"Taisa, what do you think you're doing now?" came Riza Hawkeye's vaguely annoyed voice as she watched the colonel play with something under his desk- blatantly ignoring the stacks of paperwork piled on top.
"Paper airplane," said Roy simply.
"Taisa, we're the only ones left working already- shouldn't you hurry and finish up soon?"
"I never asked you to wait for me, Hawkeye."
Riza shrugged. She had never questioned the nature of her relationship with Colonel Roy Mustang- he slacked off and she waited for him to finish. Who would if she didn't?
"If I leave," she said, "you'll never get it done. Some people just need an extra kick in the pants, right? Or a bullet in the head, in your case…" she tapped the gun in her holster pointedly and Roy disposed of the paper airplane.
Riza had set herself up a smaller desk in the corner of his office, by the door. It suited her just fine there, but some thought it a little odd how close to stuck to Roy. She called it duty, he called it the only reason he was still sane.
"True," said Roy, "but I'd prefer the kick in the pants."
"Which is exactly why you are so very close to the bullet in the head- now eyes on your work, Taisa."
"Aren't I supposed to be the boss?"
"You lack the mental capacity, Taisa."
"Also true…"
Riza stood up and walking over, tapping the foremost of the papers before him, "working now, Taisa."
"How do you manage it, Hawkeye?" sighed Roy, ignoring her request.
"Not working, Taisa."
Roy leaned back in his chair, "I'm bored," he stated.
"And I am this close to shooting you in the head, Taisa."
A few moments passed in silence and Riza returned to her desk, taking out a pocket-sized, leather-bound book and opening it to her mark.
"What are you reading?" asked Roy, looking up.
"Need I yet again remind you of your work, Taisa?"
"No…"
"Then I'll show you when you're done- consider it a reward."
Roy took a moment to study his pile critically before shaking his head and standing up, "show me first."
Still reading the book in her lap, Riza flipped her gun out lazily as he approached and Roy was forced to walk back to his desk, head hanging foolishly.
"Okay, okay, okay," he said, sighing, "paperwork…" his eyes drifted back over to Riza, who looked up sharply.
"Taisa-"
"Yeah, I got it! I'm working! I'm just… looking for inspiration!"
"Taisa, all you've got to do is sign the damn thing," Riza sighed, putting her book down and standing over by his desk once again. "Look, signature here, there, there, circle that, colour this bubble, initial here, signature there. That's the first one."
Roy followed her hasty instructions as well as he could and held it out at arms length when he was done, seeming proud.
"There's a lot more where that came from, Taisa," Riza reminded him and he sighed, putting his one finished paper to the side and picking up another.
This process took them through the next two hours, but finally they were done.
"Wanna go somewhere?" asked Roy, looking down at his papers as he shuffled them nervously.
"Home?" said Riza.
"With me?"
Riza shook her head and turned around, "no," she said to the wall, "it's already late."
She began to leave, but Roy called her back, "please, Riza?"
She froze where she stood, "Hawkeye," she told him. "It's Lieutenant Hawkeye."
Roy set his paperwork down and appeared at her side, grinning, "so, Riza, where to?"
"Hawkeye," she said again, "and I don't know about you, but I'm going home."
"Then so am I," said Roy brightly.
Having no intention of letting Colonel Roy Mustang anywhere within three miles of her home, Riza huffed slightly, "where do you want to go?" she sighed.
Roy grinned and locked to door behind them both, "I was thinking of this nice little-"
"No bars, clubs, loud parties-" Roy stopped Riza as she ticked the no-goes off her fingers loudly.
"-Restaurant," he said firmly.
Riza blinked.
"I may be a prick," said Roy, noting the surprise on her face smugly, "but I'm a romantic prick."
Romantic prick…
That's when it struck Riza that this was beginning to sound a little too much like a date… not that she wasn't attracted to him- because she was. It was him being attracted to her that she was worried about. Because as soon as a guy like Roy Mustang figures out that you like them, there's only one possible outcome…
She lived for him, breathed for him and kept going every day just to fulfil her promise to help him climb to the top- to become Fuhrer… but she couldn't love him. She could never love him.
She might have tried to leave if it weren't for his arm still linked with hers, yet something compelled her to stay. After all, what army dog didn't fancy a little danger from time to time?
"Okay, then…"
"Riza's such a pretty name," said Roy as they left and she had an odd feeling that he wasn't just saying it to annoy her, but actually meant it.
Her tone more soft than snappish for once, she sighed again, "I would prefer you to call me Hawkeye, or Lieutenant, Taisa."
"I would prefer you to call me Roy," he rebutted and she was silent.
"It just isn't fitting," she said after a while. "Why am I even here, anyway?"
"Because I insisted," said Roy, "and you know you can resist me."
Riza rolled her eyes and folded her jacket over her arm as they entered the restaurant. Sitting down as Roy pulled her chair out for her, she reached for the menu and chose something at random, wanting to get the evening over as quickly as possible.
They ordered the food and Roy leaned across the table slightly to talk to her, "so, how have you been, Riza?"
"The same as always, Taisa- nothing ever seems to change around here."
"Maybe we should change that," said Roy but he refused to elaborate. Instead, he touched upon a new topic, her health. "You must get so tired always waiting around for me, Riza."
Riza just shook her head, staring at her hands.
"Is something wrong?"
"I've said it before, Taisa. I am not comfortable with you calling me by my first name."
"Why?"
"I… we…"
"We're friends, aren't we?" asked Roy, touching the hand she was resting on the table.
Riza jerked her hand back, "Taisa, I am your lieutenant," she said sternly.
"True, Riza, you are. But you are also a woman."
Blushing, Riza turned her face away and screwed up the cloth napkin in her lap nervously. When she looked up, she was smiling a little, "I had forgotten."
Roy smiled too, "I never could. You're so beautiful…"
"Stop it," said Riza, looking away again. "Stop making me blush, I hate it."
"I think it's sweet."
"Taisa!" she sighed in exasperation, a hand on her burning cheek.
"Riza!" he retaliated mockingly and oddly, she found that it no longer bothered her.
"Roy," she said very softly.
"Riza," the way he said her name… much softer now- she loved everything about it.
He made her feel like a normal person- a normal woman- beautiful…
She reached her right hand across the table shyly and he covered it with his, eyes locked on hers. He opened his mouth slightly and Riza rolled her bottom lip into her mouth anxiously… then the food came and he let go of her hand quickly, the intensity of the moment gone.
They ate in moderate silence, Riza scolding herself silently the whole way through and when they were done, she couldn't wait to get away, but Roy insisted on walking her home.
She paused at the door to her apartment and realised that she'd left her keys at the office. Swearing loudly, she leaned against the doorframe a moment before knocking and yelling inside to Black Hayate- not that he knew how to let her in, but it was worth a shot.
"The office will be locked now, Riza," said Roy as she began to pace quickly, still yelling to Hayate, "you'll have to come home with me."
Riza, in no position to refuse, sighed deeply, "I suppose I have no choice."
"None at all," Roy agreed, grinning.
Roy's home was much different from hers. It was a large house, as opposed to her small apartment and had a much more personal feel to it. The house had belonged to his family for years, but he had only recently come into possession of it, following the death of a great uncle he'd never had the pleasure of meeting. Needless to say, the house had many spare rooms, but Riza, knowing she would only get lost if she went further, took the one closest to the stairwell, that happened to belong to Roy.
Shrugging it off, Roy bid her goodnight and went to sleep in one of the guest rooms himself.
Opening the door, Riza was suddenly very tired and if it were not for a certain something catching her eye as she flopped down into bed, she might have been asleep almost instantly. As it was, however, she now doubted that she would get to sleep at all.
That 'certain something' was a picture on his nightstand, taken of Roy and herself, standing dress-up in rather amusing costumes, side by side, and seemed to have been cut out of a larger photo of Hughes and Gracia's Halloween party last year. The fact that the two of them were the only ones in the clipped photo unnerved her.
Drawing strength from her curiosity, Riza stood up again and took a closer look around Roy's bedroom. A dartboard was pinned to the back of his door under a sign reading "Grievances". Several targets with small pictures on them were set up over the span of the board. There were a couple of targets with images of paperwork, a few with his friends (with varying amounts of damage from the darts) and the bullseye was a love-heart. It had the most holes of all.
Riza searched the board for her pictures, curious to see how many times Roy had struck her image in his frustration, but found that her picture was absent, even though his own was present (and fairly mutilated.) Then, blinking tiredly, her eyes fell on the love-heart target again and she unpegged it, turning it over to find a single name written in gold pen on the red cardboard.
Riza Hawkeye.
She gasped softly and only just managed to pin the target back up before scampering into bed as she heard footsteps, closing her eyes and pretending to be asleep.
The door creaked as it opened and she heard the footsteps grow louder, then stop. She felt Roy's hand on her cheek and fought away the blush that she knew was coming.
"Goodnight, Riza," he said softly.
Riza kept her eyes shut and her mouth a straight line determinedly.
There was silence for a few moments more, then she felt the slightest pressure against her lips and heard him leave.
As soon as the door closed, she sat bolt upright in bed, touching a hand to her lips in horror, "no…" she whispered, "he can't…?"