It's Valentine's season! Do you have any idea what that means!
Chocolate.
Tons and tons of chocolate. Life is good.
It also means Valentine's one-shots! HOO-HA!
Actually, the deal with this is if you go and check out my other Valentine's 'one-shot', A Favor, you can see what Ed, Al, and Winry had going on earlier that day.
Disclaimer: I own a few Valentines right now. FMA didn't come to me in a little white envelope with a heart-shaped sticker. Too bad.
Every year since they worked in the same office, all six officers found themselves spending Valentine's Day lunch together, Roy included. That's the real kicker to this unintentional tradition.
The Amestris Armed Forces considered themselves above giving Valentine's Day off under any circumstances, but granted an extended lunch break for the love-sick, hormone-driven young males (and the occasional female) to go do whatever-the-hell or whoever-the-hell they felt like without cutting into their work hours.
Every year it was the same. Havoc, Breda, and Falman would have dates that cancel that morning one year, then the next year have absolutely no date at all. Fuery had been seeing the same girl for the past two and half years, but in an effort to 'separate work life and social life' (a.k.a. 'keep his co-wokers from screwing his relationship up'), he always stayed for lunch and simply left early to spend the evening with his girlfriend.
Roy had sworn off Valentine's Day traditions. He firmly believed that if some girl was to ask him or he was to ask any girl out on Valentine's day, it was an immediate set-up for issues of commitment: Roy didn't want commitment and he couldn't deal with girls who wanted to fall in love, get married, have kids, etc. The day Roy Mustang had a date on Valentine's was the day he settled down with one woman. He made that a promise to his bachelor ego.
Hawkeye would, all things considered, take this holiday relatively well. Most of the guys suspected that she could be doing something better with her time during these long lunches year after year, but decided that probing would only lead to pain. Being the only female in their unit, and one of the few in the entire military, she got to handle the emotional damage that the guys sustained on this holiday. And this year seemed like it would be no exception.
As she entered the room with a large box tucked under one arm and her bagged lunch held in the other, she was greeted with a few unenthusiastic acknowledgments of her presence and Fuery's clear greeting, "Happy Valentine's Day, Lieutenant." Ah, clever, clever Fuery, keeping his private life at a safe distance from the chaos that they called a job.
"Same to you to Fuery." Planning on taking full advantage of the two and a half hours of freedom she had, she settled comfortably in her chair and slowly pulled the wrapping off of the box she had retrieved from the mailroom earlier that morning. Slowly removing the tag attached to the inner box and reading the short note, she smiled slightly before tossing it into the trash.
"It's because I'm ugly, isn't it?"
"No. You are not ugly, Havoc. We did this last year." Hawkeye explained carefully as she lifted the burgundy colored lid off the parcel and inhaled deeply, taking in the pleasant smell of chocolate that leaked from the open box that tickled the noses of everyone in the room.
"Those chocolates came from the same place as the ones you got last year, didn't they?" Breda asked as he examined the fancy gold lettering on the now-forgotten lid.
"Yes, they did." Hawkeye gingerly selected one piece with white chocolate swirled onto the top and placed it into her mouth, enjoying herself thoroughly but not showing it on her face.
"It's the same place every year, same box too. My guess is it's the same guy every year too, right?" Breda looked towards the garbage can, where the tag sat. A quick glare from Hawkeye was all he needed to discourage retrieving the material.
"Then what is it about me? Why do I keep losing them every single time? I didn't even lose her to the Colonel this time!" All eyes turned to Roy, who had pulled his large leather chair out of his private office and was sitting with his feet resting on the empty desk across from Hawkeye's work area. All he did was shrug and return to his coffee with a smile.
"Hey, at least you had a date to dump you this year. All I got was a bunch of rejections." Falman sighed as he halfheartedly turned the page of the paper he clearly wasn't reading.
"Oh, yeah, that's right. Clearly I have it better because I was dumped on Valentine's Day!" Havoc sucked aggressively on his cigarette, drawing the ashes down to the filter in a single exacerbated breath.
"So what's the deal? Who keeps sending you expensive gifts on Valentine's Day?" Breda asked over Havoc's continued mutterings of discontent. Clearly the First Lieutenant's social life was something of a curiosity to her co-workers.
"Is it someone we know?" Fuery asked, clearly not seeing the harm in asking the question. Roy simply rested his chin on his fist, letting his elbow sit on a pile of neglected paperwork.
"No."
"Then it wouldn't hurt you to tell us who it was, would it?" Falman joined in the questioning. By now Havoc had stopped his moment of self-pity to focus on the interrogation of the young woman. Under normal circumstances, this kind of unwanted questioning could have been stopped with a glare and the unlocking of her pistol, but today Hawkeye didn't even want to try and fight with the lovesick men. Instead she chose to select another chocolate from her mystery gift.
Giving up, Breda, Falman, Havoc, and Fuery went to the mess hall to pick up lunch. Roy watched the Lieutenant for a moment, unsure if he was supposed to leave too. Without looking at him, Hawkeye held the box towards him, silently offering to share the sweet morsels. Roy shook his head 'no', and would have probably sat there for the rest of his extended lunch break if Hawkeye didn't start talking.
"He lives in Eastern and is three months and four days older than me. We went to school together for seven years, and dated seriously all four years of secondary school." Roy's hand slipped out from underneath his chin and he tried to cover the startled expression on his face. He heard about couples that would stay together for their entire school career, and would go on to marry each other and lead storybook-perfect lives, but never truly believed that emotional maturity of that kind existed at such a young age.
