For Her. For Him.

A/N: I'm glad I've gotten so many positive reviews about Raine. She's been distant from Roy, estranged in a way, but because of his own stubbornness and shame, more than anything. They talked to one another, but it wasn't the same after Ishbal, I try to insinuate that it's because she was a healer and didn't condone violence and Roy was ashamed of that. Anyway, I cannot believe the number of reviews, or the number of hits either. Thank you to all of you who continue to review. I know the last chapter wasn't much but just a way to push on the plot, but I was glad to see I still received a few reviews on it anyway.

Chapter 34

Archer

Roy slid open the door to the compartment he had to share with Archer, finding the blue-eyed man looking over photos and maps. He looked to the seat opposite the other colonel, finding it covered in paperwork.

“We can move all of that later. Right now, we need to come up with some strategies,” Archer said, moving a folder on the bench beside him. Roy looked to Archer uncertainly, revulsion wanting to keep him as far away as possible. “You might want to have a seat before the train starts moving and sends you into the wall.” A black eyebrow raised, though his eyes didn’t leave the maps and photos. “Or into my lap.”

Roy folded his arms in defiance.

“I swear I won’t bite… unless you ask.”

“Archer!”

“A joke, Flame.” His face remained unchanged as he shuffled through a stack of photographs. “And since we are now equals in rank, a perfectly acceptable one.”

Roy doing his best not to be intimidated by the man in the compartment with him, trying not to slip into those teenage days, sat in the only available seat. “So, what do we know?”

“You have been watching longer than I have, so I shouldn’t need to update you on the conflict going on in Lior. But these photos are from our spy balloon and have shown an abnormality we’d never seen.”

He couldn’t help but think about Ed, his concern for the blond showing on his face. Seventeen for all of three days, and having to take on so much. At seventeen, Roy was…

Roy looked over at the man next to him.

********

“Happy birthday Roy!” Maes said as he ran up behind the now seventeen-year-old-cadet. “We’re going to help you celebrate right.”

“I believe these will help in your celebration,” Frank said, offering insignia and buttons from a third-year jacket. “We’ll have to pin them onto yours though, even when we were first years, Maes and I weren’t as short as you.”

The smallest of the three flipped Frank off before accepting the uniform garb. “Can’t you even let my birthday go by without a short joke, you tall freak?”

“No.” Frank smugly folded his arms across his chest.

Roy looked down at the items in his hand. “What if I get caught?”

“You won’t. The bars don’t ask questions so long as you’re not wearing a first year uniform,” Frank said, flipping up Roy’s lapel where the pin indicating him as a first year rested.

“But I’m not legal to drink yet. Why can’t we wait until the right birthday, when I’m eighteen?”

“Because by the time you have your birthday, we’ll have graduated and be starting in the military,” Maes said as they reached Roy’s dorm room. Opening the door, Roy saw a card on the floor. He bent down to pick it up, recognizing immediately the handwriting on the envelope. “That from Raine?”

Roy looked it over. “Yeah. She’s still mad as hell at me, but she sent me a card anyway.” Walking inside, Roy was shocked to find Frank pulling at his coat, trying to take it off. “What are you doing?”

“You can’t sew worth crap, Roy,” Frank said. “We know that. I’ll add all the insignia for you. You read your sister’s card.”

Roy smacked Frank’s hand away. “I have others. Use one that isn’t on my body, pervert.” He handed back the insignia to Frank and went to sit on his bed. He opened the envelope slowly, sliding the card out of the white paper covering it, then opening it. Behind him, he felt a shifting on the bed, then the sensation of folded arms on his head.

“What’s it say?” Maes said, leaning his head over Roy’s.

“Give me a chance to read it, you impatient moron.” Maes leaned back, allowing Roy to read over the letter which wasn’t overly loving, but distinctly Raine.

“Okay, so what does the sexy goddess say?”

“First of all, that’s gross. She’s my sister, damn it. Second of all, she calls me a ‘damned idiot’ for entering the academy and wishes me a happy birthday all the same, telling me she loves me and hopes I ‘get the hell out.’”
After a few moments of hearing his best friend go on about his sister’s beauty and how sexy she was, Roy doing his best to ignore him, he was suddenly blindsided by his modified uniform coat smacking him in the face. “Get that thing on and let’s go out and get you properly drunk.”

