Well i missed FMA day but I've got quite a bit of extra info about the story to make up for it! Enjoy! Please let me know what you think of this chapter!

Cowboys and Camoflage

The Elrics and Haruhi had arrived at music room 3 with roughly 20 minutes to prepare for the actual meeting. The brothers followed the brunette quickly to the back...and were promptly tackled with all sorts of attempts to get the brothers to revoke their stance on cowboy day.

"No."

The club was silent for just a moment at Edward's calm denial of their requests, but it quickly turned to back and forth between most of the members and the elder Elric. Alphonse had taken a seat beside Haruhi on a loveseat beside the confrontation to observe. Mori and Kyoya having found their own spots around the room to watch the one-sided argument between the two redheads and the three blondes.

"Please?"

"No way."

"We'll be careful!"

"That's not how this works."

"We'll keep an eye on her!"

"Still not how this works."

"Please please please!"

"Nope."

"But-"

"But what?"

"But we can-"

"You can't that's the point."

"Let me finish! We could-"

"No."

"But it'd be fun!"

"I'm not here to have fun."

"We could-"

"We're already taking a lot of risks as it is. No."

"We absolutely could!"

"Absolutely not."

Hikaru, frustrated that they were getting nowhere, slams his fists on a nearby end table, nearly toppling the small vase that was settled upon it. "Argh, why NOT!?"

Edward getting equally irritated at the boy's own annoyance raised an eyebrow as well as his voice, "Do you not understand the concept of camoflauge? We're trying to hide Haruhi in plain sight, not have her stick out like a sore thumb!"

"Him-"

Stopping dead in his tracks at the simple correction Ed narrowed his eyes. Semantics. Their friend was in danger, could die in an awful manner, and they were arguing semantics among the handful of people who knew the truth about Haruhi- who herself did not care. Where it was absolutely not necessary to keep up the charade.

Up until this point, Ed had thought he'd done a good job controlling his temper. He'd been getting better with it since he got home and the most pressing stresses of his life had ebbed away. When it counted, he could usually hold his tongue and he hadn't really lost his temper for quite a while now.

However he was never good with whining, not whining like this. Al's whining as a kid was shortlived, he'd give up pretty quickly knowing his brother wouldn't budge and all in all it was pretty cute because he'd immediately take to pouting and then forget what he was crying about. Winry's whining was like Al's but more persistent, (which after some bickering as of late had resulted in him caving), but it never stayed actual whining for long. Elicia's whining was irritating because she'd once gotten into the habit of screeching somewhere along the line due to some relative spoiling her (she'd never do it around her mother) but he'd simply leave the room until she stopped and she quickly changed tactics once she realized that got him to leave rather than her own way. But that was it, he never handled Elicia's whining. It irritated him to the point he'd just leave to take a breather which helped Elicia stop the behavior on her own terms.
But this was different, he couldn't just walk away in this situation.

From the second they'd walked into to room the host club had been begging, pleading and whining for a different outcome regarding the stupid dress-up day and what little patience he'd gathered was slipping. Take all of that and add it to the inadequate amount of sleep plus the already built up anger from Yuzuru not even an hour ago and that patience was gone.

Edward had had enough.

Shaking his head, and throwing his hands up to dismiss the correction, Ed cut Hikaru off, "Yeah yeah him, does that really matter right now? If it was up to me there wouldn't be any of these dress up games until we know what's going on- but between the lot of you and-" Ed quickly points at Tamaki's sad puppy dog eyes that had been on full blast since the argument began, "This one who won't stop pestering me about letting club continue as per usual so whatever!" Throwing his hands in the air, Edward gestured to Haruhi and Alphonse on the loveseat, his voice having risen gradually throughout his rant, "You want to put him in danger go ahead, it's not my funeral-"

"Brother!" Al scolded, jumping up from his place on the couch.

"What, Al?!"

"You can't just say something like that!"

"Are you kidding me?! They- They're arguing that a wardrobe change is more important than their friend's life!"

