Lucina couldn't tell if that was her fifth or six cup of tea, but she drank it anyway. She couldn't take any more of that tea, but it was better to drink it than stare at Peach in awkward silence. The two sat on the kitchen's large table with Lucina facing Peach, though facing was not the right word for someone who spent more time looking at her tea cup rather than at the princess' patient blue eyes that sat in front of her.

That wasn't to say they stayed silent the whole time. Thanks to Peach, the two made some small conversation here and there, but it was mostly about trivial things and they never got to talk about the swordswoman's problem. Unlike Lucina, she drank her tea calmly and in small doses, which might explain why she wasn't having liquid almost flooding from her ears and nostrils.

Lucina couldn't take it anymore. She had prolonged this way too much.

"Alright, then, about my problem," she started, setting the cup on the table.

"Yes, go on," the princess motioned for her to proceed.

"I am not quite sure how to start it. Especially because I feel as if this is a really personal thing to ask about."

"Oh, Lucina, if you heard all the things that I had to listen to in these past tournaments, you would see that I really do not care at all if it might be considered inappropriate," Peach giggled. Sometimes it was hard being one of the only five female fighters in a tournament with thirty something males, but she grew used to it.

"I just ask you to not laugh, please," Lucina took a deep breath. "I wanted to know something. How do you feel about relationships between two girls?"

"Between... what?" the princess tilted her head to the side.

"I mean, I say between two girls, but this may also apply to men as well!" she blurted out as her face started to get a red color that could rival a tomato. "It is just that I thought about women first! Oh, that didn't sound right... I mean..."

She decided to shut up before she could embarrass herself any further, while Peach looked at her with eyes that were very hard to get a read on. Now it was a good moment for her to speak, even if it was a simple 'You know what? I have better things to do than answer to this stupid question', as the silence became unbearable between them. Lucina could feel a sigh of relief building up inside her as she saw Peach nod understandingly and smile again.

"That was a very odd question, I will give you that," Peach answered, taking another sip from her now cold tea. "But I have nothing against it. Why, as long as the couple is happy, then it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"I suppose it is true. But is it really that common? For two girls to fall in love?"

"Well, it is much less common than a man and a woman falling in love," she put a finger on her chin. "And it is a kind of relationship that is looked down upon in many places and cultures. It's pretty sad, actually."

"Why would it bother people so much that they would look down upon two people love each other very much?"

"Beats me. For the same reason why you are asking me all these questions now?"

"I have nothing against it! I was just confused, because I have never heard of this type of relationship before!" she quickly defended herself. "I'm not saying it is bad!"

Again silence. Again Lucina wanted to plant her face on the ground for ever starting this kind of conversation with Princess Peach. She would make sure to not look the princess in the face after that for next three weeks.

"Now you got me curious," Peach said, setting her own cup on the table. "Mind if I ask you a couple of questions?"

"Uh, sure, go ahead."

"What made you suddenly think about this kind of stuff?"

Lucina wanted to tell her about Samus and Palutena, but was not so sure if that would be considered gossiping. As far as she knew, she didn't know if they would want her to go around talking about their life, especially because they didn't know she saw them kiss.

She would have to lie. Or, at least, try. "I have read it… in a book," her voice cracked. "In a book at the library that now I can't remember its name."

"I see…"

It was a blatant and obvious lie, yet Peach decided to let it slide. She was much more interested in the answer to her second question anyway. "Are you serious about never having heard about this kind of relationship before?" she asked.

"I am telling you the truth."

"You said you were part of an army from where you came from, right? Have you never found any of your comrades' behavior odd when it came to the way they interacted with someone of the same gender?"

"No, never!" she then paused to think harder. "Uh, well, there were Severa and Kjelle. They were veeery close, but I just thought they were really good friends. I guess aunt Lissa and Maribelle as well? And I suppose sir Frederick did have some sort of obsession with my father… But I'm pretty sure they were just friends."

"Of course they were," there was a not so subtle hint of sarcasm in Peach's voice that didn't go unnoticed by Lucina.

"I suppose I took too much of your time," the swordswoman said as she got up. "I am really sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you very much for your help, Peach."

At that point, she just wanted to leave before things started to get more awkward than before, if that was even possible. Yet, it was one single question that came out from the princess' mouth that made her paralyze on the spot: "Aren't you even curious?"

"About what?" she asked apprehensively. Why was she so nervous all of a sudden?

