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Kataomoi Ch. 9: In which things backfire
Kataomoi Ch 9: In which things backfire
Author: AkaiNagi
Genre: Romance/Angst/Humor (little for everyone)
Pairing: RoyEd
Rating: So far PG-13 for Ed's dirty mouth
After hours of pouring over the notes of Joshua Kellig, Ed had to admit that, without commenting on his skill as an alchemist, the man had been a master of coding. Or was, if he was still among the living.
To say that the man’s lab was in shambles was an understatement. He and Al had walked into a cramped, dirty room that looked like it had fallen victim to an earthquake and a hurricane simultaneously. The entire room was covered in a layer of ash-like dust that made Ed’s lungs burn if he made the mistake of inhaling it. Mustang told him Kellig disappeared last week? From the layer of dust it appeared the lab hadn’t been used for months. Add another puzzle to the mystery of Joshua Kellig.
The Green Earth Alchemist’s notes had been strewn from one end of the lab to the other. Bound volumes in some cases and hastily scribbled loose leaves in others. The brothers immediately got to work compiling the notes and volumes, clearly delineating two distinct types of documentation; personal journals scrawled in several notebooks, and alchemical journals strewn with array designs and chemical formulas. Daily entries covering several months. And all of it stopped dated a week ago.
By the end of the first day, to brothers were in agreement. While the notes didn’t definitively prove that Kellig had been working on human transmutation, they also didn’t prove that he wasn’t. The key would be deciphering the code, which seemed to be based on some kind of runic neither brother had seen before. It was similar enough to existing codes to allow them to make a partial translation, but what they read only muddied the water further. Deciphering it was going to take time.
Time. Ed briefly checked his watch. Less than an hour until I have to report to Colonel Jackass, he thought sullenly. What the hell was the purpose of dragging him on the carpet on a daily basis like this? Power tripping cretin. Probably just wants to remind me of whose dog I am. It was true that Ed and his Brother were given considerable leash in their search for the Philosopher’s Stone. That was on the road, however. In the military microcosm of Central, however, Mustang apparently wanted to drive home who was in charge.
Dammit, it wasn’t like he had anything to report at this point. He could picture it now; “No, Sir we have no idea of the whereabouts of Joshua Kellig. No sir, we have not made any headway in decoding his notes. No sir I am most definitely not looking at your ass.”
That was when Ed discovered that you could indeed choke on your own saliva, sending him into a coughing jag, which made him inhale more of that damned dust, which made him cough even harder. Al clanked over to him and began thumping him on the back, suddenly the absurdity of it all hit Ed like a blunderbuss. He sat there in the dust coughing and laughing, sending his brother into a panic at the thought that the older Elric, after all that they had been through, had finally lost his mind.
I’m fine, Al. Just sitting here thinking about tapping the Colonel’s ass, that’s all.
He croaked out something about dust and fresh air and made for the door of the lab, pushing it open and relishing the crisp, dust-free greeting his lungs.
He was also greeted by the sight of Lieutenant Havoc, omnipresent cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, leaning out the window of a standard black military vehicle. “Yo!” the man greeted him in the typical nonchalant fashion.
“Huh?!?” a.k.a. What the hell are you doing here?
Havoc shrugged, “Colonel’s orders.”
Ed felt his face burning red. That bastard. He sent his lackey to get me just to make sure I showed up. “Thanks for your trouble, Lieutenant, but I’ll walk,” he growled contrarily. He stuck his head back into the cramped, dusty lab. “Al! I’m going to report to Colonel Asshat. I’ll see you back at the dorms, okay?”
Al came clanking to the doorway. “Do you want me to come with you, nii-san?”
And what? Protect me from being molested by the big-bad Colonel? “No need. Why don’t you finish up here and bring some of these notes back to the dorms. We can work on translating back there. I can’t stand working in this dustbin.”
Al sounded unpersuaded, but acquiesced anyway.
He waved at Havoc dismissively and headed off in the direction of headquarters.
“You’re gonna be late if you walk!” Havoc called after him.
“Then I guess the poor Colonel will just have to cool his heels,” Ed called back over his shoulder. “Hope he doesn’t have any hot dates waiting for him.”
