Worlds Collide

A/N: Nomme de Plume, thank you. Hohenheim and Noa are going to try, but basically, I didn't want to ignore them. The Candy Made Me Do It, I hoped this would show at least a bit of how much Roy still suffers from everything. I know I've got to start throwing a little variety into the love scenes though. (I'd debated miniskirts somehow involved, but it seemed out of character for this Ed). Kuragari, Aideen is definitely a character I'm enjoying developing as she gets older. Amethyst-eyed Koneko, Ed and Roy got pure, unadulterated fluff in the last two chapters. Honestly, I hadn't expected to put the night terror there, but to me, it fit. And Aideen's smack is just a taste of her personality to come. I know, I'm not a big Hohenheim or Noa fan (I hate when characters allow themselves to be used like both she and Rose were) but I figure it's going to be on his mind now that the only connections he had to remind him of his world--Wrath and Edward--are gone. The whole bedroom scene actually started with the idea of Ed pointing out the wrinkles.

Oh, and like I said above, trying to think of ways to REASONABLY kink up Ed and Roy's love life. Any suggestions?

Chapter 23

Morning After

Frank felt like his head was going to split open. He swore he was even blinking too loud.

“Hello Frank,” Kain said, stepping into the kitchen, “how are you feeling this morning.”

“Shh. Not so loud,” Frank whispered, but forgot to control his own voice when he elaborated. “I feel like my head…oooh.” He buried his head in his arms on the kitchen table.

“I’ll make coffee.” There was a pause. “You already have the pot ready.”

“The percolator was too loud.”

Frank felt a hand half pat, half rub his shoulder. It had been strange moving in with Kain, the younger man almost motherly with him, but Frank had felt it was necessary as things had always been awkward at Roy and Ed’s with no improvement made by Frank’s overly protective attack on the fuhrer.

“Will you just tell me one thing?” Frank asked. There was no response, but he felt Kain was waiting. “How drunk was I last night?”

“You don’t remember?”

“No. But I’m sure you do you bloody alcohol sponge. I swear. I met you drink for drink, and you’re downright chipper this morning.”

“You proposed marriage to two women, one man, a lamppost and a mailbox.”

“Oh God.”

Kain laughed. “You’re a happy drunk.”

“What time are we supposed to be over at Roy’s for his birthday lunch?”

“In three hours. You have plenty of time to recover. Go into the other room. Lay down in the dark, and plug your ears. I’m going to make coffee.”

“You’d make a nice wife, you know,” Frank joked.

“So you said last night when you asked me to marry you,” Kain said, smiling. Frank only groaned.

********

Roy was unable to shake Nicholas that morning, the boy insisting on giving him his birthday present immediately. It was a metal pencil holder, shaped like a large flame. Roy was certain his son had made the gift, and Nicholas proudly affirmed Roy’s suspicions.

“Do you like it?” Nicholas asked, black eyes looking up at him in anticipation. “I never know what to get you. I mean, you’re the fuhrer and can have anything you want.”

“I love it, Nicholas.” Roy kissed the blond’s forehead, looking over the detail that Nicholas had put into the item, blending copper, brass and pewter, creating it with skill that a sculptor could not possibly have. “You’re getting very good at metal alchemy.”

“Daddy’s been working with me.” The boy looked up at Roy. “Does it feel any different to be forty?”

“Not really. But being forty makes me feel old.” Roy pulled the boy into his lap, part of him wondering how much longer he’d have moments like this, as Nicholas already had some self-conscious tendencies when they were in public. It wasn’t so much that being forty made him feel old, but rather that in only a few months, his children would be ten. “Well, I guess I better see how your Daddy’s doing with the party prep.”

“Daddy’s asleep.” That surprised Roy and yet it didn’t. He expected Ed to be tired after last night and Roy’s violent dream, but when it came to Roy’s birthdays, the younger man tended to be stubborn.

Scooting Nicholas off his lap, Roy told the boy to go and help Wrath with the party preparations. Walking into the study, Roy found Ed curled up on the leather sofa that was much too old to still keep, but remained Ed’s favorite piece of furniture. Ed was wearing a white turtleneck, his hair still loose, part of it hanging over the armrest.

Nervously, Roy walked over and knelt beside Ed, running a hand over the smooth cheek—it killed Ed that thanks largely to the hormone treatments, the minimal facial hair he’d had seemed to have made a permanent retreat. His hand slid down to Ed’s neck, pulling at the fabric, seeing the beginnings of multiple bruises, all of which were his fault. Roy failed miserably to withhold the guilt that had been eating him up since early this morning, tears welling up in his eyes, not understanding why he couldn’t shake these dreams, especially when he’d never had them after he’d made love with his husband. What if they were getting worse?

