Something New
Title: Something New
Verse: Further Interruptions
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Pairing: Roy/Ed
Summary: It had started innocently enough. A chance meeting as Ed was picking up Aerugan on the way home from a long, fruitless day at the office. A quick, “Do you wanna…” and Ed had said yes because he needed to know.
Alphonse would be pissed if he knew.
Ed should be pissed. Too pissed to be here.
But here he was.
It had started innocently enough. A chance meeting as Ed was picking up Aerugan on the way home from a long, fruitless day at the office.
A quick, “Do you wanna…” and Ed had said yes because he needed to know.
This was the third.
A new coffeehouse each time, a different part of the city.
He should be at home, pouting or something over his break up with Tate, but Ed couldn’t. It had been casual for most of the year they’d been together but things had been different when Ed came back to Central. They’d become serious, but then, accidentally, Tate found out who he was. Who he had worked for. Tate started to look for ways to get himself introduced to Mustang and his team and it had caused fights between them. Once that started, it was over pretty quick.
It had nothing to do with this. But this still felt dangerous. Like something he shouldn’t be doing.
He looked up as the door opened and he tried to keep the smile from his face. He wasn’t sure how well he succeeded, but the man who walked in smiled as he saw Ed. He didn’t join him yet but got in line at the counter and waited his turn to order.
Ed had planned to wait until they were together to order so he’d have to wait a few more minutes for some caffeine. He looked down at his hands because it was ridiculous to be this damn happy to be sitting in a small building with too many people, where it was too loud to hear each other clearly. It was the sort of place he didn’t usually like. But this was probably for the best. Someplace more private was … well … too private.
He didn’t have his gloves on. He’d taken them off because it wasn’t like he needed to hide his automail.
“I hope you don’t mind. I took the opportunity to order for you.”
He looked up and smiled as he took the cup. “Better be good coffee,” he said but it lacked the usual heat he would have put into it.
“It’s good,” Roy said as he sat across from Ed, “but the company makes it better.”
“That was cheesy, even for you. Does that actually work with the ladies?”
“You’d be amazed at how charming I am, when I want to be.”
Ed rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw Breda at the library today while I was researching. Did he get back to his meeting in time?”
“He did,” Roy said as he took a sip of his coffee. “What were you researching?”
“Just some alchemy.”
“What sort?”
“You’re really interested?” Ed asked. Because he acted like he was and there was still something intoxicating about having the other man’s attention like that.
“Of course,” he said. “What are you researching, and why?”
“Because it’s interesting?”
“I don’t want to touch on something sensitive, but why research alchemy when you can no longer do alchemy?”
Ed took a drink of his coffee and thought about his answer. Roy didn’t ask just to ask. He had a curious mind and Ed knew that the man wanted a real answer.
“I still know everything I did before. I can still help. And it’s still fascinating stuff. It started when I was talking to Armstrong about some research for a case. And then we started talking about all the research that’s gone unfinished because Scar killed all those alchemists before they could complete their work. Or work that was promising but that people just stopped because they couldn’t make it work. So now, when we have a slow day or caseload, I put in time working on research.”
“That’s amazing. If anyone could pick up someone else’s research and make it work it would be you.”
“Flatterer.”
“A sometimes-honest man.”
***
“Brother?”
Ed grimaced as he stepped into the apartment. He hadn’t expected his brother to wait up for him. Which was stupid really, because he should have. Since before they’d left Amestris, Alphonse had become protective. Since coming back and the break up with Tate, he’d been worse.
Ed understood why, he did. He just … didn’t want to talk about this.
“Hey Al. Thought you’d be asleep by now. Don’t you have a class to teach in the morning?”
“Where have you been? I called the office and they said you left hours ago.”
Ed walked past Alphonse to head into the kitchen. If he busied his hands it would give him a reason to keep his eyes down and Alphonse might not catch on to how much he didn’t want to have this conversation.
