Fic for Kambeiadaro

[kalliel]

Mod Note: Second to last of the straggling Jan/Feb round fics. Don't worry--we haven't forgotten! It should all be sorted out by this weekend. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Title: A Little of You, Makes Me Your Man
Written For: kambeiadaro
Characters: Roy, Olivia
Rating: PG
Word count: around 4000
Summary: Roy and Olivia--or rather, 'Mr. and Mrs. Charleston'--and a forced vacation, a dance competition, and all the nitty gritty consequences of both.



Roy just stared at the two young men standing in his office. “You want me to what?!”

Edward smirked as he glanced at his younger sibling, “I told you he'd freak out.”

Alphonse shrugged his shoulders, “Actually, brother, we both knew he would, but you felt the need to speak the knowledge out loud when we planned this.”

Ed scoffed, “Semantics, dear brother.”

Al laughed weakly, “Um...big brother?”

Ed turned towards his brother, “Yeah, Al?”

“I really don't think that works in this situation, though I may be wrong.”

Ed crossed his arms, “Whatever. Let's just get back to mentally torturing the Colonel.”

Al nodded, “Sounds like a well thought out plan to me, big brother.”

Roy deadpanned, “You both do know that I heard all that, right?”

“You had a point?” Ed asked.

Roy sighed, “I guess I really have no choice?”

“No,” both young men replied simultaneously.

“I have just one question though, who am I going with?”

Alphonse smirked evilly, “It's a surprise, Mustang.”

Roy Mustang shivered slightly, “Why do I get a chill up my spine when I hear you say that, Alphonse?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

“No.”

------------ ------------

“Sister! It's so good to see you!”

Olivia Armstrong glanced disdainfully at her younger brother, “What do you want, Alex?”

“Sister, it has become plain to me that the stress of work has been getting to you, and so, being the loving younger brother that I am, I have seen to it that you will be given a three week vacation!”

Olivia sighed, “Let me guess, you've already made arrangements for where I will be staying?”

Alex blinked several times in surprise, “Why sister! How did you know?”

Olivia scoffed, “I've always been able to read you like a book, Alex.”

Alex began crying tears of joy and tried to give his sister a bone crushing hug, which was thwarted when the point of her sword rested on the nape of his throat. Composing himself quickly, he reached inside his uniform and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He handed it to her, saying, “This has all the information regarding your travel arrangements, the number on the bottom belongs to the person that you will be vacationing with.”

Olivia sheathed her blade, “Why am I traveling with someone?”

Alex shrugged, “It was cheaper for the other party if they sent off the other vacationer along with you.”

“I would almost suggest that this was all the Elric brothers' idea, since they're very tight with money, but they're so scared of what I can do to them that they will go out of their way to not get involved with anything to do with me.”

----------- -----------

“Hello? Roy Mustang speaking. May I ask who's calling?”

“...”

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

“I'm here, Mustang.”

“General Armstrong? To what do I owe the pleasure of hearing your voice again so soon?”

“Are you going on vacation in the near future, Mustang?”

“Indeed I am. May I ask why-...Wait....”

“Figure it out yet, Mustang?”

Roy sighed, “You're my traveling companion?”

“Evidentially.”

Roy glanced at his watch, “When and where do you want me to pick you up, madame?”

“My place, 9' o'clock. And if you call me that again I'll see to it that you can never have children for the rest of your life.”

“I'll see you then, Armstrong.”

----------------------- ------------

Roy tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Olivia to come downstairs. “What the hell could be taking her some long to finish getting ready?”

But when he really thought about it, he knew the reason, “Alex, that's gotta be why it's taking her so long.”

“What's taking who so long, Mustang?”

Roy spun around towards the kitchen behind him, his eyes widening at the sight before him. For there was Olivia Armstrong, feared General who had kept Drachma away from Briggs simply because she was in command, in a knee length skirt and matching blouse.

She raised crossed her arms, “What's wrong, Mustang? Cat got your tongue?”

Roy blinked rapidly in order to reorganize his thoughts, “I guess I've just never seen you in normal clothes, General.”

