Worlds Collide

A/N: Nomme de Plumme, yeah, I figured he had to be dumb. nette, I'm not going to tell who he is. Glad you like Nicholas, though. Basically, the Drachman attacked so I could have this chapter, and the next ones. Well, it doesn't mean that Stephen is goign to obey Eckhart. shirt, I don't respond well to threats :P Exotic Rose, glad you liked it. Amethyst-eyed Koneko, I wasn't sure about Falman and Raine together, but I didn't get negative responses like with Armstrong (not like I'd have actually done it except to torment Roy). Unfortunately, though Ed had to mature a bit. Had the kiddies not been there, it might have been different. I know it's been a while for smex, but remember, there were only a couple limes and one lemon in the last beast of a story, so with this chapter I'm way ahead. Oh, and if you don't want to read the Wrath/Edward stuff, the last Munich part is not more of their lemon. And Dante has been doing her own things behind the scenes. It will come out later. hikaru_9, don't you just hate her? And the vanity, I just had this image of the siblings comparing their gray hairs.

Warning: DOUBLE LEMON

Chapter 13

Together

Amestris

The Next Day

Roy stood, watching his children play outside, having a “spar,” but thankfully not with real alchemy this time. Within the confines of the heavily gated and guarded property, Roy felt safe enough to allow the twins to simply be children, without him obviously hovering over them. It also gave him a chance to simply enjoy them, something he needed at the moment. The attack from the Drachman was just one more reason on list that grew each day for those demanding war with the country that refused to accept their neighbors to the south and the leader for now seven years. Roy had tried so hard to be diplomatic, to avoid this, but somehow, the fuhrer feared it was inevitable.

Still, the children outside were a momentary distraction while the would-be assassin was held for questioning by Fuery, who was slowly becoming skilled at interrogation. Roy now only wished that Ed could see this, Aideen in a blue shirt and blue pants, about a dozen red, orange, and yellow scarves hanging from her wrists, occasionally balled up into her gloved hands before being tossed in the direction of her brother. She’d tucked her long hair beneath the collar of her shirt and had half her face wrapped in a black bandana. Nicholas, on the other hand, had apparently gotten his sister to pull his hair back into a miniscule ponytail. He’d tied a piece of cardboard to his right arm and was wearing black from head to toe, save for a much-too-large button-up red shirt of Ed’s he left open.

“You look happy,” a voice said to his left. Turning his head almost completely to be able to see Ed—he already knew it was him—he responded by grabbing the automail hand so close to him, barely registering the hitch in Ed’s breathing at the simple act.

“Well, I’m enjoying getting to watch a re-match between Flame and Fullmetal without actually having to participate in it.”

Ed looked out the window, and Roy turned his attention back to his children as Nicholas faked being blasted away by a toss of Aideen’s scarves. “Nicholas is pretending to be… me. He never does.”

It was true; this wasn’t the first time the two had played this game, but it was definitely the first time the blond boy outside had willingly pretended to have his daddy’s metal arm. Perhaps finally seeing Ed fight yesterday had done it, instead of regularly seeing the limitations of the metal or the scarring it had caused. Roy brought Ed’s hand up to his mouth, placing a light kiss on each of the knuckles as he always did, a reminder that he felt the limb was as much a part of his husband as the left. Again, he barely acknowledged the noise that escaped the blond’s lips as he did. “I’m glad Winry managed to get you fixed up so quickly.”

“She even made some improvements.” The two watched as Nicholas faked kicking Aideen, who flung herself backwards at the imaginary impact. “Your hand is cold.”

“Well, I’ve been standing here by the window. It’s a bit drafty, and all I’ve got on is a short-sleeved shirt.” Then it struck the older man, looking down at the hand that gently squeezed his own and over at Ed’s face. He was crying, silently, and not tears that seemed to be of pain. Roy had seen them before when the twins had been born, when Ed had been happier than he’d ever seen him.

“Ed, how did you…?”

“I said Winry made some improvements. Apparently, she’d been working on this for a while, but didn’t dare tell me to get my hopes up. With Al’s alchemy and some new designs, she’s managed to link my nerves to the automail so that I not only move it, but can feel with it, not just pressure but real sensations of touch.”

