They had pushed the walls until Reaper's (and Geno's and Cider's ) room was bigger on the inside, big enough to fit Reaper's wardrobe and dresser, filled with his new "casual" wardrobe so his datemates could wear "boyfriend clothing" for now. But that was only a stopgap measure at best.

"WE NEED A BIGGER HOUSE," Respite said firmly once all four of them were able to sit down and discuss it. "SIMPLY MAKING THE ROOMS BIGGER ISN'T GOING TO WORK, WE NEED MORE ROOMS."

There were nods and general sounds of agreement from the trio. It's easy to manipulate space in an existing room, less so to find a different room and make a space to jam it in. And even then they still need a preexisting room to do that.

"so we need to go house hunting?" Cider asked.

"HOUSE HUNTING? MY DEAR LITTLE MORTAL," Respite said as if about to reluctantly tell a small child the tooth fairy isn't real, "A HOUSE IS NOT A CREATURE YOU GO OUT INTO THE FOREST AND HUNT DOWN WITH A SPEAR."

"i uh… that's not… huh."

"what do gods do when they need a bigger house?" Geno cut in while Cider's thought processes were stalled.

"CONTACT THE GOD OF CONSTRUCTION, OF COURSE."

"oh, ok."

"makes sense."

"connie, right?" Reaper asked. "when's she coming over?"

"SO WE'RE ALL IN AGREEMENT ON RENOVATING THE HOUSE?"

The trio all made various sounds of agreement. "c'mon, bro, it's a good idea. why wouldn't we agree?"

"OF COURSE IT IS! I'LL TAKE CARE OF IT THEN, HEAVENS KNOW IF WE LEFT IT TO YOU YOU'D DRAG YOUR FEET AND IT'D NEVER HAPPEN."

Reaper's only response was a shrug and a grin.


"GENO, CIDER, I'D LIKE YOU TO MEET CONNIE. CONNIE, THESE ARE REAPER'S NEW DATEMATES."

"Hello!" Connie, a plump beaver who was actually a little shorter than the twins, held out a hand to shake. "It's very nice to meet both of you."

"so you're the god of construction?" Geno asked as he shook her hand.

"Oh I wish! Ha ha, no, I'm just a minor construction god."

"A VERY GOOD ONE! SHE BUILT OUR HOUSE."

"Yeah, that's all I ever build. Houses, garages, retaining walls, and the occasional shed."

"AND THEY'RE ALL EXCELLENT HOUSES, GARAGES, WALLS, AND SHEDS. SO, SHALL WE GET STARTED?"

"Certainly," Connie pulled some rolled up papers from her inventory, "I still have the plans from when this one was built." The whole group moved over to the kitchen table, where Connie spread the papers out and various spice jars were used to hold down the corners.

"WE ALREADY MADE REAPER'S BEDROOM BIGGER, BUT WE WERE THINKING IT WOULD BE NICE TO ADD A BATHROOM," Respite tapped one of the papers as he spoke. "WE ALSO SUDDENLY HAVE AN EXCESS OF FURNITURE, REAPER JUST WANTS TO TOSS IT BUT I THINK IT MIGHT BE NICE TO HAVE A SPARE ROOM."

"It might be easier to just use Reaper's current room as the spare and build a whole new room on." Connie pulled out a few very thin pieces of paper and laid them over the plans, then started drawing on one in pencil. "A room big enough for three, do you want a walk-in closet? No? No closet at all? I like your style."

Connie continued on like that, asking questions as she sketched and made notes. Once she had the bedroom and attached bathroom (it was going to be huge! Just as Reaper's datemates deserved ) figured out, she moved over to the paper with the ground floor's layout on it. "So I'm assuming you don't want this extra room just jutting out of the second floor all willy nilly. What do you want under it? Porch? Second living room?"

"maybe a couple "home office" rooms, someplace to have a little space that isn't shared with a bunch of other people," Reaper said with a tap of the paper.

"oh, we were kind of hoping for a library," Cider admitted softly.

"No reason we can't have both. We just outline this space for those rooms here," Connie drew an outline on the ground floor, then moved back to the second floor and drew the same outline around the new room. "What we can do is either just make this room that big, which seems a bit excessive even if we did add in that walk in closet, or we can have the roof of the ground floor become a balcony. Instead of this window we put in some French doors."

"OOOOOOH! THAT SOUNDS LOVELY."

"While we're at it we can add a little balcony to your room, if you want."

"THAT SOUNDS DELIGHTFUL, LET'S DO THAT."

Connie jotted down some notes. "I think balconies make a really nice addition to any house, whether it's only big enough for one chair or a whole patio set."

"sounds like a great place for a couple telescopes."

"Telescopes, huh? You'll only be able to see about half the sky that way, it wouldn't be hard to just make a nice little viewing platform on the roof."

"OH! THAT REMINDS ME, I WAS HOPING WE COULD ADD IN AN ATTIC STORAGE SPACE SINCE WE HAVE ACQUIRED SO MUCH EXTRA FURNITURE."

