Chapter one: A day at work
For the past half hour, Roy Mustang had been lost in his own thoughts. It felt great to be so close to becoming Führer, to know he's going to reach his dreams soon enough. Nonetheless, he couldn't forget of his very first supporter, Maes. His elbows pressed against the edge of his desk, Roy was sitting down on his armchair, his head resting on the palms of his hands. His heart was beating faster than usual at the mere thought of his deceased good friend; Envy's face came up into his mind, and he felt his blood simply boiling into his veins at the idea that Maes has died with the image of his wife killing him, shooting him.
If only his friend wouldn't have been such a fool. "Idiot." Mustang said from underneath his breath, however loud enough to be heard. It was on purpose, Roy feeling that Maes should hear of his opinion of him even from the other side of the world. But, Roy had been so lost into his own thoughts that he was completely oblivious to the fact that he wasn't quite alone in his office.
"Excuse me?" A feminine voice made its presence known, causing Roy to raise his head, for his eyes to fall on the figure of his Lieutenant, who was sitting on the sofa, with a book on her lap. His gaze moving from her lap towards her face, Roy smirked as he saw anger in his female companion's eyes.
"You are very much excused for not wearing a mini-skirt today, yes, Lieutenant." In the end, he had stated that all women in the army should wear mini-skirts at work, otherwise there'd be consequences. Nonetheless, it was Riza he was dealing with, and he very well knew that. But because it was Riza, he wanted even more to see her in a mini-skirt. He hadn't gained his sight back for nothing, right?
As expected, Riza arched her eyebrows, as she closed her book and got up from her sitting place, whilst neatening her uniform to perfection. "Anything wrong, Lieutenant?" Roy asked, leaning back into his chair, looking Riza right into the eyes, without even blinking.
"Nothing, Col - General." Riza corrected herself immediately, realizing that she should probably get used with calling him General. Or probably she shouldn't; in the end, he'd become Führer soon enough, so another title change would make its appearance. The young woman pressed her book against her chest and crossed her arms above it, before starting to walk towards the bookcase, to put it back into its place.
As she turned around, Roy couldn't abstain himself from following her with his gaze, not even hiding the fact that he was in awe with every move of hers. "So, no contradicting me? That's new." He stated, watching her place the book on its rightful rack.
Hawkeye let out a soft "Hmpf." before turning around on her heel, a bit sudden for Roy's expectations. "It is a law now, so I cannot contradict it or fight against it. I guess I should go change before lunchtime. Don't want to be breaking any more rules today."
Her calm and lack of irony in the tone of her voice surprised Roy a bit. She had something in her sleeve, Eye of the Hawk had her sight on a good line and she was slowly preparing herself to shoot it in his direction.
"Plus, I have a shooting practice due attending to with Havoc after lunch, wouldn't want for anyone else to see me in such shame, breaking the law."
And there it was. And its effect could be perfectly well noticed, as Roy's smile immediately faded away. It wasn't that Jean wasn't one of his best friends, it wasn't that he didn't trust him, but goodness knew what it'd be in that man's mind should be he the very first one to see the Lieutenant in a mini-skirt. "After lunch you say?" Roy added, stretching out his arms. "I guess I could attend that too."
Riza arched her eyebrow once more, not having expected such a return. It made her feel warm on the inside and as soon as she felt that pleasant sensation in her chest, a small smile appeared on her face, her fringe slowly falling on her eye, covering it more than usual. "You'd be useless, though. It's raining outside." With that stated, Riza made her way towards the door, cursing in her mind the day that Roy's idea of women having to wear mini-skirts at work had been approved as law. On one hand, he had gained more power and the voting of that law showed it, but, honestly, mini-skirts? What was he thinking?
"Now this is personal. I'll be there, to prove you wrong." It was raining though, so he would indeed be useless to her shooting session. But, Riza, shooting. In a mini-skirt. He wouldn't let only Jean have the honour of seeing that. Plus, she was training to protect him, not anyone else. He should be the only one to see her train.
"I need to change first. I'll see you there, then?" Riza added, continuing her path towards the office's door.
"No, wait." Roy got up from his chair, soon catching up to her and opening the door for her to pass, not before placing a hand on her back. Riza slightly shivered at the feeling of his hand on her back, ironically, still not being completely used to people touching her back. Not to mention, the General. She stopped for a moment, not knowing how to react at this gesture.
"Don't forget to let your hair loose." Roy continued, as his hand moved up on her back, and into her blonde hair, removing her pin a bit less graceful than she'd have wanted to. Her hair fell on her shoulders, causing Riza a bit of an inconvenience, nonetheless, she did not comment. There was a part of her that fancied the fact that he seemed to like her long hair. "Mini-skirts don't go well with your hair up, Lieutenant." Roy stated as he made a few steps backwards. "But do go change now; I'll catch up with you after lunch."
