Work Text:
1.
They had been walking for hours.
Technically, it was Greed who had been walking. Ling was taking a sort of passenger-seat role in the whole thing, which he wasn't too bothered by - he knew he wouldn't have any more idea of where to go than the homunculus, who at least seemed to have some sort of plan. Maybe it was just an urge to get away from Central, from anything that could trigger any more memories coming back from his previous incarnation.
Still, it was getting boring. Greed wasn't talking to him (When did that become a problem?), and he still wasn't a big fan of the endless green woodland and hills that covered Amestris outside of the cities.
"Remind me," he piped up, "where are we going again?"
Greed gritted his teeth, and his weird soul-face-thing - Ling still hadn't worked out exactly what that was - floated into view, scowling. It was weird; Ling could somewhat sense his own face making those expressions sometimes, yet they always felt so distinct from actually being his.
"Shut it, kid."
There was a pause. "Why do you call me that?"
Greed's steps faltered for a second before he quickly righted himself. "Heh. 'Cause I know it pisses you off, obviously."
"Come on, you're basically inside my head, Greed. You know it doesn't annoy me that much any more." Ling's face was unexpectedly serious inside the mindscape, almost making Greed wish he was able to fully look away.
"Well," he said, trying to focus on the outside, "you are a kid." Sensing that the prince was about to start going off again, he continued: "Force of habit, alright? And, I mean, I guess it kinda makes me..." He trailed off, coming to a stop.
"Makes you what?" Ling insisted.
Greed sighed, long-suffering and weary. He pinched the bridge of his nose for a couple of seconds, then seemed to shake himself.
"I'll tell you when you're older."
That smirk was back in place, and they were off again. Ling retreated back into the abyss of souls, resigning himself to ignorance - at least for now.
And I felt like I was getting somewhere, too.
2.
There was something a little ironic about Greed wanting to get away from his "first life", his friendships and collaborations, just to end up part of another team with more friends. He was all too aware of this. 'S not like the idiot prince will let me forget about it, anyway.
"Hey, stop thinking so loudly!" Ling admonished, briefly looking up from his bowl of soup. "That's essentially the same as talking out loud in there, you know."
"Trust me, I know," Greed replied, scowling. "I hardly ever get a fucking break from you, even when you're stuck in here."
"I'll have you know that I keep plenty of secrets!" the teen said, his pleased smile audible. "It wouldn't do for us to be completely psychic, now, would it?"
The homunculus grimaced. "You're sure right about that." Don't even wanna think about it. "Hey, are you done yet?"
"Why, you bored?" Ling asked through a mouthful of food. There was something about his tone Greed really wasn't a fan of. "Getting lonely in there? I think I'm perfectly good company, personally, but I suppose I can understand that."
"What d'you mean, pissant?" Greed growled. The corners of Ling's mouth quirked up. The older man hated that he could tell when Ling was doing that. The kid looked like a cat in the sun - totally not Greed's vibe at all.
Ling hummed for a second. "Well," he said cheerily, "these people are your friends!" He looked over to the other side of the barn they were staying in, gesturing towards Darius, Heinkel, and Ed. "It'd make sense if you wanted to talk to them."
"Hey, I--"
"And don't try to deny it, Greed. Sure, we haven't known them for long, but who cares! They're good people, they're working with you, they're pretty entertaining to be around. What's not to like?"
In one split second, Greed surged forward in their mindscape and grabbed hold of Ling's consciousness, yanking it back down and taking its place. He took the short time when the prince was sitting back in the abyss, looking all surprised as if he'd expected anything else, to stretch out his arms and neck. Good to be back in control.
"Cheap move, homunculus. I wasn't done eating yet."
"Shut up," Greed muttered, placing one elbow on the low wooden table and resting his head in his hand. "I said I like that you've got guts, but that doesn't mean I particularly enjoy you talking back to me."
"Talking back to you?" Ling scoffed. "Please. We weren't arguing - I'm just telling you what you're already thinking."
