Worlds Collide

A/N: Amethyst-eyed Konkeo, Aideen's a bit dark, what can I say? Ed and Roy can't have the perfect relationship with everything that's been going on, after all. And gee, should I even dare say Hohenheim and Noa are mentioned again this chapter? Nicholas is definitely more easy-going than Aideen. I should have written clammy back, but their air's busted. Wrath's working on weapons that don't involve alchemy for Amestris. nette, I'm having fun writing Nicholas, and yeah, Aideen's definitely lost a bit of her spark and what she had before the attack.

Chapter 41

Resolve

“Should I get the two of you a room?” Aideen’s calm, smooth voice whispered.

Laughing nervously at himself, Phillip realized he was grabbing hold of his best friend’s hand after the most recent scare on the screen. Quickly, he released Nicholas and looked over at Aideen, seeing her hunched over something, and knowing his girlfriend, she probably hadn’t done more than look at them out of the corner of her eye.

“Aideen,” he whispered, “what are you doing?” He looked beneath her hunched upper body, seeing what he really should have expected to be there. “Is that a book?”

“You’re reading in the middle of a movie!” Nicholas said, much too loud and earning shushes not only from the other patrons, but his and Aideen’s personal guards a few rows back.

“I could pretend to be as scared as the two of you at some poorly-made monsters and shock tactics,” she whispered back, sticking her tongue out at her brother.

Phillip loved Aideen, he really did, but he preferred dragging Nicholas on dates with them as either a double or a third wheel. Not only did he have someone to talk to when Aideen pulled something like reading in the middle of a movie, but Nicholas always managed to bring out a side in Aideen that no one else could.

“You’ll hurt your eyes,” Phillip whispered, offering Aideen his hand, smiling to himself when he found it filled with her own soft, thin one. The book didn’t leave her lap, but she did shift to lean against his shoulder.

“Shit,” Nicholas muttered at Phillip’s left. “Now I know why Aideen left that turtleneck on. It’s cold in here.”

Phillip snickered and kissed Aideen on the top of her head. In turn, she ran her fingers up to his hair and laced them through his cocoa brown curls. Her eyes still refused to leave the pages of the book, but it didn’t matter to him. He was content.

********

“You’re a very kind young man,” Frank’s mother said to Kain as he treated her broken wrist the best he could until Raine could get there. He smiled to her, offering her a towel full of ice.

“I don’t know how long it will last in here. Our cooling system’s broken, so it’s pretty warm in here.”

“And I’m sure that’s why my son came to the door in only his pajama pants,” she said with a knowing look and a sad smile. “You don’t seem much like my Frank’s type. But he doesn’t seem much like my Frank anymore.”

Kain nodded, trying to keep an aura of calm, when he was actually concerned for what Frank would do. He’d seen his husband’s anger in the past, and he hated the idea of what an event like this might unleash.

“I wish I’d spent more time since he came back getting to know him.”

“You still have time. I think he’d like that.” Kain ran a hand down the older woman’s arm.

“I was surprised when we got an invitation to your wedding,” she said.

“You’re his parents. We wouldn’t leave you out.”

Again there was a sad smile that quickly faded. “What do you think he’s going to do to Frank Senior?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but if I know your son, he’s not going to simply have a talk with him.”

The doorbell rang, then rapid knocking followed. Raine was here.

Kain went to the door and answered it, barely getting out any piece of a greeting before the doctor was in the room, looking over Frank’s mother, a little redhead following behind her.

“Hello, Mr. Kain.”

“Hello, Juliana.”

“How often does this happen to you?” Raine asked rather gruffly.

“What?”

“How often do you let that bast—jerk hit you?” Rain apparently was watching her language around the little girl. She clapped her hands and held them over the wounded wrist.

“It isn’t as though it’s his fault, I—”

“So your entire marriage?” Raine said, cutting her off. “You need more help than just this wrist.” She then looked down at the redheaded girl at her side. “Juliana, promise me when you find someone you care about, you don’t let them do this to you.”

“No, Grandmama,” the little girl said, using the only grandmother-related phrase Raine approved of, as it sounded refined enough she didn’t care that it signified a bit about her age.

