Alphonse was quietly reading away the morning as he waited for any of the two boys to wake up, even though Edward didn't sound like he was going to wake up any time soon by how much he was snoring. Alphonse worried about whether he was straining his throat or not while doing it but decided to leave it be unless Edward openly complained about his throat... which he, frankly, most like would do at this rate.

Thankfully, it wouldn't be long until Alphonse finally gained company as Roy groggily woke up minutes later. Alphonse lifted a hand in silent greeting to the seemingly exhausted Colonel, who only returned an acknowledging nod before heading over to the bathroom with some clothes to shower and change before going to work.

Add another fifteen minutes and Roy returned in his military uniform looking as sharp as always, approaching the two boys to check on the eldest.

"His temperature went down?" Alphonse whispered happily as Roy set his hand on the boy's forehead and returned a satisfied nod to Alphonse before going to the kitchen to make himself some coffee while the clanking armour followed along to do it instead, which Roy was grateful for.

"Apologies, but I'm afraid I'm not much of the breakfast type so Fullmetal will have to grab something to eat elsewhere. I have to go to work in a few minutes anyway."

"No, I'll take care of that when we return to our hotel so it's fine, you've already done so much, Colonel!" Alphonse said as he gave the steaming hot cup of coffee to Roy who casually sipped it, and the boy wondered how it was like. Alphonse had actually never drank coffee due how young he had been when he lost his body, so he wondered if it was as bitter as people complained.

But in any cases, Roy's awaking reminded the boy that something had been bothering him over the night so he fidgeted a bit before asking Roy. "Umm... Colonel?" Roy replied a sound of interrogation without real words as he continued sipping his coffee.

"Why did you help out Brother after all that?"

"Like I said, if I were to leave him alone with you while he's sick, it's likely he'd transmute you into the floor to escape again." Alphonse laughed nervously at this, there had been times where Edward resorted to such extreme solutions to get away from Alphonse's mother-like care, but the armoured boy didn't expect Roy to know about it.

"Well, I don't only mean that, you could have left him with in my care and not bother to head to Lieutenant Colonel Hughes's grave with me to hit him back into being reasonable, considering how cold Brother has been to you..." Alphonse explained as Roy rose an eyebrow to the choice of words and silently pondered before taking a final sip of his coffee and washing the cup.

"Let's say I wanted to make sure we put this behind us now."

"Why?"

"I can't make fun of Fullmetal's short temper if he openly avoids me, now, can I?" Roy replied with a smirk, turning into a grin once he heard Edward groaning in anger on the couch, which made Alphonse slightly laugh in answer. "But it's nothing to thank me about." Roy said before quickly glancing at the time, tapping Alphonse on the shoulder before the boy could add anything.

"It's time for me to go to work. Don't wake up Fullmetal, though." Both Roy and Alphonse had realised how tired the blond was so they silently agreed to just drop him off while he was still asleep, and Roy quite enjoyed the idea of a silent morning. But before heading out completely of the apartment, Roy called out to Alphonse a last time.

"Also."

"Hm?"

"Though I won't apologise, I didn't hit Fullmetal just for the sake of it because I was angry, even if I was." Roy stated with his back turned to Alphonse and a hand on the doorknob. "I just didn't know of any other way to get through to his thick skull without breaking it open slightly."

"Well, Brother is stubborn and – wait, break it?!" Alphonse exclaimed in fear, but Roy only shrugged as he left the apartment. He couldn't be serious, right? Alphonse wanted to fully believe he was kidding, but perhaps he should check for himself later on, he thought as he started to pick up the snoring Edward and followed the Colonel who was waiting outside to close the door after the armour.

Alphonse and Roy somewhat struggled getting Edward in a decent position without waking it up, but somehow they had managed and Roy decided to do a bit of conversation with Alphonse whilst the eldest was asleep; he actually didn't recall many times where he'd spoken to Alphonse alone without Edward.

"By the way, there's something I wanted to ask you."

"Yes?" Alphonse replied politely despite his struggles to get himself in a more... comfortable position that wouldn't scratch Roy's car. "Would you happen to know why Fullmetal came and fell asleep in my office a few days ago? Surely there'd be a better place to sleep in rather than your nemesis' workplace?"

"...Eh?" Alphonse was confused for a minute as he looked at Edward, but Roy could feel the boy was slowly coming out of his confusion and was starting to seethe inside. "What do you mean, Colonel?" The boy rarely got angry so the sound of frigidity in Alphonse's voice sent chills down Roy's back.

The time for the youngest brother to pull him back out of the car approached after a long ride made relaxing by the calm rain around them. Edward shifted a bit at the cold and sharp touch of some parts of Alphonse's body as Roy held the umbrella over both of them, but he seemed too drained by his cold to bother fully waking up.

"Now then, Colonel." Alphonse called out to Roy a final time before he entered the hotel. "Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome." Roy returned an acknowledging nod before placing a request for the boy technically under his command and accordingly handing over a piece of paper he'd quickly scribbled for him. "Before you go, can you give Fullmetal something for me when he wakes up?"

"Okay?"

Waking up was rough, but it wasn't as bad as the previous night. Edward's head still hurt but only slightly compared to the migraines he'd been getting lately, which were arguably his own fault. A hoarse groan came out of his dehydrated throat as he forced his eyes open.

"Brother, what's wrong?"

