Roy woke up early like always. He could faintly smell breakfast cooking downstairs, and he let out a contented sigh and rolled over in bed, wrapping himself further in the blankets.
Having the Elrics around was quite nice. Especially because since Alphonse never slept or got tired, he made it his personal mission to make the mornings as easy as possible for his tired brother, and, by extension, the Colonel. Roy managed to get an extra 15 minutes of sleep every morning now. Ever since Al had learned the morning routine by watching- how roy liked his coffee, what he and Ed ate for breakfast- he'd make it all without asking. He really was a considerate boy.
Not that Ed wasn't- he was just flesh and had to sleep. He still had his broken wrist, not to mention his automail, and he was a growing boy with the weight of a man's burden on his shoulders. Ed was a bit messier than Alphonse- he sometimes left out his books and research notes or fell asleep in the middle fo them. But that was more because Ed was doing so much- trying to hard- everyday to cram in the research he'd need to help Alphonse, that sometimes cleaning up the books slipped his mind and he'd just stumble off to bed.
Roy found he didn't really mind, though- he liked to skim the alchemic research as he carefully tucked the notes between the pages of the books and set them to the side in a neat pile. It helped keep him sharp in other forms of alchemy. And his research notes was really the only place Ed was really messy- he was always certain to clean any dishes he created, and put away any food that was left out.
Roy sighed, standing and splashing some water on his face, getting dressed in his uniform for the day. It was a little after eight- they'd have to leave for the office in about forty minutes.
He strode down the hall quietly, peering into Ed's room.
Ed's habit of falling asleep in the middle of research meant he'd sometimes find the kid passed out in his desk chair, cheek smushed into an open book. Or sprawled out of the floor, a circle of open books around him.
But last night the boy appeared to have made it into his bed- he was in his boxers and a white t-shirt, resting on his back, his automail arm resting on one side above his head and his blue casted arm, covered in a myriad of signatures, on the other side.
Roy smirked slightly, pulling the sheet Ed had kicked aside over the boy and turning to head downstairs.
He stopped when he noticed a large map of Amestris had been hung on the wall in front of Ed's desk, in addition to the usual piles of books that resided there. It was recently hung, and Roy stepped closer to get a better look.
There were pins sticking out from a variety of cities- Fisk, Reole- heck, South City was even marked. Roy knew the leads had been piling up in the weeks Ed had been forced to stay in Central, but there was still a sinking feeling when he realized Ed would be leaving soon.
He turned and strode out of the room, wishing Alphonse a good morning when he passed him on his way downstairs. He paused as Al passed him, listening to the suit of armor go to wake his brother up.
"Brother- time to get up."
"Five more minutes, Al." Ed batted his brother off.
"No, it's time to wake up now, Ed. We have to get going early if you want to stop at the train station and buy tickets for tomorrow and get to the office on time."
"Yeah yeah, I'm gettin' up." Ed muttered.
Something in Roy's chest sank a little further. They were leaving tomorrow?
"Brother..."
"Yeah, Al? What is it?"
"Do... do you ever think about just... staying here?"
"You mean... stop looking for the stone?" Ed sounded horrified. "We can't give up, Al!"
"Of course not! I just mean... it's nice to have a home again, you know? And we have been looking for a year already... what if we never find it?"
"We will find it, Al! I will, I swear it!" Ed promised.
"I don't doubt you, brother. I just think that sometime... it'd be nice to stay put a little longer."
"Our leads can't wait, Al. You can't wait. Everyday we stay still is one more day you're stuck in that armor."
"Well then when the leads run out, then, and we have time... we can come back and stay here for a few weeks, right?"
"Yeah, of course we can you dummy. Mustang said we can come crash here whenever we want."
"Really? That's good." Al sounded relieved.
"Why are you so excited to stay in Central these days anyways? You get buddy buddy with Mustang all of a sudden?" Ed asked.
"He said I could get a cat!" Alphonse said cheerily.
Roy paused on the stairwell. He had said that the other day- he'd gotten tired of finding mouse droppings in his kitchen cupboards. He grinned- if it meant the boys would stick around more, he'd gladly let Alphonse get a cat. Besides- even when they were gone, he wouldn't be so lonely then.
"And Mustang is alright with watching it while we're gone?" Ed asked skeptically.
"He said he was. He's tired of mice in the kitchen."
"Alright then. If we find a cat on our travels this time, you can bring it back here." Ed said simply.
"Why don't you want to stay here, Ed?" Al asked, pausing at his brother's rather short response.
"I do, Al. I do want to stay here. But I have a promise to keep- and I won't rest until I see it through."
