This fic contains some intimate breast suckling, but no actual sex or overtly sexual actions! (Even though there are some implications of awkward boners and other awkward feelings.) Even the breast suckling itself is meant to be written as a comforting, intimate experience between two close friends, something similar to adult nursing. If that sort of thing weirds you out, then this may not be the fic for you.

There are some minor spoilers for Ringabel's past as well as events past chapter 4. Proceed with caution!

They were friends, Edea had thought. Friends... but now they were really something more.

She would have to be blind not to see the crush that Ringabel harbored over her, and stupid not to see how insecure he really was over it. They had been travelling for so long that she now felt comfortable with him, and she had hoped he would get over that crush and be comfortable with her, but she supposed that was too much to ask for. As they hopped from the fourth world into the fifth, Ringabel's nervousness near her only increased, to the point she didn't know whether she wanted to throttle him or force-feed him a remedy to make him calm down.

But he was her close friend, even if he held the ridiculous notion of someday being something a little more, and she wouldn't sit blindly by while her friend suffered. His memories had returned, bit by little bit, and while she knew the basics behind it - his past, his real identity, his trauma that had led to his amnesia- there was still more she knew he was deliberating hiding from her. And while it was tempting to try and blackmail it out of him, that was the last thing on her mind when he passed out in front of her late one night, slumping over the wheel of the Grandship and causing the ship to pitch dangerously to the side. She just barely managed to grab the railing, but their coffee mugs were lost.

"Ringabel!" she cried, and pulled him off the steering wheel. He was left unceremoniously on the floor as she grabbed the wheel and tried to steady them, using every last bit of the knowledge she'd gleaned from the late night talks with Ringabel when he'd given her pointers now and then, just in case - just in case something like this happened, she thought, her mind racing, heart pounding.

To her great relief, Grandship wasn't as hard to steer as she had feared, but she moored them down for the night, and turned her attention to the man sprawled on the floor. He was so quiet and unmoving, his chest heaving raggedly as he breathed, beads of sweat on his forehead.

"Ringabel?" she asked, kneeling beside him and resting her hand on his forehead. He didn't seem any hotter than usual, nor any paler, but… as Edea looked closer, she realized that the tone of his face was unnaturally even, unnaturally dark. She licked her thumb and rubbed at his cheek, then made a face - the idiot had been wearing makeup to hide the pallor of his face, and probably any circles under his eyes.

Great. She was all alone with an unconscious man in the middle of the night. If anyone was woken by the ship suddenly pitching, they had yet to join them in the bridge. She paced over his prone body, thinking over her options. Leaving him there until morning seemed too cruel - if he had passed out, then he likely needed rest, good rest. She could try to carry him, never mind the fact that he was a foot taller and much heavier, down to the little couch that had been shoved in a corner for Ringabel's naps. She could also go fetch help and have Datz or Tiz carry him to the couch or even better, to a bed. Or…

They kept the asterisks in the inn, but there was always Treat, she thought. Maybe if she healed him enough he'd wake up and he could drag himself to bed with her help.

Treat was applied, not once but twice, and only then did the man stir, his pale eyelashes fluttering. He stayed quiet for some moments, staring blankly at the ceiling in confusion as though he couldn't understand where the view outside the window of Grandship had gone, before he finally glanced her way.

"Good morning," she told him, feeling a little less annoyed now that he was awake.

In response, he grunted and tried to sit up, a flush visible even under his makeup. "Please, don't tell me I…"

"You totally swooned," she said with a slight laugh, moving toward his side and wrapping an arm around his back. He looked like he needed the support, even though she felt him tense as her side pressed against his. "Feeling better?"

"A bit," he admitted breathlessly, though he lifted a hand to his face, holding it for a moment to steady himself. "The ship, is she-"

"She's fine," she reassured him, and together they stood, Edea supporting him more than she felt sure he'd be comfortable with. He'd have to deal with it, she wasn't going to drag his unconscious body around, because she'd have to deal with him whining about his hair later.

"Thank you," he said with a soft groan as he settled onto the couch after they managed slowly down the stairs. "Thank you, I—"

"You're an idiot," Edea told with a frown, now that he was safe. He frowned back, and she stood her ground, hands on her hips as she stared down at him. "What would have happened if I weren't here to take the wheel?"

