Thigh-High Declarations of Love

Disclaimer: I do not own Ed, Edd, n' Eddy. Rated only for some questionable language on the Kanker's part.

-/-/-

"Marie, what're those?" Lee asked as her sister entered into the main room of their trailer on Thursday morning.

"What're what?" Marie questioned, her tone rude and just this side of defensive.

"Those." Lee repeated, poking an accusing finger at Marie's legs.

The middle Kanker sister glanced down at her legs and frowned. Her style of dress had changed very little since middle school; she still wore olive green cargo pants and a black tank top, though the tank top had grown progressively shorter over the years. Now, instead of her usual cargo pants, she wore a pair of denim cut-off shorts and red socks that came up a few inches past her knees. She had supposed the sudden change part way into their junior year of high school would have caught her sister's attention, but she didn't think they would have noticed so quickly.

Looking back up at her sister, she raised an eyebrow. "They're socks. Geez, I thought May was supposed to be the dumb one." Marie replied, her voice dripping with condescension.

"Hey!" May shouted, poking her head in from the kitchen.

"Pipe down, May." Marie waved her hand dismissively at her sister.

"I will not!" The blonde stood in the doorway, crossing her arms and snorting in indignation.

"Jesus, May, I don't mean it." Marie rolled her eyes and glared at her younger sister.

May brightened immediately. "Really, Marie?"

"Yeah, yeah, now eat your damn breakfast."

May turned and walked back to the table, humming all the way, and Marie followed her in. The blue-haired teen turned to the counter to pour herself a bowl of cereal, hoping the wardrobe change had been forgotten. However, Lee was not easily deterred, not unlike her sisters. "I know they're socks, Marie, I mean where'd they come from? And why're you wearin' 'em?" She asked, jerking the box of Chunky Puffs out of her sister's hand and pouring some into her own bowl.

Marie growled. "I'm wearin' 'em cause that's what you do with socks." She spat, snatching the box back from Lee.

Normally, her reception of gifts from a boy would be something she'd share with her sisters immediately. Whether as a taunt or just a simple gloat, Lee and May would be the first to know. However, this particular gift had seemed special. There had been something so heart-felt about the way they'd been presented to her that she felt the need to keep it to herself for just a little bit. And besides that, keeping her sister in the dark when she was practically salivating over the idea of a secret was just too much fun. Thus, when Lee glared at her- it was difficult to tell under her auburn curls, but Marie always knew- she simply ignored it, poured milk into her bowl, and sat down by May at the table.

Lee looked to be gearing up for another attack as she added milk to her cereal, but May beat her to it. "Hey! I know those socks! Those're Double Dee's!" She exclaimed, pointing at the red, thigh-high stockings adorning Marie's legs.

And that was it. Lee leaned over and lifted her bangs away from her eyes for a moment to examine the socks before she grinned. "You're right, May." She turned the sly smile on Marie, "Thought you could hide a thing like that from us, huh?"

"Who's hiding? You were the one who was askin' dumb questions." Marie shrugged.

Lee smacked her in the back of the head as she moved to her own seat, then took a loud bite of cereal. "So," She said around her mouthful, "Your man's givin' you gifts."

Marie couldn't help the satisfied smirk that came across her face. "Yep."

"But why'd he give you socks, Marie?" May asked, flicking milk as she gestured toward the stockings with her spoon.

"Hey, watch it!" Marie rubbed away the drops of milk that had landed on her shorts before shrugging again. "I dunno. Some guys give you their jackets, some guys give you their class ring, my guy gives me his socks. At least they're clean."

There was silence for a second. "That's kinda weird, Marie." Lee pointed out, taking another crunching bite of cereal.

"Well I like 'em." Marie replied, setting in on her breakfast once more.

-/-/-

Once at school, the sisters broke apart for whatever activities they hoped to accomplish- or avoid- before the bell rang and Marie went to find her man. She happened upon him exactly where she knew he'd be; reorganizing his locker so all his ridiculously thick text books fit in the small space. Luckily, his friends had yet to join him. "Hey, Double Dee." She greeted him, sliding her arms around his midsection as he reached up to place something on the top shelf.

As always, he jumped at the unexpected contact but relaxed into it much quicker than he used to. "Good morning, Marie." She could hear the smile in his voice.

"You done with your locker, yet?" She questioned, resting her chin on his shoulder and watching him move things around for the umpteenth time.

"Just about." Double Dee replied, moving his arms carefully so as not to accidentally elbow her.

"I don't know why you don't get 'em to give you a bigger locker. They can't give you all those freakin' big books and expect you to keep 'em in there." Marie grumbled, releasing her boyfriend as he closed his locker and turned to face her.

"Seniors get full lockers, Marie; I'll just have to wait my turn." The boy replied.

Before she could return with some comment about his assertiveness, or lack thereof, he blushed slightly and smiled. "What?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"You're wearing my gift." He pointed down, still grinning like the idiot he wasn't.

"Oh, yeah. I love them." Marie treated him to a deep kiss before pulling back with a smirk. "Now everyone knows you belong to me."

Double Dee blinked and cocked his head. "Er… wouldn't it be the other way around? Traditionally, when a female wears a male's clothing…"

"Hell, no. You definitely belong to me." Marie told him, still smiling, before placing another quick kiss on his lips. "Now, c'mon. You said you'd help me study."

Having learned to follow with little or no question by now, Double Dee smiled enthusiastically ans looped an arm lightly around her waist as they headed for the library. "Absolutely! And I'm sure you'll find that Joan of Arc is a truly fascinating subject, indeed! In fact…"

Marie shook her head and let him ramble. Kinda weird, but all hers.

-/-/-

Author's Note: I got the idea for this when I was reading snippets of the 'series bible.' It said Double Dee sends socks to those he has a crush on. I don't recall if he ever did it in the show (it's been a while since I've seen more recent episodes) but I thought it was a cute idea. Plus, I have way too much fun writing the Kankers. Hope you all enjoyed!