Intermission: Perdition Chapter 3: Perdition: Heart And Soul, a fullmetal alchemist fanfic

I don't own any of the characters from Full Metal Alchemist. Love the idea of Roy and Ed.

Warning: Some mention of shounen-ai below. Nothing explicit, merely affection.

Author's Note:

And FFVII is off to a start with Past Tense; Future Imperfect; SK is almost ready to be updated, but Roy and Ed won't leave the playground of my mind! You know that simple little piano duet everyone knows? Bet you didn't know it actually has lyrics to it…and if you can find a lovely, mellow, jazzy version of it to listen to (Dean Martin or Betty Carter come to mind), you'll know why it's endured this long. All lyrics/song credit to Frank Loesser/Hoagy Carmichael (1936).

PERDITION: HEART AND SOUL

Roy Mustang blinked as his eyes adjusted to the relative dimness of the bar. It was relatively empty, it being a weekday night and all, and really quite late, but he wasn't here for the company. Rather, he was looking for a couple of wayward subordinates – or to be more precise, a wayward subordinate and his rather larger little brother. The Elrics had vanished from their dorm shortly before lights-out without informing anyone of their whereabouts, and Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye had been quite insistent that the Colonel go find them. And being the altruistic person that he was, he had naturally agreed.

Besides, Hawkeye's gun brooked no disagreements.

He didn't know why he was looking for the two children here, but Hughes had suggested it – something about having seen Fullmetal there before, although why the young alchemist had been in a bar when he wasn't even of drinking age yet…

"May I get you something sir?" The bartender came forward out of the shadows. An unremarkable face, almost distinguished in its ordinariness, save for the pair of silver-grey eyes that sized him up in a shrewd glance.

"No, thank you," the Flame Alchemist replied politely. "I'm actually looking for a couple of…well, one of them's a State Alchemist, rather short, blonde, really quite young…the other's wearing a suit of amour."

"Ah. You must mean Edward and Alphonse," The bartender regarded him judiciously for a moment, then inclined his head. "Over there."

Roy looked in the direction the man was indicating. Sure enough, the Elrics were seated side by side on a narrow bench, backs to him, apparently focused on something in front of them. He nodded his thanks and began to make his way over to them as he worked on a snide insult involving small crustaceans, lack of sleep and its correlation with stunted growth, and perhaps something about a bean and a bottle, when his train of thought was interrupted by a couple of broken piano notes.

"Um, okay, let's try that again." Edward's voice.

"Are you sure about this, brother?" That had to be Alphonse. "I mean, even without the leather gloves, I'm still pretty clumsy, and the automail…"

"It'll be fine, Al. You just pick out the bass with your right hand, okay? I'll handle the rest of it. I know it's usually the other way around, but we've only got one real hand between us, and that middle bit's the trickiest. I think I can manage the melody even with the automail."

"Okay," the suit of amour assented obediently.

"All right, here we go again. One, two…" and hesitantly, but with ever increasing facility, the duo began to pick out a song on the battered upright piano that stood in the corner, Al tapping with one massive finger a repetitive bass line as Ed concentrated on the other two parts, eyebrows knitted together in concentration.

Roy's brows rose into his hairline. A rather old song, to be sure, but well loved, and the brothers were managing quite well between the two of them. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he began to softly hum the melody, and then, suddenly daring, to sing along

Heart and soul, I fell in love with you,
Lost control, the way a fool would do,
Gladly...
Because you held me tight,
And stole a kiss in the night…

The piano faltered as the two turned to seek the source of the singing. Ed's eyes flashed unreadably as he abruptly dropped his hands from the keyboard, although he wouldn't meet Roy's eyes.

"Colonel Mustang." It was Al who stepped into the breach with unfailing courtesy. "I…we didn't know you frequented Perdition too."

"I don't," Roy said kindly. Al had a way of bringing out the parent in people, unlike Ed. "But I came to look for you. When you weren't there at lights-out, Lieutenant Hawkeye became…concerned."

"Oh," and if a suit of armor could blush, Roy had no doubt that Alphonse would have been bright red. "I'm sorry. We didn't think about that. But we were feeling homesick and…"

"Al."

"Brother, he's just asking…"

Ed stood up, effectively ending that argument. "Colonel. It's my fault. I'll take Al back now."

"That's all right, Fullmetal," Roy found himself saying. "I have a little time. Why don't the two of you finish the piece? You were playing quite well – I'm impressed. I had no idea you could play."

The young blonde flushed, apparently mistaking Roy's genuine interest for condescension. "I already apologized, you jerk, there's no need to make fun of us!"

Roy sighed. He was too tired for this. "Edward, I wasn't insulting you," and a part of him noted with curiosity his use of the boy's first name, and the odd reaction it was engendering in the Fullmetal Alchemist. "I meant what I said. Who taught you to play?"

Ed seemed to have been stricken dumb, so Al took it upon himself to reply. "Mama did. She and papa used to play it together…and then when he left, she taught us." The massive helm turned slightly to regard its brother wistfully. "We were…we were missing her earlier, and Brother thought of coming here and asking Mr. Quinn if we could use the piano…"

"Mr. Quinn?"

