Through Metamorphosis

By RWThunder

Part III

Winry removed her gloves and took her hair down, sighing. She was in the work room, finishing her latest model of light-weight automail. The blonde's lips sunk into an uncharacteristic frown. Making the metal limb supplements wasn't like it used to be.

Ed had been her inspiration, her motivation to better her work. Whenever she was laboring away, she would think of how much easier things could be for Ed, of how she had the ability to make life more convenient for him, this thought encouraged her.

Now Ed no longer needed his automail, he no longer needed her, not in the same way. Winry had been his personal mechanic, doing everything from repairs, to visits, to advice and essentially working her butt off for him, all in voluntary earnest.

The blonde now realized that she had taken this drive for granted. It was a lot easier to devote yourself to automail when you had a friend who relied on your good technique. Of course, the world was full of people who needed automail, thousands in the country of Amestris alone. But Ed was Ed, her friend, and the Fullmetal Alchemist's determination and ambition were mightily contagious.

It was strangely symbolic: when Ed regained his limbs, his—her—automail was lost somewhere in the gate or beyond. In a way, this event illustrated the fact that Winry had lost this tie to him. It was equivalent trade, Edward exchanged Winry for Roy, metal for flesh. She sighed, remembering that even on the night that she had first attached Ed's automail, the fire in his eyes had told her one day he wouldn't need it.

The young engineer gazed out the window. Mustang had been gone for nearly an hour.

"Auntie?" She called, following the echo of her grandmother's answer to the kitchen.

"Let's go to Rush Valley today." They had been planning to visit the automail city for quite some time. Now that she had jumped into the situation with the her friend and the former colonel, however, it looked like things would be moving faster than was appropriate with family members present.

"I thought you wouldn't be finished with the new model until tomorrow." The older woman replied, looking up from her pipe.

"I finished it. I'll be packed in a minute." Winry said with a smile. Pinako was silent for a moment, eyeing her granddaughter suspiciously.

"Where have Ed and that young man gotten to? Have you seen them, Winry?" She asked suddenly.

"Roy was here awhile ago, we talked." The teen replied, shrugging. "They're outside somewhere." Her guardian raised her eyebrows.

"Roy…Roy Mustang! I remember now. He was that State Alchemist that came by on the night of Ed and Al's failed transmutation. A military man, isn't he? One of Edward's superiors?"

"Grandmother," Winry began, laughing. "Roy has been staying here for a week and you don't even know who he is?"

"I don't see why I should trouble remembering him from so far back, he definitely lacks a certain cordiality beyond introducing himself. I've hardly seen any of him this entire week. I just assumed he was a friend of Ed's and left it at that." Her grandmother said defensively.

"Roy's just…reserved." The blonde explained, her heart lifting at her unexpected desire to defend the man. That, and she could understand how he felt. She grinned inwardly, imagining the great Roy Mustang sweating over how to seduce her companion without exposing his intentions to Pinako and herself.

"Well then, will Ed and Mustang be alright by themselves?"

"Flame and Fullmetal can take care of each other." Winry replied, smiling. "And he's not a military man anymore, grandma, he left—just like Ed—they've both given up on the fighting." And the killing. Winry saw her parents in her mind for a moment before banishing the image.

"Well, it's good to see they've come to their senses. Honestly, using alchemy in the way the government demands…well, we'd better pack up." Pinako got to her feet, placing her pipe on the counter.

"Leave Ed and Mustang a note, will you, Winry dear?"

"Sure." The blonde fished out a piece of paper and a pen.

Edward—

You'd better be grateful for this! Auntie and I have left a day early for Rush Valley just so that you two can be alone…

--

"I'm a lot older than you, Edward." Came the brunette's soft voice, his tone bearing just the smallest trace of bitterness. Ed opened his eyes, turning his head slightly to look up at his companion from Roy's lap.

"That makes sense." He replied simply. His apathy seemed to soothe the Flame Alchemist, who smiled in return. Ed let his eyes slide shut again for a moment, breathing steadily to calm his heart. He had discovered in the last thirty minutes that even just kissing someone could take a lot out of you, or maybe it was just because Roy was so…experienced.

The blond frowned, considering their situation.

Convincing Roy that he wanted to try a relationship had revealed a different side of his former superior. The brunette was overbearing in his affection, rough and impatient, possessive and dominating in the most powerful of ways and yet, his actions triggered surges of burning desire in Edward's body that spoke only of true talent. Of genuine feeling, feelings that were completely mutual.

Ed had quickly forgotten everything he had believed about love and lovers. Either way, Roy was different and being with him wouldn't be like it was in love songs. For one, his senses had been in no way warped or inhibited; instead it felt as though he was tasting and touching for the first time, for nothing else had ever been so real as when he kissed Roy, when he was kissed by Roy.

"It doesn't bother you?" The older man pressed. His hand glided through Ed's hair, each finger twisting itself firmly around blond strands.

"No." Edward replied, sighing as Roy's palm ghosted over the back of his neck and across his shoulder blades.

"I'll be honest, it does worry me somewhat. You're only—"

"Seventeen, idiot." The blond interrupted, turning onto his back to look straight up at his companion. Roy gazed down at him, his hand still for a time. Then he smiled slightly.

