Edward would never forget the first time he kissed Roy Mustang. He had been sixteen - obscenely young, he realized now - and certain he was going to die. There had been this tension between them for months now, hinging on that point where Edward realized that the scathing emotion he felt toward Mustang trended toward lust and not hatred.
To his credit, Mustang did what he could to discourage Edward's amour. He sent the brothers on long missions away - Edward would come back full of piss and vinegar at the absolute shit-holes Mustang would go out of his way to find for Edward to blast through - and a new favorite was making attendance at various State functions mandatory for Edward. It meant for the first time being required to wear the damn uniform that Edward hated so much - but he turned his ire on the dress blues and didn't miss the look in Mustang's eyes when he cleaned up properly.
Mustang wanted him, and badly.
It was inappropriate. Edward knew and just didn't give a shit - the military could kindly take its policies and keep them the fuck out of his pants. It was pretty convenient for them to turn a blind eye to letting a kid be exposed to the horrors of the military and then come down on who he chose to make his bed with. Not that he had made his bed with anybody at that point, because he hadn't figured out quite how to yet.
So they made eyes at each other, dancing this dance past Edward's sixteenth birthday and as he edged closer to the age of consent. They never touched or acknowledged this mutual attraction - Edward seemed to sense that Mustang hoped he would grow out of it - and this only made the tension deeper.
And then Alphonse made the discovery. The right path, the most esoteric alchemy – it was edging almost into the territory of witchcraft. It was possibility for their salvation, to restore their bodies and erase this sin that had dominated their lives. Edward still remembered the twist in his stomach as he read those words - that this was possible, this wasn't a joke, not another wild goose chase that would get them halfway across the country before culminating in a dead end.
They were going to do this.
Edward was ecstatic. Alphonse thought that they were both going to get their bodies back - Edward knew differently, of course, but would never breath a word to his brother otherwise. He was alive, he could breath and taste and fight and fuck, who gave a shit if he was a crippled, half-metal monstrosity? Alphonse was the center of his world, restoring Alphonse came before everything else.
This alchemy was so archaic, and so dense that there was a possibility that the trade-off for bringing Alphonse back from that precipice would be Edward's own plunge into the darkness. It was a sacrifice he would make in a heartbeat. And knowing how badly everything could spin out of control gave him an edge of desperation.
That day, that morning even before their train could leave (they were not so stupid as to try to conduct this alchemy in a city - Edward would never forgive himself if it rebounded and innocent people got hurt in the aftermath) Edward found Roy getting coffee. Roy could sense what was going on - even before Edward grabbed the lapels of Roy's greatcoat and rose up on his feet to kiss him.
There was a fine gray mist in the air that morning, the sun couldn't be bothered to show its face for them. Edward didn't care, for the first time he was close enough to pick out the flecks of blue in Roy's slate eyes, and the flash of understanding that crossed his features as Edward dropped back down off his toes and took a step back. It was the first time Edward had ever seen Roy blush, a very faint pink tone across the bridge of his nose but Edward had startled him enough that the mask dropped for just an instant - which was nothing considering the heat coming off of Edward's face. He turned and ran for the train station, ignoring Roy's startled shout that followed him.
He couldn't go off to his death without Roy knowing how he felt.
Roy caught up with him at the train station, caught him by his sleeve and Edward hadn't even known Roy was chasing him before he got yanked nearly off his feet. Edward had turned, startled, adrenaline already pumping and ready to fight, right into Roy's arms. Roy tilted Edward's chin up and kissed him so hard Edward lost all sense of everything right there. They had separated only due to lack of oxygen, Edward's eyes wide and surprised and Roy's dark and heavy - and Roy murmured four words against Edward's ear before letting him go. He gave the train platform a critical sweep with his eyes, but it was early enough that no one seemed to pay them any attention. Edward had stood there, ramrod straight, oblivious to everything as Roy turned and left and didn't even look back, until Alphonse touched his shoulder gently and he jerked as if physically struck.
Roy's voice, breathed into his ear, not his office voice but something deeper, huskier, that settled into Edward's gut like no words had before then.
Come back to me.
He would.
Prompt #08 of 25: Magic.