A/N: Awwh... no reviews or anything last chapter? :( I know you guys hate OCs, but Alice is different from the rest! Different, I tell you! As in, she can't use no stinking alchemy! -cough- Anyway; here's chapter 5~
Youguysyouguysyouguysyouguys I think Staccato is my favorite character. And Lex is a new member of the M.S.A. -sings out without reserve- Enjoy the newest installment of Bittersweet!
Disclaimer: If we owned Fullmetal Alchemist... which we don't, sadly... we wouldn't go to conventions and stalk the characters' cosplayers obsessively. -dun nuh-
The next morning, Alice awoke to a fluffy orange tail in her face. "Good morning to you, too, Staccato," she yawned. The kitten mewed. Alice quickly dressed herself and took the kitten downstairs for breakfast. She had buttered bread, and he had a bowl of meat and a bit of cold meat. Soon enough, Staccato was loaded into a basket and they walked to the market. They strolled alongside the shops only stopping to get two bowls and some kitten food. They then walked over to the library to save a trip later in the day. Alice was careful to keep Staccato concealed in the basket. Though, at one point, she had to pretend that she was meowing to herself, causing her to blush deeply.
Alice barely made it home in time for her first lesson of the day. She heard a sharp knock on the door only a few moments after she walked into her house. "Ah, Addie, right on time, come in." The little redheaded girl walked in slowly. It never ceased to amaze Alice how sisters could look alike, but be complete opposites. Liz and Addie were prime examples of this.
The little girl turned back to Alice. "Miss A, were you aware that there's a strange man in your house?" she asked quietly. Alice smiled, about to explain that Roy wasn't strange and that she was quite aware that he was ther...Wait! Roy wasn't there! Alice slowly peeked into her living room and sighed in relief.
"Hiya, sis," the blonde man said with a wink and a wave.
"How did you get in here, Havoc?"
Jean smirked. "Why so formal with your own brother? Call me Jean, sis. And Ivy let me in. She's in the kitchen looking for something called a 'Staccato'..."
Addie shot Alice a questioning look. "Miss A, why are they looking for a piece of articulation?" Alice couldn't help but giggle at the ten year old's question.
"Don't think too long on it, Addie. Staccato's my new kitten, who is probably in my room hiding from my 'brother'." She smiled at Jean, who gave her a small shrug.
"Hey, what can I say? I'm such a scary kind of guy."
"I have a lesson to teach, so tell Ivy that whatever escapades she has planned will have to wait, Jean." The blonde frowned slightly.
"Well damn. I've only got so long for a lunch break."
"U-um, sorry... Lessons usually take about an hour, Jean."
Alice's spastic neighbor made her usual dramatic entrance, kneeling down and taking Addie's hands in her own. "Darling piano protege, I'm terribly sorry for your misfortune. It seems Alice is unwell, and therefore unable to school you in the art of the 88 keys. You must forgive her; please, go home, and tell your mother the wretched news. Come back next week. Perhaps she'll be rested enough to take on students then."
Addie looked from Alice to Jean to Ivy and said, "Hey, I don't mind missing a lesson." She took a step towards the door and gave Alice a smirk. "Get better soon, Miss A!"
"Thank you, Addie, it means a lot..."
"Go, sweet child! You wouldn't want to catch dear Alice's illness! Run like the wind!" Ivy continued.
"Miss A, maybe you should consider investing in more normal neighbors...See you next week!" the little girl left with a slight skip in her step. Alice sighed and went to close the door.
"Nope! Sorry, Alice but you're having lunch with your brother and I today!" Ivy exclaimed, dragging Alice out the door. Luckily, Jean made sure that the door was locked before they took off down the street.
"Where are we going, Ivy?" Alice asked, trying to catch her breath. Ivy shrugged and looked to Jean for an answer. Jean pointed up a little ways to a little restaurant. Within a few minutes, all three were seated at a small table in front of the main window.
"I don't really get how you two can be siblings," Ivy began, "I mean, Alice, from what I've seen in pictures, you and your sister would look almost identical except she's older. But you and your brother honestly look nothing alike... And you also have different last names."
Alice and Jean exchanged a look. They didn't expect the woman to catch on that fast. "Well, Jean here favors our father's side of the family while Charlotte and I favor Mother's side," Alice said quickly, sipping at her water. It wasn't entirely untrue... Jean sort of looked like her uncle...a little...from a distance. At any rate, they both smoked. Alice was thankful that this was a non-smoking restaurant.
"The only real resemblance we have to each other is the eyes, although I think I'm better-looking."
"Well, then, I think it's fairly obvious who got the brains…" Alice couldn't help mumbling softly. Jean shot her a raised eyebrow, and Alice shrugged, having slipped into the role of little sister more quickly than she had thought possible. In fact, she wasn't even sure why they were playing along with this; it wasn't as though they could keep up this charade forever.
The waiter came and took their orders for drinks, and after, Ivy reached across the table, grabbing for Alice's hands. When she couldn't find them, Ivy settled for resting her chin in her hand, staring intently at the other woman. "So? Tell me more about this man you've got yourself! What's he like? I mean he's military and all, I know that, but what rank is he? What's his specialty? Is he an alchemist?"
