A/N: This is in replacement of a chapter tomorrow.

A/N: This is set 4 months after Christmas Eve, not the following Thursday as hinted to in chapter 2, I believe. It's a different cleaning day.

Disappointment

Roy showed up at Ed's apartment, trying to figure out why he'd allowed himself to volunteer to help clean. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing that he was now regretting. He loved a clean house as much as the next person, but cleaning was a pain. Besides, last time he'd helped Ed clean his apartment, it took days.

He knocked on the door and moments later heard a crash inside. "Edward?"

"Yeah…" The door opened slightly, the blond standing in the opening.

"What happened?" Roy looked over Ed's head into the room. The place seemed like more of a tragedy than it did last week.

"What does it look like?" Edward was irritated. "I've been cleaning!" Roy held back a smirk. This was what he called cleaning?

"Oh… I um… see." Roy blinked. "I didn't know this was what you called cleaning, Ed."

"It's not what I call cleaning, you bastard!" Roy looked down at the boy who had already turned around and began walking back inside. Roy followed.

"Then what is it?"

Edward began picking books up off the floor again. "I dropped what I was carrying when you knocked. Okay?" Roy smirked, bending down and picking up half a dozen books off the floor and placing them on the top shelf, where the blond couldn't reach without a chair.

The two of them began picking everything up off the floor and reorganizing it on the shelves. Roy sighs, looking about. "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us. I should have come over earlier. What the heck do you do in here?…"

"Little thing I like to call living." Roy snickered.

"I live in my house and-"

"You don't live in your house! You own a house so that every time you have a random whim to go on a date, you have a house to bring the girl home to!" Roy stood up, staring over at Edward. He had a small point, though the flame alchemist would never admit it. Roy was known as the womanizer of central. The people on Roy's team would flip to know he was dating Edward.

Roy smirked and Edward glared at him. "What? You know it's true! Stop staring at me like that!" Roy blinked, going back to cleaning Edwards apartment.

"That's not the reason I have a house, Edward."

"But it's true!"

"Is not! I own the house-"

"So you can fuck every girl you take out!"

"I do no-"

"Roy, it's common knowledge." Roy stopped talking, crossing his arms and looking at Ed. Edward felt his raven eyes boring into the back of his head and turned around to face him.

"Are you done?"

"Done what?"

"Falsely accusing me?"

"I never started."

"You realize just how immature you're being, right?"

"It's not my fault you tried denying it!" Roy pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. Why had he chosen not to bring his gloves, damnit?

He smirked, suddenly. "Edward, you must be right. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had you over so many times." The boys face went red as his eyes became enlarged with rage.

"What the hell are you talking about!" Roy smiled, picking up one of the alchemic books.

"And it's no wonder you never have anyone here. The place is a tragedy, no matter how many times I clean it." Edward scowled at him.

"I don't need a different girl every week, and I certainly don't need them in my apartment. Girls always do what you're doing now; trying to clean! They want things to be nice and organized! They care too much about appearances! Hell! That's probably why you've always got them around!"

"Well then, it's no mystery why you never have them around. You just explained it, Fullmetal, loud and clear. You'd rather date a guy, who wont care about appearances." Edward gritted his teeth.

"Not true, otherwise I wouldn't have you around!" The smile disappeared off Roy's face as he looked at Ed, who now wore a huge smile at his small victory.

"Funny, Ed. Very funny. I thought the girl was smaller-"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT HE COULD BE A GIRL!"

Roy smirked at his short-tempered pest. "For once, I think you're actually accusing me of something I really did imply." Edward seemed to get extremely mad for a moment, and then it all dissipated as he turned and left the living room. "Edward? Ed! Where are you going?" He didn't answer.

Roy followed Edward out of the room. "Edward, honestly-"

There was a door slammed in his face followed by a muffled "Go away" from the other side.

"Damn it, Edward." No response. "Open the door. Please?"

The door opened with Edward standing on the other side, not letting Roy in. "I said go away."

"Ed, you know I didn't-"

"Mean it? That's complete bull-shit and you know it." Roy stopped, staring at the boy long and hard.

"You're right." Edward perked his eyes, expecting something more. Roy pressed his lips together for a moment before giving up. "You're right, and I'm sorry." Edward smiled.

"That's all I wanted to hear."

"Good, 'cause you're never hearing it again."

"We'll see." Edward was happy. Heck, he was probably never really upset about what Roy had said. He just wanted to hear the bastard suck up his pride and apologize. It worked. Edward walked past Roy and back into the living room.

"You can be a real brat sometimes, you know that?"

"Yeah, but you know you love me." Edward began picking up the rest of the books off the floor and carrying them over to a shelf. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be here right now." Roy smirked to himself watching Edward for a moment before walking over and wrapping his arms around the boy from behind.

"You know something else? You're absolutely right."

He felt Edward fold into his body before beginning to open Roy's arms. "C'mon. We need to clean. Otherwise, this job will end up like it did last time; spanning over days." Roy smiled.

"But then I get to come over here everyday for a while." Roy lowered his head, placing it next to Edward's. "And I like seeing you every day."

He felt Edward shiver slightly before making a minor attempt to get out of Roy's arms. "Damn it, Roy. We need to get this done. It can't span out over days."

"I think you're trying to get it done too fast, Edward." Roy had put on a very seductive voice, whispering into Ed's ear as he began unbuttoning the top of Ed's shirt. Edward began to move away, but wound up falling backwards further into Roy's arms, leaving a smile on Roy's lips.

Edward let out a sigh, pushing his head backwards into Roy's chest so he could look up at Roy. "Not today, Roy." Roy felt his heart sink once again, though he didn't let it show on his face. He just gave a small nod, moving his head down and planting a kiss on Edwards perfect lips.

He had given this a few shots, but each time he'd been shot down. Edward just wasn't sure. Roy was okay with it and willing to leave it be for now. He'd have plenty of chances. After all, his time was only 1/3 of the way through. 8 months were still left.

"I'm sorry, Ro-"

"I can wait." Roy spoke into Edwards mouth before kissing him again. Then, he released the boy so the two of them could finish cleaning the apartment.

Haha! You thought that was gonna go somewhere, didn't you? Well, it didn't. I'm too good for that! Please rate and review!