Chapter 9 – Misconceptions

Ed scowled and rested her chin on her palm, staring blankly out the compartment window at the passing scenery as their train pulled out of Central station. Sitting beside her, Major Brogan had already fallen asleep, both of his hulking automail arms crossed over his chest and his thick legs stretched out in front of him. In the seat across from theirs, Lieutenant Maddox was watching the rest of the train's occupants with his one good eye, while Captain Ridge was humming to himself while flipping through that morning's newspaper.

Under Olivier's instruction the day before, they had actually opted not to ride the military train, choosing instead to take the normal civilian train so as to avoid drawing any attention from the townsfolk when they arrived in Bethany. The payoff for that, of course, was that they'd arrive a few hours later in Bethany than the miltary train would, so it also meant that they had less time to complete their assignment.

To honest, Ed didn't really mind it all that much though.

She actually liked the civilian train, and she had ridden it enough times with Al back when she had first joined the military so she was familiar with its compartments.

And besides, it wasn't like a lot of people were likely to approach them anyway. It didn't even matter that Olivier had instructed them not to wear their uniforms until they got to the Bethany facility because Ed seriously doubted anyone was going to try striking up a friendly conversation with her, given her terrifying entourage of hulking companions.

Smirking to herself at the thought, Ed turned away from the window to cast Maddox a bored look.

"Maddox, I really gotta ask." She leaned back comfortably against her seat and gestured to her left eye. "How did you lose your eye anyway?" She asked bluntly, giving him a curious look.

"Heh, you know for a girl, you're pretty gutsy." Maddox snorted at the directness of her question and gave her an amused smirk. "D'you know you're the first person to ask me that to my face in about five years?" He drawled.

"The last person who asked him that was drunk. Ended with him and Maddox here getting themselves kicked out of a bar for destroyin' private property." Ridge suddenly piped in with a knowing grin.

Brogan, who the whole team knew wasn't a particularly vocal person and chose to spoke only in low grunts and occasional one-word sentences, opened a single eye at Ridge's words and voiced his agreement with a snort.

"Yeah, I forgot to warn you. I don't really have a filter between my mind and my mouth." Ed admitted, smirking and waving Ridge's comment aside. "So really, how did you lose it?"

"Skirmish in Briggs against the Drachmans." Ridge was the one who answered cheerfully, looking up as he turned another page of his newspaper. "One of their guys fired a stray explosive into a wooden barricade and blam! Stray piece flew and hit Maddox here right in his left peeper!" He cackled, earning an irritated look from Maddox.

"That's gotta hurt." Ed winced at that and made a face.

"Eh, I got a spare anyway." Maddox snorted as he gestured to his remaining good eye. "Figured there was always a reason we were given two eyes." He added, shrugging.

"Right." Ed drawled sarcastically, giving him an amused look.

Shaking her head, she was just about to rifle through her luggage for one of her favorite alchemy books when the newspaper that Ridge was reading suddenly caught her eye. Without thinking, she looked up and suddenly found herself staring at a picture of Ling and his new fiancee – splashed out on the front page. She stiffened just then, her features involuntarily coming together into a slight scowl which, unfortunately, Ridge noticed.

"Have you seen this, Lieutenant Colonel?" He turned the newspaper over and gestured to the picture with a knowing look on his face. "D'you know that the new Emperor of Xing is just your age? Your age, can you believe that?!And already, he's the ruler of his own country and supposed to be gettin' married to his first bride next month."

"First bride?" Maddox snorted in disbelief. "Exactly how many is he entitled to have anyway?"

"About fifty." Ed answered flatly as she turned back to glare sullenly out the window. "One Empress, and then he takes the daughter of the Chief from each of their country's forty nine other clans."

"Holy hell, fifty?! No wonder they gotta get him married young, the lucky bastard, how's a man supposed to summon that energy to sleep with that many wives?!" Maddox exclaimed, bursting out into loud guffaws.

"It ain't meant to be lascivious, you sick bastard. It's a way to make sure the Emperor has an available heir from each clan, and a way to make sure each clan is bound in blood to him." Ed answered huffily, looking annoyed at Maddox's reaction.

"Still, how's a man supposed to keep track of that many wives? I'll bet he wouldn't even remember all of their names." Ridge commented with a shake of his head.

Brogan, who they all thought had been asleep up till that time, grunted in agreement before he closed his eyes again, shifted his position several times, and then promptly fell back asleep.

"His first wife is the only one who takes the title of Empress, and gets to live with him in the palace. The others are just given a scheduled time with him to make sure he sires at least one heir from each clan." Ed explained distractedly, idly playing with the ring dangling from her necklace while staring blankly at the scenery visible from the train's compartment window.

"The hell d'you know so much about Xing's customs and traditions anyway, blondie?" Maddox grunted as he turned his single eye so that he was staring suspiciously at Edeline.

