Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, I do not own the name, I only own the plot line, And by GOD that is MINE.

I've been messing with this for a while, hope we're loving it! Xoxoox this couple needs more love!

AAAAA

He loved to watch the sunrise. It was his favorite part of waking up each day at five in the morning. He loved it because there was no one else around. None of the other kids were running around and shouting. There was no loud music or the sound of hair dryers or TV's blasting. Ed and Eddy, along with all the other teens were still deep asleep and the cul-de-sac was silent with only the chirping of the birds to keep him company.

He loved the colors too. Sitting on top of his roof every morning and watched as the blues and greens and dark purples faded to grays and then steadily flooded to brilliant shades of reds and pinks and oranges. The way the colors changed everything, from the construction site to the leaves on the trees, and even the asphalt, it sent shivers through his body. They melded together so perfectly with the sky and stars it became too magical to ignore.

He knew his parents would disapprove of him doing this. Not only was he on the roof of his house but he was also neglecting his morning chores. They were up and gone long before the sun was there. That was, if they even came home.

But for these secretive little moments that he rebelled. He did what he wanted. It was also the only time of day he could let his hair down. Normally he let it sit under his beanie, ever strand hidden away from view. Not during the sunrise. No, during the sunrise, when nothing was wrong, and everything was peaceful, he let his hair breathe.

The heavy black locks swept around the base of his neck and hung down just past his bottom lip. The straightened locks covered his ears and hide his eyes. But it wasn't the black he hid. It was the rainbow of streaks that ran through it. The bright reds and greens to the deep blues and silky blonde and cascaded down like paint dripping down a black canvas. He had dyed it to remind himself of the hidden beauty within everything. He kept his beauty locked away, wanting and yearning for people to love him for his mind not his looks.

So he gave only the sunrise a peak of his hair. And in the light it sparkled and it shined and it made him feel beautiful.

And so it was that he, Edward, more commonly called Double D, sat on his roof that morning enjoying his daily ritual. His loose sweatpants and his sweatshirt kept him warm as he watched the change in color. The gray faded slowly to the reds and oranges and he sighed happily. The damp air was cool on his skin and it clung to his hair. He breathed it in, loving the taste of it and sighed again.

When it was over and the sun hung low in the sky, fully visible, he knew it was time to go back to reality. He slowly crept across his roof to the corner where he had propped up a ladder. He was swift and quiet. He knew didn't want to chance anyone seeing him even though he knew no one would. Once on the ground his bare feet curled slightly from the dampness of his lawn, he braced himself and carried the small ladder back into the garage.

He opened the door from his garage and stepped into the small hall room next to his kitchen. Once the door clicked shut behind him and he knew the coast was clear he relaxed and let his breath out. He knew that no one had seen him, but still.

He gently hummed as he moved into the kitchen and started to put away the dishes from the dishwasher. As the neighborhood woke up Double D glided around his house easily, delicate classical music playing from his iPod that sat in its speakers. He cleaned and reorganized, gently humming the tunes that floated around the house as he worked. He knew he would need to eat soon. Better to eat and then finish chores then to go hungry for another hour or so.

He went back to his kitchen, glancing at the clock and noting it was about six, he began to cook breakfast for himself. When he sat down in one of the chairs at six ten he heard the sounds of doors shutting and cars coming to life. He smiled softly to himself as he heard them all drive away. Knowing it was his pride that made him smile. Here he was, at eighteen, up and ready before most full grown adults were. He felt like an old woman, ripe with experience and maturity.

He shook his head and let the smile drop from his face. He cleaned up his plates and proceeded to go up to the bathroom. Once the door was shut he stripped down and turned on the hot water. Stepping into the spray he heaved a sigh of relief. The aching pain eased at the water's heat and he allowed himself to slowly crumple to the floor and let the spray bath him.

