— – warning : anime spoilers
— – pairing : royai, roy mustang / riza hawkeye
— – tags : fluff, post canon, mutual pining, unspoken feelings, fic snippet
— – summary : riza hawkeye does not know her work shift today is actually a date
— – notes : this has been sitting in my drafts (and head) for a while and I thought sharing a snippet would motivate me to finally finish it. Enjoy!
The celebrations had been going on for days now, filling the streets of Central City with the almost-forgotten sounds of music, chatter, and laughter: a stark contrast against the cracked roads and ruined buildings, tangible reminders of the war that had just ended.
Life had started again, and not only metaphorically: lives had been taken during the battle. All of them. Yet, the dedication of a few brave, chosen souls, had managed them back.
Death is the only thing that gives life a meaning, some say: and it is therefore easy to understand the festive atmosphere, people smiling for the fact alone that they can.
However, a concrete reason did lie behind the celebrations.
« Did you call for me, sir? »
« Lieutenant, yes, come in. »
The door softly shut behind Riza as she made her way across the room. Now standing in front of the desk, she laid her eyes on the pile of paperwork sitting on it.
« Do you want me to take care of those? » she promptly asked, the urge to sigh at the idea of such a boring task not even grazing her.
« Oh, no, I’ll look at those later, » he answered, and this time a reaction — one attentive eyes could barely catch, yet Roy gladly sensed with no hesitation, — was indeed displayed at the statement: an unreliable promise then, an absurd resolution now, causing Riza’s expression to gently melt into a composed smile.
It would’ve been an amazing sight to see, really.
It’s not like intimacy (in the least intimate sense of the term) was new to them; but something had undeniably changed. Perhaps in the way they stood taller next to each other, now that they’d been lifted from the weight of their past; perhaps in the way they spoke, their words unable to possibly give away anything that hadn’t already been made obvious by their actions (although, it must be said, that didn’t in any way help with the persisting obliviousness, equally endearing and frustrating trait of their usually much-intuitive personalities).
The shy smirk on Riza’s face was the clearest possible indicator of that, and it would’ve been an atrocious lie to say Roy hadn’t lived off those hidden moments of complicity for the past weeks. The life of a to-be-ruler had turned out to be just as boring as he’d pictured it; that small, almost nonexistent smile was about all the exciting news in his life, and even then, it still wasn’t enough. It had only taken Roy a war, an end-of-the-world scale disaster and unenthusiastically becoming head of state to finally realise that.
The question, one renowned for making even the most confident souls crumble upon hearing it from the person, barely made Riza blink.
« Nothing, sir, » was the routine answer which, she thought, would then be met by a routine introduction to the plans she now did have: paperwork. It was common enough for the two to stick around in the office, taking care of matters that couldn’t find their time in the day or, at times, were better being taken care of in the confidentiality of a dark, empty office.
« Good, » he smiled instead — somewhat unconsciously, having lost perception of the visibility of his own expression. « Will you accompany me to the party? »