********

Archer leaned back in his seat, looking over at Roy. “I never got to congratulate you on your upcoming marriage.”
Roy’s onyx eyes looked over at his fellow colonel, wondering where exactly the man was going with this.

“I wonder where you managed to find such an understanding woman.” Frank looked over the papers and reports. “There aren’t many who would willingly marry a man who’s going to want to take it in the back from another man at some point or another.”

“That is out of line!”

“Is it really? I mean, men like you don’t usually settle down. No matter which you’re with, you’re going to wish it was the other. What are you going to do when you want to be bottom? She really can accept that? Or are you going to cheat on her?”

“I will be faithful. Loyalty actually means something to me.” Roy’s eyes narrowed on the man at his side. “So, tell me, Archer, how long did it take those scratches heal?”

“I should have had that cat captured and tested for rabies. You know, they have to kill them to check its brain to do that. That means death and dissection for the little kitty.”

“Her shots are up-to-date, so it would have meant paperwork. Though, you should know that I treated her to tuna that night.” Roy sighed, standing up. “We’re getting nowhere doing this. We hate one another, fine. But if we can’t manage to come up with a descent strategy, we’re going to cause countless deaths.”

“And heavens knows that would affect any future promotions, wouldn’t it, colonel?”

“Archer, this isn’t about promotions or egos. We’re dealing with people’s lives.”

“I don’t need to hear lectures from you,” Archer said. “You will remember that we are equals on this mission.”

“I merely talk from experience as someone who’s been in these types of conflicts, Archer.”

“Well tell me, my self-proclaimed wisened sage, what do you make of this?” Archer handed Roy a photo. “Looks like some kind of alchemy to me, but I’m no expert.”

“It isn’t traditional Amestris design, but Fullmetal might offer some insight. He’s studied other countries’ alchemy.”

“I would suggest you bring him here, but I doubt he’d be able to fit through the aisles for his current girth.”

“No, and I am not sure what kind of use he’ll be as a scout. He’s still recovering.” He gathered a few photos to show Ed.

“That’s an unfortunate fact of the military.” Frank leaned back in his seat and placed his right ankle on his left knee. “We don’t always get to be in top shape when we’re fighting. He’ll just have to suck it up. Besides, it’s not even as though we’re asking him to do anything but investigate. Is your little major that weak?”

“He isn’t weak,” Roy said, feeling every nerve bristling. “He is just sick. It isn’t as though he planned it.”

“No, but how much healthier would he have been if he hadn’t run off to save his brother? It sounds as though this Alphonse is more of a hindrance than a help to the little state alchemist.” Roy wanted to say something, but was afraid that anything that might come out of his mouth in defense of his fiancé might cause more problems. He felt Archer grab his arm. “He might be the little prodigy you discovered, but you’re not going to get anywhere if you spend the rest of your military career trying to protect him from his, you know. It could hurt you getting a promotion.”

“I told you, not everything is about rank.”

“No.” The blue eyes rolled in Archer’s head. “Sometimes, it’s about family, right, Roy?” Roy could almost watch as jealousy appeared on the older man’s face. He was admittedly shocked. Archer envied Roy’s new relationship.

Not wanting to say any more to the man, Roy walked out of the compartment, wondering how he was going to manage spending that much time with the man he despised so much, the man he had a history he was ashamed of to this day.

********

Roy awoke in his tiny dorm room bed, feeling sticky and gross, but with the pounding in his head, that was the least of his problems. His mouth was dry, feeling like he had a ball of cotton shoved in it. From what he could remember of the taste of alcohol, the nasty, burning stuff certainly didn’t seem worth this. Remember. Damn, he didn’t remember anything. He just knew he stunk and wanted to find an instant cure for his headache. He grabbed his boxers off of the floor and pulled them on because for some reason, he had decided to sleep naked.

