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Retch! Edward groaned as his stomach contracted painfully, losing what little remained of his breakfast to the toilet. Al tried to pat his back, but it ended up being more of a soft grazing due to Al having to sit in the doorway of the cupboard sized bathroom, his large body unable to even fit through the door. Edward had never hated a hotel bathroom so much, wanting nothing more than for Al to rub his back or hold his hair like he usually did when he was sick.
Retch! Edward was caught off guard, barely managing to turn his head in time to aim the stomach bile into the toilet. He puked bile up a few more times, his throat burning and a familiar gross taste in his mouth. Ed would have brushed his teeth immediately to rid himself of the taste if he didn't think that the toothpaste might make him puke again.
Ed rested his sweaty forehead against the porcelain bowl, appreciating the coolness of it against his feverish skin. Ed breathed between harsh dry heaves that made him feel like his stomach was trying to flip itself upside down, his abdomen cramping with the strain while Al continued to try to comfort his brother. Ed weakly reached up an arm and flushed the toilet, not moving for a few seconds before finally pushing himself up off the bathroom floor on wobbly legs.
"I..Al..I wanna go. I wanna leave." Ed choked out from his hoarse throat, hating how small and weak he sounded.
"Ok, brother. I'll call the Colonel and update him." Ed was too tired to muster a response to that, instead opting to stumble to the bed and worm himself underneath the scratchy sheets. Al's tinny voice sounded a million miles away as he spoke into the phone with as hushed a tone as he could muster. Ed imagined what the Colonel was saying about him right now, probably calling Ed an idiot for getting sick, he figured. Not that it was his fault he got sick. Ed didn't even know where he could have picked up the sickness from. He was fine when they arrived into the eastern town yesterday, having arrived to investigate a rumour about a philosopher's stone that ended up being false, and then suddenly he was puking his guts out after breakfast today.
"The Colonel said that Ms. Hawkeye is coming to pick us up, she'll be here in an hour." Ed let out a small painful snort at Al's formality, knowing that no matter how many times Hawkeye insisted he didn't have to, he still addressed her by 'Ms.'.
"Brother?" Ed tried to refocus, realizing that he had probably missed Alphonse asking him a question.
"Sorry, didn't hear you. What was that?"
"I said Ms. Hawkeye will be here in a hour."
"Oh, yeah. I heard that, sorry. That's fine." Ed mumbled out, fighting against his rapidly drooping eyes. He lost the battle and slid into blissful unconsciousness.
"Brother? Brother, wake up." Ed cracked his eyes open to Al shaking him gently, letting out a confused, "Hmm?", in response.
"Ms. Hawkeye is here." Edward blinked the sleep from his eyes and slowly sat up with the help of his brother, taking in the familiar sight of the blond Lieutenant standing by the door. She simply flashed a sympathetic smile at him when their eyes met and didn't say anything as Ed just wrapped his arms around his brother's neck, a silent plea to be carried. Edward barely felt himself being lifted into his brother's arms, his brain foggy from both sleep and sickness.
Ed was gently placed in the car and helped into a position where his head rested on Al's lap, cushioned from the hard metal by what Edward guessed was probably Hawkeye's coat, given the blue colour and the fact that it smelled strongly of the older alpha. He instinctually burrowed into the familiar scent of tea and vanilla that had an undercurrent of sharpness to it that Ed had never been able to place, but was uniquely Hawkeye. Edward lost himself in the soothing smell; wishing, not for the first time, that he could still smell Al. Ed drifted in and out of conciousness, only catching snippets of hushed conversation between Hawkeye and Al until they arrived at the dorms.
Hawkeye pulled in and shot a worried look over her shoulder at Ed's pale complexion. "Are you sure you two will be ok?" She tentatively asked, though the question was more directed at Al. She didn't need to say it for them both to understand her real question 'Can you handle taking care of your brother on your own?' Ed would have piped up in defense of Al's abilities if he wasn't so tired and groggy. Al understood that the question came from a place of concern rather than malice and answered with a simple, "Yes, thank you, Ms. Hawkeye.", which seemed to satisfy the Lieutenant even if she still shot worried looks at Ed as Al carried him up the stairs to their dorm room.
