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Chapter twenty-seven

Alphonse woke abruptly at the sounds of knocking on their front door, as did Riza. Al was lying sideways with his head on her shoulder, his right arm over her stomach and his right leg was lying on top of hers, meaning that he was properly snuggled up to her.

And it felt nice. It was warmer and safer than it had been ever since Mom died.

And if they got to stay with Riza, then things would be okay someday. Because Mom would have liked her and trusted her to take care of them. He just knew it somehow.

His first reaction, however, was to just cling tightly to Riza, fear filling him, because they never had strangers visiting this early in the morning. He had a brief mental picture of opening the front door only to be met by Barry's grin and a meat cleaver covered in blood, and his stomach clenched as his heart rate went up a bit. But as he spotted the alarm clock on the nightstand, he realised that they had overslept quite a lot and that Roy was supposed to have picked them up ten minutes ago and that it would be him that was knocking on the door. Riza would need to take care of Brother, so Al disentangled himself from the hug and jumped out of the bed. "I'll get it, Riza, we've overslept!" Al said, earning a grateful smile, and he felt just a bit scared as he approached the bedroom door, so he grabbed Bob and held him tightly under his arm left arm as he went to the front door, jumping a bit as there came another three knocks. The mental picture of Barry standing there instead of Roy kept him frozen in place a metre away from the door.

"Hello? Is everything okay in there?" Roy suddenly said, sounding alarmed and worried, knocking just a bit harder on the door, snapping Al out of his fear of finding Barry there.

He went over and unlocked the door, opening it a bit to find Roy looking down at him, sighing with relief. "Hey, Al, are you three all right?" he asked, worry still in his voice.

Al opened the door completely to let him in, blushing slightly with embarrassment and guilt. He had worried Roy because of something that was impossible. Barry was locked up in a criminal mental asylum for a long, long time. "S-sorry, we overslept," he said quietly, looking down shyly.

Roy, however, knelt down in front of him and tilted his chin up a bit. "Hey, Al, it's okay, don't worry, you had a long day yesterday," he said gently, smiling encouragingly at him.

Al found himself suddenly throwing his arms around Roy's neck and hugging him tightly, Bob still under his arm and being held up by being pinned between him and Roy. The older man put his arms around both Al and Bob, while shuffling feet were heard from the bedroom along with dissatisfied grunts from Brother. He never was and never would be one for waking up when he didn't feel like he was done sleeping.

"Good morning, Sergeant, is there something I can help you with?" Roy said pleasantly, still hugging Al and Bob. Al didn't know what Riza thought about it, but he was currently just really happy that it was only Roy who had been standing there to prove his fears wrong. With Riza and Roy there, then Al was safe. Both him and Brother were safe.

Al just hugged him tighter. He was always a lot more scared just after he woke up because the nightmares were still causing him to be afraid. Like the line between sleep and reality was blurred for those first few minutes.

Which was why Al was afraid of the dark. It was why the light always had to be on in the hallway at night, or Al would do anything he could to hold it in for as long as possible so as not to have to use the bathroom until absolutely necessary. It was why Brother had taught himself to pee out the window when they had been staying with the other foster families.

But having Riza there tonight had meant that they had actually dared to fall asleep. It had meant that when the nightmares came, Al had been able to recognise them for what they were and had managed to wake himself up through willpower alone, no matter how hard it was.

And every time he had woken up, he had found himself resting on Riza's shoulder, which meant that he could fall asleep again instead of keeping himself awake for as long as he could in fear of having another nightmare.

He knew that he probably ought to release Roy, but he just couldn't get himself to do it. The hug was warm and the arms were big and strong and felt so safe.

Roy was looking at Sergeant Hawkeye, feeling a bit awkward at the way he was hugging Alphonse so tightly and how the young boy didn't seem to be planning on letting go of him for a while.

"Good morning, sir, I'm sorry we overslept like this. We'll get ready as soon as possible," she told him, smiling a bit at the way Roy was obviously giving Alphonse a much needed hug. Edward was just looking grumpy and a bit confused, but then his face grew stern and he glared at Roy, mouthing at him, "you hurt him and I'll bite you."

Roy didn't doubt that he would, and so he looked up at Hawkeye instead. "Don't worry about it, Sergeant. How about me and Al make breakfast while you and Ed get finished in the bathroom?" he suggested, trying hard not to notice the way that he could make out the outlines of her bra beneath her white t-shirt.

