The Seed of the Fire- Chapter 11: "Reunion of Souls" (Mustang x Hughes)
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Title: Reunion of Souls (The Seed of the Fire- Chapter 11)
Author: SeaweedOtter
Pairing: Roy Mustang x Maes Hughes
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: AU, Set before the anime started, while Maes and Roy were roommates at the military academy.
Author Note: The story is going to start following a bit more of the manga, although it may have elements of both later.
Summary: Sometimes, reunions are not always a happy thing.
Read all of the chapters so far HERE!
There was nothing but relief on Maes' face when he saw the onyx eyed man standing in front of him. Roy's fingers shook for a moment, then his arm fell limply to his side. His knees felt rubbery and he managed to whisper "Maes?" one more time before dropping to his knees, the palms of his hand slapping hard at the wooden floor.
Maes hardly managed to drop his duffle bag and close the door with a kick before running to the lump of a man on the floor. He gently put his arms around Roy and hugged him tight, rocking him softly. "I missed you Roy. I missed you. I am sorry. I tried to write you but I didn't know what to say, and I just kept throwing my letters away."
Roy looked up at Maes for what looked like the first time ever, gold green eyes to black, and Maes almost recoiled. "Roy, you look awful. What did they do to you there? You are all skin and bones. Your face looks so hollow. Are you.."
With a strength that such a skinny man shouldn't posess, Roy took grabed Maes' arms and gripped them tight, threating to cut off the taller man's circulation. Roy shook him like a rag doll. "Please.. please tell me they didn't send you there. I don't want you to die. Please tell me you aren't going."
He knew what the alchemist meant. He sighed, softly pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. Gently he shook one arm away from Roy's grasp and reached into his pocket, handing Roy the piece of paper. Roy let go and read softly, his eyes scanning the lines of text. The paper fluttered softly to the floor.
"So that is it, then. We are destined to die together in the deserts of Hell."
Maes sighed and picked up the paper, folding it back and putting it back in his pocket. "We don't know what will happen when we get there. It is actually almost better that the fighting picked up, or else you as an alchemist wouldn't have been sent in, and it would have been me by myself out there. I talked to General Grumman, and he is going to arrange for us to be in the same unit. They are assigning one or two alchemists to every unit of foot soldiers." He paused for a second, not wanting to continue, but knowing that Roy needed to know everything.
"There is something else, Roy. Hawkeye, his granddaughter, is going to be there as well. Apparently she did so well as a sniper that they are rushing her through training. She will be there as the sniper for our unit. I am sorry, Roy. I know you didn't want to hear that." Gently, he put a hand on Roy's shoulder.
"Will you.. ever forgive me, Maes?" Roy finally looked back up, his eyes red rimmed and moist.
Maes looked grimly at Roy, confusion dotting his face. "I care about you too much not to, Roy. You should know that. I think what we need to do is grab some lunch and have a nice long talk. But I don't think either of us are really up to going out. I know a nice Xingian place that delivers. How does that sound? We can talk over some noodles."
Roy nodded, a small gentle smile coming to his face for the first time in longer than he could remember. "You.. know what I like?" he asked hesitantly. Maes smiled, a mischevious smile. "Well, I would like to think so, but since I think you mean what kind of noodles you like, then yes. I remember." He patted his friend's shoulder again and got up to use the phone.
______________________________________________________________________________
Half an hour later, they were chatting amiciably about the rigors of the various training that they had had to endure over the past 6 months.
"Oh, don't get me started. You are lucky you didn't have Colonel Sherman to train you. We called him 'Tank Head'. He was as strong, and as dumb as a tank." Maes smiled and loudly slurped another mouthful of noodles into his mouth, splashing some of the sauce onto the side of his cheek.
Roy couldn't help but laugh softly. He wanted to do nothing more than to lean over and lick the sauce off of his lover's cheek. He leaned just the slightest bit forward, but then he hesitated, not sure if he should. Maes didn't move for a moment either, waiting to see what Roy would do. When he didn't do anything else, Maes sighed and licked the sauce off of his cheek, his disapointment apparent.
"We have been avoiding the topic for too long, Roy. We need to talk about it."
Roy sighed and rubbed his temples. He felt a headache coming on. "I know, Maes. I know." He put down his noodles and scooted a little closer to the taller man. "Let me start, please." Maes nodded and put down his food as well.
