Worlds Collide

A/N: Hikaru_9, What can I say? Wrath cares. Amethyst-eyed Koneko, somehow, I didn't type your name or accidentally deleted it. That long response to nette was partially my response to you, probably confused her too. No idea what happened. I've edited it, if you want to see what my response was. As for the most recent one, glad you can still root for Kain and Frank even if you aren't too fond of Frank. Sex scenes are still my hardest to write. Probably why the one in this one gets cut off before it starts (also, wanted to do this big mistake on Ed's part for a while). Aideen was defitinely capable of handling herself, but Frank, Ed, Roy, Nicholas, and Wrath all stepped in in one way or another, and Al and the other family members glared from a distance. Sometimes, I think I include Dante not only to remind people she's still a threat, but to see your reaction to her. Thanks for still reviewing.

Chapter 25

Changes

Three months later

Nicholas stood opposite his sister, watching her carefully. He was stronger, faster, but she was smarter. He knew it. She knew it, and she’d stopped responding to his tears. There had to be another way to beat her. She could watch every move, every attack, only dodging just enough to find his weakness and take him down. No matter how he changed his attack, no matter what he tried, she outsmarted him.

He went in for another strike, nothing major, just in the chest as she’d hit him so many times before, several even in this fight. To his surprise, his stubborn sister doubled over, crying.

“Very funny, Aideen. You’re not going to get me by crying.”

“I’m not trying to ‘get you’…” she said, sobbing. “It hurts.”

“Aideen,” their daddy said as he came out of the lab. “What’s wrong?”

The girl hissed, standing upright. If Nicholas hadn’t known better, it was like he’d just kneed her between her legs, except he knew it didn’t work the same for girls as it did for boys.

“Nicholas hit me in the chest. It hurt.”

Their father pulled off the rubber gloves, placing them in his lab coat as he went over to Aideen. “Sweetie,” He knelt in front of her. “Aideen, are you okay?”

“I’m better now.” With the back of her hand, she rubbed her eyes. “Why’d it hurt so much?”

An automail hand rubbed a dark head. “Unfortunately, it’s just one of those things that happens to your body as you get older.”

“You mean like the stuff you said would happen to m—” Nicholas found a hand over his mouth. He was only going to say that his fathers had talked to him about strange things that could happen to his penis as he got older, like it getting hard on its own and shooting out stuff that wasn’t pee. Didn’t Aideen get the same talk?

“It’s different for girls, Nicholas.” Nicholas said nothing, his mouth in the shape of an O. “Aideen, are you okay now?”

Nicholas looked at his sister, watching as she bit her lip and nodded her head.

“Why don’t you two stop your spar for now, call it a draw for now, and get some cookies?”

Aideen nodded, and Nicholas certainly wasn’t arguing about cookies, even if it meant calling the spar a draw.

********

Roy hung his coat up in the hall, hearing the sounds of the twins playing chess in the library.

He’d go in and see them later, deciding at the moment to see his husband.

“Ed?”

He went into the kitchen, finding Ed cutting up some vegetables at the table. “Hey,” the blond said, putting down the knife and looking up at Roy. “We need to talk.”

Roy pulled out a chair and sat opposite Ed. “What is it?” Roy knew that this had to be serious, if Ed actually said the words “we need to talk.” Normally, he just pouted or got angry that people didn’t realize he needed to talk about something important.

“It isn’t necessarily bad, Roy.” Ed looked across the table at him. “It’s just that we have to face facts that Aideen is growing up, even faster than Nicholas.” That was definitely true, in the last few months, while Nicholas had gotten a tiny bit taller, Aideen had shot up, the top of her head now just a bit below Ed’s nose—the twins had taken to measuring themselves by how far they came on their shorter father. “Roy, I think we have to face the fact that Aideen is going to need a bra.”

Roy felt certain that he was going to slide out of his chair. “Ed… what? She’s only going to be ten in a few days.”

“And according to Auntie Pinako, this happened about the same for my mom.”

“But…” Roy wasn’t sure coherent thought was possible. “She’s not even ten.”

“We’ve covered that already. I’m just saying she’ll need a training bra.”

“Training? For what?”

Ed put his hand over his face. “For her to get used to them. What the hell do you think? Shit Roy, you’re the one who’s at least been with women.”

“Not any who were wearing training bras.”

“Well, that’s very reassuring since they’re usually under the age of twelve.” Ed folded his arms across his chest. “I’m bringing this whole thing up because Nicholas hit her today in a spar, but he hit her chest, and for the first time, it hurt her.” Roy looked at Ed, ready to question just how hard Nicholas had hit the girl. “Knee in the groin kind of pain, doesn’t have to be done hard to be painful.”

Roy nodded more than knowingly. Despite being a fellow man, when Ed got really upset over something unintentionally spiteful coming out of his husband’s mouth, he wasn’t above taking it out on Roy’s nether regions, no matter how fond they both were of them.

