Chapter 10: Plastic Ducks

"Hello, Colonel," Hawkeye said, her umber eyes deadpan as usual, even though the corner of her lips were turned up at the ends.

"Afternoon, Riza," Roy smirked, and he couldn't help but notice she was dressed in casual clothes. A neat turtle-neck sweater and black trousers hugged her curves, and there was no obvious sign of a firearm. He smirked wider, "and we're off duty. No need for titles."

"Of course, sir." Riza gave him a small salute, then relaxed. "Gracia told me you and the boys wouldn't be here, something about Ed being unwell?"

"Ed's perfectly fine, if being a temperamental midget is what you call fine-"

"Who're you calling so small he could get lost in the crowd unless someone held his hand?" Ed yelled from his spot in front of another jewellery store. Alphonse gave his approximation of a sigh as he clutched hold of a fold of Ed's jacket, and Elysia just screamed in amusement. Roy watched Hawkeye's brow furrow as her eyes fixated on the bruise covering most of Ed's face. The boy in question touched a hand to the black skin, and gave a shrug. Hawkeye's brow relaxed and she turned back to Roy.

There was a small awkward silence between the two, as around them people swarmed and shouted, music from the stalls echoing out. It had been a long time since Roy was with Hawkeye outside of work, and he wasn't entirely sure what to say. Luckily, Maes wouldn't let that last for long.

"Roy! Riza! Come on! We're gonna play some games!" he shouted, waving them towards where the Hughes' and the Elric brothers had gathered.

"Maybe we should leave them alone, y'know... for a date." Ed said loudly enough for Roy to hear. He saw Maes nudge Ed in the side and give the boy a theatrical wink. Hawkeye gave a small cough, and silenced the two jokers with a glance.

"The Colonel and I will not be dating. Now or in the near future," She said, her voice firmly set in 'reprimand' mode. Roy's heart sank a little at her declaration, but clung with hope to the words 'in the near future'. She never said 'never'. He smiled.

"What are you so happy about?" Maes asked him when the brothers set the pace towards the game booths, Elysia yelling "giddy-up, little big brother!" from Ed's shoulders as Gracia and Riza followed on behind. "Nothing," Roy told him, but the huge grin on Maes' face told him the other man knew what he was thinking. All Roy could do was shove the other man and tell him to shut up.

"Brother! Brother!" Al's voice shouted excitedly over the crowd, startling the two men and causing Riza and Gracia to look at where the armoured boy was pointing, "Look at that! We should try that!"

Roy squinted to look at what had caught Al's attention, and saw a small shooting range. Hawkeye's eyes crinkled in subtle delight as Ed caught up to his brother and yelled for the taller, younger boy to slow down a little. "It's like the games at the festival in Risembool!" Al gushed to Ed.

"Yeah," Ed said, lowering Elysia from his shoulders as he passed Gracia and handing the girl back to her mother with an awkward smile, before turning back to look up at Al, "You wanna play it?"

"Can we?" Al was almost bouncing round his brother with excitement, and Roy watched Ed make a show of deciding before he finally gave a nod. "Thank you!" Al grabbed his brother's hand and started to drag him towards the game stall.

"Wait!" Roy yelled out. He was then treated to the uncomfortable feeling of everyone's eyes on him. Maes was grinning madly, and Edward looked as though he was ready to bore a hole through his head with just his glare alone. Roy tried to swallow as subtly as he could. "Just...don't run off." He finally said, with as much authority as he could. Ed scoffed and snatched up Al's hand, dragging his brother away from them through the crowd to the shooting gallery. Roy sighed and ran a hand self-consciously through his hair. It had been a stupid impulse to shout after Ed, and he wasn't quite sure why he hadn't stamped it down.

"Don't worry about the boys, Roy! You'll get wrinkles." Maes told him while slapping Roy on the back. Roy wheezed in a breath and scowled at his friend.

"I'm not worried about them."

Inside his mind, Roy couldn't help but hope that he wasn't worried about them. That would really open a can of worms he wasn't exactly ready to open just yet.

He caught Hawkeye's eyes on him, and she gave him the smallest of smiles before saying something to Gracia and quickly following after the boys. Maes nudged him in the side, making him flinch away but not before he heard his friend whisper, "Go after them!"

Still scowling, Roy grumbled a little before he took a step forwards, straightening his back and adjusting his clothes to hang better on his form. Gracia giggled into her hand while Elysia tugged on her collar, pointing at some other stall behind them. "I'm going to go make sure Ed doesn't break anything," Roy told Maes in the vague hope the other man wouldn't think he was going because he wanted to. Because he didn't.

"Suure," Maes drawled as he caught his wife and child in a hug, "We'll meet up in five minutes back here?" Roy nodded and ducked into the crowd.

