Happily Never After

Chapter #1

Riza opened the door and had to force herself to smile when she saw who it was on her doorstep. It was going to be a long night. She could tell.

“Hello, Edward,” she greeted, taking in his own strained smiled.

“Hi,” he said, pointedly not making eye contact. “Um… Stuff sorta happened and, uh… You know… I was wondering if I could…spend the night?”

She pressed her lips together tightly, every cell of her being screaming ‘NO!’. But she couldn’t say that. It wasn’t really her place to say that. And she couldn’t say ‘no’ after allowing him into the house on so many other occasions.

Besides, she probably deserved this in the long run.

“Sure. Come in,” Riza recited. This was becoming closer and closer to being a habit by the month. “Would you like something to drink? To eat?”

“No, I’m fine thanks,” the young man answered softly. “I… I’m kind of tired. Al and I… Al and I had an argument so I just want…I just want to get to sleep. Is the spare room available?”

He sounded sincere enough but Riza knew better. She’d heard that line before, even used a similar line before. And once, long ago, she would have believed him and been concerned, asked him about the argument. Before, she would have tried to comfort him. Now, she simply let things play out and held back. It was better this way. Better to let these things run their course.

“I see. Considering that you visit us enough I imagine you know your way around by now,” she said, her voice adopting a slightly sharp edge. She hadn’t intended to, it just came out that way.

Edward winced. “It’s not… It’s not like that. Honestly, I just want to get some sleep. Really.”

She turned away from him, saying briefly over her shoulder, “Goodnight.” Then she walked down the hall to the living room.

Riza pulled out a book from the shelf and sat down on the couch to read, hoping that maybe for once Ed wasn’t lying. Hoping that he’d actually go to the spare room and sleep the night away so that she could go to her own room and sleep. Wished that for once it wouldn’t all be a lie. A lie that she was all too familiar with.

It was possible. He husband, her Roy, he should be sleeping about now. And if he was sleeping… Edward wouldn’t wake him, would he? She didn’t think so. Maybe, just maybe it was the truth.

Riza quickly changed her mind when she heard a loud thud come from upstairs. She closed her book abruptly, returned it to its place on the shelf and went and got her coat.

She was going out tonight. There were other places she would rather be than home right now.

~o~0~o~

The spare room’s bed made a loud thudding noise when Edward was tossed onto it unceremoniously and it let out a pained creak when Roy pounced on him, pinning the young man down. Mustang kissed him, slipping his tongue past parted lips and Ed responded eagerly, gridding up against the older man. Roy hummed in approval and began to work their clothes off. They broke apart, both of them panting heavily and Edward began to help the other man remove their clothing.

“I missed you,” Mustang said breathlessly, as he unbuttoned his shirt, leaning down to give Ed a small, quick peck on the lips. “You haven’t visited in ages.”

“Sorry, Fuhrer sir,” the young man responded teasingly, squirming out of his pants and underwear. “I’d visit more often if the reception was a little warmer, not that I blame Riza. I just… She makes me feel all embarrassed, like I’m invading her territory or something.”

Roy snorted as he kicked off his own pants. “She’s been acting like that since we got married. She doesn’t even want to have sex anymore now that she’s pregnant. I’m not sure if it’s normal.”

“I think,” Edward said, now fully naked and half nibbling on Roy’s earlobe. The man finished undressing as well, pushed Ed’s legs apart and got himself comfortable between them. “That she’s jealous of me, you know? Wants you all to herself. She does love you, after all.”

“So? I love her too. And sorry but I’m going to do this quick. Too much pent up frustration. We can do it again slower afterwards,” Mustang grunted, slicking up a couple of his fingers with his own spit. He pressed the first one against the young man’s puckered entrance and pushed it in slowly, giving Ed a heated look. “Anyway, I love you too. I just can’t marry you. So we do this instead. I get the best of both worlds.”

Edward grinned at him momentarily before his face contorted and he let out a pleasure filled gasp. Roy added another finger and the young man rocked his body against them. All too soon the man removed his fingers and positioned himself. Ed looked up at him, panting.

“She’s a woman,” he said.

“And?” the man asked, teasing Edward’s entrance with his cock.

The young man wiggled impatiently. “Women have funny ways of thinking. They take everything the wrong way.”

“Less talking, more fucking,” Roy grunted with a shake of his head, thrusting forward.

The bed creaked and squeaked with the weight of their lovemaking and the air was filled with pleasure filled moans and cries. Edward came first, body shuddering and Roy followed soon after, riding out his orgasm before collapsing on top of the young man. They were both panting and sweaty and it took them a while to recover. Ed was the first to speak, stroking Mustang’s hair thoughtfully as he did so.

“Riza doesn’t like this, Roy. I think…I think it’s hurting her,” he said, hesitating slightly. “I don’t want to stop doing this or anything but… Could you try talking to her or something? It would make all of us feel better if you did, I think.”

Mustang heaved a sigh, breath ghosting over Edward already heated skin. “I don’t want to.”

“Why?”

“She’s…” he began then paused, trying to think of a good way to word his thoughts. “Riza hasn’t been involved with me for a while now. It’s… It’s hard to even say hello to her anymore these days.”

“All the more reason for a talk.”

“Oh? And I’m getting this from Mr. my-brother-and-I-fight-all-the-time-now?”

“Shut up,” Edward growled, tugging on Roy’s hair sharply but not hard enough to cause him any serious pain. “It’s not my fault he keeps harassing me, trying to get me a girlfriend. Anyway, you two are married. It’s only right that you talk things over. You don’t want to lose her, do you?”

Mustang rolled off of Ed with a sigh and lay there beside the young man. Ed repositioned himself as well, rolling onto his side, studying his lover carefully.

