Light My Fire: Chapter 1

 The Colonel sat at his desk, staring at the pile of paperwork in front of him. Yet again, he had suceeded in ignoring it until an hour before the deadline, and now what to do? 

Alchemy? Nah, he'd destroy the papers. 
Fire? No, they'd fire him.
Using his dashing good looks to charm his way out of it? Out of the question.

Roy reached up and ran one of his hands through his short black hair. Looks like he was going to do this the old-fashioned way and actually sign all of the papers. Damn.
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"HEYA ROY!!" A dark-haired Lt. Colonel barged his way into Roy's office, grinning from ear to ear. Behind him, much of Roy's posse had left, because this man was too much 'happy' for someone to bear. Tucked under his arm were more papers for the Xing-decendant Colonel to deal with, and unfortunately, poor Maes Hughes was the bringer of work. 

"How ya doing today there, Mr. Flame Alchemist? Find any good information? Maybe you need to see a picture of my LOVELY daughter Elysia! You know she'll make you smile!" By now Hughes was almost leaning on Roy's desk, a picture of the mentioned three-year-old already out and looking for that spot in front of Roy's face.
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Mustang sighed again, and looked up. "Hughes, must you be so happy? Don't you see that I am trying to brood? Besides, more papers? The higher-ups never let me have any peace..."

He folded his hands together, putting his elbows on the desk. Maybe he could forget about the paperwork and have a chat with his old friend.
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"Haha, I wish." He plopped the papers onto Roy's desk, his normally happy facade disappearing as he went into Hughes-work mode. "These are about that Alchemist killer, Scar. He's been seen around Eastern again, and we're going into high alert... I want you to be careful out there, Roy."
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The tall blonde in the corner of the room, whose name was Second Leuteniant Havoc, stood, and headed for the door. 

"Hey, Colonel. See ya tomarrow. I'm gonna clock out." 

Neatly pulling his pack of cigarettes from his pocket, he selected one from it and transferred it to his mouth. sitting snugly alongsde his other cigarettes in the box was his lighter, which he fished out before returning the pack to his pocket. For a few more moments, he leaned against the doorframe. He would wait for the Colonel's ok, though he really didn't need it.
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Mustang leaned back in his seat, looking over Hughes's shoulder for a moment. "Alright, Havoc. Everyone else has clocked out."

He turned his attention back to Hughes. "And when am I not careful?" A slight smirk appeared on his face, then dissappeared when he looked down at the papers. More work. Whooptee.
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"Roy..." Maes started off, still looking serious. "The alchemist killer took out Marco."
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Havoc nodded, and continued on his way out the door and into the lobby. The secretary at the front desk questioned him.

"Logging out, Second Leuteniant Havoc?"
"Yeah. I'm done for the hight."
"Shouldn't someone stay with Colonel Mustang, and escort him home? There's a new threat about Scar..."
"Leuteniant Colonel Hughes is with him. He'll be fine."

