OK, there's just a little bit of weirdness in this chapter, including a weird conversation between Roy and Jean about girls they've both dated, but at least it's a chapter, right? And it may be the last I post for another month or two, so I hope everyone likes it and I don't get flamed... 'Cause then I might not come back after just a month or two...
Just kidding! XD! Please leave a review when you're done reading so I know people are still watching this story. I'm afraid everyone may have forgotten about it by now! T.T
On another note, a certain anonymous reviewer calling herself MirthfulTears who really, really deserves a review reply, reviewed me so I'm afraid I'm going to have to post it here. (I usually don't like people who do review replies in chapters, but this is an exception, as I can't get in touch with MT any other way.)
So. Dear Mirthful Tears:
It started out as EdRoy, and it DEFINITELY is not any longer. It is totally a parental fic.
You're completely right about me going back and cleaning up the first few chapters, especially editing out the E/R hints I had in there because that ends up being really weird and confusing, but not only am I too lazy, right now I'm in an absolute rush, just so busy I barely have time to type new chapters, let alone repost old ones, so I'm afraid the clean up job will have to wait.
Also, you have perfectly valid opinions about Ed crying THAT much (lol T.T) and allowing himself to be force-fed chocolate milk from a baby bottle... It's just that somewhere along the way, I started toeing the line of Ed's tolerance for weird stuff and...I don't really know. I guess maybe some of my own slightly pathetic personality got mixed in there...
I hope you will feel free to point out ANY mistakes or awkward phrasing (or formatting) that you spot and I would be very grateful (I can't have my stories looking sloppy, now!) for any constructive criticism you have for me. As for poor Alphonse...I really do end up shoving him to the sidelines because I don't think he particularly cares for Roy...and he's got an armor body... and I just have a hard time reminding myself to focus on him. But I will try to focus on him more, and in another few chapters (or the next "arc" of the story or whatever) Al will get his own special part and we'll learn about a very interesting new facet of Alphonse' personality never before seen! (Of course I made it up, but at least Al will finally get some attention.)
And I'm so glad you like the fluff and the maturing of the relationship! That's really what the story is all about and I do hope you'll stick around and continue to read this story even though the updates are coming really slowly lately.
E.Mahiru
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"He's almost asleep and why can't you just observe him around me without me having to do something weird to him?" Roy hissed.
"He's relaxed and his guard is down, and I want to test your bonds, not just observe them. Now. If he sees me, his guard will go up like that," She snapped her fingers. "So keep him looking away from that really big cardboard box with all the blankets in it. I'll observe from inside it while I hold up index cards and you can read your instructions from there."
"If I refuse?"
"I'll forbid Edward to ever speak to you again."
Roy chewed his lip. Anyone but this woman would quickly fail at forbidding Ed to do anything, but he suspected he didn't have too much of a choice.
"If there's anything inappropriate in there, I will refuse." Roy nodded at the little stack of index cards.
"Go pick him up and carry him in here."
Roy was nervous to say the least as he approached the dozing alchemist on the couch, ignoring the curious glances from not only Alphonse and Jean Havoc, but Sig Curtis and Mason. Ed jumped when Roy slid a hand behind his shoulder and down his back, looking up at Roy and hissing, "No! What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Shh. Cooperate." Roy refused to say anything more as he slid his other hand under Ed's knees. Ed wriggled in embarrassment and let Roy lift and carry him.
As soon as Roy shut the guest room door behind him, Ed was all questions: "Roy! What do you think you're doing? What if Teacher had seen that? Sig did! What if someone comes in? Put me down!"
Roy swallowed mutely, unsure of what to tell Ed. He glanced at the box in the corner. Izumi had done a good job of hiding in it, but there was a hand poking out the top with an index card in it.
'Put one hand over his eyes.' Roy read. He cuddled Ed as he did so, shushing him to try and soothe him.
"R-Roy!" Ed grabbed Roy's wrist and pulled Roy's hand off his face.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Cooperate?" Roy requested. Ed stared at him and Roy could see the wheels in Ed's brain turning, trying to decipher and decide. Roy gently put his hand back over Ed's face, the boy's grip still firm on his wrist. Roy then glanced again at the corner.
'Lay him on the bed on his back.' Roy located a small cot on one side of the room and carried Ed over to it.
"Stay here for a sec, OK?" He asked as he laid Ed down.
'On his stomach.' Roy rolled his eyes. This was stupid and creepy, but maybe if he just went through with it, the woman would just leave them alone. Carefully he rolled Ed over.
