Fullmetal Fun

Second instalment of Fullmetal Fun here! This took me ages to write, I’m trying to keep it to a set plot and not diverge and the result is pretty hard to write. I hope it’ll be worth it though.

The reason I’ve been able to update so quickly is because I’ve had flu and I was snuggled up in be writing this for you all (still has snuffles) but you know what would really make me feel better? Your opinions! Please review!


xXx

This was getting too much for Roy to deal with, he didn’t know how much longer he could cope.

According to his watch it had been precisely one week, two hours and forty-seven minutes since Fullmetal had invaded his life.

A whole bloody week!

The short Alchemist showed no sign of planning to leave either, completely blanking Roy’s not so subtle hints about how Ed should try a hotel or go to the military dorms.

It was all Mustang could do not to tell the chibi just to get out, he still had some manners left, after all. It was only a matter of time, however, before they too were lost to the all consuming (irritating as hell) presence of the Fullmetal Alchemist.

One particularly irritating aspect of the blonde’s stay was that he had developed an unfortunate habit of bursting in on Roy when he was in the shower.

The squirt just never seemed to feel the need to knock and simply dived into the bathroom whenever he felt like regardless of whatever Mustang might have been doing in there.

So far Ed had managed to catch Roy in the shower, just out of the shower (still dripping minus towel), in the process of getting into the shower (giving Fullmetal a good view of his toned rear) and, on one unfortunate and hugely embarrassing occasion, getting intimate with his right hand while in the shower. That had not been fun, the teen had gone so red before hastily retreating from the bathroom that Roy had been worried that he was going to explode.

It was bad enough having the frog stare at him when doing stuff like that (those little boggle eyes can be really off-putting) but having Fullmetal join in was just too much!

To add insult to injury even the bloody cat (Bella...was it?) had even gotten settled too!

The stupid feline had chosen Roy’s favourite armchair as its preferred sleeping case, and whenever Roy got even remotely close to the chair (attempting to reclaim his prized seat) the thing hissed at him, forcing Roy to sit on the unforgiving spikiness of the prehistoric sofa (he swore some springs were loose in the thing, sitting on it was like jumping on a hedgehog).

In a normal situation Roy considered he could have dealt with getting house raided by an eighteen year old delinquent alchemist and a stray cat, if you consider that normal. He could have put up with having a small and insanely grumpy blonde being the first thing he saw in the morning (Ed didn’t do mornings) and even getting uprooted from his favourite chair by a seemingly concussed kitten wouldn’t have been unbearable.

The thing that Roy was finding impossible to deal with, fuzzing his mind and shredding his nerves, was the sleep deprivation (although admittedly being confronted by a half-asleep Edward Elric every morning was pretty bad.).

It had all begun with Fullmetal having the spare room next to his own...

Normally this would have been a fine arrangement. Roy had had friends to stay over before (e.g. Havoc when chucked out by another girlfriend) and everything had been great, both them and Roy getting a good nights sleep. Everybody happy.

The thing was, Roy had never had someone with a metal arm and leg come and stay before.

There lies the problem.

You see, the bed frame in the spare bedroom was metal (you know, the pretty wrought iron type with all the swirly patterns). Two of Ed’s limbs were also metal.

Not a good combination.

The result was a jarring clanging noise whenever the short Alchemist rolled over or moved in his sleep, something which Roy the light sleeper in the next room was woken up by at least five times a night.

Unlucky...

He was amazed Edward could sleep through the constant noise from his metal limbs connecting with the bed frame and when Roy confronted him about it all he got was a confused ‘What?’ or ‘You must be imagining it, are you losing it in your old age?’. This was something that Roy did not appreciate.

Yes, it was only a matter of time until Roy Mustang was going to snap.

Unfortunately, it was going to happen that evening.

x

There was a suitably tense atmosphere in the car as Roy drove home from work with Ed in the passenger seat, rain pounding down on the roof of the vehicle and making driving hard for Roy.

After a few days of trying to arrive to work separately the pair had given up. They had thought it would avoid any awkward questions that might have arisen from them turning up together but in the end it only made them both late (waiting around the corner until you’re sure the other person has entered the office not being the best course of action).

