The hand grabbing his tie tugs him forward and a panting, low voice whispers his name.

Kevin crossed an arm across his chest and Edd held on with his free hand and arched his back as he threw his head back onto Kevin's shoulder.

"Hold on," he huffed into his ear as he grabbed a bony hip to hold him still as he picked up his thrusts.

But Edd couldn't be still.

Small thrusts bucking back into his own let Kevin know that Edd wasn't going to pump the breaks on this excursion anytime soon.

The past few times they did this, he'd have to keep things at a slow pace because Edd couldn't take a heavy romp in his bed.

It used to bug him until he realized that they always did this in his bed and Edd having to get up and go home when they were done was easier to do if he could actually walk. Walking him back home would raise too many eyebrows if they were seen, so they kept things soft and slow.

Until today.

Kevin would tease him about running away from this dick, and you wanted this, so you better take it, Dork.

But right now, his tie is in Edd's hand and he's holding on tight as he softly and slowly bucks back into Kevin's much heavier thrusts. Edd's legs are wrapped around his own and Edd's hand on his tie is keeping them close.

Just seeing the look on his face in his peripheral let Kevin know that he would make Kevin eat his words as he let a few salty ones pour out of his own mouth.

"Fucking eh, Kev," he groaned as he bent over just a bit more. "C'mon."

Kevin gave him a test thrust and the moan that came out of Edd made Kevin pull him closer.

Their affair was private.

No one had a clue.

But Kevin could tell that in these moments, Edd would hold on to him like they were more than the shallow lovers they were.

He'd indulge him because it inflated his ego, but only barely.

He had cheerleaders, the dance squad, and half the volleyball squad in his bed over the years.

Getting the class valedictorian wasn't all that hard.

Edd had been assigned to help him pass his senior biology class so he could get the baseball scholarship he needed to get the fuck out of this one horse town.

Edd wasn't one for resume boosting activities like tons of clubs and sports like so many of their other classmates.

He kept his life simple.

A standing movie date with the other two Eds on Sunday afternoon, Chess Club, National Honor Society, Peer Mediation, the swim team, and working at the YMCA as a lifeguard in the city in the summer.

So he had the time to tutor Kevin.

And he did.

Being neighbors made it easy. The rapport was already there. So they could talk as peers and Edd could guide him a whole lot easier than someone he didn't know or only knew in passing.

Edd was always down for a study break, be it a bit of TV or a video game, and blew Kevin away with his albeit rudimentary knowledge of pop culture.

Study sessions became more like hang out time, and after they closed their books, Kevin soon became ready to do something fun with his dorky neighbor.

Different schedules and social circles made it hard to talk at school, but behind closed doors, they talked plenty.

Edd's field trips with his clubs at school introduced him to a whole slew of new people, one of which was a boyfriend. Or at least, he acted like he was Edd's boyfriend whenever their different clubs would get together.

This bit of info got Kevin's attention in a way no girl ever had.

Not even when the captain of the dance squad wanted to make sure their makeout at the boys' soccer team party was in a location that anyone could see them and let the captain of the basketball team know that he had indeed, fucked up.

Kevin teased him about having a jealous boyfriend and told him that if he wanted, he'd be glad to play Edd's real boyfriend when the time came.

Edd balked, but Kevin didn't stop teasing him.

Call him selfish, but something about Edd being unavailable made his green eyes angry.

And you won't like him when he's angry.

Edd would counter that there was no way he could even pass as a casual date, let alone a boyfriend as Kevin had no experience with gay relationships, outside of passive aggressive remarks of disgust during their latter middle school years that turned into apathy over the course of their high school years.

That conversation had Kevin showing Edd over spring break what kind of friend he could truly be.

He didn't hold his hand, but he stood close, opened doors, let Edd take the lead, but paid for everything.

When he slipped his arm around his shoulder on Friday as they waited for the theater their movie was in to clear out so they could go in, Edd went stiff for a brief second before stepping closer, but didn't take his eyes off his phone, the light of which was illuminating the blush in his cheeks.

It was so cute that Kevin kissed his cheek and Edd went red just as the theater doors opened. Kevin dropped his arm, Edd pulled his beanie down to his eyes, starred daggers into his phone, and Kevin made small talk with a few of their classmates that came out before grabbing him by the shoulders and shoving him into the empty room.

And his arms have been around his shoulder ever since.

Except now.

One is still across Edd's chest; the other's hand is gripping his cock and pumping it hard and fast.

As his garage door opens, Edd's hand flies to his mouth to muffle his scream, Kevin bites into his shoulder, groans, and they both collapse onto the bed in a boneless heap.

