Everyone hates Roy and his serial dating! Serves him right, he should be with poor Ed anyway…Reviews make me so happy, as do cookies I'd like to thank all my reviewers for continuing to support this story either by reviewing or adding it to story alert! Anyway, this time, Roy gets a taste of karma, Al gets worried, and Ed tries to cope.

Disclaimer: Well, my plan to win lots of money failed, so I'm currently working on taking over the world instead so then I can own everything grins Until then, I still own nothing but merchandise!

Roy Mustang was not amused. Last night had taken a horrific turn for the worst. His date had accused him of paying her no attention.

'You were staring at that young blonde in the corner all evening. You weren't paying any attention to me at all. If you can't treat me properly, I don't want to see you again Roy' she had sobbed, before fleeing into the darkness.

Great. And all because he couldn't keep his eyes to himself and off a rather stunning Edward Elric. Rats. He wasn't supposed to think like this. He wouldn't think like this. This was Edward for crying out loud! He was nothing but a torment! It was all Edwards… no… Fullmetals fault, he decided, for being so damned adorable. Yes, the blonde would suffer for this. He grumbled to himself as Hawkeye gave him a troubled look, before delivering him his doom.

Alphonse Elric wanted to kill Edward Elric. After apologising profusely to Lizzie, and then to Beth over his brothers appalling behaviour, the girls had decided it was best to call it a night. Lizzie was furious, and he doubted Beth would want to see him again after this. He was left with the bill and, after paying, began the walk home fully intent on wringing his brother's neck. Unfortunately, or fortunately, however you wanted to look at it, his brother wasn't there when he arrived. That was ok, Al could wait. So he had waited, and waited, and waited. When it got to 2am and Ed still hadn't showed up, Al began to worry, the urge to throttle Ed fading. He debated going out and looking for his brother, but then realised that Edward had probably skulked off to the library. Yawning, and deciding he had had enough of this stressful evening, Al decided to go to bed. He'd kill Edward in the morning.

Edward Elric scowled as he made his way towards the office. He had spent the evening trying to come to terms with his feelings, and was now feeling completely awful for messing up Als evening. He was also cramped from falling asleep at a desk in a secluded section of the library. He hadn't dared to go home to clean himself up before going to work. He would apologise to Al later, when he had cooled down a little. Ed's hair was a mess, his eyes were red rimmed, and he was still dressed the way he was last night. Still, at least now he had a plan, and perhaps that plan would make his life a little more bearable. Then, after dealing with that, he would beg Als forgiveness, and get him to find him another date, resigned to the fact that Roy Mustang would never, could never want someone like him. Continuing to beat himself up, he stalked into the office, head down, and eyes hidden by his bangs. Hawkeye was the only one in the office this early.

'Edward, you look awful' Hawkeye commented, and watched as Ed lifted his face to reveal his sorrow.

'Hey' Ed muttered 'Listen, Lieutenant Can I ask you something?'

'Sure Edward' Riza replied, still not over not only Edwards state, but the fact that he had arrived at work at 7am. Edward was never early, and rarely expressed an aura of such sorrow, at least never in public.

'I've...been having trouble sleeping at night lately, so I wanted to ask if I could work at night instead for a bit to see if I can sleep better during the day' Edward said, hoping that she believed his well rehearsed excuse. He had worked it over in his head all last night, and had come to the conclusion that it may be easier if he saw as little of Roy Mustang as possible.

Hawkeye seemed to think this over for a moment, and then nodded. 'From the look of you Edward, I can see that this may be a good idea. How about instead of working from 10 until 5, you come into work at 5 and leave at midnight? she offered

Edward contemplated this for a moment. It was unlikely that the colonel even worked until 5 if he could help it. That would mean he would hardly see the man at all. It felt… painful. But it had to be done. Ed nodded and saluted for good measure. 'Thank you Lieutenant'

'Now I suggest you go home and get some rest Edward, I'll still be here at 5, so I can assign you some work to do. I'll also inform the General of the situation.' Riza advised. She assumed this must be part of growing up. She'd often read of teenagers hitting puberty and finding it difficult to operate during the day. Her brother, as a teenager, would lie in bed until 3 am some days and would scream and yell at cry at the littlest of things. She would give Edward some slack. After all, with the amount of fighting Edward and the General had been doing lately, the office would quieten down a little without the two going head to head. She shook her head as she watched Edward walk off, and began to wonder if there was something deeper to Edwards request.

Edward hoped he would get lucky, and get home before Alphonse woke up. It was, after all still early, barely 8am when he made it back to their shared apartment. Ed pushed the door open tentatively, and, when nothing was thrown in the vicinity of his head, snuck into the room. He thought of going straight to bed and sleeping off whatever it was he was feeling, but hunger took over, and propelled him towards the kitchen, the fridge, and he would soon find out, his doom.

'You finally came home then!' Al groused, tapping his foot on the floor, arms crossed, much like their mother used to do when they were in trouble. At the moment Ed felt very much like the younger brother.

