-
Object of Gossip
10
Fuel on the Fire
-
One week after The Daily Gossip ran the first story about Roy and Ed 'sleeping together', and the day after the scene actually happened, The Gossip featured Robin's well written, and photo-accompanied, account of the two having a nice, leisurely breakfast together. It included a very thorough account given from the restaurant staff—especially their waiter—and even some comments from a few of the patrons who had called in to share their gossip about the event.
The issue sold like a fire being set on dry grass. How many people had heard Edward Elric proclaim that the two weren't dating? There were also several people who had talked to Roy Mustang and had almost believed him when he'd told them seriously that there was nothing going on between himself and his handsome, young subordinate.
But now, it was evident than it had all been one fabricated lie. Obviously there must be something going on between them if the dashing military colonel was being told to keep their business hush-hush and to tell everyone—even the boy's brother—that nothing was going on between them.
It had only been a week, but there were already groups forming to support the two in their relationship. Some simply wanted to be supportive of the lifestyle; some were in love with the idea of a relationship with so many taboos. Some just liked the idea of two men together and were excited over the fact that this was being made so public.
But, no matter the reason, the relationship between Roy Mustang and Edward Elric had a following which was increasing daily. With the story of the breakfast, there was little doubt in the minds of many that there really was something going on, whether the two love birds were willing to admit it directly or not.
This issue and its uproar had been missed completely by both of the men in question. Roy had fended off some comments in the morning, but since he'd stayed in his office until noon, he hadn't been subjected to the amount of prying questions he would have been otherwise. Sleeping away half the afternoon, then closeting himself in his office until almost everyone had gone home in an effort to catch up on the work he'd missed by napping, before going straight home, had insured that his contact with others had been mostly limited.
Ed had also missed the uproar by ignoring any and all magazines, and demanding that Al not read the 'horrible rag of lies' in his presence. It hadn't just been Mustang he'd been avoiding, but almost everyone in general. After spending that time with Mustang in the park, Ed had gone back to the library for a time before checking out all the books he wanted and carrying them home. He felt as though he could actually feel people's eyes on him and it was extremely uncomfortable.
And, so, the two of them remained blissfully unaware, at least for that day, that their situation was no longer something within their somewhat limited control. Roy and Ed's time together in the park, and the ensuing argument over Roy not being woken up in time, and Ed going through his notebook, had been noticed by a fair number of interested citizens, even if they hadn't known exactly what the argument was actually about. It had been noted, remembered, documented even by people with cameras, and reported back to Robin Hawkins with a swiftness that rivaled the military's best spy network. This, in turn, had been quickly investigated, written up, and set for the next day's issue.
Roy walked tiredly into the break room, intent on getting himself some coffee before starting work, then stopped when the conversation died and everyone turned to look at him. Many of them were holding magazines, and while Roy couldn't see which magazine it was, he had no doubt that they were holding copies of the latest issue of The Gossip.
Rolling his eyes, Roy tried to ignore them and moved over toward the coffee pot. He yawned, wishing that he could take the day off to sleep, but Roy knew that even if he did take the day off, he would most likely end up reading. He'd stayed up far too long last night, when he knew that he should sleep, but he'd wanted to finish the book.
And so he'd finished it, but not before he'd gotten himself off three more times. Roy had spent the morning pulling out all the books written by that author, deciding that this woman's work was something he was extremely interested in reading more of.
Part of him wanted to ask Hawkeye for more recommendations on which books he should read, and he might have when this had started, but that was when he'd had no question about his sexuality. He'd been secure in the fact that he was completely straight, and so playing along and saying he'd read her books to get insight on the female mind was perfectly okay.
Now, he was confused, and felt a little embarrassed about it as well. Wasn't he too old to be confused about his sexuality? Surely this had to be something people went through during their teenage years, if they were going to go through it at all.
That line of thought had led him to wonder if Ed had any confusion about his sexuality. Probably not. Ed didn't seem like the type to have issues like that. Sure, Ed had issues—it was difficult to go through all of what Ed had and not have them—but Ed was obviously as normal in that area as they came. Roy could just tell by looking at him. But then, what did that say about him, since whenever Roy looked in the mirror, he was sure that he looked perfectly straight and definitely not the type to have issues concerning his sexuality. Of course, that brought in the question of, what does a 'not straight' man look like anyway?