Ed whimpered quietly, watching Roy's face with a concentration few possessed.
"It's OK, I promise. Alright?" Roy rolled Ed all the way over, glancing at the newest card.
'Rub his back. Skin to skin.' Roy frowned deeply. The last part definitely sounded perverse and he gave a quick headshake, running his hands down Ed's back firmly and in a reassuring manner. Izumi's only reaction was to flip up another card.
'Pick him up, sit down with him in your lap.' Roy did, Ed cooperating to get out of the awkward position of being face down for no reason he could discern.
'Cover his eyes.'
"Again." Roy thought. But this card didn't say he had to use his hands. Roy pulled Ed to a setting position and wrapped an arm around the blond's face, the pert little nose peeking out from under Roy's elbow.
"Why are you doing this, Roy?" Ed whined in annoyance. Suddenly, Izumi rose up, the blankets thudding to the floor.
"Put him face down on the floor." She said loudly. Roy's eyes widened and Ed jumped, flailing suddenly. He tried to push Roy's arm away and Izumi snapped at Roy.
"It's up to you to make him cooperate."
"Teacher? What's going on?"
"On the floor?" Roy saw no reason, but she nodded, giving him a sinister look. Moving his arm down to Ed's middle, Roy carefully rearranged the blond trying to get up.
"Now put this left arm up behind his back."
"Teacher-ow!"
Roy was trying to be gentle but he was getting a little freaked out right now.
"Sorry Ed-"
"Now flip him over and keep his arm behind him," Izumi was snapping out orders like a general.
"Roy?" Ed was cooperating now, relaxing to ease the pain of having his arm forced around.
"Yes?"
"Face down again."
"Was Teacher-" Ed wriggled as Roy let go of his arm. "-telling you to do all that stuff?"
"Grab his braid."
"Um, yeah- What? Why?"
"Make him go backward-make him scoot into your lap."
"This is just plain retarded." Roy growled, tugging gently on the blond rope in his hand. Ed awkwardly but obediently got off his stomach and let Roy lead him backward. Now that he knew Izumi was behind the strange actions of his colonel, he was less nervous about why he was being put into so many embarrassing and uncomfortable positions, and more so about the consequences should he go too slowly. Izumi let him breathe, sitting up against Roy before she addressed Roy in a slower, lower tone of voice.
"OK. Now we're going to see whether or not you can really be trusted. Edward, but his arm behind his back, face down on the floor."
"Teacher!" Ed protested.
"Edward. You don't have a choice."
Roy grit his teeth. Ed carefully sat next to Roy, grabbing his wrist in a way that told Roy Ed had been taught how to do this.
"Women always do have a talent for coming up with cruel and unusual punishments." Roy said as Ed timidly forced him down. Izumi's eyes narrowed and she lifted a foot, aiming a kick at Roy's ribs. Unable to defend himself, Roy braced for the blow as Ed rolled over him, making himself a human shield. Izumi paused, put her foot down and smiled as she lifted Ed by his underarms to her eye level.
"You don't want me to hurt him?"
"No." Ed said tightly, meeting her gaze with a glare of his own. He wanted to turn away, wanted to try to hid the pink color invading his cheeks, but Izumi hated that.
"Stand up, Colonel."
Roy dusted himself off before being bestowed with a blushing alchemist, which he carefully accepted, turning Ed to face him and settling Ed's arms over his shoulders.
"Edward tells me he's living with you. I was wondering..." Her expression softened into something akin to maternal fondness, "...if I could come visit."
"Um, well, it's up to Ed." Roy was trying to accommodate the boy in his arms who'd decided he needed to be facing the other direction right now.
"Do you want her to come visit, Ed?" Roy shuffled him into a more childish position of having one arm under his knees and the other around his shoulders.
"Can you? What about the store?" Ed looked at Izumi closely.
"Aaah. We could all use a vacation. We'll bring Mason and let him see the big city."
"Can she, Roy?" Ed looked happily apprehensive. Who could deny a face like that, so rare and so young, no matter how much you didn't want someone in your house. Although apparently Mrs. Curtis appeared to have approved of him at least.
"Sure. When shall we head back?" He said, unconsciously rocking Ed gently.
"Teacher?"
"Could you stay for another day? That would give me time to get ready and warn Mason." She grinned.
"Sure." Roy repeated. His stress level was already imagining itself skyrocketing (Roy might even get a zit! LOL)
He wondered how long she would stay, but didn't ask for fear of it sounding exactly like his thoughts right now: How long am I going to have to put up with you?"
