Work Text:
Captain Hawkeye heard strange noises coming from the office even before she entered. Their office, which was supposed to be empty save for the “Second Lieutenant” Hayate.
“...the signal...”
“...go exactly where...”
“...good boy, good Hayate!...”
Someone clearly was there and, judging by the lack of fuss from Hayate, this someone was a familiar figure in her dog’s life.
The latter reassured Riza and she didn’t burst into the room but quietly walked in, taking in the scene before her.
Second Lieutenant Havoc — who was supposedly on a leave to spend time with his fiancee — now was crouching before Hayate, patting his sides, and then looked up at said fiancee.
“How did that look?”
“Very weird,” Rebecca deadpanned, shaking her head.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Riza’s loud question startled the unexpected visitors. Jean sprang out — an impressive move that warmed Riza’s heart after watching him struggle for months with rehabilitation — and sheepishly looked at Riza, stealing glances at Rebecca, as if searching for help. Rebecca cursed quietly, shuffled something under her jacket and turned to her friend, smiling widely.
“Hey, Riza! Fancy meeting you here.”
“Right, Rebecca. So fancy meeting me in the office on my workday,” Riza lifted her brow and looked back at Jean.
“Havoc, I’m surprised you’ve chosen the Central Command as a destination for your romantic getaway.”
“Yeah, we’ve just been passing by,” Jean started slowly, as if buying himself time to come up with a passable excuse. In the next instance a wicked grin appeared on his face as he added, “And I wanted to ask you to join my bachelor party.”
Before Riza could react, Rebecca shortly spun around and gaped at him in bewilderment.
“Hey! I agreed to share my life with you but it doesn’t mean I’d share Riza!”
Hayate’s happy woof interrupted the brewing argument as the dog rushed past Riza to meet another newcomer — Mustang smiled at him and leaned to pat his head.
“Good afternoon, Havoc, Catalina,” Mustang greeted the pair and Riza noticed the lack of surprise on Brigadier General’s face. However, there was no time to dwell on that — they were scheduled to attend yet another meeting so she quickly said goodbye to her friends and went to the inner office to put away the notes and paperwork she brought.
The chance meeting was soon forgotten in a raft of meetings, various errands and late work nights. The memory emerged in Riza’s mind only weeks later when she noticed how casually close Hayate stayed to Havoc during the day and how Jean eagerly volunteered to look after him whenever Riza had to leave the office and couldn’t bring her companion along. It wasn’t too strange per se — Havoc was good with animals (despite his initial edgy jokes) and Hayate was familiar with everyone in the team and learned to keep a respectable distance from Breda.
Such distance ceased to exist when things concerned Hawkeye... and recently Mustang as well. In all fairness, it would be hard to teach Hayate to stay away from Roy during the day when they spent almost every evening in close quarters anyway. So Riza simply chose to ignore teammates’ knowing smiles whenever Hayate flopped to nap under Roy’s table or nudged him, asking for pats. Even a year ago such an open secret would have terrified Riza. But after months of forced separation and everything that unfolded during the Promised Day she couldn’t care less about any ‘open secret’ if it meant that there were no more secrets between her and Roy.
No more pent up frustrations.
No more suppressed guilt.
No more concealed fears.
They tried to spare each other the worries and it nearly tore them apart. A mere thought of living through it ever again hurt.
She remembered how nights at the hospital were quiet and outwardly peaceful. Months of constant worries and endless preparations came to an end. There was no immediate danger looming over. For the first time in what felt like forever they were mostly left to their own devices... and to the consequences of their decisions and impossible choices.
Losing vital means of their communication hurt. Succumbing to sleep scared — not only because of lurking nightmares but because losing consciousness felt like losing each other all over again with no way of knowing if the other will still be here in the wake.
But even after they were restored and healed nothing got any easier or less painful.
Breaking the silence was terrifying. The idea of speaking up hurt like badly healed wounds.
Relying on verbal communication without any secret code or underlying meanings felt too foreign. For the first time in the years of working together they had to fumble for the right words.
An awkward conversation worked just like reopening a wound to clean — after overwhelming sting came just as encompassing relief.
Deep down some part of Riza was thankful for that disastrous confrontation on Promised Day — for it tore down the smoke and mirrors they showed even to each other and pushed them to get rid of the web of white lies they’d spun, believing that it was for each other’s sake.
However, most of all she was thankful for the outcome of those conversations. For how Roy opened up and met her halfway. How he proved to her that he was still the right man for her to stand by. For her to follow.
