Royai Week 2022, Fruits and Roots, Day 1: Lovers and Liars
Word Count: 2573
Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl
Rating: T
Characters: Riza Hawkeye, Roy Mustang, a spattering of other characters
Warning: NA
Summary: Roy and Riza are both lovers and liars when it comes to their relationship with each other.
Notes:
Lovers and Liars
"You have feelings for him, don't you?"
Riza just barely kept herself from starting at her father's words, continuing to gather the dishes with food that he once again didn't eat. She pretended that the slight moment of hesitation in her movements hadn't happened and hoped that her father hadn't seen it either.
"Of course not, Father," she said, making sure her voice held a touch of insult to it. "He's merely the most tolerable of your apprentices."
Her father stared at her for a long moment, then let out a "Hmph," and turned back to his work. Riza carried the tray out and cursed her crush on Roy Mustang.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"Are you sure there's no one?" Hughes needled him, that annoying grin on his face.
"Yeah, come on, Mustang. There had to be someone," Heathcliff pushed.
For a moment, the picture of a whip-thin blonde girl with brown eyes that flashed with a hidden strength and compassion flashed through his mind, but he quickly dismissed that. She was four years younger than him, although she acted older than her age, and her master's daughter. He admired her and her strength, but that was it.
"No. There was no one," he said firmly. He loosened his grin a little. "Trust me, those farmers weren't about to let their daughters too close to the city boy."
"Uh-huh."
"If you say so."
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"Thank you for giving me a ride home, Mr. Patterson," Riza said, holding on to her basket of more fragile items as the wagon bumped along the road.
"Not a problem, Miss Riza. Say, is that Mustang boy still staying with you?"
Riza stiffened. "Yes, he is."
Mr. Patterson scratched his chin. "You two seem to be spending a lot of time together. Some people are starting to talk…"
"There's nothing to talk about," Riza snapped, decidedly not thinking about the feeling of Roy's fingers on her back. "Mr. Mustang is just helping me go through some of Father's things. He knows more about the alchemy texts Father left behind than I do."
"I suppose that's true," Mr. Patterson said, and the lapsed back into silence.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"Mustang! Haven't seen you around here in a while!"
Roy turned at the voice, eyes landing on an old classmate. "Kipper! It has been a while."
"Where've you been?" Kipper asked. "I thought you'd shipped out, but then no one had heard anything about you."
Roy shook his head. "No. My alchemy master died, and I was granted time to help his daughter go through his research."
"Oh," Kipper said, grinning at him. "His daughter, huh?"
Roy shook his head, both in response, and to push the memory of Riza's bare back and her utmost trust in showing it to him out of his mind. "It wasn't like that, Kipper. She was grieving and I was trying to master the last of the alchemy he hadn't taught to me. I'm actually going to take the state alchemy exam tomorrow."
"Sure, sure," Kipper said, slapping Roy on the back. "I don't know anyone that would stay gone that long just for alchemy. Good luck, tomorrow!"
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"You mean there's never been anyone?" Rebecca pressed. "No one at all?"
"No," Riza said. "No one."
"Oh, come on!" Rebecca said, exasperation in her voice. "I don't believe it! You definitely had at least a crush on someone back in your hometown!"
"No," Riza said smoothly. "I never had a crush on anyone from there."
After all, Roy Mustang wasn't from there, was he?
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"You really need to get yourself a girl to write to, Roy," Hughes said. "Knowing that you've got someone back home waiting on you, someone who is wonderful and gorgeous and smart and funny…"
Roy thought about Riza Hawkeye for a moment, and then pushed her from his mind.
"The last thing I need is someone to worry about me," Roy said, and pushed past Hughes, on to the next duty station.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
Riza looked at him through the scope of her rifle, his head centered in her crosshairs. She could do it. She could do it right now. She could end it all.
But she couldn't.
She couldn't do it—not to the man that she somehow still loved, even if she wasn't quite ready to admit that to herself.
