A/N: Thanks so much for the kind reviews! I loved reading them. Hopefully, I'll be able to update weekly. I'm 10 chapters ahead on AO3 if you cannot wait. ;) Enjoy!
The next day, when evening was casting long shadows, Edd was in the humid greenhouse on the university campus. He was tending to the tropical plants, the ones he loved the most. Orange, red, purple, and blue flowers drooped from sleepy vines. Firm and spiny cactus like plants rested in scattered pots. Flowering vines twisted their way up trellis', aching for sunlight that seeped in the tinted glass. In the back room of the greenhouse were medium sized trees that sported papayas, guavas, and coffee beans. These were Edd's babies. Each bucket where the tree was rooted had a nametag that read "Hi, My Name Is" . The other greenhouse assistants chuckled at Edd's naming tendencies, but left the name tags alone out of respect for their more educated peer.
The house was muggy and the air clung to Edd's shirt and pants. His black hair was tied in a low ponytail at the base of his neck. Edd wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and scribbled notes about Quinn the Papaya Tree in his notebook.
"What beautiful blossoms, Quinn. Yes, you must be fruiting in the near future." Edd mumbled.
"Who are you talking to?" a female voice asked. Edd spun around and saw a young woman staring at him.
"Oh, Quinn. My papaya tree. May I inquire as to who you are?"
"I'm Maya. I'm new to the university. Just kind of wandered out here." Maya reached out and touched a leaf on an aloe plant named Tyler.
"Ah, pleased to meet your acquaintance Maya. I am Edd Vincent."
"Hi, Edd." Maya held out her hand and Edd shook it. "So, what do you do out here?"
"Take care of the plants. Many of these I've grown since they were little seeds in a baggie." Edd boasted.
"That's very impressive, Mr. Vincent." Maya complemented and looked around the beautiful greenhouse. "Some very gorgeous plants are in here."
"Yes, I concur." Edd turned back around and began scribbling notes in his notebook about Peter the Guava Tree. Maya took the hint and turned around to leave but before she could another man burst into the greenhouse, nearly toppling her over.
"Double Dee! I thought I'd find you out here, you plant geek." the excited man called to his friend. Edd turned around and smiled.
"Eddy, good to see you. What brings you to my corner of the campus? You never wish to see my plants."
"I still don't. But you've got to come out tonight. We've got Ed! His girlfriend went home to visit her mom and he text me and we're going out tonight! Gonna get shitfaced before he becomes a dad." Eddy paused long enough to notice the stunning brunette standing beside a table. "Who's the cutie?"
"My name is Maya and I would like it if you didn't address me by anything but my name."
"Oh, well, hi Maya. I'm Eddy. Edd's more interesting and exciting best friend." Eddy said smoothly with an overly confidant wink.
"You two are friends?" Maya asked skeptically. Edd, the man with glasses resting on his nose, apron tied neatly around his waist, notebook with careful diagrams etched inside could not possibly be close to the boisterous man with three piercings in each ear, jeans that hung too low, and what could only be described as a napoleon complex.
"Oh, most definitely. Since childhood. Eddy and our comrade Ed and myself made up a decent part of our neighborhood." Edd described.
"Ed, Edd, and Eddy." Maya said with a smile. "Your parents were not the most creative in that neighborhood I guess."
"Well, actually in our shared year of birth, Edward was one of the most common male names. Our individual sets of parents were merely following naming trends for that time. The three of us becoming such close friends was just a humorous happenstance." Edd explained accurately.
"Yeah, freakin' hilarious. Are you coming or not?" Eddy demanded. "You can come too, Maya."
"I'm gonna pass. It was nice meeting you Edd. And...you too, Eddy." Maya exited leaving the two Edds in the greenhouse together.
"Damn, she's fine." Eddy let out a low whistle. "A bit hot to the touch but bet I can cool her down."
"Hmm, I hadn't noticed immediately. But I supposed Miss Maya is aesthetically pleasing." Edd put his notebook down on a table and hung his apron on a hook.
"Do you even have a dick, man? I mean, she's smoking! Ten out of ten would recommend to a friend! In fact...I don't think I've ever seen you check out a girl. That's my goal tonight! Going to get you laid! Let's ride!" Eddy grabbed his friend's hand and dragged Edd out of the greenhouse before he could object.
It was nine thirty pm in the Barr household and Kevin had tucked his little carrot top into bed a while before. His mom was in the kitchen clattering around after cleaning up their family dinner. Rudy and his wife Ann had left an hour earlier. Kevin's dad had something suddenly come up and couldn't make it to his son's home for their weekly family dinner. Again. For the seventh week in a row. Kevin sat on the couch with his laptop perched on the arm of the sofa. He was mindlessly scrolling social media and passively telling his mom she didn't have to clean his kitchen.
"Kevin you should go out. It's Friday night. You're a handsome young man. Leave the house!" Robin Barr shouted into the living room.
"Julia." Kevin muttered and 'liked' the status of a person he hardly knew.
