cornerofmadness

Title -- The Scholars
Author--

cornerofmadness
Fandom -- Fullmetal Alchemist
Disclaimer -- Arakawa owns all
Rating -- teen
Characters/Pairing -- Roy
Word Count -- 274
Warning -- none
Summary -- Scholarship bound them together.
Author’s Note -- written for

bob_fish's birthday. Happy Birthday. Also written for

fanfic_bakeoff's 'affinity prompt.

XXX

All three of them had an affinity for alchemy. It was one of the few things that bound them together, or more correctly tied him to the brothers. There really wasn't that much middle ground between them. He and Alphonse had an interest in things Xingese and dance music. Edward didn't really share either. He and Edward liked to argue, about everything. They could argue the color of the sky according to Riza whenever they got loud and on her nerves.

Roy had to admit - to himself alone, it wouldn't do for others to know - that he rather enjoyed the verbal battles with Edward, even if it made others want to shoot them both; even mild-mannered Alphonse threatened them on occasion. Alchemy, however, took all three of them to new places, challenged them to think in ways they hadn't considered before. Roy missed that. As much as he liked and respected his team, they weren't alchemists. Even Hughes hadn't been able to give him what the brothers could: a specialized intellectual outlet.

That made all the effort he - and his aunt and her girls - went to in order to run down and obtain obscure journals. It gave them all a reason to visit, to talk and mull over the science. He was a little jealous that the brothers were free to travel and run down leads on their own but in the end, so long as they brought their finds home to share, it didn't matter. When they were together, Roy was merely one of three scholars and if that was all anyone ever remembered of him, it was enough.