AN: This is my first ever FMA fanfic and my first foray into writing after a 10-year hiatus. I feel super rusty but I've recently found my new OTP in Royai and I couldn't resist. They are an absolutely perplexing and amazing pair but I thought the anime was so unsatisfying in providing enough moments for our favourite couple. So please enjoy this little story, of a time before FMAB really started and Roy & Riza were just getting into their groove of Colonel & Lieutenant, and how they developed into having that relationship of wordless trust and love.

Wordless
Ch.1 – His New Girl

Riza Hawkeye found herself looking up at the distractingly loud grandfather clock for the umpteenth time, its monotonous tick, tick, tick a taunting jab that seemed to want to fervently remind her that the Colonel was now seventeen minutes late.

She knew she shouldn't be so concerned, but it had been eight months into her job as Roy Mustang's adjutant and she was very proud to say that the now Colonel had not gotten one injury nor chastising from the higher-ups, and she wasn't about to let today be the day that streak was broken—

"Mornin'!"

Riza felt herself jump the tiniest bit in her seat as a flash of raven hair crossed her sightline and disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. She heard Havoc grumble a hello, clearly annoyed about yet another girl that had escaped his wiles because a certain Flame Alchemist had simply dared to exist. Falman, Fuery, and Breda were quick to offer their salutes and morning greetings before diving into what looked like a very productive morning.

Roy Mustang had only sat himself down for less than a minute when a huge yawn took over almost the entirety of his face. Riza found herself narrowing her eyes as she quickly scrutinized the Colonel from head to toe:

1. Heavier bags than usual were visible under his naturally guarded gaze

2. His hair seemed even more unruly as a stray piece stuck up at a 90-degree angle

3. One middle button of his semi-wrinkled blue uniform had been missed

4. And was that a possible coffee stain at the edge of his right sleeve?

Riza shifted a pile of papers in front of her, making sure every single side of it was perfectly lined up, before standing up brusquely and heading over to the Colonel's desk with pile in hand. She dropped it in front of him.

"Morning, sir."

The young man, who normally would groan at this routine, looked up at her brightly, propping his chin on two folded hands. "Lieutenant! Today's pile doesn't look so bad."

Riza felt her eyes narrow almost instinctively. The First Lieutenant was known for her keen senses and right now, her senses were heightened. The Colonel was tired, as apparent by his appearance, yet uncharacteristically jovial in his demeanour. Usually one did not equate to the other.

Yet she knew she shouldn't pry. As Colonel Mustang's subordinate, one didn't ask too many questions.

"Right, sir. I think you should be able to clear these requests from Central and also review the field reports from the Eastern skirmishes by end of day," she found herself saying, instead of the myriad of questions she wanted to pummel the Colonel with.

Roy simply gave her a curt nod, which wordlessly acted as a signal for her to return to her own pile of work.

Riza found herself returning to her desk, though a bit unnerved nonetheless. She wasn't sure why, but she was simply unnerved.

It was almost noon when the phone rang shrilly and Fuery was the first to pick it up.

The young sergeant looked up towards the Colonel with a hand over the receiver. "It's for you sir, outside line, gave the name of Isa—"

Roy immediately dropped the pen he was holding and reached for the phone on his table, the previously bored expression on his face replaced with one of animated joy. "Hi Bella! I didn't think you would call here!"

One could hear a low growl come from Havoc's side of the room and a muttered, "But you already had Sarah!" as the others pretended to ignore the light banter going on between the Colonel and this so called "Bella".

Riza felt her nerves prickle ever so slightly. Not really because it was possibly a girl on the other end of the line with the Colonel, but the fact that the call was here, to the Eastern Command Center. Was there another mission the Colonel had been tasked with? Was it so dangerous that codenames had to be involved? Why hadn't the Colonel informed the team? Or at least, her?

It had already been one full week, and everyone on the Mustang team could not contain their surprise.

Falman was whispering furiously with Breda, "Isn't is strange? I can't believe he's been talking to this Isabella girl for a week!"

Breda nodded furiously, the confusing behaviour of their Colonel making him so much hungrier than usual that he was having two sandwiches instead of one. Havoc seemed delighted that the Colonel was seemingly permanently distracted so he would have his pick of women at last.

