Hiya guys, Im new in this part of town ;) enjoy anyways! This is set…maybe halfway through the series Brotherhood, but before Hughes died…soooo… yeah :D

DISCLAIMER—don't even get me started on this. If I owned this show and all its characters would I really be on a site call FANfiction? No…I'm just as sad as you :'( so no, I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist…

Placing Bets

Chapter 1: Why Not?

"Awww, come on Fuery! I can't bet against that!" Warrant Officer Falman complained as he took note of what he had scrawled onto their new paper. This was the third new bet sheet they had started this week, each before it having been filled to the point words and numbers of money owed spilled over onto the margins, and small pieces of paper with extra information were stapled to them.

Colonel Mustang's team was known for their gambling. Only Mustang himself had no idea of what happened during his morning nap, or when he was out at a meeting. Beyond that, a few others outside the team would place bets on random stupid things—who Havoc would date next, the next person who might be injured by calling a certain alchemist short. They were all silly inconsequential things, and if they were caught by the fuehrer in person, it was doubtful anything would be done in punishment.

Until Riza Hawkeye caught them in the act that very day.

Riza Hawkeye wasn't known for her mercy either. When she saw something wrong, she pounced on it like a cat on a mouse and dropped it on the front porch-the front porch being Mustangs desk. Her sense of humor was lacking too, and if she did have one at all, it wasn't something she showed at work.

"Ahhhh…." Havoc smiled nervously, "Lieutenant… Uhh...we were just…"

"Gambling, Jean?" She said simply, able to see through the smokers lies easily. With no cigarette for the man to hide behind, Riza found it easier than usual to read his expression. Not to say it wasn't already easy. She wrenched the paper from Falman's unwilling hands and wrinkled her nose at what was written there.

"Are you seriously placing bets on the colonel and…?"

"Nothing was meant by it sir!" Second Lt. Breda burst out, now afraid that what they now bet at might just get him shot twenty times by her and maybe burst into explosive flames by the colonel if Hawkeye took the incriminating evidence his way. Picking up the thick envelope with more money in it than she had time to count, she allowed herself a small smile, and takes from one of her pockets, a rather large sum.

"I'm in," She says without emotion. She snatches the pencil from Havoc's hand and scribbles in her incredibly neat handwriting who she was opposing and for how much. When Jean takes the paper back, he gulps loudly at the amount of money she's put up for it—and what for exactly. It's not what the others would expect her to bet on.

As she walked from the room Kain Feury, having also seen it, gave a tiny gasp and called out before the door shut behind her, "Wait Riza! If he did ask, what would you say?"

"I'm not sure," She admits after a long pause, expression hidden from view by a thick strand of blonde hair.

(*FMA*)

Later that morning…

Colonel Roy Mustang wasn't having the best of days. He was late for a meeting, it was raining outside, and he had tons of paperwork to do. Plus, Maes Hughes still wanted him to get a wife, and wasn't shy about saying so.

Damn, where was Riza when you needed her? When Ed came in later today he probably wouldn't be able to see him over the large and still growing stack of papers. Finally growing to tired to listen to Maes ranting about the new picture of his wife and daughter he wanted to show him, Mustang muttered a simple, not now, and hung up the phone. He groaned internally and laid his head on his desk, grumbling to himself, and settled with trying to take a nap.

The sound of a door being opened a minute later made him pick up his head. Then he stood, so he could actually see whom it was. "Lieutenant. You're late."

"No I'm not." She replies mildly, taking off her heavy winter coat and draping it over her chair before she sat down. "Your clock is wrong. Check your pocket watch."

Roy didn't need to—he knew the clock was wrong—hence him being late for his very important meeting, which he sort have fell asleep during. He just nodded.

When Hawkeye stayed silent and seemed to ignore the paperwork calling her name, Mustang coughed to get her attention, which she initially used as a way to tease him.

"Don't get sick Colonel. It's raining, so you won't be able to start a fire to keep warm." She said it so seriously, that for a second it took him a moment to remember what he actually was going to say. He ignored the playful words.

