Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys
Year Three
-Two-
Roy shivered as he turned the air conditioner off. It was too cold for this time of year and yet Master Hand had the air conditioning on. He stretched as he pulled his pajama top off, and for whatever reason, his muscles were aching something awful. He turned and saw that Link was gone from their floor - the blond must have eventually gotten off the floor and crawled back to his equally colour-uncoordinated bedroom. Roy, still not fully awake, nearly walked right into the bathroom door, and stood there for five minutes wondering why it was closed in the first place.
"Marth?" Roy called, knocking on the door. "That you in there?"
"Who else would it be?" Roy made out over the water hitting the bottom of the bathtub at full force.
"I dunno, it could've been Link in there," Roy remarked as he pulled his dress pants up. His belt buckle jangled as the pants slid over Roy's hips, and he pulled a clean shirt from the bottom of his clean clothes pile. He didn't notice the thing topple over and spill all over the floor, but then again, Roy didn't have eyes on the back of his head. Marth would get on his arse about it later - he had hawk eyes, able to see the most microscopic bits of anything.
He shrugged his shirt on and buckled his pants up when Marth opened the bathroom door. Steam billowed out into the bedroom like a cheesy B-movie effect, and Marth waved it away as he emerged.
"Well hello there, Mr. Steamy," Roy greeted as he attempted to button his shirt up.
Marth coughed before saying, "Morning, love." He walked over to Roy and embraced him from behind, his hands covering Roy's.
Roy leaned back against Marth and noticed they were in front of the mirror (Roy had dressed in front of that mirror so many times he hardly noticed its presence anymore). They just stood there as Roy stared at their reflections - Roy in his black pants and half-buttoned uniform shirt, Marth in nothing but a towel tied around his waist. They really did look like a nice couple, the way they were right then.
Marth kissed the nape of Roy's neck and moved Roy's hands away from the buttons of his shirt.
"I think I should teach you how to button shirts properly," Marth teased as he unbuttoned and rebuttoned Roy's shirt. "You're like a little kid sometimes, I swear."
Roy's face flushed. "I've always had this problem, ever since I was a little kid."
Marth broke away from the embrace, to Roy's dismay, to dress himself. Though there was this one teacher who always came in nothing but a towel, Marth wasn't about to do the same thing. For one thing, it wasn't very dignified, and two, the only one who could see him half naked was Roy. There was also a third reason, and that reason was Terry.
"Oh, and your new blazer's in the closet," Marth reminded Roy as he smoothed out his shirt collar. "Remember when you told me yours didn't fit well anymore?"
"Yeah," Roy said, vaguely remembering, as he tied his red striped tie. "But I didn't want a new one."
Marth sat down on the bed to tie his shoelaces. "It's not new, per se; it's more like 'refurbished'."
"Refurbished," Roy echoed. "Who's is it?"
Marth took his towel and got rid of the excess water in his hair. "Mine, of course. Link's old one was only big enough for Young Link, and he's smaller than you. That only left me, obviously."
Roy went over to the closet and removed his 'new' blazer from the hanger. Pulling it on, he felt the fit of it. It fit just fine, as it should; he would have to remember to give his old one to Young Link. Roy walked over to his computer desk and grabbed his ID. Clipping it to the bottom of his blazer, he once again looked at himself in the mirror. If he knew what an English university student looked like, he could have said he possibly looked like one.
"So how does it fit?" Marth asked, pocketing his glasses case on the way over to Roy. Roy just shrugged.
"Fine, I guess."
"Well, it's not tight in the shoulders or anything, is it? Or, rather, it's not too big in the shoulders, right?"
Roy shook his head. "Nope, it's fine."
Roy then noticed one important detail was missing from Marth's person.
"Where's your diadem?"
Marth felt the top of his head and noticed that yes, his sister's diadem was indeed not there. Slightly panicked, he hastily walked over to his nightstand and searched there. Hanging haphazardly from one of the drawer knobs was his beloved headpiece. Grabbing it, he positioned it in his hair ever-so-meticulously and hooked the enclosure on the back of it, hiding the clasp under his hair.
"Much better," Roy commented, making a minor adjustment to it - Marth somehow didn't centre it very well.
Marth patted himself down and looked about the room to make sure he had everything.
"You got everything?" Roy asked, moving a stray strand of hair out of Marth's face.
"I think so," Marth answered. "I should, in any case."
Just as Marth kissed Roy, Young Link knocked on the door and then barged right in. Unlike his older self, he at least had the decency to knock.
"Has anyone seen Link?" the pint-sized Hero of Time asked, his hair disheveled and his uniform half on.
Roy quickly backed off Marth and said, "No."
"He should have already barged in by now if we were going to see him," Marth replied, hands still on Roy's shoulders. He looked disappointed at the disruption.
Young Link looked concerned and hummed in disappointment. "Is that so..."
"Why, is there a problem?" Roy asked, stooping down to get his bag from the floor. Marth resisted the urge to do something completely inappropriate as Roy bent over and focused instead on something else. It was like that time in the bathroom where, after Marth warned Roy to not drop the soap, the general dropped the soap. Accidentally, of course, but the look of horror on Roy's face was priceless.
