Lights! Camera! Christmas!
Author: MoonStarDutchess and Rinoaebastel
Chapter 8: Pending Christmas
Disclaimer: We do not own Fullmetal Alchemist and gain no profit from this fanfiction other than needed writing practice and enjoyment.
RIZA GRUMMAN AND ROY MUSTANG SPOTTED AT BROKEN ANGEL HOSPITAL
SINGER PREGNANT WITH TRIPLETS
Roy and Riza glared at the magazine sitting on the table between them. The article was written by Solaris. They expected deceitful involutions from her. The biggest annoyance was that the rest of the papers had taken her sources as absolute truth. Then they proceeded to author more articles regarding the events. Those papers were under that magazine.
She and Roy were having breakfast together again, but this time it'd been planned and the location was a suite in the Diamont rather than the hotels restaurant.
She felt terrible for getting him involved in all of this. She'd apologized to the point he'd gotten annoyed and literally shoved a mini blueberry muffin between her lips.
Even though guilt festered in her, she had to admit that she was glad she didn't have to face these rumors alone. Not that she could considering a biological man had to get her pregnant. Well, unless it was an immaculate conception. But she was sure out of all the candidates on the earth, "God" definitely wouldn't choose her for his holy copulation.
The headline was written on the cover at the top half. The article blurb itself was extended down the left side of the page. There was a picture of the two of them in the hospital lobby located on the bottom right. They were standing outside of a pharmacy that was located right beside an obstetrician-gynecologist's office.
And which also had larger than normal writing on the door, in black font, that stated such.
"It couldn't just be one baby. It had to be triplets," Riza said and put down her fork. She placed a hand on her stomach. "I know I gained a few pounds but. . . You know, not everyone can be a size zero."
"Not that you need it, but let me reassure you that you don't look like you're in the beginnings of a single child pregnancy much less a multiple one."
"I guess I should be glad Solaris didn't give us venereal diseases instead."
Roy scoffed. "Small favors." He took a sip of his coffee. "I mean the odds of you having triplets from a first pregnancy are astronomical as far as I know."
"According to the papers, the doctor's said it was because your little swimmers are extremely prolific," Maes said as he approached the table with Rebecca.
"And I'm sure those doctors chose to remain anonymous, of course," Riza said.
"But of course," Rebecca said. "
"Should I be insulted or flattered by their words? Maybe I should change my Instaman name to Roy 'prolific swimmers' Mustang," he said, making Riza laugh.
She looked at Maes. "Has everything been handled?"
"Yep. I had the publicists of your companies handle the rumors. I just told them to announce you weren't having a baby and both of you were visiting a mutual friend at the hospital. I didn't say anything else regarding your relationship until we decide on how to handle that."
Maes and Rebecca sat down with them.
"How are you feeling?" Roy asked.
"I'm fine," he said.
"You should be taking some time off," Riza said. "We don't have pressing issues right now that require you to be with us now that you've arranged the statements."
"What do you mean no pressing issues? We have a big one. The movie."
"We've talked and decided to do the movie together," Riza said.
"Now, let me speak my case…What?" Maes said
"They're accepting the movie deal," Rebecca repeated as she picked a piece of sausage off Riza's plate. Riza would've offered to order her some breakfast but Rebecca rarely ate anything more than a bite in the morning. Maes was the same way.
"Really? And the relationship?"
Roy poured himself some more coffee. "It won't be hard to pretend to be in a relationship for a while. I find Riza agreeable."
Riza glanced at him. The two of them had been texting back and forth the entire previous day after they'd parted ways.
And most of the night.
They wanted to get to know each other a bit more. So far, she found him to be equally as funny and charming as he was good looking. "He's not too bad."
"That praise!" He clutched his chest with the hand not holding his coffee mug. "You might inflate my ego if you don't hold back a bit."
She chuckled and took a bite of her eggs.
Maes and Rebecca looked at each other with raised eyebrows before looking back at Riza and Roy.
"I'll arrange the contracts and get the movie's song instrumentals to the two of you," Maes said.
"Arrange things before the holidays," Riza said.
"Will do."
"Speaking of, have your parents contacted you about the rumors?" Rebecca asked.
Riza shook her head. "They don't have my number. Even if they did, they don't really pay attention to the media unless Martina mentions something or is watching something in the same room with them."
"And your grandfather?" Roy asked.
Her eyes widened. She hadn't thought about him. "Oh, god… he'll never go for us pretending to date."
"You haven't talked to him yet, have you?" Maes said.
"No. I was going to tell him about it when we got to his hou—" She groaned and put her head in her hands. "Shit!"
"What is it?" Rebeca said.
"My parents insisted on me bringing Roy!" Riza said.
"I'm aware that they think we're together, but they think I'm coming to your get together too?" Roy asked. "That's something important to mention."
She lowered her hands. "I'm sorry. I completely forgot. But I didn't and wouldn't think for a moment to ask you to do something like that."
