FIC: Stranger Danger || The RoyEd Christmas Drabbles 2/10
Banner courtesy of hpfangirl71
Title: Stranger Danger
Author: drummerdancer
Verse: None
Characters/Pairings: Roy/Ed
Word Count: 919
Rating: T
Summary: There was somebody in the apartment.
Collapsing against the wall in the dark entryway, Edward sluggishly raised a hand to his face as he wiped at the sweat beading down his forehead. His back was sore, his limbs were sore, hell, even his automail felt sore!
He grimaced as he slowly pushed off the wall, intent on taking a much needed shower so much so that he almost missed a glowing red out of the corner of his eye.
He stopped; it was almost eleven o’clock at night. The apartment was pitch black when he entered, and he hadn’t heard anything or anybody moving around.
Edward felt the first wave of exhaustion leave his body and replace itself with alertness as he silently brought his hands out in a fighting stance. The light was coming from the kitchen, a place he was sure hadn’t been lit up when he had left earlier in the day. Which meant…
Somebody was in the apartment.
The last of his tiredness flew out the window, his body strung tight like a chord as he tried to silently creep towards the room. Edward was sure the intruder knew he was home; he hadn’t exactly been quiet in the entryway, and he definitely slammed the door on his way in.
But the point was not to pretend he wasn’t home; no, that was a lost cause. He was going to have to use force and fight the bastard the Ed Elric way.
Rounding the corner, Edward sensed movement heading for the doorway. He slid down the opposing wall, waiting for the moment he came into view. And, not a moment later, he pounced, lunging for the legs of the stranger as he brought him to the floor.
“Wh-ahhh!”
Heart pounding loud in his head, the cry of the man Edward tackled fell on deaf ears. His pulse was racing, adrenaline soaring through his veins as he quickly rolled to his knees and straddled the man, grabbing his wrists and pinning them beside the sides of his head.
“I’ve got you!-wait, Roy?” Edward looked down in confusion. In his head, the man he’d tackled would be decked out in all black clothing with a ski mask and revolver to match. Instead, the figure clutching his head below him was Roy Mustang, wearing a red dress shirt and black slacks without a weapon in sight.
“Edward! What the hell…” he moaned, a swollen bump taking shape beneath his forehead.
Embarrassment immediately flooded Ed’s face as he quickly got up and helped the man to his feet. “I-uh…sorry,” he mumbled, cheeks tinged a bright red. Dimly, the memory of Roy telling him earlier in the day that he was coming over for dinner floated through Ed’s mind, but the information was already past due.
Scratching his head, Edward gave Roy his best ‘whoops I screwed up again’ look, to which Roy ignored as the older man scowled and walked towards the refrigerator for some ice.
“I think this is a sign we need to cut back on your field assignments,” Roy scolded, reaching into the freezer with a cloth as he grabbed a few ice cubes. “A normal person wouldn’t tackle their significant others as a greeting.”
“I forgot you were coming over,” Edward replied, his sheepish expression fading as he glanced around the kitchen table. His earlier curiosity about a red light was answered as he stared in awe at the beautiful red lights littering the inside of a plastic vase set on the table. The glow was reflected on all the glasses and place-settings around the table, giving his once plain Jane kitchen a warm, homey feel.
“Wow…when did you do all this?”
Roy came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “While you were off fighting thieves of the night, apparently.”
Guilt came back to him full-force. “Look Roy, I’m sorry that I-”
Roy held up a hand. “No need to apologize. Besides…” a mischievous look crossed his face, “I’m more than certain you’ll make up for it tonight.”
Blushing, Ed only rolled his eyes and muttered ‘bastard’ before turning back to the table. “Yeah yeah…so uh…what’s with all the decor?”
Roy shrugged. “I just thought we’d do something nice for a change. Is that a problem?”
Edward immediately shook his head. While he didn’t usually care one way or another how the place looked, there was something nostalgic about these kinds of decorations. It made him long to see his mother sitting with him by the fire, curled up in a blanket with hot chocolate as she read him and Al bedtime stories. Such times were long gone, but he couldn’t help the warm yet bittersweet feelings they gave him.
Smiling wistfully to himself, Ed tore his eyes away from the place settings and back to Roy with a slight frown. “Okay…but where’s the food?”
As if right on cue, the doorbell rang, a sound that both of the men were quite acquainted with this late at night. Grinning madly, Ed asked, “Takeout?” and Roy nodded his head with an equally outlandish grin. And again, the tugs of nostalgia crept into Ed’s eyes, causing his grin to widen into a genuine smile. Home-cooked food was great and all, but nothing beat tradition.
And, as he rested in Roy’s arms later that night, the thought that this, too, would be nostalgic in years to come made him all the more content to stay exactly where he was.
Fake cut @ fandomwords100, steelandsparks, and celebrate_fma