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.

89. A Royal Connection

A kingdom, by the name of Ultimatum, was run by a royal family. The king was seen as one of the most respected kings in Ultimatum history. The King, named Flint, had two sons. Two princes. Lucas and Claus. Claus was the heir to the throne. Lucas wasn't expected. But he was welcomed. Claus and Lucas, one a to-be-king, and the other a forever prince had secrets. They were expected to marry girls. But, neither of them wanted to. But their parents didn't know this. And they were scared to tell him.

Lucas was lying in his big bed, half of his body off the bed, dead asleep. His snoring was soft and quiet. There was a knock at his door, but of course, him being asleep, he didn't hear it. The knocking continued despite the lack of any reaction from the sleeping boy. Not even a slight groan or finger movement in reaction. That was when the door to his room exploded open so hard the actual door flew to the other side of the room, and yet, Lucas was still asleep. Their butler, named Falcon, walked over to the bed and cleared his voice loudly. "Sir?" Lucas snored only louder in his response. Falcon looked around to make sure he was alone with him before ever so slightly pushing him off.

Lucas woke up as soon as he hit the ground and stood up in a daze. He looked around. "WHO'S THERE!"

"Sir, it's time to wake up." Lucas's eyes stopped on Falcon before he rubbed the blurriness out of them.

"Oh, Captain, wassup." Captain was the name Lucas liked calling him. Sometimes he'd even call him Captain Falcon. Lucas claimed it was because Falcon was the head butler. Which he was, but it still never made sense to him why he was called Captain.

"Your father requests your presence." Lucas's face dropped as his previous excitement disappeared in an instant.

"About my to-be-wife?"

"You are 18, sir. It makes sense."

"Y-yeah, it does." Lucas nervously giggled before clearing his throat. "W-well, let's head out there, Captain." Falcon backed up and motioned for the door.

"After you sir." Lucas nodded before getting out of bed, changing from his pajamas to his more royal attire. It was a typical princely attire. Red and white with hints of silver. He put on a small crown, it was truly small. He checked himself out in the mirror and smirked.

"Not bad at all." He snapped his fingers into finger guns and "shot" himself through the mirror. He shook his head before leaving the room. Falcon closed the door behind them and followed Lucas as he walked through the halls of the castle and into the throne room. It was a pretty sizable throne with a red carpet leading from the door to the actual throne. Or rather, thrones. There were four thrones. One for each member of the family. With the bigger and more extravagant being for Flint. And the smaller ones, being basically just updated chairs, for the two boys. Claus was sitting in his seat, crossing his arms as he looked at his brother.

"About time you're awake," Claus said with his stoic yet obviously judgemental voice. Lucas rolled his eyes as he walked over and sat in his chair, which was separated from Claus's by their parents' thrones. Hinawa, who was sitting next to Lucas, turned to look at him. She had her normal soft smile on her face.

"You ready for the ball?" She asked.

"Not really," Lucas answered.

"Lucas, we've delayed this ball for months. We were supposed to hold it when you were 18, but now you're almost 19," Flint said, his voice stern yet sincere. Lucas's face lowered as he thought of it. His birthday was almost a year ago. It was a tradition to hold a ball for a prince or princess when they turned 18 to find them a potential mate. Lucas, however, broke that tradition. He was just too nervous to tell his parents about his...attraction. However, this has been preventing Claus from finding love as well, so it was kind of stubborn, and Lucas felt that. He felt guilty for preventing that for Claus, despite knowing he too had the same attraction. Lucas sighed, finally giving in.

"Fine. We can do it." Hinawa clapped her hands together and called over Falcon. He was ordered to have the other butlers and maids decorate the castle for the ball, and to notify the public. Lucas then stood up. "Uhm, mom? Could I do that?"

"Notify the public?" She asked.

"Yeah, I kinda wanna do it." Hinawa looked at Flint, who nodded. Lucas smiled before running toward the exit, only to be followed and tapped on the back by Claus.

"Why're you doing this?" Claus asked, sensing that Lucas had an ulterior motive. He was right, of course. Claus was pretty much always right with his assumptions and inferences.

"I just….uhm."

"Don't lie to me, Lu. You know I'll be able to tell if you're lying." Lucas sighed.

"Fine. I'm scared to stay here. I don't want them to accidentally find out about….well me." Claus sighed.

"They wouldn't grill you like that."

"I know. But I don't do well under pressure. You know that." Claus gave a sympathetic sigh.

"Fair enough." Claus patted Lucas's shoulder. "Stay safe out there, 'kay?"

"Yup." Claus nodded before running over to the other seats. Lucas held a somber smile before leaving. He was led by Falcon out of the castle.

They entered the main center of Ultimatum. Lucas received some looks and whispers from the public, but he didn't get too much. Falcon put down a small pedestal and motioned for Lucas to stand on it. He did and looked around at the people living their lives. He cleared his throat loudly, causing more of the people to look at him. Some of them started walking over to him. Soon enough, he was surrounded. "Good morning, people of Ultimatum, I have an announcement." Some whispers started spreading through the crowd. "A ball will be held soon. A ball designed to find me and my brother some love. We hope to see you all there." He bowed his head before the crowd took in what was happening and all scattered to prepare. Lucas picked his head up to see that one person hadn't scattered. He was a boy and he looked to be around the age he was. There was a strange look on his face. Upon closer inspection, Lucas found the look to be of hatred. Lucas walked over to him. "Hello there." The boy turned around with a huff. "That is quite rude, you know?"

"I won't be grilled by some high-and-mighty prince."

"What?" The boy turned around and grabbed the collar of Lucas's shirt. Falcon stepped forward with a hand on his sheathed sword's hilt, but Lucas stuck out his arm to tell him to stop.

"I told you, your highness. You won't be telling me what is rude and what isn't rude, you prick!"

"Do you have some deep-seated hatred for royalty?" The boy pushed Lucas away.

"All of you damned royals are the same. Just stupid rich blind bitches who rely on others to fight for them." The boy eyed down Falcon before looking back at Lucas.

"I fight my own battles, I have you know." The boy stepped forward with an angered-smug look on his face.

"Oh really? I have a hunch that you're lying. Not just to me, but to your pathetic excuse of a family." Lucas gulped, knowing he was correct. The boy smirked before turning around. "That's what I thought." He started walking off. Lucas stepped forward and grabbed the boy's arm. "Let go of me!"

"Please come to the ball."

"Did you not hear me? I hate you. I hate all of you. Why the hell would I willingly go to the damned ball!" the boy said as he ripped his arm from Lucas's grip.

"Because if you do go, you'll be able to learn what I am lying about."

"I don't care what you're lying about."

"There is a liar beneath us all. All of us have something we try to deny. Big or small, we're all human for that very reason. And with that…" Lucas bowed his head and closed his eyes. "I expect to see you at the ball." Nothing was said from the boy, and when Lucas looked back up, the boy was gone.

"He left, sir," Falcon said.

"I assumed so." Lucas let out a relaxed breath. "Ok, let's head back now."

"Yes sir." The two of them walked to the edge of the city center when they encountered a girl who looked to be around Lucas's age. She ran up to Lucas and smiled softly.

"Hello there, you're majesty," she said before bowing down.

"Hi there." She looked back up and her smile was joined by a blush.

"I-I heard there was a ball?"

"Yes. Tonight."

"Could I come?"

"Of course you can. Anyone can. Why do you ask?" The girl had a crush and soon smiled widely.

"Your brother is cute!" Lucas's smile slowly disappeared.

"Oh….y-yeah...guess he is huh?" Lucas nervously laughed as the girl started tugging at Lucas's arm.

"WOULD I BE ABLE TO SEE HIM!" Falcon stepped forward and started escorting the girl away as Lucas was left there standing.

Claus? He's the cute one? Why not me? Why is it always him? He gets all the attention just because he's "the next king". They don't know that being royalty isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

Lucas shook his head before clearing his throat.

No matter. Just one girl. Hehe, I'm sure plenty of girls will see me as cute. Right? I'm….I'm cute, right?

"Sir?" Falcon's stern and calm voice shook Lucas from his own thoughts. "Are you alright, Sir?"

"Uhm, y-yes. Don't worry." Falcon crossed his arms. His power of deduction wasn't as good as some of the other butlers, but even he could tell Lucas was lying.

"Shall we head back home?"

"Yes. We shall." Falcon nodded before leading Lucas toward the castle. Lucas was still thinking. Lucas was never treated like Claus was treated. Claus was THE person. Their parents treated him special, or at least Lucas felt it to be that way. Their subjects all respected Claus more than they respected Lucas. And Lucas hated it. But he knew that life was just that way. He was just never going to be as special as Claus was. He was used to that reality. However, being used to something doesn't mean you can't hate that something. And Lucas most definitely hated it.

He and Falcon returned to the castle, with the other maids and butlers working hard on party-izing the castle. Two of the butlers walked over. They were pretty close with each other although still had this sense of hatred toward each other. Frenemies. They were known as Joker and Crow. But their full names were oddly never told to the boy. Joker and Crow bowed their heads.

"Good morning, Sir," Joker said.

"We're working hard for the ball," Crow added on.

"Thank you…" Lucas said somber-like. Crow stood up straight and analyzed the way Lucas was. He nudged Joker. Joker looked at Lucas and saw what Crow saw.

"Are you ok, Sir?" Joker asked. Lucas nodded his head before walking off. Crow looked at Falcon.

"What happened out there?"

"Nothing much. We were approached by a young lady and she asked if she could come to the ball to see Claus," Falcon explained. Crow rubbed his chin as he started thinking.

Lucas got up to his room and fell forward onto his bed. He groaned loudly. "Stupid ball. Why now? I hate this." There was a knock at his door. "NOT NOW! THIS IS MY SULKING TIME!"

"Just let me in," Claus's assertive voice said from the other side. Lucas rolled his eyes as he got off his bed and opened the door.

"What do you want?"

"What's going on with you?"

"Nothing. I'm perfectly fine." Lucas walked back over to his bed.

"You're a horrible liar." Lucas laid down and turned his back toward Claus. Claus sighed. He could tell something was off. It didn't help that he could tell Joker and Crow felt something was off with him. Lucas didn't give Claus the answer he wanted. Claus walked over and sat at the foot of the bed. "Come on. You can tell me. You know that." Lucas knew Claus wasn't going to give this up. He needed to tell Claus something, even if that something wasn't entirely or even close to being the truth. Lucas sat up and looked down at his feet as he was trying to think of something to use as a lie.

"Uhm...It's just. I'm worried. That's all."

"Worried?" Claus crawled closer and sat opposite him. Lucas looked up and directly into Claus's welcoming eyes. "Worried about what?"

"Dad. Mom. Worried that they'll hate me." Claus lowered his head as he thought it over. It was a fear he too had. But he was more optimistic about it while Lucas...his worries always seemed to stem from something unrelated to the actual worry.

