{A/N: This chapter is not going to follow the main storyline, so if you were expecting the Christmas Cat-Tastrophe episode it will be in the next chapter.}
It had been a few hours since Aphmau, Kawaii~Chan and Laurance came back from the mall.
The drive back home from the mall was slightly awkward. Everyone was silent, even Kawaii~Chan which was surprising. Aphmau didn't know what was wrong with her friends. Both KC and Laurance were staring off into the distance, lost in thought. She wanted to ask and see what was wrong, but she decided not to pry into their business.
Aphmau and Kawaii~Chan came home to an empty house. Katelyn's car was in the garage, so she either went out with a friend or got kidnapped. Either way, they went on with the rest of their day. Aphmau plopped down on the couch and watched as Kawaii~Chan speed walked to her room and shut the door without saying a word.
When the girls dropped Laurance off at his house, he ran straight to his room and avoided his roommates, especially Garroth. The thought of his unknown sexuality clouded his head. The entire car ride home, he tried to convince himself that he was still madly in love with Aphmau. That he wished to be the one for her and that Aaron was his number-one rival. That the feelings he had for Garroth weren't romantic.
It wasn't working.
"I can't be bisexual!" Laurance exclaimed out loud, "I don't even like flannel!"
Laurance took a mental step back, reminding himself that being bisexual wasn't a bad thing. If he was bisexual, then so be it, but if he liked Garroth, that was a whole other story. He thought he loved Garroth like a brother, but could he have just been crushing on him? What if Laurance didn't like him and he was freaking out over nothing? Scratch that.
He's liked a lot of people before. These feelings were no different, but was it possible that the feelings he felt toward women were different when it came to men?
Why did it have to be Garroth, of all people? He couldn't have just crushed on some random guy; he just had to crush on his best friend.
He sat down on his bed and tried thinking back to when he actually started liking him. There's no way Laurance just started to crush on him. No. These feelings have been here for a while. Maybe it started when the two of them first became roommates? Wait a minute.
Were there signs that Laurance was into Garroth before? He had heard stories from people in the LGBTQ+ community about how they should have realized their sexuality way before they actually did. Laurance was probably subtle with his unknown feelings. No one could have known.
"Garroth, you better not be staring at my butt."
"Alright, let's play gay chicken!"
"He's not my boyfriend!"
"No homo."
Okay, maybe Laurance wasn't as subtle as he thought he was.
"How was gay chicken going to solve that argument?" Laurance muttered to himself as he thought back to the silly game he and Garroth almost played. Absolutely nothing about that was straight. Neither Garroth nor Laurance pulled away until the last moment. Even then, had neither of them said anything to break the silence, what would have happened?
Maybe they would have kissed in a platonic way? Okay, now that was just stupid. The more he thought about his feelings toward Garroth, the more he kept beating himself up about his sexuality. Why was it that he was questioning his sexuality in his twenties? Didn't people have these revelations during their middle school and high school years, not after they had graduated college with a stable career?
Hold on.
As far as Laurance knew, Garroth had never dated a guy before or shown interest in one. If he was correct, Garroth still loved Aphmau.
Laurance's heart clenched.
Was Garroth straight? Laurance couldn't think of a reason why Garroth wouldn't come out about his sexuality to him if he wasn't. They tell each other everything, right?
So, Laurance was crushing on his straight best friend. Great.
He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. It looked like he was going to have to take this to the grave. He'd rather not ruin his relationship with his best friend. If Laurance could just suppress it, then it should eventually go away.
The thought of telling someone about this crossed his mind. It would be nice to be able to confide in someone about all this, but who would he tell? He couldn't tell Garroth because he kinda, sorta, 100% liked him!
Laurance's stomach grumbled, pausing his gay life crisis.
To leave his room would be a dangerous game right now. He could come into contact with him, but food came first. He got up and started walking to the kitchen, laughing lightly at himself. The likelihood of Laurance running into Garroth was—oh my Irene, Laurance just ran right into Garroth.
"Hey, Laurance," Garroth greeted with a bright smile on his face, "how was shopping with Dante?"
"Alright, Laurance, give a quick lie and make a speedy exit. Do not tell him the truth," Laurance thought to himself.
"Dante ditched me, so I went home with Aphmau and Kawaii~Chan. Since then, I've been in a state of exponential dread," Laurance said truthfully before speeding to the kitchen. Nice going, Laurance. Canon Laurance would never say such a thing! Truth be told, despite telling himself that he couldn't tell Garroth what he was going through, he still wanted to reach out to him.
