A/N: I…suck. And I apologize in advance for all of the mistakes . I haven't written anything in a LONG time, but I hope you guys enjoy :D
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or any of its characters, unfortunately T_T
Pairing: Roy/Ed (MxM beware!)
Summary: Only when it's raining can Edward Elric and Roy Mustang be together. One-shot.
Secret Rain
He hated it when it rained. The pitter-patter of raindrops against the glass windows drove him to within an inch of his sanity. The metal limbs he had come to know as his arm and leg ached in agony. There was nothing he could do but curl up and imagine that the pain wasn't there.
Edward Elric lied on his side in the small bed; his arms pulled his legs up to his chest as he curled in on himself. He had stopped twisting around for it made his automail hurt even more and he had already given up on finding a comfortable position.
Knowing that it was the rain season, Ed had sent Al back to Rizembul despite the younger's reluctance to leave him behind. It had been a long time since either of them had last seen their home town. Ed knew how much Al suffered every time he sees his brother in pain, and he knew just how much the walking armor missed Winry.
Just the thought of the two brought a smile to his face. It was obvious that they liked each other, with the way their faces turned red every time he hinted at it and the way they lit up every time they saw each other. 'They should hurry up and confess already," Ed thought to himself. He would be genuinely happy for the two when the time comes, and the thought of that almost made Ed forget the pain in his limbs. Almost.
He groaned when the phone in his small apartment started to ring. The sharp sounds made his head pound even more and he attempted to block it out by covering his ears with his palms. The ringing stopped after a minute. Ed figured he liked the pitter-patter on the window better than the shrill voice of the phone.
The blond was almost asleep when the sharp ringing returned. He hurled his pillow at the torturous machine despite the pain in his arm but completely missed. With a frustrated yell, the prodigy alchemist forced his body off the bed and dragged it to the phone.
"What?" His tone was filled with annoyance.
"Hagane!" came the familiar voice from the other end of the line. "Where the hell have you been? You were supposed to be here hours ago!"
Ed groaned for the hundredth time that day. 'Shit," he thought, 'I forgot to call in.' He knew he forgot to do something that morning. "I'm sorry, Colonel. I'm taking the day off." He placed the back of his metal hand to his forehead, hoping that the coolness of his artificial limb somehow lessening the headache.
The line was silent for a moment. "Fullmetal, are you okay?" came the surprisingly concerned voice of Colonel Roy Mustang.
"I'm fine. Just please don't call back today. Bye!" Not giving the Flame Alchemist a chance to reply, Ed slammed the phone down and climbed painfully back to his bed. His long trek across the bedroom made him tired and the aching pain slowly disappeared as he drifted off to sleep.
Roy Mustang knew there was something wrong with Edward Elric. First, the blond had not showed up at work, which the short alchemist almost never did. Second, Fullmetal wasn't even mad when he yelled over the phone, and he actually apologized. And third, it was raining.
The Colonel knew how the rain hurt Ed's limbs, which made him worry even more.
The dark-haired man was jolted out of his thoughts when a pile of papers was dumped on the desk in front of him with a bang.
"Please look these over, sir," the commanding voice of Riza Hawkeye drifted into his ears but did not fully process in his brain.
"Actually," the Colonel said in his best I-know-what-I'm-doing and looked up at the sharp-shooter with smoldering eyes that would've worked on any other woman, "I'm thinking about leaving early today."
The clicking sound of a cocking gun put him back down to his place. "Or, I could finish paperwork," he grumbled.
He shifted through the papers with half a mind. For the entire day, his eyes would drift to the window, looking to see if the rain has stopped.
'Finally,' Mustang thought as he signed the last paper of the day.
Work hours were almost over and everyone else had left. Although the colonel often neglected his responsibilities, he always completed his duties (though late more often than not). After all, one cannot climb to the top without the minimal amount of red tape.
Roy stopped by the market on the way to Ed' apartment, hoping to pick up something that would lighten Fullmetal's undoubtedly sour mood. He was walking toward the flower shop, planning on buying horribly cliché roses, when another object caught his eyes. It was a plant. More specifically, a bean plant.
The pot which it inhabited was plain enough. In fact, an entire row of bean plants were settled in the same type of pot. Out of that entire row, however, there was a special one. An especially short one. While the others climbed the stalks that were provided for them, this one sat there calmly, as if too busy to grow.
'A bean among beans,' Roy thought to himself with a smirk. He walked into the shop and paid the owner, who was very happy to get rid of the poor plant.
