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batsutousaiTitle: Reverti Ad Praeteritum
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood/manga
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Edward Elric/Roy Mustang, May Chang/Alphonse Elric, Gracia Hughes/Maes Hughes, post-Edward Elric/Winry Rockbell
Warnings: Spoilers like whoa, Ed's potty mouth, canon-typical violence, pile 'o OCs, mute!Ed, original character death, angst, fluff, past dub-con, past adultery, Ed has all the guilt
Summary: Unwillingly forced to serve as a human trial for a crazy alchemist experimenting with time travel, Edward Elric finds himself standing across from Truth in the moment it takes his leg from him. Armed with the knowledge of what's to come and burdened with guilt for the choices he'd made as an adult, Ed sets out to fix every mistake he ever made and save every life they ever lost, no matter what it takes.
Key: "Speech" | 'Mouthing words'
'Writing'
:Sign Language:
"In another language" | 'In another language'
A/N: Please, like I'd really make you lot wait more than a single chapter to find out what Ed was feeling from Roy. *studiously ignores that she brought up the question of Grand's loyalties ten chapters ago*
Also, I've got so many questions about how suddenly Roy's feelings for Ed seemed to have developed. I've been answering them, rather than being a jerk and telling you people to just be patient, but if anyone else was wondering about that, Roy answers it in this chapter.
I almost forgot to post this before heading for bed, jeebus fuck, my head is so not screwed on right this week. Ugh.
Chapter Twenty-One
-0-
Al kindly didn't bring up the night before again until they were packing up to leave, when he quietly asked, "Are you heading back to the colonel's?"
Ed sighed. :He's got no food and both of us will need clothing. We might as well head for to the Hugheses'.: Because, well, he didn't really have any interest in wearing the exact same underclothes for a third day in a row, even if he could alchemically clean them. And he would sort of like to maybe get some hygiene supplies and, if Roy hadn't figured out the water issue, maybe take a shower.
Since Roy hadn't left a message for them with the front desk, and wasn't waiting outside – Al, seriously – his brother agreed that heading to the Hugheses' first was the best option.
Roy's car was out front when they got there, and he was inside with the rest of the family, helping to get dinner on the table and corral the girls, while avoiding Hughes' knowing looks, from what Ed could tell.
Dinner was spent trading work stories – Clemin came up, as well as some updates from Roy about other members of the brass and a couple overly helpful colonels that had dropped by, while Hughes had some updates about a case his team was working on, which Ed had helped with briefly – and enduring Elicia and Nina's questions about where Ed had been last night and if he was moving out. (Cue dirty looks thrown at Al and Hughes; Ed knew exactly who had put that idea in the girls' heads.)
After dinner, Ed got dragged upstairs by Al, so he could pack an overnight bag – his brother and Hughes had somehow come to the agreement (without actually speaking about it, so far as he could tell) that Ed needed to go back to Roy's that night, and Ed really wasn't certain how much that had to do with Envy's visit, assuming Roy had managed to tell Hughes at some point before they'd got in – while Roy packed up his own things down on the ground floor.
They stayed for about two hours, after dinner was done, and Ed did his damnedest to reassure Nina and Elicia that, yes, they were still his two absolute favourite girls in the whole world and he wasn't leaving them for forever. Just, you know, a night or two. And he was absolutely going to spend all weekend with them. And maybe they could go see Roy's house and help him unpack a bit, which seemed to be the thing that cheered them up the most. (Roy, at least, seemed resigned to the fact that he was going to have the entire Hughes family over at his house that weekend, to help him furnish the place and unpack; Gracia was already talking about the best furniture shops, while Hughes was deciding, aloud, which rooms should have which photos of Elicia and Nina. Ed was absolutely laughing inside at the constipated look on Roy's face.)
Roy finally insisted they needed to leave, since he kind of needed to get some things for breakfast on the way, so they collected their bags, said their goodbyes, and got in the car. Roy did stop to pick up breakfast pastries, as well as some other essentials – milk, sugar, chamomile tea, and an extra set of dishes among them – before turning towards his neighbourhood proper.
Ed stretched out his senses as they approached the neighbourhood, relaxing a bit at the continued lack of homunculus presence. They could probably have found an excuse for Ed bunking over that night – helping Roy get all his things moved over, if nothing else – but he'd half planned to just jump out of the car a couple blocks away and sneak in the back, if he sensed any watchers.
Not to say there weren't watchers, because Ed sensed more than a few interested qi from other houses focussed on them as they unpacked the car, but Ed wasn't wearing his jacket, so they'd likely just tag him as a relative or friend's kid who'd got stuck helping out. And even if someone did recognise him, his staying over could be brushed off as Roy not wanting to let the mute kid walk back home alone when it was so late.
They put away the food, first, then Roy finally gave Ed the tour of the house. There wasn't much he hadn't seen – living room and kitchen/dining room, with a loo on the ground floor, then two full bathrooms and three bedrooms upstairs – and nothing really in the way of furniture to dodge around or gather the full size of each room, but it was a nice house. A bit smaller than the Hugheses', but bigger than the paperwork had suggested.
They didn't bother moving the repurposed 'bed' out of the living room, but Roy did unpack some of his things in the master bedroom, while Ed left his toiletries in the ground floor loo, made sure the water had been fixed, and pulled out some tools to carve that cooling array into the side of the refrigerator. Roy hadn't been lying about it maybe being a little broken – it felt a fair few degrees warmer than the dial said it should be – so Ed went ahead and started carving, since it would save Roy from having to buy a new one, as well as the electricity costs to keep this one running. (Something he might consider offering to the Hugheses'; so long as they kept contact with alchemists, it should be easy to keep powered.)
