Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Title: After School Special
Pairing: RoyxEd, AlxMartel, mentions of past JeanxRoy and MaesxRoy, one-sided RussellxEd and AlfonsxEd, and so on
Rating: PG13 (this chapter)
Timeline: Present AU
Summary: Principal Roy Mustang finds himself strangely drawn to the school's newest student, a quiet social outcast with a metal arm and leg...
AN: Pretty sure the chapter title says it all.

After School Special
Chapter 35
"From Bad to Worse"

For all of the suffering that Ed had ever endured in his young life, he found that none of it compared to this, sitting there, less than four feet away from the person he loved more than damn near anything in the world, and hearing that person say that their relationship was over before it really ever had a chance to begin. It was a special kind of pain, one that made him ache in a way that nothing else ever could, one that started in his heart and carved a jagged path to his stomach, making him want to double over and scream.

Instead, he could only sit there, staring into the empty space of the living room and ignoring the deceitful stinging in his eyes, his hands in his lap and balled into fists as Roy told him that they were through. It was a good thing that Roy kept talking; Ed didn't trust himself to form words at the moment. Not when all he wanted to do was swear and yell and, most damning of all, cry.

Agony was what this was. Absolute agony.

"I need you to know, Ed, that this isn't… specifically… because of what happened with your friend." Roy stared straight ahead, perhaps looking at the same bit of nothing that Ed was seeing, his eyes impossibly dark and unimaginably sad, and he let out a forlorn sigh that seemed to last forever. "But… it did cause me to finally confront some things that I should have confronted right from the start. Things that… I guess I didn't want to confront because… I was… I didn't… I just didn't want to lose you. I put what I wanted ahead of everything else, including what was best for you. And I can't do that anymore."

"So… this is… for me…" Ed felt like throwing up all over again.

"Ed…" Roy paused, giving the teen just enough time to die a little bit more inside, hearing Roy say his name like that. "Your life is just beginning, in so many ways, and there's a whole world out there for you to experience. I don't want you to regret being tied down to me before you had the opportunity to start living."

"I don't care about any of that."

"You say you don't. And right now, at this moment, I believe you mean that. I really do. But you don't know how you're going to feel five, ten years down the road. Or even a year from now. You have no idea. I've already gone through the pain of losing someone I love. Twice, actually." Roy shook his head and sighed again. "I don't… I don't think I could bear going through that again, especially because you woke up one day and realized you didn't want to be with me anymore."

Ed finally brought himself to turn and look at Roy, in spite of the fresh wave of pain that washed over him in doing so. This was all wrong. They should have been laughing, cuddling, fucking, anything other than sitting there and discussing why breaking up was the right thing to do. Even if he understood what Roy was getting at, an understanding that made a sickening sort of sense deep, deep down, it was still wrong.

"That's not going to happen," he insisted.

"Once again, I believe you mean that. Right now." Roy met Ed's eyes and how Ed wasn't all but tackling him, holding onto him until he relented, was a miracle. "But even ignoring the very real issue of the distance between us, and the fact that you have your family here, most kids… most people your age… they aren't thinking about settling down with someone old enough to be their father and being a part-time parent."

Although his heart was breaking, Ed found he could still summon some measure of defensiveness to point out: "I'm not most people."

Roy offered him a faint, wry smile. "Yes, I know."

He reached out across the couch and cupped Ed's jaw, and used his thumb to wipe away the one tear that Ed was unable to stop from falling. Ed wanted to push him away, he wanted to be mad, he wanted to shout, he wanted to rage… but in the end, all he could do was close his eyes and lean into Roy's touch and pray that it wasn't just his imagination telling him that the man's hand was lingering there purposely against his face. If he could just hold onto that, and figure out what the hell to say or do next, then maybe—

"I should go."

Ed instinctively seized Roy's wrist with his left hand and he could feel a rapid pulse against his fingertips.

"Ed, please…"

"No."

"Let me go."

"No."

How could he, when he could hear the resolve in Roy's voice melting away? A slight shift of the head and he was kissing the palm of Roy's hand, and his heart rejoiced upon hearing a sharp intake of breath at the soft grazing of his lips. It was a shitty move on his part, if leaving was what Roy really wanted to do, but so what?

Roy was hardly the only selfish one in the room.

Ed opened his eyes to find that Roy had closed his, his brow creased in a frown, and that was okay because he was still there, there was still an opportunity to make this whole thing go away…

… until Al walked into the house, inadvertently and effectively obliterating the last bit of magic that had, until now, postponed the inevitable. Roy slipped out of Ed's grasp and stood up quickly, and Ed knew that he had lost.

"I'm… I'm sorry, guys," Al said, looking uncertainly between the two of them. "Martel forgot her cell phone. I'll just be a second."

