A/N Heya once again. :) I am here with chapter two for you. It honestly feels quite weird splitting this into chapters as it was meant to be a one shot until about 15000 words in ahaha. But yeah, I'm so thankful you guys seemed to like chapter 1! i often put pressure on myself to make chapters a certain length, so since I wasn't anticipating making chapters, it's all a bit weird for me xP. I hope it still flows!

Anyway, enough rambling. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: i dont own fma man

This was why Roy didn't drink a lot anymore. While young he almost never got hangovers, after he passed twenty-five they just got bad. The sun creeping in through the blinds was just stinging his eyes, his head was pounding, and he felt like he hadn't drunk water in years.

He barely remembered how he got home, vaguely recalled Falman driving and Havoc and Breda singing at the top of their lungs. He must've been half asleep.

Somehow, he managed to drag himself out of bed and down the stairs, where he promptly downed three glasses of water in a row. At least he didn't feel sick. He put two pieces of toast in the toaster and popped a pill for the headache, silently pondering last night.

He remembered most of it. It was only towards the end that things got a bit hazy. The one thing that plagued him though was the rumour about Ed, and what bet he had made. Knowing Havoc and Breda, a drunken bet was a sober bet. There was no way he was getting out of it without consequences. And he didn't want to even think about what they would have in store for him.

He had made this rule during another one of their silly Friday night meetings, where anyone backing out of a bet gave the others permission to play a prank on them. He'd only made that rule to have a laugh at the others' expense, since he never made bets he knew he couldn't win, but how he had gotten so pissed last night was beyond him. And of course, wherever Edeline was concerned he seemed to lose a bit of common sense anyway…

Maybe something good would come out of it though. Maybe Ed would end up attracted to him too (who was he kidding…), maybe he would lose the bet, and all would be back to normal. Maybe Ed really was with some General and told him that straight away.

Roy's heart protested at the last outcome. He really didn't want her to be with someone else. But what was he expecting? He had never shown interest in her, and for the majority of the time he'd known her, he hadn't felt attraction at all. It was only a year after the Promised Day the attraction hit him…She was bound to become attracted to someone sooner or later, just because he had feelings for her didn't mean she couldn't develop feelings for someone else…

A heavy sigh escaped him, just as his toast popped.

Why had he even started being attracted to her in the first place? She was rude, aggressive, complained about literally everything, and was just a pain in the ass. But he was also aware of her loyalty, her kindness she sometimes showed in a tough-love way, and her smart mind and determination.

Damn it.

As he ate his breakfast, it also occurred to him that Breda had said his week to 'seduce' Ed, whatever that meant, started from today. But today was Saturday – he wasn't going to see her.

Unless…

Damn it, he'd have to plan something believable and invite her over. There was no way he was putting himself at a disadvantage by missing two days. Honestly, he barely believed he could win the bet anyway, but he would damn well try. Ed was most likely not attracted to him in the least, and by doing this he could confirm that. Maybe that's what he needed to move on…

Yes, he was going to go through with this bet, and see where it led.

Glancing at the clock, he wondered what time Ed usually woke up. He had some alchemy circles he'd been meaning to study, alone, but now he might as well use it as an excuse to get Ed over here. Cause the only advantage he had in this whole thing was that Ed couldn't say no when it came to alchemy.

It was ten o'clock now. Would Ed be awake? Or would he call and wake her up? Cause the latter would make her hate him and that was not what this was about.

Sighing, he decided to wait till twelve to be sure. In the meantime, he was going to try and make himself feel more alive, so he had a shower, shaved, did some cooking for lunch and by the time he'd finished, it was twelve o'clock.

Should he call her? Maybe Breda was too drunk to think that today was Saturday. Maybe he meant Roy's one week started Monday. It would make more sense but at the same time, he would have next weekend if he didn't have this one…

There was no getting out of this.

He picked up the phone receiver, ready to dial the number he'd learned by heart. For a second, he debated calling Breda or Havoc to discuss this, but decided against it.

He was calling Edeline.

The phone rang and rang, for a moment making him think she was still sleeping, or just not in the flat. But then someone picked up.

"Hello?"

It was definitely her, with her rough voice and permanent slightly passive-aggressive tone. She sounded awake enough, so he guessed he hadn't dug his grave.

"Hello, Fullmetal." Immediately, he cringed. Maybe this would be harder than he thought.