"Wait! What?" Garroth exclaimed, following Laurance to the kitchen. His friend had just started microwaving leftovers, but Garroth could tell that his mind was somewhere else.
"Nothing. Nothing. It was a joke," Laurance downplayed, putting his hands up lightly in the air as a surrender.
"You weren't laughing," Garroth retorted, his face contorting with concern.
"I'm fine! I shouldn't have said anything, so just forget it, okay?" Laurance snapped, but Garroth didn't back down. Garroth walked to Laurance's side and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you sure? You know you can tell me anything, right? Did something happen?"
Laurance's eyes were glued to Garroth's hand. His eyes trailed up to his face, and he stared at his cerulean blue eyes, which were filled with worry. Guilt overcame Laurance's being. If their roles were flipped, Laurance would have reacted in the same way.
Taking a deep breath, Laurance took a step back, allowing Garroth's hand to drop back to his side. He wasn't about to tell Garroth everything, but he at least wanted Garroth to know how he was feeling.
"Have you ever lived your life thinking you knew things about yourself only to find out that they might not have been true?" Laurance asked, crossing his arms and redirecting his gaze to the floor.
Garroth nodded his head hesitantly, not knowing where his roommate was going with this. The first thing that came to Garroth's mind was his sexuality. It was something that he started suspecting back when they were in high school.
"Where are you going with this?" Garroth asked quietly, even though it wasn't necessary. It felt like he'd disrupt the atmosphere if he was any louder.
"Well, I think I'm finding out something about myself, but I'm worried that it might change something if I tell others," Laurance explained.
The microwave started beeping, but Garroth and Laurance ignored it.
"Does it involve murdering someone?" Garroth asked with a raised brow.
"No."
"Tax fraud?"
"No."
"Being racist, sexist, misogynistic, xenophobic, or homophobic?"
"Of course not!"
"Does it involve treating anyone as someone lesser?"
"No!"
"Then whatever it is, it'll be okay, so don't think too much of it."
Garroth took out Laurance's leftovers from the microwave and placed them in front of his friend.
"You don't have to tell me what it is. Just know that I won't judge you for it. Unless it's that you like watching those really bad chick flicks. Then I'll judge you," Garroth reassured, patting his friend on the back before leaving Laurance there with his leftovers.
"Man, I wish it was chick flicks," Laurance told himself before picking up his food and going back to his room.
Who would have thought that Laurance wasn't straight?
===
"I want to be your business partner."
That line kept repeating in Kawaii~Chan's head as she tried to process everything that had just happened. She didn't think that Zane was going to ask her that. If anything, it should have been about buying more cookies, not running a business!
"What?" Kawaii~Chan asked, cocking her head to the side with her eyes wide.
"I'm serious. This business can make a lot of money if you play your cards right, and I want to be a part of it."
"Why?"
Zane gave Kawaii~Chan a deadpan expression.
"Think about it, Pinky. You're working full time at IHOP, and I'm jumping from job to job. I don't have some sort of evil motive this time. I just want to make money, and this is a good way to do so."
Kawaii~Chan leaned her cheek against her fist.
"Kawaii~Chan thinks that makes sense." She looked at Zane with a frown on her face. "Why do you keep calling Kawaii~Chan, Pinky?"
"Because I'd rather not think about how your parents actually named you Kawaii~Chan."
Kawaii~Chan puffed her cheeks out in anger, ready to snap at him, before calming down. She still couldn't wrap her head around the idea that Zane wanted to run a business with her. Last time, Kawaii~Chan and Lucinda were business partners, and that business failed.
"If we do this, what do we do if it fails?"
"Depending on the reason, we could probably rebrand and start back up again, or we could go back to our normal lives."
"Kawaii~Chan doesn't know. She doesn't think she can manage paying the rent of a building; she already has to pay rent for the house."
"We wouldn't be doing that. Our sales can be entirely online."
Kawaii~Chan looked at Zane with her eyes wide. Zane actually put a lot of thought into this. He really was serious.
"Doing this means you have to interact with customers, but you hate people," she stated, pointing her finger at Zane accusingly.
"Doing it online means minimal contact. Plus, you can be the front face, and I can work behind the scenes. Besides, I only hate people because they've always hated me. I don't trust them; they'll always betray you."
"But you're trusting Kawaii~Chan?"
"Like I said, you haven't done anything to me. Judging by your personality, you won't do anything as long as I don't mess with any of your ships."
Dang it. He knows.
