Confirmation Bias

Title: Confirmation Bias
Rating: NC-17, baby
Pairing: Roy/Ed, wtf
Warnings for: Cryo-fic?
A/N: Not mine, boo-hoo, be kind, don\'t sue?

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“Come in.” Roy Mustang said, to the quivering mass of soggy hair and damp cloak that was Edward Elric on his doorstep. “I’ve been expecting you.”

Edward was in an ill humor as always, but Roy was willing to go along with it; the rain was a cold one and the wind was blowing it sideways, not conducive to a good mood for anybody.

“Don’t you have an umbrella?!” He asked, momentarily flabbergasted. Edward peeled his trademark red coat off like a snake shedding skin, deposited it unceremoniously on the foyer floor. It immediately produced a puddle.

“No.” Edward said. “Why bother? Wind’d just blow sideways underneath it.”

“Rain slicker?”

“…I haven’t had one of THOSE since I was six years old.”

“You could transmute one.”

“Pain in the ass.” Edward asserted. “Speaking of which, you got a towel? I gotta rub my pants down ‘fore the leather warps.” He looked up, flirtatiously, through that beautiful pair of long lashes that no man should rightfully possess.

Roy swallowed hard. “Sure.” He said, stepping woodenly away. Counted each step carefully and hated himself. There were times when it was depressing to be right.

He retrieved a towel from the bathroom and returned with it, just as careful, just as neutral in every way. This was a dangerous step he was taking, and if he was wrong they could both suffer the consequences – Roy because he would technically be in the wrong, and Edward because it would destroy his most valuable resource. Assuming Edward let it get out at all…he was such a proud creature, perhaps he would simply shoulder an unwanted come-on up, too.

But it wouldn’t come to that, Roy saw again when he offered the towel. Edward gave him a brief but dazzling smile and curled it around his flesh arm in an unnecessarily showy movement (which let his fingers brush along Roy’s arm, Roy was amused to note). Continued shooting looks at him, probably challenges, periodically as he ran that towel down the outside of each soaked leg and up again along the inner thigh.

“Well? Do I pass inspection?” He said at last, that familiar, teasing grin on his face. The same grin he had been favoring Roy with for weeks, any time he asked his commanding officer to perk up, pay attention, notice some aspect of his body. Edward held out his arms and twirled back and forth, showing off with a mocking air.

“You pass with flying colors.” Roy said, throat suddenly dry. “Come in.”

Edward squelch-stepped dutifully down the hall to the sitting room, ambiently bad-mouthing the weather at his back. He seemed grateful for the heat of the fire, and was none too shy about plunking himself down on the couch directly facing it, sprawling out in a way that would make a harlot blush.

“Fullmetal, you’re getting my couch wet.”

“Engh, transmute it out later.” Came the flippant response. “Now…what did you want with me?” God. Big golden puppy eyes trained expectantly on his skull. Didn’t need that. Sass he could handle, sass he got from some of his grown coworkers; wide-eyed Kid stares just made him feel like a dirty old man.

Roy rubbed his temples and had a brief dilemma over where to sit. His chair was farther away, safer, in the corner, but the edge of the couch was free owing to Edward’s shortness. And the edge of the couch would at least let him start this and get it over with. It would be, for lack of a better word, more honest. He went with that, perched primly by Fullmetal’s boots. Well, one of them, that was. The other leg was thrown wide, and its foot was on the floor, leaving the boy’s body entirely open.

Begging for it.

“It’s come to my attention-“ He began, placing one hand brazenly on Edward’s boot. “That there are things you need, and that you have been asking ME for.”

Edward lifted his head up, furrowed his brow as if he were the stupidest person in the world.

“Yeah…the Stone…”

Roy chanced to move his hand a little higher, testing the waters. Edward’s ankle. It twitched when he lay fingers on it and the boy promptly moved his leg away, which was a bad sign; but then he immediately sprang into a sitting position (closer to him now!) and offered a sheepish grin.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to put dirty shoes on your couch.”

“It’s okay.”

“Nah, sometimes, I just don’t think.”

He was so warm. Roy could feel the reflected heat from the firelight radiating off his dark clothes even at a distance. He took another deep breath and edged his own leg a little nearer to Edward’s, drank in the feel of it up close.

