Chapter 2: Passing Notes

As Jack picked himself up, Havoc snapped out of his dumbstruck, awed state. "Jeez, what have you been up to lately?" he asked while fanning away some of the dust with his hand.

Coughing, Jack leaned back on Fuery's desk, sprinkling dust on the piles of papers as he shook his head. He glanced over at Fuery who was becoming annoyed at having his desk showered in dirt. Fuery noticed the glance and responded with a forced smile; a very, very forced smile. Besides sporting a strained smile, Fuery's skin also turned a shade paler. Noticing this, Jack snapped his fingers.

"Oh! I almost forgot to take off my mask" he exclaimed. He carefully unwrapped the bandages from his right index and middle fingers and tapped the lock on his collar. The lock opened, the collar was slid off, and Jack yanked off the shadowy mask. Although one mask was taken off, Jack's hair fell in front of his face immediately filling in for the mask's absence. His right eye was hidden behind his dark black hair but the rest of his tanned face could be seen. He smiled to the crowd of officers. "Much better." he remarked, hoping the smile would help ease tensions between he and the group of people around him. Why does this always happen? he thought to himself with a silent sigh.

Roy sat back down at his desk, leaning back in his chair, while the other officers also returned to theirs. As Hawkeye made her way back to her desk, she glanced back at the 'Shadow Alchemist' to get a better look of him now unmasked. Despite a few bags under his eyes, he looked pretty cute, she thought, perhaps even handsome. She abruptly caught her thoughts there and mentally slapped herself. Did I just tell myself that this guy is cute? I barely know him! she thought, surprised at herself, though, he is pretty cute… No! Stop that! She sat down at her desk and delved back into her paperwork to get her mind off of thinking about whether or not this new alchemist was cute. A quick sigh, and she was back to scribbling down notes on various documents.

Roy sat back up in his chair. "So Jack, where have you been lately?" he asked, fairly interested. Jack scratched his head with a yawn, as more dirt and dust fell around him. "Hmm, well…" looked up at the ceiling, as if trying to gather his thoughts, "…you know, just been kind of here and there. Missions are missions when you're a dog of the military, after all!" he said with a bit of laugh. That's it, he thought to himself, just be as vague as possible. Clapping his hands together Jack jumped to his feet. "So… is there a shower or something I could use, I'm sort of…dusty."

"Yeah, more like the dust bunny king." Havoc thought, chewing on the end of his cigarette. Roy stood up. "Seeing as how its just about time for a lunch-break anyway, MSgt Fuery could show you to the dormitories' for the shower while WO Falman finds you a spare uniform," he said while motioning towards Fuery and Falman to say that it was, in fact, an order. The two officers accompanied the alchemist as they walked out of the office, leaving Breda, Havoc, Hawkeye, and Mustang to themselves. Hawkeye turned to face Roy, eyeing him suspiciously. "Sir, why are you in such a charitable mood all of a sudden?" "Yeah, what's with this 'Mr. Nice Guy routine?" Havoc agreed. Roy moved back towards his desk, frowning as he organized his large stacks of paperwork. "The Shadow Alchemist is the military's master of stealth and espionage operations. He's attainted a legacy for his exploits which befits only the top echelon of military personnel, like me," he stated, as the other officers rolled their eyes, "Think of the possible benefits of having him here in Eastern under my command." He started towards the door followed by the others. "Besides," he added as he opened the door, "he's an old friend of mine."

Fuery and Falman strode besides Jack as they made their way towards the military dormitories. "Say," Jack casually began, breaking the silence, "Anyone notice a 'thing' going on between Roy and what's-her-face, uh, Hawkeye?" Fuery spun around on his heel, apparently interested. "What're you talking about?" he asked with genuine interest. "Oh nothing, nothing," Jack replied with a smirk drawn wide across his face.

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An hour after lunch, Roy was tired. Tired or paperwork, tired of signing his name, just plain tired. As he leaned back in his chair, Hawkeye reminded him of his responsibilities as colonel. As he folded his hands behind his head, two bullets zipped past his head and embedded themselves into the wall. Roy sat back up and began to fill out the papers in front of him as Hawkeye holstered her pistol. A minute later Fuery and Falman entered into the office and reassumed their seats behind their desks. Roy looked up from his paperwork and called them up to his desk in an agitated voice.

"Yes, sir?" asked Falman. Fuery stood next to Falman. Taking his time, to both make the two officers sweat and get the most of his distraction from his paperwork, Roy looked them both in the eye. "MSgt Fuery, where exactly is the alchemist you and WO Falman were ordered to accompany?" he asked. "W-well Sir, he dismissed us," Fuery responded shakily. Roy's eyes widened in surprise. "He WHAT!" yelled the young colonel at the younger master sergeant. "W-well he is technically higher than either Falman or me in rank, S-Sir," Fuery added quickly. Roy sighed in exasperation. "Fine, whatever, dismissed." He began to scribble furiously on the papers in front of him. "If he doesn't get back soon, I'll end up missing my date!" Roy mumbled. "Actually, you'll miss it anyway if you don't finish your paper work, colonel." Hawkeye replied calmly. Roy scowled and continued to fill out paper after paper. Havoc also scowled; the date you stole from me, you mean! he thought to himself as he accidentally bit off the end of his cigarette. Roy glanced over to see Havoc gagging on and spitting out what appeared to be the remnants of a cigarette. "Is there a problem Lt Havoc?" he asked amusedly. With a sickly sweet smile, Havoc replied, "Why, no problems here, Sir. Everything's just peachy!" Roy looked back at his desk, frowned, and slumped down in his chair. "Crap," he mumbled and sighed. Another gunshot got him back on track.

The clock read six pm as Roy reached the end of his papers. "Ha! Done for the day," he sighed as he straightened a pile of papers. "Well done colonel," Hawkeye said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "Perhaps tomorrow you can finish it on time." Roy smirked, "Only if I feel like letting you get out of here on time, Captain." Hawkeye half-scowled at him, as he did have a point. Then again, if not for her staying behind Roy would leave each day perpetually crushed by an ever mounting pile of papers. She smiled at the thought of her overall importance and began to head for the door. Roy's smirk waned as he saw Hawkeye leaving. "I guess I'll see you tomorr…" he started before being cut off by a black blur which quickly flashed in and out of the room. Looking around, Roy noticed a note pinned to the front of his uniform:

Flame:

Spending the night on the town. Meet tomorrow instead.

-Shadow

Roy couldn't believe Jack would pull a stunt like this. Then again, Jack (or Shadow, his alias) had been known to be a bit disregarding of authority when not on a mission. Before crumpling the note, Roy noticed one additional message:

P.S. It looks like a great night for a walk, Romeo

By this time, Hawkeye had walked back over to Mustang and noticed the note in his hand. "What's this?" she asked, reaching over the grab the piece of paper. With a slick jerk, Roy pulled back the paper and, with a snap of his fingers, incinerated it. "It's nothing, really," he said to an unconvinced Captain. "Say," he continued slowly, "Would you mind if I walked you home?"