-1Give Guidance or Counsel
Cats
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist
Chapter 8 - What he Had to do
Thursday the 14th of January
The next day, Russell wasn't sat at their lunch table. Al was trying to coax Winry into saying anything, and Winry was just rather awkward. Ed made a mental note to talk to her later, although he could make the educated guess that it was something to do with wherever she had been last night. As for himself, he was dreading the next time he would be confronted with Russell. Luckily he had almost an entire week in which he could avoid the taller blonde, until they would be shoved together at Izumi's shop. Still, it wasn't as if he could avoid going to work; he and Al still needed the money. He found himself swearing loudly as a cat landed on his shoulder.
"Coco?" wondered Al at the sae time Mustang's recognisable voice warned;
"Language Edward."
The older man sat down next to them, despite the looks they were attracting from the students around them. Ed guessed their group must look a little bit strange: three blondes, a teacher equivalent, and a cat, sat round a small wooden lunch table. Ed sent a look in his secret affairs direction, which clearly read 'why is there a cat on my shoulder?'.
"I couldn't very well leave her at home, and she rather wanted to see you." The dark haired man explained (apparently he was fluent in cat), "I think you over indulged her the short time she was living with you."
"Add 'needs to learn how to say no to cats' to my list then." Ed replied, if only very slightly short-tempered, as he took Coco from his shoulder, and (while trying to act manly and cool in front of Roy and the rest of the school population), gave her a brief cuddle. Then he handed her over to Al quite quickly, so he didn't get caught up stroking her and being all cuddly. Cat's were Al's thing anyway.
"Will do." said Roy, after a short pause where he watched Ed act cute. The blonde teen ripped his eyes away from Coco to look at the older man. He found that Roy was looking at him with sad eyes. That wasn't like Roy.
"What's wrong?" Ed asked, concern lacing his tone. Roy seemed to shake himself out of wherever he was, and grinned at the blonde.
"What are you on about?" he asked, but Ed could tell the grin was forced. He lowered his eyes and looked suspiciously at Roy all over, before snapping his eyes to meet gazes again.
"You free tonight? I wanna talk." he asked, and Roy shrugged.
"Sure. You can come to my office." he replied, "Should I be concerned?"
"I dunno, should you be?"
Roy got the feeling that he'd somehow managed to annoy his young lover, as the boy stood, collected his things, and (for lack of a better word) stormed off into the school. He glanced at the two (three if you counted Coco) remaining occupants of the table. Al just shrugged at him, and Winry was too busy playing with Coco to pay attention to Ed's mood swings.
- X -
Ed ran into Russell on the 2nd floor of the Maths block. Instead of seeing the blonde as a nuisance, as Ed was so accustomed to, he suddenly saw the younger boy as imposing, and a threat to what he and Roy had. It seemed as if Russell had been waiting for him, and it only then struck Ed that running out after Roy and causing a scene the day before may have alerted Russell that something not quite legal was going on. Instead of turning around and running, which was the original plan when he saw the taller blonde, Ed took a deep breath and walked towards the 3rd year. He was thinking desperately for an excuse for why he would have run after his counsellor yesterday.
"You called him Roy." stated Russell, arms crossed and leaning against the wall. It was still lunch time and so the corridor was pretty deserted, save for a lone first year sitting on the stairs with her head down. Ed briefly wondered if she was crying, but couldn't go see, since he had his own problems to sort out.
"Yes. I did." he replied evenly, pretending nothing had happened yesterday was never going to work. "He's my counsellor. We're allowed to call him Roy, since he isn't really a teacher."
Russell sneered.
"Are you allowed to fuck him?" he asked scathingly, and Ed realised that although Russell might have been disgusted y the idea of a student/teacher relationship, a lot of his anger might also be put down to jealously. He had tried to kiss Ed after all. Ed wasn't entirely sure whether to be scared, or flattered.
"I'm not fucking him." Ed replied, congratulating himself on keeping calm. Russell shot him a disbelieving look.
"You're in a relationship with him." he stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"No I'm not." Ed lied. Russell pushed himself off the wall and stood imposingly over the teen.
"You better be careful Ed." he said in a threatening whisper. Ed gulped back his newly awakened fear and refused to break eye contact. "And he better be careful too. I'll keep a close watch on the two of you." he threatened, and Ed felt the words rushing through his mind and not really being registered. The only thought he was able to hold on to as Russell pushed past him, was that Roy's job was on the line. Roy could go to jail, and Ed wouldn't be able to see Roy. Russell wouldn't make out that Roy had manipulated him.
:Roy was in danger:
He stood alone in the corridor, save for the crying first year girl. He felt like crying as well. He felt like crying and screaming and breaking things, because he knew now what he had to do. He couldn't just lie to Russell and hope they weren't found out, because they'd already been found out - and Russell was jealous. And just like a jealous Al, the jealously would eat away at him until he was obsessed; he wouldn't stop until he and Roy were exposed. So yeah, now he knew what he had to do, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
The first year continued to cry.
- X -
Edward knocked neatly; three times, on the vandalised door of Mustang's run down, out-of-the-way office. He hated yet loved coming to Roy's office. It held some great memories he had obtained over the last 3 months, yet it was so run-down; it gave the sense of being abandoned. It was slightly foreboding. He swung open the door when he heard Roy's curt 'come in'. Roy was sat at his desk with a large pile of paperwork he'd probably let build up over the last few weeks.
The dark haired man glanced up and placed down his pen, motioned for Ed to take a seat, with the practised air of a guidance counsellor. Ed declined, quietly shutting the door behind him, standing close to it and keeping his hand on the handle. Roy leant forward slightly at the blondes odd behaviour.
"What was it you wanted to talk about Edward?" he asked, slowly and deliberately. Ed leaned heavily against the door, willing his legs to stop shaking.
When he'd first asked Roy to see him it was with the plan of finding out what was bothering the older male, and then perhaps a bit of kissing and cuddling and making Roy feel better. Yet that had all changed with the realisation of what Russell knew, and what Russell could, and would, do.
Ed kept his eyes trained on his shaking legs. He felt so hypocritical. Barely even 5 days ago he'd broken down over the idea that Roy wouldn't want him anymore… now…
"Edward?" Roy prompted. The elder went to stand up and comfort the clearly distraught teen, but Ed looked up, caught Roy's eyes for barely a second, and forcefully shook his head. Warning Roy to stay away. The dark haired man hovered half way between sitting and standing, then sat back down comfortably, waiting for Edward to get it all out.
The boy in question was staring fixatedly at the ground again, and Roy could clearly see that he was shaking as if nervous, or crying. Or both. Ed clenched and unclenched his fist again and again at his side, the other hand wrapped so tightly around the door handle that his knuckles had turned white.
"R-Roy?" Ed choked out, and Roy 'hmmed', in response, leaning forward over his desk and wondering what had effected his younger love affair. He stayed eerily quiet after he acknowledged Ed's words, so as not to push the boy too much. Ed was obviously thinking carefully.
Roy doesn't need to know, reasoned Ed to himself. He'll try and stop me if he thinks it's about Russell, and I can't let Roy get hurt. I can't let Russell get to him…
Ed finally looked up and matched gazes with Roy.
"We need to break up." he said with so much certainty it scared even himself. Then he looked away so he didn't have to see Roy's crestfallen or hurt expression.
*Hides from the fan girls*
I'm sorry! Please don't hate me.
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~Od23