A/N: Hello there! This is the next chapter. I would like to dedicate it to my great Language Corrector Kurayami, who corrected this chapter so that there won't be any language mistakes! Hoorray for Kurayami:)

Disclaimer: No, I still don't own a laptop...Fullmetal, I mean.

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That damned coffee

"I hope he didn't… scold you or something?"

"No, he didn't. Actually it was just the opposite. He wanted to tell me that he's not angry at me."

"That's good." Havoc sighed in relief. "I thought he would tell you off because of me… Luckily he didn't."

Riza smiled to the receiver. It was evening and the second lieutenant called her to check if everything was OK.

"I assure you that I'm fine." She chuckled. "He didn't flame me or anything."

"Good." There was a short silence. "But… you know… I was kinda surprised…"

"Why?"

"Because… I thought you wouldn't hesitate at all. That you…"

"That I would immediately choose the colonel?" she smiled a little. "Yeah, I know. But I didn't want to sacrifice you. By any means."

He was silent for a while. And then…

"Thank you. Really, thank you very much. This… this means a lot to me."

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Mustang watched gloomily as Riza and Havoc talked in the office.

"What. Does. He. Want. From. Her?", he thought for the hundredth time. And…and what was he actually thinking? Stealing colonel's Riza just before his nose? No, it couldn't be forgiven. But Roy realized that this was all his own fault. If he just knew it at that time…

"Everything began from that damned coffee!", the colonel shouted in his mind. "Had I not chosen Havoc back then, it wouldn't be like this now…"

He strongly believed in what he had just thought.

(A/N: Thought he would say: "If I just knew it at that time how much I love her"? Nope, sorry. Not this time. Yes, I am mean. Live with it.)

Riza burst out with laughter because of something that Jean had said. Roy scowled at the sound. Not that he didn't like it…but he didn't like its reason.

He looked at his aide. She looked as if she were beaming. She was cheerful and relaxed. This wasn't the Riza that he used to know. She was very different now and more precious to him, now that he was about to lose her. Ever since the day Havoc told her about her hair, she had been letting it loose. She looked much prettier that way. The colonel watched her when no one paid attention. He remembered her from back then. From that time when he used to study in her father's house. She was just a girl then. Her big brown eyes watched him curiously when he was drawing alchemy arrays or simply learning. Alchemy was never her cup of tea, but she could understand a bit of it. Her father was a great alchemist, after all.

Roy remembered the times when he had fallen asleep over alchemy books. The next morning he would wake up with a warm blanket over his shoulders. And when he was studying late in the night, his sensei's daughter would always bring him some late supper so that he wouldn't starve reading about transmutations. She had always taken care of him. Back then, in her house…Then in Ishbal, when she protected him with her rifle. Had it not been for her at that time, he would already be dead. And now, ever since she became his aide, she would do everything for him to reach the top, to fulfill his dreams. He secretly admired her for that. He would never imagine a human being could be this firm and enduring.

But now she seemed to somehow turn her back on him. Well, it wasn't actually that, but nevertheless she apparently preferred Havoc to him. "Why?", asked his enormously big ego. "Why would a woman choose Havoc over the great Flame Alchemist? That…that's unbelievable. That's impossible. This cannot happen."

"Well, apparently it can," answered a quiet little voice in the back of Mustang's head.

"But why?", asked the devastated colonel again.

"Maybe you're losing your attractiveness?", the voice suggested. "Maybe Havoc is now more attractive that you are?"

The voice was mean. Beyond doubt.

"Shut up! I'm as sexy as I have always been!", Roy shouted mentally at the intruder.

"So how would you explain it then?"

So mean. And sarcastic. And unfriendly.

"Go to hell. I hate you," Roy announced.

"Just as much as you hate Havoc?"

"GO TO HELL!" Mustang was in despair. What the voice was saying…no, that couldn't be true. "Go to hell and never come back again, understood?"

"Yes, sir," came the answer. "Sheesh, what a nervous dude."

The voice left, leaving the upset and wretched colonel with his grim thoughts.

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Two weeks later the colonel's jealousy had reached its climax. He was nervous all the time and everything could upset him. Especially after the wedding.

Oh yes, the wedding.

Whose, you would ask?

Why my dear readers, you haven't forgotten about Maria and Denny, now have you?

The lieutenant was beaming with happiness. Her smile almost threatened to crack her face in two. Sergeant Bloch was even more excited. Everyone had known how much he had loved her all that time. They were glad that the two finally got to be together.

However, while everyone was so happy, the colonel considered this particular wedding to be a total disaster.

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"Oh, I'm so glad that they are getting married," said Riza, watching the couple standing in front of the altar.

"Yup," agreed Havoc. "I was growing tired of Denny constantly complaining about how the lieutenant ignored him…"

"Is that the only reason?", asked Riza with a playful smile.

"Umm…Yes, I guess so," replied Havoc in the same tone.

"You're being mean."

"So what?"

"Nothing," she shook her head, still smiling.

Havoc looked at her with a slight hesitation, and then reluctantly took her hand into his. She glanced at him, but said nothing. Since she didn't object, the second lieutenant tightened his grip on her palm. Riza smiled under her nose.

