Story bits

The ball
“You could come to my place for Christmas.” James suggested, nudging Keith’s shoulder. His friend chuckled and shook his head. “Thanks, but I can’t. I got an invitation for some ball thing.” James smiled. “Maybe next year. Bye Keith.” He said, stepping away with a little wave. He got on his motorcycle, revving the engine and shooting off, down the road and out of the base.
Keith sighed and looked at his phone, which had the invite pulled up. “I guess it's time to meet Gutierrez.”
Three hours later, Keith’s car is driving up to a gated mansion. He lets out a low whistle when he sees the house.
It’s HUGE. White, with columns and gigantic windows, a long, paved road leading up to it.
“Welcome to the Gutierrez residence. How can I help you?” A voice says from the intercom. “Yeah, uh, hi. I’m Keith Kogane. I got an invitation for the Christmas ball thing.” A beep comes from the intercom, and the gates slide open. “Welcome Mr.Kogane. Have a wonderful time.” He drives in, silently marveling at the statues and gardens. “Colleen would love this.” He mutters.
He pulls up to the door, and a man in a suit rushes out to meet him. “Hello.” He greets with a smile. Blonde hair, tanned, freckled skin, and electric green eyes. “I’m Alex. You’re Kei-Mr.Kogane, correct?” Keith smiles at the man. “Just Keith is fine.”
Alex nodded. “Good to know. Come, the family is waiting inside.” He led him up the white steps, and someone else, a woman this time, reached for his backpack. “Oh no. I’ve got it.” He insisted. She smiled and stepped back, opening the large wooden doors.
He was led through a large marble foyer, with golden cracks in the walls, a crystal chandelier, and a large, domed roof. Keith stepped in circles, trying to take it all in. “Impressive, isn’t it?” Alex asks with a knowing grin. “Yeah.” Keith says breathlessly. “Don’t worry, the family isn’t stuck up at all. They’re actually very kind. I believe their son goes to the Garrison as well.” They arrive at a corner, and Alex stops him. “Now, do remember to be polite. They’re right down there, the second door on the left.” Keith nods and follows his directions wordlessly as Alex disappears down a hall. He steps into the dooray, and is greeted with three smiling faces.
“Hey! You must be Keith.” A young girl says. She’s 17, maybe 18, and wearing white jeans and a red sweater. “I’m Crystal. And these are my parents, Christopher and Erin.” The man, who’s wearing black slacks, a white shirt and a black tie, smiles at him. The woman is in a white and dark green dress, the top green and the skirt white. All have relatively the same dark brown hair, with tanned skin. Crystal has grey eyes, along with Erin, and Christopher’s are a dark blue.
“Nice to meet you. And yes, I’m Keith.”
“We’re so glad to have you! I hope the commute from the Garrison wasn’t too bad. It’s rather far.” Erin says. “Oh, no. It’s not like I was on my hoverbike. I had a car.” “Come, sit.” Christopher says, gesturing to the couch. Keith sits next to Crystal. “I have a feeling you’re going to like my brother. You look to be about his age.” Keith grins. “Yeah, I get that a lot.”
“Sorry I’m late. Evelyn wanted my opinion on the decorations.” A familiar voice said, and Keith heard footsteps by the door. He looked over, and his eyes widened. “James?”
The other smiled at him, and Keith’s heart stuttered.
Tight blue jeans and a dark green sweater shouldn’t have looked so good, especially with little brown boots. But James made it work.
“Keith!” James laughed. “Guess you are spending Christmas at my house after all.” “I’m confused. You guys are Gutierrezes, but James is a Griffin?” James laughed and sat on the empty armchair, throwing his legs over the side. “My mom’s maiden name. That way, no one could say any of my accomplishments are because of my Daddy.” Keith nodded. “No one can say you got into the Garrison or are a pilot because your dad pulled strings.” James winked. “Bingo.”

“Yes. Bella left us too soon. But she’d be proud of you James. You’re a hero.” Erin says. He hums noncommittally and pulls out his phone. “So, Keith, you might have to sign some forms.” He says, tapping away. “For what?” Crystal sighs. “Press release stuff. Photos, videos, you might have to take some pictures with us and other people attending the ball.” She explains. Keith nods. “Um, ok. Is this normal for you guys?” Christopher shrugs. “For us three, yes. James is only here during the holidays and summer, so he can worry about it less.” “Also, half the photographers have crushes on him.” Crystal whispers. “They do not!” James protests. “Zoe literally got assigned, per her request, to be the one in charge of your photos. Erica and Zack had to do rock-paper-scissors with her to decide which one of them would do it.” James rolled his eyes.