Greed sighed heavily, eyes drifting back up the others. The chimeras seemed to be recounting some stupid story from their time before landing in with Kimblee; Ed was looking away from them, but he had a light smile on his face, and Greed could tell he was listening to them.
"I like Ed." Ling's interjection caught Greed off guard a little, then he smirked.
"What, you got a crush on the runt? Well, could have worse taste. I won't judge ya."
"No, I don't," Ling replied, remarkably calm and sincere. "But I like him. He's a good friend." Greed nodded absently, still watching their companions from across the room. "You like him, too."
"Huh?" There was a surge of indignation passed from him to Ling as he sat upright quickly. "Listen, don't tell me what I feel. Don't tell me what I think, either, just--just don't try to tell me any bullshit like that." Greed's voice was rising, causing Ed to glanced over. "These guys are working for us--for me. Don't get it twisted."
Ling's projection shrugged, raising his hands in surrender. "Alright, then. Alright."
But he didn't miss the almost fond huff of laughter from Greed a minute later when Ed started cackling loudly at something, nor did he miss the contemplative feeling coming from the homunculus's consciousness. No - he was observant, so he was observing.
3.
It really didn't matter whether he was "friends" with these people, Greed figured, if all they were going to do was walk through some fucking trees, for-fucking-ever. Even Ling's chipper demeanour had taken a turn for the worst over the past few days, their shared body constantly aching and soaked to the bone.
What the hell even is Amestrian weather? the prince grumbled to himself in their head, and Greed huffed, a sense of "I-know-right" overcoming him even though he'd never set foot in Xing, not even in his previous incarnation. He just hummed noncommittally, glancing back at a straggling Ed, who was yelling something about automail and rain to Heinkel. It seemed like a valid complaint, probably.
"Hey, Greed," Ling said, sounding about as exhausted as the homunculus felt, "don't suppose I could take control for a bit?"
"Why the fuck would you want to come out into this?" Greed dismissed, hunching his shoulders. He felt more than heard the exasperated sigh from his internal companion.
"Because I want to set up camp and dry off my body, and you have absolutely zero persuasion skills," Ling pointed out as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Ed clearly needs a break, too, and he'll listen to me more than he'll listen to you. It's a matter of principle, not a personal thing, I assure you."
"This isn't your body, pissant," Greed gritted out, but immediately felt his waning. "We already decided where we're stopping, and we can't start letting shortstack over there think he's in charge around here, alright?"
"Pretty please? For a teeny-weeny bit? Thirty seconds?"
"In your dreams, kid."
There was a responding silence that made Greed think for a minute that he'd won the argument, but there was something off about it, he realised. He let his consciousness give a little sort of nudge to Ling's projected form inside their mindscape (something the two of them had been getting better at recently), and he saw the face of a boy trying his best to pretend something wasn't bothering him. Greed didn't have time to worry over when he'd started being able to pick up such things, though, because Ling was speaking.
"I don't dream any more, actually."
"Huh...?" Ling had said it so nonchalantly, Greed almost thought he hadn't heard right. But no, he had perfect hearing, and Ling was inside his head, for fuck's sake.
"I haven't dreamt at all since I accepted your Philosopher's Stone into my body. I guess you just reminded me," the prince explained, a weak smile masking him ineffectively. Greed scrunched his eyebrows up in something that he thought might've been sympathy, in a human.
"Huh. That's... kind of a big deal for you guys, right?"
The weak smile became wider yet shakier, and Greed felt a stab of guilt in his extremities. "Something like that," Ling said quietly.
"I'm... yeesh..." Greed winced, hoping, that the "sorry" would make it across to the prince somehow. I'm getting soft.
"Don't worry about it!" Ling said, his smile back to its usual level of cheeriness, though Greed still felt bad about something. "What is it the Amestrians always say - I've got bigger fish to kill?"
