I hate this, I hate everything about this. School is starting back up. Why do I hate it? It's because of my parents. They're rich, and I mean like Bill Gates type of rich. But, this means everyone associates me with those riches, even though I shouldn't be. I don't even have a penny to my name. My brother, Claus, he gets all the money. He's the favorite. The money has gotten to their heads faster than a priest to a young boy. I've tried to ask them for money, but they don't pay me any mind. I don't know if I should even call them family. I'm closer to poor servants that are hired by my Scrooge McDuck family.
After thinking in my bed for a good long hour, I finally get up to get ready for my last year of school. But, not like anyone cares. To everyone, I'm just a spoiled rich boy. I walk into my bathroom. I see that it's large, and I kind of feel disgusted by it. I have a large bathtub, a fancy toilet, a nice shower, and a fucking jacuzzi. It doesn't matter, I'm just here to brush my teeth. Right before I do it, I look at myself in the mirror. My blonde hair has a small loop in the front. I've always had my hair like this, and it's fun to play with. Man, that's sad. I shake my head before finally starting to brush my teeth.
After finishing, I walk out of my bedroom into a large upstairs foyer. It's large, but also rather empty. I walk down the stairs into the main foyer. Connected to the left side of the foyer is the dining room. I walk in and see Claus, and my mom and dad sitting at the table. There's only one seat left, which is opposite of Claus's seat. All of them are on their phones. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but maybe once I'd like to talk to them. I sit in the empty chair. One of the servants, named Mac, places my plate down. I look up at him. He's buff, and his face is always seemingly bruised. He's a boxer, and just a servant part-time. He's the most fun out of the others. He's willing to talk to me. The others seem rude, and see me as some snotty little spoiled kid. But Mac, nicknamed Little Mac, isn't like that. He's the only person I'd call my friend, or even family at that. "Thank you," I say. Mac grins as he walks back into the kitchen. I pick the fork up, which was already placed at the table, and dig into the fancily cooked chicken. It's so fancy, I can't even describe it. It's definitely something Gordan Ramsey would make. I start eating when I look up at my family. I swallow and clear my throat. "So, mom? Dad?" Before I can ask the rest of my question, they get up and walk out of the room, leaving their plates full on the table. I just sigh. I turn to look at Claus, who I doubt even noticed me. "Claus?"
"I'm eating my breakfast in my room," Claus calls out for the whole world to know, then takes off with his plate. I look down at my own plate.
"Fancy ass chicken for breakfast, how do none of them see this as odd." I just shake my head, knowing that nothing I'll say will drain into anybody. Well, maybe Mac, but no one else cares. I finish my breakfast and enter the kitchen. There are a few servants, but none of them attempt to befriend me. They just give me dirty looks as I walk the plate to the sink on the wall opposite the door. Instead of just leaving it there, I wash it. Once I put the dish away I turn to see Mac entering the room. He gives a small bow.
"Lucas, it's about time to head out. The limo is waiting," Mac says. He knows I hate that vehicle, but he also knows my family values their image. I give a sad nod and walk to the door. Mac puts his hand on my shoulder. I turn my head. "Try to defend yourself in school. Don't let those bastards get to you." I force a smile and walk out of the room.
Once I leave the mansion I see the long black limo waiting for me. It looks like Claus took his already. We both have one. In fact, this is the only thing my parents have given to me, other than life. Both of which seem very disposable. The driver, Bart Lemming, is a cool dude. He, much like Mac, is very buff. He's actually a professional racer and actor. He doesn't know this, but I admire him. His movies and races help me get through the day. I've seen his first-ever movie, F-Zero, at least 200 times. His alias is extremely cool, being Captain Falcon. I have a model of his majestic Blue Falcon. "Um, Lucas?" Bart asks through the window. Oh crap, I've been fanboying it out for a bit. No matter how long he's been driving me around, I never get over the fact about who he truly is. I clear my throat and enter the back. Bart slides the window behind his seat to look at me. He must know that I'm not a huge fan of the limo. "If you want to take the bus, I take no offense." I look up at him.
"But, my mom and dad'll kill me," I say, knowing full well they'll only care for me if I ruin the Cross family image.
"Yea, they would, if they find out."
"What…" Bart gives me a wink and motions for me to leave the limo. I chuckle to myself and look out the window. I open my mouth to say something, but I think Bart already knows what I want to say. He closes the window as I leave. I look at the limo. Bart crawls over to the passenger side and sticks his head out of the window.
"Just head down the street there"—he says as he points to the sidewalk that extends behind me—"when you get to the Denny's take a left and you should see a stop sign. Wait there for the bus." I just smile toward Bart. Bart seems thankful for my admiration. He laughs to himself. "Come on, before you make me blush. Just head down before you're late on your first day. We don't want that, do we?"
"...No, not at all." I back up slightly before fully turning. Mac...and Bart. They're more like parents than my own. Hell, I doubt my parents would even notice if I bunked with one of them. Wait, why don't I do that? They truly don't care for me, they'd never notice me missing. Yeah, that's what I'll do. I get too stuck in my own head I don't notice when I crash into the side of Denny's. I rub my head as I look up at the sign, verifying the name of the restaurant. I turn left and see the stop sign very distant. I smile and walk toward it. As I get closer, I see-what at first seemed like bushes due to the distance-a lot of other people waiting there. Before long, they all turn my way. I'm still a few blocks away from the sign though. I gulp, thinking they're looking my way. But once I see a yellow vehicle pass me I notice what they're really looking at...the school bus. "CRAP!" I run after the bus, but clearly, the bus makes it to the stop sign first. Most of the kids get on without a second thought. One kid though, a boy, looks my way. He gives me a very disheveled look. He looks up into the bus and steps on. I'm just about to make it to the stop sign when the bus starts driving. Despite knowing I'd never catch up to the yellow devil, I keep trying anyway. The bus is extending the distance between us when it suddenly stops. It stops with a skid, so there are some tire marks left on the side of the road. I'm caught off guard by this, causing me to slow down a bit.
