Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The Perils of a 'Not-Date'
Roy walked into the office with a mug of coffee in one hand. He needed as much caffeine as he could get to get through the day. He didn't get much sleep over the weekend between driving up and down to Reseembool.
Riza was already seated at her desk, the only member of the team who had arrived.
She looked up from file she was examining. "Good morning, Roy." He snorted. "Morning is never a good time."
"If you got enough sleep, it probably would be."
He smiled. "Is it that obvious?"
"I'm afraid so. The black circles under your eyes are a bit of a giveaway." She looked down at the file on her desk again He moved closer to the desk, and looked around carefully as he did so.
When he was satisfied nobody was eavesdropping on them, he said, "I'm sorry about letting you down Saturday."
She put down the file and smiled up at him. "I understand, but you owe me dinner - preferably an expensive one."
"Don't worry, I'll make it up to you."
"I'm counting on it."
His heart leapt a little and he was sure that he had a moronic look on his face. What was about this woman that made him feel like a teenager again?
"How is Edward?"
"He's moody and pissed that he's grounded, but he'll get over it."
He sat on the corner of her desk, careful to avoid her paperwork. He didn't realise it until he sat there, but the position afforded him an excellent view down Riza's blouse. Her blouse was cut a little lower than usual and Roy could feel his face heating up. As her superior officer, he could not be seen to be ogling her.
Must be professional.
He swallowed and got off the desk. Riza watched him, her eyebrow raised.
Is she laughing at me?
"Um - anyway. The boys and I are having a barbecue next Sunday, and I'd love if you could come. It's going to be a small gathering, just a few friends."
"I would love to! I might be late though, as I'm visiting Rebecca Saturday and getting the train back on Sunday morning."
He looked at her and beamed. "Great - I'm looking forward to it."
"It's not normally the season for a barbecue," she said.
"Nonsense - I make a mean barbecue no matter what time of the year."
Riza laughed and waved at someone behind him. "Morning guys."
Roy turned around to see Havoc and Breda were standing there.
"What's this about a barbecue?" Breda rubbed his stomach. "I love a good barbecue."
"And more importantly, are we invited?" Havoc asked.
Oh shit! Great fucking timing.
"Of course," Roy said trying to smile and fighting the urge to throttle them.
Was it too much to hope for a simple date? Apparently so. Maybe fate is trying to tell us something.
############
Riza knocked on Roy's front door. She knew it wasn't a date, especially now since the whole precinct had invited themselves to the party. Still, she spent an hour getting ready, drank two glasses of wine for courage and forgot to eat lunch.
Pull yourself together.
To her surprise, Havoc answered the door.
"Havoc?"
Breda was behind him stuffing his face with chips. "Hi Hawkeye," he said mid mouthful. "Come on out back."
Riza almost jumped when something cold and wet hit her thigh. She looked down and saw she had an admirer - one with golden fur and two different colour eyes.
"Hey Puddles," she said.
Puddles put his snout into Riza's hand and licked it.
"Let me take the bottle of wine from you," Breda offered. "I'll pop it in the fridge."
Riza handed it over gratefully and followed Havoc out to the back garden. It was a lot bigger than she had imagined with a big oak tree at the bottom.
"As you can see, our hosts are otherwise occupied." Jean tilted his head in the direction of the other side of the garden. Roy was lighting up the barbecue, while Edward and Alphonse were talking to a pretty teenager with long black hair. Riza's lips twitched upward.
Havoc leaned over and whispered in her ear. "She's a little persistent isn't she?"
"Who?"
"The hot chick hanging off the Boss," he said, his eyes laughing.
Riza's eyes drifted back to Roy and her face fell.
"I'll get you a drink," Havoc said.
"Thanks."
What was Roy playing at? Why did he invite her over to simply watch some trollop flirt with him? Her eyes narrowed. Still, Roy didn't look too happy, which made her feel a little better.
"Miss Hawkeye!"
Riza whirled around; Alphonse was waving at her. She caught Roy looking over as she turned, but she ignored him in favour of the friendly teen who was headed in her direction. Edward and the girl were trailing after him.
"Hi Alphonse, Edward."
Edward nodded in greeting.
"How's your arm," she asked him.
The boy shrugged. "Well - you know, broken."
