Edd's clothes were too dirty and disheveled to wear in Eddy's bed (Which he gave up without a fight), so the huge teen let Double D wear his old nightshirt, which was long and modest for a short Eddy, but hugged the thighs of a regular sized Edd (He hadn't grown much except a bit longer arms and legs and hair.)

Edd opened the door, changed and showered, to Eddy's room. The brooding teen was nowhere to be found, so after a moment of hesitation, Edd turned on the light and sat down on Eddy's bed, gingerly. He looked around Eddy's room. It was really all the same, with a few more pictures of hot girls thumbtacked on the wall, and one less disco ball. Feeling a strange sense of something ominous, he slipped his hands instinctively into the pockets of the nightshirt, when his finger hit something small and hard. He froze. Double D had forgotten that he had taken the pill from his pants pocket into the night shirt, and sat there for several minutes, nervously fingering the pill. Just when he was about to take hold of it to bring it out and look at it, the door swung open again, and Eddy joined him on the bed. They sat in the still for a few moments, not looking at anything in particular. The guilt of what Edd had in his pocket was just too much, and the longer the silence stretched, the more he felt like Eddy knew.

"It's strange that Kevin doesn't live next door anymore, " Edd hesitantly attempted to strike a conversation, " Don't you think?"

"After I stopped being a foot tall, Kevin didn't matter anymore." But a moment after the concise reply, Eddy relented. " It's more just weird that he's not the same guy that everyone thought was cool before high school. Now he's just a loser junkie hitting a bunch of easy sluts. And now everyone looks up to me, like they did my brother! But I don't give a shit what they think anymore."

Edd was surprised at the revelations Eddy seemed to have made about himself. One of his biggest goals was to be liked and respected and cool like his big brother, but now, Kevin was far more like the older brother than Eddy would ever be, and Eddy was glad of it. Double D knew he was smart, though. Even now, Eddy seemed to be always scheming something, infinitely more elaborate and subtle than he could have imagined in his youth, and not involving the neighborhood kids. These days, particularly after Ed moved away, Double D was not invited to be involved, either.

Double D turned away for a second, looking out the window. How many times the three of them had escaped through that window, in or out of it. How many childish deeds, done in complete eagerness and haste. He just felt tired, remembering. He felt tired, every day, seeing little elementary kids outside in the streets on his way to the school bus stop, skipping rope, playing tag. Playing with dolls.

"So what's with you and Jimmy?" A sharp question startled Double D out of his reverie and he turned to face his friend. Eddy had a serious look on his face. " You hang out with him a lot and people are starting to ask questions."

Immediately, the second and only other secret Double D kept from Eddy came back to also stare him in the face demanding honesty. He tried to dodge the meaning of the question.

"He's just a nice guy. We're friends. After all, we all grew up together and-"

"C'mon, you know what I mean, sockhead."

Edd looked away from his friend's questioning eyes. " Well, it doesn't matter to me if he's gay." Then, he turned back to stare Eddy down levelly. "I accept everyone, Eddy. Even if you don't."

There was a cold, tense moment.

Eddy stared at him for a few seconds more, and finally backed down, looking up at his ceiling. "I never said I didn't accept him... If he had just told me first, maybe it wouldn't be so hard to get, instead of learning it from someone else!"

"Are... are you still talking about Jimmy, Eddy?"

Eddy was silent. It seemed to him that it shouldn't be so hard for him to respond honestly. After all, Double D had certainly taken his fair amount of the "gay" ribbing during school; When everyone found out what was under his hat, and when he actually started to put his hat on TOP of his hair, instead of cruelly bunching the hair up round his skull, it seemed the fag jokes would never stop. Long hair on boys, especially boys as 'dainty' as Edd had always been, was never the best signal to other kids who were none too accepting of 'alternate lifestyles.' With Jimmy, it was almost a different story; he had seemed to be 'out' since everyone first knew what gay meant.

