Edward rubbed his eyes and blinked. It had been a while since he'd spent the day reading, and he was tired. He and Ritsuka lay sprawled out side by side on the couch. Roy's notes from his day of enforced studying were spread on the coffee table in front of them. Of course, Mustang's only means of taking notes would have to be in the mind-numbingly monotonous style of the military… He sighed as he picked up the piece of paper directly in front of him again and read:

Area of Interest: Sentouki Combat Strategies III: TAC-AIR strikes (cont'd from p.17)
Source: Tactics for Naturally Talented or Aggressively Ambitious Fighters, by J. Nakaguri
Compiled By: Col R. Mustang

Summary: A Fighter has the ability to call in tactical air (TAC-AIR) strikes in the form of spears, spikes, shards of ice, and/or other particulate against enemy movements and positions. This is particularly useful in the case of a counterinsurgency combat zone lacking static lines of defense. In the event of this attack not succeeding…

Ed's eyes glazed over. I don't know why I should have expected anything different… He leaned back into the corner of the couch and yawned, closing his eyes. Feeling something press against him, he opened them again in surprise to find that Ritsuka had leaned back into his lap and was resting his head hesitantly against his shoulder.

Ed decided to allow it, lifting his arm and shifting slightly to make room. He was trying to sort out what it was he felt for this strange boy with whom he was suddenly partnered. Ritsuka had an almost girlish look about him, colored by a sort of rag-tag boyish enthusiasm, especially noticeable when he got angry, which Ed found endearing. There was something in his way of being that reminded Ed of Al in a way he couldn't quite put his finger on… It was an innocence of sorts, an uncorrupted way of looking at the world with hope and trust, as if those principles still had meaning.

Yet, it seemed to him that the predominant energy Ritsuka projected was one of extreme fragility, and this was something Ed intensely disliked about him. He didn't have time for fragile, and he detested neediness. Roy was already starting to piss him off in that department; he hated to admit it, but he almost would have preferred having his old, short-tempered, smirking commander back, rather than having to figure out how to deal with this new subservient version. Needy people irritated Edward. He had never been needy, not ever. Not when he lost his mother, not when he lost his limbs, not even when he lost Al. Neediness didn't make any sense to him. You picked up your pieces. You kept going. That was it.

This kid Ritsuka was like the poster child for neediness. Ed had seen orphans in the street with begging bowls looking less pathetic. It irked him the way he was always fawning over Soubi as if their roles were reversed. If that guy was my Sentouki, I'd show him a thing or two, Ed mused to himself. Soubi was different from Roy; following orders seemed like something that was bred into him, something he was taught to take pleasure in. In the back of Roy's mind, he knew at some point they'd be back in Amestris and he'd be kicking Ed all the way down the steps at Central; but Soubi was one hundred percent serious about being Ritsuka's devoted servant until the day he breathed his last breath. This kid has no idea what kind of power he wields; no idea at all.

Ed absentmindedly fiddled with Ritsuka's dark hair with his left hand, his human hand… You have to wonder what is going on this kid's head, he thought to himself.

As if in answer to his silent question, Ritsuka spoke. "Your brother. He's very important to you, isn't he."

Ed was somewhat taken aback by this seemingly-out-of-nowhere statement. "Yeah, well, of course he is. He's my little brother. It's my job to look after him. The older brother watches over the younger…" Scar's word's echoed in his head. He had failed Al, failed him again…

"Do… do all older brothers feel that way?" Ritsuka asked in a small voice.

"What? I don't know… yeah, I guess. Why, do you have…" Ed stopped. He felt Ritsuka's small frame tense in his lap. He realized he didn't know anything about this boy, or his family, or his life, at all.

"He's… he's dead. My brother. Seimei."

"Oh… I'm sorry." His arms instinctively closed around the dark haired boy, cradling him gently in his lap. Ritsuka ran his fingers up and down Ed's automail arm.

"Can you… feel this? Does it have feeling, this arm?" he asked quietly.

