HEIR TO THE FLAME

PART 2

CHAPTER 29: HOLIDAY PARTY

"Maes... there's just one problem with your ingenious plan..." Roy muttered as his best friend was once again popping hearts out everywhere and straightening Roy's tie. "What? I think I worked all the bugs out of it, Roy. Now take a look at yourself, isn't that the best you've looked in years!" Roy looked at himself rather reluctantly in the mirror. "Well... it's... different."

Maes had managed to stuff him into a black suit with a white undershirt and a red tie. Somehow. It had looked entirely too small to Roy when he had looked at it. Go figure. More hearts from Maes's head meant that he thought it was good. Roy turned and examined the back in the mirror. "Perfect, Maes... now how about some pants, eh?"

"I was working on it! You know, you really need to go shopping for clothes..."

"I don't know if they look alright or not on me..."

"Take your wife with you, idiot!"

"Ahh... but she's never available."

"Why?"

"Housework, something or the other. She's not a shopping type of lady, you know that Maes."

"So who do you take with you?"

"Junior..." Roy sighed.

"No wonder you always have stains on your clothes..."

"Shut up, Maes."

Maes rummaged around in Roy's closet, throwing out article after article of clothing. "I can't help but wonder what's keeping her so busy..." Maes muttered.

"She has a lot to do!" Roy said defensively. "I mean, she's been getting the house ready for the holidays, and she's had to deal with Junior, me, and get invitations out to the staff. Besides, she said we'll go shopping for clothes after the holidays."

"I got one! One that doesn't have stains on it anyway..." he directed an evil look at Roy and Roy frowned back.

"Just hand them over so I can put them on!" Maes handed them over and Roy put them on, looking in the mirror again. "Not bad Maes... not bad," he admitted, and Maes glowed. Maes couldn't dress up for every day life, sure, but he sure as hell could for parties. Maes tossed him a comb and pointed at Roy's hair. "You know what the only thing left to fix is, don't you...?"

"Do I have to?" Roy groaned, and Maes nodded vigorously. "Of course! You'll have to do it for parties! You have to comb out your hair at least once a year you know," he said, picking at his friend. Roy directed a glare at him. "I do comb my hair," he muttered. "I just mess it up by the time I get to work..."

"In a car?" Maes asked incredulously.

"I walk!" Roy growled at him, getting more and more irritated the more he combed back his hair. Maes clapped his hands together. "Perfect! Now for the test! Junior!" he called outside.

Roy Junior got up from the floor where he was messing with his mini-flamegloves. Roy had found it necessary to fire-proof his entire mansion because of his son. The twoyear old dusted off his pants and ran to the door, his jacket and tie askew. Maes bent down and straightened it before moving out of the way. "Now how does your dad look?"

"Daddy looks good!" he said, jumping at Roy. Roy picked him up and swung him around a bit. "Hey little guy... who put you in the suit?"

"Momma! Momma looks good too! She's pretty..."

"Really? As usual I suppose, or more than usual?"

"More."

"Okay then. Are you going to wear your gloves?"

"Yep! I wanna look like you. Your hair looks funny, Daddy."

Roy Junior looked almost exactly like his father, only smaller, louder, and cuter. Obviously.

Roy sighed again. "I had to comb it, and now I have to comb yours. Why didn't your mom comb it?"

" 'Cause I ran away before she could, and Momma didn't wanna climb the stairs. Will Nii-san be here too?"

Roy chuckled and started to comb back Junior's hair. "Yeah, Ed will be here. Why?" Junior was quite taken with Ed, and always called him Nii-san. "I just wanted to know. Will Uncle Havoc be here too?"

"Yes, and Uncles Breda, Fuery, and Falman. You already know Uncle Maes will be here."

"Yeah!" He jumped from Roy's arms and onto Maes who cried out in surprise and caught him. "Will Elysia be here too, Uncle Maes? I wanted to play, but Daddy said Momma was busy and not to call anyone over, and I couldn't go over because Daddy said he was having fun with Momma and wouldn't take me."

Maes raised an eyebrow at Roy and Roy groaned. "Junior..." he said, one hand over his face.

"What? That's what you said!"

"Well, Elysia's going to come with Auntie Gracia, so don't you worry."

"Great! Is Uncle Jean bringing Luna, Daddy?"

"Yes."

"Waaaaah..."

"Why? I thought you liked Luna?" Roy said.

