Last chapter the reviews said that Eddward ignoring Kevin would be a bad thing. Well guess what, you were absolutely right.

Disclaimer: I do not own the original Ed, Edd n' Eddy characters. I only own my interpretation and usage of this plot, and whatever miscellaneous characters I may add. This story will also include scenes not suitable for children or bigots. You have been fairly warned.

Please enjoy!


It's Complicated

12/46


Gym class. Third period. Class was being held outside due to good weather. He had fully changed in the locker room, and now stood in a line with the other students. He specifically stood next to Marie Kanker.

The young, blue-haired girl was sporting multiple multi-colored bandages on her arms and legs, as always, and stared straight ahead at their class's teacher, with more attentiveness than he usually saw from her. Normally she would be talking with her friends by her side. However, to be fair, he had just literally cut-in on the conversation by wedging himself between she and a taller brunette. He had expected some of her usual hotheadedness, but instead got complete and total silence and body language that said that she, too, would not acknowledge him.

It burned him on the inside. He glared down at her through a side-glance, with his lips in a firm, tight line. He supposed his nostrils were flared, too.

He was immensely peeved, after all.

The gym teacher blew their whistle. They turned their bodies to face the front. His eyes landed on the back of Marie's white neck, and wishing that he could burn holes through it. The gym teacher blew their whistle once more. They began to slowly jog, which eventually turned into a fast run where their single-file-line formation had broken into a pseudo line.

Despite this, he stayed on Marie's tail.

He made sure to never be more than two steps behind her, and keep-up with her speed when she tried to get far ahead of him. He would admit to Marie being fast, but he was much faster than she, and her fastest pace was a few notches below his. He was still in his comfort zone when she struggled to stay ahead of him. She clearly knew that she would not be able to shake him so easily, though; a fact that pushed her harder and harder to run as fast as she could — far faster than required for that gym class.

The jogging time came to an end, and he still stuck to Marie as much as he could. After jogging came teaching that week's drill lesson. They were playing soccer in gym, and had been since September after the physical exams. It was part of the reason why their gym teacher held their class outside while the weather was still good — "Soccer is best when in its element," they said. After a quick drill warm-up on passing the ball among teams that had been chosen since three weeks ago, they resumed the in-class soccer tournaments that were started last week.

On Monday and Wednesday had been the two initial play-through games that determined which teams would go on to the finale, and which would compete for third and fourth place. That following Monday, the two teams competing for third and fourth place had gone on; and one claimed victory. On that day, Wednesday, it was the time for the two teams fighting for first place — his team, versus the team that Marie was on — to battle it out.

He had been the chosen captain of his team, so he already knew his position in the game. Yet, he was not at all surprised when Marie, who had consistently chosen to play goalie for her time during the initial "for fun" games before the official in-class tournaments started, and the tournaments, themselves, called her team captain back to talk to them; and then moments later, switched places with the captain. Instead of the member of the school's official soccer team, he now stood in front of Marie at the center of the field.

"Shake hands."

They did; her grip was tight and her painted nails purposely dug into his flesh.

"We'll flip a coin to determine who goes first. Call it: heads or tails?"

"Heads."

"Tails."

"Tails. Kevin, your team goes first."

The ball was now between the two of them as the gym teacher settled it there, but his eyes were never off of Marie. She had her darker eyes half-lidded in a half-glaring, half calm-anger expression with her face like stone. While it was not too visible, he could see the fury in her pitch black eyes, and that she was waiting for him to make a move, so that she could, too, and likely go for his head.

Marie knew what he had been doing, and was itching to retaliate.

The gym teacher blew their whistle. "Start!"

It was his move, first. He knew that. She knew that. Everyone who had heard the results of the coin flip knew that. Now it was only a matter of how and when he would do it. He knew that Marie had only chosen to be goalie because she had been lazy — but even as a lazy goalie, she was unstoppable. He had seen her put her all in sports, before, when she was the only female on the wrestling team a few years back. She was strong. Fast. A dangerous opponent. He was certain that the moment he twitched his muscles to move his leg, that she would be on him in a second; ready to block; ready to take the ball away; ready to hurt him. He had to be strategic about how he went about this — for he had incurred the wrath of a demon.

He had been ready for that, though.

He made no physical indications with his face at what he was going to do. He kept his eyes glued on the demon that was Marie. When he went for the kick, however, he purposely made it look like he was going at it with his dominant leg, his right leg, and when Marie went to use her own right leg to counter, he brought forward his left leg to both block her right leg, and kick the ball so that it was within reach of his right leg, some meters away.

The game started.

