Red Roses2:
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. It belongs to Hiromu Arakawa.
!#$%^&*()_+~
The door to the Fuhrer's office creaked open. Ling swerved around and looked at Ed and Little Greed expectantly. Little Greed grinned triumphantly, and Ed was failing miserably at hiding a happy smile. Ling forced his own to mirror Ed's, but an empty feeling settled in his chest.
Little Greed would be living here. In Amestris. Doing whatever it is Ed and he agreed on with the Fuhrer. Or maybe just living with Ed and Heinrich. He wouldn't be with Ling.
He was ashamed of how much that thought hurt.
"So . . . we go back home?" Ling asked.
Ed nodded affirmatively. Ling noticed the blond's arms twitching. Then he noticed Little Greed's small frown once the homunculus noticed it.
"You want to hold me," Little Greed stated.
Ed smiled at him. "Yeah."
"But you don't want me to turn into Alfons Heinrich when you do."
Ed nodded slightly. Little Greed hung his head.
"I can't do that."
"I know. It's okay."
Ling could tell that Little Greed didn't think it was.
~!#$%^&*()_+
A shiver ran up Greed's spine. He looked behind him on the empty street. He swallowed hard and gritted his teeth. The wind blew gently, rippling his clothes and hair. He narrowed his eyes at the concrete expanse behind him. No person stood on the street, aside from him.
However . . . .
He smirked.
"So this feeling of impending doom is your doing, huh?" Greed asked the seemingly empty street.
Only the whisper of the wind replied. But that seemed to be all Greed needed. He ran towards Central Headquarters . . . despite the fact that Ed, Ling, and Little Greed were already turning the corner onto the street.
Ling panicked, Ed raised an eyebrow, and Little Greed just ignored him. Greed ran past them, barely registering that they were even there. He didn't stop, even when he looked back at Ed.
"Keep away from Pine Avenue for a while, okay, Doll?"
Greed turned the corner, not waiting for a response.
Ed and Ling stared after him. A vein throbbed in Ed's forehead.
"WHO YOU CALLING DOLL!?"
Greed kept running, barreling through the guards and jumping over the gate.
~!#$%^&*()_+
Ed opened the front door and announced their return. Hoenheim relaxed significantly. Pride greeted Ed and Little Greed at the door, sharing a mysterious smirk with her brother. Hoenheim rested a hand on Ed's shoulder.
"How was the meeting?"
Ed shrugged Hoenheim's hand off.
"Little Greed gets to live with us, as long as we keep a good eye on him. Fuhrer Armstrong doesn't want any other militaries to learn of his existence. Where are Winry and Scar?"
"Upstairs. Winry wants to visit with Al for a while, but she wanted to wait to see if Ling wanted to see his family."
Ling smiled. "Yes, I would." Without thinking about it, Ling patted Little Greed on the head. "You be good now."
Little Greed looked up at him, a slightly confused expression on his face.
Ling at first didn't register the reason why, under he remembered who Little Greed was supposed to turn into. But the child still had his black braid, his grey eyes, his rather round cheeks, and his child stature.
Ling retracted his hand, as though burned. He cleared his throat. Little Greed opened his mouth to say something, but Winry and Scar came down the stairs at that moment.
"Hoenheim says you're going to see Al and Mei?" Ling asked a little too quickly.
Winry smiled. "Yep! Want to come?"
"Yeah."
Scar handed Winry her coat, and after a quick goodbye from Winry, the three were gone.
Ed wandered into the kitchen with Little Greed and Pride. Hoenheim leaned on the doorway, a small smile fluttering on his lips.
He remembered when Ed and Al had followed Trisha around the house on their tiny toddler feet, like little ducklings.
Pride hoisted herself up so that she was sitting on the table. Little Greed climbed up onto the counter. In unison, they crossed their legs and both leaned back onto their palms, posturing like they owned the place. Ed started on dinner, asking the two homunculi what they wanted.
"Tea!" Little Greed chimed in immediately. Pride rolled her eyes.
"Nothing difficult to eat. I'm not embarrassing myself just to fill my stomach," Pride replied.
Hoenheim chuckled. They certainly lived up to their namesakes.
