Two apologies – I'm sorry I didn't update sooner and I'm sorry for the short chapter. See, I've been really busy of late and a lot of stuff got in the way.
So anyway, here's the update! Because it was Parental!Mustard week, there are some parental bits in here. I hope you enjoy!
I had something else I wanted to tell you, but now I've forgotten it…
"Some friend you are."
"What's that?"
Roy didn't look up from his paperwork at Hughes, who was leaning against a bookshelf halfway across the inner office and sipping a cup of coffee.
Hawkeye stood behind the colonel's desk, scribbling something on a clipboard and glancing up on occasion.
"I said, 'some friend you are'," Roy repeated as he scanned the document before himself apathetically. He reached out and methodically folded the top corners in toward the middle of the page.
"What makes you say that?" Hughes asked, sagging as if he were wounded by Roy's words.
"Well, for starters, you stole my coffee." Roy looked at the bespectacled officer by his bookshelf as he expertly pressed the page into two vertical halves. "I got less than six hours of sleep last night and you still don't hesitate to take my coffee. And then you come in here with a huge stack of papers and not a scrap of sympathy, dump them on my desk and stand there watching. I mean really, don't you have work to be doing, Mr Big Important Central Guy?"
"That's Lieutenant Colonel Big Important Central Guy," Hughes corrected loftily as he plucked from the air the paper plane that Roy had lobbed his way. "And no, I've done everything I need to do until you get this whole competition thing going and I take your post."
"So you're just going to stand there and watch me suffer?"
"Yup." Hughes slurped the coffee luxuriously.
"You're a jerk, you know that?"
"It's not ideal for me either, Colonel!" Hughes cut in, setting his – Roy's – cup on the shelf beside himself. "Do you know how long I'll be away from home? Weeks! That's precious weeks of the journey of my sweet little Elysia blooming into the beautiful young maiden I know she'll be that won't be documented in the immortal perfection of a photograph! And weeks my darling wife Gracia will spend taking care of her all on her own! It makes me want to cry!"
"All the more reason to refrain from marriage," Roy said with a sigh as he read another letter de-briefing him on the Fuhrer's review of the Eastern troops. "Continuous bouts of unnecessary emotion."
"And what if some tough guy thinks he can try to pick her up whilst I'm gone?!" Hughes fretted, fingers twitching. "I mean, she mightn't be at that age anymore but she's still the most beautiful woman in all of Central! I wouldn't put it past all those men to try something funny with her! Though she would never cheat on me! …Would she?"
Hughes glanced desperately at Roy, glasses flashing. The man shrugged and tossed his gaze in Hawkeye's direction, who also shrugged and blinked at the possibly deranged husband.
"No!" Hughes folded his arms astutely. "What am I saying?! Of course not! She's the most loyal, most caring, most wonderful girl there is! I don't know why I even thought it!"
Roy sighed as Hughes stalked off across the room towards the door. "But I can't stand the thought of some sleaze giving her trouble! I need to phone her right away. I'll be back, just give me five…ten…half an hour, forty-five minutes at most."
As he exited, Roy said, "I don't know how you lot put up with him standing in whilst I was away."
"The Lieutenant Colonel can be quite a good worker when it comes down to it," Hawkeye replied.
"He didn't do any of the paperwork assigned to this post last time," Roy reminded her. "I had to do it all when I came back."
"Let me rephrase that, then," Hawkeye responded. "He can be a good worker when he feels like it."
"That I'll take."
A moment later, the door opened again.
It swung back and hit the stopper with a thud, but not nearly with the slamming vigour Edward usually graced the unfortunate passageway with. The young man entered, golden eyes searching the room, blond hair braided and dressed in his usual attire, minus the red cloak.
"Hey, Colonel Excitement-Repellent, how goes it?"
"Hm. Well… The paperwork is agonisingly dull, the preparations are an excruciating hassle and your face is a dark shadow of obnoxious hell once more sucking up the light that was beginning to struggle through after the rambling void that is Hughes made himself scarce."
Edward sipped at a takeaway coffee cup. "Hm. Your melancholic poetry is as uplifting as ever, Mustang."
Roy gave a tight smirk. "I see you've come to mock my lack of caffeine as well, Fullmetal. So what's in that cup then? Short black, I'd guess. Although, that might be too mature of a taste for you."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TINY LITTLE BEAN SO SMALL HE'S NOT EVEN WORTH GRINDING?!" Edward scowled after his face morphed from dragon-like to something more human in appearance. "And anyway, I am here for a reason. Contrary to what you might think, I can go a good, long while without experiencing any crushing need to see your face again."
Roy stifled a yawn as he slid a couple of pages off the top of his next pile. "Alright. So tell me, what's this big important reason?"
"You seem tired," Edward commented out of no-where.
"I am tired," Roy responded. "Tired of all the beating around the bush that's going on in this base."
"Then I guess this'll help." Edward set his cup down on the corner of Roy's desk, thankfully away from any papers.
