A/N: AU. Alphonse has been returned to his proper body.

Attraction

Roy Mustang sat at the kitchen counter in his plain little house, watching Ed make dinner. (It wasn't plain for lack of trying on Ed's part; just last week, while fixing a faulty gutter, he had attempted to "decorate" the exterior by fashioning it after the scare-house at the carnival. At least that's what it looked like to Roy, and he had dragged the little brat outside at six o'clock in the morning to fix it before Roy went to work.) He sliced through vegetables with the precision of a surgeon, each one exactly the size of the one before. Roy smiled as he saw him suck the juice from one finger without thinking, grimacing at the metallic taste. Edward had brought the radio into the kitchen, and was half-listening to some salesman prattle on about cars as he dumped ingredients into the pot beside him.

Roy walked over to stand behind him, wrapping his arms around Ed's thin waist. He didn't look up, but Roy caught the ghost of a smile on his lips before Ed could hide it. Leaning down, he began to plant kisses up his neck, but Ed shrugged him off.

"Knock it off."

With a grin, he moved the hands latched at his waist to run over his chest teasingly.

"I said knock it off," he growled.

"Why don't you take a break?" Roy murmured against his ear seductively.

"Shh," he commanded, looking at the radio. Roy reached a hand over to the button and switched it off, cutting off the weather report mid-sentence.

"Hey!" Ed objected, turning around to face him, all glares. "I was listening to that!"

"And now you're listening to me," Roy purred, and hefted the little bundle of anger over his shoulder.

Ed's shriek of outrage could have woken the dead, but fortunately Roy's little plain house was given a wide berth of lawns, being on the outskirts of the city. Roy hummed happily as he headed for the bedroom, kicking the door open and depositing his squirming partner on the sheets.

"I was making my dinner," Edward scolded as Roy kicked off his boots and began to climb up the bed with a predatory smirk. "You can't keep doing this!" Ed was shouting now, scrambling back toward the pillows, eyes flashing. "You don't get to just decide it's sex time and h- mmmph!"

Oh, but he could, and it was sex time.

Afterward the two lay in the bed, no longer panting and properly cleaned up. The breeze was blowing in the window more strongly now, carrying the dusky scent of rain. It really was a good thing the house was so isolated, Roy reflected, considering how he had hit with ego-stoking accuracy the spot that made Ed scream. With a yawn, Roy snuggled Ed's sated little body closer, ready to just tuck in for the night. He probably would have already if Ed hadn't gotten back so late. It took a moment for him to notice that he was extracting himself from Roy's grip.

"Where are you going?" Roy asked in what he refused to call a whine, trying to catch hold of something to keep him down, but finding no purchase on smooth skin.

"To make my dinner," he growled lazily, pulling on his boxers before heading back out the door.

As Roy watched the light come in from the kitchen and heard the faint crackle of the radio it surprised him to realize how truly glad he was to have Ed there, even doing something as mundane as cutting vegetables. He wondered if there was anything he could refuse him, seeing as he had already surrendered his heart and his house. (Well, not his house entirely- he sure as hell wasn't letting Ed transmute those ridiculous dragons and gargoyles back on the eaves.) Edward had to leave for a weeks-long mission in two days, and although Colonel Mustang was the one sending him, Roy couldn't help but wish he wouldn't go.

Roy awoke several hours later to the boom of thunder. Blinking, he rubbed a hand across his eyes and squinted toward the window. He remembered Edward closing it on his way back from the kitchen, and it seemed he was justified in doing so. Rain was pounding against the window noisily and gurgling in his repaired (and fortunately decoration-less) gutters, though the sound was easily drowned out by the rolling thunder overhead. The storm would probably pass right through Central after this, as such storms frequently did, and Roy hoped weakly that he had followed Hawkeye's mandate and closed his office window. This seemed to be a big one.

He might not like being out in the rain, but Roy liked the raw power of storms. Sometimes he would open the window on the north face of the house-where the rain wouldn't blow in- and stare out at the blackened clouds, watch the bolts of lightning split the sky. A good mood for whisky. He was out, he suddenly realized, and had been for weeks since Ed had "borrowed" the alcohol for use in some transmutation.

