WY: Chapter 14

It was now early in the morning here in Peach Creek, the start of a brand-new day. Double D was starting to wake up from being asleep, looking around at where he currently was in Eddy's living room; he had slept on the couch with the pillow and blanket Eddy gave him last night.

Double D sat there for a short moment, trying to remember why he was in Eddy's house before widening his eyes in a bit of shock, 'Oh my goodness… What happened yesterday was not a nightmare OR a dream!' he thought to himself, "L-Last night was real…"

He could feel his heart beating faster once again from both the terrible memories and what happened afterward. He gripped onto the blanket that covered him, only to notice that he now had another blanket over him that was bigger than the other one Eddy handed him; his friend had put another one over him while he was asleep. Double D began to feel himself blush a little before shaking his head from side to side, brushing it aside for now.

He turned to the remote for Eddy's TV that was sitting near him when he noticed what time it was on the clock nearby, grabbing it to turn on the TV to watch the 6 a.m. morning news. He changed it to the local news channel, hoping to see what the weather was like today. Double D spent a few minutes watching it before a picture of Eddy's brother came up on the TV screen, scaring him for a split second.

"A 22-year-old man named Evan McGee was arrested at his home last night in Sunflower Shoal, charged with the attempted murders of two 13-year-old teenagers, as well as the murder of four other teenagers. The police have given a statement that they had been investigating him for several months for the disappearances and deaths of said teenagers around both Peach Creek and Sunflower Shoal. They believe he targeted these teenagers because of the group he was a part of, killing them due to their sexual orientation. The police will give more details about this case later today…"

Double D grew pale in the face with a few tears in his eyes at what was reported on the news, covering his mouth in shock to prevent him from screaming as he trembled in fright. He knew that was why he was targeted by Eddy's brother, but he had no idea he had done this to other people before now. It made him feel both nauseous and beyond upset, knowing now that four other teenagers were dead because of Evan and the group he was a part of; their lives were cut short because of a petty form of hatred that he would NEVER understand.

After regaining his composure and wiping away the tears he had, Double D turned off the TV after he saw the weather a few minutes later, sighing a little as he did. He glanced towards the hallway where Eddy's room was located, 'He must still be asleep,' he thought.

He found a notepad sitting nearby as he took out a pen he kept in his beanie. Double D began to write something down in the notepad before ripping the note out and placing it near where he was sitting. He then got up from where he sat, looking back towards the direction of Eddy's room again with a small smile before leaving his friend's house through the front door.

It was about ten minutes later that we zoomed into Eddy's room, he was starting to wake up for the day. Eddy groaned from how exhausted he felt, most of his body felt like it got hit by a truck, "Geez, why am I so freaking tired this morning?" he grumbled as he tried to close his eyes again to go back to sleep.

It only took him a few seconds to remember why he was exhausted, opening his eyes in horror as he did. He remembered everything that happened last night; when he and Double D were kidnapped by his older brother, learning that Double D was bi, and Evan trying to drown him because he accepted Double D for who he was. Eddy would have died if it was not for Double D using CPR to save his life. He also remembered the talk they had when they got back home, telling Double D that he realized he was also bi and finally telling how they felt to each other.

"Double D?!" Eddy gasped as he jolted up into a sitting position on his bed. He jumped out of his bed and ran to his living room, hoping to see his friend there. When he got to his living room, he could see Double D was not there, the blankets and the pillow he gave him were still on the couch. He started to panic for a split second before he saw a note sitting on the pillow on his couch and picked it up to read what it said.

"Eddy,

If you see this note here instead of me, please don't panic. I wanted to go home for a moment to take a shower and get ready for the day. We should meet up at the lake later if you don't mind; my living room is in disarray, remember? I'll need to call some cleaners to help clean it up, it would be too much for me to do by myself.

Listen… I know we need to tell Ed and everyone else about what happened last night, but… It honestly makes me extremely nervous about what they would think or say, but I'll try to not be scared anymore. Especially not after what we both went through.

The morning news already reported on what happened, so I think it would be hard for us to keep it a secret to everyone, even when the news never mentioned our names. I also think you should see what the news and the police had to say about it. It's important.

Anyway, I'll see you later. I apologize for the trouble.

Love, Double D."

Eddy stood there for a moment after reading the note before making a sigh to himself, 'I guess he didn't want to wake me up to tell me this. Typical,' he thought.

He started to walk back to his room with the note before deciding to get ready for the day, stretching his arms with a big yawn as he did, "Got a feeling it's gonna be a really busy day."

