Thank you, Skorm for letting me know about the error. I don't know whether it works now; I've tried deleting, reuploading, replacing, contacting FanFiction...

Thank you, arisha12 for your review! I really appreciate it a lot!

I do hope this is accessible. And that you enjoy!

Where Roy Betrays His Cure

There was a knock on the door. With great difficulty, Riza peeled herself out of bed again, throwing a coat over her shoulders for her pyjamas not to show as much. Black Hayate was already at the door, barking to notify her, obediently stopping when she appeared from the bedroom. She stroked over his head while reaching for the doorknob.

"Edward," she blinked in surprise, "Alphonse and Winry- ah!" She quickly bent down to catch the collar of her dog who had tackled Ed to the ground, now proudly panting up at her. "I'm sorry," she shoved him behind her, back into her apartment.

"Don't worry," Ed crawled back to his feet, "happens all the time," he grumbled.

"We're sorry to disturb you so late," Winry said, having noticed the attire. Riza smiled kindly.

"It's no trouble. What can I do for you?"

"Well," Winry clasped her hands behind her back, glancing at her feet. "We kinda have a problem and wanted to ask you – only if it's not too much of a nuisance-"

"We need tools." Ed cut in when his friend got nowhere. At least not fast enough for his liking.

"Ed!"

"What?" He stared with boredom at the two that were wildly gesturing at him. "It's not my fault you forgot your tools and we have to ask the Lieutenant," he shrugged. "We talked about this all the way here," he only lost his cool when his childhood friend got out a wrench she had apparently not forgotten. He shrunk, breaking a sweat.

"You're telling me it's my fault that you got into some petty street fight and loosened your Automail?!" Winry hollered and Riza stifled her short chuckle when realising the time in combination with the girl's volume not to be too convenient for her reputation in the building. Having a dog bark now and again was unpopular enough.

"Come in then," she waved them in and they all followed with lips puckered in apology. "I'm sorry for the mess," she led the way to the living room, past two pairs of military boots. "Oh, please surrender your shoes to Hayate," she pointed at the corner, only then realising her mistake of drawing attention to the additional pair. She could own two, right? That was nothing out of the ordinary, surely.

"Surrender?" Ed frowned uncomfortably, doing as he was told nonetheless. Al ruefully stared at his armoured feet.

"I like it better than 'take them off'," Riza explained over her shoulder, putting on the kettle for some tea.

"Does he chew them?" Winry gave her friend a punch on the shoulder for being rude but the Lieutenant took no offense.

"He sniffs them," she said, returning to invite them to sit on the sofa. With a flashing of her eyes, she made sure for the bedroom door to be closed. "What kind of tools do you need?" She asked and Winry enumerated too many for any regular household to possess, then scaled it down to a few screwdrivers she would somehow get everything done with. Nodding, Riza stole herself into the bedroom without so much as revealing a crack for them to spy through, not that they tried.

A good minute later, she returned with a box, setting it down on the coffee table, then poured their tea.

"I hope this will suffice," she shoved the box over when the girl opposite was too polite to just take it. She did then, eyeing the various tools for assembling guns before picking one. She gave Ed a death glare when he had not even begun on undressing his coat or shirt and they soon started bickering again. Like a married couple, Riza thought to herself, smiling warmly. "What happened?" She asked, just when there was a faint moan heard over the creaking of metal. She coughed to cover it up, commanding her body not to betray her with a blush.

Edward and Winry frowned for a second, luckily distracted by the Automail calibrations.

"We were going back to the inn when there was a man in an alleyway, kicking over trash barrels," Alphonse responded, sitting up straight with his hands on his lap as usual. Trying to be make up for the slightly ungainly way the other two behaved.

"A vandal?" Riza absently pulled on the coat on her shoulder.

"No, just some lowlife making other people clean up his mess!" Ed fumed and something cracked in his shoulder when Winry pulled on his arm.

"If you hadn't provoked him, none of this would have happened," she glared.

"I didn't provoke I him! He had it comin'!"

"It could have just stayed at someone picking up a bit of garbage but no, you had to go and-"

"Didn't you see how he practically threw himself at me with that murder in his eyes?!"

"You called him a bastard, idiot!" She punched his leg this time and he yelped, then raged on. They all froze when the bedroom door in Riza's back opened.

Her eyes shot open and she panicked for a second, feeling everyone's gazes wander up to a very narrow-eyed Colonel. She wanted to slap her own face with her palm.

"What's going on, why aren't you comi- oh," Mustang stopped in his tracks where he leaned again the doorframe. "It's that Fullmetal brat,"

"Who're you calling a brat, you bastard!?" Edward hollered, receiving another bump on his head from a wrench. Getting up quickly, Riza circled the couch to remove her superior before the situation escalated. It did not help in the slightest that he was only dressed in a shirt and his boxers.

"This is exactly how you-" Winry started but was drowned out.