"Well you boys should get some sleep now. Tomorrow we can have a review alchemy lesson." Izumi grinned. "The Flame here can participate too."
Roy raised his eyebrows. "Uh, yeah."
"Now go to bed. Ed and Al will share their normal room here. You and your friend will have to fight for the couch. Just don't get blood on it. As I said earlier, it's new."
"Right." Roy couldn't help sounding skeptical.
He tucked Ed into bed, checking him over quickly to make sure the little "exercise" hadn't put too much stress on his beaten body, especially his ankle. Ed crankily fended Roy off until the man gave up, knowing that Ed had at least enough energy to fight him off. By the time Roy came back out to the living room, Al was waiting to go into the guest room and Jean was stretching out on the floor.
"Go ahead, Boss. The couch is yours."
"Mm. I feel kind of guilty..." Roy said, pulling off his jacket.
"That makes you guilty? But not stealing my girlfriends or causing them to dump me some other way?"
"Ha. Now wait a minute, I thought it was in my job description. But honestly, of all the girls that have dumped you, I've only dated two afterward."
"Which ones?" Jean sulked. Roy silently raised an eyebrow.
"Sakura and...What was her name?" He stared at the ceiling. "Melissa."
"WHAT? You dated Melissa? Seriously, Boss?"
"Um. Yeah." Mustang replied shortly, an irritated blush rising to his cheeks.
"Hey, did she do that thing...?"
"Where she hid behind things and jumped out to scare you?" Roy offered.
"Yeah that and-"
" " Sometimes she was naked. " " They finished Jean's sentence together, Roy wearing a look of chagrin while Jean shuddered.
"Ew."
"Disgusting. I have no problems with the female body, but to have her jump out of nowhere..."
"It was creepy." Havoc agreed. "So, hey. What did that Curtis woman make you and Ed do in there?"
Roy was silent for a bit. "It was strange. And cruel considering Ed's being so battered. She really just wanted to see if Ed would let me handle him. Pick him up and hold his arm and the like."
"So...Will he?"
"For the most part. Especially after he figured out why I was doing it."
"And?"
Roy sighed heavily. "And I think she approves of me, but she's coming to visit just in case. To check out my living situation probably. If she keeps threatening to forbid Edward to ever speak to me again, I think I'm going to torch her."
"Oh..." Jean sounded slightly surprised that she was coming to visit. He made no comment about Roy's homicidal pyromaniac thoughts.
"Go to sleep, Lieutenant. We have a big day ahead of us." Roy said. Jean nodded in the dark and rolled onto his side.
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"EVERYBODY UP! ALL ALCHEMISTS IN THE BACKYARD IN FIVE MINUTES!!!"
Roy fell off the couch, Havoc saluted before he'd even opened his eyes, Al fell down the stairs on the porch ( he'd been up and gone outside hours ago, and had been coming back in) and Ed woke up and swallowed the end of his braid, gagging on it and almost puking.
"FOUR MINUTES!"
Ed transmuted a crutch from the ceiling, heedless of the hole it left and crow-hopped to the bathroom while Jean and Roy dressed at lightning speed. Al unfortunately found himself stuck horizontally with his forehead horn sticking into the side of the house and his feet caught in the railings across from it.
Ed hobbled back out of the bathroom with his pants and tank top on, crashing to the ground when an alarmed blond lieutenant literally dove into the bathroom to beat Roy to the punch. Roy ran a hand over his prickly hair before giving Ed a hand up.
"TWO MINUTES- Edward! Fix that hole in the roof!"
"Yes ma'am!" Ed transmuted the crutch back up the wall, teetering precariously on his automail leg until Roy scooped him up, carting him outside with the intention of of setting him down where he could transmute a crutch from the ground. Roy had to apologize to Alphonse, step over Alphonse, and continue down into the yard to do that.
Izumi appeared at the door and kicked Al around until he freed himself, before going to the outdoor faucet and screwing in the hose. Roy frowned as Ed and Al began to back away from their teacher.
"Whoever is answering slowest or incorrectly at the time gets hosed." Izumi turned on the water and Roy's eyes widened considerably.
"WHAT?"
"This is an alchemic review." She said., taking a hold of the end of the hose. "Now. How many neutrons does an atom of gold contain?"
"Um, approximately one hundred, eighteen." Al piped up immediately.
"Good. And how many protons?" Izumi was swinging the hose in Ed's direction.
"Seventy-nine!" Ed squeaked. The hose continued on toward Roy.
