What Do You See?

XLemonPepperx

A Full Metal Alchemist Fanfiction.

Roy x Edward x Roy

Angst/Drama/AU

I do not own Full Metal Alchemist- the Anime, Manga or characters. Only the plot and the following writing am I able to hold to my name.

Note: This story, the store mentioned in actually my work. Everything written about the store is practically exactly the same as the one I work in, although there will be some changes, just so it fits in with the plot.

Note 2: I now have a Live Journal account, and I would love it if you guys would go chat to me or ask me questions through Live Journal. The link is on my profile. Thanks.

Chapter One:

In Which A Frown In Turned Upside Down

It was almost two cigarettes later that Edward spotted the building off in the distance. Stubbing out the smoke he gently tugged on a pair of white gloves that had been carelessly hanging out of his back pocket while he walked towards his refuge, in a matter of speaking. Entering the automatically doors a wave of excitement, mixed with nervousness flushed over the teenager, as his hands found themselves wringing together nervously in front of him.

"Yo! You Edward?"

Hearing his name, Edward titled his head to the side before looking beside him where a man stood. The two of them were separated by a crate filled with potatoes. "Um... Yeah." Nodded the blonde, taking notice of the uniform that the man wore, which was exactly the same to Ed's own.

"Welcome to Hell!" the man smiled, in a joking manner, "I'm Maes, and Roy, the guy who interviewed you asked me to show you the ropes." Edward just nodded again, a bit nervously- but this was practically his first job, so he concluded that he had a right to the reason why butterflies were living in his stomach. Mae's turned around and waved to a female, standing at one of the checkouts. The female just nodded to Maes before she turned around as a customer with a trolley-full walked up to her checkout.

Maes squeezed through the space at the end of the crate expertly before standing next to Edward, "Roy has probably told you most of the things, but I'll just be here to help you out- he told me this morning that he'll come out later and help you work the till." Placing a hand on the smaller boys' shoulder, Maes, still talking about the morning routine of the shop, which included clocking in and putting your items in the locker, missed the small flinch that Edward emitted.

Half an hour later, Edward was standing in front of the computer screen, pressing the buttons randomly in an attempt to remember what page held which items- although with everything he'd learnt earlier that day. It was only fair to say that his brain was overloading. It was quiet in the shop; Edward was placed on one of the back tills, with a "CLOSED" sign planted on his table. Maes and woman who introduced herself as Riza Hawkeye were casually chatting while they waited for the people who come up to the tills. Edward had taken a liking to Maes; he appeared laid back and just a fun-loving person to be around. Although Edward was a bit more cautious of Riza, she appeared intimidating, and he'd heard from Maes that Riza use to be a police Woman, but now she just works here, although every now and then she does nights with the Police when they were low staff or Riza has nothing planned for the night.

With a sigh, Edward lazily taped the "Page 2" button on the touch screen computer and scanned the items. Lost in his own world of memorizing the two different kinds of Carrots, and where they were placed in the database, Edward was obvious to Roy as he was standing right behind the younger. A smirk formed on Roys face as Edward scanned through the six pages trying to find Spring Carrots. Leaving him to suffer was an option, but Roy would of preferred to go back to the office as soon as he could, so- although in any other circumstance he would of left the younger to suffer in confusion, Roy reached forward, noticing as Edward jumped noticeably and took an unsteady step backwards, and tapped the "Page 3" key.

"Carrots are on page 2, spring carrots on page 3. They're on the same place on both pages, so they're easier to find," Roy spoke calmly, as Edward collected himself and silently nodded, flicking his plat from its rest place laying across his shoulder, to where it lay calmly down the middle of his back. "You finding everyone okay?" General procedure and he did have a status to live up to.

Edward shrugged, "Yea, kind of. It's still confusing though."

The boss just nodded," You'll get use to it, Shorty."

The last part was mairly a joke, but when the blonde started to shake slightly, Roy could only raise an eye brow, wondering exactly what he'd just done, "Edward? What's wro-" He was cut off when the said boy just turned to look at his boss, his face red with what would have been frustration and anger. Roy was prepared for an outburst, something that would draw attention to himself and disrupt the whole store, but rather, barely inaudible the younger of the two simple spoke- in a strained voice, amazingly monotonous for the emotions showing on his face;

"I'm not small."

To a normal person it would of help no room for comments or questions, but then again- Roy Mustang wasn't what you would call normal. The appearance of Roy had collection the attention from Maes and Riza, who were just watching the scene. Riza held a stern look on her face, almost daring Roy to say something else on the matter (and be punished afterwards). Roy, dumbly pretended not to see the look as he lazily waved a single hand in the air, "Sure sure, whatever you say. If it helps you sleep at night."

Edward just ignored his comment, glancing around the store in a way to avoid having to face his boss. He hated being called small with such passion. Normally, in any other location he would of shouted, but he was at work, and this was his boss talking to him. He didn't want to loose this job, it was his escape, and his father would be furious if he found out that he'd lost his job after only being there for a day- he'd never hear... or feel the end of it. Noting that he wasn't going to get a bite out of the younger Roy just shrugged, picking up an apple from the basket sitting next on the counter, containing various fruits and vegetables so the boy could learn where everything is hand-on, rather than just skimming through the pages.

xXxXx I Hear The Wind... Call My Name... xXxXx

Edward had been working at RaeWard for almost a week now; he had gotten the hand of the till and was now able to work by himself. He'd met many of the staff, and they all seemed nice- although at odd times, he couldn't shake the feeling of Riza just watching him out of the corner of her eye. He suspected that she was like that because, knowing that she was a police officer, he couldn't help but be nervous around her. When his beating first started many years ago, his father had threatened horrible stuff would happen if Edward was to ever breath a word to anyone, thus- out of fear he had kept silent. That was more than three years ago. Lost in his own thoughts, Edward clenched his gloved right hand into a tight fist. He only had two more years to go. Two more years, then he could escape. He'd be Eighteen then, the legal adult age. And once he reached that age, his father had no more power over him.

