Ness walked into the lunchroom with his bat in his hands. He came into the lunchroom to meet up with some friends. School had been over for a bit but Ness and his little groups decided to talk in the lunchroom which is empty after school. Ness sound found his group. He stopped and looked at his bat. He needed to think of an excuse for having it, but then he just shook his head. He sighed and continued walking toward his group. He sat down and put his bag behind his seat. Ninten, who sat next to him, turned to look at him. "Ness?" Ninten questioned.

"Yea?" Ness asked.

"I thought you said you were going to give that up."

"I decided not to."

"Why?" Popo asked from in front of him. Ness shook his head and looked at his bat.

"I just...I just decided not to, ok?"

"Well, anyway, I heard there's going to be new students," Ninten said. Popo looked at him surprised, and so did Ness' other friends, Toon Link and Jeff.

"A new student, really?" Jeff asked. Ninten nodded and looked at Ness. Ness was significantly less surprised.

"Did you know?"

"Uh, kinda, I met them."

"You did?"

"Them, so there's more than one?" Toon Link asked.

"Yea," Ness said, taking the bat off the table and putting it on his lap.

"Who are they?" Jeff asked.

"One is named Claus."

"Sounds German," Popo laughed. That's when Ness gripped his bat harder.

"The other is named Lucas," Ness seemed to hesitate when he said that. Ninten noticed this hesitation.

"Did something happen between you two?" Ninten asked.

"No, it's just..." Ness looked at his bat on his lap. He shook his head. "It's nothing, don't worry about it." Ninten tilted his head and looked at the others.

"Ok, um, why don't we go to the arcade to play those new games they've got." Ness smiled. He looked up.

"Hell yeah," Ness said as he shot up. He dropped his bat and Popo picked it up. He rested it on his shoulder and stood up.

"Well, we'd better get to the mall." The others nodded. They all stood up and made their way to the exit of the school. Popo had handed the baseball bat back to Ness who seemed a little disappointed to take it back. The mall isn't too far from the school so it didn't take them long to get there. The mall was large and has just about anything anyone would want. The arcade was on the second floor so the boys had to take an escalator. They walked to Mr. Game's Arcade. Ness started to get excited. There was a small line to enter, however, so they needed to wait in that line. This line is expected though so none of them were made. Ness looked around the mall and saw some familiar faces. Lucas and Claus, or at least the backs of their heads. Ness turned away and tried to focus on the arcade, but something kept distracting him. He sighed.

"What's wrong, the line's not that long," Jeff said from in front of them.

"Don't worry about it."

"The more you say don't worry, we worry," Toon Link chimed in.

"Trust me TL, it's nothing. I just..." Ness turned around and saw the two heads slowly getting out of sight. "I'll be back." Ness then ran away, dropping his bat and backpack. Ninten sighed and walked back to pick it up.

"Something's up with him," he said as he stared at Ness running away.

Lucas and Claus were walking together. Claus looked at Lucas. "You know where the clothes store is?" Claus asked. Lucas shook his head, not knowing why he'd know more than him. They looked around for a while but still saw nothing regarding clothes. Claus crossed his arms in annoyance and stopped near a small ice cream stand. "You have your phone right?"

"Y-yup, right here," Lucas said as he took his phone from his pocket. Claus nodded and bought an ice cream from the nice-looking man. He turned and licked the ice cream.

"Alright then, I look downstairs and you look up here. Text me if you find the store and I'll do the same if I do, 'K?" Lucas nodded and Claus saw someone running toward them, but decided to just head for the escalators. Lucas reached into his pocket to grab his wallet to see if he had money to buy himself a small ice cream cone. When he looked into his black leather wallet he found he was absolutely poor.

"Wonderful..." Lucas closed his wallet with a loud smack and put it back in his pocket.

"Lucas, was it?" someone asked behind him. Lucas turned around and saw Ness.

"Oh, y-yea." Ness put his hands on his knees and let out a tired breath. "Y-you ok?"

"Yea, I just...I just need to catch...my breath." Lucas tilted his head. That's when his stomach growled, Ness looked up to him. Lucas grew a small embarrassed blush and looked away. "Are you...are you hungry?"

