For a few chapter updates now a few of you have been asking as to how I'm doing lately, and thank you for that. I thought I might finally get around to answering what I've been up to. I did move out of the temporary situation that I'd found myself in, the one that was sucking the life out of me and pressing me under a clothes iron day in and day out. I was there for maybe... five months? I was looking for a house to buy and needed a place to stay while I did so. So upside, I bought myself a lovely little home in the middle of nosy-but-helpful neighborhood land and almost instantly I stopped feeling like my mind and spirit were going north and south - gratuitous Big Trouble in Little China reference for all you cool kids = P. I did this... well not quite a year ago, but it took me some time to get back into my headspace.
...and then I might have forgotten to update for a while. I got so into the writing I just kept going, and not updating. I have a lot done, I practically have the story after this almost entirely finished, for Gate's sake. Along with some 400 page Touya/N Pokemon monstrosity that keeps trying to steal my Roy and Ed time -glares at it-.
...and then a pipe in my house might have gone wonky between this update and the last, effectively shunting me off to a hotel while part of my home was demolished and rebuilt.
So thank you, all of you, really. I know that this story is taking an age to finish, I honestly think Frodo and Sam got to Mordor in a better timeframe than I've done at keeping this updated, so for all of you still enjoying the story, thank you for sticking with me.
Chapter Fifty-One
Roy sensed nearly as soon as Maes spoke those words what was about to happen, and whipping around so fast that it sent his sides into a blinding pain he rallied against, he reached out for the ghost. "No, wait!" He pleaded, his pride wasn't so much as to try and pretend it wasn't a plea. Not when it came to Edward.
Edward had already sunk halfway into the bed in an attempt to flee as his nerves shot into panic, but when he saw Roy almost double over from pain he was launching himself back to the man's side. "Roy!"
" 'm okay." Roy grunted out, trying blinking the kaleidoscopes of colors out of his eyes. "Just stay. Please. I knew."
Edward frowned, his question more a noise than a word as he hesitantly settled back onto the bed next to Roy's knees.
Roy sucked in a few breaths, the pain beginning to flicker away slowly, relief filling him in its wake. Though it was a relief hinged on nerves that the ghost still might try and run. "Riza was spotting me almost the entire time. She would have seen what you were doing. It doesn't surprise me that he might have too." And he shot Maes a quick look to see that the man was leaning against the door frame looking amusedly curious before focusing back in on Edward who looked only a little less uncertain. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I thought we'd have more time and I – fuck, what have I done."
"You haven't – " Edward began in confusion.
"I have." Roy interrupted, anger at himself reflecting clearly in his eyes. "You were so willing to accept what I wanted about keeping you a secret that you… you…"
"No!" Edward denied with a panicked urgency, shaking his head rapidly. "I wasn't – I just… I haven't exactly been emotionally stable the past twelve hours! It caught me off guard and I should have told you he knew, and then there was no time!"
Roy rested his head back with a soft curse, though his gaze on Edward was gentle, smiling. "So what I've decided is that this is all Maes's fault?"
It startled a laugh out of Edward, and as Roy joined him in his amusement, he nodded his head acceptingly and with much relief. "Yeah. All his fault."
"Now wait a minute," Maes finally spoke up from the doorway, suddenly crossing over to the bedside, "I didn't see anything but your bedroom light suddenly being on when I was still in the stairwell. That isn't my fault."
"You dare to consider it Edward's fault that he was more worried about me than you?" Roy shot back with glittering amusement in his eyes. "After all, it seems you weren't too concerned if you would notice such little things."
Maes gave him a dirty look before sweeping an assessing eye over his best friend. "You would choose his side over mine in this."
"Love's a funny thing." Roy agreed with a smirk.
"How are you feeling? Did you rip any stitches in that little maneuver you pulled?" Maes queried before directing his gaze to where Roy had been looking. "Sorry, Edward. I should have told you last night that there was the possibility he'd believe I'd noticed you. And speaking of," he looked back to Roy, "Riza did notice something. Obviously. You're going to need to talk to her."
"I'll deal with her when I see her next." Roy muttered, "and I'm fine. As long as Edward's okay I wouldn't care if my stitches ripped."
"Don't be such an idiot." Edward chastised him, but couldn't keep from smiling.
"Uh-huh." Maes deadpanned, before smirking as he began to chuckle and shook his head. "Well I'm glad you're okay. I don't know what or how much Edward has told you, but you should try and be up by tomorrow. Kimblee won't last for long, for whatever reason you have for keeping him alive."
