Title: Untitled
Author: Esmuerla (Emera D'Anae and Sull89)
Chapter Title: A Small Change in Pace
Chapter Written By: Sull
Summary: It's Christmas in Amestris and even the military is delighting in the holiday. During the annual Christmas party, four people will face love, responsibility, joy, worry, and pain all in one night. Things escalate when the Fuhrer makes an announcement that scatters his troops and sends Roy, Riza, Ed, and Winry South.
Pairings: Ed/Winry, Roy/Riza, slight Maes/Gracia, mentions of Havoc/Sheska
Genre: Romance, Angst, Action (in later chapters)
Notes: Finally, I got chapter 3 up. Sorry it took me so long. So now we've got a few questions hovering over our couples, and soon something new will be revealed. Next chapter is being handled by Em and I know it'll be amazing, like her stuff always is. So be expecting that! (And she's right! We're both review whores! So leave us some, please. )
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Roy held Riza close as the song wound to an end, chiding her with an amused grin on his face as they spun in slow circles, "What did I say about formalities?" Waiting on her response, the Flame Colonel took a moment to close his eyes and burn this night and the feeling of freedom that came with it into his memories.
Crinkling her eyes in a silent, slightly embarrassed apology, Riza let her dance partner guide her through the steps once more as she whispered, "Sorry." Smiling, she tried to find a way to excuse herself, even though she knew it probably wouldn't work, "Some things die hard, even if only for a few hours."
The explanation was brushed aside lightly as he grinned, "Don't worry about it." Turning to look around him as he held Riza close, Roy noticed that the dance floor was all but empty now, and it almost made him laugh to realize that the two of them had been so oblivious to the passage of time, "You wanna get something to eat?" He pulled back just enough for Riza to see the floor herself before adding, "Looks like we're the only ones still dancing."
Riza, too, finally realized that most of their cohorts had abandoned them in pursuit of other things, and laughing now as just a touch of a blush colored her cheeks she turned toward the buffet table to check out the spread, speaking to Roy in the process, "Sure, food sounds good."
Linking his arm through Riza's in an almost cocky manner, one that didn't escape her attention but rather made her laugh again, the alchemist started to lead her toward the table, "Well then, let's go!" Intent as he was on getting his food though, Roy didn't fail to notice that Riza had placed her free hand on his lower arm. Now, for some reason unbeknownst to him, a soft and actually sincere smile crossed Roy's face.
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As the song wound to a close, Winry stopped moving almost reluctantly, allowing her feet to finally rest on the floor and hold her in one spot as Ed did the same. Blushing, she looked down at the floor as she spoke, but soft as it was her voice was still easy for the young boy to hear, "That wasn't so bad…"
Ed refrained from letting go of Winry's hand as quick as he could of, and squeezed it just once, quickly, before letting her have it back. As Winry turned her gaze to him, a sort of curiosity in her eyes, Ed had to take to staring intently at the floor; doing his best to hide the blush that covered his own face, "Not as bad as it could have been, at least…"
Letting her eyes roam over the hall, Winry tried to find something, anything she could use to change the topic before it got even more awkward. A few tables set along the far wall, piled high with food, caught her attention and gratefully now she breathed out, "Hey… you hungry?"
Upon seeing the food, Ed actually felt his stomach rumble. Paling slightly, and hoping that Winry hadn't heard, he nodded, "Yeah, actually." Starting to walk toward the table, Edward kept pace with the girl and had reached for a plate before realizing that he hadn't even bothered to ask Winry how she felt, "Um… how about you?"
Now she laughed outright at Ed's dance-induced forgetfulness, "Why do you think I asked?" Taking the plate he handed her, Winry started to take food buffet style, carefully arranging things so they would stay put. Making her way down the line, she took what she wanted, keeping quiet until a sudden giggle escaped her, "Hey Ed, look." Reaching out, Winry grabbed a small carton of milk from the table and held it up, "Hehe, want some?"
Setting his half-filled plate down on the table, Ed took to crossing his arms and glaring at Winry, "You know I don't drink that stuff!" Shrugging, he turned his back on Winry as she wiggled the milk carton in his face, trying to push it away from himself with one shoulder, "Milk is nasty."
Still giggling, Winry moved until she was standing in front of Ed and quickly tapped the end of his nose with the carton before he could move, "Come on, Ed!" Still circling him as he gave her a petulant look, Winry poked Ed with the milk again, "You know you wanna!"