The colonel bit his tongue as he eyed the white froth on the hot drink. It looked like a cappuccino. He'd pay anything to have the boy conveniently forget the mug when he departed.
"I ran into the Fuhrer a while ago," the boy began as he took his watch out of his pocket. He stuck a finger through the loop of metal on the end and began whirling through the air in wild circles. "Or rather, he ran into me and Al. Or snuck up on us. Not sure. Either way, he gave us some news on the event. He also said it's beginning within the next couple of days."
Roy looked up, his pen halting its swishing path across the end of another ammunitions approval sheet. "Go on."
"He said that for the whole time we're doing this competition thing, we're supposed to stay the nights in military accommodations. It's alright for me and Al – he's waiting in one for me right now – but you've gotta pack your stuff and get into a dorm. And then we'll be moving from dorm to dorm as we move from each section of Amestris to the next."
Roy's heart sank, and going by the grin on Edward's face, his expression had gone with it. "Great. Just great. I even have my own place not ten minutes away and they still want me here… At least I'm authorised to get myself a good room."
"That's another thing," Edward said as his gaze followed the whirling watch. "The saying goes, 'What's mine is yours', right?"
He cast Roy a sidelong glance as the colonel made quick work of figuring that out, indicated by the way he thumped his face into his paperwork. A muffled 'really?' floated up.
"All the teams are to share accommodation between the pairs," Edward finished, letting go of the chain and watching his proof of State employment soar through the air. As he snatched it back into a white-gloved hand, he said grumpily, "I'm over the moon about it, as you can see."
Hawkeye offered her input, "You never know, it could help you two remember how to set aside your differences and disagreements and actually win some events."
"Tch. I hate sleeping near that guy," Edward growled. "He grinds his teeth in his sleep!"
"That's not true!" Roy fired back. "And even if it was, you're no better – you drool! And you sleep with your stomach out. Sprawled all over the place."
"You leave your crap everywhere," Edward countered, folding his arms. "And then you complain about me being messy."
"Because you filled the entire room so full of books, you couldn't even see the opposite wall. And then fell asleep with your arms hanging off the couch, snoring and mumbling with a book on your face!"
Hawkeye sighed and lowered her clipboard a little bit as the two bickered. Although she'd witnessed the fireworks that had started the tension between the two, she refused to believe that the closeness she'd observed in Kambei was gone for good.
"And your night terrors," sighed Roy. "Never have I heard a man squeal that high-pitched. Though you are really more of a boy. A boy, still scared of the 'monster' under his bed. And apparently me…scaredy cat."
Edward went red, recalling the time he'd awoken from a nightmare and mistaken Roy for a monster in his state of disorientation.
"That wasn't funny," he said, looking down as he snatched his coffee away.
Roy seemed to sense he'd said the wrong thing as Edward walked stiffly towards the door, his cheeks still burning pink and his golden eyes fixed on the floor.
He opened and closed the door softly.
And Roy regretted his words.
"Sir." Hawkeye's voice was sharp and reprimanding.
Roy's lips twitched and he closed his eyes. With a sigh, he tilted his pen forward. "You're right. That was out of line."
"Much so. Especially when he's trying to be nice to you – to the best of his ability – due to the whole Yu situation."
"Right, I'll go apologise to the kid when I'm done with this." He indicated the stacks of paperwork he'd half-completed with a flick of his pen. And I didn't even realise…
A second later, he jumped as he heard a click behind his head.
"Go now."
Roy gulped and stepped away from his desk and headed across the office hurriedly, deducing which path Edward would likely have taken and beginning to track him down on his wit alone.
Hawkeye smiled a little to herself. The colonel knew the sound of a gun all too well to actually believe the click of her clipboard was a cocked handgun.
"Maybe they haven't grown as far apart as I thought," she said softly.
"The Wind Spirit grows annoyed at your refusal to bend to its will."
Edward was sulking in the private shadows of a lonely tree standing within the small courtyard of Eastern Headquarters, fiddling with blades of grass as he struggled to split them in half with one hand made of smooth metal. Grass-stained white gloves lay on the lawn by his side.
He looked up as Roy's form cast a shadow across his vain attempts at blade-splitting.
The colonel blew out a sigh and closed his eyes before offering a shrug and an upwards twitch of his lips that Edward could only assume was a tired smile.
"What can I say?" he asked wearily. "I'm stressed out and annoyed at you, you're worn out and mad at me and we end up stuck together."
Edward gave a quiet 'hmph'.
Roy settled cross-legged on the grass in front of his young subordinate, watching his grass-tearing crusade grow ever less patient.
"I know I can be pretty snappish at times, Ed, and I know 'sorry' doesn't really cover everything I've done, but I do want you to know that I honestly… I care…about your feelings, so…"
Roy interlocked his fingers and propped his head up on his elbows. Saying things like this was a difficult task for someone as logical and professional as him. "I want you to know that I don't mean to lash out at you, but you'll have to put up with the things I say when I'm worked up. I'd…never want to hurt you…alright?"
