Kevin couldn't contain his anger, it felt better than fear. His motorcycle couldn't take him anywhere faster than the speed limit allowed, testing his own limits of restriction to keep him from crashing. Kevin Barr didn't need to be in the hospital as well.

That same hospital from which he fled so long ago. The pain in Edd's voice was too much for the ginger to bare. Why should Kevin care what happens to Double D? He doesn't...maybe he does a little. But only because they grew up together.

Kevin didn't notice the tears running down his face from behind his helmet, but he felt the guttural yell he let out as he hit the dirt path up to the junkyard.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" he choked on a sob as he stopped his speed hog, stumbling off it and throwing his helmet once it was pried off his head. He gasped and yelled with all his might.

No. No, Edd wasn't allowed to die, he wasn't supposed to be the first to go out of the trio. Double D was too smart, he was too pure, he was too good to be taken away.

Kevin fell to his knees and hit the ground with his fists.

He doesn't deserve to be in pain. I don't want him to leave. He's not allowed. He can't-

Kevin looked up at the sky "YOU DID THIS TO HIM! STOP IT! PLEASE STOP! TAKE IT BACK!...HE DOESN'T DESERVE THIS! He doesn't deserve it….he…" Kevin held himself as he looked back down "I never got to be his friend."

"Who doesn't deserve what, jockstrap?" A familiar voice turned his attention to the bluenette behind him. Marie Kanker was standing behind him with tired bags hanging under her eyes, those matching blue eyes were bloodshot and puffy from crying.

Kevin didn't want to talk to her but he didn't think either person should be alone with the state of things. Marie sat in the dirt in front of him to keep him from craning his neck to look at her.

"Lose a pet or something?" she sniffled and stuffed her hands in her pockets.

Kevin shook his head and rubbed his eyes on his jacket sleeve "None of your damn business, Kanker." Marie sighed and shook her head, she started to get up but Kevin intervened. "Wait….I'm sorry….it's just….someone I care about is in the hospital right now getting a surgery that could-" he swallowed.

Marie didn't need to know the rest "I'm sorry….that's gotta be rough." she pulled out a small box that Kevin realized was a cigarette pack. She offered the cancer stick to him and he took it without thinking "Think about the odds though, your loved one has a chance of living." She pulled out a lighter, tossing it to him once her cigarette was lit.

Kevin stared at the cigarette and lighter for a moment and sighed "He's got a tumor in the brain, it's risky enough being in that area but….it's under scar tissue and it's like a ticking time bomb in his head…." he set the cig in his mouth and lit it, taking a long drag before continuing.

"If they are successful then great but there's a chance they fuck up or that they can't get it and if they can' then the tumor will just end up killing him anyway. The odds are stacked against him and I couldn't even get up the courage to see him in the hospital face to face….I never really became his friend and I don't think I'll get a chance ever again."

Marie was speechless, she just let her smoke sit on her lips while she listened and contemplated. When she finally spoke it was with fear and curiosity "My friend didn't call me or answer the phone last night….Eddward Vincent…...is he-?" she knew by the torn-up look on his face that her answer would be yes. She let the cigarette fall from her mouth as she stumbled up and ran off, yelling as if Double D could hear "EDD! I'M COMING! HOLD ON!"

At the hospital…

The Vincent parents were pacing the halls talking to nurses and doctors casually, trying to distract themselves while Edd was being prepped for surgery. His beautiful hair being shaved off and cut. He started counting all of his blessings when he was put under anesthesia.

All Edd could see were stars, the endless void of space and a few space ships taking off without him. He watched them fly by and felt as though he wasn't needed and could let go, but he remembers that people on earth needed him, he wasn't ready to die….then he woke up to the voices of his parents yelling angrily about complications. He mumbled unintelligibly and groaned. His mother came to his side as if his voice had been loud enough to be heard over the yelling.

"Eddward? Oh, thank goodness sweetheart, you're awake. I was so worried you wouldn't wake up again. They told us- oh my love."

