Edd made a terrible mistake. He had put himself in another awkward situation with his angry outburst. Any attempt to take back what he had said was ignored by Matthew. Edd stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room, not knowing what to do. Matthew made it clear that he wanted to spend some time with him before Eddy woke up, so Edd remained in the living room to avoid getting on Matthew's bad side.
The elder sat on the couch, bored out of his mind. He drummed his fingers on his pant leg and crooned the lyrics to an industrial rock song that he knew by heart in an attempt to entertain himself. When that didn't work, he groaned out in boredom. He looked up to see Edd standing in the middle of the room awkwardly. Matthew eyed him suspiciously until he remembered why Edd was there. "Hey, why don't you make yourself useful and get me some Bacardi and coke on the rocks. The Bacardi is in the freezer in a brown paper bag. I got it yesterday before I picked up your boyfriend's weed."
Edd sighed and quietly went into the kitchen. He remembered Matthew coming in with a few paper bags the day before when Matthew returned from his day of driving around town instead of spending time with his kids. Edd grudging prepared the alcohol, thanking all of the times that Eddy made him look at those magazines. Without them, he probably would have never known what "on the rocks" meant. There was always a recipe for an alcoholic beverage on the back of those dirty magazines.
He handed the large glass to Matthew silently. Matthew's fingers brushed against his as he handed the man the alcohol. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins. He had trouble distinguishing between if he feared the man in front of him, hated the man, and/or lusted after him. The feelings he had for Matthew were a bit complex to put a label on. However, the one thing that he was certain of was that love was one of the emotions that he would never feel for Matthew.
"Come sit with me," Matthew took a sip from his drink.
Edd reluctantly took a seat next to Matthew. Both of them sat in silence for several minutes. Matthew took a couple of gulps of his Bacardi and coke. Edd felt Matthew's arm drape across his shoulders. Edd moved further away to avoid getting touched. "Mind my personal space, please."
"I'm not that repulsive, am I?" Matthew laughed in amusement.
"Personality wise, yes you are." Edd answered grimly, "You're a sociopathic barbarian. You're completely selfish and never think about the needs of other people. What's worse is that Eddy idolized you! He idolized you and what did you do? You gave him misleading maps and physically abused him in front of all of our peers."
"You think I give a shit about that? Let me tell you a little story, sweetheart. Your little boyfriend was used to it. I babysit him from the time he was in diapers until the time that I was kicked out. Every time he stepped out of line, I put him back in his place, whether it meant slapping him in the face or twisting his arm out of place. I didn't leave any bruises, so my parents never found out. It just made him into the Pipsqueak that we both know today. I taught him everything I knew before I left too, so you should be thanking me for teaching him how to scam people."
"Thanking you? You deserve nothing, you monstrous, nefarious bastard!" Edd's entire body shook with anger. He tried to clear his mind and think of other things. A cold, emotionless chuckle from Matthew was what set him over the edge. He charged at Matthew. He wanted to strangle that man's throat. How dare that man hurt Eddy, his own brother, for years and have the audacity to demand gratification for it, because it "shaped" Eddy into the person that they both know today.
Matthew blocked his attack and shoved him into the coffee table. Edd tumbled off of the coffee table and landed on the floor. He quickly got up and charged at Matthew again; attempting to hurt Matthew in any way that he could just like Matthew did to Eddy. There was no logic to his actions. Rage blinded the normally passive teenager.
Edd gasped when he was caught by his neck and lifted off of the ground. Anger was quickly replaced with terror when he dared to look Matthew in the eye. The deadly glare that Matthew given him was worse than the one he received at Mondo A-Go Go when he had stood up to him. Matthew chuckled darkly, "That was a wrong move on your part, princess. You still have so much spunk to you. So much fire! I can't wait to see more of it later on tonight."
"Please, let me go." Edd pleaded, choking as he was gasping for air. The grip around his neck felt like noose. He was losing oxygen with every second that he was in Matthew's grip.
"As you wish." Matthew choke slammed Edd to the floor. The back of Edd's head and back throbbed in pain at the impact with the floor. He laid on the floor motionless, too stunned to lift himself from the floor. He made a terrible mistake for losing his temper and assuming that he could even get revenge for Eddy's sake.
Edd whimpered pathetically as Matthew kneeled over him, straddling his waist. Edd attempted to push Matthew off of him, but his wrists were pinned above his head. Matthew cupped Edd's chin with his free hand and examined his face closely, taking sick pleasure in that Edd had been reduced to whimpering, shaking wreck. "That's much better. You're lucky that I don't want to ruin that nice, delicate skin of yours with bruises or cuts. You don't even know how lucky you are. I could've done a lot worse to you. I'll have you know that I'm not putting up temper tantrums, especially ones from spoiled rotten teenagers."
"Please, I apologize for my actions several minutes ago. You're crushing me." Edd pleaded with the 24 year old.
"You're not going to try to strangle me again?" Matthew asked.
Edd shook his head. "I would not think of it again. I'm being sincere, Matthew."
"Alright." Matthew lifted himself up and stepped over Edd to return to drinking his Bacardi. Edd slowly lifted himself up as Matthew gulped down more alcohol. Matthew noticed that Edd had gotten up and Matthew sat his drink down, walking towards the teen. He gripped Edd's backside, pulling the teen close to him. Matthew locked lips with Edd in a show of dominance over him. Despite the foul taste of alcohol on the man's lips and their skirmish several minutes ago, Edd kissed him back in defeat.
Eddy woke up an hour later. During that hour, Edd spent it reading a medical encyclopedia while Matthew drunk more of the Bacardi and coke. Edd looked up at Eddy's face to see if Eddy looked at him any differently from the night before. Eddy's facial expression was pretty neutral. He did not look at Edd in disgust. It was probably a good sign that Eddy forgot about what happened last night. While disappointing, it was probably better that way. He could not handle having another stressful incident at the moment.
