FLAMES IGNITE

He has always been the one to dictate the pace of every encounter, the one to dictate the value of every exchange.

To have Roy— the one thing he’s actually terrified of losing ask to lead, and to do so with such unnerving, tender patience, dismantles all of his defenses at once.

He stops trembling.

The stillness that takes over his body isn't the stillness of his Ultimate Shield, but the stillness of a man who has finally stopped running.

He stares up at Roy, his red eyes glassy, his pupils blown wide as he searches the Alchemist's face for the trick, the con, the trap, the hidden blade.

But there is nothing there but that serious, soft look.

And that scares him more than any threat.

"Make love," he breathes, the words feeling heavy and strange, vibrating in the back of his throat.

He says it again, quieter, as if he's trying to reconcile the cold, transactional logic of his existence with the heat radiating from Roy's skin.

"You… you really are a fool, Roy. You're inviting a disaster into your bed... and you're acting like it’s a choice."

He reaches up, his fingers— still shaking, still raw, tangling gently into the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling him just a tiny bit closer so their foreheads rest against one another.

He tries to memorize the feeling of being touched without being claimed or conquered.

"I don't know the rules for this," he whispers, his voice cracking, the familiar stutter beginning to weave through his words as his composure frays under the weight of the moment. "I don't know how to be… s-soft without tearing everything to pieces. My whole life... has been about hunger, Roy. About taking until there's nothing left to f-feed on."

He closes his eyes, a single, hot tear escaping to trail into his hairline, a visual mark of his total surrender.

When he pulls him to lean their foreheads together, Roy took a deep breath and let it out softly and slowly, their breath mingling. He listened to Greed to what he was saying. He wanted to be guided, to be shown how to love.

Roy knew that it wasn't exactly something a homunculus has had any capabilities of doing, but Roy wanted to prove him wrong, that he CAN love and be loved. To be cherished and held like this.

"I don't plan to leave you in the cold alone, Greed." He assures him, leaning in to kiss his lips softly. Instead of the kiss being messy and heated, he wanted to be gentle with him, to go slower. This was a slow build up for them and he wanted his first time trying this to be a good one.

"I want to show you gentleness, Greed. That things can go slow and build up to the point where you lose control completely. There are no rules, its just feeling each other softer instead of harder."

A few more gentle kisses, he goes down his jaw, to the crook of his neck, he sucks softly as he nibbles against his neck. While his hands slowly move to ghost his red nodes, tracing around the circle, waiting to see how he reacts as he looks up at him.

【𐂃】 HE HATED BEING LIKE THIS. of course he wanted him closer. not that traveling was any trouble for him; the crystal made it simple. needless to say, Blitz couldn't do it. bringing a human to Hell could cost him his family. there wasn't any dire need to bring them over; especially when they were planning to get that cabin soon. so, he kept it as that. wanting nothing more about the subject. even if . . . it made him feel guilty for turning them down. not knowing what they truly meant by their words.

❝ I'M SORRY yeah . . . we can practice alchemy 'N shit. whatever you want, I'm here for you. ❞ trying to shake off the feeling he let them brush up against him. sighing yet cracking a small smile as he absorbed their warmth && fondling.

The thought that he could die at anytime and the other not know that he could was plaguing in the back of his thoughts. He knew once the Promised Day was here anything could happen, he didn't want to worry Blitz about that though. There was just so much he didn't know for sure and to tell him what could happen, he didn't think he could deal with the thought of risking his life despite being a demon in hell, he could STILL die too.

That promise of presence is the final piece of evidence that he has officially lost the war against his own capacity for human emotion, though, for once... he doesn't give a damn about the territory he has surrendered.

He doesn't pull away.

Rather, he deflates against the Alchemist, the tension that he had used to keep the world at bay for all these years finally melting into something softer.

Much softer.

Softer even than just moments ago.

He stays tucked right there where he is, pressing his face even harder into the warmth of Roy's skin, finding a strange, terrifying solace in being seen without his usual mask.