Olivia made her way towards the lower ranked officer, “Mustang? As long as this vacation lasts, call me Olivia.”

Roy cocked an eyebrow and mentally shrugged. He guessed that when Olivia Armstrong went on vacation and relaxed, she relaxed. He smiled and said, “Sure thing, Olivia, as long as you call me Roy instead of Mustang. It's only fair, you know.”

Olivia nodded and headed for the front door of the mansion, “Let's hurry on out of here. I'm not really in the mood for dealing with Alex this early in the morning, especially not 'emotional parting Alex'.”

Roy Mustang couldn't agree more.

---------- -------------

“Roy, remind me again of how we managed to get ourselves in this mess while only being here a day?”

Roy held up his hands, “Hey, don't hate me because I'm devilishly handsome, Olivia.”

Olivia scoffed, “Oh, you're a devil all right, Roy. A sniveling, ugly little devil who somehow managed to sign us up for a dance competition of all things.”

Roy feigned innocence as he phrased his next statement, “But Olivia, I thought you wanted to take your mind off of the things happening in Central. So, naturally, I signed us up for the activities that they have planned here. How was I supposed to know that we'd end up having to dance together?”

Olivia snorted in amusement, “Then why the hell did you sign us up as 'Mr. and Mrs. Charleston'? Admit it, Roy, you knew.”

Roy leaned back in the wicker chair that sat in the darkest corner of the waiting room. 'Mr. and Mrs. Charleston' were currently waiting their turn before they were given the chance to perform before the judges and make it past the preliminaries. He glanced at his 'wife', shrugging as he said, “Do you really expect us to make it past this point? You're making this out to be some sort of big deal when it's really nothing, Olivia. It's just one dance in front of some judges in order to pass the time and alleviate boredom.”

It was then that a small red haired woman poked her head through the doors. “Mr. and Mrs. Charleston? It's time.”

Roy stood up and dusted himself off. He turned and offered the Armstrong woman his hand, “Shall we?”

Olivia gripped his hand in a vice-like grip, making Roy wince in pain. “You do something as stupid as embarrass me in front of them, Roy, and I'll tear off your limbs, and then let my brother nurse you back to health.”

----------------- -----------

Olivia turned towards Roy in shock, “Did we just make it passed the preliminaries?”

Roy nodded dumbly, still stunned at how good it had felt to dance with Olivia Armstrong. 'No, Roy. Don't give in to it. It was just a dance. An amazing dance, but a dance nonetheless. Remember, Roy Mustang, she's the one who's trying to take away your Fuhrership. Keep that in your mind. Fuhrership. Wait, is that even a word?'

Olivia began to pace back and forth, her arms crossed as she thought about what they had to do next, “You know what this means, right Roy?”

“What's that?” He wasn't entirely sure he liked that look in her eye.

Olivia smiled darkly, “Why, Roy darling, we're going to have to practice for the competition.”

Roy groaned.

------- -----------

Roy groaned as he sat down on a bench outside of the hair salon where Olivia was currently getting her hair trimmed and cut. He was just glad that they were done practicing for the day.

“Geez,” he said to himself, “when she competes for something, she does all she can to win, doesn't she? She's been doing the same sort of thing when we've been politicking around for the Fuhrership.”

He winced as he began to rub his sore muscles, “I guess this is what I deserve for not exercising as much as I should have.”

Roy heard someone chuckle, and turned slightly to see it was an elderly man sitting on a bench near his. “Your lady wearing you out, laddie?” the old man asked.

Roy shrugged his shoulders, “I guess you could say that. I've been through worse, though.”

The old man gave Roy a knowing look, “But not when it comes to dancing, am I right?”

Roy smiled wryly, “Is it that easy to tell I'm in that dance competition?”

The old man chuckled, “I've lived here all my life, laddie, so I've seen my fair share of strapping young men who've suddenly discovered that dancing with their wives in this little competition is more work than they had originally thought. I would know, I've been in your exact position in my younger days.”

Roy let out a small chuckle as well, “You competed in this competition back in the day? Were you the one who signed both you and your wife up as well?”

The old man barked out a laugh, “Ha! Now that's a first! I never thought another man besides myself would be crazy enough to give the dance thing a try in an attempt to woo his woman.”