Ed glanced over his shoulder at his father.
"Oh, Dad, where's Alfons?"
It took Hoenheim a moment to realize that Ed was talking about Heinrich.
"In the yard. Working on the airplane."
And speak of the Devil . . . .
Heinrich entered through the back door, face smudged with machine oil and sweat rolling down his face. His shirt hung damply off of his frame. Small pants slipped from his lips. He raised his eyes from the floor and smiled at the sight of Ed.
"Ed. . . . How was the meeting?"
Ed grinned at him. "It went great. Little Greed'll be living with us now. How's the airplane?"
Heinrich forced his smile to stay on.
"It's finished."
Ed stopped what he was doing. "Really!?"
Heinrich nodded. "Yep. We can show it to Mustang whenever you want."
"That's great!" Ed leaped from where he stood and glomped Heinrich. Heinrich almost fell over, but he did drop his bag so he could catch the alchemist. Happiness and pride bloomed in his chest, but unwanted thoughts squashed them.
Ed probably did this sort of thing with Al all the time. . . . And knowing that bastard, it probably easily turned into sex.
Heinrich set back on the ground, trying to keep his smile on. It kept twitching; he wondered if Ed noticed and was ignoring it, or if he was just oblivious.
Ed laughed. "You're drenched in sweat."
Heinrich nodded in confirmation and pulled at his shirt.
Hoenheim drug the dishes out of a cabinet. Little Greed tilted his head out of the way. Pride slipped off the table and picked a chair she liked the looks of. Hoenheim took a closer look at the chair. Did it always look so . . . regal? Or did someone transmute it when he wasn't looking? He caught himself almost dropping the plates on thin air. He really needed to keep his train of thought in check. Was old age finally catching up with him?
"You want to take a shower before dinner?" Ed asked, turning back to the stove.
A light bulb sparked in Heinrich's head. An almost lecherous grin slunk onto his face.
"Oh, I can wait until after." The engineer leaned closer and whispered in Ed's ear. "So you can take it with me."
Ed squeaked, blushed, and gently whacked Heinrich's arm. Hoenheim narrowed his eyes at it, but he bit down on his tongue, slicing it. Blood seeped into his mouth, but he couldn't bring himself to mind.
Before Hoenheim knew it, dinner sat on the table, and he had to swallow the blood that had built up in his mouth. He snatched up his glass and washed the metallic taste down with the water. He wiped the evidence of blood off his glass with his lower lip and continued to pretend that he was fine.
Little Greed stuck a piece of broccoli in his mouth, and his eyes lit up.
"Sister, we ran into the original Greed today."
Heinrich froze.
"Did you, Brother? What was he like?"
"In a hurry. For a stalker, he sucks at it. He ran right past us, shouting something about staying away from Pine Avenue."
Hoenheim furrowed his eyebrows. "Isn't Pine Avenue the street that the portal opened up on?"
Ed nodded. "Wonder what he was talking about. If he's only been hanging around for a few weeks, then there's no way he could've known about the portal. I haven't been to it since before Al came back. But I will have to go with Hawkeye and Falman and check it out again. The investigation assigned to it hasn't figured out how to close it, and I know more about portals and the like than anyone else. I just haven't really been in a position to handle it properly. . . ."
Hoenheim bowed his head, the light flashing on his glasses, hiding his eyes. Ed opened his mouth to say something else, but Heinrich slammed his fists down. Little Greed and Pride seemed completely unaffected by it; Hoenheim and Ed jumped and looked at him.
"Why aren't - !" Heinrich growled, his teeth grinding against each other. "Why aren't you more – more concerned about Greed being here?!"
Little Greed looked affronted, but Pride shook her head. "Silly Brother, he means the other one." Little Greed immediately went back to blissfully ignoring the engineer.
"What are you talking about?" Ed asked. "He's not - ."
Heinrich stood up. Hoenheim had never really taken note of how much taller Heinrich was than Ed, but suddenly the fact struck him like a lightening bolt. Heinrich had to be about as tall as Hoenheim, and Ed looked so small – fragile – in comparison.
