Hair Notwithstanding
Author: MoonStarDutchess
Oneshot
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist and gain no profit for this work of fiction other than writing experience. I do own my idea obviously. :)
AN: This fiction is for Crimsondawn365. I am hoping you only wanted a cute Royai because I couldn't find the email with your request in it, yet I have you on the list. Therefore, I hope you enjoy it. *hugs*
Hair Notwithstanding
Roy leaned against his hand, his elbow propped upon the desk, as he gazed at his lieutenant, studying the way she went about her daily task of paperwork. He watched as her eyes danced gracefully across each word on the sheet, and the way she subconsciously, flipped the pen she held around like a baton, with two of her long slender fingers. There was a small wrinkle between her eyes, a manifest to her dedication to the document and determination to read over it with great precision.
His eyes trailed over to her hair and froze on the strands that were drifting down in small waves of blond, barely skimming the high collar of her uniform. She looked quite lovely with the medium length hair but it was an oddity to see on her.
Riza's father had always showed a subtle dismay every time her hair had grown out in the slightest. When her gold locks started to skim down past her ears he always asked her when she wanted to cut it. There was no "if" she wanted to do so, it was always when.
Riza never put up any argument and usually a few days after the minimal word exchange, she had the bobbed off hairstyle once more.
It wasn't that it wasn't adorable on her or that she would look better with long hair, she looked beautiful no matter what, it was just that she never seemed to have her own opinion on how she wanted to look. The moment her father hinted to cut it, she did so. He wondered if there was some deeper meaning as to why she did, but he'd never asked.
"Lieutenant Hawkeye."
Riza looked up from her paperwork, her eyebrow twitching slightly, indicating a tinge of annoyance with the interruption. Once she started on a task, it was better to let her finish it before trying to get her attention. "Yes, Sir?" Her annoyance wasn't obvious in her voice; she masked it very well.
"Are you going to grown your hair out?"
Her expression turned to that of intense surprise but it was like a lightening flash: there, momentary shock, then gone. She lifted a hand to her hair and moved them slightly so she could gaze at the locks. "I haven't decided yet. It's the first time that I get to make the decision. Though, I'll probably end up cutting it."
Roy found the way she spoke quite odd. Usually Riza was very straightforward and determined in the things she wanted to do. The way her demeanor came through in her voice was indicative of great confusion and hesitation.
"What do you mean the first time you get to decide? You had all those years in academy."
"They humbly suggested that I leave it short," she replied.
"You mean ordered?"
"Yeah," she said, fingering one of the growing strands, running it between two of her long fingers. Her eyes were studying the string in the same manner she studied mission reports, as if there was something hidden between the locks that would be to her advantage. "If you would like me to cut it, Sir, I will," she finally spoke in what Roy dubbed, her "office voice".
Roy shook his head. "Do with it what you'd like."
"So you don't care?" she questioned, this time surprise added to her office tone.
"No, it doesn't matter to me. It's your hair. As long as the longer hair won't hinder you and risk your safety, I don't care. Your well being is the most important thing."
Riza tucked the strands behind her ears, letting her fingers linger there for a moment. "I'll pull it up at work if I decide to grow it out further."
He studied her a bit longer and grinned. "Though I said it was your choice, may I give an opinion on your hair?"
"Of course, Sir," she said as she began her paperwork once more.
"I think you'd look really beautiful with long hair," he said.
A pale pink color painted across her cheeks but she made no response as to whether she would keep his opinion in mind or ignore it.
-- Two years later--
Riza bit her lips and whimpered as she was pushed against the hallway wall, Roy attacking her mouth frantically with his while she gripped his coat tightly in her grasp. She leaned her head back against the wall and heard her hairclip click, then fall to the floor with a slightly metallic clink. Roy lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist, her hair falling from its bun and raining down over her shoulders.
Roy pulled away when her locks hit his face. He targeted his eyesight onto her. Grinning, he reached up to move the hair away from her face so that he could take in her red, slightly parted, lips, her closed eyes, and her deeply flushed cheeks.
His grin widened into a smile when she opened her eyes and the crease between her brows appeared.
"What's wrong?" Her voice had a raspy flavor thanks to her heavy breathing. "Why'd you stop?"
Roy wrapped his arms around her waist tightly before carrying her into her bedroom and dropping her on the bed. He shrugged out of his dusty jacket, not taking his eyes off the beautiful woman that was laying there, her hair fanning out around her like tress wings, and stunningly contrastive with the dark sheets under her.
He crawled over her, straddled her waist, and cupped her face with his hands. He kissed her once, gently, and pulled away. "Why did you always keep your hair short for so long? Why didn't you fight back when your father told you to cut it?"
Riza's eyes widened right after his inquiry. "You are asking me that now?" You've been gone for two years and the last thing I want to talk about at the moment is my father or my hair!"
Roy moved to nuzzle her neck. "Sorry, it's just seeing you with your hair so long made me think of it. It has always been something I've been curious about."
Riza laughed; the light tone was so dulcet to Roy's ears that he made a note to elicit the laugh from her more frequently in the future. Soon, she turned serious. "Because it made him remember my mother," she said, reaching up to stroke the side of his face. "I didn't want to cut my hair but I thought maybe if I did, I'd actually get some attention. Maybe some sort of motion of appreciation or praise."
"What made you decide to start growing it out?"
Riza sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I never thought Roy Mustang would put off sex for questions like this."
"Riza…" he prompted in a tone that insisted she answer the question.
"When I saw Winry Rockbell's hair, I thought it might be a good change," Riza answered, her tone going from normal, descending to a lower pitch in mid sentence, and then tumbling into a sigh. "I liked her long hair."
"I see," he replied.
"Roy, can we please just get back to what we were doing?"
Roy heaved an inward sigh and nodded. He would talk more about it later. Besides, she was right, he had the love of his life lying under him and he was talking about hair and her father. Roy laughed. Hawkeye wouldn't be happy knowing what he was going to do to Riza.
He bent and skimmed his lips over hers, deliberately trailing them to tease her, and seeing that he succeeded when she shifted on the bed and added pressure to their kiss.
--
As she rested there in the bed, her back pressed against his chest and his arms encasing her in a muscular, warm embrace, she should have been thinking about how ecstatic she was that he was back in Central. Instead, she was thinking about her hair of all things.
Her eyes moved to gaze at a strand that was extending in her line of vision. Even with her snipers eyes, if she weren't concentrating she wouldn't have been able to tell it was there. It was like a piece of thread in the hidden hem of a jacket, there and unnoticeable unless one was looking for it specifically.
She felt Roy bury his face in her hair and then still, his warm breath having no effect on the golden tresses that his exhalations hit. She'd told him that she decided to grow it out because she liked Winry's hair, and that was true, but it was only partially the reason. The other was the fact that he said she'd look beautiful with long hair.
She'd originally cut it to gain her father's attention and failed. Then she grew her hair out to get a bit of Roy's attention. In the end, her decisions with her hair were never made only on her own volition, and it was about so much more than hair. It was about striving to attain something she rarely acquired.
A smile played across her lips as Roy pulled her closer. She realized that she never needed Roy's appreciation or attention. When they were growing up together, suppressing all those hormones one got at their age, she'd always had his attention. Through the years as his subordinate, she always had his appreciation. It didn't matter to him if she looked a certain way or dressed in a particular manner. To him, she was just Riza, short or long hair notwithstanding.
Reviews are loved hugged, and given their own little place in my suitcase when I go on trips. LOL