AN: Whoa, I can't believe I actually got so many reviews for this O.o Not that I'm complaining or anything—keep them coming XD
For all the angst-fans, I'm sorry T.T I honestly can't write angst, apparently. I can write drama, humour (at least… I think I can xD), I can write a bit of romance, but I just can't bring myself to make a character overly depressed and angsty. Maybe it's just because it's Edward O.o… But damn. I'll try to make it angsty a bit—the next chapter should contain some angst, at least, since… well, you'll see xD.
Anyway, enjoy this chapter! n.n
Chapter 5: Duty
"I'll see you tomorrow at the office, Edo," Roy said as he dropped the younger Alchemist off in front of Alphonse's apartment. Edward nodded, only vaguely aware of his face moving closer to his. It was… so close. He could feel Roy's breath on his lips and he parted his slightly automatically. "I really enjoyed this Edo," he murmured softly, one hand tangling itself in Edward's hair.
"Me too," the blonde said softly, before crossing the small space between their lips and giving him a gentle kiss on the lips. It wasn't needy, no lust at all, but only… love. Comfort. Safety. Something Edward desperately longed for and obviously, Roy as well. They moved their lips against each other for a minute, neither of them ever even thinking about slipping in a tongue, or making it more heated. No, all they cared about was being in each other's presence, feeling each other's arms around them.
After they pulled back, Roy wrapped his arms around Edward's waist and pulled him into a hug. The smaller man rested his head on Roy's chest and sighed happily, bathing in warmth, enjoying the smell of the General's cologne. Roy hadn't felt like this in a long time—women had never given him this feeling. Whenever he had been with a woman, it was merely because of lust. Just a one-night stand, nothing more. It was probably at the point when Edward pulled his head from his chest back and looked at him with those golden eyes that Roy realised that he truly did love the boy.
"G'night," Edward murmured, pulling back from Roy's grasp, but Roy had no intention of letting go of him just yet. The blonde was surprised when the Flame Alchemist gave him another kiss, again his hand finding its way into Edward's hair. Edward happily returned it, but then pulled back after a moment (much to the dismay of our favourite pony) and smiled lightly, before opening the door.
"Goodnight," Roy said, perhaps a little awkwardly. He was mentally noting that he should give them both the day off tomorrow so they could go on a second date… And he was also mentally slapping himself for acting like a love-struck high school-girl.
Alphonse sighed the next day when Edward had given him the report of their date. Honestly—weren't little brothers supposed to be grossed out whenever their big brother had a girlfriend, or, in their case, a boyfriend? It's like… an unspoken rule of little brothers. Now that Edward actually thought about it—it was surprising that Alphonse wasn't gay, the way he acted now and then and the way he liked cleaning, the way he liked being like a mother to Edward… Maybe that was why Winry liked Alphonse over Edward—he was, after all, more sensitive and girls usually liked sensitive guys. At least, that's what Maes Hughes had once told him when he had been twelve.
Moving on.
"Niisan, I'm so happy for you!" Alphonse squealed and then promptly glomped his older brother on the couch. Edward chuckled lightly, before they decided a wrestling match was in order to celebrate the success of Edward's date (however girly that may sound). They both tried to pin each other and in the end, due to the fact that Edward had his auto-mail, the older brother won, grinning down happily at a laughing Alphonse.
"Tickle DOOM!" Edward declared, before his fingers started to attack his little brother's sides, neck and anything else that he knew was ticklish. They hadn't been able to touch each other like that, not before when Alphonse still had to walk around in that armour and they both were glad that they were able to wrestle, fight, hug and tickle each other the way normal brothers could do as well.
"Ed!" Alphonse managed to say between laughs. "S-stop!"
"Do you give up?" Edward asked, grinning. Alphonse nodded his head violently and continued to laugh and squirm underneath Edward.
"Y-yes!"
"Geez, how old are you guys anyway?" Winry asked, both of her eyebrows raised and a wrench in her hand. "Aru, you promised to help me with breakfast and instead your wrestling with Edo?" Alphonse looked nervously at Winry.
"Sorry Win, we were talking about last night!" he managed to say, his eyes never leaving the wrench in her hands. Edward couldn't blame him though—he remembered how hard those things could hit him, especially when they were thrown by Winry. Her aim was also impeccable. She sighed and nodded.
"Fine, but get your ass in the kitchen right now!" she said as she turned to leave. Edward loosened his grip on Alphonse's wrists he had been holding and got off of him. Alphonse rubbed the back of his head, smiling.
"You know, she's going easy on you now because she hasn't seen you in years. I still have to deal with the wrenches." Edward grinned at him.
"Well, serves you right. Remember when you were still in the suit of armour? You couldn't feel it when she was hitting you, but I could, you're just getting those back now," Edward said, getting off the couch and yawning. "Anyway, I'm getting dressed," he declared, scratching his stomach.
After a quick shower, he stepped into the guestroom naked, lazily looking for his clothes. He heard a soft knock on the door. Seconds later, he heard someone open the door and Alphonse speaking.
