{A/N: Guess who jinxed themselves. That's right, this idiot. I'm so sorry about that! I wasn't able to write anything for two days and the chapter was supposed to be updated yesterday, but it was a lot longer than expected. Also, I've created the tumblr account! The ask box on it should be open so ask away if you want! The next episode will also be broken up into two parts. I'm starting to wonder just how long this fanfiction is actually going to be. With about 40 episodes in the season, plus any extra chapters I add in, this is going to take a while. I hope you guys stay for the journey!}
Psst! Here's the link to the tumblr:
http://the-egg.tumblr.com/
TW: Mentions of drug use
"Hello there, handsome~"
Being the gentleman that he was, Reese accepted his fate and gave Michi a light peck on the lips.
Kawaii~Chan watched as it all went down. She hoped that Reese wouldn't accept the kiss. She hoped that Reese would kiss her instead. She hoped that Michi wouldn't do something that would hurt her like this. Michi was Kawaii~Chan's friend, right? Despite having all these hopes, she knew the truth. Especially when it was right in front of her.
Her heart dropped to her stomach, shattering into a million pieces. She felt her body convulse as she tried to hold back tears. She was just beginning to come to terms with her and Reese not being meant to be, but now was a bit too soon. Yet that wasn't what had hurt her the most. People have said that breaking up with a friend would be worse than breaking up with someone you're dating. Well, Kawaii~Chan wasn't dating Reese, but having someone she trusted go behind her back to kiss the guy she was head over heels for was a shock to her. People had told her that Michi wasn't a good person and that she was a petty double-crosser. Someone who was completely selfish and only gave when she got something greater in return.
Was this just another one of Michi's games? They had been friends since high school; did all of that mean nothing to her?
Although the kiss was brief, the amount of turmoil it sent Kawaii~Chan through was far longer. As if she didn't have anything else going wrong in her day, this had to happen too.
Footsteps could be heard upstairs as Aphmau came back down without the heart of her one true lover, Celestia. From her position, she couldn't see the non-existent front door. Standing on one of the steps, looking down at her friends below, she asked,
"What's going on down here?"
Nicole looked around. From the broken door to the shipping argument, Nicole didn't know where to start. What she did know, however, was the tension between Aphmau and her two roommates. She wanted them to interact more. Besides, she especially loved poking fun at Katelyn.
"Oh nothing," she replied slyly, "Kawaii~Chan and Katelyn have just been hosting the party."
Aphmau looked at her roommates in shock.
"Really?" she asked, unsure if this was a joke or not. It was, but she didn't know that.
Kawaii~Chan didn't respond, still lost in trying to ride the waves of inner turmoil in her mind. Katelyn, on the other hand, knew exactly what Nicole was up to.
"Oh, hell no! I'm going back to my room," Katelyn announced. Ignoring everyone, she sauntered up the stairs and out of sight, avoiding eye contact with Aphmau as she made her way there.
Aphmau sighed, knowing that Katelyn wasn't in the mood to talk to her right now. She walked downstairs to join the rest of her friends.
Seeing Kawaii~Chan, she went to talk to her but stopped, noticing the wistful look in her eyes. Aphmau followed her gaze to Reese and Michi, chatting only a few feet away from the mistletoe. She was oblivious to the kiss that had happened between them just moments before. Aphmau looked back at KC, who still hadn't noticed her presence, longing to say something. She should probably just ask if she was alright.
"Yeah," Aphmau reassured herself, "that will start a conversation."
"Hey-"
"Who locked my door?!" Katelyn interrupted as her yell reverberated throughout the entire house. The jiggling and banging of a doorknob could be heard shortly afterwards.
"Damn it!" Katelyn said aloud. "I shouldn't have left my room in the first place!" She mentally slapped herself on the forehead. She left her key inside.
It looked like she was going to have to find another option or just give up.
Aphmau's face paled at her words, but she shook it off, more focused on her Meif'wa friend. Yet seeing the look in Kawaii~Chan's eyes made Aphmau swallow back her words.
