Simple Offer - Chapter 6
*hides behind text*
Title: Simple Offer
Rating: NC17 overall (PG 13 this chapter)
Pairing: Roy/Ed
Warnings: Spoilers for the series, Yaoi, AU
Disclaimer: I'm playing with them, I don't OWN them.
Summary: A little offer and what came out of it.
~Sixth Time~
Roy felt the person lying next to him. His warmth was radiating from his body. He reached one hand out to pat the teen next to him in his bed. But there wasn't the young blonde in his bed but somebody with a scratchy military uniform who sighed deeply as Roy patted his knee. The colonel's eyes flew open and he looked at his hand still resting on the knee in blue military pants. He swallowed deeply and pulled his hand back. He knew exactly who was sitting in his bed with his boots still on. He hadn't the courage to look up just yet.
“We both know that you're awake so you could at least say 'Good morning'.”
“Good morning.”
The older man snorted but didn't move from his place. Roy turned on his back and looked up at his oldest friend. Hughes mouth was a thin line and he was playing with one of his knives. Roy didn't know what to say and just starred at Maes who had no intention to look at him. The younger man sat up and stretched. He felt pretty good for someone who had been ill just a day ago.
“I thought we already had this discussion, Roy.”
The colonel looked to Hughes and raised an eyebrow.
“Discussion?”
The knife missed him by mere centimetres and he knew that if Hughes had intended to wound him he would have done.
“Don't play dumb with me, Roy. I'm not in the mood for it, not at all.”
Hughes' voice was calm but you could hear the anger behind it and Roy did good at not fuelling the fire even more. He swallowed and looked at his lap.
“There wasn't anything between us. He was just sleeping here with me because he said he can't sleep alone.”
“So now it's all Ed's fault?! He wanted to sleep with you because he couldn't sleep alone? He's 15, Roy. 15 for God's sake!”
“I know how old he is!” Roy snapped and couldn't suppress his own anger any longer. What did Maes think of him? That he was some child molester trying to get Ed in his bed? What the hell? Hughes looked at him - his eyes cold and angry.
“So when you know how old he is can you tell me what he's doing with those books in the library?”
Now Roy thought that Maes had gone insane. He raised an eyebrow again and searched his friend's face to find the joke behind his question.
“He's reading them? That's what books are for, Maes. I don't know...”
“Yes you don't know. He's reading about all that. About that whole gender thing and what he's feeling for you and you give him hope by inviting him in your bed and he's reading more books on it and gets to know that it is wrong.”
Roy couldn't follow him any more. What was Hughes talking about? Books and feelings? He knitted his brows and watched as Maes struggled not to punch him in his face.
“I already talked to him about sexuality that there is no right or wrong when you're in love. But.. but now...” The older man put his glasses down and rubbed his temples. “He has read about being gay and that it is wrong and now he thinks he is worse than before he knew he was gay.” The Lieutenant Colonel's voice was low. He knew that it wasn't really Roy's fault that Ed thought bad of himself. He had done that before - mostly because of the sin he had committed. And now of the 'ultimate' sin - loving another man and not a girl. Maes rubbed his eyes. He heard Roy swallow loudly.
“And how exactly is that my fault?”
Maes shook his head.
“It's not. I.. I just wanted to find somebody I could scream at for all the things the kid has to go through.” He leaned back an let his head rest on the backrest of Roy's bed. “I don't know.. what I should tell him. He asked me and told me in the same breath that he knows that it is wrong.” He sighed heavily and looked at Roy. “Can't you talk to him? You have more experience in that kind of situation. You have been with men after all.”
Roy regarded his friend for a long moment and nodded.
“I understand what you mean but... being with men doesn't mean that I exactly know what Ed is going through. We were always discreet and I didn't have to read books on it. My foster mother made sure that I would know every form of love coming along in live.” He sighed and scratched his head. “But I can still talk to him - as a friend. And you should talk to him as well. As his father or as close as a father you are to him.”
Hughes nodded and got off the bed leaving dusty marks on the sheets.
“I'll help you to wash them.”
“You could have avoided that by pulling them off as you sat on my bed.”
