Chapter 3
Monday, September 8
Keith’s POV
Keith stood right in front of Lotor’s dorm-room. He knew that this conversation could have probably waited until tomorrow and that disturbing Lotor, right before he’ll ask for a favor was not the best idea. I mean Keith didn’t even know what he was doing right now. Yet his hand started to move on his own and knocked way before his mind could process it. Well, now there was no going back…
The door was opened just enough so that Lotor could stand in the gab, but Keith could not see the apartment behind it. He looked Keith up and down, before speaking up, “What do you want Kogane?”. For some reason, Keith forgot how intimidating Lotor could be. He towered over Keith, looking strangely disgusted and bored at the same time. “I wanted to ask you for help with the auditions.” Keith bursted out. ‘That totally came out wrong’ he realized right after he said it. “You want a mentor or something? Kogane, I have better things to do. I thought you wouldn’t be so stupid to ask the director of the play for advice or do you want me to see all your flaws? That’ll only worsen your chances of getting casted.”. Lotor threw his hair over his shoulder, took a step back, and was moving to close the door. Keith quickly put his foot between the door and the wall. Lotor turned back to glance angrily at him. “Excuse me?”. ‘Oh dear god, this is going way worse than I expected.’Keith thought as he panicked ever so slightly. ”I’ m sorry. I do not want you to teach me, trust me I would never!” Keith stumbled around, which caused Lotor’s glare to darken even more. “You don’t think I’m qualified enough?! Kogane, that’s it. Leave.” Lotor spit out and tried to shut the door again. “No, no, no this is not what I meant. Please let me start over again! There is a problem with the audition-plan”.
“Really?”
“Yes! Shiro manipulated the sign-up-sheets!” Keith explained. Finally, he said, what he wanted to say. “Shirogane did fucking WHAT?! Oh, I’m going to fucking kill him!” Lotor now roared out, throwing open the door, so it hit the opposite wall in the process. Okay, maybe Lotor took that the wrong way, too… “Wait, no he didn’t manipulate everything. Not in the way you think right now!” Keith tried to say as soothing as possible. Lotor eyes started to twitch as he took a deep breath “Kogane, for goodness sake: Talk in a way I’ll goddamn understand you! Do you think this is funny?”. “No, of course, I don’t!”, “Good, so tell me what the fuck happened with the sign-up-sheets.”. Lotor looked so done with everything. “Alright. Shiro crossed out my name, and put it down somewhere else. I wanted to audition for the ensemble, but now I’m auditioning for Kayden.” Keith tried to explain further and clear as possible. He got Lotor riled up enough for one day. And luckily he understood. “So, Shirogane changed only your name? “He asked, way calmer than before. “Yes,” Keith confirmed. After a long pause Lotor spoke up again: “Well, what do you want me to do now?” Seriously wasn’t that clear from what he told him? “Could you change the audition-plan, so I can audition for the role I actually signed up for?”.
“That would be ridicules,” Lotor said. Keith looked at him confused. “I will not change the whole plan for one person. Do you know how much work that would mean for us and how much it would confuse everybody else when there is a new notice released? There have already been enough complications with these auditions. It would also cause people to question our, nay, my authority if I’ll just update the plan for everyone that comes whining to me.”. But it wasn’t Keith’s fault that he’s now in this situation! Why must he be the one being punished? Why does he never get what he wants? “It’s just one name, Lotor! And nobody would care if there were some changes again. Just explain to them what happened or something.”. “Do you hear yourself right now Kogane? You have no fucking idea how it is to have a father, that is always observing your every move and judges whatever you do. Just imagine how he would react if he heard that I made a mistake again-” Lotor shouted out, getting louder with each word. “But you didn’t make the mistake!” Keith interrupted him, but that argument was shut down quickly “So you really think he would care?! It’s my play, so I’m at fault.” Lotor said sourly. Keith just stood there baffled. What kind of father is like that… He didn’t envy him at all, and his father was dead. “So what do expect me to do now?” Keith asked. Lotor rolled his eyes “You have two choices: Either you’ll audition for Kayden, or you just don’t show up. Your choice. I don’t really care.” Lotor was about to go back inside, but stopped for just a second to tell Keith one last thing: “But you know, that when you’re too bad to be Kayden, but still good enough to have you in the play we might decide to make you part of the ensemble anyways.”
