Hey everyone, Paradigm of Writing here with the newest chapter of The Raven and the Lion, #11: That Slip Up Though. I realize that maybe I'm being too nice on you guys and should you have you wait several days longer for updates, but I'll be an asshole and decide that later depending on my schedule and all that fine stuff. Time to see if Ness, Lucas, and the rest of the gang, although *(are they a gang since no one likes each other truly)*, can deal with the former two's mess ups and issues. We all know Lucas and Ness just down right screwed up with Red, and how will Shulk play into this? Time to find out! Enjoy!

Ness glanced down at Shulk from behind his notepad, trying to seem interested in the conversation they'd been having. Thank god Saturday nights at Mac's Diner were slow, because his brain was turning into a complete pile of mush with thoughts of Red and whatever repercussions that might come from the little get together he'd had with Lucas replacing any otherwise productive notions he might have.

"Hey... kid?"

He blinked twice, his mind pulled back to the present by Shulk's worried voice.

"Huh?"

"Ness, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." the raven haired boy assured him, mustering a small smile.

The construction worker appeared unconvinced, continuing to peg him with a worried stare. "Those guys giving you trouble again?"

Ness shook his head. "No." He really hoped Shulk would quit with all the questions. He didn't plan on having a little Oprah session with him on his break about his fucked up love life.

The older man seemed to take the hint, though he still had a look in his eyes that told Ness he wasn't done. "Ness- kid, maybe you just need a little down time. I'm sure you're overworked between work and school. Look, there's this party tonight my friends invited me to. You should come. "

The waiter hesitated, contemplating his proposition. Well… maybe. He hadn't hung out with his friends… alright, maybe just Nana, all week. And with all the drama going on between him and Lucas and Red, he could really use something to take his mind off the whole ordeal.

"Sure."

Shulk smiled up at him widely like he'd just won the lottery.

"Great. I'll be back at the end of your shift to pick you up."

At 10:01, Ness spotted Shulk's car pull up in front of Mac's Diner. Crap. How had he ever thought this was a good idea? The construction worker blonde buff dude liked him. And they both knew it. And now he was going to a late night party with him. Alone.

He couldn't help but feel like he was going behind Lucas's back by doing so, almost like cheating. Except he wasn't, because they weren't going out. And he didn't owe him anything. Nope. Not a thing.

Since when had he become such a compulsive liar?

Honestly, though, how was he supposed to know if he liked naughty or nice if he didn't try them both? He was still young, a teenager. This was the time you were supposed to spend exploring different things to figure out what you liked and didn't like.

Taking a deep breath, Ness made his way out to Shulk's black pickup truck, hopping into the passenger seat and giving him a friendly smile.

"So, how was your shift?" the blonde asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Good." Ness said, noticing the overpowering scent of fast food and sweat saturating the car. Ah, the telltale signs of construction work. He hated himself for it, but he couldn't help but compare it to the pleasant peppermint aroma that had welcomed him when he'd first rode in Lucas's car.

"You alright? You've been real quiet lately." Shulk said, casting another worried glance his way.

"Yeah, I've just got a lot on my mind." Ness mumbled, looking down at his hands and feeling slightly guilty for not being the good company he knew Shulk deserved. He was a nice guy. Really. He just…

"Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here." the blonde said, reaching over and giving Ness a small pat on the shoulder. His hands were heavy, and slightly calloused from his work. Lucas's had been-

Gah. He seriously had to stop this.

Ness had to keep himself from flinching at the physical contact. It had never bothered him before. Maybe it was just his nerves, he told himself, at having accepted such an impromptu party invitation which would undoubtedly be filled with a bunch of people he didn't know. And older people, at that.

"Ness, just to warn you, there'll be alcohol at the party. I'm not sure if you're into that type of thing or not, but…"

"Oh yeah. I get drunk. All the time." the raven haired boy assured him, trying to play it off like it was nothing. A little white lie never hurt anyone, right?

