"Yeah? I've heard he has a pretty short fuse."

Chuckles followed the statement before another soldier cut in. "Don't let him hear you say that, he'll blow a gasket thinking you were insinuating something about his height."

More chuckles.

Ed closed his eyes, metal hand clenched into a tight fist. Really, he understood rumors and gossip, and he wasn't naïve enough to think that he wouldn't be the center of a lot of it, but had these idiots even thought to check other areas of the wash room? Just because it was quiet didn't mean they were alone.

"How did he even get a job here?" Someone else spoke up.

"I've heard he's close with the Fuhrer himself."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Another scoffed, "It's obvious he's just buddy-buddy with Mustang."

"No, haven't you heard?" A female voice cut in, "Mustang and the kid don't get along, practically hate each other. They fight all the time."

"It could be a ruse, an act to throw people off."

There was a pregnant pause as the soldiers presumably thought it over and came to their own conclusions.

"Still, it is a little unsettling, to have a runt like that as a superior officer."

A vein on Ed's forehead bulged as he fought to stay quiet. The only reason he hadn't already gone out there and rearranged some heads was because the last time he'd done something similar, the money needed to repair a sink and a dent in the wall had come from his paycheck.

"The little one I can handle, it's the big one that freaks me out. You can't tell anything past that helmet."

There was another pause and Ed chose to bite down on his finger instead of shout. He was going to keep it together; contrary to popular belief he was not always a volcano ready to erupt.

"Why does he wear the armor anyway?"

"I heard he and his brother tried some very dangerous alchemy and it didn't work out. That's how the runt lost his limbs, but I heard the other one was horribly disfigured, so he hides behind the armor.

'To hell with that!' Mustang could take his next month's salary away, he wasn't about to allow someone to talk about his brother that way.

Ed rounded the corner, ready to unleash his fury, but stopped in his tracks. The soldiers stood clustered together by some lockers, pale and quivering, but facing away from Ed.

Confused, Ed cast his gaze about and soon found what everyone was staring at.

Mustang had just stepped through the door, eyes blazing hotter than any fire created by his gloves.

"S-sir." One of the men stammered.

Mustang's gaze swept the room, halting momentarily on Ed's face a little further back than the bunch on soldiers. "Tell me, are we in grade school?" He began, voice cool and collected as always.

"Sir?" The woman questioned.

"Well, are we?" Mustang demanded.

"N-no sir!" A couple of the men chorused.

"No? Well are we secretaries on break?"

Another chorus of no's answered his question.

"No, we're not. So if we're not in school, and we're not secretaries, tell me, why are we indulging in gossip?"

"We-well we," One man began to stutter but deflated as soon as Mustang's glare locked on him.

"We are soldiers." He began, voice resonating off the linoleum walls. "And as such we do not engage in the spreading of rumors, especially about a fellow officer. All we have is our loyalty to our fellow soldiers, am I clear?"

The room fell silent, no one daring to so much as twitch.

"Am I clear?" Mustang demanded again.

"Yes sir!" The small group shouted. They snapped to attention and hastily saluted before stumbling over one another to scramble out the door.

"Well, I have to say I'm surprised Fullmetal." Mustang began, leaning against the doorframe. "Not one of them was bleeding."

Ed attempted to shrug nonchalantly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah well, I've gotten better at handling the stuff they say about me."

"Oh really." Mustang stated, his tone of voice alone implying that he was aware of more of what the soldiers had been gossiping about than he was planning on admitting aloud.

Ed's eyes snapped up to regard his superior with a clinical gaze, attempting to see if he was interpreting the man correctly. Conclusion drawn Ed huffed, "I was just about to bust some teeth in."

Mustang's eyebrow quirked up, a knowing smirk overtaking his features. "Uh-huh."

"Look!" Ed shouted, hating the sardonic tone in the man's voice. "They can say whatever the hell they want about me but if I ever hear anyone spreading rumors about my brother again I'm rearranging heads!" Ed glared up at Mustang, locked his own fiery gaze with the man's calm one so he would know just how serious he was before he shoved his way out the door and stomped down the hallway.

Mustang sighed lightly, inclining his head in a minute shrug. "I would expect nothing less." He stated with just a hint of approval slipping into his voice before he turned and followed the path his subordinate had taken out of the wash room.

A/N: Well, I feel like there's not much to say here. I have more FMA in the works so please tell me if I'm doing alright with these characters! Thanks, and until next time!

~Spring