"…A YEAR FROM THIS NIGHT…"

by The Binary Alchemist, Christmas, 2011

"How do you think the media will take it?"

Roy should have known that volley would be slammed back over the net with a snort and a hefty dose of sarcasm. "They can take it up their collective ass, far as I'm concerned, " Ed snorted. "Haven't you done enough for this country? Fucksake, do we even want to think about the death toll if you hadn't risked everything so the truth could come out?"

Roy's breath had fogged the window. He wiped it clear and admired the pools of blue moonlight over the fresh dusting of snow that had fallen that afternoon as he addressed the Parliament, Radio Capital, The Central Times and the assorted weevils and burrowing grubs of the rumor mills that barked at his heels during press conferences. "There were others who risked more. Others who risked it all."

Edward rose off the couch and moved to the Fuhrer's side. He touched his glass to Roy's .

"To absent friends?"

"To absent friends. Yes…."

A sharpish chin dug into Roy's shoulder. The mullioned pane of the office window reflected two faces now. That's as it should be, Edward decided. That's how it's gonna be from now on if you mean this. "Did you call the kids before you dropped this little bombshell? Because I sure as shit didn't see this coming."

Roy smiled a little at their reflections. "I had the distinct pleasure of seeing our daughter's jaw hit the top of her desk. For a split second she looked uncannily like her mother and I thought she might bounce the nearest blunt object off my forehead."

"And Hawkeye would have shot it midair before it touched you—"

"—and reminded Nina she may be twenty but she's not too big for Izumi to spank. "

Ed shuddered. "Shit, I'm forty and Teacher would lay me out to dogshit if I talked back to her."

"Immortal, that one."

"Immortal and still able to beat my ass." His arms slid around his lover's trim waist. "I miss Granny. Solstice won't be the same this year."

"Winry's done a fine job keeping the legacy alive, and that house of theirs is so crowded with kids and patients and her apprentices we couldn't have visited them this year unless we camped out in the yard."

Ed chuckled. " Yeah, she said she was glad Maes and Nina are staying in Central this year with us. Said it was important for Nina finish her doctorate dissertation over the holiday, but truth is she's scared to death Maes is going to build some sort of clockwork monstrosity powered with one of those alchemic dry cell batteries Al invented that will blow them all sky high."

"Not like he hasn't done that before."

"Hey, I paid for the damage. And when she said, 'let me tell you what your son did, I had the pleasure of reminding her he's still half hers. And she said, 'yeah, the idiotic part he got from you!' I was about to point out that she gave Maes' a half sister whose dad had to surgically remove a ball bearing from her nose, and –"

"—but you weren't that stupid, I hope—"

"—hey! Been a long time since my ex bounced a wrench off my head. Let's not give her any incentive." He sighed, warm breath tickling the side of Roy's neck. "At least we're over all that bullshit from when Maes and Nina were little. She's got her life and family—" he pressed a kiss on the top of his lover's shoulder, "and I've got mine."

"And Maes and Nina belong to everybody."

"Yup. And they're gonna be jump up your ass at the dinner table tonight over your little news flash."

Roy smirked and sipped his brandy. "She made a beeline for Hawkeye as soon as the session broke up and I left the Parliament chamber. I'm sure my subordinate has been interrogated half to death."

"She knew?"

"Is there anything about me she doesn't know, for heaven's sake?"

Long fingers fished under his waistband and squeezed. A warm tongue flicked around the shell of the Fuhrer's ear. "Bet she doesn't know I can twist you up like a pretzel and make you come so hard you forget about your arthritis."

"Don't bet on it. I think she was the one who started notating 'Foxtrot Echo Echo' in the office minutes."

"Huh?"

"Foxtrot Echo-Echo. Code that I was in my office Fucking Edward Elric."

Ed snickered and his other hand squirmed between his shirt buttons to tweak a hardened nipple, gratified by the abrupt intake of breath and shudder his touch invoked. "And where does she stand on all this?"

"The Colonel is subtle but effective in expressing her extreme displeasure."

"Because she can't go with us."

"Precisely so. Once the new President is inaugurated—and I have stated to the press that the title 'Fuhrer' ends with my leaving office-it will be her responsibility to protect him…unless she herself is nominated and electe—HEY! Careful! You break them, you can't play with them anymore and that would be disappointing to both of us."

Ed let go of his President's privates and shook his head in shock. "You think she'd be nominated?"

"It's not beyond possibility, although I'm hoping that from this administration on Amestris will cease to be a military state—and you'll have to pay back the 520 cenz you still owe me—"

"—chintzy bastard—"

"—and Amestris will finally become the democracy I promised it would become back when you were a snot-nosed brat—"

"Watch it—"

"—and I was trying to stop a madman from destroying my country. I've been sitting in this office for the better part of twenty years, Edward. It's time for a change." Roy guided the strong hand back inside his briefs. "From now on I will serve her as an Ambassador-At-Large. By this time a year from now," his fingers fondly brushed along an angular jaw, "when you and Alphonse get ready to run off in your airship on another adventure—"

"-you'll be freezing your nuts off up there beside me—"

"—wearing your ring."

"HUH?"

"While you're feeling around in my trousers, you might want to check my left pocket."

The black leather box was no larger than it needed to be. Not the sort of gold leafed, satin lined, fussy confection that Winry had gotten from her second husband or that Nina had laughed at when offered earnestly to the young alchemist by a half dozen eligible young men at Hohenheim University. This box was strictly utilitarian and Ed would hang on to it for the rest of his days.

"You're not fussy. Neither am I. And no, they aren't gold. Your daughter designed them and your son made them from the old reaping sickle that you had made for Pinako from a bit of Al's old armor. It was Al's idea, and Winry gave it to the kids and says she knows it will bring us good luck.

The bands were polished steel. One bore a salamander array, the other a Flamel cross finely etched on the band's surface. Topaz eyes stung and Ed jerked his hand out of Roy's pants and knuckled away the moisture. "Shit."

"You're such a romantic. Say 'yes'."

"Before or after I tie your legs in a knot and fuck you cross-eyed?" He lightly ruffled the salt-and-pepper hair. "Okay. Yeah." Leaning in close, he bit Roy gently on his lower lip, sucked on it playfully and slowly released it. "A year from this night?"

"A year from this night."

A long, thoughtful silence followed.

"Wonder if Spenser's Adult Emporium has a bridal registry?"

THE END