The sun shines the same every day, but not so. It rises from the east every morning, sometimes to a cloud free sky, sometimes to a sky mottled with small bits of clouds from the night before, soon to evaporate in the warm rays of morning, and sometimes almost completely obscured behind a thick, downy blanket. It begins its daily climb, slowly inching toward its zenith, marking high noon, then down into the west. The same every day, but not so. Even when the days are dark and rain falls heavily upon the Amestrian civilians, officers, and merchants, the sun still shines somewhere above the atmosphere's distress.

On such days when the rain and sleet showers down upon the land, the citizens tend to migrate indoors and let the gloom overtake them, keeping even their toes crossed in hopes that the sun might hear their silent pleas and make an appearance. Small children commuting on foot to and from school make messes of themselves in puddles, their knowing parents dressing them in the in-season garb of plastic and rubber over their civvies to keep them dry and presentable.

It was on one of these days in Central City, when the streets were mostly devoid of human traffic and few cars drove seemingly listlessly about in hopes of meeting their destinations in due time, that Major Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist sat, drenched on the edge of a fountain in the middle of the Central HQ lawn with his little brother, Alphonse, a seven foot tall suit of armor, former collectible item of their runaway father's. They sat staring ahead. Al had given up on telling his brother that he'd catch a cold in the rain, so he remained silent, listening to the heavy thrumming the rain made as it landed upon everything, the wet plops as it connected with the water in the fountain, the hollow pangs as it bounced off his body, watching the white clouds alternately forming in front of his brother's slightly parted lips, the fans of water trailing what vehicles did pass, the way those fans cascaded down onto the ground, splashing the puddles noisily.

Edward was dripping. He sat with his feet splayed out in front of him and his hands in his pockets, which made no difference, seeing as his clothes were completely soaked through and there was no warmth to find there. He had begun to shiver a while ago, but he had made no move to go inside. The grass in front of him had almost an inch of water throughout, every step by anybody eliciting a splash that soaked through their footwear faster than anybody wanted. He stared at his boots, watching as the drops of water beaded and collected into larger drops to then slide down to the heel and become part of the lawn-wide puddle. He was cold, but so lost in thought he didn't care.

"Who do you think she was?" Edward asked nobody. He heard the slight clank as his brother turned his head, but remained silent.

Al didn't know who she was either. He had seen her, lying on her back, hair like Rumpelstiltskin's finest spun gold splayed beneath her, her eyes closed as if sleeping on the almost substanceless floor of the pure white space between the Truth and his Gate. It had been six years since then and it always managed to find its way back into the older Elric's mind. Al knew it wasn't all that was bothering his brother, however, so he made his statement hoping his brother would take it as a suggestion to get him out of the rain.

"You're going to have to see him sometime, Brother."

There was a short moment of silence in which Edward pulled his feet beneath him and leaned forward while taking his hands out of his pockets and studying his gloved palms.

"I know." He stood and stretched, water running downhis neck and back, his trademark red jacket clinging to his body. "I think I need to do this alone, Al, if you don't mind."

Al knew why. He stood when his brother did. "I'll go back to the dorm and make you some dinner, then. I'm going to stop by the market and get some medicine, too."

Ed nodded without meeting Al's gaze and handed him a few bills, sufficient enough for medicine and whatever else Al felt they might need.

Al watched after his brother as Ed made his way toward the steps of Central HQ, and then beyond the doors. Al would not worry. He'd promised Ed he wouldn't. But it didn't keep the feeling from creeping up within him.

As the rain outside slammed noisily upon everything, creating something of a cacophonous silence, so it did inside as well. The office was quiet, save for the rustling of papers and shuffling of footsteps outside the doors leading into the outer office, Havoc's occasional cough, and Feury's sniffling. Colonel Roy Mustang lazily opened another folder and skirted his eyes across the words, none of it registering. He stared at the paper, his chin in his palm, until he realized he wasn't going to be able to focus without a break. He glanced up at 1st Lieutenant Hawkeye, quiet at her desk while organizing files to be submitted to General Hakuro and others to be looked over by the colonel, then scooted his chair back and turned around to look out the window.

