Hello! :D

As you can see, I didn't die. I went on vacation, and the whole time I was struggling to piece this chapter together. I get really worn out when I don't have any privacy or quiet, so it was hard for me to write when I got the chance to sit down on my own. I'm most definitely an introvert.

I really hope this chapter is good enough. I'm still feeling out the direction I want to take this story in, so it's not clear to me whether I'm doing the first few justice or not. So. o_o

The next chapter should be out more promptly than this one was! Adding in the other characters is making it a lot more fun and authentic feeling to write.

And leave a review, if you don't mind. :P

Chapter 9

Double Dee's afternoon was strangely calm.

Stepping into the house, he removed his sneakers, locked the door, and had the foresight to pick out a soft shirt and pajama pants to set on the counter for after his shower. He washed himself thoroughly, coating every inch of his skin with soap and scrubbing vigorously. His hands shook as he smoothed the pearly body wash over his stomach and thighs, but he swallowed down the tremors of anticipation down and kept cleaning. He brushed his teeth for exactly five minutes and attempted to smooth his hair down for another fifteen even though he concealed it under his beanie a moment later. The scholar swept the carpets and dusted both upstairs and down, and after much deliberation, he elected to place his container of flatworms on an empty space on the shelf next to his closet that stayed untouched by sunlight. The label of "PLANARIANS" went on the side, and "PLANARIAN DATA" was pressed into the cover of a notebook he selected from his drawer of unused school supplies. He nursed a steaming mug of peppermint tea as he went about his duties, and when the clock in the living room read a quarter to five, he settled himself on the couch and waited.

Kevin knocked on his door three times at 4:52.

The younger male's heart was hammering in his throat the moment he rose to get the door. His stomach was in knots yet nonexistent as he turned the lock, and when he met the broad-shouldered redhead's eyes, he felt as if the entirety of his body mass had all but evaporated.

Kevin approached him without a word, and as the black-haired boy backed up, the athlete slammed the door behind him and locked it without looking away. One shoe landed halfway on the mat and the other missed entirely, and Edd found that he couldn't care less if it had flown through his mother's china cabinet and broken half the things in it.

The athlete stood before the brilliant one for a long moment, hands hovering at his sides and breath coming out in heavy gasps, then grasped one slender wrist and began to pull the genius up the stairs. Edd didn't even try to look away from the powerful muscles in his legs and his backside as Kevin all but dragged him. The older male took hold of both of his arms and backed him against his door to shut it, and Eddward let out a sigh of relief as chapped lips crashed into his own. Strong hands roamed down his sides and memorized their subtle curves and Kevin growled softly as Edd swatted his snapback off to claw at his scalp.

"God damn, did I miss you." The jock gazed at him through half-lidded eyes, smirking when he squeezed the ravenette's ass and brought a desperate moan out of his parted lips. Embarrassed and irritated, the petite boy lunged at him, capturing his mouth and eagerly sucking the redhead's tongue between his teeth. The wet heat caused the athlete's pants to become unpleasantly tight, and he let loose a possessive growl before pulling the genius from the wall to back him against the bed.

The sight of the athlete leaning over him was the most frightening and beautiful thing Eddward thought he had ever witnessed, the strong line of his jaw and his powerful shoulders taut with desire; his expression one of single-minded obsession.

When teeth sank into a faded bite mark over his collarbone it took everything in him not to defy all laws of physics and melt into the sheets.

"P-please be mindful that ahhh … that I … need - need to cover those up - nnngh!"

"Don't care." The redhead's voice was barely a growl against his neck, body pinning his down. "Let people see that you're mine."

The thought alone made Edd's skin flush all the way down to his chest. Kevin nudged the loose neck of his shirt out of the way to suck hard on a spot near his shoulder and the genius was unable to stop himself from letting a low groan out, arching against the delicious heat of the athlete's firm stomach. Knees came to rest on either side of him and strong hands were suddenly pulling him fully onto the bed. The tongue grazing the roof of his mouth sent a desire through him that was all-consuming. The tiny part of him still attempting to ignore Kevin's smell told him that the feeling should have terrified him.

Then again, the jock was running a palm up and down his stomach and purring into his ear, and that seemed far more convincing.

