Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted in ages ^^; I just lost the inspiration to write anything. I'm back though! I probably won't have a define schedule for posting but I'll post whenever I can : )
Anyway, this is for my friend daydreamer234 who requested a prompt summarised as 'rainy day's for Fullmetal Alchemist! It's quite short seeing as it was my attempta at a one shot ^^; I hope you all enjoy and thank you for reading!
It was raining. Again. It was raining and again he was useless. Always useless. Always in the rain.
"We all know you're useless when it's raining"
That much was true. His flame alchemy was unstable in the rain, his gloves could even stop working if they got too wet. He couldn't defend his team, he could defend himself, he couldn't protect anyone. It had been so long, since Ishval, since he betrayed his lieutenant's trust. So long since she had sworn to follow him into hell. But hell did not include the places his mind went on rainy days. He couldn't talk to anyone about where his mind went on days like these, not after Ishval. Not after those years where rain never stopped him from slaughtering so many innocents, but now, when he wanted to use his flames, the rain stopped him from doing so. Stopped him from protecting the people he loved.
The door behind him opened and he barely registered a familiar presence filling the room, he stared out at the raindrops hitting the window pane and heard her shift to acquaint herself to the new surrounding. Standing at an angle most likely, able to aim at both the door and each window, her hand was hovering by her side by the light brushes of her uniform he could hear.
"You're leaving yourself wide open, sir." She stated bluntly and he inclined his head, turning from his space and fixing his onyx gaze to her Amber one instead of the miserable rain.
"Perhaps I am, Lieutenant. But that's your concern isn't it. I have to give you something to do other than nagging me about paperwork." he threw on a half hearted smile and she sighed,
"Even so sir, standing right by the window doesn't exactly give me much time to react."
"I trust you."
"Very well sir."
A moment of silence passed and he turned to face the window again, the tense air between them blatantly obvious but neither was willing to break it. In the end, she broke the silence.
"Sir, you can't control the weather."
"I am aware, lieutenant."
"So don't blame yourself for any of the consequences that happen during times of helplessness."
"I was not helpless. You know full well I wasn't. You entrusted me with the secret, lieutenant. But I cannot risk everyone in such a way."
He turned to fix his glare on her and tried to ignore the bright white obvious bandage securing her left hand.
"Accidents happen sir, if you had unleashed your alchemy you would be breaking our promise."
"... I know." he sighed, "I know, Hawkeye. I know. That doesn't stop the feeling that I was useless though. I couldn't protect anyone there- hell, one wrong move and you wouldn't even be standing here right now to have this discussion with me!"
"Sir. Don't blame yourself, alchemy is a wild card and cannot always be relied upon. We were not expecting to be attacked and we were also not expecting it to begin raining."
"But we should have-"
"But we didn't sir. So we face the consequences and move on. That is how it works and how it always has worked."
She sighed and saluted him, clicking her heels together. "I came to drop off the reports sir. I'll take my leave if I may?"
"Granted. Thank you lieutenant."
"Yes sir."
She turned sharply and marched neatly out of the room again. He turned and suppressed the sigh in his throat as the door clicked closed behind her and he took a seat behind his desk, picking up the first report and reading it over.
It was gloomy to say the least, the office was dark due to the late hour, it was cold and the heating was switched off. His team had been sent on a mission with a training officer leaving him alone, Hawkeye however stayed, saying she had paperwork to finish (which was a lie seeing as she always finished early, turned in her work and began helping the colonel with his paperwork.) Insisting she should stay. The radio crackled as he received messages from his team, they were engaged in combat, he would go to help, but he had been ordered to stay in headquarters so the team's work without him could be monitored. Fuery's radio signal died and he winced at the gunshot that sounded. He was useless even now. Even when there was no rain at all. He felt guilt well up in his chest and once again heard Hawkeye re enter the office. He checked the time and scowled. Twenty two hundred hours. He sighed and Hawkeye glanced up at him as he paced the room
"Is anything wrong sir?"
"Nothing Hawkeye. It's just…" he gave in, the office door was locked(sealed so fullmetal couldn't break it down) and he walked forwards, she readily accepted it when his arms wrapped around her and he buried his face in her neck "It seems to have started raining." he murmured and her eyes flickered to the window, well aware that there were no raindrops falling against the glass. Her arms raised and returned the gesture, pulling them both down to rest on the couch situated in the center of the shared office and allowed him to rest his head on her chest, her arms protectively encircling him and holding him close.
"It appears it has sir." She sighed, running her fingers through his raven hair softly. They lost count of how long they spent curled up together, falling asleep twisted in each other's comforting embrace for the night, listening to nothing but the sound of each other's breaths and the soft thump of two heartbeats that beat for the other.
And if the next morning their team unlocked the office to find them sleeping together, locked in embrace on the couch. They never thought to mention it, because they knew that the only solace Roy Mustang could have on rainy days was Riza Hawkeye.
