A/N: Consider this chapter a filler. lol but at least the Ishval deployment is coming soon!
The weight of her pen in her hand was starting to become heavier than it really was the longer she read the paperwork before her. While she was already used to the seemingly endless number of documents, the work she did under Roy's command wasn't something as monotonous as reading and re-reading reports and signing her name at the bottom of the manuscript.
Riza took a breath and laid the scribbler down, stretching the muscles in her hand. Thankfully, her team weren't slackers nor were they deliberate troublemakers like her former workmates. An almost invisible smile tugged at her lips as she observed her subordinates concentrated on their individual tasks. Sometimes, she just wanted to smother her grandfather in a hug for spoiling her with them, but that just means that the old man won this round of cunning and she would never let him claim victory.
Sipping her cold tea, she grabbed the memorandum delivered that morning and skimmed through the pieces of paper that contained the schedules for the joint exercises the following week. The colonel highlighted her subordinates' names just so she can keep track of who will be out of their office at which time.
"Team," she said, addressing them casually. They all looked up to her crisply as soon as they heard their voice. "I would trust you to do your part in making sure we finish the last bits of our paperwork this week by tomorrow. Hopefully then, I or Catalina will deliver them to the council for the last rounds of deliberation. We will be given a week off to individually prepare for deployment to Ishval."
"Do we have a date set, Taisa?" Heinkel asked, readjusting his oculars on his nose.
Riza pursed her lips. "Nothing particular but the council is eyeing the third week of the following month. I suggest you settle any personal matters you need to attend to. Our team will be needed in the desert constantly, unless of course an emergency arises. Then again, we all know that now."
"Aye, Ma'am."
"Another matter is that I trust you to endorse any work you will be leaving if it is your turn in participating in the joint exercises. I won't be here to supervise as I am needed for Weapons Training, so I expect all of you to cooperate and follow our system to dot," Riza nodded in instruction.
"Darius and Heinkel, I see you are needed to assist in Hand-to-Hand Combat Training," she said, looking over her two chimera subordinates. "How are your ends looking with regards to our mission?"
The two men nodded almost simultaneously. "Nothing to be worried about, Taisa. We're ahead of the timeline. Just needs your final proofreading and signature."
"And the people you were tasked to talk with, did they agree to help us?"
Heinkel nodded and showed her the letters of confirmation coming from the volunteers. "All but one, Taisa, but I think we can make do without the stingy bugger."
Riza rolled her eyes at the realization of whom Heinkel was referring to. Some days ago, she sat down with a public doctor who was known for helping the poorer people of Amestris. However, her clientele didn't seem to include the Ishvallans, and it took Riza every ounce of her restraint not to claw the woman's face off when she asked for a fee when asked if she were willing to lend her services.
"Right then, last resort it is. Doctor Knox and Doctor Marcoh would no doubt be lending us their help to lead the health and sanitation sector of the restoration. Anyone else experiencing last-minute roadblocks on their tasks?"
Denny raised his hand meekly and bit his lips. "The wood supplier can only lend 20 of his men to us every week, rather than the original 30, Taisa."
The colonel took note of his report and nodded. "Consider it resolved, Brosh. We'll be getting added reinforcements from the military as time goes by, anyways. Just revise it in the main section of the plan. Anyone else?"
Catalina looked towards the rest of their unit and found none of their members raising any more issues. The Major looked towards her commanding officer and shook her head. "No more at the moment, Taisa, but if something comes up, we'll let you know."
Standing up, Riza nodded and fixed the lessening piles of paperwork on her desk, glad to have halved it after just three hours of working. She set down her finished pile on Rebecca's desk before turning to Ross. "Accompany me to the range, Maria?"
"Hai, Hawkeye-Taisa."
She hummed under her breath as she was opening the weapons storage near the range. Riza had prepared a table and picked out several guns, laying them carefully on the table as her subordinate stood at ease in wait.
"Would you like some help, Taisa?" Maria asked politely.
