Nesscas oneshot haven

by Breakdown003

This will have a lot of Nesscas one-shots. That's all I need to say really. These will be my first one-shots for Nesscas so let's hope they're good.

49. Pinned

The bright and crackling campfire stood in the middle of the group of campers. The campers were all a part of the same class. The class was a survival course, with its teacher being Link. There were four half logs around the fire, with enough space between them and the fire to prevent any burning. One log was on every four sides of the fire. The campfire was also constructed on a premade path. There were tents behind the campfire, and ahead of the campfire on the large path.

Link, with loads of sticks, came down the path and dropped the sticks. He grabbed one and handed it to the closest student, Young Link. He started to hand out the other sticks to all the other students. Link stood up behind Young Link and cleared his voice. "Class, while you'll unlikely have marshmallows if you ever were to get stuck out in the woods, something you'll need to know is how to use a campfire to cook properly. So, stab the marshmallow with the stick and try to cook it perfectly. Anyone who can roast five perfect marshmallows will get a special tour to what makes this forest so special. Now, begin."

Ness, a student who was always known for his cooking skills, felt like it was going to be too easy, so he decided not to start when everyone else started. He simply stretched then took off his hat. Popo, Ness's closest friend, noticed this and raised an eyebrow. "The hell? Don't you wanna win?" Popo asked as he hovered his marshmallow over the fire. Ness smirked as he looked over at Popo.

"Of course I do, but like, I don't even need to try." Popo's eyes grew annoyed.

"Cocky bastard." Ness chuckled some more. Ness played with his noir hair before Link finally noticed his lack of activity. He sighed and walked over to Ness. He didn't notice though, he was too focused at looking at the dirt for one reason or another. Link cleared his throat, making Ness jump slightly. He shakily looked up at an already fed up Link.

"You could always go out and kill a bear, or maybe even an Octorok if you're lucky...want to try that?" Link asked.

"N-no, sir," Ness stuttered, earning a few laughs from his classmates.

"Then cook." Link continued his walk around the circle of campers. Ness mocked Link as he stabbed his marshmallow. He hovered it over the fire and looked over at Popo, who was way too focused on the roasting.

"Try hard." Popo turned his head.

"I AM NO FUCKING TRY HARD!" Popo yelled.

"POPO, QUIET DOWN!" Link yelled. Popo lowered his head.

"Sorry." He looked back at Ness. "Unlike you, I don't have a natural talent for cooking, so do me a favor, and shut up." Popo took out his marshmallow and groaned loudly. "It burned….DAMMIT!"

"POPO!" Ness grew bored. After a few minutes, he took out the marshmallow and found it perfectly roasted. He yawned before flawlessly roasting the other marshmallows. Link congratulated him. "Alright, well, everyone did well. For now, go sleep and we'll continue more tomorrow. And Ness…?"

"Yes?" Ness asked.

"Your special tour is also tomorrow, it'd probably be best if you could bring a swimsuit." Ness tilted his head as everyone stood up.

"What do you mean?" Link looked down and closed his eyes.

"Guess I forgot to tell you." Link looked back up with a smile that was very contagious. "Since you won you and your entire tent will be going on the special tour." Popo started hopping instantly. Young Link walked over to Ness's side but was mainly focused on Popo. Popo stopped his hops and hugged Ness. He then gave a big kiss to Ness's cheek.

"Love ya man," he cheered happily. Ness pushed Popo away.

"Dude, boundaries," Ness said.

"Yea, he ain't into that gay shit," Young Link said, crossing his arms. Popo copied Young Link but gave a smug look.

"Kissing another guy isn't gay," Popo said in a tone that made it seem like he owned Young Link.

"That's the literal meaning of being gay."

"Nooooo," Popo mocked. "Being gay means you wanna suck a dick, and plus…." Popo looked down. He was wearing pretty large socks. "I'm wearing socks." Popo looked back up, a face showing he was truly proud of himself.

"But that's—you-you stupid idio—" Young Link was cut off by Ness lightly smacking his gut. Ness also leaned into Young Link's ear.

"Just let him have this one," Ness whispered.

"But he's—"

"I know, just….just let him have it." Young Link scoffed as he shot his head down the path, the opposite way that Ness was sitting toward. Popo chuckled to himself before running toward their tent. Young Link shook his head before following from afar. Ness sighed. "I need new friends."

Eventually, Ness made it to his tent. There were a few other tents near his, but the one thing that made his tent stand out was that it was blue. Ness crawled in and saw that Popo and Young Link were already in their pajamas, AKA, sleep pants, and no shirt. Ness sighed. "You guys are way too comfortable with each other," Ness said as he crawled in. Inside the tent was just big enough to have three sleeping bags and a single lamp. Ness's sleeping bag was the farthest to the right, with Young Link in between him and Popo.

"We're just comfortable with our sexuality," Popo proudly said. Ness rolled his eyes as he undressed for his pajamas.

"What sexuality?" Popo growled.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY? SAY IT TO MY DAMN FACE, NO BALLS!" Young Link sighed as he laid back onto his sleeping bag. Ness turned toward Popo once he was in his pajamas, which were pretty similar to the others. Instead of pants, however, he had shorts.

"Just lay down you dunderhead."

"WHAT! I AM NO DAMN DUNDERHEAD!"

"Jeez, you guys do know I have sensitive hearing, don't you?" Young Link plainly said. Popo instantly covered his mouth, already full of guilt.

"S-sorry." Ness chuckled as he laid back into his sleeping bag. Once Popo got into his, both boys noticed Young Link wasn't. He was just lying on top.

"Um, you do know how to use a sleeping bag, don't you?" Ness asked.

"Course I do, I'm just not ready to sleep just yet," Young Link said. He then gave a large yawn, going against what he just said.

"Whatever you say." Popo could tell what was up though. He and Young Link were pretty close friends, and unlike Ness, Popo can easily read faces. Young Link was thinking. Popo sat up and looked down at Young Link.

"What's on your mind?" Popo asked. Ness raised an eyebrow, confused as to why he'd ask that. Young Link sighed.

"I'm just thinking," Young Link simply said.

"Yea, no shit, I know that. But what are you thinking?"

"I'm just thinking about some rumors, that's all." Ness's eyes widened instantly. He shot up and his eyes spoke volumes, he was giddy.

"OOOOO, some tea. Spill it," Ness excitedly said.

"You sounded sus there, you know that?" Popo questioned. Ness gave him an evil glare, but Popo has gotten so used to it that it didn't faze him.

"Fuck you."

"I'm sure you'd love to," he winked.

"NO, WHAT THE HELL I—"

"Ugh, shut up," Young Link said before sitting up. The two boys instantly quieted down. "Well, do you guys know about The Blonde Boiler?" Both boys nodded. "Well, rumor has it he's been following someone in this class."

"What…? That's just creepy," Popo shuttered.

"Does anyone have a pretty good guess as to who?" Ness asked. Young Link shrugged.

"The Blonde Boiler doesn't have any friends. And I doubt his enemies would know," Young Link said.

"Why is he following someone anyway?"

"Not sure. It could be a crush, a vendetta, a….I don't know."

"He could just be a creep," Popo shrugged. Young Link snapped his fingers into a finger gun and pointed it at Popo.

"That's possible too." Ness looked down. He shook his head.

"That's doubtful. Although I don't even know what The Blonde Boiler looks like, I doubt he's a creep," Ness pointed out.

"He's probably blonde…." Popo said. The other two boys subconsciously decided to ignore him.

"What makes you say that?" Young Link asked Ness. Ness looked up.

"You didn't hear what he did?" Ness asked. The other two boys looked at each other, then back at Ness. Both of them shook their heads quickly. "Well, he had the highest score on the midterms a few weeks ago. And I mean of the entire school."

"So he a smarty pants…" Popo said.

"Huh, then what do you think it is?" Young Link asked as he gave a powerful smack to the back of Popo's head.

"HEY, THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU!"

"Not sure, knowing what he's done, it's probably a vendetta," Ness shrugged.

"I feel bad for whoever that's on," Young Link somberly said. Popo looked between the two boys before growling to himself.

"Fuck you guys, I'm going to take a tinkle," Popo said.

"A….tinkle?" Ness said under his breath. Young Link looked at Popo as he was about to leave the tent.

"You need me to come along?" Young Link asked with full honesty in his voice. Popo shot his head back.

"NO, I DON'T NEED HELP TO TINKLE!" Popo yelled.

"You got lost last time."

"Well, it's a forest, of course, I'd get lost."

"...you were two feet away from the path." Ness looked at Popo's blank face. He had nothing to say. He just left the tent without saying another word. Young Link just sighed as he shook his head. "Idiot."

Later, in the woods, Popo pulled up his pants and gave himself a satisfied sigh. He turned around and found himself lost in the middle of the woods. "Why'd I have to go so far in….?" Popo asked himself. He gulped as he started walking in the direction he thought he came from. Eventually, he started hearing some water. He decided to walk in the direction of the water, despite knowing the tent wasn't close to water. He soon made it to the water, which was a rushing river. He walked to the edge of the shore and looked into the river. There he saw his reflections yet still able to see the rocky surface below it.

"You lost?" someone with a rather high pitched voice asked. Popo shot around and saw a rather tiny blonde boy. This boy had some striped pajamas on. The blonde boy crossed his arms. "Well?"

"Uh, y-yea. I went to pee and well….I walked a bit too far from the tent." Popo was at least three inches taller than the boy, and he was only 5'8. Popo tilted his head, assuming the boy was just younger than him.

"Well, I guess I can help you back. These woods aren't all that safe at night." The boy turned around and started making his way toward the trees.

"What's your name?" The boy looked back with a raised eyebrow.

"My name?"

"Yes."

"What's it to you?" Popo looked into the boy's cloudy blue eyes. He could tell the boy was struggling. The boy was also very clearly tired.

"Well…." Popo put his palm on his chest and smirked. "My name is Popo, thanks for the help." Popo ran to be right next to the boy. The boy looked away, slightly embarrassed to be shorter than someone named Popo. He shook his head.

"Name's Lucas…" he said as he started to walk through the woods. Popo chuckled innocently as he walked up to keep on track with Lucas.

"Nice name." Lucas didn't bother to answer. "Hey, if anyone asks you if I needed help, don't tell them." Lucas looked up at Popo as they continued to walk.

"Why?" Popo looked down.

"They all think I'm just some stupid bastard. Sure, I'm not the smartest tool in the shed, but—"

"I see." Popo slightly looked at Lucas, knowing he didn't share the full story. Lucas looked forward. "Sure, you're friends make fun of you for being somewhat dumb...but at least you have friends. At least you have some backbones. If it truly hurts you, tell them. If they're truly friends, they'd stop." Lucas then suddenly stopped. He looked up at Popo, who slightly walked ahead of Lucas. "All I'm trying to say is, value what you have….you don't want to know how it feels to not." Lucas continued walking. Popo couldn't move. He was just thinking over his words. Lucas knew he wasn't moving. "Hesitance leads to impotence, so hurry up." Popo nodded and ran up to Lucas's side, not at all knowing what Lucas meant.

"Say, Lucas?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you know how it feels to not have anyone?" Lucas's mouth fell open, but that was when they made it to a point where the path, and the tent, were visible.

"There it is, you'd best be going?" Lucas turned around and started walking away. Popo looked at the tent and noticed that it was exactly his tent. Popo looked back at the already distant Lucas.

"How'd you know where my tent was?" Lucas didn't give an answer. Popo turned back toward his tent. "...If it truly hurts me, tell them?" Popo reminded himself. Popo let out a quick breath and started walking toward his tent.

The next morning the three boys got dressed into their normal clothes, grabbed their swim trunks, and met Link at the edge of the path that was connected to the woods. Link looked at the three boys. "Got everything?" Link asked. The three boys nodded. Link then turned around and started to lead them through the trees.

While walking through the trees, Popo heard something familiar. He heard the rushing river. It seemed slightly more distant than it did previously, despite seemingly being the same distance away. The reason behind it showed itself when Link and the others made it to the river. This part of the river was calm, with the rocky part being more downstream. Link turned around. "You guys can swim in the river and can even stay out of today's lesson." Link started to walk back toward the trees. Young Link looked back.

