A/N: All right, so this chapter gets a little angsty, but at least the plot manages to stick its ugly head in for a bit. Fair warning though, the next chapter is even more emotionally wrought. Just thought you should know. I'm so mean to Ed in this chapter. It feels a little bit like kicking a puppy. But at least it's not as bad as next chapter, so yeah . . . (yep, I'm so going to hell for this). Apologies for any inaccuracy with the automail. I did what I could, but like I said before, I only have limited knowledge, and I had even less time for research this go round - that and my hands are about to fall off from typing so much.

Lastly, this is me sending out loves and hugs to all those who have been loving my work so much! I would never have been able to get through this so quickly without your awesome encouragement. Thanks to all the love I've been getting, I've been super hyped and absolutely flying through these chapters (which in no way means I blame you for my hands falling off. My sudden lack of appendages in no way diminishes my outpouring of loves! One can still hug without hands!) Thanks everybody! You're seriously the best EVER!

Same disclaimer applies, I don't own FMA or any of the characters therein. Would be nice *sigh* but still not mine anymore than they were in the last chapter.

Chapter 6

The Stubbornness to Endure

Roy woke the next morning to the feeling of Ed trying to squirm free of his grip. Not wanting to let go, he tightened his hold and mumbled something he thought sounded vaguely like, "Where are you going?"

"I have to get in the shower before Al and Winry get here," said Ed, somehow rolling over in his arms so he was facing Roy. Seeing those bright golden orbs first thing in morning filled Roy's chest with a pleasant warmth that instantly brought a smile to his face. "We have to work on my leg today," said Ed with a grimace. "Not my idea of fun, but it is what it is."

"Want to me to stick around for moral support?" asked Roy, giving in to the urge to press a soft kiss to Ed's forehead. He heard Ed let out happy little humming sound before he buried his face in Roy's chest and breathed deeply for a moment, as if trying to inhale him.

"You don't have to," said Ed finally, lifting his head. "I'm sure you have better things to do today."

"Honestly, I can't imagine anything better than spending the day with you," said Roy, and though it was sappy as hell it was no less true. Ed gave him that searching, inquisitive look and Roy figured Ed was trying to see if he was full of it. "Usually I spend Sundays alternately sleeping and watching Netflix. So to answer your questions strictly factually, no I have nothing better to do with my day. You are at least more important than Netflix and naptime."

"Oh, at the very least," said Ed with heavy sarcasm and they both laughed, Ed hitting his arm playfully. "Well, I still have to get in the shower either way. Winry is going to be way too close to parts that smell entirely too much like sex right now."

"Yeesh," said Roy, wincing. "I would say we could shower together, but I don't really have anything clean to change into."

"Actually, I still have some of Mason's old clothes. Those should fit you," said Ed, that devastating sultry look on his face again. "Head into the bathroom – the door directly to the right of mine – and I'll bring in towels and clothes."

Since the bath tub was one those old claw-foot tubs, there was more than enough space to get quick round in before the introduction of quickly chilling water forced them to hurry through the actual washing. Afterwards, they lounged on the couch, Roy's back bolstered against the arm of the couch and Ed nestled between Roy's legs, his back pressed against Roy's chest. It was mystifying how small Ed could make himself – he was incredibly flexible. Roy was sure that he had never felt so at peace in his life than in that moment, relaxing on Sunday morning with a warm ball of Edward in his arms talking about nothing in particular.

"Okay, so let me ask you a weird question," began Roy. "Why did you put on two pairs of underwear today? I noticed, and I wasn't going to say anything, but the curiosity is killing me." After their shower, Ed had donned a pair of boxer briefs and a pair of boxers, and for the life of him Roy couldn't figure out why. It served no purpose except to make it harder to get into Ed's underwear – or get Ed out of them – so of course this was something Roy couldn't help but dedicate a lot of thought to.

Ed laughed softly. "There's actually a good reason for it. When Winry works on my leg, I have to sit around in boxers, but boxers aren't great for . . . privacy, if you catch my meaning. So, since I don't want to give her a show, I take precautions."

"So, basically, you're going to be lying around in your underwear all day?" asked Roy then he grinned. "I knew there was a reason I should stick around today." Ed laughed at him again and snuggled closer, leaning up to give him a kiss too gentle for the thought-drowning passion of their kisses the night before. This wasn't an invitation for sex; this was an invitation to comfort. It was soft and sweet and yet more glorious for that.

The front door burst open at that moment, startling the hell out of both of them, and Alphonse stepped into the apartment, shouting, "Brother, you two better be showered and dressed already. I don't need any surprises." Ed let out a wordless snarl and sat up to glare at his brother over the back of the couch. "There's my favorite resting bitch face," said Al, patting his brother on the head like a puppy as he sailed on by. Roy sat up too so he could cover the amused smile he didn't want to Ed to see, but was treated to a pat on the head too. "Good morning Roy." Al wore a smile so sweet butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, but the evil glint in his eye put the lie to that smile. "Did you children behave last night?"

"Not a chance," snorted Ed, snickering. Roy hid his giggles behind Ed's shoulder. "Where's Winry?"

"She's picking up a few things on the way," said Al as he set down plastic bags of Styrofoam containers on the scarred coffee table. "But I figured we could have breakfast while we wait for her. You'll need pain medication later, Brother, and you don't want to take that on an empty stomach."

"Ugh, yeah, that always ends badly," replied Ed, paling. "What'd you get?"

"I went by Dante's so I could use your discount and brought home three different flavors of pancakes plus eggs, bacon, sausage, and wheat toast," announced Al, and Ed looked at the layout like he'd just seen God.

"Another good reason to work at Dante's is that they have the best blueberry pancakes anywhere, and they're bread isn't the mass produced bread you buy in the supermarket," Ed explained to Roy. In one swift motion, Ed managed to jump over the back of the couch to land neatly behind it. Roy just wished he had a score card to hold up, because he'd definitely give Ed a perfect 10 for that move. Ed winked at him over one shoulder then dashed into the kitchen, returning with plates, forks, and syrup. He handed them off to Al then returned to the kitchen to grab the coffee pot and a mug of coffee for his brother. After refilling his and Roy's coffee, he returned the pot to its home then sat down on the couch to finish what he was saying. "They have a deal with the bakery across the street, so all the bread comes from there."

"Speaking of deals, have you called your science pimp back yet?" asked Al, and only sheer luck saved Roy from a spit-take.

"That's what Al calls that CEO I told you about," said Ed, chortling at Roy's shock – but also gently wiping away the little bit of coffee that had splattered on his chin. "I haven't called him yet. Grumman likes to sleep in on Sundays, so I figure I'll call him later in the day."

"Come on Brother, enough procrastinating," scolded the younger Elric with a rather severe frown for his older brother. "Your pride is no excuse. I know you don't want to talk to him, but you know that you have to tell him what's going on. He specified calling him at his house for a reason. If you end up putting it off until tomorrow, you'll have no choice but to talk to him at the office, and that would be counterproductive. If you want this conversation to stay off the record, you have to call him on his personal line."

"All right! All right! I'll fucking call him after breakfast!" surrendered Ed hotly.

"No, Edward, you'll call him now," stated Al, his tone implying dire consequences for disobedience. "You won't be in any state of mind to call anybody later. The food will still be here when you're done."

Ed shot a baleful glare at his brother and got up, stomping off into the bedroom and returning with his laptop and his cell phone. He moved the food cartons out of the way and set up his laptop on the coffee table. While it was booting, he went through the contacts on his cheap ancient little cell phone then hit the call button. After a few seconds, it became apparent that the right person answered – at least, Roy really hoped it was the right person considering Ed's greeting.