It was enough to make his head spin.
"Nothing going on between the two of you, eh?" The voice belonged to Havoc, and it brought Roy out of his thoughts.
Stopping and turning to face Havoc, Roy said wearily, "That's what I said, wasn't it?"
"Because Ed told you to say that? You taking orders from the shrimp now?" Brosh asked.
Roy just stared at the man in surprise. "What?"
Reaching down, Brosh picked up a magazine from the table and held it up. "Yesterday's issue. Don't tell me you didn't read it."
"I didn't," Roy said. "I don't usually read garbage like that." But he walked forward and took the magazine anyway. He quickly scanned over the article, feeling his disbelief turn into a combination of annoyance and wry resignation. This was exactly what he'd wanted to happen at the time. The fact that it had made it to The Gossip was actually a success. The only problem was that he no longer wanted this rumor to grow and spread, but unfortunately he only had himself to blame.
Roy grunted when he got to the end of the article—a story that was all mostly true, though blown up to seem more than what it was—and saw that Robin Hawkins was asking people to call in with any 'news' on the matter that they wanted to share.
"This is ridiculous," Roy said, thrusting the publication back into Brosh's hands.
"But it did happen," Breda said. "I mean, look at those pictures. You think you could have gotten any closer together?"
"I don't think any of that really matters right now," Maria Ross said, holding up that day's issue.
"What do you mean by that?" Roy asked, not sure he wanted to know, but unable to stop his curiosity. She smiled at him and handed over the latest issue without comment. The article was a long drawn out piece that told of how he and Edward had spent some time in the park being 'close'. There were even pictures of them sitting at the bench together and one where Ed is kneeling over him while he was laying down.
That had obviously been taken right as Ed was trying to wake him up, but Roy had to admit that if he hadn't known better, he would think that it looked like they were being a little intimate with each other for anyone not involved in a romantic relationship. Truthfully, it looked like Ed was leaning in to kiss him.
Their ensuing quarrel had been written in a way as to seem completely separate from the park scene, and as he read the things people had reported hearing them say, Roy felt his face flush with embarrassment. From one perspective, their argument sounded like he and Ed had gone off and had a quickie during lunch, and that Roy had fallen asleep after that, only to have slept too long by Ed not waking him up.
From another perspective, it sounded like Ed was trying to talk over whatever differences they were having and that Roy wasn't willing to work things out. From another perspective, it seemed as though Ed had betrayed Roy in some way. Even the scene at headquarters had been called in and documented. Robin included some speculations on how it was all connected, and some wildly ridiculous reasons as for what could have brought about such a little spat.
Roy shook his head and was about to tell them what had really happened when he was cut off by the yelling of none other than his supposed lover.
"I'M GOING TO KILL THAT BITCH!" Ed shouted from somewhere out in the hall.
Roy turned and looked at the doorway as the others laughed and made jokes about Ed's over sensitiveness to people knowing the truth. Moments later there was a blur of red as Ed ran past the doorway; and, for a moment, Roy waited for Alphonse to pass too, because surely Al would keep his brother in check. But then it dawned on him that the sound which normally accompanied Al's footsteps was absent and Roy got a sudden horrible feeling that with no one to stop him, Ed might do something he'd regret in his anger; which, of course, would end up being Roy's problem because he was Ed's commanding officer.
Deciding he didn't need the added stress, Roy thrust the magazine back at Ross and rushed out of the break room after Ed. The elevator was already going down, so Roy hurried over to the stairwell and practically flew down the stairs in an effort to catch up. He wasn't fast enough to beat the elevator, but Ed was only barely leaving the building, so Roy ran to catch up with him.
"Ed!" Roy shouted when was through the doors.
Ed was starting to cross the lawn for a shortcut and didn't stop when Roy called out to him.
"Damnit," Roy muttered and started after him. "Ed!" he tried again.
"I'm going to kill her!" Ed shouted back in an obvious rage. "Her and that fucking waiter! If I knew who all those people were listening to us from yesterday, I'd kill them too!"
"Ed stop!" Roy demanded through heavy breaths.
"No!" Ed snapped.
Roy caught up with Ed and matched his pace. "Ed, just stop; this isn't the way to deal with it. You'll do more harm than good."
"Fuck you," Ed growled. "I'm not going to let her keep printing this kind of shit."