"Um, k-kinda. I-I didn't really e-eat much b-breakfast." Ness smirked and stood up. He looked behind Lucas and saw the ice cream man's pleasant smile. He knew the ice cream man, it was Popo and his sister's dad, Lobo. Ness has talked about their weird naming schemes, but it's not really his business to intrude upon. He pulled out his wallet and walked toward him. He then grabbed five bucks and bought them both an ice cream cone.

"Make sure Popo stays a good kid," the man winked.

"Trust me, sir, he's always gonna be a dick." Lucas tilted his head and Ness walked to him. He held one cone toward him. "Take it." Lucas looked at the ice cream and felt guilty.

"Y-you don't need to w-waste money on m-me."

"Well, I can't eat both, I'm not fat. So take it, I insist." Ness was pushing the ice cream toward Lucas and after a little hesitation, Lucas took it. His fingers grazed Ness and he felt how cold Lucas was. Lucas smirked down at the ice cream and his stomach growled again. Ness chuckled. "It seems you'll need more than ice cream to fill you up." Lucas tilted his head but then looked back at the ice cream. Ness didn't want to lick the ice cream until Lucas did. But at the same time, Lucas didn't want to like him until Ness did. They ended up staring in each other's eyes for a while. That is until Lucas' stomach growled again which made him lick the ice cream. For some reason, seeing Lucas' tongue made Ness smirk. "Do you like it?"

"Y-yea, vanilla is my f-favorite."

"I'm glad." Ness started to lick his ice cream and together they finished the ice cream in a few minutes. Lucas looked around and saw a bench and decided to head for it. He sat on the bench, expecting Ness to walk by and go on his merry way. Instead, Ness sat next to him.

"W-what're you d-doing?"

"Well, you're new to Smashville so I know you probably don't have anyone to hang out with."

"W-wait, you're saying...?"

"We can be friends if you're ok with it that is." Lucas looked down.

"Friends?" he said to himself. Ness was able to hear, and he heard his lack of a stutter. Lucas shook his head and looked back to Ness. "I-I like to b-be fri-" Lucas was cut off by his stomach growling, less loud than before however. Ness chuckled as Lucas looked annoyed at his own body. Ness' chuckle made Lucas blush from embarrassment.

"Just what I thought, come on, there's a McDonalds downstairs."

"Y-you don't-"

"No, no, no. We're friends now, friends help friends, so allow me to help you...friend." Ness' smile made Lucas smile.

"F-friends...help...f-friends," Lucas nodded to himself. He looked up at Ness and stood up. They walked to a nearby escalator and rode it down to the restaurant section of the mall. The part of the mall connected to the entrance and that has loads of small restaurants to very popular branded restaurants. McDonald's was the one closest to the escalator. They walked the short while there and stopped at the counter. Ness smiled at the worker there.

"Hey, Nana, what's up?" Ness asked. Nanu turned and grinned.

"Oh Ness, hiya, what's up?" Nana cheerfully said.

"I didn't know you worked this soon after school."

"Yea, well I work earlier and Popo works later, so it's sorta fifty/fifty." Nana then turned to Lucas. She tilted her head. "I ain't never seen you around here."

"He's my friend, go on, introduce yourself," Ness playfully nudged Lucas.

"I-I'm L-Lucas, nice t-to meet you." Nana smirked and held out her hand.

"You already know me, but fuck it, I'm Nana." Lucas shook her hand and she bounced back. "Anyway, I'm sure y'all ain't here just to chit chat, whatcha want?"

"The usual, and uh," Ness looked at Lucas. "What do you want?"

"J-just a large fry, o-oh and a McChicken."

"Alrighty, it'll be up in a jiffy." Nana turned away and walked in the back. Ness tapped Lucas on the shoulder and pointed to a table. They sat opposite each other and stayed quiet. Ness noticed the awkward silence between them so he started to hum. Lucas listened to Ness' hums. He closed his eyes and saw him in his head, humming. Lucas grew a smile which made Ness happy. That's when a bell rang and both boys' attention turned to Nana who had a red tray of their food. Lucas started to stand but Ness had beat him to the punch and gently pushed him to sit down.

