Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys
Year Three
-Eleven-
Nintendo Land High School Proficiency Exams came and went for the juniors. For three excruciatingly long days, Roy and Link were stuck in their chemistry room with nothing to do after the testing was done.
"Everyone please report to their period one immediately. I repeat: everyone please report to their period one immediately. The administrative station for this morning has been cancelled. Thank you," the wire-frame announcer droned. Link and Roy sprinted down the front hall; the first bell had already rung, and they were running late. They quickly ran up the stairwell leading to the fourth floor and sped down the hallway like a bunch of crazed-and-foaming-at-the-mouth loons.
"If I'm late because you got into a fight with Ganondorf this morning," Roy warned, "then I swear on my mother's grave, I will hurt you."
Link was running as if his life depended on it, which it might have if Roy's threat was any indication. "It wasn't my fault – he shouldn't have been kissing Zelda!"
Roy just wanted the misery to end as he rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly. "Link, Ganondorf and Zelda are getting married whether you like it or don't."
Link sighed. "She wants to promote unity between everyone, and yet no one will want to associate with her with that thing as her husband and king."
They rounded the corner and saw their destination at last – their Chemistry room.
"That may be, Link, but the point is, it's her decision, she's made up her mind, and there's nothing you or I or anyone else could do."
They stopped in the door so they could catch their breath.
"Do you think I could protest it at the wedding?"
"For the love of Elimine, Link, just drop it."
They entered the classroom and took their seats.
"Hello, Ma—Mister Lowell," Link said as he planted his butt down on one of the empty lab stools. He still wasn't used to Marth being a teacher and oftentimes refused to use his last name, much to Marth's chagrin. But at least it sounded like Link stuttered.
"What are we doing for lab today, Mister Lowell?" one kid neither Roy nor Link knew asked, hand raised. Marth gestured to the white board.
There was a collective groan about the classroom when they saw the sheer amount of work ahead of them, and Link looked like he was ready to jump out the window. However, the windows opened in a way so as to prevent that sort of thing, and Link silently cursed.
"Oh, it's not that bad," Marth said as he took his seat behind the desk. "Simply get with a partner, go to one of the set up lab stations, and follow the written instructions. Although… If you happen to like fire, this might be a little dangerous, so have one of your non-fire-loving friends light the matches. And no blowing up chemicals – you are to stay to the task at hand."
Roy and Link got up from their seats and went to the nearest lab station. In front of them was a Bunsen burner, some sort of metal stick with a rounded prong at the end, and small containers each filled with different coloured salts. These containers were labeled for easy reference, and so they could fill out the table on their worksheet.
"Okay, so according to this, we take this thing—" Roy reached for the metal stick, "—and we dip it in each of these salt solutions, stick it into the flame, and observe what colour the flame turns."
Link looked at the worksheet. "This shouldn't be that difficult, right?"
Roy shook his head. "No, not really."
Most people couldn't figure out how to light the Bunsen burner; one group couldn't figure out what the salts were for, and another group just stood there and stared at the flame the entire double period. Marth wondered what Bowser had taught them about lab safety, or about anything, really. Roy and Link seemed to be the only ones who had everything under control, though Roy almost burned himself lighting the stupid gas burner.
Figures, Marth thought. Roy's the only one who read the instructions. Otherwise they'd know how to work the burners and what the salts were for. Idiots.
For the third time that day, Marth wondered why he came back to the Academy to teach. ("To spread the wonderful knowledge around!" he had said in his interview with Tabuu, when asked what his reason for teaching was. Little did he know that no one wanted the 'wonderful knowledge' to be spread to them.)
"Some pyromaniac you are, Roy," Link muttered as he twirled his pencil in his hand.
Roy looked confused. "I actually hate fire."
It was Link's turn to look confused. "Everyone said you were obsessed with fire."
Roy chewed his lip as he took the metal stick and dipped it in the scandium salt solution. "Who said this?"
In a completely serious tone, Link replied, "Terry and his gang, plus a few random girls who cream their panties over you."
Roy dipped the metal rod into the flame of the burner and watched the flame go from blue to the shade of his hair.
"That's awesome," Link said, distracted by the pretty flame.
"Yeah," the red head agreed as the salt burned up in the fire. "And anyway, since when did you believe anything Terry ever said?"
"Well, Roy, you gotta admit that you do look like you enjoy burning things with the Fuuin no Tsurugi."
