Beside Me

One-Shot

A/N: Yaoi warning. RoyEd and scenes of rather explicit nature please read responsibly!

"Fuck!" Ed muttered to himself, kicking his foot out in front of himself in a futile attempt to keep his socks at least marginally dry. This time giving the puddle a wide berth he sneered at the stagnate water left over from the previous night's downpour. Glancing up he recognized the heavy way the clouds hovered above Central, a constant reminder that the dry hours of this day were only temporary, that water would soon again consume the sleeping earth. Snarling to the very gods themselves he trudged on, watching and a little more carefully avoiding sock-menacing puddles.

The sidewalks on which he walked were mostly empty, only the occasional hurried man decked in full rain gear, hoping desperately to make it to work or home before the next shower began. If it weren't for his already dreadful mood he probably would have even enjoyed the walk, no bustling traffic, or people jostling him uncaringly left, right, and sideways. But, as it was his state of mind was rather sour, for very little reason, too. Al would have said he'd just woken up on the wrong side of the bed; that partially true. He had woken on his lover's side of the bed, meaning his lover hadn't been beside him. He'd gotten used to the comfort of a warm body to curl against; he hated spending nights alone as of late. The gloomy weather and insufficient level of caffeine only served to dampen his mood further. Unconsciously he hiked the strap of his shoulder bag up to keep it from sliding to the sopping ground. Showing up to the library with a bag full of ruined soggy books to return would most certainly be an unpleasant experience.

An ancient looking –and sounding- vehicle clattered down the road, it's abnormally thin wheels spitting mud in all directions, including onto the sidewalk. Where Ed now stood covered in a mix or mud and gravel. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" The driver wouldn't hear him, and on the off chance he did he mostly probably wouldn't care, but still the blonde shouted his annoyance to an empty street. He clapped with an especially exasperated sigh and alchemy blazed over his marred clothing, crackling and drying the grime it was coated with completely. It fell to the sidewalk in silent little clumps, leaving his coat and pants in roughly the same condition they had been in to begin with. Glumly, he soldiered on, glad to note that the library was a mere few blocks away.

After what felt like a distressed eon he reached the tall concrete steps leading up to Central's amazingly large public library, where he had been confined to after turning in his silver State Alchemist's pocket watch almost a year prior. The library usually made him feel a bit better, being surrounded by ages and ages of knowledge was exciting in its own right. So he took the stairs two at a time, more than ready to be out of the cold and into such pleasantly familiar quarters.

When he entered the first thing he noticed was the new librarian, a woman he didn't at all recognize except maybe from an ancient cliché children's book. Honestly she was the perfect stereotype, muddy brown hair just graying at the temples pulled into a taught curled bun at the base of her neck, staring through a pair of small round spectacles perched on the bridge of her nose with stern steely blue-gray eyes. She dressed conservatively in a dim, shapeless, patterned in paisley and topped with a dull brown knit vest; Ed couldn't see through the counter but could guess the practical kind of flats or one inch heels she most likely wore. As he got closer he saw that her vest was adorned with the commonly seen gold plastic name tag. Mrs. Maria Thorton, it read. She greeted him with a curt nod and he pegged her personality as matching her strict eyes.

He marched purposefully towards the counter despite the slight onset of dread, unsnapping the top of his bag as he went. She stared just as purposefully down her nose at him, distaste painted across her middle-aged face. "Good afternoon." Her voice matched everything else as well, unforgiving.

"Afternoon, Mrs. Thorton." He did his best to sound peaceable but the grudging, grim edge of his mindset was hammered deeply into his tone. Internally he cursed as she sized him up, probably thinking things about how he was sure to be a nuisance. Something about that made Edward want to hit her, surely the caffeine deprivation talking.

"What can I do for you today?"

"Not much, I just have a few books to return." Breaking gaze he fished around for the sole purpose he had come. Finally he came up with two small soft bound books and one large, leather-bound hardcover. "Here," he handed them over and turned, expecting to go hunt for something more.

"Young man," the iron voice spoke behind him.

"Yes?" Turning he waited to see what she wanted. Two nearly trimmed, unpolished nails tapped the larger book's cover.

"These books are all overdue; you must pay the fine before I can be allowed to loan anything to you."

"What?" Quickly he did the proper math in his head, only to find the books were due right when he had returned them. "Those aren't late."

"Don't argue with me, young man." Ed decided he hated that title. "The books were due yesterday."

"No they weren't," he argued.

"Please just pay your fine and do not continue this discussion." Glaring he put his hands to his hips, thoroughly convinced that he was right and she was wrong.

"They are due today, not yesterday; I don't owe a damn thing." There were few things he hated more than being told he was wrong when it was clear that he wasn't.

"I'm sorry then, until you pay your late fees you will be suspended from checking anything more out." Rolling his eyes, Edward turned his back to her prepared to stomp out of the building; which he did after a few unpleasant words left his mouth.

