Author's Note: This has been about a good two years in the making. Better late than never!

Kevin groaned as the loud sound of a pop guitar resounded through his phone and hurriedly shut it off before Edd had a chance to stir.

It was 3AM and he was going to HATE doing this today, but considering the long holiday weekend ahead of them, if he didn't get his runs in before dawn, that wasn't happening and he'd be hell to deal with about it.

Slipping out of the bed, he tiptoes to the bathroom to run a hot rag over his face and rinse his mouth out before slinking to their walk-in closet for a nylon tracksuit and his socks. Then it's down to the kitchen to pull the turkey out of the fridge and put it in the sink, grab a Gatorade and his running shoes, their pit bull, Monty, and hit trails behind their house for the next hour or so to get his daily five miles in before heading back and waking Edd and then really get started on their holiday celebrations.

In the ten years they've been married, this routine has become a lifeline to his sanity.

Between their family and friends, obligations ran rampant and it wore him out. A good five mile run would help him clear his head and get the anxious jitters out of his system of putting a good hosting front for Edd's prim and proper parents while still being his gregarious self with his own, and his usual laid back self with their friends.

It was Eddy who suggested it after a tense Easter dinner and he hugged the short Ed when he came back home because he was right; he did need the fresh air and a moment away from everyone.

So Edd made him promise that for every holiday, he'd go run before coming home and being the best host or guest he could be.

It was the easiest promise to keep, so now he's up and back before the sun and actually ready for the shenanigans that were coming their way.

A week ago, they did Friendsgiving with all their childhood friends at Rolf and Ang's place in the cul-de-sac, kids and the dog in tow.

There was a ton of food, movies and sports for everyone, the tree went up, as did the lights on the house and it kicked off everyone's holiday spirit on a high note.

But it would always make Edd a bit on edge because it meant that they had to get ready for their families to drop in.

It always boggled Kevin's mind how things would change in the house, because both sets of parents still lived in town and they saw them often and sometimes even had joint get togethers, but something about Thanksgiving would make Edd a ball of anxiousness and there was near nothing Kevin could do to chill him out.

So many promises of sex and cuddles would be broken because they'd both be too tired to do anything but sleep after all the festivities were over.

And even though he just knew nothing would happen, the Good Lord knew he was gonna at least try again this year.

When he made it back, he fed Monty, and the cat, Smokey, then made coffee.

While it started to brew, he slowly counted to thirty and by the time he got to fifteen, their son, Ian, had trudged into the kitchen, his favorite blanket wrapped around him like a cape.

"Hey, Da," the towheaded kid yawned before laying down on the floor in front of the pantry.

"Hey, yourself," Kevin chuckled as he went to the fridge and pulled out a Capri Sun and put the straw in for him before handing it to him. "Get up so I can give you your Adderall."

The boy wearily pulled himself from the floor to come sit at Kevin's feet and take his medication just as his sister, Siobhan, walked in.

"Da, I hungry," the tyke whined and Kevin pulled a peach for both kids from the fruit basket on the kitchen table.

"I'm gonna get your Daddy and we'll have breakfast," Kevin said as he handed them the fruit in his hand. "But when you get done with that, I want you to get dressed and make sure your rooms are clean."

The kids whined as they sat on the floor with their breakfast appetizers and Kevin grabbed he and Edd's coffee and headed back upstairs, not a doubt in his mind that his instructions would be followed to the letter because today wasn't the day to push any boundaries with Daddy.

"Edd," he cooed and hazy blue eyes opened as his husband groaned. "Upsie daisy, Babe," Kevin chuckled as he handed him the coffee and Edd sat up and took the sweet caffeine from the other's hand, grateful that Peru liked to share their cocoa beans.

"Good morning," he finally said after he took his first sip of coffee and Kevin laughed in his face.

"Kids are up."

"Of course they are," Edd sighed. "Turkey?"

"In the sink since 305."

"I love you," Edd snickered as he leaned in for a kiss.

