After the Fall: Chapter 10 (Roy x Ed)
Title: After the Fall, Chapter 10
Author: SeaweedOtter
Characters: Roy x Ed and some implied Roy x Hughes...
Rating: R to NC-17 overall for language and nudity- (PG-13 for this chapter.)
Warnings: The story goes somewhat AU after the end of episode 25 in the anime. I
am still sort of keeping to canon events.
Summary: After the funeral for Maes Hughes, Roy was feeling rather... vulnerable.
Copyrights: The characters obviously belong to their creators, not me.
Read all the parts of the story so far HERE!
The day crawled on for Roy Mustang. No papers were signed. Coffee flowed like water,
and by mid afternoon his hands shook so hard that even if he had wanted to sign his
name to the papers that loomed in front of him, he probably wouldn't have been able
to.
His coworkers gave him as wide of a berth as they could that day. They felt slightly
bad for Hawkeye, who was the only one strong enough and with enough reason to purposefully go into the Mustang Den and brave the red eyed, eggshell walking colonel.
Hawkeye sighed, her shoulders slumping. The afternoon was wearing down and there was
still no sign of the two boys, and now she had to go tell the colonel that Havoc had
just come back with no new information. It wasn't like her at all to fear her commanding officer, and to try to procrastinate about going into his office, but this
was a mood that she hadn't seen him in in a long time.
Tensing her whole body, she knocked quietly. After predictably not getting an answer, she slowly opened the door. "Sir?" she asked.
The colonel was asleep, with a half spilt glass of what she was guessing was coffee
spiked with more than a little bit of whiskey that he had stolen in and hidden from her, threatning to soak the paperwork that had continued to pile up on his desk throuout the day. He was snoring lightly, and a troubled look was etched hard onto his face. He was softly mumbling, but it was so low that she couldn't understand what he was saying.
"Sir, please wake up." She shook him hard, and he awoke with a start, his bare fingers reflexivly moving to the ready to snap position. She relaxed her posture and raised her hands, palms towards him. "Sir, it is just me, Lt. Hawkeye. You were asleep. Again."
Roy smacked his lips sleepily, licking his parched lips with a dry tongue. He blinked sleepily and looked at Hawkeye with half-lidded eyes- hardly any of the onyx pupils showing through.
"Oh, Hawkeye. It's you." His voice was thick with sleep and lower than usual. He did
a little stretch, then looked at her, cocking his head to the side just a slight bit. "Was there.. something you needed, Lt.?"
"Well, it is 1545 hours sir, and so far there has been no sign of the Elric brothers. Havoc talked with all of his contacts, and no one has heard anything. Fuery has been monitoring radio traffic, but there has been nothing about either of the boys over those channels, either. It's like they just dissapeared. I am sorry sir. I wish I had better news."
Mustang was stoic, his stone face not betraying his thoughts. "Thank you, Lt., I
appreciate the update. He looked to the stack of papers, quickly uprighting the glass and cleaning up the spilt mess with napkins while he talked. "Now, if there is nothing else to report, then I trust you will leave me to do my paperwork."
Hawkeye knew damn well that no paperwork was going to be done, but ever the loyal
solider, she nodded her head, making a mental note of the colonel's slightly slurred
speech. She saluted. "Yes, sir. And just for the record sir, I *WILL* be staying until you leave tonight to make sure that you don't sleep in your office again."
"Duly noted. Thank you, Lt., you may go." He stood up somewhat shakily, keeping one hand on the desk to steady himself and saluting with the other hand. Hawkeye saluted back again, and left, closing the door behind her.
Roy looked at the mound of paperwork, sighed, and took the first piece off the stack, trying to read it. His eyes blurred, and all the words blended together. He was vaguely aware that it was some sort of request for a better variety of food at the canteen. He turned the paper over, backwards, upside down, sideways, trying to make the words jump out at him.
Fifteen minutes later, when his head was aching from looking at the same sheet of paper the entire time, the phone rang. He literally jumped out of his seat, the paper flying out of his hands, and his seat on wheels rolling backwards, depositing him painfully on his tailbone on the floor in the middle of his office.
He stood up, rubbing his rear, lamenting that he had at least two aching bodyparts
now. He secretly hoped that the phone would magically stop ringing, guessing that it was one of the generals who had some petty job for him that he would, as usual, pawn off on one of his subordinates.
He sighed softly, missing the times his phone would ring 4 or 5 times a day, and he would hear that goofball of a Lt. Colonel on the line talking about the latest exploits of his daughter. A frown filled his face.
"Maes." he almost whispered, fighting the lump in his throat and the moisture that threatened to well up in his eyes. He grumbled, hearing the phone ring yet again.
"Mustang." He finally answered the phone in a intensly uninterested, monotone voice.
"Hey, Colonel Bastard. It's me."
"Ed?"
