I stared at my alarm clock with a vague sense of what would occur next. If my calculations were correct, the clock would chime off its alarm in thirty seconds. I was unsure whether or not I wanted to be correct in this instance, as the implications were horrible to process. The implications-

"Good morning listeners to the six A.M. station that brings to Peach Creek all the scientific commotion across the nation! It's the-" A tap from my hand silenced the station that, if this was a normal situation, I would listen to its content for fifteen minutes, pondering whatever its hosts discussed, and would note whether I wanted to listen to the remainder through the computer or not. Unfortunately I would be unable to enjoy my morning routine for I kept myself awake for most of the night.

"Now Eddward, while I understand why you would want to help your friends-"

"Friends we never heard of, might I add."

"Honey do not interrupt me from my bullet points. Now then, while I understand why you would want to help your friends, your mother is right when bringing to our attention that we have never heard of these friends. Friends that encouraged you to stay out later than you have ever requested from us. Should we expect to change your curfew to ten?"

"I do not think an extension to my curfew is necessary father. I will ensure that this does not happen again."

"We aren't saying that you cannot stay out past curfew or anything Eddward. I just want to know, hmm, if you understand the essentials about procreating with another human."

"Mother! The thought has not even occurred to even think of the Kankers as. What I mean to address first is that yes I understand the ceremony of sex."

"Oh how vulgar of a word to use Eddward. I never thought I would hear you say that adult word with such a normal, casual tone. One would assume that you have thought of sex before this conversation. Must I add a bullet point to my sticky notes to see how much you researched from your personal computer?"

"No you do not need to do that father!"

The echoes of my parents' laughter was the last thing I recalled from last night before I sat up from my bed. The more I allowed last night's conversation to resonate my insecurities, the less I will be able to focus on whatever will come my way today. A sniff of the nose told me that I forgot to shower before going to bed. A problem that I could easily correct by grabbing a prepared set of clothes from my dresser and hurried to the shower. The burst of cold water that slapped my naked frame helped jolt some of my senses back to normal. Senses that helped bring to my attention that I was unsure what I would do for the day.

Would I try and seek out Ed and Eddy to gather information about what they did yesterday? There were advantages to seeking them out to help fill in some blanks with what excuse I could give them about the scam and the lack of money. I also did not want to leave the house out of embarrassment of what happened between me and my parents. Though it was illogical, I had a feeling that the entire Cul-De-Sac knew of what happened with how loud my parents were last night. The last thing I wanted to do would be to step outside to a paparazzi of my peers wanting to know why I was hanging with the Kankers, or walking with Lee by myself in the dark. If there was one thing I knew about the peers in Peach Creek, it was that most of them were not as forgiving as they would like you to think. They would hold grudges for what seemed to be the passing of entire seasons and their moods matching the general weather of said seasons.

I could stay home and recuperate from yesterday's adventure. I knew how to fake a cold that would get Ed and Eddy to leave me alone. If I added the idea of doing my homework as a way to pass the time, both would be quick to find something else to do. While I would have most of the day to myself, a day which would be filled with me quickly completing chores, I could ponder the day like one of Ed's filler episodes in the Dragonball Z series he watched every Saturday. The time would be valuable for my brain to relax; however, isolation was a dangerous enemy for one plagued with mental conflict. Would being alone drown me in exhaustion due to trying to think about everything that happened between me and the Kankers? Which presents me with the third option I could partake.

I could visit the Kanker sisters with a morning gift, something to thank them for feeding me when they did not have to, proceed to help Marie with her fish tank, and help them with any other issues they might have. An issue such as Lee withholding what her question could be. The fog from the shower brought an image of me bring pressed against Lee and the tree last night. An image that made me stumble out of the shower and roll up against the bathroom door in confusion. I rarely had shower slips like that.

"Then again it is not every day I think of me being in new experiences with a girl of all anomalies." I mumbled before taking a quick rinse in the shower to get off anything my rolling might have picked up. Brushing my teeth and getting dressed, thankfully, were uneventful and allowed me to proceed with my routine of making myself breakfast. Strips of bacon surrounded three pancakes that had diced strawberries decorating the top of the fluffy cakes. As I added the syrup to my breakfast, I realized that the breakfast was much larger than I would normally make. A quick survey of the stove and sink confirmed that there would be more pancakes and bacon to eat over the next few days.

