Ready for the romance?! 'Cause here it comes! Did anyone guess who the lucky couples are? LOTS of fluff in this chapter!

---------------------------------

Al opened the door for Roy so he could sidle in the door, maneuvering Ed through as well. Winry came rushing out of the kitchen and opened her mouth when she saw Ed, but Al gave her a 'hush' signal and she nodded. Al led Roy into the room where all the beds were kept, bringing him to an unmade one.

"He slept here last night. If you put him down gently enough, he might not wake up." Roy nodded, trying to suppress a goofy grin. For no reason, all of a sudden, this was cracking him up. Bending down and dropping Ed into the sheets as gently as possible, he began to straighten when Ed grabbed his shirt collar with both hands. It seemed aggressive to Roy and he flinched slightly as Ed opened his eyes.

"Roy?" he started at Roy's face.

"Yes. Go back to sleep." Roy told him gently.

"No." Ed sat up and let go of Roy's shirt, looking around to see where he was. Looking up at Roy, he asked "What time is it?"

"Ten 'till seven." he couldn't help but notice that Ed's chin was tilted up, something that Ed usually tried to keep from doing. He usually refused to look up at any one, often ignoring their attempts at eye contact because he would look up. Roy guessed looking up meant admitting his lack of height. When Ed had to look up, he only moved his eyes, never his whole head.

Ed rubbed one eye and casually asked Roy

"Are you embarrassed when I act like a little kid?" Roy raised one eyebrow.

"In what sense?" Ed stopped rubbing his eye and studied Mustang for a moment before answering.

"When I hold your hand and fall asleep on you. Stupid stuff like that." Roy shook his head. Interesting that Ed thought that sort of thing made him childish, while really all the screaming and yelling had a much more diminishing effect.

"No, not in the least." he paused, not sure whether his next statement would embarrass the sleepy boy in front of him.

"I like it. There aren't many people who are comfortable enough with me to let me touch them or fall asleep on me. So I like it." Ed thought about that.

"Yeah, just Hawkeye, huh?" he phrased it as a rhetorical question, earning a curious gaze from Roy.

"Riza? Riza Hawkeye?" Ed rolled his eyes.

"You're stupid Roy." Roy's forehead creased slightly and he leaned forward over Ed in a slightly threatening way.

"Oh?" Ed openly met his gaze, looking just slightly apprehensive. Roy leaned in closer, but it had no effect. He repeated himself, saying "Oh?"

Ed cracked a grin, giving a slight nod of his head. Roy raised both eyebrows.

"Well then." he said, proceeding to pick up the boy with two hands on his waist, arms outstretched.

"Ah-! Roy, what are you doing?" Ed grabbed one of Roy's arms for balance as he kicked his feet helplessly. Al went to get Winry. The two came running back just in time to see Roy drop Ed onto his back on the bed and start tickling him. Winry and Al lit up, dashing over to join in the fun. Ed started crying he was laughing so hard when Winry tried to hold his arms so Al could execute his patented Ed-killer tickle attack move that always sent his brother into tears of laughter.

It was very unfortunate, Roy thought, that it had to turn ugly when Ed's flailing spare leg connected solidly with Winry's gut, causing her to pull a wrench and deliver what should have been a debilitating blow to Ed's midsection. Anyone else would have curled up in a ball and wheezed for air for a half-hour, but Ed shot upright, aiming to punch Winry. Al grabbed Ed, Roy stepped in front of Winry and Ed started swearing at Winry.

"You kicked me first!" She half yelled half gasped.

"By accident! You hit me with a wrench on purpose!"

"Hey hey hey!" Roy tried to gently steer Winry out of the room while Al held Ed back. Roy finally pushed Winry out and shut the door with a sigh. He turned back to Ed, whom Al had let go of.

"It's not nice to punch girls, even if they are-"

"I'm not sexist!" Ed yelled. At this, Roy frowned, closing his mouth tightly. Ed came over to Roy, looking up at his face. Roy ignored him, refusing to make eye contact or even look at Ed. For a moment more the blond stood looking up at Roy before glancing at Al and then making a dismissive scoffing noise at Roy. The little alchemist went out the door, beating Roy at his own game.

"Colonel!" Roy looked at Al in surprise.

"I know he's violent, but don't ignore him that way. If you think he's violent when he's mad then you don't want to see him get anxious."

"Anxious? He's violent when he's anxious?"

"Yes. That's how he is now." Al said softly.

"Should I go try to apologize or something?" Roy didn't seem very keen on the idea. Al sighed.

