(Disclaimer: I do not own. I never will. Warnings: boyxboy and my definition of OOCness)

Their friendship had never been overly complicated. Everything was kept relatively simple. Three were old friends from high school; two were newly met and easily befriended. Four attended the same college; one had ended up at a different one. So the five, although seemingly mismatched at first, had become good friends.

It was all about to get a lot more complicated because of one little comment:

"Doesn't Marth seem to act differently when he's talking to Roy?"

Ike, who had been leaning on the two back legs of his chair, legs propped up on the table, had pushed too hard in shock and fallen backwards.

Link, who had been trying to enjoy a nice coffee, nearly choked as the liquid went down the wrong way.

Now Marth, who had been talking on his cell phone with Roy, nearly dropped said device when Link started choking and gave the blond a few hearty thumps on the back.

"Uh…Did I…say something strange…?" Pit asked cautiously, eyes wide.

Ike, who had propped himself back up on the chair, legs on the table, said, "There's a lot of ways to interpret what you just said." After a slight pause of realizing that Link was still recovering and that Marth was still on the phone, he continued. "And the first implication everyone would jump to is that you're trying to say that Marth romantically likes Roy."

Marth abruptly stood up, a slight pink dusting his cheeks and walked away.

Pit, eyes still wide, said, "Did it really come out that way?"

Just then, Ike saw under that innocent look. He closed his eyes in feigned irritation, crossed his arms, and said, "Those are lovely horns under your halo."

Pit grinned. "Why thank you."

"So why bring it up?" Link asked quietly, throat still burning.

Pit shrugged, sipping his iced tea through a straw. "I was just wondering if you guys noticed it too."

"Possibly…" They said at the same time.

Pit started to feel like he had just entered a war zone. They'd never really talked about this romance business, as there was some silent agreement between them. Pit never really wanted to talk about it either, ever since he had discovered that he had a crush on Ike. It would've just been downright awkward, but really now, he was curious. It wasn't as if Marth was trying to disguise his bliss as he talked to Roy. And good god it seemed like he spoke to Roy almost constantly, whether it was in person, over phone, texting, or instant messaging. It made him wonder. But asking right now, it seemed like there was more than one person who had feelings for Marth. That made things even worse.

This was all very confusing and it made him regret ever opening his fat mouth.

Focusing back on the two in front of him, he noticed that they were currently in a glare battle to the death.
Now he was really starting to regret it.

"Uhm…guys…forget I said anything, okay?"

They sighed, and Link, the ever gracious one, was the first to turn away.

"Alright."

.:~:.

Marth came back not soon after, surprisingly not very bothered, and unsurprisingly with his head in the clouds.

Pit could slightly see Ike's mouth twitch down in annoyance, and he could feel the bottom of his own stomach drop out. If he had any doubts about Ike not liking him back before, they were almost insignificant to this smack in the face sitting right in front of him.

"Well, umm…" Marth cut into the awkward silence with an even more awkward statement, "I'm, gonna…get to class now." And with that he quickly made his escape from the little café.

It was minutes before Link said, "…But he doesn't have any classes today."

Pit and Ike just stared at him before it hit them as well. Like a speeding tanker truck.

Then Pit made his second mistake of the day. "But then where did he go?"

It was so quiet, had there been crickets, they wouldn't have even been chirping. Pit then realized he should just suture his mouth shut. It would be better for all of them. He was getting the scary feeling that over the next few days (weeks? months?) their friendship would be tested to the limits…Crap.

He desperately wanted to leave this awkward and deadly atmosphere and head for the hills, but he felt like it was his duty to make sure these two didn't maul each other. Then he glanced at his watch. Oh damn. "Ike, we're three minutes late for history!" He jumped up and grabbed the taller man's arm and dragged him towards the classroom, forcibly making him forfeit the silent battle with Link. Oh well.

.:~:.

The atmosphere in the classroom wasn't all that better. It felt stuffy and suffocating and Pit could barley concentrate on the board up front. They had managed to grab seats in the far back corner, but Ike had turned to stone. He felt like he was being given the cold shoulder and it actually kind of hurt. He liked the guy. He wanted him to like him back. But no, he had to go and like someone who already liked someone else. Romance was complicated. They'd all end up hurt in the end.

