Title: Sweet Denial
Pairing: Ling/Ed
Rated: G
Comments: For theme #23: ‘candy’ at 30_kisses

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“What is that?” Ed’s eyes narrowed and he angled his head warily.

Ling held up the tin of hard candy, opening his mouth to reveal five of the little round sweets sitting on his tongue. “Want one?” he asked around his mouthful.

Ed’s nose wrinkled in distaste and he turned away, snorting. “No, I hate candy.”

Ling’s lips formed into a pout as he glanced down at his tin. “But it’s candy. Everyone loves candy,” he said, and punctuated his words by popping another two into his mouth so that his cheeks swelled.

“Children love candy,” Ed muttered. He propped his feet on the coffee table and resumed his skimming of the alchemy book in his lap.

Indeed, most children did love candy. But Ed was not a child anymore, a fact which had echoed daily at Central when he’d been younger, and could still be heard from time to time. Older members of the staff, which Ed could only assume were nearing senility, liked to pull him aside and drop candy into his pockets, along with a pat on the head and a comment usually along the lines of “Oh, aren’t you cute,” or “Here you go, kid, have fun.”

“Idiots,” Ed muttered, recalling a stern reprimand he’d gotten from Mustang after one such incident, in which he’d transmuted a closet into the wall and locked his unsuspecting offender in it. And then transmuted the door back into the wall.

He glanced over at Ling, who was still staring fondly into his tin full of candy, cheeks bulging even more than before. Although, he thought with no small amount of nostalgia, when he had been a kid, he and Al had loved sharing their candy with Winry.

“Fine,” Ling said thickly. “More for me.” He left the room, cradling his horde to his chest.

The next day, Ling made quite the ruckus when he discovered his tin half-empty.

The end.