Okay, so I was extremely excited about my own high school graduation! Yay! I am no longer in high school! So I decided to write a little ficlet about what it would be like if/when our favorite FMA officers graduated high school together! Short, corny, but hopefully fun and maybe a little funny. (I know, I know: stick to romance and drama, Crimson-Pen.) Anyway, I hope you guys like it!
The teenagers filed excitedly into the auditorium of their exceptionally large high school and waited as each name was called. They had been waiting for this moment for so long that they could hardly believe it was finally here! The ones in a very specific group of friends all cheered as they heard the first of their group called, "Alex Louis Armstrong."
He stood proudly with his head held high, his jerry curl bouncing as his sparkles glimmered. He walked up to the stage, his muscles practically bursting out of his robes, and he shook the principal's hand as he took his diploma and exited just as happily.
The next to be called was "Jean Havoc," and the dashing young man stood to take his diploma as well. The others cheered him on with excited clapping and whooping, and several of the underclass girls shouted catcalls. As he was walking offstage, he tipped the brim of his cap and winked at the girls, making them swoon uncontrollably.
After that directly came the name "Riza Hawkeye." She kept her serious composure as she walked calmly up to the stage, her back completely straight and her face the paragon of discipline. She had worked hard at gaining her reputation as a tough girl through high school, but her best friend Roy Mustang knew better. She may have been hard-shelled, but she was nothing but a softy…a very beautiful softie.
Next was the name "Maes Hughes." Of course, he did his own cartoon-esque bow as he ascended the steps to the stage only to fall on his face a moment later. Hughes, however, was far too cool to be bothered by such an event. Roy merely gave him more claps and whoops, and the rest of the group followed suit, as they had done all these past twelve years.
Finally last but certainly not least of the group, the leader of all of them was called, "Roy Mustang." There were even more claps and cheers this time as he simply walked to the stage, shook hands with the principal, took his diploma, and walked back off. Somehow he seemed to do it with so much charm and finesse that it was hard not to cheer.
More catcalls were heard from even more of the underclass girls, and Havoc felt a deep sense of regret. Mustang had always been the one to get all the girls. It had always been the same. And yet somehow he couldn't ever resent him for it. After all, the man was their leader. How could he possibly be angry with their great leader?
Hawkeye, meanwhile, tried to hold in the catcalls herself. It wouldn't be at all like her to imitate those immature little girls and shout at him as though he were first prize at some farm animal show. However, she had to admit that he was quite handsome, and always had been. Of course, she would never have admitted that to anyone else, especially not to anyone in their group. After all, being the only girl in a group of men like them was no easy task.
When the ceremony was over and they had finished taking the massive amounts of pictures that their parents seemed to insist upon, the group huddled together outside the auditorium, liking arms as they stood in a circle.
"Well," Mustang said proudly, "we finally did it, troops. We made it through high school. I have to say, I'm proud of you guys. We did it through team work, right? Excellent job, everyone. Now we have to go out there and be responsible adults and go to college and whatnot. I'll of course be taking the State Alchemist exam in the spring, but you guys have fun learning some more."
Hawkeye rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm. "Come on, Roy," she said. "Don't ruin this day by being yourself." She then looked around the circle and said, "I'm proud of you guys, too. Let's be sure not to ever forget each other. We've been the best of friends all through school. We just can't lose touch."
"Of course not!" Hughes said as though there were no other way to have it. "And anyway, if it weren't for all those late night study sessions before tests, I probably never would have made it through most of this stuff, so I have to thank you guys. You really pulled me through."
"Our pleasure!" Armstrong rang out in his powerful voice. "After all, a true Armstrong like myself knows the mysteries of every subject! It was no problem pulling you others along with me!"
"All right, all right," Havoc said with a laugh. "Enough of that. I say we go eat now! I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving and I need a cigarette!"
They all agreed quickly, but when he reached to light a cigarette, Hawkeye quickly removed it from his mouth and smushed it on the ground. "That's a horrible habit, Jean, and you need to stop it now," she said. "I suggest starting while you can. If you get too addicted it will become even more of a bad habit."
He just rolled his eyes back at her and made mean gestures when she turned her back. Mustang continued to glance at the circle of friends. He was really going to miss them in the coming years. After all, he'd be joining the military soon, State Alchemist or not, and the rest of them would be going away to college or doing their own respective things. Gods, was he going to miss them.
"You know, Riza had a point," Hughes said a bit sadly. "What if we never see each other again? What if these are the last moments we have all together?"
They looked around at each other nervously, wondering what they were going to say. Finally, they all turned to their leader, and Mustang just smiled his usual charming smile and said, "That won't happen."
"How do you know?" Havoc said worriedly. "You can't know that, so how can you know?"
He shrugged and said, "Call it a feeling."