Shulk glanced over at Ness, letting out a hearty laugh. "Yeah? Well, just don't drink too much tonight. The last thing you need is a killer hangover."

The younger boy nodded his head in agreement. Yeah, perhaps a few drinks would do him some good.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Ness groaned, forcing one eye open, then the other.

God, he felt like crap. Like someone had pounded his head in, and scratched his eyes out. And sat on his chest-

"Gah!"

He tried jerking away from Shulk's limp body, which had apparently been resting against his chest

Holy. Shit. What the hell had happened?

Shulk was out cold. He barely even groaned as Ness pushed his body off of him and onto the cold linoleum he'd apparently been sleeping on for the past umpteen hours.

Beep.

Ness averted his gaze back down to the source of the noise that had woken him in the first place, digging into his pocket for his cell phone. It was a text from Nana.

OMG! You dirty little whore!

Crap. What was she talking about? He tried to rack his mind for any memories of the night before. The last thing he could remember was… riding in Shulk's car, carrying on small talk. That's right… they had been going to a party… where there was alcohol.

He must have gotten totally wasted last night. Judging by the looks of it, Shulk had as well. Well, at least they were both still fully-

Shit! Ness threw his arms out in front of his bare chest as if to cover himself from an audience that wasn't there. Where the hell was his shirt? And what had the two of them done last night? Crap. What if Lucas found out?

He had to get out of here. Now. Ness didn't bother looking for his shirt, maneuvering his way around the passed out bodies between him and the front door. Stumbling outside, he took out his phone again.

Come get me. Now. I'm at…

He didn't even know the address. Looking back at the house and then down the street for the name, he finished his text to Nana.

5938 Willows Brooke.

Ten minutes later, her hot pink slug bug pulled up in front of the house. She had a silly grin on her face, one that scared the hell out of Ness. Obviously, she knew a lot more about what had gone on last night than he did.

Sliding into her car, Ness opened his mouth to ask Nana about last night, only to be interrupted.

"You didn't bother putting a shirt on? Well, at least you have some pants on now."

"What?" Ness choked out, his eyes bulging out of their sockets.

Nana gave him a curious look. "Last night… don't you remember sending me the picture?"

Ness's eyes narrowed. "I don't even remember going to the party last night. The last thing I remember, I was in Shulk's car, talking to him…"

Her jaw dropped open. "Oh. My. God. Ness! I knew you were wasted last night, but not this bad…"

"So what exactly happened last night?"

Nana hesitated, as if not sure he could handle the truth, before whipping out her phone, skimming through it for a second, and then handing it to him. On it was a picture of Ness, stripped down to his boxers with a bottle of beer in one hand and the cell phone he was obviously taking the picture with in the other, kissing Shulk.

Holy. Shit.

What if they'd done more than just kiss? What if they'd- gah! He shuttered at the very thought that for his first time, he might never be able to remember it because he was drunk off his ass and probably didn't know what the hell he was doing… not that he would have anyways, but still. Not being able to remember it...

Not exactly most people's ideal way of losing their virginity.

Ness cursed inwardly, hoping to god that wasn't what had happened. He needed to talk to Shulk and ask him about it… after he was less awkward… and freaked out. Hopefully he would remember what happened last night.

"You've got to delete this. Now." Ness said, doing it for her before she could object.

"Uh… well, see, there's one other thing…"

He could feel dread consume him as he recognized that tone in her voice.

"Nana, what the hell did you do?"

"See, I thought you were with Shulk now, ya know, since you sent me a picture of you kissing him and all. So… I tried to tell Lucas… like, I tried to tell him you weren't interested anymore… you know, so he wouldn't be all heartbroken and strung along…but he didn't believe me… so… I kinda… sent him the picture."

Ness felt as if someone had a chokehold on his throat. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"Nana!"

She flinched in her seat, a remorseful look on her face. "I'm sorry! I was just trying to help."

"Well stop trying to help! Because you're not!"

"It's not like you didn't just finish talking to me about how you weren't even sure you were going to give him a chance. How was I supposed to know any differently?"