Ed was soon deposited on the bed that was only slightly softer than their hotel one had been, shivering as Al tucked him in under the plain white threadbare blankets.
"I'll see if I can find some extra blankets." Came the voice of the Lieutenant who had followed them up to the room. Hawkeye draped her coat over Ed as a temporary substitute in the meantime and disappeared to find the aforementioned blankets.
Ed closed his eyes for what felt like a second and woke up to Hawkeye's soothing scent no longer close to him and Al tucking more blankets around him that eased off most of the chills. Edward pathetically whimpered, wanting to once again bury himself in the Lieutenant's comforting scent. A whimper that Hawkeye misinterpreted and responded to with gently carding her hand through his hair.
"Don't hesitate to call me or the Colonel if you need anything ok?" Hawkeye threw over her shoulder as she opened the door, staying in the doorway until Al gave her an affirmative nod, to which she turned and closed the door, leaving the brothers in silence.
Edward drifted in and out, raggedly breathing from exhaustion. Alphonse had delicately balanced himself on a chair that was far too small for him at Ed's bedside, occasionally pressing cold rags to his brow that Ed didn't remember Al grabbing. Ed was wide awake but still groggy by the time supper rolled around. Al pulled him into a sitting position and helped him eat some chicken noodle soup that, according to Al, Hughes had come over with earlier as a gift from Gracia.
It wasn't even a minute after he had consumed the delicious concoction that he felt the familiar lurching of his stomach, prompting him to bolt to the bathroom with Al's help to lose another meal to the toilet. Edward clutched his aching stomach as he violently retched into the porcelain; thankful that their dorm bathroom was bigger than their hotel's had been so Al could hold his hair from his face and rub his back, though it made the bathroom almost impossible to move around in. Edward once again found himself in the uncomfortable position of trying to catch his breath while leaning against the toilet like a lifeline. Alphonse rubbed his back but said nothing as Ed slowly peeled his face off the toilet seat, allowing himself to be helped back into bed.
"I'll call the Colonel tomorrow, see if he can get you an appointment with a doctor."
"No, no, Al. No doctors." How weakly Ed protested despite his hatred of doctors was an argument for why he should definitely see one. "I'm fine.", he continued, though he honestly felt anything but.
"But-"
"It's just a bug." Ed insisted, cutting off his brother's protests. "It'll probably pass in a day or so." Ed declared resolutely despite not having much confidence in his sickness passing quickly.
"Fine." Al relented, knowing his brother would continue to be stubborn. "But if you keep puking up everything you eat I'm calling Colonel Mustang. No complaints. Deal?" Al held out his hand and Ed reluctantly pulled his arm out to shake Al's, shivering when the air of the room rushed into his warm confines as a result.
"Deal." Edward weakly mumbled out, his eyes once again heavy with sleep.
"Sleep well, brother. I'll be here." Al punctuated his statement with a cool metal hand to his forehead, the last thing Ed remembered before he once again slipped into unconsciousness.
Roy pinched the ridge of his nose as he fought the childish urge to slam the phone into the receiver. Instead he reigned in his frustration and calmly bid goodbye to Alphonse, softly setting the phone back in place. Riza had already left once he'd told her that Edward had gotten sick, reading the plea in Roy's eyes to make sure they got home ok that he didn't even know was there. But Roy was well used to Riza being able to read him like a children's book, both of them having developed the ability to perfectly understand one another without the use of words a long time ago. Roy glanced up to see Breda, Falman, and Fuery pretending to be working, and not doing a very good job of it, their eyes flitting up to look at him every few seconds. It was clear they wanted to know why the Lieutenant had left in such a hurry; Roy sighed and alleviated their confusion with a simple sentence.
"Edward is sick." A ripple of worried scents washed over him, which made it even harder to contain his own. "Al said that he's puked, and he's sweating a lot.", Roy continued, "He's sleeping right now." Their worried scents still permeated the room, but had significantly decreased in intensity. "He'll be fine." Roy added, though his instincts screamed otherwise.