Maybe now wasn't the time to talk to her.
Aphmau turned her head to talk to the other guests. Nicole had started talking to Dante, and Kawaii~Chan was in the middle of some sort of crisis. She had turned to Garroth and Laurance, but stopped when she saw the level of seriousness on their faces.
"I don't understand!" Laurance exclaimed, crossing his arms and turning his gaze away from Garroth's face. "I thought that the table and I had something special. Why does Dante ship Aphmau with it instead of me?"
Garroth smiled at him hopelessly and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't focus too much on Dante's words, Laurance. He's always had a weird view of romance. Remember high school?" Garroth comforted.
Laurance nodded his head and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. He was never too good in the romance department."
The two of them turned their heads to Nicole and Dante, happily talking to one another.
"He's probably going to mess up again."
"Yup."
Aphmau decided not to intrude on their conversation. Turning to see if there was anything she needed to do around the house, her eyes landed on a new guest: Cadenza.
"Cadenza?" Aphmau spoke aloud, racking her brain to see if she had seen her as she walked down the stairs.
"Hey Aphmau," Cadenza greeted, waving her over to where she stood. Aphmau smiled and walked over to her friend.
"I'm glad you could make it! I didn't know you had arrived. When did you come in? I-" Aphmau stopped as she felt a burst of cold air hit her. Frowning, she turned to the front door to see that it was not closed; it was not wide open; it was completely gone.
"My door!" Aphmau shouted, placing both of her heads in her hair. "How did this happen? Was it Garroth? Garroth, I swear if it was you, I'll--"
This time Cadenza cut her off,
"Actually, it was me," she admitted, biting the inside of her cheek. Aphmau blinked a few times.
"You? Out of everyone, you were not one of the people I suspected."
"You know, I just walked up, heard a conversation inside that I knew I just must be a part of, and I kinda just—you know—kicked the door down. To be honest, I surprised myself with that one. Look at it! It's clear off its hinges," Cadenza explained casually, motioning to the front entrance.
How in the world did she say that as if she were talking about her day? How many doors had Cadenza broken in her past?
Aphmau was at a loss for words, her mouth hanging agape as she tried to make sense of it all.
Cadenza caught on to her shock and immediately offered to pay for the door. Aphmau agreed, and after giving Cadenza the price, Cadenza wrote a check for the door.
"Sorry again about your door," Cadenza apologized, looking at the open doorway. This might be a problem for the rest of the party.
"It's okay. The girls and I actually bought a spare in case Garroth ever broke it down. We never expected it to be you, though," Aphmau explained.
"I know, right?" Garroth agreed, having overheard the conversation. "I'm almost offended that you beat me to it."
The girls started laughing until Cadenza remembered something with a sharp gasp. Aphmau jumped up in surprise at the sudden change in mood.
Aphmau and Garroth watched Cadenza as she checked her person and the surrounding area with a glance.
"I forgot the cakes in the car!" she announced, turning to Aphmau. "I hope you don't mind that I brought some dessert. They're chocolate cakes with extra sprinkles."
At the mention of his long-lost, unofficial pet, Garroth started sniffling. His eyes began to water.
"Sprinkles," he sniffed.
Aphmau grimaced, knowing that she couldn't tell Garroth the truth about Sprinkles.
"Garroth, are you okay?" Cadenza asked, her brows furrowing as her tone softened.
"I-I still don't know if she's okay," Garroth continued, ignoring the stares and comments from his friends. An arm wrapped around his shoulder helped him come back to reality a bit.
"He's fine. He just misses this purple cat we found a while ago," Laurance explained, using the hand on Garroth's shoulder to squeeze him tight. "Come here, Garroth." Laurance started walking his friend over to one of the couches to sit down.
"Do you think Sprinkles is okay?" Garroth cried, clutching onto Laurance's shirt.
"I'm pretty sure they're 100% okay, Garroth. My gut feeling says so," Laurance reassured. Garroth just buried his face into Laurance's chest to wallow in his grief. Laurance wrapped his other arm around him in a comforting embrace.
