Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Title: Adventures in Babysitting
Pairing: Hints of future RoyxEd, MaesxRoy
Rating: PG13
Timeline: AU
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Roy Mustang has his work cut out for him when he takes a job babysitting the well-known and much-feared local hellions, otherwise known as the Elric brothers.
Spell checked only.
Adventures in Babysitting
Chapter 13
What a fucking night.
Trisha quietly shut the door to Ed's room and crept down the hallway, returning to the comfort of her own bed. She had already lost count of how many times she had peeked in on him over the past couple of hours, depriving her own body of some much-needed rest on the off chance that the boy should happen to need her. She knew better, really; he had always been resilient- if reluctantly, at times- even with the hand that life had so unfairly dealt him. But now she was slowly coming to realize that even the few and far between days of running to Mom during a crisis, emotional or otherwise, were dwindling away with each passing year, never to return. Her "Little Man" would someday become a man of his own and the thought filled her with an incomparable sadness.
She wasn't mad at Roy for what had happened. The kid couldn't very well be expected to abstain from living his life just because Ed had a crush on him. Truth be told, Trisha was rather happy that he had found someone (and that Maes was a damn good-looking boy, yes he was). Hell, even if she had been upset, the sheer amount of remorse on his face as he explained how Ed had discovered the two of them kissing would have been punishment enough. She wouldn't have wished that kind of hurt on anyone.
Well, Hohenheim, perhaps. But no one else.
Unfortunately, this was all part of a journey that Ed had to take on his own; she couldn't kiss it and make it go away. And although she did briefly consider asking Roy to lay low for about a week or so, it wouldn't have done anything to ease her son's broken heart. In fact, it would have very likely made the whole situation even worse. Besides, that would have been unfair to Al. After all, he loved Roy, too, in his own precious little way.
No… there just weren't going to be any easy answers with this one. None whatsoever.
The worried mother sighed and closed her eyes. She settled into the cool sheets that surrounded her, wishing like hell that she had a cigarette, praying for the happiness of both her babies, and waiting for a slumber that was not soon to come.
*****
Maes could see the fire from the kitchen window as it lit the night sky. He couldn't begin to understand Roy's fascination with it; the entire concept of pyromania was a bit of a mystery to him. But it was what it was, and since it was a part of Roy, Maes just accepted it without question.
His spotted him sitting just in front of the blaze with a blanket wrapped around him and felt a bittersweet pang of love and sadness. They hadn't talked about what had happened earlier but it was still there, hanging in the air around them since they returned home. Sure, in the grand scheme of life, a little boy with a crush wasn't the biggest deal on earth. But hurting Ed had hurt Roy in a big way, and Maes hated feeling so goddamn helpless about it.
He turned away from the window and walked over to the fridge, opening it and peeking inside. After deciding that the situation called for more than a mere can of soda, Maes grabbed two bottles of beer and twisted off the caps, then eased his way out of the back door to join Roy.
"Mind if I sit?"
Roy glanced up at him and smiled softly. "No."
Maes felt the knot of apprehension around his heart ease just a bit; if Roy was still smiling, that was a good sign. He sat down next to him and crossed his long legs, handing the teen a beer and taking a generous drink of his own.
"I'm an asshole, Maes."
"Nah." Maes nudged Roy on the arm for emphasis. "It was just... really shitty timing. And that's just as much my fault as it is yours."
Roy shook his head as he stared into the flames. "But I should have… I should have known better. I just wasn't thinking."
"You're right, you weren't thinking," Maes said, to Roy's gaping horror. Before the teen could respond, he continued. "You were just… reacting. And it's not that I don't feel for the kid because I do, okay? First crushes… fucking… suck. But... I just think… you know… that maybe you shouldn't think too much about doing… whatever comes naturally… if that makes any sense. I don't know… I feel like I'm fucking rambling here."
Roy took in the depth of Maes' words and sighed in resignation. "Yeah," he reluctantly admitted.
"Yeah, I'm rambling or yeah, I'm making sense?"
"Both."
"Thanks."
Maes felt the last of his apprehension slip away, banished by the melodic sound of Roy's chuckling. It was a lovely sound, indeed, and he could have easily listened to it forever.
"I'm ruining the mood, huh? I'm sorry," Roy said, taking a sip from his bottle and resting his head on Maes' shoulder.
Maes wanted to tell him not to be ridiculous, that just being able to be there with him like this- after months upon months of merely wishing it could happen- was good enough. He wanted to tell him just how happy he was and how these were one of the moments in his life that he wouldn't trade for all of the sex in the world, which, for him, was saying a lot.
"Don't worry about it," he said instead, wrapping his arm around Roy's lower back.
