[ To answer any other way would have been such a tremendous lie that it would have hurt both of them. There was no conceivable way he could have said anything else. Just as carefully as Ed was watching him, likewise Oswald was trying to glean some kind of idea of how he felt from both his face and his body language. Neither told him much. He had always been much better at keeping his emotions hidden from an outside view, but Oswald did catch that one slip in his facade. He just didn't know what it meant. Maybe Ed didn't either. Or maybe he did and he hadn't found the best way to say whatever it was. This was one of the occasions that he couldn't decipher what he was thinking. All he could do was share what he had been feeling.

As soon as he spoke, Oswald immediately forgot how stifling the silence on Ed's end of things had started to become. He wouldn't have been able to argue Ed if he ever decided to say something about how emotional of a being Oswald was; between the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes it was undeniable that he was feeling a flood of emotions. ] You're wrong. [ Again, he was shaking his head. ] You gave to me even when I was at my most ungrateful. That makes you a far greater and more deserving man than I am.

[ He wasn't sure what he was going to say next, but it turned out not to matter. Oswald didn't even have the chance to tell Ed that he shouldn't be sitting up before he found himself being securely embraced. He didn't know what that meant, either, but he felt himself relax and settle into it and let the questions fade away for just then. Carefully he wrapped his arms around Ed in return, holding him as near as possible without risking the chance of hurting him, subconsciously burying part of his face in the crook of his neck as he relished the closeness. He didn't feel so filled with turmoil on the inside when they were like this. Silence was okay for now. ]