#it took all my brainpower to draw these simple little guys

[bromelianana]

“Hey passer, why do you avoid making fanart?”

my fanart:

[fullmetalgunfire]

The eighth and final-ish chapter of my gift fic for @blackwolfchimera. Final-ish because this shouldn’t be the final version... At all... Basically I got a bit sick and it’s turned my brain into utter mush, which has made this not only the worst chapter I’ve written but left me with basically no brainpower to fix it. I mean it doesn’t even really end properly it just sort of stops...

Anyway, Eurydice offered to do a rewrite so this actually has a proper ending, but unfortunately that’s not finished tonight and I’m not 100% positive when it will be (hopefully tomorrow, but she’s got other stuff to do so I’m not positive... And I don’t want to pressure her because boy does this need a lot of work...). It just feels wrong to leave the story where it’s at in the meantime, though, so I’m posting this... Basically unedited bad version just so there’s something. Promise to post the final version as soon as I can, though!

...And hey, handy links to the other chapters, I guess?

Chapter 1 (plus explanation) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The weekend passed in a blur, and so did the handful of school days until the callbacks. It was harder for them to meet with their friends once the weekend was over, but they still did their best to cram as much prep and practice into those few days as they could.

“Ready for this?” Roy asked as he and Ed met outside the theatre.

“More worried about you, you’re the one with a game to get to,” Ed answered, “How about you? You ready for this?”

“As I’ll ever be, I think...” he sighed, looking nervous, “I’ve got my uniform in my bag, all ready to go, just in case I have to run to the game.”

“Surprised you’re not already wearing it,” Ed replied with a slight laugh, grabbing him by the back of the neck and pulling him down into a brief kiss, “Relax. We can do this.”

“I know...” he murmured in reply, looking more relaxed when he pulled back, “Shall we?”

Ed just nodded in response, and they headed into the theatre. There wasn’t many people there... Ling and one other guy who were their competition for the leads, and a handful of others being tried for other parts. Ed doesn’t remember who’s who, except for their direct competition... He’d been too busy to pay much attention to the other people on the list.

He and Roy wandered in quietly, taking seats next to each other near the front just as Mr. Garfiel came out.

“Well, I’d like to welcome you all the the call backs...” he said, “All of you are in the running for some of the biggest roles in this production, but I need to decide which of you will be best for which role... I’m planning to start by pairing you up and having you each do a scene involving characters I think you’d do well with. When I call your names, please come up here and I will give both of you scripts to use...”

Ed waited, completely relaxed, for Garfiel to call him and Roy up... Then froze when, instead, he calls up Roy and Ling.

“What?” he said under his breath, looking to Roy, who looks just as surprised and panicked as he does. He wanted to ask why, he really did, but... They’re on thin ice as it is. If it seemed like they might be protesting in any way...

Luckily, Ling decided to ask for them. Ed’s almost grateful if he wasn’t sure Ling was behind their sabotage.

“Sir? Why aren’t we being paired with our previous partners? I was prepared for-”

“I might cast any combination of you in either role,” the teacher interrupted, giving Ling an unimpressed look, and Ed has to stifle a snicker at how the tables have turned, “I need to know you’re prepared for that, and to see which of you would work best in which role...”

“Guess that’s a valid reason...” Roy mumbled with a sigh, suddenly taking Ed’s hand. He blinked at him, confused by the sudden gesture, before realizing Roy’s seeking out some level of reassurance and squeezing his hand briefly before Roy stands and breaks away to get his script and meet Ling without another word. Ed and the guy who’d been practicing with Ling get called up a moment later, and he goes up to grab their scripts and meet up with the guy. He... Doesn’t look at that happy to be there, to be honest. More resigned than anything... Ed wonders why.

“So, uh... Who’ve you been practicing for?” Ed asked, deciding to just cut to the chase.

“Oh, uh... The tutor...”

Ed cringed. “Oh. Shit. So have I...”

“Oh,” the other boy said, looking toward the teacher with a thoughtful frown, “Maybe we should ask if we should switch partners with-”

“Nah,” Ed cuts off before that thought can get fully formed... He doesn’t want to risk his partner even thinking like that. “I’ll just switch roles. Shouldn’t be too hard, I’ve been reading the whole script, I can come up with something...”