"Of course there's a problem!" Young Link said, snapping Marth out of his reverie. "I can't find my older self and it's making me angry!"
They just stared at him. Link? Missing? Perhaps Young Link overlooked him?
"I know what you're thinking," Young Link said, "and yes, I've checked the bed, the bathroom, the wardrobe... Even the laundry room. He's not there. He's not like poor Luigi, the guy who always gets ignored. You notice Link."
Somewhere on the floor, an alarm clock went off. 7.45 in the morning.
-x-
"I've noticed you've been dressing a little more...casual," Zelda noticed as Marth dug into his chocolate chip pancakes. She sipped at her tea thoughtfully as she looked the prince up and down.
"Casual?" Marth asked, lucky he swallowed before speaking. "I'm in a dress shirt and pants, Zelda. That's hardly casual."
She fingered the teacup, searching for its warmth, and gestured to Marth's open collar. "You're without tie and have no buttoned up collar. That's casual for you, Marth."
Marth paled. He hadn't realised he was without tie. Roy smirked and ground his knee into Marth's thigh.
"I guess I just...ah, needed a change in style," Marth lied, glaring at Roy from the corner of his eye. "Besides, it's a little warm today... I think it would be a little too hot in a tie..."
Young Link snorted and Ness's pencil point broke.
"You try wearing these stupid noose things," Young Link said as Ness's chair scraped on the vinyl flooring of the kitchen. "Back in Kokiri Forest, we didn't have these things, unless someone was getting hanged for treason or--"
"Young Link, that's enough," Zelda said before taking a sip of tea. "We don't need to hear such graphic details. There are children sitting at the table."
The only 'children' at the table were Ness, Lucas, and Pichu asleep in Marth's lap.
"But I'm thirteen, Zeldie," Young Link said. "Hardly a child."
"It's seventeen in Hyrule, YL. You're still a child."
Roy slurped his Cheerios off his spoon loudly, as if to tell everyone he was still there.
"Hey Zel, don't you have zero period Band?"
Zelda shook her head. "No, Purin has it instead. I couldn't find the energy to wake up that early."
Roy gulped down the remains of his cereal and threw his plastic bowl and spoon into the sink behind him. Wiping his mouth on his napkin, he got up from the table and went over to the 'express' coffee maker.
"Oh, Zeldie, have you seen Older Me?" Young Link asked, pouring more cereal for himself. Ness finally came back, his pencil six inches shorter than it originally was, and went back to his Geometry homework.
"What teacher gives homework on the first day...?" Ness muttered to no one in particular, filling in definitions on line segments.
Zelda poured herself some more tea just as Marth excused himself from the table to join Roy.
"I saw him very briefly today. He said he was running late, but I don't exactly know what for."
"Probably a detention. Linky had to get an out of uniform slip or whatever yesterday, didn't he?"
Everyone heard a gasp emit from the general direction of the coffee maker. Roy was practically pinned to the counter, and no one was quite sure if Marth was feeling Roy up or what.
"Eww, gross," Young Link said. Lucas threw his head into his arms and slammed them onto the table. Where Lucas was from, there were transvestites, and that didn't bother him in the least. Marth feeling Roy up didn't really bother him much, either, but the fact that they were doing such things in the kitchen weirded him out. He didn't want to be an indirect voyeur or something.
"Oh, for the love of Saint Akaneia," Marth said, leaning up against Roy. "We're not doing anything naughty, so get your minds out of the gutter!"
"Then what the hell are you people doing?" Young Link asked, chucking dry cereal at them.
"...Roy's the dirty pervert."
"Marth! I'm not forcing your hands up my shirt--"
"Young Link, Ness, Lucas," Zelda said, interrupting the impending argument, "it's time to go to school now! I'll take you guys."
Young Link, Ness, and Lucas wasted no time getting up from the table, and ran out the door before Zelda could so much as get up.
-x-
"Aha, I knew I'd spot you somewhere around here!"
Link looked exhausted, and was so lethargic that he had to enter his locker combination five times before it would open.
"...You okay, Link?"
Link waved Roy's concern off as he dumped his Band notebook into his locker, along with the case for his oboe.
"...Why the hell are you here so early?" Roy prompted, trying to get some sort of response from the Hero of Time.
Link turned around after shutting and locking his locker. Half of the paint was scraped off, and though it was supposed to be red, it was more brown than anything else. The rest of the lockers in Link's row looked like they were newly painted. Either someone had a vendetta against him or they were just lazy.
"I have class, you know."
"No, I didn't know. Young Link was having a panic attack over your mysterious disappearance."
Link gestured to the nearby stairway, painted a tealish blue, black, and white, the school's colours. "I need to go to the cafeteria."
Roy nodded. "So do I. I need to immediately get this stupid class changed."
Link held out his arm and Roy warily took it.
"Oh Farore damn it, Roy, I'm not gonna molest you in this suspiciously empty hallway, you know. Especially since you smell like Marth's stinky cologne."
Roy took offence to the cologne comment - that was Roy's birthday present to Marth.
Up the stairs they went, and they kept going. There were people along the outside wall of the cafeteria with their friends, probably there for lack of anything else. Then there were others yanking on the one door that was never open, wondering how people managed to somehow get into the place. And then there was Roy with Link right next to him, barely able to get near the cafeteria, let alone inside it. It was absolutely mobbed inside - at least half of the school had to be in there, and there were two thousand students at Melee Academy.