"But it's kind of perfect," Rebecca said, earning all eyes on her. "If you can fool your parents and grandfather who are keeping a close eye on you, you can easily convince the media and public for a year."
"And it would be exceedingly suspicious if an engaged couple didn't spend Christmas together," Maes said.
"I'm reconsidering this pasquinade," Roy said.
Riza looked over at him. "That's a big word."
He smirked at her. "Yeah, models can use big words. I can even read past a first grade level. "
She couldn't help but return the grin. "Amazing," she replied. "Soon you'll graduate to big kid books."
"Grumman's lodge would be a great place to practice too," Maes said. "He has rehearsal rooms and a studio there. You have a few songs to write for your next EP too."
"I almost have enough for a full album next. Not an EP."
"You can take time to turn that almost enough into enough." Maes stood. "I'll contact Roy's staff and let them know he'll be coming with us."
"Maes, wait!" Riza said, but Maes was already out the door. The room grew so silent that the ticking clock sounded deafening. Rebecca stood and crept toward the door, neither celebrity looking at her as she exited.
A full minute passed before Riza said, "I'm sorry about this. It keeps getting worse for you. I bet you wanted to spend Christmas with someone. We can arrange it so you don't have to go, or so you can show up then leave."
Roy shrugged. "Christmas is just another day for me. Nothing special about it." She noted how bitter he sounded. "I can go if you want me to. Would be nice to spend it with people rather than takeout."
Riza remembered Maes said Roy didn't have any family. She hadn't paid too much attention to him in the media, especially not after that doctored interview.
"I think you'll like it. No paparazzi. There are few fans so you can wander the town without being approached. Unless you go near the ski resort," she said. "It's a relaxing place if you avoid my mother, father, and older sister, but they're more than likely to ignore you. The only times we'll have to deal with them is over dinner or during my grandfather's family sittings."
"Family sittings?"
"It's just when we sit, talk, and have cocoa or coffee. It usually turns into a bunch of passive-aggressive fighting, but he never stops trying. I just walk out when things start to escalate."
"I've wanted to meet your grandfather for a business related thing. Think he'd be open to discussing business on vacation?"
"Grandfather is always open to that." Her brows furrowed. "I'm really surprised he hasn't called me yet about the headlines." Her grandfather had been onto her for a while about dating, but overall he'd kept out of her personal life unless she brought something up. For him to suddenly hear she was "dating" Roy Mustang should've had him blowing up her phone with texts at the very least.
"We do need to practice the script as well. Maes is right about that part. It will be good acting practice too."
She laughed. "You don't need it, but I do." Riza thought on her father, mother, and Lauren. "And we'll have the toughest audience in Amestris watching."
-/-/-
That Evening. . .
The white minimalistic living room looked more like a hospital than a house that had been lived in. The fire in the fireplace was small and did little to warm the room. Having too big of a fire risked ash popping in and dirtying the alabaster rug.
The man sitting on the couch pulled his blanket further on him and shivered, but Lauren paid no mind. Her focus was on the paper in her hand.
"They haven't denied that they're engaged. Just that Riza's not pregnant," Lauren said. She crumbled the edges. This couldn't be happening. "They are really together. I can't believe this."
She peered up over the paper at her boyfriend, Antonio, who looked to be clueless. It was understandable since he never read the paper and she hadn't mentioned that she leaked their relationship to the press. She didn't expect them to run with it the way they had. Some of the stuff was unbelievable.
"What?" he asked, not looking up from his book.
"Riza is dating Roy Mustang," she said and slapped the paper down on the table. "Can you believe that?"
"They're both celebrities. It's not hard to believe they're together."
"You're not supposed to answer that question."
He pursed his lips and looked up at her. "Then why did you ask?"
"It's . . . never mind."
She noticed his eyes linger on the picture on the tabloid a bit more than he should have and folded the paper so Riza wasn't visible. He looked back up at her. "Why do you care so much about who she dates?" he asked. "It's her life and we both made it clear that we wanted nothing to do with her."
"I…" She knew the reasons, but refused to admit them to him. She could barely acknowledge them within herself. Antonio was a lovely fiancé. She liked him. And he'd chosen her over Riza as well.
Yes, he was right. There was no reason she should be so upset over Riza being with Mustang. Celebrity relationships didn't last long anyway, and Riza was so stuck on herself and arrogant that a guy wouldn't put up with her very long. "I suppose you're right. I shouldn't care when I have you."
She stood up and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm going to go pack."
He watched her as she walked out of the room. He sighed, grabbed the paper, and read the article. It must be annoying to always be splashed out on the front page like that. He was half glad he ended their friendship. If he hadn't it might've advanced to more and that would've been troublesome. Thankfully, Lauren didn't crave the spotlight, but whenever she made a big deal about Riza's accomplishments, he wondered if that was indeed the truth.
RW: 2022