"No. Never mind. He's not that easy to provoke. Just don't make ignoring him a habit, OK?" Roy nodded, feeling that he was seeing something most people didn't. He was seeing the way that Al took care of his brother, not the other way around.

(line)

Ed looked up at Roy's disapproving frown and felt his stomach tighten just the slightest bit. When Roy refused to look at him, Ed covered up his hurt with an irritated scoff and marched out of the room to a disturbing sight. Winry -violent tomboy Winry- was standing at the door giggling and blushing as she accepted a pink wildflower from a tall lanky kid with hair two shades lighter than Ed's. After staring at the two for a moment, Ed put a hand to his mouth and yelled

"Hey Al! Come see Winry, she's got cooties!!"

CLONK! A wrench connected solidly with Ed's head.

"SHUT UP!" Winry was crimson. Ed suddenly recognized the kid, who was giving him a funny look.

"Wait a minute! You're Russel Tringham!! You damn impostor!"

"Oh! You're that State Alchemist! I remember now, although I'd forgotten how short you really were. Is it just me or have you shrunk anoth-oh wait, silly me. I guess it's just because I've grown three inches."

"How could you forget the person you've been posing as, huh?!" Ed's voice started to climb the volume levels.

"I haven't been posing as you since I got caught the last time."

"You know Winry and I almost got 'caught' because of your stupid stunts."

"Yes, Win-win told me all about it and made me promise never to do it again." Ed stared at him, then at Winry as a grin flooded his face in a slightly disturbing way.

"Win-win?" he looked half-crazed.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Another wrench clonked Ed on the head as Winry screamed "Don't make fun of us! What do you know anyway! All you care about is alchemy and breaking my automail!" She screeched.

"C'mon Russ, let's go." she pouted as she took his arm and led him away from the house. Ed pouted and turned to Al who looked happy.

"What are you happy about?" Ed mumbled.

"Well, even if that guy can be a pain, I'm glad that Winry is happy. I don't want her to spend all of her time worrying about us."

"I guess so...Let's go spy on them!" Ed dashed out the door. Al was about to yell for him to be considerate, but then curiosity overcame him. What was it like to kiss someone? Maybe he could learn something.

Al crouched down next to Ed so they could watch Winry and Russel swinging together on the tree swing. Ed got very bored watching them lean on each other while Russel pet Winry's hair. Grinning mischievously, he softly clapped his hands and patted the tree. The branch holding the swing lurched downward before taking up its original position, dumping the blond couple onto the ground.

"Yeeeowch! What happened?" Russel asked. Winry shook her head.

"I don't know...That was really weird!" Russel helped her up and dusted her off before taking one of her hands and asking her a quiet question.

"Winry?" he blushed.

"Yes?"

"C-can I kiss you?" He murmured shakily. Ed snickered so only Al could hear him at Russel's shaky voice.

"I've been waiting for you to ask that!" Winry pressed her body against his and he leaned down to catch her lips up in his. Al was watching intently until Ed started pretending to gag. Al nodded, pretending to agree with his brother even though he wanted to watch for a while longer. Ed winked suddenly at Al and before his brother could stop him, jumped out into view and yelled

"Winry and Russel,

sittin' in a tree!

K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"That's it!" Russel yelled, charging Ed. Winry started throwing wrenches at him. Ed laughed, easily evading Russel and deflecting the wrenches with his right arm.

Roy came running out of the house to grab Ed's wrist and scold him while dragging him back into the house. When he pulled Ed inside and turned around, Ed looked scared.

"R-Roy..."

"Don't worry. Dufus though you may be, I only brought you in here because I didn't think you really deserved to hit in the head with a wrench, plus now the happy couple out there thinks you've gotten what you had coming to you." Ed snorted at that, recovering from his momentary nervousness.

"Winry's always hitting me in the head with wrenches."

"Well maybe that's why you're so-"

"What! You never even noticed Hawkeye likes you!"

"How would you know?"

"Well she practically told Winry everything the first time you came here, plus she's always looking at you and stuff..." Roy raised an eyebrow. Ed blushed.

"Anything else?" Roy asked. Ed shook his head.

"Are you sure?" Roy pulled a chocolate bar out of his pocket. Ed rolled his eyes.

"What? I thought all kids worked for chocolate."

"I'm not a kid, and I only like dark." Ed smirked, cloning Roy's patented expression.

"Interesting. I guess you're not completely without taste."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"For a kid who's traveled so much, you're awfully uncultured." Roy drawled.

"East Country Bumpkin." Ed growled.

