I am back! And I am deeply, deeply sorry for my dissapearance. My muse took off on vacation without notifying me, and has only just returned. Said muse will now hopefully be working very hard to make up for it.

In apology, a nice long RoyxEd drabble.

Roy's face wore a distinctly unpleasant expression, made worse by the trickle of water running down his nose. Ed splashed him again, then retreated to the relative safety of slightly deeper water.

"C'mon!" the boy shouted, "Don't tell me you don't know how to swim!"

Roy would have given anything right now for his gloves and a dry spot. "The ability to swim doesn't necessarily equate to the enjoyment of it, Fullmetal." He was currently waist deep in the pool, but already drenched head to toe from Ed's enthusiastic splashing. He was also sincerely questioning his sanity, wondering what had compelled him to come to the pool.

The other boy couldn't run too far, however. It seemed that having two metal limbs made it rather difficult to float, much less swim properly. He couldn't go any further out than where the water reached his chin.

The taller man decided to stop letting him get away with it.

Ed squeaked and tried to splash away when he realized that /his/ chin level didn't come up to much more than mid-torso-ish on Roy. Roy wasn't having any of that, though. It was time to play dirty. He grabbed Ed's braid and yanked, both sending Ed backwards underwater and snapping his hairband.

Hawkeye backstroked serenely past, snickering at something beyond mortal comprehension. Though if asked, she'd deny it. She didn't do anything so unprofessional as snickering.

Ed came up spluttering, but all Roy could think of for the moment was how soft his hair looked, floating loosely around his shoulders.

The chlorine fumes must be getting to him, he thought. That was enough fun in the pool for one day. He waded out, leaving a thoroughly confused Ed behind.

"What was that?"

Roy didn't turn around, concentrating on untangling his shirt as though his life depended on it. "What was what, Fullmetal?"

"That. Back there. You were /staring/ at me, and then you just ran off."

He waved one hand in the air, still not looking at the blond boy. "I got tired of swimming. I don't want to turn into a prune, you know."

"Pfft. You were actually in the water for all of five minutes. Now stop avoiding the subject!"

"What subject?" Roy couldn't stall any longer. He slipped on his shirt and turned to face Ed, who looked like he was going to bite something out of frustration.

"You know what subject! Tell me what was going on back there!"

Roy tried to slip past him, but had to stop when he felt a literally steel grip close around his wrist.

"You hide all the important stuff anyway, you could at least do me the favor of telling me /something/ now and then."

Ah, hell. He had a point. Roy hated it when he had a valid point. Fine, then, let's see where honesty got him. He was lucky the men's changing room was otherwise empty.

In a mocking tone he announced, "Very well, Fullmetal. The reason I was staring is because I am madly in love with you, and was trying desperately to control my urge to kiss you right there in public."

Ed snorted as though he didn't believe him, but Roy saw a flicker of doubt cross his face. "Fine, then. Prove it."

Roy blinked, startled. "What?"

"Either prove to me that you're telling the truth, or I kick you until you tell me what's really wrong."

He was expecting Roy to back out, because he thought Roy was lying. But Roy was telling the truth, so if he wanted to avoid this, he'd have to come up with a plausible lie, which Ed would take as true, because…This was making Roy's head hurt.

Let him have his way, then.

He twisted his hand in Ed's grasp, grabbed hold of Ed's wrist, and pulled the younger boy toward him. It was only Ed's balance and Roy's coordination that kept them from bonking heads, and turned the movement into an actual kiss.

Roy pulled back, snagged his wet bathing suit, and headed for the door.

"Wait! I said /stop, dammit!"

"Oof!" He couldn't believe it. Ed had tackled him! "What the hell!"

"Quit running away for two seconds, alright?"

"If you really wanted to talk about this, you should have just asked." He turned to face the boy, and swallowed. Ed's hair was still loose, and he was so close to Roy…

"Since when do you answer my questions? Besides, talking can wait." He reached up and pulled Roy into another kiss.

Yeah, talking could wait.

All Hawkeye got was a little cameo... Poor Hawkeye. I'll do a drabble for her soon.

Speaking of RoyxEd, I'll bet you didn't know there's a small town in Texas called Edroy. Most of my friends have taken this as a sign from above that it is a good pairing. Heehee.