Riza watched her commanding officer and best friend wave tauntingly to her lover from the window, and she winced as the wailing of a car horn that had poor Havoc's forehead written all over it assailed her ears. She pressed her lips together in agitation. Kissing Havoc in the office had certainly been unprofessional, but if there was anyone who had no room to judge, it was the man who had been known to use his work desk for lunch time trysts.
"Colonel? Are you done taunting Havoc?"
"Not yet, he's slumping in defeat and fear in the car, and he might still look back up at me. Yes, there he goes." Roy waved again. "Okay, I think he's leaving now. Would you join me for lunch, Lieutenant?"
Riza crossed her arms. "You just sent Havoc to pick it up."
"Mm. I believe that there are things we need to discuss outside of the office, yes?" He smiled jovially, but his eyes were serious. "We'll go to that Cretian restaurant you like down the street, and we'll be back in time to meet...him."
She nodded curtly, and pointedly avoided his extended arm.
He waited until she had taken a bite out of her salad before he asked what had been on his mind since her indiscretion in the office...perhaps longer. He was a frustratingly intuitive man.
"So," he began casually, "have you and Havoc ever used my desk?"
She nearly choked on a tomato. "What!"
He patted her on the back as she coughed resentfully. "Sorry. Bad timing."
Riza narrowed her eyes as she sipped her water. "I apologize for our lack of discretion in the office today. It hasn't happened before, and I promise it won't occur again."
"Okay," he sipped his wine. "How serious is this?"
Riza hugged her arms uncomfortably under the table. "I don't...I'm not sure. It's not that serious, yet, but...I don't think I'd mind if it developed that way."
Roy's eyes softened, and he cleared his throat. "Well."
"I know that this puts you in a very difficult position," she continued gently. "I'm sorry. I can assure you that this won't affect either of our jobs, whatever might happen."
"Your loyalty," he replied, "was never in question. I was...surprised, by what happened today in the office, but not by the fact that you two were together."
"You knew?"
"I had my suspicions." Roy shrugged. "I didn't quite expect to wake up to see you two mauling each other, and I can't say that I'm altogether pleased..."
"You would prefer if we were to stop seeing each other."
He sighed. "It would be more convenient for me, yes. There will be problems once one of you, definitely you, gets promoted...hell, there will be problems anyway, more than likely. Dating someone you work with is never a great idea."
"I know."
"I'm not reassigning either of you, regardless of what happens."
"I know."
He hesitated, and made sure that her eyes met his. "Unless you've decided not to -"
She planted her hands firmly against the table cloth. "Don't even finish that sentence."
"Good." He let out a breath she hadn't been aware he'd been holding. "I...need you, you know that, but this is your choice."
"It's a choice I made a long time ago, Colonel."
He smiled at her small hands fisted against the tablecloth. "Thank you."
She smiled back. "You're welcome."
"Do you love him?"
She nearly choked on another biteful, and he patted her on the back again. Riza sipped her water and cast a baleful look towards her superior. "You're trying to kill me."
He tilted his head innocently. "I'm...just curious."
"I don't know."
"Well. That isn't a 'no'. Are you happy?"
Her lips quirked wistfully. "I think so."
"And that's not a 'yes'," he shrugged. "But I would prefer to stay out of it, if you two could permit me."
Her smile turned grateful. "Thank you, Roy."
He finished his wine, and ignored her look as the waiter poured him another glass. "Well. I'd say 'anytime', but I don't really want this sort of thing to become a frequent occurrence. I'd also like to point out that this could all have been avoided if you hadn't drug me to the office on a weekend."
She launched a chunk of bread at his forehead, and he laughed.
Havoc clambered up the stairs with the dry cleaning balanced unevenly over his shoulder, the three sandwiches clutched precariously in his left hand along with Riza's coffee, and the boss' coffee in his right. He frowned when he found the office door closed.
He banged against the door with his knee. "Guys? Uh, my hands are kinda full here...with your stuff..." His frown deepened. "And hot coffee...Damn it."
Havoc pressed his ear against the door, but he heard nothing inside. His paranoia (was it really paranoia, he wondered, when it came to Mustang's obsession with his women, or just a general sense of foreboding?) ravaged his mind with all sorts of things that might be quietly going on behind said closed door, and he carefully balanced the boss' (bastard's) coffee cup upon Riza's and opened the door.
It swung open widely, and he stepped gingerly inside the empty office.
"Guys?"
"Lieutenant!"
The voice behind him made him leap, and the coffee and sandwiches spilled down the front of his shirt. Mustang hoisted his dry cleaning off of the startled man with an evaluating gaze. "Huh. Guess I'll have to send them back."
"Colonel!" Hawkeye scolded. She helped Havoc up. "Are you all right?"
"It burns," Havoc responded weakly. "Where did you guys go?"
Mustang plucked a half-empty cup from Havoc's twitching hand. "Mm. Thanks, Lieutenant. I suppose half is better than none."
