#edwin and royai mentioned

[griseldabanks]

Let Me Count the Ways ask game

Requested by @bunnyscar

Fandom: FMA (Foster Family AU) Characters: Roy Mustang and Edward Elric Prompt: "I can't believe I'm telling you this."

From the day he and Riza had decided to become foster parents, Roy had known his life would be forever changed. Their daily routines would have been disrupted no matter who they ended up with, but how much more so when the first children to grab their attention were two heavily traumatized boys, one with anger issues and only one leg, the other who didn't say a word and kept on trying to smuggle stray cats inside under his shirt.

It had been three years, and Roy thought he was well prepared for anything Ed and Al decided to throw at him. They'd lived through the night terrors and panic attacks. Al had finally started speaking, though he still tended to clam up around strangers because of the stutter he'd developed. After numerous shouting matches and slammed doors, Ed finally seemed to have mellowed out a bit, though he still turned his heavy metal music up loud when he was annoyed at Roy.

But Al called him 'Dad' now. And though Ed didn't, sometimes he would skip the grousing and griping and send a grin Roy's way that warmed him from head to foot. Maybe those two things meant he was actually doing an okay job at this.

But Ed always loved to keep him on his toes. One afternoon, during their usual game of chess once the day's lessons were over, while Riza took Al to his speech therapist, Ed said, “Hey, um...can I...ask for some advice?”

“Sure,” Roy said. “Move that pawn; my knight is about to take it.”

“What? No, not like that!” He moved the pawn anyway. “It's just...you're, like, married and stuff, right?”

Roy raised an amused eyebrow. “Yes, I am in fact 'married and stuff.'”

Ed shot him a dirty look, but plowed on anyway. “So you, like...you know...you've been on dates before. I mean, you had to have asked Riza out at least once before you got married, yeah?”

Straightening up from his contemplation of the board, Roy eyed the pink tinge of Ed's cheeks and started putting two and two together. “There's someone you're thinking of asking out?”

Ed hunched down in his chair, making himself even smaller than usual. “Knew I should've kept my mouth shut,” he mumbled.

Roy eyed his foster son, trying to suppress a gleeful smirk at the same time as a wave of wistfulness crashed over him. He should have known this day was coming. Ed was fifteen. He was starting to grow up.

“Don't worry, you've come to the right place,” he finally said, moving his bishop across the board. “As you so astutely pointed out, I have been on at least one date and managed not to screw it up long enough for us to get married. Clearly, I know a thing or two.”

Never mind the time Riza had slapped him so hard he saw stars when he got drunk and started flirting with someone else. And they wouldn't get into the crippling guilt that ate away at him for years after they discovered he couldn't give her the children she'd always wanted. Nor the way he pulled away from her in shame, thinking she resented him, while she spent the whole time worrying that he resented her. The important thing was that they'd worked through these issues, and they were still together. That had to count for something.

“So who is it?” he prompted when Ed just sat there, turning one of his captured pawns over and over in his hands.

“Does it matter?”

“Of course it does,” Roy said patiently. “Believe it or not, there's not just some magic formula to make any girl instantly fall in love with you. Every girl is different.” And I'm curious to find out who on earth could have caught the attention of my prickly homeschooled son.

Ed slid down even farther in his chair and stared up at the ceiling over Roy's head. “Ugh, I can't believe I'm telling you this....” He hesitated, his face going redder and redder till it was almost the same shade as his favorite hoodie. Finally, he mumbled, “It's Winry.”

“Ah....” Roy supposed he should have guessed that right away. They'd been friends their whole lives, neighbors for a large chunk of their childhood, and then Winry's grandmother had become the boys' legal guardian after the car crash. They didn't see each other as much now that they lived across the city, especially now that Winry was in high school. But when they'd gone to her tap-dance recital around Christmastime, Ed had gone strangely silent and awkward, barely saying a word to her when they met her after the show.

“There's...her school has a prom in May,” Ed mumbled. “And I...kinda wanna ask her? But like...what if I ask her and she says no? Or she just laughs at me? As if I know how to dance. I'll probably just end up stepping on her foot with this.” He kicked up his prosthetic leg, the one he usually wore around the house that looked nothing like a human appendage.

“Let me clue you in on a little secret,” Roy said, thinking back to his own awkward prom days. “Nobody knows how to dance at those things. Just put your hands on her shoulders and sway a little, and that should be enough. Or you could have her show you a few pointers.”

“That's if she says yes.” Now Ed looked faintly green. He stared up at the ceiling for a minute, then sat up straight and leaned forward almost desperately. “What if this ruins everything? What if I tell her how I feel and she turns me down and then everything's all awful forever and we can never be friends anymore? I don't wanna do that! If she doesn't wanna go out with me, I can't just...never talk to her again! Maybe I should just not say anything and just stay the way we are...but when I'm around her, I just...all I can think about is....” With a growl of frustration, he buried his face in his hands.

Roy tried to remember what it was like to be fifteen, the way a single glance or a single smile from a pretty girl could make all of his insides feel like they were on fire. In many ways, he was grateful for the age gap between him and Riza; three years was nothing to them now, but at the age of fifteen, he'd never even considered dating the scrawny twelve-year-old down the street. None of those complicated feelings had interfered with getting to know her until they were both older and much more mature.

“I think you should tell her,” Roy said. “Winry's a smart girl; it won't take her long to figure it out for herself. If she doesn't suspect already,” he added with a smirk.

“But what if she just laughs at me?” Ed moaned.

“What makes you think she would do that?”

Hunching his shoulders, Ed mumbled, “When we were, like, five...I kinda...asked her to marry me. And....” He took a deep breath, then finished in a rush, “Then she laughed and turned me down because she said she'd never marry anybody who was shorter than her!”

