Another day, another match, another conflict.

The raven storms out of the stage, throwing his silver bow on the tiled floor and giving the cold shoulder to the others who were at the back cheering on. The tile chips at the force Dark Pit used, in which scares a toon and the twins. He slams the door to the Great Hall open and all the crowd could hear is the stomping fading all the way east. The blonde, pink princess walks towards the door frame and the Hero King follows her, both of them clearly showing concerns as to what could've have happened during the match. However, the blue-haired king places his gentle hand on the princess's shoulder to stop her from whatever she has in mind. She looks back at him wide-eyed and worriedly, while all the prince could do is shake his temple. The blonde sighs and stares at the ground,

"When will this end...?" gloved hands intertwine each other and thumbs swirl. Peach's surely concerned at this situation, as it has been going on for a while. It all could potentially end in one or in other, horrific conclusion.

The King looks back at the rests and sighs once again, shaking his head, "It'll have to take some kind of miracle worker for their situation to become for the better. It only happened one time..." Marth motions his hand and lets it drop against his sides.

The princess gasps quietly then darts her eyes at the direction the raven scrammed off, "So he still hasn't let go of it, I see..."

"Dark Pit!" A voice booms which makes the silenced crowd jump off their shoes. They all look at the direction it came from, only to see a silhouette of a spiked blond mercenary emerge from the dark at quite the speed. While at trance, a large metallic object drops on the floor making a deafening noise. Some of the fighters cover their ears in pain while others notice the man take a sharp right out the Great Hall, the same direction Dark Pit went. A wild, elf-eared hero takes a step forward next to the brunette angel, motioning to stand at the door frame to join the royal members. The hero snickers to himself as he finds this calamity amusing. The group looks at him seriously, and the angel slams his elbow against the wild hero's side.

"What? There he goes again, and will keep on doing so~!" Another snicker, then a chuckle and finally a quick laugh, "He'll never be forgiven, that boy is so stubborn he can't take in the fact he lost to Cloud at that tournament. And that happened only once!" As he finishes speaking, more laughter erupts from his mouth. Some fighters groan quietly at his reaction and others simply feel embarrassment. They all knew he was sleep deprived, but come on...

Suddenly, the brunette frowns and shakes for a split second while darting his sapphire eyes around in an attempt to comprehend that sudden feeling. Marth notices this and his eyes slightly widen, "Pit, Is he...?" Pit looks up with slightly watery moons and stares at Marth directly as he can tell the king finds this reaction familiar, so he goes straight to the point, "Yes..." Marth closes his eyes for a second and looks away, but clearly staring down at the hall even if it's now empty and dead silent. Pit shuts his eyes, containing the salty streams in to then release, blinking rapidly.

'He's simply hurting, confused, and his thoughts are too fuzzy for me to decipher... Please, Cloud, do something for his sake...'

---

Dark Pit slams his apartment's front door shut and storms to the bedroom, not caring at all if it made a disturbance down the hall. In sheer anger, he rips his scarf off and throws it against the wall, followed by a soft thump as soon as it hit it. It falls behind the bed but the dark angel's too busy frustrated while trying to undo the toga's purple pin. He begins to grind his teeth as he lets the top half drop, still not feeling relief from all of it completely off. He looks down and proceeds to undo his belt. As he does so, he reminisces on the match he was in just a couple of minutes ago, reminiscing on how he had to fight against Cloud, again. And he swears, the same event from the tournament happened during that one. He swears, Cloud cheated once again, he tricked him again, taunt him so until he failed. A headache begins while he struggles to take his belt off; he was too focused on his thoughts that he didn't realize the front door opening. The door creaks shut and boots thump their way against the carpeted floor towards the bedroom.