"Oh it just figures my counselor has the longest line," Link complained as he pushed through the epically huge crowd.
"And it just figures my counselor has no line," Roy said, grinning. "Do you want me to wait for you?"
They unlinked arms, but Roy remained at Link's side, at least temporarily.
"Depends on how long I'll be," Link replied. "If I'm longer than ten minutes, leave without me."
Roy nodded. "All right. I'll see you." And Roy left then to see his counselor directly. Normally Mr. Twelve was a good counselor who made no mistakes, but that new computer system... That new computer system screwed everything up.
He approached the table where Mr. Twelve was patiently sitting, hands folded in front of him. On either side were two smaller boys. Roy guessed they worked in the counseling suite as attendants.
"Roy, my boy! What can I do for you today?" Mr. Twelve greeted, his face lighting up.
Roy produced his schedule and set it down in front of him. "I'm supposed to be in Pre-Calc and my schedule has Integrated Maths instead." He pointed the error out on his paper, even.
Mr. Twelve looked at it and rubbed his chin, nodding all the while. "That seems to be a common mistake there, putting people in the wrong classes. Especially the maths ones."
Well duh, just look at all of the people here!
"Is there any way you can change it to the right course?"
Mr. Twelve nodded more. "Of course! If you're not supposed to be in that class, there's no reason for you to remain in there!" And he wrote Roy out a counselor's pass for 11:10 that day.
Roy took the pass and inclined his head in thanks. "Thank you so much, Mr. Twelve."
"If you need anything else, just ask away!"
When Roy's business was finished, it had only been five minutes. Ms. Seventy-Five's line had only gotten longer and Link had only moved forward two inches.
"This is ridiculous!" Link screamed. "All I want is my only elective, not an engraved invitation or some such!"
And there was Tabuu wandering around with a grin plastered on his extremely glowing face.
"It appears that everything is running smoothly," Tabuu said to himself as he pressed his fingers together repeatedly. "Oh, if only Master Hand could see this now!"
And as if evoking some sort of 'Beetlejuice' effect, Master Hand suddenly appeared there, sans puff of stereotypical smoke.
"Master Hand!" Tabuu's voice was filled with such emotion, such gushing, it almost made the right hand nauseous. If he had a body to speak of, anyway. Which he did, somewhere. He just...wasn't sure where 'somewhere' was, exactly.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm just checking to make sure the place didn't burn down or anything," Master Hand said in a nonchalant way. "I've a reputation to uphold, you know."
"Of course, of course!" Tabuu said, bordering on some sort of psychotic breakdown. "I wouldn't fail you ever, Master Hand! You were gracious enough to let us next door, to let my students come here when the facade of our building began crumbling... I owe you big time, Master Hand."
Master Hand rested his thumb against a nearby table. "What is it that you want, Tabuu?"
Tabuu looked nervous. Was it right to make such a bold request? This was Master Hand's domain, after all - he created it, had total control over it...
"Allow my people to compete in your tournament."
Master Hand was almost speechless. "...Tabuu, I've got size limitations. I can only allow twelve more people in before it's filled."
Tabuu nodded. "Then let my men duke it out with yours. Have some sort of qualifier or something. Perhaps people will drop out before then, cheer on the sidelines. Some of your men are a little on the scrawny side to begin with..."
If it was one thing Master Hand wasn't going to tolerate, it was badmouthing his Smashers.
"All of my Smashers have fought in wars. And won."
"Yes, well... I have seen some of them and they look weak. Like that one who wears that womanly headpiece."
"Marth," Master Hand said. How can you forget a name like that?
"Yes, that one," Tabuu replied. "He looks too womanly to fight. Scrawny."
Master Hand laughed. "Well, you are aware of our Tier System, correct?"
Tabuu nodded. "Of course. Anyone who is anyone knows of it."
"Well then you know our Top Tier is the best of the best, right?"
Again, Tabuu nodded. "Yes, course."
Master Hand would have looked so smug at this point. "Yes, well, the Smasher you call womanly and scrawny is number one in our Top Tier, and he won last year's tournament."
Roy, who was listening to the whole argument, felt so...triumphant, like he just won the jackpot in a Poker game.
Marth would totally resent being called scrawny and womanly, Roy thought. I should show Tabuu what Marth did to Bowser when he mistakenly called him 'Princess'. I think that was the only time I saw Marth knee someone in the groin...
Link's counselor's line had moved forward another four inches, but there was still a long ways to go, so Roy left. He wasn't going to wait five years for Link to get an appointment.
-x-
"So Link," Roy said when the Hero of Time entered their homeroom. "When's your appointment?"
Link unceremoniously dropped his things onto the floor and collapsed into his seat. "Eleven twenty tomorrow. What about you?"
"Eleven ten today."
"Damn you." Link was exhausted to begin with, and then to deal with a stupid line that moved slower than a snail... It took a lot out of him.
"I think the counselors are gonna end up being inundated with people," Roy surmised, "given that half of the school was down there."
Link said nothing. He just wanted to sleep, to hope that everything would get fixed without him having to do anything.
