A/N: Ugh, summer's almost over...I won't be able to write as much during the school year D: I'll try and buy a notebook or something so I can keep up with all of this.
Disclaimer: Pfft, I own FMA? Yeah, and pigs fly. I don't own anything here but the plot, hun.
She finally snaps
"…If you'll excuse me, sir, I'm going to the shooting range." And with that, Riza stormed out the door, slamming it behind her.
The men watched her go through eyes filled with fear. Riza was angry. No, she wasn't just angry—she was downright pissed. And all because of the only person in the room who watched her leave through narrowed onyx eyes, his anger equal to hers, although he wasn't as subtle about it as she was.
"Damn it!" Roy yelled, crumpling up a blank piece of paper and snapping it into flames. He watched it burn with pleasure. His subordinates simply stared at him in horror. There was a long, dreadful silence as they all sat there, the crackling of the Colonel's flame echoing in the room.
Finally, Breda spoke up. "H-h-hey, guys, why don't we go grab some grub?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm starved!" Fuery agreed without hesitation, although he had arrived just as the fight ended. But he was smart enough to know that the Colonel and Lieutenant Hawkeye were both extremely angry, and that was enough for him. The rest of the men agreed as well, and with that they were out the door.
The raven-haired man remained silent as he watched the fire eat away at the paper, burning it to a thin ash.
It all started that morning, when Lieutenant Hawkeye assigned Roy with a stack of paperwork. As far as he was concerned, it was 'the biggest stack of paperwork he'd ever seen', and asked if he could have some extra time to do it.
"I could finish at least half today and do the rest tomorrow." He'd told Riza. Riza declined his request right away.
"Sir," she'd replied in a cool, even tone that he loathed "These papers are due by the end of the day." And, she added mentally You probably wouldn't even get half done.
"So were all the other enormous stacks you gave me!" It was true. His deadline was almost always the end of the day. But by pleading with Riza, she'd always ask for more time and he'd get it.
But not today.
"With all due respect, sir, you're a slacker. You could easily finish this in one day if you didn't slack off for once."
The men in the office were watching now, bracing themselves for an argument.
Then he'd managed to set a bomb off, and it pushed her right over the edge.
"Slave driver," he'd muttered in annoyance. Normally the Lieutenant would've ignored it, but that was the last straw.
"Excuse me! Slave driver!" she'd snapped.
Roy hadn't responded, just gazed up innocently into her blazing caramel eyes.
"Mustang, I am doing this for you!" Riza continued when he didn't answer. "You asked me to help you reach the top," she'd spat "And I've been doing that, ever since I joined the military!"
Suddenly she'd gone calm and her voice had grown soft. There was something deep her in caramel gaze that Roy couldn't exactly place his finger on. "I…I've risked my life for you…I'd follow you into hell if it came to it….." The sniper shook her head, her anger boiling up inside her again "And...you can't even do a single god damned stack of paperwork!"
Mustang's brow furrowed and he frowned, standing up and taking step towards the blond woman. She just glared at him as he approached her, her narrowed eyes daring him to say something.
"Riza," Roy had said, taking her by surprise. Not only had he called her by her first name, which he never did, he'd said it in a certain tone that had shocked her even more. It was so full of…affection. Caring. Longing. All the things it shouldn't sound like, not at work.
"You know that I've risked my own life to save yours before. And I know that you've probably gone to more extreme dangers to protect me, to help me reach the top."
"Then why, Mustang!" Hawkeye had asked, her frustration beginning to overflow "Why can you risk your life for me, yet not sign a few papers?"
Roy didn't answer, just stood there. All of a sudden the office door swung open as Sergeant Fuery entered, not noticing anything unusual.
"Colonel, sir," Fuery saluted quickly.
The Colonel waved a hand impatiently, gesturing for the Sergeant to end his salute "Yes, Fuery?"
"Anne called," Roy had frozen as the man spoke, and now he remembered glancing over at the sharpshooter. She was clearly upset, and her amber eyes glistened with deep pain. Fuery hadn't noticed and continued on "She said she'll meet you at 6:30 for your date."
