Chapter 7 – Hot and Spicy

It took Roy exactly ten seconds to process what Hawkeye had said but by then, a smirking blonde girl had already burst into his office, stopping by the doors and peering at him from across the room with a smug, obnoxious smile.

"What's up, Colonel Bastard?" Ed greeted cheekily as she leaned against the doorframe and snickered at Roy's flabbergasted expression. "Or is it actually General Bastard, now? I can never really remember. Eh, but what does it matter anyway, as long as I get to call you a bastard, I'm happy." She quipped as she strode into the room.

Before Roy could even react properly or snap his gaping jaw back shut, Alex had let out a laugh and shot out of his seat, walking over to Ed with his hulking, muscular arms outstretched.

"Fullmetal! Long time no see! Come here and give us a hug!" He exclaimed happily as he raced toward her, failing to notice the way Ed's eyes had suddenly widened when she saw him. She froze in place, smiling nervously and she held her arms out in front of her to prevent the much larger Strong Arm Alchemist from crushing her against him.

"Major Armstrong! Still not wearing a shirt I see—wait! Don't hug me—argh!" She meeped in protest as she was pulled into a tight, bone-crushing bear hug by the muscular man, squealing in laughter a few moments later when Alex lifted her off the ground so that her feet dangled and then spun her around like she were a weightless sack of potatoes.

"It's actually Lieutenant Colonel now, Ed, but I'm so happy you're back!" Alex chirped.

"Alright then, alright! Let me go, Lieutenant Colonel! You're kinda pressing me into your bare chest and it's a little awkward and gross." Ed protested, laughing in spite of herself as she struggled wildly in his arms until he finally set her back down onto her feet. "Jeez, you should definitely not be on the welcoming committee." She mused.

Chuckling at her words, Alex gave her hair an affectionate ruffle before he finally pulled away and stepped aside, allowing Roy to get a much better glimpse of the young, former subordinate he hadn't seen in three years.

Dark onyx eyes darkened slowly as they roamed up and down her slender figure, beginning from her slim thighs, moving up her legs, pausing to linger at the alluring strip of smooth skin revealed by the way her tank top rode up, and trailing even further up to her breasts. His gaze lingered there for a few seconds before they finally rested flicked upwards to stare at her pretty face.

Roy noticed that her cheeks had lost their childish roundness, and her golden eyes, which were once lifeless and weary – like she had the entire weight of the world on her shoulders – were now alight with mischief and matched beautifully with the rest of her features. Her blonde hair was longer than he remembered, and he was surprised, and secretly pleased, to see that Ed no longer kept it in a braid. Instead, she had tied the thick mass up into a messy ponytail on the top of her head, letting it cascade all the way down her back like a golden waterfall that ended a few inches past her waist.

There was only one way that Roy's malfunctioning brain could think of at the moment to describe her.

She was gorgeous and she took his breath away.

Fortunately, Alex saved him from having to think of something to say as the Strong Arm Alchemist drew Ed's attention to him again, unknowingly buying Roy a few seconds to blink and tear his gaze away from Ed so he could hastily loosen his collar and take a few sip of his coffee in an effort to compose himself.

"Well, look at you! You grew up all nice and lovely while everyone was busy, didn't you?" Alex commented, and there was a warm smile in his eyes as he reached out to give Ed an affectionate pat on the head. "I still remember you as that hotheaded little girl I used to accompany to Resembool."

"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel." Ed answered as she rolled her eyes at him, though the smile on her face remained. "That does tend to happen after three years. Even I had to grow up sometime." She added, chuckling.

"Well just don't grow up too fast then." Alex told her as he ruffled her hair again before he finally turned to glance over at a stunned Roy Mustang still staring at Ed from where he sat behind his table. "Anyway, I'm sure you have a lot of important things to discuss with Roy over here, Ed. So I'll leave you two to catch up. If you're free, drop by my office later! I still have to give you and Al your invitations to my wedding." He told her, and when he smiled at her again, Ed nodded and smiled back, allowing him to give her one last hug before he waved to Roy and strode out of the room.

As soon as Alex had left, Ed turned her attention to Roy again and she gave him another haughty, sideways smirk.

"Long time no see, Mustang."