"Hey Old Fart," said Ed, not even trying to sound respectful – or even polite. "I don't give a shit. You told me to fucking call you, so here's me calling you. Get off your decrepit ass and go to the computer. I need you to log into my secure server so I can give you this file." He balanced the phone between his flesh shoulder and his ear while he waited for the man on the other end to do as he was asked. Meanwhile, Ed was busily searching through the files on his laptop then typing furiously to fill in a monstrously long password. Eventually, a little bar popped up with the word "uploading" above it. "Yeah, it should be there in just a second. While we're waiting, I'll give you the skinny. It's like this . . ." It was at this point that Ed began to fidget, as if nervous about sharing his little story. He hadn't seemed the least bit shy about it before, so it made Roy wonder what would prompt the shift now. "So, you remember I told you that my boss was a fucking perv right?" He listened a moment then laughed without humor. "Yeah, the ass-grabbing incident. Well, somebody suggested to me that the old perv might have a grudge and that the grudge may be the real reason I lost my scholarship. I also thought he might be the reason for the budgeting issues I've been having and the un-fucking-believable amount of time it takes me to get parts and equipment. I mean, shit, your R&D dweebs are giving me plenty of fucking money to get the fucking job done. There should be no reason for me to be struggling this fucking hard. So I took a look at the expense reports – first at the one's I turned in and then at the ones the university turned over to your company. I found discrepancies.

"I suspect that bastard might be pocketing my scholarship money and the missing funding for the project. The problem is I don't think it's possible for him to do it alone. He'd have to have help, either within the school or within your company. That's why I wanted to be so careful about how secure this little discussion of ours is." Ed clicked on the file he'd just uploaded and told the man on the phone, "All right, open up the spreadsheet. The one on the right is the one I submitted. I keep careful god damn records so you guys know every fucking dime I spend and what I spend it on. You know I've been burned before for not doing that, and I'll never make that fucking mistake again. On the left, you'll see the expense report submitted to your company by the university." He listened for a second then let out a sigh that was more of a growl. "You're just fucking lazy, period, Sunday or not. It's lines 13, 32, 34, 67, and 70. Anyway, I was only able to compare last month's reports. Me and my brother had to wrestle with a fuck of a bear to get that shit." Ed listened a second then let out an evil little laugh. "But 'hacking' is such an ugly word. We call it 'exploratory computing'." Ed laughed a little more fully. "Yeah, Grumman, thanks. I'll be careful. And yes, I'll call if I have any more problems from him. Just don't be surprised if I submit my expense report to you before you get it from the University. You can compare them yourself and come out squeaky fucking clean." Ed laughed one more time then hung up, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Wow, you guys work fast," said Roy with an approving nod. "Remind me never to piss you off."

"Speaking of which, I feel it is my brotherly duty to inform you that if you ever hurt my brother, you'll have good reason to find out exactly how fast I can work," said Al, and this time there was no secret to the menace in that supposedly sweet smile. It was enough to send a chill trailing down Roy's spine. "Sorry, we don't have parents to threaten dates on our behalf, so we do it for each other. You should have seen the look on my prom date's face when she walked into the living room and saw Ed sharpening a machete, his automail showing and everything. She tried to escape to the kitchen, but Izumi and Sig were cutting giant slabs of meat with huge cleavers. The poor girl was in tears by the time we left."

"I didn't like her," sniffed Ed, unrepentant.

"You're not fooling anybody Brother," said Al, finally surrendering a plate of food to Ed. "You didn't like anybody that hit on me. You didn't even like anybody that hit on you, if you even noticed they were hitting on you in the first place. You're so oblivious."

"Fuck off," snapped Ed. "Just eat your food and quit being a pain in my ass."

"No, I think that's R-"

"I will end you," deadpanned Ed, his fork held threateningly close to Alphonse's eye (when had he moved?).

"So, changing the subject, what did your sugar daddy, the Science Pimp, have to say about all this?" asked Roy to prevent further argument – and further violence. He was gratified when both boys snickered at his use of their nicknames for the CEO.

