Here you go guys! Sorry it's late, I was in South America for two weeks then I got really sick and my brain wasnt working. Honestly I didn't proofread this so I apologize for any mistakes! Once again the lines indicate a switch in a point of view so it is often the same scene just switching whose thoughts you can hear.
Roy made his way over to Ed, dreading his job but determined to succeed this time. Ed was currently stuffing his face with food while pretending to listen to Winry lecturing him.
Apparently frustrated with Ed's blatant disrespect Winry pulled a wrench seemingly out of nowhere, hit Ed on the head, and walked away earning a glare and insult from Ed and a laugh from Roy.
Mustang watched Winry storm away and caught Hawkeye walking over to her from the corner of his eye. Taking a deep breath he made his way over to his youngest subordinate.
"Well Fullmetal, I see you're making progress." mustang said with a smirk.
Ed looked up from his food long enough to glare at his commanding officer.
"Progress with what colonel bastard?" he asked with little interest.
Roy continued with a sigh, knowing he was in for a rant.
"Your girlfriend of course"
It took Ed less than a second to slam his plate on the table and face Mustang with angry annoyance on his face.
"SHE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" he yelled, earning some looks from people nearby.
"And you're okay with that?"
Ed stopped short, swallowing the bitter words he was ready to say.
"Huh?" He asked, unprepared for Roy's question.
"Are you okay with that. Her not being your girlfriend."
Mustang's genuine curiosity freaked Ed out, used to his insults and insinuations.
"I-uh-no." Ed replied, amazed at his own honestly. He looked down at his feet, trying to hide the blush springing up on his pale cheeks.
Roy knelt down to his level, knowing he was going overboard he looked Ed in the eyes, trying to seem as sincere as possible.
"Then why don't you do something about it?"
Ed looked back in shock, questioning his motives.
"I-I don't know how!" he almost whined. Deciding to trust Mustang just this once.
Mustang, realizing that he was once again taking over Ed's father's job, tried to remember when he started to care so much.
"Alright I'll tell you just because your father isn't here to do it." he said earning yet another glare from Ed.
"Listen to me Fullmetal, first you have to apologize because shockingly you seem to have pissed her off."
Ed made a disgusted noise, hating the thought of saying sorry.
"Oh grow up. When you get in a fight with a woman, you apologize, even if she's wrong. Girls are weird that way.
Then you are going to ask her to dance. I don't care if you don't know how. Just put your arms on her waist and slowly spin in circles if that's the best you can do."
Ed looked nervous at the idea but didn't object, listening intently.
"Okay finally, and this is the most important, you have to, and I mean I will personally burn you to a crisp of you don't, kiss her at midnight."
Roy watched with amusement as all the color drained out of Ed's face. He suddenly seemed unstable, his eyes glazing over with fear.
"Fullmetal?" Mustang asked, looking worriedly at the boy. He put a steadying hand on his shoulders. "You alright?"
Ed started mumbling incoherently; Mustang waited patiently until he started saying actual words.
"Y-y-you want m-me to k-kiss her?" Roy gave a mute nod.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" Ed screamed, glaring at anyone who looked at him strangely.
"Are you out of your mind?" he repeated in a whispered yell. "She is going to freaking kill me!"
"That, is the risk you have to be willing to take Fullmetal."
Ed looked scared out of his mind. So scared that Mustang couldn't even bring it upon himself to laugh.
"Look Edward. If you really like her, which I can tell you do, you have to take that risk if you ever want a relationship with her. And more likely than not she feels the same way about you and is just waiting for you to make a move instead of pissing her off."
"I don't know about this colonel…."
Mustang noted with interest that this was the first time in a while Ed had addressed him without calling him colonel bastard.
Ed was a little freaked out by the odd sentimentality of this moment, but at the moment, as much as he hated to admit it, he really needed help.
'It's not like my bastard of a father is here to do his job' he thought with bitterness. 'I guess this bastard of a colonel will have to do instead'
Mustang stood up with a sigh, slapping him on the back a little harder than he needed to.
"Just do it Ed, it'll be alright."
The way Mustang used his actual name and his reassuring voice made Ed want to believe him, but he knew he was about to enter hell.
"Fine, I'll try okay?" Ed turned to walk away from the Colonel, but he swore he saw a smile on his face.
'It's almost as if….he's proud of me…'
Edward shook of the absurd thought as he went to talk with Winry.
Mustang watched his subordinate go, pleased with his success. He wanted to go tell Hawkeye, but she was still talking with Winry so he settled on eating food instead.
Havoc, his face still red from dancing with Rebecca, sought Breda out from the crowd and made his way over to him.
"Hey Havoc" Breda greeted him.
"Hey Breda…..don't you think it's weird how we are best friends and we call each other by our last names…."
"Nah. It's just cause we have pretty awesome last names, and kinda lame first names!"
Havoc took this into consideration.
"Come to think of it…..just about everyone in our group has a cooler last name than first….."
"Weird. Anyways…." Breda changed the subject with a creepy smile. "How was your dance with Catlina?" he asked, moving his eyebrows up and down.
Havoc once again felt his face turn red as he thought back to the dance.
"It was-amazing. She is just so perfect! How the hell am I gonna get her to like me!"
"C'mon man, give yourself a little more credit! She obviously likes you enough to dance with you. And you're a good looking guy, I'm sure she sees it!"
"Thanks Breda, but hearing that from an overweight older man is not really a dream come true." Havoc ignored Breda's irritated scowl.
"Anyways…she wants me to help her get Mustang and Hawkeye together. Which has gotta be easy enough because they are practically married anyways, but I was hoping you would help me because I always manage to say something stupid.
