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You Belong to Me	By : squallstorm Category: Fullmetal Alchemist > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 9883 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Disclaimer:
I don't own Sabrina or Fullmetal Alchemist.

Thanks
to ZaKai once again! Always there to be a kind ear! Oh, and thanks
for betaing, too!

Chapter
14

Edward
practically jumped out of the limo when it stopped in front of the
hotel Ling and the guys were staying at, ignoring Roy's call to wait
for him as he hurried into the lobby, looking around for a familiar
face. The man had sat closer then he had to the whole way over,
making Edward nervous and shifty in his seat and all he wanted to do
was get some breathing room for a moment. He could hear Roy's tread
across the marble-like floor, and tried to not
pay it any attention.

“Eddie!
Hey, man!”

Edward looked over at
the excited shout to see Rick jogging across the lobby to tackle him
in a bear hug, trapping his hands down by his sides. He grunted as
Rick continued to squeeze his arms into his sides and didn't show any
sign of letting up. “Fuck, Rick! Ugh, can't breath!”
groaned Edward, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Need
help, Edward?” asked Roy at his left, to which Edward could
only groan some more.

Rick looked over at the
stranger and seeing the expensive looking clothing, let Edward down
to the floor. Edward sagged and bent over his knees as he let the
air back into his lungs. “Hi, my name's Rick,” he said,
thrusting out his hand at Roy.

“Pleasure
to meet you Rick, my name's Roy Mustang,” said Roy, giving
Rick's hand a brief pump before letting go.

“Mustang,
eh?” said Rick, giving Edward a knowing look as he stood
upright. Edward quickly glanced away, and hoped he wasn't blushing
too much. All the guys knew that he liked Winry, and that she was a
Mustang. It was only natural that Rick would become suspicious.

“Eh—heh,
ah...Rick...so...um...where's everyone else?” stammered Edward,
forcing himself to look back at his friend. He could see Roy looking
between him and Rick with a puzzled frown and he felt his cheeks
getting even warmer.

“They're
in the lounge, waiting for you. Come on,” said Rick, leading
the way to a room off the lobby. He turned back when he noticed that
Edward wasn't following him. He tilted his head in Edward's
direction.

“Be
there in a sec,” said Edward. Rick nodded, looked at Roy and
then continued towards the lounge. Edward eyed Roy pensively and
then sighed. “Are you sure
you want to come along? It's okay if you have a lot of stuff to do
for your work. Really, there's no need for you to come along,”
said Edward one last time.

Out of the blue, Roy
announced over breakfast that he was coming to watch after learning
his plans for the day. No matter how Edward tried to convince Roy
not to go, it didn't sway him at all and he kept insisting that it
was okay; he was coming. He had tried and tried to make Roy change
his mind, but nothing he could think of worked. Rick's reaction only
served to prove how strange it would seem for him to suddenly show up
with Roy in tow and he was hoping to dissuade Roy somehow, but so far
he'd had no luck. This was his last chance to try and convince Roy
to go do his own thing for a while.

“Edward,”
said Roy, moving to stand in front of him, and placing his hands
lightly on Edward's shoulders. Blushing hard at having Roy so close,
Edward forced himself to meet Roy's level gaze. He could feel the
warmth from Roy's hands on both his shoulders making him more aware
of their presence there. His gaze flickered down to Roy's mouth for
a moment then up to his eyes.

In the middle of the
night, Edward had woken up to find that Roy was asleep in the bed and
had turned towards him. He didn't know how long he had just lain
there and stared at Roy's sleeping face but he found himself noticing
things. Things like Roy's slack mouth, which he stared at for a long
time, wondering if they were as soft as they looked since he couldn't
really remember how they felt when Roy had kissed him. All he
remembered from that one kiss was the way the pressure from his lips
didn't go away for a long time afterwards.

He found himself
memorized by the way Roy's hair fell into his eyes and spread out on
the pillow. He couldn't help himself, in the darkened room, Roy's
hair became even darker and an insane urge suddenly made him want to
touch Roy's hair. He began to wonder if he shouldn't try and do so
now while he had the chance, making his heart beat hard under his
ribs. He had slowly reached out across the king sized bed, even
shuffling closer when he fell short of his goal, so he could fondle
the hair on the pillow. The small section of hair that he touched
was very fine and soft, softer even then his own. He made a mental
note to see what brand of conditioner Roy used, because he wanted his
hair to be as soft as this.

