This chapter takes place the morning after chapter 3.
The first thing Ed noticed when he woke up was the head splitting migraine worse than any he'd ever had before. He groaned, but even that hurt, so, noiselessly, he rolled over and pulled his blanket over his head.
Bad idea.
A wave of nausea, a stumbling dash out the door and across the hall, a flick of the light switch-no, ow, Leto, Ishvalla, gods, when had light turned evil?-and Ed was emptying his stomach into the toilet.
Sprawled on the floor, Ed hunched over as much as he could to block the light. Turning on the lights when entering a room was Ed's new least favorite habit, and he swore on the Periodic Table, right then and there, to stop doing it. He'd start his new life in darkness as soon as he felt up to standing again.
Another wave of nausea, a low moan, and some benevolent force turned the light off without any help from Ed. He moaned again, but in appreciation this time.
A few more minutes and Ed's stomach had settled. Remarkably, he felt a good deal better now. With a sigh, he stood and brushed his teeth, which helped too.
He dragged his feet on the way back to his room, where he found Al sitting on the freshly made bed. Al pointed to a glass of water and two pills that were sitting in the bedside table, and said, "The Brigadier General said for you to take that."
Ed nodded and swallowed the pills. Then he drank the entire cup of water, hoping it would help his hangover. He moved to lie back down when Al grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the bathroom. "Oh no you don't. I just cleaned that bed. It smelled like alcohol and sweat and so do you. You're taking a shower."
Ed groaned, then groaned louder as Al proved the idiotic decision to turn on lights ran in their family. Al mumbled an apology and turned the lights off again before he turned on the shower and tossed Ed in.
"You know," Al began.
"Can't you whisper?" Ed moaned.
"You know," Al said in a softer tone, "The Brigadier General stayed with you all night."
"Call him Roy," Ed said, a reflex he'd developed when he started to call the bastard Roy and decided Al should do the same. Then Al's words sank in. Stayed with him all night? Why would Roy do that? He made a questioning sound towards the shower curtain that separated him from his brother.
"He said he wanted to make sure you didn't die from alcohol poisoning on his watch." Al hesitated. "His reasons were actually more uh sentimental than that, weren't they?"
Ed froze, soap covered hands tangled in his hair, as memories from last night ambushed him. Drinking, epiphanies, coming home, falling, kissing Roy. "Crap." One last memory, Al seeing. Al running. "Al..."
Al cleared his throat. "How long have you two umm..."
Ed's cheeks flushed. "That was the second time we've uh kissed. I don't really- uh don't really know what we're... What we are. I guess." It was quiet for what felt to Ed like a long time. Long enough for the soap to run off him. He turned off the shower, but didn't get out. "Please say something."
Al opened the shower curtain and held out a towel. Ed studied his face; it was red and embarrassed, maybe determined, but there was no hate, no recriminations. "Brother," Al started as Ed wrapped himself in the towel, but he didn't seem to know what to say after that.
So Ed said, "You don't... I mean are um- are we okay?"
"Of course," he said at once, a little too loudly. He made an apologetic face when Ed winced, and then continued more softly, "I had all night to think about it, and you're my brother and I'll love you no matter what, but I... I don't really understand..." He looked away, uncertain. How could Al feel uncertain when Ed was the one who was... feeling all of these things, and acting on them.
"I don't really understand either," Ed said as he sat on the edge of the tub. Al handed him sweat pants, a tank top, and boxers, so Ed stood back up and toweled off.
"You don't? One of us should understand, and it makes the most sense for it to be you," Al said as Ed pulled on his boxers and pants.
"Well I don't. I thought Roy should for a while, but I don't think he understands much more than I do." Ed pulled his shirt on. Al steered them both back to Ed's room where Ed lay down and Al sat facing him at the foot of the bed. "I guess it doesn't matter now. I mean, I basically molested Roy last night." Ed let out a long groan and covered his face with his hands. "I ruined everything," Ed said, voice muffled.
"If it helps, he seemed to like the molesting," Al said hesitantly.
"Really?" Ed asked, peaking between his fingers. When Al nodded, he lowered his hands, a small smile on his face.
"That makes you happy... This is so weird." Al looked away. Ed looked down, and then scrunched up his face. He looked back up, but before he could speak, Al continued, "I'm sorry, there are just a few things that I might need another night to get used to." Al looked back at Ed. "But I do want to understand."
Ed stared into Al's eyes. This was his little brother, who, more than anyone, deserved some sort of explanation from Ed, so he thought through the headache-although the painkillers Roy left him really were helping- and tried to put his feelings into words. "You know how I've been having problems with girls? Of course you know or you wouldn't have set me up with Jill. Well, I was starting to think that there was something wrong with me. I mean I just couldn't connect with them, and-"
"So you just decided to give up?" Al quickly closed his mouth. He looked down, and then back up at Ed. "I'm sorry. It's not like that, I know... Actually I don't know." He sighed, shaking his head. "Can you just continue?"