Three stories down, he saw a red splotch on the edge of the fountain in the middle of the lawn. He stood and peered through the window and the rain and determined it to be Fullmetal. A large part of him wanted to open the window and shout at the teen, telling him to get his ass into the building before he catches a cold, then further scold him about taking better care of himself. He knew the advice, however administered, would fall on deaf ears, so he dismissed the idea. Instead, he frowned as he watched for a few minutes, then turned back to Hawkeye when he noticed her corner fall silent. She was watching him, but made no move to convince the colonel to get back to work. She must have understood that he was almost overworked for the day. He turned back to the window.

Ed was standing and slowly making his way to the entrance of Central HQ. Mustang knew coming inside wouldn't save the teen from a cold, but at least he was coming inside. He watched as Alphonse stood in the rain while his brother walked away, then turned toward the road and headed toward the nearest market.

He sighed and turned back to his desk, waiting for the moment when Fullmetal would enter through the outer office doors and make a racket, perhaps going off about the colonel's own incompetency and how his last mission was so boring.

It was a good ten minutes later and the door to the outer office opened quietly. A very wet Fullmetal stepped through and closed the door quietly behind him. Roy looked up, ready to make a comment, but stopped when he saw Fullmetal's tired eyes and sad visage. He quickly closed his mouth and said nothing.

"Hey, Chief! How's it goin'?" Havoc asked, leaning back in his chair.

Edward looked at him and smiled a small smile. "Not bad, how about you?"

Havoc's smile quickly turned down and his brows furrowed. His unlit cigarette pointed downward as he looked at Ed, obviously weirded out. "Pretty good."

Fullmetal quickly broke eye contact with him and looked at the floor as he entered Mustang's inner office, trailing small puddles behind him.

Mustang schooled his features as he watched the teen enter his inner office and waited till Ed was in the doors before saying, "Do you finally have that report that I needed a few days ago?"

Ed looked at him apologetically as he shook his head and moved to sit on one of the black leather couches in front of Mustang's desk.

"Oh, no you don't!" Mustang quickly shouted and jumped from his chair to stalk to Fullmetal. Edward looked at him surprised. "Hawkeye, please close the door on your way out!"

She looked up at him, gathered up her work and left the office.

"What do you think you're doing? You can't sit on the couch all wet like that! That is genuine leather! You'll ruin it!"

Ed looked at the floor.

Mustang furrowed his eyebrows together at the lack of response and sighed. He left Ed standing there and walked to the resting room adjacent to his office and came back with a few towels. He set them of the coffee table and stared at Ed, who had made no move to take them when they had been offered. It was quiet for a few moments, then Mustang stepped closer to the teen. Ed made to move to back away. He rested a hand on Ed's flesh shoulder and the boy stiffened slightly at his touch, but was quick to relax. Mustang then proceeded to remove the boy's coat.

He had never seen Ed like this. Well, of course he had, but usually Fullmetal would say he was fine and would move on to sulk somewhere he wouldn't be seen. Ed had never let himself become completely soaked when his brother was around to take care of him, let alone enter the office silently.

Fullmetal shrugged to let his coat slip to the floor. Mustang was holding on to it, so it never made it that far. He held it with one hand and looked at Fullmetal's back, his braided hair and clothes clinging to his body. He placed a hand on the sixteen year old's shoulder and pulled him towards the door to the resting room.

There was a bed and a bathroom in there. It was almost made up like a normal bedroom, with a nightstand on each side of the bed and a dresser that the colonel had slowly filled with his own civvies as time went on for the times he would be in the office all night or decided it wasn't worth it to go home.