"Just because you've heard other people say that about me doesn't give you a basis seeing as you grew up out here too." Ed blushed. Roy, unable to let the cuteness that was a pink-faced Edward alone, picked him up for the third time in two days.

"Roy!" Ed squealed slightly as he was settled into strong arms.

"Why do you have to pick me up all the time?" he asked grumpily, turning an even deeper shade of pink.

"There's just something about you that begs to be picked up!" Roy explained.

"I don't beg!"

"That's not what I said. Not exactly anyway. But that doesn't also mean that I can't tell you want to be held." Ed started to struggle. Roy grabbed his wrists, squeezing them in his hand until the wriggling ceased, followed by a whimper.

"Are you going to hold still?" Roy asked. Ed nodded. Roy let go of the boy's hands, which were immediately drawn up to his chest in an almost puppyish manner. Roy cradled him until he started to wriggle gently, wanting to be put down.

Outside, Al was now running around the house away from Winry and her new boyfriend.

"You want down?" Roy asked, rocking Ed in his arms.

"Sort of." Ed blushed.

"What kind of answer is that?" Roy laughed. Ed smiled, then grinned his little devil's grin. Wriggling out of Roy's arms, he grabbed the man's gloves out of his back pocket and took off with them, laughing his head off. Al heard the ruckus Ed and Roy were creating as the two tore around the living room and came running, joining in when he saw the playful look on his brother's face. Tearing outside in a single file stamped, Al chased Roy who was chasing Ed, still thinking he had a chance to get his pyrotex gloves back before Ed did something stupid. Ed knew Mustang didn't have a chance, not the way he was gasping for breath already. The blond alchemist felt another boost of adrenaline from the sheer happiness that hit him when he was playing with Al. He tore around a tree, Mustang close behind and Al behind him. Winry threw wrenches at them, but Ed was too giddy to care, and going to fast to be hit. He looped around the house, Al going around the other way to cut off his older brother. Ed shouted in surprise and ducked past Al, Mustang bowling the younger Elric over in his pursuit of the elder. Ed started laughing and Al and Roy both jumped up to chase him.

"You're so (gasp, pant) immature, (gasp) Ed!" Roy scolded, but both boys could tell he didn't mean it. Ed flew up the hill next to the house and stood, grinning and waiting for Al and Roy to catch up. Al bolted up ahead of the already-weary Roy and Ed kicked his younger brother, engaging in a mock-fight. As soon as Roy made it up the hill, Ed flew back down. Roy let gravity take him down right behind the blond boy, who tripped half-way down and in turn tripped Roy and Al, sending all three rolling down to the base of the hill. From afar, Winry and Russel shook their heads as Ed tackled Al, only to be tackled from behind by Roy, who was a little nervous about getting close to Ed while he was being so careless with his flailing spare leg, but quickly realized Ed was so weak with laughter he couldn't have hurt Roy if he'd wanted to. Roy snatched his gloves from Ed's grip, jumping away to tuck them into his own pocket. Ed jumped up and shoved Roy onto his back, straddling and tickling the Colonel. To be honest, Roy was bruised and tired and would've rather just lay down in defeat, but Ed just looked like he was having so much fun Roy felt he had to put up a fight and then chase Ed for one more wild loop around the house before flopping down on the grass in exhaustion.

"C'mon Old Man!" Ed teased. Roy ignored that, keeping his face down so Ed couldn't see his foolish grin. Ed playfully and curiously crept forward trying to see Roy's face until he got close enough for Roy to grab Ed in a bear hug holding the surprised boy against his own body.

"Call me old man, eh curious kitten? Curiosity killed the cat you know."

"K-kitten? Did you just call me kitten?"

"Yes." Roy laughed.

"How dare you!" Ed struggled and Roy laughed harder at his lack of strength after so much play. Al was laughing too and Ed started to get embarrassed. Blushing in defeat, he cuddled into Roy willingly, trying to hide himself.

"C'mon, Kitten. Let's go get you some dinner. Maybe a little saucer of milk?" Roy let go of Ed who jumped up and whirled to face the older alchemist.

"What! Stop calling me that! And I'm NOT drinking milk!" Roy snickered as he stood, grabbing Ed's hand in his own to pull him inside so they could all help Pinako prepare dinner, except for Winry who was somewhere in Risembool making out with Russel.

-----------------------------

Thank you all for reading!! Super-thank-you's to all of you who have reviewed, many more than once!!

But there is some bad news...I have some blackmailing to do.

SO. I'm afraid the next chapter will not be posted until a certain "CK" Roy fan leaves a REVIEW!!! Because I KNOW she's been reading my story!

So "CK", you better hurry up and review!!