"I didn't know that what I was doing was making you jealous. I really didn't mean anything by it. I know you don't want to believe me, but it is true. I guess over the years it became such a habit that I didn't even realize that I was flirting with her. When I told you that you know who I will always come home to, I meant that as well. I don't want that waitress. I want you."
Maes nodded, but stayed silent. His mind was a jumble of conflicting emotions. He had a million questions, but he didn't know what to ask. His mouth opened, but no words came out.
"Are... you okay, Maes?" Roy looked worried. Without even thinking his hand reached out for Maes, gently stroking at the side of his face. He shivered, but didn't pull away. His shoulders slumped just a little, and with his release of breath, he seemed to relax just a little under Roy's touch.
"I... I just need to know, Roy. Has there.. been anyone else? At the academy, or during training?"
Roy shook his head and gently put cupped his hand under Maes' chin, pulling their faces close. "I swear on everything that I hold sacred that there has not been anyone, Maes." He saw the fire in the young alchemist's eyes, blazing onyx pools of liquid fire.
Maes nodded. "I believe you. I guess I just need some time to get my head wrapped around all of this."
Roy leaned in and gave Maes a chaste kiss on the end of his nose. "I am not going anywhere. I will be here." He let go, grabbed the noodles and got up, pulling up his chair where it had clattered to the floor when he stood up suddenly and went back to the desk where he re-opened the alchemy book he had been reading. He knew his lover needed some time alone. They had been apart so damn long, and Roy wanted to hold him and kiss him and never let go, but he knew what the man needed, and he put his own feelings aside.
"I am gonna go for a walk, Roy. I will be back." Roy nodded and smiled.
"Have a good walk, love." he replied, not realizing what he had said until after it left his mouth. He looked to Maes, who had a slightly surprised smile on his face.
"I will."
_____________________________________________________________________________
Later in the evening, Roy had started a fire in the fireplace, and the last of the noodles had been consumed. Maes iddly poked at the fire with a stick, and Roy finished the book that he had been devouring all day, closing it with a satisfied thud.
Maes smiled and looked over at the source of the loud noise. "Okay, now that you have announced to the world that you are done, did you enjoy it?"
"Well, from a reading standpoint, it was horribly boring, but from an academic standpoint, it was very informative about the history of alchemy."
The older man rolled his eyes. "Oh, how interesting that sounds. I must put it on my summer reading list." he said in a snooty, librarian tone of voice.
Roy got up and sat down beside Maes and put an arm around his shoulder. "You just wait. I will make you an alchemy fan yet. How do you think we got this fire going?"
"I can do the same thing with a little flint and tinder."
"Yeah, but it isn't as pretty as this..." Before Maes could say a word, Roy quickly slipped on his glove and snapped, creating a tiny burst of fire that danced mere inches off of his glove. He made it move, dancing and swaying to the light air currents of the room for a few minutes. It entranced Maes, who watched the firelight reflect in his lovers eyes, before Roy squelched it by grabbing it in his fist and closing it tight.
Roy's brow was sweating by the end, and his breath was slightly ragged. "I.. never told anyone how much control it really takes to manipulate fire. It looks so easy to others when I simply snap my fingers, but they have no idea how much concentration I need to control the air currents and keep the alchemic reaction for fire going. I have to control its strength, size, and direction, and I need to make it look effortless. "
Maes nodded his head. "You do make it look effortless. I guess I never realized how much goes into it. I really don't know much about alchemy. But it is good to know that if I wanted to, I would have a good teacher." he reached over and playfully tossled Roy's hair.
"Hey!" Roy grumbled, glad that he had the quick sense to take off his glove before trying to flatten his hair again. He had already lost clumps of his deep black locks to a static electricity spark when he was younger, but he didn't think Maes needed to know about that little incident.
Roy yawned and stretched his arms wide. "I don't know about you, but I am taking advantage of the few days that we have here to catch up on about 6 months worth of sleep. I can only imagine it will be worse, where we are going."
"That sounds good." Maes stood up and took a couple of steps towards the bathroom, then looked back over his shoulder. "Roy?"
"Yeah, Maes?"
"Are we...er.. sharing a bed?"
"Well, I guess that is up to you. I would love to, if you will have me in the same bed as you."
"I.. would like that." Maes embarassingly rubbed at the back of his hair.
"Alright then, it is settled. Don't spend too much time in the bathroom there. Heaven knows it is too late to try to improve your looks!"