The girls allowed Garroth to cry away as they went to get the cake from Cadenza's car. When they were outside in the cool, night air, Cadenza found this the perfect opportunity to ask her questions without potential eavesdroppers.
"So, Aphmau," Cadenza started, unlocking her car, "why didn't you kiss Laurance under the mistletoe?"
Aphmau looked at Cadenza as she cocked her head to the side.
"Because we weren't under the mistletoe together?"
"No, no, no, you, Garroth, and Laurance were clearly under the mistletoe together, according to Kawaii~Chan. You didn't kiss either of them. It's obvious that if you were to kiss anyone, it would have to be Laurance, so why?"
Both Aphmau and Cadenza stopped in front of the car, neither of them really interested in bringing in the cakes at the moment.
"Well, I find that a bit too much. Sorry, Cadenza, I don't really like Laurance that way."
"Dang it! Do you like someone else? Why not go for Laurance, though? He's a great guy!"
Aphmau laughed at her.
"I don't think you'll be able to set me up with your brother. Besides, I'm kinda talking to someone right now who I like, so I'm not really interested in Garroth or Laurance."
Cadenza was quiet. Her face looked intense, but her eyes seemed distant, as if lost in thought.
"Have you...have you told Laurance this already?" Cadenza shifted to lean against her car. Aphmau wrapped her arms around herself to warm herself up from the night air.
"I mean, they know that I'm interested in Aaron," Aphmau explained, not answering her question entirely.
Cadenza's eyes went wide as her jaw dropped.
"Aaron? You like Aaron Lycan?"
Aphmau nodded shyly, not expecting that big of a reaction. They've been pinning on each other for a while now, and apparently everyone could tell.
"Man... Well, I'm sorry for trying to force Laurance onto you. He started showing a lack of interest in you lately, and I thought he needed a push because he felt like giving up," Cadenza apologized.
Aphmau's ears perked up at the mention of this.
"Wait, Laurance is losing his feelings for me?" Aphmau asked, shocked.
Cadenza looked surprised.
"Well, when I called him, he seemed different. He mentioned how he thinks he's starting to like someone else now. He didn't want to say who, but he was losing feelings for sure."
Aphmau placed a finger under her chin in thought.
"How does that make sense? If he was losing feelings for me, why would he try to get me under the mistletoe?"
"I don't know." Cadenza shrugged. "I am more interested in who Laurance is interested in now. I'd love to try and get him together with them."
"It would be nice to see him together with someone instead of pinning on me," Aphmau agreed, her heart twinging a bit at her words. A burst of cold air rushed around the two girls, causing them to shiver.
"We should probably get the cakes," Cadenza suggested.
"Agreed."
The two got the cakes, locked the car, and went back inside to the party. Aphmau led Cadenza to the kitchen and placed the desserts on the counter.
"Well," Aphmau said, "I should probably go and fix the door. Enjoy the party!"
Aphmau waved goodbye at Cadenza, whose attention was caught by McCloud's never-ending intimate dancing on the table. Before Aphmau was able to start working on the broken door, her phone started to buzz. She whipped out her phone to check the caller ID.
It was Travis.
"Travis?" Aphmau said aloud. She remembered inviting him to the party, yet it was already about halfway through the night and he still hadn't shown up. Although there was another guest who hadn't shown up yet, Travis should have shown up 30 minutes into the party and announced that he was "fashionably late".
Aphmau answered the call, put it up to her ear, and immediately yanked it back at Travis's loud voice.
"HEY APH, I TRIED TO CALL KATELYN, BUT SHE DIDN'T PICK UP!" he shouted into the phone as a soft blare of music could be heard in the background.
"Travis, calm down!" Aphmau shouted back, "You're too loud!"
"I'm sorry!" Travis yelled, doing nothing to deescalate the situation. Aphmau could hear deep breathing on the other end. Travis didn't say anything, most likely trying to calm himself down.
"If you're going to be late to the party—" Aphmau was interrupted by Travis's abrupt answer.
