It was well after midnight when Kevin woke up from his post game nap. He'd spent the entire day at the ball fields in Peach City and after winning the tournament, he came home and crashed. Hard. He was grateful that it was early Sunday morning. He still had a day to rest up. Quietly making his way downstairs, so as not to wake his parents, he headed to the kitchen. Loading up a plate with leftover Chinese, he headed back to his room. He learned a long time ago which types of foods were good cold. Chinese was his favorite.

He went to sit at his desk, put on his headphones and fired up iTunes. Looking out the window, he saw a flash of light coming from the rooftop across the street. When he peeked through the curtains, he saw Edd sitting on his roof, a camera in his hands. The back light from the picture review display gave the ravenette an eerie glow. But he was smiling and bopping his head to the beat of whatever was coming through his own headphones. Then he frowned as he fiddled with the camera a bit, quickly scrolling through the display and then switching out the lens. Satisfied with what he had done, he pointed the camera to the sky and the flash went off again. And then a set of flashes followed in rapid succession.

When he looked up at the night sky, Kevin couldn't shake the thought that his dorky neighbor looked so adorable. His grin was wide, his eyes a soft serene blue. Kevin thinking Edd was adorable was nothing new. Something about how he stood up to Eddy's big brother and still stood by Eddy that whole crazy day had Kevin seeing Double D in a whole new light. They all became a bit closer that day, with Kevin and Edd becoming pretty good friends, and the smart Ed boy regularly got under Kevin's skin in all the nice ways. Despite his near conflicting feelings for his neighbor (or were they about himself? Kevin could never tell), Kevin was Edd's second biggest supporter after Eddy when Double D came out second semester of freshman year. They were going to be seniors when school started in the fall.

Then Edd yawned, checked his phone, frowned, looked up at the night sky and sighed before packing his camera away and disappearing to the backside of his house. Kevin checked the clock on his laptop. 230AM. Looking at his plate of food, he noticed that it was empty and that he was sleepy again. Chinese always had that affect on him.

Two weeks later, Kevin is waking up from another post tournament nap. He sees a series of flashes of light coming from high up across the street. This time, instead of loading up on Chinese, he makes a light sandwich, grabs a snack size bag of chips and a water before silently heading out the front door. He then quickly makes a plan to get Double D's attention in a way that won't scare him off the roof.

As he walked into the middle of the street, he started to whistle quietly before getting louder. Or at least loud enough to get Edd's attention without waking the whole neighborhood.

"K-Kevin?!" Double D's voice called out in a loud whisper.

Target acquired!

"Hey, what are you doing up there?!," Kevin called back to him.

"See for yourself," Edd said as he pointed to the night sky.

When Kevin looked up, he saw so many falling stars he couldn't count them all. Even with the lights of the cul-de-sac distorting the view, he could see that a meteor shower was in affect.

"Whoa," Kevin breathed.

"It is beautiful, isn't it?," Edd asked as he smiled at the night sky. "Summer time is the best time for such occurrences."

"Trying to persevere the moment, huh?," Kevin asked as he pointed at the camera in Edd's hands.

"Yes, I am," Edd answered with a shy smile before aiming his camera lens at the shimmering sky and Kevin watched as a series of flashes blinked rapidly back at him.

"Want some company?"

Edd looked startled and then he smiled. "I don't see why not. Come around back, but be careful."

Kevin ran to Edd's back gate and climbed the ladder leaning against the back of the house and carefully made his way up the roof to where Edd was sitting.

"So when's the best time for stuff like this?," Kevin asked once he settled down next to Edd.

"Between midnight and 3AM. Lately, the best ones have been coming between 1AM and 4AM, but I can only stay up so late."

"Can't you take a nap or something before you come up here?"

Edd sighed.

"I do wish I could do that, but between my chores and preparing for school in the fall, I don't have much time for naps. I got lucky that Ed and Eddy are both out of town for the summer, otherwise, I don't think I'd get to see a show at all."

He then handed the camera to Kevin as he went to dig something out of his camera bag. Kevin looked the hefty, but fancy piece of technology over. It looked like a normal camera that a professional photographer would use. But this was Edd.