"But we can come back here when we're done traveling?"
"I don't see why not. The dorms are gone, this makes sense as our new base of operations in Central..."
"And I get a cat!"
"Yes, you do get a cat." Ed agreed. "Come on- we're wasting time. Let's eat so we can get moving."
Breakfast was a rather silent affair that morning.
Ed inhaled his food eagerly, and Alphonse did the dishes while humming.
Ed finished eating and set his dishes beside the sink, nodding to Alphonse.
"You finish those up- I'll head out to get our tickets."
"Tickets to where?" Roy spoke over his mug of coffee.
Ed stiffened. "Fisk. Al and I have a lead on the stone in Fisk, and we're leaving tomorrow."
"Funny. I don't remember you asking me if you could go anywhere." Mustang sipped his coffee idly.
"Banks is in custody and so are the Drachmans! You can't keep us here." Ed seethed. "We've wasted enough time already!"
"Brother, yelling isn't going to help anything." Al, ever the voice of reason, spoke up.
Roy nodded. "So you're asking my permission to go to Fisk, then?"
"You aren't my Dad. Why should I need your permission!?" Ed protested.
"Because I'm you're commanding officer, and the one who approves your funding. And I like to know where you're going." Roy answered calmly, taking another sip of coffee.
Ed paused, realizing he was right. "Okay. So can we go East, then?"
"You're going somewhere besides Fisk?"
"Yeah. Fisk and then Reole, we figured. More reports about a strange healer with a stone." Al chipped in happily.
"So will you give up permission or what?" Ed asked, tone clipped.
"I don't see why not." Roy swirled his coffee in his mug, pausing. "But if you're headed that way, you might want to stop by Hainsworth. Couple strange occurrences- a man alchemically stopping a rockslide with a necklace made of some odd material, fixing a stone bridge that'd fallen down fifty years ago. I'm not sure if it's related to the stone, but there's a chance."
"See brother! It's a good thing we asked his permission or we'd have completely missed out on that lead!" Al said happily.
"Do you have any more information on it?" Ed asked, eyes hungry for details.
Roy nodded. "I'll give you the briefing I have on it when we reach the office today. How long will you be gone?"
"You know my schedule is unique. How the hell am I supposed to know?" Ed asked, looking annoyed.
"Give me a rough estimate. I just want to know when I should send the team after you if something were to go wrong."
"I thought that was what the weekly check ins were for?"
"The weekly check ins that you forget most of the time?" Roy cocked an eyebrow.
Ed sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Whatever, you Bastard. We'll probably be gone a month, this time."
"You'll remember your weekly check ins?"
"I'll remind him." Al promised.
"So can we go or not, you Bastard?" Ed asked.
Roy shrugged. "That's up to you, Fullmetal. You finish any time sensitive reports you have left on the Banks incident today, and I'll write you the travel authorization to go hunt down the leads and leave town tomorrow. I'll even have Hawkeye go pick up tickets for you."
"It's a deal, then." Ed stood, gold eyes filling with determination. "We might as well get to the office then. I have shit to do."
"Right." Roy grabbed his keys from the counter. "See you boys in the car. And I'll see you back here in a month- call if you're going to be later."
"Yeah, whatever." Ed said simply, and Roy headed out to stand on his porch, waiting for Ed and Al to come out after them.
Through the window, he could hear the boys bickering.
"Why do you have to be so rude to the Colonel, Ed?"
"Because the bastard enjoys yanking me around! Did you see how he made me beg for permission to travel again just now!?"
"It sounded to me like he just wanted to know where we were going. He even gave us another lead. You can say he's mean all you want, but he's one of the only people who helped us."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say Al. I still think he's kind of a jerk."
"So are we coming back here in a month, or are we gonna get a hotel?" Al asked uncertainly.
"We're staying here, I guess. It doesn't cost money, and you can have a cat here. So it's worht it- even if I do have to deal with Mustang's bullshit." Ed admitted huffily.
The boys started for the door, and Roy smirked, heading for his car with his keys jingling in hand.
His boys were heading back on the road- and despite Ed's theatrics and pretending he didn't care, he and Al would be back at his house in a month. Roy wouldn't have it any other way.
It's done! A lot of this chapter was just Roy eavesdropping, but fter everything that's happened, everyone has grown as characters and ed and Al are now part of the Mustang house when they're in town!
In addition- I've started that second fic I was talking about. It's a bit of drama and hurt/comfort, with Ed accidentally ending up in an active combat zone. It all goes to hell and Roy ends up going to collect an injured Edward and deal with the scars left behind.