Spaces Between

Series of shorts in the Fullmetal Dadchemist Universe. Not in chronological order, but the boys' ages will be listed at the top of every chapter.

Even Brothers Have Bad Days

Edward and Alphonse bring their argument to work,

and Mustang offers his advice.

(Edward 12, Alphonse 11)

East City Command

Colonel Mustang's Office

Ten AM

Roy had been listening to the argument between Fullmetal and his brother for the last ten minutes, and it was very amusing. It was hard sometimes to remember how young these boys were with everything they had accomplished. Then, they would stand in the middle of his office and argue like this, he would be reminded that they were in fact children.

His office staff seemed to have the same feelings on the subject judging by the bemused expressions. Roy decided that it was time to make his presence known though, since any time now someone else could wander in and he didn't want it to get out that he was soft on his youngest subordinate. There were already rumors to that end as it was.

"Fullmetal, I trust you have your report?" Roy said and the reaction was immediate and expected. Everyone rushed to return to their work nearly as quickly as when Hawkeye walked into the room while Edward stiffened and turned in his direction.

The boy was disheveled from his long trip and red-faced from screaming at his brother. The end result made the boy seem so much younger than he already was. A pang of guilt shot through him again, as it did whenever the child's age became apparent. The boy marched up to him, bringing the blond head to chest with Roy. Roy frowned down at Edward before moving aside and gesturing for him to enter the inner office. Edward stomped in, but not before yelling over his shoulder. "This isn't over Al!"

As soon as Roy closed the office door, Edward's demeanor changed from angry and tired to sad and tired. Roy sighed as he sat at his desk. He wasn't the boy's father. Frankly, he didn't believe himself to be role model material, let alone father, but he couldn't leave the boy so dejected. "What's the matter?" Roy asked not unkindly.

"Al's being stupid. He's mad at me because he found a kitten on the way here and tried to keep it. Now he's mad at me for telling him to put it back. He said I don't care about him or his feelings and he should just go back to Granny's where people actually want him around. I got mad and told him if he wanted to leave so bad I'd buy him a ticket, and it just got worse from there." Edward said as he slumped onto the couch. "I don't want my brother to leave me! Why does he think I don't love him?"

This was why Roy knew he couldn't be a parent. He couldn't handle the child's distress. He wanted to gather the boy in his arms and keep them protected from the world, which just wasn't practical. "Well. You told him you did need him, was that true?" Roy began and waited for Edward to shake his head with a sniff. "So then, perhaps, your brother didn't mean it when he said he wanted to leave you? Had you considered that."

"No." Edward said in a small voice.

"Well, there you have it. Alphonse loves you as much as you love him Edward. Just because you had a disagreement doesn't mean that you aren't still brothers." Roy said, and was surprised to seeing the boy nod with glassy eyes. He couldn't have the kid leave his office in tears!

Roy quickly rounded his desk to pat the boy on the back to comfort him as he did with the others when one of them was having a bad day. He was further surprised by Edward throwing his arms around Roy's waist and burying his face in the man's stomach. Roy patted and smoothed the boy's hair as he murmured words of comfort for a few minutes until the boy had calmed back down and pulled away from him, looking embarrassed. "Sorry." Edward said as he wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "I must be more tired than I realized."

"Of course." Roy said before returning to his desk. "Is there anything you need. Tea? Coffee?"

"No, I'm okay. I'll grab some lunch on the way back to the dorms." Edward said before pulling a slightly crumpled sheaf of papers from his coat. "Anyway, here's my report."

"Thank you. Why don't you take the rest of the week for research? I hear the circus is in town, your brother might enjoy the show should you find the time." Roy suggested casually.

"That would be great. Thank you… I could use the research time." Edward said, trying to restore their usual status que. Roy respected the boy's wishes gratefully as he waved the boy before turning his attention to his paperwork.

That Afternoon

Alphonse was still not talking to Edward as they made their way back to the dorms, pouting over both the kitten and the argument. Once they were checked in and moved up to the room, Edward spoke to him for the first time since going into Mustang's office. "Look Al. I didn't mean it. I don't want you to leave. I need you here and your my little brother, it's my job to take care of you!"

"Well, I don't want to leave. It's my job to take care of you too. Does that mean I can stay then?"

"Of course!" Edward said and the brothers hugged with Ed ignoring the pain of being hugged too hard by armor."Oh hey, that Bastard Mustang gave me the rest of the week for research before I gotta pick up my next assignment. He mentioned the circus was in town too, you wanna go?"

"Really?! Can we go? I've always wanted to see the circus!" Al said happily. "Wait…do you think they'll have clowns?"

"Don't worry Al. I'll glare at them and keep them away from you." Ed said with a laugh. "We'll go first thing in the morning."

"Okay. Thank you Brother! We should thank Colonel Mustang as well."

"What, why?" Ed frowned.

"Because he let us stay here a few days and sent us to the show. He's so nice." Al said happily.

"Son of a- He tricked me!" Edward fumed, about to storm out of their room and confront Mustang, until he noticed how happy his brother was. Perhaps, just this time, he could let it go. Mustang could be nice sometimes after all, even if he was usually a bossy jerk that always wanted to know every single thing Ed did.