I have recently moved blogs and this a reposting of my fanfic A Daze of Ailey. It was the fourth fanfiction I wrote.
Summary: Edward lives in a city far from Peach Creek and works as a prosthetists. Kevin is a single father who has just moved into his apartment complex with his daughter Ailey. (age: adult)
Kevedd
Total number of chapters 14.4
Warning: This fic has mentions of abuse and alcoholism so please don’t read if triggered.
Author’s note: In case you haven’t noticed by previous fics, I write Edward as Latino. This is only a headcannon as he looks like my cousin.
ch1
The man that stood frozen outside the elevator doors looked different than the neighbor Edward had once known back in Peach Creek. Back then he had been a boy, still devilishly handsome but with dangly legs and a wide jaw that suggested adolescents. Now it appeared that he had grown into himself. He seemed taller—almost a head over Edward—but he had kept his muscular form which had made girls swoon back in high school. A ridge in his nose suggested it had been broken and reset since last he had seen him. It was silly but Edd couldn’t help but think he had finally grown into his chin.
“What are you doing here?” Kevin asked in disbelief.
“I live here.” Edward replied, his hand still glued to his doorknob.
“Oh, yeah.” he blushed in his embarrassment. Edward felt his chest flutter for half a second at the sight. “I do too. I mean, I just moved in. Today.”
“B12? You’re the single father?” brows rose in surprise.
“Yeah—how did you know that?” the red-head looked utterly confused.
“Saphie, the apartment manager.”
“Oh,”
They both lapsed into awkward silence, neither sure what they should say. While they only stood a few feet away, resting between them existed years of strained ‘acknowledgement.’ While the two had never been friends, they had also never been enemies. In his younger years, Kevin had been a bully; always insulting the Eds at every available opportunity. During his time in high school, Kevin had become silent—at least to Edd—but that didn’t mean he stopped his fellow teammates from whatever ridicule they could derive. Not even realizing he was doing so, Edward continued to stare at his old neighbor, his thoughts on the years that showed in his form.
In Kevin’s hands was a pizza box. He shifted it nervously and cleared his throat.
“Well, uh, better be going.” The red-head managed. “It was nice…seeing you…again…but my daughter’s hungry so…” He nodded down the hall towards his door and Edward snapped back to reality.
“Oh, yes. Have a pleasant evening, Kevin.” He gave a smile that suggested an apologetic shrug before stepping into his apartment.
Once the door had been closed, Edward leaned his back against it and exhaled, his eyes drifting up to the ceiling as he attempted to let go of the knowledge that just consumed his thoughts.
Kevin Barr was, once again, his neighbor.
—-
It wasn’t that Edward disliked Kevin. Even during the times where Kevin had called the Eds names and ruined whatever activity the group had been involved, Edward couldn’t bring himself to hate the red-head. Whether it was due from the moments of kindness and weakness of which he had occasionally witnessed or from something else altogether, he wasn’t sure.
But neither one was currently the issue.
Kevin represented a life that he had hoped was a lifetime behind him. He wasn’t a neighbor as much as he was a ghost come to haunt him. In Kevin’s eyes, Edward would be nothing more than the faults of his former self. How far he had come, the changes he made in his life, none of it would matter. The privacy he had so craved was being taken from him and the thought made him anxious.
This thinking kept him from restfulness as he attempted sleeping and, upon awaking, made the thought of food unappetizing. Deciding to forgo breakfast, he dressed quickly, grabbed his briefcase and made his way out the door. It was while he was locking up that he heard the ding of the elevator and looked up to see the doors beginning to close.
“Hold the elevator!” He called, jogging to make it, one hand placed over his tie to keep it down. “Please!”
An arm flashed between the doors for a second, causing the elevator panels to reopen and Edward quickly slipped in.
“Thank…you.”
Green eyes met hazel as the two men stared back at one another.
“No problem.” Kevin replied.
Edward quickly shuffled to the other corner of the elevator, connected by their shared awkwardness but separated by a daughter.
