LunarFallenStar: Hey guys! Really late update! So sorry! School is annoying and has taken away all my free-time but it was actually thanks to school that I even got the idea for this chapter. The last 'scene' so to speak in this chapter was inspired by a story I heard in literature class, so that class is actually good for something~ Anyway, thank you all for your kind reviews and for reading!
Girl-With-Phoenix-Wings: Thanks for the review and I'm glad you liked it. /hands tissue. Don't cry~ Be happy 'cuz I tried to make Ed (and the chapter) less depressing this time.
Birdofdarkness: Thanks for the review and that sounds cool. And Ed is amazing!
Rose Thourn: Thanks for the review and it would just be so strange seeing Ed in a waiter outfit! It'd be so weird to see. Sorry for the late update!
Elvira Rayne: Thanks for the review and yes I read your crossover! I really liked it. It's still really funny and it's still awesome. I just thought that since it was lunch, most students would be eating their (ridiculously expensive) meals.
TeamEdo4ever: Thanks for the review! And I know, I look at this story and I'm just like 'Brain! Y u no come up with plot yet?!' Well, I have a plot, I'm just trying to get to the point where I actually... get into it or something like that. And I sooo took your suggestion with Mori (this is just a little bit of the ending) asking Ed a question and giving our favorite midget some advice.
justanotherkiller: EDWIN FTW! Anyway, thank you for the review! Sorry cuz this was another late update.
easha: Thanks for the review and I'm glad you like my crossovers. I really like writing them.
Manga-Otaku121344: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like it! Sorry about not updating soon though...
RinzlerIsTron123: Thanks for the review, but I haven't abandoned this, school is just annoying and keeps me sooo busy. I'm probably not gonna' kill of Winry and Pinako, but your suggestion did give me an idea.
~Previously~
Winry smiled in response, but it didn't reach her eyes. Waving goodbye to her childhood friend, she headed back out of the library. Once back in the safety of the hallway, her smile faded to a small frown.
Why?
Why were his smiles always so forced around her?
No matter how much she tried to catch up to him, he always drifted farther away.
Ed tapped his pencil on his desk absentmindedly, creating a small rhythm that filled the empty silence of his room. He looked out the large window and stared at the scenery of the large home they were currently staying in for the mission. He gritted his teeth and leaned his head back, groaning in boredom, "What to do... what to do," He mumbled softly, combing his fingers through his long, golden hair. He'd been to lazy to put it up into the usual braid or pony-tail that morning.
It was currently the weekend and Ed had nothing to do considering he already finished all of the school work he had to do. He sighed again, dropping his pencil and resting his head on the desk, glaring at the bunnies that he could see frolicking merrily in the garden, "Curse you bunnies..." He growled, "Not having to worry about boredom or school or... taxes... why can't I be a bunny? Life would be so much easier."
Sighing softly, he closed his golden eyes as thoughts raced through his mind. A calming silence settled over the dim atmosphere of his room and he felt content. That was until the door to his room slammed open loudly.
"ED!" His childhood friend squealed excitedly from the doorway, "Guess what~!"
The aforementioned alchemist sat up and turned slightly to face the eccentric mechanic, "What happened, Win?"
"Guess what we get to do today!" Winry chimed, skipping over to her friend.
Ed's posture straightened a little bit as he was now paying attention. He would do practically anything to relieve this intense boredom.
"We get to go shopping with the Host Club!" Winry grinned widely, leaning down to stare into Ed's slightly perturbed golden eyes.
The young Edward Elric was willing to do anything to relieve his boredom... except that.
"I don't want to spend another day with that idiotic, annoying, egotistical... tall...," He spat out the last word with distaste, "Blonde that you choose to associate with!"
"Tamaki-san is a very nice person if you look past his... faults..." Winry said slowly, choosing her words carefully, "And come on! You need to get a feel for the town that way you won't get lost or anything!"
Ed grunted, turning away from his friend, "I'll look at a map."
Winry pouted slightly, before smirking slightly as an ingenious idea popped into her head. She slid over to where Ed was seated and opened her mouth slowly to speak, "We can go to the book store..."
Ed straightened slightly at the blonde's words.
"And we can get that new book you've been wanting. In fact, we can get all those new books you've been wanting."