To her surprise, Ed didn't even have the energy to snap at him or to put the lower-ranking soldier in his place for daring to call her by such an obnoxiously derogatory nickname.

Instead, she snorted at his words and looked away from the window to give him a pointed glare.

"Because my brother is dating a Xingese princess, you stupid shit-head." She retorted irritably, rolling her eyes and turning away from him. "And besides, after I resigned from the military, I also spent more than two years in Xing studying Alkahestry so I was kinda forced to learn their customs."

Truth be told, that wasn't entirely true.

The real reason that Ed knew so much about Xing's customs was because she was almost engaged to its current Emperor, but then again, none of her companions really needed to know that bit of information.

"You were in Xing for that long, Ma'am?" Ridge looked up from his newspaper and gave her a surprised look. "Did you get to meet any other members of the Royal Family? How about the Emperor, did you meet him? I hear he's very smart and charismatic."

"Oh yeah. I met him." Ed muttered sarcastically, a strange smile forming on her face as she stared blankly out the window without actually being able to see anything. "He's definitely an interesting character."

"I also heard Xing was a beautiful country." Ridge mused out loud, a winsome smile on his face. "After their mother died, I promised my daughters that I would save up and take them somewhere really nice one of these days. Maybe I'll take them to Xing."

"You might want to keep them away from that Emperor though, lest you want them to be chosen as another one of them brides." Maddox quipped lewdly, chuckling and shaking his head.

"All of my daughters are too young to get married." Ridge glared angrily at him, looking unamused by his comment. "My oldest one is just 16. Hell, they're practically your age, Lieutenant Colonel. I mean, would you want to get married at such a young age?"

"I am not 16!" Ed snapped back sharply at him, surprising herself and them when her golden eyes suddenly flared with anger. "And of course not, who the fuck in their right mind would willingly get married so young?" She growled.

"It ain't always about age, you know." Maddox pointed out as he chuckled and twirled his pocketknife idly around his gigantic fingers. "You know my sister? She was only 18 when she married this snooty, fancy-talking businessman who came visitin' our town. He was more than 10 years older than her too but it didn't really matter to her." He told them.

"They weren't bothered by their age difference?" Ridge asked him, looking skeptical.

"Nah." Maddox shook his head and reached into the pocket of his thick coat, taking out a small, silver flask. "Said somethin' about age don't matter when it comes to love or whatever, I don't really know." He shrugged at her before taking a long swig.

Even though Ed was pretending not to listen to their conversation, she frowned slightly at Maddox's words. She eventually decided not to take a page out of Brogan's book and not say anything. Instead, she rested her chin on her palm and turned back to stare out of their compartment window in heavy, contemplative silence.

Sergeant Liam Wagner arrived in front of Bethany station at exactly 1PM in the afternoon that day.

Unfortunately, his CO hadn't exactly given him an exact description of the Central officers he was supposed to be looking for. Having been stationed in Bethany for most of his professional life, he didn't often receive a lot of news about famous alchemists over the years, though he had heard enough rumors about the feats of the notorious Fullmetal Alchemist to know that he would probably recognize him the minute he saw him.

And sure enough, as he stared at the passengers walking about the station, he wasn't disappointed.

Even without their military uniforms, it wasn't difficult to notice the trio of tall, hulking men who had gathered around the payphone near the very back of the station. One of them, Wagner noticed, was the tallest of them all, with thick, frizzy black hair and bushy eyebrows. Both of his arms were automail and he towered over his other two companions, so Wagner immediately jumped to the conclusion that he was most likely the Fullmetal Alchemist he was looking for.

With that thought in mind, he approached the party cautiously and when he caught their attention, he offered the trio a nervous smile and greeted them with a formal salute.

"Welcome to Bethany, Sirs." He waited until they acknowledged him before he relaxed his stance. "My name is Sergeant Wagner. I was instructed by Colonel Lange to meet you here and accompany you to the facility."

When neither of the three men responded right away and just stared at him, Wagner hesitanly thrust his hand forward towards the large man with automail arms and gave him a cautious smile.

"And may I just say, Fullmetal, sir, that it is an honor to be working with the hero of Amestris. We've heard so many stories of what you and your brother did three years ago." He averred, causing the automailed man to blink at him and give him a look that suggested that he thought Wagner was an idiot.

When the man continued to stare at his outstretched hand in cold, seemingly affronted silence, Wagner slowly lowered his hand and swallowed the lump in his throat. Laughing nervously, he took a step back and turned his attention to the other two men who were smirking at him. Fortunately, he was saved from having to say anything when one of them, the man with shaggy brown hair pulled into a ponytail, finally took pity on him and extended his hand.

"Good morning, Sergeant. My name is Captain Ridge, and these two here—" He pointed at the two other men beside him. "–are Lieutenant Maddox and Major Brogan. We were sent here by Lieutenant General Armstrong to accompany the Fullmetal Alchemist." He told him.