“Oh. Thanks...” the guy says, offering him a small smile, “I’ve only been thinking about the one role...”

Ed eyes him for a moment. “Seems like that’d be a bad idea. I mean, if you want to get cast.”

“Well... I... Kind of don’t. Not really.”

Ed’s eyebrows shoot up. “Then why are you here?”

The boy shrugged. “Ling’s a friend, and... I guess he assumed he’d get lead, but he needed someone to be opposite him that wouldn’t be too terrible, and... Well, I tried theatre years ago and I was alright, I guess, though I don’t really like it much. Ling remembered, though, and... Well...”

“Asked you to audition as his partner,” Ed supplied, “To make him look good.”

“More or less.”

“Right...” Ed said slowly, “So... You want to go over the scene?”

They discussed what they were going to do for a bit, and went over the dialogue a couple times, but then it kind of dies out. It’s a simple scene, after all, and this guy isn’t exactly the type to offer a lot of ideas of what to do with it...

Ed let his attention wander, drifting around the room. They seemed to be taking their time getting through all the scenes... He can see Mei talking to Mr. Garfiel, pointing out little things and trying to get him to make the people on stage do the scene over. That was one of her little delays she’d planned, he figured... He winced, though, when a moment later the teacher clearly ran out of patience before she could draw things out any longer and called up the next pair.

It made him nervous, and he automatically looked over to Roy, who seemed to be arguing with Ling, looking frustrated. Oh that wasn’t good... Ed took a deep breath, trying not to think this was starting to turn into a disaster. There really wasn’t any evidence of that yet... Or not much, anyway.

They get called up to do their scenes a moment later, Roy and Ling going up first. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either, each of them clearly struggling to make their interpretation work with a new partner. But at least both of them were rough, so Ed doubts Roy will be knocked out of the running for it... He and his partner go up after them, and Ed thinks it goes slightly better, though really that’s only because his partner is so flat that Ed can pretty much do what he likes and it’ll work about the same.

“That went well...” Roy drawled sarcastically as they rejoined each other after Ed’s scene.

“Yeah... I mean, I know he’s trying to throw us off, but fuck, how would that help him decide anything?” Ed replied, keeping his voice low, “How was working with Ling, anyway?”

“He’s... Not as much of a diva as I was expecting, given what we’ve been hearing,” Roy said slowly, “But he’s got his own ideas about how to do everything, and trying to get my ideas in...”

“Yeah, you didn’t seem to be getting along that great,” Ed hummed before Mr. Garfiel cut off any more conversation.

“Alright, well, that was good... I’m going to move on to the next segment. This will only be four of you in the running for the leads, I want you each to sing a solo from the character you’d prefer to play...”

Ed freezes. That wasn’t something they’d expected... Judging from Mei’s reaction, she’s just as surprised, so this had to be a last minute addition. They were lucky she’d made them be familiar with. The whole script and all the songs, but...

She recovers though, and waves to get the teacher’s attention. “Sir, if we’re making the leads do that, why not everyone? It’d only be fair...”

Ed smiles a little at that, thinking it’s a perfect opportunity to delay the choreography a little more, but then there’s a chorus of protests across the theatre.

“Well, it doesn’t sound like anyone else is prepared for that, and it is admittedly a surprise...” Mr. Garfiel hums, then gives him and Roy a pointed look, “I hope our potential leads are prepared anyway?”

“I’m sure we can manage something,” Roy says smoothly a moment later.

They each get called up in turn, and it goes... Alright. He and Roy are unpolished, not having practiced the songs at or or decided how they’d interpret them, but thanks to Mei and her prep they’re far from bad. Ling does about the same as them, too, but the fourth guy... Well, it’s clear he just copies what Ed does, and not quite as well, which leaves the teacher grimacing and clearly displeased. The guy doesn’t seem to mind in the slightest, though... Ed hopes that, however the casting goes down, this kid gets to get out of it. He clearly doesn’t actually want to be there.

Unfortunately, even with making all four of them sing, it doesn’t take nearly as long as he’d have liked. He can see the girl who’s doing the choreography preparing to come out, and it just... Seems too soon. There’s still way too much time left where the teacher can wear Roy out...

