Title: A Cold Bed

Pairing(s): IkeXLink,Mentioned IkeXSoren

Rating: M

A/N: SEE!! 'TOLD YOU I'D WRITE YOU A STORY, Noma-chaaan! -hearthearthappysmile-

But firstly,

-bows like an incompetent fool-

I'm so sorry it's terribly, terribly, terribly late! My classes are very demanding of me this year. D: I hardly have time to write anythin'... (Excuses, excuses!) But since I promised you that I'd write ya somethin'—a long-ass time ago, might I mention—I wrote this bit first.

And it nearly killed me to write this.

By God, it did. Pure torture, it was. Broke my heart in two.

But I certainly hope you get something out of this.

Ahh! And I see that your interests have changed (or couples, I suppose. I have stalked your user-page-thingy. xD) Hopefully you still like IkeXSoreeeen. D:

So anyway, a story dedicated to the most-wonderful Ernoma from Hokage (also known as The Slacker.)

:)

I hope you like it. Ireallyreallyreallydo!

It is not that I have never loved you...

"Ahhn..."

...You have been all that I could ever ask for. All that I could ever want...

"—Ike."

...So how do I tell you...

"Ahh~! Ike!!"

...that I have fallen in love with someone else...?

Link experienced his momentous eruption of sheer ecstasy, his vision morphing from snow-white, to obsidian, until he finally descended from heaven and back into the cold sheets of his large bed. Slowly, the blonde's eyelids peeled back, revealing his sparkling, smiling, cerulean hues to his love of whom he hopefully expected to see smiling down upon him with gleaming eyes and a smile that sought his earlobes.

But Ike's eyes, nor his luscious lips, were smiling the least bit.

And instead of the usual ten to thirty seconds that he remained inside of the gentle, relaxed walls of his lover's body—and dare I say not even ten seconds after Link's climax—he pulled out without hesitation.

"Ike—" the Hylian spoke breathlessly, gripping softly yet sensibly onto his lover's left arm to snag his attention. He wanted those thirty seconds of simply gazing and kissing... They were precious and vital to him.

The mercenary stopped all movement at his icy touch, and turned his head to meet the archer's warm, gentle stare.

"...Yes?" he regretfully and gently responded, though his eyes weren't as warm. Or as gentle and sweet. Link could effortlessly sense that from his tone of voice, and this struck an indescribable pain in both their hearts.

The blonde Hylian, still heaving, swallowed and gazed at his partner's chest, then his lovely abs, lower to his waist, and then his...

"Ike, you... you..."

...How should I ask this...?

What's "this", you ask?

Obviously, Link was the only one who reached total, sexual gratification.

But Ike...?

"'You' what?" Ike pushed, already aware of the question that was being asked... or... was trying to be asked.

Link swallowed at the earnest in the man's deep voice, nearly startling him. He traced his smooth fingertips from the base of his back in a teasing taste, yet with a cautious sense. Switching his vision from his hands, to the ceiling, back into those crystallized oceans of his love's, he muttered with an expression that surpassed innocence, "Um... you... you didn't... didn't um... come."

A tinge.

A painful tinge, an oh-so painful tinge crippled the poor swordsman's heart at those sweet words.

"Yeah... I-I know."

Link peered all around, unsure if he should ask the follow-up question... Surely Ike, too, would want to feel that toe-curling sensation.

But he looked as though he were "finished".

It never hurt to ask...

Link bit his lips as he began to rise off his back, purring directly into his mate's ears to keep the mood lingering in the air, "Um... I-I could... uh... take... care of that."

"No. It is alright."

"Oh. Uh... O-Okay," airily retorted Link, a fruitful blush attacking the tip of his nose and spreading in all directions.

...

Three months.

Three months had his love been acting like this.

So distracted.

Discreet.

Unemotional.

Fidgety.

Ike was anything—anything—but those things. So what happened? What changed? What was so... so traumatizing for him that Link had to actually beg him to have sex with him? To take him out? To do what lovers do?

The simplest, the most elementary things a lover could do for his man—and Ike would rather sleep with a woman than do them... so it seemed to Link.

Who felt as if he were failing... as a lover.

Making love is supposed to be enjoyable, is it not? Not something you have to do whenever your partner requests for it. Hell, your partner shouldn't ever have to request for it. It should be—it's supposed to be consensual. Sensational. Enchanting.

Two individuals, sharing their bodies, constructing an instrumental orchestra.