Admittedly there had been a few raised eyebrows and near questions the first time they had wondered into the office together (Ed hitching lifts with Roy to and from work) but Roy had effectively managed to silence these with a death glare directed at the entire room.

After that there had been no more questions, those working in central apparently preferred to remain un-char grilled.

Roy was still pretty stressed however. The opinion of those in the military mattered to Roy (he still wanted to reach Fuhrer, after all) and if they were going to think less of him for turning up with the Fullmetal squirt then that was something Roy was going to have to deal with.

At least there were no rumours going around yet, thank God...

Attempting to lighten the mood in the dismal atmosphere of the car (emanating from the highly stressed and sleep deprived Flame Alchemist) Edward began a short and awkward conversation. Something which nearly ended in disaster.

Ed’s chosen subject of conversation was about how he was now wearing the military issue uniform (a neutral topic) and that he was irritated at how they could never seem to give him the right size (the trousers were way too long for him and Ed had had to turn them up to stop them from dragging on the floor).

Roy’s reaction to Edward’s complaint was not very well thought out.

In fact, it was pretty bloody stupid.

Replying with a cocky “That’s only natural, seeing as you’re so short.” to a hyper-height sensitive blonde when driving a car isn’t the best of ideas. Well, that would have been the full sentence, but he was cut off at “shor-!!” by having a very angry Fullmetal launch himself at him when driving.

They nearly crashed the car.

Mustang had only narrowly avoided a lamppost.

Needless to say the remainder of the journey was in silence, this, however, gave Mustang time to think, more precisely, to think on the question of Al.

Normally the two bothers were inseparable, how one could show up at Roy’s house minus the other was a complete mystery to Roy.

Mustang supposed things must have changed a lot since the younger brother had finally got his body back (something which Roy was generally hazy about on the details but he knew it contained a lot of complex alchemy). Ed had made no mention of Al whatsoever, and whenever Mustang tried to bring up the younger brother in conversation Fullmetal would freeze up and change the subject.

Roy knew that Al was at the centre of why Ed had suddenly turned up at his house but he was getting no answers from Edward, something which annoyed Mustang immensely.

He wanted answers, and he decided he was going to get them over dinner that night.

Enter the storm.

x

The two alchemists sat at the dining room table, slowly getting through their less than pleasant supper of boiled potatoes with over-cooked beef (although the pair were genius alchemists they were both bloody awful cooks.). Rain slammed against the glass of the window and the sound of thunder rumbled in the distance.

Showtime.

“Edward?” Roy called the other’s name in an attempt to prize the blonde’s attention from his food.

It had begun.

Ed, currently in the process of attempting to fit vast amounts of food into his mouth, swallowed. “What?”

“I was just wondering, while you’re here, eating me out of home,” Roy making a not so subtle dig at Edward’s enthusiastic eating habits “where’s Al? You pair always travel together.”

A dark look flitted over Ed’s previously care free features.

“Al’s gone to see teacher.” He said, quietly, returning his attention back to his food, obviously wanting to leave the topic.

“What?” Roy exclaimed in genuine surprise “I thought you two always went together, why did only Al go?”

No reply.

“Fullmetal?”

“We...had an argument.”

“An argument? What about?” Roy knew he was being nosy but he thought he damn well deserved to know. He’d put up with Ed living with him for a week now and if it was because of an argument he bloody well wanted to know what it was about.

Ed mumbled something in response to Roy’s questions, but it was so faint that the Flame Alchemist couldn’t pick out the words.

“Speak up Fullmetal, I can’t understand you if you just mutter at me.” Roy was beginning to run out of patience.

This gained a frown from the short alchemist.

“I SAID it’s none of your business, Colonel Bastard, if I have an argument with my brother it is nothing to do with you, OK?!”

This was the turning point.

So far Roy had managed to maintain his self control with the situation.

But he was NOT going to allow himself to be insulted by someone who should have been thanking him for his generosity of not throwing him out on his ass...’Colonel Bastard’ indeed...

