Chapter Text
“Hello?” The question echoed off the grand atrium’s walls.
“Poor fellow must have lost his way in the woods,” a heavily French voice whispered.
“Keep quiet! Maybe he’ll go away.”
The silver haired man glanced around worriedly. “Is someone there?”
“Not a word, Lumiere, not one word.”
“I don’t mean to intrude but I’ve lost my horse, and I need a place to stay for the night.”
The observing head servants felt their hearts drop at his explanation. The temperature was plummeting tonight, winter was on their doorstep.
“Oh Cogsworth, have a heart,” the candelabra draped an arm across the clock’s shoulders. Cogsworth anxiously shushed him with a hand over his mouth, knowing that Lumiere, being the optimistic and generous man he was, would instantly offer to accommodate the traveler regardless of having to expose himself. Lumiere wore a mildly annoyed but determined expression as he held up his alighted hand. Oh no, no, no the fool !- flame licked his metal fingers. He stifled a yelp but held firm, glaring into the maître d's expectant and apologetic eyes. His hand was growing redder by the second. Curse it all! The instant he withdrew, Lumiere called out his welcome to the guest, and to the majordomo’s horror the old man snatched him from his side.
Lumiere tapped the top of his silver head. “Hello!” he jovially greeted. Cogsworth stopped breathing as the candelabra was dropped with a clatter.
“Incredible!” the man uttered without contempt. Cogsworth sighed in relief, but levity didn’t last long as his frustration quickly reminded itself. The sheer recklessness! This man couldn’t stay long, the master would be livid! He jumped down from the table to where Lumiere was laying.
“Well, now you’ve done it, Lumiere! Splendid!” He crossed his arms as the other got to his feet. “Just peachy! Tell me, what do you think the master will- Ah!” The man held him aloft in front of his wide eyes, muttering quizzically.
“Put me down at once! S-stop, hee hee, that,” he giggled as the man rubbed his feet while Lumiere chortled beneath him, “stop that I say!” A slightly pained cry caught Lumiere’s worry, finding that Cogsworth’s dials were being overcranked from behind his head, but the man quickly stopped as he heard the clock’s discomfort. All things considered, Cogsworth was being rather patient with him, especially now that the man was opening his glass door to fiddle with his pendulum, something which was extremely… rude in his inhuman form.
“Close that at once, do you mind!” Cogsworth snapped the door shut on his finger. Maurice tried to apologize but was cut short by a heavy sneeze.
“Oh, you are soaked to the bone, monsieur,” Lumiere worriedly tutted.
“Please, call me Maurice.”
“Come Maurice, warm yourself by the fire.” The maître d' hopped away towards the glow in the next room.
“Thank you.” He put Cogsworth down and followed after him, causing the majordomo’s anxiety to return in a cold wave.
“No, no, no! You know what the master will do if he finds him here!” He tried in vain to pull back Maurice’s cloak and got flipped down the parlor’s short staircase. “I demand that you stop—right—there!” Looking up from where he’d face-planted, he saw Lumiere encouraging the man to take the chair in front of the fire. Wait. The master’s chair!
Lumiere hopped back to extend a hand. “Alright, mon cheri?” he asked with a far too unconcerned smile. Cogsworth huffed, ignoring his hand as he got to his feet.
“Alright ?! Lumiere, think of what the master will do!”
Lumiere kneaded his bottom lip between his teeth. “Yes I know, but he has only just arrived, and the master has been in the west wing for hours! Surely we have a little time!”
Cogsworth dragged his hands down his face with a groan. “That is wishful at best! This has gone far enough! I’m in charge here-“ Mrs Potts’ cart suddenly introduced his eyes to the carpet while the said head housekeeper hurriedly poured a cup of tea for Maurice.
“No tea,” he muffled a protest. “No tea!” Lumiere grabbed him behind the arms and hoisted him up with ease.
“You dropped something,” he held a round gear with a sheepish smile. Cogsworth snatched it back and hastily fixed it inside his door.
“Lumiere ,” he grabbed the others shoulders, “please, this is doomed, he will–“ A great gust of wind extinguished all fires within the room, even the candelabra’s. Their master stalked into the parlor, snarling, eyes blown wide with rage.
“There’s a stranger here,” he growled.