"Yeah, but whenever Elysia and Luna are together they start fighting over me... it's no fun."

Maes's face darkened and Roy Junior looked up at him. "What's wrong Uncle Maes? Did I say something wrong?"

Maes glared at Roy. "He's already a womanizer, Roy!"

Roy chuckled and smirked at Maes. "Seems like he's already in demand, Maes." He took his son back from Maes and put him on the floor. "Why don't you go get Momma so I can see her, eh? Go on," he said, pushing Roy Junior in the doorway.Little Roy raised his finger. "I don't have to, Momma's right here!" he sang, ducking behind Roy again.

Roy whistled. "Riza... you're looking downright sexy tonight," he said, grinning. Maes and Junior took this as their cue to leave as Maes whipped out pictures and Junior scrambled at him, saying that he wanted to see. Maes was in heaven, someone who actually wanted to see his pictures!

Riza put her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "You're not looking like a disaster for once."

"Oh ha ha. I don't look like a disaster all the time."

"You do after you get out of bed."

"So do you."

"And who's fault is that?"

"Probably mine."

"Exactly." She buried her face into his neck.

"I'm just kidding," she murmured. "You always look nice."

"I don't think I need to tell you that you do too. You look beautiful, every single day. How do you do it?"

"Maybe it's not me so much as it is your perception, hmm?"

"Possibly... but you do look... stunning."

She let go of him and turned in a circle on the spot. "You like my dress?" she asked, and Roy coughed. Liked? He was absolutely smitten with it.

"You know my favorite color is red..."

"And I also know that you can never resist dresses that show off my chest, so I got something you'd like." Roy sighed.

"How am I going to stop my nose from bleeding...? You didn't think of that, did you?"

"Oops... heehee..."

"Nevermind that... I think I've controlled my nosebleeds by now, what with you as my wife... Is everything set up?"

"Yes, Mr.Mustang, it is."

"Well, you've been a busy Mrs.Mustang, haven't you?" he laughed, pressing his forehead against hers. She raised her eyebrow at him.

"Maybe if you'd helped I wouldn't be so tired, and this dressfeelstight around my stomach." She said it in a meaningful way, but Roy didn't seem to catch it.

"Looks fine to me..."

She sighed heavily. Men never understood what being subtle was about. She turned away quickly and crossed her arms underneath her breasts, and Roy wondered what on earth he had said to upset her this time.

"Riza, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing!"

"Something's wrong. Was it something I said?"

"Of course not."

"But then what is it? I don't understand."

"You never do," she sniffed.

Roy was feeling utterly sorry for himself. This was the one woman he just couldn't understand, the one he was married to!

"Tell me then!"

"No!"

And God,was she stubborn.

"Please?"

"No!"

Then the doorbell rang, and he looked at Riza, then down the six flights of steps. Then at her again, and back at the steps. And once more.

"Riza?"

"I'm coming!" she groaned, slowly going down the steps, which confused Roy even more.

"Please tell me!" he begged on the way down the stairs. She turned her face again and muttered an obstinate 'no'. But God did she look cute when she did that, was Roy's thought. He thought that maybe now he had an idea of one reason why she was mad, but not more than one.

He sighed and gave up, running down the stairs in front of her to answer the door. It was freezing out there and he didn't want to keep anyone from waiting too long. Black Hayate and Belcini, both sitting in front of the door and wagging their tails expectantly yipped at him. He petted them both on their heads briefly before opening the door, letting a frozen Ed and Al stumble in, snow blowing in behind them. "Nii-san!" Junior cried from the stairs by Riza, bounding down the rest of the steps to meet him.

"Kitty Nii-san!" he said, hugging Al's metal leg. Roy ruffled Junior's hair, but not so much as to mess up his hair again. "Kitty Nii-san?"

"I can't call him Nii-san because that's Nii-san," he explained, pointing to Ed, "So I call him Kitty Nii-san because he always has kitties with him!"

"That explains a lot," he said, lifting Ed to his feet.

"It's a good thing I was in the area, or I wouldn't have gotten the invitation. It's pretty nice of you, Colonel."

"Now who said I couldn't be nice once in a while?" Roy shot back at Ed. "Besides, I knew Junior would be sad if he didn't get a visit from his 'Nii-san' during the holidays."

Al was dumping the snow out of his armor through a window and picking the kitties out of it one by one. "I brought the whole Wedding Cat Chorus!" he said, showing them to Roy and Riza. They were dressed in decorative scarves, hats, and coats.

