[SSBM] Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys: Year Two [Chapter Five]

[themartikaminna]

Title: "Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys: Year Two
Author: sailorvfan10
Summary: Melee Academy is like any other all boys' school. Marth, Roy, and Link are three friends who go there, and though their principal fell off his rocker and can't quite get back up, it's as normal as can be. At least, they think it is.
Word Count: 7938 words
Fandom: Super Smash Brothers Melee
Pairing(s): Marth/Roy, Marth/Sheeda, Roy/Lilina, Link/Zelda
Genre(s): General/Romance
Fic Type: Work in Progress
Warning(s): There is some minor slash in this chapter, which includes two guys kissing, groping, and otherwise doing everything except screwing each other.
Disclaimer: I do not own Super Smash Brothers Melee. It belongs to Hal Laboratories/Nintendo. I do not own the Nintendo DS, that belongs to Nintendo. I don't own the lyrics to "Far Away", "Let the Flames Begin", "Little Death", "Cry for the Dream", "Ending in Tragedy", or "Perfect Situation". They belong to Nickelback, Paramore, Plus 44, Hikaru Midorikawa, New Found Glory, and Weezer, respectively. No profit is being made from this story, it's just for fun. I also don't own Chris Redfield, Albert Wesker, Ada Wong, Jack Krauser, or Umbrella Inc. They belong to Capcom. Stephen Alvarez, Nicholas Ryan Pickel/Nicholas Leon Redfield, and Gary Stu Wesker are original characters created by me for this story. Kweenetra belongs to my good friend, Quikil. I also don't own Gundam Wing, it belongs to Sunrise, and I don't own any references to Sukisho.
Notes: TWO DAYS. Longest chapter yet.

- - - 

"So I have our list of songs for the Talent Show," Link said as Marth and Roy came down for breakfast as he fastened his tie around his head, slipped it through the loop, and then tightened it.
"I'm sorry," Roy said, looking at Link, "did you just say our list of songs?"
"Yes," Link said, biting into his cold and stale toast. "...What's wrong?"
Roy gave him a look that read, "what are you smoking?"
"First off, whatever happened to Battle of the Bands?"
"They switched the dates for the Talent Show and Battle of the Bands," Link replied.
"Second of all, you're not making us do any stupid Backstreet Boys songs or N'Sync or whatever other boybands you listen to, are you?" Roy asked, looking in the fridge for something to munch on. He found a pear, went over to the sink to wash it off, and bit into it, savouring the sweet taste.
"No, no Backstreet Boys, though they were on the original list thingy."
"They call it a set list," Marth replied, thumbing through the newspaper. "And what, pray tell, is on it?"

Link sat at the table and unfolded a flimsy sheet of paper that looked as if it were folded over and over fifty thousand times, put through the washing machine, and left to ferment for about a week.
"...You've got a lot of Paramore songs on here," Roy remarked as he peeked at the list over the blond's shoulder. "I mean, you've got 'Pressure' and 'Let the Flames Begin' and...what does that say?"
"That?" Link asked, pointing at what looked like "peanut butter" on the sheet. "That says 'Hallelujah'."
"...You have sappy love songs on here, too," Marth said, bringing the disgusting paper over to him by means of his fork. "'Insatiable'? 'Hey There Delilah'? Link, are you trying to tell us something?"

Link did not understand what Marth was trying to ask, shrugged, and took the set list back.
"...So! Does anyone want to pick first?"
If there were crickets in the kitchen of The Manse, they would have been chirping. Seeing as there were no crickets, a long silence followed instead.
"Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?"
Roy sighed and looked over the list of songs, which numbered up to at least one hundred (Link was rather bored one day in Geometry).
"How many songs are we allowed to sing?"
Link looked over the rules, which he had written down on a ripped up sheet of paper.
"Three," came the reply.

"In that case," Roy said, "I'll pick 'Far Away' by Nickelback for my first choice." Link wrote it down on a separate piece of paper.
"What about you, Marth?" Link asked, nudging the swordsman in the ribs, "What're you gonna wow the audience with?"
Marth scanned the list with indifference.
"I'm not really much of a singer," the prince said, folding his arms.
"Nonsense," Link replied, picking a song for the tiara-wearing male. "How's 'Cry for the Dream' sound?"
Marth just stared at him.
"You're honestly trying to kill me, aren't you?"
Link sat back in his chair.
"There's nothing wrong with 'Cry for the Dream'!"
"It's an anime song."
Link crossed his arms.
"So what?"

Roy blocked the sounds of their arguing out to look at the set list once again.
"I think I'll also take 'Let the Flames Begin' by Paramore and 'Little Death' by Plus 44." The blond stopped arguing long enough to write down Roy's other choices.
"Pick the other two songs, Marthy," Link said, smirking.
"Honestly, Link," Marth said, "none of these songs are even in my singing range."
"'Ending in Tragedy?'"
"Whatever," Marth replied, not caring about the Talent Show anymore.
"And...'Perfect Situation'," Link said, scribbling the forced-to-sing melodies down.

