sir lavabo's sick day

It had been two days since the whole "tree monster" incident, which would mean that there's only four days until the weekend. Marco was honestly scared of the upcoming event. Who knows what he might do? Will he snap and attack Tom when they get all lovey-dovey? Will he be all grumpy and make Star bother him to tell her what's wrong, eventually snapping at her. Or will he just break down and bail? Marco himself didn't even know.

He hope he can keep his emotions under control, because right now, he's unpredictable, even to himself. It's scary, to not be able to know what you're going to do, and the consequences that comes when your actions are anything but good.

Another thing was that Higgs was nowhere in sight. Marco bumped into her so much that he knew she took the same route every morning. But ever since the incident, he hadn't got a glimpse of her in the hallways. And when he did get one - which is rare - she would notice and immediately turn away and leave. It was as if she was avoiding him. The Marco before would have been thrilled at this. But now, it surprisingly left him feeling a bit empty. Like how one small common occurence in your life just stopped, and you can't just get used to it.

But right now, he has to focus on the present, because he just bumped into a wall, not dropping the bowl of water in his hands but instead splashing some onto his hoodie.

"Dangit." He cursed. He turn to the hallway to his left, ignoring his hoodie for now. He walked down a set of familiar stairs, the scent of cloth and lavender becoming much stronger with each step. Arriving at a wooden door, he pushed it opened with his shoulder and entered, careful not to spill the water again. This time, instead of heading to the washroom, he turned left to another wooden door that's slightly ajar. He pushed it open with his foot and approached the man lying down on the bed inside.

"How are you doing, Sir Lavabo?" Marco asked.

Sir Lavabo coughed and sneezed, then sniffed up the mucus that was running down his upper lip. "Not so well, honestly." His voice was raspy from the phlegm in his throat.

Marco frowned a little. He was sad that the tough and persistant knight had succumbed to sickness. He walked up to the bedside drawer and placed the bowl of water on it. He placed a hand onto Sir Lavabo's forehead, feeling his temperature. He turned back to the drawer and grabbed a towel that was beside the bowl. He soaked it up with the water and squeezed it back into the bowl. He turned back to the sick knight and gently placed the damp towel onto the knight's forehead. Sir Lavabo sighed as the cool damp towel began cooling his forehead.

"Thank you, Marco." He said.

Marco grabbed a nearby chair and sat down at the side of the bed. "So... since you're sick, does that mean I get the day off?" He asked sheepishly. He hoped he would be free today so that he think about the upcoming weekend and everything else.

The knight chuckled, and coughed right after. "Marco, just because I'm sick doesn't you get to skip today's training. You can train by yourself, you're not sick. Plus, even though you've defeated numerous cloth monsters, you're still not strong enough to take one on by yourself. So the more you train, the stronger you will be."

Marco pouted, "So do I just train by myself with, like, dummies?"

The knight nodded, causing Marco to lean back on his chair and frown. Sir Lavabo frowned a bit. He tried to think of something else because Marco at his skill level would be pretty bored at just punching dummies all morning. And that's when an idea hit him, an imaginary light bulb popping into existence above his head.

"Hey, why don't you train with someone else?" The knight said, smiling at his newfound idea.

"Huh?"

"You could train with someone else. I mean, you've sparred with me for months now, I think it's good to train with someone with a different fighting style. It would help you adapt more, you know?"

Marco pondered on the idea. It seemed like a good one, but there was just one small thing. "But with who?"

Sir Lavabo went back into thinking mode. He skimmed through all possible candidates for Marco's temporary sparring partner. One who is good at fighting, but not to good to the point where Marco would get seriously injured.

"How about Sir Stabby's squire?" The knight asked.

"Higgs?" Marco was surprised. "I don't know if you've noticed, but Higgs is basically my arch-nemesis." And she had been avoiding him like the plague for the past two days, so he guessed it would be pretty hard to get her to train with him (and it would most likely be awkward if she did agree)

Sir Lavabo raised an eyebrow, "Then how come I saw the two of you smiling at each other when you were cheered on two days ago, hm?"

The squire's face went red at the memory, and he rubbed his arm. "That's- uh... we were- um..."

The knight grinned at his squire's stuttering. "Come on, Marco. I've seen her train a few times before. She's quite good, but not too good that she'll seriously injure you. Plus, this could be a good oppurtunity to befriend her. You two make quite a good team if you both work together. Remember, it's better to have more friends than enemies."

Marco pondered for a bit. Him and Higgs making a good team and working together? He thought that that was beyond impossible. Just befriending her by itself would be very hard.