"Don't worry about it. I was just leaving." Roy's voice was low and thick, and he couldn't quite bring himself to look Al in the face as he gave him a token ruffle of the hair. "Goodbye Al," he muttered, and then stepped quickly out of the house, never once looking back.

Al blinked stupidly at the door for a moment before turning around to face Ed. "What the hell just hap— Ed? Ed?"

Ed was only vaguely aware of the sound of his name being called.

Conversely, he was all too tragically aware of the fact that whatever could have been gleaned from that one chance moment would never come to pass.

Roy was gone.

XxX

Russ Tringham was irritated. Still. This would never be late breaking news to anyone.

For starters, Fletcher and Alfons were right: the movie was actually pretty good. But fuck if he was about to admit it. Nope, better just to sit there and stew, and try not to express an iota of excitement when something awesome happened on the screen. Which was, unfortunately, often.

There was also the small matter of having been sandwiched between the two other teens. Normally, such a thing would not have irked in and of itself. However, at some point during the timeless battle of armrest dominance, Russ found himself brushing up against Alfons' arm and hand more than once.

Which brought him to the most irritating thing of all: He kind of liked it.

Damn it, he didn't even want to like this guy at all, let alone like that. But be that as it may, Russ couldn't deny the utterly disgusting tingle he felt when they'd touched, making him feel all gross and fluttery inside, like this was some sort of fucking date instead of an impromptu night out with his rival for the affections of a person who would never give either of them the time of day.

Russ jammed a fistful of popcorn into his mouth to camouflage his scowl. He hated his brother for inviting Alfons along in the first place, he hated Alfons for being so stupid and nice and funny and generally not a bad guy, and he hated Ed for refusing to fall madly in love/lust with him. While he was at it, he also decided that he still hated Leonardo DiCaprio for no longer sucking balls. Worst of all, though, he hated himself for wanting not to hate all of the above.

It was going to be a long rest of the night.

As it turned out, he didn't know the half of it.

XxX

Riza knew she should have known better than to agree to a blind date at a bar of all places, but she still held on to the foolish hope that one of these times, she would not meet some annoying prick of a man.

Tonight was not one of these times.

After she sent him running, by way of fumbling around in her purse and "accidentally" revealing her handgun, she decided to stick around. Sure, there were tests to grade and plans to make, but tonight, she didn't want to think about any of that. Tonight, Ms. Hawkeye- or "The Hawk" as the kids called her, unaware that she was very aware of it- was out of commission.

She took a healthy swig of beer and tucked a lock of blond hair behind her ear, ignoring the appreciative glances all around her and smiling to herself as she imagined doing some target practice on their asses. Times like these, she almost wished she was a lesbian… not that she hadn't given it an honest shot during her college years. But alas, she loved the cock. Not enough to hop into the sack with any jerkoff, but enough to keep her from switching teams permanently.

After polishing off her drink, Riza left the table and made her way to the bar. One more and she would call it a night. Maybe two. Possibly three. Didn't really matter anyway since it took what amounted to an entire keg to even give her a respectable buzz. She spotted an empty seat and approached it. To the right was a woman babbling away on her cell phone and to the left was a man who appeared to be well on his way to shitfaced, if the glasses lined up in front of him were any indication. None of her business, but still, she briefly wondered how in the hell he was getting home.

Because she was polite (when not brandishing guns at assholes) she tapped him on the shoulder and asked, "Mind if I sit?"

The man turned and stared at her and even though he looked like he had just lost his best friend and his dog and everything else befitting a country song, Riza couldn't help but notice that he was pretty fucking gorgeous. Surely there had to be a catch. Considering her luck, a guy this good looking was probably gay.

"Help yourself." For goodness sake, even his voice was gorgeous, half-slurred and all.

And so she sat and ordered herself another beer. She downed half of it before deciding that the chatty woman on the phone was irritating her and attempted to make small talk with her other neighbor. She wasn't usually so forward, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Besides, if things got icky, it wasn't as if she couldn't just get the hell out of Dodge.

"What brings you out tonight?"

"I broke up with my boyfriend."

Riza blinked at the handsome man with the miserable face.

Then she laughed.

And laughed and laughed some more.

"I'm glad that amuses you," the man said, standing up.

"I'm sorry. I swear I'm not laughing at you. I just hate proving myself right." She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and gave her horrified new friend an apologetic smile. "You know what? I think we both need another drink. On me."

The stranger regarded her suspiciously. Eventually, he sat down.

"Thanks… uh…"

"Riza. Riza Hawkeye." Riza offered her hand.

"Roy Mustang." He obliged.