"I know it'll be hard, Lu, but we need to take what life gives us and strive."

"Then why don't you tell them?" Claus stayed silent before standing up. He walked over to Lucas's bookcase and grabbed a photobook. He walked back and sat next to Lucas. He opened the photobook of the first royal family of Ultimatum.

"You see them?" Lucas looked down at the photo. It was a pretty average photo of a man, his wife, and their kids. Nothing special whatsoever.

"I guess. What does this have to-"

"Shush. Just be patient." Lucas raised an eyebrow as Claus flipped the page to show the next royal family. Once more, nothing was really of interest. Claus did this more and more and finally stopped at their royal family photo. "See any patterns? Anything that all of the photos have in common?" Lucas looked back at Claus's face with a confused look.

"Uh, they were all royal families?"

"Yes. Anything else?"

"They were…..normal?" Claus slowly shook his head and looked back down at their photo.

"There was always a king and a queen. Never once a king and another king."

"Oh…" Claus flipped the page to show one that was empty. This was where the photo of his family would be when he became king. "I am destined to not be myself. It's in my blood as the heir. But you...you have a chance." Claus closed the photobook and walked it back over to its place on the bookshelf. Claus turned around, a bittersweet smile plastered on his face. "Don't throw away your chance of being yourself. Especially since you have the ability to do so."

"Claus…" Claus walked over and ruffed Lucas's hair.

"Don't be stupid, Lil' Bro." Claus felt his message was absorbed and left the room. Lucas fell backward and covered his face. He felt even worse than he did before. He was lying. The entire time. That wasn't why he was the way he was, and he knew that. Claus talked very emotionally about his own problems and Lucas knew he wasn't saying his. He felt guilty. More so than he did before.

Lucas stayed there in his emotions for a bit before there was a knock at his door. "UUUUUGH! GO AWAY!"

"Sir?" Crow's voice came from the other side of the door. Lucas got off the bed, already fed up with his mental "me time" being disturbed again. He opened the door and looked at Crow, who flinched after seeing Lucas's insane bedhead. He cleared his throat. "Hello there, Sir. Joker and I sensed something coming from you."

"What is it?"

"You feel empty, don't you?"

"Oh, what are you, a detective or something?" Lucas slumped back over to his bed. Crow chuckled nervously before entering the room.

"Joker and I feel like you need a new perspective on things. So, we got you this." Crow stepped aside and Joker walked in carrying some pretty basic clothing. Red and yellow striped shirt with some blue jean shorts. Lucas grabbed them and tilted his head as he looked at Joker.

"How will this help me?"

"Ask Crow. This was his idea, Sir," Joker answered. Lucas looked at Crow. He stepped forward. He was always the more….confusing of the two. He seemed both proper yet random.

"Experience is the best teacher. If you live with a different perspective, you'll have more respect for yourself. And you'll be able to find things you wouldn't be able to otherwise. I know from personal experience." Lucas stood up straight, a slight smile spread across his face.

"You never did tell me of your past, have you, Crow?"

"No, Sir. And I don't plan to." Lucas's small smile grew.

"I like it that way. Thank you, both of you. And uh...don't tell Claus about this ok?" Joker and Crow nodded before bowing their heads. They stood up straight and walked out of the room. Lucas took another look at the outfit that was given to him. I guess I can give it a shot.

He quickly got changed into his new outfit and looked into the mirror. He smiled as he showed off in the mirror a bit. Heh, kinda fits. He left the room carefully, making sure no one was around. He quickly and quietly ran down to the front door. He saw Joker and Crow at the door and they opened it without either of them speaking. Lucas stopped at the now open doors and looked at the two butlers. "Have fun, Sir," Joker said. Lucas giggled before running out.

He traveled around the town a bit, with no one seeming able to discern that he was truly the prince. He continued walking around when he heard noises down an alleyway. He looked into the dark and dingy alleyway. He tilted his head as he heard more of the noises. It sounded like some cries and some punches. Lucas had this….bad feeling about going in. But his curiosity outweighed his need to be careful. He gulped before entering the alleyway. He looked around as he walked deeper and deeper into the alleyway and boom, right there was a group of boys surrounding a small and weaker boy. The smaller one looked similar to the boy he met earlier, but not exactly. Lucas knew he needed to help. He ran over and pushed over one of the boys. "Leave him alone!" The boy he pushed overturned around and smirked.

"Lookie who we have here. A little hero," the boy's voice echoed throughout the small alley. Lucas stepped back from nervousness.

"Hehe, he's just a little pussy," one of the other boys said. He pushed Lucas away, but he wasn't going to give in.

"I'm not a pussy. You guys are, for messing with someone smaller!" The boy he pushed over, seemingly the leader of the small group, stepped forward. The closer he got, the more Lucas found him to be taller and more imposing.

"You look like just the boy to not mind his own damned business. And I hate those types of boys," the Leader said. He kneed Lucas right in the gut, making him hunch over in pain. He fell down to his hands and knees as he gripped his gut. But The Leader wasn't going to let him off so easily. He unleashed a powerful kick to Lucas's head, causing him to spit up blood. "And he can't even take a beating. How pathetic." The other three boys came over and started wailing on Lucas as The Leader moved back toward the other boy. Each and every punch to Lucas made him spit up more blood. The bruising around his body got more and more potent and Lucas felt closer to death the more punches and kicks he felt.

The wailing stopped, however, when one of the boys fell due to being hit in the head with a bat. Lucas, despite his vision being severely messed up from all the blows to his head, looked up and saw the boy he met earlier picking up the bat. "Get your asses out of here," he said. But Lucas's hearing was interrupted by a loud ringing due to the damages to his head. He didn't hear and could barely see what was happening so he opted out to just close his eyes. His mind fell blank.

Is this what the people deal with? Fighting? Is this how it feels? How is this even supposed to help my situation? I should just head back home. There's no point being out here to just get beaten up.

"Hey, asshat, wake up." Lucas slowly opened his eyes. He found himself lying on a bed in a pretty run-down and abandoned-looking room. Sitting next to him in a chair was the boy he met earlier. He stood up and groaned. "Finally. Jeez." He walked over to the door of the room which had loads of holes in it. The place was also just very dirty and messy.

"Ugh...w-wait," Lucas spat out as he rubbed his head, which was still in all-out pain from a headache. The boy groaned exaggeratedly before turning around.

"What?"

"Where are we?"

"What do you think? Look around you, this place sucks." He turned around and sighed. "We're at my home." He left the room. Lucas struggled off the bed, only falling off. But he didn't want to be left alone in this place, despite being told it was his house. He got back to his feet and left the room, still gripping his head and occasionally his vision and hearing would be shot for a moment. He could barely focus on following the boy with the occasional mishaps with his vision.

"W-wait.." The boy stopped before turning around. He rolled his eyes and walked over. He put Lucas's arm around his neck and started helping him walk. "Thank you.." The boy rolled his eyes. Lucas was walked down to the cleanest and most well-put-together room, however, it was still a huge mess. There were even rats running around that Lucas found to be disgusting but the boy was used to it. "W-wait...can we stop? I wanna sit down." The boy didn't say anything else and just sat Lucas down on the dirty and suspect couch that Lucas needed to force himself not to cringe at. He looked at the boy, and for the first time, was able to analyze him. His apparel reflected that house. "Your clothes are messy.." That rubbed the boy the wrong way.

"Look where the fuck I live. You expect me to wear royal fucking clothing? Like you do?" Lucas sat up straight.

"You...recognize me?"

"Of course I do. You didn't do anything to hide yourself. You just wore different clothing." Lucas lowered his head. The boy annoyingly shook his head. "But no one else did. Or else it'd be all over town about it. So calm your tits." Lucas slumped back and ruffled his own hair. It was mainly to calm himself down but also to try and calm his headache. The boy sighed sympathetically before reaching into his pocket and grabbing a small pad of sorts, attaching it to Lucas's head. This pad was able to calm his headache. Lucas looked at him with amazement.

"Wow, what is this?"

"A head-pad. Got it from the hospital."

"How? Do you work there?" The boy blinked a few times, remembering that he was in front of the prince so he couldn't give himself away so easily.

"Yes…I do." Lucas smiled softly before looking down at his hands. He started to anxiously rub them together.

"Are you gonna rat me out?"

"I was." The boy crossed his arms. He actually was going to tell people that the prince was in a fight but something was stopping him. He couldn't exactly say what it was, however. He didn't know if it was his conscience, despite hating the royal family, or if he was just sick and just wanted to be away from royalty. He sat next to Lucas. "But it's not worth it." Lucas, once more, grew a small smile.

"Thanks." The boy did appreciate the thanks. He also, a part of him at least, appreciated seeing the big and all-important prince vulnerable and on his unclean couch. The boy sat back and looked at the opposite wall to him.

"Name's Ness, by the way." He felt it necessary to tell him his name. He didn't know why he felt it was necessary, but he felt it nonetheless. Lucas appreciated the gesture. He looked at Ness.

"I think you already know my name." Ness looked down at him, seeing the smile, and felt the urge to smile himself.

"No, I haven't a single clue who you are, Stranger." This caused Lucas to giggle. It wasn't much, but it was a good hearty giggle that pleased Ness strangely. Ness gave a single giggle as he unknowingly had a smirk on his face. When he did feel the weird feeling with his mouth he looked away. He cleared his throat before standing up. "You should head back to the castle. It's dangerous for your type out here."

"The village seems nice though." Lucas tilted his head, unaware of exactly where in town he was currently in.

"Yeah, I know. But not this part. This is the part where people like me are thrown out in." Lucas stood up and looked at the front door then back at Ness. Lucas walked over and opened the door, looking out at the neighborhood he was in. It was not very good. Very rundown and ruined. But in the distance, his castle loomed over everything.

"What is this place?" Ness walked over to one of his windows and looked out.

"We call it The Dump."

"You live here?"

"My whole life." Ness was looking off. He was thinking of his entire life.

"Ness?" A strained voice came from behind them. Lucas and Ness turned. Lucas saw that the owner of the voice was the boy from the alleyway that was being beaten up. Ness shook his head and ran over to him.

"Ninten, you're supposed to be resting." Ness's voice was different from the way he was talking to Lucas, and Lucas of course noticed it. Ness started rubbing the scars on Ninten's face, it was apparent that those scars weren't caused by the fight Lucas saw him in. "Oh good, these didn't reopen. Now head back to bed." Ninten looked at Lucas and smiled. He tried to run over to him but only ended up tripping almost instantly.

"Damn it…" Ness slowly shook his head and looked at Lucas.

"I can't afford to get his wounds treated normally, so I needed to fix them." Lucas walked over to Ninten and saw the sort of sloppy work with the stitching. He reached forward, but before his hand touched the largest scar on Ninten's face, which was over the entirety of his left cheek, his hand was slapped away. He looked up and saw Ness, he had a very angered expression on his face. "Don't fucking touch him." Lucas gulped.