His antennae of golden hair twitched slightly and Winry's smirk grew, 'Hook, line, and sinker,' She thought in victory.
Ed swirled to face her, "Okay, fine. I'll go with you this time."
Winry jumped up and giggled happily before skipping out of the room. She stopped outside the hallway and yelled something down towards where the living room was, "It's okay Miss Riza and Mr. Mustang, I got him to agree to go!"
Ed deadpanned, murmuring to himself, "She was planning to make me go the whole time... even if I said no..."
TIME SKIP
The host club stood outside the door of the Mustang family home, dressed in casual every-day attire as opposed to their usual crisp and clean uniforms which always seemed to be in pristine condition. Well, they were dressed as casually as extremely rich teenagers could. Haruhi on the other hand, wore simple, tomboyish clothes.
Tamaki raised his hand, ringing the doorbell and waiting for it to be answered.
After a few moments, the large door opened and none other than Roy Mustang poked his head out to look at whoever had come to his house.
"Good day to you, Mr. Mustang!" Tamaki greeted in his typical, polite, 'host' way, "We've come to pick up Winry and Ed for a day out in the town!"
Mustang sighed and opened the door wider to let the host club inside, "Yes, yes I know... Winry filled me in on the whole thing."
Tamaki smiled and stepped inside, the others following suit.
Riza stepped into the foyer, her blonde hair not pinned up as it usually was, "Winry and Ed are still getting ready at the moment. Feel free to make yourselves at home. I could fix some tea if you would like."
Haruhi smiled sweetly, "That would be wonderful, Mrs. Mustang, but I don't wish to inconvenience you."
Riza smiled, "My, you're so polite. I wish I knew more people like you."
Roy ignored the small glance he received from Riza after that statement.
The host club sat down in the living room until their friends finished getting ready and walked downstairs.
Winry, naturally, was downstairs first and all of the host club besides the Shadow King walked over to chat with her. Kyoya, instead turned to Riza and Roy, staring impassively at the two, both of them returning the look with equal force.
"Good day to you Mr. and Mrs. Mustang..." Kyoya said stiffly, pausing slightly before continuing, "If that's even your real names."
The small, seemingly nonchalant statement caused amber and black eyes to narrow dangerously. They stared at the ootori with suspicioun as he stared back at them with a hidden smugness.
Roy began to speak in such a low voice that no one besides Hawkeye or Kyoya could here, "And what exactly are you implying by that?"
Kyoya looked between the two adults before him, straightening his glasses as he voiced his reply, "I do not believe you are Edward's biological parents and I know for a fact you are most certainly not Miss. Rockbell's," He said, putting emphasis on Winry's real last name.
Riza glared at the black-haired teen before him, "And what, pray tell, would give you that assumption?"
Kyoya opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off as uneven footsteps were heard clambering down the stairs.
Ed sauntered into the room, adorned in a red hoodie, black jeans, and sneakers. His hair was in his usual braid with his hands stuffed into his pockets.
"Are we gonna' leave or what?" Ed asked, adding quietly, "I want to get this over with as soon as possible."
Kyoya stood up and walked over to the host club, "Edward is right, we should be going."
Honey nodded enthusiastically, "Mmm-hmmm! I wanna go get some ice cream!"
The host club walked out, saying their good-bye's to the two adults sitting in silence in the room.
When the large front door shut with a loud click, Roy turned toward Riza, "I don't like that Ootori brat... He's the type to stick his nose where it doesn't belong."
Riza nodded slightly, "Sounds like a certain Colonel I know."
Roy looked at her in disbelief, "I'm nothing like that rich brat Hawkeye!"
"Say whatever you will, sir," Hawkeye said as she got up and headed to the kitchen.
With the Host Club plus Edward
They had been walking around town for a few hours now, going into multiple shops and boutiques and anything that suited the fancies of the rich teens Ed was surrounded by.
Ed was growing irritable at all of Tamaki's constant ranting about how he was so fascinated with the way commoners' did things. Seriously! Everything out of the annoying, violet-eyed blonde was 'commoner' this and 'commoner' that... Ed groaned in annoyance.
The rounded a corner and soon everyone turned to face Honey when childish laughter escaped his lips.