Havoc walked in from his smoke break at that moment and immediately stopped dead at both the atmosphere and scents in the office. "What happened?" The simple question prompted the rest of the team from their uncharacteristic silence to stumble over each other to give him an answer (well, Fuery and Breda stumbled over each other, Falman did as he usually does and hung back, staying silent).
"Ah, so the Chief's sick huh? That sucks." Havoc said, pulling a sympathetic face. "He's tough, he'll pull through." Everyone perked up a bit as Havoc confidently declared what they had all been repeating as a mantra in their minds to ease their worries.
"What I'm really worried about is us," Havoc continued, his tone turning teasing, "if we don't start airing out the office soon, the Boss here is gonna suffocate us with his parental pheromones." Havoc jabbed at Roy, making a show of opening the rickety windows of the office.
"I don't let off parental pheromones." Roy bit back, though they all knew that wasn't true. They had smelled them enough times to know that he definitely did, in fact, let off a lot of parental pheromones. Most of them valued their jobs too much to say anything though. Except Havoc, apparently.
"Oh please, we all know you do,-"
"Don't rope us into this." Fuery's annoyed tone quickly cut through Havoc's train of thought.
"Yeah, you're on your own Havoc." Breda added, to which Falman just nodded.
Unphased by his teammates lack of support, Havoc continued, "We can all smell it, especially after Chief comes by. We all know you want to do nothing but rub your scent all over him." Roy's responding growl, as he begrudgingly had to admit, had no real bite behind it, because damn if Roy didn't want to do exactly what Havoc described. Havoc smirked because he too, despite not being an omega himself, knew well what Roy's instincts screamed at him to do.
"Admit it Boss. You want to cuddle the pup in your arms like a little baby." He punctuated his point by making a faux-rocking motion with his arms. "You want to hug him, and kiss him. And pull him into your lap to brea-"
"Havoc." Roy's clipped tone cut Havoc off. "Get back to work." Roy's command left no room for argument, but Havoc pushed his luck as he always did.
"Why? Am I hitting a nerve Boss?" Havoc asked innocently, despite knowing damn well that he was. "What part bothered you? Was it the pup thing? The cuddling? The breas-"
"Havoc, this is one of my nice shirts." Roy hissed the statement out as he quickly fished a towel from the bottom drawer of his desk that he kept in case of rain. Roy opened his shirt halfway to shove the towel against his leaking nipples, hoping to prevent his shirt from staining. Because this was one of his nice shirts. Roy cursed, he should have known better to than to wear a nice shirt while he was in heat, but he had a meeting with a General today that was not a fan of his and had wanted to look his best. Roy shot daggers at Havoc who was sending him a self-satisfied smirk from where he was now seated at his desk. If his shirt ended up with milk stains on it, than Roy swore he was going to kill Havoc. Damn idiot knew that his jabs would cause Roy's omega instincts would kick in.
Roy huffed and pushed the towel more firmly against his chest, checking the time to see that he had thirty minutes before his appointment with the General. Roy cursed Havoc under his breath and hoped that the flow of milk would at least slow by then. Roy did his paperwork in the meantime, as much as he hated paperwork, it wasn't like he could do much else while stuck with a towel pressed to his leaking nipples. It had taken a lot for Roy to get to the point where he even so much as discussed his omega status with anyone but Madame Christmas, Hughes, or Riza, so anyone but those on his team seeing him in such a vulnerable position was completely out of the question.
His meeting with the General came way too soon for his liking. Roy almost jumped as he noticed he already only had five minutes before the meeting. With a few last dabs to his chest, he stuffed the towel back into its usual place and buttoned up his shirt. Roy grabbed some extra cologne from his desk and sprayed, hoping to sufficiently cover the milk scent; he replaced his scent blocker patch too for good measure.
"Reel it in team." At Roy's order, Breda too replaced his scent blocker patch and breathed deeply as he always did to try to control his scent. Fuery's shoulders sagged as he tried to force himself to relax and reign his scent in. Even Havoc and Falman, despite being betas, and therefore having an easier time controlling their pheromones, had to concentrate to will themselves to stop emitting them. A rapid knocking came at the door and Roy breathed out another sigh, now just hoping that he could get through this meeting without any embarrassing hiccups.
