Disclaimer - Sadly, I still don't own anything.
A/N - Mostly just spelling errors fixed here.
Monday found Alphonse fixing breakfast for his brother. Said brother was snoring softly on the couch with an alchemy book lying on his chest and notes scattered everywhere. When the food was ready, Alphonse gently shook Edward.
"Time to get up, Brother. You need to eat and take a shower." When he only received a groan and a swat to his arm, Alphonse forced Edward to stand and pushed him toward the kitchen. "Come on! You can't be late today. Sit. Eat."
Edward stumbled into the chair, and obediently started eating. With his eyes barely open, and still almost unconscious, Edward could have been eating strips of leather and clumps of dust bunnies, and drinking milk, and he would have never known the difference. Showering was much the same. Only the cold morning air of the rapidly dwindling summer seemed to have any effect on him.
Alphonse held the doors leading into HQ open for a now wide awake Edward. "So, Brother, where do you think the Colonel will send us this time?" He asked as they passed a couple of sniggering soldiers.
"I really could care less as long as it is far away from Central and the Bastard." Came the grumpy reply. "Why is everyone in such a frickin good mood anyways?" Edward demanded as they spotted another group of laughing men. Some of whom were watching the brothers as they went down a hallway.
"I think that you could use some coffee, Brother. You are still way too grumpy." Alphonse suggested as he could practically hear Edward growling as a gaggle of women giggled their way around the two. He steered Edward toward the break room. The sight that greeted them when they pushed the door open had both boys staring in shock.
It seemed as if everyone that worked at HQ was there. Most of them were holding what looked like pictures.
Just then, one of the soldiers looked up and spotted the boys. A nervous hush fell onto the room, except for one voice that kept on gushing out stuff like "This one is so cute!" and "Don't you think that they all just look absolutely adorable in this one?" Someone nudged the body that the voice belonged to.
"What? I was just getting to the best ones. You don't -" The voice suddenly broke off as the brothers came into view.
"Lt. Colonel Hughes, what's going on?" Alphonse asked as Edward tried to see what the pictures were about.
"Nothing!" Maes shouted. "Everyone needs to get back to work! I think we have managed to waste enough time looking at my precious little princess." He tried to reclaim all the evidence. Unfortunately, most were quickly stuffed into pockets.
One unlucky soldier was relieved of his burden when he came face to face with an agitated Edward Elric. The soldier knew that the only thing that would be worse than letting Edward see the picture was to deny him seeing it. So, he did the only thing he could think of. He threw the picture in the kid's general direction, and fled the room.
Edward gave the man's retreating back a smug grin as he easily caught the falling paper. Said grin died a horrible death on his lips as he looked down at the thing he caught. Elysia was indeed in the picture. She was not, however, the only occupant. Elysia was sitting on the floor with a doll in her hands, but she was looking at the suit of armor sitting next to her. He too had a doll, but that isn't what made Edward stare. No, it was the blush that had been powdered on his metal cheeks and the uneven line of lipstick on his mouth.
He didn't want to, but Edward's eyes were drawn to the third person sitting on the floor, directly in front of the camera. He, Edward Elric, also had blush on his cheeks, but (thank God) no lipstick, with a doll in his hands. His hair was another story. Elysia had managed to talk him into letting her play with it. He had not bothered to see what she had done with it then, but it was in plain view now. It had been separated into three parts, as if she were going to braid it (oh how he wished she had). Each section had been twisted and looped around his head in an intricate pattern. It was all held together with a pretty pink ribbon.
Edward wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole. He about jumped out of his skin when his brother tapped him on the shoulder.
"What is the matter Brother? You went so pale just now. Are you getting sick?" Alphonse asked with concern.
Without a word, Edward passed over the offending thing. He took a moment to steady his breathing, and then looked up to give Maes a piece of his mind. "What the hell! Where did everyone go?" Sure enough, as Edward slowly turned in a circle, his eyes confirmed that he and Alphonse were the only people in the break room.
"Brother?" Alphonse whispered, despite them being alone. He continued when Edward looked at him. "Do you think that all of those pictures were like this one?"
At that, Edward's golden eyes grew big enough to be classified as twin suns. "No, he wouldn't be that cruel. Would he?"
They tore out of the room in a desperate search of the older man. They made it as far as the elevator when a sharp voice stopped them in their tracts.
"Major Elric! What are you doing galloping through the halls like a race horse when you should be in Colonel Mustang's office for a meeting which you are once again late for?" Lt. Hawkeye demanded with a dangerous gleam in her eyes.
Edward was shocked into silence for a moment. He scowled at Hawkeye's stern glare before huffing as he stomped toward her. "Whatever. When I'm done with him, I am going to find Lt. Colonel Hughes. Then I will slowly kill him" As he passed her, Edward could have sworn that he saw a glimmer of amusement flash across Hawkeye's face before dismissing it as his imagination.