"Don't be so rude." The girl poked Edward in the chest. She turned to Riza with a wide smile. "Don't mind Mr Grumpy Pants." She ignored Edward's splutter and extended her hand to Riza. "Hi, I'm Mei. Al tells me you work with Roy."
Riza took Mei's hand and warmed to her instantly.
"Yes - he's my boss," Riza replied, "I'm Riza, I keep telling Alphonse to call me Riza, but he keeps forgetting."
Mei grinned. "Well, you know men are idiots."
"Speaking of idiots," Riza said, "here comes Havoc my glass of wine."
"Sorry, I took so long," Havic said. "Fuery and Falman have somehow gotten lost on the way here. I'm just off the phone with them."
Despite herself, Riza looked over at Roy again. The tall, dark haired woman was patting his arm and was practically shoving her cleavage in his face. Riza tried to shove down the growing jealousy. Roy was smiling, but it was strained and he stepped back from the woman, and she felt a little satisfaction.
When he managed to tear her eyes away from them, Havoc flashed her a knowing smile. "You know you should probably rescue the idiot."
"From the barbecue?"
"No - from that woman he's talking to."
"She moved in next door wo weeks ago," Alphonse said.
"I think she's trying to move in here." Edward glared at the woman. "She keeps finding excuses to call over. She wasn't even invited to the barbecue."
"Roy's being too nice to her," Mei added. "You should definitely rescue him, Riza"
Why did Riza feel like she was being played?
She crossed her arms. "Well, if he didn't flirt with her, he wouldn't be in this position. Serves him right."
Mei and Alphonse exchanged a meaningful look. Grumpily, Riza returned to her glass of wine and definitely wasn't looking in their direction again.
############
By the time Riza had finished her glass, she had changed her mind. She was regretting not having eaten recognising that the glass of wine was going to her head a little quicker than she would like. She was tired of sitting back and watching this woman try to steal her man. Not that he was her man or anything. She walked over with a new determination and savoured the wide eyed expression on his face when he saw her approach.
"Hi honey," she said, her voice sickeningly sweet.
She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
"Play along," she whispered.
"I'm glad to see you." Roy put his arm around her.
It felt nice to be in his arms even if it game they were playing.
The woman looked unimpressed.
"This is Riza," Roy said to her. "She's my …"
He floundered about for a word.
"Girlfriend," Riza finished.
He smiled down at her and the butterflies fluttered in her belly again. God - she had it bad for him.
Riza reluctantly looked away and looked at the woman. "It's nice to meet you."
############
Later that night, all of the guests had left apart from Riza and Havoc, the latter was giving Riza a lift home. Riza and Roy were alone for the first time that evening. She had offered to help him clean up outside.
"Sometimes, you've got to wonder if the universe is conspiring against you," Roy said looking up at the sky. "I'm sorry it seems to be one disaster after another, right?" He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.
"It's okay," she said. "Well it's not okay, but it just means that you owe me two dinners now."
He put his hand to his chest in mock surprise. "You're high maintenance, Riza."
"Don't you forget it," she said with a laugh.
He starred at her for a moment, watching the way the breeze caught her hair.
"Five cenz for your thoughts."
"You know, I was what you said about you being my girlfriend …"
"Hold on, Roy, you'll have to do a lot better before I'll let you call me that."
"Is that so? And tell me, what do I need to do to seduce the beautiful Riza Hawkeye?"
"Well, that would be telling."
"Not going to help a man out, huh?"
"So far, you're not coming up to scratch Mr Mustang!"
He closed the gap between them. She leaned in closer and his breath caught in his throat. He could feel her breath on his face. She must have been chewing gum or sucking mints because he could smell peppermint.
"You're beautiful," he whispered.
He reached up to her face and stroked her cheek gently. She leaned into his touch. He traced the curve of her lips with his thumb.
"Roy just fucking kiss me."
She pulled his mouth down to her meet hers. At first the kiss was slow, and sweet and tender until she wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. He responded by pulling her close. One hand was at her waist and the other played with her hair.
God, I love this woman.
############
Roy and Riza were so lost in one another that they didn't notice the prying eyes from the window.
"Ugh - I'm blinded," Edward moaned, "I can't unsee it."
"I can see it even if I close my eyes." Alphonse sighed. "Still, it's a good thing."
Edward crossed his arms "Why are you so happy about it anyway?"
"She makes him happy," Alphonse said. "And I like her."
Fin