Sending one last glare at Havoc to remind him that if he leaked, it was Havoc's head on the chopping block, Roy called out to the awaiting General.
"Come in."
Two days later
Retch! Edward once again found himself emptying his breakfast into the toilet, his newfound dizziness not helping with the nausea swirling up a storm in his stomach. Everything swirled around him as he purged what remained of the little he'd eaten, feeling like he was trying to throw up his stomach along with it. Edward felt like he was burning, his clothes soaked through with sweat.
Retch! Edward clutched the toilet as he violent gagged some stomach bile out, which made him wince as it the motion made his already sore throat feel raw. Edward held his stomach as he once again puked up bile, feeling sore all over and dizzier than ever. This was already his third time doing this today, the first having been at around two a.m. when his stomach had somehow found more for him to puke up. The second after some plain eggs and toast that Al had grabbed from Eastern Command's cafeteria for him, not even making it halfway through before turning as green as grass and bolting to the bathroom. This third time being after he had tried to down a piece of plain toast, and, well, you can guess how successful he was.
Once he was sure Ed was done, Alphonse let him slide down to press as much of his burning skin against the cool tile floor of the bathroom as he could.
"I'm going to call the Colonel. You need to see a doctor." Al stated as he left his brother where he was to call the Colonel, the lack of protest from Ed making him all the more sure of his decision. Ed had somehow managed to convince him to hold off calling the Colonel yesterday despite spending most of it either emptying his guts into the toilet or violently shivering in bed, but there was no more Ed could say now that could convince Al not to call.
Roy called Dr. Knox as soon as he got off the phone with Alphonse, his heart squeezing as Al stumbled through an explanation of his brother's symptoms. Riza sympathetically glanced over at him, fighting the urge to wrap her arms around him to comfort him upon smelling the omega's distressed scent. She pushed the instinct down, knowing Roy would never allow that in a professional setting, even if it was just around their team. To her surprise Roy tentatively held his hand out to her, she responded to his silent plea and gently took his hand in hers, squeezing it to help ground him. Roy squeezed back and shot her an appreciative smile, slowly calming from the contact.
Then of course Havoc had to barge in. They quickly separated their hands, but Havoc, who seemed especially intent on digging his own grave today, couldn't resist a jab at their expense.
"Oh, how sweet." He teased, placing the report in his hand onto the desk. "Look at you two love birds holding hands." Havoc only laughed harder as Roy's face turned the colour of Ed's jacket. Roy tried to play off his embarrassment by just rolling his eyes at Havoc's antics.
"You should see your face Boss!" Havoc wiped a fake tear from his eye and turned to Riza. "You should have seen him the other day Lieutenant. He started leaking as soon as I mentioned breastf-"
"Damn it Havoc!" Roy hurredly undid his buttons and grabbed the towel, hissing as he pressed it to his now aching nipples. "If this shirt gets ruined, I'm gonna kill you!"
Havoc just guffawed harder at his expense.
"Get out, Havoc."
"What? I was simply telling the Lieutenant what happened."
"I won't give you another warning."
"Fine, fine, I know when I'm not welcome." Havoc raised his hands in mock surrender and walked out of the Colonel's office. Riza shot Roy an 'I'll be right back' look and followed after Havoc, closing the door behind her to shield him from his teammates curious stares.
Riza soon returned with another towel and two hot water bottles, and instructed Roy to lay on the couch. She carefully wrapped the bottles up in the towel and placed the towel so the bottles were against Roy's sore nipples. This prompted Roy to let out a sigh of relief at the sensation, the heat helping to abate the tenderness in his chest. Roy pressed the other towel against his chest every so often to soak up the dripping milk, listening to the sound of Riza's pen against paper as she signed documents from where she sat on the couch beside him. Roy tried to purge his instincts and Edward from his mind, trying to slow the flow of milk with will alone. And it worked, it completely worked, Roy successfully ignored his stupid omega instincts and all thoughts that even had to do with breastfeeding.
