AN: I was bored at work and wanted to write a fun one-shot to keep me entertained. Later on it turned really sappy though. That's why the first half is written in a more humorous tone while the second half is, well, sappy, so be warned.

Other than that, please enjoy.

Disclaimer: (Insert witty disclaimer here.)

An Unconventional Order

Colonel Mustang sat at his desk as per usual and as per usual absolutely refused to do his paperwork. This time though, his customary unwillingness to devote himself to any work he considered boring was only amplified by the disaster the evening before had been. And it had begun so well, his date had been beautiful, the location exquisite – but then it had all gone to hell!

As if on cue, the cause of the aforementioned disaster walked in and dumped another ten pounds of paperwork in front of him. He glowered at her.

First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye looked him straight in the eyes, ignoring his accusing stare. "If you continue at this pace, colonel, we're going to be here until well in the evening hours, no, let me correct that, probably until morning."

This immediately let him snap out of his sulking state. "Absolutely not! I have another date this evening and I will under no circumstances see it ruined!"

"With the woman from yesterday?"

"Pauline? No, she doesn't ever want to see me again." He took a deep breath. "'I'm not he kind of woman to go out with a man who already has a girlfriend!' she says," he told Hawkeye in a high-pitched voice. Then he sighed and lowered his head to the table. "And she was extremely pretty, too…"

Hawkeye showed no pity. "If you had just done your work, like you were supposed to do, I would not have had to bring it to you after hours and there would have been no misunderstanding."

"Admit it, you were just jealous!" He didn't really believe in his own words, but showed a self-confident smile just for good measure.

"Even if I were – which I'm not – I wouldn't let my personal life interfere with my work, like you do. So it shouldn't matter to you anyway." She pointed to the mountains of paperwork on his desk. "Now, if you do not begin with this right this instant, the same thing as yesterday might happen. Therefore you should better hurry, it's already half past three." She turned to go.

"Ah, Riza, Riza, always so cold-hearted. Do you want me to go on a date, then?"

"I don't care either way, sir."

"Won't you do it for me, first lieutenant?" He tried pleading with her, even though he pretty much expected to be shot down. "I'll even reward you."

"You'll reward me for doing your work, huh?" For a moment he believed her tempted, but then: "I won't do it. I won't support your promiscuous ways."

"Pro – promiscuous?," he spluttered.

"Yes, promiscuous. Meeting different women every week, every night even! And ones with questionable morals, I have to add!" All this was said in a firm but slightly heated tone, different from her usually monotone voice. Her face remained motionless as ever though.

From across the room, Havoc's low whistle could be heard.

Roy blinked. "I'm always surprised by your strong moral compass." He felt oddly defeated, but nonetheless slightly giddy. Those words of hers, packed with however little emotion, strongly implied that she cared. Even if it was only a little. Even if it was only because all their plans kind of depended on him.

But still, a man could dream.

Filled with new vigor he bowed his head over the paperwork and began filling out the blanks, even reading every third or so paper before signing it. The whispers of Havoc, Breda and Falman in the corner, containing words like 'defeated' and even 'total smackdown' he ignored.

The hours wore on and darkness fell outside, slowly but surely. One after the other his subordinates left, throwing him sympathetic glances. After the gossips were gone, only Hawkeye remained, the quiet sound of her pen scratching on paper the only sound in the room. Roy's own pen had considerably slowed down to the point of not really moving.

He lifted his head from the paper he had tried to read at least seven times in the last ten minutes and looked over at his first lieutenant who was working diligently as ever. A few strands of hair had worked their way out of her usually immaculate hairdo and tickled her face; she blew them away without once stopping the precise movement of her pen.

The fact that he would probably be late for his date had stopped bothering Roy hours ago, when he had received Hawkeye's stern lecture. Now the feeling that overcame him once in a while, or rather a lot more often than he wanted to admit even to himself, came back in full force. The feeling that none of the women he met on those evenings could measure up to Hawkeye. That they weren't as beautiful or smart or strong – in the physical as well as the figurative sense – as she was, and not nearly as desirable. And that maybe, just maybe, she was the one with whom he wanted to spend time. He sighed, putting his head in his hands. Such thoughts should have been eliminated years ago, since they served no purpose other than over-complicating an already much too complex relationship.

"Colonel?" Her voice startled him. Roy hadn't realized that he had been lost so deeply in his thoughts.

She looked at the work he had already finished, then at the considerably taller stack of paper waiting to be read – if Roy was feeling particularly diligent –, then filled out and signed. Now it was her turn to sigh. "Colonel, at this rate you really won't be finished until morning."