Havoc had been right, of course. By the time Ed reached HQ, night was beginning to fall and he was considerably late. If nothing else, though. The walk had served to clear his head a little. He would keep it brief and to the point; report their lack of progress and get out. What the hell could the man expect after all? They had only been at it for one day. No mooning, no letting himself get caught up in whatever psychosexual pull the colonel seemed to exert on the entire female and at least one member of the male population of Central City. He was the Fullmetal Alchemist, dammit, he had more skill than most alchemists twice his age, and had been through more in his short life than the average person would ever dream about. He and Al had spent years on their single-minded mission, not letting themselves be deterred by any adversity. He would be dammed if he would let his own hormones turn him gibbering spineless idiot.
He found Mustang reclining in his chair, feet up on his desk, looking for all the world like the lazy bastard Ed knew him to be.
Clearly the Colonel felt the need to point out the obvious. “You’re late, Fullmetal.”
Making himself comfortable on the couch, Ed took this opportunity to turn a smirk of his own on the lazy so-and-so “What? I make you late for a date or something?”
Mustang chuckled. “Not at all. I’m curious, however why you didn’t utilize the car I sent for you.”
“And I’m curious why you’ve picked now to start micromanaging us. You want a report, here it is; Kellig is missing, which you already knew, his notes are in code and his lab is in shambles, which you already knew. He may or may not have been conducting experiments involving human transmutation, which you already knew. We’ve barely made headway on deciphering Kellig’s notes. Until then, I have nothing to report. So remind me why I’m here again?” Ed snapped.
Much to Ed’s dismay, the Colonel got up from behind his desk and advanced on his subordinate, coming to a standstill directly behind Ed’s couch. Ed kept his gaze straight ahead, refusing to be drawn in by whatever game Mustang was trying to play. If he didn’t look at the man, he could almost convince himself that he was sitting there talking to himself.
“You’re here to give me your initial impressions. Your gut instinct,” Mustang intoned from directly behind him. Edward had a feeling this was how prey felt when it was being stalked.
Keep it cool, Elric “With all due respect colonel, as you well know alchemy is a science. My report should be based on evidence and hard facts, not my guts.”
“Instincts, Fullmetal, instincts. It’s important to listen to your instincts.” A gloved hand snaked its way down to his shoulder. Ed tried to suppress an involuntary shudder at the contact.
What the hell is he doing, Ed thought desperately. Is he Trying to make me crazy??
If a touch on the shoulder made him antsy, Mustang’s lips next to the shell of his ear nearly made him lose his mind. “What I want to know right now is what your instincts are telling you.”
Ed inhaled sharply at the sensation of the Colonel’s breath caressing his ear and neck. The shock of it made him turn his head only to find his face inches from his superior’s.
His eyes are so dark, Ed thought dumbly. They were a sharp contrast to the colonel’s pale skin. His lips were thin, but sensuous, slightly parted. His breath coming even, but quick. Almost as quick as Ed’s own. Mustang’s hand traveled from Ed’s clothed shoulder to the bare skin of his neck, sending a, involuntary thrill through the young man’s body. The warm butterfly-wing feeling took up residence again in Ed’s lower abdomen; the effects of sheer animal attraction making themselves felt.
Two incredible thoughts rose into Ed’s mind, first was that it would be insanely easy to simply negotiate those scant few inches and press his lips against Mustang’s own. The desire to do just that was belied by the second thought.
Which was that this bastard knew exactlywhat he was doing.
He’s playing with me Ed thought incredulously. He’s jerking me around. He knows I’m attracted to him and he’s getting his jollies at my expense. That the Colonel might actually be coming onto him did not even enter Ed’s mind as a possibility.
The thought he was being played acted on Ed like a bucket of cold water, taking the warm butterfly-feelings and replacing them with a cold rage. After all he had been through in the last three days; the angst, the self doubt. To have his feelings made a mockery of made him simmer with anger.
Wait. Feelings? This has nothing to do with feelings, Ed insisted. Hormones. Chemicals. Testosterone. Not feelings. I have no feelings for this cretin.
Ed stood up quickly and without warning sending Mustang momentarily reeling with surprise. True to form he recovered his aplomb and his smirk quickly.
“Sir. With all due respect,” Ed intoned coldly, “I have given you all the information I have at present. With your permission may I be dismissed? I have an early day tomorrow.”
The blank look on the colonel’s face betrayed nothing of what he was thinking. “Permission granted, Fullmetal. And next time take the car. I don’t like to be kept waiting."
Ed was unable to keep the scowl off his face as he made a curt bow and marched hastily out of the Colonel’s office.
Not that he would admit it to anyone, but even the walk back to the dorms, in the cold night air, wasn’t enough to erase the memory of the colonel’s touch.
