"Dude you gotta come"

"I don't know man, it's so outta blue!"

Kevin sat shirtless on the locker room bench. He had his shirt beside him, but became distracted when Jake, who was already changed out, approached him about attending a party at the BMX Park that Saturday. He wanted to go and was going to go of course, but he loved to rile Jake up.

Jake held his hands up to his head. He shook his head and then suddenly flung his hands out to Kevin. With sad, pleading eyes he tried again.

"But Kev, come on! Everyone's gonna be there!" He began to count off his fingers naming everyone on the team as well as other people from school. Kevin mostly tuned out and started to put his shirt on. He had just stood up to pull it down when Jake named someone he had mostly forgotten about.

"Sarah is gonna be there and so is Nazz….." Jake stopped and pulled his hand behind his head scratching it as he put the other in his jean's pocket. He looked away from Kevin embarrassed.

"Ooh my bad man I didn't mean to..."

Kevin put his hand on Jake's shoulder. "Dude, its fine. Me and Nazz been over for a while now and I'm cool with her and she's cool with me"

Jake smiled. "Alright then but you're still comin' to the party. Rex is throwing it so you know it's gonna be awesome"

Kevin let go while he nodded "finally" convinced. "Alright fine I'll go"

Jake pumped a fist into the air and then quickly brought it down as his knee rose into the air. He let out a sharp triumphant Yesss!

"I'll see you later then." Jake stated in farewell. He put both hands in his pockets and walked off. Kevin watched him, the last one, finally leave and then put away the rest of his things: soap, washcloth, drying towel, deodorant, and lotion, in his locker. He balled up his uniform and threw it into the laundry basket by the door then left. He wore a small grin as he happily walked the empty hallway.

"Practice is over and hopefully this date will be able to make it up to him," Kevin whispered to himself as he walked the hallways to the door. "I even made him-"

Kevin came to the final hallway and where Double D was supposed to be, he wasn't there. Kevin became instantly worried. He backtracked to the science lab to find only an empty, dark room.

He went the chemistry lab.

Nothing.

Library.

Nada.

Kevin was almost sweating until he came back to the hallway near the front doors. He almost walked out when he stopped, slowly closing the door.

"Is that…is that crying?" Kevin looked around. At first he didn't see anything. Another look around proved him wrong. There hiding in the shadow of the lockers was a bent over Double D. His silhouette showed that he was shuddering, his head covered by his arms was placed in his knees.

Kevin walked over and bent down to him. All he did was place a hand on his head when Double D looked up and fiercely smacked his hand away. There was a defensive, scared, wildness to his dark eyes that made Kevin pull away with shock. He quickly shook it off and called out to Double D. Double D seemed to finally calm down enough and recognize who was in front of him. He really let the tears fall as he leaped into Kevin's arms causing Kevin to fall back a bit as Double D's weight pushed against him. Kevin wrapped his arms around Double D's shoulders and held him as the boy cried into his shirt.

They sat like that until Double D calmed down. He was no longer crying but there were still moments when he would shudder or jump like he was going to cry again. Kevin patiently waited until he was completely calmed down before picking Double D up bridal style. He carried him to his bike and put his helmet on him. Kevin sat down and waited until he felt the pressure of small hands wrap around him before revving up the bike and leaving the lot.

Kevin made sure to go slower this time so as to not upset Double D.

"What could have made him upset like that?" Kevin thought as he pulled up to stop sign. He waited for a blue ram to cross in front of him before going on. "I hope the guys didn't ruff 'im up…" He turned a corner and came onto an empty run down street. He silently rode past he the Kanker Sisters' place and for once they didn't pop out of their house like rabid bulldog vampires.

After passing, he rode a little further until he reached the empty lot of the abandoned Flea Market. Most of the roof was caved in and vines and wild grass grew everywhere inside and outside. As kids everyone used to come here and hang out usually to have campout parties but now it was forgotten. That now made it the perfect place for Kevin to set up his secret picnic date. He had set it up the day before with a surprise waiting for Double D once everything was in motion.

Kevin slowly jerked to a stop. He sat up stretching. "We're here Doub-?" Kevin looked back at Double D to find him sleeping soundly against his back. "How do you even sleep with the sound of a motorcycle in your ears?" Kevin thought with a smile.

