Chapter Sixty-Five

"Stop that, one arm." Edward told the still grumpy Roy as he scooted across the back bench seat in order to snuggle in up against the man, who was apparently still hurt over having been shooed away instead of being allowed to try and help him into the vehicle. "Don't make me lecture you again about taking it easy."

Roy huffed, but was unable to keep from smiling as he wrapped his one good arm around Edward while lowering his head to bury his face in blond hair. "I don't know, sometimes I really enjoy it when you scold me."

Edward spluttered at the implication, but anything he may have said was cut off by Maes's exaggerated groaning from the front of the sedan.

"Behave yourselves back there!" Maes told them through a shit-eating grin, earning a rude gesture from Roy.

"What did the Fuhrer want?" Roy asked instead, closing his eyes as he breathed in the scent of Edward's hair with an amused smile that seemed utterly uncalled for given what he'd just asked, but Edward's hair smelled like grass and hay and it was just so typically Edward given where the blond had grown up.

Edward closed his eyes, his mouth pulling tight at the knowledge that Roy wasn't going to like any of it. Which, should really be knowledge taken for granted by the both of them, but it was one particular part that he knew would really upset the man. "Once he realized who I reminded him of, he wanted me to go meet a friend of his. My guess is he wants me to meet the one my father is after."

"Who you…" Roy lifted his head, his smile gone, "he knows who you are?"

"I didn't confirm or deny." Edward told him, shifting in order to look up at Roy, "honestly there's not much I can do to keep someone like him from guessing accurately. I didn't exactly get my hair and eye color from my mom."

"That could be problematic," Roy muttered, his hold on Edward tightening just a bit.

Edward gave him a lopsided smile, "or work out in our favor. I spooked him, pardon the potential pun there. He was certain my brother and I were dead, and then I show up tonight of all nights, wearing your jacket. Whatever he was expecting to find tonight, it was not me."

"To be fair," Maes drawled from the front seat, "none of us were expecting you like," he waved a hand meaningfully back at Edward, "that."

Edward couldn't help but share in the relieved grin that came over Roy's face at the mention, but he did turn to look up towards where Riza was quietly driving, but still clearly listening to everything. "By the way, how did you know it was me, Riza?"

"Roy," she answered with a smile, "there's only one person that I knew he'd look at and touch the way he was you. He looked at you like that even when I couldn't see you."

Edward couldn't argue with that logic, and nor could he help the fond look he directed to the man in question for a brief moment before he looked back to her. "I'll return your hair tie as soon as Roy takes me shopping."

"It's yours," Riza told him firmly, but with a gentle smile as she briefly looked towards where he sat, tucked up against Roy and looking quite pleased about it. "And if you need any actual help, not Roy's useless help," she ignored his affronted noise, "finding hair care products, let me know. Long hair can be a pain that way."

Which started Edward into an eager conversation with her about hair, because he hadn't ever had it this long before he'd died, and he did like it this way and did want to know how to keep it nice. Because she was right, Roy's hair was short and forgiving. Truly it had every possibility of being an absolutely ridiculous topic of conversation as she drove he and Roy home, but for someone recently returned from the dead, he suddenly had a lot more to concern himself over as far as taking care of himself.

And it didn't hurt that Roy seemed to find the entire thing as amusing as it was charming. Especially when Maes piped up with tips he'd learned and used on his daughter's hair.

They only put the topic to rest when they reached Roy's house, an anticipatory silence settling over the vehicle's occupants.

"I'll see the both of you tomorrow," Roy told them as Riza parked along the curb but left the vehicle idling. "Nothing about Edward to the others, I'll tell them myself."

Riza nodded but twisted in her seat to bring them into view, "Edward, I'm glad you're here, and that you're safe."

"Now you two go enjoy a lovely night." Maes added wickedly, waggling his fingers in a goodbye as Edward blushed and seemingly tried to shrink in on himself in flustered embarrassment.

Roy rolled his eyes, but otherwise ignored his best friend as he instead got himself out of the vehicle before offering his hand down to Edward. Honestly, let Maes, let all of them think what they wanted. Because while all of them likely thought that he was about to take Edward upstairs and ravish him into an incoherent mess, he was leaving it up to Edward. Something he fully intended to make clear once they had a modicum of privacy again.