A light tap caught my attention. A sound that I never heard before. Not so much the idea of a tap, but the lightness that came from the action. Like a puff of air that came from someone turning away quickly. Had someone, or something, walked away and bumped into the house? Against my stomach begging for me to ignore the curiosity my brain created and to focus on the delicious food before it, I walked up to the front door and opened it. Before my eyes was someone I was not expecting for various reasons. The act of turning away was too innocent for their normally bold nature. They were normally loud with announcing their presence, leaving the act of being so light footed being unusual. Regardless, the sight of them widening their eyes and facing me so quick that their hair slapped their face was amusing.

"Well this is a surprise. Would you like to come in May? I just finished making breakfast." The blonde had a surprised expression that shifted to an apologetic one.

"No thanks Double D. I have to, um, go find something I forgot!"

"Are you sure? It looks to me that you have something on your mind that you would like to talk about." May's gaze, unable to stand tall with my eyes, moved to the ground. The manner which her right leg shifted showed how nervous she was, creating a loud shuffling noise that made me realize that she had a backpack on. Considering it was not a school day, the sight was unusual. May looked at me after a few moments and gave me a nod.

"Thanks for inviting me in Double D." I moved aside to let her in, being subtle in my gaze of her movements into my home. She looked surprised at the state of the interior as she slowly walked towards the open kitchen. Had she been inside my house before? I took a quick survey of the front yard before locking the door. It never failed to be cautious of observers or hidden individuals after all. I hurried to the kitchen and pulled out a chair for May, who thanked me before taking a seat. As I prepared her a plate of pancakes, which she wanted two with a hefty amount of bacon, I could not keep myself from noticing that she kept on looking at the yellow flags of words that surrounded parts of my house. "I see you are interested in the sticky notes?"

"Ah!" She turned to me with a blush on her face. "I'm sorry for being rude Double D. I'm sure that, uh, this is some sort of system for you."

"My parents' system actually." I sat down and began to cut into my pancakes. Oh how delicious they smelled. "Since both work long hours they leave sticky notes around the house for me to find. Some of them have chores on them while a majority simply say words of encouragement, jokes, or something weird to confuse me." May, who was taking bites from some bacon, paused and slowly chewed her latest bite before placing the strip down. Had I said something odd?

"When you say long hours, does that mean you don't see them often Double D?" I nodded, unsure as to if I should give out more details to May. Not only was our friendship (a word that made me feel weird to say in relation to a Kanker) on shaky ground, but I did not want my parents' work schedule somehow being used against me by Marie. Lord knows what she would attempt with that information. "Our ma is the same way. She works long hours and we rarely see her because of it since she has to pay for plenty of bills. But we Kankers are strong and have each other!"

Well that tidbit of information was important to getting a better understating of the Kanker family. Was there no father involved directly? If so, then did he get divorced by the Kanker's mother? The other bit of information I knew about their mother was that she either liked the classic Iron Man series or Iron Man as a whole due to Lee and Marie commenting about her 'original Iron Man number one figure' yesterday. A slight itch made me aware that I might have been quiet for too long (twenty seconds perhaps) and sought to fill the silence with a reply.

"The bond of you sisters is indeed very strong. I can recall several times that the kids have tried to get you three to fight each other and fail each time."

"Only for you Eds to be the ones to make us fight each other over and over. Usually over you of course!" May laughed loud at herself. Though I found it awkward as a topic, considering how ruthless the Kankers are when it came to hunting us Eds, I decided to take the polite route and laughed with her. Hopefully my laugh was not the awkward, nervous one I released when I was normally around a Kanker. We went back to eating our breakfast, making light conversation about school, homework, and yesterday's events at the pet store. When I tried to bring up her home she became nervous about talking about it further. An odd reaction that was second to her looking down at her backpack when I tried to bring up Galactic Greg's store.

Ah, so the backpack must have the comics in them. Did she not like them whatsoever?

"Did you bring the comics over?" May jumped in her chair. It was rare for me to be so direct to a person, let alone someone of the female gender. Mother instructed me that girls were delicate during my age and should not be handled like a male. Then again mother was an investigator and had to deal with so many different types of people it was possible that her advice got mixed around. The Kankers, for example, were not the delicate sort. Rather than answer me right away, May opened her backpack and pulled out every comic she bought yesterday. Though it was expected, what made him intrigued by her action was that she was separating them into three stacks.

