I just finished freakin' Conquerors of Shamballa. Fucking whoa. DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN! It's just that total AGONY of knowing that it's OVER but it's so DAMN GOOD!
Ugh...
And just to clarify the setting of my story, sorry, should'a wrote this earlier, my story plays itself out as sorta a mesh between 'Earth' and 'Shamballa' (that's just what I'm calling our world and the other one). It's the brink of World War II (there was a time jump) and Fuhrer Bradley is Hitler, but Edward has not yet reached the point where he knows the Fuhrer is (SPOILER!:) a homunculus. He and Alphonse were called back from the search for the Philosopher's Stone to await marching orders. Oh... no Elricest for this story, sorry. It's just Edward/Dietrich. Also, I'm not very comfortable with sex scenes yet, I'm sort of inexperienced in that area, so I may or may not include it, but I will do my best to please you all, so if you really want it then I'll put in the research to write one, but you have to let me know. That's all, I think. Anything else, please send me a message or put it in a review.
…
Edward was much too happy too remember to keep Alphonse from seeing him in the different clothes. And he was much too happy to do anything but change and bury his head in his pillow. Alphonse almost said something, but he didn't.
Edward fell asleep to the best dream he'd ever had.
Alphonse dropped a book on Edward's head.
Waking up, Edward jumped out of bed. "What?" He shouted, looking around for an enemy. It took a long moment for him to piece together what had happened. "Al!"
Alphonse folded his armor arms. "Don't act like you didn't deserve it," Alphonse said angrily, his small voice resonating in his empty chest chamber to be loud to be practically screaming.
"I was asleep," Edward growled, his hands in fists.
"It's past lunch," Alphonse growled, "you were asleep long enough! And I was sick of that happy smile on your face!"
Edward's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me," he snapped. "You did that because I was happy?"
"What were you doing these past few days," Alphonse cried out, "where were you yesterday! Why did you buy new clothes? And why didn't you tell me?"
Edward stepped back, his stomach clenching in guilt. "I..."
Alphonse waited. He let out a hiccup.
Edward knew that sound, and his face instantly became horrified. If Alphonse had a body, there would be tears in his eyes. "Al," Edward said quietly.
"Why didn't you trust me?" Alphonse demanded. He hiccuped again, struggling to keep a cry from shaking his armoured body.
"I didn't mean to, I didn't think about it, Al, I just," Edward began.
"I don't want to be left out! Just because we have to have a guard if we go out together doesn't mean you can just leave me behind!" Alphonse shouted miserably, "What am I to you?"
"I was on a date!" Edward yelled.
Alphonse froze. If he had a body, his jaw would have dropped.
"I met someone when I was getting groceries, and we were talking, and last night we went to this place and we danced and... and we kissed, okay?" Edward felt a blush spreading over his cheeks, but he forced himself to continue, "I couldn't take you along on a date, could I? And I guess I might have mentioned what was going on, I just didn't... think, okay Al? I just forgot to think."
"You kissed someone?" Alphonse's voice was shocked.
The blush was probably horrifically red by then. "Yeah," Edward confessed, as ashamed as if he were admitting murder, "I did. And... and it was really nice."
"Was she pretty?" Alphonse asked curiously.
The blush covered Edward's entire face, and he could feel it down to his toes. "I..." He swallowed.
"Was she not pretty," Alphonse amended. Hearing no answer, he asked, "Was she part of the military? How old was she?"
"Seventeen, Al," Edward blinked. "Um... well sorta... some people..." He blanked.
"Did you kiss a lot," Alphonse asked, trying to get to the source of the problem.
Edward rubbed his temples. "I need to sit down," he said, and he sat on the edge of his bed. Alphonse sat down next to him, and his weight made the whole bed move so Edward was slightly pushed against Alphonse's side.
"You can tell me," Alphonse whispered, "I'm your brother. I keep all our secrets."
"Okay," Edward wondered how he was going to explain something he'd only realized a few days ago. "Al."
Alphonse nodded his armour head.
"Girls like guys, right? And guys like girls," Edward said.
Alphonse gasped. "You slept with her?" He concluded.
"What?" Edward jumped, and then hit the side of Alphonse's armour. "You're too young to know about that!"
Alphonse chuckled.
"Anyways," Edward continued. "Um... there are some things... sometimes the government doesn't like some things. Like, when Ishvalans marry regular citizens."