A young girl, about the age of six, held onto Kevin’s hand. Dressed in a plaid skirt, white polo, and black mary janes, she suggested the look of someone about to go to school while her green backpack confirmed it. Red hair the exact shade of Kevin’s framed a freckled face and blue eyes went up to Edward as he stood silently next to her.
He stared ahead at his reflection in the elevator doors and bit his bottom lip in a feeble attempt to rally himself on.
“You have a gap in your tooth!” she announced at the sight, he voice squeaky from the excitement.
“Pardon?” Edward blinked, his attention now on the girl.
“Ailey!” Kevin snapped, a scowl on his face, but the girl ignored him.
“You have a gap between your teeth. I do too! See?” To illustrate her point, the girl smiled as wide as her little lips would allow to reveal one front top tooth missing as well as two bottom teeth separated by a lone standing middle. “My dad says I have a smile like a picnic fence!”
“Picket fence.” Kevin corrected before looking up at Edward. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright.” He giggled, bringing his hand up to cover his mouth and closing his eyes for a half-second in the process. “It’s a very nice smile.” He agreed.
“Princesses have to have nice smiles.”
“Are you a princess?”
“Yep! Of baseball…” she scrunched her face in thought. “and frogs.”
“Sounds like a big responsibility.” He fought the urge to laugh.
“Did you know some frogs can change color?” Blue eyes widened.
“I did, actually. Did you know the Grey Tree Frog can survive even if it’s body is frozen?”
“Whoah…” the little red head turned her face away to meet the gaze of her reflection in the elevator door. Apparently this new knowledge needed digesting. Deciding she liked what she heard, she turned back and offered her hand. “My name is Ailey Barr. Like ‘Hailey’ but without the ‘H.’ What’s your name, mister?”
“Edward Vincent.” He smiled as he shook the tiny hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ailey Barr.”
—-
Edward found that the best characteristic about work was that it allowed for a wonderful distraction. The moment that he stepped through the doors and greeted Martha-who-preferred May, he knew he was in a place of enthralling new possibilities. Almost all the patients had hope lacing their eyes as measurements were taken, promised made, and, for many, promises made into realities. The people propelled him into the lab and, once the lab work was completed, it drove him back to the patients. It was a delightful mixture that he found kept him interested in the now and distracted from the man in B12.
Once work had ended, a few of his fellow colleagues invited him out to dinner at a restaurant near the river. He agreed, and, as they laughed over work and shared personal tales of exaggerated tragic and success, Edward smiled and watched the sunset. It’s rays turned the water a swirling gold and he couldn't help but get lost in the beauty of a city he loved so dearly.
After dinner, he walked to the nearest trolley stop and hesitated as he passed a movie theatre. A French film starring a young Alain Delon was about to start and, seeing as he had little else to do, Edward paid for a ticket and bit his bottom lip deliciously at every gorgeous close-up.
By the time he arrived home, it was almost eleven but, instead of feeling tired, he felt surprisingly light as only came from having a day that was spent doing both what you loved and what you wanted. Getting closer to his apartment building, he reached into his pocket to pull out his keys and, once in hand, paused as he took in a familiar face.
“Jeremy?” Edward called in surprise.
The man looked over at the voice, blue eyes taking in his presence behind thick black frames and shoulders dropped in disappointment.
“Aw, you weren’t even home?” the blonde looked from Edward up to the building in disappointing realization. “I’ve been ringing for the last forty minutes!”
The memory of the text message the night before came crashing back.
“Jeremy, my apologies. Tonight completely escaped my mind. I feel terrible.” The man in the black sock hat gently touched the arm of his company in an effort to show the truthfulness of his statement.
“That’s okay, I guess. You can always make it up to me.” A sly smile slipped over Jeremy’s lips as arms snaked around Edward’s middle.
“Have you been drinking?” he frowned, the smell of alcohol overpowering.
“Maybe. You better take me inside before I get arrested for public intoxication.”