“Master, allow me to explain,” Lumiere spoke quickly with his reignited hands. “The gentleman was lost in the woods, a-and he was cold and wet so-“ a roar once again snuffed out his wicks. He looked to his side for Cogsworth and was met with darkness. As his eyes adjusted he could make out a clock-sized lump trembling under the edge of the carpet, and realization tightened his chest with guilt; Cogsworth was the head of the household, he was the one the master would blame. He caught his anxious gaze and gestured to himself, hoping Cogsworth would get the message. His poor majordomo was always so wounded by the master’s scorn.
Cogsworth saw the regret shining in Lumiere’s eyes. He knew all he ever wanted was to help others and make them comfortable, which made him a fantastic maître d', but he could let his sentimentality cloud his judgment far too easily. Now, he was offering to stand between himself and the master, a thought Cogsworth didn’t exactly relish but was desperate for at the same time. Adam really did scare him like this.
“Um, Master, I’d just like a moment to say… I was against this from the start, it was all his fault, I tried to stop them, but did they listen to me? No, no-” another roar shook the room and Cogsworth ducked back out of sight. The master marched past them towards the chair, and Lumiere slowly approached Cogsworth’s cowering form while keeping an eye on the exchange.
“Who are you, what are you doing here?!” The beast backed Maurice across the floor, uncomfortably close to where the two were.
“Come, come cheri,” he whispered, rolling the fabric away from his partner’s head. Cogsworth quickly grasped his hand and got pulled away towards the chair where Mrs Potts and Chip watched on. It was a horrible show in which they had front row seats, utterly powerless to prevent Maurice from being carried off to the tower, his anguished cries harshly cut off by the slamming door. The four of them stood there gaping at the exit with only the soft, cracking sound of leftover embers to comment on what they’d just seen.
“Agh!” Cogsworth suddenly threw his fists down and promptly marched out, his grumbles growing fainter and fainter.
“Oh dear, he doesn’t look so good,” Mrs Potts cooed over Lumiere’s shoulder.
“I didn’t mean— I really didn’t mean to—“ Lumiere looked at her like a kicked puppy.
“You’d better go tell him that yourself, luv,” Mrs Potts encouraged. “I believe he’s headed towards the tower.”
Lumiere nodded and hurried out. A loose spring lay on the carpet to his right, so he picked it up and continued towards the tower’s entrance until he heard muttering in a nearby parlor. Cogsworth was pacing across one of the wooden tables, hands held behind his back in a death grip. Lumiere hopped in front of his path, for which he received a misty glare.
“Not now, Lumiere,” he turned perpendicular, arms crossed defensively. “I am not in any mood to talk.”
Lumiere’s heart clenched, but he held out the spring. “At least take this,” he asked gently. Cogsworth briefly considered ignoring him out of sheer spite, but a cog ticked uncomfortably in his chest. He swiped it back with a scoff.
“And…I am sorry, mon amour, truly.” Lumiere’s almost-black eyes shone like a midnight lake, beggingly, as if Cogsworth’s forgiveness was the only thing that’d put him at peace. It would be easy to just let this horrible night pass and figure something out in the morning… wait, no! Letting your emotions get the better of you was a mistake Lumiere made, not him! Cogsworth rounded on the candelabra.
“This is an absolute disaster, Lumiere! Why must you always defy reason even when it could get a man killed?!”
“Killed?!” Lumiere’s eyes widened. “I know the master is dramatic but he would never do such a thing!” Cogsworth opened his mouth to protest, but faltered. He supposed he was right, but when that hairy face contorted ominously over those protruding incisors, he found himself not a hundred percent convinced of the prince’s nonviolence.
“Gah!” he threw his hands up and resumed pacing. “Locked up forever then!”
Lumiere’s eyes dropped guiltily. “He could’ve died out there if we hadn’t taken him in.”
Cogsworth paused. “I suppose,” he conceded. “Oh, but serve him tea, sit in the master’s chair, pet the pooch!” he mimed each ridiculous event in order.
Lumiere crossed his arms defiantly. “I was trying to be hospitable.”
