A loud knock sounded at Riza’s door around eleven in the morning, but she didn’t look up. She was happy being alone right now and whoever it was, whether salesman or Girl Scout, would eventually give up and leave anyway. It was a test of loyalty. She always waited ten minutes before opening the door on her days off. If it was important- they could wait.
Eyes trained studiously on an old, battered library copy of Anna Karenina, she shifted slightly in the soft woollen blankets draped over her person. On any other day, she would have been up at the crack of dawn, polishing her guns, working in the office by four- five, at latest. Roy probably wouldn’t arrive until ten himself but she always managed… Today, however, was her day off, and not even a house call from the Fuhrer himself would convince her to get out of bed. Leaning back against the pillows peacefully, Riza let herself read on to the end of the chapter before slipping in the neatly cut piece of blank A4 paper that served as a bookmark, and tied her dressing gown around her securely. Checking herself over in the mirror, she slipped a handgun into the grey silk pocket and watched the fabric sag considerably at the added weight. Then, after taking a moment more to comb out her long blonde hair so that it fell neatly down to about mid-back, she crossed the threshold of her bedroom and walked out into the hallway to open the front door.
“Gods, Rize! I’ve been knocking for ten minutes!” her black-eyed superior complained, sidestepping her and inviting himself into the kitchen. “Have you even had breakfast yet?”
“I had a little tea earlier,” said Riza, closing the door after her old friend and coming to stand behind him, “but, if I may, sir, what are you doing here? It’s my day off.”
“Gracia invited us over for lunch- we have two hours!” Roy reminded her with a sharp shake of his head as he set about plucking her favourite cereal and a bowl from the cupboards.
“That was today?” asked Riza, holding a hand to her head, sighing.
“She’s been planning it for weeks, Rize! Everyone’s coming! Figures, doesn’t it? You never forget a detail of my goddamned work schedule and see me to the door of all of my meetings but you can’t remember a thing about your own personal life.”
Riza ignored him, running her hands through her freshly combed hair irritably, “shut up. I’m just going to have a shower.”
Roy just nodded, setting her cereal on the counter and turning over to the stove, “I’ll put the kettle on again for you,” he volunteered and Riza thanked him before leaving as fast as she could while still appearing wholly dignified.
“Rize, Rize, Rize…”
Riza smiled a little at the mock disapproval in his voice before finding her clothes, laid out on the couch the night before, and going into the bathroom. As she turned on the tap and closed the shower curtains, she decided that she was quite grateful for Roy’s coming- he was probably the only one in all of Amestris, save for her mother in her grave, who knew her terrible weekend habit of staying in bed through the entire morning- if it weren’t for him, she probably would have missed lunch altogether.
“You forgot your clip.”
Riza blinked at the familiar voice, before nodding to the figure on the other side of the curtain, “thank you.”
“I’ll just set it down by the sink, will I?”
“Yes, thank you, Roy,” said Riza, waiting for the satisfying clink of the bone clip on the marble surface. Turning off the water –cold, then hot- she extended a hand from the curtained shower, “pass me the towel?” Feeling it brush against her palm, she closed her hand around it and drew it in- wrapping it around her person before walking out and turning to roll her eyes at Roy, who was watching her. “You can leave now.”
Roy looked confused for a moment, then a little surprised, eyes widening. “O-oh! Whoops, bye!”
Shaking her head again as the door closed, Riza smiled a little and moved the towel up to her hair, twisting it up and flipping it before pulling on her black undergarments and reaching down into the cupboard beneath the sink for her toothbrush and paste.
Slowly, very much relaxed by the warm shower, she began to run through her morning routine- getting dressed, brushing out her hair, applying her make-up and taking two tablets and a glass, which she filled with water, from the cabinet to her right, and downing them both. Next she retrieved a small tub of cream and pushed up her long grey skirt to tend to some old but irritable wounds on her lower thighs and calves, then beneath her unbuttoned navy dress shirt at her stomach and lower back. Dropping the towel from her hair into a heap on the ground, she set about brushing it out and drying it with the electric dryer so that it curled slightly at the ends before clipping it up in her usual immaculate bun.
Looking herself over now, Riza buttoned up her shirt, pulling on her tights and went over her mental checklist before dropping her pyjamas, robe and towel into the hamper and crossing the room to turn off the lights and fan by the door.