By the time Dark Pit undid his golden belt, the large ex-mercenary stands behind him, towering the angel by quite a small number of inches. Both the toga and the belt drop on the carpet silently followed up with a heavy, frustrated sigh. Still lost in thought, the angel has not realized that the man he has a grudge on is standing right behind him, and begins to grumble and mumble curses towards him. Though not very clear to Cloud, he could, either way, feel that it's all about him and it makes him upset. Cloud means not even a brush of harm towards Dark Pit, he really doesn't.

In fact, he wants to clear so many things, to make his beloved idol see the clear picture. He desires to tell how he has been a great, inspiring fighter, how he is an amazing person and how much his dear angel means to him, emotionally, physically and mentally. Cloud wants to clear the atmosphere, lift the tension between them and confess all his feelings he bottled up since he got invited alongside a witch, a melee fighter, a dragon, and some others. But for that to work, Dark Pit needs to whole truth; convince him into opening his ears and listen without arguing or being defensive. Cloud never cheated as the angel claims, he never did.

It was all Dark Pit's goof. Merely close to falling offstage, he latched onto the edge and jumped while charging his arrow. As quick as he could, Cloud went on for the kill, definitely testing his luck, or risking it as both were at their last stock, and over a hundred percent. Dark Pit made the mistake of charging his shot for too long. With one swift swing, Cloud knocked his opponent offstage, claiming victory on that one tournament. At the end of it all, what happened was a risky fifty-fifty chance. No cheating involved, just natural events. Yet Dark Pit insisted, which hurt the ex-mercenary by a large percent.

With a deep breathe, Cloud attempts to clear his throat quietly and steps back a bit as he never noticed he had gotten closer to the angel. He so happens to catch the smell of the shampoo, and dear did he had a delicious choice on pomegranate scented products...

"Dark Pit..." He hopes said person heard that. Fortunately, he did and it made him stop from removing his cuffs. The angel blinks a couple of times as the voice sinks in his brain and frowns after realizing who's the owner. He got himself so deep in thought he had forgotten reality for a split second. He turns around and glares up at the blond, slapping on a frown and hands resting on hips. This makes Cloud jolt in reaction to the angel's face; even if he could tell he's pissed, it always struck him how fierce those gorgeous gems can be, it could kill somebody if given the chance. Although Cloud got his idol's attention, he loses all tracks of what he wants to say. His train of thought slows to a crawl, so he finds himself stuttering and mumbling on his words. He begins to internally freak out as he feels Dark Pit's aura burn to scorch.

Before he could even start a sentence, the angel decides to go first, "Get out."

Cloud jolts once again, and stutters while realizing what the angel just said, "What...?"

"Get out. Now."

"Wait-"

"Out!" Dark Pit lunges himself towards Cloud and grabs him by the shoulders, catching the blond off-guard. With boiling anger, Dark Pit manages to forcefully make the clearly larger figure to turn around and push him out the bedroom door. He finishes doing so with one last push, which makes Cloud trip forward using the couch to catch himself from face-planting onto the coffee table. The blond stands up and looks at Dark Pit one last time before the bedroom door slams shut.

The apartment fills up with silence now, all that's heard is that annoying ringing inside the ears. Cloud finds himself just simply staring all dumbfounded at the door, both upset and confused. Confused as to what did he do this time, was it the previous match? Did Dark Pit had a flashback when he lost again? 'But, this time it was a free for all, no medal or trophy was given; it was even said so at the beginning, why is he so angry...?' He's also upset, upset at the fact he won't let him speak, or be patient enough to find the right words to say. He tries not to feel upset, but he does, because he loves him, both as an inspiration and as a lover. He truly wants this trainwreck to end, this nonsensical mess is truly destroying their partnership, and other fighters have become part of it as well. He doesn't want it to affect anyone else, neither to Dark Pit.

However, all he can do now is wait it out; wait until Dark Pit has taken a rest, cleared his boggled mind up in order to take the truth all in. He proceeds to sit down on the couch, reach out for the remote control and flick the TV on, letting whatever show play without actually bothering to skip it. If he wants this to work, he has to go at nature's pace.

