Fic - Pictures of the Past
Aug. 25th, 2009 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessPictures of the Past
Author –![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cornerofmadness
Disclaimer – all rights belong to Arakawa
Rating – PG-13
Characters – Elicia, Roy, (implied Roy/Riza, Ed/Winry and Roy/Maes)
Timeline/Spoilers – manga verse, about 10 years past the promised day but no spoilers
Summary – She finally wants to know everything about her father
Author Note – written for fma_ihop for the request “older!Roy & Elysia as a teenager or older than that. When Elysia has grown up, she unexpectedly finds out her father had had a very intimate and sexual relationship with his best friend before she was born. She's somewhat confused about the matter and can't help but bring it up when she meets Roy one day. How they meet, how Roy reacts, what else happens etc. is up to the author. But yeah, I'm not asking for porn here”. Thanks toevil_little_dog for the beta
* * *
So lost in his alchemic studies, Roy almost didn’t hear the knock on the door, shattering the blissful silence of his home. To his surprise, Elicia Hughes stood on his doorstep. He was struck at how beautiful she had gotten since last he saw her, then again he thought that every time he saw her. The teenager resembled her mom but with Maes’ mobile mouth and sense of humor. Elicia looked smart in her black tailored dress and the enormous red purse dangling off her arm made him wonder, not for the first time, how women carted those things around.
“Elicia? What brings you east?”
“Can’t I visit my favorite uncle?” Her purse thudded into his back, knocking him into her as she threw her arms around him. “It’s not often I get to see you, what with you being the ambassador to Xing.” She turned her cheek up for a kiss.
Roy gave her one then escorted her inside. “Of course, you can visit. I wish you had called though. Riza is actually in Central with Winry and the kids on a shopping weekend.” He shuddered slightly. He couldn’t imagine too many hells worse than being trapped in a hotel with Melitta Mustang and Anneliese Elric and all their budding pubescent hormones and drama. His wife was braver than he was.
“I know. Mom’s taking Aric to meet them.”
Roy shot her a confused look but at least remembered to ask after her much younger half brother.
“He’s a brat and definitely call him by his middle name now, Uncle Roy, or he’ll have a fit. Guess I can’t blame him.” Elicia shrugged. “What kind of name is Heymans any how?”
Roy laughed, remembering when he learned that Gracia was going to marry Breda. He decided she must have a thing for smart men. “We can’t just stand here in the foyer. Would you like something to eat? I could brew tea. The benefits of being the Xingese ambassador is I have all the best tea.”
“Any wine?”
“I’m getting old and grey, Elicia, but I’m not so senile as to have forgotten your age. I’ll put on the kettle.” Roy headed for the kitchen.
“You have gotten a little more silver.” She ruffled his black hair with its flecks of silver.
Roy ducked away playfully. “That’s you kids doing this to me.”
Elicia snorted. “More like Fuhrer Armstrong.”
“That, too. This.” Roy fingered the fully white witch’s lock that blazed from crown to his right temple. “I call this the Elric lock.”
“You’re so mean to my big brother.” Elicia nudged him.
“I think you have it backwards,” Roy said, setting the kettle on the stove.
“Is Sinjin here?” She asked over his teenaged son.
“No, he’s with his Uncle Al studying some new healing array Al found,” Roy said, picking through his teas.
“Still calls him that, huh? I remember when you first taught Sinjin to say the brothers’ names.” Elicia peered at him. “Do you still have the scar Aunt Riza gave you for teaching Sinjin to call Ed, ‘Dick’ when he was just two?”
“Yes,” Roy chuckled then let the conversation turn to other mundane things while the tea water heated and he brewed some potent golden monkey tea. He ushered Elicia into the living room where she settled on a chair. He took the couch. “Now, tell me what really brings you here, Elicia?”
“Could never fool you, Uncle Roy.” Elicia sipped her tea. “I never asked many questions about Dad growing up. I wasn’t ready to hear them but I am now.”
“Of course. You can ask me anything you’d like,” Roy offered, pleased she finally wanted to know.
“I was hoping you’d say that.” Elicia suddenly looked nervous, making Roy curious. “You see, I found Mom with a set of pictures a couple weeks ago. She was crying but she looked happy at the same time, you know? I asked her what they were of, figuring they were of her and Dad but I startled her. She said the pictures were of you and Dad but she wouldn’t let me see them.” She paused for a moment, her eyes clouding with memory. “I couldn’t figure out why at first then I had a very strange thought. I asked mom but she wouldn’t say so I thought I’d ask you.”