"AN ICE-CREAM SHOP! Can we go get some ice cream?! Can we?"
Tamaki nodded enthusiastically and the group once again headed in the direction of a store. They approached the counter to place their order.
Ed tried to not roll his eyes when the girl who was currently working at the counter almost swooned at the attractive boys who had just walked into the store.
Naturally, the hosts' instincts kicked in and Tamaki started charming her, the twins started their whole 'forbidden love between twins' bit, Honey started acting cute, Haruhi was polite, Mori stood their silently, and Kyoya just remained the impassive, shadow king that he was.
Ed grew even more irritated by the second. It was no surprise to Winry at all when her childhood friend elbowed his way through the group of hosts and got to the front of the group. He faced the hosts behind him and growled, "Can. We. Just. Make. Our. Damn. Order. Already?!"
Tamaki looked taken aback before turning to face Kyoya, "Mommy~ Eddie-chan said a bad word!"
Ed sighed before turning back to the girl, "Just ignore them..."
Ed slowly listed off the order, soon reaching the end of it, "And he'll have a scoop of everything," Ed finished, pointing to Honey.
"E-everything?" The girl asked surprised.
Ed just nodded, "Yes, everything."
Punching in their order, the girl told them the cost and they quickly payed for it and within a few minutes, The hosts sat at the chairs outside, staring out at the bustling scenery.
Ed licked his ice cream in contentment as he stood beside Mori (since Honey was currently talking excitedly to Haruhi and Winry) who frankly was the only host that didn't get on his nerves.
Golden eyes looked at the many stores dotting the busy street, eyes falling on a toy store directly next door from the ice cream parlor. In front of the aforementioned store stood two children who Ed assumed were brothers. The slightly shorter brother looked up with wide eyes at his brother, pointing to a small, toy robot in the window, "Isn't it so cool, Nii-chan?"
The older looked down at him and grinned widely, "It sure is! Do you want it?"
"Really?" The younger said with wide eyes.
The older smiled proudly, pulling out his wallet, "Of course!"
The younger one tackled his brother in a hug, "I love you, nii-san! Thank you, Thank you, thank you!"
Ed felt his heart twinge in melancholy and nostalgia at the heart-warming scene. Ed smiled sadly, thinking back to a time when he would do the same thing for his little brother, well, when his brother wasn't a suit of armor...
Ed didn't notice Mori's eyes landing on the scene as well after following the golden eyed boys line of sight. He looked back to Ed, noticing the melancholic smile the boy wore upon his face.
"...What was he like...?" Mori asked quietly.
Ed looked up in shock, slightly taken aback that the usually silent teen had spoken, "What?"
"Your brother..." Mori said again, "What was he like?"
Ed looked back down, a small, sad smile falling on his face, "Oh... Al..."
Ed looked up slightly, licking his creamy dessert again before speaking once more, voice barely above a whisper, "He was the best brother I could ever ask for... A blessing. I would give up everything for him without a thought. I guess you could say that Al was practically my whole world... He kept me from doing stupid things... he kept me thinking straight, kept me together when everything was falling apart. Al saved my neck too many times for me to count and I did so many things, said so many things, that could've hated me for, but he never held one thing against me... not a single thing... He did so much for me, yet I couldn't even save him... What kind of big brother am I? I should've been the one protecting him... not him protecting me... Now I'm being even more stupid... hurting everyone that cares about me... I'm selfish, stupid, horrible..."
Ed looked at his feet, ignoring when the melting ice cream dripped in between his fingers. He didn't know why he was telling Mori, who he didn't know well, this... he would've normally just avoided the question, coming up with an excuse to get out of it... To run away... Run away like the coward he thought he'd come to be.
"I'm a coward... an unforgivable coward..." Ed murmured.
Mori looked down at the shorter blonde, speaking softly, "...You can't shoulder everything on your own..."
Edward looked up at the taller teen in shock for a moment, before Mori continued speaking.
"You can't blame yourself for everything... It just causes more pain..."
LunarFallenStar: And done! This chapter was SOOOO late so I'm super sorry! And I'm surprised I made Mori talk so much, so sorry 'bout that if you feel he's relatively OOC in this chapter. Anyway, Hopefully I'll update sooner than I have been. Bye Bi~!