About an hour passed by in Peach Creek, everyone was now awake in Cul-De-Sac, preparing for the summer day ahead of them. It was when they left their houses that the kids/teens could see some trucks near Double D's house that had a bunch of cleaning supplies in the back. They all walked over to the trucks to see what was going on.

"Huh, I know Double D is usually a very tidy person, but I didn't think he would hire anyone to help him clean his house…" Nazz stated, "He usually does that kind of stuff by himself."

It was Kevin who noticed the state that the door was in, it was off its hinges; just like it was from the incident a week ago, "… I'm pretty sure he didn't ask for help on a whim. Look at his door."

The others turned to see what Kevin was gesturing to before a sense of dread started to set in. They then ran over to enter Double D's house, with Ed being the one to get there first. They could see the cleaners working on Double D's living room, only to see some stuff around the room that was flipped over.

"Whoa, hey!" one of the cleaners gasped when he noticed all the kids trying to come inside the house, "The house is off limits while we clean up this mess, sorry!"

"What happened here exactly, sir?" Jimmy asked.

The cleaner shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know much of the details, but I think it has something to do with that awful news from last night. The news reported about it this morning."

Everyone made a worried face at what he said, "Do you know where the Hat-Wearing-Edd-Boy is now?" Rolf asked.

The cleaner stared at Rolf for a second before he understood what he was asking, "Yeah, he actually told me to tell you all he's at the lake in the woods, waiting for us to finish our work," the cleaner replied, "We're almost done with it, so please tell him it won't be long from now until he can come back home."

"Thanks for the info, Mr. Cleaner!" Sarah said to him as everyone walked back outside.

It was Jonny who noticed someone else was absent besides Double D, "Hey, where's Eddy? You'd think he would be here by now."

Ed stood there for a moment before widening his eyes in terror, "There's something wrong! I can feel it in my udder!" Ed gasped as he ran off towards where the cleaner said his friend would be, by the lake in the woods.

The other kids/teens looked at Ed as he ran off before making a sigh; still the same old Ed they had always known.

Ed was running as fast as he could to the lake, hoping to see his friend there. It took him a few minutes to get there, only for him to see that Double D was not alone; Eddy was sitting beside him near the edge of the lake, both looking out towards the view.

Ed tilted his head a little in confusion, he had never really seen them sit that close to each other before, "Double D? Eddy?" Ed called out to them as he started to walk over.

Double D and Eddy turned to see Ed coming up to them from behind, "Good morning, Ed," Double D greeted with a smile, "I'm guessing you saw how my house was this morning, right?"

Ed nodded his head before making a sad face, "Did something bad happen? Everything was so messed up there! It's not like you to be that messy!"

Double D and Eddy both glanced at each other for a second; Ed clearly did not watch the news this morning, even though he usually never did, so it was not that surprising that he did not hear about what happened, "Yes, something did happen."

Double D and Eddy both got up from where they sat, beginning to explain to Ed what happened last night. They could see how upset he was as they explained everything to him. It was after they finished that Ed broke down into tears, pulling both of his friends into his trademarked Ed-Hug. Double D and Eddy could barely breathe because of Ed's tight hug, but they decided to not complain this time. Ed lets them out of his hug a minute later, sniffling and crying for them.

"S-So, everything's gonna be okay now, right?" Ed asked.

"Freaking hope so!" Eddy replied with an irritated grumble, "I'm getting REALLY tired of everything going wrong for us!"

"I agree, this week really has been the worst," Double D sighed, before making a small smile to Eddy, "But I guess not everything was that bad."

Ed looked at Double D in confusion at what he said, "Everything wasn't bad? It sure sounded like it to me…"

Double D and Eddy looked at Ed in disbelief, "Did you not pay attention to what we said?!" Eddy asked.

Ed stared at his friends as he scratched his head, "Yeah, I did. But all of it sounded like a bad time to me. What was good about it?"

Both Double D and Eddy groaned a little with a facepalm; it seemed like Ed completely missed the point about why this all happened, "Geez, I knew you were slow, but come on!" Eddy muttered under his breath.

Double D put his hand on Ed's shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll explain it to you," he said with a smile.

Double D cleared his throat before he started to explain, "Ed, I'm sure you know about how a boy and a girl can be in a romantic relationship as a couple, right?"

Ed nodded his head, "Yeah, like Kevin and Nazz!"

"… Wooow, I didn't think he'd noticed that about those two," Eddy commented with a snicker, "Should we tell him about the birds and the bees too?"

"Eddy, please," Double D shushed him before he continued to explain, "Anyway, it's not uncommon for girls to be attracted to other girls, and for boys to fall in love with other boys; anyone can be in a romantic relationship if that is something they both want, understand?"

"Oh, I know that!" Ed replied with a toothy smile, "Love is love, right?"

Double D made a smile at that statement; thank goodness he understands that part, "Indeed, you're correct."

Ed made a confused face again, "But uh, what does that have to do with what happened?"

Double D and Eddy were silent for a moment before replying, "It's because Eddy's brother learned that I'm bi, and targeted both of us because of it."

"… Bye?" Ed questioned, "You're leaving? Where are you going?"

"No, not THAT kind of bye, you dolt!" Eddy sighed in irritation, "It means he likes both girls AND boys!"

Double D nodded his head before saying, "Bi is short for bisexual, Ed… Eddy and I are both that."

Ed blinked a little at them before it began to process in his brain, "… … … OOOH!" he widened his eyes before making a very big smile to them in happiness, "YOU'RE A COUPLE NOW?!"

Both Double D and Eddy shushed him, "Y-You don't need to be that loud about it…" Double D stated nervously.

They could see Ed starting to run off, "We should go tell everyone!"

"What the — NO! Don't bother with them about that!" Eddy yelped to him, "We can always tell them later!"

"Uh… But they're already over there, listening to us," Ed stopped to point to the woods nearby, "They're being ninjas."

Double D and Eddy froze in fright, turning to where Ed was looking. They could see all the kids/teens from the Cul-De-Sac hiding in the woods, peeking their heads out from behind a tree or a bush. Double D started to pull his beanie down over his face to hide his blushing while Eddy's face was turning red in anger for a moment before calming himself down, making an annoyed groan as he did; he really did not feel like yelling today.

"ED!" Sarah shouted to her brother as she came out of her hiding spot, "Why did you blow our cover?!"

The rest of the group also came out of their hiding places, walking over to the three Eds as they did, "… How much did you guys hear?" Eddy asked, crossing his arms across his chest in annoyance at them.

"When you started to explain why Double D's house was messed up; so pretty much the whole thing," Nazz stated, "We followed Ed here as soon as he ran off on his own."

A few seconds passed by before everyone could see Double D start to tremble slightly with his beanie still over his face and eyes; he was becoming nervous again, "I-I, umm…"

He felt a hand land on his shoulder, "Hey, didn't you tell me you weren't scared about this anymore?" Eddy asked him with a half teasing, half reassuring tone of voice, "There are no takebacks on that, Sockhead!"

Double D lifted his beanie from his eyes to look at him, "I-I know I said that, but… I…"

"Dude, it's okay."

Everyone turned to Kevin when he spoke, "No one here is gonna judge or bother you about it. You know that, right?"

The group nodded their heads at him, "Plank says he's rooting for you!" Jonny said.

"Rolf thinks we should celebrate the news with a feast!" Rolf stated, "It's been too long since last month's celebration!"

"Ooo! Maybe Sarah and I can bake some sweets for that!" Jimmy smiled.

Nazz turned back to the three Eds with a smile, "The cleaners told us that they were almost through a moment ago when we asked them. We should probably go back."

"… Yeah, you guys go on ahead," Eddy stated, "We'll be right behind ya."

The group of kids/teens walked away back towards the Cul-De-Sac, leaving behind the Eds near the lake. Ed and Double D were about to follow the group before one of them felt a poke on their shoulder, "Hey, Double D."

"Hmm?" Double D turned to Eddy beside him, "What is it?"

Double D felt a sudden tug around the collar of his shirt. Eddy had pulled him down to his level and, before he realized what was happening, gave him a kiss on his lips. Double D widened his eyes in shock from his sudden actions before closing his eyes, accepting the kiss back with his own. Ed was close to them, making a big smile and shedding happy tears to his friends. They stayed like this for a few seconds before separating, looking at each other before pulling one another into a hug.

"I'm happy you're feeling better after all the BS that's happened. And, well…" Eddy started to say before breaking out of their hug, "You shouldn't try to worry about anything anymore. I'll be here with you alongside Ed, okay?"

Double D could feel a few tears starting to form in his eyes, "… Thank you, Eddy."

The two teens could feel themselves being picked up by Ed, who placed them on each of his shoulders, "Let's go back home, you guys!" Ed stated with a smile as he walked back towards the Cul-De-Sac; Double D and Eddy both holding hands as he did, "Skip to my Lou, my darling!"

The Actual End

Author's Note (November 7th, 2023): Oh hey! I know I said the last chapter was the final one, but then I thought of an additional conclusion for this, so I decided to make THIS the final chapter of this story.