Proximity

Title: Proximity
Fandom: FE10
Character/Pairing: Edward/Leonardo
Summary: One tent, two boys and a very cold night. Edward/Leonardo
a/n: Kinkmeme request for tent sharing Eddie/Leo.
Leo and Eddie were actually their Japanese names. I used them interchangeably because they seem close enough friends to occasionally use a nickname (which is more or less, canon considering it’s their Japanese names) somehow using their English translated names seems horribly formal somehow. Anyways.

Also there’s a tinge of Sothe/Micaiah and Pelleas/Micaiah but no more than canon in both respects.
--

The nights had grown cold as it neared the winter months. There was no snow yet, which was something to be thankful for, considering how Daein’s winter lasted nearly half the year and far into spring. The ground was frozen, and covered in frost early in the mornings, but the earth hadn’t dusted over with pure white snow so far. They’d been on a scouting mission as per the king’s orders due to repeated reports of a disturbance to the north.

After outfitting them with half the treasury, Micaiah had to politely decline for a smaller assignment, for they could hardly move fast carrying this much supplies. The second amount was still too much, it wasn’t until the third that they finally were able to get a workable deal with his gifts.

If someone could say anything about the new king, he was definitely generous. Especially if it was Micaiah who was doing the asking. He’d probably give the crown off his head if she asked for it... Or even if she didn’t. Of course, king Pelleas never actually wore the crown off of extremely formal affairs due to it causing headaches or something, thus that made the whole this pretty much hypothetical. Still, it was nice to have a king who didn’t begrudge extra helpings for his soldiers or extra weapons when they eventually broke.

They’d even mobilized a smaller force than usual. It was back to the very basics of how it used to be in the real beginning. Just him, Leonardo, Aran, Laura, Sothe, Micaiah and Nolan. Some of the others had been busy, true, but mostly a large force would slow them down. The king had offered more guards to supplement any losses, but Micaiah had turned him down for that exact reason. Honestly, Edward was surprised the king didn’t post some armored guard to stay by her side always lest she get a papercut.

But then, that was basically what Sothe was anyways.

It took three days to reach the small, beleaguered town and when they got there the damage was obvious. It wasn’t the smoking ruins some of them (namely Leonardo) had feared, but many buildings had been demolished and burnt and the people there were like startled prey.

Micaiah was incensed in her own quiet anger and promised to protect them. Edward promised his sword, and Leonardo promised to do the best of his ability, as he was always the cautious one.


The hideout wasn’t too far away, but it was enough to need at least a few hours of travel. They passed an ever-craggy landscape as the trail led them up into the mountains. Rocks, rocks, rocks. Red rocks, bluish rocks, purplish rocks. Also, water. A river cut through the stony landscrape and provided some relief from all the geological formations that was giving Edward a headache.
After a day or so of searching caves and stones and rocks with no luck, they stopped at the edge of the river. Laura had been washing clothes and he’d been splashing Leo with water when they heard the cry.

Begnion soldiers. At once that would’ve been a danger, a warning sign but now Daein was at peace with Begnion. Even though there was no need for them to be this far from home. Their uniforms were ragged, true. Maybe they’d gotten turned around with so many rocks. They could’ve been running around in circles for months without any hope.

“Hey!” Edward called. “Are you lost?”

And that’s when an arrow landed near his foot.

It was odd to see Begnion troops again as things had supposedly turned peaceful after King Pelleas’ coronation, but this group apparently hadn’t gotten the message. Deserters turned bandits, they no longer listened to any country.

Micaiah once said that bad things always came in threes, and Edward believed it. When the force rushed at them, that distracted them just long enough to turn their back on those crags.. And not see the forces rushing out of them. A young bandit shoved Laura away and pushed their supply train into the water. The horse that carried them, a dun gelding he’d become fond of and called Tarpaper, reared and spilled the contents into the fast-moving river. They could only watch helplessly as the food, their clothing, their tents and spare weapons were washed away.