They sat in contented silence as the fire roared on. Maes polished off his beer as well as the half that Roy didn't finish, and let out a most resounding belch that echoed around them.
"Pig," Roy said with a grin.
"Yeah, but you still love me," Maes replied sheepishly.
Roy sighed again and nodded slowly against his shoulder.
"… Yeah."
They remained there for another hour, during which time the couple debated such life-altering topics as whether or not the usage of quality aged liquor as a combustible constituted alcohol abuse, and why Playgirl's articles far surpassed those of Maxim. When the fire began to wane, Roy grabbed Maes by the hand and weaved their fingers together, yet another thing Maes would never grow tired of experiencing.
"Hey. Maes."
"Hm?"
A slight blush colored Roy's face as he kept his head down and his eyes focused on their intertwined hands.
"… Let's go to bed."
Maes blinked at Roy. For a long time.
"Okay," he finally said.
And so they did.
*****
At no point in Ed's life did he ever think he would be so thankful to go to school. However, the past two days had proven to be so unbearable that today he welcomed the place with open arms; it was that bad.
He loved his mother and brother dearly- that went without saying (and normally did). But if he would have had to endure one more not-so-covert glance or well-meaning cookie or potato chip shoved in his face, Ed was fairly positive he would have screamed bloody murder. Forever.
He knew that they were just trying to be helpful. He knew that his mother knew what had happened. Well, he assumed that she knew. And Al… well, Al was just being Al. Any other time, all of it would have been fine and good, but this wasn't any other time. This wasn't about a bunch of stupid asshole kids calling him names, which was shitty enough. This wasn't even about his stupid asshole father, which was… admittedly… even worse. This was about Roy. And because it was about Roy, Ed hurt in a way he had never known was possible. That last thing he wanted on top of that was to know that he was once again worrying his family… who was, in turn, driving him completely crazy with their worry.
Ignoring the cringe-inducing snickering of Rose and Noa, two of the most annoying girls in his class- and twins to boot- Ed sat down at his desk and waited patiently for the day to begin. He gingerly rested his arms on top of his small desk, as always, instinctively taking great care to avoid doing anything that would cause his automail to clunk about and draw attention to him. He kept his eyes averted from the others as his classmates filtered in, again by sheer force of habit, although today he didn't particularly give a damn what any of them had to say.
After taking the attendance, Ed's teacher solicited an errand runner to deliver a note to the principal's office and the young boy dutifully raised his hand. Not that he was aching to be helpful; Ed honestly had no idea why he volunteered. The teacher called out his name, more out of shock than meaning to select him, and Ed jumped out of his seat and took the envelope from her before she had a chance to rescind the offer.
He took his time strolling down the hallway, with every intention of dragging out the trip as long as he could. It also gave him ample opportunity to wonder just how things were going to go that afternoon… and if Roy would even bother showing up at all. Ed wanted to think that he wouldn't care either way, and that would be the story he stuck with if asked. But he did care. How could he not? Even if Roy and Mace- Maes- were… even if they were, he still wanted to see him. Any Roy, even one that would never be his, was better than none at all.
Ed walked into the office and obediently took a seat along the wall as he waited for the principal's secretary to finish talking on the phone. The conversation sounded dreadfully boring and Ed occupied himself by looking at all of the god-awful paintings on the walls. It was surreal to be sitting there on "official" business for once instead of the usual trips he had made there for disciplinary action; even the secretary raised a brow at his unaccompanied presence.
Just as she hung up the phone and summoned him, the door to the principal's office opened and a young blond boy walked out with the man himself. He saw Ed and gasped, to everyone's astonishment, and dashed over to him, grabbing him by the right arm and raising it high.
"I pick him!" the boy announced, turning to the principal.
Ed was so completely caught off guard that it didn't even register in his shocked mind to be aghast at having his automail handled so freely.
"What?" he asked.
The boy turned back to Ed and lowered his hand. "I'm picking you."
"Picking me? For what?"
"Garden duty," the boy said proudly. "I get to pick someone to help me and I pick you."
The principal exchanged an uncomfortable glance with his assistant. "W-Well… okay… as long as it's alright with Edward," he said. "I'll call Ms. Sheperd and let her know where you are."
Ed's head was whirling. He didn't know who this kid was or what he was up to. What he did know, though, was that he was vehemently unopposed to anything that would keep him out of the classroom.
"Um… sure."
The boy smiled happily. "Okay. Come on, then."
"… 'kay."
Still stupefied, but now also equally intrigued, Ed gave the envelope to the secretary and followed his apparent captor out of the office…
*****
… and onto the playground, where the two boys made their way over to the dilapidated garden.
"Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning we're gonna get to come out here for thirty minutes to do garden work," the boy explained, kneeling down and picking through the dead foliage. "Unless we have a test or something."
Ed couldn't have been more stunned if Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy had just dropped out of the sky bearing toys, chocolate, and cash. Being allowed to skip part of class? That was just crazy talk.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because we would fail," the boy said, wrinkling his brow at him.
"No," Ed shook his head. "I mean, why… the garden?"
"Ohhh."
The boy smiled sweetly at his gaffe and Ed had to stop himself from taking a step back. It was so unlike anything he had ever seen from anyone other than Al or his mother. Could it be...?
Could it be that this kid was actually… nice?
"I like plants," the boy informed him, gesturing at the garden. "And this looks like crap, so I asked if I could fix it."
Being given permission from the principal to miss schoolwork to plant some flowers, huh? Ed's amazement was complete. He knelt down and watched as the boy fumbled around, unsure of what else to say or do.
Luckily for him, he didn't have to put much more thought into it.
"So your name's Edward?"
"Ed, yeah." Ed looked up and saw the boy watching him carefully. And for once, he didn't feel any discomfort in staring back. "What's your name?"
"Russel."
"I don't… I don't know about plantin' stuff," Ed confessed, reaching down and plucking out one of the legion of half buried naked dolls. "I mean, I don't know what to do," he clarified.
Russel smiled again and offered him a carefree shrug. "'S'alright. I'll help you," he promised. "Could you take all of those out first?" he asked, motioning at the naked brigade.
Ed nodded eagerly and set about uprooting each doll, vaguely wondering what kind of idiot would do something like that, while Russel spelled out their game plan.
"I don't know what I want to plant yet," he said, amassing a neat pile of brown leaves beside him. "They won't buy me anything but I got permission to take donations from other kids to buy stuff." He casually picked up a grasshopper and set it on the grass, effectively creeping out Ed to no end.
"But I'm not gonna ask those jerks for nothing," he continued. "You know what they call me?" he asked, stopping to look at Ed.
"What?" Ed asked.
"... Flower fag," Russel said, whispering the last word even though there was no one else remotely within earshot of them.
Ed felt a stab of guilt at the word he had not too long ago used himself. He shook his head in disbelief- disbelief over the situation itself and disbelief that he apparently wasn't the only one to feel the wrath of the collective. Russel was a normal kid as far as he could tell; why the hell would they care if he wanted to make their dingy playground look a little nicer?
"Assholes," he muttered under his breath, unaware that he had even cursed until after he said it. "Sorry," he added.
"'Never apologize for telling the truth,'" Russel said with an air of righteousness. "At least, that's what my mom says."
In a child's delightfully naïve way of misunderstanding, Ed missed the true point of Russel's mother's words of wisdom and was instead utterly mystified that any parent would not demand that their kid apologize for swearing:
"Really? My mom just sends me to my room."
The boys continued working in silence and Ed found himself pleased with the progress they were making. It wasn't the most exciting task, cleaning up other people's crap, but… it wasn't half bad. Thanks to the company. If nothing else, it helped to keep his mind off of his heartache; he hadn't even thought about Roy once since Russel's impromptu recruitment in the principal's office.
"Do you like it here?" he asked timidly. It felt like a stupid question, especially considering what Russel had just divulged, but he still wanted to know.
"Eh. Better than being home-schooled."
Home-schooled? Ed had heard of the phenomenon of being able to stay at home for school but he had never known of anyone lucky enough to have partaken in such a thing. "That sounds cool," he said, digging out the last doll and placing it on top of the stack of other nude plastic bodies.
"It was okay. No big deal." Russel pulled a plastic bag out of his pocket and began placing the dead leaves inside of it.
No big deal? Being able to go to school at home sounded like a very big deal to Ed.
Russel offered him the bag and he gathered up the dolls and deposited them. Only then did he notice the boy staring thoughtfully at his right hand and he quickly pulled it away and folded his arms across his chest, his face growing hot from the blush that rose to the surface.
He should have known, he just should have known that this was too good to be true! He was a fool to think that this kid was actually any different from the others-
"I like your arm."
The tirade in Ed's mind came to a screeching halt. It seemed as if the world itself did too.
"… What?"
Russel looked away shyly. "I like your arm," he repeated, furrowing his brow as he concentrated on tying the bag of trash.
Ed was floored by Russel's admission.
"… You do?"
"Yeah." Russel fidgeted with the side of the bag. After a moment, he reluctantly raised his head and smiled at Ed for a third time.
This time, Ed smiled back.
*****
"Jean, you're driving me fucking batshit. Why don't you just go ahead and ask? You know you want to."