When she walked out into the kitchen Roy had taken her breakfast into the dining room and the kettle was sitting, ready, on the counter. Pouring the tea into her favourite mug, Riza reached for a coffee cup and went over to the machine, which she owned for God knows what reason, since she honestly couldn’t stand the stuff, and made Roy’s the way he liked it before carrying both cups into the next room and sitting down at the table, where he was trying to pour a very full packet of dog food into Hayate’s smaller bowl.
Riza took the packet from him and gave him the steaming cup in return before getting the dog’s breakfast ready and setting it at her feet, whistling for him to come. With that, she sat back down and started on her breakfast, ever aware of Roy’s amused eyes on her.
“What?” she asked eventually.
“Nothing- it’s just funny seeing you in your natural environment,” said Roy, grinning. “Everything’s so tidy.”
“Give it a week or so, sir- I only just finished unpacking. It’ll be back to normal again soon,” said Riza, shaking her head. “My home is rarely my first priority- I don’t spend a lot of time hanging around anyway.”
“I don’t give you that much work, do I?”
Riza gave him a grim smile, “it’s not only mine I end up doing, is it, sir?”
“Oh yeah… sorry about that…”
“It’s fine,” Riza drank the milk from her bowl and went to scrape the remained of the cereal into the garbage bin before returning to finish her tea. “So,” she said, sitting down again, “why did Gracia want to see us all of a sudden?”
“I think she’s trying to make it up for landing us with babysitting tonight,” said Roy, then he frowned at the look on Riza’s face. “You forgot about that too, didn’t you, Rize?”
“Oh… I guess I wasn’t planning on doing much anyway,” Riza sighed, then as she went to put her mug away too, she noticed a post-it on the fridge- ‘dinner with Maria and Sheska at 8’. Sighing, she picked up the phone next and dialled Maria’s number.
“Hello?” the Second Lieutenant picked up on the first ring.
“Hey, Maria- this is Riza.”
“Riza? What’s up?”
“The Colonel just reminded me that Gracia asked both of us to baby-sit tonight, so I can’t have dinner with you.”
“Okay, I’ll tell Sheska,” said Maria understandingly, “tell the Colonel ‘hi’ from us both, alright?”
“Sure thing- and sorry I can’t make it.”
“No problem- you can come out with us some other night, okay?”
“Definitely.” Riza smiled and hung up.
“Everything alright?” asked Roy, bringing in his own cup.
“Yes,” said Riza, taking the post-it off the refrigerator and screwing it up before aiming for the trash can on the other side of the room and throwing it across.
“Unbelievable,” said Roy, laughing a little, “even when you’ve just woken up, your aim is as good as ever.”
Riza smiled at the compliment and checked the time- they had half an hour or so to kill before they’d have to leave. Walking back into her bedroom, she retrieved her book and brought it into the sitting room, where she sat down and switched on the remote-controlled CD-player that sat on top of her television. “Maria says ‘hi’ …You can hang around, if you want, sir,” said Riza, opening the book to her page, “just try not to make a mess.”
“You don’t have to call me ‘sir’ today, Riza- we’re both off duty,” said Roy, sitting down beside her.
“Force of habit, sir.”
“You used to always call me ‘Roy’.”
“Not since we were children,” Riza reminded him, eyes still locked on her book.
“Can’t you call me that again?”
Riza didn’t reply for a moment, but then she looked up, “okay, sure, Roy,” she said, blushing a little as she looked down again.
“Good.”
“What are you listening to?” asked Roy, satisfied as he walked over to the shelves where she’d set up her CDs.
“It should be third from the right on the second shelf- the album’s called ‘Secret’ by Ayumi Hamasaki.”
“Found it!” said Roy triumphantly and a ghost of a smile flickered over Riza’s face. “Have you got anything by L’Arc-en-Ciel?”
“No- for good reason.”
“How can you not like them?!”
Riza didn’t reply, but she smiled down at her book wryly.
Roy looked through the rest of her CDs, “hey! Gackt! You like them too?!”
“You gave me that CD for my last birthday,” said Riza. “Remember?”
“Oh yeah…” said Roy, chuckling, “but it was better than the year before when I got you-”
“We don’t need to bring that up again, Roy,” said Riza sharply.
