Yes, you're probably thinking "Oh, she ran out of songs so chose a painfully common one this time" which is actually only half-true. First of all, it's not Deck the Halls, it's Deck The Halls and Decorate. Pretty much the same yet still different. ; And it's also a song I did for choir, so that's were it came from. Oh well, on with the fic anyways.

Title: All I Want for Christmas
Rating: Overall, PG.
Genre: Yaoi, Christmas, Romance, Drama.
Pairing: Roy Mustang and Edward Elric.
Warnings: Yaoi / shonen-ai… Yup, totally a worksafe and light-hearted story.
Summary: There was only one thing Ed truly wanted for Christmas this year.

Chapter Summary: "Oh?" Ed could hear the giddy smile in Al's voice. "That's very nice of him. Who put the angel on the top of the tree?"

"It was a star, and I did." The older Elric answered, quickly wishing he hadn't when he realized Al would push his 'Roy loves you' theory again.

Happy reading and please R&R!

Chapter Three, Decorate.

Deck the hall with boughs of holly,
Decorate the Christmas tree,
'Tis the season to be jolly,
Join in the festivities!
- Deck the Hall and Decorate

As usual, Ed slept in that morning. He'd missed breakfast by a long shot and lunchtime had passed almost an hour ago, so his stomach rumbled as he lay half asleep on his bed. He mumbled something about not liking mornings and buried his face into the covers, obviously not wanting to get up. After a few minutes, Ed couldn't ignore his empty stomach's protests anymore and dragged himself up out of bed.

Since it was Friday afternoon, Ed didn't bother to change into proper clothes. Roy would still be at work and wouldn't be home for a while, and so Ed found no reason not to wander his commanding officer's house while wearing only boxers and one of Roy's long-sleeved shirts that he had lent him. The shirt was too big for him, so slipped over one shoulder and he had to roll back the sleeves so they wouldn't be in his way.

The blonde walked sleepily down the hall and immediately started to search the fridge for food once he reached the kitchen.

"Cereal is in the top cupboard to the left."

Ed jumped in surprise at the familiar voice, hitting his head against the top of the fridge. Rubbing the spot that he had hit, Ed spun around with a glare on his face.

"Don't sneak up on me like that! And what are you doing home anyways?" Ed demanded of the black haired man standing in the doorframe.

Roy laughed. "I've been working hard lately, so Hawkeye gave me the day off. Apparently, anyways." He added, mainly out of a guilty conscience.

The blonde snorted, but didn't say anything in retort. Roy ignored the accusing sound and made his way over to one of his cupboards and pulled out some coffee mix. As Ed watched him, he suddenly remembered the undignified state he was in for being around his commanding officer. Of course, it was a little late to change into more appropriate clothes now.

"You sleep in awfully late, Ed." Roy observed, pouring water into the coffee machine and taking no notice to the fact Ed was still in pajamas. Both of them had started calling each other by their first names, but neither of them had noticed.

"Heh. I guess so." He answered, eyes now searching through the cupboard that Roy had said held cereal. He quickly spotting the type he wanted, and was in the back of one of the higher shelves. A frown crossed Ed's face. His eyes shifted over to Roy to make sure his back was turned before he stood on his toes to stand high enough to reach.

See? He wasn't quite that short after all.

"I see you like foods with high amounts of sugar in them." Roy stated, having noticed that Ed had eaten only foods with high sugar amounts while he was gone the day before. He was still surprised that someone so small could eat so much unhealthy foods and be as energetic and healthy as Ed.

"Gives me lots of energy." Ed replied simply, pouring a large amount into a bowl and, after sticking his spoon into the sugar dish, dumping sugar all over it. "Besides, it tastes good." The blonde stuck the spoon into the bowl and shoveled down a mouthful of what Roy looked at to be heart-attack-on-a-spoon.

After a moment of silence save for the crunching of Ed's cereal in his mouth, Roy quirked a brow in curiosity. "Don't you want milk with that?"

Ed glowered at Roy. "No."

"Ah... alright then." Roy answered, still finding it a mystery as to why the young man hated milk so much. "Oh, I went out this morning to get a Christmas tree while you were sleeping. I sent it up in the living room, but it's not decorated yet. Want to help after you're done eating?"

"Mmhm." Was the answer he got, cereal stuffed into Ed's mouth.

Ed didn't take long to finish eating and down two glasses of water, so the two were soon in Roy's living room once again. Ed was oddly tempted to steal some popcorn off the garland, but Roy had quickly distracted him.

"Let's put the lights on first, then the decorations and finally the snow."

"The snow?"

"Well, it's actually fluffy glitter, but you know what I mean."

They had some trouble with getting the lights to cooperate. A few of the light bulbs weren't working and even when they changed them, it was still hell trying to untangle the knots. Thankfully, when they had finally prepared the lights after an irritating 30 minutes, everything was uphill from there.

