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The funny thing was, everything had been going just fine up until then.
The party was great. Peach and Rosalina had done a fantastic job with the decorations, Sonic was a surprisingly good DJ and Isabelle had managed to bring in a last minute order after Snake almost blew up the kitchen, meaning that the food was actually good, too. The party had been held outside to accommodate the likes of Ridley and Ganondorf, with surprisingly good weather to boot. Even Marth had outright admitted to enjoying himself, despite protesting that they should all rest since tomorrow was a work day (Roy reminded him that in Smash, every day was a work day). And yet, Roy couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to happen- something bad. A physical feeling, too, rather than an emotion, which somehow made it worse
He’d tried distracting himself, even being the one to listen when Meta Knight gave a long and unnecessary lecture about why he had to wear his mask at all times. He tried talking to the others, even R.O.B, who probably didn’t even notice him in the first place. He tried listening to Sonic’s DJ-ing. He even went over and sneaked a fistful of extra salty crisps (which he had been craving for some reason), smiling sheepishly at the death glare that Wii Fit Trainer gave him. But in the end, Roy had ended up leaning against a pillar inside the smash mansion, staring off into space with a cup of punch in his hand, trying to ignore the prickling that crept up his spine. He was forgetting something, but what?
Whatever it was, Roy hated it. It made him jump at everything- every noise seemed to be incredibly loud, and incredibly annoyingly loud, at that. It didn’t help that he was starting to feel light-headed, too. For once in his life, he wanted to leave- but at the same time, he didn’t want to do it on his own. Roy, Life of the party and king of punch, leaving a party? That wasn’t how things worked around here.
He could talk to Marth, maybe. The other boy hadn’t even wanted to come here in the first place, so there was a slim chance he’d agree to go back to the smash mansion with Roy, although… Roy turned and saw Marth chatting enthusiastically with Shulk and Cloud. No, he decided. He couldn’t spoil Marth’s party night for him. Besides, his hard work in convincing him to come in the first place would have gone to waste. No, Roy would have to simply sit here, act casual, and wait. And try not to freak out. That too.
Even so, Roy could hardly describe how he felt. It was as though someone- or something- was watching him, but then again, it wasn’t quite that. More of an impending sense of doom. No, that wasn’t it. Roy sighed and downed his punch, walking towards the kitchen for the backup punch; he didn’t want to have to go back out.
This is the worst timing ever, he thought. He’d finally convinced Marth to indulge in their monthly party night and now it was being ruined by some stupid feeling he didn’t even know why he felt. It was almost like… Roy’s train of thought came to an abrupt stop as he almost tripped over Kirby. who had been reaching for some snacks.
“Sorry.” Roy said, and Kirby gave a cheerful “Poyo!” in response, acting as though nothing had happened. And then he promptly inhaled all the food on the table and walked off, leaving Roy standing open-mouthed by the table.
“Well, there goes my drink.” He said to himself. He wondered if he should rejoin the party, but as he prepared to open the door, his sight faltered, and he almost tripped for the second time with shock. Blinking, Roy rubbed his eyes. White spots danced in his vision. Probably from staring in the lights too much, he thought. He carefully stepped outside and was immediately greeted by a wave of sound; laughter, chatter, Sonic’s wacky music… while it was all a bit much, it wasn’t unbearable. It would be fun, he reminded himself.
Forcing a smile, Roy began to walk to where a group of people were watching Wolf and Fox down bowls of popcorn. Immediately, he regretted his decision; the noise hit him like a truck. He didn’t realise just how loud people could be. And if this was just normal people, how loud was he?
He didn’t have time to ponder that question, though, because almost immediately he was waved over by Link.
“Roy!” The blond gestured at him. Roy winced at the sound of his voice, but went over all the same.
“So, what’s this?” He said, in as cheerful a tone as he could muster. The loudness of the party was starting to get to him now; the room spun slightly and he felt his legs wobble. Link stared at him for a second, but then he grinned and carried on as though nothing had even happened.
