Author's Note: Today is National Coming Out Day. It's also Taco Tuesday. If you feel safe to come out, I'm here with tacos and hugs. If not, that's okay, too. I get it. You still get tacos and hugs. As for my PRIDE flag alignment, I am Bi and demi. And pretty proud of it. I'm an ally to all as well. Now, I need to go find some tacos.
Song Inspiration: T.I., feat Rihanna - Live Your Life
October 10th, Edd's bedroom
"Edd."
"Huh?"
Kevin took a breath as the ravenette had finally stopped pacing. The redhead didn't know that just mentioning tomorrow's date would send his boyfriend into a tizzy.
They were studying and doing homework. Kevin looked at the calendar and made a note of the date aloud and Edd jumped up and started pacing. They had only started dating Memorial Day. A year's worth of getting to know you more friendship after a childhood of animosity and a puberty of confusion had turned into a full on romance. It was the best summer of their young lives, but all the sneaking around had caught up with them. Being their class president since they got to high school, made Edd heavily involved with a lot of what went on at Peach Creek High and in town. National Coming Out Day was as big as Halloween in the small town with all the brightly colored flags, face paint, clothing and accessories. So Labor Day weekend, they planned to use National Coming Out Day as their day. They were coming out to their friends before school and the school itself would probably know by lunch. They had planned on coming out to Edd's parents over dinner tomorrow because it was the only time they were going to be in town and free over their week long stay. While Kevin was excited about it all, Edd was in a bit of a panic as he hadn't known the planned date had snuck up on them so quickly.
"You're gonna walk a hole into the the carpet if you keep pacing," Kevin said as he stood from Edd's desk chair.
"What does it matter? They're gonna disown me and toss me out and I won't have to worry about this damn carpet anymore, anyways," he sighed as his voice cracked with a wet sob and Kevin took him into his arms.
"It's ok, Edd. We don't have to -"
But Edd cut him off with a shake of his head.
"No, no," he said quietly. "We have to. I'm tired of lying and I'm tired of hiding." Then he looked Kevin in the eyes and the redhead's heart nearly broke at how dim his usually bright baby blue eyes looked. "Honestly, I'm just tired."
"Maybe you should sleep on it, then?," Kevin whispered into his ebony wild curls as he pulled him close again.
"Nu uh, Kev! It's only 8. You're not getting out of here that easily. We still have your biology lab to go over. Nickerson is going to grill you guys."
Kevin whined as Edd drug him back to his desk and shoved him into the chair before sitting on his lap. Kevin cuddled him close for a brief moment before Edd wriggled away to look over his lab report.
*Buzz, Buzz*
Kevin grabbed Edd's phone and saw that the incoming text was from Edd's mother.
"She wants to know if we're all still on for dinner?"
Edd nodded pensively and Kevin sent a quick confirmation text back.
Edd then took a deep breath as he took his face out of Kevin's stack of papers. He was pale and looked so tired, but Kevin could tell that his nerves were on edge.
Kevin cradled his face in his hands and whispered, " I ain't going no where."
Despite the sweet words, Edd leveled a look at him.
"How do you have an A in English with that kind of vocabulary?"
Kevin just snickered.
"What's up with my lab?"
October 11th, National Coming Out Day, Peach Creek High Cafeteria
"Yo, Sockhead," Eddy called across the cafeteria as Kevin and Double D walked in.
It was breakfast and they had texted their friends to ask them to meet them at the cafeteria for breakfast and news they could use. The cul-de-sac as a whole had gotten closer the summer between seventh and eighth grade. A scam towards the end of the summer had gone epically wrong and led them on the biggest adventure of their prepubescent lives. The Eds learned how to stand up to a bully bigger than Kevin on his worst day, and they all learned that while no one likes a bully, no one really likes being misunderstood even more.
And that's all the Eds were; misunderstood.
Since then, they made concentrated efforts to get along and even became friends. The two hat wearing boys, by virtue of just living across the street from one another got exceptionally close. For a while, Eddy was jealous of their friendship, but when he saw that Kevin meant no harm to Double D and even understood him as well as Eddy did, he backed down. Edd was in good hands with Kevin as much as he was with anyone else.
And now Edd was walking hand in hand with Kevin across the expansive Peach Creek High cafeteria.
To say they were shocked was an understatement.
Edd had gotten his "I Swing Both Ways" sweatshirt that had a three eyed monkey swinging on it from vines colored to resemble the Bi PRIDE flag sophomore year. In the pictures he took wearing it for the school newspaper and yearbook, he made sure that you could only see his profile or that someone was in front of him. His parents only approved of him participating in the activities surrounding National Coming Out Day because they were apart of the fall Homecoming's Spirit Week. But he loved that sweatshirt and would wear it whenever he could when they weren't around and it broke his friends hearts because their prejudice against unnatural lifestyles was a bit hypocritical considering they were never around and their son had been stuck raising himself most of his life. They were now juniors and for the first time ever, he's holding hands with someone on National Coming Out Day.