"What are you singing then, huh?" Roy asked, still munching on the pear.
"'Fer Sure', 'Chasing Cars', and...'Incomplete'."
Roy stared at him blankly.
"Well, at least you're the only one singing Bee Ess Bee," the red head remarked. "So when are we practising for this?"
"After school today," Link replied, staring at his watch. "It's seven fifty," he remarked. "We might want to be on our merry way."

Roy took his lunch money from the counter, Marth took his bagged lunch, and Link took his Sponge Bob lunch box as they walked out the door for another not-very-exciting-in-the-least school day.

- - -

"I see we're excused fifth through eighth periods to practise," Marth said, looking at the notice he was given. In doing so, he nearly walked into the pole that divided the two doors, but Roy steered him away from a trip to the nurse and through the door. They stopped smack dab in the middle of the hallway, but no one minded--not many people were around.
"Which means I get no lunch period," Marth said as unenthusiastically as possible. "Hurray for me."
"All our crap subjects get skipped today," Link remarked as he stared at his schedule, which was jammed into the ID card holder that hung from his light blue lanyard.

"I don't feel like going to first period today," Nicholas said, books in hand. "Sensei's a bitch."
"I don't really care," Stephen replied, battling a particularly hard Gym Leader in Pokemon Diamond, "You never pay attention anyway."
"And I just want you to die, Redfield."
Nicholas and Stephen looked up to see Gary Stu Wesker in all black garb, complete with black sunglasses. His hair had so much gel in it that it was dripping from his scalp. Stephen snickered and Nicholas wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"Look, Gary, we all know you have no identity and have to copy everyone else," Stephen said, looking the platinum blond, "but you don't have to become a clone of your father, you know."
"I have to let everyone know that I am Albert Wesker's son!" the boy cried as he thrust a gloved fist into the air. Stephen sighed and shook his head.
"Dude, you do realise that 'Wesker' isn't a very common last name, right?"
Silence.
"Whatever."
"And," Nicholas added, "you do realise you're out of uniform, right?"
Silence.
"He's got a point there," Stephen agreed.

Kweenetra walked past the Golden Boys, Stephen, Nicholas, and Gary, books in hand, and into the Japanese classroom. She thought Gary was an idiot and that he was a waste of air, and knew her sentiments were shared by others (most notably Stephen). She slammed her books onto her desk and slipped into her seat, making sure her skirt didn't blow up in the back. Mewtwo looked up from his newspaper for a split second to see who made the noise-disturbance in his classroom, found that it was Kweenetra, took a sip of coffee, and went back to reading. He didn't really care who it was so long as it wasn't Link and Gary.
"No History period today!"
Mewtwo slammed his newspaper onto his desk and was ready to throw whoever shouted something about their history class out the window using his telekinesis. Seeing that it was Link, he decided against it; Link wasn't worth the energy, anyway.

Marth wandered into the classroom, a book in his hand. Mewtwo glanced at the cover, "The Guide Book to Dreams", and decided he didn't want to know. Marth sat down at his desk and turned the page, his eyes moving back and forth as he read. Mewtwo got his lesson planner out and flipped to the dog-eared page.

"Burn in Hell, Nicholas!"
"You first, Gary!"
Mewtwo poked his head out of the classroom doorway and saw Nicholas and Gary slapping and punching each other. Mewtwo sighed, floated out into the hallway, and went over to Mr. Master R. Hand's office. Knocking on the door, he said, "Mr. Hand, I do believe there is some fighting going on in the hallway." Master Hand came out of his office at once, noticed the two boys giving each other black eyes, spitting, biting, and kicking, and basically having an all out brawl on the hallway floor.
"Hey! Break it up!" the floating hand yelled, pushing them apart with his giant fingers. The boys fought against the massive digits but to no avail.
"That's it, I'm calling your parents to pick you up! On top of that, you're both suspended for three days outside of school." Leaving the two boys in Mewtwo's care, the giant hand floated back into his office and had his secretary phone the boys' parents.
"If it were up to me," Mewtwo said, "I would've thrown you out the window and had a contest to see who survived."
Nicholas and Gary tried to move away from the psychic pokemon, but Mewtwo had a good psychic hold on them.

- - -

Nicholas and Gary were sitting in the vice principal's office, waiting for their fathers to come--Nicholas's mother was at work and couldn't make it, and Gary's mother was being experimented on by Umbrella's scientists (he didn't like talking about it). Nicholas twiddled his thumbs and Gary just stared at the white titled floor, it wasn't like there was anything to do.

The door opened and a tall and stocky brunette walked through the door, his army fatigue pants and a black t-shirt attracting the secretary's attention right away.
"Are you mister Christopher Redfield?" she asked, typing away at the computer still, the clicking of the keys filling the otherwise quiet room. The man nodded.
"I'm here to pick up Nicholas," he said, turning to face his son. Nicholas couldn't look at him. "You're going to be in so much trouble when your mother gets home," Chris said, fingers drumming on the desk as the secretary printed out ten pages worth of paperwork for Chris to sign.