Havoc wiped the condiments and coffee off of his white dress shirt with the paper towels that Hawkeye had procured from the break room. She was nothing if not efficient, he thought affectionately. "Glad I could be of service," he replied wryly. "Anything else I can do for you, boss?"
"Yes, actually." He gestured towards Hawkeye with a flourish. "If you would please take Lieutenant Hawkeye home before she wastes anymore of my weekend."
"Uh." Havoc looked between the two of them. "Sir, don't you need a ride home?"
"Unnecessary," Mustang waved them away. "I've got a few things to finish up here."
"Sir-"
Mustang interjected. "Or you could continue being insubordinate, and I could give you both charge of leading the morning march for the enlisted men at oh-five hundred."
Havoc turned on his heels. "Have a good weekend, sir."
Hawkeye lingered until he itched to haul her out of the office by force, but he didn't think that would go over very well, either.
"Goodbye, Colonel."
The colonel returned the pleasantries and Havoc tried to keep from sprinting down the stairs to the military car.
"He knows," he muttered to her as he opened her door. "Look at him watch me. He's like a hungry lion."
"He knows," she confirmed with a sigh.
Havoc slumped against the seat, but before his head could reach the steering wheel she grasped his shoulder. "He's not angry?"
She shook her head.
"He doesn't want to kill me?"
Riza hesitated. "Of course not."
Maes ordered a refill. When he'd gotten a call from his friend from the military line on a Saturday, he'd known that there would be trouble. His dear Gracia was a little irked that he'd decided to take a risky four hour train ride into Eastern, but she liked Roy for the most part, and wished him well.
Maes smiled. No dramatics from his Gracia, although if she was to get upset he wouldn't blame her, hell, it might be nice to see her a little worked up -
"Maes."
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
Maes shrugged. "Sounded like you needed a drink."
"I like the guy; he's not the brightest under my command, but he's a damn good soldier, and he treats the men under him well enough...but damned if I don't want to kill him every time I see him."
"You're jealous."
Roy shrugged. "It doesn't matter what I am."
Hughes hesitated. "What about fraterniz-"
"They're adults," Mustang countered. "I'm not about to police my subordinates' private lives."
"And if someone else with a grudge uncovers this? You know some of the higher ups have been itching to break up your unit."
Mustang drank. "Your colleagues can barely keep up with my scandals. My profile isn't big enough to warrant my lieutenants being followed quite yet, as much as it wounds my ego to admit it."
"Are you deliberately avoiding breaking them up because you secretly really want them to break up, and that makes you feel guilty?"
"Did I miss the part where you became my psychologist?"
"Uh, yeah." Hughes sipped his beer. "Years and years ago. It's kind of what I do, Roy."
"I talked to her about it," Roy sighed. "I think she's happy, Hughes. She's given quite enough to me over the years, and I'm not taking that away from her."
"Okay." Maes digested that for a moment. "You can keep trying to pretend that you're okay with this, but I heard you on the phone earlier today. I know better."
Mustang scowled into his drink.
"Have you spoken to Havoc about any of this? Or just tormented him?"
Mustang looked at his friend, the hurt clearly written on his face. "What about the part where I want to kill him?"
Hughes ordered them both another round and patted his friend sympathetically on the shoulder. "Well, we'll just have to work on that, okay?"
"Yeah." Mustang gazed morosely into his drink. "He's a loyal officer, and he deserves more than some jealous jerk as a commander. They both do. On that note..."
Maes rubbed his glasses on his shirt. "Yeah?"
"I've incorporated Madame Christmas's establishment into our network."
"Huh. Isn't that place frequented by Grumman? Maybe you could get some information against him, take him down, open up a new pos-"
Mustang slowly shook his head. "No, I think...he's more valuable where he is, right now. He's actually the one who, ah, introduced me to her."
"Can you trust him?"
"Can I trust anybody?" Mustang looked grim. "He can be neutralized, if necessary."
"Ah."
"Have you got anything against Hakuro for me, yet?"
"Nothing that'll stick," Hughes shrugged. "He's an ass, no doubt about that, but he's a clean one."
"Thanks for the imagery."
"Any time."
"Anything on Fullmetal?"
Hughes slid a file across the bar. "You'll have to rob a bank to pay that kid's expense reports. Maybe you should tell him to stop trying to rebuild the towns he destroys? It costs more to redesign them than it would to build them from scratch."
"His fashion sense is certainly lacking," Mustang agreed with a smirk. "His sense of justice is perfectly tuned, however. As long as he keeps wreaking havoc on the acceptable cities, I'll keep footing the bill."
Hughes shook his head. "Not that I care, but... how in the world do you afford that kid?"
"District B 15."
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
A/N: Thank you to YourFavouitePlushie for the fic rec! Also thanks to Kay-chan07, Anne Packrat, fighterNOTlover, and xx.cityofangel for your reviews, and thanks to everyone for reading. )
