A/N: OKAY SO YEAH. It's been half a year and this chapter does NOT make up for that at all. D: M'sorryy...

Last chapter we had a glance into Roy's homelife and the way he acts around family and friends. Here, we learn the same thing about Marth. I THOUGHT IT WAS NECESSARY. D: MARTH NEEDS LOVE TOO.

Even though he should be getting enough of it in Brawl now that he's left my little Royskies behind kjasnfkfjkbnadgj he's going to get it. -sigh-

Enjoy, everyone!

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Throughout his life, Marth was laden with a variety of labels, but one that was never placed into the roster was "morning person". Biologically speaking, humans require around six to eight hours of sleep every night to be able to function at the peak of their abilities. Marth apparently loved defying this recommendation, as his late nights and forced-early mornings resulted in minimal amounts of sleep and consistent doses of caffeine.

In all honesty, the bluenette hated the morning. 75 percent of the year, he would wake up knowing that another day would have to be braved before he could cocoon himself in the soft, safe embrace of his bed once more. He hated waking and noticing that his hair was matted and tangled from tossing during the night. He hated feeling the sun fall onto his cool face, blazing through his eyelids as if looking for attention when there was a perfectly good shadow covering him instead. And he hated leaving the comfortable relaxation of his aforementioned bed. This morning was no different.

Marth woke up around 6:45am to the sound of patterned water spilling from the showerhead in the second-floor bathroom and hitting the ceramic bottom of the bathtub. Somehow, Ellice was always awake before him, no matter how early he set his alarm to sound. He cursed to himself under his breath, knowing that it would be a good twenty minutes before his older sister concluded her shower; a twenty minutes of sitting around in his tangled, half-awake, generally disgusting-feeling state. The bluenette opted to lie peacefully under his thin linen sheets until that time passed. He allowed his eyes to slide closed again, letting himself listen to the steady rhythm of water as he slipped into a feeling of serenity. However, his newfound peace was soon shred by long, thin strands of off-key notes and broken lyrics. Ellice was singing in the shower again. Marth, irritated, groaned softly and rolled grudgingly out of his bed. He snatched a stray t-shirt that lay draped over the arm of a chair and strolled down the stairs in an attempt to escape the caterwauling of his sister.

The groggy teen made his way through the bottom floor of his expansive house, sliding his shirt onto his currently bare torso and padding barefoot into the kitchen. He yawned long and hard, blinking the teary remnants of the action away, hoping to blink away his sleepy stupor as well. With one hand, he drew the door of the refrigerator open, and began tugging at the waistband of his boxers with the other, adjusting them from their twisted position so they sat comfortably on his hips. From inside the cold depths of the appliance, Marth withdrew a previously brewed mug of coffee and carefully placed it into the microwave overhead to heat up. As the hum of the machine wavered, Marth slid his pale hand along the marble countertop and over to a black radio that sat against the corner of the wall; its bright red digital face read 6:51am. He flicked it on and wandered to sit on the wooden table that lay on the other side of the counter, swinging his feet up to rest on one of the chairs.

Wipe that tear away now from your eye

Slowly walking down the hall,

Faster than a cannonball

Where were you while we were getting high...

The teenager sighed in relief, subconsciously whispering along with the lyrics.

Someday you will find me

Caught beneath the landslide

In a champagne supernova in the sky...

Marth rose and retraced his path back to the microwave upon hearing its three chirping beeps, taking his now-warmed coffee out of the machine and following it with a long swig of the liquid. He sighed, letting out a warm breath of air as the radio stopped its melodic crooning to blurt out advertisements.

By the time he finished his coffee, Ellice had finished her shower and Marth could hear her descending the staircase. The cobalt-haired boy stood again, empty mug dangling dangerously from his curved index finger. As the next song begun with the chords of a piano as an introduction, Marth immediately flinched, breathing out an "Oh, no."

Ellice, in a pair of gym shorts, slippers, and one of her brother's loose-fitting shirts, scuffled into the kitchen, belting out a mangled first line of the song. "One is the loneliest number you'll ever do…"

"Oh Ell, please, it's too early…"

"Two can be as bad as one; it's the loneliest number since the number one…"

"Ell… I don't want to go to school with a headache."

Ellice, in reply, danced over to Marth, her long, still-damp blue hair flicking droplets of water across the boy, who now had his thumb and index finger pinching the bridge of his nose, irritated.

"No is the saddest experience you'll… ever know."

"Okay. I can't take this."

