NOTE: For better visualization, I sketched the robot and I dumped it in my Tumblr (I am 'helterskelterwalter'). At the right side of my blog, there's tabs, now look for the 2nd (+) button, it should say: 'Silly drawings.' Do click that. (In any case that you can't find it, send me a review or an ask so that I can personally send you the link.)


Chapter 7: Undone

Black and red lines adorned the paper, messily intertwined to form the bigger picture: Destroya, the Lawn-mowing Chopping Murder Bot 2000. Kevedd, for short, according to Eddward but Kevin never approved that.

A proud smile was on his round face as he stared at the drawing. Who knew we would make a great team? he thought as he ran his fingertips over the rough paper. The black ink seemed to sprawl out more than his red lines, so he noticed. Edd's capital characters were like stiff soldiers, except for the A's and K's which were the odd ones in the stilted handwriting.

"Be careful what you chose."

"What the Asimo!"

Startled out of his reverie, Kevin jumped in his seat and heard the boisterous laughter of Nathan. His green orbs scanned the almost empty classroom, then at his wristwatch where the hands pointed at 4:30.

"Yup, that's right, cadet! It's time to go home!" Nat slapped his back a bit to rough, the black frames almost fell off his face. "Got anything planned tonight? How about we watch some action at my place? Or arcades! What do you say, Kevy-deary? My treat!" He flashed a set of pearly whites and his eyes had a spark of hope.

"Is there a nice way to say no? I'm building a-"

"Say no more," he raised a finger to hush the geek. "I understand. Robots are hard to build and you really love that stuff, but call me up when we can go out and have some fun boy's time!"

"You know me so well, man," and he initiated the bro fist ritual. "So, you're not mad I rejected you?"

"Nah, you always reject me for important stuff anyway. Like some Cute dude I know."

"Hahaha! Why don't you go out with him tonight instead?" He winked behind his thick frames.

Although Nat pulled down his cap and uttered, "You're insane," he still had that cheerful smile and the same spark of hope in his golden eyes.

~Unwritten~

Back on the steps of the main building, Kevin waited for his ride home. He was almost at the bottom of the staircase, clutching the notebook against his chest. Sadly, the big pad didn't mollify the restlessness that consumed him. Building robots always made his heart rampage with delight, the beating pulse rate was too intense and impossible to ignore. These were the days when he was insensitive, vulnerable and simply out of his right senses. He couldn't even recall what happened today. Except for the last minute where he stared at his watch and found out that it was time to go home.

It was time to work, for him. Time to build the ultimate weapon against his enemies. All day long, there was nothing in his head but a made-up gory movie, starring his robot. He pictured Destroya, ruthlessly stabbing the silent Plank, ripping Jimmy's fashionable clothes, slicing that psycho Johnny boy and, and, and... what about Eddward? He realised he hadn't thought of a way to murder their leader, the devil-incarnate.

Suddenly, long arms appeared from his behind and curled around his waist. Edd's face popped out, resting on his shoulder as if the thought had conjured the swimmer's appearance. Dark green orbs met with a pair of lighter eyes when Kevin looked back. It was real, he was real, and Edd was sitting on the step higher than him.

"Oh, our favourite target again," Jimmy haughtily said with an air of disgust.

"Just take his specs and let's get out of here, right, Plank?" That was Johnny, who nudged the tall Plank on the ribs.

"Shh!" Edd raised a finger. "You hear that, hmm?" Small beads of sweat started to crawl down his prey's face. "Well, you're lucky... because... I'm only... going to..."

Kevin felt bony fingers dig on his jaws. With a swift motion, the raven pulled him and closed the space between them. A sweet, well-placed kiss in public- the silliest yet sweetest surprise of his life. He couldn't dare move but his heart calmed down and began to pulsate with the strong desire to kiss back. Softly, Edd's lips moved against his; it didn't push deeper, it didn't barged in his mouth. It was lightly brushed against his own until he could no longer ignore the teasing sweet lips. The burning need to taste Edd's mouth in his was almost at its peak and when his eyelids drooped down in surrender, the swimmer slowly pulled away with a smile, and stood up.

A red car came to the view and halted by the scene.

"Leave my son alone, you bastards!" The voice boomed out from the rolled down window. Immediately, Kevin collected his pack and dashed to the car with the notebook pressed against his chest. The boys he left behind roared a laugh at his retreat. The loud volume drowned the thump-thump-thump! of his nervous heart. He silently prayed that his father didn't catch him with the kissing act.