"Oh my! Kevin...I have totally forgotten." She walked into the living room, drying a bowl with a towel. "You need to remind me. Did I run a daycare for fifteen years? Oh lord, did I keep you and your twelve best friends alive? Damn, have I helped you raise that beautiful little girl for the last four years? Or was that someone else? Shoo, now. I can keep an ear out for a sleeping child for a few hours."
"Moooom." Kevin whined.
"Kevin Martin. Get out of this house! I want to watch my shows that I've kept on your TiVo." Kevin's mom yanked her son off the couch and after a little more coaxing Kevin was in his car heading god knew where. The only bar near Peach Creek was a little dive hole just outside town and cleverly titled Peach Pit. It was fifteen minutes to Peach Pit and at nearly ten at night the parking lot was packed with cars and stragglers stumbling around and fondling in the backs of cars. Kevin parked his car far away from the clusterfuck of people who might scratch or throw up on it. Jamming his keys in his pockets he huffed and hoped Nazz would show up soon. He had called her from the car and she seemed rather eager to join him.
As he ambled in he heard the brash and off key wailings of Victory Vikings. The bar was pretty packed with a decent mix of the sober and the shitfaced. Kevin slid into a sticky seat at the bar and ordered a Jack and Coke. A drink Kevin discovered he loved around the same time his father stopped using more than five words to speak with him. Kevin spun around and scanned the room. With Peach Creek not being a very populated place, he recognized several faces. It seemed like the Kanker Trio had gotten babysitters, or eaten the kids, and were slamming darts into a corkboard target. Kevin made a mental note to avoid that quadrant of the bar. Around the pool table were large burly men who seemed to be hustling a game of pool. Kevin took a sip of his drink and cursed the band for being so loud and sucking so hard.
"Shit, I'm a fucking grandpa." He grumbled to himself. Kevin turned back around to the bar and looked up at the tv, thankful a hockey game was being aired. The subtitles were lagging but he had the main idea of what was going on at that point in the game.
"Hey, cutie." a female voice rang in her ears but he didn't look away from the grainy tv.
"Sorry, miss. Kind of here alone on purpose tonight." Kevin said and took another sip of his drink.
"Jesus, Kevin. Get off your cross. We need the wood." The girl laughed and got into the chair beside Kevin. She ordered a strawberry margarita and mozzarella sticks.
"Hey, Nazz. Glad you could make it to this shit hole."
"Yeah. This place was a lot cooler when we were 18. Remember that summer before Julia? We would come here like every Friday and stumble home around five in the morning, telling your mom you had food poisoning."
"She so didn't believe us. But we were clever as hell."
"Or so we thought." Nazz chuckled.
"Or so we thought." Kevin clinked his glass to hers. "Thanks for coming out tonight. Mom evicted me from my home."
"Bitter much? It's not a problem. My boyfriend said it was okay. Oh, wait. I live alone and have two cats."
"That's sad. You're sad."
"It's not like you have a boyfriend either!"
"I don't want one. I have enough going on right now. You on the other hand feel empty unless you have a man in your life."
"That is so not true. Good night, bad night, Kevin. It's too early to drunk fight like the bitches we are." Nazz took a large gulp of her margarita and nibbled her deep fried cheese. "Hey, look who's here."
"The Kanker's? Yeah, I already know."
"No, The Ed's. Haven't seen them in a while. Let's go say hi." Nazz jumped up and dragged Kevin before he could say no. The three friends were in a booth playing a sad little game of Quarters. Ed was nearly drunk and Eddy was pretty far gone. Edd, who was reading a textbook, was apparently the designated driver to his slobbering posse.
"Hey, guys!" Nazz said cheerfully.
"Hey! It's Nazz! Look it's Nazz! From home! Hi, Nazz!" Ed said far too loudly and happily.
"Howdy, Nazz. Fancy meetin' you here." Eddy tipped his invisible cowboy hat.
"Apparently," Double Dee sighed whilst turning a page in Biology for Life. "Eddy turns into a cowboy when intoxicated."
"Apparently." Kevin deadpanned.
"Ya'll can have a seat and play us in a game of quarters." Eddy offered.
"I'm winning! I'm the best at quarters and Eddy is the best at drinking. You should play." Ed said excitedly.
"No, thanks." Kevin muttered, glancing at the phone on his clock. 10:45, could he
go home yet without his mom pitching a fit? "Nazz, I'm gonna step out front. Call my mom. Check in."
"Sure, man." Nazz shrugged and slid in the booth beside Eddy. Kevin stepped his way carefully to the exit. The air outside, though still warm and muggy from being late August, was so much cooler than inside. It helped clear Kevin's head. He sat down on the sidewalk and found a lighter on the ground. He flicked it and the tiny flame danced about.
Kevin started smoking when he was fifteen. He got a job as a busboy at a local restaurant to help him pay for baseball and football camp. He would work ten hour shifts and the only time he got a break was when the manager opened the backdoor for smokers to get their nicotine fix. He used to just stand out there for a small break but it wasn't long before someone offered Kevin a cigarette and he was an official smoker. He only smoked a pack a week so it didn't interfere with his sports performance too much but it did make him reek. Which Nazz and his Amanda loved to bitch about. His dad wringed his neck when he found out but didn't force him to quit out of hatred for hypocrisy. Kevin's dad started smoking himself when he was twelve.