"Kevin! Where are you?," his mother calls up the stairs and Kevin takes a deep breath before answering.

"Up here!"

"Edd with you?"

Kevin looks down at Edd, who grimaced before opening his eyes and shooting the redhead a mean side eye.

"Yeah, but we're kinda busy!," he called back before letting his head fall into the crook of Edd's shoulder.

"Well, when you're not I've got some questions about the Y's swim class schedule!," she called back before going about her usual after work routine of pulling dinner together, checking the mail, and pouring a glass of wine.

Edd sighed and a curious look crossed his face before Kevin gripped his hip again. He took a breath and nodded as the redhead pulled out, his hand over his mouth to muffle his moan.

Kevin cleaned them up and said, "Five minutes," before crawling back into the bed and pulling Edd close.

Five minutes had turned into ten when Edd's phone rang.

Kevin had seen him cagey when he answered the device before, usually because he wasn't home and would have to figure out a way to leave the redhead's house without drawing attention to himself.

But this time, Edd was downright rattled as he answered.

"Hello?...No, but I can be soon. Wh-Where are you?...Ok," he sighed in relief as he gripped Kevin's hand. "I'll see you when you get here...Yeah, sure…Ok, bye."

Then he fell back against the boy next to him and Kevin caught a whiff of sunscreen and coconut oil as he slid back into the sheets and caught his breath.

"Who was that?"

Edd turned his head toward him and rolled his eyes.

"Old Quiz Bowl buddy," he shrugged. "We're going to that robotics thing in the city today, so I gotta go," he finished as he slowly sat up and wearily tossed his legs over the edge of the bed.

Kevin pouted as he put his lifeguard tank top back on, and nearly had a heart attack when he saw his own phone buzz with a text on his desk as Edd put on his shoes.

The name that flashed across the screen went unnoticed by the dork, who had turned around to grab his glasses off the nightstand and Kevin had never been more grateful for Edd's nearsightedness in his life.

"Don't forget to talk to Ma before you go," Kevin told him as he leaned over for a kiss goodbye.

The kiss.

Despite the torridness of this affair, Kevin never let him leave without a kiss goodbye.

He just couldn't.

Maybe it was because of how twisted it all was.

That spring break date led to Edd being under his right arm whenever Kevin wanted him to be, but behind closed doors, they'd cuddle, hold hands, hug, and even dance.

A kiss of excitement over Kevin passing his biology midterm took both of their breaths away and it was Kevin who was begging for more.

He knew that he would have to give all this up someday, but in the meantime, he takes what he can get.

"Got ya. I'll see you later," Edd said as he smooched his forehead, then his lips, and did his best to not limp out the door.

Kevin vaguely heard him talking to his mother before leaving and making his way home under the spring's slowly setting sun. Kevin watched from his bedroom window as soon as he heard Edd walk out the door. He stuck to the shadows and kept an eye on his friends' homes before disappearing into his own and Kevin made a phone call once Edd's front door was closed.

"Where's my pumpkin?," a cool tenor cooed from the other side of the phone.

"Home," Kevin said flatly as he grabbed a clean pair of jeans out of his closet and a tshirt out of the pile of clean clothes on the floor.

"Well, I'm back, so I was thinking we could meet up."

"When?"

"Now," the voice said firmly and Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Where then?"

"I'll text you. I'll be there within the hour."

"Ok, cool," Kevin said as he pulled the phone away from his ear before that voice pulled him back in.

"Oh, and Barr?"

"Yeah?," Kevin sighed as need settled in his gut.

He just wanted to end this so he could go get ready for his dip in shark infested waters.

"Don't be late."

Kevin groaned as the click of the phone call ending resounded in his ears.

Like Hell he'd be late.

The weeks on end of psychological seduction weren't worth the blue balls he got as a result of the other's teasing.

Kevin faintly heard a motorcycle leave the cul-de-sac as he stepped into the garage and opened the door.

His baby glistened as bright as the red sunset she was painted to resemble under the sun's fading light as his dad pulled up.

"Where ya headed, Son?," he asked as he rolled down the passenger side window of his truck that he had backed into the garage.

"Got a thing with a friend," he shrugged and the older Barr man grinned.

"Call before you come home," he said with a wink and Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Gross, Dad."

"You'll understand someday, Kev," he snickered as his wife opened the door and gave her husband a seductive grin.

"Doubt it," Kevin thought as he shuddered, started his Harley and headed to Lemon Brook.

"Hey."

Eyes as blue as the ice burgs he had studied with him over summer break when they first met sophomore year flick up into his own and a sly grin crosses his face.

