A/N: Hello readers! Welcome to my second FMA story. I wasn't expecting "Secret Santa" to be such a success and it has encouraged me to write more in the fandom. :) I adore Parental!Roy/Ed and that's what this story is all about. And its going to be fluffy because I need fluff. The plan is to update once a week. So hope ya'll enjoy this story!

September 1912

Edward sneezed. Once. Twice. And then again. Groaning, the thirteen year old rested his head against the cool window of the train. They were just ten minutes out from East City Station.

"Are you okay, Brother?"

"I'm fine, Al. The colonel must be complaining about me already, that's all."

Not that it was Edward's fault the mission had gone so awry. It was the fault of that stupid military man in charge of the town. Seriously, were all military brass such selfish asses? Edward didn't even remember the man's rank cause there was no way he'd come by it honestly. Unfortunately, he was the top dog and he had called Ed's superior, Colonel Roy Mustang to complain about the young alchemist. Normally that wouldn't have been a problem, but Edward had lost his temper and destroyed quite a few buildings and the town square in the process. Of course he fixed everything the best he could. That had not stopped the jerk in charge from complaining.

As it stood, Edward knew he was in for a long lecture and pointed questions about what exactly had happened on top of the report he was supposed to turn in. The report he had not even started.

Groaning, Edward reached for his suitcase. He might as well get it over with. Pulling out a pen, paper, and his journal to write on top of, Edward started his report. "Hey Al, why don't you head back to the dorm when we get there? I'll go give Colonel Bastard his report and get the lecture over with."

His younger brother sighed. "Colonel Mustang, brother. You should be more respectful."

"Yeah, whatever." Edward waved away his brother's words. He gave the colonel the exact amount of respect he deserved for being a pompous, vain, lazy jerk: the bare minimum. He wouldn't even give him that if it weren't for the fact Colonel Mustang had actually been helpful in the quest for the Philosopher's Stone.

Ten minutes later, Edward stuffed his hastily finished report into his pocket as the brothers disembarked the train.

"Ed, are you sure you want to give the colonel that? It's not—"

"Don't worry about it."

Alphonse sighed and said no more.

Thirty minutes later, Edward walked into the office and he was already ready to get out of there. A headache had been slowly building since leaving the station. The last thing he wanted was to listen to a lecture now from Colonel Sarcasm.

"Hey Chief, welcome back," Havoc said, grinning at the teen. Fuery and Breda echoed him, pausing in their paperwork. "The Colonel's not here. He was called to a last minute meeting with the generals visiting from West City. Brought your report?"

"Yep," Edward smirked and held up the crumbled papers, trying to hide his relief. That the colonel's attention was diverted by visiting generals was great. Mustang would probably have more important things on his mind than reprimanding Edward for the mess he'd made.

The second lieutenant arched a brow. "Hope it's good. The colonel wasn't too happy after that phone call from Major Nolan."

"The guy was an incompetent jerk," the teen grumbled, not happy with the reminder he was in trouble. At least the colonel was out and couldn't lecture him until later. The three men chuckled and Breda spoke next. "Yeah, we got that impression too."

The three men grinned and Edward wondered what exactly their superior officer had said after the phone call. Apparently he had not just complained about Ed. Before he could ask them to share what Mustang had to say about the so-called Major Nolan, he started sneezing. It hurt this time and he was grimacing by the time it stopped.

"Ugh."

"You feel all right?" Havoc asked. "Not getting sick are you? There's a nasty flu going around. Falman's got it now and Hawkeye had it a couple weeks ago."

"'m fine," Edward said, wiping his face with his sleeve and ignoring the sudden spike in his headache he had. "I don't get sick. Can I drop this on Mustang's desk?"

"Sure thing Chief," Havoc said, thumbing towards the door to the colonel's office. "I'm sure he'll want to read over it when he gets back."

Edward snorted. Yeah, sure he would. At least he wouldn't be here for the immediate lecture. He pushed open the door to Mustang's office (without the excess force since the colonel wasn't here) and headed for the desk. There was a not so surprising amount of paperwork covering it: two neat piles and several files open on the desk. A particular file caught his attention. It looked like a mission brief, the ones the colonel usually gave Edward.