"Stop," Roy said, grabbing Ed's arm, and stopping. "Just stop and listen to me!"
Ed took another step, pulling Roy with him, then stopped and turned around to look at Roy. Ed's face was angry, but Roy saw that his eyes had a liquid shine to them that told of the anguish behind the rage.
"Just stop," Roy said quietly. He was surprised at how affected he felt by seeing such a raw representation of Ed's pain. Guilt stabbed at him, and his conscience told him that part of this was his fault.
"I'm tired of everyone staring at me and talking about me! I'm sick of not being believed! I just hate this whole situation!" Ed yelled in frustration.
The right response was not the first thing that came to Roy's mind. With that anguished up-turned face, and those large, golden eyes looking up at him as if Roy could made the pain go away, Roy's first impulse was to take Ed in his arms and kiss him. Shocked and repulsed by the idea, Roy let go of Ed's arm and stepped back. As if his illicit dreams about himself and Ed weren't evidence enough that he was being affected by this situation and the books he was reading...
"I know," Roy said belatedly. "It's getting out of hand."
"Make it stop," Ed demanded. "Make them stop talking about us!"
"I can't," Roy said, wishing that he could. "I can't stop it."
"Why not?" Ed asked, sounding distressed. "You're good at making people believe what you want them to, right? You have some authority. Can't you do something?"
Roy shook his head. "Rumors like this aren't just put down because you want them to be. Like I said before, the more you deny, especially if you get overworked, the more people will assume you're lying and look for any evidence to the contrary. That's just human nature."
Ed just stared at him for a moment, then said accusingly, "This is all your fault."
"I did have a hand in pushing it along at first, but it's not all my fault." Though he could definitely accept a good portion of the blame.
"That's not what I meant," Ed said, shaking his head. "If you wouldn't have fallen asleep at my table, this wouldn't have happened."
Roy looked at Ed incredulously, then said in disbelief, "You could have gone to another table."
"That's where I always sit!" Ed snapped.
"Or you could have woken me up," Roy pointed out.
"I didn't want to talk to you."
"Or you could have just not fallen asleep," Roy added.
Ed scowled. "This isn't my fault."
"Or Sheska could have not called Hughes to come take a picture, or he could have refused, or that Hawkins woman could have not stuck her nose in where it didn't belong." Roy shook his head. "You can spend time trying to blame people, or you can just find a way to deal with the problem and go on."
"Yeah... I know," Ed said grudgingly, sniffling a little and blinking rapidly as if to make the tears in his eyes go away. "So what do we do?" He seemed to have calmed down a little, which was good. Roy didn't want to deal with Ed causing trouble with the civilians.
"What we're not going to do is storm into The Daily Gossip and yell at anyone. That would be counterproductive, and with the way we're both being watched, it could backfire terribly. You understand?"
Ed nodded reluctantly, but seeming to trust that Roy would come up with a suitable plan to pull them out of this mess. Roy felt the urge to reach out and touch him, maybe pull him close and comfort him. It was an almost unnatural feeling and he stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep himself from acting on an urge that he was sure was being brought about by reading far too many unrealistic stories about men and their relationships with other men.
He and Ed were not in a relationship, and even if they were, Roy doubted very much that Ed would appreciate being coddled. Granted, if they'd been in a relationship like those in the stories he'd been reading recently, then he would probably be expected to comfort Ed and then Ed would hold him back and then they'd have some sort of 'emotional bonding' experience.
Truthfully, all of that was a little foreign to Roy, and the idea that he was getting the urge to be that way toward Ed sent little emergency bells ringing through his head. Not just because of this whole situation and because of his ever increasing confusion over his sexual preferences, but because it just seemed so... so... unmanly.
"Let's go back inside," Roy suggested, glancing around. Several people were watching them from a distance—they were in the middle of Central Headquarters' front lawn, so at least no one was close enough to hear their conversation. "I don't think us being together like this in public will help our case any."
"Yeah..." Ed muttered. They started back toward the building, and as they stepped onto the sidewalk, Ed said, "I'm sorry about yesterday."
"Already forgotten about it," Roy said. He'd had to stay late to get everything done, but he hadn't had any meetings and no one besides Hawkeye had noticed his absence. She hadn't asked where he'd been, but by now she'd know that he'd spent the afternoon in the park with Ed; yet another cog in the rumor mill.
