... sniff I am afraid this is most likely the last chapter, but I might write and epilogue… ;) And something else is coming. :)) Meaning, I already have a new fic planned and coming soon. :)
This is where the Royai fluff is at it's maximum level… I swear it. :)) Happy reading and Please review and thanks for reading!
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'When the time comes… I will… tell him.' Her own voice rang out in Riza Hawkeye's head as she was lying on her bed.
'When will that be? How will I tell him? How much will I tell him? Everything? Most of it? Ever since I said that, this question just bugged me…' She shifted and changed her position in her bed, so that now she faced the window. It was dark, probably midnight by now. There were no stars in the sky, probably cloudy.
'Maybe Winry was partially right… we soldiers can't fall in love. But… how come a part of me thinks otherwise? How long have I actually bottled up these feelings anyway? A month? A year? A lifetime?' She snuggled even deeper in her blanket 'It just boils down to that question… When will that time come? Will it… even come?'
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"Good morning everyone… Mmmm, what's that yummy smell?" Roy groggily said as he entered the dining room, still rubbing his eyes, trying to wake himself up.
"Good Morning, General. Did you have a good night's sleep?" Riza said as she was setting a plate of eggs on the table. Winry, Ed and Al were there as well.
"More or less… except for the fact, I may not have slept well due to all the noise Fullmetal made. Where are the others?"
"Still asleep most likely sir…" Riza said quietly as she sat down. Winry and Al were preventing Ed from saying anything vulgar or do anything violent. Al just transferred all of Ed's utensils and plate away from him, so that he won't resort throwing them at Mustang, who went over to the sink in the kitchen to wash his hands before sitting down on the table.
"So… tomorrow, it's back to Central… what's planned for today? Another beach trip or something?" Mustang said, helping himself to some eggs, ham and toast.
"You're really hungry aren't you Mustang? What happened? Did a scary monster make you hungry or something?" Ed teased in a funny voice, making funny faces at Mustang.
"What the hell are you talking about? As if… at least I wasn't the one talking in my sleep." Mustang said before stuffing some eggs into his mouth. Ed looked more pissed now, and was on the verge of bending his fork.
"Why you!" Edward stood up and banged his hands on the table.
"Edward! If you're not going to seat down this instant, then I suggest you leave the table. It's rude to pick fights while in front of the food." Riza calmly said, as she was cutting up a piece of ham into bite sized pieces. Edward just looked at her, as both Winry and Roy sniggered. Edward stuttered, wanting to say something, but at the same time, trying not to say anything to counter what Hawkeye said, before sitting down and finished eating his eggs. Riza gave a small smile before gently offering Roy some coffee.
"Coffee, sir?" She said as she poured him a cup of hot coffee. Roy smiled as he nodded and took the cup of coffee.
"Thank you, Hawk—I mean… thank you Riza."
'It's that feeling again… that very feeling I feel whenever he addresses me by my first name…' Riza thought as soon as he thanked her. She caught Winry's eye, and Winry smiled and nodded in reply.
"… Maybe someone should wake Havoc and the others." Riza quietly said, breaking the silence.
"I'll wake them up, Lieutenant." Al said with a smile as he got up from his seat and left the room. From where they were, they heard Al knock on the door where Mustang's other subordinates were still asleep.
"I'll get a new batch of eggs, toast and ham for Havoc and the others." Riza said as she got up and brought the empty plates to the kitchen. Winry got up as well.
"I'll help you Riza…" Winry said with a smile as she followed her into the kitchen leaving Ed and Roy alone at the table.
"They're hiding something aren't they Mustang?" Ed said as he thought of what the girls might be planning.
"Dunno… Don't tell me you're curious about what the girls do, Ed."
"Shut up, Mustang. Let me guess…"
"Don't." Roy said as he took another bite of toast.
"You like Hawkeye, don't you, Mustang?" Roy had no reply to that.
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"Come on everyone, time to go to the beach!" Riza's voice rang throughout the house. Everyone assembled at the door on the double, all except maybe for Ed.
"Where is Edward?"
"He said he'd get something from the sitting room…" Al said. "Shall I call him?" Al asked.
"No need, Al… I'm right here." Ed said as he approached them, hands in his pocket. There was definitely something in his pocket, since it was bulging. Whatever it was, it was in a box. Al handed him his bag.
"Sorry for the hold up, Lieutenant." Ed said in a sort of sorry voice.
"It's alright. Shall we go?" They all left the house to go to the beach, bringing their food and sources of entertainment.
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"I'll never forget this day… will you, Riza?" Riza was surprised at who suddenly sat down beside her on the beach. It was nearly sundown. They had so much fun that they didn't realize that it was getting darker. They had a barbeque by the beach, and Roy was in charge of grilling the food. Riza had to stop Ed once or twice from dumping water on Mustang's head for the reason that it will also put out the fire in the grill. Once she got tired of reprimanding him, she just asked Winry to keep an eye on Ed while she kept an eye on Roy.
