Disclaimer: I do not own Ed, Edd, n' Eddy.
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Ed's Christmas Gift!
Written by Lor and Tiffy
Ed twirled around on the snow-covered ground, being as happy as a lark can be in this wintry season. Eddy was just glad that their detention and making up 'stupid' tests, due to the fact that they all got sick at the same time with a severe flue-bug, were finally over and they they could enjoy the rest of the holidays, doing whatever the Eds usually do best. Ed continued to skip around and saw his little friend look all long in the face, he then joined Eddy and him and hugged Edd close. "Aww, don't be saaaaad, Double Deeeeeeeee." He rest his chin on top of Edd's hat, pulling him closer to him, giving him a much more affectionate and warmer hug than before.
Edd blinked and flushed pink as the taller boy hugged him. "Erm.. um... well, uh," he stuttered. "Er... Umm." Well, wasn't this awkward. Quite awkward, indeed. "I, I'm not s-sad. Why would you think that?" He chose this as the opportune moment to look anywhere that wasn't eye contact with someone else.
Eddy growled impatiently at the two. "C'mon!" He yelled. "I'm freezing out here! One of you ring the bell already or something!" He then burred and rubbed gloved his hands together. "I'm fucking FREEZING MY ASS OFF OUT HERE!" Ed then snapped and looked at his friend in concern, the guy really was freezing out here and he showed signs of it, too. "I'm sorry, Eddy." He said and reached over Eddward and rang the door bell. "F-f-f-f-FINALLY!" Eddy's voice rang out and echoed down the streets, his teeth chattering at top speed as teeth chattering goes.
"You should have worn a warmer coat, Eddy," Edd said automatically. "And don't swear." He looked at the door and waited for someone to answer.
And from inside, they heard voices, one being Nazz's, telling someone to go answer the door for her. Ed grinned as he waited while Eddy groaned even more and surely enough it was Kevin who opened the door first, and then shut it automatically before Ed could even begin to finish wishing Kevin a Merry Christmas, this of course made Eddy furious even more at the biker.
Edd blinked at the door and then frowned, nudging his way past Eddy and rapping on the door with his knuckles. "Kevin! We were invited to this party too, you know! Let us in!" He listened, but didn't hear anyone coming to the door. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "We brought fudge!"
And then came the door slinging open, the teen-aged tan-skinned blond smiling at them. "OH, BOY! FUDGE! HEAR THAT PLANK, THEY BROUGHT FUDGE! COME RIGHT ON IN GUYS!"
Edd jumped and almost fell backward. "Heavens, Johnny!" he exclaimed. "Don't shout like that!" He put a hand on his forehead and breathed deeply, calming his wimpy nerves. "Alright. I'm okay. Let's go in."
And in stepped the Ed-boys, joining the rest of the teens of Peach-creek in the celebration. They looked around at their surroundings, indeed, this year definately seems better than that previous years, which seems to only consist of sodas, cake, presents, and a few games, now it seemed all out in full throttle. Ed grinned wildly at it all, he is indeed in his "happy place," and just before he began to frollick around, his sister halted him. "FREEZE, MISTER!" She ordered, Jimmy still looming around her, always in the back. "Did you get that fudge that I wanted? DID YOU?" "Yeah! Did you, Ed?" Jimmy added in. Ed smiled at them both and handed the bag to them. "Here you go, baby sister of mine. Fudge for your liking." The two grinned at the goodies in the bag and began to devour them.
Ed continued to smile, nothing seemed to get him down, not tonight, not on Christmas Eve, and definately not on Christmas. So, Ed, being himself, did what's natural, he began to spread the joy. Eddy watched Big Ed dance around like he was on a sugar-high and shook his head at him and looked his dorky friend. "Soooo, what now, Double D?"
"Um," Edd said, watching Ed dance. He looked at Eddy. "What, you're suddenly not angry at me anymore? Well now, I'm impressed. You've matured. Slightly." Sometimes the boy just didn't know when not to make a snippy comment, honestly.
Eddy blinked at him and said, "Hey, I know it seems like I'm angry at you all of the time, but I'm not, okay? I just want us to look and all, you know, be popular like the other kids. Wouldn't you like to be popular, too? Maybe then we'd have more chances to get with Naz or any of the other pretty girls at school. How's that sound? Huh? Huh? Plus, you're the genius of the group, without you and your brains, most of our scams wouldn't've worked. Don't think I've forgotten that."