“Because this isn’t love. Someone you love doesn’t purposely hurt you.” Looking again at Mrs. Archer, Raine shook her head of mostly gray hair—she’d stopped dying it a few years ago—and began wrapping the wrist. “Personally, I hope Vato is a little late stopping Frank so he does a little damage.”

Kain had to agree, but he feared what might happen if his husband’s fury went unchecked.

********

Walking ahead, Ed opened the door to the restaurant for Roy, earning himself an inquisitive eyebrow and a faint smile. “Just fair,” Ed said. After all, Roy had done all of this for Ed the first time, and it seemed reasonable enough to return those gestures.

Roy stepped ahead, Ed taking just a moment to enjoy the man’s behind before taking his right hand in his left, which was squeezed in return. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing the baby store where they’d bought all of the twins’ baby furniture was now a jewelry store.

“Oh, I’d never realized before that the store had changed.”

“What?” Roy asked. Ed tipped his head toward the window where he’d frozen those years before. “Been like that for three years. Really observant, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know,” Ed said, pulling out a black box from his coat pocket. “I think I’ve managed to observe this just fine.” He handed the box to Roy, putting his right hand in his pants pocket as he waited for his husband to open it with only his left—Ed wasn’t relinquishing the right one.

“My alchemic symbol?” Roy asked.

Ed nodded. “I figured you didn’t exactly have something that was passed down from teacher to student like I did.” He tapped the flamel at his neck beneath the white dress shirt. “So, I worked on that. Just like the other one to ward against Dante, it is functional,” Then he added with a warm smile. “just in case some arrogant upstart decides to rip off the back of your gloves with an automail spike.”

Roy pulled Ed out of the way of oncoming pedestrians and kissed him as they leaned against the wall of the women’s clothing store that had remained unchanged after fifteen years.

“Very thoughtful,” Roy said, running his knuckles down Ed’s cheek. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, well, don’t think it’s just the kids I’m trying to protect with my long hours in the lab. It would be nice to be able to go back to that restaurant and actually get to sit where we did on our first date, without guards concerned over our safety in front of the window making us sit somewhere else.”

“Yes, it would.” Again, Roy leaned down to kiss him, Ed pushing his own body up on his toes and leaning just a bit into the still-strong arms that held him. “Happy anniversary, Ed.”

“Happy anniversary, Roy.” Ed grabbed his husband’s face with both hands. “We’ve had two shitty years, but love has never been the issue. You know that, don’t you?”

There was enough hesitation before Roy answered “Yes,” that told Ed that Roy had his doubts.

“Well, you’d better. I’m obsessive when it comes to protecting my family. Sometimes, it takes a little smack on the head to get me to stop.”

“Of course, Fullmetal. I smack you with my hand,” Ed felt Roy wrap his hand around the automail wrist. “and you will smack me with yours. Not exactly equivalent exchange, since I’d be the one needing to visit Raine.”

There was a definite smile on Roy’s face, mixed with something else, that fire that the Flame Alchemist had always been known for. “The guards are getting anxious just having us walking down the street,” Ed said, feeling his husband’s arms around his waist and wrapping his own around the taller man’s neck. “Not to mention we’re giving the reporters trying to stay hidden behind those cars across the street photos to last a few months.”

“Then let’s make it worth it,” Roy said, dipping his head to Ed’s neck, making the younger man gasp out. “They’ve done enough guessing when we’ll divorce.”

Ed threaded his hands through black and gray hair, realizing that if he didn’t soon get Roy home, they’d end up providing the photographers with pictures to embarrass their children for years to come.

“Mmm,” Ed hummed, turning to latch his teeth onto Roy’s earlobe. “Home. Now.”

“I would have to agree,” Ed heard the commander of their guard say behind him. “You’re causing quite a scene.”

“Yes, Commander Ross,” the couple said in unison, though glad to see she was at least smiling.

********

Glasgow, Scotland

Hohenheim sat opposite Phillip Reid, the stepson of Alex Armstrong, a miner in Scotland, who had been captured by men and women who all but met the description of the Thule Society. Hohenheim had asked Albert, Noa's husband, to take little Eddie back home while he talked to this teenager.