When he knocked on the door to the Fullmetal bean's apartment with plant in hand, he was greeted by a disgruntled Ed, his blond hair flying every which direction.
"What the hell do you want?" was his greeting.
Seeing the short man's face always did brighten his day, even if said face gave off an "I will kill you now" look.
"Well, Hagane, as pleasant as always." He nudged the door open wider and invited himself in despite the other's grumbles.
Not having enough strength to pretend to push the colonel out, Ed closed the door before limping to a chair and slumping into it. All he wanted to do was crawl into bed and resume his misery-filled sleep.
"What do you want?" he asked again, glaring at the dark-haired man as he removed his wet coat and placed it on the coat-rack. Ed's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he saw but couldn't quite make out the small object in the colonel's hand.
"I saw something on my way home that reminded me of you, ochibi," Roy replied with a teasing smirk as he held out the bean plant in front of Ed's suspecting eyes.
Due to the circumstances, it took Ed a second more than usual to realize that the colonel was making fun of him, yet again, not that it came as a surprise. With a growl, he made a grab for the pot.
The smirking man quickly moved the plant out of the murderous hand's way and went to place it on the table, a safe distance away from the other bean in the room. "I think I'll put it here so that you can admire it from afar. Though it might be hard to from such a distance since it's so shor-"
"Who are you calling a bean sprout so short that you can't see even with a microscope?" Ed jumped up from his chair, momentarily forgetting the pain in his joints. The relief was brief, however, as the agony returned and was intensified by his recent outburst. He fell back down into his chair, closing his eyes and biting his lips, willing the pain to go away.
Roy's playful smirk disappeared when he saw the wince on the other mans' face. 'So the automail is bothering him,' Roy thought, 'and it looks like it's worse than the last time.'
All jokes aside, Roy walked to Ed's side. He took off his white gloves before placing them into his pockets and gingerly putting a hand on Ed's forehead. The heat he felt radiating from the small body caused his eyebrows to furrow deeply. He hadn't expected him to have a fever.
Ed lazily pushed his hand away, eyes half-lidded and face tinged with a flush from the pain. "Don't touch me," he mumbled. But he didn't mean it. Roy's cool hand felt nice on his forehead, but he wasn't about to admit it just yet.
"Come on," Roy's voice was soft and gentle,' we should get you to bed."
"That's where I was before you hauled me up, baka Colonel," Ed grumbled. He refused to admit to himself that a part of him has been waiting all day for the dark-haired man to knock on his door. Even though all he wanted was to lie down, Ed was too tired to move his heavy limbs.
Seeing that the small man had no intentions of moving any time soon, Roy bent to slip his arms underneath and around the blond. He felt the man resist only slightly as he lifted him up into his arms.
Ed's eyes snapped open when he felt arms around him and tried to stop the heat from rising to his cheeks. "Baka Colonel," he muttered, but didn't struggle as much as he hoped he would. Against his will, he leaned his head on the strong chest and fisted his hands in the soft materials of the colonel's shirt. Ed almost slapped himself when he unconsciously inhaled deeply in an attempt to breathe in the colonel's scent. 'Baka baka baka!' He chanted in his head. He shouldn't still be reacting like this, not after all these years.
The dark-haired man smiled, peering down at the flustered man in his arms. He always found the little blond irresistibly adorable.
After an otherwise uneventful trip to the bedroom, Roy gently set Ed on his twin-sized bed, careful not to jostle the metal limbs. He resisted the urge to kiss the flushed face. Ed's eyes were shut and his lips ajar. Roy would've thought he was asleep if he hadn't groaned and turned to a more comfortable position.
"I'll get you a towel." Roy didn't wait for a reply, though he heard Ed grunt in approval as he navigated his way around Ed and Al's small flat. He's been here more than enough times to be familiar with the place.
When he came back with a towel and a bowl of cold water, he saw the small man snuggled against the fluffy blankets on the bed. He looked so tiny and childlike, buried amongst the comfortable sheets, his ruffled blond hair peaking out. The Flame Alchemist's expression softened as he brushed the unruly locks out of the fever-flushed face. He wet the towel and placed it on the sick-man's forehead.
Ed groaned when he felt the cool cloth against his face. It felt good. He cracked his eyes open slightly and saw Roy's form come into focus.
"Do you feel better?" Roy asked, wiping Ed's face with the towel and rewetting it to maintain its cool temperature.