At every moment in the game, it was a battle between him and Marie. If he had the ball, she would chase him down like the beast she was, and do something perfectly within the gym class's set rules, to get it away from him. If she got the ball, he would do the same in turn; often putting his stamina and speed advantage over her, to his best use. It was as though their teammates were not on the field with them — this was their private game, between their grudges, and everyone else out of their way.

It took about twenty minutes for the first goal to be scored. He and Marie had run the ball back-and-forth on the field, with no critical slip-ups between them, until he accidentally stepped on her leg and caused the both of them to fall. Rather than deal with the pain that she was surely feeling, Marie took advantage of the fact that he was down, and got up — giving him a swift, "accidental" kick to the gut as she got out from under him that was brilliantly disguised to everyone else's eyes — and took the ball and delivered a goal into his team's net.

She smirked while she swayed her hips and walked over to him. She stood in front of him with one hand on her hip and her head tilted up, lips in a satisfied smirk, as she said to him, in a sickly sweet and mocking voice, "Need any help, Kevin?" She did not offer her hand out to him.

"No thank you, Marie." He said firmly, standing.

She gave a chuckle. "If you say so…" She then walked around him, eyes still gloating, as she made her way over to her team. Her teammates had been cheering at her victory.

Their cheers did not last long, however. He would be damned if he let Marie get the best of him in that game. That one-point difference was critical, and time was running out. He knew this. It was why he pushed himself further — running, dodging, and blocking faster, better, and stronger — until, near the end of the game — not a minute difference before it officially ended — he managed to get past Marie and her intense offense and defense, and scored his own goal into her team's net. The soccer-playing goalie was defenseless against the ball's ricochet on the metal pole holding the net up on the right, and forcing it past him to enter and hit it on the left.

1-1

"Time! It's a tie!"

There was cheering among his team members, and groans among hers. As they lined up in their respective teams to shake hands, the gym teacher said that they would have the tie-breaker game next Monday; and if it was another tie, then, they would settle it with a coin toss. He shook the hand of each member on Marie's team, as they did his. Marie's hand was the last person's he shook, as she was at the end of the line. Again her grip was tight and menacing, as though she were biting him with her hands and nails.

After gym class, they each headed to the athletics building, at their own pace. He was slow to get there as he chatted with his teammates and his friends on the opposing team, about the game. They had all noticed that it was basically a two-man show between him and Marie, and wondered what had caused it.

"Don't tell me you, like, sanded down the wheels of her rollerblades or something." One had said.

"Nah. Nothing like that. Honest, everything is fine between Marie and I, you guys. It was just friendly competition."

"More like a death match." Another stated.

He had failed in getting them to see his and Marie's battle that game-day as anything but friendly, when he spotted Marie leaning against the entrance to the athletics building, with her arms crossed over her chest, and clearly waiting for him. They spotted her, too, and their conversation went silent. When they were finally near enough to her, Marie looked at everyone in the group but him and said, "Beat it. I got business with this one." She tipped her head up at him.

His friends looked at him, and he looked at them. "Go on, guys. It's nothing bad. Just go. I'll be in in a few." They did not look very much convinced; in fact, some said that if he needed them around for more manpower to go up against her, he need just scream and they would be there. Yet in the end, they all went into the athletics building, leaving him and Marie alone.

With them gone, Marie pushed herself off of the brick wall, and started to walk. He followed. She walked around two corners of the building, taking them to the direct opposite of the entrance; where almost no one, unless they specifically needed to go there, would be able to see them.

When they were there, he had no time to react as Marie did a swift turn, pushed him up against the brick wall, and caged him in with her arms.

Her eyes were narrowed in a solid, hate-filled glare, and her teeth were bared at him as she snarled. Her nostrils were flared. She was leaning in, invading his personal space. He felt the same fear and intimidation rolling off of her body that he would from a bear. A vicious animal.

"What is your problem with me Barr?" She asked him. Her voice sounded calm besides the emphasis she put on some words, but he could tell that the calmness was sure to not last. It was just for the beginning. For the moment. She could probably barely hold on to her temper as it was.

He was not intimidated, by this, however. He was aware of it, and used it as a reminder to be cautious of what he had to say, but did not let himself cower in fear at her presence or body language or tone or actions.

He would not run away like that.

"Edd is avoiding me." He said to her.

Immediately her face twisted as though she had smelled something wretched. He knew she thought his statement foul in the same way shit was. He had expected this. When he had made the decision to confront Marie about Eddward's avoidance of him, after being unable to corner Eddward in any way, he had prepared himself for her reactions.

She gave a heavy, long drawn-out roll of her eyes; it almost looked as though she were fainting back. "Is that all?" She asked him.

