Roy didn't change his behavior after his little revelation that night, choosing instead to pretend it never happened, and that his suddenly realized feeling of attraction didn't exist.

How could he do anything else? Edward was half his age, and not to mention in a very, very fragile situation at the moment.

Or in reality, he tried not to change, and it was painful the way he went through the motions, trying to feign an easy feeling of a growing friendship with Edward.

Normally he was so good at this, pretending to be something he isn't, but never before had he really been in this situation.

So he came off as awkward and distant, and Ed picked up on it almost immediately.

As for an explanation, though, Edward had none. Not a concrete one, at least. Maybe he was tired, maybe work was just really rough, or maybe the trial was going in the wrong direction.

But Edward would find out just a few short days later, only five more until it was time for Al to come home.

It happened shortly after one in the morning, Edward waking with a scream on the couch, jolting upright so quickly that he slipped off of his temporary bed, landing with a thud on the ground and wincing at the hardwood floor squishing his tail up against him. Ed turned to his side, leaning on the couch as he began to tremble as his panic attack began to grow.

That damned dream.

"Ed!" Roy was half-asleep and practically running down the stairs, dressed only in a oversized tee and a pair of boxers, along with a single glove on his hand, ready to snap and ignite any home intruders.

When he found none, he let his hand drop, and brought his ungloved hand up to wipe at his eyes. "Edward?" He asked as he turned, but before he even asked his question he got his answer as he saw Ed huddled on the ground, trembling like a leaf, staring up at Roy with tears prickling in the corners of his eyes and his one hand holding tightly to his shoulder.

Slowly, Roy came closer, stooping down to scoop Ed up into his arms and to sit them both down onto the couch. Without a word, Edward pressed his face into Roy's chest and let his tears begin to fall.

"What did you dream about?" Roy asked, tightening his hold on the boy who sat in his lap, trying to hold in sobs of terror. "Was is the transmutation? Or was it-"

"He cut off my automail ports." The words were slurred together through the tears and choking sounds. "He took a saw, and cut them off." Edward's tail tip was buzzing, vibrating against the couch cushions, making a sound Roy knew was meant to be a warning, but he held tight to Ed anyway.

But what Ed said… It explained why he was holding on to his shoulder.

But the thought of a saw cutting through Edward's flesh, not stopping even as it hit bone, as it hit the metal of the automail inside him, the metal that read the nerves and sent reading from the mind to the prosthetic… Roy felt sick, very sick.

"I was awake." Ed continued on, moving his hand from his shoulder to bunch in Roy's shirt, "I felt every notch in that saw, and even when it would get caught," Edward shivered at the memory, "he just kept going! I was screaming, and I thought the pain would kill me, I thought I would have a heart attack, or something, but I didn't even go unconscious. I kept waiting, and waiting for that to happen but-"

Ed shook his head, but felt himself calming down as he was held. The warmth of the grip kept him from slipping right back into that filthy basement, and the hand that was now running through his hair calmed the attack, and soon enough the tight fear in Ed's chest started to ebb away.

Roy continued to stroke Ed's hair, while his other arm held him close as he cried. Roy was shushing him, muttering calming words as he cried.

He knew all too well what it was like, waking from a painful memory.

But maybe, not one of this level of physical pain.

"Eustace is dead, isn't he? He's really dead?" Ed asked, "I'm always scared now, when I'm alone. I'm afraid he's going to come back for me, and I can't fight back. I can't fight back, not without my arm and leg, not now."

"He's dead, Edward. He's dead and he's buried. His grave is at a small cemetery across town. We can go there, if you'd like, so you can see."

Ed shook his head. "No, I don't want to."

"Then we don't have to." Roy told him, bringing Ed in closer and resting his chin on Ed's head. "We don't have to go anywhere you don't want to. Edward's skin was cold against Roy's own, and the fire in the grate had gone out long ago, leaving only embers left to glow dimly in the ash.

Edward didn't say anything more as he pulled his head back, tilting it up so he could look Roy in the eye.

He was still trembling, just a bit, but the tears that trailed down his cheeks were silent now, and his voice was much stronger, much clearer as he asked the question he had wanted to for days now.

"Ever since the day at the park, you've been avoiding me. You give me my medicine and you make breakfast, but you don't talk to me anymore."

Roy still had a hand on the back of Ed's head, and the other had moved from Ed's back to his hip.

Would it be best to tell the truth?

"I've known you for years now, Edward." Roy began, looking him in the eye, their heads a mere foot away from each other, "and I don't know how long this has been, a month, a year, longer or if it was just that day, but that day at the park, it felt like I was on a date with you."

Ed said nothing, but looked straight on, his eyes locked onto Roy's.

"That wasn't too odd, it was something a couple might do, go to the park, and have lunch, but when we came back, I, I realized that I had wanted it to be a date. I don't know what they are, but I have some kind of feelings for you, and I don't know where they've come from or how they're going to grow."

Roy waited, somewhat terrified as Ed blinked slowly at him, then sighed, leaning in to press his lips, his attmitedly cold, scaley lips against Roy's, who hugged Ed tighter once more, about to take the kiss further when Edward pulled back.

"Stay down here with me?" Ed asked, "I don't want to be alone."

Roy only smiled, and lay down with Ed, covering the both of them with the blanket as he continued to stroke his hand through Edward's hair.