“But I was mad at you. I couldn't think about getting my boots off without wanting to throw one at your head.”
Roy snorted but made his way to his bathroom stopping on the threshold.
“Where's Edward?”
“In the library with his brother but he will be back later. I told him to come back.”
Roy nodded and closed the bathroom door behind himself to get washed up. Hughes made his way downstairs finding Ed already sitting on the couch expecting one or both of them.
“You're back early. I hadn't expected you back before lunch or even later.”
The teen just nodded and looked up at the older man.
“I couldn't concentrate and Al told me to get some fresh air and if that didn't help I should go back here to ask you what you wanted to talk to me. I think I was annoying him.”
Hughes sat beside Ed on the couch looking at the hearth. He sighed deeply. He wished Ed had come back later because now he not yet knew what to tell him.
“You told me this morning something. Some things you had read in books from the library.”
Ed looked up to the older man then down to his hands resting on his lap.
“Yeah...”
“Does your brother know what you're reading about when it's not about alchemy?”
Ed's eyes grew wide but he didn't look up. Hughes could feel the tension in the teen's body. That was answer enough for him - Al didn't know and shouldn't probably know about his brother's... liking.
“I see.”
The older man rubbed over his chin and leaned back.
“I... know that it is wrong. I.. shouldn't even think about it. But I can't... I can't help it. Every time... It happens all the time when I'm here...”
“What happens, Ed?”
The teen blushed and rolled his eyes.
“Every time he looks at me I feel.. good and my heart starts beating faster.. and when he smiles...” He swallowed and had to suppress an idiotic smile. “When he actually smiles at me than I don't know if I can resist the urge to just throw myself at him.”
Hughes nodded crossing his arms over his chest. He licked over his lips and tried to find the words to make Ed understand that there wasn't anything wrong about loving another man - maybe he should have started with somebody his own age or only some years older (not 14). But he knew Ed too well - the kid didn't get along with people his own age and was mostly surrounded by men at least twice his age. He sighed heavily.
“You maybe shouldn't throw yourself at him as long as he doesn't know what kind of feelings you have for him but loving another man isn't bad, Edward.”
The teen and the older man looked up at the other man coming down the stairs. The colonel still had a towel around his neck and looked mostly as if he had just came out of the shower. The teen was stunned into silence not only by Roy's appearance but also by the man's words. Hughes already thought that now everything would be good for Ed - as the man he longed for declared that it wasn't bad to love another man. But how wrong he was...
“What.. What the hell would you know?! How dare you listen to what Hughes and I are talking about? How dare you for talking as if you would know anything about it?!”
Roy looked down at Ed - his eyes gone cold and his mask in place. Hughes hadn't thought that this could turn into an argument of some sorts.
“What I do know? I know a lot more about those kind of things than you would ever presume.”
“Sure you would with you sleeping with every available women over 18 in this town.”
“Jealous, Edward?”
“You wish!”
With that the teen stormed out of Roy's house banging the front door behind him loudly. Hughes gasped at the closed door. Roy still looked angry and made his way to the kitchen.
As angry as was he brewed coffee and made some toast he could eat. There was still the pot with chicken soup standing on the kitchen counter. At first he intended to just throw it away but then his expressions softened at the memory of Ed sitting at his kitchen table eating and apple and reading a cookbook - of all the books available to him. He sat down with a mug and dry toast - not even looking at it.
“I never thought he would explode like that. I really thought... I don't know what I thought...”
Hughes took a cup of coffee and sat opposite from Roy. The older man was totally disturbed by what just had happened. This morning he was angry at Roy as he found Ed in Roy's bed looking at the older man rather lovingly but than after Ed's declaration and Roy's answer - he had been sure that Ed would be relieved.
“Nobody knows how Ed will react. He's … 15... just a teenager...” He sighed heavily. “Sometimes we forget that too easily.”
The two men sipped their coffee in silence. Roy was still on ill leave and he didn't have to go to work until the coming week and he was glad for it. There were still three days left to righten the thing with Edward - to make him believe that he didn't do anything wrong and to get him back here. Roy hated to admit it - but every time the blonde was here he felt rather comfortable with him and liked to have him around.
