Okay, so not quite a week later, more like three I think, but I got it out! I ended up having some issues at the farm and long story short, those never bode well to allowing me time to write.
Also a big, heartfelt thank you, to everyone who has either sent me a comment, or a private message on here. I am not sure I can properly express just how much they've helped me to read and see, as well as getting to know some of you who have reached out. I honestly wasn't expecting more than a few "you're alive?" messages, so to have gotten so much more than that has made my day each time another came in. So thank you. You've made a rough month more bearable.
Chapter Sixty-Two
"Those are the weirdest scissors I've ever seen," Edward commented as he pulled his knees up to his chest, craning his head forward to watch Roy work.
"Well I'm hardly about to go after them with my kitchen shears," Roy pointed out, tone distracted in his concentration as he lined up the tips of the medical utility scissors to the first grouping of stitches to be removed.
A faint smile flickered across Edward's lips before he darted his gaze up to the focused expression on Roy's face. "Are you sure you don't want to call Maes to come help?"
"Positive," Roy assured and eased the tip of one of the scissor blades just underneath the knotted end of the first stitch. "Because after I do this, you and I are going food shopping. I'm under no illusions that later on this week I may not feel up to the task, and I can hardly expect you to cook with an empty pantry."
Edward quirked an amused eyebrow, despite himself, despite knowing the seriousness of the situation which would put Roy out of commission for something as simple as shopping for groceries. "You think I'll be cooking for you, do you?"
A grin flashed across Roy's lips, and he snipped down with the scissors. "I'll make it worth your while."
Edward snorted, "I have no doubt you'll try." Then any further teasing he may have engaged in fell silent on his tongue as he watched with a somewhat unsettled fascination as Roy set the scissors aside and began to pull the suture from his arm. "That is weird," he shuddered as he leaned forward a bit with a curious tilt to his head.
"It feels weird," Roy admitted, but suture by suture, he worked carefully until the only one remaining was the one on his calf. Hooking his foot on the bed he pushed the muscle this way and that as he inspected it with his lower lip tucked between his teeth.
Edward met Roy's gaze when the man finally stopped his inspection, a solemn resignation in his silver eyes as he asked, "how long?"
"Tomorrow night," Roy's voice seemed to echo the solemnity in Edward's expression, and he drew in a settling breath, "I'll finish getting dressed, and then we should get shopping."
Edward watched as Roy stood, and reaching over he plucked Garnet from where the stuffed red panda lay on his pillow, and hugged it to himself as he let out a slow breath. For so long it had seemed that they had been in stasis, and now? He was ready to see Grand perish, oh was he ready. But… he closed his eyes to the sight of Roy rummaging clothes free of the closet.
He was terrified he'd lose Roy.
Tossing Garnet aside he let himself fall down through the bed, through the floor, until he ended up in the sitting room. There, Roy couldn't see him frantically work to compose himself, pacing and running his hands through his hair and swearing softly until he heard the man's footsteps on the stairs.
By the time Roy appeared so they could leave, Edward had managed to put on, what he hoped, was a calm expression.
They ended up at one of the bigger grocery stores in Central, with Roy snatching a full-size shopping cart.
Roy started them off resupplying for his medical kit, along with a few extra additions he'd not had before. His latest injuries had provided some illumination on parts that had been lacking. More whiskey ended up in the cart, along with some brandy. A resupply of crackers ended up in the cart, along with some proper food for Hazel just in case of a miracle at being able to keep the squirrel from the human food. Several cases of water bottles ended up being wedged onto the bottom of the cart, and then Roy moved them off to collect actual cooking ingredients.
"Three of those," Edward said as he pointed out packages of salmon, "and two of the flounder."
Roy obeyed promptly.
"Two of the shrimp, and one of the frozen banana leaf packages."
Roy put the requested items in the cart, though he hesitated with the package of banana leaves a moment, holding it up as if to himself, "what the fuck would you use this for?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out," Edward told him with a roll of his eyes, "put it in the cart."
Roy shrugged and tossed it in, and followed Edward to the meat case where he loaded up per Edward's direction. Then they were done, and the shopping cart was certainly full enough to claim so, and Roy pushed the heavy shopping cart to the checkout.
