Roy sat in the tavern. His hand wrapped around a glass of warm, brown liquor. His mind wrapped around a certain blonde alchemist.
It had been five years since Ed had disappeared. Ever since then, Roy felt miserable. He figured it was the sympathy for the younger brother that made him feel so awful, but he had come to terms a long time ago that without the fiery blonde's constant rants about his height and the loud arguments between them, Roy felt, depressed. Roy started to wonder what it had been all these years that had kept him attarcted to the young alchemist, originally it was the fasination with his alchemical talents, and his ever growing curiousity over the 'human transmutation' Edward supposably did to deserve that auto mail on his arm and leg.
Even the ever coming promotions or countless dates with beautiful women, could never replace the feelings he had come to despise. That he did indeed care for Edward.When Ed was around, he had always felt giddy. He just figured it was the joy of pressing the blonde's buttons and watching him overreact. But after a while he realized he was always happy when he was with him, not just when he pissed the little guy off. It always gave Roy a sense of happiness to be around the boy.
Roy let out a sigh.
The bartender looked at Roy, the man had come in many a times, usually depressed with something. Continuously drowning himself in warm whiskey and going home, still depressed but now uncordinated.
A figured entered the tavern and walked over to the empty barstool near the counter.The seat next to roy, the one Maes used to sit in before his horrible cold blooded death. The hood he wore covered his face. Roy barely gave him a second glance when the man sat next to him. His torn long, brown jacket that reached down to his feet, there was really nothing to look at, and that jacket seemed to conceal whoever was beneath it anyway.
another sigh excaped his lips.
Probably some poor traveler' Roy thought dismissively. sipping at the liquor. His eyes wandered down and watched the liquid within the glass dance at its own accord.
He gulped down the last of his whiskey and got up to leave, when suddenly a voice came from behind him. He turned back to the seated man, his vision changed by a small drunken haze.
"Hello colonel bastard. Long time, no see..." The man said. " Leaving so soon?"
Roy looked at the man sitting on the barstool behind him, his face no longer hidden in the concealing shadows of the coat. His hair was a honey kissed blond that shone dully underneath the dim lights of the bar. His dark amber eyes were the same color as the drink he held, only filled with more sorrow than that of any other person in the pub. Including the colonel. He looked tired, worn out, giving off a sense of an exausted hope crushed by the ever coming desruction his life caused. Roy wasn't only seeing it in the young mans eyes.. he knew it all, he was there throughout most of the boys problems. He also knew because he felt the same way.. he saw every emotion in him refelcted through the other man's eyes.
" How did you know I was here?" Roy asked, looking at the young man. Looking at the boys features more throughly with out being obvious.
"This is where you and Hughes always came. You're always here." Ed answered quietly "especially when you're depressed" The boy's voice cracking at the end of the sentence.
A small smile crept onto Roy's face. The boy had grown, he would admit that, but his face had not changed within the span of five years.
" What? No hello. Welcome back Ed." Edward said in an annoyed but slightly amused tone.
"I see you've gotten taller," Roy said ignoring the last comment.
A small smile lit up Edward's face aswell. He was proud that he no longer had to deal with the short' comments.
The two men stood quietly, as though there was nothing more to say. "You have anywhere to go?" Roy said after the long silence that filled the room.
"Not that I can see."
Roy invited Ed over, the boy had nowhere to go, and even if he did, it was to late in the evening to go there. Ed accepted his offer to spend the night at the former colonel's house.
" If you're no longer a bastard colonel. Then what are you?" Ed asked curiously while they drove.
"I'm a bastard general now" Roy said, a smile on his face.
Ed giggled at the comment, a small almost childish giggle. That made him seem younger than what he was. Ed was always a person to act younger than he was. It was part of his charm.
Ed watched Roy, there was a relaxed look upon Roy's face while he drove.
When the arrived at the general's house, Ed automatically dropped his tattered old jacket and suitcase. Ed looked around the house, it was pretty neat with the exception of a few books here and there. Ed liked it, it felt nice being somewhere other than a dorm or a roadside inn.
"why don't you go take a bath? I find something for you to eat" Roy said kindly.
Ed was slightly surprised at how kind Roy was being, it was almost as though Roy missed him while he was gone. He noticed there was a comfortable feeling between them now. What it was, or how it got there remained a mystery.
Ed walked down the hallway looking in each room for the restroom, when he found it he went inside and prepared for a long awaited bath.
He removed his clothing and stepped into the hot, steaming water.
