Author's Note:
Marrying Lt. Jean Havoc . I made this on May 29, 2007 while I was vacationing in Manila. This was the result of my boredom and my fandom for FMA. I just watched the episode when Havoc got dumped by Armstrong's sister and I got inspired... hahaha..
This might as well be FMA's long lost episode 52...
This fic is in the first person. So, make yourself the one narrating, the actual girlfriend of Havoc. If you're a girl, carry on as it is. If you don't like Jean, then imagine someone else telling the story and carry on. If you're a guy, well, imagine a girl telling the story and carry on. Of course, you could also carry on as it is. Whatever floats your boat.
Warning: slight OOC... ness. Is there actually such a word?
And so we begin...
Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.
This is a story of love and friendship, of insanity and acceptance, a tale of how Lt. Jean Havoc finally found himself a fiancée.
Marrying Lt. Jean Havoc
To be honest, I don't even know why I'm writing this. But somewhere along the way I found it interesting so here's my narrative.
I met Jean Havoc while I was vacationing in Central around 2 years ago during summer. I was given a ticket by my parents to visit the city and my relatives. On the sixth day of my two week stay, I went out with some friends and family to eat out since it was the birthday of my dear Auntie.
The lunch we had was quite delicious. We had Chinese cuisine after all. It was a pity though that I fell quite ill the day before and wasn't able to savor the food that much. We had Peking Duck, a roasted platter, mushrooms, fish, fruits, Sesame balls, and tea.
After the party, around 3 in the afternoon, I decided to walk around town a bit more, just wanting to see what was on display behind the glass shop windows. Before long, I sat down at a local cafe and sipped some hot Chamomile tea to warm myself up. Even though it was summer, it was unusually quite cold come night time.
As I was staring out the window, something unusual caught my eye. Among the throngs of casually dressed commoners there was a man clad in a handsome suit carrying a distorted and I bet roughly treated bouquet of flowers.
He was walking alone in a depressed manner. By the look on his face, I could deduce that at the moment he was devoid of all emotion. His mouth was constantly moving, mumbling something incoherent only to himself. It amazed me how that stubby cigarette ceased from falling several times before as he continued to talk. When I first looked at him, all I could see was him, walking in a vast desert with unforgiving winds and passing tumbleweeds of despair. The only thing that broke my reverie was the bell that rang signaling it to be 6 o'clock.
At that sound I jolted and the crowds of the city pressed themselves upon my notice once more. I stood up to leave and headed out towards the sidewalk. I was walking back when I heard a commotion. Lucky for me, a gap appeared in the crowd and I was allowed a clear view of what was going on.
That same man, the one I mentioned before, tripped on a rock, small enough to be a pebble. He tried to get up and as he was doing so, he bumped his head on a wooden plank Mr. Harris the Lumber Man was carrying. The distraught man tried to walk again but slipped on a puddle of water and landed face first on the ground. He seemed unconscious and people only stared in bewilderment and as I was there, I went near him and offered him a hand. I helped him get up and while in the middle of saying his thanks, he collapsed on me. I was then forced to take him to the hospital.
He was confined to a room for a few hours and there I waited until he came around again. As he slept in silence I was compelled to go near his bed. I realized he was quite good looking and decent, judging by his clothes. I let my face drift closer to his unknowingly and then suddenly... he woke up. His eyes widened at me unexpectedly, I could already see his pupils adjusting to the light. I was startled and fell a little bit backwards as he shot upright on his bed. Perhaps as a reflex he pulled the bed covers up to his chest, although I don't exactly know what needed hiding.
"WHO ARE YOU?! AND WHERE AM I!?" he screamed as he pointed an accusing finger at me.
"I'm the one who brought you here, to the hospital, after you collapsed on me a while ago." said I, scared and confused at what to do. Maybe I should call the nurse to give him a sedative?
