I'm not very good at writing romance, but I tried my best here.

Thus us a prequel of sorts to Beyond The Mansion Gates.

Hope you managed to enjoy this somehow :)

Pit wanted to hold Pittoo.

Not in a chokehold or anything harmful like that, but in a way that made his clone feel warm, safe, loved.

Loved…

It might just be a misunderstanding, but Pittoo just seemed so alien to the idea of affection. Pit had been giving and receiving hugs from Palutena for as long as he could remember, but when he held out his arms for Pittoo, he either gave Pit an odd look or ignored him completely. Pit's arms would droop and Palutena, sensing his disappointment, would swoop in with a great big hug of her own.

Pit tried the 'surprise hug' tactic, but it always ended in a big shove and harsh instructions to "get off me!"

Nevertheless, Pit did not stop loving his imperfect clone.

But what made him realise it was love?

After Hades was defeated Pittoo flew off to another corner of the planet. Where, or why, he didn't tell anyone these details. Pit missed seeing him around, hearing his snarky reply to whatever insult was dished out to him. But back then he didn't realise he was in love, as it was more of an "I miss you, dear ally" than an "I miss you, dear lover" feeling. That was the best way he could describe it.

Months went by until one tranquil afternoon, when the sound of fists banging on the temple door echoed through the halls. Pit leaped from the sofa, away from the drippy soap opera playing loudly(it had been Palutena's turn to pick the TV show that day) and sprinted to the door. As he flung it open he squinted in the bright afternoon light.

"Pittoo?"

But as Pittoo opened his mouth to respond, Palutena appeared. She'd seemed equally as surprised.

"What on earth are you doing here?"

Pittoo explained the situation. It turned out he'd been serving under Viridi all this time until she kicked him to the curb for reasons he neglected to mention. He had nowhere else to go, so he'd come here. When he'd finished talking, there were half a dozen centaurians gathered around staring intently at the newcomer. Palutena ordered them sharply to go back to their duties before turning to Dark Pit. She appeared hesitant at first, but allowed him to stay.

He remembered dinner that night: takeout chicken. Pit himself had begged for it, saying that it was to celebrate the new addition to the family. Dark Pit visibly shuddered at the word family.

Pit was ecstatic that Pittoo had come back. He admired him from across the dinner table and watched him nibbling on a chicken wing. But it still wasn't love quite yet.

Over the next few months, Pit rarely saw Pittoo. This was because Palutena sent him on mission after mission. Pit would ask about Pittoo and every time Palutena assured him that his clone was perfectly fine. When Pit got back home from these missions, he always ran past Dark Pit's door, calling out a "Hey Pittoo! I'm home!" And Pittoo would never fail to respond with "How many times do I have to tell you to not call me by that name!" And, if he yelled that loud enough, Palutena would give the dark angel a talking to about "respecting people's silence".

But even then it wasn't recognised as love.

That happened the day they received their invitations to Super Smash Bros.

That day, the two angels were sparring out in the hilly fields, because Palutena had forbidden them to use the training grounds as soon as Pit mentioned that he had managed to convince Pittoo to join him.

They clashed their bows together. Dark Pit broke off the attack and swung his bow at Pit, who dodged it easily. In retaliation, Pit kicked the Silver Bow out of his clone's hands. Dark Pit cursed loudly and attempted to retrieve his weapon. Pit could still remember the trembling excitement at being so close to winning a sparring match, as he hadn't had a decent opponent to fight in a long time.

As he charged for the final blow, Dark Pit blindsided him with a quick but powerful kick to his side. This sent him tumbling down the hill they were standing on.

Pit let out a groan when he finally reached the bottom. He stared up at the sky when he heard Pittoo approaching him. Then he stood directly over the light angel's body, his clothes smeared in dirt.

Then, Pittoo extended a helping hand. "Good game. I win." He said, smirking.

Pit couldn't help but lap it up as grabbed his hand and was hauled to his feet. Pittoo frowned.

"Are you alright? Your leg's bleeding."

Pit paid no attention to the blood that was indeed dripping down his leg(he later realised he must have banged it against a rock when he rolled down the hill). He was much more interested in the first real concern his clone had showed him since moving in. It made his heart leap up and down with fangirlish excitement inside his chest. Their relationship was definitely evolving! He knew it!

Maybe that was why he fearlessly approached Pittoo with his arms spread, waiting for a hug. Pittoo took a step back. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

That snapped Pit out of his daze. Or perhaps it was the sound of Palutena's voice squealing inside his head.

"You two come back to the temple now! I've got big news for you!"

When they walked in, Palutena was leaping all over the place as if she was a professional ballerina. Pit saw the letter in her hands and recognised the golden paper and red seal immediately.

"Lady Palutena, you got accepted into Smash?"

She halted briefly and nodded excitedly. "And you are going back as well!"

Now both of them were jumping like madmen. Until Pit paused and asked "whose letter is that?"

Palutena stopped prancing around and gazed at the third unopened envelope on the table. She walked over and took a better look at the writing on it, then gasped in disbelief.

"Lady Palutena, what's wrong?" Pit rushed to her side.