But there was something inside him that pushed to try it. To try being her friend. It was similar to the force that pushed him to help her out and to return her dagger. Again, he couldn't explain it, and it looks like it won't be stopping anytime soon.

"Are you really sure Higgs and me together is good?" Marco asked, then realized what he just said, eyes wide as saucers, "I-I mean, like, working together and- not, you know, 'together together'." He groaned and smacked his forehead, face bright red.

Sir Lavabo gave out a chuckle, "Don't worry, I understand what you mean. As for your question, yes. You two are good with swords and are athletic. And I'm not going to be there with you in battle everytime. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm getting old and more sick every day," As if on cue, he coughed, "So yes, it would be great if you and her work together."

The squire sighed, "Okay, I'll do it. Or, well, try at least."

The knight's face beamed, "That's my boy! Now go, if Sir Stabby asks, just tell that Sir Lavabo suggested."

"But what about you?"

"Don't worry Marco, I'll be fine. Now onwards, my squire!" Sir Lavabo raised his arm up high dramatically.

Marco smiled at the knight and walked out of the room, and closed it gently. As he watched the boy run out of the room, Sir Lavabo couldn't help but smile.

Star had her head on the table, poking at her breakfast and having one of the most intense thinking faces she had in a while. It had been two days, two days since she saw... whatever Marco and Higgs had done. Why were they smiling at each other? Don't they hate each other? Or waa some kind of secret rival thing were their facial expressions meant one thing while they actually mean another thing? And why were they both seperated from the search party? Were they lost? Were they fighting? Or were they... No, it can't be. There's no way they're in a romantic relationship she hadn't heard of, even one that is that physical.

Are they?

Why was she even asking these questions? It's not like it would be the end of the multiverse if they were together. She shouldn't even care about who Marco dates. She doesn't have a crush on him anymore, she moved on. She's dating Tom now, and he's dating...

"Ugh!" Star sat up straight and began rubbing her temples. Queen Moon transferred her gaze from her plate to her daughter and raised an eyebrow.

"Star, are you alright? You haven't eaten your breakfast at all." She asked.

"I'm fine, mom. Just thinking about stuff." She went back to poking her food.

"Stuff?" King River asked, his voice being a bit mumbled by the food in his mouth.

Star sighed, "It's just that... Marco's been acting really weird lately. Like super weird."

"How weird?" The queen asked.

"Like, he's been all Mr. Grumpy the past few weeks. And when I try to talk to him, he just doesn't want to talk to me. It's like he hates me or something." She wanted to also say that his rivalry with Higgs had also gotten a bit weird, but she thought that saying that would be also weird, and she needed to focus on Marco's grumpiness instead of that.

"Well," King River said before swallowing the food in his mouth, "I'm sure Marco has a good reason why he's been grumpy. Maybe he just had a bad day."

"I agree with your father. Maybe he just had a bad day." Queen Moon said.

"Then that's an awful lot of bad days he's had." Star said sadly.

"Maybe he just needs someone to cheer him up, or just someone to talk to. Perhaps you should be the one." River said.

"Yeah, but he doesn't want to talk to me, remember?"

"Then cheer him up in another way. Maybe you should take him out on an adventure. He loves those, doesn't he?" The queen said.

"Yeah. Yeah! Marco never denies an adventure! That's sure to cheer him up!" Star stood up and slammed her hands onto the table, rattling the numerous plates and cups. She kicked her chair back and ran for the door, only to be stopped by her mother.

"Star, Marco's taking care of Sir Lavabo, remember?"

"Oh, right." She chuckled sheepishly, "Tomorrow it is then!"

Star went back to her and started eating her breakfast happily. She was excited for tomorrow. She has a chance of cheering Marco up and make him not become something much worse than Mr. Grumpy. She was as happy as a happy person can get. And maybe she could have a proper talk with him. A talk that could help her what was wrong with him.

Star smiled and continued stuffing her mouth with breakfast, Marco's love life now forgotten.

Marco walked down the castle halls in search of his possibly new sparring partner. He had gone to Sir Stabby first, who was hard to find. And after much skepticism and suspicion, he had given the a-okay. Now it was just the matter if Higgs would agree to doing it. He secretly wanted her to not agree so he can avoid some... awkwardness. But who knows what she will do, she's as unpredictable as Marco is nowadays.

Considering the time, he guessed that she would be in the forge room sharpening swords and polishing armor. So he walked down the same route he took to the forge room days ago.

