A/N: Panda wrote the odd-numbered prompts, Sleepy wrote the even ones.
Protip: For whatever reason, openoffice has decided to double space my paragraphs, and it screws up every time I try to fix it. So live with it please, yes?
*ASDFGHJKKL why is this being so impossible to format? Still not the easiest thing to read, but the best I can do.
001. Accident
Standing there in his mother's dress, Eddy told himself that it all his own fault for leaving the door unlocked. More than anything he was surprised that he hadn't started shouting yet. He thought that he was probably in shock. He figured he'd more than likely start screaming in a moment or two and then things would be relatively normal again, so he tried to start thinking of suitable things to throw.
One of the hands held limply at his sides began to fiddle with the hem of the dress. He wasn't even sure why he'd put it on in the first place. It was black and it hugged his chest.
Double D looked as though he was torn between knowing he should run for the nearest exit and wanting to gawp some more. Eddy couldn't really blame him- if things were the other way around he'd sure as hell get a good look in. It was almost funny- he was forgetting to blink.
"I... Well, I realise now that I should have knocked."
"Quit staring at my legs."
002. Alcohol
"What's the big deal, Sockhead! It ain't gonna hurt no-one!"
"Oh sure, Eddy, sure it won't hurt. Well mister, don't you come crying to me when you start to feel nauseous!"
Double D stood breathing heavily, with balled fists by his side. He was quire willingly being Voice of Reason to his friend once again, even though it meant also accepting the title of Spoilsport.
So be it.
Eddy raised up the cheap liquor and held it before him defiantly, sloshing the amber contents around the bottle in a taunting manner. He'd gone to the trouble of "borrowing" it from his Big Bro, so he was damned sure going to drink it and enjoy his prize. Momentarily, Ed chuckled; he was using a black marker to connect his freckles together, oblivious to the stand-off before him.
Edd decided a change of tactic was in order, and pulled out the Angry Parent card, using the most admonishing tone he could muster, "Eddy, what will your mother have to say about this when she finds out? Think how disappointed she would be knowing her son-"
"-How's she gonna find out, huh Double D? You gonna rat out your best friend?" The bottle fell to hang limply by his side, its current owner wearing a hurt expression like an ill-fitting sweater. He slung his free hand into the pocket of his blue jeans, "Well, if that's how it's gonna be..."
Double D rubbed at his arm, casting a guilty glance at Eddy's carpet. The carpet did nothing and offered no solutions to the moral dilemma. The darker haired boy smiled reproachfully, trying to cover the accusation of being a snitch by taking another approach to his protests. He swallowed sheepishly, "Just think how much more rewarding this experience will be if we wait until we're all legal adults. Doing something so rash now will only tarnish our views when it all goes wrong!"
In all fairness, it wasn't a very good attempt - the whole conversation was nothing but a half-hearted effort to dissuade his friend, clearing his conscious before he, too, joined in. And afterwards he would say it was only out of curiosity.
003. Amusement
"Eddy... d'you think..?"
"I try not to on weekends, Leonardo."
Double D giggled, Eddy found it infectious.
It wasn't the first time they'd been drunk- certainly not for Eddy, who had been enthusiastic about alcohol since his preteen years- but it was the first time Edd had consented to drinking at a party. Drinking underage, he said, was twice as risky at parties! Eddy assumed that his best pal meant a few different things when he'd said that, but he didn't actually care about any of them.
"No, no, do you think," Edd reiterated, leaning in conspiratorially, "Do you think that Kevin loves Nazz?"
Caught slightly off guard, Eddy was about to laugh because duh, how long had they been dating? Double D had obviously asked for a reason though, and as he looked across the room to the pair of them drinking and schmoosing, and saw that, actually, Kevin couldn't have looked less interested in what Nazz was talking to him about. He supposed he had no way of knowing, really. He wasn't exactly going to go over and ask, not even for Double D, who stared at him with wide, dark eyes.
"How am I supposed to know?"
Edd didn't answer. He shifted his weight from foot to foot every couple of seconds. Totally wasted, Eddy thought. Normally it was funny, but nobody was laughing this time.
"Why?"
"I couldn't be in a relationship with somebody I didn't love."
Eddy sighed, and told himself never to let double D drink again because stuff like this was just awkward when it got said out loud. He wanted to ignore it, but he was afraid there'd be tears if he did.
"Uh. Well, nobody's makin' ya."
"I've never had a girlfriend."
"Yeah, me neither," Eddy replied, somewhat bitterly.
