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The Ed Who Played with Fire	By : Aspergirl Category: +1 through F > Ed, Edd, and Eddy Views: 3989 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Ed, Edd, & Eddy. No money or profit was made from this fiction.

Chapter List
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I needn't burden Eddy, thought Double D as the shower steamed up around him. The warm shower began to relax his tense muscles. But no amount of water and soap could scrub away the image of Eddy's brother grunting above him. It was indelible. Double D got lost in the pattering of the water landing on his skin. He just wanted the untainted friendship back.

Eddy sat against the door, his impatience turning into worry. "What's he doing in there, starting his own space program?" Pressing an ear to the door, Eddy heard nothing except the water. Eddy shook his head, "Heh heh, I hope he's not so upset he did something stupid." The obsessive boy was the smartest person Eddy knew, but Eddy also knew that powerful emotions could completely overtake Double D.

THUD. Eddy heard something hit the tile floor in the bathroom. Already primed to think the worst, Eddy leapt up and used the "key" to his brother's room, a large crowbar, to open the door. When he burst into the room, he could see nothing for a steamy fog, but he could hear Double D shriek in terror. When the steam cleared, there was Double D, standing in the shower, the water droplets on his body glistening. In his hand was a bottle of shampoo. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, Eddy tried to play it cool. Which was difficult, as he found himself confronted again with Double D's exposed body. "Oh. Uh, what the hell? This isn't my room. Ed must have switched the doors on me, you know, as a prank. That crazy lump."

"Eddy, you gave me a fright!" Double D scolded. "Can't a person drop the shampoo without being ambushed?"

Even though the naïve Double D wouldn't hear the cruel irony in his words, Eddy had to turn away to hide his beet-red face. He'd heard his brother throw the phrase around after doing time in juvie. The last thing he wanted was for his expression to give it away and give Double D something else to trouble him. "I didn't mean to," sputtered Eddy. "I just..."

"Just burst in to gawk at your brother's latest conquest?" Double D demanded, his voice rising.

Eddy spun back around. "Chill out, Double D."

"Easier said than done." Double D wanted to rewind the evening back to drinking sodas and watching Ed scarf down pork rinds. One of many good times. But now he feared that Eddy would never see him as his friend anymore, only as one of his brother's faceless victims. It would be better to walk away while the memories were still good. "Bid Ed farewell. I am going home where I may be free of prying eyes... and hands." Double D added, seeing Eddy extend a towel towards him. He was on guard to treat any hand as a threatening hand.

Eddy sighed and hung the towel over the side of the shower stall. "Take your time. I'll pack up your stuff for ya and leave it by the door." He knew that there was no sense pushing Double D, but that didn't make it any easier to let go of his longtime friend. He silently cursed his brother, who had managed to ruin the most important thing in Eddy's life, even more important than the acquisition of jawbreakers. Eddy would never see Double D as damaged, but he feared that the friendship was irreparable. Without another word, or even turning to look back at Double D, Eddy headed back to his room, where at least he would have Ed around.

Alone in the shower again, privacy didn't feel as good as Double D had expected. He had pushed away his friend, and for what? So Eddy wouldn't reject him first? Double D turned off the water with one hand and pulled the towel down with the other. He quickly dried himself and tied the towel around his hips, then timidly followed Eddy.

Across the hall in Eddy's room, Double D saw Ed greet Eddy and wrap him in a circulation stopping hug. It looked like it felt warm and cosy. Ed was excitedly sharing a story with Eddy and holding up some shiny objects dangling from a string. Eddy might have been listening, but was more focused on gently packing up Double D's belongings in the sleek shoulder bag, leaving labels undisturbed. This was especially significant to Double D, who had grown accustomed to Eddy's friendly mocking of the labeling compulsion, but was now following the ritual perfectly to ensure that Double D was at ease.

This deserved thanks, at least. Double D closed the door and stepped back into his sleeper and zipped himself in. Being clothed again was a warm, safe feeling. It couldn't take him back to the swaddled innocence he enjoyed earlier that night, but it was a step in the right direction. Now that the sense of urgency to escape had left him, his body began to process the lingering pain. Nevertheless, Double D crept across the hall, moving as quickly as he could to Eddy's room.

The lava lamp glowed. Ed was playing X's and O's with Eddy, but Eddy was not playing with him. Eddy had an issue of Hot Rods open across his lap. Cars were not quite as interesting to Eddy as the dangerous curves he could see in Jiggy Jiggy, but he really wasn't in the mood for a girlie mag. Eddy drew a half-hearted circle. Ed's eyebrow furrowed. "That spells T-R-U-B-L for Y-O-O!" said Ed, who drew slices of toast in the final empty square. "Tick-tack-toast. I win!" announced Ed, drawing a circle around his three-in-a-row pictures of a tick sucking blood, a tack on a chair, and the toast.

"You're a pro, Ed." Eddy flipped to the next page in his magazine. Ed's perfect mood was fine and good, but it felt empty after seeing Double D.

Ed sensed that he did not have Eddy's full attention. "Aww, don't be a sad sack. You can go first this time."

"That's alright, Ed." Eddy looked up to see Double D, trying to pick up his overnight bag and having some difficulty. "Need a hand over there?"

"No thank you."

"My toe is oozing," said Ed, holding up the toe he had stubbed earlier for all to see. Then he looked at Double D and jumped in shock. "Double D, you look like three days of bad waffles."