But those bandits weren’t through with them yet. The same young one who’d spooked the supply horse arced a hand axe towards him. Laura had been knocked over at the time, so it sailed over her, and he’d dodged of course, but it glanced off of Leo’s arm and left a deep red gash.

“Leo! Are you ok?!”

Leonardo grimaced in pain. “I’ll live, but–” He attempted to lift his bow and found it wobbled due to the pain.

When pushed between two opposing forces, the only choice was to fight.

And fighting was what Edward preferred, actually. He was itching to teach those bandits a lesson. It was enough that they’d knocked their supplies into the river only to be swept away and ruined, but to hurt Leonardo like that? They’d have to pay.

Edward unsheathed his sword and rushed at them headlong. He didn’t bother with sneaking around like Sothe did, when he wanted to take on the enemy, he hit them head on. It took two slashes to take down the young bandit who’d hurt Leo, there was a backlash of red blood that hit his face as his sword cut through that foe. He felt no guilt, this almost-man had hurt villagers and hurt Leo. Edward wouldn’t let him hurt anyone else. He wiped the blood from his face and turned to face the next opponents.

Two more bandits assaulted him, one hit but he barely felt the axe slice through his flesh. He swung his sword upwards and got a direct hit and managed to take down one bandit, but the second wielded a large swordslayer he hadn’t noticed at first. The brigand arced the axe towards Edward— Two well-aimed arrows stopped him in his tracks. He staggered, took one step back and fell to the ground.

Edward breathed deep as his lungs ached from that almost-death panic and adrenaline. But he also ached from joy, the joy of a good fight, of liberating and helping people. He wanted to jump up and maybe even shout Wahoooo but he doubted he could get away with it without being scolded.

“Well they won’t bother the townspeople anymore. Hey Leonardo, are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Leonardo said. “You’re the one who’s bleeding.”

“This?” Edward held up is injured arm. “It’s just a flesh wound, I’ll be fine.”

“Let’s go, that wound might fester any minute now,” Leonardo said.

–-

The battle had been violent, furious, a rush to the head. Several had been hurt, but thankfully, no casualties. Nolan and Aran had started a fire to beat back the encroaching twilight. At this rate they’d have to camp up in this rocky, uncomfortable place.

“With that last ambush, we lost most of our supplies. Our tents were halved, as well as our food... I’m sure king Pelleas will restock our needs, but we’re at least a few days from the castle and without sufficient funds to restock here.”

Micaiah sighed, showing the first strain since they’d arrived here. “But at least the people won’t have to worry anymore.”

She massaged her temples and closed her eyes.

“Cheer up, Micaiah, we’ll make it. We’ll just have to share tents for a while,” Edward said. “It’s not really a big deal, and if the king’s gonna restock everything for us, we just have to survive for a few days on our own. Plus, once we get back to town we can ask for some stuff.”

“No,” Micaiah said. “They can’t spare anything for us, they’ve lost too much already. We’ll just have to move on with what we have.”

“It’s already too late to move on. Even if we all are healed, we’re too weary after a fight like that to march on. I vote for resting for the night,” Leonardo said.

Nolan nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

“Of course we are. Micaiah, you shouldn’t travel anymore in this state,” Sothe said pointedly. His gaze was intense on her, as if he was transmitting some telepathic message. Edward thought it might be nice to have telepathy too, but Leonardo would just use it to fuss at him all the more like some mother hen.

“I’m ok—I––” She said. Even her voice trembled from weariness.

Sothe gripped her arms in a gesture that was all at once protective and possessive. “You’re hurt. Anyone can see that you need rest. How am I to protect you if I can’t protect you from yourself?”

Micaiah sighed, a soft, resigned yet gentle sigh. “...you’re right. Thank you, Sothe.”

Sothe just grunted, but didn’t let go of his grip on her arms.

