15. Crush (David Archuleta)

A/N: No way! I thought I'd discontinued this thing! Well, apparently I'm back, with two in the hopper, and hopefully more where that came from! Anyway, a note about this one: Mixing post-CoS with Riza and Roy's manga backstory.

"I'm sorry to impose, but Havoc's got a girl over, and apparently thinks that even with my eye patch, I'm handsome enough that I don't even need to hit on her."

"It's fine. This is part of the promise I made you."

Roy looked at Riza curiously. "I thought we were done with that."

Riza shrugged. "Maybe I've just grown accustomed to it."

Still perplexed, Roy mumbled something like, "Suit yourself," then, before he could stop himself, asked, "But… why?"

"Why what?" Riza blinked. "Was that not clear?"

Roy shook his head. "No, not that. I just… This shouldn't have happened. Against all odds, we all survived and now I'm left to clean up a mess I honestly never thought I'd be around to clean up." He grinned. "Should've had more faith in myself, I know, but what matters is that I'm here now. So, I guess I start with you."

Riza stopped in her tracks. "Start what?"

"Well," Roy began almost uncertainly. "How do you feel about me?"

"I thought this wasn't going to come up again, Roy." Riza was starting to feel more and more uneasy.

Roy looked impatient. "Why not, when you never gave me an answer the first time?"

Riza went back to cooking. "I'd barely known you for a year, and then there was Ishbal, and your goal… everything happened and just staying alive was more important."

Shaking his head again, Roy told her, "You've never been a good liar, Riza, but you can dodge a sore subject like nobody's business."

"Who says it's sore?" Riza wanted to know.

"Would you please just answer a simple question, Riza?"

"How I feel isn't simple," Riza pointed out.

"Fine, then. Do you love me?"

"Of course I do!" snapped Riza. "How could you question that?"

Roy groaned, feeling quite stupid for leaving himself open like that. "I'm not. I'm just showing you that answering my question isn't hard. Now what I want to know is why you keep dodging the subject. Let's start with the first time I asked, shall we? What happened there?"

"You told me you loved me and wanted to know how I felt," Riza stated simply.

"And you had almost the same reaction as you're having now. Why is it so painful for you to answer?" Roy now had one of Riza's hands in his own. "Whatever you feel, Riza, you can act on it or not—it's your choice, but I'd like to know why you keep on pulling away as if loving me would screw everything up."

"Think, Roy… I've never had much of a choice. I chose to love my father, and what came of that? I had to set aside my dreams, I had to cut my hair short, I had to let myself be the vessel for his research... That choice led to no choice."

Now Roy's hands moved to Riza's shoulders. "And what makes you think I'd do that same thing? How could I hurt you?"

"You can repeat only so many mistakes before you learn," Riza whispered, wincing as Roy's fingers gripped her shoulders more tightly.

Roy took a deep breath, trying to calm down. He had known that asking Riza the question weighing on his mind was going to be risky, but if he was not careful, he was going to prove her point and not his. "I just don't see how you could see me like that," he choked out, tears of anger forming in his good eye. "I know I've made my own mistakes, and plenty of them, but…" he trailed off helplessly.

"It's not you," Riza said quickly. "It's not you—you have to know that. You had no hand in the events that influenced my choice to love my father. How could you?"

Deciding to ignore how very irrational this conversation was becoming, Roy, started to speak again. "I'm going to ask something selfish of you, Riza. It's going to be more selfish than anything I've asked of you because this time, it will mean your whole life. Please, would you allow me to try to change your mind and, if I'm successful, would you stand by me forever as my wife?" He looked her in the eye. "I want to make it clear that you can say no and that can be the end of that."

It was Riza who shook her head this time. "No, I can't."

Roy stared at her, good eye wide. "Wh…"

"I can't run any longer. I know what I feel, and really, I need to change, but I'm scared to take the first step like I've never been scared before." Riza stepped back just a bit to look up at Roy. "Please, help me."

By way of agreement, Roy lowered his mouth to Riza's, unable to suppress a smile as she pulled him closer. He did not protest when Riza pulled back after a moment.

Finally, he said, "I will," and pulled her to him again.

A/N: Normally, I get the whole thing coming to me at one time, but I only got bits and pieces of this one. It was difficult to put together, and I couldn't figure out how exactly to end the thing. Oh well.

Well, loving someone can be scary, right? And it's not like it's just an inborn thing. If anyone's read "Love Is" (Not one of my better fics, but I digress), love is trust, and trust is a choice, so, therefore, love is a choice. And if A equals B and B equals C, A equals C. Any questions? *cricket chirping*

As always, please read and review!