"Ah, you're probably right. A shame." He hoped it sounded more heartfelt than it was.

Nonetheless Hawkeye must have realized that he wasn't all too sorry about it, because she cocked her head slightly. "Sir? Is something the matter?"

Roy was about to say 'No' and proceed with his work, but the urge to mess with Hawkeye just a little was too strong. "As a matter of fact, there is." He put on a grave expression. "You see, first lieutenant, as I haven't had the possibility to indulge in my pleasures, that being dates with, as you put it, women of questionable morals", here he had the great pleasure to observe Hawkeyes face reddening somewhat, "my concentration is almost at an all-time low. I fear that this might greatly interfere with the work I have yet to do."

Her eyes narrowed. "What are you trying to say? If you are attempting to get out of work again…"

Sometimes he wondered who really was the subordinate between the both of them.

"No, not at all. It's already too late to meet Margaret anyway. If I show up now, she'll probably only shove an exorbitant bill in my face, for all the expensive food she ordered but didn't eat in my absence."

"What a lovely companion."

"Ah, yes, but she has other… qualities." He cleared his throat. "But enough about Margaret. I have an order for you, first lieutenant!"

Her hand flew to her brow in the perfect example of a salute.

Realizing that he hadn't thought his little ploy out this far, he rummaged around in his head for something he could have her do, something interesting. "First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, I order you," not being able to think of anything, he said the first thing that came to his mind, "to kiss me!"

In the following silence Roy desperately tried to figure out why he had just said that.

Hawkeye didn't even blink. "Please stop joking around, sir." She turned around and started to walk back to her desk.

She hadn't even taken him seriously? For some reason Roy felt greatly angered. He jumped to his feet. "That's an order, first lieutenant!"

Slowly, slowly she turned around, her face still expressionless. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought her incapable of showing emotions. "No, colonel," she said. "That's sexual harassment."

"You consider it harassment to kiss me?"

"I consider it harassment to be forced to do so, yes!"

"Would you do it if I said please, then?"

Something flashed in her eyes and he realized that this game had gone too far. Too late to turn back now though. "Please kiss me, Hawkeye." He smiled at her, a lazy smile that only slightly pulled at the corners of his lips. His eyes half-closed he slid easily into his seductive mode.

Roy was pretty sure he didn't imagine the slight flush that colored her cheeks. "Are you sure, colonel? Do you really want me to do that?"

He looked her over, a trim body hidden by an unflattering uniform, light hair and dark eyes, contrasts that quite intrigued him. In fact, taking into consideration her cold and professional demeanor that hid a warm heart, the woman was one big contrast.

And he very much wanted her to kiss him.

"Yes," he heard himself say. "Yes, I do."

Without another word she walked around the desk, her hips swaying more than usual, everything about her softer than usual, her gait, her facial features, her hands, all relaxed and open. Then she stood directly in front of him, almost touching him. Slowly she rose on her tiptoes and he had to stop his hands from reaching for her, pulling her into his arms.

Riza's hand came to lie on his face, the touch feather-light, but searing him with its heat even so. Her face was close, so close, no one could imagine the self-control it took to not take her kiss right there and then.

She licked her lips, a quick flicker of her tongue, there one second then gone again. Her eyes were half-shut and glistening with moisture. Bedroom eyes.

"Are you sure?" she asked again. Did he imagine the husky undertone?

"How could I say no now?" And again the words were out before he could control himself.

Her smile was there. Almost invisible, but definitely there. "Then be prepared to live with the consequences."

Not a very romantic thing to say, he thought, but then her mouth was on his and all thought ceased.

The kiss was short and sweet, chaste almost. No tongue, just a gentle touching of lips, lasting ten seconds at most, but it left him begging for more, wanting the feeling of her lips moving on his again, needing it more than he needed anything else on this earth. He dared entertain the thought that she might feel this need herself, but her face had closed up again, unreadable now. He swallowed the imaginary lump in his throat. Of course kissing her would feel like this! Hadn't he always known somewhere deep inside? And wasn't that the reason he had never made advances on her? She was Riza, his teacher's daughter, and she was Hawkeye, his most trusted subordinate. And now he had treated her like any other woman and wormed a kiss out of her, just because he felt like it.

And the fact that she didn't even scold him or give him one of her stern glares, showing that she disapproved, somehow made it even worse. Like she had expected him to screw it up in some way.

Roy lowered his head. He could no longer meet her honest gaze. "I'm sorry." His voice was barely audible, even to his own ears.