"Huh," Roy said when he found Ed in the kitchen, tilting his head to see the array without blocking Ed's light. "Originally served in place of electricity for keeping food from spoiling?"
Ed flashed him a smile and nodded, then set his tools down so he could sign, :I don't know how old it is, since we got it from one of that bastard's journals, but we used it in Xing, and the array for my automail is based on it.:
"Right, I was going to look at that, wasn't I?" Roy murmured, curling his fingers around Ed's left leg, which was hanging off the worktop he was sitting on to work.
Ed snorted and tugged on his trousers, giving silent permission for Roy to roll the leg up and look, then went back to carefully carving the last bit of the array deep into the metal of the refrigerator.
Roy rolled his trouser leg up and, out of the corner of his eye, Ed saw him tracing the outer circle of the array with one finger. He was silent until Ed had finished and put his tools down again, then he said, "This is impressive. You say it's based on that one?" he nodded towards the refrigerator.
Ed nodded, turning more fully towards the bastard and dropping his right leg off the worktop to hang, putting on a wry smile when Roy slotted himself between Ed's legs, hands coming to rest on his knees, but tilting back slightly, so Ed had room to sign, :Yes. Changed to keep the metal itself cool, rather than focussing that cold on the contents, and to change the temperature its kept at a bit, but that's the array I repurposed.:
Roy tilted his head, interest and something that might have been respect curling through his qi. "Repurposed?" he repeated.
Ed shrugged. :Al showed me that one–: he jerked a thumb at the array on the refrigerator :–and I just changed a few lines and symbols when I traced it over.:
Roy blinked, and that was absolutely respect. "You created the new array in your head? While you were drawing it?"
Ed scoffed. :It's not a NEW array.:
"Semantics. Did it exist for you before?"
Ed frowned and shook his head. :The journal we found the array in was lost, and crossing the Great Desert was never that important to me.:
"This is normal for you, isn't it?" Roy guessed, his tone turning wry, even as his qi bled something very like awe and– "Just looking at an array and being able to change it into something more useful to you in that moment."
Ed shrugged and looked away, feeling a little uncomfortable, between Roy's words and...that. Again. :Part years of study, part the reason I don't need physical arrays to perform alchemy.:
Uncertainty flared in Roy's qi, muting everything else. "What?"
Ed chance an uncertain glance at him and found he was frowning. :What what?: he signed back, a bit inanely.
Roy's hand tightened around Ed's right knee. "That's the third time you've withdrawn without warning. What am I doing?"
Roy had noticed?
...of course Roy had noticed. Ed wasn't that subtle, and the bastard read people as easily as Ed could read an array. He glanced down at where his hands had clenched into fists, forced them to loosen so he could sign, :It's not– You're not– You–:
Roy's hands left his knees and curled around Ed's hands, saving him from himself. "What are you sensing, then?" he asked quietly.
Ed stared down at their joined hands for a moment, before pushing gently against the bastard, who obediently stepped back, giving Ed the space to hop down. He stood there for a breath, looking at his freed hands, before finally finding the wherewithal to sign, :I'm misreading something.:
"What?" Roy asked quietly, his own hands behind his back, settling into that parade rest stance that he'd always adopted when Ed's thoughtless comments, as a child, had cut a little too close.
Ed forced a smile and tried to be casual as he signed, :Nothing. Just love.:
Hurt, disbelief, and then understanding chased their way through Roy's qi, and Ed couldn't quite manage to look away when the bastard caught his gaze, his qi again warming with...that. "You're not misreading anything," he said firmly.
Ed's breath got stuck in his lungs, affected by the rapid thundering of his heart, doubtless. He forced his smile to stay in place, though it trembled worse than his hands. :Don't bullshit me,: he managed to sign, somehow. :You've known me a WEEK.:
Roy shook his head. "Four months," he corrected.
Four mon–?
...the letters. Fuck. Ed had...he'd been trying to fucking push the bastard away, and instead he– What? What the fuck? How had he–?
Roy stepped back into Ed's space, closer than before, pulling him in for one of his stupidly-warm hugs. "I've spent four months getting to know you," he murmured, while Ed's hands grew minds of their own and clung to the bastard's shirt. "You tried so hard to convince me that all there was to you were the terrible things, but I've been looking beneath the surface of people my whole life, and I see a man who's brave and brilliant and terrified of his own power, yet determined to use it to keep as many people safe as he can, even at the cost of his own happiness." He pulled back a bit, hands cupping Ed's face and tilting his head back until he looked up into dark eyes so full of...of that. "How could you possibly believe I wouldn't fall in love with you, Edward?"
Something tickled against Ed's cheek, first on one side, then the other, and it took him an embarrassingly long moment to realise they were...tears. He was crying for the first time in... He had no idea how long. Years. And he had no idea why, but his chest felt oddly light, and he wanted–
"Edward?" Roy asked, concern in his voice.
Ed shook his head and leant up, pressing his mouth against the bastard's.
Roy didn't pause in returning the kiss, one hand leaving Ed's cheek to wrap around his waist, pull him closer.
When he finally found the strength to pull back enough that Roy would be able to see his lips move, Ed slowly mouthed, 'I love you too, you stupid bastard.'
Roy's mouth kicked up with a smile. "I know," he admitted, his thumb tracing back, along Ed's cheekbone. "I figured that much out when you finally started responding to my letters again." He let out a near-silent sigh, while Ed winced. "How is it, that you have unfettered access to my emotions and refuse to believe I might be feeling affection for you, yet I can convince pretty much any woman I meet on the street that I'm in love with–"
Ed hit him.