Roy wrote down his observations as he dipped the rod into water to cool it off. "It's a legendary weapon, it's going to have fire, and I don't enjoy burning people's flesh off their faces with it."
"So then why do you have a hatred for fire when everyone else says you like it?"
Leave it to Link to pry away until he gave in.
"When I was a kid, I almost died when the horse stables caught on fire. I was trapped inside and my father nearly died saving me. Plus, I had an unfortunate incident a few years later during the Bern Incident with the Durandal."
"Oh." It wasn't like Link actually knew what any of that was, but he nevertheless understood where Roy's fear came from.
"So you can tell Terry and his legion," Roy began as he dipped potassium into the fire now, "that they need to stop browsing on Wikipedia for information on me."
Everyone knew how untrustworthy that site was half the time; most of the students (and a few teachers) would never admit that they wasted half their lives on it. Like TV Tropes.
Marth, meanwhile, was sitting in front of his computer Googling Nintendo Land's laws concerning unions.
Just as I figured, he said as he scrolled down a particularly informative website. The laws are drastically different. Drastically different in what sense, no one knew.
-x-
"Mortals! Kiritsu!"
Everyone in Young Link's Japanese class bowed as Mewtwo floated in the front of the room.
"Suwatte kure," the psychic pokemon commanded, telling them to sit down. They did without a fuss, since they saw that Mewtwo wasn't in the mood.
"Put your homework on your desks and keep quiet."
"Someone's PMSing," said a kid, whose name was Jeremy, in a sing-song way.
"Detention tomorrow morning," Mewtwo said as he took his roll book out. "Anyone else want to join Mr. Hertz?"
No one said anything.
Why did they make this guy a teacher again? Young Link pondered as he brushed through his hair. The kid behind him was playing something on his Nintenpod that sounded like "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", except it was about burning things with kerosene and giving up on love because love gave up on the singer. The kid was tapping against the desk with his hands to the rhythm of the song, and everyone could tell it was beginning to shred at Mewtwo's nerves.
"Mr. Alexander."
Lucas raised his hand. "Present."
"Mr. Hertz."
Jeremy looked like he could barely stay awake. "Hai, sensei."
Mewtwo sneezed right before Young Link's name. "Mr. Mekkai."
Young Link had his feet in the bars of the book holder under his desk and nearly ripped his feet off – he didn't expect Mewtwo to call his name so soon.
"Ow… Right here, Mewtwo-sensei." Young Link rubbed his ankles and Popo snickered.
"Mr. Psiqi."
Ness was too engrossed in his Biology textbook to hear Mewtwo. The pokemon marked Ness 'absent'. Young Link elbowed him, but Ness didn't seem to feel it – he didn't respond, anyway.
"Alex, do you have a last name?"
Shy and extremely timid Alex sank into his seat and said, "I-Iie, sensei."
Mewtwo marked him in and closed his book. Popo either didn't seem to notice that Mewtwo forgot to call his name, or he didn't care.
"Who didn't do their homework?"
Jeremy shamelessly raised his hand and waved it around. Mewtwo exhaled noisily and marked it down in his grade book.
"Anyone else?"
No one else raised their hands. Mewtwo took the homework assignments using his telekinesis and placed them in his period one folder, though Young Link's accidentally went in the period five one. That was what happened when you had an older self and a younger self in two different classes.
"Okay, class. Today, we're going to watch some 'Immerse Yourself in Japanese Culture', featuring a guy named Jun Fukuyama and his friend, Takehito Koyasu." Mewtwo took out the DVD and put it in the DVD player, turned the TV on, and ceased to care about anything else. Jeremy put on some Nightwish and he too decided to not care about anything else. Ness was a little too excited to Immerse Himself in Japanese Culture, Lucas fell asleep and dreamed about magpies in drag, Popo was texting his girlfriend, and Young Link kept shouting out inappropriate jokes.
-x-
Zelda was browsing one of those bridal magazines as she sat on the piano bench. Every once in a while, she'd take a sharpie and circle some gorgeous and extremely expensive dress fit for a princess. She had already picked out the bridesmaids' dresses (a light blue with gold trim) – she had yet to find the dress for herself.
