Here Comes The Sun - BlankGeode (2024)

Chapter 1: Dear Irene: Why do my neighbors look like my dead friends?

Chapter Text

Laurance over the years had grown tired of living in the village just to see them die or leave one by one until all he had left was their children. Children who grew to be older than himself, with grandchildren who he saw grow up to have kids of their own.

The knight had been protecting the village for so many years, and everything- every war, every fight, and every struggle he helped.

He didn’t know what else to do so he helped, fighting in battles that he wished he’d die in.

So he left the town of Phoenix Drop and all of the grief that it carried with it. He hoped Engrith would forgive him for leaving his grave behind, but he had a feeling that he would.

He left for New Meteli, then Scaleswind, then All across the region of Ru’aun. Everywhere though, new conflict and war seemed to follow him.

As civilization grew more and more advanced he found himself attracted to city life, blending in with a huge crowd where no one would really recognize him. Though after a while even that started to get a bit boring, and after thinking about it…

The brunette couldn’t stay away from home.

Curiosity had caused him to seek out the new version of the town of Phoenix Drop. It was nothing at all like it used to be. The once small town grew bigger and it wasn’t recognizable at all other than the park that had… reserved the Statue and even the well that Aphmau had repaired so many times. It had a golden plaque attached to it with some dates and other info. nothing was mentioned of him in the plaque, although, no one else was either except speculation that Irene herself had swum in the well and the water had a holy quality to it.

After all this, he started looking and found a house he was rather drawn to house available on an empty block of for-sale houses on Mystreet and he got himself one.

While Laurance was the only one on the street, he had grown fond of the pretty-looking neighborhood. He moved in what little possessions he allowed himself to have, since attachments that could ruin when he was stuck like this would prove futile. The area was beautiful with lovely grass and a sidewalk connecting the houses, some having lovely brick paths.

He enjoyed the silence and even grew a routine of sorts. He drank tea in the morning and ate whatever he had for breakfast, then he’d take a shower, then he’d turn on his TV(he bought it for cheap at a yard sale years ago and kept the old thing with him ever since.) and watch whatever was playing on the screen.

He’d make whatever new dish he thought to try for lunch and dinner, mostly old school.

His little quiet life was disturbed by the plethora of moving trucks coming into the area. The first one he saw only had one man moving in on the house at the corner. His blue eyes looked on from his porch curiously, the man in the distance barely looked at the movers whilst directing them in a way that felt… familiar even from a distance he couldn't even read the details of his face.

Laurance catches sight of the man with dark hair, they lock eye contact and the former Knight feels resentment boil strong in his blood. His chest grows tight and the man tries to control his breathing Relax, it's not him. He tells himself over and over until he's breathing a bit calmer.

The man across the street from him narrows his eyes and lifts his hand as if debating whether to wave to him or not. Laurance bites his tongue and smiles, throwing a halfhearted wave in their direction before jerking around and forcing himself inside. The black-haired man frowned, muttering something under his breath before marching off.

The next person he saw move in was another familiar Face, a familiar figure, Brendan. Or at least his freaky look alike- maybe his great-grandson or something. The coincidences of similar-looking people were starting to get… concerning when two houses away from him he saw another person he never really was able to stand- Aaron. Or… Whoever it actually was.

Then two weeks after that two moving trucks parked themselves across from each other and Laurance was dreading even looking out the blinds when he heard the loud beeping and the distant chattering.

_

Laurance sat curled on his couch, the house was quiet and some TV Show was playing in the background that he hadn't been really paying attention too. He had his phone in his hand, his thumb hovering over the google bar.

What to do if someone reminds you of someone you hate and or cared about from a previous life but you can't just stay inside forever and live your immortal and sad life as a complete hermit?

Strangely enough, nothing popped up other than a series of books and…. “fan fiction”? As well as a popular tale called ‘Tuck Everlasting.’ Which he looked at the general description and it sounded a bit too romanticized for his taste- in similar fashion to vampires like in those Vampire films and books. He hated vampires and what they stood for, why did so many find themselves so attracted to such an awful life and to creatures that killed and ruined others lives.

A lot of whatever fanfiction was, was just a bunch of nonsensical mishmash of words he didn't care to look into or understand. He scrolled further and found a couple…. blog posts or something, it was similar to a town post board but with a much further range and Laurance couldn't be bothered to even try to understand the abbreviations and stupid hypothetical.

‘I would <3 to be immortal, living forever sounds awesome.’

Laurance narrowed his eyes “ Go to the nether and find out yourself” he found himself thinking bitterly, his thoughts interrupted by his doorbell chime reverberating throughout the house. He sits up, standing to his feet and walks over to the door. He opens the door and

Oh my Irene.

“Aphmau?” he says in shock, the girl looks at him in confusion “yeah! That's.. Me! I just moved in basically across the street! How did… You know my name?” she asked, tilting her head to her side.

How is she here? She's supposed to be in her own realm watching over everyone, This…. It's really her but she doesn't recognize me… But everything about her is the same down to how her hair is styled.

Laurance put on a smile, he looks over at her “Oh well I heard the name when all the movers were here yesterday, I saw you.” Of course, that was a complete lie. Aphmau nods “oh! Yeah! Not to mention a lot of yelling went on… Heh… Sorry about that…” she apologized nervously.

Laurance shrugged “didn't bother me too much… What was that all about, anyway?” he didn't actually hear it at all. Aphmau looked away at the house next to Laurence's “...well, these three guys I've known for a long time moved in the exact area I have- it was a coincidence but I thought they had done it on purpose for a moment… Then KC made me mad-”

Laurance couldn't help another twinge in his chest at another familiar name. KC? He thought of another girl he had known so long ago. While he wasn't particularly close, he was fond of the meifwa “The girl with Pink hair?” he questions, and Aphmau nods “that's her.” she rolls her eyes.

“she just set up like a weird thing in my basem*nt and- oh right, I did come to meet our neighbors! I didn't realize we even had you as a neighbor until Katelyn mentioned this one didn't have a sign on it-” she pause “basically I realized, we never introduced ourselves! Well… I'm here on behalf of the other two since they are at work.”

Laurance chuckled, He never heard Aphmau talk so… Cheerily and carefree. It warmed his heart, the name Katelyn rung familiar as well but he forced himself not to focus on that bit “I see, well… I haven't exactly been friendly with my neighbors either- only really interacted with one… from a reasonable distance of across the street.” he admits abashedly “My name is Laurance, it’s lovely to meet you.”

This felt so painful yet so nice at the same time, finally… a face that was familiar yet he wasn’t familiar to her.

“Laurance.” She says as if thinking about it “That’s a nice name!! And If You’d like I could introduce you to my friends, and it might be easier for you.” She offers kindly and Laurance just couldn’t say no to her, He cares for her so much and has a selfish need for a friend “I’d like that actually, just let me get my shoes on- you can come in if you’d like or stay there it doesn’t matter.”

Aphmau nods with a smile “I’ll just stay at the door, Laurance!” She spoke so friendly towards him without really thinking that he couldn’t help but smile back at her. He missed her, he missed his friends so f*cking much. Laurance hurried and found a pair of shoes to slip on before heading out with Aphmau.

“I’ll introduce you to my roommates first then I can introduce you to the boys, and Brendan!” She looks at the driveway “…Well Brendan’s car is not there… so maybe not him yet.” she mumbled to herself, it seemed she knew him pretty well too- did… they all know each other? “Is he your friend too?” He asks and Aphmau nods a bit subtly “Yeah, he’s real nice- a little weird but he’s nice! We occasionally worked on projects together in class.”

Laurance can only nod in response “cool.” He responds real smoothly. Aphmau opens her door and calls out “KC!!! Katelynnnnn?!” She calls out playfully with a big grin on her face. Laurance lets out a sharp inhale and prepares himself, KC is the first one down the stairs “Aphmau!” she cheers with a big smile “KC is glad you're home!!”

So this one still does that cutesy speak? Laurance was sure that the old KC didn't speak in the third person anymore after she married Dante- she had reasons to hide behind it but… She wondered if this one did too.

“You must be KC then.” he smiles kindly at her and she stares back “Aphmau who is this? He's cute!!!” she squeals and then giggles.

“This is Laurance! He's our neighbor! I offered to introduce him to everyone since we happen to be friends with everyone.” she introduces him and he waves, smiling along with what she's saying. The mief'wa nods “Ohhh! It's nice to meet you!! Katelynnnn, KC thinks you should come down here!”

There's an audible groan and Laurance can't help but frown a bit-The Katelyn he knew was a bit of a hot head but never really a grump. The blue-haired woman stepped out of the room “I was trying to meditate-!” she paused once her eyes landed on Laurance “oh Hello, you're… The neighbor.” She changed demeanor immediately, her annoyed expression turning more complaisant.

“Laurance.” he corrected a bit awkwardly, this was by far one of the weirdest moments in his life “Uh- Katelyn…” She looks at him up and down “Have we met before or something?” she asks, leaning against the railing. Laurance feels guilty when he answers “No, I don't think so- Sorry.” he shook his head.

KC flicks her tail, looking between the two curiously “You know I thought you looked familiar too!” she chimes in and Aphmau looks at Laurance from next to him, her eyes observing him. The Knight shrugs.

“Well I don't remember meeting you before, it could be Deja Vu- like we were in the same store or something.” he offers as a solution. “Probably.” Katelyn agreed and KC let out a “Hmm…”

Katelyn huffs “Okay, nice to meet you then. I'm gonna go back to meditating now.” she gestures to her room and Laurance looks that way “Maybe we can all get to know each other better when I'm not in the middle of something.” She gives a wave, turns around, and heads back to her room.

KC giggles “Katelyn likes to meditate a lot, being interrupted makes her a bit grumpy…” she bounces on her heels “It’s nice to meet you but I need to go get the cookies from the oven!” She flicks her ears and waves a hand “Bye Laurance, lovely meeting you!”

Laurance waved back, allowing her to go back to baking “They seemed nice.” he says, they both weren’t that different from who he once knew. Katelyn though did seem way more relaxed now.

Aphmau nods in agreement “Yep! We all have our fights and a lot of people find Katelyn aggressive or KC annoying at first- I mean I know I did! I became friends with her by accident, actually.” She laughed nervously. “On accident? How’d that even happen?” Laurance is sure most real friendships don’t happen purposely, most of his were by accident.

Hell his strongest relationship other than Aphmau or Engrith, the blonde knight who he was so fond of- started off as more of a rivalry. They both fought over Aphmau and got into dumb arguments, dumb arguments that turned into friendly jabs, and soon playful teasing, then hands that searched for each other and unspoken words and confessions. Laurance hadn’t realized he zoned out until Aphmau was standing in front of him trying to get his attention “Hellooooo?” She tried.

Laurance looked back at her “My Apologies, my thoughts drifted away from me.” Aphmau can’t help but giggle at his response “No worries! All I said really was that I put a sleepover invitation at the wrong desk and she showed up! We ended up getting along… are you okay though? you seemed… lost.”

That’s the most Aphmau has yet to sound like her- or the old her- Irene? Laurance nods “Thank you, but I’m fine- Your friendship with them just reminded me of one that I used to have.” He must have sounded sad because Aphmau reached out and placed a hand on his bicep, rubbing a thumb up and down on the arm “You want to talk about it?” She offers so kindly, to someone she barely knew.

Laurance lets out a pained sigh “I um, it was… a while ago- and….” He chokes “I can’t uh- I can’t, later maybe- Thank you.” He swallows dryly, running his fingers through his hair “Let’s uh- go meet our other neighbors, shall we?” He turns to leave and Aphmau hesitates to let the subject drop before nodding “Yeah! Of course! Come on-!” She walks ahead of him, closing the door behind them.

A car door slammed shut from next to them and the two turned towards it to see Brendan hauling an IKEA box with the image of a couch on it and he was obviously struggling. Aphmau nearly said something but without a word, Laurance walked over and picked up the other end “oh! thank you, Ga-” He heard, the man peaked over “Uhh I don’t know you-“

“Laurance, sorry you just looked like you were struggling.” He smiles and Brendan smiles back “Well, thank you! Not many people like to help these days- oh Aphmau hey!” He cheers and Aphmau smiles “Is there any way I can help too, Brendan?” She asks, and Brendan gestures with his head to the door “Open it for us?” Aphmau goes and does just that.

Laurance knew he could have lifted the entire box in by himself, helping Brendan felt so at home for him. Back in the village, he would often help with the heavy lifting- especially during the period Garroth was missing. Definitely a really painful time, he could barely handle being without the man- only Aphmau had really been able to ground him during that time.

“We can just drop it right here-“ they both carefully set it down on the floor “So Laurance, right? Nice to meet you! I’m Brendan.” He offers a hand to shake and Laurance takes it “Nice to meet you too.” He smiles “If you ever need help like this don’t hesitate to ask- I’m from across the street.” He gestured to his house from the doorway, Aphmau looks at him “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind if you ever need help either.” She chimes in.

Brendan nods “well thanks! I don’t want to bother you guys though.” He looks down at the box “I need to get to building this though, we can all hang out later!” He grins and Aphmau nods “Yeah! Come on Laurance!” She nudges him and despite his urge to stay and help- he follows her.

Laurance steps outside and Aphmau glanced his way “That was awfully nice of you, you don’t even know him.” She reached to tuck hair behind her ear “Do you do that often?”

Laurance forced himself to laugh, it was awkward“I uh… not usually! But Brendan reminded me of a kid I knew once and I felt like helping him.” He shrugged, starting to walk ahead of her.

“oh… either way, it’s still a good thing to do for a stranger, it’s…. Gentlemanly!” He perks up, happy at herself for finding the right wording no doubt.

“Thanks, You’re… neighbors in front right?” He gestured to the house “Yeah! The-“ She pauses, her happy face turning into a grimace “Zane.” She speaks.

Zane turns towards her, he was stepping off the porch “Aphmau.” His line of sight turned towards Laurance, his eye looked him over “You, I was going to come by your house eventually- I’m part of the neighborhood watch.” He introduces “Zane Romeave.”

Laurance can’t help but sneer, pointing a thumb in his direction while turning to Aphmau “This guy? Wanting to keep the neighborhood safe?” He cackles “No way I can believe that-“ the idea and audacity that Zane f*cking Romeave wanted to keep anyone safe Was so ridiculous. Zane let out a growl “Well You’d better believe it- whatever your name is.”

“it’s Laurance.” He answers, covering his smile with his hand “Nice to meet you.” Though, he doesn’t mean it- he can’t. This guy has been the source of so much hurt for him and all his friends for so f*cking long. Zane sighs heavily, crossing his arms “I also am gonna be…doing some events and I was looking for more people to join the watch but I can see no one here wants to or is even worthy.” He huffs.

Laurance can’t even feel bad “Probably wouldn’t have joined anyway.” He comments bitterly. Zane’s brow twitches “Tch, whatever- I’m keeping an eye on you little Laurance.” The fury bubbles in his chest “Good luck, Cyclops.” He huffs, glaring at him until he was out of sight.

Aphmau had a similar expression to Laurance “I get why I’m not particularly fond of Zane, but how come you aren’t?”

Laurance’s expression softens “I… I just had a run-in with him when he first moved in- it doesn’t help he looks like an asshole that-“ he cringes, coming up with a quick lie “that bullied me in high school.” The girl looks at him with a doubtful expression.

“Oh… okay… why don’t we go ahead and meet our three annoying but well-meaning neighbors.” The goddess(?) cheers with a smile.

Laurance nods, walking with her to the door “Yeah alright.” Laurance was prepared for Levi or Malachi, maybe Dale or Logan- just… when Aphmau knocked on the door he didn’t expect to see Garroth, Travis, and Dante in front of them, all looking like they had fought to get to the door.

“Aphmauuu! How’s it cooking good looking?” Dante flirts, leaning against the doorway.

“Heyyyyyy Aphmau~” Travis greeted with a wink.

Laurance was mortified.

Chapter 2: Dear Irene: How can a house tour give me so much emotional distress?!

Chapter Text

Garroth picked up his sword from the wall and twirled it in his hand “This one might make a good replacement until it’s repaired, what do you think?” He turns towards the brunette who crosses his arms “That blade isn’t quite as beautiful as your other one but I think it might just do well in battle, May I see it?”

Garroth hands it to him, their fingers touching when Laurance grips the hilt and for a couple of moments Garroths hand doesn’t leave “Well, upon closer look… it does actually look quite lovely.” Laurance whispered, his eyes looking at Garroth who nods in agreement “I agree, it looks even better up close.”

They both look at each other in the quiet of the armory, Even in a moment like this, it all remained unspoken despite everything they wanted to say.

Garroth wasn’t looking at him.

The blonde was staring at Aphmau and focused on her like she was his entire world.

The blonde looked so incredibly happy, his voice carried itself on in a way that was way less formal and even a bit gravelly. Laurance felt his heartache in a way it had every time he had thought of the blonde, he had never quite loved again after Garroth had passed… Sure he did have plenty of instances of flirting and one-night stands but nothing quite like him.

“so who's this guy?” Garroth asked after finally noticing him.

Oh hell

Oh hell…!

Oh NETHER-

“Oh this is… Why don't you introduce yourself?” Aphmau gestured to him when it was seemingly his turn to talk.

Laurance froze. Oh how he wanted to cry, wanted to run into his arms and never leave but this… this wasn’t the Garroth he knew or a Garroth that remembered all they went through.

“my uh-“ he takes a shaky inhale before forcing a smile “my name is Laurance, I live next door to you- Aphmau decided to introduce me to everyone since she somehow knows you all.” He piped up, his voice felt like it went up an octave and along with the shakiness he knew he must have sounded strange.

“ oh ! Well then! I’m Garroth, that's Travis and Dante” he looks to each boy who both wave “nice to meet you…” he pauses, sending a wary glance his way “are you suuuurrre we haven’t met before?”

Laurance immediately nods, almost too immediate to be normal “Yeah I’m quite certain, actually.” Laurance hasn’t lied this much in his life. Garroth let’s out a thoughtful hum “Okay! Anway Aphmau~” he put on an extreme flirt voice “I was wondering-“

Aphmau coughs loudly into her hand “Oh uh… wow!” She acts surprised “smells like KC is… burning her cookies! I really should go check on her!” She nods with a wide and forced smile.

“Okay! Then we should-“ The blonde is interrupted.

“Gotta go!” Aphmau turns back around the street and offers a goodbye wave before running back to her house. Laurance breaks into a nervous fit of giggles “Okay man that was sad-“ he smiles, trying to make the air less thick. Dante and Travis started to laugh themselves. Garroth frowned before begrudgingly admitting it and laughing along with them.“Yeah yeah, I guess it was.” He let out a rough sigh, shaking his head in defeat.

Travis looks up at him, walking closer to him “So Laurance, you a lady killer?” He asks and Laurance lets out a chuckle of surprise, of course , that's the first thing any version of Travis would ask. “I mean, I do indeed have my charm.” Laurance wasn’t lying, he did ‘get’ all sorts of ladies back in the day- even if he wanted to branch out.

Travis smiles,reaching out to pat his back “You know I think we can be good friends.” Laurance nods hesitantly, Though the idea of being his friend again made him so happy- selfishly so “Yeah!” He agreed.

Dante looks between the two “finally, now I have two worthy opponents for Aphmau’s affection- this will be a great challenge.” He cackles like a mad scientist. Laurance raised a brow, he didn’t really have an interest in pursuing her “I um- I don’t like her like that.” he reassures them, he was long over her.

Dante rolls his eyes “Not even a little? You have to admit that she’s a total babe though right? A real prize.” he wiggles his eyebrows, exuberant as always.

Laurance slowly nods “She… is quite beautiful, but you shouldn’t speak about women like that.” He suggested, “I apologize but as someone with experience, they don’t appreciate it most of the time and they aren’t just… prizes to be won, and neither are men if you speak of them in a similar fashion.”

Travis snorts “you don’t have to worry much about me, I’m more for Katelyn anyway.” He releases a dramatic, dreamy sigh.

Laurance blinks slowly and then turns towards Dante. Shouldn't he be going for KC, then? Or even Nicole? “You know, you seem like the type to go more for someone like KC,” he comments, hoping to get some insight or something. Dante shrugs “Never really been into the cutesy pink thing- I’m more into… maturer things?” He offers awkwardly.

Travis snorts “You liked her in junior year-“ he comments and Dante shakes his head “that was freshman year, but I never had feelings for her- just thought she was cute.” He defends, shoulders tensing as he crosses his arms.