"No sir… I believe I won't. Sir, it's nearly sundown… and dinner."
"I told you. Address me as Roy. And don't worry about dinner. I made sure I packed dinner before we left the cabin." He assured her Riza looked even more surprised at what he said.
"You… prepared… dinner?"
"Yep. I sure did."
"So, what did you prepare?"
"Hmmm… some salad, some bread, a bit of pasta… and I grilled some extra food… not really leftovers from lunch. I made sure that we'll have something good for dinner… including some shrimps."
"Shrimps sir? Did you just bring shrimps along to irritate Ed?"
"Maybe… maybe yeah… I guess you'll all like something else other than the usual bread and salads right?" Roy said, with a smug smile.
"Alright si—Roy. Just tell me if you'll need any help clearing it up or heating them up… wait. Scratch that. I will help you with the clearing up or heating up. You might be tempted to send some hot charcoal flying in Ed's direction." She said in a rather stern tone. He just smiled, and turned to look at the sunset.
"I'm really going to miss this place." At that moment, she had this feeling that someone inside her wanted her to tell him.
"Sir… I mean, Roy…"
"Yes, Riza?" She was wondering whether or not she should tell him. She opened her mouth, but she couldn't find the voice to tell him, which was so unlike her.
"I… I mean…" But before she could ask him her question, Ed ran up to them, interrupting their moments together.
"Oy General! Hawkeye, come on and join us! We'll eat dinner now!" Ed shouted as he waved at them. When he went back to where the rest of the gang was, Winry scolded him.
"Why the hell did you disturb them?!" She whispered in a reprimanding voice.
"Nothing… just felt like it." Ed said with an evil smirk as he watched the two approach them.
"You raided the picnic basket?!" Roy shouted.
"Why Mustang? Anything wrong?" Ed said with that same evil smirk he gave Winry. "You didn't poison it I hope…" He said as he helped himself to some salad. "Come on, let's eat. Let's play a little game after dinner. Oy what's this? SHRIMPS?!"
"Wha—What game?! And don't finish the food Fullmetal!" Roy sat down and helped himself to some bread. Riza sat down beside him and helped herself to some salad and pasta.
"Why the hell did you grill shrimps?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY EH GENERAL?! Let's see then… Fine. I'm not touching them shrimps. Oh and before you sit down, go light the bonfire. Al and I gathered some wood. We can play our little game there."
"I AM NOT A MATCHSTICK."
"Well, too bad… I was still going to make you do it, and you'd be stuck there, fanning the flames for like, 30 minutes." Ed taunted, biting into his bread. It was Roy's turn to be steamed. He reluctantly stood up and stomped over to the wood, wore his gloves and snapped, immediately setting the pile of wood on fire, giving them a source of light.
After dinner, they gathered around the fire.
"So… what game do you have planned for us, chief?" Havoc asked Ed, lighting up a cigarette. Ed pulled out a little pack of cards.
"You want us to play cards on the beach?" Breda asked.
"It's not a pack of ordinary cards… it's a pack of cards with instructions or dares…" he shot a look at Mustang. "… Which someone has to accomplish."
"And how are we going to know who's going to do it?" Fuery asked. Ed showed a board with an arrow on it.
"We're going to use the arrow. Whoever is in the arrow's path when it stops spinning has to pick a card and perform whatever action is written on it." He said, pulling out a small arrow on a board from the box.
"Fine. Whoever doesn't want to the dare is a chicken." Roy said, somehow addressing Ed.
"Your own Mustang… You might want to change your mind… unless you want to be called a chicken." Ed stood up and started making clucking sounds like a chicken.
"Sit down, brother." Al said pulling him back down. Ed followed his younger brother, and took out the cards. He shuffled them, with an evil glint in his eye and laid it on the sand afterwards. He placed the arrow beside it and flicked the arrow so it started spinning. The game was on.
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They had been playing the game for nearly an hour, and Ed already did 5 dares, Al did 2, Winry 1, Havoc 4, Breda 2, Fuery 1, Falman 1, Riza 2 and Roy, none. Ed was getting so frustrated by the fact that Roy still hasn't done any of the dares on the card, that he flicked the arrow really hard hoping and praying that Mustang gets to do a dare. And after a few frustrated flicking and shouting, the arrow finally pointed at Roy. Roy sighed before accepting the card from Al, who was holding it. He flipped over the card and read what it said.
'Kiss the person to your right on the cheek.'
Roy turned to his right and was thankful it wasn't Ed. But he turned a bit red when he saw who it was. It was Riza sitting on his right. Ed had that big grin on his face, somehow saying that he knew what card Mustang was going to get.
"So? What card did you get?" Ed taunted. "Come on, give me the card." Roy didn't want to give the card, but Ed stomped over and grabbed it.
"Kiss the person to your right on the cheek. The person… on your right. That's Hawkeye." Ed said with a big evil grin on his face. "Come on… if you aren't chicken, do the dare Mustang."
