Title:Scars
Genre: Friendship/Hurt/Comfort
Rating: K
Warnings: Mentions of scars, nothing really too bad.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you may recognize.
Summery: Lucas doesn't want to go swimming with the other kids because he's scared they'll think it's weird that he has so many scars. But Snake doesn't judge him, because he's got his own scars.

Scars

It was midsummer and there was no relief from the horrible heat that had swept over the land that the Brawl Mansion resided in. Many of the brawlers, most who were unused to such sudden heat, were doing their best to find inventive ways to get cold. Some, like taking cold baths, were good ideas, but others, like trying to fit themselves into the freezer, were not. Master Hand had decided to cancel all battles for the next week seeing as the heat was just making everyone seriously cranky and the battles were becoming more and more dangerous. So the smashers were spending the week trying to find a way to cool down.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us Lucas?" Ness frowned at the other PSI user, disappointment obvious in his face.

"Y-yeah, I'm sure. I don't feel like swimming today." Lucas lied, giving a small forced smile. It must have been obvious at how fake it was because Ness opened his mouth to say something when suddenly a hand grabbed Ness' wrist and pulled him around, away from Lucas.

"Ness," Whined Toon Link, who for once not in his usual green tunic but instead wearing simple green swimming trunks. "We're really hot and I think if we don't go to the pool soon Popo and Nana are going to fry!" The young hero pointed to the two ice climbers, who weren't wearing their usual parkas but in their bathing suits: a pair of trunks for Popo and a one piece for Nana. The two did indeed look like they were at their limits.

"Go." Lucas pushed Ness forward, surprising the dark haired male. "You should get them to the pool before they overheat. I'll be fine and if I change my mind I'll meet you at the pool!"

"Well," Ness hesitated a moment longer but Toon Link didn't wait. He grabbed Ness' wrist and pulled him forward and racing towards the pool with Popo and Nana lagging behind.

Lucas sighed as he watched them leave, feeling both relieved and disappointed. He was just watching their retreating figures when a voice suddenly spoke out behind him.

"You wanted to go; why didn't you?"

Only jumping a little bit in surprise, Lucas turned around and shrugged at Snake but not really looking him in the eyes.

"I just didn't feel like it." He mumbled.

Snake looked at Lucas with a contemplative look as he leaned against a nearby tree with his arms crossed.

"You're obviously hot, so why not?" Snake looked over Lucas as he noticed the sweat rolling down his neck, making the boy frown even more.

"I'm fine! How are you not burning up? You're in your usual outfit…it's got to be a lot of layers."

"I manage." Was all Snake had to say. There was an awkward silence between them as Snake stared at Lucas and Lucas just shifted and rubbed his side nervously. Finally after a while, the man pushed off the side of the tree and started to walk off in a seemingly random direction into the woods.

"Hey," He turned towards Lucas, "Come with me. I wanna show you something."

Feeling unsure, but really having no reason to not trust Snake, Lucas hesitantly followed after the other. Following the man led the young boy deeper into the woods and made him feel more and more nervous. Soon though, his nervousness changed to curiosity as the sound of water reached his ears. Snake led Lucas into an opening, revealing his destination: a rather large and secluded lake. The boy made a noise of surprise and amazement and Snake let out a soft chuckle.

"I did some recon the first couple of weeks when we first got here and found this. I figured this would be a good place to swim if anyone wanted to…plus it's secluded so if you're nervous about people seeing something you don't want them to, then you don't have to worry."

Snake's voice was surprisingly soft for such a normally gruff sounding man, but it didn't make those words any easier to take. Lucas stiffened and clutched his side again, rubbing itself unconsciously. The young psychic only paused in his motions when Snake started making his way to the shore, stripping himself to his boxers as he went.

"W-what are you doing?" Lucas asked, his face turning pink as he looked away shyly before looking back for only a second.

"I'm going in the water, if it isn't obvious?" Snake replied with a small teasing smirk.

Lucas was going to say something back but all words froze when Snake took off his shirt. Snake was well built, but that wasn't what made Lucas stop. Instead, it was the scars that littered his chest and some on his back. So many pale lines on his skin tarnishing his skin and yet Snake didn't seem to care in the slightest if Lucas saw them. Watching the man wade into the water and begin to swim a bit out, Lucas hesitantly began to pull off his own clothes until he was only in his boxers and made his way into the water.

The young boy had his own scars on his body and he hated them. He hated what they represented and every time he saw them it reminded him of everything he had lost as he got them. He didn't want anyone to see them and he especially didn't want to explain them to others. So he hid them from his friends and from himself.