"Now now, rest your weary legs, I've got this. And plus, I forgot to pay," Ness chuckled to himself. Lucas looked down and nodded. Ness winked and walked to the counter. Lucas put his hands on the table and put them into each other. He started to have his thumbs battle. He chuckled to himself when he did this. Ness walked back and saw this little battle his thumbs were having. He smiled at Lucas' innocence. Ness soon chuckled which spooked Lucas. Ness placed the tray down and Lucas blushed more. "Which thumb won?" Lucas was looking down. "Come on."

"Uh, m-my left th-thumb."

"Fuck, I'm out five bucks now." Lucas started to laugh. Ness then handed him his fries and burger and he kept his big mac. Lucas smiled as he ate the food. From the distance, Claus was watching this unfold. He crossed his arms and smiled.

"Congrats Lil' bro," Claus said to himself.

Lucas finished his food before Ness did. He put it down and looked at Ness. Ness bit into his food and got ketchup on his cheek. Lucas giggled and Ness tilted his head. "What's up?" he asked. Lucas pointed to his cheek then at Ness. But Ness purposely chose the wrong cheek. Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Y-your cheek, k-ketchup," Lucas said.

"I don't get it," Ness lied. Lucas sighed and scooted out of his seat. He grabbed a napkin and kneeled in front of Ness. "What're you doing?"

"I-I like being c-clean. So I-I'm gonna c-clean you up." Lucas softly whipped the ketchup from Ness' cheek. Lucas removed the napkin and backed up. He stood up and put his hands on his hip. "Perfect." Ness put his hand on his cheek.

"So I can trust you to clean me?" Ness taunted.

"T-that's not, I-I mean, uhh." Ness laughed.

"I was kidding, come on, calm down." Lucas looked down and rubbed his arm. He faintly nodded and sat back down on his seat. Ness was able to quickly finish his big mac.

"N-Ness?" Ness looked up. Lucas gave Ness a napkin. He then pointed to his lips. Ness nodded and wiped his lips clean.

"Is that all?"

"Um, n-not necessarily."

"What do you need?"

"I-I'm your f-friend...right?"

"Yea, what's up?"

"I uh, n-need some h-help."

"Sure thing, what do you need?" Ness asked as he balled up the napkin and put it on the tray.

"M-my mom wanted m-me and m-my brother to come h-here t-to buy some clothes."

"You need to know where a store is?" Lucas nodded and Ness shot up from his chair. "Sure thing, that isn't a problem." Lucas slowly stood up and started to follow Ness. Ness and Lucas went back up the escalator and walked to the end mall. Right next to Mr. Game's Arcade stood a store called Donkey Kong's True Fashion. Behind a glass counter stood Donkey Kong.

"Uhhh?" Lucas tilted his head.

"Don't worry about it, this town gets weirder." Ness and Lucas walked to the counter and looked at Donkey Kong. "You do the talking." Lucas walked forward and put his hands on the counter.

"I-I'm starting s-school in t-two days-" Lucas started.

"Say no more, DIDDY, GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE," Donkey Kong yelled.

"What, I'm busy," Diddy Kong said, hanging from the roof.

"Back to school outfit, stat." Diddy Kong sighed and fell to the ground. Diddy Kong walked to Lucas.

"I assume it's for you."

"H-how'd y-you guess?"

"I've seen him in the baseball game, anyway, follow me." Diddy Kong hopped away. Lucas looked at Ness, who seemed disappointed. Lucas looked down. Lucas walked forward. Ness felt surprised Lucas didn't ask about Baseball but he just followed the two. They got to a section for teenage clothes. Diddy King then grabbed a thin tape measurer like ruler. He measured Lucas. Lucas felt a little odd to have a monkey measure him. Diddy Kong nodded and hopped off. Lucas tilted his head.

"N-Ness?" Ness looked down. He was expecting a question about baseball, so he closed his eyes preparing for the impact.

"Yea?"

"W-will you see i-if I look good?"

"Me?" Lucas nodded and Ness grew a grin. "Why me?"

"You l-look g-good in y-your outfit, I-I don't have a s-sense of fashion."

"Of course I'd judge your look." Lucas nodded. Soon Diddy Kong came back and grabbed Lucas' arm and pushed him into the changing room. Ness looked around and saw a small chair. He walked toward it and sat down. He closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of his chair. A few minutes passed.

"Ness?" a young-sounding voice said. Ness opened his eyes and saw Toon Link. He shot up.