Roy raised the hand he held in his own, turning himself and Ed to face one another. He unbuttoned Ed’s shirt to reveal the white undershirt he always wore, sliding the gray fabric slowly down both shoulders and arms, as Roy’s left hand made its way down the automail, he saw goosebumps rise across Ed’s entire body. “I’m not… not used to it yet…” Ed stammered, watching as Roy moved down the metal limb. “But I can shut it off before I fight.”

“So no pain, only pleasure?” Roy asked with a raised eyebrow as he leaned down to kiss each inch of metal.

“Only p-pleasure.” When Roy hit the junction between flesh and metal, Ed moaned. It seemed that area was extra sensitive. He ran his tongue over it this time, and evoked another pleased noise from Ed’s parted lips. “Roy… the twins…”

Reluctantly, Roy realized Ed was right. He couldn’t just keep going as he had been, though a part of him, a part of him that was growing hard rather quickly, wondered if the juncture at Ed’s thigh would be as much of an erogenous zone as the arm had been.

The children continued to play outside as Ed’s right hand caressed gently over Roy’s face. It was strange for the dark-haired man to feel, as though the warmth that came from it was no longer borrowed from their close contact, but coming from within the metal. Carefully, the hand moved the eyepatch that seemed to be the bane of Ed’s existence, to reveal the sunburst-like scar, the bane of Roy’s. The metal fingers traced over each bump and ridge on the older man’s face, moving the palm down to his cheek, which had a bit of five o’clock shadow, the hand retracting somewhat, as though it tickled. It moved over to his ear, gently rubbing the lobe, then moved back to the dark hair, curling and uncurling in the straight locks.

“Daddy? Why are you crying?” Aideen asked. The two fathers had missed the end of their children’s playing, and both were inside, staring at him. “Did Aunt Winry hit you with a wrench again?”

Ed tilted his head down. “No. Your Aunt Winry did something very nice for me.” Ed tried to explain in the simplest terms the wonderful gift that Winry had given him, but all his children could do was test out their daddy’s new sense of touch, making him close his eyes and tell them whether something they brought him was hot or cold, soft or hard.

As the two ran out to the kitchen, apparently trying to find something in the icebox, Ed leaned over to Roy. “My brother and sister-in-law also have offered to let the twins stay with them for the night. Another gift thanks to Winry.”

“I’ll have to thank her personally.”

“Daddy,” Nicholas said, coming back into the study. “Close your eyes.” Ed obliged and Roy watched as the twins stood in front of him, nothing in their hands for him to feel, grabbing the automail hand and rubbing it over each of their faces, apparently having opened the icebox to fool their daddy.

“This one feels like a little blond, and this one, I think, is a dark-haired little girl.” The twins laughed and hopped onto Ed’s lap. Looking over at his husband, Roy wondered if the happy tears would ever stop.

********

Munich

Edward sat on Wrath’s lap, despite the fact that it disturbed him how easily his smaller frame fit there. He kissed and sucked at the younger man’s neck, feeling deep moans rumbling in the former homunculus’s throat. That was followed by a slight hiss as Edward’s ministrations caused what would certainly be a bruise just above Wrath’s collarbone.

Stephen was gone for the night. Where, the couple didn’t know. They only knew that they would have the apartment to themselves for several hours.

Edward placed a hand over Wrath’s much larger right hand and arm, which were wrapped around the blond’s waist. The age difference between them was more often mistaken for being the other way around, as Wrath had matured, looking years older than he was, and Edward had still managed to retain some of his youthful innocence and appearance. The larger man began kissing the top of Edward’s head. It was something that never failed to baffle the older man: his lover’s obsession with his hair. Perhaps it was because that braided black hair was so coarse, but Wrath never seemed to be able to keep his hands and lips off of the shorter, satiny blond hair.
“I love you,” Wrath said, his arms tightening around Edward’s thin body.

“I love you, too.” The blond smiled, knowing Wrath meant those words as much as he did.

There was a part of the older man that regretted living in this world, a world where he was forced to deny so much of who he was, forced to deny his feelings toward the man holding him unless they were within the privacy of their home.