Roy had a lot of unique ornaments. There were the traditional bulbs of gold, silver, red and green, but they seemed to be coated with a light layer of glitter and had decorative swirls. There were lovely ornament birds of all colours, their tails actual feathers, and winter-themed things such as snowmen and snowflakes. Ed had taken a particular liking to one ornament that was of a horse sleigh that Roy's mother had given to him years ago. Though why he liked it the most, he couldn't quite place.

But the one thing Ed loved the most about decorating for Christmas with Roy was that he was with Roy. He loved to see him smiling out of happiness instead of smirking out of slyness, to see him out of uniform instead of wearing the thick clothes, and he loved to be able to talk to him as friends instead of officer and subordinate.

"Now, I think you'll like this part." Roy grinned as he held a bag of the fake snow in front of Ed's face. "You can make a bit of a mess."

Ed growled playfully, something he would never have dared to do before. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Roy's grin remained on his happy face and he tossed the bag over to Ed, who caught it easily. "Just get started. It's not Christmas without snow, is it?"

Ed's lips curled up into a smile. It was snow that had brought him here in the first place. Even if he didn't stay for the remainder of the holidays, Ed had enough happy memories now for this year for it to be one of his most enjoyable.

"No. I guess it's not."

---------

Ed sat on Roy's bed with crossed legs, fingers twirling around the phone cord. The phone he was holding to his ear rang for what seemed like forever, so it was an odd thing that it didn't irritate the usually impatient young man. Roy had just stepped into the shower a few minutes ago, so Ed figured it was the safest time to call home and speak to his brother. Knowing Al, he would bring up the issue with Roy.

"Hello?" Sounded Al's familiar voice after two more rings.

"Hi, Al. It's Ed."

"Nii-san! Where are you? When you didn't come home yesterday, I called Central HQ they said you hadn't been there in days, so knowing you, you could have been anywhere. We were getting worried!" The younger brother announced with concern.

"Sorry, sorry! Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm at Roy's place."

There was a prolonged silence before Al spoke again. "…Roy's place? Like, Colonel Roy Mustang?"

"Yeah, the Colonel's place."

Ed heard a loud squeal of excitement from the other end of the line that was so loud he had to hold the phone away from his ear. "Nii-san! You finally told him!"

"W-what?" Ed stammered. "No, no, I didn't tell him! There was a snow storm a few days ago so he let me stay at his house. He's been taking care of me, since I'm sick. Well, I'm better now thanks to him."

"Oh…" Al trailed off, but soon fired another question. "He's taking care of you? Also, you keep calling him Roy."

"Am I?" Ed asked, surprised. He honestly hadn't noticed until his brother pointed it out. "Well, we're not really fighting all the time anymore. We're… friends."

There was another prolonged silence for a while until Al finally spoke. "I think he likes you."

Ed knew what his little brother meant, but chose to misinterpret it on purpose. "As a friend, yeah."

"No! More than that. You two have always argued and fought and everything, but he still protected and helped you out so that you could achieve your goal. You've restored my body already, and he's still protecting you. He cares about you, Nii-san."

Ed let out an exasperated sigh. "Al, it's just a cold that he helped me out with."

"Which makes it all the more romantic. Uh, I mean… sentimental." Al re-worded it quickly, knowing that he was probably irritating his brother. But to his surprise, he heard only Ed sigh again, sadly this time, instead of bicker with him.

"Al, stop giving me false hope."

"But Nii-san, I'm just trying to help but I really do think that he likes you-"

"Even if he did, what am I supposed to say to him? He's not making any attempt to make the first move, and do you really think I have idea on how to?" Ed rushed through the words with more frustration than he had intended.

"Well, say that you have to tell him something important and then just say 'I love you'." Al answered simply, unfazed by Ed's angry tone.

"That's a lot harder than you think!" The elder brother replied, and when he heard Al about to speak again he quickly added, "I've already tired, but I messed it up. He still doesn't know."

"It's not a very good idea to keep such feelings bottled up, Nii-san. Especially when it bothers you this much!" Al said desperately. "He's ruining your holiday spirit."

"No he's not!" Ed was quick to retort. "Hell, he's been making it better this year! We've decorated his house and we did the tree this morning! He's treating me like an old friend!"

"Oh?" Ed could hear the giddy smile in Al's voice. "That's very nice of him. Who put the angel on the top of the tree?"

"It was a star, and I did." The older Elric answered, quickly wishing he hadn't when he realized Al would push his 'Roy loves you' theory again.

"Maybe he does like you, Nii-san! Maybe he's just as nervous as you are about actually admitting it."

Ed gently massaged his temple. Though he would really like to believe in Al's hypothesis, he forced himself not to. If he believed that, it would only make things worse if he was rejected. Shortly after, the blonde man heard the water turn off in the bathroom.

"Roy's out of the shower." Ed informed his brother. "I should probably stop running up his phone bill anyways." He laughed. "And Al?"

"Yes, Nii-san?"

"Thanks a million."

"You're welcome. One last thing; if you're still decorating the house then I suggest some mistletoe."

This got a grin and a chuckle out of Edward. "Maybe. G'bye, Al."

Ed put the phone back on the receiver and sighed one last time after a few minutes. Maybe he'd tell him by day's end… maybe.

