Looks like Roy's years of being a bodyguard at his aunt's place is paying off.

!-

"Edward! EDWARD!"

Who the fuck? Ed turned to see who was calling her. Shit, Fucking full-of-himself five-years-her-junior Russell Tringham. Of all the days she could have chosen to forgo her chest wrap in favour of just a regular black tank top it had to be the day this narcissistic asshat was in town.

He caught up to her and she turned to acknowledge him. "I can't believe i found you! How've you been Ed-ward?"

His voice changed to high pitch as he noticed her outfit and she let the silence hang for a moment. Maybe he'd think he was wrong and dismiss it, she didn't have an automail arm anymore so he might just be talking about tha-

"You're a GIRL?! All this time I thought you were Al's clever older brother that just happened to be short." Ed's eye twitched, "and you're a GIRL?!"

"I'm an adult jackass, not a child. You can say 'woman'. And what do you want? I have things to do." It wasn't even a lie, Hawkeye had told her to meet her at the cafe at 14:00 and she was already running late.

"Fletcher wanted Al's new address so they could write and i said i'd find you when i was in East City. But that doesn't matter. How long have you been a girl? Were you ever a boy? Were you a boy when you met us in Xenotime?"

Ed was trying to politely maintain distance between her and the over exuberant Russell so she didn't notice that she'd been backing up as he advanced, step for step, until she hit a wall. His left hand landed palm down on the wall next to her head. She was not a fan of this position, especially not with some stupid child, that happened to be bigger than her. It was such a dick move, designed to trap women into a submissive role. Anyone weaker than her might be inclined to agree to whatever was asked just to end the situation. And as she looked up in annoyance she realised he'd done it on purpose, for that very reason. Her eyes widened in surprise, and then she got angry.

Russell didn't notice her reaction. He was focussed on her chest, "Are you really not going to get any taller? Are these real?"

Ed's anger at being backed into a wall immediately escalated as she looked at Russell's hand grabbing her breast. Rage swallowed her thoughts and she practically growled at him, "Looks like Fletcher's going to be an only child."

"What?"

Ed started to clap her hands together, she was going to transmute his bones into the fucking sidewalk, when suddenly Russell was gone.

In his place was the back of Mustang's coat. Sure all backs of coats looked the same, but she'd know the muscles of Mustang's back anywhere. Ed blinked back her surprise. The disappearance of her target jolted her out of her single minded focus on murder. Wait, why was Mustang here at all? Riza had said he'd be out of town today- shit. She'd promised Riza she was going to tell Mustang the truth two weeks ago. His presence was obviously planned, probably he was even supposed to meet them at the cafe. That was annoying. However, less annoying than that lecherous Russell.

Ed moved her attention back to the men in front of her, side stepping Roy so she could see what was going on.

Mustang was holding Russel by the front of his shirt, and despite their similar heights, the kid was being lifted clear off the ground. It looked like she'd missed out on the conversation; Roy had his scary face on and Russell looked absolutely terrified.

Roy dropped him on his ass and he started scrambling away, remembering Fletcher's request at the last second he called his hotel name and room number back over his shoulder as he sprinted off down the street.

Mustang turned around incredulous, "You're going to his apartment later?! After that?!"

She waved him off, "Hell no, that's for Al. What are you doing here anyway? Riza told me you were out of town."

"Really? Because she told me to meet you at the cafe at 14:20 exactly because you had something to tell me." He gestured off-hand to her body, "can i assume it was about this?"

Ed sighed, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples, "Yes, but i wanted to tell you a different way, not after getting molested by a child." She shuddered in disgust.

"Well, how about we go for coffee, you talk, i'll listen."

Ed met his eyes, there was no anger in them, only uncertainty and sadness. Crap, now she felt guilty. Men were annoying.

She decided to agree to the offer quickly. This was probably the best invitation to share her life story she'd ever get, "Alright. And thank you for saving his life by the way."

They turned toward the cafe at the end of the street, "No problem Ed. I know how much you hate having to kill people."