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Edward's head snapped back, he wasn't able to dodge the blow quickly enough. The fist connected hard enough to break his nose, and he danced back as his opponent froze, a look of horror crossing his face.
Roy froze in place, his arm still extended. Edward swiped across his nose with the back of his left arm, grinning as he streaked the blood across his cheek. "That's the spirit," he encouraged Roy, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Whew, that was a good punch." He gripped his nose between two fingers and winced, then snorted through it. "You've boxed before."
"Are you okay?" Roy said, finally dropping his stance. "I, I thought you would move faster than that, Ed, are you-"
"Oh, he's fine," Alphonse called from where he was sitting on the old fence watching them. Roy glanced over at Alphonse, still unused to have an audience in their daily sparring session. "It took a whole lot more than that to bring him down, even before."
Edward made a face at Alphonse, and Roy held up both hands palms out. "I'm done," he said. "I didn't expect to hit you, and-"
Edward danced it and tapped Roy with his automail, a gentle but firm smack against the side of his head. "You're getting better, you enormous ass, it's okay. I've had worse."
Roy grimaced. "I know."
"Then you know that you should put your dukes up, because I have no such compunctions about making you bleed."
Alphonse's hand landing on Roy's shoulder nearly made Roy jump. "You want to tag out, Colonel?"
Roy glanced over at Edward's younger brother. It was unnerving, Alphonse was almost the same height as Roy. He clearly wasn't done growing, but he also didn't tower over Roy like he did once, in a suit of armor with bright eyes. Roy nodded. "Alphonse, really, I'm not attached to the military any longer-"
But Alphonse wasn't listening, his attention was on his older brother, already moving into a martial arts stance. Roy wisely retreated back to the fence that Alphonse had been sitting on just a few minutes prior before they started exchanging blows.
He leaned back against the fence and exhaled, shading his eyes against the bright summer sun. Alphonse caught Edward's foot and flipped his brother with a undignified yelp. Roy watched them spar, Edward was clearly holding back, but it was also clear he was not bringing the power of his automail to bear on his brother, now sparring with someone who was one hundred percent squishy flesh.
Roy winced at the memory, Edward didn't hold back on using the automail on HIM. True, the injury healed within an hour or so but that didn't stop it from hurting like bleeding hell.
Edward and Alphonse circled each other, experienced fighters light on their feet. Roy didn't think he was any slouch in the hand to hand combat area, he'd been in his fair share of bar brawls and other disputes of that nature in the military academy. He could throw a mean right hook. But his taking up fire alchemy, like shooting a gun, kept the fighting at a distance. While Roy might not shirk from a fight he was hardly as skilled as Edward or Alphonse. They took it to an art.
Speaking of which, Alphonse had yet to land off his feet once, despite Edward getting flipped, tossed, and clotheslined. Alphonse was mopping the floor with his older brother. Edward cried uncle soon after, both of them breathing hard and sweating profusely.
Alphonse looked like the older brother, now. Puberty had hit him like a freight train, probably making up for Edward. He had this fringe of scruff about him, like he always needed to shave. It made Edward look positively like a kid beside him and also made Roy feel very inappropriate.
They'd been staying at the Rockbell house, because Edward and Alphonses's home was still nothing more than an empty lot. They'd finally done something with all the debris, and Edward and Alphonse had argued for several nights over what they were going to do with it. Alphonse seemed intent on the idea of rebuilding the house, but Edward didn't want anything to do with it. It had very little to do with Roy so he tried to keep out of it.
Besides Edward, Alphonse and Roy the Rockbell house was also hosting Rose, a pretty girl of mixed descent with her young son. She and Winry were great friends, and Roy had watched Alphonse entertaining the boy, letting him ride around on his shoulders while he did chores around the house. Roy had to wonder if Edward noticed the way Winry and Alphonse looked at each other. It was hard to tell, sometimes Edward was deliberately obtuse.
Edward cuffed the side of Roy's head none-too-gently with his automail hand. "You're staring off into space again, Mustang," Edward informed him, folding his arms over the fence and staring up the hill, to the distance house. "You had enough of a break?"
"You can't seriously still be up for more," Roy said. Edward grinned and straightened, and Roy groaned. "Your stamina is unparalleled, Edward."
Alphonse snorted from the other side of Roy. He ran a hand through his shaggy blond hair. Then he hesitated a moment, and shadowed his eyes. Roy glanced in the same direction, up the hill. After a moment, the sound of a bell being rung carried clear on the wind. "Lunch!" Edward bellowed, scrambling up and over the fence and bolting up the hill.
Roy watched him go with a disbelieving laugh, but then realized that Alphonse was hot on his heels. Roy hoisted himself up over the fence as well. If left to it, both Elrics would consume every bit of food laid out for lunch with no regrets. If he wanted to eat anything at all today, Roy had to put a move on.