"Hey, hey Roy, did I ever tell you that Schuldig sounds like--"
"Only a million times," Roy interrupted. "If you're gonna do this every time we have homeroom, I'm gonna duct-tape your mouth shut." Roy wasn't in the mood, either.
"Geez, are you on your monthly or something?"
Roy just stared at Link.
"You know, your menstruation cycle, your period, your--"
"I know what that is, Link. Men don't have that!"
There was silence for a bit.
"I knew that, Roy. I'm a guy and I don't have one. Though if we were talking about Marth--"
"Those jokes are so stale, mouldy cardboard is better tasting." Roy didn't realise that jokes in Pheraean did not translate well into English. "If anything, you are girly. Girlier than my boyfriend. Girlier than Samus--"
"Everyone's girlier than Samus. She's a bounty hunter. A tomboy. She wouldn't be caught dead in a dress--"
"She wore a dress to the winter ball last year," Roy argued. "It was from Peach even, and Peach has nothing but like, pink!"
Another bit of silence.
"...What the heck were we arguing about, anyway?" Link asked.
Roy shrugged. "Hell if I can remember."
"...Agree to disagree about whatever it was?"
"Fine by me."
Link had a minor coughing fit, which led to him wheezing all over the place. "It's...it's quite dusty in here, isn't it?"
Roy nodded. "Yeah, sorta."
Clearing his throat, Link asked, "So what classes do we have today?" He looked disappointedly at his schedule.
"Not like it matters or anything since I'll probably be cutting half of them."
Roy sat back in his chair and replied, "Full day today." A breeze came through the open window and blew Roy's hair into his eyes.
"Well then, in that case, I'll be seeing you in the Chorus room."
"But you don't have Chorus," Roy said, brushing his hair out of his face. "I don't think you can just barge into the Chorus room--"
"I'm sure Zelda won't mind."
And so they sat in silence once more. Link broke it with a sigh and leaned his head against his hand.
"Is this day over yet?"
Roy shook his head, equally bored. "Unfortunately, it isn't. Lucky for us, the first few days usually go by really quick, so... It'll be over before you know it."
"Really? I always thought they went slower 'cause we never do anything the first few days."
"That's funny, I always got the opposite."
"So anyway," Link said, veering the topic elsewhere, "my schedule is still messed up, and I hate it."
Roy looked at him blankly. "So's mine, but you just have to deal with it right now. Tomorrow, everything'll be fine."
Schuldig entered the room at that moment and took his seat behind the teacher's desk. Everyone simply stared at him, unsure as to whether they should be afraid or not. Schuldig, on the other hand, did not appreciate these stares.
What a weirdo.
He looks like a whack job.
No wonder Marth never looked forward to that one class. He had this dude as a teacher.
I wonder what Peach is cooking for dinner...
"Stop thinking!" he shouted, rubbing his temples with his fingertips. "You're all giving me a blaring headache. As for your thoughts... You people have more important things to cower over than me. Just because I happen to work for an assassination group, doesn't necessarily mean I'm evil. There are worse people out there. I'm probably one of the nicer guys. Maybe."
One brave soul raised their hand, timidly.
"What?" Schuldig didn't even so much as glance at the person, as though he already knew who it was and what he was going to ask.
"...Are you really a nice guy?"
Schuldig grinned and chuckled, the sound hollow-like, as if it were faked. "No, I have no reason to be nice when I hate most of humanity."
Oh great, Roy thought. A teacher who hates people. Just what I needed.
"So anyway," Schuldig continued, changing the subject as he propped his feet up on the adjacent filing cabinet. "I have nothing left to say except that I have your school handbooks and some other crap to hand out. Mostly forms to fill out - as if you don't have enough already. So...you, you, and you" --he pointed at Stephen, Link, and the boy who raised his hand earlier-- "can hand 'em out. Fight over who does what, I don't care. Just don't get any blood on the walls."
Stephen reluctantly holstered his DS to his thigh and grabbed the teal coloured handbook, Master Hand's emblem decorating the front cover. Link groaned and picked up the medical insurance packets, and the kid who raised his hand, Nanashi, retrieved the reduced or free lunch forms no one qualified for in the first place. Master Hand thought it would be a good idea to have them anyway, just so everyone felt equal or whatever his excuse was.
"Take one and pass it back," Link muttered, dumping the papers onto a student's desk. He was too lazy this morning to honestly care about much.
"You can burn those if you want, I don't care," Schuldig said once everyone had one of each thing. "But I have to give them to you according to Tabuu's crazy laws so we don't get sued."
Link thumbed through the handbook before taking a Sharpie and defacing it. Roy just left everything sit on his desk.
"It's the same bullshit every year," Nanashi said, flipping through the student guide. "I wonder if they made it harder to graduate yet..."
"It's hard enough," someone else answered. "Having to pass a friggin' test in order to graduate! Whose idea was that?"
"Bleh, still four years of English," complained another. "And is there anyone going on to college? Does Nintendo Land even have a college?"
Stephen lazily thumbed through the list of clubs. "There should be a video gaming club."
Someone else scoffed. "Only nerds would join it."
"Well then most of the school would be in it," Stephen retorted.
"Hey, hey, hey, I didn't know there was a Fencing club!" the boy in the far corner cried.
