Al had been waiting for what seemed like hours, and if he'd had a heart, it would have been in his throat. It was the third day of the exam, and he'd already dropped out of it on his brother and Lieutenant-Colonel Mustang's suggestions, but in some ways, he wished he hadn't. He didn't want to be a dog of the military, but at least with two of them taking the exams, there was a higher chance that one of them would get in.

Now, it was all up to his brother.

And judging by the interested way the Lieutenant-Colonel had watching Ed recently, he wasn't the only one with high hopes for Ed's performance.

Al jumped to his feet with a clang as the door swung open, interrupting his train of thought. "Brother! How did today's testing go?"

Ed set down his bag of books with a sigh, rolling his shoulders. "Eh," he said. "It wasn't awful, but it could have been better." His face was low and Al felt his non-existant insides clench.

"...what happened, Brother?"

"It was the oral test today," Ed said, gloomily. "I sucked so badly that Mustang said I should do it with him again tomorrow."

Al gave him a strange look. "Ah," he said, delicately. "Good to know the Lieutenant-Colonel is taking care of you."

"It was awful," Ed groaned. "I've just got this bitter taste in my mouth about the whole thing."

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

"Ah."