---

A couple of hours flew by when the ex-mercenary had fallen asleep on the comfortable furniture. He rubs off the sleep and sits up, scratching his dirty blond locks into a turmoil. He looks out the window and notices the sun setting behind the horizon, painting the sky a gorgeous shade of yellow which fades to gold, crimson and indigo. Some black silhouettes flew across the sky, rather small birds but still visible. He smiles to himself and lays back, turning his attention to the TV which is still on. How long did he nap for? Eh, not that that matters here anyway, they don't pay rent, '...Us...'

He had forgotten. He had forgotten about the issue of earlier, and now he feels like a dump in an alleyway which was left there for days on end. His stomach turns to make him feel nauseous, and his head starts to hurt as it fills up with possible outcomes for when he interacts with him. Either calmness, denial, arguing, yelling or even end up complaining to both Master and Crazy Hands. Not that that's going to be the first -possible- time the Hands would interact with them. Because of the whole tournament situation, the Hands had concluded to put him and Dark Pit as roommates in the first place. Cloud used to be with the blue-haired mercenary and Dark Pit with the angel of light. But because this mess happened, the only possible way that it could've been solved was by being forced to confront each other. Yet, clearly, it didn't work as more arguments and conflicts grew towards each other overtime, to what's happening now.

He feels guilty, even though he knows the truth he feels like he owes Dark Pit. He knows he shouldn't but he can't help it and just choke on it. He stands up, fixes his opaque-purple sweater and walks slowly towards the bedroom door. He stops dead silent and simply stares at the doorknob; he imagines it being locked for obvious reasons. So, he steps closer to the door and softly places his hands against it, brushing and feeling the smooth, polished texture under his palms. He opens his mouth and blinks a few times, multitasking to hear any movement inside and thinking what to say without sounding upset or angry, or anything negative overall.

"Dark Pit...?" He breathes out, heart racing two-hundred miles an hour it feels like it's about to burst out his chest, feeling anxious about what kind of interaction would come from the other side.

But nothing spills out, so he attempts again, "Dark Pit? L-Listen to me..." The blond moistens his plump lips to proceed, "Maybe... you're asleep or, you still don't want to talk to me, but... I simply want to say..." He stops, face slowly turning into a frown and hands clenching into fists. It dearly hurts him being ignored, and having the feeling of guilt linger makes it even worse. He doesn't want to be left out, he doesn't want to lose the man he loves over something so stupid. He wants to clarify the situation, give his idol a proper insight on what he did; a mistake. He no longer wants this bitter taste in his mouth to continue lingering, the nauseous feeling to go away and the strings of his heart to stop being toyed with. He composes himself and continues to speak out, hoping Dark Pit would at least listen for a bit.

"I'm... I'm so sorry..." he places his forehead against the door and shuts his eyes, "Dark Pit, I truly mean it... I'm very sorry all of this is happening. I really mean no harm at all..." He chokes as the tears well up in his moons, "All I ask is that you forgive me and that you listen to me, but please... open up..." Pearls begin to grit against each other as he holds his sobbing back, he didn't want to seem weak but it truly hurts him. He grips his fists tighter to the point his well-cared manicure begins to dig into his palms painfully, but he doesn't mind it or realizes it happening. He keeps his forehead against the door, standing completely still on the spot. He doesn't want to move from there, he doesn't want to walk away, he stands there, letting the streams spill out of the sockets quietly. A couple of silent sobbing minutes passed by and Cloud still rests against the door, as if he is able to make himself cry to sleep right there and then.

Suddenly, he hears a click right underneath him. His body quickly reacts and steps back in shock, eyes hurting from the dried up tears. Cloud lifts his arm and wipes his face clean, or somewhere near that. He takes a couple of deep breaths to calm his fierce heartbeat and clenches his hands to stop shaking as he reached out for the silver handle. It feels ice cold due to the air conditioning, so it sends a shiver down the blond's spine and it was intense. Finally, he takes one last deep breath and turns the handle, opening the bedroom door slowly as he avoided peeking. His expectations are meeting with a blank stare, intense crimson eyes directly staring at him, straight posture and a serious tone of voice.

