Crap, I'm sorry. That scene wasn't over...I'm just a numbnut. And it's a short chapter... whoops. XD
--
Roy's face looked scared and Ed found himself pressed tightly against Roy's chest, his face in Roy's shoulder.
When Roy spoke, his voice sounded alien, not his own. "I'm sorry, Ed, so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he whispered and Ed realized his voice was abnormal because he was crying. Ed cried harder and hugged Roy as hard as he could.
--
"That one was so much better!"
"Jaws is a classic!"
"Deep Blue Sea is the Jaws of today!"
"It's-AHH!" Al drew his hand back from his glass of ice and soda, gripping it tightly with his other. He could taste it so potently on his tongue that it seemed like it must be dangerous to drink. He could feel every hair on his body acutely, feel his clothing come in contact with his skin. His eyelids felt foreign against his eyeballs and his teeth seemed strange and new in his mouth. He could feel absolutely everything acutely and it overwhelmed him into cowering down against himself, huddling away from all the foreign sensations assaulting him. Fuery waited quietly for it to pass. He'd seen enough of Al's little fits to know that Al didn't want to be touched or hugged- that would overwhelm him further- and talking to him didn't do much good either.
Al began breathing deeply, and he relaxed, a signal that his fit was over. He carefully reached for the glass again, testing the sensation of touching the cold glass with his hand. Whereas, the first few fits had left him with the same level of sensual awareness as before he'd had them, his most recent fits left him with sightly heightened senses. He was grateful, because this way gave him time to adjust to feeling things, instead of just plunging into a world of constant sensory overload.
Kain, suddenly playful, poked Al in the ribs. Al squeaked, jumping, then turning his head and staring at Kain, confusing creeping over his face.
"You're ticklish!" Kain said delightedly. Al considered his words. He knew what ticklish was, of course. Ed was ticklish. But it felt so weird and he didn't even really like it. Kain leaned forward again, both hands wriggling over Al's ribs. Al squeaked and giggled, trying to push his hands away. Kain pressed forward and Al grew frantic, slapping and pushing and laughing at Kain until he finally jumped to his feet to escape. Kain's grin was wide and true, happy, but lacking the maniacle glint most often seen when he was discussing horror films. Al had forgotten what they had been discussing before Kain had tickled him, and just stood there, grinning, a little embarrassed, at Kain, who just sat there grinning back.
--
"I think I really screwed up, Hughes."
"Where is he now?"
"Asleep. I put him to bed once he dozed off."
"Is it possible this cleared the air between you two?" Hughes sounded like he was clutching at straws.
"That's what I meant to do, but... I don't even know if I'll be able to look him in the face tomorrow. I don't know how he's going to act around me now... What if he's scared?"
"He's been worried before and you seemed to-"
"What I did was uncalled for, Maes! He didn't deserve it!"
"Did you apologize?"
"Yes!"
"Did you mean it?"
"Yes."
"Then I think you shouldn't worry until you see how he reacts to this whole thing."
Roy groaned. He couldn't just stop wondering if he could ever gain Ed's trust back.
"Look, Maes...I know you tried to help before, leaving me books and stuff and I never read them but now I think I might really need help."
"What can I do? I'll help you as much as I can, but..."
"You know I'm on vacation...would you and Elysia be able to have a playdate with us at the park or something?"
"Hn. Clever, Roy. So I can watch your interactions."
"Please, Maes. Anything I can get. I want to fix this."
Maes sighed. "You're probably overreacting. But we can get together this weekend."
"Thank you."
After he hung up, Roy checked on Ed. The boy was sleeping on his side, arms pulled in to his chest. Roy walked so the side of Ed's bed to pull the blanket up over Ed's shoulders and Ed made a little noise and opened his eyes.
"Rnghhg...Roy?"
"Go back to sleep, Ed." Roy tried to keep his tone even, fighting the fear in his heart that Ed hated him.
"Are you still mad?" Ed asked.
"No, Ed, I'm not mad. I'm sorry... I'm sorry I hit you."
Ed scrunched up his face unhappily. "It hurts."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just got frustrated and lost control," Roy said.
