Hey guys! Thank you for all the lovely reviews, here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy, so don't forget to review! I'm trying to update as much as I can before I leave for camp.

And just in case you guys didn't know: Kain = Fuery, Jean = Havoc, Riza = Hawkeye, Heymans = Breda, Maes = Hughes

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own FMA. I'll tell you when I do.

Chapter Four:

Bets and Blushes

People were still staring at him, but it was less than before. And to be honest, Ed never really paid those people any mind anyway, choosing rather to emerge himself in this fictional book about two brothers who lost their mother and tried to bring her back with something called 'alchemy' and then ended up paying for it dearly. It was a rather interesting series, and Edward looked forward to reading the other books in the series. He couldn't help but wonder what he would do in that protagonist's situation, and his heart kind went out to him, for some unknown reason he didn't understand.

Winry had started talking to him again, and it was like she pretended that nothing had ever happened, and he couldn't blame her for that. When he texted Roy about it secretly in class, Roy said it was because he was a guy, and that it wouldn't have been the same if Ed had said he was dating a girl. Ed wondered if it was true, but shrugged to himself, not entirely caring. Winry and him were on good terms still, so it didn't really matter.

Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, he was meeting up with Roy after class to head to the cafeteria together. And strangely enough, the stares didn't bother him so much after Roy put his arm his shoulders and guided him to the cafeteria. He watched as Roy smiled at him, his arm was around his shoulders so naturally, pulling him close to the older teen's side.

And all he could think was that Roy was a really convincing actor.

"Took you guys fucking long enough." Jean said, grinning as he slid next to Riza at the cafeteria table, his lunch tray full of unhealthy things.

"What?" Ed and Roy asked simultaneously, both confused to what their friend could be referring to.

Kain, Heymans, Jean and Maes all exchanged knowing glances and Riza just raised her eyebrows. Even Alphonse gave them a look. Ignoring the glances, Ed continued to eat his lunch.

"And where the hell were all you guys yesterday?" Roy asked, wondering where all his friends could've gone, seeing as none of them had been present for lunch yesterday, although he had been a little bit too busy embarrassing Ed to notice at the time.

"I was at my darling little sister Elicia's school play yesterday! Do you wanna see some photos?" Maes asked, already pulling out twenty photos of his seven year old sister dressed as a raindrop for the elementary school's play of Itsy Bitsy Spider. Everyone groaned when he pulled out his plethora of photos, but nonetheless they all looked at the photos of the admittedly adorable little girl.

"I've been sick for the last four damn days, glad to see you noticed." Heymans muttered as he took a large bite of his meatball sub.

Jean laughed sheepishly before answering. "I had detention again..."

"Kain and I had a club meeting." Alphonse answered happily, munching on his salad.

"And I just simply didn't feel like be around you two lovebirds." She replied with a hint of a smirk turning the corner of her lips.

Jean laughed, before adding on to Riza's comment. "Guys, I'm almost a little offended that you didn't tell any of us first."

The rest of the group -excluding Ed and Roy- snickered with laughter, Jean holding his hand out for a high-five as Riza rolled her eyes but high-fived him anyway as the rest of the group tried to contain his laughter, Alphonse flushed red with mirth and Heymans barking out deep laughter. Roy and Ed both rolled their eyes, realizing they had failed to explain the situation to their friends.

After exchanging a few glances, with their telepathic mind best friend talk, they realized they weren't going to tell their friends they weren't actually dating, seeing as they -besides Riza, Kain and Al- were all rather loud and talkative people, and they didn't exactly want to risk the chance that their little act could be exposed. Besides, it might be fun to pull one over on their friends too.

"Breda, you owe me ten bucks." Jean told him, stretching out his hand and wiggling his fingers greedily, ready to take the money.

"Dammit..." Heymans muttered, fishing out his wallet from his pocket and grabbing a ten dollar bill. "I could've sworn that they wouldn't have gotten together until after winter break."

"What?" Ed squeaked as he flushed red, watching as his friends all exchange money according to their previously arranged bets.

Maes dutifully answered Edward's embarrassed question. "Well, Ed, we all knew that you two were gonna get together eventually. So we made it more interesting with betting on when one of you would finally get the balls to actually confess."

"What do you mean?" Roy asked, his interest piquing.

Maes laughed before replying. "Have you ever seen the way you two look at each other? It's like Romeo and Juliet... Only you two aren't dead, and one of you isn't a girl. I mean, you guys have always been super close and it's been six years, Roy. Andyou're both protective of each other, it's like you've been dating for years now. Hell, even Al thinks so."

Al blushed lightly at the mention of his name, but spoke anyway. "Well brother, it's true... You talk about Roy an awfully lot." He paused before speaking again. "Not that it's a bad thing!" He rushed to add, hoping not to embarrass his older brother. "I'm really glad that Roy makes you happy, brother."

Pushing up his glasses, Maes decided to add more evidence. "Remember that one year that Ed got sick? And it was such a minor little fever that Al could still go to school and not have to take care of him, but Roy-boy ditched the whole school day -even though there was a test that day- and made four pots full of porridge because he was worried."

The blond teen was flushed crimson, and even Roy's cheeks were dusted a light pink as well, and both avoided making eye contact with one another. Neither of them commented on anything their friends said, but they couldn't deny it either.

The rest of the school day had been uneventful, although Edward noticed the straight boys of the school whispered 'no homo' whenever he walked near them, like a protective prayer. How irritating.

