Okay, so before I blather on about how sorry I am for taking so long, I'm going to answer reviews.

E.Mahiru: Sorry about making you sign in to leave a review, but I've noticed that most people who like to flame do it on the non-member review thing. If somebody wants to insult me, I want them to do it to my face. And yes, sick is gross. I just wanted to establish Ed's excuse for living with Roy.

I love Malfoy as a ferret: I'm sorry I didn't update quicker! DX

SoSickOfNyQuil: That's an INGENIOUS way to come up with a name! XD Cousins do complicate things don't they? o.o But the true complications haven't yet come! (And that's all I'm giving you)

Remember The Darkness: Aw, thanks. I don't understand why everyone seems to like my story--but I appreciate it nonetheless. :D

FMA-SN-Fan: I'm sorry I didn't update sooner! But thanks for the love.

Mizuki hikari: Continue? You mean writing? o.o;;

secret25: T.T Everytime one of you says 'update soon' I feel so guilty for not writing faster... But I love that you think they're cute. And that part in chapter 5... blush it must have been the poet in me. With the sleep-walking; I like my comic relief, so I make sure to put a little bit into the stories that I write--I don't want it to get too heavy, you know? ...Jealous? Where'd you get that? And yes; the fire is explained in this chapter. ...blush ...Just so you guy's know, I'm actually more bashful and shy than my characters...the cute parts in the story between Ed and Roy REALLY make me blush. So...yeah.

Okay, if you don't care about my apology or the Tokens of Apology I have given you, just skip the rest of the bold.

I'm SORRY! I know I haven't updated in weeks and I AM SO SORRY! I've just been SERIOUSLY busy lately—my family is in the process of moving right now (which is WAY uncool D; ) and I was really busy helping mom make the house nice enough for someone to want to buy it.

BUT! But NOW, it has been purchased, and I don't have to clean anymore. :D

But that's my excuse for not telling you guys anything. My excuse for not writing a TON is the fact that I've had a major case of writers block. This chapter is slightly sad, and that made it harder for me, 'cause I'm normally a cheery person. I'm kinda bad at sad stuff, so if it sucks, I sincerely apologize.

BUT! But, I have TOKENS of apology! D TWO Tokens of Apology!

Token Number One: In this chapter, Ed tells his tale—abbreviated, and actually kinda crappily. But he's a sixteen year old male (and I suck at sad stuff) so what did you expect? But anyways, the token is that Roy suggests that Ed write his story out, and I have decided to take this on as a separate story! XD It will be wonderful, with old boyfriend love stories, turf battles, unwanted attractions and the perfect RoyxEd happy ending...or does it count as a beginning? I already have it all mapped out, and I'm actually writing it right now, so if anyone still finds my work worthy of reading after this story's done, they'll have that…

Token Number Two: Okay, so I'm in a photography class, and in my photography class are two wonderful students whose antics to psychologically scar the poor Teacher-Lady I'm sure you all will appreciate. Their names are Jake and Chris, and they are the Hottest Two Best Friends Ever Created By Nature! And their actions make them SO much better! XD

Unfortunately, their actions are completely acting, as they are both straight with girlfriends. D; It would have been so much better if it were real!

Incident One:

Teacher: is boringly explaining the assignment—nobody's listening

Alex: doodles and wonders what a good present for Roy would be

Jake: pulls out an mp3 player

Chris: hooks in an earbud and they listen together

Teacher: Is pissed about being outright ignored and points dramatically at the two boys

Alex: looks up at the motion

Teacher: You two UNHOOK yourselves from each other RIGHT NOW!

Alex: O.O gigglesnort

Jake: suppresses smile

Chris: evil grin Can't it wait until after we're…done?

Incident Two:

Chris: is making excuses about why he "can't" do the assignment he's too lazy to pick up a camera for

Teacher: Yeah, yeah. Liar, liar—oh look, your pants are on fire.

Alex: grins, waits for it

Jake: OMG, Chris, your pants are on fire! Quick, take them OFF!

Chris: ARG! whips belt open AMAZINGLY fast—like less than half a second, people, seriously

Alex: O////////O

Teacher: Oh. My. God. hides face in hands

Jake: You see how easily that belt opened? We really broke it in good.

Alex: wonders if anime-style nosebleeds are possible in real life, and if so, is about to have one

Teacher: That's…disturbing.

Chris: You know what's really disturbing? He's not even kidding.

Incident Three (Chris was absent, so Brent took his role):

Teacher:…and I don't want to hear excuses about how your pet tarantula is dying and you had to stay up with it all night long.

Brent: Well, you see, what happened was my pet tarantula choked on my pet grasshopper, and now they're both dead.

Jake: Did you fight the tarantula to save the grasshopper, Brent?

Brent: No, but my grandma did, and the tarantula bit her, and now she's dying too! D;

Teacher: sighs, exasperated over yet another interruption

Alex: sighs, wishing Chris was there to make the situation funnier

Sorry guys, that's all I got. ON TO THE STORY!