"Don't act like this isn't a big deal. I know Edd told you what happened. You two are… close. I know that. Did he tell you, though, that he promised he wouldn't run away from me anymore? I get that what I said probably freaked him out as much as it did me, but—"

"Look, lover-boy…" She said, slow and annoyed as she snapped her head back to look at him. "Edd doesn't wanna see you, okay? Yeah. He told me what happened that night after Homecoming. He told me everything — like he always does because, you know, we're friends like that. We have a deep trust between us like that." It was clear that she was throwing her relationship with Eddward, both past and present, into his face. "And you know what, not only did he tell me about it, but I also gave him advice on how to handle you after it. He asked for it, after all. You really did a number on his personal safety…"

He narrowed his eyes at her. Marie gave him a satisfied, smirk-y grin with a glint in her eyes that told him that she did, in fact, advise Eddward to avoid him. It was her fault. It was all her fault. He wanted to wrap his hands around his throat and force her to take the advice back and to tell Eddward that it was okay to talk to him. That he did not have to avoid him. That he, Kevin, would not hurt him.

He restrained himself on that, however, knowing that doing such a thing would only get Eddward to hate him more, and likely have Marie coming up with more ways to ruin his… life? Social life?... Dating life?

"Take it back." He did say. "Take back what you said to Edd. I don't want him to avoid me again. It already hurt the first time."

"Hurt? Oh don't tell me — you do actually have feelings for him? He told me how you told him that you liked him that day. You know, when you went with him to my house and then slammed his body against the hood of his car? What was that, by the way? Did you plan to fuck him there? Could you no longer wrangle in your big, bad hormones Mr. Testosterone?" He did not answer her. He just kept his eyes on her eyes and listened while she went on. "I don't get you, Barr. Even if you were in love with the guy, do you just not care about how he feels? Like, don't get me wrong: I did tell Edd to avoid you — both times you got him scared as shit. But it was only after I saw how… petrified Edd was. If a problem has you frightened, remove its elements from your life. That's what I did by telling him to avoid you, because all you've ever done is make Edd cry and fill him with fear and make him feel… invaded."

He had wanted to correct Marie and tell her that he was not in love with Eddward, but was made speechless by what she said. He knew that his statement had made Eddward scared, but the look in her eyes when she told him those things, and the seriousness in her voice, told him that it had been far worse than he had originally thought. His… actions had cut Eddward more deeply.

Marie snorted. "Oh don't tell me. Now you're realizing the damage you caused? Selfish asshole…"

"I… I didn't know. He never talked to me. I tried to talk to him but he—"

"Didn't want to talk to you!" Marie exclaimed. "The poor kid had been hoping the two of you could leave your pasts behind and become friends. He had been… so happy when you finally showed up for your tutoring sessions with him and were making progress. You know he covered you each day you weren't there, first? Even after I told him to sell you out and get rid of you, he wouldn't. He kept himself faithful to you because he had hope and trust in you. And you… at the end of all that, you crushed it. Destroyed. Annihilated. Murdered. He was scared to sleep in his own home because you wouldn't stop calling and kept pestering him. I had never seen Edd so phased by anything before. You fucked him up." Marie's face had gotten red. In her eyes, he could see that she had been keeping all of that inside of her for years — because it had been she who had been there for Eddward and helped him to get through it all — and now she was letting it all out. She did not look close to crying, though. She was strong and firm — attacking him with no openings of her own. It was almost as though… she was standing there for Eddward, and to prevent him from getting to Eddward, who metaphorically stood behind her, she made her offense and defense steel-hard.

"You're a selfish asshole who clearly didn't give a damn enough about Edd to think before you acted. Even now you're still like that. You're mad as balls because Edd is avoiding you? Because he's protecting himself from you? And you find that shit surprising after everything you've done to him? Ha! That's a laugh! It only speaks to your true character, you pea-brained muscle-head. Asshole. Dickless. Fucker. J—"

"I get it, I get it!" He finally exclaimed. "You don't gotta keep insulting me, dammit. I get what you mean. And I know you're right. Edd has every right to protect himself if he feels threatened—"

"Then leave him the fuck alone!"

"—I can't do that!"

"Why the hell not?!" Marie's face was closer to his, now. He was a bit taller than her, so she had to stand on the tips of her toes to do so, but she did it, and he would admit that having her closer made him more cautious. He felt that at any moment, she would take a literal bite out of him.

