telling all the rich folks anything they want to hear (keefex royals au)

-chapter eight-

Dex had dodled around long enough. He had done everything that he was supposed to... at the slowest possible speed.

But he still wanted to see the first... kiss.

His stomach twisted at the thought. He clenched his jaw and stood at attention a few feet from the side of the bed. The guard by the door gave him an odd look but for the most part, ignored him.

The door swung open and the Sencens walked in with a girl in between them. Oh, it was her, Princess Biana Vacker. A spike of jealousy shot through him. A small worm of doubt started to crawl through him. What if it was her? What if Keefe actually liked her? What if... his thoughts cut off when he noticed her glaring at him while Sencens were ignoring him. He bowed deeply and went back to standing at attention, his hands carefully tucked behind him.

Which was probably for the best.

Biana huffed and smoothed her dress. She walked to the side of the bed. The Sencens watched her with eager eyes. She bent over and bumped her lips against Keefe's. Like she wanted to get it over with.

Dex flinched. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice... except the guard. Who narrowed her eyes at him.

When Keefe did not rise up and immediately declare his love for her, Keefe's parents and Biana scowled.

"You barely graced his lips. Try again," Lord Cassius snapped, obviously trying to hide his agitation.

Biana waited for a bit before going back down for a much... longer kiss.

Behind his back, Dex clenched his fists even tighter. It took everything in him to not push Biana away from his boyfriend.

Finally, she straightened up. Dex saw something that looked almost like... disgust on her face? Before it quickly morphed to irritation.

"It's not working," Biana whined,"He must not be my true love."

The Sencens sighed.

"I suppose we should go," Lady Gisela said, adjusting the cape on her shoulders before she and her husband left in a huff with a seemingly relieved appearing Biana trailing after them.

Dex stood there for a bit, not sure what to do. Well he knew what he wanted to do, but that wasn't exactly possible. Deciding to freshen Keefe up again, he brought the makeup set and a bowl of water. He washed off the makeup already on Keefe's face. Without it, Keefe looked very... dead. He fought down a shudder. Noticing some lip gloss residue, most likely from Biana, he grabbed another small towel and dabbed at it. It was an odd sensation, applying makeup and washing it off on an immovable person. It took everything in his power to not get distracted by the fact that it was Keefe's face his fingers brushed against, both this morning... and now. His finger twitched and he ached to simply trace his finger across Keefe's jaw. He finished wiping off the last bit of lip gloss, but his fingers lingered. His mind began to swirl. He knew was overthinking this... but he couldn't help wonder if the "true love thing" was just a wild goose chase. He could just try it though....

Nope, nope, nope. What was he thinking? It would reveal everything and... and—

His mind flashed to an uncomfortable memory, one he and Keefe had tried their best to forget about. Tried.

He jerked his hand from Keefe and slammed the small towel he was using on the nightstand near him. Quickly, Dex began to apply the blush across Keefe's face, giving the semblance of life. After he finished and returned things to their proper places, he left the room. Well he attempted to, his first try he just slammed into the door. When he actually left he was sure his face felt very hot and he probably looked like a strawberry. If anything, his awkwardness was more of a giveaway to their clandestine love life than just outright kissing him.

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Dex sat dejectedly on a chair. His parents were embroidering on a blanket together on the couch across from him while his siblings ran around the entire servant quarters complex, screeching.

"You okay?" his mom asked, as she looked up to grab some scissors.

"We've heard the gossip going around," his dad continued.

"Gossip!" Dex's voice sounded especially high-pitched. All he could think about was that the guard had somehow deduced something about him and Keefe.

"Yeah, about the princess," his mother picked up,"You know. The whole kiss situation?"

Dex groaned and buried his hands in his hair. "Don't remind me."

His parents continued embroidering in silence.

He looked back up. "It... it just feels so... wrong. It doesn't seem right and- and- and I don't know!" He buried his face back in his hands.

"In which way?" his father asked, in a soothing way.

"I don't know! It just seems wrong!" Dex threw out his hands.

"Morally? Or in an unfair way?" his father set down his part of the blanket and looked at him.

"Uhh, both??" Agitated with how calm his parents were, Dex glared at them.

His dad sighed.

"So what are you going to do about it?" his mom provoked.

Dex stood up and threw out his hands. "What do you think I've been doing?? GAH!" He stormed off to the bedroom and plopped on his bed. He wanted to cry, to pout, to act like a child would. It would be a whole lot easier than finding a way out of this mess. He could just go in there and just kiss him and damned be the consequences. But... he didn't have Keefe's expressed consent. Well, he could guess what Keefe would say. Probably something like "Get on with it. Who cares? I'm casually just unconscious over here!" But still... how could he know for certain? And furthermore, the very idea made him want to curl up into a little ball of terror. His head filled with ideas to distract the guards even though he knew it was pointless. Those particular guards wouldn't leave their post if the world was quite literally ending.