Author's Note: This is my present for meiosis2 in the Fma Secret Santa gift exchange on tumblr. Please review!


It all began because Riza Hawkeye was bored.

Every inch of Central City was covered in snow, and for all the government's efforts to clear the streets, their plows had only packed everything on the roads down into a thick layer of ice. Riza hadn't been to work in the four days since the initial snowstorm, and only braved going outside to walk her dog and buy groceries for the next week. Whenever she and her fluffy dog went outside, they would always come back in shivering and thanking the fact that the storm hadn't taken away their electricity and heating. Riza had books, of course, but sitting alone on her couch reading for hours on end was something she could only do for so long. She was restless and she was bored. That's when she decided to call Roy Mustang.

"If I don't do something, I'll go crazy," Riza told him over the phone.

"I'll be right over and we can figure something out together," He'd replied. Within an hour (his driving was bad enough on the normal roads and he'd never thought to buy a pair of snowshoes, so walking was difficult), he arrived at Riza's apartment, icicles hanging from the tips of his hair. She gave him some soup and waited for him to warm up again.

After Roy finished his bowl of chicken and dumplings, he joined Riza in her living room to brainstorm what they wanted to do. Riza assumed he'd have thought of activities on his trek to her apartment, but it turned out he was too preoccupied grumbling to himself about how cold it was. For a full hour.

"You know I only own one coat, and that it isn't very warm."

"It would be warmer if you wore it like a normal person instead of like a cape."

"I did for the second half of the walk. But by then it was too late."

"That still puts the blame on you, sir."

Many eyerolls later, the two highly trained military officers decided to look around the apartment for something to occupy the time. There was nothing in the living room, save for a few books, newspapers, and magazines Riza needed to finish and some photo albums to look through. The kitchen was utilitarian as always, and unless she and Roy decided to cook something, they couldn't use it. Riza figured they shouldn't make anything big anyways, seeing as there would be nobody else to share the food with until all of the snow melted and they went back to work.

When the two of them eventually did find something to do, it was in one of Riza's closets. An old chess board she'd had since she was a child. For both she and Roy, the game brought back memories of when they were younger, and how both of them would always find time each week to squeeze a game in despite chores and studies. Neither of them had much free time whatsoever, and chess helped them unwind. Chess helped them bond and become friends.

"What do you say, for old times sake?" Riza smiled and held the board up to her childhood friend and he smiled.

"I can't believe you still have that thing."

"Do you want to play or not?"

"Definitely," With that, Roy walked into Riza's living room and cleared the coffee table in the center of it, "Game on, Hawkeye."

As was tradition, Roy chose the white pieces and Riza chose black. They set up the board and soon began. After twenty minutes of trying to outwit and outthink each other, Roy ended up winning.

Riza felt the need to knock the look of smug satisfaction off of his face, so they played again. This time with different results. It ended with a smirk on Riza's face.

They played again, Roy trying to reclaim his position as victor, but to no avail.

Feeling especially cocky, Riza agreed to yet another game of chess, but was ultimately defeated. Roy beat her, and fairly early on as well. She was prepared to ask him for one more game to break the tie, but instead, Roy sighed in exasperation.

"How long have we been playing this?"

"About an hour and a half," Riza looked at the clock and frowned. It had only been two hours since Roy had arrived, and she could feel that they were both growing tired of playing chess. Riza knew she wouldn't have asked for another game after five, and the only reason she'd done so was for the sake of a tiebreaker, not for the joy of the game.

"I can read you well enough to know that I'm not the only one getting bored of this game," Roy sat back.

Riza sighed, "So what do you suggest we do now? We have a chessboard and not much else."

"Well," Roy looked up as if he were in thought, "We could either ditch the chessboard and try finding something else to do, or we could make our next game of chess more… interesting."

Riza's eyebrows rose, "Interesting?"

"This is just a suggestion of course," Roy looked up at Riza, "But how about, for each one of your pieces I capture, you have to take off one item of clothing and hand it to me."

"Hmmm," Riza considered it for a moment, looking down at what she was wearing, "And the same applies if I capture one of your pieces?"

"Of course. And the first person to either run out of clothes or get caught in checkmate loses."

Strip chess. Riza looked Roy up and down, considering the casual look on his face that still somehow managed to convey that he was completely serious.

Riza Hawkeye was someone who always tried to carry herself with maturity and sensibility, so by all stretches of logic she shouldn't even be considering playing strip chess. But Riza Hawkeye was also someone who had spent the past four days cooped up in her house, and desperately needed something to do. She'd gotten tired of reading, she'd gotten tired of cooking soup, she'd gotten tired of cleaning her apartment, and now she was getting tired of normal chess. Maybe it was time to raise the stakes and let loose with the one person she'd even be able to play strip chess with in the first place.