The door opened again and a black-wearing blond strolled into the room acting as nonchalantly as possible. Scoping out the room, he saw Gary and glared at him--Gary winced and whimpered from the icy glare his father gave him.
"I'm here for my sorry excuse for a son," the man said, walking up to the desk. "...Well, well, well, if it isn't Chris Redfield." The man lowered his shades and looked him over. Chris scowled.
"Albert," Chris said, being as courteous as possible.
"Chris," Wesker replied, nodding his head in acknowledgment. Wesker and Chris still hated each other's guts, but Wesker had signed an agreement to not kill him, so they were on a sort of "common understanding" with each other. Wesker checked his watch and looked at Gary.
"Do you realise I was working on something important when all of the sudden I get a call that my idiot son fucked up again? I'm wasting perfectly good money standing here waiting for paperwork to sign, and for what? If Ada hadn't convinced me otherwise, I would've experimented the T-Virus on you." Nicholas looked smug and Gary whimpered.
"Hey, Wesker, take it easy there," Chris said. "The kid might be fucked up, but you don't have to verbally abuse the poor kid."
"Shut up, Redfield," Wesker replied in a monotone sort of voice.

The secretary handed Chris some paperwork and a pen, which he took and signed his name on all ten pages of legal jargon that he only half-understood. The jist of it was that his kid was to not go within fifty feet of the campus, there was some sort of fine he had to pay, and if any injuries resulted from the scuffle he had to pay the bills. He put the pen down and pushed the paperwork towards the wireframe secretary. She took it, placed a seal of approval on it, and filed it into a folder that had Redfield, Nicholas Leon written on the tab. Chris pointed behind him, towards the door, and said, "Go outside, Nick, and wait by my motorcycle."
"But you don't have a motorcycle, you're just borrowing it from Aunt Claire 'cause you crashed our car--"
"Get your ass outside, Nicholas," Chris said, shooting a glare in his son's direction. "You and I will have a nice little talk at home. Wesker," Chris said, and nodded as he left the room, saying something about how "your mother will likely ground you for life, kiddo." Wesker scoffed, signed the required paperwork, and grabbed Gary by the wrist.
"I do believe you know my good friend Jack Krauser," Wesker said as he dragged Gary out the door, slamming it behind him.

Strange people, the wireframe secretary said, and went back to her computer work.

- - -

"Mr. Mekkai, stop doodling in your notebook and pay attention!"
Link jumped slightly and blushed from being caught, his pencil point embedded in the notebook he was drawing in. The class collectively snickered and went back to doing whatever it was they were doing, most likely anything not relating to Geometry. One kid was listening to his Nintenpod, where the people from the next town could probably hear it. Roy was busy doing complex mathematical equations to answer a simple word problem, and Ms. Toadstool was impressed at such skill.
"Think she'll promote you to Algebra Two?" Link whispered to the red head in front of him.
"Probably," Roy replied, focusing on the task at hand, which was to find out how many turnips each Smasher had in their pockets. "Doesn't mean I'll take it, though. I'll have to think about it." By "think about it", Roy meant "talk to his father and seek his advice". Link stared at his problems, and thought that if he stared enough, the answers would suddenly appear right before his eyes. However, all he got was a blaring headache and a detention for tomorrow morning for not doing his work.

"I have a feeling Peach doesn't like me," Link said, trying to refrain from committing Seppuku with his pencil. "I wonder if she's on her--"
"Link!" Roy yelled, turning around, face flushed. "That's more than I'd ever like to know about Peach, thank you very much."
"It's probably true," Link reasoned, still staring at his worksheet. "Hey, what's an angle sum?"
Roy sighed and wondered why no one picked up on the idea that maybe, just maybe, Link wasn't supposed to be in Geometry.

"Oh, and do we change for gym?" Link asked in a conspiratorial whisper.
"How the heck would I know? I didn't have gym yet," the red head replied.
Link shrugged.
"You seem to know everything. And besides, you might've seen Marth or something."
Roy turned around in his seat, which creaked.
"I haven't left the classroom since we got here. I don't think I would've seen Marth between the time second period started and now."

Ms. Toadstool wrote "Geom." on the right hand corner of the board and underlined it. Glancing at the paper she held in her hand, she wrote the night's homework down, and then added "SAVE" by "Geom." so no one would erase it accidentally.
"Your homework is on the board, children," she said, fluffing the cushion on her seat before sitting down. "It shouldn't be that hard--for most of you, anyway." Link swore Peach was looking at him as she said that, but decided it was probably his imagination.
"You can get started on it now, if you'd like. Oh, and Mr. Pherae, a word with you please."

The class "ooh"ed at the prospect of Roy being in trouble, and quieted when Ms. Toadstool threw them a dirty look. Roy got up from his seat, side stepped a few book bags lying on the floor, and over to Ms. Toadstool's desk, where he placed his hands on the edge.
"Is Geometry a...challenge to you?" she asked, shuffling papers around in a distracted sort of way. Roy shrugged.
"Not...really. I mean, I don't think it's hard or anything," the red head replied, his body being propped up by his arms. "Why?"
"Well," Ms. Toadstool said, "if you really wanted to, I could put in a word with your counselor and have you moved up to Algebra Two."
Roy cleared his throat.
"Well, I'd have to think about it."
Ms. Toadstool shoved a pile of papers next to a rather large pile of books.
"Well that's fine. You can let me know what your answer is, then." Roy nodded and walked back to his seat.
"What was that all about?" Link asked, and Roy said nothing.

