FMA Week 2015: Trust

Roy brings Riza drinking with him, trusting that she'll keep him from doing anything stupid.

Paperwork showered the floor of the office as an irate Colonel Mustang shoved it off his desk.

"We've been looking, and looking, and getting nowhere! And if that's not enough, they bury us in damned paperwork just so that we can tell them how much we haven't found!" His teeth were gritted as he looked around the room at his men, all of whom were also busy on the same escaped convict case. He caught the glare of Lieutenant Hawkeye and immediately started to pick the fallen papers up, muttering about the ultimate uselessness of reports that stood in the way of any real progress as he did so.

Havoc leaned back in his chair, his signature cigarette hanging out of his mouth. "You need to let loose a little, colonel. Take a night to forget about the convict. Go get drunk." Havoc grinned. "Meet a lady."

Colonel Mustang stared at Havoc for a few seconds. Slowly, his mouth stretched to match Havoc's grin. "That's a great idea, Havoc!" He turned to his left, addressing his lieutenant. "Hawkeye, you're coming with me!"

"Is that really necessary, sir?" Riza Hawkeye stood and began picking up the fallen papers that Roy Mustang seemed to have already forgotten about.

"Of course, Lieutenant! I trust you more than anyone to keep me from doing anything I'll regret in the morning. I can get as drunk as I want!" He laughed.

Hawkeye shook her head, exasperated. She heard Breda and Havoc chuckling to each other about her being a babysitter. They were silenced when they saw her eyes shooting daggers at them.

"Then it's settled. I'll pick you up at your apartment at nine, Lieutenant. And wear something nice. You wouldn't want to embarrass me, would you?"

"No, sir." Riza knew he was joking; they both knew that the person most likely to embarrass Colonel Roy Mustang was himself.

...

This wasn't the first time that Roy had asked Riza to accompany him to a night of drinking, and Riza knew it wouldn't be the last. She sipped at her wine, a merlot, while watching Roy set another empty glass on the counter.

"Another whiskey, please." This would be his fourth. Roy began to go on a tangent about the military's budget distribution as he waited for his next drink, with Riza nodding in affirmation whenever he expected her to respond. He wasn't looking to have a discussion on the matter, but rather to fill the silence with anything that came to mind that he could latch on to, as long as it wasn't true business. By the time his drink arrived, delivered by a young woman who was most likely a student at the local university, his words were starting to slur as the alcohol began to take its toll.

Roy downed his new drink in three gulps, immediately signaling for another one. Riza rolled her eyes, still sipping at her first drink.

"As a colonel, I have the authority to make anyone whom I see fit a ranking officer under me. Black Hayate is a second lieutenant if I say he is, dammit! It is well within the military's capabilities and budget to issue him his respectful uniform! Is that too much to ask, lieutenant?"

Riza smiled. "No, sir."

Three drinks and several rants on Amestrian traffic legislation later, Roy raised his hand to signal for another drink. Riza gently laid her hand on top of his and pushed it down. "No, sir. You've had enough."

"It's not enough until I say it is, dammit." Roy's sentence came out as one jumbled word. "Another whiskey!"

The bartender, hearing him, walked over to refill his empty glass.

"Do not give this man anymore alcohol." Riza glared at the bartender, who hesitated.

"Come on, Riza, just one more drink!" Roy turned to the bartender. "Please!" His appeal sounded as if it had been made by a small child. The bartender began to yield, likely charmed by the man that was Roy Mustang.

Riza didn't give up. "This man has clearly had too much alcohol, and it is your job to cut him off in such an occurrence."

The young woman nodded. "I'm sorry, sir. She's right; I can't give you another drink."

Roy began to lean back, defeated.

"Sir, no, you are on a bar-stool!" Riza leapt up and caught Roy from behind before managed to fall backward off his stool. Stabilizing him by his shoulders, she sat back down. She addressed the perplexed bartender, "We'll close the tab, now."

Riza felt a slight tugging on her hair as she was signing the tab. She glanced over at Roy, who was running his fingers through it with a dazed expression on his face.