“We’re trying to see how many bowls of popcorn Wolf and Fox here can eat in five minutes.” He said, gesturing to the two, who were standing on the table, surrounded by bits of popcorn. “Wanna watch?”
“Oh, uh…” Roy searched for the right words. While normally this would’ve been great fun (and he probably would’ve lost at least three bets), and it wasn’t exactly like him to leave.... “Well…”
“It’s a competition!” Inkling said excitedly, turning round to smile at them. “I bet you anything Fox’ll win.”
“Seriously? Have you even seen Wolf eat?” Link retorted, and the two of them lapsed into discussion.
Roy was just glad the attention was no longer on him. His head swam and suddenly he felt weak all over. He leaned against the table, breathing heavily, trying to think through the pounding of his head. He was vaguely aware of Link swearing, and looked up to see- as best he could- that everyone had crowded around the popcorn-eaters, leaving him alone.
Heaving a sigh of relief, he was about to slide to the ground, when someone said, “Roy?”
Roy looked up. Link was staring at him with a strange expression on his face.
“Yeah?” He replied, standing as straight as he could.
“I was just wondering if you-” A sudden cheer interrupted his sentence. Roy bit his lip, trying to ignore how dizzy he suddenly felt, and shifted to lean against the table. He just hoped his body wouldn’t give out too soon.
“You were saying?” Roy said.
“Yeah, anyways-” Another cheer “- I was wondering if you, you know, wanted to…” Roy could barely focus on Link’s voice. Since when was the room so bright? The side of his head began to throb painfully, and, with a jolt, he remembered. The first (and last) time this had happened- the strange vision, the sudden loudness of everything, the dizziness- he hadn’t been re-invited to smash yet. He’d sneaked into a bar, all flashing lights and swirling noises, when suddenly he found his head pounding, legs about to give out beneath him, and- Roy took a sharp breath. If this was anything like last time, he needed to get out here, right now.
“Roy?” Link was looking at him strangely again. “Are you-”
“Oh yeah, you know what,” Roy said quickly, “I uh, promised Marth I’d do something for him so I’m gonna go, uh, over there.” He gestured to the other side of the room, and without waiting for a reply, he walked off as fast as he could.
As soon as he was inside and out of anyone’s sight, Roy flopped down on one of the sofas, grateful for the quietness of the smash mansion. But he knew he couldn’t stay. Reluctantly, he staggered up the stairs and into the room he and Marth shared, and practically fell onto his bed.
His head was still pounding. Sooner or later, Marth would come in. Would he think worse of Roy, knowing that he’d abandoned him at the party? Roy tried not to think about that. He also tried not to think about the steadily rising nausea that had been building since the beginning of that evening.
Soon, it had become too bad to ignore. Roy dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom, where he knelt on the floor and, eyes closed, rested his head on the cool porcelain. Feeling a familiar ache in his midsection, he curled into himself, wrapping his arms around his stomach. Hopefully, it would all be over soon.
Several moments passed when Roy finally gave in and leant over the toilet bowl. Sticky strings of spit leaked from his mouth as he heaved, wincing at the acrid taste in his mouth.. He just hoped Marth wouldn’t be here to see him like this.
The dull ache in his stomach gradually grew more intense, until Roy could barely catch his breath. His fingers dug into his side. Letting out a small whimper, he opened his mouth, chest heaving, only for nothing to come out. He wished he was back in his bed, but moving only made things worse. Defeated, he stayed where he was..
Roy resisted the urge to moan out loud, even though he knew no one could hear him. He didn’t even know why he was still trying- it wasn’t like he had any dignity to spare. Childish as it was, he wanted to cry, but he couldn’t do that either; the pain in his stomach already made it hard to breath as it was. He felt too weak to do anything either way. But he should probably go back to bed before Marth returned, he decided. With great effort, he slowly got up. He took one unsteady step, then another, feeling the nausea return. His gut wrenched, and the pain grew tenfold. He doubled over, head spinning, before he felt his hand slip and the world went dark.
