Chamber One: The First Encounter

" Hey, Hughes-Maes Hughes?! "

The tall man with slicked back black hair turned around to meet the approaching officer with a clipboard in hand. The portly man looked a bit winded from his short sprint, it was difficult to see him as anything other than a pencil pusher.

" Yes?" Maes asked lowing the duffel bag he had slung on his shoulder and adjusting his rectangular spectacles.

The officer adjusted his own circular spectacles and scanned over the contents of his clipboard. "Ahm, yes, I have your dorm number right here." He scribbled the information on a seperate pad, tore the sheet off and handed it to Maes. " Your roommate hasn't checked in yet..I think he's an underclassmen... his parents ask that you regard him kindly."

Maes' eyebrows rose at the statement. " What era is that family living in? "

" I dunno... I think he's xingnese or something like that- anyway, your curfew is eleven- oh, and here's your key. Please give the spare one to your roommate when he arrives."

Maes stared at the two keys just dropped in his palm. " Hey, just what is his nam-" He looked up and saw the man hurrying away calling out for someone named Kimbley. Heaving a big sigh, he lifted his bag up and grabbed his suitcase.

' Guess I'll have to wait until I meet him.'

"Damn, why'd I pack so much?"

Hughes cursed under his breath as he reached into his bag once again to take out one more object in a seemingly continuous chain of junk he managed to pack. His bed was already littered with shoes, clothing, and things that went far beyond that of the bare necessities. While it seemed both him and his roommate had their own seperate drawers, he highly doubt he'd be able to stuff all his crap into one. Then it didn't help that they shared a single closet which couldn't have been any larger than 5X5 square feet. Then let's not forget his all important duffel which held some of the most sophiscated camera gear this side of the continent...

knockknockknock

The bespectacled pack rat was broken out of his query for a moment and looked curiously at the door. The soft knocking resounded as he headed towards it. ' So we finally meet the roommate.'

He turned the knob and slowly pulled the door back just enough so he could peek outside. There was no one there.

" Huh?"

He pulled the door back some more until he had a full view of the hallway. Still no one.

" No fucking way...I know I heard..."

" Ahm, hi..."

Maes' head twitched downward into view of a head of black hair digging through a suitcase.

" Ummm... hi?"

" Oh, sorry, I just had a feeling I left something on the train... oh, here it is!"

The bob of hair rose up and tilted back revealing two dark pools of jade looking straight up at him. Maes forgetting all mannerisms took that time to examine the roommate in question. He couldn't of been no older than sixteen and stood a head and a half shorter than him. There was no doubt in the shape of the eyes that the kid was definetely from the east and had the palest skin- no wonder considering the thought-to-be-missing item was a heavy looking book on-

"Alchemy?"

A slight flush came to the teenager's face as Maes read the title of his book aloud. "Um, yeah. I've been studying the subject for quite some time... uh, can I come in?"

Though he said it politely enough, Maes still sensed a twinge of cynicism in those last words but chose to ignore it.

" Yeah sure." He said as he allowed him to enter. " Can I help you with-" Maes started then realized that there was nothing else in the hallway.

The new addition to the dormroom rolled his suitcase to the less chaotic side of the room where the other twin bed resided. "No thanks, I have everything."

Everything included a large lone suitcase, a messenger school bag, and the black trench over coat he wore.

Hughes leaned on the door as it closed behind him. " Right. So make yourself at home (although you don't really have a choice in the matter, heh heh), and sorry for the mess, I've been trying to get this stuff put away for hours..."

He trailed off as he noticed the other person was staring quizzically at his camera gear. The sun was still high in the sky and shone through the soft linen placed over the balcony's entrance. Out of the bleakness of the hall and into the brightness of the room, Maes had finally noticed the long ebony bangs that fell over his bunk mate's eyes.

"... but not much progress has been made."

" I see."

Whatever fleeting thoughts Maes had at the time were replaced with annoyance at the stranger's tone.

" Well..." He started crossing his arms. " If you don't mind lending me a hand, I'll take us out for dinner later. My treat, of course. So how about it, um..."

Several moments passed and the dark brunette glanced at him but then lowered his eyes again. " It's Roy. Roy Mustang... and you?"

" ... Maes Hughes."

Roy flopped on the bed and stared out of the balcony's glass entrance. Rays of sunlight hit his skin and turned his eyes and hair into an intense auburn. Even so, there was still a stone cold aura seperating the two men in the room.

The man standing up decided to move from his position at the door and resumed unpacking his things.

" Oh, and don't worry. My regards towards you so far have been filled with nothing but kindness."

The younger man turned around towards the light-hearted sound of Maes' voice melting the silence. Maes flashed a warm smile but was repaid with a sideways glance and a switch of the head.

Obviously, there was going to be some barriers to break with this one.

Chamber One: First Encounter; The Mustang Fortess Has Appeared

If anyone has read any of my other fics, you've probably seen that I have a habit of short first chapters. (audience grunts) But hey, that only means that the other chapters will be that much longer. (audience cheers) To be honest, I know where I'm heading with this fic (hence the rating)(audience whistles) but I'm not sure how I'm going to get there so just bare with me through this and hopefully, you won't be disappointed. (audience murmurs) And hopefully I get to finish my other MaesXRoy fic if I ever get the chance. (audience murmurs) (ninja bunnies come out blaring bazookas)(audience gets real quiet)

Okay, so tell me whatcha think and the next chapter will be up shortly.

Love ya,

Ranma Matsuri