“Well Ed, apparently it is to do with me because this argument has ended up with you coming to live with me. I think its only fucking fair if I want to know the reason why I suddenly have a snot-nosed arrogant little pipsqueak on my hands.”

Roy had tried to keep his voice devoid of emotion but the undercurrent of anger was coming through loud and clear.

Ed’s face became dangerously stormy at Roy’s outburst, matching the violent weather outside, the rain continuing to pound against the window of the room.

“Oh, you don’t like that I’ve come to stay with you?” Ed heatedly questioned, voice raising above the turbulent weather outside. “ I’m not surprised, seeing how self-obsessed and selfish you are. You must hate the idea of looking after someone else for once, after all, all you’re concerned about is your own bloody promotion!”

That was just too much for Roy.

“Self-obsessed?!? Selfish?!? You think I hate the idea of looking after someone else?!? The reason I want to get promoted so much, Fullmetal, is so I can look after of this whole fucking country, not for my own personal gain! But then, yes, I do hate looking after YOU Fullmetal,” Roy was lying now and he knew it, Ed living with him was annoying as hell, yes, but he could never hate having Fullmetal there “seeing as you’re such an arrogant little twerp who wont even tell me the things I should rightfully know!”

“You...hate...having me here?” Edward impressively managing to keep his voice calm.

“Yes, yes I do!” Roy knew it was stupid to continue lying as he said it but hell, he was furious, and he wanted to say something to hurt Fullmetal just as much as he’d hurt him.

Well, he’d managed it.

Ed lost it.

“FINE! IT JUST SO HAPPENS THAT I HATE BEING HERE TOO, COLONEL BASTARD!” The sheer strength of Edward’s voice hurting Roy’s ears and causing the cutlery to shake.

“THEN WHY DON’T YOU JUST LEAVE IF YOU HATE IT SO MUCH?!?” Roy yelled in response, his voice pounding in his ears “WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BECOME MY PROBLEM?!?”

“YOU WANT TO KNOW?!? YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW?!?”

“OF COURSE I FUCKING WANT TO KNOW,” Mustang shouted in reply, “I BLOODY WELL ASKED DIDN’T I?!?”

This finally did it.

Roy was about to get his answer, although, it wasn’t the one he was expecting.

“OKAY THEN! IT’S BECAUSE I FUCKING WANT TO BE WITH YOU, BASTARD!!”

Ed was so incensed that he hadn’t yet realised what he had just admitted and furiously continued.

“THE REASON I DECIDED TO INVADE YOUR HOME AND YOUR LIFE IS BECAUSE I FUCKING WANT TO BE WITH YOU!” There were now tears glistening in Edward’s eyes. “AND IF THE ONLY WAY THAT CAN HAPPEN IS BY TURNING UP AT YOUR HOUSE WITH A LOAD OF FUCKING STRAYS THEN SO BE IT!”

Silence.

Roy stared at Ed, mouth slightly open, fully comprehending what Fullmetal had just said to him.

Oh my God...

It all began to click in place, the constant visits, how Ed always had an excuse to see him, even getting burst into while in the shower.

Ed too seemed to realise the sheer enormity of what he had just said. Hands covering his mouth to stifle a strangled cry, tears now streaming down his cheeks, the alchemist turned and ran out of the room, pushing off the hand that Roy attempted to stop him with.

In a state of shock Roy continued to stand in the now silent dining room, the only sound the opening and slamming shut of the front door of the house.

Mustang snapped out of his trance like state when the harsh noise reached him.

The front door hadn’t closed properly and now slammed open and closed, flapping wildly in the harsh gale of the storm that Edward Elric had just disappeared into, choosing rather to brave the elements than the possible rejection of the man he had just left behind.

Roy ran to the front of the house and stared out into the ominous dark of the storm.

He had to find him.

To be continued...

xXx

Wow, I’m actually trying to give the fic some plot this time, and nothing does plot like a healthy chunk of angst.

I hope you enjoyed it, why don’t you give me your opinions?

Thank you for reading!

Merkswinter.

Yodel xxx