So she said, "Let's do it."

Face lighting up, Roy began rearranging the chessboard, and the game began.

Because he had chosen the white pieces to play with, Roy went first and moved one of his pawns. Riza countered by moving one of hers, though doing it far enough away that he wouldn't be able to take it. The next few moves were very tentative, as neither she nor Roy wished to be the first person to lose a piece on the board and an article of clothing. Inevitably, it did happen, and Riza had to forfeit her scarf.

Though she was saddened by the fact that she'd been the first one to make a sacrifice, Riza was still wearing a sweater on top of one of her button-down shirts as well as pants and socks. Roy was wearing close to the same thing except without the scarf and of course, a bra, so she had the advantage.

"Get used to that feeling, Lieutenant. By the time I win this game, you'll have experienced it many times," Roy teased as he took her scarf and spun it around in the air a couple times before setting it down beside him.

"Only as many as it takes to win, Colonel," She countered, and as she finished the sentence, took one of his pawns, "I'd also get familiar if I were you."

Roy shot her a look before shedding his sweater and giving it to Riza. He rubbed his now-cold arms, and then the two resumed playing. Riza carefully chose where she moved her knight, and within another two moves, she took one of his rooks.

"Pay up," He took off a sock and handed it to her.

"These each count as one article."

"Fine," Riza put the sock beside her, and her eyes returned to the chessboard just in time to see Roy take one of her bishops. Frowning, she took one of her own socks off and put it in his outstretched hand.

Feeling a slight chill on her left foot, Riza positioned her left leg under her and suddenly became more serious about not wanting to lose the game. Her apartment wasn't freezing per se, but it hadn't been fun to realize she had more than just her ego at stake in this contest. Sneaking a glance at Roy's face she could see him quickly coming to the same conclusion.

Before he could say something, she made another move and earned one more of his socks in her hand. She smirked as she put it in her growing pile of his clothes.

"You're enjoying this far too much," Roy said, "But not for long."

In a move Riza didn't see coming, Roy took out another one of her pawns with a knight, at the same time putting that knight only one move away from her queen. Shit. Riza surrendered her remaining sock and quickly tried to think about whether she wanted to move her queen or find some way to take Roy's knight out. Her queen was surrounded on all sides except two, and moving it out might make it more susceptible to attacks, but if Riza moved a bishop to take Roy's knight, he could easily use a rook to take her bishop. Riza looked back at the area where she would have to move her queen, but there was nowhere she could put it where it wouldn't be captured. So she moved her bishop and took her sweater off as she saw Roy move his rook as expected. She handed him her sweater and held her hand out for another article of clothing, but nothing came.

She looked at him, annoyed, but then once she realized his situation, she smirked. He'd run out of nonessentials and had to choose between taking off his shirt or his pants, "Now this game is beginning to get interesting."

"Well I certainly hope it is," Replied Roy. With that, he stood and moved his hands to the top button of his shirt. Slowly, he began undoing each button, controlling his movements as if to build up tension. Riza cursed inwardly; he was teasing her. If his game was to catch Riza off guard with those impossibly sculpted abs of his, he was almost winning.

When Roy had finally finished with all of his buttons, he lifted one hand to his collarbone and let his shirt fall down his chest, fingers brushing abdomen as they went down. Riza glared at him then watched the muscles in his arms ripple as he bent down to pick up his discarded shirt and place it in her hand.

"Are you even capable of going five minutes without being dramatic?" Riza rolled her eyes and Roy ran a hand through his hair, showing off his shirtless body in all its glory. Her breath hitched; she knew what he was doing, but she still wanted to run her hands up and down his chest and kiss him.

"You wish."

With that, Riza moved one of her pieces closer to his queen so that she would be able to take that out and end the game as quickly as she could. Knowing Roy Mustang as well as she did, he'd do anything to save his queen, and he'd make an even bigger show out of taking his pants off when it came to that.

But as quickly as she moved, Roy moved faster, and took the piece Riza just moved with a knight. Riza froze. Why hadn't she seen that coming?

Not giving her any time to mourn her lost rook, Roy spoke again, "Now I think it's time you hand me your shirt, Lieutenant."

Riza glared. But sadly, she realized the glaring wasn't getting her anywhere, so she stood up and decided to give Roy a taste of his own medicine. If Colonel Roy Mustang had one weakness, it was seeing her long, muscular legs in action. Riza's nimble hands went to the button of her pants and undid it.

She spared a glance at Roy, who was still sitting down with her rook in his hand, trying to guard his emotions. He knew what she was doing, but it didn't matter. Riza slowly unzipped her zipper, then brought her fingers to the sides of her hips and hooked them around the waist of her pants. She pushed down slowly, leaning forward slightly so to give Roy a look down her shirt as well, seeing as the top two buttons were open. Once she pushed the pants over the widest part of her thighs, she gave him another look. This time, he was glaring at her. Excellent.