Elicia’s green eyes studied his face. Roy knew he had to be whiter than snow and he had no idea what to say.
“I can see by your face you know the photos I mean,” she said.
“I didn’t know they still existed,” Roy whispered. God, the things Maes could talk him into. “Why would she keep them?”
“Mom said that she loved them because of the emotions they captured. It’s true, isn’t it? You and Dad were lovers?”
Roy couldn’t answer, couldn’t even look at her, twisting on the couch. He felt Elicia settle next to him, her hand on his knee.
“I’m sorry, Uncle Roy. I know this would be hard to talk about. That’s why I came when I thought you might be alone.” Elicia leaned against him. “It’s okay. I’m all right with it. Mom said she never doubted for one minute Dad loved her.”
Roy turned back to her, putting an arm around her shoulder. “Your father loved your mother very much and you were his world. I didn’t know a man could love his child that much. You and your mother with the very last thing on his mind when he passed, I know that for a fact.”
“Mom said something similar.”
“They found a family picture out next to his body. You were the last thing he saw. Never doubt that he loved you.” Roy sighed, pulling her closer against his side. “But I’m dodging your question, aren’t I? Yes, we were lovers.”
“Mom obviously knew,” Elicia said quietly. “I’m not sure I understand all of this.”
“Gracia and Riza both knew.” Roy trembled. “We were so lucky, your father and I, that we had lovers who not only could accept it but celebrated that love with us. They understood that love could be multiplied, not divided when there were more than just two. And I loved your father very much and vice versa.”
“Thank you, for being honest.” Elicia squeezed his hand. “You poor man, you had to mourn at the funeral like a soldier. No one could know what you really lost.”
Roy’s bottom lip trembled but with effort he kept his eyes dry. “It was very difficult. I channeled it into revenge, not healthy maybe but satisfying in its way,” he said, his voice cracking.
Elicia changed her tact. “How did it start?”
“You know your dad and I were orphans but we ended up raised together. We knew each other most of our lives. It started when I came home from Master Hawkeye’s one summer. I can’t even remember how it started, really. Mostly we had gotten into Mom’s wine stash and one thing sort of led to the other.” Roy shrugged, remembering those first wine-soaked kisses he had shared with Maes, the fumbling under clothing, that first mutual hand job. They both had been surprised by their attraction, maybe a little afraid of it but Elicia didn’t need to know that. “We realized that we loved each other as much as we loved women. Things just went from there. We were very discreet about that which, if you remember anything about your father, he didn’t do discreet well.”
Elicia smiled. “Mom said a lot of that was all bluff.”
“Part of his disguise. All people remembered was a big goofy dog of a man and not how damn smart he was,” Roy agreed. “Damn, that man could talk.”
“I hardly remember anything about him.” Regret laced her words.
Roy sighed. “I know. I’m so sorry you never got to know him, Elicia. He’d call me and babble for hours, mostly in code. Most people thought he was doing nothing but bragging on you and your mom and harassing me to find a wife, meanwhile he was passing on information to me. But sometimes he’d just call to annoy me because he was so damn good at it.”
At that, Elicia did laugh. “Which one of you was the girl?”
“Elicia!” Roy felt his cheeks catch fire. He fumbled for his tea, drinking the cooling liquid.
“What? I’m just curious.” Her smile put him at ease.
“Your father would kill me if he knew I told you about this.”
“I could look at those photos but I’d rather hear it from you. I’m just trying to understand my father better.”
He nodded. “Fair enough.”
“Besides, if I wanted him to haunt you, I could ask out Sinjin. I’m less than six years older. That won’t matter much once we’re in our twenties, right?”
“Haunted? That would be full on scary,” Roy said, appreciating her efforts to make this easier on him.
Elicia sobered. “I think you’re already haunted by him.”
Roy averted his gaze. She had no idea how right she was. “Yeah. Since you asked, I was the girl. We tried it the other way once or twice but I liked being submissive. I guess, I’m that with Riza, too. There’s something comforting in it for me, like I’m being taken care of.” Roy’s breath rasped in, a sudden flood of tears overwhelming him. He scrubbed a hand over his eyes. “I miss his strong arms.”