Finally managing to blink himself out of his self-induced, mindless trance, Roy shook his had and opened his mouth to greet her by her alchemist name. Unfortunately, to his utter horror, the word that left his lips was not 'Fullmetal' but—

"…Wow."

"Excuse me?"

Ed froze at that, oblivious to the little panic attack that Roy was having in his head as she took a step back and stared suspiciously at him from the doorway with narrowed golden eyes. For the life of him, Roy couldn't seem to find his voice as he sat there, wide-eyed and shock still, and he stared blankly at her, screaming curses at himself in his head.

Are you fucking kidding me right now, Mustang?!

"What the fuck are you staring at, you Pervert General?!" Ed growled as she noticed the direction of his creepy stare and scowled, pulling her jacket tighter over her front to cover her chest. "My eyes are up here, you dirty old man!"

At the indignation he heard in her voice, Roy finally managed to snap himself out of his daze and his eyes flicked up to meet Ed's flashing golden orbs. When he heard the way Havoc and Breda were snickering loudly from outside his office, his eyes narrowed and, ignoring Ed's incredulous glare, he shouted towards the door so that Hawkeye could hear him.

"Shut the doors!"

Roy waited until a disgruntled Hawkeye had trudged back into his office and shut the doors behind her before he turned to look at Ed again, fighting the urge to narrow his eyes as he watched her plop down into the seat Alex had vacated and grab his cup of coffee on the table. She glanced curiously into the cup for a few seconds, as though debating inwardly with herself if it was worth her interest, before she shrugged and raised it to her lips, ignoring Roy's incredulous glare as she tipped her head back, blonde hair grazing against the back of her seat, and deliberately drank the rest of it.

His hooded gaze remained on her the entire time she did this, staring heatedly at her mouth as she set the cup back down onto his table and licked the lingering droplets of coffee off her pink lips.

"That was mine, you know." Roy drawled flatly, leaning back against his seat and giving her an unimpressed glare.

"Eh."

Ed smirked smugly at him as she traced her fingers teasingly around the cup's circular rim and handle.

"You snooze, you lose." She retorted as she grinned cheekily and leaned back against her seat, crossing her legs. "Besides, that was fucking pathetic anyway. You should add a shot of whiskey to it next time, that way it'll really wake you up. It also gives it a bit more of a kick." She mused.

"Are you even old enough to drink yet?" Roy pointed out wearily, rubbing his jaw.

"I'm old enough to do whatever the fuck I want." Ed pointed out smugly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Fullmetal. Your top." Roy gritted his teeth as he consciously made an effort not to stare too long at her scooped neckline. Shaking his head to clear the perverted thoughts away, he growled and pointed to her breasts. "You should really cover those up. It'll only draw a lot of attention and besides, you're in a military office." He warned her.

"Nice to see you too, Dad." Ed snorted derisively, rolling her eyes.

Roy froze at that and his right hand clenched dangerously, fingers poised and itching to snap.

He a took a few, long, steadying breaths to calm himself down before he slowly lifted his gaze again and met Ed's insufferable smirk.

"What did you just call me?" He asked in a low voice.

"What? Dad?"

Undaunted by his reaction, Ed just snickered at him and looked even more amused at his growing irritation.

"Unless you want me to incinerate all that pretty blonde hair hair of yours, Fullmetal, I suggest you never call me that again. Ever." Roy threatened slowly, not at all impressed by the fact that she didn't even blink at his words.

She grinned at the way his left eye was twitching and finally settled back into her seat.

"I missed you too, bastard." She teased.

"I mean it, Ed." Roy warned.

"Fuck off." Ed retorted, a decidedly uninterested expression on her face as she reached into the pocket of her jacket, rifling through it before she pulled out a small, chocolate lollipop. Then, to Roy's astonishment, after unwrapping it, she leaned back in her seat again and popped the lollipop into her mouth.

"You're not my Commanding Officer anymore so I don't have to listen to any shitty thing you have to say." She pointed out in a loud, sing-song voice.

Roy tried to ignore the horribly uncomfortable heat that was pooling somewhere below his navel as his gaze was immediately drawn to the lollipop in her mouth, watching intently as her pink lips closed around the small candy. Fortunately, she didn't catch him staring this time and Roy quickly looked away when she glanced at him.

