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Chapter 4
"I have a day off next Saturday," Riza said and Envy looked up from one of her mystery books, it amused her to see him reading them, he just didn't seem the reading type, turned out he liked history too. Historical mysteries were his favorite.
"Oh?" he prompted and she nodded.
"I said we would go to a play on my next day off, remember?" she said and he gave her a look and then pointed accusingly at her.
"That was almost three months ago," he pointed out, "You work too hard," he nodded and she rolled her eyes, according to him she was wasting her life, but when asked what she should be doing he had no reply. But he really shouldn't talk as he got bored easily, he'd stopped coming to work with her because he simply had nothing to do, except harass Mustang, and Riza didn't want repercussions occurring because of that.
"And you hardly work," she replied and he huffed.
"Like you'd know if I was or not, I can assure you I've been working very hard," he said and smirked darkly opening his mouth again, she held her hand up.
"I don't need to know," she said quickly, he chuckled.
"Wimp," he chuckled, "Right so, a play?" he asked and she nodded and held out the newspaper to him.
"There are three going on right now, a romance, a musical and a murder mystery," she said, at the last one he grinned.
"Murder!" he cheered, she rolled her eyes, he would only focus on that, "Let's see that one! Will there be blood?" he asked, grinning widely.
"Not real blood, but there might be some fake blood," she replied shrugging, he deflated a bit, but still seemed eager to go.
"Fiiine," he sighed, "But you promised we'd go, so we're still gonna go," he said nodding, she smiled he sounded like an eager child it was cute, almost.
"We'll go, but you'll have to disguise yourself, they won't let you in like that," she said pointing at his scantily clad self.
"Why, what's wrong with it?" he frowned, and she tried not to laugh, his perspective on life was fairly amusing.
"Because it's a nice place you have to wear nice clothes," she said, "Women usually wear dresses or skirts, men wear suits or dress up shirts and pants, so you have to decide." she said and he crossed his arms.
"Well that's no fun," he said and then shrugged, "Fine, I'll be all pretty," he sighed and she laughed.
"I know how hard that is for you," she grinned and he glared at her.
"I'm not ugly," he snapped and she shook her head, he seemed to be very sensitive about his looks.
"I didn't say you were," she said quickly, "You're not bad looking at all, just a little...skinny," she said looking him over, he really was very skinny, it would worry her, if he were human.
"Skinny?" he asked, and she nodded, "How am I skinny?" he pouted and she smiled, glad he wasn't upset anymore.
"Well, if you were a human...you'd be considered sick, like you don't eat enough," she said and he frowned in thought looking down at his body and then he looked at hers and back.
"It's...bad looking?" he asked looking worried, and she could tell he was sensitive about this.
"No...you don't look bad...just sick," she said, and he nodded slowly, and then looked at her again then let light run over his body. When he was done, he was less skinny and more slender, Riza's eye's widened suddenly, he...looked good. Very good. She blushed.
"That looks perfect," she coughed, but that seemed to be the best thing to say, he beamed at her happily.
"Good!" he hopped up, "Okay, I'll see you Saturday and I'll dress faaaancy." he huffed and then hopped out of the room, past Hayate and then out the window.
Hayate's head cocked to the side and looked up at her, she sighed and shook her head, he was so weird. But, that was okay.
Saturday evening came and Envy knocked on the door, Riza opened it and nearly gaped, Envy was dressed in a black suit, his hair was tied back, looking nice and well kept. He looked remarkably dashing, completely unrecognizable.
"Well?" he asked, frowning when she didn't say anything she coughed to cover her stunned silence.
"You look great," she said weakly, he smiled, satisfied and then looked her over, she was still mostly in uniform, "That's not what you're wearing is it?"
"No, no, I was getting ready," she said and Envy nodded and slipped into the room, Hayate bounded up to him and barked, his tail wagged excitedly. Riza was amused at how good friends the two had become.
"We can't play, you'll get my suit dirty," Envy said, sticking his nose up, Hayate whined, "No, not this time, mutt."
Riza shook her head and went to her room to get dressed, she picked out a black dress, it was a double halter, so it had a back but no sleeves, it was nice and simple, but she looked very good in it.
She came back out and Envy frowned at her, "Oh no, that won't do," he said.
"What's wrong with it?" she asked looking at her dress, wondering if it was ripped, he shook his head.
"No that looks fine, I mean your hair, you have to put it down," he said and came over and pulled her clip out, "There, now it's fair, mine is up and yours is down," he beamed.
Riza laughed, "Alright, it's fair," she said and then turned to the door, "Ready?"
"Yep," he replied and grinned and walked out the door with a bit of a hop in his step.
She shook her head closing the door behind her and putting her keys in her purse, they walked down the boulevard, Envy looked around and asked what everything was excitedly, he'd been here before but he didn't know what most of the businesses were for he'd never really needed to, Riza did her best to explain.
"Riiizaaa, what's that place?" he asked pointing at the bank.
"The bank, it holds people's money," she explained, and he nodded and frowned.
"I've always wondered why people needed money," he said and Riza had to think about it.
"Well, we need it to buy food and a house and clothes, and we go to work to make money," she said and Envy frowned.