"Yeah, Look. Al and I are going on a little trip. I have to make this call fast
before she finds out where I went." There was a sharp train whistle in the background, which caused Ed to have to halt for a moment. "I will try to give you a call later. We are going to be in Dublith-"
"ED!" Roy almost had to pull the phone away from his ear, the voice on the other side was so loud. There was a click, and then it was over. Roy let out a huge sigh, his shoulders slumped, and a smile came unbidden to his face.
"At least I know you are alright, Ed." he said to nobody on the other side of the
line, and he put the phone back on it's cradle. He took a second to compose himself
and he opened the door into the outer office, his face set back into stone.
"Fuery was monitoring the call, sir. We heard." Hawkeye's featured had lightened, she almost had what started to look like a tiny smile on her face. She seemed as glad as him that the brothers were alright, at least for the moment. The rest of the officers, Falman, Breda, and Havoc were smiling, glad to see that thier colonel was in a better mood. He wasn't jovial, but at least he didn't look ready to bite thier heads off at the slightest odd glance.
"I think I need to take off a little early, Hawkeye. My head is killing me, and I didn't get a good night's sleep last night." He didn't even bother to tell her about the bruise that he knew was forming over his tailbone. Hawkeye smiled inwardly. Only those two knew that he had slept there last night, although it could be easily inferred what had happened with his unkempt, unwashed hair and his wrinkled clothes.
"Okay, sir. You get a good night's rest. Havoc, please make sure he gets home safe."
"Yessir!" Havoc saluted and jumped up, following his colonel out the door.
After a long, hot shower and a light meal, Roy felt much better than he had in the last couple of days. He relaxed on his couch, with the radio playing softly, an alchemy book in his lap, and a scotch poured and ready for consumption. He opened the book and started to read, but he found it hard to concentrate on the words in front of him.
He smiled and closed the book on his lap. He took a sip of his scotch, almost enjoying the soft burn and it trailed down his throat. His mind wandered back to the phone call. He had already replayed it in his mind dozens of times. It was burnt into his brain like a snap from his fingers.
"Colonel Bastard." He said it softly, pondering the phrase. Ed hadn't sounded mad at
him, he was nervous and his speech was quickened, but he could tell that it was more
of a fear of getting caught. And he had been. All Roy could do was hope that Ed wasn't harmed by that psycho for reporting back to his office.
Without even being aware of it, Roy's hand drifted down to his leg, rubbing the inside of his thigh through the material of his dress blues. A soft moan escaped his lips, and a smile crept across his face. He put the book on the table and sat the glass down beside it. He got up and headed back towards his bedroom, taking his jacket off on the way, one word on his lips.
"Edward."
Author: SeaweedOtter
Characters: Roy x Ed and some implied Roy x Hughes...
Rating: R to NC-17 overall for language and nudity- (PG-13 for this chapter.)
Warnings: The story goes somewhat AU after the end of episode 25 in the anime. I
am still sort of keeping to canon events.
Summary: After the funeral for Maes Hughes, Roy was feeling rather... vulnerable.
Copyrights: The characters obviously belong to their creators, not me.
Read all the parts of the story so far HERE!
The day crawled on for Roy Mustang. No papers were signed. Coffee flowed like water,
and by mid afternoon his hands shook so hard that even if he had wanted to sign his
name to the papers that loomed in front of him, he probably wouldn't have been able
to.
His coworkers gave him as wide of a berth as they could that day. They felt slightly
bad for Hawkeye, who was the only one strong enough and with enough reason to purposefully go into the Mustang Den and brave the red eyed, eggshell walking colonel.
Hawkeye sighed, her shoulders slumping. The afternoon was wearing down and there was
still no sign of the two boys, and now she had to go tell the colonel that Havoc had
just come back with no new information. It wasn't like her at all to fear her commanding officer, and to try to procrastinate about going into his office, but this
was a mood that she hadn't seen him in in a long time.
Tensing her whole body, she knocked quietly. After predictably not getting an answer, she slowly opened the door. "Sir?" she asked.
The colonel was asleep, with a half spilt glass of what she was guessing was coffee
spiked with more than a little bit of whiskey that he had stolen in and hidden from her, threatning to soak the paperwork that had continued to pile up on his desk throuout the day. He was snoring lightly, and a troubled look was etched hard onto his face. He was softly mumbling, but it was so low that she couldn't understand what he was saying.
"Sir, please wake up." She shook him hard, and he awoke with a start, his bare fingers reflexivly moving to the ready to snap position. She relaxed her posture and raised her hands, palms towards him. "Sir, it is just me, Lt. Hawkeye. You were asleep. Again."
Roy smacked his lips sleepily, licking his parched lips with a dry tongue. He blinked sleepily and looked at Hawkeye with half-lidded eyes- hardly any of the onyx pupils showing through.
"Oh, Hawkeye. It's you." His voice was thick with sleep and lower than usual. He did
a little stretch, then looked at her, cocking his head to the side just a slight bit. "Was there.. something you needed, Lt.?"
