Chapter Text
When Riza comes out of surgery, she finds that Colonel Mustang has already insisted they be placed in the same hospital room, for security purposes. As she slowly comes awake from the anesthesia in the recovery room, she’s grateful for his foresight. She needs to be there to protect him, to continue to be his eyes.
And they have a lot to talk about.
She’s wheeled into the room on a gurney, and he sits up in his hospital bed, looking towards the door, frowning.
“Hello?”
“It’s me,” Riza says in a slightly raspy voice. The alkahestry performed by the girl from Xing did enough to preserve her vocal chords, and she hadn’t needed surgery on her neck, but her throat is still dry and coarse.
The colonel’s head pivots towards her voice.
“Lieutenant,” he breathes. “I’m…” He pauses, and one of his bandaged hands hovers self-consciously over his face. “Well, I was going to say I’m glad to see you, but considering...” He clears his throat. “Are you alright?”
The orderly helps her carefully transfer to the hospital bed and informs them both that a nurse will be by shortly to check up on them.
“I’m going to be fine,” Riza says when they’re finally left in privacy. “I had surgery to repair the damage to my shoulder, and they’ve given me a blood transfusion. Depending on how fast my body naturally replenishes the blood lost, I may need another. I’ll hopefully only be here a few days.”
She watches his body shudder with a sigh of relief.
“How are you, sir?”
He chuckles dryly.
“I’m perfectly well, medically speaking,” he says. “Well, my hands… but they’ll heal. They want to wait and see how the wounds heal up on their own before considering any kind of surgical intervention.”
“But your eyes,” Riza murmurs, sweeping her own over his form. He wears a pair of hospital pajamas that actually look quite good on him, the short sleeves showing off the definition in his arms. She blinks, trying to clear her head of that out-of-place thought, instead taking in his bandaged hands and the way he sits hunched forward in the bed, still covering his face with one hand.
“It’s strange not to be able to see my own hand when I know it’s right there,” he mumbles. “But this isn’t a medical problem. It’s an alchemical one, and one for which there’s no solution. I’ve learned that much.”
Riza feels a terrible sense of sorrow sweep through her as she watches him stare into the middle distance, his eyes milky and clouded.
“It was the toll?” she asks. “Even though they forced you to open the portal, it still took your sight as a toll?” He nods grimly. Then, to her surprise, he rises. “Sir? What are you—?”
“How far away are you?” he grumbles, stretching his arms out around himself so he can feel his way towards her.
“About six feet,” Riza says. “Nothing stands between us, just come straight towards me.”
The corner of his mouth lifts in a smile, and she realizes the secret implication of her words, suddenly feeling grateful that he can’t see her cheeks flush.
Nothing stands between us anymore.
When he reaches her bedside, he pats it with one hand and grazes her sheets just over her hip. Riza’s flush deepens.
“Move over.”
Riza obliges him, swallowing hard, sitting up, and making room for him to sit beside her on the hospital bed.
“I suppose there’s no use in hiding it anymore,” he says quietly, tiling his head to one side.
“Hiding what, sir?” Riza murmurs. He adjusts the angle of his head at the sound of her voice, trying to face her, and he gets it mostly right, staring sightlessly just past her left shoulder.
“That I’m in love with you,” he says simply.
Riza’s breath sticks in her throat for a moment, and she makes a hoarse sound. Then she smiles, and the sound becomes a quiet breezy laugh.
“I suppose not, sir,” she replies, reaching out with her left hand and brushing against his thumb. He turns his hand over so she can lay hers on top of it. She doesn’t squeeze it, mindful of his injury, but just that little hint of forbidden contact feels so immeasurably good. “I’ve been in love with you since I was sixteen,” she admits, watching as his eyes widen.
“No,” he murmurs. “That can’t be true. You hated me when we met in Ishbal.”
Riza nods then realizes he can’t see it and instead gently brushes her thumb against his hand again.
“I think it’s possible to hate and love someone all at the same time,” she says quietly. “And I did, after Ishbal. But I couldn’t help but fall in love with you before then. You were kind to me, and I didn’t know any better.”
