Kracken
Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warning; Male/male sex, graphic, language, violence
Full Metal Alchemist
Ring of Fire
Customs
"Are you handsome?" Riza Hawkeye looked at Edward in a startled fashion, at stiff attention, and unsure of her reply. To her, Edward Elric was a child, someone she was sworn to protect and someone she would have protected, with or without orders. He was also someone, she thought, that shouldn't be in the military, but rather at home, having cookies and milk and being tucked in at night by a doting mother. She knew his skill, knew his determination, and knew his quest, but that didn't keep her heart from hurting for him.
Standing in front of her desk, cheeks flushed in embarrassment, Edward had his gloved hands balled into fists and his attention on his feet. Yes, Riza thought, he was very handsome. Gold hair, gold eyes, and the beauty of blooming manhood. It said something about his modesty that he had to ask, and something more about insecurity. Blurting the question, when he had been there to hand her a report, had seemed to take him by surprise as much as it had Riza.
"You are a handsome boy, yes," she replied in a very formal voice.
His expression did something. Riza wasn't sure what it was. Disappointment? Relief? A mixture of both? It confused her and confirmed her opinion that the question hadn't been asked in idleness.
"Is... he in?" Edward asked in a small voice.
Riza blinked, confused and then understood, "No, Lt. Colonel Mustang is in a meeting. He will be returning in one hour. Shall I take a message?"
She wasn't his secretary, but she would stand in for one if it allowed her to have some insight into what Edward was thinking. She watched Edward blush dark red and then turn and walk quickly away as he replied simply, "No."
Riza sighed, sensing the lost opportunity, and decided that she wouldn't tell the Colonel about the odd visit. Let Edward decide, she thought, and return when he was ready.
Edward scowled at nothing as he walked back to the barracks. Riza thought he
was handsome. She didn't strike Edward as being one of those flighty, romantic
minded women. She was definitely no nonsense. He trusted her to tell him the
truth. With that doubt eliminated, though, there was little else to use as an
excuse not to go through with the deception.
It bothered him, and Edward was loathe to admit it. A sense of honor still clung desperately, even though its fingernails were on the edge of oblivion, and it was telling Edward that what he was doing was wrong, that stooping to such a disgusting level to discredit Mustang was an act that was going to damage his soul. He was used to that, though. He had damaged it already in some of the choices that he had been forced to make. For Al's sake, he was willing to turn his soul black, he thought. Roy Mustang was standing in his way. If this was a way to get him out of it without killing him, then it was worth some humiliation on his part.
Edward found Al sitting under a tree. He joined him, stood quietly, and didn't have to wonder what had drawn Al to the spot. It was an oasis in the stark compound of headquarters, a spreading tree, a soft patch of green grass, and the sound of wind. Al couldn't feel the warmth of the sun. He couldn't feel the wind. The grass could have been spikes of metal. His little brother was reduced to watching and listening to his moment of peace.
Edward felt guilty for feeling the breeze sift through his hair and the sun warm his skin. He shared the fate of his brother in a small way, through the metal of his arm and lower leg, but being truly shut off, like Al, was something that he didn't like to imagine. When he let himself stop to think about it, he could hate himself for having consigned Al to that suit of armor. It had been that or death, but the choice seemed less right some days than others.
"You are planning something, brother," Al finally said and he sounded hurt.
"How do you know that?" Edward asked, ashamed.
"You have stopped talking to me. You go places alone." Al looked at him. Sitting, he was still almost at a level with Edward. His eyes, though they were only blank slits in the armor, could still cut Edward to his heart.
"It is a serious matter," Edward told him carefully. "It's something that I have to do alone. You're too young."
Al was angry then. "You are not that much older than me, brother! We have been through a great deal. Don't stop trusting me."
Edward reached out and gripped Al's armored shoulder tightly. It was a gesture for him alone. Al couldn't feel it, couldn't be reassured by human touch."I do trust you!" he replied.
"Then tell me what you are doing," Al insisted. "Even if you think that I shouldn't be a part of it, at least talk to me about it."
Al was all heart, Edward knew. If he told his brother what he planned, Al would protest and he would be shocked. Edward wasn't even certain that Al understood that two men could be together that way. He wasn't going to be the one to educate his brother, especially when he was so ill informed himself.