"TL?" Toon Link crossed his arms.

"What're you doing here?"

"We were looking for you."

"Don't worry about-" Ness heard the door to the dressing room open. He stood up, not bothering to finish what he was going to say. He pushed past Toon Link and saw Diddy Kong. "Where is he?" Diddy Kong jumped away and Lucas walked out. Lucas had a yellow button-up flannel and an orange vest. His shorts were black and even his hair was cut. His hair was a fade and swooped to the left. Ness looked him up and down.

"H-how do I look?"

"You look...amazing, it really fits you." Lucas grew a small blush. Ness turned to Diddy Kong. "I didn't know you cut hair."

"I don't normally, but-" Diddy Kong started. Lucas put his hand over Diddy Kong's mouth to prevent him from talking more. He then kneeled down and whispered something into his ear. Diddy Kong nodded and shrugged. He walked off. Lucas backed into the dressing room to change back into his normal clothes. Ness smiled and turned around.

"Was that one of the new kids?" Toon Link asked. Ness nodded.

"Lucas, he's a little shy, but he's sweet." Toon Link crossed his arms and nodded his head.

"You ditched us...for him?"

"Well, he's new and..."

"Don't worry, next time just tell us where you're going. We were worried." Ness nodded and Toon Link walked forward. He patted Ness' shoulder and made his way out of the store. The door soon opened and Ness turned to see Lucas in his normal clothes with his new ones in a bag. He also had an innocent smile. Ness turned around and walked to the counter. He paid for the clothes and looked back at Lucas, who again felt guilty for him having paid.

"S-sorry..."

"Stop apologizing, we're friends, remember." Lucas looked down and a sudden realization kicked in. He took out his phone and dialed Claus' number. Ness tilted his head and watched Lucas on the phone.

"H-hey, um, I-I found the s-store."

"Got it, where is it?"

"D-Donkey Kong's True F-Fashion. U-up stairs."

"On my way, oh and, have fun with Ness." Claus hung up and Lucas looked at his phone and grew a small blush. He shook his head and looked at Ness. Ness held his hand toward Lucas' phone. Lucas tilted his head but handed him the phone. Ness put his number in and handed it back.

"We're friends, friends share numbers." Lucas looked down at the new contact, Ness. He smirked. He put the phone in his pocket. "Hey, I've got something to show you 'bout this mall."

"W-what is it?"

"That'll ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?" Ness motioned for Lucas to follow him. Lucas nodded and stayed close behind Ness. They rode down the escalator and walked to the back corner of the mall. There was a staircase guarded by a security guard. She stood there with her arms crossed behind her back. Ness walked up to her with Lucas behind. "Hi, mom."

"Hun, please, you know I can't let you down again," Ness' mom said.

"But mom, I wanna show Lucas the flowers."

"F-flowers? H-how'd you know I-I like f-flowers?"

"I saw your background..." Ness turned back to his mom. "Please, mom. I'll do all the chores, Tracy won't need to do any." Ness' mom sighed and looked around for a while.

"No complaining?"

"None."

"Fine, but don't stay down for too long." Ness nodded and his mom walked to the side. Ness turned around and grabbed Lucas' arm and ran down the stairs. Down the stairs was a door. Ness turned his head.

"Close your eyes." Lucas followed the order and closed his eyes. Ness grabbed his hand and opened the door. He slowly walked in and smirked at the flowers. He remembered Lucas' background was a sunflower. The sunflowers were at the back of the underground garden. Once he did get there Ness patted Lucas' hand. "Open." Lucas opened his eyes and grew into awe. Lucas walked forward. "You like it?"

"...I-I love it." Lucas reached his hand to a petal. Ness noticed a dimple in Lucas' smile. He's noticed it a few times, but not every time he's seen him smile. This dimple seems much larger than before, and Ness couldn't help but find it cute. He shook his head. When Ness looked back at Lucas who now had a tear coming down his face.

"Lucas?" Lucas sniffed and looked at Ness.

"I...I can't b-believe y-you'd do this."

"It's cause I'm your-"

"I-I get it, b-but now I n-need to do s-something for you."

"Well, you have no pressure to have to do anything." Ness looked at the flowers. Lucas rubbed his arm. Ness turned back but then felt Lucas hug him. Ness put his hand on his back. Lucas pushed away and looked up at him.