"Hey, D, how'd you get this?" Edd looked up to see what Kevin was talking about and smiled.

"It was a gift from my grandparents for my birthday last year."

"Nice."

"They are nice people," Edd giggled before gasping as he found what he was looking for.

Finding another lens, he then switched between the two and took a few tests shots before deciding he liked the first one. Kevin sat quietly as they passed the camera and its equipment back and forth between each other.

"Do the other dorksters know you do this?," Kevin asked as he looked at the now heavy meteor shower over head.

Edd scoffed before answering and Kevin grinned.

"No, they don't actually. I'd rather not have to expose my baby to them."

"Your whaaaa?," Kevin grinned wide eyed and teasing smirk on his lips.

"Nazz once told me that the only reason you couldn't come to her lakeside BBQ was because you had to work on your baby that day," Edd smirked back at the teasing redhead beside him.

Everyone knew how much Kevin loved his motorcycle, but for Nazz to drop his pet name for her like that to Edd of all people was a bit embarrassing. He snapped his mouth shut and went red as he started plotting to kill his best friend.

Edd snickered.

"You have your baby, I have mine."

Another flash of light.

"Can I see?," Kevin asked as he leaned over.

Edd gave a small smile as he showed Kevin the picture he had just taken. The navy blue of the sky was dark and crisp. The bright flash of light that was the meteor falling reflected perfectly off its dark surface, looking shimmering and brilliant against the dark tapestry of night.

"Wow. That's a good camera," Kevin said as he pointed to the camera and went to open his bag of chips.

Edd's stomach growled.

"Chip?," Kevin snickered as he waved the open chip bag in Edd's direction.

Edd went pink and gingerly took a potato chip from the bag being offered to him.

"Th-Thank you, Kevin."

"No prob. I'd get hungry if I was up here all night taking pictures."

Edd munched on his chip as he considered that and Kevin put the bag of chips between them making sure that the opened end faced Edd. Silently they sat, eating chips as Edd took pictures, stopping from time to time to review them. As a small bit of light showed on the horizon to the east and the last few meteors fell, Edd sighed and made a face.

"Today's Sunday, D. You should rest. It's in the Bible," Kevin smirked.

"I suppose."

"It's not like you have to go to work."

"Not til 3, anyways."

Kevin cocked a brow. Since when did Double D have a job?

"I work at the library downtown. 3 to close today."

Kevin blinked.

"Our hours are 8 to 10, Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 on Saturday and Noon to 6 on Sunday's," Edd said in a very professional tone.

"I didn't know we had a library downtown," Kevin said with a bit of shock in his voice.

"We do," Edd giggled. "Even has a coffee shop."

Kevin nodded, a slightly impressed look on his face. "When can we do this again, though?"

Edd thought a bit before picking up his phone to unlock it. Kevin saw the album cover for Lenny Kravitz's latest album flash across the screen.

"You like Lenny?"

"I like all kinds of music, Kevin. And I will tell you all about it...next Saturday, actually," Edd said as he scrolled through the webpage he had opened that listed all the best nights for meteor showers over Peach Creek.

"Well, I'll see you then," Kevin said as he moved to get off the roof.

"Be careful," Edd admonished as he packed up his camera.

"Yeah, yeah."

The following Saturday, the two boys are up on Edd's roof, a sandwich, bag of chips, and juice in their laps, eyes trained to the night sky. On Kevin's advice, Edd engaged the camera's video clip mode and took a shot of the first meteor to fall. When Edd later posted the clip on Facebook, Kevin liked and shared it to his on timeline but only to himself so he could watch it whenever he wanted.

"Think you can see if the library will get any of the new Deadpool comics in?," Kevin asked.

Edd took a breath and made a face.

"I don't know, Kevin. I know the movie is very popular, but the subject matter is still very adult. And if we do, we'd have to carry it in the adult section and ugh...I just don't want to deal with Ms Henderson going on a thing about it."

Ms Henderson was Peach Creek's perpetual offended helicopter mom. The library's biggest patron's had managed to keep her off the library's board of directors by threatening to withhold much needed funding if she ever was somehow on the board. Ms Henderson had complained that such actions threatened her right to free speech and the freedom to serve her community as she saw fit. But most in town agreed with the very rich patron's. Didn't stop her from trying to censor just about everything that came into the library. Sometimes it was just easier to not let certain things in than it was to deal with her.

