A/N: Happy Pride! 🌈 KevEdd has been on my mind a lot lately and luckily, I've been VERY creative! I'm writing a couple of others for this ship, so if you enjoy this, please look out for more!
Also- I put in a little nod to c2ndy2c1d with their OC Nat! Since their comic was the reason I started shipping these two See if you can spot him
There was a loud burst of laughter from across the cafeteria and Kevin Barr turned his head at the familiar sound. Green eyes watched the hat-wearing ravenette dork as his cheeks flushed, laughing at his equally dorky friend's antics.
A burning blush spread across Kevin's cheeks.
Facing the truth of his interest, the star player of Peach Cobbler High's baseball team was planning to finally admit being head over heels for the charming dork, Eddward Vincent.
It was an idea he was rapidly getting used to. Kevin had a decent amount of romantic partners over the years, many of them objectively more attractive than Edd, and he could handle attraction. Attraction was something he was quite good at navigating. However, this wasn't a simple crush.
Edd was, Edd. He was smart, incredibly funny, and would pull you in with the most interesting conversations when you got him talking. But the thing was, he was An Ed. Out of all the people Kevin had to fall for, it had to be An Ed.
Kevin had a regrettable past with the smartest of the dorks.
Growing up, Kevin had been obsessed with popularity. Without question, he would do anything to be accepted by his peers, including causing quite a lot of havoc for a specific group of kids.
The Eds were a close nit group of three friends that had been as much of his childhood as any of his close friends. He couldn't imagine having a summer without his best friends Nazz or Rolf at his side, lounging in his backyard in the pool, while Ed, Edd, and Eddy turned everything into a scheme for money.
Edd, or Double D, as he used to be called during their years growing up, was the smartest of the group and while he had never been on bad terms with him, he had tended to lump the idea of annoying dorks together and ridicule him, regardless.
Kevin had ruthlessly bulled them in the past. He could fully admit that he was part of the reason they had been ostracized for years by the kids in his cul-de-sac. They didn't fit in the small box Kevin and his friends had created to be what they thought was perfection.
But that didn't stop Kevin from gaining an attraction for Edd over the years and bleeding into full infatuation during High School.
Kevin sighed as he watched Edd eat his lunch, meticulously careful with how he ate, wiping his mouth after every bite. Kevin smiled.
It was silly things like that, small idiosyncrasies, that would make his stomach turn and face heat up like a love-struck teenager. Edd was a different breed altogether and Kevin was constantly frustrated that something so simple could undo him so easily.
"Earth to Kevin?"
There was an elbow in his side and he turned his head abruptly, unable to hide the blush on his face.
"If you stare any longer, you'll burn a hole through his hat." Nazz said, laughing at the way Kevin shrunk into his seat.
"I just don't know how I'm going to talk to him, Nazz."
His friend looked at him and drifted her eyes toward the dork. Edd was cleaning his space, clearly finished with his lunch.
Nazz spoke softly and put a hand on Kevin's arm. "You actually going to do it today?"
Kevin swallowed a lump in his throat but smiled, despite his jittery nerves.
"That's the plan."
Nazz smiled. "I've never seen you this nervous before. You really like him, don't you?"
Kevin just nodded.
"Well," one of his teammates spoke up, brushing the turquoise hair from his face. "You better hurry. Double Delectable's already out the door."
"What?!"
Kevin spun his head around just to see Edd walking out the doors of the cafeteria, books in hand.
With a huff, the jock pushed himself off the table and gave his friends a quick wave, grabbing his uneaten tray of food.
"Good luck!" Nazz shouted.
"Don't need it!" Kevin said, more confidently than he felt as he tossed his food in the trash, jogging out the doors after his crush.
Even with his heart in his throat, Kevin had decided that he would finally ask Edd out today. He was going to use one of his famous moves, something that never failed. Inviting the person of his choice to one of his games. Everyone loved his games and it gave him a chance to show off his athletic abilities, keeping their attention on him while simultaneously not taking any time away from his team.