Ed nodded, eyes wide. "I um, I wasn't attracted to them. I realize that now. Roy helped me; he's the one who suggested that maybe I was gay-"
"He's the one that gave you the idea." Al hesitated. "Are you sure that um..."
"That what, Al?"
"I don't know. You've always said that he's manipulative, and just-"
"He isn't manipulating me," Ed said, voice stronger than it had been since he woke up. "This is how I feel, how I am. Roy just helped me realize it. He's been trying to help me, Al, because he knows what I'm going through."
"It's just- the age difference is-"
"I've thought about the age difference."
"You have?"
"Yeah, last night, and I figure I've been through enough to equal like five eighteen year olds, so I'm really ninety-"
"Is this the sort of logic I can expect from you when intoxicated?"
"Prob'ly," Ed mumbled, snuggling more into his pillow.
"I motion that you never drink again."
"Seconded," Ed said, rubbing his head.
"What about once you forget what it's like to be hung over?"
"I'll say you forced me to agree under duress and drink anyway."
Al laughed. "You've been spending too much time with Roy, you're thinking like a politician."
Ed grunted out a chuckle. Then he ventured hesitantly, "I made the first move every time. I wanted to kiss him, both times, and he argued against it, both times. I'm not being manipulated. I- I just-" Ed took a deep breath. "I've never felt this way about anyone before. I can't stop thinking about him. When we kissed, it was, I don't know, sparks and electricity and fire. He's smart, and fun, and interesting, and...and... and this is weird, isn't it? You need another day to cope before we talk about this, right?"
Al gave Ed a gentle smile. "I'm glad he makes you happy, brother."
Ed blushed, and mumbled, "Thanks. So you're okay with this?"
Al nudged Ed's leg with his foot. "Of course. As long as you're happy, and not being tricked into anything."
"I'm not. It's not even just a Roy thing; Ling was hot."
Al groaned. "What happened when we were separated? Actually, I don't want to know." Al covered his ears. "I'll never have slept enough nights to be okay talking about this."
Ed laughed. "Shut up. He was being possessed by Greed-"
"And that's the only reason nothing happened?" Al said, laughing too.
"No. Shut up." Ed kicked Al lightly with his foot. "Maybe it's a bit more of a 'just a Roy thing' than I let on," he said blushing.
"I still don't want to know about what goes on between you two either," Al said, still laughing, "I've been traumatized enough, thank you."
"Traumatized?"
"I had to walk in and witness- ugh!" Al shook in a dramatic shiver.
"Hey!"
"Would you like to see me kissing Winry?"
"Point taken," Ed said, scrunching his nose up and sticking his tongue out in disgust.
"Then again, I bet Winry and I would look great while kissing."
"And we don't? Roy and I are amazing kissers."
A throat clearing brought their attention to the door, where Roy stood, amused, and holding a tray full of food. Ed blushed.
"I have to... go," Al said as he stood.
"Do you?" Ed asked between clenched teeth.
"Yeah. I have that thing to do. Time sensitive, you know, and I can only do it not here. Bye!" Al called as he ran out the door.
Traitor! Ed screamed at him in his mind, but he couldn't really blame Al. He'd leave this awkward situation if he could too, but he really needed to talk to Roy.
Roy, still looking amused, motioned for Ed to sit up. Once he was sitting against his pillows Roy put the tray on his lap, and asked, "How are you feeling?"
"Better, thanks." Ed had been avoiding Roy's eyes, but finally met them. "And, uh thanks," he said while scratching the back of his head, "For the medicine, and turning off the bathroom light-that was you, right?-and for um staying with me last night to make sure I didn't choke on my own vomit or whatever."
"Eloquent as always," Roy murmured as he sat in a chair that Ed hadn't noticed before. Had Roy brought it in last night? Is that where he stayed while Ed was passed out?
Ed glared and grumbled before turning to the tray. Eggs, toast, fruit, apple juice, more water, and tea. Ed picked up the tea and sniffed it. Mmm ginger. "You are such a girl," he mumbled, but he took a sip anyway. Damn, this is pretty good, he thought before taking another sip.
He was just biting into a piece of toast-mmm was that honey on it?-when Roy said, "Funny because last night you seemed extremely grateful that I was in fact not a girl." Ed choked, washed the toast out of his throat with the juice, and looked up. Roy was looking more smug and bastardly than usual, so Ed glared, before focusing on his food again. "I believe your exact words were that I'm perfect and you're happy I'm not a girl."
"Now that sounded more eloquent inside my head," Ed mumbled while tapping his nail against the side of the glass.
"Really? And what was the more eloquent version of I'm hot in your head?"
Roy was hot. He was fantastically, fucking hot.
Ed groaned. "You aren't really going to make me say it, are you?"
"I think I deserve to know your thoughts, don't you? You seemed to want me to hear them last night."
