Epilogue

Kevin sat on the bench outside of the small chapel with his face in his hands.

"It's gonna be ok," Nazz told him as she rubbed his back.

He looked into teal eyes, wise with experience, and shook his head.

"I can't," he told her as he pouted and his eyes misted over again and she gave him a sympathetic smile.

"You better," a cool alto voice said as she walked up to them with Nazz's corsage and Kevin's boutonniere in her hands. "I paid way too much damn money for this, so you're gonna can, Red."

Kevin rolled his eyes at her, but knew she was right.

Money aside, today was going to happen whether he liked it or not.

And while he was happy for them, he couldn't believe that this was still happening.

It was Marcus and Damien's wedding day.

The two young men had actually taken their friendship into love sometime during sophomore year of high school.

Penny lost $20 to Eddward on how long it would take them to finally admit what he had known since Damien was four and Marcus was five going on six.

They liked, liked each other.

And then things got weird.

Marcus got overly protective and Damien withdrew.

Eddward remembered many a conversation ending with, "I'm not a damn baby, Marc!," before Damien would storm off or hang up the phone and then storm off or slam the door and then storm off.

The day he shook the house with slam to the front door so hard that it shook on its hinges was the day that Eddward couldn't ignore what was going on anymore.

He hung up his husband's punching bag and told the boy that he was due for a lesson in self defense.

Kevin had insisted that both kids learn how to throw a proper punch, just in case.

It was Penny who found that the punching bag was a great stress reliever from mean girls, her overprotective Daddy, her OCD Papa, and chubby brother with his own issues.

"Go punch the bag," she told him one day after he cried into his chips and cookies over Marcus being a mother hen again and the boy broke the bag.

Kevin was impressed, but replacing it came out of his allowance. That didn't phase the boy, however, because his hand was broken and he couldn't use the bag for six weeks anyways.

Marcus didn't see him for at least eight, though.

And when they went to the mall to cruise around like teenagers do, he was furious with Marcus for getting them kicked out because he wouldn't ignore the jerks from his school who's daily jeers about his weight, his red hot sister, and his gay dads, ran off Damien's back like water because he was just fucking used to it. But it rubbed his best fucking friend the wrong way, so he decided to rub a few of the idiots face's with his fists.

Marcus swore he was only trying to help him.

To protect him.

To show him how to stand up for himself.

Damien, however, was not having it.

"You're not there every fucking day!," he screamed at him from the enclosed car, but Eddward heard him from his place in the garage where he was digging steaks out of the deep freezer to marinate for dinner later in the week. "I am! I have to deal with these assholes all the fucking time and now you've put a even bigger target on my damn back because you wouldn't shut the fuck up! I know what the fuck I'm doing, Marc!"

Eddward didn't hear what Marcus had to say until he made it to the front door because Damien slamming his car door covered up his apologies.

"I'm only trying to -," Marcus pleaded with him from the front porch.

"Try it with your sister," Damien retorted. "I'm not a damn baby!"

Kevin had the foundation of the house checked after that door slam and Eddward pulled his son out of his shell.

Damien cried angry tears as he wailed on the punching bag and professed his love for the boy in three different languages before collapsing on the floor in tears.

Eddward hadn't seen such an outpouring of emotion since he picked his mother up off of Brian Thompson's lawn.

Her life was shattered that day, but their son's was just beginning.

He was in love and didn't know what to do about it.

Two sets of parents sat down and had a chat about their babies.

Sy and Ang were worried sick over Damien, because all they knew was that he was being bullied at school and had no real protection from it. But Kevin was perturbed that Marcus was being treated like he had done something wrong. Anyone that wanted to protect his baby Baby Boy was fine by him.

But Eddward knew better.

His son needed to sort through and be honest with his feelings, and them express them in a healthy and concise way. And Marcus could stand to let the boy be.

And confess a few feelings of his own.

Damien had told him he liked him and all Marcus had said was that he ok with it because, "Same."

What Damien thought was a growing closeness was becoming suffocating because Marcus went from treating him as an equal to treating him like he did his sisters and their girl cousins. So he apologized to Penny and all the other girls for treating them the same way and tried to break free from being under Marcus' wing to being by his side again.

Marcus just took it as rejection and started pushing everyone away.

The final straw was Sy calling him out and grounding him for being a brat because he was late to work for no good damn reason again, on top of slacking off on his school work, and blowing off basketball practice to go God knows where and do God knows what with God knows who.

All he said was, "Yes, Sir," and Ang had to send him to her parents for the weekend because Sy was going to kill him.

It wasn't just his words that hurt, but his tone, as well.

Sixteen years after she finally came into her own, and the person that brought her there was trying to send her back because he couldn't stand to face his own feelings about himself and who he cared about the most.