Edd looked at him for a minute. "Eddy," he said. "None of our scams EVER worked. And if they did, it was dumb luck." He brushed some snow from outside off his shoulder and continued. "And you may want to be popular, but I don't really care. Sure, it would be nice not to be the one pushed into doors as they're opening, but that situation has been improving!"
"B-b-but...But Double Deeeeee." Eddy whined at him. "We can still improve our scams and maybe one day I'll own my very own business and you two can work for me, you know, as friends and as business partners." Eddy breathed in and continued, them not knowing that Ed was now listening near by them. "You know you've always been my bestest best friend and my good half." Ed's breath caught up into his throat as the last three words echoed into his ears and rang into his mind, over and over again. Ed felt his heart torn up into confusion more, only this time, it was a more hurtful kind of confusion. Ed then swallowed the lump in his throat and walked away from the conversation, he wasn't in it anyway.
Edd blinked at Eddy again. He seemed to be blinking in confusion a lot more often, these days. "I'm your what now?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Since when am I anyone's 'good half'? What's that supposed to mean, anyway?"
Eddy stared at Edd and was about to reply, but then Rolf came over, greeting them cheerfully. "Helloooooo there, Ed-boys! Howdy-doody to you both and merry whatever it is you natives do here."
"Merry Christmas, Rolf," Edd said. He looked at the ethnic boy's clothing and raised another eyebrow. "That's a very... interesting outfit." He looked at Eddy again. "So, what were you saying? ...Rolf, your vest.. smells. What is is made of?"
Rolf smiled proudly and announced "From the finest cold-cuts from Nana's side of the country! Great Nana how I looove youuuu." He said the last sentence in tears. Eddy stared at the farmer and gagged. "Gee, Rolf." And then Nazz came strutting over to them, wiggling her hips side to side just enough not to be too much. "Hiiiiiiii, Eds." She greeted with a wave.
Edd recoiled slightly from the meat-wearing boy and made a face. "Well, it's... cultural," he said. He looked at Nazz. "Oh, hi. Um, nice party." He looked from Nazz back to the cold cut vest and back to Nazz again, inching away from the foul-smelling clothing as fast as he could without looking rude.
Rolf, thankfully, walked off to talk to Kevin and the rest of cult-de-sack, it was now only Ed, Nazz, and him in the talking circle now. "Soooooo, guys. How's it hangin'? Likin' the holidays so far?" Nazz inqueried with a smile. Eddy began to sweat a little, which is something Naz always seemed to make him naturally do whenever she is around. "Uhhh, well, uhhh, Naz, it's uuuuhhhh..."
"...It's lovely," Edd said. "Eddy loves the holidays, isn't that right?" He might get annoyed at Eddy sometimes, well, a lot, but he couldn't stand there and watch his friend make a fool of himself. "Right, Eddy? Tell Nazz how much you like holidays."
"Uhhh. Y-yeah! I like holidays!" Eddy said as he blushed a bright shade of pink. Nazz giggled at them both and hugged them at once. "You two have a great time, okay? And don't be afraid to go under the mistletoe. Opening presents will start in thirty minutes or so. Enjoy the food and dance!" Eddy just replied, saying in a day-dreamy tone, "That's nice, Nazz."
"Ah yes, you have a lovely time too," Edd said. "Might want to make sure Rolf's vest doesn't fall apart into the punch bowl. Just a thought, seeing as he's wearing... meat." Edd shook his head and muttered something about "rotting meat punch".
Nazz smiled and replied to him, "Will do, Double D." And then blew a kiss at him and Eddy, Eddy falling over.
Edd looked down at Eddy. He made a tsk-ing noise and held his hand out to help his friend up. "She has walked away, Eddy, you can be human again now."
Eddy took his friend's hand and pulled himself up, shaking his head a bit. "Okay. There. Sooooo-what no-" He was cut off again, but this time by pushy Sarah herself. "MOVE IT, YOU LOSER." She shrieked.
Edd jumped and scurried out of Sarah's way, dragging Eddy away from the redhead as best he could by the wrist. He was weak, and pulling Eddy along was, well, hard. He let go of Eddy and busied himself with gathering some tree-shaped cookies in a napkin so as to avoid Sarah's wrath. "So, Eddy," he said. "What were you saying before?"
Eddy glared at Sarah and strongly desired to rip the witch's mane out, but then turned his attention to his friend and blinked. "Huh?" He asked in puzzlement. "Oh, I don't remember rig--HEY, KEVIN! SHUT YOUR PIE-HOLE OVER THERE! ...Anyway, ummm..oh, look, food!" He then rushed over to the food and began to fix him a plate full of nothing but junk.
