Chapter Text
Edward walked into Central command with Alphonse trailing him. He probably wasn’t supposed to have a civilian child in the military headquarters. But no one told him, no, so he took it as his okay.
“Hey, Brother! I’ve been thinking of making Mom’s stew. I asked Granny for the recipe last time we were in Resembool. You can tell me if it seems accurate.” Alphonse wasn’t able to eat anything, but for the past few months, he used every reason he could to make something in the kitchen. Something edible.
“That sounds great. I can’t wait to try it! If it tastes anything like Mom's stew, I can have you make it for me all of the time,” Edward said as he smiled brightly at Al. When Al had first started baking and cooking a lot, Ed wasn’t sure if he should tell Al how yummy it tasted. He wanted to encourage his little brother to keep doing it if he enjoyed it. But he didn’t want to strike a proverbial nerve by talking about tasting and eating food Al couldn't try himself. It didn’t take too long to figure out that it was better to just tell Al what he thought without worrying. And Al seemed to really like the praise.
Ed could almost see Alphonse blushing at that. His posture showed that he had a healthy mixture of pleasure and embarrassment at the praise he was receiving.
“Yeah, but I’m going to have to get some of the ingredients for it on the way back to the barracks after you hand in your report, Brother. I hope that’s fine?” Ed nodded. It shouldn’t have been a problem. He could call it his excuse to go out because the report would only take a few minutes and it seemed like a waste of an outing. Especially because he was meeting with Colonel Mustang of all people. He was the one of worst of the worst.
“Yeah, of course. That will be great.” It also would be a great time to buy chocolates to snack on while he worked on his research. And that was definitely a work expense.
“Now I just need to remember what was on the list she gave me,” Alphonse mumbled to himself.
Ed grabbed a pen from his jacket and patted himself down, searching for his pocket sized notebook. It was nowhere to be found. “Damn it!” Edward hissed at himself. “I forgot the book.” Edward scowled. He hoped he’d forgotten it and not dropped it somewhere. It was full of his notes. They wouldn’t be of any use to someone else because they were in code, but it was still notes from a lot of research.
“I can see you worrying, Brother. If you think you lost your book, you didn’t. It was on the table when we left. You pulled it out and put it there when you started pulling snacks out of your pockets,” Alphonse said very helpfully. He sounded like he was shaking his head and Ed looked up to see that he was right. Alphonse sighed.
“Well, what’s that sigh for? What did I do?” Edward demanded with a little huff.
“You have your pockets stuffed with snacks at all times! And you get them all over.” Al was shaking his head again. “It’s like a toddler, Brother!”
“How rude!” Edward smacked Al’s armour, with his automail so that it wouldn’t hurt. “I’m your big brother, remember?”
Al just shrugged.
“I should just leave you here. You’re so mean to me!” Ed said with feigned exasperation. He huffed.
“Well, we should put this all behind us and remember that we were talking about groceries for the stew.” Al seemed to have forgotten they still didn’t have any paper. They could get a piece from the office when they arrived, but talking about groceries right then wasn’t useful If they didn’t have anything to write on that very moment.
“Here,” Edward said, offering his arm out to Al. “Write the list here and then we can’t lose it anywhere.” He could tell that Al seemed a little confused and concerned. “You won’t hurt me, Al. I trust you.”
Alphonse nodded and took the pen. They both stepped to the side and out of the way of the bustling hallway traffic.
Alphonse and Edward listed several things they remembered being inside the stew, writing them out on Edward's arm. It wasn’t long but it was a decent size for a collection of ingredients they just pulled together from tasting it long ago.
“Okay, now to talk to Colonel Bastard and get out of here,” Edward said. He was ready to be done with everything military for the day. And he was excited for the stew.
“Don’t be disrespectful, Brother,” Al scolded.
“He doesn’t deserve any respect, though. He’s a pain in the ass.” Edward knew Alphonse wasn’t going to agree with him about that, but at least he got it out there.
“Brother!” Al sounded disappointed.
“He earned his reputation, Al. He had it coming to him!” Edward used to defend himself. He wasn’t about to be scolded for noticing Mustang’s choices in life and giving him a nickname he deserved.
