Okay first off I sincerely apologize for not posting this sooner I had halfway written it when my exams came up and found no time to finish it, that and once I had the time to get back to it I had totally forgotten where I was going with the chapter. But no worries, everything is back on track now so I hope you guys enjoy chapter two!
Jade xx
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Hopes and dreams
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When Roy Mustang woke up for the second time in god knows how long, he was still in a lot of pain despite the various drugs he'd probably been doped up with, but he felt he had a little more energy then he did when he had briefly woken up before. He attempted to sit up, but his left arm where his shoulder wound was, gave out on him and he collapsed back on the bed and hissed in pain as he felt stitches in his shoulder tighten at the sudden movement and his half mended ribs filled his chest with pain wincing, he was forced to use his uninjured arm so as to slowly sit himself up in the hospital bed.
The dark haired alchemist looked around the hospital room; because he was the rank of Colonel, he had a room to himself rather then in a ward with 9 other people; the walls were painted in an off-white colour, with pale blue curtains on the windows, there was a white cabinet beside his bed and a couple of chairs. Upon seeing the chairs Roy remembered the presence of someone being in the room with him before but there were no indications anyone had been in his room. 'What if I just dreamed it all? What if it was just Al who found me?' the dark haired alchemist felt his heart sink sadly and his hope diminish at this thought; Roy Mustang was not a man who held on to pointless fantasies that wouldn't come true, but it seemed his mind was having trouble getting rid of the fact he would never be able to see Edward Elric again; the same short blonde teen who would yell at him or call him a bastard, and that realization hurt.
'Damn it he's been gone for almost two years, I should just let go of my hope of seeing him again…' The flame alchemist thought and closed his eyes wearily; he knew why it still hurt to think Ed was never coming back and he knew why subconsciously he hadn't given up on the elder Elric brother. It was a simple yet complex thing…
He was in love.
Roy sighed and lifted up his uninjured arm and rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily; he had never told anyone his feelings of course, same sex relationships in the military are deeply frowned upon and before Ed left to the other side of the gate, he'd barley been at the legal age to have sex anyway, but none the less, he had fallen for the fiery, short tempered blonde, he couldn't exactly place when or where he'd begun to fall for Edward Elric, but he realized he was in love just after Edward's 14th birthday, when he found himself daydreaming about the blonde alchemist and anticipating his return from missions more and more.
A knock on the hospital room door brought him out of his thoughts as the door opened and lieutenant Hawkeye walked in the room, her face passive but he could see the relief of him being conscious shining in her dark red eyes. "Sir, its good to see your awake" she said in her usual strict voice, Roy nodded to her as she sat down in one of the chairs next to his bed a letter held in her hands. "What exactly happened Hawkeye? Who saved me?" The dark haired man asked; it was an important question, one he needed to know now so as to get rid of the hopeful feelings of Ed coming back. Riza frowned and bit her lip worriedly; which was an unusual expression on someone as strict and passive as Hawkeye. "Well I'd think it's obvious that you were injured…as for who saved you…" She trailed off, her eyes lowered to the floor and Roy unintentionally felt his hope well in his chest and his stomach flipped uneasily as he spoke.
"It was him….wasn't it" He whispered, Riza looked back up at him, her face blank, weather it was because Riza was unsure weather to tell him who it was or she was unsure who Roy was talking about, the dark haired man didn't know, so he continued. "E-Fullmetal, he came back and saved my life didn't he?" Roy asked almost slipping up and calling the elder Elric by his first name, something flickered in the blonde women's eyes for a moment, but it was gone before he could place what it was and she nodded. "Yes, its unbelievable…but he's come back to us…somehow he found you out on the battlefield and brought you to the hospital, if Edward hadn't have carried you back here you probably would have died" Roy sighed in relief and smiled, a true genuine smile of happiness as he felt is chest swelling; Edward had come back, he hadn't imagined seeing him at all.
Riza saw the smile, she saw the light that had been so dull in the dark haired man's eyes before, brighten up instantly burning with an intense brightness, just at the mention that Edward Elric was alive here back in this world; Riza Hawkeye may be a natural blonde by she was not stupid; she knew that Roy wanted Edward, but she had always been unsure to how deep that want was until now. The blonde women inwardly sighed; she had respected and admired Roy Mustang for a long time and even learnt to love him, but his heart was held by the Fullmetal Alchemist, and there was no way she could compete, but even so she was determined to stand by Roy no matter what; even if he didn't return her feelings he respected her as a loyal comrade and a friend and Riza could live with that. "Where is he now?" the blonde lieutenant blinked and looked at the dark haired man. "I-I believe he's with Alphonse in his apartment right now" the blonde lieutenant said and Roy nodded, its obvious Ed would spend as much time as he could with his little brother after being missing for over a year and a half.
