Hey everyone! Paradigm of Writing here with a new WIP that everyone has probably seen before. Back in February to April of 2015, I had a story called The Raven and the Lion on my profile that I had to delete for personal reasons from my family (I choose not to discuss it any further, thank you very much). However, this story is still the same exact as it was back when I wrote it all those days and months ago, and I'm taking the... I suppose I could say bravery to just and repost it again and see what happens, if anything good happens I don't know. If you all remember, Ness and Lucas have their roles switched and all that fancy jazz. We have Ness, Lucas, Red, Nana, and... a certain someone I won't spoil for again back in this story. I have all the old chapters still in my computer somewhere, and even though it is about to die as my charger is like shot, I am posting every three days or so, sometimes even less. Enjoy, again Chapter 1: Games That Can Kill.

God damn it. How had he let himself get caught up in all this.

Leaning against the wall of the small pitch black closet, Ness cursed himself for not having just told Nana to screw off when she nominated him to play seven minutes in heaven. She was always the first one to try and set him up with someone, be it a boy or a girl.

She was still trying to figure out exactly which way he swung, which was something Ness had made sure to keep to himself. As his best friend, Nana seemed to have an obsessive desire to set him up with someone- anyone. It had become a game between the two of them, she trying to set him up with both boys and girls to see which one he went for and him doing his best to remain ambiguous.

It wasn't that he was ashamed of what he was, he just enjoyed torturing his best friend by not telling her. Of course, that meant not telling anybody else as well, which made the whole seven minutes in heaven thing quite complicated. He was really not looking forward to the prospect of kissing a girl, or having to resist pushing her off of him in order to not give himself away. No doubt Nana would make sure to send in one of her close friends to spill all the details the second the seven minutes was up.

Lucas raised his hand.

"I'll go in."

Complete silence followed as everyone in the room averted their gaze to him.

"As a joke of course."

Relieved laughter filled the air as both the boys and the girls sitting in the room relaxed, both for different reasons. No doubt all the girls would be upset to find out that they didn't have a chance with the school's golden boy. And, as for the guys, hanging out with the most popular kid in school would become a lot more complicated if they found out he was gay… or bisexual… or sexually confused.

Lucas had never bothered to label himself. He just figured he was attracted to people for different reasons, their gender not playing a factor. The problem was, he found girls pretty, but…they never really seemed to do it for him.

Ness, however, was a totally different story. He'd been watching him for quite some time, almost obsessively. He was surprised the guy hadn't noticed. This was the perfect opportunity to get some alone time with him without having to out himself.

"Hey, Lucas." He paused as he headed for the door, a mahogany haired girl with soft diamond eyes and a bubbly smile calling his name. Her name was Nana, if he remembered correctly, and she was in his math class.

"Yeah?" he asked, staring at her hesitantly.

"Listen, I'm trying to figure out which way my friend Ness, the one in the closet, swings. He refuses to tell me, so I have to resort to these little games. I don't want you to do anything too totally embarrassing, but could you just... I dunno, like just kiss him on the cheek?"

The girl seemed to feel awkward asking this of him, although he had already made plans himself to do much more than just kiss Ness on the cheek.

"Umm….I dunno, I'll see." Lucas said, shrugging nonchalantly.

"You should totally kiss him, Lucas," He could hear his friend Red's voice call out from behind him, his macho guy ego tainting his words with evil malice. "It'll be a hoot. Especially if he thinks you're a girl."

"Yeah…" the blonde said, remembering most people weren't really sure which way Ness swung. He'd been able to pick up on the fact that the guy was gay immediately, but most other people seemed oblivious to it.

Pushing open the closet door, Lucas quickly closed it behind him. He didn't need his friends blowing his cover.

By the time Ness had whipped his head around, the small flash of light that had illuminated the closet was gone. He knew someone else was in here with him, he just didn't know who. He could tell by the sound of the person's breath that they were near the door of the closet, but beyond that he knew nothing more than he had a minute ago.

