Meow.
Your eyes grew wide as everyone’s heads turned to you when the adorable sound was heard. You dared to take a quick glance at your bag to where the culprit of the sound was nicely hidden before looking back up at everyone in the room with a sheepish smile.
“Did you just meow, (Y/N)?” Ed asked.
“Hmm?” you said in reply, distracted by trying to think of a way to keep your furry little friend hidden. “Oh, um, no. I only coughed.”
“Uh, huh,” Roy replied, a little irritable that he was interrupted. “As I was saying-”
Meowwwwwww.
Before you could say anything in defense, Ed stormed over and grabbed your bag, unzipping it to reveal a cute little cat.
“Dammit, you’re just like Al!” Ed exclaimed as the cat jumped out of the bag, rubbing its head against his leg.
“Oh, a cat! Can we please keep this one, brother?” Al asked hopefully as he carefully picked the cat up and gently hugged it, careful not to harm it with the giant metal suit of armor that was his body.
“I've told you a hundred times that we can’t keep a cat,” Ed sighed.
“Oh, come on,” you chimed in. “It's just one cat, it's not like it'll bother you.”
“Taking care of that furball is another responsibility that I don't need.”
“Then Al and I will take care of it! You won't have to do anything for it.”
“We’re always traveling and when that thing wanders away, we’re not looking for it. We can't keep it.”
“But-”
“No,” Ed said sternly, cutting both you and Alphonse off.
“Can we get back on topic?” Roy asked angrily. “As I was saying before, I need you guys to travel south to-”
“Ed can take care of that himself,” you cut in.
“You guys are coming along, right?” he asked.
“No cat, no Al and I. You’ll be going by yourself.”
You crossed your arms stubbornly, not willing to give in after he was so heartless about not keeping the cat. Al looked nervously between you and Ed, not knowing whose side to choose.
“Fine, I didn’t need you guys anyway,” Ed said before storming out of the room.
“Fine!” you yelled after him.
Roy sighed and slowly rubbed his face. “Why am I always stuck working with children?”
******
“I think you may have been a little too hard on him, (Y/N). He may seem a little mean, but brother means well,” Al told you as the two of you walked down the streets of Central.
“Yeah, I know,” you replied with a sigh. “I just can’t believe how heartless he was towards the poor cat.”
Before Al had a chance to respond, a stray cat appeared in front of the two of you looking injured. With it limping and looking as if it hadn’t had a good meal in days, your heart absolutely broke for it. You knew it needed someone to nurse it back to health and you wanted to be that person no matter what Ed said. You slowly approached the cat and picked it up gently, careful not to hit its damaged leg.
“Look at this poor thing, Al. We need to take care of it,” you said as you patted the black and white cat’s head softly.
“But what about brother? He’s going to be angry when he finds out that we brought back another cat,” Al said worriedly. It was obvious that he also wanted to help take care of the cat, but make Ed angry was something he wanted to avoid.
“He’ll be away for at least two days. That’ll be plenty of time to give this cat a good meal and wrap up its leg.”
Al seemed to think about it for a moment. “Maybe we could try helping all the cats. I mean, there are so many cats in Central that need food and care, we could try to take advantage of the short time we have without Ed to help as many as we can.”
“Now that is one of the best ideas I’ve heard in a while.”
After a whole day spent looking for injured and hungry strays, the room you shared with the Elric brothers was filled with the cats you and Al rescued. You sent Al out to buy enough food to feed all the cats while you tended to the ones with injuries, wanting nothing more but to see these lovely creatures as healthy as could be. The following day was when the two of you planned to release them all again after they were in the best conditions.
Both you and Al ended up receiving something that neither of you expected; all of these stray’s love and affection. The cats adored the two of you after how good of a job you both did taking care of them. You sat there brushing a beautiful, white-haired cat while Al was doing his best to pet the swarm of cats that surrounded him, all of them purring loudly as they rubbed their heads against his metal body.
“Look, (Y/N)!” he laughed happily. “They’re all so cute. I really wish we could keep them.”
“I know, I wish we could too. But you know Ed would flip out if-”
At that exact moment, something you feared that would happen came to be. The door to the room opened to reveal Ed arriving a lot earlier than expected. He had his head down, fumbling with the sleeve of his coat which distracted him from the sight before him. You and Al froze with eyes wide open, terrified for when Ed finally noticed the abundance occupying the room. Slowly, Ed turned his attention to the room before him and you and Alphonse hugged each other, the two of you being able to tell how angry he was just by the look on his face.
Meow.
