AN: This one is anime-based, but much of the plot is AU. I'd love to hear what you think.
Disclaimer: Hiromu Arakawa is the creator, but like an alchemist I reconstruct her content for my own purposes…
Jean Havoc was making the rounds of the slums around Central City – prospecting, as he liked to call it. And more often than not, his ventures turned up little more than an interesting tidbit here and there. But tonight, Jean struck gold. Two blond boys in their preteen years, still mostly untarnished by their life in the streets. The older boy had eyes the color of molten gold that burned with a fierce determination that Havoc rarely saw, even in adults on the battlefield. The younger boy was curled up in a fetal position under a filthy blanket, shivering despite the relative heat of the summer night.
Havoc shifted the cigarette dangling from his mouth. He moved closer to the boys, but the golden-eyed youth pulled a menacing looking hunting knife out and waved it before him.
"Stay back," the boy growled threateningly. He looked like a cornered animal, and Jean didn't doubt he would fight back with the same savagery. But then the sick boy started coughing and the preteen's head turned slightly, fear twisting his features. He seemed to be trying to watch his friend and Jean at the same time.
Jean held his hands out, showing empty palms to the boy. "Your friend sounds pretty sick, kid," he ventured. "Seems like you two could use some help."
The boy's head turned a little more back toward his companion, his eyes darting to check on the other boy's condition. "We don't need any help from you! We don't need anybody!" the youth snarled, but his statement lacked conviction and his resolve seemed to deteriorate as his friend continued to cough, flecks of blood staining his lips.
Jean frowned. He knew about this illness. Consumption. It was fairly common in the slums of big cities, where it passed through the people living in over-crowded, filthy conditions like wildfire through a forest. Judging by how thin and pale the boy on the ground was, he had been suffering from it for some time. Jean paused to collect his thoughts. The Boss wouldn't be terribly pleased with him if he brought consumption back to the House and infected the others. Jean would be better off bringing the Boss here to see the kid. Jean's expression softened. There was a light of kindness in his big blue eyes and he rubbed one large palm over the back of his neck. "Look, kid. Your buddy there is dying."
The golden eyes winced in pain and Havoc saw resignation there, as if the boy had been down this road before.
"Unless you want to find yourself all alone in this cold, cruel world, I suggest you stay here and let me bring back someone who can help him."
The boy blinked back tears. His resolve wavered and crumbled. He turned and knelt over his companion who had mercifully stopped coughing. "Al? Alphonse, come on, speak to me!"
The other boy, Al, opened his eyes with difficulty. The hazel eyes were rimmed in red and the boy's vision looked unfocused and hazy, probably from the fever that accompanied consumption. "S'okay, Ed," the boy slurred quietly through his bloodied lips. "Mom's coming." The boy closed his eyes.
Ed, the golden eyed youth, stared in horror at Al for a moment, and then sent a pleading look toward Jean. "Look, I don't care what you want from me. I'll do whatever you want. Just please, please help my brother." Ed turned back to Al. He sat down and lifted the sick boy into his arms. "Don't leave me, Al. Stay with me, please," Ed whispered desperately.
Jean pulled off his coat and draped it over the boys, then crouched down in front of them. He pulled a gun from the holster under his arm. He held it out to Ed in the open palm of his hand. The boy stared at the gun fearfully, and then looked back up into Havoc's face. "Take it," Jean encouraged, holding the gun out toward the boy.
Ed shook his head. "No. I can't – I've never…"
Havoc took one of Ed's hands that were wrapped around his brother and turned it palm up, then placed the gun in it. "You don't have to shoot it. The safety is on. If someone tries to bother you before I get back, use it to scare them off, okay?" He tucked the gun and the boy's hand back under the cover of his coat. A wry grin turned up the corners of Jean's mouth. "Besides, you can think of it as insurance that I'm coming back." Jean put a hand on top of Ed's head and ruffled the dirty blond bangs that hung down over the boy's forehead. "I'll be back as fast as I can."
He stood and glanced around to confirm his bearings before he jogged off down the alley. He could feel the golden eyes watching him as he headed back toward the House by the most expeditious route possible.
"Get out," Roy Mustang growled at the lanky black-haired figure perched on the edge of his desk. He didn't bother looking up from the accounting books he was going over, trying to convey his utter disdain for the man through body language.
A strong hand, palm emblazoned with a distinctive transmutation circle reached out to grip Roy's chin and force him to look up into yellow eyes that gleamed like a cat's. "C'mon, Roy-boy, why do you want to be that way with your old comrade in arms?" Zolf Kimbley smirked down at him.