Elicia wrapped her arm around his neck pulling him to her. Roy returned her embrace. “I’m so sorry I opened old wounds, Uncle Roy.”
He kissed her cheek. “It’s all right, baby girl. It’s just been a long time since I thought about those days.” Still weeping, Roy rested his chin on her crown. “So few people can put up with me, so many are afraid of what I am.”
“But he didn’t care. You know he loved you.” Elicia squeezed him tight. “I love you, too.”
Roy let go, sitting back so he could wipe his face again. “I have never doubted that. Sorry, didn’t mean to weep like a girl.”
“The girl isn’t crying,” she shot back and he let out a bark of laughter.
“Because, as usual, you are stronger than us men.” Roy leaned back against the couch pillows. “I loved your father. Now you know. Can’t say I really want to get into too many details.”
“That’s okay. I don’t need those.” Elicia’s nose wrinkled. “My question aside, most kids really don’t want to know about their parents having sex. We sort of know they do but it’s better to pretend that never happens.”
Roy chuckled again. “I don’t even know who my parents were but yes, I wouldn’t want to imagine it.”
“I thought about giving you a set of those photos,” Elicia said softly. “The negatives exist and you know I want to be a photojournalist. I can work dad’s old darkroom but then there would be that whole having to see it thing. If you want them, I’ll walk you through the process and you can do it when you come to Central.”
“Maybe someday,” Roy said. “I’m not sure I’m as strong as your mother. I’m not sure I’m ready.” He took her hand. “My kids don’t know, Elicia.”
“And they won’t hear it from me,” she promised him. “It’s all long past now. Maybe I should go. I’ve disrupted things enough for one day.”
He squeezed her hand. “Please stay. I’d love to tell you more about your dad.” Roy’s voice broke, fresh tears starting. This time they were echoed by Elicia. “All the crazy things we got up to as kids and at the academy.”
“Please,” she whispered. “Tell me everything you know.”
“There was this one time we snuck down into Madame Christmas’ bar when we were seven…”
Author –
cornerofmadnessDisclaimer – all rights belong to Arakawa
Rating – PG-13
Characters – Elicia, Roy, (implied Roy/Riza, Ed/Winry and Roy/Maes)
Timeline/Spoilers – manga verse, about 10 years past the promised day but no spoilers
Summary – She finally wants to know everything about her father
Author Note – written for fma_ihop for the request “older!Roy & Elysia as a teenager or older than that. When Elysia has grown up, she unexpectedly finds out her father had had a very intimate and sexual relationship with his best friend before she was born. She's somewhat confused about the matter and can't help but bring it up when she meets Roy one day. How they meet, how Roy reacts, what else happens etc. is up to the author. But yeah, I'm not asking for porn here”. Thanks to
evil_little_dog for the beta* * *
So lost in his alchemic studies, Roy almost didn’t hear the knock on the door, shattering the blissful silence of his home. To his surprise, Elicia Hughes stood on his doorstep. He was struck at how beautiful she had gotten since last he saw her, then again he thought that every time he saw her. The teenager resembled her mom but with Maes’ mobile mouth and sense of humor. Elicia looked smart in her black tailored dress and the enormous red purse dangling off her arm made him wonder, not for the first time, how women carted those things around.
“Elicia? What brings you east?”
“Can’t I visit my favorite uncle?” Her purse thudded into his back, knocking him into her as she threw her arms around him. “It’s not often I get to see you, what with you being the ambassador to Xing.” She turned her cheek up for a kiss.
Roy gave her one then escorted her inside. “Of course, you can visit. I wish you had called though. Riza is actually in Central with Winry and the kids on a shopping weekend.” He shuddered slightly. He couldn’t imagine too many hells worse than being trapped in a hotel with Melitta Mustang and Anneliese Elric and all their budding pubescent hormones and drama. His wife was braver than he was.
“I know. Mom’s taking Aric to meet them.”
Roy shot her a confused look but at least remembered to ask after her much younger half brother.
“He’s a brat and definitely call him by his middle name now, Uncle Roy, or he’ll have a fit. Guess I can’t blame him.” Elicia shrugged. “What kind of name is Heymans any how?”
Roy laughed, remembering when he learned that Gracia was going to marry Breda. He decided she must have a thing for smart men. “We can’t just stand here in the foyer. Would you like something to eat? I could brew tea. The benefits of being the Xingese ambassador is I have all the best tea.”
