Departure XIV

Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist does not belong to me and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.

Pairings: Roy and Ed, others mentioned

Warnings: Shonen-ai, divergence from episode 13, chimera!Roy, attempted plot

A/N: I'm trying to start working on this chapter early. I am very tempted to turn the Scar/Al story into its own separate series because it's likely to be completely separate from this one for a while. Otherwise I would probably be splitting chapters or alternating from Al and Ed's perspective.

"Kitty bastard, give me back my legs!"

The trip to Dublith had been a quiet and stilted one. Fortunately it was also one without bruises and bleeding, because people would have noticed a youngster being beaten on a train by a strange woman. However, Teacher had refused to discuss anything- not State Alchemists, not the mind-shattered chimera, nor their fugitive status. So there they were, trudging through the dust on a hot afternoon to get to the Curtis' Butcher shop… All the while awaiting they wayward pupil's punishment.

This had nothing to do with Edward's current predicament.

He had been loaded down with as many bags as he could conceivably carry; a very clever stratagem devised by his teacher to keep him hobbled. He would have to literally drop everything to make his break for it- and she would immediately take notice, giving her more than enough time to stop him. Even worse was that the baggage was piled high enough in his arms that he couldn't see above it.

Edward had doubted Mustang was truly thinking coherently, but there were the cat instincts and the mischief of a human soul remaining… One that had decided it did not like the tension or being ignored.

Somehow Mustang tangled himself in Edward's legs, making a soft chuckle-hum as he draped over Edward in the middle of the road. This of course caused Ed to spill his burdens- making them both fall, with Mustang landing on Edward. Thankfully Edward had dropped fast enough that his teacher's fist swung harmlessly over his head, only taking a few hairs out of his bangs.

His legs were sat on quite quickly by a smirking ex-Colonel, and Ed thought he saw a flash of Roy's old self. It left Edward shaken for long enough that Mustang had put his chin on Edward's shoulder, still almost-laughing.

This resulted in Edward's screech of anger and his current situation.

"I am so going to blackmail you with this when I fix your mind, Mustang," Edward vowed, turning into a snarling beast thing.

Mustang was not at all impressed, wiggling a bit to make himself more comfortable and causing Edward to turn red in the face. The stifled snicker and obvious chuckles from behind him told Ed that his dignity had taken yet another beating from Mustang… He wanted to be angry, but…

He meant to pull Roy off his legs but his hand decided he liked petting Mustang better. Edward had the sudden, ironic thought of going up to Al and asking "Can I keep him? He's soft and he doesn't shed and I think he likes me…"

Izumi Curtis looked down at him, her expression suited better to a moment of extreme constipation. "Are you finished?"

Ed's eyes widened, shoving Mustang away and leaping up to gather what he had dropped. "Yes ma'am!"

The laughter stopped, turning into contemplative silence again as the Fullmetal Alchemist scrambled to obey. Tim Marco, towards the back, gave Ed an oddly understanding look before Riza hid her toothy grin. (This made Ed question his sanity for a moment. Then he had other things to worry about, like his skin.)

Mustang was not happy about this new development, but he stood up and turned his back on Izumi, sniffing. Ed thought if Roy had a tail it would have thrashed.

"One thing you were never good at was being ignored, showy bastard," Ed muttered behind his many cases. The silence stretched out the rest of the walk to the butcher shop, leaving Ed wishing he had been able to run.

As soon as they entered the house behind the shop, Izumi became a whirlwind of activity. She ordered Mason, Sig and of course Edward about easily, telling them where to put their guests, bring food in from the pantry to make for supper and Ed- stop your cat!

Mustang, drawn by the smells, had edged his way to butcher shop and particularly in the direction of the fish counter.

"Hey! Kitty bastard, what are you doing?"

This prompted an innocent expression and the decision to jump nonchalantly on to the kitchen table and settle comfortably.

"I do not think that becoming a chimera has changed him all that much," Riza idly commented. Marco, behind her, was holding in his hysterical laughter at the sight.

Ed missed the odd expression that passed between Izumi and Sig, and Mason gestured for Hawkeye and Marco to follow him upstairs.

"Edward, go get my easy cooking cookbook."

Gulping, Ed did so.

"This is a large group so it will be a bit crowded," Mason said by way of conversation, leading the two adults away. Riza cast Ed one last look- she had to have sensed there was a reason for this- but he smiled and shrugged sheepishly. Ed knew he deserved the beating that he had coming.

"All right. Can you get your- friend- to stay inside?" Izumi asked, walking up to him. Her face was expressionless, but Mustang seemed to know she was speaking about him. His eyes were wide, looking back and forth between Ed and Izumi if not truly able to understand the words.