Edd blinked, then followed his friend over to the snack table. Eddy had something to say and Edd wanted to know what it was, darn it! "Sooo," he said, watching Eddy pile junk food onto his plate. "What was that 'good half' thing you were talking about? ...You really shouldn't eat all of that in one sitting."
Eddy looked up him, lifting a brow at him. "What do you mean, I shouldn't eat all of this in one sitting? ...And I meant better half as in 'the brains' of the group, the know it all and such. We're like the complete opposites, yet we still kind of do share some of the same traits, the likes and dislikes. You and I could rule the world, baby. Together, we'd be unstoppable!"
Edd rolled his eyes at the food question. "You shouldn't eat all of that in one sitting because it's bad for you. ...And what about Ed?"
"What about the lump, sock-head?" Eddy said more than asked. "If anything, he's good at being the muscle, since we both know how strong he is, and he can also be our main source of attraction. He always like getting attention." Eddy said as he crammed the cookies into his mouth. "And anyway, without us, he'd be nothing. I mean, c'mon, think about it. No one else seems to want the lump-on-a-log."
Edd looked at him. "Eddy, that's mean," he said. "Ed's a very nice person. You wouldn't really just use him as a lackey, would you? Even after knowing him for all these years?" He paused, then spoke again. "And how do I know I wouldn't just be the smart lackey then, if Ed's just the muscle? You don't have the best reputation when it comes to your own success, you know. No offense."
Eddy huffed at what the nerd said and snorted. "Oh, c'mooooooon. You and I know it's true that if it wasn't for us, Ed wouldn't have anyone else in the world. ...Anyway, where is that Lump?" Eddy looked around his whole environment and saw no signs of Ed, only the Christmas decorations, the tree, the food, and their other peers that stood around talking about the latest things and gossip, oh, and a Johnny running everyone around in circles, including them.
"Eddy, Ed is our friend," Edd said. He looked around as well, frowning a little. "Where IS Ed? Maybe he went to the bathroom..?" He looked around the room again as something crunched under his foot. He lifted his shoe and was greeted with a now headless reindeer-shaped cookie. "Eddy, you're dropping food. Be more careful. ...And wait, what's with all this talk about owning a business all of a sudden? I mean, I know you've been greedy and slightly selfish for years, but suddenly you're really serious about this business thing."
Eddy gave him a look "...Yeah, so? You've know that was one of my greatest dreams." And then the door bell rang and yet again, Johnny 2x4 opened the door and greeted the person outside.
"I'm just saying," Edd said. "You actually sound serious now. You know, with real ideas. That make sense." He heard the doorbell and looked over towards the doorway.
And in stepped Edward, carrying a few small specially wrapped, in Ed's creative homemade wrapping, Christmas presents in his arms and placing them over near the tree with all of the other presents, all three presents tied to one another as if all three of them belonged to a single person.
Edd watched Ed put the presents down and waved at him. "Hello, Ed!" he called. "Where did you go off to? Come over here and talk with us!" Enthusiastic fellow.
Ed smiled at him and took his coat off and out popped wings of a fairy, made out of paper mashe, wire, and some tape and other odds and inns and placed his coat onto the coat wrack and went right over to his friends, ignoring the laughter he got from everyone else, especially Eddy, who tried hard to stiffle it. "Hiya, guys!" Ed cheered at them. Eddy snickered some more before replying, "Hiya, Ed...nice...wings!" He then bursted out laughing and all Ed's response was twirling around as if he was a pretty princess fairy himself.
Edd elbowed Eddy in the side and smiled at Ed. "Those are quite nice, Ed," he said, nodding at the wings. "Did you make them yourself? Is that where you were all this time?"
Ed smiled at him and said "No, actually, I made these sometime earlier this week! I actually went to go visit Saaaaaaaantaaaaaa." His smile turned into an affectionate one once again. Eddy looked at him, scoffing. "How many times do I have to say it, Ed, drop it! We're all old enough to know he's NOT REAL!" Ed looked and him and stated, "Actually, Christmas can have anything you want to believe in or have in it, Eddy. I choose to say Santa because I want to, not because I have to." And Eddy just moaned at that retort.
