Wow. I feel really weird. First of all, because I'm on chapter 12, (woot) and second because I have a FMA calendar, and Ed is always looking at me, especially from where I type this, so I kinda feel like Ed is stalking me…FULLMETAL STALKER!!!

Anyway, yes, this is an EdxOC fanfic, but no, Robyn is not a weird AdventureAddict clone. Robyn is completely and utterly herself, not some weird way for me to be with Ed…She's more of a way for Kairi Angel to be with Ed, since I based Robyn off Kairi…aw, man! Kairi, why do you always get all the guys?!

As you all know, AdventureAddict does not in any way own any part of Fullmetal Alchemist.

On wit' da show!

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Chapter Twelve – Chemistry (1)

Robyn slowly shifted her weight from foot to foot and stared at the blue flame in front of her. Ed sighed beside her, obviously not liking the waiting part of the Chemistry lab. He stood on his tiptoes and looked into the crucible and then sighed. (Crucible - a special porcelain doll cup designed to hold things in chemistry labs)

"Still only boiling," he muttered under his breath as he resisted the urge to knock the whole thing to the ground. It would have been very satisfactory to watch the whole damned experiment shatter into a million pieces.

"What do we have to do next?" he asked with a sigh as he shoved his hands into his pockets. They were safer from knocking things over there. First the teacher had told him to take off his jacket because it was a 'fire hazard,' and now he had to suffer through this whole damned lab. He could have made salt in about two seconds if he had his all memory. That was what annoyed him the most. That had to use the whole damn hour to make something that he could have done in two seconds. He was realizing more and more every day that life was so much more inefficient without alchemy. (Watch out – Ed's in a bad mood! –notice all the swearing in his thoughts-) (2)

Robyn picked up the instruction sheet with a sigh. He knew that she was enjoying this lab about as much as he was. He had seen her looking excitedly at the flame a few times, and could only imagine what she was thinking about. Whatever it was, it probably involved the whole school burning to the ground in a plume of smoke.

"After the H2O has evaporated completely, have one partner use the plastic glove to hold the glass top while the other grabs the crucible with the tongs," Robyn read off.

Ed sighed. "It'll look suspicious if I grab the whole damn thing with my automail, won't it?" he asked, and Robyn nodded. "I'll take the tongs, you take the glove," Ed said with a sigh. He picked up the tongs with one hand, and looked into the crucible. All that was left was a fine white powder. Ed placed the tongs firmly around the crucible, and Robyn reached over to grab the lid.

Robyn's arm was reaching right across his chest, pressing into him snugly to grab the glass lid. Robyn and Ed both looked at each other, blushing intensely as they remembered all too well the scene in the hall the other day.

Robyn watched in surprise as Ed seemed to lurch a few steps towards her in slow motion. He managed to prevent himself from knocking Robyn to the ground, but his lips landed on Robyn's in an awkward kiss.

Robyn glanced at her hand, suddenly aware of the intense heat below it. She quickly picked up the glass cover and set it on the counter. Ed picked up the crucible and placed it on the counter next to the glass cover. Robyn avoided eye contact with Ed and glanced over the instructions again.

"Now we have to let them both cool off," Robyn mumbled. Ed nodded slightly and turned off the flame, and then leaned against the counter, Robyn's back still towards him. She was probably still blushing. He hadn't thought she was the type who looked cute blushing when he had first met her. But she was. Was she blushing about that day in the hall?

He had been nervous about it too, at first. But then he had seen how relaxed she seemed about it, and he had forgotten about it. He had just assumed that she had thought it was the accident that it really was and let it go.

He looked at her again. Had he been right in that assumption? Now her shoulders were moving up and down steadily, as if she was taking calming breaths. Ed looked at her curiously and then gave up. He had (probably) never understood girls, and he (probably) never would. He pulled off his left hand glove and cautiously touched a finger to the glass to see if it was cool yet. He quickly pulled the finger back with a wince, instantly regretting the action. He held the red fingertip up in front of his face and then sucked on it gently, trying to get the burning to stop.