I soon make it to the bus. I look in and see the driver is none other than K Rool. This bastard is the one who exposed the fact my family is rich. I was doing well to keep it a secret for a while. Claus and I look different enough to play him off as just an acquaintance. But this dirty dildo ruined all of that. K Rool gives me a smug smile. "What do you want, rich boy?" he asks. That grimey ass voice just makes me want to punch the lights out of him. But, I've gotta keep up the good boy persona or else my parents'll flip. I just haphazardly mock his smile, which seems to piss him off. I don't pay him any more mind since I have something worse on my mind. All the students are looking at me. They're all judging.
"Oh, how the great Lucas Cross has fallen," a girl calls out.
"If you're here to look down on us, get the fuck out," a boy says. There are other comments like this, but they all get filtered out by the laughs from the rest of the students. K Rool growls and starts the bus up. This causes me to fall forward. Luckily, my backpack is closed. I grab onto a seat on the right, but before I can pick myself up, the girl sitting on the seat just slams her heavy bag on it. I let out a small shriek from pain. This only seems to please the others. I'm able to rip my hand out from underneath the bag, earning a dissatisfied groan from the psychotic whore. And I'm not just saying this as an insult, it's absolutely true, well...the psychotic part less so. I stand up and look at her, opening my mouth to defend myself, but the fear of insulting the great Paula makes me hesitate. I just close my mouth before walking down the aisle. I look at each seat, only getting more scowls from the students. Even if there is space for me, which is most of the time, the person just places their bag there. My hand is hurting like hell, and I need to find a seat. I grow slightly frantic until I see the same boy from earlier, the one who looked over at me before entering the bus. This boy seems completely out of it, almost like he hadn't paid any attention to the events that transpired not too long ago. I open my mouth to ask if I can sit there, but I stop once the boy looks at me. He looks me up and down.
"So you're Lucas Cross," he says. Shit, he knows. I guess I could always sit on the floor in the back. Before he says I can't sit with him, he simply looks out of the window. I don't know what to do. I decide to just continue down the aisle, but I don't even move an inch before the boy continues to talk. "Since you're the famed Lucas Cross, no one will let you sit with them. Might as well sit here." The boy kicks his bag to be closer to him, very unlike the others. I just nod as I sit down next to him. Finally having time to place my bag down and look at my hand. It's not too bad. Other than some serious bruising, it seems there are no cuts and more importantly, nothing broken.
I turn toward the boy, who's just looking out the window, with his head resting against the same window he's looking out of. He's not doing it in the cliche quiet kid way though. Instead, it just seems like he couldn't give less of a shit about anything else. He's wearing a very nice designed cap. He's clearly a fan of Baseball. His cap is red with a blue brim. I try to catch what's on his shirt, but he gives me the nastiest stink eye, I just divert my eyes. I just hear the boy sigh before he clears his throat. I look at him, he's turned my way so I can see his shirt. I can't believe it. On his shirt is Bart in his Captain Falcon uniform. He's giving his classic salute. There are also words at the top and bottom. But they both add up to one of his most famous catchphrases. "Show me your moves." He's also standing in front of the Blue Falcon. The boy soon turns away to go back to his previous position. "Happy now?" His voice. I've heard it before. That type of voice where it's clear he's in puberty. I can't believe he still has it though, I'm pretty sure we're in our senior year of high school. Wait, we? I do know him. His cap, his obvious love of Baseball, it's the leader of the baseball team, Ness.
Isn't this just pitch-perfect. I'm sitting with the baseball star and the star of the school. Whereas most schools value their football or basketball teams more than the other sports, Smash High values its baseball team. The team does deserve the praise though, undefeated since Ness joined. I can't believe he's letting me sit with him. I thought of all people, he'd hate me most.
I look around the bus. There are still a few people who give me occasional scowls, but they seem almost scared to do it now. Maybe since Ness might feel like they're doing it toward him, since we're sitting next to each other and all. I still can't help but feel awkward. I'm clearly not wanted here, getting even just a few glances would cause anyone to worry.
The bus soon stops. K Rool calls out that we've made it to the school. He opens the bus door. I try to push myself up with my right hand, but due to the bruising, I just feel unrivaled pain. I try to silence my painful shrieks as they blurt out of my mouth. I turn to Ness, he's still not giving a shit. It doesn't even look like he's noticed we made it to school. Is it just the effect of being a senior, the popular kid, or is there something else with him. Either way, I'm able to fight through the pain and pull myself up by using the seat in front of me. Once I step into the aisle Ness instantly gets up. Was he waiting for me? Was he ever going to rush me? As we walk down the aisle, I take some small and hopefully unnoticed glances back toward Ness. One thing I noticed, I'm slightly taller than him. The other thing I noticed, even while walking he seems to show little to no care. Once I make it to the front K Rool grabs my already bruised hand. He's noticed that Ness and I are the only ones left on the bus. K Rool looks at Ness.