Laurance bites the inside of his cheek “Ah yeah, makes sense… I just had a um… weird feeling?” He smirk “You know, since usually the blue-haired nerds like the pink-haired girls.” He shrugs playfully with a teasing grin and Dante growls “I’m not a nerd!” He defends and Travis pats him on the back “Tell that to your legend of Zelda grinding…”

Dante turns towards him with a red face and Garroth is laughing again, and Laurence is smiling again and wanting to join in.

“You- you watch so much anime!! Even that stupid sparkle princess one! You’re a bigger nerd than me!” He defends and Travis let’s out a gasp “You can’t diss Pretty Tutu Magical Princess Sparkle Hero like that!” He lets out a gasp and Laurence is just wondering what the hell anime is and why it would have such a ludicrous name “What is that?”

“…You… you don’t know Pretty Tutu Magical Princess Sparkle Hero ?!” Travis gasps in shock and Laurance shakes his head “No I’m afraid not.” He admits sheepishly. Garroth and Dante both let out annoyed sighs “Oh no, Laurance You just sighed your own death certficate…” Garroth his voice is light and playful, which makes him think it might just be overexaggeration. Travis looks at him “We have got to watch it together! You need to, need to NEED TO watch it with me!!” He demands.

‘Watch? So anime is… a show or… movie?’ Laurance was almost too scared to ask, but… spending time with Travis again would be nice. “I’d like that, I don’t really watch much so maybe I’ll like it.” maybe it would give him another thing to do.

Travis smiles “Awesome man! What’s your number, I can text you when I’m available-“

Laurance pauses, he picks up his phone from his pocket “Uh- let me look-“ he mindlessly tapped around, hoping to find it.

“…here just give me yours and I’ll put mine into your contacts.” He offers instead and Laurance lets out a huff of air “Yeah, please.” He holds it out and Travis takes it, noticing the frown “…Why don’t we all give you our number? We could all use another hangout buddy.”

Laurance looks up at them “Really?” And Travis nods, Garroth looks over at the Phone “Why not?” He chirps up. Dante grins “Yeah! Could use another dude who actually knows what he’s talking about.”

One by one each one put their contact into Laurance’s phone, then texted themselves so they could have Laurances number in turn.

Laurance takes the phone back from them and looks at the three contacts in his phone.

Travisss~

Dante 😎

Garroth🚪

“Why the door?” He asks with a chuckle. Garroth shrugs “I like doors.”

He smiles at seeing their names on an app that he’s pretty sure he’s never even used “Thank you.” he looks up at them.

They all nod “Anyway, I’m heading inside!” Dante announces “I have important business to get to!” He announces, Garroth giggles, leaning over and whispering to Laurance “He means more Legend Of Zelda grinding.”

Laurance smiles, though he didn’t quite understand what they were talking about and he was 100% Sure that grinding used to have a much different definition “Oh yeah? Real isn’t it?”

Travis looks at the two “Hm… Garroth, why don’t you show him the house? I need to go back to making the tacos.” He announces, heading back. Garroth looks to Laurance “You want to see the house?” he offers.

Laurance fumbles a bit and runs his fingers through his hair “Sure, I’d like to see it.”

“Oh goody! Come on.” He waved him in and Laurance hesitated for a moment before stepping inside, the house was… warm feeling. It looked all around lovely “It’s very homely in here, the colors remind me of that of a tavern.”

Garroth looks at him “…a tavern? Thank you! Travis mostly picked out the furniture though! This area is our living room- we got the nicest TV!” Laurance looks at the TV “Yeah that’s… nice.” Laurence just bought the cheapest TV he could find, he didn’t understand what all the 720 and 4k and… all of that “What uh… number is it?” He asks, trying not to be a drywall of conversation.

Garroth looks at him “Number…? Uh I don’t know what model number- I don’t know much about TVs.”

Laurance frowns “Like… the- ‘p’ number?” He tries again, feeling on edge.

“…p number-? Ohhhh! You could have just said you wanted to know the screen quality, Laurance! It’s only the very best- 4K! We all pitched in a bit to buy it!” He seemed pretty proud of that fact. Laurance nods “Oh… that’s the best one? If… it means screen quality then what does the P stand for?” He tilts his head, and Garroth opens his mouth to answer, then pauses for a moment “I… actually don’t know… you might wanna ask someone smarter than me- Zane probably knows.”

Laurance shakes his head “I’d rather avoid conversation with him.” He isn’t sure if this Garroth has a good relationship with him or not. Garroth scoffs then shrugs “He’s my baby brother and I love him but I get it, he can be so rude! He doesn’t even think I’m cool?! What person doesn’t think I’m cool?”

Laurance mumbles something he almost wishes he could take back “Yeah, You’re very cool.”

Garroth stopped in his tracks “Wait really?” He asks, a bit of a shocked expression and Laurance shyly nods “I mean, at least from what I’ve seen of you so far.” He backtracked a bit, feeling stupid “Oh Irene…” he Mutters to himself.

Garroth grins “Gihihi! Thanks! I knew someday someone would finally agree with me!” He wraps an arm around Laurance and oh Irene, he thinks he might just die “Hah! Yeah, no problem Garroth.”

Laurance can’t help but focus on his smile, that perfect smile that used to be so rare to see but always a treat “…Is that your kitchen?”

He points towards it and Garroth nods. “Oh, yeah it is- it’s nice, Dante is the one who cooks usually except Travis who… can only make Tacos- the crunchy ones.”

Travis turns to him from his place in the kitchen “Hey! At least they are more than mediocre! And not near inedible- my Tacos are quite amazing!” He puts on a playful tone and Garroth rolls his eyes “Yeah yeah! Whatever- come on Laurance let’s leave the guy whose only personality is tacos to his work.”

Laurance can’t help but snicker “I’ve never even had a taco.” He admits, Garroth skids to a stop “…okay- no way, I may have been talking trash but you gotta stay and eat some Tacos for us- TRAVIS-“ he shouts and Travis replies “ON IT!” Laurance frowns “Oh- you really don’t need to do that.” He tries, frowning a bit and Garroth shakes his head “No! I must, we must! Hell, we can invite some friends and have a taco party!” He suggests.

“it better only be Aphmau and the girls, I’m not making tacos for the entire street!” he warns and Garroth rolls his eyes “Fine!” He calls back “Why don’t we finish the tour?”

Laurance nods “Yeah Sure, after that though I’ll go home and… dress nicer If it’s going to be like a party or whatever.“

“You mean what you’re wearing right now isn’t considered nice?” He looks a bit shocked, Laurance looked at his clothes, he supposed a striped sweater worked well enough “Well… I suppose I dress different than most.” He fidgets with the sleeves, straightening out the wrinkles “this is enough?”

Garroth nods “Yeah of course! It’s just Tacos, no need to dress fancy over it pffft.”

Laurance nods “Okay then… I guess I can just stay over until dinner then?” He tilts his head to the side, his bangs falling over his eyebrow and a bit over his eyes.

“of course, you can!! Oh, we can play video games in the living room! Dante might be taking over it but it might be fun… I’m not very good though! gihihi.” Garroth admits, placing his hands on his hips.

Laurance has never played a video game ever in his entire life, but it sounds like it would be fun!

“Yeah, of course, I don’t mind giving it a go.”

Besides… how hard could it be?

Chapter 3: Dear Irene: Does every person have Deja-Vu or is it just Dante?

Chapter Text

Video games, Laurance decided, were very hard.

Dante and Garroth had suggested a game called ‘Incredible Smash Fighters’ which he agreed to play because he had no inkling as to what it was. The fact that he didn't know, should have gotten him to back out. Laurance however, had never once backed away from any fight. So certainly

The weirdly shaped ‘controller’ felt so awkward in his hands, he fumbled with it and almost turned it off several times “Which button lets me pick one?” He asks, his face a bit red with embarrassment. Dante reached over Garroth “Ah! These joysticks move around the hand on the screen and you press over the one you want.” It took Laurance a couple of tries to pick the one he wanted but he ended up choosing a character that looked like a knight, similar to Dante.

Garroth chose a wyvern-looking creature with a shell who breathed fire and grabbed people with its claws and Dante chose a girl clad in an uncomfortable-looking blue suit with blonde hair who kept whipping an electrical whip around and throwing high kicks. When Travis came to take a break and play a round he chose a white-haired mage with a weirdly shaped sword and a book of magical spells.

Regardless of who Laurance was playing as he kept getting his virtual ass kicked. The knight character didn’t seem to know any moves let alone techniques other than from what happens when he presses a button- he supposed that might be the point but if this were a real battle he could be kicking chests and slicing the back of legs to get them to fall to their knees then stab them in the back! This game didn’t even have realistic injuries or blood so how could he accurately plan out how to avoid the hits? And from three other characters!! “why can't you just-!” He lets out a growl of frustration. His patience with

“Take that Dante!” Garroth roars.

“Is that the best you guys got?” Dante taunted

“Hurry up and kill me, the beef is burning!!!!” Travis had shouted, eventually dropping his controller.

Maybe the Knight could have been likable once upon a time- But no, his dumbass character swung in the air instead of stepping forward!! and instead, did it like a complete idiot! He was Jabbing instead of in swinging it in a wide arc when the guy jumps? He wants to strangle this jerk for not listening to his all-too-simple commands!

…
Wow his competitive side is really coming out, isn’t it?

This reminded him of the time he and the other boys would practice with one another, he and Garroth had used to train Dante when he first became a knight and it would often end with a lot of anger from the blue-haired man. Irene, he really missed having him as his friend- his brother.

“This… Barth or whatever- is truly an idiot.” Laurance huffs, throwing his head back as Dante's character (Samas or something) grabs his and throws him off the cliff, killing him “Damn it all.” he mumbles, and despite his grievances with the character on the screen he felt compelled to apologize to him “Sorry Sir Knight, my leadership failed you.” he sighs sadly. Both Dante and Garroth suddenly burst into giddy laughter, apparently, Laurance's grievances were entertaining for some people.
“You really need to chill bro, it's just a game!” Dante comments and Laurance frowns, yeah it was a game! A frustrating one!
Garroths laughter starts to phase out before he reaches out and pats Laurance on the shoulder “It's okay to get into it but it's just a game, don't worry about it.” he reassures.

Laurance finds himself agreeing with Garroth, sighing and chest lightening at how stupid he felt for getting so worked up “Of course… You're very right.” he cleared his throat, and his mind “...rematch?” he suggests sheepishly. Dante and Garroth look at one another and grin then nods in agreement, starting up another round.
Garroth leaned over and whispered “Laurance, let's Team up against Dante- he's too good.” he whispered a bit loud but Laurance nodded anyway.
“Yeah- let’s get him.” He agreed with a grin.
The match started off and both immediately started attacking Dante’s character.
“HEY! No fair-“ he whines, despite doing pretty well against them. Garroth’s character gripped Dante’s and tossed him to Laurance who finished him with an attack.

“Laurance, that was Awesome! Especially for someone who has never played before!” Garroth turned towards Laurance and held his hand for a high five

“Laurance, that was an amazing bow shot for someone who hasn’t really used one before.”

Laurance already had shot a bow before, at that time, he had just wanted Garroth to show him and to grow closer with the man. Laurance realized It wasn’t quite the same case this time around. He grinned and high-fived the man back.
“Yeah, that was my first time even touching a game controller.” When he heard the series of knocks on the door, Laurance looked at the time and how fast it had passed him by “Oh- I… didn’t realize it had been more than an hour.” He mumbled, running his fingers through his soft brown locks.

Aphmau, KC, and Katelyn all entered the house with smiles strung across their faces, Katelyn had a redhead right next to her who smiled just as big as the girl next to her on her right “Dante!” Was the first name she had called out, getting all of the blue-haired man’s attention.
Dante immediately hops off the couch “Nicole! I didn’t expect you to be here.” He walks over to her, Katelyn sending him a furious glare. Garroth leans over next to Laurance “As soon as Nicole shows up? all his advances towards Aphmau mysteriously disappear.” he makes a gesture with his hands and wiggles his fingers outwards.

Laurance smirks, maybe some things weren’t that different “Not so mysterious at all.” He looks over at the three men “Let's all go say hi, shall we?” Laurance suggests. Garroth nodded, agreeing with Him with a laugh “Yeah yeah, I guess we should…” They looked at each other for a moment before Garroth scrambled to his feet “Aphmau!” he greets with a giddy voice, he turns to watch Garroth approach the black haired girl with a small frown and something in him aching.
The pink-haired mief'wa that had entered with Aphmau set her sights on the brunet and headed over towards him “Hello Laurance!!” she greeted, hands clasped behind her back “Oh uh Hey.” He greets back. KC sits down next to him, leaning forward with about a foot between them “I didn't realize you would be here!” She giggles, and Laurance starts to feel awkward.

“Ah, you didn't…?” He chews on the inside of his lip, he doesn't blame her. “Well, I wasn't planning on being here but they ended up dragging me into a tour and… all the Smash Wars.” They were fun but also extremely frustrating.

KC's ears twitch outward, and her golden eyes move to focus on the TV that was playing the cutscenes that started when the game was left on idle for too long “Oooh! KC doesn't really like to play games since she is so bad at it…” She pouts thinking about it “I wish I was good at them, but no matter how hard I try I could never really do well.”
Laurance leans back, relating all too well with her “I don't really think it's for me Either, technology has never been my strong suit.” He snorts, smiling “but honestly today I had fun! For the first time in… Years, I guess.”
The pinkette smiles for a moment but frowns afterward, her ears flattening against her head “Oh Laurance…” she seems to hum for a moment in thought before perking up “You can always hang out with KC, Katelyn, and Aphmau!” She suggests excitedly “Here I can even give you m- KCs number!” she grins wide, flicking her tail out behind her.

Laurence's smile turns soft at the offer, he had been doing all sorts of selfish things in one day and he knew it would bite him in the ass eventually but for now? He would forget all about it. “Sure, you can put it in my contacts.” he pulls out his phone from his pocket and hands it to her “Oh you have a pretty old phone-“ she comments offhandedly “Well not old-old!” She types her number in and then gives it back.

KCKC(*≧ω≦)ﾉ

He chuckled, tilting his head as he looked at the random assortment of symbols “Is that supposed to be a face…?” he asks, glancing at the emoticon then back up at the Girl who nods energetically in response “Mhm!! It's a cat face! That's what the three is for!” she points to it on his screen.
Laurance looks at it again “...oh it does look a bit like a cat's mouth.” he looks over it again before shutting off his phone with a click.

KC was about to say something but stops herself and looked behind her. She lets out a soft growl as Garroth interrupts Dante and Nicole while they had been talking “Oh I thought you were gonna ask Aphmau, Dante? Gihihi-“
KCs tail flicks back and forth, muttering under her breath “oh come on let them be sweet together.” she turns completely, her fingers digging into the couch “Garroth…grr…” she mumbled frustratedly. “Do you have problems with him or something?” He asks her in a hushed voice, she looks towards him “he… just gets in the way of so many ships and it’s frustrating.” She lets out a cute whine. Laurance’s brows furrow “You own your own boats?” Why would Garroth have anything against ships…? They don’t do anything bad, usually.

(poor Laurance, had no clue what he was getting himself into.)
“No silly! Ships like romantic pairings!!!” She corrects him, giggling a bit afterward. His brows furrow, he thinks he can kind of understand the concept of it? “oh so… you just like- are you invested in couples?”

KC nods excitedly “Yes! I think of the chemistry and the tension and how well they would be for one another- and just the general dynamic of two people… Dante and Nicole have all of that.” She sighs dreamily. Laurance looks over at the two and smiles, when those two had gotten together last time he honestly thought they were a match made in heaven, despite their differences. “I think I get what you mean, they get along seemingly really well… and Dante is a really nice person when you get to know him.”
KC nods “Mhm, I’m just- protective of them Because I don’t want to see them be apart when they are just so…. Perfect for each other.” She giggles, and Laurance finds it both scary and charming.

He bites his tongue before popping his mouth ”Soooo, what does Garroth have to do with all this?”

The cat girl cringes, peering over at the blonde after she’s done eyeing Laurance “he just… intentionally messes with things sometimes and it frustrates me…” She slumps against the couch, turning her body back around. The knight next to her turns to look at Garroth, eyes lingering on the man’s face as he happily teased the two- The redhead flushing with embarrassment and Dante growing defensive.

“Well, I suppose he… just doesn’t know what to do with his feelings, I know he has to mean well.” He smiles when thinking about him, Garroth had always been so awkward with social situations- he would tease but he was a bit shy. Always shy.
This one though was much more confident, but he still cares, and obviously, he cares about his friends and such.

KC looks at him with practical sparkles in her eyes. “You seem to already understand him better than I do… but you really do have a point… hmm… KC will talk to him later.” She cemented, turning towards Garroth and then glancing at Laurance “Hmmm…Maybe I found something else to keep an eye on.” Her eyes narrow before turning back towards Garroth.
Laurance knew these people- well versions of these people way more than they knew about him. “Well, I have always been pretty insightful.” he excuses, looking at his shoes like they are the most interesting thing in the room.

KC was pretty different from her old self, something about her was kind of weird. It might be just for show or a strange feeling but… He felt like she was being fake.

The pink-haired girl looks at him with interest “Then… do you have any insights about me?” Laurance wonders what he can say without being too insightful, he had figured something out but only because he knew the old her- if they are even connected. “…Well, you probably… ‘ship’ people-” he makes air quotes with his fingers, “ because you have troubles with your own relationships and it helps you to see two people who are good for each other together.” That was more of an actual insight than something he actually knew.
KC backed away a bit, looking down towards her lap “Well… That was a bit blunt.” She giggles a bit nervously.

“TACOS AREEE READY!” Travis shouts, KC immediately stands up, her demeanor changing “Come on Laurance! Tacos are ready!” She grabs his arm by looping hers around it which surprises him and starts pulling him along toward the kitchen, Everyone looks at them with a bit of

suspicion which genuinely confuses Laurance.
His people skills must have gotten worse over the years “What?” He asks, tilting his head to the side- then he noticed how it must have looked to an outside perspective- and considering the fact that he had asked about the girl earlier must have also put thoughts into their heads. Aphmau shakes her head “Nothing! KC come here-!” She gently grips the girl's wrist and tugs her toward herself

Dante from next to him whispers “So, KC huh?” He says, voice smug and Laurance can’t help but chuckle when he registers what was just said in his mind, Now that confirms why everyone was staring at them “What? She’s literally like having a little sister around, besides I’ve known her for like- a day.” Both a lie and a truth, technically he’s known a version of her for many years.

Dante frowns “a… day? I…” he looks down with an expression that looks as if he were thinking about the world's most illogical puzzle “Really? A day? Deja Vu is working its butt off today!” He decides, the confused frown turning into a bit more of a confused smile.

‘That was weird, and… concerning. If my being here is causing them to remember things- maybe I can get them to remember me?’ The thought was comforting, but also a bit scary.
What if it really was just Deja Vu? A part of him didn't want them to remember, know who he was underneath his skin.

Katelyn and Nicole watched the two from their spot in the corner “…I haven’t met him before, but did you see how he looked at me when he saw me?” She whispers, leaning towards her friend. Katelyn nodded sternly “Yeah, he… looked at me the same way.” Nicole’s lips twist in a frown, and her eyes look back at the male- their eyesight connects for a moment and she waved before turning back towards Katelyn “it was like… well…” she winces “Do you think he's into us or something..?”

Katelyn shook her head “No, it was more like shock like he didn’t expect to see me- like I was a ghost…. Or something.” She mumbled the last part under her breath “I don’t know, maybe he just thought we were someone else.” The redhead nods in agreement “I think so too… I think he’s a good guy.” She pauses for a moment “…that’s weird since I just met him and haven’t even spoken to him except for introductions- he could be bad but-“
she gripped a strand of her hair resting over her shoulder and started fiddling with it “Do you think he’s a good person, Katelyn?”

The blue-haired girl crosses her arms, shifting her balance from foot to foot as a nervous habit “I’m not sure, he… gives me weird vibes but not bad weird vibes?” She tries, more so talking to herself at first before sighing “Well, I thought that… when I first saw him his name was on the tip of my tongue- I’ll admit he has a really handsome face so I doubt I’d forget it but I also have… never seen him but- it’s like…”

“Like what?”

“Like Deja Vu.”

Aphmau walks next to them “Hey you two, you're lagging behind!” She pushed herself between them and hooks her arms around theirs and starts to drag them “Okay Aphmau! We’re coming calm down-“ Katelyn laughs and Nicole giggles “Oh Aph, You’re such a riot.” The redhead loves the chaos.

Laurance sits down at the table, dragged by the forearm gripped by Dante who noticed his nervous look and decided to drag him to the table. KC sat across from Laurance and on one side Garroth sat while Aphmau sat on the other. Dante sat next to KC, Nicole on his other side, and Katelyn and Travis across from each other to her chagrin. The sight of everyone sitting together was eerily familiar, causing a comfortable warmth in his chest.

