Wild! Chapter 29

[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: 1,319  (38,355 overall)
Summary: Ed decides he wants to find love, something wild, something vibrant and above all something passionate.

Roy looked up from his lounging position on the bed as he heard the bathroom door click open all of a sudden.

He got a sort of look at the really red face before,

“I love you!”

And he hadn’t thought Ed could get any redder, but apparently he could because Roy swore if Ed got any redder he’d do blue in the face and pass out for lack of oxygen.

He figured Ed realized he had to breath because he let out his breath in a massive explosion. And then he stood there, shifting from foot to foot in discomfort.

Roy paused as he opened his mouth to reply and then got lost as to what he was supposed to say back, but apparently he wasn’t supposed to say anything because Ed barrled on,

“I know we discussed this and I agreed that we wouldn’t…do anything rash, but, but,” and here Ed stumbled, “I can’t, I don’t even totally understand it, I thought, I thought it was all bogus, that it was just chemicals, but it’s not, it’s something more, do you, do you understand that? Or, do you, have you never felt that way? Obviously,” Ed seemed to snort, “you felt something for Abigial, or you, you would never have asked her to marry you,” Ed’s face took on a red hue again, “but I tried, I really did, but, I love you, and I think it may be one of the best things to have ever happened to me, and even if you don’t feel the same way, it doesn’t matter-”

Roy cut Ed off, and very, very softly said, “I love you.”

Ed felt his knees wobble then begin to give way as part shock and part happiness shook his smaller frame. Roy was there however to catch him as his knees turned to liquid.

“B-before you said that, that you weren’t interested, that you didn’t know what this was a prelude to…but now, not even that long – you’ve admitted that,” Ed seemed to have some trouble grasping this new concept, “you love me,” and when Ed said it, it sounded so marvelously wonderful and Roy felt a thrill go through him as Ed spoke, “what changed your mind so quickly?”

Roy was quiet as he mulled over the words to say. Ed seemed to sense that Roy was trying to organize his thoughts so he could speak coherently. “Well,” he began, “I suppose it’s easiest to begin with what I told you. That all still holds true, even now after admitting…that. But, as I was telling you those things, other things were tumbling around in my mind, churning, and I knew that things were probably changing. As we spoke my mind was saying one thing and my heart another. My heart knew what it wanted as cheesy as that sounds, and my mind was still unable to comprehend what it hadn’t felt for so long. I didn’t know how to cope I suppose with these emotions you stir inside of me.”

Ed’s cheeks were still flushed a startling red color and as the young man tipped his head back Roy had to swallow back the urge to stop talking. “I want nothing more than to hold you in my arms, and keep you in my sight – you do things that would scare a grown man to death,”

Ed placed a hand over Roy’s mouth, “I understand, perfectly, what you mean. I feel…the same.”

Roy let his hands tangle in Ed’s loose hair. “We’ll decide how to deal with the rest of this when we get back to Central. I can promise you it won’t constitute me abandoning you. I’ll still want you with me even when we’re back in Central.”

Ed pulled free of Roy’s now questing hands and moved back into the doorway of the bathroom. “I’m really going to shower now, and then you can have it after me…” he shut the door and again, Roy could hear the snick of the lock.

He knew Ed still valued some of his privacy, and he was inclined to give the young man that much needed space. He was young enough to not be totally interested in completely settling down, but old enough to really start thinking about it.

He leaned on the dresser and started flipping through some of the topography maps Ed had taken from him the night before. He traced his fingers over a line on the map with interest. That must have been the main road that the townspeople and the mountain men took up the mountain. His fingers traced over some of the surrounding hills and mountain ranges with idle curiosity. He knew what the stanza had said, they’d have to go through these mountains and he wondered what exactly they would find at the end of this never ending road.

He let his finger rest on the unnamed valley. The valley wasn’t a typical one, the mountains rose large above it, and according to the notes that came with the maps, the valley was always cast in shadow. His eyes scanned for a path that would lead into the valley, but not a single one was marked on the map. As he compared the notes one said,

‘There is no safe path down into the valley. For years there has been a steep slope that none have dared to attempt. Most people who attempt die. The only people who make it down part way and back safely have been alchemists. Even then they struggle. It is not a place meant for humans or animals. It is dark and mysterious.’

He shook his head and gave a small roll of his eyes. There was nothing mysterious about that valley. The human mind did like to play tricks, and it would be very easy to mistake one thing for another. As to the alchemists, they probably weren’t able to get down because their circles kept crumbling as they drew them in the wall. Or well, he supposed they did considering the notes Ed had left on the side of the paper.

He heard the shower shut off and Ed emerged wrapped only in a towel and headed towards his suitcase. He gave a brief smile as Roy waved the notes and raised an eyebrow in question.

Ed shrugged, “It’s true,” he said. “Most alchemists wouldn’t be able to get down there. It was probably intentional.” He flipped his wet hair over his shoulder. “Why don’t you get your shower and we can get going?”

Roy tugged on Ed’s hair and disappeared to shower. The bathroom was still warm with steam from Ed’s shower and it didn’t take long at all for the water to heat up and when he ducked under the spray he gave a little shiver at the heat.

He scrubbed the dirt from his body and hair before stepping out and grabbing the other towel and typing it about his hips.

He found Ed already dressed when he entered Ed’s room after dressing in his own. Ed’s hand curled into his sleeve for a moment before letting go. “Breakfast, packing, lunch, packing, then we leave. The more ground we cover in daylight the easier it will be to work tonight.”

Roy nodded as they made their way down to the breakfast room. They could see Abigail hovering at the sideboard so they detoured to the back of the room where it was quiet and they could talk without being overheard.

Ed was inhaling his food almost as fast as one blinked and Roy wondered where exactly it all went, and he did his best to keep his smirk to himself, but Ed must have sensed something because he caught an automail foot in his shin.

Ed let his eye’s become half lidded as he spoke, “If we hurry, we might have some time,”

And Roy was lost.