"Ow."
Ed pulled away to sign, :Compare me to your past conquests again, and I'll hand you over to Al.:
Roy grimaced, still rubbing a bit at his shoulder. "Consider me well warned." He glanced towards his shoulder, then cast Ed a sort of morbidly curious look. "How much are you pulling your punches?"
Ed blinked, not having expected anything like that question, in all honesty, and admitted, :I could probably break a bone if I wanted to.: He could actually probably do a lot worse, if he was aiming to do so, but punching in specifically that spot, from that angle, with as much force as he could muster? Broken bone was about the most he could manage.
Roy cleared his throat, looking distinctly disturbed. "Reminder to self," he muttered, just barely loud enough that Ed could hear him, "do not ever piss off either of the Elric brothers."
Ed couldn't quite keep from laughing at that, hard enough he let out a kind of embarrassing wheezing noise, and he signed, :Idiot,: when Roy glanced up at him, then stepped forward and leant down to press a kiss against where he'd punched the bastard.
"Feel free to heal it properly," Roy suggested a bit hopefully.
Ed very obviously laughed in his face, then turned and left the kitchen.
He heard Roy muttering something behind him, too low to make out, but since his qi was a bright spot of amusement behind him, Ed wasn't too worried about refusing to alchemise away the pain.
He got changed into his pyjamas and made for their makeshift bed while Roy fussed about in the kitchen for a bit, then started turning off the lights. By the time he joined Ed in bed, he'd shed his trousers and shirt somewhere, leaving Ed with, once again, a nearly naked Roy Mustang, which was so many kinds of not fair.
Roy let out a quiet chuckle, one hand resting on Ed's hip, over his sleep trousers. "Trying to tell me something?"
Ed huffed and pressed his hands together, lighting the argon in the air to respond, 'My leg gets cold. Go to sleep, pervert.'
Roy chuckled again and pressed his lips against the side of Ed's forehead. "Good night, love."
Ed hit him, lightly, and tried to ignore the way that word – and Roy's fucking emotions, the sap – warmed through him just as effectively as his body heat. He had no interest in stupid pet names, or whatever the fuck that was supposed to be.
Roy, probably wisely, didn't give any further responses, and Ed eventually fell asleep surrounded by the bastard's physical warmth, and the gentle love of his qi.
Ed woke when a body tensed next to him, fear and horror and so much self-disgust filling the qi that was wrapped around him as tightly as the solid arm wrapped around his waist. There came the sound of fingers snapping, uncovered by the cloth that would have made that action dangerous, and Ed realised the partner to the arm wrapped around him had been extended past him.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what was happening.
He wished he could speak, could pull Roy from his nightmare with words, but he couldn't. All he had was touch.
So Ed leant up and kissed Roy's chin, squeezing his sides lightly enough to, hopefully, keep from being restrictive, but hard enough to be noticeable.
Confusion bled into Roy's qi, muting the fear and the horror.
Ed kissed his chin again, tightening his grip on Roy's sides.
"Edward?" Roy recognised. A whole spectrum of emotions blazed through his qi, too quick for Ed to parse them, until he was left with self-disgust, regret, and the distant vestiges of remembered fear. "I'm s–"
Ed reached up and covered his mouth. Because it was kind of stupid to apologise for nightmares you couldn't control, and it wasn't like Ed didn't get it. He really didn't have any interest in getting into the habit of apologising every time one of them woke the other because their unconscious decided to torment them.
(And there he went again, assuming this...whatever this was between them was going to last. Stupid Roy and his stupid determination to not let Ed push him away was firming up hopes for a future that a part of Ed still couldn't let himself believe in.)
Roy sort of...slumped against him, pressing a helpless kiss to Ed's palm.
Ed expected the bastard to get up and make some of the tea he'd bought, but he ended up just falling back to sleep on his own after a few more minutes. Which was great for Roy, because he needed the sleep more than Ed did, but it left Ed alone with his very much awake brain.
Sighing, he carefully slipped from Roy's hold, then padded his way into the kitchen to make himself some tea. Since he was up, he figured he might as well carve an array into the outside of the freezer box, since the main array wouldn't keep that cold enough, so he activated the main array, let it work while he poured the hot water into a mug with a tea bag, and opened the refrigerator door to see what he had to work with while the tea steeped.
Luck was with him, and he didn't have to contort too oddly to get to one of the walls of the freezer box. And, since temperature control was the issue, ice hadn't built up, so it was relatively easy to access the metal. Carving into it was a little noisier than he would have liked, and he had to keep taking breaks to warm his hands on his mug of tea, but it was fairly mindless work.
Which, well, a blessing and a curse: He had plenty of time to let his mind turn over everything that it felt the need to analyse. So, Roy. Roy and his perfect...everything. Being stupidly accommodating about Ed's million issues, refusing to let him push the bastard away, letting Ed in on secrets that he hadn't even fully told Hughes, picking the fucking house Ed had liked...
The scientist in him wanted to know what Roy was getting out of this arrangement, where the equivalence was, because surely promising to fight at his side and his warnings weren't worth...this.
(Trust. Someone to come home to. Love.)
But Ed had married Winry, and one of the first things she'd set out to beat into his head, was that the laws of equivalency sort of got thrown out the window when your heart got brought into things. Trying to determine equivalency in his and Winry's marriage had proven about as likely as trying to figure out how to balance his love for his own children and all that he did for them.
Love, like a life, was one of those things that there was no real equation for. Or, at least, no equation that humans could calculate.
