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whiskeycoffeeTitle: Some Other Beginning
Author: m.jules
Rating: Hard R for the whole thing
Summary: "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." Alphonse Elric helps Roy Mustang face life after more tragedy than one man should endure and finds something for himself in the process.
Pairing: mainly Roy/Al, with hints of and references to others. (Including, but not limited to, Ed/Winry, Al/Paninya, Gracia/Maes/Roy/Riza, and Al/Elicia.)
Disclaimer: Arakawa would KILL me. I bow low in supplication.
Author's Notes: This was meant to be "The Story That Proves In-Character Roy/Al Is Possible." Don't know if it worked. For my![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
7stages claim, prompt "New every morning."
Thanks, darlings, to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cornerofmadness and evil_little_dog for your assistance, to everyone who cheers me on in the comments (because it DOES help), and to RainyFrog from MJ for confessing to reading this. ;)
This is manga-verse, with every chapter yet released and scanlated as fair game for spoilers and many liberties taken as far as speculation about the future. If you want to know how Al got his body back, Yet Gentle and The Frost of Awakening can be considered my default answer to that question for now at least.
I am posting one chapter every Sunday night/Monday. Previous chapters can be found here.
Al was disquieted. There was no other word he could think of that so accurately described his agitation. Even in sleep the night before, Al had been restless and uneasy, squirming out of Roy's arms only to curl up against him again a moment later. He knew he was moping and he felt guilty that his mood was wearing off on Roy, making the older man tense and unhappy, but his mind insisted on playing devil's advocate and torturing him with all the reasons why Roy would never love him, not like that, and why this was never going to work.
He broke a plate washing the breakfast dishes and cursed when he sliced his palm on the jagged edge. From the living room, Roy called his name in a worried tone.
"It's nothing," Al called back, grumbling to himself as he left the sink to go find bandages in the bathroom. He wrapped his hand in gauze and a cloth bandage, then headed back into the kitchen. "I just broke a plate," he explained to Roy. "I'll fix it."
He clapped his hands together and bit back a cry of pain. That didn't feel good on his cut palm. Still, he touched the pieces of the plate, soldering them back together. When the blue light of transmutation faded, he heard Roy call to him. "Al, come here, please."
Alphonse complied, pausing in the doorway as he flexed his injured hand softly and winced at the pain. "Yes, Roy?"
"You cut yourself, didn't you? Come here. Let me see that." Roy held his hand out from his seated position on the couch, a botany book in his lap.
"It's fine," Al said, waving his hand. "Nothing to be done for it." He smiled grimly. "You haven't practiced enough healing alchemy for me to be your test subject just yet. Time for you to find a few more rose bushes."
Roy didn't bother answering, just set his book aside and reached for his cane, pushing himself to his feet. He made his way to Al, taking the young man's injured hand. Roy's thumb pressed lightly against the center of Al's palm through the bandage and Al hissed. "This one is going to take a while to heal," he murmured. "Call Ross and see if she has any herbs that will speed it up." Maria had worked for an herbalist during her exile in Xing. She still assisted Tai-Wen, the healing alchemist who was treating Havoc's legs.
"I should just call Tai-Wen," Al grumbled. "Too bad he's gone back to Xing for a month."
Roy gave him a sharp look and shifted his grip so that his fingers encircled Al's wrist. "You've been out of sorts today. Is something bothering you?"
"It's only half-past ten in the morning, Roy. I don't think that's enough time for you to be concerned." Al fidgeted, fighting not to tug his hand out of Roy's.
"It is when you've spent the last three hours acting more like your brother than yourself," Roy reasoned, a smile flirting with his eyes when Al's eyebrow twitched at the comparison. He could tell Al was working up to a vociferous protest -- Alphonse's rants over being compared to his brother often rivaled Edward's over being called short -- and tapped his thumb firmly over Al's pulse-point. "Now, would you like to tell me what's wrong?"
"No," Al said quietly, tantrum diverted. "It... it's something only time will cure." He flexed his hand, smiling humorlessly. A look of comprehension dawned on Roy's face and he nodded, understanding.