Roy coughed uncomfortably, “I have no idea what you're talking about...” He had to stop himself from squirming in his seat, as he had already failed to stop his faint blush from appearing on his face.

The old man just laughed.

-------- ------------

“So, sweetie, are you here by yourself or is there someone very special with whom you are vacationing with?” said an older woman to Olivia as they both waited their turn to get their hair done.

Olivia smiled politely at the elderly woman, “Oh, I'm with someone.”

“Oh, that's nice,dearie,” said the old woman. “Is he your husband?”

“It's...” Olivia fished her brains for an appropriate response to the question. “It's complicated,” she finished lamely.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

Olivia shifted in her seat uncomfortably, “He's more of a co-worker.”

“Then why are you here in this town with him on vacation?”

“Does saying that 'I have an idiot for a brother' count?”

“That doesn't explain why you're participating in the dance competition with him, as his Mrs. no less.”

“I...”

“Do you like him, at least somewhat?” the old woman asked kindly.

“He's tolerable.”

The old woman smiled gently, “Are you hoping he'll get more tolerable as this competition continues?”

Olivia smiled slightly, “Possibly. It'll make things easier when it comes to working with him, at least.” Make things easier for her to become Fuhrer, that is.

The old woman frowned slightly, “Have you considered the fact that he's in this to get together with you, only to dump you when this is all said and done for some other woman?”

-------- --------

As Roy and Olivia waited arm in arm for their turn, Olivia took the opportunity to glance at her dance partner's state of dress. Smiling slightly, she turned him towards her and began fiddling with his tie.

“What are you doing, Mrs. Charleston?” he asked in a light mocking tone.

“Why, Mr. Charleston,” she responded back in a sickeningly sweet and fake tone of voice, with a false smile to match, “I'm just making sure you look your absolute best for everyone watching at home!”

Roy scoffed, “Why don't I entirely believe you?”

Olivia dropped the sweet and caring wife act faster than a man could drop a hat, “Don't think that this will lead to anything, Mustang. I already know about your womanizing tendencies, even those that don't have anything to do with intelligence gathering. So don't think you can conquer me like all of those dumb little bimbos like those back in Central. We both want to be Fuhrer, and last I checked, they only allow one person at a time to hold that position. I don't really like you, and you don't really like me. Are we clear?”

Roy's eyes narrowed angrily as he nodded tersely. Olivia sneered at him, before straightening his tie and re-applying her happy wife act.

“All right! Everyone, please give a thunderous applause once again for Mr. and Mrs. Torak as we welcome the dancing sensation from Central Station! You know who I'm taking about! The two vacationers from the seat of national government who wowed everyone with their preliminary performance. And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, the visiting couple from Central: Mr. and Mrs. Charleston!!!”

--------- -----------

As they got back to their hotel suite, it was plain to see that Roy was ticked, while Olivia was furious. As soon as the door had been shut and locked behind them, she rounded on him and growled, “You did that on purpose, didn't you Mustang?”

He sneered at her, “Do what, Armstrong? I didn't do anything. You're just naturally clumsy, I guess.”

“You know as hell as well as I that you deliberately stepped on my dress right near the end so that I would fall and embarrass myself, Mustang! I thought I told you I didn't want to be humiliated in front of all those people, and you went ahead and did that!”

“Oh, get over yourself, Armstrong! At least I didn't accuse you of being overly promiscuous and fool hardy when it comes to relationships right before we went on stage!”

Olivia's fists trembled in anger, “I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Mustang; I'm not going to be another one of your little flings that you have to pass the time between reaching for the throne and stroking your ego!”

Roy's eyes grew shadowed, “Admit it, Armstrong, you're just a petty little bitch who's jealous of what kind of life I have, misinformed about it though you may be.”

Olivia didn't say anything. She quickly stormed out of the central living room and into her quarters, slamming the door behind her with terrific force.

------------- -----------------

The next morning, an old man made his way into his favorite bar, and to his surprise wasn't the first customer there that day. Making sure to hang up his coat first, he made his way to the bar, nodding to the barkeep that he wanted his usual drink.

