The doorbell rang. It rang twice.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." A tired young general shuffled towards the large metal doors of Smash Manor. When he tugged on the handle, there was a soldier decked in Altean armor standing at the door. A brown package, fairly large in size, sat in his hands. Before Roy had a chance to ask his name, his horse stomped its hoof down, its bleached mane whipping around in the wind.
Brushing back his green bangs, the teen smiled and held out his free hand.
"My name's Abel. I fought beside Prince Marth awhile back. You could say that we're old friends. Um," Abel looked past Roy and got a view of the Manor's sitting room. "Is he here today?"
Confused, Roy anwsered back, "He's asleep right now. Marth's sick. Why? Is something wrong?" The green-haired teen grinned and gave the smasher the box he was holding.
"Pity that the Prince is sick on his birthday and all. Give him my best regards, then. Oh, and there's a gift for him in that box. Make sure it gets to him." The general nodded slowly, tucking the brown package beneath his arm.
Today's his birthday? He's never told anybody before. Damnit, I don't have a gift for him or anything!
"Come on, Abel," An older man -maybe in his twenties- appeared, riding on a black horse. He was also wearing Altean armor and a sword hung limply from his hip.
"Sure thing, Cain. The Prince is sick so his friend is going to deliver the gift." Cain nodded and smiled, the harsh wind blowing through his crimson hair.
"Then hurry up, kid. That storm's gonna come by real soon. I wanna make it home in time; before it pours." Cain smirked. "Wouldn't want the rain to ruin that pretty face of yours." He continued and turned his horse away from the Manor. Waving a lazy hand, Cain started for the gates, already heading home.
Abel blushed as he mounted his horse. "Cain, don't say that kind of shit in front of the kid. He doesn't want to see you fail at flirting." They both waved to Roy, reminding him that he needed to get that box to Marth as soon as possible, and left for their home.
Clouds started gathering in the once sunny sky. Small cracks of thunder could be heard from miles away, growing nearer by the second.
--
At dinner time, the blue-haired prince was absent from the table. As Roy took a seat by Pit and Link, he heard them talking to Ike about the sickly boy.
"I think he's getting better. Maybe he just had the flu." Pit flapped his wings, happily. "I'm sure it was just a 24 hour thing. Maybe he even had a virus. Nothing that Dr. Mario can't cure, though."
Ike laughed, "Maybe he has AIDS or something." The redhead frowned at this and told the mercenary to shut up.
"Nah," Link nugged the blue-haired man and smirked. "Maybe he's pregnant. It could take him awhile to get used to it, but after a week or two, he'll b--" Pit gasped and started saying something about that being irrational, but Roy tuned them all out. He sighed heavily and twirled his spoon around in his soup.
"Isn't that right, shortstack?" An elbow jabbed into the redhead's side, causing him to drop his spoon into the bowl. Plop.
"What," The general asked. "Isn't what right?" The elf grinned from ear to pointy ear and shoved his elbow into Roy's side again.
"That you knocked Marfpot up. I mean, if he's pregnant and all." Link laughed, but the only person that was laughing with him was Ike. Pit patted Roy's shoulder in some sort of silent apology.
He wasn't going to tell anyone about Marth's birthday. If the Prince didn't tell anyone, it must have been for a good reason. Adding onto the list, Link and Ike were being a little too out there today and Marth might not want two jokers in his room while he was sick, asking him if he'd missed his period.
--
Marth had been asleep for hours on end. Since the gift was dropped off at about five o'clock, it had sat on Roy's bed, waiting to be opened. Though he shared a room with the Prince, the bluenette wouldn't have noticed the brown box across the room sitting on his bed. Around midnight, as soon as Roy came out of the shower, he heard a groan from the direction of his dorm and it could have only been one person.
"Marth?" The towel-clad boy opened the door slowly, walking into his room soak'n'wet.
"What's up, Roy?" The groggy blunette asked with a stuffy nose. The redhead shut the door and started pulling his p.j.s on. After attempting to dry his hair a bit with his towel and sitting at the foot of Marth's bed, Roy rubbed the Prince's leg slowly, knowing there wasn't much he could do about an illness. Both smiled at each other.
"Well," Then a smirk came into play. Marth feared he wouldn't get back to sleep anytime soon. "There's a surprise for you outside, and It would mean the world to me if you came to see it."
Marth -sporting wrinkled gray p.j.s, an Einstien hair-do, a stuffy nose, and a really bad headache- got out of bed. As Marth was stumbling around the room, getting ready, Roy wrapped the box in a couple of blankets, put it under his arm, and wrapped the other arm around Marth. The blunette slipped on a pair of sneakers and let the young general lead him down the steps and out the door.
