[ Oswald knew Ed well enough to realize that more likely than not he still viewed love as a weakness. He'd watched Oswald become a complete mess throughout this entire process, and in his eyes that had to make his conviction even stronger. But as for Oswald himself -- he couldn't bring himself to entirely feel that way anymore. He had faced pain and inner turmoil at a great length because of his feelings, but those were things he had endured just as much without love in the equation. To love and, even in part, be loved back had given everything so much more value. Things that hurt would hurt less, and things that were joyful were even more so. They would never betray each other and as a team they were untouchable. How could what they had be anything but strength?

The way Ed was looking between him and Spinda made Oswald exhale heavily. It was going to come out that he didn't actually hate the little thing eventually. Stop making that expression, Ed. ] Whatever. Who do you think has to take care of him when he's being a nuisance and you aren't here? [ But then he paused. That hadn't been the right thing to say at all. Had he ever considered how little he knew about Ed's past before now? He sighed again, but it was much more quietly. ] I know. I didn't either. I only took it as a welcome reprieve from the words that often hurt much more. [ He felt sorry for his careless use of words. His gaze averted from Ed's to a washcloth, checking the temperature with the back of his hand before deciding it was acceptable. He paused and bit his lip like he was bracing himself. This certainly wasn't the scenario he'd imagined when he thought about Ed being shirtless in front of him. Not that he'd thought about it. Dammit. It was better if he got caught in the details of what he was doing and forced everything else out. ]