As he had played with
Roy's hair another section fell into his face. Edward debated with
himself for a long time if he should move that or not, and finally he
decided that he should. He stretched his arm out a little more and
moved it aside. And then Roy moved, rolling over onto his back with
a sigh. It had freaked him out so bad that he'd retreated to his
side of the bed and rolled over so he couldn't see Roy any longer.

It
had taken him a long time to get back to sleep after that. He had
spent part of that time trying to figure out just why he had been
scared of Roy as a child... They had more in common then he'd
thought and it was surprising to him that they hadn't
gotten along as young boys. They both enjoyed eating good food and
good conversation. Roy, surprisingly, loved jazz and Edward had told
him about the time he'd sung for his friends. If nothing else, they
had grown up together, lending a familiarity that Edward was sure he
wouldn't have felt towards anyone else if it was someone he had met
for the first time on the street. But before he could come to a
conclusion as to why they never clicked he had fallen asleep.

“What?”
demanded Edward, getting frazzled when Roy continued to just stare at
him. Roy's hands on his shoulders seemed to burn through his t-shirt
and he shifted his weight, but stopped short of stepping out of his
hold. He breathed deep, inadvertently drawing in Roy's cologne, and
fuck didn't it smell good!

Roy...
Somehow that man had worked his way into his thoughts and wouldn't
leave him alone. It didn't help that the more time he spent around
him, the more he came to actually like
him. And then there was the way they had shared the bathroom in the
morning as they both got ready... Even through his annoyance at his
loss of sleep he couldn't help but notice how easy it had been to
walk in and out of the bathroom regardless of whether one or the
other was in there. That wasn't something he had even done with
Russell. It seemed like such an intimate thing between couples, not
something near strangers did. Russell and him just didn't go that
deep...so, what did it say about him and Roy that it didn't feel
weird at all? So, just like last night, his heart pounded hard
against his ribs as Roy just looked at him, holding his shoulders.

“Edward,
I'm going. Just get used to that, and stop asking me if 'I'm sure',
okay?” Roy finally said.

“You're
going to give me a panic attack, you know that?” said Edward
softly, reaching up to gently remove one of Roy's hands off his
shoulder. “Let's go before they all start speculating on
what's taking us so long.” He couldn't—wouldn't believe
it. He was not
falling for Roy.

Except...maybe he was...

- - - -

Leaning
on the chain link fence, the wind lifting his hair, Roy watched as
Edward, Rick, and Leo moved through their sequence for one last time.
He was more then impressed with all the boys' abilities. They made
it look so effortless, when Roy knew, he knew
that he would never in his wildest dreams be able to make his body do
the things Edward was doing.

The empty field they'd
found behind the hotel had been deserted when they started, but when
Roy looked around him now, he saw a few interested individuals had
stopped and were watching Edward and his friends do their mock
battle. Even some of the half-heard comments from the spectators
were following along Roy's line of thinking; these guys could move.

This morning had been
quite amusing for him. Edward had woken up a bundle of stress that
hadn't gotten any better when he informed him of his plan to watch.
But Roy took every opportunity to make sure Edward remanded aware of
his presence even going into the bathroom as Edward brushed his teeth
and braided his hair. It had been on the tip of his tongue to offer
to do Edward's hair for him as he watched him pull the comb through
his long hair again and again, but he stopped himself.

He had never given much
thought to his private life, but being here with Edward, knowing what
he did about how his sister looked at the Hughes' boy made him wonder
again if maybe he wasn't missing out on something that others seemed
to find with less effort then he did. The few affairs that he had in
the past were always very careful and reserved on his part and he
didn't feel comfortable around his partners for very long, usually
breaking it off before it could even begin.

There had been times in
the last few years when he'd been really close to telling his mother
about his sexual preference but always at the last moment he'd backed
off, not wanting to burden her with his personal problems. He didn't
even consider telling Winry about this, to afraid of the ridicule
he'd be subjected to as a result. Even without being told directly,
Roy knew that Edward had had a freedom to explore a side of himself
that he'd never have. As a CEO in a high profile company, with an
image very different from his personal life, a scandal of this size
could throw the company into chaos.

Being here with Edward
like this was dredging up all sorts of things Roy had buried long ago
and making him face them whether he wanted to or not. Maybe it was
time to revisit his earlier plan to hide his sexuality from the
business world and his family; it was becoming too hard to hide
anymore.

“Roy!”
Blinking to bring himself out of his daydream, Roy looked over and
saw Edward standing in the middle of the field. “Come here!”
shouted Edward, waving his arm at him with a smile. With a grin that
felt slightly forced, Roy pushed off the chain link fence and
causally walked towards where the guys had been practicing.

“We're
all done,” said Edward as he neared. Roy had noticed that the
other guys had seemed to be putting their equipment away. “I
thought...if you're interested, I could show you some self-defense.”

“Ed,
man, I keep telling you,” Leo quipped. “You suck at
self-defense.”

“What?
Weren't you listening when I told you about that guy at the party?
He totally attacked me and Winry,” returned Edward, turning
back to look at Leo who was giving him a disbelieving look. “I
really did
put him in an arm lock!”

“You
said he was drunk. It's no wonder you were able to defend yourself,”
Rick said, entering the fray. Ling nodded, but didn't say anything.

“Roy
was there! Roy, tell them what I did!” demanded Edward,
turning back to Roy, who was standing at his side and watching the
unfolding argument with a more genuine grin then before.

“Well...”
he began, looking down into Edward's hopeful face. It crossed his
mind to tease Edward a bit in front of his friends but he decided
against it. Edward looked really cute, pleading with him using only
his eyes. He didn't want to ruin that look. “It's true, he
held the guy in an arm lock until the cops could come and take him
away in cuffs.”

“See!
I told
you!” snapped Edward with a pout. Roy's grin got a little bit
bigger when he saw that.

“Wow,
no shit, really?” asked Leo, looking awestruck.

“What
the fuck! You didn't believe me when I
told you?” accused Edward, turning back to Leo and glaring at
him, making the guys laugh. “Ling! You believed me right?”
asked Edward, turning to his as yet silent teacher.

“A
teacher always believes in the abilities of his or her student,”
said Ling cryptically with a closed eyed smile.

“You
guys are impossible, ya know that right?” muttered Edward,
crossing his arms across his chest and thrusting out his lip even
more. Roy chuckled out right at the sight of it.

“Edward,
I'd be thrilled to learn some self-defense from you,” said Roy
earning a brilliant smile from Edward. This was working out even
better than planned. It looked like his efforts this morning were
paying off nicely. The more time they spent together, the more
Edward would trust him and look to him.

“Alright!
We'll just wait for these losers to take off or else I won't be able
to show you anything,” Edward said in a loud conspiratorial
whisper at Roy.

“Yeah,
Yeah,” said Rick, smiling. He stood and pulled his bag strap
over his shoulder. “We'll leave you two to your date.”

“What!
Date? Who said anything about a date?”
demanded Edward, his arms flailing about his body. “This is
not a date! He's here because he was kind enough to fly me out.
It's not a date! I don't like him like that! He's just a friend!
How many times do I have to tell you that before you listen?”

“Me
thinks he doth protest too loudly, don't you, Rick?” asked Leo,
looking over at Rick with a smile and a wink.

Roy had to agree with
the boys' assessment. Edward was just a little bit too loud for it
to be believable. Roy glanced over at Edward to see him turning a
fine shade of deep red, and then he adverted his eyes so that he
wouldn't have to know that he'd seen it. So, the boys have been
saying some interesting things apparently while out here practicing.
It made him really curious as to what sort of teasing Edward had to
endure by him coming along.

“Oh,
yeah! See ya, Ed!” said Rick, he began to walk away, grinning
over his shoulder and waving. Leo grinned at Edward as well, winked
again before following his brother off the field.

“Tomorrow
at eight,” Ling said with his eyes still closed. Tucking his
hands into his long blousy sleeves, he calmly began to follow the
brothers back to the hotel. “Good work today, Edward,”
Ling said just before getting out of earshot.

“You
looked really good out there,” said Roy, looking down at
Edward's red face. He was glaring at Rick and Leo's backs, but when
Roy spoke he looked up startled. “Feeling better about the
competition now?” wondered Roy, ignoring the teasing and all
its implications.

“Not
really,” Edward said after a moment. “Ah-ah! I don't
want to think about it anymore!” Edward scrubbed his face and
then ran his hands through his slightly messy bangs. “Come on,
let's play around a bit. I don't know if there's anything you want
to learn in particular?”

