Edd slipped in the door late Friday night as the conference's final dinner and cocktail party ran longer than he thought it would have, thus making him cancel the late night movie date he and Kevin planned.

He found him crashed out in his easy chair, a cereal bowl on the end table next to two empty beers, but the fixings for his favorite Chinese food was spread out on the counter as the rerun of the live taping of SportsCenter played out on the TV.

As quietly as he could, Edd picked up Kevin's dinner mess, washed the dishes, wiped down the counter, and put the leftovers away before crawling into Kevin's lap, grabbing the remote and turning off the TV.

The redhead woke up with a start and was very surprised to see Edd curled up in his lap like a kitten.

"Wha?," he asked sleepily, slightly blushing at Edd's toothy grin.

"Hey," Edd said brightly as he set the remote on the end table.

"Hey," Kevin sighed as he pulled him close and rocked them back in the chair so he could get comfortable again. "What time is it?"

"1145," Edd whispered sheepishly.

"Jesus Christ, you nerds can party," Kevin groaned and Edd attacked his sides viciously with his fingers.

"You like this nerd, you…you…meat head!"

Kevin was suddenly awake but his body was still too tired to stop Edd's tickling. Thankfully Edd wasn't being vindictive in his teasing and quickly stopped.

"Hey," Kevin retorted lowly as he sat up. "You like my meat head."

"Says the man who says his best head comes from a damn nerd," Edd snarked back, his hands on his own hips and Kevin gave a slight whine.

"Ok, ok, you win, Dork," Kevin sighed as he wrapped him up in a hug. "How was the party anyways?"

"Sooo," Edd grinned, "I met this guy."

Hard scowl met playful smirk, but Edd gently took Kevin's hands into his own and gave him a soft smile as he said, "You have no worries about me, you know that, Kev."

"Yeah, I know," Kevin pouted as his jealously ebbed away, but his wonderment that Edd loved him never ceased.

"Good, because this guy is awesome and just may make all our hopes and dreams come true!," he squealed and Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Is his name Mickey Mouse?"

"Close," Edd whispered. "Reginald Johnson. He runs –"

"Martin's Capital," Kevin said as he sat up and shot Edd a curious look.

"So you have heard of it?"

"Yeah," Kevin chuckled, "something like that. He brings his bike in after he takes it out of storage and before he puts it back in because he says he doesn't trust himself to do the tune up, but I just think he's being lazy."

Edd knew there was some truth to what Kevin had just said because Reginald had built a career off of being one of the first African American trick motorcycle riders to make good. So tuning up his motorcycle would be a cakewalk compared to facilitating some of the world's biggest business deals.

He spent his college years doing tricks on his motorcycles to pay for college, which introduced him to an elite class of bored rich kids with more time and money on their hands then sense.

His business acumen rivaled most anyone had ever seen in the last twenty years, and he turned the sponsorships he got from turning tricks on his bike into a billion dollar investment firm that took the ups and downs of the world's markets with ease.

And he was expanding his company in an economic down turn.

The man wasn't lazy.

Just smart as fuck.


"Well, his laziness is paying off for you and maybe me," Edd smiled as he booped Kevin's nose. "But I'm gonna have to cancel our date for tomorrow because we're having dinner with him and a few investors at Mercí at 8."

"We?!," Kevin exclaimed as he sat up and Edd grabbed the arms of the LazyBoy to keep from falling.

"Yes, we," Edd said quietly as he readjusted his position in Kevin's lap. "It's…it's a headhunting thing. He invited a few people from the firm and Loretta in HR mentioned my name and he wants me to come, but it's a plus one, because the headhunters want to –"

"Get a feel for how people really are," Kevin said as he wrapped his arms around Edd's waist and Edd nodded.

If Reginald was looking to grow his accounting department, he would want the best of the best. But to truly have the best, he wanted to see what people were like outside of the office. However, even at office parties, people would wear the masks they wore for work place functions. Having a plus one helped break down the walls because it was hard to put up a front about who you really were to your boss when you had a date at your side.

And in headhunting situations where the gathering of great minds would be over dinner at a four star Michelin restaurant, only those with established relationships were invited. Reginald James didn't build one of the top capital investing firms in the country by working with people who didn't know how to work. Work-life balance was important to him and he surrounded himself with people who knew how to do that.

What better way to show his appreciation than to take the ones that helped them on the home front out to dinner?

"Please tell me you have a clean suit?"

"Yeah," Kevin sighed. "They all are."

He rolled his eyes at Edd's grin, but started to mentally piece together an outfit worthy of dinner with a multibillionaire investor at a fancy French restaurant.

"I'll press your black one tomorrow while you're at work," Edd said, breaking into his reverie. "Green Oxford?"

"It…uh…um…it still needs the buttons restitched," Kevin muttered as he averted his eyes from Edd's sudden change in demeanor.

Edd stared at him in wide eyed embarrassed frustration as his jaw hung open.

Two weeks ago, Kevin took him to their favorite tapas bistro in the city and the date ended with Edd tearing the Oxford off of him when they got back to Kevin's condo. Edd only found half the buttons before he left, but Kevin said he'd deal with it later and for him not to worry about it.

Til now…

"I haven't had time! And you know I suck at sewing!," Kevin said as Edd's embarrassed stare put him on the defensive.

"Did you at least -?"

"Yeah," Kevin said a bit too enthusiastically for Edd's taste but he knew the redhead was proud of himself for at least preparing to do the work needed to repair the shirt.

"Ok, I'll restitch them tomorrow as well," Edd said thoughtfully. "Purple tie?"

"Whatever you want," Kevin shrugged.

"You're not there to just be pretty arm candy, Kevin," Edd smiled and Kevin scoffed out a laugh.

"Whatever you say, Dee."


Edd spent most of the day Saturday readying their clothes for the dinner party they were to attend that evening and continuing his research on the city where his heart made its home.

Most of the time, he was just looking up fun things for them to do when he came to town. Now, he was researching commutes and gas prices, the housing market, and the general cost of living in the city versus any of the outlying suburbs and comparing it all to Charleston.

And the results were always the same.

Commuting from Peach City to Charleston cost too much in the long and short runs. Charleston was just too far away.

But if he got a job at Martin's Capital, he could afford to move in with Kevin and just live with enough left over to start a nice egg for the two of them and take a much needed vacation.

He had to stop himself when he looked up vacation destinations, though, because they always turned into honeymoon destinations and he didn't want count his eggs before they hatched.


Kevin's shop closed at 7 on Saturday's, but Edd knew that when he was in town that Kevin would leave early to spend time with him.

Edd didn't start to worry until it was well after four o'clock and Kevin's texts came more sporadically than normal and were more full of sweet emoji's than actual words.

It was now 630PM, and Edd knew that even if Kevin walked straight into the shower as soon as he walked in the door and didn't shave, they would still be getting to the restaurant on time if not late because Saturday night traffic downtown could be just as busy as rush hour on a random Tuesday.

Edd paced around the bedroom as he stared at his phone and the fact that his last five text messages had been delivered, just not read yet.

Finally, at 637PM, Kevin texted him back.

DaddyLove: Mark JUST TOLD me Reggie brought his bike in this afternoon and I gotta get it done. I'll meet you there.

Edd let out a groan of frustration, ordered an Über, and ran to the bathroom to get ready.