Finally. At long last. The next part of the story. You wouldn't believe how freaking difficult this was to write. I ignored this story for a while and wrote around it, hoping that something would come, with nothing happening. I set the whole bloody series aside, hoping something would come. Again, nothing. The blank computer screen mocked me, as did the blank sheet of paper. I finally got a start about a month and a half ago, and it took me this long to hammer it into something that might (I hope!) make you laugh for the right reasons.
With luck, from here on in I'll be posting a little more often than once in a blue moon after this.
I've also been working on a longer, somewhat more serious story in this series that I may eventually post on its own. At the moment, though, that's still in development hell.
As always, the characters and situations associated with Fullmetal Alchemist are not mine. They belong to Hiromu Arakawa and her publishers. I'm only borrowing them for a little while.
Feedback is always welcome, and I'll use any flames that come my way to cook with. Please...let me know what you think.
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A Pooling of Resources
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Roy Mustang was not a happy camper. He had better things to do than babysit his temporarily insane roommate and wait for the mystery woman who'd turned his brains to tapioca. He had a tactics exam Wednesday he had to study for, a military history paper to write, and the State Alchemy exam to prepare for. He just flat-out didn't have time for this.
So when the girl from a few weeks ago came jogging up, he was more than tempted to just walk away. "Just what are you doing here?" he asked.
She blushed faintly. "We spoke on the phone," she said. "I'm the one who broke your roommate." Broke, indeed. Hughes was still quite cheerfully out of it, with no sign of coming back yet. "You said something about throwing him in the pool?"
"Hnh." He folded his arms and did his best to hide his annoyance. "Let's go."
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Gracia was all too aware of Roy Mustang's eyes on her as she dove into the pool, and was grateful she'd taken her aunt's advice and bought the one-piece swimsuit. She was reasonably sure he'd been mentally undressing her from the minute she'd left the locker room.
Hughes, meanwhile, still looked like a happy concussion victim...right up until the moment Roy shoved him into the water – boots, uniform, and all.
That, she noticed, was more than enough to bring him back to his senses. He surfaced with a yell and glared somewhat myopically at Roy. "What the hell did you do that for?"
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Maes," Roy said. He caught Gracia's eye and a slow smirk crossed his face. "As for why...just turn around." Gracia recognized a cue when she heard one, and swam over to him. She positioned herself behind him, and started treading water.
Hughes grumbled something about not being able to see five feet in front of him, but still did as Roy asked. He squinted at her, did a double-take, then backed off to give her more room. "Um...hi..." he began, "...Miss Gracia, I..."
"Hmm...?" Her eyes narrowed and she moved closer.
"I...I think my glasses are on the bottom of the pool," he muttered. "Right now you're one big blur. I'm lucky I can see anything right now."
"That'll teach you to fall for every pretty face that crosses your path," Roy said. "Seriously, Maes, I think you ought to..."
As Roy started...pontificating, for want of a better word, Gracia ducked underwater and found the lost glasses. Maes made a show of polishing the lenses, then put them back on and grinned at her. He moved to climb out of the water, but found Roy was blocking the ladder.
"Roy..."
"... serious girlfriend and you'll settle down..."
"Roy!"
He tried climbing up the side of the ladder, but couldn't quite get out of the water from that angle.
"...stop chasing after every girl who looks sideways at you,.."
Maes started to protest again, then shook his head. He looked at Gracia, mimed something falling at a ninety-degree angle, then pointed back at Roy. She grinned back, and nodded. She grabbed one of Roy's legs, Maes grabbed the other, and they pulled him into the deep end.
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The resulting water fight endeed with the three of them fleeng the scene before campus security could be called. Those who knew them and were aware of what came later would mark it as the beginning of a long and interesting friendship...among other things.