“Do you know a Juliet Douglas?”
Roy looked up from his mug and eyed his friend suspiciously.
“Should I know her?”
“No, not really. She's Bradley's secretary and there is something off about her.” The older man sighed heavily. “But if you don't know her it's maybe just my imagination running wild.”
“Is that the reason you came by?”
“Mostly and because you were ill of course.”
“'Of Course'.”
An hour later the telephone rang and brought them back to reality. Hughes had been snoring on Roy's armchair - he had been on a train all night and was tired - and Roy had been reading some reports Hawkeye had left him when they had brought him to his house.
“Mustang.”
“Colonel? It's Alphonse.... Is my brother with you? He said he would be going to Mr Hughes and I wanted to know when he's coming back. It's nearly lunch time and he hadn't had any breakfast...”
“Sorry Alphonse, but Ed isn't here.”
“But Mr Hughes is with you and Nii-san said he would come and see him....”
“Ed was here, that's right. But he has already left over an hour ago. So he hasn't come back to you?”
He heard the shuffling of the armour at the other end of the line.
“No he hasn't... I...I'll go and...”
“Calm down, Alphonse. Hughes and I will go searching for him. East City isn't as big as Central. We will find him. You'll stay at the library if Ed goes there. I'll call you or bring him to you if he wants. Okay?”
“Okay. I don't know why he didn't come back... He has never done something like that before...”
“We'll find him. I promise, Alphonse.”
“Thank you, Colonel. Good-bye.”
“Good-bye, Alphonse.”
The raven-haired man hung up and turned to his friend who was already waiting with his coat over his arm.
“I'll give you 5 minutes. If you're not down by that time I'm going alone.”
Roy just nodded and made his way upstairs throwing on a pair of loose fitting pants and a pullover. He ran downstairs getting his shoes on and his coat from the coat rack. Both men rushed out of the door stopping on the porch to discuss where they should begin their search coming to the conclusion it would be best to start at the nearby park as it lay on the way to the library.
They had been searching for almost an hour - the park was larger than it seemed from the outside - as they found Ed sitting on a swing with his head bent. It was an abandoned playground and there was nobody around to take notice of the teen with the red coat. They made their way over to the blonde - Roy staying mostly in the background so that Ed wouldn't leap out on him or run away again.
Hughes knelled down in front of Ed and reached his hand out to touch the teen - to get his attention. But even before Hughes' hand had made contact with the blonde's shoulder he looked up - with red eyes and flushed cheeks. Maes didn't have to ask him what he had been doing here.
“Hey.”
The older man said softly and stroked over tear stained cheeks. The teen sniffed as some kind of response but let Hughes do what he wanted to do. Hughes got an tissue from his pocket and handed it to Ed who took it thankfully and blew his nose.
“How did you find me?”
“Alphonse called to ask when you will be back as it was lunch time and you hadn't had anything for breakfast.”
The blonde looked to Roy whose cold mask was back on his face. Ed searched the man's face for any emotion - anger, hurt, relieve, something. But he found none and looked down at his hands again.
“Sorry. For worrying you. I hadn't the intention … to do it...”
“You still did it.”
“Roy...”
“Don't Roy me, Maes. He ran away because.. I don't even know why... He just run away without letting his brother know where he was. He worried Alphonse... and he worried us.”
At the 'us' Ed's head snapped up. So he did matter to the Colonel. Roy had meanwhile blushed at his own revelation. He hadn't meant to say it but he still meant it.
“Come on, Full - Edward. We'll bring you to your brother.”
The teen stood up as Hughes did but the older man put a hand on the teen's shoulder.
“Edward shouldn't go back to Alphonse the way he looks now. There would be... questions I don't think Ed wants to answer just now.”
Said blonde looked up at the Lieutenant Colonel and appreciated the thoughtfulness of the older man. With his eyes red from crying and a somewhat throaty voice he couldn't go back to his younger brother. Roy just looked at both and shrugged. Better to get the teen home and let him freshen up a bit before he had to see his younger brother and had to explain why he had left Roy and Hughes without coming straight back to Alphonse.
