Later Monday
It was the third week of classes and everyone waited for Dr. Cas to waltz in to – most likely- tell the whole class they had another "pop" quiz, just like last week. However, despite the numerous groans and verbal complaints the quizzes were easy, as well as a tradeoff because there was only one test for the entire class and said test was the final. Some students were reading over the material that was presented last class, while others read the assigned articles because Dr. Cas allowed groups of four students to work together. Sadly, most students would always miss a point or two on little mistakes throughout the ten-question quiz. The only students that didn't ever miss a point were Edward Elric and Roy Mustang; the prodigies didn't work in groups either. They would finish the quiz within minutes and spend the rest of the class period either asleep, which Roy did a lot, or read, which was what Ed preferred to do until Dr. Cas resumed class.
Roy walked in three minutes before the lecture was to start and made his way to his seat in the back. On the way, he effectively managed to swat the back of Ed's head, who chucked his pencil in response. If the students in the class knew they wouldn't die for suggesting it and knew of Mustang and Elric's sexual preferences, then they would openly state that Roy and Ed should be gay lovers with the amount of bickering they did, while retaining a good friendship.
"Heard you got wasted this past weekend, Captain Bastard," smirked Ed from behind his book.
"And what if I did? This isn't a dry campus and I'm closer to the legal age than you can ever dream shorty."
Golden eyes slowly rolled over the top of the book to glare at the unknown. "Who the hell did you call a shorty? Huh?! And who's so small that he's barely visible and hard to target?!"
"I'm sure Hawkeye can hit you with her eyes closed if we let her."
"Ass!"
Releasing a low whistle as he plumped into his seat, Roy just shook his head as he set his backpack upright against the legs of his desk. "What a temper and mouth you have there. Sure you're a prodigy? Or did you just bitch and moan to get your way through life Ed?"
"You don't want to play that game with me Flame."
"Don't I, Fullmetal?" Roy leaned on his right elbow to smirk at the youngest member of the class. "I think we'd be pretty close because we played this game last time you opted to go drink your troubles away, brat."
"Don't you dar-"
"As well as cried out multiple times for a certain girl. Good thing the East is known for their lovely women with long blonde hair an-"
Ed turned around in his seat and sent the captain a glare that could scare death itself. "At least I'm not a pathetic mess that can't even get away from his ex, while constantly watching said ex being happy with her new lover!"
That shit-eating smirk that had played on Roy's lips vanished into a snarl; the students present in the room sat in their seats or relocated away from the pair. "That crosses a very fine line, shrimp! You'll regret saying that!"
"Wow, that's a lot of sexual tension I'm sensing," said a feminine voice that was filled with mild interest, "You should get that checked out because it's not good for the body or mind." All eyes turned towards the source: a female student that no one had seen in the class prior to now making her way between them. She sat closer towards Mustang because there were more vacant seats in the back of the room. Settling her bag into the chair next to hers, the female looked up to reveal sterling silver eyes. "Maybe you two should just hook up for a night."
Both Ed, Roy, and the class's jaw dropped at what she had just suggested, granted Roy was staring because he knew somewhere deep inside of him that he had seen those eyes before. "The nerve you have to say that to . . . To m-" Ed's eyes widened to the size of saucers before he screamed. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry for behaving like an ass!"
"What's with you, Fullmetal?" Roy blinked at the hysterics that Ed was exhibiting to the whole class. His gaze returned to the female and his eyes wandered. Thin, yet muscular. Medium sized breasts that could easily fill his mouth or his hands, while those eyes seemed slightly large on her face that brought out an angelic and innocent appearance. "Who are you?" Obsidian eyes were gazing at the loose, straight locks of discolored hair; various shades of brown that connected to black at the roots, but faded out to blonde at the ends.
"You idiot!" roared Ed. "She's like a freaking celebrity in the figure skating world!"
"A lot of us here are celebrities in our sports, Fullmetal." Roy blinked uninterestedly at the younger to show how idiotic the blonde's statement was. "And, if you haven't noticed as of late: I'm not a figure skater!"