Ed already knew that what he felt for Roy was... Well, it was different from the love he had for Al and Winry, or for his kids and Nina and Elicia, but it was still just as likely to make him willing to trade his own happiness – his arms, his other leg, fuck, even his ability to use alchemy – in return for Roy's safety, for his future. And some of that was a full-hearted belief in Roy's ideals, sure, but so much, too...
He wanted Roy happy.
He stared down at his hands, where they were curled around his mug. They had small scars from fighting with knives and climbing cliffs and buildings and trees barehanded, and thin calluses formed over his knuckles and the spot where he always held his pen. They weren't as big as he knew they'd one day get, but they were far from small, and they were far more dexterous than they'd ever been, before. And, far beneath the skin, nearly limitless power flowed, directed by more knowledge than most people realised he possessed. They were strong hands, capable of tearing down any obstacle in his path, whether that required brute force, or something a little more delicate, less likely to leave traces.
Roy was right. Ed knew exactly what he was capable of, and it scared him, sometimes. Building things had never been his forte, was something he had always shied away from, because the one thing he'd tried to build when it had mattered most – not-Mum in the middle of that array, Al and his leg both gone – had been...horrifying, and the act had nearly lost him everything. And again, later, he'd nearly destroyed the life he'd built with Winry, and had hurt a good man in the process – no matter what Roy might say, Ed didn't doubt that his actions had hurt Mustang far more than he could ever make up for.
Ed cared enough to run like hell in the other direction, but Roy wasn't going to let him do that, seemed quite intent on what Ed didn't doubt was a path of mutually assured destruction.
So, he supposed the question was, did he love Roy enough to try? To finally push past all the broken things and try his damnedest to build something that could withstand even his hands?
Ed stepped back from the opened refrigerator and gave the finished array a considering glance, then nodded and activated it before shutting the door.
As he climbed back into their warm bed, curling willingly into the arms that opened to him, despite their owner being asleep, Ed had to admit that, yeah, he loved Roy enough to try.
(And when it fell apart, well. There would still be a handy desert he could put between them.)
Envy never showed up that night – or, if he did, he didn't stick around long enough for his presence to wake Ed – which eased Ed's concern a bit. (Roy's, too, if the way he decided to wake Ed up was any indication.)
Things were much easier between them, with how much Roy cared about Ed out in the open, and no longer lying in wait to spook Ed at inopportune moments. Which wasn't to say it didn't still spook him a little bit every time he sensed the depth of the bastard's emotions, but he stopped trying to convince himself that his qi-sense was broken.
Too, Roy seemed to have decided that the best way to get Ed used to sensing...that, was to just feel it. Constantly. Like a puppy, following him around the house and impossible to ignore. (Ed debated the wisdom in actually sharing that metaphor, before deciding he didn't really want to deal with the bastard if he decided he liked it; when Roy wasn't being stiff and guarded, he could be disturbingly like Hughes.)
"Let me drive you in this morning?" Roy asked – pleaded, almost – after Ed had finished getting dressed.
Ed sighed, but he did sort of get it; his rooftop pathways made the bastard nervous, and it was getting a little late for him to make it to the library at something approaching his normal reporting-for-duty time. So he nodded, then rolled his eyes when Roy gave him a grateful smile in response. :Not the whole way,: he insisted. :Let me out before we reach Command.:
"You're making my life difficult on purpose," Roy insisted, and Ed smirked at him, mostly because he could. "Acceptable."
Which was how Ed ended up getting a ride toward Command. Roy let him out a couple blocks from Command, without having to be reminded, and Ed politely kept to street level in response.
When he made it to his and Al's table, his brother raised an eyebrow at him – in response to which Ed rolled his eyes – then signed, :Anything?:
Ed shook his head. :If he dropped by again, he didn't stay.:
:That's a relief.: Al glanced down at the book he had open in front of him, while Ed settled in his own chair and selected a book, then let out a quiet hum and, when Ed looked over at him, signed, :We still have two labs left to do, right?:
Ed nodded. :We can do one this afternoon, and four tomorrow morning. I'll beat the bastard around the head if he doesn't have a date time for me tonight.:
Al ducked his head and coughed, his qi vacillating between disapproval and sorrow. :Little weirded out, still,: he offered, peering out at Ed.
Ed sighed and offered his brother a helpless sort of smile. :I know. But we're too close to start arousing suspicion, and any suspicious behaviour will be held against him when it comes time to fill Bradley's seat.:
Al ran his hands through his hair, a little rough. :I know that. I just don't want you hurt.:
Ed shook his head. :Then you should have kept your nose out,: he returned, refusing to feel bad when his brother winced. :Trust Roy and I to figure this out on our own.:
Al's eyes narrowed, interest and something worryingly like glee spiking through his qi. :Roy?: he returned, using that sign-name Ed had picked up from Hughes. :What happened to Führer Bastard?:
Ed decided the only response to that one was to focus on his book and pretend he couldn't sense his idiotic little brother's pleasure.
"Yo, Al, Boss," a familiar voice called a bit later, distracting Ed from a(n admittedly rather boring) dissertation on the specifics of precious metal alchemy.
He looked up to find Havoc grinning down at him, offered a faint smile in response, then picked up a nearby piece of scratch paper – it didn't look important – crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it at Al's face.
Al flinched, looked up to frown at Ed, then over at Havoc when Ed motioned with his head. "Oh! Hi, Jean. What brings you by?"
Havoc flashed Al a fond grin. "Taking my lunch break. Figured I'd tap the boss' knowledge for good places to eat."