“GRIFFIN!” A female voice yelled. “And that’ll be Alicia.” He says with a sigh, standing up. “What?” A woman appears in the door. She has chocolate colored skin and entrancing hazel eyes, her black hair pinned in a high bun. “You’re supposed to let me do your makeup before you start walking around the house. Zoe is running around with her camera.” James pouts. “But I don’t like the makeup. You don’t make Crystal or Dad do it.” She purses her lips. He gives her puppy dog eyes, clasping his hands together. “Please? I’ll let you do it at dinner.” He pleads. She sighs and rolls her eyes, ruffling his hair. “Fine. But I’m going to hold you to that.”
Another girl runs up to where she was after Alicia leaves. “James! Carly wants more shots of you in the green sweater and then for you to do the red one.” She reports. She’s white, with long black hair and dark brown eyes. “I’ve been wearing this for literally an hour and she already wants me to change?” James asks. The girl nods. “And she wants Mr.Kogane to come over so she can outfit him with the proper attire. Her words, not mine.”
Keith raises an eyebrow and looks down at his clothes. Black jeans, red shirt, his new leather jacket. What’s wrong with it?
James sighs. “Fine. come on Keith, time for you to meet Carly.” He heads towards the door, gesturing for Keith to follow. “Who is Carly? And who are you?” Keith asks the girl. “Oh! Right, sorry. I’m Zoe. Carly is the stylist in charge of the family’s wardrobe. Part of their Christmas ball is they have to wear clothes from certain brands and model them a bit. You know, to show off for their friends? Then, the companies that sell those clothes donate to charities of the family’s choice A lot the past year have been refugee funds, health organizations, and most recently, veteran groups.” “And this leads to having to change up to a dozen times a day. Literally the only day we’ll get to choose our outfits this week are Christmas.” James says. “Oh, by the way, did you make any reservations at a hotel or motel?” James asks, Keith, purple eyes training on him.
“Uh, no. I thought this was a one day thing.” Both James and Zoe laugh. “Oh no. It’s the full week. Zoe, could you set up the guest room for him? Second door on the right in my hall. Put something big and red on the front so he can find it.” She nods and runs off, and James falls into step besides Keith. “So, whaddaya think?” He asks with a grin. Keith sighs. “It’s… a lot. The house is really cool though. Why didn’t you tell us you lived in a mansion? I would;ve been hitting you up for breaks for years.” James laughed. “My family is great, but they can be a bit much at times. Crystal is the only one of them who didn’t grow up being coddled by nannies. And her expectations can be rather high.” Keith glanced at him with a grin. “Who are you and what have you done with James?” James rolled his eyes. “Come on, Carly’s waiting.” He took Keith’s hand and led him down a hall, then to a room, with white walls on one side and black on the other. “Carly! We’re here!” James called, leading Keith to a table.
A brunette appeared next to them. “Good. This is him?” She asked, giving Keith a once over. Having her icy blue eyes stare at him made him uncomfortable. And he was used to staring down crazy warlords.
“Hmm. Let me guess, red and black are his colors?” James nodded, stepping away from Keith. “Blue and purple work for him too.” She nodded, walking around Keith in a circle. She motioned to his bag. “I assume you’ve brought your own clothes?” “Uh, yeah.” She put a hand out. “Let me see.” He handed her the bag and she rifled through it, humming. “Unacceptable.” She declared, dropping it on a table. “If you’re going to be walking around the Gutierrez household, you need to be dressed to impress. And you’ll need a suit for the ball.” “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Keith asked as she walked towards a rack of clothes.
How she managed to walk so quietly in her heels, he had no idea.
“Nothing. But like Zoe said, we’re supposed to wear the fancy stuff. You won’t believe how much press we get. And there’ll be even more when they find out the two of us are here.” James says, going to Carly’s side. “A paladin of Voltron and an MFE Aries pilot? They’ll have a field day. Make sure you look good at all times, and figure out which side is your best side.”
James laughed. “What are you saying? All Keith’s sides are his best side.” Keith felt his cheeks warm a bit and Carly swatted James’s head. “Shush you! Now, here.” She thrust some clothes in Keith’s hands. “Put that on. And you-” She turned to James, wagging a finger. “Are going to wear the white outfit tonight, and let Alicia do the ice drops and glitter makeup. I don’t need her to be in a bad mood.”