“So um…” The boy was nervous now, flushed. He didn’t jerk his leg away, Roy noticed acutely, but his thigh was twitching. “Yeah…so, Harthang. Anything special we should know before we head out tomorrow. That is, uh, what you called me out for, isn’t it?”

Roy shook his head. He didn’t want to mix work and sex. That would bring it back to the inexorable part he didn’t want to think about, how Edward was technically beholden to him. The boy was lost anyways, casting about aimlessly for any conversation topic other than the Problem At Hand. Roy shushed him with an elbow, pressing slowly but pleasurably against Fullmetal’s own.

“It’s okay, Edward. You can relax. I’ve been in this business a long time. I understand what it’s like to miss human contact.”

Edward blinked. “I have Al.” He said stiffly, and Roy’s eyebrows nearly rose off his face. Surely he didn’t mean…

“He’s still human, you know!” Edward continued, looking affronted. “What, you think I need some kind of pity-party cause I’m going out in the field?!”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Roy said quickly.

“Al is perfectly FINE company!” Edward said, and oh hell, he was starting on one of his infamous rants. Mouth turned down in a frown, color going blotchy, once he got going there would be no words in edgewise for nigh on half and hour, and if that started Roy wasn’t sure he’d be able to forgive himself for having invited it into his home.

“Al can’t keep you company in all things.” He said simply. “Edward, I’ve seen the way you look at me.”

“…what way I look at you?” Edward replied, scowling. He was not being cooperative at all now, and that nervous feeling in the pit of Roy’s stomach came back. Just a kid, just being a brat, he doesn’t know what he wants, does he-

“The way you…stare.” He finished, and if Edward didn’t get it SOON, he was going to drop the whole thing, escort the boy out to the curb, and call it a night. This was too nerve-wracking for what it was worth. Teach him to do a good deed. He should have just told Edward his crush was unrequited and left the whole situation alone. The boy was young. He could find someone else to torment.

Edward tilted his head and did some staring of his own. He looked slightly confused and the wrinkles in his forehead made Roy feel like a heel. Dammit, he was so wrapped up in himself he had forgotten all about how it must feel to be in Edward’s shoes, inexperienced and confronted with the object of one’s affections Up Close. Possibly the boy had no idea how to pursue this, and he wasn’t sure if that made him feel better or worse about his decision to let Edward try.

“Colonel…”

“It’s okay, Edward. Really.” He said, running a hand through his hair. “You’re young. It’s okay to want to explore. And it’s completely up to you, whether or not you want to pursue this. I didn’t ask you over because I had expectations, if that’s what you’re worried about. This is all about you, and what you want.”

God, did the boy really trust him that little? He was looking at him as if he were speaking in Martian.

“What I want.”

“Yes.” He said softly, and reached out to do the very last thing he was going to do to Edward – he stroked one hand down the side of Edward’s arm. The chronological calendar said he was going to hell for that, but the physiological calendar had no problems at all, because Edward shuddered and twisted beneath the contact.

“W-w-what are you doing?”

“I can stop.” He said immediately, and did so.

“No that’s—I mean, that’s okay but—you never CALL me by my name!” Edward said suddenly, looking extremely distressed.

Oh.

“…would you rather I called you ‘Fullmetal’?” Roy blinked. He didn’t want to use work names if at all possible, but if that made Edward more comfortable…

“Yeah, um. Because. Um.” Edward fidgeted. He seemed to have no idea what to do with his hands.

“It’s different, isn’t it?” Roy said quietly.

“Yes!” Edward nodded, seeming to seize upon something he knew. He gave a weak laugh. “Fuckin’ weird. What the hell’s with you today, anyway? The real Colonel on vacation, you’re just the stand-in?”

“No.” Roy said. “This is the ‘real’ me too, Fullmetal.”

He ran his hand down the side of Edward’s neck and the boy gasped and jerked, looked both terrified and turned on at the same time. Poor kid. Roy remembered well what that was like. The shock, melting to arrogant defiance, he knew that well.

I am not a virgin! He had proclaimed to his first date, only to embarrass himself by losing it the second she opened up to him. Too new. Hard as hell for too long, then scared as hell until he was soft again. Edward was like that, Roy was willing to bet. He didn’t want to admit when he didn’t know.

“Just trust me.” He said, soothingly. “You don’t have to worry about impressing anybody.”

Edward looked up at him with a panicked, almost terrified expression.