Edward accepted the hand gratefully, and with the assist in balancing, he managed after only two tries to get out of the vehicle and stand with his free hand braced against Roy's firm chest, "thanks," he whispered before he moved to Roy's side, threading their fingers together.

Roy nodded and then gave his friends still in the vehicle a parting wave before turning to begin guiding Edward to the house. "This is not at all how I thought we'd be coming home tonight."

Edward cracked a grin and squeezed Roy's hand in his as he carefully made his way along. "I think it's infinitely better."

Entirely unable to disagree, Roy paused at each step as Edward relearned how to walk up them, then unlocked the door and let them inside after they both gave a last wave to Riza and Maes before the sedan pulled away.

Edward stepped into the darkened house with an awe and caution that came from truly, properly, experiencing his home for the first time. The floor was cool and smooth underneath his feet, the glass pony beside the sofa cold as ice, the fabric of the furniture soft and giving beneath his fingers in the promise of being delightfully cushy.

"Anything you'd change?"

Edward turned to consider Roy who was standing not quite in the darkened sitting room, and watching him with a hopeful but nervous expression that caused him to smile. "Yes," he admitted, and held out a hand, "you're over there, and that's very far away from me right now."

In two strides, Roy had closed the distance between them.

Edward barely had time to grin before he was eagerly meeting Roy's kiss, his once outstretched hand finding purchase on the top hem of the man's trousers and tangling his fingers in the belt loop he found there with clear intent as he attempted to tug the man closer.

Roy had hooked his good arm around Edward's waist, but with Edward clearly of the opinion that he was not close enough, he began to chuckle into their kiss.

Edward broke away, unable to keep from laughing himself. "Oh, is something funny to you?"

"Something on your mind?" Roy teased back, and dropped a quick kiss to laughing lips. "Edward," he began gently as he pulled away from the stolen kiss, "whatever you want, all you have to do is ask. But give me my boundaries, because I'm not taking this any further than you're comfortable with."

A small smile was playing on Edward's lips as he hooked his other hand up against Roy's neck, brushing his thumb with secret fascination to the beat of the pulse he could feel there. "First, we're cleaning all this drying blood off of us."

Roy admittedly could happily get behind that. Especially since it would lead to Edward being naked again.

"Then," Edward continued with a smirk as he noticed the gleam in Roy's eyes, "you are taking me to bed in every way that implies. Because as you so aptly put it earlier, by some miracle, I'm standing here now. Alive, and in your arms. And I find that I'm not really willing to wait on fully being with the man I love, now that I can be. Yes, I know I still get all flustered about stuff like this, and I'm honestly going to be a bit nervous at first, but," he smiled softly now, "I trust you, and I love you."

Roy nodded in understanding, smile still only growing on his face.

Edward's tone shifted now into one that did not welcome argument. "The only boundary I'm giving you tonight, Roy, is that if something is hurting your shoulder, you stop and let me know. We'll figure it out so you're not in pain."

Roy ducked his head with a grin, a huff of a laugh escaping him as he gave a singular nod. "You would be worried about my injuries."

"That's because I love you, you reckless man." Edward chuckled and rose up carefully on his toes to brush a kiss to Roy's jaw, which was annoyingly about as far as he seemed to be able to reach. "So if you are feeling up to it, I know you're injured and all," he continued with a wicked smirk, "yes, I want you tonight. Preferably sooner rather than later. So start helping me up those stairs."

Roy wondered if there was ever a point that he'd stop being capable of somehow loving Edward even more, as more laughter escaped him. "Yes, love," he agreed quite readily, but didn't move yet except to rest his forehead down against Edward's. "You are everything to me, you know. I love you, so much already, and then I still somehow love you even more each day."

Edward smiled softly, and slipped his hand at Roy's neck up into the man's thick black hair to tangle his fingers in it. And for a time they stood there, just like that, before he whispered, "you're the best thing to ever happen to me, Roy."

Honestly? Roy was certain of the same when it came to Edward, and drawing away to catch that hauntingly beautiful golden-eyed gaze, he shifted his hold to one of Edward's hands instead. "Let's go. As tempting as you are in my jacket, the blood stains have got to go."

The only reason he kept from flushing again at the mention of Roy's appreciation of how he was currently dressed was those bloodstains, "same could be said for you." He mentioned pointedly, and as he let Roy guide him off, towards the stairs, he peered up to ask, "the painkiller they injected you with, how is it lasting so far?"

