Last chapter was fun— right, right? Don't you think this one will be fun too— right, 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

14/46

#1

His first hurdle of the day came only mere minutes after he finished his business in the bathroom, at 3am. He washed his hands and his face, and headed back to his bedroom feeling… some odd sense of refreshment and security. Do not get him wrong — he was entirely aghast by the fact that he saw Eddward — a male — as a sexual partner; especially enough to have a very, very vivid dream about the two of them having sex. One good enough, even, that he had felt the urge to continue it — to finish it — as he masturbated in the bathroom.

This was entirely new ground for him as he had never had that experience with a male in his mind, before; but he was able to keep his thoughts together enough to realize that no good would come if he tried to deal with that issue at just past 3am.

I'll sleep for the next three hours and then… figure some shit out later — I'll leave my problem to tomorrow's me. He thought.

Back in his bedroom, he sunk down onto his bed. Despite the warmth that he often felt after a good orgasm — whether induced by himself or another — he still felt cold, and wrapped his comforter over his body once more. He hit his pillow a few times to re-fluff it, sunk his head down on it, closed his eyes, and tried to match his breathing to how it felt when he was asleep.

Except—

Every time he attempted to sleep, his mind immediately went back to the sexual fantasy he had of Eddward. He would close his eyes for but a second, and almost immediately, see the last shot of the "scene" — Eddward licking his lips and smirking after swallowing down all of his semen, leaving not a drop behind. Not only that, but on more than one occasion, his mind would replay the "movie" of the sexual fantasy at different timeframes; sometimes it would start from the beginning when he knocked at Eddward's door, and other times, at the grinding session when he pulled up Eddward's salmon-colored, knitted sweatshirt, and kissed and licked and sucked at his pink nipples.

He groaned into his pillow as he felt a new erection starting to form and pressing uncomfortably on his mattress as he laid on his stomach to try and stop it. He could already tell that it would be a long night.

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#2

The second round of torture — "hurdle", as he will call it — came some hours after the first. After a long night of struggling to manage the erection that seemed permanent, it was finally time for him to awake, and take control of his day. He got up from bed as he normally would — the erection gone and him overly-conscious of not thinking or doing about anything that would trigger it — and then went to the bathroom. Despite it being his usual time, Lacey and Trix were not yet awake and had not made it upstairs by the time he grabbed his bath towel from his room, and locked the bathroom door behind him.

He bathed, brushed his teeth, and then dried himself off and put on a fresh set of clothes. Lacey and Trix woke up around this time, and he smiled and pat the two dogs on their heads as they greeted one another like always.

"You guys ready to go for a walk?" He asked them; and was answered by their happy barks and small leaps of joy. They ran in front of him as they all went down the stairs to the first floor, where their leashes lay in wait at the kitchen, hanging above their empty food bowls. While they got those, he put on his jacket, knowing that like yesterday, today was bound to have some chilly weather. The two girls ran back into the hallway where the coat closet was with the leashes in their mouths, he hooked them on them, and then they all exited the house for their routine walks.

As usual, they exited the cul-de-sac and headed to the park, where they ran and played, before making their way back to their home.

"Hey Kevin." Waiting for him at his front door, was Nazz. She was fully dressed for school with a cream-colored overcoat on for protection from the cold, holding the tote bag that she used as her backpack, in her hands. She gave him a smile that widened as they got close, and Lacey and Trix — who had fuzzy memories of Nazz, he was sure — greeted her with the same interest and care they greeted almost everyone. "Hi!" Nazz's voice almost immediately took the form of baby-talk. "And how are you two doing today? Is Kevin treating you well? Oh you both have gotten so, so big!" She patted and rubbed their heads and ruffled their ears and stroked their tummies — all things they both knew they liked from when he got them as puppies about two years back. Nazz had been with him when he saw them both at the animal shelter, where she had been volunteering back then and he went to help out; and even helped him to take care of them for the first few weeks before he got the hang of it. When they became busy with their lives, Nazz stopped coming over and Lacey and Trix no longer saw her, but it did not look as though that meant that they had forgotten about her.

"You've been doing a good job raising them, Kevin." Nazz said, still bent down a bit and rubbing at both of their backs. "Their coats are beautiful and their noses are wet. And they look so healthy and happy."