The rear of the military sedan was dipping much lower to the pavement when Roy had finished loading everything inside, and then they were headed back home.
"We're leaving again right after." Roy said as he began to drive them back.
Edward frowned and turned in his seat to face Roy, "what is there still to do?" They now had plenty of food again, as well as a restock of the medical supplies that Roy had burned through in the aftermath of his fight with Kimblee, and frankly he couldn't imagine what else they could possibly need to get them through in the event that Roy was injured again.
Roy smiled and glanced for the briefest moment over at Edward, "take your mind off it."
Startled, Edward shifted in his seat as a self-conscious embarrassment began to creep up him. "I'm fine."
"No, you're not." Roy denied gently as they pulled up to a stop sign, and he took the opportunity of it to look over briefly and meet Edward's eyes. "And that's okay."
"Roy…" Edward hesitated a moment as the sedan began to move again, Roy merging in with the traffic on one of the main roads home, "I'm not the one who – you shouldn't be wasting energy worrying about me."
"Is there another love of my life who I've misplaced somewhere?" Roy asked with a teasing lightness, before reaching over with one hand across the space between them, to rest his hand blindly just through Edward's thigh, "I know you, Edward. And even though you're doing a damn good job trying to keep it from me, I know when you've got something on your mind."
"Maybe it's my dastardly plan to kidnap Hazel and go live a life of crime." Edward groused, even as he tried not to show how much it warmed him that Roy knew him so unapologetically well.
A smile flitted across Roy's lips, "you have to choose a criminal alias first. Until you've done that, I don't think it's allowed."
"How do most alchemists choose their names?" Edward wondered as he laid his hand over Roy's which still rested through his leg, his own fingers beginning to trace mindlessly and unfelt across Roy's skin. "No offense, but Flame Alchemist is rather… generic sounding compared to what you're actually capable of. And my father never let on that he had any sort of alchemist name."
"Most times they're chosen for you, a name given to you by others, or by the military if you've not either been given a name, or in some rare cases, chosen one for yourself." Roy told him, more than happy to allow the segue. "I've never heard your father referred to as anything other than his name, and truthfully," his lips quirked in a wry expression, "I'm fairly certain it's because no one dares take the liberty, even against a man most believe is only a legendary myth."
"And yet you punched him," Edward couldn't help but smirk in amusement, and not a little bit of pride.
"Oh, I plan on punching him again." Roy confessed happily enough, "just on principle."
"Roy," Edward attempted to chastise, but the attempt sounded weak and amused, even to his own ears.
"I'm not exactly about to ask him for his permission to marry you, so I'm not concerned about angering him." Roy informed the ghost quite matter-of-factly. "I know he's probably old-fashioned like that, but I'm afraid he'll have to just clutch his pearls."
An undignified snort of laughter escaped Edward, and he grinned down at Roy's hand as he resumed tracing his fingers along it. "I rather think my permission to marry me is what you need to be concerning yourself over."
"Precisely." Roy agreed, before adding mischievously, "how am I doing on that?"
"Closer than you were before," Edward deflected with a small, fond smile.
Roy was more than content to mark that as a win in his book.
When they reached the house, Edward was noticeably more relaxed to Roy's assessment, however he knew it would only be a matter of time before the ghost started getting anxious again unless he kept doing something about it. There'd be little he could do about it tomorrow, but he was hoping that being at the office, and being a part of the last-minute preparations would be enough of a salve to get the ghost through until the adrenaline kicked in.
If ghosts even had an equivalent to adrenaline. He wasn't sure, but he was hardly about to ask.
Instead he busied himself with hauling the groceries inside, and Edward got to work putting everything away. Noticing that somewhere along the line, the kitchen and its contents had become a mix of where Edward wanted things, and where Roy had had them since he'd moved in, moved out for a transfer, and then moved back in again this latest time. Not once had his organization changed until Edward touched it, but he couldn't find it in himself to mind.
If anything, it gave him a domestic contentment that Edward had begun making the house their house.
Leaving the scene with a smile, he went in search of the last grocery bags.
As such, he missed Edward's shriek from the kitchen.
"Hazel!" Edward scolded passionately, clutching at where his heart would have been as he glared into the cabinet he'd been about to put the replacement box of crackers into. Hoping that doing so would keep them away from this exact squirrel. "How did you – why did you – get out of there!"
