A/N:

Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long. I thought I was gonna come back from my trip with tons of shenanigans ready, but I didn't have a lot of free time to write and what little time I did, I spent it sleeping, haha. So here goes another chapter for ya'll inspired by yet another Summer Set song called One Night! Go give it a listen!

Shout out to all who continue to read and review! You guys are the real MVPs and I love ya!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ed, Edd, n Eddy or any of its chacacters. This story is of my own original thoughts inspired by music!

To say Kevin was nervous, was a complete understatement. In all his haste of wanting to arrive on time to his dinner with Edd, he had actually arrived almost a half hour early. He knew the raven would arrive early, but he want to get there first to get a booth; he needed Double D to look him in the eye and give an honest answer about the past. Kevin wanted, no, demanded the truth, and he sure as hell deserved it.

The redhead was not going to leave without answers, that was the mission, and maybe, just maybe they could pick up where they left off. It was all he had left to hope for.

Kevin sat down in the booth and waited. He knew Edd wouldn't be too much longer, so he tried to gather his thoughts, giving himself a mini pep talk. He knew what he wanted to say, he just didn't know how he was gonna tell him, or how Double D was going to take it. He didn't care though, no matter what happened he had to tell Edd how he felt. Just like he did all those years ago. Kevin chuckled quietly to himself about the irony of his current situation.

He sighed. And as if on queue Edd cleared his throat as he stood in front of the booth Kevin was sitting in. Kevin scrambled to his feet.

He didn't know if he should hug Double D or shake his hand. God, this is so awkward already, Kevin thought to himself as he reached out to shake Edd's hand.

"Hey, I'm glad you came. It's nice to see you again," Kevin said as he fought off a blush.

Edd motioned for them to sit, "It's good to see you too, Kevin."

Kevin cleared his throat, he tried to think of something, anything to say. He was suddenly feeling anxious and nervous all at once as he got this feeling in his gut like his heart just sunk. He needed to say something.

"So, um, how've you been Edd?" Internal facepalm.

"Well if you must know, I've been doing rather well for myself, aside from having to move back home, for the time being that is," he said matter of factly as he flashed that gap toothed grin the redhead loved. "How about you, Kevin? What have you been up to all these years?"

Before Kevin got to answer the waitress came to take their order for drinks. Edd got water with a slice of lemon and Kevin got a coke. Nothing had changed. Kevin's memory flashed an image of them in high school eating in that diner after a long afternoon of studying, like they had done almost every Saturday in their senior year.

"So uh, Kevin, you were saying?" Edd said awkwardly trying to fill the silence.

"Oh yeah, ya'know I've just been doing the typical stuff, working, just trying to make a livin'. Nothin' all that interesting, I promise," Kevin said attempting to calm his nerves.

The waitress returned with their drinks and took their orders for dinner. The all American boy in Kevin got a cheeseburger and fries with all the amenities and Edd ordered a steak with a baked potato.

The small talk continued and it was slowly killing Kevin. If there was one thing he hated, no loathed, it was meaningless small talk. He didn't want to be rude though, he knew this sort of small talk was Double D's thing. He remembered all the bland conversations Edd had with his parents over the phone. It had all been rather generic and seemed more like old friends pretending to be interested and not at all like parents being genuinely concerned for their kid. But Kevin knew Edd's parents now and understood more about their relationship with their son, but that didn't mean he excused their behavior; he just figured old habits died hard and the redhead was not about to let their first meeting be filled with empty exchanges of pleasantries. He had to announce the elephant in the room, well his elephant that is.

"Uh, Edd," Kevin said cutting off Double D mid sentence, "I gotta be honest with you right now."

Edd looked up from his steak not at all surprised about Kevin's sudden request. He had been waiting for it all night. He met Kevin's gaze as he set his knife and fork down, "I'm listening, Kevin."

"So, ya'know about the note I left you in your room, right?"

Edd nodded and swallowed hard, "Yes, I found it," he hesitated for a moment and swallowed again, avoiding Kevin's piercing green eyes, "and I read it too."

"What did you think of it?"

Kevin could see a blush start to creep across Edd's cheeks. He knew that blush meant something, and he was determined to find out what. He could see Double D open and close his mouth like he was going to say something, but the redhead knew him well and what he knew was that the genius's thoughts were going a mile a minute and he was struggling to formulate a sentence without revealing too much. Kevin knew his raven well; he distinctly remembered Edd making the same exact face the first time he told him he loved him.

"D, c'mon, just say what you're thinking. I can take it," Kevin said as he offered that charming million dollar smile of his that he knew Edd just loved.

"Well, to be frank Kevin, I don't think there is anything to think of it," Edd stated rather emotionless as his eyes went cold, like all the life had left them, and the color drained from his face.