"Leave the bitch to me."

"What?! Kevin!"

Kevin just waved him off, but Edd still looked at him like he had gone nuts, even though he knew that Kevin's mom and Ms Henderson were sorority sisters. Kevin's mom had even been Ms Henderson's Big Sis. If there was anyone to set the Ban Queen straight, it was Rosemary Barr.

"OK, I'll talk to Jeanine, but no promises!"

"Choice," Kevin said with his slyest grin. "How'd you get on with the library anyways?"

Edd working at the library wasn't a shock. The library at school was his safe haven, so working at the one downtown would be perfect for the egghead. But Edd's working was a shock. Kevin worked to pay for his bike's maintenance and insurance, Eddy worked to have money to flash to chicks, Ed worked to take care of his own chickens on Rolf's farm and pay for his comic book habit. Jonny worked to support his weed habit, Nazz, her shopping habit. The only reason why the Kankers worked was to keep from the poor house. Kevin couldn't see why Edd would need a job. Edd and his family may have been quiet as church mice, but Edd always had the best school supplies, dressed well, and was always participating in some academic thing that cost a lot of money and his own free time to do. So Kevin figured his parents took care of everything.

"When Father left, things got tight, so I'm doing what I can to help out," Edd said quietly as he switched out the camera lens.

"Whoa, your parents split up?"

Edd nodded.

"Mother didn't want to keep working like they had been when I started high school. She said that they had missed enough of my life. Especially after we had to deal with Eddy's brother the way we did. But Father wasn't keen on that idea. He said that because I survived thus far, I'd be OK in high school. She quit and went back to school to get her MBA and he left not too long after that. Said he wasn't going to live with someone who couldn't see the forest for the trees."

Kevin was floored.

"Do you still get to see him?"

Edd shrugged.

"I could, but I'd rather not. I'm 17 so I don't have to if I don't want to. And I really don't want to. I'm not too keen on spending time with people who have always put other things ahead of me."

And suddenly, Double D's loyalty to his friends made sense. They always had the best intentions in mind for each other. To help each other out and stand up for one another. Edd's father put work first. Why would Edd want to spend time with someone who had always shown that they'd rather not spend time with him? Edd had gotten his phone out and unlocked it to switch from the song his Spotify playlist was playing at the moment to another one.

"So what's your fave song on there?," Kevin asked in an effort to lighten the mood and figure out what his dorky neighbor was in to.

Edd cocked his head as he thought.

"I can't say that I like any one song more than the other. They're all my faves, but sometimes I do want to listen to one more than the other."

"What're you listening to now."

"Alice Cooper."

Kevin looked shocked and Edd grinned.

"I'm going to Coachella next summer. I'm hoping to see some new acts there," Edd said as he took a series of pictures of the reason why they were sitting on the roof at 2AM in the first place.

You could have knocked Kevin over with a feather. Who was this Edd?!

"Want some company?"

Like hell he'd miss seeing Edd having fun at one of the biggest summer music festivals in the country.

"Sure," Edd said with a sly grin as he swiveled the camera around and took a picture of his companion.

"How do I look?," Kevin asked as Edd reviewed the picture.

"Meh," Edd replied as he passed the camera to Kevin.

Kevin looked at the picture and wanted to die. He thought that he looked so pathetic. His cheeks were red and his eyes looked so sad. Like a puppy. And not a cute one.

"Ugh!," he said as he went to erase the picture but Edd snatched the camera away and gave him a disapproving glance.

"Only the photographer can delete the picture."

"That had better not end up on Facebook, Dweeb!"

Edd knew the threat was mild at best so he knew that the reassuring answer he had for his redhead neighbor would be enough.

"It won't."

Kevin gave Edd a quick sideways glance. He was staring at the picture and he could see a red blush creeping across Edd's face. But the way he spoke was even more telling. Edd was definitely going to be keeping that photo for himself and it was probably for the same reason that Kevin was keeping the video clip Edd had taken for himself. And things started to click. Thoughts Kevin had always buried started to flash across his conscience. Since high school started, they had nearly always made time for each other. Only life could get in the way.

