The wrench hit his head the moment the door opened and while Edward really should have seen it coming, he would have liked at least a damn second to be able to try and avoid being brained by Winry. He opened his mouth to say as such but froze when he finally took in the scene that he'd walked into. Winry looked livid, and while her hard glare was burning a hole straight through to the back of his skull, they also gave away that she had been crying. Red and still slightly puffy, it was clear that the girl had only stopped crying recently and it was enough to guilt any argument into hiding away.
His eyes left Winry and found Al, standing in the doorway to the kitchen but his younger brother wouldn't even meet his eyes and that alone was enough to really wound Edward. Alphonse looked devastated, and Edward couldn't remember seeing such a look on his baby brother's face since their mother had died. Knowing that he was the cause of that pain in Alphonse was like a red hot dagger to the chest. Edward took a sharp in take of breath, and that one action seemed to hit the pause button on the whole thing and suddenly Al was looking away from them all, gazing off at the opposite wall as Winry started screaming at him.
"YOU INCONSIDERATE PIECE OF SHIT, EDWARD ELRIC!" Winry screamed at him, tears racing down her cheeks again. "How dare you? You can't keep doing this to us! Do you have any idea how that feels? Do you even care?" Edward opened his mouth to speak, to try to defend himself but the sharp sting from Winry's palm across his face stole his words. "Don't fucking try and talk your way out of this! We want to help you. We don't know how you must be feeling and we are here for you but you cannot just fuck off whenever you damn well please, Edward! Do you have any idea what that does to us? To Al? You were missing for a month, Edward! You could have been dead and then you just run off when you damn well please? How would you feel if it was Alphonse that had been kidnapped, tortured and raped and then when you finally got the pieces of him back he just shut you out and vanished whenever he fucking pleased!"
Winry stopped her screaming as a sob tore out of her and when Al moved to her side, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder she turned to him and buried her face into his neck as she sobbed. Al just tugged her closer, hugging her and still wouldn't look at Edward.
"You're such a jerk, Edward!" Winry mumbled into Al's neck through her crying, and Edward dropped his gaze at the heartbroken sound of it. "We're so scared for you and all you're doing is whoring yourself around and shutting us out and its terrifying! We can feel you slipping away from us and nothing we do seems to help."
"Winry... Al, I..." Edward tried to speak, but his brother looked at him then, and the look was enough to silence Edward as Al then looked behind him to Roy, who Edward had totally forgotten was still with him.
"Thank you for bringing him home, General." Al said, offering Mustang a smile that wasn't even trying to be convincing. When Edward reached out to his brother, Al just stepped away, pulling Winry with him and shooting a look that should have killed in Edward's direction. Ed's chest felt tight, and he felt like he was going to vomit from the agony that one look caused.
"Al, I'm sor..."
"Save it, Brother." Al muttered, letting go of Winry and turning away from him. "I don't want to talk to you." He muttered before he stormed off and the slam of his bedroom door echoed through the house. Edward stared down the hallway after his brother, and took a step forward but Winry's glare made him reconsider. The still sniffling girl turned to Roy then, offering him a small smile.
"Sorry about all of this, General. How about you stay for a bit and Edward can make some tea?" She worded it like an offer, but it wasn't and both men knew that. Edward didn't even wait for Roy's response before stomping off into the kitchen, fighting back his own tears. How was he still managing to fuck up and hurt the people he loved like this? By now you'd think he would know better.
Roy watched Edward leave with a sad look before he turned and smiled at Winry. "I would like that." He replied smoothly, taking the seat that the young woman offered before she sank down into her own, dropping her head into her hands. "If there is anything I can do, Miss Rockbell, to make things easier then please tell me."
Winry shook her head, sighing as she sat back in her seat. "Thank you, General.."
"Call me Roy, I'm not at work."
Winry let out a short grunt of laughter at that. "You should be, having to deal with his stubborn ass." She muttered, looking towards the doorway to the apartment's kitchen. "Thank you though, Roy, but I don't think that there is anything that you could do. I would say you should order him to get a grip and stop acting like this, but we both know that he'd ignore you and do what he wanted regardless." Winry said, sighing again and shaking her head. "Can't he see what he's doing to us? Can't he see that we just want to help him? I don't know why he's being like this, Roy. Why would he just vanish like that without telling us? Why would he just run off and what, to go get drink and have some guy take advantage of him?"
If the girl noticed Roy's flinch at that last comment then she didn't mention it. Was that what Roy had done? Had he taken advantage? He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I can't fully understand why Edward does anything that he does, but I do know why he ran off. Its not my place to really say, but I believe that Edward is suffering from PTSD. I seemed to have triggered a flashback and he understandably didn't take it well. I will see to it that he gets all the available help in order to ease his recovery." Roy looked up at that moment, catching sight of movement out of the corner of his eye as Edward walked back into the room with a tray of mugs in his hands. He watched the pair of them talk for a moment, and Roy offered him a brief smile before he turned back to Winry. "I promise you that I will see to it personally that he gets the best help the military can offer."