"Yes is th--"

The bluenette suddenly and quickly cut his sister off, covering her voice with his own on-key rendition of the song. Ellice, mock-offended, continued to sing as she glared daggers at Marth. They serenaded in a broken harmony, both siblings fighting to be the louder voice. Eventually, Ellice let herself fade out as Marth continued to sing. "It's just no good anymore since you went awa—can I stop now?"

"But you have such a pretty voice." Ellice whined, drifting over to the fridge, gathering ingredients to make breakfast for the both of them. "I wish I could sing as well as you."

Marth nodded, smiling softly. "Thanks, sis. But it's way too early to be singing- much less dancing around the kitchen. You're way too bouncy."

"That's because I got sleep, dork. What kept you up last night?"

"Cartoons," He replied, now standing at the sink, placing his empty mug in it. "Really stupid, pointless, useless cartoons." He turned on the faucet, allowing the stream of water it spat out to fill his mug.

"Oh, I get it." The blue-haired girl said softly, leaning against the part of the counter that sat next to the fridge. "There's something on your mind that's wearing on you and the cartoons were just a useless and vain attempt at distracting yourself so it doesn't hurt anymore, hmm?" Ellice's hand flicked over to shut off the tap. Marth glowered at his sister, soon after averting his gaze to fall on the floor; she, in response to Marth's silence, continued. "What's eating you, little brother?"

Ellice Lowell could read people's emotions as easily as reading plain text. She was kind-hearted and loyal; her widely branching network of friends always went to her for advice, or to vent, or simply for another person to talk to. Ellice would willingly listen. She was rarely ever seen as weak, as she took on so many people's problems without faltering. With parents that were out of the country 80 percent of the time, a brother that was left under her care, and dozens of needy friends, Ellice was forced to remain as strong as possible. She had experienced her fair share of broken relationships, stress, and pressure; being the older sibling and caregiver definitely added to her hardships. That was what made her advice genuine and problems so relatable.

The girl peered at Marth, blue hair framing her face and tumbling past her shoulders, occasionally dripping cold water onto the tiled floor of the kitchen. Marth blinked back at her, searching identical blue eyes as he chose his words. "Nothing. School's stressing me out, that's all. The carnival is coming up soon and I'm meant to organize it. On top of that, I'm supposed to have a partner to help out, but no one is brave enough to help me. Plus I don't have any people at school that are close enough to me that I would feel comfortable asking…" The cobalt haired youth railed off and took a deep breath. "Just… a lot's happening."

"Mhm. You'll pull through it, I know you're strong. Even if you have to tackle more than your share of work, I can always help you with organization and planning, alright? Please, Marth. Come to me if you need help. And I'm sure you'll find someone to help you soon. Didn't you just transfer into an art class? Maybe someone can help you there." Ellice watched as her brother nodded silently again, and hesitantly continued. "And… what about… you know… Wolt?"

Marth flinched slightly, shoulders sagging in his previously straight, upright stance. He shook his head slowly. "I've… mostly forgotten about him."

"Sorry if I'm bringing up bad memories. But you… were pretty hurt," Ellice turned quietly, her back to her the boy, leaning slightly over the stove to turn the front most burner on. She could hear Marth's feet turn and begin walking away.

"I thought I loved him," He said from the foot of the stairs. "Of course it hurt." Marth ascended the staircase and headed into the bathroom, which was still steamy from Ellice's shower. The girl in question, sighing softly in worry, watched the empty spot at the top of the stairs as if Marth was going to emerge again as happy as he was four years ago, with his playful, boyish attitude and bright smile. "It's just been one thing after another, huh, Marth?" The eldest child of the Lowells cooked breakfast as the younger dwelled on his thoughts beneath an icy rain of water.

Marth's life had always been unstable; its erratic beats conflicted Marth's naturally rhythmic nature. His parents would arrive at home from business trips and a fourteen-hour flight- exhausted every time- and barely have enough time to unpack before they were called away again. He did not have a long-term friend that he could speak to on a regular basis. Almost all the relationships he had encountered would inevitably end on a muddy note, where Marth would question whether or not the friendship was ever there to begin with. Whenever the boy began to warm up to people, they would begin to drift away; Marth remained under the impression that he must have done something wrong and opted to freeze himself over completely again. With this constant loop: Marth's iciness melting away only to be established again soon after, he forgot how to warm up at all. The warmth of friendship- of true happiness- was numbed and muted.

