You never really know how much stuff you have until you pack it all up in boxes and stare at it.
That was exactly what Aphmau was doing as she sat on her box covered couch. She had finally finished all the paperwork regarding her new house and had made the necessary payments. Now, all she had to do was sit back, relax, and stress about having to pack up her kitchen supplies in the next couple of minutes.
She had been texting KC and Katelyn about the move. Both of them had gone home after their shift and began packing and worked on making the necessary arrangements with their landlords. Katelyn planned on picking up the documents she and Kawaii~Chan had to fill out sometime later today.
"Everything is going according to plan," Aphmau spoke aloud while sighing contently. She started scrolling through Twitter out of boredom until she stopped at one of Kawaii~Chan's recent posts.
The pictures she took of Aphmau and Aaron at IHOP had now been posted on the internet. To make matters worse, the meif'wa captioned it as "OH MY IRENE! KAWAII~CHAN'S SHIP HAS SAILED!!! #AARMAU". Aphmau was mortified. She couldn't believe KC would do such a thing. The photo made it look like Aphmau and Aaron were about to kiss! She prayed to Irene that Aaron wouldn't see this post.
In the midst of her panic, rapid knocks were heard at the door following with Garroth and Laurance begging Aphmau for answers about the post. Maybe she should've prayed that the two boys wouldn't see the post either, but it was too late now.
"Okay, everything is not going according to plan," Aphmau said out loud while sighing in discontent.
She took the walk of shame as she let Garroth and Laurance into her apartment and watched as they took a seat at the dining table, all while rambling about the post.
"Aphmau, did you seriously kiss Aaron? How is that even possible? I thought I would be the one to get a kiss from you, not him! Also, why are you moving? Don't tell me you're moving in with Aaron," Laurance questioned while waving his hands around like a madman.
"How could this have happened! Laurance, I knew we should have followed her when she left the building with Aaron, but no, you wanted to respect her privacy. You were the one who justified all of your crummy actions out of your love for her. Does this look like love to you, Laurance? Huh!? Aphmau, please tell me you didn't actually kiss Aaron though," Garroth rambled to both Aphmau and Laurance.
Aphmau stood there, wide-eyed and mouth agape, for a moment as she tried to comprehend the situation in front of her. Quickly, like a computer finishing its update, she launched.
"Guys, stop talking and listen to me!" she shouted, startling the two lovesick boys and the sleepy puppy down the hall. Garroth and Laurance froze, but their eyes looked eager, ready for whatever she was about to say.
"I'm disappointed in you two," Aphmau continued, "First, you two have tried to spy on me on multiple occasions today when I was hanging out with Aaron. Instead of respecting my privacy, you two broke it. You guys are adults, so act like it. I still like you guys and want you to be my friends, but this has got to stop. Second, yes, I really am moving, and no, it's not with Aaron." She blushed at the thought of it. "I'm moving in with Katelyn and Kawaii~Chan. Also, I didn't tell you guys because I was afraid of being in the exact same position I am in now. I'm free to make my own choices. I don't need you guys constantly trying to hover over me. Finally, no, I did not kiss Aaron at IHOP! It was just a little incident that doesn't matter anymore and is definitely not your guys' concern."
Garroth and Laurance looked at each other and back at Aphmau. They thought back to their actions in the last several hours. It's true; they have invaded her privacy in the name of love, and they knew it was wrong. Were they sorry? Of course. Would this stop them from doing something like this again? Of course not. The two hung their heads down in shame.
"We're sorry, Aphmau. We didn't mean to make you feel this way," Garroth apologized for the both of them which made Aphmau sigh.
"It's okay, you guys. I'm still disappointed, though. Can you two please not do anything like this again?" She pleaded.
The duo nodded, knowing full well that this promise was most likely going to be broken faster than it was made.
"Thank you. Anyways, I plan on hosting a dinner at Olive Garden tomorrow, and I was hoping you guys could come, but that is if you guys manage to keep your promise. It would be nice to have dinner with all of my friends before the move," she offered.
Garroth and Laurance nodded again.
"Good. You two should go now; I still have some packing to do."
Laurance perked up, "Do you need help?"
"No, I'm fine. I can handle it on my own. Thank you though," Aphmau roughly declined.
Understanding Aphmau's discontent with their presence, Garroth and Laurance took their leave to give her some much-needed solitude from their himbo antics.
Celestia waddled over to Aphmau and licked her foot for attention. Aphmau looked down at her and sighed before picking her up for a good cuddle.