Ang knew it was because the boy was hurting from Damien's seeming rejection and doing what he could to hide his growing feelings for his best friend, but didn't want to face them so Damien wasn't facing him anymore.

But Sy was ready to give him a piece of his own medicine.

Her pretty blouses, skirts, and dresses were put in the back of the closet and replaced with hoodies, ratty jeans, and tennis shoes.

Then she stopped taking her E.

And cut her hair.

Ang wasn't just done when Sy came home with the classic fuckboy hair cut, she was on the fucking warpath.

She called Eddward and told him to send Damien over and when the boy arrived, he was stunned at what was happening.

"He thinks he can run around here like he's the head of this damn tribe," Sy explained. "I'm just here to remind him who's really the Alpha in this fucking house."

"You look ridiculous," Ang told her and Sy shrugged, her fucks to give gone.

Ang pleaded with Damien to talk some sense into his damn friend while she tried to fix her wife's hair.

And when the boy came home from God knows where, with an attitude the size of the damn Grand Canyon, Damien's Great Wall of China went up and Ella put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and grabbed a soda.

The what the fuck is wrong with you's flew out of their mouths like the rain on Peach Creek in the spring, and the claims of I don't need this bullshit was salt in so many wounds.

And so many why's.

Why are you here?

Why do you care?

Why do I love you?

And Ella choked on her popcorn.

Marcus just stared at him.

Marcus refers to the God of Mars, otherwise known as the god of war.

Damien refers to the the taming of things.

With just one question, the war raging in Marcus ceased.

Damien may have asked himself why he felt the way he did, but for Marcus just knowing that he did was enough.

Since he was five going on six, he cared about the tall, chubby boy in front of him.

And all he wanted to do was keep him to himself. The fact that he had to share him with the world annoyed him at best and made him feel second rate at worst.

A feeling his Momma Sy knew all too well.

So he covered his feelings in brute force and called it helping protection.

Then he pushed them away.

Despite Damien's confession, he was still hurting.

How could he love him knowing his family history?

Why would he want to risk their friendship with love?

Had their parents own battles taught him nothing?

"Or maybe y'all can do it right the first time?," Ella mused as she sipped on her soda and tried to recover from Damien being in love with her brother.

They both looked at her and she shrugged.

"Momma and Sy may have always been together, but how long did it take for them to get it right? And his dad's took forever to get their shit together," she said as she tipped her soda at Damien. "Why don't y'all just do it right now? But like, no kissing in front of me. I'd rather not die because ew."

"We kiss all the time!," Ang said as she came into her too quiet kitchen and heard the tail end of her daughter's advice to her boys.

"Yeah, y'all cute and shit," the girl said as she tipped her soda at mom, "because y'all been through some stuff and survived. Like, that's real love right there. Why anyone wants to kiss this dork's face, though, is beyond me."

And Damien turned about fifty shades of red because kissing.

So Marcus kissed him.

And suddenly Marcus is on Kevin's shit list.

But now, they're an I do from being family.

Eddward watched with some amusement as his son flitted around the small dressing room they were in as Nazz's twins pleaded with him to sit down.

"You're gonna sweat out your hair!," Jasmine said in a huff as she chased him with a can of hair spray, his faux hawk drooping under his distress over his wedding.

"I'm a bit more worried about his shirt," Langston said as he ironed out the groom's tie.

Damien screamed as he started to tug his shirt off before Eddward stood up, cocked his head at Simon, who turned the ceiling fan on high and Eddward drug the young man under it.

"Calm down," he said gently and Damien nodded as tears fell out of his eyes.

But the two seconds of peace was broken by Penny and Siobhan bouncing into the room to announce that Marcus and Ella had finally shown up with a few of their friends.

"Breathe!," Eddward said sternly as he grabbed his son's jaw and looked into panicked, unfocused blue eyes.

But Simon knew what to do and two minutes later Marcus is in the room, holding him close and telling him that the cake was fine and Damien is suddenly ok.

Eddward rolled his eyes and went to find his husband who was pacing in front of the chapel doors, Sy giving him a stink eye.

"Now what?," the raven groaned.

"He can't," Nazz said with a small smile as Ang muttered that he better while Sy mused that Kevin may have a decent idea for once.

Eddward came behind him and just held him.

"It's ok," he whispered but Kevin still shook his head.

"He's..."

"I know, but he'll be fine," Eddward said as he turned him around so he could look into those green eyes. "He'll have the longest last name in the world now, but he's in good hands."

"He better be," Kevin retorted and Sy rolled her eyes.

"Same. Ow!"

Ang rubbed the spot on her arm that she just popped but still gave her a look.

While Kevin had been testy at best about their sons' relationship because he knew what routes it could take, it was Sy who was damn near against it because she didn't want to deal with the heartbreak they had caused each other before again, or Kevin's own over protective attitude with his kids.

