Installment 4: The Sleepover
"Looks like the bleeding stopped," Roy mumbled, brushing Sharlen's bangs out of her face. She blinked with what looked like great effort and sighed. He had insisted on washing her clothes, which had been stained with mud and blood and dirt, so she wore one of his shirts and a pair of pajama pants that were far too long and bunched up around her feet.
"This... is the second time," she mumbled, closing her eyes against the throbbing pain in her head. Why did he keep saving her? Did he really care that much about her? ...or was he just trying to earn brownie points?
"Second time for what?" he asked. "This will sting a bit," he warned, pressing a cloth damp with rubbing alcohol against the cut on her forehead. She sucked in breath sharply and tried to back away.
"You saved me twice now," she explained.
"Were you trying to die this time too?" he asked, his voice heavy.
"No... my ex jumped me... and... and he... he... t-tried to..." she broke off, tears filling her eyes.
Before he knew what he was doing, he had pulled her into a hug. She sobbed into his shirt, her shoulders heaving. He held her and let her cry, feeling really stupid and perhaps a bit useless. Could he have put himself in a more awkward position? Yes, actually... he could've done something really crazy like... kiss her or something. He felt her arms move slightly, tightening their grip. They were so skinny... he wondered how they didn't snap in half.
"You remind me of a girl I met when I was little, shortly after I moved to town," he chattered as her sobs quieted into hiccups. "She had hair the same color as yours. My friends and I had teased a large dog and it got angry with us and chased us. We climbed the fence into someone's backyard. There were two girls playing there. The redhead and one with blond hair, who I had seen at school and talked to once or twice. The blond yelled at us and my friends left me behind in their escape of the dog, which just went around the house and continued the chase. For some reason or another, she told me to keep an eye over the little girl while she took care of something inside her house. The girl and I talked a bit. She looked scared of me at first, but asked if I was hurt. I didn't ask her name, but asked how old she was. She replied 'Four of me!' I couldn't help smiling; her reply was so cute. But my friends came back to get me, and they mocked me about being left alone with the little girl and tried to tease us by bullying her."
"What did you do?" Sharlen asked softly, dragging a hand across her cheeks.
"I stood up for her, of course. Eventually, my friends left. She was crying, so I did my best to comfort her, like I'm doing with you now," he answered.
"That's funny. I remember something similar... a boy with messy black hair protecting me from bullies when I was four. I think about him a lot. He was a lot older than me, and I don't know what happened to him. I only saw him that once and I didn't know his name. I resolved... that if I ever met him again, by some freak happenstance or miracle, that I would thank him for what he did," Sharlen said softly, backing away a bit so she could look up at Roy.
"I saw the girl only once after that. I can't remember her name now, but I remember her red hair. I don't know what happened to her either. Sometimes I can't help wondering what happened to her. I said to her... I don't know why, but I did... that if she ever needed my help, I'd..."
"Come protect her," Sharlen said with him.
"What?" Roy whispered, questioning the notion that was beginning to form in his mind rather than what she had said.
Sharlen pushed him away and looked at him. Really looked at him, saw him. On impulse, she reached up and messed up his hair. She backed away to look at him. Fresh tears filled her eyes, and she pressed a hand to her mouth.
"Oh my god..." Roy mumbled. "You... you can't be..."
"R-Roy... I think I'm the little girl you remember," Sharlen said, her voice barely a whisper. Her knees went weak and she slumped on the floor.
"But... that was thirteen years ago. I was twelve when that happened... Sharlen, how old are you?" he demanded. He secretly was pleased that she had, for once, called him by his name. It wasn't that he didn't like being called Tall, Dark and Nosy (few people gave him nicknames) but it was such a mouthful sometimes. That meant, probably, they were growing closer.
"Seventeen... seventeen of me," she replied softly.
He watched as new tears rolled down her cheeks, making her brown eyes shine like molten chocolate. In his mind, the resemblance was uncanny; there was no doubt now that she was the little girl he remembered. Her hair... and those brown eyes glistening with tears. Sitting on the ground like that, she looked almost exactly as she had all those years ago.
"You kept your word..." he heard her mumble, her voice muffled by her hand.
"I told you I'd protect you, didn't I?" he asked, smiling.
"Yes," she replied, a smile of her own breaking out across her face.
Before he could take even one step forward, she launched herself at him, flinging her arms around his torso. She was crying again, but he wasn't sure if the sounds she made were sobs or laughs. Either way, he found himself smiling.
