:D

Chapter 17

It was cheerfully sunny on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning, as if the world was immensely pleased now that it had destroyed the homes of a few of its residents. A few men nobody recognized had been seen in Jonny's yard, sawing down the remainder of a splintered tree and throwing the debris that hadn't made it out of the lot into the back of a pickup truck. Jimmy suggested to Sarah that their olive complexions could imply that they were his relatives coming to help out. Sarah thought about this for a second before shaking her head. "Nah. They look too normal."

Edd had occupied himself in his first days of freedom with housekeeping and other mindless tasks. The flood of sticky notes had dwindled progressively as the school year had drawn to a close, and he had come home from the sleepover to less than a dozen he'd had to search high and low to find. While he was appreciative of his parents' attempt to reduce his stress levels, he'd made a point to tell his father that night that doing small tasks was in fact relaxing and that he didn't mind them at all. His father had simply smiled in what Eddward guessed was understanding. The next morning, however, there were only fourteen of the little squares left out for him.

Puzzled, but not letting himself become annoyed, the slender teen had finished the assigned tasks and then started cleaning the house from top to bottom. Grout was scrubbed and tables were dusted and shined, and the few medicine bottles in the cabinet that had gotten out of alphabetical order were put back in place. Edd talked to Jim at length, firmly believing that the cactus cared deeply whether Double Dee paid it attention or not. His planaria had grown, the largest increasing two millimeters in length, and he jotted down every detail when he gave them a few pieces of boiled egg yolk to eat.

The genius had just opened his notebook of ideas for the study group's curriculum when the house phone rang.

"Vincent residence, Eddward speaking. My parents are out until this evening - may I ask who's calling?"

"Take a guess, dork."

Freezing, the ravenette swallowed. Goosebumps broke out instantaneously all over his arms. "H-hello."

There was a shuffling and a breath of static. The voice was softer now, almost sounding embarrassed. "Hey, Edd."

"How are you today?" Double Dee stood up, took a few steps, and sat back down. He felt hot and cold and completely ridiculous. He glanced at Jim guiltily.

"Eh, not bad. Just woke up."

"Kevin, it's two in the afternoon…"

"And? Young adults are supposed to get like ten hours of sleep, y'know."

Double Dee swallowed again. His stomach was doing the most bizarre imitation of a plate of Jell-O. "That's correct, I suppose."

A pause; a sharp exhale. "I got this idea."

"I'm listening."

It sounded like the jock was shifting around; perhaps on his bed. The genius immediately regretted allowing such an image to come to mind.

"My mom's going outta town until Friday night. Every year she goes to see her girlfriends at this resort where they first met when they were teenagers. Tomorrow…"

The noise that followed was the click of the redhead's throat. Eddward was sure of it.

"Come over. You can spend the night."

His next heartbeat sent a tendril of painful heat to the genius's groin.

"I … h-how will I…" The ravenette closed his eyes and drew in air. "The chance that I won't be seen by someone now that school is finished-"

"For such a smartass, you can be pretty stupid."

Edd waited.

"Think, Double Dork. It's summer break. What's the one time when nobody's awake?"

"Oh. Of course … in the morning."

"Bingo." The jock was smiling; Edd could hear it in his voice. "So … that's my idea. Please, Edd. Think about it."

The ravenette looked down at his feet, which he'd pulled up onto the chair with him. His stomach was knotting up painfully inside him. "For someone with such a robust ego, you can be pretty stupid."

Kevin was silent for a moment. "What?"

"What is there to think about?"

"I … I guess I just-"

"I'd be glad to come over."

"Oh … okay." More static; more shifting. "Yeah, awesome. Cool. I'll be up when you get here, okay?"

"Kevin?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll arrive at seven-thirty."

"What? Seriously? You've gotta be ki-"

The genius slammed the phone down on the receiver, covering his face with his hands. Somewhere along the line, it had split into a grin.

The noise he let out was extremely undignified.