Wagner blinked stupidly at his words and his gaze flicked back and forth questioningly between Captain Ridge and the other two he had introduced. He hadn't failed to notice that the man he had pointed to as Major Brogan was actually the same man who Wager had originally thought was the Fullmetal Alchemist, so he was more than a little confused – and definitely embarrassed – by now.

So that big guy…is not…?

"I—I beg your pardon, Sir?" He stammered nervously, flicking his gaze back and forth between Ridge and Brogan.

"Brogan here ain't the Fullmetal Alchemist, soldier. You ought to learn to pay more attention." Maddox answered bluntly, snorting and shaking his head with a smirk. "Gotta say, it was a little funny watchin' you try to introduce yourself to him like that though." He commented derisively.

Brogan grunted in agreement at Maddox' words and leveled Wagner with a disdainful sneer.

"I—I…I apologize, Sirs! It was my mistake." Wagner stammered, trying not to wince when he felt himself break out into a cold sweat. "If I may ask, Sirs, where is er…the Fullmetal Alchemist?" He asked uncertainly, flicking his gaze back to Ridge, since he obviously seemed to be the nicest one out of the three.

"The Lieutenant Colonel's just in the phonebooth talkin' to her brother but she should be about done by now." Ridge answered as he gestured over his shoulder.

When he saw the confusion on Wagner's face, Lieutenant Maddox rolled his one good eye at him while both Captain Ridge and Major Brogan stepped aside and finally allowed him to see the person the three of them had apparently been hiding from plain sight. Once Wagner caught a good glimpse of the pretty blonde conversing loudly in the phonebooth however, his jaw dropped and he couldn't help staring dumbly at the girl in the black leather pants and bright red coat who was, apparently, the real Fullmetal Alchemist.

From where he stood, Wagner saw that she was playing idly with her alchemist watch by tossing it up and down with her left hand, and that in itself would have been impressive enough if not for the fact that, he guessed, by her appearance alone, she couldn't have been older than 19 or 20 and already, she was a Lieutenant Colonel.

Since she was conversing loudly on the phone with someone, she hadn't noticed Wagner gaping dumbly at her yet, but he did manage to hear snippets of her conversation.

"Al, seriously, you're worrying too much about this! I'll be back in Central by Friday, it'll be fine!"

Wagner hesitantly began to approach her but he froze when Major Brogan grunted and stepped directly in front of him to block his path, causing him to halt immediately in his tracks.

"Yes, I promise to call you every day. And yes, don't worry, I won't show anyone my watch. Jeez, you're almost as bad as the Bastard. He made such a stupid fuss about this too."

Smiling nervously at the larger man, Wagner took a careful step backward and wisely decided to wait for the young blonde alchemist to finish her conversation before he approached her.

"Of course I shouted at him, he was being a bastard, how could I not? Anyway, I gotta go, I gotta head down to the facility and report in. Alright already, I promise to call you again tonight, okay? Yeah, yeah, okay. Bye then."

After she slid the phone back into its receiver, the blonde girl finally seemed to notice that Wagner was staring uncertainly at her from outside the phonebooth. She looked amused at his flabbergasted expression and shot him a cheeky grin and wink before she shoved the doors of the phonebooth open and strode toward him with a slender hand outstretched.

"Sorry about that." She shook his hand briskly before stepping back and shoving it into the pocket of her long red jacket. "Had to check in with my brother, he just wanted to make sure I got here safely. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, soldier. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Edeline Elric. You are—?" She returned his stunned expression with an expectant arch of one slim blonde eyebrow.

"Sergeant Liam Wagner, Ma'am!" Wagner squeaked as he immediately stood to attention and gave the higher-ranking officer a customary salute. "It's an honor, Lieutenant Colonel, to meet you! I apologize if you had to wait for me a bit, I encountered a minor scuffle on the way here—"

"Nah, that's fine, Sergeant. We just got here, actually." The Lieutenant Colonel waved his apologies aside and bent down to retrieve the large luggage by her feet which, Wagner couldn't help but notice, looked almost large and heavy enough to fit her.

More out of gentlemanly instinct than anything else, he tried to take the luggage from her, but before he could even reach it, she growled and snatched it away, glaring at him as though he had just insulted her. When he stammered an apology and hastily moved away, she rolled her eyes at him and proceeded to walk towards the station exit.

Wordlessly, as he trailed after the Lieutenant Colonel and her entourage, Wagner couldn't help but continue to glance curiously at the young blonde officer in amazement.

A few years ago, he remembered being awed when he was introduced to Roy Mustang, the Hero of Ishval and the famous Flame Alchemist, who had apparently been promoted to the rank of Colonel when he was only 26 years old. Apparently, brilliance seemed to be something of a trend nowadays because here he was again, awed, as he stared at the Lieutenant Colonel, who was undoubtedly the youngest officer in the history of the Amestris military.

