AN: Eek, mucho reviews x3 I'm glad people find my fic enjoyable! I hope you also enjoy the fourth chapter X3
Chapter 4: The Date
It was an understatement if you would say that Edward Elric, child prodigy, famous Fullmetal Alchemist, Hero of the People, was nervous for a simple date. He cursed himself for being such a schoolgirl as he went through his wardrobe, only to find a black pair of jeans and a red shirt. He also wore, of course, his red coat as he didn't like to flaunt his auto-mail arm too much.
He was scared. He wasn't afraid to admit it either, I mean, the guy was going on a date with a man who he had loved for three years. Edward wasn't used to being social, he had never been on a date and the only kiss he had ever shared was with Winry when he was seven. So it was natural to be nervous.
"Niisan, you'll do fine! If he wants to go out with you, that's only a good sign," Alphonse encouraged him. Edward swallowed and nodded, trying to grin at him.
He had actually been nervous the entire time—after Roy had asked him out, the rest of the day had been spent in an uncomfortable silence. Apparently, Edward wasn't the only one who was scared, even though he knew Roy would never admit or show it. Edward found it another good sign actually—Roy was always so reassured whenever he went out with a girl, because he knew there wasn't a girl out there who would ever reject him (with the exception of maybe Riza, but… well, she was a big exception).
They had also agreed to keep things a secret. If the military would find out, they would most likely be fired and, while Edward didn't find it the most terrible thing in the world, Roy did. He still wanted to become Fuhrer, but being in a relationship with someone who was a man, a subordinate and over a decade younger wasn't good for his carrier. Edward had asked him if he really wanted to take the risk and Roy had just nodded and smiled—another sign for Edward that everything would be alright.
Of course, it was still nerve-wracking. What if he would screw up? What if Mustang decided he didn't like him after all?
Edward shrugged—he'd try his best. And he wouldn't get his hopes up either, he had decided that the moment he went to confess two years ago. If Roy didn't like him, then so be it.
There was a knock on the door and Alphonse squealed in excitement. Edward groaned—who was going on this date anyway? Alphonse turned to him, a strict look on his face.
"Okay Niisan; be home before twelve p.m. and yes, I do expect you to get home tonight," Alphonse wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Edward wondered vaguely when he had turned in such a pervert. Probably because of that damn Winry—he knew it all along. Any girl who is obsessed with oil had to be a pervert. "Don't get drunk, don't lose your temper, don't start any fights—"
"Aru," Edward growled. "I'm the older brother here, I can take care of myself perfectly!" Alphonse smiled at him.
"I know Niisan, but I worry about you!" Edward gave him a small smile, before he went to open the door. He gawked at the sight before him—he had never seen Roy in regular clothes before and he was even more sexier than the sexy bastard he usually was. Dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans, a black button-up shirt (Edward noted that the top three buttons were unbuttoned), he looked simply… well… fuckable.
Roy gave him a brief smirk, before reaching his hand out to the backside of Edward's head. Edward was still dazed—one very small part of his mind wondered what Roy was going to do with his hand and the other bigger part wondered how soft Roy's bed was. It wasn't until he felt a soft tug on his hair that he blinked and looked at the small band that normally held Edward's braid together. Roy was holding it and smirked slightly.
"You look better with your hair down," he explained. Edward blushed lightly, mumbling something along the lines of 'bastard', before he closed the door and followed Roy to his car.
Ten minutes later, the car pulled over (Roy and Edward were in the backseat, Roy actually had a driver) and they stepped out in front of a restaurant. Edward didn't exactly know what to do and he felt like a complete girl on this date, but he just let it go—after all, Roy was an expert when it came to the art of dating. It was just a very big hit on his pride when Roy actually held the door to the restaurant open for him.
They ate, talked and argued for two hours and Edward noticed that he was having a wonderful time, completely forgetting about his earlier nervousness. They mainly talked about work, but also about Alphonse, their colleagues and occasionally their pasts. Roy hadn't once asked him about the war and Edward didn't really want him to either—it was too painful to even think about it.
Edward had noticed that over the past few days, he had started to ban all thoughts of the war out of his head. At night though, he had a lot of dreams about it, haunting him. Like his mind didn't want him to forget about it, he started having flashbacks—they were triggered quite easily too. Whenever Alphonse would look at him in a certain way, or whenever someone passed him by who looked similar to one of his comrades, or sometimes even looking at houses would make him remember. He usually immediately discarded these though, not wanting to remember, but somehow they always made it back.
It felt as if… all the people who had died because of him over the passed few years didn't want him to forget.
"Edward, are you alright?" The soft voice of Roy spoke suddenly, snapping Edward from his thoughts. Roy had begun calling him 'Edward', but only out of the office (they didn't want to raise any suspicion) and the older Elric was happy—when they were teasing each other though, they would often switch back to 'Fullmetal', 'Mustang', 'Chibi' or 'Stupid Pony' (Roy resented the last one). Edward blinked once, before grinning.