"This is it? A river?" Young Link asked. Link looked back and scowled at Young Link.

"Unless you want to take part in today's lesson, I'd suggest staying with them." Link then continued through the trees to get back to the rest of the class. Popo was way too excited to swim and ended up jumping into the river without changing into his trunks. Ness just shook his head as Popo surfaces.

"Idiot, there was a reason Link told us to bring trunks," Ness said. Popo just shrugged. Young Link turned around and looked at Popo.

"I wonder how you were able to graduate last year," Young Link said. Popo looked down. He kept repeating Lucas's words from last night, but he still couldn't do it. He was too scared. He decided to just dip into the water. Ness shrugged to himself as he started to undress to put on his trunks. As soon as he did he heard something snap. He and Young Link, who also changed into his swim trunks, shot around to look at the trees. They didn't see anything.

"Who's there?" Ness called out. Young Link took a step forward and balled his hands into fists. "Come out here pansy."

"Who the hell are you calling pansy?" a light sounding voice asked from the trees. The two boys kept their eyes firmly on the trees and soon saw a short blonde boy walk out. The boys crossed their arms. Popo resurfaced and shook his head, shaking the water off. He then saw the two boys looking at Lucas. Popo just tilted his head.

"I'm calling you a pansy. You following us?"

"So what if I am, what're you gonna do about it, bitch." Young Link growled to himself.

"I'll crush you, shrimp," he angrily said before starting to walk toward Lucas.

"Don't you dare call me shrimp." Lucas started walking toward the approaching Young Link. They stood mear inches from each other. Lucas was forced to look up at Young Link since Young Link was taller.

"You're who. Now it'd be best if you backed up."

"As I said before….what're you gonna do about it?" Ness sighed to himself then walked toward Lucas. He stood at Lucas's side, towering over him. Ness was at least five inches taller. Lucas turned and looked up at Ness.

"Just go already," Ness ordered. Lucas growled to himself, not at all thrown off by his height.

"You think just 'cause you're taller than me means you can boss me around?"

"No, 'cause we're—" Young Link was cut off by Lucas slamming his fist into his gut, making Young Link stumble back and grip his gut. He was surprised at the might of the punch, and Lucas didn't even look at Young Link as he did it, he just continued looking up at Ness. Ness grew madder and picked him up by his striped shirt.

"The hell was that?" Ness asked. Young Link then had a realization. He looked at Lucas.

"Ness….that's The Blonde Boiler."

"You are, aren't you?" Lucas chuckled and closed his eyes.

"So that's the name they gave me?" Lucas asked.

"THE FUCK'S WRONG WITH YOU?" Ness yelled, prompting Lucas to open his eyes.

"Nothing's wrong with me, I just like having fun," Lucas happily said. Ness placed Lucas on the floor and gave him an evil glare.

"I'm surprised your family hasn't tried offing you." Lucas's eyes then instantly showed surprise. He took a step back.

"What?"

"You heard me." Ness bent down and grinned. "No family would want you."

"You…..y-you…" Lucas tried to continue acting tough, but the more he thought about Ness's words, the more he knew how true they were. Lucas looked down. Ness stood back up straight and victoriously smiled. But then the smile disappeared when he saw something hit the grass below Lucas's head. He knew what it was. Lucas was crying. Lucas didn't bother with looking back up at Ness and simply started walking away. Before entering the trees he looked back and directly looked at Popo. Lucas was smart. He knew the talent Popo had for reading faces and eyes. Popo learned something big about Lucas just by looking into his clouded and teary eyes. He knew the reason Lucas was here. Lucas then turned away and entered the trees.

Ness shook his head and rushed to Young Link's side. Popo swam over to the shore. "Don't you think you were a bit harsh?" Popo asked.

"Did you see what he did to YL? He had it coming," Ness said without looking at Popo. Popo shook his head as he crawled out of the river.

"He's supposed to be The Blonde Boiler, and yet you say his family should've abandoned him?" Ness stood up once Young Link was helped. Ness turned to face Popo.

"He had it coming." Popo sporadically shook his head.

"No one deserves to be told that. You have no damn clue what he could've gone through."

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I GIVE TWO SHITS?" Popo's face grew annoyed.

"You're the real bastard Ness, not him."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"Guys, stop it," Young Link tried to intervene.

"Then if you think so, then why don't you go and be friends with him, you fucking idiot," Ness said.

"That's how you truly feel?" Popo asked.

"Yes." Popo kneeled and grabbed his swim trunks then looked back at Ness.

"Then I'll go."

"Good." Popo shook his head before walking toward the trees. He didn't even bother with looking back before entering.

"Ness, that might've been a bit much," Young Link said. Ness sighed.

"Oh please. Popo'll be back in due time."

"You sure?" Ness looked at Young Link and smirked.

"Of course."

Three weeks later, Popo still hasn't spoken to Ness or Young Link. They shared a few classes together, and Popo refused to even look at them, vowing to always look at Lucas instead-who also shared some classes. Ness started to regret what he said in the forest. He called Young Link to come to his house before school started. Young Link just arrived and they sat at the kitchen table in front of each other. "Told you so."

"I know, you don't have to remind me." Ness slammed his head into the table.

"You were kind of a bastard to him." Ness loudly sighed.

"I saw that he's actually starting to hang out with The Blonde Boiler, like, they actually seem like friends."

"That can't be good." Ness picked his head up.

"Not at all, so, will you help me?"

"Confront him again? HELL NO, you saw what he did to me last time. My stomach still hurts," Young Link said as he rubbed his gut. Ness leaned back in his chair.

"At least tell me what to tell Popo to bring him back."

"Well, first off, you should apologize."

"I know that, but….how?" Young Link shrugged.

"I'm not the one who exploded on him." Ness whined loudly before covering his face with his hands. That was when Ness's phone rang. He grabbed it and saw that it was Popo's number. He sat up happily and answered the phone, put it on speaker, and placed it between them two.

"Popo?"

"Sorry, this is Nana, Popo left his phone with me," Nana said.

"Oh…" Ness somberly said.

"Hey, Nana, why're calling?" Young Link asked.

"I saw Popo's grades," she said.

"What about them?"

"He's gotten 100% on all tests in the past few weeks."

"All of them?" Ness asked.

"Well, one was 98, but you get the point. I'm worried he might be cheating."

"You're calling the wrong dudes, Nana. We're no longer friends with Popo," Young Link pointed out.

"Trust me, Popo told me what you bundle of fucks did. But please, you guys could always get him to tell the truth. At least try." Ness shook his head slowly.

"Nana, I'm sorry about what I said to him," Ness apologized.

"I'm not the one you've gotta do that too, and I won't apologize on your behalf. Until Popo forgives you, I don't want you to talk to me any more than telling me if he's cheating or not."

"But—" Ness was cut off by Nana hanging up. He gave a defeated sigh and pocketed the phone. He looked up at Young Link. "I really, really F'ed up."

"Yup, now let's go meet Popo, it's now or never," Young Link said as he stood up. Ness nodded and stood up. They exited the house and walked toward the school with their bags.

They arrived at the school and instantly saw Popo. He was standing next against the wall right next to the front door. Ness grew a small smirk and ran from the parking lot toward Popo. That was when Lucas exited the school and stopped next to Popo. Ness slowed down. Young Link finally caught up to Ness. "Looks like they still hang out." Ness growled to himself. "Remember Ness, apologize."

"Yea, yea, I've got it," Ness grumbled as he continued walking toward Popo and Lucas. Popo soon noticed Ness and rolled his eyes. He told Lucas to follow him and so he led Lucas away from Ness. Before Popo and Lucas could get to the side of the school Ness called out, stopping both boys. Popo looked back, giving Ness and evil glare.

"Why're you friends with him?" Popo instantly turned back around.

"Let's go, Lucas," Popo said quietly. Lucas didn't move though. Popo gave him a confused look. That was when Lucas whispered something that made Popo sigh. He turned toward Ness's panicked face and walked slightly toward him. "What do you want?" Ness smirked.

"I just wanted to say sorry about what I said back then. I was just angry, and I let that anger control me." Popo crossed his arms.

"Why were you angry?"

"Because that bastard—"

"What, what did he do?" Popo asked, getting slightly antsy. Lucas then slightly peaked back at Ness.

"He….he…."

"Exactly, you have no damn reason to be this pissy." Ness shook his head.

"You don't understand how I feel."

"And you don't know how he feels, so shut up about him."

"Tch," Ness clicked as he looked away from Popo. Lucas's eyebrows lowered as he turned fully around.

"Ness," Lucas started. Ness looked at Lucas with a slight scowl. "I….I forgive you." Ness's eyes widened slightly. He stood up straight and looked directly at Lucas's cloudy eyes.

"I wasn't looking for your forgiveness." Lucas balled up his hands and stood up straight. Popo placed a hand on Lucas's shoulder.

"Now, now, Lucas," Popo tried to stop him, but Lucas just pushed Popo away in a fit of rage. Ness simply held his hand toward the floored Popo.

"See, you're just a danger," Ness pointed out.

"I WAS TRYING TO BE THE GOOD FUCKING SAMARITIN, SAYING SORRY FOR SOMETHING I DON'T THINK WAS MY FUCKING FAULT. AND YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE THE BALLS TO ACCEPT IT!" Lucas yelled at the top of his lungs, getting rid of the soft tone in his voice for a scratchy and worn one. Ness walked right in front of Lucas and looked down at him.

"I don't have to accept anything I don't want to." Lucas shot his head down.

"I can't believe I ever liked you," Lucas said under his breath.

"What did you say?" Lucas didn't bother to answer. "I SAID, WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Lucas still refused to answer and was about to turn away, until Ness grabbed the collar of his shirt. Ness then pinned Lucas against the wall, with both of his hands firmly planted on the wall a few inches away from Lucas's head. Lucas looked up at Ness's anger-filled face. That was when his own face started to blush, but Ness was in such a rage he didn't notice. Both boys stared into each other's eyes for a while. Ness opened his mouth to say something, but then….

"HEY!" A deep voice from next to them said. Both boys turned and saw Donkey Kong, the lead security guard. "You know the school rules, no making out on the property.

"I wasn't making out with this asshole."

"Yea, because I stopped you."

"NO, I wasn't gonna do it at all," Ness said as he removed his hands from the wall.

"Oh yea, then what's with him?" Donkey Kong asked as he motioned his head for Ness to look at Lucas. When Ness saw him, he took a few steps back. Lucas was blushing wildly and was even sweating slightly. lUCAS purposely looked away.

"The hell…?" Ness then suddenly got picked up by Donkey Kong. He tried to struggle out of it, but to no avail. Donkey Kong then turned to Lucas.

"You haven't gotten in trouble for weeks, we all thought you changed. But it looks like you're just a pathetic rule breaker….like your brother." Lucas tensed up then got picked up. Ness continued to struggle as they entered the school. He soon found out that he was just wasting energy, so he stopped. He then looked at Lucas and saw that his blushing and sweating stopped. He was just staring blankly at the ground.

"Of course you're used to this." Lucas shakily looked at Ness. Ness wasn't very good at reading faces and eyes, but he did know what despair looked like, and Lucas was feeling it. "What's wrong with you anyway, this always happens."

"You wouldn't understand," Lucas said, looking back at the ground. "I'm not gonna waste energy on you."

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!"

"HEY, quiet down!" Donkey Kong ordered.

Donkey Kong took them to the principal's office. They were told to sit in the two chairs that faced the desk until the principal came. Lucas refused to look at Ness, and Ness refused to look at Lucas. They stayed in awkward silence for a while. "Popo is smarter than he seems," Lucas suddenly broke the silence.

"What do you—" Ness was cut off by the door to the office opening. Ness looked back and saw the principal, Palutena. She had an annoyed face as she walked to her desk. Once she sat in her chair, she gave a scowl to Lucas.

"Well, well, well, lookie who we have. I should've guessed you'd bring someone else in here," Palutena said. Lucas flinched lightly.