Edward continued on toward the office just the same as before. Except this time he was down a pen because Al still had it and he had a tattoo with the grocery list on his forearm.
Alphonse just followed behind him as they made their way to the colonel’s office. He didn’t continue to tell Edward he was being disrespectful but he did give him the most disappointed look a suit of armour was able to give. He didn’t even have to say anything.
“Fine! I’ll try to be nicer and less rude to that bastard.” It was going to be hard for Edward, but he would get on just fine. Hopefully.
“I guess that’s the best I can expect from you,” Al sighed. He shook his head, causing the metal to clank lightly.
“Yup,” Edward replied with a grin across his face.
They arrived at the office only a little while later.
Edward took the opportunity to kick open the door with his automail foot. There were a couple squeaks and half screams from inside.
“Brother! Stop that! You’re ruining the bottom of the door,” Al said through an exasperated sigh.
Edward only grinned wider at that. “That’s the point, Al.” That and imagining it was Mustang's stupid face instead of his door. He stretched his back as he walked into the office.
“Hey, Chief! What are you up to today?” Havoc called out as they came in. He was chuckling nervously. It was probably to try to distract from the way he squeaked as the door was kicked open.
“Nothing much. Just going to turn in my report,” Edward admitted. “And then I’m going to go home and eat.” He walked on through the room, getting a couple more hellos on his way to Mustang’s inner office. “Well, Al, have fun. I’m going to go talk with the Colonel Bastard.”
Al just shook his head. He wasn’t ever going to be able to stop Ed from using that nickname for Mustang. It was baked in at that point.
Edward kicked open that door as well. “Hello, Colonel Bastard! I got your damn report!” Al was probably going to kill him. He slammed it shut behind him before Al could scold him again.
“Well, it’s a pleasure to see you today, Fullmetal,” Mustang said. He was full of it. His teeth were clenched. He probably was thinking about how much his door was suffering.
“Liar,” Ed simply said. He shook his head. “Aren’t you being a bad example of what an officer should be?”
“I could be worse. I could be like you.” Mustang shrugged, smirking.
“Oh, that’s dirty, Mustang. And after I promised Al to be nice to you.” Edward was scowling. He just took a deep breath and exhaled.
“This is you being nice?” The colonel was furrowing his brows and cocking his head to the side in a questioning way. “Well, I thought you were being unnaturally kind today,” the colonel said sarcastically.
“Yeah, but don’t expect anything like this next time,” Ed warned as he folded his arms.
“Well, I guess that means I need to get all of my short jokes out now so that you can’t fight back.” Mustang was smirking so widely. He looked like he was having so much fun, but Ed was considering biting off his head.
Ed gritted his teeth and glared. “I’m not short.” He was fighting the urge to shout it at Mustang, but he knew that was all Mustang wanted him to do.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking as well,” the colonel again said sarcastically. Mustang was getting very close to having salt in his coffee and tea for a year.
Ed was willing to be petty. He wasn’t going to let it go. He was just going to let Mustang think he won until Ed got the perfect idea for revenge.
“Well, I guess, if you plan to be mature, I won’t tease you too much. Reward good behaviour. They tell people to do that with their bratty children. And I do often feel like your babysitter,” Mustang played with Ed.
“Is that why Hawkeye never gives you any rewards? Because she’s a good nanny that doesn’t praise your bad behaviour?” Edward played along instead of getting too annoyed. He was a bit annoyed, though. He could admit that to himself. Not to Mustang, though.
Mustang froze. He tried to laugh along with Ed but he looked a little pissed. “Just give me your damn report you little punk.”
“I’m not little, Bastard!” Ed shouted. He growled a little at the older man and considered the amount of trouble he would get in if he hit him.
Would Hawkeye shoot me? Or would she be grateful that I’ve learn to give Colonel Bastard punishments when he is a bad person?
Edward sighed, restraining himself from doing anything in case the shooting option was the one Hawkeye ended up choosing. He handed in his report to the colonel by tossing it onto his desk so that it caused a slight breeze to lift up the other, lighter papers and send a couple pages off the edge.
Mustang scowled and gave Ed a dirty look. He didn’t look happy, but the older man took the paper and motioned for Edward to take a seat on one of the couches in his office.
