{A/N: Alright you guys, I am on a roll! Look at me, updating on time, I'm such a good egg. Now that I've jinxed myself, I'll probably end up updating the next chapter late. Aside from that, I'll be making a tumblr account some time soon, and I'll let you guys know when it's available. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!}
8:30 P.M.
Aphmau continued on throughout the house, mingling with other guests, until she stopped dead in her tracks. Seeing something she thought couldn't be real, Aphmau took a few steps back and looked to her left, where the basement door was. It was wide open, and voices could be heard inside. Aphmau's mind quickly flashed to the abomination that lay inside.
The shipping shrine.
"OH NO, NOT AGAIN!" Aphmau exclaimed as she ran down the steps, making sure to close the door behind her so no one would try to walk in. She followed the voices until she reached the world's ungodly creation.
Right in front of the shipping shrine were Katelyn and Nicole.
"At least Nicole got Katelyn out of her room, but at what cost?" Aphmau asked herself, wondering if the outcome was worth it.
Aphmau didn't know if she should have made her presence known to the girls as they continued looking at the shrine. If she did, she didn't know how Katelyn would react. Katelyn might just go straight back to her room and lock herself in for the entire night.
"I can't believe Kawaii~Chan made this," Nicole admitted, "but I wouldn't put it past her."
"I know, right? I told you, she's a little nuts," Katelyn agreed.
""A little nuts" were not the words you told Kawaii~Chan earlier."
Katelyn groaned but ended with a sigh.
"I told you, it was in the heat of the moment. I know it was wrong to word it like that. It just-" Katelyn was cut off as her best friend finished her sentence.
"-makes you uncomfortable. I know," Nicole finished. "Yeah, poor Aphmau. I don't know how I'd feel if I had a shrine like this."
Katelyn went silent at the mention of Aphmau and allowed the conversation to fall. The two friends just looked at the shrine, deep in thought, until Katelyn spoke again.
"Do you think...do you think it was my fault?" she asked.
"No, definitely not. All three of you were to blame for the whole thing. You all have issues that you need to work on, and this was a wake-up call," Nicole denied.
"I guess, I mean, now I'm gonna...," Katelyn trailed off, not yet ready to finish the sentence. Nicole put a hand on Katelyn's shoulder.
"Hey," Nicole soothed, "this is a big step for you. I promise it will help. It worked for me, and I'm definitely sure anger management classes will work for you."
Aphmau's mouth went agape.
"She's actually going to anger management?" Aphmau thought to herself. She never expected Katelyn to do such a thing. She always ignored help like this, calling it weak even when everyone else said otherwise. She just hoped Katelyn didn't give up on herself during the classes. The last thing she wanted was for Katelyn to spiral out of control. It was probably still difficult for her to accept that she was going to get help. Katelyn had made a lot of big decisions recently, and Aphmau had been proud and supportive of her every step of the way. A bit too supportive, but supportive nonetheless.
"I hope. I'm just worried about Travis. I try, I really do try, not to snap at him, but it's just so hard!" Katelyn seethed, only clenching her fists as an expression of her anger. Nicole squeezed her shoulder.
"I know, I know. Remember what we talked about? You and Travis are like two magnets that are trying to get together while attached to something else. That only leads to problems."
"Yeah, you're right. I just keep thinking about that talk I had with him at Olive Garden."
"You can have more moments like that when both of you work through your issues with one another. Communication is key."
Katelyn groaned at Nicole's words.
"Geez, Nicole, stop it with that relationship advice crap. You and Dante are still dancing around one another, and you feel like you need to give me advice."
"I...um..." Nicole didn't know how to respond. She was at a loss for words. "Hey, look at how weird that poster of Aphmau and Aaron is!" Nicole pointed at one of the random posters as a distraction, and Katelyn took the bait.
While Katelyn was distracted, Nicole whipped out her phone and started texting someone.
Aphmau thanked Irene that her phone was on silent mode because the person Nicole was texting was her.
"I got Katelyn out of her room. Go and lock the door," Nicole texted. Aphmau sent her a thumbs up and started sneaking away from the two of them, still listening to their conversation.
"Hey, you're going to apologize to them, right?" Nicole asked, averting her attention away from her phone.
"Only if they apologize too," Katelyn responded.
"Katelyn," Nicole scolded, "don't hold grudges and be petty!"
"Alright, Alright!" Katelyn sighed. "I'll say sorry once the party is over."
"Good. I'm sure Aphmau and KC are going to apologize too."
The moment Nicole said that, she looked back at her phone and typed one more message to Aphmau.