"Yeah, yeah," Kevin said as he pulled back from caramel sweetened lips. "What's the plan, my man?"

"Breakfast to start, and the kids have to clean the basement because I'm sure Eddy's gonna stop by at some point," Edd replied as a thoughtful look crossed his face and Kevin nodded knowing that Lee was probably going to call her ex to come get their children at some point so she could head to the city with her sisters and hit up the early holiday sales. "And can you just stay home today?"

"Wha?" Kevin said as he cocked a brow.

"I just never see you when we host because someone just has to send you out somewhere, but I swear I got everything we'd need before I came home last night," Edd anxiously replied. "So if they just have to have something they can go get it themselves, because I need you here."

Kevin looked down into pouting blue eyes and shook his head.

"From your mouth to God's ears," he told him as he kissed him again, not necessarily looking forward to Edd's mother's attitude about her son not letting his husband be her errand boy, but knowing he was going to enjoy it all the same. "But are you sure you don't need anything?" He asked as he went over their menu in his head and gasped when he remembered that a certain carb was missing from the vegetable bin. "You didn't get potatoes!"

Edd scoffed out a laugh as he said, "I've been ordered to not bring a potato into this house for today and we both know why."

"Goddamnit, Ed."

Breakfast was filling because it was going to be the only meal the kids would get before the turkey was done later that afternoon.

Pancakes and waffles, bacon and eggs, juice, milk, more coffee, and yogurt parfaits in front of the TV so they could eat and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

And then Edd shooed them all out of the kitchen so he could get started on dinner while Kevin helped the kids clean up the rest of the house.

The night before, Edd had planned on cleaning everything, but got home from the store late because the place was packed with last minute shoppers like himself. Kevin got the kitchen, their bedroom, the bathrooms and the dining and living rooms cleaned and organized before Edd came home, but he looked too beat to cook anything for dinner so Kevin ordered in, but that made the living room messy again. And then the kids took advantage of their fathers tiredness and stayed up late playing in their rooms, so that meant more work as they weren't apt to clean their rooms when there was so much to play with instead.

But it was now 11AM and dinner was at 2PM, so their marathon became a sprint as they couldn't drag themselves away from the TV til after Santa showed up if they tried.

Edd buckled down and got the turkey in the oven first thing, thankful he had a double oven because the rolls had been rising since breakfast and were just about ready to go in, after the green bean casserole and baked macaroni and cheese. The dressing was in the turkey, the stuffing would be the last thing as it was Stove Top for the kids and took only a few minutes to make.

Then the doorbell rang.

Cursing his mother's need to help him with dinner, Edd answered the door only to be greeted by a ten pound bag of potatoes and one of Ed's trademarked bear hugs.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Double Dee!" The oaf bellowed as he carried him into the kitchen and Nazz told their boys to go find their cousins.

Edd's only response was to try to get his breath and bearings back while Ed went to the kitchen island to pull the pot and potato peeler he'd need to make his famous mashed potatoes, sat down, and got to work.

Kevin and the kids made it back upstairs at this point and while Kevin was happy Ed's kids were there, he wondered about getting their rooms picked up with extra playmates around.

"Why are you still in your PJs!?" Tyler asked and Siobhan sighed.

"We had to clean up the basement, you doof!"

"Says the girl in the Elsa nightie!" Timothy snarked and Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Da!"

"Can it, you two," Nazz said as she came into the hallway they were standing in after she hung up her family's coats. "What do you need, Kev?"

"Clean rooms."

She then bent over at the waist so she could look all four kids in the eye.

"Go clean. I'll check on it in 10 minutes."

Even Kevin shuddered at her tone and the kids hurried up stairs to do as she said.

"Happy Thanksgiving!" She grinned to her bestie before sashaying to the living room to watch the Puppy Bowl.

Whilst Kevin was in the shower, blasting some Drop Kick Murphy's Christmas songs through his Bluetooth speaker, Edd's parents showed up and Nazz jumped into action to keep the Vincent woman out of the kitchen.

