Kyungsoo hates that word. Odd. His whole life he's been called that by the other townspeople in their small town. Why he's being called that? Because he reads books and because he invents machines that makes ordinary housework more easier. His father is an inventor as well, even smarter than Kyungsoo, though the townspeople doesn't realize that either. 

Everyday he can feel eyes on him as he walks through the town square on the way to the bookshop. They never say it to his face, but he can always see it in their eyes. He doesn't fit in, he knows that. He's not from this town, but from a bigger city. His parents had lived there for several years, but when he was a baby his mother passed away and his father moved to this little town. 

Kyungsoo doesn't know very much about her, only what she looked like from paintings that his father had done of her when she was alive. They are all gathered in his workshop, but his father will never say anything about her. He's asked, several times, but his father will always change the subject. Kyungsoo is 20 now, he's learned to not ask. 

"Good morning Kyungsoo." The old man behind the counter says with a genuine smile as Kyungsoo opens the door to the bookshop one morning. 

"Good morning, Ahjussi." Kyungsoo answers as he walks up to the counter. The man has always been kind to Kyungsoo, since the townspeople aren't very fond of reading, the bookshop doesn't have many customers. "Do you have any new books today?" He asks as his eyes are drawn to the shelves filled with books. 

"I'm sorry, my boy, nothing new today. But you are free to take home any of the ones you've already read." The man says as he gestures to the books. 

"Thank you, your bookshop makes this little town so much better." Kyungsoo says as he walks towards the books. His hand glides over the backs, dust falling off and gathering in the air, his eyes glancing over the titles that he already knows by heart. He gathers a few in his hands, moving back to the counter and paying for them before he says his goodbyes and leaves. 

The second he walks out he's hit with all the noises and smells of the town square. Freshly baked bread and newly caught fish, people trying to sell their vegetables and eggs to others and children skipping and playing in between the masses. Kyungsoo quickly maneuvers himself through the crowd until he can slip away to their little house. It's not big, but it's home, and it's just by the entry to town meaning Kyungsoo can easily escape out into the open field when the business of the square becomes too much to bare. 

He lets out a little sigh as he closes the door behind him, taking off his jacket and putting the books down on the table. He can see his father is home because of his things laying around and the plate and cup on the table. He quickly puts away the dishes and puts his father's jacket and satchel near the door before going outside again to his father's workshop. 

The room is actually very big, but there's not much room to walk because the walls and floor is filled with inventions and paintings and easels and equipments. In the back there's a big table filled with his father's latest tinkerings, and on the stool beside it sits his father, his eyes focused on whatever is in his hands. 

"Hello." Kyungsoo says softly as he walks up to the table.

"Hello, son. Did you get any new books today?" His father asks, not looking up from the little tower in his hands. 

"No, but I did get some of my favorites." Kyungsoo says, watching as his father begins to reach for something on the table, his hand searching blindly because he still hasn't looked away from the tower. Kyungsoo reaches for a small screwdriver that is just out of reach, handing it to him. 

"Yes, thank you." His father says with a smile and goes back to tinkering. 

"When will you be leaving for the fair?" Kyungsoo asks, his eyes wandering around the room, landing on the big painting in the corner. Of his mother, and him. 

"Tomorrow morning, but I will only be gone for a few days this time." His father says. "Could you hand me that little one, with the sp-" Before he can finish explaining the tool, Kyungsoo hands it to him. "Yes, that one." His father says and takes it. "Now all I need is a.....no not that one..." He shakes his head when Kyungsoo hands him a small cog. "No wait, that is exactly what I need." He mumbles and takes it, and sighs as he closes the little lapse and puts the tower down. He opens it, and a soft melody begins to play. In the tower, is a man painting a woman on a chair infront of him. His father smiles, and finally looks up at Kyungsoo. 

"Can't you tell me more about her?" Kyungsoo asks as he looks at the tiny painting in the tower model, exactly the same as the one in the corner of the room. 

"Your mother was..." His father sighs. "Smart, and fearless. She was not afraid of being herself, no matter what others said of her. Very much like you, she was ahead of her time, but not afraid." He says with a fond smile. Kyungsoo looks back at the painting with a smile.