Roy was secretly glad Alphonse stood out so much as he dodged between families and couples, reaching Hawkeye and the boys with his clothes still mercifully unrumpled. "Are you gonna try, Miss Hawkeye?" He heard Alphonse ask as his brother rummaged around inside the pocket of his jacket, probably for money. Riza raised an eyebrow as she held out a few coins to Ed. "I might," She said, then gently took Ed's hand and pressed the money into it, "It's alright, Ed, my treat for today."

"We can't," Ed said, trying to put the money back into Riza's hand, but the sharpshooter put her hands deeply into her trousers and smiled. Ed scowled and Roy placed a hand on his shoulder. "You should accept a gift from a lady," he said with a grin. Ed shrugged his hand off and growled lowly.

"Fine! We'll use your money!" he snapped, "but we're paying you back!" Ed snapped his head to look up at Al. "Come on, Al! Let's win something."

"Right, brother!" Al clapped his hands together in excitement as Ed handed over the money to the man and received two plastic rifles in return. Roy quickly moved to stand beside Riza and touched her arm. "That was a nice thing you did for them, Riza," He said.

"I like doing things for them, sir." She smiled, her eyes watching the two boys as they set about trying to shoot moving plastic ducks with a scary air of seriousness.

Just before either boy could pull the trigger, Riza quickly stepped forward and started correcting them. "Keep both eyes open, Ed. Don't pretend to be a movie spy," She told the older boy, and Ed's face went a light shade of red when he realised that was exactly what he'd been doing. He moved the gun against his shoulder and opened both eyes, though his black eye didn't open much wider then when it was shut.

Roy watched with baited breath as Ed finally pulled the trigger, and his first shot went wide. "Dammit," Ed muttered, and re-positioned the toy rifle. Roy was almost proud that Ed hadn't dissolved into a tantrum when he'd missed.

Riza quickly stepped in again; moving the rifle into a new position and Ed let her, not complaining at all. Roy knew that if he were the one fussing over Ed like that, he'd soon be sporting a black eye to match. "Try again," Riza said. Ed rolled his shoulders, the metal one clicking as he did so then re-positioned himself. He took a deep breath, keeping both eyes open and focused on the target and pulled the trigger. There was a soft thud, and one of the ridiculous plastic ducks fell. "Whoa!" Ed yelled, eyes wide, "I hit something!"

"Well done, lad," The man said with a grin, "Lucky the lady there was helping ya."

"My turn," Al said, interrupting Ed who was taking in a deep breath to shout at the man and moving into place. Once again, Riza gently moved his large hands into more natural positions on the toy rifle, then patted the broad iron shoulder. Ed perched on the shooting range, looking eager to see how well Al would do.

Roy found himself moving closer as well, towering over Ed so he could see into the shooting range. "You can do it, Al," Ed whispered as his brother fiddled with the gun. Alphonse nodded at his brother's encouragement, took aim, and fired off two shots.

Roy was almost afraid to look.

"You did it!" Ed yelled, and there was a resounding clang as Ed beat his metal fist on Al's breast plate.

"I..I did?" Alphonse asked cautiously, looking from his brother to the soft duck targets. Roy peered in as well, and saw two of them on the floor.

"You did it twice," Roy said, impressed. "Riza, you're a fine teacher." He smirked at Hawkeye, and she just rolled her eyes and smiled up at Alphonse as Ed started to ramble on about Al's shooting skills.

"You'd think you were a pro!" he shouted, "You could be better then Hawkeye! But if I ever see you in the military, Al..."

"Okay, brother," Al said, beaming as much as a suit of armour could beam as the man running the stall handed over a large stuffed tiger.

"A big prize for a big man," He chuckled, and Al gave him a short bow and stepped back to let other people have a turn.

"That was so cool, brother! Let's find another one."

"And I'll beat you at this one!" Ed shouted, grabbing his brother's hand and dragging Al further into the colourful crowd of stalls and games. Roy watched them go, and mused over Ed's over-enthusiastic praise. Maybe it was a brother thing?

"Come on, sir. It looks like the boys have found another game." Hawkeye's soft voice broke through his thoughts like they so often did. Roy looked for Alphonse, and saw that the brothers were now having a good natured argument over who held that ridiculous soft toy while one of them had a go at ring toss.

"Oh joy," Roy grumbled, though there really wasn't much ill-humour behind it. Giving his lieutenant a small smile, he held out his arm. "Ladies first."

Riza gave a small scoff, and walked on.

I'd just like to say I have no control over this fic anymore. I'm just writing whatever Roy's telling me, and once again, I didn't get to a part I wanted during this chapter. I'm not sure whether to be happy or annoyed...Also, I've been using this story as a way to goof off my NaNo. It's working surprisingly well.

Still! I think I did better on the updating side this time! ...Didn't I? And this one's longer then the others! I think...anyway...

Thank you for putting up with me as always *sweatdrop*

Inuchron

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