Well, so far his trip had done absolutely nothing to improve his mood and he didn't know where he was heading next. What he really wanted to do, he admitted grudgingly to himself, was to walk to Central Military Headquarters and see Roy. Bit he was pretty sire Roy would just be put out by the unannounced intrusion. Anyway he could be chewed out as well at home as he could at the office. Briefly Ed pondered Roy's reputation as womanizer, not an odd thing to do when he hadn't even seen him in almost three days and had spoken to him all of twice in that time. His reason was busy work at the office, which Edward would believe with the way they hounded their State Alchemists but somehow General Bastard Mustang usually managed to avoid grunt work.

With a pained groan Edward's mind switched topics and told him to go home. The damp and dampening weather made his automail ache, varying from day to day how much. The barometric pressure caused him utter agony at least one day a month in Central's climate. Luckily for him today was only minor pain. Nonetheless with little or nothing left to do his best option was to lock himself in his house and wait the weather out. Of course because of his…disagreement with Mrs. Maria Thorton High Imperial Late Fee Guard he had nothing to read. On a whim he took the next left he came to; Roy had a good library.

About four minutes, fifty-two seconds, and forty-three milliseconds later the actual rain began, and it began with a vengeance. No sprinkling of polite forewarning but a solid sheet of drenching water. Edward cursed bitterly, throwing up the hood of his dark red coat in the process and breaking into a run. It was a few mere moments before he was soaked completely through an only getting wetter. Luckily got him Roy's place was a ten minute walk from the library, three at an all out sprint; it took Ed about six minutes.

He reached the general's home to an interesting sight, his car parked in the driveway. Now, the dreary sky and battering downpour made it feel late but it couldn't have been later than three o'clock, Roy wouldn't be due until at least six thirty. Instinctively he checked the front of the house, no lights. Ed couldn't help but find this strange, still he ignored it. Rationalizing it by deciding Roy had walked to work and would bum a ride home from Hawkeye or Havoc in the evening. So, he made his way towards the short steps to the door, glad to be close to dry warmth. As he bent to retrieve the spare key beneath the first step there was movement behind him. "Planning on breaking and entering?" A cool smooth voice the made his heart jump into his throat asked. He spun around, hiding any excitement from his expression and tone.

"What are you doing here?" Traces of an amused smirk lingered around the brunette's lips.

"Pleasant greeting, not even a hello?"

"No, not to someone who I've hardly heard word one from in three days." His voice was bantering, bordering on actual annoyance. The handsome man smile down at him, he almost smiled back nearly forgetting that he was supposed to be frustrated and that they were both being pelted viciously.

"I was going to your place, I'm glad I caught you here first."

"Shouldn't you be working?"

"I scored some time off; apparently I get grouchy when I don't get to spend any time with you." Roy's hand linked with his and all of the annoyance seemed to melt. "Sorry I've been so busy, I missed you."

"Good, you better have." The general arched a brow and he blushed. "So you'd know how I feel." He crushed their lips urgently together before Roy could say anything about his comment. Three days sure sounded like a minimal amount of time but it felt like decades without him. For a second Ed wondered how he could have let not seeing one person affect him so much but it only lasted a moment because Roy pulled him close and then it didn't matter. His lips were supple but firm from long years of hard travel, the flavor of his mouth was positively addictive; sweet and fresh like the essence of early summer but always with the spicy tang of mint. Before he even realized it his hands were busy, one splayed on the side of his lover's neck the other curled in soaked ebony hair. He sighed contentedly into their kiss, letting his eyelids flutter open from where they'd automatically slipped shut. The elder's eyes were also open, Ed followed his sideways gaze, he was attempting to unlock the door without breaking off; Edward could understand why. But, he shied back. "Open it," he managed drawing large breaths, Roy obeyed.

It was quick inside and back to their formed task of enjoyably suffocating one another, wasting no more time on words. Dominantly Roy pinned the small man to the door attacking him with a hot, messy kiss. His shoulder blades dug uncomfortably into the hard oak cedar behind him and the brass doorknob bit into his side but none of that mattered. Currently his brain was offline and his body subject to the whims of a desperate, intense fire that lent passion to his actions. Roy appeared to harbor about as much control as he, that amounted to very little. It took no great period of time for Ed to realize his lover was covered in far too many clothes. Blindly he set to fix this, hardly letting his lips leave Roy's. He was interrupted in the course of unbuttoning the heavy Military jacket when Roy's hand found his buttocks and crushed their bodies together once more. Quickly Ed's arms snaked around his neck, only momentarily wondering what had become of his two jackets. Lithely he hopped up clasping the taller man's hips between his knees and hooking his ankles behind. Both hands now supported his backside and he reclaimed his mouth long enough to gasp 'bed', before setting it back to work on Mustang's ear.