Golden locks styled in a braid just shook around as Ed shook his head harshly. "No! That's Mackenzie Foxtrot! She's the prodigy of prodigies in figure skating! She's the freaking youngest to win the U.S championship and the Grand Prix! Hell! She has streaks for winning some of the biggest figure skating competitions ever!"
"Well, that was uh, a different type of introduction than I'm used to. Thanks Mr. Elric," smiled Mackenzie. Silver turned to obsidian and seemed to smile, causing Roy's heart to flutter slightly. "Hello again, Mr. Mustang." Dark eyes widened, while a blush settled into Roy's ears. The raven remembered those distinct words. "Pleasure to meet all of you."
"How do you know me?" asked Ed.
Foxtrot settled into her seat, while pulling out a notebook and pen. "Who doesn't know about the Fullmetal skater? Known for fiery performances that are lacking in artistry, as well fiery temper towards the judges. If my memory serves, you had a few injuries following the junior championships almost two years ago, which caused you to miss last year's competitive season. Correct?"
"Yeah," Ed was quiet for a moment before his hair stood on end like a cat, "Hey! What do you mean lacking in artistry?! I put my fucking soul in those performances!"
"Then you should sell your brother's soul because what you've shown is not enough," jabbed the older skater, "Especially if you want to enter and stay in the adult division. If I were you, I'd look into a coach and stop trying to go at this like the lone wolf."
"Why yo-"
"Mr. Elric, already becoming acquainted with the new student I see," chuckled Dr. Cas, "Well, I hope you mingled enough because we have a quiz on the readings and last week's lecture. So, split into groups and I'll hand out the quiz." Everyone quickly got into their groups and awaited Dr. Cas to walk by with the quizzes. He passed them out accordingly, but stopped at his newest student. "You don't have to take the quiz if don't want to because you weren't here last week."
Languid silver peeped up through dark lashes. "I'll take the quiz Dr. Cas because I believe in being fair and I did have access to the online portal to your notes and readings." Her tone was one that made the professor think of a child begging to be treated like a normal person.
"Very well," he handed her a quiz, "If you'd like you can pair with a group, and you have fifteen minutes to finish the quiz." His words fell on deaf ears, which he clearly saw as his newest student was already writing away on her quiz. This made Dr. Cas smile at the new mind that could potentially compete with Mustang and Elric's intellect.
Roy didn't get a chance to speak to Fox because she fled the classroom as soon as they were dismissed. He sighed at the loss, but looked forward to Wednesday – maybe he'd partner up for once. Gathering his things, Roy walked to his next class, a class for his major: chemistry. To be honest, Roy loved chemistry and would've been a chemistry major if it helped him towards his pursuit for a medical profession; unfortunately, the classes required for chemistry didn't cross or offer enough information like the biology track did. Just like his last class, Roy's seat was in the back of the room. However, he noticed a new person sitting next to him.
"H-hey, it's you!" Immediately, Roy mentally berated himself for sounding like an idiot.
Silver greeted his presence. "Mr. Mustang, I didn't know we'd have two classes together, let alone in a row."
"I just wanted to say thanks for dealing with my drunken self," chuckled Mustang as he sat at his desk. He casually plucked at the button of his sleeve, just a simple red and black plaid that was opened to reveal his black undershirt. "I must've been a lot to handle."
"You could've been a lot worse, but you weren't bad." Hesitantly, Mackenzie offered Roy her right hand. Dark eyes saw the single silver ring that rested on tanned pointer finger on the outstretched hand. "Official introductions, I do believe, are required. Mackenzie J. Foxtrot."
Roy took the hand and marveled at the warmth and strength, despite said hand looking somewhat fragile. "Roy C. Mustang," he mimicked stating the middle initial. Said hand was soft, which was the first thing that Roy noticed because it differed from Riza's rough and course hands due to all the years with either a bow or gun in hand "Biology major on the pre-med track."
The figure skater's eyes widened slightly at the name because her coach mentioned that name earlier. However, Mackenzie smiled and said, "Ironically, I'm a biology major on the pre-med track with a second major in Anthropology."