But that night, despite how sweet Ike touched him, how ginger he was or how tender his heavily-concentrated gazes, Ike felt... uneasy. Like he was inclined to do it. It was an out-of-body experience.

And better yet, Ike hadn't even kissed him during their whole, twenty-minute, love-making process.

Not once.

And he was silent.

Not a murmur.

Nor a peep.

Nothing.

Link was the only, audible soul, making music with his mouth.

And he was growing tired of it.

He thirsted to know what the hell had stricken his lover with grief and eeriness and why he'd been so... secluded about it. After all, Ike should feel safe in knowing that Link wouldn't dare tell a soul about whatever he's been keeping secret about, no matter how grave the secret. For he would never judge him. He loved him dearly, and with judgment present, there is no room for love.

Link, inspired to shed light on this situation, crawled to Ike's side, who was currently staring through the window a few feet in front of him as if entranced by an invisible force, "...Ike? What is wrong? What is it? You've been... I don't know. Acting... strange."

Ike rubbed the nape of his neck, turning his head the other direction as he did so.

Denied.

He wasn't all for talking about... whatever, apparently; Link'd get the truth out of him, regardless.

"Ike, I want an answer. I've asked you this before and you never respond to me. We just made lov—no, not 'made love'. We just had sex and not one time did you say you loved me nor once did you kiss me. E-Everything you did seemed... mechanical."

...And Link waited for a few moments for some sort of a response, but would not and did not receive one.

Again.

The Hylian groaned to himself...

"Ike you... if you didn't want to do it you didn't... you didn't have to. I just... we hadn't... done it—or anything—in... a while, an'... I wanted—I-I thought... no—I felt like you...you didn't want anything to do with me anymore. That you didn't... didn't... love me... anymore an'—"

Ike swiftly caught his lover's narrow chin after his confession, and meshed his lips momentarily with the blonde's.

It was a cold kiss.

A sad, coldkiss.

Link could feel the omniscient presence of revelation encircle them; his sixth sense rattled.

Something was wrong.

Ike hastily tore away from his lover's cold petals as if they were engrossing him, lightly sampling his own lips, searching for that sweetness that dwelled there.

Oh yes, it was there.

But... it was not as appeasing as it had been three months ago.

And they weren't nearly as sweet as his.

They would never be sweeter than his.

Ike stagnantly gazed into those glazed, wide, robin-egg blue orbs that peered at him as though he were some horrendous sea creature from the abyss, then lowered his head, muttering a few, repeated words...

"What am I doing? What am I doing?" is what he appeared to be saying to Link's knowledge. Not even his ears could make out his soft utters into words. But they did not have to. He could simply see that he was hurting. That he was in pain.

Ike was hurting. And he had been hurting for some time.

But... hurting from what, precisely?

About what?

And why did Link not know?

And how could he possibly help?

Why did Ike not tell him of his afflicting pain? Why should he?

Oh, what is a lover to do...?

The mercenary turned away swiftly, his muttering continuing. Link's eyebrows wrinkled as his eyes squinted in concentration.

"Ike... Uh, what was that just now?"

"...You wished for me to kiss you, right?" he monotonically responded, no eye-contact made, whatsoever.

This impassive statement tapped into Link's reserved anger.

"Okay. That's it. Ike, you will tell me what the hell is going on or so help me! That wasn't a kiss! And you knew it wasn't!" Link unraveled his hand to begin listing, "You won't look at me! You won't speak to me! You won't make love to me! Have I done something to deserve this?!"

Ike felt numb: the exact words that he prophesied he'd hear had just been blasted into his ears, those words acting as needle-sharp daggers that skewered his heart. Aside from that, Link's been doing a lot of yelling lately. Way more than often. And Link never yelled, oh no. When he was on the battlefield, then yes, a little screech every now and then. But just speaking in general, he—as a person—was so soft and so sweet. It came as a shock to Ike when he spat in his face two-and-a-half months ago over his suspicious activity. Not to mention it hurt Link's throat...

But Ike was now immune to this ruckus, it's sad to say. He would have to be.

Because the time had come.

But this soon?

He expected Link to pop this question in at least another month or so... but by then he figured he would've most likely lost his mind due to thoughts of his beloved... thoughts of his precious one. The secret nights they spent alone together under the stars, the sweet kisses he would give him beneath the shady trees. Those beautiful, ruby-red eyes that lit Ike's ablaze soul (1).

---

"Who is this 'Link'?" Soren questioned him once.

Ike swallowed, "Uh. He's... He's my... my—"

"—Your lover?"

