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A Tactician's Tenacity

Summary:

Shulk leaves to go back to his world to get something important. Rob is left alone, leaving Hades to use this opportunity to use Rob to get Corrin's soul. Will Rob submit to Hades's demands? Will Shulk make in time to save Rob?

Notes:

Originally uploaded on FF.Net on 07-05-16
Funny story about this fic, it originally wasn't going to happen. I had loss a bet with GintaxAlvissforever while we watching a Smash 4 tournament during CEO 2016. So, I promised that I'd write a Shulk/Male Robin story and have it be part of the main canon in my Hades arc. I wasn't happy about it, but I'm over it now. Story was originally two chapters, but I combined them together for here.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

All the Smashers just finished participating at a tournament. There was a prize this time around. The winner of the tournament would win a week vacation to any place of their choosing. Mario was the winner and Shulk was the runner up, and Bayonetta at third. Shulk felt disappointed. He gave it his all going through a lot of hard opponents that he had never been able to beat before including Sheik, Samus, Rosalina and Bayonetta. He felt angry that he got so far in the tournament and had the momentum when going into grand finals on the loser's side, only to get destroyed by Mario. He won the first two matches only for Mario to reverse 3-0 him in the most humiliating ways possible. The Monado boy didn't want to deal with anyone's mockery after he died really early. 

 

Rob is waiting outside and sees his boyfriend with a disappointed look on his face. "It's okay Shulk. You did everything you can." He puts his hand on Shulk's shoulder trying to comfort him.

 

"I know, but I really wanted to win that vacation for us. I messed up so hard. I came close each match and I couldn't get the job done." Shulk sighs. "If I had just concentrate, then I would have been able to reset the bracket…uh…I feel stupid for letting that happen to me."

 

"Well, I didn't expect everyone to get freed up by Mario. I honestly expected Bayonetta to win, but I guess if you put your mind to it, you can beat her after all. It looks like Mario really wanted to win this vacation."

 

Mario came running out of the mansion wearing a Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses, swimming trunks, and a straw hat. He had suitcases in both of his hands. "Yahoo! See you later suckers! Peach and I are going to have a real vacation this time! We're out of here!" He gloats.

 

Mario kept running and cheering for joy. Peach came running behind Mario wearing a pink one piece swimsuit, her parasol, and had two suitcases in her hand. "Mario! Wait for me!"

 

"Way to show some good sportsmanship there Mario." Rob says to himself sarcastically.

 

Shulk sighs again. Mario really didn't have to rub salt on the wounds. "I'm sorry Rob. I wanted to win that vacation for us."

 

"Don't worry about it Shulk. I'm not the one to go on fancy vacations anyway. Rob tried to hide his disappointment well.  Shulk would continue to visibly sulk. The tactician shook his head as he tried to cling to his arm knowing full well that Shulk wasn't really in the mood for it. "Come on, Robin isn’t in our room. You can spend the day with me if you want and I’ll comfort you.” He gives his boyfriend a smile.

 

"…Okay…"


In the Underworld, all the demons are just sitting around playing card games with each other. Hades came in and greeted all of his demons.

 

"Good evening everyone!" Hades greets with glee.

 

"Evening Lord Hades." All the demons bowed down to Hades.

 

"Lord Hades, what's the agenda for today?" Reaper asks.

 

"I'm trying to think of a new plan to capture that dragon prince's soul. Capturing him directly didn't go as well as planned, and sending those demons to go after his sister is taking longer than intended. So, I think a hostage to lure him to me will be a better option. Now, who can I use to lure him to me?" Hades wondered. Hades looked at his portal to the Smash Mansion to see who could be his hostage. He sees Rob who was walking back to the mansion with Shulk. "Hmm, that guy looks like he's related to the other tactician."

 

"He looks pretty weak. Maybe we can use him to give us the dragon prince's soul." Reaper suggests.

 

"Yes. Yes! That's a perfect idea Reaper! Alright boys, we got ourselves a plan!" Hades smiled devilishly.

 

"Yes Lord Hades!" All the demons stood up in attention.