"Because!" He started. He faltered for a moment when he saw the look in her eyes, but started back up again. "Because I just… can't let it end now like it did then. I want… I want at least to be able to hold a conversation with him, okay? I want him to be comfortable around me — I don't want him to be scared anymore! I wanna show him that I can be trustworthy and that we can hang-out together and that I won't do anything to him! I just… I just wanna be around him. And I can't do that if he's scared of me. And I don't want him to be scared of me at all — that wasn't ever my intention. I want to make that go away and for him to trust me and like me and—"

"Lure him into a trap?" She asked, sharply, with one of her dyed, blue eyebrows raised. His own eyes widened at her statement. He was shaking his head, his mouth ready to form a string of "No, no, no" when she continued on with, "Listen, Barr. Edd may be too nice and scared to ask you this, but I'm not. What's your endgame here? Hm? Do you really just wanna 'be around him' like you've said you do? Or is it something more? I'm telling you right now that if what you want from Edd is his ass or his dick or him as a boyfriend, you're not getting it. Edd just so happens to find sex repulsive and doesn't like guys."

He blinked.

"What?"

She rolled her eyes again. This time faster, but clearly with more frustration than before. "What are you hard of hearing now, too? You heard me. Edd hates sex. Like, hates it. It makes him feel gross and uncomfortable, and he has bad memories with it. He also doesn't find anyone sexually attractive. Neither you nor me. So you've got no chance."

"That makes no sense. Didn't you two date sophomore year?"

"Yeah. And?"

"I know you two fucked. I could see it on your face."

"That's not the same thing as this. And it's also none of your business." He could see her face getting red by something other than anger.

"…What? Did you suck so bad at it he swore off of sex for good?"

Her fingers curled around his gym shirt and now more than ever she looked ready to throttle him. He could see her teeth grinding themselves together, and her face was redder than before from both anger and embarrassment.

"Listen you! You have no fucking clue what you're talking about! What happened between me and Edd is our business and we already fucking handled it like adults! So shut. The fuck. Up!"

He gulped. Marie had gotten closer to him, and he had to raise his chin to keep his face safe from her. The downside was that his neck was exposed, and he fully believed that she was but a step away — the push of one, specific button — from wrapping her jaws around his neck and biting him. She would probably go for the jugular, too. Her eyes had already been screaming death threats at him since she took her captain's place in gym class.

Some breaths passed between the two of them.

"…I get it. You can let go now." He said.

"Not until you swear to back the fuck away from Edd. You've hurt him enough as it is, Barr. And I don't wanna see Edd suffer any more."

"And what about me? I'm suffering too!"

"Just jerk yourself off in the bathroom or something."

"I don't want sex from him!" He yelled; much, much louder than he needed to and hoping that there was no one around within hearing range. The fact that he even found a man attractive in any way was already enough for him. He did not need to try and explain his statement to anyone else, so soon.

"Then what do you want, Barr? You've been giving Edd and me shitty responses, and quite frankly, we're both tired of it. Neither Edd nor I have the time to play these types of games with some idiot. If you don't want sex, then what the hell do you want from him? Huh? What, Barr? What?" She lifted up the fisted parts of his shirt, and he could have sworn she lifted him off of the ground, too, if he was not still able to feel it underneath his feet. Marie just had that type of presence where she could bend reality and twist the elements around her to make him think what she wants him to. She was, in every way, shape, and form, a force to be reckoned with.

With all of this staring at him far too close in the face, it took him a bit of time to respond to her questions. No, her demands. She was demanding him to give her answers; in the same way Eddward had, but worse. Yet that was not the scary part. The scary part was that… he really had nothing better to say than:

"I… don't know."

She pulled him forward just to push him back. His head came to a dull thud against the brick wall, and he was momentarily distracted by that, until he heard her say, "I'm done with you. Now more than ever. And I'm telling Edd to stay the hell away from you, even more. Because now I can see for myself what a huge idiot you are — and there's no way I'm letting that type of fuckery get near him."

He rubbed at the back of his head, and turned his head to look at her through one eye. She had let go of his shirt and was walking away while she spoke. She took one last glance at him before giving him a disgusted look, and rounding the corner; fully disappearing from his sight.


Quick question: I've been mentioning the things that happened between Marie and Eddward their sophomore year a lot, and you all got to see what more or less happened some time ago, but lately I've been wondering if it'd be a good idea to fully publish a fic on it? A sort of side-story to this one, centered on Eddward and Marie. There's obviously tons more to it than I've showed now, and I want to expand on that wholeheartedly. Of course if I did one, I'd start work on it after writing the last chapter of this. Thoughts?

Next Chapter: A very special chapter; both technique and content-wise.

Please review!

Updates every Monday and Friday.

~ Inkle