“Edward,” Wrath said, his voice cracking a bit, obviously trying to broach a subject he was unsure Edward would care to discuss, “we’ve been together for three years now, and you know how I feel about you. I’m not a kid anymore, not that we’ve been doing things that would be appropriate if I was, but I…”

This topic had come up before. The older man had used many excuses as to why he couldn’t or why they should wait, but it all stemmed back to the one thing, honestly. He feared that actually having sex with Wrath would seal him as a sinner, as one who’d violated what he’d been raised to believe. And because of that, Edward had stalled, had delayed, had done everything but that with his friend of so many years, lover of the last three.

“You don’t want to,” Wrath said. “I understand.”

“No, it’s just…” Edward rested his head on Wraths’ chest. “If we do this, there is no turning back for me.”

Wrath’s fingertips scratched over Edward’s back, or would have if the younger man didn’t bite his nails.
“Do you want to turn back? I won’t blame you.”

Edward shifted, moving to straddle Wrath’s thighs on his knees. This was the only way the blond ever got to look down on the brunette, as he was just an inch higher on his knees than Wrath was sitting down. He looked into his love’s eyes, which at this time of night had taken on an almost indigo color.

“No,” Edward answered, pressing his forehead to the teen’s. “No, I don’t.” Then, to show his determination, his resolve that if he was going to be condemned to hell for this, it would be worth it, he began unbuttoning Wrath's shirt.

"Now?" Wrath asked.

"Now," Edward said, kissing Wrath firmly on the mouth, moving his tongue inside the wet, hot cavern. His fingers nimbly finished unbuttoning Wrath's shirt, the larger man's hands having more difficulty with Edward's own. Moving the teen's shirt off of the broad shoulders and down the muscular back, Edward moved his mouth downward, tasting every bit of skin he could.

"We need to..." the teen started, but Edward had captured one of Wrath's nipples in his mouth, rolling around the hardening bud with his tongue, making the younger man lose his train of thought. "Need to..."

With a smile, the gold eyes looked up at Wrath. "Need to what?" He returned to his work on the other nipple, making it stand up on end like its twin.

"Top or bottom."

Edward pulled back, allowing the teen to finally remove his shirt. "How do you know so much?"

"I've been reading. Just in case." Wrath then shifted Edward around to put his body over top of the lithe blond, who now found himself on his back on the sofa. "I didn't want us to hurt one another."

"Then you know more about this than I do," Edward said. "I think that puts me bottom."

Wrath looked confused. "But you're older... and I could hurt you. I'm bigger--"

"Are we bragging about our size now, Ulysses?"

A faint pink tinge came to the teen's cheeks. "I meant I'm heavy. I weigh at least twice as much as you." He ran his right hand down Edward's side, where a few ribs were obviously felt in his touch.

"I'm skinny, but you're not going to crush me." He pulled Wrath down to his level. "I'm stronger than I look."
"But bottom can hurt. Bad, if it's not done right. There could be tearing, and even when it's done right, the bottom can end up limping for at least an entire day."

"Are you trying to convince me or not, Ulysses?"

Before another word could be said, Edward found himself being lifted up and carried into the bedroom.

********

Amestris

Roy Mustang found himself practically pounced by his husband as their children disappeared from sight. The door had been shut only a fraction of a second before Ed and Roy slammed against the wall, right arm wrapped around the taller man’s neck, left leg around his thighs. Eagerly, if not a bit greedily, Roy attacked the willing mouth opposite him, thrusting his tongue in and out of the hot, wet oriface in ways so suggestive, there was little doubting what he planned to do in just a few moments. To add to the younger man’s pleasure, Roy began rubbing the metal limbs, sending Ed into what appeared to be sensory overload.

Taking full advantage of Ed’s weakness. Roy flipped positions, forcibly pressing Ed into the wall hard enough that his metal shoulder seemed to crack the plaster just a bit.

“Son of a bitch!” Ed yelled out. “What the hell happened to pleasure, no pain?”