"It wasn't my fault thi—"

"I didn't give you permission to speak." Lucas just nodded and looked down. Ness couldn't help but feel somewhat bad about this. He thought over what happened during the silence and realized that Lucas wasn't at fault at all. Ness sighed.

"He's right, it's my fault," Ness said, defeated. Lucas slightly looked at Ness. Palutena shook her head.

"No one party is solely at fault."

"Then why were you so eager to push the blame onto him?"

"You're not the one who's supposed to be asking questions." Ness looked down. "Anyhow, I have the ability to expel you both for what you did."

"WHAT! All I did was pin him against the wall, how're you gonna expel both of us for that?"

"Because I make the rules." Ness shot up and opened his mouth to say something. That was when he saw Lucas in the corner of his eyes looking up at him. Ness looked down at Lucas and saw him shake his head. Ness looked back at Palutena. "Well? You going to fight back or sit down?" Ness scoffed as he sat back down. "If you just waited patiently I would've told you that I came up with an alternative punishment." Both boys still refused to look at Palutena, causing her to sigh. "Listen to me boys. Do you think I like being the bad guy?"

"Yes," Lucas said. This caused a tiny chuckle to form from Ness. Palutena groaned.

"Ohohoh, you're getting on my last damn nerve boy."

"You must just be one big nerve then." Palutena slammed her hand into her desk, and once more, neither boy decided to look at her.

"You guys will be doing a project."

"WHAT?! A project, I don't wanna work on a project," Ness retorted after he shot his head to look at Palutena. She smirked.

"You guys will learn to work together whether it's forced or not, and trust me…." Palutena leaned over the desk and glared at Lucas, who was slightly looking at her, "You don't want me to force you guys to get along."

"I'd like to see you try," Lucas said.

"Say one more damn thing and both of you will regret it."

"I'm jus—" Lucas was forced to stop talking when Ness placed his hand over his mouth. Lucas looked at Ness and saw that he was giving an obviously panicked smile to Palutena.

"W-what's the project?" Palutena sat back.

"You guys will have to make a presentation on the stages of grief."

"That's all?" Ness asked as he lowered his hand from Lucas's mouth.

"Yes, it's simple, you guys can't mess up. Oh, and you'll have to be unique and engaging with it since you'll be presenting it in front of the whole school."

"And there it is, the wack shit," Lucas blurted out. Palutena shakily glared at Lucas as Lucas glared back.

"You have five seconds to get the hell out of my office…...five…." Palutena started to slowly count down. Lucas showed no fear and would've attempted to stay in the office as long as possible, but that was when Ness grabbed his arm and ran out of the office with him. Palutena, now alone in her office, leaned back in her chair. "At least he seems somewhat sane."

Once the boys got a few halls away from the principal's office, Lucas ripped his arm from Ness's grip. "The hell?"

"I was just trying to help us," Ness said, already starting to get agitated.

"Huh, no, I mean, you could've told me you'd grab me like that." Lucas started rubbing his arm. "I bruise easily."

"Oh...I didn't know that, sorry." Lucas shrugged. He turned around to find that the students who were in the hall were all scared of Lucas. They all started backing away and retreating into rooms that they weren't supposed to be in. Lucas sighed and started walking. Ness just looked wide-eyed at the scene. Before Lucas could get too far, Ness ran to his side. "Want me to come to your place for the project, or you to my place?" Lucas stopped walking and looked up at Ness. This was the first time he did so without Ness looking down at him with some evil or ill-will.

"Could we go to your place?" Ness smirked.

"Sure, here, lemme give you the address." Ness then wrote down the address on a sheet from his notebook and ripped it out for Lucas. He instantly pocketed it and started to walk toward his class. There was something else on Ness's mind though. He wanted to know why Lucas was blushing earlier. "Hey, one more question?" Ness questioned. Lucas stopped and turned his head to look back at Ness.

"What?"

"Why were you blushing when I had you against the wall?" Lucas looked down instantly. He knew that the students in the school listened to every little thing that came out of his mouth. He simply shook his head.

"I'll tell you at your house."

"Promise?" Lucas then smiled. Ness found the smile to be sweet. It was small, but it spoke wonders.

"Promise." Lucas finally walked away.

"You guys suddenly get along," a familiar voice said from behind Ness. Ness shot around and saw Popo walking toward him.

"Popo!" Ness yelled excitedly. Popo walked over to Ness's side and watched the direction Lucas went. "I wouldn't say we get along just yet, just that he's slightly more bearable to be around."

"Even during those few weeks, Lucas never smiled. Not even cracking a grin." Ness pictured Lucas's smile in his head. It didn't seem forced, but he couldn't be for sure. Ness then looked down at Popo. "Oh, and I know Nana called about my grades." He looked up and grinned. "Tell her, Lucas taught me all I know."

"Lucas taught you?" Popo nodded. Ness looked back in the direction Lucas went. "The Blonde Boiler?" Ness thought. He still didn't really enjoy Lucas all that much, but he felt he saw something with Lucas not many people had seen. He saw Lucas's vulnerability.

Later that day, Ness was lying in his bed. He tossed a ball at the wall for it to bounce off and him to catch it. He was just thinking. "Stages of grief, huh?" Ness heard a knock, and he knew what it was. He caught the ball and tossed it into his small closet. He rushed out of the room to instantly see the front door on his left. He opened the door and saw Lucas in basic street clothes, very different from what he wore at the school. At school, he'd always wear a tough get-up, but now he was just wearing a striped shirt with a hoodie over it and some shorts. Lucas scratched the back of his neck.

"I-is it too early?" Lucas asked.

"No, no, not at all, come in." Lucas nodded and stepped in. He started looking around the comfy looking house. There wasn't too much to the place, but it had a feel of hominess. It was something his house lacked. "My room's right here." Lucas entered the room and Ness closed the door. Lucas sat on the floor near the bed. Ness sat on the bed. There was a rather lengthy silence between the two. "So...stages of grief, huh?"

"Yup." Ness felt awkward. But then he remembered what they promised back at the school. Ness scooted off of the bed and sat a few inches in front of Lucas.

"So, about what we promised."

"Heh, I was kinda hoping you'd forget," Lucas nervously said as he rubbed his neck.

"I don't forget easily."

"That's for damn sure."

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!" Lucas chuckled. Ness found it oddly comforting. Lucas placed his hands behind him allowing him to slightly lean back.

"Relax, it was just an unfunny joke." Ness grew a smirk at this. For whatever reason, he didn't feel the same anger coming off of Lucas as he did when they met in the forest.

"So….why did you blush?" Lucas then fully laid on the ground. He closed his eyes and hummed slightly.

"Well…" Ness tilted his head. "...No one knows about this, not even Popo."

"I'll keep it a secret."

"I never said that….but thanks anyway." Lucas opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. He suddenly didn't like lying on the ground, so he sat back up. He saw the concerned face on Ness. He didn't really like it. He didn't like seeing Ness concerned, he much preferred him mad. "I was blushing because I never had a guy pin me against the wall like that, and well…." Lucas started rubbing his knuckles together, not really sure where to continue it.

"You like boys?"

"Don't say it like that," Lucas shot, "But yea…" Ness placed a hand on Lucas's foot.

"That still doesn't exactly answer why you liked being pinned to the—oh wait…"

"Yea," Lucas said, looking away from Ness.

"Oh my, you're one of those people."

"C-can we just begin our project?" Ness started to chuckle. Lucas turned to him, confused as to what he was chuckling at. Ness's chuckling turned into a full-blown laughing fit. Ness's laughter was contagious, so Lucas started to chuckle a bit. Ness finally started to calm down, so he wiped the tears he grew while laughing.

"Man, you're a card," Ness chuckled. Lucas raised an eyebrow. "I've always heard that The Blonde Boiler was just a douchy and bitchy tough guy. But you're just short, in height and in temper, and you're very emotional."

"What's that supposed to me?" Lucas asked, slightly agitated.

"It's a compliment, take it."

"Didn't sound like one," Lucas said to himself. Lucas crossed his arms and looked at the now very comfortable Ness.

"Alright, so the different stages of grief, you know them, 'cause lord knows I don't." Lucas nodded.

"Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance." Ness sighed to himself.

"I never understood what bargaining meant," Ness defeatedly said as he allowed his head to lean back against the bed. Lucas grew an idea.

"Well, how about I use a h-hypothetical to go over it." Ness shot his head up.

"Sure thing."

"O-ok. So let's just say I lost some members in my family, I would first start out by saying that what happened didn't actually happen. Like I'd start saying 'they just ran away' or 'they're not actually dead', and stuff like that. Then anger would kick in. I would constantly be angry, and as you know, different people handle anger differently. Some will rely on fighting and making people fear them, and some would simply shy themselves away." Ness squinted his eyes. He started to get slightly suspicious of this "hypothetical". "The bargaining starts. At this point, the anger all but drained me and I kinda try to make up for the past. Some people would apologize for whatever happened in the anger phase, some would simply say 'if only I'd been able to prevent what happened'. After that, the depression would kick in. I would start feeling sad, obviously, and I would begin to feel hopeless. Sadly this is where a lot of people meet the end of the phase, just like…..n-nevermind. A-anyway…." Ness got even more suspicious when he started to see tears forming in Lucas's eyes. It was at this point he knew, Lucas didn't just know what the cycle was, he was going through it. "Then acceptance would kick in, It's pretty self-explanatory. A-and that's it." Lucas gave a nervous laugh as he wiped the tears away. He tried to wipe them in a discreet way, but Ness already saw them so it didn't work for him.

"Wow…"

"Hehe, I know a lot, huh?" Lucas proudly said.

"Lucas? Question."

"Yes?"

"Was that really hypothetical?" Lucas's proud face disappeared. He then stood up and walked toward the door to the bedroom. "LUCAS!" Lucas looked back with a saddened expression. Lucas slightly flinched. He expected to turn back and see Ness yelling at him, but he simply saw Ness walking toward him.

"N-Ness?" Ness didn't respond and simply grabbed both of Lucas's hands before pinning him to the wall. Ness looked down at Lucas with a sly smirk. Ness kept his hands on either side of Lucas's head. Lucas slowly grew a blush as he looked up at Ness. "Ness, th-th-the h-hell?"

"You said you liked being pinned up," Ness said with a lewd voice.

"I-I-I did, but…." Ness removed his right hand and lightly rubbed Lucas's lips.

"Come on. You don't have to tell me the details, just whether or not you were really used hypotheticals." Ness then slammed his fist into the wall next to Lucas's head. Lucas enjoyed it for whatever reason. He liked how aggressive Ness was.

"Y-you're a-abusing this side of me." Ness started to blush as well. He didn't exactly know why, but he really enjoyed it. He just grinned wider.

"You're damn right." Lucas gave a few giggles.

"W-well….It's almost working," Lucas said. He wanted more. Ness also enjoyed seeing the blushed and lewd face Lucas held. Ness grabbed Lucas's chin and made him look further up. Ness lowered his head closer to Lucas's.

"You don't want to see me get rough." To Ness's surprise, Lucas suddenly wrapped his arms around Ness's head and kissed him. Ness didn't kiss back though, but Lucas wasn't surprised. He had to stand on his tippy toes in order to even reach Ness's lips. He stood back onto the soles of his feet as the kiss ended and Ness saw the wide smile on Lucas's face.

"Those weren't hypotheticals…." He then took advantage of Ness's surprised frozen state to duck under his arms and escape the house. Ness removed his hands from the wall and felt his lips.

"That bastard…...kissed me?" That was when he realized what he did. He knew he got a little carried away with pinning Lucas to the wall. He slammed his head into the wall. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why'd you gotta be such a damn tryhard? Of course, he got mixed feelings." Ness removed his head from the wall and felt the heat on his cheeks. "I don't like him like that….I-I don't." Ness loudly groaned as he walked over to his bed. He collapsed into it and put his head into his pillow.

Ness opened his front door to see Lucas. Lucas gave Ness a happy smile and Ness invited him in. They walked into Ness's room. Ness locked his door and smirked at Lucas. "Hey there," Ness happily said. Lucas turned around and tilted his head.

"Um, why did you invite me here?" Ness walked to Lucas and stopped right in front of him. Lucas looked up at Ness with a confused look. "N-Ness?"

