Summary: At the right angle, in a line of sight, one might wonder why he never stopped staring at her for so much as a second.

Theme: 044. Hair

Dedication: Anyone attending ExCeL London anime convention. See end note for details.

Disclaimer: If I owned Full Metal Alchemist, Roy would have his own personal theme song by The Hazzards.

Angles

044. Hair

"Your hair is getting longer."

Roy made his observation public. Riza looked up at him, the lengthening blonde hair swaying slightly as she did so. He never missed a thing. That much was clear. But if that was so, he would have realised by then the reason why her hair was being grown out to begin with. A complex, strange man such as himself surely would not see the small things, and perhaps it was better that way, with him looking at the big picture. One day, he would wake up simply knowing, and that was good enough for her. She smiled.

"I guess so." She said, reaching behind her head and feeling the grown out ends. It almost felt foreign, the strange feeling of light threads tickling the back of her neck. She was not used too it, not after the incident when they were younger and he had set fire to her hair. By accident, of course, but she had decided she liked her hair an awful lot better when it almost made her resemble a boy. Her logic at the time had been that her father had always wanted one, and perhaps that would make him more interested in her and proud of some of the things she could do. She used to play the clarinet, could beat even boys in arm wrestling contests, so many tiny insignificant things. But they had never impressed him. Nothing had, not even when she took up her weapon. She had not let it dishearten her at the time, but she no longer had a reason to keep her hair the way it was. Not when certain people she knew found longer hair more attractive.

"I will buy you some accessories for it once it has grown out. I think it will look good." The man sitting at the desk across from her stated absently, clearly not focusing all too much on his own words. Her sooty eyelashes reached downwards as she averted her gaze, staring at the sheet of paper in front of her. It had been there for a while, and it did not seem to be going anywhere. She scribbled quickly where Roy was supposed to have signed a week ago. Nobody would notice, least of all him. He rarely did what he was meant to do. Paperwork was one of the things. Knowing the truth was another.

"You cannot be sure of that." Riza stated, scribbling yet another signature that should have been his. He looked up again, she could tell. The sound of his pen pressing against a crisp page without making any marks had gone, and she could feel his gaze lingering on her. Swallowing the lump building in her throat, she looked up to see him smiling at her unlike the way he usually did. The cocky, arrogant look was replaced with one close to some form of softness, although she could not be sure. He was a good liar, and an even better pretender. Not that she ever told him. It was better him thinking that she could put two and two together.

"Everything about you is always beautiful to me." He said, then looked down again, suddenly concentrating furiously on the blank sheet of paper in front of him. A small, secret smile formed on her lips, one of mirth and some form of happiness. He was not as unknowing as he acted. She let her hand slide up her body from by her side, calming the fastening beat of her heart. She doubted he missed that, either. No, he never missed a thing. Not him. He knew from the start that it would happen. Falling in love with each other. He just did not think it was worth mentioning, because one thing was for certain.

Nothing would change it.

Sort of bad for the theme. Ack. Yes, but in relation to the note above. Anyone going to ExCeL London anime convention, if you see a slightly deranged looking version of Yamanaka Ino from the manga/anime Naruto on Saturday (I am not going on Sunday, unfortunately) then feel free to say hello. Hugs for the team mate of the big sexy (otherwise known as Chouji Akimichi) are also greatly appreciated.

Preview: You learn to sleep in the middle of the double bed.