More importantly, Wagner was absolutely floored at the realization that the famous Fullmetal Alchemist was, in fact, a woman. He had heard of so many stories from his colleagues about everything the Elric siblings had done three years ago, but not one of them had bothered to mention the Fullmetal Alchemist's gender.

He found the discovery more than a little bit unsettling.

Unfortunately, as Wagner continued to gape at the Lieutenant Colonel with that same starstruck expression on his face, she finally noticed the way he was staring at her and she stopped, whirling around to give him an irritated glare.

"Is there something you want to say to me, Sergeant?" She asked sharply.

"N—nothing, Ma'am!" Wagner froze in place and automatically saluted again, frantically shaking his head as he heard the laughing jeers from her other three companions.

When Ed continued to sneer suspiciously at him, obviously not buying his answer, Wagner relented, though from his own personal experience dealing with female soldiers, he wisely decided not to tell her his thoughts about the whole 'youngest officer' thing.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. It's just that…Well—to be honest, I just never knew that the Fullmetal Alchemist was a woman." He admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

To his immense relief, instead of looking angry by his statement, the Lieutenant Colonel only seemed to look mildly annoyed. Grumbling a few interesting curses under her breath, she rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively at him.

"Yeah well, they do tend to downplay that fact a lot." She told him, letting out a derisive scoff. "I guess most of the stupid sexist assholes in the military who hear about me like to delude themselves by immediately assuming I'm a male. You can imagine the reaction I usually get when they finally see that I have breasts."

"I do apologize, Ma'am." Wagner blushed when her words inadvertently caused his eyes to drop down to the low neckline of her black tank top. When her golden eyes flashed warningly at him, however, he swallowed and hastily pulled his gaze away, ducking his head down to avoid meeting the blonde's terrifying glare.

Unperturbed by his reaction, the Lieutenant Colonel just smirked but instead of calling him out on his staring, she grunted and turned around, following the rest of her companions to the station exit. Just before they reached the entryway leading to the parking area, however, she seemed to pause in the middle of the platform again and she glanced suspiciously over her shoulder, a frown marring her features.

When he noticed her expression, Wagner froze a few steps behind her and gave her a concerned look. He followed her suspicious glare to where she was staring intently somewhere at the back of the station.

"Lieutenant Colonel?"

"Hmm?"

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

After a few more seconds of tense silence, the Lieutenant Colonel finally tore her gaze away from whatever it was she had been staring at and shot a distracted glance at him over her shoulder.

"It's nothing. It's just…For a minute there, it almost felt as though someone was watching me, that's all." She muttered under her breath, mostly to herself, before she finally sighed, shook the thoughts away and gave him an expectant look.

"So…You do have a car right, Sergeant?"

Roy was desperately trying hard not to space out while listening to his date's endless, lively chatter as he drove her back home in his car that evening.

To be fair, Emilia was a pretty attractive woman – he had to at least give her that.

She was most probably his age, with long red curls, smoky gray eyes and a curvaceous body that was certainly enough to have drawn his attention the first time he had met her in a bar one night but, unfortunately, after the initial attraction had died out, Roy realized that her looks were just about the only thing she had going for her.

All throughout dinner, she had spent the entire time talking about her hair and afterwards, when they finally got out of the restaurant and Roy offered to drive her home, she spent most of the ride complaining about how none of the waiters in the restaurant had managed get her order correctly – which, to be honest, Roy couldn't really blame them for considering how ridiculously inane some of her requests were.

Who in their right mind orders a chocolate cake for dessert but without any frosting? Roy thought irritably to himself, gritting his teeth and offering her a charming smile to mask the frustration he actually felt.

Fortunately, Emilia didn't seem to notice his distraction so she went on with whatever it was she was talking about, allowing Roy's mind to eventually wander off again and think about work for the rest of the trip.

Within a few minutes, they finally reached Emilia's house but when he parked the car out in front and turned to bid her goodnight, she gave him a flirtatious smile and reached out coyly to play with his collar.

"So…Do you want to come up for a drink?" She asked playfully, batting her eyelashes at him.

"I'd love to." Roy blinked and smiled back politely at her but he shook his head and gently, but firmly extracted her hands away from his collar. "But unfortunately, I should probably get home. I have a couple more reports for work to finish for tomorrow." He lied, giving her an apologetic smile.

"Are you serious? You really don't want to come in for a bit?" Emilia blinked a couple of times at his response, as though she genuinely couldn't believe that he was refusing her. "You do realize what I'm offering right?" She asked bluntly, giving him a look as though she thought he was the dumbest person alive.

