A/N: Yes. So.. *cough* I know this is probably very different, but I really wanted to make this. I REGRET NOTHING!

This story has many aspects. There's some Ed/Winry, Ling/Lan Fan, Al/May, and of course, Roy/Riza.

PLEASE. Do not read this story if you haven't finished Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood! This is the only warning I'm giving. There are SPOILERS.

READ, REVIEW... ENJOOOOOOOY.

Edward Elric POV

"Hey Al!" I yelled, getting more than annoyed at my younger brother. "Hey! ALPHONSE!"

"Sheesh! Calm down, brother!" Al rolled his eyes as he grabbed his bag. "Since when do you care if we made it on time for school?" He had a point. I wasn't the one to make it to school on time, but Aunt Pinako would kill me if I was late again. But that meant that I had to get Winry and Al ready on time, too. "Where's Winry?"

"Where do you think?" Now I was rolling my eyes. Winry Rockbell was the only girl I knew who could take so little time to get ready... And so much time fixing up an old car to make it brand new.

Al smiled and laughed. "Who knows? Maybe she'll be finished with it by now!"

Aunt Pinako owned a car garage-she was the best auto mechanic in Amistris, and Winry was her beloved protégé. It was all Winry had wanted to do with her life since her parents were murdered by a mass murder under the name of Scar. Since then, she threw herself into her work... And dating.

"I doubt it." I shook my head. "WINRY LET'S GO!"

Suddenly, a wrench flew from the doorway, and I quickly jumped out of the way to avoid being hit. "Shut it, Ed." Winry growled. "I will come when I'm good and-"

"Winry." Aunt Pinako scolded her. "Go to school. Lord knows what will happen to Ed if he doesn't show up on time again."

Winry's eyes flashed, and she strided past me to get her wrench. Winry hadn't liked me for years-we fought all the time, but I learned to deal with it. I rolled his eyes as she grabbed her bag, and muttered, "Ready, princess?"

"Yes." Winry growled. "I'm ready."

We walked out the front door, yelling byes to Pinako as they went. Central High wasn't far from our small home, so we just walked. Winry always stayed far in front, chatting with Al, while I stayed behind. Al never understood what happened to me after our mother passed away, but I never felt like sharing it. I decided on that day that I didn't need anyone but myself. That included eliminating mine and Al's closeness. We hadn't been close for years now. But who needs friends or a girlfriend? I had myself to watch out for.

Idly, I listened to what Al and Winry were chatting so eagerly about.

"-I heard that he and Ms. Hawkeye had a thing at some point in their lives!" Winry was saying.

"Ms. Hawkeye?" Al laughed. "Yeah right! She wouldn't ever have a thing with anyone!"

"You haven't even seen Mr. Mustang yet, Al!" Winry insisted. "He's pretty handsome!" Al started to laugh harder. Winry blushed and yelled, "Not that I've been noticing him to date him! I don't date teachers!"

Mr. Mustang? I wondered. Must be a new teacher. I was curious to what he would teach.

As if on cue, Al asked Winry what Mr. Mustang taught.

"I think he teaches chemistry."

Chemistry? What happened to Mrs. Curtis? I demanded myself. Mrs. Curtis was the only teacher who kind of liked me!

Winry continued, "I think Mrs. Curtis and Mr. Curtis left town. Something about a failed pregnancy and so on. Mrs. Curtis wanted to leave." Winry cast a glance at me. "Sucks for you, doesn't it, Pipsqueak?" She gave a boastful laugh.

I glared at her. "Don't call me a pipsqueak. I'm taller than you now, Winry. And maybe this Mustang guy won't be too bad."

Al smiled. "That is true-Mrs. Curtis was the strictest teacher in school!"

Winry rolled her eyes. "Yeah. 'Cause everyone knows Mrs. Curtis has a soft spot for the two of you."

"What can we say?" I grinned. "We're brilliant chemists. We could probably even find a way to make Alchemy work!"

Al laughed and rolled his eyes. "Alchemy could never work, brother! Turning lead into gold... That's just nonsense."

I shrugged. "Anything's possible, Al."

"Anything within reason." Winry rolled her eyes. "Turning lead to gold? Not reasonable."

"It's because they're equivalent." I muttered. "It's like... Equivalent exchange."

"Which is a bunch of nonsense." Winry shot back.

"It's not. It just needs to be... Perfected." I muttered, looking away and out to the land. "It's just like an equation. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. We just need to find a way to make the theory real..."

"Which... Won't happen." Winry laughed bitterly. "Good luck with that, Short Stuff."

"Would you shut it Rockbell-"

"HEY!" Al piped up, interrupting me. "Look, there's the school and-"

"HEY GUYS!"

"Oh dear Lord not that guy." I muttered, slapping my hand to my face.