Chapter Seven

Ghosts of Our Pasts

Ed has been staying at Roy's place for two weeks now, and they've gotten into a general routine. Roy wakes up earlier than natural for any being without an alarm clock, and Ed is woken up about an hour later by the sounds Roy makes in the kitchen while preparing to prepare breakfast. Ed takes a shower and meets Roy at the kitchen bar just as he's setting the food down, and they eat together, comfortable both in speaking or in silence. Then, if it's a work day, Roy drives them to work, where Ed reads to his heart's content anything in reach, and Roy flies through his masses of paperwork till lunch. At lunch time, Ed is roused from his reading-induced-trance by Roy, and they head out to the cafeteria to eat with some other guys (and a couple of girls) from Roy's division. Ed hasn't really learned their names yet—except for Hughes, who was always shoving pictures of his daughter in people's face. He's kinda memorable. After lunch, Ed and Roy would head back to his office and do the same thing they did in the morning till five, when they headed home and had dinner. Then they would sit on the couch and look at the stars, or watch the snow fall, or just sit or read or think. Eventually, one of them would get tired, and they would both go to bed, to start the process again in the morning.

But when it was a weekend, like today, things were a little different. They still woke up the same, and ate the same (except for lunch, which Roy made on the weekends), but instead of reading (and doing paperwork), Ed and Roy would either play a game of alchemy that they had invented, or just sit and think. Every Sunday, they went out for a run. Today was Saturday, and it was one of the days where Ed and Roy felt like just sitting on the couch and thinking.

The silence was broken only by the sound of their breathing.

"Y'know, Ed," Roy said suddenly, "We don't even really know each other, do we?"

Ed glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. "I know you're a good person. And a great cook."

Roy's cheeks flushed lightly at Ed's complements, but he smirked and raised a brow back at him. "Do you ever get your mind off your stomach? That's not what I meant at all."

Edward pouted slightly for a moment, then smiled at Roy. "What did you mean, then?"

Roy sighed. "Nothing."

Ed frowned, then shrugged, turning back towards the window. It was almost a blizzard outside.

"How did you end up an urchin?" Roy asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

"What?" As Ed turned to look at him, Roy turned away, looking back out the window.

"You don't have to tell me, if you're not comfortable talking about it. I was just curious. You're too educated to have been born into it."

He was silent for a long while, and Roy began to think he wasn't going to answer when Ed cleared his throat.

"I'm as educated as I am because I taught myself, using my father's study and the library. I have good memory. My father was never around when I was a kid, and I honestly hadn't seen him in years at the time I left. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I lived with my little brother, Alphonse, and my mother. We were a really happy family. Me and my brother were always having brotherly competitions, and after we started reading father's alchemy books, the competitions turned into a race to master alchemy first. We were both good, but honestly, I was a much faster learner than my brother, and I was much more detailed in my creations. Al's were always functional, sure, but mine were beautiful. Mom was always proud of both of us equally, though, and all our silly wooden toys made her very happy to see.

"But then, when I was eleven and Al was ten, our mother got…really sick. So sick that me and Ed and Mrs.Pinako from next door had to take care of her. Mrs.Pinako always made us all our meals and, if she was with a client and couldn't come over, she'd send her granddaughter, Winry, over to give it to us.

"We always liked it when Winry came over. She would endlessly blather on about the new automail designs that she had been working on with her grandmother, but…that was what we needed. Her parents had died the year before, so she could relate to how we felt…we just needed distraction.

"Mom just kept getting sicker, and after a while all she really did was sleep. Sometimes, she would wake up and be able to talk to us, but only at night, when the sun wouldn't hurt her eyes. And even then, not for very long.

"Alphonse took to cooking, and Mrs.Pinako was happy to teach him her recipes—along with our mother's.

"I started taking long runs. I would run until I had to rest, and then I would stop right there and make a sculpture that was inspired by where I was at that moment, or how I felt at the time. The countryside is probably littered with them; I hope they don't mind E.E.'s contribution to the view." Here, Edward smiled and glanced at Roy, who was now watching him speak. "That's how I signed my statues. On each one of my works is a little plaque on the bottom right-hand corner on the front, with my signature and the statue's title."

"But one day, when I was on my way home, I ran across a mad wolf about half a mile away from home." Edward shuddered. "He wasn't exactly happy to see me. I had to run for my life. All that time running must have really paid off, or the wolf's sickness must have slowed him down, 'cause I was able to run ahead of him for a little over a quarter-mile. But after that, the wolf caught up.

"That's how I lost my arm and leg. The only reason I wasn't killed is because Winry heard me, and came to my rescue. She shot the wolf good and dead, and then brought me to her grandmother. They patched me up, and made me my automail. The cool thing about my automail is that I saw the blueprints for it, and now all I have to do is add on more metal with my alchemy whenever I grow a bit."

"So you haven't needed to use that skill yet, have you." Roy smirked playfully and Edward swatted his shoulder with his right arm. Roy did his best to keep the pain off his face as the metal clashed against his skin.

"Do you want to hear the story or not?"

"Yes!" Roy smiled apologetically. "Yes, I do. I won't interrupt again, I promise. Please continue."