He sat there, on the warm wet tiles of his shower for a few minutes, letting everything swirl down the drain with the water before he reached over and grabbed his soap bar and began to scrub. The gentle scent of vanilla and roses and sugar wafted over him. He loved his soap, and he loved how it felt on his skin. Then again, since he handmade it himself, he should enjoy it.

After he finished scrubbing himself and washing his hair, he stood and shut the water off. Stepping out of the shower he was assaulted by the cold air of his bathroom. Shivering at the cold he quickly grabbed a towel and left the room. With his towel firmly wrapped around his chest, hiding everything from his chest to his thighs, he quietly and quickly made his way into his room.

Once in his own sanctuary he quickly dried himself off and pulled on his clothing, simple shorts and a shirt. Drying his hair as he went back into the bathroom, he pulled his beanie on and made sure everything was safely in place before hanging his towel up and pulling his dirty clothes off the floor and dumping them into the hamper for laundry day tomorrow.

He quietly made his way down the stairs, mentally going through his check list:

Lights off? Check.

Water shut off? Check.

Clothes put in the hamper? Check.

Room cleaned? Check.

Beanie? Check.

Once he was satisfied with his list he walked into the kitchen again and went straight to look at the calendar on the refrigerator. It was a warm summer's morning, so he had left the door open, with the screen closed as to keep bugs out, and the gentle breeze rustled the pages of the Parisian styled calendar. It was a Tuesday, Double D noticed with slight surprise. Had yesterday been a Monday? He really hadn't noticed much.

Life was less exciting without Ed or Eddy to see him as much. Double D sighed and turned away from the calendar, walking instead over to the table and taking a seat and staring down at the small notepad covered in notes his parents had left for him. Sticky notes had become obsolete, and this way, they saved paper, going through only about one notebook for every couple thousand sticky's. He quickly pulled out the pen from the small side clip on the notebook and began to scribble notes of his own, crossing out which chores had been done and which ones were going to take the longest.

But his heart and mind weren't really in it. He was barely paying attention to how his fingers skimmed across the pages and how the pen glided behind, leaving a clean delicate line at its trail. No, instead all he could think about was Ed, and Eddy. And how much he missed them.

It wasn't that they had gone anywhere, no they still lived thirty seconds away, Ed across the street and Eddy to the left. But, it was the fact that they had lives now. Eddy had finally been given a chance to prove his greed was of the law abiding kind, and now he worked as a junior clerk at the bank in River City, to which Peach Creek was only a suburb to, only fifteen minutes away by car, with traffic, and Ed was well…Ed worked at the local comic book store, making little children happy everyday with his dramatic child like ways.

They still saw each other, sure, at least three times a week, but for Double D…it was so lonely, those other times. But he couldn't say anything could he? They had just graduated from Peach Creek High. Yep, all three of them, plus all the other kids were fully grown, all eighteen. All done with high school. All done with Peach Creek. Only three months remained until they all went away to their separated destinies.

Sarah and Jimmy to nursing school all the way out in California, Nazz to New York City, for fashion along with Jonny and Plank, both planning on making it big in the artistic scene of the New York SoHo area. And then Rolf, who had decided that it was time he went back to his home country to run the family farm. Double D had made him promise to write, as they had grown a little closer over the last year, as Rolf had finally taken up his offer at English tutoring. And then Kevin….Edd trembled a little as he remembered that day…

Two years ago, they had all just graduated sophomore year. It had been a big party, not just the neighborhood but almost all the kids from their school. There had been booze and Edd had left immediately. It was only because he had taken out the trash later that night had he seen it.

Kevin had been showing off his new car, and some random drunk loser had scratched it with his keys. Kevin had gone in a rage, and beaten the poor kid. By the time Edd had called the police the poor kid was unconscious and Kevin had sobered up enough to know he was in deep shit.

He had been tested positive for alcohol and marijuana, a double whammy plus his beating up that poor kid. The last Edd had ever seen of him was his flame colored head being bent into the back of a police cruiser. And Edd had slowly melted back into the shadows of his house. Never speaking of it ever again….