Roy glared across the seat at Jean, whose eyes were locked on the road ahead of him, a cigarette dangling precariously out of the side of his mouth, as per the norm.
"It's none of my business," the teen said, risking a glance at Roy. "Besides, you're not gonna tell me."
"Suit yourself." Roy turned to look out of the car window-
"Did you and Maes do it?"
- and burst out laughing at his friend's desperate query.
They had finally come clean with the others about their relationship, in what Riza dubbed "the worst kept secret ever." Additionally, she was quick to take full credit for getting Roy and Maes together since it was her well-plotted game of Truth or Dare that started the whole chain reaction. And now, with that less than stunning revelation out of the way, the next question, obviously, was whether or not they had finally done the deed. The gang had even taken bets on the subject, with Riza voting a definitive yes, Sheska voting a definitive no, and Jean voting a definitive I-have-no-idea.
Roy was relieved to have it all out in the open… at least, among his friends. And while he and Maes weren't quite ready to go strolling hand in hand down the hallways or anything near that extreme, it was a start. And a damn good one, at that.
"Why do you guys want to know so badly?" he asked, turning back to Jean and stealing the cigarette out of his mouth. "I mean, I guess I get why Riza and Sheska want to know- they're fucking perverts. But you…. Is there something you're not telling me?" Roy smirked, taking a drag and cracking his window to let out the smoke.
"Oh fuck you, Mustang-"
"You wish."
"-I was just curious, that's all," Jean said, lighting a fresh cigarette. "It's not like I imagine you two doin' it or something like that-"
"You totally do."
"- Seriously, fuck you." Jean grinned as he exhaled a stream of smoke from his nostrils. "You know I'm all about the pussy."
"I think you have to be getting the pussy to be all about it," Roy pointed out, and was promptly rewarded with a jab in the thigh.
"Get out of my car, dick," Jean said, pulling onto the Elric's property. He reclaimed his pilfered cigarette and put it out in the ashtray. "I'll see you tonight."
"See ya." Roy climbed out of the car and chuckled at Jean's parting "wave," which consisted of a middle finger and nothing more. He watched until the car was out of sight, taking along with it all of his happy thoughts and leaving behind the most paralyzing sense of trepidation he had ever felt. He began the slow walk to the front door, pretending that he did not just see the curtains flutter.
Before he could knock, as he was seriously considering calling Jean to come back and pick him up, Trisha opened the door and greeted him.
"Hi Roy," she said warmly, stepping back so that he could enter the house.
So far so good.
"ROY!!!"
Al bolted down the stairs- damn near giving his mother and Roy a heart attack when he almost tripped over his tiny zealous feet- and dived into the teen's arms, hugging him tightly.
Even better.
"Hey, Al," Roy said, breathing in the boy's scent, which was just about as sweet as he was.
He caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye and discovered Ed standing in the kitchen doorway, watching the heartwarming scene with blank expression that met him face to face. Until that moment, Roy wasn't exactly sure what he had expected when he saw Ed again, but this… showdown of sorts definitely wasn't it.
"Hi, Ed."
"… 'lo."
It wasn't audible for shit, and he probably only said that much because Trisha was standing there, but still, Roy was relieved for the acknowledgment. He offered Ed a small smile of gratitude, at which the boy did an about-face and returned to the kitchen, closing the door behind him. It stung Roy, the silent rebuff, but he completely understood. As far as he was concerned, he deserved far worse.
He carried Al over to the sofa and sat down to hear all about the youngster's day while Trisha finished getting ready for work, wondering in the back of his mind if that would be the worst of his evening where Ed was concerned.
Later that night, in retrospect, Roy realized that he really, really should have known better.
TBC
AN: So... did they or didn't they, hm? Heh, I'm a total cocktease for writing it that way, ain't I? In all honesty, though, I left it that way for those of you who might not want to read the upcoming side story that will cover exactly what went down that particular night between Maes and Roy. (NOTE TO FFNET READERS!! Due to this story's non-mature rating, this side story will only be posted to my LiveJournal account. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience but I do not wish to receive any further threats of being reported, nor do I intend to change this story's rating for the few instances of lemon that it will have. Please keep checking in with my LJ- the link is in my profile- or feel free to contact me and I will be happy to let you know when it is posted so you can read it, if you like.)
I am also going to do another one featuring Riza, Jean, and Sheska, namely because I think they need a bit more love. Plus there are a few details surrounding them that I'm dying to tie into the main story which I wanted to address without clogging it.
And as I finally approach an arc that I've really been looking forward to delving into, once again, I want to thank all of you for reading this. I could say it forever and still never be able to tell you nearly enough just how much it means to me.
Until next time.
xoxo