“So, if he was taken over five years ago, why come here now?”

“I’m old enough to travel here on my own. And it isn’t as though I get a day off from the mines that often.”

“Mines?”

“After my father was kidnapped, someone had to earn money to take care of the family. I have a little brother and mother at home.”

“So you work to provide for them at your young age?”

“It isn’t unheard of.” The young man sipped at the drink Hohenheim had bought for him.

“But it seems terribly unfair.”

“It’s life. If my father could handle it, so can I.” Phillip folded his hands over his glass. “You seemed really interested when I started talking about what I saw that night. Do you know something?”

“I think I might, but it is too dangerous—”

“I will do anything to save him. He raised me from the time I was a baby. I’ve never been old enough before, but I’ve got just over a year to find him before he’s declared legally dead and the mine foreman can officially pursue my mother.” There was a coldness in those dark brown eyes. “I can’t let that happen. It is bad enough that the man is around my little brother as much as he is. He’s a terrible influence, and I don’t like him.

“Tell me what I need to do to help you, Mr. Elric, and I will do it.”

“You would trust me that quickly?”

“You are the first to genuinely offer me help.” The young man’s hand reached across the table, Hohenheim taking it and shaking it. He would have to speak to Noa, explain to her that he’d be making plans to return to Germany and she needed to stay here with her family. He’d put his blood family in danger often enough with his alchemy. He wasn’t risking what he considered—and the world believed to be—his adopted daughter as well.

********

Amestris

Frank reached under the dash of the car, blindly grabbing for the gunrack beneath the passenger side dash, and with a few quick flicks of the clasps, he removed his husband’s pistol. He then moved back upright and opened the door, swinging his legs out of the vehicle and getting out quickly. He slammed the door shut loudly, hearing it echo around the charming little cul de sac. He stalked up the sidewalk to the quaint, picturesque home his alternate mother must have worked so hard to keep that way, one his actual mother would have loved to have lived in, rather than a London flat they had been just barely able to afford. Thinking how much his own mother had always envied homes like this with their carefully trimmed flower bushes and nicely manicured lawns, it made him sick that such a place would house so much hatred. He had never had a lot at home, but until she died, there had been love in that tiny home in London where his mother had raised him.

Walking to the door and pulling at the brass handle, he found it was locked, but could still hear the voice yelling from inside.

“I told you that if you walked out, you’d never see the inside of this house again.”

Frank looked the door over again, seeing it wasn’t very new, wasn’t very sturdy. His frosty blue eyes narrowed before a heavy military-issue boot kicked open the wood door. “Honey, I’m home,” he called as the door cracked as he pushed it open completely, his voice dripping with sarcasm and loathing.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” the father he was now thankful to have never known said as he walked through the front door and found the older, mirror image of himself sitting on a chair, drinking a snifter of brandy.

“I think I’m here to make you suffer, old man,” he said, finger twitching at the trigger of the gun at his side. “Who the hell do you think you are to lay a hand on my mother? When I’m through with you tonight, you’ll wish the cancer had gotten the chance to kill you.”

He grabbed the man by his shirt collar, pulling him partly out of the chair so he could look him in the eyes.

“How dare you disobey your own father? I raised you to have respect.”

“You have respect for nothing and no one, so how am I to have respect for you?” Frank tossed the old man back in the chair. “Really, I’d think at your age your bones would be too brittle to do any damage, but I see I was wrong.” He raised his gun and pointed it squarely at the mostly bald head.

“And what exactly do you think you’re going to do with that?”

“I’m not sure if you’re aware how these work, though you managed to fire it at Mother, but when I pull this little trigger, a bullet will come out and end your miserable excuse for a life.” Frank wanted to laugh at the man, who seemed to be seeking some way to stop him. He put just the slightest bit of pressure on the trigger. “I think you must come to terms with dying right now, because I assure you that I don’t have an issue in killing. I guarantee that common genetics or not, I’m not going to spare a man who abuses his wife and fires a weapon at her.”

“And what about a man who fires a weapon at his father?”

“You aren’t my father. My father’s dead… as far as I’m concerned.”