“But our tents were lost in the battle,” Laura piped in. “With only this many, we’d be at least two or three to a tent.”

“Really? Then I call dibs on you as a tentmate!” Edward said.

“Edward?” Leonardo said.

Well duh. Nolan snores, Sothe kicks in his sleep, and Aran sleeptalks. Besides, we used to share tents all the time, so it’d be just like old times, eh Leonardo?”

“I suppose,” Leonardo said. “It also means I can keep a better eye on you and keep you from getting yourself killed for at least one more day.”

“Aw Leo, you don’t need to nag.”

“Then it’s settled. Laura and I will share one, I guess that means Aran, Nolan and Sothe get the last one,” Micaiah said.

Sothe, Aran and Nolan looked at each other in silent bewilderment. It was going to be a long night.

--

It was freezing that night. Edward could’ve sworn it was all those damned rock’s fault. He didn’t even pull off his things to sleep – even bloodstained and dirty was better than frostbitten. Besides, his spares all were far down the river by now. Hopefully some needy villager found his pants and made good use of them. He’d hate for them to be just fish food. The space to sleep was limited. Even though they’d brushed the ground, it was rough and uncomfortable to lay on. Edward hadn’t meant to snuggle so close to Leonardo, but honestly it felt like his body might turn to ice off if he didn’t. Even in this cold weather, Leonardo had bathed, which was hardly surprising, considering. He smelled good, like soap and flowers and stuff. Did Leonardo get into Micaiah’s soap again? Sure smelled like it. Leo’s hair was soft. Really soft. It felt smooth against his cheek, like cornsilk.

“Edward,” Leonardo sighed. “You’re lying on my hair.”

“Sorry, Leo. But man, it’s soft. It’s gotten long too.”

Leonardo didn’t make a response to that, and Edward wondered if he was offended. He wasn’t teasing Leo about being such a girl, at least not this time. He hadn’t really thought about it, and Leonardo was always telling him to not just blurt out things.

“Anyways, night,” Edward said.

“Mm. Good night,” Leonardo said.

He scootched over a bit closer until there was no space between them at all. They hadn’t slept this close since they were eight and sharing cots in cold winter nights. And that thought spiraled into another thought and another. He was drunk on this new flowery, soft Leo and his mind could only remember what his friend looked like without clothing all too well. They’d bathed together enough that he could recall every single detail, and these details had never been so interesting as now. Edward hadn’t really meant to do it, his body had simply reacted to being overstimulated. It was just that he hadn’t thought his oldest friend Leo, nagging, smart Leo would feel like this or feel so good against.

Edward thought maybe, if he was lucky Leo would think that hardness was just a stick pressing into his back, and he could turn over and maybe run outside claiming he needed to run to the bushes and take care of it. Besides, it was way too cold to even think about relieving the pressure outside in this weather. It might freeze off, and that wasn’t a Edward was willing to take. Of course, it’d be rather unlikely that there’d be a stick where there wasn’t even any room for one with how close they were tucked together. So close, in fact that if Edward moved any more he was bound to wake Leonardo up.

Even turning over would worsen the situation. With anyone else he might try feigning sleeping and then the whole thing could be passed off as just some dream, but Leonardo always knew when he was sleeping or not. He could never get out of chores or lessons with Leo on watch.

So when he felt Leonardo tense up, Edward knew that now Leo wasn’t sleeping anymore (if he hadn’t already been awake the whole time, Leo was hard to tell. He could never figure out how to check the breathing right and Leo could pull off fakesleeping really well).

After a moment’s awkward silence, Edward hastily turned over and took half the blanket with him. Edward snored loudly, and tried hard to pretend to be asleep, hoping Leonardo would be tired enough to miss the signs. Leonardo pulled part of the blanket back and Edward thought for a moment he might just go back to sleep.

A few more moments of tenseness with the silence only broken by his painfully fake snores, he felt Leonardo’s hand at his back. Gentle, moving upwards, sensual even. And he felt hardness against him too.

