A/N: Whoa. I completed this in two hours. I've never completed a fanfic in a day before.
I'm actually really pleased with how this came out :) Longest one-shot I've ever written so far (I think). Obviously, this is set after the manga, so there are going to be some spoilers.
WARNING: This fic might be a little cliché xD (or at least I think it is)
Disclaimer: I do not own FMA. I only own the idea/plot of this fanfic.
A Rule Made to be Broken
Roy leaned on the expensive-looking wooden table in the Armstrong mansion ballroom, onyx gaze searching through the mass of people on the ball floor. He knew almost everyone at the party, being as popular and respected as he was, so that wasn't what caused his leg to bounce up and down nervously. It was the absence of the one person he'd been looking forward to seeing.
A sloshing at his jumping thigh reminded him of the wine glass he held and took a sip of the yellow-ish liquid. It distracted him momentarily and his leg stopped bouncing, but the moment he brought the glass from his lips, his leg was moving again and his eyes were searching.
He damned himself for the habit; he'd been on this cycle the entire party so far. A defeated sigh escaped him as he focused on his hands. They were wrapped in gauze. The nurse had told him they'd most likely scar over (and then added that she found men with scars attractive and had slipped a paper into the pocket of his shirt, which he suspected to contain her number and threw it away later). Well, that was fine by him. He had plenty of scars, although none compared to the one his Lt. bore.
Shrugging off the haunting memories of scars, he took the time to ponder the last few days. The Promised Day was four days ago—and what a rush those four days had been. But somehow, here he was, celebrating their victory, no longer blind. 'Surely,' he thought, 'This is not equivalent exchange.'
But then again, rules were made to be broken.
"Hey, Colonel Bastard."
"Ed! Don't be so rude!"
Roy turned to see Ed and Winry on his left, bickering away. Winry was going off on how mean and rude he was and how he should treat Roy with respect. Ed, of course, was mortified at the idea and was telling her 'what a dick he was'. Finally, it came to the point where Winry took her wrench out of her purse—Roy momentarily wondered what motivated her to carry the thing around, later deciding it must be a mechanic thing—and threatened to hit him over the head with it.
"Okay, okay!" Ed cried, backing away and shielding his face with his arms "I'm sorry!"
"That's what I thought," the blonde girl growled, stuffing the wrench back in her purse.
Their fight brought a smirk to Roy's lips. Their bickering reminded him of himself and Hawkeye, in a way (a much more violent way).
'Better listen to your girlfriend, shrimp' he wanted to say, but remembered the wrench Winry held in her purse and quickly decided against it. Instead, he opted for "You look lovely tonight, Miss Rockbell," with a charming smile.
"Thanks, Roy! You look quite handsome yourself," she replied with a bright smile. Roy was dressed in a tux, nothing too fancy. He hated dressing up. 'Better than that stiff uniform you have to wear at work,' he reminded himself.
Nonetheless, he thanked her and asked if she had seen Lt. Hawkeye anywhere.
"Sorry," she apologized "I haven't. I was actually going to ask you if you'd seen her."
"I heard she was coming with Gracia and her daughter," Ed piped up. "None of them are here yet. They must be running late."
Roy frowned, but quickly wiped it off his face when he met Ed's gaze, though he knew it was too late.
"Ooooh," Ed snickered mischievously "Feeling useless without the Lt. around to save your ass?"
"No!" Roy snapped, a little too quickly "I'm not useless without her!"
"He has a point, sir."
Roy whirled around, about to defend himself when his breath caught in his throat. There stood Riza, beautiful blonde hair up in its usual bun (much to his disappointment), silky black dress that reached just an inch below her knees and hugged her curves tightly. A small smile graced her lips, which looked…sparkly? He assumed she was wearing lip gloss. Though that was the only make-up she wore, Roy could care less. She looked stunning. Roy gripped the edge of the table he'd been leaning on and placed his glass on it, his knuckles going white. It was all he could do to keep his jaw and glass from dropping.
"Scar would've blown you to bits if it weren't for me," she reminded him, bringing him out of his trance. He just nodded dumbly, nearly getting knocked over by Elysia.
"Uncle Roy!" She squealed, tackling his waist. He smirked and caught her, spinning her around, causing her to giggle uncontrollably. He set her back down on her feet and ruffled her hair playfully.
"Hey, kiddo."
"Like my dwess?" she asked, spinning around for effect.
He smiled. The dress the six year-old wore was pink, white, and very frilly. 'Hughes definitely would've approved.' "It's very nice."
Roy could almost feel Hughes slapping him on the shoulder and hear him saying "Roy, you pedophile!" with that goofy grin on his face. He chuckled inwardly at the thought.
Gracia appeared behind her daughter, chuckling. "She was so excited to come, so I just had to bring her."
Roy nodded, smiling in understanding. Elysia tugged on his pant leg, causing him to kneel down to her level. "Yes, Elysia? What is it?"
"Did you see Auntie Riza's dwess? Isn't she pwetty?"
Roy stiffened, his cheeks heating up. Gracia suppressed a giggle while Ed burst out into laughter, getting dragged away by Winry. Roy prayed that she put that wrench to use and beat him senseless with it. A nervous glance at Riza told him she was just as embarrassed as he was; her cheeks were going pink.
'C'mon, Roy!' he yelled at himself 'You're Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist! You have girls dying at your feet! MAN UP!' He stood, about to smirk that cocky smirk of his and reply with a cocky reply, but lost his confidence completely when he met Riza's amber gaze.
'Who am I kidding? This is Riza Hawkeye we're talking about.'
"Uncle Roy?"