“Haha, you almost shot me for that one…”
“…But you jumped out the window,” Riza agreed, smiling again.
“I just wanted to see what your reaction would be.”
“Idiot,” said Riza and she checked the time again- 20 minutes left. She returned to her novel and Roy went back to checking out her CDs.
“Ami Suzuki, Angela Aki, Anna Tsuchiya, Aya Matsuura, Ayaka- see, you are real organised. My CDs wouldn’t last a day in alphabetical order,” said Roy, grinning.
“That’s hardly organization,” Riza replied, “more like common sense.”
“Only in your world, Rize.”
Riza rolled her eyes and smiled.
A comfortable silence fell then, as Roy continued going through her things and she started reading again. The sharpshooter’s apartment wasn’t anything like he might have imagined- it was laden with decorative objects and little knick-knacks that served no actual purpose whatsoever.
“I picked up the collectors gene from my mother’s family. My Nana- my great-grandmother- especially,” said Riza, unable to quite concentrate with Roy poking around her living room and coming to stand behind him, book set aside. “She had a fixation with all things cat-shaped,” she gestured now to the shelf below the Faberge eggs he was looking at, “I continued the collection in her memory.”
“You like pretty things, don’t you?”
Riza nodded, “this collection was started by my brother, Erich, before he died last year… he loved horses.” She lead him around the room, showing him the various oddities that her many deceased family members had left to her. “My dead Aunt Marenna… Uncle Robin… Aunt Esther…”
“All this death is just depressing,” said Roy, a firm hand on her arm as she tried to lead him over to the next case, “aren’t any of these your own personal collections?”
A light blush spread over Riza’s pale cheeks and she nodded, “lockets, sir,” she said. “I collect lockets.” Almost subconsciously, her hand moved upward to finger her favourite, a simple silver heart that hung on a delicate chain around her neck.
“It’s really pretty,” said Roy and she flushed a little deeper. Seeing this, he grinned, “it means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”
Running a gentle thumb over the beautiful flowery pattern engraved into the heart, Riza nodded again, “it belonged to… I took it from the body of a young girl who died in the Ishbal Massacre, Roy.” She looked very much like she wanted to cry all of a sudden but she was smiling, “it’s a reminder… I never want anything like that to happen again.”
“You’re not alone in that,” said Roy gravely.
“That is some consolation… why don’t we go now? I’ll show you the rest of my collection another day.”
“Was that an invitation to come back to the sacred Hawkeye residence?” asked Roy, his cocky grin returning quite rapidly.
Riza gave him a reproachful look, “hey, I’ve had people over here before- Maria, Gracia, Elysia and Sheska have all come to visit more than once.”
“What about guys?”
“Edward came to talk to me about the Massacre a while back.”
“The Shrimp doesn’t count, Rize.”
Riza brushed the subject away on that note, “you do realise that Edward and Alphonse will be at Gracia’s today, don’t you? You had better learn to control those remarks of yours, you know how she abhors fighting- besides, Elysia will be there too; we can’t have you two mouthing off around her at such an impressionable age.”
“But he’s such an easy target, Rize! And besides, it’s usually his fault anyway!” Roy complained as Riza bent down to attach Hayate’s leash.
“All the same, it’s terribly exasperating the way you’re always at each others throats,” she said, shaking her head admonishingly. “Besides, you know that Winry will be telling him the same thing, so he’ll be on his best behaviour- don’t provoke him or I’ll make sure she gets you with that wrench of hers too.”
“Hey!”
“Unless you’d prefer my gun?”
“Okay! Okay! I’ll be nice to the- …I’ll be nice to Fullmetal…”
“Good boy,” said Riza, reaching up to ruffle his hair.
“I am not Hayate!” Roy whined. “And I actually brushed my hair this morning!”
“You can’t tell,” said Riza, shaking her head and reaching into her purse for her own brush, handing it to him as they walked out the door, Hayate’s leash wrapped around her wrist a couple of times.
They took Roy’s car, which was big and black and probably impressive to most of the girls he dated, but not to Riza, who probably couldn’t tell the difference between that and a taxicab. The ride was about 12 minutes longer than expected due to heavy traffic but she had accounted for that too and they actually arrived reasonably on time. They weren’t the first there, but knowing Havoc he had probably turned up several hours earlier just so he wouldn’t be late. Still, it gave Elysia someone to play with.