"Not… like you would think. I can feel it, I mean, the nerves are attached, but it's not the same kind of sensation as if it were my real arm."

"How did you… end up like this?" It was Ed's turn to shift uncomfortably. "I mean, you don't have to tell me, I was just… wondering."

Ed opened his mouth to create some pretext in order to avoid telling Ritsuka the truth, when he suddenly realized that he didn't want to. For some bizarre reason, he felt the desire to spill his guts to this fragile-looking, cat-eared boy in his lap. So he told him. Everything. About his mother, Al, human transmutation, his father, all of it. It occurred to him, as he lay there speaking softly to the ceiling, the weight of the other boy pressing gently down on him, that this was something he'd never done before. He'd never told anyone the entirety of his story, from start to finish. And Ritsuka just… listened. He never commented, never gasped in horror, never passed judgment, just… listened.

Finally, he was spent, and he lay there, still staring at the ceiling. He was just starting to feel uncomfortable and wonder whether Ritsuka had fallen asleep or something, when the other boy turned over, pressed his face into Edward's neck, and whispered, "Thank you for sharing your memories with me."

Ed felt the brush of soft lips against his cheek as he let a single tear escape. He held Ritsuka to him as tightly as he dared, fearing the boy's frailty and the wayward strength of his automail. Ritsuka responded by curling up closer to him, reaching up to stroke the curve of the blond boy's jaw. Before Ed had made a conscious decision, his tongue had flicked out and taken one of those small, slender fingers into his mouth. He looked into Ritsuka's wide eyes, noting his reddening cheeks, and was just deciding what he might like to do next, when there was an awful racket at the front door.

"What the…?" Both boys sat up on the couch. After a good deal of banging and shouting, in through the door stumbled their two Fighters, both soaking wet and looking a little worse for wear and tear. Soubi was struggling to hold up a completely and utterly inebriated Roy Mustang, who was unflappably belting out old army songs at the top of his lungs.

"When this bleeding war is over; Oh how happy I shall be! When I get my civvy clothes on; No more soldiering for me - FULLMETAL!!" he shouted as Ed came running over. "Guess wh… what we've been doing??"

"I can damn well guess! Colonel! You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Just look at you..." He and Ritsuka were trying unsuccessfully to get Roy to lower himself onto the couch.

"No, no, NO! You don't under-understand, see…" Roy was gasping for breath as he sank down on his knees onto the carpet. "I was… doing RESEARCH! Yes, RESEARCH! All for YOU! Like you… like you tole me to!"

Ed rolled his eyes glared at Soubi, who gave him a don't look at me, I was just trying to help sort of look. He grabbed the back of Roy's jacket with his automail arm and hoisted him up, dragging him over to the couch.

"No, no I MEAN it! See, it said… it said inTactics for Naturally Talented or Aggressively Ambi... Ambidextrous... Fighters that being inebri… that beingintoxic… that being DRUNK was a surefire way to disrupt the bond between Sentouki and Sacrifice!"

Ed wasn't sure how much longer he was going to be able to stand to listen to this. Suddenly Roy grabbed Ed by the front of his shirt and shouted, "This…is a very dangerous… thing! So… I was just, you know, testing it out, to see if it really worked! And guess what? Fucking works! Like right now! You told me to get out of your face! And I'min your face!! SEE??"

Ed dropped Roy and let him fall between the couch and the coffee table. "I can't deal with this anymore… I'm going for a walk." He slammed the door behind him and left Ritsuka, Soubi and Roy alone in the apartment.

Ritsuka was staring up at Soubi with a strange look on his face. "Is that a hickey on your neck?"

Soubi pursed his lips. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."

Ritsuka shook his head, made a gesture like, fine, whatever, and left to go find Ed. Meanwhile, Roy Mustang continued to sing at full volume, without a care in the world:

"No more church parades on Sundays,
No more asking for a pass.
We can tell the Sergeant Major
To stick his passes up his ass!"