For her to love.
Riza smiled fondly, watching how Hayate waddled from Roy’s table towards Havoc when he whistled a special tune that Hayate learned to recognise.
When Hayate approached, Havoc told him to sit. He readily obeyed and earned an ear scratch. Then Havoc held out his hand for Hayate to grab something from his palm and whistled another tune. Little lieutenant, excitedly wiggling his tail, sprinted back to Mustang and dropped whatever he was carrying at his feet. Mustang praised him but sent a glare Havoc’s way. Jean smiled at him sheepishly but then looked at Riza and winked, without care for Mustang’s gloomy stare.
Riza found the exchange amusing but didn’t pay it much mind. Hayate always made the atmosphere at their office more relaxed and entertained them now and then with his antics and appearance. Also it wasn’t surprising that Havoc and Mustang didn’t pass the opportunity to give in to distraction and have a little break.
The next few hours passed without incidents and nothing picked Riza’s interest much till it was time to start getting ready to leave the office. While she was checking the last reports with Breda, Havoc came up to Mustang with a big grin and started telling him something in a low voice. She thanked Breda and headed to the inner office as well, already anticipating Roy’s deep sigh at the new bunch of reports coming his way.
At her approach Mustang quickly interrupted whatever Havoc was about to say and loudly complained about never ending reports to sign. But Riza could feel that the displeasure about the workload was far from his actual thoughts. Jean’s grin only widened. He saluted and bidded farewells, wishing them to have a “marvellous night” .
“What was this about?” Riza asked, watching Jean pick his bag, pat Hayate and leave the office.
“I don’t have a slightest idea,” Roy grumbled, taking the pile of reports from her hands and making a show of looking through them.
Riza stared at the top of his bowed head, waiting for him to stop this charade. Roy sighed and looked up.
She lifted her brow.
‘Who are you trying to kid?’
He shrugged and rolled his eyes.
‘It’s just Havoc's usual nonsense.’
She smiled with the corner of her mouth.
‘If you say so.’
“This pile is for tomorrow, sir,” she said out loud.
“You’re exceptionally merciful today, Captain,” he huffed, smiling gratefully at her.
He left the documents alone, moved to the hangers and glanced back at Riza as he brushed the sleeve of her coat.
‘We're still on for tonight?’
Riza nodded. Roy closed his eyes and sighed dreamily.
‘Can’t wait.’
“Goodbye, sir,” Riza had to stifle her laugh.
“See you, Captain,” Roy replied cheerfully and left the office.
Soon Riza and Hayate followed his example. She wasn’t in a rush to get to her apartment — she liked these unhurried walks with Hayate in the evenings. The late autumn in Central didn’t usually treat the citizens with mild weather, so the nights like this — windless and without rain — were a rare treasure. Sun's already set but even in cloudless night there were barely any stars seen in the sky. At moments like this Riza missed the clearer sky of East City. At moments like this she almost missed her hometown — even if only for the milliards of stars that kept her company during endless lonely nights.
Seemingly in no time they reached the apartment and upon opening the door were met with delicious smells — Roy was already there and even had time to grab dinner for them.
He emerged from the kitchen, took the leash from Riza and led Hayate to the bathroom — despite the claims about hating to deal with wet paws, Roy stepped in for this duty without prompting whenever he stayed over. Meanwhile Riza took off her coat and went to check what Roy picked for tonight. Their meals were still packed to keep them warm but Hayate’s bowls already had food and fresh water in them. The food bowl didn’t stay full for much longer though — in the next moment Hayate tumbled up from the bathroom and sprinted right to it. Roy followed at a much slower pace and Riza barely stifled a laugh at the sight of him. Hayate’s playfulness could be a nuisance during bathtime and this time Roy fell victim to it — the entire front of his shirt was soaked and bore dirty smears in the shape of Hayate’s paws.
“Ha-ha,” Roy deadpanned. “Don’t hold back. It’s a rare opportunity to laugh at your CO’s misfortune.”
“Not so rare, actually,” Riza replied just as evenly, but the mirth in her eyes was plain for Roy to see.
Before he could get indignant at her, she quickly added that she’d find him a change of clothes and left the room. Roy loudly but half-heartedly complained to Hayate about his mistress but the shiba inu was too loyal (or too busy eating) to even whoof in agreement.