And that someone was wearing a hoodie with Frank Sinatra on it set against the backdrop of the Demisexual PRIDE flag, Frank's blue eyes highlighted against his black and white portrait, and the lyrics to I've Got You Under My Skin written in a fine script on the flag.
"Guys?," Nazz asked curiously and Edd held his breath as as Kevin nodded.
"Cool," Johnny said. "Shame we're not having tacos today, though."
"What?!," Edd asked, the shock of his friends reactions, or lack thereof, settling in on top of the lack of tacos on a Tuesday.
Ed rolled his eyes.
"Ms Schafer said that we couldn't have tacos every Tuesday."
"Like hell we can't," Edd muttered as dropped his bag on the table and stormed off to the cafeteria manager's office.
"I love that man," Kevin grinned after him.
"Talk."
Kevin's head snapped to Eddy and he bit his lip. He knew Eddy would be their toughest customer in the midst of all of this when it came to their friends.
"We've been dating since Memorial Day," he said as he came to sit down in what had become his usual seat across from Nazz but next to Edd.
"Whoa," the short brunette said and Kevin nodded.
"We decided to come out today on Labor Day."
"Wow, ya'll are committed," Nazz grinned and Kevin finally started to relax. Nazz's vote of confidence in them was a boon on what was going to be a pretty stressful day.
"Do his parents know?," Ed asked softly.
Kevin shook his head.
"Not yet. We're having dinner with them and my parents tonight at Jose's Cantina."
"God, I love that place," Rolf sighed. "But I shall not crash your dinner. Instead, I wish you well."
The friends nodded in agreement as Double D walked back up to the table, triumphant grin in place.
"We'll be having tacos today, per usual," he said and Kevin pulled him into a kiss as their friends cheered.
By lunch, the news was all over the school. The junior class' top student was dating the school's top QB. And they both happened to be boys. And that was okay. Kevin had a hell of time explaining what demisexual meant to everyone, though. Thankfully, the notes Edd had given him around the Fourth of July to celebrate Kevin finally figuring out how to explain to Edd how he really felt about him in comparison to everyone else he had dated helped. And four words written on the bottom of the last sheet of those notes got him through the day.
I love you, too.
October 11th, National Coming Out Day, Jose's Cantina
Two family's that two boys hoped would be united were quickly seated at large table for six in a semi private area of the restaurant. Edd had changed out of his sweatshirt and Kevin, his hoodie, when they went to cross country track and football practice. But Kevin didn't want to let the PRIDE of the day go, so he wore his demi PRIDE gauges that Edd had gotten him for three month anniversary in his ears and a simple purple button down with a grey sweater pulled over it and his blackest pair of jeans. Edd opted for khakis, a dark pink button up under a blue sweater and a loosely knotted purple tie that his mother kept fussing at him about because he refused to button the collar to his shirt and be presentable.
Kevin raised a brow as he sat across from Edd and Edd just shrugged and sighed happily, which helped Kevin relax a bit. But only a little bit.
"I don't understand why you have to be a rebel without a cause, Eddward," his mother said as she came to sit next to him and fussed with his shirt collar.
"Mother, please," he said tersely as he back away from her touch. "I have plenty of causes."
"It's just spirit week, Eddward," his father replied.
"Yes, because all the activities that you swear up and down will look good on my college applications, are just another brick in the wall," Edd retorted and his parents gasped while Kevin's parents looked at him wide eyed.
"Actually, he's right," Kevin said thoughtful as their waitress walked up with a tray full of complimentary water and took their drink orders.
"How is he right, Kevin?," Kevin's mother asked.
"Well, we go and do all this stuff in high school, that in the grand scheme of things aren't really going to help us in the long run. But there are a few things that do."
"Like what?," Mrs Vincent asked sarcastically and Kevin smiled. He could see where Edd got his sassy side from.
"Helping to organize a food or blood drive helps us with time management, organization, working with other people in stressful situations and empathy, to name a few," the redhead shrugged.
"Empathy?," Mr Vincent asked curiously. "There's a reason why I just can never get behind such liberal causes. The good Lord helps those who help themselves."
"And sometimes, we are the ones who are supposed to be there for them to get the help from," Mrs Barr said as she put her elbow on the table, her face in her hand and leveled the elder Vincent man a look.
"My mom's a bit of a hippy," Kevin grinned as he dug into the chips and salsa the waitress dropped off with their drinks.