At that, Alphonse continued the heated argument in Amestrian and Ed followed suit, leaving the rest of the host club to watch the brothers and absorb the last Japanese* statement they'd heard. It was like a slap in the face that this was real, the danger was real, and it left the group in stunned silence as they watched the siblings verbally abuse each other.

Both Elrics were arguing at full volume at this point, throwing their arms around for emphasis as they made their points, no longer caring or noticing the others in the room. Occasionally Edward would turn from his brother take a few steps to pace as Al made his case and then came back to shout something else.

Edward shook his head vigorously and cut Alphonse off multiple times, slamming his right hand in his left to emphasize his point.

Al growled out of frustration, ripping at his hair before roaring back, "Were vas es Winry was venn?! He?!"***

Ed immediately responded, "Ich wurdn Winry absich wenn vas es gefahctung!" Turning from his brother he threw his hands in the air and then spun on his heel, marching right back to Alphonse and continuing as if he'd never turned away, "Vas es ware Winry, sie dam aus verdamt shun schule! Waurum du vetfenidigst est das? Sie knnet diesh!"

Al huffed angrily and steadied his voice as he gestured to the group, anger still in his voice, but he seemed calmer as if he was explaining something and Ed visibly winced. As fast as his expression changed, it changed back to anger pretty quickly and both brothers were now gesturing wildly to the other members of the host club.

And then it was silent.

Ed and Al stared each other down, eye to eye, neither moving, their faces reflecting the same defiant expression. The tension was still in the room, none of the host members dared break the silence after seeing how fiercely the Elrics argued over what many of the club would've considered teasing at best and annoying at worst. Such an aggressive reaction caught them all off guard, and a few of them recalled the Elric's explanation from the previous night about how dangerous alchemists were.

Edward snorted, his expression softening and the tension in his shoulders relaxing ever so slightly as he shook his head. Al, meanwhile sighed and lightly punched his brother in the arm, punctuating it with a chuckle and a tired grin that his older brother returned with a sharp laugh.

"Sie wisset, unseute ab arbeit hangt coate, siewie zubeiten, richt?"

Hanging his head with an even heavier sigh, Al responded with a simple drawn out, "Jaaaa." Which caused Ed to laugh and then immediately whine like his brother, "We've got our work cut out for us apparently." It was quiet. Under normal circumstances it would have gone unheard specifically with the hoarseness in the blonde's voice, but with the silence in the room it rung almost as loud as the argument.

To the brothers, it was a slightly awkward, but just as slightly comfortable silence. To the host club, who had lived relatively calm easy going lives filled with minor stressors rather than war, it was tense. Everyone in the room had seen fierce arguments of course, but none of them compared to what they'd just witnessed, the Elrics had an edge to them when they got angry that was absolutely intimidating. None of the club members wanted to break the silence, afraid of instigating another argument, and surprisingly (or not so surprisingly), it was Hunny who stepped forward.

"Would dressing up tonight really put Haru-chan in danger?"

Ed looked over tiredly at the tiny 3rd year, annoyance prickling under his skin, but before he could open his mouth, Alphonse spoke for him. "Yes. That's what we've been saying. We don't know exactly what we're dealing with and until we know who's targeting her anyone could be a threat."

Hikaru narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but his voice was much quieter than expected, "Sounds like paranoia."

Al shook his head, "Paranoia isn't paranoia if your worries are real. We have both evidence and reasoning to be this wary about the situation, so it isn't paranoia, it's simple precautions for this type of situation."

Ed took this moment to speak up, "You do realize how much slack we've been giving you, don't you?" He made sure to look every member of the club in the eye, "If it was anybody else, Haruhi would have been under house arrest, going to school and that's it, if she were lucky. If it weren't for the headmaster, club would have been entirely out of the question from the get go."

Taking a moment to let Edward's words sink in, Al looked over at his brother and the crushed faces of the host club, and let out a near inaudible whine.

Ed looked over at the sound and immediately regretted it. "I don't like that look on your face Alphonse."