“I guess I'm not the first person in here today, eh laddie?” the old man said.

Roy glanced up from his seat at the bar and looked at the old man. “Oh,” he said with a gravelly voice, “it's you from outside the salon yesterday.” The old man nodded, and the two men sat there together in silence for around half a minute before Roy blurted out, “And you're the first here today, old man. I've been here all night.”

The old man smiled tiredly, “Please, laddie, call me Bradford. Benjamin Bradford.”

Roy tipped his glass at the old man, “Roy Mustang.”

Bradford smirked, “I thought it was Charleston?”

Roy winced, “I didn't want to bring any of the crap from work with me into this vacation, and what better way than to use a false name?” He sighed, before downing the rest of the shot in one gulp, “And lookie here, that didn't seem to work out at all!”

“Women trouble?”

Roy groaned and placed his head in his hands, “Yes.”

Bradford patted Roy's back good naturedly, “Tell me what happened, Roy. Sometimes it's good to take the load off of your chest.”

Roy nodded sullenly and lifted his head up slightly in order to look at the older man while talking. “Well,” he said, “the thing is that I'm known as a player back home, even though I haven't had any sort of real date sense before the civil war in Ishbal. And this lady that I'm dancing with has always been sort of a rival to me when it comes to my ultimate goal, so I've always been wary of her. But as we were traveling across the country to get to this place, I began to think that maybe we'd gotten off on the wrong foot. I mean, when I really think about it, we're alike in most of the areas that count, you know?”

“So basically,” said Bradford, “You sort of like this woman, she thinks you're simply being your usual player self, she told you as such, you took it the wrong way, you purposefully embarrassed her in front of everyone last night, and now you two aren't talking to each other. Does that about sum up your situation, Mr. Mustang?” Roy nodded, “Then why the hell are you still here?”

Roy looked at him with wide eyes, “What?”

Bradford just looked at him, “Shouldn't you apologize to her? And tell her the truth about everything?”

Roy's eyes grew troubled, “I don't know if that would work. We said some nasty things to each other last night.”

Bradford smacked Roy on the back of the head, “Idiot, it's in the past. Show her with your actions and tell her with your words how sorry you are for what you did, and then tell her what you've been meaning to tell her all along.”

--------- --------------

One of the three elderly ladies that Olivia was currently talking to scoffed, “Don't tell me you took Gladys's words as gospel, sweetie. She isn't you. She doesn't really know the young man. How does she know that his intentions aren't pure?”

Olivia opened her mouth, and then closed it with a snap when no words would come out. Another one of the older women, the one with the fading red hair, smiled at her and tapped the eldest Armstrong's chin as she said, “Eustice has a point, doesn't she honey? Just because there are a few rumors about the young man back in Central doesn't make them true.”

The third woman nodded, “Clarice has it right, sweetie. You shouldn't label somebody simply because others already have. You should wait until you get to know him better, then you can judge him for who he really is, not for how he is presented.”

Olivia glanced guiltily out the café window. “Maybe,” she said in an almost whisper, “maybe I was too harsh on him.”

The third woman smiled at the young Armstrong, “And now all you have to do is apologize, and try to start again.”

Olivia gulped nervously as she fiddled with the edge of her coffee cup, “I'll try, Mrs. Bradford.”

------------ ------------

Roy paced in the living room that was a part of his and Olivia's hotel suite. He had rushed back to the hotel suite, only to discover that Olivia had left him a note saying that she was going to do some shopping by herself, and would be back in an hour or two. And so, he had set his alarm for an hour and a half and caught up somewhat on his sleep. However, it had already turned into an extra hour past when she said she would be back, and he was turning impatient.

However, all that impatience left him as soon as Olivia opened the door, as his best friend of the past few days, nervousness, decided to drop back by and settle down for a few minutes.

Olivia took in Roy's haggard appearance and sighed, before looking the dark haired man straight in the eye. “I'm only going to say this once, so you had better listen closely.” Roy turned his full attention towards her, “I'm sorry for what I said to you yesterday, Roy. You didn't deserve that.”

