Father's Day - One-shot

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Edward Elric sighed as he plopped down onto the couch of the current hotel he was
staying at.

It was late at night and he just came back from Roy Mustang's office. After returning from
Lior, Edward was required to report what he learned about the Philosopher's Stone directly
to Mustang since he was his commanding officer.

But of course, the lead had been false, and Edward came back empty-handed with nothing
to report to Mustang. Needless to say, the conversation that followed wasn't pretty.

Upon coming back, Alphonse had run off, saying he needed to take care of something.
Edward had let him go, thinking that his younger sibling didn't want to sit through another one of
Mustang's rants. But when he returned to the hotel, Alphonse was nowhere in sight.

"That's weird," Edward had said to himself in the empty room, "Al should have come back
by now..."

And now, here he was, sitting on the couch of the hotel he and his brother were sharing,
waiting for said brother to get back.

After twenty minutes of doing nothing but sitting, he grew annoyed.

"Where the hell is he?!" He asked himself, getting up and pacing around the room.

Just as he was about to go look for his brother, Alphonse came rushing through the door.

Turning to glare at Alphonse, he yelled at him, "Al! Where have you been?! It's way past
midnight!!"

"I'm sorry brother!" He said, bowing in apology, "But I was out buying gifts!"

Edward stopped glaring and gave Alphonse a confused look, "Gifts? What for?"

Alphonse lifted up the bag he was holding and pointed to it. "Gifts for our friends of
course!"

Edward stared at Alphonse trying to see the logic behind his brother's actions.

"...Uh...why?" Edward finally asked as he gave his brother a quizzical look.

Alphonse stared, bewildered by his older brother's question, "Because they're our friends,
of course! Why shouldn't we give them gifts?"

Edward's right eyebrow shot up while he looked at his younger brother, "What do you
mean 'we'?"

Alphonse stuttered, looking away, "Uh...w-well...I mean...they're your friends too Ed...so I
just thought...that the gifts...could be from both of us..."

The young blond crossed his arms around his chest stubbornly, "And just who
exactly are these gifts being given to?"

The younger of the two brought his arm up to rub the back of his metal head sheepishly,
mumbling his response, "Well...let's see...there's
Havoc, Armstrong, Fuery, Hawkeye, Breda, Farman, and...Mustang..."

Edward shrieked upon hearing the Flame Alchemist's name, "NO WAY! I'm fine with the
others, but no way in hellam I gonna give that bastard anything!"

"But brother...!!" Alphonse started before he was cut-off by his older sibling.

"I said no, Al. If I give Mustang a present, he might take it the wrong way! He might think I'll
actually start listening to him for once. And like I'm ever gonna listen to what that bastard
tells me..."

"But brother...Mustang is...one of our friends too..."

At his brother's pleading tone, he gave up. Shrugging his shoulder's he gave into
Alphonse's pleading, "Fine...I guess..."

At his older sibling's acceptance of giving Roy Mustang a present, he ran up to him, giving
him a big hug. "Thank you brother! You won't regret it, you'll see."

The blond glared at the floor while his brother hugged him, "Yeah...we'll see..."

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Birds chirped as the sun rose up, illuminating the once dark room of the Elric's rented hotel
room.

Edward lay in his bed, still sleeping peacefully while his younger brother, Alphonse got up,
picking up the bag as he did so.

"Get up, brother!" He chirped happily, "Come on! It's getting late! Let's go give out the
presents now!"

Edward groaned, turning over in bed to face the wall, "...No...dun wanna..." He mumbled
while he brought up the covers more to cover his head.

Alphonse sighed. It would take a while to try to get his brother out of bed. It always did.

Sighing again, he started toward his brother's bed, intent on getting the blond out of bed no
matter what. After all, they had presents to deliver! Especially a 'certain' present to a
'certain' someone in honor of a 'certain' day that just happened to be today!

~10 minutes Later~

Edward groaned and rubbed his head, glaring daggers at his brother while they walked to
the building all their friends were stationed at.