It was after work one day when he got the call. Kevin was out back smoking with his co-workers when Uncle Rudy's name flashed on the screen.
"Hey, Rudy. What's up?"
"Amanda's in labor! Come on, boy! Get to St. Gabriel's and meet your cousin's baby. The baby's coming." His uncle's voice was hurried and excited. The voice of a nervous new grandpa whose only child was in labor.
"I'm on my way! Tell her to hold it in!"
"I don't think it works like that but I'll try. She's having a baby, Kevin!"
"Hell yeah!" Kevin clicked off, put out his cigarette and jumped on his motorcycle. A beautiful 1992 Harley Davidson that was eventually traded in for a sensible 2001 Sedan. He made it to St. Gabriel's Birthing Center in record time, the roads were empty at 11:35 at night and he sped on the bike the whole way. He cracked ninety at his top speed. Kevin loved the cool wind on his skin and the way the slight rain stung on his cheeks. His heart was racing and his mind was spinning. Outside the hospital the 17 year old lit up a cigarette and took a few calming puffs. He went upstairs and found his entire family in the lobby. Nazz was blowing up his phone begging for updates. His dad was reading an outdoors magazine, his mom was talking to Rudy and Ann was pacing by the double doors. Kevin went up to his Aunt Ann.
"Oh, sweetie you made it!" Ann said and wrapped her nephew in a hug.
"I rushed as soon as I heard. How is she?"
"She's getting close! The doctor is examining her now."
"Do we know if it's a boy or a girl?"
"Not yet, Mandy is really trying to keep it a surprise. I know your uncle wants a little boy. She says she'll name him Rudy."
"That's sweet."
"She's ready to push. She says she wants her mom." A doctor had just entered the waiting room to bring Aunt Ann back. "Oh, and a Mr. Kevin...Umm, BoogerHead." the doctor was trying not to laugh as the boy in front of him turned a brilliant shade of pink.
"Ann, you didn't say she wanted me in the room."
"I didn't know, dear. You don't have to if you're not comfortable." His aunt grabbed hand and squeezed. The high school boy shook his head and squeezed his Aunt's hand.
"Let's go birth us a baby." Kevin said with a very small smile.
An hour and so much screaming later, the room was dark and Kevin was holding a tiny squirmy pink bundle in his arms. Not that it was ever mentioned again but Kevin did throw up mid-labor. Julia Winter Barr, first daughter to Amanda Stephanie Barr. Little brown eyed, red haired niece to Kevin Martin Barr.
"You did so good, PoopBrain." Kevin told his cousin, who was lying on her side to watch her cousin hold her newborn daughter. "She's gorgeous."
"You didn't do so bad yourself, BoogerHead. Thanks for coaching me."
"Thanks for calling me a dick weasel who has never felt true pain. Means a lot." he looked up and stuck his tongue out at her. "Nazz says congrats. She's going to come by tomorrow and see you."
"Awesome. So, Kev. I wanted to ask you something. You can totally say no. But I wanted to make you godfather. I don't want my parents to be godparents because they're already so old and have raised their kid. They don't need another. And I know you'll love her like I do."
"Of course. But you're not going to die, so knock it off. I'm pretty sure, after what I saw tonight, you are a satanic creature who cannot be killed."
"Agreed. A favorite character of mine once said, fire cannot kill a dragon. I feel it applies here. Now, give me my baby." Amanda reached for Julia and kissed her cousin on the cheek.
The following weeks Amanda and Nazz began cracking down on Kevin's nasty habit. He wasn't allowed to smoke when he was visiting and he had to change clothes and wash his hands before even touching Julia. It was beginning to wear on him and one day he decided to buy a box of nicotine patches instead of another pack of cigarettes. He was completely smoke-free by the time Julia was five months old.
"Penny for your thoughts, Kevin?" a soft mellow voice cracked Kevin's mental flashback.
"Huh, oh. Hey, Double D. Have a seat." He invited Edd to sit on the curb beside him. "Why did you come out here?"
"You've been outside for a long while. And my comrades are rather intoxicated so I thought I would join you on this cool evening. I didn't think I would see you."
"When? Tonight."
"Yes. You said yourself you don't go out."
"Yeah, I guess not. This isn't really my scene. It doesn't have any bright colors, princesses, or Spiderman."
"Spiderman?"
"Yeah, my kid inexplicably loves Spiderman. I think she's going to need a spiderman costume for halloween."
"That's very cute. The Peach Pit really isn't my scene either. Ed and Eddy pulled me out here to celebrate Ed becoming a father. Though the prospect of him being in charge of a small humans life is absolutely terrifying." he paused and looked at Kevin. Kevin turned his head and looked at Edd. Edd's heart hovered into his throat and Kevin's lips quirked upwards, making his green eyes shimmer.
"It's very good to see you again, Kevin." Edd said quietly.
"You wanna get out of here Double Dweeb? I know a place that makes a mean cup of coffee and the best cherry pie this side of midnight."
A/N: Ta-Da! :D read, enjoy, review. Thanks for the love and support.