"Why are you really here, Ed?" Roy asked, rubbing a tired hand over his face as he stared at her. "As you said, I'm not even your Commanding Officer anymore. Shouldn't you be reporting to your new boss?" He added bitterly.

"I just dropped by to say hi to the team. And to get my watch back, obviously." Ed grinned, her words muffled slightly by the lollipop that was still in her mouth. "I'll be starting tomorrow. My office is on the same floor." She told him.

"Yes, I know. I saw the new roster circulated by the Fuhrer yesterday and I spoke to your CO." He answered sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Congratulations on the promotion, Lieutenant Colonel."

"Thanks." Ed looked pleased at his acknowledgment and, as usual, she tried to lean back in her seat and place both of her feet up on his table again. Fortunately, Roy was used to this by now, and he shoved them away, causing her to curse as her feet, especially her automail leg, fell down to the floor with a heavy thump.

"Fucking hell, ow! You bastard! What was that for?!" She snarled.

"Now that you're here—" Roy ignored the scowl she gave him and leaned forward, placing both his elbows on his desk and resting his chin over his intertwined hands. "—perhaps you'd like to tell me why you suddenly decided to plunge a knife into my back?"

At the hard, mocking tone of his voice, Ed finally looked up from where she had been rubbing her leg and gave him a blank, genuinely confused stare.

"Eh?"

"Don't play dumb. It doesn't suit you, Ed."

"What the fuck are you talking about now, you ass?" She growled at him.

Roy resisted the insane urge to begin calling her names and met her scowl, not at all appreciating the fact that it looked as though the blonde girl had no idea what he was actually talking about.

"You re-enlisted." He pointed out.

Ed blinked at him again and the confusion on her pretty face didn't seem to be going away.

"Er…okay?"

"You told me you were done with the military when you resigned."

"I changed my mind?" She answered, giving him an incredulous look.

"You betrayed me!" Roy finally blurted out in an angry, indignant huff. "How could you agree to work for Olivier Armstrong?! You know very well that she's my number one rival for Fuhrer! I thought we had a history together, Ed!" He grumbled.

"We do!" She protested, giving him an exasperated glare.

"Then why did you transfer to another team?!" Roy accused angrily.

"Oh come on! Don't take it so damn personally. It's just work, asshole." Ed sighed at the way Roy continued to glare at her and rolled her eyes, though he noticed that she couldn't seem to meet his gaze.

"I just…felt like a change was in order, you know what I mean? The Lieutenant General is someone I really look up to, and I could learn a lot from her. She'd be a good mentor to me—"

"And I wasn't?" Roy winced when he heard the hurt in his voice, fully aware that he was deliberately and unfairly putting Ed on the spot with his questions but he couldn't help it. "Did I not do a good job in being your mentor, Ed? I tried to lead you and guide you the best way I knew how. Did you hate being under me that much?" He asked.

"Well, you did shout at me a lot and threatened to incinerate me all the time." Ed teased, smirking at him.

At her words, the hurt frown on Roy's face instantly disappeared and in its place was the same furious, indignant death glare that he was so used to giving her over the four years that they had worked together.

"Only because you shouted at me first, you obnoxious brat!" He growled.

Ed's eyes widened at his outburst, before they narrowed a split second later and she scowled, taking the lollipop out of her mouth and using it to point accusingly at him.

"ONLY BECAUSE YOU WERE BEING A BASTARD COLONEL!"

"ONLY BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T FOLLOWING MY ORDERS!"

"ONLY BECAUSE YOUR ORDERS WERE SO STUPID!"

"Argh!"

Before he realized what he was doing, Roy couldn't help it and in his anger, he snapped his fingers, instantly setting the unused stacks of papers on his desk aflame and causing Ed to meep in alarm as she moved away. Both visibly stunned at Roy's loss of control, they watched as the flames licked away at the documents, turning them into nothing but ashes.