“Hey, Aunty Riza,” said the young girl in question as she bounced up behind her mother, who had opened the door, “Can I do your hair? Uncle Jean’s isn’t long enough.”
Havoc, his hair in several vertical bunches tied with pink ribbon, poked his head out from the living room miserably, “please, Hawkeye?”
Roy, who had seen just how long Riza had spent on her hair, was about to laugh it off when Riza smiled and agreed, taking down her hair and following her into the next room.
“She’s so good with Elysia,” said Gracia happily, then she turned back to Havoc, “would you like some help redoing your hair, Jean?”
“I can do it myself,” Havoc grumbled, clutching at one of his many pigtails protectively.
Roy laughed and followed them both into the dining room.
The next to arrive were Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh, who were immediately thrust into Roy’s deep, teasing interrogation as to why they had arrived together, to which Gracia responded that he and Riza had also come as a pair.
“Only because I knew she would have forgotten!” Roy protested, but to those who only knew Riza as the immaculately dressed and inhumanly organised First Lieutenant and his aide it was not the best of arguments.
“Haha! The Lieutenant? Forget? Liar!” Havoc laughed loudly.
Loud enough to draw Riza and Elysia into the room.
“Actually, I had forgotten,” she said evenly, “I was still in bed with a book when he arrived.”
“She left me out on the doorstep for ten minutes…” Roy muttered to himself.
“She does that to everyone,” Gracia assured him kindly and Elysia nodded.
“One Christmas it was snowing and cold and Mommy and me got really cold waiting forever outside,” she agreed fervently.
“I thought you were carol singers,” said Riza apologetically, taking out the clumsy plait Elysia had done her hair in and retrieving the bone clip from her purse. “Havoc, are you quite alright?”
Everyone looked at Havoc, who seemed very far off- eyes wide and mouth slightly open.
“Don’t mind him,” said Roy, thumping his friend on the back, “he’s been a little off ever since Riza said ‘in bed’.”
Riza frowned slightly as Havoc started coughing and swatting at Roy but let her Browning remain sleeping peaceful in her black purse. Straightening the collar of her deep blue dress shirt, she was the first one out of the room when the doorbell rang. “Good Morning, Edward,” she said politely, while casting a backwards glance in the Colonel’s general direction, “you too, Alphonse; Winry.”
“Hi, First Lieutenant Hawkeye,” said Ed pleasantly, “please tell me the bastard Colonel is late, as usual?”
Riza shook her head grimly as a flying wrench collided with his head, “actually, no- we arrived together. You’re looking well, Winry.”
“Thanks, Riza- you too! I love your top!”
“Thank you. And Alphonse, is that a new… loincloth?”
“It’s my Sunday one,” said Al, blushing as much as it was possible for a suit of armour to do.
“Why don’t you all come in? Winry, you and I can rescue Maria and Gracia from the boys and we’ll leave them to talk about scabs and car racing.”
“Sounds good,” said Winry happily, pushing past Ed to be first in the door, conking him on the head with her wrench again as he made to complain. “Play nice with the Colonel,” she said firmly.
Ed nodded meekly. “I will,” he said, not seeming at all happy about it.
Riza smiled, “don’t worry- I asked him to be on his best behaviour as well so it shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Just don’t try to be funny, brother,” said Al and Ed glared at him.
“Who was at the door?” asked Maria, coming out into the hallway.
“Edward, Alphonse and Winry.”
Maria smiled, “Winry! How’ve you been?!”
“Well, thank you!” said Winry brightly.
“And you two?” asked Maria, but didn’t wait for an answer before turning to Winry again. “Have they been staying out of trouble?”
“…”
“Idiots…”
“Yup.”
Maria sighed and brushed it aside, “why don’t you go inside and say hello to everyone?”
“Okay,” said Ed, walking ahead of the others.
Riza and Winry exchanged glances, before deciding that they both had to supervise the initial clashing of their charges.
“Hi, Mrs Hughes,” said Ed, “Havoc; Brosh; Colonel Bas- …Colonel.”
“Good afternoon, Edward!” said Gracia brightly.