“Any wine?”
“I’m getting old and grey, Elicia, but I’m not so senile as to have forgotten your age. I’ll put on the kettle.” Roy headed for the kitchen.
“You have gotten a little more silver.” She ruffled his black hair with its flecks of silver.
Roy ducked away playfully. “That’s you kids doing this to me.”
Elicia snorted. “More like Fuhrer Armstrong.”
“That, too. This.” Roy fingered the fully white witch’s lock that blazed from crown to his right temple. “I call this the Elric lock.”
“You’re so mean to my big brother.” Elicia nudged him.
“I think you have it backwards,” Roy said, setting the kettle on the stove.
“Is Sinjin here?” She asked over his teenaged son.
“No, he’s with his Uncle Al studying some new healing array Al found,” Roy said, picking through his teas.
“Still calls him that, huh? I remember when you first taught Sinjin to say the brothers’ names.” Elicia peered at him. “Do you still have the scar Aunt Riza gave you for teaching Sinjin to call Ed, ‘Dick’ when he was just two?”
“Yes,” Roy chuckled then let the conversation turn to other mundane things while the tea water heated and he brewed some potent golden monkey tea. He ushered Elicia into the living room where she settled on a chair. He took the couch. “Now, tell me what really brings you here, Elicia?”
“Could never fool you, Uncle Roy.” Elicia sipped her tea. “I never asked many questions about Dad growing up. I wasn’t ready to hear them but I am now.”
“Of course. You can ask me anything you’d like,” Roy offered, pleased she finally wanted to know.
“I was hoping you’d say that.” Elicia suddenly looked nervous, making Roy curious. “You see, I found Mom with a set of pictures a couple weeks ago. She was crying but she looked happy at the same time, you know? I asked her what they were of, figuring they were of her and Dad but I startled her. She said the pictures were of you and Dad but she wouldn’t let me see them.” She paused for a moment, her eyes clouding with memory. “I couldn’t figure out why at first then I had a very strange thought. I asked mom but she wouldn’t say so I thought I’d ask you.”
Elicia’s green eyes studied his face. Roy knew he had to be whiter than snow and he had no idea what to say.
“I can see by your face you know the photos I mean,” she said.
“I didn’t know they still existed,” Roy whispered. God, the things Maes could talk him into. “Why would she keep them?”
“Mom said that she loved them because of the emotions they captured. It’s true, isn’t it? You and Dad were lovers?”
Roy couldn’t answer, couldn’t even look at her, twisting on the couch. He felt Elicia settle next to him, her hand on his knee.
“I’m sorry, Uncle Roy. I know this would be hard to talk about. That’s why I came when I thought you might be alone.” Elicia leaned against him. “It’s okay. I’m all right with it. Mom said she never doubted for one minute Dad loved her.”
Roy turned back to her, putting an arm around her shoulder. “Your father loved your mother very much and you were his world. I didn’t know a man could love his child that much. You and your mother with the very last thing on his mind when he passed, I know that for a fact.”
“Mom said something similar.”
“They found a family picture out next to his body. You were the last thing he saw. Never doubt that he loved you.” Roy sighed, pulling her closer against his side. “But I’m dodging your question, aren’t I? Yes, we were lovers.”
“Mom obviously knew,” Elicia said quietly. “I’m not sure I understand all of this.”
“Gracia and Riza both knew.” Roy trembled. “We were so lucky, your father and I, that we had lovers who not only could accept it but celebrated that love with us. They understood that love could be multiplied, not divided when there were more than just two. And I loved your father very much and vice versa.”
“Thank you, for being honest.” Elicia squeezed his hand. “You poor man, you had to mourn at the funeral like a soldier. No one could know what you really lost.”
Roy’s bottom lip trembled but with effort he kept his eyes dry. “It was very difficult. I channeled it into revenge, not healthy maybe but satisfying in its way,” he said, his voice cracking.
Elicia changed her tact. “How did it start?”
“You know your dad and I were orphans but we ended up raised together. We knew each other most of our lives. It started when I came home from Master Hawkeye’s one summer. I can’t even remember how it started, really. Mostly we had gotten into Mom’s wine stash and one thing sort of led to the other.” Roy shrugged, remembering those first wine-soaked kisses he had shared with Maes, the fumbling under clothing, that first mutual hand job. They both had been surprised by their attraction, maybe a little afraid of it but Elicia didn’t need to know that. “We realized that we loved each other as much as we loved women. Things just went from there. We were very discreet about that which, if you remember anything about your father, he didn’t do discreet well.”
