Ten minutes later, Kevin sat on the edge of the bed. His free hand supported his chin while his cuffed hand swung back and forth wildly as Edd paced in front of him. He was mildly impressed that the little dork had managed to hold the weight of his muscled arm for so long. Edd's anger fueled rant had been terrifying at first, kind of adorable once he'd grown used to it, but after several minutes Kevin had grown tired of it. He sat in boredom, rubbing his face with his available hand. When he noticed a break in the tirade, he glanced up.
"You done?" he asked.
Edd turned on him, eyes livid, breathing deeply through his nose. He began to speak several times before defeat scrawled itself on his face and he sat heavily beside Kevin.
"Maybe."
"Well! Let's work on getting that key back, yeah?"
Without waiting for a response, Kevin left the bed and knelt by the metal vent. Edd dragged behind like a tired child, and it took every ounce of patience that Kevin possessed to not shout at him. Instead, he focused his efforts on removing the screws holding the corners of the vent to the floor. He tried working at them with his fingernail with no luck. The penny from his pocket yielded similar results. He hummed in frustration; his only screwdriver wasn't a flathead. He scratched the back of his neck.
"I don't know, Double D. I can't get the screws off. You don't happen to have a flathead screwdriver, do you?" His laughter was cut short when the thin boy handed over a screwdriver he had pulled from his pocket. "Do you seriously just carry this around, dude?"
Edd blushed. "You never know when you might need one," he muttered.
Kevin chuckled and set to work on the screws. In a few short seconds he had the metal sheet pulled out and moved to the side. He peered into the hole, searching for the little key. After a six inch drop, the vent sloped off along the wall of his room. Kevin began to fear that the key had slid beyond reach. He pulled out his phone and used it as a flashlight, searching for a flash of metal in the dark. He finally spotted the key snagged on a loose wire sticking out from the side of the wall. It was too far down to reach with his hand, so he turned to Edd for help. The boy sighed and asked for a wire hanger.
Edd straightened out the hanger so he could reach down and grab the key with the hook. After reminding Kevin several times that this was a delicate operation and to please not move, Edd slid the hanger into the vent. His attempts to grab the key from the side proved unsuccessful, so he lay down on his stomach to reach the key from below. He watched carefully as his hand slowly brought the hook up under the key. He rocked it gently back and forth to pull it off the wire. He almost missed the key when it finally broke free, and he sighed in relief when it swung onto the hook at the last second.
"That was a very close call. I nearly dropped it," Edd laughed nervously. "Back up a little bit so I can pull it out." He waved a hand in Kevin's direction.
Kevin shuffled back on his knees. Edd sat up, gently drawing the hanger out of the vent. Smiling at his accomplishment, he reached down to take the key. Kevin suddenly made an odd squeaking noise, and Edd glanced back just in time to see the beginnings of a sneeze.
"Kevin! Don't-"
Drawing his elbow up out of reflex, Kevin sneezed loudly into his hard. The sudden motion jerked Edd to the side, slamming his face into the desk. He staggered to his feet, free hand pressed against his nose. When he pulled his hand away, it was smeared with blood. He grimaced.
"Oh, my god. I'm so sorry, Edd!"
Edd looked up sharply at the use of his real name. Kevin's face had remorse written all over it. He snatched the box of tissues from his desk and gingerly held them out to the pale boy. Edd sighed and took one, pressing it under his nose in place of his hand. He does seem genuinely concerned. He sighed again, furrowing his brow. He is quite attractive when he is concerned... The flow of blood from his nose increased at the thought. Kevin raised an eyebrow at the other boy's intense blush.
"Kevin, I require assistance. Please accompany me to the bathroom." Edd tugged on the handcuffs, leading the way out of the room.
By the time they reached the bathroom, the blood had mostly stopped. Edd carefully inspected his injury, tentatively pressing and shifting the cartilage around. It hurt, but the pain was bearable. Satisfied, he turned to Kevin and gave him a crooked smile. Kevin smiled back, relieved that he'd been forgiven. He wasn't sure he could take another ten minute rave.
"Well, shit, Double Dork. I don't know how to get these off. I don't have a spare key or anything..."
Edd frowned. "I have an idea, but you're not going to like it."
"Sure I will! Anything has to be better than this, right?"
