DJG: Hello, and welcome back to CombinED! Hope that there's still come interest in this, because I've got a lot more planned! XD Well, enjoy chapter two!

The rest of the day went by rather slowly, with Kevin having to go to his freshman English class with Ed, while Double D and Eddy went to the sophomore math class. Eddy griped and grumbled and complained, while Double D was excited for another day of working on geometry.

Halfway through the class, however, Double D began squirming a bit uncomfortably in his seat as he realized he needed to use the facilities. A bit reluctantly, he raised his hand to request permission to leave, unhappy about missing important knowledge of the lecture. However, when nature called, you couldn't just ignore it. So, a bit glumly, he quickly made his way down the hall and to the restroom. Once that business was concluded, he began making his way back to class.

Double D was so distracted thinking about all the learning he was missing that he didn't see an imposing figure watching him from further down the hallway. He did notice, however, when the hat-clad person grabbed his arm and pushed him up against a locker. He squeaked in fear as Eddward Khouth smirked down at him, his own gap in his teeth flashing as he spoke. "What do we have here? A lost little Peachie wandering the Lemon Brook hallway..? Tsk, tsk. This isn't where you belong, no matter how smart you think you are."

Double D squirmed in outrage at the dig at his intelligence. He hated when he was looked down upon for being younger, and therefore, less brainy than others. Intelligence wasn't defined by age... "N-Now, see here, M-Mr. Khouth! I-I was just on m-my way back to geometry, th-there is n-no need for p-petty insults!"

Double D squeaked as Eddward reached down and pulled his chin up to face him. "Well, well, well. I didn't get a chance to get a good look at you in the lunch line, but I guess the rumors are true. I do look like the not-so-famous Double D. Or, more accurately, you look like me."

Double D's face turned red out of both embarrassment and anger. "I-I can't help the way I look-!"

Eddward cut him off with a condescending little shushing noise. "Quiet, sweetheart, will you? Now, it seems to me that you and my little Pumpkin are becoming quite the close pair, and that's sweet and all, but you're not making anything easier on yourselves by making it so obvious that you're friends. Any enemies of yours at this school will target him, just like any bullies of his from Lemon Brook will target you. You both need to watch yourselves...let me give you some incentive to take better care of each other~. Besides, I want to be distinguishable from a dork like you."

Before Double D could react, Eddward had slammed a fist into his eye and then into his stomach. The smaller of the two gave a cry before Eddward grabbed him by his hat and opened Kevin's locker, shoving him in and slamming it shut. Double D gave a low moan, one hand coming up to rub at his eye pathetically. Ouch, that stung...not only that, but this was one of the salvaged Lemon Brook lockers, the kind that didn't open from the inside...sigh...

He felt Eddward lean against the locker to peer in at him through the cracks and was surprised by the small flickering of guilt he could see in his eyes.

"...my apologies, sweetheart, but this is a lesson you two need to learn." And then he was gone.

Double D squirmed and wriggled, trying to get some air back in his lungs. He could feel Kevin's anatomy project under his feet, slowly being crushed under his weight, and for that he felt horrible. However, the locker was too small for him to maneuver around to move it somewhere else. His fingers tried to tug at the latch of the locker but it refused to budge. It just wasn't made to be opened from the inside.

After about a half hour of struggling, groaning, and trying to get out, he heard the bell that signaled class being let out. Oh /no/! His bag was still in the room and the teacher would think he was cutting class! This was a tragedy! He needed to get out and explain!

He tried to call for assistance but the noises of kids and lockers slamming were just too loud to be heard over. And then he heard a familiar voice.

"Move it along, Fancypants, we gotta find Double D!" That was...Eddy's voice?

Another voice, closer. "I'll help you look for him, I just need to get my book out of my locker. Do you think something bad happened to him?"

The locker door was suddenly opened, and surprised, Double D fell forward with a cry onto the unsuspecting nerd. Kevin screamed in surprise, falling backward while an embarrassed Double D whimpered apologies and tried to move himself off of his young friend. However, Kevin quickly caught sight of his black eye.

"Whoa! Double D, what happened to your face!" Kevin asked, nervously adjusting his glasses. "Th-that looks pretty bad."

Double D got to his feet and helped Kev up. "I-I believe his exact words were that he 'wanted to be distinguishable from a dork like me'."

Kev's face turned dark, Eddy's doing the same. "He said /what/?" Eddy demanded. "It was that loser creep who looks like you but acts like...like...Kevin! Wasn't it?!"

Kevin made a face. "He does /not/ act like me!"

"Not you, Fancypants! The other Kevin!"

Double D bit his lip as he began to think more about what Eddward had said...he actually had several good points...if any of the jocks saw the two 'nerds' had become friends they would both become targets.

"K-Kevin, I..."

Without warning, gym class let out. With a rush, jocks were crowding the halls, and unfortunately it looked like the bigger Kevin was heading right for him with a glint of determination in his eyes.

"Hey, Double Dweeb, come here. I wanna talk to you." He announced. Immediately, Double D had a bad feeling. He had had good encounters with Kevin before, such as if he needed homework help or advice on how to fix something, but he was always discreet. Now he wanted attention, so that could only mean one thing.