All Roy got for his efforts was a towel in the face.
Title: Reunion of Souls (The Seed of the Fire- Chapter 11)
Author: SeaweedOtter
Pairing: Roy Mustang x Maes Hughes
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: AU, Set before the anime started, while Maes and Roy were roommates at the military academy.
Author Note: The story is going to start following a bit more of the manga, although it may have elements of both later.
Summary: Sometimes, reunions are not always a happy thing.
Read all of the chapters so far HERE!
There was nothing but relief on Maes' face when he saw the onyx eyed man standing in front of him. Roy's fingers shook for a moment, then his arm fell limply to his side. His knees felt rubbery and he managed to whisper "Maes?" one more time before dropping to his knees, the palms of his hand slapping hard at the wooden floor.
Maes hardly managed to drop his duffle bag and close the door with a kick before running to the lump of a man on the floor. He gently put his arms around Roy and hugged him tight, rocking him softly. "I missed you Roy. I missed you. I am sorry. I tried to write you but I didn't know what to say, and I just kept throwing my letters away."
Roy looked up at Maes for what looked like the first time ever, gold green eyes to black, and Maes almost recoiled. "Roy, you look awful. What did they do to you there? You are all skin and bones. Your face looks so hollow. Are you.."
With a strength that such a skinny man shouldn't posess, Roy took grabed Maes' arms and gripped them tight, threating to cut off the taller man's circulation. Roy shook him like a rag doll. "Please.. please tell me they didn't send you there. I don't want you to die. Please tell me you aren't going."
He knew what the alchemist meant. He sighed, softly pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. Gently he shook one arm away from Roy's grasp and reached into his pocket, handing Roy the piece of paper. Roy let go and read softly, his eyes scanning the lines of text. The paper fluttered softly to the floor.
"So that is it, then. We are destined to die together in the deserts of Hell."
Maes sighed and picked up the paper, folding it back and putting it back in his pocket. "We don't know what will happen when we get there. It is actually almost better that the fighting picked up, or else you as an alchemist wouldn't have been sent in, and it would have been me by myself out there. I talked to General Grumman, and he is going to arrange for us to be in the same unit. They are assigning one or two alchemists to every unit of foot soldiers." He paused for a second, not wanting to continue, but knowing that Roy needed to know everything.
"There is something else, Roy. Hawkeye, his granddaughter, is going to be there as well. Apparently she did so well as a sniper that they are rushing her through training. She will be there as the sniper for our unit. I am sorry, Roy. I know you didn't want to hear that." Gently, he put a hand on Roy's shoulder.
"Will you.. ever forgive me, Maes?" Roy finally looked back up, his eyes red rimmed and moist.
Maes looked grimly at Roy, confusion dotting his face. "I care about you too much not to, Roy. You should know that. I think what we need to do is grab some lunch and have a nice long talk. But I don't think either of us are really up to going out. I know a nice Xingian place that delivers. How does that sound? We can talk over some noodles."
Roy nodded, a small gentle smile coming to his face for the first time in longer than he could remember. "You.. know what I like?" he asked hesitantly. Maes smiled, a mischevious smile. "Well, I would like to think so, but since I think you mean what kind of noodles you like, then yes. I remember." He patted his friend's shoulder again and got up to use the phone.
______________________________________________________________________________
Half an hour later, they were chatting amiciably about the rigors of the various training that they had had to endure over the past 6 months.
"Oh, don't get me started. You are lucky you didn't have Colonel Sherman to train you. We called him 'Tank Head'. He was as strong, and as dumb as a tank." Maes smiled and loudly slurped another mouthful of noodles into his mouth, splashing some of the sauce onto the side of his cheek.
Roy couldn't help but laugh softly. He wanted to do nothing more than to lean over and lick the sauce off of his lover's cheek. He leaned just the slightest bit forward, but then he hesitated, not sure if he should. Maes didn't move for a moment either, waiting to see what Roy would do. When he didn't do anything else, Maes sighed and licked the sauce off of his cheek, his disapointment apparent.
"We have been avoiding the topic for too long, Roy. We need to talk about it."
Roy sighed and rubbed his temples. He felt a headache coming on. "I know, Maes. I know." He put down his noodles and scooted a little closer to the taller man. "Let me start, please." Maes nodded and put down his food as well.
