The annoying buzzing of the alarm clock jerked the Fullmetal Alchemist awake, messy golden hair rising up from the pillow.

"Uh..?" He mumbled, his eyes squinting as he tried to process the irritating noise. Once his mind had registered the source, he slammed his fist down on the top of the clock, the noise abruptly ceasing.

A load groan filled the room, and he snuggled back down under his covers, his eyes fluttering shut again. "Damn work.." He muttered from under the blanket, forcing himself to peel his eyes back open. After what seemed like mere seconds to Edward, he threw the sheets off of his body, and slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes with his hands.

"I really don't want to do this," Ed groaned, hauling himself out of his oh-so-comfortable bed. He trudged to the mirror on the wall, and stared sleepily back at himself, noticing the mess that his hair was, and the scrunched up boxers around his torso. "Nn." Ed grunted, slowly moving towards the bathroom to shower. He at least needed to look half decent.

He bent over and turned the water valve, hearing the handle squeak with resistance as the water began to flow from the shower head. He stripped from his boxers, and stepped into the shower, raising both his hands into the air as he yawned. When they came back down, he used his left hand to slide a hand down his face, feeling prickle lining his chin. "Guess I need to shave, huh?" Ed muttered to himself, letting out an exasperated sigh as he grabbed the razor from the side of the shower, and the shaving cream on the edge of the shower. He quickly slid the blade over his chin, a clean cut as he rid his chin of the bristles.

That was one thing he could thank Mustang for; he'd helped him get past that dilemma. Shaving wasn't something that came naturally to Ed, and Roy was the one to help him out, lessening his cuts and scrapes by tenfold. Once he was done, he set the razor down, and began to wash his hair, humming a small tune to help lift his mood, but it wasn't helping much.

Once he was done with the shower, he trudged back into his room and ran a comb through his hair, grabbing the hairdryer. Once his hair was back to it's normal, fluffy self, he tied it up into a braid, and stood up. He began to fish through his drawers, finding some clothes for the day. In the middle of his rummaging, he heard another annoying sound, and turned his head to stare at the phone on the nightstand.

"Wonder who that could possibly be." Ed muttered to himself, already knowing the answer as he snatched the phone from the surface, putting it up to his ear.

"Fullmetal. You're late. Again."

Ed let out a groan and closed his eyes.

"Yeah. Sorry. Woke up late. Be there in 45."

There was less than a second of silence before the smug bastard spoke again.

"I'm holding you to your word. Forty-five minutes. That's it." And the phone went dead.

Why did the Colonel have to be so god damn punctual? It's not like it mattered if he was on time anyways, he always had free time in the mornings at work. It wasn't until the afternoon before he began working.

"What's gonna happen if I'm not there in forty-five minutes, asshole?" Ed muttered to the phone, slamming it back down into the reciever.

Once he was done getting ready, he ran a hand through his hair and went out the front door of his house, the cool air hitting his face. He shivered and began making his walk towards Central Command, a large yawn escaping his lips.

When he arrived at the front doors of Central, he let out an exasperated sigh, pushing the doors open to the building. He nodded a good morning to the receptionist at the front desk, and continued his way towards the Colonel Bastard's office, his hands shoved deep inside of his pockets.

As he approached the large wooden doors to Mustang's office, he let out a groan, wondering what kind of lecture he was going to have to sit through today. He was guessing it had to do something with: "You need to manage your time better Fullmetal, you're growing into a young adult, and need to take more responsibility into your hands." Like he knew anything about responsibility. The Colonel was just as lazy as anybody else.

He was just about to open the door when the man himself came through the doors, closing them rather quickly behind him.

"Good morning, Fullmetal." Roy purred, a smirk to his face as he watched the young alchemist's face twist up in anger.

"Get out of the way." He murmured, trying to push past the Colonel, placing his right hand on the older man's side. Roy however, kept a firm stance, brushing Ed's hand off. "Glad to see you're finally here." Roy observed, his smirk widening when he noticed a small cut just under Ed's chin.

"Whoop-de-fuckin'-do. Now let me through." Ed spat, trying the other side, but to no avail.

"Why the sudden hurry to enter the office?" Roy asked, his lips still pressed into a thin smirk as he watched the rage boil up inside of Ed.

"So I can do the job I came here to do?" Ed muttered, quickly getting tired of his conversation. "I didn't get up to do-see-do with you in the hallway."

Roy let a cold chuckle leave his lips, and raised an eyebrow. "Why the sour mood?"

"I'm always in a sour mood." Ed murmured quietly, shoving at the side of Roy this time. Still, the older man did not budge, and he cussed lowly to himself. "Would you just let me through?"

"Only if you promise you'll lighten up."

Ed let out an exasperated sigh, and lifted his head to look at the ceiling. "Fine. Whatever." He spat, letting out a huff when Roy finally sidestepped. Ed grabbed the handle of the door and pulled it open, frowning when he noticed every one of Roy's subordinates were around his desk. They all smiled when their eyes made contact with Ed, and all at once shouted.

"Happy Birthday, Ed!"

Ed took a few seconds to register what they had just said, blinking. "Happy..birthday..?" He repeated, tensing when he felt a gloved hand rest on his shoulder.

The Colonel stopped beside him, hand still on his shoulder. "Don't tell me you forgot your own birthday, Fullmetal." Roy said, a concerned but friendly look on his face.