It was now mid July and they hadn't missed a meteor shower. Kevin would make sure he got a nap in before he came over and would call Edd to be sure he had gotten some rest, too. He'd even come over a couple of times to help Edd with his chores. Edd's mom, Tanya, had tried to pay Kevin for all the yardwork he did, but Kevin turned her down every time. He did notice that there was always a fresh batch of his favorite type of cookie, macadamia nut and white chocolate chip, whenever he was over, though.

And he would try to help Edd get prepped for school as best he could. Edd would usually end up helping Kevin in that regard. Edd was on the AP tract while Kevin was on the honor's tract. Neither minded. The business of life would be taken care of and then they could get to the point of having fun. If fun meant Kevin crashed out on Edd's couch and Edd curled up in the Lazy-Boy, then yeah, the business of having fun.

But Kevin had come to look forward to those meteor showers more than long, lazy rides on his bike or even new movies. Then he got an idea. He just hoped that Edd wouldn't get too freaked out by it. Sitting on the roof was one thing. Getting Edd on the back of his bike was another.

"Hey, what do you say to checking out the next shower at Peach Hill."

Edd froze. Peach Hill would be the best spot in town to take in a shower, but they'd have to take Kevin's death trap to get to the top. It took Edd weeks to work up the courage to sit on the roof. Getting on the back of Kevin's motorcycle?! Yeah, color Edd terrified.

"Uhh..."

Kevin grinned. The genius with the massive vocabulary had been rendered speechless. By a grease monkey jock, no less.

"C'mon! It won't be that bad!"

Edd turned slowly to face Kevin. He was near ghost white in the moonlight and Kevin's heart sank a bit. He wasn't trying to scare the guy.

"Can't we just take my car and walk the rest of the way up?," he squeaked.

Kevin shot him a look and Edd sighed.

"I've got brand new saddlebags and you can make us snacks. Please, Edd? At least think about it."

Edd nodded slowly.

"I'll think about it."

"Choice."

The next shower was three weeks later and the last one they could see before school started in two weeks. There was a chance there'd be one Labor Day weekend but with school and work, Edd said that this was it til next summer and then they'd catch one at Coachella. Maybe.

So now Edd's standing in his driveway, slim shoulders loaded with his camera bag, messenger bag and an insulated cooler, shaking like a leaf in March.

"It's OK, Edd. I'll go slow," Kevin said as he stepped to his faltering friend.

Edd shrunk back and squeaked. Kevin put his hands up defensively.

"I've got my spare helmet and all you have to do is hold on to me and lean when I lean."

Edd took in Kevin's Harley. Under the cover of night and the yellow lighting from the lamp posts in the street and the light over his garage, it gleamed a dark red. And he wanted to kick himself for being so intrigued.

"And I brought you one of my old riding jackets."

"What? Why?"

Kevin pointed at Edd's windbreaker as he spoke.

"A good riding jacket has reflectors on it so people can see you at night. Your jacket doesn't. And if you're on the back and people can't see you, it can get bad."

Edd nodded as he stepped to the bike and Kevin grinned. Kevin knew the jacket would get Edd on board. Edd seeing Kevin taking all the necessary precautions to keep them safe warmed him up a bit to taking the 20 minute ride outside of town on the motorcycle to see the show. And he knew he'd feel better once he got to where they were going, so the time to leave was now.

Edd snickered when he put the jacket on. When Kevin cocked a brow at him, he just grinned and said, "It smells like Nazz," and Kevin rolled his eyes. Nazz's favorite perfume was well known by all her cul-de-sac friends. She was always so friendly and a bit of a hugger, so it never failed to have her scent on you sometime during any given week. For it to be in the jacket was a non issue, but it did drive Kevin nuts. Between the jacket and the fact that she was his best friend and always hanging all over him, he couldn't get dates half the time they'd been in school because it was as if Nazz had marked her territory, even if everyone knew they were just friends.