"You want a piece of me, eh?" Mustang lurched when trying to walk over and Riza grimaced, catching his currently non-existent balance. Winry winced while Al stopped his motion of petting Hayate to watch in dawning understanding. "I'm always ready; I'll make you eat dirt – wait, fire, it's fire, right?" The National Alchemist vaguely glanced his Lieutenant's way, missing her eyes by a few centimetres before finding them. A smile stretched across his face. "Riza, you look so good with your hair down," he slurred and she nearly dropped him. She cursed inwardly at the blush rising to her cheeks.

"Uuh, the Colonel got wasted, huh?" Ed's grin spread from ear to ear. Alphonse waved his hands hectically, trying to tell his brother to stop. "If this isn't a pretty image. Hitting on your subordinates, are we now? That's a nice thing to know next time you threaten to tell the military that we-" his words got stuck in his throat when there was the clicking of a gun. Riza warningly pursed her lips, letting the weapon slide back into the pocket of her coat. Then she let out a sharp sigh.

"Don't even think of telling anyone how he drunk himself into stupor again," she scolded, biting her tongue when realising to have said too much. Edward's rising brow told her how he had not missed that little hint. Suppressing the next sigh, she let her gaze drop. "Excuse me for a minute," she said, turning to aid the Colonel back into the bedroom. Only he refused.

"Let me beat up that shrimp!" He protested.

"Who're ya-!" Ed was silenced by Winry's hand over his mouth, the foot he had already planted on the sofa in fury being guided back down by his brother.

"There's no one here. Now go back to bed," Riza lied as calmly as she could despite her embarrassment, gently dragging Mustang along.

"But I saw him,"

"No, you didn't," she firmly stated, widening her stance when he tried to turn back and ascertain himself. She blocked him by holding his head to keep facing forward, running her fingers through his hair in a soothing manner. His limbs slacked and he became heavy all of a sudden, purring at the action she was having trouble with keeping up while not dropping him.

"You're probably right," he muttered, "you always are, you're so smart," he babbled and she rucked him back up on her shoulder to get him out of earshot as quickly as possible. Her face was starting to glow, she knew. "Must have been so small, that shrimp, you didn't even see him," he contradicted himself, but she did no mind as long as he cooperated.

She stiffened when Edward inhaled deeply for the next verbal attack at being insulted again, relief washing over her when he was still kept in check by his friends. Had the neighbours not yet hated her, she was positive that this night was getting the job done with all the commotion caused.

She closed the door behind her upon returning, praying for her face to have adapted at least some hue close to her usual skin colour.

"I apologise," she said, wanting to round the sofa and sit down when the door opened again. How was he this incompetent at using his own legs when she helped but out of bed in half a second when she did not? Wanting to roll her eyes, Riza nearly jumped instead as warm breath tickled down her neck. Not that it had not always been something thrilling and she had had to be used to it by now but that was in privacy!

"Mmh, Riza," Mustang murmured, his arms winding around her while his mouth came down on her nape. Every hair stood on end and her eyes almost popped out from their sockets.

"Get back to bed, I said!" She shoved him off, flustered with the blush tinting up to her ears by now. His grip was unmoving but his feet unreliable so he swayed, sliding down. She braced herself on the backrest of the couch, glaring to where he now hung from her waist. Oh, how she wanted to just sink into the floor and vanish.

Risking to peer at her guests, she saw equally red faces ahead. That's right, she thought, they're all still kids. Uncomfortable nonetheless – not that adults would have made the current situation any less awkward – she cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry, again…" she let out a long breath. "He doesn't know what he's doing," she said, knowing well that he was more honest when drunk but they did not need to know that. Taking a step proved useless, seeing as he kept on dangling from her side, so she gave up trying to hide him, laboriously towing him around and onto the sofa.

"Why did he get so drunk?" Winry asked, not yet done with staring at the scene in front of her to resume tinkering.

"And why is he here then?" Ed wiggled his brows but one reach towards her coat's pocket got him quiet. The Lieutenant sighed for what felt like the tenth time that evening. Her gaze wandered to the now seemingly rather happy Colonel, uncomfortably sprawled on his front but with a wide smile he pressed into her flank.

"It's not all that easy to go about your day, knowing there are countless people secretly and openly hating on you," she illuminated in a cautious voice. She ignored the second question, not only because it was plainly obvious.

"So?" Edward circled his shoulder when Winry screwed the last connection tight, going on with closing up what she had opened to reach inside. Both she and Alphonse looked as if about to whack the eldest brother again for such an imprudent tone. "I'm being called names all the time and I don't go pumping myself full of alcohol. I would've expected a little more self-discipline, is all I'm saying," he shrugged, receiving punches anyway.

"That's easy to say for someone who can just lash out every time he is being insulted," Riza serenely retorted. He looked at her, slightly dumbfounded, finally settling down for his Mechanic to fix his arm completely. His gaze never strayed from hers and Riza returned it just as unwaveringly.