“Leo— ?” He said.

Edward turned over again, eager, but this time slower than the first desperate, accidental time.

Leonardo’s touches were shy. Edward didn’t get it. He knew everything about Leonardo, he could even guess things he was gonna say before he said them. Leo was the closest and most important person to him, and half the Dawn Brigade was already making jokes about them being a married couple. Somehow it made perfect sense that they’d move on to this.

Whatever this was.

He sought out Leonardo’s hand and held it tight.

“Leo, I’m not going to apologize for this.”

Edward kissed him, or tried. In the dark he fumbled and accidentally kissed Leo’s nose. Annoyed, he tried again and this time kissed his chin. Finally, at the third try he found Leonardo’s lips, and they were soft and sweet and Edward felt like he could just keep kissing and kissing him until he had to pull back for air.

“It’s a critical hit!” Edward said.

Leonardo stifled a laugh and shushed him.

“The other tents are close, we have to be quiet.”

The friction of their two bodies brought a sort of warmth that welled up inside him, as well as so much want and need. He tried to quiet the panting, the moaning the gasping but it seemed to spill out of him whenever it felt so good that he just lost control. Even with clothes between them rubbing felt amazing, so much better than just taking care of his needs himself. Even though it was cold he risked sneaking one hand between the band of Leonardo’s pants. The skin there was so warm against his hands and he held tight around Leo’s arousal.

“Edward–” Leonardo gasped. He bucked into his grip. It was so warm and hearing those little whimpering cries as Leo tried to quiet himself was the sexiest thing Edward had ever heard. It was the kind of sound he wanted to hear all the time. The moon peeked in through the slits in the tent and Edward caught a look at the rapturous expression on his friend’s face. He didn’t care how cold they got, watching Leo shiver and gasp with that far-off pleased look as he came was worth any price. Just seeing Leonardo like that made him feel like he could come just on the aftershocks of his friend’s pleasure.

“Now my turn,” Edward said. “Try me!”

“Alright,” Leonardo said. He slipped his hand into Edward’s pants and touched his aching cock. Edward almost cried out right there, he had to grit his teeth not to scream out instructions. He rocked his hips into Leonardo’s grip and everything was warm and the whole world seemed centered to just where Leo was touching him.

“Hush, you’ll wake the others.”

“But it feels so good,” Edward said.

“Fine,” Leonardo said. “I’ll just have to do it myself.”

And then he silenced Edward’s cries with his lips. Moans still passed through as they kissed in feverish, hapless, clumsy passion. They kissed long after Edward had came. Even after they finished liplocking neither rolled away. It was comfortable, and cold was no longer a problem. In fact, it was almost too hot. The contact had almost worked too well.

“Hey, we’ll always be together, right?” Edward said.

“Of course,” Leonardo said.

“Good,” Edward said sleepily.

He fell asleep on his closest friend, and now lover’s shoulder.

--

Coda:
Two towns away Micaiah finally allowed them to stop and rest and properly bathe for these people weren’t bandit ridden.

This however meant many a tedious chore to be finished, which was hardly welcome news. Truth be told, Edward would’ve rather have been dirty than spend all day lugging around laundry.

Leonardo sighed. “I told you to be careful! You were supposed to not spill the clothes!”

“Nag, nag nag, Leo. It was an accident! I tripped over one of these cursed rocks.”

“Nevermind. You’ll just have to help me wash them again,” Leo replied testily.

“It’s just a little dirt. It’s not going to hurt anything if it’s a little dirty,” Edward protested.

“Carry them. Now,” Leonardo said.

“Aw, man...”

From across the side Nolan set aside the tools from the handle he had been mending. Nolan chuckled. “Face it to the newlyweds to fight like that.”

From across the way, Aran looked up from his spear.

“They’re married now?” Aran said.

“Considering from what I heard last night, I’d say so,” Nolan said.