Roy's eyes widened slightly, before the hint of a smirk started to edge its way onto his face. “Always beating me to the punch, Armstrong. And here I was thinking it was going to take all day for you to listen long enough for me to apologize as well.” Olivia simply stared at him, and so he continued, “I'm sorry for what I did, and what I said yesterday. What I did what totally uncalled for.” He cleared his throat nervously and offered his hand, “Would you like to start over?”

Olivia batted away his hand as she stepped up close to him. She then gripped his shirt and pulled him closer to her, before planting a chaste kiss on his lips.

She smirked at his bewildered expression, “How's that for an answer, Roy?”

He smirked right back at her, “Could you repeat it? I'm not sure I picked up on all the subtle inflections in your response.”

And so, naturally, she smacked him upside the head, right before she showed him the rest of the subtle inflections that he missed picking up on the first time.

------- ---------

Roy shook his head as he waited for Olivia to finish getting ready for the finals part of the competition. “I can't believe we qualified for the final round with us being so ticked off at each other yesterday.”

He heard Olivia's voice respond faintly beyond the door to her room, “Well, if you remember what the judges said to us yesterday, then you'll know that passion is what brings out the best performances when it comes to these competitions. And despite the less than stellar ending, I have to admit that we'd never danced better, not even during practice.”

Olivia then opened the door to her room, pausing long enough for Roy to get a really good look at her before they left. She smirked at his dumbfounded expression. “Like what you see?” she asked in a teasing voice.

“Would you stab me if I told you that you were beautiful?”

Olivia smiled warmly at him, “Does it look like I'm wearing my blade?” Roy shook his head, “Then that's your answer, Roy.”

Roy nodded and smiled, “Do you think you'll be able to summon up enough passion tonight to win this thing?”

“All I have to do is hate you with all of my being and we'd be set, right?”

Roy smirked at her, before cupping her chin and tilting it up slightly, “Do you really hate me that much?” he asked, before kissing her lightly on her lips.

Olivia's eyes grew husky as she leaned into the dark haired man's body, “I hate you so much I can't stand it.”

Roy grinned, “I hate you too, dear.” He then leaned down slightly and captured her parted lips with his own.

------------- -------------

“Ladies and Gentlemen! I am proud to present to you the winning couple of the amateur dancing competition! Mr. and Mrs. Charleston!!!!!” The announcer paused as the crowd went wild, before continuing, “And now, please put your hands together for last year's champions, Mr. And Mrs. Martin, as they will be presenting this year's champions with their prize!”

Roy and Olivia's triumphant smiles faltered as they saw the two who were the champions the year before. The young woman had long green hair that had been elegantly plaited yet still fell down past her shoulder blades, and the blond young man had a smug look plastered on his face.

--------- -----------

“Alphonse and Evelyn Elric. I should have known,” Roy said with a slight grimace on his face.

“What's the matter,” asked Alphonse, “didn't expect us to show up here and ruin your guy's honeymoon?”

Olivia sighed, “Need I remind you that Roy and I are not married as of yet?”

Evelyn snickered, “'As of yet?'”

Roy looked at the two former champions, “Where's the kid?”

Alphonse shrugged, “We left him with Ed and Riza.”

“You sure that's wise?”

Alphonse laughed slightly, “Probably not. But I've had experience cleaning up my big brother's messes. “

“Speaking of brothers,” Roy said, turning to Olivia, “what are you going to tell Alex about what happened here?”

Olivia groaned, “I'd forgotten about him and his over dramatic emotional outbursts...”

Roy stared at her incredulously, “How did you manage that? And can you teach me how to as well?”

“Well at least you didn't ask me to marry you or anything. Could you imagine his reaction to that bit of news as well as our relationship?”

It was Roy's turn to groan, “Unfortunately, I can. All too well.”

---------- ---------------

FIN

AN: And there we have it! It is finished!

For those of you who don't know, Evelyn is the name of my version of Fem!Envy. And you thought this pairing was crackish....

NOTE TO fullmetal_info and fma_herald: The fic is NOT written by its poster. Please either omit it from today's digest, or tag the author as 'Anonymous,' whichever suits your fancy. Thank you! :D