"YO!"

Ed and Double Dee looked up from the buffet they were standing over to see a smiling Kevin walking towards them, but then his face fell a bit. When they both stiffened out of a very old habit that was slowly, but truly dying away, his face fell even more.

"Where's Eddy?"

"Work," Ed huffed and when Kevin caught the pouting look in Edd's eyes, an old urge to pound the shrimpy Ed whipped up in his belly, but he quelled it because he knew it wouldn't do them any good anymore.

"But he did send a gift," Edd said as he pointed to the table in the corner that was topped with gifts for the newly minted 17 year old.

"Man, this is like the sixth party he's missed, though," Kevin said in some disbelief as all Eddy had wanted to do growing up was party with everyone.

"Don't remind me," Edd snipped as he walked away.

"What's up?"

Ed caught the hard look in his eyes and shook his head.

"He's missed every movie and game night since before spring break," he sighed as he loaded his plate with chips and salsa.

"But he has been making it to y'all's study thing, right?," Kevin asked as he hadn't heard Edd complain about Eddy missing it after school started back up after Christmas break.

"Yeah, but only because Dee's been having it during study hall. Otherwise…"

"Yeah, yeah," Kevin sighed as he watched Edd talk with Nazz and her boyfriend, but the usual happy glint in his eyes was dull. "How'd y'all get to come, though?"

"Took the morning shift," Ed grinned as he shoved a salsa laden chip in his mouth and Kevin nodded.

Kevin asked for the day off a month ago, and even then he had to hold his breath as Saturday's were the bike shop's busiest day, but Justin let him go for the day after he made up the schedule two weeks ago because Max told him that Kevin wasn't one to ask off unless it was for school or family. Plus, it was his damn birthday and he should go have fun. Justin told him to stay out of trouble and that he still had to work on Sunday after Mass.

He knew his friends wouldn't be able to get the same kind of leeway as it wasn't their birthday, but not too many employers are going to turn down anyone wanting to come in early.

Especially teenagers.

Taking the morning shift all but guaranteed that they would work their full shift for the day and still have the rest of the day to do as they pleased.

And the Eds wanted to party.

Kevin was happy to oblige them, but it seemed like their third cord strand was getting frayed and he would not have that.

At. All.

"Hey!," Eddy called out cheerfully when Kevin strode into the store, Rosie toddling with him, her hand wrapped around his pinky.

"Sup, man," Kevin smirked as he picked his cousin up and put her on his hip. "You want nuggets, Rosie?"

"¡Si!"

"Kids meal?," Marie asked and he nodded.

"And the double bacon cheeseburger for me with the salad."

He gave her a hard stare as she giggled but she typed the order in anyways.

"Did your mom manage to get the punch out of the carpet?," she asked with a sly grin and Kevin rolled his eyes as Eddy quirked a brow.

"Yeah, Edd made up some cleaning stuff for her and got it right out," he snorted. "I swear if my dad wasn't there, she'd kissed him."

Marie outright laughed at the idea of Edd being flustered over Kevin's mom kissing him as being in the company of most girls fawning over him made him blush and become painfully shy.

"Bet he was a blushing fool anyways," she giggled.

"Red as a damn tomato!"

"¡No!"

"Sorry, Rosie," Kevin told the girl on his hip as he kissed her cheek and she shoved him away in a huff before grabbing his ear and pulling him in for a kiss of her own.

"Who's this, though?," Marie asked as she grinned at the girl after she handed Kevin a large cup and a juice box for Rosie's kid's meal.

"My cousin," he grinned. "Say hi to Marie, Rosie."

"Hi!," she waved shyly before ducking her face away into Kevin's shoulder.

"Dude," Marie snickered and he rolled his eyes. "You know it's, true," she grinned as she handed him his receipt. "You're number 103. Give us about two minutes."

He nodded as he walked away to grab a drink for himself and get Rosie settled into a high chair.

By the time he was ready to see if their meal was ready, Eddy brought it to him.

"What happened at the party, man?"

Kevin caught the pout in his tone, so he simmered his flames at Eddy missing it and Edd being upset about it a bit.

But just a bit.

"Your best friend saved my mom's Prussian rug. But you missed Ed knocking the piñata on the roof."

"Gaaaaah," Eddy sighed before plopping himself in the seat next to the redhead. "I couldn't get out of it, man."

"I get that," Kevin nodded as he dug Rosie's nuggets out and the girl made the sign of the cross across her head and chest before saying a quick gracias, amen and chowing down on her fries. "But Edd was pouty nearly the whole damn time. At my birthday party."

Eddy shuddered under the redhead's gaze but he knew he was in trouble and deserved the consequences, however damned they maybe.

"I know," Eddy groaned as he ran his hand through his hair. "He hasn't said anything to me since then really, either. I get that he's mad, but I gotta work!"

Kevin quirked a brow because it had been nearly a week since his birthday party and for the Eds to not talk was just mind boggling and he had to fix it.

"But you're still a minor, dude. You can't work all the time," Kevin said and he inwardly cringed because Lort did he sound just like Edd.

"Dude, you sound like Dee," Eddy snorted and Kevin rolled his eyes. "They're trying to figure things out," he sighed as he leaned back and looked at the clock on the wall behind the counter and then the door. "I'm off in like 20, but if Ang isn't here by then, I'm stuck because I'm the only manager on duty right now."

Kevin made a face and pulled out his phone. He checked his Facebook feed and saw that the other assistant manager in question did indeed have a dance competition that day, but because the high school teams went first, she should have been done before noon.

It was now just after four.

But between the two hour trip back from Charleston and getting home and changed, she would probably be pushing it to get to work on time, but he figured she could make it.

And like the overly dramatic person she was, she not only made it, she made a damn entrance.

