Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang sat at his desk in Eastern HQ with a disgruntled expression. The paperwork was mounting ever higher and front of him, and he hadn't seen head or tail of 1st Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye all day to give him a hand. He was genuinely worried about her, for it had seemed as though she had been avoiding him for the last week. Whenever she did approach him, it was with half-hearted devotion and anxiousness to be elsewhere. He knew he would have to approach her on the matter one way or another. How he was to do that, he had no idea, for Riza was immune to the majority, if not all of his womanizer tricks. He would have to talk to her in a normal way, not flirty, not professional. And the thought of doing such scared him witless. He tossed situation after situation around in his head, all of which flawed, and still could come up with no real way to ask her what was wrong. His time to decide was ended sooner than expected, for at that moment, Riza shuffled mindlessly into Roy's office with a paper. She dropped it on his desk, then turned to head out again without saying a word. Roy cleared his throat. "Lieutenant."

Riza stopped, then turned to him. "Yes, Colonel?" She avoided his gaze.

Roy took a deep breath, then went in head-first. "What's wrong, Riza?" he asked.

Riza closed her eyes. She knew Roy only called her by her first name in the most personal and intimate of circumstances. Her heart pounded hard in her chest. "Nothing, Colonel," she said, refusing to extend the first-name basis.

Roy merely shook his head. "I don't think so. You've been avoiding every aspect of me lately, even my gaze," he said. He flinched because of how professional he thought he sounded.

Riza looked up and into his eyes. "There. Happy?" she said with a strongly disapproving tone. It was when their eyes locked that Roy saw it and finally understood. He saw that glimmer of flame burning in Riza's eyes, the fuel to both irrational and positive decisions: love. Something had changed emotionally within Riza, and she didn't like it. Her organized personality despised the disruption of change. Roy knew what she had been attempting to do over the last week. She had tried to kill the emotion by disregarding its source. Roy also knew good and well that no method worked to kill something as powerful, divine, and eternal as love. In the war of human emotion, love is the supreme victor.

Roy smiled softly and said, "You can't kill it off, if that's what you think you're doing."

Shaken my his statement, "Excuse me, Colonel?" she questioned.

"I see it in your eyes. You can't hide that from an eccentric philanthropist playboy like me," Roy responded.

Riza acted puzzled, but the fact that Roy had caught on so quickly to her emotions hit much harder than expected. Is he really reading me like an open book? she thought. She refused to give in, but then Roy did the one thing she wished he would not do: he gave his soft smile. Riza's typically impenetrable wall melted away. "Roy… this is not the time or place for this…" she muttered.

"Ah, but it is," he said as he stood up. Riza instinctively took a step backwards. The retreat didn't phase him. He walked over to her and carefully laid his hand on her shoulder. She flinched at his touch, her head down with her eyes closed. "Riza… stop hiding. Emotions fester and magnify when suppressed. The feelings that exist about me for you are okay. Express them. That… is an order, Lieutenant," Roy said in his silky flirtatious tone, smiling at Riza.

Riza looked up at him, almost to the point of tears. "You are my only close companion, Roy. I can't loose you to my own sheer folly…" she said shakily.

"Emotions are not mistakes, Riza. Don't ever let that belief rule your life. You have to feel, or else you'll loose all companions, not just me," Roy responded.

Riza took a deep breath, then said, "Fine. I have strong feelings for you. They've developed seemingly out of nowhere, but they're here…"

"Strong feelings? Is that the best you can give? Actually say it," Roy asked.

"No."

"Say it."

"I said no."

"Riza." Roy said with force.

Riza dropped her head, then muttered lowly, "I… I love you." Roy smiled, then laid his other hand on her shoulder. He stepped closer to her. She looked up at him, her eyes as wide as the moon. "Roy… what… no, don't…" she stammered. Roy put his finger to her lips, then laid his forehead against hers. He saw the flame of love burn even brighter in her eyes, shining like a thousand stars dancing across the night sky. She let out tiny gasps of air as he pushed his lips closer to hers. She closed her eyes in anticipation, and Roy did the same. Finally, their lips made contact. A tingling sensation swept all over both of their bodies, like tiny flares erupting on the surface of the skin. Roy led the kiss, and Riza's eyes fluttered ever-so-slightly. Both Riza and Roy simply could not process the amazing feeling. It was something godlike, something not meant to be enjoyed my mere mortals. But, here they were, squeezing each other tight, kissing, loving, experiencing this holy divinity. They held the kiss for what seemed like hours before finally pulling away from one another. They both had smiles on their faces that were as big as the ocean was wide. They stared at each other for a few minutes, and Riza finally saw what the flame of love was in Roy's eyes.

Finally, Roy spoke up. "Well… what do you think, Riza?"

"The rumors are true," she responded.

"What rumors?" Roy said, caught off guard.

"Your kisses… are better than sex," she said, giggling. Roy laughed out loud and hugged her close to him. He buried his head in her shoulder, and for the first time in years, he knew he was truly loved, and knew the true meaning of love himself….