A/N: Just for future reference, the Sadie Hawkins thing is a mostly true story. The difference is it wasn't my high school. A friend conned me into going to his military ball with him and made me swing dance with him in front of everybody. It wasn't completely terrible, but social situations aren't my gig, so the whole thing was incredibly embarrassing. I think my face stayed red the whole rest of the night. But I was listening to swing music when I was troubleshooting my computer day before yesterday (it helps me stay awake while interpreting code and slogging through error messages - besides messing with computers while listening to Jazz/Swing gives me a whole Fallout vibe, ya know?), and I remembered that incident. Thus the first part of Ch 8 was born. The breakfast scenario can be blamed on the fact that I usually listen to music while I cook, and I end up doing things along to the beat (chopping veggies, flipping food, stirring pots, etc.) and singing along too. It's all part of my Secret Art of Living: "Make everyday tasks fun, so you can look forward to everything you do." But the beginning of this chapter was a lot of fun to write, so I hope it's just as much fun to read!
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 8
Sunday Swing
Living with the Elric brothers was a bit more . . . interesting than Roy had bargained for. It wasn't bad interesting, but it was definitely odd. For starters, having Ed around was like keeping an overgrown cat. One moment he was languorous and seemingly lazy, lying on any available furniture or floor space in such a way that he seemed to take up twice the amount of space as should have been physically possible. In the next moment, Ed had his hackles up and was ignoring or snapping (more like hissing and growling) at any and everyone who tried to approach him. There were times he was playful - like when they wound up having a water fight while doing dishes, or when the brothers threw leaves at each other while raking the lawn. Then there were moments of intense focus, like when he was reading or working, giving the impression of a cat intently stalking its prey even though he didn't move an inch. For that matter, the fact that he could read a book for hours at a time without moving a single inch was a little unnerving. There were even times when Ed wanted to be close, and, like any self-respecting cat, he would drape himself over Roy irrespective of where in the house they happened to be or what Roy happened to be doing at the time. Sometimes, Ed would slowly creep closer until Roy would look down and find he had a curled up Ed in his lap, with no idea how he had gotten there or when. But since "cuddly" was Roy's favorite of Ed's many moods, Roy never complained about it. He had a feeling that if he even dared mention it, he could kiss those cuddles goodbye.
On the other hand, Al more closely resembled a rather cheerful squirrel, or maybe a hamster – definitely something cute and cuddly . . . and hyper. To be fair, Al was rarely home, but when he was there he was constantly moving. Either he was cleaning, doing laundry, studying, or sparring with his brother in the backyard – a sight to behold all on its own. Despite his constant motion, Roy got the feeling that the friendlier of the two Elrics was trying to keep to the background as much as possible.
Actually, both brothers were very careful to intrude as little as possible. They did nothing that might disrupt Roy's schedule, nor did they complain if he wasn't able to make it back in time to eat. Ed simply wrapped up a plate for him and left in the fridge with badly scrawled reheating instructions. There was no sign of the customary messes Ed would normally leave in his wake, and even when something was left out of place, Al would swoop in and fix it fairly quickly. As might be expected, Ed had been sleeping in Roy's bed, but he was very insistent on keeping all of his stuff in the spare room Al slept in. The most telling sign of their uncertainty was the simple fact that neither brother had unpacked. They were living entirely out of their duffle bags and suitcases.
Roy had to admit that a lot of the more unusual behaviors could likely be chalked up to the situation. With Ed unable to access his lab or office while at the same time having to try to continue teaching and working on his thesis, the young man was understandably tense. Added to that was the stress of being in an unfamiliar environment during a time when only familiarity felt safe. In such a tenuous position, it was only natural Ed would have trouble settling in. Roy tried to do what he could for him. It was only little things mostly, like shoulder massages and brushing Ed's hair – which seemed to relax him immensely – but even such little things really seemed to help, for which Roy was pleased. Al seemed to be pleased about it too, in his own quiet way. Though Al wasn't often there, little signs of his worry were everywhere, but they were diminishing as the elder Elric became more at ease.
