I've been wanting to add a scene like this to my longer Royai fic, Through Eyes of Flame, but the opportunity has just not presented itself, nor do I know if it ever will, so I decided to just make it a drabble.
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Riza huffed for what seemed like the fiftieth time as she attempted to get her hair to cooperate. She already gave up on doing her makeup first as that hadn't gone any better. It seemed like the universe was against her tonight with nothing going right in her attempt to get ready for the annual military ball that began in less than an hour. There was no foreseeable way she could see herself managing to be ready in time.
To make matters even more stressful, a knock on her apartment door indicated Roy was already there to pick her up. She cursed under her breath and shushed Hayate before opening the door.
Roy grinned widely at her, eyeing her up and down, obviously admiring her high necked floor length gown. It would have been hard for anyone not to. Even without her hair and makeup done she looked stunning.
"Good evening, Lieutenant. You're looking lovely tonight."
Riza didn't return his smile and sighed, stepping back to let him in.
"Thank you, sir, but I'm not even close to being ready."
"Yes, I could see that. Hair giving you trouble?"
"Mhm."
Riza shut the door and hurried back toward her bathroom to make another attempt at fixing herself up. She would be doubling as a bodyguard and 'date' tonight for Roy and wanted to look her best, though her hair was certainly putting up a good fight trying to oppose that.
Roy poked his head into the bathroom and smirked.
"Want some help?"
Riza looked at his reflection in the mirror and frowned at him skeptically.
"No offense, Colonel, but I doubt you could do much better."
Roy's smirk would have cracked his face in half if it grew any wider, Riza was sure of it.
"You'd be surprised," he said, chuckling and stepping up behind her, plucking the brush from her hands.
Riza sighed again, but didn't object. If he wanted to try to get her hair and makeup to look good, it would just mean that it would be his fault if they were late, and she wasn't going to argue with that. Let him come up with an excuse for their tardiness. That made things easier for her.
Roy worked his hand through her hair to pull it out of the style she had been attempting, the action sending goosebumps down her neck and arms. She nearly shivered at his gentle touch, but kept her cool, expression betraying nothing.
Once Roy brushed all the tangles from her hair, he began weaving the strands together into a braid, leaving a few pieces out in front of her ears, then reached around Riza to grab a hair tie off the counter to tie off the end of the braid. He then wrapped the braid into a bun and kept it in place with a few of the bobby pins strewn all over the counter. He finished by curling the strands of hair in front of her ears. It was a simple style, but it actually stayed in place without bunching anywhere and Riza was impressed, wondering where he learned to do even a simple style like that.
"There we are," Roy said, smiling proudly at his handiwork. "Now then, want any help with your makeup?"
Riza raised a brow. She was prepared to decline, even more skeptical about his knowing how to do makeup than she had been about his knowing how to do hair, but if he was offering, he must have had some knowledge and she decided to give him a chance.
"All right," she said, sliding her makeup bag across the counter toward him.
Roy dumped the contents of the bag out and sifted through the items, glancing at her occasionally while holding up different shades of blush or lipstick next to her face, making thoughtful noises when he thought a certain color would look good on her. He put the items he wanted to the side and stuffed the rest back into the bag.
"Hold still, this shouldn't take long."
Several minutes later, Roy was nearly done, only needing to put on her lipstick for the finishing touch. He opened the tube then placed his hand lightly behind Riza's head to help hold her steady while he applied the pale rouge to her lips. Unlike with the rest of the makeup process, Roy seemed to take much longer to apply her lipstick, slowly smoothing the color into her lips, staring, almost hypnotized while he worked.
He was distracted enough that he brushed the lipstick too low and hit just under her lower up with a splotch of color. This seemed to bring him back from whatever daze he had been in and he apologized, wetting his thumb with water before rubbing under her lip to remove the color, though he did so more slowly and deliberately than was necessary. Roy met Riza's eyes, then looked back to her lips for a moment before quickly looking back into her eyes.
"All done," he muttered, though he didn't move, face remaining inches from hers.
"Thank you," she whispered back, also not even attempting to move away.
"We, um, we should probably go…"
"Yes, we should."
It was always a challenge for Roy not to brush his hand against Riza's at work, or pull her into a hug when she looked particularly worn, or stare at her longingly when they were in the office, but that challenge was magnified tenfold at that moment while in such close proximity to the woman who held his heart in the palm of her hand. He wanted desperately to close the distance between them, to taste the sweet ambrosia he knew he'd find if he just pressed his lips against hers, but crossing the line they had drawn when she first began working under him, the wall they so carefully kept built up between them, was something they agreed should never happen, at least not until their goals were nearly attained.
But oh how he wanted to smash that wall to pieces and turn the rubble to ash.
Unconsciously, he leaned in closer to her and her lips parted slightly, like she wanted to say something, but the words never left her mouth. Unable to hold back anymore, Roy's lips descended toward hers and, after a moment's hesitation, Riza turned quickly and he caught the edge of her mouth in a kiss she knew would have been soft and sweet had she only stayed still to receive it.
"We need to go," she said quietly, swallowing thickly in an attempt to regain her composure.
Roy didn't move, staring at her shoulder and nodding.
"Right…" he sighed, taking a deep breath before leaning back away from her and turning to leave the bathroom, unable to meet Riza's eyes.
Riza's chest tightened and she clenched her fists. She hurt him with her apparent outright rejection, she could tell. But she hadn't rejected him really, he had to know that, right? He had to know she wanted to be with him just as much as he wanted to be with her. Was there a possibility he didn't understand how much she loved him? His reaction seemed to suggest he might have misunderstood and it broke Riza's heart to know he thought she didn't want him.
Taking a deep breath, a determined look flashing in her eyes, she steeled herself and marched over to where he stood by the door, shoulders slumped, looking nothing like the cocky and confident Roy Mustang she knew. It seemed like he was attempting to avoid her by not acknowledging her presence behind him until she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and put just enough pressure to get him to turn to face her. He looked exhausted and she reached up to place her hand on his cheek.
"You are such a foolish man, Colonel," she said softly, rubbing her thumb along his cheek.
He met her eyes and she pursed her lips, thinking on what she was about to do, then slowly weaved her hand through his hair, slicked back and smooth for the gala that evening, before reaching up and kissing him gently and quickly. She pulled away, but Roy was not about to let that be the end of it. He gripped her around the waist and pulled her flush against him, kissing her again, firmly, almost desperately. If this was the one moment they'd ever share before having to go back to being superior and subordinate, then he was damn well going to make it a moment to remember. She didn't seem to mind as she wrapped her arms tighter around his shoulders and pressed herself as close to him as she could.
When they finally separated, Roy's mouth was covered in her lipstick and she almost laughed at him.
"You might want to go wash your mouth before we leave, sir."
The grin was back on Roy's face and he looked to be in a dreamy daze and he nodded, touching his lips as he hurried to the sink to wash off the evidence of their impromptu tryst.
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I needed some fluff, so I wrote some fluff. I have no excuse. I was just having a bad day and needing cheering up. I headcanon that Roy's older sisters taught him how to do their hair, nails, and makeup so that's where this came from.