"Trust me," Roy Mustang said when he pulled Edward Elric into the closet with him.

He immediately turned on the light, to find the small blond glaring at him angrily.

"What the hell, Mustang?" Edward snapped.

"You looked like you needed some help out there," Roy explained sheepishly.

"What the fuck are you doing in a closet?!" Ed demanded.

"So I could pull you in, Fullmetal," Roy replied, shrugging.

"Yeah well, thanks for that, I guess." Edward turned to leave the closet before being stopped by Roy.

"Wait, Fullmetal…Edward. They might not be gone yet."

Edward grumbled and sat down. "When did we become bigger than the fucking Beatles that we have to hide in a damn broom closet from fans?"

"Dunno. What were they chasing you for, anyway?" Roy asked curiously.

Edward glared at him. "How the hell should I know? Do I look like a rabid fangirl?" Edward snapped.

"No, no, it's just that at least a few of them were wearing those fan-made Flamemetal t-shirts," Roy remarked.

Edward scowled further. "And? So a few obsessive shippers were chasing me. Is there a point you're trying to make? Because I don't see it."

"Did you have a run-in with their fanclub earlier? Hughes said you did."

"A run-in? You're acting like we got into some kind of altercation. They just came up to me and asked me about my answer to the Flamemetal question from earlier."

"Is that so?" Roy said, not quite believing the fellow YouTuber.

Like how Edward didn't believe in Roy's straightness, so did Roy doubt the blond's heterosexuality.

"Well, yeah," Ed said. "Whaddya think they wanted?"

"Maybe for you to denounce your hetero status and tell them and fellow yaoi fangirls how you're madly in love with me?"

Edward scoffed. "Yeah, and pigs fly."

Roy chuckled. "I think they're gone now," he said.

"Alright," Ed said, getting up slowly. Somehow his movements seemed hesitant and rather reluctant. Roy let that thought pass quickly.

But when he tried to open the door, it didn't budge.

"What the hell…?" Ed wondered.

"What? Is the door stuck?" Roy demanded.

"Apparently," Ed said, before attempting to open it and ending up breaking the doorknob off. "Are you shitting me?"

"What?" Roy asked.

"We are fucking stuck," Ed stated. "We are stuck in here together and can't get out."

"What the actual hell?" Roy shouted.

Edward glared. "Don't yell. It won't solve anything." He sighed. "I'll just call Al and have him get someone to break us out."

Roy watched the blond whip out his iPhone and dial a number. He noticed Ed growing more and more frustrated.

After a minute, Ed angrily put his phone back in his pocket. "Damn it. He won't pick up."

"Well, try again," Roy said impatiently.

So Ed did, huffing. When it didn't pick up ("What the fuck are you doing that you can't be fucked to pick up the goddamn phone?!"), he left a voicemail.

"Hey, Al, I got stuck in a broom closet with Roy Fucking Mustang. Long story, don't bother asking. The doorknob fell off and we can't get out. Please come have someone get us out. I might be late for the personal panel, but I'll offer an apology. See ya soon, Ed."

Then Ed sat back down where he was before. "I

"I'm sure Al'll get back to me soon and come get us. It's only a matter of time," Ed sure. Roy wasn't sure if Ed was reassuring him or himself.

"Okay," Roy said. "So. Roy Fucking Mustang, huh?"

"Yeah," Ed chuckled. "My nickname for you when I have to speak about you to Al or Winry."

"Do you hate me that much?" Roy asked.

"You are an arrogant, smug bastard," Ed pointed out.

It was Roy's turn to laugh. "I suppose that's true," he acknowledged, before turning serious. "But really, how do you feel? I mean, you can be a bratty kid with no handle on your temper, but you're okay."

Ed sighed. "I dunno. I guess I'm indifferent? But you're a smug bastard, and you're insufferable. Plus, you're one of those skirt-chasers. A miniskirt chaser. "

"The rumors of my womanizing have been greatly exaggerated," Roy said, though he had to admit Ed's assessment of him was fairly accurate.

Ed laughed. "Yeah, I'm sure."

They stayed silent for a while, Ed looking at some random spot. Roy took the opportunity to look at the younger YouTuber.

His long, golden hair was in his signature braid, but after a long day, it was starting to look like it would fall out soon if it wasn't adjusted. Roy secretly hoped it would. He wanted to see what Edward's hair would look like, framing his face like a shiny gold curtain.

