Edward Elric was bored. So very bored, in fact, that during the twenty-five minutes he'd been forced to sit on a very comfortable very expensive black leather couch in one Roy Mustang's office waiting for said owner to show up, he'd resorted to transmuting everything. What the Hell? Mustang was taking forever. He was impatient. Mix the two together, and you get a State Alchemist with a short fuse.
Ever so cautiously, Roy opened the door. Everybody knew to never leave Edward Elric the Shrimp Alchemist alone, with nothing to do, for more than 30 seconds. It'd almost been half an hour. Lord only knows what kind of condition hi-
"Oh my God!" Roy knew it had to be coming, but the state of his office was … there were no words to describe it. His desk, his antique Redwood desk that was passed down to him when his grandfather passed, was in several pieces. Some parts were horse figurines, some were just malformed pieces of wood, and others were morphed into all sorts of shapes and figures. No other piece of furniture, save for most of the leather couch that the devil had been sitting upon, had fared much better. All objects, even the floor and ceiling, had been alchemically altered in some way or another.
"Sorry, Bastard. I don't believe in him." Ed retorted moodily to Roy's exclamation.
"I don't care if you do or don't. But what does that have to do with the mess my office is?" Roy asked, exasperated. His day was perfect. That all just had to change because of some stick-up-her ass social worker. Now, his office was ruined by the same gorgeous, lovable demon spawn that currently sat admiring his handy work, ever the picture of innocence, and would be coming to live with him that night.
"Not my fault that you are," he checked his pocket watch, "almost thirty minutes late. What took you so long, Roy? Have somebody dump water on you? Useless as you are when wet."
As Ed continued on his monologue on what could have made the General late and just how useless he was, said General was starting to get fed up.
"Shut up you ungrateful Shrimp! And put my office back in order while you're at it!" Pride be dammed, Mustang snapped at the shorter alchemist (At least he didn't snap with his fingers). Roy winced in preparation of another one of Ed's short rants. He was supposed to be winning the blonde over so that he would agree to stay and maybe fall in love with him. Insults usually aren't considered all that romantic.
"Who're you calling shorter than a wee midget?" Ed, predictably, yelled. But, in a show of how much he had matured over the years, he clapped his hands, set them on the floor, and restored everything back to its normal place and form.
Roy held his hands up in a peace-making gesture, as if Ed were a wounded animal and wouldn't hesitate to strike if he moved too fast. "I didn't say anything like that, Ed." He said gently, pulling some of that charm that is so famous with the ladies of Central. Edward took a deep breath and calmed down, showing yet another sign of how his years in the military and all of the things he saw while on the road to getting Alphonse's body back had matured him slightly. He was still the not-so-predictable but easily angered blonde teen, but he cooled off much quicker, didn't hold too many grudges, and didn't get so riled up over the little things (no pun intended).
"What did you mean by ungrateful, though? What have you done for me lately?" Ed was sincerely confused by the Brigadier General's word choice.
"We'll talk about that after you've given me the report on the last mission you were on, Ed." Roy ran a hand through his hair, a sure sign that he was stressing.
Midway through Ed's report, Mustang began to realize that all of his predictions on how the younger man would be dressed were true. He hadn't noticed before because he'd been too stressed over his office and the social worker. Now, though, the sight hit him full force. The way the leather stuck to Ed's skin like a second one left fairly little to the imagination. He had to force his eyes away from Ed's neck soon, or else the blonde would catch on.
"What did you do to that building, again?" Roy asked for the fifth time in as many minutes. Ed was indeed beginning to catch on that the General was only there in body. His mind was off in la la land.
"I destroyed it alchemically while I was trying to pin down the man that I was sent after," Ed slowly repeated himself, "Are you okay, Mustang? You seem kind of out of it?" Ed asked. Most would think it odd for him to be so genuinely concerned about a man who he supposedly hated, but it really wasn't. Ed, (*coughnotsocough*) secretly cared for the older man. In what way, he hadn't yet deciphered. Either way, if Roy Mustang was this out of sorts, something serious must be wrong.
"Yes and no," he answered honestly.
"What is it?"
"Before I tell you, no, I didn't get anybody knocked up. And no, you cannot get mad until I am finished. Do you understand?" Roy was met with a curiously confused stare. He assumed that meant that Ed agreed. He took a deep breath. "I got a call from social services today."
"Why?" Ed asked. If he didn't knock some chick up, why else would they call him?
"It was about you, actually, Ed. Your brother, too." Roy told him.
"What about us?" Ed asked cautiously.
