Title: Five O'clock Shadow
Author: hotarukat
Pairing: Roy Mustang/Edward Elric
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Theme: 6 - the space between dream and reality
Disclaimer: FMA is not mine.
Word Count: 267


What was different about the Colonel today?

Ed mulled over this question while he debriefed. Roy’s mocking tone was still there to be sure, hidden by that patented smirk. Roy was sitting behind his usual pile of unfinished paperwork, wearing the same military jacket, and once he stood up, Ed even noted that same stupid long uniform skirt. If something wasn’t missing, something had to be new to the scenario, but figuring it out was driving Ed crazy.

Finally, when Ed finished his report and Roy was two inches away from his face, he realized what was wrong.

“Now, can we properly greet each other after such a long absence?” Roy asked, smirk still fixed in place, but Ed was looking just above that.

“…are you trying to grow a mustache.”

Roy pulled back a little and his arrogance disappeared. “I thought it would make me look more dignified…”

Ed successfully kept from snorting as he stared at the taller man. He didn't feel it was necessary to go into his distaste for facial hair in general (something he assumed stemmed from his dislike of his father) because the Colonel’s attempt at a mustache looked so ridiculous, he assumed that someone was playing a practical joke on him. For a second, Ed almost told Roy that he looked fantastic, if only to knock the Colonel down a few notches once he actually looked in a mirror. Then, Ed had a more practical realization about how this new situation would affect him, and he shuddered.

“I am not kissing that. Period.”

The next morning, the Colonel was clean-shaven.


Title: Lover's Code
Author: hotarukat
Pairing: Roy Mustang/Edward Elric
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Theme: 11 - Gardenia
Disclaimer: FMA is not mine.
Word Count: 246


“I’ll throw ‘em outside. At least they can make some good compost.”

Ed grabbed the blooms, hoping that Al hadn’t thought too hard about what the appearance of gardenias in their room could mean, even if they were dead and dry upon the boys’ arrival. Ed could only guess that was due to the train delays they had faced coming back to Central. Still, the Colonel had overstepped the rules of their relationship by sending flowers. Sending Gardenias.

It wasn’t often that Ed stopped to smell the roses. Such hobbies wasted precious time, and Ed guessed that it wasn’t fair to indulge too much in something his brother couldn’t enjoy. If anything, he appreciated flowers for their pure alchemic lesson: Nature always had the upper hand on creation through equivalent exchange. The Tringham brothers had been all too happy to answer any of his questions about botanical alchemy and tell him more than he cared to know about the symbolism of certain plants and flowers. With this knowledge weighing heavily on his mind, Ed couldn’t be sure whether he was reading too much into the Colonel’s present.

I love you in secret.

Perhaps Mustang just enjoyed the smell of gardenias, Ed reasoned to himself. Even so, he stopped and took the time to look for a few violets on the way to Headquarters. No harm could come from sending Mustang a message of his own, one the Colonel might not even understand.

I return your love.

****
The first one is based on one of the shorts at the end of the manga (I think it was volume four.)

And according to some brief web-research, gardenias did used to mean 'I love you in secret' and violets meant 'I return your love.' Hooray for Victorian flower symbolism!