After the smoke had cleared and Roy looked up at her again, a little embarrassed at the way he had lost his temper, he was surprised, and relieved, to see that Ed's lips were twitching and she looked as though she was desperately trying hard not to laugh. Truth be told, he also felt a little annoyed at her reaction, furious at the nerve of this little slip of a girl who was laughing at him as though he wasn't seriously contemplating burning her limbs off, but the longer he watched her, inwardly admiring the lovely flush on her cheeks, the more his indignation began to drain away until nothing but a reluctant smirk remained on his face.

Rolling his eyes, Roy finally relaxed and he leaned back into his chair, giving her a fond, exasperated smile.

"I forgot how easily you can get on my nerves, Fullmetal." He mused.

"The feeling is completely mutual, General." Ed quipped back as she finally stopped laughing and looked up, surprising Roy when he saw the shy, sincere smile on her youthful face. "And to answer your question…The Lieutenant General may be my CO now, but you're still my number one mentor. That hasn't changed. In fact, you're so much more than a mentor to me. And you should know that by now."

Stunned, and a little taken back by the honesty he felt from her words, Roy blinked and smiled at her in surprise, his expression growing uncharacteristically soft. To his amusement, the minute she saw his reaction, Ed swallowed and hastily looked down, shoving her lollipop back into her mouth just as another dark red blush began to stain her cheeks.

"What the hell are you lookin' at me like that for?!" She snapped, fidgeting nervously with her hands.

When Roy didn't say anything for a long time after that and continued to smile curiously at her, Ed reluctantly looked up at him again and gave him an annoyed glare.

"Can you just give me back my fucking watch now?" She growled.

Smirking at the obvious impatience in her voice, Roy reached down and opened one of his desk drawers, extracting from it a small, rectangular box. When he placed it in front of her, Ed saw that it was her silver watch, though it had been placed in a small, protective glass casing.

She reached for it, only to have Roy chuckle and pull it away before she could touch it.

"Hey! Give it back!" She demanded.

"Have you officially passed your qualification exam yet?" He asked pointedly.

"Of course not!" Ed's eyes narrowed as she glared back at him. "I just took it this morning, you bastard."

"Then you can't officially have your watch back yet. Come back when you're officially a State Alchemist again." Roy told her, chuckling as he held the case up again before he flashed her another smug smirk and placed it back inside his desk drawer.

Unable to do anything else, Ed continued to glower darkly at him for a few more minutes, idly twirling the lollipop around in her mouth. As she did this, Roy was content to just watch her, and he was amused when he saw the way her golden eyes roamed around his office in boredom, taking in her surroundings for the first time since she had walked in.

"I must say, you look well, Mustang. And I see that you've got a new, pretty snazzy office here." She turned to him and she gave him another genuine smile. "Oh and congratulations on the promotion, by the way. One step closer to being Fuhrer. I'm still not paying you back that stupid debt I owe you though." She teased.

"I figured as much." Roy retorted wryly, though he couldn't help returning her smile. "And don't worry, I've been keeping record of your interest over the last three years. I'll be sure to send you the bill when it's time to pay up."

"Bastard."

Laughing at the adorably irate expression on her face, Roy felt strange when he sensed another warm, fluttery sensation stirring somewhere in the pit of his stomach. Unsure of what to make of it exactly, he decided to ignore it for now and gave the young blonde in front of him another fond look.

"You look good too, Ed. Very well, actually. You're all grown up." Roy added after a moment's pause, trying hard not to stare at her again like some creepy, perverted idiot.

You look like sex on legs, damn it.

Wincing, he managed to stifle the crude thought that had really wanted to come pouring out of his mouth.

"I know."

At his words, Ed grinned back smugly at him and tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder. "I guess fighting off homunculi does wonders for puberty, huh? Though I gotta admit, I wish alchemy had fixed this too." She gave him a resigned smile and reached down, knocking pointedly on her left leg where the automail was attached.

Roy's eyes softened at the embarrassed look on her face and before he could stop himself, one of his hands reached out to clasp hers, giving her small fingers a squeeze of encouragement. "I wouldn't worry so much about your automail leg. Besides, I happen to think you look gorgeous with it anyway, Fullmetal." He teased.