“Sometimes,” Roy admitted. “It feels like I’ve already lost her. She doesn’t talk to me, she doesn’t have sex with me, she doesn’t even always sleep in the same bed as me anymore.”

“I just think that she’d rather not think about how her husband spends far too much time with his boy toy,” Ed explained.

The older man turned to him with a frown. “You aren’t just a boy toy. You know that, right?”

“I love you too,” the young man responded, giving Mustang a peck on the lips. “Of course I know that I’m more than just a boy toy.”

“Well then don’t call yourself one.”

“I’m just saying that that’s what it looks like to everyone else. Most people- Well, most people don’t know about the two of us at all, really. But out of those that do, that’s what the majority thinks. They think I’m the Fuhrer’s boy toy, even if it’s not true. Honestly though, I believe that Riza thinks she’s been replaced.”

“No,” Roy said, shaking his head. He turned onto his side so that he could wrap an arm around Ed’s waist and pull him close. “I think that she’s just realized that I’m… I think she’s come to her senses.”

“Come to her senses?” Edward repeated, looking up at him. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m a horrible person, Fullmetal.”

The young man frowned and then shook his head. “No, you’re not. Well, maybe a little but other than sleeping with me, what makes you so bad? Because of what happened in Ishbal? Those were orders, Roy. Look at what I’ve done. No one ever told me to do any of that. I just did it and fucked things up. So if you’re a horrible person than I’m a dozen times worse.”

Roy shook his head, snuggling up to Ed. “You’re not… Never mind. I’m not going to argue with you tonight. I want to move on to round two.”

“Pervert,” the young man snorted but he wasn’t about to disagree.

~o~0~o~

Edward left the Mustang household at about four in the morning. He had taken to leaving early since he never really wanted to have to face Riza in the morning. Plus, Alphonse would ask him where he’d spent the night unless he’d snuck home at some point in the early hours of dawn. This way, his younger brother would just assume he’d been at the library or something trying to calm down. Less chance of another fight if he did things this way.

He and Al honestly didn’t fight all that much. It was just… Since his body had been restored, Alphonse had begun pestering him. At first, he had told him to quite the military. Ed had refused because he’d wanted to stay close to Mustang. Then, Al had started pestering Ed about his habits. He kept trying to get him to drink milk or telling Ed that his place was a mess and that he should clean up, stuff like that. Edward did his best to tolerate it and then Alphonse had started on something else.

Al seemed to think that Edward needed a girlfriend.

And Ed had no idea where his younger brother had gotten the idea into his head, but that was the last thing in the whole wide world that he would ever, could ever possibly want.

So they fought. Al would try and hook Ed up with so-and-so and Ed would promptly explain to whatever girl that his younger brother found that he was gay and already had a partner. He didn’t tell this to Alphonse, of course. His younger brother just wouldn’t understand. It was a fact that the elder Elric had come to accept. Things weren’t the same anymore. They really, really weren’t.

Edward walked home. He didn’t own a car, though he did know how to drive one, and he preferred walking to most forms of transportation. It brought him back, made him remember how he always used to travel and how everything had been so perfect. Well, he hadn’t been with Roy back then but he’d had a crush on him. A major crush.

He heaved a sigh when he reached his house and pulled out his keys as he came to a stop in front of the front door. A bit of fiddling and found the right one, unlocking the door and slipping inside as quietly as he possibly could. He began sneaking through the living room, heading for his bedroom when the light’s flicked on suddenly and he froze, glancing over in the direction of the couch where Al was sitting. His younger brother removed his hand from the light switch with a look of disapproval.

Instead of backing down and apologizing like most would have, he shot a look back at Alphonse. “What?”

“Where were you?” Al asked.

“Avoiding you,” Ed responded. “What? Am I not allowed to leave the house anymore? Speaking of which, this is my house. I pay for the bills and everything else. Would be more right to kick you out when I get pissed.”

“I’m worried about you!” Alphonse started up and Ed couldn’t help but sigh in irritation. “It’s like this every night! I try to talk something over with you and then all of a sudden you’re all mad at me and you run out and don’t come back until some ungodly hour of the morning! What’s wrong with you?!”

“There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m fine. You’re the problem here, telling me what to do and trying to get me a fucking girlfriend. I’m not some little kid, Al. And you’re my younger brother, not my parent,” Ed snapped. “I’m not interested in any of your crap. If you want to keep this up, you can go the fuck back to Resembool. I know you’d rather be there with Winry anyway, so why don’t you stop harassing me and just go.”

“That’s what this is about, isn’t it?” Al asked growling slightly. “It’s all about Winry.”

“What the hell are you going on about?” Ed growled right back. “Winry? Who the fuck cares about Winry?!”

“You like her, don’t you?” the younger Elric accused suddenly from out of the blue and Ed blinked.

“Me? Like Winry? What are you, sleep deprived or something? That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Edward said with a small laugh. “I hate Winry. She tries to beat me up all the time and she’s always yelling at me. Why would I like her?”

“Well, why don’t you want to date anyone then?” Alphonse argued. “You won’t go out. Ever. So you must be saving yourself for Winry or something!”

“I got an easier answer for you,” Edward snapped without thinking. “I’m gay.”

There was a long silence. Then Ed realized what he’d said exactly and he flushed a bright color of red. Al looked completely surprised and he opened his mouth to say something. Edward didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to hear anything his younger brother had to say at the moment. So he bolted, running to his room and slamming the door closed behind himself.

Yes, Edward reflected as he leaned against his bedroom door, cheeks still burning and his breath coming out shakily. Yes, he was childish and stupid and just one big mess up neatly packaged. He slid down to the floor and ran his fingers through his hair.

Al would probably hate him now, just like Riza and Winry. God, he’d fucked it all up again.

Well, there was still Roy. He always had Roy. That was the upside.

But how long was it before he messed that up too?