"But you're not mad anymore, right?" Ed sat up on his hip.
"No, I'm not mad anymore," Roy reassured him. Ed bit his lip and stared into Roy's eyes. Roy stared back, holding his breath waiting for Ed's judgement. Ed wrinkled his eyebrows miserably and collapsed on his stomach, his legs still twisted under him.
"It hurts," he repeated. Roy reached out to rub his back and say, "I'm sorry, Ed. I don't know how to make it stop."
Ed whined a little and bumped Roy's arm with his head. Roy climbed onto the bed next to Ed, cushioning himself against Ed. He settled down and held Ed against him tightly with one hand and stroked the blond hair with the other.
"Hey, do you want to meet Hughes and Elysia at the park this weekend?"
"Do I have to? He's annoying when he's doting on her."
Roy laughed gently, then waited for a real answer. Ed rolled to look at Roy's face.
"Pleeease?" Ed begged to be let off the hook.
"Pleeease?" For me?" Roy begged back. Ed pouted at him. Roy rolled him onto his back, hugging him and putting his forehead against Ed's.
"C'mon, Ed, pleeease?"
Ed half-giggled, half-grumbled, wriggling under Roy's arm playfully.
"C'mon, Ed, you know you want to say yes."
Ed started to shake his head when Roy reached down to tickle him under the ribs, making him thrash around.
"ROY!"
"C'mon, say yes," Roy told him, tickling harder.
"OK, stop it!" Ed laughed, rolling onto his stomach to get away. Roy let the boy crawl out of his arms, only to warily return to doze off in Roy's arms. The colonel didn't sleep all that well because he wasn't used to sleeping in that particular position, but Roy still had a good night, knowing that Ed still loved him enough to want to sleep up against him.
--
"Hullo?" Breda grunted, having just been awakened by his phone.
"It's me, Jean."
"What do you want?" Breda asked with much more interest in returning to his nap than Jean's answer.
"I'm kinda...bored. I don't know what I should do."
"Well," Breda yawned, "I'm napping. Call someone else."
"Oh, hey, c'mon man!"
Breda hung up.
Jean grumbled and dialled Fuery.
"Hello?"
"It's me, Jean. I'm bored."
"Um, OK..."
"We should do something."
"Suuure..." Fuery didn't know what he was agreeing to.
"What do you want to do?"
"Uh," Fuery stalled, trying to think of something nice and safe and normal to suggest. When Jean got restless, he was known to come up with strange things to do and Fuery wanted to avoid that if possible.
"What if we built a clock?" Fuery asked, glancing at the shoebox of parts on his table.
"Wanna blow one up?"
"Let's go visit the colonel and Al and Ed!" Fuery exclaimed, trying to distract Jean before he got fixed on the idea of blowing anything up.
Jean sighed heavily. "I donno...isn't Ed all...upset and stuff?"
"I think he's OK..."
"OK, let's go check," Jean said. Bored as he was, he seized the idea with sudden, unwarranted enthusiasm.
--
"Boss! Chief! Uh...Mini-Chief!"
Fuery cringed at Jean's name for Al. "Don't call him tha-"
The door opened and cut Fuery off.
"Hey," Al said warily. Fuery gave him an apologetic look and began to explain. He was cut off by Jean, who practically walked over Al to get in.
"Uh, Ed and Roy are, um, hang on!" Al turned to keep Jean from just barging in, to no avail. Jean was already in the living room where Ed was seated on the floor. Roy sat on the couch with Ed's shoulders between his knees, braiding the thick gold hair. Ed was wearing his black tank top and white boxers. He jumped a bit when Jean came through the door and Roy scolded him for not staying still.
"Yup. Boss'll braid it crooked if you start squirming," Jean said. Ed eyed him. He suddenly dropped to his knees to tickle Ed's tummy, making Ed flail and twist and push at Jean's hands. Roy barked in annoyance and Jean let up long enough for him to tie off the blond cord in his hand. Roy scooped Ed up on one arm and pulled him toward the stairs.
"C'mon, go get dressed."
Ed sniffed at him and ran upstairs, faintly embarrassed that Roy had pointed out his lack of pants.
"What are you doing here?" Roy asked Fuery and Havoc.
"He was bored, he dragged me along," Fuery quipped before Jean could give his explanation.
"Bored, huh?"
"Yeah," Jean admitted. Ed trotted back down the stairs and Jean scurried forward to scoop Ed up. Ed laughed and grabbed the shoulders of Jean's T-shirt for stability. Roy watched Ed's glee with a sudden feeling of loss. Ed was comfortable enough to cuddle with him, sure, but he never smiled like that when Roy picked him up.
Jean felt Roy's stare and glanced at the man. He frowned at the pained expression on Roy's face. Ed's eyes followed Jean's, and upon seeing Roy's face, became very anxious and wiggly.
"Roy?" he keened.
"Yes?" The look disappeared off Roy's face. Ed dropped from Jean's arms and ran over to him anyway, peering up into his face.
"Why don't you talk clock repair to Fuery while the Boss and I have a little talk, man to man," Jean said to Ed. Ed's confusion prevented him from objecting Roy and Jean stepping out the front door.
"Clock repair?"
Fuery shook his head.
"So, what's wrong with you and Ed?" Jean asked matter-of-factly, standing on the front step.
"Nothing," Roy muttered resentfully.
"Why don't you tell me? It'd take some serious indigestion for you to pull a face like that. I think it's more likely that the Chief's bothering you."
Roy sighed and looked down at the street.
"I...betrayed his trust and... He's not angry, or even scared of me, I don't think, but he's not happy with me. You just pick him up and he smiles like an angel."
"So it's kinda tense, huh? Do you try to play with him?"
"Well...no. I'm afraid of his reaction," Roy said calmly.
"The Chief's pretty playful."
"With you."
Jean quirked an eyebrow and Roy looked at him and sighed shortly.
"I'm sorry."
"Just go try."
"What do I even do?" Roy sounded exasperated.
"You-you don't know how to play?!"
"It's not something I specialize in," Roy said tersely. Jean just shook his head in disbelief.
"Pick him up, swing him around, tickle him. Hell, make faces at him. It's not complicated."
"And if he doesn't react well?"
Jean shrugged. "I'll cover you, Boss," he said to reassure Mustang. Roy bit his lip, then marched inside.
Ed glanced suspiciously at Roy and Jean when they walked in, which unnerved Roy. Fuery and Al were talking horror movies, specifically ones that used clocks as foreshadowing. Jean elbowed Roy and Ed looked more suspicious. Roy gave an awkward smile and picked Ed up. Which Ed was fine with. Ed was less fine with being swung around by the armpits, which he was too heavy for anyways.
"No!!" Ed managed to wrap around Roy, clinging with hands and legs.
"C'mon, it's OK." Roy bounced Ed and the blond glared at him in annoyance. Roy looked pleadingly at Jean. Jean looked at Ed.
"What were you talking about?" Ed demanded. Roy's face darkened at Ed's rudeness.
"You," Jean shot back. Ed bit the side of his lip, his suspicions confirmed.
"Why?"
"Because you won't play with the Boss here."
Roy's ears reddened and he shot a glare at Jean. Ed was more openly embarrassed, glancing back and forth between Roy and Jean. Jean elbowed Roy and the colonel stumbled forward, then scooped Ed up. Ed blushed, waiting for Roy's cue. After a moment, Roy dipped his head and rubbed his face in Ed's stomach. Ed squealed and kicked. Roy was flooded with joy. Ed pushed at his head and Roy pushed back, rubbing his nose against Ed's forehead. Ed squirmed, starting to drop from Roy's arms. Roy could only assist him, softening the impact. Then Ed was off, tearing around the kitchen. Roy caught him heading back to the living room and caught him up as he squealed excitedly. Al and Fuery just stared at Roy and Ed as they ran around crazily, Roy beginning to laugh while Ed shrieked and giggled.
--
A round of applause to Lullaby .28!! Of all my wonderful, encouraging reviews, hers inspired me the most to keep writing, and not to end this story, when I was teetering on the edge of doing so.