Infatuated

III

"Thank you." Lucas shyly muttered to Ness's mom as she handed a plate to him.

"You're staying the night, right?" She asked.
"Y-Yes, if that's okay with you." Lucas tried to raise his voice so she could hear him better.
"You're always welcome to stay, oh-" The phone rang. "Sorry. I have to take this."
Lucas nodded and muttered another thanks before walking to Ness's room. He sat on the bed, waiting for his friend to finish showering. He anxiously fiddled with his hands, it felt wrong to be here, like he was intruding on some sort of sacred space. He looked at his friend's game collection and noticed a few titles that caught his eye, wondering what they contained and if someone even had enough time to play all of them. As he finished eating, thoughts he'd pushed out for years came back. 


Would his mom be proud he was making friends?


"You okay?" Lucas jumped and turned back at the sudden sound, feeling guilty after seeing Ness's concerned face.
"Yeah. Sorry, I was z-zoned out for a little bit."
After shutting the door, Ness sat down beside Lucas with his dinner.
"You sure?" Ness raised an eyebrow. Lucas nodded, looking towards Ness's shelf to bring the topic to something other than himself.
"You have a lot of games."
Ness wasn't convinced, but he decided prying more wasn't worth making his friend even more uncomfortable.

"Oh, yeah, go ahead and look if you want." Ness bit into his hamburger but then quickly scarfed it down.
"You're gonna ch-choke," Lucas nagged.
"But it's so good, and if I choked on a hamburger then that'd be the best way to go out."
Lucas let out a snort and went over to look at the games as Ness kept choking down his food. He sat his now empty plate beside him and leaned back on the wall, watching Lucas and waiting for him to find a game he wanted to play.
They were all so confusing, so colorful and the words in the titles were all so weird, but Lucas finally settled upon one. Confusion glimpsed across Lucas's eyes as he looked at the front and back of the case, raising a brow at the different characters. Ness laughed at Lucas's expression before picking a controller up off of the ground, telling Lucas to pop the game in. He sat against the wall, somewhat hoping Lucas would hop back up with him. It was weird having your new friend sit on the ground, especially the first time they came over. It was almost rude to make him sit down there.

"It won't g-go in."
"You have to gently set it in there. Make sure it clicks."
Lucas looked frustrated but went back to trying to put the game in anyways.
"Lucas," Ness began, but suddenly wanted to quit his suggestion once Lucas's attention turned from the game to him.
"Yeah?" The eyes full of focus made him nervous.
"Why don't you get off the floor and come up here? It can't be that comfortable down there, I've slept there too many times to know."
"Oh... yeah." Lucas finally got the game in and sat on the bed, somewhat free of tension now that the oddly hard (and embarrassing) task was finished.


It made Ness happy to see Lucas worry-free, but it seemed like the worry was only shifted to him to carry instead. Lucas invaded his thoughts more than he liked to admit; he knew so little and got through this world in a worryingly naive way. That sweater made little sense too, at least this time of year. Didn't he have anything else to wear? And it wouldn't kill him to eat more. And there was no need to be so quiet, his mind had to be buzzing with thoughts from how anxious he always ways.

"Hey," Lucas snapped Ness out of his thoughts. "Are we gonna play? You've been sitting th-there for a minute."
"Oh, yeah, sorry. I was lost in thought. This game's pretty cool and I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly like you usually do." Ness smiled as he chose his character. He didn't have to worry about him so much, but even as he thought that he couldn't help but worry.
"Don't say that... Now y-you've got me nervous," Lucas stuttered out.

Really... What reason did he have to worry about him? He's alright, he's already adjusting so well.