Then the door was shut in Keith’s face before he could say anything in return. He was left alone in the hallway. Well, that sure was a real roller coaster of a conversation. But it was surprisingly very successful for him. Lotor gave him the perfect idea- He’ll just be not as talented as he maybe could be and then he will be put into the ensemble. And nobody has to know about it, especially not Shiro. That could actually work.
Tuesday, September 9
Keith stayed up all of last night to figure out the details of his plan. In the end, he decided to sing a very advanced and challenging song, which sounds fairly easy. Once it comes to performing he just won’t put any effort into it. They’ll see that he has a well-trained voice, but is not qualified for a main part. On top of that, he picked out one of the most overused monologues one could find and as far as he’s concerned dancing has never been one of his strongest skills anyway. Like this, they either put him in ensemble or just don’t cast him at all. Keith would be alright with both.
Nevertheless, staying up all night has its price… Keith is tired. And not just ‘I slept only 3 hours’-tired, no, it’s more of an ‘I haven’t slept at all”-tired. It’s safe to say that Keith was more of a zombie than an actual human being at this point. He went to his classes as usual but didn’t pay attention. He even fell asleep in his afternoon class. At one point he remembers walking into a door of some kind.
‘This is the reason, why I never pull all-nighters’ Keith thought to himself as he packed his bag from his dance-course. Never in his life has he ever been so bad at dancing. He messed up almost every step if he even moved at all. Especially embarrassing was when he had to catch this one girl, but instead of holding her in his arms, both of them ended up face down on the dance floor. And after everybody just blankly stared at the pair, they started laughing at them hysterically. The girl was definitely not as amused as their classmates. She stood up, turned to Keith, and started to scream at him. He, on the other hand, being still very tired and now also being in pain from falling, could not make out a single word she was saying. But her face said everything- she wore a furious expression. Her nose was scrunched up, her eyebrows were pushed together and her skin looked more red than usual. But that could also be because she just landed head-first on the floor. All in all, dance-practice was a blast. Now Keith didn’t want anything more than to go home and take a nap. But he knew if he went home now, he would see Shiro. And Keith wasn’t really in the state to have that conversation yet.
So he decided to just wander around the campus a bit. But his feet didn’t take him very far. As he walked down the hall at the dance-studio he saw an empty practice-room. And it wasn’t just any practice room. It’s the best one in the whole building. It is one of the few rooms that still have an undamaged flooring, a huge window-wall, and high-tech-speakers. But the best thing, in Keith’s opinion, is that, due to an unfortunate incident a few years ago, the old piano that stood there, was destroyed. So the school got a new one… a very expensive and robust piece of instrument. It is way better than any of the pianos, you might find in the practice-rooms all around campus (not only the dance-studio). So this room is understandably rarely left unused. Not only dancers but also music-students, singers, and many more come here.
But now it’s empty and there is nobody in sight that seems to use it. Keith may be tired, but he cannot let an opportunity like this slide. So he went into the room, quickly closed the door behind him, and walked over to the piano. Technically he could use this time to practice for auditions…he really hasn’t prepared anything yet. But then again, maybe not practicing will help with his plan? That sounds about right, Keith decides and starts to play one of his favorite songs instead of his audition-song.
He started to slowly press down the first keys of the song. The familiar melody making him feel very emotional. He used to listen to this song back in high school, when he still had his “emo-phase” (not that he doesn’t still have it, because he kind of does). This song just means a lot to him, and even though it sounds very hopeless and sad, especially through the very deep lyrics, it for some reason makes him feel very content like he’s at peace with himself. But then again, Keith always feels this way, while singing or playing. That is as long as he is alone.
