Chapter Text
Ninten has been having weird dreams ever since Claus trashed his dentist’s apartment.
It's not that they’re bad, they’re just extremely different from anything he’s ever dreamed of.
He’s sitting on the entrance of a wooden house, he’s looking at his feet laying on light green, almost yellowy grass; the sun rays hit his skin making it itch a little. He seems to be waiting for someone.
He waits…
And he waits…
And he waits some more…
But the grass stays yellowy green, being hit every now and then by a tender breeze, and the sun never goes down even if he feels he has been waiting for hours.
He doesn’t even know what the hell he’s waiting for!
But the day stays eerily calm, the floor under him is not cold or hot to the touch, his skin doesn’t turn red or tan from the sun that hits it.
All he sees is a never-ending grassy land that extends to an infinite nowhere. It reminds him a lot of the time he and Lloyd went to the optometrist and he made them look through a machine, there was a picture of a grass field with a small house in the distance. Lloyd said he saw an air balloon and not a house, and they fought over it the entire evening.
That image made him so uneasy.
He wonders if he’s sitting on the porch of that house and someone in the far distance is looking at him.
He wakes up without anything eventful ever happening, he just waits eternally on a sunny day. Ninten sits up slowly in his bed and doesn’t bother stretching; He feels restless every day even though he’s been sleeping his mandatory eight hours of sleep.
Let’s recapitulate the last events.
Ninten, Ana and Lloyd went to Dr. Finella’s apartment to figure out how to shoo away the ghost haunting Ninten. Said ghost is named Claus, is his same age, and isn’t haunting him but is instead tied to him against his will. They tried to communicate with the ghost but it turned into an absolute disaster.
Ana is currently helping Dr. Finella knit new lampshades as an apology for getting them obliterated, Lloyd promised to find a way to fix (and maybe improve) her Frank box, And him? Well, he was told to make amends with that damn ghost.
There’s a problem to his task though: the ghost is completely ignoring him.
He knows it’s there somewhere, sewn closely to his chest in a bizarre way, yet its freezing temperature is completely gone. There’s no more scary aura, no poltergeist or scary events, nothing.
The first days he tried his best to communicate with the creature, but all attempts seemed futile.
He tried apologizing for his words, doing nice things like plugging an extra controller on his console so they could play together; he tried letting the corridor lights on, so the ghost could go out and have its “own space”; he even tried using a ouija board his sisters had hidden from their mom to communicate, but he was ultimately condemned to the silent treatment.
Just as Ninten was about to give up, he accidentally found out a way to make the ghost pay attention to him.
One night, Ninten left some candy on his bedstand. It wasn’t meant for the ghost, Ninten didn’t like eating candy at night since it made him too energetic, so he left it there to eat the next morning.
Except that the next morning he found the three pieces of candy completely smashed. The paper wraps neatly folded in the shape of little paper boats and left next to the strangely damp candy. The whole thing was overall weird, sticky and gross.
But it was something.
He kept leaving treats next to his bedstand: pepsi-cola, bubblegum, chocolate, chips and so on. Last night he left a cupcake, just to see if the ghost would actually try eating something more heavy. He was surprised to see that the icing was completely gone; unlike other things he’s left for the spirit to consume, this seemed to be the only thing it actually managed to digest.
He made a mental note about it, then went downstairs for breakfast.
His mom has made a habit of checking his temperature every morning. Even though it is really awkward for Ninten, he allows her to do so, he knows it helps her relieve her incessant worries. He also allows his two sisters to check on his health from time to time for the same reason. He found it odd how everyday he seemed to get more and more detached from his family, he was a little guilty of how he felt the kindness and affection they offered to him was unwelcome and bothersome.
