A/N: Well, well, I figured I owed it to my delighted readers that I get a chapter out during the weekend. :) You’ve cried for a bit at Double D’s predicament, but here’s where things start to change. Time to start focusing on the other side of the yet-to-be- couple! So, yes, here’s where the yaoi goodness starts. Like I’ve always said, you don’t like it, you don’t read it. You crazy-ass flamers. XP To everyone else, please, read on!

Chapter 3: A True Lover’s Kiss

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Series of rain clouds seemed to have come in overnight, as the next morning, Peach Creek residents woke up to light drizzles that were predicted to last for the next week. As Edd would commonly put it, “Summer rains: you can never predict them.”

In effect, the rain only proved to motivate the children of the cul-de-sac to make time to visit the hospital that day. However, due to various chores they each had, they couldn’t all go together as a group, but they could certainly drop by at some point on their own time to pay respects. And most brought more than just condolences.

The first was the young duo of Sarah and Jimmy. The latter left a plate of home-baked cookies with a set of napkins, and the former reached over and carefully gave Edd a get-well-soon hug. She admitted that it felt nice to hug him when he wasn’t squirming or running in sheer terror.

Rolf left a chalice of his specialty, candied beets, and more prayers, calling nearly all the deities of his homeland to come protect the Ed-boy in his time of need. Jonny really only tagged along to watch the odd rituals, but he left behind a gift of his own: a whimsical smile made of acorns glued on recycled cardboard.

“It was Plank’s idea, the big softie.”

Nazz took Kevin with her to leave a much more personal gift, placing him beloved camera on the bedside table with all the other gifts.

“My dad’s a junkyard worker, y’know?” she explained to him, confident that he could hear her. “When he took your car in, he found it completely intact in the back seat. Look, we even got the film developed for you. They’re nice pictures; you could go really far with photography, Double D… I just hope you get a chance to.”

Before leaving, Nazz also left a sweet kiss on his unmarked cheek. Kevin groaned at this, but she was too caught up in her emotions to notice.

Oddly, no one saw Ed or Eddy leave for their own trip to the hospital until around 8 ‘o clock, when the rain was coming down heavy, an appropriate way to end an overall gloomy day. Many wondered why they waited so long, until Sarah found a note left by her brother on his bedroom door, one that was identical to the one Eddy left for his parents.

Gon to the hospitale. Finiched all my chorez. Wont be back til tomorow.

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A couple hours later, the two were sitting in the same room as the night before, Ed to the right of the bed holding their dear friend, and Eddy to the left. Their raincoats and boots sat at the doorway to dry, and the rain battered the nearby window relentlessly. Its pitter-patter, accompanied by a soft beeping from a source not yet identified, was the only noise that broke the silence.

It felt… weird. Usually by now, Edd would’ve surely struck up some sort of conversation to chase the unnerving quietness away. Eddy always knew him as a blabbermouth who rarely turned off; at one point, he theorized that Double D had an innate fear of silence, a claim that was instantly denied and followed by a lecture on how tranquiphobia was no laughing matter. However, the other hypothesis, suggesting that his mouth would seal up if he didn’t stop talking, got laughs all around, and a gullible Ed spent the entire day double-checking his mouth whenever he grew quiet. Good times.

But now… a near-suffocating silence had settled in, and Edd wasn’t about to break it anytime soon.

It didn’t seem to bug Ed, who was content with staring at Edd and holding his hand. Eddy, on the other hand, was being driven to near-madness. He came close to announcing his boredom, but he stopped himself, as he knew deeply that would do nothing but insult the very reason they were here in the first place.

After all, it wasn’t Edd’s fault that he was rendered speechless. He wasn’t the one who caused the accident that left him comatose and shattered the security of a once-safe neighborhood.

“…Hey, Ed.”

He looked up quickly, as if just remembering Eddy was there. “Huh?”

“You think they caught that drunk driver yet?”

“Drunk driver…?”

“Y’know, the one that crashed into Double D’s car.”

“Oh…” Ed shrugged. “I’unno.”