She embraced him briefly before kissing his forehead and checking his motor functions. She was just as much a doctor if not more than a mother. Eddward couldn't form words properly at the moment but he knew he could regain his speech sooner or later. He felt his drowsiness kick in and decided to give in to sleep.

By this time Marie had managed to get to the hospital but due to her reckless and angry behavior she was escorted out of the hospital and told to go home. She would have none of it, this was her best friend and she refused to stay away, so she decided she would form a plan to sneak in.

Waking up again, Edd was greeted with a yelling group of friends. How they got to this point was a series of events that only could be described as a telephone game domino effect. One person overheard from a nurse what was happening and quickly the rumors began to mutate and grow into something completely different.

Observing each and every person at the door, Edd honestly couldn't understand how they came up with their stories and he honestly couldn't care. What he did care about was how his head was slowly but surely beginning to hurt and pound, he needed more pain medication and he was short with patience.

All sound seemed to blur and blend together until it made Edd's head spin, he couldn't contain himself as he cried out in pain and his arms flung to his head, unintentionally hitting himself and causing the nurses to replace his friends and acquaintances. Amongst the flurry of people stood Kevin, frozen in fear. Edd couldn't tell why but he wanted to know, he reached for the ginger and everything went black.

Kevin couldn't go in, how could he? The dork is just laying there in pain, go to him. He was not prepared for the sudden outburst and the rush of people, nor was he ready for Edd's tired and pained eyes to meet his. When Edd reached out to him, Kevin swore his heart stopped for a moment and dropped into his stomach when said hand had done so as well. Kevin finally spoke up but was silenced by the noise of arguing people and nurses.

"Double D…"

Why did he reach for ME of all people? He probably thought I was some kind of doctor or something. Pull yourself together Kev… don't care about him so much, he's just my dork.

Kevin's eyes widened at the thought. No? No no, not mine, never mine. I can not like that dork like that….I love Nazz, I have ALWAYS loved her. She's my girlfriend and I love her. He left in another hurry, panic as plain as day on his face.

The others that were there ignored him and kept their focus on Edd. Rumors of car accidents and falling downstairs, but no one had come to even consider cancer or a tumor again. Sarah even threw in a suicide attempt but no one even came close to the truth. Except for Nat who theorized a burst aneurysm, granted he had been there for the migraines and fainting spells.

Kevin went home without making sure he was okay, how could he leave? The guilt ate away at him for hours until he got back on his motorcycle in the middle of the night, long after everyone had given up on fighting the nurses and gone home, to go back to the hospital and sit in the waiting room. It was past visiting hours but he wanted to be there to find out if his dork was okay. WAIT! Not his! The dork, not his, please lord keep this from repeating? Anyway, Edd was deep in an ocean of sleep, his dreams full of Kevin's face, it comforted him somehow.

Double D could feel the warmth of the weighted blanket holding him like a hug, one which he pictured Kevin giving at this moment. Oh, how peaceful it was. Time for that peace to stop!

"GAH!" Eddward woke up with a start, he had just been woken by the pain in his head, but the static was worse, he just wanted to sleep and slip away from the world. But then he heard a worried voice outside and in came his ever worried mother, if only she had been more present in his life then perhaps this would feel more natural to him. His mother was hardly that, she was not constant in his life, his teachers were more constant and he didn't see them for more than an hour or two a week.

"Mother...p-please stop crowding me. It is making me rather claustrophobic." he groaned out, causing her to sit back with a sad look dawning her features. "Water...please." she got up right away and had a nurse bring ice chips. Not speaking a single word to her son, she did not know what she could say or what she even wanted to say. She didn't know the boy in the bed, she didn't know what he liked to eat or drink, she didn't even know his favorite color. She felt ashamed, as she should be, but she was there now and surely that counted for something?

Edd asked "How long have I been laying down? My back is quite stiff and I wish to sit up." She looked to him and checked the hour on her watch then gave him a sad look.

"It has been thirty-six hours and twenty-two minutes." she clenched her jaw to hide the yawn that elicited from her aching body. "It is one thirty-nine in the morning. Are you terribly hungry?" That question received a slight nod from her son as an answer.

