RoyAi Collection

Chapter 6

The World's Fair

Roy Mustang was in heaven. He danced around the office waving his precious tickets at everyone and Havoc thought that he just might have seen little anime hearts pulsating in his eyes. "Oh boy, so excited." he said dryly as Mustang almost paper-cut his eyes out trying to show him the tickets.

"It's the World's Fair! How can you not be excited!?" Roy chirped and actually giggled like a fangirl. "THE World's Fair! The premier exposition of state of the art technology! A showcase of industrial and science advancements! The 'world of tomorrow' in Central today!"

Riza sighed. He reminded her of Ed's girlfriend whenever she saw automail.

Breda nudged his friend. "Come on Jean, you have to find it at least interesting! It's the World's Fair."

"My fair back home…we expo livestock. The bacon of tomorrow, in the show ring today." Havoc looked down the table to see Fuery also rather excited and Falman thoughtful. He shrugged. It was at least a break from paperwork and East City. As staff to a State Alchemist they were entitled to make the journey with him as he gallivanted around the Fair looking at all the exhibits like the nerd he was. "Seems silly to call it the World's fair anyway when the only country we actually let attend is Xing."

"It's more of a boast of world dominance on the part of the state." Breda doodled on his paperwork. "A way to boost national pride and also distribute information to the masses. Or in our case, make our fearless leader dance around like an idiot."

"Oh Boy, so excited." Havoc repeated with even less enthusiasm as before. He looked at Hawkeye who was dutifully trying to complete paperwork before they left for the week. Lucky her, having to babysit him in the scientist's equivalent of a toy store.

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Riza was having a hard time keeping an eye on Mustang as he seemed to be swarmed by fangirls wanting autographs one minute and then entranced by some exhibit the next. She wondered if he realized the only reason the Military had given him tickets was to show him off to the populace. Mustang was the state of the art weapon the military had at it's disposal and here he was with his charming smile and boyish glee walking amongst the people. She sighed as he disappeared into some exhibit featuring the Fiji Mermaid. She just knew as soon as she walked in there he as going to be scrutinizing it to determine if it was a fake or a chimera.

"It's a damned monkey sewn onto a carp." Roy declared as soon as he set eyes on her. "It's really not that hard to fake this with alchemy. I could probably make them something more realistic with a can of tuna and some dryer lint."

She bent down and looked at it. "Why did you come in here?"

"To lure you into a dark booth alone with me." He winked at her as the hovered near the glass display case, illuminated by a dim bulb.

"You, me and this fancy tuna?"

"It's the only non-popular exhibit I saw since we came to the fair." He looked at the mermaid again and frowned.

She smiled as he squeezed her hand lightly and then stood up with a sigh. "You're the most popular exhibit by far."

"You noticed that too, hmmm?" He leaned in and whispered, "Good thing I only am an exhibitionist for you."

"That wasn't even remotely clever."

"You should kiss me and shut me up before I embarrass myself further." He said with a seductive tone to his whisper.

"If that was how we operated, you would have starved by now." Riza dead-panned.

He leaned over and placed a light kiss on her lips. "Love you too."

Riza gave him a smile and said, "Let's go before they start asking why you're in here so long."

Roy watched her leave and pulled out his map of the fair. Somewhere there had to be a remote location they could escape to. "Lieutenant! I want to see the instant pudding exhibit!"

She turned and looked at him as he came out of the booth. "Did you just say pudding?"

"Instant pudding! It's like….vanilla flavored edible alchemy!" He gave her a smirk.

"Ok." She fell in behind him as he picked up the pace and briskly walked past a dozen or so exhibits that would have actually interested him if he wasn't on a mission to discover the miracle of instant dessert.

Roy was thrilled that absolutely no one was at the pudding exhibit. Not even the manufacturers. He walked in and looked around, it was brightly lit and actually had a rather delicious smell wafting around the booth. Most importantly, it was empty. "Riza, I have something very important to ask you."

"It seems unnatural." She said and looked at the display on the wall proclaiming that delectable pudding could be ready in less than five minutes.

He paused as he felt around his pocket. Oh, she was talking about the pudding. "It's just a reaction between the milk and something in the powder that starts the thickening process. Instead of heat, the component in the powder triggers the reaction."

"What 'something'?" She asked knowing he'd huff at her, irritated that he didn't know.

"If I knew that, I'd be the one with the patent and better attendance at my booth at the World's Fair." He fumbled again in his pocket and realized he was still wearing his gloves. So he quickly pulled his right glove off and then went back into his pocket for the ring before she could turn around.

"Fangirls and Pudding." She sighed and turned to him and saw the fake innocent smile plastered on his face. "What are you up to?"

"I said I have a question to ask."

She stepped forward and gave him that look she reserved for moments like these when he wanted to take risks in public places. Then her eyebrows rose as he produced a ring and took a step closer to her.

"So this isn't what I had planned. I wanted to go somewhere perfect and romantic, but fate just seems to keep ruining my plans. I hate that we can only be together in secret, sneaking into each other's apartments in disguise or stealing kisses at the office. You deserve better than that. I know we keep saying that once we reach the top it's all going to change, but I don't think you should have to wait for this. I need you to know how very much I need you and want you to be with me forever. I want us both to know that our 'World of Tomorrow' might be a long way off but when we finally get there that there will be no question of what we do next."

She held her breath as he went down on one knee and took her hand.

"Riza, will you marry me?" He had gone through this a million times in his head, but never once did he think he'd be doing it in a pudding display. Maybe once or twice he contemplated a bathtub full of pudding, but that just seemed unsanitary and probably wouldn't drain well. He swallowed hard, realizing his mind was rambling to keep his nerves at bay.

"Yes." She bit her lip as he put the ring on her finger and then stood up and kissed her. Was that really all she could say? Shouldn't there be something unforgetable? No…her mind was a complete blank and she was lucky she remembered how to even say that one little word.

"I'm sorry that nothing about our lives is normal." He ran his hand down her cheek. "That ring has been in the family for generations. It's not much, but it's about all the Mustang's really have to pass down."

"I wish I could wear it." She said softly, knowing in a few minutes she'd be taking it off to hide it. Was this really happening?

He kissed her again. "I'm sorry I couldn't find somewhere better to propose than the pudding booth."

"I'm just glad you didn't pick the Fiji Mermaid booth."

"Someday I promise I'll make up for everything I couldn't do…"

She smiled at him. "Being by your side is worth it. I never question that decision."

He looked up as he heard someone scream about pudding and realized their time was up. He placed one final kiss on her lips before she had to pull off the ring and put it in her pocket. They turned away from each other and tried to look engrossed by the nutritional facts on the posters on the wall. He had to focus hard to try and erase the smile on his face as nobody would believe he was that excited about the calcium content of instant pudding. "By God, it's even Gluten free!"

She clutched the ring in her hand and smiled. By god, that man was her fiance! She felt a tingle as she clutched the ring. She never doubted his intentions but somehow this one little token meant so much.

"Whip it until it's creamy." Said the irresistible voice from the other side of the booth.

She shook her head. Maybe by the time they could marry he would grow up. "Time to go, sir."

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