Author's Note: This fic is turning out to be a lot longer than I had intended, but I wanted to make it heartfelt and believable. Always time for PWP in another story, I guess. For now, I want my fluff. Enjoy!

All characters and places in this work are owned by Nintendo.

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Saving You, Saving Myself
Chapter Two: Of Girls, and Memories

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Sleep must have eventually claimed him, because the next thing Lucas was aware of was a gentle hand shaking his shoulder.

"Hey Lucas, you feeling okay? You're usually awake way before me," a familiar voice spoke softly near his ear.

Blue eyes shot open, to find his best friend smiling down at him. Ness was already changed out of his pajamas, and into his usual attire. His bat, which he took with him everywhere, was resting against one shoulder. His free hand still on Lucas' shoulder, a fact which made the skin beneath the fabric of his pajamas feel just a little bit warmer, in that spot.

"F-Fine," stammered the blonde, tossing his blanket off of himself, and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.

"Good to hear it! I'll meet ya outside, then," Ness nodded, still smiling, and he left the room, allowing Lucas some privacy to change.

As he pulled his usual shirt over his head, he briefly wondered if Ness had changed into his clothes while still in the room with him. Probably. Ness wasn't bashful about things like that, Lucas reasoned. Once he was dressed, he picked up a comb sitting on the bedside table and did what he could with the disheveled mop on top of his head. Satisfied when it twirled into the usual swirl at the crown of his head (that's all he could ever get it to do, really), he nodded and descended the stairs, grabbing an apple out of a bowl of conveniently placed fruit on the kitchen table. Taking a bite out of it, he meandered outside, where Ness was petting Boney.

The brown dog's tail was wagging at the attention, and Lucas softly cleared his throat to indicate his presence, so as not to talk with his mouth full of food. Ness straightened, turning around and his eyes fell upon the fruit in his hand with interest, which he was currently raising to his lips for another bite.

"Hey, lemme have some of that, huh?" He strode over to him then, leaning over to take his own bite of Lucas' apple.

Lucas swallowed hard, and froze. It wasn't that the blonde was unwilling to share... just that he became suddenly aware of just how close Ness was as he watched his mouth close around an unbitten portion of the fruit in his hand, only a few inches from his own face. Coming away with a taste, Ness grinned as he crunched, seemingly oblivious to having crossed a certain boundary of his friend's personal space.

"Thank you!" he crowed unabashedly while still chewing, he never did think so much about silly formalities like swallowing first in the presence of the blonde, he was way too comfortable with him for that.

Lucas could not help but grin now. The shy boy was always inwardly afraid of rubbing anyone the wrong way, but Ness had confidence in spades, one of the many things Lucas loved about him. Not the type that made him arrogant, but the kind of confidence that allowed him to come away from any situation with a smile. That same confidence that allowed the dark-haired boy to now lead him by the hand toward town, unfazed by how the display looked to anyone else, even to Lucas.

Lucas however, never minded when Ness took him by the hand, always gleaning some twinge of inward pleasure at the touch, although he never would've said anything to the boy in the cap. He knew that Ness wasn't holding his hand that way. If anything could make Ness falter, Lucas thought, it would probably be something to do with that... but the blonde liked the unsinkable side of Ness, and thus kept his silence on the matter.

They walked, unhurriedly, through the village square. The denizens of Tazmily had come to see Ness as less of an oddity these days, and waved to the pair as they passed. The boy in the cap enthusiastically waved back, whereas the blonde shyly held up a hand in recognition. Two of these, some village girls around their age who paused as they walked past, whispered to each other and smiled at the pair of them, before giggling and walking off.

"Man, Lucas... for such a small town you have quite a selection of cute girls," Ness mused as his eyes followed the departure of the females who just left their vicinity.

"Yeah... I guess..." he replied, shuffling his shoes against the pavement uncomfortably as the black-haired boy looked curiously at him.

"I bet you had to beat them off with a stick before I showed up, right? Strapping young lad like yourself," He grinned widely, clapping him on the back.

"Eh?!" Lucas wasn't expecting that, and his wide eyed expression of shock caused Ness to start laughing.

"You don't have to look so suprised," the dark-haired boy teased, as they neared their destination.