Previous chapters can be found HERE
Author: AkaiNagi
Genre: Romance/Angst/Humor (little for everyone)
Pairing: RoyEd
Rating: So far PG-13 for Ed's dirty mouth
After hours of pouring over the notes of Joshua Kellig, Ed had to admit that, without commenting on his skill as an alchemist, the man had been a master of coding. Or was, if he was still among the living.
To say that the man’s lab was in shambles was an understatement. He and Al had walked into a cramped, dirty room that looked like it had fallen victim to an earthquake and a hurricane simultaneously. The entire room was covered in a layer of ash-like dust that made Ed’s lungs burn if he made the mistake of inhaling it. Mustang told him Kellig disappeared last week? From the layer of dust it appeared the lab hadn’t been used for months. Add another puzzle to the mystery of Joshua Kellig.
The Green Earth Alchemist’s notes had been strewn from one end of the lab to the other. Bound volumes in some cases and hastily scribbled loose leaves in others. The brothers immediately got to work compiling the notes and volumes, clearly delineating two distinct types of documentation; personal journals scrawled in several notebooks, and alchemical journals strewn with array designs and chemical formulas. Daily entries covering several months. And all of it stopped dated a week ago.
By the end of the first day, to brothers were in agreement. While the notes didn’t definitively prove that Kellig had been working on human transmutation, they also didn’t prove that he wasn’t. The key would be deciphering the code, which seemed to be based on some kind of runic neither brother had seen before. It was similar enough to existing codes to allow them to make a partial translation, but what they read only muddied the water further. Deciphering it was going to take time.
Time. Ed briefly checked his watch. Less than an hour until I have to report to Colonel Jackass, he thought sullenly. What the hell was the purpose of dragging him on the carpet on a daily basis like this? Power tripping cretin. Probably just wants to remind me of whose dog I am. It was true that Ed and his Brother were given considerable leash in their search for the Philosopher’s Stone. That was on the road, however. In the military microcosm of Central, however, Mustang apparently wanted to drive home who was in charge.
Dammit, it wasn’t like he had anything to report at this point. He could picture it now; “No, Sir we have no idea of the whereabouts of Joshua Kellig. No sir, we have not made any headway in decoding his notes. No sir I am most definitely not looking at your ass.”
That was when Ed discovered that you could indeed choke on your own saliva, sending him into a coughing jag, which made him inhale more of that damned dust, which made him cough even harder. Al clanked over to him and began thumping him on the back, suddenly the absurdity of it all hit Ed like a blunderbuss. He sat there in the dust coughing and laughing, sending his brother into a panic at the thought that the older Elric, after all that they had been through, had finally lost his mind.
I’m fine, Al. Just sitting here thinking about tapping the Colonel’s ass, that’s all.
He croaked out something about dust and fresh air and made for the door of the lab, pushing it open and relishing the crisp, dust-free greeting his lungs.
He was also greeted by the sight of Lieutenant Havoc, omnipresent cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, leaning out the window of a standard black military vehicle. “Yo!” the man greeted him in the typical nonchalant fashion.
“Huh?!?” a.k.a. What the hell are you doing here?
Havoc shrugged, “Colonel’s orders.”
Ed felt his face burning red. That bastard. He sent his lackey to get me just to make sure I showed up. “Thanks for your trouble, Lieutenant, but I’ll walk,” he growled contrarily. He stuck his head back into the cramped, dusty lab. “Al! I’m going to report to Colonel Asshat. I’ll see you back at the dorms, okay?”
Al came clanking to the doorway. “Do you want me to come with you, nii-san?”
And what? Protect me from being molested by the big-bad Colonel? “No need. Why don’t you finish up here and bring some of these notes back to the dorms. We can work on translating back there. I can’t stand working in this dustbin.”
Al sounded unpersuaded, but acquiesced anyway.
He waved at Havoc dismissively and headed off in the direction of headquarters.
“You’re gonna be late if you walk!” Havoc called after him.
“Then I guess the poor Colonel will just have to cool his heels,” Ed called back over his shoulder. “Hope he doesn’t have any hot dates waiting for him.”