Edward took one look at them and shook his head. If he was being told to sit down, that probably meant he was supposed to be staying around for a while.
“Nah, I don’t plan to stay long. I’m going out with Al to gets some stuff at the store.” Edward folded his arms as he said it, showing his impatience with the situation already. He just wanted to leave because turning in his reports- and writing them- was the worst part of being in the military. He didn’t like the interaction with Colonel Bastard at all, and he hated the wasted time. He could have used that time to research ways to get Al back in his body, and work on missions. Instead, he was wasting it with one of the worst people he had the displeasure of knowing. The worst was his father, but Mustang was close enough to be really unpleasant and a sure day ruiner.
“Well, you might want to send Alphonse along without you. I’m giving you another mission so it might take a while to get that all sorted out. I’m sure Al knows what to get even if you aren’t there to help him,” Mustang said through a sigh. “And don’t give me a bunch of excuses because you don’t want to stick around here. You have to, so get over it.”
“It wasn’t an excuse,” Edward muttered, rolling his eyes and scowling. Mustang was just as annoying as he always was, not that Ed had been expecting something different this time. He only ever expected to be annoyed. And he was certainly never let down. It was like Mustang couldn’t help being dreadfully annoying all of the time.
“Yeah, all right. But I don’t think you will be too upset when I tell you that it involves a certain red stone you are always looking out for.” Mustang smirked.
That certainly grabbed Edward’s attention. “Lead with that next time. I might not internally cuss you out for being an annoying bastard.” Edward was glad they had something new to work on. They hadn’t had anything new for a while and it was rather annoying. At least, nothing new about the Philosopher’s Stone. They had been on several normal missions but nothing important.
“Well, that’s certainly a surprise. You wouldn’t internally cuss me out? Who are you and what have you done with the real Fullmetal Alchemist?” Mustang chuckled without any mirth. It sounded kind of sad but Ed didn’t say anything about it.
“I’ll tell Al, we might be a while longer,” Edward said, rolling his eyes a little. He went to the entrance of the office and opened the door. “Hey, Al you should probably just go straight to the store. I think we might be a while. He’s got a new mission for us.”
Al was busy talking with Master Sergeant Fuery at the man’s desk when Edward called out to him. He froze and turned to Ed. “Oh, that’s great. I guess I will go then. Pay careful attention to the colonel, though, okay, Brother?” Al was using his “say, yes, or face my wrath”-voice, so Edward’s answer was obvious.
“Yeah, all right. Whatever. Do you remember everything you need to get while you’re there?” Edward asked as he looked down at this arm. The pen was covered by his sleeve but Al got the picture.
“Yeah, I remember everything we wrote. Good bye, Brother.” Al turned to the others and said good bye to the rest of the team before he left.
Ed didn’t stick around for that, though. He turned back to the colonel and grimaced.
“Okay, now you can torture me with your obnoxious voice, Colonel.” Edward plopped onto the couch. It wasn’t the most comfortable but it wasn’t the worst couch ever.
“Well, first let me take a look at the report.” Mustang opened up the envelope the report was in and pulled out the tiny report. It barely took up half a page. But it had all the important stuff in it. Well, the stuff Ed thought was important. And it did not have the stuff Ed did not want anyone to know about. That was the one good thing about his reports. He got to decide what went in it and what never saw the light of day again.
Mustang turned the page over and frowned at the blank side. “Fullmetal, weren’t you gone for a week and a half on this mission? This isn’t enough to properly write out everything you did in a day. I don’t want everything you did in a day, because I’m sure I’d have to arrest you for several things, but I need at least something more than this.”
“That’s all I got, Colonel Bastard. It was a dry week. Nothing went down.” Ed was lying. Actually, a lot went down but he would not be telling Mustang the half of it. He planned to take that secret to his grave. He had spent the entire time fighting off the town’s people who were all dead set on him being in their Farm Day Festival play. He was someone new to town and it turned out they liked to torture visitors. And apparently the price of useless information from the town mayor was to dress up like a cow for his youngest daughter because she liked cows. And it just so happened to be the absolute worst festival Ed had ever been to. It was a nightmare to avoid everyone, but in the end, he finally had to give in because it was going nowhere at all.