"Don't worry," Roy promised in a threateningly quiet tone, "he'll be dead by tomorrow. It shouldn't take long to get what I want out of him and then he's of no use to me."
"Call your mother too, when you can." Maes didn't bother questioning further about Kimblee, when it came to showdowns between alchemists, he didn't even bother pretending to act as if he'd know what was going on even if he was told. They were a different breed entirely, their minds thinking on a different scientific level. "I told her what happened, that you'd be okay and that Edward was fine."
"She's going to be a handful." Roy grumbled under his breath, but at the same time, he was glad that she'd been informed. But speaking of his mother… "did you get the girls sent off without trouble?"
Maes offered a thin smile and a lopsided shrug, "I managed to wait until they were gone before I broke down. It sucked, you know, waking up without them this morning. But as long as they're safe, that's what matters to me. "
Roy did know, and it only became one of the many reasons he needed to bring all this to an end.
"By the way," Maes gave his best friend a reproachful look, "could you please call Kain off? Whatever he did to bring down the traffic light system hasn't been able to be fixed by anyone yet, and it's a nightmare out there! Last I heard they're thinking about calling in specialists from the other cities."
Roy outright laughed, and smirked rather smugly about it, and in pride at how well Fuery was able to do his job. "Fine." He agreed, and looking over at Edward his prideful smirk melted into a smile. "Do you still have some paper in your drawer?"
Edward nodded and immediately turned to crawl his way over to his bedside table and retrieve his notebook. Flipping it to a blank page he tore it out before passing it and a pen to Roy upon crawling back.
"Thanks." Roy quickly wrote just two words: 'fix it', and initialed the paper before folding it in half and passing it to Maes. "Make sure it gets burned."
"I'm not sure any of us know how to set things on fire ourselves anymore. We've rather begun to rely on you for that." Maes deadpanned, though his eyes twinkled with humor.
"I clearly need to send you all back to basic training." Roy muttered with a roll of his eyes.
Maes snorted at the lame threat, and decided that now was as good a time as any to turn the tables on Roy. "So, want to tell me why you decided to keep Edward a secret from me? I'm your best friend, you were my best man at my wedding, I thought that meant something!"
"Oh don't try and drag your wife into this, or yourself." Roy scowled at him. "It had nothing to do with either of you. I'm a possessive bastard and at first I thought – I wanted to keep Edward all to myself. Then my mother found us out and I've realized that I can't keep him a secret from everyone. I was going to tell you after I dealt with Grand."
"You are a bastard." Maes agreed seriously, but shook his head with a smile. "I'm not sure why he chooses to put up with you, but I find I'm glad for it."
"I chose staying with him over my own brother." Edward whispered quietly, determinedly not looking up from the bedspread when he felt Roy's eyes suddenly on him. "I think it'd take more than him being possessive to make me leave him."
Roy had never truly stopped feeling unworthy of that decision, and his sobered tone was evidence enough of that when he repeated for Maes what Edward had said.
"Hold on a moment," Maes was beginning to frown as suddenly, little pieces of puzzles that had surprised or confused him began to fall towards each other seeking joining with that last bit of knowledge. "What's his last name?"
Roy chuckled, having a sudden idea by the look on Maes's face what conclusion his friend was coming to. "Elric."
"That's why…" Maes trailed off in sudden, wide-eyed understanding as the pieces all snapped together. "That's why you went to Risembool! For him?"
"He doesn't exactly ask for much, Maes." Roy didn't take his eyes off the ghost who still was being overly fascinated by the thread count of his bedding materials. "I wanted him to see his brother again. And I thought I was leaving him behind there, but he came back with me after calling me an idiot more than a few times."
"And that's why you're so angry with Hohenheim!"
"Don't even get me started on him." Roy muttered acerbically, thinking back on how the man had just vanished while he and Edward had been distracted.
"So it wasn't his wife you slept with, you want to sleep with one of his sons." Maes smirked wickedly, even in the face of Roy's glare.
Edward spluttered at the conclusion Maes had drawn, not that it was at all inaccurate. He was under no illusions that if Roy could sleep with him, he would try, given his past manwhoring activities and his current ardor for him. But he wasn't accustomed to it being put so bluntly, especially by someone other than Roy.
"I can't touch him, you moron." Roy growled at him while reaching a calming hand out toward Edward, "stop making him flustered."