Her hands pushed a little bit more, but then Riza let go and allowed the pants to fall the rest of the way to the ground. One by one, she lifted her feet from where her pants lay on the floor, then bent down to pick them up. Just to make drive the Colonel extra crazy, she came up slowly, then placed her black pants in Roy's hands with a smile.

"I didn't expect you to play dirty too, Lieutenant," Roy added her pants to his growing pile of her clothes.

"How could I not, after your little display there?"

"Fair enough," Roy conceded, then watched as Riza moved one of her pawns. This turn, she wasn't aiming to take another one of Roy's pieces, but to position one of hers near his king. Another chill passed through the apartment, and Riza could feel it in her bare legs. She needed to end the game, and she needed to do it fast. Otherwise, she'd end up losing her shirt.

If her method of winning the game was the tradition chess way, however, Roy's was the merciless strip chess way, and foregoing whatever strategy he might have used in a normal game to take one of Riza's pieces. He decided to take a risk and capture Riza's newly-positioned piece, despite the fact that it offered him no tactical advantage, and she could effortlessly take his piece in its current spot. In one move, he'd decided the game wasn't about chess anymore, it was who could get the other to take more clothes off.

Oh.

If that's how Roy wanted to play the game, then fine. Riza could play that way too.

Sitting up defiantly, Riza's hands undid the buttons of her shirt. She took a deep breath and let her chest rise and fall, nicely showing off the black bra she was wearing. Her choice of bra and panties for her fourth day trapped in a snowstorm were a far cry from the sexy, lacy things anyone would normally wear when trying to impress their partner, but Riza knew Roy was turned on anyway. They were black, simple, and flattering.

Where Riza had quickly undone the buttons of her shirt, she made a big show of slowly slipping her arms out of each sleeve. Her arms were toned and muscular, and the way they moved while she took the shirt off, she could tell that the lamp next to where she sat was highlighting them nicely.

By the time she had her shirt off and thrown at Roy, she was getting goosebumps, but it didn't matter because now she needed to think strategy. She may have been down to a bra and panties, but Roy only had his pants and his boxers. If each of them moved and took out another piece with each turn, she would end up winning. She just needed to make sure the game went like that.

"Looks like you're getting a bit cold there, Lieutenant," Roy broke through Riza's brainstorming with a smirk.

"I can see the goosebumps on your arms too, don't worry," She retorted and moved her knight to take one of Roy's pawns, "Now I'll see them on your legs too."

"Funny," He replied and stood up. Like with his shirt, Roy unbuttoned his pants slowly, then moved on to the zipper. His fingers brushed against his crotch for a fleeting moment before they returned to the waistband of his pants. He pushed downward, but either accidentally or purposefully, his boxers got caught up in everything and slid downward. Riza bit her lip as she saw the line of hair leading from Roy's navel to his crotch appear, then disappear as Roy pulled his boxers back into place.

"Oops," He said, and with that carefree intonation, Riza could just tell he'd done that on purpose to distract her. Damn him. He slid his pants all the way down, then stepped out of them and handed them to Riza, making sure to keep a dumb smirk on his face the whole time. It was unfair that he would even have such an affect on her.

But he did, and riding on that wave of confidence, Roy moved one of his pieces. One that Riza hadn't managed to notice in her distraction. A pawn he'd moved almost to the other side of the board Riza hadn't bothered much with at all. He took out her remaining knight. She cursed herself for paying too much attention to his muscles, but then took a deep breath. It didn't matter, she only needed to take one more of his pieces after this to win.

She was so close to victory, and Riza let that confidence shine through as she brought her hands behind her to unclasp her black bra. She unhooked it carefully, then felt the straps of her bra begin to slide down toward the sides of her arms. She towered both of them and with her left hand, slowly began bringing her right arm out of its strap.

The way her arm was pressed against her chest wasn't the most comfortable she'd ever felt, but she knew what she was doing. Her already-large breasts were pushed together and upward, spilling out of the top of her bra.

She spared Roy a glance, and immediately, he could see his eyes focused on what she was doing. She knew he'd probably calculated what moves they were each going to make against each other on the board, and that he wouldn't be the one winning their game, but nonetheless, she could see a smirk on his face. It might not be so bad to be the loser of this game, not when he got to see what was happening in front of him. He looked cocky, but attractively so, and Riza could feel herself beginning to warm up.

She was going to win, and as an added bonus, she would drive him crazy by doing so.