Though there was definitely fear in the older man’s grey-green eyes, there was something else, and it had Frank concerned. He thought at first it might have been the desire for death, but as the man’s right hand twitched, Frank saw the gun sitting next to his “father.”

“Tsk. Tsk,” Frank said as he quickly snatched the gun from his father’s side before the old man could manage even the slightest move toward it. He put the man’s revolver in his coat pocket and stepped closer, pressing the gun to the man’s forehead. “Beg me not to kill you.”

“Frank, put down the gun!” a gravelly voice said from behind him.

“Falman, stay out of this,” Frank said, not breaking eye contact with the man on the other side of his weapon. “When I asked Kain to call your girlfriend, I only meant to help my mother.”

“Frank, if you kill him, it won’t do you any good. You’ll end up in jail, and no one wants that, not for you, not for Kain. Your motherh as already admitted to Raine and your husband that this waste of air beats her. He’ll probably die in prison.”

“He deserves to suffer,” Frank said, pulling the trigger and hearing the distinctive click. A devilish grin spread across his face. “Tell me, you old son of a bitch, do you need to change your adult diapers now? Be grateful I grabbed my husband’s gun on purpose. He doesn’t keep it loaded in the car like mine.” He looked over at the gray-haired officer. “Please, help me dispose of this trash legally.”

********

Roy found himself on the sofa, which had been reupholstered after Ed raised a fit about it being replaced, his husband laying on top of him, covering him like a small blanket—not that he’d add the small part aloud. Sex wasn’t out of the question yet; Roy wasn’t that tired, but they needed this, exactly as they were. Ed had his left arm wrapped around Roy’s neck, the right behind his back in the small space between Roy and the arm of the couch. Roy was absent-mindedly running a hand through Ed’s hair, his other hand rather enjoying its place at Ed’s behind as they simply talked to one another like they hadn’t for ages.

“Al’s been married for over ten years and he still hasn’t figured Winry out,” Ed said, laughing at the end of his little story about his brother. “I’m so damned glad I’m gay. Women are impossible to figure out.”

“You’re not any easier,” Roy said, smiling as he rubbed a cheek along the top of Ed’s head.

“That’s bull and you know it.” Ed turned his head so his chin was somewhat painfully digging into Roy’s chest and gold eyes were now trying to bore holes into his head. “I’m easy to figure out. Just a bit difficult to do anything about.”

“Minor difference, husband of mine.”

Roy felt the flesh hand behind his neck make its best attempt to smack him.

“You know,” Roy said as Ed laid his head back down, “Nicholas wants to redecorate his room.”

“That’s fine as long as it doesn’t give Aideen ideas. I’d rather not have to decorate hers to look like a dungeon.” Ed sighed, increasing the pressure on Roy’s body for a moment. “I’ve tried to get her to wear something other than black.”

“I’d just like if she changed what she’s wearing a bit.”

“Other than the color? What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s, well, form fitting. And I can’t exactly argue with her that she should wear something that covers her up better, since it runs from neck to foot.”

“Still concerned about bras that don’t lock?”

“I’m over-protective of her and hypocritical because I cheer Nicholas on, but the fact that she’s had a boyfriend for two months at her age bothers me.”

“I was only a year older when I had a fiancé.”

“Don’t remind me. I’m a cradle-robber.”

“Yeah, but your mine.”

Roy paused, tangling his hands in Ed’s hair, actually envying his husband for the fact that he was blond. Ed’s hair would have to be largely gray before it ever became noticeable. To himself, he wondered if fifteen more years down the line the younger man would still keep his hair so long. Probably.

“So,” Ed said, “are we okay? Or at least better?”

“I think so,” Roy said. “I know I’m feeling better.”

“Feeling better?” Ed almost immediately jerked himself upright, hands propping his body up to look down at Roy. “What’s wrong? What happened? Are you keeping something about your health from me?”

Roy put his hands at either side of Ed’s head at his temples, fingers in the blond hair there. “Stress, Ed. All this was stressful.”

“I could have told you that,” Ed said with a roll of his eyes. “It isn’t like it was easy on me either, but I didn’t use the words feel better.” He was getting angry, certain that Roy was hiding something and had been for some time, and in reality, that wasn’t too far from the truth.