Roy smiled, unbuttoning Ed’s shirt enough that he could once again assault the junction of metal and flesh. “Better?” he asked, lips grazing off of Ed’s shoulder. All that came back in return was a grunted yes. Roy’s hand moved to massage the meeting of flesh and false limb at the muscular leg wrapped around him, hearing Ed groan louder, his arousal pressed into Roy’s own hardening member. The older man grabbed the almost boneless right leg and wrapped it around himself, wondering how long either of them could last like this, and if they would even manage to make it to a bed. Roy certainly felt that taking Ed on the spot sounded like an absolutely brilliant idea, particularly since this kind of animalistic sex had evaded the couple for the last few months.
And he had missed it.

There had been many reasons for the lack of passion: Ed’s anger, the supposed “seven year itch,” and most likely the seven-year-olds who had impeccably bad timing, frequently interrupting their parents. But now, none of that mattered. Roy had Ed pinned against the wall, completely at his mercy with just a few simple licks and kisses. The older man only half-noticed as Ed’s left hand moved between them, fighting to undo his fly, despite the fact that it was practically doubled over on itself, thanks to the odd angle of Ed’s hips. Finally, Ed merely resorted to releasing his hold on Roy to clap his hands and alchemically rip the fabric off of himself. Before Roy allowed his hold on Ed’s legs to loosen enough to drop what had been Ed’s pants and underwear to the floor below them, the blond reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of oil.

Hands shaking, entire body quivering as the older man kissed and hummed against the juncture, Ed unfastened Roy’s pants and used his now bare legs to move the fabric down, letting out a noise somewhere between a moan and a sigh as the metal limb met the flesh of Roy’s behind. Roy watched as the still unsteady metal hand poured a modest amount of the oil onto his left, the older man expecting the flesh hand to reach out to the very obvious need rubbing against the blond’s. To his surprise, the bottle was thrust into his chest for him to take, the metal arm then wrapping around his neck and shoulders for contact once again, as well as leverage, and the flesh hand reached behind to prepare himself.

“Damn, Ed,” Roy said, watching as his husband’s face twisted a bit, concentrating on what he was doing to himself, his body wriggling over Roy’s erection with enough friction the older man felt certain he would lose control of himself. The older man took the vial that had been tossed to him with his only available hand, the hand grasping tightly to Ed’s left leg, thumb stroking the scarred area on the blond’s upper thigh. He poured what remained of the oil onto himself and began a slow, steady pace of spreading the oil over his length. Then, with that same hand, he reached beneath Ed, moving his index finger to meet the blond’s other two, waiting for a signal from the blond to proceed in.

He felt Ed’s fingers scissoring at his own entrance, widening it for the taller man, while Roy’s finger massaged around the opening until he finally received the nod to slip it in as well. He went slowly, seeing the pain on Ed’s face, he dipped his head down once again to kiss at the over-sensitized arm, while his right hand proceeded its massage of his husband’s left leg. At the angle he was reaching at, Roy was having trouble finding that spot inside of Ed that would certainly make him buck in pleasure, but once he finally succeeded, he watched Ed’s sweaty face as his gold eyes rolled into the back of his head and a groan echoed through his chest.

“Okay,” Ed managed as his hips stopped bucking within Roy’s hold. “Ready.” Ed removed his fingers, Roy taking one last rub over that incredible gland. “Bastard.” Ed said as his hips moved up Roy’s body, forcing Ed’s weeping member to rub against his stomach. Then, Ed switched hands around Roy’s neck, moving the right one to wrap around the older man’s phallus, this time, making Roy swallow out of nervousness. “I’m not going to break it,” Ed said, kissing Roy’s quickly on the lips. “I don’t break my favorite toys.”

Shifting his hips and positioning himself properly, Ed slowly began impaling himself onto Roy, who could not help as his own body responded by rolling forward and completely imbedding himself inside of the gorgeous man wrapped around him, still pressed against the wall.

********

Munich

“Are you sure?” Wrath asked his lover, still in wonderment that they were actually in their bedroom, pushing the small beds together, with plans of finally making love. He finished pushing his bed to the center of the room to find Edward now standing on top of it, putting the smaller man a bit above eye level with him.

“Yes.” Edward caressed Wrath’s cheek gently. “We have the beds together. Now what?”

