Disclaimer: FMA and all of the characters of FMA belong to Arakawa Hiromu. I am merely borrowing them for a few minutes to put them into an original scenario (as far as I am aware). I don't own "Dream a Little Dream" either – that belongs to one of the many artists who perform it (though I prefer the Mama Cass version, myself).

Note: This was written for a competition. The requirements were that it must be Romance, and it must include the words Flowers(s), Music, Promise, Time, and Love. It has to be 300-600 words (not including these notes), and must be centralised around Royai. Without further adieu, here is my entry. I'm 13 words over –eep!–

"Day off" by Dailenna

Day off. Had there ever been such a thing? Her first "day off" she had spent unpacking boxes, buying groceries and being attacked by a walking suit of armour. The second had been spent unpacking the rest of those boxes and reading through a few reports she had had to bring home with her because she hadn't had the time to do them at work. The third, she had been sick, and so that hadn't felt like a day off.

She had made a brief promise to herself this morning that she would leave some portion of the day to relax, but as of yet this one seemed the same as the others. She had enough work to do that it didn't really feel anything like a day off. She had ended up ducking into the office just to make sure there wasn't anything she had missed – and would have to do later – to find out that it was her commanding officer's day off too, and all of the others seemed clueless. Men.

The keys jangled in her hand as the right one finally found its place in the door. She supposed that for this brief remainder of the day, at the very least, she could spend some time at ease; relax in a warm bath, read a good book. Just have a little time to herself. The door swung open, and she froze.

It wasn't that the hallway before her was crowded with boxes, because the boxes had been unpacked and disposed of. It wasn't that she had remembered that finished report on her coffee-table which she should have taken to hand in, because she had remembered that just before she had left, and it had been subsequently filed. It was more the soft melody of a voice permeating the air between the front door and the kitchen that lingered around her ears.

She cautiously stepped into her apartment, leaving the door open behind her in case the intruder was dangerous. Her footsteps were silent – she had leant long ago that the slightest noise could endanger more than just her own life.

When the corner was rounded, and she was met by a less than menacing figure, she relaxed, and leant against the door-frame as he continued fussing about at the counter, his back to her. A bouquet of flowers was splayed in a jug to the side – obviously he couldn't find anything better to place them in.

Now she listened she could hear the song he was singing to the music in his head, and marvelled at the accuracy of his pitch, and mellifluousness of his soft tenor tones.

"Stars shining bright above you; night breezes seem to whisper 'I love you'; birds singing in the sycamore tree – dream a little dream of me."

She would have been willing to stay there and listen to him continue, but a loud yipping happened to interrupt him, and he turned about curiously, eyes widening when he caught sight of her.

A short sigh escaped her lips. "What are you doing here?" she finally asked, ignoring the whimpering in the background.

"Making dinner," he answered, unabashed by his own intrusiveness.

They stood, silent for a minute as each surveyed the other; he, waiting for a reaction, and she waiting to give judgement. Finally, she stopped leaning on the door-frame and centred herself. "I need to take Hayate for a short walk. I'll be back in a few minutes."

He smiled at her roundabout acceptance as she left, and turned back to his preparations. "Stars fading, but I linger on, dear; still craving your kiss. I'm longing to linger til dawn, dear, just saying this."