"Thanks." He said, smiling. He was always glad to hear good things when it came to his Pit Bulls. "They're both a handful, but… their company more than makes up for it." Raising a dog, in itself, was not an easy task — and when they're two fully-grown Pit Bulls with lots of love and energy to give, the task quickly becomes one of the hardest and best things in the world. He found taking care of his two girls to be his favorite chore.

"Can we go in, though? It's kind of cold and this weather isn't good for them. Their coats aren't that thick to begin with." Nazz said, standing to her feet and grabbing her large, black leather tote bag with the Hello Kitty bow decal on it.

"Ah, yeah. I forgot." He quickly moved forward and took out his keys to unlock the door. Once unlocked, he let Lacey and Trix loose into his house, before he and Nazz both stepped in; he held the door for her.

"Why thank you." She said with a smile.

He grinned. "You're welcome."

He closed the door behind him and then went about taking off his jacket and taking Nazz's overcoat, before putting both items on the coat rack that was there, next to the coat closet; his dad had bought the rack after he complained about how hard it was to get the coat out of the closet. (Yet, still his father put his coat away in the coat closet every night after he came home, despite his numerous complaints.)

He and Nazz followed Lacey and Trix to the kitchen.

"So… not to sound forgetful or anything," he said, speaking to Nazz, while he went into the cupboard to get the dry dog food for the girls, "And it's not like I hate it, either, but… why are you here again, Nazz?" He asked her.

Sitting at the kitchen island, Nazz frowned at him with pouty, glossy-pink lips. "Honestly Kevin, don't tell me you forgot." She said.

"Concept: Let's say I did, for a moment — what would your response be?" He asked her whilst scooping in some food into Lacey's bowl. Lacey's white bowl sat next to Trix's bright green bowl, on an elevated platform that made it easier and safer for both dogs to eat. The same was with their water bowls, which were next to their food bowls.

Nazz sighed. "You promised me a few weeks ago that I'd get to ride your motorcycle with you someday, Kevin." She said. "We settled on it today because I don't have any late after-school activities, and don't have to take Johnny to school." She said with a smile.

It came back to him. "Right…" He said, stretching out the word and nodding his head along. "Right, right. Now I remember."

"Right." Nazz said, clearly mocking him with a playful grin on her face. He looked up at her for a brief moment, but she just continued to give a wide smile that pulled her cheeks up and back, with her head resting atop a net of her folded fingers, and her elbows on the table. He rolled his eyes and she began to laugh. He went to put the dog food bag away, with Lacey and Trix replacing the space he had taken-up in front of their bowls, to eat.

"Why do you do that by the way?" He asked as he closed the cupboard where the food was, and went to the fridge to get one of the plastic pitchers of water they had inside. "Take Johnny to school, that is."

"Johnny's a friend. He doesn't have a car or a bike, and you know how the bus is. Our schedules usually fit perfectly with one another, so there's never been a problem driving him to and from school — and he always gives me gas money, too, which is nice."

"Ah. Okay." He said. He poured some of the water from the pitcher and into the two separate tin water bowls while the girls still ate. He then went to put the pitcher back into the fridge. "What time is it?" He asked.

"Seven thirty-six." Nazz responded. "If we want to make it to school on time, we should leave before forty-five."

"Sweet. I have time to get something to eat." He said; smiling and rubbing his hands together as he made his way over to the pantry in the kitchen.

"Not McDonald's again, I hope." Nazz said. "I don't know how you can eat that stuff. It's nothing compared to Burger King."

Kevin snorted. "Yeah, right." He said, opening the pantry and aiming for the box of unopened strawberry Pop-Tarts. "McDonald's is like the king of fast food. I don't see Burger King or Wendy's with any indoor playgrounds."

"Oh whatever. At least our fries aren't like 80% salt."

"You're 80% salt, Nazz." He joked, giving a chuckle. Nazz scoffed at him but then joined in on the laughter. "Did you eat breakfast already, though?"

"Yeah. I made myself an omelet."

"I'm making Pop-Tarts!" He exclaimed with the vigor and excitement of a child as he put two on a plate and put them into the toaster oven.