Ed sat in the bathtub, letting the hot water soak into his body.
For the last five years he did nothing but worry. Worry for his brother, worry for himself, worry for that bastard he calls 'Colonel'... Yes he always worried about Mustang. He always thought that the man was unstable, especially after Maes' Death. He was afraid that the man would crack and put a bullet in his own head. He was afraid that the minute he came back Roy would be dead somewhere. Yes, he worried for Roy. More than he should of.
He was glad Roy didn't kill himself, or happen to get married. As sad and sick as his wish was, Ed never wanted Roy to get married, not that there was much worry there, roy was never one to settle down, but..you never know. He'd had a crush on Roy since the beginning. He never really realized it until he was about 14. The awkward time, he looked at women, and yes they were attractive, but that was the only word he could use.
Roy was more than 'attractive'
Flashback to when he was 15-
Ed and Winry sat outside. Ed sat on the top step, leaning lightly on the sign introducing the rockbell home. Winry, came over, sitting on the porch next to him and grabbing his automail. "Edward?" Winry said, tracing her fingers over the lines of metal hand, a small pink tint painted her face.
"Yes?" Ed said looking off into the distance.
Winry pulled his arm causing him to look at her.
Winry leaned in to kiss Ed. She had been waiting for the moment when she could have the chance to do so.
Edward jumped out of the way, scrambling to avoid winry's atempt, before her lips touched his, she leaned forward too much a landed with a thump as she hit the ground.
Ed's mind was spinning from what just happened. He didn't mean to let her fall.
He looked at his childhood friend as she sat on the ground.
"Winry? What's gotten into you?" Edward said looking at winry surprised
"I love you Edward" Winry said, looking up at him lovingly. "please say you love me too."
"I-I don't winry." Ed said looking at the poor girl as tears formed in her eyes.
"You always act like it." tears running down her face. Her hand out stretched to grab his collar and pull him into a desprate kiss.
Ed stepped back, as Winry continued to cry. The ground sprayed with tears.
"Why won't you love me?" Winry said quietly. wiping her face of the many tears that gushed from her eyes.
Ed knelt down, brushing his lips against hers. and slowly standing back up. "Because, I'm in love with someone else." Ed answered.
Winry looked at him with pain as she sat on the ground. She knew exactly who this
someone else' was. She walked by his room and heard countless moaning of the colonel's name. She hoped that it was a phase; besides, the colonel was so into women, that being gay was out of the question. She figured he'd get his heart broken and come running to her in the end. Ed still loved him though, and she couldn't change that.
Somehow she knew she didn't stand a chance.
End of flashback
Ed remembered that day. He felt awful for Winry, but he had come to terms with his feelings for Roy a long time ago and he couldn't love her. Al on the other hand, loved Winry; he always loved Winry. They got married two months after the incident, and although Winry loves Al, her feelings for Ed will never truly go away.
Ed sat in the bath, and relaxed, letting his tension melt into the steaming water. All that worry about winry, and roy was not a problem right now.
Before long he heard a knock at the door.
"Edward? Breakfast" Roy said on the other side of the door.. Ed hadn't realized how long he had been in there.
Breakfast?' Ed said quietly to himself.
Ed stepped out of the tub and struggled to get dressed in the clothes he was just wearing, he settled on wearing his boxers and tank top. His pants were hard enough to get on and he didn't feel like trying.
He exited the bathroom and stepped into the kitchen, his metal leg made a thump every time it hit the linoleum floor, well as compared to the other foot that didn't seem to make any noise at all.
Roy caught himself starring at the metallic leg right below the knee, yes he knew Ed had on but he never got a chance to really see it. He had seen the boy's arm on countless occasions, like when they fought or any of the times he had it blown off. 'I guess I never really got to see the boy in this little clothing. When he looked up from his examination Ed was blushing.
"What are looking at?" Ed croaked.
Roy opened his mouth to let out a common comeback, which usually related to the lack of Ed's height (in other words, a short joke) but considering his loss of material, he didn't say anything. Instead he went with the seductive smile, making Ed blush even more. 'I'm just gonna have to find more material now won't I' Roy thought as he looked at Ed.
"Well, are we going to eat or what?" Ed said rudely.
Roy plopped down a large plate of food, which consisted of eggs, toast, hash browns, and a variety of other breakfast foods.
"Why breakfast food?" Ed asked, stuffing food into his mouth.
