Kansaki Sou - Holidays [KenEd]

[scriveyner]

Title: Holidays
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist, Rurouni Kenshin, Supernatural, HTTYD
AU: Muse'verse
Characters/Pairing: Kenshin/Ed, Roy/Ed
Rating: T
Length: 2034
Summary: "You haven't been cast as the Ghost of Christmas Past and, frankly, the pale look doesn't do it for you."



Kenshin weighed the book in his hand carefully. It was heavier than he had expected and that worried him a bit - Edward liked to throw things, and this would cause a nasty headache if it connected - but Edward had dialed back his tantrums quite a bit in the last few years, so the risk was minimal, although still present. He set the book down on the wrapping paper and brushed the leather cover lightly, before flipping it over to wrap it.

It was a last-minute gift - spotted on the back shelves of the old book store Kenshin put in part-time hours at. An ancient, old tome, printed at least a hundred years prior; "Alchemia Andreae Libavii." Kenshin wasn't quite sure what language it was in, but if Edward didn't already read it, he would learn it. For all his years doing this, Kenshin still wasn't entirely used to the holiday. It seemed to sneak up on him every year.

A tree had gone up fairly easily this time, and there were no tree-related injuries thus far; although there was still time yet for that. Kenshin had supervised, but Sariel and Nick had put the tree up with a lot less difficulty, and there had only been one joke about the angel at the top of the tree and this time it was relegated to Roy, being the rookie angel in the house. But the tree was up, decorated and lit with presents all pushed beneath its wide branches.

He tied the bow atop the book - there was no disguising the nature of the present, even if the wrapping at least effectively obscured the title from prying eyes. Kenshin tucked it under his arm, gathering the wrapping paper up off the bed and shoving it into an open container that got kicked under the bed.

The downstairs was brightly lit - there were Christmas lights strung through the hallways and candles burning everywhere, smelling of cinnamon and apples and peppermint. Roy was supervising in the kitchen while dinner was being prepared. Rian - who Kenshin was amused every time he saw them side by side, for Rian and Roy truly resembled the other - was standing on a chair and pulling things down from the top shelf of the cupboard while Sariel and Edward bickered. Sariel was actually wearing an apron, but Edward was the one covered in flour with a sour expression. Nick was stirring a pot on the stove, and as Kenshin hovered in the door a moment Takeo escaped the cramped kitchen, heading for the den.

Kenshin grabbed Takeo's arm, passed the present off to him and Takeo nodded wordlessly, disappearing down the hallway. Kenshin smiled and turned back to the kitchen in time to see Edward jab a spatula at Sariel and screech a profanity that earned him a smack across the back of the head by Roy. Roy tossed the bag of potatoes he had been carrying to Hiccup, who had just come through the door and barely caught them without falling over backwards. Roy grabbed Edward by his braid and shoved him toward Kenshin, and the door. "Keep him out from under my feet!"

Edward's indignant squawk at being manhandled was cut off as he bounced into Kenshin, flour poofing off him and his clothes. "Right," Kenshin said with a laugh, grabbing Edward's shoulders before he could recover and counterattack. "You are a right old mess."

"Fuck you!" Edward screeched at Sariel, struggling a bit and leaving trace amounts of flour everywhere. He was apparently completely oblivious to the fact that it was Roy who ejected him from the kitchen, because he seemed bound and determined to fight it out with his other self. "That ass doesn't know the first fucking thing about alchemy, I will shove it down his fucking throat-"

"How much longer until food?" Kenshin called over Edward's tirade.

"'Bout an hour," Rian responded, carrying his chair back to the kitchen table while Roy cracked open the oven to check.

"Better make it closer to two, this thing isn't near to being done yet," he reported, letting the oven door close with a snap. "Are you going to hose him off?"

"He'll be presentable," Kenshin promised with a smirk, turning Edward away from the doorway and heading back toward the stairs with him.

"I'm not some little kid you have to clean up," Edward snapped at him, shrugging out from under Kenshin's hands and glaring at him.

"Mm," Kenshin said, nudging him toward the stairs regardless. "You got me covered in flour too, you know." He brushed the front of his button-down shirt off, sending a small cloud of flour to the floor. "Besides, you were underfoot, and there are more productive things you could be doing than arguing with your twin."

"Like?" Edward was eying him in an interested way.

"Like showering. You haven't been cast as the Ghost of Christmas Past and, frankly, the pale look doesn't do it for you." Kenshin brushed some of the flour from Edward's face and was rewarded with a snarl. He laughed quietly. "Go take a shower, Ed."

Edward scowled at him but started up the stairs. Kenshin watched him (or perhaps, more accurately, his ass) before he disappeared out of view as he idly brushed the remaining flour off of his shirt. The sound of music from the living room caught his attention, and Kenshin wandered in that direction.

#

Edward glowered at the shower head as it gargled for a moment before it spat the water out at him. He didn't like being ordered around, not by anybody but especially not by *him,* and he was just so irritated that he didn't know what to do about it. Edward scrubbed angrily at his hair, knotted from being tied back in his traditional braid and now gunked up by the rapidly solidifying flour.