"Hell, I could never tell him what to do when he was fully human," Ed muttered, backing away from the person on the table. "Kitty bastard- uh…" He had a flash of insight.

"You come down here right now and follow me outside where you can keep me out of trouble because you're an overconfident, oversexed, fucking bastard asshole who sends me off on suicidal missions because you are a lazy morally bankrupt ass with a god complex!"

He hoped the redundancy got his point across.

And here Ed was reminded of every single reason why he had disliked the man, who sank back against the wood planks of the table and stretched out, laying his head on his arm and rolling over. His body language said he was miffed, and was hiding a bit of hurt from Ed's lack of attention. Besides, didn't Ed know you never told a cat what to do?

That was exactly what Ed had in mind. He smiled, feeling mostly smug about manipulating Mustang for once. His stomach twisted a bit at the droop to the other's frame, but Ed didn't want to share the beating. Mustang had shown a protective streak that his gut told him would only get them both in worse trouble.

Sighing, he turned, and saw Izumi next to him with her arms crossed across her chest.

"All right now, Ed…"

He just hoped that Sig would have some ice or meat to put on his bruises later.

"You joined the State Alchemists." It was not a question.

Ed nodded, swallowing down his guilt. He had made his decision; he would stick with it. He would also stick with his decision to leave the military.

Woosh

Ed felt the incredible sensation of flight- before he collided with the damp earth he had been walking on. His teacher had moved too quickly for him to stop her- not that he would have- and thrown him.

"Your left leg is automail. Your steps sound differently. Did you think I wouldn't notice? So is your arm. The rumors say your brother goes around in a suit of armor- one far larger than he ever could have grown." She was staring down at him, and Ed's stomach twisted at her frown of disappointment.

"You did the two things that disgust me the most," she said quietly, cracking her knuckles in disgust at him… and maybe something else. "You sold yourself out-"

Ed took a deep breath to counter.

"And you performed human transmutation."

His lungs locked, his rebuttal frozen in place- he nodded instead. "Al tried to talk me out of it. But… but we just wanted her back." He wanted to plead with her, but there was no excuse for what he did. He did his best to piss her off…

"And it cost you your arm and leg." There was a kick to his ribs. "How could you be so stupid?"

Ed shut his eyes, rolling over to protect his ribs and waited for more blows to rain down. There was a pause, and two more kicks… then she stopped.

"Now tell me what happened."

Edward looked up through his fingers. His teacher blotted out the light, hovering over him before she squatted down beside him. Her eyes were familiar- this time looking like she did when she had taped him and his brother back together after a rough sparring lesson. They were kind eyes, like his mother's when he had misbehaved and she wanted to bring home the lesson learned.

Oh yes, he had learned his lesson.

Opening his mouth, Edward licked his lips, and began to tell the story of the past five, maybe six, years.

The words came haltingly at first. Telling of his mother's sickness and death and her begging to see her husband again was painful. He told her how two little boys had wanted nothing more for her to get better. About doing something he had never wanted, trying to find his father… and the bastard had yet to return.

Yet once the words started, they didn't want to stop. They started to trickle, then flow, then pour as he confessed his decision to bring his mother back, to finding Izumi Curtis and begging her to be their teacher. After that there was their training, then going home; and the final, fateful night when they had attempted to break the last taboo in science.

He agonized over his description of what happened to Al, his guilt at that one moment of hope, that maybe they had succeeded and that maybe it was worth giving up what they had lost… He told of the horror of what he had seen and his guts rebelling at what they had made. Then he whispered of his desperate wish to bring Al back, pulling his soul from the Gate and the loss of his arm.

The night had been filled with hellish light and cold rain. That tickled Ed's memory, but he had other things to think about.

The introduction of Mustang went awkwardly. Explaining that the jaguar-chimera had been a State Alchemist and the one to recruit him was not easy. He didn't want his teacher to believe it had been anything but his own choice- from her expression he thought she would have words to say later.

His choice to take automail, and the fire that Mustang's hope had lit, came out in a rush as he tried to get through the tale of the exams; they inevitably led to Nina's story and what she had become and her unfair fate.

During the story, he didn't realize he was adding things like "Mustang said" or "He had the weirdest look on his face when-." It inevitably led to the short jokes, to people in the office, to the years he had spent as a dog of the military. Then he added the fact that Mustang liked to lead him around by the nose; but that it was because he was trying to help them find a way to the Philosopher's Stone that did not involve the same path as the military. The constant one upping, the jerking of each other's chain…

Then there was another moment of storm, and walking in to see his nemesis haunted by a past he had never thought existed.

