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31_days2011-08-16 11:11 am
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2011-08-16 11:11 am
[August 16] [Fullmetal Alchemist] This Tired World Could Change
Title: This Tired World Could Change (These Inconvenient Fireworks, part 1)
Day/Theme: Aug. 16, 2011 "these inconvenient fireworks"
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
Character/Pairing: Ed/Kimblee
Rating: PG
Author's comment: Set within the AU established in Say Goodbye, Say Hello. The basic scenario is that Roy was imprisoned while Kimblee received the "Hero of Ishval" accolades and went on to discover Ed and Al, so Kimblee is basically in Roy's position. To be continued on the 18th.
Ed leaned closer, because the colonel spoke quietly, politely. He didn't want to disturb any of his staff or spread around the brothers' story unnecessarily. ...He smelled nice, just like his handkerchief had. ...There wasn't anything weird about thinking that, right? That the colonel wore cologne and it seemed very fatherly somehow and smelled nice and that Ed liked it. It wasn't strange. It couldn't be. (Damn, if he had to spend this much time convincing himself that it was normal, then it most certainly wasn't.)
"Edward?" Colonel Kimblee asked. There was a mild, inquisitive look in his golden eyes.
"Uh-" Ed mumbled stupidly. Obviously he'd been a lot more spaced out by his musings over the colonel's preferred scent than he'd realized. ...There was no good way to explain this away, was there?
"You're listening to me, aren't you?" He still seemed curious, not mad. Which, Ed supposed, was good. For some reason, he thought that his superior officer was meant to get mad in this sort of situation. Maybe he just watched too many movies. Colonel Kimblee didn't prescribe to the rote standard when it came to military commander behavior...or anything else, come to think of it. From the things he did and said, he gave Ed the impression that it was an alchemist's prerogative to be eccentric. The only other State Alchemist he'd had the chance to meet, Major Armstrong, was much the same way in that regard. Together, Armstrong and Kimblee made quite the dandy pair (though there was some vague, unknowable thing in their pasts that ran a fracture of discomfort through their relationship).
"Yeah, I am," Ed said. He could think of a million things and still listen. Why not?
Colonel Kimblee pursed his lips. He appeared vaguely amused. Suddenly Ed was sure he knew exactly what the colonel would say next. "H-hey," he attempted to cut off his question, "I really am listening. Don't ask me, "Repeat what I just said," like I'm some kind of kid."
"Kid or not, I wasn't planning on it," the colonel answered diplomatically. "What I did wonder, was if there's something on your mind you'd like to talk about. You seem distracted and I assume there's a reason for it."
Ed's gaze shifted awkwardly around the room. Sergeant Major Fuery was clicking away furiously at the typewriter. First Lieutenant Hart was digging through her desk drawers for some elusive item. As the silence between the two men lengthened, Hart raised her eyes to peer at them.
"Off the clock," Colonel Kimblee added by way of explanation. "I'll buy you ice cream."
"You do think I'm a little kid!" Ed huffed. Lieutenant Hart stifled a laugh in the arm of her sleeve.
The colonel was unaffected by this outburst. "What would you like instead then?" he asked. "I can't take you out drinking."
"I thought you didn't go out drinking, Colonel!" Second Lieutenant Havoc interrupted. "You always say you don't drink when I ask you to come along as my wing man!"
"I don't think the colonel is cut out to be a wing man," Lieutenant Hart commented.
"As I'm sure you already knew, this is why I thought it would be best to take you out somewhere," Colonel Kimblee addressed Ed, brushing off the flippant remarks of his subordinates.
Ed relented slightly. "Ice cream's fine. ...If you're having some too."
"Of course." The colonel leaned forward over his desk and held out his hand for Ed to shake. "I'll wrap things up early and meet you outside the office at fifteen hundred hours, if that suits you."
"It's good," Ed swallowed a little harder than was strictly necessary as the colonel clasped his hand. Even though it was his automail hand Colonel Kimblee held, and that covered by his glove, Ed's heart increased its pace to jump along just a bit faster.
The colonel was nearly always smiling, but his smile now seemed bigger, perhaps, or brighter. "It's a date then," he agreed, giving Ed's hand a squeeze.
"You're going to spoil your dinner!" the colonel laughed at the two scoop chocolate and sprinkles concoction that Ed had ordered. "This is what happens when a boy your age doesn't have any parents around."
"What? Are you going to try and stop me?" There was an underlying rebellious streak in Ed's personality that flared up from time to time. Part of him wanted the colonel to challenge him, to have that argument about whether or not he was independent and should be treated like an adult, able to make his own decisions.