"Go on Ness, I need to talk to this boy here," K Rool growls in my face. God, his breath is hotter than Chris Hemsworth. I wouldn't be surprised if his breath is the sole reason for global warming. I look at Ness, who seems more annoyed than before. He gives a yawn.
"Listen to me, we're both leaving this damn bus. I don't know anyone who'd willingly spend time with your ugly ass," Ness says. Did he defend me? No, impossible. He just...I don't know. K Rool growls as he lets go of my hand. I grab onto my right hand and hop out of the bus. I turn back to see Ness hesitate to leave. He seems to eyeball my hand. After this, he turns to look at K Rool. "Maybe use mouthwash. I'd rather not have penguins go extinct because of you." K Rool seems to be on the verge of attacking Ness. Ness, on the other hand, is still calm as a cucumber. Ness gets off the bus, with K Rool almost instantly driving off. Ness looks out after it. "Asshole." Without paying me any mind he just turns to walk to the side entrance to the school. I look at my hand before running to his side. Ness faintly looks at me. "Spit it out." Crap, he knows I want to say something. I don't really know myself.
"Um, thanks," I simply say. Ness raises an eyebrow before stopping. He looks at me.
"Yea." Ness turns to continue his walk. He seems to be a man of few words, I guess there's nothing wrong with that. Ness is heading toward the academic building. I have to head to the physical building. The difference between the two is the fact that the academic building is filled with all the necessities. History, English, Foreign Language, some bitch ass Math, etc. This goes up for four floors. The physical building is only...well physical classes. Gym, Music, Dance, etc. The fieldhouse is also clearly here. I need to go to that building because I have choir as my first class. The two buildings are separated by a road, with there being an obvious crosswalk connecting the sidewalks. Before I can even get near the crosswalk, Ness calls my name. I look at Ness, who's holding the door open. The side entrance has nothing special, just a simple door to a staircase. I tilt my head, not understanding why he called for me. "You need to get that checked out, come on." I hesitate, but I decide to go with Ness. He's right anyway. If not with him, I'd be excused from choir to come to the nurse's office anyway. I'm surprised Ness cares enough to take me there though. And when I mean he's taking me there, he's literally escorting myself there. Having Ness as a temporary bodyguard from any looks seems to be more effective than any buff black dude could be. Is everyone afraid of Ness? Seems to be that way.
The nurse's office is on the base floor, often referred to as the basement, all the way at the back of the school. But since we entered the right side of the school it's further away. Despite being with Ness, I still get a few looks my way. Ness then looks at the people giving me the looks, scaring them away. Ness doesn't even bring up a face or whatever, he just simply looks at them with his forever blank look. We eventually make it to the nurse's office. Ness holds the door open for me. I walk in, giving Ness a nod of thanks. Ness enters too and walks to the counter. The lady, Nurse Joy, looks at Ness. "Ness? In here for another baseball injury?" she asks. Her high pitched voice is the shoo-in voice for any healer in a video game. Ness shakes his head.
"Lucas here has a pretty bad hand injury." Ness looks my way, motioning for me to show her my hand. I do. Nurse Joy seems quite surprised that Ness brought someone here, but she looks at my hand anyway.
"Oh my, this is bad indeed. How'd it happen?" she asks me. I open my mouth to tell her, but it seems the fear of getting further on Paula's bad side scares me once more. Ness steps closer, seemingly to get a better look at the injury, but mainly to talk to Nurse Joy.
"Paula slammed her bag onto his hand." Nurse Joy sighs to herself.
"Not another one. Well, go on in the room hun, we'll get you treated." I nod. I walk to the open door, but once again, Ness calls after me. I turn my head to look at him.
"Yea?" I ask. Ness's plain and calm composure seems to break as he grows a very faint smile. The smile is almost unnoticeable, but from a boy who seems to rarely smile, it's quickly noticed by both me and Nurse Joy. Ness then leaves the nurse's office. Nurse Joy walks to me. She places her hand on my back as she brings me into the small room. She closes the door and starts checking on my hand.
Nurse Joy simply gives me an ice pack. I rest it on my hand as I notice her giving an odd look. I don't think it's toward me though, I think she's just thinking. I tilt my head. "Nurse Joy?" She seems to jump slightly. He shakes her head as she stands up to walk toward the door.
"I need to call your parents."
"N-no." Nurse Joy turns to me with an eyebrow raised. She truly doesn't understand. "Just don't tell them, 'K?" She seems to become contemplated. It's her job to call the parents, but her patient doesn't want that. She grows a small smile.
"Fine, you should head to class. I'll write a pass." I nod. I hop from the metal bed and exit the small room. I then stop at the counter to wait for my pass. She gives it to me with the same small smile. I look down at it, trying to verify it for whatever reason. I turn around as I shoot a "thank you" and make my way to the door.
Once I leave the office I hear the school bell ring. Class started. I wish I had math first, I'd at least get out of the first few minutes. I look to the right, toward the front exit, since I need to leave through there during class time. But I end up seeing Ness just waiting slightly away from the nurse's office. He's got his left foot planted on the wall, crossing his arms, and his eyes closed. Why is he here? Shouldn't he be in class? I walk toward him. "Um, Ness?" Ness opens his left eye to see me. He kicks himself away from the wall.
"What class are you going to?" he asks. He's back to his straight and calm persona. Not giving any shits it seems. But, why does he care about what class I go to?
"Um, I've gotta go to choir. But why're—"
"Ok," Ness simply says. He starts to walk down the hall. He makes it to the corner and turns his head. He notices that I haven't moved. "Well, you coming?"