"GAAAAAH! What am I going to do, what am I going to do!? If I don't find a good one soon, I'll... I'll...!" He slumped back down onto his bed and started scratching his head furiously. Suddenly, he turned to look at me. He eyed me over top to bottom and then reached for me and gripped me by the shoulders. "You, you're a proper looking lady. Would you be my girlfriend?"
"Uhm... I... uh..." This one caught me by surprise. I've never met anyone so desperate to have a girlfriend before. His eyes were a blur of rage and anguish but at the same time, imploring that someone just might save him sometime soon. I had no idea why, but I said, "Yes." Maybe I was hoping that it might calm him for now.
"Good." And with that he loosened his grip and fell back onto his bed, sleeping as soundly as before.
Just then the room door burst open and there was a man with glasses, dressed in a military uniform who marched right in and landed next to the patient's bed.
"Havoc! I heard what happened in town and here you are in the hospital! If you can't get back to work soon the Colonel will kill you! He'll fry you to bits if the paperwork he needs isn't there yet and-- oh. He's sleeping." And the man just blinked.
"Oh, uhm. Hello." I said uncertainly. The glasses-wearing man turned to me.
"Oh, hello. You must be the lady who saved Lieutenant Havoc here."
"So he's a military man. I see."
"You haven't been introduced? Oh, well, his name is Jean Havoc, Second Lieutenant in the military of Amestris, directly under the command of Colonel Roy Mustang. And my name Miss, is Master Sergeant Kain Fuery. I and Havoc belong to the same staff." He said with a smile. Mr. Fuery seemed so young and kind to be in the military; he was collected and adorably gentle, however his worried rantings a while ago proved otherwise.
"Could you tell me, Mr. Fuery, why Lieutenant Havoc was in such a daze to begin with? Was there something troubling him?"
"Well, I heard he just got dumped by Major Armstrong's sister. Mind you, it's not the first time for him to get dumped and after all those times and years of rejection from countless women, well, he must be really tired of it. I heard that someone actually heard him say that he's going to die alone after all. Liutenant Havoc's a dedicated soldier and it must be hard for him to actually manage a good relationship with a woman if he is to constantly comply with his military duties." Mr. Fuery said sympathetically.
"I see." Gosh. I feel so sorry for this guy. Then, this guy came around.
"Ugh. What's going on? Who're you?"
"Uhm..." Apparently, Liutenant Havoc didn't have a clue as to what happened and the frenzied rant he gave a while ago as well as the question about me wanting to be his girlfriend could possibly have been forgotten, too. "I'm the one who brought you here after you collapsed."
"Oh... alright. Fuery, you're here too?"
"Havoc! You're okay!" Mr. Fuery said with tears brimming from his eyes. "Roy will kill me if you don't get back to work soon and--pffft--" His talking was cut off by Havoc's hand which was so uncouthly shoved into his face.
"I'll get back to work when I feel like it. Tell Mustang and the others I'm fine."
"Alright. I better go now. I still have paperwork to do. See you later, Havoc!"
"See ya." Lt. Havoc replied as Mr. Fuery left the room. "Damn it. Where did I put my sticks and my lighter..." He mumbled as he searched his pockets.
"Excuse me." I said. "I might as well leave now that I know you're feeling better. I hope you get well soon."
"Hey. Thanks for everything. What's your name?" He said as he held a cigarette stick in between his lips. And as he asked, I introduced myself and proceeded to leave. Before I was out the door, "About my proposal a while ago, I was serious about it."
I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around. Oh, that's just great... he remembered it.
"So, I'll pick you up tomorrow at seven. Sounds good?"
"I haven't even told you my number, or where I live, and we only met just because you collapsed on me from severe depression. What makes you think I would honestly want to go out with you?"
"I don't know. But it's worth a shot. Pleeease?" He looked at me with those imploring eyes again. It was hard to say no to a sick and bruised man in bed, even if he had a cigarette lit already. I wanted to make him feel better. So I agreed.