The mercenary sighed, "...Yeah."

Soren peered into the man's beautiful irises, shyly caressing his cheek, "But, apparently, you love me more... since you are not with him."

"'Course I do. Are you dare questioning my love for you?"

Ike tickled his stomach, the little one struggling to suppress his giggles of glee. However, their fun time together ended when the horns, signaling the matches, blared throughout Smash Mansion. Soren immediately looked up into the mercenary's pupils with this sad, "woe-is-me" expression, knowing far too well what those horns meant.

They meant that Ike had to leave.

And he wouldn't see him till next week.

"Link will start looking for me soon... I will have to leave—"

Ike started to stand up, but something tugged at his cape. Perhaps it was caught on a twig. He looked to the ground to investigate. Why, it wasn't a twig. It was Soren's hand. Soren caught him by his cape, his face parallel to the ground, not allowing the mercenary to see his face.

"...Soren—"

"—Come home. I miss you. It is lonely without you there with me."

"Soren, you know I can't do that—"

"—And why not?! Because of this 'Link'?!"

---

That question hung in the still, muted air.

And as Ike marveled absent-mindedly over that day, the warm, gentle bosom of Link blanketed his back with warmth as his pointy noise drilled into his shoulder blade. Link, sniveling, pecked the sweet skin in the crook of his lover's neck with apologetic lips, each of his arms enveloping his hunched body as tight as they could.

"...Is this my fault? I... I never meant to... to ever hurt you. I love you. I'd never want to hurt you, Ike. I love you. I'm sorry," Link helplessly cried in an indignant, croaky tone, blessing his lover with more of his repeated kisses and apologies.

And the swordsmen remained in that position for an eternity, it appeared, Link steadily breathing in his ear, whilst his heart vibrated against Ike's spine. But no matter how tight and stiff the Hylian held onto the man of whom he placed his golden heart in the hands of, little did he know that he was slipping away from him bit by bit. Like water would in a pair of cupped hands. Water is malleable, therefore it is easier to slip out of your hands.

Ike sighed... I cannot continue to allow him to hurt himself any longer.

It was time.

"Link, this is not your fault. Nothing has or has ever been your fault," Ike said.

It was a miracle: Ike talked.

Link looked up, hoping to meet his lover's eyes.

His gander was not returned.

"Oh...? Then... might I ask what it is that is... ailing you—?"

"—I'm in love with another man."

All the air evaporated in the room at those birthed words, choking the blonde one.

Link stopped functioning as a human being—he stopped breathing, he stopped existing—for about five seconds. This allowed the words of his lover to sink into his skull, permeate his brain, pass though his heart, and finally settle at the bottom of his gut.

His eyes went dry.

His lips were cold.

His heart ceased movement.

His hands shook.

Once his senses retaliated, he returned to his body. And if he had to describe how he felt in words—which was impossible to do—he would say that he felt like he'd just been knocked out by a tsunami made of solid titanium umpteen times.

And when he'd gotten the strength to talk, he asked slooowly, "...I beg your pardon?"

Ike, wrapping a towel about his waist as he stood, faced him voluntarily for the very first time, peering dead into his pin-pointed pupils as he said, "I've fallen in love with another man. And yes... this is why I have been acting out of character. I did not know how else to tell you this—"

Link rose a hand, bowing his head, "H-Hold up, hold up. Hold—the hell—up."

Link snapped. And Ike knew it, shutting his trap and waiting for the frozen Link to continue while preparing for the worse scenario.

"Repeat what you just said."

"...I did not know ho—"

"—Before that."

"...This is wh—"

"The part about the man, damnit! The man!"

"...I've fallen in love with another man."

"—You've fallen in love with another man?"

"...Yes, that is true. His name is Soren. He is a dear friend of mine and—"

"—I don't care if he's fucking God. I don't give the slightest shit about him!! I don't give a shit about his name, much less who he is! I do not care, Ike! In case you haven't took note of this yet, you just told me that you are in love with another man—someone other than me! And you think I want to know his name?!"

"...No."

At "me", Link's voice reached the highest note it could possibly ever reach, with the help of the tightening in his throat and the haziness in his eyes. His greatest nightmare had manifested.

He was not able to yell very loud and choke up at the same time. It was impossible for him to do so—for anyone to do so. He rarely screamed when angered, and something like this...

Something of this magnitude.

It was... was...