Greed stopped in his tracks, releasing a cackling laugh that had their other companions looking over at him with a mixture of concern and confusion. After he'd calmed down, he realised it had stopped raining.
"Pfft. Something like that," he said, still laughing a little, and the returning smile he saw seemed a little hopeful.
4.
It made enough sense that someone as ambitious - as greedy - as him could feel so empty inside, Ling supposed. He felt washed-out, bathed in bleach, scrubbed raw. He hadn't felt so cold in months.
Maybe cold resistance was a fun little side effect of being a homunculus, he wondered, staring blankly out of the train window. He vaguely acknowledged Lan Fan's presence, frowning at their reflections, but hadn't been able to bring himself to go on with his usual banter for around half an hour now.
Greed was gone. That was that. He was dead, something that Ling had known was possible, in theory, but had never given a second thought to. Greed the Avaricious, with his Ultimate Shield and ultimate longing to possess and ultimately human nature... was never coming back.
Ling had gained a lot, he knew. He'd gained friends (most notably Ed, who had promised to try to keep in touch and to visit Xing one day), gained a Philosopher's Stone, and was now almost guaranteed to gain the throne of his country.
Surely that's enough, he mused to himself, watching the outskirts of Amestrian civilisation fly by. You'd laugh at me now, Greed. I've gained so much, I have so much more than I did when I first came here, yet I still want what I used to have.
The prince shook himself, a small smile passing over his face like rain. Well, I guess you'd respect that, too. Always yearning for something you don't have.
He felt there was a difference, though, separating the usual wants and needs of Greed (and himself, for that matter) from this feeling. There had always been a sense of forward momentum, of an endgoal; Ling was just missing something he'd lost irrevocably, and where was the ambition in that?
Move on, spoke the shadow of Greed's voice in the boy's head. You've got bigger fish to fry.
He had felt like he was getting so close, too - so close to finally getting Greed to understand his own damn feelings. Whatever the homunculus had for a heart, Ling had felt it spasming, stuttering, desperately trying to reach out as the two of them stared owl-eyed at Ed's valiant attacks on Father, listening to the crowd's hoarse-throated encouragement. Ling had been aware of the void in Greed's soul for a long while, since the beginning, really; it was overwhelming to feel it starting to fill in with hope after all that time.
The memories quickly turned bitter, however. His hands gripped semi-consciously at the fabric of his trousers. He had never wanted to be the reason that Greed would go against his one steadfast rule, his only true moral. He had never wanted to be left alone in the quiet like this.
Perhaps Ling had gotten through to him at last, and that was why he'd gone. Why he'd sacrificed himself. So uncharacteristic. Ling wanted to laugh.
He sensed Lan Fan standing by his side before he heard her. "Young lord," she spoke, a hair's breadth from cautiousness, "we've arrived at the station."
Ling settled his features into what he hoped was a convincing smile, standing. "It would seem so. Shall we?"
He led the way onto the platform, waiting a second for Mei Chang to catch up with them. A quick survey of the area told him which way they needed to go, and he started walking immediately.
"It's a long way to go," he said conversationally. "Best be prepared for a lot of nothing!"
Who're you talking to, kid?
Ling's face turned sour as he shied away from the mockery of Greed's voice in his head.
Nobody.
5.
It was only ever a matter of time before Greed came back to Ling - he had been thinking that in the back of his mind for over three years at this point - but the Emperor's confidence in this had certainly waned over time. So now, standing with the slumped form of the ex-homunculus in his arms, Ling felt... at peace.
It was a strange kind of peace, the kind filled with years' worth of anticipation and anxiety, the kind that people are almost afraid to break by speaking. Lan Fan was looking at him like he'd just laid an egg - or turned into one, or committed some sort of incredible crime - and Ed was staring at Greed's new-old body with an amused type of awe.