"I'm really sorry." Roy's left eye twitched at the haughtiness in her voice and his jaw clenched in annoyance but he managed to stifle his reaction by giving her another charming, albeit, tight smile. "But I had a great time tonight, Emilia. I'll call you soon and maybe we can have dinner again sometime, alright?"

Yeah right. Like I'll ever put myself through that again. Roy thought inwardly to himself.

"Fine, whatever." Emilia rolled her eyes at him and, flipping her hair dismissively over her shoulder, she gave him one last affronted glare before she popped open the car doors and slid out.

"Humph. Jerk."

As she stalked angrily to her front door, refusing to look back at him, Roy peered out through his car window and he gave her an amused look.

"Have a good night, Emilia." He said pointedly, smirking.

Instead of answering, she slammed the doors to her house shut, the sound echoing in the silence of the night and causing Roy to wince in spite of himself when it drew some of the other people walking along the street to glance curiously at him. Shaking his head, he let out a weary sigh and finally started the car, driving carefully out of the driveway and back onto the street.

He had actually considered cancelling his dinner date with Emilia the minute he realized his feelings for Edeline two days ago. Unfortunately, he had already set this date up with Emilia more than a week before then so he figured it would have been horribly rude of him to cancel out on her last minute.

In hindsight, he probably should have cancelled anyway, considering how he had spent most of dinner that evening staring absentmindedly at his plate and worrying about how Ed was doing in Bethany. Hawkeye hadn't reported in to him yet since she had only arrived the day before, so he had absolutely no idea yet what was happening, and short of actually going there himself, he had absolutely no way of knowing if Ed was alright.

Roy shook his head at himself and carefully maneuvered his car around a corner that led to his street.

It didn't take long for him to reach his house and, after he had parked his car, he trudged slowly up the entrance steps, unlocked the front doors and stepped into the dimly lit hallway.

Ever since the Promised Day, Roy always made sure to leave at least one light on in the hallway before he left his house. It consumed electricity needlessly, he knew that, but one time, when he had woken up past his alarm and was late for work, he had accidentally rushed out of the house and had forgotten to leave the light on. When he came home that evening and walked into a pitch black house, he nearly collapsed onto the floor and sent himself into a mini-panic attack.

And Roy absolutely never wanted to experience something like that ever again.

With a sigh, Roy flipped on the remaining lights in the living room before he proceeded to the kitchen.

After pouring himself a glass of whiskey, he walked back to the living room and, using his right hand, he snapped his fingers, igniting a small, cozy flame in the fireplace. Afterwards, he allowed himself to sink down onto the couch in exhaustion and take a long swig of his drink as he stared dazedly into the fire.

He couldn't get Ed out of his head.

Over the three years that they had been separated from each other, she had always been at the back of his mind, floating into his thoughts whenever he was alone or even during the most inappropriate moments. And frankly now that she was back in Central and had obviously matured into this beautiful, self-confident, sexy young woman, Roy felt as though his senses had gone into overdrive.

It was always so much easier back then.

At least, when Ed had been younger, Roy could always use the excuse that she was a minor and his subordinate to cage his inappropriate attraction to her and keep it at arm's length. Now, however, both of those reasons were gone and that fragile barrier had been broken – his emotions were now running wild and Roy had no idea how to control them, or at least slow them down.

And if anything, Roy knew that it was very important for him not to move too fast with his feelings.

He had to keep his advances subtle.

Edeline was stillquite young after all, and she probably still thought of Roy as a mentor-figure in her life, so he figured he should probably start making his romantic intentions known to her through little, heartfelt gestures.

Roy considered that for awhile as he took another sip of his drink and gazed thoughtfully at the fire.

He could ask her out on a few dinner dates first; maybe give her some flowers the way he always did with the other women he went out with – but, no. That wouldn't work because Ed wasn't like all those other women. She probably wouldn't even like flowers, and just what exactly were they supposed to talk about at dinner? The only subject they could talk about without tearing each other's throats out was alchemy and Roy seriously doubted they could talk about alchemy every single time he asked her out on a date.

Roy scoffed to himself and scowled at the idea.

He did know that a simple confession wouldn't be enough to convince her though. Roy had to make sure that she understood completely that he intended to pursue a relationship with her – that he was interested in a whole lot more than just a few platonic kisses on the cheek and holding her hand. In fact, his rather obscenely pornographic dream last night starring the two of them was definitely proof enough of his amorous intentions.

If he wanted to pursue Ed, he definitely had to think of an entirely new approach to all this.

The last thing he wanted to do was to rush her into something that she wasn't ready for.

This was Edeline after all, not just another random woman he had picked up in a bar.

Roy had known her since she was 12 years old, and he had watched her grow up into the confident young woman she was now. And if there was one thing that Roy knew for certain about Edeline Elric from being her parent figure for four years, he knew that the girl was ridiculously skittish when it came to relationships. He also knew from experience that it didn't take a lot to set the girl off and send her running towards the opposite direction.