“…Huh.” All of the sudden, Eddy grew thoughtful without even realizing it. “…I bet if we could find the car, we could find him too.”

“…”

“It’s gotta be pretty beat up, but it’ll have to be tough if it managed to drive away…” he mused, leaning back in his chair. “Maybe a Buick or something… Someone might’ve seen the license plate number too…”

“…Eddy?”

“What?”

“How would finding him help Double D?”

That immediately snapped Eddy out of his thoughts, and the one-sided discussion was over. He quietly wondered where Ed was pulling out all these simple, convincing arguments from, and how every single one of them seemed to shut his up nice and quick.

Growing anxious again, Eddy searched for something to talk about. “So… you hear that, Ed?”

“…hear what?”

“That beeping noise. What is that?”

“I think it’s coming from that,” he pointed towards a machine behind Eddy, one with a dark screen filled with numbers and a thin line. With every beep, the line trembled, creating a peak and moving on until the next one.

“This doohickey?” Eddy got up to inspect it. “What’s it do?”

“I’ve seen them on TV,” Ed explained. “I think it’s called a… ‘heart monitor?’ The beeping is each heartbeat, and when the heart stops, the line goes flat and goes beeeeeeeeee…”

“Hey, cut that out!” Eddy nervously shushed, hoping not to jinx anything. “So… that beeping is Double D’s heart?”

“Uh-huh,” Ed nodded, glancing at Edd again. “…I like hearing real heartbeats, though…”

“Mmm.” Eddy turned back to find his pal clambering onto the bedside. “Ed, what’re you doing?”

“I wanna hear Double D’s heart up close.”

Eddy blanked for a second. Man, he chose the weirdest friends. “…whatever. Just don’t hurt him, alright?”

“I know.” Carefully, Ed settled his head upon Edd’s slender chest, shifting slightly until he found it. “Ooh! I can hear it, Eddy! Double D’s heart is talking to me!”

Eddy rolled his eyes, grinning. “What’s it telling you, huh, Ed?”

“Ba-dump… Ba-dump… Ba-dump…” Ed giggled and leaned closer, a big gleeful smile on his face. “Kinda like a song… it’s singing to me, Eddy!”

Now Eddy was starting to get creeped out. “Alright, Flat-head, you don’t wanna crush Double D, do ya?”

Ed gasped, quickly getting up and leaning back into his chair. “…no. I don’t.”

“That’s what I thought.” After a minute or two, Eddy glanced at the clock. “Aw, man, only 11:30?” It was gonna be a long night. He yawned hugely and leaned on the bedside, ready to fall asleep.

“…Eddy?”

“What now, Ed?” he replied tiredly.

“Double D reminds me of Princess Bianca from Wrath of the 40-Winks Wizard.”

Eddy looked up at him sharply. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s a movie I saw.” Ed sat up to explain raptly. “See, this evil warlock took over kingdoms by putting the royal family into a deep sleep with his spell, then exhausting the land of its resources for his own gains before moving on to the next kingdom. But in Roseland, the Princess Bianca is in love with the knight Sir Lloyd, so when the warlock comes and puts the royals to sleep, Lloyd finds Bianca and wakes her up with a true lover’s kiss to break the spell, and together they defeat the warlock and save the kingdom!” He sighed. “It’s such a nice movie…”

“…and how exactly does Double D remind you of all that?”

Ed grew thoughtful as he gazed at Edd. “‘Cause… he looks like Bianca when she’s asleep… waiting for… her true lover’s kiss…”

“Jeez, how sappy can you get?” Eddy moaned. “Look, Ed, it’s 11:30 at night, so why don’t you get some sleep?”

“I will…”

“Whatever…” Before he knew it, Eddy had found his comfortable spot and dozed off.

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With his talkative chum asleep, Ed was left alone to his own thoughts, running around blindly in his suddenly active brain. With the story of Bianca and Lloyd fresh in his mind, he found himself unable to tear his gaze away from a slumbering Edd, grasping his hand tightly.