"What is the chemic symbol for oxygen?"
"Uh, em-" Roy was backing away from the stream of water creeping nearer. " O ?" The hose retreated back to the middle of the group, making Roy think of playing Marco Polo and trying to keep the "it" person in the middle and confused so no one would be singled out for pursuit.
"How many protons does Yttrium contain?"
Roy blinked. "Yit-rum?"
"Thirty-nine!" Ed yelled, making sure to be heard.
"What is the half-life of uranium?" Izumi smiled and Roy wondered if it was a trick question- "Four point five billion years."
Ed and Al both glanced over at Roy in surprise and the colonel grinned in spite of himself.
"Alright then." Izumi mused. "Where water is present, what flammable gas can be easily produced?"
Roy knew that was tailor-made for him as the Flame Alchemist, but both Ed and Al piped up automatically.
"Hydrogen gas!"
The hose wandered toward Roy again.
"What is the atomic mass number of Helium?"
"What?"
"Wrong answer!" Izumi doused Roy with a freezing spray, depriving him of all dignity by not relenting, keeping the cold stream trained on him even as he backed up.
"What is the atomic mass number of Platinum?"
"One hundred, ninety-five!" Al was NOT going to let himself be hosed down. He was taking no chances.
"What is its chemic symbol?" Izumi sped up.
" Pt !" Ed didn't want to be wet either. After all, secretly he thought if he did get doused he might catch cold. He wasn't going to show anyone his weak side, but he didn't have much in the way of extra stores of energy in his body right now and he was well-aware of that fact.
"How many protons does Mercury have?"
"Mm...-Eighty-two!" It wasn't even out of Ed's mouth before he was being toppled over and soaked through by the stream and while Roy felt sorry that Ed was taking such a beating lately, it wasn't like he hadn't heard Ed's snickers when he'd been doused.
"Eighty." Roy smirked.
"What is the atomic number of Zinc?"
Roy opened his mouth, sure he should know this, as it was all coming back to him now, but was stumped. Atomic number? What was that again?
"Thirty." Ed choked without much enthusiasm, relieved to be out from under the hose.
"What is gold made of?"
"Metallically bonded gold atoms." Al didn't miss a beat.
"How can you make an element radioactive?"
Roy surmised they'd proved to practical alchemy now.
"Bombard the nucleus with neutrons." Ed grabbed his crutch and stood.
"What is lemonade?"
Roy could have laughed out loud at the look the two brothers' exchanged. He imagined they thought it was cold and tasty.
"A liquid solution."
Izumi paused for a moment, surveying them before speaking. "Final question, boys." She cast her gaze over all three of them. "What are the ingredients for an average adult human being?"
The silence was numbing for a moment, but as Ed and Al solemnly spoke up, Roy's voice was also with them. All together they recited:
"Water, 35 Liters; Carbon, 20 kilograms; Ammonia, 4 Liters; Lime, 1.5 kilograms; Phosphorous, 800 grams; Salt, 250 grams; Saltpeter, 100 grams; Sulfur, 80 grams; Fluorine, 7.5 grams; Iron, 5 grams; Silicon, 3 grams. And 15 other elements in small quantities. "
All was silent for a moment, the words floating around them in the air, each thinking their own thoughts about the reason they would know the chemical makeup for a human body.
"Alright. Come inside. Breakfast should be ready." Izumi turned and walked to the faucet and then all three boys followed her into the house, met immediately by a Jean Havoc looking more riled then anyone could ever remember seeing him before as smoke begun to rise from a pan with eggs in it and a pot boiled over, foam, steam and oatmeal flowing from its sides like lava.
"Aaah!" Jean sucked on several of his fingers after trying to retrieve a hot pan from inside Izumi's oven, turned around and grabbed the pot of oatmeal which sloshed over the sides and onto his poor hands, and dropped it in the sink on top of a cantaloupe which burst like a balloon. Jean stared in horror at it before swinging around just in time to see all the eggs in the aforementioned skillet explode, white and black particles soaring around the kitchen like hot ash from a volcano.
Izumi smacked him soundly upside the head, grabbed some potholders with which to remove the pan of lasagna from the oven, put the oatmeal back on the stove, dug out the cantaloupe innards onto a platter, and discarded the dead egg-granades into the trash. Ed was laughing so hard Al was having to hold him up, especially since Roy was of no use, being the person who was currently laughing the hardest.
"Havoc I-! Didn't know you knew-! How to cook!" Roy could barely speak. Havoc glared daggers at him and eventually, Roy donned his ignition gloves just in case.
