Post by Michi on Jun 16, 2006 21:22:20 GMT -8
The first chappie of Under the stars. Mass beta fest time!
~
CHAPTER ONE: A LITTLE TIPSY
Riza Hawkeye woke suddenly to a loud banging noise. It was an indication of just how much her military training had gotten to her that she had a gun in her hand before she was even fully awake. She blinked a few times, unsure of her surroundings, before she relaxed and put the gun down. She had been taking a nap, and the banging was someone knocking on the door to her hotel room.
Riza and her commanding officer, Roy Mustang, were vacationing in Resembool, and, as a result of some confusion on the hotel manager’s part, were staying in adjacent rooms connected by a door. But it wasn’t this door that was being knocked on; it was the one that led to the hallway.
Groggily, Riza rolled off her bed and walked towards the door, ignoring the fact that she wasn’t exactly dressed for receiving visitors; a t-shirt and a pair of short shorts that she only ever used to sleep in in warm weather. Oh well; no time to change now. She opened the door and found herself being hugged enthusiastically by Alphonse Elric.
“Al? What—”
“WE DID IT!” He squealed.
“What exactly did we do?” She still wasn’t quite awake, and this whole scenario simply wasn’t making sense.
“Ed and Winry! They’re officially together now – Scarlett just told me!”
“Really?” She asked, wondering who this ‘Scarlett’ person was. He nodded, “That’s wonderful!” She cried, hugging him back with enthusiasm to match his.
“What’s all the shouting about?” Riza turned her head to see Roy standing in the doorway between their rooms. “Nice shorts, Lieutenant Hawkeye.” To her horror, Riza found herself blushing slightly; she shook off her embarrassment and directed an icy stare at Roy.
“That door was closed for a reason, sir.”
“Oh, am I interrupting something?” Riza sighed—he could be so immature.
“We were just celebrating the fact that Edward and Winry are apparently ‘together’ now.” Roy waggled his eyebrows – how did he do that?
“Ohoho! I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later!” We’ll just have to keep a sharp eye on them, eh? Eh?!”
“Sir,” Riza said simply, “Go away.”
“Nooooo,” Roy whined, “I want to go congratulate them!” Riza sighed.
“Fine; just give me a chance to change first – I have no intention of going out in public dressed like this.”
“Why?” Roy wanted to know, “I’m sure that the general public would enjoy it very much.”
“Out.”
~
“Granny!” Winry yelled, tugging open the door to her house, “We’re back!” She pulled Ed along with her – they were holding hands – and looked around. “Huh. She must have left.”
“Well you know…” Ed pulled her towards him and slid an arm around her waist. “Until she gets back, we have the whole house to ourselves.” Winry smiled, and leaned in to kiss him.
“AHA!” both Winry and Ed jumped as Roy, Riza, and Al entered the house through the still-open door. “I KNEW IT!” Before either Winry or Ed could move, Roy had lunged forward and hugged them both at once, squishing them together in the process.
“GET OFF!” Ed yelled, squirming. Roy complied (eventually) and beamed at the two of them.
“You two,” he said, “are just so CUTE together! Go on, kiss! Do it!” Ed opened his mouth to say something, but Riza quickly shoved Roy into the hall closet and shut the door, effectively removing the source of his anger.
“We’re very happy for you,” She told Ed and Winry, smiling. Winry blushed, and Ed returned the smile. Al didn’t bother with verbal congratulations; he rushed over and hugged them just as Roy had, only he was considerably more welcome. Riza, not wanting to intrude, slipped into the closet and shut the door.
She flicked on the light to find Roy sitting cross-legged on the floor. Riza hesitated for a moment before following suit and sitting in front of him. He gave her a wry smile.
“Fancy seeing you here.”
“I decided to let those three talk for a while.” She explained, and he nodded.
“That’s good.”
“Why do you always have to push Ed’s buttons like that?” Roy stretched, grinning.
“Because it’s fun.” Riza shook her head.
“One of these days he’s going to get sick of it,” she cautioned, “And then you’re going to have a real problem.” Roy just grinned again.
