All these random one-shots are to apologise for the lack of real chapters. XD
Please put up with more of my RoyEd shipping. *Bows*
Disclamier~
Ed hated rainy days.
For starters, he hated the lazy, oppressive atmosphere that always loomed over everyone's heads whenever it was raining. The office was always quiet and dull; a bleak, grey tinge to the damp air, and that never failed to put Ed in a crappy mood.
Secondly, the cold precipitation chilled him to the bone - or, in Ed's case, automail. Rain always made his ports ache to high hell - something that tended to put a damper on his mood, and another reason to dislike the rain.
Yet another reason was the fact it was so damn wet - it made his long hair cling to his skin like slippery, itchy bugs, and the water soaked up by his cotton clothes made him feel like he weighed twenty stone. It also made it difficult to see, as Ed always had to shield his eyes to look up, and even then, when the rain was heavy, he could hardly see a hundred metres ahead of him.
Not to mention the fact that every time his automail got damp, he always had to spend ages drying it to perfection, otherwise it would rust - and according to Winry, rusty automail was even more painful than automail surgery. Ed had decided a long time ago that he didn't want to test that theory.
This multitude of cons had convinced Ed at a very early age - even before he obtained his automail - that rain was a detestable thing, and was only to be thanked for the good crops it brought and the drinking water it provided - other than that, Ed would be perfectly happy if rain never existed at all.
Which was why he was mentally knocking himself out with a baseball bat for agreeing to participate in a water fight with the rest of the office this afternoon.
Ed wasn't quite sure how he'd done it, but Al had miraculously persuaded him to be there for 'the best fight of the year'. The entire office was going to be there - even Hawkeye and Mustang had agreed to go, on the agreement that they would be referees. That meant Havoc, Falman, Breda, Fuery and Al - an uneven number. Al said it would be more fun if it was an equal number on both sides, and somehow he'd managed to get Ed to say 'yes' to tagging along for the ride. Ed didn't know which team he'd be on, but he was hoping he'd be against a team with no aim whatsoever. Standing in the rain was bad enough - standing in the rain while getting pelted by water balloons was even worse.
"Come on, nii-san, or we're going to be late!" Al called impatiently from the door of their military dorm.
"Yeah, yeah," Ed said grudgingly, tromping out of the bathroom and joining Al at the doorway. "You got everything?"
Al grinned mischievously, holding up a brown sack that sounded - judging by the loud sloshes - suspiciously like it held thirty water balloons.
Ed raised an eyebrow, saying nothing as they locked the door behind them and began their journey to Central Park.
"So we can pelt them while they're filling their balloons. They won't know what's hit them!"
Ed shoved his hands into his pocket, grumbling, "Water balloons, duh."
Al rolled his eyes and began to hum something that sounded like it should have been 'You are my sunshine'.
Ed snorted at the inappropriate song, considering they were heading out into the rain where there was a definite lack of sun.
He grimaced at the reminder of the hell that awaited him.
As they reached the exit of the brick military building, Al waved goodbye to the guard, who returned the gesture. Ed only shot the guard a pleading look and, as if he knew what Ed meant, the guard smiled apologetically. Ed pulled his red hood over his head, though he doubted it would provide much protection against the downpour.
Fifteen minutes later, the pair arrived, soaked to the bone, at the agreed place of meeting. Ed scowled as he realised no one - or at least no one they knew - was there. His sharp eyes scoured the park laced with shivering dog-walkers, but turned up no military officers. He began to turn to Al with a shrug of confusion, but just as he turned his back, something heavy, wet and very, very cold hit him hard in the left shoulder. He immediately whipped around, only having time to partially process Al's squeal of shock before he received another water balloon - this time, square in the face. He let out a yelp of his own as he ducked to avoid the onslaught, immediately sprinting and cowering behind Al.
"What are you doing, nii-san?" Al shrieked in panic as he was dealt yet another fatal blow to the chest.
"Using you as a human shield!" Ed cried back, his grip on Al's shoulders tightening.
"That's mean, nii-ah!" Al screamed again at the impact of water against flesh, ignoring his brother's yell of protest as he ducked and rolled behind a tree.
"Fire!"
Ed's eyes widened as Roy's voice penetrated the ongoing rush of rain in his ears. Roy was behind this? Wasn't he supposed to be a referee?