"He said he'll quietly drop some hints with the accounting department so they can start looking into the discrepancy. I'm going to hand-deliver him this month's expense report before giving the same report to the university. I also spoke to the financial aid department and got hard copy evidence that the school is still receiving my scholarship money, so now my next hurdle is showing proof that either it isn't being applied to my education or that I'm paying out of pocket for something that's already supposed to be paid for by the scholarship," Ed explained to him as he ate. Ed wasn't big on table manners most of the time, so he had no compunction about talking with his mouth full. Roy didn't really mind. For some reason he actually thought it was kind of cute, and he enjoyed the shocked and annoyed stares of those who didn't share that opinion. It might be a little twisted, but people's reactions to Ed's rough manners and rougher language amused him. It was part of what made hanging out with Ed so much fun, being a spectator to the chaos he stirred all around him.

But people didn't only react by recoiling. Taking Ed anywhere was like dropping a flashlight among cavemen. As expected, some would be afraid of the obviously foreign object, but others would be naturally drawn to its light. When they were in public together, Roy could see quite a few people fall victim to the magnetism of Ed's presence. If Ed was in a room then it was impossible not to acknowledge him, because the sheer force of his personality filled every room he stood in, brutally crowding out all other lesser personalities. Nuclear explosions couldn't match the force of one stare from Edward's luminous eyes. No doubt it was a primary cause for Ed being bullied and sexually harassed – the strength of his charisma elicited equally strong reactions in return. It wasn't his fault. His charisma was simply another force of nature, and as with all forces of nature, the only recourse was to wait for it to hit then get ready for damage control. Roy figured, after a lifetime spent with Ed, Al's crisis management skills were probably top notch. No doubt he'd be just fine in the bomb squad and would find it soothing after so many years of Ed fallout.

"You do realize that smirk makes you look like a total bastard, right?" commented Ed with a sideways glare at Roy. But then he shrugged and kissed Roy on the cheek to take the sting out, a little bit of syrup residue on his lips making the kiss sticky – which made it very hard not to turn his head enjoy a more thorough sticky, syrup-flavored kiss . . . but he resisted out of respect for Al. "But that's all right. I've already figured out that 'bastard' is your default setting and have decided to roll with it. Aren't I fucking charitable? But don't think it means I won't break your teeth for you if you're too fucking much of a bastard."

"I would prefer not. I think I'd look silly with dentures," said Roy with a comical wince, and Ed grinned at him.

"Ah, come on," said Ed, smiling in such a way that made his nose wrinkle (ridiculously cute). "We could just knock out the eye-teeth. Then we could get you some vampire dentures, throw some glitter on you and the ladies will eat you alive."

"I refuse to sparkle," said Roy adamantly. "Altho~ugh . . . I do know this one guy who kinda seems to sparkle on his own but he's just . . . hm, let's just say he's a unique individual. I'd say we could give him vampire fangs, but he's disturbing enough already."

"Now I almost kinda wanna meet this guy," said Ed, laughing along with his brother.

Winry arrived then, with the three men deciding who would be most creepy as a sparkly vampire – throwing in various balding or overweight professors and a few famous personages – but because she was Winry, she just took the weird conversation in stride. She was toting her tool box and dragging a huge plastic suitcase strapped to a dolly. "Hey Roy! I didn't know if you'd still be here," she said after greeting Al with a kiss – to which Ed made a little "bleh" face. "I would've thought you'd have gone home by now." She gave him a strange, almost assessing look as if trying to determine something.

"Don't worry, I already gave him the shovel speech," said Al with a bright smile, and that seemed to let Winry know she could relax her guard a little.

"So, have the boys told you what's going to happen today?" she asked Roy. "If you're sticking around, you should be made aware."

"You explained a little bit before," Roy reminded her and she nodded. Ed tensed where he sat, but said nothing.

"Detaching the leg won't be a big deal, but Ed gets a bit . . . cranky when he's without it. I can't blame him. He hasn't had to use a crutch all that much so he's not good at it. Basically, he's stuck not being able to get around well, but he's a brat who hates asking for help – even when he really should," the last part was said with a wrench in her hand pointed threateningly at Ed who stuck his tongue out at her but still ducked, just in case. "Anyway, at least today it probably won't be for long. So yeah, detachment won't be an issue. Reattachment, on the other hand, will be a big issue. It's extremely painful. Ed's tough and can take it, but afterwards he'll be pretty exhausted and won't be able to move around at all for a while. That means the rest of us need to make sure he eats something and gets plenty of fluids and pain meds. It'll be a day or two before he's completely back to normal. Nerve pain is no joke."

