No, before anyone asks, I was NOT hit by a car or shipwrecked on a deserted, computerless island. I had lots of things to do and then I had a burst of creative writing that involved at least four other stories, but I was too lazy to type for a while...

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"Hey, wake up. C'mon. And don't forget your stuff this time."

Ed groaned loudly. Sitting up and rubbing at his eyes, he pulled on his jacket and grabbed his book and trunk to follow Roy and Al off the train.

In his sleepy fog, Ed walked out in front of a car while crossing the street to get to a taxi. Roy screamed, Al screamed, the driver honked the horn and stamped on his screechy brakes and Ed jumped three feet into the air, landing awkwardly on the hood of the vehicle.

"Stupid f&&&&ing kid!" The driver slammed his door. Ed's first instinct was to run, but as he started down the street, he heard Al yelling at him and Roy switching between yelling at him and hastily apologizing to the driver. Ed stopped, letting Al catch up to him. His little brother was laughing so hard his whole body was shaking.

"Oh brother! The look on your face!" Al cackled as Roy ran up.

"Come on, into the car." he shooed the brothers into the taxi they'd been after and gave the driver directions. Leaning back, he looked at Ed.

"You okay?"

Ed just nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine." Ed sulked.

When they got to the house, Roy pulled off Ed's red and black jackets and started to pull his shirt off to check for bruising while Al put their luggage upstairs. Ed squeaked and wrapped his arms around himself in protest.

"I want to see how badly you're bruised. Don't get shy on me now." Roy tugged on the hem of Ed's black tank top. Ed looked up anxiously, keeping his arms tight around himself.

"What do you have to be embarrassed about, hm?" Roy pushed Ed's arms away from his body. When Ed backed away hastily, Roy sighed.

"Really. Does it hurt and you don't want me to touch it, or do you not want me to see, or what?"

Ed shuffled his feet slightly. "Like I'd let you touch me." He snapped, covering up anxiety with anger.

"What? Why not?" Roy snapped. Ed blushed.

"Is that why you got mad at me at the Rockbells for touching your stomach?"

Ed nodded. Roy sighed.

"If you have any internal bleeding or anything, it won't be my fault for not knowing about it." He backed off to Ed's obvious belief.

"Now, what shall we have for dinner? And keep in mind that the kitchen sink is the only one working. Anything upstairs in terms of water-related appliances is off-limits." He gave Ed a pointed look and earned a reaction he still wasn't used to from Ed. The boy started following him nervously around the kitchen.

"I'm sorry." he said when Roy turned around.

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry."

"About the house?"

Ed nodded, Eyes on his boots.

"Oh Ed. It's alright now. I know you didn't mean it." Roy ruffled Ed's hair and then pushed his head to move him out of the way of the pantry. After mixing up some spaghetti and a quick sauce, Roy went to bed, leaving the Elrics to their own devices.

At nine in the morning, Hughes showed up on Roy's doorstep.

"Roy! Oh...I see you're still wearing your pajamas. I knew you secretly really did like them!"

"...Hughes?"

"The one and only!"

"...Go away." Roy moaned. He'd wanted to sleep in today, and even Alphonse wasn't up and about yet.

"Is that any way to treat an old friend? Let me in, I brought an esspresso machine to try out."

Roy quickly let him in. Hughes had recently been experimenting with new coffee-based beverages and Roy certainly didn't mind being a guinea pig.

As Roy was coming back down the stairs wearing a button down and black pants, he heard clunking coming from Ed's room. As Roy closed his eyes in bliss and began sipping his esspresso, the little blond came tromping down hte stairs in his blue shorts, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Roy...-HUGHES!"

"Hey Ed! Long time no see!" Maes graciously ignored both Ed's lack of clothing and also the purple bruise extending from his left-side ribs to his hip. Roy wasn't nearly so gracious.

"Wouldn't let me see you last night to check for injury, but this morning you come down in your shorts while company's here, eh? Not to mention I was right and you are bruised. That's as big as Hughes' photo album for crying out loud."

Ed threw a curse back at Roy and ran back upstairs only to return fully dressed and pissed.

"I'm going to look for Al." He said, opening the front door.

"He's been reading in his room all night long, Ed. Isn't he in there?"

"Don't know." Ed marched back upstairs. When he came back down and opened the fridge, Roy assumed he'd found his little brother. Roy didn't know where Al would've gone without Ed anyway.

Hughes jumped up from his seat, almost upsetting the table.

"I know what'll cheer you up! Look at these adorable pictures of my darling daughter!" Hughes shoved the pictures in his face. Ed took a swipe at his head, but Maes ducked and sat back down with Roy.

"So, how are the two of you?" he asked. Ed and Roy looked at eachother for a moment, then Ed shrugged his shoulders and opened the refridgerator again. Hughes looked to Roy.

"I think we're alright. Have you heard what happened yesterday?"

"No, what?"

Roy proceeded to explain Saturday's train rides while Ed ate a cold sandwhich he'd found. As Roy was asking Maes if he'd ever seen Havoc and Breda picking on Ed, he glanced in Ed's direction and saw what he was eating while reading a book on the couch.

"Ed! I brought that home for one of the plumbers a week and a half ago! Doesn't it taste moldy?" He went to take it away.

"Mmm. I thought it was weird cheese."

"It doesn't have cheese, Ed!" Roy grabbed it and tossed it, ignoring the glare Ed sent him.

"Eat some cheerios or something." Roy said. Ed glared harder and went to pull a frozen popsicle out of the freezer.

"Oh no you don't! Where did that come from anyway? I never buy those."

"I did-Hey!"

Roy swiped the popsicle and pulled the cheerios out of the cupboard, shaking them at Ed. Ed grabbed them, put them back in the cupboard and pulled out a container of plan spaghetti noodles he proceeded to eat with his hands. Roy gulped the last of his esspresso, grabbed the noodles, shooed Ed out of the kitchen and pulled out a box of pancake mix.

"No, I've never really seen them with Ed. But I'm not surprised Roy. You go pretty soft on him most of the time. Havoc and Breda probably think it's unfair."

"Is it that obvious?"

Hughes nodded as Roy poured some batter into a skillet.

"I can tell I'm going to have loads of fun straightening this out." Roy sighed.

"Ed! Pancakes!"

"Yeah, well I just hope my kid never developes eating habits like that." Maes smirked. Roy rolled his eyes.

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The next chapter will feature Roy's Talk with his lieutenants!! Will there be bloodshed?