"So... I filled Riza in on the... situation," Roy said about half an hour later.
"What did she say?" Sharlen asked softly. She was lying on the couch, staring blankly at the TV screen. She had almost passed out from the pain in her head (because she cried so hard) but refused to go to a hospital.
"She said if I did anything, she'd personally slaughter me," he answered grimly.
"That sounds like something she'd say," she chuckled wryly.
"How's your head?" he asked, folding his arms and resting them on the back of the couch.
"I feel better after lying down," she replied with a small smile. The more she did that, the more he wanted to smile himself. "You look like you did back then when you smile like that."
"I do?" he asked self consciously, pressing a hand to his face, perhaps to try to hide his embarrassment.
"It looks better than the forced smiles I've seen you give the never-ending parade of women," she snorted.
"A 'never-ending parade' is it? Well, I've had worse insults," he smirked.
"Ed says you're a washed-up, egotistical womanizer with a god complex."
"I could care less what a pipsqueak like him thinks of me," he sniffed.
"If I had known that boy was you, I would never let it come to this," she said after a few minutes of silence.
"Come again?" Roy asked.
"You said you wondered what happened to that little girl... to me. Now you know. I didn't want anyone to see this side of me... especially not you," she said, covering her eyes with her arm.
"You mean... the suicide attempt?"
She nodded, almost imperceptibly. "I bet you never thought something like that would happen... that the girl you said you would protect would put herself in danger like that..."
"But I got to see you again. Your moment of weakness brought us back together," he replied, hoping he didn't sound as cheesy as he thought he did.
"But you still saw my weakness. Never let them see you sweat, you know?" she mumbled softly. "People... want the people they care about to think the best of them. I'm not four anymore. I can take care of myself, mostly. I... don't want you to think I'm weak..." she sounded like she might start crying again.
"You're not weak, you're just human. Perfect people have no regrets or worries or weakness, and that makes them boring people. I think you're fine just the way you are," Roy said. Cheering people up wasn't something he was particularly good at. He wondered if he sounded like a sappy romance novel. "Shar..." he stopped when he saw that she had fallen asleep.
Without giving it much thought, he picked her up and carried her to his bedroom, laying her on the bed and covering her with the sheets. He smoothed her bangs out of her face, absently fingering the bandage he carefully placed over her cut. He sat there and watched her for a moment or two. The world sure worked in strange ways, didn't it? Just when he had been about to give up on ever seeing that little girl again, he found her. He saved her again. He wondered why she had tried to kill herself. How much pain had she been in, to want to end everything?
He absently... almost blankly... wondered if he could make her stop hurting.
A rich chocolate scent wafted in the room, waking Roy out of a dazed half-asleep state. He blinked once, twice, and rubbed his eyes. He must've dozed off last night after putting Sharlen to bed. His back was stiff and ached when he stood up. That was what he got for sleeping hunched over the bed, he supposed.
"Die, die, die, die! No, not me!" Sharlen's voice wailed.
"What are you doing?" Roy asked, trying to stifle a yawn as he staggered out into the living room.
"Failing epically at Brawl," she sighed, pointing her Wii remote at the screen as the winner and stats were displayed. "I had nothing to do while the cookies baked, so I decided to play Brawl. I supposed you had data saved for all your Final Fantasy and didn't want to mess with it, so Brawl seemed like a safe game to play."
"I see you passed up the PS2," he noted.
"You need more games," she snorted. "Ever hear of DDR? Hell, even Mario Kart Wii would be better. Super Mario Galaxy, Legend of Zelda, Cooking Mama, that Raving Rabids game, have you never been to a Gamestop?"
"Once in a blue moon," he scoffed.
"Cookies are done!" she announced when the timer went off. She climbed over the couch and hurried to the kitchen. Having nothing else to do, he followed her. "They're hot, so don't touch them yet."
"They look awfully gooey," he commented. "Are you sure you cooked them properly?"
"Please, I've been making cocoa drop cookies for years. They're my specialty," she said smugly.
"Were you just... like, born cooking?" he asked stupidly.
"Yes, " she replied sarcastically. "I came out wearing oven mitts and an apron and carrying a tray of cupcakes and a bag of frosting."
He rolled his eyes at her response.
"I had to have some sort of hobby. I'm not good at painting or sculpting or writing... I can't run fast or fight well or throw far or dance gracefully... I'm not very smart and I'm totally computer retarded. But I was always good at cooking and baking. I wanted to be known for my cooking," she said a moment later.