Alphonse walked happily while his older brother sulked beside him, irritated at having to
wake up early. I mean, it's 12:00! What person in their right mind would wake up at 12:00
to deliver presents on their day off?!

Groaning again, Edward continued to glare daggers at his younger brother, planning his
very gruesome, imminent death.

Too soon, they arrived at central. Walking in with Alphonse leading the way, they went to
find their friends, gifts in hand.

They soon found Havoc walking around with a cigarette in his mouth, like always.

Alphonse greeted him cheerfully while Edward grunted a hello.

After about 5 minutes of mindless chatter between the two, the young blond began getting annoyed. At Edward's insistence that they finish giving out the presents quickly so he could get back
to the hotel to sleep, Alphonse quickly gave Havoc his present and walked on, in search of
other friends.

The next people they found were Breda and Farman. Alphonse gave the two the same
happy greeting while Edward said nothing this time.

Alphonse, knowing his brother would complain again if he spent too much time with them,
quickly handed them each their presents and said his goodbye's.

The day went on like that, Alphonse giving out presents and Edward complaining that this
was taking too long. One after the other, presents were handed out until only one more
remained. The younger of the two grinned in his head as he innocently turned to his
irritated older brother.

"Brother..." He started, "You know, I've been handing out presents all day and all you've
done is complain. I think you should deliver the last present yourself."

Edward, thanking all Gods above him that there was only one present left, accepted
without question, ready to deliver and go back to get some sleep.

Taking the bag that contained the solitary card, Edward looked inside. His eye twitched
when he saw what was written on the card.

"Al...who is this present for...?" Edward looked up to find his younger brother slowly inching
toward the exit.

"Uh...it's for...Mustang! Gottagobye!" Alphonse quickly ran out the exit leaving his brother
standing there with the card in his hand.

"H-Hey! AL! GET BACK HERE! I'M NOT GIVING THIS TO MUSTANG!" he yelled as he
started after his brother.

A hand on his shoulder roughly pulled him back. Ready to glare and yell at whoever pulled
him back, he stopped short when he saw who it was.

The person smirked, "Fullmetal..." he greeted, "What's this I hear about presents?"

Edward glared up at the recipient of the card in his hand, "Mustang..." He turned away, refusing to acknowledge the man as the one he was supposed to give the card to. "What presents? What are you talking about?"

Mustang was about to reply in an insult, but stopped short when he noticed a card in the blond's hand. He smirked as he snatched it out of his hand, surprising Edward.

“What about this?” He asked referring to the card, “It says 'To Roy Mustang' on the front.”

Edward blushed scarlet and tried to get the card back but Mustang held it just over his head, reading what was written in the card.

"That-That's not for you! That's for...someone else!" He yelled, trying to get the card back but getting irritated that it was just out of his reach.

Mustang smirked as he read what was in the card, "Oh really? Well I'd like to know what other person out there is called the Flame Alchemist. Because apparently, you consider that person like a father to you."

Edward blushed, "I do not! You're lying! It doesn't say that!" He yelled, still trying to retrieve the card.

Mustang turned the card so that Edward could see it and pointed to the crudely drawn picture in the corner of the card.

Edward stopped trying to get it and looked at the card, seeing for the first time what was actually written in it.

To Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist,
Thank you for being there for me and Al. It means a lot to us both. I know that today is father's day and since I consider you as my father, I wanted to give you something to show my appreciation.
~Thank you for being like a father to me.~
Love,
Edward Elric

Edward stood there, silently fuming over what his brother wrote. It wasn't so much that it was to Mustang, but that Alphonse wrote it as if he was the one writing it!

Mustang smiled and placed his hand on Edward's shoulder. The blond stopped fuming and looked at Mustang quizzically.

"Thank you Ed." Was all he said as he turned and walked off, card still in his hand.

Edward stared at Mustang's retreating form, a small smile on his face,  until he remembered about his younger brother.

As soon as he found Alphonse, He was in so much trouble...

~End~