Uncomfortable, he sat at the table to eat. Today his mom had made omelets, something about the plate triggered a rare pang in his chest, but he tried to ignore the awkward feeling and proceeded to eat the food quickly so he could go back to his room and investigate. These kind of occurrences turned very common for Ninten, so he had no trouble on ignoring that pang, or ignoring the rattling of the nearby cutlery, or the shifting of the tablecloth on his side, or the faint scratching at the bottom of his plate, or the sudden tears running down his cheeks-
— Huh? —Ninten uttered, taken aback. He wiped his left cheek with his palm, why was he crying?
— Are you okay, love? —His mother asked him concerned, he felt again the pang from before, but this time it was more intense.
Ninten stood in silence for a second, there was only one bite left from his omelet, maybe the ghost missed food?
— Can I have another one? —Ninten asked his mother, not paying much attention to her and more to the feelings and slight movement of things around him.
— Of course! Finish that one and I’ll serve you another one-
— Can you please serve it in another plate? with another set of cutlery?
His mom gave him a look, but gave into his request nonetheless. She left the plate on the seat right in front of him, with its own napkin, cutlery, and even put the bottle of ketchup next to it.
Both of them stared intently at the plate, expectant. After a couple seconds they noticed the ketchup bottle slightly trembled, his mother walked in to help, but Ninten stopped her.
— No, let it do it. —He said raising his hand.
His mother stopped in her tracks, nervous about the events unfolding in front of her.
After a small moment, the bottle was knocked over the plate, messily but effectively pouring the condiment on the food. Ninten felt himself smile a little, he wondered if this faint sense of pride actually came from him.
Unfortunately the positive moment didn’t last long, as the pride inside him quickly turned into unbearable frustration. His mother noticed his increasing annoyance.
— Is everything alright? —She wasn’t sure if she was asking Ninten, or the spirit in the room.
— It’s fine. —Ninten reassured, both her and the spirit.— I’m not gonna eat it, and my mom will tell my sisters not to eat it either, right? —He looked at his mom for reassurance, she hastily nodded at him while clumsily reaching for the bottle and closing its cap.— That is for you. Even if in the end you can’t eat it, it’s yours. — He said to the empty seat in front of him.
Ninten finished the last bite of his own omelet, and went back to his room. Strangely enough, the awkward feeling in his chest went back to feeling void.
Was this progress?
The rest of the day was spent on a visit to Finella, he wanted to help her in any way he could to recover her apartment. Fortunately she had insured most of her possessions, having experienced this incident multiple times before. The only real losses were the one’s of her windows, mirrors and lampshades, but Ana was already taking care of that.
Before leaving, Ninten very shyly asked her for advice since he really wasn’t making much progress on his task. “He’s wary of you as much as you are wary of him, the bridge between both of you will be one made of trust.” was what she said, but he didn’t feel like he could trust an unknown creature that wrecked an entire apartment.
Even so, he made sure to bring back home a small package of fundips for the spirit, he left it opened on his bed-stand and with a heavy sigh, he turned off the lights and went to sleep.
•
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•
Ninten sat up in the now routinary porch, he was back at the house in the middle of an infinite field again. He sighed and held his head on his palms resigned, ready to be bored beyond sanity for who knows how long.
— Why the hell is it sour?
Ninten whipped his head in the direction of the sound, but before his eyes made it to the one responsible for that phrase, he woke up.
He was sweating cold, his breathing erratic and heart-rate on the verge of giving him an attack. He hastily sat up and turned on the bed lamp, he didn’t see the fundip package anywhere, just a small trail of dust that led him to the window. He quietly walked towards it, his legs were wobbly with each step, and slowly opened the window. A cold current hit his face as he stuck out his head out, looking down he saw the shining moonlight reflected on a small plastic bag outside the house.
Feeling a very unprompted gust of excitement, Ninten quickly ran downstairs and out of the house, reaching the spot he saw from his window. The corners of his mouth curled up as he picked up the bag, inspecting it.
Just as expected, it was the fundip package, almost finished and with the familiar dampness on the chewed candy stick. He touched the stick to see if it actually had teeth marks, but just as his fingers grazed the surface he was hit with a twinge of awkwardness.