"S-sorry."

"Ness….don't be so rude. He helped me after all," Ninten said as he struggled to sit on his knees. Ninten grabbed Lucas's hand and made him touch his scar. Lucas gently rubbed the scar, focusing intently on it as he worked out the situation with his mind.

"Stitching is a bit sloppy, how many times has this reopened?" Lucas looked up at Ness, who was still looking angry. However, after Ninten gave him a pleading look, Ness's face softened up just a bit.

"About 10 times." Lucas hummed to himself before standing up.

"Do you have more stitches?"

"No, I've needed to reuse the same ones."

"No no no, that's not good."

"How come?"

"It'd cause infections, making sure the wound never heals." Ness looked down.

"I-I didn't know…" Ninten patted Ness's leg, understanding he wasn't really properly taught on what to do. Lucas then thought of something. He looked outside of the house, analyzing the much better-looking buildings in the distance.

"What are you looking for?" Ninten asked him as he stood up, with help from Ness of course.

"I'm trying to see where the hospital is compared to where we are now. Based on the maps I've seen….right there." Lucas pointed at a rather tall white building with a pretty large amount of windows.

"You gonna buy some stitches with your filthy money?" Ness said before being elbowed in the gut by Ninten. Lucas turned around with a surprising evil-looking smirk on his face.

"We're gonna steal it."

"What? We?"

"Yup. I know my way around that so I can easily get in and get out."

"Why're you going to steal it? Don't you have the money to just...buy it?"

"Yeah, but I don't want people finding out I'm out of the castle without the knowledge of my parents." Ninten tilted his head.

"Hey, that raises a question, your highness," Ninten asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you out of the castle?"

"You know, I was wondering the same thing. Aren't you all safe and sound up there?" Ness added on. Lucas looked down at his feet as he thought up an answer. He didn't know if he wanted to tell a lie but he definitely didn't want to tell the truth.

"I have my reasons," he said. It wasn't the most satisfying of answers, and Ninten wanted to know what he meant. He opened his mouth to ask what he truly meant, but was stopped by Ness, who didn't take his eyes from the boy. Ness tilted his head.

"You're a mysterious person. For a prince, you'd think I would be able to know everything about you. But you're hiding something. Something major." Lucas stepped back and looked at Ness as he slowly approached Lucas.

"Wh-what! Never!"

"I knew that look in your eyes. The look of a hidden truth. The look of a scared boy." Ness turned to look at Ninten. "I know that look far too much." Ninten gulped. Ness looked back at Lucas with a small bit of respect inside him for the prince. "Alright. No more questions. You sure you want to risk your name, your family's name, for a few stitches?" Lucas looked directly into Ness's eyes. Lucas's eyes were determined. The look of a warrior, despite Ness assuming he wasn't really the type to fight. Ness backed up and a small, genuine, smirk plastered on his face. "Alright. Then we do it by my rules. Ninten, go sit down and wait for us." Ninten did exactly that.

"So what rules do I need to abide by?"

"Don't get caught and don't be a bitch. Simple enough." Ness grabbed Lucas's arm and rushed him through the house and got him to a not-so-private bedroom. He searched the messy and gross closet and soon found a few ski masks and all-black sweaters. He tossed a pair toward him. "Put them on."

"Could you get any blander?" Lucas asked as he looked around at his all-black outfit.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Lucas stayed silent before putting the sweater and mask on. "That's what I thought." The two of them got ready and left the building to see the hospital in the distance. "Where would the stitches be?"

"The 5th floor is known for its surgery. Each floor and room has stitches just in case, but the best ones are in those 5th-floor rooms. If we can find a single roll in either a supply closet or hospital room, they'll be able to last for a good while." Ness brought out a grapple gun, Lucas looked at it in surprise.

"Don't ask." Lucas simply stood up straight before stretching his back.

"Let's get going. Security gets tighter the closer it gets to sunset." Ness stood up, and with a single look between the two boys, they ran off.

It took them about an hour to make it to the hospital. They specifically made it to the side of the building. They looked up at the tall, 8 story building, in awe. "How did I never come here before?"

"It's not meant to look like a hospital. This is the hospital used by royalty or people close to the royal family." Lucas snatched the grapple gun and aimed it up to the fifth-story row of windows.

"Do you even know how to use that?" Lucas looked back at Ness and smirked. He winked before pressing the trigger and shooting the grapple up and latching it perfectly onto the windowsill. Ness looked at it in amazement. "Wow."

"I trained in a lot of things as my parents trained my brother to be a king." Lucas started climbing up the side of the building, leaving Ness with a small ounce of Lucas's struggle.

"They never trained you?" Ness asked as he got onto the wall behind him.

"What's the point? I'll never be as important as he will be. Neither as important or as good looking to the people of Ultimatum. I am just the future king's brother. That is all. And that's all I was trained to be." Lucas got up to the window and looked into it as Ness absorbed what Lucas was saying.

That's horrible. He shouldn't have been neglected like that. Both of them should be important. I hate the royal family because of that very reason, they're so very important that they just look down on us. But...Lucas wasn't given that important treatment. Not even by people loyal to the royals?

"Hey, get your head in the game, I thought you were an expert," Lucas said as he lightly tapped Ness's head with his foot.

"Kick me again and I'll turn you in."

"It wasn't a kick, it was a tap."

"'It was a tap' my ass. It was just an excuse to kick me."

"Just shut up and come up here already, I need your expertise." Lucas extended his hand down toward him. Ness rolled his eyes before taking it. Lucas lifted him up to the windowsill, but Ness noticed something about his hand. It was soft and welcoming. It was exactly how he expected a hand from the royal family would feel. But something he didn't expect was to sort of enjoy the feeling.

However, he kicked himself from that thought almost instantly to look into and scan the hospital room they got to. It was empty. "So all we'd need to do is enter, look around, and find a roll of stitches?"

"Yes. If they're not in this room, they're in a supply closet. But we need to be careful, there are cameras in these rooms."

"Where?"

"Right above the bed." Ness had his eye on the bed and raised his head, seeing where the camera was mounted on.

"Lemme handle this." Lucas slid down the grapple rope to allow Ness to have more space. He reached into his pocket and placed an item on the window. Ness slid down a bit, almost slamming his butt into Lucas's face. "Better watch out down there."

"Shut up. What's that even for?"

"EMP. It'll deactivate the cameras for a good while before it attracts attention. So we'd need to go in and get out, no hesitation."

"You have some cool gadgets." Ness chuckled a bit before looking up at the device and its count down.

"Just don't ask where I get them."

"Oh? And what if I do?" Lucas asked with a small smirk on his face. Ness chuckled a bit more and he too grew a smirk. He looked down at Lucas.

"I'd have to kill you." The two boys just look at each other for a good amount of time before being broken up by the sound of the EMP activating. Ness shook his head before clearing his throat. "Don't stare at me like that, creep." He started climbing up to the window once again.

"What? You were the one staring at me!"

"No, I wasn't!"

"Yes, you were!" That was when Ness put his foot into Lucas's face.

"Shut up, trying to get us caught, idiot?" Lucas rolled his eyes as he groaned. He just didn't want to admit it, but he was staring. He was specifically staring at Ness's eyes. They were violet and something about those eyes always shone when he looked at them. He thought those eyes were magical. Little did he know, Ness thought the same with Lucas's blue eyes.

Ness, because of the EMP, was able to just bust through the window knowing the security system wouldn't go off. He jumped in, expertly, not cutting himself on the window. Lucas climbed up and looked at the shattered window with a gulp. "Come on, just jump through," Ness whispered, already starting to look through the drawers. Lucas nodded nervously before jumping through. He gripped his arm when he landed though because he got a massive cut on his forearm. He looked at Ness as he continued looking. Lucas stood up and looked around the room, deciding to just take a hospital blanket to cover his arm and to wipe up the blood he had already spilled. Ness finally turned around. "What're you doing with that blanket?"

"I uh...dropped my glove so I'm using this to not track my fingerprints," he quickly made up. Ness didn't bother diving in too much deeper and just continued looking. Lucas sighed in relief as he started looking too. However, the blanket wasn't helping him in any way outside of catching the blood he was still losing. Ness finally found the roll of perfect stitching.

"Alright, Lucas, I've got it." Lucas was looking into a random drawer, however, he wasn't seeing anything. It wasn't because there wasn't anything in there, not at all, but simply because he was trying to fight with himself to stay conscious. "Lucas?" Ness saw Lucas's composure shaking up. His legs were shaking, his grip on the drawer was very obviously tight so as to not let himself fall, and his face was in a daze. Ness put the stitches down and walked over. "Hey?" Lucas shakily looked at him. His face was pale.

"Ouch…" Lucas finally allowed himself to go unconscious and fall onto Ness. Ness was able to catch him. He watched as the blanket fell from Lucas's arm to show a near-foot-long cut on his arm.

"Holy fuck….Why didn't you tell me?" Ness laid him on the hospital bed and ran over to the stitches. "Ok ok, I can do this." He looked at the big wound on his arm and gulped. "Ok Lucas, you owe me for this."

Lucas slowly opened up his eyes. His head felt heavy. He was lying down in a comfortable bed, however. He sat up straight and rubbed his head. "Where...where am I?"

"You in your bed, sir," Falcon said as he stood at the foot of the bed.

"Was all that a dream then?"

"If you're talking about leaving the castle against the king's wishes, hanging out with a peasant, and getting a massive cut on your arm...then no. Your parents are very angry with you." Lucas looked at his arm and saw stitchwork that was clearly trying to cover something else up, from the look of it, it was trying to cover up a poor stitchwork. Surely the work of a real doctor trying to hide Ness's attempt to help. The fact Ness did try to help made Lucas smile a bit before remembering what might've happened. He looked at Falcon.

"Where's Ness?"

"The boy? He's locked up."

"WHAT! Why?"

"He was seen with you and your injury so he was blamed for being the cause of it and was imprisoned." Lucas looked at his injury and gulped. Since Ness was arrested for being blamed for that big of an injury, he could be sentenced to death. He didn't know what it was, but knowing Ness made an attempt to help him made his heart skip a beat.

"Where is he?"

"In the catacomb prison." Lucas jumped off his bed and stood up straight.

"Take me to him." Falcon crossed his arms and gave Lucas a very stern look.

"Your father and mother are really mad at you. They wouldn't want you to see him. They want you to stay in your room until the ball."

"PLEASE!" Falcon stayed silent for a bit. He opened his mouth to detest but then there was a knock at the room's door. Falcon opened it to see Crow.