"Yeah, but why? Wouldn't it be easier just to give something else in exchange for what you need?" he asked and she smiled at him.
"It used to be, but not now, in our modern world it's easier to use a currency," she said, "I can't really explain the specifics, that's an economists specialty, but I can say that money can be a pain sometimes."
"Oh," Envy shrugged and then pointed to another building, "What's that place?"
"The newspaper," she said and he snorted.
"Silly humans, always keeping in touch with nothing," he chuckled, she rolled her eyes and laughed, then put her arm through his.
"Come on, Romeo, we have a play to get to," she said and he gave her an odd look.
"Who the hell is Romeo?" he asked and she just laughed.
It didn't take long for them to get to the theatre and once they were there Envy gaped at everything, the fancy curtains and carpet and staircases and statues and the other nicely dressed people, she chuckled lightly, and made him wait while she bought the tickets. She had to grab his arm and take him to their seats because he was so busy looking around.
"Riza! What's that for?" he asked pointing at the door at the wing of the stage.
"Another way to get on and off stage I suppose, they'll probably use it during the play," she said and he nodded and pointed at more things, eventually Riza had to tell him to hush because the play was starting.
Envy stared at the stage intently, and Riza couldn't help but smile, he was so engrossed it was pleasing, to know she had shown him this, she turned to the stage just as the curtains opened.
Envy's attention was undivided during the entire play, occasionally he would hop in his seat, and point at the stage and pat her arm as if to say 'look!', she had to stop herself from laughing. He was so cute when he was excited.
When it was finished they were walking out of the theatre Envy was jabbering away about the play, Riza listened a bit, knowing she wouldn't get a word in edgewise, he was having too much fun.
"So you liked it, huh?" she asked when he was taking a breath, he nodded vigorously.
"Can we go again?" he asked and she laughed.
"Sure, but it'll be a while until I have another day off," she said and he pouted.
"Awwww, you work too hard, and I like you like this, you don't look as..." he waved his hands at her clothes, "stressed...angry..." he shrugged, "You just look better."
She blushed, "Thanks...I think," she said, he'd just complimented her, that was strange of him, he shrugged again, he probably hadn't realized he'd complimented her at all.
"Just saying the truth-" he started but another voice called out to her.
"Lieutenant Hawkeye!" she turned to see a Sargent from another unit waving at her, "Wow, I almost didn't recognize you, but then I spotted the gun," he chuckled pointing at the handle of a pistol in her purse.
"Oh, hello Sergeant Hess," Riza said, feeling just a bit awkward, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I was out with my girlfriend," he said and then seemed to get a bit awkward too, Envy looked between the two of them.
"Oh, that's...nice," Riza said, not sure she should say anything else, then the Sargent spotted Envy.
"Oh is this your boyfriend? Nice to meet you," he held out his hand and Envy stared at it until the man pulled it away with a cough, "Well, uh, it's good to see you've settled down, he must be just as tough and hard as you," he laughed.
Riza was blushing, feeling very awkward she then looped her arm through Envy's and then turned. "Y-yes, well if you'll excuse us," she said sharply and started dragging Envy away, he looked back at the man who was looking a bit sheepish.
"What was that all about?" he asked and Riza shook her head, she didn't want to talk about it, he would have pushed but the look on her face stopped him from doing so, so he just walked with her back to her apartment. He stayed until she looked less harried, and made sure she was okay, he wouldn't be much of a friend if he didn't do that, right?
But he was still curious, there had been something going on, he really wanted to know what it was.
It took him awhile, but he finally figure out why Riza had acted so strangely, that man, who had been trying to compliment her had really been insulting her, calling her 'hard' and 'tough', though she may have been, she was still a woman, and at that moment she had not been putting on the facade of a woman who was trying to be either of those things, so it had been insulting. It was a good thing Envy hadn't caught sight of that soldier, otherwise he'd probably be dead by then, not that Envy cared or anything, he would just be for fun...
Envy watched her from a distance trying to see what no one else could, she was so soft, why couldn't anyone else see? They were wrong. She was beautiful and kind. But no one else seemed to notice, she acted hard and tough but that was her outer shell inside she was much different, he didn't think anyone else could tell. He didn't think she even knew. But she had to know, after all she had befriended him hadn't she? She was either very kind...or very stupid. He wanted to believe she was kind, he would believe anything at this point.
It hurt so much, and it shouldn't have, but he'd been left and it hurt he couldn't handle it again and this one time, she had come to him. He wasn't the one who had to go looking for comfort, if he believed in the stuff, he'd almost say it was fate. Almost.
He snorted and cocked his head, placing his chin in his hand and his elbow on his knee, he watched as her hand went to her pistol and everyone in the office immediately got to work, so maybe they had a bit of a basis for her 'hardass' reputation accusations. But she still wasn't as bad as they thought.
He wanted to show her that she was soft, that she was kind and sweet, but he didn't know how, but hopefully by spending more time with her he'd figure a way how to do that. He made it a habit to be with her whenever he could and that was fairly often, before either of them knew it, they had been talking and becoming closer for nearly five months.
He had no idea how to feel about it and then wondered...was this what it was like to have a real friend?