The blonde colonel shook her head briefly, refusing her offer wordlessly as she set the last rifle down on the table before she slid the door to the storage closed once more. "What I need you to do is to identify these weapons and tell me all the specifications that you know about them, Chuui."
Ross blinked at her commanding officer for a moment before she nodded her head and went nearer the table. The first lieutenant laid a hand on the rifle situated to Riza's rightmost side, the first one the colonel picked out. "This is a 3-line M1891, otherwise known as the Mosin-Nagant rifle. Exceptional bolt-action sniper rifle. 8.8lbs, 48.5 inches, 29 inches barrel length, effective firing range is 550 yards for pure eye scoping and 800 yards with optics aid. Feed system is 5-round non-detachable magazine individually loaded or with 5-round stripper clips. Rate of fire varies; muzzle velocity is around 865m/s. Your sniper of choice, Taisa."
Hawkeye-Mustang nodded in affirmation of her stated specifications and silently urged Maria to continue. The colonel's smirk grew from nonexistent to slightly visible when Ross almost successfully identified and specified the Ross rifle, the Pattern 1914 Enfield, the Gewehr 98, the Mondragón rifle, the Farquharson rifle, the Winchester M1907, the Maxim gun, and the Marlin M1894. It was as if she was looking at a (slightly) younger version of herself.
"Good. I need you to brush up on the specifications that you missed, as I will be needing you to assist me in Weapons Training in the upcoming joint exercises with the Northern forces," Riza hummed, starting to put back the weapons. This time, she didn't refuse Ross' help.
The brunette nodded swiftly, but eyed her commanding officer in curiosity. "It's not that I would mind, Taisa, but…why me?"
She didn't even look at her subordinate when she answered, her tiniest of smirks still very much in place on her lips. "Aside from the fact that I know of your grades in Weapons during the academy? Let's just say that an enthusiast knows how to spot another enthusiast."
Try as she did to fight, Maria Ross couldn't help but turn a tinge of pink when her commanding officer indirectly complimented her. Riza Hawkeye was nothing short of a legend at her time during the academy. The whole barracks and dorms were always abuzz when the blonde would practice at the range, or demonstrate her sharp accuracy whether in throwing knives or firing bullets.
Being two years younger than Riza, it was not unexpected for a weapons enthusiast such as herself to practically idolize the Taka no Me. After all, she was the greatest sharpshooter Amestris has ever seen. And she was only 25. So, receiving a comment from her regarding weaponry was a great deal of compliment.
"You are a weapons master, however, Taisa."
Amber eyes shifted their gaze to the side briefly before locking up the storage. "Let's say that what you claim is true. Mastery starts in some form of enthusiasm after all. How is your aim?"
"Not nearly as accurate and precise as yours, Ma'am."
"Given a round, stationary object of 5 inches in diameter, if you were to aim for the centre, how off-centre would your bullet be?" Riza queried, removing her military jacket.
"About 7-8 mm to the right, Taisa."
"Ah, not so far from when I first measured how off-centre I was."
Ross shrugged casually. "How old were you when you first measured it, Taisa?"
"I suppose I was 9?" Riza hummed, laying a finger on her chin in thought. "It was at a country fair, but that's not the point I am trying to make. Why would someone such as yourself who knows important specifications of the weapons she uses be 7-8mm off-centre on a stagnant object?"
The lieutenant looked to the side and wrung her hands together. "I get distracted."
The Hawk's Eye merely raised a perfectly manicured blonde brow, but she let the matter go for now. "Work on that. I need an alternate sniper on my team. If we are going to go on heist missions after we restore Ishval, I can't always be on the field to snipe. You will be taking my place then. Is that understood, Chuui?"
The lieutenant clicked the heel of her boots together and crisply saluted her commanding officer. "Aye, Ma'am."
"Good. For the meantime, you are dismissed. Tell the rest of the team I'll be here in the range until 30 minutes till lunchtime. I ask not to be disturbed till then. Unless it's an emergency, do not send for me. Is that clear?"
"Aye, Ma'am."
