The More I Learn to Care For You - Roy's POV
New Year�s
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Replies:
Amethyst-eyed Koneko:
angst in this one somewhere. I rarely
write anything that doesn’t have any (unless they’re little oneshots)
^_~
aww thanks!
It’s been an interesting and fun project.
differences too. Outcast Martyr: *nods* yeah
that’s true. It’s the only downside to
this project. We do try to keep the
repetition down. I think it will be more
so as the story continues, but we’ll see.
More I learn to Care for You - Roy's POV
Three
Year’s
his hands in his coat pockets and watched Ed walk in front of him.
winter coat hid the teen’s rear so well...
“It’s around here somewhere...” Ed said and looked
down at a small piece of paper in his hand.
scowled at the shorter alchemist in front of him and said, “So would you like
to tell me where we’re headed now?”
Ed stopped and looked back over his shoulder.
lowered his eyes to stare appreciatively at Ed’s lower front region, but when
he heard that he looked up in surprise.
“The Legion... that dance hall...?
You’re not serious,” he asked in disbelief.
Ed gave him a grin and said, “Oh yeah...can’t wait,
eh!”
“I don’t dance,”
He didn’t dance. Hawkeye had once
said that she would teach him, but after three ‘lessons’ the woman had
proclaimed him hopeless. It hadn’t
bothered him that much at the time, since he had plenty of other charms to pull
on the ladies, and dancing wasn’t a requirement for promotion.
out of himself on the dance floor in front of Ed made him wish he’d took the
time to learn at least a bit.
Ed shrugged and said, “That’s okay.
the ladies.” That said, the teen turned
around and started walking again.
an eyebrow and held back a comment about women liking to dance with men taller
then them. Following after Ed,
faint sounds of music.
“Um...this way, I think,” Ed said and turned down
another street. Following his date,
the street to see the dance hall; the entrance was packed with people standing
about talking over the loud music from inside.
Seeing the mass,
was glad they’d decided to walk here from the restaurant seeing as how it would
be difficult to find a place to park.
As they approached the front of the building, Ed
grinned and said, “This looks like fun,” before pushing past the milling people
toward the door.
grunted again and muttered while following Ed, “Oh yeah, loads...”
Roy frowned as he watched Ed fish a couple of
wadded bills from his pocket to pay his own way into the dancehall, then hand
his coat to the coat check. Irritably,
and paid his way in before handing his own coat to the coat check.
“I’m paying...” he grumbled.
his ego to have the teen try paying his own way...
date, and he sure as hell was going to pay for him.
Ed snorted and said, “Contrary to popular belief,
my long hair does not make me into a girl...”
down at Ed and said, “You seem rather obsessed with me thinking you’re a
girl. Trust me, Ed.
am supposed to be taking you on a
date, I want to open doors for you, and pay for you.
from the restaurant, “Or does telling someone not to try changing another
person only go one way?”
Ed stiffened and blinked, and after a moment he
said, “Yeah, okay. So when do I get to
take you out so you can be the girl?”
close. “That means you get to be
bottom.” The last was said with a smirk.
thought he should feel amused, but he didn’t.
Instead he felt a little thoughtful.
How would it be to be taken out?
He didn’t know. He’d only ever
taken other people out. Would he even
itself...
Shrugging,
glanced around, suddenly wondering where the liquor was located.
could still use another drink. Glancing
down at Ed, he said seriously, “I don’t know.
You’ve never asked me out before.
Usually that’s what people do when they want to show they’re interested
in someone.”
Well, at least, that’s what men did.
you to death until you asked them out.
Ed had done neither.
he’d pursued him. Simple
as that. Thinking about it now,
the kid probably didn’t know what had hit him.
It might have been different for Ed had he been pursued by someone as
inexperienced in relationships as he was, but to have someone with Roy’s
know-how trying to court him...
“Oh... I never?” Ed said
sounding a little upset. His shoulders
sagged and he frowned a little while chewing on his automail thumb.
go out sometime, then?” He looked up
into
face, waiting for an answer.
He smiled a small smile and chuckled.
thought of Ed trying to court
can handle taking me out?”
“Tch, what’s there to
handle? We’ve been out lots of times,”
he said, then grabbed
hand. “Come on,
let’s get out of the way.” Ed threaded
his fingers through
and dragged him down the hall.
chuckled again and decided to let Ed take the lead for the moment.
intriguing the idea of Ed courting him was.
Ed had never actually had to plan a date before.
again if his target date was free to go out on a specific night.
else on a date or...