Ness could hear the figure pause at the door before taking a few steps forward. In response, he equaled each step forward with one backward until he found himself pressed up against the closet wall. Oh god, this was going to be horrible, absolutely miserable. Nana was going to pay for forcing him to make out with some random chick of hers that probably had onion ring breath and liked to use her tongue as a projectile.

He could feel himself take a sharp breath as he heard the figure come to a stop in front of him. He could feel the person's breath come down on him in short, controlled waves. To his relief, he found it smelled pleasant, like peppermint, rather than onion rings. Oddly though, it felt like it was coming down from above him, which meant the person had to be taller than him.

Ness was of decent stature, 5'7, though his frame was quite slim, especially for a teenage boy. That meant, judging from the angle, the girl had to be at least 5'9. Great. Absolutely just... just spectacular with a stupid shit storm for extra effort. Nana had sent some barbarian woman in here to have her way with him.

"You know, we don't really have to do anything…" Ness mumbled, swallowing hard as he tugged at his collar. The closet seemed to have suddenly gotten extremely stuffy, and somehow smaller. He'd never experienced claustrophobia before, but he was willing to bet this was exactly how people with it felt.

The figure standing in front of him responded by leaning one hand against the wall, and lacing the other around his belt buckle.

The figure also seemed surprisingly strong as he pulled Ness towards him by the belt buckle. Instinctively, he flung his arms outward as if to brace himself, and froze.

Whoever was standing in front of him was definitely not female. He could feel the guy's rock hard chest under his hands, and judging by the width of it he also had fairly broad shoulders. Ness could feel himself start to panic as he pulled away. This had turned from totally awkward and uncomfortable to… well, even more awkward and uncomfortable. The guy didn't let go of him, though.

He kept him in place by the belt buckle, almost as if he'd expected Nate to pull away.

"Shhh…" was all Ness heard before a pair of soft, warm lips came down on his. He didn't move at all, staying as still as a statue. His brain didn't seem to be able to process what was happening, rendering him basically paralyzed.

The boy didn't seem to mind, his lips slowly parting Ness's as-

Poor Ness, frightened and startled, he jerked away so fast he slammed his head against the back of the closet. "Ow!" he cursed to himself, glad that at least the guy had released his grip on his belt buckle during the kiss-or whatever had just happened.

"Are you alright?"

He froze. He knew that voice. Lucas Richards, the local pretty boy… the boy he'd also had a crush on for as long as he could remember.

This was just some sick joke him and his friends had set up for their sadistic amusement. Nana wasn't the only one who didn't know which way he swung, which meant he was as good as gay in the eyes of the average jock. This title, of course, came with nice little entitlements like getting your ass kicked whenever you walked home alone and wearing your lunch instead of eating it.

"You're sick! You think this is funny, go ahead and laugh it up-"

"No. Wait. Listen."

"Why, so you can tell me how much of a fag I am." Ness tried to push past Lucas, but felt himself being held back by a set of strong arms.

"That's not what I was going to say."

"Get off of me!"

"Please, just-"

Before he could say anything else, the door burst open, Nana rushing in.

"What the hell Erik! I told you to kiss him on the cheek, not rough him around!" From outside of the closet, Ness could hear cackling from all of Lucas's buddies, obviously amused at the mixture of anger and terror plastered on his face.

"You did this." Ness shot back, shaking Lucas's hands off of him as he shifted his glare from him to Nana. "Wow, my best friend. This is a new low for you, really. Congratulations. Way to screw everything up, once again!

"Ness-" Lucas began.

"No. Shut the hell up," the raven haired boy glared, trying to hide the hurt in his eyes. "Just leave me alone." Pushing past him, Ness could feel Lucas's eyes on him, as well as everyone else in the room, as he ran out of the house.

This was a prime example of why he made a point to avoid high school parties. He could feel it start to rain, soon turning into an all out downpour. Good, at least this way no one would be able to see his tears.

There we are guys! Just like good old times, right? Thank you so much for reading, and please review. You know I'll be updating this fairly quickly as the chapters are already still in my computer. I have to wait before I get a new charger cable again, but that'll be within the next few couples of days as it is anyways. I love you all, and I hope you guys have a blessed day! Bye!

~ Paradigm