"I'll stick around to help out until he's back on his feet, if nobody minds me being here," volunteered Roy without hesitation. Ed blushed from chin to eyebrows, suddenly very interested in stacking the breakfast dishes and Styrofoam containers. "I'll just need to go home at some point for a proper change of clothes. I only have a couple classes tomorrow, so it's no big deal." Ed suddenly stopped and turned, all but pouncing and wrapping his arms around Roy's waist. He didn't say a word, but Roy caught the "thank you" loud and clear. He wrapped his arms around Ed in return and kissed the top of his head to acknowledge the unspoken gratitude.

"All right you two, I would say get a room, but there's no time for hanky panky," scolded Winry teasingly, her eyes dancing with good humor. "You ready Ed?" Ed sighed but released Roy and nodded, getting to his feet. Roy got up too, ready to do whatever was needed. The first thing they did was clear away the breakfast debris then they stood the coffee table up against one of the book cases – since there was no wall to stand it up against – and pushed the couch and chair out of the way.

Al dragged out what looked like a portable massage table and set it up while Winry went to get a set of sheets out of the cupboard. The sheets were old and tattered and covered in old stains that looked an awful lot like blood and . . . was that motor oil? They were also ripped in places in such a way that Roy was fairly sure that Ed's automail hand had been the culprit. Once the sheets were folded in half then spread neatly over the massage table, Winry opened the big suitcase and pulled out a sort of collapsible rolling stool which she set aside for Alphonse to assemble. She also pulled out a small stainless steel tray which she sat atop a collapsible stand on castors. There were surgical instruments inside the case, kept in sterile packages, but she left those alone. What she did set out on the table was allen wrenches, spanners, screwdrivers, and other mechanic's tools, so that it looked like she was about to perform surgery on somebody's car. She even set out a couple squeeze bottles full of what looked like oil.

Edward was calm through the whole set up, helping Winry prepare her tools and reasonably sterilize her working environment. When the time came to take off his pants, however, Roy could see his hands trembling slightly on the waistband of his sweats, and he knew it wasn't because Edward was body shy. Ed hopped up onto the table, and Al put a pillow under his head, making sure he was as comfortable as possible. That Alphonse looked almost more nervous than Ed didn't help Roy's nerves one little bit. Watching Winry dawn surgical mask and safety goggles, somehow made it worse.

Roy and Al were banished to the couch to wait so they wouldn't be in Winry's light, so all they could do was watch as Winry carefully started to detach the metal leg from its port. Ed let out a soft gasp as the leg began pulling out of the port, and Winry looked up, apparently surprised. "I think I was right about the loose connection because it just twinged like a bitch," Ed told her, and she nodded.

With a sound like a vacuum seal releasing, the leg came free, and Winry stood it up in front of her, looking down into the top of it. She attached a little magnifying glass to the safety goggles then examined the leg more closely. "You're right. I'm not seeing anything wrong with it. I was worried that I might have to replace a connector or something. But let me check the port just to be sure." She leaned in to examine the port just as closely as she had the leg, and Roy could understand why Ed had been so insistent on a shower and an extra pair of underwear. She was less than a foot from his more private bits. "There's a little bit of irritation, but I think that's just because you walked around with the loose connection for too long. I'm going to hit it with the anti-inflammatory just to be on the safe side then we can go ahead and reattach." Winry reached into the suitcase again and pulled out surgical gloves and a needle so long it even made Roy nauseous, and he wasn't even the intended victim. Ed shuddered at the sight of the needle and grabbed the sides of the table, the knuckles of his flesh hand white with the strength of his grip. "You boys need to come hold him down."

"Come on Roy, it'll take both of us," said Al, sounding resigned. "I'll get his arms and other leg. You get his shoulders." Al showed him how best to grip Ed's shoulders to seal his movements without hurting him – or getting hurt. Al all but laid across his brother's stomach, gripping Ed's wrists with his hands while using his full body weight to keep his upper arms from moving and throwing one leg on the table to pin Ed's flesh leg. "Brother hates needles, and things like this are the reason why."

