A Thorough Study

If there was one thing you could say Edward Elric was truly good at, it would be studying. That was, in his opinion, his greatest talent. Even his skill at alchemy, which he was best known for, stemmed entirely from his ability to study. He went through books faster than Roy went through dates, and what he read, he remembered. All of it. So, when Ed wanted to know something about a particular topic, he consulted his books first. If his books didn't have it, then the National Library should. When that failed, as it did in the case of his current study, he was left with observation. He found the best expert in the area and he watched, surreptitiously.

Well, he tried to anyways. But it was hard to keep his cover when the person he was watching and the person he would latter by applying this knowledge to were the same person. Namely, one Colonel Roy Mustang, most well-known womanizer on the face of the planet and Ed's unfortunate crush. Al had spent a good, full evening sitting Ed down and working out that yes, Ed was indeed in love with the Colonel. It had taken Ed even longer to get over the fact, to push aside his hatred as confused jealousy and see that maybe he was attracted to that infuriating bastard. But from there it left the problem of what to do with his newfound attraction, because once he did come to terms with it, it wouldn't go away. So he was left thinking and daydreaming like a foolish school-girl and therefore not making any progress in his real work.

For the sake of a return to pseudo-normalcy, he'd come up with the plan of seducing Roy, completely ignoring the pesky details that they were both men, in the military, where Roy was his boss and somewhere around twice his age. Past all that he had the slight problem that, well, he'd never really been attracted to anyone besides the normal boyhood crushes that never went anywhere at all. He had no real idea what to do about it, or how to make Roy see that yes, Ed actually did like him, somewhat, and maybe they should do something about that hopefully mutual like. That led Ed to occupy a particular spot of pavement outside the Colonel's house late into a Thursday evening. His thoughts were too muddled to let him sleep and of course, the only place his feet had wanted to take him was here, without any prompting on his own part. Okay, so maybe his mind did have a wee bit to do with how he'd gotten here but he blamed it more on subconscious directives than any overt thought on his part.

On the base they said that when it came to women, Roy was the best. There was no girlfriend, no matter how devoted, that Roy could not charm away given enough time and effort. That said there was only one person Ed thought of when he wanted to learn how to seduce someone. So he'd watched Roy approach the women on base, studied how he approached, how he held himself, and, when close enough to listen without being too obvious, the things he said. He had a feeling that Roy was starting to catch on, at least about the studying part. After all, there were only so many times you could just happen to be watching when Roy hit on a female without being a little obvious. Ed didn't think he was transparent enough that Roy knew quite why he was being studied, but Ed was fairly certain that Roy knew that he was being studied.

"Would you like to come in, or do you enjoy standing out there in the cold?"

Ed started, suddenly focusing his attention back on the present to the figure silhouetted in the light of the doorway. The smirk had to be there, even though the backlighting prevented Ed from seeing it, but he heard it, or at least a little bit of it. The sound was muffled slightly from Roy's normal office voice, as if the hour or maybe just the location caused him to stifle his normal sarcasm. Or maybe Roy was just being Roy right now, and didn't really need the cocky edge of Colonel Mustang to back up his statements.

"Thank you." That was all he could think to say, now that he realized that it was indeed cold out here. Judging from the chill radiating from his metal limbs, he guessed he'd been standing in that spot for quite some time. He wondered how long Roy had stood there, on the barrier between light and dark watching Ed as Ed was lost in though about the man watching him... The circularity of it was enough to make him shake his head, which turned into a shiver as he stepped through the doorway of Roy's house. Under normal circumstances the light would have provided a nice ambient lighting, but his eyes had adjusted to the scant starlight of the pre-winter night, making the dim light of the hallway blaze like the sun.

Roy shut the door behind him as Ed stood in the hallway, frozen in place while he waited for his eyes to make the transition to the new location. Slowly the spare furnishings came into focus, not much changed since Ed's last visit, maybe a year or so ago at some party Hughes had insisted he attend. Silently, Roy took his coat and directed Ed to take off his shoes, placing them neatly beside what was certainly Roy's work boots, the only other pair of shoes visible in the entranceway.

"Coffee?"

