Author's Note: I still wish to play with my NatxEdd feels (even though I ship Nave and Kevedd hard *w*) SO, prepare for some bonding fluffy feels between Kevin and Edd followed by some NatEdd the next chapters. THE ANGST IS NIGH MY DEAR FRIENDS ohohoho.
P.S: I know most fanfics say that Edd has either blue or (more commonly) cyan eyes, but imma try to keep writing Double D as having green eyes as it has been confirmed. so yeah. Emerald for Kev and bright green for Edd :)
THANK YOU to all of you who have liked or followed my little story :D comments and reviews are more than welcomed! it'll help me keep improving for you guys 3
My Tumblr: little - laughssassin . tumblr . com (no spaces lol)
Nat belongs to c2ndy2c1d
Ch. 3: What a Bro
Edd woke up at about 8:30 the next day, believing it would just be another boring day until actual classes finally started, with nothing to do but get ahead on his readings, until he remembered Kevin's invitation from last night.
"He said sometime around noon…which gives me more than enough time to get ready!" With that Double D swiftly got out of bed and into his beloved bunny slippers he had since childhood. He turned to make his bed – perfectly – and continued on to his bathroom to get ready for the day ahead.
Once done and dressed, he grabbed his beanie from the nightstand next to his bed and put it on standing in front of a mirror, meticulously tucking in any stray hairs at the front and behind his ears. Edd never liked his hair, especially not since his little accident. When he was still a young boy, and as curious as ever, he decided that it would be a good idea to take his father's electric razor and cut his own hair. He believed he was already old enough to do such a thing, considering his parent's high view of him.
Needless to say, a 5 year-old and a razor is never a good combination; he gave himself a nasty little scar on the left side of his forehead, which now became the "natural" partition for his bangs. His hair became – in his opinion – unruly and stubborn to any kind of styling, which clashed too much with his own character, so the hat helped hide what little remained of the scar, and the raven mess on his scalp.
Edd sighed at his reflection as he finished with his beanie, "Maybe I should just become completely bald…"
He looked at his alarm clock which indicated it was now 9:15, took his wallet, and made his way outside his building to get a light breakfast, just in case Kevin and Nat were planning on having lunch when they met up. He still wasn't very familiar with the area, and he did not want to eat at the dormitories' main food court; it unnerved him to be around so many other students, since he was still new and technically alone. He was never one for cafeteria food anyway.
He found a quiet, little diner, just two blocks away from the residence area and ate there. After a quick breakfast consisting of a bowl of granola with yogurt and fresh fruit, he went back to his room to wait for the boys. Edd waited and waited, but still no sign of life from neither Kevin nor Nat.
"It's already half past noon…dear lord; if I am told I must be ready by a certain time then I will do so. He tells me we will be out by noon and yet he is clearly late! Oh how typical that Kevin would…not show up…on time…oh." The sudden flare of indignity towards the red head's tardiness quickly died down into one of disappointment. Indeed how typical; how natural that his childhood bully would ditch him last minute. Doudle D plopped down onto his bed, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his palms, he sighed and looked down, "He's likely gone already…probably wandering around town with Nathan having a laugh or two at my expense." He scoffed and lied down on his back, "Oh how could I be so foolish?"
Just then his room reverberated with the sound of hard knocking on his door; Edd's face shot up and asked who it was, getting a "WHO DO YA THINK DORK?" in response. Double D smiled to himself and quickly jumped up from his bed and walked over to the door, opening it to a view of Kevin with his signature red cap, green hoodie, and black shorts. Upon noticing the outfit Edd's smile couldn't help but grow from the nostalgic feeling.
Kevin noticed's the boy's expression and quirked an eyebrow with a smirk of his own, "you ok down there?" he asked as he poked Edd's beanie.
"O-oh! Yes of course I was just…remembering stuff…a-anyway, I'm sorry Kevin, for a moment there I was certain you would not be coming for me and if anything had already left without me." Edd gave a shy apologetic smile.
Kevin furrowed his brows and slanted his lips, honestly a little hurt from the dork's words, "Wow dork, that's some faith you got in me."
Double D's eyes widened and his cheeks flared up in embarrassment, " No no! I didn't mean it that way! I mean…well…no, I guess that is what i-it sounds like b-but, what I meant t-to s-say was that…uhm judging from our previous years…"
"Oh…right…" Kevin thought to himself, "wasn't exactly buddy buddy with this kid…" He rubbed the back of his neck and looked to the wall on his side as he spoke, " It's ok Double Dork, calm the fuck down. I understand, don't worry."