"I think I may prefer the company of men."
So, so awkward when said out loud.
004. Angel
At Christmastime, it was always Ed that placed the angel at the top of the tree; for reasons unknown to the others, he insisted every year to the point of bordering on a tantrum. It didn't even matter to the three boys that their Christmas tree was merely the top part cut off from Eddy's festive connifer - his mother consistently purchasing one each year that was too big for their living room. For them, the festive season began when Eddy hammered on their doors shouting "I got it, guys! I swiped it!". Double D would laden his arms with baubles (all from the same set - it set him on edge to see trees decorated with hundreds of mismatched trinkets) and a pair of mittens for Ed.
Only this year, Ed had gone on vacation for the Christmas season.
Eddy picked at the pine needles on the tree. He noticed his ass was getting cold from sitting outside by the curb, "Should we just leave it off?"
"It doesn't really look like a Christmas tree without the adornment of an angel atop it," Double D was cast a raised eyebrow at his turn of phrase. Eddy shrugged non-comitantly and looked up the angel's dress.
"Now Eddy-"
"...are you blushing?"
005. Anger
"I can't believe you!"
Despite having done it on purpose, Eddy was a little afraid. What he'd done had, according to plan, made Double D so angry that he was past crying and was actually shouting. Eddy could count on his fingers the times Double D had shouted at him. He looked unhinged. It was making Eddy flinch.
"I can't believe you would do that!"
He gestured wildly with his hands, and Eddy noted that he might need to dodge a punch. It wasn't as though it would hurt or anything, but...
"You're my best friend! And you just told everybody that I-"
"You're really mad at me?"
"Yes, I'm mad at you! For-"
"You couldn't possibly get any madder?"
"I've never been angrier in my life! You loudmouthed-"
He took a breath and then grabbed a fistful of Edd's shirt, bringing their faces level, and then bringing their lips together. Double D's arms fell to his sides. Eddy felt his heart hammer away in his throat, and feeling so excited and scared was a bit of a thrill, but it was just terrible kissing someone who wasn't doing anything. Edd didn't reciprocate, but he didn't push him away, either. Growing desperate, he grabbed his friend around the waist with his other hand.
He knew when Double D had realised what was going on because he slowly started to kiss back.
006. Attraction
It was not taking the first turn of looking at a new comic, watching TV but not being able to remember the programme, playing right up to the last minute before having to go indoors and being impatient for the next day to begin.
It was sideways glances and sideways smiles. Often, it was meeting each other's eyes and feeling cheeks turn hot. Sometimes it wasn't looking away.
When they dared, it was brushing the other's clammy fingers with their own.
It was never enough.
007. Autumn/fall
The approach of fall and, therefore, the end of summer, was acknowledged in private but never spoken about. It was like that one weirdo that every family has (For Eddy, an uncle who still lived with his parents at, like, forty or something)- you know when the reunion is coming up, but if you tried not to think about it you could usually forget that it had to happen.
Eddy knew it had gotten around to that time of year- fall- because every night was a sleepover. They'd take it in turns to be the host (a term which only Edd took literally). The three of them tore through cupboards and drawers, completely demolishing anything sweet they could find, made lemonade, drank coffee. They stayed up watching garbage until it got light outside, at which point they usually passed out, exhausted. The next day would be the same, and the next and the one after that until they were made to go to school again.
Another way that fall made itself known to Eddy was the way the glorious sunshine gave way to brisk, bitter nights. This meant that, even indoors, Double D got cold. When he was awake it was hard to tell, but four or five movies into the night, when the sugar highs had worn off and they would all begin getting tired as they lolled around on the couch, he would always shiver when his eyes began sliding shut. Double D's house was always cold anyway (it was always empty), but at Ed's or his own place it should have been warm enough. Eddy usually shrugged it off as being just another way that Edd was complicated. Too skinny, that's what he chalked it down to, and vowed yet again to fill his friend with as much candy as he could get his hands on.
Definitely too skinny for his own good. Eddy always thought that, especially when he threw an arm over his bony shoulders. Usually that seemed to warm Edd up, but it left Eddy feeling wide awake again, every time.
008. Beauty
"Hey, Sockhead?"
"Yes, Eddy?"
Eddy swallowed and furrowed his brow with discontent. This was lame, but he had to ask. And Double D was the least likely to poke fun at him afterwards - probably wouldn't mention it at all, if he were to be completely accurate.
"Do you think...?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think I'm getting fat?"
