Now, all four of them occupied the dining room, with Colonel Roy Mustang sitting next to Jean and facing Riza. He was resisting the urge to smirk and be arrogant although the apologetic look on his three subordinates' faces seemed a fitting backdrop for that. Venting out his anger onto these people is not appropriate at this time, considering what he had just heard.

The uneasiness grew tenfold when Roy came into the picture. Jean didn't know if he would grin or apologize; Riza couldn't move and gravely wished she could just shrink or vanish; Maes kept cursing at that darned delivery boy with his pepperoni pizza.

Maes glanced at Riza, whose eyes were glued to the floor, and then transferred his gaze to Roy who returned a hard look. "So…" he began after swallowing his already drying saliva, "what brings you to my humble home, Roy?"

"I'd like to ask the same thing from these two." He first directed his gaze to the sweating Jean Havoc (who unfortunately didn't bring any cigarette to keep him company). "Havoc!"

"Yes sir."

"Why are you here?"

"I—uh…"

"I asked him to come over." Maes answered, rescuing the poor lieutenant. "It's Glacier's birthday today, remember?"

"Yes, I remember… Speaking of Glacier, where is she? I bought her a gift…"

He glanced down at his wrist watch. "She's probably in Elisha's room."

Riza froze. It's her turn to be questioned. She could feel the colonel's eyes on her, making the brave gun-toting persona run in retreat. Look at him you idiot, she told herself, you didn't do anything wrong.

"I overheard the conversation a while ago." Roy said, looking away. "I was there, by the doorstep. Listening. So lying to me is basically useless."

Maes and Jean exchanged looks.

"Havoc!"

"Yes sir."

"You're dismissed."

His shoulders virtually dropped when he let out a relieved sigh, as if a huge boulder had been unloaded. "Yes sir. Thank you sir."

"Hughes, I placed Glacier's gift on the sofa, it's made of glass so you better find a secure place for it."

Maes understood the cue. "Okidoki! I'll go check if my wife is still awake..."

Good, Riza thought miserably. Just perfect.

Now that they're alone, Roy couldn't bring himself to look at Riza Hawkeye. Say something, damnit! For the first time in his illustrious womanizing career, Colonel Roy Mustang got tongue-tied.

"Sir," Riza began, "please don't take it personally. I only did what I thought was good for you."

"It's not good for me." He said. "I'm assigning you back to your position and you turn me down flat. I don't have any disease, Lt. Hawkeye, there's no need to avoid me. If they want to believe that we're dating, that's fine. If they want to say I'm hitting on you, very well then. You really can't control people's minds…"

"But you can control yourself…" Riza snapped. "I can control myself. We can defeat them by proving them wrong!"

"But it's not wrong!"

Riza's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

Roy sighed. "Please return to my office..."

"Why?"

"BECAUSE!"

"BECAUSE WHAT?!"

"BECAUSE I WANT YOU THERE. I NEED YOU THERE. CAN'T YOU EVEN SEE IT?"

"SEE WHAT?!"

"I CAN'T…" He bit his lip and paused to think about what he had to say. "I can't concentrate without you. I tried to prove myself wrong but I'm practically useless when you're not there."

Riza allowed this to sink in for a minute. "So it's all about the work, then."

"Huh?"

Her blank stare went past through the colonel, tears glittering at the corners of her eyes. "You said, you're useless when I'm not there…"

"Riza…"

She looked away. "You need me to do all the work, right? You need me to help you around with the papers and the schedule and the…"

"It's not that!"

"So that's what it's all about, you scheming son of a bitch."

He quickly rose from his seat and forced Riza to face her. She was crying, and it broke his heart that he was the one who brought these tears in her eyes. "It's not that…" he gently whispered after locking her in a tight embrace. "I just… I can't… I don't want to be separated from you."

When the tears became too powerful to resist, and pride was too weak to overcome her emotion, Riza finally allowed herself to move out of her comfort zone and cry in his arms. "I don't want to be separated from you, too." She said in between sobs.

It went on for a while: Riza soaking his uniform with tears and snot, Roy soothing her with whispers of apology. Nobody dared admit it, but they both wished the moment would go on forever. As realistic people, though, they both knew it wouldn't.

And the very first interruption came in the form of a 12-inch, thin crust pepperoni and cheese pizza.

"I'll go get it…" Riza asked, wiping the tears off her eyes with Havoc's handkerchief.