Generally speaking, though, the boys worked almost constantly. Once they decided that something had to be done, they kept at it, setting all other concerns aside, until they finished. They never let up, not even for a minute, unless somebody stepped in and forced them to take a break. Sunday was the only exception to the boys' hectic schedules. It was the only day they both had off. Al had explained that, no matter what was going on, no matter what odd jobs Ed did or what Al's testing or assignment schedule looked like, they always made sure to have Sunday off. That was the day they spent together, simply hanging out or doing whatever frivolous activity had caught their fancy for the day. They'd explained it to him, sure, but Roy didn't really get it until Sunday rolled around.
On Sunday, Roy came home from his morning run – "morning" being a relative term to someone who worked in a windowless lab until the wee hours of the night – and was immediately startled to hear music coming from the kitchen. And not just any music, but swing music. Confused, he left his tennis shoes at the door and headed toward the kitchen. When he got there, he could only stand in the doorway, stunned at first, but in the next moment thoroughly charmed.
Edward and Alphonse were making breakfast while keeping time to Glenn Miller's version of In the Mood, the pair dancing along while they worked. When they spotted Roy, they grinned so happily Roy found himself unable to do anything but grin back. Al grabbed his hand and spun him to the music until Roy landed in a chair at the kitchen table with a thump. Still keeping time with the infectious beat, Ed flipped a plate through the air to be caught by Al who set it neatly on the table, followed by two more plates. Ed then flipped the spatula up, spun while it was in the air then caught it behind his back and flipped a pancake up to catch on top of the already precarious pile of pancakes. By the time the song was done, breakfast had been entirely served in that same impressive manner, and Roy could only applaud.
"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen! We'll be here all week," said Al as the boys took a bow. "You think that was good, you should have seen . . ." Al stopped because a brotherly hand had fallen on the back of his neck, and though Ed was smiling, the fires of hell were in his eyes.
"The next words out of your mouth had better be 'Dancing with the Stars' or the next phone call I make will be to Winry to tell her you think she's gaining weight," said Ed sweetly, and Al gulped and put a hand over his head, as if to protect it from an incoming wrench. "Good boy."
"There's nothing wrong with knowing how to dance," said Roy with a lightly admonishing smile.
"Well, I guess I can understand Brother's reluctance," said Al with a sigh. "Our mom taught us how to dance when we were kids – you know, mostly just playing around. Then after Ed got the automail and was going through physical therapy, Pinako thought it would be good for him to take it up again, so he made Ed and Winry take ballroom dancing and swing classes together. I think the last straw was when Winry forced Ed to go to Sadie Hawkins with her and made him dance in front of the whole school. As reclusive as brother is . . . well, let's just say, he wasn't pleased." Al gave his brother a rueful little smile, a retroactive apology for his girlfriend's behavior. "But Ed and I both have a lot of happy memories tied to old music – like old jazz and stuff from the fifties and sixties, because mom was always playing music in the house."
"You know, I actually have an old console record player up in the attic and boxes and boxes of old vinyl. Most of them were my grandmother's. Maybe later we could go see what's up there," suggested Roy and the boys' eyes lit up. He may as well have promised them a brand new car, excited as they were. They spent the rest of the morning in discussions of music and dancing, and it was probably the first conversation the three scientists had ever had with each other that hadn't involved science.
After they'd washed the dishes to the lively sounds of Benny Goodman and his orchestra playing Sing, Sing, Sing, they all but ran up to the attic. It took a little while to find the boxes they were looking for, and even longer to figure out how to get the record player down. It was huge and easily weighed as much as the three of them put together. In the end, science won out, and the three of them rigged a pulley system and a ramp. Getting it down the stairs to the first floor was a little more complicated and involved rugs, fireplace logs, and a number of household items Roy hadn't even been aware of owning.
With a lot of grunting and groaning and practical applications of the basic principles of physics, they finally managed to get the record player into the parlor, shoving around the existing furniture a bit to make space for it. While the brothers worked on getting the record player cleaned up and operational, Roy got started putting together sandwiches for the three of them for lunch. He was interrupted by a knock at the door, and since Ed and Al had their hands full, Roy went to answer it. When he opened the door, he was greeted by his old friend's fond yet somewhat demented smile. "Hey Maes, what brings you to my neck of the woods?" asked Roy, crouching down as Maes's daughter Elyisia ran at him. Roy stood up with the girl in his arms, squeezing her just enough to make her giggle. "Hey there, Princess. And hello, Gracia, you're lovely as always."
