Double D opened his weary eyes, reminded that he had been sleeping for most of the day in his darkened room. He didn't feel like moving any part of his body. He was warm, his room was quiet, and there was no unnecessary drama tethered to his current state. If he were just to lay there, perhaps his troubles would pass him by organically, and everything would be back to normal.

Then the specifics of his problems flooded back into his head. Painfully.

He turned to look at his nightstand, where Kevin had left a bag of cookies before he departed. So nice of him to drop by and cheer me up, Edd thought. He was still surprised to find that Kevin baked things, especially that he admitted to doing it so casually. He didn't much feel like eating, but he greatly enjoyed the bag's presence. It was a nice reminder that somebody cared about his plight.

He tried to think of the future, tried to make himself excited about the prospect of making something special with Kevin again, but he just couldn't find the motivation to conceptualize a new idea. He was devastated by Eddy's revelations, and that's just what he took them for: pure revelations. Fact. Indisputable laws of the cosmos. Double D was not an inventor, not a trend-setting creative force for anyone to follow. Whatever scrap of talent or intelligence he had, he would always lend it to people who could gloss over the minute details and make the world-changing broad strokes. People like Eddy.

He could feel that he was being too cruel to himself, but he also couldn't refute this conclusion of his. Particularly because it was reinforced by his former best friend. That's a hard voice to ignore.

Wincing in shame, he covered his head with the blanket and curled into the tightest ball he could manage. Yes, he thought, he'll just sleep this off.

Then, the doorbell rang.

And it rang again.

"Drat," Edd cursed to himself, as he threw off the blanket and marched into the hall in his pajamas. His parents weren't home, and as devastated as he was, he couldn't fight the long-established protocol of answering the door when his family was out.

He progressed down the stairs, each step feeling like a sheer cliff, and continued to the door. He pulled it open.

"Heya, Sockhead."

Ed and Eddy stood on his stoop, neither making eye contact. Eddy in particular seemed extremely uncomfortable being here. A strong sense of helplessness washed over Double D as he studied his old friends, not sure what the nature of this visit could possibly be after the intensity of the last. Was this some form of formal dismissal, he wondered? Were they going to tell him to stay away? He braced for the worst.

"Can we, uh…" Eddy began in an uncharacteristically hushed tone, as he gestured inside. Double D's guest-host etiquette overtook his speechlessness, and he snapped out of his daze.

"Oh! Of course, Eddy. Ed. Please, right this way."

He guided the pair into his living room, and they followed sheepishly, planting themselves into the most convenient seats. Edd began to rattle off some standard pleasantries.

"I must apologize," he began, more chipper than he actually felt, "for my dress and demeanor at this time. You see, I wasn't expecting company, and I've actually been feeling a bit ill—fear not, however! My affliction is not contagious, and if you'll just give me a few moments—"

"I'm sorry," Eddy interrupted. "I'm here to say, I'm sorry."

"Oh," Double D said, a bit disarmed. "I, um… I appreciate that you said that. I'm—"

"I'm hungry!" Ed shouted, looking very proud of himself. Edd couldn't help but smirk.

"Well, Ed, let me get some snacks together. We haven't all spoken in weeks, and I'm actually very excited to see you both."

"Yeah, sure," Eddy said, seeming a bit deflated.

As Double D was walking to the kitchen, he paused to look back.

"I'm sorry too, Eddy," he said. Then, he continued to the kitchen and prepared a snack platter.

Around an hour later, the three Eds were chatting and laughing just as they always had on their best days. Double D managed not to be upset by Ed, whose laughter sprayed cracker crumbs all over the living room. This reunion was worth any mess in the world.

"So, I heard about that VR thing," Eddy said. "It sounded really cool, actually."

"It was!" Edd responded, trying to tread along the subject carefully. "It involved a lot of learning on my part, and I required much help from Kevin in order to work the peripherals into appealing and ergonomic designs."

Eddy looked down to the floor with a half-hearted smile.

"And," Double D added, "It never would've happened without your idea. I truly couldn't have done all of this myself. I'm…" he clasped his hands together and leaned forward. "I'm sort of learning that everyone has their strengths, and everyone has their flaws. Sometimes, even flaws can become strengths, if they are aimed correctly. For example, my greatest flaw, not being able to take the initiative on new concepts, gives me the opportunity to be extremely attentive to the details of other's. I'm learning, right now, that it's fine to admit that. I didn't appreciate you, Eddy, and I focused on what I perceived as your flaws, and tried to define you by them. That wasn't fair to you, and I apologize. The things I viewed as flaws make you a genius in your own right."

"Idunno about all that," Eddy said, "but I was really mean to you. You got mad because you wanted to help me, and I didn't get that. I think I don't like being wrong."

"Pride is a strength, Eddy," he replied. "The truth is, I still want to help you. It's wonderful how easily ideas populate your mind and instantly come out with the full confidence of a finished product. It inspires me."

Eddy shifted in his seat. "Well, none of my ideas could ever have happened without you around to keep me in check. I'm gonna listen more, Double D, I promise."

Suddenly, a gagging noise came out of Ed. He had, by Double D's estimation, at least two dozen crackers in his mouth, and tears were streaming down his cheeks.

"Ed!" Eddy shouted, then clapped him hard on the back. Cracker particles sprayed everywhere.

"I like you guys," Ed finally said.

Double D wiped a layer of wet cracker paste off of his face and smiled through the disgust. His friends were back. It would certainly be a different dynamic, but he was confident that whatever pain had come of this whole ordeal, they would be all the healthier for it. He started getting excited about the future again. Today had been a real rollercoaster, he thought.

"What made you come over, Eddy?" he asked.

Eddy got a little more serious. "Uh, Kevin came to talk to me about it."

A hot feeling swept across Double D's chest, and he started to blush. Kevin fixed this, he wondered? How on Earth had he done that? Something about this news, along with the bag of cookies and the pleasant visit in his darkened bedroom gave Double D an epiphany. He was safe with Kevin. Kevin cared so much about him, and there was no denying that now. He still wasn't sure the extent of that care, but he really felt like kissing that boy right now.

"I'm going to make a phone call, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen," he explained. He rose from his seat and went to the phone in the kitchen and dialed that now-familiar sequence of numbers. His heart fluttered as he longed to hear the voice attributed to them.

"Hello?" he asked, having heard the receiver click. Ed and Eddy peeked through the doorway to the kitchen.

"Oh, Mister—" Edd started to greet, before he was interrupted by an enraged voice. "I see," he continued. "Well, may I please speak to Kevin?"

A torrent of the worst words and phrases assaulted Double D's ears, followed by a most tragic sentence which felt as though it had secured a deadbolt lock over his entire heart.

"I see," he repeated in a dejected voice. "Thank you for your time, sir. Have a nice evening."

He hung up the phone as it filled again with expletives and rage. His hands dropped to his sides. He was shaking, and fighting desperately against some of the most insistent sobs of his life.

"Uh, Double D?" Eddy asked, still from across the room. "What's up?"

Double D turned his saddened face to his friends. "It's Kevin. He's been grounded for the rest of the summer."