He quit half way through when he found out the information was all useless. And he really enjoyed the bonfire they had after the festival. He would always remember the look of horror on that bratty kid’s face as the cow suit went up in flames. It wasn’t the worst trauma she would ever experience but it would teach her not to force people to wear ugly cow suits with big, obnoxious bells. He was just preparing her for the real world where things got a lot darker than burning cow suits.
“Wow, Fullmetal, you are a terrible liar. I honestly expected more from you in that department. You seem like you would be a great liar,” Mustang said slowly, testing Ed’s reaction. Al wasn’t close enough to hear, now, though.
“Bastard! Shut up before I put my foot in your teeth! My automail foot!” Ed spat, letting out a little extra anger for earlier.
Mustang looked a bit surprised. “Guess that means your brother is far enough away for you to be a little brat again?”
“I’m not small, fossil!” Edward shot back.
“I’m not even that old!” Mustang snapped back. He glared at Ed with a vein bulging on his forehead.
“Could have fooled me,” Edward muttered loud enough for Mustang to hear him. “I even think I see a couple grey hairs.”
“I assure you, you don’t.”
It was pretty obvious that they weren’t going to be able to get to the mission briefing for quite a while at that rate.
---
"Edward Elric, right?" Edward heard from right behind him. He had only gone a little ways away from Mustang's dreadful office before he was being stopped for more work stuff.
Edward spun around to face an older man with grey hair, flecked with brown and black hairs. His eyes were ice blue and soft like a grandfather's eyes.
Edward could see from his rank pins that he was a colonel just like Mustang.
Maybe he was another higher ranking officer out to recruit him?
Edward couldn't help the relaxed feeling the man gave him, though. It felt weird, though. He just looked so approachable and soft.
"Yeah, am I supposed to know you?" He did seem like someone Ed might have known. It would explain why the man seemed so relaxing to be around.
"No, sorry. I'm confusing you, aren't I? We don't know each other yet. I just came up to you because I've seen you quite a bit around here and you really remind me of my grandson, Carter. He got sick and died four months back." He was smiling at Ed warmly but sadly. The way he said it sounded strange, though. It was like he was hurt and happy to see Edward, but that also didn't quite fit. Ed knew it was just because no one had ever told him anything like that, but he was still a little disturbed by the thought of being compared to the man's dead grandson.
"I'm so sorry for your loss, sir. It's really difficult to lose family. Especially when it's someone young." Edward was trying to be as nice as he could because he really did feel bad for the colonel. He knew how painful it was to lose an important family member. Several. And no one should have felt that pain. The man wasn't being weird like Edward was thinking. He was just I grieving man who noticed a kid that looked similar to his lost grandchild. But something still felt wrong about the man from after he had started speaking.
"Yes, I would do anything to have him back. Wouldn't you do the same?" The older man just smiled like before but Edward felt his heart racing in his chest. His eyes widened just slightly and he quickly glanced around the hallway.
Does he know? What do I do if he does? Does he want me to join his team because he knows and could tell anyone if I don't?
Edward shook his head. No, it wasn't possible. He couldn't know anything. They had never met before. The man was just saying what every person thought when they lost someone. He wanted to have his family back he wasn't making a hint. He was just searching for a like mind. He didn't know the secret.
"I'm sorry to say this, but I have to get going now. I left my brother out doing errands, so I have to catch up with him." Edward was grateful for the excuse. He had just gotten a big scare from the question he had never even answered. He didn't want to abandon the man but he was still nervous. Very nervous.
"Do you mind if I walk with you?" The man asked. He looked so hopeful. Edward couldn't say no. He wanted to and didn't at the same time. On normal circumstances, he would have immediately said no. But there was something stopping him. There was something different about the man. He was a kind, grieving grandfather that needed someone to walk with and talk to. And Ed was seeing and hearing things that weren't there.
"I- Sure." He just had to tell himself that he didn't have to be right next to the man. They could walk a little bit apart. He hated that he was thinking that. He should have been without a care at all. But he wasn't and he never would be. He was so damn suspicious of others.