“I knew it was your voice when I walked past the door” Shiro, who was suddenly standing in the middle of the dance floor, commented. ‘Damn his habit of closing his eyes, while focusing on his music’ Keith thought. He stood up from his seat and closed the piano. “Sorry, I didn’t know you had the room right now.” He muttered and grabbed his bag to leave. “I don’t have it,” Shiro stated, and motioned with his head that Keith could sit back down. He, on the other hand, just stopped right in his track but made no move to comply. “Then what are you doing here?” Keith asked, in a very annoyed tone. Even though he now had a plan for the auditions, he was still pissed at Shiro. Not that he wanted to continue fighting with him either... “I came to apologize,” Shiro said calmly. Keith stared quietly back at him again, so he could continue his apology. “I know my actions were unfair, and childish. Trust me I always had good intentions! It’s just that you are my little brother, and I want what’s best for you. Or at least what I think, is best for you. And I still think I am right about you being made for bigger things, but I am very sorry, Keith. I should have never acted the way I did.” Shiro told Keith. The look on his face confirmed that he really meant everything he was saying. He was sorry, Keith could see that clearly. And in the end, everything worked out fine for him anyway.
Shiro looked at him hopefully. It took Keith a bit to reply. “It’s fine, Shiro. It definitely was not okay of you to just do stuff like that, without my consent, but what’s done is done.” at that Shiro gave out a relieved sigh and went over to hug Keith, who after a few seconds hugged back. “So did you talk to Lotor? What did he say?”, “I did. He said there is nothing he could do that wouldn’t cause even more trouble. I had the choice between dropping out completely or auditioning for Kayden. I chose the latter.” Keith explained as he walked back over to the piano. When he turned to look at Shiro, he saw that the guy had the most ridiculous smile on his face “That’s amazing! I am so proud of you, Keith”, “Yeah, yeah…thanks, dad.” Keith replied ironically, “Wanna sing something with me?”. “First of all, you got to stop calling me dad. It makes me feel so old, and I am literally only two years older than you. But yes, I’d like to sing with you”.
Shiro and Keith used to sing a lot together when they were younger. They were together in a theater club. When they got older Shiro shifted his interest to the work backstage, especially stage management, and Keith just stuck with performing. But they continued to sometimes sing together in their free time. And they always start with the exact same song: “You Got a Friend in Me” from Toy-Story. Both of them aren’t really sure why it’s this song, since it’s not exactly in the pitch either of them has, but that really never mattered. It just fit their dynamic in a very strange way and at the same time, it didn’t. At this point, it was probably just tradition- a good tradition nonetheless.
Keith started to press down the first couple keys on the piano and his hand immediately picked up on the familiar motion. His fingers moved by themselves, completely by memory, so he could concentrate more on the lyrics of the song. Shiro smiled at him briefly before he started to sing the first couple of lines.
You've got a friend in me, you've got a friend in me
When the road looks rough ahead
And you're miles and miles from your nice warm bed
You just remember what your old pal said
Boy, you've got a friend in me
Yeah, you've got a friend in me
He laughed shortly as he finished. Keith just looked at him with an unreadable, but certainly positive expression, and continued with the following passages. Shiro started to move slightly along to the rhythm, with a bright smile on his face, trying to suppress a giggle. So Keith tried to switch things up and mimicked the accent of Randy Newman (which he failed at big times).
You've got a friend in me, you've got a friend in me
If you've got troubles, I've got 'em too
There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you
We stick together and can see it through
'Cause you've got a friend in me
You've got a friend in me
As Keith sang the last words Shiro was holding his stomach, because of laughter. “You are really not good at this!” he mumbled as he whipped away a small tear. Keith just gave him a challenging look, as if to say “Can you do it better?” and moved along with an even more obnoxious voice. Shiro picked up on the competition quickly and so they both sung along together with equally bad accents, trying to one-up each other, and simultaneously laughing so hard you couldn't understand a word.
Some other folks might be a little bit smarter than I am
Bigger and stronger too, maybe
But none of them will ever love you
The way I do, it's me and you
Boy and as the years go by
Our friendship will never die
You're gonna see, it's our destiny
In the end, they finished off with their actual voices to sing the last few “You’ve got a friend in me”’s, smiling at each other. “I’m glad we made up again...” Keith admitted afterwards, as Shiro was looking for the next song they could sing. “Me too.” he then said and both of them hugged once again.