Fic - Things that Matter (FMA)
Jun. 2nd, 2006 10:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessThings that Matter
Story #2 in the Boy Blues Series
D M Evans (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cornerofmadness) & mjules
Disclaimer - not mine, all characters belong to Hiromu Arakawa et al, Square Enix and funimition. I don’t make a profit
Pairing - Hughes/Mustang
Fandom - Fullmetal Alchemist
Theme - #28 Wada Calcium CD3
Rating - Older Teen (Pg-13)
Summary - Roy’s alchemic studies are interuptted in ways he hadn’t imagined possible
Author’s Note - Thanks tomjules for the beta. Written for the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
30kisses challenge and the Boy Blues series is co-written by me and mjules The first story of the series can be found here
Look Again
Roy stretched out, belly down on the bed, poring over the new journal he had just received in the mail. Tattered and flaking, the journal’s ink had faded badly and the script smeared. Still, he was grateful to have it. He hadn’t told Teacher yet that he’d joined the military. Hawkeye thought that Roy was back with his older sister. It could be he suspected that Roy wasn’t with the remains of his father’s family judging from the tone of some of the letters Roy had received, wondering when Roy would return to finish his training.
Roy didn’t have an answer to that. He didn’t think Teacher would do more than dangle the hidden knowledge in front of him, telling him he was too young to learn it. Roy wasn’t even sure Teacher knew what he was doing any more. It was rather clear the man he respected and trusted was sinking into insanity and Roy was powerless to help him. Being back there had become frightening with the dark moods Hawkeye could get into and Roy pitied the man’s daughter. The best Roy could do was to not question the good moods when they came, like the one that led to him receiving the little gem that came in the afternoon post.
Roy was barely aware that someone had come into his room. He grunted at Maes, knowing it had to be him since who else had a key? Roy didn’t look up from the journal he was trying to decipher, not until the skin of his back twitched, a sure sign someone was too close to him. He glanced over his shoulder to find Maes studying him intently, pressing an arm against the shelf over Roy’s bed. His lip curled into an unhappy little snarl. “What? I’m studying.”
Maes just smirked, straightening up. “You’re always studying...when you’re not falling asleep when I’m talking to you.”
Roy rolled his eyes, doggedly trying to ignore Maes and study. “Take a hint.”
“Has anyone ever told you, you’re a brat?” Maes asked, and for once, he looked deadly serious.
It took Roy by surprise so much he could do little more than gape. Maes pushed Roy’s lips shut with a solitary finger and a sudden, foreign urge swept over Roy at that touch, to turn into it, to long for more. Roy rolled away so forcefully he whacked the back of his head on the cinder block wall his bed was bolted to. “Oww.” He shot Maes an offended look for making him look like an idiot and for making him think strange thoughts. Why in the world would he even think about Maes like he would a girl? “I’m not a brat.”
“Really?” Maes crossed his arms, leaning against the closet door. “How do you figure?”
Roy sat up, feeling rather embarrassed, not just by the weird sensation that thrummed through him at Maes’ touch, but more so by the perception that he wasn’t a pleasant person to be around. He groped for a defense and found one that had served him well in the past. “I just don’t see why wanting some quiet time to myself so I can study constitutes me being a brat. Alchemy isn’t easy, you know.”
“So I gathered from the sheer amount of work you put into it.” Maes let his arms drop out of their impatient fold. “There are nicer ways of getting your point across than falling asleep on a guy. Maybe it’s why you don’t have any friends around here.”
Roy felt himself gaping again and snapped his own jaw shut before Maes was tempted into doing it for him again. “I have friends!”
Maes’ eyebrow lifted. “Who?”
Roy flailed though his mental files and realized there was no one he really talked to. He didn’t hang out with anyone. He never left the damn library unless it was to go to class. No one talked to him until they needed help with their studies. Even out on field maneuvers, no one really paid him any mind. He had learned to ignore the whispers of ‘freak’ that he heard, dismissing them as jealousy over what an alchemist could do. But where were his friends? When was the last time he even had one? Not even Hawkeye’s little girl could really be called a friend, could she? Mostly she functioned to make sure he and Teacher didn’t starve to death, locked away with their studies and his research. That, and she was the centerpiece of several adolescent fantasies.
“I guess...not even you, huh?” Roy asked in a low tone, feeling the bottom dropping out from under him. What was it about this young man that could keep him so emotionally off balance? He needed Maes to like him, even though he wasn’t sure why.
