No, come to think of it, I didn't miss you at all.
Roy Mustang sat at his desk, tapping away at the stack of papers in front of him as if completing it with Morse code instead of writing. It was getting late, and yet, the stack of papers seemed never-ending, and didn't show signs of diminishing anytime soon. For some reason, he hadn't been able to focus for the past couple of days. Ever since he'd gotten back from Liore, he could feel something different about the place he'd left only two weeks before. Everyone seemed…unusually high-spirited. He could have sworn he even caught Havoc whistling, which was something he hadn't done in years. Not since…
That's what should have tipped him off. He was usually sharp-minded about these things, but everyone's seemingly sudden change in attitude had thrown him off balance. He had been completely stumped as to why Lt. Hawkeye hadn't been so apt to shoot at him when he automatically started slacking off on his first day back. Instead, she'd looked at him with a sort of knowing gleam in her eye, and it had made him uneasy. When he'd asked what was up with everyone lately, trying to sound as if it barely bothered him (when it was really driving him up the proverbial wall), she had shrugged and said something about the weather. Roy had not noticed any change in the weather at all, so he found that to be unbelievable.
It eventually nagged at him so badly that he almost considered checking all back records from when he'd been gone, just to see if anything unusual had happed. Whenever he wanted to get down to the bottom of something, he did, and it was usually never good. His self-control got the best of him, however, and he convinced himself that the answer would eventually become apparent to him, as if appearing right in front of his desk.
Sure enough, the answer did appear. Literally. In the form of not one something, but two…two someones, to be exact. Two someones he never thought he'd ever see again. He'd been sure of it.
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Paperwork needed to be done; he had no time for trying to remember every small detail of what had happened the day before. He didn't have the time to try and figure out how much the young alchemist he'd thought he'd lost years ago had changed--from the way he wore his hair, to the seemingly-more adult clothes he wore, to his subtle height change that only the most meticulous of observers could note…
The dark-haired colonel mentally slapped himself. He couldn't be thinking about him like that again, could he? Just when he thought he'd gotten over the hard-to-ignore absence of the younger alchemist, he'd popped--no flown--right back into Roy's life as if he'd never been gone at all. As soon as he'd come, however, he was gone again, taking his brother with him. Knowing he was alive should have been enough to help Roy sleep better at night.
It wasn't. In fact, it made it more unbearable, knowing that the blond was somewhere else, living a life that the colonel knew nothing about, in a place where he couldn't protect either of the brothers.
He sighed heavily, finally ceasing the tapping of his pen and laying it down on top of the papers. He wasn't sure if it had been worse having the young alchemists in another dimension, or having them standing in front of his desk the day before, where he was unable to push aside the emotions that were welling up inside him at the sight of both boys.
The change in each of the brothers was more than obvious to anyone who knew them well before. They were both dressed in rough-looking suits, with crisp, white dress shirts peering out from under their heavy jackets. Alphonse was clad in a light beige suit, while the older Elric was suited in a dark olive color. Both boys wore their hair in ponytails, and both of them had grown considerably.
He'd done what he could to maintain a straight face as both of them stood before his desk, Alphonse looking at him with a sort of reverence, while his brother looked irked at having to even be in the same room as him.
Same old Edward, Roy had thought.
Edward… Just thinking his name caused a kind of tension to arise within the older man, for there were so many things he wanted to say to him, but he couldn't even think of where to begin. He did know that the way he had begun had been the wrong way entirely, ending in a way quite opposite the way he'd imagined in his dreams.
"Didn't take you long to get back here, Fullmetal," he said teasingly. "Did they tire of you already?"
Edward scowled, showing his still-existing resentment towards the dark-haired military man. "Isn't it a little early to be making jokes, old man?"
No surprise, their first exchange of words had been insults, Roy's light-hearted yet seemingly arrogant, and Edward's bitter and indignant. It was obvious they could go all day in an unending battle of wit and frustration, but Alphonse, being the voice of reason, had broken in, diffusing the tension, if only a little.
"You wanted to see us, Colonel?" he asked, his tone lighter and lined with the respect his brother simply didn't have.
Roy sat, stunned for a moment, before Lt. Hawkeye cut in.
"Sir, perhaps their papers are beneath the stack I placed on your desk this morning," she said pointedly, which really said, "You would have known this was coming if you'd only done your paperwork from yesterday."