As Roy's hand moves in those slow, soothing circles across his back, the tunnel vision that had been closing in on him all day finally fades to a dull thrum, leaving him with raw clarity he hadn't known in ages.

He doesn't... have the words to apologize for the mess of his afternoon, and the thought of trying to explain the "mental vault" or the haunting memory of Martel feels like trying to explain a foreign language... so... he simply clings to Roy instead, his fingers curling into the fabric of the shirt with a possessive grip, far too gone to care.

"You’re a fool, Roy," he murmurs, his voice stripped of every sharp edged, arrogant pretense until it's barely a rough whisper.

Roy leans against him, continuing his movements. He doesn't stop as he lays on top of him, his head against his shoulder. Despite everything that he was willing to show to him, and to tell him he was a fool. Roy could understand what he was trying to say. He needn't say anything to him verbally for him to get the message.

His lips lightly press against his shoulder, it's soft and tender, showing him that he doesn't have to worry about him judging him for being like this with him.

Roy wants him to see just how much he cares for him, how much he wants to be around him. Why else would he come back here on a work night and be this close to him?

A raw, guttural sound tears itself from his throat, a human-like sob that vibrates deep within his chest.

He lunges into the kiss with a desperate, bruising intensity, his fingers tangling into Roy's hair to anchor himself as if the Alchemist might evaporate if he lets go.

He is no longer fast talking or playing the con. His breath comes in ragged, broken gasps as he buries his face into the hollow of his neck, his pride completely dismantled.

His body betrays him entirely, arching instinctively to press his hardened, aching cock against the Alchemist's thigh, finally abandoning the "Boss" persona that served as his fortress for over a century.

"Roy," he manages to choke out against his skin.

Greed's purr, which had been rattling his ribs like a rusted engine all day, finally softens into a low, needy vibration that resonates against Roy's chest... a sound of profound, terrified relief.

He grips the fabric of his white button-up, his knuckles tight, and drags him down further into the dark, cold silks of his bed.

The sheer, crushing weight of his surrender is almost physically painful, a stark contrast to the hollow, transactional vacuum he’s been living in for weeks.

He feels an overwhelming, suffocating mix of shame and relief.

He is afraid of the ease with which Roy has dismantled his armor, yet he is intoxicated by the honesty of being held.

Beneath the physical intensity, a frantic, high-voltage panic screams through his Homunculus biology, trying to reconcile his pride with the pathetic, needy creature he feels like in Roy’s arms.

Every nerve ending is firing with a hypersensitive, agonizing hunger, but for the first time, he doesn't want to hoard or consume the Alchemist.

He wants to dissolve into him, to stop the endless cycle of isolation that has defined his entire existence.

As he pulls Roy even tighter down with him, his internal monologue becomes a scattered mantra of devotion.

After he had returned the kiss for a few moments only then to feel the others face in the crook of his neck, Roy's heart races. He's watching him finally let himself be known, let himself be seen despite not having done so moments before.

It helped that Roy had decided to show him affection. He wanted him to know that he was there and that it was okay to be vulnerable with him. He wasn't going to judge him for it either.

He could feel his throbbing cock against his thigh, but he doesn't acknowledge that out loud, the fact is he had decided to let him drag him further down within the silk sheets. He leans his head against his shoulder, wrapping his arms around him.

"I'm here.." He whispers in response to him calling out his name. "I'm not leaving you alone tonight." He assures him, clinging to him.

It was no wonder his gut was telling him to be here, because here he was dealing with something that he wasn't telling him about. He wasn't going to force him to tell him though if he didn't want to.

The air in the room seems to grow thick and stifling, pressurized by the sudden, unwanted presence of the man who occupies every corner of his mind.

His body betrays him instantly, a sharp, painful jolt of arousal pulsing through him, forcing his cock to harden against his pants with a physical ache that is impossible to hide.

A ragged, hitching breath escapes him, and he struggles to find his voice, his speech fracturing into a stutter as his nervous system misfires under the intensity of his fixation.

