Disclaimer I really am bored of writing this now...

A/N Howdy! Yes... I know... my updating has grown steadily worse recently – but hey... better late than never eh? So yep, here is the eleventh 11th chapter... If only for the sake of that poor squirrel outside of Kien-Tai's window... Enjoy


Closeted Secrets

Kevin watched Eddy leave his house from the window of his bedroom, before turning to face the boy sitting on his bed. In a way he did not want Eddy to abscond, just in case he would not be able to track him down later in the day, but he had a pretty vague idea of where he was heading, and besides, it would probably be of great benefit to him for no-one to be around and able to hear anything. The Eds could be so predictable, and that is exactly what Kevin used to his advantage. It was predictable that Eddy would rather sacrifice his friend than his own pride and so would go along with the plans, it was predictable that the flighty Double D would recoil from the attentions of his friend, and it was predictable that he would go to Ed for help and not entertain anything of substance from his slow-witted friend and so, it made such perfect sense that, with no-one else to talk to, Double D would be more than relieved when offered another shoulder to cry on.

Double D nervously lifted his eyes to better survey his surroundings. He had never been in Kevin's bedroom before, even though they had known each other since Kevin had moved to the cul-de-sac, a year after Double D himself had arrived. The green wallpaper barely visible as it was suffocated by an avid collection of posters, ranging from various rock band promotions, to scantily bikini clad girls who stretched their forms over an array of powerful and impressive cars. The space was not unclean by any means, but neither was it as organised as Double D's own room, just holding a certain air of organised chaos.

He and Kevin had never really been friends. True, if Double D had chosen to comrade with Kevin when he was a child, chances are that he might have ended up being far more popular than he was at present, and sometimes Double D would long for that popularity, for that acceptance... but no, they were just too different from each other. As though they were living in two separate worlds. Kevin had his sports, his social skills and his friendships with Nazz and Rolf and the popular kids in school, while Double D had Ed and Eddy. But over the years they had become acquaintances, a mutual interest in mechanics had kept their lines of communication open, and, as long as Double D was not with Eddy, the two got along quite well. Double D could never figure out exactly why the two boys were so distant from each other. In a lot of ways he and Eddy were very similar. Both were overly preoccupied with the opinions of others, both strived to be the centre of attention, and both revelled in the rivalry that hung between them. But recently they had stopped their bickering and simply kept their distance from each other, Double D just presumed that they had grown out of their petty opposition, that, or something had happened between them. It was always so difficult to tell exactly what was going on in Eddy's mind, even for his best friends.

"So, what's wrong amigo?" Double D was shaken from his thoughts as he turned his gaze to the boy standing in front of him before sighing lightly and dropping his shoulders. He didn't want to discuss anything so intimate with Kevin, he barely felt comfortable conversing with Ed on the matter, yet he knew that he had no reason to distrust Kevin. He had matured since his childhood, and seemed more than willing to hear him out – something a lot of the others in the cul-de-sac would not have been so eager to do. Rolf, although he had grown more accustomed to the ways of the cul-de-sac residents, still held very strict views on topics such as this that he had picked up in his 'Old Country', views that Double D did not know enough about to know whether he would be able to help the situation or rather make it so much worse. He still had difficulty in talking to Nazz without his overwhelming nervousness getting the better of him, and he certainly could not talk to any of the younger kids about something that was so serious. It would not be fair on them to have their eyes opened to the true evils of the world, no matter how insignificant, at such a young and innocent age. Kevin was the only person who could help him now."

"It's Eddy..." Double D trailed off as he could feel the tears threatening to escape him at just the mention of his name.

"Should of known" Kevin scoffed "What'd he do this time? Let you take the rap for that stupid driving school thing?"

"No... Well... Actually, yes..." just because the Ed's scams had grown to be more impressive over the years did not mean to say that they had become any more successful. "But that is not the reason for my distress"

"So what is it then?" Kevin asked, moving closer to Double D as he questioned the taller boy. He so enjoyed toying with his prey.

Double D was fighting a desperate battle with his conscience, should he betray his friend's trust and tell Kevin the secret he had tried to keep so well hidden from everyone? No, he couldn't do that to his best friend. But... Eddy was not his best friend anymore. What kind of friend would violate him in such a horrific way? It was Eddy who had betrayed their friendship, but would returning those atrocities really help him? Yes. It certainly would ease his pain to share it with someone else, even if that someone was Kevin. But, what would Eddy do if he found out that it was Double D who had revealed his secret. It was inevitable that Eddy would know it was him all along, he doubted that eddy would have told anyone else if it had taken him so long to gather the courage to tell his best friend. But if he did find out, what could he do? Hate him? Punch him? Destroy everything he held close? No, Eddy had already done that. Double D 's friends were the most important aspects of his life, and now, one of them had been viciously torn away from him. One more thought chronically drove around in his mind. One question that he was so afraid to think of in fear of the answer. If Eddy had not noticed the after effect of his parent's drunken rage earlier that week upon finding that ed had once again broken thought the screen door to the kitchen, how far would he have gone? Would he have listened to his friend's pleas and stopped? Or would he not have been satisfied until he had gotten exactly what he wanted?

Double D lifted his gaze again to face Kevin, an encouraging smile spread across the auburn boy's face as he patiently waited for his answer

"He's... gay..."


Whee! Chapter eleven! Ok, I know, it was short and uneventful, but still, hope you enjoyed – the next chapter is actually well underway as we speak (I originally had one huge chapter, but decided to break it up – the reason for the uneventfulness) and so please R&R and tell me what you think – oh! And you gotta be extra nice to me today coz it's my birthday! Yaaaaay!!! So anyone who reviews will get a nice big piece of virtual birthday cake - Yum!