First, a bit of helping to dress the kids, then some playtime with Grandma before the kids were ushered to the basement before they grew bored with the elder woman, and then Nazz dragged her to the living room to visit.

Despite his misgivings on the matter, Edd chose not to fight the battle over his mother dressing her granddaughter hoping that she'd finally learn her lesson that the girl, dress up clothes, and fancy meals just didn't mesh well.

Kevin cocked a brow at her in the frilly dress Edd had bought for their Christmas card photo and her preschool's winter concert and bit his lip about their dry cleaning budget because if Anna Vincent wanted Siobhan to be as over dressed for dinner as she was, she was gonna pay for it herself.

Edd's father hid away in his son's office under the guise of needing to look up a few things for Christmas gifts while Nazz wrangled the kids into the basement and Anna onto the couch to chat about the Puppy Bowl and how things were going at the elementary school Nazz was the school nurse for. It gave the Vincent doctor a chance to brag and give advice that Nazz took with a grain of salt, but most importantly, her out of the kitchen and Kevin's hair about things she thought needed to be done around the house before anyone else stopped by for dinner.

Considering the only guests that were ever invited were family and friends, Edd would regularly have to tell her to stop messing with his house and harassing his husband as no one else cared how the house looked, just as long as the people that lived in it were happy.

But this tentative peace would only last so long.

"Eddward, do you need anything from the store?" His mother asked during a commercial break of the Puppy Bowl as Kevin sat out some hors d'oeuvre plates and a couple of charcuterie boards on the buffet in the dining room.

"No, Mother," Edd called back, his whisking of Ed's gravy increasing in annoyed speed.

"Oh, Kevin won't mind," she said as she started to look for her purse. "I know you've forgotten something. All cooks do."

"Not today, Anna," Kevin sighed and when she cocked a brow at him and he shook his head at her to drop the matter.

"Dr V," Nazz said quickly before Mother Vincent decided to make an appearance, "what was it you were telling me about the health department trying to get that new grant for adult vaccinations?"

"Oh, yes!" She said brightly as tucked her purse away again and came to sit down next to Nazz. "Well, there's some funding going around because it's become apparent that not enough adults are getting their booster shots to help with herd immunity, so the hospital is working with the health department to fix that. All these super flu's and vicious colds going around can be helped a bit if more adults regularly get their shots..."

And so the conversation went. Ed was just glad his wife's quick thinking kept the gravy from getting bruised.

When Kevin's parents showed up, his dad was a bit disappointed they wouldn't get to go on a beer run where he'd vent about his testy mother in law and absent father in law, but they didn't miss the Lions game this year, so there was a bit of a silver lining to the day.

And Eddy was late per usual, but Edd was glad to see the man at all.

His divorce from Lee put him through the ringer emotionally and financially, so he'd usually work every weekend and holiday that he could in the hopes that what he could materially give his kids made up for the time apart. But as his kids got older, he saw that presents bought with his overtime pay didn't make up for the time spent with his son and daughter.

Didn't mean that Lee wouldn't try to suck as much of his visitation time away as she could.

May said it was because she would miss the kids when they were gone, but the Eds couldn't help but feel as if it was just a way to dig at her husband for leaving her for cheating on him while he was working himself to near exhaustion to give them all the life he thought they wanted.

When he arrived, they were at least half way through the first round of the food fest, and Kevin chuckled at the matching smirks Ed and Double Dee wore when Eddy said that Marie was in town.

Edd's biggest harasser wasn't keen on how Lee was treating Eddy despite their breakup being Lee's fault in the first place. She figured that if Edd had the grace to give her the time of day despite how she treated him when they were kids, the very least Lee could do was let Eddy spend some time with his own children during the holidays and long weekends their school schedules gave them.

He ended up having brunch with the Kanker sisters, making his famous omelets at his kids and Marie's request, and the rest of the weekend was his to be Daddy and he was going to enjoy it.

