AN: Wow, I keep getting a lot of reviews! Thanks to Pink Shimmer for that long review X3 and of course, everyone else for taking the time to review as well!
I hope you enjoy this one n.n
Chapter 5
The phone rang and Roy merely blinked at it. He had no intention of getting off the couch and answering the horrendous thing—honestly, phones were annoying devices, according to him. Sure, they were handy if you needed to contact someone very fast, but honestly, the thing rang only at a bad time!
In this case, the thing had interrupted his slacking.
Roy decided to just let it ring and wait for the other thing that was attached to it—an answering machine?—work. Edward wasn't there right now, he needed to go to the grocery store down the block for a moment, so he couldn't pick it up either.
Finally, after a minute of ringing, the thing said, with Edward's voice, "Yo, this is Edward Elric. If you have something important to say, leave a message. If not, piss off and stop wasting my time (except when you're Al, then you're allowed)!" , followed by a beep. Roy chuckled lightly at it, before his chuckle turned into a growl.
"Hey, Ed. This is Russell," Russell stopped hesitantly, giving Roy a brief chance to think about it—should he pull the plug or not? "Listen, I know we haven't seen each other for a while, but I was hoping we could catch up on old times, you know. So call me back… if you want. Fletcher says he misses you. And… well, I miss you too. Bye." Roy frowned in annoyance as another beep sounded, indicating he had hung up. So, the blonde bastard wanted to see Edward again, huh? And something about Fletcher? Who the hell was that? And what kind of name is 'Fletcher'? Is he a walrus or something?
He shrugged and decided it really wasn't any of his business—after all, what his master did, didn't concern him, right? Besides, it wasn't like Edward wanted to go out with the guy! When they had been on that party, Edward looked so uncomfortable in his presence, so he wouldn't go.
…Right?
Five minutes after Russell's call, Edward stepped into the apartment, carrying two bags of groceries. Roy watched amusedly from the couch as Edward tried to close the door with his foot, all the while trying to put a key on the kitchen counter and glaring at Roy. It was amazing how he could do three things at a time.
"You know, you could give me a hand!" he scowled at him. Roy raised an eyebrow in amusement and yawned.
"Sorry, but I'm tired," he replied, smirking.
"Bastard," Edward muttered. He put away the groceries—some in the refrigerator, some in the cabinets—before walking to the phone. "Any calls?" All he got was a shrug in return and a dark look. Edward blinked once, before pressing on a button and the sound of Russell's voice sounding through the room once again. Edward seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, before he picked up the phone and started to dial a number. Roy immediately sat up.
"You aren't going out with him, are you?" he asked him. Edward stopped dialling for a moment and looked down at him.
"Why not? He's a nice guy, I guess," the blonde said, waving a hand at him. "Besides, Fletcher is a good kid. He and Alphonse were best friends and he kind of was a little brother to me. It would be nice to see him again," he added, apparently noting that Roy didn't find his reason adequate.
"But I thought you didn't like him!" Roy said loudly. Edward looked very impatient.
"Why the hell do you care!" He retorted. Roy was taken aback for a moment, before he scowled and stood up from the couch, retreating to his room. Edward felt bad for a moment, before he reminded himself that Roy had been the one who was acting so impossible. Honestly—he knew Roy cared about him, but it almost seemed as though the black-haired man was jealous.
Edward chuckled lightly—yeah right. Roy being jealous of Russell? The thought was ludicrous.
He shrugged and dismissed it—whatever the reason was, Roy still was the one at fault here.
"Hey," Russell greeted him in front of the coffee shop. They had agreed to just have a simple coffee together, since Edward wasn't willing to go on a full dinner with him. Russell had been sincerely glad they were going out together, so he was willing to agree to anything—hell, even a dumpster sounded good.
Edward on the other hand, was very anxious. It had been two days since Russell had called to his house and Roy had stormed off. The last couple of days had been very awkward between them. To put it simply: Roy was ignoring him as much as possible.
Well, that wasn't entirely true—Roy had warned him once, that same evening, but, stubborn as Edward was, he didn't listen to him and instead told him to mind his own business. After that, it had only been ignoring each other, only occasionally asking necessary questions.
"Yo," Edward said in return, though slightly more nervous. "Wanna go inside?" he asked then, simply trying to keep the conversation going. Russell nodded happily. They ordered and sat down at a table in a corner, giving them slightly more privacy. Things were uncomfortable, Edward noted, unlike whenever he was with Roy. With Roy, everything just went natural—even the insults went natural, felt natural.
"So… who was that guy I saw you with last time?" Russell asked. Though it wasn't a very good topic in such a fragile situation, he did want to know.
"Oh, you mean Roy?" Edward asked nervously. He got a short nod in return. "He's temporarily living with me, my roommate," he answered simply. Russell raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Not your boyfriend?" Edward quickly shook his head.
"No! Not at all," he gave him a short smile, which got returned. "We're just friends," he continued. Russell decided not to question the topic any further, satisfied with the fact that, obviously, Edward at least didn't have a boyfriend yet. Heh, got a chance then… "So, how have you been doing?" the smaller blonde asked good naturedly.