With careful movements, Kevin slowly turned around on the bike and unstrapped Double D's helmet. He carefully lifted it only to have Double D's hat come with it. Loose wavy pitch black locks fell around Double D's face stopping just at his cheeks. Kevin blushed at the sleeping figure his face turning redder as the sleeping boy mumbled something unintelligible into his shirt. "So cute!"

Ignoring the tight feeling he was getting, Kevin quickly put the hat back on him and lifted Double D from the seat and placed him on his back. As if by instinct, Double D's legs wrapped themselves around Kevin's waist and his arms around Kevin's neck. After adjusting Double D's weight a bit to his stronger right side, Kevin carried Double D to the building.

"…mm…83….Kevin!"

Double D shot up with a blush covering his face in a deep red. He shook his head trying to clear away his dream managing to hit his head on some contraption hanging from the low ceiling in the process. Double D rubbed his head. He gave the object a closer inspection and it told him it was just an uncovered light bulb. He frowned a bit and stood causing a blanket to fall off of him. Double D picked up the blanket and investigated it. It was soft to the touch, red and knitted together by someone clearly unexperienced. Turning it over Double D found a paper note sown to the bottom. He flipped it up and read the sloppy writing a loud. "If your awake, come meet in the camp site in the back. Kevin. P.s. just follow the rams"

Double D grinned and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders. Though long but to his relief it didn't drag behind him when he walked. He looked to ground and just as stated a small ram sticker with his hoof lifted in a high5 was plastered to the ground. Stepping over the happy ram, Double D followed more identical rams through short aisles which he discovered where incased with broke down store shelves. Curious, Double D looked up at a swinging sign. He sighed and continued on, his suspicions confirmed. "He brought me to the old flea market. Now the question is why?" More fascinated than before Double D about the mystery he followed the rams to a small area where that used to be a library.

Inside the first thing Double D noticed was the object that hung from the ceiling. It appeared to be some sort of makeshift chandelier made of Christmas lights and metal pieces haphazardly fused together. Grinning, Double D stood automatically recognizing the handiwork as Kevin's. "Speaking of which where is he?" Double D thought looking around more. He saw that the cracked walls held more white Christmas lights. A small plastic table was covered in a white sheet with a large picnic basket in the center. Going toward it, Double D suddenly stopped. He looked down seeing a light brown rug with fluffy rams suspended in mid-jump covered the floor where he stood on the crumbled floor.

While he studied the rug a figure appeared in the doorway. "You like the rug?"

Double D jumped. He spun around to the figure calming down once he realized it was Kevin. He put his hands to his hips and pursed his lips pouting. "Do you enjoy scaring me into heart attacks Kevin?"

Kevin chuckled as he walked in. "Sorry Double D"

Double D smiled rolling eyes and hugged Kevin. Kevin hugged back then gestured him to one side of the table. Double D sat on the rug while Kevin sat beside him.

"So I brought you here because I wanted to show you somethin'" Kevin stated. Double D raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh sorry, I meant to say I wanted to show you something" Double D smiled and let him continue. "Could you close your eyes it's a surprise"

Double D nodded closing his eyes. After making sure Double D really couldn't see anything, Kevin quickly grabbed the basket. He stood on his knees and opened the basket pulling something from it. He held the thing to his chest and turned to Double D.

"OK open"

Double D quickly opened his eyes and turned to Kevin, curious about his surprise and oh was he surprised. There sitting on Kevin's chest was a stuffed animal. The poor beast had a body of fluff and too much stuffing giving it the appearance of a puffy cloud on the verge of bursting. The legs were stubby and could barely be seen though you could see the dark brown rounded hooves. Two buttons were sown on some circular object which worked as the head. They were too far apart and different colors, the right green and the left yellow. The squished triangle nose was made of different shades of pink and sat awkwardly in the middle of the face. From it a simple black line of stitches went down a centimeter or two then split into two tiny curved lines forming a smile. A top the head, two overly stuffed horns curved around the face between tiny floppy ears. On the left side of the chest, or what could have been the chest, a large red quilted heart sunk into the white sea of fluffiness.

Kevin shifted awkwardly on his knees betraying his nervousness. Double D looked up from the creature and stared at Kevin.

"Did you make this?"

Too nervous to speak, Kevin simply gave a jerky nod.