The smirk Maes was sporting didn't falter, if anything, it only gained resilience in the face of his best friend's bristling defense of the ghost. "Right, I expect only you want to fluster him."
"Maes, so help me – "
"I've been trying, you pompous cradle robber. What do you call those stitches?"
"Poorly done." Roy quipped back immediately, "and I've not robbed any cradles. He isn't even sure he wants robbing."
Edward burst out laughing despite himself, fisting one hand against his mouth as he tried to stifle his laughter.
Maes unknowingly joined in with his own snickers.
"You both are terrible." Roy decided.
"Yes," Maes agreed happily, "but I swear, Roy, it goes to figure that if you'd fall for anyone, it'd be an Elric."
Edward had managed a slight control over his laughter, but at those words, it died abruptly as he turned a frown onto Roy. "What does he mean by that?"
"Yes, Maes," Roy couldn't help but agree, "do tell us what you mean by that."
"You went and fell for an Elric, and meanwhile the Fuhrer has been hunting Hohenheim for far longer than I care to think about. And it's not just some standard manhunt, I don't know much about alchemy, but I do know that the only reason the Fuhrer would still be so dedicated to the matter is because he wants a weapon. And if you tell me that Hohenheim is the only alchemist technically more powerful than you, than it fits. Yet if I'm right, you've been running about Headquarters with the help of an Elric since we were transferred here."
"He can't do alchemy." Roy felt was necessary to point out. "The only things he's done so far are all those pranks on Grand and helping me with Kimblee. Besides, just because he's an Elric doesn't make him some sort of valuable commodity. I love him, and who his father is has never had any bearing on that."
"Yes, but you can't deny that it's a little ironic that the man whose job you want to kill him for would learn a new level of bloodlust and jealousy where you're concerned if he ever learned who you've been teaming up with." Maes shook his head in amazement and some worry.
"He will never find out about Edward." Roy told him quietly, "and even if he does manage to catch Hohenheim, he'd never succeed in using the man. He doesn't have the power to force Hohenheim to do anything."
"Wait, what?" Edward's head suddenly shot up, sudden fear on his face as a panicked thought gripped at his chest as he mulled over their words. " But Alphonse – !"
"Alphonse is safe." Roy cut in quickly, before Edward's panic could double in on itself, his attention whipping back to the ghost. "Don't you worry about him, between what I did to erase the chance of his name showing up anywhere official, and what I imagine he's capable of himself, he's safe."
Edward's panic hadn't entirely faded, it lurked there yet underneath the confusion that had come over him. "I don't understand… what did you do?"
"What did you do?" Maes unknowingly echoed Edward's question with a frown.
Roy had actually hoped that it would be far longer before any of this came to light, but if it meant reassuring Edward, he'd admit what he'd done. "I called in a favor from one of my dad's old friends. He works in finances now. I got him to pull strings to allow Alphonse to sell the family house, and when Alphonse found a new place he might have misplaced their copy of the purchase documents to be kept on file. They're sitting in one of my safes. And I wouldn't worry too much about him being found, he bought a place in the same town that teacher of yours who hates State Alchemists lives in."
Maes was staring at his best friend in amazement, and approval.
Yet it was Edward that Roy was watching carefully.
"You…" Edward couldn't seem to stop staring at him, utterly stunned and confused and left feeling as if anything he might say was grossly inadequate next to what he'd just learned.
"Oh," Roy began again, suddenly reminded that perhaps he should divulge everything, "and I might have been the one who bought the house from him, though he doesn't know."
"What?" Edward choked the word out.
"I want your brother to be happy too, Edward." Roy answered, reaching out to lay his hand through the ghost's knee. "And he wasn't happy there. You may not get that pony before I'm Fuhrer and can afford it again, but at least he can move on and he'll be safer for it."
"Forget about the pony, you idiot." Edward whispered thickly, and gave a choked laugh and shook his head in amazement. "You… why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I thought you'd be mad at me for interfering, and when it wasn't that, I just kind of forgot in between everything else." Roy admitted with a faintly apologetic grimace.
"You forgot to tell me you bought my old house so my brother could go live in peace? That you're trying to keep him safe?" Edward buried his face in one hand with a stunned laugh.
"And I thought you'd be mad." Roy reminded him weakly.
Edward's laughter stopped, and he looked up to pin Roy with an indulgent, understanding look. "I traded my life for my brother's. I'll never regret that, or anything that comes as a result of it. You gave him something I couldn't… I can't be mad at you for that."
