See? Roy just LOVES getting phone calls in the dead of the night!
-----------
"Can I come in?" were the words that woke Ed the next morning. Winry was speaking softly, which Ed knew meant she wanted to talk. He didn't, but he also knew that if he refused to talk to her, she would storm in and brain him with a wrench.
"Yeah," he gurgled, rolling over and pushing hair out of his face.
She, of course, was dressed and awake. She sat on the edge of his bed and he looked at her, blinking stupidly.
"I-, I was talking to Al. About that guy you're staying with."
"His name is Roy," Ed said sharply. She nodded.
"So...you came here because you didn't want to stay with him?"
Ed didn't know what her strange tone of voice meant. What was going on in that blond head of hers? Ed sat up.
"Look, it's not that I don't want to stay with him, it's just I..." Ed couldn't remember what he'd been about to say.
"Al said he didn't really know why you suddenly came out here except that something happened with Roy."
"I got a little shock," Ed said with a wry smile. Winry frowned and pursed her lips. "I'm not afraid of him, I just never realized I should be."
Her eyes widened immensely and she pinned the sleepy boy with her glare.
"Did he do anything to you?"
Ed shook his head and smiled. "See? I think even you knew..."
"Knew that it was dangerous to be staying with him?" she demanded, her overprotective side shining through.
"Yeah. You know I'd never heard of that kind of thing? I just didn't know it existed."
"Really?" she sounded disbelieving.
"Yeah. Just a little while ago though, our teacher and her husband came to visit and see where we were living. He mentioned something about situations like mine but he wouldn't explain so I got someone else to..." Ed blushed. Winry stared at him for a moment, then broke out in laughter.
"It's-" she giggled between words, "So funny! You're so worldly but (snicker) you're so naive."
Ed sulked and she laughed harder.
"I mean, there you are traveling the world and joining the military, ahahaha. I bet you don't even know what gay means!"
"Of course I know! What...gay means."
Winry raised one eyebrow, "Really?"
"Yeah."
"Tell me."
These were the words that eventually led up to Ed waiting until everyone else in the house was asleep and Al was reading a book to call Roy. It was one thirty AM.
"Mustang. What?" Roy snarled.
"Roy?"
"Ed? Ed are you OK? Why are you calling so late?"
"What does gay mean?"
The kind of stupor induced by dual impulses to scream and hang up and to laugh fell on Roy's mind.
"Roy?"
"Ed," Roy chuckled with a slightly threatening undertone, "You called me at one thirty in the morning to ask me to explain homosexuality to you? I have to get up in five hours!!"
No answer.
"OK, let's see... boys get crushes on girls and girls get crushes on boys, right?"
"Mm-hm?" Ed indicated that he was listening.
"Well if you're gay, you like people who are the same gender you are. Does that answer your question?"
"Mm-hm," Ed said sheepishly. Then no one spoke for a few seconds.
"Is that everything?" Roy yawned.
"Mmm," Ed sounded like he was disagreeing, but he hung up.
Roy looked at the phone in his hand.
"Kids."
-----------------------------
"So there! I know what it means!" Ed had just finished repeating Roy's words back to Winry at the breakfast table.
Winry was gaping. But not because of Ed's words so much as his volume and timing. Apparently, he hadn't noticed Granny Pinako coming down the stairs behind him.
Al was also actually gaping, his toothy lower jaw resting on his chestplate. If Winry thought Ed was naive, well, Al was just lucky she'd never gotten her hands on him! He was shocked, both to discover that some people 'liked' their own gender but more that his brother had just broadcasted it through the house with his foghorn yell.
Pinako grabbed Ed by the ear and his eyes went so wide it was almost comical. She dragged him into the kitchen just as she had done when he was seven and picking on his little brother, shutting the door behind her.
Ed, though more than six inches taller than Pinako, was both alarmed and frightened.
"Have some respect for the people around you!" she scolded. Ed furrowed his brows. Roy hadn't said...
"Especially your little brother! Don't shock him, talking about things like that. I don't care where you've dragged him, he's still innocent. More so than you."
"Winry was teasing me-!" Ed yipped when she cuffed him sharply on the ear.
"I don't care about what Winry was doing! Don't talk about things you don't really understand," she closed the subject and let him go. He wasn't sure what to do with himself until she told him to go eat his breakfast.
