AN: RoyEd Week 2018

Day 2 – Celebration/Stillness

So since I'm not in a great place still, you'll need to forgive me cause my RoyEd week will probably be a little longer than a week. But I'm aiming to get something typed up each day, so I'm hoping it will just be a RoyEd fortnight. Anyways, this is what I have for Day 2, and I actually kind of like it.

Let me know what you guys think. And as per usual with everything I write nothing is beta'd so keep that in mind :)

Happy Birthday Mr Führer

Edward didn't want to have to go to the stupid party. He especially didn't want to wear some stupid shirt and tie either. Ever since the Promised Day and getting Al's body back, Edward had left the military and moved back to Resembool. He'd settled into his new life without his alchemy more comfortably that he thought would have been possible. It was still hard some days, he would just forget and clap and nothing would happen and it always felt like a part of him had been ripped out again, but then Al had come back from Xing with May and Edward remembered why it was all worth it. Yes he might not have his alchemy, and that was like losing a piece of himself, but he'd have given everything he had in order to be able to see his baby brother smile.

It had been years since Edward had seem any of their old friends from Central, but Al had kept him update. His brother was still in contact with Gracia and had visited with May and Winry at times, but Edward always found some reason to not go. It was strange to think that he had spent so many years without a home, living on the move and now that he had achieved his goal he didn't go anywhere. He stayed at home with Den and Granny and worked with his hands around the house and sometimes further out in their little settlement, but never left Resembool. So when Gracia had called Al and demanded that they all come to Central the following week for a surprise party for Mustang's birthday, Edward didn't have any choice but to go. Al had made sure of that. But standing in the hotel room, staring in the mirror at his deep red shirt and black trousers look he was very tempted to lock himself in here and feign illness. It had been eight years since Edward had seen or spoken to Roy after the Promised Day.

Eight years and the thought of seeing him again had Edward's guts in a nervous knot. Winry would have laughed at him until his ears bled if she was in here. They had tried a relationship together, but it didn't last long and Edward finally confessed to her that while he did love her, she was more like family to him. She eventually got it out of him that he was completely infatuated with Mustang. She did not take that well, at least not at first. The following fight had resulted in Edward moving out of their home, the whole time Granny was trying to convince him to stay but he could hear Winry's sobbing upstairs and he couldn't bear to stay there knowing that her misery was because of him. It had only taken a week for Winry to come to terms with things and hunt him down to drag his ass home again. She had tried to talk him into going to Roy and confessing everything, but there was no way that was going to happen.

A knock on the door pulled Edward from his thoughts just as Al stuck that perfect blonde head in. Edward met his eye in the mirror and offered him a smile as the younger Elric slipped into the room. He was dressed similar to Ed himself, but Al's shirt was a pale blue, and he didn't have the same nervous and sick look on his face that Edward had seen on his own.

"Brother, we're going to be late." Al said softly, offering Ed a smile that told him that Winry had obviously blabbed at some point.

"I'm not going. I'm sick." Edward said, lifting two flesh hands to start unbuttoning his shirt. Al sighed and moved to him, taking both his hands and dragged him away from the mirror. "Al, I'm serious. I can't do this. I know Winry told you how I feel about him, you can't expect me to..."

"Shut up Ed. Yeah, she told me, but that was years ago." Al said, dropping one of Ed's hands but keeping hold of the other as he dragged him towards the door. "If you still feel like that towards him then you have to see him. You have to tell him." There was a brief – and horrified, on Ed's part – pause but before Edward could begin to voice his disagreement, Al had continued on over him as they left the hotel room behind them. "You're twenty four, Ed. You obviously love him, its not some silly childhood crush. You need to tell him."

"No. I don't need to tell him anything Al. Hawkeye would shoot me the moment she thought I was even thinking about making a move on her man."

"Brother, Roy is single. Has been for years. He and Hawkeye were never together. You'd know that if you ever spoke to any of them. Now come on, Winry and May are waiting for us."

Apparently a lot can change in eight years, and at the same time everything could still be the same. Gracia was still a loving, caring mother to everyone, Elicia was still an innocent and excitable girl who was over the moon to finally see Edward again. The guilt hit him hard enough to wind him when he was first hugged by them both. He needed to work on seeing them more. Roy's team were all there too, and they were all the same as Edward had remembered them being, and he fitted right back into the dynamic of the group. It was as though he hadn't been absent from everyone's lives for almost a decade. He was just starting to relax and settle into the whole situation when there was a knock at the door and everyone silently ran off to hide. Al dragged him to stand with his back to the door, so when Gracia and Elicia led Roy and Hawkeye into what looked like an empty room, Edward got a perfect view of the older man's ass in his suit trousers.

Everyone jumped out, shouting surprise and moving to hug and congratulate Roy. Everyone except Ed, who seemed to take the whole thing in slow motion. Roy had turned when he had heard Al, and while he was smiling and thanking everyone, his eyes never left Edward's. He felt dizzy and sick, his chest felt like it was being crushed and he knew that he'd stopped breathing. Only when Roy's attention was pulled from him did Edward feel like he could breathe again. Yeah, this was definitely more than a childhood crush, and this was the reason he had shut this part of his life out. Edward took advantage of the distraction and slipped out of the room into the kitchen and then out the back door. The evening air was cold enough to be a pleasant shock to his screwed up system, but not cold enough to cause him any discomfort. Edward dropped to sit on the steps and held his head in his hands as he forced himself to control his breathing.

He didn't know how long he'd been there for before the door behind him opened, but Edward wasn't feeling much better from narrowly avoiding a panic attack. He didn't look up, assuming that whoever was coming for him was Al, or Winry. So when the person didn't sit next to him straight away he tensed, but refused to look up.

"Its been a while Fullmetal."

