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Ed was freaking out. He paced in the hall, running over his thoughts again and again in his head. He had no idea what to do with the newly discovered information he had. His heart was beating so fast in his chest. His face felt like it was on fire. He cursed his late-blooming habits, especially since he had nothing to compare these stupid feelings to. Why didn't he just try with Winry all those years ago? They would have crashed and burned, but at least he'd have a baseline for his stupidity and current panic.
Ed skidded to a halt. He could call Al. Al's had plenty of relationships compared to Ed's sole relationship. Al would know what to do and how to navigate it. Besides, they thought similarly, right? Al wouldn't judge him for his mild anxiety. He would definitely help Ed through this. He dashed for the hallway phone, dialing the number he knew by heart, cursing as his finger skipped and he had to hang up and redial. That alone already let Ed know how horrid this whole situation was. Why can't people just read minds? Why couldn’t people just know his feelings?
Ed waited for the dial tone to stop so Al could pick up the phone. "Come on, come on, Al, this is important. I need you," he whined, stomping a foot on the wood floor.
"Hello?" Al asked, breathlessly into the receiver.
"Al!" Ed started with a yell. "I need your help!"
"With what, brother?" Al asked softly.
Ed didn’t bother to ask what Al was up to this early in the afternoon. “I spent a lot of time thinking today.”
“That’s good. You do that often.” Al said, not quite sure what Ed was getting to.
“No, that’s not the point. There was a revelation. Life changing even, Al. This is serious.” Ed rambled, twirling a loose thread from his shirt around his finger.
“Okay, do you need help? Babe, it’s Ed, it’s serious.” Al cut himself off. Ed could hear shuffling on the phoneand then footsteps. “Sorry, brother. What do you need then?”
"H-how...," Ed started loudly, but then was silent. "How do you tell someone you're in love with them?”
The silence on the other side was loud.
“Al?”
“Edward, you’re still with Roy, right?” Al sounded confused.
“Duh! Al, who else would I be in love with? Keep up, please! This is a crisis.”
Al made a soft noise into the receiver. “Uh, brother, you’ve been with Roy for nearly a year now. I think Roy knows.”
“But that’s not the point, Al! I’ve never said it to him!” Ed bounced on the tip of his toes. “What do I do?”
“Brother, what even brought this on? Did anything change?” Al asked, a slightly worried tone in his voice.
“Roy said we were having dinner. It’s a fancy place. We don’t usually do that.”
“You were thinking about dinner?” Al asked. Ed heard a sink turning on in the background. “Sorry, I’m making dinner.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s just, well, it’s winter, the holidays are coming up, and he’s doing something special. We’re not really the type for all that, so I got in my head, and my thoughts kind of spiraled until something clicked.”
The door creaked, and Ed turned to face the doorway. “Al!” Ed whined. “He’s home.”
“Just do what’s natural, brother. It’s never stopped you before.” Al encouraged.
“Yeah, okay, I’ll do that.”
“Edward!” Roy wrapped his scarf around Ed’s neck as he hung up. Ed’s cheeks heated as he turned around and tiptoed to kiss Roy.
“Roy,” Ed smiled against his lips.
“I missed you. It sucked not seeing you at all today.” Roy turned Ed and wrapped his arms around him, swinging him back and forth before kissing his hair.
Ed bit his lip before turning around, heart pounding a mile a minute. “I…I have something to tell you.”
Roy blinked. “Sure. Do you want to go into the livingroom?”
“Just,” Ed inhaled and then exhaled. “Give me a second.”
“Anything.” Roy frowned. “Is everything okay?”
Ed groaned as they sat, and Roy turned to listen. He waited patiently, but Ed never said anything. Ed punched himself in his head. It shouldn’t be that hard just to blurt it out, right? Why was this so hard to do? He loved Roy, it should be easy! Everyone else made it out to be this grand thing, so why can’t Ed do the same? Roy deserved it.
“Uh, I finished another notebook,” Ed said lamely.
“Already?” Roy asked. “Honey, what have you been doing? I just bought you that notebook!”
Roy laughed as he stroked Ed’s hair.
“Sorry,”
“Don’t be sorry,” Roy pulled him into a hug. “I’m proud of you. Does this mean a breakthrough is coming?”
“It should be,” Ed winced. The breakthrough was that he loved Roy.
“Well, let’s get dressed for dinner, and you can tell me all about it, alright?” Roy grinned and helped Ed up.
Roy helped Ed pick out his clothes. He said it was a fancier restaurant, but Ed was dressed to the nines.
“Roy?” Ed looked up as Roy helped him to style his hair outside of his regular braid.
“Just a ‘for no reason’ special occasion. I know you don’t like it much, but I hope this is okay?” Roy asked.
Ed flushed as he felt Roy’s hands stroking his hair. “It’s fine. I can handle it every once in a while.”
“Thank you,” Roy tied Ed’s hair up with a bow. “You’re adorable.”
“Stop,” Ed replied, batting Roy’s hands away from mussing up the hair framing his face. Roy pulled out a small pot, dipped his pinky inside, and glossed Ed’s lips with the chapstick.
“Beautiful,” Roy breathed. “I am so lucky to have you, Edward. Ready?”
“Yeah,” Ed nodded. He took Roy’s hand as they made their way to the door. “Roy?”
“Yes, Edward?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, Ed.”