Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Gifts And Curses ❯ Waiting for the Sun... ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

He wasn't completely innocent, contrary to popular belief. Oh, it was true he'd never actually done anything remotely sexual - almost-kisses with Winry Rockbell, and unintentional gropage of seductive, wet-dreams inducing female thieves not-withstanding - but Ed had done one hell of a lot of reading in his studies and research for the Philosopher's Stone. Some things you just couldn't help coming across when you read that much. In fact, he was willing to bet that he understood the mechanics of sex better than anyone.
Well, except maybe Mustang, but that was a given...

Anime/Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.14.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.6K | Visits: 403 | Status: Work In Progress

Chapter Three - Waiting for the Sun...

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“AAAAGGGHHH!”

“NO! I SAID, NO! HEY! Heyheyhey! Gwaayah! No! No touching - damn-it-I-said-no-touching! No, especially not 'there'! I swear I'll yell RAPE! RAPE, YA' HEAR?! Eeeaaayaaah! Leave me alone!”

Ed rushed into the nearest room in the post-op ward, slamming the door behind him and leaning against it, chest heaving for breath as he waited with a pained wince for the crowd of girls to give up looking for him - or find him!

“Edward?” A girl's voice giggled breathily.

Ed jumped a mile before he blinked in the darkness and realized he'd run right into Juliana's room.

“Ed, is that you?”

Taking a deep, gulping breath, Ed flicked the lock on the door - just in case - and walked further into the room, trying to straighten out his coat and the now-messy tangle of his braid.

Damn, he was tender-headed in spots...those girl's had nearly snatched him bald!

“Yeah, it's me - but how'd you know? And why are you sitting alone in the dark?” Heh, stupid question...

Juliana laughed again, and he felt his body tense as he noticed - not for the first time in the last two weeks since their walk in the rain - how husky and throaty it was.

“I knew it was you because I heard you yelling outside the door, and no one yells quite like Edward Elric.”

Ed tried not to be offended - he really did - but his temper took over - as usual.

“Hey, whadd'ya mean, no one yells quite like me? You sayin' I'm a loud, obnoxious little brat? You sayin' I act worse than an ankle-biting, half-pint, thumb-sucking, knee-high toddler, huh? Huh?”

Instead of being offended, or scared, Juliana only laughed again.

Ed's shoulders slumped, all of the steam rolling off him. “Sorry,” he muttered.

Juliana sighed. “I only meant that you have a very distinctive voice, Ed,” she explained patiently. “I like it.”

Ed's eyebrows shot up. She thought he had a nice voice? Huh...he'd never paid that much attention to the sound of his own voice, before...

“I've never known anyone like you before, Edward. You're so smart. You're kind, and thoughtful, incredibly strong, and wise...you're very special.”

Ed smirked in the darkness as he drew up beside her bed. “Heh. Yeah, that's me, 'Special Ed'.”

Juliana laughed out loud before she reached over with her non-auto-mail hand to smack his shoulder. “I didn't mean it like that, Ed. You are so...” she trailed off, obviously at a loss for words.

“Hopeless?” he supplied, trying to ignore the underlying meaning in his voice.

She sighed with impatience. “No, not hopeless. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen anyone filled with more hope than you and Alphonse. I think you're just...amazing.”

Ed found himself holding his breath. “I'm nothing like amazing,” he finally said, looking down at his boots.

“But you are. I'm...so scared, Edward. I lost everything I knew in some explosion I don't even remember. I don't remember growing up...I don't even look like the same girl anymore.”

“I don't care how you look, Juli,” Ed said fiercely, taking her automail hand in his. “I just want you to be happy, okay? Just...be happy. Be you.”

Juliana took a deep, tremulous breath before she smiled at him. She leaned towards him a little, obviously straining to make out more of his features. “I'm happy, Ed. Alphonse, Hughes, Riza...you, Edward. You make me happy.”

With a surprised exhalation, Ed dropped his head a little further, trying to hide behind his hair.

“Ed?” She reached out her flesh hand, managing to place it on top of his other hand - his real hand - where it rested on the edge of the bed.

Ed kept his head down, well aware that his cheeks were burning. He couldn't help but wonder, suddenly, what her hand would feel like against his bare skin.