“Play
around?” said Roy, chuckling. Edward was just giving him the
opportunity to tease him on a silver platter. He was
tempted...really tempted. But Edward just looked at him, and for all
the world he seemed clueless about what he'd just said.

“Yeah,
here look.” Edward turned his back to Roy and stood in front
of him. “So, say your the bad guy and you grab me from behind
in a bear hug.”

Roy smiled down at the
top of Edward's head. “Why am I doing that?” he asked.

“I
don't know...you're robbing me or something, does it really matter?”
said Edward over his shoulder, turning to look at him. “Come
on; arms.”

“I
just thought it'd add to the realism of this little exercise,”
said Roy, wrapping his arms around Edward's chest. Roy now had
Edward's compact body lightly resting against his chest, and his
smile slipped just a little. He could feel the muscles of Edward's
arms move, and flex, and the wind carried the smell of his shampoo,
reminding him of his conditioner. It smelled a lot better on Edward
then he ever remembered it for him.

“No,
hold me like this,” said Edward. He took a hold of Roy's hands
and made one hand grasp the other, rather then the loose way he had
been restraining Edward. Now Roy had Edward's body resting more
firmly against his chest. “Okay, now pay attention,”
instructed Edward, cutting through the blankness in Roy's mind.
“Most of the time, when someone's going to grab you from behind
it'll be some variation of this. So, to get out of it, I'm going to
show you a basic distraction, and take down.”

“Okay...”
Roy said, all of sudden he wasn't sure that this was all that great
of an idea. He vaguely knew that to learn self-defense it required
you to practice it but that was in an intellectual sense. To
actually do it was another matter. He didn't really enjoy doing
physical sports while in school and he didn't see himself starting
now...however, it was a good way to get closer to Edward... And he
was
really close at the moment...

“First
thing, in-between the bones of the hand, it's almost like a pressure
point so, you're going to strike that area with your middle finger
bent up like this,” said Edward, turning slightly in Roy's hold
to show that his fist now had the middle finger pushed out. “So,
strike and then run that knuckle over the bones in the hand.”
Which Edward did, and Roy gasped, snatching his hands away.

“That
stings!” complained Roy, rubbing the back of his hand.

“Yeah,
it's good for that. Most people would pull away, and instant
freedom,” smirked Edward. “I didn't do it that hard, ya
know. But anyway, from there you could do a lot of things, but for
you, do this.” Edward twisted his upper body around and faked
an elbow strike to the face and then another on the other side to his
ribs. “Lets have you do that much, and see how you do,”
suggested Edward, motioning Roy to turn around.

With
a disgruntled frown, Roy turned around. He didn't think that
learning self-defense should actually inflict pain.
This was turning into a lot more then he bargained for. All he
wanted to do was tease Edward a little bit, not get hurt.
Edward wrapped his arms around his chest, and even through his
disgruntlement, he could tell that he was trying to not touch him too
much.

“Okay,
heh, just...do like what I showed you,” came Edward's voice,
sounding for all the world like he wanted to get away. Well, it was
his
idea to do this type of self-defense. Did he just figure out how
compromising this was? Roy snorted softly to himself and thought
that maybe this was
a good idea.

Edward shifted and Roy
looked over to see him looking around his arm at him. “Are you
going to do it, or what?” asked Edward, and Roy grinned. It
really was too easy.

“Edward,
I didn't peg you for the 'jump into your pants' kind of fellow,”
joked Roy. He laughed at the way Edward went from slightly rosy to
bright red. “Look like that, and I might really have to jump
you, you're so cute, Edward,” said Roy with a smile, he lifted
his arm over Edward's shoulder and pulled him in close to his chest,
squeezing him to his side.

“Wha—I...”
Edward pushed Roy away and looked down at the ground. “I
didn't mean that. I didn't want you to think that I...er...wanted
you.”

“Come
now, we've already slept together. We should have some fun don't you
think?” said Roy, enjoying the play of emotions over Edward's
face.

Edward's head snapped up
so fast that Roy was sure that he'd get a sore neck later. “I
got to go!” said Edward quickly, pivoting on the ball of his
foot. Roy blinked in surprise, his hand automatically reaching out
to grip Edward's upper arm.

