Author's Note: This story was inspired by an Inktober piece down by Silrance of Instagram and Twitter. YOU SHOULD FOLLOW HIM BECAUSE HIS ART IS AMAZING.

"Say, 'cheese!'" Mrs McGee said brightly, but Double Dee's eyes weren't on the camera lens of the proud mom, ecstatic that Eddy had earned an honest buck for once as he flashed a few dollars from his paycheck at the candy store and the jawbreaker bonus everyone that worked there got.

Instead, as his friends grinned, he checked his vibrating phone.

Texts from everyone in the cul-de-sac and Marie lit up his message log and it was exasperating.

Yeah, their little get together was public, but to say that word got around was an understatement.

And a total misunderstanding.

He and Nazz had only gone to grab a quick bite at the diner, at the counter no less, and then to one of Peach Creek's many lookout points to plot a few constellations for their shared Honor's Astronomy class.

Sure, they sat close, mostly to compare notes, and he held her hand on the walk up and back down, but only because the terrain was uneven and she wasn't used to the hike like he was.

And they talked about all kinds of things.

Well, she did most of the talking.

Seems she needed to vent about Kevin and his running around town with every other pretty girl who smiled his way.

But he and Nazz weren't official.

They never were and it was wearing on her as they were the captains of their respective junior varsity squads and every other captain boy-girl team pair was paired off.

Except for Rolf and Ang.

The latter of which was rumored to be on an actual date with their redheaded neighbor only because she was done with their farming friend because she found out that his mother thought of her as nothing more as a fling before he settled down with a girl from the Old Country.

Being a single captain was dangerous.

Captains carried a lot of clout so their respective partners had better be just as cool and popular as their titles made them.

Ang would do whatever she wanted, when she wanted, how she wanted, status be damned because she was Class A dancer and the only thing that would make her lose her title was a pregnancy and she was good about that not happening, so a ho-ing she went.

And it was about to make Nazz snap.

He told her to calm down and that Kevin would come to his senses soon because Ang would leave him alone like she did every other boy she messed with after she was done with them.

And suddenly Edd became Nazz's alibi if the Princess of Peach Creek ever broke Special K's precious little heart.

It was all so dramatic and he was so over it by the time he got her home, but apparently she appreciated his listening ear and now everyone knew about it.

He deleted all the texts, but not before taking a screenshot of Marie's as future evidence just in case.

Then he smiled for another picture before heading home and making a phone call.

"What the hell, Edd!?" Kevin screamed at him and a grin flashed across his face at how hurt the redheaded sounded.

"What are you talking about, Kevin?" He sighed as he fell back on his bed.

"You taking Nazz up to the point! What the fuck, dude!" Kevin screamed again and this time, his voice cracked in more emotional pain than puberty induced changes.

"Nothing happened, you moron," Edd said curtly, hurt that Kevin would think of him in such a way even though he had it coming.

"Bullshit, Dork! I've got fucking paragraphs of shit from Nazz talking about how you're such a great friend and good listener and shit. What. The. Fuck," Kevin seethed and Edd rolled his eyes.

"Nothing happened. We were doing homework. We chatted. Mostly about you, of course. And then I brought her home. I was the perfect gentleman. I'm sure that surprised her but -"

"Shut the fuck up, Edd," Kevin scoffed and Edd hear what sounded like a large blunt object hitting another and bit back a lecture on the redhead's temper. "You didn't tell her anything, did you?!"

"Why would I do that?!" Edd asked exasperatedly. "Do you think I have a death wish?!"

"Obviously, because you're taking my girlfriend to look out points on a damn Friday night," Kevin said tersely and Edd's blood ran cold.

"So she's your girlfriend now?"

Kevin's existence evaporated in that question and what he said next killed his soul, but he felt that it needed to be done to keep things as they should be.

"Yeah, she is."

"Goodbye, Kevin."

When Eddy called Edd later that evening to hang out, he went straight to voicemail.

Texts weren't read and Edd was offline on all of his social media.

Grabbing Ed, he ran over to his best friend's house and let himself in with a key he had made just in case. In case of what, he never knew, but now was just a good time as any to let himself in.

They found him curled up on his bed, a handkerchief in his clenched hands, in a deep sleep only crying yourself there could put one in.

Eddy tossed Ed a look and the oaf gently woke him.

"'Sup?" Eddy asked worriedly and Double Dee shrugged.