After that we continued seeing each other. I decided to stay in the city instead of going back to the province and with his help I found a job. He courted me seriously. He was sweet and caring, giving me a call everyday to check on how I was doing. Sometimes he was a bit overprotective or pushy. He kept on going on about taking our relationship to "the next level" whatever that was. I said no. I dismissed it as him being annoying.
More often than not, he ran out on me during our dates, mainly because he had some work to take care of. The good thing was, he'd never leave unless it was really serious business. Other than that, he'd rather spend time with me chatting, reading the same book together in bed or sitting in front of my T.V. eating popcorn. Sometimes he left on really long occasions because of work. At least I think it's work. If he left for a rendezvous with another woman I'd find out and kill him myself, of course. But I haven't found evidence pointing to that yet. When he was away, he never failed to keep in touch and I love him for that. He's not like other guys who just forget about their women.
Jean really is a gentleman. I don't know why he had some difficulty finding himself a girlfriend. Maybe it was because of the way he approaches women. He might have been too overconfident. And that perpetual cigarette - he must get rid of it. Not only will it cause him lung cancer, it gives him bad breath which will hinder kissing.
It takes more understanding and acceptance than usual when it comes to Jean. After all, he is a military man. Therefore, I must learn to accept the fact that he can't be with me often as he takes care of matters regarding national security, or as he puts it, my security.
Over the past two years we've been happy together and let me tell you, we've had some laughs. I remember one time, just after he found out that I liked medieval literature, Jean made Breda dress up in a minstrel costume complete with his own lute and sing a sonnet from outside my window. So one random night, I heard sounds of off-pitch singing or rather, screeching, and looked outside, only to find Breda in tights and bad make-up. I think the boys had a bet and since Breda lost, Jean made him do this as a consequence. I laughed so hard and Breda couldn't do anything but grumble.
There was another moment when I was with Jean on one of his outings with the rest of his colleagues. There I met Vato, Riza, and Roy for the first time. I was also able to get to chat up Kaine and Breda once more. Well, the thing was, we had a drinking contest and Roy got pretty drunk and started spouting random romantic non-sense to whom he thought was Riza but was actually Major Armstrong who just so happened to pass our table that night.
Well, just so you know, Havoc asked for my hand in marriage seven times already in the past two years. Twice he asked me by letter, once he did it in a serenade, the other at a romantic candle-lit dinner, another on a gondola in Aqroya, and twice by phone. He always did it at random intervals too, which of course caught me off guard. To all these proposals I said no, that I wasn't ready yet. Just as I had expected, and also to my dismay, the next day after he was confronted with my denial once again, he was in another state of emotionless nervous breakdown. Roy advised me time and time again to say yes and get settled for life, after which was also a little murmur about his promotion.
Jean's last proposal was by phone. He called me while he was on a one week trip to the East. I again, said no and asked why he was so persistent on marrying me immediately. He told me he was afraid that if he didn't pop the question sooner or later, he'll lose me, most likely to Roy, who has had a knack for stealing his girlfriends. I said he needn't worry. I assured him I would always be there to wait for him because I truly loved him.
I said, "I'll just be the exact person Falman told me he was searching for as the perfect one for you... 'A cute, smart, funny girl who isn't likely to cheat on you.' Ok?"
From the other end, I heard a chuckle and I suppose he was satisfied with my answer. "Alright. Well, I better get going. Talk to you later. And remember what you said."
"Yes, yes. Don't worry. I am after all, Havoc's Girlfriend, YOUR girlfriend." and so I smiled and put down the phone.
Author's Note: In all honesty, I want Havoc to have a girlfriend and have a happy ending, which is another reason why I wrote this fic. Isn't it more cute this way? :)
So what did you think about the story? I actually have a sequel to this called Matters as to the Engagement. It's longer, more dramatic, and there's a bit more plot to it as well. It involves two other original characters though, as in ones not found in the anime or manga. I don't know how you guys would react to that so I didn't post the sequel on ff. Tell me if you want to see it here, okay?
Thanks for reading! Take care, people.