Why was he so excited to touch a chewed, wet, gross candy stick?
— …Guess you like fundips. —He scowled while hiding his embarrassment with a grimace.
•
•
•
As soon as Ninten woke up, he decided he’d force the ghost to acknowledge him, no matter what. He knew that it was able to eat fundips, cake icing and cotton candy; though it couldn’t digest them, it hated pepsi cola and loved omelets. He knew the ghost didn’t like his mom and sisters, but liked his puppy Mick. Ninten also found out that if he concentrated hard enough, he could almost see him. Unfortunately the ghost was set on avoiding him, so he would only see him in the corner of his eyes because it ran behind him any time he tried to concentrate his psi.
What a childish, annoying thing.
He had a plan though! It was a fool-proof idea with only five simple steps, there was no way it could fail!
Step 1: Take away the treats.
Ninten hid away all the candy the ghost could eat, he locked it in an old chest in his basement and then locked the basement! No way the ghost could go there even if he tried!
Step 2: Wait until the ghost is desperate for candy.
“You are the worst Ninten, starving that poor ghost!” was what Minnie said, and there was a moment when his resolve almost quavered. He had to repeat to himself time and time again that ghosts didn’t eat. This was but a mere whim for that spirit, end of it!
On the third day, while washing the dishes with his mom, he noticed how the sugar jar was slightly moving. Ninten smirked, it was time for the next step!
Step 3: Tempt the ghost.
He and his sisters managed to finish the house chores by night, prefect timing! The most relevant events related to the ghost had taken place when everybody but him were asleep. It’ll be just the two of them, so there’s no reason for the spirit to shy away! Ninten headed to the basement, enthusiastic to move forward on his genius plan.
He opened the candy chest, luckily for him none of the rats were able to reach the food. He tried to act as if he was just following his routine prior to the past 3 days, taking candy and leaving it on his nightstand; he took one fundip bag, closed the chest, left the basement and went up to his room. He sat on his bed, turned on the bedside lamp, and very slowly ripped open the fundip package. The light of the lamp flickered quickly, Ninten did a very good job on keeping the mischievous smile from showing on his face.
Here’s where the most important part of his plan takes place.
He took the candy stick from the little bag, dipped it in, and started eating the sweet and sour dust. Ninten hummed as if he had just eaten god’s nectar, very intently trying to make the ghost near him desperate.
Seeing no response (besides his lamp’s light twitching), he took another dip and ate more, giggling and humming as if he was the happiest man alive, as if fundips were the peak of human experience.
The lamp’s light intensified, and so did Ninten’s act, throwing the candy stick away and chugging the dusty contents of the bag like a madman.
It was then that the ghost couldn’t take it anymore.
Step 4: Negotiate.
A strong force hit Ninten’s side, he almost fell to the ground.
— What the hell?! —Ninten complained, undecided whether to rub his face or his hand.
Looking around disoriented for the source of his pain, he found his lamp on the floor. It was still illuminating the room even though it was disconnected from the wall outlet and surely enough, broken.
Ninten might start hating lamps.
He also noticed that his fundip bag was on the floor, all of its contents spread on his face, bed-sheets and the floor.
— Great! Now there’s no fundips! — Ninten yelled, clearly frustrated things weren’t going according to his masterplan.
Step 5: Make Amends.
Ninten must have looked ridiculous, he heard a very loud laugh.
Boyish, teasing and warm.
It made Ninten’s heart skip a beat.
Was it from shock or fear? He couldn’t tell, he felt very lost.
He yelped as the lamp on the ground exploded with a final cackle, a sudden pang of something arose in his chest, fear? surprise? anxiety? His breath hitched when in the darkness of his room, he felt his mattress sunk with weight. He raised his rams in front of him, trying to push back whatever was approaching him, but he couldn’t feel anything.
Anything, except a soft, cold and wet something drag on his fundip covered cheek.