Link came waltzing in by himself – Roy had gotten in the habit of doubling back to their Chemistry room to meet a certain Altean prince for lunch (and probably some other things too), and would cut their fourth period as a result – with his lunch in hand. Shortly after, Ness – head always in his books – entered, along with Young Link and Popo, who were in an argument over – of all things – pokemon cards.
Link grit his teeth when he passed Zelda, the very core of his being seething in anger. Zelda closed the magazine and instead opened a book of wedding music.
"So, Zellie," Young Link began. "How many people've RSVP'd?"
Zelda pulled out a list she happened to have on her person. "Let's see… I got everyone except Marth's, Roy's, Samus's, Luigi's, and…" She glanced in Link's direction. "Link's."
Link was enjoying his pasta up until Zelda mentioned who responded to the invites.
"This pasta's left a bad taste in my mouth." He looked at his lunch in disgust. "I think it's wilted."
Young Link snorted. "Pasta can't wilt, stupid." He ignored the glare Link shot at him.
"It can when unpleasant things are talked about." Link ate the rest of it anyway, and Zelda just sighed.
"Hey, Older Me."
Link licked his spoon clean – he rarely used a fork for anything, he preferred spoons or sporks instead.
"What, Younger Self?"
Young Link kicked at the carpet and toyed with the opening of his milk carton. "What's Marth been doing all this research for?"
Link blinked and stared. "What research?"
Young Link felt the urge to put a 'bang head here' sign on his desk. "Well. He's been looking up a lot of stuff about Nintendo Land's laws and… Yesterday, I overheard him talking to Master Hand about stuff."
Link, never one to turn down gossip, moved closer to his younger half. "Go on."
Young Link doubted his intentions, but he was just as bad with gossip. "He was talking about, uh, papers of sorts. Something about unions."
Link scratched his cheek as he pondered on what that meant. "Does he have notes or anything strange concerning these 'unions'?" He even made air quotes around the word 'unions'.
"Yeah, he has notes, but they're not in English or Japanese, so I couldn't read them."
Link cursed. Damn Marth for writing everything in Altean and him not being able to understand it.
"I'll have to keep tabs on this story," Link said. "This sounds really interesting."
And besides, Roy might know something about it.
-x-
"Papers on unions…?" Roy had no expression on his face when he said this and Link felt very disappointed.
"Yeah, you know…" Link made all sorts of gestures with his hands, and he nearly slapped himself and someone going to their locker in the break between fourth and fifth periods. "Papers. On unions." Link made it quite obvious he was just as clueless as Roy about these papers.
Roy still didn't understand, and Link was getting aggravated.
"Link, there are many different unions. There are marriage unions—"
"Marth's already married, so it can't be that."
"—And there are work unions, like the one for teachers. Maybe he was getting dirt on them or something."
Roy slid the door to their Japanese class open and bowed before entering. Link didn't even bother. Both made a bee-line for their desks and they dropped their things. Roy massaged his temples in an attempt to put a stop to a headache.
"In any case, Link," Roy said as he sat down, "it doesn't really matter what he's doing. Let the man have at least one secret, okay?"
Stephenie and Nicholas entered as they always did – noisily. Nicholas was complaining about his job at OrangeFly and the ungrateful customers to the point where Stephenie was zoned out. Gary nearly tripped over the cord of the fan and almost impaled himself on the flag stand. Not like he would've died or anything, because he was Albert Wesker's son, and Wesker had some pretty unorthodox methods concerning death and its prevention. In his attempt to thwart off his own death, he grabbed onto the closest thing to him to keep balance.
"What the fuck, Wesker?!"
That 'closest thing' happened to be Nicholas's pants. The auburn haired teen stood next to his girlfriend in his Metal Gear boxer shorts with his pants around his ankles, seemingly perturbed only because Gary put them on display.
"It was either this or impaling myself on the pole," Gary spat as he picked himself off the ground.
"I'd rather you'd speared yourself." Nicholas glared, grabbed his pants, and pulled them back up.
Gary had to admit, Nicholas did have a nice arse.
Wait. What? Redfield with a nice ass? No. No no no. Nonononono. Definitely not. Not my sworn enemy! I'd rather make out with Mewtwo than think Nicholas Redfield's ass was nice.
After he seated himself on the other side of Nicholas, he thought, What would my father think?
He already knew the answer to that. Albert Wesker would murder him.
At least he couldn't say his father was trying to win some sort of 'Father of the Year' award.
Mewtwo floated into the classroom just as the bell sounded.
