Work Text:
Roy had spent so much of his military career with the face of a new recruit. It wasn’t an uncommon thing in the military, after all, it was hard to maintain relationships when moving around the country, fighting wars, and climbing the ranks. It usually wasn’t until they reached a higher rank and were moving around less when soldier found their soulmates. That is, if they hadn’t already found them before enlisting.
Roy was unusual, being well into his thirties, a Major General, and still baby faced. Most Generals were married, had their nuclear households, and were aging nicely. Many of them were even to the point of being old and gray. Not Mustang.
People theorized that why he dated so much, to find his soulmate. He was almost surprised nobody had realized it was the same handful of girls. That suited him fine. He supposed his baby face gave them less reason to give scrutiny to his dating habits. The less people pried the better off he would be.
What they didn't know was that he found his first gray hair today.
Casting a glance over his shoulder, seeing no occupied stalls, he turned back towards the mirror, shocked. It wasn’t even the gray hair itself. He had a highly stressful career. It had a habit of aging men quickly.
The hair was fine, it was the implication that threw him.
He was aging.
He didn’t know why.
He hadn’t been in a true romantic relationship in years. If it was an ex surely he would have noticed signs of aging before this. There wasn’t even anyone he had added to his team in the past ten or so years. The Elrics had a decade ago.
It definitely wasn’t another general. Aside from Olivier (who was completely out of the question), they were all happily married, and had been aging for longer than it took for a gray hair to show.
So who was it?
He gave the offending hair a frustrated look before ruffling his fingers through his hair, a touch more aggressively than truly necessary.
Straightening up, he gave the mirror one last offended look before schooling his expression. A public restroom wasn’t the place for such a crisis.
***
Roy forcefully shoved the issue to the back of his mind for the duration of the workday. That, in turn, forced him to occupy his mind otherwise, least he open that can of worms again. He couldn’t worry about a hair out of place, he had paperwork to finish.
He found he did a better job at shoving his thoughts away than he realized when he stepped from his inner office to find the outer office abandoned, save Hawkeye.
She stood waiting for him, as if sensing he was finishing up for the night.
Roy gave her a critical glance over. She was just as young as ever. He wouldn’t be surprised if Hawkeye rejected romance and lived to 100 just as young and beautiful as she had always been.
When they’d been younger, Roy wouldn’t have been surprised to discover they’d been aging by each others side. While not common, it wasn’t unheard of for soulmates to be platonic. Hawkeye was a major grounding point for him, and he quite literally trusted her with his life.
Besides, if they were soul mates, they would have noticed by now, having been such key factors in each other’s lives for so long.
That still left the question at hand.
“Are you feeling well, Sir?” She asked, her gaze just as critical as he was sure his had been before. He briefly wondered if she’d noticed him beginning to age. He was sure she did. Nothing got past her. That didn’t seem to be what she was looking for, at any rate.
“As fine as ever, Lieutenant Colonel,” He said with a smirk. “What gave you the impression otherwise?”
“It’s six, Sir.” Roy’s smile dropped. “The others have already left. I expect they’re waiting on you.”
Talk about burying his problems.
“It seems my paperwork was particularly interesting today.”
Riza did not look convinced.
***
As Riza had predicted, their regular corner of the pub was already occupied by the remainder of his team. By the sounds of it, they were already a couple drinks in.
Edward and Havoc were laughing far too loudly at something while Fuery looked mortified. Roy suspected the two were already into the hard liquor. Taking a seat next to the younger of the two, confirmed that quite quickly.
Ed slung his arm around Roy’s shoulders, grinning drunkenly. “Hey Bastard! Nice of you to join us!” Lose track of time trying to look busy?”
Roy looked over at Ed, and was surprised to find his eyes clear and focused, a stark contrast to his demeanor.
“Some of us actually do our paperwork instead of finding new and creative ways of blowing it up.”
“It’s called research. Science can’t progress if you stick to the same methods. Sometimes research is just a well documented explosion or two.”
“I’ll believe that when I actually see the documentation.”
“You mean you can read? I was beginning to think you’re job was to sit around and look pretty.”
Roy blinked, a lot, more than was probably necessary if he was being honesty. Did he just hear that right?
By the time his mind seemed to catch up with his surroundings again, Breda was barking with laughter at something Havoc had said.
Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Ed give him a considering look, but when Roy turned towards him, the look was gone. The arm however, was not.
Roy took a moment to look over his subordinates features.
At twenty-two, Ed certainly was handsome. Ed’s father had been too, and Roy didn’t know for sure, but he suspected his mother had been beautiful. He bore a great resemblance to his father, but with softer, less harsh edges, likely coming from his mother. Ed wouldn’t grow into the bold stature that Hoenheim possessed, but he’d certainly developed since he’d enlisted.
Roy frowned then. How old did Ed look?
He looked to the rest of his team. They all looked the same as they always had. Riza, Fuery, and Breda all looked eighteen, though Breda looked a few years older with thanks to his beard. Jean had started aging around six years ago, when he had finally started dating Rebecca. He’d been ecstatic to make that discovery, and talked about it for an entire week. Falman showed his age, even after losing his wife before enlisting.
