Author's note: Reviews keep me afloat.

Once again Eddward Vincent was reclining in his hospital bed staring at the blank ceiling before him. He had a fresh gown on along with a nice pair of restraints on his wrists that kept his movement at bay. He couldn't blame them for basically tying him to the bed after he had ripped himself open out of a fit of anger. It was for his own good.

Dr. Willard had not come to see him after his second surgery as he had expected. The woman was the underlying cause of the inner turmoil he was now facing. Edd's parent's were almost certain to come see him now that they knew of his condition thanks to that dreadful doctor. What was he going to say to them? What if they apologize, should he just forgive and forget? They were his parents after all, but in a way Edd realized that they were never there for him in certain aspects that a parent should be.

Mother and Father weren't there for his birthdays or award ceremonies for his impressive achievements. They were also absent when Eddward had his biennial check ups for his tumor. No one was there to hold his hand if bad news did happen rear its ugly head in his direction. While he read in his files that he had received five surgeries when he was younger to remove as much of the tumor as they could, it was very aggressive. Every time they would remove a section, it would begin to grow back almost immediately.

The raven-haired teen sighed as he leaned his head back against the hard pillow. It was almost time for one of his check ups. The last one had revealed a small bit of the tumor residing deep in his brain, but had not grown thanks to his diligence in taking his pills. He had been dealing with the truth of his illness for years, always managing to keep it at bay for the sake of his friends and his own sanity.

The door to his room opened slightly and a hesitant knock was heard. "Enter." Edd said aloud as he rolled his head to the side lazily to look at his guest. A small smile made his way onto his face as his favorite red-head strolled into his room. Kevin was dressed in a pair of long basketball shorts and a black pullover sweatshirt.

"Hey you," he said with a smile as he pulled a chair up to Edd's bed and sat in it backwards.

"Hello Kevin." Edd greeted back. He wanted to reach out and grab his hand but thought twice as he remembered that he was tethered to his bed.

"I brought you this, by the way." Kevin said as he dug through his backpack only to pull out Edd's beanie. Edd gasped slightly, remembering that a thin cap given to him by a somewhat understanding nurse was all that kept his scalp a mystery to Kevin. Double D immediately went to grab it out of the other boy's hand when his wrist was snagged back.

Edd looked down at the beige restraint and cursed it silently. There was no possible way he could put the hat on by himself. Meanwhile, Kevin frowned deeply at how his boyfriend was tied down. "What happened?"

Double D lowered his eyes. "Nothing really."

Kevin scoffed and stood so he could adjust his chair to sit right. The red-head gently turned Edd's face to his and let his stare do the talking for him. Double D began to squirm under his partner's glare, part of the smoldering look left him rather hot and bothered while the other half reminded him of when the teen would beat him and his friends to a pulp.

"I-I might have thrown a pitcher at a doctor." Edd admitted sheepishly and looked down.

Kevin let out a hearty laugh and leaned in to give his boyfriend a quick peck on the lips. The action had reminded Edd of a very important subject at hand. "K-Kevin I need to talk to you about what happened."

"Don't worry 'D, I already talked to the police. They're all ready to take him down as soon as you give them the word." Kevin said with a proud smile as he held Edd's incapacitated hand.

"T-thank you, but that's not the important part-"

"What do you mean that's not important?! The dude almost killed you and that's not important." Kevin growled as he threw a hand up in the air and leaned back in his chair.

"No Kevin, please-" Edd tried to get his words in but Kevin interrupted him once again.

"Dammit Edd I was fuckin' worried about you and-"

Edd felt useless without the use of his hands to stop Kevin's rant, so instead Edd threw his head back onto the bed and shouted over the jock. "Kevin! He threatened me!"

Kevin whirled around with wide eyes. "Well duh 'D, he-"

"He threated me with..." Double D bit his bottom lip and looked down before spitting out his next words. "He said...that if I had s-sex with him that he would keep quiet about us. Kev, he knew. He tricked me and manipulated me." Edd's small admittance started out with a large voice but ended in barely a whisper as the teen was reduced to a sniveling mess. Terribly distraught over the imminent loss of his boyfriend of whom he cherished so much.