“No,
don't. I'm sorry, I went too far,” said Roy softly, holding
tight as Edward tried to yank his arm free with a growl. He couldn't
let Edward leave. There was too much riding on this for him to
leave.

“Let
go,” hissed Edward, his other hand began to pry at Roy's
fingers. He shot an angry glare at him, his hand continuing to work
at Roy's hold. “I don't want to like you; I don't want to be
your friend. You're not nice, I hate
you. I've always hated you. Why can't you just leave me alone!”
wailed Edward as he continued to work at Roy's larger hand.

“Edward?”
Roy brought his other hand up and held onto his shoulder to keep him
from running away. “You like me?” asked Roy. He could
feel that Edward was shaking under his hands, but whether that was
from anger or something else, Roy didn't feel like he could
speculate. Not accurately, anyway.

“No!
No, I don't like you, I don't!”
Edward shook his head hard from side to side. “Let me go!
I'll hit you, if you don't!”

Roy dropped his hands
down to his side, and Edward took off running. How could he have so
misjudged the situation? The guys banter had put him in a good mood,
and he thought that Edward felt the same. Edward liked him,
well...that was good. That was the plan after all. Roy picked up
Edward's forgotten bag and let the strap rest on his shoulder.
Thrusting his hands into his pockets, Roy followed Edward's hasty
retreat off the field at a more leisurely pace.

Maybe, this wasn't a bad
thing. Maybe, this was just the sign he needed to know that the
merger was safe. They had two more days out here. A lot could
happen in that time. It was too soon to think that he'd ruined
everything.

- - - -

Edward ran.

He didn't care that he
was going to be lost and he'd have to find his way back to the hotel
somehow... Where Roy would be waiting for him...? He didn't care
that he could quite possibly be ruining his legs for the competition
tomorrow. He didn't!

Why
did he do
that...? Edward wasn't too sure if he meant Roy's joke, or his idea
for self-defense. He just wanted to know...why that happened, why
him, why Roy? Just fucking
why? Once again Roy was turning his insides into a royal mess. Just
like when he left and had made his clumsy confession in Winry's room,
and now he was doing it again. How could he do that so easily? Oh,
well...yeah, he could do that to him because he was a wimp and had no
friggin' backbone, that's why.

What
did Roy think of him? Did he really think that he'd just jump at the
chance to have sex with him? He...he wasn't going to do that...
Winry...she...was attracted to him...but she had a fiancé.
So whatever happened between her and him would only be fleeting at
best...unless she cared for him. He wouldn't know that until he got
back. How was what Winry wanted from him any different then what Roy
wanted from him?

He
didn't want to think about this, about Roy. He didn't
like him! That wasn't a lie. He knew how he felt about Winry, and
he didn't feel anything like that about Roy. Why should he? Roy
wasn't someone who he'd ever paid any attention to in the past
because he and Roy had totally different ideas about life, about
relationships, about everything. All Roy did was work and order
people around, he didn't relax at all! He was the polar opposite.
He did know when to play, when to follow a dream. That was the
purpose of being in L.A., to show the accumulation of all his hard
work.

Edward stumbled along
the sidewalk he was running along. He had to hop quickly in order to
catch himself and prevent going face first into the concentrate.
Slowing to a stop, he drew in a shaky breath, placing a hand over the
stitch in his side.

Oh!
This was so messed up! He had two more days to spend here, and with
Roy, sleeping in the same bed and all. Well...maybe he'd try
sleeping on the floor, or call down for a cot. All hotels had
cots...they must! It's what he should have done in the first place.
This was no way to be focused. Scar was going to be there, and he
hoped that he wasn't going to be in the same division. He didn't
have time to be thinking about all this other shit! He wanted to do
well. He wanted a gold medal. He didn't want to think about Roy!

Now he had to find some
way to get back. He didn't have his wallet, and he had no clue where
he was. The drive from their hotel to Ling's had taken almost
forty-five minutes in light traffic; which meant that he'd have a lot
of walking to do. Looking around at his surroundings, he found a
convenience store across the street that he could go ask for
directions or maybe a hand drawn map.

Crossing the empty
street, he opened the door to the store and located the owner behind
the counter. After explaining his problem the man very helpfully
sketched out a rough map for him to take. With his thanks, Edward
opened the door and stepped back out into the sunshine. There, just
in front of the shop was a limo with Roy standing by the passenger
door, looking at him. He sighed and resigned himself to facing Roy
even if he hadn't calmed down yet.