"You know the drill," Mewtwo said, sounding a little calmer than he did in the morning. "Kiritsu."
Everyone in the room stood as they did every Japanese class.
"Ohayo gozaimasu."
"Ohayo gozaimasu, sensei," the class responded, to Mewtwo's satisfaction.
"Rei!"
They all bowed to each other, then took their seats. Gary nearly missed his – clearly it just wasn't his day.
"As I have done with all my periods today, I will be showing you the third part of 'Immerse Yourself in Japanese Culture', featuring Jun Fukuyama and Takehito Koyasu, if that matters. A few people in my second period fainted after saying, 'Koyasu-sama is so sexy!' so I figured I'd warn everyone."
Stephenie was suddenly compelled to put her DS away and actually pay attention for once.
"I will be over here grading papers and doing anything but teaching, so if you have any questions, I don't want to hear them, unless someone is dying or in desperate need of the bathroom. And even then, I might not give in." Mewtwo even added in a little laugh, which greatly weirded Kweenetra out. The psychic pressed play on the remote for the DVD player and the video played out.
Robert and Kweenetra could care less about the video and instead made out in the back corner of the room; Dean was like Ness and Immersed Himself into Japanese Culture – perhaps too much; Gary wrote profane things on his desk in Expo marker; Roy and Link got into an argument over what the heck a 'union' was.
"It's gotta be work related," Roy said, crossing his arms.
"Surely it's gotta have something to do with the Manse," Link argued. "He went to Master Hand about union forms and blessings and crap."
After giving it some thought, Roy said, "That sounds more like something having to do with marriage."
Link banged his head against the wall. "You and I both know Marth is married."
Sitting behind them was Nicholas, who was looking at the TV, but not actually paying attention, and Stephenie, who had to practically glue herself to her seat so she wouldn't molest the telly. Unfortunately for Mewtwo, Stephenie had a thing for both actors in this educational video. They were two of her favourite seiyuu, after all.
"God, I would tap that so hard," she said wistfully, and Nicholas made a gagging sound.
Unfortunately for everyone's sanity, Koyasu Takehito decided to say something, to which Stephenie screamed, "Zechs!" and nearly fainted.
"That's not Zechs!" Dean said, almost saying 'sex' instead. Little did he know that it was actually common to say 'Colonel Sex' instead of 'Colonel Zechs' in causal conversation.
"He also does Aya from Weiss, Kelpie in Hakushaku to Yousei, Yoru in Sukisho, and about five hundred sixty seven other people," said Stephenie, who was trying hard to not die from her heart exploding.
Nicholas pounded his head against his desk in an attempt to end his life.
"Oh wait, Roy – that guy sounds like you!"
Roy smacked Link upside the back of his head.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"First Marth sounds like Midorikawa Hikaru, the next thing I know Jun Fukuyama sounds like me?"
Link deadpanned. "I told you before you sounded like Lelouch from Code Geass."
Roy scoffed. "I do not. My voice isn't that deep."
"Does Marth sound like Mira from Papa to Kiss in the Dark when he has sex?"
Roy was totally not touching that topic.
-x-
Marth was scouring the school library for information on his little secret, the first thing he had kept from Roy since he confessed his feelings last year. After all, Marth was doing the research because Roy was involved – he just didn't know it. He pulled yet another heavy tome from the shelf and carried it over to his table. He didn't bother supervising his class in the library because there weren't that many in it to begin with, so he just went off on his own and continued his research.
It was just as every other source said. Marth's marriage was only valid in his country, not in Nintendo Land. That made things simpler somehow – technically, he wasn't cheating on his wife, because Nintendo Land didn't see Marth married in its eyes, so him being with Roy was technically not illegal. For obvious reasons, Marth seemed to always worry about this, so to finally be told that he wasn't sinning or doing something that would require life imprisonment or castration was a relief.
He went through his stack of papers and found the appropriate forms. Master Hand had already signed the necessary parts, all he had to do was fill it out himself and get Roy to do the same.
But there is one thing I have to do before we get that far. Marth absently caressed the piece of twisted metal in his pocket – a ring. He had to figure out the 'opportune moment' to ask, first of all, and before he actually asked, he had to find a place to hide the ring. Its future owner couldn't find it or it would be moot.
Marth was ready for this, but was Roy on the same page as him?