Cogsworth felt like he could strangle him. “You were irresponsible, devil-may-care, waxy-eared, slack-jawed-” the tirade spewed out, but Lumiere only responded with sarcastic ad libbing. Damn it all, Lumiere was only getting riled up, and when that happened God help whoever tried to get him to listen to anything, least of all criticism. Cogsworth drew in a deep breath, eyes screwed shut and hands pressed together in front of his mouth like a prayer. He held it for a few seconds before emptying his lungs in a great burst.
“What I’m trying to say,” he continued in a level voice, “is that you didn’t listen to me. You didn’t even try.” At that he visibly deflated. “You thought you knew what was best because it’s what your heart told you, and while yours is… abnormally large,” the candelabra’s expression softened, “that shouldn’t make it impossible to listen. Do you really think I’m so cold that I would’ve instantly thrown the poor man out into the rain?”
“No, no, no,” Lumiere waved his hands, “nothing like that, I swear!”
“Then give me a little more trust than that. We could’ve thought of something else that wouldn't have put the master in such bad straits.” Cogsworth looked off to the side melancholically, loosely recrossing his arms.
Lumiere stepped closer and reached out to cradle the other’s face in his hands, into which Cogsworth instinctively tilted his cheek but kept his gaze cast away.
“Cogsworth, I trust you more than anything or anyone else in this world.” The majordomo let his eyes stray back towards Lumiere’s, finding them lidded with earnest affection. “You think I did what I did because I don’t believe in you? Nothing could be further from the truth, mon amour.” Cogsworth’s chest lightened with a sigh before Lumiere grabbed his brass hands, folding them with his own over his golden chest.
“I’m afraid you are right. I am just a silly, reckless man who couldn’t stop to think clearly for two seconds,” his eyes downcast to the table below them, “but I truly am sorry. I never thought of how bad the consequences could be. I don’t think I wanted to.”
Cogsworth’s doubt melted away; Lumiere was never insincere, his heart burned like a fire for all to see. He guided Lumiere’s gaze up with a gentle finger under his chin.
“I believe you,” he said with a soft smile. “And yes, you are all those things, but more than that you are kind, and generous, and selfless. If a bit impulsive,” he rolled his eyes. Lumiere’s face broke into a relieved grin and he pulled Cogsworth by the waist into a hug.
“I will try for you, cheri, if you’ll let me.”
Cogsworth chuckled and returned the hug around the other’s shoulders. As if he’d ever entertain the idea of rejecting that. He was afraid he was quite stuck with the maître d'. Nevertheless, he pulled back to make sure Lumiere could see him nod and rested his hands on the other’s shoulders. Lumiere bumped their noses together with a grin.
“And I am also sorry about the master, just blame the whole thing on me.”
“Oh, I have every intention to,” Cogsworth smirked. Lumiere’s hold around him tightened.
“I would very much like to kiss you now,” he purred, “if you’re amenable.”
“Hmmm,” Cogsworth looked up to the ceiling with an overly pensive expression. “I’m not sure,” he linked his arms around Lumiere’s neck.
“Then allow me to assist,” Lumiere whispered against his lips before locking them together tenderly, pulling a contended hum from the majordomo.
“Papa?” a soft voice called from the hallway. The two men broke apart to curiously look back towards the doorway, where a young maiden dressed in blue timidly walked past. Lumiere turned back to Cogsworth in his arms with an excited gasp.
“Did you see that? It’s a girl!”
Cogsworth, still reeling from shock, could only concur, “I know it’s a girl.” Lumiere pulled him off the table and to the doorway where they could watch her continue down the dark hallway.
“Don’t you see? She is the one! The girl we have been waiting for!” He hopped excitedly around Cogsworth’s shoulders with the other’s hand still in his grasp, forcing him to spin like a top. “She has come to break the spell!” He hurriedly dragged the dizzied majordomo down the hallway, stopping briefly at Cogsworth’s pleas to catch his footing before they continued in stride.
The girl called out for her father again as she passed the inconspicuous wooden door leading to the cells. Lumiere and Cogsworth shared a brief communicative look before pushing it open for her.
“Wait here,” Lumiere whispered behind the door before hopping up the spiral stairwell. Cogsworth watched as the girl followed Lumiere's fading light, and cautiously approached until the echoes of the little family’s reunion reached his ears, to which he climbed eagerly to where Lumiere still emanated from the wall’s shelf. To his surprise, Lumiere looked back down at him with fear.