He spoke the words even before he could think about the consequences of what they meant and, from the way Ed was staring at him in shock, an attractive blush rising up in her cheeks, Roy knew she was just as stunned as he was. That was precisely why, in the next few minutes, for all the combined IQ of the two alchemists in the room, neither of them seemed to be able to say anything as Ed just kept shifting uncomfortably in her seat while Roy just kept drumming his fingers anxiously against the table.

Finally, when the silence became so unbearable that Roy was afraid Ed was going to leave, he forced himself to speak again, causing Ed to look up at the strange tone in his voice.

"You know…Maes was a Lieutenant Colonel too, back then. I'm sure that…I mean, know that he would have been…" Roy didn't bother finishing his sentence and let his voice trail off, hoping that Ed understood what he meant to say anyway. Thankfully, she didn't ask him to clarify, and when he looked up to see Ed's reaction, he saw that there was a small, understanding smile on her face.

"Yes, I remember. He and I even made a bet once that I would make Lieutenant Colonel before I reached his age. I actually dropped by this morning to tell him that he won." She admitted, chuckling to herself.

"I just hate how that annoying bastard was always right." She complained huffily.

"He was, wasn't he?" Roy laughed in agreement, staring dazedly at the way the shade of the lights in his office was causing Ed's blonde hair to shine brilliantly. "You should know that he was very fond of you too, Fullmetal."

"Too?" Ed arched an eyebrow and her smile became playful as rolled her lollipop around in her mouth, crossed her arms over her chest again and shot him a smug grin. "Does that mean you're finally admitting that you're fond of me too, General?" She teased, chuckling when Roy sputtered at her words and gave her an annoyed glare.

"Don't flatter yourself, brat."

Ed laughed at his haughty retort before she finally stood up, and Roy tried to ignore the disappointment that was tugging his chest as he stood up after her, watching as she began straightening her clothes and pulled her hair out of its messy ponytail.

"Anyway, I'd better get going. I still need to run some errands and then call Al and Winry when I get back to my apartment." She told him.

"Where are you staying?" Roy found himself asking as he followed her towards the doors.

"Still the dorms." Ed answered as she stopped abruptly a few feet in front of the doors, nearly causing Roy to crash into her from behind. Thankfully, she remained oblivious to the way he was trying very hard not to lean down and bury his nose into her smooth nape from where he was standing only a few inches behind her.

Except for that one time she had kissed him, Roy had never exactly been this close to her before and so he never realized that her baby skin smelt like apples and cinammon, and it was driving him completely mad.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Roy bit his lip and forced himself to take a step back just as she had finished tying her hair back up into a neat ponytail. When she turned around again to face him, he blinked and managed to give her an innocent, disarming smile.

"So…" Ed began uncertainly.

They met each other's hesitant, slightly awkward gazes again, his gaze lingering on hers longer than necessary.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, Ed broke the eye contact and reached up to scratch sheepishly at the back of her head. Undeterred, Roy continued to watch her for a few more minutes, knowing from the expression on her face that she trying to think of another rude or smart-ass comment to break the tension.

Before she could say anything, however, Roy surprised them both yet again when he finally spoke the words that he had wanted to say to her ever since she had walked back into his office after those three long years.

"I've missed you, Edeline."

Ed wasn't quite sure how exactly it happened.

All she remembered was that she had been staring at the strange, heated expression on Mustang's face, wondering to herself what exactly the bastard's problem was this time, when the next thing she knew, her cheek was pressed very intimately against her former Commanding Officer's chest after he had caught her wrist and had yanked her right into his arms into a tight, warm hug.

Unlike the brief hug that Lieutenant Colonel Armstrong had given her awhile ago, however, this one was strangely making her feel hot and breathless and it was causing her knees go all weak and shaky that she actually had to grip tightly onto the back of Mustang's military jacket to keep herself from keeling over.

As he leaned down and buried his face into the top of her head, taking a whiff of her hair, it took a few minutes before Ed's muddled brain noticed that Mustang had somehow managed to back her a few steps until he actually had her trapped between the doors of his office and his tall, hard frame, preventing her from pulling away.

She automatically stiffened in panic, her heart pounding very rapidly in her chest as she felt his arms tighten snugly around her waist, his fingers ghosting over the patch of skin between the bottom of her shirt and pants. He pulled her even closer against him, pressing their bodies dangerously close to one another, and melding their forms against each other so tightly that she could feel the heat emanating from his, even through their clothes.