Roy sighed. Sure enough, beneath the stack of papers he'd been slowly working through that day was a smaller set of papers--a report as to the whereabouts of the Elric brothers since their reappearance only a year earlier. No doubt, Hawkeye had probably constructed a very foolproof alibi, free of any loopholes that could cause someone to question the credibility of the story.
He nodded to silently confirm to the blonde lieutenant, who was eyeing him suspiciously, that he did indeed find said documents and he glanced over them briefly, before looking back up to the two brothers. Now he had to figure out what to do with them, because he sure as hell wasn't going to let them escape him this time.
"Well, since I can't very well let you run the streets, I imagine you'll probably have to stay in the barracks until we know just what to do with the both of you," he said nonchalantly, as if he had more important things to worry about than what to do with two teenagers. "I'll get Fuery and Breda to escort you there and make sure everything gets settled."
Before Edward could shoot off a smart remark--which Roy knew he was going to, he could see the expression crossing his face, that "I'm going to make life difficult for you if it's the last thing I do" look that Roy knew all too well--Alphonse interrupted him.
"Thank you very much, sir," he said with a slight bow. However, before he could usher his brother out the door, Edward turned to him and smiled in a way that made Roy a tad uncomfortable. The smile looked almost uncharacteristic for the young alchemist.
"Hey Al, you mind waiting outside? I got something I really need to talk to the colonel about. I promise it won't take too long," he said, using a tone he reserved only for his younger sibling.
Alphonse nodded hesitantly, but did as he was asked. After all, he understood his role as the younger of the two, and he fulfilled it without complaint, something Roy had always marveled at. The boy was obedient, but by no means subservient. It wasn't something that had to be worked at, either. It just was. Both boys balanced one another out in a way Roy couldn't help but admire and appreciate. After all, Alphonse did keep Edward out of his hair sometimes. Not that Roy actually minded the blond, but he'd never admit that.
As soon as the younger brother was gone, Edward turned back to Roy, his expression one of suppressed irritation. "I don't think I need to make it clear that I have no intention of coming back to the military, Colonel. I also don't intend to let Al get sucked back into it either, so don't even try it."
Roy was taken aback. Of all the things he could imagine Edward having to say, that wouldn't have been his first choice. Then again, maybe it would have, he just didn't want to admit it.
"Well, Fullmetal," he said, stressing Edward's alias, "I don't think you realize that you're still technically under contract and can't just come and go as you seem to feel like doing lately."
"Under contract? I don't remember signing any damned contract," the blond spat, crossing his arms in defiance. "As far as I'm concerned, the minute you considered me dead was my cue to leave."
Roy sighed mentally, doing all that he could not to open the small drawer in the front of his desk and remove his gloves. Since returning to his former position, he'd made a promise to himself: to use his gloves sparingly, and only in times of dire need.
This was turning out to be one of those times.
He shrugged, pushing away the amusing mental image of a charbroiled Ed. He'd muse over it later, and maybe actually laugh at it. Now, however, was not the time for such thoughts. He stood from his chair and walked over to the window behind him, looking out. He couldn't look at the younger alchemist if he was going to do what he intended to.
See, Roy knew exactly what to do to make the blond comply with whatever it was he wanted. He'd known Edward Elric long enough to know what made him tick, and he was going to go for a low blow. It was for the greater good, after all, if not for Roy's own personal amusement.
"I guess you could leave if you really wanted to, since we don't really need you, and we're not really short of a supply of willing and able bodies around here, so do what you want," he said with an air of indifference.
If it had been anyone else, they would have caught on to the colonel's obvious ploy. This, however, was not just anyone. It was Ed, and being who he was, all he heard were the words "short" and "able bodies."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT EVEN THE MILITARY WOULDN'T WANT HIM?!" Ed shouted, clenching his fists and making what Roy was certain was one of the most comical displays of unnecessary anger he'd ever seen…which was one of the reasons he'd chosen to look out the window.
That, and the blond was simply too cute when he was fuming.
The Flame Alchemist smirked, knowing he had Ed right where he wanted him…for now, anyway. He turned back around, trying hard not to look too amused, though he was certain the more amused he looked, the more eager the teen would be to do whatever he could to set his elder straight.
The dark-haired man shrugged, sitting back at his desk and folding his hands in front of him. All he had to do was wait for Edward's temper to get the best of him, and then things would go back to the way they had been before.
Almost. The younger alchemist wasn't smart enough to catch on that he was being baited, so he soon found himself reinstated, as well as his brother, but it became obvious that he had gotten much more clever in the past few years, even if he didn't know it.
