Written for Rune for the Yaoi Challenge. Her request: "Newly restored Ed has to get used to sensation in his right arm and left leg again. Roy helps." Betaed by Eliza, Karot, and Boni.

Edward was nodding off and fighting it. Roy watched him jerk himself awake yet again and had to admire his tenacity. Edward had to be exhausted, but he'd set himself as a barrier between the world and his brother, so awake he'd stay.

That stubborness was one of the things Roy liked best about Fullmetal, and one of the things that most drove him crazy.

"Nii-san," Alphonse said, and his voice was so quiet without the echo effect of the armor, "why don't you lie down? I can sit by General Mustang and you can--"

"I'm fine, Al." Edward looked at his brother. "Why don't you lie down? You've been through more than I have."

Alphonse cast a surprisingly calculating look in Roy's direction, then said, "You're willing to sit by General Mustang so I can lie down?"

"If he'll move over a bit," Edward said, rolling his eyes and kicking out with his foot to nudge Roy's leg. His left foot, and he sucked in his breath at the contact, jerking away.

"Fullmetal," Roy said, even as Alphonse gasped, "Nii-san." Edward cut them both off.

"I'm fine. Just forgot for a minute." He stood up to cross the space between the benches, and Roy stood up as well, reaching out to catch him at the right shoulder. Edward flinched, but Roy didn't let go.

"Come with me, Fullmetal."

"Why?"

Roy reminded himself making it an order wouldn't do much good. "Because I'd like to talk to you, and your brother wants to sleep."

Edward wanted to refuse, Roy could see it. The instinctive need to protect Alphonse himself, the desire to ignore what had just happened; Roy knew Fullmetal well enough to name most of his reasons. He also knew how to circumvent that reaction.

He reached out and rapped on the door, and Hawkeye opened it barely a breath later.

"Sir?"

"Fullmetal and I will be taking a walk. Stay here with Alphonse."

"Of course, sir."

Edward looked mutinous, but Roy knew he wouldn't dare question Hawkeye's ability to defend his brother. Instead, he shrugged off Roy's hand and walked stiffly out the door Hawkeye held open. Roy nodded at Hawkeye and followed.

Once in the corridor outside the compartment, Edward stopped. "So talk."

Roy put his hand on Edward's shoulder again and gave him a little push. "I don't think either of us want to have this conversation where any of my men could overhear, Fullmetal."

Edward tensed under his hand, but didn't pull away again. "Then where?"

"The compartment two ahead of you is empty."

"Why do I have the feeling I don't want to have this conversation at all?"

"Too late now. If you go back inside, you'll wake up Alphonse. He's had a rough couple of days."

Edward finally cast a look at Roy over his shoulder. "You are such a manipulative bastard."

"The compartment, Fullmetal."

Edward looked stubborn for a moment, then blew out a breath and huffed, "Fine."

Edward began to stomp his way toward the compartment, but it only took one step on his left foot for him to jerk up and almost stumble backward. He righted himself, cast a glare back at Roy, who wisely didn't say anything, then moved with significantly less force to open the door. And again he startled, pulling his right hand away from the handle as though it had burned him.

That, Roy decided, was enough.

Moving forward himself, he set his hand on the door and pushed it open, crowding Edward into the opening. Edward jerked irritably away from him, then sat down on one of the benches and set his jaw, crossing both arms and legs and looking away. Roy shut the door again, pulled the blind down in the small window, moved to pull the blind on the larger window looking out into the darkened landscape, then finally turned to look down at Edward. Edward did not return the gaze.

"Give me your hand, Fullmetal."

Now Edward did look at him, with narrowed eyes. "Why?"

"It's going to be very difficult to keep your restoration a secret if every touch makes you react so noticeably."

"And how is giving you my hand--" Edward cut himself off and his eyes widened. Then he almost grinned. "Pervert."

"We've got to get you used to sensation in your arm and leg, Fullmetal. It doesn't have to be me, but as my staff and Alphonse are the only ones who know what you've achieved, and Alphonse has adjustments of his own to make, your options are rather limited."

"I'm just tired," Edward said dismissively. "It'll be fine."

"You just told Alphonse you weren't tired."

"Yes, but it's not like either of you believed me."

Roy had to smile at that. "Nor is it like I believe you now."

"Mustang--"

"Fullmetal, this isn't something I can order you to do, but I want you to consider what will happen if you return to Central flinching nearly every time you move. I want you to consider how Alphonse will feel--"

"Stop hiding behind Al." Edward looked fierce and Roy blinked.

"What are you talking about?"

Instead of answering, Edward uncrossed his arms. Holding Roy's eyes, he pulled the glove off his right hand, then held it out. When Roy reached to take it, however, he pulled back.