He made his way to the tiny kitchenette, trying his best to recall anything from the night before. Thankfully, he had no classes today and didn’t have to try to recover while learning about military history. Looking in his fridge for eggs he thought were in there, Roy thought he might try to make a prairie oyster, a drink Maes swore by when it came to alcohol. Unfortunately, with what felt like a spike going through his head, Roy seriously doubted he could remember the other ingredients, aside from the yolk of the egg. Still, he got out the egg, hoping that it would come to him eventually.

Smelling himself again, he reeked of cigarettes and alcohol and sweat, and God knows what else. What the hell had he done the night before? He remembered going to the bar with Maes and Frank, Maes doing his damnedest to get the young cadet drunk just by being typical, charming Maes, Frank being far more successful by being flat-out, asshole Frank. Frank could get under the first year’s skin faster and deeper than any of his other friends—not that the overachieving cadet had that many.

He remembered Maes getting drunk faster than even he had, inexperienced drinker that he was, and talking about Raine, again. He told how she had left him at the prom, then blabbed about the first kiss.

“Son of a bitch,” Roy muttered, too loud for the liking of his own head. Frank knew he’d kissed Maes. Damn it. Then, after being really embarrassed and trying to hide out in the bathroom, Frank had come to get him, teasing him, as usual. Telling him something about being too short to kiss Maes. Sure as hell too short to have done it right. Roy, the consummate perfectionist and egomaniac, had decided to prove his point.

Putting a hand to his lips, he remembered. He’d kissed Frank last night. He’d never hear the end of it. Frank would tell everyone that he’d been able to egg Roy into a kiss, and not just a kiss, but one with full tongue. Frank liked to brag, loved it far too much for Roy’s liking. Frank had made some short jokes and sucked Roy into kissing him. Bastard.

Roy was about to give up on the prairie oyster and just try to get into the bathroom to get a shower and forget the night before. But he could hear the shower already running, which was no surprise. His suite-mate always spent so much time in the shower that there was rarely any hot water left for Roy in the mornings.

He moved back to making the drink, trying to separate the yolk from the whites of the egg over the sink. He remembered something about pepper and hot sauce, not sure if he could actually manage to drink this stuff. As he poured hot sauce, something he kept because of Maes’s fondness for the condiment, there was a sudden flash of himself bent over the body of someone else on that tiny twin bed. They were both naked and Roy felt his cock twitch at the memory of being imbedded in tight heat. Was that the explanation of his sticky state that morning? He’d slept with someone?

He’d kissed Frank. What if… No, he would never have… Would he?

Roy left the half-finished prairie oyster on the porcelain surface of the tiny half-stove, going back to his bedroom. He saw the uniform he’d worn the night before, tossing the pants on the bed, picking up the coat, and realizing as he held the broad-shouldered, long-sleeved thing, that it wasn’t his.

“You can try it on if you’d like. It would probably make you look like a twelve-year old, but what the hell doesn’t.” Roy turned to see Frank leaving the bathroom, a towel wrapped around him, riding just low enough that Roy could see the top of the black curls below the man’s waist. Limping into the room, Frank winced slightly. “Unfortunately for me, not everything on you is proportionate to your size.” Roy stood in silence. "That was a compliment, Roy. I don't offer them often, just say thank you."

“Do you… do you remember what we did last night?”

“Yes. Do you?”

“Sort of.”

“Damn, thought I might have made an impression.”

“You don’t mind… I mean, what does this mean?”

“Mean? Roy it was sex.” Frank walked into the room, bending over to pick up a pair of boxer shorts. “And, I’m guessing your first time with another man.”

Roy couldn’t help but let his chest puff out. “Why?”

“You didn’t quite spend enough time in preparation.” Frank dropped the towel, making Roy turn away, his face growing red.

“Now that we’ve…” Roy looked to his feet. “Are we together?”

“No.” Roy felt a hand on his shoulder. “Roy, I hadn’t gotten any for months, I was more than happy to have the release. It doesn’t have to be any more than that.” The hand moved up and ruffled his hair, a gesture that never failed to anger the younger cadet. “Though I’d like to give it another go. They say sex can be a good hangover cure.” Seeing how flustered Roy was, Frank began laughing. “Relax, Roy. I’m kidding, not about the cure myth, about going again today. I’m sore as hell. We’ll have to wait at least another day, unless you want to be bottom.”

