Author's Note: Yay! My first Fullmetal Alchemist story! This is a RoyRiza one, seeing as I have a bit of a fetish for those two right now. You don't like it? Buzz off.

Not much to say except don't give me any pointless reviews, and enjoy it.

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Listen To Your Heart

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She hated this nagging feeling that never left her alone. It was like a twitch in her mind, a shrill, irritating voice that was sitting on her shoulder and constantly shrieking in her ear. She didn't know where it had come from, or when she had started feeling it, but she did know one thing: She wished it would go away.

Of course, she never showed that anything was bothering her. That would show weakness, and First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye did not show weakness. To her co-workers, it seemed like that would be an impossible occurrence, almost as though she was some kind of perfect, flawless machine. But she wasn't perfect. Far from it. A perfect soldier should not bear any emotional attachment to any other person, least of all another military figure. It was a distinct breach of protocol, and as everyone knew, Riza Hawkeye was all about protocol.

In the beginning, it was just a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach whenever he walked by. The first few days, she had thought she had simply caught a cold, and it would stop within a week or so. That never happened. Instead, the feeling gradually grew stronger, from that twinge in her stomach to a fluttering in her heart and an accelerated pulse. Before she could stop herself, Riza grudgingly realized that she had fallen for the womanizing Colonel Roy Mustang.

Of all the men in the world, she would have to fall in love with him. He was everything she hated in a man: Rude, obnoxious, arrogant, and above all, he was...Well, he was Roy! And above all that, he was her superior.

Worst of all, he was completely clueless.

That was what she wanted, of course. Becoming romantically involved with another of the State's military personnel, especially someone ranked above her, would have been a very bad idea.

"A good soldier should concentrate on work, not on finding a date." She recalled saying this once when the Colonel had sent Master Sergeant Fuery, Second Lieutenant Breda, and Warrant Officer Falman to find a date for Second Lieutenant Havoc.

She also remembered what he had said in response to her remark, though then, she wasn't quite sure whether he was implying something or not.

"A good soldier should be able to handle both!"

Of course, at the time, she hadn't believed that. In all honesty, she had been sure that it was just his weak justification of his own little "dating game." But now, she wasn't so sure of that. She wasn't positive of anything, anymore.

Such were the thoughts that plagued her mind, night and day. The relentless notion that she could possibly have fallen in love with Roy Mustang infuriated her, annoyed her, even frightened her. Had it been any other enemy, she would have blasted that idea to kingdom come with a shot from the barrels of both her guns. But this was no visible enemy, with no real form, so gunning it down was impossible. And she couldn't run away from it, no matter how hard she tried, if she were to try. And she may have, had she not been who she was. First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye ran from nothing. But she couldn't ignore this problem. She had tried that already, and it hadn't done her a bit of good. Facing it head-on was also out of the question, as that would mean telling the Colonel everything. And that was something she just would not do.

She never missed the significant glances the others gave each other when they thought she wasn't looking, nor did their whispered commentaries pass her by. The very same applied to Roy, as she could see. He had almost decked Edward Elric on more than one occasion, be it for a stifled snicker or a meaningful glance or gesture in Hawkeye's direction, having to be physically restrained by Havoc and Breda. But she just ignored them, as she always had, and went about her business without so much as a look over her shoulder or an "I know what you're talking about and you had better stop" glare. But they knew. Oh, they knew, alright. There was definitely something between the Colonel and his First Lieutenant, even if neither of them knew it.

And they'd be damned if the two just went on pretending it wasn't there.

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"Evening, Hawkeye. You're here rather late." She heard his charismatic voice at the door of her office, and again, there was that exasperating quiver in her heart.

She didn't bother to look up. "There is still quite a bit of work to be done, Sir. I wanted to finish this paperwork before I went home."

So I could leave after you did, and not have to worry about being stopped on my way out, she added silently, to herself.

He glanced at the stack of papers on her desk. It must have been half a foot high! Well, four and a half inches, maybe. But that was still a lot of documents that needed signing.

"You'll be here all night and into the morning if you try to finish all of that tonight, Hawkeye. You should head home, those papers will still be here tomorrow," he reasonably told her.

"I know that, Sir. If I may ask, why are you still here?" Riza kept her eyes on the many unsigned documents in front of her.

He shrugged. "The Fuhrer wanted me to work late tonight."

"The Fuhrer left hours ago, Sir," she informed him. "And nobody has spoken to him all day."

"...Ah." Roy looked caught, shifting his weight uneasily.

Riza lifted an eyebrow, but her eyes still didn't leave her paperwork. "If there's something you want to say to me, Sir, go right ahead."

He didn't hesitate. "What do you think of me, Hawkeye?"