"The big stack are comics I do not like, the smallest stack I do like, and the last stack are comics I am unsure if I will like them past the first comic. Most of them felt like they lacked direction, though I did not like the art style or a particular person in the comic." I flipped through some of the comics from the largest stack and took notice of some of the titles. De-Vamped Vampire, It Came from the Back Side, Mystic Revolution, and a few others I did not like were in the stack. I was surprised to see a few that I thought she would like for one reason or another, yet I paused at a particular volume.

"I admit I am a bit saddened that you did not like Megatokyo. I found the growth in its artwork, characters, and the story line to be enjoyable. The vast differences between American and Japanese culture, the expectations between the two, and the different focuses on actresses was-"

"Wait wait wait!" May plucked the comic in question from my hands. "Megatokyo has actresses in it?" A light bulb turned on above my head. At least, that is the sensation I felt after May said those words.

"Oh yeah you like the idea of being an actress right Super May?" I did not know what made me tease May with Lee's nickname for the blonde. It was such an unusual action for me that I felt myself blush. Fortunately for me I was not the only one blushing. "Ahem, yeah there are two characters that deal with being major actresses in one way or another. A third character if you count different personalities as acting, but I will not spoil anything for you." As if hypnotized by an illusionist May yanked the comic from my hand and began flipping through the pages with newfound vigor. She would stop for a moment or two to stare at a page before continuing on her wordless journey. I took this time to look through more comics she did not like to see if any could be salvaged based on what I knew of her interests that were not Ed focused.

This would change to looking through the other stacks. A small routine formed between me and May where I would ask her something about an aspect of one of the comics. She would glance at the cover, flip some pages, and would comment on her opinion on them. I would read the comic, make my own comments, and we would talk about the content for a few minutes before repeating the process on the next comic of my interest. This was ultimately all up to May to figure out what she liked, yet I felt like I was learning more about May through this activity. Though the medium of our topic was unusual, seeing as I rarely discussed comics with anyone except Ed, I found myself enjoying talking to such lengths about comics with May.

By the time we finished going through all of her comics there was not a grain of pancake, bacon, or strawberries left from breakfast anywhere. Our plates were clean, our bellies filled, and the stacks of comics had shifted around to two piles. May had, instead of having an unsure pile, merged it with the stack she would be keeping, which towered over the stack she would not keep. With every comic looked through, May placed the ones she would be keeping in her backpack, leaving the others on the table with uncertainty. As I grabbed our dishes to start the process of having them soak, she flipped through the unwanted comics like a child trying to enthuse themselves with a boring toy. I tried to think of me having a use of the comics so she would not have to take them back home with her, but I could not think of anything. Ed had a copy of the comics in the stack. Eddy did not care for this type of reading material, so he was out as a candidate. That left some options that would still have wasted her money (recycling them, throwing them away, or leaving them alone until she found someone to give them to) on their purchase.

"Thanks for helping me out Double D! I don't think I would have thought of anything you brought up to me if I kept on thinking about this on my own."

I am always happy to be of help May." As I placed the last of the dishes in the strainer to dry, I began to think of if I wanted to go over to the Kanker home to continue working on the fish tank or to quickly look around the house for whatever chores my parents gave me. Of course staying home also meant working on my projects before joining society. A loud, terrifying sound made me and May jump from our spots. What was that noise?

"DOUBLE D OPEN UP!"

-Author Note-

Long time no see readers! I apologize for the long wait, but I was, until recently, living in a location that kept me isolated from every source of wireless internet. While the circumstances were difficult, it gave me some time to think of my goals as a Fanfiction writer, an individual with needs of my own, and as a human who will soon become a father. The circumstances has certainly given me some inspiration as to what I want to write in terms of Fan work and original ideas. But that is enough about my personal life. Let us get to what everyone wanted to read!

I am glad to see so many people enjoying this story. Writing in first person is difficult, especially for a character who I constantly put above my own intelligence. I find myself slipping between first and third person while writing this chapter, saying things such as 'Wait, if he was to be more intrusive with May and her backpack, then she might just flee or become angry and respond with violence. She is the more stable Kanker sister, something he knows on some level. But the question is does he know this from his own experience or due to me feeding the instinctive knowledge to him?' As soon as I began writing this chapter with internet at my fingertips I went to the reviews and looked at a few that always gave me inspiration. BarthVader, for example, with his feedback about the first person perspective I was taking while keeping Edd and the Kanker sisters in character is a reminder to me that every character starts from a foundation that I can shift however I please. Yet I am to always pay respect to the foundation, otherwise what I build up will not stand on its own.