It was a good thing Roy had a good poker face. It was a good thing he'd had occasion to practice it quite often as a father of two teenage boys. Even so, he had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from bursting out laughing at the look on Ed's face.

“Well, say something!” Ed scowled down at his fists clenched on his knees, his face still red as a tomato.

Once he took a deep breath and cleared his throat, Roy dared to speak and found that his voice was level. “So...you're worried she's of the same opinion ten years later?”

Ed sank back into his chair with a defeated sigh, nodding glumly.

Roy laced his fingers together, striving with all his might to keep his voice neutral. “We are just talking about prom here. It's not like you're asking her to marry you. Again.”

With a groan, Ed covered his face in his hands. “I knew I shouldn't have said anything!”

“My point,” Roy persisted, “is that she might see things very differently now. You aren't the same as you used to be, and neither is she. The way I see it, you have two options: ask her, and risk her saying no. Or don't ask, and be okay with the knowledge that somebody else probably will.”

Slowly, Ed straightened up. Roy could practically see the gears whirring in his brain. His eyes blazed at the suggestion that someone might beat him to it, that some other boy would end up dancing with her through the night, maybe earning a kiss at the end....

Ed shot to his feet. “Okay,” he said firmly. “Okay. I'm asking her. I'm...I'm gonna do it!”

He marched out, barely even seeming to see Roy anymore. Roy just smirked fondly after him and put the forgotten chess pieces back into place. They could count this game as a draw.

A minute later, Ed thumped back into the room, looking sheepish. “Uh...I don't know how to ask her.”

“Sit down,” Roy said with a smile. “Let's brainstorm some options.”

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

Can I ask, if you have top favorite romantic couples (can be canon or non canon) of all time from any media? Why love them? Thx :D

... now this, took a minute to answer in some ways. There a lot of ships I like, so this was really easy and hard to answer at the same time. Some ships it was an immediate yep yep and others I had to go '... but is it a fav of all time, though?" But I think I got it narrowed down.

So here we go, fav ships of all time from any media, no particular order. I didn't get any specific no. to do so I'll just list a handful until I can't think of any others. (Anyone who comes across this that sees a ship on here you don't like and feels the need to say something about it, stay in your lane this ain't about your opinions it's about mine.)

The main FMA ships

Arakawa Hiromu, nigga, you cooked. Imma just put the FMA ships as one and leave it there because if I do it separately, we'll be here all day. But if you wanna see me diving into why I like these ships in a manic ramble, here's a post I made on that here. The romance in FMA is literally a category and a discussion all on its own that I can go about on for hours. FMA has the best romances in shounen so anyone who has consumed FMA will know what I'm talking about. Like, whenever anyone tries to use a manga being 'shounen' to justify shitty romantic writing, I point at FMA's brilliant riding. An animanga's demographic is not an excuse for terrible executions in romance. EdWin, RoyAi, LingFan, AlMei and all the side ships drank and left no molecules.

NaruSaku

Toxic shippers, again, stay in your lane, I don't feel like dealing with y'all any day. I have been shipping this shit for years, always have, always will. Ignore the fact I ship Sakura with literally everyone from the Akatsuki to Hinata to Sai to Shikamaru. (Y'all I used to look up Kisame/Sakura fics, unironically TAT). (Same for Naruto honestly, I've shipped him with Sasuke, Ino, Temari, Tenten, the list goes on and on.) The way Sakura goes from finding Naruto annoying to almost dying multiple times to keep him safe, I will never EVER be over that. Naruto's love going from puppy to something as passionately red as the thread of fate itself. The MinaKushi parallels. I have a lot (and I mean a lot) of ships in Naruto pertaining to these two, but NaruSaku is my absolute favorite. Like it was literally confirmed that Sakura got over Sasuke and then it got retconned for some bullshit. Saying it with my whole chest, argue with a wall, it should have been them. I won't dog any other ships, but yeah, it should have been them. 699 chapters of Naruto being in love with one woman, I sing the praises everyday.

SakuHina

Hinata's prince charming is literally Sakura. I have a whole ass fic I am slowly, painstakingly writing about what Naruto would have been like if Hinata had a crush on Sakura the whole time. I just think they're really cute together, have amazing chemistry and balance each other out. I didn't expect to like SakuHina as much as I did but here we are.

Kyoru

I mentioned it before in another answered ask but Fruits Basket was my first manga (if you're curious what my first anime was, it was Yu Yu Hakusho) and Kyoru was probably my first OTP. There are two characters I think upon so many rewatches and rereads that were prime game for who Kyo and Tohru could have ended up with had things been different (which, I do really ship as well. Multishipper here guys) but I'm not mad about the endgames that we got. From start to finish, Kyo and Tohru's relationship is beautiful and you can feel how strongly they feel for one another. It's like, wow, Takaya really gave us one of the best ships in shoujo and didn't even apologize for it.

Klance

Red + Blue = True. They had chemistry, supplemented for what the other lacked and we really don't need to have me diving into the bs that was VLD. That show wasn't even out long, my god, it was a mess.

NeuviFuri

Should I explain to you the romanticism of Hydro x Hydro? Oof how I love them. A Genshin ship after my own heart, truly. But if anyone is trying to against MiHoyoverse (I was here from the Mihoyo days, leave me alone) in terms of seeing who ships NeuviFuri more, we all lose. They literally paid people to do an ice dancing program in NeuviFuri cosplay, paid a guy to make a companion piece to Furina's song from Neuvillette's perspective and several other animations concerning their relationship in some way. But the Mihoyoverse shenanigans aside, it's the build up of 400+ years of working together, the care they still have for one another and yes the complementary abilities and color palettes. Not enough time in the day to talk about them, I don't think.

