They'd been having a rather warm and sunny week so far and Jon was determined to enjoy the sun to the fullest. Get as much sunlight as humanly possible before spring decided to go back to rainy season and all that.
A lawn chair, a cold drink and his headphones were everything he needed out here in the backyard. He wouldn't have minded some company, sure, but Mark didn't like staying out in the sun for too long and Eduardo had firmly planted himself in front of the TV that morning and had yet to get up again.
Really, Eduardo seemed grouchier than usual the last few days, and rather preoccupied as well. Jon wondered whether it had to do with their new neighbours. Then again, it was the neighbours, of course it had to do with them. Even if these were apparently from the future.
He wondered what he would be like ten years from now. Maybe he'd finally grow taller. It seemed to work out for Edd at least. And maybe he'd finally meet a mermaid. Wouldn't that be an experience.
He was really curious about the new guys, even though he knew Eduardo didn't want himself, and by extension Mark and Jon, involved with them. He'd seemed pretty freaked out after what Jon and Mark had come to call the Hug Incident. Even so, time travelers were interesting by the sheer nature of their existence, so of course he was burning with questions. Ah, but how to approach them...
Just then, as if by some higher power, a golden chance landed on his lap. The neighbour's backdoor opened and out stepped a vaguely familiar, brown-haired man. He was carrying a laundry basket, probably out to hang up the wash. Jon perked up,wondering if he should approach this future version of Edd.
However, the decision was taken from his hands when the man noticed him and... smiled? It was small, barely noticeable over the scraggly beard and the deep dark rings under his eyes, but it was there.
"Hello, Jon." he greeted, before picking up a green jacket from the basket to hang up.
Jon blinked, a bit taken aback by the borderline warm greeting, and floundering for an appropriate response, "Uh, um, hi Edd...?"
"Call me Edward," he called over his shoulder, "Less confusing for everybody."
Jon nodded, tasting the almost familiar name on his tongue, "Alright Edward."
The older man nodded back and continued working in silence as Jon watched him. It was rather weird seeing him in such casual clothing when he'd been wearing a leather trench coat and otherwise torn clothing during the Hug Incident.
A coat he was hanging up right now.
"You're not supposed to wash those." he blurted out without thinking and stood up, cringing immediately after.
Edward gave a huff of what might have been laughter, looking back at him in mild amusement as he lifted up the jacket. "I know. But it's been a few years, and a short handwash shouldn't really damage it too much."
Jon scratched his head in embarrassment, "Ah, I guess." he said as he came closer to the fence, taking a good look at the jacket, "Is it really old? It looks pretty beaten up."
"A bit, yeah." Edward said as he picked up another garment. A black vest this time. The clothesline was turning into a rather interesting fashion amalgamation.
"It looks cool though."
Edward was silent, pausing in the middle of hanging up the vest before continuing. "...thanks."
He watched the man work for a little while, questions barely kept at bay on his tongue. It was so tempting to just ask when this version of Edd seemed to... tolerate him? Like him? It was hard to tell. He'd smiled at him though, tired but friendly. Not mocking or scheming. That had to count for something. And it made his curiosity burn all the fiercer.
Edward seemed to notice something was up and paused in his work, raising an eyebrow at him. The dam broke.
"Do you know future me? Is he cool? What am I like in... how far in the future are you from again?"
Edward stiffened, expression tightening a bit as he looked off to the side.
"...about fifteen years, give or take." he replied, pointedly not answering the previous questions.
Jon blinked and pressed on, "And future me?"
Edward's jaw tightened momentarily, "...the last I saw of you, you were still living with Mark and Eduardo."
"Oh. Does that mean we haven't seen each other in a while from your perspective? Did you move out? Did we move out? Because I'm sure we'd still at least see each other if we were still neighbours fifteen years from now. But now that you mention it, that does sound unlikely." he felt like such a chatterbox, but it had been a while since anyone had let him talk for this long so he enjoyed it for all it was worth.
A corner of Edward's mouth twitched up wryly at the barrage. He seemed even more tired than before and maybe a bit sad for some reason, but amusement colored his voice as he spoke, "Something like that, yeah."
