I'm not happy with this -- not at all -- but I just wanted to get this damned bunny away from me.  Eeeeevil little thing.

Title: Cyclamen
Pairing: Ling/Ed
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Angst and smut
Previous parts: Fit for an Emperor
Summary: It was never enough.  Not when it came to this man.  Never enough.

Cyclamen

When Emperor Ling first stepped into his garden, he banished his guards.  Over the past two years, the guards had become familiar with this request.  Without the slightest hint of dissent, his guards bowed deeply and planted themselves several meters away from the garden’s entrance.  Blank eyes watched them before the young Emperor strode into the fragrant maze.

His slippered feet carried Ling past the bleeding roses in the brush.  Red tulips lined every faint bend in the trail; Ling refused to look at them.  Daffodils and gardenias both brushed against his voluminous sleeves as he walked deeper into the garden.  At what appeared to be a dead end, Ling stepped through a bush of oleanders and walked to the tree at the center of the maze.  Under the Sakura tree, his prize waited on a simple white blanket.

Meet me under the Sakura tree, the note in Ling’s hand read.  Staring under the Sakura tree now, Ling could barely breathe.  You’d better dress nicely, bastard.

Ling dressed nicely.  Ling dressed like an emperor.

Ling felt underdressed.

“Stop gaping.  You look like an idiot,” Edward Elric sniped.  Then the blond snorted.  “Like that’s anything new.”

Ling tried to compose himself.  He had noticed that in the past several months, his control around Edward had remarkably deteriorated.  Today was no exception.  “You look. . . .”  He paused, trying to find a word he knew Edward wouldn’t find insulting by his odd logic.  “Magnificent.”

Edward’s sharp face softened.  As Ling walked up to the blond, he studied the man who was his lover.  Only in bed or in the bath would Edward let his long golden hair down; now it tumbled down his shoulders and back.  Ling kneeled on the picnic blanket in front of Edward, drinking in how the red silk clung to Edward’s skin.   A gold earring dangled from Ed’s right ear.  Gold bangles encircled his forearms and ankles.  Ling swallowed.  They even looked sexy on Ed’s automail foot.

“We have dumplings, chow mein, and fish,” Edward offered, breaking Ling’s trance.  Edward tapped a basket beside him.  “I have plates, too.”

Ling forced a smile and grasped Edward’s hand before the blond could open the basket.  The surrealism of the situation made him dizzy.  He used to daydream about things like this, and he was still expecting the familiar, small fist to the face.  “Let me,” the emperor coaxed.  He squeezed Edward’s automail hand.  “It would be my pleasure to feed you.”

Edward stared at Ling, his hand twitching a little in Ling’s grasp.  “Ling,” he began.

Calloused fingers brushed against Edward’s lips.  When Ed didn’t protest, Ling rubbed the soft flesh, noting the bite marks.  He breathed in deeply. 

“It would be my pleasure,” he repeated.  Edward minutely narrowed his eyes before lightly licking Ling’s fingers.  Ling smiled at him, his eyes holding Edward’s.  Edward stared back, amber eyes soft but unyielding. 

As the young Emperor fed the alchemist from his chopsticks, the cherry blossoms fell and littered Edward’s golden hair.  The tender petals softened Ed, lent him a vulnerability Ling only saw freshly upon waking.  Abruptly, Ling wanted Edward back in his bed, their bed, caging Ed within the layers of silk and incense and trapping him within his arms.

Edward caught his eyes again, and Ling forced the dream away.  Silently, Ling slipped a bite of fish between his own lips and leaned forward.  Edward met him halfway, and the blond swallowed the bite before he captured Ling’s lips.  The kiss was chaste, lips slick and gliding.  The chopsticks fell from Ling’s fingers as he gripped Ed’s shoulders, the blond’s automail shoulder bruising his fingers.  Edward wrapped his arms around Ling and pulled the Emperor onto the blanket with him.