It's time for that talk. Marth felt anxious about it – he was never good at expressing his emotions in the first place, and with that talk, it would be crucial to do so. He would sit Roy down on their bed, take his hands, gaze into his eyes and go, "Roy, we need to talk about our future."
Yes. Our future. His heart fluttered at the thought of the plural possessive referring to him and Roy. True, there was a lot that needed to be sorted out, like what they would do after Roy was finished with high school, what about Pherae and Altea, and their general situation. He took a breath. There was so much to think about.
This is why communication is important.
Marth closed the book and replaced it on the shelf.
He was ready, but was Roy? There was only one way to find out.
-x-
"So I have about twelve million pages of Geometry homework," Link complained as he followed Roy to the locker they shared. Roy undid the lock and opened the metal locker.
"That sucks," the general said as he stuffed his bag into the closet-like container. "I have absolutely no homework."
Link's brow furrowed as he retrieved his things. "We have Chem homework, don't we?"
Roy tipped back against the adjacent locker and watched Link empty his bag of all the subjects he didn't need.
"I finished the assignment."
Link blew a stray strand of hair from his face as he shouldered his back pack and closed the locker. He then made sure it was locked.
"Where's Ike?"
Link shrugged. "Probably has a detention. I think that's what he texted me about."
Roy pushed off the locker and walked to the front doors of the school with Link by his side.
"Zelda said you didn't give in your RSVP for her wedding."
Roy stretched. "I haven't filled it out yet 'cause I'm not sure if I'll even be here." Roy usually went away early-August, to visit his ailing father.
"Right, you visit family and stuff."
Roy nodded once. "I want to be able to visit my father while he can still…function all right." He pushed on the bar of the door and opened it, giving way to the sunshine outside.
"What's wrong with him again?"
Roy cleared his throat. "He's dying from tuberculosis. At least, that's what they say. It acts more like lung cancer than TB."
Link was blinded temporarily from the sunlight, but got over it after they descended the stairs to the front walkway.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Link said.
"Don't be – he's been sick since I was fourteen. I've been taught to expect to receive a letter any day now."
Link squeezed Roy's shoulder. "Well, Marth and I are here, you know. In case the worst happens."
Roy smiled softly. "Yeah, I know. …Thanks."
Link returned the smile. "What're friends for, huh?"
Roy ran a hand through his hair as they slowly made their way home. "I really need a hair cut."
Link tsked. "Oh, it's not that long. But if you want it cut, you can always ask Peach. She did mine and it turned out fine."
There was silence between the two. A few dozen cars passed them by, most of them playing loud rap music, some were playing the latest Miley Cyrus song, and others were playing normal rock music. No one seemed to notice since it was so common place, but Link grimaced and Roy was too busy pondering things.
"Hey, Link."
"Mmm?"
Roy shoved his hands in his blazer pockets. "Have you ever wanted to spend the rest of your life with someone?"
Link shook his head. "Not really. I haven't even given it much thought." He paused for a second before adding, "Why? Do you feel that way about Marth?"
Roy sighed and looked at the trees surrounding them. "Marth and I very briefly talked about our future. He always says, 'When we come to that bridge, we'll cross it then,' and it's like, I want to know. I want to have an idea of what our future may hold. …I want to know if we'll even be together then."
"So what exactly are you saying?" Link wasn't sure he understood everything. "Are you saying you wanna marry him?"
Roy made a noise that sounding like a mix between a chuckle and a scoff. "…Yeah. I guess I am saying that."
"But he's already—"
"I know. He's already married. Maybe I don't want to use that term. We could just live together in total happiness forever, you know?"
"You haven't even been with anyone except Marth! How do you know he's the right guy?"
Roy sighed as they crossed the final stretch towards the Manse. "Point taken. I haven't had much experience in the whole 'dating world'. But my father didn't, either, and he was married to my mother for fifteen whole years before she died. He said it was 'love at first sight', and he knew she was the one."
"You know I'm totally supportive of you two, right?"
Roy nodded.
"Well, having that said, I'm just not sure you should be throwing your life away, you know? Having someone put a ring on your finger after saying he'll love you forever, and then you take their last name, and then suddenly you realize, 'I haven't seen everything yet,' but you're screwed now because you're in this whole contract. So now you need a divorce and—"
Roy stopped Link by covering the blond's mouth.