-x-

The murky twilight of morning began to morph into coral and purple, painting the cul-de-sac with bright and tidy color.

Eddward stood at the door of the Barr house, hand squeezing so tightly on the strap of his bag that it was numb. In comparison with the impression of a fainting goat he'd done the first few times he'd faced Kevin, this seemed an improvement. He knocked five times, immediately wondering whether he'd been too quiet or loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood.

A measure of time later the genius failed miserably at counting, the mint-green door swung open.

"Hey."

Eddward swallowed thickly. "Hello."

Kevin scratched a hand through his hair and swallowed a yawn. Dark jeans hung low on his hips. He was shirtless.

The redhead closed the door behind him, and the ravenette was surprised that everything was as he remembered it from the few times he'd been in the house as a child. When Ed and Eddy's families rearranged their furniture almost schizophrenically, it was pleasing to find a similarity between the jock's household and his own.

"So."

The figure behind him moved a step closer. The hair on Double Dee's neck stood on end.

"You're here, huh?"

"I am," Edd replied softly.

There was a pause then; followed by the redhead clearing his throat and gesturing at the room.

"This is the living room, obviously; kitchen's through there. Guest room and bathroom down that hall. Mom's room is upstairs. Mine's this way."

When Kevin's shoulder brushed his and he jumped, the redhead turned to look at him for a second, lips parted, a strange, lost look in his eyes. The genius followed close behind him when he quickly composed himself and started down the hallway, opening a door that led downstairs.

"I thought your room was on the second floor."

The redhead's feet met the concrete and he shrugged. "When Dad left we turned the basement into my room. Got a ton of space down here."

"Oh."

An open doorway led into a wide room with wooden flooring, dropping down a step to the far side of the room and cutting the space into long halves. The ceiling was a row of high, open rafters. Eddward's blue eyes went wide as he took it in; the shelves of trophies and other sports memorabilia, the television in the corner on a square of clutter-covered carpet. The gray blocks that made up the walls were decorated with a smattering of vibrant posters of athletes and band names. A few lamps illuminated the room, flooding what should've been an oversized, oppressive space with warmth. The genius knew that Kevin had arranged everything. He was amazed and intimidated.

"My goodness, this is … it's remarkable."

Kevin glanced at the genius, smirking. "No need for flattery, dork."

"I - may I-?" Double Dee blinked up at the redhead, hands clenching and unclenching with the urge to explore.

"Sure. Knock yourself out." Eddward took a step forward and felt fingertips ghost over the small of his back. When he looked at the redhead, startled, he only received Kevin's trademark disinterested gaze in reply. He handed the redhead his bag and forced himself to keep breathing when their fingers touched.

Stepping down into the lower half of the room, the brilliant boy began to investigate.

Books and game cases were stacked in fours and fives on the floor and on shelves, a few biographies and history books catching his eye. A yellowed baseball sat on one of the end tables. He traced the weathered stitches, squinting at a few specks of brown just red enough to be dried blood. The only clothing on the floor, to Eddward's amazement, was a pair of jeans that had barely missed the basket. He scanned the glistening plaques at the bases of trophies to find that many of them were from middle school and that none for football existed past seventh grade. The near-elation rising in the genius's chest at learning so much came to a fluttering halt when he came to the nightstand.

"Oh, Kevin!"

Unheard, the jock let out a chuckle at the beautiful boy's exclamation.

"Carassius auratus auratus?"

Edd glanced over his shoulder and received a lopsided grin in reply.

"If that means goldfish, then yeah."

When Double Dee turned back to watch the fish drifting lazily across the bowl, Kevin tucked his hands in his pockets and sauntered to stand beside him.

"Her name's Danica. She's five."

"Five? That's incredible! She looks so healthy! Her range of mobility is spectacular."

"Mm."

"What a beautiful color … I'm - oh."

Cool hands had come to rest on the ravenette's hips.