Double D felt the need to rush back to the bathroom to see the extent of the damage, but he stood firm. "That is not at all polite," Double D chided. Eddy's eyes were locked on Double D, entirely expecting his friend to turn and walk out of his room. And his life. Double D looked at Eddy. "Have you no shame?" Double D squealed, sinking to his knees before Eddy. "Doesn't it occur to you that I have been..." Double D glanced over at Ed, who was licking crumbs out of the empty package of pork rinds, but still very much listening. He needed to choose his words carefully, not wanting Ed to be unnecessarily confused or frightened. "...I have been a victim of the ultimate of evils?"

"Evil Tim?" guessed Ed. But Eddy and Double D ignored him.

"Relax," said Eddy, who wished that the whole situation would just go away. He wanted to smooth things over, but had never been the best mediator. "I was just seeing if you needed help."

"A little late to offer help, I believe," Double D snapped. He wanted to stop himself, but pain seized him from inside and out. "You invited me into this lion's den."

"So now it's my fault?" His concern for Double D was being overshadowed with the instinct to defend himself. Who does this guy think he is? I saved him. He should be kissin' the ground I walk on.

Double D's logic told him that it was not Eddy's fault. But Eddy had helped set up the stage for a tragedy. His humiliation was turning into fury, and rose to a fever pitch. On all fours, he approached Eddy until the two were face to face. "I suppose dealing with a rapscallion absolves you of culpability?"

"What?" Eddy was trying to keep up. "I'm not allowed to SEE you?"

"It was one thing to sit by while I was robbed of my innocence, but it is quite another to unabashedly stare at my ravaged body."

Eddy was tired of being spoken to as if he had been the one who forced himself on Double D. He would never have crossed that line. "I got your shit together. You can leave. I'm not stoppin' ya."

Ed, who had completely lost the plot, pictured Double D being tossed around in a mosh pit of lions, zombies, and stench mutants while Evil Tim looked on from a bone throne up above. Ed didn't know exactly what the tension was about, but he felt the tension and it was uncomfortable.

"It feels like a wedgie in here!" shouted Ed, covering his ears. "Make it stop!"

Double D looked over at Ed, who was spinning on his rear end. "Deep breaths, Ed," instructed Double D, patting Ed's shoulder and immediately wiping his hands with disinfectant. "You don't want to hyperventilate." Ed inhaled and exhaled deeply. Feeling warm and drowsy, Ed yawned.

"Feel better, Monobrow?" asked Eddy, handing Ed the string holding Phillip and Beatrix together.

"Like fresh boxers, Eddy." Ed crawled into his grungy sleeping bag headfirst.

Spending some time focusing on Ed helped diffuse some of the fight in Eddy and Double D. Still, Eddy was at a loss. "Look, I wanted to help you, but I guess I can't."

"Perhaps not." Double D wanted to be close to Eddy, but feared that he had lost his chance now that Eddy's brother had taken him. There was nothing Eddy could do except offer kindness and understanding, and despite Double D's feelings about Eddy, he knew that the likelihood of that was low. Double D looked down at the floor. The effects of the shower were wearing off. He felt filthy. Another shower would only be a quick fix. He needed to treat the problem, not the symptoms. He looked up at Eddy. His voice returned to its usual soft tones. "Could you try?"

Coolly watching his lava lamp bubbling, Eddy gave Double D a sidelong glance, trying to avoid the accusation of staring. When he saw Double D's eyes glistening with tears, everything changed. "Yeah," he said gently, wanting to be helpful. He saw some of the hurt in Double D's face fade away. Then Double D threw himself into Eddy's arms.

"Oh, Eddy! I'm sorry I laid misplaced blame on you. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?" Double D wailed.

Eddy had been brought up to see emotions as strange girl-things, and that he was to avoid them. Having his friend, a young man, clutching at him, weeping, begging, was far outside his comfort zone. His first instinct was to peel Double D away and tell him to knock off that sissy stuff, but Eddy squashed it. Instead, he placed a tentative, then comforting hand on Double D's back. His friend needed him. And he didn't care who knew. "You didn't do anything wrong, man," said Eddy. And he meant every word of it. Double D was sobbing, but he was a man, who had been through a lot and deserved none of it.

Those words hit the mark. Double D looked up. "You mean it?"

"You know it," said Eddy. He pulled Double D in closer. What would Double D say at a time like this? Eddy wondered, then he got it. "If you, uh, need to talk about anything, um... I'm here for ya."

"I'm afraid," said Double D.

"My brother's an assho- er, a jerk," said Eddy. His anger at his brother was intense, but he tried to tame it for Double D's sake. "But me and Lumpy showed him what happens when he messes with the Eds. He's not coming back anytime soon, if he knows what's good for 'im."

A subtle flush of pink crossed Double D's face. "I trust you," he said. "But your brother failed to use protection, and I... I'm afraid." Double D remembered echoes of Eddy's brother's bragging of previous exploits, and Double D could only imagine what Eddy's brother might have picked up and passed on.

Eddy slowly lifted Double D's chin and looked into his eyes, "Hey. We're gonna get through this. No matter what. 'kay?" Eddy couldn't erase what had happened, but he was doing his best with the aftermath. And that was a good start for Double D.

Letting himself relax a little, Double D cooed, "Thank you, Eddy." With tears not yet dry in his big eyes, Double D rolled over and sighed. His arms wrapped around Eddy in a reflex, and a hint of a smile brightened up the sleepy boy's face. Eddy smiled back. Eddy's machismo usually controlled his every behaviour, but just that night, it was off duty. He rubbed Double D's shoulders. No, their friendship would never be quite the same. But it was going to be as strong as ever.
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The Ed Who Played with Fire