Updates: Proofread, added more text for clarity.

Ness was never home. Ripe at the age of fourteen, he began to avoid going home.

The privilege of free bus fares to Threed and store discounts for his popularity made it mad easy to live in the streets. Random strangers recognized him, girls batted their eyelashes at the sight of his dirty red cap. Porky used to holler in jealousy at his heroic stride, but Ness didn't need him anymore for every single kid in Eagleland knew of his deeds and idolized him. His mother wasn't always strict, though she did worry a lot. But who was she to complain about her son who once saved the world without going home for months? So long as he called every once in awhile, he'd be fine, right? Everyone trusted him; everyone depended on him. This kind of attention had a loophole in it to which Ness found out soon enough: everyone did not give a fuck about what he did.

Because Ness was Ness, right? He could do absolutely anything. The independence was addicting.
He was everybody's hero, and he loved it.

For a fourteen year old, this was probably the best thing in the world. Of course he took advantage of it, he began smoking the year before. He found out about shrooms while travelling and continued it for a month. On good days, he'd have a couple joints tucked in his wallet from connections he's made while travelling. He was that kid in the baseball field who'd hit a homerun and chewed tobacco in between bases. It was great. Ness knew very well that he probably wasn't always thinking straight, but if it kept him at bay and he didn't understand what the word "homesick" meant, he was probably alright. So long as he could keep that optimistic, heroic, and sycophantic upbringing, he was always the Ness that everyone knew. And just like that, he did whatever he wanted to.

The next five years was a bumpy road of regrets. Ness got himself in a lot of trouble, or so he thought, but he couldn't remember anything about it. Not like he was sober the whole time, anyway. He began to skip school. He began to wake up in other people's bedrooms with his pants off. He dropped out of highschool in the middle of his junior year and decided to work, or what he thinks was work. The decision made his mother bitter, but was reluctant to interject her son. He attempted to work part-time at that burger joint in Onett, but he traded around deals in the back. He slowly began to lose close friends. Ness dated Paula, but the toxic relationship vanished in the air as Paula could see through everything Ness tried to be discreet about. Broken promises filled up, and Paula couldn't take anymore of it. As a religious girl with a sense of her own justice, she knew who to forgive, even for someone like Ness. While exes, they still kept in touch once in awhile. Jeff was kind of around, the guy lingered through highschool and faded off as he began to pursue a career in inventing. He wasn't going to let someone like Ness ruin his spotless rep, but he wasn't about to leave a good friend like he was. Poo on the other hand was never heard of for three years. Without constant friends around to stop him, once again, he did whatever he wanted. He went to work; hopped around, smoked around, slept around.

As phone calls home decreased, the drugs in his pocket increased. Anything to keep his facade, he thought.
That heroic and childish facade.

At the age of nineteen, Ness was fully independent in every sense of the word. Feeling adventurous, Ness took a bus ride to a faraway town about halfway around the country. Tazmily was a town by the countryside that only had one supermarket for the whole population of a couple thousand. Ness was tired of the city, and wanted a change in pace. Immediately he befriended a mustard blonde guy his age, probably couple years younger. Innocuous, naive, and incredibly submissive. This was a breath of fresh air to Ness. It didn't take too long for Ness's adventurous side to dabble into his sexuality; they started dating.

With Ness's upbringing, he was never really anyone's best boyfriend. He was your perfect one night stand; he was rash, carefree, had a crooked smile and a hackling laugh. To someone as inexperienced as Ness's new boyfriend, though, he was a dreamboat. There was something mysterious about his emotional baggage and worn-out red cap. His stained teeth that gritted useless wisdom and the wistful look in his eyes whenever he'd have a smoke. Crude jokes, heartful laughter. Whenever they'd sleep, his hair would smell like an ashtray, but it just made him all the more alluring. Ness also had his share of the romance; he loved it whenever the boy would ask him about the city. He loved it whenever he asked about the drugs he took; he loved it whenever he asked about the next position they'd sleep in. He loved the ability to answer "I don't care" to whenever he quabbled about his twin brother finding out, while proceeding to unbutton his pants.

Unfortunately, the relationship was far from commitment. Ness shortly began to grow tired of the boy; the more the boy experienced, the more the gum lost its taste. Lips that tasted like the local Tazmily milkshake began to taste the same alcohol Ness bought on Wednesdays. Clothes that smelled like sunflowers began to smell like the joints he smoked the night before. And as quiet and mysterious as he arrived, was as quiet and mysterious as he left. The last thing Ness ever heard from the boy was a sad and remorseful "I love you."