He blinked away the memory. As far as he remembered Kevin should be back soon, his sentence had been 750 days in the River City Teenaged Detention, or the RCTD Facility. Edd remember all those days he had sent cookies over to Kevin's parents, trying very hard to help them adjust to this new life style, and they had done so, albeit not very easily, but they had done it. So that Kevin had a home to come back to. A life.

Edd smiled a bit at that, a life. He was the only teen in the cul-de-sac that didn't have any plans like they did. He was just…too scared. He rarely left the house anymore, it was too bright out there. Too scary. He liked how safe and quiet his house was, he like how the light was bright and cheerful, but not glaring and hot.

I do go out, sometimes….that's what I have Ed and Eddy for, he thought. He stood and picked up the small notebook and began to walk into the living room across the main entry hall, and began his list there.

It's not like I need to go out to do anything, the groceries get delivered right to the door and so does the mail. I do go out, I do! He thought to himself, his forehead crinkling with agitation. This was an old argument he had. It wasn't going to change because it was a Tuesday. He giggled a little to himself. He was being downright silly. So with another small chuckle, he pressed play on his iPod and began to waltz around his house doing chores. Content, and even, happy with staying shut up in here all alone, while his friends moved on with their lives outside.

AAA

Kevin had forgotten how hard his mother could hug. When the petite 37 year old redhead had cried his name out and launched her, and her 6 inch heels, into his arms, he found himself grinning like an idiot and laughing with his mother. Yes they must look like idiots standing in front of the RCTD laughing and talking away but he didn't care. He missed his mom.

She had always been a freer spirit, a perfect balance for his serious father. They had fallen in love in high school and had Kevin shortly after, after the wedding his mother had always said cheekily. But it was nice knowing that his parents would always love each other. And him. It had been so long since he had seen them. His 5"3 redheaded mother and his 6" blackette father. He towered over both now, standing firmly at 6"2.

The last two years had been hell for him. But he had made it, and he had made the muscles that went with the new street smarts and discipline. He was no longer the scrawny sixteen year old brat who had only football ego muscles and a pickled liver. No, now he was muscled and fit. There was nothing else to do inside that hellhole with food besides sit around and go crazy or workout. Kevin had chosen the latter.

After the hell he had endured during the last two years, all he wanted was to take his meager little duffel bag, get in the back of his dad's beat up F-150, go home and sleep in his own bed, and just remember what it was like to be normal.

After his mother had let go of him and stopped chatting his father stepped forward and pulled him into a bear hug and slapped him on the back a couple of times before letting go and letting out a shaky breath.

The three of them left the concrete entry of the giant gray building and headed over to the car. Once inside his mother started talking, and talking, and talking. Kevin couldn't believe at one point he had hated listening to his mother talk. He had forgotten how smart and funny she had been.

"…And all your old friends are getting ready to go off to college except for that nice Edward boy who lives across the street, you remember him Richard? He was the sweet boy that brought us all that delicious food from his mother? I wonder why we never see his anymore, I know he's still lives there and where are that boys parents? It's not right to leave their baby boy all alone all the time…." And once again she was off on a tangent rant about all the horrors of bad parenting.

Kevin turned his head to stare out the little side window as the highway flew by him. Resting his chin on his fist, he let his mind wander ahead to the little cul-de-sac. What would it be like, being back home? Would any of his friends want to see him? Would they even look at him? Kevin looked down to his duffel bag, almost seeing the small packet of letters that were sitting, opened and carefully refolded on top of his sneakers.

All in all there were about one hundred. One hundred letters in two years from his friends and parents. His mother had written about half of them. Once every two weeks without fail. And the rest were from Nazz and Rolf, a couple from Sarah and Jimmy, even one from….Plank.