Riza watched as the rest of the team continued to feed off of each other's theories, but decided not to partake. She knew the Colonel better than anyone else, and she could almost bet that Roy Mustang wasn't stupid enough to bring his personal life into work, and thus all the outside line phone calls had to be a coverup for something delicate. He would probably tell them about the mission soon. It just wasn't the time yet, she thought to herself in earnest.

"Lieutenant?"

The rest of the gang fell silent when they noticed the Colonel poking his head back into their workspace from the office door. He had been in a meeting for the past four hours, allowing the team to gossip freely.

Riza stood up with a prompt salute, "Yes, sir?"

"I need to take off a bit earlier today, so just leave the rest of the reports on my desk and I'll get to it tomorrow morning."

And then he was fully out the door again.

Riza felt her patience snap. Who was she kidding? She wasn't going to wait for him to tell her about the mission after all. She was going to ask him directly and knowing him, he would most likely tell her.

She found herself grabbing her black overcoat and stuffing the rest of her work into her brown leather satchel. "I'm going to the library to get some records," she stated, not particularly to anyone but she felt like she had to explain herself before she stalked the Colonel out the building.

The Hawk's Eye was no layman when it came to stalking a target. She could be right around the corner and her victim would never know it until they were knocking on death's door. All the various ways for how she could kill a victim from afar, with what kind of shot at what kind of angle, were all flitting through her mind when she found herself behind a magazine stand staring at them.

There was Colonel Mustang, who had somehow very quickly changed into a civilian outfit of khaki coloured slacks and a white button down with his black overcoat flung casually over one shoulder. And next to him was a lady.

Now, Riza had stumbled upon the Colonel on a number of dates before by pure coincidence, and while it was a bit annoying that the man she had decided to follow into hell was being distracted by such trivial side projects, she didn't really mind. And oftentimes, she could tell that the Colonel was smiling on his dates, but he was always distracted. He knew where the bigger picture was.

But today, she noticed from behind this month's copy of Amestripolitan Magazine, that Roy's gaze held real joy as he laughed at whatever the female standing next to him was saying. And with that laugh, his hand went to the woman's back to guide her down the street.

She followed.

They entered an Italian joint that had tacky deep red awnings and a name that sounded as stuffy as her grandfather's hobbies. Or maybe the restaurant looked very classy, but Riza's mind wasn't drifting towards positive thoughts at the present time as she found herself trying to justify how to enter.

It was as if on cue, a large group, all blonde and so well-coiffed that each sported the exact same swirl of golden hair right at the hairline, bustled on by her and towards the restaurant. Without a second thought, Riza found herself melting into the group and through the double doors.

"Miss, your group is sitting down," the hostess at the front broke her train of thought as she gestured towards the group she had snuck in with.

Riza had stopped at a standstill, her work bag still swinging distractingly on one shoulder as she scanned the room almost at an inhuman speed. She had located the Colonel almost immediately, and thankfully he was seated at the bar with the girl, their backs to the side of the front door. The entrance of the golden coifed clan hadn't broken the intensity of their conversation though.

"Oh, no, I'm not with them," Riza quickly responded, while eyeing the perfect table she would grab that would provide her the best sightline to her intended targets.

"Reservation then, miss?" The hostess seemed a bit exasperated, shifting her thick rimmed glasses and peering over them as if just noticing that the woman before her was in military garb.

Riza was not one to take attitude. She turned to the hostess curtly and stated with as much authority as she could muster at this point, "Actually, I need the table right behind that pillar," she gestured swiftly without breaking eye contact. She could feel the hostess' attitude change immediately. "This is a potential matter of state security, and if you would allow me to ensure the safety of your clientele, that would be much appreciated."

The hostess had stiffened noticeably, her gaze going from impatience to slight anxiety as she picked up a drinks menu and dinner menu from her stand and started leading Riza to her self-appointed table. "Yes, of course, sir- I mean, mam!" Her eyes were darting in all directions, as if someone would burst through the rows of white tablecloths to ambush her and Riza at any second.

Riza had to thank her lucky stars that this dinner place apparently was the hot spot in town. It was already bustling and only just six 'o'clock. Then again, Riza should have known that a man like the Colonel would know exactly where to take a lady on a date.

She wondered why her mood was so sour.