"Oh Celestia, what am I gonna do with those two," she asked, but only got her nose licked in response.
===
Garroth and Laurance walked back to their apartment with their heads down in shame. They had both hurt Aphmau, and now they had to suffer the consequences for it.
Sitting down on the couch, Laurance noticed the intensity of Garroth's sadness; his head was down in his hands and his body was slumped over in a crouched position.
"Garroth, come on. You know she forgave us, stop slouching like that," he encouraged as he leaned over to Garroth, trying to get a peak at his face.
"Yeah, she forgave us, but we know we are going to break that promise. We've always been breaking her promises," Garroth's muffled voice explained.
The truth was that Garroth was right. Ever since they were in highschool they've been acting the exact same way. Always fighting for Aphmau's heart, invading her privacy, and pulling off crazy schemes to try and get what they wanted. They really hadn't changed all that much after all.
"But it's always for-"
"For love." Garroth cutoff, "It's always for love."
"Hey," Laurance placed a hand on Garroth's shoulder, "Aphmau always forgives us. It's just the kind of person she is. Why is it affecting you now?"
"Think about it; we haven't changed. Ever since high school, we've just been the same kind of people, always trying to get Aphmau's love. We moved into this apartment because of her, for Irene's sake! When is it going to end?"
Laurance stared at Garroth. This wasn't like Garroth at all to say these kinds of things. Sure, what Garroth said was true, but Laurance didn't find too much of a problem with it and neither should his friend. It was clear to him that Aphmau's words truly upset him.
Laurance put both of his hands on Garroth's shoulders to get his attention before wrapping his arms around him in a hug. Garroth slowly returned it, wrapping his arms around Laurance.
"Garroth, listen. It's okay. I don't know what has gotten into you, but Aphmau knows us. If she really is sick and tired of our behavior she would have blocked our numbers and left us, but she hasn't done either of those has she? She even invited us out to dinner! Does that sound like someone who hates us?"
"No," Garroth huffed into the crook of Laurence's neck. His warm breath sent a tingling sensation down Laurance's spine.
"Good." Laurance pulled back from the hug to look at Garroth, "Now let's go find her address."
Garroth nodded, and Laurance patted Garroth's shoulder. "Aye, and no homo, though, right?" Laurance's tone was playful as his eyes crinkled. Garroth started to smile.
"No homo."
But that sure didn't look or feel straight at all.
The duo knew that what they were about to do was wrong. Finding out someone's address definitely didn't respect Aphmau's privacy. Did they feel sorta bad for what they were about to do? Of course, and hopefully in the future they won't be tempted to do this again. That was, of course, if one or the other finally got Aphmau's heart.
Together, they devised a scheme to find out Aphmau's new address. They knew that Katelyn and Kawaii~Chan were her roommates, so they obviously knew the address as well. Katelyn would immediately catch on if they tried to get information out of her, so she wasn't an option. Plus, she was pretty scary. That only left Kawaii~Chan. They just needed to figure out how to get close enough to her to find out the address.
The two of them sat and pondered for a moment until Laurance piped up.
"Do you know if Kawaii~Chan has packed her stuff yet?"
"Well..." Garroth trailed, smiled at Laurance, "there's only one way to find out!" He reached for his phone on the table, dialed Kawaii~Chan's number and put the phone on speaker.
Garroth and Laurance got close together, foreheads almost touching, as they waited for KC to answer in anticipation.
"Remember, sound casual; don't sound suspicious," Laurance whispered.
Garroth thought back to his bad acting skills as Mario and froze. Shoot, he couldn't do this. Laurance noticed and grabbed his arm. "Hey, it's okay. Maybe I should-"
"Hello?" Kawaii~Chan asked, "Garroth~Kun, do you need something?"
Garroth looked at Laurance for reassurance. Laurance smiled at Garroth and motioned for him to take a deep breath. He did and started to talk,
"Um, actually Kawaii~Chan, I was wondering if you needed help packing. Aphmau told Laurance and I about the move, and we wanted to help in any way we could."
It was silent on the other end. Kawaii~Chan thought that this may be another one of their tricks, but she did need help packing. Besides, maybe they were being genuine. If Aphmau actually told them about the move, she obviously trusted them not to mess it up, right?
"That would be great! You guys can come over now if you'd like. Kawaii~Chan just finished packing her kitchen, but there's still sooo much left to do," she answered.
Garroth and Laurance didn't realize they were holding their breaths until they released it.
