Categories > Anime/Manga > Full Metal Alchemist > The Right Thing
The sun was far too bright in his eyes. Lifting an arm in a vain attempt to shield out some of the more offensive rays, Roy winced as he felt muscles pull. He had slept in an unfamiliar position, and his body did not appreciate it. He rarely invited his conquests home, never let them spend the night...but Ed had been different...
Was different...
There had been no warning when he opened his door last night.
'Hey, Colonel...'
Aggressive, possessive lips, covering lack of experience with vehemence...automail arm gripping him, assuming he was going to run, to fight...
Not at all expecting him to melt.
Roy viciously cut through that train of thought. It seemed indecent, inappropriate to be thinking such things now. He had seen the disgust in Ed's eyes...had seen his face twist up in anger...
Gold hair cascading down, brushing across his face...
No.
Roy felt tired, impossibly, irreparably tired. His leg muscles twitched and protested his every step, wondering why the hell he had chosen today, of all days, to walk to the office. Maes had always said a good walk cleared the mind. He wondered why it was his friend's advice was failing him now.
Faithfully on autopilot, his legs carried him to the office, and paused a moment outside the door so he could compose himself. Fumbling to arrange his face into the familiar, but currently rather uncooperative, smirk, he caught a glimpse of himself in a bit of glass. And grimaced. Maybe he would just tell everyone he had had too much to drink last night. His eyes were bloodshot, the flesh around them bruised and bunched with exhaustion.
"I look like hell." Roy lost his attempted smirk for a heartbeat as his face rearranged itself into disgust before he regained control and firmly twisted his lips slightly just so, cocked one eyebrow upwards just a bit, and coaxed his legs into something more jaunty, less suited to some sort of funeral march.
Reality seemed to reassert itself as soon as he crossed that threshold. All of the demons and temptations of the night before vanished into the familiar babble of work almost getting done, the hint of cigarette smoke and gunpowder in the air, and the faint aroma of the cologne Havoc wore whenever he had a date scheduled after work. A familiar milieu; prompting actions and reactions which were more habit than thought at this point in the game.
Roy made his way through the office, making the appropriate comments to the appropriate people, snagged the entire pot of coffee, and vanished into his personal den, closing the door behind him.
And realized the smell of coffee was making him a rather unique sort of nauseous. He poked his head out the door long enough to hand the pot to a rather perplexed Hawkeye before retreating back behind the door.
The usual pile of papers received his usual lack of attention as he settled into his chair.
Roy quietly, desperately, worked on ignoring the fact that his morning ritual had been utterly destroyed by something as simple as a lack of coffee. The taste, the smell even left a very noticeable change in what mornings felt like. Add on the distinct rawness that plagued his throat and the fact his stomach was a roiling cauldron of acid and he was hard pressed to ignore the fact that something was wrong. His left hand took to tapping an irritable and irregular pattern on his desk as he tried to think of anything but last night.
...Tastetouchsmell...
"No." Roy snarled, hitting the desk. Maybe he should get some work done. Anything to distract his treacherous trains of thought.
A careful knock saved him not only from mental paths he had no desire to wander down, but doing work as well. An honest smirk lit his face as he settled himself into a comfortable sort of lounge before calling "enter."
For a second the smirk slipped as Ed entered, graceful....beautiful...just a bit of hair already escaping the confines of trademark braid. There was nothing in those eyes for Roy though, not even disgust. Ed marched his way to the desk, and set down a small bundle of papers.
"My report, sir."
So bland...
This wasn't Ed...Ed was irritable, fiery....passionate. "Is something the matter, Fullmetal?"
"Nothing that needs concern you, colonel."
"Everything that affects my men is my concern, no matter how...small."
To Roy's appalled amazement, Ed didn't even blink. "Anything else you need?" Ed seemed, if anything, bored....
It was wrong, so very wrong...and so very his fault....Roy could feel his control snapping, and wasn't actually sure in which direction it was going to go. Either way it was going to be rather explosive...
"Edward. You and I need to talk." Roy gritted it out from between clenched teeth. Apparently it was going to be anger. Excellent. Definitely easier to deal with. More familiar.
"I don't have anything to say." With that Ed turned, obviously intent on leaving.
"That's unfortunate. I do."
Ed whirled around, eyes blazing. Finally. "What the hell more do you want, you fucking bastard?" Throwing his arms to the side; "didn't you get enough last night? What the hell else do you want from me?"
"I am trying to do the right thing here!" Roy roared.