This was going to be an important decision for Kawaii~Chan. As much as she loved IHOP, she didn't want to work there for the rest of her life. Besides, she had a business degree. It'd be a waste not to use it. Once this became stable, she could quit her job at IHOP and focus solely on the business, but this was Zane she was talking about.
"Kawaii~Chan-"
Kawaii~Chan's phone began to ring, snapping her out of her thoughts. Frowning, she picked up her phone and answered the call.
It was the crazy cat lady asking for a cat sitter tomorrow at noon. After checking her schedule, she agreed and hung up the phone. It looked like she was spending her day off tomorrow babysitting nine cats. She quickly forgot about it as she thought back to the conversation she had with Zane.
"Kawaii~Chan needs to think about this. She barely knows you. She can't trust you to be her business partner," she denied.
Don't get her wrong; she still kind of hated him, but in all honesty, he had never actually done anything to her. Probably because they didn't really interact much in high school, but KC knew that he had done some horrible things. Hopefully, he had changed, but right now she couldn't trust him. It'd be a lie if she said it wasn't hard to say no, though.
Zane let out a frustrated sigh.
"I had a feeling you'd say no," he admitted, standing up to leave. KC was going to let him go without a word before noticing the bag at his side.
"Are...are those the ponies Zane~Kun bought from her?"
Zane paused and nodded at her.
"Um...Kawaii~Chan was wondering why Zane~Kun wanted the ponies?" she asked shyly, trying not to end this conversation so awkwardly.
"Why would you like to know?" Zane snapped as he narrowed his eyes at her, clutching the bag closer to him. Kawaii~Chan leaned back in her chair, trying to avoid his piercing gaze.
"S-She just wanted to know if you liked ponies too!" she stuttered.
"Well, I don't, okay?"
Zane averted his eyes, and a blush started to seep above his mask. Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy. It looked like KC had a liar on her hands.
"You like ponies too!" she exclaimed, ignoring his lie.
Zane looked around to see if anyone heard him before glaring at her.
"I don't!"
"Who's your favorite pony?"
"I don't like them!"
Kawaii~Chan giggled, not realizing that she had successfully changed the topic from business to ponies.
"Are you embarrassed about liking ponies?" she teased, her voice notably softer, watching Zane's face become even more red. He stayed silent. "It's okay if you are."
"If you tell anyone I like My Little Horsies, I will destroy you," he muttered shyly.
Kawaii~Chan pretended to zip her lips. He looked at her, sighed, and sat back down.
"My favorite is Pinkie Cake."
With that, Kawaii~Chan and Zane slowly began to form a kindling friendship over ponies. It was obvious that Zane wasn't used to sharing his thoughts like that. It seemed as if every time he would get really excited by something KC said, he'd immediately stop himself and calm down. He was on the brink of being uncomfortable talking about his interests and wanting to jump in and say everything.
Eventually, Aphmau texted Kawaii~Chan telling her that it was time to go, so KC and Zane stood up to leave.
"Th-thanks for talking to me about..." Zane lowered his voice and said, "My Little Horsies."
"Anytime! It was nice talking to you!" Kawaii~Chan slowly dropped her cheery exterior for one more sympathetic. "I'm- Kawaii~Chan's sorry about the business." She cursed herself mentally for slipping up on her speech. It wasn't often she had to sincerely apologize to someone like this.
"It's fine. I shouldn't have asked you in the first place. See you tomorrow, Pinky," he said as he walked away.
Kawaii~Chan sighed as she picked up the rest of her food.
"He's never gonna say her name," she whined.
===
Unlike Kawaii~Chan and Laurance, Aphmau didn't have anything crazy going on in her day. All she had really done was walk Celestia and go shopping. All that was left to do was go to work that night.
Until then, Aphmau decided to lounge around her room and talk to Aaron on the phone.
"Trust me, Aaron, you're going to love your gift!" Aphmau reassured him as she held a figurine in her hand. It was the character that Aaron (or FC) played when Aphmau and Aaron first met online.
"It's coming from you, Aph. I'm sure I'll like it either way," Aaron admitted. He heard Aphmau hum on the other end.
"Well, you'll get your gift at the Christmas party. I'm sending out invitations tomorrow morning."
"I'm looking forward to it. Anyways, Aph, do you wanna come over tonight?"
Aphmau grinned and felt giddy inside. They hadn't met up with one another since the kiss. She still wanted to take things slowly with him, slower than she knew Aaron would like. She'd be lying if she said that she didn't want to kiss him again, but doing so wasn't really detaching any strings between them.