"Take off your gloves, Mustang."

"Fullmetal--"

"You don't get to hold my hand if you can't say my name."

Roy wasn't sure he wanted to do this unarmed. In fact, judging by the glint in Edward's eyes, he was convinced he didn't want to do this unarmed. So he took off his right glove, tucked it in his pocket, then tried to grab for Edward's hand with the left glove still on.

Unfortunately, Edward anticipated him, clapped and reached out. Edward's hand touched the glove, and it unravelled fingers first. Roy stared at the pile of thread that looped on Edward's knee before spilling to the floor, then looked up to see Edward grinning at him.

"Now we'll both be unarmed."

Roy told himself it was just Edward being Edward, being competitive and rebellious, and yet.... They were still touching. He raised his other hand to trap Edward's between his, ran his thumb across Edward's palm and felt him shiver.

They'd kissed once, over a year ago. Edward shivered then, too, before pulling away as swiftly as he'd leaned in.

"This may not be the best idea," Roy said, but he made no move to let go, and Edward simply scowled.

"This was your idea."

"Not quite this, Edward."

Edward's hand shifted in his, and it felt so warm and soft and fragile. "Then let go."

He had before, when Edward pulled away. Edward was not pulling away this time. Slowly, holding Edward's eyes, Roy ran the fingertips of his right hand up to Edward's wrist. "Do you want me to let go?"

Edward shook his head, but said only, "Your choice, Mustang."

"Roy." And Roy sat down to Edward's left, tugging his hand so that he turned on the bench, his left knee touching Roy's thigh. Again, Edward sucked in his breath, and Roy smiled. "If I'm holding your hand, you should call me Roy."

"And do you plan to hold my hand all night, Roy?" Edward's tone bordered on flirtatious, but he didn't move any closer, and there was something wary in his eyes. Again Roy wondered if this was a good idea.

"There won't be time before we reach Central to accustom you to sensation in both limbs if we set such a pace," he said carefully, "but if you'd prefer--"

"What would you prefer, Roy?" The wariness was blooming into anger, his name stressed in a way that made it sound like a synonym for "you bastard." And really, that should not make him more comfortable nor more turned on. "Are you really so worried my performance under your command will suffer unless you do this? If that's it, don't bother. Al can--"

There were times when Roy enjoyed watching Ed work himself into a fine fury. Often, it was therapeutic as well as entertaining. This time, though, he had a feeling letting Ed continue would lose him any chance that one kiss had represented, and Roy was not a man who liked to lose anything. So he returned the kiss, a long year in coming, risking that it was the fastest way to divert Ed's anger into a more useful emotion.

Ed didn't shiver this time. This time, Ed shook, then pulled free of Roy's hold on his hand to grasp the front of Roy's jacket and jerk him closer. Ed's hands were hot through the fabric, Ed's mouth was hot, and it opened obligingly under his as Roy leaned into the kiss. He used his own freed hands to push Ed's coat off his shoulders, then untie the jacket beneath and push it down too. His fingers brushed Ed's arms, soft, hot; Ed gasped against his lips and he dropped his mouth to press against Ed's shoulder.

"I am not worried," he said, holding on through the surge his breath against Ed's skin caused, "about your performance. And Al can just keep sleeping."

Ed's hands spasmed on his jacket, shaking him. "Don't do this unless you want it. Don't--"

"I've been waiting on you, Fullmetal--"

"Ed, and don't give me that. You've been holding back as much as I have, and I've done it, I've restored Al, but you--"

Roy raised his head and looked Ed in the eyes. "I've been waiting on you."

Ed returned the stare for a long moment, then his eyes narrowed in comprehension. "One day, Mustang, you're going to lose track of a scheme and it's going to bite you in the ass."

"Roy. And are you trying to tell me something, Ed?"

Ed opened his mouth, but Roy didn't wait for an answer, leaning in for another kiss. Ed tugged insistently at his jacket, then released it long enough to clap. Roy pulled back to protest, but too late; his jacket was a much larger pile of blue thread, buttons, and piping bundled atop the remains of his glove.

"You could have just asked me to take it--"

"Too slow." Ed clapped his hands again, but this time Roy reached out to grab them before Ed could deconstruct his shirt.

"Anticipation is half the fun, Ed, and I'm not going to have you wearing yourself out before I get my chance."

"No need to worry about me getting worn out. I'm still young," Ed said smugly.

Roy narrowed his eyes. "That's true, you are. Perhaps too young--"

"Eighteen is not--"

Roy pressed one hand over Ed's mouth, keeping tight hold of Ed's wrist with the other. "My subordinates are not that far away, Ed. Are you sure you want to start yelling and make them curious about what we're doing in here?"

