11. Liar
Song: "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem feat. Rihanna (Yes, I know full-well that this song is about a wife-beater. I do not condone that behavior, but I'm going to stop there before I really get going. Just please ignore that connotation and replace it with a guy who just keeps making mistakes.)
WARNING: While not graphic, the implied situation in this drabble is one of the reasons this collection is rated T.
"Liar," Riza sneered accusingly. "After Ishval, you said this'd never happen again."
Roy chuckled mirthlessly. "Takes two to tango—you know that just as well as I do."
"But it takes just one superior to force his subordinate—" Riza started nastily before Roy cut her off.
"Like anybody'd believe that I could force you." Roy met her gaze evenly. "You don't believe it, and for good reason—it wouldn't happen. You wouldn't allow it, and I wouldn't try, anyway. And you wouldn't so much as consider using that as an excuse because the only thing worse than a dirty liar is—"
"—a filthy hypocrite," finished Riza. She sighed. "You know the worst part? I should hate you, and I should hate me. But I can't and I don't: I hate the rules. If they weren't in place we could…" But she trailed off, knowing that it wasn't true. They couldn't, and they wouldn't. Not with so much at stake.
So why was it any different now, then? "What does it all mean?" she murmured, pulling her shirt back on.
"It means just what it's supposed to mean. At least, to me," Roy answered. He placed a hand on hers, making sure he had her full attention before continuing. "I could pay someone, and I'm sure you could get all the unmarried guys in Central and half the married ones, too, so why keep coming back?" He smiled softly.
"But what are we going to do if it all comes crashing down?" Riza worried. It was a pretty legitimate concern, sometimes, whether due to their own faults or the occasionally indirect, sometimes unintentional interferences of others.
Roy's brief smile faded. "We won't let it," he assured her in all seriousness. "We can't afford to—no matter what else we say that about, saying it about this is absolute."
"Don't you know there's no such thing as absolutes?" asked Riza sadly. Her eyes were filling. Why the hell was she trying to end this? Why couldn't she just keep it under wraps, like so many other things? Why was "I just don't want to" such a compelling reason now when it rarely was anytime else?
"No, actually, I don't," Roy countered. "If I believed that, I'd never have gotten to where I am, no matter how little progress it really is." His tone grew gentle again, but the sentiment was just as earnest as, if not more so than, before. "I hate this just as much as you do, but I'm not going to screw around on you, and there's no way in Hell I'm giving up on us. I'm lying if I say I'm going to."
"So I should be happy that you've lied all along," Riza clarified. With Roy's nod, she sighed and almost-smiled, feeling almost-relieved. "Sometimes—most of the time—I really think I am. So maybe… maybe that's one lie it's better to just keep on pretending to live."
A/N: So, I'm sure we've all asked ourselves the question: did they or didn't they, and when? My guess: they did, and probably early on, before everything got complicated. But I just don't think this would be the result. (Too many distractions.) Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Usually, I don't care. But this little scene would not leave me alone, so I wrote it.