It didn't take long for them to get back to Roy's house. Ed went right away into the guest bathroom to get some cold water into his face. It felt good on his reddened eyes and nose and he felt a lot better - being here in this house. But now he had to apologise for his behaviour. He hated to admit that he had acted like a teenager and was sorry he had been screaming at Roy - he hadn't wanted to do that. He wanted to go back to this morning when he woke up in the Colonel's arms. He had blushed furiously and scooted a bit back so that there was some space between them. But he had stayed in bed - resisting the urge to stroke the thick black hair. It had felt good and he couldn't find anything wrong about feeling what he did for the Colonel. But there were others who knew it was wrong - why should they write books about it being wrong if it wasn't wrong? There were a lot of morons out there writing books about who-knew-what but... but there should be something about what they were writing... as there were a lot of people out there writing about it and that it should happen between a man and a woman and not two men. He sighed heavily and put the towel back on the hook next to the washstand before he went into the living room.
Hughes and Roy were already waiting for him with coffee and some sandwiches. He was hungry he had to admit and took a sip of his coffee before he bent down and took one of the sandwiches. Hughes was sitting on the armchair and Roy on the sofa. Carefully the teen sat next to his Commanding Officer. Should he start by apologising right away or wait until one of the older men had said something? Roy was making the decision for him.
“About this morning, Ed. We should really talk about it.”
The teen swallowed the last bite of his sandwich and turned to the Colonel.
“I.. I'm sorry for what I did this morning... I didn't want to scream at you or anything...”
“Ed, I'm used to you screaming at me. It's the … other part of this morning we should talk about.”
The blonde looked down and swallowed.
“Oh...”
“I meant what I said, Edward. There is nothing wrong with you liking men.”
“But... there are all this books and... they always always they it is wrong.”
The Colonel gave a small laugh at that and put his hand on Ed's shoulder so that the teen would look up at him.
“Believe me: There is nothing wrong about it.”
“Love is love - no matter where it came from.”
They looked at Hughes who was smiling sadly at the teen and the older man sitting next to him.
“Sadly that most people just forget that.”
(05) | (chapter index) | (07)
*sneaks off... and hopes nobody has seen her*
Title: Simple Offer
Rating: NC17 overall (PG 13 this chapter)
Pairing: Roy/Ed
Warnings: Spoilers for the series, Yaoi, AU
Disclaimer: I'm playing with them, I don't OWN them.
Summary: A little offer and what came out of it.
~Sixth Time~
Roy felt the person lying next to him. His warmth was radiating from his body. He reached one hand out to pat the teen next to him in his bed. But there wasn't the young blonde in his bed but somebody with a scratchy military uniform who sighed deeply as Roy patted his knee. The colonel's eyes flew open and he looked at his hand still resting on the knee in blue military pants. He swallowed deeply and pulled his hand back. He knew exactly who was sitting in his bed with his boots still on. He hadn't the courage to look up just yet.
“We both know that you're awake so you could at least say 'Good morning'.”
“Good morning.”
The older man snorted but didn't move from his place. Roy turned on his back and looked up at his oldest friend. Hughes mouth was a thin line and he was playing with one of his knives. Roy didn't know what to say and just starred at Maes who had no intention to look at him. The younger man sat up and stretched. He felt pretty good for someone who had been ill just a day ago.
“I thought we already had this discussion, Roy.”
The colonel looked to Hughes and raised an eyebrow.
“Discussion?”
The knife missed him by mere centimetres and he knew that if Hughes had intended to wound him he would have done.
“Don't play dumb with me, Roy. I'm not in the mood for it, not at all.”
Hughes' voice was calm but you could hear the anger behind it and Roy did good at not fuelling the fire even more. He swallowed and looked at his lap.
“There wasn't anything between us. He was just sleeping here with me because he said he can't sleep alone.”
“So now it's all Ed's fault?! He wanted to sleep with you because he couldn't sleep alone? He's 15, Roy. 15 for God's sake!”
“I know how old he is!” Roy snapped and couldn't suppress his own anger any longer. What did Maes think of him? That he was some child molester trying to get Ed in his bed? What the hell? Hughes looked at him - his eyes cold and angry.