As soon as Ross disappeared from the range, her shoulders dropped and Riza walked towards the female locker room. It was her preferred time to go to the range as the practice area was almost always empty during the mornings. That day, she had it all to herself, perfect for some much-needed time to clear her mind and wake herself up further.
Her previous night had been rough as she didn't get a very comfortable sleep after practically locking her husband out of their bedroom. However, it didn't seem right to allow him the comfort of a good night's sleep with his deplorable actions the day before. Then again, Riza felt extremely guilty for taking the rougher, tougher way to discipline her husband when she could have just explained to him the gravity of Olivier Mira Armstrong's situation.
A challenging thought entered her mind, however. Will he be willing to listen to mere explanations?
Whatever the answer, Riza felt particularly remorseful that she wasn't the bigger person in that quick argument of theirs. Suddenly, a particularly rebellious thought entered her mind once more. Rational as her darling husband might be most of the time, there are just times when he needs a figurative slap to the face to bring him to reality. And maturity.
Sighing at her internal conflict, Riza hung her coat inside her opened locker and then procured her personal rifle. As she turned to the side, the colonel offered a crisp salute to the woman who had just joined her. For a moment, she lamented the loss of her pursuit of mind clarity when she realized she would have company that morning. "Armstrong-Chuujou."
"At ease, please, Hawkeye-Taisa. Mind if I join you?"
"Not at all, Chuujou," she said, relaxing her stance slightly.
The Briggs commander picked an available empty locker and took off her winter coat and military jacket. "I do suppose you have an extra rifle."
"Aye, Ma'am."
"Call me Olivier."
At the request, Riza pursed her lips and handed her spare weapon to the lieutenant general. "I am not sure if I can be as casual as…"
"Ah, of course," Olivier acknowledged, taking the Pattern 1914 Enfield. "You have the liberty to use it, however."
"Thank you."
Before leaving the locker room, Olivier turned towards the colonel and held her gaze seriously. "He apologized to me first thing in the morning today."
Her honey-gold orbs widened a fraction at the other woman's revelation and Riza could feel all tension waft away from her gradually. She wasn't exactly sure how she would comport herself when Olivier joined her company, given the utter rubbish her husband had said the night before. Now, she was just glad—and damn proud—that Roy seemed to already have rectified that.
The Flame Alchemist practically stumbled into their dark flat once he got home. Creeping around for the lamps, he sighed in relief when the appliance turned on and revealed their kitchen. Per routine, he took of his military blues and dumped them in the hamper after taking off his badges and stars. His movements were lethargic and slightly pained as his muscles smarted at him.
It was the first day of the joint exercises and he was on the first batch of people to go through hand-to-hand combat training. Halfway into the exercise, he realized that Olivier must have made several arrangements so that he would be lumped in with the bigger-boned soldiers like her burly, sparkly younger brother. And it was clear for the alchemist that it was no coincidence that he had to go against Alex Louis Armstrong as well. In all honesty, he was just about to drop dead when his little pupper yipped and went over to him.
A tired smile graced the brigadier general's face as he cuddled Black Hayate, nuzzling his face into his soft, fluffy fur. Roy stayed sitting for a few more moments before he tore Hayate away from him as soon as he heard the Shiba Inu's stomach growl. Chuckling slightly, he poured Hayate's dinner into its designated bowls. It was then when he noticed something was a little off.
If Hayate were home, then where was his wife? Surely, he would have heard when the door squeaked open, but it didn't. A tiny sliver of panic surged into him and he had to take a few breaths to calm down. There was no use getting tensed up when she could have been in their apartment after all.
And she was. Roy sighed heavily in relief as he found a portion of her blonde hair on the sofa. Walking around it, the alchemist puckered his lips endearingly at the sight that greeted him. Riza was on the furniture, still clad in her military blues and boots, in deep sleep. It ached him to wake her up especially since she looked extremely adorable, her soft lips lightly parted as she let out soft snores.
Chuckling to himself, he couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic towards his wife. She had been decked all day to lead the weapons training and doing a 30-minute spiel over and over again for several batches that day couldn't have been easy, especially since it was her first time to do so.