“I know we’re waiting to do the duets until the end,” Mei pipes up suddenly, “See how they can handle it after the choreography, but maybe we should have them try a little piece of it first? With each possible combination. To make sure we have the best two pairs try at the end...”

Mr. Garfiel looks thoughtful, and Ed stiffens, waiting to see if he takes it. They need any kind of delay, any at all, right now...

“I think that would work,” he finally says, “If you could sing in the pairs that I assigned for the scenes, just the chorus will do...”

It’s not much, but he’ll take it. Each pair sings the chorus together and it’s... Well, it’s about as good as the scenes they did. And when the teacher makes Roy and Ed switch partners, it doesn’t go any better. Finally, he reluctantly tells them to go into the pairs they’d been practicing with, and it goes much, much better. Ed thinks that he and Roy sound fantastic, and way better than Ling and his partner, who still falls flat.

The teacher sighs, looking resigned, like he kind of hoped that a different set would be surprisingly good. “Well... Moving on then,” he said, gesturing the the choreographer, “We’re going to be doing a dance audition next, you’ll be taught a crowd dance from the show, and we’ll have you all perform at once...”

There were some scattered protests, but they were quickly silenced by one look from the intimidating looking girl doing the choreography. Still, it’s clear that a lot of people are unprepared, expressing confusion over why she’s leading them through stretches (she briskly explains that it’s to prevent them from hurting themselves) and some of them not quite doing them right.

The confusion gives Ed an idea. He starts doing some of the stretches slightly wrong himself... Not enough to make it obvious he’s doing it on purpose, but enough to add one more person to her pile of people she needs to correct.

Roy looks slightly annoyed with it... He seems anxious to prove himself. But the less time there is to wear him out, the better.

As they’re finishing up their stretches, he glances over to the table where Mei is sitting with the teacher, seeing her fiddling with her phone behind his back. Probably signaling Al to start with their other sabotages...

They move on to learning the choreography, and almost immediately Ed asks a question about some term she used. to be fair, it’s a genuine question, he doesn’t know what she’s referring to, though he could probably figure it out if he had to. It does exactly as he expected, though... All the other inexperienced students take the cue to start asking about anything they don’t understand, and Ed has to force himself not to grin at his own contribution to the sabotage.

A couple minutes later, as they’re working on learning the difficult dance moves, the lights start flickering, and then go off.

“Stop, stop,” Mr. Garfiel calls out, looking annoyed at the interruption, “It’s not safe to keep going with no lights... Can someone figure out what’s going on so we can keep going?”

There’s a bit of a careful scramble, but no answers, then the lights mysteriously come back on again. The teacher just tells them to resume the lesson, and they do for a minute... Until the lights flicker and go out again.

They come back on. Then go back off. Then come back on...

“Can you just teach them something simpler?” Mr Garfiel calls out in frustration after a few times.

“There’s a simpler dance from earlier in the show I have worked out...” the choreographer says, then starts leading them through that.

It’s still stop and go, but it goes faster now, everyone catching on to the steps easier. They get through the simpler choreography, and Ed relaxes... He can’t imagine there’s anything else the teacher will throw at them, there’s not really enough time for more anyway, and Roy is not nearly as tired as he’d feared. It looked like they were out of the woods, and had managed to handle-

“Alright, if I could have everyone but those in the running for the leads leave the stage,” Mr Garfiel called out, “I’m going to have you pair up and do a different choreography, just the two of you. It’s important our leads have the right chemistry...”

Ed stiffens in surprise, then starts to bristle angrily. They had been there for too long already! If the teacher insisted on them continuing with all the dancing, they were going to run into time that Roy needed to get to his game! Didn’t he understand that? “Hey-”

Roy put a hand on his shoulder before he could actually be heard, stopping him. “Ed, calm down, it’s alright, we’ll handle it... There’s always the last resort plan if it really starts running too long.”

Ed sighed, slumping. “This is just getting fucking stupid...”

“I know. But we’re almost through it...”

Ed manages to swallow down his anger, just barely, and refrains from vocally making his displeasure known. It’s a little easier now that he and Roy are working together again, being led through the beginning of a... Distractingly intimate dance.