A song by his heart was nice, but Ed wanted to hear him sing a melody, just like Bianca did while the minstrels played, enchanting Lloyd to no end with her heavenly voice. He may have been a blabbermouth, but Ed had to admit, whenever Double D wasn’t stressing out or lecturing, but instead expressing concern or appreciation for the interest of the day, his alto voice did have a musical tone to it. Ed remembered being in pure bliss whenever he hummed a delightful ditty, especially when he was organizing his files or examining his insects.

All of the sudden, Edd’s silent demeanor broke Ed’s heart in two. All he wanted now was for his buddy to wake up from his deep sleep so he could hear his lovely voice and see his dazzling smile again.

Ed paused when he realized that was the same line Sir Lloyd used when expressing his love for Bianca. Did that mean that he also…?

When he glanced at Edd, he deeply knew it to be true. There was no denying it.

Then maybe… it could work for them too.

Ed hesitated at first, unsure of how exactly to pull it off or whether it was the right thing to do. He thought back to that scene in the movie, trying to remember how Lloyd did it, but he saw that so long ago; how could he possibly remember?

Then the vision of his dear friend appeared, beaming brilliantly. That image was the broom that swept the dustballs of doubt away completely from his mind.

Knowing it had to be done, whether it worked or not, Ed cautiously climbed into the bed, making sure not to disturb Eddy from his sleep, and leaned down beside Edd. He took a moment to admire his… bewitching features up close, then shook himself, reminding him of his objective, and shut his eyes.

Very gently, as if Edd was the most delicate creature in the world, Ed pressed his lips onto his visage of perfection, his adorable little Double D, almost shyly, as if fearing a reaction. Of course, he received none from the other, but he himself seemed to undergo a furious response; he began to tremble as a warm charge cycled all throughout his body, and it came out in the form of fresh tears, tears he realized were not of sadness, but of another raw emotion he couldn’t explain. Al he knew was that it felt so goshdarn good, and he didn’t want it to end.

Soon, his instinct told him that he had to do more than just keep their lips pushed together, and the wondrous sensation wavered for a second until he deepened it, massaging his lips tenderly against his partner’s. The experience was incredibly intoxicating for his newly-awakened senses, unable to fathom how this little piece of heaven had been standing next to him all these years.

Finally, Ed knew he had to pull away sooner or later, and he did so very reluctantly, wiping his eyes dry. Then he sat there and waited.

But nothing happened.

Heavily disappointed, Ed slithered back into his chair, taking Edd’s hand again. The gesture was beautiful, but reality struck it down, as well as all his hopes.

Wait… was that his imagination? For a second, Ed thought he saw Edd stir, but he still looked the same, so it was probably a trick of light.

But then something else happened, something he couldn’t have possibly been imagining. He glanced down at his hand to at last find Edd’s hand squeezing back.

Instantly, Ed’s heart took off like a jet plane, and he beamed from ear to ear, watching as Edd’s eyelids scrunched up groggily, his head straightening up and a feeble, barely audible groan vibrating in his throat.

“Eddy! EDDY!” Ed viciously shook his awake. “Double D’s waking up!”

Eddy’s eyes snapped open. “Seriously?”

The excited duo watched with much anticipation as Edd moaned, seeming to awaken from a nightmare. They held their breath for one agonizing second…

…and after an entire day of fear and heartache, Eddward finally opened his eyes.

They were clouded from sleep at first, but with a few flutters, he blinked the fatigue away, and they retained the bright glow they were known for. Confused, he found himself awakening to the faces of his two best friends in the whole wide world, noting the oncoming tears glittering in both their eyes.

“…unh… E-Ed…? Eddy…?”

Ed blubbered incoherently, then lost it and threw himself on top of him in an embrace, sobbing happily.

“Oof! Ed!”

“DOUBLE D!” he wailed, squeezing tighter. “YOU’RE AWAKE!”

Dumbfounded, Edd shot Eddy an astounded glance, who subtly wiped his tears away to save face, grinning.

“Welcome back to the world of the living, Sockhead.”

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A/N: See? I told ya things would get better! Hooray! And we got some one-sided yaoi action to boot! Awesome! Now with the depressing part out of the way comes the fun! Review and watch out for the next chappie!