“Hey, Shri-” Roy paused, seeing Riza and Winry glaring in the doorway, and managed to grumble out, “…hey, Fullmetal…”
Gracia beamed and picked up Elysia, leaving with the other girls.
Next to arrive was Fuery, who was accompanied by three stray cats and Warrant Officer Falman. When his kitties had been left in the kitchen to play with Al’s four, they went to join the boys and were amazed by the General Audience Rated scene before them: Roy was sitting down beside Ed on the couch and neither one of them were unconscious! …Roy did look rather traumatised, though, and Ed had a large red bump on his head that looked as though it could have only been made by a particular mechanic’s wrench…
“Hey,” said Fuery, also sitting down, “where are the girls?”
“I think they’re in the garden with Elysia,” said Roy, sounding very much as if he’d rather be with them.
“Winry wanted to play ball with her,” said Ed, in a similar tone.
“Who are we waiting on for lunch?” asked Falman.
“Just Sheska and Breda, I think,” said Havoc, “…unless she was stupid enough to invite Armstrong-”
“Hello, everybody!!” came the voice of a tall buff man surrounded by pink sparkles as he broke down the door.
“…Damn…”
“Edward Elric!! Alphonse!! I am so glad to see that you are well!!”
…
A few moments later, two gun-wielding female lieutenants burst onto the scene.
“We heard a crash!” Riza explained quickly, then her eyes fell on Edward and Alphonse cowering in the corner. “Oh, Major Armstrong- I didn’t realise you’d arrived,” she said, lowering her gun, though only slightly, “Maria, go and fetch Gracia.”
At that moment, Gracia bounced into the room, “Heymans and Sheska have just arrived,” she said, “shall we all go on into the dining room?”
-
Riza looked down at the beautifully laid out lunch Gracia had made for them all and smiled appreciatively. She knew that her friend would never have hired a caterer- even with so many guests- and even if she had, she would have spent the entire time hovering over their shoulders, making little suggestions and trying to help out, so the effort that had been put into the meal was really obvious to everyone.
“It looks lovely, Gracia. You did an excellent job,” said Riza, sitting down and the others were all quick to agree with her. She frowned slightly as everyone but Gracia, Elysia and herself dug into their meals and coughed audibly when nobody notice their hesitation. “Who’d like to volunteer to say Grace?” she asked, her voice firm.
Everyone stared at her like she was nuts but she didn’t waver.
“Can I do it today, Aunty Riza?” asked Elysia excitedly and Riza nodded. She coughed then, too, to clear her throat and clasped her hands at her breast. “Bless us, O Lord, and these, Your gifts, which we are about to receive from Your bounty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.”
When nobody moved, Riza spoke up to clarify, “now you can eat.”
Breda looked up from his plate of food and said, somewhat quietly, “can I say something too?”
“Of course,” said Gracia, smiling.
“Bisillah ar-Rahman, ar-Raheem,” he said.
There was a slight pause then-
“Itadakimasu,” said Roy, putting his hands together.
“Itadakimasu,” Sheska and Maria agreed, doing the same.
“Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen,” said Armstrong, with a couple more pink sparkles than usual.
“Bless,” said Al and Ed together.
“Bless the food before us, the family and friends beside us, and the love between us. Amen,” said Brosh and everyone agreed.
Gracia looked a little teary at that, but she hid her face in her food. Riza smiled at Elysia who was smiling back broadly, then, with an unexplainably warm fuzzy feeling in their chests, everyone started eating again and conversation resumed.
-
“…And they all lived happily ever after,” Riza finished, stroking Elysia’s fluffy brown hair and pulling the blankets up to her chin as she turned out the light.
The rest of the day had passed without incident –Roy had even managed to pass Ed the gravy without purposely spilling it over him this time around- and Riza was just finishing up with telling Elysia the story of ‘Cinderella’ for what had to be the thousandth time.
“Is she asleep yet?” asked Roy, silhouetted in the doorway by the light behind him.
“No thanks to you,” said Riza, smoothing out her grey skirt and standing up.
“Fine,” said Roy, sighing dramatically, “then I suppose I’ll just have to go and drink all the tea I just put on by myself.”
“No way- that tea is my official God-given right,” said Riza, pushing him out of the doorway and making her way downstairs sleepily.
Roy just grinned and followed her down, “speaking of ‘God’,” he said, “since when were you religious?”