The elder Elric brother had come over to Xing for the two months leading up to Greed's resurrection (though they all hesitated to call it such, too aware of the connotations that word had with human transmutation). It had been nice to have an old friend back for a while, especially while he was so desperately missing another. Ed had been surprisingly eager to get Greed back, too, saying something about him being "too much of a person not to get a real chance at being one" over the crackly cross-country phone. Whatever that meant.
Ed was walking over now, reaching out tentatively to check on the new arrival. "Is he... alright?" he asked cautiously, whether to himself or to Ling the young Emperor couldn't be sure. The ex-alchemist held two fingers to the side of Greed's throat, checking his pulse.
"He's going to be just fine," Ling replied with a smile, the most genuine smile he'd felt on his face for a long time. It wasn't that he'd been unhappy for the past three years; far from it, in fact. It had just felt like there was something missing, a coldness he'd never managed to shake, a cloud circling around him.
"What was it like, y'know," Ed asked without looking up at him, "in there?"
Ling pondered this question for a few long moments. He knew he had seen a lot of the things that Edward and Alphonse had seen - the Truth, or at least a great deal of it - yet he thought that he might've been so focused on his goal that he didn't really absorb a whole lot of it. He didn't want the truth about alchemy; he didn't need to be able to transmute without a circle or any of that. It didn't even really mean much to him to know the closest semblance to God that existed in their world. The only thing he'd seen that he'd had any real interest in had been the history of his country, the most accurate version of it available.
"It was interesting," he said simply, gently propping Greed up against himself in a more comfortable way. "I'm sure I'll be able to use a lot of that information to my advantage. Politically, I mean."
Ed gave him a shaky smile that Ling would've called watery if he wasn't talking about Ed of all people. He glanced back over to Lan Fan, who, to his shock, definitely was looking a little watery. He cocked his head at her, and she shook her own dismissively.
"You look... very happy, my lord." She stepped over to them, subtly wiping at her eyes with one sleeve. "I hope he's less annoying than he was before."
"Oh, I doubt it!" Ling said sunnily, grinning down at his friend.
"Hey," came a new (yet familiar) voice, "have some respect for the dead."
"Greed?" Ling's voice sounded foreign to his own ears, like he was hearing himself speak over one of those awful new telephone lines he had to use to reach Ed in a timely manner. The body in his arms shifted, and he suddenly became aware of how heavy it was.
"Who else'd you think you were pulling outta there, kid?" Greed finally looked up at him, smiling exhaustedly with those eyes that Ling felt as if he'd somehow looked back into a thousand times before, despite this being the body that he'd only seen in shared memories.
"It worked," Ling breathed out, laughter expelled from him by some invisible force. "It really worked! I missed you, Greed. And I'm not a kid any more. It's been more than three years since you left."
"Since I died, you mean," he chuckled in response, looking away with something akin to embarrassment painting his new (old) sharp features. "Yeah, I..." He trailed off, giving Ling the sense that he was about to say something but stopped himself short. "Yeah. It's good to be back. Thanks."
It took a little while for everyone to sort themselves out: for the long-time humans to compose themselves and gather their things and get to their quarters, and for the newly-human to work out how he was back and get to grips with his old body again. Ling led Greed to the Emperor's Suite, having already requested that a second bedroom be set up inside.
Later, when they were ready to sleep, after a rapid whirl of hours of reconnecting and celebration, the two of them were sat on the edge of Ling's giant bed. Greed was rooting through all of his things, as Ling had expected he would.
That wasn't Greed's only priority, however. It had been so long since he'd seen Ling that it felt as if he were looking at a ghost, despite the fact that he had been the one who had gone and died. He kept stealing glances at the young Emperor, taking in the extra length his hair had gained, the new strength in his jawline, those familiar warm eyes.
When did you go and get so damn beautiful, huh? he thought, the idea not so unwelcome to him now as it had once been. Of course, Ling had to go and ruin the moment by plucking the ornate box he had been fiddling with out of his hands, flicking the lid open and closed repeatedly like he was deliberately trying to annoy Greed. I take it back, pissant, the ex-homunculus thought with amusement, you're still a brat.
