Behind the Mask
Summary: Postmovie. Slightly AU. Roy meets a beautiful young girl at a masquerade bar. Announcing the woman, Roy requests that all of his subordinates come… Royai. Oneshot.
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or any of the characters. I only own this story idea sigh.
Roy sighed as he entered the bar. Appropriately named 'Masquerade Bar' it was the one place that Roy could always dance with someone, knowing that they wouldn't judge him because of his eye patch. He found it disappointing that he had to go around in a mask to have someone look at him now; it was a big step down from the playboy he used to be. When he entered the bar, his eyes quickly scanned the crowd, his eyes saw the bar counter, the tables of to the sides of the room, the many dancers. His eyes were caught when he saw a woman wearing a silver dress, mask, and her blonde hair streaked with a light shade of navy blue. Might as well as start with her first, he thought.
Walking across the room and up to the woman, he cleared his throat loudly, interrupting her conversation with another lady. Turning around, he was surprised to see that she was much prettier from the front, althoguh he should've expected that.
"May I help you?" The woman spoke, her voice soft yet stern after she excused herself from her companion.
"Ifyou dance with me, that would help a lot," Roy grinned, extending his hand with a light bow. The woman smiled lightly at took his hand, allowing herself to be led into the middle of the dance floor..
"I'll be back in a few minutes," the woman called over her shoulder to the other woman she had been talking to. The other woman just smiled and waved, quickly finding someone else to converse with in the meantime.
Oddly enough, the Tango started playing as soon as they reached the middle. Grinning, Roy said, "do you know how to tango?"
"Only if you can keep up," she grinned back. Other dances quickly picked up on the song while others retired to the tables at the side.
Taking position, they started to dance. First they were cautiuos of the other, but they quickly grew less formal. Other couples watched in mild amusement or astonishment at the fluid motions that the pair took. Their smooth steps barely made a sound on the hard floor, and their focus lay entirely in their dancing and the person before them. Not a step was misplaced.
Roy couldn't tell what the woman's eyes looked like, the mask covered her eyes with tinted lenses. Looks like she takes the whole 'masquerade' thing seriously, Roy thought jokingly.
As the ending of the dance neared, Roy dipped the woman; their eyes locking for a breath moment. His breath hitched. Other dancers leaned down and kissed their partners.
"I guess we'd better follow their example," she merely nodded. His face slowly leaned forward, his partner made no move to forward or retract the kiss.
Finally, when his lips touched hers, he felt a small surge of excitement course through his insides.
Lifting her back up, Roy asked "would you like a drink, it's on me."
"As long as you don't mind…" the woman replied hesitantly, glancing at the clock hanging above the bartender. They walked over to the counter; both ordering a small glass of red wine.
"You're a good dancer," Roy said, setting down his glass and looking over to her.
"Likewise," she smiled. "And you're a good kisser, too."
"And so are you," he said, his voice half serious and half joking. They talked for a while, chatting about different things, but nothing too personal. The woman looked at the clocked and then gasped.
"Oh, it's almost eleven? I'm sorry, but I must be going," she apologized, quickly standing up and turning to leave.
"Wait," Roy said, gripping her wrist, forcing her to turn around. "Will you come back here again?"
"You can count on it." And with that, she fled –leaving Roy with a small spark of hope. She seemed nice enough, maybe there was a possibility that they could grow closer…
It was the next day when Roy Mustang skipped in, humming the tango. Sitting down, he immediately began his paperwork without a second thought, a wide smile on his face. The other officers in the room looked at him as though he were crazy, which he might very well have been.
"Whoa, what's up, chief?" Havoc said, trying to light a cigarette clamped between his teeth. The other's leaned in.
Roy seemingly ignored him; that or he just didn't hear him at all. He just continued on with his work.
"Get back to work," Riza sighed as she entered the office before realizing that Roy had arrived. "Good morning…sir?"
Roy quickly broke off from his trance. He could've sworn that he had heard the woman's voice…
"Sir?"
"Yes, lieutenant," Roy said, frowning.
