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edgar could only fumble his thumbs as he sat on his bed, staring at the floor. it was full of glitter and scrap felt, glue bottles were scattered around the area as well as buttons of all shapes and sizes.
he knew he couldn't clean this up completely for tonight, but he had to try.
as he paced around his room, he realized how untidy it was. while he tried to be organized, his… mind could cause him to go days without doing anything productive. it definitely took a toll on his grades. he wasn't that smart, but Bs were enough for him and his dad. still, he knew he could do better.
if only he wasn't so anxious all the time.
"let's pray he won't open the closet," he whispered to himself as he shoved all his craft supplies in it, cramming them really tight and closing the door. kelly was just coming over for two nights so… how much did he need the shit in his closer anyway?
it took him 30 minutes to finally finish tidying up his room, and as he sighed and laid back down on his bed, he heard his dad call from downstairs, "hey, eggy! your friend's here!" the first thing he told his dad was, don't call me eggy in front of him. and he did. oh fun. perks of having a single dad.
.
edgar ran down the stairs and almost stumbled on the last step. luckily, kelly was next to the stairs and held his arm before he could fall.
"h-hey, edgar. good afternoon."
"oh! uh… kelly! hi! c-come to my room, we can leave your bag there!"
kelly was wearing his usual outfit: his jacket with the patches, his hat, and his signature clown makeup with the tears. it always struck edgar as kinda odd the fact that kelly was the clone of a CLOWN. while kelly certainly looked the part, he was so shy and sad all the time, and he rarely smiled. he definitely didn't act the part. that is, that's what his friends told him.
"hey, edgar, you friends with emmet kelly, right?"
"yeah, monet, why?"
"it's weird, he never smiles except when he's around you."
"...y-you probably just haven't paid close attention, he smiles all the time!"
"sure, sure, keep telling yourself that."
edgar also realized how he had never seen kelly without makeup.
head lost in thoughts, he lead kelly up the stairs, waving goodbye to his dad for the time being. god, he was so nervous. he had the BIGGEST crush on kelly, ever since they met. edgar had the tradition of making a sock puppet based on his friends, and he always talked to the one he had made of kelly. it soothed him after any sort of panic attack he would have late at night. although, he would've much preferred to have the real kelly talking to him.
as he opened his bedroom door, he saw that his room wasn't as clean as he thought it was. fuck.
"sorry about the mess! i… am not quite tidy, i-i guess…" he scampered around, picking up tiny pieces of fabric from the floor and underneath his desk.
"I-it's fine, don't worry. mine isn't exactly the Louvre either." kelly placed his bag in a chair, which was full of books on puppets and ventriloquism. unlike some clones, edgar wanted to be just like his clone father, he wanted to be a ventriloquist so bad. kelly found it adorable how edgar would go on for 45 minutes explaining the history of one particular puppet from the 70s, and how his eyes would light up when they sat down on their desks in art class. it's his favourite class after all.
his eyes scanned the walls of the room, seeing the bisexual and demiboy flag on top of his bed, some crude pencil sketches of puppets around as well. it would be kinda terrifying if it weren't for the cartoon style they had been drawn in.
"so… eggy," he saw edgar flinch and turn around, giving him a stern look. kelly just chuckled. "do… do you have a new puppet to talk about?" this was edgar's favourite thing, and kelly's as well. he loved how his grin would be so big as he went on to ramble, how his hands moved around. yeah, kelly liked him too. a lot, in fact.
and he was right. as soon as the words left his mouth, edgar dropped everything and ran towards him, pulling his arm and onto edgar's bed. kelly blushed at the sudden feeling of edgar's hand on his arm, gripping him tightly.
"omg, omg, SO. this isn't really a puppet but it does include a puppet. it's a british show called andy pandy, and its from the 50s. in total, it had 26 programs, but it was later on revamped in both 1970 and 2002-"
kelly admired edgar's fluidity. he wasn't a loud person, but whenever he talked about his puppets, his voice could be heard throughout the entire school. and god, what a beautiful sound it was. his hands moved around gracefully, imitating how the characters moved in the show and such.
the ramble went on for around an hour, because he had, of course, watched every episode and had to comment on each one. it didn't matter, though, seeing how happy he was talking about it made kelly smile.
soon, edgar's dad came in holding a pizza box. "let me guess, puppet talk?" kelly had no idea how he knew that, but edgar just nodded and smiled wide, taking the box and thanking his dad. he only ruffled his hair as he stepped out, leaving the two of them alone.
the pizza was hella good, cheesy as heck and with the good tomato sauce. and soon, the both of them were full and were starting to get sleepy.