Edward rolled his eyes at the pick-up line but slipped a hand into the other’s anyway. Leading him inside, he unlocked the entrance and called for the elevator. Jeremy knew better than to be overly affectionate in the lobby where glass doors could mean people watching. Edward was stubborn when it came to public displays of affection—preferring his privacy and insisting on a certain conduct when out in society.
But as the elevator doors opened and they stepped on, the blonde let loose of his restraints to push Edward against the elevator wall, a sly smile centimeters from Edward’s own, and a hand slipping up a shirt.
“Desist!” green eyes looked horrified.
“Oh, come on.” Jeremy purred. “Stop being such a prude. Nobody is here but us.”
The more sensible part of him wanted to disagree on a matter of principal but the feeling of the man’s hand on his stomach and the lips on his neck made Edward temporarily forget himself. He gave into the feeling, his face turning to find lips still tingling with alcohol and Jeremy moved his hand to run over the outside of Edward’s jeans. The stale taste of rum and coke filled his mouth as the other pressed forward and neither one realized the form barreling towards the elevator.
“Hold the—!”
The two jumped in surprise and, before Kevin realized it would have possibly been better to just wait and take the next one, he was already halfway on. Having been caught mid-petting, Edward coughed nervously, attempting to control the crimson of his cheeks as he rubbed the back of his neck, his focus going to the elevator wall.
“Please, don’t mind me. Just…yep” Kevin gave an awkward grin before slipping his hands in his jacket pocket and focusing every last bit of attention he had on the changing digital numbers.
There were seconds worth of pause as Edward struggled to find something that made this situation less awkward.
“How’s moving in?” He offered and inwardly kicked himself for doing so.
“Oh, great.” Kevin nodded, his attention still on the screen. “Slow going with a six year old but it’s getting there.”
“…Did you enjoy your pizza last night?”
“Yeah, never had TimTom’s before but I was pleasantly surprised. Are they local?”
“I think so. They’re alfredo mushroom is good.”
“Yeah? We had pepperoni….”
There was silence again and Jeremy looked at Edward with a raised eyebrow. It was the first time he recalled that there was a third person in the elevator.
“Oh, Kevin, this is Jeremy. Jeremy is a…friend. Jeremy, Kevin is an acquaintance from back in my old neighborhood.”
The two shook hands and muttered hellos.
Edward silently wished he would just die.
The elevator announced their floor, dinging as the doors swung wide.
“Enjoy your night!” Kevin said a little too loudly before walking quickly to his apartment.
Edward attempted to release the feeling of embarrassment through a heavy sigh and eyes cast up to a God he wasn’t sure he believed in.
Jeremy, either too drunk or too clueless slipped his arms back around Edward’s middle and sloppily nibbled an earlobe as the green eyed man unlocked his door.
He resisted pushing him off.
There was a point to this visit after all.
—-
The next morning, Edward awoke to find Jeremy gone which wasn’t surprising and somewhat comforting as mornings were awkward and always carried more weight than the night before. He didn’t care for the stumbling promises of future plans or the dreading faces that attempted to figure out how short a morning was too short.
A desire had been fulfilled.
There was no need to make any more reason out of it.
Having the day off, Edward tidied his room, took his time in the shower, and dressed for himself rather than work. He finished too late for breakfast and too early for lunch but a grumbling stomach suggested food was still needed and a certain bistro desired.
After locking up and an elevator ride down, he exited the building just as Kevin was walking up the steps to enter. A feeling of dread anchored itself to the bottom of his stomach as he took in the man coming towards him.
“Hey!” Kevin seemed eager to speak but he wasn’t interested.
“Morning.” He nodded but the red-head stopped in front of him, forcing him to wait.
“Look, I know you're probably busy but I want you to know that…the thing last night, it’s cool. I don’t care if you’re gay.”
“I wasn’t seeking approval.” Edward replied, surprised at the sharpness of his own tongue.
“That’s not what I meant!” Kevin spoke quickly, his hands coming up defensively. “I just meant, with your boyfriend and all—“
“Jeremy isn’t my boyfriend. He is just a guy that…he’s a friend. If you will excuse me,”
A hand came out and grasped Edward’s arm causing him to turn back in surprise. Hazel eyes stared back at him pleadingly.
