Ed.

Ed sprawled on the living room floor, watching as Al and Winry debated whether they needed new armchairs or could just get the old ones reupholstered.

“What do you think, Nii-san?”

Ed shrugged, lazily. “I like the ones we have pretty well.”

Winry gave him a sharp look. “And how much longer are you going to be around to have an opinion on them?”

Ed flopped back, groaning. He’d known that was coming, sooner or later. “I don’t know.”

He could feel the look Al and Winry exchanged, even without seeing it.

“Nii-san? Do you… not think he’s serious?” Al’s voice was concerned.

Ed supposed there was some reason for the concern. Ed spent at least half his time at Roy’s house instead of his own. His conversation had become peppered with Roy’s comments even in the man’s absence. And now Al was wondering whether his big brother was about to get his heart broken for him. Al thought that way.

And by serious Al most likely meant lifelong. That, after all, was the way he was serious about Winry. But when Ed tried to compare what was between he and Roy with what was between Al and Winry, somehow the terms just didn’t seem to translate very well.

“I do think he’s serious,” Ed tried to explain, “we just haven’t talked about things like that yet.”

“Ah.” Al still sounded concerned.

Winry took pity on Ed in a very typical fashion, and turned the conversation. “So, is he any good in bed?”

Both brothers choked. Winry attempted to look innocent and failed miserably. After wasting a few moments glaring, Ed decided on a subtle revenge. He let his expression go a bit dreamy.

“It’s like falling into the sun without getting burned,” he told her with complete truthfulness.

He checked Winry’s expression, and found it approaching doting. All right, never mind subtlety. “Why, are you looking for tips?” he asked, and let his gaze slide from her to Al.

Winry turned the color of a ripe raspberry, and Ed grinned. Victory was his. Not even a high velocity couch pillow could take it away.

Roy.

Roy liked the fact that he almost always woke before Ed. It gave him a chance to watch Ed without being observed. Ed did not, contrary to popular wisdom, look more innocent while he was asleep. He sometimes looked just as innocent awake. Nor did he precisely look unguarded; even asleep his body held the hint of motion, of readiness. Roy supposed that what Ed looked asleep was more himself, without calculation or care.

Of course, in a purely physical sense, most of the time a sleeping Ed looked like a fallen angel after a good party. Roy took the strand of silky hair that slipped over Ed’s shoulder in his fingers and lifted it to his lips.

He looked down again to find Edward awake and gazing up at him, eyes wide, lips parted.

“Good morning, Ed,” Roy said, softly, over the strand of gold he still held.

Ed’s eyes softened, and Roy shivered, brushing a hand over his cheek. “Edward,” he breathed, only half aware he was speaking out loud. “Do you really mean what that look says…?”

“What does it say?” Ed asked, voice husky.

Roy was silent a moment before he answered. “That you would give me anything I asked you for.”

Ed tilted his head considering. “Yes,” he said at last, and laid his hand flat on Roy’s chest. “If I could ask back.”

Another shiver ran through Roy, and he lowered his head until his temple rested against Ed’s. “What would you ask me for?” he whispered, formless anxiety tightening his nerves.

A tiny laugh brushed past his ear. “I don’t know,” Ed answered. “Do you?”

Roy took a deep breath and felt the corners of his mouth curl up. “No, I suppose not.”

He kissed Ed’s shoulder, down his chest, letting his tension transform into desire. Letting Ed’s responsiveness carry them both away into a simpler intensity.

Ed.

“Is something bothering you, Ed-kun?”

Gracia-san had eased Al out of the kitchen by asking him to keep her husband away from the food preparation, and given Ed a bunch of carrots to slice to keep him busy. Now Ed knew why. “Not really,” he denied.

Gracia-san waited. There was no need for her to be concerned, Ed told himself. It wasn’t a huge problem. He shouldn’t trouble Gracia-san with it.

Oh, who was he kidding?

“When did you know you wanted to be with Hughes-san for good?” Ed asked at last.

“Hm.” Gracia-san smiled reminiscently. “Well, let’s see. I knew him for about a year, casually, before we ever really got to know one another. I met him through Roy, you know.”

Ed blinked.

“I used to work at the city library, didn’t I ever mention? I met Roy when he came to Central to study, and Maas when they made friends.” She stirred sauce and looked thoughtful. “I suppose it was a little over six months after Maas and I really started to know each other that I winkled an engagement out of him. I think I had to work on him for about two months. So, four months or so after we became close was when I decided.”

“Ah.” Ed paid very close attention to his carrots.

“I think it’s harder when it’s someone you’ve known for a long time, actually,” Gracia-san said, reflectively. “Harder to tell what’s changed.”

“Mm.” There had probably never been such perfectly diced carrots before in culinary history.

“Are you still wondering about Roy?”

Ed just barely missed his own finger.

“It’s not… we’re… not that, but…” Ed stammered.

Gracia-san patted his hand, and he looked up to see her smiling sympathetically. “Or is it that you are sure?” Her voice was gentle.

Ed bit his lip. “I think so,” he said softly.

Gracia-san smoothed his hair back and dropped a kiss on his forehead.

“Well, then, you need to talk about it instead of dancing around it, or backing off from it, or whatever it is you do instead of talking.” She gave Ed a meaningful look.

Ed was positive he had turned the same color as the radishes. Carrots. Carrots were absolutely entrancing, yes they were.

“Gracia-san?” he asked after a little while.

“Yes?”

“How did you and Hughes-san really get to know each other?”

Gracia-san looked over her shoulder with a soft smile. “We started talking.”

Roy.

Roy looked up from his book to see Ed leaning in the doorway watching him. Seeing that Ed had a book of his own, Roy smiled and held out a hand.

“Business or pleasure?” he asked, nodding at the book as Ed came and wrapped his hand around Roy’s.

“Pleasure, mostly,” Ed answered. “History.”

Roy rearranged himself against one arm of the couch and tugged Ed down to recline against his chest. Ed settled back with a sigh as Roy slipped an arm around him. It wasn’t long before Roy set down his book and wound the other arm around Ed also, resting his cheek against Ed’s hair.

It felt… very good to have Edward here like this.

“You’re thinking,” Ed asserted. “What are you thinking about?”

“How well you fit,” Roy told him.

Ed let his own book fall. “Well enough to stay right here?” he asked, voice low.

Roy was sure Ed could feel his heart speed up. He didn’t think Ed was asking whether Roy’s legs were falling asleep.

“Yes,” he murmured at length. “If you want to.”

“I do,” Ed said, looking straight ahead. And then he turned in Roy’s arms until he could brace his right arm on the couch behind Roy and lift his other hand to cup Roy’s cheek. “Do you want me to?”

“Yes,” Roy whispered. “I do.”

Ed took a breath like he’d just come up after a long time underwater, and let his head fall to Roy’s shoulder. “Then I will.” His voice was a little choked, and trembling on the edge of a laugh.

Roy gathered him as close as he could, the same laugh rising in his own throat. He had laughed more in the last few years than he had honestly thought he ever would again. Most often because of the young man in his arms right now.

“Ed…” He smiled and said very quietly in his lover’s ear, “Welcome home.”

End