Right after a few helpings of turkey, green bean casserole, and Ed's mashed potatoes.

Kevin cornered Edd in the kitchen after he pulled the pies out of the warming drawer under the oven and gave him a quick kiss on the temple as he said, "I gotta go."

"Already?!" Edd hissed at him with a whine.

"Yeah," Kevin groaned. "Save me a slice?"

"Ok," Edd whispered as he gave him a quick kiss and pouted as Kevin snuck out of the door to the garage, Ed hot on his heels.

One hour later, Edd is hustling everyone out the door so they can get to the city in time to see Appleton Plaza turn on the lights that have been strung on every building in the high end shopping district to kick start the Christmas holiday shopping season.

And see Kevin and Ed play a few Christmas tunes laced with their own brand of Irish rock.

Edd loved and hated the event as it meant that he could see his man and best friend do what they loved, but he would have to play down his role in Kevin's life for their own safety.

And since neither Ed nor Kevin wanted to do anything more than be a local garage band until they got sick of it or Appleton City's conservative Irish community started to be a bit open minded, Edd resigned himself to simply being a fan of Not So PC and not their most beloved supporter.

Thankfully, Nazz, Mrs Hill, Sarah, and Mrs Barr were happy to be their groupies and Kevin's wedding band wasn't spoken of, lest Mrs Barr read the riot act to the nosy busybody for butting into her baby's perfect home life.

From his place on the stage, Kevin kept an eye for a black ski beanie with two white stripes going down the sides, but he knew it was a crazy notion because the crowd was thick with holiday revelers as the mild late fall evening brought out everyone looking to get into the holiday spirit.

But his parental ears heard her before he saw them and from her spot on her Daddy's shoulders, Siobhan, squealed and waved at the stage as Edd did his best to steady the hyper tyke above his head.

He noticed they were standing closer to the sidewalk than in the middle of the thick crowd, right off the alleyway that led to one of the parking garages that was further away from the main stage then Kevin would have liked, but made of a quick and easy exit once the lights were on and the show was done.

As they settled into their spot in the crowd, one of the more popular news anchors from the local ABC affiliate came to the stage to start the countdown for lights, whisking a few lucky kids closer to the stage to help her and Santa flip the switch.

But Kevin's eyes weren't on the buildings as they lit up in technicolor to make winter a bit brighter and in conversations held with friends, strangers who saw him at the grocery and the mall, coworkers, and even their neighbors, he found that not a parent's eye was on a physical light that night.

Parents are told to keep their eyes on their children, and what better time than at Christmas then to watch the lights.

Ian's sky blue eyes danced like stars and the peridot that surrounded Siobhan's hazel irises sparkled like diamonds.

He could hear her excited squeal as she reached down from her Daddy's shoulders to her PawPaw to tell him all about what they had all just seen like children are wont to do, her Grandfather making her Christmas list in his phone, while Edd adjusted Ian on his hip and the boy pointed to all the buildings that surrounded him, going a mile a minute about all the lights.

He heard a slow, low drum roll and a moment later, he started to sing.

It was an Appleton City tradition to broadcast the ceremony across the many network affiliates airways as well as simulcast it via the local access cable station to the Armed Forces Network as a part of the network's holiday programming, so the song was traditional for those so far from home.

He had it memorized and burned in his blood while he was deployed himself off and on for six years as he and his friends made so many grownup decisions while being kids at heart and in body, too.

And he promised himself that after today, Edd wouldn't have to ask him to stay home for another holiday ever again.

He'd be home for them all.

Later, after hot cocoa from the Godiva store with their friends and family, Edd took the kids to Eddy's and he and Nazz headed to O'Leary's for Not Your Ma's Christmas Show.

The beer was dark, the whiskey strong, and the songs not something to be sung anywhere outside the bar, although both Edd and Nazz heard them all the time in their basements and garage, from the shower, in the car and in their bedrooms more times then they even dared to count.

