Hello everyone! This is just a one-shot that I thought of today from a video I saw posted by a few guy names Woody and Kleiny. I took some inspiration from what they did in their video to make this story. I hope you like it!
Eddy, the concept of that game is completely preposterous!"
"C'mon Double D. It will be fun. You saw the video; it's hilarious!"
"And dangerous! That one man was kicked in the face by his son."
"Hilarious!"
Edd huffed as he continued to walk away, doing his best to ignore his friend, "You wouldn't be thinking it's "hilarious" if you were the one kicked in the face."
"OK, OK, what if we promise not to do anything like that? Humiliation is fine, but nothin' that will hurt?"
The genius didn't answer, and Eddy grinned in triumph. "You know you want to Double D. We haven't played a game in forever. It will be just like old times!"
Edd stopped at the door to his classroom. "Very well," he sighed and turned to face Eddy. He tried to suppress a smile as Ed and Eddy jumped around cheering. "A few rules, Eddy: You will do nothing that will interfere with my school work. Nothing that will cause injury to myself, or anyone else. Nothing illegal. Deal?"
"Deal! Loser has to buy the other the giant pack of jumbo jawbreakers."
For the next two days, Edd was on his toes. Completing important tasks quickly. Never being caught holding something heavy or messy or honestly anything in general. At the same time, he was always side-eyeing his friends, looking for openings or any signs of weakness. Just waiting to strike...
By the third day, Edd started to think that his friends had either forgotten or were trying to go for the "late game" as it was so-called. He slowly packed his backpack after his last midday class. He was looking forward to lunch, he'd made himself his favorite pasta dish last night. His mouth was already watering just thinking about it.
"PAUSE!"
Edd's eyes widened as he froze. He was halfway through the motion of throwing his backpack over his shoulder when Eddy's voice rang through the room. The remaining momentum of his bag smacked into his side and he stumbled sideways into his desk. Eddy was leaning against the door, just trying to breath while he laughed at his friend's expense. Meanwhile, Edd was trying desperately to stay completely still while his backpack was hung precariously from his one shoulder. His eye twitched in irritation as he saw Eddy hit the floor wheezing and holding his sides.
By the time Eddy calmed down enough to speak, Edd's muscles were starting to ache from balancing most of his weight on one leg and a backpack on the edge of his shoulder.
"Well, Sockhead, I guess your strategy of waiting for the perfect moment has backfired." Eddy continued to giggle, "Remember, you can't move until I say so!" With that, Eddy sauntered to the nearest desk and pulled out his lunch.
For the next 25 minutes, Edd silently contemplated murder while Eddy casually ate and chuckled quietly to himself. As the end of lunch bell rang, Eddy threw away his trash and headed back to the door. He took another few seconds to laugh at his friend before saying "unpause" and walking out the door.
Edd collapsed against his desk. He finally let his backpack hit the floor with a heavy thump. Curse Eddy for knowing how many books I carry before lunch. His stomach grumbled angrily for not being fed at its usual time. Glancing at the clock, he sighed in irritation and hunger. He pulled a granola bar from his lunch bag and devoured it as quickly as he could before swinging his bag onto his protesting shoulder and heading for the door.
Guess it was time to play dirty.
Eddy was leaning against his locker after school, waiting for Double D to show up so they could all head home together. The hallway was still full of students chatting about after school clubs, sports, or whatever plans they had for the day. Ed had wandered over to some of the members of the Horror Movie club. They were animatedly talking about the most recent version of Zombies vs Vampires with Ed going into extremely gory detail about a zombie eating a vampire's entrails.
Nazz and a group of cheerleaders headed down the hall, chatting about their newest routine for the upcoming competition. Eddy starred as the group walked past. He did a quick glance up and down the hallway, and not seeing any familiar black beanies bobbing through the crowd, he made his way after the girls.
"Hey Nazz!"
The group of girls turned and glanced back at the short Ed. Nazz smiled good-naturedly at him as she faced Eddy completely. The rest of the group scowled and rolled their eyes.
"What's up, dude?"
Eddy grinned and strolled closer to the squad, "I'm writing a paper on the finer things in life, and I was wondering if I could interview you." He punctuated his statement with finger guns and a wink.
The cheerleaders all groaned in unison, and rolled their eyes. Nazz was seriously out of Eddy's league, but the guy was persistent.
