A/N: The budget lady is a civilian, and I've named her after a real person because it was the first name that came to mind. For anybody who doesn't know, Ada Lovelace is widely regarded as the first person to ever write a computer program, though the "computer" in question was only a concept of her mentor/boss Charles Babbage. Anyway, I have no idea if Ms. Lovelace will ever make a reappearance, but I kind of hope so. She's adorable.

The song Roy is humming (and the title of this story) are real. My preferred version of Feeling Good is sung by Nina Simone, though there have been many covers of it.

YOU SHOULD READ THE PATH OF FLAME CHAPTER SIX BEFORE YOU READ THIS STORY. It's set the day after the events of that chapter.

Warnings: Cursing? Hughes being ridiculous? Hughes in general?

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It's all very upsetting.

Summary: Roy shows up to work humming, distracted, and a little bit too happy. Nobody is sure how to react.

Feeling Good

Birds flyin' high, you know how I feel
Sun in the sky, you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel
It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me.
Yeah, it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me, ooooooooh...
And I'm feelin' good.
-Nina Simone

"Do you hear humming?"

Havoc blinked dumbly at Breda for a moment, then cocked his head to the side and focused his hearing. It took him a moment to catch it over the sounds of a busy office and the wind howling against the windows, but eventually he caught the faint off-tune humming. It was getting steadily louder, as if the person was moving in their direction, but the only one missing from the office was Mustang. And, this early in the morning, there was no way it could be him.

"It sounds like the general," Fuery said, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "I think...yes, I recognize the song. It's Feeling Good."

"No way that's the general," Breda voiced Havoc's thoughts. "Ms. Lovelace is due for his budget meeting this morning and he hasn't even gotten Hawkeye's coffee bribe yet."

"It's not a bribe," Hawkeye said flatly. "Get back to work."

Havoc and Breda shared a disbelieving look, but neither of them were brave enough to point out that she only got the general good coffee when there was a lot of urgent paperwork to finish first thing in the morning. Instead they ducked their heads back towards their desks, dutifully pretending to work.

Finally, the sound reached something of a crescendo as the office door swung open, and sure enough, it was the general himself who stepped through. He was smiling a little to himself, a distant look on his face, and didn't even seem to notice that everyone (even Hawkeye) was too surprised by his good mood to salute him.

"Sir?" Hawkeye eventually said, an unfamiliar tone of uncertainty to her voice.

Mustang finally looked up, seeming to be surprised to see them all, and grinned. It was wide and beaming, as if nothing could possibly make him happier than to see them all in the office that morning, lack of salutes and all. Havoc wondered for a moment just what Ed could possibly have done the night before (or, well, that morning) to put such a look on the general's face. But that wasn't Mustang's 'I'm getting better sex than you could even dream of' grin, which usually he only gave to Havoc anyway. And it certainly wasn't his 'I got laid this morning' contentment, which didn't make him happy so much as smug.

What the hell was going on?

"Is that coffee from the café?" Mustang asked in an unusually cheerful tone, making a beeline for Hawkeye's desk. "Well, don't I feel spoiled this morning?"

Hawkeye shot the rest of the team a faintly baffled look before she addressed the general again. "Sir," she said, all traces of uncertainty gone from her voice. "I have several urgent files from General Hakuro that need your immediate attention, and Ms. Lovelace is due for your budget meeting at eleven hundred. You also have a meeting with General Focke-Wulf at fourteen hundred in regards to the ambassadors arriving next month."

"Lovely," Mustang said without any trace of sarcasm. Everyone stared at him. "I'll just get this started then, shall I? Thanks for the coffee." He picked up the paperwork and the coffee, then strolled over to the inner office, humming again. They could still hear it after the door closed firmly behind him.

There was a stunned silence for nearly an entire minute before Hawkeye slowly sank back into her seat. She picked up a perfectly neat stack of paperwork and tapped the edges on the desk a few times, then grabbed a pen and serenely resumed working. There was almost a smile on her face. Either she was just blindly choosing to enjoy the general's good mood (unlikely), or she'd somehow figured out what had caused it.

"No way Ed's that good in bed," Breda said in a carrying whisper. Hawkeye didn't even look up. "What the hell is going on?"