The jacket was green and white with yellow reflector patches. And the green brought out the teal that laid hidden in Eddward's eyes. And under the light of the moon and the lights of the streets and Edd's own garage light, that teal sparkled and it took Kevin's breath away. When Edd caught him staring all he could say was, "Let's go," as he picked a very surprised Edd up and put him on the back of the bike. And when he fired up the engine, and Edd quickly wrapped his arms around Kevin's waist, the tail end of why he had this idea in the first place came roaring to the forefront of his mind.

He liked Edd.

He wanted to get Edd up on the hill because he knew that Edd wouldn't have to contend with all the artificial light that surrounded them to get decent pictures of the shower. He could literally get closer to him without risking the chance of one or both of them falling off the roof and killing or severely injuring themselves. And the way Edd was holding on to him made the craving he had to hold onto the boy himself come racing to the surface.

It took them a good 45 minutes to get to the best point at the top of the hill because Kevin took a slower, longer route that kept them out of traffic. He figured Edd would be more comfortable this way. Still, he was shaking when he got off the bike. It could of been nerves because this was his first ride, but something in his eyes said it was something more.

Kevin kicked the kickstand and shut the bike off as Edd took the moment to catch his breath.

Soft green met, shy blue.

"My camera, please?"

With that, they set up and spent a good hour in slightly content silence as Edd took shot after shot of the night sky. There was a bit of nervous tension in the air that neither of them could shake. The heaviest part of the show was right overhead when Kevin went to stand behind Edd. Edd turned the camera so Kevin could see the shot he just took. When Kevin rested his chin on Edd's shoulder and wrapped his arms around his waist, Edd was so startled that he nearly dropped his camera, but when he managed to get his hands back on it, his body melted into Kevin's embrace as his brain was screaming at him to get ahold of himself.

"K-Kevin, what are you doing?"

Even though he didn't want Kevin to let him go, Edd's nerves were on fire.

"I...I don't know."

Edd's smile was small, but it was as if he knew. But they both needed Kevin to say it.

"Yes, you do. Just say it."

Kevin took a breath and throw his heart at the wall.

"I...I like you."

And Edd finally stopped shaking. He sighed as he patted Kevin's hands that were resting on his belly and when Kevin dropped his hands, Edd took one and lead them to the blanket they had laid out. Once they sat down, Edd crawled into Kevin's lap and faced him. Putting the camera in his own lap he took a breath and Kevin watched as a million thoughts flashed in eyes that reminded him of summer skies.

"Kevin, it's like this," Edd began. "You know how you feel about me. Are you prepared for how other people are going to feel about the way you feel about me?"

"How do you feel about me?," Kevin asked.

He didn't care what "other people" thought. He only cared what Edd thought. He always thought that if two people liked each other, that was all that mattered.

Edd bit his lip and grinned as his cheeks went red.

"I like you, too. It's just that, I've done this before. Are you ready for this?"

Kevin knew that Edd had every right to have the concerns that he had. When he dated Andrew Madison sophomore year, they got all kinds of hell from Andrew's teammates on the lacrosse team and the general student populace. Their breakup around Spring Break was mutual, but Andrew's family moved not too long after the Fourth of July that year.

Last year, it was Thomas Jones. The tall forward for the basketball team was dreamy. Hell, even Eddy said he was cute. But nearly every black student in school had a fit. TJ got expelled for fighting right before midterms because of how he defended Edd during one particularly nasty lunch room brawl. Kevin and Eddy were suspended a week a piece. But Double D didn't have a mark on him. Big Ed hiding them both under the lunch table and using his body to protect Double D's helped. While some complained that TJ's punishment was harsher, no one could deny that his putting the boy's soccer team captain in the hospital with three broken ribs, broken nose and eye socket, shattered wrist and broken ankle was a pretty big deal.

TJ's parents moved him to the city so he could finish out school there and he and Edd kept in touch, but Edd called it quits right before school ended. Between the 45 minute distance between them, the fact that so many blamed Edd for the fight and just wanting to go back to some sense of normalcy, Edd had had enough.

Now Kevin wants to be next.

"I'm ready if you are," he said as he booped Edd on the nose. Then he giggled as Edd went red.