Maes shoved his glasses up. Roy was unable to take his eyes off that subtle movement. “Didn’t say that, but you are a real pain in the butt to be friendly to. You seem to take it as a personal attack or something. Studying is fine but you need a little time off, too, Roy, before you crack. Go to one of the academy functions, go on a date before the girls think you don’t like them.”
“I like girls,” Roy snapped. That was very true, he liked girls. He even took forbidden looks at Teacher’s daughter. So why was he concentrating so hard on the lines of his roommate’s body as he leaned on the closet? It wasn’t like him. “It’s just that Teacher didn’t really allow time for such things. He said I couldn’t afford distractions from our great work.”
Maes scrubbed a hand over his chin, considering that. “And what about this teacher of yours? What kind of life is he living? Is it the one you want for yourself?”
Roy mulled that over. Teacher could have money if only he turned to the State to provide it. Instead, he and his daughter lived in that crumbling familial estate, all alone. “Not exactly.”
“Lonely, is he?” Maes asked knowingly as he sat on his own bed.
Reluctantly, Roy was forced to agree. “His wife’s been gone a long time, I think. It’s just him and his daughter and me for the last several years.” More than half his life, really. Roy’s mother had left her half-breed son in Hawkeye’s care when he was only eight while she returned to Xing, their family clan back in favor with the Emperor. She didn’t seem to think some bastard boy would make for a good homecoming and his older half sister really wasn’t old enough to take care of him since their father was gone. Roy loved his father and wished that he would have been there when Mother decided to leave him behind. It was his Amestrian father that had taught him a little alchemy before he died and Roy assumed the man’s last name. It was better than being Roy Zheng. Mustang had known Hawkeye so the alchemist stepped in to save Roy from an orphanage.
“What’s his daughter like?” Maes leered, leaning forward, elbows on knees.
“Nice, intense...kinda scary.” Roy laughed. Talking girls, that was safe, that was what he was used to, not his stray, almost uncomfortable thoughts about Maes and wanting Hughes to touch him. “Riza’s not for the timid.”
“Something tells me timid has never been your problem.” Maes snorted.
Roy’s lip curled back. There was something about Maes that was ingratiating and irritating at the same time. “Not really. I kissed Riza once...of course, her dad caught us and...it was just ugly.” Roy’s eyes dimmed at the thought. He’d never been that afraid in his life. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, there are no dads around here to chase you if you stick to academy girls. Townies are another matter,” Maes replied knowingly, wagging a finger at Roy.
“They think I’m scrawny,” Roy said quietly, studying his thin, delicate hands. He had always thought he was attractive but here at the academy in Central he was just one boy in many. He didn’t seem to be having a whole lot of luck with girls.
“Maybe if you took a study break or two and actually ate something, that wouldn’t be a problem.” Maes gave him a critical look.
Roy snorted. “I’ve taken a long enough break right now, thanks to you.”
“See? It’s all about you, Roy, about what you want. That’s what makes you a brat,” Maes said seriously. “Did it ever occur to you maybe I need someone to talk to?”
“You’re always talking,” Roy pouted. It hurt more than it should to be reprimanded by Hughes. “Fine. Then I’m a brat. It’s just...I just got this journal and I really want to see what it says. It’s new to me. Don’t you like finding out new things? Putting puzzles together?”
Maes nodded, rolling his broad shoulders. “I guess I do.”
“I just want to be able to do that but I’m stuck on what this one phrase means and I’m going to sit here until I figure it out. Call me a brat if you want to.” Roy picked up his book, hoping to end the uncomfortable conversation. “Or you can help me decipher this terrible handwriting.”
“Why don’t you just ask your teacher?” Maes replied disinterestedly, leaning back on the cinder blocks that were painted in a sickeningly mellow mint green. “That’s who sent it, right?”
“It’s not Hawkeye’s journal. He got this from the estate of another alchemist who had parallel research,” Roy said, his dark eyes alight with excitement. “He’s got the worst, crabbed handwriting ever. This is not something I want to make a mistake with.”
“Fire, that’s what you’re playing with,” Maes said softly, his eyes boring into Roy. “I’m not sure fire is something you can control, Roy.”
“Teacher can. I’ve seen it but it’s hard. Mistakes can be...costly,” Roy said with a scowl, remembering some near misses.
Maes shook his head ruefully. “You must need to be very foolhardy...stupid even, to keep playing with that.”
“I prefer to think of myself as stubborn, not stupid, thank you,” Roy replied tartly. Maes was being unattractive now.
“Stubborn, another bratty trait.” Maes grinned.
“Fine, you’ve made your point. I’m a brat. Here, what do you think this says?” Roy held out the journal.
