Mission Briefing
The next day, Colonel Roy Mustang, who incredibly possessed a nose for trouble within proximity, noticed that the office was 'quite grim' when he came in. Everyone was hush-hush about it, though, which irritated him more because he couldn't confirm if his instincts were warning him of true danger.
He would never know of it, unfortunately, for his subordinates have collectively agreed to keep the problem under wraps.
Lieutenant Breda looked at Havoc as if he were looking at a dead man, with pitiful gazes and all. It went on for a while until Havoc finally got enough of it. "Will you cut the silent treatment already and just be normal. You're going to give me away with those look on your faces."
Apparently it was not just Breda who empathized with the poor 2nd lieutenant's situation.
Even Lt. Col. Hughes, who is usually the life of the crowd, maintained his silence with eyes closed as if in deep prayer.
"I know both the Colonel and the Lieutenant will send me to my grave once they find out… and that's why they should not! And that's why we all agreed to keep it a secret and just be cool about it. But look at you!" He swept his gaze from Hughes to Falman. "You all look like Halloween for crying out loud."
"It will definitely be Halloween if they find out that the higher-ups have ordered you to spy over them." Breda informed him… as if he didn't know that already.
"Wait, Breda, are they really…?" Hughes asked, suddenly ending his prayer campaign for Lt. Jean Havoc's soul.
The stubby officer simply shrugged. "You should know, you talk to them most of the time."
"But I'm not with them most of the time. So what do you guys think?"
"Off the record?" Breda asked. He was the only one brave enough to solicit information willingly.
Hughes nodded. "Yeah."
Breda raised an eyebrow. "Just among the five of us?" He was answered by a reassuring nod.
"Well… they are always together…" he said, looking up the ceiling as if trying to recall something really important. "And they're always in that room. God knows what they do when it gets, you know, boring."
"None of you guys did happen to, well, catch them red-handed, so to speak?"
All four men shook their head. No.
"Well, Roy does have a problem with women… and although I often hear rumors about those two, I confess that I would've been a bit elated if they were true."
"Problem with women?" Havoc mused, "I'd rather say it the other way around. Women have a problem with him."
"I think I understand you, Lt. Col. Hughes-sir. Lt. Hawkeye is indeed a good pair for the colonel…" Sgr. Major Fuery said. This resulted to a sudden – and very unnecessary – expression of jubilance on the part of the Lt. Col. Before he could react some more, virtually all four pairs of hands were covering his mouth.
"Sorry…" he blurted out after the last hand has been peeled off from his face. "Anyway, where was I? Ah! Anyway, I would've tolerated the relationship, if I were here, I would've kept it a secret instead."
"If they were truly in a relationship…" Warrant Officer Falman corrected. "I think we would've tolerated it too, sir. Every single one of us would."
"Yeah. It'll save us from being snatched off of our girlfriends." Havoc added. All four agreed.
"What I don't get is why I'm the one chosen to do such task. I mean, investigating over the Colonel's affairs was creepy enough. Add Lt. Hawkeye and it'll be a sure ticket to hell." Havoc complained. "I still want to live, Lt. Colonel-sir."
"Well, you can just not investigate and write in your report everything you know about the two… You know their routines, you've spied Mustang before." He scratched the back of his head in thought, "While Lt. Hawkeye… well I think she's quite a predictable sort. I wouldn't be surprised to see her cleaning her gun-powdered babies every morning."
Everyone was silent. Gazes were exchanged.
"Ah. So maybe the problem here is that nobody actually believes that there is nothing going on between the colonel and his lieutenant."
He was answered by a unanimous nod.
"The solution is quite simple, really…"
Havoc's expression rose to life. "What is it?"
"We investigate for ourselves! That way, we can all be certain if the contents of the report that you will soon be submitting is actually true. You need not worry, because this will be our mission from now on, and not just yours, Lt. Havoc…" Hughes said this with an Armstrong-y-ish gleam in his eyes.
"It is?!" Breda, Falman and Feury said in unison. Havoc, on the other hand, was more than just thankful to his Lt. Colonel. At least if he goes down in this mission, he would have the rest of the guys to go with him.
"B-but…" Breda tried to protest but the Lt. Colonel was already resolved. He had even chosen a name for their exciting mission.
fW: I'd like to thank winglessfairy25 for pointing out my mistakes regarding their military ranks. I've updated CHAPTER ONE so as to make the necessary changes. I'm really ashamed.. I mixed up their ranks.. well anyway, I am really, really, REALLY grateful for the reviews I've recieved so far.. thanks!