Suddenly he stopped as Ed paused for a moment in
the hall proper.
used to an environment a little like this, but much more refined than what he
was seeing. The music from the live band
was loud but the din from the people almost matched it.
Without warning, his hand was pulled again and he
suddenly felt himself pushed into a line.
tilted his head a little to see to the front and was gratified to know that it
was the line for drinks. Not able to
stop the quip,
said in amusement, “You didn’t have enough wine at the restaurant?”
“Not for me, for you,” Ed explained.
back.”
his head and chuckled, watching Ed wander off.
The teen had been rather amusing in the last couple of minutes.
after all.
Turning to stare at the line,
said, “Excuse me,” to the lady in front of him.
The woman turned around and when she saw him a
faint blush heated her cheeks. “Yes?”
she asked. He could tell she was trying
to be charming, but she needed a little more work at it.
“Have you been waiting very long?”
he tried to sound a little detached.
She seemed to get the message and said politely,
“Well, not this time, but I was in the line before and it was slow then.
in here.”
“I see...”
said, a little disappointed at having to wait so long, then
stepped forward when the line moved.
The woman nodded and ran her eyes over his face
before smiling more broadly and turning away.
It was flattering, and if he knew Ed wasn’t coming right back, he might
have flirted with her a little, but that just wouldn’t do in such a short
amount of time.
Suddenly, Ed walked up beside him, jacket slung
over his shoulder and tie loosened. It was
actually a rather attractive look. The
only thing that marred the scene was the bread crumbs at the corner of Ed’s
lip. “You still haven’t gotten anything
to drink!”
shrugged and murmured, “Long line,” before brushing at Ed’s mouth.
the cheap party food here, but he’d hardly touched his food at the
restaurant. Trying not to dwell on it,
no such problems getting food.”
“Eh?” Ed said and started brushing at his own face
as well. With a grin he said, “I’m still
growing – and don’t you say anything!”
Ed held up a threatening finger.
“You know,”
said hopefully. “We could skip the line
and just go back to my place.”
“Then I couldn’t torture you,” Ed answered, then
pulled on his shoulder.
sex until the new year.”
quickly stood up straight and glared down at Ed.
that’s how it was, was it? Well, two
could play that game. Smirking,
whispered into Ed’s ear, “How about no sex until you can take me out on a
successful date?”
Ed shivered a little, then
motioned for
ear. He turned his head and Ed
whispered, “The new year’s closer... but if you want
to wait, fine.” Ed shrugged and stepped
away slightly.
up straight and shrugged, feeling pleased that he was now back
in control. “As you wish,” he said and
stepped to the bartender when he realized he was next in line.
out his wallet for the right amount. He
glanced at Ed, who wasn’t looking too happy, then back to the bar.
two people making drinks in such a busy dance hall,
back to Ed.
“So are you going to dance with me or just laze
around. There’s
so many people out there that no one would notice us,” Ed said and pointed to
the dance floor.
shrugged and took a drink. He wasn’t
exactly worried about people seeing him with Ed, he
was more worried about looking like an idiot.
“No, I’ll just ‘laze’ over by the wall watching as you try to find
someone to dance with.”
thought, then continued, “I’m sure I’ll find plenty of pleasant company near
the wall.” At that,
chairs and tables near the wall.
“So you were really in the Ishbal
War?”
table with lean closer and put her hand on his arm.
face.
“Well... it was...”
right moment. The war had definitely
been hard on him, but it wasn’t that he was thinking about at the moment.
out of her.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
He glanced up and put on a small smile for
her. “Don’t worry about that,” he said
in a soft voice. “When I see your lovely
face, I can only think about the beautiful things in life.”
She smiled and blushed deeply.
the corner of his eye. Well, it was
about time. He’d already flirted with
more than ten women as Ed had danced.
Surprisingly enough, the teen had found plenty of women to dance
with.
of them, and felt slightly jealous, but if his date was having a good time,
then that’s what mattered.
Of course, Ed had openly glared at him too, when he
didn’t think
was watching. Really... what was Ed’s
problem? Was he mad that
him? He’d seemed fine about going and
dancing with the ladies... It must be some strange teenage thing...
When he heard Ed clear his throat behind him,
smoothly, “Well, Edward, have you been enjoying yourself?”
“Not as much as you have, bastard,” Ed growled.
smirked. Ed couldn’t possibly be
jealous... “I don’t know, I thought I saw you out there with quite a few nice
looking young ladies...” He should
actually be congratulating Ed on being able to get so many dance partners.
darkened.