"Yes, Sir." Riza stated simply, as she made her way out of the office.
All she wanted at that point was really to shoot something, so the practice'd be even more welcomed than before. Also, hopefully she'd find Rebecca somewhere around, to get her to come to this thing as well. There was no way she'd spend the entire afternoon with both Roy and Jean by herself. No.
However, it was proven that she would have to do such a thing. After having put her proper uniform on, Riza called her friend in her office, only to have found out that Rebecca was out on a mission of some sort. With slight annoyance in her heart, Hawkeye decided to just finish this already. Without any further complicated thoughts, she had decided to simply attend the practice and just be completely oblivious to whatever it'd come to her.
On the practice grounds, there were very few people. In the end, when Hawkeye and Havoc practiced, not to mention together, little numbers of people actually did the same, but instead just passed by every now and then, to admire their skills. Their random passing by's were now a tad more often though, as the future Führer himself was there this time round, talking to his officer.
"You did not." Havoc stated in a complete awe of pure amusement, not believing the words that had just come out of Mustang's mouth. "You just pulled her hairpin, just like that?! How are you alive, still?" Jean laughed, his words, though covered with a layer of irony, being more than honest. Roy was feeling a bit disturbed by this fact, but the weather conditions weren't on his side for him to properly threaten Havoc to shut it.
"She's sweeter than she may look." Mustang stated simply, leaning against a wall. It was probably the thousand time he had said that thing about Riza, but people still didn't believe him; it was hard to just tell people such a thing when, truth be told, Hawkeye was deadly, in all possible ways.
"Well, I don't know about sweet, but there's nothing more attractive than a woman in a short skirt and a big gun in her hands." Jean continued, whilst placing his elbow on Roy's shoulder, his glance being focused on the entrance, where Riza was finally making an appearance. "You're my favourite future Führer, Mustang, too good for this country, really." Havoc stated dramatically, before a cheeky smirk made its way on his face, as Riza drew closer.
"Good afternoon. I hope your lunch had been satisfying." Riza said in a polite, yet emotionless tone, her glance focusing more on Havoc than on the General's. Not even realizing her gesture, the Lieutenant placed one of her legs in front of the other, the state of discomfort in her new uniform being a bit more obvious to an outsider's view than from her own.
"Your skirt's satisfying." Jean said, as he took a deep drag from his cigarette, now being surrounded by quite an amount of smoke.
"Havoc - " Mustang was prepared to interfere, nonetheless, having raised his gaze from the ground for the first time since Riza's arrival, his words had changed and went completely into a different direction of subject. " - I think it should be shorter. Lieutenant, are you sure you didn't get the wrong kind of skirt?" He felt Jean's elbow pressing harder on his shoulder, as a sign of approval. Truthfully, Havoc was controlling himself very well, as all he wanted to do is hug his friend for being such a gift to the world.
Riza, however, was having a completely different opinion of Mustang at the time being. A quick 'What have I done to deserve this?' has passed through her mind, but she showed no emotions at all as to what the two had said. "What am I, Havoc?" She asked simply, her fingers gently patting the gun she was holding in her arms.
"A sniper." Jean answered, a little surprised of her question.
"Eye of the Hawk." Roy added, knowing exactly what was coming next. If he couldn't use his own flames because of the weather, one could be sure that he'd put wood on Riza's.
"Indeed. And it might be a pity for you to be randomly shot from four streets away, while you're going on a date. Just putting this out there." The Lieutenant said, before turning around towards the targets and checking if her gun was completely loaded.
"Which reminds me – I HAVE A NEW GIRLFRIEND!" Jean said on the most cheerful of tones, completely ignoring Riza's threat and following her, placing both his hands on her shoulders, in complete happiness. "She's so pretty, and smart, and just perfect. You'll have to meet her, please! She's your biggest fan! I recall her saying that you're an example for girls, that you're brave and all that jazz. You'll want to meet her, yes, yes, yes?" He started shaking Riza, to seem more persuasive, and bullets were falling from her gun, as the woman was just starting to check it out before Havoc started this whole spectacle.
Roy was still standing in the background, rather enjoying this all. Maybe this entire deal will reveal to Havoc Riza's softer side; in the end, it was hard to discuss certain things with Jean when he thought Riza was made out of metal on the inside.
"Calm down!" Riza said as she shook off Havoc's hands from her shoulders. Looking down at all the mess this man has made, the Lieutenant was about to gather up all the bullets, but reconsidered, realizing that bending over in the thing she was wearing would be Hell.