Ling flashed him a toothy grin, disarming Greed immediately with its familiarity. "I really did miss you, you know," he said, so offhandedly, like it wasn't such a vulnerable thing to admit. "Lan Fan hasn't let go of it this whole time, kept saying I've been moping. Can you believe it? Me, moping?"
"Sulking I could believe," Greed replied with a smirk, one that showed those sharp teeth that Ling had always known had been there, but hadn't looked at properly until now. They gave him a small thrill that he would have to examine later.
Ling rolled his eyes exaggeratedly before reaching out to rest a hand on Greed's shoulder. The jolt that went through the older man at the contact wasn't lost on him, but he chose to ignore it, at least for now.
"I want you to be happy here, Greed," he said earnestly. "I want you to enjoy being alive and human as much as I know I'm going to enjoy having you here. You can have anything you want - just ask, and I promise I'll do whatever I can to get it for you."
Greed was looking at him with an expression Ling couldn't decipher, though it was one he knew his own face had made under Greed's control many times before. For a split second it was like looking into a funhouse mirror, like looking into the past.
"I... yeah, I get it. Thanks, kid. Seriously. This human thing's gonna take some time to get used to, y'know, I might be shit at it, but... well. You get me. Heh."
Ling laughed, a light sound, like windchimes. "I do." He took his hand away, not wanting to make his friend nervous, or whatever Greed's version of nervous was. "Why are you still calling me that, by the way?" he asked, then, when Greed looked confused, continued: "I mean, you're still calling me "kid". I'm nearly twenty years old, you know. You were gone for a long time."
A sad smile passed by them like a breeze, affecting Greed's eyes and eyebrows more than it did his mouth. He tilted his head back to look at the ceiling, painted black and intricate gold.
"It's... it's just a nickname, really. Didn't have the chance to change it when I was stuck in... there, wherever that was. Didn't feel like that long. Or it felt like forever, I'm not sure. I'm not saying anything with it, really, I just--it stops things changing?" It was spoken like a question, like he wanted Ling to explain it for him, but Ling felt it was better left alone.
"It's fine, you know I don't mind it," he said, bumping their shoulders together, taking a brief moment to appreciate their newfound height difference.
Ling knew, then, that whatever his feelings were for the ex-homunculus, they were reciprocated. He was okay not knowing what those feelings were exactly for now, though, and he was more than okay letting Greed get used to being whole again before pushing it.
There was still some level of resistance there, though less than when they had last known each other, and there was also a sense of giving. The sense of a stormcloud ready to break, and when it did break, Ling knew, when there was the downpour with the thunder and the lightning, then they really could have everything.
+1.
It was simple, really, settling into things.
Although Ling didn't particularly agree with the way Emperors were allowed to get away with pretty much anything from a political standpoint, he had to admit that it proved especially useful when it came to Greed's presence in the Imperial Palace - in his life in general. No member of the Imperial Court dared to question it beyond Ling's initial explanation (which honestly hadn't explained much at all), and for that the young Emperor was grateful.
Everyone just sort of accepted that Emperor Yao had a strangely-named, strangely-dressed friend that lived in the palace with him, given almost entirely free roam over the grounds. A friend that he was unusually close with, no less. To be fair, they had to accept a lot of oddities about Ling, so maybe that wasn't too strange for them to get used to. Really, it seemed like they were having more trouble with the way Lan Fan was treated - much more like close family than a vassal or bodyguard.
Greed took a while to get used to things, of course. There were perhaps a few too many times when he'd been caught stealing things from around the palace grounds, resulting in a few too many lectures from Ling about how he could have anything, he could just ask.
There was also, obviously, the whole... thing... with him essentially being human now. The younger man would argue that he had always been human in the ways that mattered, but even their remarkably strong bond couldn't protect him from Greed's animosity towards that allegation. From Ling's perspective, any trouble about the whole ordeal simply came from the fact that being human didn't feel so different after all.
