AN: Gift fic written for DancingKirby... ah... last Christmas actually. I admit to being terrible at reposting things forever. After writing it I realized I'm pretty sure it contradicts actual manga canon at points for which I apologize profusely. This is what happens when I write about things that I haven't read in ages apparently.

Reggie and David are both six when Eddie comes to stay with them. Daddy brings him home, all big blue eyes and too pale skin, and only Reggie knows the real reason why he's there. Knows about the monster in Daddy's office and the way Eddie's daddy had just tipped over in a boneless sort of heap like when Reggie gets annoyed with the idea of playing with dolls like a proper girl should and throws them across the room. It was nearly the same, the way his arms and legs landed sprawled and stiff, and Reggie really doesn't want to touch her dolls at all anymore.

Not that it matters because now she has two playmates her own age (a little bit like brothers except they're not) and neither of them are all that interested in dolls either. They're interested in duels and honestly Reggie always has been too. The three of them huddled together on the scratchy carpet of Reggie's room passing cards that they can only just barely read back and forth and slowly but surely Eddie's eyes stop being so wary and haunted. He bounces back quickly but there's always this ragged and raw little edge of intensity about him and Reggie decides to never tell him about what she saw.

They're ten and Eddie is eight when they start entering tournaments. Eddie is Ed now and the three of them make up an impenetrable line of EdReggieDavid. First, second and third although not always in that order. The competition between them friendly and vicious by turns but in the end Ed comes out as the victor more often than not. Still all ghostly pale and intent and too quiet even in the face of one of David's sulking fits when the latter loses and Reggie laughs and kisses David on the cheek and tells him to stop being a baby. She doesn't like losing any more than he does, but she can deal with it with a little more grace. Grace and poise even as she quietly plots and plans the best way to build a deck to counter Ed's newest technique because she cannot, will not, be second to anyone.

It's a lazy, warm, summer day on the beach when those casual kisses pressed to David's cheek stop feeling casual. Reggie is fourteen and has a new two-piece swimsuit and feels oh-so grown up. The three of them splashing in the surf (because it's always EdReggieDavid, even if Ed's a little younger and a lot smarter and doesn't go to the same school as them anymore) and the sun is warm on their backs and the water is cool against their skin and when Reggie throws her arms around David's neck and presses one of those kisses against his cheek like she always does something is different. Different and strange but not quite bad and she notices everything. Like the way his skin tastes like sunscreen and salt water and the funny little creaking hitch in his voice when he finally speaks after a few minutes of breathless staring, even if it's only to say, "What are you staring at, loserface."

Reggie punches him on the arm and says it's nothing and, "Who're you calling a loserface, dork!" The whole incident forgotten. Almost.

When they're fifteen, Ed is thirteen and he goes pro. The whole thing sort of surreal, watching him pack up for his first trip abroad. His face so serious and carefully blank and Reggie almost wants to cry because this means their tight little line of three doesn't exist anymore. It's just ReggieDavid now with Ed somewhere halfway across the world from them and she forces a smile and wishes him luck with a tight hug and tells him he better win because if he can beat her then he can beat anyone. The smile he shoots back all awkward and ghostly and he nods and hugs her back like he never wants to let go. Reggie not saying anything about the tears she can feel soaking into the fabric of her shirt and when he finally pulls away Ed's face is as blank and impassive as ever, even if his eyes are a little red-rimmed and his cheeks a little blotchy.

She and David start attending the school her father is principal of that fall and she has to fight twice as hard as anyone to prove there is no favouritism. David holding her tight when it all gets to be too much and the aura of calm indifference she builds around herself cracks and shatters into a thousand jagged pieces that leave her crying until her makeup runs.

He's the only one she'll let see her like this, because he's David and she loves him. Although how she loves him is a whole extra layer of confusing that she doesn't want to think about.

When Ed comes home for the holidays things are strange and awkward. There's a new sort of sharpness to his face, his lips quirking into this cynical sort of smirk more often than not, and he doesn't quite fit with her and David anymore. Or maybe that sharpness is there because he can tell how much closer they've become (sees the matching earrings that the Monster from her father's office gave them) and that he'll never quite fit again so he's protecting himself. Whatever the reason he's cool and a little distant and Reggie spends most of the time shoulder to shoulder with David as always. Her chest a little tight as she thinks about the way they used to be.