"Oh dear, IKEVIN." The redhead bumped against the genius's backside, making him stand up straight with a jolt.

"Ya gotta stop bein' all cute, Edd." The jock brushed his nose over Double Dee's ear, smirking at the noise of horror the younger male made.

"I apologize; I h-had no idea I was being - I, Kevin, I can't-"

The genius screwed his eyes shut, gasping sharply when Kevin nipped gently at the spot beneath his ear. "You're still doin' it."

"Ngh."

Graceful hands gripped the older boy's wrists, squeezing weakly. Kevin hid his face in the crook of the ravenette's neck and breathed in the warm, familiar scent of his soft skin. He moved his palms across the slender boy's stomach, bunching gray fabric as he went. Edd hissed in response and his gentle grip spasmed on the jock's wrists.

"Is this you tellin' me to stop?"

The blue-eyed boy clenched his teeth, saying nothing. Kevin hummed softly in amusement into his neck and felt some of the tension leave his small form. He spread his fingers and pressed a palm over the genius's feverish heartbeat, trailing his other hand down the boy's flat stomach until his blunt fingernails found them hem of Edd's jeans. Kevin's breath hitched at the heat radiating from the ravenette's abdomen, and when he pressed lower, it registered that Edd wasn't breathing at all.

Running his tongue over the genius's neck before biting down sharply seemed a good way to remedy that.

To Kevin's delight, Double Dee bit out a cry, a shudder racing down his spine. The redhead slid his tongue apologetically over the blossoming mark and cracked an eye open to watch his reaction. Eddward's brows were drawn tightly together, and against his profile, his eyelashes seemed impossibly long. Slipping his fingertips past the elastic of the genius's underwear, Kevin pressed into the baby-smooth skin that radiated fiery heat. Edd was already painfully aroused, but the redhead avoided touching his erection, applying pressure to the flesh on either side of the ravenette's throbbing ache. The younger's head lolled back against Kevin's shoulder and he gripped the elder's wrists until his knuckles went white. The jock kneaded the silky-soft warmth in a long, slow stroke, and Eddward let out a desperate whine, hips jerking against the redhead's long fingers. Beneath his other hand, the smaller male's heart was shallowly pounding.

"That bad, huh?"

Kevin's throaty voice rumbled into the genius's back and sent a dizzying shock of heat down his middle. The smirk was palpable in his voice when he added, "I'm flattered."

Gazing up at the dusty rafters, the ravenette struggled to find a witty response as his heartbeat drummed in his ears and beneath the older boy's fingertips. "Excuse me for having a physiological reaction to your hand down my pants, Kevin."

"Heh." The fingers pressed again, massaging at a pace so maddeningly slow that the genius distantly hoped his hips wouldn't start jerking. Through the furl of blackness clouding his vision he grasped that Kevin's hands were leaving his skin, returning to push him up against the bed. The genius's hands fell to catch him as the jock's grip returned and settled firmly on his waist. When the redhead moved to undo his pants, Edd simply shifted to give the older male access, legs beginning to shake with anticipation. The chill of the damp basement air hit his skin, Eddward's arms gave out and he groaned softly as his eyes squeezed shut.

"God, your ass is perfect." Kevin's voice was hoarse, words disjointed. His palms skimmed the softness of the ravenette's backside before squeezing firmly. When he began kneading, the genius moaned, legs shaking harder. He was so aroused he felt numb.

The hands left again, leaving Edd panting and shuddering, face pressed to the comforter and senses flooded with Kevin's scent. A drawer opened and things rattled around. He could feel the redhead's green gaze sliding over him hungrily. The sound he made when Kevin began to gingerly tease him was a desperate sob.

A pale hand roamed soothingly down Edd's ribcage and he turned to rest his cheek on the comforter, azure eyes flashing up to Kevin's. A tint of red had crept over the older male's face, and when a gentle press of his finger made the genius's eyes flutter closed, his frame went rigid and the blood rushing in his ears roared louder.