Hazel chittered with interest at the hovering cracker box, bushy tail snapping as he considered the jump he'd need to make to achieve the crackers.
"No, these are Roy's," Edward held the box to his chest as he stared the squirrel down, "we've agreed you're getting fat."
Hazel heard not a word of the slight against his girth, which was of a far more dignified size for a squirrel since the new invisible friend had come to stay. Eyes focused on the box of crackers, he began to wiggle his hindquarters in preparation to seize them. The fact that they were hovering in midair was of no consequence to him – he could do this.
Roy re-entered the house to the sound of Edward shrieking with laughter, and a muffled "Hazel!" that came from the kitchen. A grin crossed his lips and he shook his head with a roll of his eyes as he turned his steps in that direction.
Edward was dodging yet another undaunted leap from the fluffy terror when he caught sight of Roy from the corner of his eye. "Your squirrel is being greedy!"
Roy chuckled and walked over to the kitchen table to set down the last of the groceries before slipping his hands into the pockets of his trousers as he watched the show. Currently Edward was doing his level best to hover at the ceiling, dead center of it, in order to keep away from Hazel's acrobatic leaps. "I thought you were stealing him from me? That would make him your squirrel."
"He's yours when he's being bad!" Edward informed him as crossly as he could, given he was fighting not to start laughing again.
A grin split Roy's lips, and another low chuckle escaped him as he moved in to rescue Edward. "We're going to have to work on this co-parenting thing. He can't always be mine when he's being a little shit."
"Oh yes he can." Edward argued primly.
Roy hummed noncommittally as he waited for Hazel to make another leap for the box of crackers, and deftly snatched him mid-leap by the scruff of his neck.
Hazel squirmed for all of ten seconds in a bid to free himself, before he realized that his human wasn't letting him go and he went slack in disappointment.
Roy smiled as he brought Hazel in up against his chest, tucking the squirrel firmly into his arms and bringing his hand up to scratch along the base of the squirrel's neck. "Now what are you doing, being bad for Edward," he scolded gently, "if you were meant to have a box of crackers, you know he'd give them to you. He makes you all fat on berries at breakfast, you know he loves to spoil you."
Edward watched with pursed lips, trying not to smile as he watched the pair. "I found him in the cabinet. How did he even get in there? I never leave them open."
"He is a rodent," Roy surmised as he let Hazel squirm in his arms until the squirrel was on his back, allowing for belly scratches. "He probably chewed his way in somewhere. I'll have to take care of that later."
"I'll put them in another cabinet for now then," Edward went to do so, giving Hazel a bit of a stink eye for all the trouble.
"Good squirrel," Roy whispered with a grin as he tickled at the soft underbelly of his squirrel.
"I heard that, Roy Mustang!" Edward scolded, moving to finish putting the last of the groceries away.
His answer was more laughter as Roy walked off to find a toy for the troublesome creature to hopefully keep him otherwise occupied while Roy took Edward back out again.
Edward shook his head with mild exasperation and admittedly a bit of humor. How did Roy possibly expect him to be able to label him as a co-parent, when the man meant to be the other parent was just as bad as the child? The fact that weeks ago, the insinuation of co-parenting even a squirrel would have flustered him instead of making him roll his eyes did not escape his notice, and he only smiled as he found a safe place for the last of the dry goods.
"Hazel should be well entertained while we're out," Roy said as he re-entered the kitchen, squirrel-less. "I'll just make myself a lunch and then we'll leave."
Edward hummed as he dropped to the floor to walk over to the refrigerator and poke his head through the door, not bothering to open it.
Roy cocked an eyebrow at the muffled voice coming from inside the appliance, and biting his lips together in humor he walked over to haul the door open himself.
" – with a banana?"
"Darling," Roy entreated as he grinned, "I'll push aside the question of how you could see anything well enough in there without opening the door, to ask first, how you thought I'd possibly be able to hear you?"
Edward straightened back up, cocking his head in confusion a moment before he burst out with a short, embarrassed laugh and waved a hand at himself. "Because I glow?"
"Ah," Roy nodded, "true."
"Thought I was yelling loud enough," Edward shrugged and turned back around, feeling himself ease back towards Roy as the man stepped forward, caging him in against the still-open refrigerator.