Elicia smiled. “Mom said a lot of that was all bluff.”
“Part of his disguise. All people remembered was a big goofy dog of a man and not how damn smart he was,” Roy agreed. “Damn, that man could talk.”
“I hardly remember anything about him.” Regret laced her words.
Roy sighed. “I know. I’m so sorry you never got to know him, Elicia. He’d call me and babble for hours, mostly in code. Most people thought he was doing nothing but bragging on you and your mom and harassing me to find a wife, meanwhile he was passing on information to me. But sometimes he’d just call to annoy me because he was so damn good at it.”
At that, Elicia did laugh. “Which one of you was the girl?”
“Elicia!” Roy felt his cheeks catch fire. He fumbled for his tea, drinking the cooling liquid.
“What? I’m just curious.” Her smile put him at ease.
“Your father would kill me if he knew I told you about this.”
“I could look at those photos but I’d rather hear it from you. I’m just trying to understand my father better.”
He nodded. “Fair enough.”
“Besides, if I wanted him to haunt you, I could ask out Sinjin. I’m less than six years older. That won’t matter much once we’re in our twenties, right?”
“Haunted? That would be full on scary,” Roy said, appreciating her efforts to make this easier on him.
Elicia sobered. “I think you’re already haunted by him.”
Roy averted his gaze. She had no idea how right she was. “Yeah. Since you asked, I was the girl. We tried it the other way once or twice but I liked being submissive. I guess, I’m that with Riza, too. There’s something comforting in it for me, like I’m being taken care of.” Roy’s breath rasped in, a sudden flood of tears overwhelming him. He scrubbed a hand over his eyes. “I miss his strong arms.”
Elicia wrapped her arm around his neck pulling him to her. Roy returned her embrace. “I’m so sorry I opened old wounds, Uncle Roy.”
He kissed her cheek. “It’s all right, baby girl. It’s just been a long time since I thought about those days.” Still weeping, Roy rested his chin on her crown. “So few people can put up with me, so many are afraid of what I am.”
“But he didn’t care. You know he loved you.” Elicia squeezed him tight. “I love you, too.”
Roy let go, sitting back so he could wipe his face again. “I have never doubted that. Sorry, didn’t mean to weep like a girl.”
“The girl isn’t crying,” she shot back and he let out a bark of laughter.
“Because, as usual, you are stronger than us men.” Roy leaned back against the couch pillows. “I loved your father. Now you know. Can’t say I really want to get into too many details.”
“That’s okay. I don’t need those.” Elicia’s nose wrinkled. “My question aside, most kids really don’t want to know about their parents having sex. We sort of know they do but it’s better to pretend that never happens.”
Roy chuckled again. “I don’t even know who my parents were but yes, I wouldn’t want to imagine it.”
“I thought about giving you a set of those photos,” Elicia said softly. “The negatives exist and you know I want to be a photojournalist. I can work dad’s old darkroom but then there would be that whole having to see it thing. If you want them, I’ll walk you through the process and you can do it when you come to Central.”
“Maybe someday,” Roy said. “I’m not sure I’m as strong as your mother. I’m not sure I’m ready.” He took her hand. “My kids don’t know, Elicia.”
“And they won’t hear it from me,” she promised him. “It’s all long past now. Maybe I should go. I’ve disrupted things enough for one day.”
He squeezed her hand. “Please stay. I’d love to tell you more about your dad.” Roy’s voice broke, fresh tears starting. This time they were echoed by Elicia. “All the crazy things we got up to as kids and at the academy.”
“Please,” she whispered. “Tell me everything you know.”
“There was this one time we snuck down into Madame Christmas’ bar when we were seven…”
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no subject
Date: 2009-08-26 03:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-26 03:31 am (UTC)btw congrats on your win. yours was my favorite story this time
no subject
Date: 2009-08-26 04:15 am (UTC)Thank you! :D I am still excited about it *nerd*
no subject
Date: 2009-08-26 04:46 am (UTC)Hahah i don't blame you. interesting how almost all the what if's were angsty and all the dialogue ones are funny
no subject
Date: 2009-08-27 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-27 03:19 am (UTC)ROy did NOT want to answer that question
thanks