"bro, we can just leave it all in the save screen, it's fine there."

"I WILL NOT BE IRRESPONSIBLE AND HAVE YOU LEAVE THINGS JUST LAYING AROUND ALL OVER THE SAVE SCREEN, EVEN IF IT IS A WEIRD PLACE OUTSIDE THE NATURAL ORDER OF THE WORLD."

That was a lot of stuff. Fortunately Respite didn't know about most of the date spots Reaper had set up, he wasn't going to keep a bunch of backdrops and fake beaches in the attic thankyouverymuch. "we don't need a second sofa, bro. whether it sits in an attic and molds or sits in the save screen and is actually useful for the other people that stop by sometimes doesn't really make a difference."

"OF THE FEW PEOPLE THAT EVER EVEN GO TO THE SAVE SCREEN MOST ARE JUST AS CAPABLE OF VISITING YOUR DATEMATES HERE, I DOUBT ANYONE IS GOING TO GO HANG OUT IN THE SAVE SCREEN AT ALL WITHOUT THEM THERE."

"If I may interrupt," Connie said loudly before Reaper could argue back. She had her hands folded in front of her and a suspicious glint in her eyes, "So it sounds like you're trying to combine two households without just throwing out all the extra furniture. To do that you're going to need space, and lots of it." Without warning she swept the papers, and their weights, off the table. She then unrolled a huge piece of paper in their place, "How about we just tear this old thing down and make something better!"

Respite, who had dived to catch the salt shaker while the others simply used magic, sputtered in shock from the kitchen floor. "YOU BUILT THIS HOUSE! AND NOT EVEN A WHOLE DECADE AGO!"

"And I've learned more in that not-even-a-decade than I had in centuries before that. Those plans? Pfffffft! An amateur's attempt at modern architecture. This new house will be bigger. Grander! A house befitting gods of your esteemed stature." She drew confident, perfectly straight lines across the paper as she spoke.

"THIS HOUSE IS ALREADY APPROPRIATELY SIZED FOR MY STATURE, I DON'T HAVE TO DUCK FOR A SINGLE ONE OF THE DOOR FRAMES!" Respite said cheerfully as he got back into his seat. "ALTHOUGH WE SHOULD PROBABLY LOWER THE COUNTERS FOR GENO'S AND CIDER'S SAKES."

The twins huffed, it seemed not even being a Papyrus didn't save Respite from their height complex. How adorable. Geno leaned on the table, "can we make the kitchen bigger?"

"Definitely!" Connie grinned at Geno, "How big do you want it?"

"got a tape measure?"

Connie pulled one out of her inventory and tossed it to Geno, he and Cider vanished. "So if you want a guest room you must have guests. How many people are we talking here? Host a lot of get-togethers?"

"not really," Reaper said, "not a lot of people want to hang out with the gods of death."

Respite scoffed, "YOU MAY NOT HAVE MANY FRIENDS, BUT MY FRIEND COUNT IS STEADILY GROWING. AND I KNOW YOUR DATEMATES HAVE MANAGED TO ACQUIRE A FEW FRIENDS DESPITE THEIR UNTIL RECENT LOCATIONAL HANDICAP. I'M SURE THEIR FRIENDS WILL WANT TO COME OVER FOR SOCIAL EVENTS." Respite gasped in delight, "WE CAN THROW A HOUSE WARMING PARTY AFTER THE NEW ONE'S BUILT!"

"what?"

"Oh! That's always fun," Connie pointed at Respite with her pencil, her buck teeth on prominent display with her wide grin.

"AND YOU'LL BE INVITED TOO, OF COURSE. I'LL INVITE WAR AND KNOWLEDGE, YOU CAN INVITE LIFE, GENO AND CIDER CAN INVITE THEIR WEIRD SAVE SCREEN FRIENDS. OH! DO YOU THINK IF I INVITE KNOWLEDGE'S FRIENDS AS WELL THEY'D COME TOO?"

The twins came back then and rattled off some measurements to Connie. Reaper just leaned back in his chair and watched the chaos unfold. Looked like they were getting a new house.


Reaper leaned back in the lawn chair that up until about 10 minutes ago had been sitting on the fake beach he'd made for Geno a while ago. Sitting between his legs with his own head on Reaper's chest was Cider, they both settled in with a sigh and a groan. On their left Geno had collapsed into the lawn chair's mate, giving a sigh and a groan of his own. The three of them had just moved every last item and scrap of furniture from the house into the Save Screen. And what's more they had watched Respite clean the now empty house from top to bottom. It boggled the mind! They were about to tear it down, why clean it?

"oh good, they haven't started yet."

Reaper started at suddenly hearing the glitchy voice right next to him. Error had just arrived, the strange portals he used to get between universes still closing behind him.

"they're about to start, you almost missed the action," Geno said accusingly.