"The host here," Al said simply. "The bartender. His name is Harley Quinn." Roy turned reflexively to look for the man, and his eyes must have been tired and playing tricks on him, because spots danced before them for a moment, making the man look as though he were dressed in a patchwork of brightly colored diamonds. He reached up and rubbed his eyes, and when he took his hand away, the effect was gone, though he couldn't seem to get the fleeting image out of his mind.

"Anyway, he lets us use the piano most times, so he said it was okay tonight too." Al's hands were twisting themselves nervously in his lap. "Are you mad? I'm sorry we didn't tell anyone where we were going, but Brother didn't want anyone else knowing about it."

"No, Al, I'm not mad," Roy assured the boy. "And I won't tell anyone about it if you don't want me to."

"Thank you," said the suit of amour softly. "And Brother's grateful too, I can tell. He's really very good, you know. Even with the automail."

Roy turned a curious gaze on the strangely silent blonde, who looked up and met his gaze for a fleeting second before dropping his eyes to his feet again, hands clenched by his sides, jaw set as if determined not to allow any words to escape. For some reason, this left the Flame Alchemist feeling oddly bereft.

"Well. Are you done or would you like to finish the piece first?" Roy asked finally.

Ed started. "I…whatever Al wants." The color was high in his cheeks, and not for the first time, Roy had to admit that the boy was growing up to be a very attractive young man, with the kind of looks that induced smiles and heart-palpitations in others. Or at least, they would if you didn't know about the irascible personality that came with them. Therefore, Roy thought firmly, since he was quite aware of Ed's shortcomings in the personality department, what he was feeling in chest was undoubtedly not heart palpitations but heartburn. Likely from the meatloaf he'd had in the mess hall earlier. Right? Right.

"Let's see if we can get through the whole thing, Brother," Al said timidly. "Besides, the Colonel's singing was very nice. Maybe if you asked him to, he'd sing the whole thing with us. Like mama used to."

Roy stifled a snort at the thought of being mistaken for anyone's mother. How on earth had he wound up commanding children?

The small blonde stood there irresolute, then sighed and seemed to abruptly make up his mind. "All right, Al. The things I do for you…" but the curve of his lips softened the harshness of his words. "Um…Colonel? Would you…" he swallowed hard, then tried again, "would you do us a favor and sing for us? Please?"

"With a request like that, how could I refuse?" he purred, opting to bite back any snide remarks for Al's sake. Ed looked relieved – likely at having escaped the sharp side of Roy's tongue – and promptly plopped himself back down next to his brother. As Roy stepped forward to lean against the battered upright piano, he glanced over at the clock over the bar, and inadvertently caught the eye of the bartender – Quinn, was it? The man appeared to be smiling faintly at the picture the three presented clustered around the piano, but there was nothing malicious in his face, merely an odd sort of satisfaction. And then the familiar notes of the lead-in sounded, and Roy forgot about Quinn as he crossed his fingers and hoped that he still remembered all the lyrics to the song.

Heart and soul, I begged to be adored,
Lost control, and tumbled overboard,
Gladly...
That magic night we kissed,
There in the moon mist.

Roy walked up the silvery hillock to where Ed stood silhouetted against the harvest moon. Strange how the satellite always seemed so much larger in the country, casting a half-light that was actually quite bright, against which Ed's golden head gleamed, his braid blowing in the night breeze. Despite the chill, Ed was coatless and jacketless, his automail glimmering in the moonlight, fists clenched by his sides.

"Fullmetal?"

"Colonel. What are you doing here?" Ed seemed unsurprised by Roy's presence in Risembool. There was a weariness in his voice that Roy didn't like hearing from the normally indomitable Elric. "Doesn't Hawkeye have paperwork waiting for you back in Central?"

"I thought I would come by and find out how Alphonse was doing. Does he really not remember anything from the last five years?"

"Yeah." A short bark of bitter laughter. "Has to do with his body being ten, I guess. He was confused as to who I was at first, but he's sort of accepted that I'm still Ed, just a little bigger than him now."

"Do you intend to tell him anything?"

"No. He shouldn't have to carry the burden of it all. He's only ten."

"You were only eleven. And he has a right to know about his life, the bad…and all the good too, don't you think, Fullmetal?"

"He doesn't need to know yet. He's getting his life back, Mustang. I'm not going to muck it up a second time."

Roy sighed. "It is your choice. But I seem to recall a certain alchemist who often resented having information withheld from him." He eyed Ed carefully. "I imagine Al probably feels the same way."

The angles of Ed's face seemed sharper by moonlight, making him look older than his years. No less beautiful though, thought Roy wistfully. "Yeah, well, there was always a good reason for it later, even if you were a bastard about it." He sighed. "It's…it's going to be weird though, not being able to talk to him about stuff. I mean, he's still really smart, just…young. And he won't remember all these things we did…."

"I'm here if you need to talk, Fullmetal." Roy didn't know what had made him say that, but the momentary flash of gratitude that lit Ed's eyes for a moment was all the thanks he needed.