 

Hades points to Rob in the portal. "This guy right here is our ticket to getting that pure soul! So everyone prepare yourselves! We're kidnapping another victim! We're going to win this time! No setbacks!" Hades pumped up his army and they all cheered for him.


Four days have passed and it is nighttime. Shulk had told Rob that he was going back to his world for something important. Shulk wasn't really clear on why he left, but Rob understood that Shulk didn't need to tell him everything. Rob is sitting down outside under a tree reading an encyclopedia about monsters. He felt a little worried about Shulk not coming back for a few days. He left on a bad note that it almost seemed like he was avoiding Rob with how he was acting. The tactician sighed to himself the more he thought about it. 

 

“I hope he’s not taking it too hard. I already told him not to worry about it. I’m sure he’s fine. I trust he’ll be okay.” Rob says to himself.

 

Corrin shows up walking  toward Rob with a big smile on his face. The dragon prince looked like he got a special treat from a certain someone.

 

"Hey Rob! What are you doing out here all by yourself?" Corrin asks.

 

"I'm trying to read Corrin." Rob didn't look at Corrin.

 

"I just came from shopping with Cere! It was wonderful! Cere bought this really beautiful dress! It looks really nice! I couldn't help but just stare at how amazing she looked in it!" Corrin fawned over the Umbran Witch.

 

"Mmmhmm. Sounds nice." Rob responds in a very uninterested voice.

 

Corrin took a seat right next to Rob. "I can't tell you how happy I am that Cere and I are finally together. When I first came into this world, I wasn't expecting to fall in love with anybody. Then Cere came along and everything changed. I never felt like I had my own life. I was always being told what to do. I never had the chance to do what I wanted to do. Cere helped me feel comfortable with being myself. I was able to speak for myself. She made me feel...free."

 

Rob was listening to Corrin. However, he didn't bother to give Corrin any attention. "I see."

 

"We've been through a lot together. I know there was that situation where she insulted my mother and used me when we first met. That really did hurt me a lot. Cere did promise that she'll never hurt me again. I trust her. We're going to take our relationship one step at a time. I know things will go well for the both of us."

 

“Bayonetta has been trying to improve her behavior I’ve noticed. I’m sure Corrin has something to do with that. He’s confident that Bayonetta won’t hurt him again. The optimism is nice and all, but having high expectations isn’t always going to have a good conclusion.” Rob thought to himself. He puts down his book and turns to the dragon prince. "Corrin, I have a question. How are you so confident that Bayonetta won't hurt you again?"

 

Corrin gives Rob a confused look. "Huh?"

 

"She basically used you for her own benefits. Not only that, but she insulted your family. How are you so sure that everything will just be alright between you two?"

 

"B-Because she promised me…" Corrin says hesitantly.

 

"That's just her words. How do you know if she'll keep her promise? She doesn't seem to be the type. In my perspective anyways.”

 

Corrin was pondering the tactician's question. "…I believe her." He answered. "There really…isn't any other reason. I love Cere. She loves me. What else could I ask for? If something comes our way. I’m sure we'll overcome it." 

 

Rob was convinced that Corrin was in denial and didn’t really understand. “Optimism is nice, but you have to look at the things in front of you and think about reality. Everything can’t be the fairy tale you want it to be.” 

 

"It's okay to indulge in a fantasy every once in a while." The Nohrian prince hummed. "I know you're very happy with Shulk. I can tell if someone is honest when I rub their face. Shulk is a very honest man…"

 

Rob gives Corrin a questionable look. "Why were you touching my man?”

 

Corrin puts his hands up defensively. He realizes that that sounded weird. "Oh! That was when I first got here! It wasn't recent I swear! What I'm trying to say is Shulk loves you very much."

 

Rob nods. “Yes he does. I feel lucky. Sometimes I wonder why he chose me. I’m happy regardless.” He smiles.

 

"I should go back inside. Sister is probably worried about me. I'll see you later Rob." Corrin gets up and walks back to the mansion.

 

A small smile comes up on the tactician’s face. “He may not be the brightest, but he sure is one of the nicest.” Rob picks his book up and tries to get back to reading.

 

"Hello there, Tactician." A voice greets.

