The Little Mermaid

Chapter 7

The sun was setting, shown through the large glass wall of the dining room. Keith was sitting at the table, getting a scolding from Shiro about the boy Keith swore he was saved from.

"You need to be reasonable, Keith." Shiro said harshly. "Young men don't just swim around rescuing people in the middle of the ocean and then just flutter off into oblivion like some kind of-"

Keith cut him off, "I'm telling you, Shiro! He was real and I'm going to find that boy and marry him!"

"You-"

The room went silent when they heard Plaxum giggle, "Come on. No need to be shy."

Plaxum pulled Lance by the hand into the dining room. The boy had his lips pursed as he looked off to the side. He wore a white blouse type shirt, light blue pants and boots, along with a light blue silver accented jacket that was buttoned and had two tails hanging down the back.

"Well, Keith. Isn't he a vision?" Shiro asked.

Keith smiled warmly, "You look great."

Lance smiled back and Shiro motioned for him to sit, "You must be famished. It's not often we have such a lovely guest in this castle, do we Keith?"

Lance ignored the chatter, seeing a fork and using it on his hair. The two looked at him questioningly, which made him quickly set the fork down with a blush. Though, his attention was taken by the pipe Shiro had, which he gave to the boy. He blew into it, the contents inside shooting into Shiro's face.

Keith laughed, snorting too, and Plaxum brightened, "Why, Keith! That's the first time you've laughed in forever!"

"Y-Yeah." Keith finished laughing, turning to see Shiro wiping the stuff off his face. "So sorry, Shiro.

"Oh, very amusing." Shiro rolled his eyes. "Plaxum, do you know what's for dinner?"

"Mhm! You'll love it. The chef's been fixing his specialty, stuffed crab!" She responded.
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Coran watched the short man cook. The chef hummed to himself singing a tune as he grabbed a bowl of fish and started chopping their heads off.

"Les poissons, Les poissons. How I love les poissons. Love to chop and to serve little fish! First I cut off their heads, then I pull out the bones." Slav ripped out a spine of a fish he cut open, tossing it behind him. "Ah mais oui- Ca c'est toujours delish! Les poissons, Les poissons. Hee hee hee! Hah hah hah!"

The chef, Slav, hacked fish in two, pulling out guts and bones and tossing the meat into a boiling pot. Coran weaved through dishes and spices on the shelf, gagging as he watched the sight.

"With the cleaver I hack them in two, I pull out what's inside, and I serve it up fried!
God, I love little fishes. Don't you?" Slav asked as Coran hid under a leaf and trembled. "Here's something for tempting the palate. Prepared in the classic technique! First you pound the fish flat with a mallet." He pounded the fish with some sort of tool, the table rumbling. He then slashed through the meat and skin, rubbing salt in deep. "Then you slash through the skin, give the belly a slice. Then you rub some salt in. 'Cause that makes it taste nice!"

He grabbed the leaf off of Coran and gasped, picking him, "Zut alors, I have missed one! Sacre bleu, What is this? How on earth could I miss such a sweet little succulent crab? Quel dommage, what a loss. Here we go in the sauce!" He flung Coran into sauce, throwing flower on him, taking him out and stuffing bread into him. "Now some flour, I think- Just a dab. Now I stuff you with bread, it don't hurt 'cause you're dead! And you're certainly lucky you are, 'Cause it's gonna be hot. In my big silver pot! Toodle loo mon poisson- Au revoir!"

The crab was thrown into a pot, which he jumped out and landed next to the chef, being picked up with tongs and inspected, "Whats this?"

Coran pinched his nose and all hell broke loose. Slave knocked over tables, tumbling as he tried to grab the crab back. It was a full on cat and mouse chase. Slav toppled through things as Coran screeched and ran away. Slav pushed through a shelf, everything and it tumbling down.

The crash of it could be heard all the way in the dining room and Plaxum sighed, "I better go see what Slav is up to."

She walked to the kitchen, finding Slav trashing the place. He was crawling under things, shouting and acting like a mad man.

"Come on out, you little pipsqueak!" He shouted. "Fight me like a man!"

"Slav, what are you doing?!" Plaxum called out.

Slav perked up, hitting his head but stood, "Well, I-I was just- ah, um. I'm sorry, madame.

Plaxum rolled her eyes and collected the food filled cart. She wheeled the food to the dining room, placing the covered plates in front of each perspective person.

"You know, Keith." Shiro started. "Perhaps our guest might enjoy seeing some of the sights of the kingdom."

Keith was staring at Lance, but turned to Shiro, "Sorry, Shiro. What was that?"

"You can't spend all of your time moping around the castle. You should get out, so something, have a life." Shiro spoke, lifting his plate cover that revealed Coran. "Get your mind off-"

"Easy, Shiro." Keith cut him off harshly.

Lance made eye contact with Coran and pursed his lips. He lifted his plate cover, quickly motioning for Coran to hide there. The crab looked at Shiro and Keith, quickly rushing over under the plate cover.

The former merman slammed the cover down and leaned heavily on it when Keith turned to him, "Well, what do you say? It isn't a bad idea, so how do you feel of joining me on a tour of the kingdom tomorrow?"

Lance nodded vigorously with a smile.

"Wonderful! Now, let's eat before this crab wonders off my plate." Shiro said sarcastically, but his smile faded when he looked down at his empty plate.
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Lance was on a balcony, which was connected to the room he was set in. He had his arms wrapped around himself as he watched Keith playing fetch with Red.

"Bring it back, Red!" Keith whistled.

The prince turned, seeing Lance on the balcony. He waved with a smile and the tan boy blushed, waving back and scurrying inside.

Coran was pacing across a dresser, "This has got to be, without a doubt, the single most humiliating day of my life." He turned to Lance, jumped on the fluffy bed, playing a little. "I hope you appreciate what I go through for you, young man. Now, we need to make a plan to get that boy to kiss you. So tomorrow, when he takes you for that ride, you gotta look your best. You gotta bat your eyes," He bat his eyes. "like this. You gotta pucker up your lips," He puckered his lips. "like this and-"

He turned to Lance upon hearing a snore. He sighed with a warm smile. He blew out the candle on the nightstand, hopping on Lance's pillow and brushing hair out of his face with a claw.

"You are a hopeless child. You know that? Completely hopeless."