To everyone's surprise, even Eddy's, Nazz giggled into her palm, "You're such a charmer, Eddy."
"And you're a campfire, because you're super hot and I want s'more."
More groans filled the air, but Nazz's high pitched laugh is all Eddy really cares about. "Eddy you're a riot, dude! Why don't you join me at practice today?"
Score! Eddy was practically vibrating with excitement. Nazz motioned for Eddy to follow her as she turned to join the other girls. Eddy did a quick jump and click of his heels before taking a few quick steps to follow after the girl of his childhood dreams.
"Pause." Edd whispered into Eddy's ear.
Eddy froze, one foot halfway in the air to step forward. His eyes turned just enough to catch Edd smiling deviously next to him. His victorious grin quickly dropped to a frown.
"Ah-ah-ah, Eddy. No moving until I say you can. Unless you'd like to buy me those jawbreakers, of course" Edd teased. He poked Eddy's lips back into a wide grin then turned and left for his locker across the hall.
Eddy watched helplessly as Nazz and her fellow cheerleaders disappeared down the hall, none the wiser that Eddy had stopped following them. Other students started to stare in confusion as Eddy stood completely still, frozen halfway through a step, a shit-eating grin stuck on his face, but his eyes glowing in frustration. As the hall emptied, Edd finished up at his locker and closed it with a self-satisfied hum.
"Hey Dork."
Edd turned to see Kevin strolling down the hall, hands in his pockets, his eyes on the unmoving scam artist in the middle of the hallway.
Edd smiled pleasantly, "Greetings, Kevin. How may I help you?"
"What's with Skipper?" Kevin jerked his head towards the genius's victim before raising an eyebrow.
"Oh," Edd giggled into his hand, "Eddy is just learning a lesson."
"Uh-huh…" Kevin looked back at Eddy, seeing his face turning red with anger, but a happy grin still glued in place. "What's the lesson?"
"All's fair in love and war," Edd giggled again. "Have a wonderful afternoon, Kevin. Come along, Eddy. Ed will be waiting for us at the front door, I'm sure."
Kevin smiled warmly as he watched the duo walk away, Eddy shouting at Edd and swearing payback.
The game continued for the next few weeks. Both teens trying to catch the other in the most compromising position possible.
Edd froze Eddy outside of his house while he was getting the newspaper for his parents. He was slightly bent at the knees, hand outstretched to pick up the bagged paper. Edd laughed from the sidewalk as he counted down a couple minutes for the sprinklers to turn on and soak Eddy from head to toe.
So Eddy paused the genius as he was vacuuming his house. By the time Eddy finished laughing and Edd was able to turn the vacuum off, there was a particularly fluffy spot on the carpet that wouldn't lie down right for several hours.
They went shopping and Edd was forced to freeze in the middle of paying. The cashier laughed along with Eddy as he struggled to remove the money from Edd's hand.
Eddy was frozen mid-bite of his sandwich, forced to sit there until a small dribble of drool started to slide down his chin.
They paused each other while pouring drinks, overfilling the glasses and making the contents spill all over the counter and floor.
They paused when the other was talking, forcing them to stop their conversation while friends and strangers looked on in amused confusion.
By the end of the month, the whole school knew what the two were doing. The school newspaper club posted an article about it in the newsletter featuring the school's future valedictorian standing frozen at the water fountain, water splashing against his mouth as Eddy laughed in the background. Other groups of people took up the game and soon people were regularly seen paused in hallways between classes. Having to stop in the middle of games during gym. Teachers had to create rules that students weren't allowed to be paused during class after one girl was frozen during a presentation and was so dedicated to the game that she refused to continue.
After the end of another week of avoiding Eddy, Edd stood at his locker organizing his books for the classes that didn't have homework. He'd had a particularly difficult day. Most of his classes had tests, and the ones that didn't were all grueling lectures. As much as he loved learning, there was still only so much his brain could do in one day before it really gave out. Today would probably be a day for a nice cup of tea and a good book. His homework could wait until tomorrow, he had all of Saturday afterall.
Edd smiled contentedly to himself as he sighed and leaned against his locker, waiting for Eddy. He closed his eyes and carefully planned out his schedule for the weekend. If he didn't do homework tonight, he'd need at least 3 or 4 hours tomorrow. Dusting the house beforehand would be best, then he can concentrate without all the excess dirt floating in the air.
