Trumpet-Geek: Thank you very much for your honest criticism. It was going slowly, wasn't it? Don't worry, though- the plot (or the romance- one and the same, really) does indeed pick up from here. Ember got sick of drawing out the friendship and desperately wanted to start torturing her beloved characters.

PaperBagGhost: Thanks. We love people telling us we're awesome. We love kudos too, incidentally. :)

I love Malfoy as a ferret: You do indeed get points, because Ember loves your response. Get any more points and Ember just might have to do something about it, O Clever Reviewer. And as for them getting pushed into each other... Well... All Ember can say is good things happen to those who wait a couple of chapters. ;)

Bursting-Bubbles: Oh sorry! Ember was making a generic comment, and hopes like hell she didn't offend in any way. It was nothing against your level of insanity, which Ember is sure is great. After all, we're all crazy geeks here at , aren't we?

Shannon R.: As we said to PaperBagGhost, we love people telling us we're awesome. It's people like you who worship the pages we write on that keep us going, really.

Funni-Chan: Our first PM! Yay! Now when Ember checks that inbox it's never empty because yours is there! Oh happy day!

Thank you all for your wonderful and clever answers to Ember's little contest. While so many of them could have been it, there was only one winner, who Ember will PM immediately after this post looking for specifications on what she'll be writing.

Chapter 5: Ambiguity

It was the hottest day of band camp, the last day before learning drill, and they had only gotten through an hour of it. Ed had pulled his hair into a high ponytail, and he was certain that when his clothes finally dried he would lose several pounds of water weight.

He and Roy were talking to the color guard once more, and he turned just in time to see one of the girls dump a fair amount of water on Roy's head.

Roy didn't seem too happy at this turn of events. "That was cold!"

The girl, a captain by the name of Riza Hawkeye, smirked. "But you looked hot. Still do, in fact. Need some more?"

Roy quickly made a loud denial and, when threatened with the water anyway, turned tail and ran for it. Riza stood up quickly, slowly gaining on him as she chased him around the parking lot.

Ed watched them, smiling until a certain phrase hit him.

'But you looked hot. Still do, in fact.'

As those words suddenly entered his head he stared unknowingly. Roy did look pretty good, though, as far as guys went. Ed could see why he had the reputation with the ladies that he did.

Wait. Had he just used the words 'Roy' and 'look good' in the same mental sentence?

That was most certainly a strange thought to be having. Ed had never really thought of anyone like that before, male or female. He just hadn't really been interested, having been too involved with schoolwork and band to really look at anyone twice. But now that he thought of it…

He shook his head to dislodge that thought chain. Those had certainly been strange thoughts. It must've been the heat.

He didn't notice, though, that he continued to stare as Riza finally caught up to Roy and dumped still more water on his head as Roy yelped and tried to shake the water out of his hair. He kept watching as the pair laughed and slowly made their way back to the rest of the group.

Before they were even halfway there the girl that had practically jumped him the first time he'd been dragged over to this corner of the parking lot waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello? Earth to Ed? Why are you spacing out like that?"

Ed jumped and he could feel his face reddening. "Nothing." Ed was instantly furious with himself—had that been a squeak?

The blonde smirked. "Are you sure?" she asked in a singsong voice, acting as if she already knew the answer.

"Yes." And Ed quickly dumped some more water over his head, both to cool himself off and to try and shock himself out of this strange state of mind he'd suddenly found himself in.

And yet he was sure his face was still flushed when Roy and Riza finally made their slow way back to the group. It was definitely flushed as he and Roy walked off to start getting everyone else back to work, a long process on hot days like that day.

Yes, it was definitely the heat that was affecting his thought processes. Ed certainly wouldn't think that way normally.

An hour later, Roy had to admit that Ed was certainly acting very strangely.

The younger teen had been noticeably jumpy the whole time. Well, he was noticeably jumpy when his thoughts were obviously on something other than what they were doing.

He also seemed to be very prone to blushing, although that could have simply been from the heat. He doubted that, though, as that telltale redness always followed those moments where he appeared totally spaced out.

Determined to get to the bottom of the situation, Roy pulled Ed aside at their next break. "Is something going on?" he asked.

Ed jumped nearly a full foot into the air before a blush dusted his cheeks once more. "No."

Roy looked at him suspiciously. "Really?"

"Yes." Had that really been a squeak? Roy wasn't quite sure. He had the feeling, though, that asking would be the wrong thing to do. Ed was jumpy enough as it was.