Mustang gave a muffled sound from the back of his throat – a complaint at his position, she assumed – nudging his nose into her waist for an angle where he would be able to breathe more easily. Her eyes softened upon regarding him. Reaching over, she gathered his legs to be bent and fitting on the couch, unintendedly resulting in him dumping his head on her lap, nuzzling into her stomach. She frowned, fighting the increasing blush unsuccessfully.

"When people anger you, you accept the challenge and remind them not to do so again, correct?" She shortly peered up at Ed without lifting her head. He gulped. "You can show them that whatever they accuse you for is wrong or simply put them in their place; take action to maintain your reputation," she went on. "When someone makes you feel out of place or upset, you can always leave; you never stay for too long in the same place anyway.

"He can't do that," her shoulders sank when there was a warm breath on her abdomen. "There are always people who will not agree with you but when you're working in an office, there's no way to just leave and not listen," Riza's hand found Mustang's hair of its own accord, mellowly stroking through. "You have to let them insult you, scheme against you, blacken your name without ever making a scene and going all out in a fight, no matter how easily you'd beat them or how wrong those rumours are." Her voice was gentle, her caresses tender on his scalp.

"Can't he just fire them?" Edward asked, pulling a face at how immeasurably unsatisfied the imagination of such a scenario made him feel.

"That would assemble a proper army of enemies," she countered. "And with what justification?" She tilted her head at them, finally tearing her gaze off her superior who was quite contently snoring into her. "There are always those who hate on him, and if the voices quiet, there are enough eyes to speak the truth. Faces that remind you not to have protected their loved ones in battle," her glance wandered back down to his relaxed features. "Faces that haunt you in your sleep to remind you how many lives burden your conscience," she brushed the backs of her fingers to his cheek, then let it rest on his arm.

All three of her guests were now silenced, respectfully lowering their heads.

"You mean the Ishval Civil War?" Winry piped up cautiously. Riza nodded, focusing back on them.

"But… you fought in the war, too, right, Lieutenant?" Alphonse, still busying himself with Hayate, asked.

"Everyone has different ways of coping a trauma," she let her eyes trail from one brother to the next in an understanding, almost motherly way. "If this is what it takes once in a while to keep him sane during the day, then I will gladly endure the consequences," she gave a light pat to the Colonel's shoulder. He stirred, giving another moan in his fading sleep.

"He'd be wise to take a page from your book then…" Ed muttered, putting his shirt back on. She shook her head, opening her mouth to reply when Mustang grumbled, moving.

His arms tightened, then loosened again, and he inhaled so deeply her shirt stuck to his face for a second.

"Riza…" he vocally sighed. Her eyes widened when one of his hands snuck under her shirt, fingers tracing up her supple skin, heating it up even more. That moron and his bad timing! She had almost had him sleeping soundly and seen the others off without another slip. "You smell so good…" he drawled, his other hand joining so she snatched them both away. Her face was burning with a blush down to her neck.

"I guess that's another way of handling trauma…?" Winry whispered and the boys nodded rigidly, eyes huge and cheeks bright scarlet. At least Ed's, though Alphonse's posture spoke of a similar reaction.

"That's nothing for children your age. Now, did you finish with his arm?" Riza bashfully rushed, shooting Winry a look. The latter winced, nodding heftily.

"Yes, ma'am." She stood, the others following suit. Riza somehow managed to wind out of her superior's grasp, sucking in her stomach when his lips joined his hands, hoping dearly for everyone to be too occupied with putting on their shoes to notice.

"War stories are fine but for that, we're too young?" Ed nagged in a lowered voice but she heard. He hid behind his brother when feeling the Lieutenant glower at him.

Briefly, this time in hushed voices, the three said their goodbyes where she saw them off at the door. The lock clicked and she deflated against the closed door with her back sliding down until she was sitting on the ground. Hayate excitedly met her at his eyelevel, poking her face with his nose, licking her chin. She gave a pressed breath, then smiled, returning the affection with appreciative strokes over his head.

Now there was only one man left to handle, and clearly, he was more than full of affection for her.

So she gathered herself back up, then him, shuffling into the bedroom one last time. She flopped down onto the mattress once she had tucked him in under the sheets. Then she pulled the other side over herself, curling up where it was not the slightest bit warm anymore.

It did not take more than a few seconds for him to find her, strong arms wrapping around her torso, pulling her into the very welcome warmth of his body.

"Riza," he breathed into her nape, leaving a few kisses that sent shivers of forbidden pleasure down her spine. Despite the lingering guilt, the remorse and the hurt the gesture caused for being so rare and so risky, she smiled. Her hands found his over her ribs and she interlaced her fingers with his, stilling his hunger for skin a little, allowing him to fall asleep once more.

If that was what it took to keep him sane during the day, she would gladly endure, and not only from time to time.