Hawkeye, definitely the bravest of those currently trying very hard to ignore the muffled arguing that was coming from Roy's office, decided it was in her Colonel's best interests to interfere. She opened the door, face bland. "Anything I can do for you, sir?" Her eyes flicked between the two men, taking in their aggressive stances and obvious anger, and decided that had been an excellent time to distract them from each other.
"We are fine, Lieutenant." Roy snapped the words with military precision, never once taking his eyes from Ed.
"Sir?"
"Fullmetal and I were just having a friendly conversation, weren't we?"
"Sure. And now it is over cause I have nothing to add, you egotistical ass." Ed hissed. "So why don't you leave me the hell alone?!"
"I have things to say to you." Roy felt himself distancing from his anger, the same sort of detachment that preceded the battlefield. Cold analysis set in its wake. "Lieutenant, if you would please leave us for a while longer."
"Sir." She saluted. Right before she shut the door she reminded him "I'm right outside if you need me."
"Setting one of your damn dogs to guard the door, huh? So desperate to fight dirty?" Ed was furious.
"You are one of my 'dogs' as well, if you took a minute to remember your place here."
"Yeah? Do you take all of your 'dogs' to bed?"
"That's enough, Fullmetal..."
"No. No it isn't." Angry gold narrowed. "You fucking took advantage of me!"
"I did."
Gloriously fierce, needy, flesh on warm flesh, automail scratching in just the right way, just hard enough...
"So what? 'Oops, better send the kid home'? You seriously think that fixes it?!"
"Tell what I need to do."
Tell me what you want...how you want it...
"What if I don't want it fixed?" Ed's voice grew quiet, altogether too unsure for Roy's liking.
"What do you mean, you don't want it fixed?"
"What if I didn't want to be sent home...what if I wanted to stay there...with you."
"Fullm...Edward, I don't think you understand..."
"Don't give me that 'still a kid' crap. You didn't treat me like a kid last night. Don't think of me as younger only when it is convenient for you."
"That is the problem. I shouldn't have let....it shouldn't have happened..."
Pressed tight against each other...panting for breath, exclamations sharp with astonished pleasure...
"I wanted it."
Honestly, Roy had no idea how to respond to that quiet proclamation.
Fear of rejection had been vanquished by deadly earnest gold eyes. He had been clinging to that, his one hope of redemption, the one force that would be able to quell temptation.
...touchtastesmell...
The lack of that last line of defense left him well and truly damned...
Was different...
There had been no warning when he opened his door last night.
'Hey, Colonel...'
Aggressive, possessive lips, covering lack of experience with vehemence...automail arm gripping him, assuming he was going to run, to fight...
Not at all expecting him to melt.
Roy viciously cut through that train of thought. It seemed indecent, inappropriate to be thinking such things now. He had seen the disgust in Ed's eyes...had seen his face twist up in anger...
Gold hair cascading down, brushing across his face...
No.
Roy felt tired, impossibly, irreparably tired. His leg muscles twitched and protested his every step, wondering why the hell he had chosen today, of all days, to walk to the office. Maes had always said a good walk cleared the mind. He wondered why it was his friend's advice was failing him now.
Faithfully on autopilot, his legs carried him to the office, and paused a moment outside the door so he could compose himself. Fumbling to arrange his face into the familiar, but currently rather uncooperative, smirk, he caught a glimpse of himself in a bit of glass. And grimaced. Maybe he would just tell everyone he had had too much to drink last night. His eyes were bloodshot, the flesh around them bruised and bunched with exhaustion.
"I look like hell." Roy lost his attempted smirk for a heartbeat as his face rearranged itself into disgust before he regained control and firmly twisted his lips slightly just so, cocked one eyebrow upwards just a bit, and coaxed his legs into something more jaunty, less suited to some sort of funeral march.
Reality seemed to reassert itself as soon as he crossed that threshold. All of the demons and temptations of the night before vanished into the familiar babble of work almost getting done, the hint of cigarette smoke and gunpowder in the air, and the faint aroma of the cologne Havoc wore whenever he had a date scheduled after work. A familiar milieu; prompting actions and reactions which were more habit than thought at this point in the game.
Roy made his way through the office, making the appropriate comments to the appropriate people, snagged the entire pot of coffee, and vanished into his personal den, closing the door behind him.
And realized the smell of coffee was making him a rather unique sort of nauseous. He poked his head out the door long enough to hand the pot to a rather perplexed Hawkeye before retreating back behind the door.