Looking at
through his bangs, Ed growled, “Can I have a WORD.
“Of course,”
said with an amused, tight-lipped smile.
There was jealously, and then there was jealousy. One was
flattering, the other was insulting and Ed was bordering on insulting.
Turning back to the woman,
on his arm and said in an apologetic voice, “I’m sorry.
and watched the woman responded with a nod and a radiant smile of her own.
Getting up,
looked at Ed who was glaring heatedly at the woman.
hand and dragged him away from the table.
Ed looked back, probably to glare at the woman again.
as Ed’s metal fingers bit painfully into his arm through his suit jacket.
“Bastard!”
hissed as he pulled him toward the back wall and tightened his grip.
another!”
His arm was definitely going to bruise from this
‘loving’ treatment. “You said you were
going to dance with the ladies, so I thought I’d keep the ones who weren’t
lucky enough to dance with you busy,”
said, trying to flatter his young lover into a better mood.
“You’re such a liar!” Ed accused, then dropped his
death-grip hold and turned to face him.
“You practically had her in your lap!”
Being called a liar didn’t sit well with
remind himself that Ed was young and impulsive.
Trying to keep the mood light, he said, “Ed, what did you think was
going to happen if I stayed on the sidelines?
That I’d just magically become invisible?
looking that woman want to be around me.
here and leaving me alone.” The last was
said with a hint of amusement and a shrug.
Maybe Ed would see what a bad idea this whole thing had been in the
first place.
“I just wanted to dance with you, but you were an
ass!” Ed snarled. “At least I went to
dinner with you!”
That was it.
The last straw.
Letting out a derisive laugh,
aren’t we, Ed? Yes, you did come to
dinner with me, but you didn’t eat.” He
sighed and shook his head angrily. He
didn’t want to stay on that subject so he jumped to another one.
you, or at least I would have hoped that after all this time, you would know me
better than that. Flirting with women
comes naturally to me, so that’s what I do, but it doesn’t mean anything.”
Letting the irritation he’d been feeling during the
evening bloom into full-blown anger,
said, “If you don’t want me to try changing you, then don’t try to change
me. Did you see me storming out onto the
dance floor to stop you from dancing closely with those women?”
and that made him feel even more frustrated about the whole situation.
resentfully, then stopped.
want to start ranting at Ed. He didn’t
want to rip into his younger, inexperienced lover.
He had that ability. Making
someone else feel like shit was another of those things that just came ‘naturally’
to him. And he was ashamed to admit that
he’d used that ‘talent’ in the past with some of his previous girlfriends.
Younger and inexperienced.
Like Ed.
want to hurt Ed. He knew his lover was
just angry and hadn’t fully learned to control his tongue.
tongue sometimes, which was why...
“I’m leaving,” he said, turning around and walking
toward the door.
He needed to cool off.
minutes before he said something he’d regret.
Relieving the coat check of his coat,
headed out the door into the cold winter night.
That in itself seemed to help him think a little more clearly.
street instead of going directly back to his car.
“
He sighed heavily and ignored the shout.
calm down? The frozen grass of the park crunched
a little under his shoes as he walked toward the empty children’s play area.
“
Making it to the large play structure in the middle
of the park,
walked around the other side and leaned against a metal ladder leading up to
the next level where kids could go down the slide.
of a place as any.
Suddenly the teen dashed around the side and
slipped on a patch of ice, flying a little into the air and landing on his rear
and head. He laid there for a moment,
then moaned, “...owww...”
“Very attractive,”
still ticked.
Ed blinked and gingerly touched his head, then
looked at his hand. Sighing irritably,
prostrate teen and knelt down, inspecting Ed’s head.
“You’re fine. Your head is too hard to
do any real damage. I should probably
worry about the ground.”
Grunting, Ed slowly propped himself up on one
elbow. “
said with a little shiver.
Grunting again,
said, “Those words seem to come more naturally to you than they do to
me...”
Wrapping his arms around
Ed snuggled up close to him, burying his face into
wrapped his arms around Ed, holding him close.
“I wish I could say those words so easily...”
sorry...” he quoted. Why was it that
apologizing came so hard to him? He
thought that he should probably say those words right now, but instead he said,
“You haven’t been a bitch all night.” It
was close to an apology... “But yeah, you’ve been a handful...
“Yeah I have...” Ed said, his words muffled by
having his face buried in
chest. “I just wanted to dance with
you,” he whined.
Ed’s hair, the anger from before dissipating.
“You know... I really can’t dance...”