"Isn't that what happened?" he asked.
"Yeah, but they didn't care about me. People just liked the food I made because they were too lazy to cook for themselves. My aunt used me as a personal chef, Greg... Greed whatever the hell his name is... did too. I still can't believe that I used to like that bastard," she mused, resting her arms on the table and her chin in her hand.
"Ex-boyfriend?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"That's who was... last night," he said awkwardly.
"We watched a scary movie together one night. I made a lame joke about not being able to sleep by myself. He offered to sleep with me. I thought it was a joke, but he didn't. I refused to let him sleep with me and he tried to rape me. That's how I got this scar," she said, tilting her head back so he had a clear view of the thin line across her throat. "I went to the hospital and got stitches, the doctors said I was lucky to be alive. I hated it, knowing that I was just a weak little girl. I hadn't grown up at all from that time we first met. I made me angry at myself, that I still needed someone to protect me. I'm not sure why, but I thought you'd be disappointed in me, and I knew that if I ever saw you again, you'd know about these ugly feelings inside me. I didn't want that to happen, so I tried to get rid of those feelings, permanently. It kinda backfired, though," she chuckled dryly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
"So that's why you jumped off that building," he mumbled more to himself than to her.
"I'm sorry I said you ruined my death. I know you were trying to save me," she muttered.
"Of course I saved you. I didn't know who you were until last night, but I couldn't just let you die," he replied matter-of-factly.
"It's hard for me to understand people caring about me. You'll have to forgive me if I seem rude or snotty sometimes. My aunt, who I'd been living with after leaving Riza's dad's place, died when I was thirteen. She was always busy with work so I was alone a lot. I guess I kinda got alienated from the rest of society. I lived alone, and met Greed and we dated. He attacked me shortly after, two months after we started dating. I moved north, far away from anyone I knew. One of my teachers discovered my talent for cooking and I got accepted into the culinary program at Central Academy... and now I'm here," she finished lamely.
"Don't you have school today?" he asked.
"I called in sick. I didn't feel like going," she replied, tapping her bandaged head.
"Uh... he didn't actually... uh..." Roy paused, unsure of how to phrase what he wanted to ask.
"N-no... I mean, he touched me... where... but he didn't actually... y'know..." she stammered, equally unsure.
"Th-that's good, then," he replied.
"Yup..." she agreed. "Um... you want some coffee or something?"
"Sure."
"The cookies are probably cool enough to eat," she said, standing up to fix the drink.
"Hey, these are really good," he said after biting into one. They were soft and mushy and a little bit warm. The chocolate melted in his mouth, interlaced with the taste of something else he just couldn't name.
"Try to guess the secret ingredient," she said teasingly.
"Vanilla?" he asked. "No, that can't be it... it's not tangy so it can't be citrus... not spicy like cinnamon..."
"Cottage cheese," she smirked.
Roy looked at the cookie in his hand and then at Sharlen. He looked back and forth between the two for a few minutes before finally saying, "No."
"Yep," she grinned.
"No. There is no way you put cottage cheese in a cookie. Cheese and chocolate don't mix like that. No," he denied.
"Here's the recipe," she said, holding out a worn scrap of paper.
"It doesn't taste like cottage cheese at all..." he mumbled, quickly reading over the paper. It was at the top of the list.
"That's just how good I am," she said smugly.
"Bragging doesn't suit you," he teased.
"Imprints of wrinkled fabric on your cheek don't suit you," she retorted.
"So what are you gonna do since you're not going to school?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Uh... I thought maybe I could hang out here... with you... because it's been so long since I saw you and now that I know who you are I wanted to..." she trailed off, her cheeks turning light pink. "Get to know you better," she finished lamely.
"All seventeen of you?" he asked playfully.
"Yes, all seventeen of me," she replied, smiling.
They spent the day doing nothing in particular. Roy called in sick for work, claiming he had the twenty-four hour flu. Surprisingly, no one complained. Riza didn't even nag him, which was even more surprising. They played Brawl a lot, with Roy winning each time, and watched TV. Sharlen made more cookies, since the ones she made earlier had all been eaten. Roy asked what was in the new batch, and she replied it was a mix of chocolate chip and oatmeal with cinnamon and honey. They watched a couple of movies and Sharlen dozed off again.
"You're even prettier than you were before," Roy whispered when he was sure she was sleeping deeply. "And I still really like you."
