Chapter Two: Seconds.

The day after Ed had disabled the Colonel, he decided to go read some books. A specific book. He went to the table of magical bookness and saw that the book in question wasn't on the top like it was supposed to be.

"DAMMIT!"

"Nii-san, you killed the Colonel with it, didn't you?"

Ed looked up at his younger brother, his face red and his eyes narrow. "What?"

Al took a step back. He just got the last dent out from yesterdays near beating. "You did drop it on the Colonel when he called you… erm, y'know."

"Al…" Ed stood straight, and looked at the door, "I feel too ashamed to ask for it back."

"So… then what are you going to do?"

"Steal it!" The words were accompanied with a strange and rather threatening gleam in Ed's eyes.

Al shook his head and followed his bother out the door and down the hallway.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Colonel Mustang returned to his dorm after icing his rather tender nuts, and sat gingerly down on his couch before opening the book Edward had murdered his pride with. He flipped through the first pages, and came upon the first chapter of the book. "Equivalent Exchange: The first law of any sort of Alchemy."

Roy nearly giggled at the first line. He had heard it so many times from his stalker-Chibi (aka Ed) it was laughable but for people to actually put the line in a book was funnier than the Fuhrer getting caught in public without his pants on. Not that Roy had witnessed that.

After reading the first chapter of the ridiculous book, Roy set it down on his coffee table and went to bed.

More than a few hours later, he was awoken by what he thought was Alphonse's voice scolding someone. He sat up groggily, and looked at his room's door. He heard a small clap.

Roy stood and stealthily made his way to his bedroom's door, peeking carefully out. He saw his front door turn, and the pipsqueak walked in. He fought the urge to pop out from his hiding place and terrify Ed, but he knew a way to get back much better.

Ed looked around, grabbed the book from the table and went to walk out of the door, thinking he'd gotten off without a hitch.

Roy drew a small circle on his wall, tapped his fingers to it quickly and observed the door handle move slightly. Perfect.

Ed reached out to the handle, and to his amazement, the handle grabbed his arm. He fought the urge to yelp in surprise, but there was no way he could open the door without doing something with the book. He was short, but not short enough to set the book on the ground, his other hand was being held by Roy's door handle, and the coffee table was just out of reach as well. Damn.

Roy snorted. He snuck out quietly to stand behind Edward as he was assessing the situation.

"Here, let me take this for you," he said kindly, taking the book from Ed's hand.

"Oh, thanks…" Ed said, then realized he wasn't alone anymore. His face paled, eyes narrowed. He turned around to face the Colonel.

"…."

"Good morning, FullMetal."

Ed started to yank at his arm, and cursed his luck.

Roy walked over to Ed, tapped his door handle, and handed the book back to Edward, and said with a smirk, "Elementary, my dear Elric." and watched as Ed bolted down the hallway.

Danke for the reviews~ And sorry for the short chappy! D: