Title: Misinterpretation

Summary: For a mistake, Faize thought, it turned out rather well. Slash. Edge/Faize.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean.

AN: Please, read and review. Enjoy!

After they collect Bacchus from the Cardianon Mothership, there are more people aboard the Calnus than there are rooms. It seems obvious that people are going to have to start doubling up. Lymle and Reimi might share, but Faize has mostly resigned himself to bunking with Bacchus.

However, when Edge says, casually, "Do you mind rooming with me, Faize?" Faize thinks nothing of it. It is common on Eldarian ships for the captain to pick a bedmate from amongst the crew.

"I would be honoured," Faize says. Of all of them he would have thought that Edge would choose Reimi, but once the surprise fades his selection makes him feel warm with pleasure.

The warmth lasts until the start of the night cycle, when it fades into a kind of nervous anticipation that makes him feel jittery and jumpy. He retreats to his room - their room - early, surprised with himself. He's hardly an untouched youngling being led to a bed for the first time, but the butterflies in his stomach seem to be saying otherwise.

He's surprised by how much he wants this. Wants it happen and wants it to go well and wants for Edge to be pleased with him. He wants very much for Edge to be pleased with him.

He spends a moment wondering how it will be. He can hardly picture it being rough or cruel, because neither are words that he can associate with Edge. That is a relief, in a small way, though he doubts he would protest if it were.

Then Edge entering the room, door whooshing closed behind him. Faize swallows, mouth dry, as his nerves jangle ever tighter.

"Are you alright?" Edge asks with a frown, looking Faize over. Faize nods mutely, hoping to convey that he's merely waiting, not reluctant. It doesn't seem to work, because Edge half turns away from him and Faize feels a burst of disappointment.

He has to make up for it, he thinks, because he can't - doesn't want to - leave it like that. To let it end before it has even begun.

Faize crosses the room hesitantly until he's standing before Edge. It's easy to lean forward, to close the space between them, and kiss him. Edge goes rigid beneath his touch, and Faize pulls back almost instantly.

"I was too forward. I apologise." He ducks his head in shame, hoping that he hasn't ruined everything. He admired Edge, yes, and it had led to him being far more eager than he would have been otherwise. He knows his main attraction is often his softness, his meekness.

"I- what? … No, Faize," Edge stammers but his hands catch Faize's shoulders as he goes to pull away. "You just surprised me."

Faize peeks up at him through his bangs and, yes, Edge is bewildered, but there is also a patience to his expression and his touch is soft and gentle. Something in Faize that had been knotted tightly relaxes. He hasn't spoilt anything yet.

He bites his lip and tries to think of words to say that will redeem himself. That will fix this. "I want you," is all he can think to say. His face is still down turned, so he misses the startled look that flickers across Edge's face.

"I just… Faize," Edge begins awkwardly and Faize's heart sinks, awaiting rejection. "I wouldn't abuse my power as a captain, you know that, right?"

"Yes, of course," Faize says, genuinely surprised. Edge has, in all ways, been a model captain and Faize respects him very much. He just doesn't see why Edge has brought it up now. But apparently, it had been important to him to say, because he relaxes.

"Well… good. Okay, then," Edge says and grins, pulling him in close.

Faize can't help the bemused look he gives him.

"Hey, I'm a teenager. I don't need that much convincing." Edge chuckles and kisses him, soft and slow. It is so very much more than anything Faize had been expecting. Like all his actions, his kisses are full of life and energy, tempered into gentleness by the knowledge that other people don't burn quite so brightly.

Edge's hands stroke his hips gently, Faize can feel it even through the layers of Eldarian armour he wears. For a touch that's hardly provocative, it affects him outrageously. He flushes embarrassingly. Edge chuckles into his mouth.

Faize withdraws his hands to shyly shed his own armour. After a second, Edge pulls back. "Good idea, that," he says, voice husky, dropping his own armour carelessly on the floor. Faize can't help but watch as tanned skin is slowly unveiled.

They're the same height but Edge is so much stockier, filled with muscle that Faize simply does not have. He feels weak and slight in comparison, but Edge doesn't seem to mind. Edge tips him back onto the bed and traces hands across his chest with wonder and fascination, seeming to want to seek out every spot that makes Faize shudder and groan.

Given that they hail from two completely different planets, it is amazing that they are so much alike.

Faize runs hands down Edge's chest, marvelling at the feeling of shifting of muscles under the skin, until he reaches his groin. Edge groans as Faize palms his balls, rolling them in his hand, and teasing his cock until they're both equally as hard.

And then Faize realises that in his determined planning, he has overlooked one important factor. "Do you have lube?" he asks breathlessly.

Edge stares down at him for a moment, as though he is speaking an alien language - Faize has the brief urge to check if his translator is working - before the words register. He blinks.

"Err," he says intelligently, leaning over Faize to pull out one of the drawers under the bed to rifle through it. "I have hand lotion. Is that good enough?"

Faize nods, relieved. He scoots back to sit up and take the bottle, because Edge is kneeling there and holding it out to him expectantly. Given that he was the one that asked for it, he supposes that it is only fair. He fumbles with the cap for a second before spreading lotion onto both hands. One wraps around Edge's cock and the other travels down to his own hole. The angle is awkward but the way Edge is watching him - so full of desire - makes him flush and he thinks that if he wasn't already fully hard, that would be enough to make him so.

"Faize," Edge says after a minute, low and breathless, hands clenching on his hips. Faize swallows heavily at the tone and decides that really, that's enough preparation.

He pushes Edge back and straddles his hips and when the captain makes no move to shift him or change position, lowers himself down slowly.

One of Edge's hands curls around the back of his neck and pulls him forward for a kiss that is all lips and tongue moving in slow languorous ways. Faize would be content to stay like that, stretched and full while Edge kisses him breathless, but the blond's hips give a shudder-jerk and brush against that spot inside him and he suddenly remembers that he should really move.

He pulls back from Edge, panting, and lifts himself up only to drop slowly back down. It doesn't take him long to find a rhythm that suits them both though it stutters when Edge wraps a hand around his cock and tugs. He whimpers at the additional stimulation, already too close.

"Edge," Faize pants, half plea half warning; his thighs tremble with the effort of moving and he is going to come really soon. Edge groans and kisses him, just as desperate and needy. It's like that that Faize comes, splattering the both of them. He isn't sure how he keeps moving until Edge gives an accompanying shudder and gasp but there's wet heat spilling down his thighs, messy and sticky and he thinks that he's never felt better.

He collapses on the bed next to Edge and waits until his heart rate calms and his breathing evens out. He wonders if he should head to the other bed. Is that what is expected of him?

Before he can make a decision, Edge wraps an arm around his waist and tucks him in close, pressing an affectionate kiss to his temple. "'Night, Faize," he murmurs sleepily.

"Good night, Edge," Faize echoes him, allowing himself to fall asleep pressed against his captain.

When Faize awakens in the morning it is with a blush and the dawning realisation that in his determination to get it right, he might have actually misinterpreted the situation. The customs of earthlings are different, they had often been told, and Edge truly had been surprised. Possibly not just by Faize's boldness, but by the situation itself. Adding his later comments, it seemed that Edge really hadn't been expecting anything. That left him feeling rather foolish.

But, Faize thought, glancing at the still sleeping Edge, for a mistake it had turned out rather well.