"Have I ever told you that you look like a middle schooler?"

"SHUT UP!" Lucas crossed his arms as he pouted. "I know I'm short." Ness giggled before kneeled to be eye to eye with Lucas.

"I'm kidding, learn to take a joke," Ness giggled.

"Hmph," Lucas shot around to face away from Ness.

"Come on, you know you don't succeed with being mad, you always just get cute." Lucas shot back around.

"SHUT UP, I SO CAN BE ANGRY!" Ness chuckled as he stood up.

"Then show me."

"Umm." Lucas stomped the ground and tried his hardest to squeeze his face into a scowl. It just made Ness laugh, making Lucas embarrassed. "Damn it." Ness leaned down and kissed Lucas's forehead.

"Don't be like that, I know one way to make you scream for sure." Lucas's face instantly went red.

"Wh-what do you mean."

"My parents will be away for quite a long time, you're smart, I'm sure you can infer what I mean," Ness grinned. Lucas chuckled.

"I think I do." Ness then picked Lucas up and put him on his bed as he kneeled on top.

"You better be ready," Ness winked.

Ness shot up and sporadically shook his head. "NO, NO, NO, NO!" Ness yelled as he covered his eyes. He sat there for a little bit before there was a knock at his door. He lowered his hands and looked at the door. "Y-yes?" The door opened and Tracy walked in.

"Ness, the hell? Screaming in the middle of the night? Don't do it unless you're getting pounded by big anime boys," Tracy said as she rubbed her eyes. Ness looked at the foot of his bed. Tracy lowered her hand from her eye. "Ness?"

"I'm sorry, Tracy….It's nothing."

"Sure as hell didn't seem like nothing."

"It was….just a dream." Ness laid back down and brought the blanket over him. "Nothing else." Tracy sighed to herself.

"Ness, we're family, you can tell me anything." Ness closed his eyes.

"I TOLD YOU EVERYTHING IS FUCKING FINE, NOW LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!" Ness yelled. It wasn't anger that caused him to yell though. He was just desperate. He was confused, sad, and unsure of himself. Tracy knew this. She slowly shook her head.

"Just remember that, ok?"

"I SAID LEAVE!" Ness ordered as he shot around to look at Tracy. She saw that Ness was crying wildly. She didn't want to upset Ness anymore so she just obliged. Ness turned back around and forced his eyes shut. "It was….just a dream."

The next day Ness was walking around the school to find Lucas. He made it to the second floor without seeing him. He sighed to himself as he leaned back against the lockers. "Damn it, where is he?"

"Yo, Ness!" Young Link called out from the end of the hall. Ness didn't bother to move so Young Link ran over to him. "You know where The Blonde Boiler is?"

"You mean Lucas?"

"Yea, whatever, do you know where he is?"

"Nah, but why do you need him?" Ness asked as he kicked himself off of the lockers.

"Popo told me I can't talk to him until I apologize and he forgives me," Young Link said as he put his hand on his shoulder. He didn't want to apologize. He felt like he still had what he got coming.

"I'll just apologize for you, I need to talk to him anyway." Young Link instantly beamed.

"Really," he excitedly said. Ness nodded. Young Link's excitement soon drained as soon as a thought came over his head. "Are you two like on good terms now?" Ness shrugged.

"I dunno. I haven't apologized to him either, yet he seems so….."

"Hi, Ness!" Lucas yelled from the end of the hall, making a lot of the other students hide away. Unlike last time, Lucas didn't even notice it. He just started walking toward Ness. Ness turned toward him, and subconsciously grew a smile and a blush. Young Link tilted his head as he saw it. Lucas made it to Ness and Young Link, but then turned to Young Link and his smile disappeared. Young Link sighed.

"Listen here Blonde Boiler, if you mess with Ness then you mess with me, capisce?" Young Link asked.

"Yeah, capisce…" Lucas somberly said. Young Link turned away and started walking. Lucas knew what he needed to do. He walked slightly forward. "Link!" Young Link stopped and turned his head. He was expecting Lucas to yell or even start a fight, but he saw Lucas's smile. It was fully innocent and happy. He wasn't vindictive. Lucas the bowed. "I'm sorry for hitting you back then, I was just angry. Feel free to hit me anytime." Young Link looked up at Ness's smiling and slightly proud face as he looked down at Lucas. Young Link grew a tiny smirk as he crossed his arms and looked away.

"That won't be necessary, and I guess I'm sorry for provoking you, Blonde Boiler." Lucas stood back up and watched as Young Link walked away. He then looked up at an even more proud Ness.

"Why're you smiling so damn much?" Ness's smile disappeared and he forced himself to look away.

"N-no reason." Lucas giggled.

"It was cute," Lucas happily said. This made Ness slightly flinch. He turned back and saw that Lucas started walking away, presumably toward his class.

"You're the cute one!" Ness blurted out. He instantly covered his mouth and looked around the hall. There were a few students who overheard this and just gave Ness a confused look. Lucas turned his head back toward Ness.

"I'm…..what?" Ness nervously chuckled as he looked at Lucas. He also took small steps back.

"No-nothing, hehe, I-I-I better h-head to class. S-see ya later," Ness said, slightly flustered. He then burst into a run, leaving Lucas in the primarily empty hall. Lucas smiled and looked down.

"He thinks I'm…..cute?" He chuckled to himself before continuing his walk.

Later that day, Ness was in his bed thinking. I called him cute. Why'd I do that? Ness groaned as he covered his eyes with his hands. What's happening? He then started to shake his head. He tried to get Lucas out of his head and think of something else, but he was unable to. Ness lowered his hands and looked at the ceiling. Dammit, why do I want to see him again? It was at that moment that the doorbell rang. Ness shot out of the bed instantly and ran to the front door. Once he opened it he saw Lucas standing there awkwardly.

"H-hi, I didn't know if I should come today or—"

"No, no, no, come in." Lucas nodded and walked in. Ness closed the door and soon his mom walked from the kitchen.

"Ness, who's this boy?" She asked. Ness turned toward her as he placed a hand on Lucas's shoulder.

"This is Lucas, we're working on a project together."

"Oh, that's sweet, well, go on ahead." Ness nodded and started walking toward his room. When he got to his door he looked back to see Lucas hadn't moved an inch. He looked down and shook his head.

"Lucas?" This broke Lucas out of his head so he just ran over like nothing happened.

"S-sorry about that," he said. Ness walked into the room with Lucas in his stead. He closed the door and sat on the floor right next to his bed. Lucas then sat a little ahead of Ness. "Palutena never told us how we'd have to do the project, any ideas?"

"No, not a single one." Lucas loudly groaned as he cartoonishly laid back. He put his hands under his floored head.. Ness couldn't get what happened yesterday out of his head. "Hey, Lucas?"

"Hm?"

"Why'd you kiss me?" Lucas slowly sat up.

"I dunno, 'cause I wanted to," Lucas shrugged.

"But, I was such a bitch to you." Lucas shrugged again.

"I dunno, maybe I like bitches," he giggled. The giggle made Ness give a small smile. He looked down and closed his eyes. "Sorry if it went too far, it was just that you had me against the wall….and the—"

"It was my fault that it went too far, I'm the one who pinned you to the wall." Lucas tilted his head. "I've got a question."

"Shoot," Lucas said as he placed his hands behind him to lean back.

"W-well, have you ever had a dream…..a sexual dream about someone?" Ness asked as he looked up at Lucas. Lucas saw that he had a small blush.

"Of course I have. That's just part of being a hormonal teenager. Why do you ask?"

"...N-no reason, just wondering." Lucas stood up. Ness just looked up with a confused look. "What're you doing."

"Well, you seem like you're feeling guilty for putting me in that situation yesterday." Ness looked down.

"I am." Lucas chuckled and the next time Ness looked back up Lucas was right in front of him. Ness got spooked and slightly backed up. "L-Lucas, why're you so close?" Lucas sighed then stood back up since he was crouching.

"I was trying to put you in that situation, but I just don't know how."

"Why?"

"W-well, I was hoping it'd make me be equally at fault so that you could feel better." Lucas sighed again and sat back down. He rested his chin on his open palms that were already resting on his bent knees. "But I guess I'm not cut out for this."

"Being a top ain't for everyone," Ness chuckled lightheartedly. Lucas closed his eyes. Ness saw a bittersweet smile grow on Lucas's face.

"You sounded like my brother there, he told me the same thing."

"You have a brother?" Lucas stayed quiet for a while. Ness even saw a tear fall from his eye left eye.

"M-more like I had one."

"Oh," Ness somberly said. He covered his mouth, feeling even more guilty for bringing it up. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't—" Lucas shook his head.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, see?" Lucas said as he opened his eyes and smiled. Ness couldn't pinpoint it, but he felt that Lucas was lying. He didn't feel like Lucas was doing well.

"Well, you want to continue working on the project?" Lucas nodded. They continued working on the project for a few hours. They ended up getting it done. Although, they didn't know when the presentation would be. What they did was write down a speech, after doing some research and creating a PowerPoint, on notecards. That was when they realized it was late. Before Lucas could even get the thought of leaving, his phone rang. He picked it up.

"Yes?"

"Lucas? Oh thank god, I thought something happened," the other voice said over the phone.

"Who is it?" Ness asked.

"My dad," Lucas answered.

"Where are you at?" Flint asked.

"I was working on a project with a friend. I got a bit too invested."

"No, no, it's ok. It's pretty late, and I have work in the morning, so if it's ok with your friend's parents you could stay there."

"Ok, one sec." Lucas lowered the phone and looked at Ness, who was sitting on a chair that was at a desk in the corner of the bedroom to the left of the bed and near the closet. On this desk was the computer they used. "Yo, Ness, is it cool if I stay the night?" Ness's heart warmed when he heard this. Once more, he didn't know why he felt happy being around Lucas, but he knew that him staying the night would bring more of those happy feelings, so he was instantly down for it. He got off the chair.

"Fine with me, I'll go ask my mom," he said, containing his excitement. Lucas nodded and returned to the phone.

"He's asking his mom."

"So, it's a guy. Is he…." Flint started.

"...I dunno, it's complicated." Flint chuckled.

"Claus would be proud of you either way." Lucas instantly grew a tear and sniffed.

"You think so?"

"I know so. Him and your mom." This made Lucas shed another tear and give another sniff. Tears then started to fall faster and heavier.

"T-thanks dad."

"No problem, and have fun. Just maybe not too much fun, at least not without protection."

"I'll try to remember that." Flint laughed some more. The light-hearted laughs made Lucas smile. Flint was always light-hearted, only being slightly down after what happened with Claus and Hinawa. However, only recently has his light-heartedness got to Lucas. "Love you, dad."

"Love you too scamp." Lucas hung the phone up and wiped his tears away.

"Lucas...you ok?" Ness asked from behind him. Lucas rubbed his eyes faster, trying to get rid of any hint of crying. This only made his eyes grow redder. He turned around and chuckled.

"Y-yea, what would make you think otherwise?" Ness shrugged before walking to his bed. He sat down and looked at Lucas.

"Maybe because you were crying."

"I-it's fine." Lucas took a deep breath before smiling. "Anyway, could I take a shower."

"Uh, yea, the bathroom is the second room in the hall," Ness said as he simulated the hall right outside the room with his hand. Lucas nodded and left the room. Ness laid back and thought to himself. I hate him crying. The last time he cried was….back then. Every time he's cried it's been about his family….wonder what that's about. Ness closed his eyes to wait for Lucas. Even though he knew he could watch tv, he didn't feel like doing it with Lucas in the bathroom. After around half an hour he started to hear Lucas cry out his name. Ness shot up in a panic and ran out of his room and to the bathroom door. "Lucas?!"

"Uhhh…." The door opened slightly. Only half of Lucas's face was visible. "I forgot I didn't bring any clothes."

"Oh, you can borrow some of mine." Lucas looked Ness up and down with a sarcastic look.

"Um, did you forget you're way taller than me?"

"Come on, it's not like anyone'll see." Lucas sighed to himself.

"Fine, just hurry up, I'm cold."

"You are?" Ness asked, slightly confused.