Casting an evil glance toward her out of the corner of his eye, Ed muttered just one word, "Winry…" Still making incoherent noises under his breath, the alchemist nonetheless refrained from saying anything rude or snide to Winry like he might have done before, instead opting to just shoot her dirty looks.
"All right, all right," putting the milk carton back with all the rest, Winry finally stopped pestering Ed, "I'll leave you alone."
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Farther down the line of tables, Colonel Mustang was grabbing everything within his reach, piling it high as it would go yet still remain on his plate. As Riza watched him, amusement sparkling in her eyes, he turned to her for just a moment in his quest for more nourishment, "I wish they had food like this for us all the time."
Riza continued to place a normal amount of food on her own plate as she took to laughing at Roy, "I don't think they'd be able to afford it." Pausing to grab a fork from the end of the buffet table as she and Roy made their way to a couple seats, she spoke again, "Not if you would eat this much every day."
By the time those last words had fled Riza's lips, her companion had already sat down and was in the midst of shoving food down his gullet. Turning his gaze toward her with a weird look in his eyes, Roy swallowed his meal with a guilt laden half smile, "I resent that."
Now the Lieutenant took the chair across from Roy, gently setting her plate down as she grinned and then laid a napkin across her legs before picking up a utensil, "I don't doubt that." Shaking her head, Riza then began to eat, taking small bites and chewing slowly, savoring both the good food and the company of the man opposite her.
After watching Riza for a moment and catching the soft grin she shot him with her eyes as she ate slowly, Roy too calmed in his eating patterns, deciding to pace himself a bit more normally. They ate in silence, but it was a comfortable one, and as both of them finished Roy leaned back in his chair slightly and stretched his shoulders slightly, "So, what else has been planned for tonight?"
Gently placing her fork against her plate, Riza kept it from staining the tablecloth, leaving her area as clean as it had been before she sat down; in stark comparison to the mess that covered Roy's half of the platform. "I think the Fuhrer is coming later tonight," Riza paused in her tale as an amusing look of pure shock rode over Roy's face, laughing just a bit to herself before finishing, "and I heard that he's got some big announcement to give."
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Nodding once in silent thanks, Ed then changed the subject, "This food looks good, doesn't it?" Reaching for a thick slice of bread, the young alchemist wasn't exactly paying attention as he talked, and his fingers brushed across the top of Winry's as she went for the same thing, "They usually don't feed us like this."
Winry's eyes got wide in the same moment as Ed's and she snapped her hand back, away from the bread platter as she blushed from the contact, "It does look good." Casting a quick glance to Ed, Winry couldn't help but blush a little bit more; the tingling that was going through her fingers right now really wasn't unpleasant.
"Yeah…" Breathing out that one word, Ed quickly shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants, blushing just like Winry. The warmth emanating from his cheeks was just enough to warm his skin, and Ed ducked his head now, ashamed, in a way, of how apparent his blush must be.
Faking a small cough to offset the sudden awkward pall around the two of them, Winry tried to find something else to talk about, "Do you know what else they're doing?" Turning to face Ed, she pushed her blush back so he wouldn't see, "Is it just dancing and eating?" Now watching the people move around them, seemingly oblivious to the two teens in their midst, Winry added one more thing to her spoken thoughts, "I've never really been to something like this before…"
Slowly, Ed slipped his hands from his pockets and picked up his plate again, cradling it in his automail palm, "I'm not sure either, to tell the truth…" Reaching up to rub the back of his neck with his free hand, Ed directed his voice away from Winry a little bit, as though really not wanting her to hear his next, "Usually I'm either not in Central or in one of the hospitals when they're going on…"
Winry now set her plate firmly back on the table and crossing her arms in front of her almost defensively, took to questioning Ed again, although this time her words were quieter and carried much more weight, "How often do these things occur?" It hurt Ed, to hear the sorrow that laced her voice; he knew she was talking about the hospital visits.
"Oh…" inwardly flinching now, wishing he hadn't said anything of the sort to Winry, Edward tried to find some way to circumvent it, "It's, it's no big deal, Winry." Smiling now, in an attempt to convince her that he meant what he was saying, Ed made to shrug it all off, "Never anything major."
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"Really?" Abruptly straightening his back against his chair, Roy leaned forward now to stare at Riza, intensity filling his eyes, "Why haven't I heard about this?"
Her voice was silent now, almost to the point where no one could hear, but Ed understood her words perfectly and it stabbed at him again, to know how he made Winry worry, "If it's bad enough to land you in a hospital, it's a big deal to me."