Hawkeye watched the boys walk down the hall. She could hear Edward muttering different ways to kill Hughes, and she was more than a little surprised to hear Alphonse's voice chiming in a bit here and there. As soon as the brothers were out of sight, Hawkeye pulled something out of her breast pocket. Her usually stern face softened into a fond smile as she looked at the innocent scene before her.
Alphonse was sitting on the grass beneath a tree. He had a book open in his lap with Elysia sitting on one side of him, and Edward on the other. Both the elder Elric and the little girl were fast asleep; each had a metal arm wrapped protectively around them. A butterfly had managed to sneak up on the trio and had landed on Edward's head.
Hawkeye sighed contentedly and then tucked the picture safely back into her pocket. She arranged her face back to its usual expression and followed after the boys
* * * * Back with the boys * * * *
Edward and Alphonse were once again greeted with silence when they burst into the general office area. Most everyone immediately looked down guiltily and pretended to be profoundly busy.
Havoc saw the boys heading for the Colonel's office and grinned. He knew that he shouldn't. He knew Edward's temper would flare more than it already was. He knew that he was probably going to get an automail fist to the gut if he did it. Screw it; it would be so worth it.
"Hey Chief! Come here for a second." Havoc said as seriously as he possibly could. Yes, he was about to be severely punished.
Edward stopped his muttered death threats long enough to look up at Havoc. He would have kept going if Havoc didn't look so serious. He made his way over to the older man, never noticing the mischievous sparkle in the other's eyes. "What! This had better be good." He growled.
Havoc waited until Edward was directly in front of him before speaking. "You have got to tell me where I can get this lovely outfit." Still wearing a deadly calm expression, Havoc placed a picture on his desk in full view of everyone.
Edward looked in horror at the little square sitting innocently on the desk. He remembered the exact moment it was taken, though he never did see the flash of the camera, nor hear the soft snort of laughter that had come out of Maes.
Elysia had wanted to play dress up, so she had dragged them into her parent's bedroom. This would not have bothered Edward much if not for the fact that Elysia wanted to dress up in her father's clothes. She had told Edward with her two year old logic, that there can only be one mommy and one daddy. She had wanted to be the daddy. Alphonse was obviously too big to try any of the clothes on. Guess who was left? Edward tried to refuse, but after seeing the tears form in Elysia's eyes, and the trembling lower lip, Edward finally relented. So there he was, the famous Fullmetal Alchemist, standing there in a white dress with multicolored flowers and butterflies printed on it, red heeled shoes on his feet, and a green women's hat on his head.
Havoc had been right when he knew he would receive an automail fist, however, he was wrong about where he would receive it. He spent the rest of the day unconscious on his desk, with what the doctors would later confirm was a severe concussion.
Edward stormed over to Colonel Mustang's office door, slammed it open, and after telling Alphonse to wait outside, slammed shut behind him.
Alphonse only sighed before settling down in his usual chair to wait.
Mustang barely looked up at the harsh treatment his subordinate was gibing his door. He continued to pretend to work as he watched Edward through the fringe of his hair. The boy's attitude today was so different than when they last saw each other that he wondered if he had just imagined the tears.
"Fullmetal, here is your new mission. Do try not to blow up any buildings this time, won't you?"
Edward sneered at him as he took the folder, clearly not in the mood for his superior's attitude. Edward's face darkened further as he read what was in the file. "What the hell is this shit?"
"The Fuhrer has decided that he has gotten tired of cleaning up your messes. So, he wanted to give you some time to think about the freedom you usually get by keeping you close to Central for a while." Mustang smirked, knowing what the other alchemist was so upset about.
"This is just ridiculous! Why would Fuhrer Bradley send me on a survey mission? A Survey! Who the hell cares weather or not people have pets! This could take weeks!" Edward was shouting by the end of his rant.
"I beg to differ, Fullmetal. There has been a lot of chimera activity in the last few months. We need to find out where they are coming from, so I suggest you get started right away. Central is a big city." He watched the boy slam his door open yet again and disappear. After he was gone, Mustang got up and inspected the damage. He sighed and filled out the necessary form for a replacement door, then went back to work.
The next few weeks seemed to crawl by for the brothers. They were only able to conduct the survey during the day, and had to be back at HQ before dark to report their findings. To make matters worse, it seemed that every time they turned a corner the boys were confronted with another embarrassing picture. Also, the feeling of being watched would not go away, but whenever they would try to find the source, there was never anything there. After two weeks were up, Edward was cleared by the doctor to stop taking those horrible white pills.
A/N - I could not bring myself to change much in this chapter. I love how it turned out the first time. ^_^
A/N - A while ago, I asked you guys two questions. This is what the majority of you wanted.
1. Alphonse will most definitely become human.
2. Hawkeye and Mustang will not become a couple.