Ed chased the convict down the alley to a dead end. The criminal stopped, gasped, and turned around to face Ed. Ed had the same angry determined features as he always did when after someone. They sat in a momentary silence before the man grinned at Ed and pulled out a knife from his back pocket. He moved it around in the little bit of sunlight that was left.
The alley they were in was dirty and dark and filled with trash. Not to mention how uncomfortably cold it was.
In one fluid motion Ed clapped his hands together and leaped to the side to become flat with the wall. The blast was larger than what he would have normally done but hell, he was cold and tired and didn't care. The man was blasted forward and slammed hard into the ground. Even with the big theatrics he only had a scrapped elbow, bruised jaw, and a few small fractures. It was just enough to knock him out and for him to become incoherent. That's what Ed always did. He didn't kill with alchemy. Not ever. Even if he was bringing them in for them to face their death. It wouldn't be by him.
Ed was pissed. Completely, utterly, soul consuming pissed. How it was the colonel made him like this he didn't know. Even on his best days he seemed to find some way to piss him off. This time though, this time he'd gone too far.
Ed walked into the office and slammed the door hard behind him. The colonel was sitting at his desk with his face in his work. He didn't so much as flinch when Ed walked up to his desk.
Ed glared at the colonel, his mouth in a straight line. "You bastard…"
Roy raised an eyebrow to that, but didn't look up from his paper work. "Hmm. And what may I do for you on this fine day Fullmetal."
Ed's composure dropped like an atom bomb, "I can't believe that you sent me all the way to the fucking Arctic Circle in search of some transmutation scandal between some fucking Eskimos!..."
Roy couldn't help but to chuckle at the Eskimo part of Ed's little rant. In fact, he couldn't have kept the smirk off his face if he tried. In reality, he did send Ed to a place that could be described as the 'arctic circle' but it wasn't really a ridiculous request. It was a mission and needed to be scoped out. So, he sent his best alchemist to do it.
Okay so maybe that wasn't all of it. In reality, it wasn't that big of a deal. He could have easily sent Havoc or Armstrong. But hell, he couldn't help it. He really loved to get under the little guy's skin. Ed always gave him sufficient entertainment. Not to mention when Ed got into his rant it kept him from having to do his paperwork.
Roy looked up to see Fullmetal in his civilian clothes. (Its not like he wore anything other than that usually, but Roy felt a little bit guilty not telling Ed to pack better clothes)
And yes, Ed was mad. He could practically see steam coming out of his ears. Roys smirk didn't fall one bit as he looked up and, putting his hands together, let his elbows sit on the table.
Ed had continued his rant in full power, "and not to mention you know what it did to my automail!"
The question was rhetorical of course, but Roy answered anyway, "No I don't. Do tell." Roys grin was a bit toothy and a little evil. Ed hesitated.
"YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY DON'T YOU?" Ed screamed at Roy, his voice unintentionally cracking a little at the end. He glared at his boss with his hands at his sides. His nails were digging into his palm but he didn't care.
Roy composed himself a little, keeping a slight grin and leaned back in his chair eyes still on Ed. "Fullmetal, " he started, "I had no intention of purposely sabotaging you in any way and I assure you that I had no idea that the cold would cause such a problem with your automail. You've been gone for three weeks and I can see you're tired. So why don't you relax a while and tell what you've found out." The colonel finished up with a small smirk but Ed could tell it was time to business so he stored this in his mind for later. He wasn't about to let it go.
With a small defeated huff, Ed sat down on Roy's couch and filled him in on went down in the arctic hell hole, not sparing the details with emphasis of Ed's automail. After he was finished Roy took a moment, nodding his head, and analyzing the information.
"Alright" Roy said satisfied.
"Alright? That's it?" Ed asked puzzled.
"Yes Edward. That's it. What else would you like me to say? Hmm?" Roy answered without hesitation.
Ed just scowled at his boss and turned away, settling on a defeated snort.
…
The next day Ed came in, late as usual, for his next assignment. He waltzed in the doors, as he always did, uninvited. He was taken a bit aback seeing Maes in the office. He felt almost a bit guilty. He knew Maes and Roy had been best friends for many years. And Maes was almost never in Roy's office at this time of the hour. It was late. About eight. In truth he would have came earlier but Al had kidnapped Ed and forced him to go shopping.
Roy and Maes simultaneously looked at Ed.
