Ed pushed Roy up against the wall, yelling and full of bluster. Roy, without a moment of thought, snapped his fingers at the back of Ed’s neck, a tiny puff of a blast and a roar of pain exploding from Ed as he pulled away. 

This was the moment he should have stepped in. Roy and Ed were at each other’s throats constantly, for reasons Hughes never mentioned because he didn’t want a quarter sized burn on the back of his neck. But Hughes should have felt the change in the air. He should have seen the storm cross Ed’s face, as he pulled something up from the deep. The job of an investigator is to put things together. Hughes was a good investigator. So he thought. 

Ed glowered as he tenderly touched his neck. When he spoke, it came out as a growl. 

“You should have fucking killed yourself when you had the chance.” 

Things go bad slowly, then all at once. 

In all his years of working Investigation, Hughes discovered the mistakes people made were usually in what they didn’t see. 

Ed saw a much younger Roy with a gun in his hand, on the edge, as a singular event. 

He didn’t see the few but long years of Roy hanging on by his fingernails, fighting a tide that had threatened to drown him. Long nights trying to keep his head above water.

Ed saw a a difficult, arrogant man and a weapon to hurt him with. 

He didn’t see the way everyone who cared about Roy could still hear the lapping of the waves in the background. The fear of the tide coming back in. That he’d be swept away this time. 

Ed saw Roy’s eyes widen, the bite of the inside of his cheek, a step, the glorious joy of his being beaten back. 

But the most important thing  Major Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist, did not see, was Hawkeye to his immediate left. 

Ed barely had the chance to finish his sentence before there were two hits: Hawkeye hitting him, and him hitting the floor. She was great at hand to hand combat, Hughes knew and Ed was rapidly discovering, and while the hit had been intended for Roy, Ed didn’t have great control of his blast radius. 

It was all so immediate, and yet Hughes saw it happen in perfect detail. He was good at writing eyewitness reports. Hawkeye punching him, Ed slamming to the floor. Hawkeye’s hand on her gun. Al moving faster than you would think a heavy suit of armor could, a freight train toward Hawkeye. Roy jumping in front of Al, his hand raised, his fingers ready to--

“Hey! Hey! HEY!” Hughes was on top of Roy’s desk, not quite remembering how he got there. “Let’s all…calm down.” 

They looked to him, expecting something to come next, which it would, once Hughes could come up with it. 

Ed began to raise his right hand, glaring at Hawkeye. 

“Move that arm and you will lose it.” Hawkeye had her hand on the gun in its holster. It was tough to push Hawkeye’s buttons, but once you did, it was tougher to un-push them. And Ed did not quite realize he had pushed on a very sore button, though his jaw was helping educate him. 

Roy’s eyes were still locked with Al’s, wondering whether iron could plow through flesh before it melted.

“You know what’s great about being a father? I get a lot of pretend time. Let’s try that.” He waved his hands in an exaggerated fashion.  “Let’s all pretend we’re professionals in the military! For a few minutes.”

Hughes thought it was at least a little funny, but nobody seemed to laugh, all tightly in position, except for, of course, Ed, who was lying on the floor. Wisely, with his right arm by his side. 

“Let’s start!” Hughes went back into his patter, the idea taking shape as he said it. 

“Lieutenant Hawkeye, could you please take your hand off your gun and take a few steps back from the young Major Elric?” Hawkeye, unmoving, gave him a flat stare.  “I would like to add, on a personal note, that it is still very much punishable by death to kill a State Alchemist, even if he is annoying, and that I desperately do not want to observe your court martial.” 

Hawkeye took a breath, dropped her hand from the holster, and took two exaggerated steps back. 

“Great.” Hughes clapped his hands together, “This is going well. Al Elric, Major Elric is no longer in immediate danger, so can I suggest you take a few steps back from Lieutenant Hawkeye?” 

Al needed permission more than encouragement, and clunkily shuffled back from Hawkeye’s position. 

“Fantastic” Hughes smiled and gestured to Roy. “Colonel Mustang, I would like to formally invite you to put your hand d--”

Roy dropped his hand. “Get off my desk.” 

“That’s fine, glare at me all you want. I’ll be done in a second.” 

Ed piped up. 

“I--”

“You. Don’t talk.” Hughes jumped down from the desk. “They should really give me a medal or a bonus or something for this. Anyway, let’s all go to our separate corners. Show’s over.” 

He’d done it. He could feel it. The spell was broken. No one would have accused Roy of being a saint, but he was, Hughes thought, a decent man, social and funny. Ed was a little brash and naive--weren’t they all at first--but he was a genuinely nice kid. Amazing how something about the other made them so eager to disprove those theories. But, they wouldn’t be killing each other today. Well done, Maes. 

Hawkeye continued to attempt to commit murder via the sheer power of thought, but walked over to Roy and stood by his side, eyes never leaving Ed. There were a few tense seconds, and then Roy flipped open his alchemists’ watch, took a glance, and looked over to Hawkeye. 

“Are you hungry? I could eat.” he clipped it shut with a quick flourish. 

She nodded and looked over to Hughes, who gave a little shake of his head. 

“I’ll catch up with you two later.” 

Roy sauntered to the door. “I’ll buy.” 

She put her hand on his back, trailing him, though whether to be sure of him or to push him out the door was anyone’s guess. 

“From the mess?” 

“I’m more generous to you than you deserve.” 

The door shut behind them, the force of it echoing through the room. 

Hughes let out a long sigh, took off his glasses and cleaned them with his shirt tail. “I would not recommend tap dancing on that particular nerve of Lieutenant Hawkeye’s.” 

Ed picked himself up off the ground, still scowling. “What I’d give to scrub his brains off the--” 

“I wouldn’t recommend tap dancing on that particular nerve of mine, either.” He tucked his shirt tail back in. “I’ve known the colonel for years and I like his head where it’s at. You’re poking at stuff you don’t really understand.You know it.” He put his glasses back on. “But you don’t understand it.” 

Ed ignored the sage counsel to continue his anger, but Al gave this matter a moment’s consideration. 

“You should have let me fight back.” Ed rubbed his jaw as Al helped him to his feet. 

Hughes chuckled and leaned against the desk. “Because you were doing so great.” He shook his head, smiling. “You haven’t seen Hawkeye in combat. She would have had a bullet in you before you could think the word, ‘alchemy.’ Maybe two.” 

“Of course you’re taking his side.” Ed dusted himself off. 

“I’m not taking anybody’s side. Are you okay?” There was no response. “I’ve been hit by Hawkeye before. It hurts. She’s got great follow through when she means it.” He looked at Ed’s jaw and whistled. “And boy did she. I bet her hand smarts.” 

“It looks like it’s swelling up.” Al put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Should we go get some ice?” 

“If you can get it from someplace other than the mess hall. I’d give the lieutenant a wide berth for a little while. Mustang, too, but especially her.” He put his hand on Ed’s shoulder. “Ed, I’m trying to help you. I know he can be, himself, but he’s your superior officer. He’s ben playing the game for years. If you get into a power struggle with him, you’ll lose. That’s a fact. He has plenty of friends.” 

“Like you.” Ed aggressively shrugged off his hand. “Let’s go, Al.” 

They walked out, slamming the door, who had seen a remarkable amount of violence today for having done nothing wrong. He was absolutely going to ignore everything Hughes had said, the same way that Roy was going to ignore Hughes’ appeal to go a little easier on Ed. It would all start again, same as they always did.