"I didn't know that what I was doing was making you jealous. I really didn't mean anything by it. I know you don't want to believe me, but it is true. I guess over the years it became such a habit that I didn't even realize that I was flirting with her. When I told you that you know who I will always come home to, I meant that as well. I don't want that waitress. I want you."
Maes nodded, but stayed silent. His mind was a jumble of conflicting emotions. He had a million questions, but he didn't know what to ask. His mouth opened, but no words came out.
"Are... you okay, Maes?" Roy looked worried. Without even thinking his hand reached out for Maes, gently stroking at the side of his face. He shivered, but didn't pull away. His shoulders slumped just a little, and with his release of breath, he seemed to relax just a little under Roy's touch.
"I... I just need to know, Roy. Has there.. been anyone else? At the academy, or during training?"
Roy shook his head and gently put cupped his hand under Maes' chin, pulling their faces close. "I swear on everything that I hold sacred that there has not been anyone, Maes." He saw the fire in the young alchemist's eyes, blazing onyx pools of liquid fire.
Maes nodded. "I believe you. I guess I just need some time to get my head wrapped around all of this."
Roy leaned in and gave Maes a chaste kiss on the end of his nose. "I am not going anywhere. I will be here." He let go, grabbed the noodles and got up, pulling up his chair where it had clattered to the floor when he stood up suddenly and went back to the desk where he re-opened the alchemy book he had been reading. He knew his lover needed some time alone. They had been apart so damn long, and Roy wanted to hold him and kiss him and never let go, but he knew what the man needed, and he put his own feelings aside.
"I am gonna go for a walk, Roy. I will be back." Roy nodded and smiled.
"Have a good walk, love." he replied, not realizing what he had said until after it left his mouth. He looked to Maes, who had a slightly surprised smile on his face.
"I will."
_____________________________________________________________________________
Later in the evening, Roy had started a fire in the fireplace, and the last of the noodles had been consumed. Maes iddly poked at the fire with a stick, and Roy finished the book that he had been devouring all day, closing it with a satisfied thud.
Maes smiled and looked over at the source of the loud noise. "Okay, now that you have announced to the world that you are done, did you enjoy it?"
"Well, from a reading standpoint, it was horribly boring, but from an academic standpoint, it was very informative about the history of alchemy."
The older man rolled his eyes. "Oh, how interesting that sounds. I must put it on my summer reading list." he said in a snooty, librarian tone of voice.
Roy got up and sat down beside Maes and put an arm around his shoulder. "You just wait. I will make you an alchemy fan yet. How do you think we got this fire going?"
"I can do the same thing with a little flint and tinder."
"Yeah, but it isn't as pretty as this..." Before Maes could say a word, Roy quickly slipped on his glove and snapped, creating a tiny burst of fire that danced mere inches off of his glove. He made it move, dancing and swaying to the light air currents of the room for a few minutes. It entranced Maes, who watched the firelight reflect in his lovers eyes, before Roy squelched it by grabbing it in his fist and closing it tight.
Roy's brow was sweating by the end, and his breath was slightly ragged. "I.. never told anyone how much control it really takes to manipulate fire. It looks so easy to others when I simply snap my fingers, but they have no idea how much concentration I need to control the air currents and keep the alchemic reaction for fire going. I have to control its strength, size, and direction, and I need to make it look effortless. "
Maes nodded his head. "You do make it look effortless. I guess I never realized how much goes into it. I really don't know much about alchemy. But it is good to know that if I wanted to, I would have a good teacher." he reached over and playfully tossled Roy's hair.
"Hey!" Roy grumbled, glad that he had the quick sense to take off his glove before trying to flatten his hair again. He had already lost clumps of his deep black locks to a static electricity spark when he was younger, but he didn't think Maes needed to know about that little incident.
Roy yawned and stretched his arms wide. "I don't know about you, but I am taking advantage of the few days that we have here to catch up on about 6 months worth of sleep. I can only imagine it will be worse, where we are going."
"That sounds good." Maes stood up and took a couple of steps towards the bathroom, then looked back over his shoulder. "Roy?"
"Yeah, Maes?"
"Are we...er.. sharing a bed?"
"Well, I guess that is up to you. I would love to, if you will have me in the same bed as you."
"I.. would like that." Maes embarassingly rubbed at the back of his hair.
"Alright then, it is settled. Don't spend too much time in the bathroom there. Heaven knows it is too late to try to improve your looks!"
All Roy got for his efforts was a towel in the face.