"Eddy, let Ed believe in Santa if he wants to," Edd scolded, waving a finger at Eddy. "He doesn't complain about things you say, you shouldn't complain about what he says." He looked at Ed again and held up the napkin full of cookies he hadn't eaten yet. "Would you like a cookie?"
Ed's smile brightened when hearing Edd's offer. "Thank you, Double D." He then took a cookie and began eating it.
"You're very welcome, Ed!" Edd said, smiling. He looked at Eddy and sighed. "Oh come on Eddy, do you have to be so mean like this all the time? You were just fine a minute ago, now you're just rolling your eyes like we're annoying you by being here."
Eddy moaned at him. "I don't feel like hearing this again, Sock-head. I'm not in the moo--WHOA!" His eyes grew wide as he was lifted again into another hug by none other than Ed himself. "Aww, poor Eddy is in a bad moooooood. He's all saaaaad. Hugs for Eddy!" And he continued to hug him all real close again. Eddy wiggled in his grasp and gasped out to him, "Ed, you're kinda crushing me!" Ed then frowned at himself. "Aww, I'm sorry, Eddyyyyy." Eddy continued to try and wiggle out of his grasp. "Okay, okay, just put me down." Ed complied. "Okay, Eddy." And set him back down.
Edd frowned a little at Eddy. "I still say you shouldn't be so mean. What's your problem?"
Eddy got up in his face, growling. "I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM, OKAY? I JUST WANNA ENJOY THE PARTY WITHOUT YOUR DAMN YAKKING! SHEESH! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST GET OFF MY BACK FOR ONCE?"
Edd paled and backed away a little. Eddy would probably hit him if he got angry enough. "I, uh, I..." He managed to stutter out some frightened gibberish before his voice stopped working and he just kind of stood there, perfectly still and wide-eyed.
Ed saw this and did not like what could possibly happen next and intervined by pulling Eddy away from Ed and standing in between the two. "Hey, guys! I just had an idea! Maybe if I wish real hard, I can fly in these things!" He moved his shoulder-blades in and out, making the wings seem like they are flapping. "Whoo! Lookit me go, guys!" Eddy snorted and him, then snickered. "Yeah right, Ed. Maybe you'll lay an egg, too, while you're at it, being that you are trying to be a weird looking bird and all." Ed then began to make various silly barnyard sounds.
Edd shook his head and snapped out of his frozen, terrified state. He watched Ed move the paper wings around and smiled a little as their lanky friend made a rather good imitation of a duck. "That's very nice, Ed. Be careful not to break those wings, though, they look kind of fragile and I wouldn't want them to tear."
Ed smiled merrily at him and said; "Oh, I'll be careful, Double D! I will!"
Edd smiled again. Ed was happy, and Ed being happy could make a lot of people happy, himself included. He looked around at the rest of the party and then back at Ed again, suddenly. "Oh, I almost forgot!" he said. "You never did tell me what you want for Christmas, Ed."
Ed then stopped flapping his wings and making barnyard sounds and looked at his friend. "...What I want for Christmas, Double D?"
"Mhmm," Edd said, nodding and looking up at Ed. "What do you want?"
Ed bit his bottom lip and raked his teeth along the outside on his skin, he really didn't know what to tell his genius friend. Part of Ed wanted to really just come out with it, but the other part of him wanted to avoid the subject or at least lie, but lying was a bad thing to do and certainly wasn't his sort of thing. "Well, Double D. I have given it thought, but..."
He paused and as he thought about what Eddy said to Edd earlier, that Edd was Eddy's better half. Abscent-mindedly, Ed's bottom lip began to quiver, for he was completely nervous and did not want to lose the friends he already had, Eddy still standing around listening to the both of them made it even worse. However, perhaps...maybe...just maybe...he should come out...out of that...
Edd blinked, looking at Ed still. "Ed?" He waved his hand in the taller boy's face. "Ed, are you alright?"
Ed snapped at it and looked down at his friend. "Double D..."
Edd blinked again. Ed sure was acting oddly. "Yes?"
He continued to look down at him, swallowing before he finally spoke again. "...I'm gay."
Edd looked at him. He looked at him for a while before speaking, and when he did, he could only manage a little "oh." Another one of those strange, fluttery feelings was back in his stomach. He thought for a minute then blinked again and looked back up at Ed, confused. "So, what do you want for Christmas?"
Ed smiled sadly down at him, taking in a breath or two. "You possibly couldn't give it to me even if I wanted you to."
