Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye (flame_queen) wrote in knowhereic, @ 2017-09-24 01:03:00 |
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Entry tags: | fullmetal alchemist: canon: edward elric, fullmetal alchemist: canon: riza hawkeye |
Who: Edward Elric & Riza Hawkeye
What: Baking an apple pie.
When: Saturday Afternoon
Where: Mustang & Hawkeye’s Apartment
Rating: PG
Status: Log - Complete
Ed was equal parts nervous and excited to bake with Riza. He hadn’t spent much time with the Lieutenant since they arrived, he always figured she had enough trouble trying to reign in Mustang-so he tried to generally stay out of the way. Unfortunately he found himself feeling a little homesick for familiar things when his plan was foiled to mind his own business. The blonde showed up at her place when she’d instructed him to and looked around. This was actually the first time he’d seen Roy’s place since the two of them moved in together. It was a roof but it didn’t seem terribly decorated or homey. He glanced over at Riza with a raised eyebrow before commenting. “...I’d have asked you over to my place but there’s a lot of people there now.” Sometimes it got a little crowded for him as nice as those people were. He was desperately trying to adjust to North being there all the time now too because he was nice and made York happy, but it had been a little hard on Ed trying to deal with that many bodies in the house. They’d asked him what he wanted, and he wanted York to be happy, so he went along with it. He didn’t regret that part, it just got hard to breathe in sometimes. He was actually a little glad to be at a quiet place. --- “This is fine.” She assured him with a glance. It must have been odd for Ed, to see the blonde woman in something other than her crisp, blue uniform. She had donned pale jeans (jeans!) and a white button down shirt. She still managed to look professional, though her hair was down. She looked more like a woman. Less like a working piece in the military war machine. “Though if you ever feel like it, I would enjoy coming to see your apartment.” This one was sparse, nothing personal in it. One bedroom and an office. Clearly, the office had once been a second bedroom, but Roy needed an office. Honestly, so did Riza, bit she managed to keep everything from Peter organized without one. Somehow. “The Colonel won't be back for a few hours.” So it was just the two of them. It would give Ed a little time to unwind. Someone was always home at his place, after all. York worked nights and Al didn't work, but when he went out, it was during the day. And North often spent his time with York, though that would change eventually. “What made you take a sudden interest in baking?” She wasn't sure he really had one. She assumed he'd just wanted to get out of the house and this was a good excuse. --- Odd was an understatement. He’d never actually seen her out of uniform, or with her hair down. It was long kinda like his, but hers was actually taken care of pretty well so it had this silky look to it that his lacked until someone made him shampoo it. Usually York, otherwise he’d be far too lazy for that bullshit. Showering sure, but hair maintenance? Meh. “Really? It’s all cluttered.” Ed commented with a wave of his hand to say it wasn’t very impressive. Someone always had something out, he was no less guilty with his books and notebooks and stuff. The place sometimes looked like the Central library. He really needed to add more bookshelves to it. “If you want to, yeah. Next time you can come there.” If she was interested, Ed had no problem inviting her over, he just figured she wouldn’t be in all that stuff based on how quiet she generally was. “You’re not in uniform. You don’t wear it at home?” Ed was kind of glad for it, if Roy had said something stupid to make her feel obligated to wear that uniform even at home he’d want to punch him. Ed looked the same as always. Black and red. This time he even wore gloves to cover his automail. He wasn’t comfortable showing it off out in the open yet. Shifting his gaze away he shrugged a bit. “I duno..if the answer was to be out of the house would that be a bad one?” He fidgeted a bit with the sleeve of his jacket. He wasn’t the bottomless pit that Al was when it came to food, but he did miss apple pie, and some parts of home. --- Taking on a knowing look, the blonde woman nodded just once in understanding. “Cluttered is fine. Though I can’t give you my word I won’t ensure its cleanliness before I leave.” And Ed could be sure it wouldn’t be Hawkeye cleaning it. She already had a grown child that she picked up after. Of course, the mess of alchemaic papers in