Ed made a full recovery, and we stayed on with Doctor Marcoh for another two years.
In the end, he became a surrogate father to us, and treated us worlds better than our own flesh and blood.
Though he had his own itinerary and duties, he made sure we were always clothed and fed. We came to him with nothing, but were given everything we could have needed and more. So much for Equivalent Exchange.
In our leisure time, he taught us all he knew of alchemy. Ed built upon the foundation he had started, and became something of a prodigy. I had no doubt that if he still had any inclination to become a State Alchemist, he would succeed.
Ed and I had taken on various odd jobs around town to earn money. One day dishwashing, the next raking leaves, the day after that repairing the townschildren's toys. Ed had even picked up some tutoring jobs, mentoring some of the adults in town on alchemy. We meant to give half our wages to the doctor, but he wouldn't accept.
The Spring I turned eighteen, Ed and I had saved up enough to purchase a small home of our own.
We relocated south to a town called Youswell. It was a small mining town, with a low population but plenty of friendly, helpful townsfolk.
I took a job as a cook for the local inn. He knew I wanted him away from the dangers inside the mines, so Ed found employment at the mechanic shop in town.
Being away from each other for many hours, we were happy to be reunited each evening. Our bodies weary, we often all but collapsed onto our chairs, and chatted about the day's events.
One night, I had finished taking a bath and was spreading my sleep clothes out on the bed when I heard footsteps behind me.
Ed had come to stand in the doorway. I shyly secured my towel tighter around me. He stepped into the room, and by the light of the candle flames in my periphery I saw a peculiar gleam in his eye. He walked up behind me and when he reached me, I felt his fingers brush against my arms before he embraced me.
He placed an open palm on my chest and pulled me back against him. I felt his warm, heavy breath on the back of my neck.
"Please, Al," he whispered in my ear. "Let me touch you."
He pressed his lips against my earlobe. I dropped my head onto his shoulder as he covered my neck in small kisses.
Inside me, a heat was building. These were sensations I had never felt before. Never had anyone touched me. Perhaps deep down, I had been abstaining until I could fully understand my relationship with Ed. He vowed to never love another, and so I presumed to be saving some piece of myself just for him.
My heart was thumping violently. Deep in my core was a fluttering, which trailed down and transitioned into a throbbing between my legs.
It was then that I knew the look I had seen in Ed's eyes was need, lust, a burning desire. He had kept it locked away, preserved until the day I was ready to surrender to him as a lover.
Each graze of his fingers on my naked skin felt electric. He moved his hand down my chest, the plane of my stomach and I gasped as my towel dropped in a heap at my feet and he wrapped his fingers around my member.
We were gasping each others' names in ecstacy. I arched my back further and could feel his arousal against me.
He pumped his hand around me firmly, slowly, prolonging my pleasure. I never wanted him to stop, but I could feel a wave pass through me as every muscle became rigid, from my neck to my toes. The throbbing hit an apex and suddenly I released like an explosion, calling out his name.
I turned to face him, knees weak, legs trembling, before lowering myself down onto the bed. Our passion had not been sated, for Ed quickly straddled me and claimed my lips again hungrily. My body eagerly complied, my legs wrapping around him, hands grasping at his back, fingernails dragging against his skin.
Though our bodies were aflame with desire so consuming, Ed handled me delicately as we made love for the first time that night.
Every cell in my body screamed out for him, for his touch. As we consummated our love, became one, intertwining hearts, melding souls, I made my own vow. I promised myself to him, my protector, my savior, my brother, forevermore.
We lay in the afterglow beside each other in silence for a long while. I turned my head and saw him observing me closely. Perhaps he was waiting to see a flash of regret come upon my face, or to watch as I ran from him, ashamed from the sin we had committed.
But I turned over on my side to face him. I saw a worry in his eyes, surfacing beyond the ebbing glow of passion.
"I love you, Al," he whispered and brushed a strand of hair away from my eye.
"I love you, too. Always."