He remembered the words that Maes had once spoken to him four years ago, back when Roy was still trying to deny his attraction to his minor subordinate.

FLASHBACK

They had just gotten off work and the two of them were having drinks in one of their favorite bars. As usual, Maes was chattering excitedly about how Elicia looked so adorable in her Halloween costume and was showing Roy endless pictures of the little 3-year-old.

Sometime in the middle of their conversation, when Maes began gushing about how Gracia was learning to cook all these new recipes and how she was such a perfect wife, Roy had zoned him out and his eyes inadvertently wandered across the bar, staring at a group of women who were seated a few feet away from them.

One of them, a tall, willowy brunette, caught his attention and when he saw that she was smiling back coyly at him, Roy offered her a bland smile back and eyed her in mild interest. Tossing back the rest of his drink, he cast a quick glance at Maes, and when he saw that his best friend was still rambling about Truth knows what, Roy rolled his eyes and glanced at the brunette again.

When she smiled invitingly at him and beckoned him over to join their group, he briefly considered whether it was worth his time approaching her, but just as he was about to stand up and head over to her table, Maes drew his attention when he elbowed Roy sharply in the ribs.

"Ow! Damn it, Maes!"

"You really have to stop this." Maes chastised him, a disapproving frown on his face as he followed Roy's gaze to the brunette woman across the room. "I mean look at her Roy, she doesn't even look all that pretty, there's way too much make-up on her face—"

"I am aware of that." Roy growled back irritably at him as he grabbed the rest of Maes' beer and down it all in one angry gulp. "And stop what, exactly?!"

"Are you seriously asking me that?" Maes arched a single eyebrow at him and scoffed, glancing at the woman again. "You meet this dim-witted woman at a bar, you buy her a drink, you flirt and do your little fire alchemy trick on her to make her dizzy and fall into your arms—"

Roy's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to try and deny it but Maes just rolled his eyes and went on, ignoring his best friend's irritated glare.

"—then you invite her to dinner, you take her home and sleep with her, and before you know it, you're losing interest again and falling back into your cycle of work, loneliness and solitude. And may I remind you – exactly who is it that you end up calling all the time, in the middle of the night, I might add – to whine and complain like a brat about how you're all alone?" Maes said knowingly, shooting Roy an exasperated glare over his glasses.

"Shut up. I do not whine." Roy retorted, though he flushed slightly at the truth in the other man's words. "And don't judge me, Maes. It's not like I want to keep at this lifestyle! But I do need to date women to find someone for myself, you know. In case you haven't realized, not every manis lucky enough to find the woman he wants to marry right away, you pompous ass." He pointed out, huffing.

"Then just pick one and settle down already, Roy!" Maes exclaimed, laughing as he gestured to the waiter across the room for another round of drinks. "Gracia and I are worried for you, you know. At your age, you've never even had a serious relationship before! What does that say about you, buddy?"

"There's nothing wrong with me. I do plan on settling down." Roy grunted, scowling at him.

"And when is that?"

"I'll settle down when I find the right woman, alright?!" He snapped, ignoring the bewildered look the waiter gave them as he set their drinks down onto the table – no doubt wondering why there were two military officers drinking so much when it wasn't even past dinner time yet.

"Great! Then let's go and find you the right woman then!" Maes grinned widely at him, his eyes gleaming mischievously behind his glasses as he handed him another beer. "So tell me then. What kind of woman are you looking for anyway?"

"Blonde." Roy automatically answered without thinking. "I've always liked long blonde hair. Oh and she has to be beautiful, of course."

"Of course, of course, that's a given." Maes nodded in agreement as he took another sip of his drink.

"She has to be smart too." Roy added after another moment as he frowned to himself in thought. "And I want a woman who's strong and confident about herself, I don't like timid women. Oh and preferably, someone who shares the same hobbies I do."

"I suppose we can work with that." Maes grinned knowingly and used a finger to shove his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Which hobbies are we talking about here?"

Roy paused and took another sip of his drink as he considered Maes' question.

"Reading."

"Anything else?"

"Hmm…Alchemy, I suppose?"

"Are you serious?" Maes froze in the middle of lifting his bottle of beer to his lips and glared disbelievingly at Roy over his glasses. "You realize that kind of narrows your list a little bit, Roy. There are hardly any women alchemists nowadays, let alone beautiful blonde ones. The only person I can think of who actually fits your insane criteria is…Ed."

At the sound of his 15-year-old subordinate's name, Roy automatically stiffened and before he could stop himself, a light flush spread into his pale cheeks. Unfortunately for him, Maes noticed his reaction instantly and the other man's eyes narrowed as he glared accusingly at him, noting the way Roy began fidgeting nervously in his chair.

"Wait a minute—"

"Maes, drop it." Roy growled warningly.