AriDante

Almost thought I wouldn't have a gif for them, then I remembered THEY GOT A MOVIE. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is one of my favorite books in the world. I have reread it once a year religiously since 2017 when I first discovered it. This is such a beautiful novel and relationship and if you haven't had the pleasure of reading it or the sequel, please do yourself a favor and buy it or rent it from your local library. It's just, the way Ari has been in love with Dante for so long and didn't even realize it but it's so, so clear to the reader because of just how he talks and describes him? I don't even want to go to deep into this one just in case there's someone here that hasn't read this book because it deserves to be read and experienced blind. Just, just please y'all read it.

[courtmartialme]

I think it's funny that alphonse has several implied love interests! like julia from the sacred star of milos, elena from the wii games, and also mei as arakawa intended. it's like edwin and royai are so canon that the writers can't get in the way of it, so they give all the love interests to al.

he's a young charming and polite boy of course all the girls would like him!!! al isn't the protagonist because everyone loves him and arakawa couldn't let it fall into the harem genre :/ it's so funny too considering a gag that shows up sometimes in manga is al wanting a girlfriend and being generally horny like in the omake where he's protagonist for a day and mentions visiting riza at night and almost seeing winry change LOL he's sooo funny and cute. babiest boy

[beanghostprincess]

You’re welcome! I honestly imagine Husband!Ed and Dad!Ed like a Hughes 2.0 - in the good sense of course, not in the tragic sense. Like I can totally imagine him going to visit Roy sometimes just to a) talk about his beautiful wife and their wonderful children for as long as possible and b) tease Roy about Riza and ask him WHEN he plans to propose to her, if ever (especially if Edwin gets married first which will prob be the case)

And totally agreed on Al - he’ll be the best uncle. He’ll love those kids so much (and I bet Mei will be a really fun aunt too)

Oh and I almost forgot, if you like Royai the most, you’ll be well fed because they have SO many fanfics. And SO much fanart. They are the FMA ship with the most fics on AO3, maybe FFN too. The manga may be a bit lacking there but the fandom content isn’t 😂

YOU'RE SO RIGHT!!!!!!!!! I think he's the most annoying, sweetest dad in the whole world. He won't stop playing with his kids, hugging them, and crying if he has to go for a while. He says he is not like that or as emotional as Hughes but Al mentions it once and it's stuck in his mind forever. And look, it's not a bad thing to love the people around you okay <33 And he definitely keeps teasing Roy about Riza and,,, Those two are complicated. I just know he'd tell Roy about proposing to Winry and Roy instantly would go crazy because "this kid can't do this shit first. I need to be the one doing it first" because the beef these two have is amazing. But he's a bit of a failguy so you can imagine how that plays out. And Al and May??? Those kids love it every time those two come over. This family is just adorable.

No, yeah, I figured I'd be well-fed. It's really funny because my friend (the one I watch anime with and the one who showed me Fmab) and I usually go through the main Ao3 tags in the fandom like mid-show?To see the most popular tags just because. I mean, he goes through the tag and tells me the ships without spoiling anything lmao. The thing is- I knew from the start there was a lot of Royai content and I was like "?? That's surprising. Idk. Aesthetically they don't look like the type of couple to have that many fanfics and fanbase" and then I watched the show and I completely understand why everybody needs to consume Royai content because if I don't I'll probably die. They live in my mind rent free.

[moonspirit]

1. Your favourite music bands/artists/genre

2. Tell us about your favourite fanfictions for every OTP of yours!

3. The fashion you prefer and dress up, and what you're willing to try wearing~

Helloo!!

1. This one is hard xD I grew up watching and listening to SHINee, so they're very much part of my life. Other than SHINee, I'm not into kpop very much these days. In general tho, I listen to anything and everything. But cinematic music is definitely a favourite, and for this I have to mention specially Marcus Warner, who I found in April this year and who I'd like to marry haha xD

2. Owudhjdbsuqhwns this is HARDER anon!! I have many OTPs - Aruani, eremika, yatori, inukag, royai, edwin, okikagu, Touken... and more, but I can't name my most favourite fic for each of them off the top of my head T_T someday I'll make a list??

3. Fashion hahahaha... well I'm mostly a jeans/pants + oversized tshirt/shirts kinda person. All my clothes are atleast 2 sizes larger xD I very much prefer comfortable clothes, bonus if they look well put together. As for what I'm willing to try and wear... maybe some nice dresses? I have dresses, but I haven't worn a single one of them outside haha T_T (in the end I chicken out lmao?)

[jullbnt]

Thanks for tagging me @whyoneartheven and sorry I took forever to answer!!

3 ships: Zelink of course (any pairing but especially OoT 🥰), Lamen and some OCs (I love Edwin and Royai too since you mentioned FMA!)

Last song: Christmas Cactus by Summer Salt

Currently reading: nothing except fanfiction when I find a good one

Last movie: I rewatched the LotR trilogy with my family during the holidays (I usually don’t watch a lot of stuff haha)

Currently watching: nothing I’m busy working on art requests and being tired :D but I usually listen to YouTube videos while drawing

Currently craving: Does playing OoT count? I started the Master Quest but haven’t played in a week :(

Currently consuming: coffee

Whoever wants to do this is welcome to I’m too lazy to tag anyone :D

Current things tag game

Tagged by @smilesrobotlover . I guess I'll do this. I have energy somehow. xD

3 ships: I'm not a hardcore shipper, but I'll say Malink, Midlink, and Zelink (BotW trilogy), where LoZ is concerned.

Last Song: "Loyal, Brave, True" by Christina Aguilera. Was listening to my House of Heroes playlist.