“Edd, I didn’t move here to fuck up your life. I’m sorry it’s awkward. I feel like I barged into something private; not just last night on the elevator but in general. I want you to know that it was never my intention to make you uncomfortable. Ailey and I moved here because we needed a change. I didn’t know you were here so, if you want, we can pretend we never saw each other in the hallway. I’ll just be the guy in B12. Just…know I didn’t mean to insult you or be an ass or whatever. I’m sorry.”
Kevin finally let go of his arm, his face apologetic and almost sad.
Edward glanced down to his converse, sighed and looked back up at his neighbor.
“Would you care to join me for brunch?” he managed.
I hope is just a false alarm, be strong honey <3 how is it going with CotF book? I’m excited :DDD
The CotF book is currently on pause until I can finish editing my fantasy book but so far it is going really well! I only have 30K more words to add before its novel length ^_^
Rule 2) Answer the questions the person who tagged you has written and write 10 new ones.
Rule 3) Tag 10 people and link them to your post.
Rule 4) Let them know you've tagged them in THE QUESTIONS.
1. What’s your favorite color? I guess a turquoise-ish color
2. What would you do if we ever met in person? I'd probably hug you. I like hugging 0v0
3. What was/is your dream? To own my own cafe
4. What’s your favorite movie(s)? Don't have any "favorites" so to say.
5. If I posted a video if myself singing, would you listen? (B/c I’ve been thinking about it :P) Yeah, sure, why not?
6. Top three OTPs (of any fandoms)? KevEdd, ErAru, & Stridercest (with appearances by the Smuppets sometimes)
7. Could you ever imagine us as besties? Yeah
8. What’s you favorite thing about meeting new people? I usually end up secretly hating every new person I meet, but I usually eventually end up liking some of them. So I guess when I start liking them.
9. What’s your impression of me? You seem very optimistic.
10. Are there any traditions that you’ve had since you were a kid and still do now? I eat the breading off of McD's McNugs before I eat the meat, if that counts.
Okay, here goes (again)
1) Why are YOU on Tumblr?
2) Ever kissed anyone?
3) So you're walking down the street when suddenly you hear someone scream, "THE REDCOATS ARE COMING!" from their car window/sunroof/noble steed named Maplehoof/whatever it is youngsters ride nowadays that isn't a dick. What do you do?
4) Favorite candy?
5) What is your hair's natural texture? (curly, wavy, stright, etc.)
6) What is your natural hair color?
7) What is your current hair color(s)?
8) A movie you can't stand?
9) Lend me a thousand bucks? It's, like urgent. I need to like gorge myself and pizza.
10) Describe your favorite fandom in the worse way possible. GO!
Rule one: post the rules.
Rule two: answer the questions the tagger asked you, then make eleven new ones.
Rule three: tag eleven people.
Rule four: let the tagged know they’ve been tagged.
1) Do you believe in true love? Yep
2) Have you ever been in love? Unrequittedly (that's not a word, but you get the gist of what I'm saying)
3) Do you believe in things we can’t explain? yes. But I don't believe in something completely illogical.
4) Do you cosplay? Yes, though I'm pretty new to it.
5) Coffee or tea? Tea
6) Day or Night? Eh, I'm in the house through it all anyway, but I guess night since it's more private when everyone's asleep and I can watch porn in peace.
7) Last movie you watched? The Wolverine earlier today for my bestie's bf's birthday.
8) Last song you heard? Miley Cyrus- We Can't Stop
9) Do you read fanfics? Oh I dunno. Lemme ask my 153 favorited FFN authors
10) Do you smoke? Nope
11) How many times have you been tagged? Thrice. I still have one more to do.
Kay so it's my turn again:
1) Do you cosplay? And if yes, who have you cosplayed as?
2) Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, what's your favorite fandom of them all?
3) Favorite non-animation Disney movie?
4) Favorite animated Disney movie?
5) K-Pop or J-Pop?