"You're doing your paperwork…I haven't even had to shoot at you yet…"
"I'm just in a good mood," Roy huffed, continuing his paperwork and humming. Blinking, the others just went back to work.
The day had ended quickly and Roy was at the same bar that he was at yesterday, wearing the same mask; hoping that the woman would recognize him.
Scanning the room twice, he concluded woefully that the woman hadn't arrived yet. He moved to sit at one of the tables, only to be interrupted when a hand tapped his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, but I don't feel like dan-" he started as he turned around, only to see that it was the same person he had danced with the night before.
"Really? In that case…" she turned to leave but was quickly pushed against Roy's chest. She smiled.
"I think that I just got my dancing feet back," he grinned. His heart was racing faster than he had ever known it to.
And that's how they danced until it came to neared eleven o'clock…
"I'm sorry, but I have to go." And, once again, she was out the door before he had the chance to say good bye.
For a week things had remained just like that, until one day when his subordinates decided that they had to meet the woman that had made their boss so spacey.
"Chief," Havoc, Fury, Breda, and Farman were lined up in front of his desk. Obviously nervous. "We demand that you take us to wherever you've been going so we can meet this lady."
"Hmm?" Roy snapped out of his own little 'world'. "Oh sure. We'll go tomorrow." He handed out a small sheet of paper. "I was actually going to invite you anyway, but this makes it easier."
Riza walked in, only to have a piece of paper shoved into her hands. "Be there," Roy said, "that's an order."
"Yes sir," Riza sighed, before dumping a huge stack of paperwork on his desk.
"We'll meet at the bar at seven o'clock tomorrow, understood?" With a nod from everyone, they went back to work.
The next day Roy, Havoc, Breda, Fury, and Farman entered the bar. "We should've known that the lieutenant wouldn't come," Havoc joked.
"Well, whatever," Roy dismissed the thought, searching for the girl that he had been dancing with for the past week.
"There she is…" he whispered, his eyes landing on her back, bringing his subordinates' gaze back to him. The mysterious lady wore the same dress and mask, although she was chatting with another woman, until she pointed to him and giggled.
Following the woman's gaze, she excused herself and walked over to him with a smile.
"I see you brought some friends this time," she spoke casually, looking over his companions.
"Yeah," Havoc piped up. "Although there was a friend that was supposed to come here too, but she hasn't shown up, yet."
"Oh I'm sure she's somewhere around here -it is a big place," she smiled. "Would you like to dance?"
Roy smiled. "You don't have to ask." And with that, they were off dancing. Leaving the others to gawk at them.
Havoc managed to catch a young brunette's attention, Fury became closely acquainted with a Mexican girl, Breda was busy gambling, and even Farman had caught a date. However, there was still no sign of Hawkeye.
"Alright, folks," the DJ stood up, dancers pulled apart from one another. "It's what you've all been waiting for; it's eleven o'clock so…it's time to take off your masks!"
Everyone took off their masks. A lot of 'Oos' and 'ahhs' could be heard in the crowd.
Roy blinked, that's why the woman always left just before eleven –she didn't want him to see her under the mask, he presumed.
"Go ahead, take off your mask," she provoked him with another smile, loosening the straps on her own mask.
"Okay…" Roy said nervously, this would be the part where she would try to cover up a disappointed and disqusted look and take off. But to his surprise, she merely took off her own mask.
He gasped loudly, and he could have sworn that his heart stopped. Many people in the crowd turned to look at him to see what was wrong.
"H…Hawkeye?" He stammered out, barely.
"Yes, sir," she looked down, seemingly embarrassed. He recovered from shock, and lifted her chin up, his heart beating faster than he thought possible.
"I guess we'd better follow their example, Riza."
Smirking at her shocked face, he leaned down and kissed her. Havoc, Farman, Breda, and Fury stood; completely surprised, before their dates kissed them.
"I love you," Roy and Riza said at the same time. Blushing, they leaned in again.
I know that everyone saw that coming, but I thought it would be kind of cute...Please review, it means a lot if you can help me improve my writing and get me off of my tendency to speed things up and not double-check my work (which I actually did this time, odd, I know).