The Gift

Chapter 13

Leavings

November 24th – Friday

Ed closed the suitcase and snapped the buckles shut. It was almost hard to believe it was time to leave. After all, they'd only been here for a couple of days... But whether he liked it or not, it was time to go back to Central.

Al and he needed to continue their research on finding the philosopher's stone, and Mustang needed to get back to all the work he had to do.

Ed frowned at the suitcase.

With all the time Roy had supposedly been spending doing work, he should be way ahead, yet he insisted that he had a large amount of work and needed to return.

Sighing, Ed sat on the bed and ran a hand through his hair. Despite the time that he and Roy had been able to spend together, Ed couldn't seem to get that name, Lisa, and the phone number, out of his head.

He wasn't suspicious.

Really he wasn't...

These last few days had been so nice. Everything…well, except for Winry's vindictive attitude...had been perfect...

But...

If Roy wasn't seeing someone else, then why was he gone so much, and why did he insist that he had so much work to do when it just seemed that more and more paperwork collected on his desk, unread and unsigned. And, of course, the big question. Why did he have some girl's phone number in his wallet?

"Hey, you ready to go?"

Ed looked up to the door where the man in question was sticking his head in the room. When he didn't answer right away, Mustang said, "Are you alright?"

Sighing, Ed nodded and gave a small smile. "Just thinking about the trip back," he lied and stood up. At that moment, the door swung open and the colonel came fully into the room followed by Al, who was carrying Roy's suitcase.

His brother crossed the room and took Ed's suitcase from the bed. "Pinako and Winry are waiting downstairs to say goodbye, brother."

Ed nodded and watched as Al and Roy left the room. For a moment, he just stared at where he'd last seen them, then he crossed the room and walked out the door.

"You boys take care of yourselves, alright?" Pinako said.

"We will," Al said.

The old woman nodded, then said, "We'll see you at Christmas, right, Alphonse?"

Ed glanced in confusion at his brother. When Al nodded, Ed looked over at Pinako and asked, "What about me? You don't want me to come?" The last was said in a half joking, half serious tone.

"Of course we want you to come but…" Winry began and looked at Roy before saying, "You haven't asked him yet?"

"Oh...well..." Mustang stuttered and glanced in Ed's direction.

Pinako made a sound of exasperation and muttered something about 'procrastination', to which Roy's eyebrow twitched slightly.

"Actually," Roy said, and turned fully in Ed's direction. "I was...I was thinking that perhaps you could stay with me over the Christmas holiday... If you want, I mean. You don't have to."

Ed glanced up at Al and frowned. Was this what Roy had been talking to Al about?

Al looked down at him and said, "It's okay, brother. If you want to..."

Ed looked away. It was obvious to him that Al wasn't very happy about the prospect of being without him for Christmas. But then...he really did want to spend the holiday with Roy. If Mustang was offering to have him stay with him for Christmas, then that meant that he was the one Roy wanted...right? That would be a sign that the colonel wasn't cheating on him, right?

Perhaps things would be better when they got back to Central...

"Well...I'd like to talk to Al about it first..." he began, but Al cut him off.

"No, brother, I don't mind. Really."

Ed still didn't think that Al sounded very convincing, but he knew that if he argued the point, Al would only insist even more.

"Okay. Yeah," he said, and looked at Roy. "Yeah, I'd like to stay with you for Christmas."

A look of relief crossed the colonel's face, and he nodded.

"Well, you kids be safe getting down to that train station. It's little icy out there," Pinako said and Ed looked at her. The old woman's gaze stopped on all three of them for a moment before she pulled out her pipe.

Ed nodded and opened the door. "We will. Thanks for having us," he said and glanced at both Pinako and Winry.

"No problem, Ed. Just make sure you don't damage that automail between now and the next time I see you," Winry said with a grin.

Again Ed nodded, then raised a hand in goodbye before walking out the door.

Back to the short chapters again... Well, they'll get longer again as we approach Christmas. :)

Next post date is November 30th

Happy Birthday Ani

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