Edd looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
Ed looked down at the floor for a second, gathering the wits that everyone thought didn't ever existed within the confounds of his intellect before looking up at him into his eyes, continuing. "Double D...when I first met you, I have always been confused about how I felt about you, of course, I liked you as much as Eddy did and as any friend should, but I was still confused inside. As I grew older, these same feelings increased as well as I found out that I, in fact, aren't attracted to girls, really, well, not in that way...and I found myself liking boys a lot more." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, biting on his lip as he glanced away for a few seconds and then back down at Edd, trying to ignore the horrified looks that everyone was sending him right then.
"And what's so funny is that I kind of felt the same for Eddy, but for some reason, it's different with you, you give me a whole different feeling inside, a very warm and fuzzy, melty-gooey felling inside, the very feeling that Eddy never seem to give me." He smiles more nervously, tears actually starting to leak from the corners of his eyes. "You...you also make my tummy all wiggly and feel all weird inside...you also make my heart go 'thumpity-thump-thump' as well. ...It's even doing it right now as I'm speaking to you. Double Deeeeee." He paused and got closer to him, his eyes staring directly into his. "I believe...I love you."
And everyone around them gasped out-loud, especially Eddy, who looked the most horrified of them all, yet knew somewhere that the guy had to be gay anyway, but still, now no one will shut up about them, their reputation completely tarnished like old brass that hadn't been shined in years. Kevin began to laugh and point at them almost immediately, especially at Ed and Double D. "HA HA! The Dumb-Dork likes the smart Double-Dork! HA HA!" Sarah then passed out a few seconds later, Jimmy fretting wildly over her, wondering if his friend was okay or not. Rolf, however, started to lose it and pointed at Ed as if he was the greatest evil ever and demanded him to be thrown out instantly or he'll tant them all with his wicked filth. Johnny just slapped Ed on the back and talked about how he figured it all along.
Everything seemed to be pure chaos now, with the people laughing, gasping, cursing, and wanting poor Ed to leave and making fun of poor Double-D because of Ed's confession.
Edd stood there, staring that wide-eyed stare again, in a state of shock that matched the lovely red color his face had turned. The weird fluttery feeling in his stomach seemed to be having a field day, while everyone around them made him feel very nauseous. He looked around at everyone and then back at Ed. "Ed, I..." He paused and thought for a minute. This level of awkward was somewhere off the charts, and the other kids weren't helping. He spoke quietly so only Ed could hear him. "Listen, Ed, I.. I need to think, okay? Just.. give me some time to.. to think about things, and I promise I'll talk to you once I've figured some stuff out. I just.. everyone else is all.. yeah. I just need to think, okay? I promise I'll talk to you later. I'll come by your house and we can talk."
Ed smiled sadly, knowing in his heart what all of this usually means when someone gives you this speech. He nodded at his friend, well, what might not be his friend by any time tonight or tomorrow or whenever. "...Okay, Double D."
Edd glanced around the room at everyone else, the lot of whom were still reacting in all sorts of strange ways. He bit his lip, thinking, before standing up on his toes for just long enough to kiss Ed on the cheek. "I promise, Ed." he said. "Everyone's just being.. themselves and if we went anywhere to talk now I don't think we'd ever live down whatever strange jokes they'd throw at us. ...And I think Rolf has gone completely insane and he's scarier than Eddy." He looked up at Ed again and smiled a little. "Let's just let them get this out of their systems now so we can have some peace and quiet later."
Ed touched his cheek where Edd had kissed it, all of the other voices seem to fade into silence and only Eddward's voice was heard. He slowly nodded at him, not knowing if he really wanted to talk to him later or not and if so, it might be a talk about how it would never work out between the two, but either way, he still trusted his words, hoping he was telling the truth.
Edd glanced around at everyone else again, the horrified feeling of "oh good god everyone is shouting at me" coming over him again. He gulped and looked at Ed one last time, giving him a look that he hoped got across as "I'm terrified of these people please excuse me" before he darted off down the hallway and into Naz's downstairs bathroom, leaning against the door and sliding down to the floor. Now he just had to get over the fact that he had just left poor Ed out there by himself and actually think about what he was going to do now. He liked Ed. That was the fluttering. He didn't want the both of them to become the new neighborhood target for even more teasing and bullying, though. He looked at the ceiling. He liked Ed a lot. Maybe he should just forget everyone else.
Forget everyone else and whatever they wanted out of him and do what he wanted to do, for once. Yeah, that sounded good. Now he just had to wait until everyone calmed down before he could leave the bathroom.