They don’t get far into learning the steps, though, when the fire alarm suddenly goes out, and they’re forced to evacuate, the whole group standing outside in the parking lot.

“Shit, we weren’t finished,” Ed says to Roy, keeping his voice low, “What about the duet? We didn’t get to it...”

“I don’t know...” Roy replies softly, frowning, “I hope he doesn’t insist on waiting...”

Mr Garfiel, though, was apparently too frustrated to consider that option. “Alright, let’s just... Do the duet out here and be done with it. Can you four handle that?”

“Sure!” Ling said cheerfully, though his partner looked... Less than thrilled.

“Fine. Then you two go first.”

The two of them sound worse than usual. Apparently being forced to sing with no music behind him and out in the middle of the parking lot of zapping what little ability or confidence or whatever Ling’s partner had... Ling himself sounded alright, but without a decent partner it all fell apart.

“Alright,” the teacher said, turning to them with a resigned look, “And what about you two? Are you ready?”

Roy turns to look at him with a small smile, and Ed grins back. “Yeah. Totally.”

They perform the duet, just like they’d been practicing... It doesn’t sound quite as good without the music backing them up, but it’s still fantastic, and Ed can tell from the teacher’s increasingly satisfied expression it’s exactly what he was looking for.

“Well, I think that’s enough...” he said when they finished, nodding to everyone, “You’re all dismissed, I’ll post the cast list in the next couple days. Though... Ling? Could I speak to you privately for a moment?”

Ed wonders, for a moment, what that was about, but shakes it off and grabs Roy’s hand, dragging him off. “Come on, you’re going to be late!”

They get Roy where he needs to be just in time, so he’s not late at all, though only barely. Ed sticks around to watch the game... Roy isn’t quite the star of the show he’s been told he usually is, but he does alright, and the rest of the team easily picks up the slack, netting them a firm win.

Ed was grinning like an idiot after the game, when he finally manages to break through the crowd and get close enough to Roy to talk to him.

“Hey! Congrats!”

Roy blinks, turning to look at him, then immediately breaks into a huge grin and sweeps Ed up into a tight embrace and deep kiss.

Ed blushes at the exuberance, still not used to it, but still laughs when he pulls away for air. “Dork.”

“Can you blame me?” Roy laughs softly in response, still holding on to him, “I can’t believe we pulled this off...”

“Yeah, it was more on edge than I expected...” he hummed back, “Though I guess we won’t really know if we succeeded or not until the cast list gets posted...”

“I suppose not...” Roy replies, sighing a bit before giving him a sheepish smile, “Is it bad I wish we could know now?”

“Nah, I wish-”

“Congratulations!”

Ed whipped around, blinking as he spotted Ling approaching them with a cheerful expression.

“Uh... Hi?” He said, scowling confusedly, “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, well, I wanted to congratulate you on getting the parts!”

“Wait, what?” Ed gaped.

“How... Exactly do you know we got them?” Roy asked slowly, frowning at him.

“Oh, well, Mr. Garfiel told me he was going to cast you when he pulled me aside,” Ling explained, “He wanted me to do a sort of impromptu audition for one of the other parts, the romantic rival from act two? So he had to explain why...”

“And you’re not... Upset? That we got it instead of you?

Ling just frowned at them, confused. “No, why would I be? We could use some new talent... I’m a little upset that you’re going to be graduating before you can audition more, to be honest. Though I hope you’ll consider auditioning more next year, Ed.”

Ed just nods, a little numbly. “I... Guess I’ll consider it...”

“Great!” Ling exclaims cheerfully, “Oh, and congratulations on winning the game, too! It’s impressive you managed to balance it as the callbacks, I had to postpone a dentists appointment to manage myself... I don’t know why he decided to change the date like that...”

Ed and Roy exchanged glances, and Ed was fairly sure neither one of them knew what to say about that.

Ling seemed oblivious to the silent exchange, though, waving to them happily as he started walking off. “Well, I’ve got to go! I’ll see you two at auditions!”

They just stared after him for a moments, then Ed burst into laughter, Roy quickly following his lead.

“Well, guess we got the wrong idea about him,” Ed said, shaking his head a bit.

“Apparently...”