Work Text:
Timeline: Midseries
Theme 5: Library
Edward slammed several more books onto the table, muttering darkly.
“Brother!” Alphonse hissed admonishingly, looking up from the notes he was taking.
“I don't care!” Edward whispered back fiercely, ignoring the annoyed look of a student from the next aisle, as he turned to the back of his book. A library was not the place to be when you were steeped in anger, but the library was basically the only place they ever went these days.
Well. Except for the places they went against their will. It had taken them a whole stinking month to deal with Mustang's latest problem. A whole month that could have been spent researching the Philosopher's Stone, wasted on the politics of the western region, and all designed to make Mustang look better. And did they get a word of thanks for all the trouble they'd gone to? Of course not. It was always, So I see you've made a few more headlines, Pipsqueak.
“Why does he do that?” Edward grumbled, glaring at the index of his book without taking any of it in.
“Do what?”
With a deep frown, Edward slumped down and rested his chin on the open pages. “Why does he always have to say something about my height? It's like I can't even walk through the door without him making some hilarious joke. I'm not short!”
He closed his eyes wearily, not expecting his brother to answer, because there could be no fathoming that idiot of a colonel. But then Alphonse said softly, “It's because you two are both too proud for him to hug you.”
Immediately, Edward straightened up, staring at the suit of armor in bewilderment. “Say what? ”
Alphonse stared at the pencil between his fingers, spinning it around absently. “It's like...Winry and Granny Pinako. Whenever we go back there, Winry always hits you over the head and Granny scolds you, right? And you get into a fight with Winry, or you just ask Granny what's for dinner. You never say anything like I missed you or I love you. Because you think it would be too awkward to actually say that out loud.”
Edward's cheeks were blazing, but he wondered if Al was right. They never did tell the Rockbells that they missed them, but it was true. Even after burning their house down, they still had ties to Risenpool, and it would have been strange if they didn't miss the friends who had been as close as family for as long as they could remember. But was that the way it was for...?
“Ah, there you are, boys!”
Edward looked up in surprise to see Mustang standing over them, still in his uniform.
“What are you doing here, Colonel?” Alphonse asked.
“Come to gloat, I bet,” Edward growled, turning back to his index.
“No, to tell you the library closes in ten minutes.”
Swearing, Edward plunged his hand into his pocket and checked his watch. Sure enough, it was ten to nine already. They would have to come back tomorrow.
“And to invite you to spend the night at my house,” Mustang added. “It's much closer than your hotel, so you can take some of these books and keep working. I'll drop you off here on my way to work in the morning.”
While Alphonse cheerfully thanked him for his hospitality, Edward squinted suspiciously into his superior's face. Was Alphonse right? Was Mustang actually trying to say that he'd missed them while they were in the western region? That he... cared about them?
Mustang arched an eyebrow down at him. “So what do you say, Full Metal?”
Edward gazed at him a moment longer, then grinned and said, “What's for dinner?”