Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, and I am making absolutely no profit whatsoever in this fanfic.

Roy paced back and forth in silence for several minutes before Maes decided he might need to intervene if he ever wanted another drink.

"You look happy," he noted. "Nothing serious?

Roy poured another drink. "Just Havoc."

"Ah." Maes handed him his glass, which the younger man refilled in jerky motions. "Did he say something to piss you off?"

"No, just Havoc smoking a cigarette on my lieutenant's balcony," Roy clarified somewhat bitterly. "Under questionable circumstances."

"That's not altogether surprising." Hughes eyed Roy over the brim of his drink for a few tense minutes, then smiled to himself. "You know that your lieutenants trained together in the past, right?"

"Yes, I'm aware of that," he snapped.

"Sniper training in the same cramped spaces," Maes taunted genially. "Often overnight."

Roy's grip on his glass tightened slightly, but his voice remained smooth. "Having a fantasy over there, Hughes?"

Maes shrugged. "I'm just saying that you shouldn't have been so completely taken off guard. It's not like you, Roy."

"Fraternization is not something I need to worry about right now, on top of everything else."

"Are you going to talk to them about it? It seems like they've been very discreet."

"Well..." Roy looked out the window for a moment, studying the waves crashing on the beach outside, before slowly replying. "...of course not. They're adults, and they're both professional. Until they give me a reason to address it, I'll let this run its course."

"So you don't think it's anything long-term?" Maes pried.

Roy stared at his drink for a moment, then smirked. "So tell me again how you convinced this rational, smart girl to marry your sorry ass?"

"Subject change much?" Maes stretched languidly. "But how can I resist? I took her to the park where we used to meet everyday after she'd finished work..."

-X-

Riza stared at the door for a few moments after dinner, trying to work up the courage to knock. He hadn't seemed upset when he had seen Havoc inside her room, but she knew better than to judge his emotions by his mannerisms. Besides, they still needed to speak about that night he kissed her, but she supposed that they never would. That was fine with her. So what if while Havoc had been eying that brunette, Riza had been eying Roy smiling at that brunette, and it made her feel like she had a mild case of heartburn? The food in the south was very spicy. It could have been a coincidence.

The man didn't look half bad with his shirt off, either.

She hit her head on the door in frustration, and the lock slid open.

"You all right, Lieutenant?"

"I- Sorry, I didn't mean..."

Hughes tilted his head. "Were you looking for Roy? He went out a few hours ago."

"Oh."

"I have to hide out here and keep a low profile," he slurred.

"I see."

"Wanna keep me company? I'm pretty bored."

Riza unlocked her side of the door and stepped into Roy's room. "Sure."

"Drink?"

"Yes, please," she requested a little desperately.

He poured her a healthy portion of whiskey and rose his own glass. "Cheers."

She didn't wince as the whiskey burned its way down. She'd learned how to drink in the trenches a lifetime ago, and much worse stuff than this. "So this is where his money goes."

"Among other things. Nice, huh? You can say a lot about the bastard, but he's got pretty good taste," Hughes patted her shoulder affectionately. "You got Havoc hiding in there? There's plenty to go around."

"No, we're not...like that."

"Didn't peg you for the cuddling type."

"I'm not sleeping with Havoc!"

Hughes grinned. "I know."

Hawkeye ground her jaw. "...I don't think I want to know how you know."

"I'm paid to know these things. But Roy thinks you are, and I think he's thought that for a while, given the history." Hughes pushed his glasses up. "You've known Roy for a long time. And don't bother to deny it, because I know these things, remember?"

"Yes." She drank some more. "Longer than you."

"Right. So...really? When did you meet him?"

"He hasn't told you?"

"Evidently."

"Go investigate. It's what you do, right?"

He laughed.

She frowned. "He wasn't... upset, was he?"

Hughes just smiled some more. Riza noted how unfocused his eyes looked behind his glasses and wondered if he even knew where he was. "You know you're going to my wedding, right?"

Riza drank some more. "Sure. Have you set a date besides sometime in the winter?"

"Depends when Roy can make it down. I'm not letting him out of this one."

"I don't think he'd miss it," she assured him.

-X-

Hughes was passed out by the time Roy entered. Riza looked up a little sheepishly.

Roy unbuttoned his collar. "What are you doing in here?"

"I came here to talk to you," she enunciated a little thickly, "but I wound up keeping Lieutenant Colonel Hughes company."

"...I see."

"He passed out."

"He does that," Roy agreed warily.

"I came to tell you about Havoc," she blurted out a little harsher than she'd intended. "I think we need to talk."

Roy looked at her. "Can we...not do this?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You and Havoc...You and Jean, I should say. Speaking as your commanding officer, I don't want to know."

"Oh. " Riza stood up from the chair next to his bed and leaned against the wall. "You don't want to know either way?"

Roy looked confused. "Which way are you talking about?"

"The way where I'm not sleeping with Jean."

"You're not?"

"You just said you didn't want to know!" she exclaimed.

Roy frowned.

Riza flopped back down on the chair. The surreality of the conversation was too much for her tipsy mind, and she wished she hadn't taken that last shot with Hughes so her thoughts could congeal more coherently.

"...Lieutenant, are you okay?"

Lieutenant? Since when had they ever been so formal in private?

"Yes...sir."

He waited for her to reply to what he had said before, so she just nodded. He smiled faintly.

"You didn't hear a word I just said," he accused lightly. "Lieutenant."

His voice had dropped a few timbres, and she shivered as he tasted her title. "No, I'm sorry."

"It's just as well. I think I might have embarrassed myself."