But Colonel Kimblee never rose to the bait. "No. It's up to you. You can eat what you like." Sometimes he showed annoyance, but Ed had never seen him actually what he'd describe as "mad." It made Ed wonder what he'd be like angry. Would he really erupt? Had Hart or Fuery or Havoc ever seen him mad? Maybe it would be worthwhile to ask.
Inevitably, the colonel's ice cream selection was modest- a single scoop of vanilla in a cup. "Get a topping," Ed tried to convince him, taking his first sloppy licks of his overloaded snack.
"I usually stick with something plain."
"A little chocolate every once in a while is good for you," Ed encouraged him.
The colonel leaned down and licked the top of Ed's cone. "Hmm. Well, that is a fairly convincing endorsement. I suppose you've managed to change my mind." Ed was sure his eyes were the size of his ice cream scoops over Kimblee's nonchalant action. "Add some chocolate sprinkles to that," the colonel directed the girl behind the counter.
Realizing he was staring and wanting to amend the faux pas before the colonel commented on it, Ed dropped his gaze to the top of his ice cream cone. The smooth mark left by Colonel Kimblee's tongue as it ran over the chocolate surface glimmered slightly. Ed stared at that instead. If he licked his ice cream now, where the colonel had licked it...wouldn't that be sort of like an indirect kiss?
"It's not too warm today, but it'd be best if you didn't let that melt," Colonel Kimblee warned him. He pulled out his wallet and unrolled a carefully folded bill for the cashier.
"Y-yeah," Ed agreed. Geez, what was with him these days? He wasn't some stupid lovestruck girl. He licked the ice cream and attributed the shiver that he felt to the cold rather than his emotional state.
"Good suggestion," the colonel approved of Ed's alteration of his snack as they stepped outside to sit at a round, metal table.
"Thanks for treating me."
"You're welcome. Though I wouldn't dream of going out together any other way." Ed found himself entranced by the way the colonel's tongue played around the edge of his spoon. (Did he realize how attractive he looked or was Ed the only one who thought that?) "Sometime I'll have to invite you and Alphonse over to my apartment. I'll make sure you eat right. I'll cook you dinner myself."
"Al might be a little disappointed since he can't eat... But I, uh, I didn't know you could cook."
"A confirmed bachelor has to be able to take care of himself, does he not?"
"Uh, I'd...I'd come over if you invited me. It'd be kind of neat to eat your cooking." Ed kept looking down because every meeting between his eyes and the colonel's felt too meaningful, too intense. "I don't think you're the kind of guy who would burn everything."
"I'm a decent cook," Kimblee confirmed this statement. "So, now tell me what it is you want to talk about."
"Damn, maybe this really isn't any easier out here." Ed shifted in his seat. A trickle of chocolate ice cream ran down the side of the cone onto his white glove. He dabbed at it self-consciously, noting the stain it left behind.
"Although I'm your superior officer, I hope that in some manner, Edward, I'm also your friend and that you know you can tell me anything and it will be kept in the utmost confidence."
"I trust you, Colonel." Certainly, more than he trusted most members of the military. "It's just hard to say..."
"I can wait for as long as you need me to. You know I'm a patient man." He transferred the main focus of his attention away from the blond boy back to his ice cream.
It would probably be easier to say if the colonel wasn't looking at him. In that case, this was his chance. Ed took a deep breath. "This is going to sound really stupid, but I think I'm falling in love with you."
Ed held his breath. There was a moment of silence as the object of his affections swallowed.
"Don't you think you're a little young for me?" the colonel raised a skeptical eyebrow (it was typical of him to take the suggestion seriously, but react in a subdued manner). "And then there are the anti-fraternization laws to consider."
What did this mean? That the colonel had considered the possibility himself? Or did he just think that fast on his feet? "I-" Ed fumbled for words that were not quick in coming. "I, uh...Damn, I don't know about that kind of stuff. I just know I'm having trouble focusing around you because you're so nice to us, and it feels like you're being especially nice to me, and you look at me like you understand everything I'm feeling, and you're sort of handsome in an older guy sort of way, and you smell really good. Don't make me say this shit."
"Ah. I see."
Now his lack of reaction was starting to make Ed's blood boil, "Don't you feel anything about that?! Are you embarrassed or turned off or do you like me back? Say something, you heartless bastard colonel!"
"Well, that's not very nice. Really, Edward, I wish you would watch your language," Kimblee sniffed. "And while I find your affections flattering, I really can't return them."