"You okay, Ed?" Maes, seeing the distant look on the younger face while he was placing the forgotten baskets back into their assigned place walked over to where the said boy was, standing at the checkout.

Hearing his nickname Edward snapped himself out of his thoughts, the thoughts that were much more welcomed when he was alone, with no one around. "Yeah, I'm fine." He responded, striating himself up and unclenching his hand that he only noticed moments before, "just a little bit tired."

Maes laughed, gently patting the boys shoulder lightly, which Edward was glad for since the contact didn't hurt enough to make him flinch. "Tough night, huh? Ahh, I remember my teenage years. Roy and I use to go out into town, stay out 'till God knows when. Funny memories, really."

Edward nodded his head, "Yeah, something like that." It was a lie, but anything to get Maes off his back, he'd go for it.

"Stop chatting, you boys have walk to do." Riza Hawkeye was glaring at the males through hard eyes, taking control of the situation. Deep eyes linger longer on the teenager. Something about him just didn't seem right. Riza, during her other job had dealt with many types of people. Shy, Abused, Drunks, Silent, Loud, Naive, Reckless. She had always been able to read people, know exactly how they're feeling, or what type of person they did. But Edward, he was so closed off. Riza didn't want to jump to conclusions so she just watched him, ever since he started. Something was just off, and that fact concerned the Cop. She knew that Edward could feel her watching him, intimidating with her gaze, but for some reason- although he fidgeted and flinched like he was trying to hide something, he kept his defensive walls up- blocking her from gaining more details.

"Aw, come on Riza. It's practically dead in here," moaned Maes, waving a hand around to signal the store that was only welcoming a few couples and Havoc, who was packing some apples into one of the many crates, a tooth pick hanging lazily from his mouth and a bored expression on his face.

Riza just sighed, shaking her head and placing a single finger on her temple where she moved it in calming circular motions, "I don't care," she replied, her stern voice held no room for an excuse as Maes just pouted picking up one of the green baskets placed on the side of Edwards table, "I'm going to go talk to Roy."

And with that said she turned sharply on her toes and walked off in the direction of Roy's office. Once she was out of earshot Edward visibly relaxed from the statue he'd become when she approached them. "Honestly," Maes began, a small smile on his lips, "If it wasn't for Riza, this place would be chaos. I swear she has more control over this place than Roy. But then again, Roy is more of a business man, while Riza is hands on."

Edward nodded, "How long have you known them?" He asked, curious of the relationship between the three.

"Oh God, a long time. In fact, everyone that works here, we knew each other before we started working. This place was going out for sail, and all of us got together and brought it. That would of been around five years ago- and as you can see, it's developed. But to answer your question, I'd known Roy since we were teenagers, and Roy met Riza when he joined up for the police, although he was practically doing the same thing as he does here- paperwork. But he did do a few bit runs. He's not involved in it any more. When I asked him, he wouldn't say- and Hey, I'm not one to pry into others business." Laughing yet again, Maes stalked over to his till which was directly behind Edwards.

xXxXx It's A New World... It's A New Start... xXxXx

Gently rapping her knuckles on the door, Riza waited patiently for Roy to unlock the door from his side. It didn't take long for the dark haired mans door to swing open, granting the blonde officer entrance.

"Riza? What do I owe the pleasure?" Was the casual greeting from Roy, his eyes never leaving the computer screen as he typed away on the keyboard. Papers lay discarded all on his desk, each piece had a comment in the noticeable font that belongs to none other than the man casually sitting in his chair. A half full mug of coffee placed right next to him, in arms reach.

The worker sighed, gently picking up the papers and stacking them into neat piles, "I came to talk to you about Edward."

Upon hearing his new workers name Roy turned around slightly on his chair, giving Riza his full attention, "What about Edward?" He asked carefully. The boy help potentional, and he hoped that he wasn't breaking the rules some how- he just didn't seem like that type of person.

Riza frowned as she spoke carefully, a confused look in her eyes, "I' don't know... Something just seems a bit off... Like he's hiding something."

The older just lay back on his seat, taking in the females words carefully. "You're part of the force, so I think that we should look into your theory. He doesn't seem too bad, but compared to normal boys his age... He does seem a bit different."

Riza nodded her head in agreement, "We should just keep an eye out for him. When concerns me the most is that I can't read him. Whenever I look at him, he seems to freeze, almost as if he's trying to hide something. I really do think something is wrong. But I think we should just keep watch, until we know exactly what it is. There's no use jumping to conclusions, just incase they're wrong."

"Yeah," It was a simple response, but he was agreeing with everything Riza was saying. The younger of the two nodded and left the office, going back to her checkout. After Riza had left Roy allowed his mind to think back to when Edward had started, and his posture and attitude. Whenever Roy would call him short, he looked as if he had the potentional to do damage, but it was as if he almost wasn't allowed to saying anything back. Let alone stick up for himself. Sure, he might of thought that since he's in a working environment he'd need to act more mature and not make a scene. But after working alongside Maes and whatnot, he should know that it's alright to just be spontaneous. Groaning, Roy placed his head in his hands, glancing out the window to where his works were. Mae's was winning as Riza appeared to be telling him to get back to his checkout, but Edward, he was stood there, gently leaning against the table, eyes distant as he seemed to be lost within his own thoughts.