"No." Roy objected, tightening his arms around her. "Not yet…"

"Sir…"

"Call me Roy."

She fought back a smile.

Hughes emerged into the dining room, a box of pizza in one hand. "Sorry to ruin the fairytale moment, folks, but you really need to eat something."

Roy released her from his embrace and stood up, hands in his pockets. Riza had left for the kitchen, fumbling through drawers for dining utensils. He was too preoccupied with his thoughts that he barely noticed Maes' unwavering stare.

"Ehem." Maes successfully caught the colonel's attention and flashed a knowing smile. "So how did it go?"

Roy chuckled while shaking his head. "I totally fucked up."

Maes laughed. "We all mess up every once in a while... that's what makes us human."

"It happened to you too? I mean, with Glacier?"

Maes shrugged. "You're never gonna believe how much of a jerk I was."

Riza emerged from the kitchen with three drinking glasses and a pitcher of yellow stuff which looked like juice.

"What Maes… no drinks?"

He shook his head.

"Bourbon? Rum? Vodka? Beer?"

"Now… now… Mustang… why the sudden gloom? Glacier didn't like any form of liquor in the house."

"It's your wife's birthday and you don't even have champagne. We're supposed to be celebrating!"

"Well, the birthday celebrant herself didn't like champagne." Maes said sadly. "The perils of getting married, my dear friend." He gave Roy a pat on the shoulder.

"Do you like champagne?" Roy asked Riza, who was busy slicing a piece of pizza for him. "No." she answered flatly.

x0x

Mustang was in a grumpy mood the following day. Havoc had already returned to his previous workplace, leaving him no one to torture and boss around. His office was dull, with half of his desk occupied by stacks of paper waiting to be read. His right shoulder was aching, what with sleeping on Hughes' small, extra-soft living room couch. Riza was occupying the guest room, and although it was okay with him to share the bed with her, Maes thought of it unacceptable. So Mustang had to either sleep on the couch or drive himself home in the middle of the night. He chose the couch because he was already planning something for the day ahead. Mustang was thinking about going to office with Hawkeye, so as to send an unofficial message that he and the lieutenant are already in good terms. The lieutenant, however, quickly rejected the idea. "About last night, sir…" she had said over breakfast that morning…

Roy's interest in Glacier's perfectly cooked pancakes faded abruptly. "What about it?"

"We should not let them know."

"That's okay. I'm sure Havoc…"

"I'm not worried about Havoc." She cut him off short. "I'm worried about you."

Glacier, excused herself. "I… think I should check on Elisha. Maes, dear, would you please come with me?"

Maes dutifully obeyed, leaving the dinner room without a word.

"Don't tell me you're going to avoid me again." Roy said, reverting back to his I-am-colonel tone.

"I'm not going to… but we should… try to act normal."

He rolled his eyes. "Normal?! Last night I confessed my undying love for you and now you're asking me to act normal? How in the world am I going to do that?"

"Undying love..." Riza echoed. All color rose up to Roy's face.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to avoid you anymore. No more pride games. I'll be your right-hand-man again. But please understand, I don't want to become a tool in jeopardizing your military career. Face it, Roy..." Roy smiled upon the mention of his name, "…rumors can get nasty. It can ruin you, so take them seriously."

He sunk back into his chair. "So what do we do?"

Riza sighed sadly. "You know the answer to that."

That morning, despite Mustang's endless objections, the two of them decided that now is not the favorable time for a relationship. "Someday, perhaps…" Riza mumbled with a tinge of hope, "But not now."

Roy was forced to agree with Riza simply because he didn't want to argue about it anymore. Riza will eventually have it her way, anyway. On he contrary, though, the rumors won't matter to him anymore. Back then, he did worry about them, not because of any possible effect on his career or conduct. He was more terrified of losing Riza, because until last night, he was under the impression that Riza wasn't interested in him. Well, she didn't actually say that she loved him, but she did acknowledge his feelings. Plus, she did admit she was scared of losing him too, right?

I'm unfortunately not very good with romantic scenes, I don't know why I keep writing romantic fics! I was desperately trying not to make it mushy, so the end result is... this chapter. sniff Oh well... I'm thinking about making a mushy-mushy mustangXhawkeye fic.. (man, I think I've grown to love this couple so much, I'm becoming addicted). thanks for the reviews! two more chapters and we're done!