It was a warm summer night, and Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye were sitting in the park.
Riza was surprised, after a particularly grueling day of paperwork, to be invited out to dinner by her boss. He nonchalantly mentioned getting a hold of reservations at a particularly fancy restaurant, one which just so happened to be Riza's favorite. After dinner, the two- or, more accurately, Roy- decided to take a walk in the park, stopping at a small ice cream vendor. Now, sitting on the bench next to him, Riza couldn't help but notice how giddy her boss throughout the evening. During dinner he was smiling- genuine, whole-hearted smiles, instead of his usual sarcastic smirk- and laughing constantly, even when nothing had been said.
Maybe it was the wine they had (aged and very expensive, she couldn't help noticing), or maybe it was the warm summer evening, but either way, Roy Mustang certainly was acting strange.
Now, as she looked over from the corner of her eye, she saw that the smiles and laughter had faded, and his face was flushed. His dark eyebrows were knit together and he looked nervous, or even paranoid. Occasionally his eyes would dart back and forth, as if he were looking for someone. This was a drastically different man from the one who had taken her out for a meal.
Roy finished his ice cream cone quickly and stared at the ground. He cleared his throat and broke the silence.
"You know, Lieute- ah, I mean...Ri- well, uh..."
"Are you feeling all right, sir?" Riza asked, without even glancing from her ice cream towards the man next to her. Roy laughed loudly.
"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?" He forced more laughter out, and promptly fell quiet for several minutes.
"Why did you do it?" Riza interrupted the silence suddenly, eyes still focused on her dessert.
"Uh...what?" Roy looked a bit startled.
"Why did you do all of this, sir?" she said. "Why did you take me out to dinner? Tonight? Why are we here?"
She could see his look of pure bewilderment from the corner of her eye as she took another bite of her ice cream cone. He stammered incoherently.
"I know about the ring, sir."
Earlier in the day, Roy had told Riza to fetch some papers for him. On her way by his office, she noticed the door was open a crack, allowing her to eavesdrop- no..."overhear"- him and his men speaking in excited whispers.
"All right, show us the rock!" Fuery practically squealed.
"There it is," Roy said, and Riza could hear the smile in his voice.
Havoc whistled. "How on earth did you get your hands on a ring, Roy? You can barely even afford meals for yourself."
"It set me back a fortune," Roy grumbled. "The whole thing set me back a fortune. And after the wedding? Forget about it," He paused and reflected. "But she's worth every penny."
"You sure are lucky, sir," Falman commented. "She's a great girl."
"And she's actually really hot," Breda interjected.
"Yeah," Roy murmured. "I should've asked her ages ago, I hope she doesn't mind. I hope she says yes. I'm hoping for a lot of things, guys. I'm going to find the best time to ask her. It has to be perfect."
"Good luck, sir!" the four chorused, and the last thing she heard before leaving were cries for a bachelor party and Roy's joyous laughter.
Now, the Colonel fumbled furiously for the right words. "The...r-ring? Err, to what...t-to what ring are we referring?"
"Your engagement ring. I was on my way to go get the daily reports, and I'm sorry sir, but I heard you all admiring it," she confessed with a small, distant smile.
"Riza-" Roy began.
"It's not that I'm not grateful for everything you've done for me this evening, sir. It was very nice being treated to dinner and ice cream. But sir, why aren't you with your girlfriend?"
"My..." Roy was staring blankly at her. "My girlfriend?"
"Yes, sir, your girlfriend," Riza said. "The girl you were talking about earlier today. You bought her the ring, didn't you? So why are you spending time with me instead of her?"
"Listen, Riza-" Roy tried again.
"I'm fine, sir. In fact, I'm very happy for you," Riza smiled and Roy felt his heart flutter. "You must love her very much. Congratulations to you both. I ought to be going, but...thank you very much for dinner and ice cream, I shall see you tomorrow, sir!" She winced as she heard the crack in her voice. She had tried to ignore the lump forming in her throat as her façade slipped, but now it was impossible. She stood up stiffly, cone in hand, and began to walk away.
"Whoa, whoa hey! Wait!" Roy said, holding his hand out. Riza paused for a moment, her back still facing him. Her golden hair, pulled up as usual, sparkled in the dim light from the streetlamp. Roy stared at it as he paused to organize his thoughts and stuff his hands into his pocket.
"I really didn't imagine it happening this way, to be honest," Roy sighed. "And I don't think you particularly wanted it to be like this, either, but..."
Riza braced herself for what was coming. She stared straight ahead, forcing herself to focus on other things. The trees in the park were rustling in the breeze. They were maple trees. Maple? Or were they oak? The tears that had surfaced in her eyes made it to hard to tell, she decided.
"Riza," Roy began slowly. "I've known you for twelve...no...more than that, right? It has to be at least s- um...well, I've known you a long time. Hell, I've known everyone at HQ for a long time. But the others are not important. Well, I mean, they are, but just...now...they...uh...ah..." She heard the stream of profanities that he whispered to himself. It was unlike him to be this tongue-tied. Her eyelids fluttered profusely to keep her tears from falling.
"Oh, Riza...Riza.." Roy moaned softly, "Look at what I've become! What am I going to do with you?" he chuckled and took a deep breath. "This is very difficult for me to say to you, darling, but...we do need to work on your investigative skills."
Riza whipped around. "Who are you calling da-"
She froze. She expected to see the soft brown eyes behind jet-black hair that she had gotten so accustomed to over the years, but instead her eyes were met with the dark sky. She blinked, and shifted her gaze downwards. Roy was staring up at her from down on his knees.
"I have acquaintances. I have coworkers. I have drinking buddies. I have friends. I have best friends. I have all the guys at HQ. There are girls that I've dated, and girls I've broken up with. But in all my years and all those people, I've never met anyone- not a single person in this entire world- that meant as much to me as you do." He smiled a little and held up his ungloved hand, with a diamond ring pinched between his fingers. "Sorry I don't have the box. I fell asleep and Black Hayate...err, never mind. Lieutenant, will you m-"
Roy found it hard to believe that he enjoyed a date that ended with an ice cream cone on his head, but towards the end of autumn, as he stood in his dress uniform and watched his white-clad fiancé slowly proceed towards him, he realized it was the best date of his life.