"Yes," he murmured, gazing into those amber eyes "Absolutely stunning."
Riza blushed harder and looked away, focusing on her feet. He smirked now, pleased with himself, but still slightly embarrassed.
There was an awkward moment of silence before Gracia led Elysia away from them. "We'll just leave you two alone now." A mischievous grin was plastered on her face and Roy cringed. That woman was just like her husband; always trying to pair Roy up with someone and trying to find him the perfect wife.
Riza moved next to his side, leaning on the table as he had been doing earlier. He could still see her blushing faintly.
"You didn't have to wear your hair up," he told her "You look better with it down."
She shrugged. "It gets in my way. But thank you, sir."
He sighed in disappointment, his onyx gaze drifting to her neck. She was no longer in a brace. Instead, the wound was covered with gauze, as his hands were. She had also been promised a scar.
"Lieutenant! Lieutenant! Can you hear me? Answer me, dammit!" Each came out as a scream, ripping through his throat. It was going to be sore later (and it had been). He didn't care, though.
"LIEUTENANT!" He knew that at a time like this he should be calling her first name and not her rank, but it was the first thing that came to his mind. Old habits die hard.
Blood was pooling around her pale, limp body, staining her neck and soaking into her hair. That damned man kicked her seemingly lifeless body with his foot, grinning. Roy wanted to burn him to a crisp.
The words that came out of the man's mouth sounded muffled to Roy, as did the rest of the world. The only thing he could hear clearly was his beloved Lt.'s shallow, raspy breathing. Even his own screams sounded muffled to him.
Blood, blood, blood….she was bleeding so badly…
"Sir!"
Roy blinked hard and fast; his vision was blurry and he realized he must've been crying. He wiped his eyes, averting his gaze from Riza's neck. "Sorry," he mumbled, cursing inwardly at how choked up his voice sounded.
Riza gazed at him, concern flickering in her eyes. She placed a hand on his back comfortingly. "You need to stop doing that," she soothed him, her tone gentle "I'm right here. You saved me. I'm alive and well."
"I know, but," he paused, looking down at her "I thought I lost you, too."
The blonde woman chuckled. "Sir, I don't think you could lose me, even if you wanted to."
He smiled and chuckled as well. "Yeah, you're right about that." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, tugging her close to him. A jazz band began to play on the other side of the room, and couples swarmed onto the dance floor.
"I'd ask you to dance, but I can't dance to save my life," he told her with a laugh.
She smiled back up at him. "That's fine, sir. I don't think I can, either."
The two laughed some more before it went silent again, and Roy glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall. There was at least an hour before the party would end. 'Crap. I have to do something.'
He gazed down at his Lt.. She really did look amazing. Roy slid his arm out from around her shoulders, catching her attention.
"Leaving, sir?"
'Not yet. Not without you, at least' "No, Armstrong was just telling me yesterday about his 'glorious garden'." He said 'glorious garden' in a deep voice, trying to imitate the muscular man. Riza laughed.
"Mind if I accompany you?" Roy smirked.
"Well," he said, extending his arm to her and grabbing his wine glass "I'm useless without my Lt., aren't I?" He leaned in next to her ear and whispered "Besides, I couldn't lose you even if I wanted to."
A smile graced her lips as she held onto his arm. "Of course you are. And no, you couldn't, sir."
Roy guided her away from the ballroom and out the door that led to the garden. The pair was met with a gust of wind as he opened the door, and he winced. The dress Riza wore was sleeveless, and she was probably freezing. As they walked out onto the patio and stood by the railing, he slipped out of his jacket and placed it on her shoulders.
"Sir—"
"Roy," he corrected.
"Roy," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm really not that cold."
He chuckled. Riza was tough. "Really?"
"Really."
Roy grabbed her arm gently and lifted it in front of her face. "Then why do you have goose bumps?"
"That's…okay, fine, you win." Roy smirked triumphantly and slowly raised her hand to his lips, leaving a light kiss on her knuckles. Riza shivered and his smirk grew wider.
He held her arm gently, leaving a trail of feathery kisses all the way up to her neck. His lips hovered over the wound for a moment before he left a light kiss on the bandages, holding it there for longer than the rest before moving onto her face. Roy smiled and pressed his lips onto hers, his heart racing.
Riza smiled against his lips and returned the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. Roy set his glass on the stone railing behind Riza before reaching up and freeing her hair of that damn hair clip. Her blonde hair flowed down over her shoulders and he broke the kiss, looking down at her.
"Much better," he said, reaching out and running a few strands of the golden hair through his fingers.
Suddenly Riza frowned and shook off his hand. "We shouldn't be doing this, sir," her gaze was focused intently on the ground.
Roy shook his head and tilted her chin up, forcing her to look at him. "Riza, I love you. I don't know about you, but I will never regret what we just did."
"I love you too, but..the frat laws—"
"Grumman's been elected as Fuhrer, Riza," he said with a laugh "I don't think he'll have a problem with us being together."
She paused before nodding slowly in agreement. "Yes," she murmured, leaning into his chest "I suppose you're right."
He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. To think that only a half hour or so ago he was bouncing his leg because of nerves and drinking wine to calm them amazed him.
They stood there for a while, wrapped in each other's warmth, moon shining down on them, until Riza spoke.
"We don't deserve this. This isn't equivalent exchange at all. I should be dead and you should be blind."
Roy smiled softly and placed a kiss on her forehead. "You're right. We don't. But I'm not complaining. Some rules are made to be broken, anyways."
~Owari~
A/N: Reviews are welcome, but flames are not! ~Sketch