Although, somewhere in the back of his mind, some little devil or something was saying But if he's hurt by Marth, then maybe he'll eventually warm up to you.

Pit immediately shook the idea from his mind. Not only was it wrong, it was desperate and mean and stupid and downright preposterous.

He'd really dug his own grave this time. Maybe he should just tape his mouth shut now, to avoid saying anything stupid.

"Pit, what are you doing?"

Hand pausing in getting the tape, Pit stared at Ike. Then he glanced at his hands. He had not been aware that he had actually been reaching for his Scotch tape.

"Uhm…taping my mouth shut?"

"Why?"

"So I don't say anything stupid again."

Ike shook his head and took the tape away from him. "Don't do that."

"Why?" He was honestly curious. There was just the strange way he said it that made him wonder.

"Uh…" A very faint pink dusted his cheeks. "Ilikeyourvoice."

Pit raised an eyebrow, ducked his head and couldn't help but grin. Even if somehow Ike had meant that in a totally platonic way, it made him happy. Oh man…he liked Ike a lot more than he thought. His happy thoughts were immediately cut through with dread. His gut started churning uncomfortably. It sort of felt like dread for the future, like it just got a whole lot worse. Damn.

"You okay?"

Pit smiled shakily. "Yeah," he lied through his teeth. That had just made the whole lot worse even worse.

.:~:.

Pit smashed the pillow over his head. "Link, please go make them shut the heck up!" He couldn't take it anymore. The yelling next door had gone on for what felt like hours. Ike had really hit a sore spot too, since Marth was actually yelling back. It was all his fault too, which made it even worse. The guilt was just happily eating the buffet that was his organs, and it made him want to throw up. He would go over there himself if it weren't for this feeling.

"Link, please!"

Link finally pulled his headphones down around his neck and rubbed his temples. It seemed to Pit that he had desperately been trying to ignore the fight out of spite, but the peacemaker inside of him couldn't seem to take it anymore. He stomped out of the dorm room and furiously banged on the next door.

As soon as Ike had opened the door, Link had yelled, "Shut up! It's one in the morning and you're going to have us all kicked out!"

Ike grimaced and glared. Then he seemed to calm down and give up. "Fine." He slammed the door shut, and Pit saw Link enter the room tiredly not soon after.

Pit quietly murmured a "thanks," rolled over to face the wall, and tried to ignore the feeling that he was losing his digestive track.

Link gently put a hand on his upper arm. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…"

Link patted his arm. "Get some rest." He then walked over to his own bed, put his headphones back on, grabbed a book, laid down, and started reading.

A little late, Pit barely whispered, "Alright," closed his eyes, and tried to ignore the feeling in his stomach.

.:~:.

He couldn't get himself out of bed the next day. Pit didn't think that it should be affecting him this badly, because nothing that extreme had happened yet. But here he was, curled up in his bed, unable to move anywhere. Thankfully, without saying anything, Link had managed to understand that he wouldn't be moving any time soon and had left quietly.

Quite frankly, he didn't know what he should expect. They all had classes today, and Pit wasn't worried that they wouldn't cover for him. He was more worried about what would happen when the school day was over. He was worried that another fight would break out, and over something so stupid as to where Marth had run off to the other day.

He really shouldn't have opened his mouth. He felt like screaming. There must be some subconscious psychic in him somewhere, because he wasn't getting this sick dread from just that one argument and a few tense situations alone.

Come lunch time, he had been passing between trying to find pictures on the white wall in front of him and unconsciousness. He hadn't moved at all except to breathe and somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew his muscles were probably cramping up. The door to his room had opened, and Pit assumed it was Link.

Thank goodness it was. He felt like he couldn't deal with anyone else. They probably wouldn't have understood that he wasn't up to talking at all at the moment. He merely left a small lunch on the table, just in the slightest chance that Pit would feel like eating and left.

Pit actually fell asleep some time around one in the afternoon. It was a nice sound sleep as well, which he had become thankful for, even if he wasn't conscious enough to feel this thankfulness. He had had a fitful sleep the night before and the zoning in and out could barely count as naps. He welcomed the deep sleep with open arms.