"But….we could maybe….let them?" The host club immediately brightened, and Ed scowled, forcing Alphonse to clarify, "Just this once!"

"It only takes once Al, what about camoflauge?"

Bolstered by the prospect of a new ally and the change in atmosphere, the twins shared a look and stepped forward with matching grins,

"Well, you keep talking about camoflage-"

"But if the host club dresses up as planned-"

"Then you two would be the ones sticking out all dressed in blue…"

Ed groans, irritated at this starting up again- especially after they'd won the argument- but the only emotion present in his voice was irritation. The fire from before nearly extinguished. "It's not the camoflauge during club you idiot, it's for a quick getaway if we need it!"

Al sighs, "If it were just during club meetings camoflauge wouldn't really work anyway since all you'd have to do is pay attention to conversations."

Ed nods and is about to agree verbally, but he's cut off by Al's next statement, "Which is why I think it might be okay?"

Scowl returning immediately, Ed pinches the bridge of his nose, dramatically sighing as he does so, "Al-"

"Regular clothes."

Ed blinks and turns to Mori, completely thrown for a loop, "Excuse me?"

"Takashi that's a great idea! What if Haruhi wears normal clothes under his cowboy costume? Then if he needs to run he can take it off and he'll be wearing a whole different outfit!"

Tamaki snaps his fingers, smitten with the idea, "Brilliant! And what's more we could even go so far as to do a City slickers vs Cowboys theme! Then he'd be ready to run instead of having to take anything off!"

Everyone turns to Ed and Al. Aside from Kyoya, Haruhi and Mori, the rest of the club pelt the brothers their best puppy-dog eyes causing them both to shuffle uncomfortably and murmur at the sudden attention and begging, "Um..."

Al, slightly copying the other teenagers as he glanced over at his big brother, "I don't see why we couldn't try it, right, brother?"

Pressing his mouth into a line Ed mutters something incomprehensible and walks over to Haruhi to inspect her as he thinks. After a few seconds, he picks up a lock of her hair, squints and sighs, "Yeah yeah fine. I guess that'd work." Patting the air with his right hand to stop the Host Club from getting out of line in their excitement, he continued, "It'd have to be common clothes though, nothing flashy. A plain t-shirt, maybe a jacket, nothing bright."

Al snickers, "Sooo the exact opposite of how you usually dress?"

"Yeah- Hey! I wear that TO stand out that's the point of it!"

Hikaru and Kaoru share a sneaky grin, "Wear what?"

"Brother's got this bright red trenchcoat he used to wear everywhere."

"Except when we had to do undercover missions. And you know exactly why I used to wear that!"

"Yeah because they used to think I was Fullmetal, not you."

Ed rolls his eyes, "I started wearing it before I joined the military, Al!"

"That doesn't mean that wasn't a reason you continued to wear it!"

"AHem." Everyone turned to look at the host club's King, "Uh, hate to interrupt but...uh, club's going to start soon and since we can get changed, we're going to have to. Soon."

Kyoya nods, his glasses flashing, "That means you two as well."

Ed whips his head to stare at the club's vice president, "Pardon?"

Hikaru repeated his earlier point, looking the bodyguard up and down, "If you don't, you'll attract a lot more attention to us being the only ones in that blue suit."

Snickering, Kaoru tries to cover his mouth with a hand, "Unless you'd prefer a yellow dress?"

Ed looks between the twins, to the rest of the host club, and his brother who seems absolutely fine with the idea, and fixes both of the twins with a glare, "What did you have in mind..?"

It didn't take long for the twins to return, having rushed to the back immediately to rustle through the piles of clothing they'd acquired for the occasion. However, instead of a small selection for the Elrics to search through, or even one sensible outfit, the twins had gathered one in particular and honed in on Edward.
Holding up a brown horse suit, with a stuffed horse-head hood, Kaoru was struggling not to grin. Hikaru, with an equally serious face, was showing off a cowprint jacket with brown tassles, and a matching cowprint Stetson with black trim. For the horse-hood's head, of course.