Seeing the traditional appetizer and their drinks on the table made the two families pay attention to why they were at the restaurant in the first place. So they made their selections and Mr Barr quickly waved their waitress over to let her know they were ready to order.
As other classmates and their families started to pour into the restaurant, Kevin and Edd made their greetings, and the rumor mill rolled on. Word had gotten around that they weren't out to their parents, yet, and would be telling them over dinner. Considering the way they were dressed, if their parents had been clued in, they'd gotten it already, but by the pensive looks in both boys eyes, they could tell they hadn't. A couple of Kevin's loud mouth teammates had to be drug away by mom's, sisters, girlfriends, and in one case, an uncle wearing a Rainbow PRIDE tie dyed tshirt under a sports jacket that said "We Out Here!," on it.
"What's with that young man's shirt?," Mr Vincent asked his wife as she took a bite of her taco.
She glanced towards where his head was cocked towards as she chewed and shrugged before realization hit her.
"He's gay," she sighed and they both shook their heads disapprovingly.
"What's the problem?," Mr Barr asked as he looked to the man in question and then back to Double D's parents.
"Well, you know how they are," Mrs Vincent said with a dismissing wave of her hand.
"Oh, do tell," Mrs Barr said facetiously as she put both elbows on the table and then put her face in her hands.
Kevin and Edd nearly choked on their tacos at this. Mrs Barr was pretty easy going, but Kevin's quip about her being a hippy wasn't without reason. She may have been a cradle born, mass going, Sunday School teaching Catholic, but she was also one to stand up to anyone who thought they were better than anyone else. When Edd found out that this was how she was, it really made him question Kevin's bullying ways when they were kids. But Mr Barr explained it best that Kevin was doing his best to be a tough Barr man. But he went about it all wrong as toughness isn't about brow beating those you consider weaker than you, but standing up for those weaker than yourself. It took the fight with Eddy's brother for him to get it, but it was a lesson he was still doing his best to live out everyday. And from that, their friendship truly began.
Mrs Vincent blinked at the auburn haired woman, and her hazel eyes were sparking fire, her smile even more know it all than Edd's ever could be.
"I suppose your okay with them being out and forcing the rest of us to deal with them and their sick way of living," she sneered.
"Doesn't bother me a bit, sister," Mrs Barr said as she stole a tomato off her husband's plate. "I'm not in a relationship with any of them and honestly, the way they live their lives has zero bearing on mine, so what do I care?"
"I have to go back and forth across the country and around the world for weeks at a time to help companies figure out how to properly take care of their employees now since so many have gay people working for them and the special little snowflakes have the gall to expect their employers to take care of their partners health insurance or pay for their sick gender reassignment surgeries and that is costing you money, sister," Mrs Vincent retorted.
"If it makes them happy, I'm all for it. Especially, since I also have to pay to make sure that Viagra, abortions and birth control are available to the people who want or need it in my own insurance pay pot."
"But those are viable needs," Mr Vincent said.
"Viagra, Father? Really?," Edd asked incredulously.
"People should be allowed to live their sex lives as they see fit, Eddward," he retorted.
"As long as they're straight?," Kevin asked.
Mr Vincent nodded.
"Of course."
"Well, we're Catholic and all of those things you mentioned as viable needs go against some of the very tenets of our faith. But this is America, and I'll be dog on if I stand in the way of someone's happiness because the Virgin Mother knows I don't want anyone standing in front of mine," Mr Barr said as he finished his beer and the waitress quickly replaced it with another and gave him a fist bump before walking away.
"If only you saw what this was costing you," Mrs Vincent quipped as she sipped her unsweetened iced tea.
"I'm a nurse," Mrs Barr said gently. "I know the monetary and the human costs of these things. I see it in my ER and OR everyday. And I'd rather people be able to live happy and healthy lives than not."
"And," Mr Barr said as he stole a jalapeno from his wife's plate, "the costs of the current status quo is costing us more. Let the people be and watch how things bounce back."
"There's a reason there's a stairway to heaven and a highway to hell," Mr Vincent retorted.
"Says the atheist," Edd sighed as he pushed his plate away. He ate all of his dinner, but this conversation was killing his dessert vibes and giving him digestion.
Mr Vincent blanched at his words as Mrs Vincent asked what the hell had gotten into her son.
Edd gave a sly grin and Kevin paled.
"Not what, but that is neither here nor there," he said with a wave of his hand.
"Don't wave your hand like that, Son," Mrs Vincent said as she lowered his hand. "You'll look like one of them."
"No, I won't," Eddward said as he snatched his hand back. "I'm only half gay."
And Kevin fell out of his chair as he burst into laughter.
"You're WHAT?!," his parents roared at him.
"Bisexual," the ravenette sighed as he rubbed his temples.
"Flan, Babe?"