"And you're just as smooth as always," said Gracia warmly, hugging Roy and stealing Elysia as she stepped away.
"When my beautiful girls heard about Ed and Al's situation, they insisted on bringing them something to cheer them up," said Maes jovially, holding out an apple pie.
That's when he once again heard the sound of Benny Goodman doing Sing, Sing, Sing fill the house again, followed by triumphant whoops from the brothers. There was something to be said about the difference between the sound of music on electronic media and the crackly earthy quality of good old fashioned vinyl. And when you're playing swing music, it made all the difference in the world. Roy and his guests went into the living room and found the boys already dancing. "And just in time!" said Ed, and he dropped to one knee in front of Elysia and intoned, "My lady, may I have this dance?"
"You may," she said with all of her six-year-old dignity, putting her hand in his. She squealed with delight as he swept her up, balancing her on his hip as he held her hand with his free hand and danced her around the room with all the energy and bounce the song called for.
"My lady, would you care to dance?" Al asked Gracia with mischief twinkling in his eyes.
"I'd be delighted," she said with a curtsy, blushing and laughing as Al led her into the dance.
Maes set down the pie, looked at Roy and said, "Shall we?"
"I'd be delighted," said Roy with mock dignity. He curtsied to his friend and the two of them joined in the fun. By the end of the song everybody but the two Elrics was entirely breathless, but they were all laughing.
"Oh my, that's the most fun I've had in years," said Gracia, still trying to catch her breath. "My husband never told me that you two were also accomplished dancers."
"One does what one can," said Al with a humble bow.
"Are you Uncle Ed?" Elysia asked Ed solemnly, and Ed looked a little startled at first but then gave her an equally solemn nod. "Daddy says you have to live with Uncle Roy now because bad people broke your stuff. Is it true? Did bad people break all your stuff?"
"Yes, it's true," Ed told her honestly, crouching down so he could speak to her face-to-face. Then Elysia did the last thing any of them expected and suddenly jumped forward, throwing her arms around Ed's neck.
"I'm sorry. Don't be sad," she said as if trying to comfort him. Ed just smiled and put his arms around her. "When people break my toys, it makes me sad. But when mommy gives me hugs it makes me feel better. Do you feel better now?"
"I do, thank you. Your hugs were just what I needed," Ed told her, and Elysia released him and gave him a shy smile.
"We brought pie too!" she announced then ran off and returned carrying the pie with the utmost care. Ed got to his feet and hurried over to her, taking the pie in his hands.
"Let's go cut this up so we can have some with lunch," he suggested and the pair of them walked off into the kitchen. The rest of them found places to sit and made themselves comfortable, Roy fetching bottles of water for them.
"He seems like such a sweet boy," said Gracia and the three men in the room all choked as one. "Well, he does, no matter what you think."
"No, it's not that – well, it's that too – but, Ed's not a 'boy'. He's 22," Al told her apologetically, keeping his voice low so that his brother didn't overhear.
"Oh my," said Gracia, eyebrows lifting in surprise. "I never would have guessed."
"We haven't been formally introduced," said Al politely. "I'm Alphonse, and that's my older brother Edward. I thought maybe I should let you know who is who. Ed gets . . . um, displeased when people mistake me for him because I'm taller. Believe it or not, it happens all the time."
"Honestly, I should have recognized Edward right away when I saw him with Elysia," said Gracia, still a bit dismayed. "Older siblings tend to have a knack for taking care of those younger than themselves. His attitude toward Elysia is very much that of an older brother."
"Well, Ed's been caring for me like a parent since I was seven, so I'm not surprised that he has protective instincts to spare," said Al fondly.
"So, Maes, I know you didn't just come over to bring pie," said Roy, leveling a piercing stare on his enigmatic friend. "Have you found out something?"
