A/N: I don't own FullMetal Alchemist. This fic takes place right after Hughes' death. It's my first RizaxRoy fic so if I make any cliché mistakes or anything I'd love some constructive criticism. This fic is dedicated to JokerAlchemist24 for being a hardcore RizaRoy fan and one of my best friends. I'd also like to give a special thank you to Just Leah for offering me some advice on FMA fics.
Roy Mustang sat inside of his apartment looking at an old photograph of Maes Hughes. His clothes were dirty and his hair was unkempt. The day Hughes had died was the day that Hughes had rescued Roy from himself. Roy's apartment was still a mess. Books lay tattered everywhere. There were still drawings of alchemic markings all over the walls. Roy was still considering the forbidden alchemy. He wanted nothing more than to have Hughes back. As he considered the possibility, he immediately considered the Elrics. Though he would never admit that Ed's alchemy was more advanced than his own, he knew that the boys were extremely gifted alchemic prodigies, and if they weren't able to do it, his chances of succeeding were slim to none.
He felt the tears welling up in his eyes again. He missed his best friend terribly. Memories of Hughes flashed through Roy's mind. Hughes was always showing off the picture of his adorable daughter Elysia and telling anyone who would listen about her latest development. Hughes was notorious for that. His coworkers tried to avoid conversation with him whenever possible to escape a rant about Elysia's newest toy. Roy recalled numerous phone calls from Hughes regarding his daughter, and they all ended with Roy threatening to blast Hughes with his flame alchemy through the phone. Of course all of those threats had been empty, but Roy regretted ever making them. Now he would give anything to have Hughes call him at work to brag about his daughter again.
Roy felt his insides turn to ice. It just wasn't fair that Hughes had to die. He was a good man, with a beautiful family and many friends. And now Roy felt very lonely. He had other people working with him that respected him and he supposed he could them consider friends, but he would never have another friend as selfless and dedicated as Hughes.
Hughes had always been selfless. He had promised to do everything in his power to aid Roy in his quest to become Fuhrer. He even risked his life to gain valuable information to relay to Roy so he could use it to get promoted. Hughes hadn't even told Roy what he was doing, because he felt it would distract Roy from his goal. The tears were streaming down Roy's unshaven face as he realized that Hughes' selflessness had been the tragic flaw that had led to his demise. If he had just told Roy, or anyone else, what he was up to, someone could have been there to help him fight whoever had killed him.
But Roy knew that it was too late to do anything about it. All he could do was honor Hughes by reaching the goal that Hughes had died to help him obtain. He reflected on Hughes' advice. Hughes was always pushing him to devote all his time to his job so he could earn a promotion. Roy supposed he did a lot of that already, but he knew that he could always push himself harder, especially since he tended to be a bit of a procrastinator. Hughes had also promised Roy that he would work under him and keep close to the higher ups, to learn anything he could that would help Roy impress them. Roy no longer had the advantage of having someone who was close to him to find out information about the higher ups. He was just thinking about what to do about that when there was a soft knock on his door. He was too exhausted from crying to get up and answer it. He turned back to his photo and ignored whoever was at the door, but the knocking persisted. As he was standing up to answer it, the door opened. Behind it stood his lieutenant, Riza Hawkeye. She was still wearing her uniform, but her hair was out of its usual bun and she held a basket of apples in her right hand.
"Sir, I just wanted to-" Riza stopped in midsentence when she saw Roy's tear stained face and the smudged photograph of Hughes lying on the floor. "I'm sorry to interrupt…"
"Riza…" Roy spoke softly. He didn't feel ashamed crying in front of her, but she hadn't picked a good time to drop by. Still, he was glad for some company. It helped to ease the loneliness Hughes' death had left in him. Seeing Riza reminded Roy of another conversation he had with Hughes. Hughes had called him with information about the Elrics, but after the information had been relayed Hughes had said Roy needed to concentrate on another goal, finding a wife. Roy had just slammed the phone down and hung up on him. Roy loved women, but he hadn't been ready to give up his playboy ways to settle down with just one woman. It had seemed a trivial task at the time, just something that would distract him from his goal. But now that Hughes was dead, Roy saw the wisdom behind Hughes' teasing. Hughes had always gained extra motivation from his family. They gave him hope and a purpose behind his work. They were also there to support him. Roy would need all the support he could get if he was to become Fuhrer with his best friend out of the picture. The woman Roy chose to settle down with couldn't be just anyone, though. She would have to be just as ambitious as he was in order to understand his goals and maybe a little stern in order to keep him on track. Roy would prefer a woman who was in the military, that way if she were to ever find out about his horrible past with Ishbal as she inevitably would, she wouldn't be horrified by what he had done. She would understand that he was just doing what his superiors had ordered him to do. Roy looked at the woman standing in front of him and realized that he already knew a woman like that. Roy approached Riza slowly. His hand shook slightly as he reached out and put it on her face and muttered her name again.
He watched as her eyes widened, and he felt nervous about what he was about to do. But Hughes' death had made him realize that life was too short to waste time with doubts, and it wasn't really his style to wait until she would be expecting what he was about to do.
"Thank you for coming." Roy said softly just before he pushed his lips onto hers.