A sly grin crossed the blonde's face and he quickly opened the file. The colonel already had another mission for him then. Well, he'd just get started on it tonight that way he could throw it in the man's face that he had gotten it done before it was even assigned to him!

Glancing over his shoulder, Edward confirmed that the team was busy and couldn't see him. Then he quickly scanned the papers. Another thief to catch? Really? And the colonel couldn't get off his lazy bum and take care of it himself like usual. And the military police were calling him the Diamond Malum? Who came up with that dumb name?

A noise from the other room startled the teen and he quickly closed the file. He then dropped his report to the middle of the colonel's desk, causing papers to flutter here and there before hastily leaving the room.

It was a quarter past ten that night when Colonel Roy Mustang finally returned to the office, exhausted. The meeting had been a complete waste of time. He'd almost have rather been doing paperwork instead. At least that was semi productive. Not that he'd ever tell Hawkeye that. Then she'd be after him even more to get the mountains of paperwork done earlier.

He stepped into the empty office with a sigh. Directly after the meeting ended, Roy had sent Hawkeye home even though she had tried to protest. His lieutenant was exhausted however and still recovering from the cold she'd caught last week. She needed rest. Roy had ordered the rest of his men to make sure they got proper rest and fluids as well to hopefully not catch the bug. The last thing he needed was for all his men to come down ill when there was a murderer to catch.

Scowling, Roy headed towards his private office. He would take the files home with him. There had to be something he was missing, some clue that would lead him to the killer. Opening the door, he flicked on the light and promptly swore. The neat stacks of paper he'd left on his desk were a mess, scattered across the desk and the floor.

"What the hell," he snarled as he quickly began to pick them up. That's when he spotted the papers in the middle of the desk and the familiar scrawl of his youngest subordinate. "Fullmetal!"

Of course the brat was responsible for this. The teen knew he was in for a major lecture after his last mission and was already lashing out. Roy pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He had half a mind to assign the kid latrine duty again for a week for this. He'd worked all day on the damn paperwork; trying to get ahead just enough so he could be in the field working the unit's current case with his team since he was down a man. Now he'd have to waste time re-sorting it before he could finish the remaining paperwork.

Sighing, Roy took off his coat and dropped it on the couch. Looked like he was going to have a late night after all. As he picked up Fullmetal's report, something prickled in the back of his mind; a sense that something was wrong. Frowning, he leafed through the papers and growled. This report was completely unacceptable. Hand written, barely legible, and incomplete, there was absolutely no way he could give this to the brass. As it was he had to doctor the kid's reports so they could pass muster on a regular basis. He did not have time to attempt to decipher and then re-write the whole thing.

If Fullmetal wanted to act like a brat, Roy would treat him like one. He'd re-write his report here in the office under his and Hawkeye's supervision after Roy had lectured the hell out of him. And if he remained obstinate, well Roy would assign the younger alchemist latrine duty for a week, with no alchemy allowed. That had worked well last time in improving the teenager's behavior for a time.

Setting the so-called report aside, Roy looked at the file underneath. It was the Diamond Malum case. It started nearly a month ago with a thief breaking into a jewelry store and stealing thousands of cenz in diamonds. The thefts started to happen regularly, hitting stores all over town and then several wealthy homes. Each time the thief only took diamonds. The file here was the one the police had sent over of all the evidence they'd collected before they'd discovered a grisly corpse half buried in the garbage behind the last place that had been hit. It was the murder that had the MP's asking for assistance. There had been signs of alchemy on the corpse. Mustang's team had gone back to investigate the other locations. They'd discovered a corpse at each one, along with similar signs of alchemy and several other unfamiliar symbols. Alarmed, Roy had taken over the investigation and brought in Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes as well.

He'd been planning to speak to Fullmetal about the case to see if he had any insights into the alchemy being used. It was unfamiliar to Roy and his research so far had turned up nothing.

Wait, hadn't he left the file open, not closed?

Roy gave himself a shake and rubbed his aching eyes. It was probably nothing. Yeah, it was nothing. He was exhausted and needed sleep. Gathering the files he needed, he stuffed them in his briefcase. Fixing the paperwork could wait for tomorrow.

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