered.
The goat peered up at the guards and lunged at the fat one, knocking the heavy man over as his armor weighted him down like a turtle flipped on its back. The tall guard made a grab for the goat and was met with a back-hoof kick to the jaw, the man toppling over as the gypsy took the opportunity and ran past Phoebus with the hat in hand and his goat trailing behind.
"Come back here, gypsy!" The guards stood up and began to chase after the gypsy. Not wanting to see the boy in chains, a thought came to Phoebus' mind. He pulled Achilles' reins, which made the horse rear in front of the guards, both slamming into the white horse and slumping to the street, the fat one falling back onto his large behind and the tall one collapsing directly on the mud below the horse's rear.
Another devious idea entered his mind. "Achilles, sit." He ordered his horse.
"Hey!" the tall one yelled as the horse planted his butt on top of his back. "Whoa!"
"Oh, dear, I m sorry." Phoebus apologized feignly. "Naughty, horse! Naughty! He's just impossible. You can't take him anywhere."
The gypsy boy and his goat, who's peaking from behind a corner, smiled at his prank before leaving.
"Get this thing off me!" The tall guard pleaded his partner, who then pulls out his knife.
"I'll teach you a lesson, peasant." The other said to Phoebus. "The price for aiding a gypsy is death."
Phoebus pulled his sword and revealed his armor in the process, "You were saying... lieutenant?"
The guards hard face morphed into one of surprise. "Oh, C-c-captain!" the fat one stammered before trying to salute him, but accidentally banged his helmet with his knife. "At your surface, sir!"
Phoebus, pleased with their reactions, then slammed his sword in front of the tall guard, maimed the right part of his mustache sheathed his weapon, "I know you have a lot on your mind right now, but the Palace of Justice is?"
Soon the guards are leading Captain Phoebus and Achilles to his destination.
"Make way for the Captain!" The tall guard announced.
"Make way!" The fat guars shooed at the peasants.
As the captain walked behind the guards, he noticed some coins on the ground that were left by the gypsy. He picked them up and spotted a cloaked figure with a grey beard peeking from the hood and smoking a pipe, slumped against a building with a familiar-looking purple hat in front of him filled with coins. Phoebus couldn't be sure whether or not it was the teenage gypsy he met earlier, but it was a clever disguise. Nevertheless, Phoebus dropped the coins into the hat as he continues following the two guards to his meeting with the infamous Judge Frollo.
The figure pulled his hood down to reveal the gypsy boy with the goat sitting on his shoulders and the pipe in its mouth. The teenager looked back at the captain, surprised that he would help a gypsy.
"Come on, boy. Achilles, heel!"
Author's Note: The woman's son is the same boy from the beginning of the movie, listening to Clopin's tale.
What do you think so far?