Soon Riza returned with a green t-shirt, handed it to Roy and turned to tend to setting a table for them. Roy hesitantly turned it over in his hands — the shirt was too big to be one of Riza’s own; it looked well-worn and had a few patches but was clearly well cared for. Colour faded but even like this it didn’t look like something he wore to work or at home now. However silly it was, Roy didn’t like to think of why else Riza would keep a man's shirt. At last resort Roy turned the shirt again to look at its nape. Just his luck — in careful but still uneven stitches there were two letters
RM
Roy let out the breath he didn’t notice holding and couldn’t hold back a grin. It only widened when he noticed that Riza still didn’t turn back to him. Surely, his inspection didn’t go unnoticed to her and at this point she was aware of his findings as well.
“Where did you get this?” Roy asked innocently while he was unbuttoning his wet shirt.
“This old thing? I don’t remember,” Riza replied stiffly.
“Really?” Roy shrugged the shirt off his shoulders, watching Riza intently. At last she turned to him and Roy didn’t miss how her gaze darted up and down his figure and pink dusted her cheeks. Deliberately slowly he took the wet shirt off entirely, put on the t-shirt Riza brought him and winked at her.
“I think I lost a shirt like this almost a decade ago.”
Blush on her cheeks intensified but so did her glare.
“Well, that’s not it.”
Roy clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“It’s unbecoming to lie to your CO like this.”
Riza scowled.
“I lied about worse things.”
“So you admit lying now?” Roy asked delightedly. It wasn’t a frequent occasion when he could make Riza so flustered just with teasing banter.
“So what if I did?” she asked challengingly, stepping closer to him.
“Nothing,” Roy smiled gently, closing the distance between them and cupping her face in his palms. “It simply makes me happy that something of mine was with you when I couldn’t.”
Riza’s gaze softened and she met him half way when Roy leaned to press a kiss to her lips.
Feeling left out of a touchy-feely moment, Hayate whined and bumped his head at their calves. The pair broke the kiss and Riza crouched down. Hayate eagerly gave her his own brand of kisses and Riza hugged him, laughing.
The rest of the dinner passed without much fuss. Just an ordinary evening — this new ordinary that they treasured, even though it still felt forbidden and undeserving. But what used to seem a self-indulgence and a possible distraction at this point became a necessity, vital for them to go on and push toward their goal.
Done with the meals, Riza was about to collect the plates but Roy beat her to it and brought them to the sink himself. Together they swiftly dealt with washing and drying — the routine that reminded them of some peaceful evenings at Hawkeye’s manor when Roy tried his best to earn his keep and help Riza with chores whenever he was still conscious after hours of studying. Then Riza busied herself with setting up the kettle for tea while Roy went to the other room with Hayate. Yet again Riza marvelled at them being basically joined at the hip for the last weeks. She didn’t want to disturb their bonding time so she went to the window instead.
Her apartment was on the top floor of the fairly high building. She was used to spending hours alone, quietly observing from the highest vantage points and having such a view was still calming to her. This time wasn’t an exception — her thoughts quieted down and being here, in the safety of her home with Roy and Hayate, felt truly serene.
Warm embrace interrupted her solitude but she gladly leaned back into Roy’s chest, enjoying his closeness.
“What’s on your mind?” Roy asked and kissed her temple.
She closed her eyes and smiled.
“Nothing. I’m just...” she stuttered and opened her eyes, turning to face Roy. “Happy,” she finished, surprise clear in her voice. Roy smiled back at her.
“Do I have anything to do with that?”
Riza rolled her eyes but wrapped her own arms around his torso, pressing her ear to his chest.
“You have everything to do with that,” she replied quietly, listening to Roy’s heart beating faster. He squeezed her tightly for a second, then rubbed her arms, prompting her to loosen grip on him. Riza felt puzzled but obliged — he took half a step back, not letting go of her hands.
“I wanted to wait for some special moment,” he stared, staring intently into her eyes. “But every moment with you is already special so there is no point in waiting,” he turned to look at the door leading to the living room.
And whistled.
The very same tune Riza’d heard from Havoc in the office whenever he played with Hayate.
As expected, Hayate came running to them, stopping right at their feet, looking up at Roy proudly. And he brought something in his mouth — something that Roy leaned down to pick, thanking Hayate for his service. He joyfully whirled around a few times and flopped down beside them.
Straightened up, Roy turned to Riza but her gaze was glued to the thing that he clutched in his hand and her mind reeled at the implications it had.
A small black box.
Ring box.
