21. Vacancy

Rating: PG-13 (Curse word used)

Vacancy?? WTF? Ahh well, I tried my best ^_^ hope you like.

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Another boring day in the office, Havoc thought to himself, leaning back in his chair, unlit cigarette dangling from his bottom lip. Hawkeye would shoot him slowly if she saw it but right now he didn't care; at least it would liven up the afternoon.

On the opposite wall, above the gaggle of desks and soldiers, the hands on the clock shunted forward another minute. Only 119 more to go before he could get out of here and chase that girl he'd met in the bar last night.

Havoc sighed and rolled his eyes closed. Ugh he was so bored, what he wouldn't give for a little distraction around h-

BAM!

(Careful what you wish for, Havoc!)

The entire wall shuddered as the main door was flung open, swinging back on its hinges with a crack that made even those at the back of the room flinch. All eyes flew from their paperwork to the doorway, currently ablaze with the afternoon sunlight…and the silhouette of a certain pint-sized State Alchemist.

"DAMMIT!!!" Edward Elric screamed at the top of his lungs, face almost as red as his cape as he marched between the rows of desks, blind to everything save whatever had pissed him off.

"Mr Elric?" Fuery turned after him, rubbing the shoulder his superior had just bashed "Is something wrong?"

Ed ignored him.

Instead he strode over to his desk and smashed both palms flat against it, the resulting bang drawing every pair of eyes that wasn't already gawking at him.

"AAGH! WHY, dammit!" he howled, punching the desk hard enough to knock a pot of pens to the floor. "WHY can't I go?!" They fanned out across the carpet, as silent as the sheepish faces surrounding them. Nobody wanted to deal with Ed when he was like this. Hell, even Mustang, now Vice-Fuhrer and one of the most feared men in the country, still quaked in his boots when faced with this angry little midget.

The officers shuffled. Ed scowled.

No one moved.

"Wh-?" Fuery tried at last; anything to break the silence. Naturally, he lived to regret it.

"BECAUSE MAJOR TAHEI IS A BASTARD, THAT'S WHY!" Edward roared at the table top, his entire body taut with rage.

Silence.

"I was supposed to be getting his manuscript tomorrow afternoon." He explained through gritted teeth, still staring at the desktop as though trying to bore holes in it. "A preview. The book's been hailed the best philosophical thesis of this century, for pity's sake! But would the bastard give it to me? Noooo!" he drew the last word out in a disgusted sort of sing song, the venom behind it making the front row of spectators shuffle back nervously.

"Instead he decides that 'oh I'm terribly sorry Mr Elric sir, but I'll have to change the date of my appointment' to the fricking day after!" Another fist-slam. Havoc was sure he heard the wood splinter.

"And he said it like he was being so fucking reasonable! Like there's no way I wouldn't be able to come!" BAM. Splinters peppered the carpet, Havoc hunched closer to his desk, out of range. "But I can't! I can't! Because it's a freaking Thursday lunch and I have-"

He stopped, remembering (for the first time in this little outburst) that he actually had an audience. A flush darkened his cheeks then, clashing horribly with his brilliant hair and the crimson of his trademark coat.

"What are you all staring at!?" he snapped, flapping a hand at them and throwing himself into his desk chair. "Quit gawping and mind your own damn business!" The rest of the room could only see the top of his head now, bowed as though buried in work. Havoc, however, (who had known Ed for almost six years now) knew better. Ed would have a pen in hand and paper spread out, but instead of writing, he would sit there, seething, rage simmering and simmering as the other officers continued to stare.

And awkward silence followed.

"You heard him." Havoc barked eventually, scowling at his quivering comrades. "Leave it. The Boss knows where his priorities lie, and the rest of you have work to do."

The crowd withdrew, muttering, to their desks, replacing the tense silence with the scrapes of scribbling pens. Even Fuery backed gratefully away; relieved that Ed wasn't going to try rearrange his limbs… just yet.

Havoc, meanwhile, sidled in the opposite direction, scooting his swivel chair up beside his tiny superior's and propping an elbow on his desk, as though Ed hadn't just howled his head off in front of a room full of adults.

"Hey boss."

"Buzz off, Havoc." But he just cocked his head to the side, grinning.

"Now, is that any way to speak to your elders?"

"Is that any way to speak to your superiors?" Ed snapped, "And before you ask, I'm not going to 'be reasonable' and reconsider. General Tahei can go eat shit cause-"

"cause you've got a date with Roy."

"Yes. Exactl- WHAT?" the entire contents of the desk was on the floor now and Ed's face was a smarting red.

"How long?" Havoc grinned slyly.

"April." The answer was more smile than word; a tiny blushing curl at the corner of Ed's mouth. "Six months, two days, three hours and-"

"Got the message, Boss." Havoc flushed and shuffled his papers awkwardly. Sure, there'd been quite a few smouldering glances exchanged between the Boss and the Fuhrer, but the thought of the two of them still made the blood rush to his face.

To distract himself, he made a couple a silly comments about how Ed really should get Mustang to pass that miniskirt campaign then stuck his nose back in his own work. He could still see Ed out of the corner of his eye though, doodling on his papers with a distant look on his face. Peering over the younger alchemist's shoulder, he saw that the doodle was an alchemic array; an exact replica of the one on Mustang's glove.

His pulse quickened; surely Ed wasn't pissed off enough to set the whole place on-…then breathed easier as the little alchemist lifted the single doodled sheet and blew gently on it. The paper disintegrated at the light touch, its fragments flaring a hundred shades of orange before burning out and fading into the air like butterflies.

A glowing kiss of ashes and alchemy.

Havoc rolled his eyes and turned away; the fun was over and he had to finish this pile before Hawkeye shot him after all. But a grin still lingered across his lips, a tiny reflection of the lovesick glow radiating off the teenager next to him.

Major Tahei's manuscript would have to wait, Havoc thought to himself, still smiling, just like everything else.

Because there would never be a vacancy in Ed's calendar if Roy was involved.

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