He didn't dare look back but he heard their voices, slowly fading, one by one. He was by the car's door when he stole a glance. Only Eddward was left, and he walked towards the car with a devilish smile on his handsome features. Despite the cold stare his father gave, the tall boy carried on ignorantly. Kevin hurried inside and closed the door, but a boot counted the action.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kevin's Dad, sir," the raven sounded sarcastic, almost mocking the old man. "But I hurt those who I can't protect."

"You sick loathsome boiling hot pile of shit!" His own father spat. "Get the hell out of my sight!"

The wheels screeched and speedily advanced away.

~Unwritten~

Tick, tick, tick, tack, tack, tack, tick, tack, tick, tack, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...

Buzz! Buzz, buzz, buzz! Buzz! Buzz, buzz, buzz!

Whree-ee-ee-ee!

The mechanical symphony was locked up in the soundproof walls of the basement. The underground room was alive with the sound of creation.

Tum, tum-tum, tum-tum-tum.

Pok, pok! Pok, pok!

Hmmmm! Ihmmmm!

Zapp! Zapp! Zapp!

It was just one night, one moment, but Kevin never felt so alive again. The sound that drummed in his ears, the new parts spread all over, the smell of the basement and the warm walls that closed around him- all was familiar once again.

Except for one fact.

There was another figure inside the room. A new pair of hands, another mind to think, a real person to help him towards success.

The night came, and it brought Edd to his place. They worked together and Destroya began to take shape. It slowly came out of the sketchpad with a three-dimensional figure. On the first night, they started with the engines. Some snip snip here and snip snip there, cut and reconnected, woven and knotted, the boys easily finished the robot's mechanical insides and innovated engines for the lawn mowers. They built the robot a square body and placed the engines inside. The two lawn mowers were attached below, acting as its feet. The small one was at its front, the bigger blades were on the rear.

They pieced a big thick spring and a tube for a head supporter and attached the tube on the body, serving the purpose of a neck. Now it only needed the head, some buttons, proper programming and knives. They looked at each other with a smile and slapped each other high fives for a job well done.

Though the night was still young, Edd yawned coherently, "I'll be leaving in a while, dork."

"Oh."

"Oh?" He raised a brow. "What do you mean, pumpkin?"

"I... I..." His cheeks burned and he was lost for words. Out of the blue, the taller boy grasped his throat and gave it a little squeeze.

"Shall I pump out the words for you?" He cocked his head and smirked.

The side that Kevin feared started to surface. How could I forget? he wondered, but he had forgotten so. Though bullied for years by the same student, there was a charm that he couldn't get enough of. He was surely scared of the strong boy but there was a part of him, a tiny 1% in his heart, that yearned for the bully's attention and passionately craved for it.

He liked him, but didn't admit that fact to himself yet. The intelligence, the looks, his every movement beguiled and wanted him around. He would never dare to say that he secretly enjoyed his company right now, or how he threatened him and looked at him with those cool green eyes. He admired him intensely, almost insanely, but he didn't know that so himself. He never would confess that. Never.

"I had fun!" he choked out in a raspy voice when he could no longer breathe beneath the tight hold.

For the first time, Kevin saw him shocked. Slowly, his fingers loosened around his neck. He stood before the ginger with questioning eyes.

"What am I to you?"

The question caught him off guard and once more, he was lost for words. He tried to look up and meet his sparkling green orbs through his thick lenses. He saw his face, softened with confusion. Kevin never thought he'd see such a strong person with that kind of face. No, he never thought that he could put the toughest, smartest lunatic in a bewildered moment like this.

"Who am I to you?" he rephrased the question and came intimidatingly close to the nerd.

Kevin swallowed his fear and with his chin held high, he answered back with a question: "Who are you supposed to be?" His sincere voice resounded in the room.

A smirk replaced his questioning face and finally, he made the answer clear for the both of them. "I'm the dude who wants you."

"Well..." he was flustered about the bluntness and vagueness of the other boy's reply. He begrudgingly sighed, "Good night."

A nod, a peck on the cheek, and Edd disappeared into the night. Kevin climbed the secret stairs back to his room but before he turned off the lights, he stared at the robot with a sad look.


Author's Comments: I hope it's not that obvious that I DON'T KNOW HOW ROBOTS ARE MADE. So I pushed the story with lots of onomatopoeia but I will try to research and hope to get this fic right. I hope I can paint the words in your head because robots are hard to imagine. (Which is why I decided to do a stupid sketch. Please do check it out in Tumblr so that you won't have a hard time picturing? But I will try my VERY BEST to write the right words to create the robot in your imagination.)

Thank you for all the support! Leave a review to let me know what you guys think!