Nazz laughed. "I can see that. Strawberry?"

"You already know."

When the Pop-Tarts were done, he ate them as he continued conversing with Nazz. They talked school and upcoming tests and events both on and off campus, and he even joked with Nazz about getting the veteran cheerleaders who would be leaving the squad after that season — her included — extremely small mini-mini-skirts as part of the personalized uniform mementoes they gave the graduating seniors of a sports club, every year.

She rolled her eyes. "If I do that, then you and the rest of your graduating team members are gonna get crop top jerseys and tight-tights as your memento." She said with a smirk on her lips; hoping to get a rise out of him.

"Hey. I have a great body. You'd be doing me a service helping me show it off more." He said with a grin and a wink. This earned a loud laugh from Nazz, and a couple (he assumed happy) barks from Lacey and Trix.

He finished up eating and then finished up his business in his house with washing the one dish he used, and then washing out the girls' food and water bowls. Then he made sure the back door to the backyard was locked so Lacey and Trix could not get out while he was gone; he even did a quick check upstairs that all the doors and windows were closed, before checking the downstairs windows, too.

"I don't want them getting out or anything while I'm gone." He told Nazz when he finished checking the last window, after seeing the confused look she gave him.

"Isn't your dad here?" She asked, tote bag in hand, while she waited for him.

"Yeah, but he's usually sleeping. And I don't want him feeling guilty or anything that they got out while he rested."

"You're a good son, Kevin." She said. He tried to hide the small blush that arose on his cheeks when she said this.

"…Thanks."

He and Nazz then put on their respective outerwear, and after one last interaction with the two beloved Pit Bulls, they exited his home and he locked the door. They headed to his garage door, which he unlocked and had risen with the control he had attached to his key chain.

"I remember when you and your dad were putting up that automatic door." Nazz said to him. "You guys were having trouble and then asked the Eds to help since they were always building things."

He tried not to flinch at the mention of the Eds — at the mention of Eddward — and instead attempted to play things out as normal as he possibly could.

"Y-yeah." He said. "It was a pain to ask and work with them, but… They did end up getting the job done. Although it was mostly Double-D who did anything worth mentioning…" He could not help briefly thinking back to that time. He remembered regretting asking for their help in the first place, when all Ed and Eddy did were mess around and look for jawbreakers. It was Eddward who got a grasp of the situation and organized them enough to get the job done, in the end. He could feel something within him stir at the memory.

"Eddward is always such a big help." Nazz said, probably being the only person besides the adults in their world who referred to Eddward by his full name. "In student government, he's like a glue keeping me and others from falling apart. He was a major help executing Homecoming. He did, like, a little bit of everything."

"He's in student government with you?" He asked her, going to where a motorcycle helmet he only ever used when the weather was obtrusive to his vision (and his dad was not awake to stop him from riding his motorcycle to school) rested on a hook. While he never really wore a helmet, he was certain that Nazz was the type to always, always wear one.

"He's my vice president." Nazz said, taking the black helmet he handed to her and giving him her tote bag. "Has been since I was voted president, last year."

"Ah. I didn't know that. I didn't really think he was in any clubs besides track."

"Well do you talk to Eddward much at all?" She asked him, putting the helmet on her head. It was a good think Nazz had short, pixie-cut hair because if she had had anything else, the helmet was sure to flatten out her hairstyle. It looked a bit big on her, though, and he worked to adjust the straps and fix it for her.

At her question, he contemplated how to answer. He did not talk to Eddward every day, but he certainly had been talking to him more than usual for the past couple of days — maybe no more after his confrontation with Marie the day before. After all, he had only gone to speak to her to get answers on why, again, was Eddward avoiding him after he swore that he would not run away from him. Now Marie had vowed to keep Eddward away from him at all costs.

"…Not really." He ended up saying.

"Well that's why." Nazz responded. After the helmet was on her head nice and tight, he went to sit on the motorcycle. Both his backpack and Nazz's tote bag went to rest on his lap. Almost immediately, Nazz said, "Whoa. Where's your helmet, Kevin?"

"My helmet?" He asked.

"Yeah. The one you're going to be wearing?"