"So soft. I want to sleep in it."

"Please stop that, sir. It's time to leave." Riza pushed the signed receipt toward the bartender and grabbed Roy by the arm that wasn't attached to the hand in her hair.

"Can't we stay just a bit longer?"

"No, sir. We're going home."

"We could dance. We haven't danced, yet."

"Sir, you are much too drunk."

Roy sighed and stood, stumbling a little as his weight shifted to his feet. Riza, still holding his arm, kept him steady. She made sure to take small steps with him, keeping him in a forward motion as best as she could.

The air was cool but not unpleasant as they left the bar. Roy took a deep breath and tried to lead Riza into the street, almost tripping on the curb before Riza caught him.

"It's nice. Let's walk home."

"No."

Roy shrugged, letting Riza lead him around the corner of the sidewalk. They had parked in an empty lot several blocks down when they had failed to find any street parking near the bar.

They passed a woman in a tight skirt and ripped tights who was leaning against a brick wall. She winked at Roy.

"Want a good time, honey? I don't mind three-ways, but it'll cost extra." She sent a second wink toward Riza.

Riza kept walking, but was pulled back by Roy, who had stopped to consider. He tried to take a step toward the woman.

"Roy, no." Riza yanked him back toward her and continued down the street, almost dragging Roy as he struggled to match her pace again.

"But she was so pretty." He was silent for a moment. "Not as pretty as you, though."

Riza was glad that it was night and that Roy was too drunk to notice the pink blush that suddenly warmed her cheeks. She attempted to ignore it.

A large dog barked at them from behind a metal fence that they walked by. Roy paused again.

"I love dogs!" He approached the fence and stuck his hand through toward the dog, which would have bitten him had Riza not pulled his hand back out in time. "But I wanted to pet it!"

"No!"

Roy whined incoherently as Riza continued to guide him toward the car. The walk that had taken ten minutes at the beginning of the night wound up taking thirty minutes as a result of a drunk Roy Mustang.

Relief washed over Riza when she spotted the car. Even Roy sped up his pace, freeing his arm from Riza's grasp and making his way to the driver's side.

"I am driving."

"No, you are not." Riza grabbed his arm again and directed him toward the passenger's side, opening the door for him and helping him lift himself to get into the vehicle. Once he was seated, she got in on the opposite side.

She watched for a minute while Roy struggled with his seatbelt. "Sir, let me help you." She reached forward to grab it from him, but he yanked it away.

"I can do it." He missed the buckle again.

"No, you can't. Let me do it."

"Shush, I'm trying to concentrate." Another failed attempt.

Riza battled his hands away from the belt and buckled it for him despite his grunts of protest. He was silent as she started the car. As she pulled out onto the road, he muttered, "I almost had it."

By the time they had reached the first light, Roy had slouched so that his head rested on Riza's shoulder. She tried to ignore the soft tickle of his hair against her cheek as she focused on the road.

Suddenly, Roy's arm shot out in front of her face, pointing toward a building on the other side of the road. "That's Fullmetal's hotel! Let's go prank him!"

"No." Riza pushed his arm out of her line of vision.

"Come on, we could rent a room and then spend all night calling him and then hanging up!"

"No." Alcohol had him acting like a five-year-old.

Roy huffed as Riza kept driving. "Well I thought it was a great idea."

Riza pushed Roy's head off her shoulder as she turned right at the next intersection. "Sir, please try to sit up."

"Wha? Riza, this isn't the way to my apartment."

"No, sir. We're going to mine, where you will sleep on the couch. It is possible that your are unhealthily intoxicated and I want to keep an eye on you." If all she would be able to do was hand him glasses of water, it was still better than leaving him alone. The colonel would never admit to occasionally not being able to hold all of his liquor, but Riza had known it to happen from time to time.

There was an empty spot in front of Riza's apartment complex in which she was able to park the car. She helped Roy out of the vehicle, leading him up the stairs to her apartment one step at a time.

