Roy was thankful that Trisha knew her sons well enough to prepare extra of everything, otherwise he might have been reduced to using his imagination to enjoy her cooking given the unbelievable amount of food that they put away by themselves. As Ed and Al cleared the table (he had offered to help but was vehemently denied by every Elric in the room), Roy wondered just how much money she must have spent each month to keep them fed. Probably more than some people paid for rent to be sure. But their appetite had grown right along with their bodies, and Roy simply couldn't get over seeing how they had evolved over the past four years. It was downright surreal. Obviously he hadn't expected to find that they were still children after so long, but strangely enough, it also never occurred to him until he walked into the house that they were, in fact, practically men.

"Don't drop those, Ed," Al said while dutifully retrieving all the silverware from the table.

"Shut up," Ed growled at his younger sibling as he precariously balanced a stack of plates on an automail palm. "Or I'll tell Winry that you piss the bed every night."

Al was understandably horrified by the threat. "Hey!"

"And twice on Saturdays and Sundays."

"Hey!"

Roy hid his smile behind a napkin while, beside him, Trisha admonished her firstborn for threatening to spread false accusations about Al's continence, or lack thereof. After she finished, Al went into the kitchen with his vindicated bladder and Ed on his heels, but not before the older teen favored Roy with a sly grin.

"See what you've been missing?" Trisha asked Roy after the kitchen door swung closed behind her sons (and their muffled bickering continued).

"I really did miss it, you know." Roy placed his napkin on the table now that he no longer had to hide his amusement over Ed's evil ways. "I missed… all of this. All of you."

Trisha took Roy by the hand. She gave it a tight squeeze before letting go. "We missed you, sweetheart. So fucking much."

Roy chuckled at the woman's choice of words. After all this time, it still shocked him-in a good way-to hear her drop a well-placed F bomb.

"Listen, Roy." Trisha's expression grew serious. Motherly. "I hate to be nosy, but I also love you like you were one of my own, so I have to ask…"

"I'm okay," Roy insisted, meeting her worried gaze. "I mean… I'm better than I was."

Trisha regarded him for a moment before nodding. "Good. Now let's go and see what those two are up to because it's entirely too quiet in there."

Roy followed her into the kitchen just in time to find Ed flipping off his little brother for what appeared to be no reason whatsoever. Typical Ed. The teen flashed his mother a wide smile, as if that would somehow negate the two middle fingers that were still extended towards Al.

"Why Edward Elric," Trisha began, folding her arms (to keep from strangling him, Roy suspected). "It's very nice of you to volunteer to wash the dishes all by yourself while Alphonse and I run errands."

"What? But that's not…" Ed's voice trailed off, and he sighed in defeat. "Okay."

Roy watched, fascinated by the trap that Trisha had set up for her son. A punishment and reward all rolled into one. Impressive.

Now it was Trisha's turn to smile. "That's what I thought. Come on, Alphonse." She winked at Roy as she passed him on her way out of the kitchen. "Be back in a bit."

After giving Al a playful nudge as he left, Roy shook his head at Ed. "She's good."

"Yeah, she's too good," Ed begrudgingly agreed.

Roy motioned at the sink full of dishes. "Do you want some help with those?"

"No, thanks. If you help me, she'll know and then you'll get in trouble, too."

"I can't imagine there's any room left on her shit list for me what with you taking up so much space on it."

"Is that how you talk to the innocent and impressionable young man you used to babysit?" Ed asked, feigning indignation.

"Innocent and impressionable?" Roy took a seat at the kitchen table. "Those are the last two words I would ever use to describe you at any age."

They locked eyes for a beat before Ed turned to the sink with a broad smile and started on the dishes. He squeezed an excessive amount of dish soap under warm running water before asking, "Now that they're gone, how are you really doing?"

Everyone had politely avoided the topic of Roy's emotional status during lunch so it was little wonder that Ed was asking about it now that they were alone, same as his mother had done. And while he hadn't exactly lied to Trisha (nor would he ever) he had also been pretty damn vague in his reply. Now, because he once and still had a connection with Ed that seemingly defied explanation, he felt at ease being more forthright.

"I'm worried."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know what I'm going to do when I see Maes. I don't know if I'm going to yell at him or punch him or…"

"Kick him in the woo-woo?"

Roy cringed over the long-ago memory of a tiny automail foot crushing his manhood. "If it comes to that, I'll let you handle it."

"Deal." After turning off the water, Ed plunged both arms into the overly soapy dish water and went to work. "If that's what it takes for you not to leave again," he added softly.

