Fic, Untitled University AU, Roy/Ed, PG
May. 3rd, 2017 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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The professor hadn’t arrived, so Roy took a moment to scan the class. About the crowd he’d expected from a graduate level chemistry course: mundane and boring. He smiled at one dark-haired girl who’s eye he caught; she at least seemed to have some sense of style, a sort of goth or punk look. She looked him up and down before deciding to return the smile.
A few more stragglers wandered in, among them a small blond that made Roy do a double-take—this kid looked like he belonged in middle school.
The kid in question shot him a glare as he dropped a book bag next to the desk. “What?”
He was certainly an odd sight: long blond hair pulled into a braid, a black button-down shirt tucked into black jeans, and white gloves. Who wears gloves to university? Closer examination put the kid at at least his mid-teens, but still wildly out of place. He was scowling now, challenge written all over him. Roy smirked, deciding the bait was too good to pass up. “Nothing,” he drawled. “I was just wondering if you’d somehow mistaken this for an elementary school.”
He sputtered and turned red. The rest of the class was chuckling discreetly or hiding smiles behind hands or books. The boy growled at the lot of them then slammed his fist into the desk and leaned toward Roy. For a moment Roy wondered if he was going to vault the desk and menace him directly. (However much menace he could muster at five-foot-nothing.) “Listen, you jackass—”
“Sorry I’m late, sorry—”
The rushed arrival of their professor cut the tirade short and the kid straightened, his snarl promising that this wasn’t over. Roy set his chin on his laced fingers and smirked back.
“Now if we could—” The professor cut himself off as he finally turned to the room. “I’m sorry—do we have a situation?” Then, to the blond kid, “Can . . . I help you?”
The kid growled and stalked to the front desk, yanking a student ID out of his back pocket to shove under the professor’s nose. “Check your damn roster.”
“Elric . . . Elric . . . Oh! Oh. Here you are. Right. I see.”
Roy watched the kid stomp back and drop himself into the desk, shooting a glare around the room. He did feel a little sympathy—this can’t have been the first time this Elric has had to justify his presence—but that didn’t stop him from being amused.
As expected, their first lab was a basic, mundane routine to acquaint themselves with the room and equipment. But Roy did learn two important things:
First, the Elric kid’s first name was Edward—or Ed, as he wrote on his labels.
Second, Ed was incredibly fun to tease about incredibly insignificant things.
“I’m sure we could get you a step-stool.”
“Who are you calling so tiny he could fit in a beaker—”
“Or I could clear a spot for you here on the counter—”
“Fuck you jackass just do your fucking work.”
“I am. I’m just waiting for your samples. Are you sure you can reach the case?”
“Fuck you and your fucking samples!”
Professor Tucker was probably regretting assigning them as lab partners. Roy was amazed he’d let them them carry on as long as they had. They were getting the assignment done, sure, but there had to be a rule or two about disrupting class that they were breaking.
Roy waited as Ed steadied a test tube in his right hand and picked up the beaker with his left. When he’d switched his cotton gloves for latex Roy had noticed that his right hand was a prosthetic; after having watched the young man, he was fairly certain the rest of his right arm was as well. He was trying not to stare, but he couldn’t help but be impressed by the articulation of the artificial limb. Only a few names in the prosthetic business could boast of limbs that responsive, and they didn’t come cheap.
“That’s the last of them,” Roy said as Ed took the the test tube from his right hand and set in the rack. “Shall we take one of the lower shelves?”
“Shall I dump it over your head?”
“Could you even reach?”
Ed’s grin looked lethal. “How ‘bout we find out.”
He might be pushing things a little far, but this might be the only chance he had before the serious work of the semester started so he might as well take advantage of it. And the rest of the class seemed amused.
The little voice in his head that sounded an awful lot like his best friend was telling him to stop teasing the poor kid really, you’re supposed to be an adult, Roy, start acting like one. But with Ed feeding into him like that, surely he could be forgiven for having a little fun.
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Date: 2017-05-04 05:50 am (UTC)Lovely banter, wonderful dynamic between the two. I'm assuming you don't have any kind of sequel planned?
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Date: 2017-05-04 03:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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