A/N- For Royai Day! Some of the conversation in this story refers to things that happened in my story 'Roy and Riza: Year One', chapters 4 and 5. You don't need to read it to understand this story, but if you want details….
'Shut Up and Dance' is also the name of a project that the Pennsylvania Ballet does every year to raise money for curing life-threatening diseases.
This story was influenced by StarCatcher1858's Dancing in the Dark. Her references to Scriabin make me think of Chopin, and, well, you'll see. By the way, I can't get this to format...
I saw that the Chapter 108 raw was out, but I am waiting for the scanlation. Spoilers through 107 are contained herein! I hope that Roy's sight is restored somehow (go go Ho Ho), but I'm not counting on it. Thus, he is blind in this story. We'll know very soon! (If I owned FMA, I'd already know. Ask Arakawa.)
xxx
Riza Hawkeye feels depressed, and it is all because of Roy Mustang.
They sit in his living room listening to the record player. Roy had no opinion on the matter; he hadn't even responded to her question, so she put on a recording of Chopin waltzes performed by the great Drachman pianist Vladimir Tovarich. She is trying to read a book, a well-received novel about a family of Ishbalans and their problems and adventures assimilating into the mainstream of Amestris society. She is sure that she has read the same sentence five times, but it seems to go in one eye and out the other.
The melody of the waltz now playing takes her back to her school days and the first year that Roy had spent as her father's student. Her strict father had actually given her permission to go to a school dance on the condition that Roy also attended. Roy, who had done a lot of dancing with his 'sisters' at Madame's, had taught Riza all of the latest steps. They had each had their own dates for the event, but they had danced two dances together.
"Do you remember teaching me to dance?" she asks the still and silent man in the chair across the room.
There is a long pause, and she thinks that he will ignore her again.
"Of course I do." His lips barely move as he speaks.
She stands and approaches his chair. His hands, now completely healed except for the scars, are resting on his thighs, and she takes them into her hands. "Dance with me now, Roy."
"How the hell do you expect me to dance when I can't see?" Roy growls. He averts his head from where he knows she is standing.
You fought Father when you couldn't see. "Oh, come on, Roy. Remember the school dance that my father let me go to because you went?" He just grunts.
"I watched you dance with your date, and you had your eyes closed half of the time. I remember, because it upset me that you closed your eyes when you danced with her but didn't when you danced with me. Way to bruise my ego, Roy Mustang!"
He looks back at her, blind, but maybe seeing something there. He smiles gently. Sadly. It's not the patented Mustang smirk. She is so off track, he thinks, but should I tell her?
He had always thought, that when he finally accomplished his goals, he and Riza would be together as a couple. Married. Maybe even have kids. He had never talked about it with her only because he had been her commanding officer. But the blindness- he is not the man that he wants to be. Not the man for her. And she is making things difficult.
She has virtually moved into his place, but he tries to maintain distance between them. He continues to call her Lieutenant, but she- uninvited- sleeps in his bed with him every night. Oh, had he ever been shocked that first night! He had desired for her to share his bed for comfort and love and sex and sleeping for- eons, it seemed, but he had turned away from her that night, and he turns away from her every night. He can't seem to explain to her how his life is over. How their lives together are over. How his fighting while blind was a fluke. An anomaly. A product of the adrenaline rush. Now, he is really useless. But he just can't seem to chase her away, no matter how hard he tries.
The dance was so long ago that there should be no harm in telling her. It's meaningless, now. If it had hurt her, she should know why he had done it.
His gentle smile confuses her more than any of his other expressions. "What?" she asks. "What?"
By now he is smirking, and she wants to know why.
"Spit it out already, Roy!"
"You really are unable to figure out why I closed my eyes with her and not with you?"
"I remember that you looked contented. Day dreamy. She was so pretty, and you always liked the pretty ones."
"Really, Lieutenant?"
"Damn right, Roy!" He is getting on her nerves. Again. Why does she love such an exasperating man?
He shakes his head, and his smile gentles again.
"You really don't know?"
"I just told you what I thought!"
"Oh, Lieutenant." Be distant. Be professional even though you no longer have a profession. "I kept my eyes open with you, because I wanted to see you. I kept my eyes closed with her, because I wanted to see you! Back then," he adds, not wanting to encourage her.
She sighs. Roy had spoken with Havoc about his feelings for her and why he will never act on them. Havoc had told her everything on the condition that Roy never knows that Jean had ratted on him. Before Havoc told her, she had never been certain about Roy's take on their relationship. They were long-time friends with an extensive- and tragic- shared history, but she had not known if his feelings went beyond that. Now she knows that he does love her and that he is wasting that love. Of course, Roy knows well that Riza loved, loves him. Her hysterics when he'd been skewered by Lust had been pretty strong proof. Skewered by Lust, skewered by Wrath, she thought inanely. Later, during the confrontation with Envy, she had admitted to Roy that she would commit suicide if her promise to him forced her to kill him. She is pretty sure that most women don't profess their love to their beloveds in the same manner.
She tightens her grip on his hands. "Dance with me, Roy!" She's still in top shape, and she yanks hard enough that his (adorable, sexy, callipygian) behind comes up from the chair.
"Lieutenant, please!" he protests.
"No. Dance with me, Roy." She is determined.
"One dance," he surrenders. A little.
She circles her arms around his neck, and he carefully places his hands impersonally on her waist. That's not what she wants from him, so she moves her right arm and reaches down. She pulls his arms tighter around her waist, forcing the distance away. He lets it happen. She reaches up again, this time cupping the back of his head and laying her cheek against his chest. It finally feels right to her.
She takes a step back, and he stumbles slightly but recovers quickly. He moves with her, and it feels too good. She's right, as usual, he thinks. I can dance. At least as long as there are no sneaky obstacles nearby. He allows himself to enjoy the music, the movement, the woman.
They had gotten a late start on the waltz, so it is quickly over. He moves to sit back down as the next song begins, but she hangs on to him.
"That didn't count!" she admonishes him.
"Lieutenant…"
"Shut up and dance, Roy!"
"Yes, Riza."
Maybe. Just maybe... he thinks.
xxx
A/N- Thank you for reading. I really hope that Roy gets his sight back and (more importantly) that he and Riza find happiness together. I can't wait to find out! Reviews are loved. Take care of yourselves!