Beauty and the Galra

Be Our Guest part 2 - Chapter Five

It was dark outside now, grey clouds covered the moon and stars. The dim lighting only added to the gloomy look of the castle. Of course, the inside was lit well in candles across the walls, these ones however did not move. It was dreadfully boring lighting them one by one anyone who worked at the castle could tell you that.

Shiro took his time making it downstairs. He looked at the lighting, felt the curtains with his stubbed wooden hands. He was stalling. This new boy that now resigned in the castle, wasn't going to turn up to dinner. He'd be lucky if he turned up alive in the morning. Keith's temper always got the best of him, no matter the situation. He'd always been spoilt, ever since the beginning.

Lance had a perfectly good reason to refuse the invite to dinner. The village boy was grieving, longing for his family. Shiro understood that, Keith however would not.

He's been that way for as long as Shiro could remember. He grew up with him after all. He was only little when Keith was born, but he remembered a small baby Keith, his pretty round eyes, soft black hair, chubby hands that opened and closed, clenched and unclenched at the sight of anyone, demanding to be picked up. Shiro was five then.

When he grew to be a toddler, he didn't have the capability to share toys with anyone other that Shiro, the four year old and the nine year old always played with the plastic horses. Their mothers would laugh and smile at them both. How cute they were.

When Keith turned seven however, he locked himself away. His parents left and they never came back. He was told they had passed, on a trip to an across the ocean. He was devastated. Anyone would be, Keith being as close to parents as Shiro was his mother. Shiro watched him fall into a hole that he never planned to escape from.

The servants were at his beck and call, they did everything for him, from preparing breakfast to running his baths. He didn't have to do a thing.

Shiro stayed by his side as his advisor and his closest friend the entire time, and watched as he became impulsive, obnoxious, and saw how everything angered him. He wasn't getting any better when the enchantress arrived and cursed the castle.

The point being, Shiro knew Keith, and he knew how he would react when he voiced to him that the boy was not coming to dinner.

Shiro kept a stoic face as he arrived at the door of the smallest dinning room. He knew the master was waiting inside for Lance, probably pacing the length of the table, back and forth. Coran was in there. Keith would be talking to him, asking for advice.

"I haven't been to dinner in years. How do I act? Do I pull his chair out for him? Fuck, it's been too long!" Keith voiced his fears of dinner.

"Almost eleven years to be exact!" Coran replied, and saw Keith visibly shudder at his words. He decided to change his strategy. "I know it's been a while, but this boy may be the key, he may be the one who breaks the curse."

Keith groaned, straightened his slouched back and took his face in his hands. "You think I haven't already thought about that?"

"Ah, yes, of course." Coran hopped across the table to be closer to Keith. "Just remember to smile."

He tried. He really tried to smile. He stretched his mouth until he could feel the corners of his mouth hurt. It was a disaster. Smiling was a lot easier without a large set of teeth.