Chapter 21

Edd slipped into the pool while Kevin sat on a bench nearby. He submerged himself completely trying to adjust to the cooler water. His skin broke out in gooseflesh and his nipples pinched, but he adjusted before their coach got there. She walked in and got in the pool without saying much but glanced at Kevin.

"Are you ready, Edd?"

He only nodded.

She looked up at Kevin. "I heard about your...whatever they're calling before the investigation ends. How're you doing?"

He nodded. "I've been better but it could be worse."

Her mouth was set in a grim line. "Alright well, let's get started. Show me a freestyle stroke?"

Edd swam the length of the pool and back, moving his arms and kicking his legs as Kevin had shown him. She named off three other strokes and Edd performed them to the best of his ability, though he felt like he might have messed up on the butterfly stroke when he turned to go back. When he reached her again at the end of the forth stroke, she gave a small smile.

"Well, it wasn't perfect, but I think the terms of our agreement were only that you had to be able to swim. And you've certainly managed that. A's for you both." They climbed out of the pool and toweled off. As she finished she glanced at the clock. "Congratulations to you both. I hope that I'll see you next semester in one of my classes. Or at tryouts for next season maybe." She gave Kevin a look. "We also can get scholarships for our students, and our team is much more accepting than some."

Kevin was standing with his crutch under one arm and holding a pair of pants for Double D. He blushed a little. "Uh—I—well thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

With a terse nod she left the pool area.

Kevin pulled Edd into a rough hug. "You did it."

"We did. And she wants you for the swim team." Edd pressed a kiss to his lips. "Thank you for being such a good teacher."

"You were a good student. And we both got easy A's for it."

He shook his head. "I don't just mean for swimming. For everything. You're a good teacher. And patient. And I appreciate it."

Kevin grinned. "Come on, let's go back to the room. We've got some time before class. And you know you want a shower."

Edd nodded and took the sweatpants Kevin still clutched in his good hand. Back in the room Edd took his towel off his hook in the closet and immediately went to shower. When he returned, scrubbed pink and glad never to have to get in a public swimming pool again, Kevin was staring blankly at his computer screen.

"What's going on?" Edd asked immediately.

Kevin shook himself, apparently coming out of some sort of trance. He cleared his throat. "Email from Coach. About the investigation. Apparently the guy's fathers are pressuring the school not to investigate. Or at least not to pursue legal action if they do investigate. Coach thinks it's bullshit but he's not actually in charge of that, so..."

"So they might get away with it," Edd said in a monotone. He felt the blood drain from his face.

Kevin nodded, lips pressed in a thin line. "Coach says he's not going to drop it without a fight, but he's not—he doesn't have as much power in the school as he could. He—he wants to know if I have a testimony to give about what happened."

Edd remained quiet momentarily taking it all in. "I could give a testimony too," he said quietly. "Not for an actual incident, but they did attempt to kidnap and assault me. If you and Jason were to corroborate...it would lend credence to the investigation. If more than one person were to come forward with complaints against the same guys, the school would have to take the charges more seriously. At the very least, I might be able to get my parents to take an interest long enough to threaten the school. They're well-connected enough that it could be worthwhile, I suppose."

"Let's save your parents for a last resort. Have you even told them that we're dating yet?"

Edd cleared his throat. "The conversations are generally quite one-sided. They don't ask much about my social life. Only my grades, if that much. I've tried to tell them multiple times but they always cut me off with some emergency or other plans."

Kevin gave him a wan smile. "I wasn't saying you didn't tell them purposely, just that we should take it one step at a time. Give me just a little time to work with Coach. I'll do whatever it takes, even file a police report with the city if campus police won't do anything. If nothing comes of it, then we'll go from there, okay?"

Edd sighed. "Okay."

"Now, on the subject of parents." Kevin stood and rather than reach for his crutch he threw an arm around Edd's shoulders and pressed his lips to the taller boy's cheek. "Any idea about where yours will be for Thanksgiving break? It's still a couple weeks away, I know."

Edd shook his head. "I think they mentioned a conference in San Francisco?"