"I have, but it should wait until after pie," said Maes, returning his friend's stare with a rather pointed look of his own. Roy went into the kitchen and helped them finish the sandwich construction that the Hughes' arrival had interrupted. When they were done, they carried the plates out to everybody still sitting in the parlor. They spent a pleasant hour after that simply eating and chatting, with Elysia telling them all about her adventures – expansive stories with rocket ships, robots, princesses, and dragons. Edward listened to her as intently as if she were telling him the secrets of the universe, as if every word she said was important, and Elysia responded with abundant enthusiasm. She was just about to tell them about her defeat of the robot overlord when she spotted something shiny – actually, they all spotted it and they all held their breath as they waited to see her reaction. She paused in her storytelling and looked closer at Ed's arm where a small space had appeared between the glove and the sleeve.
"Oh no, Uncle Ed! Did the robots get to you?" she asked, alarmed. Ed stiffened at first but then he snickered while Al covered his mouth with both hands, his eyes dancing.
"I'm afraid so," said Ed gravely, pushing back his sleeve so she could see more of the automail. He managed to keep a straight face, but the corners of his mouth were still twitching. "But I escaped while our hero, the great Princess Elysia, was beating up their overlord. So that makes you my hero too, Princess."
"Oh, well, that's all right then," she declared, mollified. "Did they give you lasers? They give lasers to all the robots. So they should've given you lasers." And that's all the other adults could take. They all covered it as best they could – Gracia with the old standby of holding her hands over her mouth, Maes by turning and hiding his face in the back of the couch, Roy by holding a throw pillow over his face, and Al by pulling the front of his shirt up to hide his face.
"Ignore them, Princess," said Edward in haughty dismissal. "They're in shock. But what they don't realize is that Uncle Ed is fully capable of building his own lasers and would no doubt have very good aim." Roy and Al sobered, exchanging a look – they knew it wasn't a bluff. Ed really could feasibly build a laser, and all he'd need is to scavenge materials from the labs. Maes and Gracia took a little bit longer to calm down, since they didn't fully appreciate the danger of the combination of Ed's overlarge brain and sudden surfeit of free time. Then again, they had yet to wake up to the air raid siren sound of alarm clocks that had mysteriously become exponentially louder and no longer had working snooze buttons. Roy and Al were now very wary of incurring the wrath of Edward.
Once Elysia's story wound down, Gracia decided that it was time to take her home so they could start dinner. Maes opted to stay behind, and promised to be home in time to eat dinner with his beloved family. Elysia gave hugs to Al and Roy then gave the biggest hug and a kiss to her daddy. The last person she hugged was Ed, and she seemed to put her whole heart into the hug and gave him a kiss on his cheek, saying, "Don't worry Uncle Ed, Princess Elysia will protect you forever. Okay?"
"Thank you, Princess, I'm sure I will be very safe from now on," said Ed kindly with a warm smile. In the background Maes whined something about Elysia being too young to be kissing boys, but Roy threw a pillow at him to shut him up.
"She certainly warmed up to you quickly," pouted Maes once the girls had left.
"Animals and small children always seem to like Ed, but I think it's because he's basically just a big kid himself," explained Al with a snicker, and Ed stuck his tongue out at his brother as if to prove Al right.
"So, Maes, what is it that really brought you here?" asked Roy bluntly. He'd shoved his curiosity aside for the last hour or so, but now that the bystanders were gone there was just no holding it back anymore. It would have its say, one way or another.
"Well, to start with, Ed, you were spot on about the dean," said Maes, his eyes sharply focused on the young blonde. "It looks like he's been doing his extortion and embezzlement scheme for a long time, but it was never really enough for anybody to notice, just taking little chunks. And, of course, none of the witnesses have dared to come forward. One girl tried, a couple years back, but soon after going to the police, there was a fire at her house. Shortly after that, she recanted her testimony and all but disappeared off the face of the Earth. It was around that time that Mr. Grabby upped his game."
