Hi everyone! I just want to say I love all these suggestions and reviews you are giving me. It keeps me motivated to write more! Seriously, I love you guys! Today's chapter comes from a suggestion by Patsy Koala. Thank you so much for the suggestions! Anyways, onto the story!

Summary: Roy is having a bad week and the Elric brothers come up with a surprise party for his birthday on Friday.

Idea Came from: Patsy Koala who suggested it

Timeline: Edward is 12 and Alphonse is 11, Roy is still in Eastern Command

Warnings: None

Rated: K+ for alcohol (no use of it though), some cursing (not too bad)

Note: review replies at the end

Story 9: Surprise!

"Hey," Al says breaking the silence of their room. Ed had just returned after having stopped by Roy's office for the report, which didn't go very well seeing as there will be money pulled from his account.

"Yeah?" Ed asks, lazily looking up from his book.

"The Colonel's birthday is coming up, maybe we should do something nice?"

Ed looks horrified at the thought. "Really? Al, do you hear yourself? This is Colonel Bastard we're talking about. I'd rather go through automail surgery again than throw that lazy bastard a party! Also, how did you know when his birthday is?"

"Lieutenant Hawkeye told me." Al answers innocently. "Please? It'll be fun, we haven't done anything like this ever since..."

"Yeah, I know." Ed whispers solemnly. He sighs as he stares at Al's innocent golden brown eyes. "Fine, we'll throw him a party."

"Thank you!"

Ed smiles as he sits up. Deep down he is doing it partly because of the Colonel. But, in a way, Ed is also doing it for his brother. He wants to see a genuine smile on Al's face instead of a forced one. And he would do anything to make that happen, even if it meant throwing a party for Roy.

The week, by far, has been the worse of Mustang's life. It had been raining almost nonstop on both Monday and Tuesday. He got in trouble due to Fullmetal's recklessness (he had almost destroyed a whole town for God's sake!) on Wednesday. The money had been taken from his pocket, as well as from Ed's. The teen had come screeching into his office when he found out, yelling about how he couldn't have money taken from his account and how he and Al wouldn't be able to eat anything decent. Not that they did on a regular basis anyways, at least Ed doesn't.

On Thursday Hughes had bombarded him with pictures of Gracia and Elicia, not letting Roy get anything done for a whole hour. This caused Hawkeye to almost shoot Maes and Roy both. And, of course, on Friday it was a mess of paperwork, skipped lunch, complaining from his team, and Hughes who apparently is in East City for some case.

So, by the time he leaves the building at 9:45 pm-45 minutes late-he is obviously going to be in a sour mood. Everyone had gone home before him, even Hawkeye left an hour early. Roy would be more suspicious, if he hadn't been so pissed about it.

"Damn paperwork," Roy curses as he grips the steering wheel hard enough that his knuckles turn white. His ignition gloves are in his pocket. "I could have gone home sooner! But no, I had to stay!"

Roy pauses with talking to himself as a young lady on the side of the road stares at him with a mix between fear and concern. Roy clears his throat and continues driving, the woman watching the whole time.

"Damn it! Now I've possibly scared off a pretty lady by talking to myself!" Roy complains as he hits his steering wheel, accidentally beeping the horn. A few people in other cars flip him off as they pass by.

"This just not a lucky week." Roy grumbles to himself heatedly as he stops at yet again another red light. He had hit all the res lights on the way home. "Probably because of all the rain..."

By the time he gets home it is 10:29 pm, much to Roy's annoyance. He simply comes to the conclusion that the whole world is after him. Probably jealous of his success, he thinks with a snort of amusement.

He walks up to his front door and shoves the keys into the lock. He opens the door to find his house pitch black, seeing as the clouds are covering the moon so no light can can get through.

Before Roy can even shut the door the lights flick on to show a good amount of people standing there, bright smiles on their faces as they shout "SURPRISE!"

Roy stares dumbly at them all, trying to piece everything together. Maes is standing there holding Gracia's hand while Elicia stands between the two, one hand gripping Maes's pants while the other waves enthusiastically at him. Beside them to the left stands Falman, Fuery, Breda, Havoc-who is smoking a cigarette-and Hawkeye. To the right of the Hughes family stands none other than the Fullmetal Alchemist himself, Alphonse standing beside him.

That's a sight you don't see everyday.