She decided to see what he had to say about all of this. She could always shoot him later.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
Roy held Riza's hand, letting her squeeze it as hard as she wanted as Dr. Knox tended to the burns on her back. She was in and out of consciousness, not entirely lucid.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to her, even as Knox berated him for his actions, and rightfully so.
After all, what kind of a person was he, if he could do this to the woman he loved?
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"Hey, Hawkeye!"
Riza glanced over at the Warrant Officer who had caught up to her.
"Heard you took a posting with Mustang," he said.
"I did," Riza replied.
"Heard you two spent a lot of time together in Ishval. Maybe got close? And now you're taking a posting by his side here…"
The suggestive tone wasn't lost on her. "They assigned me to watch his back in Ishval. They needed someone who could do it from a distance. And now I'm the only one who can put up with the Lieutenant Colonel's… habits."
The man frowned. "You sound like you're going to be his handler."
"Close enough," Riza said.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"You know, your adjunct is a beautiful woman."
Roy glanced up at the tone that the General used. He snorted and glanced back down.
"Yeah, but that doesn't outweigh the rest of her," he said with a snort.
"Oh?"
"She's a nag, never letting up about the paperwork, constantly stuck on doing things properly, and has no issue pushing me to the ground if it's to 'protect' me. Sometimes I think she does it just to watch me fall on my face."
The general laughed. "Point taken," he said, and went back to the paperwork he was finishing up.
Roy kept an eye on the general the next time Riza was anywhere near him.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"Hey, Havoc!"
Havoc looked up at the lieutenant who had called out to him. "Yeah?" he said.
"So, we were wondering… Mustang and Hawkeye…"
Havoc held up his hands. "Whoa, hang on. First off, getting involved in your superior's relationship—no matter what kind it is—is a stupid idea, so don't ask me. Second off, nah, no way."
"Seriously?" the lieutenant said. "I mean, they're together all the time!"
"Yeah, they are," Havoc said, "But have you hear them? Does that sounds like what you're suggesting to you?"
"…yeah, I guess not," the man said.
Havoc watched as he walked off and let out a breath. He'd have to find a way to cover for those two better.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"How do you do it?"
"Do what?" Breda grunted as he flipped through the records in front of him.
"Oh, you know," the private that was helping him said. "Deal with Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye. I mean, aren't they—"
"Stop," Breda said, looking up at her. "I'm not speculating on that," he said firmly. "And neither should you, if you want to keep a career in the military. Besides," he said as he turned his attention back to the records. "Sometimes I think rank is the only thing that keeps Hawkeye from punching Mustang when he said something stupid."
"O-oh."
That seemed to startle the private out of that train of thought, and Breda made a mental note to tell his bosses to play things closer to the vest.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"I have never seen anything that can be constituted as a relationship or feelings beyond what would naturally be formed by two individuals that served together," Falman said.
His words obviously disappointed the girls in the secretarial pool, and they seemed like they were looking for more. Falman searched his brain for something else to give them, something that would be a distraction.
"I did hear, though, that last week General Armstrong traveled back to Central, and her adjunct stayed in the same room as she did."
That set the girls a twitter. He only hoped that didn't come back to bite him one day.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"Well," Fuery said, thinking, "I mean, they're fond of each other, but we all kinda are. I mean, it's obvious that Havoc cares about Hawkeye too, and Breda and Havoc seem like pretty good friends. It's seemed like something similar with the Colonel and Lieutenant, except, maybe, a bit closer from time to time because of Ishval."
"That's it?"
He looked at the faces of his subordinates, clearly wanting something. Apparently, the secretarial pool had been talking about something with Mustang and Hawkeye lately.
Fuery shook his head. "No. Sometimes there's acting on undercover missions, but we're all playing a part then, so that doesn't count. Sorry, guys."
His men went back to their work, grumbling—at least, until one of them caught a whiff of a rumor from Briggs.
Fuery made a note to keep a close eye on his bosses' communications.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"The Colonel and the Lieutenant? Ew. Don't make me sick right before lunch."
