Tired out

Roy Mustang sighed. He was having the most boring time of his life. This was the longest time he had ever been in a library, and it was not very interesting. It was all in account of the Elric brothers that he was here, anyway. Alphonse was in Resembool, and due to the fact that the military alchemists were in danger of being attacked, he was here to babysit Fullmetal, as it were. He had been here for a very long time, as Edward had found a book he was looking for, and instead of borrowing it, he decided to read it in the library. In fact, he had actually found quite a few books that he had been looking for. Roy slid the uninteresting book he had back onto the shelf and went to check on Edward. He went around the corner and- Where was he? Just a few minutes ago, or at least, what he thought was a few minutes ago, Edward had been sitting here, very intently reading a book. But now... "Full -" he started, but then realized that it would be a bad idea to use his military name, if military personnel were in danger of being attacked. "Edward?!" he called, being as quiet as he could, since he was in a library. "Ed?" Dang it! He should never have taken his eyes off of the kid; he could be hurt right now. He briskly rounded the corner and: "Fullmetal?" The boy had his face pressed to the window , gazing outside. "Hey," Roy said, nudging him, " you shouldn't have fun off like that you could've gotten hurt or - Are you even listening?" He looked up at Roy, before pointing out the window. "What is it?" Roy asked. "There's something going on out there. They're having some sort of fair or something..." " Oh, yeah," Roy said, "they have one around here every year." Edward locked his golden eyes onto Roy. "Really? What's it like?" he asked. "Well... They have some vendors that sell stuff, and you can get ice cream and there are goofy little contests and things. Nothing particularly astonishing." Edward seemed inherently fascinated with it. "Can we... Um.. Uh... Nevermind." " What do you want? " Roy asked. "Um, nevermind. It's nothing." " Okay, then, let's go, if you've finished reading." Edward sighed and cast a longing glance towards the window. "Okay.." he mumbled. Roy noticed the gesture and kept it in mind as they left the building. "Y'know," Roy started, "if it wouldn't bother you too much, I think I'd like to stop over there and hang around a bit at the fair. I hear they sometimes have some interesting things, and I'd like to take a look." " Really?!" Edward said, looking up at Roy. "Well, if it'd be too much trouble, we could just head back to Central and-" "No! I mean. . You can look around, I really don't mind!" " Okay, then, " Roy nodded and headed that direction. Edward skipped along happily beside him, seeming extremely pleased. Roy chuckled to himself, realizing how much Edward was still just a child.

The fair was a large one for the area, and Roy was a little shocked at it. Edward looked up at Roy, his eyes glimmering in the light, and he looked really happy to be there. "Wanna look at anything?" Roy asked. "Um..." Edward looked around at the surrounding stalls and things. "Can we go over there?" he asked, pointing at a stall that was selling things to eat. "I'm kind of hungry..." " Okay, " Roy consented.

The small shop of sorts was selling several edible things. They had ice cream, hot dogs, small snacks, lollipops, cotton candy, and even soda. "Is there something you want to get here?" Roy asked. "Um... Can I have cotton candy?" Edward asked. "Yeah, hang on," Roy said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out 100 cenz and handed it to the person. "Cotton candy, please," he said.

Normally be wouldn't be spending money like this, but it was worth it to see Edward acting this way. He was acting childlike, and almost innocent, and sort of... well behaved. He had never seen the 14-year-old like this before, and he was going to enjoy it as long as he could. It seemed strange that he would act worse in front of his younger, more impressionable brother, but that seemed to be the case. Did he think it made him look tougher and more mature?

He snapped out of his thoughts and turned to see the teen staring at his food without eating it. "Is something wrong?" he asked. "Uh, no, I was just wondering exactly what this stuff is made out of." He had almost forgotten that this same boy was a state alchemist. "Have you ever eaten cotton candy before?" Roy asked, genuinely curious. "No, not that I can remember," Ed said. "Try it, it's good," Roy encouraged. Edward stared at it, genuinely confused about how he was supposed to go about eating it. He finally opened his mouth and took an awkward bite of the pale blue fluff. His eyes widened and he cocked his head. "Its... weird," he finally said, having looked at a loss for words. "Do you like it?" Roy asked. "Um..." he looked up with a face like he was pondering something, "yeah." Roy nodded. "Good. I'm glad you like it."

Edward took another bite and looked around. He froze when he noticed something: a dunk tank. He reached over and childishly tugged on Roy's sleeve, his mouth full of cotton candy. "Hmm?" Roy asked. Ed pointed to the target of his focus. "Ish 'hat one off those 'hings 'here you hrow a 'all at it an' 'ock a guy inhoo 'he hater?" Ed asked , his mouth still full. "Yeah... Why?" A spark of mischief gleemed in his eyes as a look of childlike mirth spread across his face. "You wanna give it a try?" Roy asked. Edward looked up at him, with a look on his face that seemed to say, 'please?' "Okay, let's go."