Anger – and fear – pounded in Heinrich's veins, in his head, in his heart – in his everything. His body throbbed with emotion. His eyes burned with it. It felt as though he was on fire, and he knew the only one who could extinguish the feeling was perfectly oblivious – or ignorant – on what was even wrong.
"He wants to sleep with you! Or has that escaped your notice this entire time!?"
Ed stared at him, uncomprehending why this was a problem – or maybe not understanding why it was bothering Heinrich so much. Either way, like a real mother, Ed glanced at the children.
"Greed, Pride, I want you two to go upstairs for a little while, okay?" Ed said.
Little Greed instantly fulfilled Ed's wish, and Pride stole her and her brother's plates up with them.
Ed gave Hoenheim a look. Hoenheim sighed and left the room, but he hovered near the doorway, just enough so that he could still see what was going on.
Ed finally turned back to Heinrich, still looking confused.
"Yeah, I noticed. He was a lot more up front about it when he first started. Compared to back then, he's just a nuisance."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Heinrich's fists and voice shook with barely restrained emotion.
"Well," Ed started uneasily. "It used to be that he'd take every opportunity, whether good or bad, to try to stick his hands down my pants. Now he's just flirting."
"He's the epitome of greed, Ed! What if – what if he just takes what he wants from you?"
Ed raised an eyebrow. "You mean rape me?"
Heinrich flinched, violently so. How – how could he just throw the word out there so casually.
"Look, that's not going to happen," Ed insisted. "There's no way Greed would do that."
"But Ed - !"
"He's had the opportunity before, but he left me alone and disappeared for three years. I think if he wanted it like that, he would've done it long ago."
"Ed, you're not listening!"
Ed stood up and set his hands on his hips.
"No, you're not listening, Alfons. Greed's not a problem!"
"DAMN IT, ED!"
SMACK!
"He's so much stronger than the rest of us, and he's made it clear he will fight me if it comes to that and - !" Heinrich faltered in his rant, suddenly realizing what the flesh-against-flesh sound had been.
All of his anger melted away, replaced by a quiet horror that froze his blood. No. He – he didn't just – no, he couldn't have. He hadn't lost his temper like that since he was twelve years old. He was in his late twenties now for God's sake. Why would he lose it right then?
But the wide, unbelieving, hurt eyes stared back at him, the cheek reddening in the shape of a fist. Tears weld in those golden eyes.
Ed brought his flesh hand up and touched his abused cheek. He winced at the touch, but he pressed his palm against the throbbing flesh.
Heinrich couldn't speak. How the hell was he supposed to apologize for that? He knew if a boyfriend had ever hit him, he'd kick their ass onto the pavement and never talk to them again.
As much as it would hurt to have Ed do that to him, he almost hoped the smaller blond would. Just to prove to him that Ed was strong enough to live without him.
Hoenheim stood rooted to the spot, his own fists trembling. He waited for Ed to do – say – anything in his own defense. He knew relationships were often rocky, and if given the proper attitude, everything could be conquered and not happen ever again. But it all depended on how Ed decided to handle the situation. Hoenheim prayed Ed would say the right thing, prayed he'd see hope in not having to constantly watch after his oldest like he had been ever since Al broke him.
It felt like an eternity until Ed spoke.
His voice shook, and it barely reached the volume of a whisper.
"I – I'm sorry. I-I can have Mustang do something about him. I-if you want."
Heinrich's heart broke. Hoenheim's was set on fire.
Heinrich didn't know what to do. What could he do when presented with that? Ed really would do anything to make him happy. . . . Even if that meant destroying what he believed to be true.
If Ed believed Greed to be harmless, then maybe he was. Greed wasn't Heinrich. Greed wasn't Ed's perfect person. Heinrich was. And he forgot that. For a few minutes – no, for the past twenty-four hours – he forgot that. Because he forgot, because he felt threatened, because he thought someone could actually take Ed away from him, he hit the one person he cared this much about. And proved to himself something that Heinrich desperately wanted to be wrong.
"Ed – I'm sorry I hit you. I – I didn't mean to." The most inadequate apology, but that was all he could get out.
Don't say it, don't say it, don't say –
"It's okay," Ed breathed.
- It.
"It's okay." Repeated. Like he was trying to convince himself. No, no, no. Don't do that, don't do that. "I – I'm fine."
