Hello, all! Meep here!

Wow, it's been a WHILE, hasn't it? *ashamed* I really need to get better with this whole writing thing XD

Which brings me to the explanation for this little ficlet. In order to get myself back in the swing of writing and whatnot, I've started an ipod shuffle challenge of sorts where I hit shuffle on my ipod.. (really complex, I know) and then write a drabble for whatever song comes up.

I really had no intention of ever posting these things, but then I wrote this yesterday and realized 1. it's a bit longer than your traditional "drabble" and 2. it's actually somewhat decent! XD

All you REALLY need to know, is the song that inspired this little thing was "(If you Want It)" by Relient K. Give it a listen if you feel moved to do so ;)

Ed stared at him, the fists he held clenched at his sides finally loosening. His face was still flushed with stale anger, but he was shocked to find that now he felt nothing at all: blank. "So what happens now?" He asked though he already knew the answer, his voice a bit robotic.

Roy gave him a wistful, humourless smile though Ed was no longer meeting his eyes. "It looks like this is the end, Fullmetal," he said, softer than normal, but no less matter-of-fact. Seeing Ed bristle at this, he amended, "If that's what you want, that is."

"Shut up," Ed muttered, staring stubbornly at the tips of his steel-toed boots. Steel protecting steel, how did he never notice that until now? Funny how that worked. "Don't call me Fullmetal at a time like this."

Roy made a sound that might otherwise have been a laugh. "Forgive me." Though even he wasn't completely what he meant by that. He stayed silent, leaving the meaning ambiguous.

He considered the boy for a long while, thinking of all the ups and downs they had experienced together; how they always seemed to seek solace in each other in the end. In fact, their lives had become so interconnected these past five years that Roy wasn't sure he'd be able to extract himself and reemerge the same man he went into this as.

After a few minutes, it became apparent Edward wasn't going to deign to look at him, let alone speak.

Roy sighed. "I really loved you, you know that?" he admitted, his heart aching at how that precious four-letter word was now five. And even more so at the fact that Ed didn't correct him.

"Sh-shut up," Ed repeated, his voice shaky. He sounded close to tears and Roy longed to go to him. But he knew better: those times were over now.

Now Roy, too, glanced down at the pavement beneath their feet for a moment. "If this is really what you want," he began, "then I'll leave you be. I just hope you realize what this means. You'll never see me again if you send me away now. There won't be any going ba—"

"Don't you think I know that?!" Ed screamed. He lunged forward with the words, the force of them sending half-formed tears flinging down to the ground between them. "Just fucking go, already! Get outta here!" His words choked off in a half-sob at the end and he was silent.

Roy sighed again: it seemed he was doing a lot of that lately.

Of course he had expected this, but that did nothing to lessen the pain. "Very well." He turned away then, but paused before he could take a step. "Goodbye, Edward." Then, true to his words, he began to walk away without so much as a second glance. Part of him wanted —no, needed— Ed to call after him and take it all back: tell him he hadn't meant it and beg him to come back to him. But truthfully, he had no idea what he would do if he did.

Luckily for him, he never did find out.