She had a point. A now irrelevant point, but still a point. This was his fault. He had been the one that had gone to the party. He had been the one trying to convince both Nana and Lucas he wasn't totally crushing on him when he was. And, apparently, he'd been the one to kiss Shulk. Which he wasn't even sure why. He hadn't even felt attracted to him lately… not since things had started up with Lucas.

"Gah. Whatever… what did he say back?"

"Well… nothing."

He had never once seen Lucas at a loss for words. Not once.

Ness paced back and forth behind the counter of Mac's Diner. He hadn't talked to Shulk… or Lucas… all day, not that that had been all that long. After getting picked up from whoever's house he'd crashed at, he'd had just enough time to run home and get changed before having to start his shift here. It was Sunday night, and he was sure Lucas would come in. He had to, right? I mean, after everything…

"Ness. You've got a waiter request. Table six."

He had never been more relieved to hear Mac say those eight words. Stumbling forward, he made his way over to the table as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself. Maybe if he could just explain himself then-

Whoa.

Lucas looked up at him, sporting a black eye and a busted lip. He had a few other cuts and scrapes on his face, and from what he could see his knuckles were scraped up. Bad.

Ness opened his mouth to ask what had happened, only to feel a small tap on his shoulder.

"What?" he snapped, glancing over his shoulder.

There was Shulk, standing behind him with his eyes drifting from Ness to Lucas and then back."You forgot your shirt earlier."

That little bastard, huh? Okay, few conspiracy questions here. Did Ness and Shulk do the intercourse? Was Red the one who beat up Lucas? What will Ness's mother think of the whole ordeal? Well, we'll learn that soon enough, but your thoughts are also nice to read about. And yeah, wow... talk about a few twisting of events. Nana is going to get them all killed one of these days won't she. You love her, but damn, she's going to either A. run her mouth so bad it'll fall off, or B. like tell Ness's mother he's gay or something stupid like that. But, I digress. Review replies are as follows...~

Retronym- For some reason I am surprised to see you reviewing a story like this, but don't question me. I'm weird, we've established that. Oh good god, that counter probably has already skyrocketed and we're only a 1/4th of the way through the story. *chuckle* Ness will get some eventually. All the characters will, actually, you'll just have to stick around long enough to find out. And, Nana is your favorite. Like the only person I know who loves her.

Ender2412- What did I tell you? Homework comes before my stories! I'm a writer, not a teacher, not someone who can scald off your knuckles for late assignments. *actually no one can do that, but you get my gist* Lucas is an odd case, trust me, but you'll get to see him for what he truly is soon enough, don't worry. And are you kidding? Red follows Lucas around like a damn lap dog, trust me. *nods* Yep, 40+ chapters! Means a whole lot of this story for a whole lot of amazing readers. Did you get to read the other one-shot pieces yet?

SolarEnergy07- *cough* Have you read Cross Examined? Lucas gets the brunt end of that deal by far, and Ness doesn't have too much bad shit happen to him in that. A stabbing... and I literally think that's it. Oh forgot, spoilers. And, also, my boyfriend, Mr. AuPalladium, he'll fight you if you want me. Just letting you know. *see his review for further details*

YuukixMitsuru- Oh hello! Yeah, I'm not surprised you read through this pretty fast. The chapters aren't that long. Wait for awhile though, we'll be getting there eventually.

AuPalladium- Hidden territory we go. *starts singing Wizard of Oz, but since no one sings along I stop and look around shamelessly* And honey, I did. No need to be my white knight in shining armor, sweetheart. *ruffles hair* Love you too.

There we are guys! I'm either going to post the next chapter on the 10th or the 11th, more likely the former but if it is on the 11th it just means I'm busy catching up in school from all the crap I missed. Yeah, I still have this cold / cough thing going on, so I kinda can't do anything but write... so... yeah. Love you all! Please review, I'd love to respond! Thanks for reading and have an amazing day! Bye!

~ Paradigm