It was a beautiful, clear night, with all the stars sparkling in the sky - or as many as were going to come out in downtown Berlin, anyway. After weeks of typical frigid January weather, the temperature had finally climbed up to something reasonable. The last thing in the world Ed wanted to be was stuck inside, at a big stuffy opera house.

But that was the price of dating a famous composer, wasn't it? He had to be the good, supportive boyfriend, go to his premieres, look the part. Even if they technically weren't supposed to be "public" about it; in the musical circles Robert traveled in, people tended to know about these things and at least turn a blind eye if not accept it. The public may not be aware of it, but it was an open secret among the cream of Berlin's musical crop that Maestro Robert Feuermann took men, not women, as his lovers, and Edward Elric was the latest.

Ed didn't really mind too much, if he was honest. Heck, some operas could be pretty exciting! He'd never realized it from the way that Mustang and his team would talk about it when the Colonel had tickets to see one with some girl; it always sounded like such mushy romantic crap. People who'd just met bursting into song about how much they loved each other. And granted, there was a lot of that. But there was also, sometimes, action! And violence! And mystery and intrigue!

And more often than not, that was the case in his boyfriend's operas; it was like he was writing them specifically for Ed's tastes, or something. He'd managed to convince the ultimate philistine, who shied away from all mention of "culture," to love opera. Ed would never admit it to him, of course. But it was true.

So he eagerly anticipated Robert's next opera, though he tried not to do so to a degree that would tip the older man off to his enthusiasm. Yet, Ed had a feeling Robert could see right through his masks. The man wasn't a politician like his Amestris counterpart, but he had every bit of Mustang's cunning and brilliance at reading people. Ed felt every bit as naked in front of Robert as he had around Mustang.

(Why can't I stop thinking about Mustang? Ed wondered.)

"So you finally did a Faust, huh?" Ed asked Robert, nudging him as they took their seats in the special composer's box. Ed had learned enough about opera from his boyfriend that he knew how many operas took their plots from Goethe's play, or the legend on which it was based. "Should be interesting. I like devils and...dark stuff."

He didn't talk to Robert about how much the idea of selling a part of oneself for some larger goal resonated with him. Robert knew nothing of Ed's true origins.

The composer laughed. "Well, it was requested. By the lead soprano."

"Since when do singers get to request operas?" Ed asked. "And a soprano leading a Faust story?"

"When they're old friends. Old friends whose father taught you your craft." He cleared his throat, as Ed's face took on a look of understanding. "And yes, she's leading it. She wanted my idea of what a female Faust would be."

Ed still couldn't believe that his silly boyfriend wrote his own texts to these operas, too. Robert Feuermann had some weird philosophical answer about the importance of the text and music coming from the same person, but Ed just saw it as more work. But it did seem to get him a certain amount of respect as a storyteller, not just a composer, that Robert, of course, relished.

Of course. There just wasn't a universe where any version of Roy would not be a smug bastard.

It wasn't long after that the curtain opened, and the overture played, and Ed got his first glimpse of Robert's female Faust. And his eyes widened.

Because this lead soprano, Roy's old friend and the daughter of his composition teacher, was the spitting image of Lieutenant Hawkeye.

"Riza Sólyom?" Ed asked disbelievingly, looking at the program.

"You've heard of my good friend?" Robert asked him. It was during intermission; Robert didn't want to mingle with the audience while the show was still going on. He was weird like that.

"No, no," Ed clarified. "Her name just sounds like someone I knew where I lived before…when I was in the South," he quickly fixed.

"Ah. I wouldn't have expected you to have heard of her, as someone who didn't pay any attention to the classical music world before you met me." He smirked, that characteristic smirk that just proved he was this world's Mustang, since it was the exact same one the Colonel always wore. "She's quite renowned in my corner of the universe, however – being the daughter of a famous composer, and a child prodigy in her own right."

"Was she really?" Ed asked. "In singing?"

"No," Robert finished. "In piano. Her father taught her piano, theory and composition from an early age. The world would never take a female composer seriously, but that wasn't going to waste his dreams for his child just because she hadn't turned out to be a son. So he taught her all the bells and whistles of a musical career, and she toured all across Europe as a piano-playing girl wonder. Playing a lot of Liszt, of course. Barta Sólyom was nothing if not proud of his national heritage, of course. He liked me for being non-German too, I suppose. Another outsider."

"So that's how you met her?"

"Yes," Robert continued. "He always made sure to have her demonstrate how much better she was at the piano than me. Of course, I didn't need it. I knew. I wasn't there to learn how to play; I was there to learn how to write music. And I did – I couldn't have had a better teacher than him. But I did never like the way he treated Riza."

"Oh?"