Winry looked at Ed with something like sympathy and regret, but when Ed gave her a short nod, she slowly inserted the long needle into the automail port. Ed's entire body became instantly taut, and if it weren't for Al and Roy, Edward would have all but jumped off the table. The muscles in his neck stood out sharply as he gritted his teeth, eyes clenched tightly shut as his face turned dark red from the strain of holding back a scream. Winry pulled out the needle and Edward's body went limp once more. "Now, breathe for a second Ed. Let me know when you're ready," said Winry as set the leg on the table, getting it into position. She pushed it into the port, three loud clicks sounding as if it was locking in place. She inserted her largest allen wrench into some socket that Roy couldn't see from his angle, and she paused as if waiting.

"Do it," said Ed breathlessly, sweat glistening brightly on his furrowed brow.

"Brace yourself boys, now comes the hard part," said Winry unhappily. She turned the wrench hard, and not even Ed's clenched teeth could completely hold back the scream. Roy had thought it couldn't get much worse than the injection, but he was so wrong. The tension in Ed's body was such that he couldn't even clench his fists. Instead his hands were stretched out, splayed as far as they could go. Every singled muscle in his body was so rigid that every overstretched sinew beneath his skin stood out. It took all of Roy and Al's weight to hold him down, and it seemed to go on for an eternity. Roy was almost in tears with the strength of the sympathy he felt for young blonde's suffering. Al didn't look much better off, because though he didn't let his tears fall, they glittered wetly on his eyelashes. Neither of them dared cry for the young man on the table, but both had reached a silent accord because in this they were in complete agreement. Ed may be holding back, trying to be strong so he didn't upset the rest of them, but those for whom he was being strong were trying just as hard to be strong for him.

When the tension finally left Ed's body, Roy and Al released him and stepped back a little. To Roy's surprise, Ed grabbed his hand weakly and gave it a tiny squeeze, as if he was trying to comfort Roy. Roy squeezed back, offering the young man as fond a smile as he could. With the level of Ed's pride, he would never tolerate pity, so Roy made sure to scrub all signs of any such thing from his face. Winry added oil to the artificial joints and gently polished the steel. When she was done, she said, "Let's put him on the couch and clean this up."

Roy and Al moved the pillow to the couch and fetched blankets from Ed's bed. With the couch transformed into a comfy nest, Roy did the honors of carrying Ed over to it. It wasn't as easy as he'd thought it would be. He'd thought since Ed was fairly small, he wouldn't weigh much, but the automail weighed a ton, not to mention the fact that Ed was solid muscle and muscle weighed more than fat. And Roy had to also be really careful because even lifting Ed made the younger man cringe.

"It's his nerves," explained Al miserably. "This always makes all of his nerves more sensitive. The worst of the sensitivity will pass in a couple hours though, and he usually sleeps through it. After that it'll just be the leg that's sensitive." Al crouched beside the couch, laying a loving hand on his brother's tangled hair. "This is so hard on him. It just kills me every single time."

" 'm fine Al," said Edward hoarsely, his eyes still closed. "No worries little brother."

"I'll get you some water," said Al, getting up and hurrying away before anybody but Roy could see the tear that finally escaped his control.

Not knowing what else to do with himself, Roy sat on the floor in front of the couch next to Ed's head and used the softest touch to brush away the hair from where it had stuck to the sweat on Ed's brow. Against all expectations, and despite the incredible pain he was in, the light that was entirely Ed's hadn't diminished one iota. He seemed oddly vulnerable, but at the same time still magnificent. And the fact that he was trusting Roy to see him while he was at his most vulnerable, gave Roy a huge swell of pride. How was it possible to have become so deeply entwined with this man so easily? Roy hadn't even noticed it happening. He supposed that was the danger of going with the flow. Sometimes the flow could carry you along to unexpected places if you let it. But, as he tried to comfort the miserable young man, Roy decided that, although the place he found himself was not at all where he thought he'd end up, he really didn't mind.