Ed packed suitcases for Izumi and Sig, Jean moved all the meat from the shop to the shop's freezer with Mason, and Roy and Al tidied the house while Izumi made a few preparatory phone calls just in case they should end up staying for more than a week. Roy was already dreading having her for that long.
They all went to bed early so as to wake with plenty of time to get to the station, although for some reason, it didn't work for Ed. Apparently he could sleep twelve or thirteen hours if allowed, and he slept FOURTEEN solid hours before Roy, checking luggage and making sure all the doors were locked and making sure Ed's toothbrush was packed, realized the boy was still asleep. Izumi had assumed that he would be up already, Al assumed someone would wake Ed when they were ready.
"Shit! Edward get up right now!" Roy slammed into the guest room and tore the covers off the blond head, revealing a drooling, deeply asleep alchemist.
"C'mon," Roy scooped him up like the oversized, overcooked noodle his body was imitating and jostled him while pulled Ed's extra pair of cargo pants(1) from his suitcase.
"Nnn..." Ed pulled on Roy's shirt, jerking it as he mistook it for his blanket.
"ED!! Wake up!" Roy bounced Ed in his arms and Ed put his face against Roy's shoulder, settling in for a nap.
"How can you still be sleepy? Get up-WAKE UP or I'll take you to the station in your underwear," Roy threatened. Ed relaxed and sighed, Roy's eyes bugging out in irritated disbelief. At that moment, Al came in.
"If he's really sleepy, sometimes you have to go like this-
BROTHER! EEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!!! WAKE UP!!"
Al emitted such a loud, sudden scream of bloody, stentorian volume that Edward effectively climbed onto Roy's shoulders and head, crashing to the ground when Roy predictably lost his balance and toppled over. Roy gave Al a slightly alarmed glance before rolling off Ed who was squeezing his eyes shut in pain.
"Are you alright? Where does it hurt?"
"I'm sorry, Brother! I didn't mean to-is it your ankle?"
"Yeah." Ed sat up, gripping his swollen ankle with his right hand.
"Is Ed up yet? We have to go." Izumi said, walking in. "Edward! Did you hurt your ankle again?"
"I'll be OK, Teacher." Ed grabbed the edge of the bed with his right hand and pulled himself up.
"You're not taking chances. We'll put you in a suitcase. I have an extra." Izumi said this with such a straight face and walked out of the room with such an utter lack of humor that Roy thought she was serious.
"Teacher! That's not funny! Teacher! TEACHER!!"
"So what then? Is the lieutenant going to carry you the whole way?"
Ed blushed, looking betrayed and growling, "I can ride in Al."
"Oh really?" Al taunted his little brother. "Only if I let you!"
"Aa-l!"
"Oh I don't know, a suitcase sounded perfect to me." Roy smirked his famous ladykiller smirk and Ed sputtered.
"I'll punch your face in!"
"Boy, Brother. You sure can be two-faced. You hate the colonel, you like the colonel. You hate the colonel, you like the colonel." Al waved his arms in mock surrender.
"EVERYBODY STOP TEASING ME!" Ed waved his hands menacingly as Jean poked his head in.
"Time to go." He tapped his watch. Roy, ignoring all protests, picked Ed up swiftly and put him on Jean's back, piggy-back style. He and Al picked up the suitcases and the entire group proceeded to the station.
Despite some small amount of jogging Jean had to do to get on the train, by the time they were all on board Ed was comfortably hanging onto Jean, his face nestled into the lieutenant's shoulder. The alchemist was none too happy about being dislodged when Jean sat down, sulking and staring out the window before dozing off again, his head thumping the glass quietly with every bump until Al put a folded shirt under his head to protect it.
"You'd think he'd have more sense than to fall asleep like that." Jean shook his head.
"No, not really," was the reply from Al, Roy and Mason. Izumi just shook her head.
"He doesn't have a whole hell of a lot of common sense," she said, "His brother's got more but he always does what Ed tells him to do." Izumi glared in Al's direction. He pretended to have no idea what she was talking about.
"So, what's Central like?" Izumi addressed Roy and Jean, not really including Alphonse.
"Big," Jean said directly. "The air's a lot thicker and the cars are scary when you're trying to cross the street," he told her as if she was about to take a major crash course in city living for the very first time in her life.
"It has some great cafes hidden from the main streets and its public parks and libraries are very well maintained," Roy countered Jean's impression that it was dangerous, cutting his eyes to the man as he did so.