Roy smiled and leaned down so he could peer over Edward's shoulder, "if you were mad at me, possibly."
"Well you'd best not make me that again anytime soon," Edward grumbled before looking over at Roy, unable to help the fluttering jump from somewhere inside him that logically shouldn't exist anymore as he noticed how close Roy was to him. It caused a soft smile he was unable to help even if he'd been so inclined to cross his lips, "I love you."
A radiant grin came over him, and Roy looked over to meet Edward's softly shining silver eyes, "I love you too." The declaration had been entirely unexpected, but it only made the words invoke a flare of adoration that much hotter in his chest.
Edward beamed back at him before he ducked his gaze away, just a bit overcome, and focused his attention back on the contents of the refrigerator. "I was asking if you wanted me to make you some sandwiches and a fruit salad with a banana. We've only one ripe one left, and if it goes overripe it's not enough for me to make a banana bread."
Roy reached up unseen and unfelt by the ghost to rest a hand just atop Edward's shimmering silver hair, eyes fond as he watched the muted glow dance across his own skin. "That'd be fine. I'll do the sandwiches if you do the fruit salad?"
It was agreed, and they both got to it.
Within the hour they were ready to go, Roy having detoured briefly to have another conversation with Hazel, and after loading back into the sedan with a cooler containing Roy's food sitting in the backseat, they were off.
"Where are we going today?" Edward asked as the neighborhood flashed by them as Roy began to head them out of the city.
"As always, dearest, a surprise." Roy informed him with a secretive little smile. "You'll like it, I promise. I used to go there sometimes back before the war on my days off, back when I was still in military training."
Edward turned to face Roy, curling his legs up underneath him and resting his head sideways against the seat as he watched the man with a small, mischievous smile. "You mean back when you were my age – "
"Yes."
" – and young and handsome?" Edward finished devilishly, eyes twinkling.
Roy dragged in an exaggerated scandalized breath, "I will have you know that I am still young and handsome."
Edward hummed thoughtfully, trying not to chuckle. "Younger than Falman at least."
"Rude ghost, I should pull over at that church there right now and let the priest have at you." Roy gestured at the opulent white building on a corner they were about to drive past.
A true laugh left his lips, and Edward gave the passing church the barest of glances. "As if you'd allow anyone else to have at me," he teased happily enough, despite knowing it would hardly be enough to fluster Roy.
A snort escaped him, and Roy couldn't help but smirk a bit, "now see, this is one of those times where you knowing I'm protective of you just completely works against me."
Edward smiled smugly in unspoken agreement, instead choosing to say, "does it help knowing that I think you're handsome still, too?"
Roy wouldn't have been able to stop the grin even if he'd wanted to, because even though he was sure and now knew for certain that Edward thought these things, the ghost rarely came out and actually said anything. Given, their relationship was still on the newer side, but Edward had always been a bit shy. It made the words all that more special to hear now. "More than you know."
Edward chuckled happily and looked away, watching the road as Roy drove. "I think you always will be. Now," he began, "tell me some of the stories from when you first joined the military."
A subtle groan caught in Roy's throat at the thought of him, utterly naïve really, during his first year. But he was hardly about to try and preserve his dignity when it came to Edward, especially not when he knew it would help keep Edward's mind mostly off of what was looming ahead of them so soon. So, obediently, he started at the beginning.
Edward wriggled in his seat a bit as he settled in, still facing Roy but still watching the road as the last of the city flashed by and emptied them out into the Amestrian countryside. It made the drive go a lot faster to him, sitting there engrossed and laughing at times at Roy's stories. Before he knew it, he was being told that they'd arrived, and he was sitting a bit more upright as he looked around in interest at the ordinary-looking bit of woods that Roy was now pulling off the highway to park beside.
There weren't even any other tire tracks, much less any signs that this was a place that was frequented at all.
"How do you know?" He asked, fairly certain that this bit of woods looked completely unremarkable compared to any of the rest of it that they'd driven past.
Roy smiled as he cut the engine, "I just do."
Edward snorted but accepted the explanation, and floated up and out of the sedan via the roof before drifting over to land on the grass and wildflowers next to Roy's side of the vehicle as the man stepped out. "Are you sure that a hike is the best thing for you right now? You just removed most of your stitches, granted, but the one that's left is in your leg."