-
Meanwhile, Marth was having a surprisingly good time at the party. Roy, for once, was right- he had underestimated parties. He’d gotten to know many others better than he otherwise would’ve, that was for sure. But now he was tired and ready to get out of here and crash land in his bed. He checked the time. It was just past midnight. If Roy were here, he would’ve laughed at him for being tired this early, but Roy was the life of the party and Marth- well, he wasn’t quite. Speaking of Roy….
Marth couldn’t see the redhead anywhere. That was hardly surprising, considering the size of the smash mansion grounds and the number of people present. But upon further inspection, Roy really was nowhere to be found. Marth frowned. It wasn’t like Roy to ditch a party. Or maybe he just didn’t want to put up with Marth being a, well, prude, so to speak.
No, Marth told himself. As far as he knew, Roy would never do such a thing. He was just about to triple-check when he ran into Link, who looked unusually serious.
“Marth.” Link said, in a low tone. “Have you seen Roy?”
“No, I haven’t.” Marth said, puzzled. “In fact, I was looking for him myself.”
“You- what?” Link said in surprise. “He told me he would be with you!”
“Well, he hasn’t been with me, or I would’ve known about it.” Marth joked. “Relax, he’s probably just wandered off somewhere. Maybe he went to get more food?”
“Okay, maybe, but he’s been gone for over an hour.” Link said worriedly.
“Over an hour? Where could he have gone?” Marth frowned, trying to think. “Roy wouldn’t usually leave a party like that.”
“That’s what I thought.” Link nodded. “But then I remembered, he was acting kinda weird earlier.”
“Weird in what way?” said Marth, suddenly worried.
“I dunno, he was probably just really tired. We were talking and I don’t think he was paying attention to half of what I was saying. Or half of what was going on, to be honest.” said Link thoughtfully. “I was going to ask him if he was okay, but then he ran off, saying you asked him to do something.”
“That’s… definitely odd.” said Marth. “I haven’t asked him to do anything. I haven’t even seen him since the beginning of the party. But, thinking about it, he probably went to go sleep.” Typical Roy, Marth thought. Not wanting to ruin his reputation as the life of the party. Still, the Roy he knew wouldn’t have sneaked off. Or maybe he just didn’t know Roy as well as he thought. “Well, I’m going up to our room anyway, so maybe I’ll see him there.”
“Alright.” said Link. “Tell me if you do. I’m gonna go dance.”
With Zelda, Marth added silently, as Link left, shooting a grin at the princess. Hoping Link was right, Marth climbed the stairs to their room. Sighing, he opened the door and quietly crept in, expecting to see Roy fast asleep.
But Roy was nowhere to be seen. Worry flooded through him, but he told himself to stay calm. Maybe Roy was just in the bathroom.
“Roy?” He said tentatively, stepping towards the bathroom. Strange, he thought. The bathroom door was open. Marth kept going anyway.
As he reached the doorway, Marth could smell a faint, but sour scent that made him wrinkle his nose. What had Roy been doing in there? “Roy, are you-” He stopped cold.
Roy was curled on the floor, his eyes closed and his face, though half buried in his knees, almost as pale as the tiles he lay on. His arms were wrapped around his midsection, and Marth noticed a faint sheen of sweat on his skin. “Shit, Roy!” He knelt down next to his roommate, who didn’t respond. Marth tried not to panic, though he could already feel his heart speeding up. Gently, he shook him by the shoulder. “Roy, wake up.”
For a moment, Roy just lay there, still. Then, softly, he let out a whimper. Marth let out a sigh of relief, although it was soon replaced with concern.
“Roy, are you- never mind.” He said. Roy, clearly, was not alright. “I’m going to lift you off the floor, okay?”