the living area, spread all over the coffee table and couch (along with a mess of assorted ingredients he’d made her go out and get) didn’t relay the same story-- but he’d recently snapped at her about straightening his papers up. He had them in the order he wanted them! She needed to stop putting them in piles and moving it all! The two had engaged in a glaring match after that, but Mustang had ultimately won. Hence the state of the living room. “No, I don’t wear it at home. It’s rather constricting and confining.” The uniform, that was. Imagine that, Riza Hawkeye didn’t love wearing her uniform. Who would have thought? Though, as Ed answered her, she paused in pulling out the bowls and tins she needed, then turned back to look at him. “No. It wouldn’t be a bad thing. Sometimes I go out and do things, just to get out of the house, as well.” It was totally normal. Ed, you were a completely normal human being. Even Riza did that sometimes. “Now, you are going to have to remove the gloves, they’ll just hinder your helping me bake.” So, off with them, Ed. --- “I mostly need to add more bookshelves...but my stuff is where I can find it right now. I don’t want to move it.” Ed was so much like Mustang it was ridiculous. He bent down to pick up one of the papers to give Roy’s code a glance, but just as suspected at a mere glance he couldn’t crack it. Every alchemist was supposed to have their own unique code. The Elric brothers however, shared one. Even in his world they had. Al could understand his just as well as he could Al’s. Ed put down the paper where it was meant to be on the tornado that was Roy’s floor and shook his head. “It’s all in order. Formulas, theories, codes.” He pointed at them. To someone who didn’t study alchemy it just looked like chaos, but to them it was an ordered chaos. The blonde smiled at that response with a nod. “What kind of places? Not that I’ll follow you. ‘Cause it’s your places and I got mine..but..” He was trying to figure out how to hold a normal conversation. It was a little easier with someone he knew and trusted more now than he had at the start. Glancing down at his gloves and over at the woman, he frowned uncomfortably. There were even a lot of military personnel who didn’t have much contact with him and his automail, but he didn’t figure Riza for trying to paw at it and attempt to pull it off him or something weird like that-so he removed them and tucked them into his pockets. Al was far less self conscious with his automail than Ed was. Ed was uncomfortable in his own skin. --- Alphonse and Edward had shared a code in the youngest Elric’s world, too. They didn’t have anything to hide from one another. And when Ed had died, Mustang had eventually taught Al his code-- and now the blonde could read his Lt. General’s code. He could read his Alchemy, he could decipher it, if given the time. But it wasn’t all that unusual... Roy knew two codes-- his master’s code, as well as the one he’d developed himself. Mustang had found out just two nights ago, the hard way, that Alphonse could read his coded material. Oops? “It’s chaos.” Riza insisted with a glance back at him, but it came with the barest of smiles. Just a hint of it, curling at her lips. Though, she was turning back to place the baking materials on the counter, to begin spreading them out. “Here on Knowhere, I spend a lot of time in the observatory. I’ve always liked looking at the stars.” It was a quiet admission that gave her pause, before she continued pulling out the items that she needed. She’d gone shopping today to ensure she had everything they would need, including apples from Earth, something she’d picked up on from the chats Mustang and York had. Ed liked the Earth food better. Hawkeye could understand that. As Ed began to remove his gloves in almost a shy way, the sniper considered their position for a moment before speaking up. “My father was a brilliant Alchemist.” The small talk was meant to distract the young man from feeling so awkward in front of her, she could tell how uncomfortable he was. Maybe a bit of insight into Riza’s life would distract him for a few moments. Strange, really, that her father had been an Alchemist, but she wasn’t. “Berthold Hawkeye. He was quite famous in his time, he never really liked the idea of taking on students, he was too immersed in his research. He hated the military.” And yet she’d joined up. “Alchemy was his entire life, it was all he lived for.” Those brown eyes slid back to her guest. “He was a little eccentric.” More than a little. Roy Mustang had some choice words about Riza’s father, that was for sure. “But I suppose all Alchemists are. Sometimes it can be hard on a regular