 

Rob looks around to see where the voice came from. He looked confused seeing as how he didn't see anybody. "Is someone here? I could've sworn someone said something to me."

 

"Right in front of you. Hello there. I'm Hades, King of the Underworld. The sexiest being on the planet. Unfortunately you can't see my amazing body because of that damn angel Pit!"

 

"Pit? How do you know about Pit?" Rob questioned. If anyone was looking at him now, he’d probably look crazy out of context.

 

"I come from his world. This actually isn't my first time visiting this world. My demons came to wreak havoc, I had a nice reunion with Pit, and I also got to meet your sister. "Lovely" woman by the way." Hades cringes, remembering Robin's escapade with his tentacle demon.

 

"Is there a reason you came here today?"

 

"Why yes. You're friends with the dragon prince right?"

 

Rob didn't really think of Corrin as a friend. He was more of an acquaintance than anything else. "I never really thought about it. Uh, I guess you can say we're friends."

 

"Well, I will like a little wager with you. You see, I need a pure soul in order for my body to reform. That dragon prince is the only one in this world with that pure soul. If you can bring him to me, I can give you everything you could ever ask for."

 

Rob may not have been able to see him, but he still gave him a look like he was an absolute idiot. "Wow…it's not like I've ever heard every single super villain tries to bribe the protagonist with empty promises like that." He said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

 

"Come on. I'm not like every other villain. Just hand over the dragon and everything will run smoothly."

 

"How about you find some other sucker to bribe? You're not getting Corrin from me. I'm not that desperate for anything." Rob grabs his book and walks away from Hades.

 

Hades snaps his fingers and four demons come emerging from the ground. All the demons went after Rob and lunged at him. Rob tried to pull out of the demon's grasp, but he wasn't strong enough. He cursed under his breath how he couldn't reach out and grab his tome to knock them away.

 

"Why must you make this difficult? Talking never gets anything done. It's better to just take action. You're coming with me Tactician." Hades says.

 

Hades and the demons go back down to the Underworld dragging Rob down with them. If his mind didn't shut down, he would have screamed for help. Corrin should have still been nearby, so he would have been able to hear his friend's cry. Unfortunately, he lost his chance to get help, and now he was paying for it.


Colony 9

Shulk is walking along Colony 9 during the night. He starts picking up a couple of Dawn Hydrangea flowers. These yellow flowers are said to bring good luck to the holder. Shulk makes it all into a bouquet.

 

"Rob is going to love these. I should start heading back now." Shulk starts to walk back to the Smash Realm. He immediately stopped as he started to get a vision. He sees Rob in a cave like area surrounded by lava. Rob's clothes were torn and his body was bruised up. There were demons surrounding Rob with devilish looks in their faces. 

 

"Rob!" Shulk yells. The blonde starts to grow angry. He went into his speed monado art and began to run back to the Smash Realm.


Underworld

Rob is in the Underworld chained up. All the demons looked at Rob, laughing at him. Hades just kept rambling to Rob about how the protagonist likes to make things difficult for themselves.

 

"All you had to do was comply. All you had to do was say "Sure Hades, I'll give you this fresh pure soul to have your body back". If you would've just submitted to me, you wouldn't be locked up here in the Underworld. Now you've made things difficult for yourself." Hades rambled.

 

"What are you hoping to achieve by kidnapping me?" Rob asks.

 

"You're my ticket to getting that dragon prince to hand over his soul. I'll send him a little ransom note. In exchange for you to come back alive, he'll give his soul to me. I’ll have my demons rough you up a bit so we can show that I’m serious. If you die, well I guess that will be just another soul for me to collect.”

 

"You're not getting away with this Hades.”

 

"Oh really? Who's going to stop me? No one knows you're even gone. There's no one to save you.”

 

"Shulk is coming. He'll save me. I know he will." Rob says.

 

"You seem to have a lot of faith in this friend of yours."

 

“Shulk is my boyfriend." Rob corrects.

 

Hades and all the demons look at Rob surprised. "A boyfriend huh? Interesting. Hopefully he’s a better boyfriend than that annoying angel your twin sister chose. Okay everyone, I'm going to need you to ruff up our guest here. Don't kill him...yet. We need him alive in order for us to obtain that soul. I'm going to send our little friend a message." 