Ninten’s body went rigid.
— What happened?! — Ninten’s mother broke into the room, clearly worried from Ninten’s prior yell and the loud explosion of the lamp lightbulb. She turned on the lights, but just as she was about to walk towards Ninten, she stopped on her tracks and looked at him with such intensity you’d think he had grown a second head.
A messy bed, a broken lamp, candy dust scatered all over him and the room, the face he was making.
Ninten blinked a couple times; he regained his breath, looking at the floor with defeat. He must be so pale his mom thinks he’s a ghost too.
His face was red.
Days later, Ninten received an afternoon call with news from Lloyd, he managed to fix the Frank’s Box and added a new “powerful feature” that’d make communication clearer.
See, this would have been amazing news for him if it weren’t for that one night event. He’s not intimidated or anything! He just completely failed his plan to make contact with the ghost and doesn’t wish to touch the subject for a while. He can admit it, it was a failure and nothing came of it. Nothing changed.
— Your spoon is curling. — Mimmie pointed at Ninten’s cutlery, his spoon was indeed twisting into a funny shape, splattering soup all over the table.
— Stop playing with Ninten’s food, you have your own. — His mom scolded nothing in particular.
— Do you like it? I made it with extra sugar! — Minnie asked to an empty seat.
Sure enough, there was a small cake with lots of frosting in front of the empty seat next to him. The frosting was disappearing in chunks, his sister giggled at the void’s eagerness to consume the frosting.
Nothing weird happening, a completely uneventful lunch with nothing to point at all.
Even though many strange things have happened, Ninten was beyond sure it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. He was a psychic, these strange occurrences were a given. The odd boops and blips on his heart? Ah, he was just tired! Things moving on their own, each time more erratically? Just the wind doing its thing. His sisters talking to a wooden board as if it was controlled by a real spirit? Just make-believe, all kids do that.
Ghosts? Hadn’t heard of them.
Huh? Claus? It isn’t Christmas yet, silly.
A normal guy with a normal life going to his normal friends house to test a normal spirit bo-
To do nothing in particular. Of course.
He walked through the city under the unbearable summer sun, part of himself missed the days were he was a living ice cube.
•
•
•
Could this day get any gloomier?
The sky was cloud-capped, everyone around looked like they acquired a thousand dollar debt with the mafia, not to mention the room was incredibly cold since the school principal didn’t find it necessary to install any heating systems. Even if it was winter, he was forced to endure detention for something he’s not at fault of!
Well… sort of, he did intend to freeze someone’s drink.
What he didn’t intend for was that someone lifting the cup right above her face and have the frozen chunk of light cola hit her face and give her a small bruise.
He couldn’t help but giggle at the recent memory, life is generous in everything it gives.
― You seem to be enjoying yourself there. —The detention teacher said, she had a clear look of disdain towards Lucas— Why don’t you share the joke? So we all can laugh. —She deadpanned, looking intently at the boy who returned her gaze with as much intensity.
Lucas couldn’t say he hated her, but he wasn’t fond of her disdain either. He cleared his throat and smiled widely. The teacher then frowned at him, she set herself up for a horrid joke.
— What did the toast say to the psychic? You bread my mind! — Lucas snorted at his own joke while everybody in the room just groaned.
A year ago he would’ve felt mortified, but many things have changed ever since then. He no longer feels the need to appease the people around him.
He found better company.
— Though crowd huh? well at yeast we have each other! — Ness said amid his own giggling leaning on the classroom door.
— For the last time, leave the room Ness. You are not cited for detention, only Lucas. — the teacher scolded him, Ness just crossed his arms.
— I’m not inside the room! —Ness responded pointing at his feet. He was outside the room, his feet inches away from the entrance— Besides, real friends breadstick together!
— My god, will you shut the fuck up? —A boy groaned on the back of the class. He was laying his head on the desk, clearly irritated. He looked at Ness with strong hatred, but Ness didn’t acknowledge him.
