Major Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, the already infamous Hero of the People- a boy of barely thirteen years, sat on the worn carpeted floor of the office, back pressed against the large desk in the centre of the room. His knees were pulled up to his chest and the guard plate of his automail arm was jammed between them, detached from the artificial limb while he used his left hand to try and dig something out of the inner springs and wires of the limb. The blond's long hair had escaped from its usual braid and tumbled over his shoulders in bunches of unnaturally perfect waves. Evidence of the hours and days that the hair was constricted into the braid. His tongue was only just poking out from between his lips as he concentrated on the task at hand.

This is the view that Colonel Roy Mustang walked in on when he returned from lunch one day. Clutching a number of files in his gloved hands he stood still, shocked at the sight before him. He blinked owlishly at the boy who had somehow yet to notice him. He was so shocked that all the man could think was to note happily that the young alchemist wasn't late for his report for once. The kid was even a full fifteen minutes early. Which was really somewhere in the realm of an hour and fifteen minutes early because the boy was never actually on time.

"As you were, Fullmetal." The colonel said for lack of anything better. Still flabbergasted that the boy somehow remained oblivious to his presence, the man made his way around to take a seat behind his desk. He slapped the files down loudly, leaning over the desk so he could see that the boy was still too focused on his task to notice his superior officer. The dark-haired man sat down heavily and slumped back into his chair, perplexed.

"Pipsqueak?" He called out, voice raised but not quite a yell. No reaction.

Mustang leaned forward and banged a fist on his desk; still no discernible reaction from the blond.

Finally, the man kicked the inside of the front panel on his desk that the boy was leaning against.

The barely-qualifying-as-such teenager yelped, and Mustang heard what sounded like several screws or similarily small metallic objects along with a large piece of metal clatter to the ground. "Fuck. Shit."

Mustang could hear the boy moving but his short height meant that the blond was entirely hidden from his superior officer's line of sight. "Fullmetal, why are you in my office?"

The colonel leaned back once again in his chair and tapped a finger against the desk in impatience. He raised an eyebrow as he watched the boy slowly raise into view. The blond held the guard plate in his right hand while his left was clenched in a fist, probably holding the screws to the plate and looked wide-eyed at his commanding officer.

"Well?" The man prompted harshly. Probably harsher than was strictly necessary.

"What does it look like I'm doing, Colonel Dumbass?" Fullmetal's shock quickly masked with his usual defiance and sarcasm.

Colonel Mustang gave the boy a hard look that wordlessly said" 'try again". The boy's barking spitefulness quickly gave way, Roy was sure that the boy had to be exhausted after his last mission to obey an order so easily. The young alchemist looked like he needed to be sleeping, not hiding in Mustang's office, mucking about with his automail.

"I- uhh, I needed somewhere to quickly get some rocks and a couple bullets and stuff out of my arm. You weren't in, so I just." The boy ended his statement with a shrug as if it was explanation enough.

"How did you manage to get bullets in your arm?" The colonel asked incredulously, trying to think of what the last mission he had sent the alchemist on had been, suddenly and completely distracted from the fact that Major Elric was in his office and obediently answering questions. Well, as obediently as could be expected from Fullmetal.

"Well there was this gang that was terrorizing a town one town over from the one you sent me to."

Mustang interrupted his subordinate. "Why were you in the wrong town, I sent you on a simple observation mission for a possible rogue alchemist sighting? Is it really that hard for you not to get into trouble?"

"The mayor asked me to." The boy answered easily and continued. "Anyway, we got into a fight, as usually happens when you tell asshole gangs to stop stealing and generally being dicks to other people and long story short, some live fire combat ensued and so I got some ricocheting bullets and bits of exploded wall stuck in my arm."

Fullmetal waved his arm like getting caught up in a gunfight was a regular occurrence for him. "They don't actually interfere with the arm now but it's not exactly good to go walking around with lose bits of shit that could possibly get in the way of it working, so." The blond shrugged again.

"Your office was empty, and I need to give you my report today anyway, two birds one stone and all that. By the way, does that work as my report? It's basically what happened."

"No. I need more information than 'live fire combat ensued' and that wasn't even the mission I sent you on! Which means you're giving me two reports today now, by the way." Roy pulled his gloves off and rubbed at his face. "Why not just do this on the train, why did you have to wait to use my office?"

The thirteen-year-old rolled his eyes. "Because your office was empty. The train shakes and is filled with people. Why do I have to give two reports?"

"You wanted privacy?" The dark-haired man replied in disbelief, ignoring Fullmetal's question. The boy was hardly known for his reserved personality and private nature. Just the opposite in fact.

"Not privacy, just like, a place where people wouldn't gawk at me when I started ripping my arm apart."

"Why not your room in the barracks?"

"Al gets funny when he sees it, it makes him uncomfortable. Even if I tell him to leave, he acts all funny for hours after if he even suspects that I was working on my arm. It's easier to do it when he's not looking and doesn't know." The boy used a finger to pick at some imaginary dirt on the automail arm.

"So, you decided my office was the best place for it? An office that I could return to at any moment? An office that any of my men could enter at any time?"

"Yeah?" The kid looked a bit confused, clearly not seeing how any member of the team entering the office would be a problem. Mustang looked back at him in equal confusion. The office was quiet for a moment before Fullmetal continued. "If any of you came in, you wouldn't react as badly as some people would."

"Admittedly, Fullmetal, I came into my office to see my subordinate on the floor, metal plating off and poking around the inner bits of his prosthetic arm. Granted I know that you have automail and have seen you in worse condition, but you can't really blame people for freaking out a bit."

