Sorry for taking so long to update this guys! I just moved to a new house, so I haven't had much downtime, plus our internet was gone for a while...but I'm back! Updates will be more regular from now on. :) Enjoy~

Two weeks flew by like nothing. Well, almost two weeks.

Edward had never realized how rough the night before his wedding would be. He'd been up and running for who knows how long at this point, but he couldn't sleep. Couldn't even relax.

Of course, part of that was Al's fault.

"Brother, just sit down and watch the movie," Alphonse pleaded. "It's no use pacing like that, you need to calm down."

Ed shook his head, still walking back and forth behind the couch in Al's apartment. "You say that like it's easy." He paused for a moment, somewhat sheepish. "I think I might have had too much caffeine lately. I'm tired, but I'm not, not at all."

"That's just nerves. And excitement," Alphonse replied, waving him off. "Come on, if you sit and watch, you'll start to get tired, and you're going to need your sleep."

Well…that was true, at least. Edward did need his rest, if he wanted to be awake for any of tomorrow. Thank goodness they'd planned a night wedding—if he had to get up early, Ed was sure he wouldn't make it. Sighing, restless, he plopped down on the couch next to Alphonse. "What movie?"

"Whatever relaxes you," his brother replied easily. "I was going to throw a bachelor party for you, but you nixed that, so now you don't get to do anything exciting."

"Aren't you the sweetest," Edward grumbled—but the comment had made him think. Ed leaned back into the cushions, rubbing his temples. "What do you think Roy's doing now?"

Alphonse raised an eyebrow. "Getting drunk. Doing the whole night before thing properly, if you ask me."

"So you'd rather me be getting drunk right now?" Ed asked archly. "I thought you were better than that, Al."

"Not really," Alphonse laughed. "I'm just still put out that you didn't want to do anything exciting tonight, is all."

"Well, I intend to do plenty of exciting things tomorrow night—ow!" Edward shouted as his smacked him in the face with a pillow, hard. "Jeeze, Al, I meant, oh, I dunno, getting married. Get your mind out of the damn gutter."

"Right, because you're always so innocent," Alphonse snorted. Ed grinned helplessly, unable to argue, and Al shook his head but dropped it. "Come on, pick a movie already."

Edward wasn't entirely sure he was actually in the mood for a movie…but he wasn't really in the mood for anything, except for time to skip forward a solid twelve or thirteen hours. But he couldn't have that, and Al was right, the only way he might end up getting some rest was if he focused on something other than the wedding. Wordlessly, he grabbed the remote out of his brother's hands, scrolling through the options at a breakneck pace. "Nothing sad, that's the last thing I need right now, fucking tears…" Ed skipped over the horror and action movies as well—those would only keep him awake. "How about we just watch a comedy skit?" he proposed. "I don't know if laughing will help me sleep, exactly, but it'll pass the time and maybe distract me from the stress…"

"Ooh, I know the perfect one!" Alphonse squealed, yanking the remote back and…turning the TV off.

"Um…?"

"It's on YouTube," Al explained, pulling his laptop over. "Dane Cook, remember?"

A grin spread easily across Edward's face. Yeah, he remembered. He and Alphonse had used to watch that guy together. Usually, Al was laughing but embarrassed by the tone of the humor, and Ed was almost more amused by his brother's expressions than the jokes themselves. "Yeah. How long's it been since we watched him?"

"A while, he released a new skit recently…here we go!" Delighted, Alphonse clicked the video and jacked the volume up. Ed closed his eyes—while he might be missing something without seeing the man gesturing and walking around, he was trying to relax, and the bright screen wasn't going to do anything for him. Minutes in, he was already laughing, peeking out the corner of his eye to see Al's expressions…which were less alarmed than usual. A pang went through Edward—his brother was growing up.

Well, so was he. Tomorrow, Ed was getting married. That was a huge deal, something that usually didn't happen this early in someone's life…but he was ready. Edward in no way regretted this decision, it was just a lot to take in at moments like this. To see Al maturing (or not, depending upon how you looked at it), and then to realize how much he had grown up himself…it made Ed nostalgic. Which was strange, considering their less-than-ideal childhood, but still, he couldn't help it. Sudden emotion made Edward choke, and he reached out, clicking to pause the video. "Al?"

"What's wrong, Brother?"

"Nothing," Edward responded, shaking his head. "It's just…I'm getting married tomorrow. And it's just so early in my life—no, I'm not having second thoughts. But I'm so young. People usually wait for this. I'm only eighteen, but I feel like I'm jumping straight to the mile markers in life people have when they're twenty-five, or thirty, or older. And I just…don't want to completely lose…the way things used to be, you know? Especially with you and me."

"Brother, I don't know how you think that could possibly happen," Al said gently. "For one thing, you could get as old as anyone ever has and you'd still be a kid at heart. And I'm always going to be your little brother, okay? You're getting married, and I'm so excited for you and Roy, and that you get to be so happy so early. I think it's great, personally—this way you can be together for longer than most couples, you know? It's not right for everyone, but I know you're ready, and I know you two love each other. But that doesn't mean that just because you're getting married I'm going to distance myself or anything. You're embarrassing enough by yourself, and if I can handle that, I can handle you and Roy together. I'm still going to stick around, and when I get married, I'm going to make you be my best maid and you'll have to wear another dress."