Ed's hand reached out from under the blankets to hold Roy's as the colonel put the towel on his flushed cheek. He was too tired to stop himself anymore.
"Mm, feels good," the blond man closed his eyes and nuzzled into Roy's hand contently.
Roy froze for a second, trying to keep the fluttering in his chest to a minimum. 'Get a hold of yourself, Mustang,' he scolded, 'stop acting like a lovesick puppy.' He took another look at the small man in the bed. 'But how am I supposed to resist when he looks like THAT.'
Ed let out a disappointed whimper (he blames it on the fever) when Roy's hand slipped away. Moments later, however, he felt the blankets unwrap around him, only to be replaced by the warm body of the colonel. His eyes snapped open in surprised before he relaxed and buried his face in Roy's still-clothed chest to hide his blush.
Their legs tangled together as Roy wrapped his arms around the small man. He felt Ed shift so his small hands rested between them and his face nuzzled into the crook of Roy's neck. Roy almost shuddered as he felt Fullmetal's soft breaths on his neck. They both relaxed against each other. Ed sighed as Roy's warmth spread across his cold automail along with the rest of his body. He hasn't felt so warm in the cold and rainy weather for a long time; not since the last time the colonel had held him.
No words were exchanged as they lay in each others' arms. No words were needed. The ache in his limbs had greatly subsided and Ed felt himself slipping off into a blissful slumber filled with Roy's scent and his warmth. He felt his face being tilted up by fingers holding his chin before a pair of soft and familiar lips pressed gently against his. His eyes slowly opened as the other man pulled away and he saw a strange expression on the colonel's face.
"Mustang…?"
"I don't want to pretend anymore, Hagane," Roy said, his voice soft but firm, sending shivers down Ed's spine. "I don't want to wake up in the morning not being able to hold you, and I don't want to go through the day pretending that I don't love you."
Ed was speechless at Roy's sudden outburst, so the dark-eyed man continued, words bursting from his lips.
"I want to kiss you breathless every second I'm with you, fall asleep and wake up next to you every day and I just…I don't want to pretend anymore." Roy brushed his fingers through soft golden hair and tipped his head down to steal another kiss.
"Roy," Ed kissed him again, desperately, his face filled with a rosy blush from Roy's unexpected confession. "You know that's what I want, too," he whispered against those lips, "but it's not safe, not yet, for either of us."
The colonel almost chuckled. Who would have thought that the "kid" was the sensible one while he couldn't control his feelings. He reluctantly told himself again that Ed was right. He had too many enemies who would use any excuse to hurt him and they won't hesitate to hurt anyone close to him either. No, they had to wait, wait until he reaches the top and has the power to protect those close to him. Until them, it was too dangerous.
"I'm sorry," Roy pressed his lips to the top of the golden head, "I don't know what came over me." Roy shifted, ready to untangle himself and leave before he becomes incapable of doing so.
"I'll wait," Ed said.
The Flame Alchemist paused and looked down into those determined and intense golden eyes. It was a look Roy had seen many times. The fire in those orbs was the same as when Ed swore to recover he and his brother's original bodies.
"I'll wait for you to do everything you have to do," Ed said again, "no matter how long it takes." He knew the colonel wouldn't let himself endanger the ones he loved.
A moment later, Ed peered up at Roy. His eyes were soft and he chewed his lips uncertainly. "But, stay here for now?"
Roy smiled and leaned down to lay yet another sweet kiss on the parted lips. Ed's cheeks were tinged pink, from either the fever or a blush or both. His eyes were half-lidded, wanton yet innocent, 'a look that only Hagane can pull off,' Roy thought.
"Okay," he replied, pulling the small man even tighter into his arms.
Ed pressed into the other man's chest, their bodies fitting together like perfectly formed molds. He'll savor the moment now, because he knew that Roy Mustang would be gone when he wakes up again. For now, he'll let himself melt against the strong chest and take in the scent of his lover even though he knew that it would just make him miss it more the next morning. He listened to the soft beating of the colonel's heart through the older man's shirt and the soft breathing that escaped his soft lips. The pitter-patter of the rain was loud in the silence of the room. He never liked the rain, but he has learned to love it in moments like these.
The bean plant stood alone on the table. In the room next door, the two figures fell asleep to each others' heartbeats. The sound of raindrops falling against the glass window didn't stop before the sun rose the next morning. By then, things have returned to normal and the secret has been buried under layers of pretend, waiting to be washed away by the rain.
End