 

"Why are you doing this Hades? Why do you want Corrin so badly?"

 

Hades lets out a chuckle. "Oh human, you would understand my intentions if you knew what it was like to lose someone you care for." Hades disappears and heads for the Smash Mansion.

 

All the demons started approaching Rob with devilish looks and evil grins. Rob started to grow fearful. He prepared for the worst on what the demons will do to him.


Corrin came back into his room. He sees a letter lying on his dresser. Corrin was confused. He wasn't expecting to get any letters. Corrin walks up to the letter and picks it up. "What's this?

 

Dear Corrin, how much do you value your friendships? I have your friend Rob held captive in the Underworld. If you wish to have him back alive, you will surrender your soul to me tonight. You will meet me deep within the woods. How far are you willing to go to save your friend?

 

Hades.

 

Corrin gasps. “Oh no, Rob! I have to go save him! I can't let anyone find out about this. I'll have to be very quiet."

 

Corrin looks outside of his room to see if anyone was out in the hallway. All the Smashers were in their rooms. Corrin quietly walks to the front door and heads outside. Corrin looks around and sees no one is outside. He starts walking towards the woods to meet with Hades. What he didn't realize was that Bayonetta and Cloud were watching him head for the woods.

 

"Where is Corrin going?" Cloud wondered.

 

"I'm not very sure. We should go follow him. This seems suspicious." The Umbran Witch says. Bayonetta and Cloud jump off the roof and follow behind Corrin.


Hades comes back down to the Underworld. He sees that his demons have badly injured Rob. Rob's robe was torn off, he had a black eye, bruises and scratches on his arms, and blood was dripping from his mouth. Hades laughs at Rob's pain.

 

"This could've been all avoided if you would've just submitted. All I wanted was the prince's pure soul. I tried to make a deal with you. You could've been back home safe, but you decided to rebel against me. Since we have a little time before we meet Corrin, I'll let my demons have a little fun with you. I also have a pet that would absolutely love you." Hades grins evilly and snaps his fingers.

 

A giant blue liquid began to surface and appear in front of Rob. The liquid began to form into a human male with a very muscular body and bright yellow eyes.

 

"W-What the hell is that?!" Rob asks in a shaky voice.

 

"This is my slime demon Mr. Flexible. He can grow his own penis and he's practically instant lube. You may proceed to enjoy your new friend Mr. Flexible."

 

The demons saw how Rob was reacting and wasted no time grabbing onto him. He snarled as he tried to get away from them, but it was proving ineffective. They had taken his weapons away from him and he wasn't strong enough to fight, so he was forced to endure the pain. But this was different now. The slime was staring him down and it almost made him forget to swallow. 

 

"K-Keep away!" Rob pleaded.

 

The slime demon ignored Rob's plea and slowly approached him. The tactician needed to think of a plan quickly or he would find himself the mate of this slime demon. His mind was incredibly slow at the moment though. 

 

"Stop struggling." One of the demons said seeing how Rob was trying to break free again. "You're not getting away."

 

"Give us a good show." Another demon laughs.

 

Rob shook his head as he felt something cold touch his legs. He groaned as he tried to keep his legs closed. The slime demon didn't have a mouth so it didn't speak. It attempted to force Rob to spread his legs. The tactician realizes that he was losing time and that he needed to think of something fast.

 

"P-Please! D-Don't!" Rob cried out. He didn't realize his voice cracked at that moment. "C-Can you wait?!"

 

Hades groaned as he had his slime demon stop even though it was ready to have its way with the tactician. "Wait for what? If you're trying to delay the inevitable, it’s not happening.”

 

"I am." Rob mutters. "B-But I don't think it should happen now. Do you think that Corrin will even save me? These demons already did their job in roughing me up! W-Why are you going over the top?”

 

"What are you saying? From your expression, you obviously want something to happen." Hades taunted as he made the slime demon move again.

 

“Asshole.” Rob yelped when the slime demon reached out and grabbed his shoulders. His eyes widened knowing full well that if he didn't say something quick, his ass was in for a rude awakening.