Roy had just straightened from grabbing his lunch out of the sedan and shut the door, "I'm sure. It's not that far, or that strenuous anyway."
Edward took his word for it, and followed Roy off into the trees, looking around with interest as Roy picked his way along a path only he seemed to be able to see. He followed along without question though, enjoying the walk itself enough to waylay any thoughts of trying to pester an end destination from Roy.
As it turned out, he didn't have much longer to wait and wonder anyway.
Soon enough the trees gave way to a small clearing patched with grass and more frequently, moss. A tiny stream cut through the area, babbling up over rocks and sticks and swirling into frothy miniature whirlpools.
"You'd come out here when you had days off from training?" Edward wondered aloud in confusion, even as he continued to look around. "I thought maybe there was a closed down bar or strip club hiding back here."
Roy rolled his eyes as he made his way to the stream's edge, toeing off his shoes and socks before sitting down with a careful thump and plunking his feet into the cool water. "If I had the night off? Yeah, high chance I was at either of those, depending. During the day though?" He set his lunch off to the side, "I'd come here sometimes just to have some peace and quiet. It helped get rid of the ringing in my ears from the drill sergeants yelling at us."
Edward huffed out a laugh and turned to look down at the man, "so why did you do all the regular soldier stuff and the State Alchemist stuff? I thought it could be one or the other, but I didn't realize it could be both?"
"Not by choice," Roy admitted and leaned back on his hands, curling his fingers a bit into the springy moss behind him. "There was a war brewing, not exactly officially on yet, but I wasn't stupid. Those of us who made the State Alchemist cut that year were thrown into basic training as well with everyone else after we'd received our positions. Try to keep as many of us alive for as long as possible, not from any enemies, because let's face it, there's little a regular group of soldiers can do against an alchemist who knows what they're doing; but from, shall we say, accidental friendly fire?"
Edward blinked at him, eyes widening in a bit of horror.
Roy smiled thinly, "during a war situation, nobody enjoys roughing it with someone who thinks they're above all that other stuff. Tensions were running high, patience was thin, and State Alchemists are valuable weapons. Valuable weapons who are often narcissistic, egotistical, socially inept, better-than-thou assholes."
Edward quirked an eyebrow, a bit of a smirk beginning to play on his lips despite the subject, because he had to agree, Roy had a point in his assessment of State Alchemists. He'd seen a few in his years locked away at Headquarters, and Roy himself certainly fit the criteria of having an ego.
Roy continued, unaware of Edward's train of thought, "the Fuhrer, to his little credit, which I can't believe I'm even uttering right now, given everything; he didn't want us being done in by the rest of the military because we weren't pulling, in their eyes, our own weight. At least until we got to a point inside Ishval where they cut us loose and sent us ahead as a group of particularly lethal killing machines."
Edward thought about that for a minute, eventually coming to sit himself down on the opposite side of the stream from Roy. "How would you change it, as Fuhrer, if you had to go to war?"
Roy hadn't exactly expected that question, given everything he'd just said, but it certainly made him think. Truth was, he hadn't actually thought about such a thing yet. His focus had always been on the steps to reach his goal, and not so much every situation that might meet him once he got there. However… "Honestly? As much as I'd like to have my time as Fuhrer go by without such incidents, I know how very much that's wishful thinking."
"Drachma has never seemed inclined to play nicely," Edward smiled wryly as he put his own feet in the water he couldn't feel, even if in his own mind he imagined it to be the pleasant side of cold on a warm day.
"Or Areugo." Roy added with a small frown, "because that was on us, and I'm still not assured that retaliation isn't coming. Fuery still has trauma stemming from that whole disaster, although he does an admirable job of acting unfazed."
"Like you." Edward said quietly, but with a bracing smile as he watched Roy with warm affection.
Roy met Edward's gaze with a conceding tilt of his head and the faintest of smiles. "Luckily I found a caring and wonderful partner to brighten up my life. I'll be glad for the day he does as well."
Edward smiled wider.