His smile is warm and tender, revealing a dimple in his right cheek.
“You were always very easy to be kind to, Ms. Hawkeye,” he says. If he could only see, they’d hold one another’s gaze, share one of those loaded, lingering glances as they breathed together for a space. Then they’d let the moment pass, hide again behind formality and protocol, and continue to try to ignore this thing between them.
He doesn’t let the moment pass.
Instead, he trails his hand up her arm, passing carefully over the bandage on her shoulder, until he cups her cheek in his bandaged hand.
Then, he leans forward, and Riza closes her eyes, tilting her head as they meet in the middle with a gentle brush of his lips over hers.
Her first kiss.
“Colonel,” she whispers.
“Roy,” he corrects gently, stroking her cheekbone.
“Roy,” she repeats, smiling around the feel of his name on her tongue. It sends shivers down her spine, somehow even more intimate than his hand that lingers on her cheek or the next sweet kiss he places against her lips.
“Riza,” he murmurs her name in reply, and her heart aches as she brings her own hand up to the nape of his neck, pulling him close, this time initiating the kiss.
This one is longer, and their lips move against each other in a way that makes her stomach flutter. She could get used to this, could grow addicted to it very quickly.
He breaks apart from her, and the smile on his face is so broad and so genuine, one would think he hadn’t been blinded at all.
“What are we going to do about this, then?” Riza asks quietly. “Now that we’ve said it. I don’t think… I’m not sure I can go back.”
“No,” he says quickly, shaking his head. “No, we won’t go back. I know what it felt like to think I was losing you forever to forces beyond my control. To let you slip through my fingers now…I couldn’t imagine it.”
“Neither could I,” Riza admits. “But the law…”
Roy sighs heavily and brings his hand to his face once more.
“Grumman’s bound to have me discharged because of this,” he mutters. “He made some noises about a battlefield promotion when I spoke with him on the phone earlier, but I can’t pretend I’d be of any use to the military any longer. I’ll retire.”
“Then so will I,” Riza says quickly. No matter what he plans next, she knows she wants to be at his side now, more than ever before.
“And we’ll focus on Ishbal,” he says slowly. “We’ll raise funds and start the work on our own, rebuilding. We’ll meet with the tribal leaders who are left in the slums; we’ll convince the people to return. It might even be easier, doing it as civilians instead of as part of the military.”
He’s right, of course. If she really thought about it, she’d known all along that would be his next move.
“Okay,” she says simply. “We’ll take time to recover from our injuries. You’ll need some physical and occupational therapy, but we can work on fundraising while that happens. I’ll continue to be your eyes.”
“Of course you will,” he says quietly. “You’ve always guided me.” He pauses. “Listen, this morning—”
He breaks off as a nurse knocks on the door and enters.
“Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye, right?”’ she says, not raising her eyes from the clipboard she holds. “Are either of you in any pain?”
They both smile, and Riza brushes her thumb against his hand again.
“Not anymore,” Roy says. “Not in the slightest.”
—--------
The following day, when Marcoh shows up with his Philosophers’ Stone, Riza doesn’t know what to think. In fact, when Roy accepts his offer to have Marcoh restore his vision, seemingly without even pausing to consider it, without consulting her, she feels a little hurt and angry.
Roy insists that Marcoh try the stone’s power on Havoc first.
“If there’s enough left in it, come back tomorrow,” he says firmly. “But please, go out east on the next train. He needs it more than I do.”
Riza’s quiet during the rest of the afternoon. The others all talk about what comes next. Grumman confirms that he’s promoting Roy immediately to the rank of Brigadier General. Riza will also receive a promotion to Captain, but she’s not sure now whether she’ll stay in the military or not.
If they both stay, then what about the kisses and the declarations of love they shared last night? What about his assertion that he won’t go back, that he won’t risk losing her again?
But how can she leave him to shoulder the work alone?
She twists the hospital blankets round and round her fingers, and she breathes a little sigh of relief when Breda and Fuery—the last of their visitors—finally leave.
As the door shuts behind them, Roy sighs heavily and turns his head in her direction.