 

"W-Why not save this if Corrin doesn't come save me?! I can't look at Corrin if that happened before…"

 

"That would make Corrin choose faster." Hades then realizes what he could do to make things even easier. "Would you rather we wait and do it in front of him?” He teases

 

Rob's eyes widened with fear. “H-Huh…?

 

“That sounds like a splendid idea! How can someone not make a quick decision before their friend gets fucked by a demon? This will only make my plan easier!” The Underworld King laughs.

 

“Damn it! Now I’ve put myself in an even worse situation! What do I do…?” Rob pondered. He sighs in frustration. He needed to make a gamble on Corrin complying or Shulk somehow coming in to save him. It was a dangerous gamble, but he didn’t have much of an option at this point. “I’ll make a deal with you Hades. I won’t fight anymore. If Corrin complies, you let me go. If he doesn’t, you can have your demons do whatever you want to me. Take my soul if you have to.” Rob needed to appeal that he had given up on being saved. 

 

Hades starts to think. It was a win-win situation for him. He also had no faith that this Shulk person wasn’t going to come and save the tactician. "Hmm…okay then. You better keep your word human. You'll be safe from Mr. Flexible for now. Although, I do think you're only hurting yourself. Let him go, boys!"

 

Rob let out a sigh of relief when the demons dropped him. The slime monster was forced to get away from him. He was safe for now, but the problem now was if this gamble was actually going to work out. He gasps, feeling the demons throw him to the floor. His body started to shiver again at the demons leering down on him, mocking him.

 

“If I somehow make it through this, it’ll be a miracle. Shulk...Please come save me.” 


Corrin is in the deep dark parts of the woods where Hades wanted to meet him. Corrin patiently waited for Hades to appear. Bayonetta and Cloud are hiding behind trees watching Corrin.

 

"Is Corrin meeting somebody?" Cloud wonders.

 

"It looks like it. Why else would he be out here? Keep on your toes. This could be trouble." Bayonetta warns.

 

A portal appeared on the ground in front of Corrin. Hades and his demons came out of the portal. The demons were holding on to a bruised Rob.

 

"Corrin, glad to see you've accepted my deal. I have your friend Rob here. He may not be in the best condition, but at least he's not dead...yet." Hades says before letting out an evil chuckle.

 

"Please don't hurt Rob any further." Corrin pleads.

 

"You know the deal to prevent me from doing that. Hand your soul over to me, and you'll have Rob back. What's it going to be, prince?"

 

Corrin was in a very dangerous situation. He was having a hard time trying to figure out what he should do. It was either to lose his friend or put the world in serious danger. Rob was hoping in the back of his mind that Corrin would not give his life up. They were just acquaintances and it was not worth sacrificing himself for someone else who barely gave him the time of day in comparison to his other friends. Even if he made the deal with the demons to become their plaything if things went sour, Rob would rather not be the cause of someone's death due to his own carelessness.

 

"Corrin…don't…" Rob mutters. It only caused the demon to grip his arm causing him great pain. "Guhh…"

 

"We don't have all day sweet prince!" Hades complains."Choose now or I'll have these demons rough your friend up in front of you."

 

Corrin's expression darkened when Hades threatened his friend. It would be one of those rare moments that Hades would see the dragon prince angry. His utter silence spoke wonders to Cloud and Bayonetta though. The Umbran Witch noticed that for a moment, Corrin did grab the hilt of his blade before deciding against drawing his weapon against the demons. He closed his eyes before he made his decision. Before Corrin can respond to Hades, a bullet flies past Corrin and hits a demon in the head. Corrin turns around to see Bayonetta and Cloud.

 

"You're not laying a finger on my dragon Hades." Bayonetta says. "I guess trashing your Underworld the first time wasn't enough."

 

"Cloud?! Cere!?" Corrin said surprised.



“You’re lucky we caught you leaving. It was stupid of you to come here by yourself.” Cloud takes out his Fusion Sword.

 

"You two?! Dammit! All you had to do was get here by yourself without anyone following you! You couldn't even do that right! Now I have to get rid of these stupid idiots! Demons attack!" Hades growls.