“Edward and I have a special relationship.” Riza cocked an eyebrow. “We communicate through teasing and name-calling. It’s all in fun of course. He knows it, even if certain other people don’t, and try to shoot me.” Riza reddened.
“I’m sorry about that, sir, but if you hadn’t shouted ‘kiss her’, everything would have turned out ok.”
“Ah, but everything did turn out ok.” Roy replied, “Ed and Winry are together – all is right with the world, birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, etc.” He said this with just a hint of bitterness in his voice, causing Riza to cock an eyebrow.
“Are you jealous of them?” He shook his head and got to his feet.
“Of course not; I have my career. I don’t need anything else.
“Which is why you are something of a serial dater?” He offered her a hand, she accepted it, and he pulled her to her feet. For a dizzying moment, they were close enough to kiss. Roy snorted, completely ruining the moment.
“Those women have nothing to do with love. They aren’t a distraction, so they’re perfectly acceptable.” He told her. “Now, if I were to find a woman that I really liked – or even fell in love with – then there would be a problem.”
“What would you do?” She asked, even though it was terribly unlikely that Roy Mustang would ever fall seriously in love with a single woman. He liked variety too much.
“Well, I have my career to consider. The woman would have to wait.”
“Women don’t like to wait.” She told him. He shrugged.
“Well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” He said, and moved past her to listen at the door for a moment, “Ok, we’ve given them enough time.” And with that, he opened the door and strode into the room.
“Oh, there you are.” Winry said, “We were worried you’d gotten yourself locked in there.”
“Actually we were hoping you had.” Ed muttered. He colored when Riza raised her eyebrows at him. “I was kidding! We weren’t! Being locked in a closet with Colonel Bastard isn’t a fate I’d wish on my worst enemy, let alone you.”
“We weren’t locked in,” Riza said, choosing to ignore Ed’s incoherent rambling. “We were only giving you three a moment alone.”
“And now that you’ve had it,” Roy interjected, “Details, I want details!”
“About what?” Ed asked, clearly irritated.
“What happened!” Roy exclaimed, “Was there kissing involved? Any romantic declarations of love? How about—”
“If you think we’re going to tell you—” Ed began hotly, but Winry cut him off.
“Well, what happened was I dragged Ed outside to that big tree and—”
“You’re actually telling him?” Ed cried in dismay. Winry gave her boyfriend a long-suffering look.
“Of course, Ed.” She told him slowly. “If he’s curious, then why not?” And before Ed could voice another word of complaint, she finished telling Roy and Riza the entire story. Just as she was finishing the story by telling them of how Ed had kissed her (Ed had his face buried in a pillow by this time) Pinako walked through the door, arms laden with groceries. Roy, being the (hungry) gentleman that he was, immediately stood and relieved her of her burden.
“Thank you, Roy,” Pinako said, allowing him to take the bag from her and set it down in the kitchen. “I see you’ve all been getting up-to-date on the current events. I insist that you two stay for dinner, by the way,” She said, looking at Roy and Riza.
“We don’t want to intrude—” Riza began, but Roy cut her off.
“Why thank you; we would love to stay for dinner!” Roy exclaimed, elbowing Riza lightly in the shoulder. “Thank you so much for the invitation!”
~
Not only did they end up staying for dinner, but Pinako broke out a bottle of wine afterward, and they adjourned to the living room to talk. Unfortunately for Winry and Ed, the talk inevitably turned to them. Also unfortunately, the subject of Ed was one that could keep Roy entertained for hours on end. Al went upstairs after a while, yawning, leaving the other five alone.
“And when these two were little, Trisha and Sara used to bathe them together sometimes!” Pinako said, gesturing to Winry and Ed, who were sitting together on the couch, both blushing heavily. Roy, slightly tipsy, was sent into gales of laughter by this.
“You know, I think I’m going to go to bed now.” Ed said, standing up. Pinako’s smile disappeared.
“And I fully expect you to stay in your own room, young man. That sleeping together stuff was fine before you two became a couple, but now it’s unacceptable. Same goes for you, Winry.”
“Yes ma’am.” Winry said, turning, if it was possible, even redder. Roy raised an eyebrow.