"Aw Ed, I didn't know you sucked your thumb." Ed looked up to see Robyn looking at him with an amused expression.

"Ez mop mi pum, ez mi poipah pingah," he said angrily, which caused Robyn to laugh even more. Ed pulled the finger out of his mouth.

"It's not my thumb, it's my pointer finger," he repeated irritably. "And I was sucking it because I burned it on that stupid glass."

"First of all, glass takes a while to cool," Robyn said with a smile, "And second of all, there's a sink right there. You could have washed it off, which I suggest you do now." Ed scowled at her, but turned on the sink and held his finger under the running water.

Just as he was drying his finger in a towel, the electricity flicked off. In her surprise, Robyn knocked the glass cover to the floor, which was followed by the satisfying sound of glass shattering. The only light came from the flames of labs still in progress, since there were no windows to the outside world in the room. Robyn could see the faint shadow of Mr. Duncan move towards the door, where the switch that controlled all the gas was.

"Everyone get back to your seats," he ordered. The class instantly obeyed, walking up to the front of the room chattily, except Robyn and Ed, who were looking cautiously at the shattered glass beneath their feet.

"Mr. Duncan?" Robyn said slowly. "We broke some glass back here."

"Oh," came the thoughtful reply. "Well, please stay where you are. The lights should be back on soon, and if you walk around you'll just spread the glass." And with that, he turned off the gas that provided fuel for the flames, the last source of light. The chatter from the class up front erupted instantly. Robyn looked at the blackness in front of her as her pupils adjusted. Somewhere right in front of her was Ed, but she couldn't see a thing.

She jumped as something brushed against her arm, but relaxed as she realized it was Ed's gloved hand. Her vision finally seemed to adjust a bit and she could start to see the faint shape of Ed in front of her. His arm had drawn away quickly, and she couldn't be sure of whether he was actually there, or whether her eyes were playing tricks on her.

"Ed? Are you there?" she asked softly.

"Of course I'm here!" he snapped. "Where else would I be?"

Robyn was silent as she let her eyes fully adjust, giving her a slight headache. When they finally adjusted all the way, she was able to notice how close she and Ed were to each other. The two of them were awkwardly silent for a moment as they listened to the other kids talking excitedly.

"If the lights are out too long, they have to let us go home."

"No way Max. They aren't letting us go home."

"They're gonna hafta if the lights stay out too long."

Robyn heard a sharp intake of breath and looked back over at Ed. He seemed all right, but his right arm was shrugged up to his shoulder, and he was massaging the shoulder with his other arm as if that could stop the pain.

"Are you okay, Ed?" Robyn asked anxiously, reaching out a hand towards him. Ed quickly looked over at Robyn and shrugged out of his position.

"Of course I'm okay," he said with a twinge of embarrassment. "It just ghost pains. They're kind of normal when you're missing two limbs."

"Are you sure you're not scared of the dark, Edo?" Robyn asked with a grin.

"Hell no!"

"Geez, sorry," Robyn said, innocently holding up her hands. Even with her limited vision, she could tell that Ed was glaring at her. Ed sighed and shifted his weight between his feet. Robyn could hear the crunching of glass coming from the floor.

"So you really have ghost pains?" Robyn asked softly. Ed looked down at the floor. If he turned his head a certain way, a slight flicker of light fell on the glass and made them shimmer. It was really rather pretty.

"Ed?" Robyn asked even softer. Ed ignored her. He didn't want to talk about how his arm and legs hurt so bad that sometimes he almost screamed out in pain. And his other ghost pains too. The ghost pains of his past life that made him wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat and clutching the sheets. Ed was saved just in time by the lights flickering back on, which was greeted by a loud chorus of groans from the class.