Stuttering over his words, Roy couldn’t help but feel he was somehow part of an agreement that he wasn’t entirely participating in.

********

Roy walked through car after car, finally reaching his own. He saw a box stick up out of the aisle.

“Want one, Colonel?” Fuery asked, holding up the box containing the last three vanilla cupcakes. Half-hungry, Roy took one, noticing Havoc standing talking to one of his fellow smoking buddies, who usually joined him outside of the train car on long train trips.

“I swear to you I don’t have any. I smoked my last one a week ago,” Havoc said.

“Bullshit. You just don’t want to share them.”

“I gave them up.”

“What?!” Roy said, nearly dropping both the cupcake and surveillance photos.

“You can thank your sister for that,” Havoc said. “Three diseases starting because of cigarettes.”

“I still say he’s got a woman he’s trying to impress,” Breda said. “Doesn’t want to stink like an ashtray when he kisses her.”

“It is always an added bonus that a woman doesn’t retch when she has to kiss you,” Roy said with a smirk.

“Haha, Chief,” Havoc said.

Roy opened up the compartment that should have been his, finding Al taking up a bench, Marta inside, Raine was on the other bench with Ed’s head resting on her shoulder. Raine was dressed in Riza’s old uniform, first lieutenant markings on her shoulder.

“How is he?”

“He,” Ed answered, tersely, “is uncomfortable, hot, and miserable. And he would appreciate it if you actually talked to him.”

Roy shut the door behind him and knelt beside the blond. “I thought you were still asleep.” He placed a kiss on Ed’s cheek.

“Enjoying your time with your boyfriend?”

“Ed…”

“Don’t Ed me. I don’t like the two of you in there together, alone.”

“If I was enjoying myself in there, why would I be in here with you?”

“Those photos you’ve got in your hands would be a good guess.” Ed extended his left hand, grasping the air. “Give them here.”

Roy handed him the photos, as he moved to Ed’s stomach, placing his ear to the rounded hump, which still held its strange shape. He could still hear the twins moving, though it was obvious it was growing limited in the way of room.

“Marta, Al, how are you?” Roy asked as he leaned back.

“I’d be more comfortable if I wasn’t inside of Al,” Marta replied back.

“It isn’t exactly normal having you inside of me.”

“These are transmutations for the philosopher’s stone,” Ed said. “I’m sure of it. Those photos Al sent back from his trip with Armstrong, they looked like this. But they are Ishballan, meaning Scar has to be behind this. You said he was in Lior, didn’t you? He’s going to use the entire town to make the philosopher’s stone.” Ed tried to sit up. “All those people.”

“Rose,” Al said.

Ed rubbed his stomach. “I don’t know how much use I’ll be, but I’m glad I’m going to be there. I want to help them before it’s too late. I wish this train could go faster.” Ed looked back at the photos. “What are you going to tell Archer? If you tell him that it’s for the philosopher’s stone, I don’t think he’d care. If he thought the stone would get him a promotion, I think he’d send the troops into the city so he could return the philosopher’s stone on a silver platter to the fuhrer.”

“I’ll think of something.” Roy stood, kissing Ed lightly. He moved to his sister and kissed her head, then he rapped on Al’s armor, a sign for both Al and Marta. Looking up, he noticed the bell Al had installed. Outside, there was a button that any of the colonel’s men could press which would ring it, signaling to Ed that someone was entering who wasn’t aware of his condition. He took the photos from Ed. “I’ve got to go back.”

“Do me a favor and ask the bastard how those scratches are healing.”

“Already did.” Roy started to open the compartment. “Love you.”

“Love you too Colonel Bastard.”

Roy rolled his eyes, wondering what Ed would call him once the babies were born. Roy didn’t mind so much that Colonel Bastard had become a pet name of sorts. What bothered him was the idea of their children repeating it. Still, he would have given everything to have stayed in that cabin with the blond, moody, tired, irritating as he was, Roy had meant his parting words to him.

Knowing he had Ed, loved him and was loved by him was at least enough to get him through this trip, and to plan a strategy certain to keep his lover and their children safe.