"I'm naked, of fucking course I'm a little cold." Ness's eyes lowered as he grew a small blush.

"Oh, r-right, duh. I'll go get those clothes." After giving Lucas some of his clothes, Ness waited in his room. This time, he finally turned on his tv. He simply put on some South Park. Within a few minutes, he heard Lucas clear his throat. Ness turned toward the door and saw him in the clothes he gave him. Lucas had a blue and white striped shirt with the sleeves around an inch longer than Lucas's hands, and the pants that completely covered his feet and even rested on the ground. "Huh, those were my smallest clothes." Lucas sighed. Ness couldn't explain it, but he liked it. Lucas crossed his arms, which only made Ness like it more.

"Well, h-how do they look?" Lucas asked as a small blush grew in his face.

"You care about how I see it?"

"N-nevermind, I don't need an answer." Lucas slouched. Ness chuckled before lying back and turned toward the tv that was attached to the upper part of the wall.

"You look cute in them." He covered his mouth again.

"C-cute?" Lucas asked as he straightened up.

"Um, I-I mean cute as in, you know….." Lucas just started giggling. Ness turned toward him and saw that the blush grew. Seeing Lucas have a good time warmed his heart even more than knowing that he was staying the night. Lucas looked at the tv.

"Ooo, South Park." Lucas sat down on the floor and watched the tv. Ness sat up and looked at Lucas with a confused look.

"What're you doing down there?"

"Watching tv…," he said without looking at Ness. Ness scooted closer to the wall and laid back down.

"W-well, there's space up here for you." Lucas hesitated to look at Ness. He stood up.

"What?"

"I-I mean, if you want, we can share the bed." Lucas grinned and walked to the bed.

"You sure?" Ness smiled as he watched tv.

"You better hurry up before I change my mind." Lucas crawled into bed and Ness draped the blanket over him.

"Thanks."

"Mhm." Lucas looked at Ness's face as he laid next to him.

"Umm, Ness?"

"Yea?" Ness asked as he sprawled his arm over the bed right above Lucas's head. This made Lucas more comfortable.

"N-nothing." Lucas turned back to the tv and couldn't help but feel happy.

The next morning, Ness woke up to find that he accidentally left the tv running. "Aw dang it." Before he could get up to turn it off, he felt something on him. He looked to his left and saw that Lucas was cuddling with him. Lucas's left arm was over Ness's chest with his head being right under Ness's armpit. Thank goodness I used deodorant, Ness thought. He looked at the time from the tv and saw that it was time for him and Lucas to get ready for school. He looked back down at Lucas. "Hey, Lucas?" Lucas's eyes fluttered open as he looked up at Ness.

"You felt nice."

"Huh?!" Ness yelped in surprise. It took a moment for what he said to seep into Lucas's brain. Lucas shot up.

"WAIT, I DIDN'T MEAN THAT, WHAT I MEANT WAS—" Lucas was yelling and flailing so much that he ended up falling off the bed. Ness flinched from the sound and crawled to the side. He saw Lucas upside down with his legs in the air since he was still up against the bed. All that he saw was Lucas's bare chest since his shirt draped down. Ness blushed instantly.

"Y-you ok?" Lucas pushed his shirt up and smirked.

"Pfft, course I am, who do you think I am," Lucas chuckled. Lucas rolled and used his hands to propel him in the air for him to land on the ground. He then posed by putting his hands at his hips and lifting his chin. "If I can't handle that then I can't handle being pounded."

"Oh?" Ness sat up and squinted his eyes sarcastically. "So you're a little freaky, huh?"

"So what if I am?" Lucas crossed his arms and blushed toward Ness.

"Then maybe we could test the waters out a little later." The small blush in Lucas's face grew to be around his entire head. He even grew a tiny nose bleed. Ness giggled and stood up from his bed. He grabbed Lucas's hands and pulled him to the wall where he got pinned there. Ness smirked down at the frozen Lucas. "Who knows, that may be tonight," Ness winked. That was when the door opened.

"Yo, Ness, you better hurry—" Tracy looked wide-eyed at the scene of Ness pining a frozen, blushing, and bloody Lucas. Lucas shakily and slowly turned his head toward Tracy as Ness quickly did it. Tracy just looked at Ness then Lucas, then alternated a few more times, before slowly sliding away and closing the door. She knocked on the door this time. Ness looked back at Lucas before bringing his head down. He kissed his forehead then walked to the door. He opened it. "Yo, Ness, you better….you better…..ugh, just get your gay ass in the kitchen to cook me food."

"I'm not gay," Ness said, crossing his arms. Tracy peered into the room and looked at the still frozen Lucas. She stepped back and looked up at Ness.

"A guy doesn't normally pin another guy to the wall for simply shits and giggles, 'specially not the way you were doin' it."

"Th-that's not—"

"And plus, you're not wearing socks." Ness looked down. He growled as he looked back at Tracy.

"THAT'S NOT HOW THIS WORKS!"

"It totally is."

"Who told you?"

"Popo."

"EXACTLY!" Tracy said before turning around.

"Just hurry up and make my food, I hunger." Tracy started to walk away. Ness sighed before turning to Lucas, who was still in a frozen state.

"You better hurry up or you won't have my famous meat." Lucas gasped loudly as he turned toward Ness.

"I WANT YOUR MEAT!" He exclaimed. Ness was slightly taken aback by his sudden burst of energy.

"I meant my steak."

"O-oh." Lucas looked down as he scratched the back of his neck. "Yea, I-I'd like some steak." Ness walked over to Lucas and placed his hand on the top of Lucas's head, making Lucas look up. Ness winked before walking back toward the door. What Ness didn't know was that Lucas was able to hear what he and Tracy were talking about. "You're not gay?" Ness stopped before looking back.

"No, why?"

"Oh, n-no reason," Lucas said, slightly starting to look sad. He forced himself to seem happy though. He walked to Ness as he rubbed the part of his forehead Ness kissed. "Let's eat!" He cheered. He walked toward the kitchen before Ness. I'm not gay, right? Just because I want to kiss Lucas, and to do…...other things with him, doesn't mean I'm gay, right? Of course, I'm right. No one knows me more than me, Ness thought.

Ness shook his head and walked out of the room. He saw Lucas was casually looking through the cabinets. "Lucas, what're you looking for?"

"Hm? Oh, I was gonna help you cook. It's the least I could do." Ness walked faster into the kitchen and smirked.

"I appreciate it, but please, you're my guest, sit down."

"B-but…"

"Come on, you know you like taking orders." Lucas took a surprised step back.

"Wh-what gave you that idea?" Lucas nervously said with a small nervous chuckle. Ness's smirk grew to be a smile. He stood up straight, showing his dominant height.

"Go sit the fuck down." Lucas just looked up at Ness with wide eyes. His cheeks became very slightly pink as he turned toward the living room that was attached to the kitchen.

"I…..I-I'm only going to sit down because I want to. M-my feet hurt." Lucas started walking to where Tracy was; on the couch.

"Sure." Lucas sat on the couch and looked at the tv. He had no clue what he was watching, he only recognized the Disney symbol in the bottom right corner. That was when the tv got paused. Lucas tilted his head and looked to his left, where Tracy was sitting.

"Uhh, h-hi," Lucas waved. Tracy squinted her eyes as if she was analyzing Lucas.

"You….."

"Wh-what about me?"

"What's your relationship with my brother?" Lucas nervously chuckled and looked back at the paused tv.

"We're friends."

"I don't believe that's how you see it." Lucas vowed to stay quiet. Tracy shrugged as she unpaused the tv. "Fine then, you don't have to tell me, because I can tell." Tracy then turned the volume up to blaring loud levels. "You have a crush on my brother."

"Wh-what if I do?" Lucas asked as he faintly looked at Tracy. She just shrugged.

"Not like I care. Just as long as you make him happy." Lucas gave a fake smile before looking down.

"Yea, well, he's not gay, so I don't have a chance."

"Well—"

"TRACY!" Lucas and Tracy looked in front of the tv to find Ness standing there with his hands over his ears. "TURN THIS DOWN, IT'S WAY TOO DAMN LOUD!"

"Ok, ok, no need to yell."

"WHAT!" Ness yelled since he couldn't hear what Tracy said. She turned the volume back down and Ness lowered his hands. He turned toward Lucas. "Sorry about that, she doesn't really think that much." Lucas showed Ness his fake smile.

"It's alright, my brother was pretty similar," Lucas said. Ness gave a bittersweet smile as he patted Lucas's back. He then ran back to the kitchen to continue cooking.

Tracy and Lucas waited for a short while before Ness told them that the food was done. Ness placed three plates on the table. Ness and Lucas sat opposite each other at the side as Tracy sat at the head of the table. She instantly started eating the steak. Lucas tilted his head before looking up at Ness. "Steak for breakfast?"

"Mhm, Mom said she's going to the store after work," Tracy said with her mouth full. Ness sighed and lightly smacked the top of her head.

"Stop talking with your mouth full, dammit, it's improper," Ness said. Tracy growled before standing up.

"FUCK BEING PROPER! Imma just eat in my room." Tracy took her plate and started walking away. Ness just sighed.

"Nothing I'll say will stop her." Lucas looked down at the steak. Ness looked at him and noticed he didn't have a fork. He instantly shot up. "I'll get you a fork." Lucas looked up.

"You don't have to do that, I'll get it myself," Lucas said as he stood up. Ness shook his head sporadically.

"Sit!" Ness said, pointing down. Lucas looked away as he crossed his arms. He sat down. "Good boy." Lucas shot his head back toward Ness.

"I'M NOT A GOOD BOY! I'M A BAD BOY!" Lucas yelled. Ness giggled.

"Damn right you are." It took a moment for what Lucas said to be analyzed by him, but once it did he slammed his head into the table. Ness went and grabbed a fork for Lucas. He returned to his seat and handed the fork toward Lucas as he sat down. Lucas looked up, grabbed the fork, then looked down at the steak. He stabbed the steak with the fork and lifted it up. He grabbed a large bite and instantly fell in love with the steak. Once he swallowed it he looked at Ness.

"You can cook this damn good?" Ness shrugged.

"It's so-so."

"It's not!" Lucas looked back at the steak. "What I'd do to let someone cook like this for me every day." Ness chuckled.

"Oh please, I can do that." Lucas looked at Ness with a hopeful smile and his eyes less cloudy.

"Really?!"

"Yea, we're friends right, it's no biggie."

"R-right….we're friends." Lucas looked at the steak, but his look was different. Ness didn't see this different look before. He started to eat. Lucas sighed before standing up.

"Lucas?" Ness asked once he swallowed his piece of steak.

"I've gotta use the bathroom…" Ness simply nodded. Lucas started walking away, but Ness finally caught onto the aura Lucas was emitting.

"Lucas, is everything alright?" Lucas stopped before entering the small hall that had the bathroom.

"Y-yea, of course. Everything is pitch-perfect." Ness knew he was lying. Lucas continued into the bathroom. Ness instantly started to think of what could've done wrong to make Lucas so down.

Lucas shut the bathroom door and walked to the mirror over the sink. He didn't need to use the bathroom, he just needed a look at himself. He stared into his own eyes. Ness isn't gay you fucking dumbass. Just because you've had a dumb, stupid crush on him for years doesn't mean he'll magically become gay. You've gotta get that through your thick fucking skull, Lucas thought. That was when he started to cry. He slammed his head into the sink. This even caused some blood to come out of his head, but he didn't care. Just learn to live with that fact. No one is going to love you, so fucking deal with it.

Ness ripped another piece of the steak off with his teeth before hearing the toilet go off. Ness looked in the direction of the bathroom as he chewed on the piece. He heard the door open and soon saw Lucas purposely looking away from Ness. He swallowed the piece. "Lucas, you didn't finish you food," he said when he noticed Lucas was heading toward the front door.

"I-I know, I-I just remembered I've gotta do something." Ness placed the fork down and walked toward him. Lucas froze up once Ness placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Lucas I—" Ness stopped himself once he turned Lucas around and found Lucas had his hand covering something. There was blood dripping from the gap between his fingers. Ness gently grabbed Lucas's wrist and moved it away from his head without any resistance. "What the fuck happened?" Ness asked, his voice instantly showing his concern.