“Just stayed late with research and grabbed coffee with one of the guys,” he said as he poured water into a kettle and put it over the flames.
“One of the guys? Which guy, Brother?”
“What the hell, Alphonse? I can’t let loose a little without checking in with you first?”
Al crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Ed. “No. Actually, you can’t. Because you have the worst taste in men! I can’t believe you went out with him again! You just broke up with him! Why would you go out with Tate tonight and why are you hiding it from me?”
“What?” Ed asked. “Why would I go out with Tate? The guy became obsessed with meeting Roy and his team.”
Alphonse’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. Ed wasn’t sure what made him look like that but suddenly, Ed was faced with a very pissed off little brother.
“I can’t believe you.”
“What?”
“It … after … what the hell?”
And Alphonse knew. The look in his eyes. Alphonse knew exactly who he’d been to see. Ed didn’t know how. Just like he never understood how his brother had figured it out the first time.
“It was coffee.”
“With him? It wasn’t just coffee.”
“Back off, Al. I’m a grown man. I can make my own choices.”
“Yes, you can. You just make really awful ones! How could you do this Ed? After what he did to you?”
“What do you think he did, Al?” Ed demanded. Because they’d talked about it in a roundabout way, but Ed had never admitted to how bad it had been. He’d never explained why it happened or how it had started.
“He hurt you, Ed! So much we had to move to Aerugo and stay there for two whole years!”
“You don’t get it. You never did.”
“Because you won’t tell me anything! What is it about him? When the hell did Roy Mustang get such control over you?”
“When I was eleven years old and he got me to stop pitying myself and get back on my feet!”
“Bullshit! All those years, you served under him but he never had this control over you.”
“Leave it alone, Al.”
“No!” Ed tried to push past Alphonse but he was surprised when his brother blocked the way. “He hurt you, Ed. He made you cry! I don’t even know what he said or did, but you weren’t okay, Brother and he did that. I won’t let you go back to him.”
“Listen to yourself, Al. You don’t get to decide for me!”
“Who the hell else is going to take care of you? He sure as hell isn’t and my idiot brother won’t take care of himself, either.”
“There’s nothing to worry about anyway, Al. It’s just coffee.”
Al let out a deep breath and Ed tried to calm himself as well. This wasn’t worth fighting over. He’d had coffee with Mustang a couple of times. That was all.
“How many times, Ed?” Al asked.
The water on the stove began to whistle and Ed took the kettle off. He started to make the tea just to have something to do while they talked.
“Three.”
“Since when?”
“A couple months after Tate and I broke up. We just bumped into each other when we were out. We had coffee.”
“So, you didn’t break up with Tate because of Mustang?”
“No, of course not. I mean, a little I guess. But not because of anything with Mustang. It was because Tate wouldn’t stop trying to force me to introduce them. He got all weird about it. And about me and my old job.”
“So, then, why?”
Ed sighed. “Because I wanted to know if he was okay.”
“And?”
“He says he’s better. Not perfect. Says he may never be with everything considered, but I think that’s probably the healthiest thing he’s ever told me.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Yeah.”
“So why did you see him two more times?”
“Al.”
“I need to understand, Brother.”
“Can’t you just let it go?”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw the bruises, Ed! Your back and your hands. You had a split lip and a black eye! He did that to you!”
Ed closed his eyes because he never knew before what his brother had seen. “Alphonse, just … something happened but it’s not like it seemed.”
“And yet the next day, we ran. You asked Armstrong to transfer you and we ran to Aerugo for two years. You wouldn’t even look at anyone else seriously, and when you did it was another damn soldier!”
“You make it sound like I was celibate while we were in Aerugo.”
“Are you saying I’m wrong?”
“I had lovers.”
“No. You had one-night stands. You never let anyone close enough to be called a lover. Until Tate.”
“You hated Tate.”
“I hated that the reason you were involved with him was because he was enough like Mustang to make you want him.”
