Worlds Collide

A/N: Sadler Girl, thanks so much.

And this is mostly a transition chapter, so it will jump a bit.

Chapter 34

Milestone

A year and a half later

Ed grimaced at the banner hanging across his lab. He wanted to smack Roy, not to mention Havoc and Breda, because he knew they were behind this.

“Brother, what are you…” Then came the laughter. Ed really loved hearing his brother laugh, seeing his face light up, but did it have to be at his expense?

“Next year, Al. Just remember. Next year.”

As though glaring at the banner would make it go away, Ed stared at the rather large proclamation that today he was thirty. Al threw an arm around Ed, who despite all this, was trying not to indulge too much in the tentative relaxation of the last few months. After years of no attack from Dante and the final completion of the arrays that the twins now wore around their necks, as did all members of the family and their friends, it was a time of calm. There was some debate over passing the necklaces out to members of the military, even incorporating it into uniforms, but the fear was that Dante would somehow come in contact with the array and decipher it, finding a way around it. Currently, Ed was trying to find one that would hurt Dante, as an alien residing in a body that wasn’t hers, but all he had was the array that protected from being taken over by his father’s former lover. It had also prevented Al from returning to his body in a momentarily terrifying and unintentional experiment.

“Let’s see if we can get anywhere today,” Ed said, walking through the doorway, trying to reach the banner to rip it down, but finding it out of his reach. “You put this up, didn’t you?”

“Me?” Al asked innocently.

“You.” Ed glared up at the brother who was still in his twenties. “Next year, I’m going to—”

“Be thirty-one, still more than a year older than me.”

“Rub it in, why don’t you?” Ed crossed his arms over his chest, while Al snickered. “I hate you.”

“I know, Brother.”

********

Roy didn’t dare admit to Ed that it was a little depressing to know that the young blond he’d married was now a thirty-year-old man. It made Roy feel old; after all, one of the perks of being with Ed had been saying that even though Roy was in his forties, he still had a very handsome twenty-something waiting at home. Not that the birthday changed anything about the way he felt about Ed, but it had been fun for those ten years (the ones when Ed had been technically a teen had caused some moral dilemmas, making Roy feel like a pervert). The twenties had been nice, though he supposed that since Ed was still Ed, a force to be reckoned with, strong, beautiful—not that he’d dare say so to the object of his desires—and fiery as ever, thirty didn’t matter so much.

Of course, Roy couldn’t say the same of the number 13, which would soon be upon him. Ten days from now was the twins’ birthday, ten days from now, they would be teenagers.

There were already signs of their growing up, including Aideen finally matching Ed in height, Nicholas only an inch behind and catching up. There were crushes that came and went, school dances and semi-dates. He and Ed had given both their children the first of many “talks” on sex, keeping it simple at this point. Both fathers had pointed out their methods of dealing with unwanted issues below the waist to their son.

Then there had been Aideen’s first period a few months ago. That had been embarrassing for everyone. The twelve-year-old girl panicked, thinking something might be seriously wrong; she’d woken up with blood on her sheets. Nicholas ran in, completely confused—leading to another “talk” with the boy. Ed had worried himself until he was nearly sick, memories of his own experience waking up in blood apparently adding to his concern. He just kept saying he didn’t think a woman’s period involved “that much blood.” Though Roy had never had experience with women with training bras, he had dated his share of women who at one point or another had been on their time of the month, and assured his entire family everything was fine, and it was all perfectly normal. Winry had gone out and bought all the necessary items for Aideen immediately, and now, once a month their daughter got moodier than normal.

Those thoughts on his mind, it wasn’t surprising that it took Frank and Havoc several minutes to get his attention.

“Sir,” Havoc said. “Sir?”

“Roy!”

“Oh, sorry.” Roy ran a hand through his hair, a little embarrassed that as fuhrer, he’d been caught daydreaming. “How are investigations going?”

“We found information that there have been some strange happenings at a supposedly abandoned area of the south end of Central. There are some old warehouses there—” Roy raised a hand to interrupt Havoc.

“Please don’t tell me anything about a warehouse 13. I am tired of that story.”

“No,” Frank chuckled. “I went with Colonel Breda and Kain and proved to the two that they were being ridiculous. Wasted perfectly good alone time with Kain for that.” Frank crossed his arms. Though he and Fuery had managed to find more time together, as Frank was usually first to be sent to the East, thanks to his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, and as a colonel, Kain was more often in Central. While it had been a nice concession for the two men, Roy knew sooner or later he would need to move them both to the same location, as they were seriously contemplating adoption at this point.