"Oh, and Link? I think I'm going to talk to your counselor about moving you out of Geometry," Ms. Toadstool said, putting her lunch bag into one of the many desk drawers. "I...don't think you should be here."
Link sighed and Roy said nothing except, "I told you so."

- - -

"Today," Ms. Aran said as she walked back and forth in front of her gym class, "you will be doing an exciting sport."
Many looked at each other with anticipation. It was about damn time they played hockey. Maybe they would play it with a real puck...
"Today," she said, stopping in front of a boy in the front row, "we will be doing Cup Stacking."
Many looked at each other and went "what the crap?". What the heck was Cup Stacking and how, exactly, did it classify as a "sport"?
"What the hell is Cup Stacking?" one kid asked, raising his hand.
"What does it sound like?" Ms. Aran answered with another question, hands clasped behind her back. "You stack cups on top of each other. It's like a...relay. With cups."
The kid wanted to know what kind of sport used cups, and Ms. Aran smugly replied, "Hockey." The kid, unfortunately, did not get the joke.

"We changed for this?" Link said, outraged, as he was handed a pack of three "cup stacking" cups. "I do this at freaking parties with those Styrofoam cups to make it look snazzy, not to compete with some loser."
Roy, who was on Link's team, shook his head.
"This is incredibly queer," Roy remarked. "I'd rather play Ring Around the Rosy than this crap."
"All right," Ms. Aran said, "this is incredibly easy. You simply stack them like this--" she demonstrated with her own, "--and then take them down in the reverse way you put them up. Capiche?"
When it came time to actually try it, many dropped them or knocked them over. But not Link. Link, who had made elaborate designs of Hyrule Castle with Styrofoam tea and coffee cups, was the only one who kept his cool and didn't fumble once.

"I WIN!" Link shouted, pumping a fist into the air. Somehow, Link made a miniature model of Hyrule Temple.
"Very nice, Mr. Mekkai," Ms. Aran said, marking the performance in her grade book. "Now can you take it down?"
Link cracked his knuckles and effortlessly took down his masterpiece.
"What would Hyrule do without you, Link?" one of his classmates asked, patting him on the back.
"I dunno," Link replied, "probably get taken over by Ganondorf."

- - -

"Hey, if we're in Chorus, we can be excused during it as well," Link said, peering at the sign on the door. Adjusting his bag, Link stretched and headed in the opposite direction, towards the staircase that led to the third floor of the old building.
"Shouldn't we tell Marth?" Roy asked, walking faster so he could catch up to Link.
"He'll see the sign on the door," Link answered.
"Hopefully," Roy said, as he and Link nearly threw the doors off their hinges when they opened them.
"You don't have to slam them open!" a hall monitor yelled, shaking a fist after their retreating backs.

"So the auditorium is pretty...dead," Link said when they arrived in the theatre-like room. Link slid his bag off his shoulder, caught the strap with his hand, and placed it onto one of the seats near the back. Roy closed the doors so no noise could distract them, and was nearly knocked over when Marth came rushing through them.
"Oww," Roy said, rubbing the spot on his face where the door collided with his cheek.
"Sorry," Marth said, reaching a hand out to gently massage the now-light-red spot on the red head's cheek.
"Your hands are cold," Roy said, placing a hand over Marth's. He went to pull his hand away when Roy said, "No, leave it. It feels good." Marth and Roy's "sappy" moment was interrupted by Link tripping over the microphone cord and nearly falling off of the stage.

"I'm okay!" Link shouted out, pushing himself away from the edge of the stage and towards the table with the CD player on it. Taking out his green CD wallet, he flipped through the pages until he came upon the CD he was looking for. Pressing the "Open" button on the stereo and nearly getting hit with the cover, he slipped the disc out of the sleeve, popped it into the player (after nearly bending the CD from not having it in the right spot), and closed the cover with a slam.
"Where's the play button...?" Link muttered, looking at the interface on the front of the stereo upside down, too lazy to turn the stereo around to make things easier. Marth sighed, grabbed Roy's wrist, and led him to the front of the theatre to sit while Link figured out how to work the CD player.
"Aha!" the blond shouted, blowing a stray strand of hair out of his face. "It lives!"

Link fell over after nearly having a heart attack from how loud the music was. People outside the auditorium went over to the doors and tried to peek inside and see what was going on. Marth and Roy, who were in front of the speakers, nearly went deaf and were forced to cover their ears. One girl outside the doors screamed, "The Microsoft invasion has begun!" and fainted.
"Link!" Marth shouted as loud as he could in an attempt to be heard over the music. "Turn it down!"
Link was trying to find the volume knob.
"I can't find the Din-damned volume control thingy!"
Roy, who was well versed in stereos, walked over to it, located the very hard to miss volume knob (which was about the size of a plum), and turned it to the left until the music wasn't shattering glass and causing the school to shake on its foundation.