The redhead knotted his fingers with Edd's, nudging the younger male's chin up to claim the tender skin just beneath his jaw. The thrum of the genius's soft sound of approval resonated through his teeth as Kevin inhaled. Double Dee smelled like fruit and warmth and spices - a scent that Kevin remembered somehow, from moments of his childhood when they wound up too close; something illusive and heady he'd catch for a split second in the school's halls. When he released one small hand to fight loose his belt buckle and pants, Edd clutched the remaining hand almost frantically. The clack of the buckle and the shrill hiss of leather against denim registered distantly as Eddward's head lolled back against the blankets to give Kevin room to suck a dark line of bruises down the center of his throat.

He didn't realize that the belt had been slipped around his wrists until it was too late.

A devilish smirk spread across his face as the redhead leaned back and pulled the knot tight. Double Dee yelped in shock. "Ahhh … I - K-Kevin? Kevin!"

Giving only a shiteating grin, he effortlessly pulled the squirming boy's arms above his head. The loose ends of the belt went around the bedpost with ease, and Kevin buckled it for good measure.

By this point, Double Dee was all but hysterical.

"My Lord, Kevin, what are you doing?!" He gave a violent tug against his restraints. When the loops around his fists refused to yield, his eyes grew huge, his legs opting to kick madly in protest. "Unhand me this instant! This is wildly inappropriate!"

"Not a chance, babe." The redhead's fingertips skirted them hem of Eddward's soft shirt, tugging it upward to reveal the smallest strip of goosebumped flesh. "Makin' you squirm is way too enjoyable."

"Kevin! This - this is so lewd! So shameless! Have some decency, man!" The ravenette wriggled wildly as the jock all but beamed with delight. When he cautiously maneuvered himself onto the dork's legs to avoid being kicked in the face, Edd shrieked. A dozen half-finished sentences spilled from his lips, dying with every stroke of callused hands over his overheated stomach. Double Dee had begun to warn of the damage possible when circulation is cut off at the wrists when Kevin began to nip at the delicate skin between his bottom rip and his hip. Words became syllables. The jock's fingertips hooked into the waistband of his pants and began to pull.

Syllables became gasps and whimpers.

Green eyes burned into the younger male's face as the athlete sucked and bit down on yellowing bruises before licking a possessive strip across his stomach. The fuzzy plaid of his pajama pants tangled at the brilliant boy's knees at his writhing, aided by the redhead removing his weight enough to shove them out of the way. Glassy sapphire eyes fluttered shut as Kevin gripped his hips and stilled him. A languid bite to his side brought forth a breathless whine. A tongue-slicked kiss to the sensitive spot just inside his hipbone begat a cry.

When it finally occurred to the genius that his underwear was being tugged off, the slow-dawning look of sheer horror on his face was simultaneously the most endearing and hilarious thing Kevin had ever seen.

"Oh … no. No, no no no no NO NO NO-"

As his arousal bobbed free, Eddward let loose a strangled sound somewhere between fear for his life and humiliation to such a level that his concerns were justified. Freezing air was mixed with fire-hot mist as Kevin blew down his length. The black warmth clouding his mind and the slams of adrenaline to his consciousness when his gaze met burning green eyes sliced his protests apart, obscuring the line between revulsion and desperation.

Kevin pressed his lips to Edd's arousal.

Senses cutting out to make room for the feeling of the athlete's mouth on him, the genius went rigid. The redhead kissed him again, letting the velvety inside of his bottom lip catch and drag across the painfully hot flesh, and the brilliant one cried out softly, spine arching against strong hands. The athlete stiffened at the pitiful sight, stare becoming predatory as he rubbed soothing circles into the boy's fragile skin and dragged his tongue from the base to the tip.

Edd gave a strangled sob, and it was the sexiest thing Kevin had ever heard.

The genius was plunged into oblivion when Kevin sucked him into his mouth, enveloping him in sinfully velvety heat. Knives of white-hot pleasure raked down his spine and his stomach as his hips jolted fruitlessly against the redhead's hold. Tongue roaming along the pounding vein he found, Kevin closed his eyes, reveling in the agonized gasps and sobs drawn from the beautiful boy's mouth. He eased into a slow, unsteady rhythm that rendered the younger incapable of grasping any sense of control. When he reopened his eyes, the genius's dark lashes were wet with tears and his expression was one of exquisite agony.

It was approximately fifteen seconds before the younger male's voice had risen to a scream.

"Kevin! Nahhh … I - I can't - Kevin I CAN'T I CAN'T I MIGHT - ahhh - please, oh, Kevin, please please please please PLEASE-"

The cry ripped from the ravenette's throat as he came made goosebumps break out over every inch of the redhead's body.