Without another word, Havoc stepped out the door and into the slight rain that had started a couple of minutes ago. Like usual, it would end up turning into a heavy downpour. The Second Leuteniant trudged his way back to his "bachelor pad", being a small two room apartment a fewblocks from HQ. And, like always, he was walking alone.
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"But Marco wasn't the Flame Alchemist." Mustang leaned forward again, sifting through the new papers. "Besides, I don't live that far from here. I'l be alright."
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Maes said nothing, giving Roy "The Look" that both of them have come accustomed to reciving from one another. With a shrug, Hughes took a seat in the office, pulling out one of his knives to polish. "Whatever man, I'm still walkin' ya home... Can't have you be ironicly killed off."
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"If you wish. But I highly doubt that I'd be bothered." Mustang had resumed signing documents, one by one. Solwy, but that's the only way he could finish his work.
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"Better safe than sorry, ne?" He grinned, whipping out a picture of his beautiful daughter. "Besides! When you're done, I have more pictures of Elysia to show you!"
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Mustang rolled his eyes. Pictures, yay. In the time span of about an hour, Mustang was finished, and it was deadline time. He carefully collected the papers into a large stack, then turned to Hughes. "Mind lending a hand?"
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With a sigh, Havoc trudged into his apartment complex. His room was on the top floor, and, yet again, the entire building was silent as he unlocked his apartment door. He locked the door behind himself and worked in the dark to unbotton his coat. Letting it fall to the floor, he proceeded to his bed, knowing where it was in the dark. and took a seat, kicking off his boots in the process. A flick of the wrist, and his gun holster harness was unclipped, and offf his shoulders. Like usual, he layed the still-loaded guns on the bedside table and leaned back onto the bed. He sighed, tired, and tired of being alone.
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"Oh! Sure!" Hughes grinned from ear to ear as he took some of Roy's papers, contemplating a plan to corner the poor Colonel and smother him with pictures of cuteness. Ah, Elysia...
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Mustang took the rest of the papers, tucking them under an arm, and motioning for Hughes to follow him. They walked out of the room, and toward what was known to be the main office. A tired Kain Fuery was sleeping at his desk. Mustang smiled, as he actually hadn't expected for Fuery to wait for him, it just shows how much that everyone respected him. He sat the papers on the desk, before walking out of the room again.
"I suppose you're wanting to ambush me with pictures again, right?" Mustang asked as the two of them stood outside the main office, in the hallway.
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Hughes just gave a humble laugh as he shook his head. "Not right now. I'm sure you've had enough for one day, yea?" He grinned. "Although if you want to see pictures, I'll be happy to show you!"
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"No thanks. I think I'm going to call it a night. Are you still going to walk me home?" he fished in his pocket, glancing at the time on his pocketwatch. Midnight, just as he though. It was late, as always, when he left the office. Just, today he was not the only one leaving at this time.
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"Of course I am." Hughes offered Roy a soft smile, one that he might give Gracia or Elysia. "Can't let you be alone with that alchemist killer still on the loose."
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Roy didn't see that smile very often, and just then it caught him off guard, so he smiled back. "Then, shall we?" he asked, turning around and walking to the lobby.
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"You know, Colonel..." Hughes mumured as they headed out into the dark of night, the cold air brushing over them. "You should smile more often. It suits you."
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Mustang shrugged. "There are few occasions that require my smile." he continued to walk to the nearby apartment building, that, since it was close to HQ, it was occupied by several State Alchemists, and on the top floor, while Hughes stood by, Mustang digged into his pockets for his keys.
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Looking around for a moment, Maes took the moment to place a cigarette between his lips. He was supposed to quit, Gracia saying that the second-hand smoke was bad for the child, but somehow he just couldn't kick the habit. Digging in his pockets, he produced a small box of matches, only to find that there was none. "Damnit..."
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At that moment, Mustang opened the door. Hearing Hughes's curse, he turned to his friend. "Ah. No matches." The Colonel stepped to the side, showing an large apartment to his companion. the place may have been large, but it was spotless, almost like no one lived there. However, that's only because of Mustang's "little" disorder. He was obsessive conpulsive, and it showed. His books were alphabatized, his clothes neatly hung in his closet (tank tops, short sleeved shirts, long sleeved shirts, jeans, uniform jackets, uniform pants, and finally his long black trenchcoat. All perfectly ironed.) The dresser drawers contained the non-hangables, like underwear, socks, and gloves. His desk was neat, an "In" box and an "Out" box. Lastly, in the center of the room was a large, neatly folded bed. "You're welcome to come in, as I;m not wearing my gloves at the moment, so I can't yet help you out."
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Havoc stirred slightly when footsteps trailed past his door, as he was not yet asleep. He assumed it was his neighbor, the Colonel, returning home, but it didn't sound like he was alone. His thoughts were confirmed when he heard a soft curse that sounded as though it belonged to Hughes. Havoc laid back again and sighed. No one ever came to Havoc's apartment. Because there was no one whom cared about him enough to visit. The only people that even realized that he existed were his co-workers, and most of the time they ignored him.
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He just put the unlit cug into his brest pocket again, next to his picture of Elysia as he stepped into the spotless apartment. To most people, this apartment would look shockingly clean, but to Hughes it was natrual. Afterall, Roy had been his best friend since boot.
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Mustang shut the door behind the two for them. "Don't care if you smoke in here." He spoke as he neatly removed his uniform jacket, laying it over a chair.
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"Me? Smoke in here? Never..." He smiled softly, watching Roy closely with golden eyes. "Place is too clean... Plus I know you. You'll be off work for three days trying to get the smoke smell out of your apartment."
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"Hmm...Suit yourself. Isn't your beloved wife missing you?"
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Hughes paused for a moment, eyes locked on the ground. ".... I should call her... let her know I won't be in Central for the next couple of days..."
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Mustang looked over his shoulder at Hughes. "Not so happy-go-lucky any more? The wife finally starting to bother you." He shruged. "I always thought you had been rushing into things with her."
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"You could say that." He started, rubbing the back of his neck. "I love her to death, but she wants to know everything. And you know I can't tell everything, not unless it's important. Like that time in Ishbal, remember? When we stopped Gran from making that one mistake? Too bad we didn't stop his other mistake."
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"Right." Mustang recalled the war, making a shiver run down his spine. He didn't like to recall the war, recalling his own flaws. There were only two people left from that time that he still knew well, one was standing in front of him...and the other...
"Well, there's a phone on my desk." He continued, routing the subject away from the War.
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With a nod, Hughes went to Roy's study to pick up the phone, pausing when he saw a picture frame. Seeing the picture made him smile. It was from their bootcamp graduation. Roy had tried to look serious, but Hughes had screwed up the picture by grinning from ear to ear and yanking off his hat. Shaking his head, he picked up the phone and called Gracia, letting the woman know that he wouldn't be back to Central for a couple days till this deal with the alchemist killer was cleared up. Hopefully, he prayed, it would be longer.
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Sighing, Mustang took a seat upon the edge of the bed and watched Hughes make his phone call. It was amazing how he could switch from solemn to exuberant in the blink of an eye. Did his wife actually know anyting about Hughes's work life? Mustang thought not.
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"I'll be away for a couple more days.
No, I'm still in Eastern City.
We're having problems with a fugitive, you know... the usual...
I'm fine, love. I'm going to be staying with Roy for the next few days and-
... Yes...
... Uh-huh...
Elysia, is she-?
Okay....
I have to go. I'll call you tomorrow.
.....L.... Love you too!"
... Bye...."

Slowly, the Lt. Colonel hung up the phone, turning to see Roy watching him with a careful eye. Why had it been so hard to make that call? Roy was there... and with their past.... He offered Roy a soft smile, rubbing the back of his neck. "She can be quite curious sometimes."
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Mustang raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? I couldn't tell." He watched the nervous look on his friend's face, seeing his emotions change so quickly was quite amusing.
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"Thanks for letting me use your phone. I've got to get to a hotel or something now." Again, Hughes offered Roy a smile, shoving one hand in his pocket as he headed towards the door. "I'll see ya tomorrow."
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"Hmmm...right. don't get into any trouble, Hughes." Mustang replied, and stood, watching his friend walk to the door.

Hughes left with an easy mind, happy with himself that everyone he cared for was safe at home. Now... Where was that hotel...