"No, no, no! Aph, I don't think I can even make it to the party."
Aphmau rolled her eyes. He was screaming at her just to tell her he wasn't going to make it?
"Travis, it's fine if you can't make it, but you don't have to shout at me because of it."
"No, I wish I could, honestly! I kinda sorta woke up on someone's roof. I don't remember how I got here, but I think there's a party going on inside the house."
Aphmau was at a loss for words. What in the name of Irene did Travis do?
"How?" Aphmau asked, drawn out, as if she wanted to make sure she was asking the right question.
"I have no idea. Vylad gave me some brownies a while ago-" Travis checked the time on his phone to see that it was definitely not 'a while ago' at this point- "I think... they didn't really taste good. He tried telling me that they weren't what I thought they were, but I told him that brownies are brownies, and I ate three of them."
Aphmau pinched her brow between her fingers and sighed.
"Travis, do not tell me that you ate three pot brownies today," she commanded.
"Aphmau, I think I just ate three pot brownies today."
"Travis, no!"
"Travis is sorry!"
"You should be!"
It was silent on both ends. Travis was too high out of his mind to realize he was still on a call. Even with his nap, the weed was still strong in his system. Aphmau just didn't know what to say.
"Oh Irene," Travis murmured, breaking the silence. "The stars look exactly like Katelyn's butt."
"Travis!" Aphmau scolded.
"Who are you?!" Travis yelled, frightened at being snapped out of his thoughts.
"Aphmau!"
"Oh! Hey, Aphmau!"
"We already said 'hi'."
"Oh..."
Aphmau let out a groan.
"Travis, tell me everything you've had tonight."
Travis thought for a moment, and although it wasn't much, it was still something.
"The brownie man... no, wait. Vylad. Yeah, Vylad. He gave me some brownies, and they tasted okay. He needs to work on his baking skills. I think if he added some-"
"Forget the cooking skills! Just keep talking about what you ate tonight."
"Does smoking count as eating?"
"Oh dear Irene, Travis, what did you smoke?!"
"Something green-looking. It was only one hit, though!"
"Okay, so you ate brownies and you probably smoked some weed. Anything else?"
"I went to IHOP today."
"That's very nice, Travis. Can you tell me who Vylad is?"
Travis was silent, trying his best to remember. He could have sworn that Aphmau knew him. It's funny because out of the two, Travis was the only one who got high. Vylad just lived there.
Think. Think. Think!
Brown hair...green eyes...
He had a brother, didn't he? Wait, two brothers. Wait!
"Do you remember Vylad Ro'Meave? He's-"
The line went dead. Confused, Aphmau pulled the phone away from her ear to check to see if the call really ended, and Travis didn't just go silent again.
It ended.
Aphmau thought for a moment. She remembered Vylad from high school. She remembered all of her Not-Alone Buddies, but she didn't know that he was here in the States again. Not only that, but he had dabbled in or was currently dabbling in some of the spicy stuff. As far as she knew, Travis wasn't someone who got high often—maybe once or twice every couple of months—but it was always at a party and in moderation. Right now? Travis was greening out on some random person's roof.
Aphmau tried calling Travis again, worried for his safety. He didn't pick up.
She didn't have an address, a location, or any details about the area where Travis was in case he needed help. Fear gnawed inside her stomach as her palms began to sweat. Maybe his battery died. Maybe he accidentally ended the call and was too high to answer it again.
Maybe he fell off the roof and died.
"Oh my Irene! Get these thoughts out of your head, Aphmau!" Aphmau thought to herself, slapping at her cheeks to knock some sense back into her.
She took a deep breath. Logically, every time Travis had done something stupid like this, he had turned out okay. He had been knocked off roofs before and bared Katelyn's punches, and besides, this was not Travis' first rodeo with drugs. College was one heck of a time.
Oh well, she was just going to have to hope for the best. Besides, calling the police could only get him and whomever he was with into trouble.
Sighing, Aphmau put her phone away.
