Well, I'm certainly glad that the story hasn't produced any What the heck IS this?'s yet. (At least in the form of reviews, anyway. ) This chapter was going to be about twice as long, but I couldn't find a decent stopping point, and I really need to re-work the other half, so I just split it up. Besides, I really felt the need to update. ; (As a result, this story may end up having one more chapter than intended...) This part of the 2nd chapter kinda delves into Edd and Eddy's mindsets a bit more, so forgive the lack of dialogue and whatnot. :P Enjoy.

Kitsune

(UPDATE: 07/03/05 - Reading through other songfics on this site, I was just made aware of the "no lyrics" rule. Yes, I've been away for a while, I guess. :P Thus, to prevent any repercussions to this story or my account - namely, the deletion of either - I have removed the lyrics. I will post a version with lyrics on my website at a later date.)
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The seconds had gone by like hours... the minutes like days. Long, restless days.

How long had he been lying on his bed, sulking like this? Edd reluctantly glanced over at his clock. 6:43pm. Had it really been only fifteen minutes since Eddy had set the ultimatum that would, no matter Edd's final decision, drastically change both of their lives?

"Eddy... you'd really leave me, wouldn't you?" Edd closed his eyes and clenched his pillow tightly. Oh, how stupid he had been to think anything good could have come from that kiss...! Stupid, stupid, stupid! If only he hadn't of admitted his feelings - if only he'd just kept his big mouth shut for once! Then he would be looking forward to being dragged along to participate in some pathetic attempt at scamming the other children the next morning. To be spending good times with his two best friends.

And he messed it up.

What confused Edd the most... why did he even care? After all, if Eddy would so willingly leave him and Ed and everyone else, that just showed how selfish he was. How self-absorbed. How typically Eddy...

Edd curled up into a ball, feeling the tears about to fall again. Perhaps Eddy was selfish... but he had still been a true friend from the very beginning - one of the so very few who had given Edd a chance. He hadn't immediately condemned Edd to the life of an outcast like the others had. It had taken a little time... but Eddy had eventually accepted and even liked him for who he was.

In the end, Eddy had always come through for him and Ed when it really counted. So, why couldn't he now?

Edd's eyes brightened slightly. Yes, that's it... Eddy had always just needed a little push - or forceful shove as the case may be - in the right direction. He was certain that once he got it through to Eddy how important this was to him, he would simply have to hear him out.

Confidence returning and hope gleaming in his eyes, Edd jumped off of his bed and bolted out of his room, racing down the stairs and out the front door. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards the Lane. He had to make it to the junkyard before Eddy left for good.


Eddy kicked his feet off of the car seat as he waited in the van for his friend. He didn't even know why he bothered. Edd was too much of a chicken - he'd never show.

"Don't even know what I see in the guy..." Eddy muttered, ignoring the voices inside himself chiding him for asking such a question. He knew. His sensitivity, his intelligence, his vulnerability... the very things that annoyed him were what attracted him. Eddy had no clue how, when or why it had happened, but... somehow, those annoying traits he'd learned to live with had become things he couldn't live without.

Eddy snorted. Maybe it was some stupid psycho-whatsit condition that Double-D would be glad to chatter about if he were there.

Leaning back on the car seat and resting his head on his duffle bag, Eddy stared at the ceiling, lost in thought. Maybe those things never really annoyed him. What if he wanted those things to aggravate him so much that they eventually did? Those panic attacks and bouts of guilt, that sincerity and need for perfection, that bashfulness... maybe he didn't want to admit that those things made Edd so... cute.

Eddy fidgeted uncomfortably at just the thought of thinking of Edd as 'cute.' Apparently a big part of him still denied it... but one day he'd learn to tell that voice - his ego - to just shut up.

One day.

Besides... how did he know if he was even really in love with Double-D at all? He'd never been in real love before - how the heck was he supposed to know what it felt like? It could just be a little crush, or even just a phase. Wasn't that supposed to be normal for kids his age? Or what if it was a phase for Double-D? What if it was he who got hurt because Sockhead didn't really feel what he thought he felt?

