Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Title: After School Special
Pairing: RoyxEd overall; will also include mentions of MaesxRoy and hints of JeanxRoy as well
Rating: R (this chapter for sexual situation, language)
Timeline: Present AU
Summary: Principal Roy Mustang finds himself strangely drawn to the school's newest student, a quiet social outcast with a metal arm and leg...
AN: Last time- Roy confronted Jean and Ed began the slow, long process of forgiving his birth parents.

After School Special

Chapter 10

"Letting Go"

Despite Ed's interference, dinner was remarkably wonderful.

Although he had managed to restrain himself from eating with his normal hyperactive fervor, watching Al inhale his food caused Ed to wonder if that particular trait wasn't genetic.

Conversation had been clipped and strained throughout the meal. Hohenheim posed a few safe, generic questions in Ed's direction, namely about school and general interests. Ed provided them equally safe and generic answers, not wanting to let on the true extent of his social incapacities. Luckily for all of them, Al seemed more than content to carry the brunt of the conversation, regaling everyone with such pressing academic dilemmas as trying to talk to his latest crush (some "smokin' hot" girl named Martel, he told them with a happy glow in his wide eyes) and wondering whether or not he stood a chance with her.

During dessert, the family continued listening to Al drone on- this Martel was apparently perfect in every way. Ed smiled to himself as he picked at his pie; despite his discomfort at being in such close quarters with Trisha and Hohenheim, he found himself falling more and more for his little brother's incessant whimsy.

"So do you have a girlfriend, Ed?"

Ed's fork paused in mid-air as Al uttered his innocent inquiry.

It wasn't that he expected the subject never to be broached; he did- just not so quickly. He felt Trisha and Hohenheim gaze upon him with subdued interest; they had surely been wondering the same thing but did not dare to ask for fear of getting too personal, too soon.

"No, Al," Ed started, setting down his fork. "I don't have a girlfriend."

The subtle emphasis on the word flew over his brother's head but he saw Trisha and Hohenheim exchange a brief glance. It wasn't a judgmental or disapproving glance, as far as he could tell, but he also didn't think they would ever jump at joy over the fact that their firstborn was not only deformed, but attracted to a man as well.

"Is there someone you like?" Al's curiosity refused to let the subject go.

"Al-" Trisha started.

"Yeah. There is someone I like. A lot." Ed didn't know if his mother was trying to spare him the embarrassment or herself.

His little brother was all ears. "Ooh, what's she like?"

"Ed, you don't have to…" Trisha said.

Ed shrugged. He had nothing to hide. Not from them. "It's fine," he said.

Turning his attention back to the adorably nosy teen, Ed said, "Actually it's not a she… it's a he."

Al looked at him in amazement. "You're gay??"

Ed considered the question. He had never had feelings toward anyone before Roy, male or female. Nor could he imagine feeling that way toward anyone else except Roy.

Was he gay?

"I don't know, Al," he answered honestly. He picked up his fork and resumed eating, leaving the three of them to absorb his confession.

After a moment of consideration, Al leaned on the table and stared at Ed.

"This… is so… perfect!!"

Al's joyful proclamation gave everyone pause.

"Martel loves yaoi! Personally, I don't get it, but most of the girls at my school do. What's the one they won't shut up about… Gravel… Gravity… oh! Gravitation."

His voice shifted into a startling, and somewhat dead-on, falsetto. "Omigawd! Shuichi and Yuki are so ka-wai-i!!"

Ed's mouth fell open in amused shock. Trisha began to grin into her hand. Even Hohenheim looked thoroughly amused.

"That's it," Al continued, grabbing himself a second helping of dessert. "You're transferring here and coming to my school. I'm not taking no for an answer."

Ed supposed that there were worse things than being a chick magnet for his little brother. He watched the young teen dig into his pie with unbridled gusto and tried to come to terms with the strange sense of familial happiness that overtook him.

Later that night, he watched Al play video games, having already retired from it after his real hand had begun to cramp. He hated his automail with a passion, no matter how cool Al thought it was, but it did come in handy for feats of endurance.

The screen turned red, signaling death for Al's character.

"Aw, crap! Did you see that, Ed?" Al asked over his shoulder.

"Yeah, I did. That sucks."

Al turned the system off and turned around. "Do you want to watch a movie?"