Double D grinned and took the stuffed animal from Kevin, hugging it to his own chest. His smile widened "I love it Kevin. Thank you"

Kevin sighed happily as if a heavy weight was lifted from his shoulders. "You're welcome Little Ram"

Double D stared at Kevin for a moment then smiled giggling to himself.

Kevin looked down at Double D confused at the sudden fit of laughter but ultimately just ignored it. He reached under the sheet that hung over the table and pulled out a smaller basket. From it he pulled out plate with sandwich triangles covered in plastic wrap, a large bag of the original Lays potato chips, two plastic cups and bowels, and bottle of sparkling apple juice. Kevin removed the basket from off the table and placed the plate and chips in the center in the center. He put one cup and bowl in front of Double D then one on the other side of the table. He carefully poured the juice in Double D's cup until it was half full then did the same for himself. Kevin went over to a rocking chair in the corner of the room and offered the pillow on it to Double D. While Double D took it with a nod and sat on it with the ram in his lap, Kevin went to other side of the table and sat.

For a moment the two boys just sat staring at each other, peaceful smiles on their faces. When the silence wore on a bit too long it was Kevin that gave the start for them to begin eating. Each grabbed their own fill of sandwich halves, chips, and refills on their drinks all the while talking and laughing aimless about random conversation. Kevin mentioned the party and asked if Double D wanted to come but as expected Double D politely declined.

"Fine but another thing," Kevin said changing topics again.

"Hm?"

"What happened to you earlier? When I found you, you were hiding and had that look of terror on your face that you used to have when we were kids and I-" Kevin stopped suddenly and looked away from Double D ashamed.

Double D smiled sympathetically. He reached over and kissed Kevin's cheek then settled back into his seat. "That was the past and we were kids. It no longer bothers me"

Kevin grunted, unconvinced but let it go. "So what about earlier?" he asked turning back to Double D.

Double stayed silent for a usually long time before finally answering. "It's nothing important." He took a sip of his drink hoping Kevin would be satisfied but knew he really wasn't going to be.

"Not important? How could you say that's unimportant when someone was hurting you?!" Kevin shouted more hurt than upset about Double D's answer.

"It just was. Telling you about what he did will change nothing it will only make things worse"

"He? So it was someone on the team? Who was it, just tell me and I'll-"

"You'll do what!" Double D yelled. "If you do anything to him then how can you cover yourself or give reason without giving us up?"

Kevin shrank into himself; his fist balled in his lap, and stared at the floor. "I can't" he growled softly.

Double D took a deep breath trying to calm down. "You're right, you can't. I know you want to protect me and I'm grateful but to do that would raise suspicions we've been trying not to raise. At least not until we're ready to tell everyone about us"

"Yeah I know," he looked up at Double D his hard expression softening, "but you know I could give two shits about what everyone thinks so why don't we tell them? I'm sure all our friends would be ok with us, it's not like we're kids"

I'm not so sure but they're not the reason I don't want to say anything"

"Ok then who is it you're really hiding from then?"

Double D looked down at his ram and squeezed its stubby little hooves.

"Double D?" Kevin leaned to Double D who squeezed his ram's hooves harder. "Come on you can tell me?"

Double D sighed finally releasing the ram of his shackles. "I'm more afraid of word reaching your father than anything else"

Kevin frowned at the mention of his father. He began to pick at a loose string poking out of the sheet and shrugged. "My father wouldn't even care"

"Yes he would! I've seen the bruises on your arms and face that you claim come from accidents. I'm no fool you know. I know he's hitting you"

Kevin pulled at the string too hard causing the sheet to shift and the table to shake. "So what"

There was no use trying to continue the conversation so with a final shake of his head Double D let it go. He looked around the room on last time before settling on the mess of crumbs on the table. He took the plastic dishes and empty bag and bottle and threw them into the basket.

Kevin looked up to the sound of Double D shaking out the sheet, the ram standing on the bare table. He gave a small smile looking at his puffy creation. "One day, not now but one day" he mumbled.

Double D looked down. "One day what?" he asked folding the sheet in half again making it a small square.

Kevin grinned shaking his head, "nothing." He stood and picked up the basket, taking the neatly folded sheet from Double D and placing it on top of everything else. "Let's go"

Double D nodded and quickly grabbed his ram and the blanket which he draped over his arm.