Her son may have not been a saint, but as far as she was concerned, Damien hadn't been Prince Charming, either, and should have let her son be as much as he wanted it for himself.

Their sisters knew they deserved each other and stayed out of the fray.

Eddward just wanted him happy.

Ang just wanted peace in her house again.

Ten years later, they would promise themselves, their families, friends, and eternity as their witnesses, that they would love, honor, and cherish one another.

Just as soon as Kevin stopped pacing and Damien stopped having a meltdown.

The world hadn't necessarily grown easier in the time they had fallen in love, and times got ugly, but they, like the rest of the universe, persevered.

College drove them apart, with Damien going off to study the world's religions at Stanford and Yale and Marcus staying home to take over his family's restaurant. There were no kisses stolen at dorm room doors, basketball games in March, or breaks from life in the spring. But they held on.

After he graduated, Damien came back to teach Religious and Critical Thinking courses at the junior college his Daddy graduated from, give talks at the church's in the area on how to be better at being what their Higher Power asked them to do, and help Marcus.

And Lee retired.

She was the one that found them on the sous chef's prep table during fall break sophomore year of high school.

They were in a close hug and taste testing a new soup.

They couldn't ignore their feelings after looking into her knowing hazel eyes, but they tried.

Lord, did they ever try.

But when that became harder than just being, they let go, Lee started collecting on Eddy's pension, and on Saturday mornings, Damien runs the front of the house.

Except today.

Today, they go to the bed and breakfast Marie had wanted to take Eddward to for his birthday junior year of high school, and bring so much love into another full circle before launching it into the stars.

The B&B added a chapel about three years after Eddward left, and Damien fell in love with the place during one weekend he and Marcus managed to snatch away over Christmas break during his Master's program at Yale.

They had to come back.

But planning to get everyone they loved to the tiny mountain town was hard.

He quickly saw why his father eloped not once, but twice.

If it wasn't one thing, it was another.

Pinning down dates and times, getting enough food to feed everyone that would go over well with about 150 of their nearest and dearest, picking colors, seating arrangements, the stationary they'd need for their save the dates, invitations, announcements, and thank you notes was making his head spin.

Ang stepped in to help where she could, but she and Sy's catering business took up much of her time.

Then Penny and Ella came to the rescue in that way only sisters could.

They worked with the B&B to get the rate that the couple wanted for everyone staying there, then sat Damien and Marcus down and planned everything over Mr Chang's delivered to Kevin and Eddward's house that they moved out of some three years before.

Having the kids back under their roof reminded them of old times that they were glad to simply reminisce over.

The two dads offered advice and ideas, but mostly stayed out of the way.

And they made out on the living room floor to celebrate everything being done after the kids left.

Three months later, they all gather together and like Eddward did for Kevin, Damien changed his name.

Sorta.

Because their own names were as big as their personalities, they decided to create a new name.

Jackson-Barr, to honor the two people who's long suffering love in the face of so much adversity, made sure that they got to love one another.

Then they partied.

But Kevin had another tradition to celebrate.

The ride up the mountain was as quick as it ever was as the roads were wider and better taken care of then they were when they were kids and sneaking away to try and just be, even better than when they were young parents and falling in love again, and better now because like a well aged Irish whiskey, taking care of it only got easier and better with time.

Just like their love.

When they made it to the observation point, Eddward placed his phone in the spot that the telescope used as camera and set up the coordinates he wanted filmed to get the best pictures of the meteor shower.

Then they sat back and just watched.

A vibrant blue star shot across the sky and both of their phones lit up with texts from Damien about the beautiful celestial body.

Melissa called it the good luck star.

Kevin called it Marie.

He knew that she was enjoying her place amongst the stars in their lives, but sometimes a girl needs to take some time to get out and do a few spins around the world's dance floor.

Their baby had found love and it was time to celebrate.

And for he and Eddward to rekindle a piece of their start again.

He flipped a blanket out for them on the grass and they watched the heaven's fall and fell in love again.

They talked about their old memories and the new ones they made today.

They made plans to spend a little more time with their new family members and check up on the old ones.

And they shared a few kisses, too.

Kevin knew Eddward well enough to know that he'd always appreciate this little date and take it in the spirit that it was given back then. He always held out hope that maybe this could be something that they'd get to do forever.

But forever is a long time.

Sometimes it seems like it takes forever to get to the forever we want to spend our days in.

But by keeping his focus on forever, it made the maybes easier to deal with and when he got to forever, he held on to it like the treasure it was.

Just like the man laying next to him.

As their sons took a spin on the dance floor and Marie took a spin across the sky, they held onto the one that they had come to love, honor, and cherish the most in life.

Society may have trashed them, but he'd always be his man's treasure.