"To hell with the laws and all that!" Ed scowled, "How do you feel, just one man to another?"
"Edward, I like you very much, but I think we should continue this conversation at a later date when you're able to calm down a bit. Are you available tomorrow night? Here," Kimblee took a pen and notepad out of his jacket pocket and dashed off his phone number, "Call me tomorrow and I'll pick you up. I'll take you home for that dinner I promised."
Talk about mixed signals. "C-Colonel," Ed stuttered as Kimblee rose to leave.
"And do mind that melting ice cream, Edward. You don't want it to leave a permanent stain."
It had been sort of embarrassing to tell Al about his dinner plans. Whenever someone gifted Ed, or if they didn't realize, the two of them, with a special meal, Ed couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt that there was no way for him to share this experience that his brother desperately missed. And then there was an added awkwardness tot his meeting, a tiny layered on top of the scenario by Ed's own restless feelings. Colonel Kimblee had rebuffed him (sort of), but that didn't mean he had stopped viewing this meal as a potentially romantic situation.
Al understood his older brother well enough to catch onto some of this. He wasn't afraid to express his reservations, but at the same time, he knew Ed would ultimately do as he liked.
The colonel picked him up in a cab. Ed was starting to suspect he didn't own a car. Not that it mattered. Colonel Kimblee was low-key but convivial for the duration of the ride. "I know you don't like milk, but eggs are alright, aren't they? And cheese?"
"Yeah, they're fine."
"I hope you'll like what I'm planning on cooking for you. And I hope you've got an appetite ready too, because it won't take long to make."
"I'm ready. I've been looking forward to this."
"Oh, so that's one meal you don't want to spoil," Kimblee shared a smile wit him. He seemed to appreciate the special attention Ed had paid to their dinner engagements.
Ed didn't want to say anything too loud and stupid in front of the cab driver, so the short drive ended in silence. Anticipation set him aquiver. He had never been inside the colonel's apartment before. ...What would it be like? What facets of the colonel might it reveal?
"After you," Kimblee escorted him up the stairs and into his modestly proportioned home?
A small, "Oh," escaped Ed's lips as he looked around. The place was very neat and simple, with an emphasis on the color white in its furnishings. There were shelves filled with books (par for the course with an alchemist) and an upright piano. On the table, a vase of red gerbera daisies brought a splash of color into the room.
[see you on Aug. 18th with the continuation...!]
Day/Theme: Aug. 16, 2011 "these inconvenient fireworks"
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
Character/Pairing: Ed/Kimblee
Rating: PG
Author's comment: Set within the AU established in Say Goodbye, Say Hello. The basic scenario is that Roy was imprisoned while Kimblee received the "Hero of Ishval" accolades and went on to discover Ed and Al, so Kimblee is basically in Roy's position. To be continued on the 18th.
Ed leaned closer, because the colonel spoke quietly, politely. He didn't want to disturb any of his staff or spread around the brothers' story unnecessarily. ...He smelled nice, just like his handkerchief had. ...There wasn't anything weird about thinking that, right? That the colonel wore cologne and it seemed very fatherly somehow and smelled nice and that Ed liked it. It wasn't strange. It couldn't be. (Damn, if he had to spend this much time convincing himself that it was normal, then it most certainly wasn't.)
"Edward?" Colonel Kimblee asked. There was a mild, inquisitive look in his golden eyes.
"Uh-" Ed mumbled stupidly. Obviously he'd been a lot more spaced out by his musings over the colonel's preferred scent than he'd realized. ...There was no good way to explain this away, was there?
"You're listening to me, aren't you?" He still seemed curious, not mad. Which, Ed supposed, was good. For some reason, he thought that his superior officer was meant to get mad in this sort of situation. Maybe he just watched too many movies. Colonel Kimblee didn't prescribe to the rote standard when it came to military commander behavior...or anything else, come to think of it. From the things he did and said, he gave Ed the impression that it was an alchemist's prerogative to be eccentric. The only other State Alchemist he'd had the chance to meet, Major Armstrong, was much the same way in that regard. Together, Armstrong and Kimblee made quite the dandy pair (though there was some vague, unknowable thing in their pasts that ran a fracture of discomfort through their relationship).
"Yeah, I am," Ed said. He could think of a million things and still listen. Why not?
Colonel Kimblee pursed his lips. He appeared vaguely amused. Suddenly Ed was sure he knew exactly what the colonel would say next. "H-hey," he attempted to cut off his question, "I really am listening. Don't ask me, "Repeat what I just said," like I'm some kind of kid."