The seaside portion of the village was a place two boys often visited together. Lucas hoped that revisiting the area where he washed up might help coax the cogs of his memory to begin turning, even if just a little bit. However, anything he may have remembered by now, he never made a mention of. Lucas didn't want to cause Ness any sadness by asking about it, in case the reply was unfavorable. He knew that Ness wouldn't keep something as monumental that from him, anyway.

They walked along the path past the sands, to where some cliffs overlooked the water. Here, the grass was lush and soft, and as he often did, Lucas kicked off his shoes and felt the tender blades tickle his feet. A gentle breeze rustled the greenery, warding off some of the heat of the mid-morning. Seating himself, the blonde glanced at Ness, who followed suit. Once on the ground, the black-haired boy flopped backwards, sprawling on his back with a soft sigh of contentment. As his cap was pressed against the ground, it shifted, now resting awkwardly on the crown of his head. This must have looked humorous, as he caught a glimpse of his companion gazing at him with a look of amusement, and Ness arched a brow. That was enough to send Lucas tottering backwards as well, due to the laughter that overtook him.

Ness huffed, feigning a wounded ego, before he rolled over onto his side, lifting up the hat and placing it on the blonde's head. The laughter immediately ceased as the cap partially obstructed his vision. Lucas was on his back now, so the hat didn't sit any better on him than its owner at this point. Ness, however, did not laugh, instead he once again rolled over onto his back, idly running his fingers through the mop of jet black hair, smoothing back that which now fell unconfined over his face. Lucas lifted the brim, which now covered one of his eyes, and stuck his tongue out at Ness.

"Better watch where you put that tongue, I'll bite it off," he grinned, snickering at the wide-eyed 'you wouldn't!' look on his friend's face.

Ness gently snatched the hat back, and set it on the grass between them. He turned his head and gazed steadily at his companion, with an expression that held hints of curiosity, and confusion. Lucas would've felt like a bug under a microscope if anyone else had stared at him so intently... but with Ness, it felt for a moment that he was the only one that existed to the dark-haired boy. It was... kind of nice.

"Lucas?"

"Yeah..?"

"It feels like... there's something I'm on the verge of remembering, but it won't quite come to me."

"Really?" Lucas raised his brows.

"Yeah... whenever we flirt with the girls, I kind of get this brief image of someone."

Of course the 'we' part of that statement meant mostly Ness, with a silent, blushing Lucas in tow, but the blonde chose not to correct him.

"Who?"

"I dunno... I keep thinking that there's a girl I should remember," he exhaled softly, closing his eyes briefly in apparent concentration. "..but I can't place her face clearly."

The blonde boy absorbed this new information with mixed feelings. He was extremely thrilled that he was on the verge of remembering some important person in his life... but on the other hand, it just punctuated the fact for him that he and Ness could only ever be friends.

"I think maybe we were kinda like this," Ness said meaningfully, crossing his fingers tightly.

Lucas cringed a little at that... but not so much that Ness had noticed. Why wouldn't Ness have a girlfriend waiting for him back home? No one in the village could've been blind to the newcomer's handsome face, easygoing nature, and charismatic personality. The blonde was quite sure his was not the only heart Ness had managed to unknowingly steal during his time in Tazmily, just by being Ness.

"I'm glad you're finally remembering something."

Ness looked at him again to find Lucas smiling gently at him. The black-haired teen smiled back. Ness had noticed from day one that Lucas seemed to blush a lot more than he smiled, but it warmed his heart to see his friend caring about him regaining his memories. Other people may have found Ness' case too daunting, but his quiet friend never complained at all, only offered support. After all, here he was, revisiting the beach for what felt like the millionth time, hoping for Ness to glean some spark of memory there.

"I couldn't have done it without you."

Ness' smile evolved into a grin as the expected blush spread across his friend's face. The guy must turn pink from head to toe when people complimented him, he thought with amusement.

"I'm serious," Ness continued, "You've been right there with me ever since I showed up here... I don't think I would've been in a position to remember a whole lot if it hadn't been for you, I would've been too preoccupied about things like where I was going to sleep."

"...It's nothing," Lucas answered softly... if he could've blushed any darker, he would have. "You've done a lot for me, too..."

Ness looked mildly surprised at this. In a way, he could kind of see where Lucas was coming from. Ever since the strange boy had arrived in town, he'd supported him. Protecting him, standing up for him, you name it. In his eyes, Ness didn't see how these things were very much... they were just instincts to the dark-haired boy. To Lucas, however, they must've been a big deal. Trying to save Lucas some embarrassment, the dark-haired boy decided to change the subject a bit. Now Ness regarded Lucas thoughtfully, as though he was mulling something over that he wasn't sure he wanted to say just yet.

