The next day, Edd woke up early like he always did. After breakfast and his chores, the following text exchange happened between two friends:

Princess Angela: I know it's short notice, but wanna come over for brunch and hang out?

Boy Wonder: I'm sorry, I can't. I've already made plans.

Princess Angela: Kevin said the same thing. Heh. I was gonna invite you both, but since you seem to be "busy," l'll leave you to it.

Uh oh. Did she suspect anything?

Boy Wonder: Thanks for understanding! I promise, we'll do brunch before school starts!

Princess Angela: YES. YES, WE WILL.

An all caps text from Princess meant one thing: he'd be having tea and pouring out his heart to his friend the next time he saw her. But after the exchange with Kevin his porch last night, he was pretty sure he'd need to. He knew he could trust her. The girl was an ace at dealing with matters of the heart. Repiecing her own made her a bit of an expert.

At 10AM he made his way across the street. Kevin answered the door with two XBox controllers in his hand.

"Ready to get your ass handed to you?," he asked, with a sly grin.

Edd grabbed a controller. "I'll keep my ass, thanks."

"Aww, you swore!"

Edd ignored him and made his way to Kevin's room. His room was the basement. The stairs to the space were right off the kitchen. His parents gave him the basement as his own suite when he got into high school. It kept the onslaught of friends that inevitably followed teenagers home during their high school years from taking over the house with all the problems that could cause, reducing chaos and damage and Kevin got some privacy.

The space ran the length and with of the house. His bedroom was actually separate from the living space with its own bathroom. In the far right corner, the bedroom was walled off from he rest of the living space. It was a simple room with a King sized bed, two night stands, a dresser and walk in closet. Edd was jealous of that bed. His parents refused to upgrade him from his twin bed. He wasn't too tall for it, yet, but it still made him feel like a child and not the teenager he was. The bathroom had a shower and a jetted tub. The jock loved that tub.

When you walked into the living space, to your right was a computer desk where his laptop sat. Kevin loved to spin in the rolling chair he kept near it. Said it helped him think. Edd thought it helped him procrastinate. There were shelves on the walls for his trophies and books, sports, car and motorcycle posters littered the walls.

A 40 inch tv was mounted on the wall directly in front of you as you walked into the room. The couch was in front of it, a love seat to the right and two lazy boys were on the left. Tables sat between the seating arrangements and a coffee table in front of the couch. About a foot in front of the tv were two small gaming chairs. Between them, a bowl of popcorn and blueberries. Edd loved blueberries. He appreciated Kevin's forethought.

Edd popped a few blueberries in his mouth as he took his seat on Kevin's right. "Let's do this Mr Barr."

Kevin couldn't take his eyes off of Edd. The boy's confidence and the casual way he ate the fruit was enthralling. When Edd cocked a brow at him, his heart skipped a few beats. He knew he wouldn't be able to focus on the games at all.

"Let's."

Four hours and 3 video games later, Kevin threw his controller across the room for the umpteenth time. Edd was in the floor, giggling.

"You cheated!," he pouted at Edd.

"Moi?! Cheat?!" Edd tried his best to look offended but when the jock looked at him with his luscious bottom lip poked out, he blushed. Damn that lip!

"Kevin, I didn't cheat. You have been rather distracted, though. Is everything alright?"

Fuck. Edd was on to him! Distraction! Need a distraction!

"Well, I have been thinking. You're not gunning for Princess are you? You know Rolf likes her." There. That's a good distraction.

"I assure you, Kevin, Princess and I are just friends. Rolf is definitely more her type than I am." Or ever will be.

"Ok, 'cause y'all seem awfully close." Kevin seemed very relieved at Edd's words, but he and Princess were just as close as Kevin and Nat were to the heiress. It was odd. He thought he knew Edd. What is the kid hiding.

"We have been through an awful lot together.," Edd said thoughtfully. "But since it's as much her story as it is mine, I'll have to to talk to her first before I can tell you about our history together."