Which was why he found himself looking at breastfeeding blankets. Well, they weren't breastfeeding blankets per say, they were just blankets that fastened around the neck, and were exceptionally soft and comfortable, perfectly made to be soothing to both pup and mother- and ok, maybe they were definitely breastfeeding blankets.
Roy had planned to drive right by the store, he really had. He was at the red light and had spotted a blanket in the window of the store, and that was it. Now he was standing in an omega maternity store, overwhelmed by the amount of options.
"Excuse me sir? Can I help you with anything?" A high pitched female voice asked and Roy turned to see an older woman with short brown hair and a kind smile, and a name tag that read Hello! My name is Poppy :) pinned to her sunshine yellow dress.
Yeah, Roy thought, do you have any advice for fighting against your instincts to breastfeed a twelve year old who is currently really sick and you're also in heat? A pup who is not yours but your instincts constantly scream at you to rub your scent into his hair and claim him as your pup, and you're afraid that the intimacy and trust involved in breastfeeding may provoke you to do just that. And also this pup kind of completely hates your guts and would never ever let you feed him under any circumstances unless you somehow miraculously managed to force him into submission, something which he would never trust you again and maybe never even so much as look your way after.
But Roy didn't say any of that, instead pulling a slightly darker shade of red than Ed's jacket blanket that was perfectly soft and warm with an intricate black swirl pattern that resembled alchemical arrays that Roy knew Edward would love, even if he never said as much, and holding it up to Poppy.
"How much is this?"
"Looks like it's a bad case of the flu, but the fact he's not keeping anything down is worrying me." Dr. Knox said in a hushed tone after finishing his examination of Edward. "Due to his absent limbs, he is missing significant portion of his body, that, coupled with the stress of the automail on his body, Edward could be more susceptible to dehydration than other children his age." Dr. Knox rubbed his chin as he posited.
"I'll give him some flu medications for now, but if he gets worse I suggest you breastfeed him." Dr. Knox flatly stated like he was discussing the weather while Roy tried not to choke on his own spit.
"He would never let me do that."
"He will if it means he won't die of thirst or starvation, whichever comes first."
Roy opened his mouth to bite back and promptly closed it, not really having a response to that. The thought of Ed dying made Roy's heart stop in his chest. He knew he couldn't let that happen. Dr. Knox slipped back inside the dorm to give Ed his meds, leaving Roy and Riza to process what he'd said. Riza almost crooned at the idea of Roy breastfeeding Ed, gently nursing him back to health, Riza standing guard over them, keeping the vulnerable omega and pup sa-
"You're not helping Riza." Roy groaned out his spot leaning against the wall, his hands covering his face in embarrassment as obvious wet marks started to form around his nipples. Riza realized she'd unintentionally been letting out pheromones and uttered a quick, "Sorry, sir.", trying to reign them in.
"What?!" Ed couldn't believe what he'd just heard Dr. Knox suggest to him. "Absolutely not! No way!", he declared as best as he could despite his raw throat, face turning red all the way up to his ears. "There's no way I'm letting that bastard Colonel do...that, to me."
"It's perfectly normal Edward, lots of pups your age are still dependent on their mothers milk."
"Mustang is not my-"
"I know." Dr. Knox curtly cut him off. "You can ask any omega that is lactating for milk if you wish. I just simply thought you would prefer it be Mustang since he's the closest omega to you. An omega's milk might be the only thing you can have without puking."
Edward couldn't formulate a response both because he couldn't really argue with that and because he was already exhausted from the checkup.
"Get some rest," Dr. Knox said as he made his way out the door, adding, "and think over what I suggested.", before clicking the door shut behind him. Ed was definitely not going to think over what he suggested, absolutely not. Because never in a million years would he ever want that from Mustang. Never ever.
The next morning
Ed wanted to be breastfed. He wanted it a lot. He wanted to not puke everything he ate. He didn't care if lost all his pride, he'd been sick for five days now with no sign of getting better. His stomach hurt both from puking and from being empty. His skin burned, he was dizzy, and he was so tired. He carefully peeled out of bed, wincing at the cold air, Al reaching out to help him into a sitting position.