She quickly distracted herself by propping open one menu in front of her and pretended to look engrossed in today's specials. Everything sounded heavy and full of meat. Disgusting. Or actually, delicious, she loved meat. She couldn't keep her thoughts straight.

From her position, she could see that Roy had just handed over two books to the girl. The girl. She was more a girl than a woman. She had a youthful glow about her, with her dark locks swept high in a voluminous bun.

Books?

Riza felt her gaze narrowing again, which seemed to be a habit of hers whenever she wanted to mask her uncertainty. Books? She thought incredulously. Did Roy Mustang even read himself? What was he doing giving a girl books?

The girl was delighted. Perhaps she was in her 20s, but it was clear to Riza that this girl hadn't seen the hardships that she herself had seen in her early 20s.

The girl had immediately turned to a page of one of the relatively thick volumes that the Colonel had handed her. She paused, suddenly engrossed, then took her fork off her plate and pushed everything else aside. A few seconds later, Riza could only see the ends of a familiar glow, but she had been around too many alchemists to mistaken it for anything else but that.

The girl had just performed alchemy.

Her eyes widened in surprise and she saw Roy laugh in response to the girl's pure joy at her successful transmutation.

Riza suddenly felt a strange feeling that she hadn't ever really felt in her life. Or maybe she had, when her father passed and she felt like she had lost something that had always been there. Even though her father had been a quiet man, he was a constant presence that had disappeared.

And now she was feeling that tug, that tug that made her feel like something was trying to physically detach itself from her.

The girl offered the Colonel on her outstretched palms a silver figurine of a dog.

Riza found that tugging feeling intensify, and then dissipate. It was like there was nothing and no one else around her now. Nothing and no one else left to leave her. The humdrum of all the restaurant patrons mingled into the strings of the violin music playing in the background. The glow of the lights blurred into one gentle haze.

"Are we safe yet, mam?" Came the desperate hiss of a waitress that had evidently been informed by the hostess of the very dangerous situation the restaurant was in.

Riza snapped out of it and looked up at a fearful looking mousy girl. She mustered a small smile at the girl while standing up, "Yes, miss, please let your staff know that the coast is clear. The suspect at large has been confirmed to be dining at another restaurant down the street."

The young waitress looked visibly relieved as Riza quickly excused herself and exited into the chilly autumn air of East City.

It was only eleven at night, but her sheets were already a bit damp from sweat and the moonlight creeping in through her too-thin blinds was not beautiful tonight but distracting. Riza rolled over again and found herself staring at the stark white ceiling above her.

She had come home, her mind quite blank despite her eventful night of sleuthing, and gotten about to her usual routine of washing dishes she had left from breakfast and opening her fridge to see what she could whip up for dinner. She had realized she hadn't even ordered anything from the Italian restaurant, but her stomach didn't seem to be complaining.

She wasn't hungry.

So, she had taken a shower. She always preferred showers because it got the job done and it didn't seem to waste as much time as a bath.

She had felt completely fine until she found herself in bed at nine, staring at her bedroom ceiling, and then still staring at the same bedroom ceiling at eleven.

Damn him.

Her face hardened as she turned to her right side and pushed up her pillow with her hands, thinking it would be more comfortable. When that failed, she felt herself sigh and roll back onto her back, her face softening.

Well, at least the Colonel had found someone he could talk to. Someone he could really talk to, about all things, about alchemy, and even someone he could teach alchemy to. Riza couldn't really be a part of that. She had just been quite literally, his alchemy book. He studied her. He learned. She willingly let him learn.

He had found someone that made him laugh. A real laugh.

Riza felt her thoughts drifting towards self-pity and immediately caught herself. She sat up from her suffocating sheets and ran a hand through her tangled blonde hair. What was wrong with her?

She felt her brow furrow in frustration as she slid back under her sheets again. No, no she would not let this man make her feel like an absolute nut case. There was absolutely no reason she should allow him and his actions to make her lose sleep. And what frustrated her most was that he probably didn't even realize she was losing any sleep!

Riza found herself shutting her eyes stubbornly, as if willing her mind to immediately shut off and for the blissful darkness of sleep to embrace her.

She didn't sleep that night.

AN: Hope you guys enjoyed that. This chapter is mostly set-up, and next chapter we will get to see Riza have a bit more fun and Roy not having so much fun, if you know what I mean! Let me know your thoughts :)