Ed started flatly at the soldier who had asked him about that, a spoon in his mouth and a tray in his hands.
"Brother!" Alphonse chastised. "Don't be mean!"
"What?" Edward said, turning back to gathering his food from the line and moving on to pay for his tray. "It's true. Besides, we all know she could do better. Mustang can just be left to whatever he can find."
"Brother!"
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"They obviously love each other," Envy said.
"I know," Wrath responded.
"They won't admit it," Envy said.
"I know," Wrath repeated.
"Ugh, I hate this so much! It's so gross!" Envy said.
"We'll find a way to use it against them," Wrath said. "Weaknesses are always like that."
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"You're quite attentive, Lieutenant Hawkeye."
Riza didn't look up from the tea she was fixing at Bradley's voice.
"Thank you, sir," she said.
"I'm sure that Mustang found it quite useful."
He was either fishing for something or laying a trap. She needed to be careful.
"It's a lifelong habit, sir."
"It reminds me of my wife, in a way. I wonder just how far your attentiveness went, Lieutenant."
"I gave myself a strict rule of not nagging him about paperwork in the middle of the night. I certainly hope your wife doesn't do that."
Bradley laughed. "No, I can't say that she does. But that's not usually what two people in love talk about at night, is it?"
That last was said with a knowing glint in his eye.
Riza delivered his tea to his desk. "I wouldn't know, sir."
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"The quality of your paperwork has gone down, Mustang."
Roy looked to his side at the conversational voice that came up beside him. Bradley. Roy chose not to look for Riza.
"Ah, yes. I suppose so," he said, keeping his tone a bit rueful.
"I suppose Lieutenant Hawkeye did quite a bit for you," Bradley said.
There was a double meaning in that, and Roy knew it. He'd have to answer carefully.
"She was a good adjunct," Roy said. "Even if she nagged me about paperwork all the time."
"I'm sure that you miss her," Bradley said. "Although you shouldn't worry—she's serving me quite well."
"Who said I was worried?" Roy said, laughing it off. "The Lieutenant is more than capable."
Bradley turned to go, although he looked back over his shoulder. "Yes, she is. In more ways than one."
"I wouldn't know, sir," Roy said.
Bradley walked away, and Roy made a mental note to find a way to check on Riza.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"Lieutenant!"
The doctor grinned.
"Lieutenant!"
Oh, they had been more than right.
"I'll kill you!"
Mustang's precious woman indeed.
"Lieutenant!"
After all, Mustang was proving how true it was right now.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"Mustang. I have a question of you."
Roy looked up from where he was shoveling, and over to Scar.
"Of course," he said, taking advantage of the moment to take a swig of water.
"You and your subordinate. You care for each other a great deal."
Roy shook his head a bit, cutting Scar off. The other man fell silent.
"Some things," Roy said, "need to be left alone. Suffice it to say that both the Lieutenant and I deem rebuilding Ishval more important than many other things."
Scar was quiet for a moment. "I see," he said, and turned back to working.
Roy did the same.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"Ah, thank you, my dear. I'm not getting any younger you know. "
Riza raised an eyebrow at Grumman as she sat down his tea. "If you're feeling that poorly, then perhaps you need to look at reducing your active role in our government."
Grumman laughed. "And I suppose you have someone in mind to take my place once you oust me from old age."
"I know that there are several people who are keeping an eye on your position," Riza replied.
"As slippery with your words as always," Grumman said. "You know, you'd be a perfect match for this man that I mentored. Unless there's someone else in mind…"
"I'm much too busy with things here in Ishval to even think about such things," she replied.
Grumman just grinned at her.
Riza ignored him.
. - .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .- .
"…I love you."
"I love you, too."
Roy wrapped his arms around Riza from behind, leaning his chin on her shoulder.
"It's nice to be able to say that, isn't it?"
"More than nice."
Riza leaned back into his grasp.
"Now that we're married, I'm going to say it to you for the rest of our lives."
"And I'll always respond."
"I love you."
"I love you, too."