"Hawkeye. Status on that paperwork?"

Riza didn't even look up. "You should know Colonel. Your inbox is rapidly overflowing into your outbox." She was right. The papers were dangerously close to tipping over. He reached out and barely managed to keep the tower from falling over and going everywhere.

"Well, could you help me out? What kind of assistant are you?" Mustang questions, desperately trying to quickly restack the papers as they leaned dangerously to the right..

"A very unlucky one, to work with such a stubborn man." She mutters under her breath as she takes half the stack and leaves him the rest.

"What was that Lieutenant?"

"I was just saying how lucky I am to work with such a useful man-,"

"You know my gloves don't work in the rain-,"

"And how everyday your little naps get longer as I do all your work." Riza continued in a monotone as she signed things one by one.

"Hey, give a guy a break—."

"Oh you get plenty of breaks. You just spend them obsessively cleaning the windows. Why do you do that anyways?"

"Uhh…"

Havoc pulls his ear away from the door and chuckles. At this rate, Hawkeye was going to loose without a doubt. He stated this to the rest of the team confidently.

Breda chuckled, "Are you kidding Jean? They aren't really fighting, this is like foreplay to them."

Kain paled. "They aren't seriously, like…"

Falman laughed along with Breda, and clapped the pale officer on the back. "Not as far as we know Feury, and besides, Riza's way to formal for them to be doing anything of the sort at work, and Mustang's just to insecure to-."

The door they all stood by opened suddenly, nearly knocking Jean backwards as it hit him. "You were saying?" Mustangs steely voice rang out in the now quiet hallway. He must have heard the last end of the conversation.

"Nothing Colonel, just explaining-."

"Never mind. All of you. In here, now. This paperwork is due by noon, and we need to get it done or else—."

"Roy!" A familiar voice called.

Mustang sighed and turned back to face the fast approaching person as his officers went in to finish his work.

And now a bright photograph was being shoved in his face, with an even brighter man holding onto it. "Just look at Gracie! And how big my little girl is getting! You know, she's calling my dada now? Oh it's so cute I just explode with-." Maes Hughes practically bounced with excitement.

"You may explode soon if you don't get that out of my face." Mustang growled.

"Jeez, you're not in the best of moods are you, Roy? Maybe it's because you haven't found a wife yet. How is that going anyway?" Hughes asked with a grin, not even slightly deterred. He had grown use to this disgruntled lump of a man.

"Now isn't the best time Hughes…"

Maes snapped his fingers and smiled as if he remembered something important. "Did Riza tell you Edward and Alphonse were stopping by later for an update?"

"Yeah, she told me yesterday. Thanks for the reminder though, Hughes."

His friend smiled, "You got it Colonel, and don't forget about that wife!" By the end of his sentence, Maes was already gone, a cloud of dust the only thing left in his wake.

Roy remembered stumbling back tiredly to his desk, and trying to start his work. At some point he must have fallen asleep, because when someone prodded his shoulder, he opened his eyes blearily and felt a familiar pain in his neck from sleeping at his desk longer than an hour.

"What is it, Lieutenant? Why didn't you wake me sooner?" He asked as he ran a hand through his dark hair and yawned.

"You looked tired, sir." She explained, going very much against what she had said earlier when telling him just how many naps he took a day, "Edward and his brother are here."

As if to confirm that, his office door burst open and there stood Edward Elric, out of breath, and short as ever.

"Colonel, we've got a problem." He managed to gasp out, than collapsed in a heap to the floor.

The day seemed to be far from over for the colonel and his team. In fact, the nightmares were just about to begin…

(*FMA*)

ahhh, I am back world of fanfiction! Yes, I've been gone a long time, but im here now! Yay! My friend got me started on FMA about….a week ago, maybe a few days give or take, and...welll I LOVE IT! I couldn't help but borrow everyone for a while, especially Roy and Riza…why are they not married?

Enjoy, and please review…Im hoping to post again a little later tonite