Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Family ❯ Games ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: BlackMercifulFaerie
Just from looking at him, Ed could tell right off the bat that the eldest Mustang, much like his son, was not someone whose bad side you wanted to get on.

Anime/Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 02.10.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 611 | Status: Work In Progress

I'm tired and have nothing to say. Let's get to this chapter.
Disclaimer: My new favourite quote? “Mass genocide is the most tiring activity that one can participate in . . . next to soccer.” Said by Loki from Dogma. What does it have to do with anything? Diddley. I just thought that he and Bartleby were very cute. Coincidentally, that's another adorable blonde and brunette pair that I don't own.
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ChapterIII: Games
Just from looking at him, Ed could tell right off the bat that the eldest Mustang, much like his son, was not someone whose bad side you wanted to get on. The inherent black hair of both his moustache and head was streaked with steel grey and his cobalt eyes were boring into the young colonel. Though he was not large and strong in the same sense as Sig Curtis or Major Armstrong, his blue military uniform still stretched tight across his chest and shoulders and—though he was only a scant inch or so taller than his son—he still managed to somehow tower above the alchemist. He exuded strength, breeding, wit, and pomposity.
And that damn gold bar and single gold star on the man's shoulder did nothing to soothe the tumult in Ed's mind. Dammit if he wasn't two ranks higher than Roy— a major general.
It took everything the blonde had not to drop dead on the spot.
The idea that he, Edward Elric, should have to walk up to this guy and say: “Hey, nice to meet you. You have a beautiful family—especially your son, who, by the way, I happen to live with and screw on occasion,” was absurd. Laughable.
Well, maybe not laughable per se . . .
After all, being strangled with your own intestines was probably not a very humourous experience.
As his father came to a stop before him, Roy straightened his back and brought his right hand up in a salute. “Major General,” he greeted starkly. Ed saw the man's blue eyes flash as he examined his son, as if he was looking for any flaw or imperfection to criticize.
A slight movement just past the Major General's thick shoulder suddenly drew Ed's attention. Glancing away from the decidedly tense father-son reunion, he caught sight of a petite, slender woman with black hair and eyes. The blonde knew that she could only be Roy's mother.
The eldest Mustang eventually gave a reciprocal greeting salute and a gruff response of, “Colonel. At ease,” drawing Ed's attention back to him. The man's voice was deep and hollow—much like Roy's, except only with a more gravelly edge to it, as if he smoked habitually. As the son lowered his arm and relaxed his stance, the father's blue eyes made their way past his two children, to the red-cloaked teen that was Edward Elric. “And who might you be?” he asked, said eyes narrowing.
Ed visibly flinched as all eyes turned to him and he swallowed hard before opening his mouth to respond. Unfortunately a choked “aichh” was all he could manage as his throat closed up, and the Major General quirked a bushy black eyebrow.
Roy sighed and took over for his suddenly reticent lover. “This, Major General, is Major Edward Elric. One of my subordinates.”
Now, both eyebrows shot up in surprise. “How old is he?” he asked immediately. At this question, the fearful breath that Edward had been holding was forcefully and indignantly expelled through his nose in a bovid-like snort.
“Seventeen,” Roy informed for the second time that day. This answer, of course, earned a contemptuous chuff from the Major General.
“They'll let anyone into the military nowadays, I take it.”
Despite the fact that Ed somehow managed to go from white to red to purple in a matter of a few seconds and began to stutter stupidly in his anger, the colonel didn't bat an eyelash. “Actually, you've probably heard of him. The Fullmetal Alchemist?”
There was a short pause while the older man apparently dug through his memory. “Ah, yes—The Fullmetal. I have heard of you,” he stated, turning back to Edward. The blonde scowled, not liking how very blasé the Major General sounded about the whole thing. “You're the youngest person ever to be certified as a State Alchemist. At the age of twelve, I believe?”
Ed's voice, which only moments ago had unceremoniously dropped him like a newborn calf and then rushed off, suddenly returned. “That's right . . .” And then, begrudgingly, “Sir.”
“This is a family affair, Major Elric,” the older man informed the blonde alchemist, tucking his thumbs into the lapel of his uniform and drawing himself up to his fullest, most intimidating height. “May I ask what you are doing here?”
Ed felt the onyx orbs of Tamalynn swivel back to him and he gulped quietly. “Actually . . .” he began slowly, speaking in a quiet tone throughout the entirety of his explanation. “A childhood friend of mine just got into town. She's from my hometown of Resembool, which is quite a ways off, so she's going to be staying for a couple of weeks to visit. She and my brother have always had a . . . er, special connection. I figured that they'd want to be left alone for most of her visit. After he found out, Colonel Mustang offered to put me up at his place—” At his title, Ed motioned to Roy, who was now staring at the blonde in open-mouthed shock at the bold-faced audacity of his lie.