"Hello, Kevin," he said coolly before cocking his head to the seat next to him. "Look at this."

Eddward had actually brought homework to their Olympic style sport camp when they met, as he was leaving to go to Alaska to study the effects of global warming on the polar ice caps after their camp was over.

Kevin wanted to tease his Mother Earth conscious bunkmate, but he was too serious about it for Kevin to really make any jokes. When he asked him about what he was studying, Kevin was drawn into the conversation of how human beings were destroying the planet.

Over the past two years, watching Eddward want to save it made him feel some kind of way. But the swimmer was always distant.

But when he called, Kevin answered.

His aloof attitude drew Kevin in like a moth to a flame, his mysterious nature set the redhead on a path he blazed with his own fires of nosiness, and once the shark let his guard down, Kevin swam in his pool with ease.

He sat down and looked at the magazine Eddward had opened in front of them.

Setting Fire To The Rain

The Amazon is crying. Irony is wiping her tears away with tissues made from her trees.

By: Eddward M Rockwell

Kevin shot a surprised stare at him and the swimmer grinned again.

"Read it. I'm gonna get us some drinks," he said as he stood and walked away.

Kevin quickly poured over the article that came from Eddward's spring break trips to the Amazon over the course of their high school careers.

When he was done, he cracked a sly grin at the other young man and said, "I have no idea what I just read."

"Of course not," Eddward sighed as he rolled his eyes. "But thankfully, you're not Northwestern because they did and I've got a full ride."

Kevin bit back a naughty comment and held his fist up for a fist bump that Eddward returned with a wider grin that looked oh, so familiar.

"When are you leaving?," Kevin asked as he handed him the magazine that held the world's best college application essay ever.

"August," Eddward sighed as he folded the magazine carefully and tucked it into the inside pocket of his leather jacket.

"Going to the thing this year?"

"I…I don't know, yet," Eddward sighed as he sipped his tea.

"Dude, graduation is in like two weeks."

"I know," Eddward said as he made a face.

They were nearly a week away from the final deadline to sign up for camp, but it wasn't like either of them had to go. Kevin got into Duke to play baseball thanks to Edd, Eddward got into Northwestern thanks to humanity destroying the Amazon.

They could finally enjoy a carefree summer.

"You know what?," he said after a beat or two of silence, "I'll go. Last hoorah and all that."

Kevin snorted as so many nights spent rooting for each other behind closed doors played out in his head.

"You know, the drive in is open," Kevin said as he sent a quick text to his mom that he'd be home late.

She sent another back to tell him use protection.

And that he may have a new sibling when he got back.

Eddward patted his back as he shuddered before standing and saying, "Lead the way."

Eddward had walked to the coffee shop, so Kevin took them to the lookout point that oversaw the drive in theater off the highway in the city.

They never watched the movie.

When they figured out how close they lived to each other, they would sneak out on warm weekends to hang out as the cross town rivals couldn't be seen in public together without some sort of brouhaha.

The city provided an ample amount of things to do, but the two alphas didn't like being cooped up inside.

It was Eddward who had found the lookout point on a hike with a friend, and when he figured out that you could see the drive in from it, he knew he had to get Kevin up to it.

This redhead wasn't nearly as interested in the environment as Eddward was, and unlike the friend he found the spot with, Eddward was more interested in Kevin than the place itself, but he knew a good spot when he saw one, so up they went.

Kevin would lay a blanket out and they would sit and talk a bit before lying down and watching the stars come out.

And then Eddward would make him come.

He could touch him in a way that Edd couldn't and Kevin couldn't bring himself to care.

It had started with Kevin teasing him about being a beached shark because the camp's outdoor pool was out of commission due to some prank the rugby kids pulled, and the boy's swim team's schedule was thrown off for a good three days because of it.

Eddward had proven himself a top swimmer at Lemon Brook and was making his mark at this camp until that point.

And then he made his mark on Kevin.

"Beached sharks still bite, Barr," he had said as he hopped in his lap and pinned his shoulders to the headboard, ice blue eyes on fire.

"Bite me, then," Kevin retorted as he went to push the swimmer out of his lap, but Eddward was faster.

He grabbed his wrists, pinned them above his head, and when he bit him, Kevin didn't know what to do except moan.

So Eddward bit down harder and Kevin nearly came.

His body responded on instinct and instinct was stronger than his will or his mind.

That bite led to an intense kiss and the rest of camp was spent dealing with his conflicting emotions while their bodies were in anything but conflict.

Now, the conflict has its own peace accord.