"I see," he murmured. "That may be true, but I am willing to venture that there may be ways to ease the process." He tugged on Al's wrist, pulling the boy close enough that he could kiss Al softly.
The brush of lips was familiar by now, comforting, and Al returned it with the same gentle affection he always did. The second brush was less expected but not completely unusual. On occasion, Roy would draw out their kisses, teasing Al with soft lips and exploring tongue, but he would always pull away at the first spark of real heat between them. Al always let him, knowing that Roy was still limping as much emotionally as he was physically. The man had lost two of his lovers to death and the third to the ghosts and shadows that haunted them both.
This time, however, Roy came back a third time, capturing Al’s lower lip in his mouth, nibbling it lightly. Al felt a burst of surprise and no small amount of arousal as Roy kept kissing him, working his mouth against Al’s, dipping his tongue inside to taste. Al gave a quiet whimper as he responded, tilting his head invitingly. As much as he wanted to give rein to his hunger, to kiss Roy back with all the pent-up wanting that had been collecting behind his self-control for the past few weeks, he held himself in check and let Roy have control. He didn’t want to take a chance on pushing too hard, taking too much, and scaring Roy off. This was the first time the older man had ever kissed him like this, with tangible desire coloring his affection, and he didn’t want it to end prematurely.
One of Roy’s hands slid into Al’s hair, cupping his head, and Al nearly melted. He let his hands rest lightly on Roy’s waist, thumbs rubbing through the fine cotton of his shirt. As Roy continued, one kiss blending seamlessly into the next as Roy left his mouth and came back for more at a better angle, Al felt himself beginning to harden and cursed inwardly, knowing it was over. Once Roy felt that, he’d realize how far they’d gone and back off again.
Not wanting to feel that rejection, he gently broke from the kiss and began to take a step back. Roy's hand tightened in his hair, the other dropping the cane to grip Al's hip, pulling him in again.
"Roy?" Al gasped, but when Roy's mouth found his again, hunger saturating the kiss, he just closed his eyes and kissed back, one hand creeping around Roy's body to pull him closer, the other twining into his dark hair.
It wasn't long before Al felt Roy begin to tremble in his arms and Mustang pulled back to pant, "Alphonse, I... need to sit down."
Al stood dumbfounded for a moment, completely disoriented, before he realized that Roy had dropped his cane and had no support but Al's body for his weak leg.
Al helped Roy to the couch, lowering him to the cushions. Roy sighed and grimaced as his leg no longer had to bear his weight, and Al ran a soothing hand through Mustang's hair. Roy looked up at Al, his eyes unfathomably dark. Mustang opened his mouth to speak and was cut off by the phone ringing. Al jerked around to glare at the phone as if he could will it to stop ringing. His hand still trembled a bit in Roy's hair and Mustang licked suddenly dry lips.
“We should probably get that,” Roy said hoarsely, and Al growled but dropped his hand and turned toward the phone.
“By ‘we,’ you mean ‘me,’” Al grumbled good-naturedly, walking stiffly across the room. Damn, but walking in this condition wasn’t comfortable. He snatched up the receiver and tried to keep from snapping when he said, “Hello?”
“Al!” Ed sounded downright cheerful and Al couldn’t help but wonder what his brother was hiding – unless he really was just happy that Al had answered the phone instead of Mustang.
“What is it, Brother?” Al asked, still attempting to keep his voice polite, normal, when all he could think of was the throbbing between his legs and Roy, flushed and kiss-tousled, on the couch behind him. Ed always did have the worst timing.
“Hey, is something wrong? You sound like you’re breathing hard.” Damn it. Damn it all to fucking hell. Since when had Ed acquired perception?
“No, nothing; I just ran to the phone is all.” Al heard Roy snicker behind him and shot the man a rude gesture without turning around. “Why are you calling?”
"Well, we thought we'd like to have a family dinner, all of us together, before the wedding and -- hey! Wait a second!"