“You’re angry,” he says flatly.
Surprised, Riza looks up from the blanket.
“How can you tell?”
“You haven’t said a word to me all afternoon.”
“That’s not true,” Riza murmurs, looking down at her hands, twisting the blankets again.
“You spoke to everyone else, to the group at large a few times, but not to me. I don’t know. I can just tell.” He sighs. “You have a right to be angry.”
Riza clenches her teeth.
“Alright,” she admits. “I am, a little. I’m more… confused than anything.”
“You don’t want me to use the Philosopher’s Stone,” Roy says quietly. “I can accept that, but Havoc—”
“Did I say that?” Riza asks sharply. “Don’t make assumptions, sir. You may think you know everything about me, but you don’t.”
His mouth opens, then closes again. Riza breathes out hard through her nose, her thoughts spiraling.
“Roy,” he says quietly, his head bowed. “Not ‘sir’. Last night you called me Roy.”
“Last night we were both retiring from the military,” she reminds him. “Today you’re promoted and back on track to rise to the top. Things have changed.”
“Not for me, they haven’t,” he snaps, lifting his head and moving it in her direction. “Do you think I didn’t mean it? When I said I didn’t want to lose you? When I said I loved you? I’ve been in love with you for six years!”
Riza pulls in a quick breath, finally releasing the edges of the blanket.
“That long?” she asks quietly, watching him.
“Since you joined my team,” he says firmly. “Since I started to get to know you as a person, not just as my sensei’s daughter or as a fellow soldier in the battlefield, but for yourself. Riza Hawkeye. Independent of any of the rest of it.”
Her own words echo back to her, the day she asked him to burn the secrets from her back, her assertion it was the only way for her to become an independent person.
“Thank you for that,” she says quietly. “You… you saw me.”
He laughs bitterly.
“I still do,” he says sourly. “Can’t see your face, but I—I know you. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Riza says, closing her eyes against an irritating rush of tears. “But where does that leave us? If you aren’t going to retire…”
“You still can.”
She stares at him.
“I’m not saying you have to,” Roy elaborates, shaking his head, “but I want you to know it’s a choice. I know you pledged to support me to the top after Ishbal, but you could… you could do that in other ways—if it’s what you wanted.” His voice grows quiet, and she can tell he's trying to look at her from the way he angles his head. “You have a choice, Riza, in all of this. I said I wouldn't let you go, but if things have changed for you since last night… I don't want to go back to the way things were between us, but if that's what you want, I'll…” He sighs heavily, his glassy eyes sliding shut. "I'll respect your decision."
Riza huffs and sits up in her bed.
“Come over here," she says tersely.
“What? Why?"
“Because I'm still hooked up to an IV and can't come to you easily, that's why."
Slowly, he steps out of his bed and walks towards hers, slightly more confident in his motions than the night before. He feels for the edge of her bed and eases himself down onto it, looking dejected, as though he's certain she only asked him to come over here so she can try to let him down easy.
Maybe it's unfair to strike a blind man, but Riza doesn't care as she raises her left hand and smacks him hard on the back of the head.
“Hey!" he exclaims, bringing his hand up to his head and glaring in her general direction.
“You idiot," Riza says, still trying to hold back tears. "How could you think I'd want to go backwards now?”
He rubs his head, but his frown only deepens.
"You must've been wanting to get back at me for that for a while, huh?”
"For what?”
"Calling you an idiot the last time we were in a hospital together. After that night. Lust…”
She rolls her eyes, then, again, remembers he can't see it.
“You've more than made up for it since then," she says simply.
“Still," Roy says, bringing his hand down from his head and reaching for her, “I was much too harsh. I'm sorry."
She carefully puts her hand in his.
“Forget it. So much has happened since…"
He sighs and again starts from her hand to feel his way up to her face.
“Then you still want…?"
“ Yes , Roy," she says, turning her head, on instinct, to kiss his hand.
He smiles and leans forward, touching his forehead against hers, so close she can feel his breath. He brushes her nose with his.
“Then can I kiss you again?"
Riza chuckles.
“You didn't ask last night."
