-.-.-.-.-. notes -.-.-.-.-.-.-
I do not own FMA, nor do I wish to.
italics are inside thoughts.
-.-.-.-.-. story -.-.-.-.-.-.-
Mustang had been sleeping on the couch, a usual occurrence when something was bothering him. Yesterday had been stressful, today had been disappointing, and most of it was FullMetal's fault. The kid had turned 18 and was planning a birthday party. That in itself wasn't stressful, nor was the four hours planning the bar excursion. What was stressful was sitting at his desk afterward and remembering that he'd missed a very important meeting with Grumman.
He'd run out of the office cursing Ed and found his boss in the hallway, Grumman had said it was no problem with a giant smile on his face, they could reschedule for Friday at 6pm. Mustang had had no choice but to agree. And now he'd miss the party they'd been planning.
He'd waited in his office the next day while he heard everyone get ready to take off early. At quarter to six he left for Grumman's and found a note:
"I'll be a bit late. Please wait for me."
Roy sighed, he knew Grumman, this was the punishment.
Sure enough, it was four hours before Grumman arrived. They had a condensed two hour meeting before he was dismissed.
Lesson learned. Don't miss meetings.
Midnight.
He'd definitely missed the party. It would take him an hour to get home, change, then track down the team at whatever bar they'd moved to. He might as well call it a night.
So here he was, on the couch, lamenting his lack of social life and trying to sleep.
Suddenly someone knocked on the door loud enough to almost crack it, causing Mustang to vault off the couch. It would have been slightly more graceful if his feet weren't tangled in a blanket, sending him face first into the floor.
By the time he'd righted himself and tossed the offending blanket back on the couch the knocking had stopped. He opened the door anyway, maybe they were still in sight.
FullMetal stumbled into the room and onto the floor.
Roy almost kicked him right back outside but it looked like the kid had already passed out.
In his doorway.
Fantastic.
He dragged Ed's feet to the side so he could close the door. Then went and got another blanket to drop on the sleeping boy.
"Thanks M'stang."
Roy jumped, Ed was not as passed out as he'd thought. Maybe he could get him home, "Ed, where's Al?"
The kid answered, face in the floor and eyes closed, "Wen' 'ome early, i kep' drinking."
"Al just left you on your birthday?"
"He's little, h's body can't han'le it."
"And yours can? He's bigger than you."
"Shushh, i can do an'thing. I'm FullMet'l."
"Of course you are." Roy sighed, grabbing the blanket off the sofa and bringing it over, "Why are you here Ed?"
"Had to. Came t' tell you who i 'm."
"You came here to tell me that you're the FullMetal Alchemist? Ok. Well, that's nice of you. Here's a blanket, I'm going to bed."
"NO!"
Mustang jumped for the second time, that had been loud and he was getting irritated, "Yes Ed, it's late. I'm going to bed. When you find your brain you can sleep on the couch."
"Edaline."
"What?"
" 's my name."
"Your name is Edaline?"
"Mmm. 'm 22."
How drunk was this kid? He wasn't slurring that badly. Mustang started to get a bad feeling and sat on the couch, "Why are we calling you 'Edward' then?"
There was a pause long enough to make Roy wonder if the drunkenness was an act.
"Can't 'ave wom'n 'n military."
"Hawkeye is a woman."
"Wom'n Alch'mis'."
Mustang's brain was not accepting this. "So you're Edaline Elric, 22, the State's first female Alchemist, drunk on the floor of my living room?"
"Mmm."
"And again, just to clarify, your brother and my entire team, left you to wander drunkenly to my house to tell me this? I don't like practical jokes Ed."
"Nob'dy lef' me, i left 'em. They're 'n t'e car."
"Car?"
"Maes, outsi'e."
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Roy strode to the window, true to her word, there was Maes' car, lights on at the corner.
He was not dealing with this tonight. He scooped Ed up and headed out the door, realising as soon as he was outside that he was only in pajama bottoms. Which was why he could clearly feel Ed's hand running lightly over his bare chest. He shivered, and looking down he realised she was staring at him, eyes wide, tears threatening to fall.
"Please don't' hate me."
Roy's heart jumped, shit. He shook his head and continued forward. Not. His. Problem.
He glared at Maes before opening the back door and placing Ed on the seat. "Where is everyone else?"
"I've already dropped them off, she wanted to stop and tell you because you missed the party."
Hearing Maes' confirmation of Ed's story, Roy glared again in response, slamming the door behind him.
At least his team hadn't abandoned her. She'd be safe, while he was lying in bed, not sleeping, processing the bombshell that was Edaline's existence.