"You're going to be busy," pointed Mustang as the pair waited the five minutes for lecture to start. "The biology major here is surprisingly demanding for a university dedicated to the success for the athletic side of her students."
"I'm not too worried about the course load. I like being busy, and besides, I need to do something when I stop skating officially."
"Is that so? No coaching?"
A small smile spread on her lips. "I would love to coach and that's why I have said majors because I want to be able to help when one of my future athletes are injured, as well as being able to understand them and make a stronger connection to the culture of said students or the cultural side of a program."
"I'm sorry, but I don't know much about figure skating, aside from the difference in clothing and skates. Oh, figure skaters jump and spin a lot more."
Mackenzie snorted in a horrible attempt to hide her laughter at how the man beside her described figure skating compared to hockey. "Well you're not wrong," snickered the ombre-haired student, "I'm guessing you mean programs, seeing I mentioned that. A program in figure skating can either be the short or long - sometimes called free – program. The difference is the time, you see, a short program has a maximum time limit of two-minutes and fifty seconds, while the free, sorry I call the long program free, for women is a maximum of four minutes and ten seconds; men's free program is a maximum of four minutes and thirty seconds."
"That's really all the amount of time you have to show yourself?"
"Yeah," smiled Fox, "We put in a lot of work for about six to seven minutes in front of an audience and judges. In those six to seven minutes we can either shine or we can fail miserably."
"Harsh," whispered Roy. Obsidian eyes looked at the spiral notebook stretched out on his desk, mind wondering why he could so easily open to this one person and only knowing her for little than three hours. Hell, it took him weeks to months to warm up to Maes as a child. "I couldn't imagine what that could be like."
"Yeah, but, uh, change of subject?" Mackenzie turned in her seat, giving Mustang full access to see the humble designed stitched across her shirt before disappearing under a crop jean jacket. "What are we doing in this class? I, mean, I'm two weeks late and you guys could've covered so much material!"
"Calm down, we have another week before the first test. We're just going over basic stuff right now, reviewing at most. I think we're on reactions."
"Oh, good," smiled Mackenzie, "I like reactions."
"As do I."
Nodding in agreement, Mackenzie turned to dig through her backpack. It was gift from her uncle: a blue camouflage-like backpack made by Under armour. She withdrew a notebook, a pen, and case that Roy guessed were glasses. His hunch was right when Mackenzie opened the case and pulled out a geeky-looking pair of glasses: thick black frames laced the translucent glass. Fox slipped them on and put the case back into her bag.
Mustang just thought the glasses fit Fox's face perfectly. "She's so fucking cute!" thought Mustang. "Wait?! Can I say that about an older woman being cute? Screw it. She is with those glasses."
Throughout the class, Roy would sneak little peaks towards the person sitting next to him. Every detail was carefully catalogued into his brain as he watched each movement secretly. He loved how Fox's nose would wrinkle slightly when the skater would solve an equation wrong before slightly licking her rosy lips as she thought how to re-solve it. The Flame couldn't help but smile when he saw the person sitting next to him jump slightly in victory; he could tell that she was doing a mental victory dance. It was cute, refreshing compared to most females he was around.
However, Roy didn't notice when silver eyes were watching him take notes or staring impassively at the white board. He missed when Mackenzie blushed at watching Roy staring at the board with his dark head resting in a large and pale hand; raven tresses fell slightly into dark eyes.
"Just a reminder that you all have a homework assignment on Pearson that's due in three days and an exam a week from today." The professor, Dr. Thad, seemed like he cared for his students. "Aside from that, I hope the rest of your Monday goes well. Class dismissed."
Roy packed away his stuff carefully, while occasionally looking back towards the female that was sitting next to him. "So, you have a free period right now?"
"Actually, I'm done for the rest of the day."
"Only two classes and done? Man, your Tuesdays and Thursdays must be packed."
Mackenzie brought her right hand to rest on her chin as she thought, the glasses making her look cuter than Roy had first believed. He bit the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from blushing. "Nope. My Tuesdays and Thursdays are free." She saw that he was questioning her statement, and Fox just smiled before waving him off. "I have the lab for this class on Wednesdays, and a night class on the same day. All my other classes are online."
