NOTE: This chapter has been revised as of 29/09/09
-10-
The weather turned even colder as November approached. Roy noticed that his persocom's attitude was becoming bitter. Edward had been hectic as usual as he went about his daily chores and things but Roy couldn't help but notice that the blonde seemed a little depressed. Roy sometimes noticed a distant look in Edward's eyes during the few times they went out. It worried the dark-haired man so much that one day he finally asked Edward what was wrong and received a snappy reply:
"What the hell are you talking about? Of course I'm okay. I told you before, I don't want your help on anything."
But the more he noticed that yearning, faraway look Edward had, the more concerned he felt. A tugging feeling of uneasiness and guilt sometimes overtook him when he noted the look on the other's face whenever they were in the same room. He often found himself staring too long at Edward, his thoughts on trying to discover the persocom's dilemma. However hard Roy coaxed the blonde, whether kindly or teasing, Edward merely insisted that nothing was wrong.
On one of his work days, he was having lunch with Hughes, who had abandoned his sandwich to boast about his beloved wife and his persocom, Elicia. The spectacled man finally noticed that Roy was deep in thought and proceeded to snap him back to reality by poking him painfully in the ribs.
"Ouch! Would you stop that?" Roy's eyebrows stitched into a frown as he snapped irritably at his best friend. Hughes, however, was unaffected by this as he launched a question, "What's wrong, Roy? You seem pretty off today. Is it Fullmetal?"
"Uh? Edward, you mean …" Roy corrected and paused. Should he share his thoughts with Hughes? Might as well. The dark haired man explained to Hughes about the thought that had been bugging him all week.
"You don't say …" Hughes nodded thoughtfully. "Ed looks like he's longing for something. That's very unusual for a persocom to do – but then again, Ed is unique …"
"What pisses me off is that he won't tell me what's bugging him. It's starting to drive me crazy."
Hughes suddenly chuckled, "You should listen to yourself. You sound like a concerned dad."
The statement left Roy speechless. He stared at his best friend with a horrified look on his face. The thought of playing father to a stubborn persocom displeased him. There was no way he was treating Ed like his son. Edward was obnoxious and rude! And here, Hughes assumed he was worrying over Edward like a parent to their child.
For a moment, he regretted ever mentioning his thoughts to Hughes at all. He wanted Hughes to understand how he felt about the situation – not interpret it. But then another thought occurred to him. Despite knowing that Edward was merelya persocom, Roy had responded to him, treated him as a person, not as a persocom. A person who had thoughts, who made decisions and choices, who had expressions … who reacted with emotions.
It was such a ridiculous idea to think of. Yes, he admitted that he cared for Edward but not like his other persocoms. Edward was different. A million times different. Edward acted so human that Roy, as a human himself, could not help feeling worried about Edward.
By the time he accepted this, he found himself leaving work to head towards the Central Parishes. He didn't know why he had decided to walk around the walkway but some force brought him here. He was still engrossed in many thoughts as he crossed the long hall partly full of shoppers. He stopped when he saw the department store where he first bought Edward's coat.
When Edward had demanded him to buy that coat, Roy had no idea why he did it. What had he been feeling that time? Surprised by the demand? Angry about the order? Delighted that he was doing something nice to Edward?
He entered the store, his onyx eyes sweeping over the various shelves, aisles, racks, displays as he continued walking.
Edward adored that coat. It was somewhat relieving to see a twitch of a smile on the blonde's lips. Buying that coat to satisfy Edward had turned out to be a good thing.
Perhaps, in order to cheer the blonde up, Roy had to give him something that he wanted. But what did Ed want to be happy? Roy couldn't bear asking the persocom himself for Ed would just snap at him and say that he didn't want to depend on him to get things. But thinking up another solution to cheer the blonde up seemed impossible and a waste of his time.
Just as he passed a cash counter, he stopped in front of a glass display which displayed a silver ring. For a moment he stared at it, noticing how mesmerizing it looked, at the way the lights reflected off the surface.
Edward had been staring at this ring. Roy suddenly recalled the yearning look on Edward's face when the blonde studied the ring. It occurred to him – was this what Edward wanted? Was this what the blonde wished to get and couldn't, making him depressed and gloomy?
It made perfect sense. Edward must want this ring. Roy frowned at the blonde's choice in jewellery – that ring was clearly a ladies' ring and yet Edward liked it? He told himself that he shouldn't blame Ed for picking something so feminine – after all, Edward was a persocom.
He called for the shop assistant.
OoOoO
This was ridiculous.
Just ridiculous.
The ring was packed in a little, velvet box hidden deep in his pocket. He just didn't have the courage to pull the damn box out and hand it over to Edward. It was because of the stupid feeling of embarrassment and the knowledge of Ed being a persocom that stopped him from carrying out the act. Roy knew he wouldn't give a damn what Edward felt when he handed the blonde the ring. Why would he care what Ed thought of him?
That was why he found it ridiculous not to have it over and done with and just give it to him.
He was being stupid about it. Even thinking about handing it to Edward brought a blush into his face. Roy sighed as he stirred his warm mug of coffee. Again, he found himself having lunch with Hughes – a day after he bought the ring. He hadn't done much of his paperwork – mostly because his mind was fixed on trying to devise a way to give the damn ring to his damn persocom and also that Hawkeye had caught him 'day-dreaming' and snapped him back to reality by sending Black Hayate on him. Even so, he still hadn't done that much.
There just had to be a way to give that ring without being so embarrassed about it!
Today, Hughes was boasting about some sort of a birthday party he was planning to throw for his persocom, Elicia. The spectacled man's eyes were bright with excitement and he kept reaching up to his shoulder to ruffle the top of his beloved persocom's head. Elicia would giggle and wrap her little arms around Hughes' neck, echoing his words with extra enthusiasm.