Kevin nodded in understanding. Before Princess moved to town, she talked extensively to Kevin and Nat about telling a friend she had about them. Kevin was surprised to see that that friend was Edd, but also relieved. Edd was as trustworthy as they come.

"Besides, if I didn't know any better," Edd continued, "I could say they same about you and Nazz."

Kevin shrugged. "I guess I can see that." He was the closest to the blond out of everyone in the cut-de-sac. But hadn't they all grown out of their crush on the pretty girl?

"Indeed you can."

Edd's stomach grumbled. Kevin shook his head and stood in front of blushing boy. "Embarrassed because his stomach growled. Cute," Kevin thought.

He offered his hands to the object of his affections. Edd took them and he pulled him up. But because Edd was so light, in comparison to most of his friends, he pulled him into his chest. They were close. So close. Heat raidated between the two of them. Kevin brought his forehead to Edd's. Wide eyed innocent baby blues flicked up in a slight panic to soft emerald green.

"Let's feed your face, kid," Kevin whispered.

Edd gulped. "Uh huh. Let's," Edd whispered back.

Pizza was ordered and brought back to the basement. They settled on the couch and tv was turned to a movie they'd seen a dozen times before.

"So, Professor Vincent, what are you taking this semester?" Kevin was in all honors classes except for the general classes everyone had to take in order to graduate. He had a college fund, but he knew scholarships were his best bet. And if Edd was in honors classes as well, he'd get to spend more time with the brilliant beautiful boy! Winning!

Edd blushed at his new title and did his best to hide it behind his soda. Clearing his throat, he answered,"Well, I've got the usual general freshman courses, but otherwise I'm on the honors tract. You?"

"Same. S'cept I'm in sophomore gen eds."

"Really?!," Edd squeaked. He had tutored Kevin a few times in junior high and did his best to help him last year when he asked. But the chance of taking classes with Kevin, was just too wonderful.

"Dumb jocks don't make good coaches," Kevin replied. He glanced at Edd outta the corner of his eye. Kid looked shocked and impressed.

"You want to coach? That's very admirable, Kevin," Edd said, with a bit of awe in his tone. It made sense for Kevin to chose coaching as a career, but to see that he was doing something to make it happen, gave Edd a newfound respect for the jock.

"What about you? Dr, scientist?"

"Professor, actually," Edd said blushing. "Teaching for sure. Something in math or science or both. I haven't decided that part, yet."

"Why not both?"

Edd thought about that for a moment. "Why not both, indeed."

Pizza complete, but still wanting to keep Edd close, Kevin suggested a ride to town for gelato. On his motorcycle. Uh oh.

Edd's hands flew up to his hat. Kevin scooted close to the flustered boy and gently pulled his hands down.

"Edd, I'm not gonna make you take off your hat. You can wear my helmet." Kevin's tone was gentle and his eyes sincere. The look of relief on the beautiful boy's face made Kevin melt. He was gaining his trust. He wouldn't take that for granted.

"But what about you?," Edd asked. The boy's concern for his safety didn't surprise Kevin. Edd was the most safe conscious person he knew. A childhood of running scams with Eddy could make anyone guarded.

"I just can't wear my hat, remember? But I'm gonna need you to hold on to it." He handed Edd the baseball cap. Edd held on to it for dear life.

So off they went. And sometimes Kevin sped up just so Edd would squeeze a lil tighter. And sometimes Edd squeezed tight just because. But he wouldn't tell Kevin that. Kevin knew, though. Kevin knew.

What neither boy knew was that Princess, Nazz and Nat were having a late lunch on the patio at the bistro across the street from the gelato store. Nat noticed them first.

"Holy hell!," he gasped. And the girls looked off in the direction he was gaping at. The three teens were stunned into silence.

"Looks like they're beating us to the punch," Nazz said, giggling.

Princess took in the whole scene. Kevin and Double D were walking very close together and very much enjoying each other's company. She also noticed a few other teens at the store looking upon her two friends with looks that weren't very nice.

"We still have our work cut out for us, you guys," she said.