[Scene Based One Shot]

Scene: John Lauren's Interlude

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"Garroth," Aphmau said, walking into her husband's office, "There's a voicemail for you from Laurance."

Garroth looked up from his endless amounts of paper, still with his pen in hand, tapping against his desk, never losing it's beat. "I'll listen to it later, Aphmau, now please, let me finish my work."

"No...Garroth, you're going to want to hear it," Aphmau replied, forcing her husband to stop his work.

Gradually, the pen lost its beat and Garroth set it down. He pushed up his glasses from the bridge of nose, pushing it closer to his eyes. Garroth didn't need the glasses all the time but he enjoyed wearing them.

Garroth turned his chair around and he looked at his wife, who seemed to be not in the greatest of moods, holding Garroth's phone in hand with his voicemail displayed on it.

Garroth took a deep breath, not knowing what to expect, and turned around from Aphmau. "Play it for me please, Aphmau? I really need to get this work done."

Aphmau took a sharp intake of breath and pressed the play button on the voice call tab as Garroth scrawled endless words on the paperwork, filing through endless resumes. Although, Cadenza's voice resonated from the phone, surprising Garroth who was expecting to hear Laurance's voice.

"Hey, Garroth? I know you're busy and all with your CEO stuff up in O'Khasis with Aphmau but I'm sorry to tell you this but Laurance was in an accident."

Garroth's pen stood in the middle of writing, stagnant.

Cadenza continued, her voice slightly wavering. "He was hit by some drunkard on the road. They got him in the hospital here in Meteli but...it was too late. I would like to invite you to his funeral since you were such a--Garroth, I can't manage to act strong any longer. Please come. He would've wanted you there. You could even deliver the eulogy...just please come. It's on Tuesday at 6 pm at you know where."

The voicemail ended at that.

Garroth's pen still remained stagnant, signing an unfinished word.

"Garroth..." Aphmau broke the silence in an attempt to comfort her husband. "Are you alright?"

His pen continued on, leaving Garroth in a period of silence before he actually replied to her.

"I have so much work to do."

-Meteli-

Laurance's funeral

Aphmau watched as her husband took the podium, knowing how broken he was inside about this whole ordeal.

Garroth shakily held the note cards in his hands, being never this nervous before. He scanned for Laurance's face which would usually give him a reassuring smile, calming him down.

But Laurance was dead.

Dead...

Tears streamed down Garroth's face as he tried to hide it with his blonde locks. A sharp intake of breath was all he needed so he could face the crowd. Gradually, he picked up his head staring into the blend of people that became blurred in his vision.

"M-my n-name is G-Garroth R-Ro'meave," Garroth stammered, remembering what was the last time he actually did stutter.

"Garroth! You finally didn't stutter!" Laurance exclaimed, nudging Garroth at his own wedding.

Garroth glared at him. "Of course. She's my wife, awkwardness can't be in our relationship anymore."

"Still," Laurance continued, "I'm proud of you, man.""

I'm proud of me too," Garroth teased.

Laurance rolled his eyes. "Whatever, have fun with the missus if you know what I mean..."

"W-What?"

"I-I-I w-w-was L-La-a-a-u-r-ra--his best friend," Garroth choked at his name, "He was a great man...a great wingman at that too..."

"Come on," Laurance coaxed Garroth to go talk to the girl on the other side of the bar with her friend with the blue hair, "I'll distract the blue haired chick as you talk to that babe over there."

Garroth ruffled his hair, using his hand to run through. "I don't know, Laurance."

Laurance made a noise of annoyance as he left their table to go talk to the blue haired girl like he said he was, gesturing to Garroth. The blue haired girl raised an eyebrow at Garroth, making him take another sip of his drink.

Garroth watched as Laurance pleaded the girl, almost falling to his knees. He watched as the girl turned to her friend, tapped on her shoulder, and pointed at Garroth. The blue haired girl's friend looked at him, advancing towards Garroth.