"Indeed you are." His fingers resumed their caresses. One hand parted the fabric of Ed's shirt (which had been feverishly unbuttoned mere minutes before) and slid teasingly down the center of his chest, stopping at the naval.

"At this point, it's not about age or even gender, I suppose. We're both adults now, such specifications are usually shed when one matures." Ed continued, trying to ignore the fact that his skin was starting to burn again as Roy touched him.

"Does that mean you'd want me even if I was some eighty-year-old creep?" The former general asked, grinning as Ed bit his lip to keep from gasping under his ministrations.

"If you were a creep? No. If you were eighty? No." The blond managed, shutting his eyes for fear that they would betray his lust.

"Well, I've been described as both "old" and "creepy" before, why should I bother?" He grinned, his hand traced Ed's lips slowly before drawing back. Fullmetal frowned.

"You're not that old. And you're not creepy." He protested, reaching up to move his fingers over the brunette's jaw.

"I'm an older man pursuing a relationship with a minor. That's called, creepy, Edward."

"I'm not a minor!" Ed tugged gently on a particularly long black lock. "Just how old are you anyway?"

"You were a eleven when you attempted to transmute your mother." Roy winced when his hair was nearly yanked out by Ed's constricting fist. "When I visited Pinako's house that night, I was in my early twenties." He caught Ed's hand in his.

"I'm sorry." Edward said sheepishly.

"It's okay." Roy's hand was warm and fully enveloped his own.

"That was six years ago. So you're in your late twenties?"

"Practically." The brunette replied cryptically. Ed smiled and sat up, looping his arms around Roy's neck as he slid into his lap.

"That doesn't bother me." He murmured. Roy kissed his forehead.

"So I see." Came the husky reply.

--

As they walked back to the house in the afternoon, the guilt weighing down on Roy Mustang began to lift somewhat. He thought back on the day that he'd first officially met Ed and his brother, he had been twelve then. Of course, Roy had harbored no feelings for the boy at that point.

Through the years, they met sporadically. Each time, Ed was noticeably older. Roy knew Ed in stages, in childhood, the levels of growing maturity, and finally manhood. It was the contrast, perhaps, the exhibit that was Edward Elric's growth and development on display that intrigued the Flame Alchemist so.

Intrigue, built on respect, built on years of familiarity and a certain closeness was the perfect place to nurture a spark of interest, a spark that grew into a flame, and a flame that burst into a wild and sudden forest fire. Roy smiled at the analogy.

Forest fires, as it happened, were dangerous and completely and uncontrollable. He smiled. If that was what their relationship would be, then the brunette was eager to continue.

Fire, after all, was something that he knew intimately.

Minutes later, the older alchemist was leaning against a kitchen counter, trying in vain to read over Ed's shoulder.

"She didn't…" Fullmetal breathed, rereading the note. Roy could make out Winry's loopy signature at the bottom, a heart dotting the I.

"What is it?" Ed crumpled the letter as he turned to face his companion.

"I have you all to myself, Roy." He purred. The brunette gasped.

"How long are they gone for?"

"Three days, maybe four." If either had wanted to reach out and touch the sexual tension hovering in the air, it might not have been so impossible.

Despite this, the two alchemists let the rest of the day flow by innocently enough. They took turns showering, Roy read for a few hours, Ed took care of work around the house, and they joined forces to make an attempt at dinner.

Later in the evening, the teen found himself standing outside of Roy's room. The brunette had excused himself only a few minutes before.

Ed sighed, visually tracing the age rings in the wood.

He could knock, or walk away.

He could stay up until dawn, or sleep.

He could lose his virginity, or maybe cherish it for another night. The blond shook his head, trying with difficulty to evaluate the signals coming from his mind and his body, attempting to reconcile both.

One told him that he was ready. He could still feel the brunette's lips on his, he shivered. He wanted to feel that again, to feel what he thought of as 'intense' being brought to whole new levels. He wanted his idea of pleasure to be obliterated by true experience, and yet…

Something told him to wait. This was crazy. Roy was right, he was seventeen, in some ways still a minor. But what had age to do with it? He wanted it, of that he was sure. And Ed was legally old enough to make his own decisions.

Another voice protested that sex wasn't an ideal way to jump-start a new relationship. Or was it? He and Roy were hardly strangers, after all. Granted, the attraction between them was fresh and new, but the familiarity was there.

He was comfortable around Roy, just as he had been for years. He may not have known Roy as a lover, but he knew him as a kind of friend, and that was said to be the strongest foundation for a relationship.

Eventually, Ed's body switched sides in the great debate, bringing down the veil of fatigue that reminded him of how late it was. There was time, after all. Maybe this could be his last night of hesitation, his last night alone. He smiled at the thought.

Roy heard the teen walk away from his door.

"Goodnight, Edward." He whispered. "Next time, I'll leave it open for you." He could wait, he could be rational, but if Ed knew just how much the brunette ached for him, even he would have called it creepy—unless of course the feeling was mutual.

Roy lay down with a sigh, letting his eyes slide shut. Maybe tomorrow night, he wouldn't wait for Fullmetal to come to him.

TBC

-Thunder