“That isn’t true, Al.”
“Yeah, I know you don’t see it, but I still do.”
“Well, you can forget about all of it because it isn’t like Tate’s a concern now. And Roy is just …”
“Roy.”
Ed sighed. “Yeah. He’s just Roy.”
“No, I mean when did he become Roy? Not the Colonel or the General or the Bastard.”
“Alphonse, I can’t do this tonight. I just want to get some sleep.”
“Damn it! No!” Alphonse yelled as he brought his fists down on the kitchen table. ”I don’t know what the hell happened between the two of you and I am tired of playing nursemaid to your heart when I don’t know why it was broken in the first place! The General … he’s not that kind of man. So, tell me, why he hurt you. Why did you let him?”
Ed looked up expecting to see anger in Alphonse’s eyes, but there were tears instead. And without thought, he confessed.
“There was a girl. This … beautiful girl. She showed up in my apartment and she was so familiar. I … she told me I had to save her Dad.”
“Who was her dad?”
“Führer Roy Mustang.”
“Ed.”
“Yeah, I know. The array she was on, I’ve been researching it in bits ever since. Time travel. Her name was Tishy. She had a brother named Maes. She said I was her Father, and that Roy and I were married. But if I didn’t save him that night he wouldn’t make it.”
“Ed… that’s …”
“Impossible. I get it now,” he said with a bitter laugh. “I don’t know what it was. A dream? A hallucination? I don’t know. But I went to Roy’s house that night and kept him from drinking himself into a trip to the hospital. Things were different after that. And I thought…” he let out a shaky breath “that maybe it was real. That maybe someday he’d love me and we’d have this amazing future together.”
“Oh, Brother,” Alphonse said softly.
“And I learned, okay? I learned that it wasn’t true, but sometimes it felt like it would be and Roy would look at me like… he just might …. But then it got bad and I had to go. And yeah, it took me a while to look at anyone else because every time I did, I felt like I was giving up on that girl. But she wasn’t even real and I barely spoke to her, but it felt real. I thought… I kept thinking … I had a daughter and a son and my life didn’t stay this train wreck!”
“Ed, you aren’t-”
“I am, Al! I’m a mess and we both know it. But when things were good, with Roy, I didn’t feel like I was. And then Tate made me start to doubt that he even cared because he was so obsessed with who I knew, and it pissed me off and then… coffee with Roy happened and …”
“Do you still love him, Brother?”
Ed looked down at his hands and tried to think of what to say.
“It’s an easy question. Yes or no.”
“Yes.” He looked up at Alphonse and let out a deep breath. “Yes, of course I do. I can’t stop. Even if she isn’t real, what happened between Roy and I was. And it was shit at the end, and there were some moments along the way that were hard, but I loved him. And he knew me, the real me with the scars and the automail and the past and he still wanted to be with me.”
“Does he love you?”
“Alphonse-“
“No. Answer the question.”
“We’re just having coffee. Sure, he flirts, but that’s like breathing to him. It’s … it’s all different from before. I don’t know how to read him. I just … he’s becoming a friend. And it feels good to have a friend like that.”
“And if he breaks your heart? Again?”
“Nothing new there to break.”
He didn’t know what was on his face, but Alphonse moved and wrapped his arms around Ed. Ed had never been able to deny his brother affection, even after having a body all these years, so he dropped his head to his brother’s shoulder.
“Well, just you remember, if he breaks your heart, I’ll break his legs. Okay? That’s something new.”
Ed laughed because his brother was a little terrifying sometimes, but there was comfort in the easy care he gave Ed. It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t easy and nothing that involved him and Roy ever would be. But now Alphonse knew and Ed didn’t have to hide anymore. He sighed into his brother’s shoulder and allowed himself to feel loved for a few minutes.
He had his brother beside him, as always, and he’d had a great time with Roy tonight. Maybe, there was something good hiding out in his future after all.
That thought, that sort of hope, was something new too.