He thought back to each letter, all the kids had mentioned their plans...Nazz and Johnny going to New York City to start their careers in fashion and art, Rolf going home to work on his family's farm. Sarah and Jimmy out to California for nursing school.

It seemed like they had all moved on. They hadn't forgotten Kevin, well, not in the fact that they knew his name and face, but they had forgotten that he was alive; they had replaced his space with other things, other plans.

He had known they would have. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt any less. Hell even the three dorks had moved on. His mother had told him the "tall nice one" now worked with her best friend's husband at the local comic book store, and that the "shorter tanner one" was their account manager at the bank.

Kevin almost snorted at that, Ed worked at a comic book store and Eddy had landed a job playing with other people's money at the bank. It was ironic how even the biggest dumbest losers in their neighborhood had somehow gotten their act together when Kevin was gone. But wait…the "tall one and the short one"….Where was….?

"Hey mom?" Kevin said; looking ahead into the rear view mirror trying to catch his mother's eye.

"Yes baby, what's up?" The shorter woman twisted around and focused her eyes on her son and smiled gently.

"What about the other one?"

"….Which other one?" She turned to her husband, "Richard? Which other one?" Her husband shrugged, and she rolled her eyes and scoffed before smiling back at Kevin, "what other one?"

"The other dor…I mean, Edward?" He looked at his mother, and watched her forehead crinkle a little and her eyes dart back a forth, her mouth silently repeating the words.

"Edward….oh, oh!" Her eyes brightened with understanding, "What about him sweetie?"

"Where's he going to school? Where does he work?" Kevin didn't know why it mattered, but it kinda did. Closure maybe.

"Oh he isn't going." She saw his confusion, "to college dear, or work, I don't think he has a job, I never see him leave the house."

"But he's like the smartest person…ever." This didn't see right, that dork had always been reading or spouting some sort of college advanced material. Hell he had been able to turn just about anything into a fully functioning machine.

"I know, and it's such a waste for him just to stay home all the time. I think he might even be agoraphobic. You know? Marcy Johnston had that for a while, remember Richard? Oh poor thing couldn't leave her house to save her life; she was terrified of the outside." She shook her head sadly and then flipped back around to stare forward and continued on the horrors of Marcy Johnston.

Kevin let his head fall back onto the head rest of his seat and closed his eyes. He didn't understand what was wrong with him. This wasn't a normal feeling. This feeling of anger and pity and a tinge of guilt. What? It's not like it's my fault the dork doesn't leave his house. But why the hell isn't he going to college? That was all he talked about was going off to Harvard….Ahhh who cares? I just wanna go home and sleep.

And so he closed his eyes and let his thoughts drift away from the Eds and back onto his home, his room, his life. The freedom of his life slowly wrapped him up in its warm arms and gently pulled him to a state of dazed unawareness.

Too soon he heard the car slow and the engine turn off. He blinked his eyes open and looked out to see his mother gently unbuckling his seat belt. He cleared his throat and she looked up at him and smiled, pulling him into another hug before ushering him inside the house.

He passed through the kitchen and smiled gently remember all the little details. He found the stairs and took them slowly, his hand grazing the wall softly. He dragged his duffel to his room and gently closed the door behind him. He knew his parents would understand. He looked around his room and sighed. Finally he relaxed completely. He was home. And he was free.

He walked over to the window and looked down into the small cul-de-sac. The late afternoon sun cast orange and red shadows over the houses and the June air hung lazily, drifting around, strong enough to only carry the butterflies and the bees.

Kevin sighed and cracked his window open, the fresh air streaming through, he inhaled long and hard. Shuddering he let the breath out, it smelled and tasted amazing. Nothing compared to the sweet taste of freedom. He pulled his shirt off in one fluid motion and pulled his pants and boxers down with them. Once fully nude, he fell face first onto his bed. Crawling underneath his slate gray sheets he laid his head on the pillow and closed his eyes. He was asleep within a minute.

AAAAA

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xoxo