Riza knocked back the rest of her beer and ordered another round. She tapped her bottle against Roy's glass and they both took a generous chug of their respective beverage. After she was finished, Riza suppressed an overwhelming urge to belch and instead, swiveled her stool towards Roy and propped an elbow on the top of the bar.

"So, Roy Mustang… do you want to talk about it?"

XxX

Roy took another sip of his drink- he felt almost obligated to do so since the woman had outdone him in one go- and contemplated her query.

Although he was still sober enough to know that there were certain details best left undisclosed, he realized that yes, yes he did want to talk about it.

He needed to talk about it.

And so he did.

XxX

Al and Martel had finally left- again- about twenty minutes ago, and not nearly soon enough as far as Ed was concerned. He knew that they meant well, staying there to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, sitting there on opposite ends of the couch like he and Roy had… like they… like…

Ed winced at the memory. He was curled up on a nearby chair and staring at the empty couch and found himself wondering if Al or Hohenheim would be pissed if he torched the damn thing. It was a horrible thought and he hated himself for thinking it, but that didn't stop it from happening. So instead, he thought of his mother, and how she had looked sitting there in that same spot, all smiling and beautiful, even when she was sick and dying, and while it did soothe his immediate urge to destroy things, it also made him even sadder. There were already more than enough times when he missed her so much that he could hardly bear it.

If there was a God, or an Anything, then how cruel was it of Them to bring him out of despair, tease him with happiness, and take it away again? First with his mother, now with Roy…

At some point, Ed's vision had doubled, then trebled, and he blinked rapidly to bring things back into focus. He refused to cry. Crying was not an option.

Anyway. Al and Martel had sat… there… with all that space between them, like they didn't want to touch in any way, lest Ed have some sort of breakdown over being reminded that their relationship was perfectly perfect. It was sweet in its own stupid way, the way Al always thought of him. Al was always sweet like that, and yes, Ed realized that he was clinging to the thought of his brother to avoid thinking about other things, but so be it, because he wasn't ready to face the stark reality that Roy had just willfully, and literally, walked out of his life.

He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, and increased the volume in an effort to drown out his thoughts. The sound was so loud that he almost didn't hear his cell phone, which was lying on the small stand by his seat… and not because he was still holding out hope that Roy would call him and take it all back, no, not at all, even though his heart skipped a few beats when he heard the phone ring and he almost dropped it twice in his rush to answer.

While he didn't immediately recognize the number, it was an area code he knew all too well. Did Winry get a new phone number without telling him?

"… Hello?"

"Edward Elric?"

The voice was deep. And somehow familiar.

"Yes?"

"This is Lou Armstrong. You may not remember me…"

As if he could ever forget being pulled over by a man who was as large as the universe.

"I remember you. You're… Roy's friend."

"Yes. I need to talk to you, if you have a moment."

"About Roy?"

"No. About Izumi."

"Izumi?" Ed sat up in the chair, genuinely intrigued. "What, did you arrest her or something? I wouldn't be all that sur—"

"Edward." There was a harsh sigh on the other end of the line. "Izumi passed away earlier this evening."

"… What?"

He had wished for something to distract him from thinking about Roy and that wish was granted. In the worst possible way.

Was this nightmare of a day ever going to end?

XxX

Russ hadn't planned on going inside the convenience store to pay for the gas, he was just going to swipe his card at the pump and be done with it. But, after inhaling a bucket of popcorn- with extra butter, of course- and two boxes of Raisinets on top of the dinner he ate beforehand, Fletcher started whining about wanting some damn Cheetos. And since Russ actually didn't hate his little brother, try as he might, he agreed to get him some. As a token of politeness, Alfons offered him money, which Russ in turn, politely refused… knowing full well he would have bitched up a storm if the teen hadn't offered in the first place.

Believe it or not, it all made sense in his head.

And so, with the stupid fucking Cheetos for Fletcher and a pack of gum for himself, Russ exited the store in time to see- and hear- a muscle car pulling into a parking spot. And not just any muscle car, but a 1971 Plymouth Barracuda that was probably worth more than what the owner made in two or three years combined, assuming the average teacher's salary these days. Russ was hardly a classic muscle car aficionado- he would have pissed all over Roy Mustang's Mustang if ever given the chance- but it was hard not to have a bit of a boner for Ms. Hawkeye's Hemi 'Cuda.

Because kids can be assholes, she never brought it to school anymore, so it was nice to see it again… until Russ realized that she was probably driving it to score some sex and he was promptly grossed out.

Figuring the nice thing to do was say hello, since he actually liked the Hawk when she wasn't being a holy terror, Russ prepared to do just that… until he got a good look at the person sitting in the passenger seat.

Speak of the fucking devil.

"Get the fuck out," he muttered, his eyes wide, Cheetos and gum forgotten.