There was another knock on the door and Roy opened it again, only to be dogpiled by the rest of his subordinates sans Havoc, who had made an intellectually beneficial decision and stayed behind the rest of them with his daughter Luna and son, Jean Junior a.k.a J.J, in his arms.

"Didn't want to get dogpiled with Luna and J.Jin my arms," he explained. Roy let his bumbling subordinates inside to warm up, all of them dressed in either suits or festives.

Jean and Luna were opposites, Jean wearing a suit while Luna wore her festive outfit. J.J was outfitted in standard warm baby clothes, though they weredecorated with a snowflake or two sewn in them.Roy took a look at Riza. "Are we missing anyone?"

"Well... there is your mother, my grandfather, my father, my brother, and your uncle and your cousin. Not to mention that Gracia and Elysia aren't here yet."

Roy slapped a hand to his face. "Of course! I forgot!

"And one thing, Al... why are you still in that suit of armor?"

Al jumped from inside the armor. "Uhhhh... we haven't had much luck with the stone, Colonel. It keeps a lot of the cold out too, until it starts to seep inside, and it's the best way to carry the rest of the chorus."

"And Winry isn't here yet, and neither is Armstrong," Riza added. Roy shuddered. "Is she still mad at me... for... you know..." Roy's face had darkened and had a bit of a haggard look to it. Riza took his arm and shook her head. "Of course not. We discussed that already, remember. She doesn't blame you for her parents, Roy."

"If you say so..."

"Daddy! Momma! Stop talking and set a fire already, it's cold..."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," Roy called. He sat Riza down on the couch and fished his gloves out of his pockets, slipping them on. Junior waved his hands in the air. "Can I try first, Daddy? Can I? Can I? Pleeeease?"

Roy waved at the log. "Go ahead then, but if you can't then I'll light it."

"Deal!" Junior said, snapping the fingers of his mini-gloves. There was a tiny spark but nothing happened, and Junior scowled. "One more time," he said, looking back at Roy. He snapped again and this time the log caught on fire, crackling in the fireplace. Everyone who had come in from the snow huddled around the fire, trying to get warm.

The party went well, with everyone warm and happy, even Fullmetal couldn't complain. Roy chatted with him quite amicably without once referring to his height, and Ed enjoyed the Colonel's company for once. Just this once.

Alphonse liked talking to Riza, however, and talked to her about having to care and watch out for their elders more than they did. She liked Alphonse, he was very easy to relate to, and very warmhearted, which was why Junior preferred him to Edward, who was often jumpy and irritable.

Jean smiled sadly; it was always a sad smile ever since Keira had died, only two days before, but the party did cheer him up a little... it was the holidays, after all. He couldn't afford to be sad on the holidays, it would upset his children. About halfway through the party he said he felt ill and left, promising to pick up Luna and J.J in the morning, or the afternoon at least, and left. Roy talked with his uncle, who checked his arm over with Vergo to make sure there weren't any reactions to the metal, and, satisfied, slapped him good-naturedly on the back.

Junior whined when Luna and Elysia, now at the party, proceeded to fight over who would play with him, going so far as to jump on each other and start fighting. Luna won, of course, being the sturdier-built of the two, even though she was younger. Elysia got her back when she bit Luna on the wrist and Luna yelped, leaping off Elysia.

Junior, by this time, had retreated to sit in Roy's lap and stroke Belcini. Roy put Junior on the couch for a second and went to answer the door, smiling as he saw his mother and kissing her on the cheek. "Glad you could come, Mom."

"I'm just glad to be home again. Well, in my old home."

"It's one and the same, Mom, don't worry about it."

By midnight, Maes was flashing pictures of Elysia at their last vacation for anyone who was still awake or sober enough to care. Roy sure wasn't.

Riza made sure he didn't cause any trouble in his drunken state by knocking him out with the butt of her gun and sitting on him, which was much applauded by the Elrics and the rest of the party.

Maes, of course, wasted no time in taking more pictures.

Please note that this is PART 2, and that this may just be the last lighthearted chapter for a while. From now on the story is taking a darker turn, and you have been warned!

-T A

also... happy holidays everyone! I've been waiting to use this chapter as the holiday contribution chapter, so here it is. Have fun, and let's hope that Roy doesn't kill Maes in the morning.