Neither of them could believe that the other still had feelings for them. Of course, they had a little on-and-off thing throughout high school and college, but the thought of having labels seemed too official. They were young! They should be going out and exploring the world, exploring others, and not tying themselves down to their best friend. At least, that's what Aphmau would like to think. It's not that she wants to keep her options open; she just doesn't mind having guys confess to her every now and then. Okay, yes, that was a little messed up, but as long as everyone was okay with it, she had no reason to change. She was sure that Aaron wouldn't really mind once she eventually told him. She liked him, though; there was no doubt about it. She just wanted more time to spread her wings.
Aphmau checked her schedule for the day before frowning.
"I'd love to, but I can't. I have work tonight," Aphmau declined.
"Still working at Freddy Fazbears?"
"Unfortunately, yeah."
She heard Aaron sigh on the other end.
"I thought you said you were quitting," he groaned, his tone toward her becoming a bit harsh.
"I did!" she partially lied, a blush creeping on her face.
"You said that two weeks ago; what happened?"
"I got a house! I'll be honest, I tried to quit, but it's good pay."
"Yeah, but at what cost?"
Aphmau was silent. She had been working on and off at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria for a little over a year now. Each time she quit, she'd come right back a few months later. The first time was when she was living with Claire. The second time was when she moved into her own apartment. Now she's here, going through the same nightmare-inducing job just for several hundred dollars. She'd heard from previous workers that their pay was a lot lower than hers—around one hundred and twenty dollars a week, which didn't even meet the minimum wage! The company probably paid her more since she had managed to stay alive this long.
"I don't know what's been going on there, but I know that you don't like to talk about it, and that's saying something since you talk about everything," he explained.
Aphmau's mind flashed back to the previous night. She had no idea how the animatronics could move around on their own, but everything about that place just gave off an eerie vibe.
Just then, a horrible chill ran down her spine. Her blood ran cold. A gut feeling in her stomach told her to listen to Aaron's words more seriously. She checked the time on her phone.
5 p.m.
She was supposed to go to sleep soon before going to work at twelve, but something told her not to go. Her mind didn't tell her to quit immediately. Instead, her gut had a bad feeling about going to work today.
"I-I promise I plan on quitting, Aaron. I'm going to try to by the end of the month," she promised, wrapping herself in a blanket to warm herself up.
"I hope you're able to do what's best for yourself, Aphmau."
"I'll try."
"Well then, I'm gonna go. You have work soon, right?"
Aphmau's blood ran cold again at the mention of it.
"Right."
She heard Aaron sigh on the other end, clearly still a bit disappointed in her.
"Bye, Aph."
"Bye, Aaron."
The moment the call ended, Aphmau immediately called her boss and told them that she was sick. Once it was settled that she wasn't coming into work that night, the cold that seemed to suddenly seep into her body started to disappear. Weird.
She felt bad that now she had the night off and still wasn't going to Aaron's house, but she had something important to do. Opening her laptop, she looked up job listings in her area.
Aphmau might have only worked at Freddy Fazbear's for the money, but she valued her life a whole lot more.
===
After Katelyn called Travis, he insisted they go together to the local college to check out their programs. Katelyn was against it, saying she'd only just decided to do this and needed time to let this all sink in. He said that was nonsense, and Katelyn could hear him start up his engine.
"Oh my Irene..." Katelyn muttered under her breath.
"Don't worry, Katelyn! Stay right there; I'm coming to pick you up!" he yelled over the roar of his engine.
"If you come over to my house, I won't let you in," she threatened.
"Oh ho ho, don't worry. I have my ways. See ya!"
Travis ended the call because everyone knows not to be on your phone while driving. Katelyn groaned, tossing her phone to the side.
That idiot. Katelyn said no, and he still decided to come anyway. Why can't he just take no as an answer? Katelyn never should have told him-
Katelyn stopped her thoughts and took a deep breath. She needed to be calm and not allow her anger to get the better of her.
She sat there for a minute and did a few breathing techniques until she could safely say she wouldn't punch Travis when he came over. Despite telling Travis that she didn't want to go today, she was still going to go with Travis to the college. Surprisingly, she actually felt a bit bad about leaving Travis outside her house, even though she didn't want him coming over in the first place.
Katleyn knew that, eventually, she'd have to talk to Travis about their relationship. Their friendship was riddled with toxicity disguised as light-hearted humor. Travis had a bit of an obsession with her and was basically sexually harassing her. Despite Katelyn constantly saying no, he still persisted. At heart, Travis was a good person, but this needed to stop. As for Katelyn, hitting people was not okay. Her friends have checked on her multiple times when she was about to throw hands, and she constantly had to stop and calm herself before she let her anger get the better of her. It's understandable that she kept hitting him because of the harassment, but she continued to get more and more violent. Surprisingly, she's never hit him in the balls.