Roy placed a kiss on her forehead gently, not in the slightest worried that he will wake her. When Riza snored, it was when he knew she wouldn't be woken up by little gestures such as a kiss. His wife might have been a soldier trained to spot danger from miles away, but she was also a soldier trained to force herself to sleep if need be. From the looks of it now, she wouldn't be waking till morning.
Gingerly, the alchemist undressed her to her undergarments before taking her to their bed. Roy shut all the lights off and figured an early night without eating dinner wouldn't exactly hurt, seeing as both of them were rugged tired from the events of the day. He would have to change their sheets first thing tomorrow morning, as she refused to sleep in them in anything but proper pyjamas, but he didn't mind.
When Riza awoke, it took her a few minutes to fully realise the situation that she was in. Once her head cleared and her disorientation melted away, she felt the stickiness of her skin and the clamminess of her forehead. Opening her eyes, she had expected to wake on their sofa but somehow, she was transported to their bed in the middle of her slumber. Smiling softly to herself, the colonel turned towards her husband and placed a loving kiss on his cheek.
The gesture stirred the alchemist awake and he lazily opened his eyes to the slight darkness of their room. Roy rubbed them to chase away the sleep and he sat up on their bed, turning towards the clock that was on their bedside table. "Four hundred hours sharp. We slept for a total of 10 hours. Never thought I'd see the day."
"You could've waken me. I would have wanted to take a shower," Riza said, laying a hand on his muscled stomach.
"Yes, and you would have clawed my face off."
Riza rolled her eyes and scoffed. "I would have not," she grumbled before looking up at him. "Thank you for taking me to bed."
He smiled endearingly and laid a hand on hers that was on his stomach. "And for undressing you?"
Her eyes turned skyward once more. What a deprived man-child her love was. "And for undressing me."
A cocky smirk appeared on his lips. "What say you, we take a nice shower then head out for breakfast before we go to work?"
"Sounds like a plan," she hummed, nuzzling his side with her nose. "But we need to change the sheets first."
Upon his insistence, Riza changed the sheets while her husband readied the bathroom. The colonel eyed the brigadier general skeptically before she was ushered back into their room with a stack of sheets and pillow cases after instructing her to trust him. When Riza walked in to the bathroom, everything made sense.
The bath tub was filled a little above halfway and she was sure there were aroma therapy oils mixed in the water. The scent was almost thrilling if it weren't for the stickiness she felt having gone to bed without taking a shower. Roy's hand encircling her wrist brought her out of her thoughts. "So, what do you think?"
"I think I'm going to wind up pregnant before we're even ceremonially married if you keep this up, Roy-kun."
"Which is why we have the option to do it now before you start ovulating once more," Roy crooned, hand leaving her wrist and tugging on the hem of her black turtleneck. "Like a one for the road kind of thing, loves, if you want. It's nine days since your last period and we have several days till my swimmers die inside you."
Sighing, Riza knew she hadn't in herself to refuse especially since the atmosphere of their bathroom was far too inviting. However, they were treading on thin ice regarding their physical intimacy, even as far as using it when they made up after their first little squabble. Riza closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Somehow, I am not convinced."
"Then I'll strike whilst the iron is hot."
When her lids retracted, her eyes revealed a confused look in them. "What do you even mean by that?"
"Let's have sex when you're finishing your period," he said with a shrug. "On the third or fourth day after your first bleeding. No chances of getting pregnant then."
"And when did you suddenly become an expert regarding women's period and ovulation?"
Roy laid a hand on each of Riza's shoulder. "Since I started reading up on them. Did you know there's actually a contraceptive we can use so we won't get you pregnant? It's called a cervical cap and it goes—"
"Nothing is going to go inside of me, do you hear me?"
It was Roy's turn to sigh. "This is going to be a long two years," he grumbled before imploring his wife with his eyes. "At least hear me out? I still have another option for us."
Riza blinked up at her husband and pursed her lips. There was an inexplicable force within her that wanted to refrain from asking him about that other option, but the colonel had to admit that she was also curious. "And that is?"
"Alkahestry."