“How very ungentlemanly of me." Riza discovers she can feel the way his lips curve in a smile and loves it, smiling back so he can feel it, too. “The list of things I need to apologize for is long, I'm afraid."
Riza hums happily, wrapping her arm around his back and fingering the hair at the nape of his neck. He leans slightly backwards into her touch.
“Indeed," she teases. “Taking a girl's first kiss without even asking."
“Forgive me and kiss me again?"
It's so delightfully easy to tilt her head, and let their lips slot against each other. This time, he kisses differently, his lips open, capturing her lower lip between them, and Riza shivers into the sensation, tugging him closer.
But he pulls away.
“Wait," he says, shaking his head. “When you say first kiss, you mean our first, not…?"
Riza feels her cheeks grow rosy.
"Is it that obvious?” she mumbles, leaning back and pulling her arm from around him, mortified that her inexperience must show in the way she responds to him. He catches her hand before she can fully retreat.
“No, no," he says, clearly flustered. “I just didn't imagine… Never?"
“When exactly did I have the opportunity, Roy?” she asks tersely. “You know how things were in my hometown, how isolated we were.”
“But you went to the academy—”
“Yes, and I was there to study ,” Riza says. “But if you’ll remember I had the secrets of the world’s most dangerous form of alchemy tattooed to my back. That’s a little hard to explain. Then Ishbal happened, and my back is still…. What it is.”
Roy frowns deeply.
“I burned it so you wouldn’t have to worry about that,” he says in a quiet rumbling voice. “I thought you’d be able to move on and…” He breaks off, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “You’re saying you’ve never even let anyone else see it all these years? Riza, I only agreed to do it so you’d be free! You weren’t supposed to feel like you still had to hide it, to hide yourself away from the world like that.” His eyes still blaze like burning charcoal, despite their cloudy sheen.
“You did free me,” she insists. “I am not my father’s legacy, and that’s because of what you did.”
“Still, I thought I was actually freeing you from the burden of keeping yourself hidden. If I had known that all these years later, I’d be the only one to ever see it again, I’d never have…”
“Who says I’m going to let you see my back again?” Riza asks, trying for a lighter tone.
Roy stiffens.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to presume…” He shifts awkwardly on the bed, and Riza reaches for him again, putting her hand on his shoulder.
“I’m teasing you, my love,” she says, the endearment slipping out before she even has a chance to consider it. The way his face lights up makes her glad she said it. “You’re making too big a deal of this. If I’d found anyone I really wanted to be with, I would have done something about it. There just wasn’t ever…” She sighs, folding her arms over her chest. “Did I mention I’ve been in love with you since I was sixteen?”
Roy chuckles softly.
“You did, sweetheart.” Riza’s stomach flutters pleasurably. If that’s how he felt when she called him her love, she resolves to do it again, often. “I’m just surprised is all. You’re beautiful. I’m sure you had offers all the time, and I always assumed that at least some of the time you accepted them.”
“I’ve been on a couple of dates,” Riza says, “but nothing ever came of it.”
“Alright,” Roy says slowly. “I’m declaring a do-over. For your first kiss, I mean.” He reaches up, and she guides his hand to her cheek. “Can I kiss you, Riza?”
“You can,” she murmurs. Their lips meet almost as softly as they did the previous night, but Roy doesn’t stop with one kiss. He scoots closer to her on the bed and cups the back of her head in his hand, tilting his head as he brushes her lips with his again and again.
He opens his mouth slightly, and Riza tries to mirror the motions he makes. When he swipes his tongue across her lower lip, an electric chill races down her back, and she eagerly opens her lips further, inviting his gentle explorations.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, it’s always sounded like a strange thing to do. Why should she ever actually want another person to touch their mouth to hers? Much less to put their tongue in her mouth? It sounded uncomfortable at best, vaguely revolting at worst.
But the gentle swipes of Roy’s tongue against her own feel good in a way she’d never imagined. It’s an absolute revelation, and Riza finds herself opening her mouth wider, offering more, even letting her own tongue quest into his mouth. He makes a soft noise against her lips, low in his throat. She’s not sure she ever wants to stop kissing him, now that she knows how good it feels. It seems impossible that they denied themselves this for so long.
