"Hurry up." Mr. DeGramont barked, as I slowly slid the eggs out of the carton.

It was currently 7:25 in the morning, and I was just about ready to kill a bitch.

"I would really recommend you be nicer." Mrs. Potts suggested as she set the table and poured him a glass of cranberry juice.

"Why should I?" He demanded, his voice raspy and raw from sleep. He was currently in a new crisp suit, with his hair neatly pulled back into a tight bun. Even at 7:30 in the morning, this man was terrifyingly sexy.

"She's probably contemplating poisoning your food right about now." Mrs. Potts called from the dining room, as The man finally left his post inside the kitchen to go sit down. I couldn't even be bothered by the closeness of our bodies when he hovered over me to watch me cook. Usually I was bothered by someone peering over me as I prepare food as well, but today, I was honestly searching for a fuck to give.

As soon as Ms. Potts entered again, I thanked her gingerly.

"He just gets this way in the morning. He was out all night attending to- business. Just came in at around 5:30 this morning. I attribute his grouchyness to his lack of sleep." She explained, opening up the cabinets to pull out some more glasses. It wasn't really Mrs. Potts job to set the table, but it never went by unnoticed as I continuously thanked her. This woman had a heart of gold.

I hadn't yet had the chance to thank her for getting my job back either. I wasn't sure what pull she had on Mr. DeGramont, but it must have been strong.

"Are we going to completely set the table for every meal?" I asked, doing everything in my power to pull some gourmet breakfast out of my ass and not burn these eggs that I was trying to attempt a sunny side up with.

I've never consciously breathed air this early, let alone attempted to cook.

"Yes. Every meal, as crazy as it sounds." She replied, pulling out some vegetables, including avocado, for me.

"I never got the chance to say this last night, but thank you for talking to him." I whispered to her while she stood by my side and handed me vegetables to chop.

"No worries." She replied. "I'm sure you must be contemplating whether or not you still actually want this job though. I know it might seem like the lord himself is testing you with the amount of bullshit that has been displayed these past 24 hours, but give it time. Mr. DeGramont was right when he said this job was meant for you, I'd be damned if I saw you give up too soon."

"Can I like, consistently pay you to motivate me every morning, Mrs. Potts?" I asked, placing the cut greens into a bowl, before sliding the cooked egg on top. I then started peeling the avocado.

She just chuckled at me, as she watched me start to slice the avocado. "So what exactly do you do here?" I asked, breaking the comfortable silence as the clock read I had about two minutes left.

"I clean the home. Mostly the interior, because we have a gardener that comes around every couple of days. I'm in charge of cleaning Mr. DeGramont's room, all the bathrooms, and just making sure the inside of this home looks absolutely stunning.

"It's true, now that we have a cook, I'm no longer in charge of cleaning the kitchen and dining, but I've grown to like your company. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but most of the staff that Mr. DeGramont keeps around here are predominantly male. It's nice to have a woman here that I can gossip to." She replied, I gave her a large smile, before finishing the arrangement of the avocados. The timer went off immediately after that.

"Go go go." Mrs. Potts hurried me, as I quickly made it out into the dining room.

"Breakfast is served." I announced half heartedly as I all but slammed the plate down on the table as I approached the head of the table.

"Why do you keep feeding me salads?" He asked, halfway through chewing a mouthful. I said nothing, as I grabbed the plate cover and made my way back to the kitchen to clean. Silence is the only way I'd be keeping this job this morning.

"The lord is testing me." I grumbled, basically sleepwalking back to the dishwasher to start cleaner. I heard a chuckle from over by the stove.

"Good morning, Ms. Mallerie." Lumiere greeted. I glanced over at him, and noticed he was in a new freshly pressed suit, like Mr. DeGramont, but his eyes looked extremely tired.

"Have you slept yet?" I questioned, sliding the few measuring cups and chopping boards I used into the drying rack after washing them.

"Is it that obvious?" He asked as he tried to wipe some of the sleep from his eyes.

"Does no one sleep around here? Jesus. Getting me up at the asscrack of dawn to prepare breakfast. Mr. DeGramont coming back at 5:30am. You looking like you dealt cocaine out of your ass all night long. And how would Mrs. Potts know when Mr. DeGramont came back if she wasn't already up? Like sleep, people, have you all not heard of it?" I rambled, sliding the last of the utensils into the drying rack before turning back to him.

"With our... Duties, sleep comes when it comes. There's no structured time. You're free to head back to your chambers after breakfast, Mr. Delagore will be stepping out for a few minutes before lunch." Lumiere replied, sliding off the counter.

"What do you do?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Well your job literally requires you from 7pm to 10ish 11pm... I mean, not to make your job sound less important, but you light and blow out candles." I replied.

"I also welcome guests, but like I told you before, we hardly get those. During the day, I help Mr. DeGramont with whatever he needs me to." Lumiere replied. I simply nodded, as he left the kitchen.

"I'm going to go get started on the cleaning pretty soon. How about I give you a grand tour of the place?" Mrs. Potts asked, as she returned to the kitchen with empty plates and glasses in hand. "Mr. DeGramont has already stepped out."

"Okay." I replied. Maybe this place could give me a hint as to what these people really do...

Because business owner, my ass.

---------------------------
Lumiere

Chip

Elle Mallerie (Beauty)

Stefan DeGramont (The Beast) *at first I envisioned Scott Eastwood... But then I came across Jason Momoa who is an actual beast 😍

Maxwell

The Home

I'll have things like this for visuals inside the actual story because the header will most likely be food. Because... Food. Thanks for reading! :)