Well duh there's a Fencing club, Roy thought. It's only advertised all over the place, and I make sure it's announced when the club's open for new people, even.
If only Roy knew no one paid attention to the announcements.
-x-
"Will everyone please just be quiet for five seconds so I can collect myself?"
It was the same story in room 221 as it was in all the other rooms: noisy, unruly kids doing whatever they wanted. It was almost total anarchy.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Marth cleared his throat and said loudly, "I said, will everyone just please be quiet for five seconds so I can collect myself?" To make his point ring loudly, he slammed a book down on his desk.
Silence.
"Now then, you will not be meeting with me tomorrow (thank the gods), so hand those forms in to your first period teacher, whomever they may be. And be sure to read the handbook, because it's been updated quite a bit and we're not responsible for keeping you up to date."
Of course no one really cared what the handbook said.
"Oh, and McNeil, you're out-of-uniform." Marth was one of those teachers - the kind who didn't let anyone get away with anything.
McNeil shrugged. "So? I see upperclassmen not wearing the blazer and they don't get in trouble."
"And just because they do it, doesn't mean you have to follow them," Marth reasoned, writing out an 'out-of-uniform' pass. "If someone went jumping into a lake with a cinder block tied to their ankle, would you follow them?"
Most of them didn't know what a cinder block even was, and so they missed Marth's analogy completely.
"...Just take this and go see Miss Fourteen in the Main Office, please."
McNeil begrudgingly took the slip and trudged out of the classroom, his shoulders hunched and his brows furrowed.
And then the bell rang, signaling it was time to go to first period. The kids ran like hell out of the room, leaving a mess that could only be described as 'did a bomb go off in here?'
Marth, who was a very neat person (as Roy would attest to), simply stared at the mess left behind.
If anyone in the Academy heard a shriek, it was probably from the Altean prince.
-x-
The rest of the day passed by with no weird incidents, surprisingly. Link barged into the Chorus room with a look of purpose in his eyes, bag heavy on his back.
"Can you believe it?" one of the few students present in the room asked, his eyes narrowed as he pointed to a magazine article.
"What?" the kid to his left asked, slurping some instant soup.
"They're renaming the Nintenpod iDS."
"...Does it look like an iPod?"
"...No, it looks like a mini-DS thing."
Link, who would always call it a 'Nintenpod' regardless of its actual name, took his usual seat and plopped his bag down next to him. Zelda came out of her office and almost ran back in upon seeing the Hero of Time.
"...Are you okay?" Link asked, wondering why Zelda was acting so weird.
Zelda nodded. "Of course. I was just wondering why you're here if you dropped my class."
"...I was gonna get that fixed--"
"I mean, I know our break-up went badly, but that doesn't mean you have to drop my class or anything," Zelda continued, completely oblivious to Link's trying to explain. Behind her came Sheeda, looking just as confused as Link.
"I thought you said Roy was supposed to be here," the Talisean princess stated, seeing no signs of red hair anywhere.
"Oh, he's here," Zelda replied, forgetting what she was previously talking about before. Clearly the princess was doing six things at once. "He's probably getting lunch."
Unfortunately for Zelda, lunch was the last thing on Roy's mind at that moment. He was with a certain prince and, to be honest, everyone knew where they were.
The question dying to be asked: if your boyfriend became your teacher, would it then become illegal? Roy wanted to ask the question so bad but he didn't want to give anything away.
Too bad Roy sucked at hiding anything. Marth was an even worse liar.
-x-
"Shouldn't you be prepping for your next class or someth--" Roy was silenced by Marth's mouth, his unfinished words hanging in the air. Marth simply laced his fingers with Roy's and pressed their hands against the wall, effectively pinning the red head to it.
"I already did that during that stupid administrative station," Marth answered at last, caressing Roy's cheek with his bottom lip. "Besides, that's not important."
Not important? Oh yeah, planning your lessons for your students is not important in the least. Roy yelped when Marth hit a particularly sensitive spot on his neck, already red from last night.
"Don't leave a mark, please," Roy said, moving his head so Marth had better access. There was no point in fighting him, since Marth could be so persistent, and it wasn't like there was anyone around anyway. And if Marth didn't listen and did leave a mark, Roy could at least cover it up with his shirt collar...
"Lord Marth, where are you?"
Marth froze just before he unbuttoned Roy's shirt any more than it already was. Why did they always have to be interrupted at the worst times?
"Lord Marth, I--"
Naturally, if it wasn't Link barging in on them, it was someone just as bad. Sheeda stood there with a manilla folder in her hands and a peeved look on her face - not from the scene in front of her, but from spending ten minutes of her day looking for her husband.
"...It would help if you locked the door, you know," Sheeda advised, tapping the side of her face with the folder. She looked unfazed, as if she had witnessed a scene like the one before her previously. Marth laughed nervously and pulled away from Roy, unsure of what Sheeda was going to do.
"S-Sheeda! I didn't expect you to...find me here."
Sheeda grinned and tapped the top of his head with the folder. "I've known you since we were children, Lord Marth - I know exactly where you are. You like quiet places with minimal interruptions so you can be in the arms of your lover, or by yourself."