"You better freaking apologize to Katelyn, btw," she texted, finally putting her phone away after that. Aphmau sent her another thumbs up and finally tiptoed up the stairs and got out of the basement.
"Freedom," Aphmau whispered, breathing in the gingerbread-scented air and thanking Irene that she didn't have to endure another second next to the shipping shrine. She took a quick lap around the house, checking in on a few guests, before finally walking up the stairs to Katelyn's room. When she got to the top of the stairs, she took a peek into Kawaii~Chan's room.
It was empty.
Aphmau sighed. She hadn't seen Kawaii~Chan downstairs, and she wasn't in her room. She knew that KC had left the house, but it had been about an hour, and she hadn't come back yet.
"Where did she go?" Aphmau asked aloud, concerned for the friend she had wronged.
===
Kawaii~Chan knew this was a bad idea. She should've stayed home and avoided Aphmau and Katelyn for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, she needed some advice. Advice that wasn't biased against anyone, so that completely justified why she was standing in front of their house.
She rang the doorbell and waited.
About a minute had passed, and Kawaii~Chan was beginning to realize that they might just be ignoring her. They hated people, so KC decided to keep ringing until they opened the door.
At this point, they might just turn her away, or they might not even be home--
The door swung open.
Zane stood at the entrance, looking incredibly pissed.
"What do you want?" he seethed. Kawaii~Chan shrank back, regretting her decision to come here.
"Um, Kawaii~Chan needed help," she answered.
"Why don't you go ask your friends?" he asked, his angry glare never ceasing.
"Kawaii~Chan can't. She got into a fight with them, and now she doesn't know what to do."
"That sounds like a personal problem."
Kawaii~Chan fiddled with her thumbs, not knowing what to do. He had a point. Why should he help KC with her problems considering they barely knew each other to begin with?
Zane was silent. He had half the mind to slam the door on her for coming to his house at night. The other half...
"I'll let you in if you give me more sleeping cookies," he bargained, "but just know I might not be able to really help you with your situation." Kawaii~Chan smiled at him with stars in her eyes, happy that luck was on her side today.
"Okay!"
Zane was a bit uncomfortable letting someone into his house. Other than family, he hadn't let anyone in his house for company. Aphmau was the horrible exception, which he was still having trouble accepting. He might have forgiven her, but that didn't mean he was comfortable with what had happened.
He led KC into the living room. When she sat down, he just stood there awkwardly. Was he supposed to offer her something to drink? Turn on the TV? Normally, when family came over, they just walked in and acted like they owned the place. He never had to act like an actual host.
"Do you want...alcohol or something?" Zane asked awkwardly. Maybe this was a bad idea.
"No, thank you, but can Kawaii~Chan have water?"
Zane shuffled off to get her a glass of water. When he returned, Kawaii~Chan had snuggled up next to the arm of the couch, sitting cross-legged.
"Cats never sit on furniture normally," Zane thought to himself.
He handed her the glass and sat far away on the other side. It was like the moon was evading the sun as it drew near.
"So," Zane started, "I'll give you thirty minutes of my time before I kick you out. In return, I want six of your sleeping cookies."
In hindsight, that wasn't a good deal because the time and effort it took to make those cookies were worth far more than 30 minutes, but KC was desperate. Kawaii~Chan nodded her head, and Zane motioned for her to begin.
"Kawaii~Chan got into an argument with Katelyn~Sama and Aphmau~Senpai about her personality. They don't like how she acts. Katelyn~Sama thinks it's weird that Kawaii~Chan talks in third person and really likes shipping. Part of Kawaii~Chan knows that it is weird; she has a...thing in the basement that proves it."
"Your shipping shrine?"
Kawaii~Chan's face flushed red with embarrassment.
"How did you know?"
"Katelyn talked about it with you once when I was there. I wouldn't put it past you to have one considering... well, you."
Kawaii~Chan hummed discontentedly at Zane's unknowing agreement with Katelyn's words.
"Kawaii~Chan knows that it's weird. She knows that the way she talks is weird and how much she likes shipping is weird, but it hurts. She doesn't want people to hate her because of it."
"I doubt that they hate you. Katelyn might, but I don't think Aphmau does. I don't know either of them much, but judging by how they've acted, they aren't the type to hate. They wouldn't be your roommates if they didn't tolerate your behavior." Zane looked up at his clock. "Twenty minutes left."
"What if they kick her out, though? Kawaii~Chan has messed up a lot since she moved into the house. She doesn't want people to think of her as some weird problem they have to deal with."
"Like I said, it's unlikely. If you know that how you act is weird, then why don't you change it?"