Roy gave an experimental roll of his injured shoulder, followed by the slightest grimace. "I can't feel anything from it at the moment, but it's stiff as hell. So it's going to be a bitch to wake up to. Especially without any lingering adrenaline keeping me from really noticing it."

"Then before I actually find out if our bed is as soft as I've always imagined it to be, you're making sure that those good painkillers you were on last week are on your bedside table." Edward told him firmly, before hesitating uncertainly at the first step up the stairs.

Roy paused as well, giving the slightest squeeze to Edward's hand as he looked down at the blond standing beside him with a concerned frown. "It's okay if you're nervous, or want to wait."

Edward shot him a purely exasperated look, "it's the stairs, you wonderful idiot. Believe me, if you weren't injured right now I'd have climbed you like one of the trees back home by now."

To say that such words were an incredible incentive to Roy to get completely healed as soon as possible would have been an understatement. And while he fully intended to explore that scenario in the future, right now there was something more immediate to be concerned over. "Don't worry about it taking time, we'll get up them together."

"Okay," Edward took a deep breath and raised his foot, "I did okay on the ones outside, but these are a lot."

Roy stuck with Edward the entire way up, "do you feel weak in general? Or is it just that the relearning how to walk thing is difficult?"

"Not difficult," Edward corrected a measure distractedly, "just, different. I'm still finding my balance. After I died, it took me a while to adapt to being able to hover and float around, which admittedly is the only thing I'm missing right now. It took a long time to feel like I had any precise control over it. That's what I've been accustomed to, and having to completely abandon that and switch back over to a skill I've mostly forgotten with muscles I had forgotten is what's causing the delays. I'll practice when you're gone tomorrow."

"I'll take you shopping once I'm back home," Roy promised him as they finally neared the top, "we'll get you clothes and anything else you think you might need. I'll ask Riza to join us for part of it if you like."

Edward couldn't help but grin, "you mean you're not going to let me just parade around in your clothes everywhere?"

"That will always be an option as well," Roy rolled his eyes fondly. "But I won't lie and say I'm not incredibly eager to find you trousers that will leave nothing to the imagination for me."

Edward barely kept from falling up the next stair, having been rescued from that fate by a snickering Roy. "Considering you've already seen everything," he said amidst a fiery blush, "I'm not sure your imagination would be necessary anyway."

"Oh, I've not seen everything yet, love," Roy grinned wickedly and ducking his head he whispered several words into Edward's ear that caused the blond to suck in a sharp breath and nearly fall up a few more steps.

"Roy!" Edward chastised through what he was now sure was a permanent flush to his face.

Roy snickered, entirely unrepentant, even when he was tossed a mild glare. "Oh yes, I'm going to enjoy taking you shopping."

"Maybe I should just go shopping with Riza," Edward countered evilly, only to squeak as Roy's hand slipped from his in order to lightly swat him on the ass. "Give me your hand back, you fiend," he scolded while trying not to laugh.

Roy was grinning as he complied, and soon thereafter they finally had reached the second floor. "Need a moment?" He asked as Edward paused to look around.

Edward smiled and shook his head, giving Roy's hand in his a light squeeze, "no. Nothing like that, it's just…" he trailed off for a few moments as he looked around, "it's hard to explain," he finally admitted, casting his gaze up to Roy. "This is my home, and has been for a while now. But I also still feel like I'm experiencing it for the first time. It's… strange."

Roy nodded slowly, and while he knew he could never truly understand the sheer amount of new sensory information and likely culture shock that Edward was experiencing, what he did know, was that the best thing he could do right now was to let the blond take it all in at his own pace, and continue to be there to support him. "It's okay, just take your time. I'm not going anywhere."

It took a few more seconds, but finally Edward moved on, lightly tugging Roy to follow him and smiling as the man quickly fell in back beside him as they made their way to their bedroom.

As they stepped inside, and Roy moved away to flick on the lights, Edward began walking back and forth across the bedroom carpet in fascination.

"Enjoying yourself?" Roy finally asked with amusement and a quirk of an eyebrow as he stood leaning up against the wall just watching Edward with a warm feeling of content resting inside his chest.

Edward cracked a grin and the slightest huff of a laugh escaped him as he stopped and looked over to Roy. "This is the best carpet I think I've ever felt. I mean, it's hard for me to remember for sure but – it's springy, Roy!"

