A/N: This is a sequel to my fic "Counterfeit," but it can be read as a stand-alone. Written for the SteelandSparks Livejournal Comminity's Anniversary Contest. (It did not win. Le sigh.) Also, this is the first time I've ever posted a lemon scene in any fandom in the history of ever. I'm really quite nervous about putting it up. Let me know if it sucks, all right?

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Blindsided

The other side of friends
The darkened claws of death
The empty-breath desire

- "Rotten Apples" by the Smashing Pumpkins

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Too late, Roy Mustang sensed something subtly wrong. A sudden gust caught the heavy wooden door and slammed it behind him, closing him within the deep shadows of his one-room shack. Dim blue light from the moon-soaked snow outside filtered through the single dirty window. It provided more eerie ambiance than illumination, and Roy scanned the dark blurs of his furniture and possessions with his heart high in his throat.

"So this is where you've been hiding," a familiar voice croon in his ear. Two skinny arms wrapped around his chest – and then five dagger-spiked fingertips stretched up to prick his throat. "Did you really think you could escape?"

Roy swallowed hard against his fear. "How did you find me?"

The homunculus, Lust, grunted disgustedly. "Remember who you're dealing with here. I'm young, but I'm no amateur."

"Why are you here?" Roy demanded, though he already knew, God help him.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Lust whispered against the nape of Roy's neck. The heat of his breath in the chill of the room sent a powerful shiver down Roy's spine. "A year to the day."

Roy still had nightmares about the last time their paths had crossed – the warehouse burning around them, the bright red pain, and the dark tide of desire that made him feel unclean down to his very soul. After that, Roy had run like a coward and hidden a backwater border-town. It was weeks before he could even meet his reflection's gaze while shaving, and every creak of his shack at night woke him from cold sweats.

"Not long enough," he growled bitterly. He wished he'd never hunted this creature. He wished he'd left well enough alone. Some revenge he'd gotten: a year in hiding with only his self-loathing for company.

"The others aren't big on letting loose ends go," Lust said by way of explanation. His smirk could be heard plainly. "You're one loose end I never mind tying up, Roy."

"Don't call me that," Roy said.

"Why not? It's your name. D'you want me to call you 'bastard Colonel' instead?"

"No," Roy choked. He recovered quickly. "But why me? Why are you doing this?"

Lust withdrew his blade-like fingers and subsequently released his grip on Roy. Roy was not fool enough to move. He could feel calculating eyes on him, waiting for him to strike. His last surviving glove lay hidden under the pillow on his cot, and without it he wouldn't have a prayer. He would have to bide his time and look for a chance.

"Why am I doing this?" Lust sounded incredulous, and he melted out of the shadows into view. His skin was washed out to a pallid blue, and his gold hair tied back in an oh-so-familiar braid. He smirked Edward Elric's toothiest smirk, but with a glass edge in his eyes – broken and dangerous. "I'm paying you back. You started this."

Roy's breath caught in his throat for several reasons. His voice was a croak as he said, "I did no such thing."

"What do you call it then? You stalked me and tried to kill me. That sort of thing grabs a boy's attention," Lust quirked a wry eyebrow. He stalked a step closer. "I didn't know who the hell you were, or why you were suddenly after me. I'd only been alive a few months when you started hounding me. What could I possibly have done to you? I think the real question is, why me? And why can't I get you out of my head?"

Lust sounded resentful, but his expression had fallen blank. He looked up into Roy's face with unfocused eyes. It was obvious his attention had been drawn inward, and it lent him a curious uncertainty Roy had never seen him display before.

Now. Roy didn't know what caused Lust's distraction, and he didn't dare waste time speculating. In a flash, he dove for his narrow cot. If he could just get to his spare glove -

Lust barreled into him before he'd gotten halfway there, but their momentum carried them to the cot. The creaky wooden supports gave out with a defeated snap. Roy landed hard, flat on his back, with a smug, powerful weight pinning his arms to the worn wooden floor.

"Ah. Now I remember," Lust leered down at him.

"Get off me," Roy hissed. He refused to squirm.

It was not easy. Fear aside, he could feel every taut line and firm muscle in the boy-creature on top of him. His good eye could not seem to tear its gaze from that face – Ed's face in moonlight, no matter how he told himself it wasn't, and fuck if it wasn't gorgeous. Fighting Lust, trying to kill him had been painful enough, but this was sheer torture. Longing and shame twisted a confused, aching double-helix from his chest downward to tangle in his groin.