Ed was speechless for a moment. Quickly regaining his senses, he shot both twins a glare and uttered a very concise, "No way in hell."

Al burst out laughing, "C'mon Ed, I'm sure Winry-"

"Don't even." Ed interrupted, "No way in hell I'm willingly handing blackmail material to my fiance. If you're so interested why don't you wear it?"

A strangled sound made it's way out of Alphonse's throat and he squeaked out a sharp, "What! Me? Nooo no no I'm good, brother this outfit was clearly meant for you."

Cautiously, Ed turns to his brother, "And just what do you mean by that?"

His brother, shit-eating grin spread across his face, spoke, "Well, you are an ass." and took off to the back of the room, weaving through the three dressed Host members in the doorway. Ed, on the otherhand, slammed into Kyoya in his attempt to follow Al, "Why don't you say that again when I've slept for more than two hours!"

Not five minutes later and the host club was fully dressed for the occasion. The city slickers idea had been shot down, due to the simple fact it'd further divide the group which was the exact opposite of what they were trying to do. As such, they went with their original roles they'd come up with weeks prior.
Tamaki was the sheriff; Kyoya, the deputy; Hikaru and Kaoru, bandits; Mori was a carriage driver with Hunny as his rancher; and Haruhi was the wandering traveller. Each armed with a stick-horse or a stick-cow and an orange nerf gun in the style of revolvers, shotguns and old time-y pistols.
The Elrics, not having been planned into the dress code, didn't have character roles, but were shooed in as tag-along cowboys in the same travelling band as Haruhi.

Both brothers stepped out of the changing room at roughly the same time. Straightening his t-shirt, Ed looked himself over in the mirror outside the changing rooms and nodded satisfied.

He wore his hair back in a braid, as per usual; but topped with a black cowboy hat with very obnoxious flames around the brim. His black t-shirt was branded with a flaming cowskull which matched the cowskull belt buckle on his black belt. The look was finished off with black cowboy boots, and blue jeans.
Alphonse's outfit was much more muted, a blue button-down under a brown vest, darker blue-jeans than his brother, a red bandanna and brown cowboy boots.

Al takes one look at his brother and deadpans, "Seriously?"

"What?"

"That's the shirt you picked to not stand out?"

Taking the defensive, Ed crosses his arms, "What's wrong with it, it's cool!"

"I mean it's you, but…"

"I swear if you bring up my sense of style one more time Alphonse-"

Shaking his head, Al goes back into the dressing room and returns with a black denim jacket, "At least wear this with it, you're defeating the point of 90% of your argument."

Ed frowns, but listens to his brother and puts the jacket on, "Yeah well if we're all gonna look stupid I'd rather the bad guy tail the idiot with the fire skull shirt than someone who can't defend themselves."

"I guess…" Al looks back to his brother, "Of course that's not why you picked that, is it?"

"Of course not, it's cool as hell!"

There's a knock at the door and the twins walk in, fully intending to hurry the boys up because the doors were about to open, but both stopped dead in their tracks and gaped. Hikaru was the first to speak, "That's what you chose to wear?"

"You got a problem with it?" Ed snapped back.

"More problems than we'd have had with the horse." Kaoru mumbled.

"Then why did you have it be an option if you hated it so much?"

The twins looked at each other and spoke in unison, "We didn't think anyone would actually pick it!"

"Oh fuck off!"

What Ed didn't expect was for the twins to do just that. He'd expected an argument or more teasing but they simply shrugged and left the room which left both brothers confused in the back.
...That is until they'd realized they'd done exactly what they weren't supposed to do and left Haruhi alone while they'd picked out their outfits.

Both brothers cursing under their breath they burst out of the room, drawing everyone's attention; but upon spotting Haruhi alive and well, they both composed themselves and walked toward the group as if they hadn't just panicked over getting distracted. Al did what everyone expected and joined the Host Club in front of the door.
Ed, meanwhile, made a beeline for the nearest hammock, tied to a horse-tie prop and a very impressive fake pine, plopping himself in it. Crossing his legs, his gave Al a thumbs up and when his brother returned it, he pulls his hat over his face and falls asleep.