"Where're we going?" I ask as I run up to him. Ness looks down the hall we need to go through. The front door can just barely be seen from here. He starts walking down the hall.
"I'm taking you to choir." I make sure to stay on track with him, not allowing him to get too far ahead of me. But again, why the hell does he care?
"But, I know where it is. I had it last year." Ness just ignores me. I don't know why he feels the need to escort me to my class, but I will say it kinda feels nice to be around someone who doesn't constantly give me dirty looks. Let alone this person is around my age. Once we make it out of the academic building Ness stops. We had just made it down the few steps so I look at him. We've come this far, why's he stopping now? "Is something wrong?" Ness simply turns back up the stairs. I look up after him, but he doesn't even seem to try and look back at me. Well, it was nice whilst it lasted.
I eventually make it to choir. Since it's the first day, the teacher-Jigglypuff-more or less excuses my being late. I didn't even need the nurse's note. I sit on one of the chairs near the other boys. Just like always, they give me the stink eye. Jigglypuff starts talking about what she plans for the future, but then suddenly she stops. She's just looking past all of us. I turn to see that Ness is at the door. "Young Man? What're you doing here?" Jigglypuff asks. Her voice makes it sound like she's not spoken English for long, but man can she sing. Ness's eyes stop on me. He walks toward us, with his hands behind his back. I'm sitting at the front, so he bypasses everyone and stops next to me. That's when he pulls his hands from behind his back to show my backpack. I grab it. I never realized I forgot it. I would be dead if I didn't have it for the next few classes.
"Thank you." A boy gives me another stink eye. This seems to prompt Ness to look at the boy, causing him to look away. Ness then looks back at me. Without saying a word he walks away. Once he exits the room I turn to Jigglypuff.
"That was rude." I look at my bag. Not only did he notice I didn't have it, but he made himself late to class to obtain it for me. I can't believe him. He's not how I thought the popular kid would act. He's nice. He seems like he cares for me, I wonder how long that'll last.
"Throughout the rest of the day, Ness escorted me to all my other classes. He didn't argue when we had to go into different buildings, he didn't care about whether or not I knew where the classes were, but he did care when people gave me bad looks. Ness would give them the evilest glare, scaring them off. I've had bodyguards before, but Ness is different from them. We ended up having gym class together, but nothing came out of it. He even went to the nurse to fetch me a fresh ice pack. He probably would've escorted me home if it weren't for you," I say to Bart. Bart chuckles to himself.
"Wow, that must've been fun," Bart says. I nod.
"It was amazing." I grow a small smile. At a red light, he turns back to look at me through the small window and must see the smile. He chuckles to himself some more. He turns to face the front.
"You should smile more." I feel around my smiling mouth. It's true, I haven't genuinely smiled in a long time...I forgot how well it feels.
"He also seems to be a fan of yours."
"...I see." The way he sounded...he's plotting something. If it's what I think it is, then I won't pry. It doesn't take us much longer to make it to the mansion. I look at it from my window, I don't want to be there. I'd rather be at Bart's. That's it. I turn to Bart.
"Can I stay with you for a while?" Bart chokes on his breath before looking back at me. He's holding a surprised face.
"Me?" I nod. "Why me." I look down at my hands. I clench them, ignoring the pain I'm causing myself. He knows why. I've told him countless times that my family doesn't give even a single shit about me. So that's not the answer he's looking for. I look at him. He grows a small smile because of my hopefully tenacious look.
"I want to see if they care about me." It doesn't take any more persuading, he simply agrees to it. He drives the limo to the lot for all of my family's limos. I will definitely not miss them. He then leads me to a much more humble vehicle. It's not fancy, nor is it too poor. It's just very average. A simple blue SUV. I climb into the passenger's seat and place my bag on the floor near my feet. I watch as Bart gets into the car.
"You sure about this?" He asks as he places his hands on the steering wheel.
"Absolutely." Bart grins as he starts the car up.
We eventually get to his house. It's not the type of house I'd expect from an actor/ racer. It's very basic. It's actually near the stop sign for the bus. Bart leads me into the house. Inside shows its hominess. There are pictures of Bart's car, but there are mostly pictures of his family. His mom and dad are both buff; they seem even buffer than Bart himself. Bart leads me upstairs, to a small room to the immediate right of the stairs. Inside is a bed. "This is a guest room, but I don't get very many guests anyhow, so it's kinda been a storage room for me." He's right. There's a lot of stuff in here. The thing that gets my attention is the fact that there's five versions of Bart's helmet. The helmet is worn by his alias, Captain Falcon. Each one seems to have a slight difference in the design. I run to them, which is right next to the bed. I place my bag down and just look at them. Bart seems to see this and walks over to them.
"Why are there five?"
"The mantle of Captain Falcon has been passed down, I'm just the latest iteration." I smile as I see the gleam in one of the helmets. What I'd do to be a Captain Falcon. I feel Bart's hand on my shoulder. "I've gotta get this place cleaned, could you help a bit." I can't argue with him. He's allowing me to stay here, for free, the least I can do is help in the cleaning.
"Staying with Bart has already shown its good side. He actually cares about my wants and needs. He cares about my comfortability, he just cares for me. He doesn't ignore me when I ask him something, he's everything my family should be. He even made dinner for me last night, now it wasn't the best, but it's better than nothing. He gave me a comfortable blanket and…sorry for not telling you sooner," I say on the phone to Mac. Mac chuckles.