James chuckled and smiled. “Of course. I’m a man of my word after all.”
Keith stepped behind a partition thing Carly herded him towards and slipped on the clothes. A form fitting red sweater, and blue jeans. They fit perfectly. He stepped out and both of them looked him up and down, nodding appreciatively. “Not bad.” Carly said. “You look good.” James comments. “Thanks Carly. We should probably get going. I need to explain the next few days festivities to Keith.” With a wave, James dragged Keith out, grabbing his hand once again.

“Okay, so on Christmas Eve, there’s the ball, but tonight, you’re gonna take some pictures with us and be announced as this year’s guest of honor. Tomorrow, there’s gonna be some reporters coming over to interview my family, and they’ll probably ask us questions too. If they ask a question you don’t want to answer, please don’t growl at them, but slight death staring is okay. If they ask you about your love life, which they will undoubtedly do if they interview you, you should probably avoid answering any of those, unless it’s a yes or no question. If they ask about our missions, give veiled reports and if they keep pressing, just smirk and say ‘You’re not cleared.’ That’ll piss them off, but it sounds cool. The day after we have to teach you how to dance cause I’m 99% sure you don’t know how to dance in a ballroom. Carly will also want to get your measurements for a suit. Then it's Christmas Eve, and you’ll have to wear a suit the entire afternoon and night. But we’ll be inside, and it’s supposed to snow, so it’ll be okay. You’ll be grateful for the extra layer. Um, there’s a kind of production halfway during the ball, which I think you’ll love. Then there’s dancing, then alcohol but if you don’t want that there’s also dessert, and then we have to say goodbye to the guests. Then we sing carols, but if you don’t want to you don’t have to, and head to bed after hot cocoa and make some cookies. Oh, also, after the ball, we help the others clean up and wish them happy holidays cause by 10 they’re all on their way home. Then sleep, and it’s Christms. Yay! Then we eat cookies and hot cocoa for breakfast, and then we do presents. And don’t say anything about not having any, cause once I found out you were the guest I called Shiro and Adam, so they’re coming, and the rest of them are going to try and stop by at some point that day or the day after to give you their presents from them to you. I already got you something, and I’m sure Crystal did too. And Erin definitely did. And Krolia and Kolivan sent something to the Garrison for you since they weren’t going to make it in time for the holidays, so you’ll have at least a dozen presents to open.
Then we do more carols spontaneously throughout the day, and live off of leftovers from the ball, drinks, cocoa and cookies until three days after Christmas, cause the others are with their families. Then, the two of us can head back to the Garrison the day after, around lunch, and be back before nightfall. And if we time it right, we’ll get there during the gap between when the sun sets and when they turn on the spotlights on base. Then we can see the stars. We probably could from the roof, but we’re kinda sorta not supposed to go up there. But I can get us up there if you want to. Oh, and be careful where you step, and don’t stay in doorways for more than a few seconds, especially next to someone, because Alex and Crystal have been putting up mistletoe all week. So yeah, that’s it. Any questions?”
James finally stopped rambling, and looked at Keith with shining eyes. Keith blinked a few times, then laughed. “What?” James asked. “Keith, stop laughing!” He whined. Keith laughed and swung their intertwined hands. “I’ve just never seen you so excited. You look like a sugar high six year old.” James pouted. “I do not!” “You do.” Keith insisted. “Well at least I have some energy.” Keith glanced at the other boy, then at their hands.
“James, what happened to your mom?” He shrugged. “Dunno. Never met her. She’s either dead, or she faked her own death. From what I gather, she had an affinity for theatrics.” “That doesn’t bother you? Not knowing her?” James shook his head. “No. I don’t even remember her. So it’s not like I have anything to miss. And Dad married Erin when I was 6. She’s the only mother-like figure I’ve ever known.” “That must be weird.” Keith said. “Not really. Speaking of moms, how’s Krolia? I’ve only talked to her a few times, but she seems really cool.”
Keith smiled. “She’s amazing. And since she wasn’t there for my childhood, she’s kinda hell-bent on making up for lost time. Next summer, we’re gonna take a vacation, her, me, Kolivan and Kosmo. Travel the galaxy, with no set destination. Just going where the stars take us.” “Sounds fun. Make sure to send pictures.” James says, bumping his shoulder against Keith’s. He bumped him back. “I will.”