Kevin nodded. "Come stay with me and my dad. It'll be low key, hell Dad might even have to work on Thanksgiving day, but you won't be alone. And Dad already invited you."

"I—I'll think about it. It's not that I don't want to, but—but sometimes your father makes me nervous. Like he doesn't quite know what to do with me. He always seems ready to—to crack a joke or something. And I like him but—"

Kevin smiled. "Shhh. It's okay. He doesn't know what to do with you and he's pretty much always ready to make a comment or crack a joke. It's how he deals." Kevin sometimes forgot how observant Edd was, and now wished he was slightly less. "But, I'll talk to him if you want. There's no reason for you to stay in your house alone. Or eat alone."

"I could always go eat with Ed or Eddy." He shuddered. "No. Nevermind. I would probably choose to eat alone. Ed can't chew with his mouth closed. And Eddy's brother is a jerk, no matter what he says."

"So stay with me. You know I have table manners and I'm an only child. I'll try to get my dad to back off."

Edd nodded. "I'll think about it."

Kevin received another email from his coach later that afternoon while Edd was in class asking him to meet him in his office. He left a note for Edd and started the walk to his office. Twenty minutes and one sore armpit later he knocked on the door of Coach's office.

"Come in," came the grunting response.

"You uh asked to see me, Coach?" Kevin said as he limped in.

Coach sighed and removed his glasses to rub at his eyes. "Yeah. Yeah come in. Close the door. Take a seat."

Kevin took the chair across from his desk nervously.

"Yeah. I know you aren't really talking about it, but the investigation isn't going well. We need a testimony from you if we want to get anywhere."

"Coach, I really don't want to start—"

"Trouble, yeah, I know. But you didn't start this shit. And the next kid might not be so lucky, because we both know this wasn't a one time thing."

What Edd had said to him flashed through his mind, curdling the contents of his stomach and making sweat prickle his skin. With a sigh he nodded. "It wasn't the first time. They tried to do it to my boyfriend first. I just got there before hand."

Coach blinked at him a couple times. With a sigh he looked at him seriously. "Are you shitting me? When? Just before they got to you?"

Kevin cleared his throat. "Not exactly."

Coach pulled out a tape recorder. "You'd better tell me the whole thing. Go slow and tell me as much as you can. I'll need to talk to your uh boyfriend too."

"You might want to talk to Jason too. He was there. He stopped it. But okay." Coach turned the tape recorder on and Kevin started at the beginning, when Chris had been spewing homophobic slurs at the lunch table. He talked about when they kidnapped Edd and told him everything he could remember. He detailed the night they tried to force him to beat up Edd, which elicited only a "fucking hazing" from his coach. He told him everything he could remember after the game, though some of the details were still fuzzy. He gave every injury he had been hospitalized for and the problems he'd been having since then. He was quiet for a few seconds when he'd finally finished. "That's everything I know."

Coach turned off the recorder. He looked dazed. "You didn't make any of that up?"

Kevin shook his head.

"Jesus H. Christ. I didn't realize it was that bad. Well this should help a lot. I'll pull in Jason for testimony, and if we need to, will your boyfriend be willing to?"

"Yeah. Yeah he volunteered earlier this morning."

Coach nodded. "Alright. Alright then." He reached under his desk and pulled out a bottle of scotch. He twisted the cap off and took a long pull from the bottle. "I think I have what I need for now. Thanks."

Kevin stood and grabbed his crutch. As he reached the door, his coach said, "If I get in contact with you about a testimony, I assume you can get the message to your boyfriend?"

Kevin nodded. "Not a problem. We live together."

Coach shook his head. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. The school wouldn't approve and might try to move your room for next semester."

"The investigation—"

"If they figure it out, it'll be next semester. They won't be focusing on it right away, when they have a possible hate crime to investigate. And they will investigate it, with everything you've told me. They aren't stupid. And if it's an issue, I know of some cheap apartments near by if you're determined to live together. Go on kid, go get dinner and don't worry about it for now."