It was almost full-proof.
Kevin smiled to himself, pushing past the nerves.
Edd was standing at his locker and it was open wide enough that Kevin could easily slip behind it, shielding himself from view.
Kevin placed himself strategically beside Edd, straightening his shirt and taking his cap off briefly to run a hand through his hair. He cooled his expression and put his arm against the adjacent locker.
Edd was muttering to himself and it was so uniquely Edd that Kevin found himself blushing. While waiting for the other to notice him, his calm expression grew into a cockeyed grin, unable to help the fluttering feeling of giddiness.
The bell run just as Edd closed the door and Kevin's grin widened.
"Hey D," he said, and suddenly there was a loud yelp from the boy as he clutched the books in his hands.
"Dear Lord," Edd said, putting a hand on his heart. "You could have given me a heart attack."
Kevin laughed fully, clenching his fist that was on the locker. "Oh, don't be so dramatic!"
Edd began walking in the opposite direction so Kevin stumbled after him, still laughing to himself.
"Honestly," Edd said, shaking his head. "You would have thought this childish tomfoolery would have been put behind you, Kevin."
Kevin put a hand on Edd's back. "Jumpscaring you will never NOT be funny, man."
Edd blushed from embarrassment and the sight made Kevin's ears burn. He quickly took his hand away.
"Was there anything you needed me for, other than scaring the living daylights out of me?"
Kevin felt his face flush at the unintended insinuation. Asking Edd out might have been a little harder than he first thought.
"Uh yeah actually." He said, fishing through his pockets. "I actually wanted to invite you to my game!"
Edd stopped, turning his head with a questioning look on his face. Kevin stopped as well, giving him the best smolder he could under the circumstances of how flustered he felt.
"You're giving me a ticket to your game?"
"Yeah," he said, waving the ticket in front of him. He smirked and put an arm around Edd's shoulders, getting as close as he could to the dork. The warmth from the other teen was intoxicating and Kevin had to hold back a shiver.
There was a small blush on Edd's face as he stared and it made Kevin smile with a rush of affection and triumph. The blush had to be a good sign.
Edd looked from him to the thin paper in his fingers, taking a breath. Kevin was about to burst with anticipation before the other spoke up.
"No, thank you." He said.
Edd smoothly slipped out of Kevin's grasp and continued walking to his class, ignoring the dumbfounded look he left in his wake.
Kevin's brain took a second to catch up. No? Edd had said 'no'?
"Huh?" he said finally, moving quickly to keep the same pace.
"I have no interest in spending three hours in chilly weather, stands that are filled with disgusting shifting bodies and loud aggressive shouting while concomitantly sitting alone since neither of my friends would be interested in going either."
Kevin would have felt his heart flutter at Edd's particular speech pattern if not for the fact that he was reeling at the actual answer.
"But-" he said, searching for a way to save face. "We can go get ice cream or something after."
Edd gave him a side glance and it sent an unfamiliar shock of nerves through Kevin, feeling as if the boy was shooting him down with that singular look.
Kevin wasn't used to the feeling of rejection.
"If you wish to spend time with me after school, may I suggest it not be when you've been sweating and exerting all your mental and physical energy?"
"I always shower afterward," he said dejectedly, almost pouting.
Edd continued, turning to face him. "The point still stands, Kevin."
The taller boy stared at him for a moment, as if daring Kevin to give him another excuse. For once in his life, the jock was unable to come up with a retort.
"Now," Edd said, continuing to walk towards his class. "If that is all you require of me, then I must bid you farewell as class will be starting soon."
Slowing his pace, Kevin came to a stop in the middle of the hall, unable to do anything but watch the only person who had ever turned him down walk away.
With his heart racing, Kevin's mouth hung open. "What just happened?"
Drifting through the last few classes of the day, Kevin could only think of his failure and embarrassment involving Edd.
Edd had rejected him, and although he had never been rejected before, it stung more than he realized it ever could. It wasn't just that his advancements had been brushed aside but it was Double D himself who had denied him.
