I haven't forgotten

Roy’s easy expression faltered and crumbled at the feet of those pointed words. The door was closed and it was reasonably safe to let the weariness and regret show on his face. Some days, it was worth the game of keeping up with the banter, but it was too soon after coming back from the east. Where he could still feel the grit of sand under his nails, and his sleep tended to vacillate wildly between restful and not.

“Brat,” he rumbled with more fondness than heat, letting Ed know he’d been heard loud and clear. “I did miss you. Getting promoted and all.” The pause was absolutely deliberate, and he didn’t look away from Ed’s piercing glare when he said it.

In a lighter tone, he added without letting the silence stretch too long, “Don’t suppose there’s a way I could make it up to you, is there, Bright Eyes?” In a way, he’d be making up that time to himself. He’d barely afforded time alone while resolving the conflicts around him, much less risked the call to Central, even though he’d desperately wanted to. A chance to celebrate Ed’s promotion sounded like a good opportunity to focus on why he was fighting so hard for peace in the first place.

Thankfully Ed had the foresight to quietly flip the latch of the lock on the door before stepping away from it. He wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be any surprises because his mind was on a similar track to Roy’s… sometimes the game was worth it and was entertaining, but not right now. He hadn’t spent so many night’s curled up on the couch with one of the jackets that Roy had left at his apartment, fighting to convince himself that the lack of anything from him had to be good. No news meant he wasn’t dead right? He’d even actually nabbed one of Roy’s button ups to put under his uniform for the promotion ceremony instead of his usual black mock turtleneck. He’d gained a real appreciation for how Winry must have felt when he and Al were gone… and had called her more than he ever had just for the reason he knew she understood. 

Closing the distance from the door to the front of Roy’s desk, golden eyes never took themselves from their fixed target. “I got a way for ya to make it up to me right now…” he replied, reaching into his shirt and pulling out the necklace he hadn’t taken off since the day Roy had left. On the length of chain would be two very familiar rings. Opening up the chain, Ed slid one of the tungsten bands off and held it out to Roy. “Put this back where it friggin’ belongs, I never should have let you give it to me to hold on to… damn thing’s heavy.” Fixing the chain once Roy took it from him, the band that matched the one he’d just handed over still hanging from it, he replaced the necklace to were it belonged, hidden beneath his shirt with said ring resting just over his heart. “At least you kept your promise so I could give it back…”

After that Ed’s expression softened as he looked at Roy. He knew it hadn’t been easy for his General either, he simply still had that pesky inability to properly deal with his emotions or express them. He really was happy to have him back and that translated to a light in his eyes that was only reserved for that precious bastard. “Damn it Sparky,” he sighed, his head finally dropping, his bangs shadowing those eyes as they changed one more time, slipping to leaking lightly, the tears falling on the polished wood before him. “I was friggin’ worried about you. The stuff they were sayin’ around here… the things they had me goin’ through to rush the decodes on… I was scared I’d never see your sorry ass again…” 

Relief wasn’t something easily obtained on the front lines. Particularly for Roy Mustang, who saw little relief from the oppressive desert heat magnified by his fire. Always alert and aware, not just for the enemies around him, but also for his allies, whom he did everything in his power to shield and protect. It was a thankless job, but Mustang wasn’t in Ishval to be thanked. He was here learning about what he didn’t want the world to look like. There would be little relief in the fight he was willing to take on to change the world, and it was a truth he accepted.

But when he saw Maes Hughes, cast in shadows and light from the camp fire, relief is exactly what he felt. Roy stepped past makeshift seats and strewn supply bags to make his way over, sitting down heavily next to his friend. He rubbed a hand along his chin - God, how he craved a clean, straight razor just then. Simpler times indeed. 

It actually pained him to see just how war worn his friend had become though. Death loomed behind the dark orbs… no it wasn’t just death, it was the look of a man guilty of sending others into open embrace of that death. Hughes knew he wore that look too, but he could shoulder it, but Roy… Roy was so full of life and hope and passion when they’d been at the Academy. He wanted to do better for them all and yet here he was… withering like every other form of life in this desert. Hughes found himself longing to wrap Roy up and just protect him from it all, try to preserve that brilliance, but he knew it was already too late for that. 

Send a symbol for my Muse’s reaction to yours unintentionally (?):

I believe this needs a little bit of explaining before letting you dive into reading it. Off and on for last 7 years or so @aurumdalseni I have built this beautiful verse of RoyEd. There has been so much pain, love, friendship, and everything in between both real and fictional, put into this pair to tell their story. This particular glimpse comes from a time when Roy and Ed were apart, a stretch of time that sadly also corresponded to a time when she and I hadn’t been able to talk much. This version of Ed truly is an extension of myself, he always has been and I’m fairly certain that she feels very similarly to her Roy. There’s a lot of emotion tied to this for me, and Aurum, I know you know why.  For those not familiar with my song fics, they correspond to a subverse I have for Ed where he took up playing the piano and the guitar to sooth his mind after the Promised Day and he sings because he has a wonderful voice and it’s something that Trisha used to do to help him and Al fall asleep. It plays a very big part in this particular verse. For this fic I used Back to Your Heart - Backstreet Boys and was listening to it on repeat as I wrote it. I do encourage you to have it playing if you read though it if only to have even a fraction of the feelings I did when writing it.  Without further ado… Thanks for reading and Aurum, a little walk down memory lane. <3

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Crisp uniform, the scent of citrus and honey, and a pit a mile wide in his stomach. This would be the last time he stood before the mirror with the bars of a Major on that uniform. When he’d joined back up with the military four years ago, no one really expected him to make it a month before walking back out but here he was, about to be promoted to a Lieutenant Colonel. Standing there looking himself over, making sure every detail was in place for the next day, Ed couldn’t help but feel like there was something missing, or more that there was someone missing.