"Alright, well about a month after the incident I figured how to do alchemy without the circle—"

"You just figured it out?!"

Edward glared pointedly at Roy and he mimed zipping his mouth shut.

"Anyway, the fact that my brother and I were so good at alchemy made my mom very happy, so we took to playing the Alchemy Game in front of her whenever she woke up. She loved it! But then…" Edward's eyes darkened and his face went blank. "Then…she just…stopped. I…I really don't remember what happened after that. I heard my brother scream. I heard glass break.

"Now that I think about it, it was probably the lantern that sat on the bedside table that broke. It was the only thing lit, and after the crash, the room caught on fire. At that moment, I didn't really care.
I would have just sat there and roasted myself alive if Mrs.Pinako hadn't burst into the room and thrown me outside in the grass. I don't know what happened to my brother, or the house. I didn't stop to notice. As soon as my feet hit the grass, I was up and running, and I didn't stop until I reached the train station. All I had were my clothes, my jacket, and enough money in my pocket for a ticket. I bought one, and I rode the train until it hit the last stop. Even then, I didn't get off. I was eventually thrown off the train by the conductor, and then I just sort of wandered, until I ran into…Raegan.

"He was the leader of a gang of street kids, and we made a deal. I make them tools, clothes, whatever, and they keep me fed and safe. But there was a turf war when I was fourteen, and Raegan—the gang—lost. The new 'owner' of the turf was…shady, so I ran away.

"I found myself in a little shop called the 'Nick Knack Shack' (Yes, I realize how stupid the name is, thank you very much) and I started talking to the owner. I showed him what I could do, and we struck up a deal. It worked great till last month. Mr.Cardigan, the owner, got sick. He left his store to his daughter and…well, lets just say we didn't really get along. So, I was out of a job. And on top of that, it turns out that most people aren't willing to make business deals with sixteen year old street rats. I had enough money to last me a while but…by the time I ran into I was really desperate."

"Which is why you stole my watch." Roy's voice broke Edward out of his depressed trance that had come on with the thoughts of his past. He looked up at Roy and smirked.

"No. I stole your watch because you called me short. The thought of how much the watch was worth only occurred to me after I had ran. And just for the record, it was the first time I'd ever stolen ANYTHING, and I had no idea you were even chasing me until you crashed into me. I was too busy trying to tell my conscience to shut up."

Roy smirked back. "Observant, aren't you?"

"Usually." Edward smiled.

"Hmph. Do you know what happened to your brother?"

Edward's smile vanished.

"…No. I suppose he's either still in Risembool, or out looking for me."

"Do you want to know?"

Ed was quiet for a long moment, and they heard a car drive by outside. Yes, he wanted to see his brother. He loved his brother, and he missed him sorely; he wanted to catch up with him, compete with him over nothing. He wanted to hear about how Winry and Aunty Pinako were doing, and how Alphonse had been getting along with his cooking, about his plans for the future and any crush he has. He wanted to talk about everything, but…he had too much to tell. How could he explain all the changes he had gone through? He didn't want to tell his brother how different he was now; he didn't want to hear how different his brother had become. Oh, but he did! No, wait, he didn't. Did he?

"No." He said finally. "I'm not ready yet."

Roy nodded, and they were quiet for a while. The air felt too heavy, and Roy felt he had to say something.

"You could probably write a book on this."

"I should." Ed didn't sound sad anymore, just thoughtful.

They fell once more into a comfortable silence. Snowflakes spiraled outside the window, and Roy watched them contentedly.

"You know, I think you owe me a question now." Roy glanced at Edward, who was watching the snow fall.

"Uhm, sure, I guess so." Roy fiddled with his gloves nervously. "What do you want to know?"

"What's a skill that you have that no one else knows about?"

A secret skill? "What makes you think—"

"Come on now, fair's, fair." Edward smirked at Roy's nervousness. "It's equivalent exchange. Everybody has a skill no one else really knows about. I told you about the statues. You have to have something."

"Well," Roy paused, wondering if Edward would find it a silly skill like his parents had. But how could he? He made toys and sculptures, and that rose… "I…can draw. And paint. Anything I want, anything I see, with my eyes or with my mind."

"Really?" Ed's eyebrows were raised. Roy didn't seem the type to do that. "Just how good are you?"

It was a fair question. Roy pulled a notebook on the coffee table closer and pulled a pen out of his pocket. Edward watched in silence as he began scratching out random curves and dashes onto the paper. Soon he saw a shape…and then hair…and then a face. His eyes glazed over with awe as he watched the scribbles slowly turn into a perfect rendering of Riza Hawkeye.

"That is so amazing…" Ed's voice was breathless, and Roy blushed, turning away and scratching the back of his head nervously.

"W-well, thanks." He stood up suddenly. "Oh, wow, look how late it is; I'm gonna head to bed, okay Ed?" Roy rushed down the hall to his bedroom and shut the door quietly.

Ed just sat there a moment, looking down at the picture of Riza that Roy had made in a matter of minutes. Smiling, he made his way to bed.

He knew what to give Roy for Christmas.