"I…..I slipped and h-hit my head on the sink," Lucas lied. Ness grew angry.

"TRACY, GET THE FUCK OUT HERE!"

"Geez, what's with the yelling…" Tracy said as she exited her room, which wasn't too far from the bathroom. She stopped a little bit behind Lucas.

"How many damn times do I have to tell you to dry the bathroom after you shower."

"What?! I didn't even use the bathroom yet." Ness put a hand on Lucas's shoulder and shot him around, showing Tracy the large mark in the middle of his forehead that was dripping blood. Tracy took a surprised step back.

"My god…"

"SO WHY DIDN'T YOU FUCKING DRY IT UP!"

"NESS, I didn't use the bathroom so stop blaming me." Ness growled to himself and firmly grabbed Lucas's hand. He stormed over to the table and forced Lucas to sit down. Ness started toward the kitchen sink. Lucas stood up.

"Listen, Ness, I-I've gotta go."

"NO!" Ness shot around. Lucas saw tears in his eyes. He wasn't just angry. He was scared and worried. "I'M NOT LETTING YOU FUCKING LEAVE ME LIKE THAT, SO SIT THE FUCK DOWN OR I'LL FORCE YOU TOO!" Lucas just looked at the teary mess that was Ness and sat down. Ness shot around and grabbed a few things from around the sink. Tracy walked into the kitchen and crossed her arms.

"I've never seen you worry this much about someone, hehe, it's kinda cute," Tracy chuckled. Ness shot around. Tracy took a few steps back as she looked into Ness's evilly sad eyes.

"THIS IS NO GODDAMN TIME FOR YOUR STUPID ASS JOKES, SO BE FUCKING USEFUL FOR ONCE AND LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!" Ness yelled louder than he ever yelled before. Each syllable held venom inside of its walls. The normally strong Tracy started to tear up. She then cried as she ran back toward her room. Ness was steaming as he walked to Lucas's side.

"Th-that was a bit rude, Ness," Lucas nervously chuckled.

"Maybe she shouldn't have gotten in my way." Ness leaned down and started wiping Lucas's forehead with alcohol wipes.

"But still, you're never that mean….to anyone that isn't me." Ness looked down. He sniffed, showing his sadness. His tears also started to fall onto Lucas's pants he borrowed from Ness. Lucas looked at the small wet marks that were forming. Ness looked up and forced Lucas to look into his wet eyes.

"I don't want to lose you, so if that means yelling at other people, so be it."

"'Cause you wanna stay friends with Popo?" Ness shook his head then resumed whipping the wound. After a while of Lucas reacting to the stinging, Ness stopped. He then placed a band-aid over the wound. He still didn't allow Lucas to leave, though. He used regular wipes to clean the blood from his hand. Ness stepped back and gave a final sniff as he smiled.

"There, you look better." Lucas stood up and rubbed his arm. Ness sighed as he grabbed the used wipes and turned away. "See you later…"

"R-right…" Lucas started walking toward the front door, but before he could open the door, he heard the cries from Tracy. He turned toward her room and started walking toward it. Her door was closed, so he gently knocked.

"GET AWAY FROM ME NESS!" Tracy yelled.

"It's me, Lucas." A few quiet moments later, the door opened. Lucas looked down at the middle schooler. Tracy looked up.

"What do you want?" she sadly said.

"Can we talk?" Tracy shrugged as she turned back toward her bed. She plopped onto her bed as Lucas gently closed the door. He then walked over to Tracy's bed but decided to sit on the floor. Tracy sat up and wiped her eyes, but the tears didn't stop.

"Ness never yelled at me like that…" Tracy couldn't stop crying and thus couldn't stop rubbing her eyes. The skin around her eyes started to turn red. "Ever since Mom started working early and late, Ness has been getting more and more angry."

"He wants to see his mom more?" Tracy nodded.

"We lost our dad to some accident at his work, and so Mom was all we had." Tracy looked into Lucas's eyes. She saw nothing but someone who would listen. She was able to stop rubbing her eyes, yet the tears still fell slowly. "And when Mom needed to work he thought someday we'd lose her just like we lost Dad."

"I see…"

"He would yell at me, at his friends, he even quit his Baseball thing. He taught himself how to cook, he….he's the only one who vows to be the parent that stays no matter what. He feels like it's his duty to be the protector." Lucas looked down, analyzing what she said. "But….ever since you guys started to hang out he's seemed happier. You made him happy, and I couldn't be happier than to see him not feel so much pressure." Lucas looked up, showing Tracy that he started to tear up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know he was going through so much."

"No one does, not his friends, not our distant family, just us." Tracy slowly stopped crying. She smirked before hopping off the bed. She brought Lucas into a tight hug. "Thank you for making us happy." Lucas couldn't help but smile as he patted Tracy's back. She stepped back, after letting go of Lucas, and tilted her head. "Are you happy?" Lucas looked down. "You're not?"

"...I love spending time with Ness, I love it more than anything. But…." Lucas looked back up at Tracy. She saw streaks of tears. "I also love him more than anything. But he's straight...so whenever I hang out with him, sure I love it, but I also always think that he's never going to feel how I feel." Lucas forced his eyes shut, making more tears fall faster. He looked back down as he shook his head. "And I know that's true. Knowing that he'll never love me the same way I love him, makes me feel…."

"Sad," Tracy finished. "I don't want you to make us happy while you're making yourself sad." Lucas stood up and wiped his tears. He looked down at Tracy with a small smile.

"If I'm to be honest….I don't know how much my mind can handle being around Ness." Tracy nodded in understanding.

"You're leaving….?" Lucas looked at the door.

"It's not that I'm leaving….I'm just distancing myself from Ness. Hopefully, it'll put my mind at ease." Tracy started to cry. Lucas just smiled back down at Tracy. "Don't cry, it'll make me cry more." Tracy looked down as she wiped her eyes.

"I'm only crying because you're crying, you fucker…" she cried. She felt a happy warmth when Lucas put his hand into her hair. Once he removed his hand, Tracy felt empty. She looked up and saw Lucas about to leave the room. "Promise me you'll come back…..please!" Lucas sighed a sad sigh. He looked back at Tracy.

"I can't promise that...no use in falsy raising hope." Lucas then left the room and then the house, without looking at Ness. Tracy's tears fell faster and hit the ground harder. She ran out of her room and looked out of the house. It was too late, Lucas was gone.

"Tracy?" Ness questioned as he entered the living room. Tracy closed the front door and looked back at Ness. "About what I said earlier, I—" Ness was cut off by Tracy berating him into a hug. Ness looked down in surprise. Surprise that she forgave him so fast, she was never one to forgive easily.

"I miss him…." she said into Ness's chest.

"Miss who?" Tracy didn't answer but simply cried some more. Ness just gave a confused look at the front door. I'll always miss Dad, Ness thought.

Two days ago, on Monday, Ness once more went out on a search for Lucas. He wasn't in as much of a hurry as last time, but he was still hustling through the halls. He eventually found Lucas going through his locker on the third floor. Ness chuckled to himself and ran over to Lucas. "Yo, Lucas. I was expecting you to come by yesterday," he chuckled. Lucas closed his locker and swung his bag onto his back. He didn't give Ness a glance before walking away. "Lucas?" Lucas still said anything. Ness ran up to Lucas's side. "Yo, Lucas, you doing alright?" Lucas sped up his walking, showing that he didn't want to talk to Ness. Ness turned around and brought out his phone. He looked back at Lucas as he called Popo. He put the phone to his ear. "Yo, Popo."

"What?" He asked.

"Could we meet up before class? I need to talk to you."

"Sure, I'm already in the lunchroom."

"Kay, I'll be down in a bit."

"Aight." Ness hung up and ran toward the nearest staircase.

He eventually made it down to the base floor and walked through the halls toward the lunchroom. Inside he saw Popo sitting at one of the tables with a small sandwich. Ness ran in and sat opposite him. Popo put his phone away and looked at Ness. "So, what's wrong?"

"Why isn't Lucas talking to me?"

"Why isn't he….what?"

"I tried talking to him and he just ignored me." Popo grabbed his sandwich.

"Oh, he told me that you guys finished your project so he had no real reason to talk to you anymore." Ness looked down. Popo bit down on the sandwich and quickly chewed and swallowed it. "Although?" Ness shot his head up. "He was clearly lying, I just didn't pry further."

"Pry…?" Ness asked, surprised he knew the word. Popo chuckled light-heartedly.

"Lucas taught me a lot of stuff, vocab was one." Ness looked down and smiled to himself.

"Yea, he taught me a lot too," he said with a small blush forming. Popo tilted his head and bit into his sandwich.

"So, why do you care if he talks to you, weren't you guys talking just because of the project?" Popo asked with his mouth full. Ness looked up with a small disgusted look on his face.

"Uh, yea….at first." Popo smirked when he saw the blush. He swallowed the bite.

"You like him, huh?" Ness instantly started to shake his head sporadically.

"NONONONONONONO," Ness shot out like a machine gun as he shook his head. He stopped shaking his head, showing that he had a bigger blush. "I-I'm not g-gay so of course I-I don't have a crush on him." Ness gave an obviously fake innocent smile. Popo chuckled to himself.

"It's ok if you do, it's really not a big deal. Hell, Tracy even told me you liked pinning Lucas down."

"Tracy, you little…." Ness growled. He then shook his head more softly. "I….only did that 'cause he liked it." Ness crossed his arms.

"Then why do you care. And don't use the excuse that you guys are friends, 'cause I already know you don't care enough about friends to be like that." Ness sighed as he looked down.

"I don't know why I care. I just do." Popo ripped his sandwich in half.

"Look at me." Ness looked up. Popo held up the half of the sandwich that he took a bite out of. "This is Lucas." Ness raised an eyebrow. Popo raised the other half. "And this is you. Right now, both of you are like this because something you did took a bite out of Lucas." Popo held the two halves apart. Ness tilted his head.

"How do you know?"

"He told me that something bad happened on Saturday, and Tracy told me that Lucas stayed the night on Friday." Ness looked down. Took a bite out of Lucas….? What does he mean? Ness thought.

"When did you become so enlightened?" Ness asked as he looked back up at Popo. Popo chuckled.

"I told you, Lucas taught me a lot. Anywho, in order to figure out what that bite was, you've gotta analyze the meat inside of you-AKA, your thoughts-and once you do that I'm sure you'll be able to fix the bite...although I don't think a sandwich was the best analogy for this…." Popo said as he looked at his sandwich. His eyes quickly filled with the lust to eat and started chowing down. Ness sighed as he stood up. Popo was already done with the sandwich when Ness stood up, so when he looked up he swallowed it all. "Go home and think about it."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be sure to head straight home."

"No, like right now, not after school."

"B-but—"

"I'll put in a good excuse for you." Ness smirked. Popo has done this a few times, where he'd allow people to leave the school and give a reason behind it. He has never done this with friends, however.

"Really?"

"Of course, now go." Ness nodded and ran out of the lunchroom. Popo smirked as he brought out his phone. He called someone. "Alright, Ness left, provoke him."

"On it…" the voice on the other line said.

Ness arrived at his house and entered his room. He laid on his bed and looked up at the ceiling. Analyze the meat inside of me….damn it Popo, why do you have to make it sound so damn dirty. How the hell am I supposed to analyze my thoughts anyway, all of them are about Lucas. He's all I think about. He's…..all I think about? Lucas….. Slowly, and against Ness's own knowledge, he started to fall asleep.

Ness walked around the dark and cloudy school. The halls seemed endless and the darkness seemed to forever be around him. Ness looked around at the walls. Strangely enough, there were no rooms. It was just a hall with lockers and that looked like it belonged in his school. Ness paid attention to the numbers on the lockers. They kept going up, even when looking at a locker that would normally be a lower number, somehow wasn't. The numbers were changing based on when Ness sees it.