"hey, edgar?"
"hmmmmmmm, y-yeah?"
"wanna play video games?"
"...hell yeah."
while he struggled to get up, edgar managed to turn on his TV and his Wii (in this house we stan the Wii). he inserted the mario kart Wii disk because it was the best game ever, obviously, and he handed kelly the other remote.
of course, kelly won all the races. for some reason, when it came to video games, kelly was highly superior. edgar just pouted and crossed his arms, looking away from kelly.
"eggy, i'm sorry, i didn't… m-mean to bother you…" his voice was softer than usual, very concerned as well, which prompted edgar to turn around and smile softly at him.
"hey, d-don't worry about it! i was only joking, i swear."
"ok, i-if you say so." he was blushing, and whether it was from how close edgar was or how he had smiled at him, he didn't know. luckily, he had makeup on.
edgar, on the other hand, was very tempted to kiss him right there. i mean, he was close enough, he could've been able to do so. but he was scared, because...what if he rejected him? he would bever leave his room again.
god, why did his lips look so soft?
"i… i should go get changed…" kelly whispered, their foreheads almost touching.
"O-OH YEAH! you, uh, go do that! uh, yeah, i'll be right here!" Kelly stood up and grabbed his bag before running towards the bathroom.
edgar just stood up and threw himself on his bed, sighing heavily. "of course he got scared, edgar, how dumb are you?" the inner voice told him, scolding him for pulling such a risky move. he didn't know shit about love, he only knew it due to romance movies. all he knew he had taken from said movies. overall, he was shit at it.
meanwhile, kelly was rubbing off his makeup, revealing his freckle-adorned cheeks. it was the first time edhar was ever going to see him without makeup, so he was kind of scared, but he stepped out the door and walked towards the bedroom, hesitating a bit before entering.
edgar was just putting on his pajama top, but not before kelly could see his entire bare back. it was really pale, but… it looked almost like marble. the red on his cheeks only got progressively worse as edgar turned around and saw him.
kelly had the most beautiful face he had ever seen. the freckles looked sunkissed, as if god had taken the smallest paintbrush he had and had dipped it all around his cheeks and forehead. his hair, loose and wavy, just made everything 10 times better.
both boys stared at each other, blush strong on their faces as the tension became very palpable.
"...wow, you have freckles."
those were the first words to break the silence, and much to his surprise, edgar found himself walking closer towards him.
"y-yeah… sorry for… not showing you…" their faces were, once again, inches apart from each other.
"they, uh, they're… very pretty…" edgar's voice softened in the last part, and kelly was pretty sure his face was going to melt. judging from edgar's expressions, he was too.
edgar walked towards his bed and laid down, patting to the spot next to him. they, of course, had to share the bed (it wouldn't be a good ship of they didn't do this), and kelly hesitantly laid down next to him, covering himself with the blanket and laying to the side, making eye contact with him.
"ok, edgar, now's your chance, you can do it." the voice spoke again, this time very enthusiastic.
"kelly…?"
"hmm?" he was a bit sleepy, but that's okay.
he closed his eyes."i… i think I'm in love with you. and i can't explain how much, because i haven't experienced this ever, but you mean the world to me. everything about you is perfect, from the tip of your nose to those freckles i found out you had. which, by the way, look like stars. you paint those tears on your face but… but it hurts me, because i can't bare seeing you sad, ever! and when you smile for me, god, it's so pretty. so, yeah, i really like you and would like to be your boyfriend."
when he opened them, all he saw was kelly with his cheeks red and his mouth slightly open. what the fuck just happened to him? did… did his crush confess??
"can… can i kiss you..?" edgar's voice was so soft, his hand cupping kelly's cheek. all kelly did was nod, and soon he left lips on his own, arms around his shoulders, and legs entangled with each other. edgar was so gentle, as if kelly could easily break. which he was, since he was on the brink of tears.
edgar unwrapped one arm so his fingers could trail around kelly's cheek gently as he pulled away, breathing heavily.
"...that was my first kiss." edgar whispered, eyes widening. "oh god, that was such a perfect first kiss."
"n-no way… you've surely k-kissed people before."
"was i that good?" the question had caught kelly so off-guard that all he did was press his lips against edgar's again.
they held each other gently, kissing every five minutes, yearning to be even closer, before drifting off to sleep.
best. sleepover. ever.