"His highness changed shifts," Crow clearly lied. Lucas was able to always tell when Crow told a lie. Mainly because Joker would teach him very minor things Crow would do when he was lying. The thing Lucas saw was a minor, yet still somewhat noticeable, the inflection in his voice. He sounded more cheery and upbeat than his usual darker and, to Lucas, evil-sounding voice.

"Why wasn't I informed about this?"

"It was very last minute. His highness is just worried, because of how close you are to Lucas, that you'll cave in and give him what he wants." Falcon crossed his arms and thought. He and Lucas were close, closer than Lucas was with most of the other butlers and maids. He understood the king's worries. Although, even if he didn't, he would need to follow his orders. Falcon bowed his head.

"I understand." Falcon looked back at Lucas and specifically at the stitched-up wound. He hated seeing Lucas harmed. He truly did care for him. He never had a kid or even had the chance to have a kid, so being the honorary butler made him feel like he was finally what he wanted to be, a parent. He knew he wasn't, but he still felt that way. Falcon sighed before walking over to Lucas. He went down to his ear. "Don't hide your secret from your parents." Before giving Lucas time to just think about what had been said, Falcon left the room.

He knows? How does he know? How! It's impossible. There's no way. Did Claus tell him? He'd never. He's a dick, but he wouldn't talk about my secrets, definitely not without my ok. Then how? I don't think I told him, definitely not.

He looked around his room as Crow was talking, simply blocking his words out to find out how Falcon knew he even had a secret. Although it could be any secret, Lucas's mind instantly went to that one secret. "Sir?" Crow tried to get his attention but continuously failed to. "SIR!" Lucas jumped, finally paying attention to Crow.

"Y-yes?"

"What's wrong? You feeling ok?"

"Y-yeah...I'll be fine." He rubbed his stitched wound and smiled softly. He could only think of one thing, Ness stitching him up. "Can I go see Ness?"

"That's actually why I'm here. But first." Crow walked over to a small Sunflower plushie that was on Lucas's nightstand. He picked it up.

"Hey, what're you doing?"

"Your father put a camera in the back when you got to your room for the first time ever. He keeps track of everything you and your brother do." Lucas's face flushed.

"W-wait...so my dad has a camera in my room?"

"Yes."

"And it's been there since I got this room, correct?"

"That is what I said, yes."

"And he's seen…..everything….I did in this room."

"That is how cameras work."

"...oh no…."

"Oh chill out." Crow crushed the plushie, destroying the camera and then he put the newly destroyed plushie into the closet. "It's not like your father doesn't do the things I've seen you do on the camera."

"YOU'VE SEEN ME DO THOSE THINGS TOO?"

"I am the one tasked to monitor the cameras mostly, so yes, I've seen you do quite a lot of things. Which is why I know about your….interests to say the least." Lucas's face was filled with a blush before grabbing a pillow and slamming it into his face, screaming into it. Crow shook his head. "Ok ok, get up. I'm taking you to that boy." Lucas stopped screaming and lowered the pillow.

"Wh-what?"

"That boy. Ness. You want to see him, no?"

"Of course I do."

"Alright, well, we'd best get going now before they change their sentence or they buff up security. Joker already has enough on his plate distracting them, he can't handle more." Lucas nodded. He tossed the pillow onto the bed and ran up to Crow.

Crow expertly maneuvered himself and Lucas through the castle while avoiding other people and cameras. Crow was able to unlock the doorway down toward the catacombs. "Alright, I doubt he wants to see me or any butler right now. So just go down these catacombs until you see him. Should be good enough." Lucas turned toward him with a raised eyebrow.

"Why are you helping me? You could get killed for doing this, you know."

"The idea of death doesn't frighten me. I just don't want to see another boy be unable to be who he wants to be because of his parents. So go, find this boy. I'll worry about myself." Crow closed the door before allowing for a response. Lucas couldn't help a smile and just ran down the catacombs, looking at each and every cell. Some of the people there made him sick. There were murderers, rapists, and other degenerate criminals that were seen as "too bad for a normal prison."

Lucas continued to walk down until he saw one cell that looked empty. He stepped closer to the bars and squinted his eyes. He looked at the name on the cell "Nightshade". "Who's Nightshade?" Answering his question, a man that took the appearance of Lucas, but darker, appeared from the shadows and grabbed at Lucas's shirt, forcing him closer toward the bars.

"Ooo the royal prince speaks my name, how lovely," the man's voice echoed throughout the catacombs, shutting any criminal who was mocking Lucas. Lucas tried to push himself from the bars but couldn't. "Your daddy put me here because he's scared of me. I could escape, I could go into you."

"Ugh, l-let me go!"

"Now why would I do that, boy? Why would I let you get away again?" Lucas felt the man's grip loosen up so he pushed away and escaped. "Awww, looks like you did escape. Well, that's too bad." Lucas stood up, rubbing the mark made on his face by the bar.

"You creep."

"Hehe, I'm much more than a creep," the man cackled as he disappeared into the dark corner of the cell. Lucas shook his head as he, more carefully this time, walked through the catacombs. Never coming closer to the cells. Eventually, he did make it to Ness's.

Ness was sitting on the cold floor, back facing the bars, and his arms crossed. Lucas grabbed the bars. "Ness?" Ness's body tensed up as his name was called.

"Back off, bastard."

"Ness, please, I'm sorry." Ness stood up before turning around, showing his face a beaten and bruised mess.

"You're stupid family did this to me! I was trying to help your ass, but noooo, all I fucking get is a damn fist to the face and prison time." Lucas lowered his head, knowing the person to have beaten him up was his brother. Claus was always one to talk with fists over his words when it came to other people, definitely those who hurt his close ones.

"I didn't-"

"Why didn't you fucking tell me you had a cut? We could've gotten out of there instantly!" Lucas lowered his head more than it already was. He didn't really know why he didn't tell him. He knew it would've been better if he did tell him, especially now looking back at it.

Come on, why can't I say it! What am I hiding? I need to give him an answer. I don't want him mad at me. I don't want him to hate me. I don't want him to be disappointed in….disappointed?

"I….didn't want you to be disappointed in me that I couldn't do what you do." Ness stood up straight.

"What?"

"I didn't want to seem like the pushover prince to you. I-I wanted to be tough, to be seen as tough." Lucas grabbed his arm and rubbed the stitching with his thumb. "Clearly I failed. Clearly I'm just a little weakling." Ness looked down at Lucas's wound and gulped. "I want to be special. I don't just want to be 'Claus's brother', I want to be more." Ness looked back at Lucas's head, which was still looking down at his wound. Ness rolled his eyes before grabbing Lucas's chin and making him look into his eyes.

"Ok, you have me backed into a damn corner. You're not like any other prince or royal….well anything. I would even say I….wouldn't mind hanging out with you. But you should've told me. A mistake is a mistake, I wouldn't have been disappointed." Seeing Ness's eyes, feeling Ness's hand on his chin, and feeling an energy of dominance all combine to cause a blush in Lucas's cheeks. Ness, when seeing the blush, had his own blush appear. They stared at each other for a good while, unknowingly moving a bit closer toward each other.

"LUCAS!" Lucas's dad's stern voice echoed throughout the catacombs. Lucas jumped before looking in the direction the voice came from. He saw his dad, Flint, angry. He was truly angry. He was surprised his dad wasn't red with smoke coming out of his nose.

"D-dad!"

"What're you doing outside your room?" Flint walked closer and closer to him. He gave an evil look toward Ness.

"Dad, he didn't hurt me. It was an accident on my part. He was trying to help me."

"No, he was trying to hide his own crimes."

"No."

"He's a filthy criminal who hurt my son. You shouldn't associate yourself with him." Ness lowered his head, the words of the king getting to him quickly.

"No he's-"

"Quiet son, you just don't know what I've seen. I almost lost you once, I will not allow anyone else to attempt to take your life."

"Dad, he didn't-"

"No matter if he's just a boy." Ness started tearing up, and he couldn't say why. He never once cared what people said about him, but the words being spewed at him felt more...powerful than previous insults. Lucas saw this and grew angry.

"DAD WILL YOU LISTEN TO ME!" Flint flinched before looking down at his son. "He didn't hurt me ok? I was trying to help him get stitches for a friend who needed it, I just cut myself on glass. I didn't tell him about it before it was too late. Ok? He had nothing to do with this so don't keep blaming him."

"But I've checked his record, he's still a criminal."

"So what! Have you ever thought about why he may have committed crimes? Have you ever thought about people other than us? There are people, Dad, people who have nothing. They don't have a choice but to steal, but you seem too blind to see that!" Lucas was yelling all of this. All of his bottled-up emotions, all of his anger toward his royal name was finally being unleashed, and his dad, Ness, and every criminal in earshot of it could do nothing but listen. "Ness isn't a criminal. He's a boy born in bad circumstances. He doesn't need prison time, he needs help. I wanted to help him, I wanted to show that not every royal is a narcissistic prick!" Flint put a hand on Lucas's shoulder.

"Y-you don't think that's me...do you?"

"I dunno. Forcing me to find a princess seems pretty bad. Forcing Claus to do the same seems pretty bad too. Showing all your love and affection toward him is bad…." Lucas's eyes started tearing up. He slammed his head into Flint's chest and let out a single tear. Ness saw the tear fall and watched as it hit the ground and popped. "Do you even love me?" Those words were powerful bombs that exploded in both Flint's and Ness's ears. Flint planted a hand on the back of Lucas's head.

"Of course I love you."

"Then why. Why do you show Claus all the love and not me? Why am I not important?" Flint broke the hug up and kneeled down to be at eye level with him.

"You're very important. I'm sorry I was showing Claus all the attention, ok? I just...I was just doing what my father did to me. He showed me all the attention and I guess I unconsciously was doing the same." Lucas wiped his eyes as more tears fell. He looked over at Ness.

"Please….let him go. He didn't do anything wrong. He made me feel….important for once. He made me feel like I was more than just a prince. I don't want him to be in prison." Ness smiled softly as he heard those words come out of his mouth.

"Just for you, I will."

"A-and can you help them get a new place to live? A-and a good hospital?"

"Lucas, I don't-"

"PLEASE!" Flint looked as Lucas did his puppy-dog eyes. He could never fight those eyes. He caved in instantly.

"Ok ok. I'll have someone help them. Just promise me one thing, you'll attend the ball and not hide away." Flint asked as he booped Lucas's nose. Lucas giggled.

"Ok, fine, I'll dress up all nice and fancy." Flint shared the same happy smile Lucas now had. He unlocked the cell door and looked at Ness.

"I apologize. As you know, I don't want my son in any more harm than he was in. So I just acted out of character. I hope you can forgive me." Ness adjusted his shirt and gulped.

"It's ok."

"I'll be sure to tell Claus to apologize."

"You really don't need to-"

"Nonsense! He will apologize." Flint ran off before allowing the boy to answer. Lucas chuckled nervously before rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sorry about him."

