If Eddy knew anything, it was the value of a dollar.

A dollar to a lot of people is nothing, but to Eddy, he sees more than just the One. He sees the opportunity to use that one dollar to make five, and that five to make ten. He knows that every cent and every dollar eventually adds up to a fortune, and that like most good things in life, the longer you wait for something, the more you enjoy it. It seems like Eddy has been waiting forever for the things he wants, and even in the face of ridicule he knows that one day, his day will come, and that is enough to get him through school and the bullies and the rejection and everything. He knows he'll get what he deserves soon.

That's why when Double D sneaks in his window one humid summer night, he is not as surprised as he should be.

"Hey," he says, pulling his sheets up, in fake modesty. "What're you doing?"

"Can I spend the night here, Eddy?" Double D asks, a footie pajama foot already on the shag carpet. "I promise to leave before morning. It's very loud at home."

"Parents fighting?" Eddy asks, although he already knows the answer because it seems that all adults do once they hit 40 is argue, and its never pleasant and never quick and never quiet.

"Yes, I…I'd very much appreciate it Eddy. Please?"

Yeah, sure, fine, Eddy says. Because Double D is one of his best friends, but more importantly he knows all about not wanting to be alone.

He doesn't know exactly when it began, but he knows when he first noticed it.

They were hanging out in the junkyard again, looking at spare parts for one of Double D's inventions; a t-shirt folding machine, which on Eddy's list of things robots should have the power to do is not very high, but then again the biggest thing Eddy had ever invented was a lie, and not even a really crazy one.

After a while they got tired of sifting through rusting parts and rotting peels, so they sat in the old van they used to play with when they were kids, and made Ed keep lookout. Edd had started building, while Eddy sat back and watched, but as time grew on Double D became more anxious than he had been the whole day, which was saying something since he'd been on edge the whole afternoon.

"What's the matter? Eddy finally asked, after Double D fidgeted just a little too much to ignore. "You got everything you need, right? I can get monobrow to get some more-"

"No," Double D responded, clutching two parts together. "It's this part. It's this part, Eddy, it just won't-" The part he was referring to was a metal coil and a spring wire, which was refusing to mesh with it. "It won't fit. Damn it!" he forced the parts together, tears of frustration pooling in his eyes.

"I can't make it fit," he explained. "No matter how much I force it, it doesn't fit, Eddy. No matter what-" Double D throws the objects against the van wall in a fit of anger, and the amount of force in his throw scares Eddy, who although knows Double D is not usually calm and collected, has never seen him act out in anger before, and he's not sure what to say.

"Jesus." Eddy whispers. "Jesus Christ, calm down. We'll get another part-"

"Double D? Eddy?" Ed's voice yells outside, knocking because he knows better by now. "Eddy?" His knocking increases in volume.

"Ed, everything's fine, but we need you to find another part-"

"NO-" Double D interrupts him and this time it is in pure anger. "You idiot, you nincompoop, I can't just find another piece, because it won't be the way I want it, and it won't fit in, and-" he throws the pipe, this time at Eddy, "I can't change it, I can't, I can't-" and he starts to cry and Eddy realizes with a great lurch in his stomach that they aren't talking about the t-shirt folding machine anymore and once again he can do nothing but watch Double D cry and sob, heartbreaking sobs that shake his whole, skinny body and half the time he doesn't even make a sound, he's crying so hard and Eddy just sits there, useless.

"Double D? Double D is crying? Eddy, why is Double D crying? Let me come in, Eddy!" and Ed keeps knocking and it only serves as backup to the soundtrack of sobbing.

"Why?" Double D asks Eddy, sounding so sad, so, so, sad. "Why can't it change? Why can't I- why?" He doesn't dare finish the sentence, out of shame and out of the fact that he is crying too hard to do so. Ed eventually stops knocking, but Eddy can feel his pulse take over the pounding, as Double D asks him again why he can't change.

Eddy doesn't have the answer, but he knows the solution. Without a word, he takes Double D into his arms, and holds him tight, so tight his arms are turning white from the strain and if he starts crying too, Double D doesn't mention it.

That night, he breaks into Double D's room, because he wants answers and damn if his outburst hadn't been on his mind all day. He doesn't bother knocking. They're beyond knocking.

"Eddy? Eddy, what are-"

"Who said you have to change?" Eddy whispers forcefully, making his way to the bed before he can think about what he is saying. "Who says you're not good enough? Huh?"

"Your parents? What the fuck do they know, they-" he points to the door, as if they are standing right outside it as he speaks, "They don't know shit about you."

"Neither do you, Eddy." Double D counters softly, looking at Eddy in what can only be pity, and says, "There are things about me that you don't know, and I've worked very hard to keep it that way, so please, just leave." He pushes Eddy away, not nearly hard enough to make him move. "Please." he begs.