"One ball, please," Roy said, handing over some money. He took the ball in his hand before handing it over to Ed, who was all too happy about it. Not that that annoyed Roy or anything. If anything, it pleased him to see that Edward was getting a chance to get his energy out without being violent. Well, without being violent towards Roy, anyway. Honestly, he couldn't care less about the guy in the dunk tank; he had literally signed up to be repeatedly dropped in water. Edward poised himself, gripping the ball firmly and- Ping! A loud ringing noise echoed through the air as the ball struck its target and - Splash! The unsuspecting man was plunged underwater for the 5th time that day. Edward seemed inherently pleased with himself and looked up at Roy, seeming to seek his approval. Roy smiled and nodded, genuinely pleased himself. "What else do you want to look at?" Roy asked. Edward hesitated a bit, momentarily pausing to rub his eyes. "I dunno... Let's look around." Roy nodded and smiled at the fact that Edward seemed to be enjoying his company for once.

"There are some people who are selling things over here; there's some games; it all really depends on what you like." He turned around to see Edward looking at a game where you threw a ball and tried to knock over as many pins as you could. " Can I do that?" he asked. "Sure," Roy said.

Ed threw the ball hard, and it did more than just knock down the pins. It knocked down all of the pins AND broke through the back of the stall. The sudden sound momentarily startled Ed, and he gasped and froze for a moment. That was entirely unexpected. The woman running the stall yelped and seemed a bit frightened. Roy intervened. "I'm so sorry, Miss, he didn't mean to do that." "Its okay," she sighed, scratching her head, " but I guess my stall has a hole in it now, " she said, nervously chuckling. "Heh.. Sorry about that." He turned to the boy who was in a minor state of shock. "Hey, Ed," he said kneeling next to the teen, " you okay?" He blinked a couple of times. "Y-yeah, sorry." He looked up towards the stall. "Oh, sorry," he said. " Its-" she started, but was cut off by a clap and a high-pitched whine as Ed clapped his hands together and fixed her stall with alchemy. "Oh, my!" she gasped. "Yeah," Roy said, "he's an alchemist." " Wow! He's a really good one! And at his age...!" "Yeah, he is rather exceptional," Roy said, casting a base towards the blond who's attention was directed towards the stuffed bear he had just won. "Hey, Ed, ready to head somewhere else?" He looked up. "Yeah." " Really? A stuffed animal?" Roy said in mock scorn. Edward blinked. "Its for Winry," he said, bluntly, as if it was the most obvious fact ever to exist. "Okay, okay. I get it, you wanted to get a present for your girlfriend." " My- What? I don't - She's not - " He blushed and turned away. "Relax, Ed, I was kidding." He patted him on the head. Ed yawned a bit. Roy looked at him. "You tired?" Edward shook his head. " No, " he muttered, which was cut off by a yawn. He looked down as if trying to hide something. "Ed?" He stayed looking away. Roy sighed and kept walking.

"Hey, shorty!" a man in his mid-twenties called. Edward looked up. "Yeah, you, pint-sized." " I'm not short! " Ed shouted in a mixture of anger, embarrassment, and a whiny quality obtained from what seemed to be exhaustion. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, midget," he sneered. Edward whined in a pained and tired sort of way, a blush creeping across his face from embarrassment. He looked up at Roy, looking for some help, a whine escaping his mouth. "Leave him alone." Roy said to the man. Roy tugged Ed away, and they walked off aways and sat down on a bench. "I'm sorry that guy was a jerk to you. I should've punched him.." Roy muttered absently. Edward sighed and leaned his head on Roy's shoulder. He ruffled the boy's hair. "Edward, if you're tired, you can just say so. "I.." Edward started, his voice cracking. Roy looked down, surprised. "I shouldn't 'cuz Al.. Al can't be tired and he can't sleep and it's all my fault so.. I can't just do that to him." Roy hesitated . "Edward..." He stroked the teen's hair. "Al wouldn't be happy if he knew you were hurting yourself because of him. It was his fault, too, after all. He went along with it. Don't worry about it, okay kiddo? And," he added, " if you don't feel comfortable telling stuff to Al, you can always tell me about it, got it?" Ed nodded sleepily, before almost immediately drifting off to sleep, leaning on Roy and hugging the teddy bear. "Goodnight, Edward."

What do you think? It took me ALL DAY to write this. Please review! It's just a one-shot so you don't have to feel obligated to review it except right now: just take the 30 seconds and review it!

Thanks!

-Riku