Rewritten! This is the new version of the chapter. If you want to see the previous version, drop me a review and I'll email it to you or something.

A/N: That's right, I finally finished rewriting. Please enjoy this new version of the chapter, and let me know if there's something important that I missed. I tried to make it better while at the same time not messing up something that I refer to later. It was hard. Have fun!

Disclaimer: Not mine, however much I would like to have a Roy Mustang of my own.

Chapter 1: Finding A Solution

"Brother, where have you been? You didn't come home last night." Al asked his brother as the older boy entered their dorm room early one morning. For the past few months Ed had been disappearing in the evenings and not coming home until after dawn. Every time it was the same routine: Ed came back and acted like nothing had happened while Al questioned him. He did not disappoint this day, either.

"Nowhere, Al. It doesn't matter, alright?" Edward sighed, heading to the shower.

"Brother, you're limping." Al murmured quietly, suspecting the reason for this but unwilling to voice it.

"I think I've grown, I need to go see Winry and get the automail adjusted again." Ed brushed Al's suspicions off like so much dust.

Al was not convinced. He was unwilling to blindly follow his brother in something that could very well ruin everything they had worked for. "How is Colonel Mustang?" He asked casually as he sat down on the sofa, armor clanking.

Ed froze for half a second before snorting and nonchalantly replying, "How should I know? Am I his babysitter now?"

But that half-second hesitation was all Alphonse had needed.

xXxFullmetalAlchemistxXx

Edward closed a door behind himself as he entered. "You home yet?" He called into the entryway. A dark head poked out of a doorway to his left, smiling.

"You're early." Roy Mustang said happily, coming out of the kitchen wiping his hands on a dish towel. "I was just making dinner."

Ed looked at him forlornly. "I hope you only cooked for one." He murmured.

"Ed?" Roy said, looking a question at the younger man. "What's wrong?"

"We can't do this any more, Mustang." Roy could tell that Ed was trying to distance himself by using his last name. He wouldn't let him do that; he took a few steps, closing the distance between them. "I can't do this any more."

"What do you mean, Ed?" Roy asked gently, taking the blonde's smooth chin in his fingers. "What can't you do any more?"

Ed tried to take a step back, but Roy stopped him with an arm around his waist. "I can't see you any more. Al is suspicious, and who knows who else. I won't jeopardise your career for this."

"Ed." A whisper, almost inaudible.

"What, Mustang?" The blond replied, irritated.

"I love you. Now shut up and kiss me."

Well...who was he to disobey a direct order? He complied.

"I love you too, Colonel Bastard."

Maybe he would be staying for dinner after all.

xXxFullmetalAlchemistxXx

One day about two weeks later Al showed up unexpectedly in Roy's office...alone. He marched right in and demanded to see the Colonel. Hawkeye could see that it was something important, so she very uncharacteristically allowed an unscheduled appointment.

"Alphonse." Roy said cheerily as the suit of armor entered his office. "Is there something I can do for you?"

Al walked right up to the desk and slammed his hands onto it. "You can stay away from my brother, you bastard."

Roy, having been warned about Al's suspicions ahead of time, pretended ignorance. "I'm his commanding officer." He said, as if Al was being ridiculous.

"That's all you should be." Al hissed, "But is that really what you are to him? I know what kind of person you are, Colonel Mustang, and I don't want my brother to get hurt."

"I wouldn't hurt him." Roy protested, briefly forgetting that he was supposed to be playing stupid. "I need his capable hands and his abilities." He amended quickly.

Al shook his head. "If only I could believe that." He murmured. With that, he turned and stalked out. Hawkeye stopped him in the hallway and pulled him aside.

"I know you think you're helping, Al. We've all noticed that Edward and the Colonel are a little more than just commanding officer and subordinate. But if any of the higher-ups get wind of this, they could lose their jobs or get court-martialed. I understand that you want to protect your brother, but I think the best thing you can do for him is to drop this before you bring attention to it." She told him hurriedly.

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant Hawkeye. I can't do that. Brother has lost so much already, I don't want to see a man like the Colonel break his heart, too." Al apologised, turning to walk away.

"What do you mean by 'a man like the Colonel?'" She asked angrily.

Al turned back toward her. "He's a good man, I respect his authority and his alchemic abilities. But we all must face the fact that Roy Mustang is a womanizer and fears commitment."

Riza shook her head. "I think he's different now. I think Ed has changed him, more than any of us could possibly know."

"It doesn't matter, Lieutenant Hawkeye, because no matter how much he changes, he's still exactly like me in one way: he can't bear to get too attached to anything or anyone, because he knows how easily they can be torn from you." Without waiting for a reply, he left Central Headquarters.

xXxFullmetalAlchemistxXx

"Brother, how can you allow yourself to be fooled by a man like that?" Al asked as Ed came home after another of his nightly escapades.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Al." Edward murmured, sitting on the couch and picking up an alchemy text, apparently disinterested with the conversation.