It wasn't *his* fault that Sariel got pissy and threw an entire bag of flour at him. That didn't mean he was underfoot, it just meant he was covered in flour. Mustang was such a douche.

Everything was getting complicated again. It used to be easier - while yes, Sariel was around and they were virtually identical, it was fairly easy to tell them apart. And then of course there was Ed-who-lived-in-the-garage, but he was an entirely different person. Now there was the other-Edward, the Edward who was Roy's equal, older, a military man, far more responsible than Edward knew he'd ever be.

He wondered if Kenshin ever looked at that older version of himself. He could have so much more than him, and Edward knew it. Frustrated, Edward slammed his fist into the tile beside him, feeling the ceramic crunch beneath his closed automail hand. Then he closed his eyes and let the hot water run over his face.

#

There was a raucous card game going on in the den when Kenshin ducked downstairs to get a drink out of the fridge stocked in the basement. Dean and Ed, Sam and the older Edward were loosely gathered around a table, cards at hand and chips scattered across the center of the table. There was a collection of beer bottles, empty and half-full, decorating the area.

Kenshin didn't want to disturb them, so he got his own drink and trotted back upstairs. The kitchen was more empty now, just Roy and Sariel, and as Kenshin passed he saw that Roy was standing behind Sariel at the counter, heads bent together and sharing a quick kiss. Kenshin smiled to himself and moved on.

There wasn't any way to fit Toothless into the house without knocking out a wall, or the risk of Toothless knocking out the wall himself, so there was a bonfire going in the yard. Toothless was laying out beside it making a purring noise of contentment, Hiccup rubbing his belly. Kennichi too sat outside, in wolf form, beside Hiccup. A girl who Kenshin vaguely recognized with firelight glinting off her armor sat beside Kennichi and was scratching behind the werewolf's ear as she listened to Hiccup describe something.

Nick, Takeo and Rian were gathered around the TV in the living room, some sort of multiplayer game on the game system therein, shouting and whooping. Kenshin, still grinning, trotted up the stairs. He had heard the creaky pipes as the water shut off, Edward had to be out of the shower by now.

And, sure enough - Edward was seated in the chair beside the small desk they'd squeezed into the room, seat turned around backwards so he could drape his arms over the back, chin resting on the cool automail as he stared out the window. The only light on in the room was the small desk lamp, he had to have seen Kenshin standing in the doorway, but he said nothing.

Kenshin sat one of the two bottles of beer on the desk by Edward's elbow, then sat on the bed. "Hey," he said softly. Edward's hair was wet, dripping onto the towel he wore around his shoulders. "You all right?"

"I guess." Edward glanced at the bottle of beer on the desk then picked it up. "Just thinking."

"You alone with your thoughts is a dangerous thing," Kenshin said, propping his elbows on his knees and leaning forward. "You've been in a mood for a while, what is with you lately?"

Edward sighed and Kenshin caught him looking in the reflection of the window. "I just, don't know," he said. "I don't know why you're with me, what good am I for you?"

"Ed," Kenshin said.

"It's stupid, I know," Edward said. He hung his head and scrubbed the back of his head, fingers tangling in his damp hair. "But you could have anyone you want, and yet you're with me?"

Kenshin looked down at the beer bottle in his hands. "Well that's easy enough," he said softly. "It's 'cause I love you, you insecure idiot."

Edward laughed bitterly, still not turning around. "I know," he said. "You could do so much better."

"Don't say that," Kenshin said, the first time a hint of anger creeping into his voice. "Don't devalue yourself and my decisions in the same breath."

Edward rested his chin on his arm again, and raised the beer bottle. "Everyone's so happy," he said quietly. "I just, I don't feel like I'm allowed that. I keep waiting for the heavy end of the hammer to drop and it never comes."

Kenshin stared at the beer in his hands, then he stood up. He rested his hand on Edward's shoulder and leaned down to press a kiss to the top of Edward's head, nose lingering just a moment in the damp hair. "Just know that I love you," he murmured quietly. "And try not to doubt in that."

Edward looked up at him then, and gave Kenshin a small smile. "You're a right bastard," he said, but it was without bite.

"And you're a noisy brat," Kenshin returned, ruffling Edward's hair. "Come on now, get dressed, food'll be on soon and if you're late for that - well there's four other Elrics seated at that table and you should know how much YOU eat on your own." He patted Edward's shoulder. "I'm not risking my hand just to make sure you get fed."

Edward's hand fell atop Kenshin's on his shoulder. "Thanks," he said. "For putting up with me."

"Believe me," Kenshin murmured. "If we had more time before food, I'd do more than put up with you."

It was always easy to tell with Edward, off-hand comments still got his ears to turn a bright rosy shade of red. Kenshin laughed and kissed Edward's temple. "Well," Edward said philosophically. "There's always after dinner, right?"

"If you play your cards right," Kenshin said with a wink.

"You're such a perv," Edward called as Kenshin left the room, raising his beer bottle in acknowledgment. But the grin he wore now was genuine, and he had to find a pair of pants that weren't dirty. Edward set his bottle of beer on the desk and got up to get dressed.