Nearly in sync, Ed and Al pulled out their pocket watches to check the time, Al muttering, "Is it lunchtime already?"
Havoc muffled a laugh.
It was, in fact, lunchtime, so they quickly set their things aside, then got up to follow Havoc out, waving towards the smiling librarian sitting the front desk.
Havoc caught them up on general office gossip on the way, a lot of which they'd heard from Roy the night before, and the rest Ed had no real interest in, though Al made some intrigued noises; he always had been the better at socialising.
Ed led them to a place that specialised in salads, mostly because he knew it would piss Havoc off, but also because he guessed the man could use something healthier than his usual fare, and Ed knew there were things he'd like on the menu, once he gave in and stopped bitching long enough to look it over.
As expected, Havoc took one look at the place, then said, "No. Not a chance, Boss."
Ed raised an eyebrow at him. :You're welcome to go back for mess hall food.:
Havoc grimaced. "I'm going to get you back for this. Somehow."
Ed snorted and led the way inside, while Al laughed and said, "Salad is good for you, Jean. I promise I'll get Brother to find us something less healthy next time you come to him for lunch advice."
"You're assuming I'm going to make that mistake again," Havoc muttered.
This wasn't one of Ed's regular haunts, but he was clearly memorable, because their waitress smiled at him when she got to their table. "Hey, Silent. Water, two lemons?"
Ed grinned at her and nodded.
"Two lemons?" Havoc teased. "That explains so much about you, Boss."
Al just sighed and requested a glass of milk – doubtless intended as a threat to make Ed behave – and a water for himself, as well as a water for Havoc.
"Rude," Havoc complained, while their waitress left them with a quiet laugh.
"Don't start a fight with my brother, he will kick your arse," Al suggested sagely.
Ed snorted.
"I've got that impression, yeah," Havoc admitted, before opening his menu.
Five...four...three...tw–
"Oh, wait." Havoc cast Ed a surprised look over his menu. "I thought this was a salad place."
Ed nodded, trying to keep his smile from looking too smug.
"But they have...pizza salad?"
:Delicious,: Ed promised.
"Sausage sandwich salad?"
:Little weird, but tasty.:
"The Cluck-Cluck Salad?" Havoc asked with a slightly disbelieving laugh.
Al muffled a laugh into his own menu; he'd likely expected something like this, familiar with Ed's own eating preferences.
:Best to ask for the dressing on the side, for that one,: Ed suggested.
Havoc shook his head. "I love Central. Weirdest fucking food in the whole country, but at least they know how to make an edible salad."
"Why thank you!" their waitress chirped as she returned with their drinks and started passing them out.
"If this looks as good as Ed's promising, you're more than welcome," Havoc returned with a grin that was...not as suave as Ed suspected he'd been going for.
"Here we go again," Al murmured in Xingan, clearly intended for Ed's ears only.
Ed coughed to abort a laugh.
"Do you gentlemen know what you want, or should I come back in a couple minutes?" their waitress asked.
"I'm good," Al announced, folding his menu back up and sliding it on top of Ed's, which he hadn't even bothered to open. "Jean?"
Havoc nodded and folded up his own menu. "Yup."
"Excellent!" The waitress turned to Ed with a knowing smile. "Surprise you, but hold the cheese?" she guessed.
Ed nodded, amused; she definitely recognised him.
She looked to Al next. "And you? Brothers, I assume?"
Al nodded. "I'm the younger, yeah. I'll have the house special?"
"Certainly. And you?" she asked of Havoc.
"I'll try the pizza salad, I think."
"Perfect!" she chirped as she collected their menus. "I'll put those right in for you, gentlemen." Then she hurried off.
Havoc turned a sort of pathetic look on Ed. "How do you and the chief do it?"
Ed blinked. :Do what?:
"Get the pretty girls."
Ed blinked again. 'Wait, what?' he mouthed.
Al coughed. "I think you're reading into things too much, Jean, like Heymans always says. And Brother's not interested, anyway."
That...made sense, actually. Havoc had always been a bit woman-crazed, and he hadn't spent enough time around Ed to understand that people had a habit of talking more around him, if just to fill in the silence.
That said...
:I intend to die a lonely, grumpy old man,: Ed signed with his best flat look.
Al's qi took on a definite note of sadness, but Havoc choked on a laugh and hurriedly had some water. "Seriously?"
Ed rolled his eyes and lied, :I'm gay,: mostly because that was easier than trying to explain the real reason he was very much not on the market.
Next to him, amusement flared through Al's qi and he loudly clinked the ice in his water before taking a sip.
"...oh," Havoc managed after a beat. "That...okay."
Ed raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him.
Havoc grimaced. "Not trying to say anything against you, Boss, you just...don't really seem the sort, you know? I mean, first thing you did when you first met us all was to compliment the lieuten...ant's... Oh."
Al started snickering.
"I'm shutting up, now."
Ed smiled. :My sexuality won't make any difference in whether or not I can kick your arse.:
Havoc winced and cleared his throat, a hint of panic in his qi. "Right. Ah, speaking of ladies, though!" He leant forward a bit. "Guess who's smug about getting a date tomorrow?"
"The colonel?" Al guessed, that mix of disapproval and sorrow in his qi again, even while he managed to appear knowing and annoyed.
"Of course," Havoc griped. "He sent the lieutenant on an errand just so he could rub it in the rest of our faces."
:Your face, you mean,: Ed corrected. Very likely, Roy had done so for the sole purpose of getting Havoc to search out Ed and pass the news along, so they didn't have to discuss it that night. Which, well, Ed was resigned to the arrangement, but he suspected Roy was about as comfortable with it as Al was.