He turns to a new page, trying to sit so that the sun isn't shining into his face while he reads. He's out in the open fields outside of town, where the sounds of the town can't reach him. All he can hear is the rush of the wind through the grass, and all he can see is the hills and woods around him. Out here he feels comfortable, and happy. There's no one to call him odd, no one who will step on his father's name, and no one who will look down on them. If only he could live here, in the woods, with his father.

After reading a few pages he sighs, knowing he has to go back soon to feed the chickens and to feed Philip, also his father will be leaving soon. He is bringing a new invention to the fair in the next town, and hopefully it will go well. Kyungsoo brushes the gras off his pants and begins the walk down the hill to the town. 

He can see Philip when he enters through the gates, already strapped on to the cart. 

"Father?" Kyungsoo asks as he walks towards Philip and runs his hand through the horse's mane. "Are you leaving already?" He asks with a frown.

"Yes, I have to reach the town before the sun goes down, I do not want to travel at night. It is best if I leave now." His father says as he puts his satchel on the cart before pulling himself up on it. "What do you want me to bring you?" He asks, as he always does. 

"A rose, like the one in mother's painting." Kyungsoo says after a few secodns of thinking. His father smiles.

"You always ask of that." He says with a chuckle.

"And you always give me one." Kyungsoo responds with a smile.

"Alright, I will be back in a few days with your rose. Goodbye son." He says and flicks the reins to make Philip go.

"Good luck!" Kyungsoo calls after him, waiting by the fence until his father is out of view before sighing. "Be safe." He mumbles to himself as he opens the gate to their garden and walks up the steps to the door.

"Good morning." Kyungsoo says with a smile as the chickens rush to the corn he throws from the basket. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" He mumbles as he looks up at the blue sky. He continues to feed the chickens as he hums to himself the melody of the tower that his father had built. And as he daydreams of running away and leaving the town, of going off on adventure to Italy and Spain like the people in his books, the day goes by. He picks up a basket of laundry and heads to the square where there's a fountain to wash their clothes in. He smiles at the children gathered there, most are playing with each other, fighting eachother with toyswords, though one girl is sitting alone by the fountain, her fingers threading through the water. 

"Hello." He says softly as he kneels down beside her, beginning to wash his clothes.

"Hello." The little girl mumbles with a sigh.

"What's wrong?" He asks her with a concerned frown. 

"The boys won't let me play with them." She sulks, hitting the water.

"Why not?" He asks as he turns to the boys that are hasing eachother and screaming.

"Because I'm a girl." She huffs, pouting and splashing the water around in anger.

"That's no reason for you not to play with them. Can you swordfight?" He asks, noticing another toysword on the ground. He picks it up and hands it to her.

"I can do it a little, my father lets me play with him." She says as she takes it, swinging it around and stabbing at the air.

"Then go and play, and if they say you can't play because you're a girl, then challenge them to a duel, if you win you can play with them, if you lose then you can come back here and sit with me." Kyungsoo suggests with a smile. The girl looks up at him, unsure at first, glancing towards the boys and then back at Kyungsoo. "Go on, I know you can do it." Kyungsoo says encouragingly. 

"Okay." The girl says, a smile forming on her face as she nods determinded to herself before standing up and running towards the boys. Kyungsoo watches them for a moment, smiling as she begins fighting one of the boys and then he goes back to doing the laundry. The girl doesn't come back, which makes him laugh as he sees them chasing eachother after a while. 

When he comes back to the house he cleans and cooks, trying to pass the time until his father comes back. Though the children are mostly kind to him, he doesn't have many friends in the town, and his father is the only one he can speak normally to. Which means when his father is gone he's left to himself, reading for hours and cleaning the house, only left with the chickens to talk to.

After making the house spotless, he picks up the book he's been reading and sits down on the steps infront of the house. The sun is still high in the sky, warming his skin and calming him. 

He's only been there for a few minutes before he hears the sound of rushed hooves on the ground, and looks up just as Philip runs through the gates of the town, alone.

First chapter is up!! Woohoo!!

I really hope you like the story. I've been watching Beauty and the Beast a few times now because I really love both the Dinsey version and the live version that came out just a while ago. I think Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite stories from Dinsey, and I just really wanted to write some Kaisoo fanfic since it's been a while. 

Please let me know in the comments below what you think of the first chapter!

Thanks for reading sweetie <3