A singular, visible shudder raced down Eddward's spine when the first finger slid effortlessly inside. He pressed back on rattling legs and let out a small sound, relaxing as much as he was able with the athlete's burning gaze roaming over his frame. A second finger joined the first, scissoring and twisting into the heat of the ravenette's body. Edd let out a wanton cry and dug his fists into the blankets, tightening helplessly against Kevin's digits.

The redhead gave Edd's bony hip a brief squeeze.

"You okay?"

Kevin's raspy voice broke the vacuum of white-hot pleasure. The genius gazed at the wall, unseeing. The pressing fingers stilled, and his hips jerked in protest.

"Yes," he intoned.

The pressure receded slowly and the smaller male swallowed down the moan of protest that tried to escape. Every inch of him inside and out felt alight with electricity, snapping painfully with each heartbeat, sending out tendrils in search of any kind of contact. Blurry, buzzing sensation and a curtain of black signified something - when fingers sank into his hair, he knew what had happened. Eddward groaned when Kevin slid his fingertips through the inky strands, touch moving to the base of his skull; admiringly down his neck. The genius shook violently against the heat of the jock's palm between his shoulder blades. He was sure he was whimpering.

Kevin's breath spilled onto his neck and the redhead was burying his face in his hair, groaning thickly. "Fuck, you're so perfect."

A palm slipped under him to caress his stomach and a steadying arm fell beside his head, and Kevin pushed into him in one smooth thrust. His hat was in a heap in front of him. He knew this was somehow significant, but the pain and pleasure crashed over him in a wave and he buried his face in the sheets and cried out. The redhead pulled him tightly against the muscles of his torso, the deep thrum of his breathless groan melting into the ravenette's back. The smaller male's vision went dark and he fought against the threat of fainting at the agonizingly, deliciously thick heat filling him up.

"Ohhhfuckinggodyesyou'resotightohgod," growled a voice that was immediate and yet far away. The genius felt like he was melting under the heat, his stomach and his insides going weak while he clawed pitifully at the blanket. The hand on his middle moved to stroke his cock and he screamed into the blackness flooding his mind. Feeling so good couldn't be possible, he thought fleetingly. Eddward heard his breathless voice rising around him.

"Please Kevin oh please I'm going to die if you don't move oh please."

The hand on his erection tightened and teeth sank into the skin where neck met shoulder and Edd felt tears spilling from his eyes as the redhead began to thrust.

"Please, please, yes, oh please."

The needy sound the redhead made with his teeth still in the smaller male's shoulder would haunt Double Dee until the day he died.

The ravenette struggled to press back into Kevin's thrusts despite the paralyzing pleasure crashing down on him, keening with need as the jock gripped him tighter and quickened his movements. A hand slid into his hair and tugged his head to the side. Eddward moaned in relief when Kevin's mouth met his. Never would he have dreamed of being so utterly exposed and vulnerable and fighting deliriously on screaming limbs for more of it. Kevin groaned against his tongue and braced the hand previously stroking the ravenette's length on the mattress, using the leverage to better control his thrusts. He began to pull back further until Edd was scrabbling and whimpering at the loss before sliding fully back in, robbing the smaller of the remaining strength in his legs. Breaking from the redhead's pressing tongue, the brilliant boy sealed a hand over his mouth in a futile attempt to muffle his screams. He clenched around Kevin's length, begging without words for more, for anything, deeper and harder. Every part of his vast mind had narrowed to the feeling of being stretched impossibly by heat as Kevin's smell and voice and skin overwhelmed his senses.

"Oh my God," Kevin hissed, burying his face in the crook of the ravenette's neck. "You are the sexiest thing ever. Fuck."

The athlete's hips jolted faster, bumping Double Dee forward and making the comforter rub against him. His raspy moans became sobs at the friction on his erection and the redhead sealed his lips to the brilliant one's neck to overload his frayed senses.