"It says 'volume' above it," Roy said, and handed him the remote. "And you can use the remote to do the same thing." Link stared at the controller and then at the boom box with narrowed eyes.
"You're going down," he whispered to the electronic device. "Down I say."
Link was entirely unaware of the fact that he was playing really bad techno music.

- - -

"So what track is it again?" Link asked as Roy sat on the edge of the stage.
"According to the track list, it's number six," Roy answered, putting the list down as he did so. Link, who finally figured out how to work the damn thing, flipped to track six.
"Ready when you are," Link said, sitting on the table next to the stereo. Roy stood up and walked over to where the microphone stand was.
"...Where's the microphone?" Roy asked, gesturing to the empty spot on the stand where it would usually be. Link shrugged.
"I thought it was already there," Link replied, scratching his head as he went over to the stand. "And if it's not there, then I have no idea where it is."

Marth came up behind Link, took something out of his pants pocket, and held it out to Roy.
"Check your pockets next time," Marth said, nudging Link in the side. Link laughed in a nervous sort of way, hand on the back of his head.
"I guess I had a blond moment."
Roy placed the mic on the stand and adjusted it to his height.
"Alright," Link said, returning to his spot by the stereo. "Ready when you are."
"Pardon my sucking," Roy warned, turning the mic on. "I haven't done karaoke since Pherae's Harvest Festival last year."
Link didn't know Roy did karaoke, shrugged, and decided he didn't really care.

Link pressed "play" on the boom box, and the introduction to the song played.

"What a shame we all became such fragile, broken things.
A memory remains just a tiny spark," Roy sang as Link shifted so that his leg wasn't going to fall asleep any time soon. Marth watched from his seat with a sort of morbid curiosity. He interest in watching Roy became more so apparent when Roy unbuttoned his shirt somewhat.

Oh yes, that definitely caught Marth's attention.

"This is how we'll dance when,
When they try to take us down
This is how we'll sing it." Roy, who was getting very into the song, removed the mic from the stand and began doing some complicated dance moves--as complicated as one can get with the use of one hand, anyway. Marth didn't even know Roy could dance, and Link had no idea Roy could sing as high as he did without needing a swift kick to the groin. Marth raised an eyebrow when he saw Link headbanging during the solo, but said nothing--Link was an odd individual after all.

"This is how we'll stand when
When they burn our houses down.
This is what will be oh glory." Roy was sweating like crazy and the song ended, going into another song as he placed the microphone back on the stand. Link threw a towel at him, which hit him smack in the face.
"Thanks," Roy said, and wiped his face off as well as unbutton his shirt more.

Marth wanted to look away, but he couldn't even if he wanted to.
You bastard, Marth thought, you're doing this on purpose.

"All righty then," Link said, looking at his set list while bad techno played. "You're just getting started, Roy, so don't sit down yet." Roy was about to jump off the stage when he heard Link tell him to stay where he was, and so he opted for sitting on the edge instead.
"What do you want to do next? Do you want 'Far Away' or 'Little Death'?"
Roy shrugged and removed his school blazer, throwing it (or he tried to, anyway) at the chair next to Marth. The wind was wrong and so it landed on Marth, slight dampness and all. Marth picked the jacket up by the collar and placed it on the chair to his left, where Roy had intended it to go. Roy grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry Marth."

"Let's do 'Little Death' next," Link said, switching to track three.
"Can I change it to 'Lilian' instead?" Roy asked, and Link instead switched it to track five.
"You're lucky I had that song on the CD," Link said as Roy got up and he handed him the microphone.
"Alright, let's do this," Roy said, cracking his knuckles and stretching his back. "I'm ready."
Link pressed play, and the short introduction for the song played.

"The place I used to live made me feel like a tourist
I couldn't coexist with the cold and suspicious
When the last remaining light was starting to filter
It seemed the perfect time to step into the future," Roy sang, using the microphone stand as something he could kind of lean on. Link thought the song was kind of slow, but shrugged and figured Roy knew what he was doing.

The doors of the auditorium slammed open and in came Gary Stu Wesker, who got out of his three day out of school suspension when his father waved a one hundred dollar bill under Mr. Crazy Hand's fat, greedy digit. Over his all black attire was his white dress shirt and his light blue blazer, since his father wouldn't pay the out of uniform fee a second time, citing the money had better use elsewhere.

"And she's trying to sleep it off
With her head on my shoulder..."

Gary walked down the slightly sloped aisle, arms crossed, a look of importance on his face. He sneered at the red head performing some stupid song by some equally stupid band, which Link would have resented had Gary said anything out loud.
"Well, well, well, the kid who lives off his dad's name and fortune actually has some semblance of talent," Gary remarked, trying to be as rude as possible. Marth, who heard the remark, turned around and gave him the glare-equivalent of the middle finger.
"Hey, Melee Academy is for boys, not girls," Gary said in a Draco Malfoy sort of voice, and Marth pretended Gary spontaneously combusted.

The music ended and Roy panted from all the physical activity. Link handed him a bottle of water and switched to another techno song.
"Link, do you have a fetish for really bad techno or something?" Roy asked after he chugged half of the bottle.
"...No. Why?"
"You seem to have a lot of it."
"You think you can do your last song?" Link asked, gesturing to his clipboard. "It's not that long. And then you can take a break and we can watch Marth sing." Roy smiled at the thought of Marth on stage singing his little Altean heart out, and handed Link the bottle of water.
"Yeah, it's no problem."