Havoc had been right, of course. By the time Ed reached HQ, night was beginning to fall and he was considerably late. If nothing else, though. The walk had served to clear his head a little. He would keep it brief and to the point; report their lack of progress and get out. What the hell could the man expect after all? They had only been at it for one day. No mooning, no letting himself get caught up in whatever psychosexual pull the colonel seemed to exert on the entire female and at least one member of the male population of Central City. He was the Fullmetal Alchemist, dammit, he had more skill than most alchemists twice his age, and had been through more in his short life than the average person would ever dream about. He and Al had spent years on their single-minded mission, not letting themselves be deterred by any adversity. He would be dammed if he would let his own hormones turn him gibbering spineless idiot.
He found Mustang reclining in his chair, feet up on his desk, looking for all the world like the lazy bastard Ed knew him to be.
Clearly the Colonel felt the need to point out the obvious. “You’re late, Fullmetal.”
Making himself comfortable on the couch, Ed took this opportunity to turn a smirk of his own on the lazy so-and-so “What? I make you late for a date or something?”
Mustang chuckled. “Not at all. I’m curious, however why you didn’t utilize the car I sent for you.”
“And I’m curious why you’ve picked now to start micromanaging us. You want a report, here it is; Kellig is missing, which you already knew, his notes are in code and his lab is in shambles, which you already knew. He may or may not have been conducting experiments involving human transmutation, which you already knew. We’ve barely made headway on deciphering Kellig’s notes. Until then, I have nothing to report. So remind me why I’m here again?” Ed snapped.
Much to Ed’s dismay, the Colonel got up from behind his desk and advanced on his subordinate, coming to a standstill directly behind Ed’s couch. Ed kept his gaze straight ahead, refusing to be drawn in by whatever game Mustang was trying to play. If he didn’t look at the man, he could almost convince himself that he was sitting there talking to himself.
“You’re here to give me your initial impressions. Your gut instinct,” Mustang intoned from directly behind him. Edward had a feeling this was how prey felt when it was being stalked.
Keep it cool, Elric “With all due respect colonel, as you well know alchemy is a science. My report should be based on evidence and hard facts, not my guts.”
“Instincts, Fullmetal, instincts. It’s important to listen to your instincts.” A gloved hand snaked its way down to his shoulder. Ed tried to suppress an involuntary shudder at the contact.
What the hell is he doing, Ed thought desperately. Is he Trying to make me crazy??
If a touch on the shoulder made him antsy, Mustang’s lips next to the shell of his ear nearly made him lose his mind. “What I want to know right now is what your instincts are telling you.”
Ed inhaled sharply at the sensation of the Colonel’s breath caressing his ear and neck. The shock of it made him turn his head only to find his face inches from his superior’s.
His eyes are so dark, Ed thought dumbly. They were a sharp contrast to the colonel’s pale skin. His lips were thin, but sensuous, slightly parted. His breath coming even, but quick. Almost as quick as Ed’s own. Mustang’s hand traveled from Ed’s clothed shoulder to the bare skin of his neck, sending a, involuntary thrill through the young man’s body. The warm butterfly-wing feeling took up residence again in Ed’s lower abdomen; the effects of sheer animal attraction making themselves felt.
Two incredible thoughts rose into Ed’s mind, first was that it would be insanely easy to simply negotiate those scant few inches and press his lips against Mustang’s own. The desire to do just that was belied by the second thought.
Which was that this bastard knew exactlywhat he was doing.
He’s playing with me Ed thought incredulously. He’s jerking me around. He knows I’m attracted to him and he’s getting his jollies at my expense. That the Colonel might actually be coming onto him did not even enter Ed’s mind as a possibility.
The thought he was being played acted on Ed like a bucket of cold water, taking the warm butterfly-feelings and replacing them with a cold rage. After all he had been through in the last three days; the angst, the self doubt. To have his feelings made a mockery of made him simmer with anger.
Wait. Feelings? This has nothing to do with feelings, Ed insisted. Hormones. Chemicals. Testosterone. Not feelings. I have no feelings for this cretin.
Ed stood up quickly and without warning sending Mustang momentarily reeling with surprise. True to form he recovered his aplomb and his smirk quickly.
“Sir. With all due respect,” Ed intoned coldly, “I have given you all the information I have at present. With your permission may I be dismissed? I have an early day tomorrow.”
The blank look on the colonel’s face betrayed nothing of what he was thinking. “Permission granted, Fullmetal. And next time take the car. I don’t like to be kept waiting."
Ed was unable to keep the scowl off his face as he made a curt bow and marched hastily out of the Colonel’s office.
Not that he would admit it to anyone, but even the walk back to the dorms, in the cold night air, wasn’t enough to erase the memory of the colonel’s touch.
Previous chapters can be found HERE