Though We May Fall {An Aphmau AU}

Her Best Friends

**Aaron's POV**

    Pacing was all I ever seemed to do these days. Well, that and being in a hospital for hours in a day. And, at the moment, I was doing both of those. I was pacing in front of the hospital doors, trying to breath in fresh air to calm myself down, as well as to know the moment when everyone arrived. A smile bloomed over my face as I thought of what was coming in the next few hours.

    Aphmau had been faced with a lot of stress and important decisions in the past few weeks. First, there was the whole process of building her strength back up again, and I could tell that she didn't feel like she was doing as well as she hoped. On top of the constant pain and soreness, she just committed herself to repeating her junior year, a decision that she seemed not to care about but I knew was eating her up on the inside. While all of the new friends she made moved on to their senior year, she would be staying back, repeating a year she had almost completed. And besides all of that? Neither Ein nor her own dad shown up in the weeks since she had woken up. I didn't blame her dad as much, since he had stayed in Phoenix Drop for the first month after the accident, as long as he could until work dragged him back to O'khasis. I honestly had no idea if he even knew that his daughter had been awake for the past six weeks. Ein, on the other hand, I hated like I had never done so before. Aph had refused to talk about Ein since the day I told her everything he had done, and I was sort of glad that his name never came up. I couldn't tell if that was me being happy for her sake that she had moved on, or...

    No, I berated myself as I forced my weary legs to sit down on a nearby bench. As far as she's concerned, you do not have feelings for her. Never did and never will. I can't just go after her so soon after she found out what a horrible person her ex-boyfriend was, and right as she's recovering from such a major event. Maybe... maybe in the future if she ever says something. But for now... I just have to be the supportive friend. Nothing more.

    My internal tirade was interrupted by a hand waving in front of my eyes. "Aaronnnnn," The sing-songy voice of my longtime roommate was impossible to ignore, and I looked up ever so slowly. Jeffory stood before me, one hand on his hip and the other holding a large box of... something against his chest. He grinned, jerking his head towards the door. "Let's get out of Aaron-land and go inside instead, huh?" Laughing, I allowed him to pull me to my feet.

    "Are you the first one here? Or did everyone walk past me while I was daydreaming?" He chuckled, punching my shoulder.

    "Nah, I'm the only one here as far as I can tell. But I didn't think Aph wanted to sit up all by herself." With a pang of guilt, I realized I had done exactly that. Sheepishly, I nodded, thinking quickly on how to fix it.

    "How about you wait in the lobby for everyone while I go up and keep her company? Then you can all come at once and surprise her." Jeffory seemed to agree with my plan, and we separated in the lobby of the hospital. The elevator ride up the four stories seemed to take longer than usual, but I was out in no time, heading down the long, familiar hallway until I got to the room I knew by heart. Walking right past the bench I had spent weeks sitting on, I knocked on the glass door, seeing Aph currently sketching something on a napkin.

    The way her eyes lit up when she saw me at the door made my heart sing, but I swallowed the feeling and instead pulled open the sliding door, the faint rasping barely loud enough to be heard over the music emanating from her phone. I smiled at her, allowing the feelings I hid to add extra brightness to the expression.

    "Sorry I'm late. There were some things at school I needed to do." To my relief, she accepted my excuse without any questions, and I crossed the small room to sit next to her on the bed. She shifted her legs so she was almost sitting on top of them, folding up the napkin in the process and shoving it under the book sitting next to her. "How're you feeling? Any better?" Aph shrugged, pulling her legs in even tighter, almost collapsing in on herself. I poked her, letting a playful smile emerge. "Hey, is this my punishment for being late? You're refusing to talk to me?"

    Finally, Aphmau laughed, squirming away and slapping my hand. "No! Sorry, I'm just... tired, is all. Lot of stress, I guess." She laughed again, but I was pretty unconvinced. I rubbed a hand on her knee, trying to comfort her as best as I could. Hopefully, the whole party I was planning would work to cheer her up in no time. Nothing quite cheers Aph up like friends.

    "Anything you need to talk about? Or would you rather we talk about how grueling dance has been the last few days?" The smile on her face and the spark in her eyes told me exactly what I needed to know, and I proceeded to collapse dramatically across the bed, groaning and sighing all the while. I kept at it for minutes as she laughed, laughing so hard she almost rolled right off the bed.

    "Now what's the big joke?" I lifted my head off the bed, and Aph looked up from where she was clinging onto the mattress, and we both saw our entire group of friends standing by the door, each and everyone of them with a huge smile on their face.

    "Oh!" Aphmau's surprise led to her losing her grip and completely falling off of the bed. A laugh left my mouth before I could stop myself, and I immediately bit my lip to keep anymore laughter from escaping. But the damage was done. With a hurt gasp, Aphmau glared up at me, that same spark still glowing in her chocolate eyes. She lunged up from her place on the floor, grabbed my sleeve, and proceeded to pull me down with her. I fell on top of her in a heap, laughing the whole way down.

    I just managed to catch myself before I landed on her, arms braced on either side of her. I hovered above her, mere inches from her face. She caught her breath, staring into my eyes as I did the same, losing myself in the depths of her deep brown eyes, dark pools I could stare into forever. We were so close, I was sure she could hear my heart pounding out of my chest. Our breath mingled, and I just wanted to close the gap, lean in closer and closer and-

    "Hello? Where'd you guys go?" Garroth's teasing voice broke me of the spell I had been under, making me realize just how close the two of us had been. Blinking and taking a deep breath, I pulled myself up, forcing a cocky smile across my face.

    "Sorry! Brief pit-stop on the floor. But now it's party time!" I helped Aphmau to her feet, and our friends flooded into the room, all of them bright and happy and spreading the cheer to the one in the room who had lost more in the past few months than the rest of us in our entire lives. But we were all determined to make her happy for the rest of her life. Even if we just had to start with this moment.