"It's three o-clock in the morning, Fullmetal. Breakfast time." Roy said. "...Plus, breakfast is the only thing I really know how to do well." He added lamely.
Ed had to fight the urge to laugh.
" I'm sure breakfast isn't the 'only' thing you know how to do well." Ed said reassuringly.
Roy's mind suddenly went to the gutter. 'Maybe I'll get to show you some of those things later' Roy's imagination got the better of him and he prefered not to imagine Edward in such postions..yet.
" Eat up fullmetal." Roy squeaked
"What's with the "fullmetal" all of a sudden?" Ed asked shoving food into his mouth wildly as if he hadn't eaten in days.
"That's your name right?" Roy asked watching the boy eat. There was a long pause while Ed finished his food and stood up to get more.
Roy watched Ed.. half expecting him to say something back but never getting an answer. Roy shrugged at it and decided to watch.
'Ed looks quite good like that' Roy thought, talking about Eds almost dry hair. Eds wet bangs stuck to his face while the rest hung in a ponytail in the back. Roy loved the shirt Ed was wearing, it was similar to the ones he always wore, a tight, black tank top that showed off the hansomely muscular body underneath. Roy saw him in the shirt before, when they fought, Ed's body had grown quite a bit since then.
"No, it's my title." Ed said.
"Huh?" Roy replied snapping out of his dreamy state in which he was admiring the young man.
"When you asked if it was my name" Ed said back "and I said no its my title.. 'fullmetal, is not my name, its my title"
"Well okay, fullmetal' go to bed now and we'll see what I call you tomorrow." Roy said, his mind still caught in the gutter and judging by the look on Ed's face, he wasn't far behind.
"see you in the morning colonel asshole."
Roy flinched at the name "Thats general asshole to you" Roy screamed jokingly at Ed before Ed shut the door to the room.
---Ed awoke the next…uh………daytime.
He looked at the clock the time it read was 3:00 in the afternoon. Much later then his old routine
"Ugh...it's going to take awhile to get my schedule back." Ed said sleepily. Ed stretched and prepared himself menally for the day to come.
There came a knock at the door.
"Come in." Ed said with a yawn.
The door opened and Roy stepped in.
"You're finally up." Roy said smiling.
" It just so happens I had a long night…I don't know what you did all day yesterday general shit head, but I spent most of it walking and sitting on train seats about as soft as concrete." Ed replied sourly.
Roy looked at Ed and rolled his eyes.
"Still over exaggerating eh? Fullmetal."
Ed's face grew red, and had to fight the urge to scream and rant. I'm so not in the mood for this crap' Ed thought to himself as he got up and passed Roy in the doorway.
He looked though the cabinets in the kitchen hoping to find something sweet, but settled on some sugary cereal." Damn colonel…I mean general, doesn't have any good to eat" Ed mumbled under his breath.
"What was that? Fullmetal." Roy asked looking at the young alchemist guzzle down handfuls of cereal.
"Nothing" Ed replied
"Oh, I heard Damn and general, I thought you were talking about me." Roy smirked.
"have you noticed you're going out of you way to call me by my title?"
"nope."Roy said smartly
" I hate you"
"What was that?" Roy said putting a hand to his ear.
" I SAID I HATE YOU STUPID FUCKING COLO-…GENERAL!!!!!!!!" Ed screamed, even though he didn't actually hate Roy, it still pissed him off at how Roy always had that smugness about him
" Okay. Glad we got that settled" Roy said and turned his back to the fuming blonde boy. Roy started to wonder what ever happened to the comformality between them from the other night.
'… it was better for him if Roy thought he hated him, right?' Ed thought as he steamed with anger looking at the general with blaring hatred.
"Your so cute when you're mad" Roy added. Looking at Ed.
Ed blushed and concentrated on his cereal.
'…it's better that way, right?' Ed thought as Roy came closer to him as he sat at the table. Ed let himself shoot Roy an angry glare. Before softening when the colonel came closer to his face.
Roy ran his fingers through Ed's soft blonde bangs.
'right?'
Roys lips met Ed's in a sweet kiss, making Ed go weak. Roy's lips were soft, and warm. Ed collected as he kissed the taller man. Roy ran his tongue over the boys bottom lip, making Ed quiver, parting his lips in a soft sweet moan. Roy took the oppertunity and slipped his tongue into the boy's mouth, Ed tasted like the sugary cereal that he had been eating. Roy smiled lightly at the taste.
'…maybe it's better if he knows my true feelings after all.' Ed's thoughts went down.