An evil smile spread onto Breda's face.
"Sure I'll help! This will be fun!"
Ed walked up to Winry who was obviously ignoring him on purpose.
"Hey Winry." He said nervously.
Winry refused to acknowledge him. Gathering up his courage Ed used his flesh hand to grab hers, effectively getting her attention.
Winry turned in shock when she felt Ed grab her hand. They never touched, not like this anyways, and especially not skin on skin. She looked him in the eyes, searching his face. She noticed with some surprise that he was the same height as her now, but that didn't shock her nearly as much as his next words.
"I'm sorry."
As soon as she heard those words she was pretty sure the world had ended.
"W-what?"
Ed swallowed hard.
"I said I'm sorry. A-and you know what? I really do like your dress." He looked down at his feet in embarrassment. "Actually, I think you are the prettiest girl in the room tonight"
Ed tried his hardest not to blush, but there was no hope. He didn't dare look at her though; instead he tried to find something interesting about his shoes. But there was nothing, at least nothing more interesting than her.
After several moments he decided he should see if she was about to kill him with her wrench or not. He looked up slowly, hiding behind his bangs at first. When he finally was able to meet her eyes he saw them wide with shock. Her face as pink as his.
"E-Ed I—"
"Do you want to dance with me?" he rushed the words out before his courage could fail him.
Winry, who was shocked beyond belief said the first thing that came to her mind.
"I-I don't know how to dance…."
"Ya me neither." Ed said, gaining some confidence. That wasn't a rejection yet. "But we can spin around in circles and try and look like we know how if you wanna…."
Winry still didn't say anything so Ed offered his arm to her. It was probably the most gentlemanly thing he'd ever done, but it just felt right at the moment.
Winry blushed even more as she slipped her arm through his, not able to believe what was happening. Ed led them over to the dance floor and put his hands on her waist reluctantly, not wanting another lump on his head. He flinched when she moved her arms, much to her amusement, but instead of pulling out her weapon of choice, Winry wrapped her arms around his neck as all the other ladies seemed to be doing.
Ed starting spinning in circles slowly, trying to follow the beat of the music. It was hard for him, especially since being this close to Winry was intoxicating.
They didn't say a word, but it didn't matter. They were both perfectly happy to hold each other and wonder what the heck was going on with their relationship.
Mustang had just finished filling himself a plate of food when Havoc and Breda showed up and starting eating it.
"Hey get your own damn food!"
"Easy Mustang there's plenty for us to share" said Havoc.
"I like sharing don't you Mustang?" Breda said with a wink towards Havoc
"What the hell are you talking about?" Mustang asked, getting annoyed.
"Well I like sharing." Said Havoc. "And I'm sure you do too." He told Mustang
"So what do you say Mustang?" added Breda, nudging his superior with his elbow. "Think you could share a certain lieutenant?" he finished with a wink, trying to sound as obvious and creepy as possible.
"Ya I wouldn't mind having some of that myself….damn she looks hot tonight."
Mustang turned to his subordinates, anger and jealousy written on his face.
"Don't. Touch. Her." He said, emphasizing each word with venom.
"Damn Mustang! Jealous much?" Breda joked, smiling at their success.
Mustang, realizing he overreacted, tried to save himself.
"Heh ya right. Why the hell would I be jealous! You know very well that Hawkeye would put a bullet through your head if she tried anything, I'm just looking out for you guys."
"Riiight" Havoc retorted, "he's just looking out for us Breda!"
"Huh that's funny, I don't remember saying anything about Hawkeye…..it's funny how that's who you assumed we were talking about."
"Yeah and I've never seen anyone get so angry and the very people he is trying to protect over the person he is protecting them from."
"I dunno Mustang…..something seems a little fishy to me…"
"Yeah…if I didn't know better, I'd say Mustang here had a crush."
"Well it's a good thing we know better then huh Havoc. Cause there is no way Mustang could like the girl he has known for most his life and kept by his side at all cost."
"aaand she is only the hottest girl here tonight….he could do so much better"
"Enough!" yelled Mustang, wishing more than anything that they would just shut up. "I get it alright!"
"so are you gonna do it?"
"Do what?"
"Kiss her at midnight of course!"
"I—I don't know…"
"Oh dear God. Come on Mustang!"
"Seriously man! Everyone can tell that you two have the deepest connection in the world."
"And it is so obvious that you are completely in love with her!"
"So why don't you just make a move already!"
Mustang had to actually think about his answer. Why hadn't he made a move already? They guys were right; they share such a deep link that nothing could tear them apart. He would die for her in an instant but she would never let him. He has been in love with her for a good 10 years. Nothing added up. Maybe it was the fact that he was perfectly content with her being nothing more than what they were. Just having her in his life was enough. Of course he would love to be able to love her, but out of all the hardships they'd seen….all the horrible things they'd done….did they deserve love?
Breda and Havoc saw the conflicting emotions crossing Mustangs face. They put a hand on each shoulder and let him think it over, knowing his reasons were deep.
"Look whatever the reason is Mustang you don't have to tell us."
"Just know that out of all the people in the world…"
"Nobody deserves each other more than you two."
With that they left Mustang standing to think with a full head and an empty plate.
Hope you liked it! It got a bit more serious than I had liked so i tried to use Breda and Havoc as my comedy relief. They are so cute as best friends-finishing each others sentences and everything! XD Anyways the next and probably last chapter will be up eventually! Review if you can, I love them so much! And I am proud to announce that I have successfully finished my first multi-chapter fic! WHOOHOO! Thanks for reading!
~bearhead