Standing at the radio, as though she had just finished turning it off, Aideen looked over at Roy. “You’re crying,” she said, her tone sounding far older than her nine years. “You know, you’re not supposed to cry on your birthday.” The little brunette took a few tentative steps toward her father. “Why did you hurt Daddy?”

“I had a bad dream. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“Like when I sleepwalk?”

“A little like that. I just reacted without thinking or knowing it was him.”

“Like it wasn’t really you, like it was someone else doing it?”

“Not exactly. I had a nightmare and I felt like I was trapped in it. I didn’t know your father was there, even you or your brother until you smacked me.”

“Oh.” Aideen froze in her spot. “What kinds of things do you dream about?”

“Sometimes things that I’ve done that I wished I didn’t. Sometimes bad memories.”

“And they make you do things that you wish you didn’t do?” Roy nodded.

Aideen came closer until she was only a few inches away from he father. They looked one another in the eyes for a moment before the girl wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, his own circling around her back. “I’m sorry for hitting you, but you had me scared. Daddy and Nicholas couldn’t wake you up.” Instinctively, Roy found himself rocking the little girl, barely noticing as a warm hand rubbed his arm and Aideen’s back.

“Can’t even get a decent nap around here,” Ed said, eyes still a bit glassy from recently waking up. Roy still couldn’t help but notice that Ed’s usually raspy voice was almost a whisper.

“Your neck,” Roy said.

“I’m okay.” Ed ran his hand over Roy’s arm, then patted Aideen on her head. “Come on, we don’t have long to get ready.” Ed cleared his throat. “Get Nicholas and work on the table.”

Roy didn’t know at what time Ed had become perceptive, but he seemed to know Roy wanted time alone with him. Ed sat up on the couch, facing Roy, who was still kneeling in front of him. He immediately wrapped his arm around Ed, pulling him to the edge of the sofa, where Roy could more easily bury his head on the young man’s chest. “I’m so sorry,” he sobbed. “So sorry. I could have killed you.”

“You give yourself too much credit.” Roy felt as two arms cradled his head, and felt the weight of Ed’s own resting on top of it. “I’m a hell of a lot stronger than you.”

“Maybe we should sleep in different rooms, or maybe it would be safer for you if—”

“For better or for worse,” Ed said. Apparently all that could come out, but more than enough of a reminder of the vows they had made over nine years before.

********

Ed went into the kitchen, desperate to shake Winry as he grabbed the cake Gracia had made for the party. Part of him was wishing his sister-in-law had some of Auntie Pinako’s determination when it came to work; if she had, she might have been at the automail shop instead of annoying Ed at this birthday party. He knew for a fact that in Risembool right now, there was a seventy-one year old woman working on a piece of automail for a client, national holiday or not—the holiday for the sake of Roy’s birthday Ed thought was a bit much on parliament’s part.

“Why are you wearing a turtleneck today, Ed?” she asked, a smirk on her face.

“I was cold.” He felt Winry grabbing at the collar. “Leave it alone!” he croaked. But it was too late, she’d seen them.

“Ed, what happened?”

“Roy had a nightmare, now can you drop it?”

“He did this to you?” Ed could see the darkness practically blurring her vision. “And he blamed it on a nightmare?”

“He had a nightmare, Winry.” Ed sighed, rolling his eyes as he put candles in the cake, trying not to think back to the better part of the previous night as he licked a bit of icing off his knuckle. “We couldn’t get him out of it. Aideen had to smack him to pull him out of that fog.”

“That’s why you’re hoarse then?”

“Part of the reason,” he said with a smirk, enjoying that Winry now looked suddenly ill at the mental image of what other reason might have made his voice raspy.

“I don’t need details like that, Ed.”

“No, but you supply enough about Al, and he’s my brother for shit sake.”

Once again, Winry pulled down the collar of Ed’s turtleneck. “You should get Raine to do something about them.”

“What the hell happened to you?” Ed heard Frank’s voice say from the kitchen door leading to the porch. “Did Roy do that to you?”

“Don’t go holding a knife to him, you barbaric bastard. He was asleep and had a flashback. He caught me off guard because he doesn’t usually have them after… you know.”

Then, Roy came down from upstairs, holding the present Aideen had just given him, a storage case for his gloves that she’d spent the last ten minutes, most likely, showing him how to open.

“Roy,” Frank said, looking almost big brotherly as he did, “how much alcohol did you have last night?”

“What are you suggesting?” Roy asked, visibly squeezing tightly onto the little girl’s hand. “Do you think I got drunk and—”

“I want to know how many of those complimentary drinks you had last night.”

“I don’t see where it is your business to ask.”

“They had tequila in them, which is why I didn't drink them. If you are anything like the Roy I knew, tequila messes with your system, makes you an angry drunk and causes nasty nightmares.”