Ed looked up at Robyn as Mr. Duncan walked towards their lab station to clean up the glass. She was looking at him with a worried expression on her face. Ed tried to give her a reassuring smile, but knew he failed miserably. He was cursed with the inability to cheer people up.

Ed lay silently in his bed, not able to sleep or even think. But maybe it was better that way. If he started sleeping, he started having nightmares, and then he would wake up with the sheets tangled around him.

He heard a creak at the door and opened his eyes slightly. Robyn was standing at the door wearing his coat. Why was she wearing his red coat? She looked like she was still a little groggy and not taking notice of her surroundings, so Ed quickly shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

He heard he walk softly across the room over to his bed, and then he felt her warm breath on his ear as she leaned down close to him. Ed tried his best to keep still and pretend he was asleep. He didn't really know why he wanted to pretend he was asleep, it just seemed like a good idea. He realized that he wouldn't be able to keep up the game for long though, especially not if he was facing her directly.

"Ed," she whispered, tickling the hairs on his neck. "Ed, please wake up." Ed moaned and rolled over in his sleep, pulling the pillow over his head. He smiled inwardly. Now he could pull off the act for a long time since he wasn't facing her and had an extra layer of protection covering his head.

"Please, Ed," Robyn pleaded. Ed sighed softly. Her voice sounded so vulnerable and sweet. He couldn't keep pretending to be asleep with her acting like that. He slowly pulled the pillow off his head and rolled over to look at her.

"What?" Ed mumbled. "Robyn?" he said with as much sleepiness in his voice as he could manage. It was a little tricky, since he hadn't really slept at all that night and was wide-awake. "Wuz wrong?"

"I can't sleep," Robyn said softly as he pushed himself into a sitting position. Ed sighed as he looked at her face. Damn! Why did she have to look so pretty when she was helpless? And then she had to go in his room when she couldn't sleep and give him that puppy dog look. She didn't seem anything like the Robyn he was used to seeing during the day – hard and stubborn.

A bit like him, really.

"Well, now neither of us can," Ed sighed and looked down at her. "How's your wound doing?" he asked suddenly. Ed looked around, surprised by his own question. Wound? What wound? Robyn didn't have a wound! And yet, when Ed looked down at her, he saw dried blood on her shirt. Unless that was someone else's blood, she had an injury of some kind, and a pretty big one at that. Robyn's touched her hand lightly to her side.

"I think it's okay," she said after a moment. "I just can't sleep." Ed sighed. How could anyone sleep with blood all over their shirt like that?

"Brother?"

Ed and Robyn both looked up to see Al standing in the doorway.

"Is everything okay?" he asked. "I heard voices."

"It's fine, Al," Ed said with a sigh. "Robyn couldn't sleep."

Al looked down at Robyn, who was now kneeling by the bed, and had both her arms resting on it. Ed was sitting close by, looking at his brother curiously. But it wasn't Al's sudden appearance that made him curious. There was something…different about Al. But how different could you get when all you were was a suit of armor? Ed looked him over questioningly. Was Al really the one who changed, or had it just been the way Ed viewed him?

"Would you like some ice water?" Al asked kindly. Robyn silently shook her head. "Okay. I'm going to go then," Al said, looking between the two. Robyn and Ed both nodded in unison, and he walked away.

"Can I just stay with you?" Robyn whispered.

Ed looked at her worriedly. First, there was only one bed in the room, and second, if she did plan to sleep in his bed, would her presence make it so Ed didn't have any nightmares? (Or get any sleep, for that matter)

"I might kick you out if I start having nightmares," Ed whispered back. "It's a pretty small bed," he added.

"I don't mind."

Ed was struck by a sudden thought and got up; even when he tried to tell his body it was a bad idea. A bad, bad idea. He grabbed Robyn's hand and pulled her out of the room. At the end of the hallway he stopped in front of a wooden door and opened it, revealing a large room with a double bed in it. Ed looked at it with wide eyes. Bad idea. Bad, bad idea. Besides, Robyn wouldn't ever go for this sort of thing, would she? She'd never acted like she wanted that kind of thing before. Ed looked over at Robyn. 'No sex,' he told himself. 'No sex!'

