Thank you to the following for reviewing the last chapter!: MarsMonster, FuneralBell (poor Marth, too afraid of drowning to realise he wasn't), XxCapturetheLightxX (glad you did too, hope you like it :)), Nayunari 'Ayu' Tsuki, Kufuffelupagus, Fallen-Petal-94, BunnyFleur (yes, an ambigiously gendered painting always has to be guessed wrong), AlteaAuroraRia and ADashOfInsanity :D Much gratitude to you all!

This chapter concludes the punting episode. And I don't believe in coincidence in real life, but in stories...

Marth? How the hell had that happened? What was Marth doing here? Ike thought, shifting the pole as fast as his arms would allow him. He had gone to Marth's house that morning to see him, but finding him absent had headed off to go punting, as was one of his hobbies. But for Marth it was surely the most random place to be in the world – had coincidence gone mad? Well at least he hadn't been recognised. Even though he had wanted to talk to Marth, seeing him so suddenly and having to try and make conversation when Marth was so obviously with that other bloke – what was his name, Roy? – would have been awkward. Yes, it was Roy – the guy that had threatened him and had been phoning him repeatedly over the past two days to ask for his £1050 back. Ike sighed, looking wistfully back down the river for Marth, even though he had long since moved out of sight.

Nah, it was stupid, it couldn't be. What kind of freaky coincidence would that be anyway?

"Shall we stop for coffee and warm you up a little?" Roy suggested. Marth nodded and Roy turned the boat and began to steer it back to where they had hired it.

In the café, which just happened to be the nearest one they could find, Marth sipped at his tea, shivering more violently now, even though there was no wind indoors.

"You're going to have to take that top off," Roy commented. "It's soaked."

"I know," Marth replied, without making any move to remove it.

"Marth, you'll freeze."

"Fine." Marth peeled off his top and Roy put it in his backpack.

"We should go for a stroll after this; hopefully the sunshine will warm you up a bit."

"Maybe." Either way Marth gulped down his hot teas gratefully, enjoying every warm sip.

"I think I'll let you steer next time," he commented as they finished.

They wandered aimlessly for a bit, ending up rather ironically on the bridge that had been Marth's punting downfall below.

"Tempting to play poohsticks," joked Roy, looking down at the river.

"Except we'd have to dash across a road to look at the other side," Marth added.

"There is that. Do you want an ice cream?"

"Ok."

"Stay here I'll go get you one." He headed off. Marth looked out across the river, enjoying the scene. As he waited, he caught a glimpse of a large straw hat out of the corner of his eye and turned his head a little to look at it more directly. The hat wasn't pulled down as fully now, and the man's identity was obvious. It was Ike, decidedly. Did he realise Marth was standing there?

"If one wishes to see mermaids drown…" he said airily, watching Ike out of the corner of his eye for a response. When there was none, Marth raised his voice slightly.

"Come on, it's Ike, isn't it?" Marth laughed. "You aren't even trying this time."

Ike grinned and took of his hat before turning to look back at him. "Alright. You got me."

"Nice poetic line by the way."

"Why thank you. Nice flailing."

"Touché. But why didn't you just say who you were at the time?"

"You were in company." Ike shrugged. "It would have been awkward."

"You but that mermaid thing was just weird."

"If I'd said anything else you would have recognised me straight off."

"But I did recognise you."

"It wasn't that obvious, I'm sure."

"Oh it was," Marth teased. Ike whisked off his hat and put it on Marth, pulling the front down.

"Oh my god, who is that?" he joked with mock drama. Marth whisked it off again.

"It's ME!"

"No way. See, the disguise is amazing."

Marth laughed. "This coincidence is crazy."

"I know," Ike agreed, reaching to take his hat back.

"Suits you," Marth complimented once he'd put it back on.

"I know."

"So modest."

"So sarcastic."

They smiled at each other in mutual appreciation. After a moment Marth remembered Roy was meant to be coming back with ice creams at any moment. Ike sensed his thoughts.

"Are you with him?"

"As in?"

"Boyfriend."

"No." Marth looked at Ike for a long moment. Ike held his gaze, composed and intense for several moments, then got distracted by something he saw out of the corner of his eye, pulled his hat down and walked away without a word. Marth, confused, was about to go after him when the source of the distraction suddenly appeared beside him, offering ice cream.

"Who was that guy?"

"Oh…" Marth waved a hand absently. "Lost tourist."

Roy seemed none the wiser and smiled. Then they turned in unison, eating their ice creams as they followed the pavement down to the bank of the river. Marth, who had been distracted by his meeting with Ike, was mostly silent, listening to Roy and the gentle rush of the river beside them. Occasionally there was birdsong or even the scampering of small animals in the bushes, but mostly interruptions came from the ringing of bicycle bells as impatient cyclists weaved their way past. Presently Roy nudged him with an elbow.

"Your head is in the clouds. What are you thinking of?"

Marth shrugged. "It's been nice these last few days."

"It has."

"Thank you for taking me punting."

"Not at all. Glad you liked it."

"It was lovely. Apart from when I fell in, obviously."

"I thought it was quite funny. Hang on, you've got some ice cream just there…" Roy prodded the side of Marth's mouth with his little finger. Then he licked the finger and dabbed at the spot, but left the finger lingering there, and looked at Marth intensely. Marth shot him a warning look. Roy looked at his lips, ignoring him, and a moment later he pulled Marth violently towards him and kissed him. Marth struggled automatically, shocked, but Roy only pressed into him harder, running his hands through Marth's hair. He kissed him long and unrelentingly, slightly crushing Marth in the process. But eventually he paused for breath, and in it Marth stammered quickly,

"This is too fast."

"I can do slower." Roy reached for Marth's belt, slowly undoing it as his eyes glittered dangerously with passion.

"Roy, please don't…" Marth gasped involuntarily as Roy seized him again, kissing him up the side of his neck. Passers by stared at them, and one disgruntled woman said loudly, "Get a room," before hurrying on. Roy ignored her, but Marth couldn't.

"Roy, we can't. Stop. Please."

"You want this Marth. Don't pretend to deny it." Roy looked him up and down meaningfully. "Come on, let's go home."

It killed Marth to reject him, but he knew it had to be done. He pushed Roy away as forcefully as he dared and shook his head.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I want more than this."

"You've said that before. You wanted an evening for us to hang out – we hung out. You wanted romance – hasn't this been romantic?"

Marth took a shaky breath. "That's not what I meant, I..."

"Then what did you mean, Marth?"

"I-I-I-I…" His voice box closed off, strangled.

"I want to be with you Marth." Roy took him gently by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. "What else do you want?"

Marth swallowed, but when he opened his mouth no words could escape him, as if the intensity of Roy's gaze was pushing them back down to some place deep inside him.

"What do you want?"

"I WANT TO BE LOVED!" Marth yelled, the words erupting from nowhere in retaliation of Roy's. Roy looked taken aback, and Marth, hideously embarrassed, turned and began to walk away, even knowing that at some point he would have to turn around again so that Roy could drive him home.