Palutena picked up the letter and held it out towards Dark Pit, who was lounging around in the doorway. "I-it's for you."

"Me?" He cried incredulously.

Palutena leaned in further towards him. "Yes, they actually want to accept someone so worthless and uninspired such as yourself into the most prestigious fighting tournament of all time," she hissed so Pit wouldn't hear.

Dark Pit stared angrily back. "Well they obviously see some talent in me. Who knows, I'll probably beat you. Then you'll see who's worthless." He snatched the letter and marched into his room.

It was so strange, but that moment when he watched Pittoo's retreating back, Pit understood that what he had been feeling all along was love. And it wasn't the conventional love of ice cream or bright sunny days. This version of love felt deeper, stronger. Pit had never felt so attached to anything before. He was unsure of how to process this newfound feeling.

The two weeks before Smash was scheduled to begin passed in a dreamy blur. Pit learned from Palutena's soap operas that he had all the classic signs of falling in love: dizziness, melty soul, couldn't stop obsessing over the object of fantasy, though he didn't like thinking of Pittoo as an object. He was a person, a person Pit wished, nay, hoped felt the same way. He was a person Pit wanted to spend all his time with, get to know him better, hug him, one day, even kiss him…

Pit thought of hugging and kissing Pittoo a lot more that he cared to admit. It got to the point where he would dream of such things, then wake to find his arms wrapped around himself and his lips planted firmly against the wall next to his bed. It was really embarrassing to wake up like that.

Which was partially why he began approaching Pittoo for hugs. Approaches that were always rejected. It stung a little, but he did not stop loving him.

The day before they were supposed to leave was spent packing and cleaning the temple. This chore absolutely drained Pit, who, after dinner, fell asleep immediately after lights-out, but he woke up in the middle of the night with a parched throat.

He padded downstairs to grab a glass of water. Upon reaching the kitchen, he grabbed the biggest glass he could find, filled it up and drank the whole thing. He also nicked a couple of doughnut from the box that had been left on the counter and are them with relish.

On his way back to his room he stopped outside Dark Pit's door. He'd be asleep by now, Pit thought. He always looks so cute when he's all fast asleep!

Without really thinking anything through, he slowly opened the door and stuck his head round. The room was so tiny there was barely any floor space left to spare after putting the bed in. The walls were lined with shelves that only held three books, a spare tunic, the Silver Bow and the Dark Pit Staff. Dark Pit himself was indeed asleep. At some point in the night, he had rolled over so he was half leaning onto the shelf that was level with his bed.

Pit shut the door and wiggled into the remaining spot on the bed, behind Pittoo. Once comfortable, he draped an arm over his doppelganger's waist.

The first thing he noticed was how cold it was inside this tiny little room. The second thing he noticed was how Pittoo was only wearing shorts. The blankets were half kicked off. How could he stand this cold? Well, Pit decided, I'm gonna warm him up.

He wrapped both arms and wings tightly around Pittoo and nuzzled gently into his back. His skin was cool and was a good start, but it wasn't enough to satisfy Pit's hungry desire to act out on his dreams. The next logical step was the kissing.

Pit had never kissed anything aside from his bedroom wall. He was nervous about the real thing. It looks so easy on TV! But this wasn't TV. This was real time, real life. He was snuggling with the boy of his dreams, wanting to take the next step but suddenly worrying that he was going to mess it up somehow. Plus, the danger of Dark Pit waking up and catching him seemed to be fairly high. Pit began to shake. He wanted to, he really did. But..his thoughts were beginning to get muddled. The thought of being caught was a little frightening to consider. Could he gather the courage to go through with it? And...was he really doing this to "warm Pittoo up" it was it because of his own fantasies? It was for himself, he realised glumly. I'd be a little annoyed if someone came into my room and did stuff to me while I was sleeping, so I shouldn't do it to Pittoo. Besides, we're going to to to Smash together! There will be heaps of time for Pittoo to feel comfortable enough around me so that maybe one day, he can hug me whenever he wants. But now I should leave him alone.

As much as it hurt his heart to stop hugging Pittoo, Pit was going to stick with his decision. No matter how much he wanted to do otherwise, it was time to do what Palutena called "thinking like an adult." By that, she'd meant making grown-up decisions. And Pit was more or less an adult now. Time to start acting like one.

That wasn't to say he would stop loving Pittoo with all his heart, oh no! He just wasn't going to do something as risky as this ever again until Pittoo was fine with it. Respect one's personal space.

Pit was about to get up when Dark Pit rolled over and opened his eyes. The light angel froze in place as he awaited the inevitable.

Dark Pit sat up fully, rubbed his eyes and stared down. "What the hell are you doing in my room?!" When Pit struggled to find his voice he hissed "Get. Out. Now!" venomously.

Next thing Pit knew, he was being shoved roughly out into the corridor. Right before the door slammed shut behind him, he heard "Don't ever let me catch you in my room again!"

Pit slowly trudged back to his own room, sadly at first until he remembered that while he was going to be cautious about acting out his fantasies, nothing was preventing him from having those fantasies in the first place. And tonight, he was going to dream all he wants about that cool, soft skin that belonged to the imperfect clone he adored so much it kind of hurt