Edd sighed softly, glazed eyes following a young man on a bicycle who peddled casually around the neighborhood through the open window above the sink, stopping only when he caught sight of a blond haired girl in jeans and a t shirt flipping her hair needlessly. Edd groaned inwardly as he watched the familiar scene unfold.
"Hey, Naz!" the boy on the bike called, comming to a stop infront of her.
"Hey, Keven. What's up?" the blond haired girl responded.
"Not much. Come to the park with me, will you?"
"Sure, Kev'," Naz said instantly, followed by one of her traditional giggles that made Edd blanch. He adverted his eyes from the pair as they went down the street towards the park, feeling the hot water ripple against his elbows as he began to scrub the dishes once more.
Silently he chastised himself for even caring. "It's only natural," he murmured towards a particularly dirty glass after making a face at it and dunking it under the bubbles. "In the way society is built, it's only natural that the coolist guy hooks up with the coolist girl..."
"Exactly, Double D! A genius as always," Eddy practically shouted as he strolled into the kitchen as casually if he owned the place, causing Edd to drop the filthy glass, the sound of it shattering slightly muffled by the bubbles. Edd hadn't even heard the other come in, but he'd long ago gotten used to Eddy's behavior and at once took on the stern face he always took whenever conceiling his feelings, collecting the broken dish he'd dropped into the sink and dropping the peices into the trash.
Edd took a step back, holding his gloved hands over the sink to keep the water from dripping onto the floor while he looked over his shoulder to study the other carefully. "Hmm... and my intellegence is also telling me that by the look on your face you have another brilliant idea, am I correct?"
"As always, my friend! And giving credit where credit is due. I am brilliant, aren't I?" Eddy exclaimed, positively beeming as he wiped his nails on his pants and looked at them in the light.
"Uh huh... well, might I ask where Ed is?
"Doing what he does best, putting stuff together for my next plan. And don't worry, Double D, we don't need any of your crazy shcitomazatics, or whatever you call them. All we need you to do today is to bait Keven while I reel in his money, and Naz!"
Edd had remained calm throughout the duration of Eddy's short explanation, but at the mention of Naz, he become a bit cold, his words biting. "Oh? And how do you suppose you'll get Naz? She's Keven's girl."
Of course, Eddy was unphased by the words, his confidence bringing his chest out a few notches as he took in a deep breath and sucked in his pudgy stomach. "That's the problem, Double D. Keven. But you see, with my new plan, Naz will be mine. Ed's building a really really really big ramp, but without your safeproofing dynomechanics, and Keven's macho man attitude, he'll end up making a fool of himself, and Naz will be turned off by his clumbsiness and naturally turn to the better man!"
Edd sighed and finished stacking the cleaned dishes on a rack to dry, peeling off his gloves and stacking them neatly under the sink. "Alright, let's get this over with," he murmured bitterly, his hurt behavior unnoticed by Eddy.
Edd felt his heart jerk when he saw Naz and Keven engaged in some sort of deep conversation at the park, seemingly unbothered by the hammering of nails a short distance away where Ed was putting together every spare bit of wood and cardboard together to create a ramp that stretched a good thirty feet into the air. Edd was mildy impressed with his friend's structure, but it simply screamed unsafe from every rusty nail that stuck out from the recycled material. It hurt him to approach Keven, his fingers idly fidgeting in his pockets nerviously. Once behind Keven, he cleared his throat softly, his face reddening a little as he kept his eyes on Keven's shoes.
"U..uh, excuse me, K..keven, um... would you like to try out our new ramp? It's a quarter a run."
Naz looked like a fish, her eyes wide and her lips slightly pursed as she looked from Edd to Keven, and then skeptically to the ramp behind them. She was about to say something before Keven finally shrugged and began to walk his bike towards the ramp. "Sure, Double D. I'll try your ramp."
Naz' mouth gaped a moment before she scrambled after him, Edd following with his feet dragging slightly through the fresh spring grass, his eyes adverted to his own shoes 'til he'd reached the ramp himself... and then the thought struck him as a particularly nasty looking nail sticking out of the wood caught his attention. Keven could really get hurt!
"Wait! Keven!" He called, holding his beanie down as he raced the last few steps towards the ramp where Keven was already climbing to the top of while Ed used a cruedly fasioned pully to get the bike up as well. "Keven, wait!!"
"Double D! Don't tell him to wait, he's paid his quarter and now he gets to try out the new ramp!" Eddy growled, shooting a dangerous look from Edd to Naz in an attempt to speak silently his desires.
Edd wasn't paying attention. He scrambled up the ladder, panting slightly when he reached the top to face Keven who stood there with his arms crossed. "W..wait, Keven," Edd ghasped, leaning against the side rail for a moment, his eyes reflecting a bit of fear. Would Keven hate him because of this? "I h..haven't tested the ramp yet..."
"Why are you so afraid of me?" Keven demanded, cutting short Edd's stammering sharply, though his tone sounded somewhat hurt. "I want to try out the new ramp!" He was already getting his bike off the pully... but then Edd snatched it suddenly, rash behavior inspired by a mix of passion and fear as he swung his leg over and kicked off the side of the ramp... and everything was dark. He'd passed out before he could feel wood splintering under him...
The first thing that came to Edd's mind when he regained consciousness was complete and utter shock that he wasn't dead... and then the desire to be dead after he remembered what all had happened. He groaned softly, bringing a hand hard against his forhead before he wimpered suddenly, pain shooting from his wrist into the rest of his body.
"Shh-sh!!" He heard someone whisper, something heavy being set on the ground before the scraping of shoes grew louder and Edd felt a warm hand on his forhead, brushing away the dark hair he usually kept firmly tucked away under his beanie. "You're all right, just relax... how do you feel?"
"Nng... what happened?" Edd murmured before daring to open his eyes, blinking away the blurriness before Keven's face came into focus. Was it a dream?
"You shot down that ramp and caught some killer air on the other side, but I guess nobody's ever taught you how to land before. You landed on your wrist and sprained it, but I don't think you have a concussion because you didn't look conscious even before you hit the ground." Edd groaned again, eyes glancing past Keven to a slightly bent out of shape bike, his face contorting. "H...hey, relax! Do you need some pain meds? Should I call the doctor?"
"N-no! I'm fine... I'm very sorry about your bike, Keven, I know how much it means to you... I wasn't thinking, I-" He was silenced as Keven brought a finger to his lips, hushing softly.
"Don't worry about it, you're safe now. Whatever happened doesn't matter as long as you're okay. If you were a pound heavier, that thing would have probably collapsed, so you probably saved my life anyway, but I never want to see you do something so reckless again, do you understand?!"
"... okay, Keven," Edd murmured, his face aflame from the flattering concern.
"No, I'm serious," Keven pressed, bringing his fingertips along the curve of Edd's cheek. "I never want to see you get hurt... it would be too much for me..."
Edd wanted to cry aloud when he felt Keven touching him, using his better hand to grab onto Keven's and to press it onto his cheek lightly, ready to release and dodge a punch if Keven got angry... but to his surprise, Keven only smiled.
"Will you promise to be safe?"
"You too, Keven, it would break my heart if something happened to you..." He suddenly stopped, clamping his hand over his mouth as he made his confession, but Keven only continued to smile.
"Naz was right," he murmured softly bending to place a soft kiss on Edd's forhead. "I should have asked you out a long time ago... then we could have avoided you getting hurt all together." And then they kissed, sending Edd into another dizzy spell that left him desperatly grasping for consciousness. "It's okay, Love... sleep," Keven murmured, and with that comforting statement, Edd aloud his racing heart carry him into unconsciousness.