When he looked back to see Edd's reaction his heart squeezed inside his chest at the sight. The boy's face was completely red, he was fidgeting with his fingers out of being nervous, and he was looking up at Kevin with those damned, big, green eyes of his. W-w-what the heck?!
Kevin quickly spun around and cleared his throat, "a-anyways dork, Nat's already waiting for us in his car so, yeah, lock up and hurry up!" He began to walk away not even turning back to check if Edd was already reacting, until he heard the rattling of keys and took it as a sign that the lanky teen would be following soon enough.
Double D stumbled with his keys to find the right one, not wanting Kevin to leave him behind, he didn't even know what Nat's car looked like!
Finally he found the right key and turned the lock to his dorm, jogging towards Kevin to catch up with him by the elevators. The ride down and trek to Nat's corolla was spent in awkward silence between the two.
From his car Nat looked out the widow, awating for his friends' return; once he saw the small frame and the black beanie in the distance he instantly perked up and waved. "DOUBLE DUDE!"
Double D flashed a gap-toothed smile at Nat as he waved back, and Nat could've just melted right then and there, except he was the one in charge of driving, and like hell he would leave Kevin with his car and Edd alone with him. Double D walked to one of the back doors of the car and started to open it, but stopped once he realized Kevin was doing the same on the side opposite to him – and Nat of course, noticed this too –.
"Kev, what are you doing?"
"Opening the door. Duh!"
"I mean what are you doing at the BACK?"
"Maybe it's because I want to sit my ass down at the BACK." The redhead retorted back at his friend.
"Well Double Dude is already going to sit HIS own ass down at the BACK."
"Nat, 3 people can sit their asses down at the BACK."
"I-I could simply sit in the passenger seat. I don't mind!"
"NO"
"YES"
Kevin's and Nat's answers were blurted out at the same time and Edd didn't know what to do, so he simply remained quiet while looking back and forth between the two friends.
"Edd, if you want to sit next to me you're more than welcomed; if anything, you'd be welcomed to just sit on my lap if it were legal." Nat then proceeded to wiggle his eyebrows at Double D, making his cheeks burn up.
"N-nathan please!"
"Whaaaaat? That way the 3 of us will be at the front together!"
Kevin sighed through his nose in irritation and shrugged, "It's ok Double Dweeb, I'll go to the front." Edd bit down on his lip and nodded, carefully opening the door and getting into the car. Meanwhile Kevin grumpily made his way to shotgun and got in next to Nat. They remained in silence as Nat started up the vehicle.
"So…" spoke up the smallest of the three, which prompted Kevin and Nat to whizz their heads around to intently face Double D. He slightly jumped in his seat and tried to continue, "Where exactly are we going? Do we have a map to follow?"
"Nah! It'll be an adventure! We're going on an adventure sweetcheeks!" Nat smiled and winked at Edd before turning back to face the front and drive off out of the parking lot. Double D sat quietly at the back analyzing and memorizing his surroundings; he looked around the back of the car, how everything, looked and felt around him, then he began to look at the passing buildings out the window.
At the front, Kevin had ever so stealthily turned his head in a way that he could look up at the rearview mirror and catch sight of Eddward; every so often he would find himself glimpsing at the mirror, only to see Edd and his curious eyes looking everywhere and at everything outside.
'Why am I looking at him anyway?...heh, he looks pretty cute all deep in thought like that...wait…W-WOAH NO. NONONONO WHAT AM I THINKING?!' Kevin quickly turned away from the mirror and looked out his own window, pressing his head against the passenger seat. 'Did I just actually call him cute?! CUTE?! God, what is wrong with me?...*sigh*…well…I mean I did always think he was kinda…cute in a dorky way? Sure the Eds were the bane to my childhood but Double Dweeb wasn't so bad…it was all Eddy's fault in the end, and he'd just go along with it cuz they were friends.' Kevin dared one more look at the beanie-clad teen behind them. 'I guess… I guess he is pretty cute.'
Something inside Kevin felt weird as he admitted this to himself, but he simply shrugged it off. Unbeknownst to him, the teal-haired boy next to him was simultaneously going through the same process. "Hehe, he's such a cutie! His gap-toothed smile is definitely the best. A whole day hanging out with him, even if Kevin is with us too, but whatever. Hmm? What's this?...what's Kevin lookin' at?"
As they drove around the nearest town, the three boys began to grow hungrier by the minute. They stopped at quaint restaurant and decided to get some lunch there. Might as well take this opportunity to get to know good places to eat in. They were greeted by a hostess who took them to their seats near one of the windows.
"I'll be right back, nature calls."
"Oh, wait for me! Excuse me Nathan."