"Wait," Maes suddenly spoke up, having been thinking about all of it still while he absently listened to one side of the conversation Roy was seemingly having with Edward. "Bit late to maybe be realizing this, but didn't Edward die as a kid? Please tell me he doesn't look like a kid." And he shot a suspicious look at his friend.
That startled both of them out of the affectionate gazing they'd found themselves in.
"No. He still ages, so it seems." Roy answered, giving a slight shrug despite the reproachful glare he'd shot his best friend. "He doesn't know how or why, and I haven't the faintest idea either. But he's," he looked back to Edward with a slight frown of query, "didn't you say you'd be eighteen if you hadn't died?"
"Yeah." Edward agreed with a slight shrug.
"Yeah." Roy echoed to finish his answer, turning back to Maes. "Death really doesn't stop him in much of anything."
Maes found himself smiling as he considered his best friend with wonderment he did try his best to conceal, couldn't have him getting an even bigger ego. "Didn't really stop you either, did it."
"I tried not to love him, but I only ended up hurting him." It had been a messy night, in so many ways, and he'd hurt Edward only to later end up frightening him. It wasn't his proudest moment.
"Oh?" Maes leaned forward in curiosity.
Roy glared at him immediately, "that's between he and I and you'll keep your nose out of it."
Maes chuckled and leaned away while holding his hands up in surrender. For now. "I should leave you two alone now anyway. It's going to take me a fair bit to get to Headquarters so I can have Fuery fix the mess you had him cause. Riza was planning on telling everyone you came down with violent food poisoning yesterday at lunch and you can't get free of the toilet yet."
"Wonderful." Roy muttered dryly, and as his friend moved off the bed he held up a hand to stall him. "Thanks, by the way."
"You'd have rescued my ass out of there too." Maes grinned at him knowingly. "Besides, do you know how long it would take for me to hold proper interviews for a new best friend? I don't have that sort of free time any longer!"
"Oh, shut up!" Roy shot him a dirty look.
Maes smirked and then glanced over to where he assumed Edward still was. "Bye, Edward. Take care of him and I'm sure I'll be meeting you again once he's back to work."
"Doubtless." Edward smiled before quickly turning to Roy, "thank him for me? Please? For patching you up?"
Roy smiled and did so, and after Maes pretended to be blushing, his best friend was strolling out of his house and the front door slammed behind him.
Roy breathed out a heavy breath now that Maes was gone, "he can really exhaust a guy in my condition."
"I think it wouldn't have been nearly as exhausting if you'd not had to speak to him about me for the first time." Edward pointed out and floated off the bed to refill Roy's water glass again – it had run dry during Maes's visit – and passed it back to him. "Drink more. Do I need to get you food?"
"Maybe a little." Roy suggested in between sips of water.
Edward narrowed his eyes at him, "try again, Mustang."
"Find the biggest soup bowl I have?" Roy offered out tentatively, though his smile was wholly amused.
"Better." Edward nodded shortly in approval and immediately dropped down through the floor to float through the walls separating him from the kitchen.
Within minutes he had the soup reheating and found a tray, bowl, and spoon. While the soup reheated he went and found that Hazel was in half inside one of the cracker boxes in the pantry, and deciding that wasn't so bad, Edward left him to it. Besides, he didn't want the soup to burn, Roy could stand losing a box of crackers as a sacrifice to properly heated soup.
Edward arrived back upstairs with the soup and settling the tray carefully onto Roy's thighs he took the water glass from his hands. "Eat every bit of it, or remember I'll be mad."
Roy remembered, and he smiled as he picked up a spoon.
Edward settled back onto the bed as Roy ate, smiling as he watched the content expression on his face. He knew it was good, it wasn't the first time he'd cooked, with or without the man. "My mother used to make me soup when I didn't feel well." He murmured as he found himself curling up on his side with his head propped up on one hand next to Roy's knees as he watched over him.
Roy was smiling around his next spoonful, thinking on how similar all mothers were in that light. "Mine always added just a touch of whiskey to it after it was cooked so all the alcohol wouldn't burn off. I was fussy as a child, when I was sick. She told me it was the only way to get me to sleep."
Edward found himself chuckling quietly at the story, finding it utterly believable of the both of them. "I was able to talk to her, sort of, on the phone." And at Roy's surprised look, he smiled. "One button push for yes, two for no. She mostly wanted to be sure I was okay."