The teen tightened his grip on him, and he wasn’t sure what to make of
that so he said with a chuckle, “I drive better than I dance...”
Ed snorted.
“There’s not much to know for a slow dance...” Ed
said, his voice still muffled.
“You say that now,”
‘lessons’ with Hawkeye. “I assume you
cherish your remaining foot?”
“Can you sway?
You could do that at least and leave your feet planted?” Ed asked,
looking up at
face.
He pulled back a little and gazed down at his young
lover. He supposed he could do that...
for Ed... This seemed to be something the teen really wanted...
“How about it?”
asked, shivering.
Letting go of the teen,
Ed’s shoulders. “I guess so,” he said
then continued, a little unsure, “Um... you start...”
Ed rolled his eyes.
“Just hold me like before, okay...” he instructed.
defense so she made us learn. This was
how I first started.” Ed wrapped his
arms around
waist and started to sway before resting his head against his chest again.
stiffened a little and muttered, “Yeah, I can understand that.
The teen snorted, then
laughed. “See it’s not that hard,
right?”
“I feel like an idiot,”
“Well, at least you don’t look like one,” Ed
returned.
“TEN!”
stopped and looked down at Ed.
Ed glanced up, a puzzled look on his face.
“NINE!”
Grinning down at Ed,
“Eh?” Ed
tilted his head to catch the sound of the people from the dance hall calling
out the count down, then grinned.
“EIGHT!”
glanced back in the direction of the dance hall, then back to Ed.
know,” he said with a conceited grin.
“Yeah, we must remember to thank them,
sarcastically.
“SEVEN!”
“Perhaps,”
murmured, sliding a hand under Ed’s chin and leaning down.
Legion. He had other things on his mind.
“SIX!”
Ed leaned up on his tip toes, already seeming to
expect a kiss on the lips.
“FIVE!”
Smiling,
leaned down and kissed Ed on his right cheek.
“You missed,” Ed said flatly.
“FOUR!”
“I never miss,”
“Wrong again,” Ed murmured.
“THREE!”
Ed’s forehead and the teen said, “Nope...”
“TWO!”
Next was a small peck on Ed’s nose,
and to this the teen said nothing.
“ONE!”
At the last count and the shout of ‘Happy New Year’,
lips softly, yet firmly, against Ed’s.
The teen moved his hands along
back and tried to take over the kiss. He
smiled and slipped his tongue into the teen’s mouth to kiss him more
thoroughly.
Ed groaned and pressed himself more fully against
push
back.
worked his own tongue around Ed’s before moving his hand down to fondle Ed’s
groin.
Ed grip his back and he reached down with his other hand to pull the teen’s
shirt out a little so that he could reach in and tease one of Ed’s
nipples. The blond broke the kiss and
gasped.
“
Ed moaned. “Are we... here?”
gave in, but instead he gave Ed’s sex one final stroke and stepped back with a
smirk. “Of course not.
No sex until you take me out on a successful
date.”
Ed stared at him in disbelief.
Deciding the wait would be worth not getting his
instant gratification,
said, “Remember?” He held up a finger
and wiggled it. “No sex
until you take me out on a successful date.
let out a fake sigh. “I guess you’d
better turn in your state job for one with the church as some sort of male
nun...” he said with a chuckle.
Ed’s jaw dropped.
“Really?
No sex until my date with you?
What’s your definition of successful?
Let’s go on a date right now!”
Oh, no. He
wasn’t going to let Ed get away with it that easily.
work
into courting him. With a grin,
course, I have to have a good time. You
have to make me want to have sex with
you. It’s a shame you’ve never dated a
woman, Ed. It’s a real challenge to get
one of them into bed. You have to know
just what they like, and how to talk to them, and what to do for them.”
He paused, trying to think of how to make Ed
understand how easy he has had it, and what kind of work has been put into...
well... not getting into Ed’s pants... well, actually, yeah.
“You remember the date we had where I first got you
into bed? It took me quite a while to
figure out just what made you tick.”
That was a definite understatement... “Hamburgers and sparing would
never have been my first choice, but...”
He shrugged. “It was the perfect
date for you.”
Ed groaned and held his head in his hands.
else? Um...”
snickered. This... could be really
fun... “Well, I don’t know, Ed...
stopped and glanced back at Ed. “But
remember, you said you wanted to be on top.”
That, too, should be interesting...
“If you want it you’re going to have to earn it.”
“Doh!”
said, and
could hear him scrambling after him.
“This sucks!” Ed yelled, making
grin all the more.
--
Please note that all of Ed’s dialogue belongs to
--
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