"No worries, now, you should get ready for school," he says.
"I know I know. But, did they notice me missing yet?" There's instant hesitation in his voice. That answered my question. "N-nevermind. Talk to you later Mac," I say as I turn off my phone. I look at myself in the mirror. Before I can get a good look at what I'm wearing for school, Bart walks in.
"Sorry for barging, but breakfast is waiting. You don't want it to be cold now, do ya?" He asks. He walks away, leaving me with my reflection. A part of me hates having to leave my family, but I need to know if they care for me. I give myself a nod, convincing myself that I made the right decision. I walk downstairs and see my plate waiting on the table with a hot omelet. I sit down and instantly start chowing down. Bart laughs at my eagerness. "My, you must be hungry." I just shoot a nod between my chews. I can finally enjoy a classic breakfast. "Say, are you gonna talk to that boy Ness?" I swallow the food.
"Probably not. It was probably a one-day thing, I doubt he's gonna give me the chance of day." Ness soon comes to mind. He made me feel important yesterday. He made me feel like I'm more than just a rich boy. He doesn't care about what others say about him but seems to care about what they say about me, or even how they look at me. He protected me...I'd do anything to have that for just one more day.
"Aww, you're blushing," Bart interrupts my thoughts with a surprisingly cute voice for a deep-voiced man. I shoot a worried glance toward him.
"Wha—" I pull my phone out and look at myself in the reflection. Aw, damn it. I am blushing. But why? I was just happy that Ness is caring for me...please don't tell me. I hope not. I just clear my throat and look at Bart. "I don't know what you mean. I just have a cold." I grab my place and walk it into the connected kitchen.
"Sure, whatever you say, pal," Bart says as I place the plate in the sink. Pal? I'm his pal? I'm his pal. I turn around.
"Well, I've gotta go catch the bus." I run over to the front door. I put my shoes on and then put my bag on. I see my bruised hand. It's slightly less bruised. I have no need for an ice pack, and the pain is nearly nonexistent. I open the door but Bart calls out to me. I turn to see him walking toward him. He licks his hand and fixes my hair back into its perfect style. He then gives me a grin.
"Don't let those bastards get to you." He truly does care for me. I nod and shoot out of the house. I hear Bart shoot out a goodbye. I just giggle to myself as I make it to the stop sign on time. There are only a few people there, and as expected, they give me the stink eye. Paula, in particular, gives me the worst one. She seems fed up with me, even starting to walk toward me. She stops right in front of my face. She crosses her arms and gives me a stern look.
"The hell do you want. Was the lesson yesterday not rich enough for you?" she asks.
"T-that doesn't even make sense—"
"What truly doesn't make sense you is. A big ass rich boy, coming on this bus." She moves her head closer toward mine. Her breath is significantly better smelling that K Rool's, but I hate her evil and even murderous look in her eyes. "What the hell do you want?" I open my mouth to say something, but once more, I can't. I don't know why I can't just defend myself. I'm just that weak?
"Leave him alone will ya?" Ness's voice says from behind Paula. She stands up and shoots around. I look at him and see his classic plain look. Despite this plain look, it seems to scare Paula. She skitters away, leaving Ness to look me up and down. "She didn't do anything, did she?" He's pent up, almost stressed, I can tell. He's worried, despite not showing it. Hopefully, the worry is about me.
"No." The instant I say that I can see his body loosen up. He turns to the stop sign, beginning his wait for the bus. I decide to walk to his side. I open my mouth to say something, but then I hear Bart calling my name. I turn down the street and see him running toward me. Man, I've heard he's fast, but he's like really fast. He quickly makes it to me and instantly looks at Ness. Ness takes a single step back but sustains his carefree look. Bart looks at me. Bart reaches into his pocket and picks something out of it. He reaches to my hand and places whatever he had in my hand.
"I almost forgot to give you this," Bart says. He looks back at Ness. "Ness I presume?" Ness gives a single nod. Bart grins. He snaps his fingers into a finger gun before running back toward the house. I finally look at what he had handed me. It's Captain Falcon's emblem. The golden falcon that's seen on his helmet, and the one thing that stays consistent out of all those helmets. I look to my left, at Ness, who's even broken his plain look to seem slightly amazed by the object. I see what Bart was trying to do. He didn't forget to give me this. He wanted to make a subtle appearance in front of Ness. Ness looks at me. He clears his throat and forces himself back into his straight look. I simply giggle to myself as I look down the road, looking for the bus.
The bus soon makes it. When I get on, K Rool gives me an even more evil look. This time, it's legitimately frightening. But, once again, Ness stands up for me. Saying something along the lines of shoving a large object up where the sun doesn't shine, but I was too focused on Ness to know what he said. After promptly shutting the croc up, he looks at me. "Shall we?" I walk down the aisle. Everyone, even Paula, is scared to give me a look. They all make no attempt to do so. Eventually, I find an empty seat on the left. I sit in, expecting Ness to go find another seat, but he doesn't. He chooses to sit with me. I try not to act happy that he made that decision, but um, I don't think that worked. "Why're you so happy?" Damn.
"Uh, n-nothing." I reach into my pocket to grab the golden falcon Bart gave me. I run my thumb over the wings, allowing a smile to come to my face. I look at Ness, whose face is fixated on the falcon. I simply place it on his lap and look out the window, trying my best to seem like I don't care...but once more, I don't think it worked.
"...Lucas?" Ness broke his plain voice. He sounded surprised. I turn to him. He's holding the falcon.