The taco in front of him admittedly didn’t look too appetizing, but he picked it up.

He felt several pairs of eyes staring at him, all intrigued to see his reaction to the taco.

Even though he couldn't see, he felt the eyes on him… all pitiful glances, no doubt.
A Knight raised his helmet in front of Laurance and gave him a smile, though the man couldn't even see it “I apologize for what's happened to you, Laurance.”

Garroth looked over at him and gave him an encouraging smile before taking hold of his own taco and biting into it first, everyone after a moment followed suit and started to dig in.

“That was an awkward silence-!” Aphmau pointed out.

“Yeah tell me about it, we could hear a pen drop.” Katelyn snorted.

Laurance gripped the taco “Yeah, way too quiet.” He rolled his eyes and then took a bite. He didn't like it, but he kept smiling anyway.

Chapter 4: Dear Irene: Winter is NOT the time for romance (but is there any time for someone like me?)

Chapter Text

Over the past three months, Garroth had been wondering what their neighbor Laurance Zvhal was really about. At first, he’s the most awkward man he’s ever met, then next he’s the shyest. Then all of a sudden he’s a confident guy talking with everyone like they’re old friends.

He’s warm but not explicitly kind, and overall he was strange but Garroth liked him, and really wanted to know who Laurance really was.

He has invited the guy over several times, and each time he always seems so reluctant to say yes as if he didn’t want to even go… but then he would just smile like crazy whenever they had hung out and act like he was having the time of his life!

Who is this guy?

—

Laurance watched as the snow fell from the sky, covering the grass in a field of white. While he often preferred the spring, the look of snowfall had always enraptured him.

So of course, Laurance just had to go out in it.

Laurance pulls his hair into a ponytail and puts on his heavy sweater and jacket, pulling on his leather boots last. The cold air hits him when he opens the door, he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath- his throat hurts a bit when the crisp air hits the back of it.

A snowflake hits his nose, causing him to chuckle “Jack Frost nipping at my nose?” He asks no one in particular, holding his hands out.

“NO KATELYNNN-!” Rings out, followed by a ton of laughter and giggling as their tackled to the ground. Laurance looks over, with amusem*nt on his face, and sees Aphmau laughing as Katelyn smothers her with snow “Not The food! Or my Levi poster!”

Katelyn playfully tossed snow up at her.

He watched their interaction for a moment, before walking across the street to their yard “Hello Ladies, everything alright over here?” He asks, crossing his arms.

Aphmau nods “Yeah! Katelyn just has terrible taste in music!” She sticks her tongue out at the taller woman, who tossed snow back down in her face “blegh!”

“How To Build A Snowman is ANNOYING! It gets on my nervessss!” She complained with a whine to her voice. Aphmau sits up and fights against her by tossing snow at her. Katelyn gets off of the shorter woman and wipes off her face while Aphmau defends the song “Hey it's a good song!” she turns to the former Knight. “Don’t you think so, Laurance?”

The brunette had no idea what that song was, so he answered honestly with a shrug of his shoulders “I have no idea, never heard of it before.”

Katelyn sighs “Well I wish I never did, that song makes me unreasonably angry.” she crosses her arms “I even accidentally knocked out KC when she was at my door… with my door.”

Aphmau looked at her with a frown “Your door doesn’t open that way…?”

“I broke it off the hinges.”

“Woah, how strong are you!? that’s a pretty great feat of strength.” Laurance compliments with a smile and the blue-haired girl shrugs with a big of a smug smile “I don’t know…pretty strong? I just think… I need to calm down, I have bad anger issues, and- it’s why I value my meditation time because it helps me control it.” She admits, her face full of shame.

Aphmau gets up and wraps her arms around her “It’s okay, Kate… hey why don’t we cool off with some winter fun!?” She grins ear to ear and both Laurance and Katelyn give her small smiles in return.

“You know what, your dumb pun made me smile… Aphmau do you wanna build a snowman?”

Aphmau nods excitedly “Yes! Yes! Let’s go, we can get everything from the basem*nt for building one!” She begs, and Katelyn nods “Yeah… uh Laurance you want to come?” She offers.

Laurance says nothing for a moment, not expecting the invitation from Katelyn of all people “Oh, yeah sure why not?” He shrugs “…You two should put on proper clothes for the cold, you ladies must be freezing.”

The two look down at their attire “Oh my legs are all red-!” Katelyn hurries inside, Aphmau a bit after “I was going to say we should.”

The three stepped into the living area “Laurance, you alright hanging here while me and Katelyn grab a change of clothes?” he nodded, and Aphmau took that as a yes “Sweet! Let’s go!” Her and Katelyn headed up the stairs to their rooms.

Laurance sat down on one of the chairs while he waited, it only took about five minutes before Aphmau was down “Katelyn must still be getting ready, She tends to take a while.” She adjusts the sleeves of her sweater “Aphmau, you look lovely.” Her outfit truly looks wonderful and Aphmau certainly is a beautiful girl.

She giggles doing a pose in the bright purple sweater “You think so? It’s one of my favorite sweaters!” She flips her hair afterward. “I get these compliments a lot, but it’s nice when someone says it because they mean it and not because they have a crush on me.” She admits.

“it’s nice when a man can compliment a woman without it being seen as flirting.” He smiles back up at her. “yeah, I agree! I… couldn’t compliment a guy in high school without them going after me.” She sighs “It was… a lot, so many people trying to get my favor for- ah!” She interrupts herself “Sorry, you didn’t ask about that! You’re just so easy to talk to, hah…”

Laurance looks at her with an encouraging look “Aphmau, you can talk to me anytime- We’re friends.” he stands up and places his hand on her shoulder “I promise you, okay?”

Aphmau chuckled softly, and nodded “Yeah, it's also just a rough subject for me to touch on- it was so much bullying and stuff too… don’t get me started on ivy.” She giggles again.

‘I wonder if Ivy is the same one that the wyvern killed… makes sense. She'd be a bully.’ He hums “Well if you want you can get started?” He offers, nudging her a bit before putting his hands to his sides.

Aphmau opened her mouth as if contemplating then she slowly continued “Welllllll, it's a long story…. I had so many guys have crushes on me? Including the werewolves- and Ivy…” she trails off “She really had a huge crush on Garroth and- well back then me and Garroth sort of used to have a weird thing?”

Laurance couldn't help but frown, in every universe Garroth and her always had to have a thing, and in every inconceivable universe there would be a point in which he'd have a torch for her no matter what it seemed “Oh… So she bullied you over it?” he assumed.

The raven-haired girl takes a sharp breath, ignoring the look on Laurence's face for now “Yeah, hardcore too… Her and her friends spread so many rumors that I was easy or… Committed a crime or something- notes and blackmail got involved…” she shuddered “It would have been horrible if I didn't have any of my friends…. Katelyn and Teony especially helped me that year, since I hadn't really gotten to know KC yet.”

Laurance nods along, making sure she knew he was listening while she kept going “I just had so much to deal with in my first year of high school alone- not to mention my first year at a public school.”

“Was not a good first impression was it?” he can't help but snort, Aphmau followed and the two ended up a bit of a giggling mess as the shorter girl shook her head “No- it uh- it really wasn’t.” she agreed, wiping at the corner of her eye. Katelyn opened her door “Everything alright?” she asks, rushing to her best friend's side with a protective glare at Laurance. “Katelyn, you look quite beautiful as well.” Laurance simply says instead of defending himself for something he hasn’t done. The blue-haired girl can’t help the flush to her cheeks that came from getting complimented “Zip it, pretty boy before I-“

Aphmau playfully pushes her with her shoulder “Hey! It’s okay, he just said something funny so we were laughing- nothing weird was going on I promise.” She leaned against her and despite the skeptical look on Katelyn's face she nodded “Good.” she mumbles.

Aphmau looks between the two “...why don't we go get the decorations downstairs!” she cheers, pausing when she hears a slow series of knocks “...I'll go get that, can you two- make some hot cocoa?”

“Isn't it a bit toasty while wearing our winter gear?” Laurance turns to her, while Hot chocolate sounded delicious he didn't want to burn up. “He does has a point, Aph.” Laurance didn't realize Katelyn would agree with him, seeing as she didn't really like him very much.

“...Well I like feeling all cuddly and warm and toasty- inside AND out! Come on it's deliciousssss~!!” she grins, with a grimace from Katelyn and a “Okay fine, now I’m craving it.”

Aphmau chuckles, turning back to hurry to answer the door. Katelyn sighs “Alright, come on.” She mutters, dragging Laurance by the elbow which almost hurt. ‘she really is strong.’ Laurance goes along with her, saying nothing in protest.

Aphmau opens the door, and in front of her is a girl only a bit taller then herself with dark circles under her eyes “Hi, I was… made aware one of my- friends caused trouble …?” She crosses her arms “a lot of them actually-”

Aphmau thinks on it “…ohhh the guys that almost attacked the pizza delivery man and screamed when KC threatened to call 911?” the girls responds with a heavy sigh “that’s the one… my name is Ava, by the way- I just wanted to sincerely apologize, they thought that- the guy had uh stolen something from them, especially after hearing he was a prince or something… still can’t believe they followed him all the way here…” She mutters bitterly, biting her cheek.

Aphmau chuckled “it’s okay! My name is Aphmau, and… I have my fair share of troublemaking friends so it’s alright! Maybe as a…an olive branch I can invite you to our holiday party we’re having this month!”

Ava stands by silently for a moment, crossing her arms “…I’ll think about it, when is it?” and Aphmau takes out her phone “I can text you, here I’ll just send you the info.”

“You're just like Lorelei- ugh… Fine…” The girls exchanged numbers, one more hesitant than the other. They ended up chatting a bit more to the others chagrin before parting ways. Aphmau turned back around and closed his door, seeing Katelyn watching her with a judgmental gaze “how many times are you gonna give your number out to strangers?”

“As many times as I need to!” she speaks in a light voice, walking past her “Where's the hot cocoa-?” she smells a whiff of hot chocolate “...oh you're making it fresh?”

Katelyn shakes her head “Not me, Laurance offered so I let him.” she shrugs her shoulders and Aphmau gives an exaggerated gasp “You let the guest make the cocoacoco?!” she rushed past, Katelyn stepped back so she didn’t run into her “Laurance it's okay, I can make-”

The brunette was already pouring out the chocolate into the mugs “I got it, Aph. Hot Chocolate is fairly easy to make and you invited me over so it’s the least I can do.” He reassured me.

The girl wondered how Laurance looked so practiced and graceful, the way he moved as he prepared each drink… he looked like a housewife almost “Right…” She murmurs, having to shake her head to break her trance “Thank you very much but you were supposed to be the guest!” she argues and Laurance chuckles, his shoulders arching back a bit. “Well… I just felt like it then, I don’t know what you like on yours but I prefer mine with just marshmallows.” He gestures to the mugs “Lady-“ he paused for a moment before shaking his head “Hey Katelyn, aren’t you gonna get yours?”

The blue-haired girl stepped around Aphmau and wrapped her hands around the steaming hot cocoa “…I think I’ll add some whipped cream… I don’t really like marshmallows.” She goes and gets the whip cream and sprays a dollop on top “Here Aphmau.” She tosses it to her friend who barely manages to catch it “Ack-“

“Well I like it with everything!” She presses the nozzle down and swirls the whip cream much more messily than Katelyn, accidentally spilling it over the sides “Oh sh*t.” She wiped her finger across the splatter that got onto the counter and licked it off “There, all better.” She smiles, finally lifting the mug up to start drinking it.

They drank their hot chocolate pretty fast (Aphmau in like two sips) and soon after Aphmau proposed that they make the snowman building a competition to see who can build the best one- the two agreed and met up outside after Katelyn and Aphmau gathered some boxes full of extra things that they could use for decorating their respective snowmen.

Laurance was being dragged back outside before he knew it, Aphmau and Katelyn sizing each other up while Aphmau counted down each rule they had to follow which was very loose.

Then again it was meant to be fun so why would it have restrictive rules?

As they all ran back and forth from the box, laughter and such breaking out from Katelyn each time Aphmau slipped and fell on the icy sidewalk. Laurance didn’t quite know if his snowman was up to standard, it was pretty basic with a Santa hat and buttons being used as decoration in the front.

A scarf wrapped around its quote-on-quote “neck,” but the shadow knight felt it looked quite nice, while the girls continued their snowmen he noticed Garroth, Dante, and Travis were in the midst of their own snow-project.

He lifted his hand in a wave and the blonde, who had just set a pile of snow and packed it in, waved back with a grin. He looks like he’s about to say something but Dante pulls him to the side.

“KATELYNNN YOU JUST BUILT THE SAME THING AS ME!!!” Aphmau complained, Katelyn looked smug “on the contrary, I believe yours looks like mine.” Katelyn looked pretty satisfied with herself.

Aphmau frowns “I made my so incredibly intricate -“

She’s cut off when a snowball smacks her dead in the face “Ah- pbbbt-“ she spits out a bit of snow, and both Katelyn bursts into laughter and soon does Laurance which cost them when they both got hit with snowballs, Katelyn let out a growl “Okay, that’s it!”

Aphmau gets up and shouts “DEFENSES!” She jumps behind the fence and slides along the snow, Laurance almost reaches for his sword from pure instinct but instead he looked over at the giggling trio from across the street and tosses snowballs at them.

“On it!” Laurance grabs a handful of snow, scrambled to his feet and chucks it at Garroth when it lands the blonde is smiling wider when he realizes who it is that threw it “it’s so on!” The blonde shouts, reinvigorated. Laurance felt so energized, this was the closest he’s had to a fight since he got into a bar fight a couple of years back. Even then Laurance was still pretty rusty but he was far better than anyone here individually.

This is probably why they started focusing on getting them in a corner “…we’re trapped!” Aphmau cried quietly. “Give it up!” Dante taunts. “You’ll never win this snowball fight!” Garroth shouts. Travis from next to him grins wide “Come on guys! It’s okay to lose every once in a while!” He whistled and that’s the most enraged Katelyn had ever been “That’s it!”

She grabs one, and as a last-minute plan, she throws it at the man walking down towards his house who Laurance recognizes as Zane gets pelted. Aphmau and Katelyn both point towards Garroth, Travis, and Dante. Aphmau chimed in “It was them!!”

“Oh no -“ Garroth mutters. Zane lets out a growl “It’s time for my revenge!!!” he lets out an evil laugh and Laurance can't help but be shocked at just how lethal Zane was with snowballs because holy sh*t it was a slaughterhouse.

“damn,” Laurance whispers, wincing as each snowball hits a different guy with varying levels of scary accuracy.

“I love winter.”. Katelyn sighs happily and Aphmau giggled along with her as they stalked back inside. Laurance however didn’t follow the two, he instead stuck around and watched as both Dante and Travis managed to escape the fury of the black-haired man while Garroth continually got the brunt of the attack- clearly some issues there.

Laurance grabs a handful of snow and forms a snowball in his hand, packing it tightly and smoothing it out before pelting it at the side of the man’s shoulder. He let out a grunt and fell over “Ahhh-!” He turned towards Laurance and let out something similar to a growl.

“Had to have your little boyfriend protect you?” He asks Garroth who was still getting to his feet. Laurance didn’t say anything, his heart skipping a beat when he watched Garroth walk over to be next to Laurance “He’s my friend, little brother.”

“Yeah sure and I’m your biggest fan .” The sarcasm was as heavy as a ton of bricks. Laurance felt his gut twist into knots at Zane’s implication, Garroth rolled his eyes in response but the brown haired man didn’t feel like letting it go “At least he has fans.” He asked, grinding his teeth and walking forward.

“Did I strike a nerve, little Laurance?” He asks, voice smug. “okay Come on..” Garroth tries, reaching a handout but Laurance didn’t hear him… he was focused on Zane “You strike everyone’s nerves.” he crosses his arms with clenched fists, eyes lingering over the shorter man (shorter by like, half an inch.)

“Oh? Well then I’m proud…” he smiles, oh and that awful smile- the one he gave when he felt like he won… smug and ugly “Proud of what, Cyclops? Your ability to be annoying at every turn?” and that had managed to hit just the right sore spot for Zane.

Zane reared his hand back in a tight fist and punched Laurance in the face “Shut up!” And Laurance was actually a bit shocked by how hurt he actually sounded “I knew you’d strike eventually.” He mutters, wiping at his bloody bottom lip “If you want me to hit you, why didn’t you just ask?”

Garroth grabbed Laurence's bicep “That’s enough! Both of you!” He spoke, and that was the first time he genuinely sounded like the old Garroth- someone in command trying to calm the situation. Zane let out a grunt of annoyance “I didn’t even want to hit him.” He muttered.

Laurance couldn’t help the look of resentment on his face “Sure felt like you did- honestly, You’re lucky your brother cares about you or we’d be matching.” He roughly pokes the man in the chest, the amount of hate he felt was unfathomable.

This man killed and hurt so many, many I cared for, he even killed-

Garroth gently tugged on Laurance’s arm “Come on man, let’s take a look at your lip.” The brunet felt embarrassed that he let Zane hit him in the first place but nodded. Zane turned around and headed back into his house with a pitiful look on his face.

The blonde next to Laurance watched his brother leave with a similar expression before turning to Laurance “Do you have medical stuff at your place? We only have bandaids in our bathroom.” He asks, looking over the busted affliction on the face of the shorter “…I have some stuff.” Not much more than band-aids but he’d rather not see Dante and Travis right now, or much anyone else… he was having fun L I’m. earlier so why did he have to ruin it?

“Alright.” Garroth had placed his hand flat against Laurance’s back, in between his shoulder blades. He couldn’t feel the warmth through his layers of clothes but the pressure alone and old memories were enough to make his heart race and his face flush. Laurance was thankful for the cold disguising his embarrassment. He sighed, holding his arms inwards towards himself across his chest.

When they entered Garroth had immediately asked where he kept his bandages and things, Laurance told him they were in his bathroom and before he could show him the door the taller had ran off. Instead of following him though he sat down on his couch, leaning back and brushing his fingers across his swollen lip. ‘ I could have broken his arm as soon as he got me, I could have destroyed him- yet I let that asshole get away with it.’

‘Because of him.’ The blonde came into view with a rag “..I didn't really think it through hehehe- lips mostly need ice and to just be cleaned up… You have ice? Or frozen anything?” he asked with such an idiotic Grin on his face that Laurance couldn't help but forgive him “I have ice in the freezer.” he playfully huffs, smiling ever so slightly.

Garroth nods “oh yeah, duh-“ he snorts,setting the rag to the side and digging into the freezer and getting a handful of ice into his rag.

Laurance scoot over on the sofa for Garroth to sit next to him, the other sat “alright man, you gotta face me.” He nudges, and Laurance scoffs “Are you trying to be my personal nurse?” He didn’t know why he reacted like that, the deflation in Garroths demeanor made him regret it “Because I need one.” He sighs, turning towards him “Come on.”

Garroth smiled again, lifting the rag and wiping clean the blood off his lip with a concentrated look on his face “It’s like really hard to read you.”

Laurance felt the tingle of his lip, and a spark in his chest “Is it?” He chuckled, Garroth smiling back at him “Yeah, can never tell if you’re actually happy, joking, or angry… or uh- other things.” He fumbled with the rag of ice in his hand and lifted it up “I guess my brother is tougher than he looks.”

Laurance couldn’t help but roll his eyes and scoff “Please, I could break him like a twig.” He bragged, to the blondes confusion “Do you work out or something?” Laurance almost answered him before getting interrupted by the most exaggerated gasp he heard in his life “Oh my Irene-! Can we be workout buddies?” He asked, Laurance wincing when Garroth pushes a little too hard on the ice “oh shoot sorry-“

Laurance started laughing, not just chuckling or giggling, but actual laughter. His shoulders shook and his hand was brought to his face to cover his smile. Garroth’s gaze lingered over Laurance’s more lighthearted expression, he puffs out a short airy laugh “How come you’re laughing?”

Laurance shakes his head, pressing his hand to his forehead before swiping it through his hair and resting it on his lap “You. You’re so…” perfect. “So funny, even though it’s not on purpose you just- you have this way of…” he shakes his head “You’re amazing, man.”

Garroth’s face tinted red “I- um thanks, that’s- wait-“ he shakes his head “I… you still need ice-“ he moves to put it back on Laurance’s lip “I guess laughter is the best medicine after all- you no longer have that stupid look on your face.” He speaks it in a manner that seems too affectionate for him to mean it in an insulting way.

“Oh shut up, you're such an idiot.” He laughed again, smiling so hard his cheeks hurt “me an idiot? You’re the one who got punched here, Laurance,” he chastises and in response, he punches him in the shoulder “ow! LaurBear- that hurt.” He placed a hand on his chest and faked a pained expression. Laurance cackled “Laurbear??? You want me to call you Garbear now?”