Al hid a snicker when he heard Winry's voice in the background demanding, "Ed, give me the phone." There were sounds of a scuffle and a muffled "Ow!" from Ed, then Winry chirped, "Hi, Al! How're you doing?"
"Better than my brother, from the sounds of it," Al laughed.
"Well at the moment, that isn't saying much," Winry said, the grin audible in her voice. "Hey, listen, Al. Ed's too embarrassed to ask you himself --"
Al cupped a hand over his mouth and turned around so Roy could see the restrained laughter in his expression as he heard Ed protesting loudly in the background, "I AM NOT!"
"...but we're looking at building our own house and Ed, of course, wants to alchemize it. I'd rather build it -- I heard there are these new tools that run on power from gasoline or electricity, depending on what kind you get, and I really want to get my hands on one ... or more... but --"
"Would you get to the point, you freak!" Ed shouted from somewhere far enough away that he sounded like he was in a tin can.
"Anyway," Winry ground out, and Al could almost see her rolling her eyes, "I decided to let him have his way and alchemize it. But Al, could you please come help him? I refuse to have sex staring up at gargoyles on my ceiling."
"WINRY!" Ed protested, and Al snickered.
"So be on top," he couldn't resist saying and, across the room, Roy arched both eyebrows at him. Al grinned unrepentantly and Winry giggled.
"I usually am," she said mischievously and, despite himself, Al blushed.
“If you could come in the next couple of days, that would be good. We want to have the wedding and reception in the house if we can, and we still have to paint it after you boys get it built.” There was a slight pause before she said, “Roy’s welcome to come, too, of course.” Winry’s voice was serious and there was a notable lack of comment from Ed. Al could only suspect they’d discussed the matter beforehand and if Ed had put up any kind of fight – which he most likely had – Winry had effectively silenced him.
“All right,” Al answered, nodding though only Roy could see him. “I’ll let him know.” He noticed Roy’s puzzled expression and gave the man a small, reassuring smile.
“So we’ll see you in a couple of days?” Winry asked, sounding hopeful, and Al laughed.
“Sure,” he agreed. “Bye, Winry.”
“Bye, Al!”
The line went dead and Al dropped the handset back in the cradle, looking up to find Roy regarding him with a questioning expression. “That was Ed and Winry,” Al said needlessly as he walked over to the couch, sinking into the cushions beside Roy. His need had cooled during the interruption and he momentarily regretted having answered the phone, as he suspected Roy’s flare of passion had died down as well. “They want me to come help build their house. Brother and I will alchemize it, of course, but Winry was afraid of Ed’s decorating tastes.” He arched an eyebrow meaningfully. “Not that I blame her.”
Roy snorted softly. “No, nor I.”
“I’ll probably go in the next couple of days,” Al continued, feeling small as he said it as though he were betraying Roy. Quickly, he added, “They said you’re welcome to come with me, if you want to.” He wondered if he sounded as torn as he felt; torn between being hopeful that Roy would want to come –not only did Al want the man’s company but he felt uneasy about leaving Mustang alone – and being a little afraid of how awkward and terrible everything would be around Ed.
Roy smiled and Al thought he could read sympathy in Mustang’s expression. “Thank you,” he said slowly, nodding. “Tell Winry that I am grateful for the invitation – I’m sure she’s the one who extended it—” Roy grinned and Al flushed a little, but chuckled. “But I’m afraid the trip might be a little much for me right now.”
Al nodded, not sure if he was more disappointed or relieved. “I thought it might be,” he admitted. “I won’t be gone long, though – two days at the most – and I’ll get someone to come check on you.” He frowned, leaving unspoken his worry about the night between those two days, when Roy’s nightmares would be free to prey on the man without Al there as a buffer.
“I’ll be fine for one night,” Roy assured Al with a smile, sensing the younger man’s concern.
Al nodded, eyes narrowing thoughtfully, and looked down at his bandaged hand. "I'll ask Maria when I talk to her," he said. "After all, she's used to dealing with grumpy old men with canes." His eyes sparkled mischievously as he smirked up at Roy. Roy's eyebrow arched sharply but he smiled, amused, and leaned forward to steal a kiss.