"What the hell?" Roy mutters as he shuts door behind him. "How did you all get in here?" Roy then points an accusing finger at the under-average-height twelve year old. "And what are you doing here?"

"Well, if you don't want a good time we can leave." Ed snaps, crossing his arms as he sticks his nose in the air. "We even gathered up your favorite foods and everything. Falman got the best alcohol he could find. As for how we got in here? Hughes let us in."

The group is all standing around the table with a white banner reading "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" in bright orange letters pinned to the wall with red thumbtacks. In the middle of the table sits a white two-tier cake with flames decorating the sides. On the top in blue letters reads "HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROY!". Around the cake is a variety of Roy's favorite foods ranging from brownies all the way to hamburgers. There is also fruit punch at one end and multiple cases of of beer and whine on the other side.

"You did this for me?" Roy finally manages to ask, pulling himself from his surprise. To say that he is touched would be an understatement. The bubbling joy and amazement in his chest spreads warmth through his body. The fact that his team, best friend, Lieutenant, and the two boys he cared about-but would never admit it-managed to make him happy enough to make the disasters of the week melt away.

"It was Ed's idea," Hughes says causing Edward to instantly look away with embarrassment. "Al talked him into it while the rest of us made it happen."

"Really? I didn't know short people could plan-" Roy starts, causing the teen to explode.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TINY LITTLE BEANSPROUT THAT ISN'T EVEN TALLER THAN A BOOT!?"

"No one said that brother," Al mumbles, shaking his head with a chuckle. But they all know the "secret code" both alchemists share with one another. Roy making fun of Ed's height is a way of him saying something along the lines of "thank you" while Edward exploding translates to something along the lines of "you're welcome". At least, that's Al's theory.

"Well, I don't know what to say," Roy finally says and he can't help but smile. Ed continues being angsty in the corner while the others chuckle.

"Well, let's dig in! We didn't prepare all this food for nothing!" Hughes exclaims as he grabs a paper plate, handing one to Gracia. He gets one more for Elicia. Edward doesn't hesitate. He grabs his own paper plate and stacks it full of food, so much so that it is starting to resemble that of a pyramid. Al only shakes his head as he gets his own food.

The others follow suit.

The night is spent eating food and conversing with one another. Ed and Al play with Elicia for a while before Ed opts to stick by the food table. When the cake is cut everyone takes a piece, Ed finishing off the scraps of the food left over, as well as three pieces of cake. It is a mystery to Roy how the boy isn't obese yet.

"Hey," Roy says as he catches the two brothers alone, off to the side. Ed looks annoyed while Al looks curious as to why Roy would want to talk to them. Elicia had gone to play with Hughes so Al had walked over to join his brother again.

"What?" Ed asks, taking a bite of cake.

"I just wanted to thank you for the party," Roy says with a warm smile. "No one has done this for me in a long time."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Ed mumbles under his breath, looking away with embarrassment yet again.

"We knew your birthday was coming up so we wanted to do something nice," Al says somewhat shyly. "Our mom always threw parties for us so we thought it would be nice to do it for someone else. We had help, of course. Lieutenant Hawkeye helped us pick what foods you like, as well as the cake. Hughes and Elicia helped with the decorations while Gracia helped cook everything. The others brought food as well."

And then it hits Roy like a bag of bricks slamming into a wall. Both brothers haven't had anything like this for a long time. Not since the human transmutation, Roy guesses. They had been too busy studying and training in order to join the military. They hadn't even visited Resembool. Either it being out of pure nostalgia or the goodness of their hearts, Roy doesn't know. But what he does know is that these two are actually happy for the first time in a long while. The smiles on their faces are real. And that's enough to get Roy through even the worst of years.

And that's that! Sorry this one is shorter, I didn't mean for it to be. Anyways, onto the review replies!

Jane- thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it, thanks for the suggestion! And thanks for reading!

Patsy Koala- thank you so much for the support you've been giving! It means so much to me! I enjoy writing the suggestions you give me, I hope you like this one. Sorry if it seems a little lazy and short, I didn't mean for it to come out like that. Anyways, thanks again! And I'll work on publishing a story revolving around my OC's!

That's all! Thank you everyone so much for reading and giving me support! It really means a lot to me! Don't forget to leave suggestions for what you want me to write in future chapters, and have a nice day/night! Thank you!