Garroth bobs his head in agreement “If you want to, you may… I just want to keep hearing you laugh like that- seriously don't think I've heard you fully laugh before.” He clicks his tongue in thought, he arched his eyebrows in a playful manner “Are you ticklish, Laurance?” He asks, his tone light and inherently mischievous.

Laurance shook his head “What? Pfft- no no no.” He denied, pulling away from him “I am not ticklish in the slight-AHHHAAHA.” Garroth had started to tickle his sides and stomach, the shorter was laughing so hard his chest hurt “Garroth- come on- stopAHAHAHA.” Laurance fell back against the cushions as the blonde continued his attack. One movement led to another and by the time the taller had stopped he was leaning over the top of Laurance, propped up by his knees and hands on either side of his head against the armrest.

“Why are you such-“ he takes a deep inhale “an idiot.” He finished, exhaling loudly. Garroth was silent for a moment “Um…. I dunno.” he shrugged, laughing a bit “...You seem in a better mood.”

Laurance hums, turning to look back up at him “I am in one, you… Helped a bit.”

He sits up just a bit, neither boy leaving their current position “I did?” he scoots back, resting on the man's legs.

Laurance nods slowly, moving to sit up completely. “Yeah, you just have that effect I guess.” he mutters while looking away, having noticed the closeness between them and the weird intimacy- ``Irene, how is Garroth this comfortable with me?`` “maybe… I should go take a shower- I got a lot of snow and stuff on me.” He felt his heart betray him and beat faster against his chest.

“oh um…” The blonde looks disappointed Before he realized exactly where he was” Garroth scrambled a bit to get off him “I gotta get back anyway, talk to you later?” he offers, and Laurance nods “Yeah of course.”

Chapter 5: Dear Irene, I think I went a little overboard.

Chapter Text

Laurance stepped into the decorated and busy shopping mall with a plan in his mind, a plan where he would take every possible route he could to avoid the huge crowds of people and go to the places where he could get the best deals….

A plan where he would get his friends Christmas gifts for the holidays.

Laurance huffs as he thinks about it “…Well…?” He has to wrack his brain “Aphmau’s favorite color is Purple, Kc’s is pink, Dante’s is red, Garroths is light blue, Brendan likes dark green, and Travis like light green- Katelyn loves blue too…” He knows those are their favorite colors “Kc’s favorite flower is cherry blossoms, and Garroth likes sunflowers! Aphmau is a fan of irises.. Dante and Travis like roses I believe.”

June nods as she takes in the information, though the names she recognizes she decides to conduct her business first and foremost “...what about stones and scents?” she asks, her tail swishing back and forth as she turns around and starts to look through the items on her wall “I… don’t know about anyone else but Aphmau likes Amethysts, KC likes… opal I think? and Garroth likes Topaz! I think Katelyn mention Topaz once?” These are all things they had loved once, long ago, and now… he’s seen them wearing similar stones and lighting candles of certain types in their houses.

“As for scents- I remember Travis mentioning he liked oceany scents, Kawaii~Chan likes anything sweet smelling, Katelyn likes flower scents but not too strong… and Brendan the foresty stuff… Garroth loves vanilla!”

June took all this in stride as she started picking out a couple of things “What is your relationship with Garroth, Aphmau, and Kawaii~Chan?” She had several items picked out already but seemed focused on these for whatever reason “Oh um, Well- Aphmau is really sweet and kind and has been the reason for me meeting my friends and just feeling comfortable. Kawaii~Chan is really adorable and she’s honestly like having a little sister around…” he has to think about how to describe his stupid sh*t with Garroth “Garroth is… probably my best friend from the bunch! He… he’s always there and never fails to make me smile.” He chuckles quietly, while it was true for him it might not be quite the case for the others.

June starts separating each assortment made for each person before moving on to Garroth, she had some things picked out except for any jewelry “Does Garroth prefer gold or silver?” And Laurance knows the answer “Definitely gold.”

June snorts, then she grabs a gold band and modifies it to hold a sunflower charm right off The corner “I’d recommend personalized Christmas cards to be put with each item.”

Laurance looked at The items “Wow! You even put them in little bags for me-!” He looks back up at Her “How much?” He pulls out his wallet, and June looks at the items “….I’ll give you a bit off!” She slides a piece of paper which shows the price, Laurance thought it was reasonable “And because you bought more than five it comes along with a free My Little Horses, custom paint Chaos figure with a matching bracelet!” Laurance wasn’t so excited about the bonus figure as he was everything else but hey it was whatever- he grabbed it from her hands so he could throw it in with Kawaii~Chans gift or something.

He dug into his wallet and brought out a couple hundred and handed them to her “Thank you so much! And I will put my own Christmas cards- I’m just glad I got a gift for everyone.” he lets out a sigh of relief “thank you, June.” June grins wide “Of course! And please say hi to Aphmau for me!” Laurance nods “Yeah of course! I didn't realize you knew them…”

He looked at the multitude of food stalls and decided on trying something fairly cheap with some Mcdonalds, he ordered himself a burger and a drink and walked over to a table to sit himself down. Laurance took out his phone and looked over his contacts, he tapped on his text messages and opened the messenger app and was a bit surprised to see he had multiple messages from different people.

Mostly from Travis, apparently there was something going on with Tokyo Princess love~love Cookie mew~Mew School Girl and a new movie was coming out, Laurance didn't actually like the show much but it was something to do with his friends.

His friends?

Laurance thought it was quite funny, to call them that. He had been comfortably calling them that when they first came back to his life and yet… They weren't even his friends. They were copies, people who simply looked like them and have said multiple times that they got deja vu when they met him. Well, most of them.

If he was as selfless as he once was, he would have ignored them and distanced himself as soon as Aphmau appeared on his front doorstep but lately, he found himself becoming more and more selfish- indulging in his hapless desires. The desire to feel a connection again, the desire to feel love again. To have that affection and care placed on to him by friends who cared for him just as he cared for them- He knew he was being extremely selfish, he knew that it was wrong for him to be able to have this.

He looks at the invitation from Travis and stares at it for a while, he sucks in a breath and releases it before texting him back

‘yeah man, sounds fun!’

He looks at the other notifications, tapping on the message from Katelyn which… was a rare thing, She usually never texted him unless there was something she needed to know. Katelyn had asked him if he heard what the boys might like for Christmas which he promptly answered ‘I don’t really know, I just settled with what I got for them.’

Laurance lifted his drink to his lips and started drinking more of it.

“Laurance?”

He looks towards the voice calling out to him “Oh, hey Aphmau!” He sets his near-empty drink down “What’s up?” He leaned against the table as the shorter girl approached him “I got into an… argument with Kawaii~Chan over her gullibility and we got separated- annnnd now I’m looking for her.”

“we’ll I haven’t seen her around yet, at least not in the food court.” He answered honestly.

Aphmau sighs “What am I gonna do with that girl?” She lets out a groan “I meant well but she took it the completely wrong way.” she ran her hand along her face and eventually through her bangs then brushed them to the side.

“I can help you look for her.” Laurance had offered, he was allowed to be concerned for Kc too right? She was his friend, after all.
“Oh really?!” She clasps her hands together, her amber eyes widening “That would be a great help!” She suddenly pauses “Oh- wait…. What are you doing here, Laurance? I don’t want to-“

Laurance, for whatever reason, got nervous that Aphmau would be too nosy if he admitted he was getting presents “I uh-! Nothing! I’ll go look for her!” He runs off before Aphmau can get another word in.

He slows down and starts to head into different stores to look for the pink-haired meifwa, he’s not quite sure which ones She’d enter so he tries pretty much each one he comes across. The brunet finds himself looking at the different items placed among the various shelves, one, in particular, catching his eye.

It was a snow globe and depicted inside of it was a Knight in shining silver armor standing on a snow-covered Rocky Mountain with a sword in his hand looking as if he just pulled it out of it, he even had a molded blue cape flowing behind him. ‘If it had a cross on his chest, it would be just like him.’ He reached a finger out and ran it across the glittery blue base of the snow globe ‘Looks like they sealed in the glitter so it won’t come off.`

He picks it off the shelf and decides he would add it to Garroths gift. He’ll add something more to the other gifts too, it's not that he thought of Garroth when seeing a gift or anything… It just so happens he knows Garroth likes blue. That’s all.

He grabs some other small things from the shop to add to the other gifts to make them more unique. a page of sweets-themed scented stickers for KC, a weird blue crystal-looking rock for Katelyn, A red headband for Aphmau, Dante got a joke gift of a dating tips magazine, Brendan got a good luck charm badge, and finally, Travis got a poster of Tokyo Cookie Mew~Mew love or whatever it was.

Laurance bought everything at the register and soon left, he continued his search for the Mief'wa afterward and after a while, he spotted her crying while talking to Aphmau “What’s wrong with KC?” He asked as he walked up to them, the girl letting out a wail as Aphmau turned to him to explain her situation “She spent all her money because the salesmen sweet-talked her into buying all of these things.”

“…isn’t that their job?” He asked carefully, and Aphmau nodded with a heavy sigh “That’s what I tried to tell her, but she couldn’t understand that she doesn’t have to buy something she doesn’t want because they beg her to.”

“oh man, really? Is there any way to get her money back?”

She shook her head “All sales were final… no refunds or exchanges.” She mutters bitterly.

Laurance can’t help but pity her, he used to act similarly when he was a child walking around the market stands “Oh man, poor KC. I’m sorry.”

“what’s going on?”

Laurance tenses up, why was Zane here of all places? Couldn’t he just stay away from him? He turns towards him, and despite the cut on his lip being gone, it felt fresh when he saw the black-haired man “None of your business, 21 Edgelord.”

Zane looked at Laurance strangely, almost with a sense of guilt before jerking his head to the side and carrying himself with pride “Oh? Still mad about the snowball fight? How I owned you and Garroth?”

“Let me get straight to the punch.” He looks at Laurance who huffs angrily before turning back to Aphmau “You three are considered to be loitering, so since it’s my job I will need to know what’s going on.”

“How do you even get a job not suited for you anyway?” Laurance asks skeptically, to Zane’s complete annoyance.

“…I’m really persuasive. Now, why is the cat-girl crying?” His voice is low and grumbly, damn this awful man, and his deep voice that would be soothing if he wasn’t EVIL.

Aphmau rolled her eyes “I don’t want to but since you’re… security for some reason, KC essentially got tricked into buying all these things that she doesn’t need or even want.”

KC starts to sniffle, wiping at her face “I ended up buying all these things! Even this Chaos figure!! I already have a chaos figure!!! I don’t need any more of them or any other of my little horsie figurines!” She started to whine, Aphmau almost went to comfort her but Zane walked up to her first “…alright, I’ll buy it from you.”

Kc looked up at him “…You will?” She grips the figure “Deal! Thank you so much!” She crashes into him in an overbearing hug and he lets out a scream “AHHHH! Let go You- girl woman thing!” His face was bright red and he looked truly at a loss for what to do. Laurance broke into laughter “He can’t even handle getting a hug from one girl!” He couldn’t help but cackle. Zane let out a growl and pried the pink-haired girl off him and shivered “I’m never being nice again- ugh.” He shoved the money at her and took the figure “You’re Welcome.” He answers with a heavy sigh before walking away, shaking off his nerves or something.

Kawaii~Chan held the money tight to her chest “…I got money for Reese’s present!!! Eeeehehehe!!!” She broke down into fits of laughter and pure glee that she could get him a present again. Aphmau crosses her arms “That was nice of him…” She mumbled. “but Zane isn’t nice.” Laurance denied it instantly despite the happy look on the pinkettes face, he didn’t feel bad for it either. Aphmau looked towards him “…not that nice at least, it’s a bit weird.” She turns back towards KC “But at least she’s happy, I’ll talk to you later Laurance I need to go help her pick out a gift.”

He must like the show it’s from or something.

“Alright, talk to you later Aph.” He offered a small and awkward wave, the woman grinning before walking away with an excitable pinkette in tow. Laurance let out a heavy sigh and after that very… entertaining trip at the mall, he heads home.

His house was usually laid untouched for every holiday that he had been in for… probably since before he left Phoenix Drop. This year though, he had bought a simple tree with built-in glowing leaves and lights. He didn’t have a star or any ornaments of the sort but for Laurance? This was plenty enough for him. No one was going to be coming over here much anyway, so there wasn’t a real point to it. He sits cross-legged on the floor and starts to take out the gifts from the different bags “Okay…” he mumbled quietly, separating each gift and muttering to himself which one belonged to what.

He arranged them in the gift bags just like Cadenza might have, intricate. After this, he would plan to knit something Or… would that be considered too much? Maybe just something for Aphmau and Garroth… he was closest with them- or would people feel bad? He puffs out his chest and decides against it for now. puts each one underneath the tree. Presents under a tree… he snorts, it’s a pretty silly tradition but he had to admit the colorful gifts matched with the lit tree were rather beautiful. It… gave him a warm feeling just looking at it.

A warm feeling that you don’t deserve. Laurance sighs, knocking the side of his head with his hand in a half-hearted attempt to stop the bad thoughts. It wouldn’t work.

“Orrrr not.” he huffs, heading towards the door and opening it. He prepares himself to put on a happier facade but stops himself when he sees Zane Ro’Meave standing there still in his work uniform from that day just with a black jacket layered over top.

“Hello, Laurance.”

“…Oh, a rainy cloud on an otherwise bright day.” Laurance mutters, ready to shut the door in his face but paused when he remembered the mall incident and curiously he decided to listen “What do you want?”

Zane had instantly recoiled at the tone of the man's voice “If it isn’t the cold annoying breeze on what would have been a warm day.” He retorted with a growl, he wasn’t expecting to be immediately antagonized as a greeting. Laurance hates how that actually hurts a little bit “Your point?” He asks with a raised brow.

Zane.

The name carries so much weight and hatred for Laurance, so much pain. Zane was the cause of so much of it.

The raven-haired man stood over him, his visible eye now matching the red of the blood he was covered in.

Laurance couldn’t think about that night, he couldn’t. He falls back against the door and clenches his eyes shut.

Zane stepped over the body “Ah,l̴i̵t̸t̷l̸e̵ Laurance… “

NO! Laurance whacks the side of his head. no, please. He starts to cry, sliding down the door to the ground.

“Finally after all these years, you are t̴h̶e̶ ̴l̵a̵s̸t̴ ̶o̵n̶e̶ to face me? The little baby s̴h̷a̴d̸o̵w̶ ̸k̸n̶i̶g̵h̶t̷? How utterly pathetic.” His words in Laurance’s mind were garbled and monstrous, his words laced with venom.

Laurance hit himself, again and again, trying to forget and get out of his head everything that happened as his eyes flashed a violent red for a moment.

He can’t stop it, The negative thoughts… he had gotten so good he had let himself slip.

Stopstopstopstop-

“I’m going to burn Phoenix Drop to the ground, and you…? I don’t think I’ll let you live to watch.” He stepped over the body of a guard, one that Laurance knew.

Stop.

Laurance took deep breaths, moving his hands away from his head and placing them on the ground. He forgot how whenever he transformed, it always called for blood. His or someone else’s. He shakily lifts a finger and feels his head, he hits it hard enough to draw blood. He continuously rubs at it, eyes going unfocused.

Laurance lets out a choked noise from his throat, drawing his knees to his chest when he starts to sob.

Chapter 6: Hey Laurance, uh Meow?

Chapter Text

Aphmau had been turned into a cat.

Joy.

Guess this stupid crap was what she had to deal with now.

It had been a week after that awful snowfight and a day after the incident at the mall. She had been ambushed by a bunch of cats that KC was supposed to have been babysitting- and one of them was magical and had some sort of grudge against her(well, mostly her dog), so here she was as a purple cat in the snow on her front porch after Katelyn had thrown her out.

Aphmau let out a grumble, pawing at the snow ‘ Katelyn come on please, it's so cold out her! What if someone gives me to the pound or pet shelter?!’ She's sure nothing but meows were coming from her throat. She sighs, heavily ‘ maybe one of my friends will let me hunker down in their house until it wears off…? Try to spread cheer.”

She decided that would be the best play, she looked around and decided to try going to Laurance first- he seemed to be the most normal one so maybe he would treat her well enough? The cat trot awkwardly towards Laurance’s home, stumbling a bit ‘stupid little potato cat legs-!’ She started to get used to it by the time she got across the road and to his door, she sat back and started to claw at the door ‘oh I hope this doesn’t leave marks-!’

She jumps back when she hears footsteps, the door creaks open “…a cat?” He mutters, and Aphmau rushes inside “You must be seeking shelter from the cold.” He closes the door, seemingly not too bothered by the fact she had ran inside.

Aphmau turned to look up at Laurance, her body tensing when she noticed his reddened and wet tear-stained cheeks. He squat down to her level “…it looks like some person decided to dye your coat a shade of purple…?” He chuckled, Aphmau flicked her tail without thinking and tilted her head ‘Laurance are you okay?’

Laurance reached out to scratch behind her ears “I’m sorry little kitten but you can’t stay here.” he apologizes, seemingly genuinely sad. Aphmau hates how upset Laurance seemed. The brunet sounded so lonely, and so hurt and Aphmau wanted nothing more than to give him a hug and tell him it would be okay.

She tried nuzzling her head into his shin, like she's seen cats do before and Laurance lets out a sad chuckle “Aw…. It's okay, I won't let you go back into the cold.” he reassures, gently stroking the cats back.

The brunette walks back into the room with a knit blanket “I made this… i accidentally made it too small but it’s the perfect size to wrap around you like a scarf or something.” He sits and crosses his legs, taking the knit thing and wrapping it around the cat “…There, you look cozy.”

Laurance picks her up again “Alright, let’s get you to someone who actually wants to take in a cat… I think I heard them talking about a pet… he’d take good care of you.” He began to stroke her fur, Aphmau didn’t know how to really react. She almost didn’t want to leave him, but then again if he took her to someone else they’d see him and surely they would help him… right?

“Laurance…what…?” He reached out, his fingers barely brushing one of the bruises.

Laurance pushed his hand away “I’m fine, just fell face first into the sidewalk on my way here- be careful it’s slippery out here.” He chuckled, putting on his best smile. ‘Garroth, push further you dummy!’

Aphmau knew Laurance was lying, which gave the question: What actually happened?

‘Laurance… you are even more of an idiot! Ugh… I’m so worried for him.’

Aphmau is then left with the trio of boys. Travis and Dante look at her skeptically “…So if we’re gonna keep Miss Taco here-“ Travis was interrupted by Dante “No, no you mean Muffins… if we’re keeping her here we need to take her to a vet and-“

“It’s sprinkled! And yeah I guess we’ll need to have her fixed.” Garroth pipes up.

Aphmau lets out a loud shriek, clawing her way from Garroths arms and running away after she hears that ‘oh hell no! I am NOT doing that!’ She leaps out a window that was open despite the chilly air.

“miss taco come back!!!”

“Muffins!!!”

“Sprinkles!!! Here Kitty Kitty!”

Aphmau runs out of sight towards the end of the street, pausing when she runs into… Zane. The guy looked a mess, dressed completely in black but without a scarf to be seen. His expression seemed tense until he laid eyes on the cat “Oh Hello there…” he looked around, looking for something to indicate this was a prank, before squatting down and holding his hand out “You lost?”

Aphmau might have guessed that Zane might like animals more than he liked people, but honestly, a part of her was still expecting this man to have thrown snow at her by now to scare her away. ‘Let me guess, you’re gonna pick me up and toss me around like a personal plaything.’

“If you follow me I can give you some milk, even warm it up but I’m not gonna force you.” He reached out and pat her head, standing up and turning around to head home. Aphmau might have not done that but something about the way he looked at her… compelled her to go along ‘Why is he being nice…?’

Zane looked down at her “Huh… I didn’t actually expect you to follow, most animals don’t really like me.” Aphmau could tell, not many people liked Zane at first meeting- or ever at all. Aphmau thought he was cute in high school but that was about the extent of the positive feelings for Zane she ever had.

She entered the surprisingly cozy house, it was decorated rather nicely- the one thing missing though… were presents.

None were placed under the decorated tree, nothing wrapped or bagged- there weren’t even stockings hanging up on the wall. Aphmau was sure that their father gave Garroth a gift every year by now… so where was his?

Zane sits on the couch, crossing his legs and leaning back “Strange, you even hopped on the couch next to me… I was honestly joking about you following me at first.” he chuckled, very hesitantly reaching out to pet the cat. Aphmau decided to let him, it didn’t bother her despite the annoyance and suspicion still in her mind.