Area 51 1/2 2-6-11: Ah, fluff! You gotta love it! I kept grinning while I wrote this chapter...
I'm kinda stealing things from the relationship Mitsuki has/had with Eichi. For those of you who haven't read or heard of Full Moon O Sagashite, it's about a girl named Mitsuki (who I hate, actually) who is in love with this boy named Eichi who was kind to her in the orphanage they grew up in. She tries to get closer to her dream of being a singer, with the help of some friendly shinigami, in hopes of meeting Eichi and... that's all I can say, really, without spoiling it. I hate Mitsuki (I just think she's annoying... her voice in the anime is annoying too, in the English version anyway. myco, the Japanese seiyu, isn't annoying, but the English voice actor is). But I do like the relationship she has with Eichi and wanted to do something like that in one of my stories.
The title for this installment is kinda cheesy, but it works because Sharlen ended up staying over at Roy's place (no, they didn't sleep together; get your minds out of the gutter). Brawl seemed like the sort of video game Roy would play, so I put it in here. He also strikes me as, for some reason, an RPG guy, so I gave him some Final Fantasy and stuff.
The only character I can play well with on Brawl is Princess Peach (I can play her well on Melee too) but I wanna get better at using Link. I did do a really cool thing one time at my friends house: I just totally whacked my brother's character (my mom made him come with me) with the frying pan. He just ran over to me and I whacked him, perfectly! She recorded and saved that part, so I can watch my momentary epicness (I'm a terrible player; I almost always lose) over and over. But Link is awesome. I can see Ed cosplaying as Link... he'd just tuck his braid inside the hat. Winry can be Navi (annoying little bugger...) Alphonse can be... Epona. Or something. I hated having to cut the grass in the game... that was really lame... I have a Twilight Princess 's one of my favorite hats, even though I can only wear baseball caps backwards. It's just how my face is, I suppose... I can pull off fedoras and military-style hats, though (the kinda square-ish ones that are like rectangular baseball caps) That's what my mom called them, military-style. I do like my hats... Shanaynay told me that, before we were friends, she liked my hats. I have a lot of hats. Not a lot, but quite a few. I don't think I've had a character wear a hat yet, in my stories... let me know if I have or not, because if I haven't, I wanna make a hat-wearing character.
Cocoa drop cookies are something my mom makes once in a while. They're really soft and gooey, even days after being taken out of the oven. The weirdest thing is: they hae cottage cheese in them. She says it was because her mom couldn't figure out how to make the kids eat healthy stuff or something like that... they're my favorite cookie, next to those puffy sugar cookies you buy at the grocery store, you know, with the frosting and sprinkles and when you bite into them, they're all moosh in your mouth.
I'm not going to make this story painstakingly long like my other ones. Ten or twelve chapters, maybe, is my goal. Fifteen at the most. Like if it was a manga, it'd be only two or three volumes long. Something you could finish within a day (or few hours, depending on how fast you read) compared to my longer stories (Godsend, for example). Things might be kinda rushed, though. Time jumps can range anywhere from an hour to several weeks, just FYI.
Umm... theme songs for this story include Stolen by Dashboard Confessional, Almost Perfect by Ingram Hill, What's Left of Me by Nick Lachey (yeah, you read that right), Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon, and Every Moment by Jet Black Stare. Songs that are kinda cheesy and sad, but good for a romance story.
Roy's twenty-five in this story, in case you're terrible at math like me. It took me, like, five mintues to get the years right when I was typing the part when he said 'that was thirteen years ago' because I didn't want to make him too young, but I didn't want to make him too old either. I tried to keep the ages the same as they are in the anime/manga. But they don't really say how old Roy is... I know that Hughes in 29 because of the gravestone in the anime... so Roy can't be that much older than him... which means he's young... I'm getting confused again... Roy's 25.
So Ed and Al are teenagers, and Roy's in his twenties. Of course, the relationship between Sharlen and Roy is slightly strained because she's seventeen (if they do anything, Roy could be accused of being a pedophile! Underage romance... how scandalous...).
Note the recurring themes from Rin (suicide, rape). Those might show up often.
Oh, sorry if I F-ed up the recipie you sent me. I couldn't remember all of it (but I was buzzed on sugar and caffiene...) that and it's one-thirty in the morning as I finish this chapter...
Until next time! Please leave a review (I stopped begging, but only two people review consistently lately. Is my writing bad? Thanks, you guys. You know who you are.) please. For Roy, if not for me. He needs them.
