Alchemist/Exorcist (FMA: Brotherhood x Blue Exorcist) RinxEd)

Chapter 13

             "Brother, please, open up...Ed, I will break down this door,"
             "Al," Rin closed the apartment door behind him. Al stood at the closed door to Ed's room.
            "He's pretty pissed. What did Yukio say to him?"
            Rin shrugged, "Wish I knew. Believe me, I'm not very happy with him either."
            "You're really headed back to Japan?"
            "Yukio's gone to tell Colonel Mustard that we're backing out,"
            Al snorted, "It's Mus-tang."
            "Yeah, I know. Maybe you can talk some sense into him. I'll take a crack at Ed? Between the two of us, maybe we'll get this circus train back on the tracks,"
            Al looked back and forth from the door to Rin and back, before saying, "Sure," and reluctantly leaving.
            When Al was gone Rin knocked on the closed door, "Ed, it's Rin, man. Open the hell up."
            "Go. Away,"
            "Not gonna happen. We gotta talk,"
            "I don't want to talk, especially not to you,"
            "Fine then. You don't have to talk. I'll talk, you listen, kay?"
            Silence.
            "Ed, I'm not taking no for an answer,"
            "You gonna break the door down too?" he sounded doubtful.
            "Nah, I'll just sit out here and bore you with lame stories from my childhood till your brain melts,"
            Silence again.
            "Suit yourself..." Rin leaned back against the door, "When I was six I remember playing on the swings at school and this boy—"
             He was cut off by the door opening, causing him to fall back into the room. Ed stood at his feet, looking down at him having shut the door behind him. He was scowling, but there was the sparkle of suppressed laughter in his eyes when he said, "We can talk as long as you promise never to finish your swings story."
              They both sat on the bed in silence. Ed flopped back onto his back and closed his eyes, and Rin just stared for a long moment. The slopes and angles of his face, the dip of his Adam's apple as he swallowed hard, the way the blond bangs lay flat against his forehead and his braid snaked across one shoulder, the rise and fall of his chest and stomach with his breath.
               "Everything is so fucked," Ed said after a moment, deep in his throat like he was trying desperately not to cry.
              "Yeah...Listen, I don't agree with what Yukio did either and he can be a jackass, but he's a good guy. He was just—"
              "He did the right thing," Ed sat up, running his hands over his face, "I hate to admit it, but...if there really was nothing that could be done for James...I've seen my fair share of hell, so I can't blame him for wanting to die. I just can't find a pattern to it all, all this death. What's the point? It doesn't make sense."
               "Makes sense to me," Rin said, "This is my pattern. Everyone around me dying."
               "What do you mean?"
              "Before my old man died, he told me someone will always be gunning for me. Yukio said so too. And someone is always in the crossfires. Now I'm Victor's next target? No surprise. Someone will always want to kill me, death will always follow me until I bite it. That's my pattern, my fate,"
              "Rin," Rin jumped as Ed seized his hand, "That's awful. There must be something—"
              "Nah," Rin tried to speak over his heart pounding in his ears, "I've made peace with it. But you—if there was anything I could do..."
              "Don't leave,"
              "...Like ever?"
              Ed chuckled softly, "No, just...just not tonight."
              Rin looked out the window behind them. The sun was setting. There was no way they would get a train out of the country tonight. "Yeah, okay. Anything else?"
              "Yeah," with his other hand, Ed seized Rin's collar and pulled him into a kiss. This time no one broke it. It was desperate and needy and went deeper and deeper.
             Ed moved his hands into Rin's hair, the metal fingers of one scraping his scalp, but Rin didn't mind. Everything else had fallen away. He cupped the back of Ed's head, fingers finding his hair too, tugging at the braid until it came undone and course blond locks pooled in his palms. Ed forced his way into Rin's lap, pressing against him as much as possible, hands moving again to pull at the buttons on his shirt. Rin's hands traced the muscles of Ed's neck and shoulders until they found the clasp for his jacket and popped it, before he was tipped onto his back.