"Please," he heard himself begging, "More, please - God - p-pleaseohGod - ahh-"

"Gettin' close?" Kevin gripped his side, angling himself to push into the ravenette's prostate with every thrust. His only response was a hoarse gasp.

There was no breath left in him when Edd's orgasm hit. Everything faded to black as he came, thrown deeper into nothingness by the redhead slamming relentlessly into him. There was release, hot and sticky, and the concept of breathing ceased to exist as Kevin rammed inside him faster and even harder until he roared out in that deep, grating voice. When he stilled and sank down onto the smaller male, Edd was slipping into unconsciousness.

The jock gave himself a moment to gather the remaining fragments of his strength before pulling himself out of the younger and removing his condom with shaking hands. Exhausted green eyes wandered around the room and a tangle of bathroom I should wake him up it's messy I have to rushed through his head.

His gaze slid back to Eddward, bruised and soft and slowly curling into a ball.

With an exhausted groan, Kevin fell back into the bed and wrapped his arms around the small boy's frame.

-x-

Awareness fluttered in and out of reach, but Eddward batted it away.

Warm, thick darkness surrounded him, blanketing him in security and filling his lungs with every breath. The nothingness was different from normal sleep. Here there was definite, infinite contentedness and a profound sense of belonging.

A soft, deep sound rumbled through him, followed by a smaller softness pressed against his temple. He squirmed closer and hummed in satisfaction when the warmth yielded and rewarded him with a gentle squeeze. Double Dee smiled dreamily, smacking his lips, and suddenly was self-aware.

Blinking rapidly, the genius's vision began to focus. He fleetingly marveled at the flawless pectorals he found, gaze trailing over the rippling muscle. A pronounced collarbone followed, flowing outward into broad, strong shoulders and upward into a beautiful, slender neck.

The devastatingly handsome face of Kevin Barr came next, slack with sleep, and everything became real and delightfully surreal at once.

"A true Adonis," he murmured softly.

"Hm?"

Scrunching up his nose, the redhead gave a small frown. He looked at the genius through nearly-florescent lashes and a lazy grin spread across his face; devastatingly beautiful. "'Sup?"

Unable to come up with a satisfying response to the older male's typical greeting, the genius smiled dreamily and pressed his face to Kevin's neck. A hand threaded into his hair, rubbing softly over Eddward's scalp. A sound of delight bubbled up his throat.

"How long were we asleep?"

"Mmn." Double Dee nuzzled at the throbbing pulse point against his cheek. "I'm not sure."

Kevin carded through the genius's mess of black hair, pulling his nails through the ends before sinking his fingers into the soft strands once more. "Need anything? I've got drinks in my mini-fridge."

"I'm all right."

Pulling away slightly, the athlete's green eyes wandered across the ravenette's face, taking in his luminous gaze and his bruised, puffy lips. "You sure? I feel like I've been hurting you…"

"I'm sore," Edd replied thoughtfully, blinking his big eyes. "I assure you, the drawbacks are minor compared to … the benefits."

A brief smile flickered over Kevin's features. "Yeah. Cool. I just … it's harder on you than it is for a girl and I don't wanna mess you up, y'know?"

"I can do exercises to maintain muscle control." The slender male blinked up at him sleepily as Kevin played with his hair.

"I guess." The redhead bit his lip like speaking again would be difficult. "Is that why you're still so tight?"

Despite being naked and covered in bite marks, Double Dee blushed, his stomach tightening up. "Ah- I believe so."

"Yeah, rad. I, just wondered, y'know?"

Edd watched the athlete's cheeks redden.

"I tried to do research, but there's a ton I don't know." The genius nodded, his face shuffling audibly over the pillow.

"As long as I don't need to do any strenuous activity immediately afterward, I'm all right." The jock's thumb moved to stroke his cheekbone and his eyes fluttered closed with a quiet sigh. "…some males can't handle it at all because it hurts so much."

