Three tiny taps are heard at the backdoor and Kevin snorted.
"You know, I can just give you a key and you can let yourself in like a normal person," he said as he opened the door and Eddward walked inside the dimly lit kitchen, taking a long stretch in the living room to resume his human form before looking through Kevin's DVDs.
"And let the neighbors see?" The raven grinned at his host in the kitchen. "I think not!"
"Yes, because me randomly opening my backdoor doesn't raise eyebrows," Kevin retorted as he stirred his stew.
"Oh."
"Uh, huh," the redhead sighed loudly. "Anyways, I got some buck I thought you might like, Jesus fricking Christ, Eddward!"
Kevin had turned to see his visitor suddenly behind him and even though it had been nearly a year since they had met, Eddward still could shake him up now and again with how fast he could move.
"As long as it's red, I don't care," Eddward smiled and Kevin wanted to dump the whole pitcher of blood on his snarky ass head. "I can also read your mind."
"Get the fuck outta my damn head, Edd!" Kevin hissed as he walked to the counter to pull down the special glass Rolf gave him for Eddward's drinks.
"How else am I supposed to know what's going on with you?!" Eddward whined as he watched Kevin pour him a glass of the young buck Nazz caught a few weeks ago with greedy red eyes.
"You could ask!"
"Nah. That's boring and human's lie."
"Have I ever lied to you?"
Eddward shot him a look as he sipped his drink and Kevin gave him one of his cocky ass grins.
Nazz may have not known much about how to hunt vampires, but she knew plenty about how to get along with them and she taught Kevin everything she knew.
Tell the truth.
Be prepared for anything and everything.
Eat your veggies, drink plenty of water, and get plenty of rest.
Kevin could have sworn it was like dealing with a child, but it worked.
Eddward knew who he was in and out and while Kevin didn't know everything about Eddward, he was willing to learn.
And in Eddward's now 221 years on the planet, there was a lot to learn.
Sometimes it was all fresh and new because even Eddward had forgotten things he once knew; sometimes it seemed old bag to the vampire, but he indulged Kevin's curiosity.
But what really bonded them was bringing Kev back to the real world.
Relationships in Edd and Eddward's world were as it suited the people involved in the relationship.
While homosexual relationships didn't produce children, there were no real shortages of those willing to bear children and help their friends and family expand their numbers safely and happily.
Shaman and witches would create the elixirs that helped carry the otherworldly embryos to term and were there to bring the children into the world.
That was normal to Kevin, but it absolutely shocked Kev.
His friendship with Edd was always looked at oddly as they were very close friends when they disappeared.
Many blamed his disappearance on the small vampire, especially after no one reported him missing as well. And while it was true that who he was played a part in how and why they were stolen away away, it was Kev who chose to stay.
He cared too deeply for his friend to lose him to a thin skinned Hell Spawned Demon.
But as Edd waned in their hellish prison, Kev sacrificing himself to keep Edd alive while Terry teased them with all they could ever want to eat as long as they joined his fight to bring the cryptids power to bear on humanity, showed Eddward that this family that inadvertently befriended his own, was part and parcel as to why there was still some good left in humanity.
So while Eddward started to trust Kevin's lead in bringing Kev up to speed on how the world worked, that didn't mean he didn't occasionally fall into very old habits from time to time.
And Kevin started to learn more about the way of life that was second nature to his dark haired friend.
The weird sleep schedule and dietary requirements were nothing compared to his sneaky ability to be in places Kevin never expected him to be in.
His effectiveness at finding safe houses at a moment's notice for a small country's worth of people in their area would put FEMA to shame.
Edd and Eddward's diplomacy between their parents' clans, let alone lording over the other cryptids in their world because of tradition, made Kevin wonder if Terry didn't have a point about letting the cryptids be in charge.
Then Eddy would go and do something stoopid and the Kanker witches would be ready to turn him into a taxidermy doorstop, and Kevin was glad they all kept to themselves because humanity just wouldn't be able to deal with the shenanigans for all of eternity.
While Kev was essentially Edd's ghoul, as ageless as his host, but also dependent upon him for everything, the care that made him offer himself up as such in the first place was the only thing that kept Edd, and Eddward for that matter, from killing him now that he was no longer really needed.
Kev had taken Edd's explanation of who he was and why Terry had stolen them away with analytical mind and a terrified heart.
No one knew where they were or how they got there and by the time they figured it out, no one could draw them out without a bit of extra help.