“I didn't want to appear rude, so I had two,” Roy’s voice had gone from angry to that of surprised realization.

“And how long since you last really had alcohol?”

“Aside from the occasional glass of something, three years.”

“And even then it was only enough to get tipsy,” Ed said. Shooting Roy a tiny glare for the small incident with vodka.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had more than a taste of tequila before last night.”

“Then I’d recommend you lay off it. For Ed’s sake.”

********

Having a source of the night terror seemed to take a load off of Roy’s mind, for which Ed was grateful. There had been discussions of separate beds or even Ed being better off without his husband. He knew the nightmares would likely haunt Roy for the rest of his life, but Ed had learned to predict them and most of the time, the horrible ghosts of Roy’s past only showed themselves in the dream, requiring Ed to gently comfort his husband as Roy had done many times for Ed—the older man was not alone in his nightmares.

And leave it to Frank to realize what had caused last night’s sudden outburst. Initially, Ed had blamed Frank, partly because of the incident with the knife that was honestly too long ago to have been the source of Roy’s reaction and partly because the man was Frank Archer.

Ed was left considering how exactly he was going to hide the bruises which Raine, bless that woman, had lessened with her alchemy. The party was one thing, with friends and family around, all understanding of what Roy had gone through. It was that stupid ball tonight that parliament was forcing them to go through. Make-up smeared, and none of Ed's dress shirts had collars high enough to cover the marks. But he'd worry about that later.

At the moment, though Ed's concerns were with the battle royale currently taking place in his backyard, as a friendly spar between the twins—which Nicholas won at the last minute not from superior speed or strength against his smart-fighting sister, but because he manipulated her emotions by crying—started the adults going against one another. The younger ones, Wrath, Ed, Al and even Winry giving it a go, Wrath winning against Winry, Al winning against Ed as he always did. Wrath and Al had been a near tie as the former homunculus knew techniques foreign to Al, but eventually the younger Elric won. When the older group—not old, just older, Roy had corrected Nicholas—competed, it came down to Frank and Roy.

Sitting on the grass beside Fuery, Ed glanced over, half noticing as the man unconsciously licked his lips. Personally, Ed couldn’t blame him. As always, he found Roy shirtless more than appealing, and he even had to give Frank credit for having a nice, solid build. However, Ed seriously doubted Fuery was staring at Roy, nor was he silently rooting for him, as each and every time Frank landed a blow, Fuery’s body language said he wanted to be cheering for the older man.

“Shame on you, Fuery,” Ed said, absentmindedly plucking a piece of grass. “He’s your subordinate. You missed your chance after yesterday morning.” Ed wondered if there had been a time when he had turned such a lovely shade of red, knowing that more than likely he had.

“First of all,” Fuery said as he regained his composure, “you are certainly one to talk. You were the fuhrer’s subordinate when you two were together. Secondly, it isn’t like that. I was just remembering last night.”

“And what happened last night?” Ed asked, his eyebrow quirked up just a bit.

“Frank drunkenly kissed me before asking me to marry him.”

“Does he remember?”

“No. And it’s better that way. Not that it was a real kiss.” Ed only looked at Fuery, waiting for more details. “I pulled him away from the lamppost, who apparently rejected his offer of marriage, explaining to him that he needed to get back to the house. He said I was ‘bloody brilliant’ or something like that, grabbed my face, kissed me, and told me he wanted to marry me. He wanted me to be his wife.”

Ed started to laugh. “His wife!” He tossed the piece of grass as he leaned back against the soft ground. “That’s rich!”

“He said he hoped I’d be as good of one as you are.”

Immediately, Ed shot upright again. “That bastard!”

Fuery grabbed hold of his arm. “He didn’t know what he was saying.”

“I’ll kill him.” He looked down at the pleading, puppy dog eyes below. “Fine. I won’t. But really, Fuery, you need to get those checked. No one your age should be able to look like a little pup to guilt people into doing something.”

Fuery grinned and watched as the spar continued, his eyes never leaving Frank.

"Daddy," Ed heard, feeling a familiar tug on his arm. Looking down, he saw Nicholas. "Are we going to open Papa's presents yet?"

"I think we should." He ruffled the blond hair, then yelled to the two men still going at one another. "All right, enough. We have presents to open and a ridiculous ball to attend later tonight. I don't need Roy bruised up any more than necessary."

"We can't just call it a tie," Roy said, breathing a little harder than he probably wanted to admit.

"Then Roy's the winner. He outranks Frank, I like him better, and it's his birthday."

"Works for me." Frank ran back up to the porch, unfortunately looking less winded than his opponent. It didn't go without notice from Roy, but Ed wrapped his arm around the bare back of his husband, placing a kiss on the older man's salty shoulder, silently gesturing to Roy the newfound crush that Fuery seemed to have on Frank.