“Lubrication. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“There’s some oil in the kitchen that Stephen cooks with.” Wrath nodded and went to retrieve the glass bottle from the counter, not taking very long, only to find Edward starting to remove his pants. The taller man tossed the sealed bottle onto the bed, then began stripping his lover slowly of each vestige of clothing, Edward returning the favor. As they stood in front of one another, completely naked, Wrath couldn’t help but feel the warmth flowing to his cheeks, and noticing a pink tinge to Edward’s. True, they’d seen one another naked before, even shared a bed this way, but never with the intent to do what they were tonight.

Nervously, Edward sat on the bed, Wrath kneeling on the floor in front of him. Slowly, affectionately, they pressed their lips together, parting just enough for their tongues to lap at one another. Wrath gently ran his hand through Edward’s hair, then, with his hand at the back of the blond head, he guided Edward down to the bed. He could see that his boyfriend was nearly hard already, but Wrath wanted this to be pleasurable for both of them. Resting on his elbows, he began kissing and loving each inch of skin available to him, lapping down the thin, delicate body with his tongue, seeking out the first tan bump, suckling and nibbling until it was satisfactorily at attention. He moved over, hearing Edward moan and sigh as he continued his actions on the other one.

Shifting his weight back to his legs, Wrath caressed down Edward’s sides, down to his narrow hips, watching as the fine dusting of blond hair on the older man’s body stood on end. With his strong hands, the taller man began massaging Edward’s inner thighs, circling around that curly blond hair, seeing that his efforts were not in vain, as the blond was now fully at attention. He then reached up and grabbed the bottle of oil, pouring a bit onto his hand, smearing it around on his fingers.

“You’re sure you want to be in this position?”

Edward merely bit his lip and nodded, head and shoulders off the bed so Wrath could see him. The dark-haired man brought his head down, slowly encircling the head of the blond’s shaft with his mouth, setting the cooking oil to the side. With one hand, he pressed Edward’s legs open further, while the other began massaging the area between the older man’s balls and his puckered opening.

He could hear Edward practically humming as he began to circle his index finger around the opening, slowly pressing it inside. Wrath could feel his finger being constricted as Edward’s body fought the intrusion. He released the blond’s cock, looking up at him. “You need to trust me and relax.”

“Relax?” Edward asked doubtfully.

“Mm-hmm,” Wrath said as he moved down to run his tongue up the underside of the very hard shaft, his unoccupied hand playing with Edward’s testicles. As the pressure on his finger lessened, Wrath then pressed in farther, finding that he was distracting his lover enough that even when the inner walls constricted on his digits, they did not do so as tightly as before. The brunette began taking Edward into his mouth, not wanting to point out that had the blond been seme, it would likely have hurt Wrath less, as both their bodies seemed entirely proportional.

His mouth continued its distracting work, while he added a second finger, finding Edward’s body trying to reject it as it had the first. He moved the fingers around inside of his lover, in an attempt to spread that opening wide enough to accept him, feeling that maybe a third would be necessary. Then, Wrath felt something spongy, something he’d read about in his studies that he remembered was supposed to make this feel so good for the bottom. Apparently, the books had been right, as Edward bucked unexpectedly into his mouth, making him gag.

“Oh, God!” Edward cried out.

Wrath felt certain that Edward was ready and willing by this point, but he moved to hit that spot just one more time just to watch the look of exquisite pleasure on the older man’s face. Then, he moved his mouth away and his hands, hearing Edward whimper.

“I need you to roll over,” Wrath said, his voice a bit huskier from the force of Edward’s thrusts earlier.

Almost mindlessly, the smaller man complied, Wrath positioning him on his elbows and knees, providing a pillow should he need it for his head. Then he took his place behind his lover, taking more of the oil to spread on himself before further spreading Edward’s legs. To better prepare the blond for what was to come, he ran his length between Edward’s cheeks before separating them with his thumbs.

“Are you ready?” Wrath asked, seeing Edward look over his shoulder at him, nodding.

With as much patience as he could manage, Wrath took it slow as he entered his lover’s tight, beautiful body, wincing as he heard Edward cry out in pain. He knew it would hurt, there was no other way to keep it from hurting, but, as he slowly moved inside, he did his best to make the pain go away. Once he was completely seated within the thinner man, he waited for a sign that the body beneath him was adjusting. Then Edward’s hips moved, his head sinking down onto the bed. Slowly, Wrath pulled out, nearly completely, his hands moving up to tenderly rub Edward’s back, feeling each vertebrae as he did. Then, he gripped Edward’s hips and pushed back in, earning a cry from his lover that didn’t sound as though he was enjoying this even remotely. To the contrary, Edward seemed to be in a great deal of pain.