The two walked silently back outside. They settled themselves on Kevin's motorcycle with the basket in front of Kevin and the ram and blanket in front of Double D.

Kevin revved the engine then off they went.

Rin stared lazily around the BMX shop where he worked for his father. The place wasn't boring but the constant rock and alternative music and the constant stream of skaters and motorcyclists became monotone. If it weren't for the party he was throwing on tomorrow, he would have left hours ago.

The bell above the door rang signaling a new customer. Rin looked over at the door to see who it was and to his surprise, Ed and Eddy walked through the door. While Rin was okay with Ed since learning that the tall boy could hold his own on a board he still loathed Eddy.

He waited until Ed went over to look at a new stock of skateboards with ninja designs before greeting Eddy. He looked over the counter with a cruel smirk and annoyance plainly showing on his face. "Alright dork, who gave you permission to come into my shop and completely make the price of the place go down"

Ignoring the snickers from the other customers at the insult, Eddy confidently sauntered up to the counter. He let one arm rest on the counter and leaned his weight against it while his other hand stayed firmly in his pocket. On his face, Eddy wore a sly grin.

"Now Listen up Rin, I know you're throwing a party this Saturday and" Eddy jabbed a thumb at his chest, "I want in"

Rin raised an eyebrow. "And how do even know I'm throwing party?"

Without even bothering to turn around, Eddy pointed his thumb at Ed. "Blabbermouth over there wouldn't shut up about it"

Rin rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "Ok so I'm throwing a party but there's a reason I didn't invite you." Rin lifted his pointer finger, "1 I don't let dorks into my parties unless their piñatas or serving my guests" he lifted his middle finger, "and two this is a BMX party. You can't even ride a board or ride a motorcycle. You dumbass can't even stay on a bike without falling off or screaming like a bitch when going down a hill"

Eddy held his composure but his hand crumpled into a fist inside his pocket. "I was aware Walker." His fist loosened while watching Rin tense up at the mention of his last name used in a way that people address his father. "Anyway, I'm not gonna say you're wrong but I have something that you might like and change your mind"

Rin grunted unconvinced.

Eddy's grin grew slyer. He leaned in closer to Rin, standing on his tiptoes to do so. He lowered his voice so only Rin could here. "Once you see this, I'm positive you'll want to use it to your own advantage"

Rin raised his eyebrows but that was the only indication that he was interested in Eddy's offer. Rin leaned down to Eddy and lowered his voice as well. "Alright shorty, show me whatcha got and you better not waste my time"

Eddy simply chuckled to himself and lowered to the ground while Rin walked over to the side of the counter where the employ door was and unlatched it, catching the swinging door before it could hit him. He stepped down the single short step, latched the door back, and then called over to another employee, a young teen girl named Anglia. She hurriedly finished helping another customer find new wheels for his skateboard then skipped over to Rin.

"Yes Rin-sama?"

Rin groaned. "You seriously need to stop calling me that. I'm not one of your weird Japanese cartoon characters"

"It's called anime" Anglia huffed.

"Yeah yeah whatever, I need you watch the counter for a bit" Rin told her already walking away with Eddy.

Anglia grinned and happily jumped over the door to the inside of the counter. She waved at Rin just as he closing the door. "Be back soon, Rin-sama!"

Rin growled under his breath as he calmly slammed the door shut. He led Eddy a little ways from the shop and closer to the BMX park. He leaned against the entrance gate with his arms folded against his chest and pulled on his sweatshirt hood.

Eddy stood next to him and pulled out the little video-screen from his deep jean pockets. After turning it on he quickly gave it to Rin. The video he took earlier that day was still paused from his last view. "Here"

Rin looked skeptically down at the blurred image of what looked like a room. He gave Eddy a sidelong glance then then pressed the play button on the bottom of the screen. At first there was nothing but an empty bedroom. There was a door squeaking open then clicking closed and suddenly Kevin appeared on screen.

Rin brought the screen closer to his face while Eddy watched him from the corner of his eye, a small told-you-so grin on his face.

Rin stayed steadily focused as he watched Double D appear on screen and then the exchange between him and Kevin. On the outside he stayed calmed while giving the screen back and allowing Eddy into his party. He waited until Eddy was out of earshot before saying, "So Kevin and my Double Dork huh?"

A dark shadow settled over his eyes while cruel grin settled onto his lips. "I will have fun with this"