A/N: This chapter's a continuation of chapter three, "Name," in case you need to go back and double-check it. Hope you enjoy!
Someone was actually talking to him. Taking an interest in him.
It had to be a trick. There had to be some ulterior motive.
But even if there was one, it was an interesting experience, and one that he wouldn't worm his way out of prematurely.
"Hey, so you're an alchemist, right?" she was saying. Her voice was innocent enough, but something about her pleasant expression was… off, in a way that Kimblee found fascinating.
"Correct," he said, standing up, lacing his hands together and stretching his arms behind his back. He had answered her question; there was no need to volunteer any further information without prompting.
Livia (that was her name, wasn't it? Kimblee had never been very good with names, just faces) scowled, standing up as well. Then, suddenly, her face shifted oddly, back into that innocent smile that she had previously worn.
It was unnatural, and very, very intriguing.
"Yeah, so… what kind of alchemy?" she said, tipping her head to the side. Trying to be 'cute,' it seemed.
"Explosions, mainly," said Kimblee, "although I dabble in other areas as well."
"Cool," said Livia. Her face held just the right amount of respectful interest. "Explosions."
"Yes," said Kimblee, raising an eyebrow. "Are you interested in alchemy?"
"Oh, yes." Livia kneaded her fingers together, staring down at her hands. "Just a little bit. My dad always liked alchemy, so I always like talking to all of the alchemists that I meet to find out what they specialize in."
An odd pastime… but not entirely unusual.
"Anyway," continued Livia. "I just found out my class schedule, and it sounds as if we'll be sharing most of our classes. The schedule's up on the wall, if you don't believe me. So I'll be seeing you around. Hey, maybe we'll even be teamed up for some stuff. Who knows?" She turned on her heel, waving casually without looking back. "Anyway, I'll be seeing you later."
Kimblee watched her as she walked away. Odd that he should be sharing classes with her, a first-year… unless the rules had suddenly been changed. The rest of the second-years would make a fuss about this, he was sure… after a year spent crawling at the feet of the older students, most of them had been looking forward to being above the newest recruits. This would also mean that any second-years who hadn't made a name for themselves yet would be subjected to yet another year of hazing…
Of course, that wouldn't affect Kimblee much. He had a way of staying out of the way of trouble, generally speaking. But it seemed that this year would be a little more chaotic than he had planned on.
Not that that was a bad thing, of course. Chaos was just another word for excitement, in Kimblee's book, and Kimblee now found himself feeling excited about something that he had previously been apathetic about before.
Maybe this would be an interesting year after all.
A/N: Since we don't know a whole lot about the Amestris Military Academy, I'm operating under the assumption that it's a four-year program that, if you're really good or if the military is desperate for manpower, you can graduate from in two or three years. Please forgive any military inaccuracies (or supply me with corrections!) I don't know much about the military, so this is mostly just world-building on my part.
I just wanted to write cute romantic stuff, and all that these stories have been so far is them snarking at each other. XD I hope that's not too disappointing for you guys; I just want background for everything, so that's my reasoning behind it.
Also, I apologize for taking so long with these. I always have this obsession with being ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, and so it takes me forever to work up the nerve to publish something- and I started writing a Kimvy longfic (which promises to be very long), which has been sucking up some time.
Anyway, thanks for reading! I really appreciate how much support I've gotten for this!