“Edward,
I didn't mean to upset you. Everyone was joking around, and I guess
I'm not very good at it. I just wanted to be a part of it as well.
Please forgive me,” said Roy somberly.

Frowning, Edward looked
down at his feet for a moment, and then back up at Roy. He was still
standing by the car door, and he was relived. If Roy tried to touch
him right now, he really would hit him, and hard too. So...it was
all a joke. That was good. Very good. He could deal with a joke.
A joke wouldn't leave him all messed up inside.

“I
wanna go back,” said Edward, still watching Roy carefully.
“I've got a big day tomorrow.” He crossed the distance
between the store and the car and looked down into the tinted
windows, avoiding Roy's eyes.

“Hungry?”
asked Roy. Edward nodded. He hadn't eaten since breakfast. “Then
lets go,” said Roy opening the door for him.

- - - -

After going back to the
hotel and getting cleaned up, they went out to an Italian place for
supper because, as Roy said, carbohydrates were best before a race or
in Edward's case a fight. Edward didn't have a lot to say to that,
but he did agree. He felt awkward around Roy now. He wouldn't meet
his eyes and he couldn't bring himself to say much to him. Their
easy manner from before had fled in the face of Roy's bad humor, and
Roy was trying so hard to diminish the unease they were both feeling.

There was no point in
dragging this out. Roy had done nothing else to suggest that he was
looking to sleep with him...other then just plain sleeping. He may
have done some questionable things to him, like kissing him, and
implying that he'd pay him off to leave Winry alone but after
spending more time with the man, he was starting to think that
perhaps Roy just had a really skewed sense of humor. It was time to
let Roy off the hook and just move on.

“Roy,”
began Edward interrupting Roy's small talk. He lifted his gaze from
his plate and watched as Roy fell silent, watching him warily.
Probably wondering what he was going to say after having been quiet
since he was picked up in the limo. With a sigh, Edward looked down
at his half-eaten plate of spaghetti. “Roy, while your 'joke'
was in really bad taste, I'm...I'm not mad at you. Not really. It's
just that...” Edward frowned. “After you...kissed
me...it just seemed like you were trying to use me. So, I'm sorry I
was too sensitive.” He looked up across the table and met
Roy's thoughtful gaze. “Forgive and forget, right?” he
said with a small smile.

“Yes,
definitely,” agreed Roy. “I actually was thinking you
were going to forbid me from coming tomorrow, so I'm glad it's all
sorted out.”

“Would
you actually listen to me if I told you not to go?” wondered
Edward, raising his eyebrows. He was starting to feel the return of
last night's easy manner, though it was more cautious on his part
now.

“Probably
not,” said Roy with a snort.

- - - -

“Sweet
Jesus,” cursed Edward softly as he took a step back away from
the door. He came up short as he ran into a body behind him making
it grunt in surprise. He could smell Roy's expensive cologne while
he pressed up shamelessly against the chest behind him in his
nervousness. He never felt such a strong desire to turn around and
go home as he did right now, and he had to admit to himself that he
was really, really
glad that Roy was with him right now. He was even willing to forget
the incident from yesterday just as long as Roy stuck around.

“You
okay?” Roy asked in his ear, placing a searing hot hand on his
shoulder.

Edward could only stare
at the nerve racking sight before him. He had to perform in front
of...all...these... people? His eyes went wide in horror, and his
stomach did an unpleasant sort of flip-flopping thing that made him
want to heave. The large stadium sized building was filled to the
rafters with both spectators and competitors. Goose flesh popped up
all over his body and he shivered a bit as a result while his eyes
danced around all the faces in the immediate vicinity.

“Hey,”
murmured Roy in his ear. Craning his neck around to see Edward's
face, he was alarmed to find him quite pale and green looking. “Hey,
none of that now,” admonished Roy. Pulling his immobile body
to the side, away from the door, Roy stood in front of Edward's face
and blocked the area from his sight. Panic filled golden eyes looked
up at him as though asking him to make it go away.

“Edward,
this is no time for a panic attack. Pull yourself together,”
said Roy. He placed his hands on the blond's shoulders and locked
his gaze on Edward.

“All
the tournaments I've been too...they were never...so many people...”
mumbled Edward, leaning to the side to look at the crowds.