Currently reading: I don't read books as much anymore (reading makes me sleepy). So I suppose the writing for my stories I like to do for fun.

Last movie: Godzilla vs. Kong. Had a hankering for the Legendary Monsterverse recently.

Currently watching: Nothing atm. Probably will find a YouTube video to listen to while I draw soon.

Currently craving: mental stability Nothing much. It's late here.

Currently consuming: Water.

Tagging @awesomeduskangel @whyoneartheven @musical-chan

[comradekarin]

honestly some days i’m like edwin invented love when temperamental shrimp edward told winry her hands were meant to give life/winry told ed he doesn’t need alchemy to achieve his goals because she’ll give him her whole life instead of half ,,,, other days i’m like royai invented love when riza would follow roy mustang into hell if he asked her to and roy mustang called her his queen and asked her if she could still fight ,,, and other days im like almei invented love when young mei chang raced to give al the biggest hug even after seeing he didn’t fit that image she crafted in her head because she was just so glad to see him safe ,, and other days im like izumi/sig??? lan fan’s utter devotion to ling??? greed and the chimeras??? trisha and hohenheim?? pinako and winry?? mustang’s entire team?? gracia, elicia, and hughes?? do you ever just randomly think of the way arakawa writes LOVE and just

[drrockbell]

People know that they don’t have to tag EdWin in a fic if they’re just going to pair Ed up with Roy anyway right?

[andthatisnotfake]

I started writing them down...

I got to 30 and I can definitely find some more in the series/books mentioned...

Gallavich

Kurtofsky

Brittana

Branjie

Taywhora

Asttimini

Diamond Chaney

GreenTia

Black Cherry

Wilmon

Stedrika

Madirosh

Zutara

Daynight

Quinlar

FirstPrince

David x Patrick

Charlie x Nick

Tara x Darcy

Elle x Tao

Matt x Tommy

Patrochilles

Aziraphale x Crowley

Ed x Stede

Royai

Havolina

Edwin

Ca$h x Darren

Amery x Malakai

Elphaba x Fiyero

When I turned 30, I wrote 30 Gallavich ficlets to celebrate.

This year (2024) I turn 40, and I'm thinking of doing something similar, but instead of one ship, make it 40. 40 drabbles (actual, 100-word drabbles), each with a different ship. I'll have to come up with 40 different ships, but I think if I put together everything I ship, even if just a little bit, I can easily get to 40.

[fullmetalscullyy]

sitting on top of the world

hey @ayyyeisa!! i’m you’re @fmasecretsanta

hope you enjoy your gift and happy holidays!! hope you have a wonderful time ✨

summary: team mustang come together to celebrate edward and winry's engagement

rated: g | words: 2557 | tags: team mustang banter, edwin banter, royai banter, celebration, engagement, team bonding, team dynamics, parental riza hawkeye, parental roy mustang, post canon, friendship

read on ao3

Riza knew Edward had tuned the Colonel out as he was speaking to the young man. Mustang was nearly lecturing him on what he should and shouldn’t be doing in his life. He acted as if he was imparting some great wisdom and judging by Edward’s scowl he didn’t care for it very much.

She didn’t really blame him, to be honest. She’d have shot the Colonel a withering look or two if she’d been in his position, she was sure of it.

Riza had shot Edward a pleading look to ask him to just to go along with it for now and listen to him. To avoid antagonising or mocking him. It would be better for everyone in the long run if he did, especially tonight, for it was one of celebration and Riza really didn’t feel like breaking up a shouting match between the two of them.

However, she did also try and convey as best she could she’d save him from the Colonel’s prattling at the earliest opportunity.

Mustang cared for the two brothers. The whole team did and had adopted them into their group eagerly. There was always an open invitation for them to attend social events. They had never attended one during their quest to put right what they’d done, understandably, however, once Alphonse had regained his strength and they visited the team in Central, Breda had thrown down his pen and started organising a celebratory night out right there and then. It was well overdue, he’d assured them.

The interruption received a half-hearted, customary scolding from the Colonel as the discussion was disrupting work hours, but Riza could see he was pleased with the idea and could see the pride on his face when he looked upon Alphonse’s excited one.

It was a welcoming sight, seeing Alphonse’s body returned, Edward with his flesh arm intact, and them both so happy. The world no longer rested upon their shoulders and Riza couldn’t help but feel relief. They could be happy and live in peace. She was so pleased for them. They deserved a celebration in their name after all they’d done and all they’d been through.

Once they found out Edward and Winry were engaged it was agreed – rather loudly and enthusiastically – they’d have to have another celebratory night. The night had finally arrived and Riza found herself looking forward to it.

But at this point, Mustang was clearly grating on Edward’s nerves.

When more people arrived it wouldn’t be so bad, but until then she had to run interference and save the poor man.

“Colonel?”

He paused mid-sentence and turned. His expression was expectant, not even bothered he’d been interrupted in his advice giving.

“Would you mind accompanying me to the buffet table?”

Team Mustang went all out for the soon to be newlyweds.

Mustang had paid for it all. Despite the event being held at his aunt’s new bar, he still insisted on paying for everything. So he certainly cared for Edward, despite current, bordering-on-condescending, discussion, in his own mysterious ways. Riza thought it was caught somewhere between annoying older brother and slightly overbearing father.

“Ah, right. Yes, of course.” Before leaving he returned to facing Edward once more. “Remember what I told you Edward.”

The young man was barely supressing his glare. But finally, Mustang moved away and let him be. Edward was grateful when he was finally out of earshot.

“Don’t mention it,” Riza replied kindly. “He means well but…”

“Yeah,” Edward grumbled.