"Alright! We will be over soon. See ya," Garroth responded. He ended the call and Laurance high fived him.
"Nice one, Garroth, we did it! Come on, let's go," Laurance cheered. He let go of Garroth's arm and went to go grab his car keys. Together they left the building and were off to Kawaii~Chan's apartment. Phase two of their plan was about to begin.
===
Aphmau closed the last box; she finally finished. All those hours of labor had led up to this moment. The moment where she sat in front of a ton of boxes and questioned every life decision she had ever made.
She had gotten a call a little while ago saying that the moving truck she rented was now in the parking lot of her apartment. After confirming that it really was there, she realized she had forgotten that she lived on the fifth floor. Thankfully, there was an elevator, but carrying all of these boxes all by herself was going to be difficult. She needed help, and she knew of two guys who were willing to bend over backward for her and were perfect for the job. Unlike the moving truck, Garroth and Laurance's apartment was just a short walk away from hers. They hadn't bothered her the entire time she'd been packing. She was really proud of them!
When she rang the doorbell, no one answered. She rang it again, thinking that they hadn't heard it the first time. A quick glance through their window into the unlit space confirmed Aphmau's suspicions; no one was home.
Instead, Aphmau walked back to her apartment and picked up her phone. After searching through her contacts she found the person she needed and called them. A few rings later, they answered,
"Aphmau?" They questioned.
"Hey Aaron, I know I said I could do the rest of this moving mumbo jumbo by myself, but turns out I might need some more help. Can you give me a hand?" She asked, hoping that he would say yes. It had only been a few hours and she already missed him. A laugh was heard on the other end.
"Sure, I'll be there soon, you stupid potato," he laughed. Aphmau started laughing too.
"Hey! It's not my fault I'm short and have no muscles," she joked...sorta.
"Ha! Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Aph. I'll be there soon. See you in 10," he retorted.
"See ya!" Aphmau ended the call. Alright, she had 10 minutes to try and get as many of the lightweight boxes out of the way before he arrived. With that, she hopped right to it!
Soon, after only 5 minutes, Aphmau got tired of carrying boxes. Do you know how difficult it was to carry multiple boxes to the elevator, open the elevator with said boxes, and try not to get crushed by the elevator doors as you shuffled your way in? She went back into the elevator and clicked on floor five. Waiting for the doors to close, she heard,
"Hey, wait hold the door!"
Startled, she pressed the button to keep the doors open and looked at who walked in.
"Katelyn?" Aphmau questioned.
"Hey, Aph," Katelyn smiled, "I came over to pick up the papers."
"Oh, great! That's perfect timing."
"Are you still packing?"
"No....well sorta. I'm moving all my boxes to the moving van. It's such a pain," Aphmau groaned eliciting a laugh from her future roommate.
"If you want, I can help you out."
Aphmau was surprised. Didn't Katelyn still have packing to do? It had only been a few hours since Katelyn had gotten off her shift, and there was still a lot of work to do if she wanted to catch up in time for the move. The elevator stopped and the two girls walked into Aphmau's apartment.
"What about you? Don't you have packing to do?" Aphmau asked.
"I do, but I actually got a lot of it done. Travis came by to give me back my copy of Romeo and Juliet, **and he offered to help out."
"Wow! Without any flirting or butt complements?" Aphmau joked, and Katelyn rolled her eyes.
"Originally, yes, but I told him I'd kick him out if he said another one. Surprisingly, he didn't pull anything for the first couple of hours, but then when I bent down to pick up a box he whistled and...well, you know."
"Yeah, I know." Aphmau smiled knowing exactly what went down. Travis got a good ol' beating that was for sure. Aphmau laughed at the thought of it.
After Katelyn got the files from Aphmau, there was a knock at the door. Aphmau opened it to reveal Aaron.
"Hey, Aaron!" Aphmau greeted excitedly.
"Hey, Aph." He looked over at Katelyn. "Katelyn."
"Aaron," Katelyn said curtly. The two don't really know each other that well. They only knew whatever Aphmau told them about the other.
"Katelyn is going to help us out," Aph explained. Aaron nodded and asked what the plan was.
Eventually, the trio found a nice rhythm of moving up and down the elevator with boxes. Katelyn and Aaron both went to get the heaviest boxes out of the way, while "short potato" Aphmau stuck to carrying medium and light-weight boxes.
After about an hour or two, there were only two heavy boxes left, so Aphmau stayed in her apartment while Aaron and Katelyn made one more trip to the van.