He did not reply, looking down at his hands and squeezing them into fists. They were trembling.

She continued. "Are you feeling sick? Tired? You need to let us know. That was dangerous, Ringabel! You could have been hurt. We all could have been hurt." Had she not been there, Grandship might have crashed if the auto-pilot hadn't picked up the lack of an actual breathing pilot.

"I'm sorry. Forgive me," he said quietly, and his tone of voice was so quiet, so low, that for a moment she was confused on exactly which blond man she was speaking to, who replied, and he sounded so pathetic that she didn't have the heart to pick on him anymore, deserved or not. With an annoyed huff, she threw herself onto the couch beside him and grabbed him by the side before he could turn away.

Ringabel was apparently ticklish, and he squirmed as he faced her, his face red as she pulled him even closer until it was only the arm that was draped on the back of the couch that kept him up and away from her. Oh, she liked teasing him, but he was warm and it seemed like he needed the closeness of another person. A hug. Even a cuddle. She could spare him that for now. Edea picked up the worn blanket that was folded over one of the arms of the couch and draped it over him.

"You can nap, now," she told him with a wide smile, and patted her shoulder. Ringabel made an interesting, strangled noise as he flushed as red as a tomato, but he didn't yet pull away, his eyes darting between her face and her shoulder. "You need to rest," Edea continued, her tone serious, but gentle. "I know you have trouble sleeping, but you need to try and sleep. This'll help, won't it?" Because sometimes, when they were all tired, they just took naps together. When Ringabel had a headache, or Agnes was tired after awakening a crystal, they'd curl up in little piles together, two or three, or even all four of them, and she knew how much deeper all of them slept when they weren't alone. She'd even slept with Ringabel twice before, when she'd found him fighting both tears and sleep in the middle of the night, after she had grown to trust him to keep his hands to himself. He was fairly cuddly, surprisingly.

"I can't," he mumbled, and she could feel the distance between them growing as he finally fully sat up. "I'll keep an eye on the ship and - ah!"

Perhaps pulling on his hair was a little mean, but she yanked him forward until he faceplanted against her chest, grimacing slightly when his chin connected with her sternum. He flailed, arms wheeling for purchase so he could pull away, but Edea was the stronger of the two, and he settled against her after a moment of futile squirming, turning his face away and out of the fabric of her nightgown.

"Just… be a good boy and sleep?" Edea implored, and her hand went from yanking at a fistful of blond hair to running her fingers against his scalp instead. He let out a breath that seemed he'd been holding for some time, and relaxed against her, gradually going more and more boneless as she caressed him.

They shifted, now and then, both of them getting comfortable on the couch. Edea was so much smaller than he, but if she opened her legs slightly and let him settle between them, he could curl his legs enough so that his feet could hang comfortably off the side of the couch. His arms were tucked between them, and slowly he wound them around her waist instead, breathing out a little laugh against her chest at the jump she made when his hand brushed against her ticklish side.

"Thank you," he said after some time, once her hand had stopped carding through his hair and had settled against his shoulder. She shuddered slightly as his breath ghosted over a nipple.

"You're… welcome," she replied, her eyes beginning to slip shut. It was going to be awkward if the others found them like this in the morning, but she already knew that if she mentioned Ringabel's fainting spell to them, they'd forget in favor of scolding him for his carelessness. Ah, blackmail was the best.

Ringabel nuzzled in a little closer, one of his hands lifting to pull the blanket over his shoulder. Edea shifted a little more, rolling over so that most of his weight was on the couch instead of her chest - he was about 75 pounds heavier, after all, she had her limits - and Ringabel moued softly, whining. He squeezed her waist.

"Oh, you big baby," she laughed, and went back to stroking his hair to get him to settle.

In response, he whined again, and he kissed at the breast that his lips were so close to, as if by instinct.

Both of them froze, Edea's fingers tightening in his hair, and Ringabel's body going so quiet and still she thought a moment that he'd passed out again. For a moment, neither of them seemed to breath, until Edea forced herself to relax, for his sake.

"Big baby," she repeated, and she wished he wasn't settled between her legs because now, she wanted to press her thighs together. That touch, light and innocent as it had been, had sparked something in her, a something that was really kind of distracting. She squeezed her legs against his hips, not thinking.

