Categories > Anime/Manga > Full Metal Alchemist

Not Normal

by xanos 2 reviews

Roy and Ed spend an afternoon together in a park, and actually manage to keep the arguing to a minimum. Could be gen, could be pre-slash.

Category: Full Metal Alchemist - Rating: G - Genres: Drama, Humor - Characters: Edward Elric, Roy Mustang - Published: 2005-10-19 - Updated: 2005-10-19 - 856 words - Complete

3Ambiance
Author's Notes: Written for Sharon and based off an LJ icon of hers.
Disclaimer: Not mine and not making money.

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It started out, as it always started out, as a yelling match. No, that was wrong. Edward mentally revised his statement: it started out, as it always started out, with him yelling at the Colonel, and the Colonel - that bastard - smirking and making snide remarks.

That was normal.

This time, though, before he could really get going, the Colonel - that bastard - had decided that this was the perfect time for dinner. Outside. In a park. And up he'd gotten, and out the door he'd gone, and Ed wasn't about to let him go that easily, so out the door Ed want, still telling him off. In fact, Ed had managed to tell him off the entire way through the building, starting with the fact that Roy had sent them on another useless mission and then weaving through such diverse subjects as stupid alchemists who thought that attacking him with plants - plants! - was a good idea, the problems with having to dig his little brother out of the desert every few hours, and old women who thought he was five.

Somewhere along the lines, Ed had managed to follow the Colonel all the way to a park, where the Colonel had plopped himself down on the grass and unwrapped the sandwich he'd bought along the way (Ed had been too busy talking to bother ordering, something he was starting to regret.) As he hadn't yet told Ed to go away, Ed decided to stick around until the Colonel conceded defeat - as if that would ever happen - and give Ed an assignment that didn't involve vicious houseplants and senile old women.

So Ed, too, had plopped himself down on the grass, next to the Colonel, who didn't even raise an eyebrow in his direction.

It was almost as if he didn't mind having Ed along.

Ed ranted, and glared, and then went back to ranting, albeit more quietly, so as not to anger the mother of the small children playing nearby. She'd already started shooting him dirty looks for some of his language, and he really didn't feel like dealing with an irate mother right then.

And then, without him noticing, he'd stopped ranting and started talking - talking. Normally. To the Colonel. Even stranger than that, though, was the fact that the Colonel, rather than being a smug bastard, was actually talking back.

That was not normal.

Ed considered starting an argument, just to quell the feelings of unease this unexpected truce was causing, but decided against it. The mother was still around, and her baby had just gone to sleep; besides, it was too nice out, and he was a bit too tired for a full-out fight. So he stayed quiet, and although they soon stopped talking, neither he nor the Colonel - who was still a bastard, Ed thought - seemed to be inclined towards leaving. In face, the Colonel had actually settled back and closed his eyes and--
Ed blinked. Then he waved his hand over the Colonel's face a bit, watching for a reaction. Then he blinked again, and a third time for good measure.

The Colonel had gone to sleep.

The Colonel had stretched out on the grass next to Ed and gone to sleep.

That was so far from normal that it took Ed's brain a minute to actually process the whole thing.

It wasn't just that the Colonel was sleeping (something Ed had long wondered if he was capable of), but that he was sleeping peacefully, next to Ed. That he trusted Ed not to kill him in his sleep, or leave him there - not defenseless, but certainly not at his most alert, either.

Ed was baffled. There was no logical reason for the Colonel to trust him that much just because of one sort of peaceful afternoon - people didn't change that quickly. Especially not people like the Colonel, who wasn't exactly trusting to begin with. That implied--

That implied that the Colonel already trusted him like that.

Ed fell over backwards onto the grass, deciding that he may as well get comfortable if he was going to come to conclusions like that. Before he had a chance to really start thinking about it, though, Roy rolled over. Right onto Ed's shoulder. And settled in quite comfortably.

Ed's brain stopped. When a minute passed and the situation showed no signs of changing, he tentatively looked down at the perfectly innocent looking Colonel and wondered if the bastard had planned this. There wasn't really a reason for him to do so, but Ed was naturally suspicious, and doubly so when the Colonel was involved. This time, though, Ed couldn't think of any sort of ulterior motive, even for the Colonel. Ed glanced around the park, wondering if anyone was watching them, and found the area empty - even the mother had packed up and gone home.

Well, Ed thought, settling back a bit more comfortably and looking down at Roy, at least this gave him something to hold over the Colonel during their next fight...
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