But now…

Lucas, now in the water, slowly made his way over to where the older man was. While Lucas wasn't a horrible swimmer, he was glad that the water wasn't too deep and he could still touch the ground while managing to keep his chin above the surface. Looking at Snake, he was taken by surprise when the man gave a rather mischievous grin before the next thing Lucas knew he was pushed under the water. Flailing around a bit, Lucas was easily able to get out from under the other's hand and go back up for air. Taking a deep breath and kicking away from Snake a bit, he looked at the man feeling upset and confused.

"What did you do that for?!" He asked, failing to keep his voice steady.

The grin slid off the man's face and an almost sheepish look replaced it, except it was hard to tell with Snake; the man could make his expressions very bleak looking. Shrugging, Snake held his hands up in a way to show no ill will.

"I was just fooling around but I see it wasn't very funny. Sorry kid."

For a while, Lucas just stared at Snake unblinkingly with a look of semi disbelief. Finally blinking, the blond haired gave the other a small nod. But then Lucas shot a smirk at Snake, making the mercenary raise an eyebrow before he was suddenly smacked in the face with a spray of water. Blinking, once he could finally see, Snake found the pre-teen grinning like a cat that caught the canary and felt himself begin to grin back.

"Prepare yourself; this means war!"

And with those words a full out war of water splashing ensued. There was laughter, from both sides, and the two were happy and tired smashers by the time they pulled themselves out of the lake and sat on the shore side by side. Lucas turned to Snake with a smile.

"That was fun Snake! I had never expected someone to start something like that who was so-so…"

"Mean?" Snake supplied when Lucas was short on words. The boy shook his head furiously though.

"No! You're not mean! You're just…tough." Lucas said as he finally found a word to describe the other. Snake just snorted though and the boy tried to assure him he was telling the truth. "Really! You're very nice though! You brought me out here to this secret spot and even played with me! And…And you didn't say anything about my scars…"

Looking down at Lucas as he mumbled the last part out, Snake patted his back.

"I'm pretty sure almost everyone here has scars Lucas. Some hide them well or some don't care if others see them. They show proof of your journey so you don't have to be ashamed of them…" Snake looked at Lucas and saw him looking down and rubbing at a rather long scar on his side. "But if you don't want to, then don't."

The two sat there, Lucas contemplating the man's words and Snake listening to the sounds around them and enjoying the peace.

"I don't think I wanna show the others just yet. I-I don't think I could deal with all of them staring at once or asking questions about how I got them…" Lucas stared at Snake, or really, at his scars. "Did you get yours because of your job?"

"You just said you didn't want others asking how you got your scars and yet you ask about mine?" The man raised an eyebrow and the young boy flushed, suddenly shamed. Just as Lucas was stuttering out apologizes, Snake waved him off and rolled his eyes. "It's fine Lucas, really. And yes, I did get these through my job."

"Oh." Lucas' mouth made a small 'O' shape before he pulled his legs against his chest and set his chin on his knees. He was quiet for a few moments more before finally speaking again. "Did they hurt?"

"Yes," Snake spoke honestly, not seeing the point in lying to the kid. "But I'm used to a lot of pain and I know how to block it out so I can deal with it until I'm safe to bandage it or something."

The young psychic nodded as if he understood, and honestly, Snake would bet that he probably did.

"Whenever I got hurt when we were fighting, I would barely even feel it. It was like my blood was pumping so fast that I just missed it. Then after the battle and we were safe, Duster and Kumatora always made sure to make me rest if we could afford it and heal any wounds I got. Most of the time, if they didn't say anything, I barely noticed them."

"Probably the adrenaline in you. You get so pumped up, it numbs everything else."

The two of them sat there a bit longer, enjoying the weather and the comfortable silence between them. After a while though the sun had begun its descent, turning the sky a mix between reds and orange shades. The elder stood up and began putting his clothes back on and Lucas followed suit. Once they were fully clothed, they headed back through the woods towards the Brawl Mansion. Halfway there Snake paused when he felt Lucas grab his hand. The boy was giving him a rather shy smile as he squeezed the his hand.

"Thank you Snake, I-I had fun…and it was nice to talk to someone." Squeezing Snake's hand one last time, Lucas let go.

Letting out a brief chuckle, Snake gave a small grin and ruffled Lucas' hair and his grin grew when Lucas let out a squawk of disapproval.

"You're welcome kid, anytime."

Owari

Inumaru12: Ugh, why did this take so freaking long to write? I think it was just writing Snake. He's so hard to write for me here, honestly. If anyone has any tips to writing him, I'd really love for some constructive criticism. Anyway, I meant to have this out before Thanksgiving but since I was having so much trouble it didn't happen. I really love Lucas and Snake bonding so I'll probably write more! :) Lemme know what you think though!