Kawaii~Chan didn't answer his question and took a long sip from her drink. She knew that this conversation was going to be one-sided, but Kawaii~Chan knew that she couldn't be fully honest with him. This personality was there for a reason: to make herself known. If people knew that it was fake, how would they react? The problem was that she didn't know what about her was fake and what wasn't anymore.
"Part of Kawaii~Chan likes it. It's hard to give up a part of yourself that's been with you for so long," Kawaii~Chan sighed.
"I don't see how it can be that hard," Zane disregarded, clearly not knowing the full extent of what she was talking about.
"What if someone told you that you could never watch My Little Horsies again? How would you react?"
"I'd kill someone."
"Exactly-wait, what?"
"Don't distract yourself; keep talking about your problems. You have 10 minutes left."
Scrambling to find her words, Kawaii~Chan blurted out, "Why am I supposed to change myself again just to make other people happy?"
A sudden surge of anger forced through her with her words, understanding that her personality was a result of the social pressure from people around her. She went through so much trouble to try and incorporate things she liked into a personality that not only suited herself but others as well. Now, since she had gone overboard, people wanted her to change. Was this how it was supposed to be? Was Kawaii~Chan supposed to constantly go back and forth just to please others as she slowly lost herself in the process?
No, she wasn't.
Kawaii~Chan had made mistakes, but she shouldn't let that reflect on herself as a person. This was who she was. She wasn't born to be a personification of herself; she was born to just be her. The improvements she made to herself shouldn't be for the benefit of others but herself. Identify the bad traits and work to make yourself a better version of yourself every day.
Don't walk with the masses when you have a broken leg you can fix. You're not moving forward; you're only making yourself an obstacle.
Zane was silent, his eyes wide, watching Kawaii~Chan go through a mental rollercoaster in her head. The confusion, conflict, realization, and finally acceptance. He took a deep breath and spoke softly to not startle her.
"I think the best thing for you to do is go and talk to them. I think you've figured this out on your own. Time's up."
Kawaii~Chan nodded and thanked him for his time, promising him cookies tomorrow and promising herself to apologize to the girls at the end of the party.
"Do you want to come to the party with me?" Kawaii~Chan invited him, a slight glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"No," Zane answered immediately, not expecting the question but knowing the answer, "t-thank you. I'd probably kill the mood for everyone anyway if I went. Plus, I hate people. I'd rather stay home."
Kawaii~Chan nodded her head sympathetically, not knowing that Aphmau had actually sent Zane an invitation in the mail. An invitation that, since it was mail and not email, was left untouched in his mailbox.
Kawaii~Chan said goodbye and took off back toward home, ready to change for the better with the support of her friends.
===
9:00 P.M.
Aphmau walked upstairs to lock Katelyn's room, but when she reached the door, she stopped. The door was cracked open, and voices could be heard inside. She tiptoed toward the door and listened in. The voices appeared to be Garroth and Laurance. Oh dear Irene, she hoped they weren't making out in there. Finally, Aphmau opened the door quietly.
When she saw what was going on, she had to suppress a gasp. A hand flew up to cover her mouth, and her eyes widened in shock.
Garroth and Laurance were standing in front of Katelyn's closet door. The door was open. The One Direction poster...
Oh no! This was worse than them making out on Katelyn's bed.
"This will get her back for sure," Laurance chuckled, snapping photos of the poster.
"Yeah, next time she'll think twice about pranking us," Garroth agreed, holding something in his hand.
Laurance finished snapping photos. "Alright, let's go get Aphmau's room next."
Garroth nodded, and the two of them turned around only to stop right in their tracks at the sight of Aphmau.
The three of them let out a surprised yelp at being noticed by each other.
Guilt covered the boys' faces. They were caught red-handed.
"What are you two doing in here?" Aphmau gasped. "Katelyn is going to kill you if she finds out that you guys knew about her poster."
She walked up to the closet to try and look at it, but Garroth and Laurance stopped her.
"Yup!" Laurance nervously laughed, "You caught us. Dang it! Welp, we better get out of here before Katelyn sees us."
"What he said," Garroth agreed.
Aphmau wasn't having any of it. She pushed the two boys away with all of her strength, which wasn't a lot, but it was something, and finally looked at the poster.
She gasped, a hand flying up to cover her forehead as she looked at the scene before her.
Right on Zayn's face was a picture of Zane Ro'Meave. So, this was what they thought was hilarious just moments before. Aphmau glanced down at Garroth's hand and noticed the Zane stickers.