Johnny may be a goofy one, but his hawk like eyes and mind, along with just waiting for the right time, pushed things in the right direction.
A family's prayers had been answered, but God works in mysterious ways.
Kev lived with Edd and Eddward in the high hills that surrounded their small town, his simple communications to his family always of his happiness at being out of Hell and with his friend and his wishes that they stay safe.
Kevin would occasionally visit and bring back updates on Kev's new life as best he could to his near disbelieving family.
If Kevin's father's childhood home wasn't destroyed forty years ago during a hunter's fight with a bat that was lost and dying from God knows what, he was sure that no one would have believed any of the stories he had now about his new friends, let alone their cousin.
"Ok, so you haven't lied to me," Eddward snipped after taking a sip of some of the best buck he's had in decades. "But there's a first time for everything. Where did you get this?"
"Nazz went out with her cousins to the hills near Lemon Brook Lake. She said there's a ton of food out that way because you guys moved away last year and the numbers bounced back."
"Speaking of…"
Kevin caught ice blue eyes looking sadly into his glass and his heart started to pound in his chest.
"Don't do that," Eddward said nervously before taking a large drink to quell the desire running through his veins.
"Can't help it when you look like that!" Kevin said frantically, a hand over his heart and hurt in his eyes. "What's going on, Edd?"
His name was a family one. But as the eldest child, he was to rule the Rockwell clan as his father had, any other children, his mother's Vincent's.
Nearly everyone called his brother Edd or Double Dee, while he was to remain Eddward at their father's insistence.
"Respect the name, respect the man," he would say, and he was right.
Kevin always called Edd, Lil Dee or just Dee, but he was Eddward unless they were in private.
To be Edd took some of the pressure of his life's work off his shoulders.
He could be himself and a bit carefree.
And right now, he wants nothing more than to be carefree, but he can't be because things are changing again.
"We're moving again. Well, I am."
"What?! Why?!"
"Because Edd wants to marry your cousin. As such that leaves my brother with life partner and no longer in need of my help. Per our laws, after the wedding, he retains this area and I'm taking the Rockwell's back home."
"Where…Where to?" Kevin asked, scared that he'd never see him again.
"Cherry Pines."
"THE MOUTAINS, EDD?!"
"Lower your voice, Kevin," Eddward said lowly, his usually dark irises glowing a bit red, but Kevin shook him off and stormed into the living room to throw himself on the couch.
The flag above it fluttered a bit and Eddward felt sick.
Kev, upon learning how the Civil Rights Movement went down with Black Americans and how the gay rights movement came behind it and then along side it, bought his cousin a new flag that made a bit more sense to Eddward.
It was still the PRIDE flag, but instead of the Confederate cross, the Gadsden rattlesnake was in the middle of it with the words, Don't Tread On Me across the bottom of it.
It made more sense because Kev felt that their rights for living how they wanted and loving who they loved shouldn't be treaded upon.
Yet, in this moment, Eddward felt like he's crushed Kevin's everything.
"I'm not leaving for at least another two months," he said as he slinked out of the dark kitchen and into the dimly lit living room, feeling terrible that his way of life was disrupting Kevin's again.
Simple things like turning the lights down after the sun set made him feel comfortable in Kevin's space, and it downright delighted him to see the tall redhead make the effort for him despite him not really having a reason to.
Or did he...
Kevin rolled over to glare at him and the stare pricked his at feelings a bit.
"You can come to the changing ceremony."
"The what?!"
"Because they're getting married, Kev wants to go through the ritual to fully become one of us now. Although, I honestly think Edd only wants to marry him because he's willing to do that in the first place," Eddward said thoughtfully.
"I'll pass," Kevin shuddered as he sat up and looked at Eddward's feet.
How the 6'3 vampire went from tall human to large bat with adorable bat feet creeped him out and intrigued him. But there was no way he could handle his still slightly human cousin becoming truly undead.
"Then the wedding? You know they both want you there. And any other family you think could handle it," Eddward suggested softly, just trying to buy them more time.
"I'll talk to Ma," Kevin nodded seriously and Eddward held back from hopping in his head to see who else he had in mind for the event.
It wasn't his wedding, so there was no need for him to really know or care who showed up. Everyone would be properly vetted by Rolf and Nazz beforehand anyways.
"Can we watch Baby's Day Out again?"
"Where did you even find that one?!" Kevin laughed as he went to turn the DVD player on.
"A CVS DVD bargain bin back in 2003," Eddward shrugged.
"How did you get into CVS?!"
"Funny story that…"
