Here we go, people, chapter sixteen!
And once again, thank you so so so sooooo much for your response guys!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Chapter Sixteen
Roy woke the next morning to find Ed still asleep on his chest. Roy smiled. Then there was a knock on the door. "Sir? It's nine o'clock, I've warmed up the leftovers from yesterday and I've got a cup of coffee here for you."
Bless you, Lieutenant.
"Please come in."
Hawkeye opened the door, walking inside with the promised coffee in hand. Her expression softened ever so slightly when she saw why Roy didn't open the door himself.
"Good morning, sir."
"Good morning, please leave the coffee on the nightstand, I'll get to it shortly."
"Very well, sir. Would you like me to bring your breakfast up?" Her eyes fell on Edward's still-dead-to-this-world way of sleeping.
"Yes, please. Maybe the scent will wake him. Just take whatever you want first and me and Ed will eat the rest."
"Yes, sir."
And so Hawkeye left and returned ten minutes later, already done eating. The woman's efficiency was something both wonderful yet also slightly terrifying.
She put the tray down to Roy's right, the warm fumes wafting lazily through the air, slowly permeating the room with their exotic deliciousness.
They seemed to do the trick, as Ed's stomach began rumbling.
"I'll go get things ready, I expect that we'll be ready to leave in forty minutes?"
"Yes, thank you, Lieutenant."
She left the room just as Ed's stomach growled again. Then his nose began sniffing the air lightly. Then his eyes opened and he looked up at Roy. "Daddy?"
"Good morning, Edward."
Ed propped himself up on his right elbow, leaning it on Roy's chest as he watched the tray and its heavenly display of leftovers. Roy couldn't remember the last time that he had got breakfast in bed.
Roy began sitting himself up, leaning his back against the headboard, Ed sitting on his lap, already with a box on his own lap, gulping down the contents. Roy smiled and grabbed a box of his own. The way the kid ate left it impossible not to smile. He seemed to relish the simple fact of being able to eat.
Which may not be far off …
If Ed had been dreaming about his captivity, then being able to eat would be a thing that would bring him about as much pleasure as it did. Ed always ate his breakfast with a surprising amount of gusto. Roy put down his box and hugged Ed just as Ed finished the contents of his own box. Ed turned around and hugged him properly, the right side of his face pressed against Roy's chest. "What's wrong, Daddy?"
"You've been dreaming about the Pentons again, haven't you?" Roy sighed.
Ed seemed to sag slightly. "Yes. How did you know, Daddy?"
"It's nothing. I guess I just know you really well by now." Roy didn't want Ed to start thinking that he should eat less or slower. With everything that had happened to him, Roy just wanted him to be as happy as possible.
"Oh. Okay." Ed was silent for a minute, just sinking into the hug. "Daddy? Can you please adopt me?"
Roy felt tears sinking through his undershirt.
He was surprised by the request. "Why do you want that? I'm already your guardian?"
"Then I'd really belong to you," Ed cried. "With guardian you're just supposed to look after me. With adoption you'd really be my Daddy and no one can take me away because you have a kind of ownership. And … And then you'd really have made the choice instead of having the Führer ordering you."
"You're scared that I would give you up? That I'd just walk away?"
"I don't know. Just please. I want to belong. I want to really really be yours. I'm afraid that Hohenheim will come back and take me away. I don't want anyone to take me away. To say that I'm theirs because I don't belong to anyone. Please, Daddy. I don't wanna be a temporary arrangement." Ed was crying silently into his undershirt, shivering slightly.
Roy held him tightly, soothing him. He hadn't really thought that there was much difference, but Roy could see what it would mean to Ed. To actually have a father, a legal one that wasn't … well, shit. And he obviously felt that he didn't fully belong to Roy just with guardianship. And Roy would honestly love to say yes immediately, but he couldn't do that without hearing from Alphonse first. He couldn't just adopt one of them, or one of them against their will, could he? And he knew that Alphonse still called Hohenheim "Dad", which could mean that he was opposed to it. "I have to hear with Al first, but I'll see what I can do, okay?" Roy kissed the top of Ed's head.
Ed just nodded.
"Hey, Alphonse, could I have a word?" Roy walked down the stairs into the basement. He had asked Hawkeye to postpone their departure for a bit.
"Oh, Roy, is something wrong?" Al lifted his head from where he was sitting on the couch, a book on his lap.
"No. It's just, uhm … I had a talk with your brother, and he asked me something that I needed to hear with you about first…"
Damn, this is harder than I had planned.
"What is it?" Al asked, kind as ever.
"Listen, I understand that you still care about your father and that you may not want to, but I was wondering, because guardianship is kind of temporary … how you'd like it if I adopted the pair of you?"
There, Roy, you did it.
"Oh, uhm. So that would legally make you my father, wouldn't it?"
"Yes. And I know that I have been dedicating a lot of time to Ed, so if you need some time to think, I'll understand perfectly. But I'd like to be there for you, for the both of you. And it matters a lot to your brother … And I'd love to be able to call the two of you my sons. You and your brother are wonderful and I don't feel that taking care of you is a burden in any sense. And so I'd like to be your official parent, if you'll let me."
There you go, Roy. A nice little speech. Now everything is up to him.
And even though he said he'd understand it if Al said no, he couldn't help but feel devastated at the thought. It was at these sorts of moments that Roy realised how much he cared about the Elric brothers. It was odd for Roy to feel like this. It had been a repressed thing for over two-and-a-half years, and then, upon finding Edward, upon realising that he was about to lose them, he had felt some kind of emotional panic. He hadn't felt like parent. Maybe like a distant uncle, while Fullmetal had been working under him. But upon realising that he could have something more, well, he had felt overjoyed.
He was scared as hell too of course. And confused. But with each hug from Ed and chuckle from Al, he knew that this was what he wanted.
"How long have you been thinking about this?" Al asked.
Roy went over to the couch and sat down beside him. Standing just made him feel awkward. "Honestly? For about twenty-five minutes. That was when Ed asked me. I hadn't really thought that there was much difference, but to Ed it would mean having a parent again and give him a sense that he belonged to someone. He's afraid that someone will come to try and take him away again because he doesn't feel like I, well, own him. He is scared because for the last ten years, the only ones who's tried to claim him have been the Pentons." Roy paused. He didn't want to make this all about Ed, Al needed to know that he was just as wanted. He braced himself for the grand finale. "I have been prepared for the responsibilities ever since the night we found him. So if you'll have me as your parent, I'm all for it."
God, Roy. That's the best you could come up with? It isn't all about Ed and Al needs to know it, and that's what you say?!
For some reason, Al began chuckling. "You decided that you wanted to be our legal parent in twenty-five minutes?"
"More like twenty-five seconds, but I needed to get dressed."
Roy couldn't tell if he was doing a good job anymore or not. He was panicking inwardly at his clumsiness. And he was known to be a smooth talker? What the hell had happened to him?
Al chuckled a bit more.
"What's so funny?" Roy asked, he was tense as hell and afraid that he was making a fool of himself.
"It's just funny how much you've changed in these last weeks. You've gone from being Brother's commanding officer to our guardian and now you're asking to be our dad."
"If it's a bit too sudden and you want –"
"Yes," Al interrupted him.
Roy felt his heart sink. "That's understandable, just tell me when you've decided."
"No-no! That's not what I meant! I meant yes to being adopted!" Al said urgently.
"You mean it?" Roy couldn't help the smile that was forming on his face.
"Yes. You've done so much for me and Brother these last few years and you've already proven yourself to be a great father. I trust you." Al hugged Roy and Roy hugged him back. "Thanks, Dad."
Roy felt something warm spread inside his chest at being called that by Al.
"It's my pleasure, Al."
"Hello, Sir, it's Colonel Roy Mustang." Roy had decided to just get this done as quickly as possible, and he knew that if he waited until later, then his mind would just be preoccupied for the rest of the day.
"Ah, Colonel Mustang, I hope everything is going well with you and the Elric brothers?" Führer Bradley asked at the other end of the phone.
"Yes, that's actually why I called. You see, Sir, I would like to adopt them in order to become their legal parent."
Bradley laughed. "I see the Elrics have taken you by storm! That's very good to hear, Colonel. And what does the Elric boys think about this?"
"It was Edward's suggestion in the first place."
"Ha ha ha! I see, Colonel Mustang. I'll approve the papers today, then all you have to do is sign them and send them to my office. You should be their legal parent by the end of the week."
"Thank you, Sir. And if I may make a second request, I would like to ask the state to stop paying me the compensation as they will now be my children and I do not feel it would be right to receive payment for taking care of my sons."
"That can of course be arranged. Enjoy the spoils of fatherhood, and good luck, Mustang."
"Thank you, Sir, I already am."
Bradley hung up the phone and Roy did the same. He smiled to himself. Asking the Führer himself to fix and approve the adoption papers was of course the quickest way to do this. He also knew that the man would be more than happy to do so, because, honestly, the military had screwed up the life of their most popular State Alchemist. They hadn't let the news out yet, but people were already asking about what happened to the Fullmetal Alchemist. So when the time came to the release the news of the Hero of the People's fate, then to be able to say that he was living a happy life with his adopted father was of course a way to sway the public's opinion in a more favourable direction.
Roy had received a call during their stay in Dublith that the state had decided to "forgo the embarrassment of a trial," which meant that Grant Penton had been placed in front of a firing squad and had been dead for a week now. It made him angry as hell at the military that they were trying to keep a lid on the fact that it had been a couple of officers that had done this. They were just trying to smooth things over.
Which meant that Roy was at least going to take advantage of that whenever he could in order to make things better for the boys. He knew that asking not to receive the rather large weekly sum may be stupid in the future, as it could be used in order to make a savings account for his sons, but he didn't want to be paid for this. He didn't want any of the state's bribery. They were his boys, he could damn well pay for them himself.
"Daddy? Who were you calling?" Ed asked.
Roy had wanted to surprise him when he knew for certain that the adoption was in order. He kneeled down in front of Ed, putting his hands on his shoulders. "The Führer. I'm going to be your legal Daddy by the end of the week." Roy couldn't help but grin widely.
"Really?!" Ed lit up, his golden eyes shining brightly.
"Really." Roy pulled him into a big hug which Ed was more than happy to return. Ed kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Daddy! You're the best Daddy in the world!"
Roy wasn't really sure about that, but right now, he damn well felt like the luckiest one.
So ... the next chapter will be where I finally am going to introduce Tucker and Nina (And Alexander! That cuddly, giant dog is so incredibly lovable! I want one! He probably wouldn't even try to eat our bunnies!)
... Sorry about that, I just don't think that Alexander got enough attention...
And also, I'm just wondering, am I the only one who is sort of linking what happened to Ed to what happened to Nina? Because that is one of the main reasons that I'm not letting her die again, because Ed is more than sufficient proof of the horrors of what alchemy can be used for. I do not need Nina on top of that, it's horrible enough that she'll learn the truth about her beloved father.