"Long blonde hair, smart, confident likes to read, likes alchemy…holy hell, Roy!" Maes' eyes widened and his jaw dropped open as he stared at Roy as though the other man had suddenly sprouted an extra limb. "Those qualities are Ed! You're—you like Ed! Wow, you're not actually serious about this are you?" He blinked and continued to stare at his best friend in stunned disbelief but Roy just grimaced and glared back at him as though daring him to say anything.

"Ed is fifteen years old, man! I don't even think it's legal to think about her that way yet, are you crazy?!"

"I know that, you idiot!" Roy snarled back irritably at him, setting his beer bottle down noisily onto the table. "I never actually said I was attracted to Fullmetal that way! That'd be against the rules, she's my subordinate, you realize—"

"Are you sure? Because the list of specific criteria you gave me sure fits her description perfectly." Maes drawled sarcastically, snickering at him. "See I knew there was something in the way you were looking at her in that ice cream shop the other day! You know, I had my suspicions but I never actually pegged you to be the cradle-robbing type, Roy." He chuckled, shaking his head.

"I am not a cradle-robber, Maes!" Roy blurted out, looking horrified at the implication. "And don't exaggerate, Ed is not that much younger than me! Besides, you're one to talk. You're older than Gracia too, aren't you?" He accused.

"Yeah, by four years, man! Not fifteen!" Maes exclaimed, laughing.

"It's not that bad!" Roy protested weakly, though even he heard the uncertainty in his own voice.

"Fifteen years? It's a pretty big age gap, Roy." Maes told him pointedly. "I mean, you're twice her age right now. If you think about it, you're practically a generation apart."

"What exactly does that mean?"

"Let me put it this way." Maes smirked at him, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back against his seat. "Elicia likes to call Ed her Big Sister. She calls you her Uncle."

Roy puffed his cheeks out, crossed his arms over his chest and glared indignantly at him.

"That's not funny, Maes."

"Just something you should think about, buddy."

"Will that really matter in the long run, though?" Roy found himself asking as he sighed in defeat and leaned back against his seat.

At the dejected look on the other man's face, Maes finally seemed to take pity on him. He offered him a small, consoling smile and chuckled, patting him comfortingly on the shoulder.

"Probably not." He relented, though Roy knew him well enough to know that a concerned look continued to linger on his face. "But Roy, keep in mind that she's still young enough to raise some eyebrows and stir gossip. Especially from all those conservative, bigot Generals in the military. Can you imagine what they'd say?" Maes scoffed at the thought and shook his head in disgust.

"They're likely to compare you to someone like Dietrich, and we all know that he's nothing but a dirty old man who just wants a hot young piece of ass."

"I'm nothing like that disgusting pervert!"

At Maes' words, Roy instantly stiffened and a surge of righteous anger suddenly erupted from his chest.

Maes sighed and gave him a sympathetic smile. "I know you aren't, man, but trust me. That's exactly what all those traditional old bastards will be thinking if they find out you're dating Edeline. You know that as well as I do."

Roy scowled at that but he couldn't exactly disagree with Maes' words so he decided not to say anything else. Instead, he took another long swig of his beer, desperate to try and wash away the bitter taste that was lingering in his mouth.

As he set his bottle back down noisily onto the table with a loud 'clink', he ran a hand through his messy black hair and leveled Maes with an exasperated glare.

"This is crazy, Maes. Why are we even talking about this anyway? I'm just her CO. In the first place, Ed probably won't even go for someone way older than she is. She'd probably be more interested in dating boys her own age." Roy muttered to himself, deliberately choosing to ignore the bitterness he heard in his own voice.

"Well, you wont exactly know that until you ask her out, will you?" Maes countered easily, chuckling to himself when Roy froze and turned to blink at him in surprise. "Hey, for what it's worth…and from what I've seen from watching the two of you and how you interact with each other, I think there's a slight chance that she might like you too. You should go for it." He grinned teasingly at him and clapped a hand over his shoulder.

"You're serious?" Roy continued to stare and blink questioningly at him, as though not even daring to believe what the other officer had just said. "You really think I should ask her out? You don't think it's a little bit…creepy?" He asked.

"Of course it's creepy." Maes snorted, but when all he got in response was another dejected look from Roy, he let out a long suffering sigh and held his hands up in mock surrender. "Oh for Truth's sake, it's fine, Roy! Just…let's give it a few more years. Let's wait until she's actually of legal age before you ask her out, okay Casanova? I really doubt 'seducing a minor' will look good on your record as future Fuhrer." He kidded, smirking at the irritated glare he earned from the Flame Alchemist in response.

"Seriously, Maes. Stop the underage jokes. They're not funny." Roy deadpanned.

"Alright, alright. I'm just messing with you." Still chuckling, Maes shook his head to himself and grinned before he reached out, placing another comforting hand on Roy's shoulder. "Joking and age differences aside, the more I think about it, the more I actually think that you and Ed might be a pretty good couple. She certainly won't bore you, that's for sure." He admitted reluctantly, looking amused.