The redhead was taken aback by the raven's icy response. Kevin didn't want to acknowledge this man in front of him, and he knew damn well that this wasn't his Edd. This man in front of him was putting on a mask and this particular one, Kevin hated the most. This was the one that hid behind a fort of insecurities and shot anyone down that came too close. Usually once it was up, Kevin would have some serious climbing to do before he got Edd back, but what Kevin didn't understand was why he was using it on him now.

"What do you mean?" The redhead asked sternly as he clenched his jaw trying to control his emotions.

"Kevin, you know as well as I do that we were both young and naive. We let our hormones and loneliness get the better of us. You couldn't possibly think what we had was anything real or serious, could you?" Edd said, even colder than before, if that were possible, his eyes now flashed ice.

The redhead had only dealt with this side of Double D a few times and he hated it. He remembered one time during that summer very vividly. Edd's parents were supposed to come to town for a weekend, so he had spent several days getting the house ready for them and was going to introduce Kevin as his boyfriend, but they never showed. It took a whole week for them to call their son to tell him they weren't going to make it. A whole freakin' week after the fact. Kevin was really pissed off about it, but his rage was nothing compared to Double D's when he flipped his switch. His anger manifested in a more twisted manner than the redhead's. It took Kevin almost 3 whole days to pull Double D out of his dark side, is what Kevin called it. He just didn't understand what had pushed the raven over the edge now.

"D, don't do this," Kevin said softly, trying to calm the sleeping giant that was Edd's dark side, "you know what you're saying isn't true. You know you felt things that summer, 'cause I felt them too and they were very real and still are…" the redhead trailed off.

He was trying to hold back everything that had been building up over the last 8 years of his life without his Edd. He reached across the table to cover Double D's hand with his and looked him straight in those icy blues that still took his breath away.

"You know this isn't you and I know you're still in there, and this isn't what you're really thinking or feeling. Just tell me the truth, just tell me the first thing that comes to your mind," the redhead said as he tried to pull his Edd back.

He saw his blue eyes glint back to their original softness right before they went cold again and stared hard like they were going right through his very soul.

"I don't know what fantasy you're living in, Kevin," the raven said sternly, keeping his voice even and sharp the entire time as he yanked his hand from under the redhead's, "but I don't feel anything for you and you're an even bigger fool than I thought you were if you think there was ever anything here."

Kevin could feel the tears threatening to spill over and he tried with all he had to hold back. He refused to let this Double D with the mask see him like this; he wasn't fighting fair, and he wasn't going to give up on the only person he would ever love.

"You don't mean that, Edd, you know you don't," Kevin said trying to convince himself more so than the monster mask the raven was wearing.

The raven stood up and started to move away from the table, "I have nothing else to say here, Kevin."

The redhead couldn't take it anymore.

"No!"

Double D turned around to see the redhead with his fists planted firmly on the table in front of him.

"You don't get to run away this time! You stay here and listen to what I have to say, Edd, or so help me God I will lose my mind," Kevin looked up to stare the raven in his dumbstruck face as tears started to stream down his freckled cheeks and his voice quieted to a harsh whisper as he glanced back down at the table, "this has been weighing on my mind for 8 years, D. I can't let you go again…"

Double D stood there completely shocked over the rawness of the redhead's outburst. Kevin knew he had caught something deep inside the raven, he could see the mask crack and his eyes soften again. Though, he could see Edd was still acting guarded, a tiny victory was won toward getting his man back. And that's what mattered.

The raven sighed, "What could possibly be left to salvage after all these years, Kevin? Come on, be realistic!"

"Everything. And if you don't think that then you're the biggest idiot I know, Double D," he said as he stood meeting the genius's gaze, searching for something, anything, telling him this man hadn't completely given up.

"I don't have time for this nonsense. I'm leaving, I have a lot to do at home," the raven huffed as he turned to leave the diner.

Kevin grabbed his forearm and turned the genius around, "No! You don't get to run away anymore," he said forcing the raven to meet his eyes, still searching for a sign in his cold blue eyes.

He sighed and spoke more quietly, almost a whisper, "I'll be leaving. Thanks for your time, Edd," he let go of his forearm, reached into his back pocket for his wallet, and placed a couple twenty dollar bills on the table.

The redhead grabbed his jean jacket from the space next to where he had been sitting and before turning around to leave the redhead met the genius's eyes one last time and handed the jacket to him, "I won't bother you anymore, but take this. I think it belongs to you, you always looked better in it than me anyways."

The raven just nodded and took the jacket.

As Kevin turned to leave Edd could see him hesitate before the glass door as he shook his head, letting out a long sigh of defeat, and then the man of his dreams left without another glance back.

Double D was speechless. He stood there all alone clutching that jacket and he had no idea how he was going to fix the mess he had just made.

"It only takes one night to fuck up my life. I need one night to fix it all. It's one, one minute till midnight. I'm losing one friend after another. It's one foot in front of the other. It's one, one minute till midnight."

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