And he eventually came out, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, and few people were really all that concerned. There was no question mark over his head. He was just simply what he was, and everyone accepted it. Even Eddy. There was no need for anyone to pick on or taunt him because usually, bullying comes from confusion or intolerance on the part of the bullies. But everyone grew up with Jimmy, so he was a gay fixture of their lives from the beginning, even when he'd shown a strange attachment to Sara, he eventually realized it was just that she was the only one he trusted, and they stayed very close friends until she and Ed moved. For Double D, however, since so few knew much of anything about him except that he was a germophobe sometimes and that no matter what ridiculous thing Eddy put him through, he would stick with him, he was the wild card, and much smarter than everyone else to boot. The harassment and rumors and doubt that circled him lasted all through school.

But somehow, it hadn't occurred to Eddy until very recently that Double D might actually be gay, or something. It scared him. It was one of the few core values his father and brother left instilled in him strongly; The value of anti-queer. A queer was not a person. He wasn't a man or a woman, but some inhuman, sexual predator, the skinny freaky bitch with a penis and no boobs that sounded like a spoiled five year old girl, covered in glitter. It was frankly a sickening image that came to his mind when he imagined fags, and he basically tolerated Jimmy because he stayed the fuck away from Eddy, and his voice wasn't too nasally. But sometimes, the high pitched, girly chatter of Jimmy and some of the type of girls that hung out with him at school grated on his nerves. And Edd was his best friend. His only friend. But recently, he heard something that disturbed him.

"Eddy?"

Double D couldn't be gay. Even with that skinny, white frame, even with that long black hair, (maybe he was just trying to be alternative or something, that would explain why he was hanging out with those sick druggie kids), and even hanging out with Jimmy and those obnoxious faghags. And even with what he heard about from May in the cafeteria before school ended. The only time he had seen Double D really act his idea of 'gay' was with that whole boomerang incident. Which was not something he liked to remember. Especially not Double D sliding around on that pole. He suddenly felt like actually asking Double D about it, but his fear was that actually voicing his doubts would somehow make them come true. As if it would make what he had heard, real.

"Sure I'm talking about Jimmy. Who else would I be talking about?" He suddenly snapped at Double D angrily. Double D knew something wasn't right here. After a moment, he cautiously spoke, knowing he would probably regret it.

"But... You're still friends with Jimmy, right? You wouldn't hate him just because of something like that, right?"

"Of course not! You and I both know Jimmy is my best friend, my ONLY friend! If I lose Jimmy, who the hell else do I have? But what am I supposed to do if I can't be around my best friend without worrying he's gonna go all queer on me?"

They were definitely not talking about Jimmy anymore.

"Maybe it would be better for everyone if Jimmy just goes back to dating May." Eddy finished deliberately, turning to Edd.

Edd looked away.

"You've changed, Eddy. You've never told anyone to be ashamed of who they are, or hide. Jimmy... Is fine the way he is. And everyone knows Jimmy doesn't really like May."

They were silent in the dark still of the room.

"Maybe I should go."

"Ah, jeez luise! No, don't be dumb, stay the night and I'll take you back home in the morning."

"I'm not going home."

"Why?" Eddy challenged Double D. "Why not? What could you possibly have in your perfect sticky note home that could make you not want to go back?"

His jaw clenching, Double D started to turn to leave, when Eddy jumped up.

"And give me back my goddamn shirt!"

Eddy snatched the collar of the shirt and jerked it violently off Double D's head, and in the same motion, shoved him toward the door. Now only in underwear, at the brink of frustrated tears, the skinny teen turned to stare Eddy down, betrayed, before throwing open the door and leaving.

"Yeah... Go back to Naz and watch them fuck! That'll make you feel better, right? Fuck you!" Eddy cried out after him, before slamming the door hard enough to make his room rattle.

Edd stormed away from the house blindly, and soon started running, angry and scared of being seen nearly naked, and before he knew where he was headed, he found himself in the woods, in front of the abandoned shed.

The neighbors had no idea what to make of such a sight as a half naked teenage boy running angrily out of Eddy's room in the middle of the night.

Any tips or advice would be appreciated, and reviews, as always.