“Shrimp.”  Murmured half-heartedly against moist lips.

“Bastard.”  An affectionate retort and all but a death sentence to anyone but this man.

Ling nipped Edward’s lips, holding Edward down.  The blond stared back up at him, unimpressed by the muscled arms on either side of his head.  Both knew a single clap of Edward’s hands could take Ling out, especially at this range. 

“The Pharmacists in the palace would love your expertise,” Ling murmured, lowering his head to Edward’s neck.  Obligingly, Edward tilted his head back, baring more flesh for Ling’s teeth.  “No one living in this world has your experience.”

“Except Al,” Edward retorted.  Ling paused, mouth hovering above Ed’s throat.

“Except Alphonse,” Ling yielded, and then he kissed Edward hard, silencing him.  Edward’s hands tightened on Ling’s shoulders, and he rolled the pair over, uncaringly knocking over the basket of food.

Ling tried to soften Edward’s fierce kiss, but the blond refused to allow him that, devouring the emperor’s mouth and pressing his lithe body against Ling’s.  The metal on Edward’s chest dug into Ling’s skin, and he hissed against Edward’s lips.  Uncaring, Edward nipped and sucked and explored every portion of Ling’s mouth with his tongue.  With an odd sense of surrender and renewal, Ling rolled them again so he was on top.  When he finally broke the kiss, a hint of his old sparkle had returned to Edward’s eyes, and Ling knew he had done something right.

With a careless clap of his hands, Edward stripped both himself and Ling, and even as Ling explored the newly bared flesh, he found himself dreaming of the other man in a Pharmacist’s robes, long golden tresses bound in that intricate style.  Then Edward grabbed his ass and ground their erections together, and another daydream shattered.

It was never enough.  Not when it came to this man.  Never enough.

Precum-slick cocks sliding together, Ling nosed under Edward’s chin and started mouthing Edward’s throat, only to be rolled onto his back again.  Now on top, Edward stared steadily at him for a moment, and then the blond leaned down and kissed him, an incongruently soft kiss.  Their hips stilled for a moment.

“Edward—” Ling managed.

Edward bit Ling’s lower lip.  “Enough,” he said quietly.  The bangles on Edward’s wrists pressed hard against Ling’s ass as Edward began moving again.  Helplessly, Ling followed the rhythm.  When Edward pressed his lips against Ling’s again, it was the Xingian’s turn to devour Edward’s mouth, desperation flavoring the hard kiss.  Edward yielded, allowing himself to be rolled again.  One automail leg kicked the grass beyond the wrinkled blanket.

Even as Edward clutched the emperor close and controlled the rhythm of their hips, Ling slid his hand between them, his calloused hand clasping their dripping cocks together.  Edward groaned, and Ling pulled back to see those amber eyes flare into gold.  Edward parted his lips for another kiss; Ling refused, watching the familiar flush of orgasm creeping into Edward’s elegant face.  Moaning, Edward closed his eyes and tossed his head back.  Never looking away, Ling stroked their cocks in tandem, holding them close, feeling something burning in his chest even as something coiled hot and hard in his stomach.  With a soft, high cry, Edward came first, and Ling let himself go, let the pleasure flow through him even as he regretted that they could not come together.

After a moment, Edward grunted.  “We’re sticky,” he murmured.

Ling hummed, rubbing Edward’s bare back.  He nuzzled Edward’s hair and closed his eyes.  “That happens after sex,” he retorted half-heartedly.  He rolled them over again so he could hold Edward against his chest.  Edward’s gold bangles were cold against his skin.

“Ling,” Edward murmured; Ling tightened his grip.

“I know.  Give me this.”

His father had warned Ling when he had chosen Ling as his heir that there were some things even the emperor’s power couldn’t grant.  Ling wished he had taken those words more seriously.

Inhaling deeply, Ling buried his face in Edward’s soft hair.  Even for an emperor, two years would have to be enough.