“…what do you want me to do?”

“Relax.”

He reached down, and closed the gap between them.

Edward jerked again as Roy’s hand returned to his neck, slid up to deftly massage behind one small earlobe. He was so tense Roy could feel every muscle in his neck, firm and corded, and he kept the touch chaste, just rubbed slow careful circles. The boy’s body stuttered and he grimaced, the stress of the situation coming to a rapid and visible head.

“What the hell, Mustang…” Edward said, though his protest was weak. His eyes were almond slits, and his breathing was rapid; he was also serially clenching and unclenching his fists. Roy observed them for a few moments with a clinical eye, nodded briefly to himself and then shifted his hand to the right to elicit a sharp hiss out of Edward. The boy immediately clamped his mouth shut and tried to choke the noise, and Roy smiled indulgently.

“It’s alright.” He said, in the tone he usually reserved for nervous dinner dates. The speech itself was rote too; it was not as if it was the first time he’d dealt with virgins. “If it feels good, you’re welcome to express it.”

At Edward’s sudden and furious look, Roy decided to amend that.

“…or not, if you want. Either way, if you DON’T like something I’m doing, tell me, and I’ll stop right away.”

Edward simply swallowed and nodded, leaning back just a little into the contact. Roy wished he didn’t find that so endearing. Second thoughts always happened right when the rabbit was in the snare. He slid his hand down to Edward’s shoulder and started kneading, helping him get a little more of that tension out, and the boy flushed so red for a moment he worried the poor bastard might be having an aneurism.

The kid deserves someone his own age, Roy thought guiltily, though again – fuck, who? He’d seen the boy with girls; he either ignored them or acted like he was scared of them. Or vice versa. Not many people, kids or adults, liked a smart ass little genius who could think circles around them. And Edward had been making eyes at him and he knew damn well he was the best bet the kid had at anything remotely normal. Jerking off by yourself only did so much at that age, and a first hand job felt like a big deal only until it was over; after that, it was just another thing that could happen between sun-up and sun-down, and it was easier to ask when you needed one. The big stuff, the real nasty, they didn’t have to get into that. Public service. Pay back for his best friend when he was that age, because Edward didn’t have a best friend to fool around with.

He tried to tell himself there was absolutely no component that was his own desire to bathe the boy with his tongue.

His hands found the edge of Edward\'s shirt collar and he ran his fingertips along the curve of the flesh exposed there, listened to the hitch in Edward\'s breath as he did so. The sound sent hot sparks into his groin but he ignored it, concentrated solely on Edward\'s expression. Dragged his hand down along the compact tract of Edward\'s torso and paused only briefly to imagine what that must feel like - warmth tracking down toward an intimate area; a guy couldn\'t help but anticipate what was coming next. Edward thrust up a little bit to meet him, arching his back shamelessly in a way that Roy hadn\'t expected. He had pegged Edward for the attempt-to-be-stoic type. Ah well. Just another sign he needed this.

He snaked his hand to one side and skirted wide around Edward\'s package as he progressed down toward the legs, just in case it would freak the boy out too much to start that too soon; Edward didn\'t seem to notice the courtesy. His thighs were tight and quivering beneath Roy\'s fingers, and when he kneaded there hips rocked forward in response, a reflexive attempt to rub the snubbed groin against Roy\'s arm.

\"Fuck,\" the kid hissed, his first official response.

That\'s the general idea, Roy thought but did not say; that old saw was long dull and anyway, could only serve to fluster his couch-mate. Edward was flushed bright red, and his flush did not improve as Roy slid his hand up to cup his clothed erection. Edward gritted his teeth against a low groan, and Roy also had a hard time keeping his mouth shut. Ohhhh. He wanted to bend the kid over the soft arm of the couch and fuck him. He wanted to rip those tight leather pants off and suck him dry. Ohhhh.

Edward grew a little more agitated as Roy fumbled with his belt, and Roy paused for a moment to ask the all-important question.

\"Okay?\"

The boy seemed conflicted, oscillating between confused and eager; the mean part of Roy perked up and he gave it full rein, still entranced by the vision of Edward\'s naked lower half.

