Title: Tomato Faces
Author: Liz
Pairing: Ed Elric/Russell Tringham
Rating: PG
Fandom: Full Metal Alchemist
Theme: #19 red
Disclaimer: If I owned FMA, my OTP would be canon!

Summary: Ed and Russell fight a lot...until Russell says something surprising.


Tomato Faces

"I love you!"

Three little words, blurted out in a fit of rage. They stopped Ed in his tracks instantly.

Had they really just come out my mouth?

"W- what?" Well, it surprised him too, that's for sure. I had actually succeeded in astounding the great Edward Elric. If I hadn't just screwed myself over I would have thought I deserved a medal.

"I – you heard me," I stammered, trying to retain some dignity, "I'm not going to say it again."

Seconds pass with him just standing there, eyes as round as the rice bowls he so loves. One can only hope that he had died of shock and saved me the embarrassment.

Then he blinked, very slowly, very endearingly. I found myself hoping that he hadn't heard me after all and had been distracted instead by something else. My good looks, perhaps.

"You l-love –?" Ed turned very, very red.

For a moment I toyed with the notion of pretending that I had said absolutely no such thing about love. At all. Ever.

Then I remembered that I had always found Ed adorable when he was embarrassed. I'd occasionally go so far as calling him irresistible…

Oh, what an ideal time to turn red as well. Weren't we a sight? Matching tomato faces.

I really think that the fates hate me.

"So- so, by love you mean…?"

I could have face-palmed that very second; that is, if my arms hadn't already turned to jelly. It took me a few moments to regain control of my face, as it were, since I'm sure it was doing a lovely impression of a pucker fish.

"Uh."

Well really, what else could I say? At least Ed seemed to understand.

"Oh," he nodded, eyes darting back and forth minutely. He was either mentally weighing words or looking for a quick escape. I wouldn't blame him.

I was prepared to wait for him to say something else, but after a minute and a half of random facial expressions and indiscernible mumblings, he didn't seem too eager to carry on.

Okay, rejection. I can deal with that. If I had actually thought this over beforehand, I would now be going on to a plan "B". Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, I had not thought this out.

All right, time to improvise.

If I could not explain with words, I would have to take action and, hey, we were both physical types, more used to fighting something out than talking it over. It seemed like the best way to go.

…except for the fact that I apparently decided to kiss him instead of punch him. Huh. I still can't figure that one out.

It seemed to be working, though. We'd both been tense and awkward a second ago and now… well, we were both still awkward but there's something to be said for the relaxing properties of sucking face.

I couldn't let it go on too much longer; I was responsible for this whole fiasco and the only way to salvage anything out of it was to stay in charge.

But as soon as I pulled back, I realized three things:

One, that I wanted to keep kissing Ed and never stop, two, that I should have done this sooner and three, that I was still an idiot for letting this get out of hand.

I made sure I had on one of my patented smirks that always seemed to get me out of tricky situations. This was no exception.

"You seem pleased with yourself," Ed commented, seemingly over his earlier silence and now eyeing me warily.

The challenge had been thrown down and it was up to Ed to make the next move. Thankfully, he didn't hesitate and I got my wish to keep kissing Ed and never stop. We could work out the other two later.