Once inside, Roy wandered around looking for Black Hayate, who was asleep on Riza's bed. Roy crashed down next to Hayate, grabbing the dog and aggressively patting his head. Riza quickly pulled blankets and an extra pillow from her linen closet to set the couch up for Roy. When she finished, she walked into her room to fetch the colonel.

Seeing Riza, Roy let go of a panicked Hayate, who scampered away to the next room. He looked up at her and grinned.

"The couch is ready."

"Can't I sleep in here, with you? It's much more comfortable that your couch." Roy stretched himself out on her bed, making eye contact with her through his eyelashes.

"No. You snore when you're drunk." Riza reached her arm out to Roy, offering to help him up. He reached out and grabbed her outstretched arm and then pulled, bringing Riza down on top of him. He hugged her similarly to the way he had held Black Hayate, as if he had no intention of letting go anytime soon.

Roy buried his nose in Riza's hair and inhaled. "You smell nice."

Riza lay still, knowing that she should get up but unwilling to do so. She could hear Roy's heart beating beneath her ear. Roy's hands stroked her back, and Riza felt him place a light but lingering kiss on her forehead. She tilted her head to look at him.

Roy shifted, sitting himself up with Riza in his lap. He took her face in his hands and pressed a kiss to her jaw. Riza's eye fluttered closed and her breath became shallow as she enjoyed the contact of his lips against her skin. He then kissed the opposite side of her jaw before planting butterfly kisses all over her face: her cheeks, her nose, her eyelids. Riza opened her eyes as Roy's face came close for another kiss, this one more focused than the others. Acting as quickly as she could through her own haze, she brought her index finger up and pressed it to Roy's lips before he could press them to her own.

"No."

Her voice was a whisper. Roy looked confused, like a puppy who didn't know why it was scolded. He bent his face down to place another kiss below her ear, letting his lips linger on her neck. "Why not?" His mouth brushed her skin as he talked.

"Because you are drunk and need to rest." Riza stood up and gestured toward the couch outside her room. "I've fixed a glass of water for you; drink it all before you go to sleep."

Roy stood, reluctant. He began to shuffle in the direction of his assigned sleeping area. "You won't close your door, will you? I want to see you as I fall asleep. I want to know you're there."

"No, I won't close the door." She watched him from her bedroom doorway as he settled himself onto the couch before she got ready for bed herself.

Riza was aroused in the middle of the night by strong arms encircling her waist and warm breath against the nape of her neck.

"Roy, no. Go back to the couch."

"Roy, yes." He squeezed her tighter.

Riza would have continued to protest, but had fallen back into a deep sleep before she could do so.

When she woke up again, sun was pouring in through her window, lighting up the room. Riza nudged Roy, who was still clinging to her from behind.

"It's not a weekday, is it?" He muttered against her skin.

"No, sir. It's Saturday."

"Then give me another hour."

Riza freed herself from his arms and turned to look at him, brown eyes meeting black. "How are you feeling, sir?"

"Sober, unfortunately. Hungover as hell. Cold, now that you've squirmed away." He reached out to take her in his arms once more. Riza relented, burying her face in his chest as he brought her close.

"Last night is a blur. I trust that you kept me from doing anything too terribly stupid?" His thumb rubbed her shoulder.

"You tried to get us into a three-way with a hooker, but I stopped you."

"That's a pity. I'm assuming from the fact that we are both fully clothed that nothing happened between us?"

"No, sir; however, you did try to kiss me."

"And you stopped me?"

She looked up at him. "I didn't want it to be because you were drunk," she whispered.

Roy grinned. "I knew I could trust you." He leaned down to kiss her cheek. "My dear, loyal lieutenant, whom I love with all of my heart... may I kiss you now?"

Riza felt her heart skip a beat as she momentarily forgot to breathe. "Yes."

He tangled his fingers into her hair as she threaded her fingers through his, bringing their faces together and allowing their lips to finally meet. They lingered there, until they both fell back asleep in eachothers arms.

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