He expected Ed to lick his palm in retaliation. He didn't expect Ed to lower his eyelashes and make a show of it, didn't expect Ed to press into his hand, both hands. Ed twisted toward him even more, bringing up his left leg until the calf bumped against Roy's left knee. The noise Ed made at that contact, the way his whole body tightened and arched and his free hand fisted once again in Roy's shirt, strengthened Roy's resolve to go slow. He wanted to savor this. He also, he had to admit, wanted Ed to react this way only to his touch; which meant getting Ed used to the contact before they reached Central and Ed's adoring public.

He pulled his hand away from Ed's mouth, dropped it down to Ed's waist and pulled Ed's tanktop free of his pants. Ed allowed it, watching him from under dropped eyelids. Roy found that disturbingly seductive. So he pressed his hand, still wet from Ed's tongue, to Ed's flesh; he was rewarded with a squawk and a widening of those eyes.

"Hey!"

Huffing out an impatient breath, he began to pull away. "Honestly, Fullmetal, if you can't even stand your own saliva--"

As soon as he released Edward's wrist, Edward clapped and pounced. Roy's shirt unravelled and Roy fell onto his back on the train's bench, Edward coming down on top of him. He reached up to steady Edward without thinking, and Edward gasped as Roy's hand closed over his upper arm.

"Fullmetal--"

"It's Ed! And I want your saliva on me and your touch and--and--would you just do something already? You're driving me crazy!"

Roy liked to think himself a fairly courageous man, but he thought he could be forgiven a little caution with the Fullmetal Alchemist spread out on top of him and glaring at him so fiercely. "Ed--"

"Shut up." And Ed kissed him again, sloppy and wet and impatient and everything Roy was determined this wasn't going to be. As usual with Fullmetal, it looked like he was going to have to adapt his plans.

Deciding it was best to continue as he'd started, Roy reached around Ed with both hands, sliding them under the tank at the small of Ed's back. Ed didn't protest this time, arching into the contact even as he continued to kiss Roy. Roy pushed the fabric upward, tracing Ed's spine with his fingertips until the tank wouldn't go any higher unless Ed moved his arms. Roy tugged once, twice, hoping Ed would get the message. Ed just muttered something against his lips, then raised both hands above Roy's head and Roy heard a clapping sound. Ed's arms came back down, and Roy felt the tingle of alchemical reaction as Ed's tank turned to thread between his fingers.

That, Roy decided, was over the line.

"Ed," he said, then pushed until Ed finally pulled back enough to let him speak clearly.

"What?"

"If you want to undress me using alchemy, I really can't stop you--"

"Damn right--"

"However, I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist you allow me to undress you in my own fashion and at my own pace."

Ed exhaled irritably, but said, "Fine."

"Excellent. Now please restore your shirt and put it back on."

Ed just stared at him. "You're kidding me."

Roy removed his hands from Ed's body, dropped them deliberately, palms down, on the bench. "Unless you prefer to do all the work yourself."

Ed considered a moment, then asked slyly, "Wouldn't that defeat the supposed purpose of doing this?"

"Don't you think you're already defeating the purpose with your reliance on alchemy and insistence on speed?"

"Fine!" Ed clapped his hands again, with rather more force than Roy felt was strictly necessary, and reached down to grab the black thread that had once been his tank. It wove itself back together swiftly, and Ed sat up to pull it on, muttering under his breath the whole time. "Happy now?"

"Ecstatic," Roy said drily. Ed muttered some more and Roy raised his hands to Ed's waist, slid his thumbs under the hem of the tank to stroke Ed's sides. "You know, it occurs to me it's only your arm and leg that have been recovered. Perhaps I should confine myself to touching them."

Ed's eyes narrowed dangerously, then he smiled in a way that always meant trouble. "And you haven't recovered anything, so maybe I shouldn't be touching you at all."

"That would make it difficult to push for faster."

"You keep slowing us down anyway."

"As I said," and Roy crept his hands up an inch on Ed's skin, "anticipation is half the fun."

"Always knew your idea of fun was torture, Mus--Roy." Roy's hands moved another inch, and Ed sucked in his breath. "A bastard and a sadist."

"My parents were married, Ed," Roy said, smiling as Ed laughed breathlessly, then bent down for a kiss. Roy gave him one, then several more as his hands crept up Ed's flesh again to the point where Ed had to raise his arms. "Now," Roy spoke against his lips, "some cooperation would be welcome, but no alchemy."

