Thursday dawned bright and crisp. Fall was coming, but summer hadn't let go just yet. Kevin made a mental note to get Edd a riding jacket. And a helmet. His birthday was in October. Perfect timing.

Coach Williams had finished hiring his coaching staff. They'd be meeting with prospective sponsors today and Friday. Hopefully, by Monday's lunch hour team meeting, they'd have a booster team. The team worked quickly on getting the equipment room in order. No one wanted to work on it over the weekend. Once it was deemed Double D acceptable, Kevin picked him up and swung him around with glee. Then he ordered the team to make sure that it stayed Double D Acceptable. He never wanted to see that freaked out look on Edd's face again. Double D talked to Ed about making a new design for the team's tshirts and sweatshirts. The oaf was so excited he spent their lunch hour doodling prospective designs. Thankfully, May always brought him lunch, so he still ate. The team would choose a design at their meeting on Monday. Friday there'd be only morning practice because of Freshman Orientation in the evening.

Kevin and Edd met with Nazz, Princess and Nat for lunch as usual. Princess was glad to see that Edd was getting more and more comfortable being himself around everyone. He still needed to tell his best friends his hat secret, but they made plans for a movie night that weekend, so soon everyone he was close to would know. But she agreed that it was in Edd's best interest to continue to wear a hat in public and would be accompaning he and Nazz on their hat shopping trip. She was exasperated by his mom's rude behavior at dinner with Kevin and his family, but at least he had his father. It did make her wonder about how she felt about her dads. So many years the families had spent so much time together. What did the woman feel about her? She couldn't dwell on Lynn's bigoted behavior. She had her own (love) life to get in order.

"What do you guys think about coming to a barn raising over Labor Day weekend?," Princess asked.

"Why are you raising a barn? Your place is a palace!," Nat exclaimed.

"I'm stabling my horses at Rolf's." Her voice was steady and confident, but she couldn't meet her friends' gaze.

"Princess," Edd asked curiously, "Has Rolf had a Parlor Room meeting with your dad's?"

"Not yet." She seemed disappointed. "They're just working on getting my horses here."

She wanted to get to know the tall foreign boy, but her dads weren't budging on their dating rule: NEVER.

"How about we make a party of it? A BBQ. It'll give your dads a chance to meet him and his family and keep things casual."

"Edd, you're a genius!" she squealed.

"So I've been told," he smirked.

"Ha. Ha," she scoffed at him. "Since this is your idea, you're in charge!"

"Looks like we're raising a barn!," Nat said as he raised his hands up and down in a "raise the roof" gesture. His friends just groaned.

Edd spent the afternoon on the field. He had to help Coach Williams get the playbook organized. Suddenly, all those days playing catch and running drills with Kevin, Saturday and Sunday afternoons watching hours of football were starting to make sense. Seeing Edd "get it" made Kevin giddy. Edd was basically the first person he's coached. If he could get Edd, he knew he could make a career out of it.

The team watched the two boys together. The nerd and the jock. Brawn and brains. Total opposites, but it just made sense. No one fit Kevin like Edd. They had to keep the genius around. He made Kevin happy and a happy captain meant practice was easier to deal with and Edd's work as team manager made them all work together like a cohesive unit, something they were direly lacking last year. Edd may be a nerd, a dork, a dweeb, but he was their nerd, their dork, their dweeb. No one was fucking with Edd. The Peach Creek High Football team would make sure of it. And Edd and Kevin would need them to.

That evening was spent cuddled up with leftovers on Kevin's couch.

"Ready for school?," Kevin asked.

"I need a few things, but I'll be ready before the weekend is out."

"Do you want to stay here Sunday night?" Please say yes!

Edd grinned. He knew what Kevin was getting at, but he still needed to iron things out with his mother. But his parents would be gone all weekend. He might as well stay.

"We'll see," he said in that near seductive tone that Kevin had used on him when he suggested he get him a helmet like his own.

Kevin snickered. "I deserved that."

"Indeed."

Edd leaned over for a kiss.

"Love you."

"Love you, too, Dweeb."

Edd nipped his lip at the name calling. Kevin snickered again.

"Worth it!"

Friday's practice was light. After lunch, the teens caught a movie. Edd and Kevin were surprised to see that Marie met them at the theater.

"Guess she's dealing with this herself," Edd said as the two girls walked into the theater, very cozy with one another.

Kevin made a face.

"Your stalker is trying to date my best friend," he whined.

"Former stalker, Kevin. And if Eddy can deal with me dating you, you can learn to deal with Nazz dating Marie."

Edd was right. Eddy did just about everything he could to keep the boys apart when Kevin expressed the slightest bit of interest in hanging out with Edd in a non-tutoring, "let's be friends" capacity. Eddy said he didn't trust him. While that may have been true, most of it was fear of losing his best friend to the one guy he hated. And the only reason they didn't get along was because Kevin wouldn't tolerate Eddy's bullshit. But Double D put his foot down. He could hang out with whomever, whenever and however he wanted. Period. And he did. And Kevin loved him for it.

"Fine, but if she hurts, Nazz..."

Double D didn't give him a chance to finish.

"Trust me, if she hurts Nazz, I'll deal with her myself."

"Hey! You interupted me!"

"I'm sorry, babe," Edd said and stood on tip toe to kiss Kevin's goregous pout. "You were saying?"

But Kevin was interrupted again, by a rude adult.

"Get the fuck outta here, FAGS!"

The man's yelling caught the other teens ears. Princess was the first on the scene.

"What the fuck did you say to my friends?!," she said, shaking in anger.

"Wait, you're that nigger rich bitch with two fag dads," the bigot laughed.

She was about to launch a punch at the guy when James, her bodyguard, tapped the guy on the shoulder. James was a mountain of a man. Black, bald, 6'7, 350lb muscular build, some super Secret Squirrel training and his one duty in life was to protect Princess and anything she held dear.

"Is there are problem here?," he asked in a deep, smooth baritone that could turn mountains into molehills, but you knew he meant business.

Except this idiot wasn't getting it.

"Yeah, nigger, there is. What the fuck is it with fags and niggers in my hometown?"

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY, UNCLE DEAN?!"

Uncle Dean?!