Prompt 241, Payday, "Government Shutdown"
Title: Government Shutdown
Series: AU
Word Count: 619
Rating: T for language
Characters/Pairings: Edward, Roy
Summary: Candy is not appropriate compensation.
“That is not my paycheck.”
“So you’re not a chocolate person, I take it?” Roy withdrew his hand, shrugging his shoulders in feigned disappointment at the candy. “Shoot, I was really counting on tha-”
“Quit playing games with me, Mustang!” Ed narrowed his eyes. “Unlike you, some of us have real work to do today.”
Roy frowned. His eyes involuntarily make a quick sweep of his cluttered desk before he broke away and looked at his subordinate. Blond hair pulled pack in his typical braid and clad in his flamboyant red coat, Edward didn’t look like he was in the mood to have polite conversation.
Roy sighed dramatically, letting himself lean back in his leather seat. This was not going to go over well.
“Unfortunately, Fullmetal, I’m afraid I can’t do that. You see...,” Roy opened and thumbed through a drawer on his left, looking for the right letterhead with the right name, all the while aware of Ed tapping his metal fingers on his desk in impatience.
“Well, what?” asked Ed, annoyance dripping from his lips like venom. After hesitating only briefly, Roy handed the paper over to Ed.
“The Amestrian government has shut down.”
Ed stopped his tapping. “Shut down? What the fuck does that mean?”
“The two sides of the government - the Parliament and the military - couldn’t come to an agreement on the budget in time, forcing the entire system to close.”
Ed looked confused, prompting Roy to elaborate in simpler terms. The politics of the system were confusing at best, and that was coming from Roy Mustang, a master of the game. So, instead of launching into a discussion that neither of them wanted to have, Roy tried his best to summarize.
“You see...there are certain deadlines for certain proposals, and if they aren’t submitted in time...there are consequences, such as the letter in your hand.”
Edward glanced away for a moment, skimming the document in earnest. “It says...that I...don’t get paid?!”
“That’s right,” Mustang replied, a slight smirk on the corners of his lips. He didn’t find the actual situation funny in the least, but sometimes, he simply couldn’t help himself in taunting the alchemist. “Only Parliament and officers ranking colonel and above continue to receive compensation. Everybody else does not.”
“But that’s bullshit!” Edward seethed as he crumpled up the paper and chucked it across the room. “We need that money for food and games and stuff!”
Mustang grinned. “I bought you candy, didn’t I?”
Edward glared daggers. “You’re not funny. I’m leaving. Gonna go fix this.”
A glimpse of malice and devious intent flashed briefly behind golden irises, causing Roy to startle. He attempted to stop the blond, to halt his crusade of god-knew-what intentions, but before he could even utter a word, the teenager was out the door.
***
A few hours and a few headaches later, Roy saw the blond again sporting a wicked grin from ear to ear. Roy groaned, already knowing and feeling the fatigue of conversing upon him. True to his word, Edward had certainly settled the two parties differences...though, Roy had to wonder at the alchemist’s means...
“I’m baaacccckkkk!” Edward called, waving comically at the tired expression on his commanding officer's face. “Miss me?”
“Hardly,” replied Mustang dryly, his hands already at work on sorting through the new envelopes on his desk. “I take it you’re the one who ‘fixed’ this, as you said?”
“Yep! Sure did.” Edward put his hands on his hips and looked entirely too smug. “What, no ‘congrats Edward’ for getting the government running again? Or, oh wait! Now you have to do your paperwork again, correct?”
Roy groaned. “Just take your paycheck and leave.”
Series: AU
Word Count: 619
Rating: T for language
Characters/Pairings: Edward, Roy
Summary: Candy is not appropriate compensation.
“That is not my paycheck.”
“So you’re not a chocolate person, I take it?” Roy withdrew his hand, shrugging his shoulders in feigned disappointment at the candy. “Shoot, I was really counting on tha-”
“Quit playing games with me, Mustang!” Ed narrowed his eyes. “Unlike you, some of us have real work to do today.”
Roy frowned. His eyes involuntarily make a quick sweep of his cluttered desk before he broke away and looked at his subordinate. Blond hair pulled pack in his typical braid and clad in his flamboyant red coat, Edward didn’t look like he was in the mood to have polite conversation.
Roy sighed dramatically, letting himself lean back in his leather seat. This was not going to go over well.
“Unfortunately, Fullmetal, I’m afraid I can’t do that. You see...,” Roy opened and thumbed through a drawer on his left, looking for the right letterhead with the right name, all the while aware of Ed tapping his metal fingers on his desk in impatience.
“Well, what?” asked Ed, annoyance dripping from his lips like venom. After hesitating only briefly, Roy handed the paper over to Ed.
“The Amestrian government has shut down.”
Ed stopped his tapping. “Shut down? What the fuck does that mean?”
“The two sides of the government - the Parliament and the military - couldn’t come to an agreement on the budget in time, forcing the entire system to close.”
Ed looked confused, prompting Roy to elaborate in simpler terms. The politics of the system were confusing at best, and that was coming from Roy Mustang, a master of the game. So, instead of launching into a discussion that neither of them wanted to have, Roy tried his best to summarize.
“You see...there are certain deadlines for certain proposals, and if they aren’t submitted in time...there are consequences, such as the letter in your hand.”
Edward glanced away for a moment, skimming the document in earnest. “It says...that I...don’t get paid?!”
“That’s right,” Mustang replied, a slight smirk on the corners of his lips. He didn’t find the actual situation funny in the least, but sometimes, he simply couldn’t help himself in taunting the alchemist. “Only Parliament and officers ranking colonel and above continue to receive compensation. Everybody else does not.”
“But that’s bullshit!” Edward seethed as he crumpled up the paper and chucked it across the room. “We need that money for food and games and stuff!”
Mustang grinned. “I bought you candy, didn’t I?”
Edward glared daggers. “You’re not funny. I’m leaving. Gonna go fix this.”
A glimpse of malice and devious intent flashed briefly behind golden irises, causing Roy to startle. He attempted to stop the blond, to halt his crusade of god-knew-what intentions, but before he could even utter a word, the teenager was out the door.
***
A few hours and a few headaches later, Roy saw the blond again sporting a wicked grin from ear to ear. Roy groaned, already knowing and feeling the fatigue of conversing upon him. True to his word, Edward had certainly settled the two parties differences...though, Roy had to wonder at the alchemist’s means...
“I’m baaacccckkkk!” Edward called, waving comically at the tired expression on his commanding officer's face. “Miss me?”
“Hardly,” replied Mustang dryly, his hands already at work on sorting through the new envelopes on his desk. “I take it you’re the one who ‘fixed’ this, as you said?”
“Yep! Sure did.” Edward put his hands on his hips and looked entirely too smug. “What, no ‘congrats Edward’ for getting the government running again? Or, oh wait! Now you have to do your paperwork again, correct?”
Roy groaned. “Just take your paycheck and leave.”