"Yes, he's here. Niisan!" Edward could hear, coming from the livingroom. "You can go to his room, General," he then heard his little brother say. Shit! A towel, towel, towel—he found the white towel he had been using and put it around his waist, just in time too. Roy entered the room with a smug face, right after he had given one small knock.
"Ah, Fullmetal," he said. Edward looked up and was surprised to see Roy in regular clothes yet again. Apparently, Roy was also admiring the view—he had never known Edward was so… buff (AN: Have you ever seen Edward shirtless? Holy crap, any man would be jealous of THAT six-pack o.o) and fit. The towel was hanging very loosely around his waist and it was rather tempting for Roy to not simply pull the damn thing off and ravish him on the spot. However, the General was a very controlled man and could easily (well, perhaps not easily) refrain him from doing so.
"General Useless," Edward replied, grinning slightly. Roy's smirk faltered. "What are you doing here?"
"Aren't you glad to see me, my dear Edo-chan?" His smirk was back full force when he saw Edward's eye twitch at the nickname.
"Don't. Call. Me. That," he ground out. "And what if my answer was 'no' to that question?"
"Well, that would mean that it's too bad for you. I've taken the liberty to call in sick for the both of us so we can go on our second date." Edward's eye twitched again.
"You did what!" Roy blinked innocently. "You can't decide stuff like that!"
"I can, I'm the General. If I want to give you a day off, I can."
"I don't mean that!" Edward shouted exasperatedly. "I meant, you can't decide when we're going on a date! What if I have other plans?"
"But you don't," Roy pointed out.
"… Well—Gha—Not anymore I don't!" Edward's head started to hurt. Roy still looked at him like he'd grown a second head.
"Then hurry up and get dressed, Edo-chan. Although," he paused, looking Edward over once more and grinning slightly. "If you want to stay that way, then it's fine by me." The younger man blushed furiously and pushed Roy out the door so he could get dressed.
Five minutes later, Edward emerged from his bedroom and looked up to see Roy waiting patiently for him to get out. Edward sighed and vaguely wondered why he had even fallen for this man. Roy walked over to him and once again pulled the band that held his braid together out of his hair. Edward pouted slightly.
"I told you, you look better without the braid," Roy said, giving the smaller man a quick kiss on the forehead, before he grabbed his hand and guided him out of the apartment.
"Have fun Niisan!" Alphonse chirped from out the kitchen, before the door slammed shut.
"So, where are we going this early then?" Edward finally asked, glancing over at the man sitting next to him in the car.
"There's a village nearby. It's about a two hour drive, I think, and there's currently a funfair, I thought we could go there," Roy replied, swinging an arm over Edward's shoulders and pulling him closer. Edward was again relished in the warmth and comfort and vaguely wondered if they could just stay like that for the rest of the day. Screw the funfair.
When they finally arrived at the fair, Edward didn't know where too look.
"Whoa!" the blonde exclaimed happily. He had never been to a fair before and was amazed by all the people and the attractions. There were stalls where you could win prizes, a ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, bumper cars, a place where people from the crowd could box against the champion of the fair, freak shows (Edward personally wasn't too interested in those) and some other rides for little kids(1).The fair wasn't immensely huge, but it seemed like a lot of fun—something he hadn't had in a very, very long time.
He wanted to get in the bumper cars immediately and unconsciously grabbed Roy's hand, tugging him along. The General smiled happily at Edward's enthusiasm and followed him, gripping the Fullmetal Alchemist's hand a little tighter as they made their way through the crowd. He was sure to make this day great for his Chibi.
A knock on the door. Two pair of eyes looking at each other. It was odd how Alphonse and Winry both felt as if there was something wrong, as if something terrible would happen if they would open the door.
After one minute of them holding their breath and being as silent as possible, they knocked again and this time the knock was followed by a deep voice, booming through the door.
"This is Colonel Johnson, open the door please!" Winry and Alphonse gave each other another nervous look. 'The military?' she mouthed. Alphonse shrug in response. He walked over to the door and opened it. Please let it be nothing, let it be nothing important, he thought to himself, the anxious feeling he had in his stomach growing as he looked at the man in front of him.
"Good afternoon, Colonel," Alphonse said coolly, looking at him intently.
"Does Edward Elric live here?" the man asked immediately—he hardly had the time for pleasantries.
"Yes, but he's not home right now," Alphonse said. The Colonel nodded, before he took out a pen and a small piece of paper and hastily scribbled something on it.
"If he gets home, please let him call this number. We need him back in Drachma," he said, pushing the piece of paper in Alphonse's hand and walking off.
To Winry and the younger brother, it felt as if their hearts had stopped beating.
AN: Dun dun dun DUUUUUUUUN…. O.o Yah. Oh dear, what'll happen to our lovely Edward?
(1)In case you didn't know, they had all those things in that time. I was actually surprised myself when I looked up the information about it O.o. Maybe I'm just an idiot or something, but I hadn't expected that there were bumper cars during that time already. Of course, I have no idea if they were already there in the FMA-Universe, but just imagine that those attractions were already there x3. The wrestling now is actually forbidden, but it wasn't at that time and those freak shows were there too O.o.