"You know," Peach said with her chin rested on her hands. "About how it feels like to kiss a girl."

That statement seemed to stab Lucina's guts like a sharp nice. "W-Why would I be curious about that?!" she exclaimed.

"I was just asking," the blonde raised her hands in defense. "It's just that, if I were in your situation, I would be. Just to find out if that was my thing."

Lucina opened her mouth to answer (or try), when Robin appeared all of a sudden. She swear she could hear the chorus of angels singing as he entered the room, ready to save her from further embarrassment she was about to face. His white hair seemed especially shiny today, but that might be because of the holy halo above his head. She could swear she saw little cherubim dancing around him playing trumpets. "Oh, Lucina, there you are," he said in an angelic voice. "I was searching for you."

For Peach, his voice at the moment sounded as pleasant as nails on a chalkboard. Her cheery disposition fell flat as she heard him inviting Lucina for a practice session with him, his female counterpart Robin and Shulk. After she saw the swordswoman agree, she quickly got up and decided to remove the tea cups from the table. "So I suppose our conversation is over," she commented, bringing their attention to her.

"Oh, Princess Peach," Robin said. "I didn't realize you were there. I'm terribly sorry…"

"It is nothing," she said forcing a smile and putting the cups over the kitchen sink. "Lucina and I were just chatting, but I guess I took too much of her time."

"Oh, no, you didn't! Don't worry," Lucina said. "And, um, thank you for everything."

"You're welcome."

Instead of leaving, however, Peach just got closer to Lucina and whispered in her ear: "By the way, you look adorable, blushing like that. If you ever want to find out about that, I'll be more than happy to help you."

Giving one last glance over her shoulders at the tactician, Peach left the room with her chin held high. Robin had no idea what she had just said to Lucina, but he would be lying if he said he didn't want to know what would cause his friend to blush so hard.

"So…" Captain Falcon commented with the voice of someone who was trying to desperately keep the conversation casual and failing miserably. "You and Palutena, uh?"

Samus almost accidentally spilled the energy drink she was drinking on the racer's face, even though, deep down, that's what she wanted to do ever since she felt his arm wrapping around her shoulders as if they were best bros, which they weren't. That wasn't to say she and Falcon weren't on bad terms, as she found his company enjoyable from time to time. The problem was that little gesture of his that almost certainly spelled "awkward topic" in sight. Every time Captain Falcon tried to act like her bro made part of Samus' soul die.

And what an awkward topic to discuss, indeed! Samus gave a glance at Palutena, who kept eating her food beside her as if nothing wrong was happening, which of course it wasn't true, because Captain Falcon was there, with his beefy arm around her shoulder, asking for confirmation that she and Palutena were dating in the middle of lunch time.

The two have been dating for about a couple of weeks now and things between them were going pretty smoothly. Sure, there were a few problems here and there, with Palutena having to spend a good portion of her time having to attend to her godly duties and Samus spending a little too much time practicing and sparing with other Smashers, just so she could occupy herself when the other wasn't around. So it really was difficult for them to finally be able to spend some time together other than in each other's bedroom at night or at meal times.

They really weren't that affectionate to each other in public. So how did Captain Falcon, of all people, could come to the conclusion that the two were dating?

"Why are you asking me this?" she asked.

"I have my contacts. Now tell me, are you two a thing?"

"Falcon…" she grunted in annoyance.

"Look, gossips around here run really fast, okay?" he said in an exasperated tone. "I can't even remember who it was that said that, but half the Smashers here are already talking about it!"

"Don't mind him, Samus," Palutena finally spoke. "They are just rumors; don't let them get into you."

"Palutena, come on," Falcon pushed further. "I was just asking yes or no! Don't come with these vague answers."

In reality, Captain Falcon had mixed feelings about this whole situation. If they were dating, then that meant two things: one, Palutena was out of the game, even though it wasn't like he had any chances with her, considering she was a goddess, but a guy could dream; and two, that Samus truly, deeply disappointed him. If it was him who had that once in a lifetime chance with probably the hottest girl in that whole mansion, he would be gloating to every Smasher available until someone was forced to punch him in the face. And then there was Samus, living the dream of probably a lot of guys there, and she kept it all to herself.

Life wasn't fair.

"…Yes, it is true," the bounty huntress announced, making those mixed feelings grow even stronger inside Captain Falcon. "There's no reason to keep hiding it. If people are already aware of our relationship, then what can we do?"

