I haven't written creatively in over two years, so this will be rough and generic and I apologize.

Summary: A week after the Promised Day, Roy's confession to Riza in the hospital doesn't originally go according to his plan.

Colonel Roy Mustang opened his eyes and immediately panicked, forgetting for a fraction of a second that darkness was his new world. He sat up in his hospital bed and took a few deep breaths, letting his heart rate calm down. A rustling of bedsheets on the other side of the room told him that his lieutenant was awake, but she said nothing. Even so, her continued presence comforted him. 'Riza,' he corrected himself with a smile. He could hear the squeaking wheels of hospital carts accompanied with the murmur of voices in the hall outside the room. It must be mid-morning, he realized.

Roy had slept surprisingly well the night before; it was the deepest sleep he had experienced in the one week since the Promised Day. Soft voices had trickled in to his sleep at one point, most likely a nurse coming in to check on the two patients as her shift started, but Roy had disregarded the conversation and had drifted back into slumber.

He had been awake well into the morning hours the night before, long after he had noticed Riza's breathing become regular with sleep. It wasn't that he had been having trouble falling asleep, but rather that he had felt the need to make an important decision before allowing himself to do so. While the thought of carrying out his decision unnerved him a bit, his own contentment at having finally arrived at his conviction was comforting enough to let him submerge himself at last in the abyss of unconsciousness.

Now, to act on that conviction. The Flame Alchemist took another deep breath and swung his legs over the side of his bed, standing up and directing himself toward the sound of Riza's breathing. His feet felt warm against the floor, heated by the morning sun through the window beside his bed. As he tried to walk to Riza's bed with dignity, his foot caught on a rolling tray table. He would have fallen in a most embarrassing manner had he not caught himself on a much more stationary vacant visitor's chair. Riza was gracious enough not to laugh at him. He might outwardly roll his eyes at Fullmetal's teasing of his blindness, but Riza knew that he was still very sensitive about it. Only she was observant enough to notice the way his hands twitched (still too raw to clench) when the subject was brought up, and it was her voice that soothed him once each offending visitor had left.

Noting to himself the position of the chair he was clinging to in relation to the room, Roy straightened and directed himself once again toward what he assumed was the foot of Riza's bed. He groped for the edge of the cot, sitting upon it once he felt the sheets between his fingers. Riza still said nothing, but he could feel her eyes watching him. This was it. Time to carry out the choice that had kept him awake in its making but had also given him peace once reached.

"Riza," Roy stammered, her name catching in his throat, which now felt unusually dry. Saying it out loud, to her, felt strange. He had repeated it again and again in his head the night before, but the sound of his own voice speaking it had caught him by surprise. He started again, "Riza, I have something to say to you, and I want you to wait for me to finish telling you what it is before you say anything. Otherwise, I might not get around to telling you all the things that I intend to convey." He paused, hoping that she could see his eyes, blank as they were. He heard her move closer through the squeaking springs on the bed, and knew she was listening. Roy reached out, his fingers brushing through soft, short hair. Her bangs? He lowered his hand.

"You've been by my side through thick and thin, to Hell and back. You probably know me better than I know myself, and there is no one whom I trust more than you. You've kept me on my path since I decided to start walking down it. Since the incident with Envy on the Promised Day, when you coaxed me out of falling into that pit of hatred and revenge, I know that there is no better person whom I could have chosen to watch my back. That day taught me that I can't even begin to imagine a world without you by my side. When your throat was slit and you were lying there bleeding, I was filled with horror by the thought that I might even have to consider life in your absence. Even when the paramedics took you away to tend to your wound, I panicked at the cold that rushed to my side that meant you were gone, although I knew it was only for a little while. And you have trusted me completely. You trusted me with the secret on your back, and you trusted me to hurt you in order to destroy it. And in your eyes, you trusted me not to try to bring you back through human transmutation as you lay dying, no matter how prepared I almost was to do so. Your eyes told me not to, and I knew I had no choice but to listen to them. I want you to continue to be by my side, but not just as my lieutenant or subordinate. I want to call you Riza, and for you to call me Roy. I want to be able to regularly show you just how much I value you. What I'm trying to say is," Roy gulped before continuing, "I love you."

Roy leaned forward and brought his face to Riza's, touching his nose and forehead to hers. Her nose was wet - had she been crying? Still, she was silent. What was she thinking? Was she processing his words? Roy was surprised that she hadn't figured out his feelings for her already.

"Well, Riza?"

Riza licked his mouth.

"The hell, Hawkeye?" Roy jerked back, his mistake dawning on him as the body next to him on the bed barked. Black Hayate jumped into his lap, his wagging tail hitting Roy's upper arm.

"Um, sir?" A familiar voice, timid and almost a whisper, came from the second visitor's chair, across the room from the one on which Roy had caught himself.

"Fuery, how long have you been sitting there?"

"Since you woke up, sir."

"And where is Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

"She went to the bathroom, sir." Fuery's voice was almost a squeak at this point. "And the nurses said something about a bath. I got here with Black Hayate to visit her just as she left, so we've been waiting in here. I didn't want to wake you up, because you were sleeping so soundly, sir."

"And you didn't think to say anything to me while I confessed to Hawkeye's dog?"

"You seemed very determined, sir. I was afraid to interrupt." Roy could hear Fuery's feet shuffling against the floor.

Fuery should be glad that the colonel didn't have his ignition gloves, Roy thought. "You understand that the speech I gave to... Hayate never happened, don't you Sergeant?"

"Yes, of course, Colonel Mustang, sir!"

Roy heard the soft patter of hospital slippers come into the room just then, and Black Hayate leaped from Roy's lap to greet his mistress.

"Why hello, Hayate! I've missed you, too!" Riza's crooning voice made Roy's heart skip a beat. "Colonel, why are you on my bed? Are you feeling alright? You're looking a little pale." Cool hands pressed against Roy's face, wiping away the sweat that he hadn't noticed accumulating during his speech. He closed his eyes and leaned into them.

"I'm fine, Lieutenant. I was just playing with Hayate." He reached up and pulled on a strand of her hair, still damp from the bath the nurses had given her. "I was worried when I woke up and you weren't here."

He heard Riza sigh as she sat down next to him. "I needed the bath. I was beginning to smell like a dog."

A shrill laugh escaped from Fuery, and Roy whipped his heard around to glare at the sergeant. Fuery quickly stood up and started walking toward the door. "You know, I should probably take Hayate outside for a little bit, and let him do his business... you know?" He was stammering. "So I'll be back... later. I'll be back later. Come on, Hayate!" Fuery rushed out of the room, taking the dog with him.

Several moments of tense silence followed, before Riza asked, "What was that about?"

"Fuery has always been an odd one." Roy turned to face her, reaching his hand toward her face to make sure it was really her this time. He smiled to himself as his fingers felt her very human nose and mouth beneath them. Her eyelashes fluttered against his hand.

Perhaps he was too aggressive in assuring himself of the existence of her face, because Riza's voice was muffled when she said, "Sir, why is your hand in my face?" But he could feel her smiling.

Roy withdrew his hand and sat up straight. "Riza, I have something to say to you." Perhaps the practice round with Hayate had been for the best, because this time he already knew that he would be able to tell her the most important part. The words of his confession flowed smoothly from his mouth; he only paused briefly when he felt her take his left hand in hers and begin gently circling the still-healing palm. "What I'm trying to say is," Riza's caressing of Roy's hand paused, the sound of her breathing growing more rapid. "I love you."

This time, the response wasn't a lick, but a kiss.

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