AN: There are references to a certain character from Brawl in this. As it is mostly concerned with Dark Pit, however, I felt the Kid Icarus category was more appropriate. Er... maybe this could be more than a one shot? I'm not sure just yet. Rated for swearing and sexual suggestion!

"You know, Pittoo, you've been standing over that sink for hours now. Don't you want to... you know... go and get some lunch or something? If you're lonely, I can accompany you."

"You know, Palutena, it's bad enough that you're still calling me that ridiculous name, but suggesting I would ever dream of having lunch with you is really taking the cake."

Palutena, who has been quietly watching over her angel's dark twin, sighs. This is exactly the response she had expected but not the one she had rather foolishly hoped for, and knows that there's really nothing she can say that will haul Dark Pit away. Even his insult was offhand, lacking its usual callousness and bite. And he hadn't looked away from the pool's vision for even a split second, acknowledging her only in the brief retort.

"Well... if you change your mind, you know where to find me."

She remains standing behind him in the Hallway of Visions, feeling foreign and uncomfortable despite it being her very own palace. Like she's intruding on his privacy rather than worrying about what he's doing. Palutena watches him for a minute, waiting for him to pull away and realise that he has spent the better part of a day here, doing nothing but looking at whatever is reflected in the celestial water.

Dark Pit makes no motion to move at all, almost as if she was never there to begin with.

When she'd first noticed his presence in the palace, she hadn't wanted to pry into his business and in doing so potentially exacerbate and alienate him again. Lately, Dark Pit had been opening up to her and even to Pit, spending more time in the palace and around the city than distancing himself and keeping a low profile, as was typical. He'd been approachable, occasionally even friendly, and though nobody had been able to understand exactly why he was showing signs of change nobody had complained about it, either. It was a... nice, if surprising, change from the norm.

But now that he is here, Palutena decides that if she is to leave Dark Pit alone to do as he pleases, she must at least see what it is he's been observing so intently, and assess whether or not it is worth stepping in and physically pulling him away.

Casting a veil of translucence over herself, Palutena ascends and floats closer to Dark Pit until she is right behind him, invisible and able to look over into the pool.

It certainly isn't what she was expecting to see, nor can she understand why Dark Pit is showing such acute interest in it. But then, when Palutena glances down to the dark angel, finally able to get a good look at his face, she sees that there are tears brimming in narrowed brown eyes, and his hands are holding so tightly onto the basin's rim that his fingertips are white.

They've been together for hours. For hours and hours and hours.

He knows he shouldn't be looking. He shouldn't be watching them like this. It's wrong, it's unhealthy, he has no right to be- stalking them like this. He knows, but he can't help it, because if he looks away for even a second they could disappear and then Dark Pit will have no way of knowing what they are doing. The thought alone makes him want to simultaneously curl up into a ball of unknowing bliss, and lash out at anything and everything around him out of unbearable jealousy.

Caught between the two, Dark Pit is now incapable of leaving. He tried simply walking away earlier and distracting himself with other, more important things than stupid fucking Pit. But apparently there were no distractions good enough, nothing more important than watching Pitsqueak and his friend. Not now that Hades is gone, and their lives are all dull normality.

There is literally nothing else on Dark Pit's mind but the worry of what Pit and his new friend could do together, and it is completely, utterly draining.

The only way he has been able to keep the cold coil of anxiety inside him at bay is to constantly watch over Pit, stalk his every move around the city and making sure that nothing ... nothing happens between them. Make sure they didn't just disappear into some corner together and get close enough to make Dark Pit obliterate the palace in a rage of helpless envy.

They have had breakfast, they have gone fishing, they have talked and laughed and occasionally brushed hands. Now, Pit is parading him around for all the centurions and civilians to see like he's some sort of trophy. Well, he could be, for all Dark Pit knows about that shitty tournament. They have trophies, don't they? Is that what he is? 'Cause it would sure explain why Pit is making such a fuss over him, and has been practically hanging off his arm all day.

Watching them has been nothing but torture. Every look they've exchanged, every smile, every slight touch shared has made that cold coil heavier and heavier, made Dark Pit feel jealous to the point of sickness. But the pictures of them which come to mind when he closes his eyes are worse than the reality he can watch and at least keep track of, so until this stranger leaves, he doesn't have a choice but to stay here and watch them.

Everybody is so interested in him, in the exotic foreigner dressed in green accompanying Skyworld's hero around town. Wearing a stupid hat, with his weird looking ears and hair that's so blond he could pass as Viridi's brother. Dark Pit doesn't want to acknowledge his deep blue eyes, his quiet, confident stride, how blatantly attractive he is and how he's constantly looking over Pit in a protective manner.

As far as he's concerned, Pit's pretty friend can go and get fucked.

Now Pit is taking him to try on traditional Skyworld clothing (is this what they do at that tournament, just mess around all day?) and Pit is blushing, no, stop that, don't blush over him taking his clothing off, what's the matter with you? You're just friends. You're just friends! Stop reading so much into this; nothing is going to happen with them, they are just friends!

Dark Pit has formed this into a kind of mantra which runs desperately through his head every time they share one of those damned 'moments' together. He ignores the fact that crumbling around him is the imaginary relationship he has built up with Pit, ignores that even if this guy is just a friend he would do anything to be in his place, anything to be the one Pit is smiling at, blushing at, happily spending his time with.

Lately there have been nights where it's taken all of Dark Pit's willpower not to travel over to his twin, sneak into his bedroom and just- just take him. Into his arms and out of the palace, or violently on the floor after the inevitable ensuing fight for dominance. Sometimes it's more fun to imagine a fight to spice things up, to have Pit resist him, hate him. Sometimes he just wants Pit to fall ragdoll in his arms and reciprocate.

Sometimes it's okay just to be near his twin, and other times Dark Pit wants to break him.

He is consumed by Pit, wants and craves him like a shadow cast from fading light which grows as night rises and the sun falls behind the earth. Shadows can only come from light, and likewise, without his good counterpart, Dark Pit knows that he is nothing.

But all of these nights where he sneaks out to steal Pit away are nothing but illusions. And it hurts that it can never happen between them in the way Dark Pit wants, but at the very least - until now - there has been no competition. It hurts that the one thing he wants is the one thing he can't have. It hurts that Pit is spending time with anyone who isn't his dark twin, and that Dark Pit can't have his own way- can't have Pit however and whenever he wants him.

What hurts the most in this, though, is seeing how happy he is, and knowing that no matter what Dark Pit does, Pit will never be as happy with him.

Stuck in jealousy and unrequited affection, Dark Pit barely recognises that Palutena is talking to him. He is trapped in being nothing but an outsider, cast from Pit's back facing the sunlight- facing the blond stranger who has thoroughly captured Pit's attention, who has accomplished what Dark Pit never will. It hurts so much, more than any attack from Medusa, Pandora, Hades, to watch Pit be happy with somebody else, and to have no control over it.

And yet still, he just cannot bring himself to look away.

Palutena seems to disappear soon enough, leaving the dark angel alone with the images in the basin, the tears pricking his eyes, and the quiet turmoil of knowing he will never compare.