He and Ed had always had this professional relationship, it was going to be weird trying to breach that. She was bound to be suspicious too…Goddamn it.

She was silent for a second, as though surprised it was him. "I'm not coming in today for no reason whatsoever."

Despite himself, Roy chuckled. "Same with me, don't worry. I was actually wondering whether you would like to assist me in deciphering some alchemy circles. I'm at my house, not at the office."

Again, silence. Roy would bet she was already suspicious.

"What kind of circles?" Her curiosity was piqued but she didn't want to show it.

"All sorts. It's completely irrelevant to the military, just a little hobby of mine. So, what do you say?"

A part of him thought she would say no, but then he remembered alchemy was involved.

"I'll be over in half an hour."

And with that, she hung up.

The only reason Ed knew where his house was, was because he had invited over the whole office for a new year's party once. It had been more than two years ago now, so he was a bit bewildered Ed didn't ask for his address.

He busied himself with tidying up the lounge and looking for the alchemy circles, perfectly printed on A3 paper. He knew one of them was a water array, but that was literally all he knew about it, as it was the opposite of his field of expertise. Hopefully Ed would know more.

This may actually turn out to be a useful learning experience. At least it wouldn't be awkward, cause once Ed began talking about alchemy, she wouldn't shut up.

It felt like only five minutes had passed before his doorbell rang. And there she stood, her forehead up to his shoulder and her eyes staring up at him. Her stunning blonde hair was up in her usual ponytail, her body clothed in her familiar tank top and leather pants.

"Come in." He moved out of the way to let her in and closed the door behind her. Already this felt weird. Unfamiliar. He had never been alone with Ed in his house before. Hell, he was out of uniform too.

She sank down on the couch and looked around with a raised brow. "Where's the alchemy?"

"Just a minute." He went to his study to fetch them and stayed a bit longer to think.

He needed a plan. He needed to start being pleasant to her and not completely professional even though that was what felt normal and comfortable. He had to do this slowly, otherwise she'd be suspicious, which she actually didn't look at the moment.

Having a vague idea of what he was going to do, he exited the study with the papers in his hand.

"I know one of them is a water array, but I don't really have much idea about water alchemy." He handed her the papers, and her eyes lost no time, scanning the first one expertly.

"This one's an earth array, but more specialised I think." She went silent, scrutinising it some more. "Do you have some pen and paper?"

Roy hurried to give her what she wanted, and immediately realised that alchemy was too much of a distraction for Ed. He hoped she would at least carry on a conversation…

"Would you like anything to drink or eat?" Polite, friendly. Good start.

"Nah."

Great.

He sat on the couch next to her, watching her as she scribbled illegible things on the piece of paper. Roy admittedly felt a bit useless, as he had planned on taking these arrays to the library to figure them out, as he lacked the knowledge completely, but Ed seemed to be in the zone.

Roy thought she had forgotten his entire existence, but she surprised him.

"Okay so, this first one is used to manipulate metal. It's part of the earth arrays, as you can see from this," she pointed to the square that surrounded the inner part of the array with her pen, which Roy recalled was distinctive to earth arrays. "But," she went on, "You can see it's special from this small triangle here," the back of her pen slid across the paper with ease. Roy felt like a student again, feeling the spark of excitement for alchemy. "Which indicates it's one of the special groups. Figured it was iron cause there's two small triangles."

"How do you know it's iron just because of the two triangles?"

Roy was immersed, and Ed was too. She looked at the array again, then quickly scanned the scribbles before replying. "No small triangle means it's a basic earth array. Special groups have at least one triangle because they need more stability, more focus to activate. Iron having two triangles is just theory, you either know it or you don't."

She put the paper down, evidently satisfied with herself. Roy was sure she wasn't aware she was smiling, but it made her look so much more approachable. Her passion for alchemy had always impressed Roy.

"You got that?"

Roy nodded, still feeling useless but less annoyed about it, as Ed wasn't judging him for his lack of knowledge, but instead seemed perfectly happy to teach. That was another thing he admired about Ed; she never expected anyone to have the knowledge she had. She was down to earth, fully aware that the way she acquired that knowledge wasn't exactly common. Roy could bet she thought his level of knowledge was more normal than hers. And Roy had to agree. It was almost scary how much Ed knew about alchemy.

"On to the next one then. How many are there?"

"Six I think."