"I'm not rushing into anything. Besides, Marth might not even be ready for marriage, and who knows? He might not even want that. And even if he did propose to me, he'd probably wait about ten years or something absurd like that, with the excuse that I need to finish high school, go through college, start graduate school or find a career or something before he'd dare to put that ring on my finger."
Link removed Roy's hand from his mouth.
"That would make you twenty six and him twenty nine if he waited that long." Link pursed his lips. "You'd both be kinda old."
Roy chuckled as they walked up the driveway. "I'd be married by now if we were in Pherae. Twenty six would be, well, old. I'd be a father at least three times over by that age."
Roy and Link stepped through the back door (it was ajar anyway, which was good since neither of them had their keys), where Link was greeted by Zelda and Peach squealing over wedding dresses, and Roy was greeted by someone pulling him into an embrace and kissing him hard.
Only Marth could kiss him like that, Roy thought as he opened his mouth to give Marth's access. The prince carefully led Roy up the stairs to the dormitories, where they swiftly made their way to their bedroom, shut and locked the door, and let instinct take over.
-x-
Roy ran a hand through his messy hair and stifled a yawn as Marth's arms encircled his waist once more.
"Roy…" Marth could hardly fight back a chuckle as he inhaled Roy's scent. It seemed like whenever he so much as grazed him, Roy managed to smell so much like him. Then again, the bedding smelled of him, too, and Roy had a penchant for not putting his own clothes on.
"Yeah?" He covered Marth's hands with his own and shivered slightly as Marth traced the juncture of his neck with his mouth.
"We need to talk."
Roy bit his lip. He was wondering when this topic would come up.
"I know," was all the red head could say.
Marth nuzzled him now and held him tighter. Roy had no objections.
"Do you want to speak first or should I go?" Roy asked.
"If you wish to go first, I have no objections."
Roy took a deep breath. "Marth… We've been together for a little over a year now, right? And during this time, well…I thought over a few things."
Roy shifted and tried to remember what those thoughts even were.
"Continue."
I promised myself I wouldn't beat around the bush with this. "Marth, I want to spend the rest of my life with you." There. That was as blunt as Roy could make it without getting down on one knee and asking for Marth's hand.
"You honestly want to be with me for the rest of your life?" Marth seemed slightly taken aback by Roy's sudden confession.
Perhaps I'm rushing things, Marth thought, realising that he was second guessing himself again. Maybe we should have more time to think this through.
Roy fiddled with his school ring as he mulled over his words carefully. "I'm sure."
Does Roy know what he's really saying?
"Roy, this isn't something you should take lightly. You need to really think about this."
Roy stared at their hands. "I have been thinking about this – I said that already. I've been thinking about this since we decided to go steady. I…" Words were beginning to fail him now. "I love you, Marth – and I know you know that. I've never met anyone in my life who I connected to like this – there's this sensation, this feeling or intuition or whatever, that I never felt with anyone else except you. We're two halves of a whole, here." He wasn't sure if that made sense, but he knew Marth would be able to understand.
"…The problem is we're men, so even if we did want to get married, there would be few places to go," Marth said quietly. "And the fact that we hail from different places, even different continents. They might frown on this type of thing." If Marth was so self-conscious about it, they wouldn't have gotten as far as they did in the relationship. He thought he was over the whole 'this is taboo' phase.
"We can't get married in a church or anything," Roy stated. "I read about that somewhere. But neither of us is particularly religious, so that shouldn't really be much of a problem. We can always have a judge or someone 'marry' us…"
Marth sighed. "I suppose that is an option."
Roy pouted. "Even if we couldn't get married or anything, I wouldn't care, because I'm not in it for the ring or the vows or any of the pomp and circumstance. I'm here for the love. That's how much I want this to work, Marth."
Marth kissed Roy's shoulder. "You're serious about this, then? This is really what you want?"
Roy nodded. "It is. Marth, I love you, and eternity isn't nearly long enough for me to explain it. Don't think I'm joking – I'm serious."
Marth chuckled then, and Roy didn't quite understand what was so funny.
"I wasn't sure you were ready for a commitment like this, but apparently you and I are on the same page."
Roy chortled. "Yeah. But that's if we were to ever get, uh, joined. It's one thing to talk about it and plan for it; it's another to actually go through with it. But I figured I'd just, you know, say something just so you'd know how I felt."
Little did Roy know what Marth had planned for him.