"...I'm telling you Roy, you should've seen her! My beautiful Gracia all dolled up just for me!"

"I thought you said you were her date for Charlie's wedding? Wouldn't that mean she was dressed up for the wedding, not you?"

"Well..." he pushed his glasses farther up on his nose, "That's besides the point! I'm tellin' you Roy, the second we get back to campus, I'm definitely showing you pictures!"

The door shut quietly behind the two university men as they made their way into the small cafe. Roy Mustang – a twenty year old law student from Amestris State University – had had just about enough of his best friend's incessant rambling about his 'perfect in every which way' girlfriend. Earlier he had hoped to sneak out of the dorm and head to the library in order to study for his upcoming exam, without being caught.

But as luck would have it, his best friend and also roommate, Maes Hughes, had decided it would be a wonderful idea to join him on his studying 'adventure', as Hughes had put it. But instead of going to the library Hughes had insisted that they go to this 'great cafe just off of campus' so that they could 'at least have a warm drink' while they worked.

"You took pictures?" Roy finally grumbled out, sighing as he looked at the long line and few empty tables in the busy cafe.

"Of course I did! What kind of man do you take me for Mustang? When you've got a girlfriend as gorgeous as mine you take pictures every opportunity you get! Not that I'm saying her beauty will ever fade of course but, it's nice to have a few handy whenever someone asks about her. That and of course when we're apart I can still see her beautiful face as much as I want." Hughes sighed in content.

The two men worked their way over to an empty table that was awkwardly situated in the back corner of the place. Squeezing past fellow university students, a few teenagers, and the odd rowdy child had Roy more annoyed than he had been when he first walked in. All he'd wanted was a little quiet time to review his notes, had that really been too much to ask for?

"...I swear Roy, she put the bride to shame. That green dress she was wearing it just – I can't even put it into words. I'll really have to show you when we get back."

Was he still talking about that?

Hughes continued talking as they took their seats – Roy having to practically squish into his considering the table to chair to wall ratio was rather small – thankfully though the conversation took somewhat of a turn, he wasn't sure how long he'd last if he had to hear one more time just how beautiful this Gracia girl was.

"Anyways, speaking of wedding's, did you hear that Denny and Maria are finally tying the knot?"

"Already? Haven't they only been dating for a year?" Roy glanced up at his friend as he opened his textbook to the page he had bookmarked.

"Love waits for no one Roy!" his friend exclaimed, "When you know, you know – I'd say go for it! If I could marry my Gracia today I'd do it!"

"Hughes, you realize you've only been dating this girl for four months right? You might want to keep thoughts like that to yourself otherwise you'll scare her off. Actually, I'm surprised you haven't already done that."

His comment was ignored, "But anyways, think you'll be able to make it to this one Roy? Charlie was pretty upset that you couldn't make it to his."

"I had an exam, I couldn't get out of it. Besides I sent him a gift and a card so I don't see what difference my actual presence there would have made."

"It would have made a ton of difference it – oh never mind, you're hopeless. I'm gonna go get a coffee." Roy watched as Hughes trudged over to the front counter, he just couldn't wrap his head around how that man's mind worked.

Looking down at the words on the page of his book and before he could let out an exasperated sigh, Roy had to remember why he was working so hard at this. Why he was spending all of his free time cramming this information into his head, why he was missing important things like his friend's wedding.

If he wanted to change this world, if he wanted to make it better, he was going to have to work hard to get to the top. And to do that he would first have to worm his way into the ever glorious job of politics, he'd have to work as someone's dog and earn trust within whichever party he decided to go with – a decision he hadn't quite made yet. But before any of that he had to give himself a good background, an education that would make people take him seriously. Law was the obvious answer to all of his problems. Obvious and time-consuming.

He shook his head, re-focusing on the book in front of him. He just had to tune everything out, ignore all this background noise and just focus–

"ROY!" he flinched, clenching his teeth as Hughes called out to him from across the cafe, "What do you want!?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." he called back, barely acknowledging his friend with a glance.

"What was that?!"

Roy glared at his textbook, "Oh for the love of-"

"Just come up here and decide for yourself! Come on, we don't have all day!"

He pushed his chair back, the legs angrily scraping against the floor and only adding to his frustration as he tried to wiggle out of the tight space. A small child with a pony tail ran by and cut him off before he could take a step, three cookies in his hand as another boy chased after him.

"Hey! We were each supposed to get one! Get back here stupid!"

"You snooze you lose, shorty!"

"Just because you're taller than me by half an inch doesn't make me a shorty! Ling get back here with our cookies!"

Roy sighed, about to try and move again as another blond child shot past him.

"Brother! We shouldn't be running around, it's busy in here and dad says it's dangerous!"

Roy grumbled about 'brats who don't know how to behave in public' as he finally made his way up to the counter. He briefly glanced at the menu on the wall despite knowing what he was going to order.

"Geez, took you long enough." Hughes muttered, "You're holding up the place Roy."

His eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he tore his eyes away from his friend, instead allowing them to settle on the barista behind the counter who was waiting for his order.

"Well sir, what can I get for you?"

What was he planning on getting again?

"I'll just have, uh," he was drawing a blank, unable to think straight as he stared at her. What the hell was wrong with him? "Coffee."

"Just coffee?" she asked, hands hovering above the register buttons. "Anything in it? What size?"

"Regular, coffee." he cleared his throat, "Uh, just plain black. Regular. Coffee."

"Pfft, real articulate." Hughes muttered, elbowing him lightly. Roy went to shoot back a comment of his own but was cut off.

"That'll be $2.85 sir."

Roy fished out the change from his pocket, handing it over quickly. And just like that he was ushered over to the other side of the counter to wait for his drink, Hughes once again carrying the conversation Roy was just barely listening to. He was too busy looking over his shoulder, trying to catch the eye of the barista again. He wasn't having much luck and eventually wound up simply staring.

He wasn't pulled out of it until Hughes shouted his name right in his ear.

"Your coffee." his friend nodded towards the hot drink on the counter, a somehow knowing grin on his face.

"Thanks." he muttered, finally exchanging another glance with the barista who had turned towards them - along with the rest of the people in line and behind the counter.

She looked absolutely unamused.

Hi everyone! This is my first time writing for this pairing (and it's been a while since I've published anything) so tell me what you think! Thanks for reading c: