Sorry about not posting for a while, I only write on this story when I'm in the mood for it, as with my other fics.

I don't know when my next update will be, though, as I'm going in for jaw surgery on Thursday and don't know how much I will be able to write for the next week.

Anyways: Thank you so much people! 30 followers! Woohoo!

And I do not own Fullmetal alchemist.

Chapter Eleven

Roy woke up to find himself still hugging Ed to him. Problem was, Roy was getting hungry, the clock on the nightstand said half past six, and Roy was the one who was supposed to make dinner. But Ed was lying peacefully with his head on Roy's right shoulder, and Roy didn't want to wake him if he felt like sleeping. Besides, the boy was actually smiling. Roy had seen him sleeping on the office couch plenty of times, but this was the first time he had seen him smiling as he slept. He didn't want to disturb his peace.

Then Ed's stomach rumbled loudly and he woke up, making Roy wonder if the boy's stomach was somehow telepathically linked to thoughts of food. "Hmm? Huh? Oh … dinner?"

Roy couldn't help but chuckle at the response.

Ed seemed to gather himself a bit and looked up at Roy slightly uncomfortably. "You're still here, huh?"

"Yes."

"I still think it's funny that it's you." Ed suddenly shivered slightly.

"What's wrong?"

"Imagine what Hughes would say."

Roy felt the same shiver go through himself at the thought. Then he looked back at Ed.

And they burst out laughing.

"Holy crap, what happened to us?" Ed said, still chuckling. "I'm supposed to basically hate you. To be a brat."

"Well, now you're my brat," Roy said, leaning his chin on Ed's head.

Then they began laughing again.

"This is the weirdest day of my life. How the hell did we even get here? We're actually enjoying each other's company, we're not insulting each other and you're actually being the opposite of a bastard."

"And you're sort of succeeding in giving me a compliment."

"Weird."

And they laughed again.

This was great. Really great. Why the hell he had insisted on pushing the kid away until now, he really didn't know.

"Maybe we're too alike? We kind of repel each other?" Roy mused.

"So all you need to get a family is a flogging and a concussion?" Ed suggested.

Roy felt his stomach clench at the idea. He could still hear Ed's scream as he was whipped for the twentieth time echoing through his head. Roy just hugged him tighter. "God, I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"It's fine, Roy. It really is."

"It really isn't. You're fourteen, Ed. You aren't supposed to be whipped until the point where you lose consciousness because of blood loss. You're not supposed to have your head smashed against a wall. You're supposed to be in school where the most usual injury is a paper cut."

"Well, I can't have that yet, can I? Not until Al is back in his body."

"Which is what makes this even crueller than it already is. For what it's worth, Ed, I'm sorry that the best option I could offer you three years ago was this."

"Where the hell is all this coming from? You're sure you're not the one with the head injury?"

Roy chuckled. "I'm not sure, kid, but I've got two years' worth of repressed feelings to catch up on."

"Uh-huh." Ed hugged him tighter. Roy began stroking the back of his head. He knew he should get dinner ready, but lying here and hugging Ed after finding out that the boy was practically like a son to him, made moving pretty hard. Ed seemed to be the same. Perhaps there was a fear that if they moved, the moment would be broken and everything that they had built would just crumble.

"But honestly, what the hell would Hughes have said if he saw us?" Ed asked.

Roy thought for a moment. Then he tried to make his voice as Hughes-like as he could. "How amazing, Roy! I've always told you to get yourself a family and look how much you're smiling! Those boys will be so good for you! Just remember to take lots of pictures to preserve those precious moments!"

Ed began laughing so hard that Roy began worrying about his nose and back. "Your voice! Bwahahaha!" Ed wheezed.

"What's wrong with it?" Roy asked, trying to sound offended, but failing miserably because of Ed's contagious laughter.

"You tried to —! But you —! It sounded like —! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

"Was it really that bad?" Roy said, slightly disappointed, yet still grinning.

"Not really-hee-hee! It was just, coming from you—! Heehee!"

Roy just joined in on the laughter, still not sure about whether he should feel insulted or not.

"That has to be one of the greatest moments of my life! You mimicked Hughes! I got Colonel Mustang to mimic Hughes! BWAHAHA! Thanks, Roy! Heeheehee!"

Come to think of it, that was actually quite an achievement. Roy couldn't help but laugh along, though, as the kid's laughing was shaking both Roy and the bed. And god, was it contagious. Roy's eyes were watering with laughter before soon. They were both laughing so hard that they didn't notice Al coming inside the room until he spoke up.

"I bought you guys some pizza, I figured you needed some time to rest and talk things out."

Roy looked up at the large suit of armour that was indeed standing there with two large boxes of pizzas. It smelled heavenly, but Roy still couldn't get his laughter quite under control. "Hehe, thank you, Alphonse, I haha will pay you back la-hehehe-" Roy burst into another fit of giggles while Ed was shaking with silent laughter.

"What are you two laughing so much about?"

"I-haha mimicked Hughes!" The last word came out in a much higher pitch than he had been going for, which caused Al to chuckle and Roy and Ed to burst out laughing again.