Fueled by the look in Roy's eyes, before the cup of her bra could fall away from her right side, Riza caught it with her right hand and then slinked it across her chest to her left arm. She did the same thing with that one as she'd done on the other side, tugging the strap down her arm and holding her breasts in place. This time, her bra was much looser and closer to coming off, and she wouldn't be surprised if Roy had gotten a better view.

Once she had both arms out of the straps of her bra, Riza bit her lip and let go. The black contraption of fabric, padding and underwire fell down into her lap, and her hands moved with it. The sudden lack of support caused her breasts to fall as well, bouncing up again in a way that made Roy audibly suck a breath in. Victory was sweet.

"Here you go Colonel," Riza picked the bra up with one finger and leaned over the chessboard to hand it to her opponentl. She placed it in his outstretched hand, then sat back. The chill from her apartment soon began hitting her exposed chest, and Riza watched Roy's face as her nipples hardened. He'd never been as good as her at keeping a straight face.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," He said, eyes still flitting over her practically naked body, "I believe it's your move now."

"It is," Riza replied with a smirk, and hovered a hand over the chessboard. She plucked her queen from its place beside the king, and moved it to the space where one of Roy's pawns was, a few spaces away.

"I win."

Riza moved her gaze to Roy's boxers, and it stayed there, Riza just waiting for him to move until she heard a chuckle.

"On the contrary, Lieutenant Hawkeye," A devilish grin spread across Roy's face, "Because by leaving your king's left side unguarded, I have checkmate."

Checkmate? That was impossible. Riza's fingers tightened over Roy's pawn and her eyes raked over the chessboard for how that was even imaginable. But there it was, right in front of her. Her king was locked in place, with nowhere to go, and no defenses now that his queen was gone. That cocky bastard hadn't abandoned chess strategy at all- he'd paid even stricter attention to it than she had in her distracted state.

"So who wins the game then?" The words slipped out of Riza's mouth before she realized it, "You may have checkmate, but by capturing this pawn, I've also captured all of your clothing."

"Nobody wins the game."

"That can't be fair."

"Then what do you suggest?" Roy tilted his head to the side and watched Riza's hand as it loosened its grip on his pawn.

"We…" Riza paused for a moment. If making that particular move was what put them in a deadlock, she'd have to make a different one, "We can't have a tie like this, so I rescind my move."

"Okay, smart," Carefully, Riza replaced the chess pieces she'd moved in her turn and looked at the board again. She couldn't move her queen, so she needed to move one of her other pieces to crush Roy's victory.

… If only she could.

No, no no no. Riza took a deep breath. This wasn't possible.

Her eyes flitted around the chessboard, staring each of her pieces down as if it would change anything- as if it would change the fact that none of them were positioned well enough to seize on of Roy's pieces and her victory. There were so many of them that could do it in two moves, but Riza didn't have that kind of time.

"Having trouble, Hawkeye?" She heard Roy's deep voice from across the table and she felt like throwing something at him.

"I'm not having any trouble at all," She replied, and moved one of her pawns up a space. It did nothing. The only hope left for her victory was if Roy decided to take mercy on her, but she knew it was pointless.

Because wordlessly, Roy Mustang moved his queen and took one of her pawns.

"I win."

"Yes you did."

"You know what that means."

"Yes I do."

Without another word, Riza stood up and curled her fingers around the sides of her panties. Foregoing a big show, she pulled them down and dropped them on the table. Whatever pieces remained on the chess board were knocked out of place. Riza remained standing, hand coming to rest on her hip as Roy stood as well, looking her naked body up and down.

"You don't know how happy I am that I won too, because this sight is absolutely stunning," Roy placed a hand on his own hip.

"There's no need to gloat," She replied.

"I think there's a little need."

"Oh really," With her free hand, Riza brushed some long strands of her hair back behind her shoulder.

"Really Riza, we both know me well enough to know that's true," Roy was smirking again. He bent down and picked her panties up. The thin, black trophy of his victory dangled from his fingers.

"I guess you're right, you always were arrogant."

"Oh come on now, Riza, there's no need to be hostile," Roy dropped the panties in the pile with the rest of Riza's discarded clothes, "I planned on making my victory enjoyable for the both of us," His hand moved a fraction of a centimeter downward, but Riza saw the fabric of his boxers move down with it. Immediately, she knew what he was suggesting, and stepped around the table to close the distance between them.

"It better be," She saw him smile, then put her arms around his neck and brought him in for a kiss. His hands moved to her sides, and as their kiss deepened, he began running them up and down, warming her up.

It only took two seconds for her to let go of her frustration for losing the game.

In that moment, Riza Hawkeye completely forgot how bored she had been before Roy arrived at her apartment, and how bored she had begun to become after their initial four games of chess. She was the opposite of bored now, and she knew she'd stay that way for a long time as her hands travelled down Roy's chest to pull his boxers down, and the two of them made their way to the bedroom.