On the way back to Eagleland, Ness thought about how nice it'd be if the bus took a detour into a ravine and exploded somehow. He laughed at himself, and slept.

"Where are you at?" The voice on the phone demanded.
"Who's speaking?" Ness asked.
"Do you really not remember? It's your cousin."
Ness drawled his words in thought. "Cou... sin? Who?"
"You only have one cousin, dumbass. It's Ninten."
"Oh."
"I'm coming over tomorrow. You live in that aparment in... uh, Fourside, right?"
"Yeah."
"Don't go anywhere tomorrow. I'm coming to visit."
"I heard you the first time."
Ninten scoffed. "Yeah? Well, I couldn't tell if you were stoned or not. Just making sure."

Ninten, Ness's cousin from his father's side. He lives in a completely different area, and his family would often come visit them on Christmas when they were younger. Being Ness's only cousin and male relative near his age, they were inseperable. From preschool and into highschool, they treated each other like brothers. He was the ear to Ness's highschool experiences; he knew about everything he did and what he went through. Ninten knew about Paula. He knew about all the other girls. He knew about the drugs. He knew every other bullshit Ness got himself into. He was the number one damage control that Ness specifically needed; Ninten's impulsive anger was the corrective punch in the gut, whether it was figurative or literal.

The next day in the late afternoon, Ninten arrived in Ness's flat. The apartment was small and fitting for someone like Ness; messy but just enough. Trash littered the floor, but not enough to obstruct anyone from functioning, and everything was working. Working at the minimum, Ninten thought. The irony was laughable. "Your place is a fucking landfill, dude," Ninten's face squirmed in disgust as he kicked garbage across the living room. Ness replied with a hearty laugh as he motioned his cousin to sit down on the couch, the only seemingly clean place in his whole apartment.

Ness was all smiles. He joked, he laughed, and was amused at everything. Suppose his face lacked a bit of color, but his active personality remained ever the same. There was something eerie about it, Ninten thought. While Ness remained the same all throughout, something was very different about him. The fact that Ninten, who knew him ever since they were little, couldn't put a finger on it was unsettling. The thought almost pisses him off.

"Heard you left town for awhile," Ninten sparks up small talk as he propped himself on the chair.
"Yeah. I only came back a week ago." Ness offered him a small mug of tea, and sat next to him. He sipped his own mug of amaretto.
"Is this chamomile tea?" Ninten asks after taking a small sip.
"Stop complaining dude, it's not spiked."
"Are you fucking kidding me? Chamomile makes you sleep, I'm not about to sleep in your garbage bin of an apartment."
Ness laughed, first a chuckle, then sheepishly. "I don't have anything else. I have trouble sleeping nowadays." Silence fell for a few minutes as they both stared at their mugs.

"Anyway, I came here to talk. Your mother called me up a month ago."
Ness visibly shuddered at the mention of his mother. He mustered a small nervous laugh. "Yeah?"
Ninten chugged his drink. "What the fuck are you doing out here, dude?" Ninten places his empty mug on the table as he pinned a glare at his cousin, who was fiddling with his cup of alcohol. Ness swallowed. "I'm just doing whatever."

"What kind of answer is that?"
"You know me, I've always been doing the same thing since middle school."
"Bullshit, Ness. At least back then you were tolerable."
Another shudder. "I didn't even do anything—"
"Yeah, of course you didn't, it's not like you were even fucking sober the whole time."

Ninten tapped at the mug that Ness was holding. "What even is this? You're drinking this as if this was apple juice," Ninten grabs the mug from him and places it down the table. "I didn't come here for you to tell me about that guy you fucked around with in Tazmily, I came here to talk about you."
Ness's face darkens, remaining silent at his cousin's words.

"Your mother's worried about you, Ness. Your sister barely even remembers you for all the time you've been gone." Ninten pleaded with a stern voice.
No response.
"Even that Bible-thumping one night stand you met while travelling is worried about you."
No response.
"I'm worried about you."
No response.
Ninten's anger seemed to simmer. Seeing Ness respond with such lack of energy was the few degrees he needed for the kettle to boil. As if by impulse, Ninten grabbed his cousin's arm and took him out the apartment, and up the roof. "We're taking this outside."