Several meters away the colonel pressed his lips together in discontent.

And then the wedding reception followed. Roy was quite upset (not to mention being envious) seeing his, his! aide dancing with Havoc all the time. He tried to get a dance from her, but she agreed to dance with him only twice, and that was all.

But she saw it. She noticed his jealousy, and she was delighted. She didn't expect it though. She thought he might be slightly jealous, but not to such an extent…Still, it pleased her. When she watched her envious colonel and was constantly turning him down, she felt extreme satisfaction. He had asked for it himself. Now he got what he deserved.

However, it couldn't change her feelings for him. Or could it? Riza noticed that she was thinking about Havoc more frequently than she was about her first love. She knew why, obviously, yet it was quite surprising. She was also quite afraid that she might lose this feeling that she had cherished for such a long time…This great love, which developed with time, never being able to disappear from her life.

When Maria threw her wedding bouquet into the crowd, it immediately found its way to Riza's hands. Everyone, including the bride and the groom, looked at her with anticipation. But she disappointed them for the second time. Instead of sending any (ANY, not a big and evident one, but still any) sign to her superior, she turned around to face Havoc and smiled at him, flowers in her hands. His eyes opened wider, but he accepted her silent offer and lead her to the next dance. Mustang mentally cursed his damned luck. This was wrong. Sooooo wrong.

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"I'll drive you home."

Riza looked at Havoc suspiciously. "Did you give up drinking for the whole night just to be able to drive me home?"

He hesitated a little, but answered: "Well, yeah…"

Her gaze softened. He was a gentleman indeed. Hell, what did all those women who dumped him want from him? He was handsome. He was nice. He was charming…to some extent. And though Riza hadn't had the opportunity to test it yet, she was pretty sure he would be really faithful if given a chance.

"Thank you. You seem to be taking care of me recently," Riza smiled.

"Not a problem," Havoc smiled back.

They got into the car and drove away. Mustang watched them as they disappeared in the night. He took a gulp from his glass. It was some kind of a strong alcohol, and he didn't know which glass it was already. He leaned against the doorframe.

There was a slight movement on the right. Roy looked around to see Sheska, who, surprisingly, was looking at the same direction as he was a moment ago.

"Hello," he greeted her gloomily.

She glanced at him tentatively.

"Is something wrong, colonel?"

"No, why would it be?", he answered sarcastically.

"It's about lieutenant Hawkeye, isn't it?"

Mustang glanced at the librarian. She was pulling the hem of her skirt.

"Why do you think so?"

"I know that she's been hanging around with second lieutenant Havoc recently", she said quietly after a while. "And you were looking at them during the whole reception…I just thought you could be…I don't know…You simply looked as if you were jealous of him, sir."

"Me? Jealous?", he snapped. "Never."

She looked up at him sadly.

"Um…I'm sorry, sir," she said even quieter than before.

Maybe it was alcohol, and maybe his current situation, but the colonel suddenly felt sorry for her. She didn't look as if she was OK…

"What's wrong, Sheska?", he asked, slightly curious.

"Um, nothing, sir…"

"Don't lie to me. Just tell me."

"Well…", she hesitated. "I…I just…I'm just like you, sir…", she stated out of the blue.

"Huh?"

"Well…", she avoided his gaze. "I'm not happy with what is going on between lieutenant Hawkeye and second lieutenant Havoc…Just like you, sir."

Roy nearly choked on his drink.

"Just what is going on between them?!", he demanded.

Sheska finally looked at him. Her expression was kind of bewildered.

"You don't know anything?", she asked, so surprised that she forgot about the "sir" part. But he didn't care.

"About what?" Roy was growing anxious by the moment. What did she mean by that?

"Well, everywhere they are, they're together," she replied. "And there is something more between them than pure friendship. I can see it. I…" She stopped.

Mustang was thinking intensely. So everyone had noticed. It wasn't just his paranoiac imagination; it was true. When he realized that, he felt horrible. For no particular reason…simply horrible. He turned his gaze towards the woman standing beside him.

"You…You've been watching…Havoc, right?"

She nodded, almost invisibly to untrained eye.

"I'm sorry," he said plainly.

"You don't have to be, sir."

"Well, I consider it to be my fault…", he conceded.

"Why?", she opened her eyes wider.

"It was me who started this whole thing." (A/N: As I've mentioned, he really believed in that… Heh, moron.) "Me and this cup of coffee…Had I not chosen Havoc back then…"

Finally he lost control over himself. The alcohol kicked in.

Roy threw the glass away, frightening Sheska. He brought his hands to his face and shouted to no one in particular:

"Had it not been for that damned coffee!"

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A/N: So? Good? Bad? Review.

I don't think it is as funny as I intended it to be, but I guess it is at least a bit funny. Oh well, the sixth chapter might be funnier.

I'll update probably after the weekend. It will be Monday, or maybe even Sunday evening (my evening, I mean. The Polish evening).

Oh, and how did you like the voice in Mustang's head? I think it's not that bad :)

'Till the next chapter!