Tamaki, dumbfounded, looks between the brothers, muttering about it being a prop which makes Al laugh.

"That's Ed. Believe me it'll be an easier time if he's better rested."

Tamaki shakes his head, "That's not it, we just didn't intend it for use, I don't know if its secure."

Al shrugs, "Knowing my brother, if it falls he'll sleep through it."

Before the conversation could go any further Kyoya cleared his throat and pointed out that it was time for the doors to open, and the Host Club realigned itself and got prepared for their guests.

The club was uneventful. Well, as uneventful as a club's event could be. Everyone tried to stay in character with the quirks of a cowboy and their intended role.

Hunny dribbled saliva down his face after he tried to spit into a spittoon.
The twins pulled various pranks and held their guests or the other hosts hostage and defended their behaviour as staying in character, which the guests absolutely loved.

Every once in a while, Ed would move or grunt and startle some of the nearby guests who thought he was a prop or simply didn't notice him there. When questioned, everybody had taken to shrugging and quoting Al, "That's Ed," and then changing the subject. This left the guests more confused than they were before.

Al's Resembool lingo came out full force, littering his language with various contractions and making his Japanese sound far more foreign, which did far more to the act than anyone could've imagined. This worked wonders to pull in a crowd, not only was his Amestrian accent flaring up, but his Resembool accent was as well, which usually didn't happen unless they were home or in other rural areas, but the guests ate it up. He quickly became the most popular host of the night, despite not being a host. Most of the girls who attended the last meeting or ended up in the same class as the Elrics jumped at their chance to meet and talk to one of them. The genuine country-boy accent* was simply icing on the cake.

When club ended, Tamaki and the Hitachiins decided to stay at Haruhi's again, this time following them home instead of just showing up at her apartment. Tamaki insisted he wanted to learn more about his cousins as well as wanting to keep Haruhi safe. The twins had insisted they had to stay because it was far more interesting at Haruhi's and the group continued on their way, the Elrics on guard despite their calm outward appearances. Ed was chugging a soda in preparation for the night, and Al was locked in conversation with the twins about the quality of the clothes they'd worn earlier, but every now and again one of the boys would turn a little too quickly at a noise nobody else noticed or perked up at a conversation that wasn't one of the ones from the group.

Tamaki who had been leading the group and talking with Haruhi, lost his companion to the clothing conversation as Haruhi chimed in about how drastically different rich clothes were in terms of fitting and comfort. He dropped back, to hopefully join in as well but was completely at a loss- he didn't know much of anything about clothing in the context of the conversation, so he just walked on sandwiched awkwardly between and slightly behind the Elrics.
A few minutes passed like this and then the group changed again as they turned down the narrower side street Haruhi's apartment was located on, shoving Ed and Tamaki to the back of the pack, and Al pushed himself to the opposite front to balance out the configuration and get a better viewpoint.

After a minute of silence, Ed broke it with a simple, "What did you wanna know?" which was responded to with a confused, "Huh?"
After clarifying he was asking about Tamaki's reasoning for coming with them, the two blondes began a back and forth of questions and had settled on parents before long. Both of which had similar gripes, not knowing their mother for as long as they'd like and having something awful tear them out of their lives, having dads who cared but were in general kindof awful fathers from their perspectives. It wasn't long before they'd reached Haruhi's apartment and the conversation came to an end, but both felt they understood one another a little bit better. Later at dinner they picked up conversation again but on much lighter topics, the question and answer style discussion picking up again.

Neither one noticed Alphonse sneeking peeks at them every now and again with a small smile on his face.

That night, Al stayed up later than the other inhabitants of the household so Ed could take some rounds outside. Taking out his book, he took notes on escape routes possible from the apartment both with and without alchemy, fire escapes and other apartments. During the 3rd round he noticed an unusual amount of junk in a few of the alleyways. Noting it down, he decided it was best to head back so Al could be well rested for day watch.