Arriving at the door, he knocked on it once. When no response came, he pressed the side of his head onto the door. As expected, he could hear grinding noises from inside, which means that someone is in there. He lightly pushed the door open and poke his head in a bit. The only things he could see were a pile of swords and armor, and the back of the mewman squire herself, sparks coming out from in front of her.

He knocked on the door again, but she still didn't respond. She must not have heard him. He sighed and pushed the door open more, and walked up to her.

A few feet behind her back now, he lightly tapped her shoulder, ready for her to go self-defensive, "Higgs?"

She let out a yelp - something he did not expect - and spun around, and nearly chopped the side of Marco's neck. The human squire froze and his face became as white as snow at how the sword was only an inch to his neck. Higgs was panting and her hands were shaking. When she found out it was only Marco, she dropped the sword and hung her head down with a groan.

"I swear Marco, you keep this up and you'll be dead in no time." She said angrily. When Marco didn't respond, she just rolled her eyes, "Why are you here anyway?"

Marco recomposed himself and cleared his throat, "Oh, um... uh..."

"Look," She pinched the bridge of her nose, "If this is about me avoiding you like the plague, just know I have my reason, okay? Reasons that I will absolutely not share with anyone, especially with you."

Marco rubbed the back of his neck, "That's... not why I'm here. You see, Sir Lavabo sort of had this... 'idea', where you and... I could spar... together. No- wait, I mean each other, each other, yeah, While he's sick."

Higgs narrowed her eyes at him, while Marco's lips thinned and face blushed at his word mix-up. "You're joking, right?" She said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, not really." He pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. She unfolded it and read the note.

"Dear Higgs,

Yes, Marco is not joking.

Sir Stabby."

At the bottom of Sir Stabby's name was his signature, making the letter legitimate. She sighed exasperatedly and rubbed her temples. Marco just watched as she continued to massage her head, not liking the silence that now appeared.

"Fine, meet me that spot you found me in the forest in an hour." She said, catching Marco by surprise.

"Wait, you're really agreeing to this?"

"Yup, only because I know I'm definitely gonna kick your butt."

"Oh, um..." Marco rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "Okay then."

The two squires were surrounded by an awkward silence. Higgs' confidence was quickly diminished and she was trying to avoid to look directly at him. Marco was in the same situation, fidgeting in place and avoiding eye contact.

After a minute, Marco cleared his throat, "So... I'll see you in an hour, I guess."

"Uh, yeah, sure." Higgs replied. There was a few more seconds of awkward silence before Marco said a quick goodbye and speedwalked out of the room, leaving a still silent Higgs alone.

An hour passed. Marco was sitting down a log, his sword and armor beside him. He sort of forgot where her training spot was, so it took a while to navigate the forest. Now all he was doing was waiting as birds flew by above the canopy and other small creatures ran along the ground just outside the clearing.

Fortunately, the silence gave him time to think. The question that lingered in his mind now was 'Why would she agree to this?' It was unexpected, her agreeing to be his sparring partner. Of course, she herself did say it was so that she can kick his butt, but she had done that so many times in the past already, why would she want to prove herself now? Was there another reason why she agreed? He honestly did not know.

"Man, she's as unpredictable as me."

Just then, he heard a rustle of a bush behind him. Thinking something would jump him, he quickly grabbed his sword and turned around, brandishing it at possible foe. But no foe came, instead it was Higgs clad in armor and carrying a sword. Marco sighed and lowered his sword.

"Um, hey." He awkwardly waved at the mewman squire.

"Hi." She replied. Afraid that they'll have another moment of awkward silence, she immedistely said, "Look, let's just get this over with, alright?" She walked away and took a spot in the middle of the clearing.

Marco took his armor and put it on, struggling to put on his chestplate - and causing Higgs to roll her eyes. After much struggling, he took a spot in front of her, and both assumed a fighting stance.

"Ready?" Higgs said through a helmet. Marco nodded in response, and immediately got attacked by a charging Higgs. She kept on swinging her sword at him while he struggled to parry her attacks. Higgs pushed him back up against a tree. She brought jer sword up and was about to swing at him when he slipped away in time. He went for her hip, but his sword was immediately parried.

Higgs kept playing aggressive, swinging her sword around to try and hit him. But it was a bad idea, as she got more tired on every swing. Marco used this to his advantage and switched their roles. Now he was playing aggresive while she played defensive. He swung at her, careful to conserve his energy. He pushed her to the log he sat on, and she jumped on it, parrying his attacks while walking backwards on the log like a tightrope. She jumped off when she reached the end, and swung her sword hard at him, nearly making him fall. She was now attacking hard, hacking away at his sword. Marco was overwhelmed, so he backed out and ran behind the nearby dummy.