That was when Riza had left, off to shoot the shit out of some poor dummy at the shooting range.
Roy felt as angry as she did, but he couldn't help but feel guilty. No matter how bad it stung his pride to admit it, Riza was right. He was a slacker. She deserved better than that. Especially after everything she'd done for him.
God, The Colonel thought, rubbing his eyes as stress nagged at him I'm such an asshole. I put her through all that….and I go and treat her like this?
His beloved subordinate's amber eyes had left a stain in his mind. It made him feel even worse to remember the pain that had shown in her eyes, the disappointment, the loneliness….
He brought his hand from his face, placing it on his desk. Ironically enough, it brushed against the stack of papers that Riza had left on his desk. Roy frowned and let out a deep sigh.
"Well, I'm going to end up doing it one way or another….might as well get it over with."
~o~o~o~
Damn that slacking idiot…
BAM!
Damn his stubborn ass…
BAM!
Damn his paperwork…
BAM!
Damn his womanizing!
Riza was about to shoot again when someone came up from behind her, making her jump. She whirled around to see a young man with neat black hair, a pair of large glasses resting on his nose.
"Oh, Fuery. It's you."
The Sergeant smiled timidly and Riza put her gun on the floor as she stood, just to assure him that she wasn't going to shoot him.
"I…I'm sorry if I did anything wrong. I mean, I'm sorry if I made you even angrier…." He apologized nervously, sweat beading on his forehead.
Lt. Hawkeye blinked in surprise. Okay, so the Anne thing really did set her off, but she didn't blame Fuery. "Hey, it's fine, okay? It's not your fault the Colonel's a womanizer."
"But I should have noticed that you were fighting…I should've kept my mouth shut. I only made things worse…" The young man's shoulders slumped in defeat. Hawkeye couldn't help but feel a stab of sympathy for him.
"No, really, it's okay. You were only doing your job. I take no offense, and neither does the Colonel." She added a small smile to her speech to reassure him. No matter how big of an ass the Colonel was, she knew he wouldn't blame his subordinate for what happened.
The Sergeant seemed to relax for a moment, but tensed again when his eyes locked onto something behind Riza. Fuery saluted quickly and Riza turned to see a raven-haired man.
"At ease, Fuery." Roy said before turning to his lieutenant. "Hawkeye, I've finished my paperwork."
Hawkeye raised an eyebrow, but turned to Fuery instead. "Fuery, please tell the Colonel that I refuse to speak to him."
"She won't speak to you, sir."
"Tell her I want to know how long she plans to keep this up."
"The Colonel wants to know how long you're going to keep this up."
Riza folded her arms across her chest indignantly "Tell him I said however long it takes."
"She said however long it—"
"Fuery, tell her I asked however long what takes."
"Fuery, tell Mustang I said however long it takes for him to apologize."
That was it. Mustang couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed Riza's wrist, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Hawkeye, I'm sorry." He said.
Riza looked down at her feet, avoiding the Colonel's dark gaze. She didn't reply.
Roy narrowed his eyes and released her from his grip. "Fine," he growled "I don't care if you keep up this childish nonsense, just don't let it get in your way of doing your job." And with that, he walked away, leaving Riza and Fuery alone.
~o~o~o~
The blond woman walked home in silence, her military boots clacking against the pavement of the sidewalk. Her mind had been avoiding the dreaded topic all day until now; Roy Mustang.
For the rest of that day, Riza had managed to keep her mind off of him until now. Now there was nothing to distract her mind with.
She tried focusing on what she would do when she got home. First she would feed Hayate, then take a shower, change into some pajamas, eat something, read, then sleep. Riza unlocked the door to her apartment, and she could hear Hayate barking from inside.
Riza hushed her dog as she hung up her coat on the coat rack, then went to the kitchen and retrieved a sack of dog food. She poured some of the dry pellets into Hayate's metal bowl, then put the bag away and went to the bathroom to shower.
While she was in the shower, Riza noticed that she'd forgotten to command her dog to do anything before eating. I guess I'm just not with it today.