“Look, I figured it was coming,” Ed said, managing to stay far calmer than Roy felt. A bra? For his little girl? “And with all of the flash bulbs and glaring lights that she deals with when we go out as a family, I knew we’d be doing this soon, if only for the extra layer's coverage. But if she’s got enough to get hurt, then maybe it’s time to take her shopping.”

“But, she’s still so young.”

“Think of it as another layer of fabric between our daughter and the rest of the world.”

“We’ll need get Winry…”

“She and Al are dealing with Robert’s birth father right now. The asshole signed away rights to his son, but now wants the little guy back.”

“Then, when Raine and Falman get back from their little vacation…”

“Roy, she should probably have them for and be used to them by her birthday. The cameras will be worse then, and there will be party games.”

“Do you want me to—”

“After this stunning display of knowledge and maturity? I don’t think so. You'd probably scar her for life. I’ll take her. At least I’ll know what I’m talking about.”

“So if you knew you had this under control, then why tell me?”

“Well, I didn’t want you to panic or get upset that I left you out. And what kind of reaction would you have had to finding one in the wash if you weren’t prepared for it?”

“Are you sure you want to do this tomorrow, Ed?”

“Might as well get it over with.”

In the hallway, two voices could be heard, as well as two sets of footsteps, one set louder, obviously throwing a mini-tantrum.

“I’m not playing chess with you any more. It isn’t fair. You always beat me.”

“I can’t help I’m better at it than you.”

Nicholas went straight to the fridge to find the juice then to the cabinets for a glass.

“Hi, Papa.” Aideen said, hugging Roy at his neck before getting a glass for herself, as Nicholas was obviously in no mood to share or be considerate. “You didn’t let us know you were home.”

He couldn’t really deny that while they were the same age, Nicholas a few minutes older, Aideen was maturing at a much faster rate than him, sometimes even than other children her age. Then again, she’d always preferred the company of adults, and she was a girl. He had enough male friends to know that even as adults they weren’t as mature as most teenaged girls.

Nicholas took a sip of whatever juice he’d poured and twisted his face up. “I thought this was punch.”

“You couldn’t tell by the smell it was cranberry?” Aideen said, rolling her eyes. “Dad, did someone drop him on his head as a baby?”

Ed winced a bit. Aideen seemed to alternate between using “Dad” and “Daddy” for him, the former appearing only occasionally as of yet, though it was only a matter of time before “Daddy” became a distant memory. “No, but you head-butted me pretty good.”

“Gave him two black eyes from hitting him at the bridge of his nose,” Roy added with a smile.

“Aideen, I think tomorrow after you’re done school, you and I are going to do a bit of shopping,” Ed said.

“Can I come?” Nicholas asked.

“Clothes shopping, Nicholas,” Ed corrected.

“Never mind.”

“Okay,” Aideen said, sounding as though she could care less, but obviously watching Ed’s face for the reason for the sudden shopping trip. “Is it for the party? You’re not going to make me wear a dress with the party games we’ve got planned, are you?”

“No, jeans are fine. There are just a few things you’re probably going to need.”

Aideen was far too bright for that, seeming to know there was more to this than Ed was letting on, but merely sighed. “Fine.”

********

The next morning, Ed wasn’t exactly enjoying the idea of taking his only daughter bra shopping, having to explain to her some of the things that already should have been explained, things that her fathers should have told her when they’d started talking to Nicholas about some of the changes to expect in his own body. He’d have to take his daughter through the awkward process of measurements and cup sizes, then they’d have to decide what style or styles she needed, and probably she’d pick out colors and patterns. He could handle himself, but he was dreading the rest of the day.

All thoughts of that vanished from Ed’s mind as he felt his pajama bottoms being pulled down. Ed didn’t mind the idea of being woken up this way, but Roy was infamous for doing this. He’d do half of this while Ed was asleep, only for Ed to wake up near climaxing, then request Ed reciprocate once he was through, boneless and still half-asleep.

Roy circled Ed with his hand, forcing a moan out of Ed. He could hear the fuhrer bastard chuckle. Purposely thrusting his hips up into Roy’s hand, moaning louder, Ed began mumbling as though still asleep.

“Mmmm… More… So good… Mmm, right there Jean…” Ed wasn’t quite sure why Havoc had been the first name to come to mind, but he figured it didn’t matter, as long as it got the desired result.

“Jean?” The hand moved entirely from Ed’s body, and the bed shifted as Roy seemed to fly off it.

Ed opened his eyes, a smirk on his face.

“Jean? As in Havoc? Ed what the hell?”

“It was a joke, Roy.” Ed looked down at his hard member. “You left something unfinished.”

“It’s going to stay that way. Damn it Ed, Havoc?”

“A joke, Roy,” Ed said, pulling his pajamas back up, hissing as he did. “Roy!”