"Glad to have you back, Fullmetal," Roy said, filling out the last of the papers necessary to make the Elric brothers officially part of the military once again. "You get a week to get settled before coming to work, so if there's anything you need--"
"Don't need any help, thanks," Edward interrupted, looking very piqued, as he had just realized what he'd gotten himself--and his brother, no doubt--into.
Roy sighed. It'd only been half an hour since the brothers had come in to see him, and already he was getting a nagging sense of déjà vu. He put his signature on the last paper and slid it to the front of his desk. "Make sure you give those to Lt. Hawkeye on your way out. She'll see to it that everything is in order."
Ed grabbed the papers in a not-too-delicate way, rolling his eyes. "Yeah sure, whatever."
The older man sat back in his chair, crossing his arms, and feeling slightly fatigued from the exertion that had been necessary to get the teen to comply. Though he felt it would ultimately be worth it, he also had a feeling that it was going to cost him dearly--most likely in the form of sleep deprivation or an increase in paperwork…probably both. The fatigue was obviously beginning to affect him, since he felt his usually well-kept defenses sliding just a bit. Either that, or he'd been around the blond too long and the emotions he was trying to keep bottled up were causing his brain to melt.
"Honestly, Edward, it's been a year since we've seen each other, and a few years before that," he said tiredly. Actually, he knew exactly how long it had been. He'd been counting. Not that he'd admit that, either.
"And?" Ed said sourly, narrowing his eyes at the colonel, as though expecting another clever assault that might somehow end up getting him in even more trouble.
Roy sighed heavily for what felt like the millionth time that hour. He made a mental note to stop sighing so much, though he knew he'd probably forget anyway. The teen made him sigh…in more ways than one.
Mental slap. At this rate, his poor brain was going to be bruised. He was getting tired of riding the emotional elevator. Where could he get off, anyway?
Getting off…another mental slap. Roy mentally rolled his eyes. It was a good thing it was just him and the anger-blinded Fullmetal Alchemist in the room. Had someone like say, Riza been in the room, he would have been figured out already.
"Aaaaand?" Edward repeated irritably, tapping his foot impatiently, and bringing Roy back to reality, which he was all-too grateful for.
"Aaaaand you'd think we could go for more than five minutes without biting each other's heads off," he finished, sitting up and folding his arms in front of him on the desk. He smirked, feeling a little elation as he watched the blond slowly realize that though he was angry, the older man was right. Roy knew he'd never get Ed to admit it, but just knowing from watching him was enough.
Of course, being the kind of man he was, he couldn't leave it be. No, he was starting to let his hidden affection for the young prodigy get the best of him, and he ultimately said the very thing that gave the teen the upper hand.
"C'mon, you had to have missed me just a little," he said, the familiar teasing tone to his voice that he should have known better than to use, but it had been too long and he was just glad to have the blond in his office instead of an entire world away. It was clouding his better judgment.
Edward appeared to give it some thought for a moment before looking at the colonel and, grinning, said. "No, come to think of it, I didn't miss you at all."
It had been a sharp blow to Roy's ego, even if he didn't show it. In all honesty, it had cut him deeper than he was willing to admit, even to himself, though he couldn't say he was surprised at the response.
The younger alchemist simply turned on his heel and walked out, leaving the dark-haired man to his own self-torturing devices. When he recovered, he'd convince himself that he wasn't bothered by it, as he always did.
Or so he'd thought. Truth was, it still bothered him, more so than he was willing to admit, though he knew he couldn't lie to himself for too long. He never could. There was no sense in trying, anyway. He could run from everyone else, but he couldn't run from himself.
"Colonel Mustang, sir?" Lt. Hawkeye said, standing before his desk expectantly.
How long had she been there? No matter, it wasn't as if he had anything to give her anyway. Somehow, he sensed that she knew that. He nodded and grabbed his jacket that had made its way to the back of his chair, putting it on and pushing the chair in.
"I'll get those tomorrow," he said casually, grabbing his keys to lock up for the night. "I'm going home. See you in the morning." He watched as the woman nodded in understanding and turned to leave for the night herself.
As he turned to close the door behind him, he couldn't help but notice how his office was slowly starting to look as it had not so long ago, before everything had managed to break loose and wreak havoc on his seemingly structured life.
He smirked, locking the door, and heading down the corridor towards the exit, his mind wandering to thoughts of a certain blond alchemist who was no doubt getting settled into the dorms at that moment. He shook his head and sighed, acknowledging that his personal memo did indeed go unnoticed.
Old habits really do die hard.