Marth stepped out of the shower twenty minutes later, cold water dripping quickly from his pale skin and scurrying along the slight curves of his body. He scrubbed his hair into a dishevelled and messy dampness before wrapped the same towel around his waist. He slipped out of the bathroom and into his bedroom just as fast. There, he shut the door behind him and discarded the towel by flinging it onto the back of the chair that sat in his room, rummaging through his drawers to clothe his naked body.

At 7:30am, the bluenette stood ready at the front door, wearing jeans that hung low on his hips, revealing the thin line of waistband on his canary yellow boxers, which the boy was trying to hide in vain. He sighed in frustration, checking the time on his cell phone, watching as the digital numbers shifted to show 7:32am. He heard Ellice thundering down the stairs; knowing that he would be at school earlier gave him relief. Marth had never been one to rush.

As the siblings met, Ellice's eyes fell on Marth's left hand, whose index finger was curled around one of his empty belt loops, still attempting to try and hide his boxers.

"You're making them short on the bottom," Ellice said, scrunching her nose in disgust. "Stop that."

Marth promptly stopped holding onto the denim, and Ellice nodded in approval, turning to the closet next to the door and throwing it open so hard that Marth jumped at the sound it made.

"But… it's my underwear." Marth said sheepishly.

"Calm down. It just looks like another layer under your hoodie." Marth shrugged in defeat as Ellice threw him a woollen scarf that she pulled from the closet and fumbled with the buttons on her sweater as she walked out the door, starting down the paved walkway. In an act of dexterity, Marth threw his scarf properly around the collar of his turtleneck, walking backwards out the door that Ellice had left open, pulling it closed with his foot and finally locking it. It was only a few strides before Marth and Ellice walked beside each other, the younger of the pair zipping up the green hoodie he wore. Both siblings inhaled as icy breath of cool autumn air and slowly exhaled, enjoying the crisp feeling of the season and relaxing themselves on the short walk to the subway station.

Marth departed the train at 7:45am, walking up the grimy stairs to normal ground level again after uttering a short goodbye to his sister, who continued along the route to university. Relieved of conversation, the boy turned the volume on his iPod up, earphones rattling slightly with bass in the caverns of his ears. He continued up to the main entrance of his school, his path lined by slowly balding autumn coloured trees. Students passed him, giggling with each other and discussing the latest gossip. Marth held close to his tradition: keeping to himself, with the wind wiping his cheeks and chilling his already cold flesh. He was silent and kept his blue-haired head bowed, walking in time with the music until a quick two successive taps to the shoulder interrupted his rhythm. A blur of red infected his vision, and when he trained his eyes on the colour, Roy came into focus, skidding along beside him on rollerblades.

"Marth!" He said with a bright smile, causing Marth to falter for a brief moment in his smooth strides. He pulled on the wire of his headphones, tugging one white bud out of his ear.

"Hi, Roy," Marth answered, voice calm and composed. "How are you?"

"Alright," The younger boy replied, his strides relaxed and lengthened. "Um…" Roy's blue eyes rolled up to stare into the clouds. "Just so you know, you don't need to be so… formal. Not that I mind or anything! I mean, it's a nice change from Link, but…" Roy's eyes glanced into the taller boy's, the height difference not as great with Roy standing on 2-inch wheels. "You can… relax around me."

"Alright. I'll keep that in mind."

"Look, you're doing it again!"

"… sorry."

Roy chuckled and took a sudden, longer stride, turning on his back wheels and skating backwards in front of Marth. "So… today… are you doing anything different?" The redhead, despising silence, struggled to make conversation with the seemingly uninterested boy, who let escape his staple, practiced answer: "No."

"Ah." Roy said simply. Marth immediately regretted his answer as he witnessed the conversation grow static. He didn't have a clue as to why he had lied to Roy; in truth, Marth had to attend a student council meeting after school. Finally remembering that Roy may be interested in helping him prepare for the upcoming school event, Marth quickly rebutted.

"… actually, I've got a meeting after school. I just remembered."

"Oh. Well, I don't have much to do after class, so… do you mind if I keep you company?" At Roy's words, Marth's face remained stoic and expressionless, the smaller boy peering innocently up at him.

"If you like." Marth's gaze stayed fixed dead ahead of him and his voice did not waver in tone. Generally, Marth seemed not to care that he had filled the empty void of well-missed company, or now had a person who was open with him and could be open with in return.

But in reality, Marth's usually cold face grew the smallest bit warmer as he smiled inwardly.

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A/N: Haah, their first moment! Funtimes. Sorry about how short this is, I'll try to make them longer...
R&R please! D
... and those lyrics are "Chempagne Supernova" by Oasis. Totally not mine.