Roy nodded very slightly, his eyes still closed. Marth rolled up his sleeves. Roy was a little younger than him, and lighter, too. There shouldn’t be any problems. Even so, Marth’s hands trembled as he lifted his roommate up as gently as he could and carried him over to his bed.
“That better?” He said, softly. When he didn’t hear a response, Marth slid a glass of water over Roy’s dresser, and nudged him gently. “You should drink.
Slowly, Roy opened his eyes, but winced and immediately closed them again. “Marth?” he said, his voice no more than a faint whisper.
“That’s me.” said Marth., moving to sit on the other side of Roy’s bed.
“Why aren’t you at the party?”
“I got tired. You…” Marth hesitated. With how weak Roy sounded, it probably wasn’t a good idea to make him talk too much.
“Yeah.” Roy said, a hint of bitterness in his voice, turning his face away from Marth’s. “Sorry I ditched you. I just...”
“I’m not worried about that.” Marth said quickly. “I’m worried about you here.”
“Don’t.” said Roy, curling into himself again. “I’ll… I’ll be fine. Eventually.”
Lying on the floor unconscious is definitely not fine, Marth thought to himself, but thought better than to say it aloud. “Are you sure?” He said instead. “You look pretty rough.” And that’s an understatement.
“Positive. it’s happened before….” Roy’s sentence was cut off by a sharp breath- “it ends by itself, without me doing anything. I just need to wait.”
Somehow, Marth highly doubted that. But, he thought, he’d take his word for it. “Okay, but if it gets worse, I’m getting help.”
Roy didn’t argue. He was most likely tired, Marth thought, like Link had said. But he was clearly ill, and although Marth desperately wanted- no, needed to know- he wasn’t going to get any answers out of Roy now. Besides, Roy needed to rest. But, he thought suddenly, what was he supposed to do? Tell Link , was his first thought. But then what?
Marth had no idea what people normally did taking care of others, or what Roy was comfortable with. He’d never really thought about it, nor had he ever really cared to ask. If he was being honest, he never imagined he would need it someday. Marth regretted his assumption more than anything.
He’d assumed from the start that Roy would be nothing more than an overly energetic, reckless fighter with no sense of personal space. But the redhead had quickly learnt Marth’s own boundaries and preferences, and had shown himself to be brave and caring, even tactful at times. That being said, he was still an idiot- but he was Marth’s idiot, goddamnit.
Unsure of what to do, Marth lingered beside Roy’s semi-conscious figure, wondering if it would be a little much if he was to reach out and touch him. With a little hesitation, he ran his hand through the other boy’s hair, before reaching down to gently squeeze his hand.
“You sleep then. I’ll be back soon.” He said, moving towards the doorway. Roy made a faint affirmative noise, and Marth closed the door behind him. Once the door was closed, he resisted the urge to scream with frustration. He was going to have words with Roy after he recovered. What would’ve happened if Marth had decided to come back late? Actually, he didn’t want to think about that.
He made his way to Link’s room, only to learn from Cloud that he was “very much asleep, and babbling about Zelda.” Sighing, he trudged back to his own room. While he didn’t exactly know what he was going to do- hell, he hardly knew what he was doing earlier- Roy probably wouldn’t appreciate him telling anyone else about his sudden illness.
Either way, he had to get back to Roy, preferably before he did something stupid. If he even had the energy to do so.
He stepped back into the room, only to find Roy was asleep, his expression somewhat more relaxed than before. About time, Marth thought. Just what had happened in the few hours at that party?
Nevermind that, Marth muttered to himself. If Link hadn’t told him… If Marth hadn’t returned when he did… He sighed as he got himself prepared for bed. He would think about it in the morning.
-
The next day, Marth woke up ready to check on Roy when he found that the other boy was already up. Roy was brushing his hair, fully clothed and seemingly energised, his back to Marth as he did so. So Roy was right, he thought, slightly surprised. Or maybe he’s just pretending again.