‘So he was joking, and he actually is a jerk.’ Aphmau huffs, turning away from him “You know, I wasn’t even allowed to have pets when I was a kid.” He hums thoughtfully, looking down at them.

‘Great so he’s gonna take me, neuter me, and force me to be an indoor-only cat who poops in a litter box!’

“Okay then, there's the door when you’re ready to leave- I won’t force you to stay, you look like you prefer more freedom.” He pets her again, looking so gently at her.

‘ What…?’

“ Plus with that scarf you look like you might have an owner.” He points out “I’m sure they might be waiting for you.“ And Zane sounds so genuine, in a way that Aphmau has never heard for herself before ‘You must be so lonely…’

Aphmau thinks for a moment on how to make him feel better, without the thought of anything else in the way, and shakes her scarf off. She takes it in her mouth and drops it on his lap as a gift ‘Merry Christmas.‘

Zane gathers tears in his eyes as he picks up the scarf, he grips it tight before draping it over the back of his neck “I’ve never… I mean I haven’t gotten a gift since I was a kid.” He chuckled, smiling and wiping his tears away.

Aphmau meowed and in a flash, She was human again. The change in her limbs was dizzying and the sudden light hurt her eyes “Oh shhhit-“ She mutters, looking at the shellshocked Zane from right next to her “Uhh….”

Zane looks over at her with a look of disbelief and total shock in her eyes then his expression changed into one of embarrassment “What…! Were you spying on me??” He sits up, faces red and anger prominent Aphmau looks up at him “…I was actually stuck as a cat-“

“….I can’t believe…. How???”

Aphmau opened her mouth to speak “…would you believe me if I told you the magical Christmas cat turned me into a cat for Christmas cheer?”

Zane blinked ever so slowly in disbelief “…Aphmau, what- just what?” He seemed so genuinely confused, eyes furrowing together “I… what are you doing in my house though?”

Aphmau frowned “I uh… You were nice to me.” She utters out, shyly smiling afterward “I wanted to see more of that side of you- and see… if you were being genuine.”

“Is it that unbelievable that I like cats, though?”

“…I’ve never really seen you interact with one, outside of potions class.” She admits sheepishly. Zane sighs frustratedly, clenching his fists and unclenching them in rapid succession “Okayyyy, why did you let me pet you?”

Chapter 7: Dear Irene: Does Zane dream of magic priests?

Chapter Text

Zane from the very moment he was born, was met with distaste from his father. While he looked completely like his mother, he didn’t look anything at all like Garte which caused him to grimace. He preferred his children to look like him.

Garroth held onto him, despite barely being two, and adored him but Zane had tugged on his blonde locks then that adoration disappeared in an instant when Garroth started to cry from just how hard those tiny hands had torn into them.

Every person he met, he had ended up making them feel disdain. Like he was a piece of gum stuck to their shoe, a Ro'meave that didn’t fit the look. The Ro'meave only his mom wanted.

His brothers had loved him too at one point but over the years Zane had pushed them away because of how angry they made him with how perfect they were. So incredibly perfect. The favorites in the family by far.

Zane had become bitter and hateful.

No one liked him and Zane knew he deserved it, too.

But in the case of Laurance Zvahl, he knew he didn’t deserve his antagonizing. He hadn’t even spoken a word other than a well-intended invitation before getting mocked to his face. The genuine amount of anger in the man’s eyes whenever they looked at one another threw him for a loop.

Every word that came from that guy's mouth towards Zane was almost always an insult or a passive-aggressive remark. Anything else was just silent fury and cold stares. Obviously though, he didn’t just stand quietly and take it, he shot back and threw insults back in his face while the other seemed shocked as if Zane had the audacity to defend himself.

So why did he feel bad when he had hit him?

Laurance had deserved it for speaking to him that way, but Zane had never really hurt anyone like that. The full rage he felt in that instant was awful, something he didn’t like to feel, he wasn’t thinking and Zane preferred to think. His mom had told him he should apologize when he talked to her about it. While he may have tried to ignore that in High School he respected his mom the most out of anyone in his family, perhaps Vlyad was a second to that but only because the other never went out of his way to annoy him like Garroth had and didn’t (openly, at least) show any hatred towards him like his father.

So he had found himself at Laurance’s doorstep, staring at the wooden entrance with disdain and something akin to fear. He had prepared himself to say sorry and then leave immediately but when he knocked and the door opened, that thought had left when he saw how Laurance had looked at him.

“…Oh, a rainy cloud on an otherwise bright day.” Laurance had told him, and that had almost gotten Zane to leave altogether. The man knew he was better than that though, he wasn’t a coward or a quitter so Zane fired back “If it isn’t the cold annoying breeze on what would have been a warm day.”

Zane normally would have just called him an idiot or something, but the other just HAD to be smart and throw insults as if he were in a poetry slam. So naturally, it wasn’t one of Zane's best. He pushes through, throwing some more subtle insults and the nickname that seemed to bother the other so much, before gathering up all his pride and asking if the other’s lip was okay.

He watched the shock creep up onto the taller's(SLIGHTLY TALLERS, as he reminded himself) face, the dumbfoundedness was almost funny. He ignored the jab the other threw in response, pinching his wrist to keep himself grounded as he pushed through and apologizing the best way he knew how: as indirectly as possible.

“As insulting as that is, I’m… glad that it didn’t hurt…. Not like I was trying anyway.” Zane felt stupid as he said it, he waited for Laurance to laugh in his face again.

He didn’t.

In fact, he apologized too. Sort of.

“…It’s fine, whatever. I was pretty out of line too.”

The door slammed in his face.

“Hey wait-” He reached for the doorknob, hand flinching away from it when he heard a loud thud followed by other noises and something all too similar to crying and panic. His hand hovered for about 30 seconds, listening to the other and trying to convince himself to open the door.

Zane didn’t consider himself cowardly, but he walked away anyway.

The next morning Zane was visited by a strange cat, one he had considered taking home but the poor thing seemed more like the free-roaming type so he offered it a deal if it wanted to come with him.

It was the first time an animal had ever followed him home, and in the span of around an hour, he had grown attached to the feline.

Of course, like most good things to grace his life, it had turned out to be a lie.

The shadow knights always made it seem like they might give him a chance at joining only to rip it out from underneath his feet. To Zane, that was the closest he was to having Friends- Aphmau never really seemed like a real option, since she was so fond of his brothers. Everyone else in school hated him, bullied him, or constantly

the scarf he was given felt a bit heavy around his neck after Aphmau had revealed himself. She seemed so genuine but a part of him just couldn’t believe it wasn’t some sort of prank or joke.

But…

Aphmau frowned “I uh… You were nice to me.” She utters out, shyly smiling afterward “I wanted to see more of that side of you- and see… if you were being genuine.”

She wanted to see more of what little kindness he showed, to see if it were genuine.

Whether it be from guilt or curiosity, Zane realized he wanted to see if Laurance could be genuine too.

…

The shadow knight looked into the mirror with a look of disdain, he pushed his index fingers into the cut on his forehead causing it to bleed a bit more. He played with the blood in between his fingers, his mind drifting off to the moment the night before his fingernails shifted into a sharper point and his eyes turned red…

He snapped himself out of it when he heard a series of rapid knocks, he cursed to himself and just grabbed a handful of tissues to press to his head and hurried to the door “Hello?” He asks as he opens it, blinking in shock when he realizes that it’s Zane Ro'meave.

He almost opens his mouth to throw an insult out but steals himself when he catches Zane looking at him with an expression that could be interpreted as concern, more so slight shock. “...How did that happen?” he asked immediately, already having his suspicions.

“I tripped. On the snow.” He answered curtly, about to close the door but Zane stopped him “Okay, I saw you the other day in the snowball fight- you didn’t trip at all and you slid around the snow like some sort of expert, I’m not as dumb as my brother so I can tell something else happened… besides it doesn’t even look recent and it’s relatively deep for just hitting your head.” The Ro’meave put his hands on his hips, waiting expectantly for an actual answer.

‘Garroth really is less perceptive than he used to be, but Zane… he’s just as perceptive as the High Priest was.’ Laurance’s brows furrowed before relenting with a heavy sigh “I uh… I scratched it.”

“You…. scratched it?”

“Yes.”

After a beat of silence, Zane grabbed Laurance’s wrist and looked at his fingernails “These aren’t long or sharp at all, how could you scratch it that bad?” Laurance tore his wrist away easily, Zane wasn’t strong in the least so it wasn’t difficult. “I worked at it, I was… having an episode.” Laurance had no idea how else to describe it without revealing his less-than-fortunate state of being.

Zane draws his hand back “...That’s not something to take lightly, you know.” He notes, crossing his arms. Laurance notices how cautious he sounds, he narrows his eyes “Why do you care?” Zane’s face twists into an expression of annoyance before sighing “I’m not heartless, I’m supposed to watch over the neighborhood anyway.”

“Right, then… bye-” Laurance was about to close the door, but Zane stopped him again “I know basic first aid.” He offers but Laurance doesn’t have any interest in Zane seeing him weak “Oh wow, I wouldn't want to inconvenience you.” Laurance says with a sarcasm-laced tone. “It's more for my peace of mind, I won’t overstay my welcome.”

Laurance thinks on it for a moment, cursing to himself “oh irene, forgive me-” he steps aside, opening the door for Zane to come in “...I need to go get my first aid kit, first-”

“I have one in my bathroom, No need to drag this out longer than needed.”

Zane nods, adjusting his mask over his nose and stepping inside the home. Everything inside was clean, but strangely empty and devoid of personal touch which Zane found strange. The only thing that was put up was a plain Christmas tree with some gifts underneath it. Zane almost made a snarky remark but he bit his tongue.

“Where is it?” He asks instead, and Laurance sighs “In the bathroom underneath the sink- it's similar to the layout of the other houses on the street.” he explains, laying back down on the couch and holding his hand over his head. Zane noticed just how tired Laurance looked, like he’d been waiting for a moment to relax but even like that there was a strange tension. Zane wanted to pretend he didn’t know why he was feeling it, but he knew. He knew it was because he was there. There had to be an actual reason.

Zane walks through the hallway, and fair enough the first aid kit was actually where Laurance said it was. He grabs it, thumbing the latch and opening it “...The bandage roll is almost empty.” he mutters, going back over to the living room. He stops in his tracks when he hears the soft snoring from the other, he scoffs and decides to just hurry up and fix the cut so he can leave.

He sets the kit to the side, grabbing the bandages and the alcohol wipes to help clean it “Laurance, hey- Wake up.” he reaches out, swiping over the cut with the wipe and cleaning it over “Okay I’m just getting this over with.” He mutters to himself, beginning to properly patch the cut up.

“You’re lucky this wasn’t infected.” He waited for an answer, but he got nothing except soft breathing. Zane lowered his hand after he was done, looking over Laurance and noticing the twisted expression on his face “...Okay one more time-” he grips his shoulder lightly and tries to shake him awake from his nightmare “Hey, Laurance-” and that turns out to be a mistake.

A hand wraps around his wrist, and Laurance’s eyes open to reveal blood-red irises. Zane is struck frozen at that moment, the crushing feeling on his wrist and the eyes boring into his soul. For a moment, Zane saw himself in a grassy area with a jagged sword in his hands with a gloved hand holding on tightly to his wrist with a glowing orb between them.
The next moment he’s back in Laurance’s living room, his heart beating way too fast for his liking. He looked at his wrist and felt the feeling of powerlessness take over as he tugged “Let go!” He demanded, refusing to look into the eyes of the other in fear of what he might see.

The hand released his grip “sh*t, Zane I’m-” Laurance had started, but Zane refused to look at him “I startled you, I suppose it’s- my- it’s my fault.” He barely chokes out the words, rubbing his wrist. Laurance looks on apologetically, his stomach churning “Zane no I’m- I just-“ he felt the apology gets caught in his throat, and he struggled to look at Zane and say it. He took a couple of deep breaths and tried once more but Zane stood up abruptly.

Rather for his reassurance or something else he left.

Chapter 8: Dear Irene.... it's christmas decoration time...

Chapter Text

Zane meanwhile, with dark circles underneath his eyes walked along the sidewalk with a clipboard in hand. He had begun from the end of the street and looked at each house. Brendan had set up a cute little Santa sleigh display with his reindeer in flashing lights. Cute display, and I like it. 75/100

Laurance had built a snowman and there was a very simple wreath hanging on the door that looked like it was made from actual greenery and tied with a red bow. Zane marked ‘ disqualified, no lights’ on his board and continued.

Chapter 9: Dear Aphmau, why is your party causing so many problems?!

Chapter Text

Christmas Party December 15th

Me, Katelyn, and KC have decided to invite you to our christmas party! Gifts are not required but you can if you’d like. We’ll be baking sweets and cookies to serve as well as punch and other drinks! Feel free to bring a plus one (Or two!) and we hope to see you there!

- Aphmau

Zane had walked out to check his mail like he had done every morning, only to pause when he saw Aphmau hand delivering a party invitation to a confused Laurence standing on the icy sidewalk. He furrows his brows, he had heard about the party and yet he had not been invited?

He knew things between him and Aphmau were quite strange after the whole cat incident but he thought that they may have been on their way to be something similar to friends. He huffs a bit, perhaps… he could wait a couple hours more? Maybe she’d give him one eventually but then again…

Zane shook his head, heading back inside and completely forgetting to get his mail “I’ll just wait.” He reassured himself.

She prayed that she’d stop this boy's crazy streak soon because Aphmau was about to start tearing her hair out at every squeal.

Briiiing!

Oh it’s the doorbell! “oh! The first party guests!” Her train of thought derailed completely, running over to the door and opening it “Oh…Ava! And… friends wow-“

Ava smiles awkwardly “Hi uh, I wasn’t actually going to come but- they insisted then they insisted I bring two of them along and I was forced to choose them… so I brought Rhyse and Noi- yay…(seriously Lorelai why did you have to push so hard.)” Her entire demeanor was awkward and stilted, like she didn’t talk with others much and very much like this was the last place she wanted to be.

“…they took a vow of silence.” She shifted her eyes awkwardly. “You guys may speak, uh, now.” She gestured to them and twirled her wrist. The blonde haired one was the first to speak “Hello! Wow, you and Lady Ava look alike, are you sisters?” he gasps. “Of course not Noi.” The more composed man in blue brought up, adjusting his glasses “Let’s be proper guests now, lovely to meet you Aphmau.”

“Um yes. Lovely to meet you…? Come in please! (Wow they are hot- wait now I’m doing this too?!)” she coughs nervously, stepping aside as the three walk inside and just as that happens Michi is found standing at the front door “I would knock but it’s already open, Hey Aphmau!!!.”

“Oh hey yyy, Michi….(I don’t remember inviting you, wait I’m still doing this? Stupid parentheses!)” she stepped aside, sighing- How on earth did Michi even get an invitation?! She watched Michi waltz in and grimaced. She prayed to Irene that no more unpleasant guests would arrive.

…

Zane ground his teeth as Michi was let into Aphmau’s house. He had been watching from afar and each guest had made him upset, each a guest that wasn’t him or someone who didn’t invite him. The Christmas music playing loudly from the house didn’t help much either.

Why don’t you do something about it?

The voice in the back of his mind echoed his own, it was deeper with more malice but it was his “What would I do?”

“Make them regret it.” The voice got stronger, more tangible even.

Zane found himself hesitantly asking “how?”

For a beat there was nothing but the distant sounds of a party, and the sound of snow crunching as Zane looked for the source.

“Perhaps we can figure it out together, I am you after all.”

“What??”

“Albeit, a much better ‘you.’ ”

Chapter 10: Dear Irene: WHY?

Chapter Text

“Albeit, a much better ‘you.’”

Zane’s entire body froze up, the voice was so clear as if spoken directly to him “What do you…” he started, interrupting himself with a wince and covering his ears which did nothing to stop the oncoming imagery.

Visions of a white room, with Garroth at his mercy. He clearly had the upper hand when they clashed swords. He was upset, clearly and he seemed to be accepting his inevitable demise.

Zane pushed his legs to step forward, his legs almost spasming with every forced step.

Garroth glared at him, eyes fierce with anger “You are an absolute monster! You… you killed all of those people!” He swung his sword in a wide arc, warning him not to take another step forward “You aren’t my brother.”

Nothing but pure hatred in his eyes.

“Garroth…” He trailed off as the voice continued going, raising a hand to his head and cringing as waves of pain rushed through him. “ Don’t you want revenge?” Zane did want revenge.

Zane remembers Garroth showering him with hugs at his graduation, laughing about how proud he was even when Zane didn’t believe him for a second.

Nothing but pure rage and hate in his eyes.

Zane mentally pushed the memories away, falling to his knees and clasping at his ears desperately. Eyes tightly shut, he couldn’t think of Laurance being so hateful. Maybe he was rude- maybe he was… he was hurt by something in the past but he’d never kill him. Zane related to him, Zane didn’t know how or why but something in him felt that he and Laurance were the same.

The memory changed.

Laurance looked sullen with a cut on his forehead and circles under his eyes so dark it looked as if he had makeup on. He looked mildly annoyed at Zane, his busted lip was healed over but it seemed he still held some resentment.

Then he saw himself bandaging the other's head, the other was asleep. That was the softest he’d ever seen his face look, with no furrowed brows or smirk to be found. Just gently closed eyes and lips resting in a small frown.

Zane wondered why Laurance always looked so angry, but he couldn’t think of what he had done to make him… so aversed to his presence. Then the other woke up, surprised and with a set of red eyes but he didn’t look angry in hindsight. Just scared, like he had forgotten he was there or that he was getting attacked.

Y̶̠̐o̴̮͆̕͜u̴͔͝͝’̷̢̥͐̓ļ̸͙̌͒l̴̞͚͛͗ ̴̭̓̈́l̷̩̣̔̾e̴̳̰̍̑á̴̲r̵̝͘n̸̺̣͂̀ ̴̙̒e̷̮̽v̶̩͒̔e̶̗̹̊͘ň̵̯̙ț̸͊̄ŭ̵̧̜ä̶̭́͒ľ̴̪͝l̴͔͚̒ẙ̵͎́…̶̘̌̓ ̶̟̟̓.̴̨̲̅.̴̮̕

.

..

…

Laurance put on his sweater over his tanktop, nervously flattening it out and adjusting the end of it until he was convinced he looked nice enough to go out “Alright, good.” He mutters.

He steps outside into the gold, taking a deep breath just as he hears Zane’s door slam shut. He looks over a bit curiously but decides that isn’t something he needs to deal with today- too many hideously mixed emotions that made him want to puke.

He sighs, heading further towards the house booming with Christmas music that he was gonna beg Aphmau to turn down when he got in there. He knocks against the door once, and then again. Nothing yet, he knocks once more.

KC is the one to open the door, perky as ever “Hello~! Come in! Sorry for making you wait so long- it’s hard navigating when there’s such a crowd we can barely hear over anything.” Her ears flick outward a bit, and her face was nothing but smiles and excitement “I’m glad you came! We were all wondering when you’d arrive!”

Travis peaks his head from behind KC “Lauranceeee, babyyy! It’s good to see you here- thought you’d never arrive.” He winks, giving him a wave “Garroth and Dante ditched me to pull some stupid prank and I’m all by my bro-some…” he sighs dramatically as KC’s nose twists up “That sounded stupid.”

“It’s a legitimate word, Kc! Real.”

Laurance was happy to see him too but…. “What on earth is ‘Bro-some’?” He uses his fingers to quote it. Travis sighs “IT’s fine- it’s fine! Dante and I use that all the time, not everyone needs to get it!” he groans, turning around and retreating further into the house. Laurance snorts, there goes Travis, he supposes.
KC looks confused, sighing “…Oh well- im going to go back to waiting for Reese-Senpai.” Laurence grimaced at the girl calling that man that “Please, KC, you’re great- but update your vocabulary.”

“…Oh… Is it annoying?” She asks. Laurance frowns and shakes his head “No it’s just- I mean it’s not really you is it?” He thinks of the girl in his time, who had stopped speaking in such a way not long after he officially met her. She freezes up in that moment “I…” she nervously picks at her nails for couple seconds, instantly shifting into a different demeanor “I… don’t know what you’re talking about! Let’s go enjoy the party!”

She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the main area with everyone looking at them the entire way. Laurance knew exactly what idea they were getting but he didn’t want to push the girl off in fear of hurting her feelings and its not like he didn’t enjoy positive touch, so it wasn’t too bad. So he just awkwardly stood there as she dragged him towards Aphmau “Look who finally made it!”

Chapter 11: Dear Irene: I think I helped the Grinch's heart become two sizes bigger.

