Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)/Ho Yay

• The original Fullmetal Alchemist manga (as well as its direct adaptation, Brotherhood) has surprisingly little (arguably none) Ho Yay for a shonen with a huge and mostly male cast. Perhaps it's precisely this absence of deliberate Subtext which has led the yaoi fangirls to see romantic overtones in Ed's relationship with Ling, and in Mustang's rather heartfelt reaction to Hughes' death.
  • On the subject of Mustang and Hughes: Academy friends, met up again in the Hell of Ishbal, and Hughes signed on to 'support Roy from below.' Roy has recently gone on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Envy after learning he was responsible for Hughes' death.
  • Though there's still those very rare moments that could be argued as being Ho Yay, such as this one. In all fairness the interactions between the Elrics are more "brotherly" in the manga though, not going to the full "Elricest aura" that the first anime had.
    • Or how Ed and Al are pretty much living emotional crutches to one another. Whenever the other is threatened or it looks like they're dead the other freaks out and does everything in his power to save/protect the other.
  • Ed and Ling do have a bit, especially in the scene where Ed carries Ling while they're in Gluttony's stomach.
• Darius and Heinkel recieve a lot of this in fan works.
• Greed and Ling have a lot of Ho Yay, too. In the Viz manga there is a line in which Greed says, "I'm glad I hooked up with you", and the whole "aibou" ("partners") thing...

"NO, Greed! I need you! You're my partner!"

• Sig Curtis's "flex-off" with Major Armstrong which ends with the two of them holding hands and sparkling.