“Roy.” He said suddenly, almost without thinking. Roy turned around.
“‘Sup?” He blinked innocently.
“Don’t you “‘sup” me.” Marth glared at him. “Do you have any idea how worried I was?”
“Oh wow, Marth? Worrying about me? That’s a first.” Roy joked, but he refused to meet Marth’s gaze.
“Who wouldn’t be worried to see you passed out on the floor?!” said Marth, trying his best not to shout. Almost instantly he regretted it as Roy’s expression changed to one of shame. “Just… are you better now?” He said, exasperated.
“Pretty much.”
“Alright then.” Marth sat down at Roy’s chair so they were face to face. Bracing himself for the redhead’s stubbornness, he asked, “So what was that about?”
“Last night?” Roy was silent for a moment. “You know, I really have no idea.” Marth was about to interrupt, when Roy continued. “I mean, it’s happened before, so I knew it would blow over. That’s why I left early. I just didn’t expect it to be that bad.”
“What do you mean by ‘it’, anyway?” Marth asked, trying to hide the concern on his face.
“Oh, you know… the whole package.” Roy shrugged. “Everything gets really loud, then really bright, then I get these weird white dots in my eyes. Then I get dizzy and my head hurts. Only I had a stomach ache as well this time… no idea what that’s about.” Maybe he’d seen the solemn expression on Marth’s face, because he quickly added, “Oh yeah, and these weird salt cravings, although I don’t know if that’s part of the package. It’s not that bad, really..”
Marth sighed. He didn’t know whether to thank Roy for his input or berate him on how stupid he was. Which he had been. Marth was tempted to remind him about the fact that he found him passed out on the floor, of all things, which clearly meant that it was bad.
“Roy, that sounds like a migraine and now that I think about it, it probably is a migraine.” He said, resisting the urge to facepalm.
“Okay, and what am I supposed to do with that knowledge…?” Roy raised an eyebrow.
“Maybe look after yourself in the future?” Marth sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. “I’m not stupid, Roy. I know you’re acting like it’s not that big of a deal, but it is a big deal, at least to me.” Roy looked as though he was about to say something, but Marth continued. “I don’t want to have to worry about coming back to you passed out on the floor, or curled up and half-dead- don’t you even care about your own health?”
Roy was silent. Marth froze. Had he gone too far? “Look, I care about you-”
“I know you do!” Roy shouted suddenly, the emotion in his voice shocking Marth. “And that’s why I-” he broke off, his voice suddenly quiet. “I hate it.” He muttered. He looked down, not daring to meet Marth’s gaze.
“Anyone would.” Marth offered.
“No, not that- I mean that stuff sucks too. But I hate letting you see me like that more. I just- I don’t even know, Marth. I can’t, I’ve never let anyone see me like that, not even my parents once I was old enough.” He stopped for a moment, thinking. “I don’t want to have to need help. I want to help others. How am I supposed to do that when I’m… you know, like that?”
“Roy…” For a moment, Marth was speechless. “...I’m glad you told me this.” He said finally.
“Good, because I’m not.” Roy said jokingly, but in that moment, it didn’t sound like a joke.
“I know it’s asking a lot of you, but I need you to tell me things. I… I’m not going to judge you, Roy.” Marth said quietly. “I’ve known you since we joined smash, and frankly, you’ve done so many idiotic things since then I can’t even list them all. That’s what you should be embarrassed about, if anything. Not this.”
Roy faked being hurt at the mention of his antics, but nodded.
“You don’t have to tell me every time you get hurt, but at least tell me when it’s bad. Or I will have to start putting a tracker on you.” Roy was finally looking at him now. “Okay?”
He nodded. “Okay, but if you get something from me then I’ve got to get something from you.”
Marth rolled his eyes. “What?”
“You’re not allowed to tell anyone you found me passed out on the floor.” Roy said, a mischievous flicker appearing in his eye as he continued. “And you have to get me donuts. Right now.”
“Deal.”