Gary looked at his watch and wondered when Link would realise he was there, and Link just ignored Gary.

Link switched to track twelve and pressed the Play button and sat back to watch Roy's little "show".

"This time, This place
Misused, Mistakes
Too long, Too late
Who was I to make you wait?"

Oh dear gods, Marth thought. Not a love song.
Oh yes, Roy decided to sing the sappiest song he could think of without being overtly so, just for his girlfriend, who was coming to see the Talent Show.
Gary had decided to sit down and wait for his turn like a good little boy, which is what he was deep down inside. Link held up a cigarette lighter and waved his back and forth slowly.

"On my knees, I'll ask
Last chance for one last dance
'Cause with you, I'd withstand
All of hell to hold your hand."

Roy was really getting into it, Marth observed, which was really weird to see Roy practically on his knees singing his head off about how he'll never leave his lover and all sorts of other mushy stuff. Marth was never one for love songs, especially the overtly sappy ones that were borderline stalker.

Roy hit a particularly high note, which surprised both Link and Marth. Any normal male would need a swift kick to the genitals to have something as high as that, but then again, Roy wasn't 'any normal male'. He was Roy, a prodigy in the sword arts, which really had nothing to do with singing. His singing talent probably came from his uncle, who was a bard. That had to be it, Marth concluded. That's how Roy could sing that high.

Maybe that had nothing to do with anything. Marth didn't care.

Roy placed the mic back on the stand and gulped down the rest of his water.
"Okay Marth," Roy said as he jumped off of the stage, "it's your turn."
Marth, who was just getting comfortable in his seat, stared at the red head like there were ten of him.
"I already told you, I'm not--"
"Of course you are!" Link said, pulling Marth out of his chair. "I mean c'mon Marth. You can sing, can't you?"
"...If you want to put it that way, yes."
"Then there's no problem."
Marth sighed and gave up. It was no use arguing with Link.

"We'll be doing which song, Marthy?"
Marth looked at the scrap of paper he hastily wrote his songs onto and picked one at random.
"Um... 'Cry for the Dream'?"
"And lookit, Marthy, it's from your favourite anime!" Link said in a sort of overly enthusiastic way. Favourite anime? Marth didn't have one.
Then it hit him like a sack of potatoes.
"You're making me do a Heero Yuy image song?!"
If Marth didn't pride himself in being a dignified and usually-not-violent, he would've thrown the microphone at the blond and strangled him with the cord. However, since Marth prided himself in being a dignified and usually-not-violent prince, he restrained himself.
"Tell me when you're ready, Marthy," Link said, skipping to track one on the CD. Marth composed himself and adjusted the stand.
"All right. Let's get this over with." Link, who was sitting next to Roy, pressed the sideways triangle shaped button on the remote, and sat back and watched what Marth would probably call his impending doom.

"Arikitari no hiirou nante
Mappira sa Ore ni wa naranai
Tamaranai."
Roy heard the faint sound of snickering coming from besides him, and looked to see Link trying to contain his laughter. Roy sighed. There wasn't anything wrong with how Marth sounded; Link was just very easily amused. Roy also noticed that Marth looked nervous as all hell and extremely uncertain of his own abilities--Link's giggling like a ten year old school girl wasn't helping matters either.
"See? This is why he didn't want to do this song. The judges'll probably be like, 'And besides, you did this song last year for Battle of the Bands'," Roy said, slouching in his seat. Link rummaged through his book bag and pulled out a "Ninten-Mart" plastic shopping bag filled with unidentifiable objects.
"I'll be back," Link said as he grabbed the bag and walked over to the curtain-covered entranceway to the backstage area. The curtain settled back into its former position and hid Link from view--if he were still there.

"Yami ni tsubasa wo hirogete ashita e habatakou
Hitomi ga mitsumeteru kaze ni notte."
Link had come back from wherever he ran off to dressed in a "Melee Academy Cheerleading Squad" hoodie with green sweatpants, shopping bag in hand. He plopped down in his seat and put his belongings next to him on the floor.
"Why is your tie around your head and why did you change out of the uniform?" Roy asked as the last few notes of "Cry for the Dream" played out.
"Crazy Hand doesn't care, we're rehearsing for the Talent Show, and I wanted something more comfortable than those stiff assed pants they make us wear."
"Oh," Roy said, and saw Marth place the mic on the stand.

"Am I done now?" the blue haired prince asked, standing with his arms folded as patient as he could.
"Nu-uh, Mr. Marthy," Link answered, gesturing to the clipboard. "You have two more songs to go."
"They aren't anime songs, are they?"
Link had a smug grin on his face.
"Maybe. Maybe not," the blond said in a sing-song fashion. Marth resisted the urge to slap himself with the mic stand.
"Maybe you could do 'Flying Away'..."
Marth nearly had a heart attack.
"...Do you have a fetish for--"
"No! I don't have a fetish for bad techno music!" Link shouted, about to throw the clipboard at something. "Stop asking!"
Marth scratched his neck.
"I was going to ask if you had a fetish for anime music, but okay..."