6) What do you think is the worse fandom? (it can be for a person, show, comic, etc.)
7) First anime ever?
8) First fandom ever?
9) How many testicles do you have, I guess?
10) One thing you'd change about yourself? (even though you're perfect just the way you are.
11) I bought a chocolate rock (like, it looks like a fucking rock, no shit, but it's chocolate) and I want to know what you think about it? It's in a candy shell that's painted to look like a rock, like the kind of shell on M&Ms. It's probably kinda stupid because it tastes like knock off easter chocolate.
Rule 2: Answer the questions the tagger asked you, then make 11 or your own.
Rule 3: Tag 11 people.
Rule 4: Let the tagged know they've been tagged.
1) What is/was your high school mascot? Well my school is an engineering school, so our team is called the engineers. But our nickname is Poly, so it's a parrot.
2) Who's your favorite Disney Princess? Does Dory count...?
3) What show are you addicted to right now? Under the Dome I guess.
4) Did you notice 3 was missing from the question before this one? I noticed you're a big fat liar.
5) You checked didn't you? (hehe) NOPE BECAUSE I AM A TROLL AND SO I SAW YOU DOING THAT IN YOUR FUTURE WHICH IS MY PAST
6) If you a chance to change one thing in the world, what would that be? Prejudice against anyone or anything.
7) What song best represents you? I'll give you a hint:
HEY
WHAT'S GOIN' ON
8) What makes you smile? I think my default expression is a smile and the more accurate question would be what makes me frown.
9) What's your ultimate OTP? Well it depends on what fandom I'm participating in at the moment. Like right now I'm reading Homestuck. So my ultimate OTP right now is Johnkat. But when there's a new episode of Free! it's NagiRei.
10) I thin you're awesome, you know that right? 0v0 You think I'm awesome? B-But... I'm me.
11) Well now you do and I hope you remember it? I most definitely will.
OKIE DOKI DOKI MY TURN
1) On a scale of one to purple, what does happiness taste like?
2) If you had to live in the world of one of your fandoms, what world would you live in?
3) What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?
4) What's the best purchase you've ever made?
5) Do you speak another language? If so, say something sexy ;)
6) Opinion of the "new" Miley Cyrus?
7) Do you watch porn?
8) You're on Tumblr so #7 was probably a yes. So what's your favorite category?
Rule one: post the rules.
Rule two: answer the questions the tagger asked you, then make eleven new ones.
Rule three: tag eleven people.
Rule four: let the tagged know they’ve been tagged.
1. Do you believe in true love? I do but it's super rare.
2. Have you ever been in love? I really don't know. I thought I was at the time but I don't know.
3. Do you believe in things we can’t explain? Yeah. I do.
4. Do you cosplay? I wish.
5. Coffee or tea? Definitely Tea.
6. Day or Night? Total Night Owl.
7. Last movie you watched? Pacific Rim. Nothing like Giant Robots fighting Giant Aliens.
8. Last song you heard? "Incredible" by XIa Junsu
9. Do you read fanfics? Are Male Peacocks Flamboyant Chickens? (aka Yes)
10. Do you smoke? Helll No.
11. How many times have you been tagged. A few. Not a lot though.
Now my questions:
1 - What was the last thing you Youtube Binged on (like AMVs, Sloth videos, etc)
2 - Do you like Mayo / Miracle Whip?
3 - If you were the Opposite Gender (Or if you're transgender, transitioning, bigender, intersex, etc, the image you don't normally identify with / would like to attain [ excuse lack of knowledge in how to address that question really ]) for one day, What would be the first thing you would do?
4 - Who's your favorite Avenger (or Loki) ?
5 - How Many licks does it take to get the center of a Tootsie Pop?
6 - What's your least favorite thing about your favorite OTP? [This can be about the pair itself or the fandom along with it]
7 - What was the last book you read for pleasure?
8 - If you could change something about yourself, what would it be?
9 - Are you afraid of the future?
10 - Crunchy or Smooth Peanut Butter?
11 - Can I have a hug?