"Noooo," Double D whined as he raised his head. "Want to split the brownie sundae with me?"
Edd rolled his neck as Kevin stacked their plates and gave the waitress their dessert order. Then they both turned to see their parents looking at them in shock, surprise, and in Mrs Barr's case, glee.
"Babe?," she grinned at her son.
Edd turned about ten shades of red as Kevin nodded.
"Yeah, we're dating."
"Since when?!," Mrs Vincent fumed.
"Memorial Day. I think you were in New Delhi," Edd mused.
"So what does that make him?," Mr Vincent asked with as much fury as his wife was emitting at the moment.
"My boyfriend," Edd said with the cutest incredulous look on his face that Kevin had ever seen.
"No, you know what I meant, Eddward. Don't be snide."
"I'm a demisexual, Sir," Kevin sighed as he sipped his soda.
"What is that supposed to mean?," Mrs Vincent asked angrily.
"Oh, wait! I know this one!," Mr Barr said excitedly. "It means you gotta get into his head and heart before you can get into his pants."
"Cheers to you, Dad," Kevin said as he raised his drink to his father and Edd gave the man an impressed soft golf clap.
"Yeah, we've got a few people at work who came out today," the elder Barr man said. "It's all pretty interesting."
"As interesting as it is," Mrs Barr said seriously, "I want you both to make some doctor's appointments soon."
Edd went redder than before as Kevin informed her that they had already taken care of all that in June and they were in the clear.
"Look at my baby boy being responsible," she squealed as she hugged her now blushing son.
"MA!"
Edd just snickered as the waitress set the brownie sundae with two spoons in front of him. He served the still blushing Kevin the first bite. From Kevin's spoon, of course.
Double D's parents were quiet during dessert, very polite and gracious about Mr Barr taking care the bill and were the first out the door after they bagged up their leftovers.
"You don't think...," Kevin said as Edd pulled his jacket on.
"We'll find out shortly," the ravenette sighed as he went to the door.
But his parents were waiting in the car when he stepped outside and Kevin gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and made Edd promise to call before he went to bed.
"Don't I always?," Edd grinned and then he was gone.
October 12th, midnight, Kevin's bedroom
*Buzz, Buzz*
*Buzz, Buzz*
Kevin sat up groggily and grabbed his phone off his nightstand. He squinted as he tried to focus on the name being displayed on his phone's bright backscreen.
CallerID: Da Dork
"Why are you still up, Babe?," Kevin asked sleepily as he answered the phone and looked at the clock on his desk.
1236AM
"I promised I'd call, so I'm calling," Edd sighed.
"How'd it go?"
"I've lost my college fund and any other inheritances that my name may or may not be attached to, but they did say that I could stay til I was 18 as that's always been the plan, so I still have a home. I honestly think they don't want people to know they put their son out because he's bisexual. I think I'll change my last name, though."
"Fuck that sucks, Babe. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It's not your fault."
"Wait, you're changing your last name!?," Kevin asked as Edd's words set in. And suddenly he's very wide awake. "To what?"
"Please say mine," he thought frantically.
"I don't know, yet," Edd snickered. "But when I figure it out, you will be THE FIRST to know."
And Kevin's heart soared as Edd yawned.
"Get some sleep, my dude," Kevin said as he stretched and yawned himself. "I have it on good authority that Nickerson is gonna grill y'all tomorrow."
"Ugh, don't remind me. Ok, I'm going, I'm going. I Love you."
"Love you, too. Night."
"Goodnight."
October 12th, Edd's front porch.
Kevin rang the door bell and smiled as he heard the usual thumping of Edd grabbing his shoes and his things for the day as he said, "Just a minute!"
A few seconds later, the door opened and Edd stepped outside as he pulled his beanie on and Kevin pouted as his wild curls disappeared for another day. Kevin took a step back, though, as Edd wasn't wearing his usual uniform of khakis, button down and sweater vest that had become his thing since they started high school.
He was definitely not gonna complain about his skinny jeans as they made his ass look as AWEmazing as they did in his khakis. And they had this uncanny ability to make his already long legs look ridiculously longer, even if he was as tall as Kevin was.
It was his hoodie that threw the redhead.
It was black, but on the front were three words printed in the tricolors of the Bi PRIDE flag.
We. Are. Everywhere.
"Where...? How...?," Kevin asked with a big, bright, proud smile on his face.
"I got it freshman year, actually. I'm surprised it still fits," Edd said as he blushed. "You like it?"
"I love it and you, Babe," the redhead said as he picked him up and then spun him around.
"KEVIN! PUT ME DOWN!," the genius squealed, but he held on tight.
Kevin did put him down after a few spins on the front lawn and after pulling themselves together from Kevin's dizzying hug, they walked to school hand in hand, out and proud.