He chuckled. "Come on, Nazz. You know I like never wear a helmet."

"Yeah. But I always thought that was because you didn't have one — but now I see that you do. Is there another? You really should be wearing a helmet, Kevin. It's not safe to operate a motorcycle without one."

At the oh-so-familiar tone of concern, he, without thinking, said, "Calm down, Edd. It's no big deal."

"…Ed?"

"Huh?"

"You said 'Ed'. No wait. It probably wasn't 'Ed', but… 'Edd'? 'Eddward'? Did you just call me 'Eddward'?"

"What are you talking about, Nazz?" He asked her, still sitting on his bike and sitting with a confused expression on her face. While the mention of Eddward had him on high alert, he could not comprehend why she was saying what she was saying.

"Just now you said, 'Calm down, Edd. It's no big deal'." His eyes widened, and he felt his heart plunge down to his stomach for a moment. A feeling of helplessness overcame him as he watched her raise one perfectly tweaked eyebrow, and cross her arms over her chest. Her teal gaze felt weighted on him. "Kevin, is there something you're not telling me? Are you and Eddward… friends?"

He tried not to look particularly perturbed or flushed at the way in which she said 'friends', when he gave his response. "F-friends? Edd and me? Nah. We… we don't really get along like that anymore." He felt a bit sick to his stomach saying that. Not anymore or ever again, he could not help but think.

"Really?" Nazz asked. "That's a bit… surprising. You two looked like you had the potential to be best friends when he tutored you."

He held back a flinch at the memories that popped up. "…Things change."

"Mmm…" Nazz looked a bit visibly upset — or curious — but pushed this away as she went back to her usual, smiling self; putting him at ease that he would not be pressured on the unpleasant topic anymore. "…I still can't believe you don't have a second helmet, Kevin." She said as she began to walk over to his motorcycle. "I know what I'm getting you for Christmas this year."

"I'll try to act surprised, then."

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#3

The motorcycle ride to school had been very awkward for him. Nazz was holding him tight around the waist, and had her hands laced onto the straps of his backpack and her tote bag, to keep the items in place as he focused on driving. He kept his eyes on the road — purposely trying to forget Nazz's presence. It was not that he found driving her to school to be as any sort of inconvenience, but rather, that Nazz was too… similar. Her floral smell and petite figure pressed against him, made his eye on reality go blind for a split second, as he unintentionally thought back to the aggravating sexual fantasy. He could just see Eddward under him—

"Kevin, stop! Red light! Red light!"

He almost skidded into the side of the road as his mind and eyes came into focus on it. He saw himself and Nazz dangerously close to going into oncoming traffic that was not in their favor on the four-way intersection, and he felt his body immediately dope itself on adrenaline as he forcefully slowed his motorcycle down. It was a strain on his leg, as he had it hitting the pavement from one side and trying to get a grip on the concrete; during this, he was painfully aware of Nazz yelping behind him, into his ear, as he burned a trail of tire marks behind him. When the world came to a halt and he found his motorcycle parallel to the horizontal road they almost drove into, just barely a foot before the traffic light above them, he breathed heavily trying to collect himself. He turned around a bit to ask, "Nazz?! A-are you okay?!"

It took some time for Nazz to respond. His heart pounded. While he could feel her arms still around his waist, and her front against his back, he, for but a moment, believed Nazz to have fallen off of his motorcycle during the jerky stop. He had thought she was on the ground under a wheel, or something similar.

"I'm fine…" She finally said; causing him to release a breath of fright that he did not know he had been holding, when he felt her warm breath tickling the back of his neck. "I'm fine." She said again. "I'm fine." It was as though she could not believe it, herself.

Jesus-fucking-Christ!

"Oh thank god." He said, leaning forward on the handlebars. "I thought— oh shit fuck. I thought—!" He could not finish. His heart was still pounding in his ears, and he could feel a massive, thick and opaque bubble of guilt growing in his stomach.

Fuck— fuck. I almost got Nazz and me—! All because—! Fuck!

Nazz seemed to sense that he was taking it much harder than he likely should have — or perhaps, just as bad as he should have been, which was awful in its own right — for she said, "It's okay, Kevin,"—her voice soft and specifically made, he felt, to keep the peace and calm worries—"It's all okay. We're fine, after all. We're still breathing. No harm done."