"Roy...?" he croaks, his voice vibrating with a purr that he can no longer control, though his eyes remain narrowed, burning with a mix of shame and raw, desperate hunger.

He drags a hand down his face, his skin slick with a feverish sheen of sweat, and he lets out a sound that is half bellow, half groan.

"I told you... I told you to g-get out," he stammers, his hands shaking where they are knotted in his hair, his fingers digging into his scalp as he tries to maintain the illusion of being the "Boss". "You've got some nerve, showing up here when I told you to stay away. T-trying to see the me at my lowest? You’re really a pain in the ass, you know that?"

He turns his head away, his jaw working as he grinds his teeth, desperate to conceal the way his body is betraying his commands, a sudden urge to stop the persona and just take what he has been obsessing over for so long.

Then, he lets out a harsh, self-deprecating laugh.

"If the train is gone, then stay," he hisses. "But don't... don't you dare come any closer. I'm not… I'm not in the mood for you to watch me f-fall apart. And don't think for a second I don't know exactly what you're doing, looking at me like that."

He collapses back into the mattress, his shoulders hunching as he fights the urge to let the facade crumble entirely and finally air the depth of his avarice.

He takes off his military jacket, setting it aside like he did before, he was only wearing his pants and white button up. Roy moved more into the room coming closer towards his bed, taking a breath. He wasn't afraid of Greed and letting him know that he wasn't going to make fun of him for being vulnerable.

Despite against his better wishes, Roy wanted to check on him, his gut told him to. He was slow with that though as he moved closer to the bed where he was now facing him. His hand moved slowly pull him so that his face is facing him, his palm cradling his cheeks before he moved to lean in and kiss him heatedly.

His heart was racing, but he didn't care. He needed to bring Greed back to himself again. He needed to show him that he wasn't going to leave him behind, to show him that he could be vulnerable with him.

One of the regulars at the bar offers a stiff nod, but there is a distinct lack of the usual bravado, as if they are all walking on eggshells.

"The vault," Roa grunts, midway through shining a glass with a washcloth.

He looks uneasy, despite his usual gruff disposition.

"He hasn't been out for a while, Colonel. He told us not to disturb him."

What seems like thirty minutes passes at a snail's pace as the Alchemist descends past the trap door in the back of the bar down the stairs through the thick layers of concrete surrounding the walls towards Greed's bedroom.

His door is eerily unlocked.

When he pushes it open, its heavy oak frame creaking loudly, the Homunculus doesn't turn his head, his grip on his hair tightening until his knuckles turn white.

The music he's been playing— that relentless, haunting melody playing so loudly it rolls off the coins loosely vibrating on his lockbox is the only thing anchoring Greed to reality, and he barely registers the familiar scent of woodsmoke and crisp air that signals Roy's arrival.

"Get out," he says, his voice brittle and devoid of its usual, sharp edged arrogance, the sound ending in a sharp, hissing intake of air.

When he tries to pull the command out of his throat, it hitches, distorting into a deep bellow that rumbles through the floorboards.

He's shaking, his body radiating a palpable, exhausted heat, but he doesn't reach for his shield or try to mask his state.

He just lets out a jagged, hitching breath, his eyes squeezed shut as if he can physically feel him standing there, and the contrast between his "Boss" persona and this broken, shivering mess is crystal clear.

It was odd how they all felt extremely uncomfortable. Roy wondered what it was that made the homunculus be in a bad mood, despite the warning that he was notified about not wanting to be disturbed, Roy went ahead and made his way down to his room.

Only to be greeted by a warning from the man to say that he didn't have anything for anyone today, did that mean he didn't want his company? Despite making it all the way here?

It wasn't like Greed to be in such a position like this, especially around him. He's never seen this man seem upset or to himself. He was usually the opposite. He could feel that the other didn't want anyone to see him like this, but Roy came here to see him regardless so it would take a lot to get rid of him.

"Well, I didn't come all of the way here to just leave, now did I? Besides by the time I get there the last train will be already gone." He says it so casually as if to see what Greed would do when he realizes that Roy came to visit him.