Ninten rolled his sleeves to his shoulders. "You still remember how to do this? Huh, Ness?" Ness, still remaining silent, averted his eyes. The winter chill nipped at his darkened face, further draining him of color. "So it always takes something like this to get you up, huh?" Ninten scoffed.
"Better clench your goddamn teeth," Ninten rolled his hands into a tight fist. Few seconds, three, two, one—
—Bam. Ness's cheek made contact with his clenched teeth; the taste of blood trickling inside his mouth. His face began to feel numb. Ness staggered backwards, his legs wobbling upon knockback.

"You... it..." Ness mumbled under his breath.
"What was that?" Ninten calls out to him, almost mockingly.
"You've fucking done it," Ness repeats, his voice stronger.
"Did I? You're not gonna let that slide are you?" Ninten smirks, readying his stance for what's coming next. This was it, this was the adrenaline rush that Ninten loved the most. Ness wasn't the guy to fight, but once he did, he was pretty damn good. Ninten's thrown punches at guys for years, and there was never quite anything like landing a good knuckle on his cousin's face. He loved getting punched by him the most. He loved bruising his face the most. He hated Ness the most.

Ness charged at him with his right fist. Landing perfectly on Ninten's left cheek, he gritted his teeth into a grin. Ness was open. Ninten shifted his right foot forward and lands a hard blow at Ness's jaw. Ness sputters saliva in response, and falls backwards.
"That's all you've got?" Ninten snarls at him. "Is that it? That's all I flew here for? Even my hat is still on head!" He walks over to his cousin, a slump on the ground. Grabbing him by the collar, Ninten throws a punch to his face.

"Do you even know what your mom sounded like? She sounded like shit, Ness,"
Another.
"And it's because of you. You're never home. She's worried sick about you."
Another.
"That guy in Tazmily, Lucas. I know his brother, Ness. You fucked him up. You fucked him up good,"
Another. Blood spotted on his fists. Ness made a low groan.
"He loved you. He almost killed himself for you. Is that what you're living for now?"
Another. Ninten's voice begins to tremble in anger.
"Fucking everyone you meet? Your whole family? Everyone who cared for you?"
Another. Blood began to drip from Ness's nose, mixing in with his tears.
"I went through the same shit you went through Ness, but look at me, I turned out fine, didn't I?"
Another. "I saved the goddamn planet fighting the same bullshit as you did,"
Another. Harder. "And I handled it better than you."
Ninten pulls Ness closer to his face, red from anger.
"You look like a gigantic piece of shit, Ness. There's nothing I hate more than seeing you pussy out on living like this."

Suddenly, as if erupting, Ness leaps from his place and jumps on top of his cousin. Ninten falls backwards, hitting his head on the concrete. Out of spite, Ness grabs Ninten's baseball cap and throws it across the balcony before he threw a good fist to his face.

"I know, I know already," Ness clumsily sputters his words as he punched the kid in quick succession.
"I—Mom, I know about her already,"
Bam. Ninten clenched his teeth hard and closed his eyes.
"I can't," Bam. "I couldn't," Bam. "I couldn't look at her," Bam.
"Paula, I loved her," Bam.
"But I betrayed her, I hurt her, I didn't deserve her,"
Bam. Fresh blood tainted Ness's hands.
"Lucas," Bam. Ness's fists begin to tremble, his tears falling on top of Ninten's bloody face.
"I loved him too," Bam.
"But it hurt, I was a piece of shit, I'm a piece of shit like you said, Ninten,"
He swallowed hard. "I thought I could do it," He closed his eyes.

"I thought I could do it by myself," Ness lands one last punch on him before he crumbles into soft, low sobbing.

Silence. The cold wind whistled as it painfully brushes against open wounds. After a few minutes of sobbing, Ninten finally kicks Ness off him. Ness ragdolled on the floor as he sobbed the mess he made himself to be. Standing up, Ninten shuffles in his pockets for his inhaler and breathed. "For fuck's sake, Ness."

He slowly kneels in front of his cousin, and hugs him. Tighter. Tighter. Ninten's pity for Ness began to overflow, and his anger dissolved back into worry.
"I'm sorry," Ness mutters in between sobs.
Ninten pats him twice on the back. "You should call your mom soon, asshole. You've always been terrible without calling her, y'know."