It had shaken Ed to see his tormentor as a human being. He didn't know how he could convey that with his words, as he didn't have them all himself. So he resorted to lots of wide hand gestures. This led to their discovery of Marco and the train, and the foundations of his world being shaken again at the newspaper article declaring Mustang's death.

The rescue attempt, the false creature pretending to be the man who held such an important, if confused, part of his heart, went on for several minutes because it involved the horrors of Lab 5.

Eventually, with his voice scratchy and hoarse from overuse, he wound down to his departure from Al, and his guilt, and Al making the choice for him. They had separated, after five years of being constantly together. Ed going to restore the person he had become… fond of, and Al going with the scarred man to see if they could discover the meaning of the marks on his arm.

The words ran dry, emptying him out and leaving his heart sore from overuse. Looking up, he saw that the sun was set, and his teacher had not moved.

"You stupid child."

There was a fist to his face, knocking him on his rear before her arms opened, offering her strong shoulders and warm chest.

The confession had made him feel clean for the first time, but the tears that started down his face eased the pain.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, burying his face in her shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I- was so stupid… I never thought-"

"Shhhh… Ed, you were a child. Children don't see the world as adults do, they don't have to."

"I'm sorry…"

Her hands went to his hair, petting him softly, and Ed swallowed his sigh. He wished it was… someone else. There was a wordless moment as his sobs got louder, covering up the soft footsteps.

Another hand joined hers, lightly clawed and catching in the twists of his braid, unraveling it quickly. The hum that accompanied it made him sob all the harder. The guilt he had held on drained out; it left him exhausted. Yet he found forgiveness, in the hum and the warm arms. Now he if he could put things right…

"About your, ah, friend," Izumi said quietly, looking over Ed's shoulder to the man standing beside her. The spots were visible under the collar of his shirt, a pointed reminder that he was no longer human. "What exactly do you feel for him?"

Ed looked at Izumi, then at Mustang, opening and shutting his mouth several times. He finally looked away.

"Ed, he's what, twice your age?" She looked extremely concerned. "And… your mother died before she told you… a lot of things." Now her tone turned very awkward. "You realize that this is about as taboo as human transmutation…"

There were a few things in Ed's life that had surprised him. As a scientist, he believed in the natural laws and that everything could be understood. Yet chaos had a way of creeping in to his life- things like his incomplete human transmutation theory, things like his own hormones and that his little brother knew he was gay before he did…

Now his teacher was trying to give him The Talk.

The Talk was something he had missed out on, though Winry had told him about hers from Granny Pinako when she had started her monthlies. It was before she became embarrassed by it. After a while she stopped talking about it entirely. Ed, who had firmly believed that Winry was an honorary boy, hadn't understood for the longest time.

"Uh- Teacher…"

"Well, you realize that your body does undergo changes at this age. More to the point, anyone you find attractive will fascinate you…"

"Teacher?"

She wore the same strained expression from earlier. Rather like she was constipated and trying to hide it.

"Now, I am not your mother, and I'll have Sig explain the mechanics of safe sex later, but you know that it can make things extremely complicated. Even, since you are both men, there is no chance of pregnancy; sex does add a level of intimacy to a relationship. You also realize that he is-"

"Teacher, I don't even know if he likes me like that!" He ignored the man's hands in his hair, falling on his behind and waving his arms. It disturbed Mustang, who grunted in annoyance. "And who asked you?" he snarled, glaring at the man. "And why are you here anyways?"

"He's been here nearly the entire time," Izumi answered, face softening. "Do you really like him, Ed? Is he worth it? You don't know if you'll ever be able to repair his shattered mind."

Shattered. It tickled him a little more this time.

Mustang sat down next to him, looking at Ed intently, the last of the light dying against his hair and face. There was no cat expression this time. It was Mustang- looking beaten and worn, like he had after their fight. It was just him, and no one else.

"Yeah… I do. Teacher, he's a pain in the ass, but he did it because he wanted us to find what we were looking for, just not the Stone. I do know he's not lost, he's in there." His tone was firm, before it dropped to softness. "And- yeah, I like him." That was embarrassing to admit to anyone. "He's a sexy bastard."

"Ed," she said, clearly beginning a lecture, when he cut her off.

"Teacher, I want to help him, because I want to. Even if he doesn't care back, he's a person I want to help anyways." He looked at Mustang. "He's this way because he wanted to protect me- protect us. I don't want that to go to waste. Equivalent exchange… and like I said, I want this."

Izumi stood up, looking down at him, closing her eyes briefly. "Ed, you can't use automail to replace your heart."