It took them about seven minutes to calm down, mostly because both Roy and Ed were coughing quite a lot by now. And so Ed gently got himself untangled from Roy's grip, giving Roy the ability to get the pizzas and put the boxes between them.

"But, seriously, Al, my wallet is in my coat pocket. Go take the amount I owe you out of it."

"You don't have to, you've done plenty, I can pay for the damned pizzas," Ed said, taking a large bite.

"Ed, you two are my guests. Besides, how do you expect me to let you pay after our talk?"

"Come on, Roy, just let it slide. I'll call it a birthday present or something."

"Ed."

"Or repayment for the Hughes imitation. That kind of humour is pretty priceless."

Roy sighed, seeing the determined look in Ed's face. "Fine, but I won't be getting any presents!"

"Deal."

Both Roy and Ed were lying on the bed, propped up on their elbows, savouring the pizza.

"Al, you are a miracle on two legs, you truly are," Roy said.

"Thanks, Roy," Al said as he was about to leave the room.

Ed looked confused. "Have you two been talking while I'm asleep?"

"Yes. I care about you both, and so I told Al." Roy could hear a little chuckle at the other side of the now closed door.

"You did, huh? Cool. I guess I would have been kinda angry really if you only cared about me." Ed paused a bit. "And creeped out."

Roy chuckled.

"What is it about me caring about you that's so "creepy?""

"You've heard your voice, right? Imagine that voice telling you that it cares about you and not your much more lovable brother."

"Edward, your brother may be more socially endearing, but you're both equally loveable."

"That's something none of us would ever expect you to say," Ed said after snorting into his pizza slice.

"I guess it's not," Roy said, still smiling, though. He hadn't smiled and laughed so much in such a short time in a long while. It was pretty great.

"You really are smiling," Ed said, looking confusedly at him.

"Yes? Is there something wrong about it?"

"No, it's just that when you were imitating Hughes, you said "Roy, I've always told you to get yourself a family, and look at how much you're smiling!" You actually think of me and Al as your family?"

Roy paused. He hadn't really thought about it when he said it, but yes, he did.

"Yes. But it's been like that for quite a while now. My team is my family and no matter what Schiff thinks, you're still a part of my team."

But that's not what you meant when you said it, was it, Roy?

"Oh." Ed looked slightly disappointed.

"But you're also a part of my family in another way. A weird, adoptive sons sort of way."

"You know, you're turning into a softie. And here I thought you were always such a professional," Ed said teasingly after a few seconds.

Roy had to say that the thought was daunting. Here he was basically loading his little verbal sparring partner with weapons to use against him. But would there be so much verbal sparring? How different were things going to be between them? He had turned their relationship on its head. He could treat Al however he wanted, but Ed was his subordinate.

We'll figure out, though.

So Roy pushed his thoughts away and instead ruffled Ed's hair. Ed looked at him funny, but didn't shy away either.

"You know, Roy, you're weird. I'll never figure you out," Ed said, looking up at his hand.

Roy couldn't do anything else than chuckle and ruffle his hair again. "Well, it's not so easy to figure you out either."

"Well … I'd say that you're off to a good start then."

"Good to hear that at least I'm succeeding at that." Roy had to say that he felt pretty useless. He may be looking after Ed while he was at his house, but fact was that he would probably be subjected to more beatings soon after he came back to the office. He was still failing to protect his subordinate, to protect his boy.

Now there's a new thought…

But Ed and Al were his boys, weren't they?

Yep.

"Roy? What are you thinking about?" Ed was looking at him curiously.

Roy saw that the pizza boxes were now empty and he swiftly put them on the floor beside him. "Come here," he sighed, his arms open. He needed to give some comfort (and get some in return). His boy was hurt and was trapped in a fucking stupid situation and Roy was currently helpless to do anything but offer him a hug. So he would be damned if he didn't at least do that.

"Oh, okay?" Ed moved slowly but was soon once again lying with his head against his chest, Roy's chin resting on his head. "What's wrong, Roy?"

"I'm sorry that I haven't been able to get you out of Schiff's hands. I feel so useless, Ed."

"Hey, don't feel guilty that he's a bastard!" Ed said sternly, poking Roy's chest with a metal finger. "You've done plenty for me and Al these last few days."

"But I still haven't kept my promise."

"Fine, I'm all up for breaking into HQ and torching that typewriter."

Roy knew that he was trying to cheer him up, and smiled weakly. "As fun as that sounds, that's not my point. I promised that I would get you out, and so far I haven't been able to do anything."

"Hey! Don't say that! You stopped Schiff from killing me with that fucking whip!"

Roy felt a cold shiver of dread. If it really had been forty lashes, then Ed would probably have some serious nerve damage by now and had to say that it wasn't much of an exaggeration that Ed could have been killed by it. He hugged Ed tighter to him, trying not to put too much pressure on his back. He felt Ed's right arm rest against his back, squeezing him back.

"You know, Roy, I'll be fine. We'll figure it out. Some way or another, we'll get me out."

Roy listened to his newly awakened fatherly instincts and kissed Ed's forehead.

I hope you're right kid, I really do.