===
Travis lay down on the roof, looking up at the sky. It really was a beautiful night, even with the cold air potentially giving him frostbite. The stars danced along in the night sky, and Travis closed his eyes.
While calling Aphmau, he accidentally held the power button and shut off his phone. Of course, Travis didn't realize he had done that and assumed he had lost batteries. Then, while looking at the sky, he wanted to take a picture of the stars.
Forgetting that his phone was powered off, he tried taking a picture. When he was met with a black screen despite his best efforts, he gave up and dropped his phone next to him. Without turning to look, he heard the sound of an object sliding off the slanted roof and clattering onto the driveway below.
It took him a solid minute to realize the object was his phone.
He felt fear and panic at the thought of losing something valuable to him. He knew in his gut that dropping his phone wasn't okay, and he shouldn't have done that, but his vision wasn't straight enough to find a safe way down the roof. Plus, moving around made his stomach twist in an unpleasant way.
"Welp, I guess I'm sleeping up here tonight," Travis said aloud, trying to get comfortable on the roof.
"Travis? Travis?" A voice called out to him. "You better not be on the roof."
The clattering of footsteps could be heard.
"And you're on the roof." The voice spoke again. "Alright, buddy, let's get you down from here."
===
Aphmau entered the garage and walked over to the little supply corner to grab their spare door. Did Aphmau know how to screw on a door? Absolutely not, but she could try.
She noticed the door peeking out from behind the plethora of supplies. All she had to do was pull it out with her weak arm strength. She gripped the door and pulled with all of her might.
It barely moved.
Huffing, she tried again.
"Hey, do you need some help?"
Startled, Aphmau jumped back and yelped, trying to smack the intruder but missing entirely.
"Laurance!" she gasped, looking up at him. "You scared the bejeebers out of me!"
Laurance laughed as he apologized to her and asked if she needed help again.
Aphmau happily accepted, and together they pulled the door out and dusted it off. They started carrying it out of the garage, hoping that no one uninvited would come in.
When they reached the front door, the two watched as Dante and Garroth carried a chunky-looking squirrel out of the house.
"Wha...," Aphmau said, pointing at the squirrel, unable to form the full word.
"It ate two whole cupcakes. Two," Garroth semi-explained, his tone irritated.
"It was hard, but it got too heavy to outrun us. We're taking it to the vet. We'll be back," Dante announced.
With that, Garroth and Dante left the house. Aphmau looked at Cadenza with a frown on her face.
"This is what happens when we break other people's doors," Aphmau scolded before going back to the task at hand. Turning to Laurance, she asked, "Do you know how to fix a door?"
"Aph, I lived on a farm for most of my life. If I didn't know how to fix a door, I'd be a failure to my family," he responded.
"I thought you were already a failure?" Aphmau joked.
"Nah, that's Cadenza."
The two of them laughed as they set up the door and walked back to the garage to get tools.
In the comfortable silence between them, Aphmau's conversation with Cadenza rang through her ears.
"He started showing a lack of interest in you lately, and I thought he needed a push because he felt like giving up."
More specifically, Cadenza's words on how Laurance tried to get Aphmau under the mistletoe. She didn't know when. She was probably too worried about something else to notice, but to know that Garroth and Laurance were fighting over her made her cringe.
"Am I really some cliche protagonist?" Aphmau thought to herself, remembering back to high school, where Garroth and Laurance used to fight over Aphmau constantly. While she guiltily enjoyed that behavior in the past and present, her argument with her roommates put things in perspective. Even if she kind of liked it, it was disgusting to lead others on, especially as an adult. Now, though, since Cadenza believed Laurance might be moving on, maybe Aphmau could change things.
"So, Laurance, have you been talking to anyone lately?" she asked bluntly but suggestively, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Nope! Unless we're counting you," he flirted, winking at her. Aphmau laughed but panicked internally. This was not how the conversation was supposed to go.
"But you have to have lost interest in me by now, right? You already know I like Aaron," she quickly admitted.