Chapter Text

“Why are you in my house?!” Laurance is tense, face filled with disbelief. Zane clicks his tongue, kicking his foot out as if he were rolling a pebble underneath his heel “…I’m taking the tree to get the lights fixed?” He offers as an excuse. “Uh-huh. Okay. And the presents?” Laurance crossed his arms, leaning against the door as if to say you aren’t escaping, buddy. Zane clenched his fists, clenching his jaw for a moment as he tried to come up with some sort of excuse “What presents?”

“Zane.”

“Laurance.”

“What are you doing in my house?” He asks again, this time more irritated than last. Zane takes a deep breath, huffing and harshly dumping the Christmas tree back onto the ground “Your tree has basically no decorations- it’s the most boring tree I’ve ever seen like really-“

“ Zane ,” he interrupted, “last time before I throttle you- why and how are you in my house??” He stomps his foot, trying to make a point. Zane lets out a frustrated groan “fine. Have you seen The Grinch?”

Silence.

“…Laurance?”

Silence.

“Laurance-“

“That’s why you’re dressed as Santa? How many houses have you gotten too?”

“I haven’t really got the chance to get to any past yours, and to be fair- it sounded better than the other option.” He sounded so casual like any of what he was doing was logical. Like he had made a decision between wearing heeled boots or sneakers to a hike and he regretted wearing heels.

“What was the other option?”

Zane looks around nervously, eyes darting down the hall then toward a window. Laurance easily caught up, grabbing onto Zane in the blink of an eye “Zane, This is just… uncharacteristically stupid-” he lets go of his sleeve “Even for someone who likes to cause trouble, this is just breaking into people's homes.”

“I did it because Aphmau never invited me to her party, okay?”

“Yeah, sorry about that… I mean it's not like it had many decorations on it before- sorry.”

Zane didn’t bother to change from his Santa gear but Laurance had to put his winter gear back on because even if it was just crossing the street it was extremely cold outside, and he didn’t want to deal with it for even a second. He wasn’t insane.

Chapter 12: Dear Irene: Has it really been so long? - Dante

Chapter Text

The rest of the street… they didn’t have other people in the house with them. Laurance cleaned his house about five times, Zane tried to avoid triggering any vision, and Brendan well… he tried putting together a table- again.

Garroth and Dante, for example, dressed in their warmest clothes and began walking door to door to Invite everyone to a last-minute party with a couple of friends who were visiting from out of town.

Laurance, with one look of Garroth’s puppy eyes, let out a sigh and reluctantly agreed to come to the party “Okay but if I come, you better make sure to invite Zane alright? He may not act like it but he likes to be invited to things.”

Dante sighed, muttering “Seriously, him again?”

Garroth hesitated to say anything for a moment, but after glancing at Dante who stared at him with a questioning look he nodded “Yeah I was gonna invite him because he’s my baby brother, Anyway so it’s not a big deal. No promises he’ll come though. So if you’re going for him then it might not be the party for you.”

Dante interjected “But! Me and Garroth would love for you to come! I’m gonna make some ham, we got some good wine- it’ll be great! We even have a pool table.”

Laurance imagined a table that looked like a swimming pool.

“…I’m not gonna go just for Zane, I mean you’re my friends.”

Dante frowns “But lately, you haven’t truly been hanging around. Ever since that day at the mall, you’ve been kinda… pulling away, even at the party you only really talked to the emo or Aph. Even then that was only after the Christmas party.”

Garroth placed a hand on Dante’s shoulder, voice softening to the point that it gave Laurance major deja vu. “Dante, maybe now isn’t the time to question him? We came here to invite him not to interrogate.” Laurance shivered, but not due to the cold “…look I’ll- I’ll try to reach out more I just, haven’t been great mentally and I’m trying to get a handle on it.”

Dante sighs “Right. Okay. Laurance I’ll… talk to you later, I’m not mad just concerned.” Dante had seen Laurance that night at the party, how sick and hurt he looked. He couldn’t help but worry about the man.

After they left, Garroth was the first to speak “That’s two in a row that said to invite Zane… so we’d better go invite him in person.”

Dante groaned, kicking at a wayward pile of snow. “He literally hates me! He’s constantly making fun of my voice- He’s just a huge-! “ he bites his tongue “I’ll be amicable because he’s your bro, and probably dating either Aphmau or Laurance…. Or both.”

Garroth huffs, walking farther ahead “It’ll be fine, they are not dating!” He sped up to the door and knocked. “Wait- Garroth!” Dante jogged behind him just as Zane answered, still dressed in pajamas and looking like he just woke up “What do you want, Garroth?” He asked, having barely slipped his mask on.

“we’re having a New Year’s party tonight, wanna come?” Keeping it simple.

Zane huffs, looking a bit frustrated “Why is it so last minute? I might have liked the extra time to get ready, or even prepare something.” He looked between the two, glaring at Dante for a moment. The man rolled his eyes, crossed his arms, and looked away “Hi to you too.”

“-Hey! I mean. Yes, they both said yes, they are coming too. We even got Aaron to come, that guy hates parties.” Garroth smiles, though now strained. Zane nods “Okay well I guess I can come over, I should as the… neighborhood watch anyway.”

He couldn’t find anything to say, he didn’t even know what they were squabbling on about.

“Okay! Now if you’ll excuse me I need to wash my hair because my hair is full of stress-sweat and I am NOT HAVING IT!” he turned down the hall towards the bathroom, presumably to take a shower.

“Okay look, I’m sorry for calling you childish. I know that brings up bad memories. However, that doesn’t mean you can act so out of character and not tell me why, I’m allowed to be concerned for you Dante.” He picked up the string lights and put them on top of the island counter “Can you tell me what’s wrong, please?” he absentmindedly began thumbing the wire to the star lights.

Dante cuts down a couple more pieces of ham in silence, Garroth stood by patiently.

“Oh… Dante-”

Chapter 13: Dear Irene: Michi is just... the worst.

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Laurance stood in the middle of the small crowd of people who were currently occupying Garroth’s house with a drink in hand. The shadow knight had gotten the idea that it would be a much smaller affair but according to the many people in the house, it was not. “What kind of ‘last minute get together’ is this!? How many friends does he have that are willing to come at the last minute?” Laurance wasn’t even noticed coming in, except by KC who very excitedly opened the door for him and then ran off when she saw Reese and Michi acting too close for comfort.

Not that either of them remembered. He frowned, trying not to let that familiar ache take over his already sour mood but it was difficult because of where he was and who he was with. He heads to the fridge and grabs one of the bottles offered to drink.

“Oh well- My name is Kenmur, it’s nice to meet you…” his line of sight moves to linger on Emmalyn and he lets out a soft sigh “If you’ll excuse me…” he mumbles. Walking away from the undoubtedly awkward interaction, and disappearing upstairs.

“Don’t mind him darlin’ he’s just a bit lovesick.” Donna , was smiling at him kindly “He’s a real friendly fella, what’s yer name?” She had a deep southern drawl, one that Laurance found comforting “Laurance, and what about you madam?”

“Well thank ya for askin, my name's Donna and you’d do well to remember it. Are you really a friend of Garroth and Dante?”

“Yeah I am, I’m their neighbor we met when they moved in and we just got along well.”

Donna nods, frowning a little bit “New Meteli huh? So a big-city boy, this town isn’t small by any means but it is not anywhere near Meteli size.”

“Yeah, it was an adjustment.” Many decades of adjustment, actually. Donna nods “Your folks must miss you.”

“No one from New Meteli misses me. No one is there to miss me.” He didn’t mean to be a downer, but Donna was just so easy to talk to.

“ Oh. I’m sorry I… I didn’t mean to pry, Laurance. Was just curious is’all.” She mumbled the last bit “Anyways, I’m gonna go talk with KC I haven’t seen her in a hot minute.”

“Oh well- Bye Donna.” He smiled, and she smiled back “Talk to ya later.” And she left him to go talk to the meif’wa. He could stand there the rest of his night and be perfectly content, but knowing his friends they would be upset that he didn’t say hi to any of them. He sighed and resigned himself not to stay in a corner. He spotted Garroth heading up the stairs earlier so up the stairs, he went.

‘ f*ck no. ’

p̸u̵s̸h̸ ̵h̸e̷r̷ ̵d̸o̷w̶n̵ ̵t̶h̴e̷ ̵s̸t̴a̵i̸r̵s̷

He gripped her wrist so fast she had no chance to move her hand from him, he was deathly still for a moment. Every ounce of his willpower was used to not immediately throw her down the rest of the way. His other hand squeezed into a fist, his now sharpened nails digging crescent shapes into his palms “Please.” he grit his teeth “Let me go.” his voice had a slight echo to it

Laurance’s muscles all untensed at once, and his breaths became intense and repetitive.

“w̴h̵a̸t̴ ̸a̸r̵e̴ ̴y̸o̴u̷?!”

A m̴̺͐ö̴́͜n̵̫͑s̴͓͂ẗ̶̼́e̶͓̔r̵̘͗...

He glanced at the pink-haired girl in front of him.

it’s comforting though, To have one more friend that understands.

Chapter 14: So... Who's The New Guy?

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“Hey, Laurance!” Garroth greeted, plopping down on his bed. He waited for the other to answer, the phone’s slight crackle making it feel awkward when the other took a little too long to answer “Hey Garroth, sorry I was um- So what’s up?”

Garroth grinned, kicking his feet just a bit “Well buddy, I know you and Travis have your cartoon night so I was thinking what if I showed you some of my favorite movies or- you know at least like one.” He fiddled with the comforter on his bed. There was shuffling on the other end of the phone “Oh really? I mean- I’m not sure I’d be the best company but maybe it’d be good for me so what time?” “We could even meet up here right now if you really wanted.” Garroth froze in his spot while feeling slightly embarrassed over his own eagerness before relaxing again. Laurance let out a humming sound “Well… I’ll be over. I just need to get ready first I mean- I’m still tired over New Year's Eve so it’ll be a second.”

“Really but that was last year!”“It was only 2-” The silence drew out for a moment before Laurance began to laugh, the sound pure music to the blonde’s ears. “Funny one, Garroth.” His voice was laced with amusem*nt, a tone you don’t often hear Laurance use. He giggles again “I know, aren’t I a funny guy? Anyway, I’ll get a movie ready just knock when you're here- or you can just come in I don’t mind.”

“You’re that comfortable with me just barging into your house?” He seemed shocked at the prospect. “Um yeah! As long as we’re home anyway, a lot of our friends barge in, not to mention I’ve broken many doors myself so I’d be a hypocrite.”

“Okay well just know I don’t like people barging in, I need to be ready for visitors. But okay, I’ll be there when I’m… there. Yeah.” Laurance sounded so awkward it was endearing.

“Okay Bye then, see you in a bit!”

“Yeah, see you.” he hung up.

Garroth cheered to himself and headed back down into the living room “Travis, I’m claiming the living room today!” he shouted, gleefully leaning against the couch. Travis craned his head to look towards him “What? No way! Attack On Titan's new season is out! I’m not missing out on any more Levi scenes mkay?” He waved his hand, trying to send him away. “Well Laurance is coming over, and this is the first time in months it’s been for something other than your anime nights or a party- both things he committed to prior or it took a lot of convincing…”

Travis looks up at him, narrowing his eyes “…Okay, but next time I get the TV for anime night- you don’t get to complain about it. Me and Laurance are only on episode 91 of 325!”

“That magical cat girl show thing has 325 episodes?!”

“Not nearly as much as all that trash reality TV you watch.” Travis mumbled, Garroth leaned in closer with a glare “What was that Travis?” For a moment, Travis was intimidated. The voice Garroth used was weirdly commanding but this was Garroth. “You heard me.That isn’t nearly as bad, and I mean not even near One Piece-” Travis prepared to go on a long rant but he couldn’t when the man of the hour showed up.

“What’s One Piece?”

Travis and Garroth turned towards the voice, Laurance stood there with an awkward smile shuffling uncomfortably. “Laurance! Hey buddy!” The other rushed up to him and crushed him in a hug. The other took a moment to reciprocate, but awkwardly pulled away “Hey, uh- buddy.” Laurance cringed, shoulders stiff. Travis hopped up from the couch, going over to Laurance “Heyyyy Laurance.” He winked, pulling him in for a side hug “How’s my man doing?” Laurance laughed, returning it with a pat “Just great, Trav.” He pulled away from them both, taking a couple of steps back but a bit more relaxed. “Where’s Dante?”

“He’s around here somewhere,” Garroth mumbled, maybe once he could get a singular moment alone with his friend he could see why he acted strangely with him. Just get Travis away, and he could finally say something. Talk with him. “Oh, well I was hoping to say hi…” Laurance pouted.

“Well maybe Travis can go look for him, and we can wait here.” at Garroth’s suggestion Travis rolled his eyes “Me? No no, why don’t you just call him?” he poked Garroth in the chest “You can’t get rid of me like that.” they looked like they were about to butt heads “I was simply asking you for a favor, can’t believe you accuse me of trying to get rid of you.”

“Come on, can’t we just sit down and watch a movie? I thought that’s what I was here for not arguing or whatever it is you’re doing.”

“We aren’t arguing.” They denied, speaking at the same time. Laurance raised his hands in surrender, backing away and resigning himself to the couch. The two were about to start arguing but stopped when they heard the front door open and close. “Guys come here!!” It was Dante, at the front entrance. The three of them went over to the door where Dante stood proudly “So you- oh hi Laurance- so you guys know how we need the extra cash since our… unfortunate spending?”

Travis mumbled “The pathetic attempt at getting a girlfriend fund?”

Dante pointed at him “No, and shut up! I got the most brilliant idea-”

“Dante you aren’t going to become a YouTuber, I’m sorry.” Travis pats him on the shoulder “You just don’t have that IT factor, it’s a brutal landscape-“ Dante shrugged him off “What? No!” He huffs “I was trying to say that-” Garroth sighed dramatically “Okay buddy I know the feather fund hit us hard but streaming is even harder than yo-“

“I’m not trying to be a- let me finish!”

Laurance’s nose scrunched up, not understanding either of what they were implying ‘streaming like… TV?’ He needs to catch up on his lingo. Dante takes a deep breath “I found us a roommate and before you give me any sh*t he’s not some stranger it’s a friend from high school- he needs a place to live and he’s willing to pay rent.”

Garroth took a deep breath “....and you already said yes?” He pinches the bridge of his nose, Travis just looked bored “Yeah okay, are you gonna tell us who it is?” Dante nods and opens the door where an excited man practically bursts into the room with wide arms. “Gar Bro!!”
Garroth gasped, fully embracing the man in a hug “Blaze! It’s been forever, buddy!” Travis tensed up a little bit at the sudden loudness but relaxed when he realized who it was “Heyyyyy big guy, how we doing?”

“I’m doing so good you guys, Dante being my bro and all, heard of my dilemma and offered me your basem*nt!!” He notices Laurance, who is looking at his ears and tail and overall strange appearance “Well who is this guy?” Blaze smiled at him. Laurance grinned “My name’s Laurance, I’m guessing you’re Blaze?” to the shock of the other three, Laurance didn’t seem shy or awkward at all. No tensing as Blaze takes hold of his hand and shakes it “You’d be right!

“I’m always right. Were you standing behind the door this whole time?”

“yep!”

“Do you need any help with your stuff?” Laurance offered, looking out on the porch decorated with suitcases and boxes. Blaze looked back “If you’re offering then sure! Be careful some of the boxes are really h-” Laurance leaned over and picked up two boxes with ease, one under each arm “Basem*nt right?”

“Uh… yeah!” Blaze looked around, and back towards Dante “Where is the basem*nt?” Dante grabbed him by the bicep and tugged him along to follow “Come on big guy.”

Garroth and Travis looked at each other before beginning to pick up some boxes themselves, resigned to the fate that Blaze would be living with them from now on.

“Wait wait- so let me get this straight. Garroth tried to use feathers to do a dance?” Blaze asked, not even trying to hold in his laughter. Dante nodded through his giggles “Exotic feathers, we spent way too much on them! He watched a documentary about birds and how they mate and he got the bright idea to spend waaaay too much money and now we are crowded with boxes.”

Travis snickered, “He ordered all kinds, and while I appreciate some glamor, sequin feathers are a bit much for me he even has exploding feathers.” Laurance sat between Blaze and Garroth “So at the party- I saw Kenmur and you talking was that the advice you gave him?”

Garroth turned a bit red “He refused to take any feathers from me though, just a good luck one.” he murmured. Laurance and Blaze both laughed, the redhead of the two reaching over Laurance to ruffle Garroth’s hair “No worries Gar-Bro, I’ll gladly take some spare feathers.”
“Blaze,” Garroth reached out and wrapped his arms around him, effectively pinning Laurance against the couch to his mild annoyance.w “You are such a good friend!” he cried out. Laurance placed his hands between the two and pushed them apart “I’m here too.” he spoke.

“Oh so sorry!” Blaze moved his other arm and roughly pulled him into the hug “I know it’s not good to leave a bro out.” Laurance looked at Travis and Dante for help, pleading with his eyes to save him from the bro moment. Garroth barked out a laugh at his well-meaning friends' actions “Blaze I think he meant he didn’t want to be crushed.”
Travis had pulled out his phone to take a picture of the moment. Laurance spoke but it was muffled by Blaze’s arm. Dante leaned over to look at the picture and laughed “We need to show this to Aph.”

Blaze let go, his cuddly nature finally taking a break “Oh sorry! I didn’t realize.” he released the two, and Laurance gasped for clean air. “You’re a huggy guy aren’t you?” he asked with a breathy laugh. “I guess so- How is Aphmau anyway?”

“Aphmau actually lives across from us now.” Travis points out “You wanna go pay her a visit?”

“Oooh yeah! We all should be just like high school except we all have a new friend!” he gestured to Laurance, and despite his intentions, the former shadow knight still didn’t feel like he quite fit in. Blaze was a nice change of pace though, the redhead was kind and didn’t approach Laurance like he was a wounded animal. He also wasn’t someone he had ever met in the past, and strangers whom he mutually didn’t know were much easier to deal with. “You consider me a friend already? This relationship might be moving a bit fast for me.” he winks.

Blaze laughs “Hey hey, I can be as slow as you like.”

“Tempting offer.” Laurance’s smile becomes flirtatious, jokingly so. Blaze’s cheeks dusted with pink “An offer you can’t refuse?” he teased. Garroth looked absolutely flabbergasted at the two, Travis and Dante both were just mildly shocked. “I always thought that he was way too socially awkward,” Dante mumbled to himself. Travis just laughed “Why won’t you flirt with me like that?” Garroth dramatically rolled his eyes “Oh please, you two are just unflirtable.”

Travis was the first to speak up “Woah woah woah! I am the best flirt out there! Do you know how many fangirls I have? Not to mention the boys that like me too? In every play I’ve been in. I’m always cast as the male love interest.” He pushes his hair back “I’ve been Romeo five times, not to brag or anything.”

“Oh! AND I volunteer at a local puppy hospital! How could you possibly be any more irresistible than that?” Blaze let out a gasp “A puppy hospital??? I love taking care of puppies! I’ll volunteer too!” his tail began to thump against the couch. “See? Irresistible.” Travis pouted “And I’ll show you but just know I’ll always be the number one charmer.” Blaze nods enthusiastically “Gotcha Flirty-bro.”

Garroth stays quiet for a moment, beginning to pick at his nails before speaking up with a slight grin on his face “You know who else volunteers at a puppy hospital? And has fangirls?” Dante lets out an annoyed sigh “Oh Irene.”

Travis's eyes narrow at Garroth “Who?”

“Aaron. He has so many people lining up to flirt with him, I don’t think you could ever get more charming than him.” Garroth leans back casually, acting like he wasn’t just stirring the pot. “Aaron is- well- I can be way more charming!” Travis argued, pressing his hands into the couch. Blaze whistled “I haven’t seen Aaron in a long time- is he really that much of a charmer now?”

“Oh yeah, he uh… has Aphmau completely wrapped around his finger, and even Katelyn thinks he’s super handsome.” He taunts, Travis eyed Garroth “You’re messing with me.” he challenged. Garroth shrugged nonchalantly “Oh I mean I guess you could believe me, but don’t come crying to me when he steals your girl.”

Garroth was baiting Travis, and it was working. Laurance placed his face in his hands “Guys- Are we seriously going to go to Aaron's house? I don’t think-”
“Oh ho ho ho, we are totally going to Aaron's house!” Travis bolted upwards and Blaze went to follow excitedly “Let’s go see Aphmau too!” he suggested. Dante let out a whine “Guys… wait! We can’t just bother him out of nowhere-” He chased after the two.


Laurance sighed softly, standing up but stopped when a hand gently took hold of his wrist “No no, let them go.” he reassured. “…Aren’t you a little worried?” Laurance turned towards him, unable to look away from Garroth’s hand wrapped around his wrist.