“The stress was causing, as my knowledgeable sister put it, ‘physical manifestations.’ Fighting with you had me literally feeling like my heart was breaking.”

Gold eyes twitched from side to side, looking over every inch of Roy’s face, seeming to grow just a bit glossy from gathering tears. “And you kept this from me? Why?”

“We weren’t exactly on the best of terms very often, and I didn’t want to spoil the good moments we had.”

Ed grimaced, looking pained and incredibly guilty. “I’m so sorry, Roy.” Then the anger came back, and Roy found himself being smacked with both hands, each accentuating his words as he spoke. “But why. Didn’t. You. Tell me? Because that’s. A. Shitty. Excuse.”

Roy wrapped his arms around his head as his sides were beaten by his husband.

“Because as angry as I was about the amount of time you were away from me, I want you to find Dante,” Roy confessed. He felt the hitting stop and parted his arms enough to look through the slit he’d created.

At that, he found Ed pulling his arms down, the small body leaning down to press their cheeks together. “I love you, Roy. No matter how obsessive I get, that doesn’t change.” Ed laid his head down on Roy’s chest and was silent for a while.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” Roy smiled, resuming their earlier position, knowing his husband was listening, most likely, to his heartbeat.

“It’s still going strong,” Roy said, watching as Ed’s entire body showed he’d been flustered and just a bit embarrassed at being caught.

“If it’s so strong, are you up for some more vigorous exercise?”

“As long as you’re not talking about sparring, I think so.”

“I was thinking a little jog up the stairs. They say if your heart can take that, it can handle, well, other activities.” And with that, Ed smiled devilishly and took off up the stairs, Roy doing his best to chase after him. He was unbuttoning his shirt as he went, and by the time he got to the door of his bedroom, he found Ed wiggling out of his suit pants, and for a moment, he stopped and stared.

“What are you wearing?”

“Underwear,” Ed said, looking down at himself. “What? They’re briefs.”

Roy raised an eyebrow, noticing how the cotton hugged every curve of Ed’s behind and cupping rather nicely in the front. He’d seen the things on mannequins in storefronts, as they hadn’t quite reached popularity in Amestris yet. If they looked this good on Ed, Roy wanted to keep them around for a long time. As he saw every twitch of the muscles beneath the fabric, he decided it would be for a very long time.

Letting his white shirt fall to the ground, Roy circled Ed like a predator, Ed looking very little like a victim as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Are you trying to get me dizzy?”

At that, Roy found himself pushing Ed onto the bed. “Just enjoying you with those on.”

“I’d rather you enjoyed me with them off, but if you insist…”

Roy attached himself to Ed’s neck, his mouth leaving a trail of tiny red love bites from neck to collar bone as Ed grabbed hold of his sides, left hand leaving tracks from fingernails. All the while, Roy worked to get his pants unfastened.

“I love you, Ed,” he said against the salty skin. “I love you so much and I’ve missed you.”

“Roy!” Ed cried out in surprise as Roy’s mouth found a nipple and began to attack it. “Oh, more, please, more.” He was breathing heavily beneath Roy. “I want you. Now.” Ed’s hands moved to wriggle himself out of the briefs, sliding them over the lean, muscular legs until he kicked them to the floor, those legs circling around Roy’s waist.

Roy pulled down the remaining item of clothing on his own body and began to slide within the grasp of Ed’s legs until he was face to face with Ed’s very obvious need. “How on earth did you manage to keep this thing tucked away in those itty,” He kissed the head of Ed’s erection. “bitty,” He licked it. “shorts?”

He quickly moved to position himself over top of Ed, facing away from his eager husband, his legs now straddling the blond head. He felt a set of mismatched hands guiding his own member to a very warm, very wet mouth below. This was always a struggle with their mismatched height, but tonight it was worth it to feel Ed, to taste Ed. Completely worth it.

Doing his best to hold his balance on just one arm, Roy moved to fondle lightly over Ed’s balls, cupping them in his hand and feeling the blond curls tickle over his fingertips and the heel of his hand. All the while, he could feel Ed, doing everything he could with his lips and tongue, attempting as best he could to take Roy into his mouth. It was a battle for the shorter man, but Roy didn’t care. He didn’t exactly have plans of releasing inside of his husband’s mouth.