Alphonse nodded and said, "I know, Ed."
Nervously, Edward said, "But, the government's wrong about that. Like it's wrong about chimeras and slaughtering innocent people."
"Ed. I know," Alphonse said.
"Well, sometimes guys don't like girls," Edward explained. His face was probably the shade of a tomato right them. "Sometimes they like other guys, better."
Alphonse frowned. "Like who?"
Edward took a deep breath. "Um... his name is Dietrich." He stopped.
Alphonse made a gesture for Edward to keep going.
"And I was hanging out with him. Last night. On the date."
Alphonse sensed that that was the end, and he looked down at his knees. He thought for a long moment, so long it made Edward uncomfortable.
"Al?"
Alphonse said, "You like other guys?"
"Yeah," Edward said awkwardly, "I think so."
"Not me, right," Alphonse asked, his voice worried.
Edward snorted. "Oh, gross, no. You're my little brother."
Alphonse's voice became gravely serious. "What about... Major Armstrong..." Alphonse's entire demeanor seemed clouded by a darkness of uncertainty.
"Ew," Edward said.
"Oh good," Alphonse exclaimed, relieved. "'Cause he's weird."
"Of course he is! And Dietrich doesn't look a thing like him," Edward insisted.
"What branch of the military is he in," Alphonse wondered.
Edward shook his head. "No," he said, "he's... why does he have to be in the military?"
Alphonse thought for a moment, scratching the side of his armour head with his gauntlet. "I don't know," he replied, "what does he do then?"
"He's a student. He goes to one of the schools outside Central," Edward said, "and he doesn't care a bit about the military."
"Then why did he kiss you," Alphonse asked.
Edward swallowed. "He," Edward said, "he doesn't know."
"ED!"
"I know! I just couldn't tell him, alright!" Edward bristled, "What was I supposed to do? Say, by the way I'm the Full Metal Alchemist while we were talking about the weird people he sees at his mother's bake shop or my gold eyes-"
Alphonse burst into laughter.
Edward crossed his arms. "What," he snapped.
Alphonse's laughter continued, and he had the make several loud shouts "Gold eyes!" before it even faded slightly.
"He's the one who said that," Edward mumbled.
Alphonse stopped, but then gasped with a sudden epiphany. "Ed," he whispered, "you have a boyfriend."
"It's not funny, Al, and if you tell anyone I could go to jail. You better promise not to mention it, understand?"
Alphonse nodded. "I promise." He chuckled. "So," Alphonse looked at Edward, his entire form suddenly filled with a powerful curiosity Edward could practically smell, "what was kissing like?"
Edward stared down at his hands. "Uh..."
"Come on, Ed, you have to tell me," he pleaded.
Alphonse doesn't have a mouth, Edward thought, but he will. Soon. When he gets his body back and I get my limbs. "You know, when you've performed a piece of alchemy perfectly that first time, after trying for so long to get it right, and then suddenly you do and you get that feeling in your stomach? It's like that, but then, there's someone's mouth on yours. Like, like a mouth..." Edward tried another alchemy metaphor, "It's equivalent exchange, but bad, because, all your doing is touching your mouths but there's this overwhelmingly happy feeling..." Edward added," Just like alchemy, like a chimera, bringing two things together, except-"
"Ed, that doesn't make any sense," Alphonse told him unhappily.
"Well... well it's not that easy to explain!"
"What's not easy to explain?" The door was slightly open, they hadn't heard it while Edward had been shouting. Roy Mustang looked apathetically through the door. "What," he said in response to Edward's horrified face.
"Kissing," Alphonse answered Mustang's question.
Mustang blinked. "That must have been an interesting conversation," he commented.
"What are you doing here? Don't you knock?" Edward demanded, enraged.
"Hm," Mustang said. "We have a meeting. Since my secretary and all my staff seem to have disappeared, I am forced to tell everyone myself."
"A meeting?" Edward stared. The war. "Our orders from the Fuhrer?"
"No," Mustang said unhelpfully. "But," he looked at Alphonse, a sudden smirk crossing his face, "I am curious how little Ed here was explaining kissing to you."
"I! AM! NOT! SHORT!" Edward shouted in fury. "COME AND FIGHT ME AND I'LL BEAT YOU UP AND PROVE THAT I'M NOT SHORT! I'LL GRIND YOU INTO A PULP! I'LL KILL YOU! HOW'S THAT FOR SHORT, HUH?"