He felt the urge to slam his fit into the space between the handlebars of his motorcycle. An enraged fist that came up, but never came down — not like he had wanted. Instead, it buried itself under his hat and into his hair (who knows how his hat managed to stay on through all that), and pulled at the orange clumps of hair. He let out an infuriated groan between his teeth.

"Shit… shit! Fucking dammit. I— fuck!" He mumbled curses and lectures at himself under his voice. He hoped no one could hear him, but knew that Nazz likely did. Around him, cars started to honk; they were taking up an entire lane. He tried to keep his cool and gather himself and not let the endless honks get to him, but in the end, he turned around and yelled, "Just fucking go around you bunch of shitheads! Don't you see we almost fucking died just now?!" The cars honked, but sure enough, the people started to go around him. They would traverse on that lane until they came across him and followed the pattern of cars that blended into the other lane and continued on their way doing that.

His head was buried in his arms, which were crossed over the front of his motorcycle. He took deep breaths. His heart was still pounding; he felt himself on the verge of tears; he could not believe what he had almost let happen; and all because he left himself get distracted by a… dream. He did a sharp intake of breath, his shoulders taking.

Fuck this, man… fuck this…

"Kevin…" The gentle hand on his shoulder was like a firm slap to the face, bringing him back to reality. He zeroed-in on the unseen Nazz behind him, who had still clearly not gotten off of the motorcycle, nor removed her other hand with their school materials in them, from his waist. "Are you—"

Before she could ask him if he was okay, he sat up. He straightened his spine and forced himself to say, "Hold on, Nazz," before revving his motorcycle up once again. He would not give her a chance to ask if he was okay, he felt; because he knew that if she did, he would likely have a breakdown. Right now, he would focus on getting her to school, and then… and then he would deal with everything else on his own, later.

The third hurdle had been the most deadly.

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#4

At the school, he found the fourth hurdle to be Nazz.

When he pulled into the school's unofficial student parking lot next to both the library and the athletics center, he had expected — wanted — Nazz to get off immediately, say some words, and then go on with her day. He came to an initial horizontal stop parallel to the sidewalk for this very reason, as he wanted a platform for Nazz to safely get off, before he headed to his usual parking spot, some distance away. However, Nazz did not get off of the motorcycle when he temporarily stopped it. While her hands came undone from his waist, she made no physical movements to leave.

"…You can get off now. Class is about to start, you know."

"I'm not leaving, Kevin." She said to him, firmly from the very beginning. "Not until I know you're… stable."

"I'm fine." He said quickly, his tone clipped. "Now go. Class—"

"Screw class. Kevin. You almost ran us into oncoming traffic. You're the type to not wear a helmet, but that doesn't mean you're an irresponsible driver. You're too focused for that… What happened back there?"

His knuckles started to go white as he tightened his grip on the handlebars. He could almost hear his teeth grind against one another.

"Nothing. I just… got distracted. Now go to—"

"Don't you dare try to lie to me, Kevin Barr. I know you and I know what you look and sound like when you're troubled, and lying. And while I would normally let something like this go, today is not the day to do so. I've never seen you at this extent. I'm worried, and I know something is terribly wrong." (Sometimes he hated Nazz's attentive and assertive qualities. While he would often praise them when they were directed at someone or something else, as she was using them on him now, he scorned these aspects of hers. They were making getting out of the situation cleanly, very difficult.)

"Nazz—"

"Kev."

"Inez—"

"Kevin."

He could feel that there was no victory or peace in sight for him. He sighed heavily; deeply; forlornly.

"…We'll skip first, then." He finally said.

"We can stay at the library. It's open and it's not so unusual for students to be there throughout the school day."

"The library, huh?" He said in a low tone, moving his hands a bit on the handlebars as his eyes glazed over in nostalgia. "That's a good place to go. It… kinda started all of this, after all."

A fun chapter indeed, right?

Next Chapter: Eddward's had his time to vent to his friends. Now it's Kevin's turn for some much-needed therapy.

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Updates every Monday and Friday.

~ Inkle