“Would like anything to eat?”

“I’m fine for now, Lieutenant.”

Riza nodded and followed behind the Colonel.

“Was I overdoing it?”

Before he wouldn’t have cared or mentioned it, but it seemed the Colonel was becoming more self-aware in his attitude towards Edward, so Riza supposed that was something.

“Sir?”

Mustang sighed. “I was, wasn’t I?”

“You couldn’t read the room, sir?” Riza blinked at him, her tone even, despite her sarcasm.

Mustang’s face screwed up.

“You care, and that’s okay, sir.”

He didn’t reply, which Riza expected.

“Does he want us to get him anything?”

Riza shook her head. “He politely declined.”

“All right.”

A shout sounded from the direction of the door. Breda had entered Christmas’ bar and thrown his arms up in the air with an enthusiastic greeting. He enveloped Edward in a bear hug and congratulated both him and Winry, who appeared at Edward’s side once she and Mustang had vacated it. She was a calming presence for the young man, which Riza thought was something he desperately needed before he flew off the handle at Mustang barely half an hour into their evening.

Havoc entered close behind Breda, walking with Fuery close to his side in case he needed support. Falman wasn’t able to attend the evening, but he assured he’d be there in spirit.

“There’s the couple of the hour,” Havoc grinned.

“Congratulations,” Fuery beamed.

“Thank you,” Edward nearly stuttered. His face almost turned pink.

“So, when’s the big day?”

“We’ve got some time yet,” Winry answered. “Ed’s going travelling soon, but after that…” She turned and smiled at him. It was such a sweet sight that Riza felt her own smile appearing on her face.

Havoc let out a quiet “aw” and Edward’s face turned even redder at the attention upon him.

“Let’s make a toast!”

Breda immediately made his way over to the bar to ordered drinks for their group after his announcement. Christmas was already prepared – at Roy’s request and the expense of his wallet – and upon the bar lay numerous flutes of champagne.

Without incident and with Christmas’ assistance the trays were carried over to the single table they’d naturally congregated around.

“To the happy couple,” Breda toasted with a grin.

Everyone repeated it back and lifted their glasses, which were either filled with alcohol or juice.

“Oh, this is good!”

“Tastes like the expensive stuff,” Havoc commented. He lifted his eyebrows in Edward and Winry’s direction, but they were clueless. He missed Mustang’s smug look behind his back which Riza promptly knocked off his face with a gentle elbow to his side.

“Don’t let your ego ruin the evening, sir,” she muttered under her breath.

“I would never do no such thing, Lieutenant,” he smirked, lying through his teeth.

“Only the best for Edward, right? Careful, Colonel, someone might start believing you do actually care.”

That kept him quiet, as Riza expected. He frowned and grumbled to himself like a child about “not caring that much”. A barefaced lie. This time it was Riza’s turn to smirk.

It was fun to tease him about it. He was too easy.

“Come on, Ed,” Havoc beckoned. He eased himself into a chair at the table. “Don’t leave a lady waiting. Get married before you go.”

Calmly, Edward shook his head. From his demeanour it appeared this was something he and Winry had already discussed and come to a decision about together. “There’s not enough time and I won’t rush it,” he replied firmly. “Plus, we’ve got plenty of time,” he added as he looked into Winry’s eyes with admiration.

“You two are far too sweet,” Fuery chuckled.

Riza was definitely inclined to agree.

“When should I book out my calendar then, Ed?”

“Yeah, when do we need to organise the stag night?”

“I don’t know if I would trust you lot with organising a stag night for Edward,” Riza interjected.

It caused both Breda and Havoc to shoot her an offended look, but Fuery nodded along with her in understanding.

“That’s fair,” he commented.

“Excuse you, Hawkeye! And Fuery too!” Havoc declared good-naturedly. “We’ve been betrayed, Breda. We would throw an excellent celebration befitting of our Edward.”

“I still wouldn’t trust you with it.”

They both spluttered while Riza turned to face Edward. “If anything, get Alphonse to do it.”

“What about me?”

Riza craned her head around to look at the Colonel. She was sure disbelief coloured her features because his smirk fell. “You’d be even worse. Ed, it’s Alphonse or bust, I’m afraid.” The Colonel scoffed behind her. “Or I’ll do it for you, if he can’t.”

“Speaking of,” Fuery piped up before the Colonel could go off on a rant about how amazing he would be as an event organiser for Edward’s stag night. “Where is Alphonse? Has he arrived yet?”

“Not yet,” Edward replied. “His train is due to arrive soon.” He reached within his jacket, presumably for the pocket within, but paused. Instead, he removed his arm and slid up the sleeve to look at the watch on his wrist. “It should arrive any minute.”

As if on cue, like he had planned it, the door opened, and Alphonse Elric walked in.

Riza still couldn’t get over how welcome the sight was to see him in his own body.

“Speak of the devil,” Havoc beamed.

“Hi,” he greeted, sounding breathless.

Within seconds Edward was out of his chair to see to his brother.

A woollen hat was pulled down low on his head to cover his ears. His scarf concealed his chin but left his cheeks and nose open to the winter air. They looked cold, coloured bright red thanks to the chill.

Everyone was happy to see him. Cheers erupted from a select merry few who moved over to greet the younger Elric.

“My train arrived about half an hour ago,” he explained.

“Did you walk all the way here?” Riza couldn’t help the flare of concern that flitted through her.

Alphonse nodded. “It’s a nice night and I didn’t mind. The exercise is good for me.”

“You should have called,” Edward scolded as he assisted his brother – who looked tempted to wave off his concern and help, but allowed it for now – over to a chair for him to sit in. “I was waiting on your call!”

