Warning: this story contains child abuse. If that offends you, please don't read.

This story was inspired by Hyperthia's 'M."

Colonel Roy Mustang was once again tapping his pen impatiently on his desk. Fullmetal was about an hour late for his appointment; a new record for him. Roy went over the impending lecture over and over again in his mind. Roy was going to rip this kid a new one. About fifteen minutes later, the man set down the pen and grabbed his coat. Night had fallen and most of his subordinates had gone home, with the exception of Havoc and Hawkeye.

"I'm calling it a night. God, I hate that little punk. The only reason I came in today was because I had to take his report! Shame on me for scheduling it so damn late in the day." He complained as he made his way towards the door. He paused before opening it, because he had forgotten his umbrella. Back by his desk, he grabbed the umbrella and glanced out the window to find that it was, in fact, still raining cats and dogs. Grumbling, he opened the door to his office to discover a small boy wearing a soaked red coat standing outside of it.

"Ah Fullmetal, I see you finally made it out here tonight. I was worried you'd drowned in a puddle." He mocked. However, the boy didn't react in any way, shape, or form. He merely pushed his way into the office with his hood still up. Mustang shrugged and followed him back in. He hoped that by the time the meeting was over, the rain would have let up. Mustang sat in his chair and observed the boy fiddling with his hands. Again, Roy shrugged and read through the sloppy report. There wasn't anything to criticize the boy with this time around; the mission had gone smoothly as could be. Ed had managed to clean up the river leading into a small town where people were getting sick from the contaminated water. Roy closed the manila folder and set his hands down on it, fingers linked.

"Well done, Fullmetal." He said, trying to get a response of any kind out of the boy. He still had his hood up and it obviously wasn't keeping the rain out of his face, because his bangs were glued to his forehead. So why did he have it on now? It wasn't cold in the office; the A/C went out again so it was 85 degrees in there. Roy knew that something was wrong.

"Fullmetal, it's boiling in here. Why don't you take that jacket off?" Ed's head snapped up a bit, seemingly taken off-guard by the man's words.

"No, 'm fine." Was the only reply. Roy looked up at Hawkeye, who was watching Ed's every move, and jerked his head over at him. She understood what her commanding officer was telling her and she made her way over to the couch he was sitting on. She reached he hand in his hood and felt his forehead. He flinched at the touch, and jerked his head away from her hand. She shook her head at Roy and sat down next to Ed.

"Edward, what's wrong? Are you feeling alright?" She placed a hand on his back and he responded very violently. He shot up to avoid the touch, but her hand absent-mindedly grabbed his coat and it fell off him. She and Havoc gasped, and Roy's eyes widened in surprise. Before Ed managed to get his coat back on, they saw what he was hiding. He had various bruises on his arm and the nastiest black eye they had seen in a long time. Ed got his coat back on and shoved the hood back over his head. Hawkeye had her hand over her mouth. Havoc made his way over to Ed and tried to take the hood off again. However, Ed used both his hands to hold it where it was.

"Jesus boss, what the hell happened to you?" The boy turned away from them and tried to walk out. Hawkeye was not about to let that happen. She grabbed him and sat him back down on the couch.

"No you don't, Edward. You're not leaving until you answer his question." Ed crossed his legs and cast his eyes to the floor. He was getting very uncomfortable with all the eyes he felt on him. His mind raced to find a good explanation. Luckily, Havoc came up with a good one.

"The other guy looks worse, right Chief?" Ed looked up and watched Havoc carefully.

"Yeah, I'll bet the boss got into a little tussle with one of the locals down there and he beat the ever-living piss out of him! No one could take Edo down, could they?"

"Havoc!" Hawkeye hissed. She was about to kick him out, but then Roy jumped in. Mustang didn't want to insult the boy again, but he had to. Only he would disguise it as a complement.

"You're right, Lieutenant. Being short does have its advantages. Shorter persons have a better center of gravity, and once they've got a hold of you, it's hard to get them off!" Riza brought Ed's face to hers and she looked him in the eye.

"Is that what actually happened, Edward?" Ed's eyes shifted between the three people in the room. The lie started coming together in his mind, so he went with it.

"Y-yeah. Al and I got jumped by rebels as we were leaving the town. Uh, yeah, so I kicked their asses. The only reason I got this black eye is because they had the element of surprise, but no, I totally beat the snot outta them!" Ed said proudly, almost believing it himself.

Havoc clapped him on the back, going on about how he won his first fight when he was Ed's age. And Roy simply smirked from his desk. Ed hid behind his phony smile as he walked out of the building. The smile faded as the recent memories haunted his mind. Memories of how he actually got those bruises. He had hoped that the rain would make him feel better, considering it made the bastard colonel useless, but it didn't. It only made him feel worse. Why did he have to lie? They were adults, they could handle it. No. Ed had to be an adult. He could handle it. It was just one bad guy right? He was dragged away from his thoughts by the sound of an approaching car. He glanced over at it as it slowed down and the window rolled down. Smoke billowed out of it so Ed knew it was Jean before his face was even revealed.

"Hey Boss, you need a ride?" Ed accepted eagerly. He would take the smell of stale smoke over pouring rain any day.

Much to Ed's relief, Havoc didn't mention 'the fight' during the car ride. The kind man only asked how he and his little brother were doing. They made small talk during the five minute car ride back to Ed's apartment complex. Ed got out in the parking lot and Havoc asked one last question before Ed closed the door.

"Hey Ed, how did you get this apartment? I thought you had to be at least eighteen to get a lease." Ed tensed up at the question. His knees shook a little bit as he fumbled with an answer.

"Oh that, um…Al looks old enough, I guess…" He tried smiling again to hide his growing fear. Jean smiled back and waved in departure. Ed looked up at his dark apartment building. He looked to make sure that one light in particular was out on the first floor. It was, so he made his way towards the elevator as quietly as possible. He even stopped breathing as he passed apartment 103. Unfortunately, he wasn't quiet enough, because the door of that particular door opened and Ed felt his heart drop in his chest.

"Hey boy, thought you could slip by, eh?"