And yet there was something about her in that blood-stained shirt that made him want to pick her up and hold her tight, to protect her from the world. She looked up at him expectantly, and Ed knew that this was the part where he was supposed to say something.

"Remember, if I start kicking you during the night, I warned you," he said as he walked up to the bed and pulled back the covers. For the first time that night, he was actually starting to feel tired, but did he have to say such a stupid line? He sighed inwardly and climbed under the thick blankets. It was nice to go to sleep on a cold night under a pile of thick blankets. He couldn't help himself from staring as Robyn pulled off his jacket and dumped it on the floor, and then crawled in next to him.

Ed watched as the space between him and Robyn quickly closed. She was so close that he could feel her breath on his arms, but maybe that was just because the room was so cold. Either way, it wouldn't hurt to try, would it? Ed slowly reached out both his arms and then wrapped them around her, pulling her in close as if he really could protect her from the world. He felt Robyn relax against him, and she wrapped her arms around his waist. Ed sighed happily and felt his eyelids starting to droop sleepily. It was actually very relaxing to just lay there with Robyn.

"Ed, will you promise me something?" she asked softly, and Ed looked down at her, forcing himself to stay awake.

"What?" he asked, stifling a yawn.

"You won't leave me alone in the morning," Robyn said, and Ed looked at her curiously. He could stay awake a little bit longer to hear what she was talking about. Robyn sighed and explained, "In movies, whenever a guy and a girl are sleeping in the same bed, the guy always wakes up first and gets out of the bed, leaving the girl all alone." Ed smiled slightly. She was worried about being left alone? He didn't ever think that she could be so…cute.

"I promise I won't get out of this bed until you wake up," he assured her softly. Robyn sighed happily and tightened her grip around him slightly. Ed felt himself jerk in surprise a little bit as she started playing with his hair.

"You left your hair in its braid," she whispered as she wrapped it around her finger and then uncurled it again. Ed relaxed. The way she was playing with it didn't hurt, and it actually felt good. He couldn't really remember anyone touching his hair other than him.

"Oops," Ed mumbled, getting sleepier by the minute. He felt Robyn gently pull out the band holding his hair together and then she started running her fingers through his hair, unbraiding it. Ed suddenly loosened and closed his eyes. Now that was relaxing! Once his hair was completely loose, Robyn curled up closer to him, her fingers still entwined in his hair. Ed drifted into sleep as he felt the steady beat of Robyn's heart through his shirt.

Ed suddenly woke up and looked around his room. There was no double bed, no red coat on the floor, and definitely no Robyn curled up in his arms. She was in the house next door, where she was supposed to be. Ed flexed his fingers thoughtfully. So it had all been a dream? But it had all felt so…real.

But dreams always feel real when you're having them.

As he sat there, the details of the dream started to slip away from him like water through a sieve. When he finally managed to get back to sleep again, all he could remember what it was like to feel Robyn's heart pressed up against his.

It had felt good.

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(1) Yeah, Chemistry in Chemistry class! heeheeheehee

(2) DAMN THESE EGGS! DAMN ALL THE EGGS THERE EVER WAS! Yeah…We're reading A Raisin in the Sun in English, so Ed's bad mood made me think of that line…XD

Muahahahahahaha! I had to do a little bit of romance for V-day, so…happy V-day to you all!

Now here's my beef: Reviewing is a win/win situation. You just write a few things into your computer and send it my way, and when I get it, I get happier and want to write more, making me post sooner. The sooner I post, the happier you are and more likely to review…see the happy cycle? So why aren't you clicking on that button yet?! YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT, YOU BETTER BE MOVING YOUR CURSOR TOWARDS IT!!!