"What? I'm supposed to give it to someone I like," I lie. Ness's normal persona breaks away even more. Allowing his eyebrows to rise.
"What—" Aw crap, why'd I word it like that. I can't let him know I like him. Because I don't. I don't want him to get the wrong idea. Yea, that's it. I definitely don't like him. I like….uh….dammit.
"T-that's not what I meant to say. I-I meant...um, well, j-just keep it," I frantically try to rebound. I shoot my definitely blushing face to look out the window. Dammit, dammit, dammit. He probably doesn't want to talk to me anymore. Why'd I gotta ruin the one good thing about school?
"After school…" Ness starts. I turn to him again. He's wearing the falcon as a pin on his shirt. "Meet me by the pool."
"Why?" Ness closes his eyes and crosses his arms. He lays slightly back, ignoring my question. The day went on much like yesterday. Ness led me through to my classes. The only difference is the fact I opened up a bit more to him. I didn't say anything too out there, more or less just talking about whatever the hell was on my mind. Ness didn't really contribute to the conversation. But, I don't think I would've wanted him to. He just listened to me babble. He didn't seem annoyed in the slightest. He still held his plain face. I text Bart that I may be a little late, which he doesn't mind.
The pool area is obviously in the physical building. It's below the fieldhouse. It's a slightly weird place, but I guess it doesn't matter too much. Technically speaking, no one is allowed in it after school, aside from the swim team of course. Ness is just standing outside the door. He's doing his usual waiting stance. Foot against the wall, check. Arms crossed, check. Eyes closed, check. Got an all out bingo here. I place my bag next to the staircase and walk to the door, which isn't too far from the stairs. Ness kicks himself off the wall and slides over to look at the door. He must know I'm here, without looking at me. I stop next to him as he places his hand on the door. "Are we allowed in there?" Ness doesn't answer me. He just opens the door and pulls me inside, grabbing my arm to do so. He shuts it after us. Ness, still holding my arm, walks over to the pool. He finally lets go of my arm. "What're we doing here?" Ness points down to the pool.
"Swimming," he simply says. I just give him a confused look. He's just gonna pull me down here to swim? Is that what all this is about?
"Um, I don't regularly carry around swim trunks."
"You have underwear?" What type of question is that?
"Of course I do, but—"
"Then we can swim." Is he crazy? If we get caught in the pool, we're more screwed than DC's chance of a good hero movie. Before even waiting for my approval, he throws his bag to the wall. He then takes off his shirt, preparing to take the rest off. Man, he looks...STOP IT LUCAS.
"E-excuse me?" Ness looks at me. There's something odd about someone stripping with a plain face. "What if we get caught?" Once more, he ignores me. He takes his pants off, luckily he has underwear, and dives into the water. I look down at him as he floats back up. He shakes the water off as he sticks his head out. Something about this is adorable. The emotionless boy playfully swimming...yea, definitely cute.
"Come on."
"W-why do you want to swim?" Ness's face slightly turns to a saddened look, almost like I denied him something he's been waiting for. Seeing this small change makes me feel bad. Against my better judgment, I strip to my underwear and jump into the pool. I float back up and see Ness's face has turned back into a bland look. There's quickly a long awkward silence.
"Lucas?" Ness says to break the silence. I'm in the middle of floating on my back, I've always loved doing this, so I don't stop floating.
"Yes?"
"How am I?" What type of question is that? I stop floating and look at him. His face is back to being sad.
"Um, how so?" Ness doesn't give me an answer, and thus, doesn't give me any insight on what he was asking. "Well, you're nice it seems. Nicer than most people at least." Ness swims closer to me, making me slightly uncomfortable. But, a part of me kinda likes this. It's possibly because he's nearly naked, which is rather attractive.
"You're rich, correct?"
"T-technically…" Why's he so close? I enjoy him being closer, especially over K Rool or Paula, but why? But, most importantly, why do I want to bring him into a hug. Not only is it awkward enough to be in the pool with him in just our underwear, but a hug will go over that line. Ness looks down. It almost looks like he's trying to look down my...no, this is not the time nor the place to be thinking about this.
"Yeah...me too." What? Ness floats over to the side of the pool. His normal persona has broken down a bit more. This time, not only does his eyebrows show his feelings, but so does his eyes. But, he's rich. Is that why people are scared of getting on his bad side? "No one knows though." Nevermind. Guess he's just that Frightening?
"I see." Ness looks at me.
"You must not like your family's riches…" My eyes widen. How'd he get that idea? Did I accidentally say that when just speaking my mind? Well, to be honest, I kinda forgot what I told him.
"Y-yea." Ness struggles to bring up a smile. Seeing Ness happy makes my face heat up a bit. I don't know why, but it's a nice heat. Ness pulls himself out of the water and looks down at me.
"Don't tell anyone else?" Ness's smile seems less forced now. He's not faking his happiness, he's genuinely happy...I made him happy. I want to keep him happy.
"About what? The riches, or the smile?" Ness's smile grows, and he even seems to almost chuckle. He holds his hand out to the edge of the pool as I swim to it.
"Let's say both," he jokes. He actually is joking with me. Did I do something no one else can? Ness helps me out of the pool as he looks me up and down once more. Ness raises an eyebrow as he looks back up at me. He moves his head to my left ear. "You may want to cover your dick." WHAT! I look down, just to see that it's not actually showing. I soon hear small and quiet chuckles come from Ness as he walks to his clothes. "Made you look." I just stare off toward him. He's definitely different than he was before, and I like it. I like the changes….I like him. Ness turns his head to me. I just clear my throat and walk to my clothes.