"Of course, I'll invite you to her party! And you should bring Ed! I'm sure Elicia would like him to come! Elicia likes Ed, don't you?" he cooed to the cute persocom on his shoulder and she nodded, smiling widely at Roy.
"Elicia wants Eddy to come! Come to her birthday party! Yay!"
Hughes beamed at his persocom before he noticed Roy's expression. The spectacled man grinned, clearly guessing what was going on in his best friend's head.
"So Roy," he began coolly. "Have you solved your 'Edward problem' yet? You know I'm good with figuring things out …"
The other man just chuckled and shook his head, "It's nothing. Forget what I said before, Maes–"
It was either his expression or his tone of voice that betrayed his words because Hughes was able to see through them. "Don't tell me," the spectacled man grinned. "You got Edward something, right?"
Roy blinked at how fast Hughes had discovered his motives but his best friend kept talking, "And unfortunately, by the looks of it, you haven't given it to him …"
There was a slight pause before Roy's shoulders sagged. "Okay," he sighed, lifting his mug. "You got me, alright? I'd appreciate it if you don't rub it in on me now. I'm trying to figure out how to –"
"I wasn't planning on pestering you about it," interrupted Hughes. His green eyes behind his glasses flashed, "I was planning on giving you a solution."
A solution? A small smile crept up the edge of his lip as Roy stared at his best friend.
"Alright, Maes. Shoot."
OoOoO
Edward cursed out loud – firstly to the burnt casserole he had left for too long on the stove, secondly for getting brown stains all over his apron and the kitchen counter and thirdly for following Mustang's orders to make dinner. He had been in a bad mood all week and had spent a lot of his time outside the house, roaming around the Central Library or the museums while Mustang was at work.
Lately, he felt a tugging sensation to search for something. He wasn't sure what it was he wanted. He figured that perhaps it was his yearning to learn new things. But the more he looked, the stronger that feeling became.
There was the sound of the front door opening and closing and footsteps coming to the kitchen. Edward left the casserole and turned to glare at his dark-haired user.
"'Bout time you came back. Where the hell were you? I don't want to be the one stuck making all your dinners, you know."
Seriously, why couldn't Mustang just do his own cooking, the lazy bastard. Edward understood that even if he disapproved of cooking for his user, he couldn't fully disobey that order. After all, as a persocom, he was programmed for these things.
The cocky bastard standing by the kitchen door looked at the messy state of the kitchen and of course, at Edward himself. The persocom saw the man's lip curl into a smirk, "Ed, why don't you go and change? We're going out."
Out. That magical word. Edward was hungry to see new sights and experiences. It would probably give him that new chance to find what he was looking for – whatever the hell it was, of course. The persocom was about to run out to change when he noticed a new expression on Mustang's face. His processing systems analysed the facial expression and decided that it resembled vaguely like excitement hidden in those features. What was Mustang up to? He immediately fell into suspicion and he narrowed his eyes at the man, muttering under his breath in a cautious tone, "Where exactly are we going, Mustang?"
Mustang's expression changed into utter surprise, "Hughes' place, that's where."
Edward frowned, "Geez, why are you acting so surprised when I asked, huh?"
Mustang shrugged, "If you want to know, Ed, you usually don't ask where our destination is when we go out anyway."
"So?" the persocom snapped, untying his dirtied apron. "Why the hell are we going to Hughes' place anyway? He's annoying and he talks too much about Elicia."
Mustang snorted, " We're going to a party."
In going through his built-in English dictionary in one of his many programs, Edward was able to match the word's meanings to many, "A party? You mean food? Drinks? Games? Music? Dancing?"
"Very good, Edward," Mustang mockingly congratulated him, his smirk widening now. "It happens to be a birthday party for you and Elicia."
It was as if his internal processor froze for a second. He was able to interpret those words and they somehow triggered some sort of new feeling in him that he couldn't make out. Had Mustang just said … a birthday party for …
A birthday? Wasn't that a date in which you celebrate every year? He found it strange that humans would celebrate a time of the year when they turn a certain age. But he was curious about it. According to the stories he came across in books, people seem to find an element of happiness in that time… some sort of joy worth celebrating …
But Edward wasn't human. He wasn't born – he was created. He was a persocom for god's sake! He wasn't meant to deserve a birthday – a time for happiness. Persocoms couldn't feel or understand happiness at all.
Despite all that, he couldn't help noticing that deep down, he wanted one. A birthday, that is.
But who would organize this? It couldn't be Mustang … could it?
"W-what? What are you – I mean – this isn't what I asked for – I don't understand …" Edward made no attempt to move as he continued, "I don't have a birthday. Then … why are you giving me one?"
"Hughes is giving one for Elicia. So I thought why shouldn't I give you one as well? Come on. Even birthdays are a time to lighten up."
This had to be the first time that the persocom fell speechless. Another feeling came to him. Some thankful, warm feeling directed towards the man in front of him. He didn't know how to react.
In getting no response from the silent persocom, Mustang patted the blonde's shoulder, "Why don't you clean yourself up, huh? I'll be waiting outside in the car for you."
(end chapter)
It's been FOREVER since I've updated. If you have been popping into my profile once in a while, you'd see why. Stress for school is starting to go up again. Life is sure becoming hectic, eh?
Now before you bombard me with demands for quicker updates, I'm afraid I can't promise you that. Although I WILL however continue writing this story and I won't abandon it (not just yet). My internet access lies with the school computers so updating will be slow.
Thanks for all those who have reviewed! You've all inspired me! 'Till next update (and pray tell it's coming soon!)
-NoriKo