"Like what?" Eddy snapped, because he knows everything about Edd there is to know, his girly middle name, the scars on his scalp from the countless amount of bandages his parents used to make him behave when he was little, everything, and he challenges Edd to find one thing he doesn't.

"Name one thing. Name one fucking thing-" he raises his voice, and then says nothing at all because Double D- Edd- is kissing him, and it's his very first kiss, even at eighteen, and his lips are so soft, so goddamn smooth he just has to press harder, and then Edd's mouth gasps open because Eddy is practically on top of him and he moves his lips just like he's seen in the movies and he can smell the musty scent of the pillow beneath Edd's head, and clothes are piling on the floor and hands are grasping flesh and fingers are curling around hips and gently, quietly, firmly, the headboard is banging against the wall with the force of Eddy's thrusts, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth until it hits Eddy that he's having sex and he's naked and it's with Double D, sweet, kind Double D who always looked out for him and put up with his bullshit for ten years and his best, best, very best friend in the whole wide world is lying beneath him, moaning and gasping and clutching at him, staring up at him and he is inside him and Eddy comes and he comes hard.

They lie very still and very quiet for what seems like hours, and at one point Edd looks close to crying again, but Eddy has had enough disappointments in his life and he's not gonna stand for another, and he holds him close and whispers three words he has never said before, and when he hears it whispered back, muscles that he didn't even know were tensed relax, and before the break of day his body is in his own bed.

His heart is another story.

Sooner or later, Double D's parents find out, and Oh God.

Oh God, he can hear Double D's mother cry from inside the house. Oh God, No, she pleads, as if Double D's sexuality could be bargained with, which is ridiculous because Eddy knows how to make a deal and she wouldn't win even if it was possible.

His father is much quieter, and more heartrendingly firm. Go, his father says. Go before you ruin anymore lives. Eddy finds this funny, not ha-ha funny but sad funny, that parents who had never left more than a note to show their presence are disappointed with the results.

And so Double D leaves out the front door, where Eddy is already waiting by the car, bags packed. For all Double D's logic, he saw this coming a mile away, and he packed enough for the both of them. His parents were not upset when he told them. They were not happy. They were not sad. They reacted the same way they had reacted to all the tiny tragedies they'd had in life: They went numb. His parents may not have been as verbally cruel, but Eddy personally thought that an angry reaction was better than none at all, so he packed only what he needed and left.

He has money, enough for rent in a shabby apartment for one month plus bills, but he knows it won't last and he knows Double D knows, but all his face shows is an odd mixture of sadness and relief, and having already made their teary goodbye to Ed, explaining the best they can, they make their way to the city, leaving everything familiar and everything sad behind.

Eddy gets a job as a car salesman, just like his father, and he hates it.

He's good at it; the best. He's only been practicing for this since he was eight, so of course he knows when to bargain and he knows when to be pushy and he knows when to dazzle and he knows how to sell cars, but he is only nineteen years old and everyone treats him as if he is twelve, like this is only a part-time job until schools starts which really pisses Eddy the fuck off because this is his job and he's not in school and he's damn good at what he does, damn good, but his boss takes all the credit for it, even going so far as to steal his sales and Eddy hates the fucker and all the disrespect and wants to quit so, so badly: but then he thinks about Double D and putting him through school and paying the bills because he's fucked up his life enough as it is, and he won't be that selfish, as selfish as he used to be, ever again.

So he puts up with the name-calling and the sales stealing and the paycheck that would have been substantial if it wasn't after taxes because he has to pay for books and electricity and heat and mouse traps and rent and he needs this job, they need this job.

By the time Eddy comes home, he is exhausted: emotionally and physically. He always makes just enough to get them by, sometimes a little more, and when he opens the door Eddy is always there, cooking or cleaning or studying, sometimes all three at once, and if Eddy helps with the dishes or brings home dessert or a inexpensive present, he might even get laid, which he has to admit seems like a pretty fair trade off for that asshole Williams who keeps trying to steal his commission.

And then Double D does this thing with his tongue, and all Eddy can think is Fuck the commission, holy shit.

-------------------

Late at night, after Double D is tired from the cooking and the cleaning and the studying and Eddy is worn out from the sex, they lie in bed together, very close, partly because Double D has gotten used to sleeping on top of Eddy's chest, and partly because for now they only have enough money for a twin bed, and sometimes when Eddy is too tired to fall asleep he thinks about where they were a year ago, and how they got to where they are, how much he has invested in this, and how much their love has grown and what it's all worth to Eddy, and Eddy starts to think that maybe all he knows about being in love and all he knows about money are not that far apart.

He snuggles in closer, closes his eyes, and waits for daylight to break.