"Awww." Jon wilted, leaning on the fence, "I wanted to know what future me is like."
Edward snorted, turning back to the basket and lifting on last garment, "Guess you'll just have to find out like everyone else."
Jon was about to tell him just how unfair that seemed to him when the backdoor to his own house slammed open to reveal an irate Eduardo.
"Jon! Are you fraternizing with the enemy?! Don't you listen to anything Edd says!"
Jon blinked back at him and tilted his head, "But I'm talking to Edward?"
"To Edw- Oh." Eduardo cut himself off, finally getting a good look at the brunet on the other side of the fence. "I- is that what we're calling him now?" he remarked somewhat distractedly. For whatever reason he hadn't actually expected the three time-travelers to step foot out of the house.
"Well, having two Edds,Toms and Matts does seem like it would be confusing-"
"Shut up." Eduardo ground out, not willing to let Jon go off on a long, long tangent like he was so prone to do. Jon winced a bit and smiled sheepishly. A snort drew their attention and they turned back to Edward, who was watching them like one would watch a mildly entertaining TV show. "And you!" Eduardo snapped, "Don't ever hug me again!"
Edward jerked a bit as a gust of startled laughter forced its way out from his chest and he smirked at Eduardo. "Whatever you say, your majesty."
Eduardo's face went red as his fist shook in anger, "Are you mocking me?!"
The older man plastered on an innocent look that fooled absolutely no one, "Me? Mock you? Never!"
"Suck my dick, freak!" Eduardo snapped.
Edward's smirk made a comeback, now wider and with a predatory edge to it as his lids lowered a tad and his head tilted just so.
"Is that an invitation?"
Eduardo's entire thought process stuttered to a stop and he completely blanked out, staring wide-eyed at the man before him. He couldn't even begin to formulate some sort of comeback. has stopped working.
Edward took a good look at his face, now red for an entirely different reason, and burst out laughing. Full-bellied, nearly hysterical laughter poured out of him as a few tears slipped down his cheeks. It went on for long enough that Eduardo managed to pull himself together somewhat by the time Edward calmed down, wiping at the corners of his eyes with a few left-over chuckles. Jon was smiling amusedly as well and Eduardo pointedly ignored him.
"Hah, oh man. It's been years since I laughed so hard. Heh. You're too easy to fluster at this age, it's amazing." Edward remarked with another chuckle.
"What the fuck's your problem?!" Eduardo blurted out, cheeks still tinged red despite his efforts.
Edward made a show of thinking it over, hand on his chin and gaze pointed upwards in mock thoughtfulness. Then he looked back down at them."Do you want that list in alphabetical or chronological order?"
Eduardo seemed at a loss as to what to say at that reply. He blinked rapidly, trying to formulate a response. Man but did this version of Edd trip him up in the weirdest ways possible.
Edward saved him the effort by taking the now empty laundry basket and turning to walk back into the house. However he paused and called over his shoulder, "By the way, if you ever get a nuclear powered satellite dish, or anything nuclear powered really, could you hand over any toxic waste that might accumulate?"
Eduardo blinked in utter bafflement, "...what?"
Edward seemed to smile wryly as he headed to the house once again, "I'll take that as a yes. Thanks!" he said right before closing the backdoor behind him.
Eduardo and Jon stood in silence for a moment before Jon opened his mouth-
"Not. A Word."
Jon closed his mouth.
Inside the house, Matt looked up from the freezer, red popsicle in hand, as Edward walked through the kitchen to deposit the laundry basket in the small closet-room adjacent to it.
The ginger blinked at the small smile on Edward's face. It was a good look on him, made him seem years younger than before.
"You're in an awfully good mood for having just come back from hanging up the laundry." he remarked with a raised eyebrow.
Edward chuckled, closing the door and turning to head back out of the kitchen, smile widening into a smirk.
"I've still got it."
AN:
oops my hand slipped... take this as a sort of interlude i guess. the whole thing just kinda wrote itself. im trying to strike a balance of screen time. so far mark has been terribly neglected and edd and tom could probably use an introspective chapter or two.