Work Text:
#08 - Cold
Roy shivered, his coat providing very little protection against the bitter winds in the north. Edward stood next to him, wearing his thin sleeveless shirt and leather pants and looking just as comfortable as if he was standing in the middle of the Ishbalian desert.
"Why aren't you cold?" Roy asked through chattering teeth despite himself. He crossed his arms over his chest to try to trap warmth there. They were in the middle of the forest, the two fo them, and Roy was beginning to think he was going to freeze to death as twilight fell, making it even colder.
The look that Edward gave him said it all. "You even have to ask?" Edward said quietly.
"Sorry, my brain isn't working," Roy snapped. "I'm slowly succumbing to hypothermia, over here."
"No, you're not," Edward said.
Roy blinked at Edward. "Excuse me?"
Edward crouched next to where Roy was sitting. "You can't die of hypothermia, Roy."
"Okay, but my fingers and toes are making a valiant effort to give themselves up to frostbite then," Roy said sarcastically.
"No," Edward said, taking one of Roy's gloved hands in his own. "You're fine. You just have to believe that you're not cold."
"Mind over matter," Roy muttered, and then sputtered as Edward pulled his glove off, exposing his cramped fingers to the bitter air. The skin beneath his fingernails was almost purple from the cold. Edward cupped Roy's hand in both his own, one real and one metal. Roy was shocked, even Edward's automail was warm!
Edward breathed on Roy's hand. "You just have to believe," Edward said, then kissed the palm of Roy's hand. Roy groaned a little, still shivering, but Edward's breath felt so, so good on his bare skin.
"Believe in what?" Roy asked as Edward settled himself across Roy's lap, wrapping his arms around Roy's neck. The warmth coming off of Edward was astonishing and Roy hugged his tiny little warmth generator to himself greedily.
"Yourself," Edward said, wrapping his wings around them both, creating a cocoon of warmth. "You have to believe that you're strong enough to withstand it, Roy." He kissed Roy's lips gently, they were as cold as the rest of him.
"No wonder you don't have any problems with it," Roy said. "You never stop believing in yourself or your abilities, do you?"
Edward settled his head against Roy's shoulder, and Roy rested his cheek on the top of Edward's head. "Go to sleep, Roy," Edward said. "We've got a long way yet to go."