Title: Balanced Equation

Pairing: RoyxEd

Rating: G

50reactions Theme: #48 Balanced Equation

Summary: Roy had given up long ago believing that he along could complete Ed.

As Roy Mustang watched the two blond men chase a small child around the yard, he remembered why he long ago had given up thinking that he could complete Edward.

Roy's lover bent to scoop up Lily, the mischievous, blue-eyed product of a devoted marriage between Winry and Fletcher Tringham. Edward held the four-year-old up by the wrists while Alphonse snuck up from behind and drummed his fingers down her ticklish sides. Lily squealed in delight.

The Brothers Elric had remained childless even now into their thirties. Edward for the obvious reasons and Alphonse because he had developed dating routines prolific enough to rival Roy's of old and to make Havoc weep. They both emphatically agreed that Lily Tringham was enough of a handful for them - and they lived a three-day train ride away.

Roy knew that he made Edward happy; a relatively bump-free decade and a half was testament to that. But Roy also held no illusions that it was he alone who balanced the complex equation that was Edward Elric.

For several years, he had been foolish enough to wonder if the missing element was children. He wasn't one with much of a desire for progeny himself, but he hated the idea of denying the pleasure of normality from his partner. He even arrived at the point of considering sponsoring a poverty-stricken child from Ishbal, if nothing else. Eventually, he settled on plants (mostly because the Tringhams always sent a few home whenever they visited). Those he could handle. Mostly.

Edward, of course, was oblivious to Roy's worry. However, when word reached Roy and Edward in Central that Winry was expecting, Edward had grinned widely, shook him head, and muttered, "Poor Fletcher." Later that night, after they had made love, Roy had confessed his fears.

The younger man had gaped in silence for a moment, his flesh finger winding absently around a section of blond hair, still pleated from a day in a braid.

"Are you serious?" he had asked.

Roy had nodded pitifully.

"Why would I want a bunch of rugrats running around? We'd have to close the door when we had sex," he had said and winked.

And so that had been settled. Now, watching Edward tumbling on the grass with Lily and Alphonse, watching him shoot euphoric glances at Winry and Fletcher on the porch swing, Roy knew what the missing element was.

He looked up as Russell Tringham settled himself onto the seat beside him. The tall blond man grinned at his niece, whispers of crow's feet starting to tug at the corners of his eyes. The two men held a comfortable fellowship in these gatherings, though they had never developed into i friends. /i Roy assumed they never would, what with Russell's work cleaning up the military's messes and Roy being a devoted military man. But as was often the case when Roy jumped to conclusions, he found himself surprised.

Russell turned his blue-eyed, grinning face to the dark-haired man beside him.

"This is a beautiful family we have here," the plant alchemist said, "Thank you for being a part of it."

The blond man had grown a bit sentimental with age it seemed, and Roy found himself speechless until his lover plopped down breathlessly to his right.

"I'll have to rest up before we come back," he wheezed, watching Lily chase Alphonse with a stick (a certain precursor to a wrench), "Did I ever have that much energy?"

"Once upon a time, old man," Roy replied, stroking a hand through blond hair beginning to tinge with grey.

Edward made an attempt at a scowl but failed miserably and it melted into a breathless grin.

Even for someone as averse to sentimentality as Edward, it was clear that he would always need his friends and family to balance his crazy, complex equation. /lj-cut