"Whatever. I know you're lying. But if you don't want to talk about it that's fine." And Roy left it at that. It had probably been a good idea, since Ed was bright red and visibly shaking. He had a feeling he would've gotten very little out of the other teen anyway.

Still vaguely wondering what on earth was going on, Roy sat down and found his third water bottle of the day. It really was unnatural, this heat. It was almost as if the earth had broken out of orbit and was careening toward the sun at an alarming rate.

Chuckling, Roy drank some of the water before dumping more on his head. If he was getting scientific, it was definitely far too hot outside.

Just then the male seniors that made up the drumline walked past the guard, enticing many a whistle because all of them were shirtless.

Riza suddenly spoke up behind him. "You know, I think it should be law that on days like these every guy who can without looking bad should go shirtless," she declared as the other girls cheered.

"Any particular reason you think that?" Roy asked, not exactly liking where this conversation was headed.

"Well, we have to have something to take our minds off this damn heat, don't we?" Riza asked with an evil smile.

"I guess so, but—" Roy cut off as he felt a pair of hands tugging at his shirt. "What the hell?!" he demanded as the shirt found its way off of his head.

"This looked like it was uncomfortable. I was just taking care of it for you," Riza commented lightly. "See? It's soaked through. How much water have you dumped on yourself?" She wondered, wringing the shirt out.

Roy muttered something inaudible and grabbed the shirt back, putting it on and looking around.

Suddenly he noticed that Ed had gotten so red he would certainly make any cherry that saw him cry and seemed to be having difficulty breathing properly. "Ed? Is something wrong?" he asked, concerned.

Ed's wide golden eyes turned toward him briefly before the blond suddenly took off, running across the parking lot as if it was falling away behind him and he had to get as far away as possible in order to survive.

Well, that was strange. He didn't think he'd ever seen Ed flustered before, and he vaguely wondered what had caused it.

It was finally the end of the day, and for Ed it hadn't come soon enough.

First of all, he'd been thinking strange thoughts all day because of the damn heat. And it had to have been the heat! He'd never looked at anyone like that, especially not another male!

Ed might have been able to deal with it if that had been all.

But no. Fate hated him, of that he was certain. As if that hadn't been enough, the very person he'd been thinking strangely about had to go and ask him what was going on! Ed had very nearly died. At least Roy hadn't pushed the issue too much.

But then Riza had to go and steal Roy's shirt. And he had to mindlessly stare like an idiot as that perfect pale chest was revealed. He shivered lightly just remembering it.

That was it. He had to get inside, and quick, or else he'd never cool off enough to be able to control his mind once more. Roy was not sexy. He wasn't.

That said, Ed continued his trek to the air-conditioned indoors, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

Turning to see who it was, he jumped when he saw Roy standing entirely too close for his peace of mind. Then again, his peace of mind would have preferred Roy to be entirely out of sight, so that wasn't exactly saying much.

Oh. Roy was talking. He had better at least try to pay attention. "…sure you're okay? I mean, you kind of scared everyone back there, running off like that."

Great. Ed could feel his face reddening yet again. That was exactly what he needed. Not. "I'm fine," he muttered, turning away so hopefully Roy wouldn't see that he was blushing madly.

"Yeah. I'm supposed to believe that? I don't think I've ever seen you so jumpy before."

There was no reply to that. Not only was Ed incapable of thinking of anything that sounded innocent enough to say out loud, he was quickly becoming incapable of thinking coherently. He had to get out of here.

Turning quickly Ed began to walk faster. Maybe if he was lucky he could get out of here soon and have that be the end of it.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. Ed made it a grand total of three rapid paces before he was stopped again, this time by a hand yanking gently at his ponytail.

Growling, he turned to face Roy once more. "What was that for?!" he demanded.

"To get you to stop," Roy said quietly, hand still on Ed's hair. "Though I must admit…"

"Yes?" Ed asked, struggling to breathe normally. If only Roy's hand would stop messing with his hair… but for some strange reason he didn't really want it to.

Leaning in, Roy whispered in his ear as Ed shivered. "Your hair looks good in a ponytail; I kind of like it." And he walked off, leaving a beet-red Ed staring after him breathing in shallow gasps as his thought processes struggled to start again.

It was definitely time to get out of this damn heat as soon as he felt like he could move without falling over.

END CH. 5

Regrettably, there's no contest this time. Ember's gonna be busy already writing whatever piece she gets commissioned for that last one. "Soon, though, my pretties," she says creepily. "Soon."