Ling Yao was a transfer from Xing. He thought he was royalty or something, so he always treated us like we were his loyal followers. The guy was nice and all, but he was annoying as anything. And right on cue, a girl popped up beside the Xingese boy. Lan Fan followed Ling everywhere. They were best friends, and Lan Fan was probably the only one that Ling didn't annoy. Ling was the only one who didn't realize that Lan Fan liked him a lot. But we weren't going to tell him that.

"Oh, hey Ling." Al said politely. "Hey, Lan Fan."

Lan Fan gave a small, shy smile, as Ling began to speak again, "Al! Ed! And of course, the lovely Winry!" Ling gave one of his charming smiles. At that comment, Lan Fan's small smile dropped. All I could think was, That poor lovesick Xingese girl.

"Hey, Ling and Lan Fan." Winry smiled. "Where have you two been this weekend?"

Ling chuckled, "Everywhere with food!"

"Of course." I rolled my eyes. "You didn't use one of my tabs again, did you?"

"Now, Ed..." Ling started, but I cut him off with my glare. "I guess I owe you one, again, don't I?"

"Yes." I answered back bitterly.

"Can't you let him off once, Shortie?" Winry rolled her eyes.

Ling shook his head. "It'll be my honor to pay off Mr. Elric's bill." He gave a playful smile to Winry. Lan Fan began to look even more sad. It made me angry that Ling was blind to her affection.

"Hey, Lan Fan, aren't you in my first period? Ms. Hawkeye's class?" I asked her smoothly.

"Um... I believe so." Lan Fan answered quietly, giving me a questioning look.

"Why don't we go on ahead? The woman will kill me if I'm late again." I tried to make her understand that I was trying to save her from Winry and Ling's flirting.

Ling piped up, "Yeah, go on ahead, Lan Fan! I'll see you in Ms. Ross's class!" He turned back to Winry, who was giving him an extremely flirtatious look.

I looked at Lan Fan and made a gagging noise and gesture, which made her smile a little. Then I motioned for her to come on. Al took that as his leave, too.

"I'm sorry you have to watch that, Lan Fan." Al murmured.

Lan Fan blushed and murmured, "Ling can do what he want. He always has.."

"He's a jerk." I muttered. "He's stupid and he shouldn't flirt in front of his best friend."

"Since when do you care, Ed?" Al asked, giving me a weird look.

It was a good question. I'd seen Ling flirt with every girl in our class, and only felt pity for Lan Fan. I had never done anything-Al always did something. But I had never seen him flirt with Winry. But what would that matter to me? Winry hated my guts.

"I guess it's just time that something be done about it." I muttered.

Ms. Hawkeye didn't yell at me for being late today, so I took that as me having a pretty good day. But, instead of having my favorite teacher next period, I had to go meet Mr. Mustang.

I wasn't sure if it would go well.

It's not that I'm... Unlikeable, I'm just... Well, I've been told I'm an infuriating shrimp.

Which I'm not.

I sat in my usual desk, near Mrs. Curtis's old desk. It was clean now... Except for a giant pile of papers that looked like they needed to be filled out soon.

I glanced around the room to see if anyone else was as worried about this guy as I was.

Winry and the other girls were chatting excitedly, and the only thing I could pick up from their conversation was "hottie" and "genius" and "manliest man." I fought the urge to roll my eyes again, and I turned my attention to some of the other guys. They all looked either angry or like they wanted to puke. Then, the door opened.

A tall man with dark hair entered the room. It was clear from his first step inside the classroom that he demanded every ounce of respect we could muster. But I could see now why the girls began swooning from his first step, also.

He strode to the chalkboard and quickly wrote "Mr. Roy Mustang" on it. Then, he spoke:

"Hello. I'm Mr. Mustang, your new chemistry teacher. I will be taking over for Mrs. Curtis in her absence." His articulation was exact and precise, and you could tell every part of him was a well-oiled machine.

Except the mess of papers on his desk.

I kept staring at him, wondering if he would live up to Mrs. Curtis's reign over the chemistry classroom.

"We'll pick up exactly from where Mrs. Curtis left off-who is Edward Elric?" Mr. Mustang's gaze floated idly around the class. "She said that he would be able to tell me anything I needed about this class."

I lifted my hand.

Mr. Mustang's eyes drifted toward me. "So this is the famous Edward Elric all the teachers keep warning me about... Mrs. Curtis seemed to have quite a liking for you."

"I like chemistry."

"But not anything else..." Mr. Mustang shook his head. "I've heard a lot about you from Ms. Hawkeye. She's not too fond of you."

"No, she isn't." I muttered, shaking my head. "I'm late to her class often. I don't really need English class, much."

Mr. Mustang gazed at me, then looked at the rest of the class. They were whispering; they probably wanted to know everything about Ms. Hawkeye and Mr. Mustang's relationship, if it was there. "Let's begin." He didn't look at me again.

I could tell this would be a long class.