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Covered Eyes
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Riza's hand closed over the warm mug of tea that sat on the corner of her desk. The warmth bled into her skin as she raised it to her lips and let the lemony liquid slip between her teeth and trail down her throat, filling her and giving her calm as she set it at the table in the lounge and reached to pick up her book. She wasn't often one to take breaks, but she had completed her paperwork for the day, so she had come to have a cup of tea before returning to look after the rest of the subordinates and the colonel.
She heard light footsteps behind her and the smell of cigarette smoke overwhelmed her as two hands suddenly came up and covered her eyes. She sighed and set down her book. "Lieutenant Havoc, please remove your hands unless you have some desire to have them removed by force."
Havoc chuckled but didn't remove his hands. "It's ok, 1st Lieutenant," He said, keeping on hand over her eyes and using the other to force her to stand up. "There's something you have to see."
"Then isn't it rather redundant to have my eyes covered?" She asked, exasperated. He shook his head, but then remembered she couldn't see. Taking her by the elbow, he led her out of the room, hands still covering her eyes. "You can't see it till we get there." He said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She sighed in frustration, but allowed him to continue to lead her.
They entered a room after a few minutes of walking, and Riza could hear the voices of Fury, Breda and Farman, all talking excitedly, it seemed they were pulling together some last minute bet. "Oh, Lieutenant, you brought her?" Fury's voice squeaked out. Havoc removed the hand from her arm but kept the other one firmly over her eyes. "Yeah," He said. "Can she look now?"
"Wait, wait!" Exclaimed Breda, and there was the sound of some people rushing around, and then silence. "What is it, exactly, that you're trying to show?" She asked, growing more impatient. "Ok, ok, ready?" Havoc asked. He threw his hands off of her in a flourish. "Surprise!"
She looked around the small office that she normally shared with the boys, not much was different. It was slightly cleaner, but otherwise nothing was out of the ordinary. "What is it?" She asked, a bit disgruntled at having been taken away from her book for this. Fury was still smiling. "We're all finished with our paperwork! Every last bit!"
She raised an eyebrow. "All of you?" This was unusual. Fury and Farman almost always had paperwork ready before the deadline, but Breda and Havoc finished normally at the last minute, thereby keeping the group at the office late. The colonel was a different matter all together all together. Fury nodded excitedly. "Yes! And Colonel Mustang finished as well."
"Really?" She asked, mildly surprised. "May I ask why you have done this?"
Havoc raised an eyebrow at her, cigarette hanging limply from his mouth. "It's been one year since you became First Lieutenant, and people are talking about you getting a promotion soon. We wanted to say congratulations somehow. We figured if we all finished, you could go home sooner today."
Breda elbowed him. "Don't act like you thought it up," he said. Havoc's vein throbbed.
"Yes," Farman continued. "It was actually the colonel's idea."
"He wouldn't have remembered if I hadn't said anything." Havoc grumbled. "I was the one who remembered. Besides, he didn't even stay after he finished. Disappeared. I'm the one who went and got her, anyways."
"Whatever." Breda sighed.
Riza smiled at them, genuinely thankful for their simple act of kindness. "Thank you," She said. "I appreciate it."
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She sat in the park as the sun was setting, Black Hayate laying at the foot of the wooden bench while she held the novel she had been forced to leave behind in her hands. Her hair was down, her mind relaxed, and she was adorned in civilians clothing rather than her military uniform.
People walked by, their footsteps fading into the distance, every once in a while one of the passing strangers would nod in greeting. She sighed in contentment, completely relaxed.
She heard footsteps in back of her, and for the second time that day a hand reached around and gently covered her eyes, the other hand bringing something down in front of her and bringing her own hand up and wrapping her fingers around it. She grasped the stem of the flower and raised the other hand to wrap around the one that was covering her eyes, pulling it away from her face. A single red rose was held in her hand.
Still holding onto the hand that had covered her eyes, she turned her head to look behind her at the man who had given it to her. He smiled gently at her, and she returned it, hand still intertwined with his. "Thank you, sir."