The bickering of Edd's parents and the laughter of Kevin's was drowned out by the roar of Kevin's motorcycle as they shot out of the cul-de-sac for a ride around town and maybe some frozen custard but definitely some kisses in the park.

Things were quiet when they made it back to the cul-de-sac, and D'Ward and Sean were in Edd's garage looking over D'Ward's Ducati as Kevin pulled in.

"You have a Ducati, Mr V?," Kevin all but squealed when he shut off his own motorcycle.

"I do," the man intoned as he smirked at his blushing son.

"Dude."

"No, Kevin," Edd shuddered.

"Why not?!," Kevin pleaded.

"Because your Harley is enough!"

Kevin poked out his lip that Edd poked as he said, "Nope!"

"You're no fun."

"I'm plenty fun, good sir, and you know it!"

"But it's a Ducati, Baby!"

"It's my Ducati, Kevin," Marion grinned as she peeked her head in the garage and D'Ward rolled his eyes. "And you guys are back early."

"He's got curfew at midnight, Mother," Edd explained.

"Don't want him to turn into a pumpkin, huh, Sean?," she smirked at Kevin facepalmed.

"Something like that," the elder Barr man said as he shot a glance at his son who only slightly pouted.

It was only 1030, but Kevin didn't want to push his luck with his new freedom and Edd had to work in the morning.

"And I have work in the morning, so I bid you all bonne nuit and adieu," Edd yawned before he gave Kevin a quick kiss, long hug, and drug himself wearily into the house.

Kevin gave the grinning adults in front of him a quick wave before backing his Harley into his own garage and then running inside to send a few sweet goodnight texts to Edd before he fell asleep.

"So y'all for really a thing now?"

Edd looked up at his best friend from his spot on Eddy's bedroom floor as he went over the short Ed's college algebra homework.

His phone was in his hand with the messaging center open to his texts between himself and Kevin.

"We've been a thing for a year now, Eddy."

The same worried look that his father wore for the rest of the previous summer as he watched Kevin like a hawk was on Eddy's face, but there was a tad bit more jealously in Eddy's grey eyes.

A father's pride and joy getting lost in love is cause for concern because if their child's heart breaks, so does their own.

With best friends, if one gets lost in love, the other tends to get left behind. If one gets hurt, the other is usually willing and able to do things to rectify the situation in ways a parent truly can't.

While his father's attitude had changed as Kevin gained his trust, Eddy was still a hard case as past history was too hard to forget.

"I know, but still…"

"Talk," Edd said as he locked his phone and faced his friend who was stretched out on his round bed and staring at the ceiling.

"Like, I guess I get why you like each other and stuff, I just didn't think y'all would last this long."

"And why not, Eddy?"

"Have you met the guy?!," Eddy scoffed on a nervous snicker as he sat up.

"Once or twice," Edd shrugged as a sly smirk crossed his face.

"Dude," Eddy dead panned as he rolled his eyes and Edd just laughed. "Seriously though, Dee. I'll kill him if he hurts you."

"You've mentioned that," Edd smiled and Eddy rolled his eyes again.

"You don't think he's acting shady?"

"My birthday is next week and so is our anniversary," Edd snickered and Eddy's eyes went wide.

Kevin's sudden cagey behavior made sense with this new information, but Edd was used to it by now. If he suddenly grew quiet in general conversation or had a ton of questions about what Edd liked to do or things he would like to add to his collection of DVDs, music, or knick knacks, Edd knew a gift was coming and Kevin was doing his best to make it a surprise.

A summer spent living out loud had grown quiet from the redhead's side of things and Eddy was the only one bold enough to vocalize his concerns, but he made sure to only do it to Double Dee.

Now he had what he needed to tell everyone that things were going to be ok.

"What's he planning?," Eddy mused and Edd shrugged.

"I only know that I have to be in my backyard at sundown next Tuesday."

"That's it?!"

"That's it," Edd said before uttering a small, "Aha!," as he found the mistake in Eddy's homework that was holding him up from completing it. "You need to be solving for y not x," he said as he handed the worksheet and textbook back to Eddy and pointed out where he got lost in the alphabet soup of letters and numbers.

When Edd came home from swim practice the following Tuesday evening, the sun had only begun to set, so he knew he had time to get a quick shower in before meeting Kevin out back.

He found him sitting with his head between his knees under the oak tree, a thin envelope in his slightly trembling hands.

"Hey, you," he said quietly as he nudged Kevin's foot with his own and Kevin's head shot up in surprise.

"Oh! Uh, hey," he sighed before reaching up for Edd, who allowed himself to be pulled into Kevin's lap. "You open it," he said quietly as he shoved the envelope into Edd's hands.

Edd gingerly opened the envelope and read the letter inside as Kevin buried his face in the back of his neck.

"Says here that you got accepted into Northwestern."

Kevin pulled his face out of his neck and read the letter Edd was holding with relief.

"Whew."

"Are you stalking me?," Edd asked as he put the letter away and turned to face a red faced Kevin.

"N-No!," the redhead protested. "I'm at the main campus and you'll be in Chicago, so how am I stalking you?"

"Well, considering that it's a Methodist school –"

"And I'm a good Catholic who plays better football," Kevin smirked and Edd's head fell back on a groan.

"And Signing Day is next week."

"Yeah, I just wanted to be sure I was signing with them first," Kevin sighed as he tried to get his heart rate back to normal.

Edd pulled him into a hug as he thought about the stack of offers on Kevin's kitchen table. He didn't have any interest in any of the schools that were scrambling to get his athletic man's attention, but apparently Kevin's attention in him was as strong as it ever was. So strong in fact, that he was willing to give up big name sporting schools with really good business programs to follow Edd in a long journey through pre-med and beyond.

Northwestern also had a nice business program, so he wasn't going just for Edd, as he had to think about how his own future affected their joint one.

It was something Edd had told him since the beginning of their relationship and something Kevin learned fairly quickly and acted on ever since.

"Don't do it for me. Do it for you. Do it because you want to. Because no matter what you do, if it affects me, it's gonna affect you, and you had better like it as much as you say that you like me."

He loved him enough to never let him go and himself enough to do what he could to be his best so he could be what Edd really needed.

His friend.

"I love you and I am so proud of you," he said as he squeezed him tight and Kevin hugged him even harder.

And from the kitchen window, two Northwestern alumni father's toasted to the future and Kevin's love of chocolate and peanut butter chip cookies.