He led Ed into the room and closed the door. Ed stopped before the bed and turned around, looking at him, but making no move to sit or speak. Mustang sighed again and approached the teen, making to pull off the boy's shirt. Edward simply stared up at him, his face unreadable. Mustang tugged to get Ed's tank top out from under the boy's pants, but he was too wet and it stuck, so he resorted to taking off Ed's belt first. He unbuckled it and tugged it through the loops , unbuttoned Ed's pants, then pried his fingers between the fabric folds to find the zipper tab, promptly pulling it down when he did.

Fullmetal kept staring at him. It disturbed him and he worried at Fullmetal's silence, the boy's lack of response bordering on annoyance. He didn't have time to be babysitting Amestris' most famous brat. He didn't have to do this. But the boy was under his command, and having him sick would only mess up a lot of things, including Mustang's reputation. He tried not to meet Ed's eyes as he stripped him down to his boxers.

Ed continued to stand quietly, not making any moves to help get undressed, and when Mustang realized he would need to get the boy's boots off, he promptly pushed him backwards and Ed caught himself on the edge of the bed before sitting. Mustang pulled Ed's boots off, yanked his pants down off his feet, and then set them on Ed's coat. He did the same with Ed's shirt after asking him to lift his arms because, god forbid, he wasn't going to tear it off the boy. Ed complied and dropped them as soon as his hands were free. His eyes continued to follow mustang and he laid Ed's tank top on the pile of clothes he had begun and moved to peel off the boy's socks.

Mustang was trying his best to avoid making contact with Fullmetal's eyes, which hadn't left him in the several minutes it was taking him to strip the teen free of his clothes.

Edward watched Mustang's face as the man carefully peeled his clothes off. He was sitting now and was wondering how far this was going to go. Would Mustang even take off his boxers? Would he make a move to touch him? Would he take advantage to the teen and try to seduce him? Or has he been silently plotting how he would yell at Ed and get angry for not taking care of himself?

Mustang didn't have a look on his face that said he was interested in touching Ed. He had his eyebrows furrowed in concern, probably for his reputation. Ha! Ed let the sides of his mouth curl up slightly at that, but the smile faded as quickly as it came. The colonel seemed more patient than normal, much more caring. He successfully peeled off Ed's socks and then pulled Ed forward a little to undo his braid. Ed leaned forward slightly and closed his eyes and he felt Mustang's fingers try to separate the wet locks.

Edward looked back up at Mustang's face and watched as the man's eyes considered him up and down. He suddenly felt ashamed that Mustang could see the scars coming from beneath his automail cuffs. His eyes flickered down to Mustang's feet and he pursed his lips. He saw the older man's military-issue black, leather boots turn and walk toward the door. He looked up and watched him disappear, then return with the towels he had left in the office. His eyes trailed the colonel as he stopped in front of him, holding the towels, pausing before bending to pull Edward to his feet.

He closed his eyes as he felt the older man begin to dry him off. He didn't even know why he was letting him take care of him, but he didn't care either. It felt good, having somebody else quietly care for him without question. He made a mental note to sneakily get the colonel to take care of him like this again sometime. He rather liked it, not that he'd ever admit that.

A towel was placed on his head and he opened his eyes, focusing on the fuzzy cloth over them and listening as the colonel walked to the dresser and pulled open a drawer. He pulled the towel off his head and began scrunch-drying his hair then turned to look around the room. He started as a small pile of clothes was thrust into his face by a very unenthused colonel and he took them, looking up at the colonel's face. Mustang quickly left the room, closing the door behind him.

Ed slipped out of his boxers and dried his bits off with the towel before pulling a pair of grey sweatpants up, cinching in the waist and rolling them up so they wouldn't drag on the floor, then pulling the black t-shirt over his head and flipping his hair through the head-hole. He stood there by the bed uncertain of what to do, then sat back down.

It was a good hour or so before Fullmetal exited the resting room. He looked even smaller in mustang's clothes but he kept that to himself given the fact that Fullmetal's face was still unreadable and withdrawn. He watched as Fullmetal sat on one of the leather couches and curled up against the armrest, staring at the coffee table and hugging one of the pillows to his chest. Still, it was a good twenty minutes before Fullmetal spoke.

"Everything was perfect..."