He realized almost belatedly that he was being given a reason to stay. "Yes, please." If Roy was at all confused as to why his subordinate was standing in the cold outside his house at just a little past midnight, he didn't say anything. Instead he just wandered off into the kitchen, leaving Ed to follow like a stray puppy. As he stood in the doorway, watching Roy bustle about the kitchen, pulling out a canister and setting a pot to brew it occurred to him to wonder why the Colonel was up this late at night and why he would be looking for visitors wandering down the street. Maybe the Colonel was as lonely as Ed felt sometimes and had his own busy thoughts to keep him up at night.

"Here."

A warm mug was pressed into his hands and he carefully transferred it to his left in case the cold metal decided to suck all the heat out of the gloriously warm liquid. Roy had a similar mug in his own hands as he leaned against the kitchen counter, seeming content to just stand there silently and sip at his coffee. Ed did the same, for a moment, as he tried to think of how to approach this. It was late and he'd been given an opening into Roy's home. He had the man's undivided attention, and the strange mood of the evening seemed to be working in his favor. They were both muted tonight. Roy was without his normal sarcastic remarks, even passing up an opportunity to remark on how coffee might stunt his growth. Ed was without his fiery temper, probably left frozen out in the night air before Roy had called him in.

The question came to mind what Roy would do in this situation, but none of the methods he'd observed seemed to fit the situation. In fact, he doubted any of the information would apply because it was Ed doing the delivery and Roy being fed back his own tactics. No, it just wouldn't work. He'd never been very good at the slow infiltrate, gather information, attack jobs. He was more a sneak in and blow shit up kind of person. Well, so far he'd managed to sneak in, in a way, so that meant it was time to blow shit up.

He set his mug on the table as he approached, then casually reached up and circled his arms around Roy's neck, pressing their lips together in a light seal. It wasn't a good kiss. He knew that because he'd never really kissed anyone before so he only had a vague idea of how to go about it. Apparently, Roy thought the same because he just stood there, coffee mug held off to the side, and didn't do anything. As Ed slowly lowered himself down onto the flats of his feet he got the feeling that maybe he was making one big mistake and that it was foolish to think the Colonel might have feelings for him too. Fuck, he felt stupid. The world must have been crumbling in his eyes because Roy stepped forward as Ed started to move away. A light touch on his waist stopped Ed in mid-turn and brought him back, settled him in front of Roy as the older man leaned down to place the gentlest of kisses on Ed's lips. This time there was life in it.

Somehow, they made it to the bedroom and it was there that Ed pushed Roy down, straddled his hips and realized he really had no clue what to do from here. But Roy did, so Ed just followed his lead, let their shirts drift to the floor as their hands wandered and he was really starting to get into it when Roy's voice fell on his ears in this husky bedroom tone that he'd never heard before but he was damn certain he'd hear again if he got his way.

"Ed, you know this is wrong." They both knew exactly what was meant by those words. In his head rang each and every particular reason why this was wrong, why they were wrong, but at the moment, he really didn't give a damn.

"Fuck! Don't make me think right now."

"You have to."

He groaned, and not in a good way, as Roy's hands stilled and he let his head fall to the older man's shoulder. "Roy..."

"They could kick us both out, if they catch us."

Ed raised his head and aimed his most level look at the Colonel. "And how many other things would get us kicked out, court-martialed, or even executed if they caught us? You're good at this kind of thing. I'm sure you'll work something out."

That lightened the mood somewhat and Roy bounced him a little as he shifted his weight, tossing Ed a sarcastic look. "So you're leaving me to do all the work?"

Ed smiled, a tiny crack of his lips that the Colonel echoed back slightly. "I blow shit up, you fix it. That's the way it's always been. I don't see a reason to change the pattern now." Leaning forward, he caught Roy's lips in a kiss, proving that he was indeed a quick study no matter what the subject.

"Glad to know I have your full and unconditional support in this matter." With those sarcastic words, their previous mood was back and Ed was suddenly being flipped onto the bed sheets, a position he fully approved of. His flesh arm hooked over the Colonel's shoulders, lightly holding him in easy kissing range as Roy's hands continued their previous wandering.

