"I'm going to be gone a few days," Edward had said as he shrugged on his jacket in the front hall. Rian stood, sleepy-eyed, in the open doorway to the bedroom, his hair in desperate need of a comb. "You can stay here if you'd like."
"Gone?" Rian said, trying to skim back in his mind for this conversation. It had to have come up yesterday; there hadn't been any phone calls in the night or Havoc knocking on the door an an ungodly hour. "Where are you going?"
"Not important." He wasn't dressed in his military uniform, but that said little. Sometimes the ops run were done in civilian clothes, after all. "I'll be back on Monday."
"If it's not important, take me with you."
Edward actually paused, his eyes flicked to Rian's. "You can't come," he said simply. "This isn't for you."
Rian frowned, a little put off by this. But he leaned up into Edward's kiss anyway, and watched the door click securely shut behind the man.
He worried about Edward, of course he did. It wasn't that he was worried about Edward sneaking out and having a secret tryst (although, admittedly, the thought did meander its way across his mind), but in the weeks leading up to his sudden departure Edward had seemed oddly withdrawn. He thought too much, a curse of all alchemists, and Rian would catch him, chin in hand, staring out the window; looking at nothing at all.
And then, out of the blue, Edward left for a few days?
But the time passed uneventfully. Rian, for lack of anything better to do, cleaned. It was a rare occurrence to get Edward out of his tiny apartment, and with stalwart determination Rian cleaned the flat top to bottom. He busied himself putting things away, finding library materials that they probably thought were lost forever, and actually getting some sunlight into the den.
Monday morning arrived with Rian sleeping in the large, empty bed. When he woke it was to see Edward sitting at the foot of the bed, watching him sleep. Rian blinked at him in confusion, and Edward smiled - a slightly evil, frightening smile - and that woke Rian right up.
"I can't find anything again, Rian."
Edward sat at the kitchen table - a small thing, shoved against the wall. It barely had room for two people to sit at, and Rian was constantly moving books off of it. The autumn sunlight was warm as it slid across the white countertop. Rian was diligently cooking their breakfast as Edward skimmed the weekend edition of the newspaper. "I'm going to be gone a few days," Edward announced, folding over the paper as Rian dropped a plate of sausages and scrambled eggs in front of him.
"Really?" Rian said, taking the newspaper from Edward and tossing it on top of the pile by the sink. "Didn't you go somewhere this time last year, too?"
"Mm," Edward said, frowning at the scrambled eggs before him. "Did you make these with milk?"
Rian didn't have to stand on his tip-toes any longer to kiss Edward goodbye in the hallway. "Any idea when you'll be back?" Rian asked.
"Tuesday or Wednesday," Edward said.
"Can't believe that Captain Hawkeye let you have the time off," Rian said thoughtfully. Edward gave him an odd smile, and then brushed Rian's hair out of his eyes before walking out the door.
Just like that he was left again with the prospect of several days without his colonel to keep him entertained, so Rian rolled up his sleeves to clean. However, with him around the place had not slid back into the rather terrifying state of a year prior, so that endeavor only lasted him the afternoon, and he didn't dare rearrange Edward's books again after what happened last time. By the second day he was contemplating calling Tony to see if he wanted a break from studying when the phone in the den rang, and startled Rian.
After a moment's hesitation (and a sick thought that caused his stomach to fold in on itself, what if Edward wasn't coming back-?), Rian picked up the phone.
It was Winry. Rian had only met her a few times, Edward's sister-in law. She was a frighteningly assertive woman, Edward's automail mechanic and Rian had a great deal of respect for her.
She also scared him out of his wits.
…ESPECIALLY if he didn't have Edward to place in the line of fire.
"We're in town," Winry said, referring to herself and her two children. "Since Al is busy, I was wondering if you'd like to come out with us? Thomas and Sara just love trying to pull me in opposite directions, and it's easier to keep them in line with two sets of eyes."
By the time he got back, Rian so was worn out from babysitting the two young Elrics while Winry caught up with old friends in Central he didn't even notice that Edward had returned in the night until he woke up that morning with Edward curled around him, sleeping soundly.