An unwavering Ike stood his ground, pitying the bare, beautiful, hot-heated man who was pouring out his soul and feelings upon him. And all he could do was stand there. Stand there like a heartless fool and allow them to suffocate his breasts.

"I knew it. I knew it, I knew it... I didn't w-want to believe it... I knew it!" Link dribbled between his quavering, pink lips, shadowing his face with a trembling hand.

But even if he appeared to be a heartless fool, it was time to let it all out.

To be through with it.

To rid himself of this guilt.

"Link, I am sorry. But this is how I feel. And I cannot deny what is in my heart."

"Oh, so it's your 'heart', huh? Your heart—who is 'in love' with this... Soren—simply thought that it was amusing to screw around with my feelings?"

"Link it is not like that. I fell in love with Soren while we were together—"

"—Oh, so you were screwing me and your Soren all at once? Or does he not know that...?!"

"You pleaded for me to have sex with you. You are my lover; I had to."

All warmth dispersed from the Hylian's body.

"I... I know this is hard for you to hear, but it is the truth. And I would rather tell you the truth than a lie."

Link slowly retracted into a ball, like a stoned victim. And Ike's words were the sharp-edged stones.

"You... blunt bastard."

Ike flinched slightly, gulping.

"Do you... do you feel anything? Are you even hearing yourself, right now? Y-You're... You're telling me—your lover, Ike!—that you have fallen for another with the upmost... upmost cold-bloodedness in your voice! Like this is just an everyday thing for you! You shed no tears! You feel no guilt! Your eyebrows have not twitched once! And here I am—naked after giving you my all—in utter shock and nearly on the brink of babbling like some woman whilst you are anything but compassionate! How vulnerable can I possibly become?!"

Ike hastily stepped forward after recovering from a notable stagger, "Link that is not true...! I feel horrible! I did not want this to become of us! I am telling you the truth!"

"Fuck the truth!!" Link spat, a tear slipping from its socket, "You had to make love to me! You had to kiss me! It was your duty,right?! Your duty as a lover!! Not because you wanted to!! But I bet little Soren gets everything he wants...! He doesn't have to ask to be kissed! He doesn't have to ask for a fuck!"

Ike swallowed.

"And when exactly do you meet up with this—whore?!"

Ike flinched at the harsh title Link spat—and such words were not familiar to his tongue—approaching the bed at an alarming speed. The mercenary stepped up to the blonde, who knew he had said something wrong as the overall mood of Ike's irises changed from teal to black. They were face-to-face, nearly nose-to-nose, that intimidating look on the taller man's face enough to shatter Link's soul into innumerable quarters. But he kept firm on the spot he warmed on the bed, biting his bottom lip to protect him of the need to burst in tears.

"His name... is Soren," Ike stressed with detail, looking Link square in his frightened, puppy-dog eyes, "and he is not a whore!"

The blonde one jumped at "whore"; Link gently gasped at the conviction in the indigo-haired man's booming voice, removing his body and face from the Hylian's personal bubble. The lids of his eyes were rimmed with scarlet-red as his lips trembled like a hummingbird's wings, encasing his sad, sopping sapphires who drowned in their own saltwater. Ike faced the close-curtained window, realizing the damaged he'd caused—or knew he caused. He knew Link was going to weep—but he'd gotten so... shaken up. That was the man he loved that he was talking about, Soren! But Link was his lover! His "licensed" lover, if that makes a difference!

But still... Link insulted him. And Ike wasn't going to allow the one he loved to be slandered without the power to stand up for himself.

He wasn't going to have it.

...

...There was a hiccup. And then another. And another. And those hiccups attacked the Hylain's body until he succumbed to the tears jerking out of his system, until he was curled into a ball of sobbing, broken, faithless flesh.

I did not mean for it to happen like this, Ike thought, scratching his scalp in befuddlement, unsure of what to do next. Ike couldn't bear to see such a gaze; he refused to. He took his heart—ripped it to shreds, trampled on it, spat on it—and handed it right back to him like he hadn't done a darn thing. And so he avoided gaining anymore guilt by turning away...

"H-How cou-uld you..." the mercenary picked up, "...how could-d y-you..."

Ike... sighed, "...I apologize, Link. I should not have yelled. I apologize—"

"—Get ou' o' my dorm."

What?

The taller swordsman spun around.

The blonde beauty was reduced to a shrunken ball, his hands clutching his shoulders, his neck tucked as far into his chest, causing painful strain on it. But he did not want Ike to see his face.

That was the last thing he would take from him. His pride.

"I am sorry."