"I'm guessing you lied." Roy surmised as he considered the ghost lying at his side.
Edward's smile was strained, "yeah. I mean, I wasn't hurt; and that's really what she was asking."
Roy nodded absently around another spoonful, as relieved as ever that Edward hadn't been hurt. Couldn't be hurt by alchemy. Yet the most determined he'd ever been to see himself recovered so that the fear that yet lingered in the back of Edward's eyes in moments like this might be erased.
It was with no small amount of pride that Roy finished all the soup he'd been brought, and while it definitely had been too much, he'd have eaten another bowl just to put Edward's mind at ease. Luckily the ghost was satisfied with what he'd already managed.
Edward watched as Roy set the tray aside, but it was when he began to shift his legs to the edge of the bed that he suddenly popped up. "Where are you going?"
"Bathroom." Roy explained, "I think I'm good to try now."
Edward swallowed down an unhappy noise, knowing that Roy wouldn't try unless he thought he could do it. He was fairly certain that Roy feared making him panic over any embarrassment he might gain in asking Edward to fetch him a bucket or something. All the same it left him with a surge of bitterness that he couldn't do anything to help Roy get to the bathroom.
Roy had managed a successful testing of half his weight, still not quite having left the bed, and taking it as a good sign he eased himself to his feet.
The blood suddenly rushing to his feet and back up again made him dizzy a brief moment, but he managed to keep his reaction to only a wobble. And considering the state of him, wobbling was to be expected anyway.
"Haven't felt like this since the war." Roy groaned and carefully took his first step.
Edward watched him raptly, even going so far as to hover up off the bed and trail after him as the man progressed slowly, but with admirable steadiness, towards the bathroom. "He was that bad during the war, then?"
Each step had gotten easier, and he'd reached the bathroom entry when Edward's question came. It filled his mind, taking it to a dark place where blood, fire, and terrified screams filled howling air. Yet it was the flicker of silvery light reflecting in his bathroom mirror that pulled him free again, before the memories could take a truer hold. And he focused on Edward's reflection, gripped tightly to it. "Worse. Yesterday he just wanted to kill me. Back then, he wanted to kill many. But he isn't what I meant. War in general made me feel like I'd been blindsided by a tank."
Edward didn't say anything, watched carefully and with concern as Roy carefully made his way into the bathroom before staying where he was at the entry, facing away to give him the illusion of privacy.
Roy had just finished carefully stepping his way over to the toilet when he realized something he really should have sooner, and a special sort of panic began creeping along his spine. "I'm naked."
Edward couldn't help it, an actual giggle escaped him, and he fisted a hand against his mouth to try and stifle the joyous noise. "Been naked since Maes had to slice your clothes off in front of me." He offered out delightedly.
Roy swore, and while he knew it made complete logical sense, he didn't have to like it. But he was beginning to remember now… being annoyed about losing his clothes and Edward hushing him for it, and shortly after another memory surfaced with sudden, heart-pounding clarity: "Edward… the water was cold."
Edward didn't even try to stifle his giggles at that, finding himself nearly bent double as he clutched at his sides in fresh, howling laughter.
Roy might have been offended any other time, any other day, but not today. Not when after having seen such fear and worry in Edward's eyes, his smiles sometimes a little too tight, that now the ghost was laughing with such unbridled delight and joy. Instead, he found a smile flickering to life, and he shook his head fondly as he turned to relieve his bladder while Edward continued to laugh in the doorway.
Edward was only just beginning to get control of his laughter when Roy stepped over to wash his hands, and he shot the man a fond look in the mirror. "I was a bit too worried about you to really spend time looking. This is actually the longest I've spent looking at you naked, and I'm realizing that you must not be able to suntan, because your ass is as pale as your face."
Roy rolled his eyes and turned around in search of a hand towel, and if Edward's eyes lingered a moment longer than he might have expected before shooting away with a flustered laugh, he could only smirk. "I'm pale everywhere." He agreed with a wicked gleam in his eyes as he dried his hands.
"So I see." Edward replied thickly, weakly.
Roy snickered, but as much as he was finding that he was rather enjoying Edward finally being flustered over this, he knew he shouldn't press his luck. If Edward was getting flustered, it meant he was relaxing again at last, and he didn't want to push it too far and have that flustered relaxation turn into something defensive. "Want to get me something to wear?"
