So sorry about not updating, people! I've been having a writer's strike on this story, so the updates may be a bit irregular in the future.

And thank you all so much for your response to this story!

Chapter twenty-three

Roy sighed heavily. Ed and Al were being outfitted with microphones and mini-cams, although they were turned off at the moment. Yoki had asked the boys to meet him this Friday at ten. Apparently they were to meet him by the supply room according to the note stuffed inside the wallet together with ten thousand cens.

Roy couldn't help but think that if something went wrong, the two boys were small, young, and one of them had broken the only arm he had left. They weren't meant to be here right now, they should be back at the flat, doing whatever they wanted to.

They shouldn't be preparing to double-cross a dirty cop.

Hawkeye was standing next to him, watching as Fuery tested the equipment in the other corner of the room to make sure that it was functioning properly without picking up the sounds of their voices.

Roy hated this, just watching.

Waiting.

Hoping that things wouldn't go to hell for the boys even if they were well protected and it was three days in the future anyway.

"Are you all right, Hawkeye?" Roy asked her. He may be invested in boys's wellbeing, but she was the one who was legally in charge of them. They were her kids and Roy could tell that she wasn't exactly keen on having them involved. Roy cursed inwardly at the thought that she was now facing even more stress than she already was. Roy cared about all of his subordinates, but there was something special about Riza Hawkeye, he could tell. He had immediately taken to her and she was easy to talk to and he just felt a strong urge to make sure that she was doing all right. He already knew that she was special to him, he just wasn't sure how yet.

"I'll be once the boys are out of danger, sir. Thank you for being so kind to them."

"Of course."

Fuery gave them a thumbs up, signalling that it was okay for them to come over. They did so and the boys looked curiously up at him. "So what happens now?" Ed inquired. "Fuery's told us how to activate the cameras and microphones, so we're all set. But we don't know anything about the case, though."

Roy sighed. "Which means that we have to fill you in, at least a bit. Also, boys, when you aren't inside this office, you're going to have to pretend that you still don't trust me or like me, otherwise Yoki's going to get suspicious."

"So we can't like you in public?" Al asked.

"Act like you did yesterday for instance."

"So you're back to being an untrustworthy bastard who may be after Riza?" Ed asked snidely.

Everybody else froze. Hughes spat out his coffee and Havoc dropped the piece of cake in his hand. "Say what?" Hughes said.

Roy sighed, trying to diffuse the tension. "You really didn't have a high opinion of me, did you, kid?"

Ed watched as they pulled up outside the flat, and Riza and Al moved to get out of the car and then to help him get out of it too. Ed was happy to finally be rid of the sling, but it really didn't give him much more freedom other than not giving him the constant feeling of wearing a straitjacket. Also, it had meant that he could eat his cake even if it hurt to lift his arm to do so. That was a major improvement.

Although that was also the only thing he was allowed to eat without assistance. Everything that involved cutlery or an increase of weight and/or pressure, meant that he was getting assistance. So cake was fine as he didn't really need to do anything other than bite down on it and it nearly didn't weigh anything. The sandwiches that they had packed for lunch and that Riza insisted that they eat so that they got some other nutrients than sugar, had been held by Alphonse however, because the crusts put up more resistance than Riza would allow him to take on on his own.

"Actually, if I could have a word with Ed?" Mustang said as the other two got out of the car. "I'll take him up to the flat myself afterwards."

Riza nodded with a knowing look and Ed felt awkward as she and Al left the car and Mustang then got out only to sit down beside him in the backseat instead. Ed was a bit afraid that he was going to get yelled at again for screwing up earlier and that Mustang had just been waiting until Al was out of the way. Ed didn't look at him, it had been bad enough earlier today.

"How are you doing, kid?" Mustang asked with a sigh.

Ed was sure that his ears were deceiving him. "What?"

"I asked you how you're doing, Edward."

Ed looked up at him and saw only concern in those black eyes. "Why do you ask?" Ed said, slightly unsure as to what the man was on about.

"Because you have been putting on an act ever since you agreed to help us."

"What do you mean? I haven't been acting!"

Mustang sighed again and put a hand on Ed's shoulder. "Ed, you've been playing tough guy for hours now because you're trying to hide from Al just how scared you are. I'm giving you a chance to talk about it because I know you well enough to know that you'll be putting on your act the second you see your little brother again."

