Gym class. A pheromone rich cage match of who is the alpha male and female. The stench of sweat permeating the air was enough to make the faint of heart woozy, let alone the sight of boys and girls catapulting rubber balls at each other like cannon balls off ships as if they were at war with one another. Dodgeball. Already, Kevin knew where Edd would be, sitting on the side lines as the game itself was unpleasurable to say the least for the taller boy. Kevin wasn't too fond of it, but Edd was the only one allowed to be excluded as his parents had written a note, though it only covered the bloodbath caused by this sport.

It seemed the gym teacher had a sick sense of humour, putting the athletic kids on one team and the less physically fit kids on the other, and while the boys threw hard, the girls threw quicker. Kevin usually huddled in the back, dodging whenever a ball came near but since no one gunned for him he didn't have to do much. His mind was occupied today, however, as he'd been thinking about Eddward more and more lately. That had been his first kiss after all… he'd always imagined it'd be Nazz, mostly because of how often they hung out but… there was something about the way it felt that threw him off. As far as budding sexuality, Kevin had fallen into that small group of kids that had yet to define, same as Nazz, but Eddward seemed so sure of himself, perhaps it was the confidence he exuded or the fact that he did it to mess with Kevin, but Edd barely batted an eye at the kiss.

The next thing Kevin knew, he was taking a red rubber ball to the face and he fell over. Nose bleeding he could hear the loud, apologetic voice of Jourdon Kaide on the other end of the gymnasium.

"Sorry, Kev!" She yelled, her teammates high fiving her regardless of her apology.

"Alright Barr! On your feet!" Coach Lanely shouted. He gestured for Eddward to get off the bench. "Take Barr down to the nurses please, since you've got nothing better to do."

Kevin could swear he saw Edd smirk, but if he did it passed quickly. After their last encounter alone he really didn't want a repeat. The taller male passed by him, stopping to look back when Kevin didn't follow. After an annoyed gesture, Kevin did follow, just… very hesitantly.

The walk was, for the most part, pretty quiet, the squeaking of sneaker on polished floor the only thing that filled the tense air. Kevin kept staring down at his feet, every once in a while he'd glance up, but it seemed Edd was only interested in staring ahead and getting everything wrapped up quickly. As fate would have it, the nurses office was empty as well. Kevin had to refrain from groaning.

"Thanks, Eddward… you can head back now." He sighed and sat on a cot.

"Nah… got nothing better to do. Might as well stay here with you." Edd grinned, oh he was doing this on purpose.

"That's not necessary-"

"Shut it, twerp. I'll do as I please." Edd hissed back.

"Eddwa-" He stopped as Edd's angry gaze froze on him, if he spoke up he knew he'd be in for it. "Sorry…"

"Mmm."

The silence was thick and even worse than when they'd been walking there, where was the nurse?! He could barely take this…

"You've been thinking about it haven't you?" The cocky tone broke Kevin out of his horrified daymare.

"About what?"

Edd's smirk grew enough for the small gap in his teeth to show more, his face got much closer to Kevin's and the smaller boy found himself becoming rapidly uncomfortable.

"The kiss."

Kevin flushed. "Don't be stupid! Why on earth would I think about something so… traumatic?!"

He chuckled. "I doubt it's traumatic, not to me anyways~" He leaned back upright.

"W...what the hell do you mean by that?!"

"Who knows~"

The nurse walked in after that, Kevin'd opened his mouth, prepared to speak but got no chance to. Eddward stood and headed for the door, blowing a kiss back to Kevin, causing his face to heat up. Out of anger! He told himself.

"See ya later, Pumkin~"

Perhaps Operation FixED wasn't such a good idea…

~.~.~

Eddward came home to an empty house, a dark silence. His mood was always sour but returning home made it positively depressive. A heavy feeling settled on him as he tossed his bag aside and curled on his side on the couch. A note sat in front of the TV, it was an old one, one he kept there every day. The TV never got turned on.

We love you, Eddward.

Lies. Lies lies lies. No one loved Eddward. No one could. If his parents couldn't find the time to love him he wouldn't give anyone else the time. Sure he messed around and screwed with Kevin's head, but it was shits and giggles… right? Lately it seemed like even his own friends didn't want to be near him. Jimmy and Johnny weren't exactly a matching set, Edd tried to make friends after Eddy had gone off to another school and Ed moved away, but it was something he wasn't good at. He never had been. People had discluded him his whole childhood, playing in the cul-de-sac like he and the other Ed's were poison, treating him like shit. Sure they'd gone and matured, but there was so little they could do to fix the damage they'd done.

Which left Edd to stare at the hole in himself they'd made within him, directly or not. It wasn't that his parents were gone or that he'd been mistreated… no those were only parts of it. Other halves of it were things he couldn't tell anyone… he couldn't ever tell anyone.

After he'd spent a good hour staring at the note, pretending he believed it, he stood and headed upstairs. It was only four o'clock, but he was too exhausted and depressed to do anything else. He'd take a nap…

"I love you too, Mom… Dad…"