Work Text:
Riza had a ton of paperwork because a few of the officers got sick and had to leave, and while she would be doing all of that, she couldn’t fit in time to look after Black Hayate. So, being the good Colonel he is, Roy said he could look after the dog for the day.
But even with Roy expressing his fondness of dogs (I LOVE DOGS!!), he had to admit it was hard to get used to a puppy in the office... especially because it would constantly paw at him as he was working.
"Would you stop.." Roy grumbled, as he glanced over to the small black dog chewing on his shoelace. He leaned over and grabbed the dog by the scruff of its neck.
He lifted it up to his eye level, "Well, what do you have to say?" he knew he looked stupid talking to the dog. In response, Black Hayate tilted his head to the side in a sickeningly cute way.
Roy sighs in defeat, "Whatever..." he muttered.
There was a quick knock on the door, before a lesser officer walked into the Room, "Colonel Mustang sir, here's the files you requested.." Great. A officer walked in on one of the most stupidest scenes— the Colonel holding a puppy up to eye level and glaring at it.
Roy's eyes widen a moment before relaxing again, he looked over to the officer. "...Thank you... just.. leave it on my desk." The dog started licking his face, Roy; now annoyed, held the puppy further away from his face.
The officer was bit bewildered by the sight... but he quickly recovered and ignored the scene. "Yeah, sure.." The officer placed the folder down on the table, "Will that be all, Colonel?"
"Yes." Roy almost immediately answers sternly.
“R-right.” the officer quickly left.
Roy sighed in relief and looked back over to the puppy he was holding; seeing how its squirming, he placed it down on the desk. “Just.. sit, alright..?” surprisingly it laid down pretty quickly.
“Oh, so you can listen, huh?” the dog's tail wagged in response. Roy moved his hand over to it's head and scratched behind it’s ears. He quickly got back to his work, because he didn’t want to admit to himself that he did in fact like the dog.
A few hours went by and Roy was pretty happy that he didn’t have to baby-sit the dog anymore.. until he received a call from Riza.
He picked up the telephone and Riza’s voice chimes in through the speaker. “Sorry Colonel, but I still have a lot of paperwork, you have to look after Black Hayate for the night.”
“What? I already looked after him for 4 hours, I’m not doing all night! I’m the Flame Alchemist, not a pet-sitter.” Roy objects, not wanting to look after him for the rest of the day.
“Colonel, you signed up for this. Deal with it, its not like you're the one with paperwork in front of them.”
After some hesitation he caves, “Fine. But I’m never doing this again” he sighs.
“Fine with me. Anyways, I've got forms to do, got to go.”
“Yeah, alright.. bye.” Roy places down the phone back on the switch hook.
He leans back in his chair and sighs. “Why does she sometimes act like I’m not the commanding officer..” he mutters to himself as he shuts his eyes “Well, I guess there could be worse things she’s doing.”
As the sun sets to a deep blue, Roy finishes up his work and goes to his sleeping quarters, bringing the dog with him; of course.
He sat down on the edge of his bed just thinking over the day until he gets snapped out of it by the puppy nudging his leg. “Hm?” Roy glanced over, watching as the small dog tried to jump up on the bed.. and fail.
Roy sighs, “You really can’t do anything by yourself, can you?", although there was some amusement in his tone. He picked the puppy up and put him on the bed. “There.” The dog’s tail wagged.
After a little bit of staring at the dog, Roy gets up to get ready for bed.
Around 15 minutes later, he finished up; wearing his usual sleep attire. He turned off the light and basically flops into bed. Shifting onto his side, his eyes slowly closing from the long day.
Just as Roy was dozing off, he was awoken to the puppy climbing into his arms. He’s stunned for a moment trying to process how cute this is. “I seriously don’t know what I was complaining about...” he whispered to himself as he stared at the puppy. Feeling sleepy again, Roy closed his eyes, pulling the dog closer.
As morning came, Riza knocked on Roy’s door “Colonel?”. She got no response. She decided to just open the door, and the sight did not disappoint— The Colonel sleeping with a dog in his arms, his hair tousled from sleep, and the most peaceful expression on his face.
Her eyes widened in surprise before relaxing “hey Colonel, you have work to do. Wake up!”
Roy stirred awake, “Mmh.. yeah..?” he mumbled, while still hugging the puppy.
“Sir, wake up!” Riza insisted.
Roy sat up, stretched, then rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.. I’m up.”
“Well, it seems like you had a good sleep..”
His brow furrowed a tiny bit “Hm?” he glanced over to the puppy in his arms.
“I’m guessing you like his company” Riza said, lightly amused.
“Hey now.. he climbed into my arms.. that wasn’t my choice.” Roy said, defensively. Raising his hands, shifting the blame back onto Black Hayate.
She had a small smile on her face. “Whatever you say sir, but you didn’t get him to move.”
Roy’s eyes widen a bit, he looked away, as he could feel a heat slowly creeping up his face. “Yeah.. and so what if i didn't..?”
“I’m just glad you like him.” Riza replied.
Roy frowns slightly and looks back at her “Who said i like him?”, once again defensive.
“Oh, you’re right. Sorry sir.” she said, pretending that she was wrong, and that he in fact did not like the puppy.. that he was still currently hugging.
“Anyways Sir, get up, you have a meeting in a hour.” And with that, she left.
Roy sighed. Great, a meeting.. well at least he got a great sleep with a puppy in his arms. He glanced down at the dog that was still peacefully snoozing in his arms. He poked its adorable face. Black Hayate immediately woke up and stared up at him with confusion. Roy chuckled at this, a soft smile appearing on his face.
“Y’know.. it really isn’t bad having you around.”