"I'm not scared! Just because we talked this morning doesn't mean that you know me now!" Ed was getting uncomfortable. "Just-just because you hugged me doesn't mean that you can just tell me to pour my heart out!" Ed shook the hand off his shoulder and turned away from the man. "I don't need you. Now please let me out." Ed hated the fact that he couldn't actually open the door on his own. Or maybe he could, but it would hurt like hell and Mustang would probably stop him before he got that far anyway. This wasn't Mustang's business. Ed needed to stay strong for Al and that was all that mattered. He wasn't going to cry when Al needed him. After all, Ed had nearly failed to protect him once. He couldn't let his guard down now that they were in danger and Al was scared.

"No," Mustang said.

"Let me out now, Mustang." Ed still wasn't looking at him.

"And I said I won't until you tell me how you're really doing." He spoke annoyingly evenly. Ed wished his arm wasn't broken so that he could punch him just for talking so calmly. He was abusing whatever it was that had happened earlier. He didn't have any right to assume that he could force Ed to talk about how he felt. Riza, maybe, but Mustang was still really just a stranger.

A stranger whom he had let himself be weak in front of too much already. Ed didn't want him to think he wasn't up to this, that he would fail in double-crossing Yoki. "I'm fine!"

"Edward, you're not fooling me. You're only fooling yourself."

"I'm not!"

Ed felt the man grab the stump of his arm at the lack of a shoulder as he obviously didn't want to risk hurting him by grabbing his left. Mustang forced him around, but Ed refused to look at him and was furiously glaring at his remaining arm, his anger at the cast multiplying rapidly.

"Ed, Do you trust me to keep you safe?"

That was an unexpected question. Ed hadn't thought about it before, but yeah. "I guess… I mean, you did it before... with Barry..."

"Just like Al trusts you to keep him safe."

"I'm his big brother, I'm supposed to protect him!" Ed didn't know where Mustang was going, but if he was going to suggest that he could be their big brother like Riza had said about being their big sister, then Ed was going to kick him.

"Which means that you feel that you can't let yourself be scared, right?"

"Of course! I can't be weak in front of him! He needs me to be strong!"

"But how can you be weak for being scared if being scared of losing him is why you protect your brother in the first place?"

Ed looked up at him at that, but the man kept talking. "Fear of losing what we hold dear is what drives any man in all their actions. It has nothing to do with being weak and all to do with being human. The day one stops being scared is the day one becomes something inhuman. It is why every single police officer is scared. After all, if you didn't have anything to be scared of losing, what reason would you have to live?"

Ed just stared.

Mustang wasn't done, however. "So I'm going to tell you a secret, Edward: you two scared me shitless earlier today."

Ed looked at him curiously, surely admitting that he was scared wasn't a very good idea?

"So I ask you again, Ed: do you trust me to keep you safe?"

"I've already told you, yes." Ed was getting impatient.

"Even when you know I'm scared?"

Ed looked up at Mustang who had the teensiest glint of smugness in his eyes. "Damn you, Mustang…" Ed growled, seeing his point. Ed didn't know why, but Mustang really knew how to annoy him.

Mustang, however, smiled at him and ruffled his hair. That made Ed even more annoyed with him because Ed knew he was breaking and he was fighting the urge to just let go of his pride one more time and hug him just because he knew Mustang wouldn't mind and it would be so easy. That was one of the things that made him even more annoying, because Ed was instinctively drawn to seeking comfort from him because his voice and smell reminded him of safety. When the man had come crashing into their house, he had immobilised Barry and he had been doing what he could to save Ed's life. In Ed's head, he had become the opposite of Barry just because of that. Barry had been screaming and laughing about how he was going to chop Ed up while Mustang had kept up a mantra of reminders that Barry couldn't hurt him and Ed wasn't going to die and he was going to be okay.

…That he was safe.

And that was basically it. Roy Mustang, however annoying, still smelled of that stupid, simple word.

Safe.

And damn it if Ed hadn't rediscovered that fact the second the man had hugged him in the office when their lives were once again at stake.

And it had been bugging him for hours now.

His instincts were screaming at him to jump into the man's embrace while his brain was shouting "HELL NO!"

And it left him feeling conflicted as hell. Because Ed wanted to feel safe.

He just didn't want someone who could become like a father to him, because Ed didn't know if he could take it if he trusted him and Mustang too left him broken.

Ed was just so tired. So damn tired.

And he had a little brother to protect from going through that pain again.

Mustang, however, didn't seem to give him a choice and next second, Ed was sitting on his lap, breathing in that smell of safety and warmth that he both missed and feared.

And damn it if it wasn't good hug.