"Alkahestry," the sniper repeated. "How?"
His hands left her shoulders and settled on her shapely waist. Roy brought them closer to each other, only their clothes in between them. "Alkahestry can help prevent fertilization from happening. It could alter your hormone levels so you wouldn't be able to create a uterine environment conducive for child-bearing. That being said, it can also reverse said alteration so that when the time comes, we can get pregnant."
Both interest and want were building up inside her at his suggestion. Riza knew that she shouldn't be giving in to such offers but Roy managed to come up with such a grand proposal that she finds it difficult to refuse. "And when in this time of hectic schedules and important missions are we going to find an Alkahestrian?"
"That's…classified information?" Roy volunteered tentatively.
At his answer, Riza leaned slightly away from her husband crossed her arms, looking up at him with a flat affect, save for the solitary raised brow.
"Well, I hardly thought it'd be useful to already find an Alkahestrian if you were going to be against the idea," Roy shrugged. "For all I knew, you could have been more amenable to the cervical cap."
"Honestly, Roy. Who would opt to put a plug inside them when there's another, less intrusive choice?" she asked rhetorically.
Pouting, Roy looked sideways. "I thought you were going to tough it out, like you always do."
Her brows crinkled and she sneered at the man before her. "I am not going to risk the anatomical integrity of a very important internal organ of mine just for sex!"
A meek grin stretched the Flame Alchemist's lips as he looked back to his wife. "At least I know that now?"
"Useless," she muttered under her breath, albeit half-joking.
"Oy, take that back," Roy frowned, affronted. "I'm not useless."
The markswoman smirked in victory at the sight of his childish look. "When it's wet, you're useless."
"Oh?" he hummed mischievously, taking her arms apart from their entwine. Roy mirrored his wife's smirk and a playful glint shone in his eyes. "I don't think I'm useless when you're wet."
Irked, the smug look on her face was wiped away as quickly as he delivered his smug remark. Riza turned away from him when he slowly dove in for a kiss, but it didn't seem to faze the Junshou. Suddenly, her jaw felt the familiar tenderness of his lips delivering said kiss before they hiked up a little closer to the back of her ear.
"Roy—"
"See, when you say things like myself being useless, I always want to prove I'm not," he hummed. "Just say 'no' and I'll stop."
Riza didn't say no. She didn't want to.
Madame Christmas' bar at six in the morning smelt like any other bar at six am would smell like. Lingering musk of inebriated men, alcohol-induced vomit, and a disharmony of liquor and cigarette scents that never seemed to go away even with the numerous cleaning and air-freshening attempts.
If one could survive the storm of scents behind the two velvet doors, one could order a breakfast meal that was dubbed by many as the best hangover meal one could ever have in Amestris. Both halves of the Mustang couple could account for it, as they have had the dish far too many times to remember. Roy for the hangover part, and Riza for the breakfast part.
As soon as they strode inside the downtown bar, they were shooed away to Roy's former quarters after assuring them that their breakfast will be served there. Riza set Hayate on the floor, tying his leash near the door so he wouldn't run amuck in Roy's former living area. Most of its contents has been transferred to their apartment but there were still important documents present in the quaint room.
"I've been thinking…" Roy started as they cuddled on the naked mattress of his former bed.
"Goodness, such groundbreaking news," his wife crooned playfully.
"Riza…" the brigadier general grumbled, shooting her an unimpressed look.
The colonel chuckled in return and nuzzled into his neck, nose whiffing out the traces of the cologne he wears. It was an assuring smell to her, the scent of his cologne and musk mixed together. It meant that he was here, tangible, and in between her arms. Her lips protruded slightly to place a kiss on the underside of his jaw. "My, my. So grumpy in the morning, love."
"Because I haven't had coffee yet," he mumbled into her hair. Riza looked quite the sight to him right now. While she was dressed in heavy military blues, her aura was contrastingly lighthearted and sweet. It definitely wasn't unwelcome, though, since he knew that his wife was that way because she was far too loved up following their early morning stint in the bath.
