Roy Mustang woke to another grey morning; he had already expected it to be grey and stormy when he scanned the calendar last night. Today is March 21st besides being the day in the month that the high ups would come down to headquarters to do routine assessment or checking up on the lazy colonel, it was also the day of his birth. That is why he knew it would grey, because for the last 27 years of his life; it had always been so. His birthday is nothing but a drag.
The colonel poured cold milk from the carton to his mouth and walked pass the mirror at the same time; he paused there and placed down the carton on the table. He flattened his hair and checked on his stubble; time to shave again. He opened his office bag: where his shaver was most probably be since he used shaving time as an excuse to hide in the toilet away from his pile of work. His hands dug around inside the dark insides and found it however he had pulled something else from the void; it was a little blue box with a small key hole. It seems to need a key to open and by how nice the carvings were on the keyhole; the key would probably be silver and ancient looking. Who put this in his bag? He wanted to ponder more when his phone began to ring; he placed the box on his side drawer and answered it.
"Good morning, colonel sir. This is your morning call wishing you to come to office on time!" the voice that he recognized even in his sleep rang out in fake joy over the phone. The colonel had three dark lines down the side of his head.
"Havoc, I understand that the lieutenant had asked you to call me every morning. However for the sake of the both of us, I order you not to do such a thing from tomorrow onwards." He said in half lament with slight humor. He remembered that his lieutenant had instructed Havoc to call him every morning to wake on time. Oh please, he is able to wake on time; why does she always feel that she needed to be baby sat.
"Great, I was hoping you would give an order like that. By the way; happy birthday to you, Roy." Havoc said with a rather happy tone. The colonel could only feel that his subordinate was grinning on the other side; however he could only grimace. "Thank you" he replied with a dull voice. Havoc hung up quickly, the colonel put down his phone and looked around at his grey surroundings as the first sound of rain drops fell and hit the roof heavily. Is there really something to be happy about today? He returned to the mirror to start with his facial hygiene, after making sure that what need to be done was done. He peered at himself more closely at his dark eyes before stepping out; "be glad that we are able to live for so long, old solider." With that solemn wishing he exited his house with an umbrella accompanying him.
He reached to his office five minutes to 9, he was about to open the door to the common area when it opened first; a blonde hair woman in the same uniform as he was exited. She paused when he saw that it was her superior and saluted to him. The colonel waved it down; she dropped the formalities and was now scrutinizing him. "Sir, you are drenched to the skin." She said with concern; however the colonel was not bothered with the disheveled state that he was in, he smiled "It does not matter." But even as he spoke, he could feel a warm cloth dabbing the back of his neck. "It does matter, you have to get dry or not you would get a cold." His lieutenant said firmly, there was no chance to argue. She had pushed him to the room where there was a fire place and there was a fire flickering between the fire wood. It was much warmer here compared to the other rooms.
"It is okay; really…" he tried to pull some excuses out however there was none; he felt gloomy and wanted to be alone. But the lieutenant wouldn't allow him to be wet; he knew that she was worried he may fall sick and escape work. Not because of anything else; there couldn't be anything else.
He collapsed to the sofa and warmed his hands with another towel that his lieutenant had passed to him. He watched as she left to the side room where the pantry was no doubt that she was going to make him a cup of tea. Sure enough, she returned with a tray and a cup of his favorite rose tea.
The colonel received the drink from her hands; it warmed him up very quickly. He patted the seat next to him indicating that he wanted the lieutenant to sit. The blonde woman however did not obey: instead she threw the towel on his head and began to rub his hair dry for him. He held her wrist away and spoke "I can do it myself, just sit" her insistence flattered away. The colonel began to tidy his own head as he watched the lieutenant sit beside him; her expression was unreadable. He could feel his forehead warm up; oh dear. A fever on his birthday? It had only happened to him twice before; both of which caused him to be very ill.
The lieutenant glanced at the colonel; something was wrong, he was never this quiet at work but today he seemed to be a little subdued. She had known him for such a long time; it is not Riza Hawkeye if she was oblivious to his pain. "Colonel, you are having a fever." She said alarmingly; she had placed her hands on his forehead to confirm a suspicion she had and was wishing that she was not always correct. True enough, the colonel's face was a little pink. He shook his head slightly trying his best not to show how uncomfortable he was; his vision became blurry, the lieutenant's worried face disappeared and so did the rest of the world.