When Riza heard that he had to kiss her on the cheek, she felt that feeling again. She looked at Winry who gave her and encouraging smile. She gave a small smile in reply and turned to look at Roy. She tried to regain her composure.
"Well sir? Are you going to kiss me or not?" She said to him. He turned to her and went a bit closer to her. He took a deep breath, before kissing her on the cheek. When it was over, they were both a bit red, as if they did something very embarrassing. There was nothing but silence.
"Hey general… I'll give you ten thousand Sens if you kiss Hawkeye on the lips this time." Ed said with a devilish smile. Both Roy and Riza were irked at what Ed said, and before Roy could whip out his gloves and snap, Riza had already whipped out her guns which sent Ed to a state of shock.
"You might want to forget that bet, eh Edward?" She said. The others were shocked as well. They didn't expect her to bring guns on the beach.
"You… brought…your guns? ON THE BEACH?!" Ed shouted, freaked out by Hawkeye's answer.
"Of course… I'd never know when I'd need them." She calmly said. "So, will you forget you ever made that bet?"
"Alright! ALRIGHT! Forget it Mustang! FORGET IT! Forget what I said. I did not say anything!" Ed said, trying to hide behind Winry and Al, who were trying to push him to his place. When he calmed down, Riza put back her guns in the holsters and sat down beside Roy.
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At around 7 or 8 PM, they decided to go back to their cabin. Since they were all tired, all of them washed up and went straight to bed.
At around 10, Roy felt that someone left their room. He slipped his bathrobe over his light green pajamas, wore his slippers and followed whoever it was who left the cabin. He followed the footsteps from the cabin, and saw the one person he had been hoping to talk to the whole week. They were both at the cliff, facing the beach. There, one could get a beautiful view of the waves crashing against the rocks under the sparkling stars and beautiful moon.
"Sir, there's no need to hide behind those bushes. I know you're right there." Riza turned and faced her superior officer, who approached her. She had her light blue bathrobe over her light blue pajamas.
"What are you doing here sir?"
"Perhaps… I'd ask you the same thing. What's wrong Riza? Couldn't sleep?"
"It's not that sir." She said as she pulled the robe closer to her, as the breeze was chilly. He did the same, and there he noticed how pretty she was when she didn't put her hair in a bun. Strands of hair flew in the breeze, and the moonlight emphasized her beautiful features. She noticed he was looking at her and she asked him.
"Sir. What are you looking at?"
"Nothing…Listen, um. Riza… I wanted to tell you something for a while now." She turned to face him. They were both silent for a while until he spoke up again.
"The way you've been calling me sir these days… is there anything wrong?"
"None sir."
"I told you to call me Roy right?"
"You did sir." She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
"So… why don't you call me by my name?"
"Well… sir, I mean, Roy… maybe it's just because I got used to calling you sir. For formality's sake."
"Well… then I order you not to call me Roy when we're alone together starting today, alright?" he said in a soft voice, a far cry from his usually deep commanding tone.
"Yes…Roy." They fell silent again, until she couldn't contain herself and finally gathered the courage to speak up.
"Roy… there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while now… you see, I had this talk with Winry a few nights ago… and, we talked about our feelings."
"Let me guess… she asked if you had feelings other than friendship for me." She nodded, trying not to look into his midnight blue eyes.
"Well, same thing Fullmetal was asking me… if I liked you. And to tell you the truth, I don't only like you. It's no longer what I'll call 'Like'. It's what I call love… you see, I do love you…" He said as he tucked the stray strand of her hair behind her ear. This time she got herself to look into his midnight blue eyes. For a moment, midnight blue met reddish brown.
"Tell me… tell me everything you feel…" Roy told her softly.
"I…I just can't seem to mask my emotions anymore. If I bottle these emotions up, I'll never be in peace. Do soldiers like us have the right to fall in love with their comrades? Can we actually fall in love?" He gave her a small smile before he replied.
"One can't bottle up their emotions. You of all people should know that… but let me tell you. We have the right to fall in love. I will not let anyone stop us. No one will."
"But what about your ambitions?"
"For the people I care about and love… I'd give all that up, without a second thought."
He pulled her closer to him, and slowly, he leaned towards her. She closed her eyes, and waited for it. When it happened, they knew that the feeling of affection they had for each other was genuine. And no one could stop that. No one. The kiss, although short, was sweet. From that moment on, they'd start off together, more than comrades, more than subordinates. There was something more between them. That was love. And from that moment on, they're sure that they can face all the challenges that come their way.
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That's a wrap! But don't worry, I still have an epilogue for this story… so you'll know what happens. And don't worry! I have a fic coming up, and once again I'm getting inspired to write by my PE (physical Ed) class… weird yes. But still… BTW, I got my report card and I got really good grades:D YAY!
Thanks for reading this up to the last chapter! Thanks for the reviews! ;) I'll keep writing for you guys:D