"What are you starin' at?" Ed asked suspiciously. Roy looked away.

"Nothing," Roy said, acutely aware of how unconvincing he sounded and of how he said it too quickly.

"You seeing anyone, Mustang?" Ed asked.

"No. Why, you interested?" Roy responded, smirking.

Edward's face went beet red in an instant. "Hell no! I was just wondering, that's all."

Roy laughed. "Sure, Fullmetal. But no, I'm currently single. It's hard to find someone when you're very closeted."

Ed looked confused for a moment before the meaning of Roy's words dawned on him. "Closeted? So, you really are gay?" he asked.

Roy looked down. "You can be closeted for other things, like being bisexual or transgender, but yeah, I'm gay," Roy confessed, feeling as if he were admitting to murder.

"I don't know why you look so ashamed of it," Edward chastised. "I don't think less of you because you're gay-I think less of you because you're a bastard."

Roy laughed. "Yeah, but I'm not sure I'm ready to come out to the public. I don't know how everyone will take it, and I don't want any bad repercussions."

"Who else knows?" Ed wondered.

"Only Maes Hughes and Riza Hawkeye," Roy said. "Both of them actually knew before me I only realized it recently."

"We both know what our fangirls will think," Ed pointed out, making Roy chuckle again.

"No, but I don't want to make waves or whatever. It's no one's damn business anyway."

"I understand." Ed's expression was softer. "Y'know, you did seem unconvincing when you said you were straight."

"Was I that obvious?" Roy asked, slightly horrified.

"Yup," Edward confirmed.

"Christ," Roy groaned. "I'm sure the fans will have picked up on that as well."

"Yeah," Ed said cheerfully. "'Course, they will say we're gay together no matter what, regardless of your actual sexuality and how well you hide it."

"That's true." Roy nodded.

They talked for a bit while waiting for someone to get them out and Roy enjoyed it so much he was secretly sad when a janitor finally got the door open.

"Thanks, Al," Edward was saying to his older (and taller) brother as they left the closet. "How late am I to the panel?"

Roy wasn't listening, because a group of girls caught his eye. A familiar group of girls. Wearing Flamemetal shirts. And holding cameras.

"Shit," Roy said, realizing he was seen coming out of the closet with Edward Elric.

Risembool

It was trending on twitter, going viral on the internet, following him wherever he went.

Roy Mustang and Edward Elric seen coming out of a closet together, looking mildly disheveled.

Edward's twitter was spammed with comments, as was his YouTube comments section of his videos, and his tumblr was sent even more asks than usual. Everyone thought he and Mustang-his former rival-were coming out of the closet after fucking. Everyone had thought they fucked. Even Winry and Al teased him about what he was doing in the closet with Roy fucking Mustang.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" Ed had snapped. "I wasn't fucking him, I swear to fucking God!" Which meant a lot coming from him, an avowed atheist.

"Then what were you doing in there with him, Ed?" Winry asked, smirking.

"I was being chased by fans and then he pulled me in there!"

"What was he doing in there?"

"He said he wanted to help me!" Ed insisted. He also didn't want to out Mustang. If Mustang wanted people to know he was gay, he'd say so himself. It wasn't Ed's place to out him.

They let the matter drop. They all knew Edward was straight.

The fans, however, did not and would not let it go. Ed was afraid he'd have to make a short video about the incident in question.

He did post about it on twitter some, stating that nothing inappropriate happened and that they got stuck in there after trying to hide from overenthusiastic fans. They were both straight and not at all interested in one another, and that's that.

The fans-Flamemetal ones especially-disregarded that statement in favor of their reality.

Though, if there were one good thing that arose from the whole ordeal, it was their newfound-friendship? Acquaintance? Ed didn't know what to call it, but they talked a lot and followed each other on social media (this fueled the Flamemetal fire). They weren't exactly close, but they had a new respect for each other that they hadn't had before.

The rest of Vidcon had gone by without a hitch. Aside from the closet incident, Edward did enjoy Vidcon and hoped to be invited back the next year.

But Ed was glad to be back in Risembool, hanging with Winry, Pinako, and Al.

"So it was like three hours at least and my writing arm hurt like hell afterward, but it was worth it to see the looks on my fans' faces," Ed was saying, talking about the meet-and-greets and signing things for his fans.