Riza shrugged, “I’m not… I used to be, but it’s kind of hard to believe in that sort of thing anymore…”
“I understand, but then why-?.”
“It means a lot to Gracia and Elysia,” she explained, pouring her tea resolutely, “and in the end, almost everyone had something to say. They’re nice memories… that might be all they are, but it still feels good.”
“It made everyone feel good.”
“…Almost like there actually was something at the other end of our prayers- someone; someone listening who cares…”
Roy smiled and slipped his arms around her waist from behind, “you’re lucky- you have so many people who do care about you.”
“Mmm, I know…” said Riza, closing her eyes and leaning her back against him tiredly, bringing the steaming mug up to her lips.
Roy’s hands slipped under her dark top and he rubbed her stomach soothingly. “You’re tired, aren’t you?” he asked, warm breath tickling her right ear and bringing a small, breathy giggle out of her.
“Yes… but your hands are cold, s-sir.”
“So I’m warming them,” said Roy cheekily, giving her belly a little tickle.
Too sleepy to argue- or even properly register their position- Riza just nodded, “fine… but don’t think I’m giving you total liberty, okay? Your hands don’t move any farther up than that.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I’m back!” called Gracia, bouncing in the kitchen door and not seeming at all tired herself. “Thank you so much for baby-sitting, you two- I needed a night out!” she stopped to stare as she saw where Roy’s hands were but didn’t comment.
Riza tugged them down and smiled at Gracia, “glad to be of help,” she said drowsily, “tell Elysia goodnight again for us.”
“I’ll tell her,” Roy volunteered quickly, “you go wait in the car, Rize.”
Glad for an excuse to get off her feet, Riza agreed, “good night, Gracia,” she said and Gracia bid her good evening, still looking quite amused.
“So,” she said, turning to Roy as she heard the heavy front door close, “what were you and Riza up too?”
“She was getting a cup of tea,” said Roy, gesturing towards her half-finished mug, though he knew that that wasn’t what Gracia was talking about.
“Come on, your hands were up her shirt- don’t bother trying to tell me that nothing happened, I was married once, you know?”
“It’s not like I was touching her,” Roy protested with an unusual emphasis on the word that implied much more than it might otherwise have. “I was only touching her stomach- besides, she was half asleep, which is probably the only reason I didn’t get shot as it is.”
The two of them walked upstairs to check on Elysia, Gracia shaking her head, “but you like her, don’t you?”
Roy didn’t reply.
“Well, I’ve heard the rumours about you, Roy, but Riza is very protective of her body- she doesn’t let just anyone so much as shake her hand for more than two seconds at the best of times- so she obviously trusts you very much, enough to be allow you to handle her,” Gracia held up a hand as he began to complain again, “however slightly,” she finished. “Besides, it’s clear that she has feelings for you, and though I don’t know you quite as well, I think it’s a fair bet that you feel the same way.”
“…You know, I probably shouldn’t leave her alone in the car much longer…”
“You’re lucky I agree with you,” said Gracia, almost sternly, “but we’ll talk about this again sometime, okay? …Maes always said that he’d like to see you both happy- do him proud.”
“I’ll see you soon, Gracia,” said Roy, already down the hall, standing by the open door.
Gracia sighed and nodded, “good bye, Roy- try to grow a backbone before I see you next, okay?”
“I’ll try,” Roy agreed, for her sake, and left.
-
Riza was already asleep when they reached her home twenty minutes or so later, but after a quick search of her bag –and a little help from Hayate- he found her keys and tried to shake her awake gently.
That didn’t work.
“Riza?” he tried calling her name.
Still, she didn’t budge.
Sighing, but not really all that put out, Roy lifted her into his arms and closed the car door with his foot before carrying her up the garden path and into the house, somewhat clumsily, Hayate faithfully trotting along behind them both. Roy fumbled for the light switch on the wall and deposited her on the couch gracelessly before shaking out his arms and picking her up again.
“Damn, Rize, you’re heavier than you look,” he muttered, mostly to himself.
“Gee thanks,” said Riza, opening her eyes and sounding very tired and grumpy- not a good combination. “Put me down now; I can walk.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t drop you,” said Roy, grinning as he nudged her bedroom door open and turned the light on in there too, bringing her up a little to kiss her forehead lightly before setting her down on her bed and placing the purse from her lap on the bedside table.