“Cheri!” he whisper-screamed. “The master is up here, go and I’ll find you later!” A new intruder in the castle and the master already knew?! The majordomo fiercely nodded back.
“Be careful!” he responded before hurrying back downstairs. Nothing to do now but hope the master didn’t royally screw this up.
Of course, that was too much to ask for. It was a miracle that the girl offered herself up as a prisoner and wouldn’t be leaving any time soon, it gave them time. With any luck they could salvage this yet, but for love to flourish between a captive and their captor?
The prince had just ever so romantically reminded the girl of that dynamic, slamming her door before she could utter one protest about dinner. Lumiere groaned with a hand slapped over his forehead. That was most certainly not what he’d meant.
“Lumiere, inform me when it’s ready,” the prince ordered.
“Yes, Master,” Lumiere sighed before he disappeared down the hallway towards the west wing, the sound of the door thudding in the distance. Lumiere started towards the main staircase where he could go down to the kitchen. Some quick familiar footsteps preceded a pair of timid blue eyes peeking around the bottom left banister.
“It’s ok, cheri,” Lumiere hopped down the stairs. “The master has retired to his room, for now.”
“Oh, thank heavens,” Cogsworth slumped with relief before freezing. “Wait, what’s the catch?”
Lumiere grimaced. “He’s ordered the girl to have dinner. With him.”
Cogsworth paled.
“I know, I know,” Lumiere nodded solemnly. “He took my suggestion rather the wrong way-“
“ Your suggestion?” Cogsworth arched an eyebrow.
“To invite her to dinner, cheri, never to order her!”
“Yes, of course,” he sighed defeatedly. “Come on then, we’d best get it ready.” He held out his brass hand in invitation, and Lumiere took it before they walked on, hopping less high so that their link could be more easily maintained. Even something as simple as holding hands needed extra effort with this curse. Mon dieu, Lumiere thought, this needs to work out , but then twittering laughter stole his focus. He smiled fondly at the sound; Cogsworth’s laugh had always been adorable. It was soft and more high-pitched, and a shocking deviation from the authoritative, devoid of mirth voice he used to instruct the household. It was also far too infrequent, particularly as their years under the curse wore on and on. As such, he savored the way he'd brush a wayward tear from his eye, how soft hums closed out his more fervent giggles.
“What is so funny, mon amour?” he leaned in with a cheeky smile.
“Oh, nothing really…”
Cogsworth squealed as Lumiere gave him a surprising poke on the stomach. It wasn’t just Cogsworth’s feet that were ticklish.
“You must tell me,” he held up his hand threateningly, “or else—”
“No! Oh Lord, you are ridiculous,” Cogsworth huffed through an indignant smile. “Fine. I was just thinking of the girl and dinner and… well, think about it! You were not very subtle in the beginning, if you recall.”
Lumiere dramatically gasped with a hand over his heart. “Oh, you are cruel! I have no idea of what you speak!”
“Oh no? You don’t remember butting in on my work all day, ambushing me in the rose garden with a candlelit dinner and the entire violin quartet?”
“The violins were crucial!” Lumiere looked at him as if the alternative was a nightmare. “They brought the whole thing together!”
“Heavens,” Cogsworth shook his head, “I was a new majordomo trying to earn the respect of the servants, and you had to go and bloody tell all of them!”
“Ah, yes,” Lumiere smiled fiendishly, “I’d never seen you turn so red.”
“Yes, from anger you fool!” Cogsworth bumped his shoulder away teasingly.
“Ah, but can you really say you felt nothing for me?” Lumiere leaned back in closer than necessary.
Cogsworth flushed and he stared resolutely ahead. “You know that isn’t true. It was just too much too fast. The publicity of it all,” he grimaced.
“They were all very supportive, mind you!” Lumiere chuckled. “But I learned, eh?” He wiggled an eyebrow, making Cogsworth scoff with a fond eye roll.
“Somewhat. Still a scoundrel, though.”
“It comes with the charm!”
Cogsworth had no time to reply to that as they walked into the bustling kitchen, Mrs Potts shouting out orders from atop her cart.
“Finally! Where have you two been? I’ve got to go bring the poor girl some tea, keep things running until I get back!”
They barely had a chance to agree before she was out the door.