This is the second in the series of shorts focusing on Hughes, Gracia, and the history of their relationship. I know there's a series similar to that here on this site, but this one's going to be different. While I can read angst, I can't write it.

As always, I am not Hiromu Arakawa, and all I own of FMA are my copies of the manga and the series.

Let me know what you think. All praise and constructive criticism will be deeply appreciated, and all flames will be redirected to the appropriate alchemist. Thank you.

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A Little Idle Talk...

by Sekhem

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Gracia's roommate, Anita, knew just about everything about everybody, so she had been the one Gracia asked, "What do you know about Maes Hughes and Roy Mustang?"

Anita had been draped across her bed, staring blankly at her Xingese philosophy book, but at that, she sat up and looked at Gracia intently. "Why do you want to know?"

"Well..." To her horror, she felt her face starting to get warm. "I...just...I've seen them around campus and heard their names and..."

"Uh-uh." Anita shook her head. "The way you're acting, Gracie, there's more to it than that. A lot more."

"Well..." Gracia quickly filled her in on the events of the afternoon, beginning with Hughes picking her up and ending with her leaving them to go to her class.

Anita stared at her for a moment after she'd finished. "Lucky."

"So I gathered," Gracia said dryly. "But what can you tell me about them?"

"If you want birthdays and blood types, I can't help you," she said, "but I can tell you the gossip."

And tell she did. If the rumors were to be believed, the two of them had been partners in a whole series of pranks the past year, and were supposedly responsible for the herd of goats that had turned up in the academy commandant's office at the end of last year. There was nothing that could be proven, but their involvement was common knowledge.

"That was them?" she said. Hughes and Mustang had been fleeing for their lives that afternoon – they'd said so themselves – and given the state they'd been in, she wouldn't have thought they could organize a game of euchre, let alone the practical joke of the year.

"Believe it, Gracia," she said. "Those two are trouble with a capital T."

And there was more. Apparently, they both had reputations as ladies' men, Mustang especially. That she could believe. If his and Hughes's argument was anything to go by, he had a whole line of girls and scandals to his name. And no wonder. The brooding-and-intense type was practically catnip to most of the girls she knew. Hughes, on the other hand, seemed to be the one who got his heart broken nine times out of ten, and generally through no fault of his own.

"Supposedly..." Anita lowered her voice to a stage whisper. "Supposedly, Mustang managed to steal the girlfriends of the entire rugby team at one point or another, even. Can you imagine?"

She could, now that she remembered the details of the argument the two of them had been having. "That explains the mob, then..." she said faintly.

"Really?" Anita purred, then brightened up. "So, which one?"

Gracia blinked. "Which one what?"

"You obviously like one of these guys," she said, "so which one is it? Mustang, right?"

Gracia blushed scarlet this time. "I barely said two words to him!' she sputtered.

"Ah, so it's Hughes, then." Anita smiled knowingly. "Mrs. Gracia Hughes. Not a bad ring to it."

"Anita!" She picked up the first thing she could lay hands on – her old teddy bear – and threw it at her roommate. The rest of the discussion was lost in a pillow fight.

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