person, living with someone who has a brain that never turns off.” Brilliant as Alchemists often were. --- Ed’s relationship with the Colonel wasn’t as close as either of theirs were. Half the time he wondered if Roy even liked him at all. If he did it was hard to tell. Ed was trying to have some kind of one with him there in space since they were stuck there together, but he didn’t know what kind it was turning out to be. Complicated, in a word. To be honest he wasn’t sure what he was to Riza either, if he was anything. The woman had said friend, that they trusted eachother. That’s what friends did, so for now he was trying to accept that as their relationship. This might have been a good step. Actually spending time with her without the others around. Riza probably knew most of his story from Roy, but he knew next to nothing about her. “Ordered chaos.” Ed responded again, but dropped it a moment later when she started speaking as he removed his gloves gingerly. “Why?” He looked over the ingredients she’d picked out and the expression on his face brightened a little as he used a fleshy hand to touch one of the apples. “These don’t look like the weird market ones.” Yeah, he noticed. Ed noticed little details, it’s part of why he excelled in alchemy the way he did. “Berthold?” Ed said the name, it was an odd one he’d not heard before. “With a name like that he probably had to be eccentric.” Ed remarked accidentally sarcastically about someone elses father, and then looked a little sheepishly over at her. “Sorry.” Ed said as he put back the apple as carefully as he could. “You didn’t wanna be an alchemist? Al and I wanted to since we were little.” --- When he made the remark about her father’s name, she only tipped her head. It wasn’t as if she’d named him, after all. And it was a strange one. “They’re Earth apples. Your friend York mentioned to Colonel Mustang that you didn’t like the space food as much.” So, Earth apples. It was a simple act of putting two and two together. “Oh, I did. I’d always wanted to be an Alchemist. But my father insisted it wasn’t a job for a girl. That women had no business being Alchemists.” So, he’d had her learn to cook. She’d taken on the laundry and the cleaning and things girls should do, while Roy had come along and been taught Alchemy. As a girl, she’d been so furious. “You and your brother are both very good Alchemists, you’re both extremely gifted.” Even the fleshy Al from another world-- and, arguably, that fleshy Alphonse was better. Perhaps even much better, than the trapped-soul of Alphonse Elric in Ed’s world. “You can start peeling those apples. Don’t cut yourself.” Riza set a knife down near the apples, for the young man to get to work. She busied herself with getting everything else ready. Of course, she was going to let Edward measure everything out and put it all together. It was what he was good at. --- Ed didn’t comment about his own father, nope. He made no comments at all when it came to that man disappearing on them and not even showing up for their mother’s funeral. Had it not been for Pinako and Winry they would have been left for dead. “Maybe all father’s have weird names.” Was all he said with a shrug and then glanced over at her and gave her a softer smile then he’d managed since arriving in space. She’d remembered and little things like that made him feel more comfortable around her. “Space food has a weird aftertaste.” He said with a simple shrug and began going over the ingredients. Sugars, cinnamon, etc. Maybe it wasn’t so different than alchemy after all. “That’s stupid. Girls can do alchemy too. I met a girl once with automail and hers had fucking cannons built in.” She’d been kind of a jerk, but he didn’t underestimate anyone based on gender. He knew better than that. “I’m..not gifted. I just saw that Thing.” Ed admitted guiltily. But then Riza had given him a task, and he refocused again. Much like any lost military man might. Even if he denied his status as a dog of the military, he absolutely was. When he had a focus and direction to move in, he could go forward. Staying still would mean the end for him. He looked down at the apple and knife and wondered how exactly to grab it, with which hand would be better?...He chose poorly. He figured automail to hold it but the apple completely squished under it’s grip and sprayed them both with apple bits. “Gah.” Ed responded and narrowed his eyes at it as though it were an evil thing. --- “What gave you your talents isn’t important. What is important is having them, and how you use them.” Sage words from the blonde woman, who finished setting out the last of the ingredients and turned to regard Ed again-- just