The third day started out a lot calmer than the previous one. There was no fight in the morning, Ed and Al were both present for the walk to school which was filled with amiable conversation from both brothers. Ed was asleep in first period again, this time not waking up when the teacher called on him. About halfway through the day though, Ed is marked absent. Much of the class noticed, but couldn't place when he'd left the room. During the next break Haruhi was the first to ask about it, but Al assured her and the twins Ed would be fine and that she shouldn't worry.
"If he hasn't skipped class to fall asleep somewhere more comfortable he's probably grabbing a bite to eat in the cafeteria. Brother eats like a pig." The twins bought it with a shrug and returned to their seats, but Haruhi could tell that something was bothering the boy.

The day flew by and the club meeting had come and gone, the idea that Ed was asleep in an undisclosed area somewhere in the school had been thrown around during the meeting to anyone who'd asked, the location changing each time. When asked to elaborate, the host in question shrugged and repeated their answer from the previous meeting, "That's Ed."

After the club and cleanup came the planning meeting and all sorts of things were discussed from budgeting for the next event and various new tactics, to employing the Elrics while they were here due to the crowd they drew naturally. Alphonse's kind demeanor and sociable attitude drew a crowd based on his general friendliness, and he was given the honorary title of the 'Genuine' type. The foreign accent that flared up now and again helped to add to the draw of his character, and with the both of them being good looking exchange students, the customers were dying to learn more.
"Edward, being asleep and antisocial makes him unavailable and that in itself is a draw. However judging by the reactions of our guests he seems to give off an air of mystery, making him seem even more exotic since they've never interacted with him for more than a few exchanges." Kyoya pointed out, Alphonse had absolutely not tried to hide his laugh when he heard the word 'mysterious' in the same sentence as his older brother, and quickly compared him to a cryptid: mysterious and exotic in theory, but absolutely not in reality.

As the meeting was wrapping up, and they were waiting on Edward to arrive, Tamaki brought up changing the theme for the next meeting to something else to kill time. Ideas were thrown out to involve the guests such as early Halloween, or gender swaps, things they could do to enhance Haruhi's camouflage and make the Elric's jobs a little easier.

Just as the conversation was lulling again, the door to music room 03 opened and Ed shuffled in, hair sticking up everywhere and greeted or waved when they realized it was him, figuring Al was right and he really had found a broom closet to pass out in. Alphonse, upon spotting his sibling, had immediately shouted, "Brother!" and bolted out of his seat to his side, betraying the cool head he'd had since Ed had skipped class.

The group, relieved at Ed being okay had begun to joke and express their relief, only Kyoya, Hunny and Mori seemed to notice his off gait. As the blonde collapsed into a chair at the table, Al briefly hesitated to leave his side, but soon reclaimed his seat across from him as his brother waved him off. The remaining members of the Host Club turned to look at him. Really look at him.
His purple suit jacket was torn and slashed in a few places, dirty and scuffed, but not noticeably bloody. The smell of burnt clothing and distinctly metallic scents followed him in. He had small cuts here and there, some that were bleeding slightly, but nothing obviously serious.
The strangest part was the small specks of silver-grey that seemed to be embedded in his jacket, a good sized chunk on his upper arm, and small specks sticking strands of his hair together in clumps.

"I've got good news and bad news." Ed began before anybody could ask about it, "Good news is I managed to find the bastard. Bad news is he is an alchemist."

ANs

*So idk if anyone has wondered about the language thing but the two languages spoken in here are Amestrian and Japanese. You're reading the English sub- *Gets whacked upside the head with a drumset*

Amestrian for this fic is sortof a cross between German and English. Reasoning? Amestris is based off industrial era London, thus the Amestrian language would most logically be English; however 03's connection to Germany, the use of Fuhrer and the fact English itself is a Germanic language and similar to German in enough ways that I can pick out words in conversations, I think are enough reasons to make it not just boring old English.
Tamaki I'd imagine would speak French, Japanese and English, idk to what fluency but he is from France, and currently lives in Japan, which teaches English in classes. This would make eavesdropping a problem. Plus as Amestris is not a real country™, and I'm adding it in as a foreign country in our world, I don't really care for the idea that it's the exact same language as another country that has nothing to do with it that exists in the same world.