"I'd like to punch his face," Havoc muttered.
Ed tilted his head in enquiry. :When and where?:
Havoc frowned. "Why?" And then his expression contorted into something vaguely horrified, while his qi filled with a sort of resigned amusement. "Boss. Please tell me you haven't fallen for his charms! You're too smart for him!"
Al, the traitor, started cackling.
Ed elbowed his brother, while shooting Havoc a flat look. :Ignoring the question of what intelligence has to do with finding someone aesthetically pleasing–:
"I only got about half of that," Havoc whispered to Al.
Ed huffed.
"He wants you to know he's seriously considering the pros of breaking this table over your head," Al offered, because he was the best brother in the universe.
Ed snapped his fingers at Havoc to get his attention back, flashing a smile with teeth when Havoc obediently turned back to him, a little paler than he had been. :Consider I might just want to crash his date.:
Havoc stared at him a little dumbly for a minute, then his expression turned more than a little mean. "Oh. Oh, it didn't even occur to me that you can get away with 'accidentally' ruining his dates. That's pretty fantastic."
They were interrupted by the arrival of their food, assured their waitress it all looked great, then waited as she left.
"Tomorrow night, eighteen-hundred," Havoc murmured, leaning forward over his food a bit. "He said they were going to an art gallery. Know anything about that?"
Ed nodded, while Al murmured, "Brother mentioned it a few nights ago. One of the State Alchemists runs it. Probably where the colonel got the idea. However," he added in that tone that meant he was about to ruin Ed's fun, and felt no shame whatsoever about that, "I might remind you, Brother, that you've agreed to help the colonel move into his new place this weekend; if you annoy him too much tomorrow, you're going to chance upsetting Elicia and Nina."
Havoc had slumped when Al's tone changed – he was clearly familiar with it – and winced at the mention of the Hugheses' girls. "Oh, yeah. Probably best not to upset them."
Ed let out his own regretful sigh, even as he made a mental note of the time to pass on to Colourway. :Next time,: he suggested.
Havoc perked up at that. "Absolutely!"
Al sighed and shook his head. "Just keep me out of it," he complained.
Havoc laughed, while Ed snorted, and they all settled in to eat.
As Ed had expected, Havoc decided he loved the place. Victory.
Armed with the specifics for Roy's date, Ed decided to just hit both labs four and one after lunch.
Lab one was expectedly rote, though Al clearly enjoyed the opportunity to listen to the fire and water researchers' foolery in person.
Which lasted until Victor Krane realised Al was a member of Roy's team, whereupon Al was made to suffer the full force of his fanboying, until he managed to drag Ed – who was laughing so hard he was struggling to breathe – back out of the lab.
"I hate you so much right now," Al complained as they headed for lab four. "If I have to manage that man again on my own, because you're laughing, I'm telling him you're dating the colonel."
:Not dating,: Ed reminded him.
"Semantics. You're sleeping on the same furniture as him."
:What makes you think we've got any–:
Al smacked his hands. "Edward."
Ed snorted. :Okay, I promise to help next time.:
Al let out a disbelieving snort, but let it go.
Maximus was waiting for them when they stepped into lab four – Ed really needed to find out who the man had bribed to warn him when Ed was on his way – and be blinked a bit in surprise at Al, before putting on his most obnoxious ingratiating smile and saying, "You must be the Mending Alchemist!"
Al smiled back politely, while his qi sort of pulled back from Maximus. "I am indeed. Alphonse Elric." He held out a hand.
"Hermes Maximus!" Maximus replied, way too fucking excited, and shook Al's hand. "I'm afraid my speciality is oxygen manipulation, but I was most intrigued to hear of your healing alchemy, sir. It's... Well, it's revolutionary! I was so sad to hear you'd been assigned out east, instead of here in Central, where you could have been so much more use."
Almost as soon as Maximus let his hand go, Al folded both of his hands into the sleeves of the other, hiding them away from any further hand shaking. (Ed understood the urge.) "As my brother knows the same arrays, the Führer decided he would be better served remaining in Central, instead of myself."
"Ah, yes, of course," Maximus agreed hurriedly. "It's just sad that Central couldn't have got both of you." He smiled at Ed.
Ed snorted and, when Al glanced back at him, signed, :There's a provision, as I recall, that any incoming State Alchemists are required to serve their first year under the officer who recommended them.:
"Is there?" Al asked, frowning slightly, then shaking his head. "You're better positioned to know," he decided, glancing back at Maximus. "Brother says there's a rule that any incoming State Alchemist is required to serve their first year under the officer who recommended them for the post. Since Colonel Mustang brought us both in, one of us had to serve under him. And I guess the rule would have been bent a bit for unusual circumstances; the Führer did say something about being worried about overpowering East Command."
"Unusual indeed," Maximus agreed, nodding knowingly. "To have two alchemists take the exam together and then both be selected is... Well, it's unheard of, and that you were both so young." He shook his head, giving Al a slightly star-stuck look.
"Something to aspire to?" Al suggested with that polite smile that meant he was approaching the end of his patience.
Ed stepped forward and snapped his fingers in Maximus' face, making the man flinch back. Ed flashed him a sharp smile, then motioned toward the hall they usually started with.
Maximus cleared his throat. "Right, yes. I'm sure you're both very busy."
"Busy enough," Al agreed diplomatically.
"This way!" Maximus motioned in the same direction Ed had just done, then started down that hall.
:If he ever grows on you,: Ed signed as they followed, positioned for Al to see, :it can only ever be like a disease.:
Al cleared his throat and ducked his head, his qi flaring with amusement. "You realise you're a terrible human being."