Double D was taken aback momentarily; personal appearance wasn't something they usually paid attention to - nevermind worried over. He was, therefore, unsure of how to handle this situation as he had never had issues with his own looks - outside the concerns of hygiene related grievances, of course. Still, Eddy had been brave enough to confide in him, so it was only fair to try and show him some friendly reassurance - even if he didn't know the precise words to say.
"Why...you look splendid, Eddy. Honestly, you would've thought peer pressure would wait a few years!"
Double D made a show of tidying his already parallel stack of non-fiction books, while Eddy stared with a look of confusion at the back of his friend's head.
You look splendid.
009. Blood
As he laced his shoes up, Double D vaguely registered hearing Eddy tell Ed to go on ahead and wait outside for them, and whatever nonsensical, longwinded reply it was that Ed gave, he got pushed through the door anyway. The noise it made as it slammed shut reverberated through the house, and Double D frowned as he finished his double bows. Ominous, he thought, and was not at all surprised to see his friend blocking the exit as he got up to leave. He looked angry. His fingers twitched by his sides.
"There something you wanna tell me?"
Edd found himself blinking back confusion. For all his intelligence, it seemed that he probably wasn't going to be smart enough to avoid the fight that was brewing. He really had no idea what Eddy was talking about and he sighed, defeated already.
"Well, no. Is there something you want to ask me?"
Eddy looked away, and shook his head.
"That aint gonna wash with me, Eddward."
"Eddward? What on Earth's the matter, Eddy?"
"Just say it! You know I'm no good at this stuff! You'll feel better if you just say it!"
Double D realised that really he could do nothing but shrug helplessly and search his friend's eyes for a clue. He found none. He was beginning to feel quite bad that he had no answers because, although it could be difficult to tell, Double D always knew when Eddy was worried.
"I don't... I don't know what you're..."
"You've been so quiet, and I don't know why!"
Silence.
"Did you- I mean look, Edd, did you do something to yourself?"
Eddy looked awkward, afraid, and utterly mortified. Double D was touched that his friend was putting himself through all that, but- though he didn't want to jump to conclusions without further clarification- he felt the bottom drop out of his stomach.
Eddy pointed to somewhere around his shoulder.
"Is that blood?"
Eyes wide, Double D felt himself grow slack-jawed with shock. He looked at his shirt sleeve even though he didn't need to. It was probably motor oil, actually.
"No!"
"Fine," he said, clearly not believing it.
Eddy turned and opened the door, greeting Ed, who stood a few feet away. Double D followed hesitantly, making sure the door didn't slam behind him, and he didn't know which was worse- that his best friend thought him capable of hurting himself, or that he actually let himself think about it sometimes, and that Eddy could tell.
He tagged along behind his friends as they set off across the cul-de-sac to do goodness knew what, and he knew how inappropriate it was, but he was intensely annoyed that he didn't get to change into a clean shirt.
010. Book
Double D wondered if his parents were the last people on earth whose doorbell was the standard ding-dong! as he padded barefoot down the hall to answer the door.
"Eddy?"
"I need to borrow something," Eddy announced, somewhat rushed. Edd took a step back to allow his friend inside, who gravitated towards the other's room. Double D barely had time to close the door, nevermind fret over his guest not removing his shoes at the mat and the amount of dirt he would then trample into his mother's carpet, before he heard the distinct noise of someone disorganising his personal effects.
He was greeted with the sight of Eddy ransacking his bookshelf, throwing unwanted books onto his neatly made bed.
Somewhat peeved, he asked shrilly, "Can I help you with anything? I mean, really. You barge in without so much as a 'hello' and then-"
"Yeah do you have like, a book with words in?" Eddy threw over his shoulder, not pausing.
"...don't all of them have words in, Edward?" That got his attention.
"No, Sockhead, like a list of words."
"A dictionary?"
"No! Argh! A book with words that tells you other words in a list!"
"A thesaurus, Eddy."
"Whatever! Do you have one?"
"Of course, the books are alphabetised so it'll be under "T". Why do you need a thesaurus, anyway?"
Eddy muttered "aha!" and yanked his prize from the shelf, causing the rest of the books to slant over in a domino effect. He jumped triumphantly from the bed, slinging the book under his arm and made his way to leave, "I'm writing something, okay? A letter."
Double D frowned suspiciously; it was most unlike Eddy to do something bordering on academic outside of school-time, "A letter? To whom?"
"Mind your own beeswax."