A/N: Thank you, to everyone who left me reviews and to everyone who subscribed to this story and to me. I appreciate it more than you know.

Disclaimer: I still do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. v.v

High Stakes

Chapter 2

Day One

Edward woke up in an unfamiliar room. Or at least, he thought it was unfamiliar. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes, the alchemist tried to remember how he had gotten to be there, wherever "there" was. As he scanned through his thoughts, he was disturbed by a slight pulling on his nightshirt. As he looked back, he recoiled with horror as the memories of the lost bet entered his mind.

Last night, he had lost the wager, and after calling Al to tell him he would be gone for a week, he had gone with Roy to his apartment. He vaguely remembered lying down on the bed, and he certainly couldn't remember the colonel laying beside him. But why wouldn't he? It was his bed after all. Besides that, the evidence was clinging to his shirt.

Ed's state of panic made Roy stir. The dark haired man released Ed's shirt and sat up, yawning. Looking over, he saw the now blushing Edward scoot to the edge of the queen sized bed. "Morning, Edward," Roy purred.

For some reason, Ed didn't like the tone that Roy was taking. "Why are we in the same bed?" he spouted. "You didn't...do anything to me in my sleep did you?"

Roy chuckled. Moving closer to Ed, he whispered in a sultry tone, "Why? Didn't you feel it? You were screaming soooo loud."

As Roy moved closer, Edward moved away, eventually running out of room, resulting in gravity taking charge. Ed tumbled off the bed, and onto his back with his legs in the air. He shot up as fast as he could, and yelled, "What the hell! You touched me?!?"

Roy smirked, "No, but by the blush on your face, I can tell you wouldn't have minded. Now, go get me my coffee."

Ed opened his mouth to object, but he was cut off by Roy, "Oh yea, I like my coffee black."

The blond bottled his anger, and went to the kitchen to start the coffee. As he put the kettle on the stove, he began to think about what Roy had said. Would he really mind that much if he touched him...there? He shook his head furiously as if to shake the redness form his cheeks. He definitely didn't feel that way about a perverted, selfish, power hungry colonel.

As he waited for the water to boil, Roy came into the room, in full uniform, and took a pencil and some paper from a drawer in the cabinet. Ed saw him scribble down some things out of the corner of his eye, but was distracted from it when the kettle whistled. He made the coffee as he was told, and turned to give it to Roy just as he had finished writing. "This is a list of things I want you to do while I'm gone," he said, taking the coffee and trading it with the paper. "I'll be back this evening, and I expect everything on the list to be completed.

Roy patted Ed on the head with his free hand and walked out the door with his coffee. Ed stuck his tongue out as the door closed, then glanced over the note.

"Ed,

I have a pile of clothes in my room that need washing and drying. The laundry room is down the hall. I want every room in the apartment dusted and swept. Also, my room needs straightening. Oh! And I feel like eating in tonight. Anything is good. Surprise me. I want everything done by the time I get back this evening, or you'll be punished."

At the very bottom of the note was a smiley face with devil horns. Ed clenched the paper in his fist and scowled. He definitely didn't have any feelings for that sadistic son of a bitch!

クフフ。

After eating a self made breakfast, Edward looked over the list once more, and decided that he should tackle the laundry first so that he could dust and sweep in between washing, drying, and folding. He entered Roy's bedroom and looked around. There weren't and discarded clothes anywhere. Ed looked in the dresser, but the clothing in it were all clean. Then he saw a closet at the far end of the room. "That lazy bum," Ed thought to himself. "He probably threw them all in there."

He put his hand on the doorknob and paused...should he really be standing directly in front of this door when he opens it? Ed imagined a tsunami of dirty laundry baptizing him in it's disgusting filth. The notion made him shudder. To avoid such a disaster, Ed stepped to the side of the door, and yanked it open!

He clenched his eyes shut and waited for the sound of destruction to ensue...but there was nothing. Curiosity got the better of him, and he peaked around the door he used as a shield. Ed was shocked beyond belief. Roy had packed so many dirty clothes into the closet that they had lodged themselves in tightly enough that they became their own support. Standing back, as if to admire this symbol of procrastination, he noticed a pink sleeve hanging out of the pile.

