Maturity
Cephied Variable

Edward Elric was rather pleased with himself. Not only was he the youngest state alchemist in the military, he was pretty certain the he was the only one of Colonel Mustang's subordinates who had ever been taken out to lunch by the Colonel personally.

Well, Al had been invited too, but that was more a formality. Common sense and all that.

But nevertheless, Ed felt like an adult as he strolled alongside the Colonel, chatting casually (and a bit slyly) about the specifics of his latest mission. He felt tall. Al trailed behind a few feet, distracted by the things on display in the store windows, but not Edward. He dealt with official military business, detailing how he had finally disposed of the feared bandits who had hounded the roads leading into West City. The Colonel laughed and Ed smirked: 'How's that, you bastard? Now you have to admit I'm the best you've got.'

He was thinking of telling Al to go back to the base and stay with Hawkeye and the others for a while. After all, it was next to impossible to have a truly romantic date when your kid brother was tagging along.

Ed did a little mental staggering there. Date? When had this become a date? He blinked and recovered quickly, continuing the conversation without pause. Of course this was a date! What else would it be? He hoped the Colonel would take him someplace expensive- one of those weird candle-lit joints where every meal cost at least half a month's pay. He certainly deserved something special, something classy, something grown-up what with the crap he put up with from his commanding officer.

He could imagine it now- the firelight dancing in Colonel Mustang's eyes, a long, white hand (ungloved) covering his own. Maybe even...

... the image was shattered when the Colonel rustled Ed's hair condescendingly and asked him what flavour of ice cream he wanted.

fin.