"He adored her talents, but always saw her as his own personal project. A depository for his own ambitions. He'd never been able to make it as a performer, so he made sure his daughter did. He micromanaged her life from day one. Right down to the man she was to marry. Or, he tried to at least."

"Really?" Ed was glad that Robert hadn't questioned his fascination with the lead soprano. It was interesting to hear how a Riza Hawkeye had turned out in this world – when it was music, not the military, that was governing her life, and that of this world's Roy.

"Yes, he wanted her to marry me." The older man laughed, loudly and somewhat bitterly. "Can you imagine? Of course, we were always good friends, and she was well aware of my conflicting preferences. She didn't want me, anyway. By the time she was of marrying age, she wasn't going to do anything if her father wanted it."

Ed blinked. That didn't sound like the Riza he knew. Riza Hawkeye was always so good at following orders. But then again, Ed had never known anything of her relationship with her father, or anyone else other than Mustang and the other members of his team. And she had been good at ordering around Havoc and the rest of the gang when they were being dimwits.

"That's why she switched to singing. As soon as she was an adult, she was done being her father's trick pony. But most of what she knew was music, so she chose a different branch of it. Barta was furious. But not nearly like he was when she did finally get married."

Ed's eyes widened. With all he'd heard, this had to be good. "Some composer he didn't like, or something?"

Robert laughed, even louder than before. "Oh no! Oh, if only, I think Barta would have much preferred that," he said when he'd settled down. "No, Jean Hébert is not involved in the music world at all. He's just some random French shop owner's son who Riza met when she was touring in Paris. A nobody, and a Frenchman in these times…Riza couldn't have done more to scandalize society, and infuriate her father. It's probably part of what drove him into an early grave, actually."

Now Ed was nearly laughing. He really liked this world's rebellious version of Hawkeye – and it made him wonder about who the one of his world was outside of the office. "Will I get to meet her?" he asked.

"Yes," Robert said, "after the show ends, we'll go backstage and you'll get to see everyone. Maybe even the infamous Monsieur Hébert will be there…" he trailed off as the lights dimmed and curtain opened for the second act.

The opera had been every bit as exciting as Ed had expected. Robert's female Faust was stifled by an overprotective father and the strict expectations of society, and made a deal with the devil – the only way she could get it – for her own power and independence and freedom. And everything started out well, as she had her own career and a husband who loved her. But it gradually began to go wrong, as it came closer to the time when Mephistopheles would collect his deed on her soul. The once-caring husband turned controlling, and she was forced to give up her career to serve him as much as she once had her father.

"A sad reflection on the plight of the modern woman, was what she wanted," Robert said after it ended. "Luckily, that won't be Riza's fate for defying her father; everyone knows who runs her marriage." He nearly guffawed at his own joke as he and Ed went backstage to join the cast.

Robert was nearly knocked over by a blonde woman with her hair in a tight bun – the same no-nonsense hairstyle of her Amestris counterpart – and a flashy red dress. (Now, that was something Ed could never picture the Lieutenant wearing.) She was holding a bouqet, which she flung around Robert's shoulders as she embraced him. "Robert! That was fantastic. Everything I wanted, you know, especially all the high solos."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," he said, embracing her. "You were fantastic. We should collaborate more, you know."

"I agree," she said, but suddenly, her attention was turned away from her friend. "Oh no, is this the famous Edward Elric?" She untangled herself from Robert and held out her hand to shake Ed's. "So good to meet you! Robert has told me so much about you, you know."

Ed was a bit taken aback by that comment. "What does he say?" he asked, the idea that he should respond to her introduction completely slipping his mind.

"Only that he loves you so much he would probably marry you if two men could," she said, which caused Robert to blush and protest, but she nudged him. "Come on, you know it's true," she finished.

She may have Hawkeye's face, but unlike Robert, Riza Sólyom wasn't much like her Amestris counterpart at all in personality, it seemed. At least, like Hawkeye as Ed knew her. It made him wonder, once again, if she'd had hidden depths that her coworkers would never usually see, especially a 15-year-old one who was always out of town on some mission or another.

"Oh, Edward, Robert and I must introduce you to my husband. The love of my life," she giggled, as she turned to grab him. "Jean! Robert wants to see you and he has someone he wants you to meet!"

Ed looked up as Jean Hébert entered the room and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Standing there, hand-in-hand with Riza, was the spitting-image of Jean Havoc.

Ed couldn't help but think of the Amestrian Riza and Jean as a couple and he nearly fell over as he convulsed with laughter.

"Ed…Ed? Are you alright?" Robert asked him repeatedly, but Ed couldn't stop cackling like a hyena, lost in his amusement.

All these familiar faces, yet in such unfamiliar situations…it was far too much!