The two men stood in silence for a moment. A cool breeze blew past them, and Ed shivered reflexively. Roy frowned.

"Come here, Fullmetal."

The youth obeyed. "What…." And then his eyes widened as Roy swung his heavy trench coat about Ed's shoulders, wrapping the young alchemist in its folds, still heavy with his body warmth. He stepped back and stuck his hands in his pockets, suddenly feeling awkward. Ed's face had gone expressionless, although he did reach up and pull the coat more securely about his shoulders.

"Thanks." Watchful amber eyes scanned Roy's face, and the Flame Alchemist shifted uncomfortably under their unblinking regard. He tried for a careless smile, failed, and instead reached forward and tucked a stray strand of golden hair behind Ed's ear. But instead of falling back to his side, his hand lingered, fingers running gently down the curve of Ed's cheek.

"What does that mean?" It was barely a whisper. Ed's flesh hand came up to trace one of Roy's dark brows in a mirror gesture, warm fingertips trailing down his cheek.

"Stop me if you want," Roy murmured in reply as he closed the distance between them. His mind was screaming all sorts of reasons why this was a bad idea, why he should not be doing this, why he should jump back right now, but all his senses were luxuriating in the state of hyperawareness that Ed's presence always seemed to induce in him, and Ed's lips were warm and slightly rough and welcoming under his, his breath indolently heavy like cinnamon and nutmeg, the soft moan in his throat humming against Roy's lips as the younger man arched into the kiss, his body molding against Roy's, soft and pliant and vulnerable. Ed smelled of hot steel and wood and leather, completely and utterly male, and yet the combination was heady and far more intoxicating that any of the perfumes worn by the women Roy had dated up to this point. He broke the kiss with reluctance, needing to breathe, but when he met Ed's eyes, large and luminous and hazy with want, breathing suddenly seemed of secondary importance.

"I didn't say to stop, Roy," and Ed's flushed lips curled in a very small smirk. At some point they had wrapped their arms around each other, each enjoying the feel of the other's body flush against his own as they swayed gently in the misty moonlight to an unheard music that played only for them.

"No, you didn't," Roy smirked in reply, and he bent his head to obey. Ed turned his head away teasingly.

"You do realize you've just stolen my first kiss."

"Oh, but Edward…if you want it back, you'll have to steal it from me, because I fully intend to steal your second too. And the next, and the next, and all the ones after that," and with that made quite clear, Roy proceeded to do just that.

Oh! but your lips were thrilling, much too thrilling,
Never before were mine so strangely willing.

"He's at the piano, sir."

Ed's ponytail shone in the lambent lamplight, his back to the bar. He was improvising idly at the instrument as Roy approached silently from behind, so focused on what he was doing that it came as a surprise when Roy slid his hands down his lover's arms gently, bending down to steal a kiss from those rosy lips as they parted in surprise.

"Bastard! You gave me a shock," Ed grumbled after he had returned the favor thoroughly. "You're early, too – did Hawkeye have a date?"

"Contrary to popular belief, Fullmetal, I am quite capable of seeing that my work is finished without the supervision of my aide-de-camp," Roy said loftily as he slid onto the piano bench beside Ed. "You know, we have a perfectly good piano at home. An ebony Bechstein grand which I bought for you, I seem to recall. So why is it that I always find you playing here?"

Ed shrugged, but a content smile played about his lips as he glanced sidelong through his lashes at his fiancé. The ring on his finger sparkled, catching the light every few seconds as Ed continued to allow his hands to wander across the chipped keyboard.

"Memories. Good ones. I was just thinking the other night that I should bring Al here. We used to come here pretty often, I bet he'd like to see where we first learnt to play together again after coming to Central…what is it, nine years ago now?"

Roy nodded. "We'll do that, then, thought it should be soon. Maybe next week? We'll be busy until the wedding after that. Speaking of which, are you sure about the music for our first dance?"

"Yeah." Ed was carefully not looking at him, Roy noticed. "You know, I haven't played that piece in a while. Wonder if I still remember how?"

"Ah. Well, I have a little time," Roy mused. "Perhaps we could give it a go. Mind you, it's been a while since I last sung it…"

"How long ago was that last time and just who were you serenading?" Ed asked archly, lips pursed in a pout that Roy found absolutely adorable, although he would never admit it – Ed had way too much power over him as it was. "Some blonde floozy you were trying to coax into bed?"

"Blonde, yes, bed, definitely," Roy purred. "But I would never call you a floozy, love." He enjoyed the look of realization spreading over Ed's face along with a fetching flush. "You're mine and mine alone, after all. Heart and soul."

"Hmmph." Ed was still pink. "Just as long as you remember that. Think I'll have it engraved on your wedding band." He placed his hands lightly on the ivory keys, and Roy placed his right hand next to Ed's, his left arm wound securely around the blonde's slender waist. "Ready? One…two…"

Songs like this one, Roy thought as he smiled lazily down at his fiancé, were always so much better when you meant every word you were singing.

But now I see, what one embrace can do,
Look at me, it's got me loving you,
Madly...
That little kiss you stole,
Held all my heart and soul.