After doing his own business and going to wash his hands, Double D gingerly turned the faucet to get the water flowing. "Filthy, filthy, filthy! One can only imagine the multitude of germs in here. A place for sanitary needs should not be this filthy…ah, but then again it is communal, so it's not like it can be helped…"
After some very thorough rinsing, he turned off the faucet and grabbed a paper towel to dry his hands. As he opened the door to exit, the other man who was coming in ungraciously bumped into him, almost making him lose balance. In the background there was a flush and Kevin's stall opened; he noticed the man bump into Edd, who was now looking down sheepishly while the other guy practically shot daggers at him.
"Watch it shorty." He spat.
"I'm sorry!..."
Kevin's temper flared up and he stomped over to the other two, grabbing the guy's arm and turning him to face him. "You're the one who bumped into him you know?" He said dryly.
The other guy scoffed, "No way, I was coming in when this guy slammed into me!"
"What?! Slammed into you?! He had barely even opened the goddamned door!"
Double D didn't want things to turn uglier than they already had, so he grabbed Kevin's wrist and gently tugged at it, gaining the other teen's attention. "Let's just go. Nat's probably wondering what's taking us so long."
"Better listen to your twerp."
"You better shu-"
"Kevin!" Once again Double D tugged at Kevin's wrist, but it was harder this time, he was growing both worried and impatient with him. The bigger teen huffed and guided them both out of the washroom and back into the small hall that led to it. "Kevin that was unnecessary." Edd mumbled, making Kevin emidiately stop and turn to him with a serious look on his face.
"No it wasn't. It was completely called for. That jackass was insulting you for something you didn't even do! He was the one who bumped into you, I saw it!"
Edd's expression softened a little and he sighed, "I appreciate your sudden protective episode to aid me Kevin, but it was a petty argument not worth anyone's time. Now come on, we've kept Nathan waiting long enough, and I'm becoming famished."
Kevin furrowed his brows and slanted his mouth, Double D could tell he still had some comebacks in him to support his argument, but he simply smiled reassuringly at the red head before continuing his walk to their booth, letting go of Kevin's wrist as he was left behind.
Kevin just stood there for a moment, grabbing the wrist the lanky teen had been holding just a few seconds ago. 'Protective?...I mean yeah I guess I see the dweeb as more of a friend now and that's why I defended him. Heh, me protective of that dweeb though, who would've thought.' Finally his legs reacted and he walked towards his two friends who were already chatting away; his gaze fell upon Double D again as he took the spot in the booth next to him. 'I do want to protect him though…I want to make sure he's always ok…this means…I'm like an older brother right?...Yeah, that's it, he's like my little brother. I've known him for a long time, I've gotten in little arguments with him over the scams in the past, and I feel protective of him, so that makes sense!'
"What took you two so long anyway?! Got me here all worried you had escaped and ran off together!" Nat dramatically pouted his lips and gave them a kicked puppy look.
"For fuck's sake Nat don't do that!" Kevin's comment made Nat laugh; he knew his best friend couldn't handle cute faces like that. "We just ran into a very very very stupid inconvenience…" he mumbled.
"Huh?"
Double D giggled lightly and looked at Nat before speaking, "Someone bumped into me on my way out of the washrooms, however they claimed that it had been my own fault, which started a bit of a predicament for me...Kevin saw this and came to my rescue."
Kevin smiled at the rescue comment and he looked down to Double D who turned his head slightly and gave his own small, warm smile back at him.
Nat knew there couldn't possibly be anything going on between those two, not with their kind of history, but he still felt a teeny tiny sting of jealousy poking at his insides due to the smiles shared between Kevin and Edd. He wanted Edd to look at him and only him (in that endearing light anyway).
"Pfft, Double D was probably able to handle it on his own, weren't ya Edd?"
"Well I… I prefer taking the non-violent route and avoiding conflict if possible."
"A 'make love not war' kind of guy eh? Well, you can make love and not war with me any day Double Cutie." Nat rested his elbows on the table, linking his fingers together and resting his chin over them. He leaned in closer to Double D with an alluring grin.
Double D felt his stomach flip and his temperature rise, "N-NATHAN PLEASE REFRAIN YOURSELF FROM SUCH COMMENTS!" he managed to say, pulling his hat down closer over his eyes. His cheeks rosy and bright
Nat simply laughed, feeling accomplished for the cute, nervous reaction he had gotten from the smaller male. "Alright, alright, I'll keep those private!"
"I-I-I…"
The two boys gasped and jumped in their seats at the sudden, loud CLANK coming from Kevin's glass of coke as he slammed it back onto the table.
"Jeez man, you ok?"
"Oh yeah, just dandy." Kevin answered 'Just thinking about givin' ya a good poundin' or two after we're done here, like the good older brother I am.'