Bitter Author: *kee Pairing: Roy/Ed Rating: R Spoilers: through the end of the series and movie, but mild at best Warnings: no sex, but some language and violence Summary:Ed's done with the military, but still consults as a civilian and is called to investigate a rogue alchemist. Notes: this was written as a christmas present for my beta, which makes it difficult to get beta'd. in an update almost a year later, though, it has been beta'd, yay! Water, first hot and then scalding, crashed down on him as arrays in thick black lines swam in front of his closed eyes. As the water burned a path along his flesh, the fluid and graceful lines of alchemy burned themselves into his brain. Steam clogged the room, fogging the mirror and burrowing deep into his lungs with every breath. Water permeated him as the alchemy spun patterns in his thoughts. In these moments, Ed had never felt closer to knowing everything. ?Ed?? There was a short rap on the door before it swung open, the warm steam escaping the room at high velocity as a high, timid voice broke his concentration with all the power of a sledgehammer to a mirror. ?There?s a General on the phone for you.? ?Tell him I?m busy.? He leaned forward, letting the water pound his face and shoulders, wishing she would just close the door and let him be. ?I would, but well, this is the third call in the last half hour and?? Ed gave a frustrated growl, trying hard not to be angry with her. ?So tell him I?m in the shower and will call him when I?m done.? ?I did. He said he?d wait. It sounds important.? ?Fine.? He blew out a sharp breath and wrenched the knobs to the off position, already missing the heat. ?Just, just park him and I?ll pick it up in a minute.? Donna ducked her head and backed out of the room and Ed longed for the days when Al had been his secretary. Now that his little brother had a steady job running his own clinic, it didn?t seem fair to ask him to answer phones and keep people from pissing him off. That didn?t mean he liked it, or that he hadn?t gone through six different secretaries in the last six months. He didn?t think he was hard to work for; he just liked things the way he liked them. Take, for example, the shower. How many offices had a working shower in them? Not many. Ed could attest to that after the number of contractors he?d consulted about having one installed. ?That?s highly unusual, sir.? ?Never had anyone ask about that.? ?Why can?t you shower at home?? It was almost as if he?d asked them to install some kind of kinky dungeon in the basement. That probably would have raised fewer eyebrows. Perverts. The truth of the matter was that Ed liked to think in the shower. It was a habit he?d picked up on the other side of the Gate. He?d done some of his best thinking about how to get home standing under a hot spray until the heat ran out. And now, as winter bit down hard on Central, coating the streets in snow and ice, Ed thought the ache in his shoulder and leg would never go away. Even in the brutal heat of his alchemically enhanced shower, he couldn?t quite shake the pain. At fifteen, he couldn?t have imagined himself at twenty-five. At twenty-five, he was already moving like an old man and he didn?t want to see fifty. There were more days than there used to be when he felt beyond his age, when the tiredness in his soul matched that of his body. When he really, really wished Al could just figure out how to do the damn array to get him back his arm and leg. He quickly wrapped a towel around his waist and another over his shoulders before stepping into his office. When he was dry enough to keep his clothes from sticking to him, he pulled them back on and stomped over to the phone. He took a second to breathe in a deep breath and slowly let it out, along with some of his anger. His days of screaming tirades were long behind him, even though he really, really wanted to throw things sometimes. ?Thank you for holding. How can I help you?? His tone was pleasant and anyone who said he hadn?t learned an ounce of charm in his life could suck it. ?Mr. Elric,? a ridiculously familiar voice began. ?I?d like to call you in to discuss a matter of the utmost importance.? Ed?s grip on the phone tightened to the point where he had to switch it to his left hand so the automail wouldn?t crush another phone. ?I told you, specifically, I won?t take commissions from your office.? ?I understand your position on this matter?? ?Clearly you don?t or you wouldn?t be calling.? He couldn?t believe he?d let himself be pulled out his shower for this. A quiet sigh echoed down the line that was supposed, he thought, to make him feel bad. ?Ed?? ?Think again, General. If you want to call my official line, my official title is Mr. Elric to you, you bastard. I don?t take commissions from your office for two very good reasons. Reasons we?ve been