She froze, taken completely aback by the sudden query. Quickly regaining her composure, she set her pen down and looked up at him, serious as she ever was. "What do you mean, Sir?"

"I mean what I asked. What do you think of me?" He was leaning nonchalantly against the side of her desk now, pretending to examine the glove on his right hand.

She chose her words carefully, although nothing could really soften the blow. Any way you looked at it, her statement could be taken as being deliberately inflammatory and insulting. "I think that sometimes, you can be quite vain and conceited, and somewhat arrogant, Sir."

Roy was dumbstruck by his First Lieutenant's rather blunt delivery of her opinion of him. He knew that she often wasn't very pleased with him, but he never could have imagined she would think of him like that!

Riza wasn't through yet, he realized, and he continued to listen.

"Despite those unflattering qualities, however, you have a very strong set of morals and a good sense of justice. You're also a lot more sensitive than you let on. This is just one person's opinion, though. Don't take it to heart."

Roy blinked. Was she just lying to cover up what she had said before, or was that actually what she thought of him?

"If you don't mind, Sir, I'd like to pose the same question to you."

"Hm...Well, you're somewhat difficult to place, Hawkeye. I'd say that although you try to appear tough, you're not as harsh as you want people to think. Underneath that mask of a protocol-obsessed sniper lies a compassionate woman with a beautiful personality. I'm also led to believe that you're hiding something from the rest of us," he concluded, looking rather pleased with himself.

Did he just say "Beautiful?" Riza asked herself, unsure of whether or not her ears were lying to her.

"Hawkeye." He snapped his fingers in front of her face, making her jump back a slight bit. When her eyes refocused, she realized he had made sure to take his glove off beforehand, an extreme relief to her.

"I'm sorry. I'm just tired, Sir, that's all."

He clearly did not believe her.

"Something is obviously bothering you, Hawkeye. I'd like to know what's been on your mind and distracting you so much lately." He spoke gently, but at the same time, there was an edge to his voice that told her he would not tolerate any lying.

"I've just been feeling a bit unwell, Sir." It was only half-true, but if it would get her out of this situation without any further questions, she didn't care.

"Are you sick?"

She knew, from the look in his eyes, that there was no way she could lie her way out of this.

"I don't know, Sir."

"Hawkeye." His eyes narrowed, telling the uneasy First Lieutenant that he was growing agitated.

"No, Sir. I'm not."

"If your problem is anything at all like mine, I can hazard a guess," he mused, not giving her an opportunity to cut in as he continued to speak. "If your trouble is the same as my own, I'd say that you have an attraction to a certain someone, but you can't act on those emotions because of specific obstacles caused by several other interfering individuals. Would I be correct in assuming that, Hawkeye?"

How did he know? She had been so sure that he hadn't caught on. He had acted oblivious, the way he always did, as though he hadn't noticed anything out of place and-

Oh.

That was it.

He had been acting. He had known the whole time. Or suspected it, perhaps, and was behaving as though he had noticed nothing in order to confirm his suspicions.

Either way, she couldn't escape. There was no way out.

For the first time in such a matter, Riza Hawkeye had to admit defeat.

"Yes, Sir."

Victory. That was the obvious statement in the devious smile on the Colonel's face. "And who might this man be, Hawkeye?"

Her response was so quiet, it was incredibly difficult to tell that she had said anything to answer him at all. Roy's grin only widened as he said, "I'm sorry, Hawkeye, I didn't quite catch that. You'll have to speak up."

She heaved a light sigh, but did as she was told. He wouldn't let her leave until she did, and she was never going to hear the end of this.

"It's you, Sir."

It took all the self-control Roy had not to laugh from pure delight. He had been waiting so long for this moment, and now, he had gotten her to say exactly what he wanted to hear.

"That's quite a relief to me, Hawkeye. I'd hate to be a victim of unrequited love, you know."

"Sir?"

He simply nodded, knowing that she understood full well what he meant. "Now, I'd best escort you home. I think we've both stayed here long enough, don't you, Riza?"

A rare smile found its way onto Riza's lips as she stood from her chair and took the hand Roy offered her.

As they left the building together, Roy slipped his arm about her waist and asked, "How about a date tomorrow night?"

Riza allowed herself to laugh, and told him, "Don't push it, Roy,"

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-Owari-

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Author's Note: If you're thinking that the end is a little weak, I'm sorry about that. It was 1:30 AM when I finished it, and I was running out of ideas. Also, if either one is too out-of-character, I apologize for that too, but Roy and Riza are pretty hard to keep in-character, y'know? Especially together.

But yeah. I enjoyed writing this, and I hope you, my readers, enjoyed reading it. This is dedicated to Kai, because that stupid girl made me crazy about these two in the first place, and just because she's cool like that. Nobody else is worth mentioning.

...'Cept you, Kane. But you don't count. Not this time around.