“Yeah?”

“Tell me what you look like.”

Ed looked up at her at that. “You don't know? I mean...I thought you could see things beter now, if they were really...close...to you.” He rolled his eyes even as he said it, because -

“Exactly. You've never gotten that close to me, Ed,” Juliana said wryly, her soft pink lips quirking upwards at the corners. “Besides, it doesn't really matter to me what you look like, but I am very curious. I want to know every little detail about you! What exact color of blonde is your hair? Your eyes?” Her automail fingers squeezed his hand slightly, and she frowned.

“Ed? This is your auotmail, isn't it?” she asked hesitantly, keeping her hand still on his.

“Yeah,” he said in a light, forced tone. “It's kinda' cool, huh?”

Juliana smiled again...and shocked him by moving her flesh hand and sending her fingertips sliding upward on the gloved automail, searching for the edge of his white glove. When she found it, at his wrist, she paused, and tilted her head at him.

“Well, it does feel kind of cold. Like mine,” she murmured. “But yours is so much bigger.”

Ed went red in the face and hot all over.

Her fingers wriggled beneath his red sleeve, and then the black one beneath that. “May I?”

Ed snorted. “What're you askin' me for? You're already there,” he commented dryly.

Juli laughed and took her time feeling the hard, unforgiving metal of his forearm beneath the edge of his coat.

Trying to distract himself from the disconcerting sight, Ed gently teased her. “You know, you're just like my brother, sometimes. Pretending to be polite, even though you know that you're gonna get things your way, regardless.”

“I'll take that as a compliment, thanks,” Juliana told him with another little laugh, making the tiny hairs on the back of his neck prickle with pleasure. “You never did tell me what you look like, Ed.”Ed looked up at her face, surprised to see a red blush rising on her pale cheeks. He was moved by an inexplicable urge to be closer to her. Careful to watch her expression, he lowered himself to half-sit on the edge of the matress, near her hip, his flesh leg stretched out to balance himself on the floor.

“May I?” he asked with exaggerated politeness, lips twitching with surpressed laughter.

The blush on her cheeks burned an even brighter crimson. He laughed softly - Juli might be a lot like her older brother, but she was a hell of a lot easier to throw off guard than that satirical bastard.

Feeling brave, Ed reached out and took her hand in both of his. He used it to pull her gently forward, away from her pillows, and closer to him. He swallowed hard, and dipped his head, looking at her soft lap beneath the white knit coverlet.

“Can you...see me now?” he asked huskily, his voice almost shy. He didn't let go of her hand, and he heard her breath catch in her throat as his twitchy thumbs nervously caressed the back f it. He stopped when he realized what he was doing, and forced himself to be still as she reached up with her free hand to slowly take the dark glasses away from her intense eyes. She paused though, when they were halfway off and glanced at him over the rims.

“What is it, Juli?”

“Alphonse...” he could see the uncertain flicker of her eyelashes over the violet glow of her irises. “He was afraid...of my eyes. I just don't...want to scare you away,” she told him.

'Mom. They remind him of when we tried to bring back our mother from the dead.'

“I'm not scared, Juli. Look at me.”

For the firsttime, Ed got to see her face and eyes unfettered by bandages or glasses. She blinked at him in the near darkness, trying to get her sensitive eyes to adjust and focus, and he realized he really had to be looking at the long-dead sister of his 'superior'. She looked a lot like Mustang under the scarring - only softer and female, of course.

It was disturbing, realizing the girl he'd been having naughty thoughts about for the past two weeks looked so much like the man he hated.

“Your hair...it's very long. For a boy, anyway.” She grinned at his squirming discomfiture before she continued squinting at him. “But there's nothing wrong with that. I like it. And..you're fair-haired too. But not white-blonde.”

“Heh. Nope, it's the color of straw.” He shrugged. “Yellow, I guess.”

“People don't have 'yellow' hair, Edward.” Juliana made a face at him, which with her fiercely colored eyes looked faintly maniacal to Ed. She reached out a hand to touch the end of his braid, and then pulled back at the last second. She looked at him in silent question, and he took her hand in his and guided it back to his braid before glancing away, uneasy.

