For the OTP boot camp – prompt 3, breathless.

Also for the freeverse competition – character, Remus Lupin

A million and one thanks to the wonderful MissingMommy for beta-ing this and for so much more. Sorry for disregarding a lot of your punctuation suggestions, my dear :D There's a method to my madness, I swear!

A note of some importance: ff eats less than signs. {3 is a heart (or as close as I can get without less than signs).

.

He's the fairytale prince

in your (un)conventional fairytale

(cliché)

(but still true)

And you?

You don't even get to be the villain.

No, you're the beast.

And not Beauty's beast

(who was a prince all along).

No.

You're a monster

the stuff of nightmares

Those legends? The horror stories?

That's you.

But your handsome fairytale prince has plenty of other nightmares,

and he is not afraid of

you.

And maybe it's okay that you aren't the stereotypical fairytale.

After all, your /haunted/ prince was never really looking for a prettypretty princess

And you never wanted to be king.

Then there's the fact that,

for some (unfathomable) reason

he {loves3 you

{back}

Even though you hate yourself

So you cannot understand why he would {love3

you

The beast.

But you can't ?question? it

for fear he will r. e. a. l. i. s. e

the truth

(and then he'll hate you too)

(and that is the only thing you could never survive).

What kind of beast are you?

Rendered breath[less] by a fairytale prince

So w-e-a-k that you would die

without [him]

Like a silly little damsel in distress or something.

Only you're no damsel

And you c. a. u. s. e. distress

rather than experience it.

Yes, you're an

u

n

c

o

n

v

e

n

t

i

o

n

a

l

fairytale.

Where the beast falls in {3love with the prince

And the prince {3loves{3 him back

unconventional but p. e. r. f. e. c. t.

(in) every single way that matters