Edward moved into Winry's line of sight then, placing the tray down on the table in the living room before he grabbed a mug and handed it out to her in silence. She glared at him for a moment and then took it, watching as he dropped to kneel in front of her. "Win, I am sorry." Edward started. "I've been such an ass lately and I hadn't even thought about you or Al and that was so shitty of me. I just... I don't know how to talk about it. I don't want you and Al knowing what happened, not in detail. But that needs to stop. I know that now." Edward mumbled, turning to sit on the floor with his back to the couch where she sat silently. Edward looked over at Roy, meeting his gaze and finding the strength he needed in his obsidian eyes.
"I went out to talk to Roy about the fact that I had kissed him. When he grabbed my wrist to stop me pacing I..." Edward shut his eyes, taking a deep breath and forced himself to continue. "Hal wound restrain me, so when Roy grabbed me I panicked. I shouldn't have ran off but I just... I couldn't breathe Winry. I was right back there in that room with him holding me down and I could hear him and feel his breath on my neck and... hell I could even smell the whiskey on his breath and the only thing I knew in that moment was just that I had to get out of there and away from everyone." Edward didn't realise that he was shaking until there was a hand in his, a slightly rough thumb tracing over his cut knuckles.
Edward looked up to see that Roy had moved to him, and was currently holding his flesh hand. A glance over his shoulder, confirmed that Winry had witnessed the whole thing, but she didn't seem to care. She was crying again, and when she met Ed's gaze she slipped off of the couch and wrapped him into a hug. The moment he felt her arms around him, he couldn't hold it in any longer. He hugged her back, pressing his face into her hair and weeping. "I'm so sorry Winry. I just needed to disappear. I needed to forget. Fuck its all I can think about and its killing me. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He whispered to her, crying into her hair and each gasped breath he took in was laced with the smell of machine oil and hints of floral shampoo. Roy's hand stayed in his and it was only the smell of Winry's hair and the gentle caress across his knuckles that grounded him.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry." Edward murmured, over and over again until he wasn't sure he was even speaking real words any more.
Roy wasn't sure how long Edward had wept for, but the Rockbell girl stayed wrapped around him the whole time, not even moving when Edward cried himself silent. Remaining wrapped around him until it was clear that the alchemist had drifted off, letting his exhaustion claim him at last. Even then it took a long moment for the girl to ease herself away, swiping at her own tearful eyes. "Oh god, he's such a mess, isn't he?" She whispered as she shuffled away a little, looking down at where Roy still held Edward's limp hand. Her eyes darkened when she took in the cuts and the scraps on his automail.
"When my team found him, they said that it had looked like he'd been punching the ground." Roy explained softly, watching as Edward dozed. He looked so soft like this, so vulnerable. "It will take him a long time to recover from this, and there's no guarantee that he will ever fully recover, but Edward is strong. If anyone could make it through this stronger then it's him. I don't know fully what happened to him in that hell, Miss Rockbell, but Edward isn't shutting you and his brother out to be cruel. I saw him in there – after one of that bastards assaults – and it... He doesn't want you or Alphonse to be hurt knowing what he suffered."
"He can't keep hiding it from us though." Al's voice sounded out, and they both startled to look up at where he stood in the hallway, watching them sadly. "I hadn't realised that you were staying the night, General."
"If that's alright with both of you, I would like to. Just to make sure that Fullmetal is alright in the morning. Of course I fully understand if you would rather I..."
"Its okay." Al interrupted, crossing his arms. "My brother cares deeply about you, General. More than he would like to really admit, and I've noticed how you look at him. As long as Edward is happy, I don't care who that its with, but you better think about what you're doing because I will not let you hurt him again. So if you are looking for some fling then I'll happily see you out because Edward doesn't deserve that and I will not let anyone cause him pain, especially not now. Not while he's suffering so much already."
"I understand. Edward and I have a lot to discuss, there are rules against this of course, but I don't plan to cause him any pain. I promise you that I won't do anything that your brother does not want." Roy replied sincerely as he looked back at where Edward was propped up against the couch sleeping.
"His bedroom is the second door on the right. If you could get him to bed then I'd appreciate it. I'm not strong enough to carry him yet. The automail makes him heavier than he looks." Al said softly and Roy smiled at him, standing and ignoring as his joints popped at the movement. He was going to be sore in the morning, but he couldn't bring himself to care much. Carefully, Roy leaned down and scooped Edward up into his arms, groaning a little as he lifted the sleeping alchemist into his arms. Winry was on her feet, yawning into her hand as Al quietly tugged on her arm. "We'll just be in the room opposite if you need us." And with that the young couple disappeared.