"time doesn't work in the anti-void," Error shot back grumpily.

"it doesn't work in the save screen either, but you never saw me using that shoddy excuse."

"Who's ready to TEAR THIS HOUSE TO SHREDS?!" War yelled gleefully.

"wHat?! i don't need any hELp destroying something!"

War whipped around to glower at Error, hands on hips, a spear still gripped in one. Her good eye narrowed once she recognized him, "What the hell are YOU doing here?"

"buzz off, i was invited," Error grumped right back.

"no you weren't," Geno cut in before the fight could escalate further.

"eXcuSE yOu?!"

"all we did was let you know about the remodel plans, you came here on your own," Cider clarified.

"you told me they're destroying something, that's as good as an invitation."

"he's got a point," Reaper said.

The twins just shrugged and made "eh" sounds.

War's eyebrow twitched, "Yeah, well… fine! You can help. But we called dibs already so you can't hog all the destruction. And you had better stop at just the house."

Error crossed his arms and made a dismissive sound, but didn't argue further.

"Alright!" War continued loudly, "Everyone not helping destroy this sorry excuse for a house clear?!"

"WAR! THIS IS NOT A SORRY EXCUSE FOR A HOUSE! CONNIE WORKED VERY HARD TO MAKE US THE EXACT HOUSE WE ASKED FOR."

"Geronimo!" War held her spear high as she lunged for the house.

Respite's indignant scolding was buried under the earth shaking sound of spears, bones, and flurry of strings digging into wood, plaster, and concrete. Connie and a few gods she'd brought along with her all stood back to watch, munching on the buffet of snacks Cider and Geno had carefully laid out that morning. The group watched as not only the house but also a large swath of the surrounding forest were torn up and cleared out.

Once the house was gone, War standing in the midst of what was left of the rubble laughing, it was time for the changing of the guard. War, Respite, and Error all moved over to the snack table while Connie and her friends headed for the newly cleared out area.

"Let's get to it," Connie said cheerfully, rolling up the sleeves of her coveralls.

War leaned down to smooch Knowledge, who Reaper somehow hadn't noticed standing on the far side of the snack table until now. Respite was brushing his clothes off, having opted to wear his jogging outfit. Error immediately started shoving food into his face while pointedly ignoring the others.

Together the group watched as the house went up, first the supports, then the walls, then well… it became a bit harder to see what was going on because there were walls in the way. Shortly after the walls went up was when Error made a noise of disgust and left, leaving behind a destroyed snack table. The sounds of frantic construction continued long enough for Cider to start dozing.

"Tada!" Connie announced as she walked out the front door, followed by her posse.

Everyone applauded.

"Thank you!" Connie took a bow, her friends watched on with bemused smiles.

"AND NOW WE GET TO START ON THE FUN OF PUTTING ALL OUR THINGS BACK IN OUR NEW HOUSE!"

Reaper groaned, chorused by the twins. "bro, we already moved everything once today," Reaper whined.

"THEN YOU HAD EXCELLENT PRACTICE FOR MOVING IT ALL AGAIN! DON'T WORRY, I WON'T MAKE YOU HELP ME ARRANGE IT AS WELL."

Reaper made a sound of protest, but he also started trying to sit up. Made difficult by the sulking pile of bones in his lap. "cider, darling, sweetheart, one of the two loves of my eternal life… we need to get up."

"don't wanna."

"if you want to sleep in a real bed tonight we have to move it into the bedroom first."

"If it makes you whiny BABIES feel better I'll help you move it!" War declared while flexing.

"YOU CAN HELP ME ARRANGE EVERYTHING ONCE WE BRING IT OVER. I'M NOT SURE IF YOU CAN GET TO THE SAVE SCREEN, THERE'S NOT A WHOLE LOT OF WARRING GOING ON THERE. OR ANY, REALLY."

"Sure, makes sense. And then when we're done we can throw you a KILLER house warming party!"

"OH NO, WE'LL BE DOING THAT TOMORROW. REAPER'S DATEMATES INSIST ON BREAKING IN THEIR NEW KITCHEN BY COOKING EVERYTHING THEMSELVES, AND YOU KNOW HOW MORTALS COOK."

"hey!" Geno and Cider both protested.

"He means it takes you guys longer," War said with a guffaw.

The twins both made faces at War. Reaper sneakily took a photo of them. Or three.


End note: Montage! Montage! Time for a house destroying montage! I know there have been a lot in the last couple chapters, but we're slowing back down after this. For some reason the story insisted on upgrading the Death bros' house and try as hard as I can I just can't fight the story, you know? It will do what it wants.

And now for a little worldbuilding that won't really be relevant to the story itself because it's about Error. He's the original Geno, the one from the actual Aftertale comic. That means the Geno we focus on (and certainly not Cider, but that should be pretty obvious) didn't live through those exact events. So yeah, if I ever go into what Geno's life was like before he met Reaper I can go as off the rails as I want, isn't it great?