Some truth, but not all of it, Edward decided. He owed his brother that much. He thought for a moment and then said, "I am trying to find a way to go to Creta, despite Colonel Mustang's orders, and without breaking with the military. I have been talking with some of Mustang's rivals."
Al was alarmed at once. His armor creaked as he started and turned to Edward. "Brother, you don't mean to kill him?"
"No," Edward replied quickly, looking around them nervously. They were, thankfully, far from where anyone could over hear. "His rivals may be able to help us without that."
"How?" Al wanted to know.
"Al..." Edward sighed and rubbed at his face wearily. "I promise you, Mustang will be safe whatever I do, but I can't explain everything.
Al wasn't happy about that, but Edward was firm, and Al finally accepted that he was going to remain ignorant.
They walked back to the barracks together, but Edward's mind wasn't on the warm day, or his brother's disappointment, but on his next meeting with Mustang.
It took days to find his courage and for Mustang's enemies to grow impatient.
Edward couldn't bring himself to ask anyone for advice, not even them, and his
knowledge of seduction was next to nothing. When he imagined himself confronting
Mustang and attempting to 'flirt' with the man, he went cold and frightened.
His mind couldn't get past his belief that Mustang would not only not respond,
but would be so offended that bringing Edward up on charges would be the least
of it. It was a large gamble and Edward seesawed between accepting that gamble
and rejecting it. When confronted by his brother, though, knowing that the only
way that he could pursue the cure for him was to have Mustang out of the way,
the decision became easier.
"Sir," Edward said stiffly as he finally stood in front of Mustang's desk in the man's office. Clothing neatly pressed, face clean, and hair combed and braided tightly, Edward still didn't think he was a temptation for anyone, especially a Lt. Colonel who could have anyone he wished. Edward felt young, awkward, and very much a young man. He imagined that someone who was interested in boys would want someone pretty and girlish.
Mustang's eyes measured him and he looked amused at Edward's obvious awkwardness. "Was there something that you wished to speak to me about? If it's about my decision to deny you access to Creta, I assure you that I haven't changed my mind. Rebel forces have made that area extremely dangerous. You are too important to risk."
Edward couldn't help his angry reaction. His fists clenched and he stood ramrod straight. "Sir, Al and I have been in dangerous situations before. I think we've proven that we can defend ourselves."
"You've proven your abilities, yes," Mustang replied with a sigh, "but you can be the most experienced and talented alchemist in the world and still die at the hands of rebels, Edward Elric. Once we have secured the area-"
"How long?" Edward demanded. "Weeks, months, years?"
Mustang shrugged. "They are entrenched and they do have weaponry. Telling you when we might prevail, would be a lie. I don't know, pure and simple."
Edward reined himself in sharply. He wasn't there to rehash their argument. He was there to make Mustang incriminate himself, but how to start? Should he be obvious, come right out and tell Mustang he was... interested? That didn't sound like the right thing to do. Mustang wasn't stupid. No, somehow, it had to be Mustang's move and, somehow, Edward had to signal that he was open to that move.
Edward's gut clenched. "I suppose that I don't understand," Edward said softly as he undid the top buttons of his dress shirt and acted as if he had become suddenly warm, "Why do you want to protect us? Why won't you send us into the field like your other soldiers?"
Mustang's eyes were on the line of Edward's throat that he had just revealed,
but his voice gave nothing of his interest or mood as he replied, "Before
I can send in my best men, I have to take out Creta's main forces. It would
be useless to try and defeat the entire rebel force at one time. Small maneuvers,
well planned out attacks, and a seamless siege of the area, will soften them
up sufficiently for a strike that will defeat them."
Edward opened his coat and put his hands in his pockets so that his upper chest
was exposed by the open buttons. Mustang's eyes continued to stare as Edward
said, "So, Al and I will be allowed to go in when that happens?"
"No," Mustang replied.
Edward throttled his temper, but he couldn't stop his jaw from clenching. "Why not?" he asked.
"I have other men more suited to that type of battle," Mustang replied.
"You know how much this means to us," Edward seethed. "Why deny us the chance to go there as part of the attack force?"
Mustang stood suddenly and came from around his desk. He came very close to Edward and continued to stare down at his exposed throat and chest. Edward couldn't help a small shiver, not sure if this was the moment when Mustang would-
"I can't count on you," Mustang told him.