"Coward!" Higgs called out. Marco and Higgs were seperated by the dummy. He tried to go to his left, but Higgs tried to go to her right, and when he went for his right, she went for her left. They stayed like this for a bit until Higgs ripped the dummy off the ground and tossed it aside. She brought her sword above her head and swung down on him, but Marco immediately dodged to the side.

She kept on attacking him, pushing him back to the edge of the clearing against. Marco was in deep trouble now, and he tried his best to find an opening, but there was none. He was pushed back against a tree again. Higgs was about to swing at his legs, but Marco somehow jumped up, planted his feet against the trunk of the tree, and wall-jumped off of it and was now behind the shocked mewman squire. He quickly turned around and swung his sword hard at her hip, emitting a loud ding.

The attack had enough force to knock Higgs down to the ground, her armor emitting a series of clangs and dings. A heavily panting Marco stared at the fallen squire with as equal shock. He looked down at his hands as if they would explain to him what just happened.

Higgs recovered from her fall and now stood in front of the human squire with furrowed eyebrows, "What the heck did you just do?"

"I-I don't know exactly. But I guess that means I wi- oof!" He felt a force on his chest push him back and he fell to the ground. He groaned in pain and clutched his chest.

"Ow, what the heck was that for?!" He yelled.

Higgs pointed her finger at him, "That's for making me fall on my butt."

She held out a hand for him. Marco looked at the hand then to her face with narrowed eyes.

"Do you want my help or not?" She said as she placed her other hand on her hip. Marco groaned and grabbed her hand, the got pulled up to his feet.

"You know, you're pretty good." He heard her say. Marco immediately turned his gaze to her and raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"I said you're..." She crossed her arms, "Pretty good."

"Oh, um, thanks. You too, I guess." He said, not noticing the faint red color on her cheeks, "So, I guess this sparring match is done."

"Yup."

Marco nodded and turned to leave, but Higgs stopped him, "Um, hey. You know, I've been looking for a new sparring partner for a while. So, if you want, you can, you know, spar me and stuff.

Marco's eyebrows shot up, "Are you serious?"

She nodded.

Marco's eyes narrowed, "You sure you're just not offering me this so that you can fuel your ego by kicking my butt?"

Higgs rolled her eyes, "I would never stoop that low, Diaz. And I actually am in need of a new sparring partner."

Marco's lips thinned as he thought of it. This would probably be the best way to befriend her, and it could help him relieve a bit of stress from all the thoughts running around his head. And that unexplainable force inside him was now pushing him to agree, and he now knew that it was hard to ignore that force.

"Alright, I'll do it." He said. Higgs eyebrows shot up in surprise, and she had a bit of red on her, which Marco just dismissed as her being out of breath.

"Oh, okay. Cool. So, I guess I'll see you next sparring match." She said.

"Um, yeah. See ya, I guess." He turned around and walked away. Higgs stared at his back until he was deep within the trees. She felt like her heart was about to burst out of her chest, and she found it hard to breath.

"Wow."

A few days ago...

Higgs opened her eyes to the image of Marco in a fancy two piece suit. His hand was on her hip and she was holding up her hand. She looked down and saw she was wearing an orange sundress with a ribbon of a darker shade around her waist and a pair of boots that reached up to her knees. She glanced to her left and saw a bunch of other people in fancy clothes dancing as well, and a stage with a bunch of band members playing a slow song.

She turned back to Marco, who had a warm smile that made her knees weak. "It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" He said.

It took her a moment to respond, "Y-yeah, it is."

Marco's smile widened. The two just danced to the song and stared at each other for a while. Higgs couldn't help but notice how his eyes had this warm chocolate color that made her cozy and just want to stare at them all her life. She started to warm up and her eyes were now half-lidded.

She saw Marco had started leaning forward a bit, and she couldn't help but lean in as well.

"Higgs..." He whispered. Their faces were now just an inch apart. Higgs tilted her head sideways and...

She woke up with a jump, and she sat up on her bed. Her room was dark, and the only light source was the moonlight going through her room. She brought a hand up to her lips and began to feel it. She dropped her hand back to the bed with a low thump and just stared into the darkness.

"Oh no."

sorry for not updating in a while, school just started and i had a nasty case of writer's block. and sorry i was a bit out of my element on this one.

anyway, read and review blah blah blah

sir lavabo secretly ships miggs

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