They walked into the building and were halfway to the elevator when Ed said, "I really did think your theories were good."
Roy pushed the button on the elevator, then looked down at Ed. "You're not going to give up on that, are you?" he asked with an amused smile.
"Of course not," Ed said stubbornly. "It's not often I find someone who is close to mine or Al's intelligence," he added smugly.
At that, Roy laughed and shook his head. "You don't think very highly of yourself, do you? You do realize that it takes a lot of talent and skill to become a state alchemist, don't you? I'm not the only one around here whose brain you can pick."
Ed pulled a face. "Armstrong is a state alchemist, but I don't think I could get anything out of him that wasn't accompanied by him flexing his muscles." Ed shook his head. "No, I'm sure that all the state alchemists are smart and stuff, but a lot of them seem to focus mostly on what they already know, or strengthening their core skill so that they can continue to be an asset to the military."
The elevator made a pinging sound, then the doors opened. They walked inside, turned around to face the front, and Roy blinked in surprise when he saw a handful of low ranking female soldiers standing there watching them.
Roy smiled at them and put his hand over the sensor to keep the door from shutting. "Are you ladies going to get on?" he asked hopefully.
"Oh... No, sir. Thank you, but we'll catch the next one," she said respectfully, smiling and eyeing them like a kid in a candy store.
"You know, we're not here for your entertain— " Ed began, but Roy quickly wrapped his arm around Ed's head and slapped a hand to Ed's mouth. He didn't need Ed causing a scene.
"If you're going up, then get in the elevator; if not, go back to your work," Roy said in a firm command.
"Yes sir," they said together, snapped a salute, then as one body turned and walked quickly away.
When the doors slid shut, Roy sighed and took his hand from Ed's mouth. As he slid his arm back from Ed's shoulders, he let his fingers brush the back of Ed's neck, touching his skin. It was only then that Roy realized he was starting to get turned on. Sweat prickled at his forehead, and he tried to think of the most un-arousing thoughts he could manage.
"Why did you stop me?" Ed snapped.
"Didn't we just talk about not yelling at anyone?" Roy asked, not looking at Ed.
There was a moment of silence, then, "Oh... yeah." There was another moment of silence, then, "So... what are we going to do about it?"
'Ignore it' was the first thing that came to Roy's mind, but he instantly knew that probably wouldn't work. Without them actively doing something to fight against the rumor, their silence would be like fuel on the flames. He could send Ed somewhere until it all died down, but that would probably just postpone the inevitable; or, worse, the rumor would follow Ed outside of Central. The last thing Roy wanted was for this to spread across Amestris.
"I'll think of something," he said, then glanced down to see Ed looking worriedly up at him. He gave Ed a smile that he hoped was reassuring, then put his hand on Ed's shoulder. "In the mean time, let's just try to avoid doing anything that people might take the wrong way. Alright?"
He felt the elevator stop, but kept his eyes on Ed, waiting for his answer.
"Alright," Ed said with a smile and a nod.
And then the doors opened and Roy turned his head to see that there were several people waiting for the elevator, and in that split second he realized what they saw: Roy, with his hand on Ed's shoulder, staring down at him with a smile, and Ed looking back up with his own smile.
Yeah... that couldn't be misinterpreted at all... he thought with wry sarcasm.
Feeling the overwhelming urge to turn and start banging his head against the elevator wall, he quickly dropped his hand from Ed's shoulder, and started out of the elevator, staring straight ahead. He didn't acknowledge any of their curious glances, and didn't bother looking to see if Ed was following him or not, though he hoped Ed had the good sense to go anywhere but the direction Roy was going. Sadly, good sense sometimes tended to be in short supply with Ed.
When Roy got to his office, he closed the door and sat at his desk, staring at his work but not touching it. His mind was too busy trying to figure out how his current problem was going to be solved. About an hour later, he started in on his work, though his mind came back to the issue of him and Ed quite often. It was almost noon when Roy put down his pen, sat back in his chair, and smiled to himself as he settled on a solution. He couldn't be one hundred percent sure it would work, but it was worth a try.
Chapter ten! w00t!
Just wanted to take a moment to say think you to everyone for all your supportive comments. I can't always answer them all, but I do read and appreciate them all. They're all very motivating. Thank you :)
I'll try to get the next chapter up soon.
--
Comments are love.