She hummed in thought, glancing at the clock. "We might not be able to do all of them today. Your brain will get fried." Before Roy could comment on that, she added, "How about we split them and do three today and three tomorrow?"

And whatever comment Roy was about to make left him. She had just made his life a whole lot easier.

"Yes, that would be perfectly fine."

She grinned, so brightly Roy had to smile too. Damn, he wished she got as excited about him as she did about alchemy. But that would never happen.

Who was he kidding, Ed had never shown any interest in him whatsoever. Maybe he should just ask her if she was with someone and get it over with…

"Ohh, I know exactly what this one is! I've used it before…" She trailed off, looking sheepish, and Roy was immediately ready to admonish her for something she probably did on a mission and he never found out about it…

"What is it?" He stared at the circles, and the very fine writing, wondering how on earth would he even start deciphering this one had Ed not been here. It would've probably taken him ages to find something familiar to start researching.

"It's a lead to gold transmutation circle. It's illegal." She gazed at him with a wide smile, one that just spelt 'And I don't give a fuck'.

Roy, amused in spite of himself, shook his head. "If the military had found out…"

"It was years ago, all is fine."

Roy admired her bravery too.

He also had to do something, because this was still very much in his comfort zone, and that wasn't his goal for today. He had convinced himself he was going through with this stupid, drunken bet, and now he had to force himself to approach Ed in a different manner…

So, he said the first thing on his mind. "You have really nice hair."

She froze, he cringed, and leaned against the back of the couch to distance himself. Why was he completely incompetent when it came to Ed?

Slowly, she turned her head to look at him, her expression full of confusion and…was she creeped out?

"…Thanks?"

Roy pursed his lips, offering a forced smile. "You're welcome."

The air was thick, both of them incredibly uncomfortable by Roy's out of character compliment. This was why he never left the slight professionalism he had with Ed. Because it was just…weird…

Ed was silent, and Roy was too scared to open his mouth again in case he made it worse. She wasn't looking at him now, staring at the gold array but not really seeing it.

What was she thinking? Maybe she wanted to bolt now. Maybe he made her too uncomfortable. And who could blame her? Her older, commanding officer had just told her she had nice hair out of the blue.

Great, Roy.

And yet, now that he looked at her better it seemed almost like she was...sad?

What in the world had he done. He was so confused. He'd just told her she had nice hair!

"Maybe we should take a break? How about some brownies?"

His voice seemed to snap her out of her trance. She looked up at him, surprised. "Sure."

But even when Roy went to the kitchen, more for a breather than anything, Ed was still looking through the arrays. She could never just take a break.

As he was getting the brownies ready, he thought about putting an end to this bet and just dealing with the consequences. Ed had looked incredibly uncomfortable, more than he'd anticipated, and after that she went all weird and sad looking and quiet and – that was weird for Ed. And Roy didn't like it one bit.

He carried the two plates back to the lounge and handed Ed hers. Immediately, she started devouring it. Roy took that as a good sign.

"Did you make these?"

Roy smiled. "Yes, I did."

Ed stared at him for a moment. "Damn, didn't think you could bake."

"I'm a pretty good cook too, if I do say so myself."

Ed smirked, looking at him disbelievingly. She put her empty plate on the table, away from the arrays. "I bet you burn everything and think that's what you're supposed to do."

An opportunity presented itself, and an idea came to him. This would be weird too, but at least it wouldn't be out of nowhere… "How about I cook for you then? So you can see for yourself."

Ed look surprised, but admittedly not as shocked as before. Perhaps it had been the spontaneity of it that had caused the discomfort. To Roy's surprise, she turned a bit red in the face. "I guess it would be better for me to be the one to tell you it's bad. At least then you won't get it from someone…important."

Roy didn't know what to think of that, all his mind was doing was trying to figure out how to plan all this. What was he even doing.

Ed wasn't looking at him now, her eyes back on the array. It was like her safe place for when things got awkward.

"Okay." Roy decided. "How about tomorrow? We could continue with the arrays and then I'll cook you an unforgettable meal." He smirked, in an attempt to put some normalcy in their situation, but it still felt so unbelievably wrong.

"Unforgettable it will be, that's for sure." The look she gave him just said she still wasn't expecting anything good.

She was probably just being cheeky though.

A/N Hmmm so Roy's going through with it, but it's kinda awkward still...What do you think will happen? ;)

Btw, I am planning on updating this once a week, either on a Wednesday or a Thursday x