"Yeah, just spacing out I guess." Roy nodded, the usual smirk not gracing his face this time.
"Are you done eating?" he questioned.
"Done? Aren't we having dessert?" Roy groaned.
"Fine Edward, but next time, you're the one whose paying." Edward grinned happily, noticing the fact that Roy had said 'next time'. "Anyway, who knew that such a little guy has such a huge appetite." He pointed at the four empty plates and smirked lightly, but it faltered at the expression on Edward's face.
"Hey, are you Major Elric?" Edward looked up to see a man of maybe twenty-five staring at him. His blue eyes were fixed on the older Elric's golden ones and his blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He resembled Alphonse slightly, though this man's eyes held a certain mischief in them—Alphonse never had that. Edward nodded. "Yeah, they told me you were short, so I noticed you right away."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT YOU COULDN'T EVEN SEE HIM IF YOU LOOKED THROUGH A MAGNIFYING GLASS!"
"Whoa, calm down Chibi. You're really sensitive about your height, aren't ya?" Edward snorted and crossed his arms, calming down slightly. This guy… he reminded him of someone. Someone who irritated him to no end as well…
"I'm not sensitive and my height is fine!" The man shrugged.
"Anyway, I'm Anthony Zachs. I was assigned to your squadron." He held out his hand and Edward took it, still glaring at him. "That glare only makes you look cute, you know," he pointed out, flicking the bit of hair that was always stubbornly sticking out.
"Damnit, I'm not cute!" Anthony grinned.
"Wanna go for lunch? I'm starving. Haven't eaten anything since… well, since an hour ago, but I'm already starving." Edward blinked. People usually were nice to him, but this guy acted as if they had known each other for years. Shrugging, he followed Anthony to the tent that was supposed to serve as the cafeteria, while he was chatting about his hometown cheerfully and how he wanted to go back already, even though he had only arrived one day ago.
After fifteen minutes, Anthony stared at how Edward was consuming his fifth plate.
"Damn. Who knew such a little guy like you has such a huge appetite."
"Edward, what's wrong?" Edward blinked, once again snapping out of one of his many flashbacks.
"Oh. It was nothing, just remembering something," he said casually.
"The war?" Damn him. "I know it's hard to talk about. Trust me, I've… seen and done some horrible things in Ishbal as well."
"No, this time it was one of my happier memories. As far as they go, at least," Edward replied. He didn't really want to think about it—the bodies scattered across the city, the blood, the screams… he didn't want to even remember. He did want to remember Anthony though. "A friend of mine said the exact same thing—that I have such a big appetite. Come to think of it, he actually looked a lot like you too," Edward said, thinking about it. "He was so annoying," he then declared. "Called me 'cute' when I glared, called me girly too. Damn bastard." Roy smirked.
"This Anthony, I like him already. I should meet him sometime." Edward's face grew darker. Crap. Roy cursed himself mentally.
"He's dead."
"I'm sorry Edward," he said. "You… want to talk about it?" Edward shook his head.
"To make a long story short—I led him on a mission, we failed, he died. It was basically my fault." Roy sighed—it was just like him to take up the blame for something he had no control over. Sure, he might have led his battalion, but that doesn't mean that they can't take care of their lives themselves.
"Edward, you can't save every—"
"I know that," Edward snapped. "I was responsible for each and everyone's life, especially when I led them on a mission that I didn't think through. It was because I was so damn stubborn that he died. But… just forget it, alright? I don't like talking about it." Roy nodded in understanding—he was never keen on talking about his experiences with war either, even though people usually advised him to talk about it. He never listened.
"So, you want to come over to my place or do you want to go home?"
"What, aren't you tired of me yet?" Edward teased.
"Actually, yes, but I was just asking out of politeness." Edward smacked him on the end in annoyance.
"Tell the truth, Mustang." Roy smirked and leaned forward. They were seated on the backseat of Roy's black car, both sitting closer than at the beginning of the evening. After they had dessert (AN: For the record, Edward had strawberry-cake, because that's my favourite and I've decided it should be Ed's favourite too x3), they finally went back to the car. Edward felt the previous nervousness rising again as Roy's body kept getting closer.
"The truth, Edo?" he asked. Edward swallowed and nodded, vaguely noticing how he had called him 'Edo' almost affectionately. "The truth is I'd like you to come home with me, to talk some more, drink some more. I really enjoyed this Edo, I'd like to have a second one. But," he paused, this time only his face moving closer. "We'll talk about that after this date is finished."
Then he pulled back and smirked lightly at the heavily blushing boy.
"B-bastard," Edward stuttered and looked away, crossing his arms.