"He's not the normal king I would've expected, honestly." Lucas smiled as he watched his dad run down the catacombs.

"Yeah…" He looked at Ness. "I'll go talk to my butler. He'll likely be the one to handle your housing situation." Ness finally had the idea he was getting a house that could be seen as not a dump for once. He beamed almost instantly.

"A-and help for Ninten?"

"Yes. Although, based on what little I know about housing situations you'd likely need a temporary place to stay and I don't want you back at that place."

"Oh? So what do you suggest until then?" Lucas looked around a bit before grabbing Ness's arm.

"Let's just first get out of here." Ness nodded and instantly Lucas ran off with Ness being dragged behind him. But Ness, strangely, didn't mind very much. All he had in his mind was how vulnerable Lucas was. Seeing him show off something he didn't think possible in royals was oddly charming. Lucas and Ness made it out of the catacombs and instantly bumped into Claus. Claus fell to the ground and rubbed his head.

"Hey, watch where you're goin-" Claus's eyes were laid upon Ness, who actually slid behind Lucas a bit. "Step away from him, Lucas." Claus's voice changed as he stood up and his normally calm hands turned to powerful-looking fists.

"No no, he's good, I promise."

"Uhm, do you not see that big damn line of stitching on your arm?" Lucas looked down at it as if it was his first time seeing it.

"This wasn't his fault. He was trying to help me." Ness, from being Lucas, nodded, not wanting to be attacked by Claus again. Claus crossed his arms and his eyes furrowed as he analyzed Lucas and the way he subconsciously protected Ness. After discerning it was the truth and closed his eyes and let out a sigh.

"I apologize. I don't usually rush to conclusions like that."

"I-it's ok," Ness nervously said. He cleared his throat and stepped from behind Lucas. He extended his arm forward with a small smile. "How's about a proper introduction? Name's Ness." Claus looked at Lucas and saw him nod, and so he grabbed Ness's hand and they shook it.

"Ok, Ness, go on home and prepare Ninten and get your stuff ready. Come back to this castle," Lucas snapped his fingers and instantly a newer butler came over. This guy's name was Kazuya. He was a buffer and a seemingly darker butler. He was originally a criminal but apparently, he changed his way, Lucas didn't trust him fully though. "Uh, can you get Falcon to take Ness back home and be brought back?" Kazuya bowed his head and walked off in search of Falcon.

"Alright, I don't know what you're doing, but I'm going back to my room to do fuck-all."

"Wait, I need to talk to you about something after Ness gets picked up." Ness looked at Lucas with a raised eyebrow. "He's going to help with your housing situation."

"Do I have a choice in the matter?"

"Do you ever have a choice?" The two twins stared at each other.

"Way to be existential," Ness barged in. It didn't take too long for Falcon to arrive. Lucas looked at the confused man with a smirk.

"Please take Ness home. He's going to pick up some stuff and a friend of his. After that, bring him back here, ok?"

"May I ask why, Sir?" Falcon asked as he bowed.

"You'll know in due time." Falcon nodded before looking at Ness.

"Ness, sir, please follow me." Ness took a step back, his nerves of royalty-related people were still there, but he always had Lucas right there that he, unconsciously, felt comfortable around. Lucas put a hand on his shoulder and faintly messaged it. He looked into Lucas's eyes and they both were just staring.

"You'll be ok. Falcon is a very trusted butler for me. He's very protective of me and the people I choose to associate myself with. That includes you and Ninten." Ness took a big gulp before looking at Falcon.

"Alright. I-I trust you." He stepped over to Falcon and the two of them walked off together. Claus forced Lucas to turn towards him.

"Did you say Ninten?"

Falcon stopped in front of the castle and opened the door for Ness. Ness stepped out and looked back into the limo. "Come on, Ninten, let's not keep the prince waiting."

"Since when did you become a fan of the prince?" Ninten asked as he climbed out of the limo. Ness grew a very faint blush.

"I dunno what you're talking about." Ninten stood right in front of Ness. Due to knowing him all of his life, he could tell that his face had a small blush. Ninten simply patted his shoulder.

"Whatever you say, pal." Ninten stepped up closer toward the castle and held a small smile.

Hehe, can't wait to see him again. Been too long.

Falcon opened the gate that led to the staircase up to the actual front door. Falcon extended his arm toward the staircase. "Your highnesses are waiting." Ninten cackled a bit as he adjusted the collar of his wilted shirt.

"Damn right he's my highness." Ninten started up the stairs as Ness just looked at him in disbelief.

"What? Since when were you up the damn prince's ass?" He asked as he ran up the stairs to catch up to him. Ninten refused to answer. He stopped at the front door and looked at Ness.

"I do have my own personal life." He knocked on the big fancy door. The door opened up and Claus was there. He cleared his throat when he saw Ninten.

"Hello there, sir, you must be Ninten." Ninten crossed his arms before remembering something that he was told by Claus himself on one of the many times they met. Ninten extended his arm.

"Hi." Claus shook it before stepping back and allowing them in. Lucas ran over.

"Alright, ready to hear the plan?" Ness crossed his arms and felt a strange heat in his cheeks. Lucas was no longer in some casual clothes, he was in his princely attire.

"Of course, that's the only reason we're here," Ness said, acting as if he was fed up.

"You'll be staying here. Simple enough."

"WHAT!"

"Oh sweet. Sounds nice," Ninten said, already instantly on board. Ness looked at him.

"Don't be all nonchalant about all of this! They're offering us to live in the castle for now!" Ninten looked back at him.

"Obviously, I'm aware."

"You don't need to of course. It's just an offer," Lucas added on. Ness looked at him and cleared his throat. He opened his mouth to give an answer.

"Yeah, we'll happily take you up on this offer," Ninten said before allowing Ness to answer. Ness playfully pushed Ninten. He looked back at Lucas.

"I guess he spoke for me then."

"If you don't want to stay here, you're more than welcome to go back home," Lucas offered. However, it seemed on the look on Ness's face that he himself still did want to stay in the castle, so Lucas giving that opportunity was pointless.

"Nah, I'm already here, might as well," Ness quickly lied. Lucas crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. He clearly didn't believe that was why he was agreeing to stay.

"Where're we staying anyway? Are there guest rooms?" Ninten asked.

"Unfortunately, our parents made use of those guest rooms since they didn't want to have more kids or really thought about us having guests. Pretty stupid, if I say so myself," Claus answered. "But we did come up with a plan."

"And that is," Ness egged on. Lucas and Claus looked at each other, growing a smile, before looking back at the other boys.

"You'll be staying in our rooms. Ness in mine and Ninten in Claus's," Lucas answered. This was when the blush in Ness's face grew a bit more noticeable.

"Wh-what? Staying in your room?"

"Yeah, it was the only option we could think of."

"Hehe...just let me and Ninten talk this over. Okay?"

"Of course." Ness smiled before grabbing Ninten's arms and retreating into a random room which turned out to be a bathroom. The bathroom was very clean, despite this bathroom being the one for guests during balls or other types of parties. Ness admired it for a second before turning toward Ninten.

"We can't stay here."

"How come? It's a free chance to live in the damn castle. Who would turn that down?"

"I would."

"Why? Don't tell me you still hate Lucas after all he's done." Ness stood up straight. He just realized that. He could no longer say he hated Lucas. He could no longer even say he hated Claus or Flint. He couldn't say he hated the royal family. And in terms of Lucas, specifically, he couldn't even say he disliked him.

"N-no. I don't hate him…". Ness was still confused. He couldn't quite pinpoint his true feelings. He just knew he didn't dislike him anymore. What he didn't know was that he was growing a blush. It was small and barely noticeable, but with Ninten being with him since they could remember, he noticed it right away.

"Oh. My. God. You like him?"

"WHAT!" Ness's blush grew. He stepped back, almost as if he was offended. "H-how could you say something as stupid as that?"

"Cause I know you. You despise royalty. You hate anyone even working for them. Now, all of a sudden, when you think of the prince you grow a blush? Seems, I dunno, kinda sus to me."

"What's 'sus' is you using the word sus." Ninten exaggeratedly shook his head.

"That's not the point. The point is, you like him." Ness crossed his arms and looked away, but closed his eyes.

"Can't believe you're speaking such fallacies upon my name." Ninten rolled his eyes, already annoyed with Ness's denial. While he would acknowledge that maybe it wasn't love. In fact, he was hoping it wasn't full-on love. Maybe it wasn't even a crush per se. But it was most definitely a type of infatuation. He could tell, he did go through it himself after all.

5 years ago

Ninten was huffing on the ground in one of the many alleyways of Ultimatum.

Ness….please. Find me. Help me.

Ninten gripped his chest as he rolled around on the ground, trying to calm himself down so he could finally let some breath in. He was always beaten up by this group of kids his age. He never knew why they enjoyed beating him up, although he never had the urge or even the chance to ask them. He was always writhing in pain. Ninten's world started fading as he unconsciously closed his eyes. This was the closest he got to death, so close he thought it was going to happen.

Ness….thank you….thank you so much for everything.

Before he knew it, he was out cold. He stopped moving and just laid still. However, he wasn't like this for very long. He was helped, CPR to be exact. He sat up and coughed. He was surprised, at first, that nothing had happened to him as he was out. He didn't even know how he was up, to begin with. "Are you ok?" The sudden, stoic and flat voice spooked him. He turned to see none other than the prince himself. Specifically, Prince Claus, the one in line for king.

"Y-your highness?" Claus stood up and extended his arm.

"Thank goodness you're ok. Had to pull out some classic CPR." Ninten took the arm and Claus helped him stand up.

"Where'd you even learn CPR? Aren't you too busy with...prince-ly stuff...or something?"

"Dad allows me to have some talents of my own. So I try to learn some good ole medical stuff. A king who knows how to save his citizens in many ways is a good thing, right?" Ninten smirked.

"Yeah, guess you're right." Ninten finally took the chance to analyze what Claus was wearing. It wasn't exactly the princely clothes he was normally seen in. It was casual, a light blue and yellow striped shirt with tan-ish-orange khaki shorts. "Are you no longer a prince or something?"

"Nah, one of my butlers said it'd be good for me to go out on 'patrol' if you will. Although it seems rather, hush-hush, so I don't think this is something Princes typically do."

"If you're supposed to be in disguise, you're not doing too well." Claus slumped.

"I assumed so." Ninten backed up and thought for a moment. He smirked. He was always wanting to try out some fashion skills.

"I can help you if you want. I am known to have some good fashion sense."

"You good with makeup too?" The question made him blush. This blush was clearly an answer. "Hey, no need to be embarrassed. My brother knits, that's something to be embarrassed of," Claus said as he giggled. Ninten joined in. That was when he realized he never let go of Claus's hand. He ripped his hand away and giggled nervously.