That got him moving. Ringabel made a choked noise, and she could feel him pressing against the couch as he made to pull away. She groaned; he was being weird again. "Stop, stop. It's okay," she tried to soothe him, like one might soothe a puppy who knew he'd been naughty and was afraid of being hit with a slipper. Edea wouldn't beat an animal. She wouldn't beat Ringabel either, not for a movement that seemed instinctual.

"I'm sorry," he said, and his face was burning red as he looked up at her, biting at his lip. "I simply—"

"I said it's okay," she groused, and she made to cradle the back of his head, running her nails across the nape of his neck, just the way he liked it. Oof, but this was a little awkward. Edea tugged him back toward her. He needed the rest.

He settled down against her again, a bit more hesitantly, and she wrapped her arm around his shoulder.

All was quiet for a few moments, before he spoke. "Thank you. For this, for everything." His face was turned back slightly into her chest, his ear above her heartbeat. And resting on a breast, she thought, running her fingers down his cheek. He must be desperate for comfort if he's not resisting very much.

"It's no problem. You'd do the same for me, I know," she said quietly, knowing that he would be able to hear the rumble of her words along with her heartbeat, and knowing from experience that her words were true.

He melted a little more against her, like a cat. "I would do anything for you," he breathed, so quiet she almost didn't hear it, and she felt him mouth at her chest again. Definitely like a kitten kneading at its owner for pettings, the big goof. It gave her an idea.

She shifted under him again, just enough to bring him closer to her. Her own cheeks were feeling a little warm at this thought, but well - Ringabel was a big baby right now. A tired, lonely man who needed comfort and love, in whatever form he could take, whatever form she could give him. And he was her friend. Maybe. Something more. All of them had really, truly moved past friends and into territory where comforting each other was as natural as breathing. Edea had an idea what might work for him now, something that he might like. To comfort him.

He was tensing again, his muscles stiff as he tried to figure out what she was doing, what she was going to let him do. Carefully, she wiggled one of her hands between them, and with two fingers, slipped the edge of her nightgown down her chest and off one nipple, very close to his open, trembling lips.

Heat sparked inside of her when he took the silent invitation and latched on, but his touch was - it was tentative and restrained, and his hands tucked back under her form so that he could hold her as his mouth worked. She resumed stroking his hair while he suckled at her breast, the two of them falling into an easy, comfortable rhythm. Despite her flushed face, and how odd this might have looked to any outsider, she was smiling softly as she watched him, his messy blond hair splayed out against her own pale skin before she tucked it behind his ear. At least his mouth was busy, and he couldn't make any remarks on her size, right? Though she doubted he would anyway. He... was like that.

There was really nothing sexual in either the touch of his hands or his lips as he pressed himself closer, a noise muffled by the mouthful of flesh he had. Still, she wasn't immune to how intimate it was… she could feel her stomach growing hotter as he continued, his tongue lapping her stiffened nipple as he sucked on her. There was no movement between them, just this.

After some time, her legs squeezed him again and he slowed, then stopped, pulling away from her with a soft noise and looking up at her face. His was as red as hers felt, his lips wet and slightly swollen. She smiled at him all the same, and that smile only widened as he gently tugged her nightgown back up to cover her. The sad, broken man.

"Do you really feel better now?"

"Yes, I - yes. Very much so," he nodded, cheeks and ears flushing even more, and he tucked his face back down against her, snuggling in. Her nipple was wet, stiff through the fabric and he rubbed his nose against it. When he shifted, she noticed he hadn't been as unaffected by the intimacy as she thought, but he seemed to be ignoring it in favor of rest. It was touching, yet she also felt a little indignant.

"Mm, good," she murmured even so, and tucked a few errant strands behind his ear. "Get some sleep now, really." It was perhaps, easier said than done, but the two of them lay there for some time, listening to each other breathe. Only once she was certain that he was asleep, judging by the soft snores that were slightly muffled by her nightgown, did she fully relax. Ringabel was a warm, solid weight, and despite the differences in their size, she felt safe around him. Satisfied, even. That was the only explanation for why she'd let him touch her so intimately, because he'd never push it further without her express permission.

Silly boy, she thought, as she let her eyes slip shut so that she could follow him into dreams. You'll never get what you want if you don't try.