Garroth shook his head “Nope, besides we got full reign of the tv now. Movie nighttt!!” He did jazz hands, and then it clicked “You started that whole conversation just to get them to leave?” It wasn’t something he’d ever seen Garroth do, he’s always delayed conversations or switched topics suddenly but this is the first time he’s seen him straight-up lie. “Yes? Unless you’re mad then uh no.” He released his grip on him, falling back down on the couch. Laurance shook his head “No I’m not really mad it just took me by surprise.” He sat down, leaving a cushion free between them “Doesn’t seem like you.”

“It doesn’t? I do this a lot with them, it’s really funny to rile them up.” He giggles “I mean Travis and Dante always get me back so it doesn’t matter too much.” he denied, waving him off.

“Oh.” Laurance looked away “Guess I don’t really know you very well.” he gripped his fists into the cushions, nails digging into the fabric and even popping a couple of seams. Garroth leaned forward to get a better look at his face but said nothing, the pitiful look on Laurance's face was enough.

Garroth gently rested his hand on top of his, having moved closer to him “Well there’s plenty of time for you to learn more.”

Laurance’s shoulders tensed. He turned to look at Garroth’s earnest expression, and freckled cheeks and it reminded him exactly of the Garroth he once knew. In that moment he wanted nothing more than to take his face in his hands and kiss him. He couldn’t, though.

He settled for interlacing his fingers with his, something that flooded his subconscious with doubt You’re just using him. You don’t deserve this. Why should you get to hold his hand? Laurance pushed that away, just this once he’d let himself be selfish. “What movie did you want to watch?” Laurance asked and Garroth beamed.

Chapter 15: Dear Irene: This day kind of reminds me of that "Burning Love" song by that Elvis guy.

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She took her friend's hands in her own and gave her friend the best puppy eyes she could before Aphmau could even begin to process her rushed words “I uh- sure?”

“Great!!” She pulled her by her arm and out the door. Aaron gave the smallest of waves “Let me know if there are any butler jobs.” He grinned and Aphmau huffed, waving him goodbye.

“How many other weird things are gonna happen in my house? First Travis challenging me to flirt with him then this-“

Aphmau had to slow KC down physically by dragging her feet “Waiiit! Aren’t we gonna take the car or are you gonna make us walk the whole way there- and what was that earlier about me making them take you seriously?”

“Um. No one… ever takes me seriously but they take you seriously so thought maybe with you there it would help me look more serious and working there would be a dream job! Also yeah we can take the car I kind of… um forgot.” She smiled shyly, her hair falling in her face.

Aphmau reached out to tuck that hair behind her cheeks “It’s okay, and I’m absolutely glad to help but that won’t do much. People can be very judgmental but for this kind of job, I think your personality and attitude are already built for it.”

Kc practically beamed “You are… an amazing friend, let’s get to the car!”

Laurance brought out his phone and first texted Garroth

[ Hey, what’s a maid cafe? ]

[ I have no idea, lemme ask Dante. ]

Dante soon texted Laurance, clearly very excited due to the slight misspellings

[ Laurance I must thankk yoo for this opprtunity, you bettr suit up were going to the maid cafě ]

Ah. So it wasn’t a question, it was a ‘ we’re going and that’s that.’ Type of deal. He looked at his pajama clothes and decided that wouldn’t be a great thing to wear to a public outing. He sighed, begrudgingly getting dressed for the day.

He picked out his green sweatshirt and blue jeans, if Garroth was going maybe he should wear blue… Laurance shook his head, he could NOT start thinking like that. He’s never dressed for another person, he’s always dressed for himself- well maybe a long time ago when he had feelings for his lord but there wasn’t very varied clothing back then. He throws his shirt off and shoves on his green sweater.

Wait, Laurance doesn’t even own any blue sweaters! Idiot. By the time he shoved his jeans and black boots on he already had someone knocking on his door. He grabbed his side bag and opened it up “Hey man you ready?”

Zane let out an embarrassed groan as Aphmau, dressed as a delivery boy, patted his back.

Chapter 16: Dear Irene: Some sort of preparations are going on. For what, I don't know.

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Jeffrey knocked on the door to Aphmau’s house, he had let them know ahead of time he was showing up and he was ready to see Katelyn. An old ex and a great friend, Abby absolutely adored her to bits.

KC opened the door with a smile “Jeffory! It’s been a while!” She greeted him kindly with a big smile on her face. He nodded “Hey KC! I haven’t seen you since New Year's… which was a month ago right? Not too long.” He headed inside when the girl stepped aside for him “Where’s Katelyn?”

“Oh! She’s in her room upstairs! She’s just been up there all morning, she wouldn’t even come down when I made gummy bear pancakes!! Not even when I mentioned the bacon…” She whined. Jeffory laughs “You might have to give me that gummy bear recipe later, sounds like something Abby would adore.” KC shrugged “I can email it to you! I need to finish cleaning up the kitchen though, I’m sure she’s waiting for you.” She walked away back towards the kitchen “Oh!” She pivoted back around on her heel “I just made cupcakes so if you’d like to take some home for you and Abby feel free.”

Jeffory gives her a curt nod and a kind smile “Thank you.”

He heads up the stairs and to Katelyn’s room. The door was left wide open and the girl was looking at her computer, practically gnawing on her bottom lip with her brows pushed together and pointed upwards. This was a face she made only when she was worried or thinking too hard about something.

“If you bite your lip any harder you won’t have one.”

She jolted around, immediately going to straighten her hair and wipe under her eyes clean and dry of eye booger “Jeffory! I um, I wasn’t expecting to see you yet. I’m happy to see you! Just wasn’t… how are you?” She folded her hands in her lap, unsure how to look more put together.

“I’m good, How are you though? Is there something on your mind?” He approached the chair, allowing Katelyn to click on a tab and scoot away “…are those public colleges? Are you going back to college?” Jeffory looked back towards her. The girl shrugged, “Not entirely, I just want to take theater classes, maybe.”

“Oh, but don’t you have severe stage fright?”

“Exactly why I want to take classes! I mean I’ve always wanted to be involved in theater. Directing or writing scripts… acting I know isn’t something I could do.” She closed all the tabs, sighing softly. “Katelyn I think this is amazing! You should go for it!” He lightly pushed against her shoulder, trying to be encouraging.

“What? No, we only have one car, and Aphmau and Kc have jobs-“She clenched her fist against the desk, looking away from him and back down at the floor.

“I could drive you there on my way to drop Abby off at school, and she’d be happy to see you more often.”

“No! Just… no I can’t afford it.” She pressed her palms tightly against her face, shoulders hunched “Just go away Jeffory, please!”

Jeffory’s breath hitched “Fine. I know this cycle we don’t need to fight this out and I refuse to escalate things. I’ll tell Abby you said hi.” He quietly left her room, shutting the door behind him. He adjusted the scarf hanging around his neck and walked down the stairs. He headed towards the door but stopped when he heard Aphmau and Zane talking in the other room.

The perfect opportunity to help Katelyn. He heads in “Aphmau!” the girl in question flinches at her name being called. Jeffory watches and she scrambles for the remote and turns off the TV which had been playing some cartoon that he swears that he’s seen Abby watch. “Sorry didn’t mean to startle… you both, Zane? It’s been a while.”

“Jeffory. How’s Abby?” His body language was loose, and was speaking somewhat with ease. Jeffory grins “Oh she’s precious as ever! I could show you pictures- Actually wait, I need to speak to Aphmau about something first.”

Zane sighs, maybe in relief, maybe in disappointment. “Just show me next time.”

Aphmau stands up from the couch, gesturing to Zane to stay on the couch and when he gets her alone in the hallway Aphmau speaks first “Are you and Zane friends??” Jeffory shrugs “We had jury duty together, anyways, I need your help with something.”

“Well I’d love to help you, I just need to know what it is first.” she folded her arms, gesturing with one for him to keep going. “Well, Katelyn was up there looking at theater classes, she really wants to start directing and playwriting a musical or a play.”

Aphmau nods “Uh huh…” her brows furrowed “Katelyn? The same Katelyn we both know?” Jeffory nodded “Yes! She said she doesn’t have the money but I also think it's a confidence issue… maybe you could inspire her to do it? Like take her to a play or make your own?”

“I don’t know it sounds kind of like meddling…” She muttered.

“I’ll buy you all the Olive Garden you want.” He spoke, grinning softly knowing exactly how to bribe her. Aphmau fixed him with a hesitant gaze “...Okay, but like not as a date right…?”

“Not my intention no, and I’ll even bring Abby. She loves that place.” he lights up in pride at the mention of his daughter. Aphmau laughs “Sounds fun! I’ll see what I can do and try to help Katelyn meanwhile you better make some reservations.”

“Well, let’s hope! I’ll be seeing you Aphmau!” he waved goodbye, heading out of the house. She headed back to the living room and plopped down on the couch next to Zane “...what was that all about?” Before she could grace him with an answer Katelyn had appeared behind them on the couch, most likely trying to catch Jeffory before he left “Just you two in here?” she looked around the room “What are you guys up to?”

“Katelyn!” she shouted eagerly, Zane wincing at the shrillness. “Katelyn, Me, and Zane were just talking about the neighborhood play he’s sponsoring!”

“What I’m n-” Aphmau sharply elbowed him, “Just play along…. please?” she whispered, he nodded but grit his teeth “AHEM, Yes I am sponsoring the neighborhood play.” he adjusted his posture, attempting to seem more professional. Katelyn looked up, curious and a bit excited “Really?? What kind of play?”

“Well uh- that’s what we were deciding! Right now actually. Zane has no idea so we are just throwing ideas around to see what sticks. I’m sure it's not something you’re interested in so…” Her smile was a bit too forced, but the usually observant Katelyn was too eager about the potential of her involvement “...Wait um, do you guys need any help? I took theater in high school so I might be able to do some good.”

“Oh. What would you be able to do Katelyn?” Aphmau was treading a fine line, trying to make sure Katelyn didn’t think she was being given to it out of pity or for any other reason than she would be good for it. “I could… direct? If you need someone.”

“Aren’t I supposed to d-” Aphmau elbowed him once more, causing Zane to glare at her after groaning in pain “That’s perfect! You’re great at bossing people around and we need that. So what play did you have in mind, Miss Director?”

“I mean, it’s a bit cliche but I uh- I have always wanted to direct Romeo and Juliet.”

“That’s perfect too! Why don’t you make preparations while Zane and I talk.” She grins, Zane grumbles under his breath “We do need to talk.” Aphmau glared at him that time and he shut up completely. Katelyn’s whole face lit up like a child on Christmas “Thank you! This is- You won’t be disappointed I swear!” she let out a squeal and practically bolted up the stairs.

“Aw look at how happy she is.”

“Aphmau! There is no such thing as a neighborhood play, where did this even come from?” he sounded genuinely frustrated and Aphmau began to feel guilty for springing this on him “You don’t actually have to be involved if you don’t want to be, but it’s… personal and I’m doing it for Katelyn.” she reached out and gently squeezed his hand “Can you trust me?”

Zane sighed, the tension in his shoulders easing “Fine. I trust you.”

“Okay… okay! Where do we even begin? Cadenza would be perfect for costumes, I’m sure she’d be happy to help! But what else?” she stood up, bringing out her phone and searching for Cadenza’s contact. Zane sighs “I can get the place to host the play, the community theater near the old high school is usually open and if I use my family name I can book the place no problem.”

“Oh really?” She asks, Zane nods and she throws her arms around “Thank you! That would be perfect.” Zane went completely rigid, and it took Aphmau a moment to realize this “Sorry- but- I am so very thankful- I’m gonna go talk to Katelyn if you’ll go do that for me.”

The man nods, standing up and grabbing his jacket from the coat rack. “I’ll let you know how it goes.” he leaves and Aphmau heads up the stairs to Katelyn’s room, knocking first and then entering when she gets called in. “Aphmau, I have so many ideas right now! It’s not even funny.” she’s currently jotting down many things on a word document, typing faster than she’d ever seen her type in her life “Really? Um. Is there anything I could do to help?”


“Aphmau there is so much we need to do! We don’t even have any actors yet, and what about the location?” she turned to look at her, Aphmau stiffened up straight “The community theatre! You know, the one by our old high school…”

Katelyn clicked her jaw “That… well it will have to do um-” she turned around, opening another document that looked much more colorful. She typed out the location on the bottom and the presumed time she picked out “Okay,” she clicked something, and the printer on her desk hummed to life and began printing out several posters. Aphmau took the first one off the pile and read it over.

Actors are needed for our production of Romeo and Juliet!
Please arrive this Saturday at 5 pm, if you are not interested in auditioning you are allowed to sit in and watch. Backstage hands are needed as well.
Please email Kate1D@xxx.com for any questions.
Located at Phoenix Drop Community Theatre.

“I need you to take these and hand them out to our friends, I need you to persuade them. Use your puppy eyes if you have to." She grabbed the rest of the stack and practically shoved them into Aphmau’s arms. She took them in a hurry to keep from dropping the whole pile “I mean, I’ll try! I think you should post it online too-”

“Yeah, I will. I’ll go ahead and talk to KC and call Nicole, I’m sure she’ll jump at the chance to help make props.”

Aphmau nods, turning around and heading down the stairs.

She took a deep breath once outside, marching over to Brendan's house first (probably one of the easiest people to ask anything of- he loves being involved.) She knocks on his door, and from inside you can hear the loud clashing of several objects “Are you okay???” she asks through the door. Brendan shouts back “I’m f- I’m fine! I’m on my way!” When he opened the door he was absolutely covered in soot and layered in a film of sweat “Hey Aphmau! How’s it- how’s it going?” he leaned against the doorway, trying to seem casual.

Aphmau looked over him in concern “I’m good, but are you okay? You look-” Brendan interrupted her “I promise I’m fine! Just… let’s just say you can find weird things in chimneys.” Aphmau tilted her head, pursing her lips together “Oh. ew. “

She shook her head, grabbing a paper from her stack and holding it out to him “Katelyn is directing a play, and we need actors and I thought you might like to try it out!” she offered. Brendan took it “Oh, Romeo and Juliet! I actually tried out for that in high school… I played the beginning narrator and that was it. Maybe I can get a better role this time.”

“So you’re in?”

“Oh yeah, tell Katelyn I’ll be there. Oh! And I can invite Kiki, she loves Romeo and Juliet” He folded the paper “I need to get back to it, and try not to fall off the ladder again.” he snorts, heading back inside “Bye Brendan!” she waved to him as he closed the door. She let out a small squeak “Success!” she giggled to herself, and now running off her high she ran towards the boy's house with no hesitation. Travis was the one to open the door, dressed in comfy pajamas “Hey Aph.” He yawned, leaning against the doorway “What’s going on?”

Aphmau pulled out a couple of posters and handed them to Travis “We’re hosting a production of Romeo and Juliet, and we need some actors.” Travis looked over the paper, clicking his tongue “Ah, I’ve played Romeo so many times… I think this Romeo is retired but I’m sure the other three would be glad too-”

“Katelyn is gonna direct.”

Travis clicked his jaw, staring down the girl “Okay, playing dirty huh? Fine, I’ll pick up the sword again. I’m going to wipe the floor with the rest of them and prove to Katelyn how romantic I can be.” He ran his hand through his hair, smiling “I can’t wait.” he winked and Aphmau swore she saw him sparkle.

He shut the door, shouting for his two friends. Aphmau sighed in relief, bouncing on her heels and hopping off the porch. Every ounce of confidence dissipated when she realized who she needed to ask next. He seemed like the type who hated attention, and she felt like trying to get him on board would be very difficult.

Standing outside Laurance’s house, she rapped her knuckles against the door. The boy peeked his head out of the door, before opening “Hey Aph, what’s going on?” he smiled kindly. Aphmau knew better though, Laurance had his usual dark circles and that smile had poor effort put into it. He must not have slept well. “Katelyn is going to be directing this play, Romeo and Juliet. I’m trying to gather people to audition and I was wondering if you would be willing to do so.”

Laurance took a pause, trying to weigh the options in his head “...I mean it’s just auditions..” he mumbled to himself “Are you and Zane going to be in it? Is Garroth?”

“The boys are supposed to all come, and I don’t know about Zane but he is the one sponsoring it so he’ll at least be helping set it up? As for me, I might try out just for fun.”

“Okay then. what time?” He fidgeted with the doorknob, his smile was bigger but now somewhat a bit forced. Aphmau pouted “You know you don’t have to join us, as much as we’d love to have you.”

Laurance’s body loosens up, shoulders drooping “No I need to do more things, besides I have no real acting experience so it’s not like I’d get a big role or any. I can handle it.” He reassured. Aphmau nods, perking up once more “If you really want to know the time-“ her expression lit up as she handed him a flyer “All the info you need is on this piece of paper.”

He took it, looking it over “That’s… soon. I’d better make sure I have lines down before then.”

“Unfortunately it’s all a bit last minute, Katelyn is eager to get this thing going as soon as possible which is going to make things a bit more difficult to set up but… she seems really happy. Happiest I’ve seen her in a while.” Aphmau’s expression becomes distant, causing Laurance to wonder just how important this play was.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be there to support her even if I change my mind about auditioning.” He reached out, placing his hand on the top of her head and patting it. A reassuring gesture he does often with his friends “Thanks, Laur. Katelyn with be really happy to hear that.”

Laurance nodded, and after saying their goodbyes he retreated back into his house. Once inside the safety of his four walls, he retrieved his phone from his pocket “I would have thought Romeo and Juliet was lost to time…”

He looked through the many apps and finally found the internet app again. The last time he looked anything up it was to ask the internet for advice- which led to nothing but anger and potentially more depression but that’s a whole different issue.“Huh. So they made a more modern version of it…?” he clicked on the link, leading him to a pdf of the entire script which was 480 pages. Laurance let out a sad sigh, letting his head fall against his phone.

Chapter 17: Dear Irene: I'm Falling

Chapter Text

Flyers that Katelyn printed that evening had been handed out the morning before to any and every person they passed on the street. She pinned them to every pole and corkboard she could hang it from. She was very excited and eager for the audition process.

Saturday afternoon and not many people outside of their friend group showed up to audition, a lot did sit in and watch the process out of curiosity or boredom. Maybe to see if it’d be worth the watch but with little interest in being a part of it.

Dante and Nicole were sitting on a couple of chairs in the corner with their numbers, 7 and 8, pinned to their shirts. “Nicole, are you sure you can handle being in the play too? I mean it’s a lot.” he reached out and placed his hand on hers. She tutted “Dante, thank you but I can handle it. Besides, if I don’t she won’t have enough people.” she looked back down at the script “I know she said on the posters the audition was gonna be partially improv, I wonder if it’ll be difficult.”

Dante leaned back against the chair “Well, honestly it doesn’t matter- You’re her friend, and I can’t imagine Katelyn wouldn’t be biased.” he yawned, moving his hand away from hers causing Nicole to pout.

Garroth and Blaze sat back to back along a cushioned bench, practicing lines with each other “Ah Romeo-Bro, thy pleasure of my joy- by measure of my joy-” he groaned “These lines are difficult! Can’t we read the translated version?”

“Blaze we already read the translated version, we need to read through both because Katelyn never said which version we were doing.” He rolled up the script into a tube and began to tap it against his leg. “I already have most of mine memorized, why don’t we just focus on the ones you’re having trouble with?” Blaze sighed, nose wrinkling up “Okay, if you say so, bro.”

Brendan looked over his script with trepidation “Kiki I’m not gonna get Romeo! I don’t even want Romeo!” Kiki began to chastise him “You can’t just give up before you start! If you put in enough effort-“

Travis was currently reciting his lines out loud without so much as glancing at the script, having them memorized since he’d played the role so many times before. Aaron sat beside him, Aphmau had eventually convinced him to come despite Aaron not exactly being one to vie for attention, and it took a bit to wear him down

Aaron looked over the script, lazily mumbling lines to himself “This is exhausting.” he sighed leaning his head back and looking down at Travis “I guess you weren’t lying when you said you played Romeo before- how many times was it again?”

Travis glanced up at him “About five, and this isn’t that bad compared to some other auditions that require you to dance and sing.” He let out a soft groan and sat up, resting his arm on Aaron’s shoulder so he wouldn’t have to put the effort into sitting up. Aaron didn’t particularly mind it, simply looking back down at his crumpled script “Dancing and Singing, sounds like a nightmare to have to do all that- and learn it all in a week for an audition?”

“You’ve never been in theater have you?”

Aaron shrugged looking away “I wasn’t really… allowed to be in any extracurriculars "He admitted. “You weren’t allowed? What does that mean, did the school not want you in clubs?” he looked towards him, concern on his face evident due to the frown on his face. “I.. no.. not-” He let out a short frustrated sigh “Anyway, do you have any advice on how to act?”