Despite this, he still continued walking down the hall. Eventually, Ness saw locker 420. Unlike all the previously numbered lockers, this one was open, and there were no lockers passed the locker. Ness opened the locker more and saw a picture of Lucas's face on the back wall of the locker. Ness reached toward this picture, but then it disappeared, and suddenly in his hand was a cartoonishly shaped heart. On this heart was "N+L" The heart soon melted. "Hello, Ness," Lucas's voice could be heard. Ness looked around, but couldn't see Lucas. "You drew me away, so why would you be able to see me." Ness opened his mouth to say something but physically couldn't speak. He couldn't even make noise by hitting the locker. "Stop hiding who you are. I know what you want to know, you want to know why I don't want to talk to you. Is that correct?" Ness nodded. Lucas could be heard chuckling. "How the hell should I know? I only know what you know, which is why I know this; you're hiding who you are. From Tracy, from your mom, from Popo, from Lucas….and even from yourself. Stop hiding it, stop being silent of who you truly are." Ness looked down. He looked at the floor of the locker and found something. He grabbed what looked like a small brown box. Not much could fit in the very small box, but Ness opened it anyway. Inside was a simple necklace. But the necklace was of a phrase.

"I'm sorry," the phrase read.

"You never said that to me, did you? Saying that I didn't deserve a family, you still haven't apologized to me." Ness started to cry as the box, and the necklace disappeared. Ness started to sporadically look around the hall. "The time to twaddle is over. You need to make a choice." Ness started to hear noises from back where he came from. It was the lockers, the hall, all of it was disappearing and making the noise of small pops, despite no explosion. "Will you be who you truly are and be happy, or keep lying to everyone-to yourself-and live in misery." Ness couldn't move, he was frozen and forced to watch as the disappearing hall crept upon him. Soon, that hall under his feet disappeared, making Ness fall into the empty darkness. "Time to choose."

Ness shot up in a sweaty mess. His breathing also grew shaky. He looked around his room, making sure he was still in his bed. He then pinched his bicep. "AAAACK, dammit," Ness said. Ness sat at the side of the bed, allowing his feet to be planted on the ground. He covered his face with his hands as his elbows stood on his legs. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DOOOOO!" Ness lowered his arms and looked at the ground. "Who am I?"

Later that day, as he was watching tv, the thought once more came into his head. He started to grip his head because it started to hurt from the confusion. "DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT ALL!" During this panic, Ness made the remote drop onto the ground, changing the channel.

"—stracted with knowing who they are not, they forget who they are," a calming deep voice said from the tv. Ness looked up at the screen and saw a small talk show. It was a show called "Reach to your heart". It wasn't a show Ness saw much, but he knew it was where one of the famous detectives, Ren Amamiya, would often be shown on. The show was hosted by a dark-skinned man named Matt, who was well known to be a very athletic and strong person. He was known to be someone you didn't want to fuck with. Ren was sitting on one of the chairs. Ness rewound the show a bit. "I had a friend named Goro Akechi, he would often let his own mind get the better of him."

"And what did that entail?" Matt asked in his magically deep voice. The type of voice that people would swoon over. Ren sat back in the seat.

"He got blinded by darkness and took it out on the people he cared about. Basically, he went through the whole cycle of grief far too quickly and sporadically, resulting in...his loss."

"Can this happen to anyone else?" Ness sat up straight. Ren nodded.

"Of course. If anyone can go through the stages of grief, anyone can go through it too quickly. Not giving them enough time to actually think, and only focus on doing. People can be so distracted with knowing who they are not, they forget who they are. Losing the sense of who you are can send a person insane, and could make them do….questionable things." Ness looked down. He turned the tv off and laid back on the couch.

Who am I not? Was I focused on that? Ness thought. Ness looked back at all he had done. He confirmed that he was too focused on what he wasn't. I said it quite a lot…..but what am I? Ness started to think about Lucas. This made him smile.

"A guy doesn't normally pin another guy to the wall for simply shits and giggles, 'specially not the way you were doin' it," Tracy's words came back into Ness's mind.

"You like him, huh?" Popo's words came back as well.

"And plus, you're not wearing socks," more of Tracy's words came. That was also when the kiss Lucas gave him, and the kiss he gave to Lucas's forehead, came up. Ness couldn't help but smile.

"Be who I truly am….huh? Does that mean…...I'm gay?" Ness stood up and walked over to his room. On the dresser, he found something he'd meant to give back to Lucas but forgot. It was the clothes he changed out of. He walked over and grabbed them. He held them up and tilted his head. "He did look cute against the wall…." Ness giggled. Ness lowered the shirt and placed it onto the dresser. "I'm…..gay. I like….Lucas? Heh….I guess he isn't too bad." Ness chuckled to himself. He plopped onto his bed and started watching tv.

About an hour later his phone rang. Ness paused South Park and picked it up. "Yo, YL, what's up?" Ness asked.

"Quick, come to the school, Lucas is pissed the fuck off," Young Link said in a panic.

"I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL KILL WHOEVER THE FUCK LEAKED THIS SHIT!" Ness could hear Lucas yell.

"I'll be right over….w-wait, we didn't have class together yet, how'd you know I was at home?"

"JUST GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"

"R-right."

Ness arrived at the school and found that a large number of students were huddled around the main foyer. Ness even had some difficulty entering the school. He pushed past the few students. "SOMEONE BETTER FUCKING FUS UP OR EVERYONE IS FUCKING GETTING IT!" Lucas yelled. Ness continued pushing past the students until making it to the empty circle that surrounded Lucas's raging self. Since Ness stumbled into the circle, Lucas shakily turned toward Ness. His eyes widened slightly, but the rage took over. "You did it?!" Ness recovered and shook his hand and head.

"No, no, I didn't...but what happened?" Ness asked. Lucas growled.

"Someone leaked that I was fucking gay, ALL OVER THE FUCKING CITY!" Ness tilted his head in confusion. Popo ran to Ness's side and showed him his phone. On the phone was twitter. Someone tweeted a voice clip. Ness took the phone and played it.

"Hey, Lucas?"

"Hm?"

"Why'd you kiss me?"

"I dunno, 'cause I wanted to,"

"But, I was such a bitch to you."

"I dunno, maybe I like bitches. Sorry if it went too far, it was just that you had me against the wall….and the—"

"It was my fault that it went too far, I'm the one who pinned you to the wall."

It was the conversation he had with Lucas the day after Lucas kissed him. There was no one else at the house at the time. "How'd they get this recording?" Ness asked.

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW, YOU ASK ME!" Ness scrolled the post on the phone up and saw the account that tweeted it; Elfybelfy_1121. Ness sighed. He handed the phone back to Popo and glared at Young Link, who stood opposite of him.

"It was Young Link." Lucas shot around and glared at Young Link. Young Link nervously chuckled.

"S-shit, that was very fast," Young Link nervously said. Lucas menacingly walked toward Young Link.

"STOP!" Popo yelled as he ran in front of Young Link. Popo held up his hands.

"Move out of the way, Popo!" Lucas ordered. Popo looked down at Lucas and shook his head.

"He did post it, but I'm the one who listened in on the conversation and gave it to him." Lucas lowered his ready-to-fight arms.

"What? HOW COULD YOU!" Ness walked over to Lucas's side and crossed his arms.

"Why'd you listen to our conversation?" he asked.

"Does it matter? Both of these fuckers are going to regret it," Lucas growled. Popo placed his hands on Lucas's shoulders before he could start moving. "Let. Me. Go."

"Please, I did it to help you."

"HOW THE HELL IS THAT GONNA HELP ME!" Lucas looked at Popo's honest eyes and looked down. He started to tear up. "Wh-why…..Please, let me go." Popo removed his hands. Lucas started walking toward the front doors. The crowd surrounding them started to disappear. Ness looked at Popo with an evil scowl before following Lucas from a distance. Before they could leave, however, Donkey Kong stopped Lucas. Donkey Kong stood in front of the doors.

"Sorry, but I can't let you leave. Especially not after threatening our students," Donkey Kong sternly said.

"I….am….leaving."

"No….you're….not," Donkey Kong mocked.

"Yes, he is," Popo said. Ness looked back and saw Popo walking toward Donkey Kong. Popo gave a wink to Ness as he passed by. He got in front of Lucas and looked up at Donkey Kong.

"Is that so, or what?"

"Or I'll tell everyone what I learned from your conversations." Donkey Kong shrunk at least two sizes down and couldn't find words to speak.

"I-I-I…...ok." Donkey Kong side-stepped out of the way. Lucas looked up at Popo as he turned around.

"There….you'll find out why I did it."

"Fuck you," Lucas softly said as he crashed his shoulder into Popo's. Ness walked up to Popo.

"Who else was in on this ploy?"

"Tracy, she placed the bug in your computer." Ness sighed before following Lucas out of the building.

They walked, with Ness still staying a few feet behind Lucas, for a while. Lucas, once they got to a small shop, stopped and turned his head. "You can stop following me, you know," Lucas said.

"Why're you running away?" Ness asked. Lucas turned around.

"Why? Because, what's the point, Ness. I was betrayed by my friend, and surely will get betrayed by my dad. I have nothing and no one," Lucas growled. He looked down. "No one is going to love me."

"That's not true."

"SHUT UP!" Lucas said, looking back up at Ness. Ness saw tears welling up in his eyes. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE…. You have your sister….your mom…..even your friends." Lucas slowly looked back down. "I have nothing."

"You have your dad."

"My dad…." Lucas started to chuckle, but Ness could tell it was from sadness. "You mean the dad who clearly always loved my brother more than me...yea, that's great," Lucas sarcastically said. He then turned away. "Ness...please leave."

"No, you have someone who loves you!."

"SHUT UP! PLEASE! You can't help me." Ness knew what he had to do. He ran over to Lucas, since Lucas didn't start moving, and grabbed his arms. "NESS, let me fucking go." Lucas tried to rip his arms from Ness's, but Ness's grip was too strong. Ness softly pinned Lucas against the shop's wall and looked down at him with a smile. Lucas, once more, looked up at Ness as a blush grew. "Y-you bastard…"

"You still like being pinned, huh?"

"A like doesn't just disappear overnight." Ness lowered his head closer to Lucas's, making Lucas blush more. Dammit, I'm still not over him. Fuck, what do I do? Lucas thought. Lucas tried to shake himself away, but the feeling of comfort from being pinned by Ness made him feel good, so a part of him prevented him from leaving.

"Why would your dad not love you anymore?" Ness asked in a sensual voice. Lucas looked down and forced his eyes closed.

"E-ever since I lost my mom and brother, he's been more distant to me. I just want my dad to be happy, so if it means I've gotta be sad, so be it."

"That doesn't answer my question." Ness grabbed Lucas's chin and made him look up. Lucas saw Ness's honest violet eyes.

"I...I don't think he'll like me being….you know, gay."

"There is one person I know who will be ok with it."

"Who?"

"Well, he's taller than you, he's allowed you to go to his place, and you were pinned up by him." Lucas smirked but wanted to play around a bit.

"Hmmm, Popo?" Ness giggled, which was exactly what Lucas wanted. Ness removed one of his hands from the wall and playfully flicked Lucas's nose.

"No, you dummy, me." Lucas gave a few cute giggles at the name "dummy". Ness saw the cloudiness in his eyes slightly fade away. "But I'm not just saying that cause we're friends." Lucas tilted his head.

"Then, why?" Ness lowered his head, making Lucas blush more. Their mouths were only a few inches apart, so Ness was able to look intently into Lucas's eyes.

"This'll show you." Ness then closed the gap between their lips. Lucas stood there, surprised for a bit, but soon melted into the kiss. He reached his arms up over Ness's neck and started kissing back. Is this what it feels like to be who you truly are? To do what you truly want? It doesn't feel as hard as I thought it'd be, Both boys thought. They stopped the kiss and so Ness moved his head back up. Lucas looked up.

"I WASN'T READY FOR A KISS DAMMIT!"

"Oh please, you loved it." Lucas crossed his arms playfully and looked away with a scoff.

"Says who."

"Well then, if you hated the kiss so much, I won't kiss you anymore, ever." Lucas widened his eyes and shot his head back to Ness.

"No, no, no, no, please, I'm sorry. I loved it." Ness winked.