Author: m.jules
Rating: Hard R for the whole thing
Summary: "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." Alphonse Elric helps Roy Mustang face life after more tragedy than one man should endure and finds something for himself in the process.
Pairing: mainly Roy/Al, with hints of and references to others. (Including, but not limited to, Ed/Winry, Al/Paninya, Gracia/Maes/Roy/Riza, and Al/Elicia.)
Disclaimer: Arakawa would KILL me. I bow low in supplication.
Author's Notes: This was meant to be "The Story That Proves In-Character Roy/Al Is Possible." Don't know if it worked. For my
7stages claim, prompt "New every morning." Thanks, darlings, to
cornerofmadness and evil_little_dog for your assistance, to everyone who cheers me on in the comments (because it DOES help), and to RainyFrog from MJ for confessing to reading this. ;)This is manga-verse, with every chapter yet released and scanlated as fair game for spoilers and many liberties taken as far as speculation about the future. If you want to know how Al got his body back, Yet Gentle and The Frost of Awakening can be considered my default answer to that question for now at least.
I am posting one chapter every Sunday night/Monday. Previous chapters can be found here.
Al was disquieted. There was no other word he could think of that so accurately described his agitation. Even in sleep the night before, Al had been restless and uneasy, squirming out of Roy's arms only to curl up against him again a moment later. He knew he was moping and he felt guilty that his mood was wearing off on Roy, making the older man tense and unhappy, but his mind insisted on playing devil's advocate and torturing him with all the reasons why Roy would never love him, not like that, and why this was never going to work.
He broke a plate washing the breakfast dishes and cursed when he sliced his palm on the jagged edge. From the living room, Roy called his name in a worried tone.
"It's nothing," Al called back, grumbling to himself as he left the sink to go find bandages in the bathroom. He wrapped his hand in gauze and a cloth bandage, then headed back into the kitchen. "I just broke a plate," he explained to Roy. "I'll fix it."
He clapped his hands together and bit back a cry of pain. That didn't feel good on his cut palm. Still, he touched the pieces of the plate, soldering them back together. When the blue light of transmutation faded, he heard Roy call to him. "Al, come here, please."
Alphonse complied, pausing in the doorway as he flexed his injured hand softly and winced at the pain. "Yes, Roy?"
"You cut yourself, didn't you? Come here. Let me see that." Roy held his hand out from his seated position on the couch, a botany book in his lap.
"It's fine," Al said, waving his hand. "Nothing to be done for it." He smiled grimly. "You haven't practiced enough healing alchemy for me to be your test subject just yet. Time for you to find a few more rose bushes."
Roy didn't bother answering, just set his book aside and reached for his cane, pushing himself to his feet. He made his way to Al, taking the young man's injured hand. Roy's thumb pressed lightly against the center of Al's palm through the bandage and Al hissed. "This one is going to take a while to heal," he murmured. "Call Ross and see if she has any herbs that will speed it up." Maria had worked for an herbalist during her exile in Xing. She still assisted Tai-Wen, the healing alchemist who was treating Havoc's legs.
"I should just call Tai-Wen," Al grumbled. "Too bad he's gone back to Xing for a month."
Roy gave him a sharp look and shifted his grip so that his fingers encircled Al's wrist. "You've been out of sorts today. Is something bothering you?"
"It's only half-past ten in the morning, Roy. I don't think that's enough time for you to be concerned." Al fidgeted, fighting not to tug his hand out of Roy's.
"It is when you've spent the last three hours acting more like your brother than yourself," Roy reasoned, a smile flirting with his eyes when Al's eyebrow twitched at the comparison. He could tell Al was working up to a vociferous protest -- Alphonse's rants over being compared to his brother often rivaled Edward's over being called short -- and tapped his thumb firmly over Al's pulse-point. "Now, would you like to tell me what's wrong?"
"No," Al said quietly, tantrum diverted. "It... it's something only time will cure." He flexed his hand, smiling humorlessly. A look of comprehension dawned on Roy's face and he nodded, understanding.