"You're taking this surprisingly well," Palutena said with a grin. "Weren't you the same Samus that pushed me away when I tried to kiss you at the living room the other day?"

Okay, so maybe they weren't as subtle about their sudden affection towards each other as she would like to think. Palutena probably gave it away with those little gestures of hers, like almost always wanting to hold hands, or hugging her waist from behind when they were watching TV. Gestures that, surprisingly, passed unnoticed by her, but not to the other Smashers. Just how used to Palutena's antics had she gotten to?

"Man, I can't believe that the two girls I've been trying to hit on this whole time are making out with each other!" Captain Falcon exclaimed at least.

"Falcon, if you're not going to add anything useful to this conversation, then you can just leave," Samus scoffed.

"Don't worry, Flacon, you never had a chance with any us anyway," the goddess said as she finished her lunch.

Ouch!

Ouch. After that, even Samus took pity on the racer who just kind of got up and kind of went away to possibly throw himself on the nearest trash bin. "That was unnecessarily cruel," the blonde remarked.

"But isn't it true?"

"It was still uncalled for."

"Oh, alright, I'm sorry," she said intertwining her fingers with her girlfriend's under the table. "I'll apologize to him later, okay?"

Samus said nothing and decided to take a look around her, at the Smashers who were still eating. Everything seemed to be normal and they appeared to be minding their own business. There was a quick glance shot at their table every now and then from some of them, but no one seemed to be paying any attention to them. Then again, the sound of conversation was so loud that it was pretty difficult to focus on any other thing that wasn't the person you were talking to.

The two decided to leave and relax for a while before they had to separate and go have their respective matches. Since most of the Smashers were still being in the cafeteria, they had the living room all to themselves without someone coming in and interrupting anything. Even with some of them already knowing about their relationship, Samus wasn't a big fan of people staring.

She knew from experience that some Smashers could be pretty inconvenient. So, really, let them talk behind her back, as long as they wouldn't bother her after that.

Samus plopped on the sofa and closed her eyes. One second later she felt Palutena resting her head on her lap with her face turned upwards, which meant that her entire body occupied the rest of the sofa, save for her feet who just hanged in the air for the lack of space. "Are you sure you don't want to try to occupy the sofa even more?" she asked ironically, giving out one of her rare sarcastic smiles. "I'm sure you can fit your feet somewhere."

"I would, but your lap is blocking the way," she gave a smug grin.

"Oh, I'm sorry for being in your way," she answered in the same smug and ironic tone. "I guess I'll move over to another sofa so you can have this one all to yourself."

"Don't you even dare."

Samus placed a small kiss on her lips and then went on to play with her green hair. It was in quiet moments like those when she realized how much she enjoyed staying with Palutena. It all felt so surreal, yet so right, to be this close to her. All her annoyance she used to feel towards her at that point had magically disappeared and seemed to be something of a distant past.

"Soon I'll have to battle Link," Palutena commented lazily. "I don't want to fight him."

"Link is not that bad."

"Yeah, but he uses a lot of projectiles and getting close to him can get pretty tiring."

"You'll do well, I'm sure of it."

"Of course I'm going to win," she chuckled. "I'm just saying that I find fighting Link tiring. I'd rather stay here."

"I know."

"And then I still need to attend some offering ceremony the humans in my home universe are making," she continued ranting on. "And then I have to go talk to my siblings…"

"Your siblings?" Samus asked, still caressing her hair. She could tell she was making Palutena feel drowsy and couldn't help but find that adorable.

"I'd rather not talk about them," Palutena made a disgusted face. "We are not in the best terms nowadays. It'll get better, it always does, but I'd rather not have to share the same space with them at the moment. They are too bothersome and reunions with them can go on for hours."

"Will you even be able to return tonight?"

"I don't think so…" the goddess muttered. "But I'll probably be back by tomorrow noon."

"Well, I understand. You are still a goddess and you have your duties," Samus sighed. "Even if it's with family members that you don't like."

Palutena forced a smile, even when she was still a little bitter inside when she heard Samus' remark: she was a goddess, an immortal being that had the duty to look over and take care of humans. As far as she knew, getting into a relationship with one of said humans wasn't exactly the most logical and sensible thing to do. But she did it anyway.

For Palutena, the lifespan of a human was nothing but a blink of an eye. They came and went, some leaving their mark in history, be it for good or bad, while others died insignificant and forgettable deaths. There was no reason for her to get attached to any of them.

