Title: Second Best.
Pairing(s): Alex Armstrong/Roy Mustang, allusions to Roy Mustang/Edward Elric.
Beta: None, all mistakes my own.
Rating: R.
Genre: Angst.
Warnings: Post anime, post movie, loosely attached to canon.
Feedback: Very welcome, please!
Word Count: 396.
Summary: It's hard to keep going like this, to be second best, but an Armstrong is always humble, and Alex is an Armstrong thorough and thorough.
Author's Notes: Done for my drabble requests for Christmas, for Agora, who requested this pairing (you did it to get back at me after Seamus/Skylar, didn't you?), as well as sparkles. I seem to be in a bipolar mood swing tonight, from humor to angst, in two seconds flat.
Second Best.
He's never been second best in his life. Never. But now he can't do anything about it. This is not a competition, but if it were, he knows he can't compare, not by the way the dark eyes linger in the corners and the sadness echoes in each gesture when the young Elric is mentioned. He's not his first choice, he's just the second, a friend who was conveniently standing there, and who had always made it clear he would welcome him with open arms.
There's no similitudes between them, in fact, Alex knows he's as diametrically opposed to Edward as it's humanely possible, but he finds comfort in this, at least. That way, he knows he's been chosen – still second, always second – for himself, not for a faint resemblance that would drive him insane after a while.
His lover sleeps next to him, tired and mourning, always mourning. Some days, Alex tries to remember a time when Roy hadn't been mourning, when his smug smirks were real and the touch of affection was genuine. But those days seems so long ago, starting the night Hughes died, and then continuing through that strange chain of situations that slowly left his friend broken and hollow.
He wonders, some times, how it would be the first. Was Edward allowed to remove the eye patch, or was he shunned away too? Was Edward regarded coolly in public, or was he allowed the freedom to touch at will, whenever he felt like it?
It's selfish to want it, to wish so fervently for something so mean, but Alex is just human, despite it all, and no matter how many sparkles he has around his head, he can see clearly: He's just second best.
One day, when the mourning has come to pass and there's real emotion behind the dark eyes again, he's going to ask his lover the questions he never dares to voice, wonder out loud about what-if's and see with pride that he's the only one. One day he won't be second best, but until then, he'll keep his temper and his own sorrows to himself, being the unending source of patience and strength to keep Roy going on another day.
It's hard to keep going like this, to be second best, but an Armstrong is always humble, and Alex is an Armstrong thorough and thorough.