Marth bit his lip, then. Though Sheeda told him a million times that she was okay with Marth taking on a lover ("As long as it's not a girl," she had said), Marth was honestly not sure if she was really okay with it or she was just saying she was.
Then again, in Akaneia, it was quite common for a king to have a lover or six in conjunction with a wife - the wife was there for political reasons only, most of the time. But Marth did not consider such a practise dignified and often thought it cruel. (Then again, Marth had an older sister. If he found out the man she married - if and when that would happen - was also with six other women, he would have a conniption. But that was also brotherly instinct and concern, which overruled anything that could be deemed 'acceptable' by anyone else.)
"...Right," Marth said, twisting the band on his finger.
"Why were you looking for him, anyway?" Roy asked, fiddling with a chain he wore around his neck. Sheeda held out the folder then, a gesture for Marth to take it from her.
"To give him this," she said as Marth took the manilla object. "Certain...people need him to look at some things. Nothing important to you, anyway."
"Thank you, Sheeda," Marth said, trying to steer Sheeda and Roy away from a potential conflict. That was all he needed at the moment. "I'll look at them later, when I have a little more free time."
Sheeda nodded and gave Marth a kiss on the cheek before bouncing out of the room.
"...She's jealous," Roy said, crossing his arms.
Marth looked at Roy then, and placed two fingers underneath Roy's chin. "...Can you honestly blame her?"
Roy shook his head. "Hell, if I were her, I'd fight myself for you instead of standing there."
"And to be honest, she probably would," Marth agreed. "But I've asked her not to, after I explained to her that... That this was quite common."
"What's quite common?" Roy's interest was piqued now.
"Taking a lover in addition to having a wife," Marth answered as-a-matter-of-factly. He sat down in a nearby chair and dropped the folder onto the desk there.
Roy kept to the wall, just in case someone else decided to drop by. "That's right, royalty doesn't have the same privileges as others with some sort of noble status."
"Don't get me wrong," Marth said, talking more to the table than to Roy. Marth found it very hard to look into Roy's eyes at times, not because he was afraid of being caught lying or something, but because he often found himself transfixed, mesmerised. It was like Roy could look into his very soul, read everything he was thinking.
"I love Sheeda very much. I didn't marry her because she and I were promised to each other. I could care less about marrying for politics - I condemn the practise. But... I also love you just as much."
Just as much. That line killed Roy. Absolutely killed him.
"...I know," Roy said, his voice soft as he stared at the clock on the faraway wall. "...What would you do were I a woman?"
Roy hadn't spoken so...noble-like since he last visited Pherae.
"I would have taken you as my bride instead."
Roy exhaled slowly as he took everything in. There was no point in asking 'what-ifs'. Roy wasn't going to spontaneously turn into a woman, nor was he able to go back in time and become a woman there. And as far as he knew, two men couldn't marry.
"So I'm your concubine," Roy said.
"No," Marth answered, looking directly into Roy's eyes then. "'Concubine' makes you sound like a whore, of which you are not."
Marth got up from the chair and returned to Roy's side with a look of utter authority. Either the teaching thing had consumed Marth's soul or Marth was reverting back to his 'dignified prince' state. Either way, Roy didn't care.
"Then what am I to you?"
A simple touch of fingertips to Roy's cheek, his side, his waist, before Marth embraced him tightly.
"You are my best friend and lover," was all Marth said, before claiming Roy's lips once again.
-x-
"Yo, Roy, where the heck were you during fourth period?" Link asked as his red haired companion joined his side once more on their way to fifth period. "Zelda most likely gave you a cut, so I hope you have a reasonable excuse."
Roy cleared his throat and straightened his hair. "I was with Marth." He held up a pass with such neat, fanciful writing on it. "He even wrote me a pass to give to her tomorrow."
Link's eyes seemed fixed on the reddening mark on Roy's neck. So much so that Link nearly collided with the second floor wall.
"What's with you?" Roy asked, pulling Link away from the faux-brick tiling glued on the wall just in the nick of time. "You seem distracted."
Link poked the mark. "That."
Roy covered it with his hand before adjusting his collar so it wouldn't show.
"Did Marth give you that?"
Roy didn't answer as they entered room 221, home to their Japanese class. Seated already were Robert and Dean Caprio, followed by Stephen, Nicholas, Kweenetra, and two other students neither of them recognised. The closet doors were wide open as someone rummaged through the contents, either looking for something or doing a little 'summer cleaning'. Link took his usual seat by the door and Roy took his seat next to him. The seat Marth used to occupy had Gary Stu Wesker sitting in it. Maybe he thought sitting in Mr. Valedictorian's old seat would cause smartness to rub off on him or something.
"Hey, did you hear we got a new Japanese teacher?" Robert said, covering one side of his face with his notebook. It looked like he was trying to be discreet with the question, but failed hard because he wasn't whispering.
"Really now?" Dean asked, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah. I hear he's majorly anal about cleanliness or something."
The bell rang and the closet doors shut with a click, revealing the identity of their new teacher.
Link nearly choked on his mineral water.
"What the heck, Marth?" the Hero of Time managed to sputter between coughing.
Marth threw Link the oddest look. "That's sensei to you, Mr. Mekkai."
Link stood then and nearly took his desk with him. "I object to this teacher change!"