"If you two were so close, why did it end?" And why did you go and ask that? Immediately regretting his decision to think out loud, Roy watched Riza's face for any sign that he had crossed some kind of unspoken line. Well, for one reason or another, the Lieutenant is in a good mood today. Clearly she's just humoring me.
"I was leaving for Boot Camp, then to the Ishbal front," Roy stiffened, "We wouldn't see each other for, God knows how long, and that wouldn't be far for either of us to be obligated to each other without any foreseeable future. So I ended it." Hawkeye became engrossed in selecting her next chocolate, relieving Mustang of her gaze.
"How'd he take it?" I really need to stop talking every time my brain forms a coherent thought.
"He proposed to me. Right after I ended it, just before I had to board the train for the Training Camp," she replied, disturbingly nonchalant. Roy, steeling his nerves, stood up and walked resolutely towards her desk, sitting down on the desktop next to the troublesome box of candies.
"But it really doesn't matter. Clearly, I didn't marry him and have moved on." Ah, Hawkeye, practical as ever. Roy looked at his Lieutenant's face, her eyes focused ahead at nothing. "When the Rebellion ended, he contacted me just days after I got back. But by then it was too long for us to pick things up again. He's sent me the same chocolates every year since we started dating, even while I was away at Ishbal and he knew they probably wouldn't even get there, and we weren't even dating then," her lips formed a half-hearted smile, "I guess it's our way of remembering what we had."
"Lieutenant?" Just as Roy's words left his mouth, Hawkeye shook herself out of her stupor in a quick shake of her head.
"I apologize, Sir. It wasn't right for me to bring up my personal life in the office," looking to the clock on the wall while painstakingly avoiding the Colonel's gaze, she quickly added, "There's less than an hour left for lunch and you still haven't had anything to eat yet, Sir. I suggest going to the Mess Hall before…" Roy silenced her by placing his index finger on her lips. Cheeks flushing to a soft pink, Riza looked at Roy with a confused and clearly uncomfortable expression.
"Lieutenant, I get the feeling you don't want me around anymore, and I'm not entirely sure you are comfortable with the situation you've found yourself in either. Well?"
"Sir…" Riza backed away from Roy's hand, sitting farther back in her chair.
"Humor me, Lieutenant. Nobody else is here. How about this: Permission to speak freely. There, now you can say what you want without worrying about insubordination or the likes." Roy stepped off the desk and was kneeling in front of the Lieutenant, who was trying to sit as far back in the chair as possible.
"What's wrong? If you didn't want me to know about this guy, you wouldn't have brought it up."
"You asked, Sir…"
"Yes, but you answered." Riza bit her lip as Roy responded logically. "Besides, what harm is there in my knowing? Its not like I'm going to tell everyone I know, I'm above that kind of childishness."
"But you didn't need to know! My past relationships are none of your business, and I expected you'd have the decency to respect my privacy… Sir!" Hawkeye snapped, her eyes bearing into Roy's own stubborn glare.
"I was just curious," Roy muttered with a sigh, breaking the stare-down and letting his head fall slightly. "How can I not be? Every year you get a Valentine from the same guy, and every day you manage to deny having any semblance of a dating life whatsoever! Don't you think I notice these kinds of things?" Roy met Riza's eyes once more, speaking slowly and deliberately. "I care about you, and when you brought the topic up… I couldn't help but pry."
"What, because you'd have to intervene if you didn't approve of my dating choice, Sir?" Hawkeye was looking intently at her hands as she wrung them in her lap, but Roy saw the ghost of a smile dance across her lips.
"Well, I can't have my favorite subordinate dating a rapist, now can I?" Roy smirked lightly, earning a light slap on his hand from Riza, who was definitely smiling now, but still avoiding Roy's eyes.
"You make me sound like a helpless damsel, and I don't appreciate that, Colonel." Roy sighed with a lopsided grin and looked at the clock.
"Lieutenant, we have twenty-five more minutes of freedom, and I think that you could manage one more Valentine in that time." Riza looked at Roy, daring him to make any kind of tactless joke. "Drop the formalities. 'Sir' always made me feel old."
"But Sir…"
"Aw, come on, Riza" Roy cooed while gently prying his Lieutenants hands from the armrests of her chair, one finger at a time. "What's wrong with getting into the spirit of the holiday?" Succeeding in removing her grip from the chair, Roy gently pulled Riza into his lap, letting her smaller frame rest against his chest. "Besides, who needs to know? It can be our secret, a little yearly tradition."
Riza shifted herself, settling down on the floor and leaning her back up against his chest. Roy bent his knees, making an improvised armrest for her with his legs. "Roy. We shouldn't…"
"Aha! Progress!" Riza turned so she was looking up at Roy with a frown, who was still on the floor with his back leaned up against the desk. "You're sure full of surprises today, Riza." Before she could retort, Roy silenced her with a light kiss on the lips, tasting small traces of chocolate. Breaking the kiss with a self-satisfied smile on his face, Roy pulled his Lieutenant so she was leaned up against his chest again, relishing in her warmth as he buried his nose in her hair.
"If it was any other day, Roy…"
"I know, I know…"
That night Roy promised himself and his Valentine over dinner: The day Roy Mustang had a date on Valentine's Day was the day he settled down with one woman.
There, not what I was expecting but that's how it played out. Reviews are awesome, guys, seriously. Thanks in advance.