"In that case, I'm very sorry I missed it, sir."

He was still standing near the bed, his white dress shirt unbuttoned to reveal his undershirt and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His hair was mussed, and his eyes were heavy-lidded and bright with alcohol. "I've been embarrassing myself around you too much lately."

She mulled that over. "Why did you kiss me?"

His eyebrows rose a fraction. "Always going for the kill, aren't you?"

"I-" She looked at her hands. "I suppose that's what I do now, isn't it?"

"I didn't mean it like that," he apologized. "I...I'm sorry about the other night. It won't happen again."

"Never?" she asked.

"It can't," he replied. His voice broke a little, and he cleared his throat. "I've always been very clear about that."

"Except for the other night."

"I'm sorry."

She remembered their first night together, years ago. He'd been seated at her kitchen table handling the final details of her father's estate. She'd brought him dinner, and he'd smiled at her gratefully. He'd actually smiled, then, not like the superior smirks he doled out now, or the faint lip twitches that forced themselves on his face, an actual, open smile that stretched from ear to ear and made her eighteen year old heart flutter.

"Were you just drunk?"

He sighed and his posture drooped. "No."

She paused. "Have you ever wanted to since you asked me to be your aide?"

Roy studied his shoes. "...I don't think we should talk about this."

The liquor had made her braver than she should have been. "Did I taste the same, sir?"

He inhaled sharply, rebuke on his lips, but he saw the tears gathering in her eyes and he walked over to her chair and kneeled down next to her feet. "Please?"

She wondered what the hell he was asking for, but held her tongue. Her tears did not fall, and she cursed Maes again for encouraging her to drink so much. She didn't like being at a disadvantage when she spoke to Roy; she needed all of her wits to decipher the ten different meanings in his words.

He looked at her with his hand covering his mouth, as if to keep any more secrets from spilling out.

"I'm sorry this is taking so long," he'd murmured as his hand whispered across her bare back. "I'm almost finished."

"Mr. Mustang..."

"I think you can call me Roy, now."

She'd flipped over and lifted her chin. "Roy?"

"Yes, Miss Hawkeye?" he'd breathed.

Her heart had pounded against her ribs as she tried to be seductive for the first time. "I think you can call me Riza, now."

His dark eyes had traveled across her body and then back to hers again, and she almost laughed at how tightly his jaw was set. His hands had remained at his side, clenched into fists. "Riza, ah..."

She'd caressed his cheek with her open palm and a growing smile. "Stop being so noble and kiss me."

"Roy?" Riza touched his chin with the tips of her fingers. "What do you want?"

He murmured something against his hand, she thought it might have been a curse. She moved her fingers from his chin to the hand covering his mouth and pushed it away. "What?" she asked.

"You're beautiful. That's what I was saying before. I started thinking about the perils of fraternization and I completely lost my train of thought when your blouse slipped down your shoulder."

She looked down at her bare shoulder but made no move to readjust the fabric. He did it for her, lingering at her collarbone with his thumb. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said, absently, as he brought his hand back to his face.

"That night you said that you didn't want me to think that you'd forgotten. Now you want me to forget about it." She rubbed her temples. "Not that I'm surprised, because I don't think you ever say what you mean anymore, but-"

"I meant every word," he growled. "I remember how you feel, how you sound, and how you taste, Lieutenant, so vividly sometimes it is all I can do not to lock you in the office, close the blinds, burn all the damned useless paperwork you insist on finding, sit you on my desk, and make you scream. It is all I can do. So no, I haven't forgotten. That's why I can't discuss this with you. I can't, because you are right here in front of me, and you aren't even in uniform, and that skirt would be so easy to push up and that shirt keeps slipping down. I am your commanding officer, damn it, and you don't want to hear the type of commands I'm thinking right now. So please go back to your room and lock the door and forget that we ever had this conversation."

Riza blushed and sat up, but Roy remained in position so that she couldn't move without tripping over him. Her breaths were coming out in pants, and the imagery he'd provided her made her mouth so dry she could barely swallow. She opened her mouth to ask him to move, but he was against her before she could utter a syllable. He pressed into her uncomfortably on the chair, but the alcohol dulled the pain enough that she didn't think to complain, and his mouth was against her so hard that she couldn't have done so even if she wanted to.

He lifted her up a little, struggling to get closer, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She tried to maneuver him into a more comfortable position, but he pressed against her harder, which left her back without any support from the chair, and made her neck hurt. He seemed to notice and braced her back with his left arm. His right arm had traveled up her skirt, and she gasped as he brushed his fingers across her bare thighs, higher and higher and...

"Misisstlhershldmve," he said against her lips, and she kissed him again.

"Mm," she agreed. She didn't think there was anything he could say at this point that she wouldn't agree to, as long as he didn't stop.

"Maes," he panted, pressing his forehead against hers to avoid her greedy lips.

"...is there something," she breathed, "that you want to tell me, Roy?"

"Huh? No," he scowled at her, then kissed her a few more times before finding the will to speak again. "Maes is here, remember?"

His fingers remained on her thighs, unmoving, and she hissed in frustration. "My room."

She could see thoughts swirling behind his eyes, and she knew that if he thought about it, if she thought about it for that matter, that he would pull away, however reluctantly, and bid her goodnight. She leaned forward and sucked on his bottom lip, slowly, and she felt his fingers press into her thigh in pleasure. She pulled back, now that she had his full attention, and slowly peeled off her shirt. His eyes glazed over enough that she could take assurance that no deep thoughts were percolating in that damned analytical brain of his, and she licked the shell of his ear as she whispered, "Let's go to my room."

Roy carried her without another word.