Too stunned to speak, Riza looked up but Roy was already getting down on one knee before her, stoically hiding a wince at the inevitable pull it caused on the scar tissue on his side. But he didn’t let this injury deter him even when he just got it — he won’t let it disturb his plans especially now.
Holding the box in one hand, he took Riza’s in the other.
“I know that you’ve already given me your heart, just like I’ve given you mine. And maybe I’m too greedy but, Riza, will you do me the honour of giving me your strong and gentle hand in marriage?” — he pressed the lightest kiss to her knuckles and opened the box. Riza couldn’t even spare it a glance, too focused on Roy’s earnest expression and trying to find her voice to speak. She felt a familiar pang of old fears and self-derogatory thoughts but resolutely squashed them down. She didn’t need to think this over because for her there was only one possible reply that she’d already given him years ago —
“Do you even have to ask?”
“But I want to ask. Riza,” Roy tightened his hold on her hand and gulped, “I wanted to ask for so long.”
Riza’s throat tightened and she didn’t know whether the glister in Roy’s eyes was his or she saw it because of her own tears.
Roy stood up, closed the distance between them and pressed his forehead against hers, cradling her face with his free hand. Riza’s heart beat wildly in her chest — out of Roy’s proximity, his question, his admission.
He didn’t say anything she didn’t know already. And yet, hearing him saying that out loud thrilled her and she decided she owned him the same elation.
“And I wanted to answer you for just as long,” she covered his hand with hers and turned head to press her lips to his palm. The scar there felt rough but it never fazed her for this was yet another proof of his resilience. Besides, he not so subtly melted whenever she did that. But Roy wasn’t one to let himself be outdone at the game of mutual flustering and so he leaned down and kissed her neck — right where her own scar was — making her shiver.
Riza knew her cheeks, and Roy’s palm, were damp from her tears but next she felt the same wetness running down to her collarbone. She turned and ran the other hand through Roy’s hair, tugging at it slightly for him to look up at her. She met his eyes, tear-stained but bright with a happy glint, and pulled him down to kiss his lips. Everything about the kiss was warm and familiar — even with the salt of their mixing tears prevailing in the taste — and Riza basked in this feeling, wishing they could make the world stop and stay in this moment together and not even berating herself for such selfish desire.
When they parted for air, Roy remembered the box in his hand and lifted it up, letting Riza finally take a good look at it and its contents. What she saw there caused another surge of tears and almost startled Roy if it wasn’t for the smile adorning her face.
“I thought I’d lost it,” she whispered, still having a hard time believing her eyes. In the black velvet box there was a ring — a slim band that split into even slimmer intersecting lines that wrapped around a purple stone. Her mother’s ring . Like many things in Riza’s house it didn’t avoid the occasional rampage of Master Hawkeye. But unlike many things this one used to be a treasured possession for Riza and she loathed to lose the ring that made her feeling the closest to her mother.
“I found it on the same day,” Roy admitted. “But it was badly damaged and you were already so sad. I didn’t want to upset you further. I thought I could fix it and then give it back to you.”
“Of course you did,” she said fondly, shaking her head. “But it didn’t turn out as easy as you expected?”
“Yes, but I couldn’t back down at that point, could I?” Roy sheepishly scratched his head and Riza was stunned by a sudden vision that emerged from the memory of that night — young Roy, hovering beside her, shyly offering to help her with studies or chores or hunting or whatever she wanted. However, it was fruitless — at that moment she felt too heart-broken to appreciate his efforts.
But now she could. Riza carefully took the ring out of the box and examined it closer. There were no scratches or cracks either on amethyst or on the band to give away its real age or the consequences of the accident. It looked just like she remembered.
Roy put away the box and brought both hands on Riza’s shoulders.
“I know we can’t risk wearing regular bands, yet,” he said, stressing the last word. “But I wanted to give you this.”
“Because it’s long overdue, you little thief?” Riza interrupted him as she thought she would burst if he continued his touching but overwhelming speech.
“No,” Roy huffed and tried to give her a frowned look, to no avail. His face relaxed and he continued, gently but just as resolutely. “And yes. It’s because I want to do right by you. To make a personal promise to you — I will be there for you. To love, to cherish and shoulder whatever nuisances and wrongs happen in your life. Together.”
“This sounds awfully like a wedding vow,” she whispered, staring dazedly at him.
“Then count it as a rehearsal,” he carefully took the ring from her trembling hand and put it on her finger.