The renewed warmth of her hand on his face surprised him. He lifted his head again and there they were, on her face, all the emotions she hadn't shown him a few seconds ago.

Again her small smile. "I didn't have to do it, you know. We're both to blame here."

"I… I'd forgotten. For a moment I'd forgotten." He paused, but when Riza didn't say anything, he continued. "That it was you I was toying with… that that's not what I want – to toy with you, I mean. And that if, you know, if there was something between us like that, that it would be dangerous. For you. For me." His usual eloquence gone in the face of her honesty, he was left only with the truth himself and voice their unspoken agreement that a relationship would be impossible for the first time. That being with her in that way would only result in more weaknesses for him. For the both of them.

His soul laid bare, he could only hope she felt the same.

The sadness that then showed on her face, however, he was sure of.

"You're right, we can't." Her other arm came up and she wound it around his neck. Her fingers played with the short wisps of hair at his nape, raising goosebumps all over his body. "But you're not the only one who forgets it sometimes."

Warmth flooded his body, emotional and that of the more physical kind as well.

"Yes," he mumbled into her mouth which was suddenly in front of his. "Let's forget."

"Just for a little while." Little tufts of air tickled his lips with every word she uttered.

Both hesitant but wanting at the same time they kept this position for a while, lips almost but not quite touching. Then Roy realized that his arms were quite unoccupied at the moment and he let them rest on her hips. He opened his eyes – he couldn't even remember closing them – and met Riza's gaze. As if on an unspoken clue, both dipped their head forward and slightly to the side. Roy closed his eyes again.

This time it was a proper kiss, not the feather-soft touch from before. He felt Riza sigh into the kiss and in answer Roy felt a tug deep in his gut.

He couldn't remember the last time a woman had triggered this deep a want in him. His characteristic need to protect however was also quite stronger with her and he was very much aware of the danger he put her in the more they prolonged this.

And so he was the one to break the kiss. Riza's eyes were half open and glistening, as where her reddened lips. Her sight almost made him lose control again. He really needed to work on that.

So Roy said the only thing he could think of to remind them both of what was at stake and why it couldn't be. "First lieutenant."

Roy could see the changes in her expression that transformed her from Riza to first lieutenant Hawkeye. It was all in the skin around the eyes, eyebrows and the mouth, which lost all their softness and warmth.

She saluted.

"That will be all." Roy tried very hard to keep his voice even, but still roughness of arousal crept into his. "You can go home now, I think I'll be able to handle the rest by myself."

Hawkeye nodded. "Yes, sir." He was surprised how clear her voice rang. How did that woman manage her discipline of steel?

She turned around to go and as he watched her profile, familiar and very dear to him on the one hand, but somehow now seen in a new light, he felt that old fear again. The fear of losing someone.

If he was with her, he was liable to lose her. Being in a relationship with her would screw up his priorities and hers and weaken her as well as him. Their relationship had to remain on a professional level and extend to friendship at most.

But not being with her still made it possible to lose her. There were a lot of dangers they faced and as he was coming to realize, he wanted Riza to be in his life, and one day as more than just his subordinate. It wouldn't always be like this. One day most of the danger would be over. And on that day, he wanted her to be by his side. And forever afterwards. Bthere was the distinct possibility that one of them would die before then. Or, although it irked him just to consider it, she could find someone else, someone to cherish and protect her, who didn't put her in danger every day.

Well, the one problem was easily taken care of. He just had to stay alive, protecting her all the way, as she protected him. Then she would surely survive. She had to. And he needed to believe that she would.

As for the other matter…

"First lieutenant!"

She was already at the door, having packed her things while he was lost in thought. Standing there, one hand on the doorknob, she turned partially around to face him "Yes?"

"Riza…" He saw her eyes widen. "Will you…" Roy's voice faltered and he filled his lungs with air in an attempt to steady it. "Will you please wait for me? For when all of this is over and we've reached our goal? Then I will…" He trailed of, unsure of what to say. He knew what he wanted to convey, but none of the words in his mind seemed right.

Her smile however made him lose that trail of thought completely. It was so much more brilliant than all the smiles he had ever seen in his life. Even the hint of sadness couldn't mar it.

"I will."

She left the room with the sure steps of the lieutenant, pulling the door shut behind her. But just before she closed it completely, he heard her voice again, the soft but clear voice of Riza.

"Always."

The End.

AN: That's it, please review :)

I also have a half-finished Roy/Ed one-shot in a similar vein lying around, I'll probably finish it soon (at work. Again. Work is really boring.). So, if that's your thing, stay tuned ;)