"Sorry, y-your highness." Claus had a small smirk on his face.

"Call me Claus. You are…"

"Oh! M-my name is Ninten. It's a pleasure your highne-I-I mean Claus."

"You're pretty nervous. How come?"

"I-I just don't wanna make myself a fool in front of hot guys," as soon as he said that, he covered his mouth.

"Oh? Calling me hot are we?" Ninten's blush was beyond control, seemingly going onto his body as well.

"I-I just mean…"

"Relax, it's fine. I don't mind it." Ninten slowly lowered his hands.

"You don't mind me, another boy, calling you, the prince of Ultimatum, hot?"

"Not one bit."

"Why?" Claus looked Ninten up and down, and when his eyes matched back up to Ninten's, Ninten saw a different look in his eyes. A look that was both unfamiliar and all too familiar. He understood the look. Or at least he thought he did. Claus, once again, reached his hand out, but in a more princely way.

"Now then, shall we head back to my place?" Ninten giggled before gently taking hold of the hand.

"We shall."

Present

"I mean it, Ness. Just think it over, ok?" Ness opened his eyes and saw himself in the fancy mirror that was way too clean. Due to how clean it was, he saw just how deep of a blush he had. Granted it still wasn't too deep, but this was his first-ever blush so he thought it was deeper than it truly was.

"What's wrong with me…" He felt his cheeks and felt the heat.

"You may be building up a crush on him." Ness's eyes lowered.

"O-on him? Me? Why does this have to happen…" He covered his face, feeling disappointed in himself. Ninten softly placed a hand on his back. He rubbed his back.

"It's ok. Listen to me, you shouldn't feel ashamed to be growing a crush on him."

"He's a fucking prince, Ninten. A damn prince. You know what the fuck they did to my mom. To your whole damned family." Ninten slapped Ness across the face.

"Think about what you're saying, Ness. You're blaming all royalty for what a select few did. We moved away from that place anyway, this royal family had NOTHING to do with that." Ness looked at himself in the mirror again and sighed.

"I just can't help but think about that…"

"I know. Trust me, I know. I think about my family all day, but we can't allow a select few assholes to determine how we view the broader population." Ness smirked as he allowed a single chuckle to escape his mouth.

"Your dad teach you that one too?"

"You know it." The two boys laughed, a bit somber-like, but they still enjoyed it. Ness shook his head.

"You're right. I'll try to give Lucas a chance."

"There you go. If you continue to hate them, we can go back home in an instant. Ok?"

"Alright. Thanks, Ninten."

"Anytime pal," Ninten said as he slapped Ness on his back. He opened the door and stepped out. "Hurry up, let's not keep the princes waiting." The two of them left the room and saw Lucas and Claus talking.

"I dunno, I think the blue one looks better on you," Claus said as he scanned Lucas up and down.

"NO! I look better in red," Lucas stomped, not wanting to lose to him. Claus saw the other two boys walking over and grabbed Lucas's shoulders. He then flipped Lucas around to face them.

"Tell me, you two, which color would he look better in. Blue or red?"

"Blue," Ninten said.

"Red," Ness disagreed. The two of them looked at each other but didn't really care much and just looked back at the princes. "Why does it matter?" Lucas forced himself out of Claus's clutches and swiped off his shoulders.

"Dad delayed the ball until tomorrow night. Gives the butlers some nice time to relax, and of course, my stupid injury." Lucas looked down at his wound before putting a hand on it. Ninten stepped forward, looking at the stitched wound.

"I dunno, dude, makes you look badass." Lucas looked back up at him.

"It does?"

"Of course. Makes you look like you were in a fight with some big bear," Ninten threw some half-assed punches into the air.

"Speaking of wounds, Falcon and I can take you to the hospital to have your stitches replaced," Claus said. He snapped his fingers and Falcon came over instantly. "Get the limo ready, and call Dr. Mario, we're paying him a visit."

"Yes, your majesty," Falcon bowed before walking out. Ninten turned toward Ness.

"Alright, better play nice with our beloved prince Lucas now, y'hear?" Ninten ordered him. Ness just rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say. Just go with him already." Ninten patted Ness's back as he walked over to Claus. The two of them smiled before leaving the castle. Lucas looked at Ness.

"Alright, follow me, and I'll take you to my room." He started walking off toward his room, while Ness was left standing there, thinking over what Lucas had just said. His blush came back from its very brief hiatus. He ran over to Lucas's side, trying to act like his face wasn't 1,000 degrees. Lucas, however, did notice it. He chuckled to himself before leading Ness through the castle and to his room. His door was closed so he grabbed the doorknob and cleared his throat.

"Welcome to my humble abode, sir Ness~," Lucas said as he opened the door. Ness playfully rolled his eyes before entering the room. It wasn't what he expected. Not in the slightest. It was a Grade-A mess. Nothing was organized yet somehow the disorganization seemed organized. It was a sight to behold. Ness's eyes scanned the room, seeing everything that made Lucas unique. He had posters on his wall of half-naked men, which was weird, and his clothes were strewn about. But what Ness loved most was his bed. The bed looked fancier than any house in the eternity of Ultimatum. He walked over to the bed and felt it.

"Holy fuck, this bed."

"Yeah, it was made especially for me. So it's all the best material, so it's pretty comfy."

"'Pretty comfy' is a damn understatement." Ness looked at Lucas. "Could I lay on it?"

"Sure, go right ahead." Ness didn't hesitate at that. He climbed onto the bed and laid on his back. He felt like he was sinking into heaven. He closed his eyes and swore he could see every single thing he loved about life, all in that one bed.

"So….comfy….wanna….stay…." Ness sat up and saw Lucas smiling as he looked at him. "What, don't judge me, this bed is too damn comfy for its own good."

"Touche." Ness looked at one of the posters on the wall. It was a poster of a famous model. Sephiroth. His toned abs and pale skin worked wonders with the camerawork.

"So...why is there a shirtless guy on your wall?"

"Huh?" Lucas turned around and saw the poster of Sephiroth. He blushed intensely before running over and ripping it off the way. "F-forgot that was there." Unfortunately, it was ripped in half. "D-dammit…" Ness jumped off the bed and walked over to his side.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." Lucas just chuckled nervously as he balled up the poster halves into a single ball and tossed it into his nearby garbage can.

"It's fine. I too would be confused seeing a hot guy on the wall of a Prince's room." Ness couldn't do anything but pat his back.

"Hey, it's fine, I won't tell anyone."

"No no, that's the issue. I didn't know the poster was there, no one brought it up, which means my family probably saw it…" He covered his face. "SO EMBARRASSING!"

"Hey, at least you don't have girl clothes, that would be more embarrassing," Ness laughed. Lucas, however, couldn't. He just gulped, which stopped Ness's laughter.

"Oh my god, you do, don't you?" Lucas sighed deeply before walking over to his walk-in closet.

"...Don't laugh…" Lucas opened the door and showed he did have some feminine clothing. It wasn't much, at all really, but it was enough to make a statement that he enjoyed wearing them. The clothes mainly worked in outfits. So there was a maid outfit, a cheerleader outfit, a schoolgirl outfit, a sexy businesswoman outfit, a sexy librarian outfit, and a trap outfit. Ness entered the closet. It wasn't just filled with those outfits, but those were the only ones that his eyes laid upon. He grabbed the trap outfit and tilted his head.

"A trap?"

"Y-you know, someone that looks female but is actually a male." Ness turned around and handed him the outfit.

"Can I see you with it on?" Now both boys had a major blush. Lucas grabbed the outfit.

"Well...ok...but stay outside the closet." Ness stood there in disbelief that Lucas agreed. He was mostly saying it out of hopeful thinking, but the more he thought about it, the more he thought about Ninten's words. "NESS!" Ness jumped.

"O-oh right. Ok." He left the closet, closing the door. He sat on the bed and looked down at his feet. "Wh-what's going on with me. I want to see him in that outfit? AAAAH...m-maybe Ninten's right. Dammit." Ness waited there for a bit, until he heard the door open, making him jump. He kept his eyes peeled onto the door of the closet, but due to where the bed was, he couldn't actually see inside it.

"Y-you ready?" Ness could only hum his answer, but that was good enough for Lucas. Finally, Lucas stepped out. His royal, professional attire was replaced by a full-on trap outfit. A black shirt thing that only covered his nipples and the small surrounding area. That shirt had a little bow tie on the white part that wrapped around his neck. He had black leggings that came up to barely over his knees. He finally had a small skirt that barely did anything to hide his jewels, which were still covered by some underwear. This outfit left his entire belly exposed, making Ness blush even more. "You like it?"

"Yeah...I do. It looks good on you." Lucas looked down at himself and giggled.

"I was scared it'd look stupid on me."

"Pft, that outfit? Makes you look sexy as hell." Lucas looked at him, causing Ness to cover his mouth.

"You think I look….sexy?" Ness gulped.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck. What's wrong with me! I can't be saying that! He's a damn prince, he has responsibilities that involve needing a girlfriend, not a boyfriend-...wait, no, that's the problem. I WANT HIM? Is that my issue? He's….he's a damn prince. How could I fall for him? I-it has to just be infatuation, right? I don't actually like him…..right?

Lucas got close to Ness. "Hey, you ok?" Ness was taken from his trance to see Lucas closer, causing that blush to go out of control. He slowly looked up to see Lucas's face, which was also blushed.

"Y-yeah….hey, this raises a question.." Ness said, trying to change the subject or just get used to seeing Lucas in that. Lucas sat down next to Ness and looked at him, a little concerned. "Do you like guys?" Lucas's head moved down to look at his lap. They sat there in silence for a good few minutes.

"Stupid, huh…"

"What is?"

"A prince, who's into guys."

"What's so stupid about that?" Lucas started rubbing his hands together. He was getting anxious.

"It's never happened before, in the history of Ultimatum...having a gay prince." He chuckled somberly. Hearing the chuckle made Ness instantly feel sorry for him. He both loved seeing this side of him and hated it. That hatred for this side was new, he didn't enjoy seeing him sad. He didn't enjoy seeing him upset. He wrapped his arm around Lucas's back, feeling his skin but not caring since he was more worried about Lucas than where his hand was. "I'm not even worthy enough to be a king, what makes me worthy of being in a relationship.."

"Now where did that come from? I didn't say anything about a relationship."

"I know...but still. I'm not worthy to be king, not worthy to be in a relationship….not worthy of having respect, even."

"Hey, don't talk like that. You're more than worthy." Lucas chuckled before looking at his arm.

"I couldn't even tell you-"

"No, stop that!" Ness stood up and stood in front of Lucas. Lucas didn't budge though. His eyes started to water as he forced them shut.