"It's not that they freak out, well kinda. But." The boy seemed to chew on his next words for a moment. "It's the assholes who hate people that are different that are the problem."

"What d'you mean? 'people who hate people who are different'? A lot of people don't like things that are different than they know, doesn't mean they'll hate someone for it." Even as he said it, Roy thought of the Ishvalans and mentally cringed at himself.

But this was different, Ishvalans looked and acted and were a completely different group of people. Ed had automail, but he was Amestrian. Automail was becoming ever more common, surely someone wouldn't hate a person, much less a young teen for having automail? The thought was just stupid. Hating anyone for something as arbitrary as their appearance, natural or otherwise just seemed like a waste of time when there were perfectly valid reasons to hate people. Though Roy understood he was perhaps a hypocrite for thinking so.

"The military has pretty much built itself around everyone being the same and any deviation gets you into trouble. That also happens outside the military too, Idiot." The kid shifted on his feet as he spoke. "There are a lot of people who really hate automail and automail users. They think it's a weird abomination and unnatural."

"I'm not agreeing with them, but it is a hunk of metal attached where your arm should be. It hardly counts as natural." Mustang pointed out.

"I fucking know that, you Bastard." Fullmetal seemed to grow in fury for a moment before his shoulders slumped. "But some people take offense to seeing it. They get all angry and preachy and tell their kids to 'avoid the bad person' and stare and everything. Some real assholes get violent."

Colonel Mustang took in the boy's downturned head, partially disassembled arm and small stature. The kid was small, that was a fact, but he never looked small. He always made himself look bigger and had a presence that filled the room. Right now, he looked less like the loudmouthed and explosive Fullmetal and more like an unsure and embarrassed child.

It made Roy remember that humans are stupid creatures who scare and hate easily. Creatures that were capable of hating a child simply because two of his limbs weren't made of flesh and bone.

"They're almost worse than the people who are all pitying and call me a cripple and act like I can't do anything myself." Major Elric ended with a grimace.

It now finally dawned on Mustang why the kid was in his office of all places. "You wanted a place where anyone who might see you wouldn't judge you."

The blond boy nodded in honest agreement. "Yeah."

There was a pregnant pause where neither said anything. Edward had clearly said his piece and now, Mustang was sure, the kid was waiting to either be dismissed and sent from the office or told to give his report, exposed automail be damned. Roy thought over the last few minutes of conversation and sighed. If the kid really was having such problems dealing with people seeing his automail, maybe Roy could go easy on the boy. It wasn't like anyone in his office would react badly, they all knew of the boy's condition.

"As you were then." Mustang picked up a pen and gestured vaguely about the room. "When you're finished with that you can give your report."

"Uh, o-okay." Edward picked up on the silent approval of his continued presence as the Colonel turned his focus to the papers on his desk. Unnerved at the colonel's unusually generous offer, the boy moved to sit back down on the carpeted floor before the desk with slight hesitancy.

"Wouldn't the couch be more comfortable?" Fullmetal poked his head back up over the edge of the desk to look at the Colonel. The man was in the middle of writing something, probably signing his signature and didn't look up from his work.

"If it leaks any oil I don't wanna get it on anything. The carpet is already pretty far gone. And it's easier to clean." The blond sank back down and got back to fiddling with the automail, Mustang gave an appreciative grunt in response, having not considered the possibility of such a mess occurring.

"Thanks though. For the offer"

"Don't mention it, Shrimp." Roy said after a moment and smirked as he heard the boy steam silently at the name.

This weird momentary peace between them was kind of nice, Roy decided. Not to be at each other's throat every time they laid eyes on one another. Maybe there was hope for them yet. Mustang was tempted to laugh at the very notion of such a thing happening.

The office was still for nearly an hour before a curt knock on the door broke the silence.

"Enter." Colonel Mustang supplied quietly, not looking up from the report he was reading. Lt. Hawkeye entered quietly and took in the scene before her without pause. The Colonel was behind his desk, actually working for once. The young major was leaning against the front of the desk, whipping down the exposed plating of his leg.

It looked domestic and peaceful in an odd way to the blond woman, though she doubted either of the room's other occupants would agree.

"Here are the latest updates from the robbery last week, Sir." The lieutenant handed over a large, thick envelope to her superior. "And Alphonse has called twice in the last half hour."

She directed this second part to the boy sitting in front of the desk. "Should I tell him you'll be a while yet?"

When she received no reply, Mustang held up a finger in her direction and gave the front panel of the desk a soft but firm kick.

"Huh?" The blond looked around and then up to the Lieutenant. "What was that, Lt. Hawkeye?"

"Your brother called, he's wondering when you'll be back." The woman paraphrased.

"Oh, could you tell him I'll be a while, please?"

Hawkeye looked to her dark-haired superior for confirmation who nodded and then she nodded to the boy at her feet. "Of course. But please not too much longer. Colonel, you have a meeting with General Gruman in forty-five minutes."

"Yes, Lieutenant." The two replied in unison. She retreated to the door and took one final look at the scene over her shoulder. The man at his desk, actually doing work and not making paper airplanes, and the boy sitting at the front of desk, tinkering away with his automail and not doing the homework a normal boy of thirteen should be worried about. Odd. But domestic.

Mustang looked up, as if sensing her eyes on him. He gave a hesitant smile. She smiled back in reassurance. Reaffirming to the man that yes, allowing the boy a small moment of sanctuary away from judgement was the right thing to do.

She knew the boy needed it. She had, after all, been the one to let the boy into the office in the first place.

Well, there it is, my first fanfiction in almost a decade (nine years to be more specific). God, it feels good to be writing again.
Hopefully there's more to come. Figured I'd start short and sweet though.