"Good morning everyone!" Colonel Roy Mustang threw open the doors to his office where his team were already working, they looked up at him and smiled. He walked awkwardly to his desk due the huge cardboard box he had in his arms.
Puzzled, Jean Havoc asked, "Chief, what have you got there?" but all that his superior did was smirk and tap the side of his nose, nearly dropping the box in the process. He placed it on his desk and began pulling pieces of greyish fabric out of it.
Breda, Falman, Fuery, Hawkeye and Havoc all exchanged concerned glances as the Colonel began laying out the fabric on his desk, putting them in some sort of order. They silently agreed someone needed to ask him what was going on but they were all a bit afraid of the answer. Riza rolled her eyes and stood up.
She walked over to Roy's desk and waited in front of it until he looked up because of the shadow she was creating. "Sir, with all due respect, what the hell is going on?" Riza crossed her arms and stared at him. To her surprise he stood up so he towered over her, but that didn't deter the Lieutenant.
"Well, you see, Hawkeye, it is Halloween tomorrow and I know for a fact none of you have a costume." He looked around the office and everyone nodded in agreement. "And since it is Central's Costume Contest tomorrow also, I entered us in with these costumes I made." Roy grinned stupidly, Riza nearly pulled her gun on him at that exact moment.
A collective groan made its way around the room and Riza put her hand to her face and sighed. This is what happened last year, but their costumes last year were awful. Roy had made 'Avengers' costumes, and to say the least, Falman wasn't a great Hulk.
Reluctantly, Riza decided it was best to ask what these dreaded costumes were now rather than be surprised by them the next day. "And what exactly are we dressing up as this year, Sir?" With that, the Colonel picked up one of the bundles of fabric and waved it with a flourish so that it unfolded. What he had in his hands appeared to look like a flattened castle.
Five pairs of eyes were fixed on the 'costume', four sets concerned for their safety and the other pair not bothered by it at all. "We are dressing up as castles?" Kain Fuery piped up, quizzically.
Roy shook his head, "No, no, Sargeant, we are going as chess pieces!" he exclaimed excitedly. He handed the costume in his hand to Breda, who wasn't pleased with being selected as the rook. But he did crack a smile when Fuery was given the pawn costume.
The last three costumes were given out: the knight, the bishop and the queen, to Havoc, Falman and Hawkeye respectively. All the soldiers held up their fabric bundles, a little confused about what they were expected to do with them.
Whilst they all exchanged looks of uncertainty, the Colonel changed into his costume, as the king, quietly. The silence was broken by him nearly falling off his chair as he attempted to climb onto his desk in his outfit which added another foot onto his height. When he got on it he cleared his throat as if he was going to deliver a speech.
"Gentlemen - and Hawkeye," Roy added as he saw Riza cross her arms and give him 'the stare', he continued, "Let us get into our costumes and practise the routine I have created for tomorrow's show." He struck a rock-star pose and this time he did fall off the desk but masked it with a neat jump onto the floor and he leaned on the desk to wait for his team to get into their outfits.
At first all of the soldiers looked like frustrated grey worms as they squeezed themselves into the costumes with difficulty. Breda had issues trying to get his sandwich-filled stomach into the rook but he managed eventually with some help from the bishop, Falman. Riza had to take her pistol out of her holster because it wouldn't fit in the small cavity Roy had allowed for her ass to sit in.
Jean Havoc had the least trouble getting his costume on because he was there when Roy had sat at his desk sewing the outfits together so he had advised him how to size his. Havoc pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket which he had created in the costume when his superior wasn't looking.
Leaning against the large desk opposite Roy, Jean lit his cigarette and lazily watched over his colleagues getting their costumes over their military uniform. This little Halloween Fiasco was running into his break so he was taking it now, and he didn't care.
Soon enough everyone else was in their costumes, tugging and pulling at them in an attempt to adjust them to fit better, but to no avail. Roy clapped his hands, "This is exactly how I imagined it, now to get into our places." He stood up properly and began moving people around to get them in their specific place.
The order went: Roy at the front, Riza, Falman and Fuery behind him, and Breda and Havoc behind them. Jean still had his cigarette between his lips throughout the whole thing, and Fuery had tears in his eyes, he didn't understand what had happened to the Colonel.
When he had seen everyone was exactly in the right place he stood himself in front of them, and sighed. "We're totally going to win this year's contest!" He shouted, as if to the whole of Central Command. Roy threw his arms in the air and grinned broadly, it took all of Riza's self control to not shoot him in the back with the pistol she had in her hands.
After Roy had had his moment in the spotlight he began instructing the team on the routine he had also planned. Luckily he decided against it due to the five pistols he had pointed at his face.