“My life is in your hands,” Roy took both of her hands and stroked the backs of them with his thumbs. “Has been for years. But now I want this fact to bring you some joy instead of a constant burden,” he lifted her hand and kissed the finger with the ring on, keeping his gaze on her.
Riza frowned and turned her hand palm up, catching Roy’ chin between her fingers. Roy didn’t move, caught off guard by her move.
“We’ve been through this. You must stop overthinking and painting my promise to you only in this light,” she told him sternly but then her expression eased and she continued softer, “So trust me when I say that I love you, Roy Mustang, and I want this,” she let go of his face to showcase the ring, “and this,” she put palm over his heart, “for the rest of our lives.”
Before Roy could do anything or reply, they felt yet another bump into their halves — Hayate grew tired of them not paying any attention to him. In the past months he became used to evenings being full of snuggles and scratches and wasn’t going to tolerate this negligence. Riza chuckled and leaned to pick him up.
“It’s rude to interrupt, Lieutenant,” Roy frowned but offered to take Hayate into his arms — he was far from a lightweight puppy but Riza never minded to cradle him like a baby he liked to pretend to be. Once in Roy’s arms, Hayate was quick to express his gratitude by enthusiastically licking Roy’s face — Roy tightly shut his eyes but there was nowhere to turn his head from the affectionate pup. Riza smiled at the scene — just when she thought she couldn’t be more at peace they had to prove her wrong. She started petting Hayate in hopes to stop him from drowning Roy in his saliva.
“For how long have you and Jean been in cahoots with Hayate, by the way?” asked Riza as she remembered how smoothly Hayate obeyed the request to bring the ring box to Roy and all the evidence of training she’d witnessed before.
“Hayate’s always listened to me well,” answered Roy quickly and addressed the dog to prove his point. “Right, boy?”
Demonstrating the “utmost discipline”, Hayate didn’t turn or even stir his ear — too busy licking Riza’s hands instead. Riza smirked and Roy quietly complained about the prevailing insubordination.
“Anyway, you know that alchemists don’t share their secrets, don’t you?”
“So you’re just like a street magician?”
Roy gasped, carefully put Hayate down and grumblingly addressed retreating Riza:
“Take that back!”
“I said what I said,” Riza replied and disappeared at the turn to the living room. Hayate dutifully followed her, leaving fuming Roy behind.
“I’m not doing magic tricks,” exclaimed Roy as he hurried after them.
He caught up to Riza before she settled on the couch and wrapped arms around her from behind, preventing her from moving further. She put her hands on his arms and leaned back into his chest, the teasing smile still on her face.
“So you haven’t learned anything since that time at the market? I thought you’re a better scholar than that, Mister Mustang.”
“So you still have faith in me, Miss Riza?”
“Always,” Riza replied seriously, with no more teasing in her tone.
Roy ran his hands down over her arms and interlaced their fingers.
“So, what is your answer?” he quietly inquired again.
Riza tilted her head so her lips brushed his ear.
"Yes, Roy,” she breathed out, making him visibly shiver. “Yes, my hand and heart are yours,” she squeezed his hands before letting them go to turn and face him properly. She wrapped her arms around his waist, pressed close to his chest and sighed pleasedly when he returned the embrace.
She continued, now looking right into his eyes, “Yes, we caused each other a lot of pain and likely will do it again but you keep giving me so much hope and joy. Yes, I want to stand by your side in whatever role I can. Yes, I know our limits but I’m willing to be greedy about this too. Yes, I want to marry you. Yes, Roy, yes. Yes,” by the end of the speech her voice shook and tears were streaming down her face again. Roy took advantage of their closeness and was catching them while kissing her cheeks. Riza shifted and the next kiss was on her lips and she returned it with vigour. And this time it felt like an affirmation — that they’ve already had but it was still good to hear and feel it again.
“Thank you for choosing me, my love,” Roy whispered when he could pull away a little.
“You still give me good reasons to,” Riza pecked his lips one more time and tugged him toward the couch where Hayate started acting restlessly again. Roy didn’t resist and together they soon found the comfortable position — Roy reclined on the armrest with Riza laying on top of him with her head on top of his chest. Hayate settled on the other size, curling between their legs, finally content. Roy reached to turn on the radio but for Riza it served as merely nice background noise to the sound of his steadily beating heart.
She watched how the dim light reflected on her ring and thought that Jean was right after all — the night was marvellous indeed. Even if they were not in the position to act on all of their wishes.
Yet .