Lust's smirk became a languid, cruel thing. "No."

Roy recognized that look. The homunculus had worn it the first time, too. That smirk bled through his dreams, haunting him, driving him mad. It was the same expression as Ed had worn when he gloated – but not the same. Lust wasn't Ed, and dammit, he'd thought he'd run far enough. He thought he'd fled so hard and fast, he'd left even the storm of poisonous, misplaced want behind.

Lust pounced. He did not try to spread Roy's thighs this time. Instead, he straddled the man's waist and leaned down to press a hard, demanding kiss against his closed mouth. Roy stopped breathing entirely and squeezed his eye shut. He would not let himself, not this time, not again. He wouldn't defile Edward's memory further.

Roy wasn't prepared for Lust to break away suddenly and slide a hand down his front. There came a faint tugging at the buttons of his heavy overcoat. The motion was so swift, Lust had Roy's wrist secured again before he realized he had a chance to escape. Now Roy squirmed, and as he did, the buttons of his coat fell to the floor and rolled away. In another flash of inhuman speed, Lust shoved the coat off his body and down his arms. Roy gave an inarticulate cry of frustration when he found his arms pushed behind his back, caught fast in the folds of the coat.

"That ought to hold you," Lust said. His lips brushed damply against the shell of Roy's ear and he nuzzled Roy's hair in a mockery of affection.

The man jerked his head away. "Stop it."

Why should I? You like it," Lust replied conversationally.

"No. No."

Lust watched him with a speculative expression. Then he shifted his weight until his hips connected with Roy's perfectly, and he thrust.

Roy's gasp was a weak, soft sound, but in the silence of his cabin it may as well have been a shout. It may as well have been a white flag. Lust capitalized on his parted lips, plunging a conquering tongue into Roy's mouth. The rising tide swept over him and he tasted darkness on Lust's lips. Shame spiraled into despair, and he moaned a desolate capitulation.

Lust's hands, now free to roam, stroked possessively at his sides. The air was cold even through Roy's shirt, and Lust's fingers scorched him by comparison. The homunculus actually took the time to undo the buttons of the shirt. He toyed with each one, and Roy shivered with more than just the chill on his bare skin.

"You got scrawny," Lust observed. He traced the outlines of Roy's ribs, eliciting a shudder that made him wet his lips.

"What do you care?" Roy asked thickly. Not as if it stopped him.

"I'm hurt," Lust pouted. He nibbled Roy's collarbone, causing the man to arch his back clear off the floor. "And here we're getting so intimate."

Roy growled as Lust lay down on his bare skin. The weight and feel of him wasn't right. It took a beat for Roy to realize why. He felt too real. He was all sinew and bone, no ridges or unnatural heaviness of automail. The revelation did not stop Roy's pulse from racing, nor his breath from coming in fast huffs. Lust kissed him again and fumbled at Roy's belt.

"You know," Lust began as he trailed sucking nips down Roy's throat. "The others think that this kind of thing is wrong. Fraternizing with the enemy."

"It – is," breathed Roy. Lust located a particularly sensitive patch of skin on his tense shoulder and bit him, hard. Roy cried out, fairly writhing against the coat that held his arms. Unwilling to be distracted, he went on. "This is wrong."

"Is that why you like this so much?" Lust asked. He stilled with his face half-bathed in the blue moonlight, the rest shadowed and sinister. His expression was unreadable.

Roy watched him warily. Lust's temper was unpredictable tonight. He might kill him if he didn't answer. So be it. Roy was ready to be put out of his misery, and nothing on Earth would make him answer that question. Nothing save Edward Elric really coming back from the dead to take Roy's confession.

The silence stretched. Finally giving up, if he'd even expected an answer, Lust smirked again.

"I don't think it's wrong. I think Envy just wants to jump my bones," he purred cockily. With a leer he added, "I like it because of you. You're kinky."

"Fuck you," Roy snarled gutturally.

Lust laughed, but with harsh edges.

"Yeah, all right. You only had to ask," he said.

He sat up and began to undo the fastenings on his own clothes. Slowly, like a striptease. The tight black fabric – whatever it was made of – seemed made for such an exercise. Roy's breath hitched in his throat as milky white expanses of skin slid into view. Lust's flesh nearly glowed in the dimness, smooth muscles sculpted in blue shadows. His eyes narrowed, darkened with desire as he watched Roy watch him.