It was silent in the elevator, an awkward tension rising as the elevator lowered. Katelyn had wanted to ask him about Aphmau. Did Aaron really like her, or was he just leading her on? She still didn't know if Aphmau liked Aaron, but by the looks of it, there was some sort of chemistry between the two. She just couldn't figure out how deep it went.
The two got back on the elevator after putting away the last boxes. It was now or never.
"Hey Aaron," Katelyn started, "Do you...nevermind."
"No, go on," Aaron nudged. He had already anticipated this question since IHOP. Katelyn looked at Aaron.
"Do you like Aphmau?"
Aaron looked down and back up at Katelyn and gave her a small smile.
"More than you'll ever know."
At that moment the elevator doors opened. A pizza delivery guy was waiting there so Aaron and Katelyn got out of his way and went over to Aphmau's apartment.
Inside, Aphmau was sitting on the floor with a pizza box. She smiled at the two.
"Dinner time!" Aphmau sang while motioning for the two of them to sit down with her. "And speaking of dinner, tomorrow I'm hosting a dinner at Olive Garden, and I've invited a lot of our friends. Are you guys in?" They both nodded and sat down to enjoy a delicious, cheesy pizza together.
"Today was a job well done," Aphmau announced. A job well done indeed.
===
Over at Kawaii~Chan's apartment, Garroth and Laurance were vigorously working on their two main tasks. One, actually help Kawaii~Chan pack, and two, find out Aphmau's new address.
Garroth was packing the kitchen, Laurance was doing the living room and Kawaii~Chan was in her bedroom.
Kawaii~Chan was proud of Garroth and Laurance for not trying to pull any tricks on her. She thought they were just trying to get between Aphmau and Aaron or trying to find her new address, but now she realized she was just being plain delusional. Silly her! They had done nothing but help her so far. She reminded herself to bake them some cookies when she moved out to thank them.
Meanwhile, Garroth and Laurance were searching for anything that had the address on it, more specifically, Kawaii~Chan's phone. They had a feeling it might have been in Kawaii~Chan's room, but they didn't know how to get it without her noticing. For now, they would just keep packing stuff until an opportunity arises.
After a couple hours, Kawaii~Chan had ordered Chinese food for the three of them for dinner. By now, Laurance had finished packing the living room with no luck on the address. Garroth, on the other hand, was struggling a bit. How could one woman own so many cooking supplies? What was even the point of having 4 different spatulas? Needless to say, Garroth lost focus of the main mission.
They sat down in the dining room and ate for a while until the doorbell rang. Kawaii~Chan opened the door and let Katelyn inside.
"Katelyn~Sama!" Kawaii~Chan greeted.
"Hey, KC, I have the paperwork you need to fill out for the move." Katelyn noticed the boys and frowned a little. "What are you guys doing here?" Kawaii~Chan answered for them.
"They're here to help Kawaii~Chan pack. They've been super helpful!"
Katelyn looked back at Garroth and Laurance, and they flashed her the most innocent smile they could.
"Uh-huh," she said unconvinced, "Anyways, there's some stuff I wanted to ask you about the move."
Katelyn motioned toward the door and Kawaii~Chan caught on. She and Katelyn stepped outside and closed the door. They still couldn't let Garroth and Laurance know too much about this.
"Now's our chance!" Laurance proclaimed as he stood up and ran to Kawaii~Chan's room with Garroth following suit. They found the phone on Kawaii~Chan's bed and Laurance picked it up and ran into the balcony.
"Laurance," Garroth murmured, "isn't this an invasion of privacy?" Despite that pep talk from Laurance earlier, he still wasn't 100% okay with doing this sort of thing. He just kept feeling worse and worse about it.
"But what if Aphmau is moving into a house close to Aaron? They'll be able to see each other 24/7, and we will be able to see her NEVER-4/7," Laurance explained. Garroth thought for a moment; his friend did make a compelling argument. If Garroth had to choose between respecting Aphmau's privacy and letting her get together with Aaron vs. not respecting her privacy and having a chance with her instead... well, you probably knew the answer.
Laurance tried to open the phone, but it was password protected. The two of them thought for a moment.
"Try spelling the word 'cute' with the numbers," Garroth suggested. Laurance tried it and low and behold, it unlocked.
"Nice one, Garroth, you're a genius!" Laurance complimented as he looked up and smiled at him. Garroth smiled and shrugged.