"You are both underage and without a legal guardian. They wanted to strip you of your title as State Alchemist and separate you into different foster homes." Ed opened his mouth to say something but Roy held up his hand in a 'not yet, be quiet' gesture. "I volunteered to take you both into my house as your legal guardian. You will come to live with me and I can sign for you to remain in the military." Roy held his crossed fingers under his desk, hoping and praying that Edward would take the news in stride and not blow up on him. He really didn't want to have to fight with the blonde.
"Okay," Ed agreed after some thought.
"Ed! It's the only way you two—Wait. You said yes?"
"Yeah, I mean it's the better alternative here. I'm two months away from eighteen, at which point I would be Al's next of kin and, therefore, his guardian. I live with you for two months, keep my job, and move out when I turn eighteen. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me." Roy was in shock. He thought that Edward hated him. Why on Earth would he actually agree to this no questions asked.
"O-Okay, then," Roy stuttered and cleared his throat. "We need to go get Alphonse and get you two to the police station to fill out the necessary paper work."
"Paperwork? Okay, fine. Let's go get Al from our flat and head there." Ed stood and walked toward the doorway. Roy was having trouble for two reasons. One, he was still pleasantly shocked that that had went so well. Also, Edward's butt was perfectly accentuated by those pants.
"You coming, General? Or are you going to sit there and watch my ass leave all day?"
A few paperwork filled hours later found the three men outside of Roy's house. If it could be called a house, that is. It was more of a small mansion then a house. It was beautiful, with its pristine white siding and stone walkway which was surrounded by expensive looking fountains and a large expanse of flowers and shrubs. The house and the property were both very large and were enclosed by a fence that ran around the entire perimeter.
"It's lovely," Al breathed in awe.
"Thank you, Alphonse," Roy said appreciatively. "It took me a while to pay it off, but I did it without dipping into the family funds. This entire place is really just my being independent from my family's money. I wanted to do it on my own, so I did. Now, how about we go inside and get you two settled."
The inside of the house was just as beautiful as the outside, if not more so. Blues and silvers made up the majority of the color scheme. The foyer had many different portraits and statues of the Mustang family. From what Ed could tell, they went back as far as the family name. In the center was a large, twisting staircase that led to the second floor. Several stories above that, one could see a sun light, which gave the entire place a more natural look. It was the nicest house he had ever seen, and he'd only been two steps into it.
Following Roy's lead, the two younger boys began their ascent up the winding stairs. "Alphonse," Roy said, "You can take this room here and Edward, you can take the one to the right of it. If you need anything, I'm right across the hallway from Ed."
"Thank you, General," Alphonse told him gratefully. Unlike his brother, he had grown sort of fond of the general over the years.
"It's nothing, Al," Roy told him modestly. "Please, though, call me Roy if you're going to be living with me for a while." Al nodded. "Dinner will be on the table by six thirty. If you go back the way we came and hang a left at the foyer, you'll end up in the dining room."
"Thanks, Mustang," Edward said gruffly and went into his new bedroom. He'd never been any good at showing gratitude to anybody, let alone somebody who he's supposed to hate but finds himself caring rather deeply for. It was going to be a long two months.
Upon heading down to start cooking, – yes Roy Mustang could, in fact, cook! – he was immediately bombarded by the sound of the brass knocker beating against his mahogany front door. He sighed and went to answer it, wrenching the do open and greeting his overly happy visitor with an annoyed expression.
"Brigadier General Mustang?" the bubbly, blonde woman asked, holding out her hand.
He looke at it with caution before taking the hand shortly. "Yes. Have we met?"
"Yes and no. We spoke briefly over the phone earlier. I am Wendy Zharnt."
His eyes widened momentarily before slipping into a suspicious glare. "Right. I didn't recognize your voice, Ms. Zharnt. Why are you here? I have adopted the boys, so your job is done."
She faked a smile through her otherwise annoyed expression and spoke in an overcompensating, sugary tone. "Not quite, General. I still must see to it that the boys are happy, safe, and provided for in your home." Cue flirtatious bat of the eyelashes.
He couldn't hold back an annoyed growl. "Well, they are. You're free to go now."
It's her turn to be annoyed now. "Fine. You will be seeing a lot of me in the future though." She then turned on her too-high heel and stomped away, being sure to swing her hips.
A./N.: Wow! One chapter and I already have reviewers and 105 views! I hope you guys like this chapter. Thank you so much for your comments, faves, and follows.
Review Responses:
ankarin: Thanks. Hope this is soon enough
Nikkie23534: Lol. Thank you so much for your comment. Yes, I do believe that Wendy represents the no-gooders of the world. As for the cock blocking, you'll just have to wait and see. *wink*
Mrs. Elric: Wait and see! :P
Kid Darkness: Thank you for your kind review. Hope you liked this update.
RubySaphireMoon: *pokes back* Yup! Hopefully this will last a while.