“The train was early, and I didn’t want to pull you away,” Alphonse replied, nonplussed. “No need to fuss, Ed. I’m perfectly fine.”

It didn’t look like he believed him, but Edward let it slide. For now.

“Do you need anything,” Riza asked. “Christmas?” She turned her head to face her. “Could we have a glass of water, please?”

“Coming right up.”

“I’m fine,” Alphonse reassured them with a happy grin. “Sorry for interrupting. What were you guys talking about? It sounded heated,” he snickered.

“You’re left with organising Edward’s stag night, I’m afraid,” Riza answered before anyone else could. “Winry and I don’t trust anyone else to do it.”

The three offended men grumbled into their glasses which made Alphonse laugh in response. “I was right, it was a heated discussion. I can do that,” he beamed, eyes glittering with excitement. “I would be happy to if Ed wants me to.”

“Of course I do,” he replied as if it were obvious.

“Can’t wait,” Alphonse winked.

“So… When?”

“I’m marrying Winry as soon as I get back from travelling,” Edward answered easily and without missing a beat. It caused Winry’s eyes to sparkle with elation.

“But who knows when that will be,” she chuckled in response. “Once you set your mind to something I never know when I’ll see you again.”

“It won’t be long, though,” Edward reassured earnestly. “I promise.”

“Oh yeah? Just like you promised you’d come visit home before, when you travelled, and I didn’t see you for months?”

He had no response to that. Havoc guffawed and Fuery snorted.

“Well, I had important things to do!”

“I know you did,” Winry replied with a playful scowl, “but I would have appreciated a call every now and then at the very least.” She proceeded to nudge him with her elbow.

“I did!”

“Not for months!”

“They seem like the perfect match for one another.”

Riza turned to see Christmas appeared behind her with the requested glass of water for Alphonse. She was watching their squabble with a raised eyebrow and amused look.

“They are,” Riza confirmed, knowing wholeheartedly that was the truth.

Her regard turned to Alphonse who was watching Edward and Winry argue fondly. Something told her this was not the first time he’d witnessed such an altercation between them.

“How are you doing, Alphonse?”

“Hi, Miss Hawkeye. I’m fine. Doing great, actually!”

“Please,” she chuckled, “you don’t have to call me Miss Hawkeye or Lieutenant anymore. Just Riza is fine.”

He appeared to turn shy for a bit. “Sorry. Force of habit.”

“I imagine it will take some getting used to?”

“Yes,” he replied sheepishly.

Her expression softened as she witnessed his expression change. So different from trying to determine the truth of his emotions from his voice alone. Joy warmed Riza’s heart almost immediately at the realisation.

“That’s okay,” she soothed. “Take your time. Are you eating all right? Looking after yourself?”

Alphonse nodded dutifully. “I am, thank you. I’ve been trying lots of different foods recently.” His eyes lit up with excitement. “I’ve found so many new favourites. But nothing beats Winry’s apple pie, though.”

Riza chuckled. “I bet. It is very delicious. And is everything all right with you adjusting?”

Their conversation took a slightly more serious turn, but Riza would have liked to have known. Just to be sure he truly was all right.

Even the Colonel had come to her side and was waiting expectantly on an answer from him.

Alphonse looked between them both. She was loath to see his excitement fade from his eyes and his countenance turn serious. Still, Riza felt blessed to be even able to witness such a change. It was a reminder of how far they’d both come.

“Everything is going really well,” he answered honestly. “There were some ups and downs at the start, but it appears to have settled down now.” A small smile quirked up the corners of his mouth. “Everything is great.”

“I am very pleased to hear that, Alphonse,” the Colonel replied sincerely.

Riza knew he meant every word from the expression on his face alone, as did Alphonse.

“I am as well.”

Alphonse grinned up at them. “Thanks.”

“Right, enough squabbling, love birds,” Breda announced loudly, interrupting their conversation, and shooing them both apart.

Winry and Edward ceased their argument immediately.

“There are celebrations to be had instead, now that everyone is here!”

A cheerful cry sounded through their group.

“To the happy couple,” Breda toasted. “May their days be filled with nothing but joy and good times.”

“Here, here,” Mustang agreed in response, the first one to do so, and also the loudest.

As everyone took a drink, ever so subtly, the Colonel’s shoulder and arm pressed gently against hers as he shifted closer. Riza smiled to herself and returned the gesture. She placed a hand on the centre of his back, out of view from everyone else, and patted it once. While everyone was occupied, she leaned her head and weight in towards him affectionately. The Colonel sighed happily behind the safety of his champagne flute while Riza caressed his lower back with her thumb. She let her hand linger for a moment longer before dropping it back to her side.

Pride surged through Riza as she watched Edward and Winry’s eyes meet. They were so happy beside one another, to be together. It was a joy to see and Riza couldn’t have been more pleased for them.

Like Christmas had said, they were the perfect pair.

[catgirl-catboy]

FMA for the ask game?

favorite character: Greedling. I am in love with the 'nonhuman character slowly bonds with humans/wants to' trope. Can I get ten more of those motherfuckers?

least favorite character: Shou Tucker, but in a love to hate sense. He's an absolute piece of shit and I love to dunk on him. If you mean a character I wish was written differently or had wasted potential, then I have to give it to Sloth.

brOTP: Does it count as a BROTP if they are sharing a body? Too bad, I'm counting it.

Honorable mention to Izumi and Hohenheim!

OTP: Royai. (yes, I am a basic bitch!) Its one of those rare ships where I don't ship them with anyone else! Hard to imagine a universe where those two don't have a thing.

OT3: Winry x Ed x Ling. Hard OT3 to ship, since the Edling shippers seem to really crap on Edwin in their fic sometimes. Ah well, they all live together at Winry's house in my brain!