Roy grunted slightly when she rolled on top of him, the press of their uniform a little constricting especially with the weight of their badges and medals. They were breaching several military uniform protocols, but he wasn't complaining one bit. Besides, he wasn't one to always abide by the rules.
"Anyways, you were saying something important?" she queried, lacing her fingers on his chest and setting her chin down on her knuckles.
Roy hummed, hands going to rest on her lower back. "Nothing important, really. I was just thinking about Olivier."
"Are you finally going to admit that you have harbored a crush on her all this time?"
"I—what?"
Riza smiled softly. "You can; I won't mind."
There was a mixture of shock, horror, and utter disdain at her statement. "What?! Consider me disturbed, that my own wife wouldn't be alarmed if I had a crush on another woman!"
"So you admit it."
"What?! No! God!" Roy exclaimed, abhorrence very much apparent in his features. It took him Riza snickering in his face to realize that the sniper was teasing him yet again. "For the love of alchemy, Mustang! What has gotten into you?"
She took a few deep breaths to steady herself, even if her stomach physically ached to release the giggles. It was far too easy to tease her husband this way, especially if it involved a certain female general. "All right. I've had enough for the morning, Roy-kun. What is it that you're trying to say?"
Instead of opening his mouth to speak, the Junshou merely stared at his wife blankly.
"Oh, come on, love." It was Riza's turn to pout at his silence. "I promise I'll hold off on the joking."
Roy smiled abashedly at the sight of Riza pouting that he couldn't help kissing her slightly protruded lips. All previous annoyance because of her little verbal jabs were now forgotten about.
"It's nothing, really. I just thought that it made sense for Olivier to be the way she is now that we know a little more about her past," Roy said casually.
"Care to elaborate on that?"
"I don't think anyone will become ice-cold like Olivier if there weren't a driving force. Given what we know of her family, she should have turned out more like Alex. Yet, she didn't."
Riza contemplated on his verbalized thoughts and then rested her cheek on his chest. "You mean to say Armstrong-Chuujou adapted such personality because of the circumstances regarding her daughter?"
"I do," he nodded, even if she couldn't see him. "She's cold and distant because she needed to be. She has this hard-ass personality because she wouldn't have thrived being in the North if she hadn't."
"And she wouldn't speak of the Briggs soldiers as if they were her own children, if she didn't know what it was like to have one," Riza added solemnly. "Even if it were just the length of her bearing Catherine, I think she willingly plunged herself into the role of being a mother and never really knew how to remove herself from it."
"And she projected such feelings to her soldiers. No wonder they're scarily loyal to her," Roy mused. "I never did figure out her methods of discipline. Seems like it's just some weirdly evolved maternal instinct in play."
The colonel hummed in agreement, fiddling with the badge he earned from their most recent coup. "You and she are quite alike, you know."
"Ri, don't start. It's not even seven in the morning yet," Roy groaned.
"I'm serious!" the blonde insisted, rising from her husband's chest and straddling his waist. "You two lead with the same efficiency and effectivity. Your subordinates are loyal, and you have the country's best interests at heart. And you are both smart. Honestly, I don't get why you two make it a point to antagonize the other."
"She is ice; I am fire," he said simply. "We just don't get along. And we won't ever get along."
"But—"
"But we respect each other, in our own twisted way. And that's enough for Olivier and me," he drawled. Riza spotted the gentle finality in his tone and let the matter go.
"She and I practiced in the range a few days ago, you know."
"Oh?"
Nodding, Riza laid back on him carefully. "She asked me to call her by her name."
Roy snorted, but a small smile appeared on his face. "That's the Olivier Mira Armstrong seal of approval right there."
"She told me you apologized to her."
"It's the right thing to do."
Suddenly, the brigadier general felt a generous kiss upon his lips. It did not take him long before he returned it.
"I'm proud of you, my king," the colonel declared affectionately against his skin.
Roy smiled in content, enclosing the hand on his face with his large one. "Well, I just might apologise for every single thing I said to Olivier if I get to be rewarded with a kiss just like that."
"Don't push your luck, Mustang."
Taka no Me-The Hawk's Eye