"Hey!" Stephen said, standing also and doing the infamous Phoenix Wright Finger Point. "That's my line!"
"Both of you!" Marth interjected, crossing his arms as he peered over the rims of his glasses. "What are you, five?"
Neither Link nor Stephen said anything; they merely sat down and went on with their lives.
"Now then," Marth said, turning to the chalkboard then. Unlike Mewtwo, Marth was unable to write things on the board from the podium, or anywhere else in the room, for that matter. Taking a piece of chalk, he effortlessly wrote his name on the board in katakana, the suffix sensei written in kanji.
"You may use either sensei or 'Lowell-sensei' when addressing me, I don't have a preference towards either, so pick one." He cleared his throat then. "Welcome to Japanese Three. In order to be here, you needed to have successfully completed Japanese Two. Since I had most of you last year, I know you deserve to be here. Just know that I will be checking your grades, so for those who don't belong, I suggest you see your counselor ASAP."
Link whispered, "How does this not bother you?" in Roy's ear.
Roy smirked. "I knew beforehand."
Link's eyes narrowed. "Lucky bastard."
"--more kanji this year, since last year had an extreme lack in it. And I will know if you are studying; it will show in your quizzes and tests. Your lack of motivation doesn't hurt me, though - I already took this class and passed with all A's. I can just as easily write an 'F' as I can write an 'A'."
"This fucker must like to hear himself talk or something," Robert whispered to Dean.
"Actually, I think it's nice to know what we'll be covering this year--"
"Goddammit, I knew you were a nerd, but I didn't know you were a big one."
And before they knew it, once their textbooks were passed out, they had a book assignment and a kanji packet to complete. Marth was not one to fool around.
"If you need help, you must make an appointment to see me beforehand. I will not show up in the mornings or afternoons unless there is a need to. I have things to take care of."
Marth thought it was a waste of time to make an actual help period - no one ever took advantage of such things. If a student wanted help, they would come to him directly about it after class.
"Ugh," Link said, banging his pen against the desk, "I hate the kanji for midori!"
Roy just shook his head as he completed the stroke order portion of the packet.
I hope Link doesn't notice that one combination for midori...
"Hey, look at this one combo for this word, Roy!" Link said, pointing at the second kanji combination. "That's the kanji for midori and...kawa, right?"
Roy grit his teeth. "Yes, Link, it is."
"Hahahaha, it forms Midorikawa, which is the name of--"
"Another word out of you, and I'm strangling you with your tie--" Roy then realised Link wasn't wearing one.
Unfortunately, so did Marth. He had eyes like a hawk and filled out an out-of-uniform slip.
"Link, you're out of uniform."
Link looked at himself then. So what if he wasn't wearing the tie or the blazer? It was too hot to wear such a stupid thing, and the tie made him slightly claustrophobic. And so what if the shirt was unbuttoned and he was wearing a green t-shirt under it?
Marth then glanced at Roy and filled out another slip. "Roy, you're also without tie."
Roy felt the collar of his shirt and sure enough, no tie was present. "...I think I lost it."
In fact, Roy added mentally, I think you have it stashed somewhere...
Marth did, in fact, have Roy's tie. Around his own neck, no less. From what he and Roy were doing when the general should have been in Chorus. And Marth, however, did not notice this. He was so used to having a tie that it didn't pop out right away.
"Have someone sign these for you and then return them to Ms. Fourteen," Marth said, hoping no one could notice his blushing, as he held out the two slips. Link unhappily took his and Roy took his without a fuss.
Marth's saving grace was the bell ringing.
"Finish everything for homework," Marth called after everyone, even though he knew most of them wouldn't.
-x-
"Hey, hey Roy," Link said, carrying all of his school books in his hands. "Would you mind sharing your locker? Mine's so inconvenient and everything."
Roy held his locker door steady as he dumped all of the books he accumulated onto the top shelf out of habit.
"You've got good timing," Roy remarked, stepping aside so Link could put his crap down. "I just came back from getting this changed to being my actual locker."
Link dumped everything onto the bottom for convenience purposes. He barely even noticed the labels still stuck on the shelves.
"But this isn't very convenient for you," Link said, closing the locker and locking it. "You only have two classes in the new building."
"So do you," Roy replied as they headed for the stairs. "I'm just...used to coming here, is all."
Link kept going whereas Roy went down the next flight of stairs. The Hero of Time didn't even realise Roy was gone until he was almost out the front doors. So instead of following after Roy, he kept going and went down the next flight of stairs. Though he would end up on a different part of the second floor hallway, Link knew exactly where Roy was headed.
-x-
"You almost done packing everything up yet, Marthy?"
Roy leaned against the door frame as he watched Marth push his lesson planner into his already full-to-capacity bag.
"Almost."
Roy left his place in the doorway and instead walked over to the front of the desk. "You know, I laughed when Link joked about you being a teacher and taking advantage of me, but now I'm beginning to think he had a premonition or something."
Marth looked up from his packing, his glasses a top his head where his tiara was, with the most unreadable expression Roy had ever seen.
"...Is that where Link said I'd bend you over a desk...?"
"Yeah, and now that I think about it, that'd be extremely hot."
Marth chuckled once before zipping his bag up at last. "I don't need a desk or a teaching license to get you to bend over."