"That has nothing to do with being short," Mustang told him.
"I don't know," Alphonse said, "he just kept talking about alchemy."
"BE QUIET YOU TRAITOR BROTHER!"
"Well, Ed is not known for being articulate. See me in conference room C in ten minutes. I'd start going now, because if you're late I'm going to give you cleaning duty with the cadets." Mustang looked calmly down at Edward. "Hawkeye tells me you were on a date."
"You... don't you... GRAGH!" Edward clenched his fists like he wanted nothing more then ram his fists through Mustang's head.
"After this meeting, I want you to come with me to my office, Ed," Mustang told him. "We need to talk."
The blood drained from Edward's face. "About my date?" He guessed.
Mustang nodded. And left.
Edward thought he hadn't had a tail. He hadn't even bothered to look for one. He'd betrayed Dietrich already. He'd revealed the location of that secret hideout. That woman, whats-her-name, was in trouble, along with that guy, Steffen. "Oh no," Edward whispered.
"What do you suppose the meeting is about if it's not our orders?" Alphonse asked.
"If you tell Mustang one more thing about our conversation, Al, I will cut your body apart and put it in the dog park!" Edward snapped.
"Okay," Alphonse said as if he believed the threat. He hummed as he walked after Edward.
Halfway to the conference room, Edward stopped. "Okay, why are you so happy," he demanded.
"I'm just thinking," Alphonse said.
"About what?"
"I'm going to have a pretty girlfriend when I get my body back," Alphonse told Edward. "A really pretty girlfriend."
Alphonse always had been the only one fooled by the beautiful women they came into contact with.
"Oh," Edward said. Trying to ignore the crushing weight of responsibility sinking in his chest, he asked, "What color will her hair be?"
"Brown," Alphonse answered immediately.
"And her eyes," he added.
"Blue!" And Alphonse continued to hum.
When they entered the conference room, it seemed the only people Mustang had managed to find were the ones closest to him. Riza Hawkeye was there, in military uniform and not dressed up like Edward had last seen her, as was Vato Falman, Heymans Breda, Kain Fury, Jean Havoc, and, coming through the door with Mustang, Frank Archer.
"Good afternoon. I'm sure some of you had an interesting morning." Mustang looked straight at Edward. "And I know for a fact three of us have a hangover, one of which is me."
Riza Hawkeye looked miserable as well, as did Frank Archer, who, Edward was happy to note, was in pajamas.
"I received orders from the Fuhrer, not marching orders however." Mustang told them as he sat down at the head of the table, "The Fuhrer does not believe our army is getting enough recruits, despite his newspaper, television, and radio campaigns. The amount of recruits has dropped almost half in the last few years. He wants us, the alchemists," He looked at a few people in the ground, including Edward, "and the other branches of the army," he looked at the ones in the group who weren't alchemists like Hawkeye, "to start recruiting. Since we're the more famous faces, considering how fast even Full Metal's reputation has spread, he wants the alchemists to lead demonstrations and take shifts at recruiting offices, give speeches at events in the area, and to make public appearances at everything from bake sales to movie premieres." Mustang was obviously not happy about this. Frank Archer was the only one who seemed pleased.
"Can't they just boil us in oil," Hawkeye muttered.
That would be too humane, Edward thought.
"I assign," Mustang closed his eyes and wiggled his finger, "Archer," he announced even though his finger had landed somewhere between Fury and Breda "to tell the rest of the staff what happened at this meeting. And tell my secretaries that the Fuhrer's schedule for rally's and the town event schedule will be on their desks and they need to assign every event with suitable attendees." Mustang stood and the rest of them stood as well. He raised his hand in salute, which they all copied, and dropped it.
"Now," Mustang said, "Ed, in my office so we can talk about your date."
Everyone went quiet.
"Why did that have to be public knowledge?" Edward shouted.
"Wow, Ed," Havoc grinned, "getting into the game."
Edward's jaw clenched. He dropped his hand onto the table. In seconds, the conference table turned into nails.
"Ed, please. Restraint is one of the first things I have to teach you," Mustang said, the smirk crossing his entire face.
The laughter that followed Mustang's statement was worse considering the fact Edward had no idea what that was supposed to have meant.
Bristling, he followed Mustang to his office, debating whether or not he'd prefer to have Alphonse, who would be back in the room reading by now, with him or not.
