Each individual chapter will have a different rating, different pairings, different spoilers, and a different setting and timeline. Multiple people were involved in writing this fic, I do not claim to have written anything other than my own characters. I do however claim to have come up with the plot, story idea, and organizing it all. The others who write characters in this fic are well aware that I am posting it, and contribute willingly. This fic is an ongoing project with an unknown number of parts, with alternate storyline as of the fifth laboratory incident. Enjoy!
A Call to Arms
Rating: PG
Pairings: Implied HavocxRoy and RoyxEd.
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA.
Spoilers: None really.
Setting: Central.
Timeline: Just before Ed was sent on the mission that put him face to face with Kimbley. FLASHBACK. This section and the previous are purely for filling in a few details.
It was Friday, and everybody knew what that meant: payday. Around about quarter till five, their officegirl (they worked on individual floors) always showed up with the envelopes. Stapled to said envelopes was always a morass of extraneous paper. Work, fliers, notices, memos, updates and the newsletter that some twit higher up in Administration put out.
Havoc didn't even bother to look up when the stack of dead tree slapped down onto his desk. He nudged it aside, still writing. Even if he wasn't busy, he'd still not be able to open it, due to the unwritten law in Mustang's staff pool, enforced by Havoc himself: you weren't allowed to open anything till after office hours.
Mustang poked his head out of his office for a moment to flash the pretty young girl a dashing smile, but more importantly to gaze around at his subordinates. Once the girl was gone, little floaty hearts and all, he voiced his concerns. "I'm a bit surprised...has Fullmetal not come to harrass me at least once today?"
"Haven't heard anything," Havoc said abstractedly, checking the next bloody dogtag. How he always got coerced into filling out death certificates escaped him.
"You'd think he would have noticed the--" As if on cue, the office door buckled under the force of an automail foot and swung up with a crash, a fuming, red-clad chibi huffing in the doorway.
"WHO THE HELL HAD THE BRIGHT IDEA TO SWITCH MY TOOTHPASTE WITH GLUE!"
Snickers circulated around the office pool. "Right on time," Farman said, checking his watch.
The snickers only caused the small alchemist to fume even more, why, you could practically see the smoke pouring from his ears! For such a tiny boy, Fullmetal had a very, VERY large voice when need be. He spun around, coat fluttering with the abrupt movement, and slammed the doors shut. With a clap of his hands, Ed had sealed the office completely. "NOBODY LEAVES UNTIL I FIND THE SMARTASS WHO DID IT!"
Roy in the meantime had snuck back into his own office, packing up his things to go home by means of the other door.
An overloud bang echoed through the once-office-now-cave. Liza holstered her still-smoking gun. "Major Elric, please have a care for the people working. Lieutenant Havoc is working on some very time sensitive documents and he cannot be disturbed."
Mustang exited his office just in time to catch the most amusing scene he'd been faced with all week. As if it weren't enough that he knew exactly what Fullmetal was ranting about, Riza had predictably taken care of the situation already. Roy had to hide his grin upon spotting Edward standing there stock still and white as a sheet with a smoking hole next to his head and his hair standing on end like a startled cat. "If you wouldn't mind changing the door back now, Fullmetal?"
Ed was about to make a snappy retort when he could the split-second glint in Roy's eyes and went a nice shade of crimson, turning around and fixing the door only to run right out of it at high speed.
"See you on Monday, sir," Havoc said, still scritching away with that blasted fountain pen. "These'll be on your desk to sign."
Roy eyed the stack and winced visibly. "Right... Don't stress yourself too much, have a good weekend!" With that, he made a beeline for the door, only to be stopped in his tracks by the sound of a safety clicking off. The Colonel gulped, not moving.
"Where are those papers that you were supposed to have signed?" Liza asked in a tranquil voice.
Havoc choked on his own tongue, trying not to laugh.
"I...uh...on my desk, where else?" Roy still didn't turn around, ready to make a run for it the second he got the chance.
"Are they signed?" The entire staff hit the ground and hid under their desks at the slightly menacing tinge to the formidable lady's voice.
"Of course!" The Colonel was wishing at that time that he didn't have such a habit of instantaneous responses under stress. He was already inching towards the door ever so slightly.
