"You're sexually harrassing me."
"I'm riding an elevator."
"Stop it," Riza muttered underneath her breath.
"Stop what?" Roy asked innocently. She could hear the amusement in his voice and that irritated her further.
"Stop… that."
He definitely sounded amused this time, and slightly befuddled. "What does "that" mean?"
Riza pressed the emergency stop in the elevator with more force than was necessary. She whirled around, frowning further at the smirk on his face. "That."
"You're going to have to enlighten me, because I still have no idea what "that" means."
She huffed, unable to even form the right words she needed. "You're… sexually harassing me!"
"I'm riding in an elevator," he replied instantly. God, Riza wanted to smack the still lingering smirk on his face.
"I can practically feel you undressing me with your eyes."
"That's quite a claim," he chuckled. Roy's smirk returned as he crossed over his ankles and folded his arms across his chest. He looked good. Really good. She could feel her face heating up in response to that crooked grin, and Riza knew that Roy was aware of her reaction too. "And I do not care for the accusation."
"Stop it," she glared.
"Stop what?" he asked, chuckling again but with a hint of disbelief in his tone.
"Just stop it! Leave me alone," she snapped.
Riza spun once more, hitting the emergency stop again. Once the elevator opened at her floor she stormed out and left him standing there. He was so irritating, but her body reacted to everything he did in a way she abhorred right now. They were at work. They were in a professional environment. She did not need this arrogant, self-centred, prick to impede her from doing her job and annoying her all day.
She was seriously reconsidering that offer of drinks tomorrow night. She'd said yes tentatively, but now Riza thought it might be better to cut her losses now. This would just get messy and her job was stressful enough as it is. She didn't need to add the complication of a personal relationship with her pseudo boss on top of it.
She'd decide by the end of the day. Riza knew she was overly stressed and needed a break – and Roy certainly wasn't making things better – so she'd reserve her judgement, based on how the rest of the day went.
"Riza?"
She groaned audibly, rolling her sore neck. She didn't want to deal with him right now. She was finished. She was about to head home. She just needed peace.
"What?" she asked irritably.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Roy asked. His smirk from this afternoon was gone and in its place was a concerned and slightly worried look on his face.
"You already are," she muttered under her breath. "Stupid question."
"What?"
"You have one minute," she replied louder so he could hear her. She literally meant he had one minute.
"Are you all right?"
"Fine," she replied, an edge to her voice.
"You don't sound it," he retorted.
"You now have forty seconds."
Roy frowned. "I just want to talk."
"Thirty."
"Riza." His frown deepened, irritation beginning to show on his face.
"What makes you think I want you to talk to me, Roy?" Riza asked forcefully. She stood from her hiding spot – the stairs at the back of the building leading to the fire exit – and approached him. "You've done nothing but wind me up and irritate me on purpose since you started. There's no reason for it, except to tease me. But, we're at work, in case you hadn't noticed, and I thought you, of all people – the All Mighty Roy Mustang – might have had a sliver of professionalism in his bones." Her chest heaved with her breathing as she laid into him. She was so angry. To give him credit, Roy looked very taken aback. "It turns out I was wrong." Riza grabbed her jumper from where she'd left it on the stairs. "Time's up."
She stormed past him, her irritation returning just at the mere sight of him.
Drinks were definitely off now.
"Riza?" Rebecca called to her, poking her head around the door of her office.
"Yes?" Riza asked tiredly. Just a few more hours and this case would be over and dealt with, leaving Riza free from stress for the weekend. Friday was already a write-off – it was creeping close to five o'clock and she still had a long way to go until she was done – but Riza couldn't wait to sleep in curled up next to her pup tomorrow morning and take a lovely, long, bath once she got home.
"We're going to head out. Are you sure you don't want any help?"
Riza shook her head. "It's okay. It's all up here," she replied with a tired smile, tapping the side of her head. "There'd be no point you suffering as well."
Rebecca bit her lip uncertainly. "If you're sure…"
"I'm sure," Riza reassured her. "Go and enjoy drinks with Havoc. Have one on me."
Rebecca's smile was sympathetic. "I will. Thank you. Have a good night, Riza."
"You too, Becca," Riza replied, but her friend was already on her way, and Riza was already losing herself in her work.
She had half an hour of peace then he returned into her life.
"Hey," Roy greeted quietly.
"Hello," Riza replied civilly, glancing up briefly from her work. It wouldn't do for her to lecture him on professionalism only for her to act like it in his presence. She felt slightly embarrassed by her outburst yesterday. She'd been overly stressed and, while warranted, her outburst at Roy was a little bit too harsh.
Still, it had the desired effect. He'd left her alone all day.
"I just wanted to catch you before you left." Roy stepped into her office hesitantly while Riza continued to work, clasping his hands behind his back. "I… I'm sorry." Riza looked up, noting the sincerity in his voice. "I truly am. It was never my intention to rile you up like that. It's just I'm… Well," he huffed a laugh. "It doesn't matter now. Just know, I'm sorry. I know this isn't much, and won't make up for my behaviour, but I brought a peace offering." Curious, Riza watched as he extracted a file from behind his back. "I had some extra time and extracted all the data you would need to complete this case." He held it out for Riza to take, however she just stared at it.
Roy shifted uncomfortably before placing it down on her desk. He coughed once, either feeling uncomfortable or unsure what to do. "I need to get going, but if there's anything else you need, just give me a call. I know how important this case is, especially to you, and want it to go well for everyone involved."
Riza still said nothing. She just stared at the folder. She read the file on the top and realised this was everything she was trying to collate and make sense of right now.
Roy had done it all for her. In his free time.
"Anyway, see you on Monday, Riza," Roy added quietly. "Enjoy your weekend."
She didn't know how long it had been since Roy had left. She'd been engrossed in flicking through all the paperwork he'd handed her. He must have had to pull some serious strings to get his hands on this so quickly…
It didn't make up for it entirely, but Riza felt emotion threaten to overwhelm her and wet her eyes. He'd been so thoughtful…
The added icing on the cake was the unexpected order of take out food at seven o'clock, which a very confused Riza opened the front door of the building to. All was revealed with the note on the receipt.
Don't work yourself too hard.
R