Ed's shoulders twitched, looking at Mustang and Izumi and back, before looking up at Mustang's tired face. "I don't know. I have a very good mechanic…"

Crack

"That was the stupidest line I've ever heard!" Teacher roared.

It was almost loud enough to get through the ringing in Ed's ears.

The sun had died long before the three returned to the butcher shop.

"What are your plans now, Edward?" Teacher asked, eying Mustang and Ed out of the corner of her eye.

"We're on the run from the military- or whoever was actually running Lab 5. I never told anyone where I learned alchemy so I don't think they came here after me… Teacher, I came here to ask you if you knew anything about the Philosopher's Stone, or… how to fix a broken mind. They were trying to deconstruct it, like how matter is deconstructed with any alchemic process." He looked up at her earnestly. "Matter cannot be created or destroyed- so it has to still exist in some form, even as raw materials. Do you have any idea-"

She rubbed the back of her neck, not looking at him. "We'll talk about that in the morning, Ed. I imagine you will need a bath and to get patched up."

Edward winced at her tone. So he had a busted lip and few bruises? So… okay, he had more than a few bruises. He didn't think his ribs were broken but yeah, he was breathing shallowly. He could still walk, couldn't he?

A yawn interrupted his thoughts, making him look up in time to see those quite impressive teeth in Mustang's mouth.

"You need to take care of your pet, too."

Ed smacked his face, groaning, but she had taken the moment to disappear. Looking at Mustang, he sighed. "Come on. You are not my pet."

His kitty bastard grunted, making a smile flicker of Ed's face. "Was that a yes or a no?"

No cat ever gave anyone a straight answer. It was a lesson Ed had known, but his Colonel was much the same way.

No answer once again. Shrugging, Ed took Mustang's hand, leading him in the door. The main living area was deserted- though a simple meal had been left on the table for them.

"Hey, kitty-"

Mustang didn't wait- he leapt up on the table, picking up a bowl and smelling it, inspecting it carefully before deeming it edible. Then he proceeded to wallow.

"Kitty! Kitty bastard, what the hell are you doing?" It was too late. Mustang had successfully sunk his hands into the bowl of stew and was picking out the meat, licking his hands for gravy. "That's not how you treat stew! Okay, did that when I was little but dammit-"

Not content to listen, Mustang planted his face in the bowl.

"That's ENOUGH! Come on- we're getting a bath!"

"I will hold this over your head for the rest of your life, Colonel," Ed began, dragging Mustang to the bathroom of the Curtis house. "Any time you even consider calling me short again I will bring up you jumping on the table and making a mess! Dammit!"

The last time that Mustang had been bathed- well, the entire party, for that matter- had been when they left the safe house. Then it had been Maes and Havoc doing the honors. Ed didn't think they had encountered any trouble, but if Mustang took it into his head to fight him… Ed shuddered.

"Come on…"

The bathing room in the Curtis house was a simple one- a massive claw footed tub, a drain in the floor and a shower on gray stone. A stool sat near the drain, and Ed walked past it to start filling up the tub.

"All right, let's get those clothes- off-"

Ed stopped. Then he flushed the color of his coat, because it suddenly occurred to him that he was going to be seeing Roy Mustang naked. And he was going to see Ed naked as well.

Steam did its best to come out of his ears from the heat of the blush as his thoughts sputtered to a stop.

Roy Mustang- naked- me-

One of Ed's great talents was making things up as he went along- that included getting the clothes off an oblivious Roy Mustang. His flesh hand shook a little- the automail was too heavy to shake- as he unfastened the button down, peeling it off the other man's body and noting the stew broth all over it.

We'll need-

Thoughts once again halted, as the shirt came off, and Ed took a deep breath. He told himself they were both men, that there would be nothing there he had never seen before; except for the spots.

The difference that had been wrought by the chimera making process pulled his scientific reason out of the swamp of hormones. Barely; He told himself he could ignore his hardening penis long enough to… uh… study. Yeah, study.

Taking his pants off was another thing entirely… Ed's eyes glazed over as he did that; more out of shock that he was actually doing it than anything else. He swallowed…

He tried to take a step back, look at Mustang with some detachment. It was just a bath. It wasn't like he was in any kind of shape for anything else. Right?

His eyes flicked up and down Mustang's body, trying not to sputter. His skin was pale- even paler were the old scars- burns, a knife? He didn't know… there were more recent injuries, too. Ones he probably got while in captivity.

Damn, there went the hard-on.

"I'm sorry, Colonel," he said softly, sitting Mustang on a stool to wash his larger body off. "I should have been there to protect you. Seems I'm not good at helping anyone. Even Al ran off."