Edward watched as Roy shuffled past him, and swallowed hard on reflex as his gaze traveled down the slope of Roy's back and lower still. "Not particularly." He found himself saying in a voice a little higher than he'd have liked, right before he slapped a hand to his mouth with wide eyes as he realized what he'd just said. "I just – I mean – I – "
"No, no!" Roy was beginning to laugh through the wide grin that had split his face, and while it hurt his stitches a bit, he didn't care. Not when as he carefully half-turned back to Edward he could see the ghost practically oozing through the wall in mortification. "Honesty is fine."
"Fuck." Edward muttered into his hand, and twisted it to bite at his knuckles as he sank down to sit on the floor, darting a look equal parts nervous and curious Roy's way. "It just doesn't bother me, that's all!"
Roy smirked at him wickedly, "and is that why you're all flustered?"
Edward tried for a glare as he pointed his other hand towards the bed in a sharp motion. "Bed, Roy. Now!"
Roy managed to smother the suggestions and appreciations that immediately tried to leap off his tongue at the order, forcing himself to settle for a lewd smirk Edward's way before turning about to shuffle off as instructed. "Probably safest this way anyway, my legs still feel weaker than I'd like. I think if I tried to put anything on I'd fall on my face." He offered out as an olive branch, hoping to snare Edward back to the bed with him with logical reasons the ghost could cling to as explanations for not minding him naked.
"A few scars might improve it." Edward muttered grouchily, and met the dirty look that Roy tossed over his shoulder with a surly expression.
Roy tried to keep from smiling at the defensive bristling emanating from the ghost's direction, and found that getting back into bed without ripping any of his stitches proved to be the best method for that. By the time he was sitting in it once more and had drawn the blanket back over him, a thin sheen of sweat had broken out at the back of his neck and on his forehead. Only once he was sitting once more did he realize how taxing just that short walk to the bathroom and back had actually been for his recovering body.
Edward had kept a close eye on him, and a lopsided smile tugged at his lips as he watched Roy blink several more times in succession than normal and look about him distractedly. Shaking his head fondly he pushed his remaining embarrassment to the background and floated over to perch on the foot of the bed and pat one hand onto it several times. "Scoot down so you can lay back again."
Roy knew better than to argue with Edward on anything right now, and if he were being entirely honest with himself, his body was moving to obey long before his brain caught up. Instinct was strong, and it knew Edward had a good idea.
"Looks like you're about to fall asleep again at a moment's notice." Edward smiled amusedly as he floated up to snag his own pillow and give it several patting fluffs before gesturing at Roy's head.
Roy lifted it without question, and more than a little surprised warmth as Edward swapped the two pillows. This time when he lay his head back the pillow was cool against his skin, and far more fluffy than before. "I think I can make it a bit longer." He disagreed, his expression twisting apologetically. "But I'll likely sleep most of the day and night."
"As long as you recover, I don't care if you sleep." It was nearly a scold, and Edward gave him a smile to try and gentle the words. "In fact I'd prefer it. I need you better."
"I'm just worried about what sort of trouble you'll get yourself into." Roy grinned teasingly, and just a bit tiredly.
Edward snorted and shifted about so that he could lay down facing Roy, propping himself up on Roy's former pillow. "Worry about Hazel, not me. Last I saw him he was relieving you of a surplus of crackers."
"That little menace has been robbing me blind since I first took pity on him." Roy muttered, yet not at all resentful about the fact.
Edward smiled at the reluctant fondness that shadowed Roy's features, and curling his fingers into the blanket he lay atop he tried to muster aside his hesitance even as he began to speak. "I never got the chance to tell you before… but thank you." And as Roy turned a confused frown his way, he continued. "For what you did for Alphonse. Thank you."
Roy actually, horrifically, felt himself beginning to blush at the gratitude, "you died to save his life. The least I could do is try to ensure he isn't forced to waste the sacrifice you made."
"Even so," Edward pressed fondly, "thank you."
Roy gave his complexion up as a lost cause, as well as the giddy pleasure that had filled him. It had been expensive, but it had been entirely worth it. Especially to now be able to see how happy he'd made Edward. Granted, when he'd done it he hadn't realized he loved the ghost, but even so… "you're welcome."
"Will you ever tell him?" Edward asked with a growing frown.
"Only if you decide you want me to." Roy answered with a slight yawn. "I can't imagine telling him without also coming clean about why I stopped by for a visit. And that means I'd be telling him that you still exist on some level."