"I-I'm sorry. I-I don't h-have much to give." Ness shook his head.

"It's alright, the hug was nice." Lucas grew a smirk. "We should probably get back up." Lucas nodded and they walked up the stairs and back into the mall. Ness thanked his mom and looked back at Lucas. Ness noticed Claus was walking toward Lucas. Lucas turned and saw Claus had two bags.

"You forgot your bag," Claus said handing Lucas his bag of clothes.

"Oh," Lucas said, taking the bag.

"That was my fault," Ness nervously chuckled. Claus looked up at Ness and walked toward him. Claus looked Ness up and down. He leaned forward which caused Ness to nervously back up.

"Thank you for hanging with Lucas, I really appreciate it."

"Of course, it was my pleasure."

"But if you do anything, and I mean anything, to hurt him...You'll regret it," Claus nearly growled. Ness nervously laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"C-come on Claus, h-he'd never d-do that," Lucas brought up. Claus stood up straight and looked back at Lucas.

"He'd better not." Claus turned and started walking toward the exit. He turned his head. "Anyway, dad called, we need to get home." Lucas nodded and walked to Ness.

"I-I a-appreciate all y-you did with me a-and for me." Ness nodded.

"We can do it any time you want," Ness smirked. Lucas hugged Ness again, and Ness was surprised again.

"S-sorry, I-I'm a bit of a-a hugger."

"You don't say." Lucas pulled away from the hug and gave an innocent smile and ran back to Claus. Ness watched the two of them walk toward the exit and soon out of the mall. Ness stretched and decided to head back to the others. He went up the escalator and back to Mr. Game's Arcade, which had no line now. Ness entered the arcade and saw his friends. He quickly caught up with them.

"Jesus, where were you?" Ninten asked.

"TL didn't tell you?"

"Wait, he knew, TL GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!" Jeff shook his head and walked to Ness.

"We've saved you some tokens," Jeff said as he dropped a few tokens into Ness' hand.

"Where's Popo?"

"Failing at Whack-A-Mole." Jeff pointed back at Popo who was practically crying from anger. Ness chuckled. That's when Ninten walked back with Toon Link in his hands.

"TL, why didn't you tell them?" Toon Link just winked and Ninten dropped him. Ninten then gave Ness his bat and backpack.

"Hurry up and spend your tokens, we're almost done with ours," Ninten said. Ness nodded and looked at the bat as he walked through the arcade. There was a section of the arcade that was video games, and the others were more Chuck E Cheese style. Ness was looking at the latter. He couldn't really find a game he found interesting, which is odd for him. He's usually quite decisive.

He soon found a crane game. He looked in the machine and saw a sunflower plush toy. He grew a smile and looked at his available tokens. "Ten tries...those assholes only got me ten tokens?" Ness said to himself. He shook his head and put the bat on the ground and placed all ten tokens into the machine so he can have ten consecutive tries. He grabbed the handle and his tongue stuck slightly out as he focused. He failed the first time, and the second, and the third he accidentally grabbed a stuffed whale. He sighed and tossed his behind him. He failed three more times. Then he finally grabbed the sunflower. He jumped with joy when he grabbed it. He smirked and tilted his head as he looked at it. He looked up and saw Toon Link.

"A sunflower?" Toon Link asked.

"The first thing I got."

"Right, so what's this?" he asked as he tossed up the plush whale.

"..."

"Who's this for? I know you didn't get it for yourself." Ness looked down.

"I want Lucas to feel welcomed." Toon Link crossed his arms. Ness looked up and saw Toon Link was smiling.

"If that's what you want, I'll be here to help." Ness smirked. Toon Link then handed Ness the plush whale. "Who knows what you could do with moby dick."

"Are you going to tell the others?"

"Did I tell them about your meeting?"

"No."

"There's your answer. Now come on, Ninten's being irresponsible with his tickets again. We should check up on him." Toon Link walked away and Ness looked down at the two plushies. He held both close to him and smiled. He looked at the sunflower and his smile widened. He then looked down at his bat and picked it up. He gripped the handle with seemingly a newfound determination.

"I have to be better...For Lucas. I'll be the best damn baseball player for him."

"Come on, stop talking to yourself." Ness nodded and followed Toon Link.