Chapter Text
Sunset was a simple time of day.
Well, it was normally simple.
When your house was recently blown apart by a gigantic robot and one of your best friends was killed in the process, things get a bit complicated, especially when you haven't found a new house two weeks later.
And things were admittedly getting desperate.
The hospital had kicked them out saying they couldn't stay there forever, even with the shock of a new death and the loss of a home.
Mark didn't want to abandon his friend. Sure, Eduardo was a bit pushy at times but he always meant well and always looked out for him. At the same time, his parents were worried about him. His mom was calling non-stop, so he had to check on her.
The thing is, Marks mom was never really fond of his friends. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why, they'd been friends since middle school and back then Eduardo was a straight A student. So maybe he had a bit of a short temper, maybe he was somewhat prone to violence, so what? He was still more supportive than anyone he had ever met.
Mark's thoughts flashed to Jon for a brief moment, then pulled away because of the hollow pang he felt in his stomach when that particular thought was present. He pushed the thought out of his head. The problem didn't exist if he didn't think about it.
When he first found out, he was furious. He blamed himself. Why? He didn't know. He did know that it was his fault somehow, and that engulfed him with rage. He had woken up in the hospital with a mild concussion and his only remaining friend restrained to the bed next to him. The doctors told him that Jon hadn't made it and Eduardo had passed out from shock and when he woke up he had torn out all of his ivs and broken a glass on the floor.
Now they were out of the hospital pretending like nothing had happened. Mark was going to visit his parents and refused to bring Eduardo in order to protect him from whatever wrath his parents could come up with. This left a heartbroken Eduardo with nowhere to turn.
Looking back on the series of events, Eduardo realized rather uneventfully that it was clearly the five stages of grief.
Anger. He was angry at Tord. At Jon for dying. At himself. At whatever gods exist for letting this happen.
Denial. That's where he was now, on the verge between denial and bargaining.
What did that even mean? Who would one bargain with for a friend's death?
Mark had left him on the sidewalk outside of his parent’s house. They hugged, Eduardo choked back some words he really wanted to say, and they parted ways. In reality, Jon had been the glue that held the trio together. Well, that’s not true. If any of them had been in Jon’s place they would still separate after they were done grieving. The thing is, Jon was more upfront about how he felt. Neither one wanted to seem weak in front of the other so they both felt like they were being overemotional. Jon being there for either of them would have given them an excuse to show how they felt. It wasn’t necessarily healthy, but that’s the way it was.
Now Eduardo was truly alone. Having a bad relationship with his own family, he had nowhere else to turn. That's what his thoughts were like as he walked briskly up the steps to the apartment of the only other person who he knew.
Edd.
They never had gotten along, sure, but what other choice did he have?! Stay on the streets?
...
'Then again.....' he thought, but the feeling of a snowflake blowing against his cheeks was definitely enough to change his mind. It didn't hurt to try, right? He pulled his scarf up around his nose and continued into the building and up the cement stairs.
Once he had made it up to the 3rd floor he felt somewhat warmer. By the time he had reached the room he was supposed to be at, he was no longer cold. He was shaking for another reason. He decided to take off his scarf and stuff it in his coat pocket.
He stood in front of the apartment door, hand posed to knock. There were soft screams and gunshots coming from the other side of the door. Probably a bad horror movie or something. Should he knock now....?
No, no he shouldn't interrupt. That's rude. Don't be rude. But then again, he couldn't just stand there until everyone fell asleep or something! He raised his hand to knock on the door once again....
And put it down, rubbing at it like it had a burn wound on it. Why was this so hard?! Edd wasn't intimidating, he could easily beat him into the ground if he wanted to! It wasn't that he was worried he wouldn't have a place to stay either, because Edd wouldn’t just let him sleep in the streets even if he did hate him! That’s not the kind of person he was, it just wasn’t. Maybe it was something else he wasn’t ready to think about yet.
There was talking from behind the door. Eduardo felt complete panic engulf him as the doorknob turned, revealing exactly who he very much didn't want to see.
"Yeah, I'm just gonna run down to the vending machine really quick and grab some more..... Cola…... Eduardo? What are you doing here?"
Edd tilted his head, both hands in his hoodie pocket. His words were somehow free of resentment, which by itself lifted a heavy weight from Eduardo's shoulders. He wasn’t mad that he was there… he wasn’t mad. “I-I uh…” he swallowed, scratching the back of his hand nervously. He inhaled and sighed, trying to calm himself down.
“You what?” Edd wasn’t frowning, but he wasn’t smiling either. Eduardo felt kind of bad about being there, suddenly. Like he was intruding on something he wasn’t meant to see.
“I was wondering if I could stay with you because your dumb friend blew up my house and now I’ve got nowhere to go!!” Eduardo almost shouted, balling his hands into fists and screwing his eyes shut. He mostly rambled all of that out so it sounded more like “iwaswonderingificouldstaywithyoubecauseyourdumbfriendblewupmyhouseandnowivegotnowheretogo”.
Edd blinked in confusion for a moment. Why was Eduardo coming to him? Didn’t he have other friends? Not that he considered Eduardo a friend, but after he had apologized for the whole second place thing, it seemed like Eduardo didn’t really hate him anymore. Not as much, at least. He personally never really had a big issue with his neighbor, maybe a bit irritated by the frequent switching of their cola orders, but nothing more than that.
Eduardo was tense, prepared for the worst. Being kicked back to the frosty curb, being yelled at, anything. He didn’t expect an okay, but that’s what he got. Just a simple okay.
“…what?”
"I said okay. I was just about to make a cola run, do you wanna come with?"
"I.... Uh... O-okay.."
Edd smiled gently, trying to show as much understanding as possible. After all he had been through, he absolutely needed a shoulder to cry on. That was okay. For now, Edd resigned to being that shoulder. And for some reason, even after their long rivalry, he was perfectly happy with that.