The rough cloth slid over Mustang's skin, leaving soap and taking off the grime. "Why you?" He kept on washing, looking at the pattern of rosette spots as they darkened and faded over his back and shoulders. "Why did I have to… for you? Cause you're still an ass."

Mustang lifted his head, tilting it to the side and closing his eyes in pleasure.

"Huh. I thought cats didn't like water…"

Ed sighed, once again noting the difference, subtle though they were, in his skeleton and muscles. He let his fingers follow the curve of Mustang's shoulder, down his arm, stopping with the scrubbing and carefully moving the joints to see how they worked. Tucker could never have done such a good job… Maybe it was Marco's research? He didn't know.

"I'm sort of grateful for that fake though," he told Mustang- more thinking out loud than really talking to him. "At least he got me to realize it was you I wanted a kiss from." Dammit, he could feel the heat rising again to his cheeks in embarrassment. The man no longer smelled of his cologne, like he had during that forever ago in his office. He did smell like himself.

Mustang cracked open his eyes to watch Ed's inspection, vaguely curious as Ed left Mustang's arm. He walked his fingers back up Mustang's back, rubbing his neck at the base of his hair. He did not protest the touch- in fact, he arched in to it. Mustang's expression became blissful.

Ed's heart and stomach lurched. His hands jerked away.

"Bath- I need a bath-"

He shimmied out of his clothes like they were greased, and found the shower head to douse himself with cold water. "It's not fair- why do you have to be so pretty?" Edward hissed. He could still feel Mustang's eyes on him, blank and unreadable. The washrag was quickly soaped and he ran it over his body- and jumped when he realized he still had his erection.

"Why won't you cooperate?" he asked his dick, which did not answer but got harder knowing that Mustang was still looking at him. "He's not going to respond, there's no reason for him to want me and I really don't want him as a mindless-"

He turned to the wall so he could argue with his anatomy in semi-privacy. He didn't notice Mustang look thoughtful, getting to his feet. Edward did notice when the washcloth was taken from him, and his back was very carefully scrubbed.

Ed's eyes bulged from their sockets, looking up over his shoulder.

"Mustang?"

There was no answer, save the intense look on Mustang's face as he continued to wash him. It made the words stick in Ed's throat and his chest flutter. His mind tried to rationalize- he's just returning the favor, he's a cat, he believes I need a bath too-

His dick did not agree, wanting Mustang's attention as the cloth moved lower, over his ass and to his legs. The soft hum was back; was it his imagination, or was there a speculative edge to it? Ed's fingers dug into the stone wall as he peeked over his shoulder at Mustang.

Still there, still washing and still… Ed shivered when the cloth moved from his back over his shoulder and on to his chest.

What to do- what to do- okay, he knew what his dick wanted to do. It wanted his hand down there now.

Or Mustang's; it wasn't going to discriminate.

"Colonel," he whispered, leaning into him, jumping a little when he felt Mustang's chest against his back. "Do you know what you're doing?"

He felt Mustang move against him, making a strange yowl in the back of his throat. It reminded him of something- reminded him that this wasn't Mustang. At least, not completely. He leaned away, pressing his arm against the stone, and his face against that.

"Dammit!" He twisted away, looking at the mindless thing. He knew Mustang was there- but cats were randy, weren't they?

Mustang had not moved, his eyes shaded, but Ed licked his lips at the other man's beginning arousal. Hell… how far would he let this go?

"Mustang," he murmured, and the man slid closer again, leaning down and dragging his nose, then his tongue, against Edward's neck. Oh damn-

His cock enthusiastically responded, throbbing, while Ed went weak in the knees. Oh yes, he enjoyed this- but he wanted-

Closing his eyes, he told himself to get it over with quickly, and grabbed the shower head. He didn't want to do this with a man who couldn't even say his name.

It made Mustang jump back, hissing in surprise and discomfort as the cold water hit him in the face and body. It ran over Ed, making him lose his erection and he bit his bottom lip.

"Yeah, I don't like it either. But you'll thank me later." Then it occurred to him that was one of the adult things people always ranted about. "And maybe some day we'll get to do this for real."

The offended glare he received did not mollify him at all. Now they were both clean… and a hot soak would be nice but he didn't want to risk his cock taking over his thinking again.

Hell, he was still tempted now. Mustang wet was beautiful.

"Come on, let's go," he murmured. There were a few towels already there. Slinging one around his waist, he dried himself and bit his cheek while he did the same for Mustang.

He hoped they were in different bedrooms. He wanted to jerk off in quiet later.

To be continued

A/N: Next chapter, Al and Scar. My life has been unpleasant lately, so I wasn't able to get much writing done. I hope to write faster, but I hope the long chapter helps.