Ed had to admit, his obsidian-eyed friend was a really good actor, he had easily convinced everyone in school that they really were an item, and hell, he had almost convinced Ed of it too. Which was preposterous, considering this was just something they had done so Ed wouldn't be chased by Winry or have to awkwardly reject her, thus ruining their friendship.

But really, they weren't dating. It was just a best friend lending him a hand.

As Edward closed his locker door and headed off to his last class of the day, he wondered why he got a little sad at the thought of that.

The blond walked out his last class as the bell rang, stopping by his locker to see Winry was standing there waiting for him. Curious, he approached his locker with caution. What if she had found out he and Roy weren't really dating?

"Hey Ed." Winry greeted him with a smile, waving.

Oh, maybe it really was nothing. Just Winry being friendly. Damn he was paranoid. "Hey Win." He greeted in return, opening his locker and shoving his textbooks and binders in before grabbing his bag and shutting the locker door.

Her smile grew, and her face flushed lightly before she continued. "Well, I just wanted to tell you that although you and Roy are dating -and I'm happy for you, really- I want you to know that I'll be here for you when -if- you two break up." She laughed heartily before walking down the hallway. "I don't give up that easily, chemistry freak!"

Well... Shit.

He didn't even get to explain that he's gay (which she already knows) and that means he wouldn't be interested in her like that. Ever. Guess he and Roy would be keeping up this pretend dating act for a while longer.

The corner of his mouth twitched upward upon the realization, although he couldn't figure out why.

Roy read the text from Ed that had the news of what Winry had told him at his locker. Nodding, Roy took a sip of his soda. So, he and Ed would have to continue to pretend to date. That wasn't such a bad thing, now was it? It's not like they had ever discussed on when they would go back to 'not dating'. But Roy knew that it would't be for a while, not while Winry was so determined to win Edward over. What didn't she understand about gay? Roy inwardly groaned, hoping she didn't think that she was one of those girls who could make a gay guy turn straight.

Ed had gone to go pick up a pizza for them with Alphonse, and so Roy was watching TV as he laid on the couch, waiting for Ed to return home. God, he sounded like a housewife waiting for her husband to return home from work.

The raven-haired boy wondered why did she want Ed anyway? Practically all the guys in school were falling head over heels for her and willing to do anything she said, and yet she had to fall for the one gay guy in the school? Besides, while Ed was admittedly good looking, he was temperamental and violent and a complete... Dork about some things. Like chemistry. That kid could talk about chemistry for hours, he could list the periodic table off of the tip of his tongue.

Although, Roy had to admit it was kinda almost... Cute... The way Ed's eyes would light up with that special spark when he talked about something he was interested in, and Roy wouldn't trade one of Ed's passionate talks for the world. The way he got so animated about a certain topic was so intriguing. It was like a fire got lit up inside of him as he explained these chemical reactions and Roy couldn't help but feel special that Ed shared his thoughts about it with him.

And he always stood up for others, and put his heart into whatever he did. You could tell that kid to bake cookies, and Ed -who sucked at cooking- would do his hardest to make the damn best cookies in the world. The blond was always there for his friends, even if he had to run out of his class to do it. He took care of Alphonse, even before his mother had died. Ed never let things peg him down or hold him back, he kept moving forward, and Roy would be lying if he said it wasn't inspiring.

But Ed was strong, he had faced his father leaving and his mother dying before his very eyes and held strong. He had been a small boy who wiped his tears and stood up strong and proud and did his best to make everything the best he could for Alphonse. He had become a father, mother and brother to that one little boy. But Roy had been there on the first anniversary of Trisha's death, and he had seen Ed's eyes shine with tears that he refused to let fall as he stared at the gravestone as Al wept openly, and Roy knew even back then that Ed was stronger than anyone had ever given him credit for.

Edward walked in, his cheeks rosy from the cold wind outside as he flashed a dazzling grin at Roy. "Hey Roy, we got your favorite tonight." He said while smiling brightly.

And for the first time, Roy realized that his best friend really was good looking. With that silky, beautiful golden hair that was so long and looked so soft... Those fiery gold eyes that had so much emotion in them you could drown, it was like staring in to the sun. He was short, but he was toned. His skin was naturally tanned and warm, and Roy knew it was soft.

"Hey Roy, why're you staring at me like that? You weirdo, just get your damn pizza." Ed muttered, blushing with embarrassment from having Roy's warm onyx eyes staring at him so intensely.

A blush rose to Roy's pale cheeks as he looked away from his friend and got his pizza. Wait. Was he really blushing? Eyes widening, he pressed one hand to his cheek to find it burning hot. Ed sent him a confused glance, and his cheeks burned hotter. Roy Mustang didn't blush. He just didn't. It was like a fact of life. But why would he blush just because he was looking at Edward?

Sitting on the couch and taking a rather large bite of his pizza, he gave it some thought. There was only one answer he could think of, but that couldn't be right, now could it? A automail finger flicked his forehead, and he noticed Ed was standing and holding out a soda can for him.

"You idiot, pay attention." Ed muttered fondly, a warm smile spreading across his face. Roy's heart pounded in his chest as he stared at that seemingly brilliant smile.

Well... Shit.

To Be Continued

Hope you enjoyed! I wrote this immediately after the third chapter, but I decided to wait a little before posting it. I'm not very fond of this chapter, but I hope you liked it. Don't forget to review!

NOTE: About the ages of characters for Trisha's first anniversary. Remember, Roy is two years older than Ed, but they're both seniors. They've known each other since seventh grade (six years) and Roy's 18, Ed's 16, which means they would've first met when Roy was 12 and Ed was 10. I'm gonna say Trisha died when Ed was 9.