There was no possible way that Roy Mustang was sitting in his teacher's car. No fucking way. But yet, there he was. There was no mistaking that asshole, who was, admittedly, only an asshole because he had what Russ wanted, but that was beside the point.

He turned his head and walked quickly back to his car before either of them spotted him, his mind and body a jumbled web of nervousness and excitement. The nervousness was inexplicable; it wasn't like he was the one doing anything wrong. The excitement was easier to peg: something was far from right with this situation, something he could spin to his own advantage once he figured out how to do it. There was no conceivable reason on earth that Ed's perfect fucking boyfriend would be out with their teacher this time of night. How the hell did they even know each other? And wasn't Roy gay?

What the hell was going on?

"Russ, why aren't we leaving?" Fletcher asked.

"Shut up," Russ snapped, tossing the Cheetos into the backseat. "Just… shut up for a second." He craned his neck to peer into the store and made out a blond head by the coffee machine. Sure, coffee came in handy after a night of some sort of nefarious activity.

He felt Alfons' hand touch his shoulder and considered shrugging it off. But since he still kind of liked it, he let it go… for now.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah." He turned to look at his enemy/friend and was annoyed all over again that he had to be so damn cute. Jerk. "You're not in a hurry to get home, are you?"

Alfons debated the question and shrugged. "Doesn't matter, I guess."

Russ nodded. "Good."

He spotted Ms. Hawkeye leaving the store with two large cups of coffee. She got into her car, presumably handed one to the asshole, then the car roared into life. Russell waited until they were on the road before following. He could afford to give them some distance; even if he lost sight of them, it wasn't like he couldn't hear that beast moving down the road.

As he drove, he felt an odd sense of triumph over this unexpected discovery. And why shouldn't he? Sure, he was… sometimes… a bit of a prick, but everyone thought Roy shit sunshine and it had cost Russ plenty. Ed, for starters, and more importantly his friendship with Al, which, while more or less back to normal, still took a pretty big blow because of that fucking man. So yeah, if he had a chance to see Roy bite it, he would. His pride insisted.

So now what? He could call Ed, but these days, he had a feeling Ed would be hard pressed to believe him if he told him the sky was blue, let alone that Roy was stepping out with Ms. Hawkeye. That left the one person who still believed in him in spite of everything that he had ever done.

And, he pondered while pulling out his phone, that he secretly sort of hoped that Al would lay Roy out had nothing to do with it. That was just an extra perk.

"Al, I need you to meet me… I'm not sure where just yet… What?… Get your damn tongue out of her mouth and do it. It's a fucking emergency…"

XxX

"Some emergency."

Al waved at Fletcher and spared a glare for Alfons, both of whom had opted to stay in the car when Russ got out to greet Al.

"So, are you…?" Al started. He looked at Russ, glanced at Alfons, and then looked at Russ again.

Russ was appalled that Al would suggest something he was trying valiantly not to think about. "What? No."

"Whatever you say," Al said with a knowing smile. "Alright, so what's going on? I don't want to leave Ed alone much longer than I already have."

"Why, is he afraid of the dark?"

"No, you ass. Roy broke up with him."

Russ lost his happy thoughts. All of them. Every single one. Ironic, since he had been dreaming of hearing those words for some time now. But instead, he had a bad feeling. A really bad feeling. What a fucking fine time for his conscience to step into the game.

If Al already had just cause to be pissed at Roy for doing the dumbest thing in his life (because why would anyone in their right mind want to break up with Ed?) and that just cause was compounded by whatever was going on here… Russ didn't want to think of the possibilities.

So maybe he had wanted to see Al lose it on Roy a little bit. It didn't mean that he wanted Al to kill him.

"… What happened?"

Al shrugged. "He flew in, came to the house, and broke it off. Then he just… left. Ed said he was staying at some ho—"

The teen paused. Suddenly he became very aware of their location.

"You should go home and check on him," Russ suggested, a little too quickly.

"Why am I meeting you in a hotel parking lot?" Al asked, a little too quietly.

Russ was at a loss for words. Didn't matter. His face said it all.

"He's here." It was not a question.

"Al…" Russ was still struggling for words. His thoughts, on the other hand, came in an endless stream: please don't ask if he's with someone please don't ask if he's with someone please GOD don't ask if he's with someone—

"Is he with someone?"

Lying was not an option, especially when his expression was selling him out faster than he could think of a bullshit excuse. The matter was then rendered null altogether when Al took off across the parking lot without waiting for him to answer, making a beeline for the hotel entrance.

Oh, this was not good. This was, in fact, the furthest thing from good. Ever.

TBC

AN: Way to go, Russell.

I actually kept writing well into the next scene, but I wanted to end this with something suspenseful. And what's more suspenseful than Al rushing off to do God only knows what? O_0

See you next time.