"It's..." Outside, it was raining. Not just raining, more like insanely pouring. The wind was blowing lawn chairs down the street and trees' branches were breaking off. Lightning struck as the sickly boy wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and grinned.
Wind blew through the boys' baggy p.j.s and unruly bedheads. "It's wonderful outside." Roy lead the sick prince to a table on the patio. The patio had a roof over it and the wind was blowing away from them; neither noble got wet.
When Roy sat on the futon swing, Marth laid on the other side, laying his head in the younger's lap. Without thinking, the redhead started petting the prince's sapphire hair. About to doze off, Roy heard a moan come from the boy on his lap and he looked down, seeing a face flushed with fever.
"Marth! A-are you alright? Do you need to...um...hack chunks or something?" He sat his lover up, making sure the teen didn't faint or get sick.
The prince laughed a bit and turned toward Roy, kissing him gently on the cheek. "I'm feeling fine, stupid. I j-just...liked it." A pink blush tinted the blunette, contradicting his hair color. "The beautiful weather, the rain, the wind, the lightning, and even though I'm sick, I'm out here with the person I love most. This day turned out better than I had planned." As soon as Marth finished talking, an arm was possessively wrapped around his waist and Roy's lips were looming dangerously close.
The older boy turned away, having Roy kiss his cheek instead. "You'll get sick and I don't want you to catch whatever the hell I have." Marth whined. Ignoring what was last said, Roy turned Marth's face toward him and craned his own neck up a bit, having his lips just centimeters away from the prince's.
"Consider this your birthday present." Before the blunette could argue back, his lips were covered. Not worrying about spreading his germs, Marth opened his mouth just enough to give the redhead access. Roy pressed his body against the boy that was now under him and began exploring his mouth, moaning as Marth thrusted upward.
As they broke apart, the younger boy slid off of his boyfriend and quickly grabbed the wad of blankets that he previously threw under the swing.
"W-what's that?" Marth asked, curious and somewhat out of breath. Roy smiled and handed him the box that was inside, wrapping the two of them in the blankets.
"Abel and Cain said 'Happy Birthday', by the way." The prince smiled as he slowly opened the box, taking out the tissue paper that was inside. Under the mounds of paper was a photo album and a digital camera. Marth's eyes lit up as he turned the camera around and read the note that was taped to the back.
--
Prince Marth,
We are all very happy to hear that you are enjoying yourself in the competition. Hopefully, you have made more friends than enemies. Also, we hope that you and your lover have a wonderful time together; love is such a wonderful thing.
You are finally eighteen and, without a doubt, have more responsibilities. We wish you a happy time and an easy life. (Like that's every going to happen.)
We would like you to start taking pictures of your friends there and, if you can, send us a few. Please keep in touch.
Happy Birthday,
Ellice, Merric, Shiida, Cain, Abel, Gordin, Wrys, Matthis...(etc.)
--
"You know," Marth smiled warmly. "They all signed it. It's like they got the whole kingdom to sign." He laughed and turned the camera on. Facing it toward them both, he told Roy to lean in a bit. The general laughed and leaned in; just before Marth pressed the button, he kissed the prince on the cheek. Later, that picture would come out with a happy, lovestruck general and a blushing prince.
"Y-you...they're gonna see that picture!" Marth huffed, his face about as red as Roy's hair.
"I know." The smaller boy smiled and kissed his lover gently on the lips. Right after, Marth stood and grabbed Roy's wrist, grinning. "What are you doing?" Roy asked, worried.
"We're going to kiss in the rain like they do in all those movies." Both sets of cheeks were dusted pink as they walked down the steps, away from their dry patio and into sparkling petals of water and dancing gusts of wind. Roy laughed at how cliche kissing in the rain sounded. As long as they were kissing and Marth was happy about it, there was nothing to complain about.
Still, the teen couldn't help but whimper as rain soaked into his fresh p.j.s made the cloth stick to every part of his body. It didn't feel too good, but when he looked up at the grinning prince in front of him, it sure looked fine on him. The water made his clothes practically see-through, allowing Roy to look over every dip and curve of the other boy's body. Feeling his face get hot -and his lower regions getting hotter- he turned away.
Marth laughed, getting soaked from the rain. Roy looked up at him and pouted, "I hope you're happy, now I'm gonna get sick too." The blunette smiled and kissed the redhead's forehead, wrapping his arms around the shorter boy's frame. Roy mirrored the prince's actions by wrapping his arms around the sickly boy, and, as if disregarding what he had just said, the smaller boy leaned in for a kiss.