"I need to go see the Colonel."
"Why brother?"
Ed struggled to form the right words for a few seconds before finally mumbling out, "I want milk."
"But you hate milk brother?" Alphonse confusedly asked, obviously not following where Ed was going with this.
"Breastmilk." Ed quickly sputtered out under his breath, his face resembling a tomato. For a second Ed was worried his brother hadn't heard him and he would need to say it again.
"Oh, ohhhhhhhh, oh." Al said as he finally got it.
"Yeah."
"Do you want to go alone?"
"...yes."
"Do you need help getting dressed?"
"Yes."
Alphonse helped Ed out of his pajamas and into a fresh pair of loose fitting sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt, pulling on on a sweater before he helped Ed into his jacket.
"I don't know when I'll be back." Ed said as he shut the door, his face still burning from embarrassment.
Riza was unable to get the image of Roy breastfeeding out of her head, her alpha instincts running wild with the idea. The omega would take care of the pup so well. He would take good care of their own pups as well. Her thoughts shifted to pushing Roy against the wall, kissing him senseless; bending him over his office desk and pumping him full of ba-
"Lieutenant please stop having horny thoughts." Fuery pleaded, his clipboard placed strategically in front of his crotch as the younger omega tried to awkwardly waddle back to his desk.
Riza realized that she once again had unintentionally let out her pheromones and cursed herself for not having better control. She had always had a harder time controlling herself when Roy was in heat, but losing control like this two times in less than two days was just embarrassing. She refocused on her paperwork, trying to unsuccessfully rid her mind of her alpha instincts. Luckily she was saved by the phone ringing, ignoring Havoc's snort at the speed she picked it up.
"Lieutenant Hawkeye speaking."
"Hawkeye! How are you?"
"Hello Hughes. I'm well, you?"
"Great, great! My wonderful Gracia baked me the most delicious pie yesterday! My favourite, apple pie, just how I like it. Can you believe how lucky I am? She's so talented, and beautiful, and-"
"What's the purpose of your call?" Riza cut Hughes off, not wanting to be stuck hearing another one of Hughes two hour long rants about how much he loved his family.
"You're no fun." Hughes pouted into the phone. "Fine, I was calling to see how Ed was. Has he gotten any better?" Hughes asked, voice turning serious.
"No, worse. Poor kid looked exhausted. Pale as a sheet too, according to Al he's been puking his guts out everytime he eats something." Riza sighed into the phone. "Dr. Knox saw him yesterday, said it was probably just a serious flu."
"But?" Hughes asked, the keen investigator in him knowing there was more to the story.
"But he's worried that because Ed is missing part of his body that the sickness could be harder to fight."
"Oh, jeez. What did he suggest?"
"Knox gave Ed some flu medication," Riza paused for a moment, reminding herself to keep her pheromones contained before she continued, "and he suggested that Roy should breastfeed him."
"And how does he feel about that?" Hughes said, choosing not to comment on her use of the Colonel's name.
"No idea." She did know how Roy felt about it and Hughes knew that, but he chose not to point that out.
"And how do you feel about it?" Hughes really knew exactly where to dig to get the right answers. It was part of what made him a great investigator but could also be incredibly annoying.
Riza breathed out another sigh, try to keep herself from uttering all her thoughts. Hughes patiently waited on the other end, knowing he had hit the right nerve.
"He got a breastfeeding blanket." Riza couldn't stop herself from blurting out, pride filling her voice.
"Oh?"
"It's red. With swirls that look like alchemy. It's soft and warm and comfortable." Riza had been unable to stop herself from touching it earlier when she spotted that Roy had snuck into the office that morning. Her inner alpha had purred at the feel of the blanket, proud that he- the omega had made such a good choice.
"Edward will like that." Hughes mused over the phone.
"He will. Roy made a good choice."
"You must be proud." Hughes said and Riza could hear his knowing grin through the phone. Being an alpha himself, Hughes knew exactly which buttons to push to get Riza's instincts going.