“Sleeping together? Now what’s this about?”
“You know, I’m actually really tired too,” Winry said, before turning and bolting upstairs. Pinako chuckled.
“Oh, nothing like you’re thinking, I’m sure. Winry …had a nightmare last week and slept in Ed’s room. It was pure coincidence that they woke up so tangled together that you could hardly tell one from the other.” This provoked another loud peal of laughter from Roy. Riza, feeling a little tipsy herself, checked her watch, and yelped.
“It’s past midnight! I had no idea we’d been here that long!” She stood, and yanked on Roy’s sleeve, indicating that he should do likewise. “We should definitely be getting back to the hotel.” Pinako eyed them for a moment.
“Are you two married?” She asked suddenly. Riza blushed.
“No. Separate hotel rooms, of course.” Pinako nodded.
“Ah. Of course.”
~
“Tapioca is a funny word, isn’t it, Lieutenant Colonel?” Roy asked, as they walked down the street. He was just drunk enough to make completely random statements, but not enough that he needed assistance walking, which was just as well, because Riza didn’t know how much help she would be if he did. She giggled.
“Sir, do you have your keys?” She asked; she was always the responsible one, even when slightly tipsy. He nodded.
“Somewhere…” They reached the staircase and started to ascend, and Roy dug through his coat pockets furiously, emerging at last with the key to his room. He stumbled a little on the stairs, and Riza slipped an arm around his waist to keep him steady. He looked over at her, and grinned.
“You know, Lieutenant, you look really pretty in the moonlight.” She blushed. He must be more drunk than I thought.
“Thank you, sir.” was all she could think to say. The wine was making her lightheaded. She deposited him in front of his door, and went to wrestle with her own key. It took her a while to get the door open, and, after checking that Roy had gotten safely into his room, she entered her own.
~
Roy woke the next morning with a slight headache and only vague recollections of how he had gotten back to the hotel last night. He seemed to recall something about tapioca. He shook his head to clear it and immediately found that the wasn’t a good idea. Shutting his eyes again and sleeping until noon, however, seemed like a very good idea, and so he decided to do just that.
Rrrring.
Dammit. He shut his eyes firmly, determined to ignore it.
Rrrring.
It wasn’t working.
Rrrring.
Swearing loudly, Roy sat up and grabbed the phone. Were hotel phones even supposed to ring? His head swam for a moment, protesting his sudden movement. He waited for it to steady before he put the phone to his ear.
“Roy Mustang; make this quick – I have a hangover.”
“Sir? Where the hell are you?” It was Havoc.
“I’m on vacation; I cleared it with Hakuro. Why? Is there a problem in Central?”
“Only if you call Scar showing up out of nowhere and causing mass chaos a problem.” Havoc replied, “Personally, I think it is. Hey, aren’t you and the Lieutenant Colonel somewhere together? She let you get drunk?”
“She got drunk too, if I remember correctly.” Roy said, “Now what’s this about Scar?”
“The Lieutenant Colonel? Drinking?” Havoc sounded stunned, “How much? What was it? Is she a violent drunk? I always thought she’d be a violent drunk…”
“Havoc! Scar?”
“Oh, right. Two days ago he showed up outta god-knows-where and just started doing what he does best; tracking down State alchemists and brutally murdering them, and at an alarming rate.”
“How many?”
“Seven. Seven in two days.” Roy inhaled sharply.
“And what do you want me to do about it?”
“Care to cut your vacation short? Your entire jurisdiction is falling to pieces without you. More to the point; nothing’s getting done without Hawkeye. Paperwork is piling up, there are riots in the streets, etc, etc.”
“Riots?”
“Well, no.” Havoc admitted, “But you should see the state of your desk. Covered in dust and paperwork…” Roy’s lower lip trembled. His desk, his lovely mahogany desk, wasting away…
“All right.” He said, “I suppose we can always finish this vacation another time. I’ll go rouse Hawkeye, and we’ll be on a train to Central by tonight.”
“You’ll do what to Hawkeye?”
“DAMMIT, HAVOC—” click. Wisely, the other man had already hung up. Roy sighed, and ran a hand though his hair. His hangover would have to wait.
~
~
CHAPTER ONE: A LITTLE TIPSY
Riza Hawkeye woke suddenly to a loud banging noise. It was an indication of just how much her military training had gotten to her that she had a gun in her hand before she was even fully awake. She blinked a few times, unsure of her surroundings, before she relaxed and put the gun down. She had been taking a nap, and the banging was someone knocking on the door to her hotel room.
Riza and her commanding officer, Roy Mustang, were vacationing in Resembool, and, as a result of some confusion on the hotel manager’s part, were staying in adjacent rooms connected by a door. But it wasn’t this door that was being knocked on; it was the one that led to the hallway.
Groggily, Riza rolled off her bed and walked towards the door, ignoring the fact that she wasn’t exactly dressed for receiving visitors; a t-shirt and a pair of short shorts that she only ever used to sleep in in warm weather. Oh well; no time to change now. She opened the door and found herself being hugged enthusiastically by Alphonse Elric.
“Al? What—”
“WE DID IT!” He squealed.
“What exactly did we do?” She still wasn’t quite awake, and this whole scenario simply wasn’t making sense.
“Ed and Winry! They’re officially together now – Scarlett just told me!”
“Really?” She asked, wondering who this ‘Scarlett’ person was. He nodded, “That’s wonderful!” She cried, hugging him back with enthusiasm to match his.
“What’s all the shouting about?” Riza turned her head to see Roy standing in the doorway between their rooms. “Nice shorts, Lieutenant Hawkeye.” To her horror, Riza found herself blushing slightly; she shook off her embarrassment and directed an icy stare at Roy.
“That door was closed for a reason, sir.”
“Oh, am I interrupting something?” Riza sighed—he could be so immature.
“We were just celebrating the fact that Edward and Winry are apparently ‘together’ now.” Roy waggled his eyebrows – how did he do that?
“Ohoho! I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later!” We’ll just have to keep a sharp eye on them, eh? Eh?!”
“Sir,” Riza said simply, “Go away.”
“Nooooo,” Roy whined, “I want to go congratulate them!” Riza sighed.
“Fine; just give me a chance to change first – I have no intention of going out in public dressed like this.”
“Why?” Roy wanted to know, “I’m sure that the general public would enjoy it very much.”
“Out.”
~
“Granny!” Winry yelled, tugging open the door to her house, “We’re back!” She pulled Ed along with her – they were holding hands – and looked around. “Huh. She must have left.”
“Well you know…” Ed pulled her towards him and slid an arm around her waist. “Until she gets back, we have the whole house to ourselves.” Winry smiled, and leaned in to kiss him.
“AHA!” both Winry and Ed jumped as Roy, Riza, and Al entered the house through the still-open door. “I KNEW IT!” Before either Winry or Ed could move, Roy had lunged forward and hugged them both at once, squishing them together in the process.
“GET OFF!” Ed yelled, squirming. Roy complied (eventually) and beamed at the two of them.
“You two,” he said, “are just so CUTE together! Go on, kiss! Do it!” Ed opened his mouth to say something, but Riza quickly shoved Roy into the hall closet and shut the door, effectively removing the source of his anger.
“We’re very happy for you,” She told Ed and Winry, smiling. Winry blushed, and Ed returned the smile. Al didn’t bother with verbal congratulations; he rushed over and hugged them just as Roy had, only he was considerably more welcome. Riza, not wanting to intrude, slipped into the closet and shut the door.
She flicked on the light to find Roy sitting cross-legged on the floor. Riza hesitated for a moment before following suit and sitting in front of him. He gave her a wry smile.
“Fancy seeing you here.”
“I decided to let those three talk for a while.” She explained, and he nodded.
“That’s good.”
“Why do you always have to push Ed’s buttons like that?” Roy stretched, grinning.
“Because it’s fun.” Riza shook her head.
“One of these days he’s going to get sick of it,” she cautioned, “And then you’re going to have a real problem.” Roy just grinned again.
“Edward and I have a special relationship.” Riza cocked an eyebrow. “We communicate through teasing and name-calling. It’s all in fun of course. He knows it, even if certain other people don’t, and try to shoot me.” Riza reddened.