'I...' Ed was silent for a moment, trying to think of an excuse. He hadn't planned on having to deal with Alphonse this early in the morning. Al meanwhile was taking in Ed's appearance.

'Brother, you look awful, what happened?' Al said, deciding to go for a direct interrogation.

Ed thought of saying that he had been up all night because of a crush on his General, then decided against it. He really didn't need this right now. Maybe he would tell Al later, after he had calmed himself down and got a few hours of decent sleep.

'I'm sorry Al, I'm sorry for everything, for ruining your date, and for worrying you.' Ed said, thinking this was the safest route. 'I'm really tired Al, I had a horrific day at work yesterday, then a terrible evening. I have the late shift tonight, so can you wake me up at 4?'

Al seemed to consider this for a moment. There was something Edward was hiding from him, and he would find out what. But looking at the state of his brother, now really wasn't the time. Ed looked like he hadn't slept, and being a good brother; Al wasn't going to deprive him. Sighing, he gave in.

'Don't worry about it brother, I'm sure I can find other girls willing to date me. Get some sleep; you look like you need it. Set your alarm though, I have a job interview with the academy at 4, so I won't be around to wake you up.'

'Thanks Al' Ed mumbled, and he looked really grateful. 'Good luck with the interview'

Al watched as Edward sloped off to his room, and wondered just what it was that was wrong with his brother.

It was now the fourth day after the restaurant, and Roy Mustang still hadn't seen Edward at the office. Honestly, what was the point of maintenance fixing his door if there was no one around to kick it down again? He wondered just how long this little experiment of Hawkeye's was going to take. He couldn't believe she cut the kid some slack... She never cut HIM any slack when he was almost dead to the world. Usually hung over of course, not... whatever Edward was suffering from. Belatedly, Roy thought, Ed was legally no longer a child at 16. Hell technically the kid had given up on any hope of a childhood when he had joined the military. Cursing himself for thinking about it again, Roy mused that now that Edward was no longer around the office he was actually beginning to miss the brat. Things had gotten a little boring as of late. The paperwork just kept on coming, no matter how hard he tried to get rid of it. That included passing it off to his other subordinates or hiding the ashes in the flowerpot in his office of course, not actually doing the work. Things had also gotten a little stormy on the dating front. Unfortunately, the women he had taken to the restaurant, Claire, knew a few of the other women he dated, and had spread it around that Roy Mustang liked them young. Not a good rumour to have floating around, particularly when most of the women in his little black book were older and were now no longer interested in him, and particularly when he had turned Edward Elric down because he was young. He had come to the conclusion that fateful night that, while Edward was very good looking, (he had finally managed to admit that to himself), he was probably just that. If they went on a date, they would have nothing in common, nothing to talk about, and Roy would resort to treating him the same way he treated his women: like cheap whores. That was the last thing he wanted to do to Edward, after all, they had to work together. Or… used to have to work together.

Roy groaned loudly as Hawkeye came in with another stack of paperwork. He hadn't even started on the last lot yet.

'Where does it all come from?' he murmured forlornly as he thought a fitting end to today would see him drowning in paperwork.

'Perhaps, sir, if you actually did some work for once, rather than sitting there daydreaming, you wouldn't be as far behind as you are now' Hawkeye offered, unsympathetically. Really, Roy Mustang was sometimes the laziest man alive. It was no wonder nothing ever came from all his dating. The man just didn't have the commitment to forge a lifelong relationship. 'These need to be done by 5 sir' she saluted before leaving the room. Yes, she thought, Roy Mustang was one man she would definitely be staying away from.

Finally, at a quarter to five, Mustang grinned triumphantly, threw his pen up in the air, and cheered. 'All done!' he yelled, grabbing his coat and practically skipping out of his office. He had finally managed to score himself a date for tonight, albeit a reluctant one. Still, a date was a date, and it was just what he needed after today. His grin turned into a grimace as Hawkeye rounded on him.

'I'm sorry sir, but this just came in and needs your immediate attention' she said, motioning to a mountain of paperwork in her arms.

'Well, Fullmetal is here tonight, he can deal with it' Roy grinned, thankful for once to the little blonde, and heading towards the door.

'Sir, these are for your eyes only, and need YOUR signature. Edward doesn't have the authority to deal with this' Hawkeye persisted, blocking his exit.

Roys mind went into overdrive for the first time that day, and quickly formulated a plan. If he could just convince Hawkeye that he was staying, ditch out as soon as she had gone, and get back here after his date and work all night, she would never know the difference. That lot looked like it could be done in 4 hours tops of he really put his mind to it, meaning if his date was over by 11, he would only be in the office until 3am the next day. He would just have to make things quick…Then he could easily take some time off tomorrow for working 'late' tonight. He grinned, and held his hands up to Hawkeye in mock surrender. Putting on the best mask of surrender that he could muster.

'All right, all right, I'm going' he grouched, taking the paperwork from her arms. 'You head on home, I promise it'll all be done by morning'

She seemed hesitant to leave, and he couldn't blame her, so he began to head towards his office, intent on dumping the stuff there and leaving.