He was so lost in his outrageous mental rant that it came as a complete surprise when he received another two water balloons - one on his stomach and one on his neck. He squeaked girlishly and squirmed on the spot as the freezing water ran down his neck and soaked into his black vest. "Al!" he yelled at nothing. "Where are your damn water balloons?"
"Here!" Al said breathlessly as Ed caught up with him, scrambling gracelessly up into the tree Al was hiding in.
Ed could just about hear unclear shouts of 'Cheater!' from the ground below, though he paid them no mind as he armed himself with pre-prepared balloons.
"How many do you have?" Al asked after he'd finished tucking the knots into his belt.
"Eleven. You?"
"Eleven? I can only carry six!"
"Well then I'll get your back," Ed said firmly.
Al would have smirked in amazement had he not been thoroughly exhausted, dripping wet and currently under attack from enemy units. "You seem to be really getting into it, nii-san."
Ed shot Al a scathing glare before dumping another three balloons into Al's arms. "I'm not enjoying this, just so you know. I just want to pay those bastards back for throwing cold water at me. Don't laugh! You're gonna get it later, too, for making me come out here in the first place!"
Al stopped laughing.
"But for now," Ed said smoothly, "We're gonna have to be on the same team." Ed shrugged off his soaked red jacket, grimacing at the deep brown-red colour of it in the rain, as Al attempted to fix more balloons to his belt and tuck them into the inside pockets of his jacket. After a moment of consideration, Ed said slowly, "Didn't you drag me out here for the exact purpose of having the same number of people on each team?"
Al laughed nervously. "Yeah, but it looks like everyone else teamed up against us."
"No shit," Ed grunted under his breath. "And wasn't Mustang supposed to be a referee? And where's Hawkeye?"
"Apparently, they joined the enemy team... I saw Ms. Hawkeye throw the balloon that got you in the face."
Ed's head snapped up, his jaw dropping. "Even Hawkeye? Dammit, if even really mature people like her are joining in, then..."
Al paled as they exchanged horrified looks, before finishing, "... The world is done for."
Ed was the first to snap out of the petrifying sentiment, double-checking his stash of thirteen projectiles and slowly pulling himself into a crouching position, ready to pounce out of the tree at any time. Al shifted his legs out from under him, letting them dangle off the branch as he readied himself to drop to the ground. They glanced at each other, both mentally counting down in perfect sync - as only brothers seem to be able to do - before leaping from the tree at the exact same time, a roaring battle cry pouring out of their throats at the targets badly concealed in the bushes fifty metres away.
Ed was the first to strike, launching a brutal balloon at the nearest target - namely a very scared-looking Fuery - and grinning madly when it hit. Al followed suit, catching Havoc on the back of the head as he turned tail and ran.
Breda retaliated with two at a time, though apparently he wasn't very good with his left hand, as the balloon burst on Ed's scuffed leather boot. The other, however, hit Al on the ear, earning a pained squeal from the teen as he cupped his freezing ear with his left hand while shooting ruthless projectiles at Breda as he ducked away further into the foliage after Hawkeye with a manic grin.
"You get those two; I'll get Fuery and Havoc!" Ed yelled over the deafening sound of the pouring rain - now bordering on a thunderstorm - and proceeded to give chase to the wimps without waiting for a reply.
Al shoved his way through the bushes, groaning silently when branch after branch scratched his face and bare hands. Eventually, he burst out of the greenery, looking around him wildly as he tried in vain to spot where the best sniper in the entire military and the bumbling eat-a-matic 3000 were hiding.
By pure luck, he happened to turn in the right direction just as a huge balloon was launched at him from a tree ten metres away, and he dropped to the ground to avoid it, cursing loudly.
He quickly whipped out water balloon after water balloon, aiming them accurately at his two colleagues now trying - and failing - to dodge them as they hurried to clamber out of the tree. "Take that!" he yelled as they sprinted away over the slick mud. He carried on pelting them until Breda tripped, crashing into Hawkeye and bringing her down with him in a dazed heap that smelled strongly of surrender.
He stuck his tongue out at them as he scampered past in an effort to catch up to his brother quickly. Roy was probably where Havoc and Fuery were running, and three against one wasn't too good.
By the time he finally found his brother, however, all he could do was laugh, even if they were supposed to be on the same team.