NOTP: Honestly, I don't see Winry x Paninya. I want to, they'd be so cute together! But I can't just get into it.

favorite storyline: Reole (thats the official wiki spelling???). I remember exactly where I was when I first read it. What a hell of an introduction! Had me hooked from the get-go!

least favorite storyline: This might be an unpopular opinion, but when I was first reading, I felt like the Scar plotline dragged in spots. Sometimes the pacing just felt off with it, I'm unsure how to describe.

what I wish had happened but didn’t: I wish we did more with chimeras, and how they fit in with society as a whole.

what happened that I wish hadn’t: Al's soul disconnecting from his body. It felt like a needless escalation of the stakes.

[fullmetalanalyst]

Royai and Edwin Parallelism

Choice and Worth

[EPISODE 2] Riza tells Winry she can call her by her first name instead of her rank. Despite her friendly approach, Winry seems to judge Riza for being a soldier. 

Winry condemns the military for attempting to take Ed and Al away from her, just like what it did to her parents.  Riza, however, tells her the choice is still theirs.

And here comes my favorite part. Roy and Riza lectures Ed and Winry about choice and moving forwards into life-- on separate but simultaneous occasions.

How is it that they have similar ideals about it? It’s because they speak from experience. In fact, when Winry asks Riza why she joined the military, Riza tells her it’s because she has someone she wants to protect. 

Just look at Riza’s small smile. And Roy? He came in as if it was all on cue.

[FMAB SPECIAL EPISODE 02] In a similar scenario, Riza tells Winry she was not forced to make that choice. It was her own.

However, she told a different reason to the person she wanted to protect.

(yeah it’s lengthy again please click keep reading if you want to read more!)

[EPISODE 30 & 54]

It was evident in her actions that Riza entrusts Roy the secrets of Flame Alchemy. She’s letting him guard her back, and even joins the military to support his goal. 

Interestingly, Roy still calls her by her last name in this scene. In the Japanese dub, he calls her “Hawkeye” as a formal pronoun that means ‘You’.

However, she never tells Roy directly that he’s the reason why she joined the military. She only told Roy that it was for the well-being of the people, which was his goal as well.

Scarred by the aftermath of the war, she asks Roy a favor: to burn the secrets of Flame Alchemy. She once again told him that she trusts him to protect her back from people who would become another Flame Alchemist.

Another interesting fact: this was the last time Riza calls him by his last name.

Riza puts the blame on herself for allowing so many lives to perish just by choosing to trust Roy. She must have felt worthless* that she caused him so much pain. Roy, on the other hand, feels the same. He was the one who led her to this path with his idealistic goal. To make matters worse, she wanted him to burn her back. 

[Heavily implied off-screen scene] Roy burnt her back. Riza felt free from the burden her Father placed upon her. She must have felt like she came back from the dead*. But they probably both felt they are indebted to each other. They feel unworthy to even speak of each other’s names. 

As many people left the military after Ishvalan war (I think this was mentioned in FMA 2003), Roy must have told Riza he’s not forcing her to continue working in the military. It’s still her own free choice. Whether or not she stands up on her own two feet or not.  Hence, the root of their simultaneous speech in [EPISODE 2].

Once they return to Eastern HQ, Riza approaches Roy and informs him of her decision.

It’s that same “muddy path” metaphor from [EPISODE 2]

[EPISODE 3 - onwards] Just as Riza and Roy got each other’s backs, Ed and Winry help each other stand up with their feet. Ed was given automail arm and legs by Winry (and Pinako). Just like Riza, it was the most that Winry can do to support Ed’s goal: to bring back their bodies. (We know how important Winry’s automail are). 

He even tells Rose to stand up and move forward [E3]

When Rose met Winry, she thanks her for giving Ed his arm and leg. [E44]

Even in the end, Ed decides to keep his leg. A symbolism of how much he relies on Winry for him to stand up and run to reach his ambitions. (there’s a separate post I found that shows how big of an influence Winry was to Ed in his decision to choose humanity over alchemy right here)

[EPISODE 11]

Ed also helped Winry stand up in several occasions. When Winry got tired from helping Dominique’s niece from giving birth, she asks Ed to help her stand up.

[EPISODE 23-24]

Most importantly, when Winry found out it was Scar who killed her parents, she was tempted to take on revenge. Ed saved her from taking the path of vengeance**. Winry cried after attempting to take revenge on Scar. Ed was there to help her stand up. He even promised that the next time Winry cries, it will be tears of joy. He tells her she doesn’t have the hands to kill. Her hands are meant to help people (just as how much she helped him).

[EPISODE 24] 

Ed thought of what he told to Winry when Riza lends her gun to him. Al reacts by saying it’s a tool to kill. Riza corrects him and says it’s for protection. 

[EPISODE 30]

When Ed told Riza he felt worthless for not understanding Winry’s feelings (on how much she wanted revenge), Riza tells him quite an answer. 

It was based from experience yet again. “You can only worry about [being worthless for someone] because *you came back alive” (similar to [Heavily implied off-screen scene])

Riza sees protection (her reason for joining the military) as love.

[EPISODE 54] Riza saved Roy from taking the path of vengeance, just like how Ed saved Winry.

BONUS: Hayate leaps over Edward. 

“It’s fine it happens A LOT” but it only happened twice.

Riza comes into the picture. Riza, a daughter who became her father’s research experiment.

Sounds familiar?

