Telephone

"Hello, Elizabeth," she heard Roy saying close to her ear.

Riza tried not to laugh and simply smiled. She had to take this seriously. "Oh, hi, Roy. I'm so glad you called. I was wondering when I'd get to hear from you."

"I'm sorry, I've been terribly busy at work," was the reply. "But I've been meaning to talk to you all day."

"Oh? Is there anything you need to tell me?"

"Not really. I just wanted to hear your sweet voice."

Riza stifled a chuckle before Roy continued.

"Am I interrupting you?" he asked.

"Not at all. I was thinking whether I should take a shower or start making dinner."

"I see. Right now I'm so bored at home, and I'm starting to feel a little lonely. Would you mind if I joined you?"

"Uh—Well, I'm not cooking anything special."

She noticed the smirk in his tone when he said, "I wasn't talking about dinner."

At that, her expression changed drastically to a no-nonsense one.

"Seriously, Colonel?"

Roy pouted. "Oh, come on. It's harmless fun."

Riza took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Do we need to flirt like this? It's ridiculous."

"Excuse me, Lieutenant?"

He wasn't offended, she knew he was enjoying the talk.

"This is going to be our way to communicate," he explained, "and you'll have to follow my lead. That's why we're practicing in the first place: so you learn to stay in character and reply accordingly."

She sighed with exasperation. "I know. I'm sorry."

"I'll go on," he told her.

She nodded. "Alright."

Roy cleared his throat.

"So, Elizabeth. How was your day? Did you have any difficult customers?"

"Just someone who broke a flowerpot and tried to get away." She grinned. "But I made him pay for it."

Roy raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you taught him a lesson?"

"That's right," she said faking a proud tone.

"Oh, aren't you a little tough?"

"Well—"

"I mean," he interrupted, "Sometimes I'm a little lazy at work due to lack of motivation." He smirked. "Would you teach me a lesson too?"

Riza's heart skipped a beat, but quickly returned to normal. There it was again: Roy's play on words that always came with double entendre. But she wouldn't fail at it this time.

"Maybe I would," she said, "if I thought you deserved it."

Roy smiled widely at her confident answer, but relaxed soon after. He didn't want the conversation to escalate so fast.

"I don't want you to get the wrong impression of me, though," he said calmly. "A smart and beautiful woman like you deserves to be in the company of a gentle man. And I promise you…" He lowered the volume of his voice and murmured, "I can be very gentle."

A shiver of excitement ran up her spine. She wasn't ready to say it but she was starting to like this game.

"I'll be the judge of that."

Roy opened his mouth in surprise but recovered soon. "So you want to find out?"

"I just want to make sure you're not lying to me, Roy."

"Well, how about I visit you so you can see for yourself?"

She jerked her head to the side, unable to keep the smile from gracing her face. "I would like that very much."

Roy smiled sheepishly and stood up. "Alright, that's enough." He stretched an arm and removed the telephone tube that Riza was holding to her ear.

She opened her eyes and saw Roy putting the tube back in its place. The simulation of a phone call had actually come easier to her while pretending they weren't talking face to face, just like Roy had previously suggested.

A corner of her lips turned upwards. "What's the matter, Colonel? You couldn't keep up?"

"On the contrary," he said before taking his coat. "I was tempted to keep talking all night, but I'm getting hungry so I'll go before I starve."

Riza stood up. "Of course. Thanks for taking the time to practice it with me."

Riza opened the door and Roy stepped out into the hallway.

He smiled. "You're pretty good at this, Lieutenant, I must say. Think we could do this some time for fun?"

She crossed her arms and replied in a defying tone, "I'm sure I can think of better things to do for fun, Sir."

Roy was startled and looked at her with utter surprise. "Careful, Lieutenant. You don't want your character to fuse with your real personality."

She looked down for a moment in thought; then looked back up at him. "You're right, Colonel; that shouldn't happen."

He shook his head. "Don't worry, it's not that import—"

"Will you join me for dinner?" she interrupted. "It's clear I need to practice on that aspect, too. I'd appreciate it if you could give me a hand with it."

He grinned and entered back into the apartment. "Sure, I'm always willing to give you a hand, you know."

Riza locked the door and they returned to the kitchen walking past Black Hayate, who was sleeping quietly on the floor.

"Thank you. That's nice to hear."

"I should be thanking you. Every extra minute in your company is a pleasure for me."

Riza rolled her eyes and bit her lip, but Roy couldn't see her face because he was right behind her. "Well, if you stay even longer, I might ask you to give me a hand… or two, on something else."

He gulped. He was shocked but also very excited. "Is that Elizabeth or Lieutenant Hawkeye speaking?"

Riza turned around, looked into his eyes and smirked. "I'm afraid you'll have to stay long enough to find out."