Roy’s the one who finally pulls away, chuckling slightly and kissing her cheek.
“You’re a quick study,” he murmurs near her ear. Riza’s cheeks heat pinker than they already are, and she wonders if he’ll kiss her again, wonders suddenly if he’ll do more . He only pulls her close against his chest and says quietly. “We’ll take things ever-so-slowly, sweetheart. As slow as you need.”
Being pressed against the hard muscle of his body where she can feel the heat of his skin through the paper-thin hospital clothes they both wear makes her heart beat faster still. She holds onto him with her good arm.
“I’m still not sure we’ve solved our problem,” she says quietly. “What do we do about this? The fraternization laws…”
“I’m not sure there’s any way we can keep this a secret, sweetheart,” Roy replies. “And I don’t want to. You deserve better than that.” He groans quietly. “I also don’t want you to give up your whole career. If things don’t work out between us somehow…”
The idea had never crossed her mind. She assumed that now they’ve finally confessed their feelings, agreed that they wanted to be together, they’ll just… keep on being together. But that’s probably naive. People come together and break up all the time. Just because he wants her now doesn’t mean he always will.
But he does want her now, and Riza’s not going to let that opportunity just pass her by, not for anything.
“I’ll go to Grumman,” she says quietly. “I’ll tell him how we feel and that I want to stay in the military. He’s the Fuhrer-President. Frankly, the fraternization policy as it stands currently is rather archaic. It presumes coercion as the only way a subordinate officer might become involved with a superior. It doesn’t allow for situations where there’s mutual consent. If I worked under another officer instead of as your direct subordinate, since we are both consenting adults, there shouldn’t be a regulation against our becoming involved. I’ll ask Grumman to change the policy—written consent from both parties so long as they’re not within the same direct command structure.”
“People will be coming out of the woodwork everywhere to apply for transfers and file that paperwork,” Roy predicts, shaking his head. “But I can’t fault your logic. I’ll miss having you beside me in the office, but it sounds like a sacrifice worth making. You really think he’ll do it?”
“I do,” Riza says. Her grandfather has always wanted to have a closer relationship with her. Riza has no doubt in her mind that if she comes to him with a reasonable request, playing on family loyalty, he’ll grant that request if it is in his power to do so. She doesn’t like the idea of presuming upon that family connection, but like Roy just said, it sounds like a sacrifice worth making.
She shifts out of his embrace and leans back against her pillows.
“So tomorrow, we’ll have Marcoh come and heal your eyes,” she says. “And then we’ll go from there. One step at a time.”
“So you don’t think it’s wrong?” Roy asks quietly. “To use the stone?”
Riza considers, tilting her head to the side as she regards him.
“I think it’s wrong that the portal took something from you when you were forced into it. You didn’t choose this. And so I don’t think it’s wrong to use whatever resource you have at your disposal to right that wrong.”
Roy shudders.
“I’m glad that’s how you feel,” he says softly. “If you had disapproved, you know, I wouldn’t have gone through with it, but I can’t deny just how much I want to be able to see your face again.”
“You have many far more important reasons than just that,” Riza mutters. He shakes his head fondly, smirking. “Stop looking at me like that.”
Roy blinks.
“I can guarantee you that I’m not looking at you,” he says dryly.
“You’re looking in my general direction with a facial expression that suggests you’re imagining… things you want to see besides my face.” She looks down at the blankets, flushing.
“Maybe a little bit,” Roy replies with a grin, the dimple in his cheek showing again. “But like I said, we’ll take things slowly. As slowly as you want.”
—-------
Fuery, Breda, and Falman are all visiting the following day when Dr. Marcoh returns from healing Havoc—who he reports has made a complete recovery and will just need some time in physical therapy, recovering his strength. Marcoh rushes everyone from the room, but Riza stays resolutely in place.
“I’ll stay,” she says firmly, crossing her arms.
“Absolutely not,” Roy growls from across the room. “There’s still a chance of an alchemical rebound, even with the stone.”
