Been a long time since I uploaded anything. Honestly, the motivation to write large chapters has been lost for me for a long time. I found myself writing small things that I would enjoy at first and then stop being interested in. With that in mind, this is more or less a more 'write what I feel like' kind of fic to see if I can eventually build up the motivation again.

Shovel Knight is my favorite video game character of all time and I am very happy to see him in Smash! Though it seems like there a very few fics featuring him and so I wanted to go ahead and try my hand at putting one out there. This fic takes place in an AU where Shield Knight died at the end of Shovel of Hope. Hope you all enjoy!

Shovel Knight twitched. His roommate, a silver haired woman with pointy ears and scarlet reptilian eyes stared back at him incredulously. Her eyes focused on the object in question.

"You fight… with a shovel?"

Well, it was a shovelblade but she wasn't incorrect. The shorter of the two shifted awkwardly away, the taller one leaning closer to get a better look at the weapon in his hand.

"...yes."

Her face scrunched up as she got even closer hands on her knees as she bent down to get on the knight's level.

"How…?"

Shovel Knight twitched again. This conversation was starting to get old after the 4th time someone from this new world had asked him. Was it only his own realm that possessed Knights of Shovelry? Well if it wasn't exotic or rare then it probably wouldn't be here amongst aliens, magic, what he had been told was 'modern weaponry', and assorted animals for this tournament. Which was supposed to help 'bring comradery and bonds of friendship to all the universes'.

Mostly he had just seen people beat the shit out of each other.

"I swing it."

His companion hummed, either not noticing or not caring about how he was trying to inch away from her. The silver haired woman took another step closer for everyone he took back.

"Do you dig with it as well?"

"...Yes."

Shovel Knight twitched and began to sweat. This was… awkward. He was never the best at dealing with these kinds of situations. Having minor flashbacks to all the conflicts caused on his journey to fight the Enchantress made him begrudgingly admit that maybe he wasn't the most socially adept person out there. Though a good amount of it might simply be due to the fact he was a shovel knight.

His back hit the wall of the dormitory in a light clink of metal shifting. Corrin, the woman that was currently invading his personal space, got uncomfortably close. Getting down on her knees to be able to get a better look at his shovel.

"That's… so cool."

"Ah… Thank you…?"

At least, the Blue Burrower thought to himself as he vainly tried to slide away, he wasn't as awkward as Corrin was. Hopefully all their time as roommates wouldn't be like this? He was already intimidated.

Another funny part about the tournament is that fighters were randomly chosen to room together. This was, of course, to 'give a head start to bonding'. They were separated by gender and randomly picked. At the end, only he and Corrin hadn't been paired with any of them.

While the Master Hand had been hesitant to put the two together, Crazy Hand had simply not given them an option. The little knight didn't want to be a burden for his hosts, even if the situation made him uncomfortable, and agreed to the arrangement with no fuss.

He was a little regretful of that now.

Thankfully they had their own rooms inside their 'apartment' as

Mario had called it. The layout was nice, a small living area. A kitchen, a bathroom, and their two separate rooms. All in all it was a nice place. Much more comfortable than the campfires he used to share with…

Ah… Well… best not to think about her.

His attention focused back on Corrin. Her attention had left his trusty shovelblade and instead focused on him. He felt himself start to sweat again when she smiled.

"I'd like to spar with you sometime. I've never fought against someone that uses a shovel before." She got back up to her feet, the innocent light never leaving her eyes, "...and your Shovel Knight. So you must be really really good with it to be the Shovel Knight."

In the end, Shovel Knight conceded to himself, that it wasn't the worst first encounter he had ever had with someone.

Shovel Knight rolled to his left, dodging the green fireball that rolled lazily through the air, before jumping on the next one with his signature Shovel Drop. In a move that defied the laws of physics, the little knight bounced off of the projectile. The blue burrower brought his shovel to bear and swung it at his opponent.

Luigi ducked, swinging an overhead strike that landed on the exposed legs of the knight. This caused the knight to lose his form and crash a few yards away roughly on the rubber mat of the sparring room. Luigi let out a sigh of relief as he straightened up as he called out.

"I think that would be a good place to call it. I'm beat."

Pulling himself up from the ground, Shovel Knight nodded his assent. He was sweaty and sore. It was good sparring sessions that always seemed to make him feel alive. He detested being forced to fight, but a relaxed spar was quickly becoming his third favorite hobby.

After finding treasure and counting his treasure.

Luigi had found his way to a bench and Shovel Knight joined him, taking an offered water bottle.

"Good spar as always, my friend."

Luigi smiled softly, his voice just as subtle. "You too. I appreciate you taking the time to spar with me." Luigi looked at his companion from the corner of his eyes. The little knight still hadn't removed his helmet, electing to pour the water through the darkness and into his mouth.

"... specially since a good amount of the other fighters don't treat you guys well."

The treasure hunter swallowed his water, enjoying the feeling of cooling droplets run down into his armor. Luigi wasn't wrong. Some of the fighters in the tournament had looked down on assist trophies like himself. Calling them 'the help' and in even more extreme situations, servants.

They weren't required to help them outside of battle, but that didn't stop some of the fighters from degrading them.

"You don't act like them. So I don't mind." Shovel Knight started turning his helmet fully to face the plumber. "Besides. I have a lot of fun with these as well."

The taller male's smile widened. With a comfortable silence, the two finished their water before leaving to shower with promises of the same time tomorrow.

Walking down the hallway in a good enough mood to hum one of Bard's songs to himself, the blue burrower was excitedly thinking about his shower back in his dorm. Corrin would likely be in a match or visiting with Robin, Lucina, or Byleth. He had grown over these first few days in the mansion to not mind Corrin as much as he had in their first meeting. Getting used to the Nohrian princess to go abnormally close when conversing with him…

….or pick him up like one would to a toddler to help him grab something on a shelf out of his reach…

...or leave a mess in their living area and forget to clean…

...or to never do dishes or…

Maybe there were still some things that he needed to get used to. Honestly, he didn't mind picking up after her. It was never overly messy and it was generally only a few dishes added onto his own. Corrin was very busy in matches after all and he understood that at least.

Though being physically reminded of how short he was always did make him irritated. Even standing on the counter he couldn't reach the highest shelves damnit!