"Ed."
Heinrich barely noticed that his own eyes were welling up with tears.
"Ed, it's not okay. And if you were fine, you wouldn't be almost crying. Ed," Heinrich stole himself for the one thing that could ruin everything that he had built up for himself in this world, but if it made everything all right then it was worth it. Equivalent exchange and all that. "If you have to give everything up to make someone stay, to make someone not hurt you, then that person is a son of a bitch who deserves a good beating. I don't want you to think I'm that person. I want to be the person you deserve. But the person you deserve doesn't hit you when he's frustrated and more angry at himself than anyone else for him being so pathetic. The person you deserve doesn't get himself riled up over past relationships, especially when the ex is married to someone else. The person you deserve might not always say the right thing, or might do things that annoy the hell out of you, but he treats you right."
He touched Ed's shoulders.
"Ed, does that really sound like me?"
He didn't like it how Ed didn't even bother to think about the answer.
"Yes."
Tears flowed down Heinrich's cheeks.
"But I'm not!" His words morphed into sobs as he tried to get Ed to understand. He felt Ed's hands cup his cheeks, felt Ed's lips on his, felt his breath as the alchemist whispered comforting words.
Back in the doorway, dread crawled up Hoenheim's spine. There would be no way he could protect his eldest. There would be no conceivable tactic that he could use to save his eldest from the mess that Ed's insecurities created. There would be no possible way he could ever keep his son from tears.
Hoenheim stumbled into the living room. He collapsed onto the couch and held his head, eyes wide in terror.
It was impossible to keep a repeat of the suicidal thoughts, the self-disrespect, the from-the-gut sobs, the long nights of holding Ed until he cried himself to sleep.
His eyes watered, and his cheeks felt damp, but aside from the horror, he felt completely numb.
~!#$%^&*()_+
Heinrich scrubbed his body furiously, drawing blood. He felt disgusted. He felt dirty. He felt like he was something scratched up from the bottom of a sewage tank. And it had nothing to do with how sweaty and dusty he was from working on the airplane.
Ed had let him do everything he wanted to him. Touch him, kiss him, nail him. Even after hitting him. In the same room he had hit him in.
Wasn't there something that kept things like this from happening? It was called a conscience, right? Or was it self-respect? Guilt? He didn't know anymore.
His only comfort wasn't really a comfort: at least he fucked Ed the way Ed wanted to be fucked. Too bad that meant fucking him like a dog.
Damn it!
Heinrich heated the water as hot as it could, the water burning his bleeding skin. He gritted his teeth to keep himself from screaming.
Punishment. Because Ed wasn't going to. Because Hoenheim looked like he had given up on looking after Ed. Because Pride and Little Greed didn't seem to care. All those two said was "Stupid human."
What was wrong with those homunculi anyway? They kind of freaked him out. But they were Ed's children, and Pride was his, too.
Pride had looked depressed when she said "Stupid human." Greed just looked confused. His eyes widened as he started to think of why.
If Pride was Pride because of Heinrich's pride, then would her mood depend on how proud he felt?
He certainly didn't feel proud right now. The opposite, actually. He felt terribly disappointed, in himself, in Ed, in everything.
He turned the shower off and sighed.
Great. He couldn't take proper care of Ed. He upset his "daughter". He could barely take care of himself. Heinrich examined his scalded skin. He looked like a lobster now.
~!#$%^&*()_+
On Pine Avenue, a black blob lay in an alley way. It looked like a crippled old man, yet completely different. It was a mass of black, barely visible in the dark.
He chuckled darkly.
"Soon . . . the last of my new sins will be born. . . ." The blob coughed weakly. "I never thought I'd be happy that Hoenheim and his children got the better of me. . . . But now that the younger has his body, the older is perfect to harvest upon."
It coughed again, harder this time.
"Soon I will return to my proper form. Soon I will get my revenge."
It laughed weakly.
"Thank you, Edward Elric. . . ."
It spat blood, the blood as dark as the blob itself.
"You made yourself such as easy target . . . for my rehabilitation. . . . It's only a matter of time . . . ."
. . . .
Unless of course the original Greed messed things up.