Well, that and the fact that Greed kept forgetting he didn't have his Ultimate Shield any more. That did present a few issues.
All of that aside, though, Ling thought things were going well overall. Such as now: the two of them were sat side-by-side on a hanging bench in Greed's favourite of the Imperial Gardens. It was more of a terrace, high-walled on all sides except the front, which loomed over Jīnsè City, a view currently bathed in the bronzes and sepias of twilight. Greed was smoking some sort of herbal cigarette that he'd taken a liking to after a recent visit to a nearby market town. He was being considerate enough to flick the ashes into an empty flowerpot, though not considerate enough to avoid blowing the strangely-scented smoke in Ling's face every now and then. Ling couldn't seem to mind.
Without his usual (stupid) sunglasses and shark-toothed grin, Ling couldn't help but notice that Greed looked sort of... calm. He wouldn't go so far as to say he looked serene or anything, just... serene-adjacent. Happy, at the very least. A little tired.
"So," Ling piped up, turning back to face the remaining embers of sunset. Greed looked over at him, one eyebrow slightly raised. "We've established that you are in fact capable of a wide range of human emotions, yes?"
Surprise flickered across Greed's face, quickly replaced by a faint smirk. "Uh... yes?"
"So, what about love?"
The responding silence was telling; Ling gave it a few moments before he faced the other man again. Traces of panic were beginning to settle over his sharp features, and Ling's heart twinged a little in sympathy.
"What about it?" Greed finally replied, voice even rougher than usual. His eyes were guarded, brows tight - Ling thought he was possibly leaning back a bit, too.
Ling brought his legs up onto the bench and swivelled his body with the grace of a gymnast to face Greed fully. He kept his expression carefully neutral for now. "Do you feel it?"
If the lighting had been better, Ling would've sworn that Greed blanched then. The ex-homunculus leaned over to drop the remains of his cigarette into the flowerpot before turning back to him and clearing his throat. "Listen, Ling, I, uh--if you're gonna say what I think you're about to say, I--"
"What do you think I'm going to say, Greed?" the shorter man insisted, taking one of Greed's hands confidently in both of his own.
"I'm not... I..."
Ling didn't move or say anything for at least a minute, patiently watching the gears turn in his friend's head. Those apprehensive violet eyes told him all he needed to know.
After a short while, Greed looked away, eyebrows furrowed. Ling felt the hand he was holding twitch a few times, fidgety and unsure. The Emperor saw this as a good time to take one of his own hands and place it gently - yet assuredly - on the juncture between Greed's neck and shoulder.
Greed exhaled shakily, still looking away. "I won't--it won't be... normal. You know that, right?"
Ling laughed lightly, his eyes crinkling up in a smile. "You think that surprises me?"
That seemed to shake Greed out of his nervous trance; he brought one leg up to rest his free arm on his knee, searching Ling's face. "So you're saying..."
"Let's just say that possession sometimes goes both ways, Greed." Ling's smile softened as he stroked Greed's jaw with his thumb, watching the corners of his mouth tilt up subtly at that comment. "I'm yours, and you are mine."
Greed huffed, looking choked, and turned his face into Ling's hand to mumble: "Well. Suppose that figures."
When they kissed, it wasn't anything momentous, not like anything from the epic romances that lined the walls of the Imperial Library. Ling's mouth was warm, just like everything about him, and Greed's stupid teeth caught on his lower lip a couple of times. When they pulled away, Greed didn't remove his hand from the back of Ling's neck, a heavy, welcome reminder.
The kiss was just a kiss, yes - but when they looked each other in the eyes, black on violet like the night sky in early spring, it was like a stormcloud breaking. An invisible rain washed the weight of all presuppositions off of their backs, dark lightning and silent thunder crackling all old and familiar and new in the background, and some celestial breeze pushed them closer together again.