"Oh, you have my full support." Roy's hands skirted the rim of his pants teasingly and it seemed almost like Roy was considering stopping there. Ed parted his thighs automatically as Roy brushed over his front, arching up into the faint touch with a little gasp, and Roy's smile widened. The hands stayed in front, slipping just slightly under the waistband. Ed moaned in appreciation, raising his hips a little as deft hands worked at the fastenings of his pants. "If you fucking touch anyone but me after this, I will kill you."

A light chuckle met his words. "So that means I can touch you as much as I want?" The zipper on his pants was being drawn down, revealing the boxers underneath.

"Hell yeah."

The response to that was immediate as one of Roy's hands cupped him firmly between the legs, squeezing just slightly as blunt teeth bit down on the soft flesh where Ed's neck met his shoulder blade.

"Oh God!" He bucked hard beneath the hand, eyes wide and glazed. In a rush of sudden thought he brought both of his hands down to work at the fastenings of Roy's pants, quickly yanking them off. Roy was too busy to comment and suddenly their bodies became a writhing mass of arms and legs. Two fingers ran lightly over his lips and Ed took them in, sucking hard as Roy rained bites and kisses down the tender flesh of his neck and chest. Roy's full weight fell on him, pressing him into the covers and forcing their now naked hips together. Ever so slowly Roy moved, a shallow thrusting of flesh against flesh that grew into a stronger rhythm as they both got bolder. Ed's legs came up, wrapped around Roy's waist to form a tunnel into which Roy bucked, each moment where their bodies came together creating wonderful friction that had him moaning around the fingers in his mouth.

One of Roy's hands reached between them, taking Ed in hand as the other slipped from his mouth, letting him cry out loud at the pleasure, the heat, the force that their bodies generated. He'd never felt fire like this and it was stupid to say, but he knew he'd think privately that this was why Roy really was the Flame Alchemist, the way he turned two cold bodies into one blazing source of heat.

He was close, Ed thought, to whatever it was that caused that pinnacle of emotion he'd heard about in sex. He could feel it, hovering beyond the edge of his mind like an alchemical reaction just waiting for the right touch of an array to set it off. Then Roy pressed his finger, one of those two wet digits that had just been in his mouth, up and inside of him and that was like the clap of two hands forming a circle. Light, sound, touch, all his senses coalesced into one bright burst that made him scream, body spasming out of control. When he floated back down, Roy was still there, fingers still inside but slicker than before, and they were moving, stretching, holding him there in that hazy place as they probed deep inside.

"Roy..." He wasn't sure what he was asking for, only knew that there was something between them remaining to be said.

"Can I? Please?" There it was. Roy was asking his permission, words desperate on his lips as probing fingers made his intentions well known.

"Yes." He wanted it, he was sure, almost as much as Roy did. At this moment, considering what Roy had just done to him, he didn't think he could deny the man anything. Well, except if Roy asked him to get out of bed right now. That was a definite no.

Roy shifted, a wiggle of his hips that brought them closer, and then there were two hands on his hips, guiding them. One push and Roy was in, head falling on Ed's shoulder as he froze there, buried inside Ed. Oh, how he could feel it, the warm pulse deep inside of him, spreading him apart and it hurt, a little, nothing when compared to the pain of having your nerves connected to a metal limb one by one. But despite the pain, it was good, and really the pain was a minor, insignificant part of it when compared to the fact that this way Roy buried deep inside of him. He didn't think he ever wanted to move from this spot. Then Roy moved his hips once in a slow pull and push and Ed decided that yes, he did indeed want movement and lots of it in that particular region.

It didn't take long, just one or two quick thrusts that made Ed shiver and Roy groan in that long, drawn-out husky bedroom voice of his. He came with one hard thrust and then collapsed on top of Ed. They were both hot and sticky and tangled together in a position that would become uncomfortable if left too long but he didn't really care, didn't really want to move. Roy was the first to, and with a grunt he pulled out and rolled to the side. Ed followed, pulling the covers up around them before blanketing himself across Roy's side.

"It'll be a little messy in the morning if we don't clean up now."

Ed's grunted response was made clearer by the way he tightened his arms more securely around Roy's chest and settled his head against the Colonel. A light chuckle was Roy's only comment as he circled his arms around Ed's back. He drifted off like that, leaving Roy to stretch to turn off the lights and then silently watch Ed's sleeping form until exhaustion claimed him as well.