"Yeah, I know. Sure, I may or may not be interested in someone else, but that doesn't mean I just stopped liking you completely. It'll take time, but yeah, I guess I am losing interest in you."
"Didn't you and Garroth both try to kiss me under the mistletoe?" Aphmau's eyes went half-lidded.
"T-That was in the past!"
"That was thirty minutes ago. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you and Garroth were trying to kiss each other."
Laurance's cheeks went red as his eyes grew wide.
"Wh... What?! That's crazy! No, absolutely not. I mean, haha, wouldn't that be funny, am I right?"
Aphmau's mouth opened slightly as it curled into a smile.
"Wait, do you actually like Garroth?"
"No, that's gay!"
"Are you saying it's wrong to be gay?"
"No way!"
"Then don't use that as some sort of insult."
"I'm sorry, I'm just..." Laurance huffed, not knowing what to say without outing himself in some way. Before he could open his mouth, he watched as Garroth and Dante walked back in from their trip to the vet.
"That was fast," Aphmau commented.
"Dante is a fast driver," Garroth said in his normal cheerful tone.
"Did you stay within the speed limit?" Aphmau asked, cocking her brow.
"I did nothing you can prove," Dante replied, continuing to walk away. Aphmau looked over at Laurance and noticed his gaze toward Garroth. She recognized that look.
He was falling in love.
Aphmau knew that Garroth was pansexual, but he made her swear to secrecy about it. That was something she'd respect until the day she died. On the other hand, she had no idea about Laurance's sexuality. She knew he wasn't homophobic by any means, so when he used "that's gay" to justify "not liking Garroth," it surprised her. Most likely, he might actually be questioning his sexuality.
Saying things like that may be a way for him to cope with this sudden mix of emotions by trying to either prove he is straight or queer.
"Well, Laurance and I are going to keep fixing this door, so you can go enjoy the party!" Aphmau told Garroth, wanting to continue talking to Laurance alone. Garroth offered to help, but neither Aphmau nor Laurance wanted the door crusher within attacking distance of this door.
The moment Garroth was out of earshot, Aphmau turned to Laurance.
"Laurance, if you like Garroth, you know that's completely fine. I, along with everyone else, support you," Aphmau reassured, placing a hand on his arm as it worked on replacing the door.
"I-I... Is it obvious that I like him?"
"A lot of us have been shipping you two as a couple, especially Katelyn. I think you two are a good match."
"I don't... I don't even know if he swings that way."
"I didn't know that you swung that way until you told me. That's exactly how you are going to know, by asking him."
"I don't even know what I am. I just know that I like him!"
"And that's okay! You're not going to discover your sexuality overnight. It takes time and experience. Don't force it. You just go with the flow and like who you want to like."
Aphmau gave Laurance a comforting smile, but as soon as it reached her face, it began to drop.
"Am I forcing myself into his problem? Oh dear Irene, am I acting like a people-pleaser?" she questioned herself. Here she was, helping people out with their relationship problems while she was still stuck in the mud with her own.
"B-But of course, this is your life, and you do with it what you want. I'll just support you from afar," she stuttered, removing her hand. Laurance frowned.
"Thanks, I appreciate it, but what's up with you? What's with the switch?"
Aphmau bit her lip. She didn't want to involve Laurance in her problem, especially since it partially involved him, but looking at Laurance's concerning gaze made her crack just a bit.
"Do I annoy you?"
"Everyone annoys me if they push the right buttons."
"No, not that." Aphmau waved her hand in response before putting it back down. "I mean, do I ever seem like I'm trying to be perfect?"
Laurance put his screwdriver down, fully invested in the conversation. By now, Laurance had screwed on the door almost completely, while Aphmau helped hold it up.
"Explain," Laurance ushered.
So, Aphmau explained everything, from the argument to the way her life seems to fit the "perfect narrative". Expressing her worries and fears about herself as a person, Laurance continued to listen with his brows furrowed. His eyes reflected sympathy. She finally finished, feeling as if she had said enough without diving into her feelings about her love life.
Laurance read Aphmau's expression to make sure she was fully there before responding.
