The door shut loudly behind Edd as he padded down the basement steps. As he reached the bottom, a muted click let him know that the door was locked and the raven looked around the space that served as his bedroom for a few days every other month. It was small, but livable. A twin sized bed against the wall with a TV adjacent to it and another room for the bath that sat right under the stairs. All in all, it was actually very nice, but that hardly mattered at all to Edd. The fact that his own father locked him down in the basement whenever he did something unsatisfactory, i.e. coming home late or digging through the fridge for something to eat when he wasn't supposed to. The lock was supposed to put that "bad" habit to rest but his mother was understanding. Every time Gauge left, Christine would wait for his flight to depart before breaking out the screwdriver and tearing the damned thing down. Growing boys needed to eat and even though his father was not only the chief of Peach Creek Memorial, but also one of the leading board members of his hospital as well as many others in the surrounding areas, he didn't seem to get that. He needed his family to be the spitting image of perfection.

But unfortunately, Edd didn't fit into his father's twisted dream.

So now there he sat on the all too small bed, in the basement of his house, trying to remember where he hid his emergency stash of chips from last time. He knows that they aren't in the drop ceiling because he was too short to reach it even if he stood on the bed; they weren't in the back of the older TV or even behind the loose wood panel on the far wall. Neither was the rest of his stash.

Everything was gone. His father had raided the entire basement beforehand.

Edd flopped back on the bed and scrubbed his face with his hands. It was going to be a long next couple of days. But if he knew his friends, (and boy did he know Marie like the back of his hand) then the blue haired girl would definitely be waiting by the small basement window the next day with soda, chips, and if Edd was lucky, a pack of his favorite cigarettes and some Axe to cover up the stench.

The raven peeled off his ratty jeans and placed them in the washer on his way to the bathroom. Splashing some water on his face, Edd looked at himself in the mirror for what seemed like the millionth time since his father had been home. A war raged inside of him as stared at the stranger in the mirror that had been deemed both perfect and imperfect all in the same day. The way Kevin's hands had roamed all over his body undaunted, marking his skin as his own by placing dozens of love bites across his neck as only Kevin could. And then his father, who had taken one look at his son for the first time in four months of being gone, had sentenced him to sleep in the basement because that damned scale refuses to lie to him. It never does.

After the raven finished cleaning his face, he pulled off the faded shirt and tossed it in the open washer along with his jeans. There were clean clothes in the dryer that Edd quickly slipped on despite the wrinkles. God, did he hate wrinkled clothes.

...

The next morning Ed woke up alone in his bed. The tall teen popped the kinks out of his neck, shivering a little as the cool morning breeze wafted in through the open basement window. Ed briefly wondered where Trev had gone, but then it dawned on him that the blonde had once mentioned how "strict" his dad was about curfews and who he was with. The brunette quickly climbed out of the messy bed and shut the open window with a click, making plans to go see his best girl. Right after his buttered toast, of course.

Meanwhile, across town, Trev was just coming up to his house. His breath came out in little clouds in front of him as he jogged and sweat began to prick at the back of his neck and not because it was cold, but because of what was possibly waiting for him.

The blonde crept around the side of the house to the back door. His mom was probably still working at the diner pulling a double and his dad was working his usual nine to five job doing construction for some roads over in Peach City. So the only person left at home was-

"Trevor!"

Trev screeched as the back door ripped itself open and a pair of hands pulled him inside the house. A smaller blonde boy fell on the floor laughing at his big brother squealing like a girl. Miles Williams was thirteen years old, tall, blonde hair and blue eyes like his mother but tanned and toned like his father from playing so much football. He and Trev stood nearly eye to eye despite the four year age difference.

"Aaaah haha!" Milles laughed. "You squealed like a little bitch!"

Trevor clutched his chest and groaned while Miles collected himself off of the ground after a moment. "You know I hate that." he said and the younger gave him an apologetic smile as Trev kicked off his sneakers and they both shuffled into the kitchen. Miles made a bee line for the stove as he cooked up something for them while Trev slumped his head down into his arms.

"I'm making hot chocolate. Want some?"

"Yeah, ple-" the eldest was interrupted by a quick knock on the front door and he sighed dramatically. "Please." Trev finished as he stood up and lumbered out of the room. "And I want the tiny marshmallows in there!" he yelled and Miles just laughed. Trevor laughed a little himself before pulling open the front door and his face lit up all together. There, standing on his front porch, was the Princess in all her early morning glory. Grey sweatpants, one of his baggy sweatshirts and her hair pulled up into a bun on top of her head. Ang's arms were crossed over her chest and her foot was tapping impatiently. "Hey-"

"Where've you been?! And what's on your NECK?!" she squealed and Trev just opened the door wider to let her in. A nervous hand rubbed at the sore spots that were all over his neck and shoulders and chest, apparently. Miles was quick to swoop into the room with two mugs filled to the brim with marshmallows.