Mustang's office was unbearably long ever since his promotion, and as Edward walked down he couldn't help but feel that he was getting more embarrassed instead of angry. The few pictures that lined the darkly lit room were vague, and the shelves full of random books and random objects was the same. The most light came from the window, and Edward didn't like the thought someone could see this conversion, even if they were stories high. Roy Mustang sat behind his large desk, and Edward stood until Mustang ordered him to sit.
"All joking aside, Edward," Mustang told him.
Joke? Edward wondered, but he didn't dare say that out loud.
"I'm glad that you've managed to put your obsession on hold, even if you were forced to stop searching, enough to concentrate on love. However, due to your home situation I know you could not have been given a through education in this matter." Mustang said, in a humored tone disguised as apathy, "And, honestly, alchemy is one of the worst metaphors you could possibly use for describing kissing."
"Shut up," Edward growled.
"I note your considerate suggestion and ignore it," Mustang said. "Now. Ed. You do know what sex is, don't you?"
Edward's face was sick of being red and shifted to purple. "Of course I do," he insisted, "I don't need you to-"
"Good." Mustang's smirk shifted into a pleasant smile. "Now, I've always liked you Ed, so I want to share a little secret with you."
"Huh?" Edward let a disgusted look cross his face.
"I dated every woman I ever pursued, and I was always the one to break it off. And believe me, there were many. At times, more then one. And once, more then two and all four knew about it." Mustang rested his head on his hands. "The first thing you should know is that everyone likes a man in uniform. In fact, that's the absolute best thing about being in the military. Second, always pay attention to what a woman is saying, but if you space out, just tell her she's wonderful. Third-"
"How many of these are there?"
"Third, the first kiss is most important. Never worry about yourself, always try to make the first kiss the best. Now, proper kissing, is good for the first kiss if you're trying to show her you respect her, which, I believe, is the best approach. But after the first kiss, perhaps a day after, you can start putting your tongue in her mouth-"
Edward wanted to die.
"How'd it go," Alphonse asked nervously.
"Never again," Edward dropped into his bed, and died.
Edward half debated avoiding Dietrich completely the next day, but he got up extremely early anyways. He went into the city, taking a long, arduous time to be sure he had no tail, before he dared go near Dietrich's bus stop.
Dietrich was there, Edward saw his hair right away. He was bent over the same book as last time.
Edward snuck up behind him. "So. How've you been?"
Dietrich jumped a mile in the air. His books fell to the floor, and he turned around, his brown eyes wider then soccer balls. "Edward!" He clamped his hand over his heart. "Oh my God," Dietrich muttered, gasping.
"What's wrong," Edward said, concerned. He reached down, picking Dietrich's books off the cement.
"You just," Dietrich shook his head. "Whoa. You just scared the heck out of me, that's all."
"You're easily frightened?"
Dietrich froze. "No," he said quickly, obviously lying.
"Do you want to go get lunch," Edward asked.
"I have school," Dietrich told him. "I'm sorry, otherwise, I would, but, we can get dinner later. Same place."
"Okay." Edward handed Dietrich his books.
They paused, little to say. Dietrich finally told him, "I had a great time, the other night."
"Me too."
Dietrich's eyes fell to Edward's lips.
"See you later."
The bus had arrived.
"Oh, you're back," Alphonse said happily. He dropped the book in his hands and raced his clanking, clacking, metal body to Edward's side. "Did you kiss again," he whispered, not wanting anyone to hear.
"No," Edward said. "I'm going to see him later tonight." He jumped to the bathroom, staring at himself in the mirror. He'd worn his usual clothes, without his red jacket, but frowned at them. "I need something to wear," Edward decided.
"But you bought regular civilian clothes the other day," Alphonse reminded.
"I need something else. Normal people have tons of different clothes, all I have is that, this, and my army uniform I never wear and absolutely am never going to wear." Edward grimaced at his own clothes. He picked up the scarf, and turned it around in his hands. "It's Dietrich's," Edward said to answer the questioning tilt of Alphonse's head.
"What should you wear?" Alphonse wondered.
"I don't know," Edward said. "Something nice." He frowned. "Let's go."
Alphonse shook his head. "But if we both go out, we have to be followed."
"Yeah, whatever, they already know I'm dating, no one will think it's weird. Come on, Al."
...
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