Garroth slunk a little closer into the shadows as the girl finally came to his table with the brightest smile Garroth ever saw.

She extended her hand out to him. "Hey, I'm Aphmau," the girl introduced herself.

Garroth hesitantly grabbed her hand. "G-Garroth."

They continued to talk as Garroth saw Laurance give a thumbs-up to him.

The audience laughed as if Garroth made an intentional joke.

He tried to form a smile but it just came out as a painful reminder. "He was one of the best...He was always one to bring a smile on anyone's face."

"Hey dude," Laurance patted his back, "You'll get through it. I guess, she just wasn't the one."

Garroth took another sip of the bottle Laurance brought. He wasn't one to drink often except for special occasions.

"It's fine...ugh, my body feels weird, is this normal when you drink?"

"Usually that means you're about to throw up," Laurance commented.

Garroth glared at him as Laurance rose his hands in an act to feign innocence. Suddenly, Laurance's expression turned into an expression of a thought process. Laurance got off the couch and ran up Garroth's stairs.

A couple minutes passed as Laurance got down, making Garroth question what he was doing up there.

Laurance then proceeded to throw Garroth some clothes."We're going out."

Garroth raised his eyebrow. "Laurance, I didn't think this was the way you were going to come out."

"Not like that. We're going to a bar where you can pick up a rebound chick. NOW GET THOSE CLOTHES ON AND LET'S GO!"

"I hate you."

"C'mon, I love the floor and I don't want you to throw up on it, not in front of the table," Laurance said in a very serious tone before smiling, "Try for a smile next time, will ya?"

Garroth smiled a little for him, internally groaning at Laurance's poor attempt at tomfoolery.

"Fine. I'll go as you're paying for drinks."

"Deal."

"Alright," Garroth sighed, "Although, there isn't going to be any girl interested in a sputtering idiot so don't get your hopes up."

"My hopes are always down," Laurance smirked.

Garroth set down the note cards knowing the rest of what he was going to say was not written on what he prepared.

"Laurance," Garroth said, feeling the hole in his chest hurt even more, "Will be deeply missed. Not only was he the biggest jerk wad in the universe, he was a brother...a friend...a wingman...a son...my motivation. If not for him, I wouldn't have the life I have now. And he should be sorry for that.

"If I had known, that first day of high school that this man would change my life and cause me so much heartbreak, I would've regretted saying hi and slapped him in the face....Then gave him a hug because that was so unlike me to do. He would already know from that one slap that even if I was Prince Charming, my world was breaking down into pieces around me and he was the only reason I continued on living in my broken world."

Garroth took a deep breath letting the hot tears drip down onto the unused note cards as he continued.

"And every day, I still live in that broken world put together makeshiftly with that crappy glue that disappears when I need it most. But with Laurance, he saw that crappy glue and tried to fix it with tape by introducing me to my wife because somehow he knew I would outlive him. At least, this time, it's more durable.

"So, my brother, not biological of course, but it felt like it...I hope you're having a grand old time where ever you are putting smiles on the people around you and fixing their broken world with tape as well. Thank you."

Garroth heard the clapping of the crowd and all the sniffling from crying. His blue eyes swore he saw someone giving him a thumbs-up. He grabbed his note cards, shoved it into his pocket, and walked down from the podium to where Aphmau was. Garroth sat down next to her as she looped his arm around his, comforting him letting the tears drop from his face onto her hands.

He looked up to the sky, sending a message.

I love you Laurance.

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A/N - I blame that video at the top for making this one shot. Of course, it's from Hamilton, who do you think I am? I remembered about this moment and immediately was like, ONE SHOT IDEA. Sorry if this wasn't exactly what you hoped for from a Gaurance one shot but I thought it was fine. Also, sorry for wrecking your hearts again...it's just in my nature. I hoped you all enjoyed! Buh-bye!

~Kat