This was definitely going to end in disaster. His new Sergeant was reducing him to little more than a horny teenager. At least that was what it felt like. He'd have to work hard from now on, that was for sure.

And so he moved his gaze to Ed instead in an attempt at preserving his dignity and his working partner because he knew that she was the perfect Sergeant for him and he couldn't let this opportunity go just because he had developed a very untimely and inappropriate crush on her. And honestly, Roy had more than enough willpower to keep his hands off her. He was capable of not acting on whatever urges his body thought were a good idea because they were stubbornly refusing to listen to every piece of logic there was floating around in Roy's mind.

No, professionalism was key, because he wasn't going to just let go of Hawkeye and the boys over a few hormones.

"Sound good to you, Ed?" Roy asked instead, Al still clinging to his neck.

Ed looked at him suspiciously, like Roy's display of kindness and helpfulness was the same as a death threat. Then the kid seemed to figure that it was okay enough because of what happened yesterday. "You know how to make eggs and bacon?" he inquired.

Roy almost began chuckling. It was relieving to see Ed's tough exterior disappearing slightly as he let Roy and Hawkeye in a bit. To just see the kid underneath the hard shell forged by trauma and constantly being let down by those that should have taken care of him and his brother. "Yes, but I would need to hear how you prefer them if I am to make them correctly," Roy told him, giving him a small smile.

"Puncture the yolk, I don't like it runny, sprinkle it with salt and pepper and put a slice of ham and cheese on top of it after you flip it. Then you put a slice of bread in the frying pan, warming it and frying it slightly as you put the now done egg on top and let it stay there for a little while, but not so that it becomes anything but heated. The bacon has to be soft enough to still taste of meat. You need to be able to put a fork in it without it cracking. That's how you make them right," Ed said stubbornly and then headed for the bathroom, leaning on the handle with his right shoulder to push it down so that he could let himself in by kicking the door open.

"Thank you, sir, we'll try to be quick," Hawkeye said, following Ed inside the bathroom, leaving Roy with a two-second view of her curves from behind as she closed the bathroom door behind them.

This was just embarrassing.

And it was going to get even more so soon enough because Nan had told him to invite the three of them for dinner tomorrow because she always did that with Roy's new subordinates to see if she approved of them. Which meant that she was already planning and, within a few hours, buying the food for tomorrow evening. Which meant that Roy might just meet his doom over the best steak in Amestris.

And in the meantime, Roy just tousled Al's hair as the boy pulled away slightly, and gave him a smile. "Let's get started on breakfast, then," he said, standing up, noticing how Al was still carrying his duck with him into the kitchen.

Al had been looking so relieved when he opened the door and saw Roy, and he had to say that the boy still seemed a bit scared. He had the look of someone plagued by nightmares that were rooted in reality.

Shaking off the images of a bear chasing you through a forest was a lot easier than shaking off the images of your dead parents reaching out and telling you that it was all your fault.

Roy recognised the look in Al's face. He had worn it himself many times that first year after the explosion.

But Ed and Al had a murderous stepfather too boot who could haunt their dreams like the demon he was.

He found himself reaching out and squeezing Al's shoulder, and Al looked up at him in confusion. "Is there something wrong?" he asked, clearly worried.

"No, I just... You're a good kid, Al, just know that," Roy told him.

Al looked confused, but he saw the sincerity in his face and gave him a weak smile just as tears began streaming down his face.

Roy was hugging him again in a flash, knowing what was coming before Al said anything.

"What if it goes wrong and Brother gets killed too?!" Al sobbed, hugging Roy tightly around the neck.

"Alphonse, I swear we won't let it happen. You boys' safety is our number one priority, but if you want to change your mind and pull back out, then that is okay. You're allowed to be scared. That's probably the smartest thing you can be about this," Roy told him, gently stroking his back.

"We're still doing it. I'm scared, but I want to help!" Al sobbed.

And so Roy just stood there, kneeling, hugging the young boy for about five minutes, before Al pulled back. "We need to make breakfast. We're running late," he stated. Then he swiftly leaned forwards and placed a quick kiss on Roy's left cheek. "And thank you," he said, blushing, not looking at Roy's face, but at his shoulder. Then he turned around swiftly, heading for the kitchen, Bob still under his arm, leaving Roy dumbstruck at having received a kiss on his cheek from both Elrics in less than twenty-four hours.

Those boys were certainly synchronised.

Which made Roy slightly worried for half a second about how long it would take for Al to break his arm too.