Maes crossed over and sat on Roy’s bed next to him, looking at the journal. His brow knit as he scanned the script. Roy tried to ignore the little voice in his head that said Maes had some of the most unusual eyes he’d ever seen, like citrine, and that he had a very long nose and big mouth that looked to be dangerous to negotiate. What in the hell was wrong with him? Why was he even thinking about kissing those lips? Why was he excited Maes was sitting next to him? Maybe Maes was right and he really needed a break. He was ready to jump the first living breathing thing that came his way.
Maes squinted harder. “Looks like ‘Wada calcium CD3'.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Roy sighed. It didn’t sound any more sensible out loud.
“Makes no sense?” Maes asked, with an expression that said he was clueless.
“None. Of course, I don’t know this alchemist’s code. We all have our own,” Roy said.
“Oh, because why make it simple, right?” Maes laughed, handing the book over.
“Our secrets are very well guarded. You wouldn’t want just anyone to pick up a book and try this without working for it, understanding it intimately,” Roy replied in his defense. “I’ll have to puzzle that out.”
“What does calcium even have to do with fire?” Maes asked, leaning back against the side of the desk unit that doubled as Roy’s head board.
“Well, fine calcium is pyrophoric,” Roy replied excitedly, instantly warming to his subject. “You mix it with sulfur and it’s explosive, same with alkali metals. It’ll ignite spontaneously with chlorine or fluorine. With phosphate, it really explodes and even with water or acids it’ll generate hydrogen, causing fires and explosions. Calcium is pretty important.”
“Okay, my roommate’s an insane little bomber.” Maes slapped Roy’s knee. “That’s good to know. I’ll be sure to check you for powdered calcium whenever you come through that door.” He nodded toward the bedroom door and Roy’s mind took a merry skip to the thought of being searched. That’s it, he was going out and getting laid so he could start thinking clearly again.
“You keep annoying me and you’ll be the first thing exploded,” Roy said, glaring.
Maes snickered. “How about a truce and you come with me tonight? Some of the guys are going to play pool and drink.”
“We’re not old enough,” Roy pointed out.
Maes shrugged. “We know a place that neither the bartenders nor the girls care about that sort of minor detail. Want to come?”
Roy thought about if for barely a heart beat’s time. “Yes.” A night of unwinding would be good for him, get all the crazy thoughts out of his head and then he could get back to things that mattered; his research.
Story #2 in the Boy Blues Series
D M Evans (
cornerofmadness) & mjules Disclaimer - not mine, all characters belong to Hiromu Arakawa et al, Square Enix and funimition. I don’t make a profit
Pairing - Hughes/Mustang
Fandom - Fullmetal Alchemist
Theme - #28 Wada Calcium CD3
Rating - Older Teen (Pg-13)
Summary - Roy’s alchemic studies are interuptted in ways he hadn’t imagined possible
Author’s Note - Thanks to
mjules for the beta. Written for the 30kisses challenge and the Boy Blues series is co-written by me and mjules The first story of the series can be found here Look Again
Roy stretched out, belly down on the bed, poring over the new journal he had just received in the mail. Tattered and flaking, the journal’s ink had faded badly and the script smeared. Still, he was grateful to have it. He hadn’t told Teacher yet that he’d joined the military. Hawkeye thought that Roy was back with his older sister. It could be he suspected that Roy wasn’t with the remains of his father’s family judging from the tone of some of the letters Roy had received, wondering when Roy would return to finish his training.
Roy didn’t have an answer to that. He didn’t think Teacher would do more than dangle the hidden knowledge in front of him, telling him he was too young to learn it. Roy wasn’t even sure Teacher knew what he was doing any more. It was rather clear the man he respected and trusted was sinking into insanity and Roy was powerless to help him. Being back there had become frightening with the dark moods Hawkeye could get into and Roy pitied the man’s daughter. The best Roy could do was to not question the good moods when they came, like the one that led to him receiving the little gem that came in the afternoon post.
Roy was barely aware that someone had come into his room. He grunted at Maes, knowing it had to be him since who else had a key? Roy didn’t look up from the journal he was trying to decipher, not until the skin of his back twitched, a sure sign someone was too close to him. He glanced over his shoulder to find Maes studying him intently, pressing an arm against the shelf over Roy’s bed. His lip curled into an unhappy little snarl. “What? I’m studying.”
Maes just smirked, straightening up. “You’re always studying...when you’re not falling asleep when I’m talking to you.”
Roy rolled his eyes, doggedly trying to ignore Maes and study. “Take a hint.”
“Has anyone ever told you, you’re a brat?” Maes asked, and for once, he looked deadly serious.