“Anyway, Chief,” Havoc said, folding his arms across his chest. “The warehouses require the fuhrer’s signature. I’m guessing that comes from the previous regime.”

Roy straightened in his chair. “Which means it could be dangerous.”

“Yes,” Frank said, “but if there’s a chance that it has something to do with that… woman, it’s best to know now.”

Roy nodded. “I’ll sign off on it, but I want you to be careful, and recruit some alchemists serving under you to help investigate. The last time that Ed investigated a place with that kind of designation, there were a number of dark alchemic experiments he had to face.”

The two men nodded. “Oh, and tell Ed to stop calling me when he’s working to rant at me about that banner. It’s getting distracting.”

“You shouldn’t have put it up. How did you expect him to react?” Roy said with a smile. “And aside from that, who do you think put all the blame on you?”

“That’s why, when he called me, I was glad to be able to honestly say I had nothing to do with it,” Frank said smugly. “I pity you, Havoc.”

“What? Because of the banner?”

“Because you have three months until you turn forty,” Frank teased. “Ed’s going to make you suffer.”

********

Fletcher watched as Aideen focused intently on the plant in front of her, gold and brown eyes narrowing, then closing. Aideen sometimes had trouble keeping her thoughts entirely on the goal of getting the rosebush to blossom. She thankfully had more control over it than she used to. The first time she’d tried to get a sunflower to grow, it had shot up faster than anything Fletcher had ever managed, but had almost immediately withered and died.

It was a rare thing, but if Fletcher had learned anything with the pre-teen, it was that nothing was normal.

When Fletcher had been learning the green alchemy, he’d found he struggled most often at the beginning of the process, as Aideen was now, rather than losing control of his focus and getting the sudden reaction Aideen had that initial time.

She groaned. “I’m not getting anywhere.”

“Is there something particular on your mind?” Fletcher asked, snapping off a daisy from the pot to his right, handing it to her.

She twirled the flower around between her fingers, watching the spinning white petals. “Nicholas had his first kiss yesterday. Papa and Dad sat him down and talked to him for ages.”

“What did they say to him?”

“At first Papa sounded really proud of Nicholas for it, then Dad asked him what talk he’d give me. It all kind of changed. Something about a double standard.”

“Did that bother you?” Fletcher asked, trying to determine the reason she was struggling with her practice.

“I thought it was pretty funny. Papa slipped up at least twice lecturing Nicholas, actually calling him ‘young lady.’”

“Are you upset your brother had his first kiss before you did? You’re both awfully young, but it will happen when it does.”

Aideen blushed and looked away from him. “That isn’t it. It’s just, my fathers don’t know…” Then something was mumbled, which Fletcher asked her to repeat. “I already had mine.”

Knowingly, Fletcher nodded his head. “And you feel guilty.”

Biting her upper lip, she looked at him, nodding her head.

“That could explain what’s causing the problems with your focus.”

“So what do I do?” she asked, fidgeting a bit in her seat. “I felt so bad knowing I could have taken the pressure off of Nicholas, but I didn’t. And he knew that Aaron had kissed me after the dance last month, but he didn’t say anything.”

Fletcher smiled as he continued to move some pots out of the way. “I think that means he didn’t expect you to say anything, but for your own conscience, I think you might need to tell your parents. And not because you’re having trouble with your alchemy.”

The girl looked somewhat disappointed with his advice, but deferred to age and experience. “I’ll tell them as soon as I get home.”

“Do you want to give it another try?”

“Sure,” Aideen clapped her hands, and held them against a root, eyes closed, trying to focus and relax. Buds began to form, then blossom, a fact that still amazed Fletcher with her ability. Grasping the concepts behind this form of alchemy had never been difficult for her, and she achieved working with vines very quickly, now nearly matching him in skill. If it was possible, he believed that when she performed this type of alchemy, it was even more closely linked to her emotions than was usual, and he could generally tell by what happened exactly what she was feeling.

Yet, it was delicate work like this that continued to evade her, this part that was usually the simplest, purest part of plant alchemy.

Suddenly, she pulled back, looking at the plant and two blackened roses.

“I did it again,” she said defeatedly. “I don’t understand it. I thought I had my mind in the right place.”

Fletcher moved around the table to put his arm on her shoulder. Aideen had reached her limit in medical alchemy for this same reason, allowing her brother to actually surpass her in that field of study.

“I’ll tell you what, Aideen, I’ll do some research to see what your problem might be,” he pulled a tiny piece of paper from his pocket and laid it on the root where Aideen had been working, restoring the nearly dead flowers. “And until I can figure it out, we’ll keep working with the vines. It may be something as simple as the fact that you are so advanced, you just can’t control your power.”