in time to get splattered by apple. The Lieutenant blinked, then slowly raised a hand to wipe some of the pureed apple from her face, looking down at the sticky mess on her fingers before brown eyes lifted once more to the State Alchemist. Then, a small smile appeared. “I think perhaps it’s best if I peel the apples. Why don’t you get started on making the crust.” She snagged a few paper towels from the roll and handed them over to him so he could clean himself up, then she began wiping bits of the slaughtered apple from herself. “Come on, trade places with me.” She wasn’t angry? No. Of course not. Riza Hawkeye had an incredible temperament. She had to. Look at the man she dealt with on a daily basis. And, well.. She had a soft spot for Edward Elric. She had since Mustang had brought the boy into their lives. “Just follow the directions there on the card.” She knew he could measure out the bits and pieces, she knew he could add them all together into the bowl properly. She knew it’d be perfect. --- He glanced at her and didn’t speak for a moment, only gave a faint smile at the response. Maybe...but he had no right to let anyone call him a genius or whatever without admitting it. So he felt. He’d seen what they called Truth behind the gate, knowledge that dated back before time itself. Ed rarely needed to even study these days for something he wanted to attempt-he was likely to just get the idea on his own. Flinching as apple flew at them both, he paused and looked over at her-half thinking she might yell or scold him but she didn’t even flinch. Right. She wasn’t like Roy...especially like this she actually seemed human, and he nodded as he put down the knife. “I can’t touch really soft stuff.” Maybe it was good that his Alphonse was in that metal suit, Ed might have been afraid to touch him otherwise...but then again what if he never got to? At this rate he wasn’t even sure if he’d get to see his Al. He worried even as he switched places with her Al was on his mind. Ed nodded, glad once again for having a direction to move in instead of dwelling on downward spiraling thoughts. “Where’s Black Hayate?” He hadn’t seen the little dog yet and was curious. Al was much better with animals then he was, but he liked dogs for the most part...so long as they didn’t talk like Cosmo. That’d freaked him out. Ed carefully measured and poured things as though it were a science experiment, every item exactly correct. Even removing some here and there if they went over as though there was no room for error. Ever the alchemist. --- “He’s sleeping on the Colonel’s bed. We went for a long run this morning.” Finishing cleaning up the mess from the sacrificial apple, Riza set to peeling them. The knife set to skin, she’d peel the first in one long strip, expertly, before removing the core and setting it aside. One after one, she’d skin them all, remove the core, and set them aside. “I’m sure he’ll be out soon enough to say hello.. But right now, I’m not sure a siren would wake him up.” Soon, the apples were all skinned, cored, and chopped up, the task completed about the same time as Ed was finishing up with his own task. “Have you ever practiced touching soft things?” The Lieutenant imagined there hadn’t been much in the way of a lesson in how to use that metal arm of his. She was sure Winry would have tried, but Ed hadn’t ever been wonderful at listening. You had to catch him at the right time, in the right mood. “I’m sure you could learn to vary your strength if you practiced enough.” And without warning, Hawkeye tossed another apple up in the air, for him to catch. He needed to get used to it, one of these days. Especially if he got stuck with that arm. --- “Hn.” He said in response as he finished up the measuring. This wasn’t nearly as awkward as he thought it might end up, spending the day with Riza. He’d never actually tried it so he didn’t know why he automatically thought it’d be awkward-he assumed the colonel would show up and ruin things, but he hadn’t. “When’s the colonel’s birthday?....Al said yours and I’ll remember it but..I don’t know his.” A seemingly random question as he set aside all the various measuring things, but it’d been on his mind how little he knew about Roy lately. Roy knew all about his story. He knew about Flame Alchemy and the horrible things he’d seen in the Ishval war thanks to Scar, but he didn’t know details or really much about the man at all. He’d heard rumors in Central that the man was a raving womanizer, but there had to be more to him than that. “Think Winry mentioned, but I didn’t..