As they walked out of the classroom, Roy said, "You want to be molested tonight, don't you?"
Marth slung his bag over his left shoulder and wrapped his other arm around Roy. "Not before you do your homework."
Roy sighed, and when they rounded the corner to go to the third floor, there was Link talking to Zelda about something.
"Can't we discuss this back at the Manse?" Zelda asked, her voice calm compared to Link, who was freaking out. "I don't want you causing a scene."
"Causing a scene? Who's causing a scene?" Link asked, his voice near hysterical. "I'm totally not upset that you're dating some guy you barely know. Not one bit."
Zelda narrowed her eyes and pointed an accusing finger. "Link, I am not your girlfriend. I don't care if you're upset over something like this. I can do whatever I want, date whoever I want."
Link huffed and crossed his arms, his head half-turned away from her. "You barely know this guy, he hates royalty, and he's a student. And just where the heck'd you meet him, anyway?"
Zelda crossed her arms then. "He does not hate royalty! If he did, he wouldn't be dating me now would he? As for him being a student... Marth's a teacher and he's dating Roy! And you're not throwing a fit at Marth about it. As for where I met him... He's in my Chorus class. Fourth period. I'm surprised you didn't notice him."
Link thought for a moment. "Tall?"
She nodded. "With a green headband and blue hair."
Link thought the shit hit the fan and spattered all over the wall.
"You're dating Ike? The guy who tells us, at every waking moment, that his friends are the only ones he fights for?"
"Yes," Zelda answered. "If that's how you wish to describe him. He's actually very sweet."
It was then that Link shouted something in Hylian and stomped off, leaving a very hurt Zelda behind.
Roy merely blinked and Marth was still trying to process all that just happened.
"Man, and I thought the fight we had when we broke up was harsh," Roy said, recalling the painful moment.
"...Should we see if Zelda's okay?"
Roy shook his head. "I think it's best if we let this be for now. She'll come to us if she needs anything."
And with that, they left, finding a very pissed off Link in the front hall.
-x-
"I don't know what you want me to do about it," Roy said as he finished up his Japanese homework. His books were sprawled across the comforter of his bed, his Japanese book and notebook open. "It's not like I can convince Zelda to change her mind."
"But two people can say things they don't mean, right?" Link asked, kneeling in front of Roy's bed, arms crossed in front of him, cradling his head. "I mean, you and Marth did the same thing and you guys got back together..."
Roy closed his textbook as he finished the last few words of the activity before putting his things away. "I wish I knew what to tell you, Link, but... It sounded pretty final to me, especially if she's dating someone else. Just move on."
Link sighed and buried his face in his arms. "I just...I dunno what I did wrong. I tried so hard to make her happy and it blew up in my face today."
Roy dumped his bag onto the floor and sighed. "That happens, Link. You just have to accept the fact that you and her just weren't meant to be."
Link sighed again. "I guess... I'm still angry, though."
"And that's normal." Roy glanced at the clock and saw it was ten fifty. "Anyway, you should be going to bed. After the ordeal you just had, you'll probably need all the rest you can get."
Link reluctantly got up then, after a few minutes. By ten fifty five, Link was up and half out of the room.
"But it might not be completely hopeless, right?" Link asked, hand on the door knob. "She could come back to me, right?"
Roy pondered a bit before answering. "Yeah, it's possible. She could realise this Ike guy just isn't her type and realise you were the right guy all along. It happens all the time."
Link smiled. "Thanks, that's good to hear. Anyway, g'night, Roy. I hope your relationship doesn't become as explosive as mine was."
And with that, Link was out of the room, out of sight.
-x-
"...Marth? Can I ask you something?"
Marth massaged his aching shoulder, throbbing from the weight of his stupid bag. "Sure, what is it?"
Roy was on the floor next to Marth, his head in Marth's lap. "What will you do once I'm out of high school? Will you and Sheeda return to Altea?"
Marth ran a hand through Roy's hair as he contemplated the question. He had never really thought about it until now.
"I don't know," Marth answered at last. "Returning to Altea would require me...leaving you."
"You know it'll come to that eventually. You have your kingdom to rule and I have to return to my father."
Marth looked down at Roy and lifted his chin with a finger. "It doesn't have to be one way, Roy. There are other choices aside from that."
"Like what?"
Marth sighed. "Well... You could make a compromise of some sort. You could be in Pherae for a certain amount of time, and with me the rest... Something like that, perhaps."
"But I want to be with you, Marth."
"I know you do, Roy, but that would require you giving everything up to stay with me. I don't want you to do that - I don't find it fair."
Roy sighed.
"Don't worry, love, we'll figure something out. But we've got a little less than two years to think about it. Your father and I have barely met, even, and you've never met my sister. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it; for now, please don't worry."
With that, Marth turned out the light and offered Roy the other half of his bed.
"Night, Roy," Marth whispered as he kissed Roy's forehead.
Roy got snug under the covers. "Night, Marthy."
-x-
Author's Notes: And that concludes chapter two! Let's see...it only took me five or so days to write and edit it. Not bad.
There's gonna be a lot of character development in this installment, along with some new characters. Hopefully I can get Young Link and his group in a little more often.
Until we meet again in the next chapter!