Aideen looked up at him doubtfully, but he just offered her a reassuring pat on her back.

********

Nicholas snuck into the house, hoping that there would be no more mentions of his stupid kiss from the day before. It wasn’t even that good. He’d half-missed her mouth, it had been too wet, and he’d done it on a dare, not even on a semi, not really, date like Aideen’s had been. Though he’d been grateful to find out that hers hadn’t been any better than his.

Nicholas was Roy Mustang's son, after all, and he didn't want to be remembered as the guy who was a bad kisser. Unfortunately, he was also Edward Elric's son as well, and he hadn't been able to pass up the dare. His friend Victor had bet he couldn't bring himself to kiss Dawn Marcus, the prettiest girl in their class, who was rumored to have a major crush on Nicholas. Leave it to the blond to immediately respond to the dare rather than be thought of as a chicken. He didn't even make a wager on the bet, just taken it and won.

And what did it win him? A lecture that started off a whole heck of a lot better than it ended when his dad, thank you very much, had pointed out that if Nicholas had been Aideen his papa wouldn't have been happy. So the nice, happy talk had turned into one that lasted forever, and had even included him being referred to as a girl or young lady more times than he was entirely comfortable with.

Nicholas decided that the easiest way to avoid that conversation would be to avoid his fathers until it was time for his dad's party.

Seeing his dad was still in the lab, Nicholas started to skulk off to his bedroom, when he heard the main door open, and a frustrated groan. His sister was home.

“Flowers again?” he asked, reveling in her pain just a little.

“Yes.” She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her pants, walking toward him, shoulders tight. “You’re enjoying this a bit too much.”

“Oh, like someone else with that lecture yesterday? When she’d already had her own weeks before me?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t tell them to get the attention away from you.”

“I’m not that mean. Besides, I knew if I did, you’d kick my butt the next time we sparred.”

“I do that already.” Nicholas stuck his tongue out at her. “But I am going to tell them. I feel guilty not doing it.”

“And you’re supposed to be the smarter one.”

Aideen only rolled her eyes. “Did you get Dad a present?”

“Up in my room right now. What about you?”

“It’s out front right now. I wanted to show him that I’m getting better with my lessons, so I made a flamel out of vines surrounded by aloe vera that can be planted next to the lab. That way, the next time he or Uncle Al burn themselves, there will be something there to help them.”

“You’re too friggin’ thoughtful, you know that?” Nicholas said as he went upstairs.

“What did you get? I’m sure he’ll like it.”

Then, with a smirk, Nicholas turned and looked down at her. “I know he will. I designed an array with Wrath’s help that will let him absorb stone into his body. Once it’s memorized, and that won’t take long for Dad, he’ll be able to do some of the alchemy Wrath can. We’re still working on metal.”

“Show off,” Aideen said with a smile. Nicholas knew his sister didn’t begrudge him the fact that he could do something; even in their lessons with Auntie, she didn’t seem upset that he excelled in areas she didn’t. They’d both learned a long time ago it was better to consider one another friendly competition because the rest of the world was always going to look at them a little strangely, be just a bit curious of their abilities and their origins. Taking sides against one another was idiotic, and both knew it.

********

“I can’t believe he’s taking his date to Ed’s party,” Russell growled.

“What did you expect? They’ve been dating for two months.” Fletcher pulled on a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans. It had become tradition with the Mustang family that the family/friend get-togethers be informal and outdoors whenever possible, since the couple had enough in the way of regal parties and balls.

“But this guy was supposed to be the rebound.”

“Two and a half years after the last boyfriend doesn’t make him a rebound, Russell.” Fletcher put on a belt, part of him wishing he managed to fill out his jeans like his older brother, his thin frame and almost complete lack of an ass making keeping on even his comfortable pants a difficult task without a synch or a belt. If it weren’t for the fact that he’d be laughed at, he’d use suspenders.

“It isn’t fair,” Russell said. “I spent all this time, getting him to talk, getting him to withdraw from himself, getting him to figure out who he really is, and this guy’s benefiting from it.”

“Life isn’t fair, and you’ve known him long enough you could have easily made your move.”

“What I don’t understand is why he ended up with another little, passive guy like Edward.”

“He’s not little,” Fletcher said, glaring at his brother. “He’s my height, and I’m an inch taller than the fuhrer.”

“But next to Wrath, he’s little.”

“Next to Wrath, you’re little.”