Ed hoped the teen didn't like scary movies; he didn't want to ruin his "cool" status by screaming in fright every ten seconds.

"Sure," he said, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. "I just need to make a phone call first, okay?"

"No problem." Al got up and began rifling through his DVD collection.

Ed looked down at his phone and grinned. Winry had called him three times already, which didn't surprise him in the least.

His grin quickly faded as he saw that she was the only one who had called him.

He knew he was being silly; as much as he craved the sound of Roy's voice, he also didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to bring Roy trouble. It was best this way, it really was….

But he missed him so much that it hurt.

Even as he tried to convince himself to do otherwise, Ed's finger hovered over the speed dial button for Roy's home-

"Ed?"

He snapped out of his reverie and glanced at Al who had, in fact, chosen a gruesomely bloody movie. Great.

"Yeah?"

Al's face turned crimson and he lowered his voice to a shy near-whisper. "Do you really like guys?"

Ed sighed. Winry could wait. As for Roy….

He closed his phone.

It really was best this way.

"Just one, Al. Only one," he answered softly. "Is that really alright with you?"

Al nodded. "Yeah. And I don't just mean that because of Martel, you know."

"I know," Ed said in a low voice. He cleared his throat and glanced at the DVD. "So, what did you choose?"

The sixteen-year-old's face lit up as he showed Ed the movie. "This is supposed to be so good!..."

Seeing Ed's expression, Al gave his older brother a questioning look.

"You're not scared… are you?"

After the third drink, he forewent the glass for the bottle.

Roy sat at the desk in his home office, with the bottle in one hand and a phone in the other.

Don't… not like this…, the last vestige of sobriety whispered in his mind.

The hand holding the phone began to tremble. He wanted to call him-

-why hasn't he called??-

-wanted to hear him speak.

He finally dropped the phone and ran a hand over his face, grazing against the stubble of his facial hair. Roy hadn't shaved that morning; the severity of his hangover wouldn't allow it.

He leaned back into the soft comfort of his chair, considering his present situation.

He was drunk. Given the vast amount of alcohol he'd imbibed the past hour, that was a natural given.

And then a most astonishing development: He had a raging erection.

Even as it pulsed and strained painfully against the unforgiving material of his jeans, he had managed to ignore it for the past half hour. He wasn't a kid after all; he didn't need to go around touching himself whenever the mood hit him. The last time he had done so was the day when Ed had….

He closed his eyes and tried to think of something, anything, besides how the young man had felt, grinding against him…

"Fuck," he slurred, putting the bottle down and hastily unzipping his jeans. He took himself into his hand and began to pump vigorously. He wasn't even that into it, but he was grateful for something to take his mind off of his drunken sadness.

After a few minutes, he felt no closer to achieving his objective. Roy furrowed his eyebrows and began stroking himself even faster, bucking his hips forward for further stimulation. His mouth fell open and his breathing came out in ragged gasps as he concentrated on completion.

He tried to call to mind something to speed him along, but what popped into his mind made him go soft almost immediately...

It was that goddamned "Kiss the Cook" apron. Roy originally bought it as a joke, but Maes had loved it and wore it every single time he made dinner. In his mind's eye, Roy could see his dead partner as clear as day, standing in the kitchen doorway and brandishing a spatula at him, wearing that stupid, frilly apron and smirking in that way that melted Roy's heart…

A choked sob escaped him as he shamefully zipped himself back up and stumbled out of the room. He registered the soft thump of the bottle as it fell over on the floor, but there was hardly any liquid left in it to spill out. He made his way downstairs, holding onto the railing for support, and staggered over to the table that bore the pictures of his lost family. Through blurred vision, he looked at the smiling faces of ghosts, people lost to him in one form or another.

For the first time, Roy found himself questioning the reason behind his feelings for Ed.

Why Ed, when he'd had no problem discarding Jean?

Was it really something true?

… or had he just been using the boy as a substitute for what he had lost?

A combination of man and child in one body to make up for the both of them…

That can't be, he thought, his eyes widening in horror.

… could it?

He picked up the photo of Maes and Elysia that he had shown Ed.

Smiling ghosts…

Maes' eternal smirk, the way he had smelled, the way he had tasted, the way he had loved…

Elysia… staring down into in her crib, her first steps, her first words…

His family…

Ah wuvyu, Daddy Woy!

