A/N: Again, I'm SO glad people actually like this?
Your reviews have been motivating me, so I thank you!
Don't hesitate to give me more! c:
Originally, this chapter was VERY long.
However, I split it into two chapters for easy reading.
Hope you enjoy!
Iridescent
Chapter Three
"Are you serious?" Eddy asked, squinting his eyes suspiciously with a hint of confusion.
"Yes, that is precisely what transpired," Double D replied.
"He almost kissed you? You sure he wasn't just staring at your goofy face for too long?"
Edd frowned. "My face is goofy?"
"But he saved Double D from certain death, Eddy!" Ed yelled.
"Shut up, Ed," Eddy said as he crossed his arms. "I don't care if he did chase your bullies away. I still don't trust him and he's a bully, too."
"Actually, Eddy, it's been approximately five years since Kevin did anything mean to us," Double D pointed out. "You may have a personal, ceaseless rivalry with Kevin, but obviously some things have changed. Perhaps we should give him a chance?"
"As if," Eddy sassed. "Get real, Double D."
Edd twiddled his fingers. "The way Kevin's been acting lately is giving me weird signals. He's not a completely different person or anything, but there's something about him that I can't quite put my finger on…"
"Huh? What're you talkin' about, Sockhead?"
Double D shyly looked down at his feet. "I'm not certain of what to call it, but… the fact that he helped me this much makes me feel really happy."
"What are you, a damsel in distress?" Eddy asked. "What he did was no big deal."
Ed and Eddy walked over to the kitchen and began pouring Chunky Puffs cereal into two large bowls. After the puffs were added, Eddy grabbed the milk.
"Milk, Ed?"
"No, thanks, Eddy, I have gravy!"
Ed pulled a dirty gravy boat out of his inner jacket pocket and poured it all into his bowl. Then he began eating his meal, using his gravy ladle as a cereal spoon.
Eddy wasn't even shocked anymore. It was normal – almost second nature – for Ed to consume gallons of gravy on a daily basis. Eddy just shrugged a shoulder and poured milk into his own bowl.
Despite his comedic friend consuming a horrid mixture of foods, Double D was still very troubled. What if it really wasn't a big deal? What if Kevin's actions were just something anyone would've done? Would he feel the same way towards a different person who did the same thing for him?
"Perhaps you're right, Eddy," Double D mumbled unsurely.
"Of course I am," Eddy said, waving a dismissive hand and chewing with his mouth open. "Now, let's eat!"
'Eddy's right,' Edd kept thinking to himself as he walked over to join them. 'It's no big deal that Kevin is being nice lately and that helped me to that extent and that he almost…'
He stopped in his tracks, his gaze still to the floor. 'Is it really no big deal at all?'
Nazz looked at Kevin intently, waiting to hear what he had to say. The sun was setting outside, not even two hours after Double D was dropped off at his house. The orange light highlighted the room and reflected off of her curious eyes and lipgloss.
"Go on, Kev, you know you can talk to me about anything."
Kevin ruffled the back of his hair and fiddled with the bottle cap of his soda. "I think I might like someone, but you better not laugh when I tell you who it is."
"Why would I laugh? If you actually like someone, you better tell me who it is!"
The awkwardness he had felt beforehand suddenly disappeared at the sound of her playful tone and accepting attitude.
"Well, you know how I told you that I wanted to hang out with Double D?"
She gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth. "Oh my gosh, you like Double D?"
Kevin's face flushed. "I- I never said that!"
"But you were going to!"
He crossed his arms and pouted.
"Aw, don't be upset, Kev. I already knew that you liked him anyways."
"What? How did you-"
"It was the look in your eyes when you talked about him yesterday."
There was a brief silence. "My eyes?" he asked.
She nodded. "There was a depth in them that I've never seen before."
Kevin suddenly started to chug his soda, drinking straight out of the two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew Voltage and leaving the empty cup on the table.
A giggled escaped Nazz's lips. "So, is that why you're splurging? I haven't seen you drink soda in ages."
He put the oversized bottle down and burped. "Yeah, so what?" He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. "I can drink whatever I want! The football diet ain't for every single day, y'know."
She blinked. "There's alcohol mixed in that, isn't there?"
He squinted. "Maybe."
"Kevin, it's okay to feel this way about Double D. There's no need to get all stressed out about it."
He took off his hat and ran his fingers through his soft, red hair. "I don't know, Nazz. It was really weird. I almost… no, I wanted… to kiss him today."