"Yes. He's such a good omega. So strong and gentle, and caring. He's going to take such good care if Ed." Riza couldn't resist praising Roy, not caring of the curious looks from her teammates, sans Breda, who as an alpha himself, perfectly understood what she was feeling. Riza uncharacteristically continued to rattle on into the phone, Hughes hanging on her every word with a huge smile on his face, happy to hear the usually stoic Lieutenant give into her instincts for once.
Ed had never both dreaded and wanted to go into a building so much. He ignored the mix of curious and worried looks officers shot him as he stood at the bottom of the steps to Eastern Command. He could do this. He had faced worse. Ed repeated those words as a mantra as he sluggishly made his way up the stairs that seemed way longer than he remembered them being. His face, which had only recently returned to its sickly paleness, once again flushed with colour as Ed pulled the doors open. Edward stumbled in, still very dizzy and already feeling exhausted and awful. At least he wasn't so bad that his brother had to carry him around again, it's bad enough to be seen stumbling around command like a newborn fawn, but Edward would probably die if Al had to carry him to Mustang's office. Especially with what he was about to ask.
The floor spun more under his feet with each step, making Edward regret not just calling Mustang to the dorm. But, he mused, the dorm smelled like sweat and puke and he was both glad to escape the smell and eager to be surrounded by the comforting scents of team Mustang. Edward climbed his way up the stairs, glad he hadn't eaten anything yet, despite his stomach's protests, as the familiar feeling of nausea crawled up his throat.
Edward was torn between getting to the office as fast as he could and dragging out each step towards it. Ed arrived at the office door both too soon and not soon enough for his liking. With his face feeling like the surface of the sun, he mustered up his courage and gently knocked on the door.
"Come in." Riza responded to the knock, curious because they hadn't been expecting anyone. The door slowly opened to reveal Edward who looked like he got run over by a train. Twice. He smelled strongly of sickness as he stumbled his way into the office with his head down. Breda, Havoc, and Fuery immediately shot up while Falman stayed seated but shot a worried look at Ed as he sat straighter in his seat.
"Hey Fullmetal! Shouldn't you be resting?" Fuery greeted, his chipper tone quickly turning chastising.
"Hey Chief. You look awful." Came the brusque statement from Havoc, Falman nodding along.
"Are you ok, kid?" Breda asked, concerned.
Ed uncharactaristically didn't reply to any of them, shuffling his feet on the ground in obvious nervousness.
"Do you need something Edward?" Riza offered as she finally unfroze and made her way over to him.
Edward sputtered and mumbled over an incoherent answer, clearly lost for words.
"Well, I..you know, I- um, you see..." Edward had prepared the whole way up to the office what he going to say but his words died in his throat at the prospect of actually having to say what he came here for.
Edward was saved by Roy opening his office door, having both felt and smelled the different atmosphere even through the closed door.
"What is goi-" Roy cut his words short as he took in the sight of Edward. He gripped the door handle tightly, trying to calm his instincts. It didn't work very well, he noted as he felt milk drip down his chest. Edward's instincts zeroed in on the smell of lactating omega and which prompted him to let out a noise that surprised everyone, including himself.
Chirp.
Ed chirped, something that pups did when they wanted to be breastfed.
Roy tensed up even further, because surely he heard wrong. Surely his instincts were playing tricks on him, and Ed had not just-
Chirp.
Another one came, a little louder this time, but still just as laced with uncertainty as the previous. Ed's instincts decided for him that his pride be damned, unable to stop himself from desperately chirping and hungrily grabbing at Roy's chest as he swiftly crossed the room to him. Ed burrowed his face into Roy's jacket, calming at the omega's touch, and breathing in the familiar scent of a crackling log fire.
"Are you sure?" Roy asked with trepidation, not wanting Ed to make a decision he would regret. Ed's responding chirp and whimper were all the answer he needed. Roy slid his arm around Edward's shoulders, guiding him to sit on his couch, shutting the door behind them.
Roy's heart clenched as Ed once again whined for him as he hung both their jackets up, grabbing the breastfeeding blanket from where he'd stuffed in into his coat.