He dropped to his knees, clapping his hands over his ears at the painfully sweet memory of Elysia's tiny voice. He pressed tightly against his head, trying to contain it… but it was already too late.

Roy Mustang, a man who could count on one hand the number of times in his life that he could recall ever shedding a tear, began to cry. Loud, screaming sobs fell from him, causing his entire body to convulse. He felt a distinct pull on the right side of his chest and collapsed onto his side in agony, and still, he cried even more- so much that he began to feel as if he might die…

… and found that, at that moment, he didn't care at all if he did.

"Roy!!"

Giving up the doorbell, Jean Havoc began banging on the door. He had been standing there almost two full minutes after hearing Roy's cries, trying to get him to respond.

He had begun to panic after he heard the crash.

Jean pounded on the door again. He didn't even care if the man was pissed at him, as long as he just answered the door.

"Roy, open this goddamn door or I'm gonna bust it open!"

Nothing.

Shit, Jean thought, knowing full well that, as strong as he was, he wouldn't be able to fulfill his promise. No part of his body was an equal match against a steel door. He glanced at the curtained window and was about to find something to break it, hoping that the security system sticker was still just a decoy as it had been in the past, when he gasped in remembrance.

He bolted off the doorstep and around the house. At the back door, he lifted up the mat and grabbed the spare house keys, calling to mind the numerous times he'd given Roy flak for hiding it in such an obvious place.

He unlocked the door with shaking hands and ran into the house. His heart pounded painfully in his throat as he entered the living room.

"Roy?"

Jean stopped in his tracks.

"Oh, Jesus."

The man lay on his side, shivering and whimpering. The table and the photos that he had always been so enamored with lay in an explosion of wood and glass around his head, along with a puddle of putrid-looking vomit.

Jean made his way through the ruin and knelt down. He pulled Roy into his arms, horrified by the state of his former lover.

Roy looked up at him with dull, defeated eyes. His face was wet with tears and sick. Though it would have normally nauseated him to do so, Jean reached down and wiped Roy's face with his bare hand without a second thought.

"Roy…" He sat down on the floor, cradling Roy in his arms. A fresh round of soft sobs escaped the broken man.

"It's okay," he whispered gently, smoothing the man's black hair away from his sweaty forehead.

"It's okay… just let it go…"

Jean continued holding him tightly, blinking back his own tears.

"You're transferring here and coming to my school. I'm not taking no for an answer."

Ed stared down at the snoring body of his younger brother, sprawled out horizontally across his bed. He grabbed Al's legs and swung him around onto his bed the proper way, tucking a comforter around him and resisting the urge to pat him on the head.

Twenty four hours. It only took twenty four hours for him to fall completely in love with the kid. And now he wasn't sure if he could ever let him go.

Trisha had already asked him if he would use the weekend to consider a more permanent arrangement between them and he had promised to think about it.

But staring down at the angelic face of his baby brother, Ed knew in his heart that he had already made up his mind.

He would call Winry over the weekend and send for his clothes.

He would have to ask Izumi and Sig to withdraw him from school…

School…

Roy…

Ed sighed with a heavy heart as he left Al's room and walked back to his own.

He unbraided his long, blond hair, letting it fall across his shoulders and down his back. He sat down on the edge of his bed and remained that way for the next hour, alone in the dark.

It really was best this way…

… wasn't it?

AN: The following epilogue was something I did on a whim that I originally did as a friend-only LJ post:

After School Special
Chapter 10 Epilogue
"Jean"

Roy had finally, thankfully, fallen asleep.

Jean stretched, feeling a distinct twinge in his back from carrying him upstairs.

After getting the half-conscious man into bed, Jean undressed him down to his boxers. Funny, he had wanted nothing more the past few months than Roy Mustang naked in bed, and now when that dream was right in front of his eyes, it was the last thing on his mind.

He stared at Roy, who dozed soundly on his side. Jean was terrified to let him sleep any other way. He reached down and swept a lock away from his forehead, letting his finger run through the rest of the man's fine, black hair.

He had always loved Roy's hair.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and watched him carefully. He was fairly positive that he'd seen the last of the vomiting and dry heaving, but wanted to take no chances. After waiting for a few minutes, he got up and quietly retrieved a pillow and blanket from the closet.

Pausing by the door, Jean cast a last glance over his shoulder at the sleeping man...

After a moment, he shook his head and exited the room.