Roy. Of course. Had Edward actually thought that he would be able to show up out of the blue to turn up at a party for Roy's birthday and then not have to speak to him? Wasn't he meant to be a genius? When the hell did he get so stupid?

"I've not been Fullmetal for years, Colonel." Edward muttered, giving into his fate and praying that the world would end before he had to say too much. The gentle laugh that Roy gave broke Edward's heart, he wanted so badly to hear that noise for the rest of his life. "Sorry, General, or whatever rank you've charmed your way into now."

"You think I'm charming, do you?"

Edward felt his cheeks burning at the smugness in Roy's voice and he couldn't stop himself from turning away, embarrassed, even if he tired. "No. I think you're a bastard." Another laugh and Edward hated himself for how he wanted to pull Roy closer because of that one noise. The older man moved quietly, and Edward was hyper aware of Roy sitting down on the stairs next to him.

"Its Führer now actually." Roy said after a moment, and the shock was enough to make Edward snap his head to the side to look at the older man, his ponytail swinging to land over his shoulder as he stared at Roy. "They announced it today."

"Then why the hell do you look so fucking sad, Mustang? This is everything you've wanted." Ed snapped, staring at Roy. Roy fucking Mustang. He was still gorgeous. How on earth was that fair, that even after all this time Edward still got fist-sized butterflies just looking at the stupid bastard. "You should be in there getting drunk with your team."

"Its bittersweet." Roy said, leaning back and looking up at the stars above them. Edward followed his gaze, but the sky always looked like shit in Central. Nothing like it was in Resembool, or all those times that he and Al had had to camp out on missions. "Of course I'm happy, I've gotten everything I have worked for, but its not came easily. Hughes should have been here to see it. My parents never got to see me achieve this."

"Enough."

Roy looked over at Edward, startled by the slight harshness in his voice, but Ed wasn't just going to sit there and let Roy mope about this. "Yeah, life is shit, but you can't think about that crap Mustang. Its a huge thing to achieve your dreams, you can't fall into misery when you do get it."

"Is that what you did?" Roy asked after a too long moment. Edward just blinked at him, taken aback by the question. "When you got Al back, when you lost your alchemy and left the military. Is that what you did back in Resembool? We've all heard or see Al over the years, but never you Edward. He tells us what he can, but you never struck me as the type to settle into country life. You're always welcome to visit us all here. Its actually good to see you."

"Don't sound too surprised, bastard." Edward muttered, looking away again. The night was still around them, silent. There was no wind and the only sounds that Edward could hear was the happy sounds from the house behind him. "I guess I did though, but that's not the only reason I never visited with Al. He tried to get me to come back with him and May, but I just never did."

"What's so different this time?"

"Honestly, I don't know. Gracia wasn't going to let me say no, and I'm sure if I did Winry would have just knocked me the fuck out and that they would have kidnapped me as they were leaving anyway. But I guess I just missed this. Missed everyone, I guess."

They sat in silence for a moment, and it was comfortable. A silence that Edward didn't feel the need to break. One that he never thought was possible between him and Mustang.

"Then why are you sitting out here on your own?"

Fuck. Well there went the comfortable feeling. Edward froze. How was he meant to answer that? He wanted to lie, to make up some excuse, but Al was right. It had been years, his feelings had tormented him for almost a decade and they needed to be voiced. Taking a deep breath, Edward turned his gaze towards the sky.

"I suppose I just freaked out when I saw you. I underestimated what that would feel like. I say you and everything just stopped, and all of a sudden I couldn't breathe and I just needed to get away. Its stupid."

"Edward," Roy's voice was so soft, so caring that Edward had to meet his eyes. Regardless of how much he didn't want to, he had to. "I'm not sure I understand. I know that we never really saw eye to eye, but I didn't get the impression that you disliked me that much."

"Disliked you?" Edward asked, blinking stupidly at him for a moment before shaking his head and standing up. Fuck, did the bastard really think that? "No. Its not that. Fucking hell Roy, do you seriously think I'd show up here if I felt like that about you?" Edward had been pacing, so when he turned around and almost walked right into the man in question he stumbled slightly, only just catching himself at the last moment.

"Then what, Edward? How do you feel about me?"

This was it. Edward knew he had to tell him now, but everything was closing in on him and the air was getting thin, too thin. Edward couldn't look away from those eyes, and he knew that he had to just come out and say it. Mustang would laugh at him, reject him and then they could move past this.

"I love you, bastard. I've loved you since I left." Edward wasn't sure that he spoke, his voice was so quiet. It hadn't shaken though, and Ed thanked that small miracle. He didn't have time to dwell on it though, because before he was even aware of what was happening, Roy was tilting his head up so that he could lean down and claim his lips. Roy was kissing him! The world stopped around Edward, and the only thing that mattered was Roy. The taste of him, the warmth of his body, the almost timid kiss.

Without warning the world crashed around him, and Edward threw everything he had into the kiss. Pushing his body against Roy's, the older man's arm snaked around his back and tugged him close, the other hand holding the back of Edward's head as the blonde gave Roy everything. One of them whined softly with want, but Edward had no idea who it was because it didn't matter. Nothing mattered now, nothing expect this moment. Roy's kisses left him feeling dizzy all over again, and when they finally parted for a moment Edward was too stunned to say anything.

Luckily he didn't need to, because his brat of a brother was standing in the doorway with a smug grin, Winry laughing at his side. "Well its about time you two." Al called out to them from the warmth of the house, and Edward flushed hard as he glared bloody murder at his brother, which only caused him to laugh.

"You're so dead, Al." Edward all but growled and pulled away from Roy so that he could chase Al back into the house. He was going to end that brat. Al yelped at fled, and as Edward vanished after him he couldn't help but smile at the sound of Roy's laugh as it followed him inside.