"We're heading to Lucas' pad soon. Go get ready, Pipsqueak." Matthew replied, finishing his Bacardi.
Eddy winced at the sight of Edd's neck, causing the teen in the beanie to cover it with his hand, subconsciously. He turned to talk with Matthew. "Yeah, yeah. I'm surprised that Lucas is still around."
"Yeah, he called when all three of you were in the junkyard last night." Matthew confirmed, setting his glass down. "Seth will be there too."
Eddy nodded with disinterest, "Well, I need to get ready. C'mon Sockhead!" Eddy pointed in the direction to his room. Once they both reached Eddy's bedroom, Eddy shuts the door and drags Edd to the mirror, "What the hell is that red mark on your neck?"
Edd looks in the mirror to find that Matthew had indeed left a red handprint across his neck. "It's nothing." Edd lied.
"My bro grabbed your throat, didn't he?" Eddy frowned.
"Yes, Matthew and I got into a skirmish earlier," Edd admitted shamefully, "He was the one who initiated the fight, but I was the one that physically attacked him first – or tried to, anyway."
Eddy just nodded pensively. He did not even want to know what caused the fight between Matthew and Edd. All he cared about was getting Edd far away from Matthew. "I think you need to stay at Ed's for a couple of days. I'm saying this for your own protection, Edd."
"And leave you here alone with him? Thank you for the suggestion, but I would rather stay here," Edd replied firmly.
"What are ya, nuts? Unlike me, you have a chance to escape from my brother," Eddy shouted at him.
Edd folded his arms, "no, I don't Eddy. Did you forget that the reason why I'm not in foster care system is because your mother has legal custody of me? I don't have any relatives that live in Peach Creek, let alone the state. Do you think your brother or your parents after being fed insidious lies from said man would hesitate to report me as a runaway?"
Margaret, Sam, and Marian signed the legal document four years ago, after the Mondo A-Go Go incident. When Edd had left with Ed and Eddy, Marian had returned home in the evening and found the half-written note. She rightfully assumed that he had run away from home. Marian had turned to Margaret for comfort since both of them noticed that their boys had gone missing. During their distress over losing the boys, Marian had agreed to Margaret's suggestion of letting her have guardianship of Edd if something ever happened to Sam or her.
After much discussion with her husband (and after scolding her son when he returned home), they both went down to the courthouse the very next day to sign the legal document granting Margaret guardianship of Edd in case of their deaths or absence. To this day, Edd still did not know what caused his parents to stress over the possibility of their deaths or absence, but he was thankful that his mother and Margaret gotten that court document signed. Without it, Edd shuddered to think of where he might end up.
"Alright fine! I don't like this, but whatever. Do what you want!" Eddy caved bitterly. He made a mental note to himself to try to talk to his brother later. There was not much he could do even if Matthew beat up Edd in front of him, but it could not hurt to try to reason with him. That man could possibly put them both in the hospital and not think twice about it if he wanted to. "We got to get ready to go see Matthew's asshole friends."
"What are they like, Eddy?" Edd asked.
"Lucas is a weirdo and Seth is a freak. They were both complete assholes from what I remember when they showed up at my house a few times when I was little." Eddy replied, gathering some flashy clothing to get into the shower. The description Eddy had given him of Matthew's friends was pretty vague. Edd shrugged and decided against wearing a tie for the occasion, after debating in his mind if a tie would be too much to meet to complete strangers in. What he wore was fine for the evening. Fifteen minutes later, Eddy came back in the room, still wet from his shower, to freshen up with his usual hair grooming and cologne spritzing ritual.
"You're putting quite a bit of work into maintaining your appearance to see two men that you claim are less than respectable gentlemen." Edd replied.
"Get a clue. How am I supposed to impress those two asses if I don't look like a cool guy?" Eddy boasted, "If I look like a cool guy, those two would stop calling me `Matthew's baby brother' and view me as an adult!"
"I sometimes worry about your vanity issues," Edd muttered.
The ride to Matthew's friend's house was a 15 minute drive from the cul-de-sac. They decided to take Eddy's van to the place since Matthew did not feel like driving the Camaro. Matthew had given Eddy directions to the place before they had gotten into the van. Of course, Matthew had control of the radio from the passenger seat of the van and turned up the radio up high. The music that was blasting from the speakers was so unbearably loud that Edd's ears started to hurt from how loud the music was.
Edd still felt kind of skittish around Matthew from what happened earlier and he could tell that Eddy felt the same way. The heavyset teen kept his arm between the seats, as if his arm was a shield to protect Edd from his brother. He wondered if Eddy had the same motivations as he did, to appease Matthew in whatever way that he could. Only difference was Edd mostly did it to keep his secrets hidden, Eddy did it to avoid any further physical abuse. Putting that into perspective, Eddy's actions suddenly started to make sense to Edd. Eddy was like a battered wife cowering in the presence of her husband or a child that made excuses whenever they showed up to school with a fresh new bruise.
Matthew turned down the volume of the radio, "it's the next house coming up. I only have one rule while we're here; don't embarrass the fuck out of me, got it?"
"Yeah, yeah. I heard ya!" Eddy parked at the next house over. Both Edd and Eddy's mouths dropped when they seen the house. Edd had never seen a mansion before in his entire life until he laid eyes upon the house they stopped at. The pearly white modern-styled mansion in front of him was a sight to behold. Where they at the right place?
A/N: Thanks again for the comments. I cannot express how much I appreciate reading them. Two Eds and Bro is now on Archive of Our Own as a mirror to the story. The one on AO just won't get updated as often as this one does.