Pride

It really wasn't fair.

"Oh, and look at this one! I just took it the other day," the man standing before him smiled proudly as he fished yet another photograph out of his thick manila envelope and waved it in front of Roy's face. "He's growing up so fast, isn't he? He'll be getting girlfriends, I suppose, soon enough." There was a frown at that thought before his tormentor added, absently, "They'll have to go through me first, of course... Al deserves only the best."

Roy Mustang was currently in hell.

He wasn't supposed to go through days like this, not anymore. Hadn't he had already suffered enough in the past, thanks to Hughes (rest his soul) and his insufferable obsession with his daughter, wife, and pictures of them? Pictures that often involved tricycles and stuffed animals...

"...He really favors Mom. I'm so glad. It's bad enough I have to look like that bastard...! Al doesn't need that! She was such a great person too, so it's really appropriate..." A nostalgic look briefly crossed Edward's face before he shook himself out of it and smirked. "Isn't it great how he dresses like I used to...! What a little brother! Wants to be just like me, I suspect." Ed sounded smug.

"Fullmetal..."

"...Doing really amazing things with alchemy too, just like I did once! Why just last week he..."

Who would have suspected that Edward Elric had it in him?

Roy certainly never figured him for the type. But then again, he hadn't seen him since before Alphonse became younger and more innocent... and before the blond had been separated from his beloved brother for several years. So all of this was completely understandable.

However, catching up with an old friend and ex-subordinate was one thing. This on the other hand...!

If he had even suspected Edward was like this now, he never would have hurriedly traveled several hundred miles to meet him. The dark haired man wasn't that much of a masochist, his previous friendships aside.

"He's probably one of the smartest and most talented alchemists ever," proclaimed the still-gushing alchemist, his automail hand waving excitedly as he spoke. "Plus, he still has that thing for cats. I found him nursing a basketful of them the other day. It was really cute!"

Oh no...!

"I have pictures of that too!"

Somewhere out there, Hughes was probably laughing his ass off right now.

Roy was sure of it.