I hope you all enjoyed it! Please do tell me what you think it’ll really mean a lot to me! Other FMA Blogs: Royai blog: @royriza FMA sh*tposts: @hawkeyebullets  Main blog: @meridianheroine​

[that-crazy-five-foot-two-chick]

I will never get over how well written the FMAB romances are because when I tell you that not once did anybody kiss onscreen (married couples included), the reaction is gonna be "no of course somebody kissed...OH WAIT SHOOT YOU'RE RIGHT"

and yet you could easily put multiple couples on a list of best written romances or at the very least, best at "show don't tell"

and I know fans will read way more into subtext than was ever intended but like. Royai man. They are the pinnacle of subtext and double entendre. "I will follow you even into hell if you ask" was in the context of ambition, not romance, but every supportive interaction they have strengthens their bond in the eyes of the audience. She is his queen piece on the chess board: she is one of his most formidable allies, but she is also the queen to his king in a romantic sense. And the way he freaking loses it when Lust is about to kill "his subordinate." And the way "sir"/"colonel" and "my subordinate"/"lieutenant" become terms of affection

EdWin is more obvious, partly because multiple adults tease Ed about it and partly because we love a good childhood friends trope, but there's so much more there. At first glance, their bickering can come off as the early era shounen couple (nagging wife+idiot husband who tells her not to worry about it), but the content of the bickering and the level of development they both have as individuals is what sets them apart. While Winry does nag Ed a lot, she does it out of genuine concern for his safety and pride in her automail engineering. Conversely, Ed brushes it off and snaps back at her a lot, but for one thing, he doesn't want her to worry and for another, he eventually shows that he truly does care about her feelings and safety and has the highest respect for her automail work. He wasn't called the Fullmetal Alchemist for nothing (which is kind of a pun in Japanese due to his prosthetics and his stubborn/steel personality). This kid was straight up impaled and on death's door and said "this is annoying. I can't make Winry cry so I guess I've got to get out of this somehow" and did.

I could go on for an even longer time than I already have with more couples but I'll just take one more second to mention that I can't think of a single married couple in FMAB that didn't absolutely adore each other (the Bradleys don't count and she adored him at least)

Tldr I am and always will be astounded by Arakawa's writing

[harcidian]

ephermal 👀👀 (also ty for tagging me even tho I do not and will not ever write fic LOLOL 💙)

ohmy I never knew! Sorry for the confusion! 😅

ephemeral

adj. lasting a very short time

An almei fic! Compared to edwin royai and lingfan, I think Al and May Chang do not have a shared history. And they need more love 🥺. So I wanted to explore their dynamics and how their relationship might have developed. I think it can be considered as a Character Study (and a relationship study? idk if that’s a real ao3 term lolololol)

Personally, I view Al and May as people who seem too good to be true. Al is the one who always takes care of Ed, even though he’s the younger brother. May had the fate of her entire clan in her hands despite being young. I see both of them as people who loved to help others, but silently wish for someone to help them instead. They wanted someone to take care of them for a change. Until they met each other.

I also wanted to explore the importance of equivalent exchange, not as a function of being insufficient, but in the context of giving too much. Not to mention that kindness is something people always take advantage of. And so, their “perfect image” isn’t as perfect as others might think.

Also, this was originally entitled “ethereal”. But I wanted it to fit the theme of ‘time’ for the sake of the series I’m planning, which includes primordial (royai), perpetual (edwin), fragmental (lingfang), and meridian (post fmab fic).

It needs a lot of world-building, and for simplicity’s sake (and for my sanity), they’ll all be under the same timeline.

P.S. this will take a long-ass time 😆 i’m a writer who looooves planning but I do hope I can make it before (god forbid) I lose interest

list of wips here

[rage-youdamnnerd]

no fic? that's okay let's go with top 5 otps then? :o

Absolutely!!

In no particular ordrer:

1. Erasermic (bnha)

My god I've always loved their dynamic. I find it extremely relatable.

2. Royai (fma)

SCREAMING AND CRYING I'LL SHIP THEM TILL I DIE.

3. Edwin (fma)

They're so cute. Just a couple of absolute dorks in love.

4. Sasunaru (naruto)

I haven't finished Shippuden yet, but of course I know who ends up with who, and I'm mad. We deserved Sasunaru.

5. Bakudeku (bnha)

I didn't ship them until Bakuboy started showing some character development in the manga, and heroes rising happened. Yeah... I ship them hard

Honorable mentions:

Zutara (atla)

Winry/Paninya (fmab)

Midjoke (bnha)

Kiribaku

Momojirou

[mildly-nerdy]

Tag 9 people you’d like to get to know/catch up with

thank you so much for tagging me @meridianheroine!! Let’s have a chat sometime!

3 ships: 

2020

Edwin — FMAB

Royai — FMAB

Zutara — AtLA (sorry, Aang lol)

OF ALL TIME — from my baby weeb years to now

InuKag — InuYasha

Edwin — FMAB

Royai - FMAB

HONORABLE MENTIONS

AlMei — FMAB

SessKagu — InuYasha

KatAang — AtLA

Last song: Confessional —Janet Devlin (she’s lovely, please visit her YouTube and TikTok)

Last movie: Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix (and it’s just as awful as the first time around. They left so much out it’s painful.)

Currently watching: Disney animated films in order of release. Today is Pocahontas!

Currently consuming: the love of my cat trying to sit on my lap since she doesn’t care that i’m TRYING TO WORK ON MY FICS SKJHFGSDKDGKS

Currently craving: the next chapters of Starlight Star Bright, Dead on Arrival, Blackwell Springs, Memento Amare, and Sirius

Currently [re-]reading: editing my fics, Of Serpents and Spirits and a parental Roy oneshot [that i’ll hopefully finish soon]

TAGGING: @x-rainflame-x @magmatickobaian @firewoodfigs @liathgray @later-slayer @ymir-me