“If there’s that much risk, you two shouldn’t be doing it either,” Riza argues. “Dr. Marcoh, what do you think?”
“I think the odds of any sort of severe rebound are slim to nothing,” the older alchemist says. “If I thought it was unsafe, I wouldn’t have suggested it in the first place.”
Roy still looks irritated about it, but he doesn’t offer any further argument as Marcoh draws a transmutation circle in chalk on the hospital room floor and guides him to walk toward it. Roy angles his body so he’s facing Riza, and she watches, biting her lower lip nervously as Marcoh kneels.
A moment later, there’s a flash of blue crackling light, then Roy opens his eyes.
And he grins wider than Riza’s ever seen him grin before, crossing the room in two strides and sitting on the bed to take her into his arms, heedless of Marcoh, who turns his head and clears his throat awkwardly.
“You’re so damn beautiful,” Roy says just before he seals his lips over hers, kissing her as thoroughly as he did the previous night, until her head spins.
“Roy,” she says weakly, pushing against his shoulders, embarrassed.
“That’s it,” he says quietly, awestruck. “That’s just how I imagined you’d look, blushing like that. That’s what I’ve kept trying to see inside my head instead of… the last time I saw you.”
Bleeding out on the stone floor of a cavern below the city. It can’t have been a pleasant image for him
“Well, you can look all you like now,” she murmurs, daring a glance up at him to see that same wide, dimpled grin.
“I’m going to hold you to that,” he promises.
They’re broken out of the quiet reverie by a soft cough from Dr. Marcoh, and Riza’s cheeks feel so hot she fears she looks like a strawberry. Even Roy’s contain a hint of rosy hue, but he recovers first, reaching out to offer a firm handshake to the doctor.
“I owe you a debt of gratitude,” he says.
“All I ask is that you keep your promises to me, about restoring Ishbal,” Marcoh replies quietly.
“You have my word,” Roy swears.
—---------
Grumman visits them in the hospital later that same day, bearing the honors of their new ranks—brigadier general and captain. When Riza quietly asks if they can speak in private, he orders his security from the room. It’s surprisingly easy to tell him about their relationship, especially as Roy sits in a chair beside her bed and slips his hand into hers. Just the feel of his touch is grounding and comforting.
She can see from Grumman’s sly expression that he expected all along there was more between Roy and Riza than they’ve ever admitted to him before, than they've ever admitted even to themselves.
“So,” he says, smiling widely, “Mustang, you’ve finally decided to marry my granddaughter after all.”
“Sir!” Riza protests, ripping her hand away from Roy’s. Roy only chuckles and reaches for her again.
“All in due time, sir,” he says, winking at Riza. She stares down at their intertwined hands for a moment. The idea of marriage so soon is utterly overwhelming, but at the same time… it’s not so unappealing, either.
“Well in that case, Captain Hawkeye, I’ll be expecting your resignation papers,” Grumman says, smiling fondly at the two of them. “I’m very happy for—”
“Sir,” Riza interjects, “I’m telling you all of this because I don’t want to resign. I still have work to do for our military, and I want to serve.” She lays out her suggestions to him about changes in the fraternization laws, and Grumman frowns thoughtfully.
“I take your point, Riza,” he says. “And frankly, I don’t think it’s a bad idea. In fact…” He pauses, tilting his head to one side, peering at them both over the rim of his spectacles. “Well, Mustang, I’d planned on sending you to East City to fill my old post.”
Roy’s hand tightens reflexively around hers.
“Thank you, sir,” he says. “That’s an unexpected honor.”
“You’ve earned it,” Grumman replies, almost dismissively, “and it will be a good launching point for you to begin your efforts in Ishbal.” He looks at Riza with a fond smile. “My dear, I do believe I’ll have no choice but to reassign you. I think I’ll transfer you to my command, in fact.”
Now it’s Riza’s turn to tighten her hand around Roy’s. If Grumman transfers her to Central now, what’s the point in even changing the laws?
“I’ll be needing a liaison in East City,” Grumman continues. “Someone to work in the brigadier general’s offices and report back to me.”