"Then don't bring my sleep patterns into public conversations."
Roy shifted a little. "It's only Hawkeye."
"And if I just happened to mention in front of her the times that you were the one who muttered and writhed in your sleep with sweat dripping off you? The times where the high and mighty Flame colonel was nothing but a cornered rabbit? When you were so vulnerable it actually freaked me out?"
Roy looked down.
"So don't act like I'm the scared and weak one when you get just as bad yourself!"
Roy flinched away a little, somewhat uncharacteristically. The way he stared at nothing from the corners of his eyes informed Edward that something was definitely amiss with his superior.
Though he was too annoyed at him to ask what it might be.
"Didn't I say this would happen?" Roy murmured. "That one day I'd take my teasing too far?"
Edward scowled. "You did. Back after you'd had the living daylights beat out of you."
The man straightened and folded his arms. "Well, if this is indeed that day, I just want you to know that I'm sorry about it, alright? We say things we don't mean when we're under pressure."
"Then what about those weeks ago when you said you'd look after me?" mumbled Edward, hugging his knees. "When you said you'd try to treat me like a father would to a son? Didn't you mean those either?"
Roy smiled slightly, attempting to clear up the sadness on his face. "I… I did mean it when I said that. Honestly. I'll try to be better at it… Though this is new for both of us, so you'll need to give me a little time, alright?"
Edward nodded, still looking at his knees. It wasn't like they really had the whole dynamic of their relationship down anyway – the pair fought viciously one minute and were the closest of family the next.
"Let's end this argument here, shall we?" Roy asked. "We're going to need to be at our best for these events, which means plenty of rest for you. So head back to your dorm."
"Fine." Edward put his hands behind his head. "And you too. If that Yu guy gives you any more crap, call me and I'll come sort him out."
Roy smirked. "I'd appreciate that. Now, I've got some work to do. I shall see you at the dorms as soon as I'm done."
He stood and walked a few steps away as Edward grabbed his gloves and stuffed them into his pocket messily.
"Oh, and Fullme… Ed?"
"Yeah?"
"Just so you know, about that whole Hakuro quarrel…" Roy was facing away, so it was impossible for Edward to read his expression. He shifted his weight uncomfortably.
"Well, I was just worried, okay?" the man offered lamely. "You'd slipped under the radar for a week beforehand without saying anything – after getting involved in a gang battle, I might add – and you sounded beat when I finally got a hold of you. Hakuro's a hard man, I was worried you might end up getting pushed down a few bars when you were already low."
Edward blinked and Roy's hands found themselves into his pockets as the man scuffed the ground shamefully.
"Don't scare me like that, you hear?" the colonel grumbled. "I don't care how important your research is, at least sign in so I know you're still alive."
With that said, he moved off stiffly.
"You'll be the death of me, Elric!" he called over his shoulder.
"The sooner, the better!" Edward cried back, maintaining the mutual rudeness that kept their bond healthy. Although…
Edward sighed, bringing his palm to his chin and turning his head to the side ever-so-slightly. He watched Roy's retreating back disappear back inside the building.
He's got something heavy on his mind, Edward thought distantly. I wonder what…
He sat back against the tree, folding his arms behind his head and crossing one leg over the other. The grass was soft and not wet with dew. He'd found a smooth, comfortable dip in the tree's trunk that curved nicely with his back and gave him something good to lean against.
Is it just the travel? Edward wondered. I know he doesn't much like changing beds… Maybe he's just dreading having to pack up and move into a dorm.
Edward smirked a little bit at the image this put into his head of Roy trying to shove a bed into a trunk.
Maybe it was just his tiredness and all. He was pretty worked up about the whole event, and with General Yu wandering around and the heated argument the two State alchemists had shared, Edward wouldn't be surprised if stress was the perpetrator to Roy's off behaviour.
If so, he'd have to make sure the colonel didn't have any solo bar trips planned.
Or maybe there was something else…? Something Edward was missing entirely? He pondered this for a while, but dismissed it. It was probably just Roy's tense mood influencing his behaviour.
Whatever the case, Edward would at least try to tone down the button-pushing with his superior a little.
Try.
A little.
The boy sighed and looked towards the sky. Patches of blue reached him through the springtime leaves of the tree.
"What in the world is this relationship, anyway?"
Yes, I'm genuinely sorry it was so short… The next one is longer and more interesting, I promise! I'm just sort of setting up the plot here, I guess.
And I'm really into D. Gray-Man now! (Thanks a lot, Toph Hitsugaya.) Komui is the best! XD Speaking of, I drew an FMAxDGM crossover and I'm posting it on deviantART soon. If you wanna see it, fly over there… I'm pretty proud of it. XD
Before I go, I have a question for you guys; how old would you guess I am? Just out of curiosity. I've never said it because I don't like having my age about, but I'm wondering what kind of impression I give off age-wise. You don't have to answer, I'm just daft…
Thank you again for all your support! You guys help me out a lot in my quest to write awesome stories! ZAKURO AWAY!