There was another knock and a young doctor walked in and smiled "Ah it's good to see you awake at last Colonel Mustang…or should I say Brigadier General now?" Roy blinked and looked at Riza who held up the letter "It's a letter of promotion sir" she said and Roy chuckled taking the envelope from Hawkeye and opening quickly and reading the letter; sure enough it was about his promotion:
Dear Roy Mustang
Due to your efforts and bravery in the battles against the rebels and rioters, we are promoting you to the rank of Brigadier General. If you have any questions or refuse the promotion please contact the address below and state your reasons why.
Signed
Underneath were a list of people from the government board, he noticed the date on the letter then looked up at the doctor curiously "Just exactly how long have I been unconscious?" the doctor chuckled as he gave the dark haired alchemist a routine check up; testing his blood pressure, breathing and eye responses. "You've been out for little over a week, we were beginning to worry that you would never wake up, it's a good job you have, your whole unit has been worried about you and buzzing around your room like nervous bees" The young doctor said with an amused chuckle as he nodded to himself in satisfaction as he finished his tests on Roy "Well it seems your in pretty good health despite the fact you nearly died, I see no reason why you need to stay here, I suggest eating something before you leave and getting some gentle exercise, but don't overwork yourself or your ribs will break again before there fully healed, here's a prescription of pain killers if your shoulder or chest gives you any trouble" He said handing Roy a slip of paper. The doctor hung his stethoscope around his neck and smiled "Well, I'll be off when you're ready to leave inform the nurse at the reception that you're discharged and she'll deal with the rest" and with that the young doctor walked out of the room.
The newly promoted General chuckled to himself and turned to Hawkeye who was now stood up. "Hawkeye, go back to headquarters and inform everyone I'll be back in the office by this afternoon" The blonde woman nodded and saluted "Yes sir" she said before turning and walking out the office. When Roy was alone he pulled back the covers and slowly and carefully got out of bed, his legs held him up weakly, from not being used for so long; slowly he managed to use his shaky legs to open the bedside drawer and found a small bag which, Roy discovered, had some of his cloths from home inside. The dark haired General guessed that it was Hawkeye's doing, knowing that he wanted to be out of the hospital as soon as possible and get back to work, but more than anything he wanted to find Edward and thank him for saving his life, but the dark haired man didn't know if he'd be able to keep his feelings in control while he was around the blonde, so there was a possibility that Roy would go and do something embarrassing and stupid, like hugging the blonde which would confuse him or kissing Edward which would confuse the blonde even more and that was the last thing Edward needed, not after he'd just come back to this world.
With a sigh, Roy pulled out the black shirt and jeans from the bag and slowly got dressed, taking care not to brush up too harshly against his bandaged torso or aggravate the stitched up wound in his shoulder; it was a warm day outside so Roy decided to leave the top two buttons undone, his hair was still messily rumpled and he raked a hand through his hair trying to tame it a little but failed miserably; despite his attempt to tame, it his hair defied against him and stuck up messily in various directions and it made Roy look like he'd just been dragged through a hedge backwards. "Can't be helped a guess" Ropy muttered to his reflection on the mirror before he left the hospital room received his painkillers and was discharged from the hospital.
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Edward meanwhile was bored, and when he got bored his mind tended to wander off and think about things he really didn't want to think about at that moment in time. Alphonse had already left earlier that morning to go food shopping; now his older brother was back, Al he knew he'd have to restock the fridge due to the inane amounts of food his older brother tended to consume. So now Edward was alone, bored and lying on the sofa in the living room of Al's small apartment, staring dully at the ceiling and thinking about things he really didn't want to think about at the moment. With a heavy sigh Ed tried to read some of the books his brother had so kindly left him but the blonde couldn't concentrate on any of them at all, which was unusual because Edward tended to have a gift to be able suck up any kind of knowledge like a giant sponge.
Edward closed his eyes and as he did so the image of Roy lying in the hospital bed popped up in his mind and the blonde alchemist growled to himself "Gah why can't I stop thinking about that bastard!" Ed muttered to himself as he grabbed a discarded cushion from the floor where it had been dropped and pressed his face into it as his mind mulled over the flame alchemist; about how he looked when he first came back into this world, badly hurt yet somehow still able to look good, how his hair had grown so that the black bangs sometimes fell into his eyes, how his eyes were still that nice dark onyx colour, how pale the Colonel looked in the hospital or how he smelt of smoke and some nice cologne Roy wore when Ed had rushed him to the hospital, or wondering how soft the other man's lips were.
Ed suddenly shook his head and groaned; he was doing it again! Once again he was thinking inappropriate thoughts about that bastard. The blonde groaned; this was not the first time he'd thought like this about Roy Mustang, while he'd been away he'd thought of Roy more and more, wondering if his former superior officer missed him any. Hell even before he'd gone missing, random thoughts about the Colonel would pop up randomly from seemingly nowhere, about stupid things, like how he looked better with his uniform jacket off, or looked cute when he fell asleep on his paperwork. The blonde sighed, he was just in denial about why he was thinking these thoughts and he knew it, he just didn't want to admit it to himself that he…well he had feelings for a man almost twice his age, who was male AND was his commanding officer.