“I love you,” Wrath said, wondering if maybe he should stop, but the blond shifted his hips back to Wrath’s. The teen withdrew again, shifting his hips, changing angles, desperate to keep this from hurting. This time, the scream was no longer one of agony. As he found a steady rhythm, repeatedly striking that spot that made Edward’s back arch and screams of desire and lust escape the normally quiet man’s lips, Wrath cursed his youth and inexperience, realizing that he wasn’t going to last long at this pace.

Moving together, steadily, then more forcefully, Wrath moved a hand down to Edward’s member, pumping in rhythm with his own steady thrusts, until he felt the small man’s muscles contracting, constricting, creating overwhelming friction to Wrath’s member as Edward came onto the bed, dragging the younger man with him, flooding the blond’s insides with seed, and fighting the urge to simply fall on top of him, sated and experiencing an afterglow so powerful, he thought he might never stop grinning.

“I love you, Edward.”

“I love you, Ulysses,” the older man said, his voice sounding exhausted, but not regretful.

********

Amestris

At what point they ended up on the floor, Ed didn’t know. All he was sure of was that he was nearly to his climax just by the sensations going through his arm and leg, but combining that with the feeling of the taller, older man on top of him, pressing Ed’s legs back against his stomach, ramming into him so hard and so fast that he was certain his back would have rug burns.

And all Ed could do in return was rub at the fuhrer’s still-clothed back, the sensations of the rough wool over Ed’s arm as his shirt sleeve rolled up was indescribable. He wondered how it was that he’d always felt with his left hand and never been so amazed by the textures, by feeling.

Above him, Roy continued his steady pounding, his mouth attacking the shoulder, then moving to Ed’s mouth. Ed moaned then cried out into the older man’s mouth, trying to arch futilely as Roy’s hands held him to the floor, and his member repeatedly hit Ed’s prostate. Roy was unrelenting, rolling his hips, shifting their bodies so that he reached such a depth that Ed might not be capable of walking by morning and was presently lost completely in his lust and desire for completion.

When finally, with some forceful thrusts and Roy’s lips moving once again to the scarred flesh surrounding the metal shoulder, Ed could feel everything tensing, his body very near release.

“Roy, so close.” Ed said. “Oh Roy, Roy…Roy…” Ed couldn’t explain it. Suddenly, it seemed the only thing he was capable saying was his husband’s name, over and over again.

“Still so tight,” Roy said, licking his tongue along the seam of Ed’s automail. “So beautiful…. Damn, Ed…. I love you.” Ed clenched Roy’s hair as he felt his release washing over him, shooting onto their stomachs, yelling out at the top of his lungs, and wondering if his orgasm would end. He wasn’t sure if he had he experienced one so powerful, and he and Roy had had their share of incredible sex.

He heard Roy yell out, filling Ed’s body with that familiar, warm sensation.

As they both seemed to have released every single drop of cum they had in their bodies, Roy withdrew from Ed and laid on the floor at his side, the younger man finding himself being cuddled by the older man’s right arm.

For several minutes, the two men laid pressed closely to one another, Roy on his side, rubbing at the younger man’s forehead and sweat-soaked hair. Ed continuously rubbed the older man’s chest with his right hand, then moved to his own side, running his metal fingertips over the short gray hair at Roy’s temple, tracing over the shell of the man’s ear.

“I missed this,” Roy said, still sounding a bit breathless. “I was afraid you’d stay mad at me forever.”

“What?” Ed asked, stopping what he was doing.

“For the gloves.”

“I stopped being mad at that about a week before I let you back in the bedroom.”

“Then why have you been so different with me?” Ed didn’t answer, didn’t want to. “Ed, why? You knew it was different.”

“I’m worried, okay?” Ed rolled back to his back, flexing his right hand. “Do you realize Nicholas is doing alchemy that I was doing when I was nine? And Aideen is probably only a month of so away from being where I was when I was eleven.” The blond flexed his hand again, only to find it being clasped by a smooth left one.