A chuckle escaped him, and Roy pushed away from the wall with a grin. "It has exceptional padding underneath it," he explained as he reached Edward who looked up at him with warm welcome, "it'll still give you carpet burns though."

Edward ducked his head a bit with a flush at the idea of what would cause the carpet burns as Roy came over to him, even as he reached out to rest his hands on the man's hips. "Sorry, I know I'm probably being ridiculous, getting excited about stuff like that."

"Carpet burns or the carpet?" Roy couldn't help but want to clarify with a grin as he slipped his hand into a hold at the side of Edward's neck.

"The carpet!" Edward exclaimed with a groan, "I swear I've never blushed so much in my previous life, and certainly not my death, and now with me alive again and with you, I think I'm doomed to permanently be red."

"There's still plenty of time," Roy began, and at Edward's frown of confusion continued with a smirk, "to get you excited about some carpet burns as well."

"You are not helping the state of my face right now!" Edward scolded through somewhat overcome laughter as he let his head fall forward to thunk against Roy's chest.

Roy hummed in consideration with a passing amused smile as he let his hand drift up from Edward's neck around to the blond's chin in order to lift Edward's face back up towards his as he softly replied, "now why would I want to do that? When I'm enjoying your honesty so much."

Edward didn't really have a chance to respond, but nor did he find he wanted to as Roy's lips met his. All the flustered embarrassment seeped out of him, chased away by a coiling heat that left him feeling raw and wanting as he tugged Roy closer with a plaintive noise.

Roy barely resisted the demand, chuckling at the sound of distress that caught in Edward's throat as he instead slipped his arm from the sling to search out the belt around Edward's waist as his other pushed into silken blond hair.

The thought of fussing at Roy for the laughter fled Edward's mind entirely as he realized what the man was after, and quite inspired and driven by the desire beginning to spark through his veins, he reached for Roy's shirt only to suddenly pull from their kiss with wide-eyed dismay.

"What?" Roy asked with a breathless but wickedly-knowing smirk.

Edward stared down, his fingers still hooked in Roy's shirt, as he looked down at the fact that somehow, in the space of a half-fucking second, Roy had managed to undue all the jacket buttons when it had taken him a good many more seconds to do them up in the first place. "How did you do that so quick?"

Roy snickered and bent to steal a quick kiss, and took the opportunity to wriggle the arm sling off from around his shoulder. "It may be best not to think of it, love."

Edward's eyes narrowed in consideration a moment, before he huffed out a half laugh through a smile and pointedly tugged at Roy's shirt. "Off."

Hardly averse to following his love's orders, Roy's shirt hit the floor before he even really registered moving. And at the meaningful, and honestly hungry look in those golden eyes as Edward reached forward again, he helped the blond unfasten his trousers, letting them fall and kicking them away with his socks to leave him entirely open to Edward's appreciative gaze.

"Now, about this blood," Edward began with the slightest frown, before he found himself being purposefully backed up into the bathroom and grabbing on to Roy's good shoulder and a hip in order to not trip.

"While you, for one, smell perfect, like a hayfield," Roy began with the slightest chuckle as he thoroughly enjoyed Edward clinging to him in order to stay standing, "I need a shower. Especially before I tumble you into bed."

Edward was only distracted by Roy leaning past him to turn the shower on for a moment, before he exclaimed, "I smell like a hayfield?"

Roy laughed as the hot water began to flow from the showerhead, steam beginning to curl out towards where they stood. "You do, it smells sweet. However," he continued as he spun them around, careful to hold Edward steady by his hips, and his voice dropped lower as he took a step back into the spray, "I fully intend to have you smelling like my soap soon."

"Possessive bastard," Edward accused fondly, and followed the guiding pressure of Roy's hands to step into the shower with the man for the second night in a row.

Except this time, he could actually feel Roy's hand, he could feel the staccato of the water hitting his skin and wetting his hair, the heat from the spray sluicing down his body and beginning to wash the blood from Roy's jacket off of him in pink stripes, and he could feel the cool tile of the shower wall as Roy backed him up against it and stole his next breath with a kiss.

They were only chased from the shower when the hot water gave out into a spluttering frigid spray, and soon thereafter Edward found out that yes, their bed was as soft as he'd imagined as Roy tumbled them down onto it.