"When do you expect to graduate if you're not taking core classes?" Roy slung his backpack onto his right shoulder as he looked at Mackenzie. "You look more like a M.J to me," thought Roy.
"To be fair, said online classes are core classes for my second major. The rest of my classes have already been completed or will be during the summer – AKA during off-season." The ombre-haired female smiled as she straightened her shirt out underneath the crop jacket. "It helps when I'm the President's niece."
"Yeah, I could see that h- Wait. Wait, wait, wait," Roy shook his head at the new information. "You're President Bradley's niece?" He received a curt nod and look that said, "who else's niece." Pulling his left arm through the other backpack strap, Roy thought about Amestris University's president. "You look nothing like him though!"
"That happens when your biological father, President Bradley's brother, was adopted into the Bradley family at an older age and kept his biological surname."
"Okay, that makes sense, fair." Mustang walked out of the classroom with Mackenzie by his side, his mind liking and entertaining the idea of the woman by his side forever, even though he had just met her. "So, lunch? My friends and I typically get lunch around now."
Mackenzie looked at her watch and noted the time: 1:07 P.M. She just smiled sadly. "Sorry, but no can do. I have to go workout before practice later. Sorry, Roy." She said his name tentatively, but the way it sounded on her lips was like sweet music to his ears.
In response, Mustang just shook his hands in front of himself. "No problem! Another time then?" They walked together a few steps. "You could just use the rink here when they offer times?" Yep, this was pure rambling now.
"I do use the rink here," chuckled Mackenzie, "My uncle signed me up for this week's earliest time slots until 8 A.M, then I practice again around 3 P.M until 5 or 6, depending on the day."
Roy blinked at the information provided and gawked for a millisecond. He realized that this woman took the earliest ice times, yet he couldn't really be mad about that. However, Mustang raised a dark brow at the sheer amount of ice time. "Damn, that's a lot of ice time."
"Yeah, hopefully Friday I can sign up for my own times, which I prefer later morning times and afternoons, not early in the morning for ice time – I blame Uncle King and his sport antics for that," Mackenzie kicked a pebble on the sidewalk, "I heard that the hockey team usually practices in the early timeslot and when I found out, well, I felt bad for taking that from them this week."
The raven stopped in his tracks and looked down at the shorter. It was almost like looking at Ed, though this time Roy had something better to look at. "It's fine. I know the explanation and understand completely, and that's all that matters." Dark eyes peered down to see the sun shining around the profile of tanned skin. "That being said, I'm the captain of said hockey team."
"Is that so? Then I can't wait to see your mad skills. Hopefully you'll be at the Olympics this upcoming year. However, I'll see you Wednesday, okay? Sorry, running late and all! Bye!"
The shorter raced off towards the dorms, specifically the same path that most people took to get to the Eastern Dorms. She left in such a rush that Roy just stood there and blinked. "Uh, bye?" His mind trying to interpret what this all meant. "She's definitely something else."
As Mackenzie walked further away, she dared to peek over her shoulder and saw that Roy had resumed walking up towards the dining hall. The skater couldn't stop the blush that spread onto her cheeks. "What the hell was that? That was like saying 'oh, hey I may have a crush on you!' I'm pathetic!"
It was true. The skater hadn't dated anyone since her injury a season ago. The ombre-haired female thought about her new classmate with more interest than she first had earlier this morning as she walked back to their residence hall. While walking, Mackenzie's thoughts echoed back towards her rough sketch of the free program costume and how, with some altercations, seemed to be something that Mustang would wear – assuming it wasn't a dress and was made from wool and not lycra or chiffon with beading and bedazzles. The skater blushed slightly at the thought of Mustang in a military uniform.
"That would be hot," mused Fox as she swiped into the building. She licked her lips slightly, causing a passerby to get the wrong idea, while she kept thinking of Roy in a uniform. "Yeah, definitely hot! Especially with the gold of the uniform tassels and metals."