"Take that, midget ninja!" Havoc roared, simultaneously chucking four surprisingly accurate water balloons, all of which hit a frantically fleeing Ed in the back.
Ed was sprinting in circles, desperate to keep moving so as not to be a sitting duck - he seemed to have run out of ammunition a while ago, as Fuery, Havoc and Roy stood, completely drenched, blocking Ed's only way out of this section of the park as they hurled freezing cold water balloons at Ed's barely-clothed form. He'd abandoned his jacket a while back as the weight of the accumulated water was dragging him down, leaving him just in his thin black vest. But it seemed now to be a severe disadvantage, as ice-cold water was splashing onto his bare arm and down his back with ease.
Al glanced over at Havoc and co. Havoc was aiming every water balloon he could get his hands on at poor Ed, Fuery was hurriedly filling more balloons - he must've brought packets of them - and Roy was standing, arms akimbo, laughing heartily at the sight of Ed squealing and jumping around in the most feminine way possible.
Another minute or so later, Ed collapsed after being hit by a particularly fatal barrage of balloons, squeaking shamelessly, "I give up! I surrender! Please, no more water balloons!"
Havoc burst into laughter, joined swiftly by Fuery, Roy and even Al as he wandered over to help Ed up out of the mud.
"We win!" Havoc declared righteously.
"Yes, you win," Al mock-sighed, before giggling at Ed's murderous scowl.
"Where are Hawkeye and Breda?" Fuery asked.
Al laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head as Ed dropped his face into his muddy, mismatched hands.
"We'll go find them," Havoc said, tugging on Fuery's and Al's shirts. "Won't we?" he said pointedly.
Fuery's eyes widened in realisation, and he quickly stuttered, "O-of course. It's a three-man job, after all."
"What?" Al said, blinking innocently. "It's a two-man job at most-" But his protests were cut short by Havoc's dirty hand over his mouth, and Al was swiftly dragged away into the bushes, leaving Roy and Ed to themselves.
Ed blinked stupidly at their vanishing forms, wondering what the hell had just happened, and Roy narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
Ed turned back towards Roy, deciding to dismiss Havoc's curious behaviour and ask him about it later when they were warm and dry in a building somewhere away from the horrible, horrible rain soaking him to the bones and making him wish his whole body was made of automail so it wasn't so painful and yucky. "Let's go somewhere warm. And dry. And warm."
Roy nodded. "For once, I agree, Fullmetal," he half-sighed with a cocky smirk.
Ed scowled, but his witty comeback died on his lips as he was hit in the back with something akin to a heavy, freezing cold, wet boulder. He struggled to regain balance, but the slippery mud beneath his boots gave way and he toppled forward, knocking Roy right off his feet.
Ed opened his eyes - which had shut tight as he braced himself for the fall - when he'd not met with hard ground as expected, but instead with something soft and warm. The sight that graced his vision knocked the breath out of him - even moreso than the gigantic water balloon.
Pinned underneath him was Roy Mustang, infamous womaniser and even more handsome close up and covered in mud than at the office, pristine and uniform.
"M-Mustang-mmph!" Ed's protests were muffled by the lips now caressing his own, and it took him every inch of willpower in his body not to pull Roy back towards him when he separated them.
"Just Roy."
Ed stared, a furious crimson lighting his face up in the bleak grey-brown scenery. Could this really be happening? Just a minute ago, they were enemies pitted against each other, ordinary commanding officer and subordinate... But Ed shook the thoughts away. If this was happening, he might as well embrace his luck, right?
He brushed his nose, pink with the cold, against Roy's. "Then just Ed."
And Roy smirked. And Ed suddenly couldn't see how he had ever hated that goddamn sinful smile. "Okay, Ed."
They kissed again, Ed pressing himself against Roy's body as much as possible as Roy ran his tongue across Ed's lip.
"A little enthusiastic, are you?" Roy asked, clearly amused, as Ed attempted to seemingly bury himself in Roy's arms.
Ed flushed a deep scarlet, an almost pouty scowl marring his features. "I'm just bloody cold. You're warm."
Roy chuckled, before wrapping his arms tighter around Ed's small form, still squirming in his grip to obtain the position of optimum comfort. "I see."
As Ed snuggled into Roy's warm (and admittedly rather cuddly) embrace, he let out a wisp of breath in a silent sigh of relief.
Perhaps the rain isn't so bad after all.
Aww. XD