"Pretty good, Dr. Marcoh is a great scientist—I'm glad he took me in as his assistant," Russell said. "And you? Enjoying your rich life?" The taller blonde smirked lightly at the huff he got in return.
"Well, yeah, I guess. It's a lot more eventful with Roy," Edward winced at his own statement, before shrugging it off—he knew he was developing—or already had developed— a gigantic crush for the man, which was the exact reason why he was going off with Russell. Sure, he had made up that stupid excuse involving Fletcher, but that wasn't the truth. At all. Maybe if he could get his mind off Roy, it would be easier to forget about him when he was gone… yeah.
"You know, I was just kidding, right?" Russell asked, smiling sweetly—a change of tactics! Obviously, this Roy guy was important to Edward… so, he would start flattery. Edward had always been a little arrogant, so some compliments wouldn't go unappreciated. "I mean, you deserve every penny you get for your hard work, the auto-mail you made is brilliant. I wish I could've been your assistant," Russell trailed off. Ah, success! He managed to get him to blush. Hehe.
"Thanks," Edward muttered, taking a sip out of his mug. Russell did the same thing with a small smile on his face.
The rest of the evening went well, according to Edward. Things had been awkward, but overall, Edward had enjoyed his time with Russell, though he wasn't sure if he wanted to go out with him again.
He hadn't felt comfortable though—not as comfortable as he would've felt had it been Roy sitting across him. Edward sighed and rubbed his head as he was being walked home by Russell (he had insisted on taking Edward safely back home). Honestly, he was getting in too deep here. Roy had to leave soon and the blonde was getting too attached.
"I had a nice time," Russell said, smiling as they stood in front of Edward's front door. Russell kept moving closer to him.
"Me too," Edward replied, giving him a rather forced smile in return. Before the shorter blonde knew it though, Russell had leaned in and was pressing his lips hungrily on Edward's, immediately invading the latter's mouth with his tongue. The smaller blonde gave a muffled scream in surprise and hurt, because the lips were forced, pressing hard against his own as Russell's hands took Edward's wrists so he couldn't push away. Russell broke contact for just a moment to catch his breath, allowing the smaller blonde to scream loudly. It only lasted two seconds though, before he felt the lips on his again.
"Are you still a virgin, Ed?" he hoarsely whispered in Edward's ear, making the latter shudder in disgust. Russell pushed Edward against the wall, momentarily forgetting that Roy was inside the apartment and could probably hear the noises, and started to continue to ravish Edward's mouth with his tongue. "I can take care of that," he hurriedly said, breaking away contact, before diving in again. He let out a couple of moans in the process, enjoying the squirming and fighting, before a hard force pulled him away from Edward.
Russell could see the smaller blonde fall to the floor, gasping and panting—he was completely out of breath—before his eyes focused on the one who had dared to interrupt them.
"R—Roy," Edward managed to say, grateful and happy, obviously refraining himself from hugging the black-haired man on the spot. Russell growled in annoyance.
"Don't touch me, asshole!" he yelled. Roy's eyes narrowed and he pushed Russell hard against the wall on the other side of the corridor. Russell let out a groan.
"If you ever—ever—come near him again, I will kill you," he said, loud enough for Edward to hear. Russell, who was in no position to argue, but was stubborn as hell, gritted his teeth.
"Is that a threat, Mustang?" he demanded. Roy smirked lightly at him.
"No, it's a warning." Roy let go of Russell's shirt and turned away from him. He picked up Edward from the floor and carried him inside of the apartment, leaving a very angry Tringham. Roy didn't care so much—all he cared about was Edward, right now. If Edward hadn't managed to scream out, Roy wouldn't have been on time…
He quickly shook his head as he put the shaking blonde who was clinging to his shirt, down on the couch. Roy wanted to get him some water, something to call him down a bit and perhaps wash away the nasty taste. Instead though, Edward had swung his arms around Roy's neck and had buried his face in Roy's chest. He wasn't crying, wasn't sobbing, but he was upset and scared—he needed something to hang on to until he could calm himself down again.
"It's alright," he whispered soothingly, stroking through Edward's blonde hair with one hand, all the while rubbing the smaller man's back with his other one. He hoped it was soothing—he wasn't really good at stuff like that.
"He tried to—he tried," Edward started, the sound of his voice muffled by Roy's chest. He couldn't say the next few words, but didn't have to either.
"I know," Roy muttered, feeling anger welling up inside of him again. Was it too late to give that Russell guy a nice beating? He wished Hawkeye was in this time—she knew the best way to physically and emotionally torture someone… he should know—nobody had ever gotten him to do his paperwork, except Riza.
Well, he didn't need his first lieutenant to ensure that the blonde bastard would spend the rest of his life eating through a straw.
"I'm sorry, I should have listened Roy," he muttered. "It's my own goddamn fault." Roy patted his head, but didn't say anything in return—Edward was right. Roy had warned him. It wasn't as if the black-haired man was going to rub it into his face now, but he wasn't going to tell him that there wasn't anything that he could've done about it.
It didn't take very long for Edward to fall asleep in Roy's arms.