“So when you know how old he is can you tell me what he's doing with those books in the library?”
Now Roy thought that Maes had gone insane. He raised an eyebrow again and searched his friend's face to find the joke behind his question.
“He's reading them? That's what books are for, Maes. I don't know...”
“Yes you don't know. He's reading about all that. About that whole gender thing and what he's feeling for you and you give him hope by inviting him in your bed and he's reading more books on it and gets to know that it is wrong.”
Roy couldn't follow him any more. What was Hughes talking about? Books and feelings? He knitted his brows and watched as Maes struggled not to punch him in his face.
“I already talked to him about sexuality that there is no right or wrong when you're in love. But.. but now...” The older man put his glasses down and rubbed his temples. “He has read about being gay and that it is wrong and now he thinks he is worse than before he knew he was gay.” The Lieutenant Colonel's voice was low. He knew that it wasn't really Roy's fault that Ed thought bad of himself. He had done that before - mostly because of the sin he had committed. And now of the 'ultimate' sin - loving another man and not a girl. Maes rubbed his eyes. He heard Roy swallow loudly.
“And how exactly is that my fault?”
Maes shook his head.
“It's not. I.. I just wanted to find somebody I could scream at for all the things the kid has to go through.” He leaned back an let his head rest on the backrest of Roy's bed. “I don't know.. what I should tell him. He asked me and told me in the same breath that he knows that it is wrong.” He sighed heavily and looked at Roy. “Can't you talk to him? You have more experience in that kind of situation. You have been with men after all.”
Roy regarded his friend for a long moment and nodded.
“I understand what you mean but... being with men doesn't mean that I exactly know what Ed is going through. We were always discreet and I didn't have to read books on it. My foster mother made sure that I would know every form of love coming along in live.” He sighed and scratched his head. “But I can still talk to him - as a friend. And you should talk to him as well. As his father or as close as a father you are to him.”
Hughes nodded and got off the bed leaving dusty marks on the sheets.
“I'll help you to wash them.”
“You could have avoided that by pulling them off as you sat on my bed.”
“But I was mad at you. I couldn't think about getting my boots off without wanting to throw one at your head.”
Roy snorted but made his way to his bathroom stopping on the threshold.
“Where's Edward?”
“In the library with his brother but he will be back later. I told him to come back.”
Roy nodded and closed the bathroom door behind himself to get washed up. Hughes made his way downstairs finding Ed already sitting on the couch expecting one or both of them.
“You're back early. I hadn't expected you back before lunch or even later.”
The teen just nodded and looked up at the older man.
“I couldn't concentrate and Al told me to get some fresh air and if that didn't help I should go back here to ask you what you wanted to talk to me. I think I was annoying him.”
Hughes sat beside Ed on the couch looking at the hearth. He sighed deeply. He wished Ed had come back later because now he not yet knew what to tell him.
“You told me this morning something. Some things you had read in books from the library.”
Ed looked up to the older man then down to his hands resting on his lap.
“Yeah...”
“Does your brother know what you're reading about when it's not about alchemy?”
Ed's eyes grew wide but he didn't look up. Hughes could feel the tension in the teen's body. That was answer enough for him - Al didn't know and shouldn't probably know about his brother's... liking.
“I see.”
The older man rubbed over his chin and leaned back.
“I... know that it is wrong. I.. shouldn't even think about it. But I can't... I can't help it. Every time... It happens all the time when I'm here...”
“What happens, Ed?”
The teen blushed and rolled his eyes.
“Every time he looks at me I feel.. good and my heart starts beating faster.. and when he smiles...” He swallowed and had to suppress an idiotic smile. “When he actually smiles at me than I don't know if I can resist the urge to just throw myself at him.”
Hughes nodded crossing his arms over his chest. He licked over his lips and tried to find the words to make Ed understand that there wasn't anything wrong about loving another man - maybe he should have started with somebody his own age or only some years older (not 14). But he knew Ed too well - the kid didn't get along with people his own age and was mostly surrounded by men at least twice his age. He sighed heavily.
“You maybe shouldn't throw yourself at him as long as he doesn't know what kind of feelings you have for him but loving another man isn't bad, Edward.”