Roy pressed his lips and
sighed. He ran a comforting hand up and down Edward's uniformed
covered arm. “Edward—”

“ELRIC!”

Both Roy and Edward
startled and looked towards the source of the shout. An impressively
built man with a vicious looking scar covering most of his face was
stalking them like a predator to its prey. His sleeveless white
martial arts uniform barely contained his muscular body. The messy
mop of white hair on the otherwise shaved head seemed to stand out
all the more due to his dark tanned complexion, and his large tribal
tattoo, encasing the whole of his right arm seemed all the more
menacing as he neared.

“Not
him,”
hissed Edward so that only Roy could hear. “Fuck off, Scar! I
got nothing to say too you!” he said loudly enough to carry
across the entry way. Curious people looked between the two, but
continued towards the interior of the arena.

“Scared
are you? I don't blame you,” Scar said with a slimy smile. He
stopped in front of Edward with his feet planted shoulder width apart
and crossed his muscular arms over his chest.

“Yeah,
right! I'm not scared of a yellow coward like you!” spat
Edward. He could feel his temperature rising as he felt adrenaline
pump through his body in anticipation of a fight.

“That's
not how it looked at the last tournament. You flew through the air
quite spectacularly, and after that you couldn't do anything.”
Scar leaned in close, bending down to Edward's height to look him in
the eyes. “That must be quite a blow to your big fat ego, eh?”
Edward narrowed his eyes at the face in front of him in hatred.

“Hey,
why don't you save it for the ring,” interrupted Roy, reaching
out to pull Edward back a step and out of the man's personal space.
Although Edward moved as Roy directed, he didn't break his eye
contact with the man.

“Got
a bodyguard now?” sneered Scar, looking disdainfully up and
down at Roy's prissy, expensive looking clothing. “What?
Didn't want your other fairy anymore, so you got another one, Elric?
I thought fags were too girly to want to do something that reeks of
testosterone, and yet here you are, trying to prove your manhood, or
is that womanhood?” said Scar, dismissing Roy as insignificant,
he returned his scornful gaze to Edward's. “You'll be happy to
know that the tournament officials have done away with weight class.
It appears that there wasn't enough competitors for multiple
divisions.”

Edward felt his stomach
drop down to his toes at this. He'd have to face Scar...it was
always a possibility but he had hoped that it wouldn't come to this.
Scar had pretty much crippled a fighter from England at the last,
horrible tournament. Edward had watched the fight after loosing his
own match with mild interest. Scar had so much power that the other
fighter quickly became overwhelmed. At one point the English fighter
was more or less out, but on his feet. Everyone could see this, but
the ref didn't call it and so the match continued.

Scar had reached out and
gripped the uniform of the other man and started pummeling him. In
the face, in the gut, in the ribs, never allowing him to fall, and
still the ref didn't call it. The crowd, him included, had started
to shout and cry to the ref to wake up and call the match already.
Scar had enough points to win several times over; there was no reason
to continue. Not until after the three minutes were up and the match
was officially over did the referee finally pronounced Scar the
winner.

The inquiry into the
referee's actions was still on going.

The resulting
confrontation between Scar and Edward was something that still made
Edward seething mad to this day. Scar pushed all his buttons, making
him see red. He had lashed out and caught the man unawares with a
solid punch to the kidney, making the older man stagger. Before Scar
could retaliate, Edward was being pulled away by Rick and Leo while
Scar had another team of guys latch onto him. There had been bitter
blood between them ever since.

“Well,”
said Edward with more confidence then he really had. “I hope
you don't fail too miserably to me. I know that you shouldn't lose
face with your teammates.”

“I
won't be the one losing face, Edward.”
Scar dragged out Edward's name making it sound derogatory. Edward
grit his teeth. “Just be sure to keep your fagot hands to
yourself, Elric!” Scar said as he walked back into the crowd.

Edward
fisted his hands down by his legs, and shook. He wanted to hit
something so
bad right now. With a low growl, he turned into the crowd, leaving
Roy to follow behind his lengthened strides.

“Er...Edward?”
asked Roy hesitantly.

“No!
Don't ask. Not now,” growled Edward as he stalked though the
arena. Where the fuck was Ling and the guys? “I can't believe
that I have to face Scar. How fucked up is that?” he mumbled
under his breath. He crossed the tournament floor, heading over to
the competitors rest area.