More Specifically: Amestrian is a Germanic language. English and German are both West Germanic languages and branch off after that subset. I'm gonna throw Amestrian in there.

So: The three subsets of West Germanic languages will be: Anglo-Frisian (which English comes from), Amestrian, and Netherlandic-German (where German comes from), making Amestrian a language older than both English and German, however similar enough that it can be identified and some words can be inferred based on roots and cognates- thank you for coming to my TED talk.
(If you google Germanic Languages there are charts, in case this got too confusing to follow.)

**I don't recall who came up with it, but the southern accent is a headcanon I spotted on tumblr a while back and fell in love with. Basically the boys have an accent from growing up in sheeptown mc rural. If I can find the post I'll go back and source it.

***Any of the 'Amestrian' in this chapter is nonsense. I picked a particular phrase threw it into google translate English to German, and then switched words around and butchered them adding in different letters and just ruining the syntax. I don't know any sentence structure for German so I just botched it. It really doesn't need to make sense, just appear to be foreign and incomprehensible and I hope I did so for any readers who actually speak German cause I think I absolutely butchered the languages and I apologize if it made you cringe at all. Here's hoping I did not make some other phrase but I guess that sortof works out if I did as it'd leave any of the characters you think speak german confused af haha

The important part is that you catch the name drop because it gets Ed to think for a minute.

Translations in order:

Al- "What if it was Winry?! Huh?!"
Ed- "I wouldn't intentionally put Winry in more danger!"
"If it were Winry she would have been pulled from school!"
"Why are you defending them?! You know this!"

BREAK

"You know our job depends on how they cooperate, right?"
Al- whiny "Yeahhhhhh."

I imagine most of the argument before this was about tact and the fact the HC is trying to cope with the situation and how they were probably scared and Ed was just not getting it.

There wasn't originally supposed to be a fight in this chapter, it was supposed to be a funny ha ha scene about bonding and making fun of each other but once I got writing oooh boy did I have to push the fun down the page with a lot of padding. I can't imagine Ed not getting actually pissed at the HC ignoring the danger after everything the brothers had gone through and specifically mentioned to the HC. Old habits die hard, PTSD and in general any learned behaviours related to survival while you're still growing (ie. ages 12-16+) are hard to break and I kinda wanted to include that at some point in this, I've tried to subtly but idk how well that's working. (Also I ended up really liking the fight and it doesn't fit anywhere else.)

BONUS!

Context in Alchemical Reactions that may not make it into a chapter: the second Japan started making treaties and trade agreements with Amestris, Mustang made sure his unit learned Japanese. Despite being retired, this includes Edward and by extension Alphonse, so they'd already been learning Japanese for a bit before they went travelling and later were approached for this mission. Winry picked up some Japanese when the boys were first learning and practiced with them before they officially left for Japan. She is by no means fluent so if she ever does appear in this as more than a passing mention be prepared for some choppy English because I am bad with accents and the perception of languages tbh (which is why the Amestrian is so bad) and my only experience is poorly learned spanish.

PS. After the boys return from Japan they make sure she speaks Japanese fluently because they now have family and friends who speak it so it's useful.

P.S.S. idk if it'll ever be relevant but I'd imagine the Elrics have a couple other languages under their belt as well. Specifically Cretan for Ed and Xingese for Al, since they spent extended time in those countries. They probably know a bit of each as well simply from sharing knowledge for research purposes, but Ed's Xingese would be better than Al's Cretan since they both have friends from Xing and he hears it more often.

Also what else does Ed have to learn at this point? Certainly not alchemy- *shot*