"I see," he murmured. "That may be true, but I am willing to venture that there may be ways to ease the process." He tugged on Al's wrist, pulling the boy close enough that he could kiss Al softly.
The brush of lips was familiar by now, comforting, and Al returned it with the same gentle affection he always did. The second brush was less expected but not completely unusual. On occasion, Roy would draw out their kisses, teasing Al with soft lips and exploring tongue, but he would always pull away at the first spark of real heat between them. Al always let him, knowing that Roy was still limping as much emotionally as he was physically. The man had lost two of his lovers to death and the third to the ghosts and shadows that haunted them both.
This time, however, Roy came back a third time, capturing Al’s lower lip in his mouth, nibbling it lightly. Al felt a burst of surprise and no small amount of arousal as Roy kept kissing him, working his mouth against Al’s, dipping his tongue inside to taste. Al gave a quiet whimper as he responded, tilting his head invitingly. As much as he wanted to give rein to his hunger, to kiss Roy back with all the pent-up wanting that had been collecting behind his self-control for the past few weeks, he held himself in check and let Roy have control. He didn’t want to take a chance on pushing too hard, taking too much, and scaring Roy off. This was the first time the older man had ever kissed him like this, with tangible desire coloring his affection, and he didn’t want it to end prematurely.
One of Roy’s hands slid into Al’s hair, cupping his head, and Al nearly melted. He let his hands rest lightly on Roy’s waist, thumbs rubbing through the fine cotton of his shirt. As Roy continued, one kiss blending seamlessly into the next as Roy left his mouth and came back for more at a better angle, Al felt himself beginning to harden and cursed inwardly, knowing it was over. Once Roy felt that, he’d realize how far they’d gone and back off again.
Not wanting to feel that rejection, he gently broke from the kiss and began to take a step back. Roy's hand tightened in his hair, the other dropping the cane to grip Al's hip, pulling him in again.
"Roy?" Al gasped, but when Roy's mouth found his again, hunger saturating the kiss, he just closed his eyes and kissed back, one hand creeping around Roy's body to pull him closer, the other twining into his dark hair.
It wasn't long before Al felt Roy begin to tremble in his arms and Mustang pulled back to pant, "Alphonse, I... need to sit down."
Al stood dumbfounded for a moment, completely disoriented, before he realized that Roy had dropped his cane and had no support but Al's body for his weak leg.
Al helped Roy to the couch, lowering him to the cushions. Roy sighed and grimaced as his leg no longer had to bear his weight, and Al ran a soothing hand through Mustang's hair. Roy looked up at Al, his eyes unfathomably dark. Mustang opened his mouth to speak and was cut off by the phone ringing. Al jerked around to glare at the phone as if he could will it to stop ringing. His hand still trembled a bit in Roy's hair and Mustang licked suddenly dry lips.
“We should probably get that,” Roy said hoarsely, and Al growled but dropped his hand and turned toward the phone.
“By ‘we,’ you mean ‘me,’” Al grumbled good-naturedly, walking stiffly across the room. Damn, but walking in this condition wasn’t comfortable. He snatched up the receiver and tried to keep from snapping when he said, “Hello?”
“Al!” Ed sounded downright cheerful and Al couldn’t help but wonder what his brother was hiding – unless he really was just happy that Al had answered the phone instead of Mustang.
“What is it, Brother?” Al asked, still attempting to keep his voice polite, normal, when all he could think of was the throbbing between his legs and Roy, flushed and kiss-tousled, on the couch behind him. Ed always did have the worst timing.
“Hey, is something wrong? You sound like you’re breathing hard.” Damn it. Damn it all to fucking hell. Since when had Ed acquired perception?
“No, nothing; I just ran to the phone is all.” Al heard Roy snicker behind him and shot the man a rude gesture without turning around. “Why are you calling?”
"Well, we thought we'd like to have a family dinner, all of us together, before the wedding and -- hey! Wait a second!"
Al hid a snicker when he heard Winry's voice in the background demanding, "Ed, give me the phone." There were sounds of a scuffle and a muffled "Ow!" from Ed, then Winry chirped, "Hi, Al! How're you doing?"
