-Hey there! Thanks again for reading! Unfortunately, this is where I'm kind of stuck, so any feedback/suggestions will really be helpful! Thanks!-

"God damn it!" Edward groaned slamming is hand down on his little red alarm clock, easily smashing it with his automail. "Fuck!" He could already tell that today was not going to be a good day. He hardly got any sleep, and his whole body was sore, especially his shoulders and ass-his shoulders because that Greed guy left deep purple bite marks, and his ass for obvious reasons.

Ed forced himself up and got dressed. Fortunately his red coat covered up the bite marks easily, at least one thing was going right this morning...

Edward was eating a bowl of cereal when Al bounced in with a big grin on his face. "How did you sleep, Brother?" He asked, grabbing an apple off the counter and washing it in the sink. He didn't even wait for an answer before going on, "I couldn't sleep a WINK! I'm too excited! I can't believe it! After all these years, we finally have the chance to get to know our father!"

Edward slammed his fists on the table. "Are you serious?" he asked, his teeth clenched. "You seriously want to live with that bastard?!" he stood up and faced Alphonse, who didn't know how to answer his older brother.

"He's never done anything for us! He never read us bedtime stories or took us fishing or anything! He wasn't even there when Mom died! How can you even consider giving him the time of day?!" Ed was so angry, he was shaking.

"He's out father, Ed! Everyone deserves a second chance!"

"That Asshole is NOT my father! He doesn't deserve shit! I'm not living with him!"

"Well I am!"

Ed stopped, stunned. Al stood his ground, even though his brother's eyes were filled with disbelief and pain. "Wh...What?"

Al sighed. "I'm going to live with him. It's the best thing. He's our father, Edward. I could have a better life with him; we barely get by, Ed."

Edward felt his heart break. "Al...I..." His eyes stung from the tears that were forcing themselves out. "I...I've tried so hard to...to make life good for you-"

"Yeah? Well you fucked that up when you got yourself expelled and we had to move out of Winry's to come to this shithole!" Al said angrily. "I'm sick of you being so selfish!" Al's words cut through Edward like a knife. Selfish? So selfish that he put himself through emotional and physical pain almost every night so that they could have a place to live and food to eat?

"Al, I'm...Sorry. I tried. It's hard...I" He couldn't finish any sentence. There was a lump in his throat and his tears were falling freely now. He couldn't believe that Al would rather live with their father, who has done nothing for them, than his older brother, who had been there and sacrificed everything for him.

"I'm going to be late, Ed," Al said. He felt bad that he made Edward cry, but he couldn't seriously expect him not to go. "I'm going to call dad at lunch...I'm sorry." Al slung his blue backpack over his shoulder and walked out the door.

As soon as the door was shut, Ed collapsed to his kneed. He couldn't breathe; did this really happen? Did he just lose his brother, the only reason he even tried anymore? No...no, this couldn't be possible. It was all a bad dream, right? He was just going to wake up in his bed and his home wouldn't be burned down and his mother would still be alive; he wouldn't have ever sold his body to dirty men, and his brother would be asleep in the bed across from his. Yeah...that's right, this is all just a nightmare...so why couldn't he wake up?

Roy entered his office a little later than usual, feeling groggy and wanting nothing more than to go back home and go to sleep. He didn't get more than an hour or so of sleep; his discovery about Edward really bothered him, and he couldn't stop thinking about it. The thought of that man in the car putting his hand on Ed made Roy angry, more angry than he should have been. It made him sick to think that anyone could treat someone as beautiful as Edward like an object...

Roy mentally slapped himself; he had to stop thinking that way-Ed was a student, he couldn't think he was beautiful or anything. Why was he feeling so strongly about this boy?

He walked over to his medium sized, mahogany desk and slumped into the leather chair behind it. He turned on his computer and rubbed his face with his hands. Roy was exhausted, the last time he didn't get a full nine hours of sleep, he was a freshman in college.

The quiet melody from his computer signaled that it was on and ready to go. Roy sighed and checked the time; school started ten minutes ago. He groaned, he was seriously off today; he hadn't been late a day in his life-not ever. Roy knew that he had to talk to Edward immediately, or else he wasn't going to feel right.

Without a second thought, he opened up his Email and typed a quick message, and sent it to Jean Havoc.

Mr. Havoc,

Please send Edward Elric to my office immediately. I apologize if he is missing anything important.

Thank you,

Principal Mustang

Roy waited impatiently, tapping his fingers on the desk. After a minute, his computer made a ding noise, and an automated voice announced that he had received a new message. He clicked the message quickly and read what it said.

Sorry, Boss

Ed isn't here today, but he could just be late. I'll send him in if he shows up.

-Havoc

Roy stood up from his desk and paced. 'Okay, calm down.' he thought, 'Ed has a long night...he probably just slept in' without realizing it, Roy reached into his pocket and took out his black Bic lighter and flicked it repeatedly, not lighting it, just sparking it. He did this for fifty minutes before his computer dinged again, and he practically ran to his computer to read the message.

Hey, Boss,

Ed never showed up, but I have his brother in my second period class, and he is here. I heard him telling a girl about a fight or something that he had with Ed this morning. I'll tell you if I hear anything else.

-Havoc

The Elric brothers had a fight? Why was Al here if Ed wasn't? No...Something wasn't right. Without really thinking it through, Roy grabbed his keys and left his office, then headed out to his car. His mind was buzzing. What was he doing? He started his car and drove. 'This isn't appropriate, Roy' His conscious nagged. "He's a student; he's probably just sick, or skipping. Teenagers do that, you should know that better than anyone' "No," he said firmly to himself. "Something is wrong." He knew it. He didn't know how he knew, he just did.

Within a minute he reached the apartment complex and parked close to Ed's apartment. Roy got out of his car as quickly as possible, though he made sure to lock his door-this was a sketchy complex, after all- and he ran to Edward's door and banged on it. "Edward!" He said loudly through the door.

No answer.

He tried again, banging louder. "Edward!" Roy knew that Ed was in there, he could hear sobbing on the other side of the door. "I'm coming in!" Roy turned the knob and pushed the door open, thanking god that it was unlocked. He entered the apartment and saw Edward, curled up in the fetal position on the floor, sobbing and breathing heavily, gasping for air. "Ed!" Roy ran to the boy and scooped him in his arms. "Edward! Listen to me; you're having a panic attack, calm down, just breath."

"P-Princi-pal Mus-tang?" Ed questioned, lifting his head to look at the man holding him.

"Shh, don't, just breathe." Roy put his hand on the back of Ed's head and pushed it down into his chest. "Breath how I am breathing." Ed listened to Mustang, and within a few minutes, he was breathing normally, aside from the occasional hitch when he sobbed. "Your heart's beating really fast," Ed pointed out.

Roy chuckled. "I was scared." He really was, seeing Ed on the floor like that scared him a lot, he didn't know what he would do if Ed didn't calm down.

Ed looked up at his principal, pulling away from his embrace slightly. "I don't know how you knew to be here…but I don't care. Thank you."

Roy smiled, "You're welcome...are you okay?" He was still concerned.

"For now," Ed assured him.

Roy looked into Ed's amber eyes and emotion overwhelmed him. He couldn't help it, this kid was beautiful, amazing, witty, and so...

Next thing he knew, Roy was pressing his lips against Ed's in a soft kiss...