"Why did you hide all the stools?" Edward asked; his hands on his hips as he stared up at the top shelf of the bookcase.
"I didn't hide the stools," Rian said. "I don't need stools, I didn't know that we even had any-" he stopped at Edward's glare, and snorted, then got to his feet. Edward's glare got dialed up a notch as Rian stood up on his tip-toes and fetched the offending volume from the shelf. "Here, are you happy?"
Edward sulked at him from under his bangs, but took the volume over to his desk. Rian shook his head and chuckled, before seating himself again, cross-legged on the floor as he worked out a new air-related transmutation circle. "Oh," Edward said, not looking up from his book. "Before I forget, I'll be gone a few days this week."
Rian looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. He had been waiting for that announcement for several weeks now, as the air had turned cooler and the leaves crisp. "When will you be back?"
"Wednesday at the latest," Edward said. He looked over his shoulder at Rian. "You're not going to rearrange all my stuff again, are you? I still can't find everything-"
"That was two years ago," Rian retorted. "If it was that important, you would have found it by now."
Edward made a scoffing noise, but Rian grinned, glancing back down at his papers.
Now it was Edward had to look up at Rian to get his kiss as they did a shuffle-dance in the hallway proper. Edward thumped Rian in the chest with his left hand - "How did you get so BIG-" "I actually DRANK my milk-" and they were off, parting ways on the sidewalk, Edward to the train station and Rian to run some errands.
Once Edward had turned the corner - he was never one for hesitating and looking back, he always moved forward with his head held high - Rian stopped. He glanced back down the sidewalk, put his hands in his pockets, and turned around.
Rian managed to trail Edward to the station without being noticed, board a carriage and sit the majority of the train ride to East City without crossing paths with the older alchemist. Rian had seated himself in the last car precisely because Edward wouldn't wander through it if he needed to stretch his legs, so as the day turned long Rian had no problem leaning his head in his hand, elbow against the window, and shutting his eyes for a few minutes.
When he opened them next, he wasn't alone on the bench. Alphonse Elric shook the newspaper out that he was reading, and closed the pages, folding the paper over. "Have a good nap?" Alphonse asked, as Rian startled, staring at Edward's brother in shock.
"Lieutenant Colonel," Rian nearly stammered.
"Please," Alphonse said, setting the paper on his knees. "How many times do I have to remind you, if we're not in the office to call me Al?"
"What are you DOING here?"
"That should be my question to you," Alphonse said. "But I imagine I already know the answer." He looked over Rian's head, at the landscape as it sped by. "Curiosity finally won the battle, huh?"
"Finally?" Rian straightened. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I expected you'd come sneaking after Ed two years ago, honestly," Alphonse said thoughtfully. "Although you two had just started dating then, so this conversation wouldn't have been nearly as pleasant."
Rian rubbed the side of his face with one hand. "What's going on?" he asked. "What IS all this secretive crap?"
"Two more stops," Alphonse said, standing up. "I'll see you then, Rian."
Rian did as he was told, and disembarked the train at the second stop. It was a small town, a ramshackle train station and so few passengers got off the train that there was no way to hide when Edward's gaze swept down the platform and pinned him.
He slunk up to Edward and Alphonse guiltily, but Edward didn't look mad. "Walk with me, Rian," Edward said softly.
"Where are we going?" Rian asked.
An odd smile passed over Edward's face. "Home."
Alphonse trailed after them as they walked the dirt path through the small town. Edward told the story in clipped tones, his voice strangely devoid of emotion, just relaying the cold facts. This is what they did, this is what happened. Rian of course had heard bits of it before, strange pieces that didn't fit together well. But this was the first time that he'd heard the whole story, start to finish.
There wasn't much left, a grassy field on a hilltop; an old gnarled tree, half-dead, branches full of orange leaves.
"Seventeen years, this year," Alphonse said, putting one hand on the tree.
"Time moves so fast," Edward murmured. A cool wind blew then, picking up some of the leaves from the trees and tugging at all of their long coats. Rian stepped forward, and twined his hand with Edward's - Edward looked at him, and smiled.