over before. Why you think?? ?They?re human chimeras, Mr. Elric. Children, primarily, and they?re violent. I can?t send anyone else. You can process the paperwork through another General if you want the credit to go to someone else; we?ll double your normal fee and you?ll have whoever you want to back you up. I don?t trust anyone else to get this done.? Ed hooked his chair with his foot and sat down heavily. ?Where?? ?It was the Crystalline Alchemist. Just outside the city on his farm. My men took him this afternoon and that?s when we found them.? Ed remembered meeting the older man once; he?d seemed sane enough at the time. ?I thought his research was with rock structures, I thought you were watching your people.? ?He had the whole thing hidden in a secret room. It looks like,? the General sighed. ?He?s been working on his theories for years and has just recently gone to work. It only took the locals a couple days to notice the missing children, but by then he?d already made a pack of them.? ?How many?? He pulled out some paper and a pencil and began sketching arrays as he listened. ?Six that we know of, though there could be more. They?ve been contained in the basement, but everyone who?s tried to get close to them has ended up in the hospital. Who do you need for this?? His brother would be perfect, of course, but there were things he didn?t want Al to be involved in ever again. Armstrong would be nice for backup, but he was a General now and off in the East somewhere. Mustang would be fine if he wanted to burn the place to the ground; he wasn?t really good for anything else. ?I?ll take care of it.? ?Are you sure that?s wise?? Wise, hah, what a jackass. ?And I want everything run through General Hughes? office. Unless there?s a big fuck up. Then it?s all yours.? There was a slow breath on the other line and he could just imagine the other man trying to calm himself. ?Payment?? ?Double it. Triple if I end up bleeding.? ?And if you end up in the hospital or dead because you didn?t bring anyone with you?? ?Then you can feel justified as you weep over my grave. I don?t really think you get to feel any kind of righteousness over this when you brought it to me, Mustang.? ?Will you leave right away?? Translation: Will you stop home long enough for me to get in a quick grope before you traipse off to your potentially horribly disfiguring death? ?It?d be better if I left right away.? ?All right. You?ll call when things are settled?? ?If you don?t hear from the hospital first.? ?Ed.? He sounded so pained, Ed didn?t bother to correct him on his form of address. ?You?ll be careful.? It wasn?t a question, but Ed felt compelled to answer anyway. ?I?ll be careful. You won?t even know I?m gone.? He wished then that Mustang had taken the time to come down to his office in person instead of doing this over the phone. He would have liked to have seen Roy?s face, let him touch him for a while before going out to do this. ?You know my success rate on chimeras. You know that even after I?ve gotten a feel for what he?s done and how he?s done it, it?ll be a banner fucking day if one of those kids comes back out of this. You know that.? ?I know. I?m sorry. I?ll be waiting when you get done. I love you.? Ed closed his eyes a moment. ?I love you, too.? You bastard. He hung up the phone before either of them could say anything else. For a moment, he just stood with a hand on the phone and his eyes closed. Taking commissions from General Mustang?s office was a tricky thing. The two of them garnered enough press just walking together in public or attending an official function. Whispers about the abuse of power or the corruption of minors had ended in more than a few bloody noses, and it had been years since anyone had made comments to his or Roy?s face. That didn?t mean they weren?t said, or that people didn?t think them. Since Roy still had a burning desire to be Fuhrer one day, Ed kept a low profile and didn?t take jobs from Roy?s office. No matter how things turned out, there was no winning. If the commission went well, Mustang was handing out easy assignments to his gender-inappropriate lover to help cushion his already cushy lifestyle. If it ended badly, then clearly Mustang couldn?t even keep his boy toy in line and what did that say for his ability to run the country? Never mind that Ed had been part of the military for almost ten years before they?d let him out of his contract. Ignore the fact that they kept coming back to him, begging at his doorstep to fix problems that they should have been watching out for. Disregard his own alchemic prowess that had nothing to do with his involvement in the military. Obviously, Mustang was trying to write him a free ride and as much as he didn?t give a good damn what the military thought of him, Roy did care. So Ed sucked it up, ...
Mojaunicorn