Riza blinks at him, and Roy lets out a low chuckle. It’s more than they could have hoped for—a change to the laws and the ability to continue to work together, all wrapped up in a neat little package and easier to accomplish than Riza could have imagined.
“Thank you,” she manages to say, swallowing hard. “Grandfather.” Grumman beams at her and kisses her cheek before taking his leave, informing them that he expects the appropriate paperwork to be filed before Riza returns from medical leave, giving him plenty of time to re-write the laws accordingly.
The doctors release Roy the next morning. Apart from his hands—which are healing well without intervention—and his blindness, he sustained no injuries, and after monitoring him for twenty-four hours, they’re all satisfied that the transmutation to restore his sight was successful. Riza, on the other hand, is still anemic and recovering from the surgery on her shoulder. The wound on her neck is healing well, but the doctors insist it will be several more days before she can leave the hospital and weeks before she’ll be returned to full strength and able to return to active duty.
Roy visits her in the hospital every day, even though Riza can see he’s bone tired after working in the field all day to repair the damage done to Central by all the battles waged during the Promised Day. His newfound ability to transmute without a circle is a boon in their efforts.
Members of their team as well as Rebecca, Gracia and Elicia, and the Elrics are all frequent visitors, and Roy and Riza make no effort to hide the fact that they are now, in fact, officially “involved”.
When she’s released from the hospital at last, Roy brings her to his townhouse instead of her tiny apartment, insisting that she shouldn’t be alone while recuperating and that it will be easier to care for Black Hayate if she can let him out in Roy’s small fenced backyard instead of having to walk him.
Riza doesn’t argue in the slightest, quietly suggesting that since they’ll be moving soon, she might as well give notice at her apartment so they can look for a place in East City together. The way Roy grins at her sets her heart to fluttering.
He’s as good as his word when it comes to intimacy, taking things slowly, letting Riza set the pace as she recovers physically and processes emotionally all the new experiences.
She’s absolutely amazed at the way her body responds to his touch, the way a simple brush of his fingertips across the small of her back sends a tingle up her spine, the way a kiss to her temple makes her stomach flip-flop.
“I never imagined it would feel so intense,” she murmurs as they lay together under the covers of Roy’s bed, trading gentle kisses.
“Ah, so you did imagine,” Roy teases, grinning and stroking down her side over her t-shirt, lightly squeezing her hip. “I’d love to hear about all the things you imagined concerning me, sweetheart.”
Riza rolls her eyes and swats his shoulder, but Roy only laughs and kisses her again.
“I imagined you plenty,” he murmurs against her lips, nipping lightly in a way that makes her squirm.
“I hate how easy it is for you to make me blush,” Riza grumbles, ducking her head.
“And I love it,” Roy says, pulling her even closer so she can burrow her head against his shoulder. “I’ll tell you all about those little imaginings whenever you like. You just say the word,” he adds with another low chuckle.
The thought spurs a tight feeling low in Riza’s belly, and she murmurs into his shoulder, “I wouldn’t mind hearing.”
She can feel his quick intake of breath. This is a leap forward as far as intimacy goes. Though they’ve shared his bed every night for the past week, things haven’t gone beyond kisses and gentle brushes of his hands over her clothes.
“Do I get to hear some of yours in return?” Roy asks in a low tone that makes her belly tighten further.
“Maybe,” Riza hedges. In truth, while she has wondered what it would be like to be with Roy, her personal explorations when it comes to physical pleasure have been disappointing experiences for the most part. She’s heard enough from Rebecca and other women to suspect that she’s rather unusual in that regard.
Roy nuzzles his face against the side of her neck, lightly brushing his lips over the quickly fading scar there.
“I used to think about having you in the office,” he admits with a chuckle, “and I know it’s never going to happen, so don’t get the wrong idea, but it’s fun to think about. Stowing you away under my desk or laying you out on top of it…”
“You’re terrible,” Riza mutters as she runs her fingers through his hair.
“Guilty as charged,” Roy replies, looking up at her with an entirely unrepentant grin. Riza just smiles and kisses him again.