That was true. Ed wanted to tell him everything last night, and Roy had put up with it, all of his babbling and pawing. Roy deserved the truth. "Um- well, yesterday I realized I think about you. A lot. Even before we- even in Risembool, and it's gotten worse since I got here. Yesterday, I couldn't get you out of my head. I looked for you on the street, in every soldier that passed, I thought about you as soon as I woke up, while I was out with Al, while I was talking to Jill. It was so annoying, ridiculously distracting, really..." Ed trailed off as he felt the bed dip as Roy moved to sit on the edge of it. "So, right, you're in my head, and um," Ed felt his face burn red but continued, "you're hot. You're good looking-I know you know that-so I said you were hot. I was kind of going off the flame thing, being clever, you know."
"You're clever, I know."
Roy was hot. He was fantastically, fucking hot. And smart, he was so freaking clever, the stupid, annoying bastard. And what if a little risk let Ed feel those sparks again? Roy's hand? His lips?
"So are you," Ed said, finally looking up at Roy. "You're so clever, and we have so much fun together. I love our letters and phone calls." Roy opened his mouth to speak, but Ed held up his hands to stop him. "No, please, just listen. I thought about this a lot last night. We don't work together anymore, so you can't tell me that that's an issue at all. It isn't, it can't be. And about the age difference, I'm-"
"You're ninety?" Roy asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ed groaned. "I had, I don't know, this idea that I'd lived enough for five eighteen year olds, so I was ninety, and that made me older than you. Al and I have already discussed how illogical my logic actually is while drunk."
"You're definitely older than your age. Personally, I'm much more comfortable with an age difference of thirty one to a mature eighteen than ninety to thirty one, aren't you?"
"Really?" Ed asked, hopeful.
What if it wasn't a risk? We are awesome together. We are like kick-ass, bad-ass, fucking awesome friends. Why wouldn't we be even more awesomer as more than friends?
Friendship variable x awesome factor = more awesome
Except not because it's not like an experiment. It's us.
"I know you're worried about the friendship varia- I mean risking our friendship, but we're really good at being friends, and we've never had a conventional friendship to begin with. So maybe if we were more than friends, then we'd just be even better together." Ed, face flaming, looked down, but blustered onward, "I think our friendship could not only survive, but become stronger if-" Ed cut off as the tray was moved off of his lap.
"If we became 'more than friends.'"
The sound of Roy's deep voice made Ed look up; Roy was much closer than a moment ago. Ed nodded. It took a couple of swallows before he could get his voice to work. "I promise not to treat us like an experiment anymore. I get that now. No more experiments, just us."
"What if I had an idea for an experiment?" Roy asked, voice low, leaning in.
"Because you're not sure if we're compatible yet? Because my experiments didn't yield the same results for you?" Ed asked, uncertain.
"Hmmm no. I was just curious about a cure I once heard of."
"A cure?" Ed asked, breathless. Roy was so impossibly close now.
"Have you heard that you can cure anything with a kiss?" Roy asked, and nudged Ed's nose with his own.
Ed nodded, jostling their noses together once more.
"I propose an experiment," Roy said, brushing his lips in a light, barely there touch across Ed's, "To determine if that's true in the case of a hang over."
"Okay," Ed whispered.
He felt Roy smirk, before lips pressed against his. Soft, more confident than any of their other kissed, but still the sparks, and fire, and ohh that feels good. A hand had slipped through Ed's drying hair to cradle his head. He eased his arm around Roy's waist, and tugged him closer. Ed gasped as the tip of a tongue brushed against his bottom lip. And then Roy was gone.
"Did it work?" He was so smug, leaning over Ed, that damn smirk still on his face while Ed was breathless, and probably flushed, and panting.
Ed licked his lips. He didn't really care about any lingering pain in his head, he didn't care if the light was on or off, he just wanted Roy to lean back down, to kiss him again. So maybe the kiss had worked, but instead he said, "I'm not sure. You might want to try again, just in case."
Roy's smirk turned into a real smile, the kind Ed was only starting to see now that he was out of the military and building a friendship with Roy. "Just in case," Roy murmured, eyes studying Ed's, and then tracing down his face. Roy leaned in and placed a soft kiss on each of Ed's temples. "Yes, better safe than sorry," he whispered, fluttering kissed down Ed's jaw between words.
Ed managed to focus long enough to ask, "Can I still call you bastard?"
Roy laughed. "I'd be concerned if you didn't."
Ed tilted his head to nudge Roy back upward, and used his hand to steer the bastard's lips back towards his. He leaned up, and moaned when their mouths met.
Sparks.
He should have known that he'd need another alchemist for there to be chemistry. He should have known that for sparks, for fire and passion, he'd need the Flame Alchemist.
I've been dying to write this part, so I did it next even though I was hoping to do some AlWin soon.
Also, I've stared the next chapter of Redo, and I have the whole chapter outlined so it shouldn't be months and months for the next update like it was last time :)