“I’m sorry about that, sir, but if you hadn’t shouted ‘kiss her’, everything would have turned out ok.”
“Ah, but everything did turn out ok.” Roy replied, “Ed and Winry are together – all is right with the world, birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, etc.” He said this with just a hint of bitterness in his voice, causing Riza to cock an eyebrow.
“Are you jealous of them?” He shook his head and got to his feet.
“Of course not; I have my career. I don’t need anything else.
“Which is why you are something of a serial dater?” He offered her a hand, she accepted it, and he pulled her to her feet. For a dizzying moment, they were close enough to kiss. Roy snorted, completely ruining the moment.
“Those women have nothing to do with love. They aren’t a distraction, so they’re perfectly acceptable.” He told her. “Now, if I were to find a woman that I really liked – or even fell in love with – then there would be a problem.”
“What would you do?” She asked, even though it was terribly unlikely that Roy Mustang would ever fall seriously in love with a single woman. He liked variety too much.
“Well, I have my career to consider. The woman would have to wait.”
“Women don’t like to wait.” She told him. He shrugged.
“Well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” He said, and moved past her to listen at the door for a moment, “Ok, we’ve given them enough time.” And with that, he opened the door and strode into the room.
“Oh, there you are.” Winry said, “We were worried you’d gotten yourself locked in there.”
“Actually we were hoping you had.” Ed muttered. He colored when Riza raised her eyebrows at him. “I was kidding! We weren’t! Being locked in a closet with Colonel Bastard isn’t a fate I’d wish on my worst enemy, let alone you.”
“We weren’t locked in,” Riza said, choosing to ignore Ed’s incoherent rambling. “We were only giving you three a moment alone.”
“And now that you’ve had it,” Roy interjected, “Details, I want details!”
“About what?” Ed asked, clearly irritated.
“What happened!” Roy exclaimed, “Was there kissing involved? Any romantic declarations of love? How about—”
“If you think we’re going to tell you—” Ed began hotly, but Winry cut him off.
“Well, what happened was I dragged Ed outside to that big tree and—”
“You’re actually telling him?” Ed cried in dismay. Winry gave her boyfriend a long-suffering look.
“Of course, Ed.” She told him slowly. “If he’s curious, then why not?” And before Ed could voice another word of complaint, she finished telling Roy and Riza the entire story. Just as she was finishing the story by telling them of how Ed had kissed her (Ed had his face buried in a pillow by this time) Pinako walked through the door, arms laden with groceries. Roy, being the (hungry) gentleman that he was, immediately stood and relieved her of her burden.
“Thank you, Roy,” Pinako said, allowing him to take the bag from her and set it down in the kitchen. “I see you’ve all been getting up-to-date on the current events. I insist that you two stay for dinner, by the way,” She said, looking at Roy and Riza.
“We don’t want to intrude—” Riza began, but Roy cut her off.
“Why thank you; we would love to stay for dinner!” Roy exclaimed, elbowing Riza lightly in the shoulder. “Thank you so much for the invitation!”
~
Not only did they end up staying for dinner, but Pinako broke out a bottle of wine afterward, and they adjourned to the living room to talk. Unfortunately for Winry and Ed, the talk inevitably turned to them. Also unfortunately, the subject of Ed was one that could keep Roy entertained for hours on end. Al went upstairs after a while, yawning, leaving the other five alone.
“And when these two were little, Trisha and Sara used to bathe them together sometimes!” Pinako said, gesturing to Winry and Ed, who were sitting together on the couch, both blushing heavily. Roy, slightly tipsy, was sent into gales of laughter by this.
“You know, I think I’m going to go to bed now.” Ed said, standing up. Pinako’s smile disappeared.
“And I fully expect you to stay in your own room, young man. That sleeping together stuff was fine before you two became a couple, but now it’s unacceptable. Same goes for you, Winry.”
“Yes ma’am.” Winry said, turning, if it was possible, even redder. Roy raised an eyebrow.
“Sleeping together? Now what’s this about?”