They got a little tipsy, danced as close as two old childhood friends ever would, flirted with the band, and had to be carried home, separately, of course.

Edd was just thankful that the tiny pub had been passed down to a much more open minded generation.

Separate ride sharing services meant Edd would beat him home and there would be two slices of pumpkin and hot toddies on the coffee table when Kevin got home.

And every year, the kids would swear angels would be singing Silent Night in the attic.

But the tree would be up when they woke up and Kevin would be off on another run before they headed back to the cul-de-sac to help well meaning grandparents decorate for the holidays, lights lighting up bright innocent faces once again.

Sunday night found them on the couch, full of leftovers, tired of Christmas songs, their to do lists growing by the commercial second.

"You got your Cyber Monday alerts ready?"

Kevin could only groan as he ever so slightly nodded his weary head.

"Everything is set for midnight," he yawned as he snuggled closer under the mound of blankets the kids insisted they needed for the sudden cold front that was blowing through.

"I cleared out that space under the floorboard behind the bar in the basement."

"Attic?"

"Secure."

"So that means my present is in..." Kevin started to tease as he nuzzled Edd's cheek.

"My pants."

And Kevin shot up so fast the blankets fell on the floor and Edd huffed in protest.

"And now I'm cold!"

The blankets stayed on the floor, but Edd was dragged to their bedroom.

As he tossed his silly husband on the bed, Kevin couldn't contain his shock.

"In your pants!?" he hissed as he tore Edd's sweat pants away and the ravenette slapped both hands over his mouth to muffle his laughter. "That is the worst hiding place for a present!"

"Do you want it or not?"

Kevin's answer was suck his cock down his throat.

"Merry Christmas, Baby," Edd moaned as he rolled his hips into the redhead's face. "You sure do treat me right."

After a few delicious head bobs. Kevin came off of him with a lewd pop, winked, and said, "What til you see what I really got you for Christmas."

"Is it in your pants?" Edd smirked as he eyeballed the bulge in the pants of the man steaming with sexual frustration at the end of their bed.

"Edd, I swear to God!"

"Kevin!" Edd admonished as he tossed his shirt in Kevin's face. "It's Christmas and we don't swear at Christmas."

"Well, this is about to get hella interesting," Kevin snorted as he crawled up his man to kiss him and pull him into the bed.

Love is interesting.

Making love more so.

At this point in their lives, they knew all the right buttons to push and when, when to pump the gas and when to pump the breaks.

Like a needed gift, a wish fulfilled, to them, making love was a blessing.

When done right, it is the gift that keeps on giving.

He would give in his hormones, his heart's desire, to him.

A hard kiss, a hand grabbing to hold on to him as he lost his mind.

Blunt fingernails across his back, a whisper in his ear.

"I love you."

Teeth on his clavicle, hands in his hair.

The furnace would kick on and as their ceiling fan whipped the warm air around the room, sweat soaked skin basked in the lukewarm sensation as they collapsed, the stresses of their lives gone for the night at least.

A warm shower to revive muscles that had sprung tight, too loose to do anything but hang limply for the moment before slightly coming back to life.

At least til he got in the bed.

"Kev?"

"Mhm."

"About Christmas…"

Over Sunday lunch after Mass, Mrs Barr had brought up the Barr Christmas party. Last year, Cousin Maddie had taken over hosting from her mother, Mr Barr's older sister. So not to be outdone, she mentioned that she liked the idea of the next generation taking turns hosting as their elders had done.

Kevin read Edd's face for the entire conversation and while he kept his poker face, he kept tapping his fingers against Kevin's knee, a sure fire sign that he hated the idea but would go along with it if need be.

"Ain't no way I'm having 60 people in my house on Christmas Eve. Maddie can keep that shit."

"I love you," Edd chuckled as he snuggled closer, grinning a bit to himself as he spied a gift hidden in plain sight on the dresser.

"Love you, too," Kevin said as he kissed the top of his head. "Let's get some sleep."