"For real? And you're positive it's okay? I can do more to make it easier on ya…"

"Actually, I quite enjoy it," the younger male murmured softly as if his ebbing exhaustion was letting him speak without embarrassment. Kevin smoothed a lock of hair hanging over the genius's ear, taking in his serene expression. "I like being able to focus on you inside me … you don't need to use your hands at the same time if you don't want to." Double Dee's mouth closed slowly, the gap between his teeth visible for a second before his soft lips pressed together. Kevin swallowed thickly, a furl of renewed need winding up his stomach. He wondered whether the beautiful boy knew what he was saying.

"Yeah. All right." The redhead chewed his bottom lip as the sleep-filled silence settled over them once more. Edd's breathing slowed a little, his face expressionless, and the athlete caressed his face. "It's just - I dunno. Being with you is so different from the chick I was with, and I don't know how much of it is 'cause you're a dude and how much is just your preferences…"

The genius's eyes flashed open, surprisingly clear. "What was she like?"

Oh.

Swallowing Kevin looked away.

"She's nice. Funny. We dated after Nazz for a while."

Edd blinked. "Is she pretty?"

"Yeah," was the jock's raspy reply. "She's cute."

When he looked back at the smaller's face, it was a careful blank. Kevin's hand in his hair stilled and Eddward nodded.

"We were kinda friends freshman year. She wasn't like a lot of girls who were just…"

"Falling all over themselves to get your attention?"

The redhead grinned sheepishly. "Right." The genius blinked his luminous eyes, and Kevin began petting through his hair again. "It was nice. She treated me like a person instead of a god, which only happens when I'm around people from the cul-de-sac. But it was … she was attractive, but we stopped connecting emotionally. So the opposite of Nazz, I guess," he laughed.

"Interesting," the ravenette murmured. "I can't attest to much in comparison."

"You haven't dated anybody at all?"

Double Dee shook his head. "I've had some traumatic encounters, though, mostly thanks to Marie."

"Oh," Kevin uttered softly, failing to suppress a shudder.

"The only other past experience of an amorous nature I've had was at your hand."

"It … what?" The redhead's pale eyes widened.

"When you blackmailed Eddy into kissing me in junior high."

"Oh," was his response, and Double Dee was staring at him now, watching the color drain out of his face. "…holy fuck."

"It was quite … unexpected." Edd smiled, unable to hide his amusement at his lover's reaction.

"Did that - I didn't mess anything up, did I?"

"It was alarming, of course, but it was obvious that he had external motivations. I don't think I'd fully realized yet that my inclinations could be anything more than friendship."

Kevin made a face. "I have no idea what you see in that dork."

"Oh, come now." The genius frowned at him, but it was clearly out of obligation. "Isn't that silly rivalry getting a bit old?"

"I know he was always trying to impress his creep of a brother, but that doesn't change how lousy he treated ya."

"You didn't treat him well, either," the genius retorted. "Despite everything, he and Ed are my very best friends."

"Mmmn," the redhead grunted. "You … don't like him anymore, do you?"

Double Dee sputtered abruptly before his eyes grew wide and he covered his mouth with both hands. Kevin frowned. "What?"

"P-pardon me," Edd squeaked, a few more chuckles escaping him before he quieted down. "The idea of you being jealous is quite ironic."

"Sorry." The redhead ran a hand through his hair, exasperated.

"It's also surprisingly flattering," the ravenette added, smiling brightly up at the older one.

"Well-" Kevin's brows twitched, face reddening. "I mean - it's just - you're mine. Nobody else can have you."

When he was composed enough to meet the brilliant boy's gaze again, the ravenette was looking at him thoughtfully. His smile grew larger as Kevin grew more embarrassed, and finally the athlete sat up, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away. "I feel all gross - I need a shower. Wanna take one?"

"Together?" Eddward sat up slowly, sapphire eyes glittering. "Do you need to ask?"

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY.