I'm Tired, Chapter 3
(No matter how I wrote this section, it just didn't sound right to me, but I swear I tried.)
"How did you know, sir?" Riza asked. She always knew Hughes was pretty perceptive, but knew he couldn't read minds, so there had to be more to it.
"I guess you could say I've grown used to used to his ways." Hughes said, leaving it vague on purpose. He spoke as quietly as possible to keep others from hearing.
Riza didn't press any further. Without thinking, they had moved over away from the door. She figured that since Roy and him were friends, it would only be right for her to tell him a bit of what she had been noticing.
"The Colonel's been depressed for a while now, but he won't talk about it at all. He asked me something really worrying the other day, and I didn't know how to respond..."
"Yeah, that sounds like him..." Hughes sighed, thinking about his friend. "You'll have to try to be patient with him, but you may have to knock sense into him, by being blunt. Of course, I'm sure you'd know that considering your own past with him. Speaking of which, I was going to invite you and him out this evening to go drinking with me and some of the other officers. Think you're in?"
As he smiled, she felt inclinced to pass, but then an idea came to mind. While she usually didn't drink or go out to bars, she had to admit that might be good to get her mind off of work for an evening, and for Roy to get out as well and do something with their friends. And she would refuse to let Roy pass it up, when it was something he needed.
"Sure. Thank you for the offer, Lieutenant Colonel."
"No problem." he smirked, before placing a hand on her shoulder. "And hey, I won't ask what it was that he said that has you so worried, but if you decide that you feel comfortable talking about it, I'll be here to listen, okay? And I guarantee that it will just be between us."
Riza managed a small smile, bowing. "I'll keep that in mind, sir."
She wanted to tell him what Roy had asked her, the words he had spoke, but the main thing stopping her was apprehension. She may have trusted Hughes, but she couldn't risk what could happen if he thought Roy was suicidal. It wasn't like she was even worried about Hughes himself, but was worried about what the military itself would do if they somehow found out. She couldn't put Roy through that.
"Alright, anyway, I've got some business to take care of, but I'll be sure to drop by later to talk to him, once the boys have stopped arguing about meet up. See you later, Hawkeye." He waved a bit, his back now towards her.
When he was out of her hearing range and she was re-entering Roy's office, he lowered his gaze with a saddened and all-knowing expression.
...
(Roy may be a handful, but we can't help but love the guy. ;))
Sorry this is so short, I can only write so much at a time, and if I've got it written, why stall on posting it?)