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

Ike angrily kicked the bottom of his desk as he stared at the computer monitor. In short, he was feeling terrible. Guilt was happily gnawing on what he thought was his stomach and shame was curling around his heart. He couldn't believe how idiotic he had been acting the past couple of days. He was pissed at himself. He had been an insensitive, selfish jerk, and Link and Marth probably hated him. On top of it all, he had an essay to write.

It should be against the law to write essays under such circumstances.

Too bad for Ike no such law existed.

Deciding that he was getting no where, he saved what he had managed to get done (not much) and shut down the computer. He grabbed his keys, phone, and wallet, put on his shoes and left.

He figured he might as well do something productive – which included swallowing his pride and apologizing.

Ike almost froze in his tracks as he realized he had no clue where he was going. Where would he be right now? Oh. Right. Phone. Ike speed dialed number two and waited.

There were a couple of rings before Link picked up. "Ike?"

"Hey. Uhm. I need to talk to you. Are you busy?"

"Not particularly."

"Can you meet me by the tree near the art building?"

"Sure. See you in a few minutes then."

Ike blankly nodded, not realizing Link couldn't see him, and hung up. He started walking towards the aforementioned tree thinking about what he would say. Then he decided against it. For some reason, prewriting an apology like it was some kind of speech seemed kind of insincere to him.

Sheik suddenly walked up to him and matched his stride. "Hey. Are you okay?"

Ike looked at him curiously. They weren't mortal enemies but they weren't good friends either. On the best of days they made small talk, and Sheik would never ask him if he was okay unless he'd been sick or mauled by a cat or something. So naturally, Ike would be curious. "Yeah. Why?"

"Link said something about you getting in a fight with Marth the other day. I was just wondering if you guys were okay or not." Sheik explained. He quickly added, "Zelda and I were just worried and we made him tell."

Ike raised an eyebrow. "Well, I guess. We haven't exactly spoken yet, but I think Marth's okay." There was a pause before he said, "Are rumors spreading already?"

Sheik shrugged. "I wouldn't know about that. I mean, I only wanted to know to make sure he was okay. I don't know what Zelda did with that information though. Sometimes she tells sometimes she doesn't."

"Hm…I'll have to ask her about that later," Ike mused absently. He was only using half of his mind to process the conversation right now. The other half was busy freaking out and being manipulated by his shame, trying to get him to turn tail and get the heck out of there while he still could.

"I'll see you later then." Sheik did a small salute and walked off.

Great. Now he didn't even have that to somewhat distract him. Now his whole mind was busy trying not to fall prey to his shame and he was just hoping he wouldn't walk head-on into a pole or a trashcan.

Ike spotted Link by the tree, waiting. He had to force himself to take a deep breath, beat his shame into a little cage and keep walking.

"Hey, Link."

"Ike."

Ouch. He told himself to suck it up and continue. "I was being an ass for the past couple of days."

Link resisted the urge to roll his eyes and say, "You think?" So with nothing better to say he kept quiet.

"Okay, I was being worse than that." Ike almost turned around and ran. This was hard. "I was being stupid, insensitive, a bastard, however you want to say it. Thing is, I finally realized and I feel really bad about it. And I guess it won't do much but I'm sorry."

Link tried to keep his angry face up for a few moments, failed, and smiled. "Yeah. Well, just don't forget that you're not the only one."

Ike smirked. "Is that a challenge?"

Link mirrored the smirk. "Maybe. I doubt we stand much of a chance though."

Ike slightly shrugged. "Doesn't hurt too much to try."

.:~:.

Ike walked back happily to his room. After talking to Link for a while, he felt considerably better. Some would even say he had an extra spring in his step; but no one would, if they were smart enough. Ike felt like he could finish that whole essay in one go now, and that's just what he set off to do.

He sat down in his chair and just thought for a while. Guilt was just sort of poking through his guts and the shame wasn't as constricting anymore. It felt nice. Okay, so he had to admit that he was avoiding having to confront Marth. He didn't know if Marth had calmed down yet or not, and wasn't about to risk it yet.

Then, Ike spotted a yellow Post-It note on the corner of the monitor and his thoughts screeched to a halt. He removed the little paper and recognized Marth's neat writing immediately.

Ike
I'm going to be gone for the weekend.
Don't starve.
Marth

Ike had to resist the urge to crumple the paper and toss it into the trash. Well, damn. There went his plan to finish the essay. He sighed, left the room again and knocked on the door to the right.

Pit opened the door soon after with a confused look. "Ike?"

Ike silently held up the Post-It. Pit scanned the short note and silently let Ike in. He sat on the bed, staring at the floor between his feet. Pit closed the door and stood in front of him.
Getting right to the point, Ike said, "I need you to hit me. Slap me. Or something."

"Wait, what?"

Okay, maybe he should clarify. "You read the note, right?"

Pit nodded.

"Well, I don't think I'll be able to control myself the next time I see him."

Pit frowned, still terribly confused. "But if you were sane enough to come and ask me…er…to smack some sense into you, shouldn't you be okay?"

"I don't know. I figured that this would be sort of a precaution. Maybe if there was some pain involved I'd be able to remember next time."

"Are you serious?"

"Dead serious."

Pit worried his bottom lip, and after an indecisive moment, he raised his hand. He closed his eyes and smacked him.

Ike just sort of sat there, holding his quickly reddening cheek, staring at Pit in shock. Had he gone to Link, he knew the blond would have done it in a heartbeat, no questions asked. That's why he'd asked Pit. He figured even if he had done that, it wouldn't have hurt quite as much. "Did you have to hit me so hard?"

Pit pouted. "But you said to! I even asked if you were sure!"

"I didn't think that you would hit so hard!"

He childishly stuck his tongue out. "Well too bad." After a second Pit plucked the Post-It from Ike's other hand and looked at it. After another moment, he wondered aloud, "Did he really think you would starve?"

"Do you remember when I got fired 'cause I nearly blew up the kitchen?"

Pit nodded, holding back the laughter. It hadn't been quite that funny back then, but thinking back on it now, the manager's face had been priceless. Through the chuckles that escaped he asked, "But wasn't your job to clean up?"

"Exactly," Ike simply said.

Pit started laughing and Ike sort of joined him. As the laughter died out, Ike rubbed his stinging cheek and quietly said, "But, seriously, I don't think I'll be able to control my temper. I don't even know why I completely blew up the last time."

Pit squeezed his hand comfortingly. "Maybe you just have to find another way to channel out your feelings."

"Like what?"

He shrugged. "Like the usual courtship stuff."

Ike actually considered it for a split second before discarding the idea. He had never been good at that kind of thing (giving flowers, reciting lines of poetry and all that other crap). He shook his head. "Nah."

Pit chuckled. "Right. Not your thing."

Ike shrugged. "Hey, we can't all be romantics."

"Don't worry about it, okay? It'll work out." Pit squeezed his hand again, though it seemed more for himself than for Ike this time. "Just promise that you won't get depressed or mad…or both if it doesn't work out like you want it."

Ike let a smile show on his face. This was why he liked talking to Pit. His voice was calm and soothing and just warm; he loved it. "Alright."

However, even with the promise hanging over his head, and with guilt and shame lurking around, he was still worried that he would lose his temper.

Pit poked his uninjured cheek. "You promised. Don't worry."

Ike didn't say anything this time and stared at the floor.

"Ike!" he whined. He frowned in thought for a while. "Do you want to go do something? I mean, just to get your mind off of it?"

Ike doubted it would work, but what the heck. He might as well, seeing that Pit was really trying to help him. "Alright."