It took Roy by surprise so much he could do little more than gape. Maes pushed Roy’s lips shut with a solitary finger and a sudden, foreign urge swept over Roy at that touch, to turn into it, to long for more. Roy rolled away so forcefully he whacked the back of his head on the cinder block wall his bed was bolted to. “Oww.” He shot Maes an offended look for making him look like an idiot and for making him think strange thoughts. Why in the world would he even think about Maes like he would a girl? “I’m not a brat.”
“Really?” Maes crossed his arms, leaning against the closet door. “How do you figure?”
Roy sat up, feeling rather embarrassed, not just by the weird sensation that thrummed through him at Maes’ touch, but more so by the perception that he wasn’t a pleasant person to be around. He groped for a defense and found one that had served him well in the past. “I just don’t see why wanting some quiet time to myself so I can study constitutes me being a brat. Alchemy isn’t easy, you know.”
“So I gathered from the sheer amount of work you put into it.” Maes let his arms drop out of their impatient fold. “There are nicer ways of getting your point across than falling asleep on a guy. Maybe it’s why you don’t have any friends around here.”
Roy felt himself gaping again and snapped his own jaw shut before Maes was tempted into doing it for him again. “I have friends!”
Maes’ eyebrow lifted. “Who?”
Roy flailed though his mental files and realized there was no one he really talked to. He didn’t hang out with anyone. He never left the damn library unless it was to go to class. No one talked to him until they needed help with their studies. Even out on field maneuvers, no one really paid him any mind. He had learned to ignore the whispers of ‘freak’ that he heard, dismissing them as jealousy over what an alchemist could do. But where were his friends? When was the last time he even had one? Not even Hawkeye’s little girl could really be called a friend, could she? Mostly she functioned to make sure he and Teacher didn’t starve to death, locked away with their studies and his research. That, and she was the centerpiece of several adolescent fantasies.
“I guess...not even you, huh?” Roy asked in a low tone, feeling the bottom dropping out from under him. What was it about this young man that could keep him so emotionally off balance? He needed Maes to like him, even though he wasn’t sure why.
Maes shoved his glasses up. Roy was unable to take his eyes off that subtle movement. “Didn’t say that, but you are a real pain in the butt to be friendly to. You seem to take it as a personal attack or something. Studying is fine but you need a little time off, too, Roy, before you crack. Go to one of the academy functions, go on a date before the girls think you don’t like them.”
“I like girls,” Roy snapped. That was very true, he liked girls. He even took forbidden looks at Teacher’s daughter. So why was he concentrating so hard on the lines of his roommate’s body as he leaned on the closet? It wasn’t like him. “It’s just that Teacher didn’t really allow time for such things. He said I couldn’t afford distractions from our great work.”
Maes scrubbed a hand over his chin, considering that. “And what about this teacher of yours? What kind of life is he living? Is it the one you want for yourself?”
Roy mulled that over. Teacher could have money if only he turned to the State to provide it. Instead, he and his daughter lived in that crumbling familial estate, all alone. “Not exactly.”
“Lonely, is he?” Maes asked knowingly as he sat on his own bed.
Reluctantly, Roy was forced to agree. “His wife’s been gone a long time, I think. It’s just him and his daughter and me for the last several years.” More than half his life, really. Roy’s mother had left her half-breed son in Hawkeye’s care when he was only eight while she returned to Xing, their family clan back in favor with the Emperor. She didn’t seem to think some bastard boy would make for a good homecoming and his older half sister really wasn’t old enough to take care of him since their father was gone. Roy loved his father and wished that he would have been there when Mother decided to leave him behind. It was his Amestrian father that had taught him a little alchemy before he died and Roy assumed the man’s last name. It was better than being Roy Zheng. Mustang had known Hawkeye so the alchemist stepped in to save Roy from an orphanage.
“What’s his daughter like?” Maes leered, leaning forward, elbows on knees.
“Nice, intense...kinda scary.” Roy laughed. Talking girls, that was safe, that was what he was used to, not his stray, almost uncomfortable thoughts about Maes and wanting Hughes to touch him. “Riza’s not for the timid.”
“Something tells me timid has never been your problem.” Maes snorted.
Roy’s lip curled back. There was something about Maes that was ingratiating and irritating at the same time. “Not really. I kissed Riza once...of course, her dad caught us and...it was just ugly.” Roy’s eyes dimmed at the thought. He’d never been that afraid in his life. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, there are no dads around here to chase you if you stick to academy girls. Townies are another matter,” Maes replied knowingly, wagging a finger at Roy.
