Rewatching Brotherhood, and one of the things I’ve always loved is how Team Mustang always treated Ed like the kid he was, despite his State Alchemist qualification.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, they respect him—but they respect him as a person rather than respecting for the title. When Maria Ross and Denny Brosh first meet the boys, they address Ed as they would a superior. Even when they reprimand him, they apologize to him for it and are afraid they’ll be punished since he technically has the rank of “major.” But Team Mustang never did that. In fact, the first time we see them interact with Ed (that is, the full team, rather than just Roy or Riza), we see that Fuery just addresses them by name:
I’m pretty sure Ed outranks Fuery, being a State Alchemist and all, but you wouldn’t know that by the way Fuery addresses him by name like that. The others are the same, too, for the most part. This one is from Havoc:
And while, yes, both of those nicknames use the word “boss,” they sound far more like terms of endearment rather than respect. (Especially since Breda followed that comment with, “I hope he’s okay,” and Falman followed it up with, “As do I.”)
Falman, as far as I can recall, always addresses them by name (and addresses them as “The Elric brothers?!” when he reunites with them at Briggs). Riza calls them by name, Roy calls Al by name (I think) and always calls Ed “Fullmetal” … they’re nicknames, terms of endearment. They’re shown respect, but they’re also treated like … well, let’s put it this way: if Team Mustang really is a ragtag sort of family (and let’s be real, it is), then Ed and Al are the kids of that family and have always been treated as such.
I mean, remember the Scar incident?
Havoc helping Ed up and making sure he’s okay (with some other faceless soldier, sure, but look at how concerned Havoc looks).
Mustang—of all people, MUSTANG—smiling like that as the brothers reconcile (after Al yells at Ed for almost throwing his life away and the two calm down and say, “yeah, we’re still alive”). And yes, Hughes looks all put-out, but it’s okay, a moment later and he’s in on it too:
And then Riza gives Ed her jacket:
And just—would you just look at them:
Even Armstrong gets in on it and he’s not even a member of Team Mustang (but he’s kind of like an honorary member in the sense that he’s on Team Mustang’s side from the start, just like Hughes, though Hughes is even more of an honorary member of Team Mustang than Armstrong).
I’ve always just really, really, really loved the way Team Mustang treats Ed and Al, like they’re kids/family/part of the time, how they really, genuinely care about them and always have. It’s not just that Ed outranks them, but more that Ed is Ed and they care about him for that reason (and care about Al because Al is Al). It really shows, and I’ve always loved it.
(And you know? I would guarantee you that Ed and Al love it too, even if Ed is a bit more reluctant to admit/talk about it.)
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