But the complete opposite happens; Cloud encounters his idol, sitting on the edge of the bed and his back facing the door, his gorgeous wings noticeably brushed clean and that scar he got during some traumatic event fully exposed, simply in shorts. Dark Pit obviously hears the door creak open but never flinches, just silently stares at himself in the full body mirror. Then, the angel turns slightly but enough to see the towering blond in the corner of his eye. And yet again, no exchange of words, just silence. But not just any silence, it's... comfortable. The air doesn't feel heavy for either of them, doesn't feel like it can suffocate either one. It feels light, sweet, lovely... Compared to other times, a knife could be used to cut through it. At last, out of the blue, a word, a name breaks the silence while turning his attention at the mirror again,

"Cloud..." Said person shuts the door behind his tail quietly, completely forgetting what is left unattended in the living room. He slowly walks closer to the bed, feeling truly comfortable on sitting next to the stunning figure. Yet, he doesn't respond back, because he knows that Dark Pit hasn't finished, "I've been thinking about some... issues, a-and..." Dark Pit stares directly at the mirror, and so does Cloud. He sees his angel's face on it, so he goes for a sly smile. But that idea gets thrown out the window when Dark Pit's facial expression turned into a frown, then break down into tears. He looks down at the ground and starts to shake as the sobbing became uncontrollably loud. Cloud quickly goes in to hug him, wrapping his arms all around Dark Pit's body in a comforting manner and begins to caress his black locks. Dark Pit sobs against the blond's shirt, staining it with uncontrollable tears. Cloud proceeds to hush him quietly, reassuring him that everything's okay.

Even if the howling is intense, that doesn't stop the raven from speaking, "I shouldn't treat y-you like I am d-doing... I'm... I'm such a t-twat..." he sniffles a bit, catching his breath "It was all me, I... I just r-realized... all of this... I-Is all my d-doing... I-I'm s-s-s.... so..." The hiccups, however, become the boundary of his vocal cords. His shaky hands proceed to grip and nearly tear Cloud's sweater trying to compose himself, as he has never broken down like this. Not in front of anyone other than Pit, however. Cloud's eyes enlarge at the angel's voice; the words that came out of his mouth. He can't be smiling in this situation, especially around a shockingly, and gutting-feeling broken state of Dark Pit, but he couldn't help it. This is clearly the moment; the moment when everything can finally be forgotten. Lock away all the problematic events between them, and all the grudges that are held for each other. Everything forgotten, everything forgiven, everything turning a new leaf. The ex-mercenary keeps caressing the dark locks in comfort, hoping his dear angel calms down sooner knowing he's got a man that cares for him even after all the shade thrown at him. A man that cares for him for his all, a man who is sweet, courageous, kind and loving, a man he needs to listen to more often and never criticize ever again.

After a certain amount of minutes pass by, Dark Pit's now quietly crying showing he has regained control of himself. Cloud, still hugging him as tightly and securely as he could, lifts Dark Pit's face and gently wipes the tears clean. Dark Pit couldn't help but get lost in the blond's sapphire eyes. While hypnotised, Dark Pit finds himself in a warm, peaceful atmosphere, something he has found himself previously in whenever Cloud was there with him. He finds himself feeling safe and secure, fully being supported and protected. He notices a couple of things inside those blue pools, he notices the sincerity, the honesty, the truth, the admiration and love this man blissfully desires to show. Then, he struggles to crack a smile but Cloud leans in for a kiss on the cheek. Then, the blond gently whispers to the now slightly tired figure, "Let's go to sleep, you've had it rough today, Pittoo..."

---

(KaitoPiToo - April 16th-17th 2019 - SSB 4 & U - Dark Pit x Cloud Strife - Partly Background Story)