When Edd walked into the house, he could hear Kevin in the basement tuning up his guitar. The budding rock star would practice for hours after he got out of class. For Edd, it was the best way to come home. Between class and his long hours interning at the hospital, his stress levels were constantly high. Music was what had always soothed him.
It was how Kevin got to him in the first place. In high school, on nice days, Kevin would practice with his window open and Edd loved to hear whatever he was trying to teach himself that day. At least he was trying. It meant that he was doing something that no one expected of him. Edd tried to get all of his friends to branch out and do things that most wouldn't expect of them. Considering he was the King Of Expectations, it was easy for him to suggest things.
Kevin wondered why he didn't practice what he preached. Until he handed Edd his guitar. For someone with hands as smooth as a baby's behind, Edd could play chords lightening quick.
"I took music lessons all through elementary school," Edd had explained when Kevin just stared at him in awe because of what he was doing to the self taught boy's guitar.
"What else can you play?," Kevin had asked.
Turns out Edd is a bit of a one man orchestra. Violin, viola, cello, piano, guitar, trumpet, clarinet and the flute. And he all but begged Kevin to never stop practicing. Kevin didn't.
When they got to college, Kevin asked him to listen to a song he had written. Sorta.
"It's based off a poem I saw once," Kevin had said sheepishly.
"I like poetry," Edd had said, bouncing on Kevin's bed excitedly.
"Don't I know it," Kevin muttered.
But the poem was one Double D had written for the school newspaper when they were in high school. It was for Valentine's Day. As a Features writer, he was tasked with writing up a few stanzas for the paper that many of the male students would later use to woo their female counter parts. The poem didn't have Edd's name directly tied to it, just his initials.
But Kevin knew.
To hear those words sung back to him nearly three years later stunned the ravenette. The poem was a bit jaded, but there was hope at the end. An admirer biding their time.
When Kevin was done singing, Edd cocked his head in confusion.
"I wrote, that, Kevin."
"I know."
Edd bit his lip and sighed.
"Whoever she is better be good to you," he had said quietly.
"I already know he's a good person."
Wide eyed blue met smirking green.
"Can I take you to dinner or something sometime, D?"
Dinner led to a hug. A movie led to holding hands. And it was over their first coffee date that they had their first kiss. Another song got Kevin's hands down Edd's pants. And a performance of the first song he wrote at a poetry slam got Edd to spend the night.
He woke up to Kevin tuning a new guitar.
Kevin just flashed him that smile.
"I like guitars."
Kevin's affinity for the stringed instrument was strong. He worked at Guitar Center, so he knew what to look for and got a nice discount. But when they got married two years ago, seeing new purchases all within the $200 range from Guitar Center on their joint credit card made Edd crazy.
"You have plenty, Kev!," he'd say after looking over the credit card statement.
Kevin would point out his vanilla latte and essential oil obsession.
"Look, we both like you awake, we like the way you smell and we like my music. And I'll pay it off by the end of month."
True to his word, the account balance would be zero before the month was out. But not without Kevin missing a few nights at home with Edd to play in whatever gigs he could get in between work and school. But the payoff would be a zero balance on their credit card and Kevin got to do what he was so good at.
Today, Edd's caught up with school and work. It's Thursday, but Saturday is a holiday, so the school and work have given them both Friday and Monday off. And he's stoked that he can actually catch Kevin at a gig. Checking the calendar of the band's practice times and gigs on the fridge, Edd makes a note to order pizza for practice on Friday, go to the gigs on Saturday and Sunday night and maybe wrangle Kevin for a date night in on Monday.
Heading downstairs with this info in mind, he's greeted by a wall of sound and the color blue. It's a light blue, like summer sky's and Edd's eyes. The curtains in the window are blue, the walls are white, but blue guitars are everywhere. On the floor, the couch, the chairs, in stands and hanging on the walls.
"Whoa," he breathed. He's been down in the basement countless times since they moved in a year ago, but he never realized how many guitars Kevin had.
Kevin's tuning his old red guitar that his granddad got him as a graduation present when they got out of high school. The man told him it'd be a panty dropper. Edd prefers boyshorts.
"Umm, Kev?," he called out to his husband, hands on his hips and a judgmental glint in his eyes.
Kevin jumped slightly and then he grinned.
"Hey, Babe! How was school?"
"Blue," Edd answered as he gestured widely to the room.
"It helps me focus," Kevin said sheepishly.
"On what?!"
"You, ya dork."
It's been a couple of days since Kevin's called him a dork or maybe it feels that way because they haven't seen much of each other between work and school. So Edd looking a bit taken aback at Kevin's words amused the redhead immensely.
"How?! How, Kevin?! How?!"
Kevin rolled his eyes and set his guitar back on the stand at his feet. Looking around the room, he went to take a guitar off the wall. It was the one Edd got him for their first anniversary together three years ago. Acoustic and blue, just like Edd's eyes. Nazz suggested it.
Best. Suggestion. Ever.
He then went and grabbed his husband's hand and drug him to his favorite easy chair. Moving two guitars out of the chair to their stands on the floor, he pulled Edd into his lap and then laid the guitar across Edd's lap.
Then he sang a new song. Just for Edd. The admirer didn't have to bide their time anymore. They got the love they craved. And because it was for forever, it was the sweetest thing ever. Goodbye, jade. Hello, pure love.
Edd was in tears when the song was done. And he finally got it. Kevin loved guitars, but he loved Edd more. And if a new guitar meant another way to tell him how much he loved his dork, then he was getting it.
"Wanna go to the guitar store tomorrow?," Edd asked sheepishly as he nuzzled Kevin's strong chest.
"As long as I can take you for coffee first."
Edd got his coffee, Kevin got a new guitar and 6 months later a new song hit the airwaves. Something about the color blue.