“It's okay, you can touch it,” he heard himself tell her, his voice embarrassingly husky. He felt the heat stream into his cheeks as he realized what he'd just said could be mistaken for some kind of innuendo, but she didn't immeadiately accuse of of being a pervert, so he relaxed.

After a moment, he could feel her lean closer to him, so close he could smell the clean warmth of her hair and skin, hear the light, jerky rhythm of her breathing as she inhaled, feel the exhalation near the sensitive skin of his jaw...

Ed found himself closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, immersing himself for the first time in another human being...just in everything that she was...

“Gold,” she murmured wonderingly, her fingers twining around his messy braid.

“H-huh?” Ed asked weakly, too caught up in her nearness to think of anything else to say - and it took a lot for him to become this inarticulate!

“Edward, your hair is gold, not 'yellow'! And your coat, it's crimson, red...like blood, isn't it?”

Surprised, Ed looked into her eyes and heard her gasp lightly as she looked into his own eyes for the first time.

“Why, Ed,” Juliana said, tilting her head and blinking owlishly at him, “you have gold eyes, too! They're - you - ! Wow. Like the sun! I knew it! Wow! You're so...pretty!” she blurted, and then covered her mouth with her hands.

Ed was too shocked to get angry at first, and then he snapped, “Hey! Guy's aren't 'pretty'! An' the last time I checked, I'm pretty sure I was a guy!”

Juliana id her best to keep her laughter in check - he could tell by the way she sucked her lips inward, and how her cheeks puffed out - but it didn't last. In a few seconds she was absolutely howling - !

At that moment, a thundering of footsteps went by, and the voices of several arguing females could be heard.

Panicked, Ed reached out, grabbed Juliana's head, and pulled her face against his chest to muffle her laughter.

The only thing was, the second he had her against him, he stopped worrying about those girls...in fact, he stopped worrying about anything. He didn't think.

He just held her.

Juliana let him. She stopped laughing almost instantly, and went very still. Then she tucked her head under his chin and lifted both her hands to hold onto his biceps...which she managed to not-so-discreetly give a curious squeeze to see if they were both as steely - no pun intended - and taut as they felt.

They were.

Hearts thundering against eachother, they sat like that for a long time.

Juliana finally broke the awkward silence by saying, “Well, apparently I'm not the only female around here who's noticed you're amazing, Ed.”

Ed blushed, glad for once that she couldn't see it. “Heh...yeah, apparently,” he murmured.

“Why were all those girls chasing you, Ed? And more curiously, why didn't you let them catch you?”

“Juli!” he exclaimed, aghast at her innuendo, and dropped his arms from around her. He stood up, warning himself to stay away from her.

“What?” she laughed. “You're what - eighteen? Most guys your age would love to have a bunch of women chasing them!”

“Yeah, well, I'm not 'most guys'. And 'bunch'? Try 'herd',” Ed said wryly.

“They - those girls - they think I'm...they think I would...” Aw, damn, he couldn't say it, not to her, no fucking way...

“They think you're good-looking? Handsome? Cute?”

“Cute? Cute! Do I look like a tiny little chibi kid to you? Do I look like a ant-sized, bean-sprout, pip-squeak to you?” Ed roared, clenching his fists.

“Calm down, Ed... Oh, I'm sorry, I can't help it - chibi-Ed! I can see it so clearly in my mind! Suddenly I have this overwhelming urge to hug you - can I hug you, Ed?” Juliana cracked.

Ed ignored her and his rising temper with effort, and then growled, and began pacing.

“Those girls...they think I have ...they like me because they found out the size of my research fund,” he told her tersely, flinging a hand carelessly in the direction of the door. “That, and they think if they...you know...if they...aw, hell they think my reputation will rub off on them , know what I mean?” His face was on fire with embarrassment, and he lifted a gloved hand to scrub at the annoying heat rising in his cheeks.

“Ed, are you saying they're fighting over who gets to be known as having managed to defile the famous Fullmetal Alchemist, first? Don't feel bad - they did - and still do, I'm sure - the same thing to Roy, just so they can brag about having 'had' the almighty Flame Alchemist. The difference between you and him, though, is that he takes full advantage of it.” Juliana groaned disgustedly. “My brother was such a man-slut.”