He wrapped his hand around Ed, letting two fingers point upwards along with the man’s cock, and began to lick and suck over those as well.

“Damn, Roy,” Ed said. “Move your fingers.” There was a groan as Roy moved his tongue to move around the head of the fiercely hot cock. “Want to fe-eel you.”

At that, Roy obeyed, moving those fingers back beyond Ed’s balls, and circling them around the puckered hole that had gotten far too little of this kind of use in the last few months. Instinctively, Ed’s legs were parting farther as Roy’s finger finally penetrated, a grunt from below echoing over Roy’s member. It earned a moan from the older man in return, as Ed’s little grunt had echoed over the head of Roy’s own cock. For just a moment, he forgot what he was doing until he felt Ed clenching around his finger, a very tight reminder of what he’d intended when all this started.

He moved the second finger to join the first, bobbing his head all the while to ease his husband’s discomfort, and guessing by the noises and sensations rolling over and around his own member, there wasn’t really much of any left. Slowly, and more than reluctantly, he moved away from Ed’s glorious mouth and agile pink tongue, situating himself back between the flesh and metal legs and smiling down at the glazed face of his former subordinate.

Roy positioned himself at Ed’s entrance. “I love you Ed.”

He got a moan in return as he pushed into the enveloping heat, lifting Ed’s legs to wrap around his waist as he continued to steadily move inside.

“Damn,” Ed said, wincing in pain, but still overloading in pleasure. “Why the hell did I stay out in that lab all that time?” Roy soon found his arms full of the agile body of his blond lover and husband, their lips mashing together, Ed drawing Roy’s tongue in his mouth, simulating to it what he’d have done with Roy’s member if he’d had better access. The cold automail and warm flesh arms wrapped around Roy’s shoulders, tightening each time the smaller man’s body arched in pleasure as Roy repeatedly struck his prostate.

“Roy, shit!” Ed cried out, moving his head, finding Roy’s nipple and biting down on it, then circling it with his tongue.

Roy moved the arm that wasn’t holding him upright to pull Ed’s head toward his, kissing him, telling him once again that he loved him, hearing from that wonderful raspy voice that he was loved too before feeling the warmth between them and the tightness around his cock as they both reached completion. Still inside Ed and encircling the man’s chest with his arms, Roy rolled to the side and held him closely. They laid there for some time like that, having trouble telling where one began and the other ended.

********

“Are you done yet?”

“These designs will allow for missiles, not just rockets,” Wrath said, making Russell feel like a child with his tone. “Do you have any idea how useful they will be in battle?”

“Yeah, yeah, the normal people get to fight. It’s really nice.” Russell refrained from making a remark about having a missile that he needed Wrath to take care of. Dirty jokes like that were guaranteed to deprive him of sex for at least the night, and he knew better. Wrath had far more will-power than Russell did, and they both knew it.

“I don’t make fun of you when you’re looking through dusty volumes of alchemy research.” Still, as Russell looked at his lover’s face, he knew Wrath was done with his work. He was holding out to make the older man cave. And as far as Russell was concerned, if it meant getting some time with Wrath on more than just professional work, Russell would cave faster than the mines to the north.

“Please,” Russell said, knowing looking innocent wouldn’t work, but begging was a nice start. There was no response. “Damn it, I’ve been wearing this son of a bitching thing all day, and you’re just going to make me suffer.”

“Oh, it isn’t even one of the big ones,” Wrath said, rolling his eyes and leaning back from the desk. “Besides, I think you’ve got a bit of a masochistic streak in you. Otherwise, why would you let me fight with you so often before sex?”

“I fight back.”

“Well, you try.” Russell walked over to Wrath, prepared to show him this was more than a “try” when he found himself pulled directly onto the larger man’s lap, his mouth covered by his lover’s, and a knee pressing up on his behind, adding pressure to the toy currently inside of him. He didn’t know at what point it happened, but he’d lost the upper hand in this relationship, and found more often than not, Wrath called the shots. He had no one to blame but himself, to be honest, since he’d been the one trying to build the younger man’s self-confidence.