And inside of the living room, everything was but calm. Rolf started to do strange customs of burning everything that Ed touched, much to poor Naz's protests, he even tried to rip the carpet up as he cursed at Ed in his native tongue. Everyone else, however, kept laughing, except Naz who tried to stop Rolf from destroying her home, Jimmy who is still caring for the passed out Sarah, and Eddy who had the angriest look now of all. Ed found all of it quickly rushing back to him, especially when Eddy jumped him and began to pound him mercilessly, screaming at him about his ruined reputation. "YOU DUMBASS!" He bellowed. "YOU RUINED IT! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING FOR ME AND FOR DOUBLE D! ESPECIALLY FOR ME! I'LL ALWAYS BE A LAUGHING STACK ALWAYS BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU! YOUUUUU! I HATE YOU!"
Ed began to cry at Eddy, trying hard to stop the shorter man from slinging punches at him without fighting back and hurting him. "I'M SORRY, EDDY! I'M SORRY!" He cried hysterically. "I DIDN'T MEAN TO! HONEST, EDDY!" Eddy slammed his fist once more into his abdomen, which sent poor Edward in searing pain. Eddy then got up off of him, yanked him up and pushed him right out of the front door. Ed landed face down directly into the snow, still sobbing hysterically, he looked up at his friend. "P-p-please d-don't h-h-hate-te m-m-me, E-e-ed-d-dy-y." He begged on his knees, ignoring the freezing snow all around him. Eddy continued to glare at the tall goth and snapped in a low, angry tone. "Too late, Lumpy. Get out of my life! I've had it with you! You're always ruining it! I don't ever wanna see you again and neither does anyone else!" And he slammed the door shut and Ed was left outside in silence of the snow flakes falling all around him.
In the bathroom, Edd sniffled a little. He could hear everyone shouting, especially Eddy, and couldn't help but think that this was all his fault, not Ed's. If he had never moved here, then this never would have hap-- No. No, this was not his fault. If Eddy had a problem, that was his problem, not Edd's. He was going to be happy whether Eddy liked it or not. Now if only Rolf would stop trying to destroy the house, he could run along and do that.
Ed sobbed some more to himself, he wasn't happy anymore, in fact, this was the saddest he's ever been in his life, because not only didn't his family care about or loved him, but neither did his friends. Slowly but surely, he finally stood on his own two legs and walked away from Naz's place and down the street. He paused once he got to a street light and realized that his wings he made were now broken and of no use, so he ripped them off and stares at them, tears dropping onto the then sheets of paper, and threw them onto the ground and continued walking the rest of the way home.
Meanwhile, Edd was pacing back and forth in the bathroom. If he ran fast enough, maybe Rolf wouldn't kill him. Or maybe Eddy would. He had to get out of there and he had to do it now. Opening the door just a crack, he slipped into the hallway and made his way back to the front room where the others were, silently. Kevin was laughing to himself, Jimmy was fretting over Sarah, Naz and Rolf were distracted, and Johnny was perfectly harmless. Perfect. Then he saw Eddy. He watched as Eddy slammed the door on someone who was no doubt Ed, feeling very very angry inside all of a sudden. He made his way quietly across the room to where Ed's jacket was lying on a chair near the tree, picking it up. He spotted the gift Ed had placed there earlier and looked at it more closely.
That was his name on it, for sure. He picked up the little tower of boxes and, holding it and the coat in one arm, marched over to Eddy and jabbed a finger into his shoulder. "I told you to be nice to him," he said, glaring what was probably the coldest glare he'd ever managed. "You're never nice to him, you never accept him, you treat him like dirt. You're a lousy friend. Ed being gay isn't going to ruin your life, and it's not ruining mine. I don't know how you're going to get yourself out of this one, Eddy, but it's going to take a LOT for me to forgive you." He paused. He was really, really angry. The angriest he'd been in a long time, and Eddy just didn't care about ANYthing. His lip twitched. "It's going to take a whole lot. Screw you." And with that, he left.
He marched out of Naz's house and down the little front steps, feet crunching in the snow. He headed straight for Ed's house, some ways away. It was cold out. Very cold, and Ed didn't have a coat. Edd looked at the coat in his arms and stopped walking, putting the present down on a clear patch of ground and tugging the coat on. It was much too big for him, but it was warm and smelled like candycanes and all the other nice things Ed smelled of. He picked up the present again and continued his walk across the cul-de-sac.
To be continued...