"But I'm telling the truth. I-"

"No, shut up!" Ness was getting a bit agitated, so he pushed Lucas to lay down and he stayed on top, looking dead into his eyes as he kept him pinned down by keeping his weight on his arms which were holding Lucas's shoulders. "You are more than worthy of love, Lucas. People who don't see you as worthy are fucking idiots! You're an amazing prince, Lucas. The best Prince I've ever met, and I've met many. Most of them are up their own asses and are just fucking douches, but not you, you're amazing, Lucas. So stop telling such lies about yourself." Lucas blushed immensely.

"I-I thought you were born here. Wouldn't you have only known me?" Ness's eyes grew somber and he let go of Lucas's shoulders but stayed sitting on his lap.

"I lied." Lucas raised his chest and put his arms back, putting his weight onto his arms so he can see Ness more comfortably. Both of them were seemingly unaware of the position they were in. "We're from a kingdom named Onett."

"Onett, I've been there a few times, it's a nice place."

"On the surface, it is. But the royal family is a bag of dicks."

"The Minch family?"

"Yes. They are just tyrants, gluten for riches and power. They ruled over us with an iron fist. And by us, I mean my mom and dad when they were younger. Soon enough, they had me. But what ended up happening was the Minches had a kid, named Porky. He ruined my life, made me feel useless."

"Ness…"

"Shush, it's storytime." Lucas giggled before laying back down and allowing Ness to speak, which made him smile. "I finally told my mom of the torment I was being put through by Porky, and eventually, his brother. We decided to move. However, we were beaten to a pulp as we tried to escape, luckily, we did...at least my mother and I. My sister...my dad...they weren't quite lucky." Lucas laid there as his eyes started to tear up at the thought of it. "We ran to Podunk, my mom was very hurt. In Podunk, which was like this very small town that the Minches brought to ruin in an attempt to conquer. There we meant Ninten, and he helped us. But he was alone."

"Ness...I'm sorry so much happened," Lucas finally was able to say. Ness looked down at Lucas's exposed belly and sighed.

"Doesn't matter. In the end, we got here, found that place, mom died, Ninten started getting beat for having asthma, etc, etc." Lucas took all of this in before leaning up and bringing Ness into a hug.

"I'm sorry all of that happened to you. I really am. I...I shouldn't be complaining about my life when you went through all of that." Ness smiled before wrapping his arms around Lucas's body, feeling the warmth and melting into it. He finally let some tears fall from his eyes.

"Thank you….for letting me talk about it."

"Of course, Ness, anytime." Ness's heart started warming up as it sped its beating. He was feeling welcomed. He was feeling like he could trust him, despite only meeting him recently. He was becoming ok with having a crush on him. He was ok with it. Lucas patted Ness's back, prompting him to break the hug up and sit up. "Are you coming to the ball tomorrow?"

"Well, after all of this, I'm pretty much obligated to."

"But do you want to?" Ness thought it over quickly, but it seemed the answer was drained into him already.

"Yes." Lucas smiled and moved Ness from on top of him. He ran over to his closet.

"Alright, wait here, imma get you a tux. Or a few, you can pick one." Ness saw Lucas enter the closet as he was left there once more to think over everything. He was going to the ball. Hell, he was going to a ball in general, that enough was crazy to him. But to be asked by a prince himself to go to a ball was on a whole different level. He couldn't believe it. But Ninten was right, Lucas was different from the other princess he's seen. He was different from the Minches. He was very different.

Lucas soon came back with three different tuxedos. One was the classic black, one was blue and red, and the final was yellow and orange. He laid them onto the bed for Ness to see. "Alright, which one do you like?"

"Hmmm, the red and blue one." Ness picked it up and held it against himself.

"Why don't you go try it on, I'll be out here...uh changing back to my regular clothes." Lucas grabbed hold of his regular prince clothes. Ness walked into the closet to put the clothes on. He had some issue, with it being his first time trying on something so fancy. He was able to do it pretty fast nonetheless. He exited the closet to see Lucas in his underwear. "Howdy! How does it feel?"

"Y-you're naked!" Lucas looked down before back at Ness.

"No. I have undies."

"You know what I mean!"

"Ugh fine…" Lucas pulled up his pants before grabbing his shirt. "You didn't answer my question."

"Oh, well….it's pretty comfy actually."

"That's good." He walked over, with his shirt over his shoulder. "Lemme just fix the tie real quick." Lucas stuck his tongue out as he untied the tie and started working some strange magic with it to get it to be perfectly tied around his neck. The entire time, however, Ness spent watching or rather staring, at Lucas's exposed chest.

God, I definitely have a crush on him. Fuck.

Lucas stepped back and smirked. "There we go, looking mighty spiffy there." He giggled at the word he used and put his shirt on before resuming his princely attire changing. Ness wanted to ask a question but was a little scared to do so. He took a deep breath before letting it out.

"Hey, uh...the point of a ball is to find a relationship, right?" Lucas put on his crown.

"Yup."

"Do you have any idea of who you want to be with?" Lucas turned around and smiled wide.

"I have an idea. But I dunno if I want to ask him. I'm still scared to have that side of me exposed to everyone in the kingdom." Ness walked up and grabbed Lucas's hands softly.

"You should be yourself. Keeping yourself hidden is not good, trust me, I know."

"But what if they hate it? A-and kick me out?"

"Then run away with me, we'll start a whole life together….a-as friends of course," Ness nervously laughed while Lucas just had the thought of living a life with Ness. The thought made him feel safe and secure. It made him feel happy. He wanted the thought to last, but there was a knock at the door. Lucas cleared his throat and walked over to it. He opened the door to see his dad.

"Hey, I heard those boys will be staying over," Flint said. Lucas was a bit scared, but he looked over at Ness for him to walk over. He did and Flint saw the two of them, and more importantly, he saw Ness in the tuxedo. "Hmm not bad. Say, do you have the sleeping arrangements thought over?"

"Yeah, Ness is staying here, and Ninten is in Claus's room." There was a pause. A very awkward pause. But thankfully, Flint smiled.

"Good. Hey, Ness, mind if I take you to the Ultimall? I feel guilty for what I did so I want to take you to the store to get something of your choosing." Ness's eyes sparkled with wonder.

"REALLY!"

"Yup, anything you want you can get. But only one, I may be the king but I'm not made of money." Ness stepped out of the room, but then remembered Lucas, so he turned around.

"No worries. Imma help mom cook anyway, so you guys will be coming back to some good food."

"Heh, I look forward to it." Flint had a hand around Ness's back and softly had it on his shoulder.

"Now then, shall we head out?"

"Yes sir." The two of them started leaving. Lucas's heart started feeling a little empty without Ness.

"Stay safe!" Lucas yelled out. Lucas entered his room and saw Ness's shorts that he was wearing before changing. He gulped before grabbing them and sniffing. "Oh god~"

Lucas did as he said he would, he helped his mom cook. It didn't take very long for Ness and Flint to come back, they came back around the time that Ninten and Claus did, with Ninten having new and improved stitching. They had dinner and talked like a regular old family, with Ness and Ninten immediately being welcomed in. Afterward, they were all able to just hang out, with Ness and Ninten learning of the basic day-to-day lives of the royal family. Lucas and Claus lived pretty average lives, to the two other boys' surprise.

The day went on and soon it was night. The boys split up to go to their respective rooms, with whoever was bunking with him following. Lucas held the door open for Ness with a smile. "Come on, it's time for beddy-bye, we've got a big day tomorrow." When they entered the room he closed the door and instantly stripped down. Ness didn't know this and just walked to the bed.

"So how're we going to sleep, backs facing each other or-" Ness stopped himself and stared at Lucas. "L-L-Lucas...you're naked?"

"I know. I need to get my night undies." Lucas searched his drawers and finally found his pair of night undies. Ness, of course, didn't even try to hide the fact he was staring at Lucas the entire time. He put the underwear on and walked over to the bed. "Do you not feel comfortable? I can put on clothes if you want." Ness vigorously shook his head.

"N-not at all. Just shocked me, that's all." Lucas shrugged before climbing into the bed, getting under his blanket, and looking at Ness.

"Feel free to get comfortable."

"You sure?"

"Of course I am." Ness gulped before standing up. He wasn't quite sure what to do really. He would always sleep with whatever clothes he had on at the time of when he was going to sleep. Although, he felt it was a bit odd for him to have clothes on when Lucas basically didn't. He started stripping down and got into his underwear. This, of course, made Lucas blush immensely. He gulped and saw the way Ness's tan body looked. He ended up staring and Ness noticed.

"Hey, something wrong with you?" Ness asked with a cocky grin, knowing that look on his face. Lucas shot around and coughed.

"I-I'm just sleepy!" Ness giggled as he got into bed next to Lucas.

"Sure you were." The two of them laid there in silence. It was awkward for them both. Ness looked over at Lucas to see his back. He gulped before sliding closer and wrapped around him as the big spoon. Lucas's already immense blush grew ten-fold.

"Wh-what're you doing?"

"I sleep better c-cuddling something."

"Is that a lie or not?" Ness closed his eyes and hummed. He felt Lucas's heartbeat from his back. He hummed, and the hum made Lucas almost purr.

"Bedtime." Lucas would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy this cuddling session. He fixed his position to make it more comfortable for himself. He closed his eyes and fell asleep faster than he ever had before.

The next day came and Ness and Lucas spent it relaxing as the butlers and maids finished the preparations for the ball. After nearly the entire day of relaxing, it was time for the ball. Lucas had run over to look outside the window and saw a huge wave of people waiting to get in. He gulped before running over to Ness, grabbing his arm, and running to his bedroom. He closed the door. "Is something wrong?"

"There's a lot of people out there…." Lucas anxiously said. Ness crossed his arms.

"You don't really seem like the nervous type. Especially when dealing with a lot of people." Lucas turned around to look at him.

"W-well now I have this huge scar…" Lucas said as he rubbed his fingers against the scar. Ness could tell that was a lie. He knew what a lie sounded like. Ness stepped forward, closing the gap between him and Lucas. He grabbed Lucas's chin and made him look up into his eyes.

"That's not what's wrong, is it? You're scared to tell people about you liking dudes, aren't you?" Lucas grew a blush as he stared into those violet eyes.

"Am I that easy to read?"

"To me you are." Lucas couldn't help but smile at that.

"I'm just scared. I'm a prince after all. My main job right now is to marry a girl."

"For what? You're not going to be a king, right? There's no real need for you to be with a girl." Lucas's eyes lowered as he thought over what was said. "Just, whenever you get worried, Luke, just remember that I'll be here for you, ok?" Ness interlocked his fingers with Lucas's and he brought him into a hug.

"Thank you, Ness….thank you."

"Anytime, Luke." Lucas broke the hug up to see into Ness's eyes again. Seeing this made him smile.

"Your eyes are beautiful…" Ness blushed more at this as he brought his face closer.

"Not as beautiful as yours." They shared this intimate moment for a bit before there was a knock at Lucas's door.