Her eyes widened. "Really? No joke?"
"Why would I joke about something like that?"
She smiled gently. "Sorry, I just think it's sweet, that's all."
He chuckled and put his cap back on. "Nah, don't be sorry. Thanks for not laughing at me."
"Hey, what're friends for? You'll always be the same ol' sports-loving Kevin I've always known, no matter what happens. After all, you didn't laugh at me or view me any differently when I told you about my bisexuality. You've got nothing to worry about with me, Kev."
A smile curved his lips. "Why're you getting all mushy on me, Nazz? It's totally crampin' my style."
She playfully twisted his hat forward and pulled the lid down over his eyes. "So, what are you gonna do about this anyway?"
"I don't know. Planning ahead was never really my thing. I invited him and his dorky friends over to our marathon night tomorrow. I'll just think of something then."
Nazz frowned. "You should really think of something before he gets here."
"That's setting myself up for nervousness and I don't want to look lame," he said, attempting to finish his sugary beverage.
"I think you should kiss him."
Kevin nearly choked on his drink. "Wh-what? Why so soon?"
"Well, you wanted to kiss him earlier, didn't you?"
"Yeah, and what if I do kiss him? Then what?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, date him, maybe?"
Kevin sat back against the couch. Suddenly, the words Double D had passed on to him earlier sprouted up in his mind.
'They said next time you protect me, you'll be beaten up like this, too…'
His gaze slowly went downcast. "But the guys on the team… They'd probably-"
"Seriously, Kevin?" she interrupted. "Since when do you care about what they think? You'd fight them in a heartbeat. They shouldn't influence your life choices. If you want to pursue Double D, then you should, regardless of what those guys think."
Silence lingered between them.
He twisted his cap back around and looked up at the ceiling. "Pursue him?"
Eddy's words then echoed in his mind. 'He's our bully and that's all he'll ever be!'
Kevin's expression grew cold and despondent. "I don't think I can."
"Why?"
"Because… Why would he say yes to someone like me?"
"Why would you say yes to someone like him?" Eddy asked.
Double D was seated on his couch, sewing the rips in his sweater with a fresh Band-Aid placed over the cut that was above his eyebrow. He was wearing a clean long-sleeved shirt now, but he didn't have the heart to take off Kevin's jersey yet.
"He was nice enough to invite all three of us, so I'm going to RSVP tonight," Double D replied. "Since when do you deny a party, Eddy?"
"Since that jerk messed with your brain. I thought you were smart, Double D. Can't you see that this is just some kind of prank? He's into dares, you know."
Edd looked down at his half-fixed sweater, considering Eddy's words. 'I haven't even hypothesized that possibility. What if this is a prank?'
But then he thought of the gentle, yet serious way Kevin had spoken to him before his departure earlier. 'Whatever it takes to get you there.'
"Nonsense," Double D said as he continued to sew. "We have all done some growing up since middle school, Eddy. I highly doubt Kevin would revert back to his old elementary school tactics."
"Oh, please! I know you're a softy, but this is ridiculous!" Eddy shouted as he pressed his face against Edd's living room window, staring at Kevin's house. "He's pranking us, I just know it! Don't be so naïve, Sockhead."
Double D sighed. "Even after what I told you, you're still going to act like this?"
"Of course I am! I don't care how nice he's been to you, I'm onto him!"
Edd kept sewing, silently thinking about ways to convince Eddy to attend the party so that he wasn't alone. "You know, everybody is going to be there, Eddy."
"Yeah? So what?"
"There's also going to be a lot of free food and possibly alcohol."
Eddy fell silent.
Eureka.
"Just imagine the crowd you can entertain?" Double D continued.
"For a price!" Eddy said, rubbing his hands together.
Double D tried his hardest not to laugh at his own genius. "Not to mention girls will be there, too, including Nazz."
Eddy's face boiled red. "No foolin'?"
"She is Kevin's best friend. She'll definitely be there."
Eddy practically jumped through the roof. "I'm in!"
Double D turned to Ed. "How about you, Ed?"
Ed was still in the kitchen, trying to make a sculpture out of gravy but failing miserably as he sat in the large puddle of thick, brown juice with a blank stare on his face.
"Will he have gravy?" Ed asked. "I need some more so I can complete my chicken statue."
Eddy and Double D both stared at their gravy-covered friend.
"Well," Double D began, "I suppose it's a certain possibility that he possesses gravy in his household."
