Disclaimer: I don't own Hagaren! Really. If I did... jeezus, I would feel sorry for its fandom. XD

Warning: This one is... extremely sugary and fluffy. I blame it on the Baby Gouda cheese.

45 Roy/Edward Themes

Theme 13. "Flower"

They had gone out one day -- Roy had wanted a day off, and no one really seemed to care if Edward came in or not, other than Roy himself. Sometimes Hawkeye would take note if the Elric was absent, but only because she feared Roy may forget to scold him for it.

It was a pleasant day, warm and sunny with a cool breeze to make the sun's rays not quite so warm. Roy sauntered slowly, leisurely behind an exuberant Edward -- a day off was good for the boy, it seemed -- hands in his pockets and watching his subordinate with a bemused smile. It was highly enjoyable, Roy had found, to go out on pleasant days, without his ever-present uniform on, and just enjoy the weather.

Edward disappeared over a hill -- why was he running, anyway? He always made such a fuss about being called a child, and here he was, running with his arms out to his sides like an airplane and laughing every so often, the very epitome of a happy child on a warm summer day. Roy chuckled, and shook his mane of shaggy hair out of his face, cresting the hill. He frowned when he still was not met with the sight of the young Elric, but didn't pay it any mind. The bottom of the hill near the lake was looking like a mighty nice place to take a short catnap.

He continued to watch for Edward as he made his way down the hill, but didn't seem too bothered by his absence. Edward never really got the chance to play around and be a kid, and even if he did, he rarely milked the opportunity. He settled onto the grass near the bank of the lake, folding his arms behind his head and closing his eyes as he laid back. The sun was warm on his face, and he was asleep within a few short minutes.

"Taisa," came an abrupt but congenially familiar voice, some twenty minutes later. Roy cracked his eyes open, inhaling sharply to aid in the process of waking up. He sat up, running a hand down his face and looking to his left.

"Haganeno," he mumbled, groggy. Edward beamed, sitting crouched a few inches from him, his hands hidden behind his back. "Mm… Where'd you run off to?"

"Hold out your hands," Edward said without regard for Roy's question. Roy's eyebrows knit together, and he frowned. What was he talking about?

"Haganeno?"

"Just hold out your hands, Taisa!" Edward pouted a little. Roy obliged, hesitantly holding both hands out, open-palmed, toward the teenager. "Close your eyes," Edward requested, and fearing he may pout again, Roy did so.

A very faint weight befell his palms, and his eyebrows knit together again.

"Okay," Edward said, and Roy could hear the smile in his voice. He opened his eyes and looked into his palm -- only to see a small cluster of flowers. He frowned, and looked to Edward.

"…Edward, what…?"

The boy just grinned, and picked up one of the flowers -- a pale purplish one.

"Lavender Heather," he said simply, and twirled the stem of the flower between two fingers. "its meaning is admiration." He waved it at Roy once, then set it on the older man's knee. Roy watched it for a moment, confused.

Edward picked up a second flower, a pinkish one this time.

"Pink hyacinth," he clarified, and Roy nodded slowly. "Standing for play." Roy chuckled a bit at that one.

Edward eyed the remaining four flowers in Roy's palm, and gestured to them. "Pick one." he said, and Roy frowned again. He picked up a small, purplish blue flower.

"The blue violet," Edward said, taking the flower from between Roy's thumb and forefinger. "Said to stand for faithfulness, 'I will always be true', the like." He said this with a sort of subtle nonchalance that made Roy smile at him. Edward placed the flower on his knee.

"…and this?" Roy held up what he knew to be a tulip. It was yellow, with stripes of a paler yellow that looked almost looked white.

"Tulip," Edward clarified, and Roy nodded. "Any colour of them normally signifies a perfect love." Roy's grin widened, bemusedly.

Edward plucked the smaller of the two remaining red flowers from Roy's palm, and held it up.

"A red poppy," he said, twirling it like he had the others. "meaning pleasure." He passed Roy a somewhat lewd grin, and Roy held up the final flower -- a single red, full-bloomed rose.

"And the red rose." Edward smiled at it. "They're very asymmetrical in the wild, they're not tailored to grow perfectly like they are in the greenhouses and flower shops," Roy passed the flower to him, and Edward smiled fondly at it. "A single rose at full bloom of any colour always means love."

Roy smiled at him, and they sat in silence for a moment before the older, dark-haired man leaned forward and rest his forehead against Edward's.

"Since when are you so romantic?" he asked, genuinely curious. Usually Edward was sloppy, underdeveloped and sometimes juvenile in his courtship. This was a new experience for the both of them.

"I looked them up," Edward replied, eyes closed and that same fond smile still playing across his face. "I wanted them to be special."

Roy smiled, and snaked one arm around Edward's middle, moving carefully as not to cause the flowers on his leg to fall.

"They were already special," he commented. "because they were from you."

Edward raised his eyebrows, looking up at Roy with a faintly blushed look of surprise. He smiled, then, and wrapped his arms around Roy's neck, catching him in a soft, chaste kiss. Roy smiled against the younger boy's lips.

"I love you, Roy Mustang." Edward slipped the rose into the pocket on the front of Roy's shirt.

"I love you," Roy replied, and eyed the flowers on his thigh. He used his free hand to pick up the red poppy, and eyed it deviously. He looked to Edward, who promptly grinned, leaning his weight on the older man so that they both flopped over backward into the grass.

Author's Notes: Yes,I realize it would be extremely odd for Edward to find all of those flowers in the same place. I also have been tipped off by my lovely beta, DOREMIdan, that Heather only grows wild in Scotland. Well, considering Amestris is kind of this cracked out Utopia, who's to say they don't all grow together? And if that answer doesn't quite satisfy you, pretend Edward found a bunch of daisies and transmuted them into different things. Not that he's telling Roy this... what does Roy know about flowers, anyway:D

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

-Hitsuji