 

All the demons took out their weapons and started slowly approaching Cloud, Corrin, and Bayonetta. Corrin runs behind Bayonetta and Cloud. Bayonetta and Cloud prepared to fight the demons.

 

"…Make sure they don't get near Corrin. I can't be responsible if you're taking hostage again." Bayonetta told Cloud.

 

"C-Cere…" Corrin mumbled before looking over to Rob. “We need to get Rob away from them. There isn't that much time…"

 

"Obviously." Cloud snarks as he starts to charge his limit already.

 

"…I have both my sword and my staff. Tell me what I need to do." 

 

"I need you to stay safe." Bayonetta told Corrin. "You should know what you need to do. You do not need me ordering me around."

 

Corrin understood what he needed to do. Before they could attack, Shulk jumps out of the bushes with his Monado in his hand. Shulk was seething with rage. He sees that Rob was bruised up and forced to lie on the ground as the demons approached the three Smashers. Something in Shulk snapped seeing his boyfriend in his weakened state.

 

"You're all going to pay for what you did to him!" Shulk yells. Shulk activated Monado Eater and prepared to fight the demons. All the demons slowly started stepping back. Even Corrin, Bayonetta, and Cloud stepped back from Shulk.

 

Shulk came running towards the demons and activated Stream Edge sending some of the demons flying who attacked him from the front. A cyclops swings his club down at Shulk. Shulk dodges it and rolls behind the cyclops.

 

"Backslash!" Shulk cuts the cyclops in half with his Backslash.

 

Demons started to surround Shulk. Shulk spins the Monado around and activates the Monado Cyclone and scatters the demons everywhere. A demon tried to stab Shulk with his spear. Shulk dodges at the last minute before taking the Monado and impaling that demon in the back. A giant tries to punch Shulk, but Shulk quickly dodges the giant and cuts him in half.

 

Shulk charges his Monado and stabs all the demons in front of him with the sword beams. Once most of the demons were killed, Shulk turned to Hades and pointed his Monado at him. "I will wipe your existence for what you did to Rob!" He threatens.

 

Hades felt a sense of fear. “I’m sensing something strange within this boy. Can it be that...he is a God himself?! If I knew that tactician's boyfriend was a God, I would’ve been a little more careful.”

 

"I think it would be best if we gave him the human and run away." Reaper says in a shaky voice.

 

"Yeah, you already lost your body. Don't want to lose everything else." One demon added.

 

"Yeah you're right. Everyone back to the Underworld!" Hades and the rest of the demons quickly scurried back into the Underworld.

 

The seer did not put his sword away until he was certain all the demons were gone. Once he was certain there were no stragglers, Shulk quickly rushed over to his boyfriend who was abandoned in favor of escaping with their lives. Shulk takes off his jacket and wraps it around Rob. He picks Rob up from the ground.

 

"Are you okay?" He asked the tactician.

 

"Y-Yeah…I'll be fine." Rob responded quietly. His cheeks were flustered, but he failed to hide his face. His arms were still hurting. Shulk uses Light Heal to remove some of the injuries at that very moment. "You don't need to use so much Ether for me…"

 

"Come on. Let's go back to the mansion and get you completely healed up. My healing isn't as effective on you as it would me." Shulk tightens his grip on his boyfriend as he carries Rob back to the mansion.

 

Bayonetta, Cloud, and Corrin still stood in fear at what they just witnessed. Shulk completely obliterated Hades' army without as much as breaking a sweat. Cloud and Bayonetta were mostly afraid. They didn't think Shulk was very powerful when they fought him in tournaments. He was usually seen as very easy going in the tournament setting except when there was something on the line. The problem was that Shulk was on an obvious handicap. Bayonetta had her powers lowered by Master Hand as well, but she never considered that Shulk had his power reduced to a point where he would appear incompetent in Smash. It was like Shulk was a completely different being.

 

"D-Did you know he was capable of doing all of that?" Cloud asks Bayonetta. His voice was incredibly shaky.