“Edward,
wait. Look, isn't that your teacher?” said Roy, pointing off
to the side. Edward immediately changed directions and headed
towards Ling. There had to be something they could do about this
before he had to face that man in the ring.

“Ling!”
yelled Edward, his voice carrying over everyone else's. His teacher
turned away from the man he was talking to, and looked over his
shoulder at him. “Ling, I'm so screwed!”

- - - -

“Hey,
Roy. You came again, eh?” asked Leo as he took a bit of wall
on Roy's left and looked up at him.

“Yes,
I'm watching in place of Edward's father,” replied Roy. He
only spared Leo a quick glance before looking back over at Edward and
Rick as they helped each other stretch a few feet away.

“Ah,
well that's good.”

“Leo,
what's the story with this Scar fellow?” wondered Roy after a
few quite moments between them, looking side long at the young man
next to him.

Leo sighed heavily and
folded his arms across his chest. “He's a friggin' nightmare.
We might all have to face him later today. Rick's pretty relaxed
about it, but then that's just how he is. He never—”

“Ladies
and gentlemen!” Leo broke off what he was saying and looked
towards the middle of the arena floor. Roy hissed in annoyance. He
wanted to know what the deal was with that angry looking man, and he
didn't want to have to wait to hear about it, but there was nothing
he could do. The noise level in the venue went from muted chaos to a
charged and loud conversation, but the announcer didn't let that stop
him for he began to talk over it all.

“Welcome
to day two of the world mixed martial arts competition hosted by Hugo
sports equipment. We will begin in the third ring finishing with the
junior black belt division, moving onto the adult color belt in the
first and second rings, and the adult Black belt fights starting at
five. The choreograph fights will be held in the ring one and two
starting at one. From two to three we will hold the broad breaking,
and high kick competitions in the first available ring. Any
questions please see your nearest event coordinator for more details.
Now, let us begin. Junior black belts to the third ring.”

Young people began to
move out of the waiting area towards the third ring. Roy watched
them momentarily and then shifted his eyes over to where Edward was
sitting.

“Yeah,
so Scar is totally bad news. Last time we ran into him, he almost
killed his opponent,” said Leo, drawing Roy's attention back to
the boy beside him.

“What?
Shouldn't he be expelled from competing or something?”
wondered Roy, incredulously.

“It's
still under review last I heard, but the kicker was that Ed attacked
Scar and sucker punched him, and ever since they've been posturing
and spitting at one another. I think today will be the day.”

“For
what?”

Leo pressed his lips and
looked over at Edward still on the ground with Rick, stretching.
They both watched as Edward laughed at something Rick had said.
“Look at him,” said Leo, gesturing at Edward. Roy turned
away from watching Edward to look at the young man beside him. There
was a strange high pitched quality to his voice now that made Roy
worried. “He's totally faking. He's scared shitless.”
Leo paused and swallowed. “And for that matter so am I.”

- - - -

Edward stepped to the
center of the ring, his legs feeling tense and wobbly at the same
time. Scar smiled at him from outside the ring, his arms crossed
across his chest again. The referee had to give Scar a warning when
he didn't immediately step into the ring, meaning Edward
automatically got a point up on him. When Scar stepped onto the foam
mats, he smirked at Edward.

“Fag,”
hissed Scar under his breath, while they both made a mockery of the
formal bow to one another.

Edward could feel his
anger bubbling within him, making his body itch to start moving and
lash out. He'd never had anyone say things like this to him at all
during his time in Paris, so it was brutal slap in the face to have
Scar call him that, and by association he called Roy one too. Roy
hadn't even come out yet as far as he knew and it angered him anew.
Roy was a proud man and wouldn't take to being pushed so forcibly.

For Roy, he'd show Scar
his place and knock him down all the way to the bottom. The ref
slipped a red scarf under his black belt, but Edward had only eyes
for the man across from him. Scar's lips were moving but Edward no
longer heard the litany of profane words coming out of his mouth. He
was slipping into a zone-like place where he worked best. It was
where he just moved and became surprised when the match was over,
because he hadn't noticed.

The referee held out his
arm between them and Edward shifted into his fighting stance. Scar
was going to learn a valuable lesson today. One that he'd carry with
him for the rest of his life.

--To Be Continued--

Happy Christmas y'all!
See ya in 2008!

-sits
up straight- Review? -tail wags happily- XD
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