The teen and the older man looked up at the other man coming down the stairs. The colonel still had a towel around his neck and looked mostly as if he had just came out of the shower. The teen was stunned into silence not only by Roy's appearance but also by the man's words. Hughes already thought that now everything would be good for Ed - as the man he longed for declared that it wasn't bad to love another man. But how wrong he was...
“What.. What the hell would you know?! How dare you listen to what Hughes and I are talking about? How dare you for talking as if you would know anything about it?!”
Roy looked down at Ed - his eyes gone cold and his mask in place. Hughes hadn't thought that this could turn into an argument of some sorts.
“What I do know? I know a lot more about those kind of things than you would ever presume.”
“Sure you would with you sleeping with every available women over 18 in this town.”
“Jealous, Edward?”
“You wish!”
With that the teen stormed out of Roy's house banging the front door behind him loudly. Hughes gasped at the closed door. Roy still looked angry and made his way to the kitchen.
As angry as was he brewed coffee and made some toast he could eat. There was still the pot with chicken soup standing on the kitchen counter. At first he intended to just throw it away but then his expressions softened at the memory of Ed sitting at his kitchen table eating and apple and reading a cookbook - of all the books available to him. He sat down with a mug and dry toast - not even looking at it.
“I never thought he would explode like that. I really thought... I don't know what I thought...”
Hughes took a cup of coffee and sat opposite from Roy. The older man was totally disturbed by what just had happened. This morning he was angry at Roy as he found Ed in Roy's bed looking at the older man rather lovingly but than after Ed's declaration and Roy's answer - he had been sure that Ed would be relieved.
“Nobody knows how Ed will react. He's … 15... just a teenager...” He sighed heavily. “Sometimes we forget that too easily.”
The two men sipped their coffee in silence. Roy was still on ill leave and he didn't have to go to work until the coming week and he was glad for it. There were still three days left to righten the thing with Edward - to make him believe that he didn't do anything wrong and to get him back here. Roy hated to admit it - but every time the blonde was here he felt rather comfortable with him and liked to have him around.
“Do you know a Juliet Douglas?”
Roy looked up from his mug and eyed his friend suspiciously.
“Should I know her?”
“No, not really. She's Bradley's secretary and there is something off about her.” The older man sighed heavily. “But if you don't know her it's maybe just my imagination running wild.”
“Is that the reason you came by?”
“Mostly and because you were ill of course.”
“'Of Course'.”
An hour later the telephone rang and brought them back to reality. Hughes had been snoring on Roy's armchair - he had been on a train all night and was tired - and Roy had been reading some reports Hawkeye had left him when they had brought him to his house.
“Mustang.”
“Colonel? It's Alphonse.... Is my brother with you? He said he would be going to Mr Hughes and I wanted to know when he's coming back. It's nearly lunch time and he hadn't had any breakfast...”
“Sorry Alphonse, but Ed isn't here.”
“But Mr Hughes is with you and Nii-san said he would come and see him....”
“Ed was here, that's right. But he has already left over an hour ago. So he hasn't come back to you?”
He heard the shuffling of the armour at the other end of the line.
“No he hasn't... I...I'll go and...”
“Calm down, Alphonse. Hughes and I will go searching for him. East City isn't as big as Central. We will find him. You'll stay at the library if Ed goes there. I'll call you or bring him to you if he wants. Okay?”
“Okay. I don't know why he didn't come back... He has never done something like that before...”
“We'll find him. I promise, Alphonse.”
“Thank you, Colonel. Good-bye.”
“Good-bye, Alphonse.”
The raven-haired man hung up and turned to his friend who was already waiting with his coat over his arm.
“I'll give you 5 minutes. If you're not down by that time I'm going alone.”
Roy just nodded and made his way upstairs throwing on a pair of loose fitting pants and a pullover. He ran downstairs getting his shoes on and his coat from the coat rack. Both men rushed out of the door stopping on the porch to discuss where they should begin their search coming to the conclusion it would be best to start at the nearby park as it lay on the way to the library.
