Hey! Sorry I've been gone a while, and that this chapter isn't very long. Good news: I already have the next chapter of Rewind halfway done, so you should get that fairly soon (I'm thinking within days of this one. I really hate stopping writing mid chapter).

This chapter is a big moment in Roy and Ed's relationship, and I've been dying to write it. I know it's short, but I feel like that works for it since this moment is about spontaneity and is sort of understated for them as well…you'll see what I mean. I hope you like it!

This takes place when Ed is still traveling Xing, but before the smutty chapters (ch. 4+5). It's one of his visits to Central.

"It's kind of great to be home."

"It's kind of great to have you home," Roy said, and he wasn't sure which he loved more: the sheepish smile he never saw on Ed before they started dating, or the way Ed now referred to Central and Roy's house as home.

"Yeah, this is great. Just us. Some time alone together."

This was the third time Ed had said something to that effect since he'd come home. Once when he'd found a letter from Al while unpacking, once at dinner, and right then as they were walking down the streets of Central. Roy knew better than to think the constant reassurances were for him. He was hardly the one who was going to be devastated that Ed's plans to see Alphonse hadn't worked out.

"It is. I've missed you," Roy said, and he was graced again with Ed's embarrassed smile. He wished for a moment, as he often did when with Ed, that it would be acceptable for him to reach out and take Ed's hand. He wished they could stroll hand in hand, arm in arm, or with his arm around Ed's waist the way other couples could. Then the moment was gone; Roy forced himself not to care about the space between them, to remember that he had a surprise that would cheer Ed up even more, and that they would be able to touch again tonight once they were behind closed doors.

"Yeah, yeah. I guess there were times I wished you were around too," Ed said. That's how most of Ed's compliments were. Roy wondered if he'd manage to get an outright compliment in a moment.

He knew exactly when Ed saw it. Ed did a double take before he stopped walking, as though he wouldn't, couldn't, believe what he was seeing.

"Al?" Ed said, the surprise in his voice making it breathless. Alphonse was sitting a little ways away at a table on the patio of a restaurant. He waved excitedly to his brother, and Roy was surprised Ed didn't sprint straight to him.

"Aren't you going over?"

Ed turned to stare at Roy, eyes wide with wonder. "You got Al here."

Roy shrugged. "He's waiting. Go have lunch with your brother."

"He was in Creta," Ed said, incredulity creeping into his tone now.

"I knew you wanted to see him. It only took a few calls. It wasn't a problem."

"The other side of Creta. There was a boarder skirmish stopping him from getting here." His voice was definitely incredulous now.

"Okay. Maybe it took a little effort. Ed-"

"I fucking love you."

The words took Roy's breath away. His train of thought was completely, entirely, derailed. They hadn't said that before. Never, not once, had they broached the subject of love.

Does that count as an outright compliment if he said 'fucking'? Roy brushed the fleeting thought aside. Ed just said he loved him. For the first time.

And they were in the middle of town, where Roy couldn't do anything that about it.

Roy's hands twitched. He wanted to step forward, grab Ed, and kiss him like they'd never kissed before. Roy wanted to kiss him like he should kiss his boyfriend that just confessed his love after being away for months. Instead, he stayed where he was. His feet were rooted to the spot, and the distance between them seemed more achingly gaping than it ever had before.

"I love you too," Roy said, and the words seemed so feeble without any sort of physical gesture. He couldn't even use body language, facial expression, anything, to show how much this meant to him lest someone notice, but he did his best to put as much emotion into his tone as he could.

Ed's face had always been more expressive than Roy's, and the smile that lit up his face at those words made Roy's heart thud even harder. He hadn't thought it possible. It hurt. Or maybe that was the cold pain that came with standing just out of arms reach of the thing you loved most.

"Are you coming too...?" Ed trailed off, gesturing to the table where Al waited. Roy knew what he was thinking: if they were sitting next to each other, maybe their hands could brush, or their knees, or maybe they could clasp hands briefly under the table.

Roy shook his head. "Today it's just the two of you, but tonight you're mine."

Ed hesitated. He looked so unsure, like he wanted to run to Roy and to Al, and his feet didn't know which way to go. "Uh sure...yeah, tonight. You have dibs."

"Good. I'll go make sure Havoc got Al's things to the house okay."

"He's staying with us?"

"Of course."

"I love you."

Roy would never tire of hearing those words. "I love you too," he said, smiling.

Then Roy walked away as Ed ran to Al. They parted without touching, without the usual fanfare of first 'I love you's, and hardly looking like a couple at all, but tonight they would celebrate. They would say 'I love you' again with words, and finally through kiss and touch, and they would say it with their actions for the rest of their lives.

It kind of kills me to write from idealist Roy's POV when I know that Redo is in their future, but as this chapter shows, their relationship is far from perfect. It was fun to explore one of the downsides to RoyEd in this universe, and show that a secret relationship isn't fun or sexy, it's painful. The next chapter follows a similar theme, but it also highlights more of the differences in Roy and Ed's relationship in Rewind as a posed to Redo (or at least, what they're relationship could become in Redo).

Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think! :)