Roy wasted no time in lifting the receiver to his face when its shrill ring broke the silence between the rustling and shifting of the other occupants on the other side of the open door in the outer office.
"Hello, Mustang's office."
"Hey, Musty."
There was a slight moment where the man caught his breath, but he got over it quickly and continued, concerned.
"Fullmetal? What happened to you? You've officially gone missing and the military wants your head! What have you done? Where are you?"
There was silence on the line.
"Goddammit Fullmetal! Tell me where you are right now!" Mustang shouted as he lifted himself to his feet and waved to Fuery to turn on the line taps. There was a slight glitch in the line as it was switched on.
"I can't do that, Colonel. And it wouldn't matter if I did anyway because I'd be in a completely different location tomorrow anyway."
Roy made and exasperated sound. "Tell me!"
"Please, just listen…"
"What the hell is it!?"
There was a moment of quiet following a shaky sigh from the teenager on the other end of the line. "I'm not calling to ask for anything like money or anything… because I have enough. Just listen to me okay…"
Mustang cut him off. "Just fucking tell me!" He was almost red in the face with frustration.
"Please calm down! I need you to be quiet for two fucking seconds! Can you do that?"
Roy opened his mouth to demand the younger's location again but took a deep, angry breath instead.
"Please?" He sounded so pitiful. Roy almost couldn't take it. He could harder keep the concern out of his tone when he spoke.
"I'm calm. What is it, Fullmetal? I am calm, just tell me…" he trailed off.
He could hear Edward taking a deep breath and could tell that the teen was shaking.
"Al and I… we need to tell you something, so please just stay quiet for a few minutes. He's not here so I'm going to tell you."
Mustang closed his eyes. "Alright, Fullmetal, I'm calm."
Edward chuckled quietly and continued. "Something bad happened, something really bad. Not to me or Al, but more like to the entire country. We just found something out that we are currently trying to prevent and the military doesn't want us to know, so they are trying to find us to shut us up.
"They won't kill us. I know they won't, but we need to stay hidden for a while. I trust you, so we are telling you this so you won't freak out like you just did anyway. I know you wouldn't ever arrest us… well, you might, but you'd help us after, but we can't be over there right now." He was starting to sound a little spastic.
"Fullmetal, I'm really starting to worry. What did you do?"
"Shut up! I didn't do anything! I had a fight with Kimblee when we were up north and he almost killed me. I don't know where he is right now. We found something they didn't seem to mind us knowing as long as we pretended to be on their side. We're not, and they figured it out. I didn't do anything wrong."
"What was it? What did you find?"
"I can't tell you that. I'm pretty sure you have this line tapped, right? And even if it's tapped by your own men there is no guarantee that other colonels and generals haven't tapped it as well. I can't put you guys through that kind of danger."
"Fullmetal!"
"I wanted to tell you that Al…" there was a short pause. Mustang could hear the teen's shaky breathing. "… and I…" another pause, this one longer. "…Al and I, we love you very much. You're like family to us. We don't know what we would do if we lost you, too. So please, just trust me."
Well, that was like a heart wrenching brick to the face…
"F-fullme… Fullmetal?"
"You been with us, taking care of us in your own asshole-ish way for the last 5 years and I wanted to thank you before… um…" he trailed off again.
"Before? Before what, Fullmetal? Tell me!"
"I can't! I don't even know what's going to happen! I wanted to thank you! There is the possibility, even though I know that the military poses almost no threat to us, that we will never get the chance to thank you again, so I wanted to before anything happened! Okay?!" He was shouting, and Roy had to pull the phone away from his ear till the teen finished.
"… I never thought you would ever notice that… what I was doing for the two of you… Edward, please, I want you to trust me, too! Why won't you tell me?!
The teen chuckled softly again, almost manically… "Because I love you." There was another pause and Roy heard Edward choke like he was holding back a sob. "…and I want you safe. And didn't you hear me? I said I do trust you! Damn, Colonel, are you getting senile in your old age? Look, we will be fine for the time being. Just…"
The attitude change was so immediate the colonel had to check to see if he had heard that first part right, even though he wasn't too happy about the old remark either, but was interrupted before he managed to open his mouth.
"I had to get this conversation done with before shit goes to hell, so… yeah."
"Edward… please tell me… you're not going to disappear are you? Forever?" he somehow managed to furrow his brows even more than they already were which was beginning to give him a headache. "You are going to come back right? You always come back!"
"I can't answer that. I can't answer what I don't know. I can only tell you what I do know, and what I do know is that I appreciate everything you have done for me. Believe me, you've gotten us more than pretty far. I know that I'm sorry for all the hell I've put you through, though at the same time I'm not because it makes me smile because I know I never really meant all of the things I said to you. Well, I meant a few of them, but not all of it… I didn't mean most of it…
"I wanted to tell you how much you mean to us and that if you can, trust us to do what we can to keep the people we care about safe." He paused. His voice was starting to sound strained. He sniffled and let out a few quiet sobs before continuing.