Roy shifted his weight slightly and received a soft whine in response but Edward didn't wake up. Making sure not to jolt Edward too much, Roy moved to the room that Al had informed him of and after a brief struggle with the door, he entered Edward's room, silently easing the door closed again before moving to lower the blonde onto the bed. Roy took a moment to remove Edward's shoes, leaving them against the wall before he smiled sadly at the younger man. Placing a soft, chaste kiss on Edward's head before he moved towards the door again.
"Roy?" Edward whispered, sleep clinging to his voice. Mustang stopped, glancing over his shoulder to meet those sleep-dulled golden eyes as they watched him. Roy smiled at the blonde and was rewarded with a genuine one back. "Stay with me, Roy?" Edward reached his hand out towards Roy, in some sad attempt to grab him even though he was stood at the other side of the room from the bed, but surely he knew that it wasn't really required. Not just because of the fact that there was no way that Edward could have actually grabbed him, but more because how could Roy deny this beautiful man anything when he was so open to ask for it.
Moving back to the bed, the dark haired man sat on the edge of the mattress, kicking his own shoes off as Edward shimmied back to make room for him. Slipping his jacket off, Mustang then lay down in Edward's bed, trying to ignore the way that his heart was pounding in his chest. If word of this got out, he could lose his job. They both could. What the hell was he doing? Before his brain was able to fall into a total freak out, Edward was on him, kissing him roughly but slowly and all of a sudden any thoughts Roy had were vanquished, chased off by the feel of Edward's lips on his.
"Stop worrying so hard. I want to actually get back to sleep and if you stress much more I think you might actually implode." Edward murmured when he pulled away, smirking a little. Roy couldn't stop the chuckle that he let out in response. Edward kissed him again, and when Roy nipped at Ed's lip with his teeth the blonde whined softly and that was easily the most glorious noise that Roy had ever heard. They were both breathless when they pulled away, the lust in Edward's eyes obvious, but Roy just tugged him down into an embrace.
"You're exhausted. Get some sleep Edward. I'll be right here." Roy whispered, kissing the crown of Edward's head as the blonde settled into the hold. Roy waited until Edward's breathing evened out, and then waited a little longer to be sure that the blonde was completely asleep before he let himself drift off.
Fuhrer Hakuro glared over his desk at the dark haired man that stood to attention nervously in front of him, and he should be nervous. Hakuro had given him one job, one measly mission and the officer had came back to report to him that he had failed in his one simple task. It angered him, and he had to take a moment to try to compose himself before he rose to his feet and turned his back on the subordinate to glare out of his office window at the dark streets of Central City below. Folding his arms, he tapped his fingers irritably against his elbow. This was becoming bothersome. It had been such an easy and simple premise, so why was it being so difficult to execute. "You failed in your mission, captain." Hakuro ground out, still glaring out at the night.
"Yes sir. Sorry sir. There were unseen complications." The solider replied instantly.
"What complications would they be?" He spoke, turning back to the man at his desk with a scowl.
"It seems that General Mustang is much more protective than we had first thought, sir." The captain responded nervously. "He interrupted us twice. I had to leave after the second time or risk everything. Fullmetal did freak out when things got a bit more intense when we were out of the bar though, so I do believe that should we get the General out of the way then the boy will break easily."
Hakuro smirked at that. While he was still pissed off that the man had failed in his mission, he was pleased to find out that it wasn't a complete waste of time. He nodded, dropping back into his chair with a small chuckle. "That could be arranged easily. Tensions are always high with Drachma, I'll issue orders for Mustang and his team to oversee trade meetings up there and that will leave Elric without his guard dog. Once the boy is broken it will weaken that whole damn team and they will tear each other apart." Allowing himself a pleased grin, Hakuro turned his attention to the Captain that stood in front of him. "Ethan, wasn't it? It seems that I have a use for you after all. I want you to keep pursuing that brat, make sure that Mustang doesn't hear of it though, and when his team is on the first train out of here we will see how Edward reacts to seeing his old slaver friend. Dismissed Captain."
Ethan nodded, offering the Fuhrer a small smile and a salute before he turned on his heel and left the office behind him. He didn't really want to anger the Flame Alchemist, not from the tales he'd heard about the other man, but with him out of the picture he would be able to move in on Edward with nothing to stop him, and with complete freedom to do as he wished just as long as it pushed the unstable alchemist that bit further to the edge that he was already balancing on. He didn't know the full scale of Hakuro's plans, it wasn't his place to be asking questions of their country's leader, but he knew that the man hated Mustang, and he wasn't alone. There was a good few Generals who weren't best pleased with how Mustang was rising through the ranks, and he had become almost untouchable the moment that brat joined the military. Ethan was just pleased that the blonde was sexy as all hell, it would make his part of seducing and breaking him so much easier. He did enjoy the way people broke eventually, and to be allowed freedom to break a genius of Edward's level – there was nothing that excited him more than the thrill of that.