This takes place before chapter 39 of the manga, but after chapter 35. I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Hair
Someone had accused Riza Hawkeye of growing her hair long for a man. She had given the straightforward answer: that she had seen a girl in Liesenburgh with long blond hair and thought that it had looked good. The sought answer, the story of it, she kept to herself. Yes, there were days when she thought she was in love with him, or admitted that she was in love with him. Some days.
But what girls sometimes forgot, even in their conversations with each other, was that boys were only part of who they were. A girl's need to look nice, to buy clothes and apply make-up, are more often than not a need to fulfill an inner vanity and boost self-esteem than to impress a boy she's devoted herself to. Riza Hawkeye was devoted to Roy Mustang. But in a different way. She was a soldier, his aide, his backup. He called her Hawkeye, or 1st Lieutenant. She called him Colonel, or sir. Her feminine form did not enter the equation. But she was still devoted to him.
And that was exactly why Riza Hawkeye had grown out her hair. Her devotion was entrenching on what was left of her life. There were times, when she was done with the paperwork, when she was done with whatever mission the Colonel had sent her on, when she was done with the grocery shopping. At those times she had been sent into a tailspin, wondering what to do with herself. What did she do with the part of her that was not a soldier, not a trusted follower, and when her apartment was tidy enough to pass a military inspection from her grandfather ten times over? What did Riza do?
So she had grown her hair out. So she indulged in romance novels again, like the ones back in high school. She had never really believed in them, but now that she knew she couldn't believe in them she indulged wholeheartedly in their fantasy. So she had adopted a dog and named him Black Hayate.
She sometimes wondered if it was enough – the upkeep of her appearance, the cheap, rather formulaic novels, even the dog, who doted on her. Would it be enough if the other part of her disappeared? Was no longer needed?
She didn't like to think about it.