"Yeah, I caught that part the first time." Ed stretched his arms above both their heads, and Roy slid the tank up to his hands, then paused. He considered if there might be a way to secure the fabric between Ed's palms. Ed growled at the delay. "Now what?"

"You transmuted both of my gloves, yet you can still clap. Somehow that doesn't seem very...equitable."

"You're not tying me up."

"Well, technically, it wouldn't be--"

Ed growled again, which was a sound Roy found he really, really liked in this context. Ed tried to tug free, but Roy tightened his hold and grinned, twisting until he had Ed trapped between himself and the back of the bench.

"Hey!"

"You have two choices, Edward," Roy purred, pleased to see the tone made Ed flush and catch his breath. "You can give me your word you won't use alchemy again, no matter how impatient you get, or I will keep your shirt right where it is."

"That's going to make touching me hard."

Roy pressed in, aligning himself just right to brush against Ed in exactly the right places. "I don't have to touch you with my hands. In fact, this method has some particular advantages."

"Bas--ah!" The color bloomed in Ed's face, and Roy would have smiled at how Ed's struggles only pushed him more tightly against Roy's body, but he was having trouble catching his own breath. He tried to pull back a bit, to exert some control over the pace, but Ed moved with him, still writhing.

Ed didn't seem to be trying to get free anymore.

Roy risked taking one hand off Ed's shirt, dropping it down to push between their bodies and undo the top button on Ed's pants. Ed swore and jerked, got his right arm free. Roy held tight to the left hand, keeping it covered with fabric. Ed's eyes flashed at him, but Ed only mirrored his movements. At least for the first button.

"Mustang, what--"

"Double button placket, standard military issue." Roy couldn't help grinning as he kept slipping Ed's buttons loose, brushing his thumb over hot, slick flesh.

"The hell with that," Ed snarled, and pulled back enough to slap his right hand to his own stomach.

At least he only unravelled Roy's pants that way. Roy decided to take his victories where he could get them, and wondered why he ever thought this would be any different than any of his other interactions with Ed.

With no clothing to hinder him in any way, Ed seemed determined to touch Roy as though this were all for his benefit. Or perhaps not; left hand still trapped in Roy's right, Ed pressed soft, soft fingers to Roy's skin and his eyes fluttered closed. Roy broke off struggling with Ed's pants long enough to catch Ed's hand again. When Ed tried to pull away, Roy leaned in to kiss him and murmur, "Trust me."

So Ed let him raise that hand to his mouth, and Ed's own mouth opened when Roy pressed a kiss to the palm, then licked his way up the index finger and sucked the tip in. Ed's hips rocked, and Roy released his left hand to make short work of the rest of his buttons, reach in and palm his cock and stroke. Ed gasped, thrust hard into his hand, and he bit down just enough to keep Ed's finger in his mouth as he reached down and pushed Ed's pants off his hips, as far down as he could get them. He reached up again, took Ed's hand and brought it down, wrapped it around both of their cocks and held on, showing Ed by feel how to do it, how to squeeze, how to pull and push and move. It wasn't as slow as he wanted, but he was beginning to wonder if that kind of slow was even possible, when it was Ed and what he wanted was a slow that never ended.

Ed came first, and he wasn't sure if it was the stimulation of hand or cock that counted most, which was why he'd decided to do it this way. It was the sight of Ed as well as the feel that did him in, sleek and flushed and gold, so gold. The kind of gold alchemists dreamed of, and woke weeping.

Ed panted into his chest and he panted into Ed's hair, their hands sticking to their cocks and each other. His right arm was trapped awkwardly half under him and half under Ed, and the bench was not nearly wide enough to accommodate both of them. He was glad he'd pulled the blind down on the door's window; he could just imagine one of his men looking in to see him bare-assed and a hair's breadth from falling on the floor.

"Ed," he said softly.

"Yeah?" And now Ed wasn't even trying to pretend to sound not tired. Carefully, Roy shifted them around until Ed was mostly on top of him and he was mostly on the bench. He groped around with his left hand until he found Ed's coat, and pulled it up to cover of much of them as he could.

"Go to sleep."

"We should clean up first." Ed stirred, blinking vaguely, but he stayed down when Roy brought his right hand up and pressed it to the back of Ed's neck.

"It'll wait. I'm touching you this way too."

"Oh." Ed blinked again, then sighed and closed his eyes, slumping down against Roy's shoulder. "Just for a little while, though. Al'll worry."

"Al's sleeping too."

"Yeah, but--"

"It will be all right, Ed. Go to sleep."

"Demanding bastard," Ed muttered, then raised his head to press one last kiss to Roy's lips before settling down and finally, finally sleeping.

Roy stayed awake. At the moment, he had no need to dream.

~END~