“Ed, it isn’t going to happen. They have both of us here to make sure it won’t.” The black head rested against the blond. “Has that been worrying you all along?” Roy pulled the metal hand to his face, running the backs of the fingers along his own cheek. “A year, you’ve been worrying about this?” Then, he pulled Ed into his arms, sliding him across the carpeted floor. “Still the stubborn little shrimp you always were. You practically beat my problems out of me, but you won’t talk to me.”

“Don’t call me a shrimp, bastard,” Ed said against Roy’s chest.

The older man’s response was merely to kiss the top of Ed’s head. “You know the bad thing about having sex somewhere other than our bedroom,” he said, changing the subject all together, “is that we have to manage to haul ourselves to our bedroom at some point or another.”

“And I think I made a mess of your shirt.”

“Not to mention the wall and the floor.” Roy started to sit up, guiding Ed with him, making the younger man wince in pain as his back rose off the floor and he found himself in a seated position.

“Bastard,” he hissed. “I’m going to limp for a week.”

Ed watched as Roy stood over him, holding hands out to the blond. “As though I haven’t had a few limps myself.”

It was no time before Ed was to his feet, finding Roy immediately hoist the flesh and metal body into his arms.

“Your back,” Ed said. “And, besides, I’m not an invalid just because you got to be top tonight.”

“Look at it this way. You get to walk around with a funny walk, and I’ll be bent over.” Roy then began the slow climb up the stairs and to their bedroom, Ed reluctantly allowing his husband to carry him, wrapping arms around his neck to help disperse the weight.

“Damned chivalrous bastard.”

“Hard-headed, foul-mouthed shrimp.” Roy said.

“Love you, Mustang.”

“Love you, Fullmetal.”

********

Munich

Stephen sat at the table sipping a cup of tea, rather enjoying that the woman who’d prepared it had actually had a blend that any Brit would enjoy. He hadn’t been there long, but he had purposely timed it that way. He heard the front door open and watched as Officer Hughes entered the kitchen, to be greeted by his daughter and wife, only noticing Stephen a few seconds later.

“You,” was all the officer could say.

“Yes.”

“Why are you here?”

Stating things as simply as he could, Stephen spoke with a cool, even tone. “It seems that some rumors and speculations have been made about my two roommates. You are already aware of what group I work for, and you should be made aware of is that those same two men are also members, indispensable members. You, however, are rather insignificant as far as that organization is concerned. They would like for those rumors to stop.”

“And what are your plans?” the officer said, looking to his wife and child who were still in the room, the wife now seriously watching the near perfect Aryan example at the table. “To intimidate me?”

“You should know well enough that I would not be sent for mere intimidation. I am here to ensure you never speak another word against my friends. How that happens is your choice.” Stephen’s blue eyes carefully watched each twitch in the officer’s face, and saw returned to him an expression of experienced understanding and anticipation. “Outside, there is a man who is willing to take you to safety. His name is Mustang. You and your family will be given enough time to leave with as many items as you think are absolutely necessary and the world will think that you died.

“Then there is the second option. Your wife and daughter will not be harmed, not physically, but I would think that the loss would affect them emotionally.”

There was still no response from the patriarch, but his wife grew furious. “How dare you come into my house under the pretense of being a friend of my husband’s! He is a good man.”

“Frau Hughes, I do not wish to harm your husband. I have no desire to, which is why I am offering him an option that does not involve both of us being hurt. Your husband got involved in things he shouldn’t have. He got back involved with the Nazi Party, then made accusations against two people who are vital to their work. So, tell me, do you still think your husband is a good man?”

“We’ll go,” Hughes said. “If you promise me they won’t be hurt.”

“No one will be hurt.” The man wearing glasses nodded, the spy watching the couple, not envying either of them for the conversation that would follow. But that wasn’t his concern. He had to set up a false arson, with the three bodies already waiting in the officer’s rather pathetic little car. The story was already prepared: The officer had somehow received word of what would happen, and Stephen had taken it into his own hands to dispose of him, unfortunately taking out the man’s family in the process.

Much as he didn’t want to admit it, the man would rather enjoy it, the darker part of his nature anticipating a little action, his conscience enjoying that it would not be causing real death.