— Language Marcus, or else I’ll have to cite you tomorrow too. —The teacher scolded him too, even though it was visible on her face how much she agreed with his statement.
Lucas glared at Marcus. He didn't get his dislike of Ness. Sure, the jokes aren’t that funny, but they’re kind-spirited.
He didn't understand why so many people were angry with Ness, and Ness never gave him a clear answer to his questioning either. He always says “I’m not everybody’s type of guy” or “it isn’t something I can change”, but he doesn’t clarify where this hatred comes from.
Ness attended this school way before him, but whenever he asks about how it was before he arrived, Ness never answers from his own experience, he simply states the way it looked or how smaller it was, nothing truly anecdotal.
Something bad must’ve happened, but whatever it was, Lucas refused to believe it could have been Ness’ fault.
Ness is kind, funny, gentle and caring, he’s a social butterfly, naturally charismatic; his laughter is contagious, loud as the rumble of thunder, warm as the summer sun. Lucas felt blessed by the angelic sound of his carefree whistling and his lovely voice; he adored his unapologetic rowdy singing and the way his fingers strummed his guitar; he admired his strength and his proficiency in sports; he craved his attention and care, for Ness to feel proud of him the way he is, even if he can’t feel that way about himself.
Lucas adored him so much, he couldn’t help but feel jealous sometimes, he thought of himself as boring and overly negative. Yet Ness never gets angry at him. He always tries to lift his mood, make him laugh and smile at least a little.
Sometimes he wondered if he got trapped in a deep slumber and his troubled mind made up the perfect friend for him, just to console him on his loneliness. But even if everything was a dream and Ness wasn’t nothing but a sparkling illusion, he wished to never wake up from it.
Lucas smiled at Ness from his seat, grateful that this guy who could’ve been in their shared apartment by now, playing games and eating ice cream, preferred to stay by his side and wait for him until detention finished. He was grateful with him in a way he has never been with anyone, it was such a strong feeling it sometimes seemed like an understatement of the way he moved his heart.
Ness smiled back at Lucas, winking while pointing his thumb at the classroom clock. It was almost time to go.
Lucas started packing his stuff covertly, excited to walk home with his best friend. Small things like these were the ones he appreciated the most; even if the weather outside seemed so gloomy and gray, he was sure they could in some way enjoy the arriving sunset.
The prospect of watching the sunset with Ness made his chest bubble in a certain way. He wondered if this was how happiness felt when he was a small child.
It’s been so long ever since he had felt such strong joy. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been happy these past years, but it wasn’t anything beyond a short laugh or calming conformity. He can’t remember himself smiling for so long back then, not the way he does whenever he remembers Ness’ accidentally breaking all the windows of an apartment complex by attempting to change the cold climate, or them sneaking into the Smash building’s conference room way past their curfew to binge all 5 movies of Pirates of the Caribbean on the big projector, all while eating a ton of snacks until their tummies hurt.
Before him, he wouldn’t have given into that type of carelessness.
Before Ness, he was okay with sitting on the benches. He didn’t aspire to wildness and adventure, he thought he had his unfair share already, and only wanted to sit down and live calmly.
He didn’t even want to participate in the Smash tournaments to begin with, but after finding out how much Kumatora would have loved to be the one invited and how much she wanted him to go and win, he felt he couldn’t refuse the offer. He promised to win for her, he wouldn’t let that invitation go to waste.
Lucas and Ness weren’t really close at first either, they didn’t have much in common starting off by the fact Lucas wasn’t a people person while Ness loved to be around crowds. But somehow, when they fought side by side they matched like bread and butter. Lucas felt like Ness was strong where he lacked, and that he complemented Ness where he struggled.
Their passion and competitiveness brought them together, and Lucas understood they didn’t need to have anything in common to be friends, they could enjoy each others company through their different perspectives. He found their closeness on the matches intoxicating, like a happiness drug he couldn’t get enough of.