"Pick those up, would you?" She addressed herself to Havoc, who did as asked, not realizing why Hawkeye had requested such a thing. If he'd have known, be sure that Jean wouldn't have aided her. Carefully picking the bullets and handing them over to Riza one by one, he insisted. "So?"
"I don't know, Havoc. It'd be weird. I mean, I'm sure she's a lovely girl, but spending time with you and her would be - "
"Please, Hawkeye! Plus, you'll enjoy the meeting, I'll make sure of it. Actually, her birthday's in a week and she's throwing quite a party, you might just come there? You meet her, take a picture or two, and after that you can just leave, we'll say you lost yourself in the crowd or something." He insisted, having over to Riza the last bullet.
"Come on, Hawkeye. You might enjoy a break from watching my back all the time." Roy finally interfered, approaching the two.
"It's settled then! I'll go call her now, to tell her the news. I'll be back in a bit, to start the practice properly." With that said, Jean started running faster than ever towards the phone booths area, causing Riza to sigh deeply.
"We can make a bet." Roy said with a smirk on his face, his gaze focused on Riza, as she turned around to face him. "I bet you that this new girl of his, has big boobs."
Hawkeye couldn't abstain herself, pressing her fingers on her forehead. She didn't sign up for such conversations, really. "There's nothing to bet on." She stated simply, feeling like wanting to rip someone's head off. Probably the one who gave Rebecca a fucking mission that exact afternoon.
"Indeed. She surely has big boobs, otherwise he wouldn't be Havoc." Roy shrugged his shoulders, letting out a quick laugh. "But, if we were to make a bet, hypothetically speaking now, what would you ask from me?" He asked, rather curious and enjoying the current conversations' topic.
"A new pair of earrings. With Havoc shaking me, I think I lost one." Riza moved her hand from her forehead towards her left ear, her eyes now being focused on the ground, to see if she could spot the lost one. However, it was spring, there was grass all over the place; not even she could spot a tiny pearl in all of that.
"You could search for it more thoroughly."
"No disrespect intended, Sir, however, while wearing this skirt I plan on only standing."
"You!" Roy addressed himself to a passing by officer, as he drew closer to Riza, his hands making their way on her neck and to her right ear, taking out her right earring as well. "This is Lieutenant Hawkeye's earring. There's one missing, it's in the grass. Look for it and don't go home until you find it. Understood?"
Before she could even feel sorry for the officer, Riza was pulled by her waist by the General, encouraging her to walk towards the exit with him. "But, Sir, the practice - "
"Face it, Havoc's not coming back. Plus, you don't need to practice, everyone in this country knows that, surely you do too, Lieutenant."
"Very well then." Riza said with a small smile on her face, walking besides the General. "I guess that we can go back to your office - "
'This sounds promising already.' Roy thought to himself, already fantasizing about what could happen in his office.
"- to finish that paperwork of yours that's due tomorrow."
"Of course." Mustang stated sharply, although screaming on the inside. He surely knew some paperwork that he'd like to have done, but let's just say that the one Riza was talking about wasn't it.
'Darn this stupid weather! I could've burned all that grass found her earring, and I'd probably have been jumped on due to my awesomeness. But no, it just has to rain. I could have been a hero, but no; just no. I'd like to set fire to this rain, so it can feel my horrid pain. Useless during rain, I hate everything.'
Roy had such thoughts in his mind all the way to his office, obviously pissed off by the situation. Hawkeye opened the office's door for him and he entered, ending up throwing himself on the chair behind his desk, with no desire whatsoever of working. Plus, all those papers needed thorough reading … it'd probably take him all night. Wasn't he a General now? Shouldn't his people have people who have people that do these things for him, while he relaxes on a sunny beach somewhere?
"You should start with this one, Sir." Riza stretched out her hand in Roy's direction, holding out a quite thin file, much to his surprise.
"Now that's quite little. Going soft on me, Hawkeye?"
"Not at all. It's a message from Major General Armstrong. A report on how the changes on Fort Briggs have ended."
"Is it now?" It still seemed too much of an easy task for it. Mustang grabbed the folder, and opened it, just to have his jaw drop. "But Lieutenant, this is written in the Morse Code. All … thirty pages of it!"
"Indeed, it is. You should get started. I'm going to sort out your other files according to their priority."
"This is going to take me all night. Only this report from Briggs." He hated Armstrong so much right now, he couldn't even put it in proper words.
"Do you want me to take care of the rest of the files for you?" Riza asked, her eyes falling on Roy's figure. At her words, Roy raised his gaze as well, their eyes meeting.
"No. They'd take equally as long as this one report, I can't ask you to - "
"I'll start now then." Riza picked up one of files and opened it, already starting to read it.
"What would I do without you, Lieutenant?"
"What you are doing with me right now, not work. Start deciphering that report, General."