“They think I’m scrawny,” Roy said quietly, studying his thin, delicate hands. He had always thought he was attractive but here at the academy in Central he was just one boy in many. He didn’t seem to be having a whole lot of luck with girls.
“Maybe if you took a study break or two and actually ate something, that wouldn’t be a problem.” Maes gave him a critical look.
Roy snorted. “I’ve taken a long enough break right now, thanks to you.”
“See? It’s all about you, Roy, about what you want. That’s what makes you a brat,” Maes said seriously. “Did it ever occur to you maybe I need someone to talk to?”
“You’re always talking,” Roy pouted. It hurt more than it should to be reprimanded by Hughes. “Fine. Then I’m a brat. It’s just...I just got this journal and I really want to see what it says. It’s new to me. Don’t you like finding out new things? Putting puzzles together?”
Maes nodded, rolling his broad shoulders. “I guess I do.”
“I just want to be able to do that but I’m stuck on what this one phrase means and I’m going to sit here until I figure it out. Call me a brat if you want to.” Roy picked up his book, hoping to end the uncomfortable conversation. “Or you can help me decipher this terrible handwriting.”
“Why don’t you just ask your teacher?” Maes replied disinterestedly, leaning back on the cinder blocks that were painted in a sickeningly mellow mint green. “That’s who sent it, right?”
“It’s not Hawkeye’s journal. He got this from the estate of another alchemist who had parallel research,” Roy said, his dark eyes alight with excitement. “He’s got the worst, crabbed handwriting ever. This is not something I want to make a mistake with.”
“Fire, that’s what you’re playing with,” Maes said softly, his eyes boring into Roy. “I’m not sure fire is something you can control, Roy.”
“Teacher can. I’ve seen it but it’s hard. Mistakes can be...costly,” Roy said with a scowl, remembering some near misses.
Maes shook his head ruefully. “You must need to be very foolhardy...stupid even, to keep playing with that.”
“I prefer to think of myself as stubborn, not stupid, thank you,” Roy replied tartly. Maes was being unattractive now.
“Stubborn, another bratty trait.” Maes grinned.
“Fine, you’ve made your point. I’m a brat. Here, what do you think this says?” Roy held out the journal.
Maes crossed over and sat on Roy’s bed next to him, looking at the journal. His brow knit as he scanned the script. Roy tried to ignore the little voice in his head that said Maes had some of the most unusual eyes he’d ever seen, like citrine, and that he had a very long nose and big mouth that looked to be dangerous to negotiate. What in the hell was wrong with him? Why was he even thinking about kissing those lips? Why was he excited Maes was sitting next to him? Maybe Maes was right and he really needed a break. He was ready to jump the first living breathing thing that came his way.
Maes squinted harder. “Looks like ‘Wada calcium CD3'.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Roy sighed. It didn’t sound any more sensible out loud.
“Makes no sense?” Maes asked, with an expression that said he was clueless.
“None. Of course, I don’t know this alchemist’s code. We all have our own,” Roy said.
“Oh, because why make it simple, right?” Maes laughed, handing the book over.
“Our secrets are very well guarded. You wouldn’t want just anyone to pick up a book and try this without working for it, understanding it intimately,” Roy replied in his defense. “I’ll have to puzzle that out.”
“What does calcium even have to do with fire?” Maes asked, leaning back against the side of the desk unit that doubled as Roy’s head board.
“Well, fine calcium is pyrophoric,” Roy replied excitedly, instantly warming to his subject. “You mix it with sulfur and it’s explosive, same with alkali metals. It’ll ignite spontaneously with chlorine or fluorine. With phosphate, it really explodes and even with water or acids it’ll generate hydrogen, causing fires and explosions. Calcium is pretty important.”
“Okay, my roommate’s an insane little bomber.” Maes slapped Roy’s knee. “That’s good to know. I’ll be sure to check you for powdered calcium whenever you come through that door.” He nodded toward the bedroom door and Roy’s mind took a merry skip to the thought of being searched. That’s it, he was going out and getting laid so he could start thinking clearly again.
“You keep annoying me and you’ll be the first thing exploded,” Roy said, glaring.
Maes snickered. “How about a truce and you come with me tonight? Some of the guys are going to play pool and drink.”
“We’re not old enough,” Roy pointed out.
Maes shrugged. “We know a place that neither the bartenders nor the girls care about that sort of minor detail. Want to come?”
Roy thought about if for barely a heart beat’s time. “Yes.” A night of unwinding would be good for him, get all the crazy thoughts out of his head and then he could get back to things that mattered; his research.
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Date: 2006-06-03 02:37 am (UTC)Because I've already commented on this. Just HEEEEE.
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