Ed’s smile faded when he remembered his discussion with Roy not long ago discussing the fact that his husband hadn’t been his first crush, but rather was preceded by Danny Brosch, a blond waiter at the café Ed frequented, Russell Tringham, and Jean Havoc, his very first crush. It probably hadn’t helped that at the time, he’d teased Roy about the fact he’d always had a thing for blonds until Roy.

“And I’m with you because…” he’d joked at the time, earning a rather pleasant kiss at the time.

“Shit. Roy, damn it, get back here bastard fuhrer. It was a joke. And people call me the girl in the relationship. Damn you, get back here.”

“Ed, I’m going to the office early,” Roy called from the door before going. He’d been in uniform while he…

“Shit.”

Ed kicked the wall. If Roy was in uniform, it wasn’t a morning he was expecting Ed to return the favor. It had simply been about Ed, and now Roy was pouting and going off to his own little corner.

“Shit,” Ed repeated, as he looked up at the calendar. “Shit, shit…”

Someone tapped him on the shoulder, startling him. Turning around, he saw Wrath.

Problems in paradise?

“Very funny. I forgot my own birthday, which is also the day he proposed to me. Roy doesn’t make a big deal because I don’t like him to, and I forgot. He was trying to be… nice this morning and I made a stupid joke.”

I’m not going to guess what you mean by nice, Wrath wrote, making a face, but what kind of joke did you make?

“I mentioned another person’s name while he was… being nice.”

That’s cruel Ed. Then, with another thought, Wrath scribbled again. And disgusting

********

Sitting at the diner, sucking some soda mixture through a straw, Kain sat opposite Frank, who had been behaving strangely all day. Frank wasn’t really eating or drinking anything, just stirring around the cherry phosphate in his glass, slowly.

“So, Frank, have you thought about dating now that you’ve established yourself here?”

“I’ve considered it, but I have worked hard for a decent reputation. I start dating, I’ll ruin that.” Kain looked at him, confused. “I only do one night stands, flings. I don’t do ‘relationships.’ Only one I had went into the crapper, and we both came out of it miserable.”

“So you wouldn’t give another one a try?” Kain couldn’t believe he was asking this. They were getting dangerously close to a conversation he couldn’t turn back from.

“I couldn’t for a long time. Since I’ve been here,” Frank said, actually taking a sip of the red substance in the glass, “I’ve been myself longer than I’ve been since I was twenty-four. Not that I minded. That was part of my job.”

“But now, if there was someone here?”

Frank shrugged. “And what about you?”

“I’ve never done the one night stand,” Kain said. “I’ve usually waited until… well, until I was sure.”

“Until you were in a relationship.”

Kain nodded, and the conversation went to silence, almost painfully.

“Breda actually took me out with Havoc last night. They’re seeming to trust me more,” Frank said, not taking his eyes off of Kain, to the point that it was beginning to make the younger man uncomfortable.

“I’m glad.”

“I didn’t let myself get pissed this time… By that, I mean off my ass drunk, not angry.” Frank shook his head, actually looking away for a split second. “I have to remember double meanings.”

“Really? I was hoping you’d tell me you proposed to some more of the streetscape.”

“No.” Frank’s eyes were once watching Kain’s face. “But did you know that memory is strongly linked to what state of mind you’re in? I’d always heard that, but I guess I haven’t been quite drunk enough lately to remember what happened after my induction into the military or I’ve been too drunk to remember again the next morning after I’d sobered up.”

Kain’s eyes got wide, but he said nothing.

“At first, I remembered proposing to the two women, then to the two items on the street. I started feeling very embarrassed, but then, I remembered you pulling me off the lamppost, telling me not to be worried about the fact it rejected me, telling me you’d help me get home. Then, I called you brilliant and kissed you, asking you to marry me and be as good a wife as Ed.” Frank moved back from his drink, placing his elbows on the table and steepling his arms beneath his chin. “And you never told me the next morning. Why?”

“You were drunk, Frank.”

“So what? You didn’t mind teasing me about everything else, siccing Ed on me when you told him wife comment—”

“He promised me he wouldn’t.”

“Well, he did. Nearly ripped my throat out for it.” Frank folded his arms across his chest. “Did you just not tell me because we’re friends and you didn’t want me feeling awkward? Was it terrible and you didn’t want to say? Or are you so used to snogging your friends you didn’t even notice?”

Kain stood from the table, throwing his napkin on it, and stood, looking down at Frank. “I was still getting to know you, and then, I thought it was a little soon to be doing this.” In one fluid movement, Kain grabbed Frank’s head, bending down until he was mashing their lips together. To his surprise, Frank was returning the kiss, not seeming to care they were in full uniform, making out in a public place and causing one hell of a scene.

Kain relinquished a bit of his grip on Frank, feeling the older man’s lips turn upward into a smile. “I’ve wanted to do that for the last month. Once I remembered that night, I knew I could goad you into it."