Without thinking, Ed grabbed it and gently pulled at it. This simple action was his doom, for when he pulled that one sleeve, the entire contents of the closet tumbled forth, and buried him. Ed screamed and kicked, trying his best to break the surface of his fabric based grave. For a moment, he considered transmuting his automail into a blade and slicing his way out, but he remembered the punishment in store for him if he screwed anything up. Besides, he hadn't any room to clap his hands.

Finally, all his struggling paid off, and Ed emerged, breathlessly, from the clothing. This was going to be a long day for him. He just knew it.

クフフ。

After an hour of sorting them into piles, Ed was ready to put the clothes on to wash. He had it all sorted out. First, he would wash the darks, and when they finished he would switch them out with the lights and dry them. In between cycles, he would do other things on the list, and he'd be done by lunch. Or so he thought.

Ed had just finished washing the darks, and began loading the lights into the washing machine. Unseen to him, the pink shirt that had caused his accident with the avalanche of clothes had slipped in with the load. He turned on the machine and walked away to clean Roy's room, completely oblivious to what he had done.

While finishing up making Roy's bed, Ed heard the buzzer go off in the laundry room, indicating that the spin cycle on the washer had just been executed. He sprinted to the laundry room and opened the lid to the machine, and pulled out one of the white shirts he had put in...only it wasn't so white anymore.

"What the hell?" Ed mumbled, holding a damp, off pink shirt in his hands.

He pulled out the rest of the clothes and put them in a basket. The white shirts and underwear that he had loaded into the washer were no longer white. They were all light pink...all except one darker pink shirt. Ed mentally slapped himself. He couldn't believe how stupid he was. How was he supposed to explain this to Roy?

クフフ。

When Roy returned from work that evening, Ed was waiting for him at the door. "Hi!" he said with a smile. "How was work?"

Roy eyed the shorter male suspiciously. "It was okay," he responded. "I had a lot of paper work to do..."

Ed nodded and took Roy's coat with a wide smile. "Really? That's too bad. They really overwork you, you know that? Hey! How about a back massage?" Ed offered, tying his words together quickly.

Roy was sensing something was definitely out of place. Ed would never ask how his day was. Neither would he offer to do anything for him... "Edward," he started.

"Yea?" Ed smiled nervously, and put Roy's coat on the coat rack.

"What are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding anything! Are you hungry? I made dinner, just like you asked."

"Ed..."

"I cooked spaghetti, baked potatoes, and garlic bre-"

"Edward!"

Ed turned around and answered with a crack in his voice, "Y-yes, Roy?"

"I'm going to ask you one more time..." Roy exhaled, and placed a firm hand on the younger alchemist's shoulder. "What are you hiding from me?"

Ed looked down and mumbled something inaudible.

"What?" Roy asked.

"I...accidentally ruined your white clothes..." he said again, clearly this time.

Roy released Ed's shoulder and lifted his chin with his finger. "Where are they?"

Ed looked in the direction of the utility closet, and Roy followed the gaze. He opened the door to see a pile of light pink clothes sitting in a basket in the floor of the small space. Roy's eye twitched slightly, and he turned back to the embarrassed Edward. "How the hell do you mess up something as simple as laundry?" he seethed.

Ed clenched his fists together and made faces at the floor. "It wasn't my fault!" he retorted. "Why the hell do you have a pink shirt anyway?"

Roy picked the basket up and walked it over to the garbage can, where he proceeded to dump them into said can. "Ed," he turned his head to face him. "Do you remember in that note when I mentioned the that if you didn't comply with everything I asked you to do that you would be punished?"

Edward gulped. He remembered alright. But he didn't think that he was actually going to do something to merit such measures. He hated thinking of what Roy was going to do to him. "You'll be serving your punishment tomorrow," Roy continued. "And I know just what to do to make you squirm."

At this, Ed was wishing he could jump out the window. And there he was thinking, again, that the next day was going to be the worst day of his life.

End, Chapter Two

A/N: I am extremely sorry about the delay. A lot of things have happened this week. I saw my sister for the first time in eight years and discovered I had two nieces. Happy to know we're in touch now, so everything is good. But now that the excitement has passed I will be able to get back to writing regularly. Thanks for reading this far. Please keep an eye out for the next chapter, because it is already underway. Don't forget to review! : )