"Kid or not, I wasn't planning on it," the colonel answered diplomatically. "What I did wonder, was if there's something on your mind you'd like to talk about. You seem distracted and I assume there's a reason for it."
Ed's gaze shifted awkwardly around the room. Sergeant Major Fuery was clicking away furiously at the typewriter. First Lieutenant Hart was digging through her desk drawers for some elusive item. As the silence between the two men lengthened, Hart raised her eyes to peer at them.
"Off the clock," Colonel Kimblee added by way of explanation. "I'll buy you ice cream."
"You do think I'm a little kid!" Ed huffed. Lieutenant Hart stifled a laugh in the arm of her sleeve.
The colonel was unaffected by this outburst. "What would you like instead then?" he asked. "I can't take you out drinking."
"I thought you didn't go out drinking, Colonel!" Second Lieutenant Havoc interrupted. "You always say you don't drink when I ask you to come along as my wing man!"
"I don't think the colonel is cut out to be a wing man," Lieutenant Hart commented.
"As I'm sure you already knew, this is why I thought it would be best to take you out somewhere," Colonel Kimblee addressed Ed, brushing off the flippant remarks of his subordinates.
Ed relented slightly. "Ice cream's fine. ...If you're having some too."
"Of course." The colonel leaned forward over his desk and held out his hand for Ed to shake. "I'll wrap things up early and meet you outside the office at fifteen hundred hours, if that suits you."
"It's good," Ed swallowed a little harder than was strictly necessary as the colonel clasped his hand. Even though it was his automail hand Colonel Kimblee held, and that covered by his glove, Ed's heart increased its pace to jump along just a bit faster.
The colonel was nearly always smiling, but his smile now seemed bigger, perhaps, or brighter. "It's a date then," he agreed, giving Ed's hand a squeeze.
"You're going to spoil your dinner!" the colonel laughed at the two scoop chocolate and sprinkles concoction that Ed had ordered. "This is what happens when a boy your age doesn't have any parents around."
"What? Are you going to try and stop me?" There was an underlying rebellious streak in Ed's personality that flared up from time to time. Part of him wanted the colonel to challenge him, to have that argument about whether or not he was independent and should be treated like an adult, able to make his own decisions.
But Colonel Kimblee never rose to the bait. "No. It's up to you. You can eat what you like." Sometimes he showed annoyance, but Ed had never seen him actually what he'd describe as "mad." It made Ed wonder what he'd be like angry. Would he really erupt? Had Hart or Fuery or Havoc ever seen him mad? Maybe it would be worthwhile to ask.
Inevitably, the colonel's ice cream selection was modest- a single scoop of vanilla in a cup. "Get a topping," Ed tried to convince him, taking his first sloppy licks of his overloaded snack.
"I usually stick with something plain."
"A little chocolate every once in a while is good for you," Ed encouraged him.
The colonel leaned down and licked the top of Ed's cone. "Hmm. Well, that is a fairly convincing endorsement. I suppose you've managed to change my mind." Ed was sure his eyes were the size of his ice cream scoops over Kimblee's nonchalant action. "Add some chocolate sprinkles to that," the colonel directed the girl behind the counter.
Realizing he was staring and wanting to amend the faux pas before the colonel commented on it, Ed dropped his gaze to the top of his ice cream cone. The smooth mark left by Colonel Kimblee's tongue as it ran over the chocolate surface glimmered slightly. Ed stared at that instead. If he licked his ice cream now, where the colonel had licked it...wouldn't that be sort of like an indirect kiss?
"It's not too warm today, but it'd be best if you didn't let that melt," Colonel Kimblee warned him. He pulled out his wallet and unrolled a carefully folded bill for the cashier.
"Y-yeah," Ed agreed. Geez, what was with him these days? He wasn't some stupid lovestruck girl. He licked the ice cream and attributed the shiver that he felt to the cold rather than his emotional state.
"Good suggestion," the colonel approved of Ed's alteration of his snack as they stepped outside to sit at a round, metal table.
"Thanks for treating me."
"You're welcome. Though I wouldn't dream of going out together any other way." Ed found himself entranced by the way the colonel's tongue played around the edge of his spoon. (Did he realize how attractive he looked or was Ed the only one who thought that?) "Sometime I'll have to invite you and Alphonse over to my apartment. I'll make sure you eat right. I'll cook you dinner myself."
"Al might be a little disappointed since he can't eat... But I, uh, I didn't know you could cook."
"A confirmed bachelor has to be able to take care of himself, does he not?"