Basically, Edward was screwed, and not in a good way.
The blonde sighed and got up off the sofa and went into the kitchen to grab a glass of water and drank it slowly as he continued on with his thoughts; Edward didn't believe he was in love with Roy, not at all, he was an 18 old male and he figured that due to his raging hormones and due to next to no experience with a girl or a guy (Winry wasn't included in the list seen as he knew Winry and Al had something going on, that and he swore he'd never crush on someone who threw wrenches at his head) for some reason he was crushing on a guy, who happened to be one of, laziest, most annoying and arrogant, bastard's that Edward had ever met, not to mention Roy was morally bankrupt and had a god complex …but the blonde knew that even Roy Mustang had good points, the dark haired male was also hot appearance wise, charming, smart, funny at times, when his jokes weren't aimed at the blonde teens height, headstrong, brave, a natural leader and kind, with a strong sense of justice and a will to right the wrongs of his country, hence why the dark haired alchemist wanted to become Fuhrer.
Ed sighed and leaned his head on the kitchen counter knowing he was doomed and fully realizing that he had been able to recognize more of Roy's good points than the dark haired man's bad points. "Ah shit…" Ed muttered to himself, just as he was ready to go back into the living room, there was a faint knock on the front door and Edward frowned wondering who it might be. The knocking became louder and more persistent and the blonde groaned "Okay! Okay I'm coming" the fiery teen grumbled not taking in that his hair was free from his braid and that his shirt was unbuttoned by three buttons at the top as he opened the door.
He looked at who was there and froze his eyes widening in surprise and his mouth dropping open slightly; Roy mustang was standing on Al's doorstep wearing the most sexy casual cloths Ed had ever been honoured too see the Colonel wearing, not only that his hair was messily rumpled which just added to the sexy look. Quickly, the blonde alchemist regained his composure and glared at Mustang "Oh it's you, what do you want?" he asked dully, trying to act normal even though he his stomach was flip flopping in excitement and he felt himself go warm, especially his face. It dawned on the blonde that Roy was probably seeing him for the first time since he'd disappeared, and he waited nervously to see what Roy's initial reaction would be.
For the longest time the dark haired man just stared at the blonde in something akin to awe; Edward was a bit taller now, so it was obvious he'd grown in the other world and the teenager's head was now tall enough for his head to rest just underneath the older man's chin, the teenage alchemist's eyes were as bright and pure as they always were, shining with intelligence and determination, his golden hair was untied from it's usual thick braid and framed Ed's cute face making him look very girlish. Before Roy could stop himself or even think about what he was doing, he reached out and touched Edwards face gently, as though the blonde wasn't real or if he was he feared he'd disappear again.
The blond couldn't stop himself, his eyes widened and he began blushing at this action while unconsciously he leaned against the tender touch "C-colonel what are-" Ed broke off his sentence with a faint 'Eep' as he was suddenly pulled forward into the dark haired alchemists arms; the blonde teen's small slim body pressed firmly next to Roy's, which made Edward blush even more as he inhaled the older mans scent without meaning to and with that scent alone, he felt himself relax into Roy's embrace, his eyes slowly closed and he nuzzled Roy's chest a little as Roy hugged him. The dark haired alchemist buried his head in Edwards shoulder and just hugged the blonde, one hand stroking up and down the blondes back, as though Roy was just checking that the fiery teenager was real, and that this wasn't a dream. "I missed you Edward" Roy whispered in the blonde's ear.
The blonde tensed up at hearing his first name come from the Colonel's mouth, but then he relaxed again; the dark haired alchemist was acting a bit strange, this wasn't the usual, composed Colonel that Edward Elric knew, but maybe the shock of seeing the blonde again after believing that he was dead for over a year and a half had effected the flame alchemist in some strange way. Eventually Ed pulled back his face very red and he said "Well I didn't miss you, stupid bastard taisa(1)" But he said it quietly and in reality he didn't mean it; in fact his whole body was screaming at him to just pounce on Roy and kiss him already. The General blinked, then chuckled in amusement, a familiar smirk creeping up on the dark haired alchemist's face "That surprises me, usually you're too small to see me at the best of times" Ed's eyes narrowed and he scowled at Roy who waited eagerly for the predicted rant that was to come "WHOAREYOUCALLINGSOSMALLYOUWOULNDTBEABLETOSEEHIMINACROWDOFANTS!" Roy just smiled at this, as he felt his heart swell with happiness as his own hopes were realized as a reality, now he just hoped that maybe his dreams would become real too…
But for now, Edward Elric was back home where he belonged, and right now that was what mattered.
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Okay did you guys like it? I know the endings a bit cheesy I tired to keep them both in character really I did Squirms please don't kill me for the lameness of the last part, I did try!
(1) 'Taisa' means Colonel in Japanese
