Woo, first fic! Stay 'tuned for the chance to submit a background OC. ;)

There's a certain beauty to these insects, Edd thinks, when you line them up against the plush display cushion like they were hatched to be there. Well, actually, they wouldn't hatch in such careful lines, brilliantly simplistic and pinned neatly by their wings to the dark red velvet. They are defined by the labels carefully placed beneath them: eternally, perfectly straight.

He's memorized their order, recited their scientific names thousands of times to himself on nights when he has trouble sleeping. They're like a second security blanket. And it's security he wants as he runs gentle fingers over their thoraxes, ever so carefully, before shouldering his gigantic backpack, taking an unsteady breath, and walking out the door.

Most people would think of this as an incredibly weird first-day-of-high-school ritual. Edd is, of course, not most people. He is exceptionally aware of this as he mentally catalogues the content of his bag and the exact calorie count of his perfectly-arranged lunchbox. He straightens his plaid tie for what must be the hundredth time (oh, who is he kidding, he's counted – it's one hundred and thirty seven) and steps onto the sidewalk, the gentle tapping of his quick little feet lonesome against the early morning silence.

The birds are waking up, he notes. The rattling of Chloroceryle Americana, the gentle coo of Columba livia…

"DOUBLE DEE!"

...the impossible clamor of Edicus Unius.

"Ed," he sighs, willing his suddenly jumped pulse to return to normal. "You gave me a fright. Oh dear, you should probably pull up your trousers before your bus gets here!"

The tall boy bounds up to him with his habitual vacant smile. "Aw, nobody needs pants, Double D!"

"Yes, well. Whatever the case may – Ed, stop that!" He bats at his friend's head as the taller boy leans down to attempt to remove Edd's new brown trousers.

"Why are you wearing such silly clothes?" he asks, still crouched, twisting his neck at what looks like an impossible angle.

"It's my uniform, Ed. My school requires me to wear it."

"The school don't make me wear that!"

"We're going to different schools," Edd sighs, a pang of the loneliness he had been working so hard to suppress twisting around somewhere in his lower intestine. It's difficult enough starting at a new, high-expectations school filled with the faces of strangers; taking his friends away was the cruelest trick of fate yet. "I will be attending St. Bernard-Liverdene's Catholic Academy for Boys, and you and Eddy are on your way to Peach Creek Public High School."

This moment feels solemn, somehow. Like childhood is coming to a screeching halt and everyone he knows is abandoning him to the dogs, which is ridiculous because he chose this school, he knows that he'll see his friends every day anyway and things should be the same as always. He chose this, and he sticks to his decisions.

The silence rings uncomfortably in his ears, and a thousand tiny pricking insect pins shout at him to go back. Hide.

His knees are clattering together.

"Where is Eddy?" he asks to break the tension that Ed is oblivious to.

"Aw, he says he's not going."

"Truancy?" Edd gasps. "On his first day?"

"Hey, Double Dee – " Ed looks off into the distance.

"Of all the nerve! I thought we had cured him of some of his more lackadaisical habits, but obviously as matters stand he still needs an intervention!"

"Double Deeeee…"

"I mean honestly, this is the most important day of our lives thus far! This is the beginning of either the finest hour of our youth…or an inconceivable den of torment and despair! Despair, Ed!"

"Double Dee, why is Kevin wearing your clothes?"

"What?" Edd looks across the cul-de-sac in time to see Kevin speeding away on his prized bike. His red hair is surprisingly unhatted, a stir of flame against the frosty morning air. He wears a light brown jacket that seems to blow dramatically with his speed, highlighting the clutch of his pale hands against the handlebars and the steady, rhythmic pumping of his feet.

He is also wearing the brown and red St. Bernard-Liverdene uniform.

Edd gulps involuntary and feels the bizarre urge to hide behind Ed's bulk. He feels pinned to the spot somehow, wide open for examination like one of his own precious insects. He mouths the question to himself, blinking hard to cleanse his system of the strange paralysis.

Why is Kevin…

Kevin doesn't see him, disappearing around the corner in a blur. For some reason, Edd feels disappointed.

"Ah," he says, intelligently.

"Looks like you get to have a friend there after all!" Ed says with a stupidly radiant smile.

"It would appear so," he murmurs, and wills his legs to start working again. His own bus stop is two blocks away. "I…good day, sir." He always talks rather formally, he can't help it, but today the fear makes his tongue feels especially stiff. Untested.

He's been afraid more times than he can count, what with Eddy's terrible schemes and his own concurrent phobias. This dread is different, quiet and dull and dangerous, making something in his chest go numb.

"Goodbye!" his friend says. Then, "Oh! 'Forgot to give you this." He sticks what looks like a tiny jawbreaker in Edd's hand. No, not a jawbreaker, too smooth and cold. A pure white marble. " 'S my favorite," he says with pride. "But I figure you c'n have it when you're gone away."

"I'm coming back, Ed," he says, and swallows something unpleasant in his throat. His eyes are burning.

"I know! But I don't want you to get lonely." He cocks his head to the side, so innocent and curious, and Edd gives a shaky laugh.

"You have my deepest gratitude."

On the way to the bus stop, Edd thinks of three things: the terror of the day ahead, the calming weight of the marble in his hand, and Kevin's steady feet pulsing against the pedals.

The last takes him by surprise, and it occupies his thoughts through the terrible, crowded, unsanitary bus ride in the midst of a pack of strangers.

Kevin is not there.

Thanks for reading! Now I'd like to let you all submit some OCs for Double Dee and Kevin's school through your reviews. Keep in mind that this is a boys' school! And please feel free to make them mean if you want, especially if they're on Student Council. I could use a few mean ones.

Name:

Age:

Ethnicity:

Orientation:

Height:

Hair:

Eyes:

Personality:

Club: (Drama club, student council, or Dungeons and Dragons, please!)

Thanks for your time, and stay 'tuned!