"I-It's just a prank, bro!" Laurance defended himself, noticing Aphmau's offending glare toward the stickers.
"Why did you guys do this?" Aphmau hissed, her other hand clenched into a fist at her sides.
Garroth and Laurance took a sudden step back from Aphmau's anger.
"We were just trying to get back at you guys for pranking us yesterday!" Garroth blurted it out, putting his hands up in defense.
Aphmau sighed and moved her hand from her forehead to pinch her brow in frustration.
"As if this day couldn't get any worse," she thought to herself.
"If Katelyn comes up here, I'm putting the blame rightfully on you two. I'm already on her bad side today, and I am not about to make that worse," Aphmau explained.
"We're sorry!" Garroth squeaked, nervous about his impending doom by Katelyn's hand. Aphmau didn't say anything to accept it.
"Gosh, how am I going to fix this?" Aphmau muttered to herself, but the guys could hear it clearly. This was partially her fault. She and the others did decide to prank the guys even after they had lost the competition yesterday. What she didn't know, though, was what KC, Katelyn, and Zane did after she left.
Garroth and Laurance were silent. While Garroth was silent out of shame, Laurance had an idea. An idea that he wasn't too fond of doing, but he had to nonetheless.
This entire time, the boys were supposed to try and get a kiss from Aphmau under the mistletoe. So far, it has been about an hour and thirty minutes, but no kiss.
Now was their chance, but neither of them wanted to do it. Somebody had to do it. Laurance looked up at Garroth with a tinge of guilt in his eyes. He felt like he was about to cheat on him, despite the fact that they weren't even dating.
"Sorry, Garroth," Laurance thought to himself.
"Aphmau, I know how we can fix this," Laurance lied to his friend. There was no way that poster was going to be fixed. It was a goner, and Katelyn might as well buy a new one at this point. Laurance made sure to add "buy Katelyn another One Direction poster" to his mental list of things to do.
"Really?" Aphmau's ears perked up, and her eyes showed a glimmer of hope.
"Really?" Garroth asked; he was sure that the poster was a goner, so what could he be thinking?
"Yeah, here, follow me," Laurance commanded as he motioned for Aphmau to follow him. He took one last glance at Garroth's shocked face before leaving the room with Aphmau.
"Wait a minute!" Garroth yelled, finally catching onto Laurance's plan. Thus, Garroth chased them out of the room, running straight for the mistletoe.
Aphmau, oblivious to the bickering between the two, blindly followed Laurance.
===
Kawaii~Chan had just entered the house through the front door. When she turned around to close it, her shipping senses started to tingle. Someone was interfering with her ship, which only meant one thing: someone was going to die tonight.
Forget character development; someone was messing with her ship. Exterminate, and then go back on track.
Kawaii~Chan whipped around to see Garroth and Laurance inching closer to Aphmau under the mistletoe. Oh, hell no. She stalked up to the two boys and hissed at them.
Shocked and a bit frightened, Garroth and Laurance started backing away, and Kawaii~Chan backed them up until they were near the entrance of the house.
Was she going to kick them out? No. Was she going to teach them a lesson? Yes.
Aphmau, confused, was too surprised to see Kawaii~Chan to notice what she was doing with the boys. Instead, her attention was quickly taken away by McCloud dancing very...intimately on the table.
"Kawaii~Chan, what are you doing?" Laurance asked frantically, putting his hands up in defense against her.
"You guys know exactly what you were trying to do with Aphmau~Senpai," Kawaii~Chan scolded. Her ears and tail were standing straight up, claws extended, and a target had been acquired. Ready. Aim. Fire-
"Hold it right there!" Cadenza yelled as she smashed her way through the front door with a strength not humanly possible. Due to the loud blaring of Christmas music throughout the house, her violent action went unnoticed by most. Cadenza wiped herself down from any wood shavings or pieces that had fallen onto her outfit, not noticing the stares KC, Garroth, and Laurance were giving her.
"Cadenza, what the fuck?!" Laurance exclaimed, throwing his hand out to motion at the broken door in front of him.
Garroth put his hands in his hair. He didn't know how to react. Normally, he was the one to break the doors. This was a strange change of pace.
Kawaii~Chan's anger was now reflected onto Cadenza. Traditionally, when you're invited to a party, you don't break someone's door to get in the middle of a lesson.
Cadenza put her hand up to silence everyone; it's not like anyone was talking much to begin with anyway.
"Kawaii~Chan," Cadenza announced. "You are 100% wrong. Aarmau is not the ship that's meant to be. It is obvious that Laurance should take his rightful place under the mistletoe with Aphmau."