Edward laughed, the weight in his chest disappearing. He leaned over, wrapping Alphonse in a tight hug. "You're great, you know that? I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Married or not, Brother, we're family," Al whispered in response. "You'll never have to find out what you'd do without me. You're stuck with me."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Roy sipped his strawberry margarita thoughtfully, a faint smile on his face as he watched a heavily intoxicated Breda try to flirt with some girl gown the bar. Thank goodness the wedding was late tomorrow—otherwise, the team would never sober up in time. Even so, Roy had slipped the bartender a twenty to not let anyone give Breda—or Havoc, for that matter—any more alcohol.

For his part, Roy was limiting himself to three drinks, and was halfway down on his second. Even Fuery had tried to push him to not worry about it, but there would be plenty of nights to get drunk that didn't matter. The last thing Roy wanted was to have even the thought of a hangover on his wedding day.

"Hey," a voice behind him said, and Roy jumped, only to find Falman standing behind him. "Sorry," the other man apologized, taking a seat next to him at the bar. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"No worries," Roy replied, waving it off. "I was just thinking, is all."

"That's a dangerous thing to do sober," Falman laughed. Roy rolled his eyes.

"Please. Even I'm more buzzed than you right now."

"I pace myself," Falman responded. "It's much more fun when you can get through the night without puking."

"Are they that bad?" Roy asked, alarmed. He hadn't thought Havoc and Breda had gotten that much alcohol down before he stepped in…

"No, no, don't worry. I just meant in general. They're fine—they'll regret a few decisions in the morning, but aspirin will fix that. More or less."

Roy grinned, taking another drink. Almost done, now. While Havoc was more fun to mess around with, Falman was a great guy to have a serious talk with. "So what were you thinking about?" the man questioned, signaling for another shot of whiskey.

"Tomorrow," Roy answered. "What else?"

"Nothing bad?"

"No, of course not," Roy confirmed hastily. "Nothing like that. I'm…beyond excited. If I wasn't at least a little buzzed I don't think I'd be calm enough to carry on a conversation right now. It's just funny to think that not so long ago I'd be over there with Jean acting like an idiot—with a little more success—but an idiot nonetheless. I never thought I'd want anything other than to mess around with girls who were barely sober enough to consent." He stopped, laughing, almost ashamed. "It sounds awful in retrospect."

"There's nothing wrong with it," Falman argued. "I know you, and I knew you then. You may have been a bit of a womanizer, but you never once went after a girl who couldn't make a conscious decision. That's not you."

"I know, it's just…funny," Roy repeated, swinging down the last of his margarita. He debated momentarily, then decided to wait on the third. "Look at me now. I'm not even sure I want another drink."

"It's a smart decision. Tomorrow's an important day," Falman reminded him. "You'll want to remember it. Besides," he added with a grin, "Ed would flay you if you showed up with a hangover."

"Pretty much my thoughts exactly," Roy responded wryly. "But a year or two ago I would have taken the drink anyway and just faked my way through it. I've…I dunno. Matured. It's strange."

"It's the natural order of things."

"Yeah, and that's the problem," he muttered, suddenly downcast. Suddenly very sure he wanted another drink.

"What?" Falman prompted after a long pause, watching as another strawberry margarita was delivered. "I don't understand, what's the problem?"

"The natural order of things," Roy sighed. "You're born, you grow, you mature, you settle down, keep growing, older and older, and…you die." He hadn't meant for the conversation to turn dark, but the thought had been nagging him for a while now.

"Ah. I see." Falman exhaled slowly. "You're worried about the age gap between you and Ed."

"Fourteen years," Roy reminded him, voice hollow. "I'm going to die before he does, Falman. Isn't it a little cruel of me to marry him just so I can die?"

"It would be crueler of you not to. Imagine how angry he would be if he knew you cared for him but that you backed away because you were afraid of hurting him. You'd just make it worse. I thought you weren't having second thoughts?"

"I'm not. I love him. I want to get married. But the thought of him having to deal with me dying…"

"Everyone dies at some point," Falman remarked sagely. "Cheer up. You're an athletic guy, and really, most of your work is behind the desk nowadays. You aren't likely to get killed working for the military anymore, and your health will be enough to keep old age at bay."

"But—"

"Shut up!" Roy was so shocked by the command he actually obeyed. "Have you seen yourselves lately? You and Ed? You're perfect for each other. I'm certain that when you die, it will be together. I can't imagine it otherwise."

Despite the morbidity of the thought, Roy smiled slightly. There was a sort of tragic romance to the idea. "What makes you say that?"

"You two are inseparable," Falman remarked, as though it were obvious. "Listen to me: Ed is giving you the best years of his life, Roy. You ought to give him the happiest in return. And to do that, you can't keep thinking like this."

Somewhat ashamed by his outburst, Roy nodded. "I know. Logically, I'm just as likely to die in a car wreck tomorrow as I am to die of old age. So…yeah. I shouldn't worry about that. I have to just be happy with the time I have, whatever that may be."

A smile twitched at the corners of Falman's mouth. "You really have matured."

Roy grinned back, his somber mood gone as quickly as it had come. "Yes, well. I'm moving on in my life. To a better place. Maturing, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Everyone has to step up to bat and grow up sometime, and as long as I'm not alone…I'm okay with that."