As she stood there, awkwardly, in his arms, Ed realized that Mustang was so uncomfortably close, she could easily smell the cologne he used, as well as the enticing scent of his aftershave.

He smelled like mint, and fresh pine, and fire.

She had never exactly been close enough to smell him like this before and she found that the scents all mixed together in the heat of Mustang's chest was strangely and unnervingly intoxicating, and Ed was horrified when she began to realize that it was turning her on like crazy, making her traitorous, hormonal body overheat like a goddamn furnace.

It was the first time he had ever hugged her like this, and it was making her feel very, very hot.

When he pulled away slightly, just enough so that he could look down at her face, Ed reluctantly tilted her chin to meet his gaze and their eyes met. Just like their bodies, their faces were uncomfortably close to each other, their lips mere inches away, but Mustang didn't seem to mind. He trailed one of his hands up gently into her hair, sliding his fingers gently into the blonde strands and tucking the long locks behind her ear.

As he did this, his fingers accidentally touched her cheek and the warm touch startled Ed enough that she blinked and nervously wet her mouth, inadvertently causing Mustang's hooded gaze to drop down to her lips, no doubt thinking about the last time they had been alone together in his office three years ago.

The way those dark eyes grew heated and the way he was subconsciously beginning to lean in made her nervous, and when he had gotten close enough so that she could feel his soft breath on her lips, Ed finally broke the moment and turned her face sharply away, pushing against at his chest.

"G—General." She protested quietly, blushing.

The way she had used his rank seemed to cause Mustang to snap back to his senses.

It took a few more minutes for him to notice their compromising position, as well as the fact that he had actually backed her against the door but when Ed grunted and pushed at his chest again, he reluctantly moved away, muttering an apology. He looked embarrassed, and a light flush was staining his cheeks as he took another step back away from her, putting an acceptable amount of distance between them.

What the fuck just happened back there?

Truth be told, if Ed didn't know any better, she would think that he actually looked disappointed at the loss of contact but she didn't get any time to dwell on it, however, as Mustang quickly recovered and straightened himself.

When he glanced at her again, however, a displeased scowl returned on his face as he pointed at her neckline.

"You really need to cover those up, Fullmetal." He growled, his lips twisting into a sneer.

"They're just breasts, you bastard." Ed snapped back, rolling her eyes at his melodramatics. "Don't be such a prude, you've seen tons of them on a lot of different women before, just chill the fuck out!" She blurted out.

Roy didn't look amused at her response and strangely, her words only seemed to make him angrier.

"First of all, I don't appreciate that comment. You make me sound like I'm nothing but a womaniser, which I'm not. I thought you knew me better than that, Ed." He pointed out, instantly causing Ed to blink in guilt and confusion when she saw the genuinely offended expression on his face at her thoughtless quip.

"Sorry—"

"Second." Mustang interrupted her sharply before she could even finish her apology. "—if you refuse to listen to me and continue to walk around in clothes like that, I will give you a disciplinary sanction." He threatened darkly.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Mustang?! Just…piss off already and get the fuck off case will you, bastard?!" Ed growled at him, her eyes flashing as she promptly forgot about her apology altogether and glared spitefully at him.

"You're not a kid anymore. Men will stare."

"And who the fuck gives a shit?" Ed ignored the way his eye twitched and scoffed in derision, rolling her eyes. "Staring is harmless. I'm used to staring, I used to get it all the time when I was a kid because of my automail." She reminded him.

"Not this type of staring, Ed. This is different. Trust me, not all men are content with just staring. Some may be much more…persistent." Mustang insisted, grabbing her arm when Ed had tried to reach for the doorknob.

"Fuck them!" She snapped impatiently, yanking her arm away from his grasp. "I'm a grown woman, I can handle myself just fine. I don't need you playing overprotective guardian, Mustang! I know exactly how to get them to fuck off – something I wish you'd seriously learn how todo at the moment!"

