FICLET: Retire to Coffee ~ FMA ~ Ed & Roy ~ Teen

[batsutousai]

Title: Retire to Coffee
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Edward Elric & Roy Mustang
Warnings: AU, Ed's potty mouth
Summary: Ed returns to Central City to find that Mustang has quit the military and opened a...coffee shop?

A/N: Every winter season, I send out cards to anyone willing to give me their address, and I decided two winters ago to start adding fic to the cards. This year's prompt was coffeeshop.

No specific canon this is based on, especially since no version of canon!Roy would quit the military. ^^;
This was intended as pre-slash, but can be read as platonic, and has been marked as such.

-0-0-0-

When Hawkeye had first told Ed that Mustang had left the military for civilian life, he'd expected the stuffy asshole to have found some sort of office job where he could order others around and take naps instead of getting any work done; essentially, the exact same thing he'd done in the military.

Once he'd realised that the address she'd given him was in a commercial district of Central, he'd started assuming it was a pub; somewhere he could get drunk to forget all of their failures, or get other men drunk and steal their women. Or maybe a brothel or a women's lingerie shop; some place he would be surrounded by more than enough gullible, beautiful women to fill his date book for decades.

The coffee shop was... definitely a surprise. It wasn't quite the last place he'd have expected Mustang to end up – he'd never actually seen it, but he'd heard plenty of stories about that moment Mustang realised he had a deadline looming and chugged coffee in an attempt to stay up and get through all of his paperwork before Hawkeye shot him – but it was pretty close to that.

The shop wasn't too big and, Ed saw when he stepped inside, tastefully decorated in warm tones, with an array of comfortable-looking furniture that didn't actually match, but somehow went together just fine. They'd made use of yellow light bulbs to soften the lighting, with strategically-placed mirrors to keep the area around and behind the counter from being too dark.

It was a far cry from the uniformity and stark white lighting the military had always been so very proud of; Ed could sort of see why Mustang would have picked this place as his next career.

The man himself was standing behind the counter, focussed on the unwieldy contraption that seemed to serve in place of a percolator. A chipper young woman, probably a little younger than Ed, was standing at the cash register, and she called out a bright, "Welcome! What would you like to drink?" as he stepped up to the counter.

"I'm actually not here for a drink," Ed admitted.

Mustang's head came up and around, and the surprise painting his face was extremely welcome, after all the times Ed had reported to him after a mission, and he'd already known everything that had happened. "Fullmetal?"

"Hey, bastard; Hawkeye said you'd be here."

Mustang coughed, his expression turning slightly wry. "Ah, I should have known the major would have something to do with you visiting."

Ed snorted and, hearing the gentle sound of the bell on the door behind him, stepped down the counter to the other side of the contraption Mustang had charge of, so he wouldn't be in the way of any real customers. "Yeah, her and Al are the only reasons I'd ever come see you."

Mustang's smile was a lot warmer than Ed had ever seen from him. "It's good to know that some things never really change; I assume your brother is the reason you stopped by to pay your respects at all."

Ed shrugged – Al had rather strongly implied, during the last time they'd talked, that it would be good if he stopped past command and passed on greetings from both of them, since he was due to stop through Central on his way to Rush Valley – and said, "Actually, on that note, what's going on with the change in venue? Didn't you have enough coffee during your last-minute paper rushes?"

Mustang looked distinctly insulted. "Are you implying that this heavenly scent–" he grabbed a container off the counter next to him and opened it, holding it out for Ed to smell "–is at all comparable to military swill?"

Ed had never been one for coffee – given, the first time he'd tried it, it had been more like drinking especially bitter sludge – but he suspected he might have just fallen in love with a coffee bean. "You make a valid point," he allowed.

"Of course I do," Mustang agreed in that familiar haughty tone that had always made Ed want to land an automail foot to his smug face.

And then the chipper young woman at the register called out an order, and the haughtiness vanished under a mask of perfect professionalism.

Ed had seen Mustang pull that quick switch a couple too many times around generals and pretty women to be thrown by it, so he just rolled his eyes and leant forward over the counter a bit to see if he could figure out what Mustang was doing when he started manipulating the machine. But, well, machines were far from his speciality, and this one was complicated enough that Winry would probably propose to it, if she had half a chance, so he turned his attention to the chalkboard menu on the wall behind the register, debating the pros and cons of actually giving Mustang's delicious-smelling coffee beans a try.

He didn't end up having to decide, as shortly after the customer was slid their order, a fresh mug was held out to Ed, and he glanced over in surprise to find Mustang flashing him a knowing smile. "Mary," he called to the young woman at the register, as Ed accepted the mug, "I'm going to take five. Shout if you have any trouble."

"Sure thing, boss!"

Mustang stepped out from behind the counter with another mug in one hand and motioned with the other hand towards an open table a little behind Ed. As they moved over together to sit down, he commented, "You're welcome to leave whenever you want, you know."

"Maybe I like observing you in weird, new habitats," Ed said before he could stop himself.

Mustang choked on a laugh, and his smile, when he flashed it at Ed, was warmer and more open than any Ed had ever seen from him. "I missed you, too," he said.

"Who said anything about missing you! Bastard."

Mustang's smile widened, taking on that obnoxiously knowing edge that Ed recognised all too well. "How's the coffee?"

Ed huffed and slouched in his chair, but obediently took a careful sip of his drink. And then he had to close his eyes and just enjoy it for a minute, because holy shit, it was so much better than coffee had any right to be.

Mustang let out a quiet, knowing sort of laugh, but otherwise let him have his moment in peace.

Finally, Ed looked back over at him and said, "I suppose it might be worth stopping by here again."

"I'll be happy to have you. Any time," Mustang promised.

"Yeah, you just want my money," Ed muttered, mostly because it was expected.

Mustang chuckled and shook his head. "I give my team their drinks on the house." He glanced up at the ceiling while Ed blinked, a little surprised. "Well, so long as the house is actually standing."

"Is that a comment on something?"

Mustang just turned a flat, knowing look on him.

Ed huffed into his drink, then took another sip, giving himself a moment to enjoy it. "I suppose it would be a shame to endanger a machine that can make coffee that a person can actually drink."

Mustang laughed, loud and free in a way Ed had never heard from him.

Weird as it was, the coffee shop suited him; Ed was glad.

And he was definitely coming back.

He took another drink.

Often.

.