Laurance started looking through Kawaii~Chan's messages with Aphmau. After getting past a large number of cute cat photos, he found it. Quickly, he had Garroth write it down onto his phone. They finally completed their mission. The two of them jumped up into the air and high fived each other.
In the midst of their celebration, Laurance had accidentally scrolled up higher on Aphmau and Kawaii~Chan's conversation, so when he looked back down he was face to face with Aarmau fanart.
"Oh my Irene," Laurance gasped. Garroth looked at the phone wide-eyed.
"I didn't know that Kawaii~Chan was serious about shipping. I thought it was all just some joke," Garroth said, his eye's still glued to the photo.
"I thought so too, but..." Laurance trailed, his eyes glanced back down to the screen.
"No. No. No. This isn't some sort of made up fantasy in a sandbox game where you can just ship anyone you want!" Garroth exclaimed.
At that moment, the two of them heard a growl behind them. Turning around, Kawaii~Chan was standing there, and she did not look like the happiest Meif'wa on the planet. Garroth and Laurance needed to find a way out of this situation with their limbs intact, and they had to act fast. Without thinking, Garroth took the phone from Laurance and threw it across the balcony and into Kawaii~Chan's bedroom. Thankfully, it landed safely on the bed. Kawaii~Chan turned around, distracted by the phone, and Garroth took Laurance's hand and yelled,
"Run, Laurance! Run!"
Together, they ran past Kawaii~Chan yelling "sorry" and "please don't hurt me" repeatedly until they ran out of her apartment and back into the safety of their own.
===
Garroth and Laurance sat down in front of their laptop and searched up Aphmau's new address. It was actually a really nice house! They looked around the area to see if they knew other people living in the surrounding neighborhood. Surprisingly, Zane lived close by to them in an incredibly dark house. Guess being emo really wasn't a phase, huh?
When the duo tried to see if Aaron lived nearby, they both realized that neither of them knew his address. He could be her next door neighbor. Then he would be the boy next door and not Garroth and Laurance!
"Laurance, do you think Aaron is really living in this neighborhood?" Garroth questioned.
"Maybe," Laurance responded, "But think about it, what is the chance that Aphmau purposefully bought the house in Aaron's neighborhood."
"True, but what if she accidentally bought the house in his neighborhood."
"Well shoot, you have a point there."
Garroth and Laurance kept looking at the map of her new neighborhood until they noticed something. The house across the street was put up for sale.
The two of them looked at each other and then back at the house.
"Are we actually going to buy this house to live close to Aphmau?" Garroth asked.
"We are actually going to buy this house to live close to Aphmau," Laurance confirmed.
Of course, they had to be reasonable about this, so they did their research. They found prices, looked at the layout, checked their credit scores, compared the house's distance to their work, etc.
In a couple of hours, they had gotten enough information to confirm that they were 100% interested in buying the house. They just needed to go look at the house in person tomorrow to make their final decision.
"It's kinda funny," Garroth started, "that we are still roommates only because we are both trying to get together with the same girl."
"Well, I never thought that to be the only reason. We've been friends since highschool, I relate to you a lot more than with other people. Liking Aphmau is just one of our common interests." The two of them laughed.
"I guess you're right, but what if neither of us get together with Aphmau?"
"We'll just be roommates till we die, obviously."
Garroth looked at Laurance, his hand over his heart.
"Bro," Garroth said heartwarmingly. Laurance mimicked his actions.
"Bro," Laurance said assuringly.
The two of them stared at each other for a bit before bursting out laughing.
These two boys were conjoined at the hip, and no one could say otherwise. If one or the other got together with Aphmau, they wouldn't know what they would do then. It would be hard to date a girl knowing your best friend liked her too.
Once the boys stopped messing around, they finally went back to work on the house. They noticed that the price was a bit out of their range; they could barely afford it together. The house had three bedrooms, so the best option was for them to ask someone to be their roommate. They needed someone who was pretty level-headed, and they both believed that Dante was a good candidate. If they were roommates with Travis or any of Garroth's brothers, they'd probably accidentally set the house on fire.
With that, Laurance picked up his phone and dialed Dante.
"Hey, Laurance. What's up?" Dante answered.
"Dante, Garroth and I wanted to ask you something."
{A/N: Thanks for reading Chapter 2! If you liked this chapter please give it a like and a comment! Right now we are still on The Big Move but by chapter five Aphmau and the gang will finally be moved into their new neighborhood! My friend, Nura, has been helping me proofread and edit the chapters so this is another shout out to her. Thanks again for reading my book! Bye!}