"I don't care. J-Just go."

But Ike could not leave just yet.

Instead, he took a seat next to his comrade; Link turned his back on him, an action equivalent to that of an angered child's.

"...No man is ever worth your tears, Link. No one is ever worth your tears. I... I am not fit for having such a wonderful man like you. I believe that I have made that clear by my actions. But there is someone deserving of me. And that is Soren... The one... that I wish to be with. I know this may seem heartless. But I am hurting, too. Because I have bruised such a precious heart. You are precious, Link. I honestly think that."

Link's sniveling lessened significantly after this pronouncement.

"But... Perhaps we are not meant for one another. Do you hear what I am saying? Perhaps... I am meant for someone else—and perhaps that someone else is not even Soren! But... I am only doing this to save you from further pain. I am doing this because I care deeply about you. I cannot provide you with this happiness that you seek for any longer. But someone else will. And it is your duty to find this person..."

...Link was unresponsive, but he was simultaneously absorbing all of this. Ike simply thought that he was continuing to give him the cold shoulder, and so he sighed, raked his fingers through his thick hair, and pinched the area of skin between his eyes, preparing to be on his way...

"So... I shall leave now—"

"—He makes you happy...?"

The swordsman glanced over his shoulder and peered at the back of the bare individual, whose head came out of its "shell".

"Pardon...?"

"Soren. Does he make you happy?"

...Ike blank, then blank some more...

Until it finally reached him.

He saw where Link was heading to.

With a smile on his livening face, Ike responded cheerfully with, "Yes. Soren, he... he makes me happy. So happy."

Of course, hearing this hurt Link somewhat, but something within him bubbled. A warmth.

A light.

That's how he wanted to see Ike. He missed that smile, that beauteous smile. And if giving away his lover—"liberating" the one person that he's ever loved—meant seeing him smile that sweet-old smile again... Then so be it.

Link was not at all selfish by nature.

"Well. I suppose if it is he that gives you happiness, then who am I to stop you from achieving it...?"

Ike's eyes glowed...

There it was.

There was Link's true, unmistakable soul.

A slaphappy grin encompassed the indigo-haired man's entire visage.

"Link... Thank you. Thank you...!"

Now I can finally be with the one I love.

He embraced him wholly, kissing his reddened cheeks. The blonde Hylian's lips were tickled into a smile by this action, causing him to slightly pat his back.

"Yeah. You're welcome."

Ike pulled away to look in his eyes, but golden bangs and a hanging head did not permit him to do so. With two fingers, he shooed them away, and those striking pairs of heavy, electric-blue orbs peered him dead in his own. Swiftly and shyly, Link averted his vision, lowering his head until his chin pressed into the base of his neck. Ike could not see him like this...

"Hey, hey..." Ike lifted his head; Link had no other choice but to look at him, "...Although it may not seem like it, you are doing a good thing."

"But it's... it's not fair... I love you," the Hylian moaned meekly, refusing to raise another batch of tears.

"I know, I know," Ike inaudibly replied, unsure of what to say to that... "But your sacrifice is not in vain. Most people—those who are unlike you—would never do this for the sake of another. They would only think about themselves. But you, Link, you've sacrificed your own happiness for the sake of another—for me. And for that, good things shall come upon you."

Link nodded... half-heartedly taking in those words. It was the truth, though. And he knew it.

"Yeah. I would hope so."

"Say, Prince Marth and some others are going out for a trip to the beach for his birthday. I promised him that you'd be there since he asked about you. Want to come?"

The blonde nodded at the invitation, but paused, an expression of puzzlement etched on his flushed face, "...Marth asked about me? Why?"

The mercenary was silent.

"That is my cue. Goodnight, Link. I will see you in the morning."

"Stop right there, mister. You are not leaving until you give me the context of that statement!"

Though Ike would not tell him the hidden meaning behind his sentence, he was happy to see that Link was up to his old self again. Or... he was well on his way. But Ike knew that it was one step forward in another positive direction. All he could do now was build him back up again, and hope that they could also build a healthy, friendly relationship. Knowing the Hylian, they would become the best of friends all over again.

Link and Soren?

Not so much.

There we are.

"A Cold Bed". And yes, MarthXLinkness was hinted. ;)

Um. I'm sorry if it didn't have enough IkeXSorenness, Noma-chan. D: I am still trying to familiarize myself with him. STILL.

Um. But I hope that you like iiit.

And if you don't, feel free to smack me.

Until then!

Much Love,

HokageAkamaru