"Ed, wait! Listen." He grabbed her arm again, trying to get her to turn back around but she grunted and shoved him away. "Before you go, I want to talk about what exactly happened in my office that day you resigned—"

"Let's not!" Ed cut him off sharply as she whirled around to face him, her cheeks flaming with embarrassment. "I was fucking insane, I didn't mean it! I swear I really didn't mean to cause any trouble for you and Hawkeye—"

Frowning, Mustang looked adamant as he shook his head and tried to reach for her arm again.

"But you didn't cause trouble—"

"I really don't want to get into that again, Mustang."

"Ed, listen—"

Ed didn't bother waiting for him to finish as she was able to wrestle her arm free from his grasp and finally yanked open the doors, stepping out of the room and back into the outer office to where Hawkeye and the others were staying. As she walked out, however, Mustang trailing behind her, Ed realized that she was apparently lucky enough to hear an interesting snippet of the hushed conversation that Havoc was currently having with Breda.

"I'm telling you, man! Don't challenge me on my field of expertise. She's most definitely a C-cup!" Havoc declared.

"Why are you so sure she isn't a D?" Breda challenged pointedly.

"Because I know my stuff, alright? I am an expert on these things." Havoc retorted smugly. "Trust me when I say that I know exactly how a D-cup would look like. You remember that homunculus – Lust? Now, she was most definitely a D-cup. But as for the Boss, I've seen enough to be pretty damn sure that she's—"

"—a C-cup?" Ed supplied with a smirk as she and Mustang approached them from behind, causing both Havoc and Breda to jump in their seats and whirl around to gape at them with identical, horrified looks on their faces.

"I'm afraid to admit that Havoc's right on this one, Breda. I'm actually impressed. You sure know your boobs." She drawled teasingly, inadvertently causing Fuery to blush and Falman to choke on a mouthful of his coffee.

"Havoc." Mustang's voice sounded carefully restrained and threatening, and when Ed glanced at him, she was surprised to see that, strangely, instead of joining in on teasing Havoc like he usually did, he didn't look at all amused by their conversation. "That is not an appropriate conversation to have when women are around. And Ed is barely even a woman yet—"

"HEY, TAKE THAT BACK! I'M 19 YEARS OLD ALREADY, GENERAL BASTARD!"

Ignoring Ed's outburst, Havoc offered Mustang an apologetic smile and scratched at the back of his head.

"Don't be mad at him, Chief." Breda cajoled, though he was snickering as he took in Havoc's embarrassed expression. "After all, Jean has to at least be good at something, doesn't he?" He cheeked.

"Very funny." Havoc retorted sarcastically. "While I am your resident boob man, I'd like to think I'm pretty good at a lot of things too other than that." He kidded good-naturedly as Ed and Mustang stopped in front of his table. "I mean, how about you, Boss? What are you good at besides, Alchemy?" He quipped.

"Now wouldn't you like to know?" Ed's eyelashes had lowered and she leaned down into Havoc's personal space again to purr into his ear, instantly causing the blonde man to shut up instantly and blush while the rest of the team laughed.

Snickering to herself as she pulled away, Ed didn't fail to notice the fact that neither Mustang nor Hawkeye were laughing and were instead glaring at her and Havoc as though they had both done something wrong.

Ed flushed under their angry looks and hastily cleared her throat.

"Alright, I suppose I'm going to take off now."

"Hey Boss, be careful." Falman told her as he looked up briefly from his telephone conversation and pointed at her feet. "Your shoelaces are untied."

"Oh! Thanks Falman."

Ed's gaze dropped down to the laces of her leather shoes which, sure enough, had somehow loosened from their knot that morning. Without thinking, she automatically bent down low at the waist to re-tie them, but a second or two after she had finished, she heard Havoc let out a sharp, pitched, unmanly squeak of panic.

As she stood back up to glance at him, however, she was confused to see that other than Mustang, who was discreetly shoving his right hand into his pocket, and Hawkeye who seemed to be glaring daggers at Havoc, the rest of the team had politely seemed to have averted their eyes from her while she had been tying her shoelaces.

Meanwhile, Havoc was whining as he clutched at the fingers of his right hand, which Ed noticed were a little red.

"The fuck happened to you?" She asked, looking amused.

"I—I—uh—" Havoc swallowed and glanced nervously at Mustang again, only to snap his attention back to Ed when the General's eyes narrowed and gave him a warning glare. "It's nothing. My cigarette just caught a little fire, that's all."