“Oh well yeah I do…” he trailed off, deciding if Aaron wanted to steer the conversation away that’s what he would do “I would say it's all in the tone!”

KC twirled in a circle, dramatically reciting the lines of Juliet's confession. She had somehow managed to rope Zane into feeding her the Romeo lines so she could properly practice. He only did it because Aphmau had encouraged him to do so.

Aphmau and Laurance stood across from one another near the doorway to the backstage area. Laurance was completely focused on Aphmau as he poured out his lines as passionately as he could manage. Aphmau had to take steady breaths to keep from getting distracted as she recited her Juliet lines with equal passion. Aphmau had challenged him to keep up with her and she proceeded to put on the performance of a lifetime for a practice just to get Laurance to put in more effort

Laurance stopped in his tracks, feeling a bit red at the ears from how passionately he tried delivering his lines, and looked up at Aphmau “How are you so good at this?” She smiled proudly, puffing her chest out “I was a theater kid! Plus I watched a lot of Broadway musicals, and I’ve played D&D!” Laurance only knew what one of those things was but it made enough sense “I feel like I’m making a fool of myself.”

“No, you are not! Laurance you’re actually very good, I can feel your anger and resentment after killing Tybolt for killing Mercutio!” All Laurance did was channel his previous experiences, it really helped to make his performance feel real enough.

Through the door, Cadenza emerged “Hello loves! Katelyn wanted me to let you know, Aphmau you are first, and… you might want to prepare yourself, darling. I think she put you as 1 for a reason.” Aphmau looked towards Laurance, suddenly looking like she wanted to puke. He reached out and patted her back “Break a femur.”

“That’s not…” she huffed “Thanks I’ll do my best!” she took a deep breath, walking out throughout the backstage and out towards the stage. On the other end was a fake tower, it had been left behind by a different production and Katelyn got permission to reuse it. It was beaten up in some places but she was sure Nicole could probably fix it. She stepped out into the center “Hey Katelyn!” she waved.

The girl looked very serious, and sat in her chair with Teony of all people sitting next to her, “Aphmau!” she shouted with an enthusiastic wave. Aphmau smiled brightly “Teony hi!”

“She insisted on watching to support us, but she didn’t want to do it and I needed another person to help judge,” she spoke, an annoyed tone clear in her voice. There were a handful of people sitting in the audience, watching the auditions go down.”Well, it’s good to see you! How’s your girlfriend?”

“Oh, she’s good! They were too busy over in Falcon Klaw but they told me to say hi for them!”

“GUYS! Sorry to interrupt but can we please catch up after? Aphmau, I need you to improvise a modern version of a Juliet dialogue- not chat it up with old friends and Teony I need you to be my unbiased judge.” Teony nodded determinedly. “Of course, I can do that.”

Aphmau was less confident at that word, she had never been good at making things up on the spot “...Improvise? I studied all the lines for a reason and…” she sagged thinking before taking a deep breath.

“Okay.” Maybe she had a plan.

Aphmau closed her eyes, she thought about Juliet. How she must feel in such a situation where she was forced to choose between love and her duty. She chose love, obviously but even that was taken from her and she soon took her life after. She thought of Irene, a woman so dutiful that she chose her duty above all else. She’s a goddess, but she was once just a girl. A girl who was treated so unfairly.

“Why should I marry that man? I feel no love for him, as you never felt any love for me.” She channeled all that anger, all that resentment, and placed it in her words “I was placed in the role of princess without a choice, but can’t I at least have a choice on who I love? As I have been shown no love from you.”

“Why am I hated, why am I treated with such scorn in my own home? Do you regret my birth, simply because of looks? Do you feel undesirable, mother? You are as such.”

She took a breath “Fine! Lock me away, I will see Romeo again one day no matter how long I have to wait! If we must die and meet again then I’m willing to wait that long!”

Katelyn and Teony were in awe, the blue-haired woman smoothed back her hair and combed it over her shoulder with her fingers “That was… you know what? You’re Juliet. I’ve decided.” Aphmau blushed, her cheeks turning a deep red “What!? I wasn’t that good was I?” Teony nodded enthusiastically “You were amazing! That was really good for improv especially! I say you should be Juliet!”

“...I mean, okay.” Katelyn gestured to the tower “Climb up the tower, you’re going to be practicing your chemistry with all the other actors.”

“The girls too?” She asked, not upset just genuinely wondering. Katelyn nodded “Yes. I mean, even then it's good that they have someone to bounce off of anyway.” she waved her hand off towards the tower. Aphmau let out a sigh so heavy it could knock over a building “You were gonna make me do this from the beginning weren’t you?”

“No comment. Now get on the tower!”

Aphmau got on the tower and Teony clapped happily “You got this Aphmau!” She nods, looking down at the stage that seemed way too far away. The audience followed the lead, awkwardly clapping along.

“Cadenza can you please go fetch number 2?”

Moments later Aaron was dragged out, he looked very nauseated “Katelyn, uh what scene did you want me to do?” He blurted it out awkwardly. She gestured up to Aphmau “You’re going to improv Romeo and Juliet in the modern-day dialogue-“

“It took me forever to memorize scripts. Now I need to improv?” He looked up at Aphmau, trying to think of the best way to go about it “Aaron, come on at least try.” Aphmau said with a groan.

“…okay I’m getting to it.”

Aphmau stuck her tongue down at him and he rolled his eyes “Juliet! Why are you so upset? Did something happen, you haven’t called in so long I’m worried.” He sighed “you truly are so stubborn, you don’t need to stay with your parents you are allowed to leave!”

“You need to be quiet Romeo. My parents might hear, perhaps we can call later?”

“That sounds um fun, and maybe while we’re at it we forget the marriage and stay friends! We don’t need marriage to be happy or something like that.”

“Oh, how nice Romeo! I hope we can stay that way.”

Katelyn and Teony look on in mild disappointment “Aaron has a lovely voice and he’s definitely got the look and the audience seems…” There was cheering and clapping and a couple more people had joined in to watch “To really like him but his chemistry with Aphmau is too…. Eh for Romeo. He’s also clearly not used to speaking in public, We’ll just have to see how everyone else does.”

“Also Aphmau! I meant modern as is modern speech! Not modern day.”

“Bring in number 3!”Aaron was guided off stage and next up was Brendan. The boy started getting nervous at the improv being mandatory “Uhhh, hello! Juliet! It’s me Friar, I was wondering why you had called me over but to hear that you want to get married!”

“I’m genuinely shocked at the idea, but to hear of such a rebellion against your parents while dangerous it's admirable you want to pursue your love.” Aphmau and him went back and forth for a moment and Teony marked him down. They brought out Kiki next who gave a very sweet and gentle performance, though she was clearly very shy despite talking a big game about it earlier. They didn’t fault her for it though, they could help her push through.

Blaze was the next one out, walking with heavy footsteps and hearty confidence “Hey Katelow! Yo Teon-neon!” He waved enthusiastically, a toothy smile on his face. Teony waved with a smile “Blaze! I didn’t realize you moved back down here!” He nods excitedly “Dan the man, Trav-Dude, Gar-Bro, and I live together now! It’s really chill.” He spoke like such a typical surfer dude, just without the typical accent “Blaze, you don’t have to add bro or dude to the end of everyone’s names-“

“I added low to yours.”

“No more weird made-up suffixes, or prefixes! At least not while you’re in character okay? Alright, you’re doing an improv scene with Aphmau, get in character and choose whoever you want to do the scene as.” Katelyn pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. Blaze turned to look up at the girl, he waved at her enthusiastically. She waved back with equal vigor “Hey Blaze! I’m glad you’re trying out!” She called down to him. The redhead nodded “Yeah me too for sure- oh I’m supposed to be doing the improv thing.”

He smoothed his bangs out of the way, his entire demeanor changing “Julie, I miss you.” He looked up at her “I haven’t gone a minute without missing you, you remind me of the sun because of how out of reach you are or something.” He spoke the line as if it were genuine, but the dialogue itself was clunky “I mean my words may not be perfect but I do in fact love you!”

“Oh, Romeo! I love you too!” Aphmau spoke it in a way that sounded like Awww thank you or even as a rejection to the character “…Ohh, well- uh- wanna get married?”

“Hmm, well if we’re both single by 40 why not?”

“Damn, Romeo rejected mega hardcore.” He made a pained sound, placing his hand in a fist over his heart. Katelyn groaned, rubbing her hands over her eyes “He’s so exhausting, he’s no Romeo.” Teony meanwhile was giggling to herself “You know there’s a character who does get rejected by Juliet…”

She hummed, writing Blaze down in her notes “I mean… maybe… Cadenza, next please!” She announced Blaze was practically dragged off stage as he waved enthusiastically to the small audience who mostly responded with laughter.

Garroth was brought out, he walked with an air of confidence and the look of disappointment when he was told that it was going to be improv “Oh all that practice for- okay, well.” He looked up at Aphmau, taking a deep breath “Juliet, my love, I long to see you once more.” His voice was deep, so much smoother than usual “We’re being torn apart and my heart aches, death would feel more appropriate than living without you. I want to see you, I want to hear all of your troubles, please. Please, may I hear your voice?”

Aphmau looked down at him, straightening up “Romeo, I’m scared. I’m scared. I want to be with you but I don’t think they’ll let us.” She stood straight up, looking over the edge of the prop tower. “I think we need to run away.”

“Yes, Lady Juliet. I’ll be here for you al-“

Aphmau had leaned too much against the edge of the tower and she slipped. Startled gasps and worried screams rang out as she fell, the fake bits of tower falling with her. Garroth bolted towards bet and managed to catch her before she hit the ground, his knees nearly buckled from the sudden weight but managed to remain sturdy. the bits of tower fell around them, particles still slowly falling after them. “Aphmau! Are you okay?” Garroth had asked her in a near panic himself, legs aching. Loud cheers erupted from the audience after the dust settled.

Aphmau stared up at him in complete silence for a moment, a shiver ran up her spine as she looked up at his face. The audience was drowned out as for a moment the stage light behind him shone like the sun, and the air conditioning felt like a cool breeze. The remaining dust from the broken tower felt like leaves as they landed on her shoulder “I…” she quickly got to her feet “Thank you! I’m okay. I just…” she felt her throat tighten, making it hard to focus ‘did the tower always look like a tree?’

Aphmau shook her head, distant murmurings in her head making it harder and harder to think clearly “I…” the pounding against her chest from her racing heart, the rising panic. Everything seemed so loud, she darted her head around, and everything sounded so distant like she were underwater.

Then suddenly everything came back, Garroth was still asking if she were okay and Katelyn looked about ready to leap onstage. She took a deep breath, and with a still shaky voice and hands, she continued. “I just knew you’d catch me, Romeo I just missed you so and that’s the only way I knew to get out from my tower.”

“But… that was reckless, you must be careful from now on My Lady, you shouldn’t stand so close to any ledges.” He looked concerned but he went along with her. Katelyn and Teony both looked concerned but Aphmau mouthed “I’m okay.”

“Alright! How about you take five, Aph? Cadenza, bring in the next two. We can audition the rest in pairs.” Aphmau, with the strangest sense of Deja Vu, walked off the stage with Garroth. Katelyn brought out her phone and began to text her to make sure she was really ‘okay’

“Is she okay?”

Katelyn nodded with an air of hesitance “She’s a bit shaken but she says she’s okay, and she apologized for breaking the tower even though it was my fault for making her go on it without-” Teony shook her head “Katelyn, It’s not your fault- All that matters is that everyone is okay and we make sure the rest of that tower prop is stable.”

“Ugh should have done the Play That Goes Wrong, at least there things falling apart make sense.” she groaned into her hands as Dante and Nicole both walked out on the stage, causing Katelyn to groan louder “Why are they the pair- why-” Teony hums “umm… I’m just gonna write down where I think Garroth should be while you mope.” Dante and Nicole stood by awkwardly, waiting for Katelyn to say literally anything. Teony spoke up first “Why don’t you two start off with an improv scene, of Romeo and Juliet? With modern dialogue, can take place whenever you want.”

“...why is there a chunk of tower on the stage?” Nicole leaned over and picked it up, Dante looked up at the tower “I think it-”

Katelyn slammed her hands on the table “Okayyy! How about we stop this topic, nothing bad happened we are good to go! Just please start.”

Dante shrugged, pulling out his phone and typing something out through text. Nicole’s phone goes off and she pulls it out, giggling after reading the text “Aw, that’s so sweet Romeo.” she teases. Katelyn looked confused as the two went on to exchange texts and let out sickly sweet cooing noises, it was mind-blowingly disturbing “What… What are you two doing?”

“Texting! What’s more modern than that?” Dante let out a snort, only adding to Katelyn’s frustration “Nope! Just- I’ve had enough, Nicole I love you but… Next, please! Just… just next.” Teony let out a frustrated sigh of her own “Katelyn you need to have more patience, I know its been a little rough but-”

Katelyn waved her off “Next pair… just please…”

KC and Zane were brought out together, much to their mutual dismay. KC had only wanted to use him for practice. Zane looked towards her, somewhat annoyed and somewhat apologetic (a weird mix) “I don’t even want to be Romeo.” KC pouted in response, indignantly muttering “I think Zane is being rude.” she crossed her arms “And I don’t want him to be Romeo either.” she turned her head away.

“Then what role do you want?”

“Tybalt.” He said matter-of-factly. Katelyn hums, looking at him thoughtfully “Okay, Perfect you got the role! Congratulations! Fits you perfectly.” Zane tilts his head “Wait, seriously?” Katelyn waves him off “Yep, you’re both villains! It’s great.”

“But who am I gonna do lines with?” She whined and Katelyn ushered KC to give her own improv, and she ended up making an impassioned speech about how perfect Romeo and Juliet were for each other. They sent in Travis and Laurance next, one looked way more nervous than the other and it showed.

Travis waved his hand, and just like that a group of girls along with a couple of guys flooded the theater. “Where- where did all these people come from?” she asked with wide eyes, genuinely shocked. “Just my fan club, they like to come to all my performances,” he said, so lax like it was no big deal. Laurance sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose “Oh my god. He has a fan club.”

There was a point in time when Laurance might have lavished the idea of having all this attention but now it was just nerve-wracking. Not to mention having to bare his soul out to an audience. Travis turned to Laurance “Juliet, my heart cannot take this loneliness for much longer…” his voice was soft, changed to seem so weak. Katelyn seemed really zoned in and distracted by his side of the performance “For endless nights I dreamed of you, my name I toss away for a chance to dance in heaven with you.”

“Wow… Travis that was-” she interrupted herself, smoothing her hair back “Really good um- Laurance please I didn’t mean to interrupt you.” Laurance hadn’t even begun to say something, but he was left stricken with shock from Travis's more mellow and sad performance “I.. okay.”

“Is that really what you said to her?” He asked, trying to seem frustrated “It’s been mere days Romeo, why are you going to such lengths for a girl you just met? I’ve known you for many years and I have never seen you fall in love, are you sure it is love or is it nothing but infatuation?”

“Who are you to protest?” Travis argued back, playing well into the role “My love for her is true and I know it in my heart, we’re even getting married.” Laurance placed his hand on his heart “Can you not trust me when I say this is a bad idea? I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I will trust my love. You do not have a right.”

“We’ve known each other since we were babes- kids. Have I not proven my loyalty?”

“That’s enough!” Katelyn announces, Laurance froze up thinking he may have messed up somehow but Katelyn goes on actually sounding like she was impressed “That was really good you guys, and it actually gave me an idea on how to freshen things up a little for some characters.” Teony responds by applauding and nodding her head.

Katelyn stood up “Tell the others we’ll have the casting decided in an hour, Teony and I have to congregate first.” she held her papers tucked underneath her arm and Teony had her own little notes doodled into a notepad in her hands “Yeah! I’ll try and make sure Katelyn remains unbiased! Other than… the two choices she is so set on I couldn’t even begin to change her mind.” she mumbled that last part. The two girls left the group to themselves. Aphmau sat down in the corner with KC who went on and on about how cute Dante and Nicole would be as Romeo and Juliet, though it fell on mostly deaf ears.

Garroth was glancing at Aphmau, his eyes were soft and his lips were downturned into a frown. Laurance followed his line of sight, his stomach churning. Despite his own feelings, that kept coming back no matter how hard he tried to choke them down, he went over to Garroth “Is everything okay?”

The blonde turned towards him, while his eyes were still deep with worry he smiled when he saw the other “I’m okay. I’m just worried, is all.” he risked another glance at Aphmau and based on her hazy eyes “About Aphmau?”

“You noticed it too?” his gaze shot back at Laurance. “No, I just noticed you staring at her the entire time we’ve been back here.” he crossed his arms, hugging himself. Garroth let out a startled laugh “Since when did you care about who I stare at?” Garroth eyed him, smile becoming more playful and dangerous.

Laurance lightly hit him in the chest with the back of his hand, walking past him, and with all the snark he could muster he told him “Ever since you started having a hard time keeping your eyes off me.”

Garroth was stunned into silence, his mouth hung ajar as if he were waiting for more to be said “I.. um…funny. Aphmau- I’m still worried about her.” he looked away from Laurance, the tips of his ears tinted red. “Well, now that you mention it she does look incredibly distant… what happened?” Garroth, grateful for the change of subject chimed in “When we were improvising together, she fell off that tower prop and after I had caught her she looked up at me like… Like I was a completely different person.”

“She fell off? She could have gotten seriously hurt-” he begins walking towards Aphmau, only for Garroth to take his hand and pull him back, “I think she might want to be left alone though… maybe we should talk to her about it later when she’s not surrounded by people.”

Cadenza walked into the room before anything else could be said “They finished deliberating, if you’ll follow me to the stage.”

Zane stood up from his spot “That was far too quick.” and followed her out with everyone else in tow. Aphmau was at the back of the pack, trying to steady herself and taking deep calm breaths.
When on the stage Katelyn stood at the front end, Teony held a piece of paper and stayed quiet in favor of Katelyn speaking first “Alright you guys, I’m gonna say your name you’ll step forward then I’ll say your role.”

“Aaron, you got Lord Montague.”

Aaron stepped forward, sighing in relief that he didn’t get the more prominent roles.

“Kiki, your Lady Montague.”

Kiki nodded, glancing over at Aaron and sighing as she stepped forward. Both of them needed to be more confident in their roles and that was clear. “Nicole, you got Lady Capulet.” She clapped her hands excitedly “That sounds fun! whose lord Capulet?”

“Well… we were short on people so Teony volunteered to play Lord Capulet for us.” Teony waved shyly. “Blaze, you’re gonna be Count Paris! It’s a fun role, be proud.” Katelyn gestured for him to step forward.

“You mean the guy who loves Juliet and gets rejected and acts like a loser over it? Sounds fun enough I guess.” Blaze shrugged nonchalantly.

“Travis, me, and Teony decided you should be Prince Escalus based on audience reaction..” she mumbled. Travis's mouth hung open and his eyes were wide “I... I’m not Romeo? I… this is more shocking than when Zane walked up to our table in a maid dress.”

“Hey! I told you to forget that ever happened!” Zane turned a bright shade of red, KC from next to him began giggling and spoke sweetly “Oh but you looked so pretty!”

“Speaking of Zane, you got Tybalt surprise surprise-“

“And KC! You got the nurse.”

Zane puffed his chat out, he got the role he wanted the most. KC meanwhile deflated like a balloon “Ohh… okay…”

“Brendan! You’re Friar Laurence. And Dante you’re Benvolio, for some reason.” Katelyn muttered, Teony lightly elbowed her.

“Okay. Juliet is very clearly Aphmau! Which makes Laurance our Mercutio and Garroth our audience-loved Romeo.”

Garroth stood straighter, smiling excitedly “I got Romeo! Laurance, I got Romeo!” He turned to him of all people to express this. Laurance’s smile became soft “And I’m Mercutio, I get to die in your arms, won’t that be fun?”

“Not sure that’s something I would ever want to see, but we get to act with each other! Isn’t that great?” He rested his hand on Laurance’s shoulder, his stupid smile affecting Laurance far too much for it to be normal “You’re so stupid.” he mumbled fondly, digging himself a hole he soon wouldn’t be able to climb out of.

Zane caught his line of sight, frown taut at his lips “Laurance are you…?”

Katelyn interrupted them without realizing it, voice loud and cutthroat “I’ll have my version of scripts handed out at practice tomorrow.”

“Your version?” Aphmau asked, she knew that Katelyn had intended to change some things about it but an entirely new version? “Yes Aphmau, my version.”

She grinned maniacally “Get ready to practice.”