"Oh...uh sorry. Am I interrupting something?" Ed asked. The polite gesture really only aimed toward Maes. He was good guy and Ed generally really liked Maes. Well, except when he has the incontrollable urge to shove pictures of his family in everybody's face.
"No, no Ed your fine." Maes said standing up. "I was just leaving anyway." He nodded a polite smile at Ed before walking toward the door, pausing slightly to at the door, and then leaving.
"So what's up?" Roy asked as he got up and shuffled through his things on his desk.
…What's up? That's it? Ed thought. No smartass remark about my height?
Probably just tired. It was rather late…
"Oh nothing, I just thought I'd come by and see how my dear ole' boss is doing..." Ed said sarcastically.
Roy chuckled, "Why Fullmetal, how thoughtful." Roy smirked and threw a folder at Ed.
Ed opened and paned through it.
"It's about a convict that escaped a few weeks back." Roy explained.
"I thought we didn't bother with escape-ees." Ed asked annoyed.
Roy sighed at Ed's impatience and continued, "We don't. But he's an alchemist Edward. And a good one. You see, it's not easy to escape from prison in the first place. But he's an alchemist so there are cameras, tape recorders, foam walls, nothing to write with, or on. We have reason to believe that he had help. "
"Help? Like within the …" Ed trailed off as realization hit him. "You think someone in government had something to do with this?"
Roy nodded. "Yes. Maes thinks so too. But this is tedious Ed. We can't let this leak out anywhere else. We have to work quietly and diligently." Roy warned.
"Duh." Ed said as a matter of fact.
Roy returned that with a smile.
"So I am to do what…?" Ed asked. It was weird for him and Roy to be civil. Even with this kind of discussion.
"We don't have any set plans yet. But when we do you'll know." Roy answered.
Roy put his last things away and walked to the front of his desk to lean back on it. He sat very close to where Ed was leaning. A few silent seconds passed and Roy leaned his head back to stare at the ceiling as he crossed his ankles.
Ed looked over at Roy. Roy was always so calm when he was thinking but he'd never seen him so unguarded. Maybe it was because it was so late, or they were the last ones here, or that this subject was pretty heavy. But there was something that told Ed it was something else.
Roy's eyes were closed as he thought to himself.
Ed studied him with creased eyebrows.
What was he thinking?
Roy's hair fell on his face and over his dark thick eyelashes. He had this intense raw power to him that gave Ed shivers. It was strange how the man could be intimidating and infuriating at the same time.
All the times they had fought flashed through his mind. In fact, now that he thought about it this was one of the only times they had even been in the same room together and didn't happen to scowl at each other. It was different for sure.
"Ed?" Roy asked low drawing him out of his thought. He hadn't even realized that Roy had stopped thinking and had been looking at him.
"Hmm…oh yeah sorry" Ed said and looked at the floor.
Great. Now your commanding officer is going to think that you're a total dope with no attention span. Ed thought. It's not like I care I just…It's that…
Roy saw Ed's cheeks start to flush pink and he couldn't help but smirk.
"Why so flush Edward-kun?" Roy asked Ed.
"I'm not blushing you piece of shit!" Ed yelled back.
Ed's red darkened and Roy couldn't help but be amused. With a toothy grin he answered, "Oh, well aren't we a bit touchy?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ed yelled standing up.
Roy chuckled. He stood up and leaned in toward Ed until his mouth was just at Ed's ear.
"Just wondering why you're so embarrassed" Roy said in a deep voice that was almost a growl.
"Uhh…I.." Ed stampered.
He squeezed Ed's arm slightly then he walked away and started grabbing his jacket from a nearby coat rack.
Ed's breath was caught in his throat and he felt almost like he couldn't move.
He didn't like the sensation he was getting. Not at all. His spine tingled and his stomache felt sick.
What the hell is this?
Maybe it was just how much he hated the Colonel. That had to be it.
"Are you coming?" Roy asked.
"..Yeah" Ed answered. They walked out the doors and down the hallway to the stairs without saying a word. Every once in awhile Ed would look up at Roy hoping to see the hateful bastard he knew. But every time he did it made him feel more and more lost. He wasn't feeling any hatred toward him at all. In fact, Ed was just nervous. Very nervous.
They got to the end of the stairs and Roy stopped. He looked at Ed for a long moment before he backed up and opened the doors with his military card.
Ed looked over at the Colonel, then whipped around and walked out the door so fast that the colonel couldn't even say goodbye.