"HEY!" It was Claus. "Hey, you need to be out there when they open the doors. Hurry it up!"

"ALRIGHT!" Lucas yelled back. He heard Claus's footsteps run away from the door. He focused his attention back onto Ness and the reality of what they were doing came into his mind. "Y-you're so close…" Ness was feeling a little daring. He wanted to take a risk. He raised the hand he was grabbing and kissed it.

"I'll see you out there, your highness," Ness said with a wink. He sidestepped and opened the door, walking out. Lucas looked down at his hand and couldn't contain a smile.

"Wow…" He shook his head, knowing he had duties as the prince to be ready for a ball. He looked in the mirror and fixed himself up before heading down to the foyer where the others were waiting. Ninten and Ness were sitting to the side since they weren't royalty of course. Hinawa, the twins' mom, ruffed Lucas's hair.

"You ready? We've been putting this off for a while," she asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready." She looked at Claus, who nodded. Lucas noticed something off about him. He seemed more giddy and happy. It was like he had some plot in mind. Flint stood tall and strong.

"Open the door!" Flint said. Falcon bowed his head and opened the door. In an instant, the foyer was being filled to the brim with people of all types. Lucas could tell all of the girls' attention was centered on Claus. He started to feel a little self-conscious. That was until he looked over at Ness. He shot up a thumbs up which was enough to make him feel better. Flint stepped forward. "Hello there, people of Ultimatum. I am so pleased to say, the ball to find my wonderful sons a nice partner has finally begun. But while you're here, try to have a nice fun time. That's what balls give you anyway. Now then, let this ball begin." He turned around and prompted his two sons to walk over. They obliged and when they did he smiled. "Good luck out there, kiddos." Flint left the two boys to talk to some of the adults. Hinawa soon joined him. Lucas and Claus exchanged looks before walking off.

Lucas walked around trying to chat up some of the girls, but as he expected, they were all drawn to Claus. There was one girl that was near the food table that was all alone. Lucas adjusted his tie before walking over. "Hello there," Lucas cheerfully said. The girl looked at him and tilted his head.

"You're not Claus…" Lucas slumped instantly.

"No shit." The girl just left after that. Lucas groaned before slamming his head into the bowl of strawberry jello. Ness approached with an empty bowl and a spoon.

"Well I guess I won't be eating some jello," Ness said before putting the bowl and spoon apart. He grabbed Lucas's hair and pulled his face up. "You doing good, dude?"

"No one cares about me! I just wanna eat Jello!" Lucas slammed his face back into the bowl and started eating the jello. Ness, once more, forced his head up.

"Hey, shush ok. This is not the proper attitude of a prince at a ball. Now stand tall and confident."

"But…"

"NO!" Lucas instantly stood up straight. There were some remnants of the jello on his face. Ness giggled before grabbing his spoon and spooning up some of the jello on his face and eating it. "Delicious." Lucas still stood still as Ness put the spoon into the bowl. "Ok, here's the deal, Luke. You need to assert yourself. You need to show those girls you're a man's man."

"Yeah…"

"You need to show them you're a big boy ready to shimmy shimmy with some girls." Lucas started giggling before his stance relaxed.

"You know I can't do that."

"I know, but it made you giggle, didn't it?" Ness winked. Lucas playfully rolled his eyes. Lucas looked down at the bowl of Jello.

"Yeesh, I really ruined it, didn't I?" Ness looked down at it and tilted his head.

"Hmm I dunno, you can say it adds character."

"Excuse me," Ninten said, forcing his way between the two boys, stealing Ness's bowl and getting some Jello."

"Uhm, I wouldn't eat that if I were you…" Lucas warned.

"Shush shush shush, anything for Jello," Ninten said before walking away.

"He's a strange one."

"Very much so," Ness giggled. The two of them stared at the dance floor in silence, an awkward silence. The dance floor wasn't too populated with people. There were a few dancers but nothing too much. Ness looked at Lucas. He could read it in his face. He wanted to dance. Who was Ness to not give Lucas what he wanted? He grabbed Lucas's hand softly. "Shall we go dance, Luke?" Lucas looked around to not see his family. He looked back at Ness, he was a bit nervous but he wanted to. He knew girls weren't for him, he didn't know why their opinions hurt him so much. He liked them, and he was sure they at least enjoyed him, but he would never love a girl the way he needed to love his partner. And he'd only wanna dance with someone that the love roots are starting to grow, and Ness was perfect. Lucas smiled.

"Let's do it." Ness chuckled before running himself and Lucas to the dance floor. Ness, unsurprisingly, took the dominant role and put Lucas's hands around his head and his hands down by Lucas's hips. Both boys started blushing as they looked into each other's eyes.

"Well, ready, Your Highness?"

"I've never been more ready." The two of them started dancing slowly. They did attract some attention, which made Lucas a bit more nervous, but each time he felt some nerves, he'd look into Ness's eyes and feel safe once more. They danced longer and longer, attracting more and more attention from the other people. Ness and Lucas stopped seeing what was outside of them, only focusing on themselves. They didn't even hear any music. Soon they stopped dancing and just stood there, staring at each other.

"I….have a strange urge to do something."

"What is it?"

"I'm scared of how you'll react, Luke."

"Don't be. Do it." Ness leaned his head closer to Lucas's, their noses touching.

"You sure."

"Just do it, Ness." Ness smiled before closing the gap between their mouths, colliding them together. They haphazardly started kissing. They felt so comfortable, it felt natural. Their hands were placed on the other's backs. The kissing lasted longer and longer. Eventually, they parted their lips and smiled at each other. "How'd I do?"

"You did great, Luke." This time, everyone was looking at them. Everyone, including Flint. When Lucas saw him in the crowd he had a bit of internal panic, but Ness's hands on his back comforted him.

"H-hi Dad…" Flint walked over, staring into Ness's eyes with his own stone-cold ones. He grabbed Ness's arm and dragged him away, but strangely, not to the door. Rather, to the place where he and his family stood to greet everyone. Lucas followed and when Flint stopped he turned around to see his son. "Dad?" Flint smiled before raising Ness's hand.

"Here he is, people of Ultimatum. My son, Lucas, your prince, has chosen someone special!" Flint announced. Ness blushed, he could see Ninten in the crowd with a look that could only be described as "I told you so". "Ness." Ness looked up at Flint and gulped. "I know how well you treat my boy. You keep that up and we'll be one big happy family."

"Y-you don't mind me being….poor?"

"Of course not, you make him happy, that's all that matters." Flint smiled as he ruffled Ness's hair. "Now can you wait out here, I want to have a nice father-son chat with Lucas."

"Y-yes, sir." Flint patted Ness's back before walking over to Lucas. He didn't need to say anything. The two of them walked away and to a more private room. The room was Lucas's very own room. Flint sat down at the foot of the bed. He patted the spot next to him. Lucas sat down.

"So how long have you liked guys?" Flint asked, not hesitating one moment. Lucas looked down at his hands.

"For a while...hard to pinpoint a time."

"You really are just like your brother, and you two claim not to be too alike," Flint laughed. Lucas just looked at him in surprise.

"Claus?"

"Yes, earlier today he and Ninten approached me to have a serious talk. I could tell something was up. I'm not an idiot, I can see how two people interact with each other. So next thing I know, Claus was hugging me, crying." Lucas giggled to himself.

"He was always the crybaby of the family." Flint joined in with a soft chuckle.

"Yeah, but both of you found boys to make you happy. That's what matters." Flint rubbed Lucas's back. "You'll always still be my baby boy." Lucas smiled softly before bringing him into a hug.

"Thanks, Dad." Flint hugged back.

"Of course. Now go on down and enjoy your time with Ness. This is your party, after all, you wouldn't be a good host if you stayed up here the entire time." Lucas broke the hug up and smiled at his dad before running down to the foyer. When he left, Hinawa entered the bedroom.

"Look at you being a good father," Hinawa chuckled.

"Gotta make up for past mistakes." Flint walked over to her.

"I'm sure you've more than done that, babe." She kissed him and it left the two smiling.

Lucas made it back down to the foyer. Ness was there sharing a surprised-face chat with Ninten and Claus, who were holding hands and it seemed all of the girls had long since given up on him. Lucas ran to him. "Lucas, apparently these two are a thing."

"Hehe, yeah, found out from dad." Ness grabbed Lucas's hand.

"Well well well, what happened to hating the royal family? Now you're a part of it," Ninten asked. Ness just flipped him off with a blush. Lucas giggled before kissing his cheek.

"I love you, Nessy."

"I….tolerate you," Ness huffed, but he truly did love Lucas back. More than anything, he loved Lucas. He couldn't imagine it before, but he did love him. And he was not at all upset to be a part of the royal family. Lucas was more than enough for Ness.

?

"Ahhh what a beautiful story. It just brings tears to my eyes," He fakes cries in front of a chained-up, bloody Ness. Ness thrashed around.

"LET ME GO SICKO!" Ness yelled at the top of his lungs. The Man looked up at him, his eyes were tearless.

"You're not in a position to boss me around. I have finally finished what I set out to do." Ness tried thrashing more, but it had no effect. He was chained up well.

"Why do you even want Lucas?" The Man started to laugh hysterically.

"Are you an idiot? As if I'd go around blurting my big bad evil plot to a random boy chained to my damned wall."

"I'm not just a random boy!"

"Ahh yes, I know who you are, especially after that truly heartwarming story. You're Lucas's mate. Well...I don't give a fuck. Lucas belongs to me. You can shut your damn mouth." Before Ness could say anything, a tentacle of darkness appeared from the wall and covered his mouth. "The royal family hid secrets from their subjects. The world isn't all normal. The world is filled with magic, with power. They keep it a secret because they're weak. And I, hohoho, I will be the king that opens all of those secrets. Everyone will learn of their weaknesses compared to the other parts of the world. Oops, guess you got me to spill the beans anyway. My bad." He started laughing as the tentacle started entering Ness's mouth, blocking his airways. The Man turned around and started walking off. "This is like one of those hentai you humans enjoy, but this time, you won't wake up from it. Bye-bye, Nessy, see you on the other side~" The man laughed as Ness's vision blurred and his senses disappeared.

The world was indeed much larger than they anticipated. And with one fell swoop, the world Ness and Lucas knew was over. Taken by darkness. The man behind it all, doing it for a simple grudge, or at least that was the theory Ness came up with. He knew his team would be there soon to save him from an embarrassing death, it was just a matter of time. But he could only think of one thing. Lucas. He was in the most amount of danger. Being taken, enslaved, and forever bending to the will of The Man. That was a life no one should live. And that was the life Ness was going to save Lucas from. Even if it meant he would perish, he would do anything to save Lucas. For, after all, Lucas saved him from a life of hatred. And that, he would never forget. He loved Lucas. He will save him. Whatever it takes.