“At least I can look him in the eye… well, the bottom lip.”

Fletcher rolled his eyes and started laughing as he headed toward the door of their apartment.

“What?”

“You’re funny when you’re jealously indignant.”

“I’m not jealous.” Russell looked over at Fletcher, who remained silent as he gathered Ed’s present from them under his arm. “Oh, screw him.”

“No thanks, I’m straight.”

“You should go into comedy, Fletcher.”

********

Wrath had decided to go solo to Ed’s birthday, feeling awkward at the idea having his boyfriend there, since Jacob really didn’t know anyone personally and would likely feel out of place. That didn’t even mention the older Tringham, who had been in a miserable mood ever since Wrath had begun to date him.

Still, sitting and watching as Roy wrapped his arms around Ed’s shoulders, whispering something in his ear, Wrath found it very difficult to believe that these two had once had a rather volatile relationship that didn’t seem to lend itself to ever being a couple. He knew that this thought would get him in trouble, but honestly, when he looked at the fuhrer and his husband, the word fluff came to mind.

“You bastard!” Ed suddenly cried out, smacking Roy with his automail hand. Wrath took that last thought back.

“Ed, the kids!”

“If they haven’t heard me call you a bastard by now, they’ve not been listening well enough.”

The taller man leaned down and whispered something else in Ed’s ear, making the shorter man turn an interesting shade of red, this time he lightly punched his husband with his left hand.

And the fluff was back.

Wrath couldn’t really complain about this part of his relationship with Jacob. It was that flash of something else he’d seen a moment before, that obvious show that these two, despite an age gap, Ed’s height disadvantage, a rank difference with Roy at the most extreme possibility, and personalities that by all rights should have clashed every moment of the day, were passionate for one another.

Wrath had never really had that, had someone who knew each of his little moods and brought out the kind of fire he saw in those two. Or even what Frank had, someone who argued and debated with him but who melded with him perfectly, someone he could trust with his secret of his world.

Jacob didn’t know anything of Wrath’s past.

“Here,” Wrath heard as he saw a large green apple being shoved into his face. “It was on the tree near the fence. Know you have a thing for these. Though this one’s probably a bit tart.”

Wrath took the apple from Russell, biting into the crisp flesh. It was definitely tart, but it was strange to think that Russell had remembered.

“Don’t waste your appetite on apples,” Nicholas said from not far away where he was playing with the younger children. “We’ve got cake.”

There were shouts all around the boy, chants of “Cake, cake, cake!”

Even the little redheaded girl sitting on Falman’s lap managed to yell out along with the other kids. Even Raine, who hadn’t quite dealt with the fact that this was her boyfriend’s granddaughter, or that she was the spawn of the daughter who disliked the eldest Mustang for simply being with Falman, seemed enamored with the tiny girl.

Nearby, Aideen and Phillip Armstrong were busy discussing new arrays and techniques for their alchemy, Aideen seeming to enjoy someone to bounce ideas off of who wasn’t her brother, Phillip actually looking as though he was enjoying her company. Wrath felt almost at a loss that even in this young, foundling little relationship, there was an understanding.

********

Russell wasn’t sure why he’d volunteered to clean up while the party was still going on outside. It certainly was out of character on his part. They definitely sounded like they were having fun playing some kind of unfair game of tag with the kids, as the kids were considerably faster than the adults. Not that Russell would really have played with them, but honestly, why was he here?

Wrath handed him a plate, thick hand brushing up against his own.

That was why.

Russell took the wet plate from Wrath, drying it off with a towel.

“I’m surprised you didn’t bring Jack. He’s become your shadow lately.” Damn it, that wasn’t supposed to come out of his mouth.

“Jacob. And I wanted him to get to know everyone better before I brought him to a family gathering.”

“Did you tie his leash up outside, or did you leave him back at his apartment and put papers on the floor?” Russell told himself to stop, but the message never reached his mouth.

Silverware was violently slammed in the sink, and before Russell could think to react, he was being shoved against the wall, Wrath’s forearm pressed against his chest. “What the hell is your problem, Russell? Jacob’s a nice guy, and he’s my boyfriend. Why can’t you just let this drop, you petty bastard? I can’t help it if your last few dates with those skinny women you like aren’t doing anything for you, but I’m happy.”

“If you’re so happy, then why the hell don’t you look it?”

Wrath was just inches away from his face, and for a moment, the two defiantly stood there, staring into one another’s eyes until Wrath finally released him, looking at the blond in disgust. “Screw you, Russell.”

“You wish.” He wished too, but coward that he was, he wasn’t going to say it.