The tongue dragging him into mind-breaking pleasure continued to stroke him as his chest and his back and his balls seized violently in orgasm. Kevin's intoxicating scent drifted around him as unconsciousness flooded over him like a wave, the world beneath him vibrating deeply at the aftershocks rattling through his body. Existence faded into a distant point of light, shrinking further and further above him as he went completely limp.

The air was freezing cold when Kevin pulled off of him, drawing a whimper from the boneless figure.

"Damn," Kevin breathed after licking his lips, but the teasing words died on his tongue at the look of unabashed bliss on the smaller boy's face. He gave a final, gentle bite to the inside of Eddward's thigh and smirked when it earned him an exhausted whine.

The thump of the athlete flopping down beside him was barely palpable through the blue-eyed boy's stupor. Callused fingers trailed across his still-heaving chest and down his side.

"You're pretty cute when you're a wreck, dork."

Double Dee made a series of small, half-conscious sounds, his skin glimmering with sweat as he attempted to shift.

"Huh?" Kevin blinked.

"Mnngh … depraved, debauched, defamatory … I can hardly believe that just transpired…"

"Glad you enjoyed it," the redhead replied loftily.

Blue eyes flashed wildly as the genius turned red from his scalp to his shoulders. "I never said that I-"

Kevin swallowed his protests immediately, bringing a hand up to cup his jaw. To Edd's chagrin, he melted the moment his mouth made contact with the athlete's. He accepted Kevin's tongue when it swept over his lips and moaned softly, feeling his still painfully oversensitive cock aching with renewed need.

"Jesus, babe." Kevin gazed down at the flustered scholar. "You still want it?"

"Do you plan to mock me endlessly or alleviate the issue?"

In response to the words whispered defiantly against his lips, Kevin opened his mouth for another kiss and pulled away just as Edd moved to make contact. The beanie-clad male whined in frustration and wriggled as the athlete deftly undid his restraints. Delicate hands clenched and unclenched as the blood flowed back into them, eyes fluttering closed in restless relief before flashing up to Kevin's gratefully.

Kevin was on him in an instant.

The smaller trembled as the athlete pulled him off the bed to crush their bodies together, biting his lip until he was granted access behind gapped teeth. Edd clawed at his still-clothed chest with tingling fingers, whining anxiously as he was pulled into the jock's lap.

"Mmmm." Kevin nipped at his upper lip, half-grinning as he pulled back. "So hot."

The genius let out a strangled noise, ducking his head shyly. "Please refrain from such preposterous statements. They aren't necessary, as you should … know by now."

"Just cut to the chase already?" Kevin gave a half-shrug, voice thick with lust. "Okay."

"That's not that I meant!" Edd raised his hands in protest when he was thrown back against the mattress, the shadow of the lithe athlete falling over him.

"Less scholarly parts of you would prove otherwise."

As the genius looked from the athlete's horrifyingly attractive face to the part of himself Kevin was referring to, he sputtered out a sound of distress. "How dare you! In n-no way is such vulgar commentary helpful!"

"Awww, c'mon, man."

Kevin's fingers grazed over the squirming genius's stomach, raising rows of goosebumps as Double Dee babbled his protests.

"You should see the look on your dorky face."

"I refuse to be persuaded by your preposterous palaver!"

"What the fuck are you even saying?"

"Don't touch my nipples!"

"There's somethin' in English."

A scuffle ensued; the scholar alternating between gripping the redhead's shoulders encouragingly and grabbing at his wrists to stop him as Kevin admiringly drew lines down his sides. When he slid his palms under Edd's hips to gently grip his ass, the halfhearted fighting stopped altogether.

Glassy sapphire eyes opened, blinking rapidly at serene emerald. A moment of complete silence passed between them as heat bloomed beneath hands and pulses quickened.

They kissed until their bodies melded together and air was but a barrier between them.

When Kevin pressed a trail of kisses to Eddward's thigh and lifted his legs to drape them over his shoulders, the boy whimpered frantically, hands clenching and unclenching above his head. Gapped teeth sank into his bottom lip and he blinked immense blue eyes. It was the closest he could come to conveying his desperation to be spread apart, to be held down, to be dominated.

"Oh my God," Kevin breathed, and the look of distress on his face made Double Dee freeze in sudden worry. "You are just … so edible."

The scholar licked his lips and swallowed before carefully responding, "N-no pun intended, I assume."

In less than a minute, their bodies were twisted together and Edd was clawing bloody gashes into the athlete's back.

