FMA, Ling/Lan Fan, ready to serve
Lan Fan heard Ling roll over toward her before he spoke,
"Hey Lan Fan, can I ask you something?"
"Anything, Young Master."
He paused noticeably before speaking, watching her clean sand out of the nooks and crannies of her automail arm. They were halfway through the desert back home, but they were one man and a left arm short of what they had on their way to Amestris.
"Are you alright?"
She stopped what she was doing. "I am fine. You should not worry about me, try and get some rest."
His normally lighthearted face turned stony from her response. He sat up on the sleeping bags they laid out, "I'm serious Lan Fan. Because of me, you've lost so much. I.... I don't want to cause you any more pain." Ling brushed his hand across her automail one.
Lan Fan's eyes darkened. Between her arm, being away from Ling for nearly a year because of it and because of Greed, and then her grandfather at Central it was the hardest time of her life. However, the life of a bodyguard can never be an easy one.
"Young Master, I've told you before, it is my duty to protect you, to be by your side and keep you safe at all times." Her voice suddenly became quiet, "...My grandfather felt the same way, and I'm sure he would have wanted no other death."
Ling did not respond at first, absentmindedly holding her automail hand. Then, he looked directly into her eyes with a sternness he did not possess on their first trip through this desert.
"Is that truly how you feel?"
She nodded without hesitation. "I am your bodyguard, I live to be your tool, always ready to serve."
And to that he smiled, his face softened, not like the way it used to, his smile now hid so much more than it once did. "You never change, do you? There's no need to be so formal when it's just the two of us."
Lan Fan felt her face go red, "I-If you say so Young Master."
He chuckled softly, before wrapping his arms around her and pressing his face into the crook of his neck.
"I say so"
Lan Fan gasped at suddenly being so close to him, but before she could protest she felt Ling draw her close to him, and suddenly she could feel his heartbeat against her own chest, feel the rise and fall of his breath. Slowly, she set her hands on his shoulders.
"A-Are you alright, Young Master?"
He nodded, "Just a little cold. You should sleep with me tonight."
She shook her head, trying to push him away (with very little success), "I cannot, Young Master, I need to make sure the fire stays and that nothing harms you."
"But what if I freeze? That's just as bad!" His voice was playful again, but he had a very good point.
"C'mon Lan Fan, just one night. It'll be fine."
She paused, raising her eyes to his. He looked the same as he did when they were in this desert this first time, and yet so much different.
Lan Fan smiled, and slowly she wrapped her own arms around Ling.
"J-Just this once."
And his smile grew, and with a quick motion he pulled her down so he was laying on the sleeping bag near the fire, the two of them in each others arms. They watched the flames together, the way it's flickering orange light would dance, intertwining itself into the darkness the way their fingers intertwined with each others. They held each other close, something that never happened on their first trip through the desert, and may not happen again. Xing was a whole other place, of staring eyes and constant duty, thinking of others before yourself. But for this perfect moment, the two of them could put aside their need to serve everyone else and be together under the desert moon.