"Better than my brother, from the sounds of it," Al laughed.
"Well at the moment, that isn't saying much," Winry said, the grin audible in her voice. "Hey, listen, Al. Ed's too embarrassed to ask you himself --"
Al cupped a hand over his mouth and turned around so Roy could see the restrained laughter in his expression as he heard Ed protesting loudly in the background, "I AM NOT!"
"...but we're looking at building our own house and Ed, of course, wants to alchemize it. I'd rather build it -- I heard there are these new tools that run on power from gasoline or electricity, depending on what kind you get, and I really want to get my hands on one ... or more... but --"
"Would you get to the point, you freak!" Ed shouted from somewhere far enough away that he sounded like he was in a tin can.
"Anyway," Winry ground out, and Al could almost see her rolling her eyes, "I decided to let him have his way and alchemize it. But Al, could you please come help him? I refuse to have sex staring up at gargoyles on my ceiling."
"WINRY!" Ed protested, and Al snickered.
"So be on top," he couldn't resist saying and, across the room, Roy arched both eyebrows at him. Al grinned unrepentantly and Winry giggled.
"I usually am," she said mischievously and, despite himself, Al blushed.
“If you could come in the next couple of days, that would be good. We want to have the wedding and reception in the house if we can, and we still have to paint it after you boys get it built.” There was a slight pause before she said, “Roy’s welcome to come, too, of course.” Winry’s voice was serious and there was a notable lack of comment from Ed. Al could only suspect they’d discussed the matter beforehand and if Ed had put up any kind of fight – which he most likely had – Winry had effectively silenced him.
“All right,” Al answered, nodding though only Roy could see him. “I’ll let him know.” He noticed Roy’s puzzled expression and gave the man a small, reassuring smile.
“So we’ll see you in a couple of days?” Winry asked, sounding hopeful, and Al laughed.
“Sure,” he agreed. “Bye, Winry.”
“Bye, Al!”
The line went dead and Al dropped the handset back in the cradle, looking up to find Roy regarding him with a questioning expression. “That was Ed and Winry,” Al said needlessly as he walked over to the couch, sinking into the cushions beside Roy. His need had cooled during the interruption and he momentarily regretted having answered the phone, as he suspected Roy’s flare of passion had died down as well. “They want me to come help build their house. Brother and I will alchemize it, of course, but Winry was afraid of Ed’s decorating tastes.” He arched an eyebrow meaningfully. “Not that I blame her.”
Roy snorted softly. “No, nor I.”
“I’ll probably go in the next couple of days,” Al continued, feeling small as he said it as though he were betraying Roy. Quickly, he added, “They said you’re welcome to come with me, if you want to.” He wondered if he sounded as torn as he felt; torn between being hopeful that Roy would want to come –not only did Al want the man’s company but he felt uneasy about leaving Mustang alone – and being a little afraid of how awkward and terrible everything would be around Ed.
Roy smiled and Al thought he could read sympathy in Mustang’s expression. “Thank you,” he said slowly, nodding. “Tell Winry that I am grateful for the invitation – I’m sure she’s the one who extended it—” Roy grinned and Al flushed a little, but chuckled. “But I’m afraid the trip might be a little much for me right now.”
Al nodded, not sure if he was more disappointed or relieved. “I thought it might be,” he admitted. “I won’t be gone long, though – two days at the most – and I’ll get someone to come check on you.” He frowned, leaving unspoken his worry about the night between those two days, when Roy’s nightmares would be free to prey on the man without Al there as a buffer.
“I’ll be fine for one night,” Roy assured Al with a smile, sensing the younger man’s concern.
Al nodded, eyes narrowing thoughtfully, and looked down at his bandaged hand. "I'll ask Maria when I talk to her," he said. "After all, she's used to dealing with grumpy old men with canes." His eyes sparkled mischievously as he smirked up at Roy. Roy's eyebrow arched sharply but he smiled, amused, and leaned forward to steal a kiss.
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