-don’t plan on being in this arm for long.” He didn’t know how that was going to change in space, but Ed was still pretty determined to change things. He wasn’t entirely sure it was possible lately because of the Homunculi assholes, but he was starting to have a little hope again. Starting to think about things beyond the Gate once more, honestly starting to wonder if maybe he could open that Gate a second time, get Al’s legs back -but there was no way he was going to mention that out loud. It’d probably earn him a beating, and all he really wanted was pie. “Wait wha-!” Eyes widened as the apple flew into the air, Ed grabbed for it and the same result occurred. This time ending him with a face full of apple and annoyance. --- When was the Colonel’s birthday? It caused Riza to turn her head and look at the young man. Surely Ed wouldn’t be surprised that she knew. He might not even be surprised that she knew both Elric boys birthdays. Or the birthdays of everyone on Team Mustang. And the Fuhrer. And the Fuhrer’s wife. And son. What? Roy wanted to climb in the ranks and birthday presents and cards went a long way when you were giving them to a superior’s wife and children. Hawkeye even knew random information about many of the Lt. Generals and Generals. It never hurt to kiss a little ass. And Mustang was very good at it. “October 2nd.” She informed him simply. “It’s right around the corner.” She had something planned.. But coming here sort of ruined it. Perhaps she could figure something else out. “And no one ever plans for these things, Edward, but sometimes you have to expect the unexpected.” Like being stuck with that automail forever. Like his little brother from another world being stuck with his automail forever. Funny, Alphonse never talked about it. He never declared he wanted his legs back. He never mentioned having plans to get back the parts of his body that had been taken from him. He didn’t care. Let Truth keep them. Al would open that gate again, but it would be to get his brother. He didn’t care what parts he had to lose. He didn’t care if it took every piece of him. He was more than willing to trade his life for Ed’s. Thankfully, no one knew it. Riza tossed the apple. Ed caught it. The apple went everywhere. Again. She shook her head. “It’s a good time to learn.” But the apples were far too expensive to keep wasting. Maybe they should try water balloons. At least it’d be fun. For her. --- Even the core had snapped under his touch without any real thought and basically crumbled under the automail to the floor. Ed took a finger to lick some of the apple he whipped off his face. They really did taste better than space apples. Space ones had a weird flavor. Which made sense since he really didn’t see any trees. They were probably created by man rather than grown. Or..alien.That was a strange idea. Aliens making apples in some weird alien lab. “I break a lot of door knobs. It’s irritating.”...That figures.” That man would be born close to the day Ed had burnt down his home and left it in the dust and ash. Irony at it’s best perhaps. As he looked down at the apple he’d ruined, he frowned a bit wondering briefly if he’d hurt Al by accident like this. That thought was an unpleasant one he’d have to ask him later. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Al. Physically or mentally. “What next?” The crust was nearly complete, Ed’s hands didn’t even need a rolling pin. Automail was good for that sometimes. It did actually have a million uses. Sometimes he wasn’t sure which hand was his ‘good’ hand anymore, but that didn’t mean he was content to leave things as they were. He still had a bit of apple in his hair that he hadn’t noticed and probably looked entirely like a child at that point. A bit of flour on his face and kitchen warfare evidence in his hair. --- Ed looked impossibly adorable, but Riza did her best not to stare, or comment. Instead, she wiped a little apple from her own cheek-- she hadn’t gotten much on her-- and held out her hands to take the finished crust. She would wait for him to peel it up in a nice sheet (and if he had to re-roll it ten times, then so be it!) and once it was passed of to her, she carefully laid it in the pan and started forming it. “Now start on the ingredients for the apples. The card is just there. This is the delicate part.” Not that she had to tell him that, he’d been so careful and meticulous with the crust, she was rather sure this would be the most perfect apple pie she’d ever made. Well.. not that she’d made it. But at least she’d been there to guide him. It was the first pie she’d ever taught someone on-- and the first Edward had ever made. It’d be delicious. “Make sure you mix it up well, there’s nothing worse than having things unevenly distributed inside the pie and