Roy knocked the hand aside and turned back to the books, refusing to be baited by the other man.
But Kimbley wasn't done annoying him, and like a big cat he stretched out across the desk, obstructing Mustang's view of the ledger.
"Are you going to make me beg for it?" Zolf purred and Roy felt an involuntary shiver roll down his spine despite his efforts to ignore the man.
Roy licked his lips and raised his dark gaze to take in the sight before him. Kimbley wore black slacks and a white tank top that did little to conceal the hard muscled body beneath it. One booted foot was propped up on Roy's desk and Zolf used an elbow to prop up his head, so his eyes were level with Roy's as Mustang's gaze swept up Kimbley's torso and settled on his face. "Beg for what, exactly?" Roy asked in his most placid, unemotional voice. If Kimbley insisted that Roy play this game, he wasn't going to make it easy on him.
Zolf leered as he slid a hand down his own body, over an erect nipple that was visible through the tank top, across his firm abs, then down over the waist of his pants. It swept down the zippered front of his pants before sliding sideways over his hip and settling atop the large muscle at the top of Kimbley's thigh. "Touch me," Kimbley hissed.
Roy stood, looking down at the other man. Now it was his turn to smirk. "That didn't sound much like begging to me."
Kimbley sat up swiftly on the desk and hooked his hands over the waist of Roy's black dress pants, dragging the other man closer. "Let me touch you, then." He leaned in and tore off one of Roy's white dress shirt buttons with his teeth.
Roy frowned in aggravation. Kimbley was by nature so destructive. These little encounters he insisted on with Roy rarely ended without blood and pain. It was the reason they both knew Roy wouldn't turn down his advances. There was no way he'd let Kimbley take his anger out on one of the girls. But neither was Roy in any position to refuse Kimbley entrance to the House. It was all part of the game.
Zolf worked his tongue into the gap in Mustang's shirt and began tracing lazy circles across Roy's lower chest. Roy forced himself to relax into the caress, allowing Kimbley's hands to release their hold on the waistband of his pants and roam back and down, gripping taut muscle possessively. "I want you," Zolf snarled, tongue swipes turning to painful bites. "Give yourself to me."
Roy sighed in resignation. With very little effort, Zolf had already stoked the fires that always burned just below Roy's cold exterior. He brought a hand up to grip the long black tail that trailed down Kimbley's back. He jerked back hard and smirked in satisfaction at the look of raw pleasure the pain brought to Kimbley's face. "I thought you were going to beg me."
Kimbley stood up, letting his body press against Roy's in the tight space they shared next to the desk. He leaned in and whispered heated words into Roy's ear, bringing a flush of lust to Mustang's face. Zolf's teeth sank into Roy's earlobe before he pulled back to take in the effect his words had on the other man. "So what do you say?"
Several hard knocks interrupted any response Roy would have made and both men looked over in surprise as Jean Havoc burst into the room. Roy stepped away from Kimbley immediately, recognizing the seriousness of Jean's mission from the coded knock and his flushed, breathless appearance.
Havoc's eyes took in Kimbley's presence and narrowed in distaste before he turned to Mustang. "There's something you need to see, Boss. It's urgent." Jean wasn't about to give any more away in front of Zolf. He knew Roy trusted him not to interrupt like this unless the matter was life or death.
Roy turned to Kimbley with a smirk. "I guess that means my answer is no."
"What am I supposed to do about this?" Kimbley said in aggravation, gesturing to the tented front of his pants.
Roy's smirk widened. "I'm sure you know how to handle it by now, Zolf."
The yellow cat eyes narrowed dangerously. "Maybe I'll just take advantage of the services your house has to offer."
Roy moved back in quick and gripped the other man by the shoulder. He leaned down and hissed something into Kimbley's ear that brought a wide leer to the other man's face. Mustang leaned back and locked stares with Zolf before turning to cross the room towards Havoc.
They were headed out the door when Kimbley called out, "Come back soon, Mustang. We'll be waiting." Roy glanced back at him and Kimbley stroked himself with a leer.
"I hate that son of a bitch," Jean growled, glancing back at the closed door as they headed toward the back door.
Roy merely grunted and shrugged, not caring to retread that discussion path for what felt like the millionth time. "So what is it you found, Jean?"
"I believe you highbrows would call it a diamond in the rough, but it looked like pure gold to me…"