When the doorbell rang, Katelyn grabbed her bag and headed out the door.
One day, she would talk to him when she got her anger under control. One day.
Travis got out of his car and went to hold the door to the passenger seat open for Katelyn.
"M'lady," he flirted, winking at her.
Soon enough, they were on the road, heading for the community college. It was funny how Katelyn had spent thousands of dollars at Falcon Claw University only to go back to college to pursue a different degree. Actually, it was not funny; everyone was drowning in student loans and debt.
Of course, Travis was throwing pickup line after pickup line at Katelyn, who successfully dodged each one. Aside from the flirting, Travis wouldn't stop talking about how happy he was that Katelyn decided to do this. He, along with Jeffory and Nicole, knew that the creative arts were a passion of hers. She'd always seemed happiest when she was doing something related to it. This could help her out a lot with her issues as a healthy, non-violent way to cope.
When they arrived, Travis wandered around the campus while Katelyn went to actually get information about the place and the programs they offered. Katleyn had actually gotten some promising information about the place, not realizing that Travis was no longer with her.
Travis wandered around the campus, admiring the sunset and how the street lights were turning on. He flirted with a few girls as he walked by, but he knew his heart belonged to Katelyn. He continued walking around, looking at the scenery around him, until the sun went down and he realized... he was lost.
Katelyn had finished gathering paperwork and pamphlets and started to walk outside before realizing she was missing someone. She groaned and pulled out her phone to call Travis. The call didn't go through.
Travis pulled out his phone to try and call Katelyn, but low and behold, it was dead.
The campus was fairly big despite being a community college, so the two knew it would be difficult to find one another. Katelyn would've left without him, but unfortunately, Travis had the keys. Travis, on the other hand, wouldn't have left without Katelyn. He instead found one of the college students, told them of his situation, and had them lead him to the main office.
"Katelyn FireFist, please come to the main office. We have your child," the speakers announced.
Katelyn shook her head and sighed, knowing exactly who it was. Unsurprisingly, it was Travis. He was sitting in one of the chairs with a sad pout on his lip and a piece of candy in his hand. When he noticed Katelyn, his expression lightened as he hopped up and waved the staff of the main office goodbye, with Katelyn dragging him out of there.
"My phone died," Travis said, still being dragged to the car.
"I know," Katelyn groaned.
"Did you miss me?"
"I didn't even know you were gone."
Travis pouted at the lack of attention but didn't let it get the better of him. Instead, he had an idea. The night was still young, and he didn't just want to drop Katelyn off and go home.
"Do you wanna go out for dinner?" Travis asked, hope in his voice.
"If you're trying to get me to go on a date, then no," Katelyn rejected.
"Please! I'll even pay!"
"That sounds like a date."
"We can look over all of the program options over food, and you won't have to pay a dime."
Katelyn sighed, stopping outside the passenger door.
"Why do you keep doing this?"
Travis furrowed his brows, confused.
"Doing what?"
"Helping me. Flirting with me. Doing all this stuff for me. I keep hitting and insulting you, but you just keep bouncing back. Why?"
Travis smiled as if he had been asked the easiest question in the world.
"Because I love you!"
Katelyn's eyes went half-lidded as her lips curled into a frown.
"You're so stupid," she muttered under her breath before sighing. "Alright, let's go. We're going to Olive Garden."
Travis fist-pumped the air in excitement as he ran over to Katelyn's side of the car and hugged her.
"Yes! Trust me, baby! You won't regret it!"
"I'm already regretting it."
Travis let go of Katelyn and opened up the passenger door, oblivious to the light pink blush covering her face.
"Hey Travis," she said as the idiot got into the car, "thanks."
"For what?"
"Stop asking so many questions."
Travis took that as his cue to stop, still not knowing why Katelyn thanked him. He smiled to himself, thinking he may have just made a dent in Katelyn's tough-girl persona.
"Olive Garden breadsticks, here we come!"
{A/N: I'm so sorry this chapter is late! Nura told me to not make promises I couldn't keep, but I told her I could do it and here we are. Also, I'm thinking about adding Claire to the storyline, but I don't want to distract from the main theme of this book (ships). If you don't remember her, she was part of Aphmau's FNAF series and was actually her sister. Feel free to give your opinion on adding her because I'm all ears. Please give this chapter a star and a comment if you enjoyed it! Bye!}