He wasn’t surprised by their physical ages. He’d known them all for years. If he’d been aging alongside one of them, he definitely would have noticed.
At some point while Roy was stuck in his head, Ed had taken notice, and ordered a drink, that was currently being set in front of him.
Roy did tend to drink when out with his team, but was still surprised at the cocktail in front of him.
“You seem a little stuck in your head. Care to join us?” Ed laughed. Roy hadn’t even realized the arm was gone, but he could feel the firm pressure of steel against his leg.
Roy frowned, taking a sip, appreciating the bite of bourbon.
“It seemed to be much better company in there.”
Ed laughed, delivering an elbow to the ribs, though lacking any venom.
***
Roy spent a good deal of the evening listening to the conversation without really partaking. A few more drinks appeared in front of him. After first two, he noticed the lack of bourbon.
Next to him, Ed seemed to be putting them away considerably well for someone missing quite a deal of body mass. Metal fingers clinked soothingly on the glass in Ed’s hands.
His team talked about everything it seemed, while Roy was lulled into a hazy cloud of content. Ed’s leg was still against his, and a flesh arm was propped against his shoulder as the owner spoke enthusiastically, updating the team on Al’s relationship with Mei. They’d recently discovered they were both aging.
Roy was genuinely happy for the pair. Al and Mei were an adorable couple, even if the desert between them acted as quite a barrier from time to time. Though they seemed to do well, making that work. Roy never doubted that they would.
After some time Riza stood, stretching. Roy looked at the time, surprised to find it well after midnight. The others began to shuffle out as well, and Roy fished his wallet from his pocket to go pay his tab. Metal fingers plinked the wallet right out of his hand.
Ed held up the wallet like a victory, grinning. “I got it covered!”
Roy watched his wallet go up, flip in midair, and disappear behind metal, before being unceremoniously shoved into Ed’s uniform pockets. Great.
Roy collected their coats, waiting for Ed to finish up. He walked up to Roy with a satisfied smile, accepting his coat.
They walked together quietly for a few moments, both living in the same direction from the pub. Ed was very steady on his feet, leading Roy to wonder if Ed had switched over to virgin drinks as well.
Ed was being uncharacteristically quiet, and each step made Roy more nervous.
“I can hear you thinking,” Roy eventually said.
Ed just laughed, a tinge nervous. “Yeah.”
“Might I ask?”
A deep sigh came from beside him and Roy turned to look. Ed had stopped walking and Roy moved to stand in front of him.
“I haven't stopped. I noticed it when Al started to. By the time Mei reached 18 I was already a couple years ahead of him.”
Roy frowned at that. He had wondered earlier if Ed was aging, and was pleased to discover he had been right.
… But if Ed was aging that meant he'd found his soulmate…
Ed looked at him nervously, seemingly ready to turn and run if the situation called for it.
“I…” Roy started slowly, processing that information. “I realized today that I had begun to age. Likely for the past couple years.”
Ed's laughter certainly wasn't what he'd expected. “I had wondered about that!”
“Wait, you'd noticed?”
“Well, kind of. I mean I thought you looked different than I remembered as a kid. But I could have chalked that up to faulty memory. Then last week I noticed the gray hair.”
Roy's hands flew to his hair indignantly. “It's only one!”
“That you've noticed.”
“I have a very perceptive eye.”
“Apparently not enough to catch yourself aging over the past four years.”
“It’s subtle. Not that you would know the meaning!”
“Well considering I figured it out before you I wonder about that.”
Roy realized then that they'd slowly gotten closer while they'd been bickering, and there was only inches between them.
“And you're positive?” Roy said quietly, not even sure that Ed had heard him.
“Yeah.” It was hardly more than a whisper but it seemed to be all that Roy needed to open the floodgates.
He bridged that last couple inches, gently testing the waters with a tentative kiss. Ed responded enthusiastically, fisting his hands into Roy's jacket, and deepening the kiss.
Roy took that as permission, wrapping Ed into his arms, fisting one of his hands into that magnificent golden hair.
Roy prodded experimentally, asking for permission. Ed hummed with pleasure, allowing Roy access. He tasted like lemonade, with any hint of alcohol a long distance memory.
Roy pulled back smiling, Ed's hands shifting rest on his hips. “You planned this.”
To Ed's credit, he actually pulled off a pretty good innocent face, asking, “What gave you that idea?”
“Virgin cocktails.”
Ed just raised an eyebrow. He'd been learning too many tricks.
“You wanted me sober.”
Ed grinned, tightening his hold and pulling Roy in by the hips. “Guilty.”
Ed had been around him too much, had picked up too many tricks. That confident smirk and pleased glint in his eye would be the death of him.
Roy pulled him back in, kissing him roughly. One hand remained fisted in Ed's hair while the other skimmed along Ed's lower back teasingly. The hands on his hips pulled him in tighter. Roy dropped his hand those last couple inches, firmly cupping Ed's ass.
Ed's groan was sinful, and Roy couldn't help responding in kind.
They really needed to relocate.
“My house is nearby,” Roy gasped.
Ed nodded, cheeks tinged pink in the dim light of the night.
“Please.”
Roy couldn't say that he kept his hands to himself for the remainder of that walk.