"Maybe he's just happy to have Harry back?" Fuery suggested, though he didn't sound as if even he believed that theory.

"Harry's been home for ages, and he's leaving again in a week," Havoc said with a shake of his head. "No, this is something new and unusual. No idea what though."

A confused look passed between all four of them, until finally Falman shook his head and actually started doing his work again. With no clues to analyze, Havoc heaved a sigh and followed suit before Hawkeye decided to get on his case. The general would explain his good mood eventually.

The morning passed slowly as Havoc trudged his way through his own paperwork. The general didn't emerge from his office even once, and he was unusually prolific; every time Hawkeye brought him new paperwork, she came out with a completed pile and a bemused look on her face. Falman had just stepped out of the office to file some of the latest pile and take his lunch when the door opened again and Ed walked in with Harry clinging to his right hand. Both of them had their noses stuck in books. Ed didn't even look up as he wandered towards the inner door, but Harry gave them all a beaming smile that looked just as happy as the general's had that morning.

Another mystery: what could make Harry and his dad so thrilled at the same time?

"Edward-san!" Hawkeye said, getting up from her seat and walking briskly over to them. She grabbed Ed by the shoulders and steered him in the direction of the desks instead. Ed made a questioning noise, looking up from his book. "The general's budget meeting has gone over schedule," the major explained to him in her most no-nonsense voice. "I'm going to have to ask you to wait out here until he's done."

"Oh, alright," Ed said calmly, apparently not bothered by this news in the slightest. Havoc gave up all pretenses of working to stare at him, marveling at the lack of snarling. Ed usually responded to any delays on Mustang's part with enough cursing to offend even the most hardened soldier, but this time he seemed downright relaxed about it. "Hope it won't be long. I'm starving and Al's waiting for us."

Which meant the entire family was in a good mood, about to eat out together on a workday even though Al was usually busy. Maybe something good had happened with Al? But Mustang was too happy just to be responding to Ed's own happiness.

Havoc's head was starting to hurt from thinking about it. Maybe he should just ask Ed? The younger man could always be counted on to be painfully direct, and it couldn't be anything too embarrassing if even Harry knew about it.

Of course, before Havoc could get Ed's attention, Mustang's door opened and Ms. Lovelace stepped out.

"Oh, hi, Ed!" she said cheerfully, stepping over to the blond with a bounce in her step.

"Hey, Ada," Ed replied with obvious warmth. He got along surprisingly well with the young bookkeeper, which couldn't be said of his reaction to most women who spent extended time in Roy's presence. "How's the budget?"

Ms. Lovelace grinned at Ed, but when she opened her mouth, it wasn't with a response to his question. Instead she gasped quite loudly, clutching her files to her chest and staring hard at Ed's left hand. "What is that?" she asked dramatically.

Ed looked down at his own hand and smiled as if he couldn't prevent himself. He shrugged and said, "Oh, well, you know," a little awkwardly, which didn't explain anything.

"He didn't!" Ms. Lovelace said as if it had. Clearly she had managed to tune into the Elric brothers' telepathic wavelength. "Let me see, let me see!"

She grabbed Ed's hand without an invitation, and Ed let her. Just stood there grinning as she lifted it to her face and inspected what Havoc could now see was a ring. Havoc felt his jaw slacken as Breda made an inarticulate noise of surprise and Fuery let out something that sounded suspiciously like an excited squeal.

"Oh, Ed, it's lovely and it's so you!" Ms. Lovelace finally said, and threw her arms around Ed without warning. "Congratulations!"

As if that last word was a summons, the outer door was flung open as Colonel Hughes stepped in with enthusiasm. His beaming smile was even wider than it usually was as he bounced over to Ed, grabbed him in a hug that looked tighter than Armstrong's rib-cracking grip, and announced, "I knew you'd say yes!" Apparently not even needing a response, he flew over to Mustang's doorway where the general was looking out at the pandemonium in his office with a helpless sort of smile. Uncharacteristically, Mustang didn't dodge out of the way when Hughes smacked him on the back jauntily.

"I told you you had nothing to worry about!" he told Roy in a stage whisper.

"Maes," Mustang said in a voice that absolutely failed to sound exasperated.