Ed was speechless – he wasn't sure exactly what to say, for once in his life.

Was that right? Today was his birthday? He glanced over at the calendar on the wall, and sure enough, it was the day of his birthday. He swung his head over to look at Roy, a surprised but confused look on his face. "I don't get it." Ed murmured, to which Roy raised an eyebrow.

"What's not to get?"

Ed frowned. "How did you even know? I've never told any of you," He blurted out, hearing a light laugh leave Roy. "Come on, Ed. We're the military. It's on file." Roy explained, smirking when Ed's face turned a light pink. "Would you quit with the questions and just enjoy yourself?" Roy asked, giving Ed's shoulder a small squeeze before he recoiled his hand, his gaze still resting on the confused Ed.

"I uh.." He paused for a moment, watching as Roy's eyebrow raised again. He let out a sigh, and felt a smile spread across his lips, elbowing Roy in the side. He snickered when a grunt came from Roy, and he nudged him with his side this time. "You bastard." He grinned, watching as the offended gaze turned into an understanding one. Ed turned back to the rest of the team, noticing the cake on the table.

"A cake? For me? Sweet!" He exclaimed, quickly grabbing whatever he could get ahold of the Colonel first. "C'mon!" He shouted, hearing the small yelp of surprise follow his words when he yanked Roy.

Roy quickly managed to correct his pace, surprised by the sudden mood change in the young alchemist. It was what he was hoping for but, he never thought it was actually possible. Once Ed released Roy's collar, he fixed it silently, and smirked as he watched the kid indulge himself in the cake, moving over to talk to the rest of the team with a mouthful of cake.

The lieutenant slipped away from the rest of the team after a few minutes to stand beside Roy, who was standing in the same position next to the cake.

"This was very nice of you to do for him, sir."

Roy cast a glance over to Hawkeye, and raised his chin somewhat. "He's been having a hard time ever since Al died." He murmured, watching as Havoc shoved a piece of cake into his face. "I believe it was the least I could do." He answered, a smile twitching onto his face at Ed's reaction. "With the lifestyle he's had, I'm sure his birthday wasn't celebrated near enough as it should have." Roy speculated, watching as Ed shoved his own piece of cake into Havoc's face, laughing as the cigarette was caught up in the sugary food. It wasn't too much later that Ed turned his head towards Roy again, a grin on his face. "Hey Colonel! Want some cake?" He asked, holding up a piece as he neared the Flame Alchemist.

Roy's eyes narrowed, knowing exactly where this was going. "No thank you, Fullmetal." He murmured, backing up a few steps when Ed advanced.

"C'mon, not even a bite?" He asked, unable to hide a snicker as he kept walking.

"I can assure you, I don't want any."

"Too bad for you!" Ed laughed, running at his superior suddenly at an attempt to land a hit.

"Fullmetal-!" His cry was cut off by a sponge-like substance hitting his face, coating it from top to bottom. The whole team burst out in laughter – Riza even smiled a little – and Ed was doubled over laughing, watching as Roy opened his eyes and wiped the icing away from his vision.

Once Roy had cleared enough away from his face, he glared down at Ed, and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"You think that's funny?" Roy asked darkly, watching the smile quickly drain from Ed's face.

"Well, I figured that—"

"You figured wrong." Before Ed could say another word, Roy had taken the glob of cake that was in his hand from his face, and smashed it onto Ed's face, which had just been cleaned from the last time. Ed let out a gasp, and spat out a piece of cake that had gone into his mouth, his eyes wide as he stared back at the Colonel, who was now grinning devilishly. Roy released Ed's collar, and watched him fall back down on his butt as he stood up, fixing his own.

"I'd say you got your just desserts." Roy teased, a smirk covering his face as the team broke out with laughter again, Ed clambering to his feet.

"I gotta admit, I didn't think you had it in you!" Ed snickered, wiping the remaining cake off of his face.

"Give me some credit, Fullmetal." Roy smirked wider, and wrapped a hand around Ed's back, giving him a pat. "I'm not all boring." He murmured, watching in delight as Ed gazed up at him with an odd look on his face.

Ed quickly shook off the comment and shoved away playfully from the older man, rolling his eyes. "You really did this just for me?"

Roy raised his eyebrow again. "Of course. Why else would I have had the lieutenant prepare a cake?" Roy asked, which was seemingly funny to Ed. He frowned, confused for a moment before he continued. "A birthday is something worthy of celebrating, I believe." Roy explained. There wasn't another moment of hesitation before something hard, yet soft, rammed into his chest, the breath leaving him. He felt floor hit his back, and he grunted, opening his eyes after the impact to see two golden eyes staring back at him.

"That's as close as a hug you're going to get." Ed snickered, raising a hand to aid the Colonel in sitting up.

Roy was at first frowning, but a small smirk quickly replaced it, grasping the hand. "I suppose I'll have to accept that, then." He murmured, feeling the two stand up with the help of each other.

Ed glanced over at Roy, his expression softened for once. "Thanks, Colonel." He murmured, the softened expression quickly fading as a guarded one replaced it. "Now let's go eat some more cake, c'mon!"

Roy couldn't help but smile now; he knew that soft expression meant he truly was grateful, and that he didn't hate all of Roy. He let out a chuckle and placed his hands in his pockets, following his subordinate back to the table.

For the first time, Roy felt like he'd done something for the kid that he could truly appreciate.

"Happy Birthday, Ed."