Marth and Link just looked at each other.
"So, will you do it?"
Marth stared at him.
"No."
"But Marth--"
"No. No more Midorikawa Hikaru songs."
Roy just snickered, Link hung his head in defeat, and Marth looked at the set list.
"I'd like to continue with the songs we've picked before hand, so play whatever track number 'Ending in Tragedy' is associated with."
Link didn't argue and did as Marth said.

"I tried to save us
But little did I know
You are a speeding train off track
With little time to go."
Link leaned against Roy's arm and yawned. If only he had a nice cozy blanket and a soft pillow...
Marth hit a sour note which caused all thoughts of sleep to flee Link's mind, and for Roy to jump and cover his ears, which caused Link's head to be introduced to the arm rest.
"Ow," Link said, sitting up and clutching the back of his head.

"Now it's our time
And I'll see you on the other side."
Roy started on his Geometry homework when Zelda quietly crept into the room, binder in her hand. Link played Phantom Hourglass on his custom made Nintendo DS and killed any and all enemies on the screen.
"Link," Zelda said, tapping him on the shoulder, "you should have waited for me before starting the rehearsal. I still need to approve the songs you're singing."
Link was too absorbed in his Keese fighting to pay any attention to her. She sighed, walked over to where the stereo was, found the set list, and lightly giggled at the song choices for Link.
"I swear he has a thing for bad techno music."
"I heard that!" Link retorted, swiping furiously at enemies with his stylus. Roy opened his bag and searched for his calculator, which was somewhere in between his Japanese text book, the crapload of papers jammed in there, his cell phone, his planner, twelve dollars in Pheraean currency (which was about 2500 gold pieces), and his wallet. Roy wasn't very organised and was against the idea of using folders to hold his papers.

"It's ending in tragedy
And most of all
It's in my control
To end it all." Marth ended the song on that note and fell to his knees on the stage, microphone still in hand. Zelda looked at him, concerned.
"Marth?" she called, "Are you all right?"
Marth looked up and nodded slowly.
"I'm fine. I just wanted to be dramatic."

The stereo offered no break for Marth, though, because it started playing "Perfect Situation," and so Marth had to stand up again, do some complicated dance number, sing, and then promptly pass out when it was all over. That was his plan, anyway.

"What's the deal with my brain?
Why am I so obviously insane?
In a perfect situation
I let love down the drain."
Marth, at this point, began serenading the microphone stand, and even started dancing with it. Link, who had stopped hacking monsters to pieces to watch, was creeped out and instead went back to his game. Roy, finished with his Geometry homework, took out a piece of loose leaf and started writing a letter to his father. Gary was half asleep and playing Mario Kart DS, his sunglasses balanced on top of his head--it was hard to see in those things when the room was dark.
"Hey! How dare you cut me off! Eat Koopa Shell, Monkey Butt!" Gary shouted, turning the DS to the left as his Peach character turned in the same direction, pressed the R button to begin drifting, and then pressed the L button to hurl a Red Koopa Shell at Donkey Kong. He whooped and hollered at his awesomeness.

"Get your hands off the girl,
Can't you see that she belongs to me?
And I don't appreciate this excess company.
Though I can't satisfy all the needs she has
And so she starts to wander...
Can you blame her?"
Marth, during the part where he was supposed to be "ooh"ing, began breakdancing, doing moves that would break a normal person's back. Marth, however, was a swordsman, and was therefore rather flexible and nimble. Girls that somehow got into the building were on top of each other trying to get a peek through the window of the double doors, screaming like ten year old school girls at a Green Day concert at that part where Billie Joe faux-masturbates. If they could get into the auditorium, they would fill up in front of the stage and orgasm over Marth's awesomeness, his sexiness, and his ability to not break his back breakdancing. But they couldn't, and Mewtwo floated by and want to know why there were no fangirls of his awesomeness.

The song ended and Marth realised just how sweaty he was--his shirt was practically transparent (which was probably one of the other several reasons why the fangirls outside the auditorium were shrieking like banshees). Roy, too, was looking at Marth's transparent shirt and blushed as he thought of Marth's well-toned chest and abdomen...
He stared at his letter to his father and nearly shrieked at what was written.
There was no way in hell he was going to tell his father, "Man, Marth is kind of hot with a transparent dress shirt on...his nicely toned muscles are roar... Run my hands over his body...". No way in hell, heaven, or any other place.
"Hey, Roy, what're you hastily scribbling out?" Marth asked as he walked over. Roy blushed harder and proceeded to crumple the letter up and toss it at Link's head.
"Nothing," Roy replied, "it was just a letter to my father that I messed up really bad. Why?"
Marth smirked.
"You're blushing."
Marth didn't realise how red Roy's face could get.
"Am not!"
"You are too," Marth countered, playfully smacking Roy with his towel.