"Um. Okay." Ed missed the suspicious, knowing look that Hawkeye had sent over her shoulder at Mustang and turned around, giving the General another smirk. "I guess I'll see you and the rest of the team around, alright Bastard?"

"Fullmetal. I still think we have to discuss properly what happened." Mustang frowned pointedly at her and for a minute, Ed was worried that he was actually going to start talking about how she had kissed him in front of the whole team – including Hawkeye, who Ed was pretty sure wouldn't hesitate to send a bullet through her skull.

Fortunately, Havoc chose that moment to speak up again, drawing their attention back to where he was grinning at Ed from his desk.

"Hey Boss!" He and Breda shared matching, conspiratorial grins. "Are you willing to bet on your test scores? Breda here thinks that you'll top the qualifying exam again. I don't. Say…1000 cenz?" He smirked smugly at her.

"Jean." Hawkeye sounded disapproving from where she was watching them at her table. "I really don't think you should be betting on something like that—"

"1000 cenz, huh?" Ed's eyes narrowed as she cut off the rest of Hawkeye's protests and met both Breda and Havoc's shit-eating grins with a smirk of her own.

"Oh you are so on, bitches! Get ready to pay up." She cackled loudly.

Ed didn't bother waiting for them to respond as she stalked out of the room, only for Havoc to jump from his seat and push past Mustang so he could stop by the doorway and shout after Ed's retreating back in the corridor.

"Test scores or it didn't happen, Ed!"

"Fuck you! I'll shove them into your face when they come out next week, asshole!"

Ed didn't bother turning around as she strode down the corridor, ignoring the curious looks she received from the other soldiers passing nearby. Just as she was going to round the corner, however, she heard his voice call out to her. With a loud, exasperated sigh, she took her lollipop out of her mouth again and turned back around to glare at the tall, dark-haired General who had apparently trailed after her when she had left his office.

"What the fuck is it now, Mustang?" She asked irritably.

"You're not getting out of having this discussion with me." He pointed out as he stopped and stood a few feet in front of her. "I think it's only fair, I've wanted to talk to you about it for three years Ed. I think it's long overdue."

"Maybe some other time, General." She rushed out hastily.

"Stop avoiding me!"

"I'm not!"

"Sure, you're not." Mustang drawled sarcastically, looking more than annoyed at her attempts to evade him. "Is it too much for me to expect you to act like an adult for once about this, Fullmetal?"

"With all due respect, Sir. Would you kindly fuck off?"

When she absolutely refused to say anything else after that, glaring stubbornly at the ground by her feet, Mustang finally seemed to relent and he began to back away. Just when Ed thought that she was in the clear, however, he surprised her when he smirked and spoke up again in an overly cheerful, suspiciously harmless tone of voice.

"Is that a chocolate lollipop?" He asked innocently.

"Huh?" Ed glanced down at the lollipop she held her in hand in confusion before she glanced back up and gave the tall General a bewildered look. "Yeah, I suppose it is. Why, do you want one—HEY!"

The rest of her indignant protests died in her throat when, without any warning, Mustang suddenly reached out and snatched the lollipop from her, not even hesitating before he shoved it directly into his mouth.

Ed's eyes widened in horrified disgust at that and she gaped at him as though he had grown an extra head.

"That was for drinking my coffee." He quipped.

Ed was unable to do anything but blush and sputter incoherently as Mustang just smiled back sweetly at her.

"What the fuck did you just do, you disgusting pervert?!" She screeched.

"Equivalent exchange."

Mustang gave her a deadpan look as though she was the idiot before he smirked again and turned around, sauntering back down the corridor and leaving a blushing blonde staring stupidly after his retreating back.

Notes: Hahaha I just adore these two! And I absolutely love some good, ol' fashioned unresolved, sexual tension. ;D

Next chapter will feature another flashback with Maes but in Roy's POV this time! Oh and sorry to disappoint everyone, I know I mentioned last chapter that I was going to introduce Olivier's new team but again, this chapter got too long. Anyway, I promise we'll get around to that very soon!

Hope you all enjoyed their spicy little reunion! :D