A big grin blossomed on Ed's face. "Let's go to Kevin's house, guys!"
"You could just use the gravy that you got all over your clothes, Lumpy-"
"We're going to Kevin's house, Eddy!" Ed shouted as he charged at his two friends, bundling them up with his dripping wet sleeves. "And he's going to have gravy!"
Eddy tried shouting something back at him, but his voice was muffled with Ed's arm covering his mouth.
"Ed, please!" Double D cried. "You're getting Kevin's jersey covered with gravy!"
Nothing but the faint sound of the washer machine downstairs was heard. Double D finally managed to get his kitchen spotless and gravy free once again. He set the mop aside and glanced at the microwave's digital clock. It was almost midnight.
"Geez," he grumbled to himself. "Where Ed even manages to get all that gravy is beyond me."
He turned the kitchen light off and darkness took over the living room. Moonlight seeped in through the windows and sliding glass doors until he closed all the blinds.
Edd headed upstairs to his room. After brushing his teeth, he slowly crawled into bed, relieved when the plush blankets and pillows surrounded his tired body.
The house was quiet. Empty. Lonely.
Nothing he wasn't used to, though. It was like this every night.
When he was younger, he would fall asleep thinking about where his parents were and when they would be home again. They were always on business trips when he was growing up. Sometimes they would be gone for months at a time. Very rarely were they home, and whenever they were, they'd spend every waking hour planning and preparing for their next trip. They never had time for Double D, but they at least managed to leave him a lot of post-it notes before they departed.
But even those thoughtful little notes ceased over time.
Ever since the divorce, Double D hasn't really seen his parents at all. Whenever they returned home, it would only be for a day, at most. His mom dropped by every once in a while to catch up with him, but despite her attempts at getting closer to her son, she would doze off in mid-conversation because of how overworked she is.
His father was a different story. Double D was lucky if he saw his dad more than once a year. He wasn't even sure what kind of career his dad possessed anymore.
Even so, Double D loved his parents and he kept every single note they had ever given him.
Whether it had a few loving sentences written on it or a list of chores, he kept them all safely filed in a box that his father built for him back when he was just a toddler.
It was a standard wooden box that looked a lot like a huge jewelry box. On it was one simple word painted in red: Eddward. Next to his name was his handprint – a sloppy little hand that was nowhere near the size of his hand now.
He used to call this box his treasure chest when he was little, but now he simply called it his memory box. It was hidden in his closet, along with some other mementos and keepsakes.
Occasionally, he would take it out and re-read all of the notes. He had them organized in chronological order. They were all cheery, loving and uplifting, but he was almost certain that a lot of them were just empty words to make him feel better while they went through so much pain.
They weren't the only ones who dealt with pain, though.
The less they spoke to him, the harder it was for Double D to deal with certain things, mainly bullying. Kevin stopped picking on him after sixth grade, but it seemed like after Kevin vanished, a whole new swarm appeared. Ed and Eddy were always there to help keep him afloat, but there were still times Double D did the unthinkable when he was alone.
His memory box held all of the good memories of his past, but certain parts of his skin held the bad ones – the times where he almost couldn't take it anymore.
He pulled his sleeves down over his hands just thinking about it.
Even though he prospered from resorting to such behavior, remembering it was just as painful as doing it.
Double D adjusted his hat and turned over on his side, curling up tighter underneath his soft blanket. He adapted to sleeping with a hat ages ago, for the sake of covering up yet another scar, but this one was a different story.
The silence hovering around him seemed loud. His ears felt numb. That's when he reached over to his alarm clock and clicked the button that turned on the radio.
It was the alternative rock station he always listened to. He had grown into this music genre back in middle school because, for some odd reason, the lyrics almost always seemed fitting and comfortable.
His body started to relax more once the drone sound of the music filled the room with just enough audio to make him feel less alone.
'I'll just lay here until the laundry is done. Then I'll hang up Kevin's jersey to dry and go to bed-'
"Kevin!" he suddenly exclaimed, instantly sitting up in his bed. He quickly grabbed his phone and began typing a text message with his fingertips.
"Oh, dear, I hope I'm not waking him up by texting him so late at night…"
With a final press of a button, the message was sent. He stared at his phone, waiting for a reply. Not even a minute later, his phone vibrated in his hands.
"Well that certainly didn't take long. Was he waiting by his phone the whole time?"
He opened the message.
'Good, I'm glad you're coming. I was starting to wonder if you chickened out on me. If you did, I would've gone over there to get you.'
