Author's Note: For Hazelbaum.

It was the craziest thing, at least to Kevin. He'd come home, collapse in his easy chair and at least five seconds later, Edd would be straddling his lap, head in his shoulder, snuggling close. And for the redhead, it was the best part of his day. But it never ceased to amaze him that the person in his lap was a man, an Ed and the dorkiest Ed of them all.

Double D

"How was your day?," Edd whispered into his shoulder.

"Had to replace an entire transmission today and I'm still not even close to being done with rebuilding the engine in that '67 Cadillac."

"Did you get all the parts for it, yet?," Double D asked as he pulled his face out of Kevin's shoulder, blue eyes full of concern.

"Yeah," Kevin replied with a grin, Edd's concern and interest making him feel warm and fuzzy all over. "But, with school starting in a few weeks, all the helicopter parents want their kids rides tuned up before they hit the road. We're swamped."

"What did Mr Thomas say?," Edd asked.

The vintage car enthusiast was keen on Kevin rebuilding the Caddy's engine. But the only place the redhead could do it was at the body shop he co-owned with Eddy of all people. Getting parts was a pain. Getting time to do the work was even harder to come by.

"Eddy talked to him. The way I see it, if he wants it done, he can either wait til I have more time or do it himself."

Edd snickered. There was no way Mr Thomas was going to do the work himself. He loved to drive and show off his cars. He'd clean and detail them, but left the work of keeping them running smoothly up to certified mechanics. Kevin was his favorite by far.

"How was your day?," Kevin asked as he gently massaged Edd's curvy hips.

Edd groaned in relief at Kevin's ministrations. The chemistry professor would spend hours on his feet teaching lectures and conducting labs. It would be murder on his legs and hips most days. At least he had decent shoes, but they both knew Kevin would give him a foot massage as they watched the late news before they went to bed.

But for the past few weeks, he had been on a speaking tour. Long hours in the car, then hours on his feet guest lecturing his peers on new concepts in their field that would change the way they taught and what they taught had him beat.

"I think I've got a new donor on the line, but we still need to have dinner with him to be sure," he replied as he snuggled close to Kevin again.

"How fancy?"

"Not fancy enough for you to come," Edd pouted.

He hated to go to donor dinners alone, but these things happen. Kevin just knew to have a cup of tea waiting when he got home.

"I'll have your tea ready," Kevin said, smiling affectionately at his soul stealer.

And so their conversation went. Things weren't always this way. When they were kids, they barely got along. Both of their mothers thought that they should of been friends back then, but Edd would hang out with the other dorks as they were liked named and their spirits spoke to each other. Kevin was loud and brash, unpredictable.

But after a throw down with an even bigger bully than himself, Kevin found it in himself to try to get along with his Ed named neighbors. Ed was a goofball he could only handle in small doses. Eddy was a great business partner. Since high school, if he was paired up with the shortstack Ed for anything, they would draw up a truce to get them through the project. Kevin would be brawn where Eddy would be brains. So when they both got done with college and their intern and apprenticeships, going into business together was a no brainer.

But Kevin and Double D were something else entirely.

Something about Edd calmed the redhead's flames. His calming spirit would chill Kevin out nearly immediately as soon as the ravenette got in his space. But Edd was drawn to Kevin like a moth to a flame. Kevin was the epitome of cool and badassery. Things a dork like Edd craved.

"Teach me to be cool," Edd had asked one day as he and Kevin hung out after spending a few hours tuning up Kevin's Harley.

Kevin cocked a brow at him.

"Just be you," he replied.

Edd leveled a look a him and Kevin laughed.

"I like you as you are, D. Changing to be what you think people think you should be is so not cool," Kevin said as he booped Edd's nose.

Edd was annoyed that even Kevin gave him such a cliched answer to his plea. But through the redhead's encouragement, he developed his own sense ofcool. And for Kevin, it was just the type of cool that spoke to his own.

Over time, they developed a friendship that rivaled the friendships they had with their best friends. When they got to college, that friendship only deepened. They preferred each other's company to most others most of the time. When Nazz teased them about blowing off a group study date for dinner for themselves, followed by an all nighter of cramming, joking around and maybe a Netflix binge, even they wondered what they were up to.

For two weeks they tried to give each other space, but just couldn't do it. To be together was safe and comforting, exhilarating sometimes, too.

"Screw it," Kevin had said. "I'll hang out with you if I want to."

"And I with you," Edd replied with a blush of all things dancing across his cheeks as he patted Kevin's knee.

Kevin smirked as his face flushed over from the contact. When did a touch from Edd like that get to feeling so good? He didn't know, but he didn't want it to stop.

"Let's go for a ride," he said as he grabbed Edd's hand and ran towards the student parking lot where his motorcycle was parked. Right next to Edd's car.Edd just squealed as he took the lead. From then on, Kevin decided that Edd could lead him anywhere.

They rode up into the hills surrounding their small college town. They talked until night fall, went to dinner, and the hug goodbye at Edd's door was were Edd got his first forehead kiss. Two weeks later it was a kiss to his cheek. A month later, after another dinner and a movie, startled by a noise inside of his dorm room, Edd turned his head just so and Kevin kissed his lips instead of the side of his face like he had been doing.

And a spark flared.

Lips and tongues quickly clashed, hands groped a strong back and dainty hips,and then the door opened.

Kevin caught them before they fell, and he'll never forget the greedy smirk on Eddy's face as he said, "It's about damn time you two admitted it. Nazz owes me $10."

"For what, Eddy?!," Edd had cried in embarrassment as he tried to readjust his hat and shirt.

"I bet her that you two would be playing kissie face by midterms. She said Christmas. And midterms are in two weeks. Later, you two love birds," the shortest Ed said as he casually sauntered out of the room, whistling the chorus to Snoop Dogg's Gin and Juice as he went.

Theywere both embarrassed. Their friends were betting on them. They were avoiding the pink elephant in the room. But they didn't want to let the other go.

So they didn't.

That night they had a long talk. They did like each other. They liked being friends. But their feelings for each other ran deeper than even the best of friends. That kiss proved it. But what did it all mean?

They didn't see anyone else the way they saw each other. But they didn't see anyone else for themselves but each other.

"You want to try this?," Kevin had asked.

Edd barely nodded before Kevin kissed him again. That was ten years ago. Things weren't easy. Not very many people were accepting of the school's best pitcher in 30 years walking hand in hand with the science department's top student. Especially since he was a guy. But as long as Kevin got Edd in his lap at the end of the day to have a simple conversation about their day's, he knew things would be ok.

Edd calmed the Red Hurricane and Kevin stirred up the Atomic Storm. They balanced each other out.

And it was perfect.