"Alright, alright, I know." Roy crooned to Ed as he fastened the blanket and unbuttoned his shirt. Roy pulled Ed to lay with his torso against his chest, gently guiding his head to his nipple. Roy sighed in relief as Ed followed his instincts and started suckling, petting his hair as the soft sounds started to fill the room. Now certain that Ed needed no guidance from him, Roy adjusted the blanket to cover his chest, giving them both some privacy.
Roy couldn't stop himself from purring with contentment and whispering encouragement to Edward.
"Please just go in." Havoc begged Riza, startling her from where she had been focused on watching the Colonel's closed office door.
"We might actually suffocate if you keep letting off so many pheromones."
"Oh, I'm s-"
"Don't be." Falman's voice cut through her apology. "It's perfectly normal, we all lose control of our pheromones now and again."
"Yes, but please just go in there, your pheromones are very strong." Fuery pleaded, putting an emphasis on the last two words.
"We'll protect them." Breda promised, knowing that Riza's protective instinct was why she wasn't already in there. The rest of the team affirmed Breda's promise. At their assurance, Riza wasted no more time in making her way into the office.
She instantly felt any lasting tension seep out of her as she caught the scent of breastfeeding omega. Her instincts sang at the sound of Edward's suckling and Roy's gentle encouragements.
"Riza come see this!" Roy excitedly whispered to her after she clicked the door shut behind her. Riza walked over to see a sight that made her heart melt. Roy had lifted the blanket to reveal Edward hungrily suckling from his chest, his flesh hand white knocking Roy's open shirt. Riza couldn't hold herself back at the sight and gave into her instincts, rubbing her wrists and neck against Roy's head to scent mark him.
"Such a good omega, taking such good care of the pup." Riza crooned the praise.
"My omega."
Roy jolted in surprise when he heard Riza say that.
"Yours?" He asked, unsure. They were both aware that they had been dancing around each other for years, not that either of them acknowledged it.
"Yes, mine." She declared as she continued to scent mark. "Mine. My omega."
Roy purred at her affirmation, solidifying his approval by tilting his head to the side so Riza could rub against his neck. The show of submission and vulnerability showing his acceptance of Riza as his mate.
"I'll claim you soon." Riza promised, scraping her canines against the scent gland at the back of his neck where she have to bite to make their mated status official, an action that made Roy shiver. Roy leaned up and their lips softly met.
Edward returned to normal three days later. Despite him being fully recovered from his sickness, Ed was not ready to go back to work. Images of the past two days of Roy ending up having to feed him breakfast, lunch, and dinner filled his mind and he blushed, trying to shake them away.
Edward steeled himself and walked into the office, forgetting his embarrassment as he was greeted by an enthusiastic team Mustang. That is until Havoc opened his mouth.
"Hey Chief! Finally recovered? Boss will probably be disappointed that you're no longer need to hang off his teat." Havoc noted, which made Ed turn the colour of a tomato.
"Well...I- I mean-" Ed's sputtered reply was cut short by Roy opening his office door to see what the commotion was about. Ed's eyes immediately snapped to Roy's before unintentionally dropping down to his chest, surprised to find himself instinctually craving breastmilk. Havoc noticed where Ed's eyes had zeroed in on and chuckled.
"What's wrong Chief? Want some milk?" Ed blushed even harder, turning red all the way up to his ears. "Want the Boss to pull you close and breastfe-"
"Please shut up, Havoc." Both Roy and Edward said at the same time. Roy groaned as his leaking chest stained his shirt, something that Ed watched hungrily, clutching his hands to keep control of himself.
"Are you?" Roy asked.
"What?"
"Hungry?" Was all he said but they both knew what he really meant.
After a few seconds of fighting against his instincts Ed just muttered out a defeated, "Yes.", and followed Roy into his office.
Edward burrowed further into Roy, lazily suckling on his chest, enjoying the feeling of his hand rubbing his back and his hands carding through his hair. Breastfeeding sessions were now a regular thing, something Edward didn't mind as he once again fell asleep to Roy's soft murmuring, never wanting to let go of the safe feeling.