"Hey Ang, I made you some. I guess I'll leave you two alone to...talk." Miles finished with a wink and sashayed away to go grab his own cup. Ang thanked him with a polite smile before turning into a deep scowl as she eyed the tall blonde before her.

"So," she asked as she poked one of the dark hickeys on Trevor's neck. "who'd you get these from?"

...

Edd praised the Lord when he heard a rapping on the basement window the next afternoon and a certain blue haired girl kneeling behind it, waving a bag of Doritos around excitedly. The raven climbed up onto a step stool and popped the window open with a giant gap toothed grin on his face. "I knew you'd come."

Marie sighed nonchalantly as she leaned back in the grass and opened her soda. "Yeah, well. I always do, don't I?"

Edd just smiled some more and gratefully accepted the next soda that she handed him. "That you do. Thank you, Marie." he said and the two simply snacked in silence for a moment or two before Nazz came strolling around the corner. Her short, blonde hair was tossed up in a sloppy ponytail and a purple bandana was being used as a headband to keep the fly-aways in check.

"Hey, Dee." she said after giving Marie a quick peck on the cheek before settling down on the ground. "How's it hangin'?" she asked and Edd responded simply by shrugging and popping another chip into his mouth.

"I've been better."

The blonde offered a small smile and pulled out a small tupperware container from her bag. "Here, I got you these. They won't stick to you like those chips will. Gimme." Nazz said and snatched the bag and the chip out of Edd's hand, earning herself a seething glare. "Hey! Don't look at me like that. Help me help you."

Edd's glare softened and he sighed. She was right. If anything, he should be thanking her. So with a heavy heart, the raven reached into the container and pulled out a carrot stick. The trio fell into a sort of comfortable silence as they all ate away their concerns, especially Nazz and Marie for their friend who was stuck in the basement for the time being.

"So," Marie began rather nonchalantly. "does he know?"

"Who?" Edd asked as he snapped another carrot in half out of boredom.

The blue haired girl rolled her eyes. "You know. Kevin. Mr Perfect. The guy who has been stealing you from me for the past couple weeks. Does he know?"

Edd paused for a brief moment. "No."

"Are you gonna tell him?"

"No."

This peaked Nazz's attention. "What? Why not? I think he at least deserves to know..." she said. Marie eyed her in agreement before turning her attention back to her best friend in the window, waiting for an answer.

Edd sighed again and adjusted the beanie atop his head. "Look, I just got him. Okay? Like you said, he's Mr Perfect. He's been really sweet for the most part and...I don't want to lose him over something like this."

Marie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Christ, if he can't handle this then he ain't the one. Trust me."

Nazz nodded and offered Edd a water. "I agree with Marie. You don't have to tell him now, but just do it eventually. Okay?"

The raven haired teen nodded. "Eventually. Just not now. I'm too hungry to deal with that at the moment. I haven't eaten since yesterday and honestly these carrot sticks are just awful. No offense, Nazz." he said and Nazz just shrugged.

"None taken. We'd all kill to have one of your cupcakes right now. These carrots ain't shit."

The group of friends were quiet after that. Edd tried not to pout as he thought about his cupcakes. He hadn't made anything in what felt like weeks and he was practically itching to get back into the kitchen. Plus his next set of serious college classes were starting in two weeks and Edd needed to get his shit together- he needed to practice. Or study, whatever you wanted to call it. He was going to culinary school, he wanted to open up his own place someday where everybody could appreciate art in the form of cake and then eat it. It was the dream. His dream.

"Hey, Dee?"

Edd jumped a little bit when Marie called his name and shook his head to clear away the thoughts about school. "What?"

"What'd you mean when you said that Kevin's been sweet to you 'for the most part'?" she asked and Edd couldn't help but put a hand over his mouth to hide the smirk.

"He gets cranky when he doesn't get his way." Edd said and Nazz nodded in confirmation.

"Nothing could be closer to the truth. That guy is a spoiled little rich boy. Don't let his job at Del's Garage fool you into thinking otherwise. The checks he gets there are fucking pocket change to him."

Edd laughed outwardly but he couldn't help but be mildly disturbed at the thought of how well off the Barr family was. Kevin gets a new car at the blink of an eye but Edd himself has to beg for new clothes.

You'd think that being the son of a highly sought after surgeon and board member of several different hospitals would come with perks, but it didn't. It came with his father dictating his mother's work schedule and the rest of his family being pushed away.

Even Eddwin.