A whole month passed. Just as I expected, my parents or even my brother, has shown no sign of care for me. They haven't reached out to cops to find me, they haven't looked for me themselves, hell, they haven't even tried contacting me. What's worse is the fact I met Ness's family. Sure, they're kinda douchey. They're the cliche rich family portrayed in movies and stuff, but they at least care for Ness as a person to some extent. I just want mine to care for me, I want them to love me. Why can't I have that?
I'm just lying in bed as Bart opens the door to my room. He's looking at me with a concerned look on his face. "Hey, pal, what's the matter?" he asks as he enters the room fully. I shake my head.
"I don't want to go to school today," I say with a sad voice. Bart's concerned face grows.
"Did something happen with Ness, or at school?"
"No, it's not school. It's just…" I end up curling into a ball and turn to look away from Bart. I cover myself in my blanket. I don't want to go to school. The school cares for me just as much as my family does, which is not at all. If I ran away from home, I might as well stay away from school. I also just don't want to leave my bed. I close my eyes, being able to fall asleep.
I get woken up by Bart. He's giving me a worried look, making me feel bad for making him worry. I sit up and rub my eyes with my wrists. Bart sighs as he stands up. He walks to the door but looks back at me before leaving. "Ness is here," he simply says. HE'S WHAT?! He's never been to the house before. Aw crap, I also never told him I ran away from home. Damn it. How'd he even get here? Against my better judgment, I walk out to the living room. Ness has shown more worry towards me. But not just worry, he seems to open up more in general. He turns to me, showing me a face I'm quite getting annoyed with, worry. "No shirt?" I just shoot a glance toward Bart. I don't know if I even moved my face. I don't know if I showed any emotion.
I sit next to Ness. He's just looking at me. I look at him. Man, he's so sweet. The fact he's just here, the fact he deems me worthy enough to take time out of his day to spend time with. "Lucas?" he asks. I just tilt my head. Ness looks down, with a sympathetic look on his face. He slouches back on the couch. "I'm sorry…"
"For what?" I say, in a strangely monotonous tone. I couldn't even force out some emotion. I just don't know.
"I should've realized something was wrong with you. What type of friend am I?"
"Oh, ok." Ness hesitates to look up at me. He lowers his eyebrows. He slams his fist into the couch and shakes his head.
"LUCAS!"
"What?" I say. Why am I not surprised he yelled? Why am I not scared? He's never yelled at me. I've never heard him yell, period. Why am I not more...me. Ness jumps up and forces me to my feet. He then calmly places his right hand into my left, interlocking the fingers. He then forces himself and me out of the house. "Where're we going?" We've never held hands before, nor has he been so jumpy. But...I guess I just don't really care. I wonder if he still realizes I still have no shirt on. But, I guess it doesn't matter. Ness's hand tightens around mine.
"Your family's house." I instantly stop. Ness looks back, having had to stop too. He shows some hope in his eyes before I just shake my head.
"I don't care...not like they will anyway." Ness gives a little growl before continuing to storm to my family's house. Ness has changed since I first met him. No longer is he one note. He's a friend. He's protected me from all the bastards at school...but he was only my protector because I was too much of a pussy to defend myself. I guess I was always a pussy. Running away from my family, from Paula, from the other students, and just reality as a whole. What has this made me into...well, whatever the answer, I just don't care. I don't care about any damn thing since no one seems to show they care for me, why should I do the same. Bastards who don't care for me don't deserve my care.
We suddenly stop. I look up at the mansion. Bart must've told Ness where we live, and where I used to live. Bart always was a fan of Ness, much like Ness to Bart. Ness starts slamming his fist into the door. The door eventually opens, but not to my family...big surprise. Mac is standing there. He instantly glows, but why? He looks at me but only earns a very evil look from Ness. "ARE YOU HIS DAD?" Ness yells. He sounds like he could kill Mac. Mac just looks confused at Ness.
"Wha—n-no. I'm just a servant," Mac says. Ness calms down, probably feeling an immense amount of guilt.
"I-I'm sorry. Where is his family?" Ness quickly gets backs on track. Mac turns to me.
"Who is this boy?"
"Ness," I answer. Mac raises an eyebrow. But why? Ness is Ness. What type of answer was he expecting? Mac turns to Ness. Mac nods and leads us into the mansion. He leads us into the large living space near the back of the mansion. There, my family is doing their normal shit. Like not caring for me, bastards.
"Sir, ma'am, your son and his friend are here." Claus does look up but simply nods his head as a hello before turning back to his phone. They really haven't noticed I was gone….fucking bastards. I feel Ness leave my hands. When I look to him I see him walk slightly ahead of me.
"YOU ASSHOLES!" He yells louder than my family has ever heard. This actually causes my mom and dad to get off their phones to look at Ness.
"What's this boy doing here?" my dad, Flint, asks. I see Ness's hands ball up.
"You know...it's bad that I don't know if you're talking about me...or your own damn son." My mom, Hinawa, stands up and walks to Ness. Quite fed up already of Ness's words.
"No one allowed you in here, so please leave," she orders in her annoying condescending voice. Ness gives another growl.
"I bet you haven't even noticed the absence of Lucas." At this point, my dad stands up and walks to my mom's side. Claus is still on the bed. He looks over at me.
"What're you talking about, he's right here," Claus idiotically says. Ness's balled up fists seem to clench more.
