Sickness

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy or it's characters.

Chapter 6,

A loud sound from the television woke up Kevin. He groaned and rubbed his eyes with his right hand. Kevin lifted his heavy head and noticed a black hat on his chest. Kevin tried to sit up, but he found that difficult with the extra weight on his body. It was then that Kevin remembered where he was and why.

"Oh, Edd." Kevin said with a yawn. Kevin gasped at the booming sound of a grandfather clock echoing from unknown source.

"One. Two. Three. Four... man, it's 4 in the morning?" Kevin breathed out. No wonder he was so tired. Kevin yawned again, this time forcing his eyes to water for some reason.

He looked down at the dork on top of him and stared at the sick boy. Somehow, as they slept, Kevin managed to lay down on the couch; Edd had even managed to lay between Kevin's legs and was hugging Kevin tenderly. If Kevin wasn't exhausted, he might have been embarrassed at this situation.

But since he was so groggy, Kevin simply stared at the brainiac. He watched the way Edd's back moved as he breathed, and the way Edd's eyes moved back and forth as he dreamt and the way Edd's hat was pushed back to reveal-

"The heck is that?" Kevin whispered as he brushed his fingers across the circular device in Edd's head.

"Ugh, forget it. I'm too tired to figure that out." Kevin said, positioning Edd's hat back to it's correct location. Kevin took a small breath and gently pushed Edd off of him. This was an easy task for Kevin, since Edd was so light, but the disappointed grumbles Edd made caused Kevin to feel bad.

"You dork." Kevin said softly as he gazed at the whimpering genius. Kevin gently reached down and caressed the pale boy's face. Edd quickly relaxed at the jock's touch; a small contented sigh leaving his lips. Kevin's breath hitches and his face grew really warm, so he pulled his hand back. He looked around the dark room, allowing his eyes to fall on everything but the dark-haired boy on the couch. Eventually Kevin saw his hat on the floor. With a sigh, Kevin went over to it and scooped it up.

"Oh! Mistake! Big mistake." Kevin winced at the throbbing pain in his head. He pressed up against the wall, and bit his lip to avoid groaning. He took a few breaths to help himself to relax. After a moment, Kevin felt the pain subsiding and he slid down the wall. He was panting and part of him wondered why he felt such pain to begin with.

"Where the heck did that come from?" Kevin asked. He sat there, in silence, thinking about what has happened today. Mostly because it was the first time he was really forced to slow down and think about it. He has come over to Edd's house, fed him, cared for him, stayed with him when Edd wanted him to stay. He didn't really understand it, but seeing Edd sick like that, made Kevin feel weird.

"It was just Nazz's voice in my head." Kevin whispered to himself. But was that really true? Was he only interested in helping Edd because it was something Nazz would make him do? Or was it possible that he wanted to help Edd because he simply wanted Edd to be well again?

"It's way too true to be dealing with psychological behavior and subconscious motivation." Kevin groaned and he carefully stood up. He wasn't exactly sure how he was gonna have the strength to carry Edd up the stairs and then walk all the way back to the couch so he could sleep. It didn't really matter through. Edd was the one who was sick, and he needed to sleep in his own bed.

"Kevin?" Edd whimpered and Kevin walked over to him.

"Hey, do you have a sleeping-... Edd?" Kevin quickly realized that Edd was still asleep.

"Kevin..." Edd said again, his face briefly looking scared. Kevin knee this had to have been a nightmare. And since Edd was saying his name, it made sense that Edd was dreaming about Kevin hurting him in some way.

"I'm not gonna hurt you dork." Kevin said. He crouched down and gently ran his knuckles up and down Edd's cheek. The genius seemed to relax at the touch; his whimpering ceased and his expression calmed. It hurt Kevin to think that he was the object of fear in Edd's mind. It made sense, of course. He's had little patience for the Eds and what they've done. Though Eddy deserved it most of the time, he didn't think that Edd was really scared of him. Kevin yawned shamelessly and he gently picked Edd up. Though Edd weighed the same as a box of paper clips, Kevin found himself swaying at the added weight.

"We both need sleep." Kevin said softly and he took a deep to steady his groggy state. He walked up the stairs carefully to ensure that he didn't drop Edd or fall down the stairs. By the time he got Edd's room, Kevin's eyes were sore and vibrating with the desire to sleep.

"When did Edd have time to pull the sheets back on the back?" Kevin questioned. How much of a neat freak do you need to be, to fix the bed while you were sick? For a moment, Kevin stared at the bed. Simply thinking of the best way to tuck Edd in. Finally frustrated at all the thinking on his dead brain, he lifted Edd up into the air by one hand. He used the other hand to pull back the sheets completely. Then with relative ease, Kevin laid Edd down and put the blankets over his body.

"There." Kevin said annoyed. He plopped down on the chair he used before. Kevin paused for a moment to collect his energy, and he stared at Edd.

"Of course you're scared of me. How could I ever entertain the idea that you loved me." Kevin muttered, mostly angry at himself. Of course Edd didn't love him; but why should he care? He was gonna win over Nazz, and make the whole curl-de-sac jealous. At least that's what Kevin was telling himself, when he started to fall asleep again.

"Kevin..." He heard a voice cry weakly. The redhead lifted his heavy head and looked at the sick boy. The boy in bed was whimpering and tears were rolling down his face.

"Kevin..." Edd pleases again.

"Kevin?" The redhead asked. He looked over at the door, briefly waiting for this Kevin to show up. Then the boy remembered that was his name. Kevin forced himself to stand up, even though he nearly toppled over.

"I'm here." Kevin whispered as he gently whipped the tears off of Edd's face. In desperation, Edd reached out and grabbed Kevin's hand. Without really thinking about it, Kevin crawled into bed with Edd.

"I'm not going anywhere." Kevin whispered; hugging Edd and running his hand up and down Edd's back to calm him down.

"I won't let anything hurt you." Kevin said. He wasn't sure if it was the embrace, or his words, or the petting, but Edd stopped his crying and whimpering.

"Kevin." Edd mewled out, returning Kevin's hug and Kevin smiled.

"Heh, I'm not all bad, dork. Here, look..." Kevin said softly before he leaned in and captured Edd's lips in a sweet kiss. They kissed, only long enough for Edd to push against Kevin, before the jock pulled away. He closed his exhausted eyes.

"Sometimes I can be gentle too." Kevin said. If his eyes weren't in such physical pain, Kevin would have seen the blush form on Edd's face. He would have seen Edd's eyes open, unsure if what they did really happened. But he heard Edd yawn.

"Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy." Edd whispered and Kevin scoffed.

"Me too." Kevin muttered. Almost immediately the boys fell asleep in each other's arms. Neither of them 100% sure how much was a dream and what was reality. But that was really a problem for the morning.