Knock On Wood (BoyxBoy)

chapter twenty-four. kevin.

"Alright, guys," I say, trying to lighten the air. "Who's ready to party?"

Nat whoops loudly and marches ahead of us, smiling excitedly. He opens the door and walks in. I start to head in his footsteps, but someone grabs my jacket sleeve. I turn and look at Edd.

"Hey," I ask. "What's up?"

"N-Nothing," he stutters. "Nevermind, I'm sorry."

"No, not 'nevermind'," I say. "C'mere."

I take his hand and quickly guide him behind the building where no one was.

"What's wrong?" I say, holding his two hands in mine.

"Nothing, Kevin," he says, looking away.

I lift my head a bit to meet his gaze. "C'mon, Edd. I wanna know what's wrong."

He sighs and squeezes my hands.

"I don't know," he whispers, walking toward me. He rests his head against my shoulder without letting go of my hands. "I guess... I'm just a bit nervous."

"Why?" I whisper into his beanie.

"Of them," he pauses. "The people in there. How many are there?"

"A lot," I say. "But you've never been afraid of people before."

"I just do not wish to be separated from you," he says, tilting his head and looking into my eyes.  I wasn't sure if he meant forever or just in there, but I assumed he meant the latter.

"And you won't," I mutter, pressing my forehead against his briefly. "Just hold my hand."

"In there?" he says, laughing sadly. "Yes, right. Perhaps not, Kevin."

"Well, why not?" I ask loudly. I shake my head and whisper: "Who cares what those guys in there think? I'll hold your fuckin' hand if I wanna hold your fuckin' hand, Double D!"

"Kevin," he says, a smile spreading on his face.

"What?" I ask, faking a pout and disconnecting our joined fingers to cross my arms across my chest.

"Don't be childish," he says, unfolding my arms. He winds our fingers together again and pulls me down by straightening his elbows. Edd kisses my forehead and then relaxes his joints. "Our time will come."

"But when?" I ask.

"Soon," Edd says. "Just be patient. Okay?"

I hold my breath in my lungs for a second and think. After a minute, I let the air go and squeeze his hands. I look down at his skinny hands as I hold them in mine.

"I just feel like we'll have to wait so long, and...," I take a deep breath and try to continue, but I find myself unable to continue.

"I understand," he says, his voice low and quiet. He sounded so sure; so strong. He sounded a lot stronger than I felt at the moment.

He sighs before straightening his slouched back and looking at me with happy eyes and a new smile. "Come now, Kevin. We didn't come here to focus on such dismal topics--we came here to have fun!"

I laugh because he said 'fun' as if he was just barely able to make the word flow out of his mouth without choking on it's irony.

"You know, we can leave if you want," I suggest. "I don't care."

Edd waves his hand dismissively and says, "No, it's fine. Truly! I wouldn't come if I didn't want to. Plus, it might be interesting to see what goes on inside these parties that I never had the motivation or 'fortune', so to speak, to go to."