"Oh, Kevin," Edd said as he laid his head on Kevin's shoulder. He snuggled closer when Kevin wrapped his arms around him.

"It's like this, Edd," Kevin said. "If the universe can create billions of rocks in space and then toss them around as the planet slowly slingshot's itself into the sun and not nary a one destroys us all, then I think me and you will be OK."

Edd snorted as he heard the very words that he spoke to Kevin a few weeks ago come back to haunt him. Kevin had asked how meteor showers were created and Edd gave a 15 minute lecture on the subject.

"You and I, Kevin."

Kevin rolled his eyes as he brought Edd's face out of his shoulder so he could press his forehead to Edd's.

Questioning emerald met pensive sapphire.

"What do you say about you and I, being an us?"

Edd wrapped his arms around Kevin's neck and pulled him in for the sweetest kiss Kevin ever had. When he pulled back, he grinned and threw out a question of his own.

"What do you think?"

"I think you're a damn good kisser," Kevin snickered.

And he outright laughed when Edd went red once more and hid his face in his hands.

The next summer, they took Kevin's motorcycle for a cross country ride to Coachella. There was no meteor shower, but Kevin got so many shots of Edd dancing to all the new bands he thought were cool. And at night, they'd go up into the hills (nature's rooftops is what Edd called them), stargaze and talk about their future.

College pushed them apart with Edd getting accepted into Brown and Kevin going to Penn State. But the thing about the night sky is that we all share it. Many late night phone conversations were had on dorm rooftops. And every summer, they'd come home and sit on Edd's roof or on top of Peach Hill to watch the universe toss a billion rocks across our view of space, talk and just be together.

The day after Edd graduated, there was a meteor shower over Providence. They found the highest point they could find and just sat and watched the heaven's throw herself across the sky.

"How'd your interview go?," Edd asked.

Kevin had been interviewing like crazy around the country all semester trying to get a job with any advertising firm that would have him. Even though his degree was from an elite university, he was having as difficult a time of finding work as anyone. The last one was at a startup in Kansas City.

"How'd you like to teach French at The Foreign Language Academy?"

Edd's jaw dropped. He had done research of every city Kevin had an interview in, in the hopes of going with him. They never spoke about it, but they both knew that that was the plan. Edd had majored in Education with a concentration in French. His academic advisor had hoped he'd teach in France after spending his junior year there and not only doing well but thriving and loving every bit of it. Kevin came to visit for Edd's birthday, Christmas and Spring Break and from what he saw, he was inclined to agree. If this last interview didn't work out, he was prepared to try to convince Edd to move overseas and starting their lives together there.

But Kansas City had an elementary school completely devoted to foreign languages. And they needed a French teacher.

"Only if they hire me."

"Won't know if you don't put in for it, Edd. But that's gonna have to wait til at least July."

"Why?"

"Because," Kevin said as came to kneel one knee at Edd's side, "I don't start til July 15th and I was thinking we'd have a June wedding."

He then put a small blue velvet ring box in Edd's lap and Edd opened it with shaking hands. And as the heaven's fell, a simple white gold band, with four radiant blue sapphires flashed their indigo hues into Edd's blue eyes. Edd took a shaky breath and tears fell out of his eyes like the rain during a hurricane. He tossed his head back and looked to Earth's rooftop in bleary eyed wonder.

"It's like this, Edd," Kevin said as he cupped Edd's chin in his hands and turned his face to Kevin's own. "I never dreamed I'd fall in love with you. I just really wanted to know how you got on your roof that night and why. But now, I know I don't ever want to miss the chance to sit on top of the world with you. Will marry me and let me sit on the roof with you for the rest of your life? Please?"

Edd shook his head and gave Kevin a small smile as he put his arms around his redhead's neck and pulled him in for the best kiss Kevin had ever known. When he pulled back, his smile was wide and his voice was thick with so much love and emotion.

"What do you think?"

"I think you're a damn good kisser," Kevin snickered as he puled his fiancee into a strong hug.

They bought a penthouse condo downtown. Kevin wanted Edd to have a rooftop terrace. And on warm summer nights, they stargaze, Edd takes pictures of the meteor showers and they just sit and bask in their Rooftop Love.