"Oh, Ed. I didn't know you were in here." Came Roy's surprised voice from the doorframe when he saw the younger man sitting on his bed. Ed was about to explain that he had called Al, but his mouth just hung open when his golden eyes rested upon Roy.

His black hair was still wet from the shower and water dripped onto his face. The only thing that covered him below his waistline was a white towel that was tied loosely around his waist, and the towel that was draped over his neck only really covered part of his chest. Ed could feel his cheeks starting to burn red with embarrassment.

"Sorry!" Ed almost squeaked, dropping his eyes from Roy's wet, half-naked, sexy body… The thoughts made him press a hand firmly against his mouth to keep another embarrassed squeak from escaping. Roy quirked a brow at Ed's odd behavior, and Ed barely moved his hand from his mouth to speak.

"I-wanted-to-call-Al-and-I-saw-the-phone-here-I-hope-you-don't-mind-me-using-it-okay-I'M-DONE!" He exclaimed quickly in one breath. Keeping his head firmly down, Ed leapt off the bed and ran past Roy and into the spare bedroom.

---------

It had been four hours since he saw Roy clad in only towels and he still couldn't keep that delicious image out of his young head. Thrusting his head in between pillows and squeezing his eyes shut didn't help.

Ed had told Roy that he had a migraine and so was going to take a nap. He wasn't sure why he had lied to him at first, but after a moment's thought… There was no way Ed could look at Roy without getting that shamefully delightful image now.

"Ed?" Roy knocked on the door gently. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Ed answered, not moving when he heard the door open. "My headache's gone now."

"That's good." Ed felt the bed sink down a bit next to him, where Roy must have sat down. "What Al have to say?" Roy asked innocently. Luckily, he didn't notice Ed stiffen at the question.

"Well, I just called to tell him where I was because I told them I would be home yesterday evening which obviously I didn't. We talked a bit about… well, stuff." The blonde replied, avoiding the topic. However, his conscience wouldn't stop nagging him to just spill already. A few minutes later he was defeated and Ed sat up and crossed his legs out of habit, placing his hands on his legs and forcing his eyes to lock onto Roy's face.

"Actually, Roy, there's something I have to tell you."

"Yes, Ed?"

Ed hesitated, his strong gaze faltering as he watched Roy's expectant face. His exterior seemed to crumble at that look and he felt his arms weaken. "W-well… I…" Roy didn't say anything, but the look he gave his friend basically told him to 'spit it out already'. That didn't help. "…Would like to thank you for letting me stay at your house, taking care of me and, well… being a friend. When we get along with each other, you're really not much of the bastard I thought you out to be."

Again, Ed had spoken the truth but not the one he wanted.

Roy smiled mischievously. "The same goes for you. When we get along, you're not the brat I always thought you out to be." Oddly, this got him a cheeky grin out of Edward instead of an angry outburst. "And Ed… I know that you'll probably go home to your brother and the rest of your family in Rizenbul for Christmas, but… I want you to know that you're welcome to stay here as long as you wish."

Ed stared into Roy's unwavering eyes for the longest time after he had told him those, in Ed's opinion, sweet words. His eyes were soft and sincere, and Ed could feel himself simply melt under that gaze. The timing was perfect, both sitting in front of one another with eyes locked… Ed knew that right now was his chance to finally admit the secret he had been keeping so long, to just lean up and steal those lips he that he had for so long wanted to claim, then whisper 'I love you' in his ear, push him down and kiss him senseless…

The ringing of the phone abruptly broke the spell they seemed to have over each other. Ed blinked as if only now finding himself so close to Roy who had lifted his head on reflex.

"I'll get that." He said, swiftly getting to his feet. Ed was tempted to grab his sleeve and plead for him to stay with him instead, but he could only watch dejectedly as Roy left him alone in his room.

Ed growled in aggravation and buried his face into his hands. Why can't I just tell him? Why do I always say something else when I want to tell him how I feel? Ed's face remained covered by his cold hands, his spirits dampened. Al's words flashed into his head again; 'I think he likes you.' It was true that he was being much friendlier with Ed now, but… love? He probably doesn't, and I'm just some hopeless lunatic who's seeing friendship as more…

"Ed? Ed, are you alright?" There was no mistaking the hint of concern in Roy's voice when he came back to find a very distressed looking Ed still sitting in the same position as when he left a few moments prior. Ed mumbled something incoherent for an answer. Not convinced, Roy sat down next to Ed and gently placed his hands on Ed's cold ones in an attempt to get him to reveal his face. The younger man shivered and let out a tiny gasp when Roy touched him, his eyes darting over to find Roy. "Are you alright?" The older alchemist repeated.

The blonde wanted to tell his secret, but instead cowered away again and offered a soft 'yes' in its place.

"C'mon. I'll make you some hot chocolate." Roy offered kindly. Ed hesitated for a moment, but nodded.

It seemed that man managed to cause distress for Ed both directly and indirectly. Maybe, Ed thought with a tired expression, I might end up putting up mistletoe after all.