The teen's statement was like a knife slicing through Roy's conscience. He hadn't been completely oblivious to Ed's sadness over his leaving, even as he was consumed by his grief over Maes. But while he couldn't do anything about his past decisions, there was still something he could say to soothe things over:

"Don't worry. I think I'm sticking around this time."

Ed looked over his shoulder at him. "You better."

He turned back to the sink, leaving Roy to marvel all over again at the person that Ed had become, still as headstrong as he was when he was a child yet with an underlying emotional vulnerability reserved only for those closest to him (a select few Roy was honored to be among). But it was the physical transformation that bent Roy's mind most of all. Where there was once a vertically challenged little boy was now a slightly less vertically challenged young man, with gorgeous long blond hair that flowed over his shoulders and down his back, a muscular body not hindered in the least by the addition of an automail arm and leg, and what appeared to be a firm, tight-

Roy jolted in panic and directed his gaze anywhere else except for where it had been headed. No. No, no, no, no, no. Damn it all, he used to babysit Ed, and he was not going to sit there and ogle his sixteen-year-old

(seventeen-in-two-months)

body. Hell no.

Remembering that the conversation ball was in his court, he tried to think of something to say, but his momentary near-perving had wiped his mind blank. "I suppose I'll need to find a job eventually," he managed after repairing the connection between his brain and his mouth. "I can't crash on Jean's couch forever."

"You could always ask my mom if she'll hire you again," Ed joked.

"Yeah, but I would need one hell of a raise to put up with you again."

A soap-covered automail middle finger was Ed's only reply to that.

After the dishes were done, they made their way back into the living room. Roy looked to and fro with each step, reminiscing along the way.

"As you can see, Mom's not too big on redecorating," Ed explained when he noticed Roy's observation. "'If it ain't broke…'"

Roy contemplated whether or not the lack of an interior makeover extended beyond the first floor. "What about you?" he asked. "Are you still rocking the Voltron lamp you had back in the day?"

Ed shook his head. "It died a while ago. I just have a boring ass regular lamp now." He cast a sidelong glance at Roy as they reached the couch. "Do you… want to see my room?" he asked before Roy had a chance to sit down.

A long time ago, Roy had once felt weird about being in Ed's bedroom. He felt a little weird about it now, too, but for different and somewhat confusing reasons. Still, he couldn't be rude. (And he really was curious to see how much Ed's room had changed.)

"Sure."

He followed Ed's slow trek up the stairs, keeping his eyes anywhere but up and pointedly not acknowledging the view that was right in front of him.

xxXXxx

Ed took his time ascending the stairs, giving Roy plenty of time to check out the view that was right in front of him. While Roy predictably (and somewhat disappointingly for Ed) neglected to pass out over the teen's backside, Ed figured it wouldn't hurt to give him a generous eyeful of it anyway.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, he entered his bedroom… and proceeded to trip over his backpack yet again. After a little bit of stumbling and a healthy dose of profanity, an embarrassed Ed straightened himself up and found Roy staring at him with a pinched expression as he struggled not to laugh.

"Don't hurt yourself," the teen mumbled.

"I should say the same thing to you," Roy shot back.

Ed willed his lips not to betray him but he was far too happy over Roy being in his bedroom to properly fend off a smile. "Shut up and have a look."

He stepped back and extended an arm, feeling like a game show model presenting a potential prize to a contestant. Roy moved forward, neck craning and eyes moving all around, taking in the sight of Ed's more mature, tragically Voltron-less abode.

"It's… neat."

"You sound surprised."

"I am surprised." Roy spotted the dresser, and more importantly, the Omega Supreme on top of it, and he smiled in a way that made Ed's heart melt. "You still have it."

"Of course I still have it," Ed replied as he followed Roy over to the dresser. "It's my favorite thing in the world."

Another heart-melting smile. Ed wasn't sure how many more of them he could handle. He was so busy trying not to swoon that he forgot about the picture of Roy that the actual Roy was now holding in his hand.

"Um…" was all he had when he tried to think of an excuse for absconding with a photo that was originally meant for the entire family. "It was just… I just… I kept it there… for… safekeeping."

"Thank you for keeping it safe." Still smiling, Roy carefully placed the picture back next to the large Transformer. "I should've sent more. I should've written more. I should've called more. I'm sorry that I didn't."

"I-It's okay," Ed said, hoping his face wasn't as red as it felt.

