Eddsworld Ecstasy

Growing Frustration

Edd shuffles about his apartment, packing up what little is left. The whole place is bare, a shell of the personality that once was inside of it, but as much as he'd miss this place, Edd wouldn't want to be cooped up here for the rest of his life. It's small, and despite what he tried, living here felt empty. It was like there hadn't been a single fight with a deadly threat since he'd moved in, and that's a tragedy to the green hooded thrill-seeker. When was that? Almost a year ago at this point? It's not that long ago, the smouldering building is still fresh in his mind. He supposes his lack of action is partially because he's been cooped up this whole time. Going outside felt... unsafe, for some reason. But now he'll be fine. In fact, he's so completely fine that he refuses to think about it! He's moving back into a real house again(hopefully), and that's great! He's just about finished, each box beside him marked with its contents. There's one for his Cola, one for his art supplies(really just old paints, he hadn't bought any new supplies in a while), one for his Cola, one for cat toys, a small one for his couch, a big one for his Cola, and, of course, the one he's packing now. He finally stuffs the items in, taping the box shut with a relieved sigh. He takes his marker and writes 'Cola (empty)' on it, smiling. He grabs the only unpacked item in his room, a half-finished Cola, but as he's drinking it, he hears someone walk in. Edd turns to see a medium build brown-haired man, brows firmly downward and grimace matching, someone he hadn't seen before. Despite this, he looks less than excited to see him, and Edd can only harbour a guess as to why. Really, he's fun to be around, it's his friends who convinced him not to install a bowling alley on their floor(which he's sure everyone below him would've loved). It's not like anyone else owned an apartment on this level, Tom rented out the whole space with what used to be their university fund. He could think of no conceivable reason why everyone here hated him so much.

"Hey. Do you live here?" The man crosses his arms as he speaks, almost as if he's caught Edd in the act. Edd drinks the rest of the pop in his hands, then gives a know-it-all smirk as he throws it to the side.

"Not anymore," he seems proud of himself as he picks up all his packages.

"Yeah, well, we keep getting complaints about empty Cola cans all over the-" Suddenly, the employee gets knocked over as Edd pushes him out of the way, running down the hall to the elevator.

"It wasn't me!" Edd yells behind him.

"Then why are you running?!" The employee yells back.

Edd looks over his shoulder as he presses the elevator button, "because I'm lying." And the doors shut in front of him, taking him down below.

The doors open again, and Edd lugs all his boxes to the front desk, putting down one of them with his room key. The woman at the desk takes both, but as she realises the box is full of Edd's empty cans, her frown goes even lower. Though, Edd isn't there to see it, already all the way to his car and shoving everything into the trunk. It's great how, despite everything they'd gone through, this car is still in relatively good shape. The sleek red metal reflects Edd's face, wobbly but without dirt or grime. He's got the last box in just when he sees his friends walking toward him. Matt is typing something on his phone, orange-ish highlights against his face as the sun reflects its light on his hair. He seems annoyed by this, trying to block it with his hand, which is half-covered with his hoodie sleeve hooked over his thumb. The other figure Edd guesses is Tom, but it's hard to tell behind the mound of boxes they're holding.

"Woah, Tom, you're packin' a lot," Edd chuckles as Tom shifts a bit to show their face. They look at him as if it's ridiculous for him to think the items belong to them.

"What?! This isn't my stuff! It's Matt's!" Tom says, moving to the trunk to dump Matt's things in.

"Oh.. " Edd watches with a confused look as they go past. "How.. Obvious??" He turns to Matt with an accusing finger, "Matt, hand it over. Whatever you're blackmailing them with."