"Ness, where are we going?" Lucas asked as they passed under another dim streetlight.
"You'll see," was his friend's vague reply and had been all he said since he invited the blonde to sneak out of his home just ten minutes ago. In addition to breaking curfew, he specifically requested Lucas to exit his home wearing something casual—at the best, nothing too expensive or showy. Lucas complied, only because he became more curious after hearing about Ness's condition, and wondered where they would go.
Lucas let out a weary sigh as he fanned himself with his hand. Despite the bright evening, it was still a summer day, which invited discomforting warm air. However, he expected his friend's surprise to be worth the trip, as no adventure was ever boring when it involved Ness.
They lived as street neighbors for so long, and they were both familiar with the city environment. It was only another hundred steps down another street block that Lucas started to recollect the scenery of their current area. Just a turn around the corner and through a gap in between a wall of bushes and then the realization came. Before Lucas mustered the courage to protest, they had already arrived.
It was a small secluded lake, connected to a bigger stream that went out of their view. Not many people spent their time here because of the trees surrounding the area, so there was not a lot of sunshine and background compared to the more popular riverside area just down the road a while more. Even though some local park visitors know about this lake, they only thought of it as a sacred place, and never bothered to visit or check if was still a sight to behold.
Ness approached the lake closer and his friend could only continue following behind until they stopped near the edge of the lake. The capped boy turned to the other, and smirked charmingly. "I hope you know how to swim."
Lucas blinked. "You what?" he mouthed as he watched Ness strip off his shirt and toss it aside.
"Come on, when are we ever going to get another chance like this?" Ness asked.
"You're crazy, Ness," Lucas told. "Aren't we not supposed to swim here?"
"It's a public area, it's fine." Ness rolled his shoulders to stretch them.
"But still—"
"Come on Luc', just take a dip and have fun." He gently set his hat down with his clothes.
Lucas shyly stepped back. "But I don't have my swim trunks…"
"So?" Ness had already undone his denim shorts and flung them off. "Just swim in your underwear then."
"What?! But—"
"Or skinny dip, it's just us here."
Lucas silently glared at him. Ness grinned back as he threw his sandals to the side and jumped into the water with only his boxers on.
"Ness!" Lucas yelled. He stepped back once more as he watched the splash of water almost reach his feet, and then he saw the raven-haired boy spring up from his dive.
"Whoo!" the drenched boy sounded. He shook the water out of his hair playfully and looked back at his friend. Lucas could guess the water was shockingly cold, and who knew whether the water was perfectly pure or not. He did not want to take the risk.
"Lucas, come on! I'm so lonely here…" he teasingly called.
"No way," the other replied, crossing his arms awkwardly.
"The water's actually pretty warm," Ness added. "You're really missing out, Luc'." He grinned at his friend like the idiot he was.
Letting out a sigh of frustration, Lucas gave into the fun of the risk. If he was going to get caught, at least he wouldn't be alone, he thought. He quickly took off his clothes and threw a few of them piled with Ness's belongings, but left himself in his briefs. Then, he hesitantly jumped in, preparing to face the touch of water.
Lucas hit the bottom of the lake with his feet and sprung up swiftly. He gasped repeatedly, and angrily directed his voice at the boy near him. "Ness! The water's freezing!"
"I know, but you get used to it." The smirk on Ness's face continued to mock the other boy. Without thinking of the consequences, Lucas slapped him with a wave of cold water, hitting him directly in the face.
Ness's playful smile turned into an eviler one. "You know, this means war."
"Oh, I'm so scared," Lucas playfully sang as he conspicuously swam backwards.
"Yeah, you better run!"
As Lucas tried to turn around and escape, Ness already assumed the freestyle stroke and caught up to his friend, immediately tackling him from behind.
"Ness!" Lucas screamed out. Ness grab held of the boy with his arms and pulled him down under the water easily. While Ness watched his friend's reactions underwater, Lucas did not bother to open his eyes and struggled to swim back up while randomly grabbing back at the other boy. At some point, Ness loosened his grip and let Lucas surface, who gasped for many breaths.
"Ness! You could've drowned me!" he wheezed out to no one in particular, as the other boy seemed to have vanished.
A chill ran down Lucas's back, but not from the cold. For the moment, it looked like he was alone in the water. He jumped up when he heard the sound of Ness surfacing behind him. Before he turned around, he felt arms wrap around his body again, but they did not pull him down.
"I'm sorry," Ness whispered by the blonde's ear. The feel of his warm breath sent another shiver down Lucas's spine.
Lucas gently broke free from the grip and turned around to look at Ness's saddened expression. "Hey, it's okay. I know you didn't mean to."
As Ness continued to look down, Lucas only tried to approach closer. Ness wiped his face, and then struck down on the water with the fist, catching Lucas off guard and hit him directly in the face.
Ness smirked back as Lucas blinked, frozen in place. "You're so dead," the blonde uttered.
Lucas completely disregarded the risks that came with his actions and started to chase after his friend. They spent time in the water together for at most another five minutes: splashing, grabbing, and tickling each other within the water. At one point, they even had a little race, seeing who was the faster swimmer.
After trying to grasp how much time had passed by, Lucas stopped in his tracks and stood in the water firmly. "We have to go back Ness, we've been gone for too long."
"All right," Ness agreed. Both of them swam back to the edge of the lake where they jumped in from. Ness gestured his arms to the exit, "After you."
Lucas suspiciously glared back as he climbed out of the lake first, soaking the grass and dirt with his feet. Ness enjoyed the sight he had for the moment until he heard Lucas spoke.
"Ness?" Lucas sounded. "Our clothes were here, right?"
"They should be. Why?"
"Because they're not…"
"Huh?"
Ness pulled himself back onto the land and eyed the spot where he threw his clothes at. At least, it was where he remembered leaving his clothes. Along with the blonde's clothes, everything that was left on the ground had vanished.
"What the heck?!" Ness exclaimed. "Where'd they go? I know I left my stuff here!"
"Mine too," Lucas added. "I specifically remember leaving my shirt next to yours."
Ness scoffed. "Did someone steal them? Seriously? Who would steal clothes?"
"Great…" Lucas mumbled. He tried to cover his lower body with his hands, as both boys noticed how visibly transparent the fabric of the blonde's white briefs could be with the wetness from the water. "What do we do, Ness?"
"I guess we just head home like this. Hopefully we find whoever took our clothes, though."
"I…" Lucas squirmed to keep his body covered with just his feeble arms. "I'm not sure if we should walk back like this. What if someone sees us?"
"Someone already saw us, apparently," Ness told. "And don't worry, if we get caught, I'll explain for us."
"Okay. Let me just squeeze the water out from my underwear first."
"Same here." Ness pulled back the waistband of his boxers, and then froze for a second. He slowly turned his head around.
"Don't look," he heard, and quickly turned away.
"I'm not."