"Anyway," Roy redirected with an answering smirk at Edward's pleasure with his simple statement, "in the end I think that being thrown into basic training was actually good for me. It certainly had its benefits, even if I'd never willingly do it again. Although I think that in the future all State Alchemists should have the training, it certainly saved my ass a few times, admittedly. I think though, that I'd have to reevaluate the process of shipping any of us off to the front lines. Honestly, I'll probably end up asking your advice on it."
Edward hummed distractedly at the thought of it, "I'll get back to you on that then should the occasion arise."
"Thank you," Roy chuckled softly, knowing that Edward would if the need ever came up, and knowing that between the two of them they'd figure it out. Edward may not be military, but there could never be any denying that he valued Edward's opinion in regards to it. "Now we need to discuss Hazel and this whole co-parenting thing."
Edward snickered with laughter, reaching down to splash water up at Roy. "No, we don't. It's been discussed."
"It has not," Roy argued back with a smirk, splashing back despite knowing it would do fuck all to get Edward wet. "It's been discussed when we agree that he's your squirrel when he's a little shit, and he's my angel all other times."
"That is not going to happen, Roy Mustang." Edward informed him with another snicker. "He gets the being a little shit thing from you, so it only seems fair – "
"From me?" Roy interjected with a grin, splashing at Edward again on principle, "how could you ever come to that conclusion? You're an alchemist! I need scientific proof!"
Neither of them could be quite sure who'd won the discussion, although by the time that Roy did beg off to eat his packed lunch, he was considerably more wet than he'd been at the start of the whole thing. Edward, while not wet at all, did at the very least look more relaxed and at peace than he'd been all day. It was a peace that Roy did his best to keep on Edward's face the rest of their time there in the forest.
It was nearing dusk before they finally got up to leave, Roy not having packed enough food for dinner as well, and knowing that he needed to get what sleep he could tonight. The ride back home was silent for the most part, with Edward staring out the window, soaking it all in with a desperation he wasn't giving voice to, and was hoping Roy didn't notice.
They arrived back at the house without incident and after it had gone completely dark.
"What do you want for dinner? You now have a lot of options." Edward commented as Roy tossed the sedan keys onto the kitchen table, having followed him into the kitchen.
Roy shook his head as he walked over to the refrigerator himself, opening it up. Meals like this never got easier, the ones before something major was about to happen. But he knew he needed to eat, because any lack of appetite he was beginning to face now would be twofold tomorrow. "Is my granola where I left it?"
"I haven't moved granola," Edward confirmed after a moment of thought, "although I can't guarantee your little monster didn't eat it."
Roy smiled as he pulled out the yoghurt. "Good enough for me."
Soon enough he had a modestly-sized bowl of yoghurt, sprinkled with granola and drizzled with honey. He was about to take his first bite when a few strawberries were placed on top by a ghostly hand.
Edward gave Roy a tentative smile when the man's gaze darted to him, "please."
Roy didn't need anything else said, and he nodded. Whatever Edward wanted tonight, whatever he needed, Roy knew he'd give it to him without question or hesitation.
After he'd eaten they ended up on the sofa together, facing one another, and legs intertwined as they talked quietly in the dark – Edward's ethereal glow being the only source of light.
"Thank you," Edward spoke softly, feeling utterly unable, for some reason, to speak any louder, "for today. You spent all day worrying about me, when really you should have been relaxing or something."
Roy huffed out a fondly dismissive breath, and leaned forward to press his palm to where Edward's cheek was. "I just need some sleep, I'll be fine. Besides, what could be more relaxing than spending my day with my delightfully sexy wife?"
A brief bubble of laughter escaped him, and Edward reached his own hand up to slide it through Roy's, causing the man's hand to glow even more. "Maybe if you had one," he teased gently.
A grin flickered across Roy's lips, "one day." And he lowered his hand to rest it on his knee, which caused it to also rest a bit through Edward's own legs. "In all seriousness though, I'm fine. At this point in my life? I don't get nervous about this sort of thing anymore. It's more anticipation than anything else, that's what would be the risk of keeping me awake tonight."
Edward's head tilted with a smile before he snuggled sideways as best he could into the sofa, "is there some sort of super secret military trick to falling asleep that doesn't involve alcohol?"
Roy laughed softly, "nothing that ever ended up working for me, no. I'll be fine, though. I'll just have a very hot, very nice shower, and I should be able to get relaxed enough."