"Al... water..." The boy called out, surely believing his brother was really nearby enough to hear his whimpering, and he was correct. Alphonse clattered loudly as he hurried to oblige, handing over a glass of water to Edward who was trying to get his eyes to focus on his surroundings.

"Brother, are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, my throat's just really dried out."

He took a sip while his eyes finally registered what they were seeing, causing him to frown in confusion.

"...This isn't the Colonel's house. How long have I been out for?"

"A while. It's three in the afternoon and the Colonel dropped us off this morning." A long-winded sigh came out as Edward rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion; the Colonel would definitely use all those favours against him.

Roy was already a slave driver to begin with, so the idea that he owed him so much in just three days made Edward's skin crawl. But perhaps the Colonel would let him off? He had been unexpectedly kind during that time and it was entirely possible that he wouldn't blame Edward for it.

(I mean, he can be a good person when he tries...) Edward thought in a rare compliment for Roy, until Alphonse tapped his shoulder and gave him a piece of paper.

"The Colonel asked me to give you this."

"Huh. What's it about?"

Alphonse looked at Edward expectedly as he had no idea of what was written in the small piece of paper; the boy wasn't plagued by the rude curiosity his elder brother had after all. But the looming, yet dangerous silence that reigned their room worried Alphonse as Edward read on with his fists clenching on the small note.

…

…

…

An explosion.

"That asshole, I knew he'd pull that on me! This is the last time I'm ever going to worry about that shithead! Shit-eater! I'll kill him and dig his ass in a muddy hole filled with rain, that useless piece of shit!" Edward screeched out for the whole hotel to hear almost scaring Alphonse to death; the boy found himself once again thankful for his metal body rendering him incapable of having a heart attack. He tried slamming a hand on his brother's mouth but it only slightly helped.

"Brother, stop cursing so loudly! And don't give the Colonel death wishes!"

For the next five minutes, Alphonse would try to calm his enraged brother down until he sobered up himself by having another coughing fit thanks to all the yelling. Alphonse forced him into the bathroom to take cough syrup and took a quick glance at the note while Edward was reluctantly obeying with full intentions to curse Roy out as soon as his throat felt better.

Alphonse opened the note and could only openly sweatdrop at what was written inside.

"Yo, Fullmetal.
Glad to see that cold of yours hasn't been impacting you that badly, I hope you'll get better soon... Because I can't wait to slave you around for all the problems you've caused me for the last three days."

Even the armoured boy who usually always believed in genuinely good intentions had thought that was too kind for the Colonel, considering he gave that to Edward, and his suspicions were confirmed. With a closer look, there was a really small addition to the note that Alphonse had almost missed, but even as he strained himself to understand it, Alphonse couldn't comprehend what the Colonel could have meant.

"P.S: And for Christ's sake, don't make me open up to you again. It feels unbelievably awkward to have to be honest with a pint-sized, tactless garden dwarf such as yourself, and even slightly disgusting to some degrees..."

"Brother?" Alphonse called out as he joined Edward in the bathroom, restraining himself from breaking the mirror with his left hand. "What did the Colonel mean by "opening up to you"?" The long snarl he received as a reply originally warned Alphonse he was better off running away before Edward exploded again to recount the tale, but he was reminded of something else...

"Oh right, Brother..." Edward froze at the chilling tone of his usually kind brother, having a vague idea of why his brother would be so pissed. "Do you care to explain to me why you apparently fell asleep after dropping out your report and ultimately never did what we agreed on?"

"Umm... Well, about that, haha... It's fine, it's fine, everything is solved anyway and... Look at the time!"

Edward tried to run out of the hotel room, chased by Alphonse who was shouting out his brother's name.

"I wonder what Edward came to the office for, in the end?" Hawkeye asked as she stood still by her superior's side, waiting for him to finish his work so that they'd all call it a day as she thankfully noted the rain would probably stop soon. It had been pouring for a long while now, after all, a bit of long-lasting sun would definitely do them some good.

"According to Alphonse, it seems he wanted to apologise to me." Roy commented in an amused manner as he had never imagined, even in his wildest dreams, that Edward would do the first step towards apologising to Roy.

Well, he never actually did since the visit to the office took an odd turn, but the thought alone did please Roy. Perhaps the boy was growing up after all... mentally. Definitely not physically. "Really now." Hawkeye replied in a somewhat surprised manner at the idea as she gradually realised the Colonel's thoughts had already shifted elsewhere.

"I wonder how well he's taken that note I left him. It's a shame I've had to miss out on that." His trademark amused smirk decorated his baby-face as he imagined the whole lot of insults that were being thrown his way, only earning himself a disapproving look and sigh from Hawkeye.

But the Colonel's smirk also showed a tint of reassurance as it was no joke that he told to Alphonse; it would be indeed sad if Roy couldn't tease Edward about his height any longer, after all.

Author's Note: ...Okay, I might have underestimated life's abilities at keeping me away from the computer, but I still somehow made it in time for FMA day. Yay. With this, I conclude Better Understanding with a bit more focus on Alphonse who's been sitting in the back-seat for a little while. Perhaps I should give Parental!RoyxAlphonse a go at some point?

In any cases, though this month-long absence thanks to RL got me rusted for writing the epilogue, thanks for reading, favouring and reviewing my story, everyone! I hope people will continue to enjoy it even way after it's completed.

Rethy, out!