"Well, it is 1545 hours sir, and so far there has been no sign of the Elric brothers. Havoc talked with all of his contacts, and no one has heard anything. Fuery has been monitoring radio traffic, but there has been nothing about either of the boys over those channels, either. It's like they just dissapeared. I am sorry sir. I wish I had better news."
Mustang was stoic, his stone face not betraying his thoughts. "Thank you, Lt., I
appreciate the update. He looked to the stack of papers, quickly uprighting the glass and cleaning up the spilt mess with napkins while he talked. "Now, if there is nothing else to report, then I trust you will leave me to do my paperwork."
Hawkeye knew damn well that no paperwork was going to be done, but ever the loyal
solider, she nodded her head, making a mental note of the colonel's slightly slurred
speech. She saluted. "Yes, sir. And just for the record sir, I *WILL* be staying until you leave tonight to make sure that you don't sleep in your office again."
"Duly noted. Thank you, Lt., you may go." He stood up somewhat shakily, keeping one hand on the desk to steady himself and saluting with the other hand. Hawkeye saluted back again, and left, closing the door behind her.
Roy looked at the mound of paperwork, sighed, and took the first piece off the stack, trying to read it. His eyes blurred, and all the words blended together. He was vaguely aware that it was some sort of request for a better variety of food at the canteen. He turned the paper over, backwards, upside down, sideways, trying to make the words jump out at him.
Fifteen minutes later, when his head was aching from looking at the same sheet of paper the entire time, the phone rang. He literally jumped out of his seat, the paper flying out of his hands, and his seat on wheels rolling backwards, depositing him painfully on his tailbone on the floor in the middle of his office.
He stood up, rubbing his rear, lamenting that he had at least two aching bodyparts
now. He secretly hoped that the phone would magically stop ringing, guessing that it was one of the generals who had some petty job for him that he would, as usual, pawn off on one of his subordinates.
He sighed softly, missing the times his phone would ring 4 or 5 times a day, and he would hear that goofball of a Lt. Colonel on the line talking about the latest exploits of his daughter. A frown filled his face.
"Maes." he almost whispered, fighting the lump in his throat and the moisture that threatened to well up in his eyes. He grumbled, hearing the phone ring yet again.
"Mustang." He finally answered the phone in a intensly uninterested, monotone voice.
"Hey, Colonel Bastard. It's me."
"Ed?"
"Yeah, Look. Al and I are going on a little trip. I have to make this call fast
before she finds out where I went." There was a sharp train whistle in the background, which caused Ed to have to halt for a moment. "I will try to give you a call later. We are going to be in Dublith-"
"ED!" Roy almost had to pull the phone away from his ear, the voice on the other side was so loud. There was a click, and then it was over. Roy let out a huge sigh, his shoulders slumped, and a smile came unbidden to his face.
"At least I know you are alright, Ed." he said to nobody on the other side of the
line, and he put the phone back on it's cradle. He took a second to compose himself
and he opened the door into the outer office, his face set back into stone.
"Fuery was monitoring the call, sir. We heard." Hawkeye's featured had lightened, she almost had what started to look like a tiny smile on her face. She seemed as glad as him that the brothers were alright, at least for the moment. The rest of the officers, Falman, Breda, and Havoc were smiling, glad to see that thier colonel was in a better mood. He wasn't jovial, but at least he didn't look ready to bite thier heads off at the slightest odd glance.
"I think I need to take off a little early, Hawkeye. My head is killing me, and I didn't get a good night's sleep last night." He didn't even bother to tell her about the bruise that he knew was forming over his tailbone. Hawkeye smiled inwardly. Only those two knew that he had slept there last night, although it could be easily inferred what had happened with his unkempt, unwashed hair and his wrinkled clothes.
"Okay, sir. You get a good night's rest. Havoc, please make sure he gets home safe."
"Yessir!" Havoc saluted and jumped up, following his colonel out the door.
After a long, hot shower and a light meal, Roy felt much better than he had in the last couple of days. He relaxed on his couch, with the radio playing softly, an alchemy book in his lap, and a scotch poured and ready for consumption. He opened the book and started to read, but he found it hard to concentrate on the words in front of him.
He smiled and closed the book on his lap. He took a sip of his scotch, almost enjoying the soft burn and it trailed down his throat. His mind wandered back to the phone call. He had already replayed it in his mind dozens of times. It was burnt into his brain like a snap from his fingers.
"Colonel Bastard." He said it softly, pondering the phrase. Ed hadn't sounded mad at
him, he was nervous and his speech was quickened, but he could tell that it was more
of a fear of getting caught. And he had been. All Roy could do was hope that Ed wasn't harmed by that psycho for reporting back to his office.
Without even being aware of it, Roy's hand drifted down to his leg, rubbing the inside of his thigh through the material of his dress blues. A soft moan escaped his lips, and a smile crept across his face. He put the book on the table and sat the glass down beside it. He got up and headed back towards his bedroom, taking his jacket off on the way, one word on his lips.
"Edward."