Roy Mustang did not like paperwork.
It was boring, easy to complete and yet agonizingly time consuming. He gave a purposefully overdramatic sigh, as if he wanted the strict woman next to him to know he was not enjoying this at all. Which he did.
Riza Hawkeye raised an eyebrow at her superior. Roy couldn't help, but notice the way her hand moved ever closer to the gun in her holster...
" I f you would not procrastinate, sir, this would get done much faster." she looked at him, her lips turned in a slight smile of amusement. Her tone, however, remained firm.
" But Hawkeye, I merely need a break so I can be fresh and attack my work with new vigor."
" Sir you have had three of these 'breaks' this morning. Each of which lasted an hour."
Roy blinked, she had been keeping time? So like Hawkeye, he saw that she would not let him escape this time. When she saw that he had apparently given up on trying to worm his way out of this she excused herself.
Now if you excuse me Colonel, I have have work to do." And so she left, leaving Roy to his own devices. The glint in her eyes told Roy it was best not to try to slack off again.
So now here he was. He stared at the document about how funds in the military should be spread to all it's factions. He was to read it very carefully and consider the reasoning for the spread of funds that the economist had suggested and look for any bad decisions. Because Roy was an expert of economics just like the man who wrote this.
Not.
He paused, scanned it, and without a second thought signed his name. He was already bored out of his mind. It would have continued this way if Ed had not happened to burst into his office. He glared at his superior which clearly said, 'I don't want to be here!'
"Fullmetal." he acknowledged. Ed answered with a curt nod. This was a surprise to Roy. He had expected something along the lines of: "Can we just get this over with so I can leave." Except much more vulgar, with an insult to his person tacked on of course.
He was rudely interrupted from this thought when the report was practically shoved in his face. He took it irritably. And then smirked, that deserved payback.
" For someone so short, you are acting quite...lofty. Why you haven't said a word to me yet."
Edward's fists were clenched, and his face was going red. Roy noticed with amusement that Ed was making quite an effort to keep his temper in check. He pretended not to notice Ed's strain and continued to smirk at him infuriatingly, which irritated Ed further.
Ah...this was just the kind of thing he needed on such a dull, paperwork filled day. Ed could make a day much more interesting.
Then, he decided to take a barb at Ed again, "Fullmetal, you are certainly trying to improve on your 'low' standards when it comes to keeping your temper."
He could swear he heard Ed grinding his teeth from here. Honestly, it was way too easy to drive him over the edge. Especially for one with such a sharp wit as himself. Now for the last push. His smirk grew the tiniest bit larger.
" Midget."
And that did it. Ed gave him the look of a very, very angry bull ready to tear him to pieces. It was actually quite amusing, to see someone so small seem to be overflowed with rage over such an unimportant thing. Ed opened his mouth to scream obscenities at his superior-
But nothing came out. Ed had cooled down in an instance, the red flush gone from his face. He looked as if he had been smacked, his expression one of shock and then, hesitantly, painful realization.
Roy knew then that something was terribly wrong, "...Fullmetal?"
The boy came up to Roy, took a page from the report that was the reason he was here in the first place and pointed to a blurb of text. He wanted him to read it. Roy did, scanning the tiny paragraph.
His eyes widened slightly in surprise. He pulled a mask of cool confidence and looked up at Ed, looking as if the news had not surprised him at all.
" Edward." Roy said calmly, " Show me your throat."
Ed stared defiantly at the man, but faced with Roy's unwavering gaze pulled the cloth that covered his neck slowly.
At this point Roy dully noticed that Ed had been wearing a turtleneck under his jacket and wondered why he hadn't before. This thought was pushed away as soon as he saw the scar on Ed's neck.
It was ugly. Freshly made and jagged. Roy also dimly acknowledged that Ed no longer had an adam's apple. Which meant he had no voice box.
Ed caught Roy staring at it before he himself could and quickly covered the scar, looking embarrassed and angry. He then stared at Roy expectantly, he wanted him to say something. Roy pulled himself out of his shock.
" So.." he quipped as if he was talking about the weather, "You're now mute, I take it?"
Ed looked shocked, Roy saying it had brought the reality home to him. He nodded slowly, once, twice...and stiffly walked out the door.
Roy looked at the door, then his paperwork. He got to work. If there was a good thing to be said about paperwork, it was that it helped keep his mind off things he would rather not think about.
And...that's it. This idea would seriously not leave me alone, so I wrote it down. I guess what follows afterwards can be left to the readers imagination, although I'd like to expand on it. If there is anything I could possibly do next time to improve on anything, please tell me, I would really appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed the fic!
Silver Archer