Edward felt a chill and his nipples hardened in response. He knew that Mustang could see it and a blush traveled up Edward's collar bone and covered his face. He very clearly saw Mustang swallow hard and then the man was turning away.
"I have important matters to attend to, Edward Elric," Mustang told him. "If there is nothing else, you are dismissed."
Edward moved forward and leaned over Mustang's desk as the man sat down. His shirt and coat hung open, low enough for Mustang to see all the way to his navel. Edward said in the most suggestive voice he could manage, "Are you sure that there isn't some way that I could convince you? Is there something that I can do for you in exchange?"
Mustang frowned sharply and met Edward's eyes. Suddenly, Mustang's hands were closing on the lapels of Edward's coat and pulling Edward down close to him. "Child," he hissed. "Go away and rethink what you are offering me. Ask yourself if it is worth that to you."
"I don't have to go away and think," Edward retorted fiercely. "It is worth that to me."
"How far will you go?" Mustang wondered angrily. "Will you get on your hands and knees and suck my cock off right now, right here?" Edward couldn't help his shocked expression. "Maybe I want more than that?" Mustang continued. "Maybe I would want you bent over my desk so that I could slam my cock in and out of your little asshole? Will you go that far? What if I invite other people in, people who might want to take advantage of your offer as well? What if we lined up and used you to our heart's content for payment? Will you offer that to me for what you want Edward Elric?"
Mustang shoved him away.
"Your face betrays you," Mustang sneered.
Edward felt his body go from hot to cold and then back again. He shook and mouthed words that wouldn't come.
"If you want to play at being an adult," Mustang told him acidly, "Then be prepared to have your bluffs taken seriously. You are lucky that I am an honorable man and that your welfare really is my concern. You are dismissed."
Edward stumbled backwards. Mustang started going through paperwork as if he had ceased to exist. When Mustang's secretary opened the door, bringing tea for Mustang, Edward fled through it and out of the building all together. Dazed from his humiliation, he turned a corner and ran straight into First Lt. Andrews and two of his men.
"Where were you?" Edward hissed angrily, golden eyes snapping fire."You were supposed to be listening!"
Andrews took a small device from his ear and took a recorder out of his pocket. "We were listening, Full Metal."
"Then why didn't you have him arrested?" Edward demanded. "He told me to-to," he spluttered and couldn't say the words.
"He didn't," Andrews corrected him irritably. "He simply confronted your offer and tried to clarify exactly what that offered entailed. You were implicating yourself, Edward Elric, not Roy Mustang. If you had agreed to anything that he told you, he could have had you arrested. You are not as clever as I was led to believe."
Edward shook a fist at him. "I'm not a pervert! I don't know how to act like one!"
"Pervert?" Andrews looked annoyed. "How can you hope to seduce Mustang when you are so obviously disgusted?"
"What he said disgusted me!" Edward snarled back.
Andrews snorted. "His crude language disgusted you?"
"Yes!" Edward retorted. "How could he say those things?"
"Because you were offering that to him," Andrews shot back. He sighed as he pulled the device out of his ear and tucked it into the pocket with the recorder. "I can see that we need to discuss our tactics further. Your naivete might endear Mustang to you, but it doesn't help when we need you to lure him into your bed."
"He is not getting in my bed!" Edward protested.
"Make the offer to get in your bed," Andrews corrected himself shortly.
Edward was panting with emotion. Andrews exchanged looks with the two men with him and then said, "Let me report to my commander. Take time to calm down, Elric, and I will contact you later."
They left him alone then and Edward was left to play through his mind again the way that Mustang had confronted him. Walking back to the barracks, he cringed and hugged his arms about himself. How far would he go? That far? He trembled. Deep down, Edward realized that it hadn't been so much Mustang's crude words that had upset him, but the fact that Mustang had held up a mirror and shown him his own ugliness. Confronted with that image, and Mustang's disappointment and sure knowledge of Edward, he knew that no, he couldn't go that far. Mustang had made it clear that he wasn't going to allow it anyway. If Edward was going to make another attempt, he would have to make certain that it was seduction and not a bribe.
Mustang had to want him, and it had to be his idea, Edward knew. He had to make an assault on that office again, on Roy Mustang, but he couldn't go in that naive again. He needed to steel himself and ask for advice and, he had a feeling, Mustang's enemies would be more than willing to give him some.
see Kracken's original, published yaoi fiction, The Angel Within, at
amazon.com under Kracken
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