 

"Nope, guess I should keep in mind now to never make Shulk angry…"

 

"Same…" Corrin and Cloud murmured as they would eventually have to trail after Shulk once Bayonetta had to lead the way back to the mansion.


Shulk takes Rob into his room. He uses a cloth to wipe off the remaining blood off of Rob's mouth.

 

"There we go. It may not be much, but I can at least clean you up." Shulk says. "I'll ask Dr. Mario for medicine later…"

 

"It's okay…I'll just ask Corrin to heal me when he's not busy. I caused him too much trouble already with getting kidnapped."

 

"Are you sure…I mean…I can do more for you."

 

"No, it's okay…thank you Shulk…" Rob thanked him as he watched Shulk place the cloth down. The blond didn't respond because he expected the white haired tactician to continue talking. Rob shyly glanced at Shulk before he looked away. Rob would have dropped the conversation if something didn't come up in his mind. "Where have you've been? You've been gone for four days."

 

"Time is much different here than it is in Colony 9…" Shulk admits. "I didn't mean to be gone for long, but I forgot to warn you. I went there to give you these."

 

Shulk takes out a bouquet of Dawn Hydrangea flowers and gives them to Rob. The tactician had a mad blush spread across his cheeks at the gesture.

 

"For me? What are these for?" Rob wondered.

 

"Rob, did you forget? Today marks our ten month anniversary of being together."

 

Rob raises his eyebrow in surprise. “We had an anniversary planned? This was something I’m unaware of.

 

Shulk rubs the back of his head in embarrassment. “Well I’ve never really brought it up to you prior. So I apologize for that. I thought I could make this day a little special.”

 

Rob smiles at his boyfriend. "Thank you Shulk."

 

"Don't mention it. I know you're not really a flower person but, I couldn't resist getting them for you…"

 

"No, it's not only the flowers. Thank you for saving my life back there."

 

Shulk smiled back. "I would never abandon you. I had a vision of something terrible happening to you, so I did my best to get back to the mansion. I'm just glad I made it before you or anyone was hurt…"



"I'm thankful for that. You really do love me. You saving me back there definitely proved it. I was worried that you wouldn’t come to save me. I was lucky that I gambled that you did. Not the most tactical thing, I know. I still had faith that you’d come and save me.”

 

"You know how much you mean to me. I gave you those flowers specifically because good luck comes to those who have them. I want good luck to come our way. I want us to be together for a very long time."

 

"I think good luck already came to me. I have a boyfriend who loves me a lot. There may have been better options, he picks me over everyone else. No matter how I feel about myself, he never gives up on me. You are the greatest thing to ever happen to me." Rob smiles.

 

"Rob, I love you." Shulk presses his lips onto Rob's and the two kiss passionately. He let out a small moan as he allowed Shulk to wrap his hands behind his waist. 

 

"I love you too Shulk. Thank you..."

 

The two broke the kiss and embraced each other. Rob started feeling a little more confident that he and Shulk were going to be just fine. Hades' words started to cross Rob's mind.

 

"You would understand my intentions if you knew what it was like to lose someone you care for."

 

“What did Hades mean by that?”  Rob wondered. He was soon going to do research on Hades. For now, he just wanted to share this happy moment with his boyfriend and his hero.

Notes:

I was actually really bothered by this story. Not for the pairing, but how it was written in terms of characterization. I didn't (and still don't) much about Xenoblade, so monitored how I wrote Shulk. Since she was my editor and had some influences in how my stories were written, a lot of influence just oozed into the story, especially when it involved Rob.

In the original, Rob was much crueler to Corrin and a lot more self loathing. I expressed before how much I didn't like Rob's characterization in my older stories, but that was mostly influenced by Ginta. The whole gender war thing in the Smash fandom definitely had a big impact on her, and it showed in the original writing of this story.

There was also a lot more sexual harassment going with Rob and it made me feel really uncomfortable and it also didn't add anything. I kept the slime demon though cause I found that funny and definitely something Hades would pull. Most of the sexually stuff was Ginta's idea originally. Seventeen year old me was feeling a lot of dread.

I did like how this edit came out a lot better than the original. I'm not much of a yaoi shipper, but Shulk/Rob is a really good pairing.

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