Roy's heart trembled. He wanted to look away, and could not. Lust was stunning. God, Ed would have been that perfect, if things had gone differently. If the Elrics' grand plan hadn't turned out to be a pipe dream. Was this the equivalence, then? He had lost Edward, but he could have this tainted creature with Ed's natural, gorgeous body. It was so predictable. So cruel. It had to be true. When Lust finally dropped down to fit their mouths together, Roy felt the sting of tears.

Lust licked his palm and took Roy's cock in a firm grip, worked it once, twice. Roy sobbed a breath. Lust growled low and repeated both actions until Roy was writhing and his cock was slick. Then he positioned Roy and pushed himself down, abruptly impaling himself. He hissed through clenched teeth as he settled.

Roy saw stars. Lust was so unprepared that it actually hurt both of them. In a way, it was fortunate, because otherwise Roy might've come on the spot. He panted heavily, not able to think beyond the tight heat. His body welcomed the reprieve of conscience, and he thrummed with base need.

Lust began moving without giving either of them time to adjust.

"Oh, fuck," he moaned, more breath than vibration. His head tossed back, back and neck arched. The illusion was nearly perfect, save for the red oroboros tattoo below his navel. "Roy."

God, so fucking beautiful. Roy did not respond. His throat was too constricted. Instead, he gulped the air and slammed his hips upward. And again. And then he couldn't stop, and Lust bent to claim his lips. The two of them built a frantic friction. Lust's hands roamed across every available inch of skin, tangling in Roy's hair, pushing the eyepatch off entirely. Roy's stomach gave an uneasy twist, a low thrill of panic – then Lust cupped the scarred side of his face with unexpected gentleness and kissed him fiercely.

Orgasm took him by surprise. That touch, so light as if Roy was still tender there, though the wounds had healed long ago. That kiss, so sure and inevitable, so hungry for his. The body above him sighed Ed's sigh, and Roy's heart cracked. He had yearned for this moment since he'd woken up in the hospital, alone and aching.

Edward, his heart murmured.

Lust swallowed Roy's harsh, deep moan.

He took himself in hand and increased pace. Within moments his come streaked across Roy's abdomen. He crumpled fluidly. His breath rushed rapidly in Roy's ear. Roy didn't really hear him, still reeling from the emotional sucker punch and physical exertion.

"What, no pillow talk?" Lust snarked fuzzily.

Roy shook his head, not trusting his voice.

Lust seemed content to leave it at that. Their breathing gradually slowed. Then, with a hesitant, feather-light touch, Lust ran his fingers down Roy's smooth cheek. His eyes clouded with more than the afterglow.

"It can't be... but you remind me..." he whispered. He dropped his hand, which had begun to tremble. "No."

Roy did not hear him. He had fallen restlessly asleep.

When he awoke an abstract amount of time later, it was to an empty house and shivers that wracked his whole body. He was still half-naked, his shoulders and arms numb and throbbing from laying on them in such an unnatural pose for so long. He was numb inside as well, too exhausted to even feel anything but hollow.

He sat up and disengaged himself from his coat, which he then put on over his bare skin. It stuck on the dried evidence on his belly. Unfeelingly, he searched the remains of his bed for his glove. He lit a candle after three tries to force his bone-chilled fingers to snap. A frosty wind blew it out. He looked up and outside through the gaping doorway. No wonder it was so cold.

He lit the candle again and shielded it from the intermittent breeze. He staggered to his feet and crossed to the door. Reaching outside, he grabbed the knob and slammed it shut. The candle guttered, and Roy turned his attention to it until it recovered. When he looked up, he saw it. Lust's idea of a note on the pillow.

There in the back of the door, a message was scrawled in letters carved an inch deep. The flickering candlelight made them even more jagged and gave them a life of their own.

You can't hide this time. You're mine now.

The words echoed in Lust's voice – Ed's voice – in his mind. Everything in him rebelled, but the searing truth of left him reeling. A bleak keening sound escaped his lips, and he crumpled to his knees. Eventually, he found the strength to sob.

END

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A/N: Hey. See that "review" button? Right there? Yeah. You should so totally click that and give me feedback. Thanks. XD