"I'm tired of being lied to! You lie about where you go at night, Colonel Mustang denied having any relationship with you, at least Hawkeye was straight with me but she told me to just ignore it...I'm just looking out for my brother! I don't want you to get hurt!" Ed had stiffened when he mentioned the Colonel, and was now standing, the book fallen and forgotten on the floor.

"What I do is none of your business, and it's not your job to protect me! You're the younger brother. I can take care of myself, you're the one that needs looking after. And as for Hawkeye, she should really keep her nose out of other peoples' business." Ed growled, facing off with his brother even though the suit of armor was nearly two feet taller than him.

"But if your heart gets broken I'm the one who's going to have to pick up the pieces! When he dumps you like he's dumped all his other lovers I'm the one who's going to be there to console you!" Al argued, trying to make a point.

"He would never hurt me like that." Ed whispered savagely.

"How can you know that?" Al responded, shaking his head and putting his hands on his hips.

"Because he loves me!" Ed yelled, the first words in their fight that were spoken loud enough that anyone outside could hear.

"You can be sure of that? Men like him say things they don't mean sometimes." Al's hand moved to touch Ed before deciding better of it.

"It's in every look he gives me, every kiss. It's in the way he makes dinner for me, every night. It's in the long talks, the way he always knows when something is wrong and listens, fixes my problems. It comes out of his mouth, too, but only in the most intimate moments, when we're together, cuddling on the couch after dinner, winding down from a long day...." He looked like he might say more, but trailed off with a blush, realizing his rambling.

Al stood in astonishment for several minutes. Finally, he managed to murmur, "And how do you feel, Brother?"

Ed, still blushing, sighed. "I love him with every fiber of my being, and it's been growing to that point for five years."

Al nodded. "Then I guess there's nothing left to discuss."

They didn't talk about it after that. When Ed came home in the morning Al would be on the couch, reading the newspaper and offering him coffee. It was an unspoken understanding that now that they had come to an agreement it was better to pretend that nothing was going on. It spared Al the details and Ed any embarrassing stories.

xXxFullmetalAlchemistxXx

Roy sighed, signing yet another report and placing it in the "finished" stack. Ed had been on a mission in the South for more than two weeks. While Roy was glad that the blond might find what he was looking for, it still pained him to be apart for so long.

"Hey Colonel Bastard. I'm home." His office door burst open and the energetic blond that he had just been thinking about entered, closing the door just as roughly behind him. Roy was surprised how happy hearing the word 'home' come from his lover's mouth made him. Perhaps because he realized that Ed thought of Central as home because Roy was there.

"How did it go?" He asked, standing to receive an awkward hug over his desk. No one could see inside his office, and he didn't really care if they could; it had been too long.

Ed's face fell, and he went about the motions of pulling his report out of his suitcase and giving it to Roy. For once it was not wrinkled, stained, or doodled on. "I found no information on the philosopher's stone." He murmured, "However, I did find a way to get my brother's body back."

The report stated, in detail, exactly what he would have to do, and included the drawing of the transmutation circle used. It made Roy sick. "You're not really going to through with this, are you?"

Ed nodded. "It's the only way. Maybe in ten years someone will develop something better, maybe in twenty, but it's already been seven since we lost everything. He's supposed to be a fifteen year old boy, but instead he's...some sort of monster. I did that to him. I need to set it right. I'm sorry, Roy." There were tears in the fearless Fullmetal Alchemist's eyes.

"Ed, I can't let you do this. I love you...please." Roy murmured, the report falling to the desk as he placed his hands down to steady himself.

"I'm afraid that no matter how much I love you my brother comes first, and always has. You're going to want this." Out of his pocket he pulled his State Alchemist's watch, scratched and dulled from the years of missions. He placed it on the desk on top of his forgotten report.

"Edward...." Roy whispered painfully.

"I'm sorry, really. But I need you to do something for me." Ed pleaded as a single tear ran down his cheek.

"What is it, Ed? I'll do anything." Roy answered firmly, though his voice was broken.

"I want you to watch over my brother after I'm gone. Promise me you'll take care of him." Ed whispered desperately.

Roy nodded, taking a deep breath so he would have the courage to speak. "I promise, Edward. If that's what you ask of me I will do it."

Ed walked around the desk and pulled Roy down for one final kiss. "I love you, Roy Mustang. Never forget that, no matter how many other people take my place."

Roy shook his head, wrapping Edward tightly in his arms. "Never, Ed. You're the only one for me, forever."

Eventually they parted, and with a murmured "Goodbye," Edward Elric left Roy Mustang's life forever.

There you have it. Much better than the original, right? I'm pretty sure this was also longer, at 1,953 words. I don't think I wrote anywhere how long the other was, but this is almost three pages to the original's two. That's good, right? I need to stop saying that. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think of the new chapter, it would mean a lot to me.