:You realise I don't give a fuck.:
Al gave up on his serene little hand position and rubbed at his eyes, complaining, "Brother. Please."
Ed rolled his eyes, but slipped his hands behind his back in a show of his intention to behave.
It took Maximus a while to get through those researchers he believed were doing important work and up to Colourway, which was fairly normal. Al did show some interest in the basics of what the lab was working on, and it occurred to Ed that his brother didn't have the strong chemistry background that Ed did, so a lot of this stuff would be new to him. He knew some, of course – he did have the knowledge of the Gate, not to mention all their chemistry studies to get the components for their human transmutation correct – but he didn't have that extra decade of studying the elemental table, had been alive for less than half the length that Ed had been.
It was...oddly alienating, remembering that. Watching his brother ask questions of researchers that Ed had known long before he'd first stepped into the lab.
Well, at least it kept everyone busy, including Maximus, so Ed took the chance to slip away, up to Colourway's lab.
Colourway was bent over the lab table in the farthest back corner – well away from pretty much everything else in the room – when Ed stopped in the doorway, his qi quiet and focussed. As soon as Ed knocked on the open doorway, Colourway's qi almost seemed to flinch as he bodily jumped, then turned to look. Honest pleasure bled through his qi as he caught sight of Ed, and one of his manic smiles slashed across his face. "My favourite Silent Alchemist!" he declared, pushing away from his stool.
Ed smiled back and motioned in a 'may I come in?' sort of manner.
"Of course, of course!" Colourway wiggled his fingers at Ed, then peered around him as Ed stepped into the room. "No Hermes?"
Ed shrugged and pulled out his journal, stepping over to the nearest table to write, 'My brother's distracting him'
Colourway blinked up at him after reading that, a niggling of surprise under the pleasure of his qi. "Your brother? The Mending Alchemist, is that correct?" Ed nodded. "Ah. Ah!" Colourway grinned at him. "He came with the Flame Alchemist! From East City!"
Ed snorted and nodded, then turned back to write, 'About Flame--he's going to come by your gallery tmrw'
"In what way?" Colourway asked quietly, and there was no sign of his manic energy in his voice, only in the way his fingers shifted together nervously in front of him, and his eyes occasionally flickered towards the open doorway.
Ed's qi-sense said they had plenty of privacy still, but he didn't really have a good way to explain that to Colourway, so he simply settled on writing as quickly as he could, 'From me. I trust him. I want to trust you'
Colourway's eyes darted towards the line of paintings against the wall. "That array," he guessed.
Ed gave a quiet nod.
Colourway stared toward the empty doorway for a long moment, his qi flickering with indecision. Finally, after almost a full minute, it settled and he swallowed, then looked at Ed. "When?" he asked quietly.
'1800'
Colourway shook his head. "I don't usually make it to the gallery until closer to seven. Not with–" He waved his hand toward the doorway, could have meant Maximus, or just working in the lab in general.
Ed nodded in understanding. '1900? 1930?'
"Seven-thirty," Colourway decided.
Ed nodded again. 'I'll tell him.' He paused for a moment, stared at his pen hovering over the page, feeling the mass of nerves – of uncertainty and fear and a tiny whisper of hope – in Colourway's qi, before adding, 'Can you at least trust I mean you no harm?'
Surprise shot through Colourway's qi. "Yes," he admitted quietly, looking towards the line of paintings, before turning back to Ed. "There is no blood on your hands, Silent Alchemist."
No, maybe Ed had never purposefully murdered someone, but that didn't make him any less culpable for the lives he'd turned his back on.
Again, not something he could really explain, so he settled for, 'You look at hands. I look at hearts'
Colourway smiled at that, a little too manic for even his usual brand of crazy. "And what do you see in my heart, Silent?" he asked, didn't sound nearly as mocking as Ed would have expected.
Ed considered him for a moment, then honestly wrote, 'Fear Confusion Hope.' He glanced up at Colourway at his shaky breath, then looked back down to add, 'You do enjoy when I visit. Usually'
Colourway let out a strained laugh at that. "Usually," he agreed quietly.
Al's qi gave a very obvious flare, then started moving in their direction; a warning. 'They're coming,' he wrote, giving Colourway just enough time to read that, before slipping his journal away and nodding toward the lab table where Colourway usually left things to show him; minor arrays that showed he was still working in the military's best interest, that they should continue to keep him employed.
Colourway cleared his throat, glanced at the empty doorway, then looked at Ed, who offered him what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Colourway took a quick breath, then broke out in a wide, manic smile – one of his more disturbed – and rushed over to that table, calling, "Interesting work! You'll like it! They'll like it!"
Ed had just reached the table when Al and Maximus stepped into view beyond the doorway, Maximus muttering something too low for Ed to hear, but the spike of anger in Al's qi suggested it had been none-too-complimentary. "Brother," Al called, and Ed glanced back at him. "Aren't you supposed to be showing me around?"
Ed offered him an apologetic smile. :Thanks for the chance to talk to him,: he signed in response.
Al's mouth twitched. "Liar," he said, as though responding to an apology. Then he looked at Colourway, who Ed expected was still grinning a bit madly, despite the way his qi had curled in on itself with uncertainty. "You must be the Colourway Alchemist."
"I am! I am!" Colourway agreed, bounding past Ed and dashing over to Al, one hand extended. "And you're Mending! Brothers!" He looked between Ed and Al as Al accepted his hand with a slightly surprised laugh. Colourway turned back to Al, leant in slightly, and confided (at a normal volume), "I don't see the resemblance."