'All right, but can you make sure Edward gets this list?' She said, handing him a list of documents that needed doing that night.

'Sure' Roy replied easily. He'd just tape it somewhere low down where he could be sure the diminutive blonde would see it. 'Goodnight Lieutenant' He almost laughed as she returned the greeting and left the room. That was almost too easy. Placing all his paperwork on his desk, and taping the note to the top of Hawkeye's stapler, he turned on his heel and left the room quickly, making sure he left the light on in his office, and potted plant on his chair, to give the illusion from afar that someone was there. Whistling an unknown tune, he headed home to get ready for his date.

Edward decided he would never get used to working nights. It was too hard to sleep during the day, especially when Al was in the house. His brother had another job interview that evening, this time in a research lab dealing with alchemy. Ed had wished him luck as usual, but deep down couldn't help but think his brother's youth would again be against him. Al had failed three interviews this week because he was simply too young for the work required. Ed knew deep down that this was why he was still in the military. Who else would employ a temperamental teenager with little experience of anything apart from alchemy and no school education? He yawned tiredly, getting ready to leave the house for this evenings shift. Sure, this was physically draining, but at least it wasn't emotionally draining, like seeing the General would be, especially hearing him boast to the whole office about his dates all the time.

Ed left the house and ambled along the sidewalk, reaching headquarters quickly. Glancing up he saw, to his horror, that the Generals office light was still on, and a figure sat in the chair. Ed thought about ditching work tonight, but quickly decided against that. One night with the General wouldn't kill him, but Hawkeye certainly would if she ever found out. He began his march of doom towards the office, and yet, part of him yearned to see Roy again. He stepped into the outer office and closed the door quietly behind him. Looking around he saw a stack of paperwork for him on Hawkeye's desk, and a note stuck to a stapler.

'Edward,

Here is tonight's paperwork, in order of priority.

The top few need to be done first, as they are needed by tomorrow morning.

The next ones are needed by lunchtime, so please attend to those next.

The few towards the bottom are not needed until tomorrow evening so please don't worry if you don't finish it all.

Have a good night, and take care of yourself.

PS: General Mustang has plenty of paperwork to get done tonight, so please make sure he has coffee regularly and doesn't just fall asleep on his paperwork again

First Lieutenant Hawkeye

So, Ed mused, Roy was here to catch up on the paperwork he was too lazy to do during the day. 'Serves him right' Ed thought grinning, before realising that meant that he had to not only spend the night working with the man, but also provide him with coffee. Gathering up his courage, he knocked on the Generals office door and stepped inside, not waiting for an answer, but preparing himself for the worst. He looked towards the desk, and his jaw dropped. A... pot plant? Edward laughed, and let out a sigh of relief. Thank God! Then again the General could have left for a date. Edward shook that thought immediately. It was too painful to think about, and probably true. He went back to the outer office, poured himself some coffee, and sat down to work, to distract him self more than anything. He pondered to himself how he could have let himself get so messed up over one person. With a hefty sigh, Edward decided it was time to take his own advice and move forward.

His luck had turned on him again it seemed. Ten minutes late, he apologised profusely, before realising who the women was with. Of all the people, it had to be Jean Havoc.

'Hey! Look who finally showed up!' Havoc teased. 'I was just about to take this fine lady to dinner myself!'

'Really, Roy, after all the begging you did this afternoon to get me to come to dinner, you think the least you could do is turn up on time!' Melissa, he believed her name was, groused. 'The reservations for the restaurant will have been given to someone else by now'

'Begging? Oh that's too much!' Havoc laughed 'Since when does the great Roy Mustang beg for dates?'

'Shut up' Roy said 'and what are you doing out here anyway?'

Havoc blushed, saying nothing.

'This poor man was stood up by his date, and quite frankly, I thought I had also been stood up.' Melinda Grumbled. 'He was kind enough to wait with me'

'I really am terribly sorry, Melissa, my car broke down' Roy explained.

'Well its too late now isn't it? I should have listened to those rumours about you. You really don't care about our feelings do you? And my name is not Melissa, it's Melinda!' she complained, and Roy groaned. He had really screwed up this time.

'Erm… ' Havoc interjected carefully, then, noticing the General had left his gloves at home, continued more confidently, 'I know we have only just met, but I feel a connection between us. Melinda, that is, if you don't mind, I made reservations for a restaurant just down the road from here, and I'd be honoured if you would join me this evening'

Roy blanched, Havoc wasn't...

'I'd love to' Melinda replied easily, slipping her arm into Havoc's pre-offered one and glaring at Roy. 'I'm sorry Roy but you're just not what I'm looking for. I want a man who is reliable, honest, and who won't take advantage of me. Please don't bother calling me again'

He was... Jean Havoc had just stolen his date from right under his nose. Roy found himself waving stupidly, before pulling his treacherous hand back into his pocket and skulking back to the office, miserable as sin, and dreading the night ahead of him.

Reviews are always welcome, they make me smile! I should have the next chapter up in around a week!