\"It feels nice,\" he breathed. \"I promise. And if you don\'t like it, I can stop. It\'s nice to have someone else do it, though.\"

Edward nodded once, barely perceptibly, but it was all the invitation Roy needed to continue fiddling with his fly. Damn, that belt was so complex it might as well have been a chastity belt. He finally worked it free and made short work of the pants\' zipper. Edward was alternating between making noise and trying very hard NOT to make noise. Roy brushed his hand over boxers, and then all semblance of the latter went entirely out the window.

\"Isn\'t that better?\" He couldn\'t resist asking, and got little more than a whine in response.

\"Oh fuck,\" Edward gasped, and Roy was seized by the need to slip his hands up the leg of Edward\'s boxers, right now. Edward bucked shamelessly as Roy\'s hands found soft, heavy testicles, a velvety, hard-as-cast-iron cock smearing precome all over. He wrapped his hand around and tugged, and Edward howled, arched up into Roy\'s hand as hard as he could manage.

\"Oh hell. What the hell,\" Edward accused, but Roy was far too short of breath to waste any on more useless conversations. He was hard as hell too, and not getting any better by watching Edward whip his braid around. He disentangled his hand from Edward\'s undershorts and clawed at their waistband, desperate to get them down. They rolled a ways and then caught on Edward\'s hips, and the boy was all too willing to lift up and push them the rest of the way, along with his clinging leather pants.
Unhindered, Roy had a lot more range of motion to work with, and he put his talented wrists to work immediately. Edward was so young, it was only a matter of time.

\"Okay?\" He asked again, a little - no, okay, a lot turned on by how desperate the boy was. Edward\'s gaze fixated on his face and he looked absolutely stricken.

\"Yes--fuck--\'s good--fuck, something\'s--I feel so--\"

\"Yes,\" Roy closed his eyes and continued stroking, envisioning Edward even more naked, writhing on a bed instead of a couch. \"That\'s right. Come for me.\"

Edward made a strangled noise, and it was lucky for Roy that he did; otherwise he might have missed it when the boy went off. He remembered himself in time to open his eyes and watch as Edward went entirely rigid and spasmed, mouth wide open, face fixed in an expression of incredible epiphany. Roy choked on his own saliva and nearly faltered; watched, transfixed, at the spill of wetness across Edward\'s shirt. He had expected the boy looked good when he came. He hadn\'t anticipated it to be this good.

He slowed his hand and withdrew respectfully, gave Edward some space. The boy slumped hard against the couch and shuddered, obviously spent. The sight reminded Roy of how hard his own groin was screaming, and he couldn\'t help but wonder if he would have time to jack off in the bathroom when he went to get Edward a towel. Probably not. But holy hell, he needed it. Edward\'s eyes fluttered open, and Roy waited with bated breath to hear his pronouncement.

Edward looked down at the mess on his chest and his eyes widened. He jerked, looked slightly alarmed, then immediately looked to Roy.

\"Fuck...\" He said. \"What was that?\"

Roy blinked.

\"I should hope it wasn\'t THAT bad,\" he said, feeling vaguely insulted. Had someone else gotten to Edward first, then? And hell, from his expression, he\'d like to hope it was at least a favorable comparison. Edward wriggled a little and offered him a tired smile, which confused him even further.

\"No, it was really...good,\" Edward admitted. Oh good, thought Roy, much relieved. It figured. Sometimes, it felt like he was forever stuck in worst-case scenarios. Came with his job, he supposed. \"I\'ve never felt that good before,\" Edward continued, and Roy\'s chest swelled further.

\"Could you do it again?\"

\"...what?\" He has to be kidding, Roy thought, incredulous. NO ONE got it up again that fast. Not even if they were sixteen and hard up. \"Already?\"

\"Well, I dunno,\" Edward squirmed, looking intensely embarrassed. \"I guess? I never...that\'s never happened to me before, so...\" He looked up at Roy again, all wide eyes and anxious frown.

Belatedly, Roy had a terrible, no good, very BAD thought. A ludicrous thought - gah, when he had been that age, ten minutes alone would have seen him with his hands down his pants - but a thought, nonetheless...

\"You\'ve never...touched yourself?\" He asked.

\"No?\" Edward replied.

Sticky or not, Roy felt the need to bury his face in his hands. This mess, after all, was all his fault.

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A/N: Yes, for the record, this was based off Valiant\'s doujinsi \"Melissa\" - which ends with Ed explaining that he\'s just a \"really late bloomer\"... XD