"It sounds to me like, when the girl stepped forward, the dean went looking for help to shut her up and maybe got in bed with somebody with an eye for a bigger picture," said Ed, not really looking at anything in particular, as if not really seeing what was in front of him. It was almost as if he was looking at something only he could see, patterns unfolding behind his eyes that the rest of them could only guess at. "He probably tied himself to a partner who had a bigger stake in this game, somebody for whom the money was just the icing on the cake – or maybe a necessary evil. This partner would have been the one enabling the dean to steal larger chunks of change by falsifying documents and hiding their activities from regulatory agencies. It might be possible to track how much money has been going to the dean and from where if I can get his financial records, but that will screw up the chain of evidence and we'd never be able to convict him without that."
"Listen to you! You talk like a criminal investigator," enthused Maes, laughing. "Damn, kid, are you sure you don't want to switch into the law department? You'd make a killer FBI agent."
"No thanks," snorted Ed, coming back to himself with a little shake of his head. "Haven't you heard? I've got problems with authority. And don't call me 'kid'!"
"Ms. Hawkeye leant us some books on investigative procedures and criminal law," Al told them. It was news to Roy. He'd brought Riza Hawkeye – the perpetually calm-and-collected blonde who was his second oldest friend – over to the house to talk to the boys about the case, but he wasn't aware that they'd continued communicating beyond that first meeting. Like Maes, she was also a law student and was top of her class, so Roy had figured she'd be the best person to help them decide how to proceed. She'd seemed to really like the boys when she met them, and as she was leaving had made sure Roy knew that Ed had gotten her seal of approval. Considering how many of Roy's partners Riza hadn't approved of, receiving her nod was no small thing.
"I was able to come to the same conclusion that you did," said Maes with a long sigh, leaning back into the corner of the couch. "And my sources were able to give me a name for this mysterious partner. Apparently, this partner works for a big corporation who dabbles in a little bit of everything. Considering how many pies they've stuck their fingers in, it's not surprising that they would also have a division that specializes in pharmaceuticals and medical research. It's a bit of a reach, though, for a company who started out with weapons development, so they haven't been able to make many significant breakthroughs in that field, but that doesn't stop them from using barely legal methods to get their hands on people who might give them the leg up they need."
"Wait, you said . . ." Ed stopped and locked eyes with his brother for a long moment before continuing. "You said they started out in weapons, right?"
"Yeah, they've been in business since back in WWII, doing back-room deals with the military," replied Maes, eyes narrowing at the silent communication between the Elric brothers. "They didn't start diversifying until the 50's or so."
"Ouroboros," hissed Alphonse and both boys went rigid, their bodies all but trembling from the sudden tension. "Brother, we should tell them about the book."
"No, we can't get other people involved," protested Edward firmly. "I don't want to see anybody else get hurt because we couldn't keep our mouths shut," he ground out between clenched teeth, and the old grief and fear in his eyes was like a razor blade on Roy's heart. He hated seeing the brave, brash, and proud Edward Elric laid low by anything, let alone by the burdens of the past. Al said something to Ed that was in the same language they had used before when they had tried to keep their argument private in Ed's office. From the tone, it sounded like they were arguing again.
"What is that? German?" asked Maes, shamelessly interrupting.
"Um, yeah," said Ed, ducking his head and looking off to the side as if trying to avoid eye contact with anybody in the room.
"Our father was originally from Germany. We read all the books he left behind, and a few of them were in German, so mom taught it to us," Al told them, looking only at his brother, as if waiting for his reaction. "Not many people around here speak it, so it gives us a way to talk to each other without others understanding what they overhear. It's safer that way."
Edward slumped in his seat, closing his eyes and letting out a very long, very unhappy sigh. "Go get the books," he growled. Al didn't hesitate. He immediately jumped up and ran up to the spare room he'd been occupying. He returned with three books. One was the book by Hohenheim – their father. The second was a copy of Hermetica translated by Brian P. Copenhaver. The last was a leather-bound notebook similar to the one that had been stolen along with Ed's notes.
"Where do we even start?" asked Al, looking to his older brother for direction.
"Where the bad shit always seems to start," said Edward bitterly, opening his eyes at last. And as simply as that they were all caught in his gaze, his eyes molten gold and filled with heat enough to rival volcanoes. There was years of rage and hatred in those eyes, and beneath it all an underlying sadness that was all but smothered under the weight of the anger. "With him. Our father."
