I haven't watched this show in years. So it's only logical that I write a short one-shot about my favourite pairing.
Disclaimer: I couldn't tell you for the life of me who these characters belong to. I mean, they're not mine, but I honestly can't be bothered looking it up.
XxX
He'd known, even if it were merely in the back of his mind, that the days would get quieter eventually.
Ascension through the many grade levels that school had to offer. The forging and destruction of relationships. The blood, the sweat, the tears, the homework.
Everything had felt so...small, as those years ago. The entire world had been all they could see around them, traveling from one side of the world to the other with each trip across Peach Creek.
They'd all grown up eventually. That innocence, tested time and time again, had finally taken that last opportunity to erode, melting away as soon as those gates to the outside world were opened.
Despite it all, they still weren't free from the shackles known as education. No licensed vehicle to drive them through the final year separating them from true freedom, no part time job piling enough money away for a safe landing at some point later in their lives.
Her approach had been stealthy. Silent, a predator stalking her prey from across the cafeteria. Admirable, considering the heightened senses built up from years of that exact practice.
His nose had been buried within a textbook, his advanced brain pulling him further and further away from his classmates with every page turned. The conversation he'd effortlessly been holding with his two best friends had come screeching to an unexpected stop, the reason making itself known in his ear almost immediately.
"Whatcha reading, dreamboat?"
He could almost be thankful of the breath in his ear stealing away his concentration, the shiver down his spine transforming a piercing shriek of, "KANKER!" into little more than muffled background music.
He'd gotten used to the stares that would follow that declaration, the way the table and bench would heave as he was left to fend for himself.
"Physics." The screams were growing fainter, a door slammed shut in the hopes of a greater chance to escape. Hardly greater for him, of course. "If you require the notes, I can lend you mine."
He didn't mind. Hadn't for a number of months, at least.
She was sighing, a lock of blue hair falling before her eye. His smile, hidden behind the pages of his education, only grew as she claimed a position beside him, her head landing comfortably on his lanky shoulder.
"You're a lifesaver."
Their audience had diminished, students of all ages returning to their meals upon realising there was to be no grand struggle of denial and obsession today. Or at least, not yet.
He preferred it this way. The years leading to his current position, all slowly proving themselves worth it with every minute in her presence.
He felt loved. More so than ever before, sticky notes or not.
"You know..." Her hands had stilled, the hat in her grip drooping slightly. "Somehow, this is way more enjoyable than chasing you around an entire neighborhood."
"...I concur." His book had fallen slightly from his eyes, his smile gaining the glint of mischief reserved for those with the last name Kanker. "Perhaps due to the fact that it's easier to kiss a target when it's stationary?"
The weight lifted from his shoulder, his blatant invitation bleeding into the smirk gracing her lips. His book had already been closed, resting upon the table as she moved to close the distance between their faces.
The door behind the duo burst open, almost flying from its hinges as it failed to rob Eddy of any momentum.
"Double... D. Kanker." Cringing at the position his friend was in, he came to a sliding halt beside their table, his hands on his knees in an attempt to regain some breath. "Get a... room already! There's people trying to eat in he-"
A previously unnoticed, orange haired missile slammed into his side, easily sending the bulky teen off his feet and into the table beside the pair.
Some things would never change.
But as Double D felt Marie wrap her arms around his neck and press her lips against his, he couldn't deny the happiness in knowing that others already had.