"Ah, just wait until you get to experience the joys of wedded bliss, Roy!" Hughes continued blithely, ignoring his friend's interruption with the ease of familiarity. "The beautiful ceremony, the knowledge that you've bound yourselves together for life, the-well, I guess you've got the living together and the children worked out already, haven't you? Anyway, I brought some of my wedding photos with me to help celebrate!"

"Maes, I was at your wedding," Mustang said, discreetly trying to edge away from the sheath of pictures Hughes had pulled out of an inner pocket. "Believe me; I remember the event quite well."

"We kind of don't have time for pictures anyway," Ed said. He'd finally managed to escape Ms. Lovelace's excited grip, and headed over to save Mustang from wedding picture hell. "I don't want to make Al wait."

"And I'm sure he's already there," Mustang said in an agreeable tone. He didn't make any move to leave though, just grabbed the hand Ms. Lovelace had so recently released and pulled Ed toward him. Ed stepped forward willingly, pressing himself into Mustang's embrace and pulling him down for a kiss. Harry, who had remained lost in his book until that point, let out a long-suffering sigh no eleven year old should be able to achieve.

"They've been even grosser than usual since last night," the kid said in a disgusted tone.

"He proposed at dinner then?" Hawkeye asked, though Havoc would be surprised if she actually needed the confirmation. "That explains why he suddenly wanted to take you to a nice restaurant."

"They gave us free desert and champagne as congratulations," Harry said. "Champagne is gross. The cake was good though."

"It was good cake," Ed agreed, fondly reminiscent. He was leaning into Mustang, who hadn't let go of him, and he grinned up at the older man mischievously. "It was a good night."

"Ergh," Harry said, because of course Roy Mustang's son would get the innuendo.

"Please don't say things like that in front of my son, darling," Mustang said fondly. "I'm afraid we've already traumatized him for life."

"You have," Harry said gravely.

Ed laughed a little meanly, giving Harry an unrepentant grin. "C'mon, let's get out of here."

"Of course, love," Mustang said, actually pushing himself out of his doorway this time. "Have you already told your brother?"

"Nah, I wanted to get his reaction in person," Ed replied casually. As they walked out of the office, Mustang held out a hand and Harry ran over to hold it. Nobody made a sound as they listened to Ed's and Mustang's fading voices.

"I can't believe it," Havoc said faintly once he couldn't hear Ed any longer.

"Never thought I'd see the day," Breda said agreeably.

"But isn't it kind of sweet?" Fuery asked, smiling almost as soppily as Ed and Mustang had been. "Haven't you heard about what happened in England the other night?"

Havoc blinked out of his shock to stare at the smaller man, and noted everyone besides Hughes and Hawkeye doing the same. Fuery adjusted his glasses nervously, flushing under the scrutiny.

"Did something happen at that party they went to?" Breda asked curiously.

"Now is not the time to gossip," Hawkeye interrupted, a clear warning in her voice. Hughes nodded in agreement with her, looking unusually serious. Havoc and Breda shared an intrigued look, but obligingly took the hint and didn't pressure Fuery for information.

"Oh, I'd better get going!" Ms. Lovelace said into the ensuing silence, catching a look at the clock. "I'm late for my next meeting!"

"Did anybody ask them if they've made any plans yet?" Hughes asked as they watched her leave. Everyone murmured that they hadn't a little awkwardly, but really, what had Hughes been expecting? Most of them were too surprised by the revelation to even consider anything so practical. "Well, I'll go call Gracia and give her the good news anyway! She'll be so pleased; she's been waiting for this since he got the ring..." And Hughes wandered out as well, still talking to himself as he grinned goofily down at his stack of pictures.

"Wait, how long has Mustang had that ring?" Havoc called after the colonel, but didn't receive an answer. With a loud sigh, he slumped back into his seat to stare at the ceiling. "Do you guys realize how surreal life has been since Ed moved in with him? I keep expecting to wake up in a cold sweat. Engaged, my god."

"Well, look on the bright side," Breda said, clapping him on the shoulder. "We get to tell Falman when he gets back. We might actually get a reaction out of him."

Havoc grinned slowly, ignoring Hawkeye's exasperated sigh. Okay, that might actually be worth the shock.