"What- I don't understand- this is stupid..."
Big Ed covered his mouth as his friend struggled to ice the dozens of cupcakes that littered the counters of Edd's kitchen and the raven himself just covered his face with his hands to block out the mess. "It's not that hard, man. Literally all you have to do is squeeze the tube and aim. It's not that hard." Ed said as he walked over to Trevor and inspected one of his poorly iced cupcakes.
The blonde groaned in frustration and slammed the bag of icing on the counter. "I give up!" he yelled and turned to Edd with his hands in the air. "I'm useless at this icing biz. Gimme another job."
Marie giggled from the far corner as he cradled a bowl full of batter to her chest and Trevor hurried over to her with wide eyes. "Gimme the bowl, Kanker." he said.
"What? No way! Sucks to suck, bro." she said as he turned away to protect the batter from his grasping hands. "Dee, control your friend over here."
Edd dragged his hands over his face and flipped a hand in the air as he took over Trevor's spot. Within minutes two dozen of the cupcakes were iced to perfection. The next day was the first Peach Creek High bake sale of the year. The school held it once a semester so that by the end of the school year, the teachers from the Special Education Department had enough money to take their students to go do something fun since they didn't get out much.
The raven first started making blueberry cupcakes his freshman year and ever since then, he had practically been funding the SED himself. The student body went crazy for his baked goods and the staff practically begged him to save them some every time.
"Oh my God, these are so good." Big Ed moaned as he snatched one of the cupcakes off the counter and promptly shoved it into his mouth. Edd just rolled his eyes and put a hand on his hip as he watched his friend but let out a squeak as the football player put his hands on either side of the raven's face. "God bless you and your baby face for these cupcakes. You need to be protected at all costs."
An embarrassed blush spread across Edd's face at the nickname but he smiled nonetheless. "T-thanks, Ed." he said and rubbed his cheek where the other's hand was. Edd still found it strange when his friends would sometimes unintentionally point out that he had gone soft.
The small genius excused himself to the restroom a little bit after that and once he was inside, he took the liberty of washing his hands in a sink that wasn't full of dirty dishes. And as much as he tried not to, Edd couldn't help but catch his reflection's eyes in the bathroom mirror.
A dripping hand came up to touch the soft skin of his cheek and he couldn't help but wonder when he stopped caring about himself. Did he ever even care at all? A small part of him said yes, but as his eyes wandered from his face to his fingers to his arms and then to his stomach, a bigger part of him said no. If he had truly cared, he would've come up with a better solution to his stress rather than eating.
Edd's parents had hired a trainer for him last year after coming home from one of their horribly long trips for work and finding that their son looked very different from the last time that they had seen him. In the span of four months, the raven dropped a considerable amount of weight but then he plateaued and hard. Nothing he did seemed to work and his parents eventually gave up on the idea, so now he's managing on his own.
Or well, he's trying to anyways.
Edd wiped away the salty liquid from his eyes and took a few deep breaths before walking back out to the kitchen to see if any of his cupcakes were left from his ravenous friends.
...
The next day Edd sat with his face resting in the palm of his hand at his table with Marie. The bake sale had been a huge success and damn near all the cupcakes had been sold but all Edd wanted to do in that moment was collapse in his bed. It wasn't all that easy dealing with the people that tormented the duo nearly everyday. "How much?" he asked as he sent a bored glance over to his friend.
Marie licked her thumb as she continued to count through the thick wad of cash and shrugged. "A couple hundred probably. Eddy would be fuming if he saw us with this much money!"
Edd giggled a little and played with a lock of inky hair that fell out from underneath his hat. "I wouldn't doubt it, but please try not to summon him. I'm not strong enough to deal with that man right now."
The blue haired girl sent a smirk towards her best friend and continued to count. "Yeah, me neither- oh." she said with the last part of her sentence spoken lowly.
"What?" he asked as he sat up in his chair a little. Marie sent a curious glance at the raven and motioned with her eyes. Coming right toward them was the one and only, Mr. Perfect. Or, the person that had been staring holes into Edd's back since that day at the pool about a week and a half ago. Edd swallowed back a nervous lump in his throat and cast his gaze to the floor.
Kevin sauntered up to them in a well fitted t-shirt and some faded jeans. It wasn't much, but it was still enough to make any girl or boy unsteady on their feet. "Hey," he said as he stopped right in front of the duo's table and pulled out his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans. "How much?"
Marie shot another glance at her friend who was now counting the the stack of bills that she had set down on the table upon the redhead's arrival and sighed. "Five bucks."
"Per cake? Are you serious?" Kevin asked with a perfectly raised eyebrow as his hand stilled on his wallet. Marie just shrugged.
"I take it you've never had one of Dee's cupcakes then." she said and Kevin paused briefly before answering.
"No, every time I get around to buying one, you two are either already gone or you're out of cupcakes." he said.
"Oh, well that's unfortunate...five bucks."
Kevin sighed and pulled out a crisp ten from his wallet. "Gimme two."
Marie happily snatched the money out of his hand and turned around to bag up the last of the cupcakes. While she was doing that, Kevin took that chance to finally catch Edd's attention.
"Hey, Double D. How's it been?"
The raven panicked a little inside and slowly turned his head up to look Mr. Perfect in the eyes. "Fine, I suppose...and yourself?"
Kevin shrugged and offered Edd a small smile. "Same."
"Here, they're all yours, man. Go at it." Marie said when she finally turned around and handed him the cupcakes. The redhead smiled and thanked her before reaching into the bag to pull out a cake and take a quick bite.
"Oh my God." he moaned with his mouth full. "Totally worth the wait and the ten bucks." Kevin said as he swallowed and put the half eaten cupcake back in the bag for later as he started to step away.
"Thanks guys...see ya 'round, Dee." he said and sent a wink in the raven's direction before he was gone for good. Marie grasped at Edd's arm and shook him a little.
"What was that?!" she demanded. Edd just sat there with his mouth bobbing open and closed like a fish as he searched for an answer.
But unfortunately for him, he found none. "I have no idea." Edd said and unbeknownst to them, a certain redhead was standing outside of the cafeteria doors with a guilty smirk and a flushed face.
"Totally worth it."