The bombardment of questions went unanswered by Alice, as she got redder by the second.
"Eh? Who's this man you've got, sis?"
Jean Havoc knew quite well who had been hanging out around Alice; he just liked to make her uncomfortable.
"Oh, you know him. Er, uh, he's a colonel, Ivy, but I don't know much more than that about him, I guess."
"Oh come on!" The younger girl's whining was incessant."You've gotta know more than that!"
"Er, um, his name's Roy Mustang…?"
"Ah, yes, Colonel Roy Mustang…" Jean let loose a smile, finally able to let on that he knew Alice's 'friend.' "I work under him. One of his 'underlings,' I suppose you would call me. He's a good guy, if a little smug sometimes." He couldn't stop himself from saying that, despite having promised not to infringe on the bet. Well, what Mustang didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
"Eh? Oh! You never told me that, Brother." A look passed from the woman to Jean, and he shrugged.
"You never ask much about work, Sis. I always figured it wouldn't much interest you."
"Well, I, uh," Alice began before Ivy interrupted.
"She wants to hear about work so long as it includes a tall, dark, and handsome colonel." Ivy winked at her blushing neighbor.
"Th-that's not true!"
"Why, Sis, don't tell me that you love this man. Well, do you?" Jean prodded.
"Wh-what? No! I've only met him three times!"
"Oh, so you count how many times you get to see him?" Ivy fired.
"I wasn't aware that my darling sister was in such a serious relationship..."
The waiter came by with their meals and drinks. "Are you okay, ma'am?" he asked, looking at Alice's red face. Alice nodded silently. The waiter shrugged and walked away.
The rest of their meal went by rather pleasantly. The conversation drifted away from Alice's "boyfriend/lover" for the majority of lunch. They ordered cake for dessert. Alice was excited. She enjoyed satisfying her sweet tooth every once in a while. They had just gotten their cake when Roy walked into the restaurant.
"Havoc!" he barked. Jean turned around, cake in mouth.
"Sir?"
"Do you realize that you've been gone for twice the allotted time for lunch?" Havoc looked at the clock and his eyes grew wide. Roy sighed and put a hand to his forehead. "If you weren't one of the more competent underlings, I'd demote you, then I'd discharge you... You're lucky that you amuse me, Havoc...Damn lucky."
Havoc stood and saluted his superior officer. "Sorry, sir. It won't happen again."
"It better not. Hello, Miss Perry, Alice." Ivy gave an enthusiastic hello and Alice just mumbled, not looking at him.
"Well, Jean and I will be going now," Ivy said, tugging at Jean's sleeve. "He has work, and I have to go find something to do." Jean saluted before leaving. "Oh, and Alice, make sure that you and your boyfriend practice safe fornication!" Ivy added with a wink. Alice blushed deeply.
"Ivy! You're the only one out of the two of us that fornicates!" Roy gave a chuckle, Havoc a smile, and Ivy shrugged, leaving a bright red Alice alone in the restaurant, with naught but cake to console her. Or, well, that was what she thought, until Alice realized that the Colonel hadn't left. The woman stared down at her cake for a moment before saying, ever so articulately, "Um, eh… Would you like some?"
"You know," Roy took the seat across from her, "it wouldn't kill you to act like you weren't petrified every time you saw me."
"S-sorry. I've never really been very good with people…" Alice looked away, not able to meet his eyes at the accusation his words implied, and he laughed a bit.
"I can tell," Roy's eyes, however, were lighthearted. When Alice didn't speak, Roy started again, "Your friend seems to be under the impression that everyone who goes out with someone of the opposite gender has sex."
"Yeah," Alice's eyes narrowed at the thought of the obnoxious girl's comments. "If anyone's going to fornicate, as she says I do, it's going to be her and my 'brother' for sure." Roy smiled widely at seeing the quiet pianist so blatantly out of character.
"Little fed up with her comments, are you?"
Alice sighed. "I love her to death, but… sometimes I wish she'd just stop talking."
The woman tenderly picked at her piece of cake, suddenly not hungry in the presence of the black-haired man in front of her.
"Why do you keep coming to see me?" Alice asked quietly. It was an honest question, one that she'd been thinking about more than she wanted to reveal. Roy sat back in his chair, closing his eyes and thinking.
"Well… I suppose you make a decent change from the cutthroat attitude of the military, to be honest." True enough, Roy supposed, despite the bet he'd made with his subordinate. Truthfully, Alice reminded him a lot of Fuery; a little less goofy, perhaps, but with that same sense of innocence and naïveté.
"Oh. So I'm just a distraction from work?" The question was innocent enough. She didn't even use an accusing tone.
Roy looked at the small woman nibbling at her cake. "In a way, yes." Roy stood up, noticing Alice's look of slight disappointment. He moved towards the door. "But you're one of the best distractions I've had in a very long while. I'll see you Friday, then?" He smiled, tipped his hat and exited the restaurant without even bothering to hear her answer.
Alice took a bite of cake and smiled despite herself. She decided that maybe being a distraction wouldn't be too terrible...