Speaking of Ed, where was he? Roy couldn't feel him at his side, and that was unusual. He peered through the darkness, feeling a hand along the pillows, but didn't encounter his soft skin, or his not-so-soft Automail, either. A streak of lighting flared outside, bright white and very close, and for a moment illuminated a quivering lump underneath the covers in the middle of the bed.

"Ed?" Roy asked in disbelief, but was inaudible to even himself over the deafening thunder that followed. Was the Fullmetal Alchemist, who had fought countless battles with the courage of a lion and laughed in the face of death itself, really curled up under the blankets like a child? When his hearing returned, Roy crawled over to the lump, which he could hear whimpering softly, and dove beneath the covers to investigate.

It was indeed Edward Elric, but not at all the way most people would think of him, and definitely not the way he would ever want to be found. He had both eyes clamped tightly shut, one arm wrapped around the other, clutched to him, knees tucked up to his chest. He was shaking, and those little sounds (that Ed would never admit to) were making Roy's heart tight and filling him with a fierce need to protect his Edward from whatever was frightening him so much.

"Ed," he said softly, trying not to startle him. His amber eyes snapped open, and, upon seeing Roy, buried his face in the mattress in shame. "Ed," Mustang repeated, tucking some of his loose blond hair behind his ear. "What's the matter?" There was no response, but he didn't really expect one. Light flashed against the window once more, and Edward's entire body clenched. Roy snuggled up to Ed's curled-up form, wrapping one arm around him to stroke his fingers through his hair.

"Is it the storm?" Roy asked when the thunder dissipated, and Ed nodded his head once. "The lightning?" He nodded again. Roy laid a kiss on his temple.

"It's alright," he assured him, nudging him until he turned his face back toward him. "It's just energy discharge from-"

"I know what it is, I'm an alchemist for fuck's sake," he snapped. Roy couldn't help but smile.

"Then you know it's just natural."

"That's doesn't mean it couldn't kill me."

"It won't," he soothed, kissing his tightly-pressed lips before resting their foreheads together.

"You don't know that."

"We're in the house, it can't get you-"

"The house is made of wood, Roy."

"So what? You're made of-"

"Metal," Edward finished flatly, eyes opening to glare at Roy in challenge.

Roy's breath caught in his chest, and with a cold tingling of realization understood Edward's fear.

"My Automail conducts electricity," He finished, his eyes flinching closed again as thunder crashed overhead.

Roy knew that lightning would strike the house rather than Ed, and the chances of even that were slim- hell, Ed probably knew it, too- but also knew he wouldn't be able to convince him not to be afraid. Roy couldn't imagine Ed having to live with such a fear all this time. When he and Alphonse had traveled the country, they frequently were unable to find accommodation and had to sleep outdoors. He must have been terrified out there, he thought, watching Ed's pale face. That certainly wasn't what he meant when he called him attractive.

"It's alright, I've got you," Roy whispered, hugging the boy closer to him. "You're safe with me."

Ed snorted.

"But you're not safe with me," he muttered. "Besides, you can't stop lightning."

"We'll be fine," said Roy. "I'm not afraid of anything."

Ed's mouth twitched into a smile.

"Liar. What about Hawkeye?"

"Oh, you have me there," chuckled Roy. "I am afraid of her."

Roy continued to distract him as best he could, until the storm had past and they could finally sleep peacefully.

Edward stepped out of the car three weeks later and slammed the door behind him with a sigh. He was exhausted. These missions seemed to be taking a lot more out of him than they used to. Ed was glad to be home. Well, back to Roy's home, anyway, he thought as he turned to look at the tidy, plain house he knew so well. If it were his house, the gutters would be….

"What the hell is that?" he demanded.

Perched on top of the ordinary grey roof of the plain little house was a ten-foot tall metal spike, outrageous even by Ed's decorating standards. Stemming out from it was a series of large black cables, running over the house in all four directions, over the sides and down to the ground. What on earth….?

The ugly thing completely ruined Roy's beloved plain-little-house image.

Roy, after locking the car, came to stand beside Ed and look up at the monstrosity on top of the house. Then his gaze slid down to Ed, his eyes and smile surprisingly gentle.

"A lightning rod," he answered simply.

Edward stared at him for a moment before he had to drop his eyes to the ground, heat rising in his cheeks. Roy leaned down to kiss his forehead before lacing their fingers together and leading Ed into what was now quite definitely their house.