He stopped shying away from Ness’ attempts at conversation starters, he started taking active part in conversations with other fighters too, learning what the world is like through the eyes of people completely different from him.
Learning from them the different ways one could live, how nothing was set in stone.
He started to aspire to win not just for Kumatora, but for himself too. To be great just the way Ness taught him he could be.
To be able to sit next to him at the top.
He always knew he could be a glorious leader, but now he knew he didn’t need to sacrifice as much as he thought to be that kind of person others would look up to.
At the end of the day, Lucas just wanted to be like Ness: stronger, friendlier, funnier.
— Penny for your thoughts? —Ness tapped Lucas on the shoulder. Everybody was already gone, only the two of them remained in the classroom.
— Oh, I was- um… —Lucas found awkward admitting he was thinking of Ness right to his face— Thank you for staying with me. —He said instead, half smiling and hoping Ness wouldn’t poke the subject any further.
— Don’t sweat it, that’s what breads are for! —Ness chuckled, Lucas arched an eyebrow in confusion.— Like, breads sounds like bros- I mean, enough to like- Y’know-
Ness tried to explain his joke, getting more and more flustered at his failed attempt. Lucas snorted, “is this what Eleanor meant by guys being adorkable?“ he thought to himself, grinning widely.
— Alright my bread-slice, lets go home. —He softly punched Ness’ arm and walked out of the classroom.
— Oooww… —Ness rubbed his arm sheepishly and sighed in defeat.
They walked throughout the school hallways, everything looked eerily empty. It didn’t help that it already looked like night-time with how dark the sky was outside, barely any light made its way inside the building. Lucas didn’t care though, he hoped they could at least see a small orange light in the distance once they left the school entrance. He held on that hope in a way that started to make himself worried. Never in his life he had something good happen to him when he hoped this hard.
Well, maybe once, but it came with a ton of horrifying events.
Lucas shook himself from his inner fears and promptly grabbed Ness hand, running out to the street.
— Woah! What are we running for? — Ness nervously laughed, Lucas always seemed to have these out-of-the-blue rushes of energy.
— Well miss the sunset if we don’t hurry! — Lucas said smiling, his eyes were shining with excitement.
Ness knew the skies were awfully dark and there wasn’t any way that, even if they reach the entrance before it becomes night, they could see any light above. It was odd from Lucas, a realistic and sometimes pessimistic person, to have so much hope on something so improbable. Ness inhaled deeply and quickened his pace, laughing alongside Lucas and jumping over the staircase steps to get out faster.
It didn’t matter to him if it was all for nothing, or if it would end with Lucas’ disappointment. He wanted to run with him and play-pretend the skies above were bright blue.
Once they finally reached the school entrance, Lucas looked up in all directions, trying to see if there could be at least a small spot of sunshine. His ragged breath quickly evened out as his expression changed from bright to neutral.
Right around the corner of his vision he saw orange light. Regaining his hope, he turned around excitedly.
To his surprise, he saw that Ness was pointing at the sky where the sun ought to be, lighting a small fire on the tip of his finger.
Lucas slowly looked down to Ness’ face, he wore a calm and sincere expression.
— Who needs the sun anyways. —Ness scowled, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.
Lucas let out a brief, uncontrollable laugh, then covered his mouth with embarrassment. Really, the jokes weren’t that funny, but he couldn’t help himself.
He punched him.
— Ow! what was that for?! —Ness complained, rubbing his arm for a second time.
— Seriously, you… —Lucas started, only to laugh some more and walk forward.
— I’m not your punching bag you know? I have feelings, real human feelings! —Ness sobbed dramatically, faking some tear-wiping and leaning on Lucas’ side. He left his weight fall on Lucas’ side, attempting to make him fall.
— I thought you were covering for the sun. —Lucas pushed him back, starting a bumping fight to see who would make the other fall.
