Wild! Chapter 17

[meredavey]

Title: Wild
Author: meredavey
Series: Brotherhood (although it can stand on its own)
Pairing: Roy/Ed
Rating: NC-17
Word Count for this chapter: 1,204 (19,466 overall)
Summary: Ed decides he wants to find love, something wild, something vibrant and above all something passionate.
Notes: Next chapter we hit 20k words. :) I'm going to guess that at this rate I might actually make it another 10 chapters and 10k with this story. But maybe not. All I do know is that I'm very excited. I'm creating a whole universe around this one fic. What was originally going to be sequels may just be short stories within the series. :) That way y'all won't have to wait so long for each update. also: new icon for WILD!
Dedication: to nochick_fics as usual for her support. (I'm sorry, I couldn't wait to post it!) and amethyst_koneko who was so happy and talked about "forever". Teehee.

Ed tromped slowly through the town. Roy had diverted to the general store to get…something. Ed hadn’t quite been listening to what he’d said – he’d been more concerned with the fact that Roy had wanted to “talk”.

“Talk” usually meant something bad, and although Roy claimed it didn’t in this case, it was hard for Ed to believe that. He tried to swallow back the fear, but it kept rising up inside of him, desiring to eat him whole.

He kicked up some of the dust on the street as he meandered down the road to the inn where he and Roy had taken up residence.

The man was once again at the front desk and he gave Ed a smile. “Do you need any help?” he asked.

“Err, just wondering what’s being served for lunch today.”

“A whole bunch of things are being served…from savory to sweet…have your pick.”

Ed had a very bad feeling about this guy so he opted to stand as far away as he could without looking rude.

“But, do you have a menu?”

The man smiled. “I can just tell you the menu, why don’t we go up to your room and we can talk about it there-”

Ed’s eyes narrowed. He breathed in through his nose. “No; I’d rather eat in the dining hall,” Ed managed to keep his voice civil.

The man seemed to pout, “But it’s nice and quiet up in your room – unlike the noisy dining hall with all the irritating patrons!”

“I highly doubt you’re supposed to be calling patrons ‘irritating’,” Ed mumbled under his breath. He sighed again. “If you wouldn’t mind just handing me a menu, I do have things to do today…”

“You can multitask,” the front desk receptionist told him softly. “I’m sure you’re very good a multi-tasking.”

Ed could feel his fists clenching in and out, and he could feel his heart pounding and uncertain – thu-thump, thu-thu-thump, thump, thu-thump. He stared at the receptionist. Yes, he was good looking. Handsome in a normal sort of way; not eye-catching but not horrible looking either. Ed shuffled his feet and did a mental calculation.

He’d slept with Roy last night – and this morning – and he felt…how did he feel? At first, alive and burning…filled with an unimaginable sweetness. Filled with, hope. Trust.

He’d thought he was in love with the man. But…was it love or lust?

And Roy, Roy was never one to stick with a single person. Yes, the sex had brought them closer than they had been. It would not however, be the end all be all. They would still be able to function even if they weren’t having sex.

Sex! Sex seemed to be such a crude word for what they had done, and it wasn’t like they were in love, right? So…what was it?

He shook his head sharply to dislodge this disconcerting thoughts, and turned back to the receptionist.

He bit his lower lip and a moment later the receptionist was up in his personal space. Ed took a few steps back in an attempt to ward off the –still – unwanted attentions of the male receptionist. Those few steps had him accidentally bumping into the person standing a bit behind him.

She gave a little yelp of surprise and turned to face him, hands on her hips. She was a pretty woman, handsome. She had a round face and her cheeks were currently flushed red with anger, her brow was high and her hair was a luxurious brown that curled and spilled in lengths down her back despite being held back in a ponytail. Her outfit, casual, yet formal at the same time, seemed to suit her and give her a look of elegance most women desired to achieve.

She pursed her lips and Ed was aware of her looking him up and down.

“Sorry – sorry!” Ed apologized as quickly as he could, for once not wanting to make a scene

She pursed her lips and glanced at the male receptionist. She wiggled her fingers at him. “Back to your desk James. Stop bothering the young man, he was not interested in you in the least.”

The woman smiled and patted her pockets for a moment before withdrawing a card. “I’m Abigail…Stevenson. I own this inn. And who might you be?” Abigail held out a thin hand to Edward.

Ed hesitantly took it in his as he responded. “Edward. Pleased to meet you.” She gave him a firm handshake before retracting her hand and handing him the card she’d pulled from her pocket.

“I’m sorry you had to bear witness to some of James’s…quirks. He doesn’t mean any harm, but sometimes he does get carried away. Next time feel free to slap him,” she raised her voice at the last time and from the desk he could hear an irritated huff. Ed found that he actually genuinely liked this woman.

“How long have you owned this inn?”

“Ohh…” she murmured as she thought, “my parents owned it before me, but we never came out here to see it, my uncle ran it for the most part. But how long have I personally run it?” she mumbled for a moment and ticked some things off on her fingers. “About twelve years,” she finally decided, “give or take.”

“Why so curious?”

“I’d doing research on local legends,” Ed shrugged. “Nothing to it but my own curiosity.”

She laughed a deep laugh and smiled at him again flashing white teeth. “Well, I’m going to get changed, so how about I join you for lunch in twenty minutes? It’ll be on the house.” The skin around her eyes crinkled as she smiled. “And then I’ll tell you all the stories I’ve heard about these parts.”

Ed bobbed his head in excitement as the woman turned and left. Ed went back to his room quickly: rearranging his hair into a more presentable state and brushing dirt off the exposed skin.

Once he thought he was presentable he went back downstairs to find Abigail waiting for him at the doors.

The maitre’d escorted them to a table by the windows and handed them menus. Abigail didn’t look at hers, but Ed glanced quickly across his  - lots of food. Lots and lots of food and his stomach groaned in hunger.

A waiter moved quickly to their table and they ordered just as Ed caught sight of Mustang entering the dining area.

He waved him over and the man approached with a quick step.

“I thought you were going to wait for me.”

“I got hungry, and Abigail here offered to tell me some of the legends.”

Roy turned to the woman smiling, “Pleased to –” but his voice dropped off and his eyes widened in something like shock.

Abigail’s chair scraped the floor as she stood up. “You,” she hissed.

“A-Abigail?” Mustang’s voice stammered a bit in uncertainty.

“You two know each other?” Ed queried.

Abigail’s lips tightened as she stared at Roy. “I’m his, what am I Roy? We were engaged…but we aren’t married so, what, are we?”

Roy looked horrified as his gaze dropped down to Edward’s who was staring between them with unmitigated horror. “Engaged?” he squeaked out.