He fidgeted in his seat again, growing irritated. He hated waiting, and these sudden doubts weren't helping any. Maybe he shouldn't be waiting, period. Double-D wasn't gonna show - that he was sure of - and he couldn't go back, regardless of if it was really love or whatever else. His parents knew that he had, at the very least, an interest in his best friend. A boy. They saw that he wasn't normal... maybe they even thought he was a freak. He couldn't live with a family that didn't understand him, or a family that he didn't understand.

Tightly clenching his fists around the shoulder strap of his duffle bag, Eddy jumped out of the van through the window and slung the bag over his shoulder. He wasn't going to drag this wait out any longer than he had to. Sockhead wasn't coming - that was that. And why wait for someone that'll never show?

He took a fond glance over his shoulder at the van he and his friends had so often used as their 'secret base..' it looked so old and rusted now, and that kinda made him sad, though he never knew why. With a sigh, he took one final glance toward the Lane, where so many memories - both good and bad - had engraved themselves permanantly in his mind. He then turned around and began his journey to... wherever.


Edd ran faster than he thought humanly possible. Perhaps he'd be proud of himself for not fainting from exhaustion had he not had so many thoughts running through his mind just as quickly.

Would Eddy listen? Would he stay? If he did, how would they get through to their families? And if he didn't, what would he do then? And how would he face his parents once they returned home to find their only son in love with the very 'crude, bothersome little boy' they had once wished Edd not to converse with?

Should he tell Ed? How would he take it? Would he even understand...?

Edd frowned as he continued to run. His logic was failing him. For the first time since encountering Ed's uncanny ability to defy all established laws of gravity and physics, his mind was swimming with questions that he couldn't answer. Well, this meeting would no doubt be the first step to, at the very least, answering those questions. And all journeys begin with a single step, he nervously reminded himself.

It wasn't until he reached the junkyard that he felt the fatigue. Edd stumbled into the familiar refuge on tired, wobbly legs and stopped a moment to try and catch his breath. It was disgustingly unsanitary here, but somehow comforting. Away from the other kids, away from the Kankers, away from his overly conservative parents. Just... away. That was the only reason he never minded spending such excessive time here - he could ignore the filth and grime because this had become somewhat of a sanctuary to him.

"Eddy!" Edd cried out hoarsely, exhausted from pushing his stamina to its limits. Skimming the parameter of the junkyard for any sign of his friend, he smiled a little as he caught sight of the van. Remembering Eddy's promise to be waiting in the van, Edd put the rest of his remaining energy into running up to it.

"Eddy...! I'm here...!" he called out tiredly as he peered in the window. "Eddy...?" Ignoring the pain in his ribs from the running, Edd struggled to open the passenger's side door, cursing the past few months of rain that had nearly caked the doors' mechanisms with rust. Eddy was in there, right? Well, he had to be - he said he'd be there. But why wasn't he coming out to meet him?

"Eddy, please!" Edd pleaded, the sound of thunder in the distance nearly drowning out his tired, raspy pleas. "We need to talk..." For all the world, he could not get the door to budge. "Argh... of all the... lousy... times...!" He rested his head against the window momentarily before trying a final, unsuccessful tug. Through his efforts, his remaining strength had been drained and he felt as though he would collapse at any moment. Be he absolutely refused - he had to talk to Eddy.

"Eddy, this isn't funny!" Edd declared as panic began to set in. He stumbled to the back of the van and attempted to open the doors there, only to be met with even more resistance. "Stupid... rust encrusted... hinges..." Edd growled tiredly as he continued trying to pry the doors open, to no avail. Eddy, where are you? Edd weakly banged his fist on the rear doors as he struggled to stay awake. He had to know that he hadn't abandoned him.

"Eddy... please... open up..."

Edd felt a couple of tears go down his cheek, mingling with the first drops of an approaching summer storm. He slumped against the van, sliding against the ground and resting his back against the door.

He wasn't there. He'd promised he'd be there, and he wasn't.

Eddy, you idiot... Exhausted and suddenly very alone, Edd curled up on the ground and clenched his eyes closed, finally allowing unconsciousness take over.