Edward let out a noise heavy in regret, his eyes falling closed. "He buried me. He's trying to move on. And I don't know if it's the right choice, but I want to let him do that thinking I'm still gone from this world. I can't cause him any more pain."
"In that case, it will remain our secret." Roy agreed, then added with a slight roll of his eyes. "And Maes's."
"What were you going to do with the house?" Edward pressed then, his eyes flickering open once more.
"Nothing," Roy attempted to shrug, and then realized quite soon that was a bad, painful idea. "Unless you want me to do something with it."
Edward turned to lay flat on his back, his silver eyes hardening with a turmoil of emotion as he stared up at the ceiling. "Had you asked me weeks ago, I'd have told you to burn the thing to the ground."
Roy waited for nearly a minute, watching Edward's profile closely, before deciding that the ghost had nothing left to say on the matter at the moment. "Then it will stay as it is indefinitely, unless you make a decision otherwise."
"I think, for now, there's too much else, too much that's more important to me, that I need to and want to think about," Edward whispered softly. "That old relic can stay in the past for a time longer. I just wish I knew what my mom would say to do… she'd know what was right."
"Perhaps mine can be of some assistance in the future." Roy offered hesitantly, unsure really how his offer would be taken.
Edward found himself smiling faintly at first, and then a chuckle grew in his chest and caught in his throat as he turned his head to blink Roy into view. "I think our moms would have gotten along brilliantly. I know you never met mine, but…" the chuckle finally escaped, and if it was a bit choked sounding it wasn't commented on, "I can just imagine the both of them conspiring against us as a team. She would have adored you, you know."
"After informing me that if I ever broke your heart she'd kill me, I'm sure." Roy pointed out with a quirk of a smile.
Edward's expression went considering, thoughtful as he let his gaze rest on the man laid out injured on the bed beside him, a faint smile on his lips. "You shouldn't say things like that when you're like this."
"No?" Roy queried back in an attempt at being suave, but that was mangled by the wide and uncontrollable yawn that attacked him instead.
"No." Edward agreed with a bit of a laugh, his eyes glittering with a merry fondness. "I'm a bit vulnerable right now, Roy."
"Vulnerable?" Roy echoed teasingly as Edward smiled, "I'm the one who's still naked here."
Edward smirked at the reminder, "I've noticed. But let's be honest with each other, Roy, you are more than comfortable being naked given all your past manwhoring."
"Well I never loved any of them." Roy felt was important to point out, and did rather firmly before falling victim to another yawn.
"You have nothing to feel vulnerable about." Edward reassured him with a humored smile, before adding with a wicked gleam in his eyes, "cold water or not," and proceeded to avidly enjoy Roy's horrified spluttering.
Roy was beginning to understand that Edward would never let him forget about that, or any of it really. His only relief was in knowing that Edward wouldn't lie to him about such a thing, the ghost had no qualms about attempting to take his ego down notches.
"Me on the other hand?" Edward let his eyes fall closed. "I could have lost you yesterday. And until you're yourself again I don't think I'll be okay."
"I understand." And Roy did, he truly did. "All right, I can't believe I'm even saying this, but I'm giving you a pass until tomorrow. Today, even if you tell me that you're madly in love with me, I'm not going to believe you."
Edward burst out laughing before he could help it, and his eyes opened as he shifted into a seated position on the bed, shaking his head as he looked down at the equally amused man.
"I won't have your fear of losing me making your choices for you."
Edward's head fell to the side with a soft smile as he considered this man, this wonderfully ridiculous man. "Get some sleep, Roy."
Roy's answering smile didn't fade at the gentle order, if anything it only grew momentarily. Any other day he likely would have continued to push through the exhaustion trying to pull him back under, but he knew how badly he needed to rest and recover. Not just for himself, but for Edward too. So he obediently burrowed himself deeper into their bed just as another yawn escaped him.
"Realizing I love you, or not, won't be a choice." Edward continued as he reached out to readjust the blanket over Roy so that he'd not risk chilling. "It will just be."
"Such a romantic." Roy smiled blearily, already letting the exhaustion pull him closer towards sleep. "Always found that endearing."
Edward smiled, but said nothing as he watched Roy's eyes drift closed and soon the man's face was smoothing out in sleep. Giving the blanket one last adjustment he sat back on his heels and looked out the window in quiet contemplation. There were still things he needed to take care of today, but for the moment he just wanted to exist here in this peace with the one who loved him.