"YOU IDIOTS...for the past month, he was staying at Captain Falcon's house, someone who's not related to him." Why is Ness trying so hard to get through to my family? It's not gonna work, no matter how hard he tries. Not like I care for their love anyway, we should just leave. My mom and dad walk over to me, crossing their arms as they approach me.
"You better not have taken any money," my dad says. I just look down. Of course, that's what he'd say.
"That's the first fucking thing you say?" Ness asks. This causes my parents to turn to him, and for me to look at him as well. "You should be asking why he left. Your damn son"—Ness turns to Claus—"and you fucking twin brother, went missing, and no one bats an eye." Ness walks over to me, grabbing my hand, and leading me in front of my parents, who are soon joined by Claus. I think it's mainly odd as to why no one is asking about my shirtless self, but I guess now's not the time. "Look what you've turned him into." What does he mean by that? Am I different than I was before? Surely not...I've never cared for my family. I-I never did...right? Why exactly did I leave to begin with?
"What're you getting at?" my mom asks.
"Because you fuckers decide not to show him any love or even the fact you care for him, his personality drained down to be a douche...like I was." Ness…
"Why do you care so much? He's just a boy." Ness quickly shoots an evil glance toward my mom.
"He is not just a boy. He was able to reach into the heart of a bastard, who didn't allow any of his closest friends inside. He showed me what tenacity was, he showed me how to live life. Not cooped up in your own damn head...but having fun with what you're given, good or bad. I wasn't the best friend to him. He gave everything...I didn't." Ness looks down. He's getting real emotional….I feel kinda bad. He's never shown so much in so little time. Ness shoots his head back up. "He showed me what love is supposed to feel like...and all while not being loved by his own family." Love? How did I show him love? I know nothing about love. Ness turns to me and walks to be in front of me. Before either of us can say anything, he just gives me a large kiss on the lips. This….feeling? Is this love? Is this what I've been missing?... Yeah. I...I love Ness. I wrap my arms around Ness. The kiss ends soon after. Due to me putting my arms around him, he doesn't leave. He just touches our noses together. "Lucas?"
"...I'm hungry." Ness giggles to himself. He kisses my cheek.
"Glad your back idiot."
"HEY! Who're you calling an idiot...I got 100 on my test," I say proudly. Ness laughs out loud. It sounds so nice. Ness turns toward my family and grabs my hand, making me walk to be by his side. They seem slightly sympathetic, but...I hope the best for them. "If you don't care about Lucas-my boyfriend-you're missing out on something amazing." I'm his boyfriend? I—No, stop being so doubtful. Hell yea I'm his boyfriend...that seems kinda forced. I'll get there eventually. Ness motions for me to follow him, despite already having our hands interlocked. We walk toward the front door. Once we get there, Claus calls my name. Ness lets go of my hand as I turn around. Before even seeing what's about to happen, Claus pulls me into a hug. I struggle to wrap my arms around him.
"I...I'm so sorry, Lucas. I-I didn't know you were hurting…" Claus apologizes. His hug is tight, but I like it. I look up and see my mom and dad walking over. They look guilty.
"Hun...I'm sorry. When we got the money I just thought it'd fix everything," my mom says. She even seems to be on the verge of tears. It's kinda nice seeing this. Maybe they do care, maybe they always cared, but the money blinded them.
"Lucas, c-can you forgive us?" my dad asks. Claus pulls away from me and backs up to them. Can I forgive them? Can I? I honestly don't know if I can. Not if we have this money, but if we lose this money they won't be able to get what they want. Money is who they are, without it they need to make some drastic and uncomfortable changes. But, with the money, I can't trust them. If they value the money over me once, they'll surely do it again. It would normally seem out of the question, but my family seems to all be giving a face that shows they'll do anything to have my forgiveness. My family will have to sacrifice something...but what?
I don't see the point in writing a diary, but I guess if Ness said it'll help my head then I should at least try it. Well, hello Mr. Diary man. I guess I should start from after Ness and well...Ness confronted my family. They did feel sympathetic. I suggested for them to get rid of all the money, and only then would I forgive them. Did I have a plan for how this money would just be gotten rid of...absolutely not. But they did it. They donated to literally every charity they could find, even if it sounded like a scam. They still had loads left, they just started spending the crap out of it. Some were for us...and yes, I was included, but most were for the families of people we might've gotten on the wrong side with. We ended up selling the mansion and living a more middle-class life...the perfect life. Sure, it has its problems...but life isn't life without its problems. It wouldn't make for a fun story if there is no conflict, right? The school even started to change. They would feel more open to me. No longer was I just the rich kid being protected by the popular scary kid...I was Lucas who was friends with Ness. Hell, Paula is even a close friend. She even bought me the ring. Oh and she dealt with that bastard K Rool. Let's just say, that croc never even batted an eye my way. Mac and Bart stopped working for us rather quickly, but they had more time for their aliases, Little Mac and Captain Falcon respectively. They did become family friends. I, of course, invited them to the wedding. A lot has changed, but it's all thanks to Ness helping me that one fateful day. Ness. I truly do love him. And he was surely right about this diary thing, it's helping wonders. Well, I'll be sure to record some other stuff soon, bye Mr. Diary. I shut the diary and smile down at it. The door to the bedroom opens. When I look I see Ness. "Lukey, the kids are waiting," he says. I simply nod, which seems to please him. Ness and I are forever. And plus, if we're not, we're breaking our wedding vows. I have a family now. It's a family I will show love to. A family that I care for, and they care for me. A family that's worth every sacrifice.