"I wanted to tell you that I love you, almost as much as I love Al, but… let's not push it. I'm having a hard time seeing the line between the two of you though… it's starting to piss me off!" he broke off with something between a sob and a laugh.
There was a long moment of silence. Clearly, Edward couldn't continue at the moment. Mustang could hear the sniffles and could tell the Edward was holding the receiver away from his face so that he could keep himself from being heard, a whole lot of good that did.
Roy couldn't help but feel his tear ducts welling up, almost ready to burst. He screwed his eyes shut to keep that from happening, though he did manage to forget that the others were listening in on his conversation and could see him through the door.
He opened his now red eyes and looked off into a corner.
"I do trust you."
There was a sniffle on the other end of the line. "Huh?"
"I do trust you Fullmetal. I trust you to end up in the hospital, to level cities and to piss a hell of a lotta people off, including me. I trust you to care about others more than yourself and to take it to a point where it is very unhealthy. I trust you to leave many people hanging to make their own stupid decisions that you sparked in them because of your wish to keep them safe, which turned out to hurt them instead!"
Fullmetal seemed not to be able to think of a response, which was good because he wasn't done yet.
"I trust you to love so unconditionally that you would sacrifice your soul to keep the ones you love from death. I trust you to pour your heart and soul into finding anything that will get you even a millimeter closer to your goal, whatever it may be at any given time." Well, shit, his voice was starting to crack, too!
"Musty…" Ed started.
"I do trust you Fullmetal. And…" he wasn't about to believe what was going to come from his mouth right now. "…and…" he sighed, lowered the receiver from his mouth, took a steadying breath and lifted it to his lips again. "I love you too, you ignorant, midget brat!"
There was a long silence again in which he could hear the sniffles on the other side and the chuckles coming from said midget.
"I was really hoping you wouldn't say that… you pompous, womanizing, incompetent, bastard with an asshole-ish god complex!"
Now he was confused. "Huh?"
Edward didn't respond.
"Why wouldn't you want that? Edward? Edward you never cry!"
"Because now," he spoke between his sobs. "I just want to be with you. I wanna hug you so fucking bad right now, it hurts. I'm so scared! I love you I love you I love you!"
He couldn't help it. There were tears running down his face as well. He never cried either! He pushed his chair back and laid his head down onto his desk. "Edward! Edward, I love you too."
They quietly cried together on the phone, and suddenly Edward spoke as if determined.
"Musty, I need you to do something. Not for me, but for you. It will keep you safe till the spring. Please do this, okay?"
Roy sat back up, intent on listening. "What is it?"
"You need to get close to your superiors. The higher the rank, the more they know. You need to get very close to them, make them trust you, even if they don't like you. I know a lot of them hate you, but no matter what, they are under direct orders from somebody of a higher rank than even the fuhrer himself not to kill you. You are important to him. He needs you alive. Get close to him, give him no cause to dislike you." He was sounding frantic now.
"What is all this? Edward, I need answers…"
"And these are the only answers I can give you." Edward cut him off. "Get close to him, and he'll tell you everything. Trust me. Listen to what he says… you won't have to do anything. He only wants you alive and healthy, so you can chillax about whether he will kill or you not. You decide what actions you take regarding that information and make a plan. If you can do this, and if what I am doing works, and if what everybody I've met so far that is against the military and knows is doing works, then I would be able to raise the percentage that we will see each other safe again after the next time."
Edward seemed intent on confusing him, and Roy was intent on figuring it out. But enough of that! He had something else on his mind.
"What is it at now"
It was quiet on the other line. "About 7%"
Roy couldn't think of a response as his heart broke in two and each half pooled into one of his feet.
"I love you, Musty. I have to go." His voice was strained again. He sniffled loudly.
"Edward wait! Please!"
"I have to go. I never cry, you know that. And if I stay on the line, I might just bawl my eyes out in here and get so sad and scared I'll drink myself to death or something. I need to go."
"Edward! … You don't drink"
"Yea I know I don't, but I'm kinda in a place that it wouldn't matter if I did or not. I'm gonna go. I told you everything I can for now." He sniffed again. "And, uh… I love you. Fuck! I'm gonna start crying again! I gotta go!"
Roy pushed his face into his free hand and his glove soaked up the tears that were now gushing uncontrollably from his eyes.
"Edward… I love you, too…. I love you, too… I love you… love you, too…sob…"
"Sniff…Goodbye, Musty…"
"Goodbye Edward…"
Click
Well this was a very odd one-shot I decided to write one day. I like the idea of Edward calling Roy domething like Musty... Maybe I'll right a sequel, like their reunion during the final battle or something and when he goes blind and stuff...
Who the hellahz knows! The internet is just teaming with possibilities!
I hope you enjoyed it. It was ind of emotional, but not too much, seeing as nobody got hurt... Only emotionally...
As to whether they just realized that they love each other in a father/son kind of way or a lover kind of way is for you to decide. All in all, they realized that they think of each other in something like and intimate way, and it's kinda sweet!
Thank you! Favorite, follow, pm me if you like, ans I will be here to check it all out!
Alice out!