having one side with more cinnamon than the other.” Something like that could ruin the whole thing. Leaning her arm against the counter, she would turn to watch him as he worked. He really was so precise. So focused. So dedicated to his work. Ed was a good soldier, even if he hated it. --- And yes, he’d had to The crust was the harder part and he was surprised. He didn’t realize how difficult the substance was going to be to manipulate, but he got tunnel vision when working on things sometimes. This was no different. This demanded his attention and of course he wanted to get it right, the outcome would be pie. He’d learned to appreciate Winry’s efforts a little more in just how long it’d taken him to make one. Ed could follow direction well enough if he was so inclined, but that..wasn’t often. If it turned out okay maybe he’d even let York and North have some. Automail was hard to prepare food with, if he didn’t focus it would all go to shit. It was why he didn’t cook much. When he did? It was simple things like spaghetti. Nothing he could really break under his hands too easily. “Granny used to let me pour ingredients for her sometimes when she baked. I always liked that part. Cooking is kinda like science.” Things reacted to eachother differently when put in contact with other different things. --- “Cooking is a lot like science. Only there’s more room for error.. And sometimes, if you change the recipe a bit, you find that you like the new one more.” Which, for Riza, had always been exciting. “You should try cooking more things. I’ll teach you, if you like.” There were all sorts of things they could make, which would force Ed to figure out how to be more gentle with that arm. Anything with eggs in it, for instance. It’d be a messy ordeal, but well worth it, Hawkeye was sure. “Finish up with the topping for the apples, then add them in.” Sliding the bowl full of chopped apples closer to Ed, she nodded again to the ingredients there. Lieutenant Hawkeye was no Colonel Mustang, but she knew well enough how to lead and instruct men-- after all, she took care of the men in Mustang’s team, not Mustang. He was far too busy looking after Ed and climbing the ladder. --- The blonde glanced over at the other blonde curiously for a moment. Roy seemed to collect blonde people. Himself, Riza, Al..but the thought was a brief one since she’d started talking again and pointing at the next card to follow. If only the military had a tasty outcome, maybe then Ed would follow orders more. Ed had his own agenda for the military though, Roy knew it. Maybe even respected it.It wasn’t often that Fullmetal was given a real order by the colonel. Sometimes in space it made him feel a little lost, this kind of structure was good. Gave him a sense of purpose, and he got to make something for once. Put something out in the world that wasn’t just destructive. It was nice. The smell was even more so. Faint aromas of cinnamon and sugar reminded him of home and he actually felt a little better about things for at least a little while. “York thought I was some kind of cooking master...but I really only cooked spaghetti..” Ed said sheepishly as he did exactly that and mixed everything together. “I sorta stopped cooking after Al lost his body…”Al wasn’t able to eat so there was no point. Not to mention since then he didn’t really have much time for that sort of thing anymore. “...I’d like that.” He could be calm when treated with calmness in return, but when he and the colonel got into the same room it was like fire and ice. Calm went right out the window. ---- Listening to Ed speak, Riza maintained her calm, even temperament. She had an even keel all the time, it seemed. She’d only snapped a handful of times in the years (decades) the Colonel had known her, and she’d never snapped in front of Ed (though she had done as much in front of Al). Mustang was a crazy man all the time, they were such opposites, Hawkeye and the Colonel. But the two never fought. He never gave her orders she was unwilling to follow (and, if he did, she just refused to follow them and they moved on with their lives) and she never yelled at him in front of his subordinates (unless she did..). They just worked, somehow. Probably because of her even keel. The same calmness that now seemed to be helping Ed find his center. He was thinking about his brother. It was clear the thoughts upset him and in the moment, the Lieutenant made a decision. She leaned away from the counter and once Ed was finishing pouring in the ingredients, he would find a pair of arms wrapping around his shoulders from behind, as Riza hugged him. She wasn’t as short as Ed, nor anywhere near as tall as York. It must