"How about for kids?" Izumi asked. Mustang and Havoc looked at eachother.
"I donno..." Roy said.
"Well, I guess parks are good for kids, right?" Jean offered.
"How does Ed spend his time?" Izumi narrowed down her original question, revealing its true intention.
"Oh," both Roy and Jean said at once.
"Reading," said Roy.
"Running away from Roy," answered Jean. Roy glared at him. "Well! He ran off to Rush Valley and then he went back to Rush Valley after you came and got him and then he ran off to Lior," Jean pointed out in self-defense.
"Oh, that's right. When Al called me and said Ed had been captured by Ishvarlans," Izumi recalled. "What happened after that, Alphonse?"
"They performed some kind of semi-alchemic ritual where they gave him a name in their language and sort of declared him like family to them, right?" He turned to Roy.
"Yes. they gave him a dove-name and they kinned him."
"Tell me about these dove-names," Izumi requested. Roy paused for a moment to get his thoughts in order.
"It's a means of affirming a familial bond with someone who's really not your family. While they're only human and many of them do seek revenge against State Alchemists, many other Ishvarlans choose instead to be sympathetic with us. They feel that often, we lose more in killing them than they do in dying if you know what I mean. Sometimes they feel it enough toward one soldier that they want to kin him or want him to know that they understand and that's how it leads to those kinds of abductions like Edward's."
"So, what does a dove-name sound like?" Mason asked curiously, leaning forward slightly in his seat.
"I only know two: Edward's and mine." Roy told him.
"Would you mind telling us yours?" Izumi inquired very gently and Roy obligued with a slight flush to his cheeks. It was mildly embarrassing in a way he couldn't really describe.
"Tae Fos Mallute," he told them, "The Dying Flame."
"And you said you also know Edward's?" Izumi pressed Roy.
"Yes. But I don't know whether or not he cares about people knowing it so I've never told anyone."
"Well, that's fine. If you don't want to tell me I'll just beat it out of him later," Izumi Curtis announced with a smugness that caused Roy to suddenly reach the end of his tolerance.
"Don't hurt him," Roy snapped dangerously, "Or I'll make your life a living hell. He doesn't need that kind of physical abuse and I won't tolerate it in my house. A dove-name means something different to everyone and for some it is extremely personal. Even Ishvarlans almost never refer to each other by their dove-names. If you want to know what Edward's is and means, you will ask him politely and with respect to his personal boundaries." Roy was on the edge of his seat, sending his most heated glares at Izumi who had the grace to look at least mildly surprised and abashed. Jean was staring wide-eyed at Roy while Sig glared at everyone in general, demonstrating his protectiveness of Izumi.
Meanwhile, Al smiled a secret little smile to himself. Ed would be OK with the colonel, he thought. Ed would be fine.
Roy got up to head for the bathrooms where he could cool off. Once he entered, he spent a few minutes staring into a grimy mirror telling himself he should have just kept his mouth shut. She'd threatened to hurt Ed several times before this and he should be getting used to it, not losing control of himself. If he did that again while Ed was awake he wasn't sure how the boy would react, Roy thought before thanking the stars Ed had slept through it all. Then again, that didn't mean Ed wouldn't hear about it later from one of the many people in their little traveling group.
There was a knock at the door and Roy jumped, sighing as he opened it with the intention of relinquishing the room to some other poor traveler on the bumpy train. He was surprised to find Al standing before him, a slightly knowing look in his eye.
"What is it, Alphonse?"
"I um, just wanted to say that even though she is our teacher and you shouldn't threaten her or make her angry, I uh, want you to know I'm glad to know that there's someone else nearby who's willing to look out for my brother." Al finished abruptly, fidgeting his fingers together and staring at Roy.
"Th-thank you, Alphonse..." Roy switched his mind from dealing with the awkwardness of the situation to considering the full spectrum of possible implications Al's words might have contained. "Alphonse? I know I can't really touch or cuddle you the way Ed likes to be sometimes, but if you need someone to talk to or anything other than Edward...You can...come to me." Roy could feel his cheeks heating up.
"Um," Al nodded, backing away before fleeing. Apparently, Roy had unintentionally stunned him. Either that or terrified him...
'Great. Snapped at his teacher, then scared him off. Good job, Roy!'
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(1)Cargo pants In book 7 or 8, when Ed's in Dublith after dealing with Greed, he's wearing cargo pants, so he DOES in fact, own a pair.
Hey! Was that like, my longest chapter ever?! XD XD
R&R please!