Kevin was quiet as Edd tried not to lose it over his depressing combination of words and thoughts; Edd closed his eyes tight and turned his head down in shame. "Edd..."

"I tried to tell you before, while we were at school but I kept-"

Kevin was immediately at Edd's bedside undoing his partner's restraints quietly. "Kevin I-"

"You talk too much." Kevin said as he freed Edd's hands. Then he lowered the railing of the bed and climbed in much to Edd's surprise. Kevin rested an arm around Edd's shoulders without a word and leaned the side of his face on the smaller boy's head. "I'm sorry Edd. I had no idea it would come to this...I wish I could change how some people feel but I can't. And seeing you like this hurts me..." Kevin said in a quiet voice. Double D wrung hid hands nervously as a few lone tears rolled down his face, preparing for the inevitable.

"Are you going to leave?" Double D asked in a meek voice. This caught Kevin by surprise as he looked down at Edd, who looked incredibly small and fragile at the moment. His beautiful blue eyes were like an ocean of worry amongst the porcelain skin of his face. Tufts of inky hair poked out from his donated scrub cap and Kevin couldn't help but smile sweetly at his little dork.

With a gentle touch, Kevin slowly slid his hand up and dipped his fingers under the blue fabric while he looked Double D in the eyes. He saw Edd's small hands twitch, but they made no move to stop him. Slowly the red-head slipped the cap off and tossed it on the floor behind them and tucked Edd's head into his chest after taking a glance at the scarred scalp. Kevin saw the thick trail of scarred skin that started from the part of his hair on the right and stretched down to the crown of his head. He also noticed a smaller trail of pink skin that made it's way back to behind his ear.

Secretly Kevin had looked up some research on brain tumors so he could be ready for Edd when the time came to see. He was preparing himself for what he might see, but compared to the gnarly pictures of fresh stitches and swollen faces, Edd looked even more breath-taking than ever. That was just a scar, and this was just a really rough patch in life. Storms pass and things move on, and the two teens were living proof of that.

"Y'know," Kevin said after a moment of thinking and lifted Double D's chin up with a finger. "You need to have more faith in us 'D. Just because things seem impossible right now doesn't mean that everything'll be the same in a month or so. Storms pass Edd, right now we're just in the middle of one."

Double D hiccupped and tugged Kevin down so he could wrap his arms around the other's neck without straining himself. "I w-was so w-worried, I don't want to lose you Kevin. You m-mean so much to me!" Edd said with a quivery voice. The chuckle that came from Kevin's chest made Edd's stitched up stomach tingle.

The words yearned to leave Kevin's mouth, to whisper them into Edd's mouth and breathe sweet nothings into the crook of his neck every night they were together. Kevin wanted to feel every inch of Edd in a bed of their own, he wanted so much more for them. But he didn't want to rush things because this was a whole new experience for Kevin and he was going to make mistakes. God forbid he went in blind.

"You mean the world to me 'D. Remember, you promised me we could do this so I'm holding you up to it okay?" Kevin laughed and kissed Edd fully on the lips, making the smaller boy practically melt in his arms. I love you... Kevin thought fiercely.

"Oh, and 'D?"

"Yes Dear?" Edd asked sweetly, making Kevin's heart clench pleasantly.

"The whole gang knows about us now. I had Marie tell 'em earlier." Kevin admitted, casting his gaze to the floor where he saw the discarded beanie on the floor.

"Oh, how did they take the news?" Edd asked as Kevin adjusted the hat on his partner's head carefully.

Kevin shrugged nonchalantly. "Really well actually. Mostly they just asked questions about how and when, but then they were confused about you and Marie."

Edd nodded and sighed after Kevin finished explaining the situation to himself. "Somethin' wrong?"

"I also have news." Edd admitted before looking up at his boyfriend. Kevin nodded for Edd to continue. "I'm fairly positive that Mother and Father are flying out to see me."

"What?!"