BAM! BAM! BAM!

Kevin screwed his eyes shut even tighter, as if that would be enough to stop whatever was banging on the metal garage door at too early o'clock.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

He groaned as he kicked the covers off. He shuffled towards his second story window to see who's causing this ruckus downstairs when they are clearly NOT. OPENED.

A frantic guy is pacing before he knocks again, less aggressive this time. Of course, after I'm awake. The stranger waits a moment, then turns to leave, but halfway down the driveway he looks up and sees Kevin.

Holy mess, he's hot.

The hot guy calls out to him, "I'm sorry to be a bother. Do you know what time they open?"

"Saturday afternoon. We're taking the weekend off as a… personal holiday?" That was the best way his tired brain could describe it. The rest of his family (the same family that lives upstairs with him and obviously couldn't be bothered to stop the noise downstairs) decided to take this particular Friday and Saturday off in June, aside from a few previously booked appointments on Saturday. However, they didn't even talk about what to tell their customers… and none of them asked, so it hadn't mattered until now.

Hot guy's face falls. Kevin felt the tiny tug of compassion in his chest and decided to give in. "Dude. Wait… I'll be right down in, like, ten seconds." But it wasn't ten seconds since Kevin had to catch his breath and steady himself when the hot guy beamed up at him.

As soon as Kevin rolls up the garage door, the hot guy, "Eddward Vincent, but please, call me 'Edd,'" starts explaining himself. He was on his way to a conference, and his car gave out, and he's running late, and he's the first panel, and…

Kevin finally shushes him and agrees to at least look at the car, but he can't guarantee if he will be able to fix it, and if he could, he still can't tell him when it will be done since he hasn't even had a chance to check the problem since he doesn't even know what car Edd was talking about. After a brief pause, Edd catches on and points to a car on the corner of the road. "She stalled out over there."

"I'm just going to check it out where it's at then, if you don't mind, rather than waste time trying to get it into the garage."

"That's perfectly fine!"

As Kevin is poking around to assess the damage, he watches Edd from the corner of his eye. He seems beyond stressed, pacing while checking his watch every few steps. Finally, Kevin closes the hood and says, "This might take a while. How about I take you to that conference you mentioned, and I can look at it in the garage afterwards?"

Edd readily agrees, though he hesitates for a moment upon seeing Kevin's motorcycle.

. . . . . . .

Later that afternoon, Edd calls Kevin. "In my haste I seem to have left my overnight bag in the car…"

"No worries. If you give me a few, I can return the bag and the car to you. I got you a replacement battery and alternator, and I'm almost done hooking everything back up."

"Splendid! I can be there in about twenty minutes, is that okay?"

"Perfect. I should be done by then."

Once Edd gets back to the Barr Garage, Kevin hands him the bill. Edd looks it over as he pulls out a credit card, hesitating for a moment. "I don't mean to complain about the low cost, but… What about the service fee? Manual labor? All that other stuff?"

"Don't worry about it."

"But I insist! You took time out of your personal holiday to help me!"

"Well, if you insist, how about… you let me make you dinner tonight? It would be nice to have company tonight… I mean, if you don't have any dinner plans already…"

"I don't! That is, I-I don't have any dinner plans already!"

Kevin grins at the blushing Edd as he hands the credit card back.

Within the next few minutes, Edd finds himself upstairs in Kevin's apartment, watching him cut up vegetables. Well, not so much watching the food prep but more so watching Kevin himself, a muscular man wearing a floral apron which has somehow enhanced his physique and given Edd a few inappropriate thoughts about what he should do to Kevin and that apron. While Edd was trying to stop the next inappropriate thought from creeping in, he notices that the apron wasn't the only floral printed thing in the apartment. The upholstery was all floral printed, there was a few framed flower pressings on one wall, and finally Edd noticed the window box of flowers, blooms closed for the night.

"So, who picked out all the floral prints?"

"Me, actually." Edd whipped his head towards Kevin, a little surprised at the response, but also relieved he didn't say it was his girlfriend's choice. Kevin laughs at Edd's reaction. "Yeah, I get that face a lot when people realize how obsessed I am with plant life."

Edd picks up a book off the coffee table, and thumbs through it, just to see a few pressings fall out. "I see," he says, picking the dried flower up and showing Kevin.

"Yeah, that used to drive Da mad. He liked having a son that took after him in terms of sports and mechanics but would complain that I got Ma's green thumb. 'Why must there be FLOWERS EVERYWHERE!?' he'd say whenever there was another pressing or a new flower pot, but we'd catch him admiring them or smelling them."

Edd giggles. "I wish I was like that. The only green life I've managed to keep alive was a cactus, but only barely."

Kevin grins at him while plating the food. "You sound like Da. He couldn't grow anything himself. Anyways, dinner's ready, so let's dig in!"

At the dinner table Edd asks Kevin more about the rest of the family once he finds out that his cousins also work at the garage, and how the family business came to be. When Kevin brings up his dad again, he loses his train of thought for a moment and stares off in silence.

"Dude, sorry… haven't really talked about Da to anyone outside of the family since he passed…"

"Oh! So… He's-"

"Yeah, seems like it was time for him to be promoted from mechanic to angel," Kevin said, putting down his fork. "Tomorrow will be three months… So most of the family decided it would be a good time to take the weekend off and get our bearings, since we've all been in a kind of funk recently."

"I am so sorry! I shouldn't have interrupted your personal holiday, I-"

"Edd," Kevin places his hand on top of Edd's, silencing him. "Don't sweat about it. You actually helped me out more than you know. It was good to get back into the groove of things… And thanks for agreeing to have dinner with me… It was nice to have someone else here, and I really do enjoy your company."

Kevin smiles at him before pulling back his hand and resuming the meal. Edd, however, sits there looking even more distraught. "Dude, what's wrong?"

"I… I hate to admit this, but when you suggested dinner, I kinda thought you meant it… like in a date kind of way?"

Edd starts blushing and buries his face in his hands. Edd starts mumbling about how this is fine too, and that he completely understands what Kevin was trying to do when he hears a loud CLANK. Edd chances a peek between his fingers, and sees Kevin staring at him with his jaw dropped, and his hand poised next to his mouth, clearly unawares that the fork with his next bite of food had fallen to his plate. Kevin shakes himself and starts to blush himself.

"Um, yeah… A date would have been nice… but I haven't made a meal for anyone in so long, since Da's been gone actually… was just trying to get back into the swing of things." Kevin looks away and starts rubbing the back of his neck. "Maybe… maybe if this was several months ago… I probably would have tried taking you out… that is, if I could ever get over my nerves."

Kevin froze once his realized his damn mouth had betrayed him and looked at Edd to assess the damage. Edd had now pulled his hat down over his face but the deep blush was still visible on his chin and neck.

Kevin cleared his throat and asked, "So did you try the salad dressing yet? It's homemade."

Edd shook his head and retreated from the safety of his hat, to take a bite of the salad. After gushing about how well the flavors complimented each other, the rest of the dinner went on as if no one had mentioned dating.