have been a strange feeling for the eldest Elric, to have someone at an unusual height do that. --- Ed had placed the nearly finished pie on the counter. On his own it probably would have turned to shit, but with Riza around it actually looked pretty edible.Good even. He stood back for a moment to admire it when he felt arms around him and he froze. Was this the point which Riza had decided to smother and kill him for constantly fighting with Roy or telling him to fuck off on more than one occasion?...No. This was something else. This was soft. This wasn’t a strangle hold meant to subdude or he’d already be on the ground. Riza was trying to offer him some kind of comfort and for what seemed like an eternity Edward didn’t know how to respond. After a moment of pure awkwardness he finally softened just slightly. Not resisting or fighting, but not entirely sure how to react, sort of like a cat being forced into a halloween costume. But...it wasn’t all bad. He glanced up at her in curious confusion. Mind and words had disconnected. --- She wouldn’t hold him there forever. By the count of ten, she had released his shoulders and was backing a step off, then brushing her hair back behind her ear. With the apples soon settled into the crust and the top carefully laid on in strips, the Lieutenant was speaking up again. “Let’s get this in the oven.” She’d already pre-heated it and she was opening the door, then nodding towards it. Go ahead, Ed, it was your pie, she’d just helped. “It cooks for about forty-five minutes. We’ll check it around that time to make sure the crust is golden colored. When it is, it’s ready to come out.” And it really was just that simple. --- There was a certain warmth to his eyes that didn’t often exist as Riza pulled away. He didn’t know what to say or if anything was necessary to say-so he did what she asked instead. With him he tended to speak in action rather than actual word. Maybe that action would be good enough of a response without breaking her stove. This time he thought it through, he held the pie with his automail and pressed soft buttons with the fleshy hand. Sometimes he was okay with showing off his automail, but most of the time it was awkward. He was glad Riza didn’t even flinch at it. She treated him like a normal person. At least what he thought was normal. “That’s forever.” Ed frowned a bit, but set the timer anyway. It looked pretty. Even a little presentable. Maybe if he was feeling generous he’d even leave some for Roy. As much as that man pissed him off he wanted to see the look on his face when he discovered Ed had made something delicate like this. Then he’d be horrifically smug and it would be amazing. In his head anyway. --- “Well, grab a book and we’ll spend the time reading.” She had tons of things she needed to read, after all. Peter Quill seemed like he’d never been to school at all. He couldn’t spell to save his life. She had to proofread and edit everything the man did. With the pie in the oven, Hawkeye nodded towards the office. Roy’s office. “Find yourself something in there. I’ll make some tea.” It was simple. It was easy. Many things with Riza were that way, thank goodness. Getting the tea going was easy, and while Ed picked out a book, she fixed their tea and brought it out to the coffee table, then scooped up her own paperwork and settled on the couch to get reading, her red pen already in hand. --- Ed hadn’t actually spent all that much time with school to be honest either. He could read though, reading was his favorite thing in fact. It made him feel better when the world caved in on him. His writing was probably lacking, but he didn’t need to write all that often so who cared. His job involved him hitting things even now if anyone broke into the Observatory, not writing who did it. The blonde looked over at the office cautiously as though Roy might have boobytrappeed it and then back at Riza. Finally he stepped forward toward it and looked around cautiously. Roy had wards on the walls and windows that he recognized but hadn’t ever done himself. Picking something out about advanced chemistry that probably should have been difficult for anyone else his age but Ed looked pleased with it, he made his way back toward her and sat down awkwardly close. For a little while he just read, but he found his eyes blurring from sleepiness and stress. Trying to be a normal human was tiring on him. He wasn’t used to so much social interaction, but he’d been trying because Al asked him to. It wasn’t long into said quiet time that his small form gave out, slumping gently against Riza’s shoulder. Al was so much better with people than he was. It took a lot of energy from him. |