"Uh, I'd...I'd come over if you invited me. It'd be kind of neat to eat your cooking." Ed kept looking down because every meeting between his eyes and the colonel's felt too meaningful, too intense. "I don't think you're the kind of guy who would burn everything."
"I'm a decent cook," Kimblee confirmed this statement. "So, now tell me what it is you want to talk about."
"Damn, maybe this really isn't any easier out here." Ed shifted in his seat. A trickle of chocolate ice cream ran down the side of the cone onto his white glove. He dabbed at it self-consciously, noting the stain it left behind.
"Although I'm your superior officer, I hope that in some manner, Edward, I'm also your friend and that you know you can tell me anything and it will be kept in the utmost confidence."
"I trust you, Colonel." Certainly, more than he trusted most members of the military. "It's just hard to say..."
"I can wait for as long as you need me to. You know I'm a patient man." He transferred the main focus of his attention away from the blond boy back to his ice cream.
It would probably be easier to say if the colonel wasn't looking at him. In that case, this was his chance. Ed took a deep breath. "This is going to sound really stupid, but I think I'm falling in love with you."
Ed held his breath. There was a moment of silence as the object of his affections swallowed.
"Don't you think you're a little young for me?" the colonel raised a skeptical eyebrow (it was typical of him to take the suggestion seriously, but react in a subdued manner). "And then there are the anti-fraternization laws to consider."
What did this mean? That the colonel had considered the possibility himself? Or did he just think that fast on his feet? "I-" Ed fumbled for words that were not quick in coming. "I, uh...Damn, I don't know about that kind of stuff. I just know I'm having trouble focusing around you because you're so nice to us, and it feels like you're being especially nice to me, and you look at me like you understand everything I'm feeling, and you're sort of handsome in an older guy sort of way, and you smell really good. Don't make me say this shit."
"Ah. I see."
Now his lack of reaction was starting to make Ed's blood boil, "Don't you feel anything about that?! Are you embarrassed or turned off or do you like me back? Say something, you heartless bastard colonel!"
"Well, that's not very nice. Really, Edward, I wish you would watch your language," Kimblee sniffed. "And while I find your affections flattering, I really can't return them."
"To hell with the laws and all that!" Ed scowled, "How do you feel, just one man to another?"
"Edward, I like you very much, but I think we should continue this conversation at a later date when you're able to calm down a bit. Are you available tomorrow night? Here," Kimblee took a pen and notepad out of his jacket pocket and dashed off his phone number, "Call me tomorrow and I'll pick you up. I'll take you home for that dinner I promised."
Talk about mixed signals. "C-Colonel," Ed stuttered as Kimblee rose to leave.
"And do mind that melting ice cream, Edward. You don't want it to leave a permanent stain."
It had been sort of embarrassing to tell Al about his dinner plans. Whenever someone gifted Ed, or if they didn't realize, the two of them, with a special meal, Ed couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt that there was no way for him to share this experience that his brother desperately missed. And then there was an added awkwardness tot his meeting, a tiny layered on top of the scenario by Ed's own restless feelings. Colonel Kimblee had rebuffed him (sort of), but that didn't mean he had stopped viewing this meal as a potentially romantic situation.
Al understood his older brother well enough to catch onto some of this. He wasn't afraid to express his reservations, but at the same time, he knew Ed would ultimately do as he liked.
The colonel picked him up in a cab. Ed was starting to suspect he didn't own a car. Not that it mattered. Colonel Kimblee was low-key but convivial for the duration of the ride. "I know you don't like milk, but eggs are alright, aren't they? And cheese?"
"Yeah, they're fine."
"I hope you'll like what I'm planning on cooking for you. And I hope you've got an appetite ready too, because it won't take long to make."
"I'm ready. I've been looking forward to this."
"Oh, so that's one meal you don't want to spoil," Kimblee shared a smile wit him. He seemed to appreciate the special attention Ed had paid to their dinner engagements.
Ed didn't want to say anything too loud and stupid in front of the cab driver, so the short drive ended in silence. Anticipation set him aquiver. He had never been inside the colonel's apartment before. ...What would it be like? What facets of the colonel might it reveal?
"After you," Kimblee escorted him up the stairs and into his modestly proportioned home?
A small, "Oh," escaped Ed's lips as he looked around. The place was very neat and simple, with an emphasis on the color white in its furnishings. There were shelves filled with books (par for the course with an alchemist) and an upright piano. On the table, a vase of red gerbera daisies brought a splash of color into the room.
[see you on Aug. 18th with the continuation...!]