"I knew it. Now then," Ness pushed himself off of the wall, "Let's go have a chat with your dad. If he hates you, then he hates me….and I hate people who hate me." Lucas stood up straight since he had an idea.

"W-wait, can we do something before going there?"

"Like what?" Lucas stood on his tippy toes as Ness lowered his head. Lucas then whispered something. Ness stepped back in surprise. "You sure?" Lucas gave a cute nod. He clearly wanted what he whispered to Ness for the sole reason that it's been a fantasy of his, it just so happened to have a secondary use. "Well, you sure you want to do that in public?"

"Pfft, they already know about me, so why the fuck care?"

"Heh, I like that attitude." Ness pinned Lucas back to the wall and looked down at him with a semi-lewd face. "You better get used to me, 'cause I'm not leaving your side."

"You better not be annoying." Ness lowered his head to Lucas's ear.

"Oh, I promise I will." Lucas chuckled.

Ness and Lucas made it to Lucas's house. Lucas walked up to the door but hesitated to open it. He turned his head. He saw Ness's supportive eyes. Lucas turned back forward and twisted the doorknob. He opened the door and led Ness in. Flint was on the couch, watching tv. He saw Lucas and Ness enter, which caused him to stand up. "Lucas? Why're you here?" Flint asked.

"I needed to talk to you," Lucas said. Flint crossed his arms and tilted his head.

"Uh, sure, go ahead."

"Um, do you hate me?"

"Do I….What!? What makes you think that?"

"'Cause you liked Claus more." Flint shook his head and walked over to Lucas. He kneeled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I love you both equally, I was just grieving and I apologize if I made it seem like I didn't love you."

"Wh-what about me inadvertently coming out today?" Flint stood back up and took a step back.

"The twitter thing? Oh, I assumed you were gay for years." Lucas's eyes beamed as he looked up at Flint.

"Really?"

"You really don't pay attention, do ya? I basically told you about it when you called about staying at your friend's place." Lucas looked down and thought it over. And sure enough, Flint was right. Lucas started chuckling to himself. Flint looked at Ness, making Ness straighten up. "And you. I'm assuming you're that friend."

"Y-yes, I am his friend," Ness said. Lucas looked up and smirked. He grabbed Ness's hand and looked at Flint.

"No, he's not…. I don't think normal friends kiss each other." Ness looked down at a proud Lucas and smiled. Ness saw Lucas's eyes were way less cloudy than before. It's almost completely gone. Flint smiled. "Oh, and dad? Why did you think I was gay for so long?"

"Well, you never learned to clear your search history," Flint answered. Lucas instantly straightened up.

"I-I-I….crap."

"What did you search up?" Ness asked. Lucas shot his head up, let go of Ness's hand, and started shaking his head and his hands.

"N-n-n-nothing. D-d-don't worry about it," Lucas said before dashing toward his room. Ness looked back at Flint.

"Well, you boys deserve some alone time. If Lucas asks; I'm out running errands," Flint said as he twirled his keys around his finger. Ness bowed his head.

"Thank you," Ness said. Flint chuckled as he walked to Ness's side. He placed a firm yet comforting hand on Ness's shoulder, making him lookup.

"Thank you." Flint's happy-go-lucky yet determined smile made Ness smile. Flint walked toward the front door then looked back at Ness. "He needs to know that as long as he's happy, his old man is too. So you are the perfect thing our family needed. Lucas's bright and shining star." Flint then left the house. Ness rubbed his nose.

"Thanks," he said, despite no one being able to hear it. Ness turned back and walked toward the room at the end of the hall. This was the room Lucas retreated to. Ness walked in and saw Lucas messing with his computer.

"Finally….dammit, stupid me," Lucas said to himself. Ness giggled, making Lucas shoot around. "N-Ness!"

"You're cute when you panic, you know that." Lucas started rubbing the back of his neck.

"Y-you better not be planning on making me panic on purpose."

"Drats," Ness said, snapping his fingers. Lucas grinned and walked over toward his bed.

"I assume dad left?"

"Yea, how'd you know?"

"Just...intuition." Lucas sat on his bed. He started to look around the room. "You know, I've never invited anyone here since it became just me and dad." Ness nodded and looked around the room too. His eyes were then set on a picture frame that was on the nightstand right next to the head of Lucas's bed. Ness walked over and looked at the picture closer. Lucas and Flint were in it. But they weren't alone. Next to Lucas, with his arm around Lucas's neck, was someone that looked a lot like Lucas-just with orange hair. Next to Flint, and above Lucas, was a rather tall woman. Lucas scooted over to the head of his bed and looked at the picture. He pointed to the boy next to him. "That's Claus, we were twins as you could probably tell." Lucas then pointed up to the woman. "And that's my mom...I was always a momma's boy so she and I were close." Ness turned to Lucas.

"I'm sorry to ask this but—"

"You want to know what happened to them?" Ness gave a faint nod. Lucas sighed and slid away from the picture. "I've never told anyone this."

"And you don't have to, it's just...curiosity." Lucas gave a small chuckle before looking back at Ness.

"Curiosity isn't always bad….well, sit down, it's storytime." Ness was surprised by how lighthearted Lucas was with this whole thing. Ness walked over and sat on the ground slightly away from Lucas. "Well...where do I start? We moved here after they died, so it may sound somewhat foreign."

"I'm used to it," Ness smirked. Lucas couldn't help a smile as well.

"My mom was….attacked, to say the least. I mourned obviously, but…. Claus was too hasty. He started saying things like 'I'll find what killed mom and beat it to a pulp', even though I think he knew the creature was way out of his league." Lucas started to tear up. Lucas looked down at his lap. "I set out to find him. Eventually, I did...but he was different. He was so clouded by anger and fear that he lashed out at me. And he would've killed me if it weren't for this special badge thing that my dad gave me. Once Claus realized what he did, he…..felt so guilty. He felt like everything bad that happened to me was his fault. He told me he loved me and…...killed himself." Lucas's tears started falling faster. Ness looked at the ground. "Who would've thought I'd be following in his footsteps." Lucas looked at Ness. "Ness….?" Ness looked up. He saw that Lucas had a smile. The tears were still falling, but his eyes showed no sign of being cloudy. They were as clear as day. Ness loved his eyes. The deep and shiny ocean blue eyes made Ness feel like anything was possible. Lucas chuckled happily. "Thank you."

"What?"

"You made me feel happy." Lucas turned toward the picture on the nightstand. "Sure, I'd love to see Claus and mom again, and if I kept going down the road I was on then I would've seen them sooner than they would've wanted." Lucas looked back at Ness. "But your stubborn ass didn't know when to quit." Ness chuckled as he looked back down.

"I-I'm sorry too." Lucas tilted his head.

"For what?"

"I told you that no family wanted you."

"Oh, r-right." Lucas looked up at the ceiling. "I, of course, knew you were correct. That's why I cried. I didn't want to live with the knowledge that you were right. No family would—"

"Nonsense, there are loads of families that want you. I was just a stupid dumbass." Lucas looked back at Ness, who was now looking up at Lucas. "Your dad, Popo's family…..and my family." Lucas smirked. Ness stood up. "But unlike those other ones…." Ness stepped forward and stopped right in front of Lucas. Ness placed his hands on Lucas's shoulders and lightly pushed him down onto the bed. Lucas adjusted himself so that his feet weren't dangling off the bed. Ness stayed above Lucas, placed his hands on the bed only a few inches from Lucas's head. "Our family is gonna be a bit more…." Ness lowered his head to Lucas's ear, "Intimate." Ness looked at what Lucas told him to do earlier. Lucas told Ness to give him a hickey. "He never even noticed this."

"Oh, I know that." Ness raised up and crossed his arms.

"You really had me give you a hickey for no reason?"

"I wouldn't say for no reason," Lucas blushed. "You still enjoyed it."

"Sure, I enjoyed sucking on your neck…." Ness gave a sly grin as he slightly slid back. "But imma enjoy sucking something else more," Ness winked. Lucas playfully rolled his eyes and grabbed Ness's collar. He then pulled Ness into a passionate kiss. This one didn't last long, but when it ended they didn't move too far from each other.

"Ness?"

"Yea?"

"I love you, I always have." Ness giggled.

"Yea, well, I love you too, Lukey."

A few weeks ago, Palutena finally told them when they were having the assembly for their project on the stages of grief. On the day of the assembly, Lucas was the most nervous. Inside the field house was a makeshift stage that was made within a week. On this stage was a curtain, which was closed. The two boys were behind the curtains. Lucas was pacing back and forth nervously. Ness grabbed Lucas's hands and looked him in the eyes. "Come on, take a breather, this is not a big deal."

"NOT A BIG DEAL, MY ASS! We're giving a speech in front of thousands of people. I only know five people in the school, and one of them, I'M FUCKING!"

"You mean you're being fucked," Ness said in a rather sassy tone.

"You know what I mean." Ness looked at the index cards in Lucas's hands.

"Can I see those?" Lucas nodded and handed Ness the notes. Once Ness grabbed them, he ripped them up.

"NESS, WHAT THE FUCK!" Ness chuckled.

"And we have a special speech to be performed by two of our very own, please give a warm round of applause for Lucas Cross and Ness Base," Palutena announced. There was then a roar of applause. Ness grinned.

"Looks like it's time," Ness cheerfully said. He left the curtains, leaving Lucas.

"Dammit…," Lucas said to himself before leaving in a much more awkward way. Ness grabbed one of the mics and handed it to Lucas, before grabbing his own. He looked out at the loads of people.

"Hello, students of Smash High!"

"Aren't you also a student? That holds way less impact coming from someone like you," Lucas said, surprised that it got caught by the mic.

"Shut it," Ness shot back. This caused a small wave of chucking to come from the audience. Ness cleared his voice. "Now, we're here to talk on behalf of the Stage sof Grief." Ness looked at Lucas.

"Umm…" Lucas stepped forward.

"Th-th-the….the s-stages of g-grief include….." Lucas felt smaller than he normally was. All those judgmental eyes all centered on him made him feel horrible. "...ummm, crap, what was the first one," Lucas accidentally said out loud. Once he realized he said that out loud he tried to backtrack but…. "Fuck, shit...no sorry, dammit, no fuck…." Lucas just sighed. He looked down as soon as the crowd started laughing at him. Lucas gritted his teeth, but then felt an immense amount of warmth when Ness placed his hand onto his shoulder. Lucas looked up at Ness.

"It's ok….just breathe and say what you think you need to say, I'll back you up no matter what."

"No matter what?"

"No matter what." Lucas grinned before looking back at the crowd.

n"Fuck all of you. If you guys don't know the damn stages of grief you're even more the than Palutena when she has her daily dose of Bud Lite."

How does he know? I hid it well, so HOW!, Palutena thought. Ness chuckled.

"Yea! All of you can go suck my big fat hairy—"

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" Palutena scolded them in her office. Ness and Lucas just sat in the chairs in her office snickering silently. "You guys talked for a whole damn hour about the different sizes of donkey dick."

"Remember, a healthy size is around 15 inches," Lucas winked.

"I DON'T WANNA KNOW THE SIZE OF A DONKEY'S DICK!" Ness and Lucas started to burst into laughter. "You guys think this is funny?"

"Yes, very much so," Ness said.

"You guys made a fool of this school, this is no joking manner."

"You already did that when you made the decision to hire a damn gorilla as a security guard." Both boys were laughing wildly together. Palutena slammed her hands into her desk, instantly shutting the two boys up.

"That's it….I am sick and tired of the shenanigans you've forced us into for the past few weeks. I should've never paired you two together. I'm sorry but you both got detention." Both boys shrugged before standing up. Palutena sighed before sitting back in her chair, motioning for them to leave. The boys did, but once they left they started cheering. "I hate this job."

The boys were marching toward the class they shared. That was when Ness suddenly stopped and looked back at Lucas with a grin. "Beat you there," Ness said before bolting into a run.

"THAT'S NO FAIR, YOU CHEATER!" Lucas bolted into a run too. Both of them ran together. Both of them finally decided to live life how they know they want it and not how they know they don't. No longer are they pinned down….for non-sexual reasons, but they are lifted to live their life….a happy one.