"No, it's not okay. I should've figured out how to deal with what happened without alienating everyone. I don't want you to think that I didn't care because I did. I missed you." Roy's eyes briefly widened, and he seemed just as taken aback by the bluntness of his words as Ed. "All of you," he spat out suddenly. "I missed all of you."

Ed wasn't sure how he was still breathing at that point. He knew deep down that he was likely reading far too much into a simple slip of the tongue just as he did when Roy had called, but at that moment, he was too elated to care. "I… we missed you, too."

With a knowing gleam in his eyes, Roy turned to look at Omega Supreme again, which was just as well because Ed wasn't sure how much longer he could bear to look at Roy without dissolving.

"Maybe this year I'll find something for your birthday that you actually like more."

Ed smirked. "You think so? Good luck with that."

The sound of the front door opening and closing signaled the end of their alone time, and they went downstairs and joined Trisha and Al in the living room. Al broke out a deck of Uno cards, and they played a few hands for memory's sake. Ed was even kind enough to refrain from cheating… anymore after getting caught cheating in the first place.

After Roy left (with a promise to visit Monday after school and just how the hell was Ed supposed to function until then?), Ed ran up to his room, tripped over his backpack again, and changed into a decidedly less sexy plain white T-shirt and red shorts. He was just sweeping his hair back into a ponytail when Al came knocking.

"So?" he inquired, poking his head into the room.

"So what?" Ed asked.

"You know what."

"Chicken butt."

"Brother!" An exasperated Al entered the bedroom. "How did things go with Roy?"

"We had hot, sweaty sex right there on my bed. Can't you tell?" Ed snorted at his little brother's scandalized face. "For fuck's sake, Al, I'm joking. He's dealing with enough shit right now without being told that the kid he used to babysit is all grown up and still madly in love with him."

Al stared thoughtfully at him. "Or maybe that's exactly what he needs to hear because of the shit he's dealing with. Not like tomorrow, or anything like that, but before someone else comes along and you miss your chance."

Ed gawked at the doorway through which Al exited, flabbergasted not only by his rare use of a curse word but the unexpected seriousness and potential wisdom of his advice.

Yes, he had wanted Roy to see that he was all grown up now. But flaunting his ass and saying I love you were two totally different things. One was easy. The other, not so much.

Not like tomorrow? Okay, fine. But when?

The teen flopped down on his bed where hot, sweaty sex had unfortunately not taken place and spent the hours until dinner trying to figure out when would be the best time to bare his soul to the only man he had ever loved.

xxXXxx

The only man that Edward Elric had ever loved pulled his rented Mustang into Jean's driveway and sat there with the car in Park. He wanted to take a few minutes to process his time at the Elric house before the inevitable interrogation by Jean. Not the overall visit itself, which had gone exactly the way he had expected, but rather his incredibly unexpected reaction to Ed's… physical… development.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" he whispered.

But before he could answer himself, he spotted Jean bolting out of the house and walking quickly down the driveway to meet him. Roy shut off the car and got out just as Jean reached him. "What's up, Havoc?"

"Nothingwhydon'twegetbackinthecarandgosomewhere?" Jean followed up his unintelligible request with a nervous grin and scratched at the nest he called hair.

Roy narrowed his eyes at his friend, even more when the other man not so subtly blocked his path to the house. He then noticed that Jean wasn't smoking for a change, and his guard instantly went up. Jean always smoked, probably even while he was sleeping.

"What's going on, Jean?"

Jean stammered a bit before sighing deeply. "He showed up without calling and I tried to get him out of here before you got back," he explained regrettably.

Roy had been so preoccupied with thoughts of Ed that he hadn't even noticed the car parked on the street in front of the house. He noticed it now, complete with a baby's car seat in the back seat. Ice cold dread blossomed outward from his stomach until his whole body was consumed by it. Never in his life had he needed the soothing calm of fire more than he needed it now.

"Well… fuck."

"Roy…"

"It's okay. I'm okay." Roy turned away from the car and looked past Jean to the front door, the only thing that currently separated him from the person who had shattered his entire world. "It was going to happen eventually. May as well get it over with."

"Are you sure?" Jean asked.

"No."

Roy clapped Jean on the shoulder and headed up the driveway. It was better this way, he tried to convince himself. Better to clear the air now than deal with any potential unpleasantness at Jean and Riza's wedding. He paused with his hand on the doorknob and grinned when Ed's earlier offer to kick Maes in the junk suddenly popped up in his head. Then, with a heavy sigh and a pounding heart, he opened the door and stepped inside.