Clown
written for the ABC Challenge (Fullmetal Alchemist drabble) for the FMA OT4 livejournal community
By Kessie
Disclaimer - not mine, all characters belong to Hiromu Arakawa etc, Square Enix and funimition and they simply wont shut up lately-- I'm sorry.
Pairing - a hint of Roy/Riza/Maes/Gracia
Rating PG-13 ish I think
Summary - It's Maes duty to play the clown
Length: pretty short (at least for me) - 496 words
Author's Note #1 -This is unbetaed so read on your own risk. Hope there aren't too many mistakes….
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He didn't care if the others rolled their eyes at him. Neither did he mind if his subordinates or the other soldiers talked about him behind his back. It came with the task, he knew that, and he choose to ignore if they questioned his sanity sometimes.
It made him to appear weak, but that was how he wanted it. Nobody would believe that this goofy soldier was capable of anything bad. They believed him to be harmless, crazy even, and he was thankful for this role, always being prepared to show his real face if he was needed. If they knew what this man was capable of most of the people would have been scared.
He had to protect the people he loved.
It was his duty to play the clown.
Getting out his precious pictures of Elicia for the umpteenth time this day, he elicited a groan from Roy, but also didn't fail to notice the tiny glimmer in his friend's eyes. Just minutes ago he had seen him getting a bad message yet again and he needed to make sure that Roy´s thoughts didn't drift away too much. The bad was getting the upper hand once more and he knew his friend all too well. He knew Roy´s favourite way to deal with bad things was alcohol and putting all of the blame on himself, even if it really couldn't have been his fault. And Maes responsibility was to catch his friend before he could fall. As good as this was possible…
He had found Roy with his gun in his mouth once and that had been more than enough. Now it was his duty to make sure it never happened again.
And even if Riza said that she was strong, he knew that she often was close to breaking as well. She was different from Roy, but she as well needed someone to hold on and he was glad that he could be there for her, even if it was only sometimes. Besides, he loved to see her smile. She didn't do it very often but when he managed to tease her the whole room could lighten up.
It also had been his humour which had lead him to another very important person in his life. The first time he and Gracia had met he had joked around and she had laughed a lot, but he had instantly known he had found his true love. She had become his pole to hold on, his reason he could work through all the pain and so much more. And not only for him, but for Roy and Riza as well. He was sure that without this four way bond neither of soldiers would have stayed sane. They all had their roles and his part in the relationship the four of them had was to lighten things up a bit, even if it often was hard.
And that was why he gladly played the clown.
End