-x-

The brilliant boy gazed at the athlete through dark lashes, squirming closer. The pair stared at each other in silence as the light drifted up the walls, cooling in hue as the shadows stretched and reached long fingers toward the ceiling. Pale muscular legs were tangled with darker, lean ones. Double Dee had a swath of blue sheet pulled up to his face, and when he exhaled, the faint scent of fabric softener mixed with his fragrant breath and drifted to Kevin.

The redhead raised a hand to the genius's lips, running the pads of his fingers across them. "What're ya thinkin' about?"

"Mmmn." Edd shifted his head to capture the athlete's fingertips in his mouth. "Your eyes are a remarkable color."

"Oh yeah?" A vague smile played on his face.

"Yes. They're not emerald. A forest green, perhaps? Pine, almost." His raspy voice was obscured ever-so-slightly by the hand over his chin. Kevin drummed his fingers and Edd swept his tongue over them, tired eyes glinting playfully.

"So what you're sayin' is you can't take your eyes off me."

Long lashes batted. "You are terribly attractive."

Kevin pressed a kiss to the bridge of his nose. "You're the genius, dorky." The younger boy pinched gently down on his fingernails and the corners of his mouth curved upward.

It was so cute that Kevin nearly had a heart attack. Realizing that he had probably been gawking, wide-eyed, at the genius, he cleared his throat.

"Rolf knows something's going on. He did a weird ceremony and made me hold this huge radish. Guy's a freak."

"His culture's traditions can indeed be a bit off-putting…"

"Nazz too. I keep denying it, but she knows I'm into someone."

Edd blinked. "Nazz would recognize the indicators, I suppose."

"I was never with her, y'know."

The genius swallowed thickly. Kevin moved to lean on an elbow, the sheets pooling at his hips.

"Dated for a while. We kissed, but we never did anything. It just didn't feel right."

Edd nodded. "How many people have you been sexually active with?"

"Two."

The scholar said nothing. He had planned to lose his virginity to a virgin, but he hadn't deluded himself about the gorgeous boy sprawled out beside him.

Hearing his next question before he said it, the redhead looked away and uttered, "You're the first guy."

When he looked at the blankets and began fiddling with the handful of fabric still clasped in his palm, Kevin scratched a finger across the smooth cloth of his beanie.

"You gay or bi?"

"I…" The genius swallowed, eyes flashing sluggishly up to the model planets hanging above. "I think of myself in a romantic context so rarely that I haven't yet determined my intimate persuasions."

A long moment of silence stretched between them.

"You still keepin' Dork and Dorky in the dark?"

Edd smiled brightly. "A clandestine affair. Exhilarating, don't you think?"

"Not to mention Shortstack would kick my ass into next year if he found out."

"Almost certainly, yes." The smaller giggled softly. When he opened his eyes, Kevin's smirk had faded and he was staring thoughtfully, expression unreadable.

"You've probably got like a shit ton of poems memorized, right?"

"I'm not sure where 'shit ton' falls numerically, but I've memorized a dozen or so."

"Awww, you swore." Before Eddward could get flustered about being fawned over, the athlete tapped a finger to his upturned nose and said, "Recite one for me."

"Oh, um, very well, then."

Naked except for his rumpled beanie, Double Dee bit his lip thoughtfully and began to twiddle his thumbs through his handful of sheet. The jock felt himself grinning at the unintentionally adorable display.

After a few moments of deliberation, Edd began to speak.

"The only ghost I ever saw
Was dressed in mechlin, -so;
He wore no sandal on his foot,
And stepped like flakes of snow.
His gait was soundless, like the bird,
But rapid, like the roe;
His fashions quaint, mosaic,
Or, haply, mistletoe.

Hi conversation seldom,
His laughter like the breeze
That dies away in dimples
Among the pensive trees.
Our interview was transient, -
Of me, himself was shy;
And God forbid I look behind
Since that appalling day."

"Nice." Edd gave a single nod and a bright smile. Who wrote it?"

"Emily Dickinson. A truly remarkable writer."

"She thought about death a lot, didn't she, dorky?"

"Death is a wondrous and perplexing phenomenon. I would imagine that everyone thinks about it more often than they realize."

"Nah. I don't." Kevin rolled onto his back, fitting his palms beneath his head. Double Dee shifted and gave him an incredulous look.

"Oh, really? Tell me, what do you think about besides undignified athletic endeavors and your bicycle?"

Green eyes turned on him, glinting with delight. "Your ass, obviously."

The redhead howled with laughter when the genius sputtered and shoved him off the side of the bed.