Kevin wasn't thinking when he saw Eddward's mother, he just acted, walking up to her with as much strength as he could muster to ask a question.

"Mrs. Vincent, can….may I um…is Doub- Eddward.." he cleared his throat "Is Edd awake?" his voice cracked a bit and his nerves had him stumbling over his words, but Mrs. Vincent gave a small nod and said, "He's doing just fine, you may go home now, get some rest and perhaps come back at the proper visiting hours."

Kevin went back home, he didn't know why he even went there in the first place.

Stupid feelings. Stupid dork. Stupid stupid stupid. Fucking dork had to go and get hurt. Fuck this, I don't even care.

But a little voice at the back of his head made him feel maybe he did care, maybe he wanted to not care because caring was too hard. He didn't want to leave. He didn't WANT to be in this situation.

I don't even know the dork that well so why should I give a single fucking damn about that sweet, considerate, cute..NO!

His inner turmoil was keeping him from focusing on sleep. How could he sleep at a time like this? Kevin had a moral and psychological dilemma, he was catching feelings for a boy while dating a girl.

Earlier that night…

Nazz hadn't heard from Kevin the entire duration of the fiasco, she didn't know if he was even close to the beanie clad dork, she hardly knew the guy so how could he? She was worried though that Kevin might be feeling guilt over something he's already made amends for. But that wouldn't matter to her at the moment because right now she was wide awake, watching him drive away after curfew.

Nazz stared out the window for a few moments more and Eddy had caught her eye, he was sitting alone on the pavement in front of his house, drinking out of a dark bottle. "Might as well see if he's alright." Nazz knew there was no way she'd fall asleep with this much worry plaguing her mind, so she snuck downstairs and out the front door. Her feet dragged her straight over the shortest of the trio.

"Eddy? You okay, dude?" Nazz asked in a hushed tone, trying not to alarm him.

Eddy looked up at her with surprise, his eyes glazed with the same worry she felt, he seemed a bit more dazed than anything though. This could have been due to the contents of the brown bottle he was currently attempting to hide.

"What're you doin' up this late for?" Eddy tried, his words slurred and his body swaying.

Nazz sighed and sat beside him "Hand it over, Eddy. You shouldn't be drinking when you're so emotional, dude." she reached for the bottle and he grabbed her arm a little too roughly, but he did loosen up and let her grab it before he hunched over to hide the tears welling up in his eyes.

"He's a veggie….he prob'ly can't even talk….an' I...fuck." he rubbed his face vigorously "I can't do nofin 'bout it. I'mma nah so good pershon….I don' deserf his frien' ship."

Nazz didn't know how to respond, she had no words for this situation, so she just pulled him up into a gentle hug and rubbed his back. Eddy wrapped his arms around her back and nuzzled his face into her shoulder, trying to hide his face and tears from her while relishing her touch. He never stopped loving the blonde bombshell.

They sat there like that for what seemed like hours, long comfortable and melancholy hours. Eddy pulled away and rubbed his eyes, keeping his head down as he grumbled out a groggy "Thanks, Nazz."

Nazz couldn't think, she didn't think, she should've been thinking. It just happened so fast, her lips were on his and he wasn't stopping her. Nazz was kissing Eddy and not even thinking about Kevin.

Until his motorcycle's engine could be heard down the street. She was running across the street in almost an instant, how could she betray Kevin like that? But Eddy was there and he always tended to look at her like she was his world.

I wish I could be with him tonight, but this...this can't happen.

She covered her face and leaned against her front door, wishing she could go back out and be with Eddy at the moment.

Eddy was confused, was he dreaming this up? Nazz kissed him right? Nazz? Kissed him? Yeah, yeah she did. Nazz Fitzgerald kissed him. "Holy shit." He said out loud instead of thinking it as he should have.

Eddy stumbled back to his room and collapsed on the bed, smiling ever so slightly, forgetting that he was meant to clean up the beer bottles around his bed so his mother wouldn't catch him. Oh well, he could deal with it later.