They were at the Rockbell's place having dinner (stew). Everything was normal for about two hours when a knock came at the door.

"I'll get it," Ed said, to free himself from the debate over whether or not he should drink his milk.

When he opened the door, his face fell.

There was his estranged father, Van Hohenheim.

"Edward," his father said, smiling down at his son. "How are you?"

"Is that Dad?" Al shouted from the dining room.

"Father," Ed said curtly, letting his father in the house. "Long time, no see."

Van Hohenheim grimaced as he entered the house. Ed closed the door behind him.

"You're still angry, I see," Van Hohenheim said.

"No shit," Ed snapped. "You abandon us and Mom and you didn't even come to her fucking funeral five years ago. So yeah, you're goddamn right I'm pissed off."

"Ed? What is it?" Winry asked, concerned, walking in. Her eyes widened at the sight of Van Hohenheim.

"Oh," she said, realization dawning in her eyes. "Oh. I-I'll let you be." She quickly left the room, presumably to tell Al and Pinako to leave the two of them alone.

"Look, Edward, I did what I thought I had to at the time. I never wanted to hurt you," Van Hohenheim tried to explain.

"Tried what you had to? What, abandon your wife and kids, who loved you with all their heart? Cause us pain, make us think it was all our fault? Is that what you had to do?"

Van Hohenheim winced, but didn't try to defend himself.

"Yeah, Al blamed himself for your abandonment. And so did I."

Van Hohenheim looked fairly ashamed.

"And you didn't come to Mom's funeral," Ed stated.

"Yes," Van Hohenheim acknowledged. "And for that I kick myself every day. I regret hurting you children and your mother. I wish I was at least at her funeral. I miss her every day, you know. And I think about her every day. You two, as well. I don't know how to explain why I left. I just promise it wasn't worth hurting you over it."

"Why are you even here?" Ed asked suspiciously. "You think you can waltz in here and in one day make up for years of abandonment? Because you can't."

"I know," Van Hohenheim said, surprising Ed a bit. "I would love your forgiveness, but I know I don't deserve it, and I won't ask for it. And I know I have a lot to make up for. But I do ask that you give me a chance. In time I will explain myself."

And that was how Van Hohenheim came to stay with the Elrics.

Al, being Al, was more open to forgiving his father for leaving them and not coming to their mother's funeral. Ed, being Ed, wasn't as forgiving.

Any interaction between Edward and Van Hohenheim ended up as a one-sided fight. One-sided because Ed would yell and Van Hohenheim would patiently listen.

One day, though, Van Hohenheim and Ed set out to Trisha Elric's grave.

Trisha Elric

1976-2010

Beloved wife and mother

"I loved her so much," Van Hohenheim said, looking at her grave. "I only left because I had to. Even at twenty you're still too young to understand, Edward…I did it because I had no other option. You'll one day realize you had to do things that you didn't want to because you had no other option. It's when you've literally exhausted all your other options and are left with the option you dreaded most. Don't think I never thought of you all every day I was gone. This is not what I wanted for you all.

"I can't say the same for the funeral. I can't make excuses for that. When I heard the news that Trisha was killed in a car crash and that you lost an arm and a leg…I was far too weak to come visit. I was too selfish. I thought of my pain before I thought of the pain of my sons, what they were going through. You, especially, having been in that crash and survived but at the cost of your two limbs. I didn't think, didn't realize that I wasn't the only one grieving. You have every right to hate me for that.

"But please don't ever doubt my love for you boys and your mother. I love you all more than words can say. If I had to go back, I would have made completely different choices. I would have come back sooner and stayed. And I'm proud of the career you've made as YouTubers."

Ed was silent. He couldn't process his father's words. He didn't know what to think. Didn't know what to feel. He was still mad as hell, yes, but did he still hate his father? He didn't know. Maybe not with as visceral a hatred as before, but maybe some was still there? Ed was confused.

"I'm not trying to get you to change your mind about me, Edward," Van Hohenheim continued. "Feel free to hate me as long as you live, though it may pain me. I deserve it. But I never wanted to hurt you all. Maybe one day you'll understand why I left."

Edward did cool towards his father, though there was still a shit-ton of work to be done.

He did get a distraction one day when Roy Mustang called out of the blue about getting drinks.

Edward did not hesitate to accept.