She herself wasn't usually one to pay much attention to certain individuals, unlike her brothers and sisters. Unless those individuals were exceptional at something, be it for their beauty, strength or intelligence, the Goddess of Light wouldn't bother with them. Samus just so happened to be exceptional at those three things. Granted, the fact that she was completely in love with her made Palutena's vision of her glorify certain aspects. But biased or not, only a blind person wouldn't agree with her to some degree.

She just wanted to be friends. It would hurt a lot less for both of them in the future. She opened her eyes and looked at her lover's face once again, feeling a pang on her heart as she saw her so peaceful and content. Her heart got even heavier as she realized that those feelings were mutual and how nice it felt to be this close to her.

Since when did she start listening more to her desires than to reason? At that point, she should know better than that. Gods and humans couldn't be together for too long. Not because it was forbidden or anything, but because of the pesky little detail of mortality. Humans grew old, wrinkly and afraid of death. Gods just sat back and enjoyed their immortal life and, in most cases but not all, beauty.

Someday she would talk about that issue to Samus, maybe. She would discuss that with her later.

Later… That was Palutena's answer every time she thought about that topic.

"Didn't you have a match with Link?" she heard Samus' voice bring her back to reality.

"Samus, do you think that if I made Pit use a green wig and a dress he could go fight for me?" Palutena asked lazily.

"No. Stop being lazy and get up already."

Palutena got up and slowly as possible and let out a good stretch on her back. Right, she needed to go fight Link and then return to Skyworld and pay a visit to her family. None of those three things were pleasant, but at least they would distract her for a while.

As they prepared to leave, they saw Dark Pit and Robin entering the room, the two chatting about things that they couldn't quite understand what it was about due to their low voices. Palutena was rather surprised to see the dark angel being able to hold a conversation with the tactician without letting out any sassy remark every ten seconds. She was also surprised to see Robin interacting with another Smasher that wasn't Lucina, Shulk or her male counterpart. It was truly a miracle of a sight.

"Oh, Palutena, Samus, hello," Robin greeted as she noticed the two women in the living room.

"Hello to you too, Robin," Samus greeted back and then shot an accusatory glare at Dark Pit. "Dark Pit, Captain Falcon came to talk to me during lunch about something very… personal stuff about us."

Dark Pit groaned and rolled his eyes as he already knew what she wanted to talk about. "If it's about those rumors about you and Palutena kissing going around the mansion, I'll let you know that it wasn't me who spread them around, okay?" he said.

"Oh, really? Then who was it?" Palutena asked putting her hands on her hips.

"Pit, who else?" he said calmly. "That idiot can't keep his mouth shut for a damn second."

"Well, if you didn't go around gossiping about our private life to him, he wouldn't have said anything," the goddess countered his argument.

"Are you seriously trying to find a way to blame me?!"

"Actually, it was kind of everyone's fault here," Robin pointed out. "Let me explain, Pit just told everything about your affair because Sonic was curious about the way you acted around Samus and wanted to know if you two had a thing going on. And, well, there was a group of Smashers nearby, including myself, so we heard everything that he said. Pit tried to lie at first, but he's almost as bad as Lucina at this. So, in the end, he just told the truth."

"Oh, wow, alright…" Samus said perplexed. "That was kind of needlessly complicated, but…"

"Granted, I didn't need to know that trough Pit, because Lucina told me everything," Robin continued waving her hand in a dismissive way.

"Don't tell me she saw us on Yoshi's Island too," the blonde said covering her face with her hands.

"She and the other Robin, yes," the mage nodded.

"See? I wasn't the only one," Dark Pit said.

"You should have seen Lucina's face as she told me about your kiss," Robin giggled. "She looked so confused about the whole situation; it was both hilarious and very adorable."

The image of a blushing Lucina passed by the four Smashers' heads as Robin continued to giggle like a mad woman. They could very well imagine her putting her hands on her cheeks and uttering in a distressed and soft voice: "But that's forbidden love!"

She was right. It must have been adorable.

Someone draw Lucina as Hitomi from Madoka Magica, please. Just do it. I need it for reasons.

But anyway, I'm feeling kind of sleepy as I write this last part, so I'm sorry about this kind of nonsense ending for this chapter. Not that I will change it, but still, it's good to apologize.

Oh, and I'm going to answer anon's review here: I'm pretty sure that Palutena's fight with Medusa wasn't any kind of cover up. The two just hate each other. Medusa probably wouldn't care about Palutena's love life at all.