The Fullmetal was not merely holidaying at the Mustang estate for a couple of weeks—he had been there for over two months now and would (God willing) be staying there until the day he died; which meant that the Elric brothers were not, as Ed had just implied, sharing housing. Truth be told, Al wasn't even in Central anymore, let alone the Rockbell girl. The only part of Edward's faux elucidation that held true was the fact that Alphonse and Winry had a thing for each other—though most people who knew the pair had supposed this, their assumptions had been proven correct after the youngest Elric had gotten his body back.
Al was now back in his hometown, living with his new fiancée.
Edward gave Roy a pointed look and the dark-haired man promptly re-shut his mouth. “—since he has so much room, and all,” the blonde teen finished.
Tamalynn's eyes flickered over to her sibling and she commented with wry amusement, “How kind of you, dear brother.”
The colonel cleared his throat loudly, choosing to ignore the accusatory tone of his younger sister's remark, and stated in his dull voice, “Needless to say, Fullmetal accepted.”
The Major General harrumphed, then brushed past the two state alchemists to enter the expansive Mustang abode. “Come, Tamalynn.”
“Yessir,” said the dark-haired girl and then followed after her father, pausing only long enough to whisper so only The Flame and Fullmetal could hear, “If you two don't grow some balls and tell them by the end of the week, then I will.”
“You'll grow balls?” Roy asked quietly, a smirk playing on his lips.
Tamalynn punched him in his arm. “I mean it,” she hissed, then stalked off.
Edward smiled, watching her retreating back until she disappeared down a hallway that forked off of the foyer; he then turned his attention back to the one remaining person on the front steps besides his lover and himself.
Roy gave his mother a hug—it was a quick, uneventful hug, but it was still a much more prominent show of affection than the cold salute to his father had been—she kissed him loudly on his cheek, and then the two of them separated. He glanced over at Ed, a light lipstick stain on his left cheek and something unreadable in his dark eyes, and introduced them. “Edward Elric, this is Mai Yao Mustang. My mother.”
Ed blinked. “Mai . . . Yao?” he muttered dumbly, sticking out his hand to accept the petite one that was already being extended in a polite show of greeting. “Your mom is from . . .”
Xing.
The world went sput.
Now that he looked at the woman—really looked at her without the Major General standing there, glaring at the young major like he wanted to crush him—Edward could see that she was, indeed, a foreigner.
Despite the fact that the blonde was fervently homosexual (though, ironically, he never really thought of himself as such, even though he was dating Roy and Roy was a male . . . and how) he couldn't help but appreciate the delicate, gentile attractiveness of his lover's mother. Maybe it was just because she looked so much like a certain bastard colonel that Ed knew . . .
At least he now knew which parent Roy favoured in appearance.
Much like her husband, Mai Yao Mustang's black hair, pulled up and away from her face in a tight bun, was streaked with grey—though, unlike the Major General's, hers' did more to add dignification and refinement to her features than it made her look older. Her pale skin, though creased slightly around her eyes and the corners of her mouth, was undoubtedly smooth and flawless.
Her black eyes were naturally narrowed and heavily-lidded—much like Roy's—and she was gazing at the blonde with an expression that made Ed feel almost sheepish.
“Mother, this is Major Edward Elric,” Roy continued as if Ed hadn't said anything. “The Fullmetal Alchemist.”
“Oh, yes, I heard Gerald talking about him,” she stated quietly as she retracted her hand from Edward's. The accent in her small voice was faint . . . but still present. She turned her attention back to Ed and said, “It's nice to meet you, Major Elric.”
For some reason, Edward felt his cheeks flush as he flashed her his trademark Elric grin and reached up to scratch at the base of his braid absently. “Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Mustang.”
The woman smiled. And Roy smirked—a smirk which was clearly supposed to say, “I thought that `Mrs. Mustang' was your name?”
Ed ignored him, deciding that a smart remark at this point for nothing more than an unspoken, implied innuendo was not what they needed. “We had better get inside,” he suggested instead, rubbing his hands up and down his biceps. “It's getting kinda chilly.”
“I agree,” stated Roy as he placed a gentle, guiding hand on his mother's back and steered her towards the door. “I'll get Ronald and Arthur to bring your bags up to your rooms.”
As Edward watched the two of them enter the house and take the same path as Tamalynn and the Major General, he sighed quietly and let his eyelids droop.
Major General Gerald; Mai Yao; Tamalynn; and last, but by no means least, Colonel Roy. One whole week in the same house with four wild Mustangs—three of which he needed desperately to impress; at least one of those three that he wanted to avoid for all his life was worth; and one final bucking stallion that he suddenly wished to have ridden one last time before he inevitably perished at the hands of the Major General.
One week.
Ed sighed once more, then grinned and entered the house. Let the games begin . . .