— Someone’s gotta do the job, someone handsome and hot like moi. —Ness pointed his thumbs at his chest, striking a pose that he thought cool.
Lucas snorted, he looked like a fool.
— And very humble too. —Lucas said sarcastically, he rolled his eyes.
— You gotta be the best example you can be, make other planets jealous. —Ness smiled smugly. Lucas started laughing now unapologetically, even coughing a little from the sudden strain in his throat— Hey! What’s so funny?!
— Oooh, look at me! I’m sooooo jealous of the guy who unironically called me bread. —Lucas teased him, making Ness’ face go slightly pink.
— Stop laughing! I’ll carbonize you! —Ness ruffled Lucas hair violently, completely ruining his up-do and trying through friction to light a fire on his head.
— Okay! Okay I’m sorry! Stop! —Lucas flailed, trying to get Ness off him.— The sun is a star by the way, not a planet! —He chuckled with a cocky smile.
— I’ll burn your hair and make you the sun instead! How about that! —Ness gave Lucas’ hair a final swoosh, strands of hair were in all directions.
— Oh merciful sun, I apologize for insulting thy sovereignty. — Lucas bowed dramatically, making his hair fall on his face.
Both guys started laughing, their voices resonating through the mostly deserted streets and alleys, the sky grew dark and the lamps came to life illuminating their route home. Lucas had spent the entire time trying to fix his hair.
— Dude, give up, we’re almost home anyway. —Ness snickered at Lucas’ concentrated face. He kept looking at his reflection on any windows he came across to.
— No way man, if I come back to the apartment looking like this everybody will make fun of me. —Lucas kept brushing his hair up with his fingers, only for it to fall back to his face miserably.
— Everybody? Dude, everyone is already in their dorms, the only person there who could see you is the receptionist and me.
— She’s kinda nice though, gotta be presentable. —Lucas said absentmindedly.
After a couple seconds of silence he whipped his head back at Ness, embarrassment creeping on his cheeks.
— Not like that! —He defended himself immediately, Ness only smirked at him smugly.
— I haven’t said anything. —He lifted his hands defensively— Didn’t know you cared about her like that though. —He smirked again, enjoying the way Lucas blush extended to his ears.
— I said its not like that! — Lucas covered his face, his hair falling again on his face. Ness did his best to stiff a laugh.
— Okay, lemme help you… —Ness took some steps towards Lucas, but Lucas stepped away from him with each one— Seriously dude? —Ness rolled his eyes, Lucas grimaced.
It wasn’t just the fact Ness was teasing him over the receptionist, not really, he wasn’t that troubled by that. Eleanor and him were close friends after all, but something about it bothered him so damn much, something about that kind of misunderstanding makes his insides rumble in such a grotesque way. Despite it freaking him out, he felt curious about the effect it had on him.
As impossible of an scenario as it is, would Ness be mad if he and Eleanor ever dated? Would he be jealous of him?
Why does he want him to be jealous of him?
— Dude, either let me help you or I’m taking your girl! —Ness joked, Lucas uncovered his face, his eyes pierced through Ness with intensity. Ness squirmed a little.— I-I’m just joking! —He raised his hands in front of him, smiling awkwardly.
Lucas... Doesn’t like that.
That’s so weird.
Ness is being competitive, that’s like being jealous of him right?
— I don’t care about her like that. —Lucas said softly, slowly stepping closer to Ness. He felt like a regretful dog who bit his owner.
— Haha, still gotta be presentable, right? —Ness smiled back at him cautiously.
Ness brushed Lucas’ hair with his fingers, it confused him a little how Ness seemed to be brushing it towards his face instead of against it. Lucas let him do his thing, after all Ness did look great himself, his fashion sense couldn’t be so off.
After a couple minutes he seemed to be done. He took two steps back and looked proudly at Lucas, framing him with his fingers as if he was some sort of masterpiece painting. Lucas smiled sheepishly.