They had been searching for almost an hour - the park was larger than it seemed from the outside - as they found Ed sitting on a swing with his head bent. It was an abandoned playground and there was nobody around to take notice of the teen with the red coat. They made their way over to the blonde - Roy staying mostly in the background so that Ed wouldn't leap out on him or run away again.
Hughes knelled down in front of Ed and reached his hand out to touch the teen - to get his attention. But even before Hughes' hand had made contact with the blonde's shoulder he looked up - with red eyes and flushed cheeks. Maes didn't have to ask him what he had been doing here.
“Hey.”
The older man said softly and stroked over tear stained cheeks. The teen sniffed as some kind of response but let Hughes do what he wanted to do. Hughes got an tissue from his pocket and handed it to Ed who took it thankfully and blew his nose.
“How did you find me?”
“Alphonse called to ask when you will be back as it was lunch time and you hadn't had anything for breakfast.”
The blonde looked to Roy whose cold mask was back on his face. Ed searched the man's face for any emotion - anger, hurt, relieve, something. But he found none and looked down at his hands again.
“Sorry. For worrying you. I hadn't the intention … to do it...”
“You still did it.”
“Roy...”
“Don't Roy me, Maes. He ran away because.. I don't even know why... He just run away without letting his brother know where he was. He worried Alphonse... and he worried us.”
At the 'us' Ed's head snapped up. So he did matter to the Colonel. Roy had meanwhile blushed at his own revelation. He hadn't meant to say it but he still meant it.
“Come on, Full - Edward. We'll bring you to your brother.”
The teen stood up as Hughes did but the older man put a hand on the teen's shoulder.
“Edward shouldn't go back to Alphonse the way he looks now. There would be... questions I don't think Ed wants to answer just now.”
Said blonde looked up at the Lieutenant Colonel and appreciated the thoughtfulness of the older man. With his eyes red from crying and a somewhat throaty voice he couldn't go back to his younger brother. Roy just looked at both and shrugged. Better to get the teen home and let him freshen up a bit before he had to see his younger brother and had to explain why he had left Roy and Hughes without coming straight back to Alphonse.
It didn't take long for them to get back to Roy's house. Ed went right away into the guest bathroom to get some cold water into his face. It felt good on his reddened eyes and nose and he felt a lot better - being here in this house. But now he had to apologise for his behaviour. He hated to admit that he had acted like a teenager and was sorry he had been screaming at Roy - he hadn't wanted to do that. He wanted to go back to this morning when he woke up in the Colonel's arms. He had blushed furiously and scooted a bit back so that there was some space between them. But he had stayed in bed - resisting the urge to stroke the thick black hair. It had felt good and he couldn't find anything wrong about feeling what he did for the Colonel. But there were others who knew it was wrong - why should they write books about it being wrong if it wasn't wrong? There were a lot of morons out there writing books about who-knew-what but... but there should be something about what they were writing... as there were a lot of people out there writing about it and that it should happen between a man and a woman and not two men. He sighed heavily and put the towel back on the hook next to the washstand before he went into the living room.
Hughes and Roy were already waiting for him with coffee and some sandwiches. He was hungry he had to admit and took a sip of his coffee before he bent down and took one of the sandwiches. Hughes was sitting on the armchair and Roy on the sofa. Carefully the teen sat next to his Commanding Officer. Should he start by apologising right away or wait until one of the older men had said something? Roy was making the decision for him.
“About this morning, Ed. We should really talk about it.”
The teen swallowed the last bite of his sandwich and turned to the Colonel.
“I.. I'm sorry for what I did this morning... I didn't want to scream at you or anything...”
“Ed, I'm used to you screaming at me. It's the … other part of this morning we should talk about.”
The blonde looked down and swallowed.
“Oh...”
“I meant what I said, Edward. There is nothing wrong with you liking men.”
“But... there are all this books and... they always always they it is wrong.”
The Colonel gave a small laugh at that and put his hand on Ed's shoulder so that the teen would look up at him.
“Believe me: There is nothing wrong about it.”
“Love is love - no matter where it came from.”
They looked at Hughes who was smiling sadly at the teen and the older man sitting next to him.
“Sadly that most people just forget that.”
(05) | (chapter index) | (07)
*sneaks off... and hopes nobody has seen her*