"Pizza?" Ed suggested and their smart friend nodded as he stretched out his tense limbs.

Eddy ordered pizza, Ed signed into his parents Netflix account to load up his horror movie queue, and Edd ignored his phone some more.

To the point that when his parents called the house, his mother was mere moments away from calling the police. And while he sounded fine to them, Eddy knew better.

After Ed left to walk Sarah home from Jimmy's, Eddy got down to business.

"So how'd it go?" He asked as he sat at the kitchen island and watched Edd clean.

"It went," Edd said with a shrug, but his eyes were dead.

"Dude, you don't get weepy because she didn't put out. Sure, she's Kevin's main bitch, but that doesn't mean you can't get another chance."

"I'd rather not," Edd said darkly and Eddy suppressed a shudder at his tone.

"I can get that. Lee may be trash, but she only wants me soooo..."

He then chuckled at Double Dee's long, loud laugh, happy to see his friend brighten up a bit.

"Thanks, I needed that," Edd said as he calmed down and Eddy shrugged.

"We're buds. Buds are there for each other."

They both made a face at Eddy's phone ringing but Edd shrugged so he answered it to tell his mom he was on his way home.

Monday morning, Nazz was wearing Kevin's letterman, hanging on his arm like a clingy koala and Edd was sick, til he saw Ang walk by.

The Princess gave the Queen of the Cul-de-sac a quick once over before rolling her eyes and skipping into a confused Max's arms.

"What's up?" He asked as he looked around at the tittering, gossiping students in the hallway.

"Nazz a ho," Ang grinned and when he peeked over her shoulder, his jaw dropped at seeing Kevin and Nazz finally being a thing.

"That's cold," he shuddered as Justin walked up to pull him off of Ang to get a hug of his own.

"What's cold?" The other boy asked and both Ang and Max turned to point down the hall.

Justin's face resembled every emotion Edd's stoic figure had whirling inside and he finally breathed a clear breath for the first time in a good forty eight hours.

"So gross," Justin said before heading to his locker, Ang and Max on his heels, Max needing gossip about her date with Kevin and Justin needing his books.

Edd headed to his shared class with Nazz, not sparing Kevin a word as he passed him to go through the door.

Nazz stormed to the table Ang shared with Max and Justin at lunch just as the three friends sat down.

"We need to talk, Angie," she said in a snotty tone as she folded her arms across her chest, the large sleeves of the jacket that still smelled like the Princess bunching up and making her look a bit like a fluffed up rat terrier.

"So talk," Ang said as she cracked open her Hawaiian Punch and took a bite of her burger.

"Alone."

"Not gonna happen," Ang snorted before sipping her drink.

"And why not?" Nazz demanded and Max snickered.

"Because I gotta eat and I'm ain't moving til I'm done, bitch. So if you wanna chat, start talking," Ang retorted as she opened her fruit snacks and gave the blond in front of her a long side eye.

"I'm not a ho," Nazz hissed at her and Ang outright laughed.

"First of all," Ang said as she held up a finger and Max and Justin started to scoot away just in case, "you and Kevin haven't been official til TODAY. So running around with Double Dee up at the lookout point and then walking in wearing Big Red's jacket makes you a ho and you owe Edd an apology for doing that to him. Second of all," she said as she held up two fingers, "don't get mad at me over your own shit. I do me and everybody knows it. That doesn't make me a ho. It makes me fucking smart because I ain't hurting nobody. You used Double Dee of all people to get the one guy you ain't hardly paid any attention to since seventh fucking grade. That's disgusting and you's a ho. And third," she said as she held up her middle finger, "you just mad that I hit it before you. Go sit down somewhere, child."

When she was done speaking, she gave her a look that let her know that the conversation was over and when Nazz caught how quiet the lunchroom was, she saw that the look on their classmates faces said that they all agreed with Ang.

Kevin came out of the cafeteria's main line as the two girls were having their stare down and when he saw where all the eyes in the oddly quiet, expansive space were looking, he groaned so loudly Edd went from looking at Ang and Nazz to catching his frustrated green eyes.

The urge to kiss him and make him smile was gone and he just shook his head, his blue eyes cold and unforgiving to Kevin's sad, remorseful green.

"Kevin's fuuuuuuucked," Eddy snickered and Edd had to grin in agreement.

Kevin tossed his lunch in the trash and walked out of the room, the grin he loved now smiling at his expense.

An expense he could never pay.