"Is there anything I can do?" Edward asked then with an easy smile, slipping his hands over to Roy's.
Even though he was wholly unable to feel Edward, and even though his attention was mostly fixed on Edward's face, Roy still automatically moved his hand as if to hold Edward's in return. "Keep looking at me just like that," he suggested with a faintly teasing smile, "it'll give me something new to replay in my head during my shower."
Edward wasn't entirely sure why the suggestive remark wasn't flustering him at the moment, regardless, he found himself laughing quietly. "Seems fairly tame to add in to your fantasies about me."
Roy's eyebrows rose a bit, a humored smile curving his lips, "just what do you imagine my fantasies are about then?"
"All I know is that I've, unfortunately, seen part of your collection under our bed," Edward began as Roy smiled wider, "and none of that lends itself to thoughts of wholesome tameness."
"I don't know," Roy hummed in exaggerated thoughtfulness, "there's a pretty tame-looking vibrator I got as a freebie a few years back. Granted I had to buy a very large, sparkly, inflating – " he cut off, spluttering in laughter as a throw pillow connected with his face, "did I mention it can thrust, too?"
"Roy!" Edward gasped, just a bit scandalized but honestly, more amused than anything.
"Not very well, granted," Roy swatted the pillow back to Edward, "I can thrust better, but – "
Edward attacked him with the pillow again.
This time Roy snatched the pillow away, hugging it to him with a smirk. "You may be wholesome at times, but you are not tame. One of these days I'll get your fantasies out of you. Once you find your confidence in that area I have a feeling you could put me to shame."
Edward huffed in an effort to keep from laughing, and drumming up his bravery asked, "is that one of your kinks then, Roy, a bit of humiliation?"
Roy gasped dramatically, grinning, before laughing heartily. "While I am into a lot of stuff, that actually hasn't been one of them."
Edward smiled, even as he tried not to show how giddy with pride he was that he hadn't fled in embarrassment for his boldness. "Can I ask you what is probably a really stupid question? About all that?"
Roy's eyebrows rose again, but his smile softened as he nodded while adding, "there are no stupid questions in regards to sex stuff that you could ask me."
Edward hummed at the sentiment, before asking with shy confusion, "so you enjoyed it both ways?"
It only took Roy a brief moment to understand, and he smiled reassuringly as Edward squirmed on the sofa across from him. "I preferred to take lead, I won't deny it, but I am also well aware and appreciative of the benefits of being on the receiving end. It's why I have the toys. Why?"
"Just," Edward fidgeted a bit where he sat, "curious I suppose."
Roy doubted that Edward realized just how damnably irresistible he was being right now, and after a moment he tucked the pillow aside and leaned forward to say into Edward's ear, "let's go."
Edward frowned – adorably, in Roy's opinion – in confusion as the man suddenly was withdrawing and standing from the sofa. "Go? Go where?"
Roy offered a hand down, waggling his fingers a moment teasingly before his manner settled as he locked eyes with the silvery-glowing ghost. "Edward, will you come with me?"
Edward sat frozen for what felt like forever, even though he knew it really wasn't all that long, but feeling very much like he was teetering on the edge of something and about to fall off. Gazing up into Roy's eyes, and feeling that sensation again that he once again had a beating heart and it was pounding, he suddenly knew with acute certainty that whatever this was, if he was about to fall, he wanted to do it into Roy. "Why is it," he asked softly, slowly, as he reached up to slip his hand through Roy's, "that the majority of the time you ask me those specific words, my world ends up changing?"
Roy smiled secretively as Edward floated himself up and off the sofa, "because you trust me enough to let it change."
Edward smiled, and when Roy began to lead him upstairs, he followed. Because Roy was right, he did trust him. He was beginning to guess what Roy was up to, and even though Roy would probably fluster him mercilessly about this after the fact, right now? Right now he could only follow Roy, with that pounding heart that he didn't actually have, and unable to take his eyes off the man.
There had been a few times in the not-so-distant past, that Edward had thought about joining Roy, only to end up letting his nerves get the better of him. But tonight, as Roy led him into the bathroom and shut the door, Edward wasn't going anywhere.
Except, as it turned out, into the shower with Roy.