"I won't argue with that. That damn brat just can't seem to stay out of trouble." Roy drawled as he snorted in agreement and took another sip of his drink. "But…I don't know, Maes. Maybe this is ridiculous. I mean, this is Edeline we're talking about. She's volatile, she's impulsive, she's so damn unpredictable. I've been looking after her since she was twelve. I can't just suddenly ask her out on a date, she'd freak out and probably stab me—"

"I don't doubt that."

Roy's left eye twitched at his best friend's quip but he decided to pretend he hadn't heard anything and went on.

"—not to mention the fact that she hates me and she drives me absolutely crazy sometimes, that dirty-mouthed little shrimp! I doubt we can even survive going out on a date without killing each other." Roy mused to himself.

"It's kinda funny if you think about it." Maes ignored Roy's nonsensical rambling and smirked knowingly to himself, chuckling into his beer. "I should have known that you'd need someone way younger than you are to match your impaired maturity level, Mustang."

"Shut up."

"It's still your choice, you know."

Roy blinked in confusion at Maes' strange response and turned to look questioningly at him.

"What…?"

"I mean, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what I think. Or what anyone else thinks. It's your choice if you want to risk it and go for her or not, Roy. Well, technically, it's Ed's choice too." Maes added, a thoughtful frown lingering on his face.

After a few seconds, he let out a weary sigh and ran a hand over his stubbled chin. As Roy mulled over his last few words, Maes turned slowly and gave him an uncharacteristically hard, warning glare.

"If you do decide to go for Edeline though, just make sure that you've made up your mind about wanting to actually be with her. You're my best friend and all, Roy, but I do care about that kid a lot. She and Al have been through so much shit already. I don't want you playing around with her feelings and breaking her heart."

Roy smiled weakly at him and ducked his head, a self-depreciating laugh escaping his lips.

"And if she breaks mine?" He quipped lightly.

"Then maybe it'll do you some good, Mustang." Maes scoffed at him, the expression on his face softening into a teasing grin. "You can think of it as payment for all those hearts that you've broken. It'll be like that concept you alchemists keep saying over and over again—equivalent exchange."

Roy chuckled at that but raised his drink and knocked it against Maes' beer bottle in acknowledgment.

"Touché."

The two officers finally fell into a comfortable silence after that and as Maes gestured to the waiter for another bottle of beer, Roy stared thoughtfully at his drink, mulling over his best friend's words. After a few minutes, he looked up and glanced curiously at Maes again, the thought of him and Edeline together lingering in his mind.

"You really think she'd be interested?" He asked quietly.

"Tell you what, Roy."

Maes looked amused at the other man's question and chuckled, taking another sip of his beer.

"Why don't we have this conversation again in about…three to four years time, okay?"

END FLASHBACK

Roy sighed helplessly to himself as he flicked his gaze above the mantle of his fireplace at a photograph of him with Maes and Gracia on their wedding day. His best friend's wide, knowing grin stared back at him and, knowing exactly how smug Maes would have been if he was actually here to witness Roy's sulking, a petulant scowl formed on his face.

"I hate it that you're always right about everything, you smart ass." Roy grumbled under his breath as he stretched his legs out in front of him and sank back against his couch.

"So what do you think, Maes? It's been four years since then…Do you still think I should go for it?"

As he took another sip of his drink, the fire in front of him seemed to flicker and when he noticed it, Roy chuckled to himself and tossed down the last of his whiskey.

"I knew you were going to say that." He mused.

Ever since Maes had gotten married a few years back, the man had done nothing else but set his sights on finding Roy a woman that he could finally settle down with. He had absolutely no doubt that if Maes were with him right now, the man would probably already be planning Roy's wedding.

He had never dared to admit it to Maes, but Roy had actually always envied his best friend for finding his soulmate so early in his life. He had seen how happy Maes was with Gracia, and sometimes, when Roy watched them, he couldn't help but wonder if he could ever have something like that for himself – a beautiful wife, a wonderful family.

It wasn't like dreaming about having a perfect family went against his other dream of becoming a Fuhrer anyway, so he could easily have both.

More importantly, he wondered if he would be able to have that with Edeline.

Roy smirked to himself at the thought, swirling his drink around and staring hopefully at the liquid in his glass.

He didn't know the answer to those thoughts yet, but he was most certainly going to find out.

Notes: Sorry for the rather uneventful chapter! There will be more action in the next one, I promise! I had to get Roy and Maes' conversation out of the way first; it was an important part of character development. Next chapter will probably focus more on Ed and Riza and what they'll be up to in Bethany.

FYI, I know that the actual age difference between Roy and Ed in the anime is 14 years, but I decided to just make it 15 to make it easier to remember for me. Lol. :D