Everything said and done is hidden away.

In his bedroom, a coffee shop on the wrong side of town, a lookout point only few know about.

Or maybe it's just them.

And while the bigger boy rides the lithe one, the peace is only broke by their desperate moans and whines of the other's name.

"What's your work schedule like?," Eddward asked as he climbed on the back of Kevin's bike and the redhead buckled his spare helmet on his head.

"Only Tuesday and Thursday this week because I've got games on Wednesday and Friday," the redhead replied before he booped his nose.

"So nothing this next weekend?"

When Kevin shook his head no, Eddward's grin shook him because it resembled one he was all too familiar with and made him wonder…

"There's an environment exhibition at the mall on Saturday afternoon. You should come with."

"I'll text you," Kevin told him as he started up the Harley and headed back into town.

Kev heard a Harley at the end of their block circle around and then nothing until he heard Eddward's door slam across the street.

LilPumpkin: My robotics thing is Saturday. You free?

EddR: No.

LilPumpkin: I understand.

"No, you don't," Eddward thought as he got ready for bed.

On Saturday, Kevin met Eddward at the Peach City Mall and they walked the entire exhibition that was being put on by the trash and recycling company and the local Earth Day chapter.

It was at an exhibition like this during third grade with another redhead that Eddward was bitten by the bug that had him itching to save the planet.

Kevin humored his interest on the subject at hand and was far more pleasant company than someone else who would challenge his thoughts on it all.

Not that the other person didn't care about saving the environment, he just thought that some of the ways of going about it were unreasonable. When Eddward would ask him for suggestions, at first he had none, and the few that he did come up with over the years made Eddward cringe as they would occasionally hurt the planet in the process of their creation.

"No one thing is perfect, Eddward," the friend would tell him.

"Only because no one cares to make it right," Eddward would retort.

Kevin would have questions, and offer suggestions that would actually work and even a few that both young men knew were pipe dreams. For Eddward, this made it easy to like the jock.

But August was coming faster than either expected.

Eddward put thoughts of his post high school future out of his mind as they made their way through the food court, but he stopped short when he heard his name being called.

But the person's tone set him on edge.

"Eddward? What are you doing here?"

Eddward looked the short redhead over before saying, "I could ask you the same thing Mr Anderson."

Kevin looked between the two teens and was all kinds of confused.

There was no way someone as cool as Eddward knew the dweeb who was staring daggers at him.

But then again…

"Kevin?"

Kevin quirked a brow and gave a head nod to the short geek who had walked up and stood between them all.

"Wait!," the short redhead protested. "You know this guy Double Dee?"

"Well, yes," Edd replied with a small eye roll. "We go to school together."

Kevin cracked a grin at Edd's overall coolness to what was becoming a slightly tense situation considering that the Eddward standing next to him looks like he wants to attack the short redhead across from him.

"Oh, and Kevin," he said as he turned to the taller redhead, opened his messenger bag, and pulled out Kevin's name tag from the local IHOP. "Mrs Johnson said you left this in class on Friday and told me to give it to you when I saw you again," he continued as he handed Kevin the name tag.

"Huh, thanks Double Dork," he said as pocketed the tag away, ignoring Eddward's narrow eyed stare.

"Sure thing. I'll see you Monday," Edd said as he went to walk away with the short redhead but Eddward stopped them.

"I thought you had a robotics thing today, Kev," he said as he stepped away from the taller Kevin to the smaller one, but Edd got between them.

"It ended early and I wanted to see the Earth Day Exhibition, so we're here," he replied as Kevin cowered a bit behind him.

"So you like environmental studies?," the taller Edd questioned as he glowered over the smaller.

"Oh, yes, it's quite interesting. I've spent a lot of time making things from junk as it were growing up, so to see more and more people interested in making such things a livelihood is quite fascinating," Edd said with a shrug and Eddward softened his stance a bit before looking over his shoulder at Kev.

"You do realize that he's not on our team for this," Eddward said as he stepped back a bit, then smiled when Edd shot a side eye at the redhead behind him.

"He's learning," Edd sighed. "Rome wasn't built in a day. Have a good evening," he called over his shoulder as he took Kev's hand and walked away.

Eddward just stood there in stunned silence before strong arms wrapped around his shoulders and Kevin's semi-permanent scent of Axe and pancakes filled Eddward's senses.

"Some of us learn quicker than others," Kevin said quietly before unwrapping himself from him and watched the two shorter teens walk away, hand in hand.

"Some of us never learn at all," Eddward sighed bitterly before turning on his heel and leading them out another exit on the opposite side of the mall.