Carrying the young alchemist's weight seemed to be no issue, he made it down the hall to the guest bedroom easily, breathing heavily yes, but that can be attributed to Ed's tongue painting pictures on his throat. They fell into bed a writhing mess of arms and legs, lips fingers, tongues. Soon Edward had been ridden of his leather pants and boxers, his still damp tank top rolled to his armpits. Roy fared a little more decently in the clothing area, his pale undershirt open around a strong torso, still clad in his pants but the fly was open and his erection had been freed from the cloth.

A little roughly, which in this case didn't bother Ed a bit; he gripped Ed's thighs and pushed them wide. The blonde could tell how desperate he was to get started by the hungry way his eye's raked his parted legs and what lay between them; Ed was sympathetic. He snagged up the other's hand, immediately sucking two dexterous fingers into his mouth, Roy looked at him almost thankfully a harsh but needy noise leaving his throat. Once both were thoroughly lubricated with saliva the general went to preparing him, he was skilled enough it didn't even sting. Finally, Edward grabbed his hand and tugged it away, clearly symbolizing that it was time.

He almost climaxed upon entry, but held back. Still it didn't last long. Fingers grasped desperately for a hold, muscles tensed and twitched, hips bucked without rhythm. The slapping of flesh on flesh mingled in the air with cries of pleasure and the smell of sweat, semen, sex. Edward's scream of ecstasy drowned out other sounds as Roy's hand circled his cock and he came, white searing his eyes for a moment that lasted a millennium. He must have blacked out shortly because when he came to Roy had also peaked and was lying more or less on top of him. The hot, sticky, familiar feeling of come coated his stomach, chest, most likely the bed, also.

"Damn," was the first word Roy had spoken since they'd entered the house; he rolled to the side no longer constricting Ed but examining him appraisingly. "You look good that way."

"Right," Ed had trouble believing he could look good covered in sweat and come, still partially clad in his usual tank top but Roy honestly seemed to think though considering he leaned over to kiss Edward again. Lust clouded their vision once more and Edward found himself caught up in it. It lasted much longer this time.

It was a little after six by the time they'd finally finished and cleaned up from their bedroom exploits. Edward lounged comfortably sprawled across Roy's living room sofa showered and fully clothed in a pair of blue pajamas with drawstring pants that barely cinched around his waist and tried rather hard to trip him. The sound of running water played on the edge of his hearing and he was glad to know Roy was making coffee. Sex had left his brain rather muddled and his limbs still felt like extremely content jelly. Waiting patiently for caffeine he tried to recall why he'd been so grouchy earlier but his mind kept skipping back to the wonderful things Roy had done to him in the last three hours. He blinked, took a deep breath, and was about to try again when previously stated man entered carrying two steaming bowls. "Coffee's on and I thought you might be hungry." At the mention of food Ed's stomach began to eat itself.

"Starving actually," he answered snatching up the bowl that turned out to be full of chicken fried rice that was definitely take-out reheated on the stove. Silence rained while Ed went at the food at a much more prodigious rate than General Mustang. "I don't like it when you aren't around," he said surprising both himself and Roy when he had finished.

"Slowly Roy began, "I don't care much for time when you aren't around either."

"Yeah?" that was mostly stalling; Ed didn't know where he was going next.

"Yeah," a small smile curved Roy's lips; he set aside the bowl of partially eaten rice and stood from his perch on a large armchair. Consequently Edward became very interested in the droplet of grease rolling down the side inside of his bowl.

Without looking up he swung his legs over the side of the couch to give Roy room to sit, which he did. Self-consciously he pulled into himself hardly taking note of how strange it was to be self-conscious around someone who had less than an hour before seen and touched every bit of him. Still, this was different, being physically vulnerable and being mentally open. "Was there something you wanted to tell me, Ed?" Roy leaned in, invading his personal bubble, which there usually wouldn't have been a problem with.

"No, never mind, forget it." The brunette shook his head touching Ed's shoulder gently.

"Now I'm curious. There's something on your mind, what is it?" He shied away from the innocent contact for no apparent reason. What he wanted to say was something like 'I love you' or 'I really do care for you more than I let on' or 'I care about you so much it literally hurts sometimes and I worry about you when you're away enough that I can't breathe and I can't sleep anymore without you' but the words were heavy on his tongue and wouldn't seem to come.

Instead he said "Drop it, it's nothing." He met Roy's eyes something akin to hope flickered there; like he wished Ed would say what was on his mind so they could agree and live happily ever after but that would have to wait. "Kiss me," he demanded tipping his chin up for Roy; he didn't have to repeat himself. For now he let his lips do the talking and speak the words he couldn't seem to say.

It was odd as he looked over Roy's shoulder to glance out the window the rain had slowed to a drizzle and the golden glow of the sun peaked from behind a cloud to dash away the dimness of this afternoon.