Kevin thanked him and left. Back in the room Edd was just setting his bag down when Kevin walked in.

"I got your note. Everything alright?" Edd took his crutch from him as he ease himself on to the bed.

Kevin nodded and explained what had happened with the investigation. "He might want you to come in and testify as well, just so you know."

Edd nodded and climbed into the bed next to him. "Certainly. It's the least I can do."

"He also mentioned something I hadn't thought of." When Edd didn't say anything, he continued. "The investigation will probably turn up that we're dating and living together in school housing. Coach said they probably won't like that."

"Oh. Oh my. You don't think they'd—I mean do you think they'd refuse to room us together next year?"

Kevin shrugged. "It's possible. If they do, Coach said he knows of some cheap apartments we could rent. I mean, that'd be something to consider, but I don't know where we'd get rent money."

Edd nodded and sighed. "Okay. Well I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Kevin sighed in content. He had been afraid that Edd might suggest that they not live together next year if it had been a problem for the school. He was glad that he hadn't, because he couldn't imagine going from being roommates to having to arrange to see each other at separate dorms or apartments. And he'd feel particularly bad if he or Edd had to deal with sexiling, either being the ones to sexile their roommate or the one locked out. He pressed a kiss into Edd's temple.

After ten minutes of content silence where the only noise came from the tv, Edd said, "An apartment wouldn't be all bad. We'd certainly have to figure out the rent and how that would work into our lives, but there would certainly be perks to it as well."

Kevin stirred. "Oh yeah?"

"Well we wouldn't have to eat the horrid food from the cafeteria anymore. Nor would we have to shower in the cesspools that are communal bathrooms."

"That's true."

"And we'd certainly have more privacy than we do now. Think of it: we could even have a living room for socialization rather than having everyone come in and sit on our bed."

Kevin laughed and his arm tightened around his boyfriend reflexively. "That's true. Are you saying you'd prefer to look into apartments next year, rather than the dorms?"

Edd shrugged. "It would be nice. If we could afford it. I mean, I could get a job. I know the library is always looking for help and for tutors. And I might be able to convince my parents to help out, since they're much more content donating financially to my life rather than committing their time. There would obviously be the issue of furniture and things like utilities and food, but if we could make it work..." He let his sentence trail off but the implication was obvious.

"We'll look into it then." Kevin felt light and excited. While it wouldn't be ideal to have to get an apartment, apartment life would definitely be better than dorm living. He ran his hand up Edd's side, indulging in the way Edd wriggled when a shiver ran up his spine.

Edd let out a shrill giggle as he pulled away.

"Where are you going?"

"Just getting my computer." He climbed back in the bed and opened a web page listing apartments.

"Babe, what're you doing?" His hesitation was clear in his voice.

Edd smiled. "Relax. I just want to find out what's available at what price so that I can start to crunch numbers and make a plan for next year if we have to. Plus it will be fun to play pretend for a little while."

Kevin laughed and agreed. "Let's look at that one now," he said two hours later, pointing at a ridiculously large building with what looked like balconies on every apartment and several pools.

"Yes, because we can obviously afford three thousand dollars a month."

"Well, obviously. Just click on it. It'll be fun."

Edd did open the page and they stared in awe as pictures of light filled bedrooms, an enormous kitchen, and bathrooms with tubs the size of swimming pools filled the page. Kevin felt a finger reach under his chin and close his mouth, which he only then realized had been hanging open.

"We can't afford that."

He shook his head. "No. No we can't. Did you even know they made apartments like that?"

"Not in cities this size. I assumed that was for larger metropolises."

"Do rooms really get that light?"

"I suppose it's possible. I've never seen it before. Especially in this city." Edd clicked back and set a limit on the rent and size. "But this looks like something we could do." He opened a page of a smallish sized apartment with one bedroom and not nearly enough lighting, but it looked clean, well put together and best of all affordable.

Kevin could see them living there, walking to class during the week and even hosting parties on the weekend. He could see early mornings and late nights and making meals together. "That's it. That's where we'll go."

"Yes."