Kevin was so deep in his infatuation that even the idea that he had possibly ruined not only a romance but a friendship with Edd was gnawing away at his nerves. The boy was probably freaked out, not wanting to hang around Kevin anymore, now that he knew how he felt about the dork.
"I'm such an idiot." He said to himself.
Walking out on the baseball field for practice, Kevin saw Nazz in her cheer uniform and jogged his way over, unable to keep his emotions to himself any longer.
"Hey, Kev!" Nazz said brightly, waving with the pompom in her hand.
Kevin came to a stop in front of her, giving her a small smile.
"So…?" she coxed, biting her lip. "How did it go?"
Kevin simply shook his head, unable to even admit what had happened. Nazz raised her eyebrows in surprise, then they furrowed.
"He said no?"
"He hates me, Nazz!" Kevin finally wailed dramatically. "I'm such a loser, no wonder he doesn't want to see my face."
Shaking her head, Nazz wrapped her arms around him. "That doesn't make any sense, Kevin. Double D would never hate you."
"Yeah, well, what else does 'no, I'm not interested in going to your game' mean?" Kevin said, over-impersonating his crush's particular way of speaking.
"What did you actually say to him?" She said, pulling back, trying to look him in the eyes. "And what exactly did he say back?"
"That he hates me!" Kevin said, irritation clear in his voice. "I gave him a ticket to my game and he said he didn't want to go."
Now that Kevin had voiced his fears, he felt like a small weight had been lifted from his shoulders. If Edd didn't want to go, then he clearly wasn't interested in Kevin like the jock was in him. While it felt good to tell Nazz, it was followed by a tired feeling of sadness.
Nazz stared at him for a moment.
"He-" she said carefully, "He didn't want to go to your game?"
Kevin shook his head.
Suddenly there was a muffled laugh and Kevin spun his head to look at Nazz, shock on his face. His friend was smiling behind her pompoms and doing a pretty bad job of hiding her laugh.
"I'm sorry!" She said immediately, "I'm not- I don't mean- but Kev!" She shook her head at him. "I don't think you actually asked him out."
"What?"
Nodding, Nazz continued. "Did you actually tell him how you feel?"
Kevin shuffled in place. "No."
"Did you actually say, 'Hey, want to go on a date'?"
"No," he said softly.
She shifted her pompoms to one hand and put her free one on his shoulder, gripping it tightly. "I think you're fine, Kev. You just need to show him how you feel."
"But-" Kevin defended. "I did the same thing I do for everyone. I give them a ticket to my game and they love it!"
Shaking her head, she pulled away and crossed her arms. "Well, Double D isn't everyone, is he?"
Oh. It wasn't like he thought of Edd like he did all of his previous dates. Kevin's admiration for the Double Dork was more than just a simple crush and he knew that. Not only did Kevin feel much more deeply for the dork, but the boy was simply incredibly different from most of their peers.
"When you put it like that," he said slowly. "I guess you're right."
Nazz smiled. "I know I'm right. Just, let him know how you feel next time."
Kevin shivered involuntarily. Telling Edd how he felt, really telling him, was something he wasn't sure if he was prepared for. Most of his relationships hadn't started with confessing feelings but merely attraction on more of a surface level.
Kevin swallowed. His feelings ran much deeper than surface level and confessing something like that to someone whose opinion mattered the most made his stomach tighten.
But- he had to try. Edd was worth the anticipation and the work.
"You really think he'd want to go out with me?" Kevin said, very much unlike himself. "I mean- he's so much smarter than I am and I'm sure he'd rather be doing anything else than hang out with me but- God. Nazz. I really like Edd."
"I can see that." Nazz smiled and the fondness in her expression made him blush. "It's cute, Kev. Show him how cute you can be."
She twisted the bill of his ballcap around to the front, pulling it down into his face. Kevin laughed and shoved her away with a grin.
"Thanks, Nazz."
Running towards his teammates on the field, Kevin began to replan. He needed to find some way to let the dork know how much he meant to him.