The woman's hand absently went to her back, feeling the scarred skin as warm water trickled down it. Once again her mind was on her superior officer. She remembered that night when he burned the array on her back, how she'd stuffed some of the blanket in her mouth to quiet her screams. The pain had been unbearable, and it hurt just to think about it. Even now, though, she still didn't blame him for what he had done to her. After all, it was she who had asked him to burn her back. Riza wanted nothing to do with flame alchemy.
How ironic, Hawkeye snorted, her thought laced with dry amusement I wanted nothing to do with flame alchemy then, and look at me now. I've devoted my entire life to a flame alchemist. Not just any flame alchemist, thought. The Flame Alchemist.
After her shower, Riza walked into her room wrapped in a towel. She picked some pajamas from her closet. Nothing special, just a silky long-sleeved flannel shirt with matching pants. They were a nice lilac color.
As the sharpshooter grabbed her night wear, she stole a glance at her clock. Both hands were pointed at the six, though one was slightly off to the left. 6:33, Riza thought, her mind drifting back to what Fuery had told the Colonel earlier The Colonel should be at his date right now.
All of a sudden, a knock at the door echoed through the house. Riza quickly pulled on her clothes and jogged down the hallway. She paused at the door, her amber eyes drifting to the gun that lay on the couch. The sharpshooter contemplated on the quickest route to it as she twisted the metal knob, pulling the door open.
There stood the person she least expected; a raven-haired man with charming onyx eyes, dressed in casual civilian clothes.
Riza struggled to find her voice as Roy observed her, amused by her shock. "Surprised?" he asked with a smirk plastered on his face.
"But—sir! Your date!" she gasped, staring up at her superior officer.
Roy smiled and waved a hand, as though swatting at a bug "I told her I had some important business to deal with. She dumped me, of course. I'm just glad you're talking to me."
Riza's mouth dropped open in shock. He didn't go to his date….for me? And he even got dumped? But why! She narrowed her eyes irritably, holding the door open for him to come inside. "Don't think I'm not still angry, because I am." She snapped as he walked past her.
The man just frowned and stood there once he was inside. Riza shut the door with a small 'thud'.
"Riza," he spoke, not turning around to face her "I…really am sorry. And no matter how much it hurts to say it….you were right. I was wrong." Roy turned, gazing into his subordinate's caramel eyes. "You deserve better than that." He said his voice barely above a whisper.
The sniper's eyes softened as she melted in his dark gaze, bringing her arms up to wrap herself in a hug. Suddenly, Roy's hand shot out and grabbed her hand, not breaking his eyes away from hers. The man's onyx eyes stared into hers with a questioning gleam, as if asking her if it was okay for him to go near her. She only blinked in return, giving him silent permission, though her eyes were edged with a small threatening glint, just to remind him of all the guns she had hidden throughout the apartment.
Roy slowly brought her hand to his lips, kissing it softly. Then he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her close.
After a few minutes of standing there in silence, wrapped in his warm embrace, Riza spoke.
"So, let me get this straight. You skipped out on your date just to seduce me into accepting your apology?"
Roy smirked the smirk that had won over almost every girl's heart he'd ever met (minus Riza) and held her back at an arm's length "In a nutshell, yes."
"Well," she said, her lips twitching into a smile "I forgive you, then."
The Colonel's smirk soon transformed into a mischievous grin as he gathered her into his arms, holding her body tightly against his chest. Roy leaned down and pressed his lips against Riza's in a loving kiss, which she happily returned. He could feel her smile widen against his lips.
"So," he said, withdrawing from the kiss "Seduction works on you? Maybe I should seduce you into giving me less paperwork, then."
Riza simply rolled her eyes and walked towards the kitchen, but Roy could see the gentle smile that graced her lips as she replied "Would you like to stay for dinner, Roy?"
A new feeling exploded in Roy's chest then as she spoke his name. She'd never called him by his first name before. He grinned, unable to hide his happiness as he followed the blond woman into the kitchen.
"I'd love to, Riza."
Roy then wondered why he hadn't tried this sooner.
~Owari~
A/N: Review please! Leave the flames to Roy. ~Sketch