“You know,” Wrath said, whispering in Russell’s ear, “I think we should take care of your problem since you’re suffering so much.”

Damn him, Russell knew exactly where this was going. Wrath would get him off, not asking for reciprocation in order to hold it over Russell for a favor later.

As a hand began to deftly unfasten his belt then pants, he didn’t care. Wrath once again kissed him just before the massive hand wrapped around him, making Russell gasp into Wrath’s mouth, giving access to a more-than-eager tongue. While the left arm held him in place, Russell felt the leg beneath him move, shifting the plug he’d worn at Wrath’s request since noon that day, making it more than tease but full-out press against his prostate. He’d been mostly hard all day, and it took very little more than a few more bumps of that knee and the pulling and twisting of a very skilled, and somewhat chafing, right hand to make the older man mess his pants in a way he hadn’t since puberty.

“You know,” Wrath said as he whispered in Russell’s ear, “I love to watch you like that. I love the look on your face.” Then there was a chuckle. “But you’re still going to owe me.”

Russell just groaned, feeling like he needed a shower.

********

Nicholas leapt up the front steps of their home as Aideen gave Phillip a quick peck goodnight. She’d been glaring at him for some time, and though he could guess why, he didn’t understand why she was so bent out of shape about it.

“Bye, Phillip,” she said as she shut the door to the house behind them.

No sooner were brother and sister alone together, than Aideen reached through the collar of her shirt to grab at something in her chest. Standing, staring curiously at his sister, Nicholas wondered what the hell she was doing. Before it even dawned on him, he found himself being pelted with popcorn kernels.

“Did you have to dump what was left of your popcorn down my shirt?” she asked.

“Come on, that was a feat in itself with you wearing your dark and dreary turtleneck.”

“Do you have any idea what it’s like to have those stuck down your chest with no opportunity to get to a bathroom to remove them?”

“Come on, you could have done that.”

“Not in front of Phillip, and certainly not in public,” she said, giving him a death glare. “Unlike men, women have a standard for not adjusting themselves in public.”

“Please, you just do it when you think no one is looking. I’ve seen more than enough women to a discreet area to readjust their bra strap, or do one of these.” Nicholas pushed underneath his chest and shifted around the boobs he didn’t have. “You suffered because you didn’t want to get embarrassed. And if I remember right, I’m the one who ended up with half a cup of ice down my back.”

Aideen was already at the stair steps. “I think I hear Dad and Papa.”

“Please tell me they didn’t forget the silencing transmutation.”

“No,” she said as she climbed, her voice turning to a whisper. “They’re sleeping.”

The twins went upstairs together, Nicholas anxious to see if his parents had, indeed made up. He made his way to their bedroom door, and watched as Aideen bravely poked her head inside. He’d done that one time at the worst possible moment, and he hadn’t quite gotten up the nerve to do it again, even at the right one. It had taken him a week to look his fathers in the eyes.

“They’ve just had showers, or at least a shower.” She went to her bedroom and came back with two rose bushes. “Help me take these inside. I’ve got two more.”

He went to her room and retrieved the other two and followed her into their parents room. She had already positioned two on the left side of the bed, where their dad always slept, signaling for Nicholas to do the same on their papa’s. He saw her looking at them, their dad with his chest to their papa’s back, automail arm wrapped tightly around their older father, their legs a mass of lumps beneath the blankets. Nicholas didn’t often say this about his own parents, but it was a sweet image, his dad looking content with his cheek on the pale shoulders in front of him, their papa with his fingers laced around the automail ones.

Aideen closed her eyes for a moment, meditating as usual before doing this, and then went around to each of the bushes, making them form a canopy over their fathers, rosebuds all ready to bloom at first light, thorns nowhere to be seen.

They walked out of the room together.

“I hope I get to have that one day,” Aideen said, quietly.

“You will,” Nicholas reassured her. As they both went to their respective bedrooms, he looked over at his sister, just wishing he could figure her out sometimes. As she closed the door, he wondered if maybe his parents had the right idea. If he couldn’t understand his own twin, what hope did he have for the rest of the female population?