"Will you go get them so Havoc can send them to Command?" The slightest of clicks signalled the slack of her trigger being taken up.
Panic. "I thought that those documents didn't need to go out until Monday?"
"Change of schedule," Havoc said, stapling a dogtag to yet another death certificate. "Command wants them now."
Dark eyes darted to Havoc with a look that screamed 'WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT EARLIER I WOULDN'T HAVE PROCRASTINATED! (as much)'
The object of Roy's fury just grinned and went back to work. "You didn't ask."
Roy immediately dropped his things next to the door and, hands up, slowly backed right back into his office.
Liza holstered her gun and locked the door. "Thank you, Havoc. I knew we could get him to finish the work today if we played off his panic instinct."
Havoc chuckled, picking up his cigarette and tapping off the ash. "It was priceless, Riza. Priceless."
As the clock ticked past five, Roy was plotting revenge. Oh, and skimming documents to sign, signing them, and getting ink all over his new gloves. Damn leaky pens...
As the time passed five-thirty, Fury looked up. "Who's going to clean up this mess today? There are file folders everywhere."
En masse, the staff looked at Havoc. "What?"
Sometime around five forty-five, Roy was becoming very well accquainted with the polished wooden surface of his desk.
As usual, Riza was the last one out, save for Havoc. "Don't forget to put a note on Farman's dustcover. The shift key is sticking."
Havoc saluted, stacking the papers up neatly. "Sure thing. The spackle is still in the utility closet, right?"
Did we mention that Roy was getting to know his desk? Very, VERY well?
Havoc suddenly remembered about his superior officer after refiling folders, spackling up the newest bulletholes, and putting a sticky note on the typewriter. He unlocked the door and poked his head in. "Sir? Don't you have a date with Ed tonight?"
Roy started, shaking his head a bit and absently wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth. "Huh...?"
"You're hopeless. Did you get everything signed?"
Roy nodded absently. "Yeah...I think...Ed? He'd probably make me sleep outside, seeing as he knows full well who switched his toothpaste..."
"Yeah, but we put you up to it. If anything, you can blame it on me." There was a certain mischevious twinkle in his eye. "And if he does kick you out..." the offer hung provocatively. "Anyway, get going. I'm closing up for the weekend."
"Ah...I'll keep that in mind..." Roy got to his feet, stretched, and nodded, gathering up his things. "Oh...I was thinking about getting a bite to eat on the way out, you hungry?"
"Sure." He followed his superior through the office pool, snagging up the paycheck. "You mind if I open this in your exalted presence? You already know how much I get paid anyway..."
Roy nodded, flicking off the lights as he opened the door. "You know you're the only one that really supports that rule, Lieutenant." It was in jest, though, as Mustang had a grin on his face.
"Some people have less of a social life than others," Havoc said with dignity, locking the door behind him. "Take, for instance, Fury. He has more women in this base chasing after him than I do."
"That's because he's baby cute, like Alphonse," Roy countered, lifting a finger. "They probably would rather have him as a little brother or a puppy dog and you know it."
"But still, he has them and I don't. Hell, I think BREDA has more women after him than I do..."
"You're only saying that because you see every 'potential girlfriend' as swooning over me, and thusly denote that none of them are after you, making any man with a woman in his life fall into your category of 'having more women after him than you'..."
"The condensed version of that tirade is that I have a romantic inferiority complex?"
"I suppose you could call it that." Roy turned a corner, heading for the main doors. "I was thinking of stopping by that little streetcorner coffee shop, they've got nice sandwiches, sound good?"
"Sure. Just spare whatever feeling I have by not flirting with every female in sight, will you?"
"I can't help it if they think I'm flirting, Lieutenant." The Colonel gave a nod and a smile to the giddy new receptionist, who liked to have fainted on the spot.
Havoc snorted. "Yeesh. She wasn't like that this morning..."
"I can't imagine what could have come over her." Roy lifted a hand to the guard at the gate, passing through to the outside without another word.
Havoc squinted up at the sky. "Damn, aren't we ever going to get any rain? The family back home's swimming in it, and we're baking!"
Roy shrugged, shaking his head. "It's a blessing to me, but I'm sure the ground is more than loathesome of that." He glanced over at the papers stapled to Havoc's envelope. "Nn? Isn't that the Fuhrer's seal?"