"Hey... Lucas? Have you ever... y'know... had a girlfriend?"

He watched the blonde, who was wiggling his toes nervously in the grass. He suddenly looked uncomfortable. Why did Ness have to ask that, of all things? Maybe he had been thinking about it because of his fleeting memory about the girl back home.

"N-No..."

"Huh? You're kidding, right? The girls are always smiling at you," said his friend, obviously baffled.

Lucas was pretty sure they were smiling at Ness, mostly, but he didn't say it.

"Maybe, but... I'm not good around girls," he mumbled, almost inaudible.

"Too shy?"

"Shy... clumsy... and I forget how to talk, somehow," he sighed, not really wanting to talk about it.

Ness looked sympathetic. He was comfortable enough with himself to acknowledge that his friend was a good-looking guy, albeit socially inept. He knew Lucas would be a great catch for any of the village girls, but he supposed the blonde teen had a hard time putting his best foot forward when it came to the opposite sex. Thus, Ness, the ever helpful friend, arrived at a brilliant idea, and he quickly sat up.

"Why don't you practice?"

"Practice?" Lucas blinked up at him in confusion.

"Yeah! Do it like this... pretend that I'm a girl," he pointed at his chest with his thumb, "and you talk to me. Practice your lines! ..or whatever."

Lucas was now sitting up as well. He swallowed hard.

"What lines?" he asked, wide-eyed.

"I don't know... tell me I'm cute or something." Ness flashed a grin, then gathered two fistfuls of his hair into pigtails, pursing his lips into an exaggerated pout. "You won't compliment this adorable girl?"

Both of them had a good laugh at this. After their sides had stopped shaking, Ness' expression turned more serious.

"For real, though, just practice talking to me as though you're getting to know me for the first time... with a girl, it can't be that much different, right? You just gotta get to know them, too."

"I already know all the girls in the village."

"You're missing the point... look, do you have feelings for anyone?"

Lucas stared at Ness, not saying a word. What could he say? He looked conflicted for a few moments, but then ultimately shook his head.

"No..."

The blonde was a poor liar, however... so easily flustered, and Ness read it like an open book. Twisting his mouth into a small frown, the black-haired boy sighed, scratching his head.

"Have it your way, Lucas. If you ever want to talk about it, I'm all ears."

Lucas folded his hands in his lap, and stared at the ground. Ness didn't sound angry, but... resigned. He felt like he had disappointed Ness by lying to him, but he did what he had to do to preserve their friendship... right? The awkward silence between the two of them was almost tangible.

Then, fate decided to provide a distraction. The breeze that had been ruffling their hair gently up until that point, picked up in a stronger gust, which lifted up the red and blue baseball cap that sat on the grass between the boys, and before Ness' hand could close around it, it escaped. His startled cry caused Lucas to look up, just in time to see the hat fly up, and over the edge of the cliff. Ness, who had scrambled to his feet, watched helplessly as it floated down and landed on the surface of the water several yards below.

Lucas stood, hesitantly approaching Ness, whose eyes were fixed on the hat that was slowly beginning to sink as it absorbed water.

"...Ness..?" the blonde timidly began. "Can't you go get it..?"

The dark-haired boy didn't move. Lucas peered up at his best friend, and immediately regretted his words. The expression Ness wore was a mixture of longing, and genuine fear. One of the only things Ness had left to remind him of his origins was sinking fast, but to reach it... he was staring down the cruel ocean that had nearly drowned him.

Taking a step back, Lucas bit his lip. Even Ness had a limit to how much confidence he could put forth... there was now proof enough of that. It was then that Lucas realized what he needed to do. Stepping up to the edge of the cliff, his eyes fixated on where the cap had sunk. His feet crunched against the rocky edge, and the sound caused Ness to look up at his friend.

"Lucas... what are you...?"

Blue eyes widened as he watched the blonde square his shoulders, taking a deep breath. He wasn't going to-- ...he was, Ness realized. There were rocks below, and it was a foolish to assume he'd miss them.

A hand darted out to catch his friend by the arm, but Ness was too late. Lucas had taken a dive.

"Lucas!"