"Pause."
Edd jumped slightly from the sudden intrusion into his thoughts, but dutifully froze without opening his eyes or moving from his previous resting position.
Of all of the times that Eddy has paused me, this has to be the most unusual one. What's he planning?
Now that he was listening, he could hear Eddy sneak away from him. The sounds of the hallway were dying down until it seemed that he was the only one left.
Is Eddy planning on leaving me here for the night?!
Edd refused to move from his position, but dread was building in him as each minute passed. The longest they'd ever paused one another was maybe a half an hour, when Eddy stopped Edd while he was cooking dinner. He'd burned his meal in the oven, and forced Eddy to order them pizza to make up for his ruined food. Would Eddy just leave him here for as long as possible to test his dedication to the game?
After what he guessed was another 10 minutes, he could hear footsteps approaching him, cautious and purposefully quiet in the empty hall. Perhaps Eddy was trying to sneak up on him and scare him while he was forbidden from reacting. Edd tensed, ready for whatever his friend would throw at him.
A hand cupped his cheek, fingertips tickling the hairs next to his ear. Edd's heart jumped in his chest, frightened that some hooligan had come to take advantage of his frozen state and steal his hat. He readied himself to grab for it when the mystery person did, his fingers twitching slightly in preparation. Buying a bag of jawbreakers would be worth keeping his hat securely on his head.
However, the hand stayed still and instead a pair of lips were placed over his own. Edd jumped at the contact, and squeezed his eyes tighter to prevent himself from looking. His heart raced, his face flushed, and he was straining all of his other senses to work harder and let him know who was kissing him. Then as quietly as his mystery person appeared, they were gone, and the hall was silent again.
Another few minutes passed before Eddy returned, "Unpause."
Edd immediately opened his eyes and rounded on his friend. "Eddy! What in the world was all of that about?!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Sockhead." Eddy started walking away, C'mon Double D, it's the weekend! Let's take a break from all this and do something fun."
Edd rushed after his friend, grabbing Eddy by the arm and forcing them to a stop just outside of the school doors. "I am not just going to drop this. Why did you pause me in the hallway like that?"
Eddy laughed, "I just thought it'd be funny if I left you frozen there with your eyes closed for a while. The ever observant Einstein unable to see what's going on around him. It wasn't as great as I thought it'd be. I was hoping you'd panic 'cause you couldn't see."
Edd hesitated, "Well, you were obviously wrong. It was actually...quite enjoyable."
"Ehh," Eddy shrugged, "I guess it didn't work then. Now let's go, I'm hungry."
"Y-yes. Let's." Edd hurried down the steps of the school and off towards the cul-de-sac. Eddy followed slowly behind. As Edd reached the end of the school yard, he turned to tell Eddy to move faster only to see Kevin slapping a 10 dollar bill into Eddy's hand. Edd stared at the odd transaction for a second before understanding set it. Kevin looked up and saw him staring, he blushed furiously before he quickly took off for the parking lot.
"Kevin; pause!" Eddy yelled after the retreating jock.
The redhead froze in the middle of the parking lot. The football team had taken up playing the game a few weeks ago. At this point everyone was conditioned to stop immediately if anyone said the word pause.
"Go get him, Double D. You can unpause him for me when you're ready" Eddy laughed and started to head home for a snack and a well earned trip to the candy store.
Edd was hesitant to approach his neighbor. Even frozen in the middle of a mostly empty parking lot, the guy was still intimidating. Now more-so than ever.
Still, Edd gathered his courage and walked over to Kevin. Eddy had paused Kevin in a pose not too unlike the one that Edd had found himself in just a few minutes ago. Kevin was mid-step, but his eyes were closed and his brow furrowed in frustration? Anxiousness? Edd wasn't sure.
The genius had so many questions, but the only thought that came to mind was the gentle touch of a calloused hand against his face and the warm, soft lips that pressed against his own. Edd blushed again.
He stepped closer, until he was only an inch or so from the jock's face. His blue eyes were scanning the redhead, taking in every detail. He could hear Kevin's panicked breathing as it rushed quickly in and out of his nose.
Edd smiled, closing the distance between their lips as he whispered, "Unpause."
So what did you think? It's silly. I know, but it sounded cute in my head.
Anyway,
Thanks for reading!
Cthepolkadots