"Huh?" Havoc looked down. "By God, it is. 'Time Sensitive'. I guess it's too much to hope that it's a promotion."
Roy squinted. "I wouldn't think it would be if I weren't informed..."
"That's a disappointment. I'll open it at home. It can wait that long."
"Well it's obviously not a newsletter or anything of the sort, or I would have gotten one too... Damn, now I'm curious!" Roy chuckled lightly, turning another corner and pulling out a chair at the corner cafe, waving over the lovely waitress that seemed to have taken quite a liking for her job since the Colonel had started dropping by for breakfast.
Havoc shook his head, grinning. "I'll let you know on Monday, how's that?"
Roy nodded after ordering, giving a noncommittal reply as he turned the sealed letter over in his hands. It turned out he'd snatched it while Havoc was taking a quick glance at the waitress.
"Give that back, Roy," he said cheerfully, filtching it back. "You're not going to find out until Monday, got that?"
The smaller man plucked it from Jean's hands again, turning in his chair to hold it out as he broke the seal and flicked the paper open with a few deft movements. "Of course I'm not."
Havoc grabbed it back and sat on it. "Yes you are. I want to tell my new girlfriend about it before I tell my upstart commanding officer about it," he said cheekily.
"Ah, another new one, hm? What's her name this time? Patches?" Roy nudged Havoc's groin lightly with the toe of his boot. "Come on already...just a peek?"
Havoc snorted, twisting out of the way. "What part of 'no' don't you understand? And, no she's not a cat. Her name's Laura."
"Oh really? News to me...sister? Cousin? Toddler you're babysitting?" Roy wriggled one hand up under Havoc's ass, anything but subtly.
Havoc grabbed Roy's hand, totally unfazed. "Watch it, you're getting a few weird looks from the waitress," he said placidly. "And NO, Laura is a smashing girl that I'm going to fall hopelessly in love with to make the wrench of you whisking her away to a dream-filled whatever completely unbearable."
"She should know better, they all should really..." Roy shrugged, scratching an array on the bottom of Havoc's chair and transmuting a hole in it to catch the paper, at the same time succeeding in getting Havoc rather stuck in said hole.
"Fuck you," Havoc grumbled, extricating himself from the hole. "You're paying for that, NOT me." He sat in another chair, this time farther away. He made a grab for the paper.
Roy held him back with a foot on his stomach, skimming the page. Slowly the amused grin on his face faded to be replaced with a frown, brows furrowing slightly as the entire atmosphere surrounding his person grew unbearably dark.
Havoc could feel his own brows snap together. "What's up?" he asked warily.
"See for yourself..." Roy dropped his foot, handing the paper over.
Havoc took it, scanning it quickly. His frown deepened, then turned to panic, then to fear as he reread it. "Shit!" He got up abruptly, paper clenched in his hand. "Roy, please tell me you knew absolutely nothing about this," he growled.
"Why would I bother with a farce if I had known about it, Jean?" Roy was currently rubbing his temples, well this had turned out to be a hell of a day hadn't it...
"A transfer to Ishbar, leaving tomorrow afternoon? Dammit, what are they thinking?" He spun on his heel, entire body shaking with rage.
"You saw the signature, did you not? I can't just drop a direct order from the Fuhrer himself... I'll phone Hughes when I get home, have him look into it, there's nothing more I can do..."
"No, I have to go. They're pulling my entire company and I'm platoon leader. I can't worm out of this one."
"I know... The least I can do is give you a heads up as to what you're going into and keep an eye on you while you're out there, Jean."
"It's obvious. Negotiations? More like terrorist suppressions." He grimaced at the surprised look on Roy's face. "Yes, I know what's going on to an extent."
Roy looked down, fists clenched so tight so quickly that sparks crackled threateningly. "I think I'll take you up on that offer for tonight..."
"God knows you're welcome to it..."
"I'm still going to be watching your back..." Roy stood, waving off the waitress who'd brought his food and leaving a hefty tip along with the fee for the meal uneaten. "Let's go..."Please review, constructive criticism and questions appreciated, flames will be deflected back at you by Roy. n.n;
This section exists solely to point out the transfer order for Havoc.