To his chagrin, he walked in on Al asking Winry, "But you can't have a baby then, right?"
"Al!" he snapped, "Forget about it."
"How am I supposed to forget about it when your voice is still echoing around in my head?" Al exclaimed.
"J-just forget about it," Ed said, blushing.
"You're only saying that because Aunty Pinako scolded you. I heard her," Al argued.
"Fine! Be that way," Ed snapped, running up the stairs.
Al harrumphed angrily and turned back to Winry, his mind full of questions. Before he could speak though, she raised her hand to his arm.
"Al... Maybe your brother's right."
Al growled, "I hate being kept in the dark."
Winry sighed. "I guess... I mean, it seems like you should know this- in case you meet someone... Alright, alright, I'll answer your questions," she relented under Al's gaze. "Come on, let's go for a walk."
Ed was more embarrassed than anything else. And fairly ashamed. Pinako was right, he'd forgotten that Al didn't know about that kind of stuff either.
He curled up on one of the spare beds and soon his thoughts drifted to Roy, simply because Ed suddenly missed him. His somewhat reluctant way of dealing with Ed. It wasn't like he never got angry with Ed, he was just- Ed moaned. So much for not being distracted. Damn that colonel...
"Brother? Is something wrong? Look, about earlier I just-"
"Al, it's fine. I'm the one who should apologize for earlier." Ed sat up on the bed. He'd fallen asleep and when he'd woken up, he hadn't wanted to go anywhere, deciding to lie there and think until Al had walked in on him.
"Then what's wrong?"
For some reason, it didn't even occur to him to lie to Al.
"I'm sorry, Al. I really am I just-" he turned his face away, reminding himself to take a deep breath. "I miss Roy."
Al didn't move for a moment and Ed got scared. His little brother wasn't going to just accept it, he was going to be mad as hell.
Al touched Ed's shoulder to get his attention.
"Brother... I have an idea. What if you went back to Central for a bit while your ankle heals and I'll get a head start into the desert to look for Ishvarlans," Al suggested.
Ed swiveled his head and clutched Al's hand with both of his own.
"NO! Al, I'm sorry! I promise, I won't let myself be distracted. We can head out now! If you let me ride, my ankle can heal while we travel so we won't waste any time." Ed looked pleadingly up at his younger brother.
"Ed..."
"I'm sorry, Al, please don't leave me!"
"Ed, I want to do something for myself now. Please let me try. I also want you to be happy, so go to Central and make up with Roy and then you can come to join me, OK?"
"But... you..."
"Ed, please. It's something I need to do to prove myself."
"To who?" Ed shook his head in confusion.
"To myself, Ed. I may be the younger brother but I'm not so young that I need to follow you everywhere, OK?"
"But how will I know if you're OK!" Ed protested.
Al shook his head, "You won't. I need you to trust me, Ed. Or do you think I can't survive without someone protecting me?"
"But you're my responsibility-"
"No! I'm not a kid, Ed! I'm responsible for myself now."
Ed whimpered slightly, the noise slipping out of him undesired.
"What if something happens?" He was giving ground and they both knew it.
"If anything happens, it'll be my fault. If there's anything I can't handle, I'll tuck tail and run, OK? I'll come back."
Ed swallowed.
"Do this for me. Trust me."
Ed grit his teeth and nodded.
"OK, here's your crutch, Brother. Use it. And don't you dare 'lose' it, you hear me?"
"I made you some apple pie," Winry said, shoving a small box at him. "Be careful and don't fall- you'll get trampled."
"ARE YOU-"
"I'M NOT CALLING YOU SHORT!"
"Alright, you two," Al chided. "Say goodbye. Ed can't run to catch the train!" he laughed.
Winry and Al both hugged Ed goodbye and Ed gave Al a little wooden horse. He hadn't known Ed still had it! His best wooden horse before their mother died...
--------------------
"Are you sure you want to do this, Al? The desert is dangerous," Winry said as they stood on the porch. From there they could see Ed's train picking up speed a few miles away.
"I'm sure."
"But you said the homonculi are really dangerous! Can you really fight them without Ed?"
"I'm not going to fight them, I'm just going to find out what they're up to, OK? I'll be fine, Winry. Say hi to Russel for me."
-------------
Oooh, Al lied to Ed! -gasp!-
Reviews give me extra motivation!! ...bats eyes