The words brought a silly smile to Edd's face. Then he texted Kevin back.
'But, isn't it rude to leave your other guests?'
A few seconds, then a reply.
'I kinda want you there the most. So, just come over. Got it?'
It didn't quite answer his question, yet Edd was satisfied with the answer. He smiled brightly, the gap in between his two front teeth showing shamelessly.
'I will. I want to.'
'See you then. Sleep tight.'
Double D brought his phone to his chest. "How cute," he whispered.
Kevin, who was in bed as well, was laying flat on his back, shirtless and half covered, with his hand resting behind his head. His green eyes glowed under the pale blue light of his open cell phone.
"He wants to, huh?" He smirked. "I better not fuck this up."
Double D curled up again and felt ripples of unfamiliar joy spread throughout his body. He had felt something similar to this on the night Kevin had gotten dangerously close to his lips at school. At that time, he couldn't make out the exact emotion he was feeling, but now, he knew exactly what emotion it was.
Affection.
Double D yawned and stretched out his limbs. It was a little past 9AM, much too early to head over to Kevin's house.
He got up and did his morning duties such as making the bed, brushing his teeth, showering, and making breakfast. Two pancakes were slapped onto his plate, soon buried beneath a pound of blueberry syrup. It wasn't the healthiest thing to eat, but he figured the carbohydrates would energize him for this nerve-racking day. He did consume a few healthy things, though, such as milk, orange juice and vitamins.
As he ate, he turned on the living room TV and watched the news. The weather forecasted heavy rain and high winds for the day. A cold front.
"Oh, dear."
He went back to his room and contemplated what to wear. 'Cold and rainy,' he reminded himself. Surely a hoodie and jeans wasn't too casual, right? It wasn't a formal party or anything. Plus, they were going to be indoors the whole time.
Double D took off his bathrobe and slipped on some clean underwear. He sifted through the hanging clothes in his closet, looking for a sweater or a sweatshirt to wear.
A white one caught his eye. It had a cluster of diamond-pattern lines on the upper chest area. The fabric was thin, though. Too thin. It was practically transparent. He looked at the slim scars on his arm, scars that were faded, healed, and almost unseen to the unsuspecting eye. But to him, they were as visible as the time they were first inflicted. He put the shirt back on the hanger.
Again, he sifted through his sweaters until he found a beige one that was soft, comfortable, and thick enough to hide his past mistakes. He happily pulled it on over his head, feeling warm and snug within the cozy material. The thought of wearing an undershirt crossed his mind, but that would require a tie of sorts, and he didn't want to wear something like that to this type of get-together. The sweater was warm enough by itself anyways. He then slipped into his black pants and ran a comb through his silky black hair.
"I wonder if I should take an umbrella with me?" he asked himself as he put his hat back on.
The time caught his eye again, though. It wasn't even noon yet. He sighed and crawled onto his bed, sunbathing in the late morning light. He felt his eyelids grow heavy and before he knew it, everything temporarily shut off.
"Double D?"
Edd could hear a familiar voice. It sounded distant as it echoed.
"Wake up, Sockhead! The party already started!"
Edd's eyelids burst apart. "What?!"
His body flung out of bed and landed clumsily onto the floor, where he was face-to-face with Eddy's shoes. They were black and shiny, just like his pants and the jacket and he was wearing over his white undershirt.
Groggily, Double D said, "What time is it?"
"It's past 4 o'clock!" Eddy shouted as he grabbed Double D's arm. "Let's get moving!"
They flew out the door, where Ed was patiently waiting on the front sidewalk, dressed in his everyday apparel but wearing a yellow clip-on tie with large blue polka dots on it.
"I got him, Ed!" Eddy said as he dashed past him, running to Kevin's house.
"Eddy, wait, I didn't bring an umbrella!" Double D yelled with concern.
Ed laughed goofily and followed them as they ran. "Do I look like a butternut squash, Double D?"
He didn't even have time to answer Ed before Eddy was already knocking on Kevin's front door.
Double D looked up and saw charcoal-grey clouds swimming around in the sky. It was as dark as nighttime. Thunder was already growling all around them, and the scent of moisture was thick in the air. The wind was so strong that Double D nearly got blown over when Eddy put him down. He became overly concerned that he had forgotten his umbrella, but it all flushed away when the door finally opened.
That was when he suddenly remembered why he was so nervous and scatterbrained in the first place. The anxiousness shook his bones.
-To be continued.