Her Beetle screeched into the near empty parking lot, slide into the space behind Eddy's car, and a gaggle of girls fell out of it as she shut the vehicle off and stepped out herself.

"Praise the Lord," Eddy sighed as he saw her and the co-captains of the JV and varsity dance teams glide into the store. "Marie! People!," he called to the counter and Marie hurried back to the front with a box of ketchup packets on her hip.

Kevin checked the time on his phone and considering that Eddy wasn't going to get off for another fifteen minutes, he knew he had a minute to talk to Ang.

"Yo! Angie!," he called out to her and when she and her group of friends turned towards his voice he gave her a look as the other girls grinned at him and Rosie and she nodded.

She whispered a few words to her friends and they begrudgingly stayed put as she walked over to where he and Rosie were sitting.

"Sup, Kev," she grinned. "Isn't this David's little girl?"

His eyes grew cold at the mention of the girl's dad, but then he saw the look in Angela's eyes.

Anger.

Sheer, unadulterated anger.

"Y-Yeah," he stuttered as Rosie handed her a French fry that she gleefully took before flipping her pig tails a bit.

"Good to see her smiling again," she grinned before she looked at him curiously. "How do you know her?"

"She's my cousin," Kevin said carefully.

"You're related to David Oliver?"

"No, her mom's my cousin," Kevin said quickly and Ang breathed a sigh of relief.

"How's Mari doing?," she asked as she sat down across from him.

"Better for sure," Kevin smiled and she smiled back, her gapped tooth grin reminding her of one he loved so much.

And had to make bright again.

"Listen," he said. "You know Edd's not speaking to Eddy, right?"

"Yeah," she groaned as she put her head in both hands.

Being a tutor like Edd, she was just as privy to Ed gossip as the cul-de-sac was, but because she worked with Eddy, she got another side of things that Kevin knew he couldn't see.

"So?"

"So, Eddy's one of the best assistant managers we've got, and they ain't trying to lose that. And since wrestling is only in the fall, he's stuck working all spring until they can hire someone who will come on and stay on."

Kevin groaned as he knew that while the crew that worked at the store was a rough around the edges bunch, once you got to know them and figured out how they worked, things went well. But after a couple of assistant managers graduated from the high shcool and left Peach Creek, it had been hard to hold onto anyone.

"Kevie!"

When Ang and Kevin looked at their smol interloper, she was reaching for his salad and he gave her a cucumber that she happily munched on while an idea popped in his head.

"I may know someone, but it's gonna be a bit before they can come in," he said carefully and Ang made a face at him. "In the meantime, think you can get the shortstack a day off?"

"I can try," Ang said just as carefully as Kevin had and he nodded in understanding. "Who'd thought Kevin would try to help out Eddy, though," she grinned and he wadded up a napkin and threw it at her giggling head.

Kevin paced in front of the courtroom door, a very fussy Rosie on his hip.

He didn't know if he should be mad at her father or the court system for interrupting the girl's nap, but he did know that he couldn't wait for this whole thing to be over.

*buzz buzz*

Rosie pulled away from his shoulder and looked around for his phone as he dug it out of his pocket.

Babe: I got the study notes for Ryerson's class today if you need them.

Kevin breathed out a sigh of relief as he sent a text of thanks back, even more thankful that Edd was being understanding about his absences, lack of communication, Rosie's near constant presence in his life, and the fact that he hadn't gotten to touch him in weeks.

When he looked up from his phone, he saw the social worker on Rosie's case step out of the courtroom and give him a knowing look as she reached for the toddler in his arms.

"They just got done questioning Angela, so you should be up next, ok?"

Kevin nodded and took a deep breath before the bailiff called him inside to testify against the charming young man who nearly caused him to catch a murder case and cancel date night with a boy he had just fallen in love with.

It was just after 6AM on a bright June Tuesday when Edd was rustled out of his sleep by his doorbell ringing and some soft knocking accompanying it. He walked wearily to the door and stared up at Kevin in surprise when he opened it.

"Wha…Kevin, why are you here? Is everything ok?," he asked as it was odd to see Kevin this early in the day since they didn't have school anymore.

Kevin quickly ushered him back into the house and shut the door before pulling him into his arms and the ravenette outright moaned into a hug he had started to forget about missing.

"So you free this weekend?," Kevin asked as he reluctantly pulled away.

"Only Friday afternoon," Edd pouted as the realization that with summer in near full swing, maybe they could actually start to hang out like they used to again. "My father is coming back home Friday night and I've got orders that there will be family time. And I have to work all day Saturday and we're doing Father's Day Saturday night because he's leaving Sunday morning."

When Kevin started to look like he did when he had forgotten their sixth month anniversary back in February, Edd sighed.

"You forgot this weekend was Father's Day, didn't you?"

"Nuuuuu," Kevin giggled nervously as he pulled out his phone and brought up his email. "Oh, thank God," he sighed as he tapped away at the screen for a few seconds and then locked the phone and put it back in his pocket.

When Edd cocked a brow at him and refused to be moved from the spot he was standing in as Kevin started pushing him towards the stairs, Kevin acquiesced.

"I didn't really forget. I was just trying to figure out why Amazon was sending me a fisherman's kit that I had I ordered, but they were late getting to me because I ordered it a month ago."

"Mother's Day was a month ago."

"And I ordered that gift at Easter so you can't say I forgot!," Kevin said teasingly as he booped his nose and Edd rolled his eyes.

"I guess," he sputtered as he batted Kevin's hands away.

And then Kevin's lips were against his own.

Edd was startled and even froze up for about half a second before Kevin whimpered as his tongue swiped against Edd's closed lips and the genius all but fell apart at the sound and the needy gesture.

He sucked Kevin's tongue in his mouth as he started to pull the eager jock to his bedroom.