"That's great." The man smiled at Edward and Ed tried to smile in return, but it wasn't quite right in his opinion. The man didn't seem to mind very much, though.
Edward started walking to the front of the building with the man following behind him, continuing to talk about how Ed was just so much like his little Carter.
He wasn't intentionally calling Ed short, but by comparing Ed to his little Carter, it seemed like he was.
So, for the second time that day, Ed had to restrain himself from hitting a senior officer.
"You're wearing a red jacket. Do you like red a lot? Is it your favourite colour?" The man was looking at Ed very expectantly.
"Uh, yeah, I like red. It's a pretty good colour," Ed answered a little absently. He wasn't fond of small talk questions. They just seemed so pointless to him. He needed to talk about something that was more substantial than a favourite colour.
"It was Carter's favourite colour as well. He wore it all the time. I never saw him in anything else it seems." The man was beaming as he talked about his grandson, so Edward had mixed feelings. He was glad the man was enjoying himself but he was still a little uneasy.
"Well, he had good taste." Ed realised it was a pretty stupid response but he had nothing else to say.
"Yes, I guess he did." The man chuckled. He nodded and continued on with the conversation. "I noticed that you wear it a lot too. It was the first thing I noticed was the same."
Edward froze at that. He had made a mental note of Ed liking red like his grandson before? That was weird. "Are there a lot of similarities?"
"Yes and no. Your hair is a little like his was. His was a lighter blonde. It was more sandy than yours is. And..." The man trailed off as he reached forward toward Edward's face.
Ed pulled away, lifting his hand to slap away the other man's hand. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"I'm sorry, Edward. I just wanted to feel your hair. It just looks so soft." That even sounded wrong. It was not okay at all. It was really disturbing.
"No, that's not okay. Don't touch me." He did not like the way the man didn't seem to mind invading his personal space way too much. Ed was not okay with touching. It was okay for Al. And maybe Hawkeye. She was a good person and got when it was a good time and when wasn't to touch someone's shoulder or arm.
"You don't need to react like that. I don't mean anything by it," the man said, trying to defend himself.
Ed was allowed to react any way he wanted. The guy didn't get to tell him how to react.
"Just don't do it. I don't care if you don't mean anything by it. Don't ever touch me without permission." He was hoping that would help. He was really regretting letting him tag along all the way out. Now, that they were outside was it okay to ditch the man?
Edward kicked a tiny wedge of wood from a cut board. There was construction going on right beside where they were.
"I'm sorry," the man said. He didn't sound very sorry, but Edward decided he didn't care enough to pursuit it. He just didn't want to meet the man again. He shuddered when he remembered how the man originally put him at ease when they had first met. It was probably mostly Edward's untrusting tendency that made him nervous around the man already. But it was still not right that he had tried to touch Ed.
"Fine. But leave me alone. I have to go now. My brother is probably waiting for me back at the barracks now." Edward turned away from the man, ready to get away from him. One conversation with him had quickly changed his opinion of the guy.
The man mumbled something to himself.
Edward usually wouldn't give it another thought but he heard the word brother and he didn't want anyone mumbling about Al. He didn't want anything bad to be said about his little brother.
"What was that?" Ed asked, turning back to the man.
"Oh, I was just saying Carter didn't have a brother," the man answered as he showed off a little booklet filled with tiny handwritten notes.
"Are you writing down things about me?" Edward just stared in shock. That was so disturbing to hear even himself say.
"No, only things that are different about you and Carter." He said it like he didn't know it was practically the same thing.
"What's wrong with you? You can't do that? It's freaky." Edward snatched away the book and flipped through it, turning away from the man. There were several notes quickly scrawled across the papers. The guy had obviously been watching him for a while. "This is so messed up... What the hell were you-" Ed froze when he turned around and was immediately met by a plank to the face.
Edward crumpled to the ground, head lolling to the side.
"Carter! I'm so sorry! I just- I couldn't let you leave. I knew you were going to run away because you were scared, but you don't have to be frightened." The man was kneeling beside Edward, picking him off the ground while he was half conscious.
Edward's vision was dimming and his brain could barely make sense of what was being said at that point. He just let his eyes fall shut as his brain screamed at him not to give in.