The usual pile of papers received his usual lack of attention as he settled into his chair.
Roy quietly, desperately, worked on ignoring the fact that his morning ritual had been utterly destroyed by something as simple as a lack of coffee. The taste, the smell even left a very noticeable change in what mornings felt like. Add on the distinct rawness that plagued his throat and the fact his stomach was a roiling cauldron of acid and he was hard pressed to ignore the fact that something was wrong. His left hand took to tapping an irritable and irregular pattern on his desk as he tried to think of anything but last night.
...Tastetouchsmell...
"No." Roy snarled, hitting the desk. Maybe he should get some work done. Anything to distract his treacherous trains of thought.
A careful knock saved him not only from mental paths he had no desire to wander down, but doing work as well. An honest smirk lit his face as he settled himself into a comfortable sort of lounge before calling "enter."
For a second the smirk slipped as Ed entered, graceful....beautiful...just a bit of hair already escaping the confines of trademark braid. There was nothing in those eyes for Roy though, not even disgust. Ed marched his way to the desk, and set down a small bundle of papers.
"My report, sir."
So bland...
This wasn't Ed...Ed was irritable, fiery....passionate. "Is something the matter, Fullmetal?"
"Nothing that needs concern you, colonel."
"Everything that affects my men is my concern, no matter how...small."
To Roy's appalled amazement, Ed didn't even blink. "Anything else you need?" Ed seemed, if anything, bored....
It was wrong, so very wrong...and so very his fault....Roy could feel his control snapping, and wasn't actually sure in which direction it was going to go. Either way it was going to be rather explosive...
"Edward. You and I need to talk." Roy gritted it out from between clenched teeth. Apparently it was going to be anger. Excellent. Definitely easier to deal with. More familiar.
"I don't have anything to say." With that Ed turned, obviously intent on leaving.
"That's unfortunate. I do."
Ed whirled around, eyes blazing. Finally. "What the hell more do you want, you fucking bastard?" Throwing his arms to the side; "didn't you get enough last night? What the hell else do you want from me?"
"I am trying to do the right thing here!" Roy roared.
Hawkeye, definitely the bravest of those currently trying very hard to ignore the muffled arguing that was coming from Roy's office, decided it was in her Colonel's best interests to interfere. She opened the door, face bland. "Anything I can do for you, sir?" Her eyes flicked between the two men, taking in their aggressive stances and obvious anger, and decided that had been an excellent time to distract them from each other.
"We are fine, Lieutenant." Roy snapped the words with military precision, never once taking his eyes from Ed.
"Sir?"
"Fullmetal and I were just having a friendly conversation, weren't we?"
"Sure. And now it is over cause I have nothing to add, you egotistical ass." Ed hissed. "So why don't you leave me the hell alone?!"
"I have things to say to you." Roy felt himself distancing from his anger, the same sort of detachment that preceded the battlefield. Cold analysis set in its wake. "Lieutenant, if you would please leave us for a while longer."
"Sir." She saluted. Right before she shut the door she reminded him "I'm right outside if you need me."
"Setting one of your damn dogs to guard the door, huh? So desperate to fight dirty?" Ed was furious.
"You are one of my 'dogs' as well, if you took a minute to remember your place here."
"Yeah? Do you take all of your 'dogs' to bed?"
"That's enough, Fullmetal..."
"No. No it isn't." Angry gold narrowed. "You fucking took advantage of me!"
"I did."
Gloriously fierce, needy, flesh on warm flesh, automail scratching in just the right way, just hard enough...
"So what? 'Oops, better send the kid home'? You seriously think that fixes it?!"
"Tell what I need to do."
Tell me what you want...how you want it...
"What if I don't want it fixed?" Ed's voice grew quiet, altogether too unsure for Roy's liking.
"What do you mean, you don't want it fixed?"
"What if I didn't want to be sent home...what if I wanted to stay there...with you."
"Fullm...Edward, I don't think you understand..."
"Don't give me that 'still a kid' crap. You didn't treat me like a kid last night. Don't think of me as younger only when it is convenient for you."
"That is the problem. I shouldn't have let....it shouldn't have happened..."
Pressed tight against each other...panting for breath, exclamations sharp with astonished pleasure...
"I wanted it."
Honestly, Roy had no idea how to respond to that quiet proclamation.
Fear of rejection had been vanquished by deadly earnest gold eyes. He had been clinging to that, his one hope of redemption, the one force that would be able to quell temptation.
...touchtastesmell...
The lack of that last line of defense left him well and truly damned...
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