“You know, I’m actually really tired too,” Winry said, before turning and bolting upstairs. Pinako chuckled.
“Oh, nothing like you’re thinking, I’m sure. Winry …had a nightmare last week and slept in Ed’s room. It was pure coincidence that they woke up so tangled together that you could hardly tell one from the other.” This provoked another loud peal of laughter from Roy. Riza, feeling a little tipsy herself, checked her watch, and yelped.
“It’s past midnight! I had no idea we’d been here that long!” She stood, and yanked on Roy’s sleeve, indicating that he should do likewise. “We should definitely be getting back to the hotel.” Pinako eyed them for a moment.
“Are you two married?” She asked suddenly. Riza blushed.
“No. Separate hotel rooms, of course.” Pinako nodded.
“Ah. Of course.”
~
“Tapioca is a funny word, isn’t it, Lieutenant Colonel?” Roy asked, as they walked down the street. He was just drunk enough to make completely random statements, but not enough that he needed assistance walking, which was just as well, because Riza didn’t know how much help she would be if he did. She giggled.
“Sir, do you have your keys?” She asked; she was always the responsible one, even when slightly tipsy. He nodded.
“Somewhere…” They reached the staircase and started to ascend, and Roy dug through his coat pockets furiously, emerging at last with the key to his room. He stumbled a little on the stairs, and Riza slipped an arm around his waist to keep him steady. He looked over at her, and grinned.
“You know, Lieutenant, you look really pretty in the moonlight.” She blushed. He must be more drunk than I thought.
“Thank you, sir.” was all she could think to say. The wine was making her lightheaded. She deposited him in front of his door, and went to wrestle with her own key. It took her a while to get the door open, and, after checking that Roy had gotten safely into his room, she entered her own.
~
Roy woke the next morning with a slight headache and only vague recollections of how he had gotten back to the hotel last night. He seemed to recall something about tapioca. He shook his head to clear it and immediately found that the wasn’t a good idea. Shutting his eyes again and sleeping until noon, however, seemed like a very good idea, and so he decided to do just that.
Rrrring.
Dammit. He shut his eyes firmly, determined to ignore it.
Rrrring.
It wasn’t working.
Rrrring.
Swearing loudly, Roy sat up and grabbed the phone. Were hotel phones even supposed to ring? His head swam for a moment, protesting his sudden movement. He waited for it to steady before he put the phone to his ear.
“Roy Mustang; make this quick – I have a hangover.”
“Sir? Where the hell are you?” It was Havoc.
“I’m on vacation; I cleared it with Hakuro. Why? Is there a problem in Central?”
“Only if you call Scar showing up out of nowhere and causing mass chaos a problem.” Havoc replied, “Personally, I think it is. Hey, aren’t you and the Lieutenant Colonel somewhere together? She let you get drunk?”
“She got drunk too, if I remember correctly.” Roy said, “Now what’s this about Scar?”
“The Lieutenant Colonel? Drinking?” Havoc sounded stunned, “How much? What was it? Is she a violent drunk? I always thought she’d be a violent drunk…”
“Havoc! Scar?”
“Oh, right. Two days ago he showed up outta god-knows-where and just started doing what he does best; tracking down State alchemists and brutally murdering them, and at an alarming rate.”
“How many?”
“Seven. Seven in two days.” Roy inhaled sharply.
“And what do you want me to do about it?”
“Care to cut your vacation short? Your entire jurisdiction is falling to pieces without you. More to the point; nothing’s getting done without Hawkeye. Paperwork is piling up, there are riots in the streets, etc, etc.”
“Riots?”
“Well, no.” Havoc admitted, “But you should see the state of your desk. Covered in dust and paperwork…” Roy’s lower lip trembled. His desk, his lovely mahogany desk, wasting away…
“All right.” He said, “I suppose we can always finish this vacation another time. I’ll go rouse Hawkeye, and we’ll be on a train to Central by tonight.”
“You’ll do what to Hawkeye?”
“DAMMIT, HAVOC—” click. Wisely, the other man had already hung up. Roy sighed, and ran a hand though his hair. His hangover would have to wait.
~