Cadenza winked at Laurance after her announcement in a way to say, "I got your back, bro!" Unfortunately, that was not what Laurance needed right now.
"You're wrong! Aarmau is so OTP," KC countered, putting her hands on her hips. She shivered a bit as the cold air from outside started to slowly seep its way into the warmth of the house.
"What is going on up here?" Katelyn questioned as she and Nicole ran upstairs at the sound of the commotion. Katelyn looked around to look at everyone but avoided Kawaii~Chan's gaze.
"Garroth~Kun and Laurance~Kun tried to kiss Aphmau~Senpai under the mistletoe, so Kawaii~Chan was going to teach them a lesson. Then, Cadenza~Chan broke through the door and started saying that Laurmau was OTP when it's clearly Aarmau!" Kawaii~Chan explained, her tone getting angrier as she spoke. Now wasn't the time to think about the argument. They had a shipping crisis at hand.
Nicole stepped in front of Katelyn and put her hands out calmly.
"You guys are acting like immature brats," Nicole insulted, attempting to act like some sort of budget mediator.
"Thank you!" Katelyn exclaimed, throwing her hands out exasperatedly. Finally, someone who understood where she was coming from with all of this crazy shipping stuff.
"This argument is clearly stupid," Nicole continued, twirling her hand to emphasize her point.
"Exactly," Katelyn agreed.
"It's obviously Garroth who should be under the mistletoe with Aphmau!" Nicole finished, losing all hope and trust in Katelyn.
"Garmau?!" Cadenza and Kawaii~Chan shouted in pure shock.
"Yes, Garmau," Nicole confirmed, cocking her brow as if it were obvious.
"Are you kidding me, Nicole?" Katelyn deadpanned.
"Shut up, Katelyn. I just wanna argue 'cuz I'm bored," Nicole hushed.
"But Garroth can barely even form a sentence when he's around her!" Cadenza argued.
Garroth opened his mouth to protest, but Laurance quickly covered it with his hand; now was not the time to interfere.
"But when he does, it's cute," Nicole countered.
"You know, maybe we shouldn't be arguing over Aphmau's love life," Laurance admitted.
"Y-Yeah," Garroth agreed shakily, nervous of getting beat up by the girls. "Besides, Laurance and I are okay not being together with Aphmau."
"Exactly, it's totally fine. We don't need to keep going back and forth arguing about--" Laurance was cut off by everyone else yelling at them to be quiet.
"This isn't about you two," Kawaii~Chan said, although it obviously involved them.
"Actually," Katelyn interrupted, a sly smirk forming on her lips, "I think Garroth and Laurance have a point."
Garroth and Laurance sighed in relief, glad that someone agreed with them.
"We shouldn't be shipping them with Aphmau. We should be shipping them with each other. I mean, it's obvious the two are madly in love with one another," Katelyn explained, the smile never leaving her face.
The jaws of the boys in question dropped. The two of them looked at each other with beet-red faces before looking the other way, fiddling with their hair and clothes out of a nervous habit.
"Kawaii~Chan wholeheartedly agrees!" she exclaimed excitedly, noticing how nervous the two boys were now.
Before anyone else could comment, the six of them heard Aphmau's voice from the living room.
"Aww, you're such a sloppy kisser!"
"What?!" everyone exclaimed, whipping around to see who managed to snag a kiss from their raven-haired friend.
Right in front of Aphmau was little Celestia, barking and panting happily.
"Celestmau, huh?" Cadenza sighed, feeling sad that she couldn't hook her brother up with the girl he'd been pining over.
"Hey, we don't ship beastiality here," Katelyn grumbled, tired of talking about her friend's love life.
"So... is it too late to say I ship Tablemau?" Dante asked from the living room, clearly having heard the entire conversation.
"Shut up, Dante," Laurance hushed.
The group watched as Aphmau talked to Celestia from afar, watching as she chased her dog up the stairs, pleading with her:
"No, Celestia, don't go! I can change!"
Reese, who had watched Aphmau have a dramatic breakup with her dog, moved so he could see her run up the stairs. Unknowingly, he moved right under the mistletoe. Well, actually, someone did notice.
"Ahem," a voice hummed, grabbing Reese's attention.
Reese turned around to see Michi standing there with a devilish look in her eyes. She motioned her eyes upward and back down to Reese. He looked up to see the mistletoe over their heads.
"Hello there, handsome~"
{A/N: Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it and would appreciate it if you'd leave a kudos and a comment. I don't know if the next episode will be broken up into two chapters, but I'll let you know soon! Bye!}