That is not to say that I do not review over other comments. I read them multiple times as a source of inspiration and to ponder ideas for future content. The Engineer3100, Skater1ooo, SilentFan493, and Psudocode Samurai are just a few from the last chapter that helped inspire some ideas for this chapter. Every review, good and bad, help me with revisions for my original goal for the story. The decision of a consistent section with Double D talking to his parents versus talking through sticky notes is an example of an idea that became real with the help of you, the readers. The rest of the scene between him and his parents will be shown over the next one or two chapters for those interested.

Moving on, I did want to bring attention to the Megatokyo reference I used. It is one of my favorite series that I started reading online during Jr. High before I found my first volume of said series (the third volume to be specific) and bought it. It is still ongoing for those interested on its website, and I suggest giving it a chance. The artwork shown in the first two chapters (chapter 0 and 1 if memory serves right) has improved leaps and bounds that made several friends who are starting their careers as a comic artist get a better understanding of what their determination can earn them. I actually met Fred Gallagher, the author of the series, a few years ago and got a commission and shirt from him! As a side note, a reader sent me a message a few months ago asking if I was going to include more references to real series into my story. I told them yes within reason since I did not want to set the idea of a series taking over the Ed, Edd, and Eddy story I am writing. There is an underlying reason that I picked that series, May, and how she and Double D talked to one another to occur in this chapter. I wonder if you readers can guess as to what I hope to achieve before the chapter where it ties together comes around. With that comment typed down, it is time to respond to some reviews!

Duskrider: Thanks for the review. I am glad that you, as well as other readers, were generally pleased at me bringing in Double D's parents into the mix. They will be showing up in the future in one way or another.

Crusadeofanime: This is one story I do not plan on abandoning to the wolves. I have considered what starter to give him in both a traditional story as well as the actual crossover Pokemon: Table Top Edition, which will have his starter revealed in the second chapter. Whenever I find my original notes to write a second chapter for it of course.

Psudocode Samurai: I have an idea for the stalking of Double D, which I hope you and everyone else will enjoy. Originally I had a Pokemon/Ed, Edd, & Eddy crossover where Double D was a Pokemon Researcher for Peach Creek, Ed and Eddy were still troublemakers, and the rest of the kids were all grown up as NPC trainers. I might write it out as a one-shot for people to read if I can find the flash drive that has the first two or three chapters on it. I distinctly remember Double D being a badass in one way or another in it.

Skeek622: Your review did spark some of the life that I put into Edd's parents this chapter. While it was not what you were hoping for, I do hope you enjoyed their interaction regardless. Junior will be back in the story over the next few chapters. So keep an eye out for him and his next dialogue!

WishStarAllie: I do apologize for the long wait and hope this chapter will ease the pain for however long the next one takes. I am pleased to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter though. I am quite pleased to see some confusion among the readers for who I will pair Double D with. It is one of my secrets I have not told anyone.

SilentFan493: Thank you for your pleasant review. I am doing well now more than ever before. I hope I can write more for this story, as well as my other pieces of writing, but I need to figure out a realistic schedule now that I am back home.

Shadow1real: Thank you for your review! Double D has not technically got anyone yet. Though who he gets, if he does get anyone, is yet to be seen.

TheEngineer3100: Thank you for your input on the story. Like I said in the author note, I prefer to work with the foundation laid out by the source material before building up with my choices. The wisdom from the parents will come to play later, though one piece of advice given will be used soon.

Skater1ooo: Thank you for your kind, heartwarming words. It pleases me to hear that this is one of your favorite stories of the Ed, Edd, & Eddy series here on the site. I find it hard to imagine me being able to create a nostalgic sensation for you, but I taking that doubt up to writer's criticism. I would not say that Double D is dead honest with them all the time. There have been moments where he has said something to stall for time or an excuse to not directly answer the Kankers while thinking of an answer.

JP4demonking: Thank you for your review! I do hope you enjoy the latest update to this story. It is certainly one of the more thought provoking ones I have written so far.

So, to all of my readers, reviewers, and followers, until next time, stay golden!

Kazikamikaze24