"Well, if you ask my opinion, I don't think you act too much like a people-pleaser or a Mary Sue. First, being a Mary Sue implies that you're a fictional character living in some sort of fantasy that the author has self-inserted themselves into. Unless this is all a simulation, that's not you, but I can see where Katelyn is coming from.
"Although it was nice to offer to help pay for Katelyn's college tuition, when she said no, you shouldn't have questioned it. You tend to help out a lot of people with their problems--"
"But, in return, so many people help me out with my problems."
"Except they aren't ignoring their own problems for yours, but you do. Stop being in the backseat of your life and take the wheel."
Aphmau allowed his advice to sink in before nodding at him with a smile.
"The same goes for you too. You like Garroth; that's obvious, but you have a lot of questions about yourself, so go and find your answers."
Laurance smiled back at Aphmau, glad they had both come to a mutual agreement, before going back to fixing the door.
There was a nice silence that hung between them as they worked, but there was still one more thing that hadn't left Aphmau's mind.
"So, about the Zane stickers—"
"Oh dear Irene, can we just forget the whole thing happened?" Laurance groaned, laughing a little at the end.
"Katelyn sure isn't going to forget it."
"Don't remind me of the woman who's going to kill me."
Aphmau laughed at him, knowing that what he said was 100% true.
"But really, though, why Zane stickers out of everything?"
Well, we were going to get back at you four by vandalizing your stuff with stickers."
Hold on. You four? Then it clicked in Aphmau's mind: the boys didn't know that Travis and Aaron were a part of their scheme.
Knowing that snitches get stitches, she chose not to tell Laurance the truth.
"Poor Zane. His face is everywhere."
"I don't feel sorry for that jerk."
Aphmau's heart panged as she cringed. After what had happened with Zane and knowing that Kawaii~Chan managed to talk to him, she started growing sympathy for him.
"Maybe we shouldn't call him a jerk..."
"Aphmau, I know you're a soft person, but the last person you should ever be soft with is him."
"I just think that maybe he's not as bad as we all think he is."
"Oh you're right. When Zane and his "Jury" terrorized the school for two years, he was just "misunderstood", right?" Laurance sassed, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he lifted an eyebrow.
"No, absolutely not! What Zane did in high school was horrible, but that was high school. It's been years since then. Think about it! He hasn't done anything horrible to us or something remotely similar since high school. In fact, we haven't seen him in years! He may still look like the brood we hated, but I think he's changed in some ways."
"Where's all of this coming from? I thought you didn't like Zane either?"
"Part of me still doesn't like him, but that doesn't mean I have to treat someone horribly because of their past."
"Unless they did something terrible, like kick a dog."
"Oh yeah, if Zane did that, he would be picking out his gravestone."
"Definitely. I guess, compared to other people, Zane does kinda seem like a misunderstood emo, but that doesn't mean I'm forgiving him that easily."
"I'm not saying you have to, just that we should probably lay off of him and treat him equally without any set-in-stone expectations."
"Sure, I can see where you're coming from, and I—wait, is Garroth crying again?"
"Sprinkles!" Garroth wailed in the living room, clinging to Dante's arm.
"Laurance, come get your boyfriend! He's crying again!" Dante called out, pointing his free arm at the crying man.
"He's not my...nevermind, come here, Garroth," Laurance cooed as he walked over to Garroth, leaving Aphmau at the door.
Aphmau smiled warmly at the two of them, watching as Garroth proceeded to cling onto Laurance while Laurance rubbed his back and gave him more reassurances.
Aphmau checked the time on her phone.
9:30 P.M.
Suddenly, a ring resonated throughout the entire house, snapping Aphmau out of her thoughts. She turned around to open the new door and let in another guest. When she saw who it was, her smile grew even more as she exclaimed,
"You actually came!"
{A/N: Thank you for reading this chapter! I'm sorry it was a bit longer than expected, so the chapter was slightly delayed because of it. If you enjoyed this, please leave it a star and a comment. Bye!}