Marth and Roy looked around and saw that Zelda and Link went backstage to prepare his "awesome plan" and Gary was asleep in his chair. They were alone.
"...Just how tall are you?" Marth asked randomly, leaning against the arm rest of the chair Roy was sitting in.
"Well, the nurse said I was 165.1 centimetres tall. Why?"
Marth wrapped his hand around Roy's wrist.
"Let me see."
Roy stood up and Marth stopped slouching; the top of Roy's head was at Marth's nose.
"I'll buy that," Marth said, running a hand through his hair.
"Why'd you ask that?" Marth shrugged.
"For some reason, you seemed shorter than that. You're not that much shorter than I am, though, and I'm 172.72 centimetres." He stuck his tongue out.
Roy stared at him.
"Are you trying to enact some sort of height rule or something?" Marth shook his head.
"No, I was just curious is all."

Roy walked over to the stereo to change the song to something else--he was getting tired of listening to bad techno.
"What the crap? Link has extremely bad and sappy love songs on his CD, too." Out of morbid curiosity, Roy put the song on and nearly burst out laughing.
"Oh wow," Marth said, standing next to Roy. "I hope he doesn't plan on hitting on a home run to that song."
Roy turned around, eyebrow raised. "...'Hitting a home run'?"
Marth made several gestures with his hands, as if they would explain everything for him.
"Well, you know how first base is holding hands, second base is kissing, third base is Frenching, right?" Roy nodded. "Well, when you hit a home run," Marth continued, "you're...well...you're giving the girl 'the time', you know?"
Roy sat on the edge of the table, his hands gripping the edge.
"...So you hope Link never plans on having sex to this song?"
Marth smiled. "Exactly."

As Marth listened to the song, though, he realised it wasn't as bad as Roy was making it out to be. He still wouldn't ever have sex with someone while the song was playing, but it was slow dance worthy at least.
"...Marth? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Marth wasn't even aware he was looking at Roy--he thought he was looking past him--but when his mind caught up with his eyes, he realised all his attention was on Roy's mouth. Marth blinked a few times to rid his mind of evil thoughts.
"You know, this song isn't that bad," Marth said, "I mean it's not sex worthy, but you could make out to it or slow dance or something..."
Roy spread his legs apart slightly and moved his hands so they were gripping the edge of the table between them as he leaned forward.
"You played this at your wedding, didn't you," Roy said, a smirk on his lips. Marth was very much aware of the position Roy was in at that moment and moved forward slightly.
"No," Marth replied, "Sheeda wouldn't pick something this sappy."

There was an unnerving silence between the two of them. Marth kept staring at Roy, and Roy kept staring at the floor.
Suddenly, Marth pined Roy's wrists where they were and moved so their faces were mere inches apart.
"M-Marth, what are you do--nnng..."
Marth realised just how tense Roy was and, still having a hold on Roy's wrists, moved them so they were on either side of Roy's head.
"Relax," Marth said when he broke the kiss. Roy was breathing just a little quicker, his eyes half lidded, and his face was a light shade of pink.
Marth kissed Roy again, but harder and more aggressive than the last one. Roy pressed against Marth and moaned slightly. Marth let Roy's hands go in favour of running one up the side of Roy's leg and the other cupped his cheek. Roy, having his hands free, wrapped them around Marth's neck and pulled him closer.

They didn't realise Link and Zelda were watching Marth move Roy's legs so that they were around the prince's waist from backstage. They didn't realise Link and Zelda were watching Marth run a hand up Roy's shirt.
"You owe me ten bucks," Link said, holding a hand out, palm facing up, in front of Zelda without taking his eyes off of the Fire Emblem boys.
"I'll pay you later," she replied.

Roy opened his mouth and Marth swept his tongue through it tentatively before exploring the new territory. Roy, unfamiliar with the feeling, moaned and pressed against Marth harder.
"M-Marth," Roy said, his voice cracking as the Altean nibbled and sucked on Roy's neck, "we have to s-stop."
Marth didn't pay any attention to what Roy was saying.
"Marth," Roy said, moving his hands so they were against Marth's chest. He made a slight pushing motion against the other swordsman.
"We have to stop this before it gets out of hand."
Marth reluctantly ceased sucking on Roy's neck and realised the position they had gotten into.

"...You like being in between my legs, don't you?" Roy asked as he sat up. Roy hadn't realised that Marth had, at one point, unbuttoned his shirt completely and was beginning work on his belt.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Marth replied, placing a kiss on Roy's mouth again. Roy ran his fingers through Marth's hair as Marth went from his face to his neck.
"Marth," Roy said, "we're doing the same thing again."
"Sorry," Marth replied sheepishly and he completely disentangled himself from the red head.
"...Next time," Roy said as he began buttoning his shirt up, "I want to be on top." Marth kissed him again--he found he couldn't help himself--and pulled away from him before saying, "If there is a next time."
Roy laughed.
"Oh, there will be. There will be loads of 'next time's."

There was silence.
"So does this mean you...you feel the same way?" Marth asked, breaking the long silence.
"I guess it does," Roy answered. "We'd have to do this again for me to be sure."
They turned around when they heard giggling, and Marth and Roy then realised something rather important.
Link and Zelda saw the whole thing.
"No! Don't hit me!" Link shouted as he ran from a rather pissed off prince of Altea, who was practically on top of him.