Maximus let out a disbelieving sputter from behind Al.
Al gave a very serious nod. "I look more like our mum, while Brother looks more like our dad."
Ed moved to sign something extremely uncomplimentary about Hohenheim.
"Edward," Al called, shooting him a knowing look.
Ed rolled his eyes.
Al sighed and looked back at Colourway. "Thank you, by the way. I'd despaired of Brother ever showing an interest in art."
Cue a scoff from Maximus, exactly on schedule.
Colourway dropped his head to one side. "Art, art, art..." he murmured, before straightening. "Art! My painting!"
Al's mouth twitched, almost like he wanted to mirror Colourway's manic smile. "He's got it hanging above his bed."
Colourway turned to Ed with the most comically exaggerated grateful look Ed had – he was nearly certain – ever seen. His qi, somewhat surprisingly, was also filling with a sort of surprised gratitude, as though he'd expected Ed would shove it in a cupboard or something. "You...really like it?" he asked.
Ed offered him a slightly helpless smile and nodded, because it had grown on him, after being up for so long. The way he'd hidden the array was amazing, certainly, and he could never not be grateful to Colourway for creating the array itself for him, but he'd also got used to seeing those splotches on his otherwise bare walls. (He had photos that Hughes had pressed on him, sure, and some colouring-in pages from Elicia and Nina taped up on the doors of his wardrobe, but the painting had remained the only thing on the walls.)
And Colourway, who was a little bit crazy and could get away with it, hurried back to Ed and grabbed him in a tight hug.
"I see why you like him, Brother," Al commented helpfully.
Ed rolled his eyes and patted Colourway's back, smiling when he pulled back and wiped at his eyes. And he was close enough, Ed could see that Colourway had actually been crying, his qi still a mass of gratitude, with speckles of disbelief.
Something in his heart broke a bit; how many people viewed Colourway's work as stupid splotches? How many knew the secret, and still insulted them? How many people would have taken that painting home and hidden it away? (Ed almost had, and he hated himself for that, a bit.)
Colourway cleared his throat, putting on one of his slightly less manic smiles. "Yes, but, updates. You came for updates!" And he darted past Ed to the papers he'd been fussing with when Al and Maximus had come in.
They finished the lab without any other hiccups or tearful hugs. Somehow.
Outside, Al murmured, "An interesting lab. Do you always have to deal with Hermes?"
Ed grimaced and nodded. :He thinks I need a guide.:
Al snorted. "Of course you do. Otherwise, you might start correcting their work for them!"
Ed glanced at his brother, Al raised his eyebrows in response, then they both had to look away, snickering.
After about another block, Al said, "He's not what I would have expected."
:Colourway?: Ed guessed, since he was the only person in lab four he'd ever mentioned to Al previously.
Al nodded.
:He was in rare form today.:
Al was quiet for a moment, his qi curling with a question unasked, before he sighed and asked, "What's wrong?"
Ed shook his head. :I didn't expect it to mean so much to him.:
"That you kept the painting?"
Ed nodded, glancing over at his brother.
Al shrugged. "Sometimes," he offered with the sort of wisdom that Ed had never quite been able to figure out the origin of, "it's the thoughtless acts that affect others the most."
Ed considered that for a moment, before putting on a cross look and signing, :Is that a comment on something?:
"I would never, Brother," Al lied.
Ed snorted. :Gym?:
"Yes, please. For the showers, if nothing else. My hand still feels slimy."
Ed laughed at his brother, even as he changed direction.
Much later that night, after he and Roy made it back to his place from the Hugheses' – Al and Hughes still seemed to be of the opinion that Ed needed to stay with Roy, "in case Envy comes back" – Ed signed, :Colourway asked you to come at seven-thirty.:
Roy's qi almost seemed to tense a bit before he sighed and nodded. "I can do that."
Ed nodded a bit absently, looking down at his hands.
Roy's hands folded around his, warm and gentle. "Edward?"
Before Ed really thought about it, he found himself pulling away to sign, :My painting–: And then he stopped, uncertain what he wanted to say.
Roy watched him, his qi a pillar of calm, wrapped with...that. Love. "The one in your room at Maes'?" he prompted.
Ed nodded, forced himself to look up at Roy as he let his hands complete the request that he'd settled on without even realising it: :Can I bring it here?:
Roy blinked, surprise flickering briefly in his qi, before it was pushed aside by a rush of happiness. "I think," he agreed with a smile, "that would be an excellent first piece for our new home. You'll have to find the perfect place for it."
Ed swallowed, feeling warm at that 'our', and very firmly refused to let himself dwell on it, instead trying to think of where was best for the painting. As much as he wanted to put it downstairs, if only to torment people who didn't know the secret, he also didn't really want to share the secret with just anyone. :Upstairs hall?: he suggested.
Roy's mouth quirked, something knowing curling through his qi. "At the top of the stairs?" he guessed. "Intending to test guests by seeing if they can spot the array?"
Ed flashed him a grin. :Maybe.:
Roy chuckled and caught his hands, pulling Ed in close. "Well," he murmured, "you can wait until this weekend and bring it in under cover of Maes' massive pile of photos–" Ed couldn't quite stop a laugh "–or you can sneak it in tomorrow, while I'm out."
And then something cool and small was slipped into Ed's hand. He blinked and opened it to find a key.
"I think," Roy said into his ear, "this belongs to you."
With one hand holding on to Roy's shirt and the other curling tight around the key, the only possible response to that was to kiss the stupidly charming bastard.
"Does that mean you like–"
Ed decided to just keep kissing him until he shut up; sometimes, it was just his only weapon.
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