— How do I look? —Lucas asked softly, looking at Ness’ distracted eyes.
It was ironic how Ness wasn’t really looking at him at all despite staring at him so intensely.
— A true Casanova, you’ll make all the girls kneel upon your sheer handsomeness, king! —Ness exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips and puffing his chest proudly. Lucas snorted, he was glad Ness little makeover project went like he wanted.
He was a bit worried about his looks though.
Lucas turned around and walked to a nearby store window, his eyes widened at his reflection.
— Alright, this is new. —Lucas said slowly, Ness gave him somewhat of a side-bang. He wasn’t aware his hair was long enough to achieve that hairstyle.
It made him look a certain way that made him slightly freak out. The bad way.
— Hey, don’t frown like that! It looks good on ya. —Ness gave him a pat on the back. Was he frowning?— Plus, I bet it will impress your lady-
— Alright back off. —Lucas pushed Ness’ face away; even though he tried to look pissed off, his smile betrayed him.
A shoving contest started that quickly transformed into a very competitive game of tag. Quickly enough, they made it to the reception of the building, they were just in time to see Eleanor leaving her shift.
— Hi Ellie! —Lucas greeted a bit out of breath, lazily waving his hand at her. Ness on the other hand was fully breathless, only raising his hand weakly. He looked like a fish out of water.
— Hello there, nice haircut Lucas. —She greeted back. Lucas had almost forgotten about his new hairdo.
— Is it though? Ness destroyed my style then tried to do something to “fix it”. —He made quotations marks with his hands, rolling his eyes while Ness just puffed his cheeks offended.
— You look good, it’s a nice change. —She patted Lucas head. Lucas face scrunched into a mix of embarrassment and mild annoyance. He’s not a dog!
— Alright Alright Alright! Enough of this, lovebirds! —Ness pushed the older woman away, Lucas groaned at Ness— Yeah, sorry to rip you from your lady but-
— We’re not dating! —Lucas complained, covering his face in embarrassment.
— But it is bro time! —Ness pointed at himself, grabbing Lucas with his other hand and pulling him away. Eleanor chuckled and waved the boys goodbye.
Once they entered their apartment, Lucas threw his backpack to the couch and crossed his arms. Ness gulped, he looked really pissed.
— What the hell. —Was all Lucas said, his eyebrows were furrowed in irritation, but his face overall showed embarrassment— Why would you say that in front of her?!
— I was just joking! —He raised his hands in front of him again. It was an odd habit of him when really, there was nothing he should shield himself from.
— That’s not funny, it’s weird! —Lucas exclaimed, pulling Ness’ hands down. It made him uncomfortable how Ness was blocking him like that— I cannot face her tomorrow! She’s gonna ask me about it!
— Then don’t see her?! —Ness pulled his arms free, looking straight at Lucas’ eyes— Why the hell do you hang out with her that much?
— She’s the first person who talked to me when I arrived here! She was nice enough to help me out when I didn’t know anything! —Lucas explained, but it didn’t seem to appease Ness. He only seemed to get angrier— She’s my friend okay?!
— But I’m your best friend! —Ness pointed his hands to his chest, he seemed somewhat offended— Seriously man, you need to set your priorities straight! Best friend goes over that “friend”. —Ness worded it in a way that resonated in Lucas head.
He knew Ness was being really mean, but something about the tone and quotations he used was very unusual.
Lucas stared at Ness silently, his face showed inner conflict. Ness just sighed and walked to his bed, face-planting into his pillow and groaning.
Lucas stood in that spot, his mind trying to make sense of what Ness said.
Why was Ness so angry at him being friends with Eleanor? Did he dislike her?
Was he maybe sad that he eats breakfast with Ellie?
No, not sad. Angry seemed more like it.
But why?
… Was Ness jealous of her?
Ashamed, Lucas covered his face. If Ness saw him smiling, he’d think Lucas doesn’t take him seriously.
But he really does, he’s just… Very nervous right now.