Ed was floored - literally. He was sitting on the floor next to Juliana's bed, staring up at her shadowy form in the darkness when any notion of sanity came back to him.

“Ed? Are you alright? Sorry...did I make you...faint? I, uh...didn't realize you were quite that...innocent.”

She sounds more and more like that bastard Mustang every day!

He'd known her for three and a half months, and he'd never heard her talk like that! Never!

“Like hell!” Ed blurted, jumping back up to his feet. “Innocent!” he snorted roughly, all the while trying not to notice how he was drawing his coat tighter around himself, as if to somehow stave off unwanted attentions.

“I don't think so!”

“Are you that bothered by it? The fact that you're...innocent?”

Ed tightened his fists. “Would you stop it?!” he yelled.

“Stop what?” she sounded surprised by his outburst.

“That! Stop-saying-that-word!”

“What word? 'Innocent'?”

“Ga-ah!” Ed felt his right eye give a violent twitch.

“You are bothered, aren't you?” Juliana asked almost slyly.

“No!”

“Ed...I could help you with that.”

Ed went weak for just an instant before he started moving hastily towards the door.

Geez - ! The sweet, naive victim thing was a freakin' act! She really was just like her womanizing pervert of a brother! She 'had' been trying to feel him up!

“Er...heh, good one, Juli. You...you guys are never gonna' stop teasing me over this one, are ya? You'll never let me live it down...” he joked feebly, desperate to escape the awkward situation.

Juliana was quiet as he opened the door and stuck a cautious nose out.

It seemed clear...

“You think I was teasing, Ed?” she further dazed him by asking throatily.

He abruptly closed the door again, pressing himself back against it as if he half-expected her to get out of her bed and jump on him - the truly scary thing was, though...he didn't think he'd mind so much if she did it.

Heart beating triple-time in his throat, he tried to calm his breathing - and certain other, more un-cooperative parts of his body.

Well, except maybe Mustang, but that was a given.

“Because I wasn't, you know,” Juliana continued, her voice turning just a little uncertain. “Although, I do understand if you don't want to kiss me,” she sighed sadly - a bit too sadly, in fact. “I'm not much compared to those other girls chasing you, anymore, I guess.”

K-kissing? Was that all?!

Truth be told, he was a little disappointed.

Ed's eyes widened at the unexpected turn of his thoughts before they narrowed into glowing gold slits.

'What a load of crap! She's playin' me!' he raged internally. 'She's jerkin' me around! Just like the Colonel! Forgot her last name was 'Mustang'! Must run in the family!'

“Edward?”

'Does she think this is funny?! Does she actually think I'm gonna' just stand here and cringe like an under-sized, drooling little kid? She doesn't think I'll do it, does she?! She doesn't think I've got the guts!'

Ed heard the faint grinding of metal and realized he was doing his best to crumple his own auto-mail hand by clenching it so hard. He forced it to relax, but it was...difficult.

Juliana sighed again from across the room, sounding abandoned and bereft.

He gritted his teeth. It tended to piss him off...but the rational side of his brain was telling him he'd never let himself be forced into it, not truly, unless some part of him really wanted to kiss Juliana.

Ed his his anger behind a savage, sharp white grin. Even if the idea of something so simple as kissing her somehow scared the hell out of him, there was no way he was ever gonna' back down from a challenge. 'Impossible' just wasn't in his vocabulary.

He gave a cocky smirk, and slowly walked toward her bed with his hands on his hips.

“Heh. Whatever. You couldn't keep up with me.”

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A/N: I admit it...! I was thinking more about Vic's style of voice as Dark Mousy from DN Angel in this chapter than his one as Ed in FMA, LOL. For shame. Annnnyway. Hope you liked it. Thanks so much for taking a few to stop and read this. BTW - has anyone played the PS2 FMA game, the 'Broken Angel' one? I got it this weekend, and it's...cute. What's with Ed transmuting pogo sticks, anyway? I can't decide if it's funny...or stupid. LOL. - Shaynie

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Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any related characters.

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