A beating.

Double D fidgeted and bit his lip nervously, giving the other Kevin a pleading look. "I-I, um..."

"Now, Dork!"

Giving a small yelp, Double D moved over towards Kevin, ignoring the smaller one who whispered "No, Double D!" as he left. Eddy growled menacingly, following closely behind Double D.

"Hey, lay off him, Shovelchin! Sockhead is my friend, not yours, you don't get to talk to him!"

Kevin growled and got up in Eddy's face. "I don't believe I asked you, pipsqueak! Now instead of trying to hit me, why don't you go try and hit puberty!"

The crowd of people around them laughed and hooted at that one, while Double D laid a concerned hand on Eddy's shoulder. "P-Please, Eddy, I must insist you take Kev and go...I-I'll be along shortly."

Kevin smirked, shifting his weight onto one leg. "You heard your pet dork, loser. Bounce. I promise I'll give him back mostly intact later."

Kev's face was red with anger and he stormed forward, in between Double D and Kevin. "You leave him alone! He's already had enough today, can't you see his eye is messed up? He doesn't need anything else from you!"

Kevin looked at the furious redhead in front of him with confusion, before it turned to anger. This kid may be very...resembling of him, but he had a mouth on him and Kevin didn't like being disrespected in front of his team.

"Step off, nerd!" He growled, reaching forward and pushing Kev back.

Double D spoke up, upset by Kevin's treatment of the freshman boy. "Kevin! Please desist, he didn't do anything to you!"

That was the wrong thing to say. "Oh yeah? It was you two nerds who put ketchup in my gym bag today, wasn't it? James saw you do it!"

Double D looked confused, while Kev looked upset. "James is a liar!"

Eddy nodded angrily. "He must be, because me and Ed did that! Sockhead and Fancypants were in class!"

"Ed and I, Eddy."

"Shut it, Sockhead, I'm trying to help you here."

Kevin growled. "I don't care if it was all of you, this guy's the smart guy, and I know Ed is too stupid to come up with this. So it must have been Double Dork!"

"...It was me." Kev spoke up, eyes narrowing as he crossed his arms defiantly.

"What!?" Double D, Kevin, and Eddy all demanded at the same time.

"I told Ed and Eddy to put ketchup in your gym bag. Double D tried to stop me, but I ignored him."

Double D grabbed Kev's arm and hissed. "Wh-what are you doing? He's going to seriously damage you if you aren't silent!"

Kev shook him off and gave the junior a glare. "So yeah, it was me. What are you going to do about it?"

A few minutes later, Double D, with the help of Ed and Eddy, managed to pull the locker door open and pry Kevin out. He was a little worse for wear, with a matching black eye and split lip, but he was grinning anyway, ridiculously pleased with himself. "Did you hear me? I was awesome! I didn't need Nat to protect me this time!"

"Protect you from what?" Asked the teal haired boy himself, appearing at the end of the hall with his gym bag slung over his shoulders.

Kevin gasped, one hand trying to cover his black eye while not looking too obvious. "I-I…uh…"

Double D looked down in shame. "Kevin from the football team took out some of his misguided anger at me and Eddy on this Kevin…I-I'm so ashamed!"

Eddy rubbed the back of his head and tried to ignore the weeping Edd who was clinging to his shirt. "Knock it off, Sockhead, I told you guys it was my fault! Now shaddup about it!"

Nat's eyes widened. "Kevin did what? Oh, man, I'm sorry, Kev, really… I'm sure Kevin is too, he's really a good guy, honest!"

Kev's eyes widened and filled with hurt. "Y…you're going to defend him? After what happened? I..I thought we were best friends..?"

"The best!" Nat quickly agreed. "It's just.. I've gotten to know Kevin through sports meets with Peach Creek before, so I kind of know him pretty well too. It's just…he's got it hard sometimes, so don't get too mad at him."

Kev's eyes narrowed, and so did Eddy's. "Oh, okay, so just because you're friends with him, he can do no wrong? He used your friend for a punching bag and stuffed him in a locker and you don't even care? Some friend you are." huffed Eddy, rolling his eyes.

Nat groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "Eddy, it isn't like that. Kev, you know I've got your back, man, don't you? I just…I'm sorry Kevin beat you up, I really am, I just-"

"Save it, Nat…I get it. You've got other friends and so do I. Come on, Double D. Let's go get that robot running again." Kev interrupted, eyes filled with hurt as he grabbed Double D's hand and tugged him down the hall towards the robotics classroom. Nat watched them go a bit sadly, wishing he could explain. Eddy rolled his eyes. "Way to go, Big Blue." With that biting retort, he followed after the two towards the robotics room.

DJG: And so the plot thickenssss. I wanted to use this chapter to introduce Rev!Double D and Reg!Kevin a little more since last chapter was all about Double D and Rev!Kevin. Next chapter will probably be a POV switch to Reg!Kevin and how the morning went from his side of things, with a side of Reg!Kevin/Rev!Edd interaction to top it off. XD Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!