Riza closed her eyes for a moment before sighing and standing up, “can you feed Hayate for me?” she asked, “I need to change.”
“Aww, can’t I help you with that instead?” Roy whined.
Riza glared and used the black silk pyjamas she had just taken out of her drawers to whack him in the head- making sure the buttons caught him in the eye determinedly.
“Oww! I was joking!”
Riza didn’t seem amused, “just go feed the dog.”
“Fiiiine…”
She smiled a little as he left and closed the door. Rubbing her eyes, Riza removed her hair clip, then set about undoing her dark blue dress shirt, pulling it off just as Roy opened the door.
“Hey, Rize- which cupboard’s the dog food in?”
“You did that on purpose,” said Riza, huffing and turning her back on him to slip on her black pyjama top, buttoning that up before turning around again.
“While I’m not at all opposed to the sight,” said Roy, earning a glare from Riza, “I actually don’t know where to look.”
Rolling her eyes, Riza mentioned something vague about the third cupboard to the right in the kitchen and Roy left. When her pants where on and her day’s clothes disposed of in the hamper, she went to find Roy, who was setting Hayate’s full bowl back on the ground as she walked into the kitchen.
“Thank you,” she said and he nodded dutifully.
“No problem- it’s the least I could do.”
“For walking in on me?”
“For the beautiful Lieutenant who’s always watching over me,” Roy corrected her and Riza couldn’t help but smile a little.
“Good night, Roy,” she said, shaking her head.
“Aww, I have to leave?”
“I’m tired- I’m going to bed… Unless you’d like to hear some more about my collections? I’m afraid I’m just as bad as Major Armstrong when it comes to them.”
Roy reached out to touch the locket that rested at her chest, then slipped that arm around her neck to pull her against him gently, his other arm coming around her waist.
“Sir-?”
“Why do you always call me that specifically when I try to get close to you?”
“Get close to…?”
“Yup,” said Roy, and he pecked her on the lips chastely, “but you aren’t the easiest woman to pursue, you know that?”
“I… I guess not…” said Riza, shrugging noncommittally.
“Make it easier for me?”
Riza looked up at him doubtfully, before closing her eyes and resting her head on his shoulder, smiling into his neck.
“Rize?”
“Okay,” she said, her lips moving against his skin. “I’ll try.”
Roy held her tighter and kissed the top of her head, burying his face in her loose hair and closing his eyes too. They stood like that for a long time, Riza’s breathing getting slowly deeper and more relaxed. Roy grinned, thinking to himself that she was becoming more at ease with him holding her, only to find that she had, in actual fact, fallen asleep on his shoulder. Unable to resist a small smile, he ran his right had through her long blond hair, still using the other arm around her waist to support her. “Good night, Riza,” he said softly but he received no reply. Grinning quite broadly now, he had no choice but to pick her up and carry her back into her bedroom, where he lay her down and pulled the sheets up over her so that they rested at her chin.
Roy looked over at the clock, then; it was almost midnight. Time to go. Just as he turned to leave, might filled with exasperated thoughts of driving all the way home in the dark and the cold, he felt a small hand clasp around his. Though her eyes were still closed, and her head turned slightly away, Riza murmured, “if you go home now, you’ll surely crash and it’ll be me who has to sort it all out in the morning.”
“So what are you suggesting?” asked Roy with a lop-sided grin.
“Lie down and shut up so I can get some sleep,” said Riza, rolling over to the far side of the bed.
“You sure move fast, don’t you?”
“Would you rather sleep on the couch? Or maybe in the kitchen with Hayate?”
“I’ll stay here, thanks,” said Roy, removing his shoes and jacket before climbing into bed beside her.
There was no reply from Riza, who seemed to be drifting in and out of sleep. When her breathing regulated yet again, Roy decided that she was out for the night and took the opportunity to pull her back into his arms, holding her like a teddy bear- he wasn’t counting on Riza cuddling him back, but when he brought it up she was decidedly asleep again. Knowing that he couldn’t possibly win, Roy kissed her mouth and whispered “good night” again before finally surrendering himself to the peaceful quiet of the night.
Riza smiled and kissed him back… but then again, maybe they were both dreaming.