all the quiet nights | buddie | showering together & sharing a bed | 3.8k
eddie takes care of buck.
this is set at no particular point in canon and is in no way related to the latest episode, i promise <3 pure fluff, that's all!
“How are you feeling?” Eddie asks, once he’s pulling out of the parking lot and into the night.
“Tired,” Buck answers honestly. He drops his head back against the headrest. He’d lean against the window, fully get comfortable, but that would only amplify the movements of the car and agitate his throbbing wrist, so he makes do.
“You’ve been there for a while.” It’s true. Although Hen and Chim were relatively sure Buck’s wrist wasn’t broken, they’d insisted on him getting an X-ray, just in case. Chimney had stayed with him at first, but when shift ended, Eddie showed up, Buck’s duffel bag slung over his shoulder and a tired smile on his face. He hasn’t left Buck’s side since then.
“And it was a long shift,” Eddie continues. Also true.
Buck hums noncommittally. A long shift, a sore wrist. Just his luck. He’s not hungry, not after Chimney practically shoved a hospital sandwich down his throat. He could use a drink, he’s a little parched the way he always gets after they respond to a fire. Mostly, though, he’s just exhausted. Exhausted and gross. Fuck, he wants a shower.
That’s going to be an ordeal, Buck realises. He’s pretty sure he’s allowed to shower, since his brace is one of those removable ones. But it’s on his dominant hand, meaning that he essentially can’t use that one, and, well. Buck is clumsy. That’s how he ended up here, after all. He’s more than a little tired, too, which means he’ll be even less coordinated. Honestly, at this point, there’s no way he’s going to get fully cleaned up. Not unless he grits his teeth through the pain and uses his wrong hand, that is. It would probably help him not fall asleep under the water, too.
“Don’t even think about it,” Eddie says, not taking his eyes off the road. He’s flicking the turn signal as he speaks, neatly driving down the intersection where Buck’s loft is straight ahead and the Diaz home is to the right.
Eddie heads to the right.
“You don’t know what I’m thinking,” Buck counters half-heartedly.
“Of course I do.” Eddie’s voice is soft. He glances at Buck before focusing back on the road, those tired eyes sparkling ever-so-slightly. He looks beautiful like this, in the low light of the streetlights and the passing cars. “I always do.”
When TK is ambushed by another werewolf in the woods, he doesn't know their lives will intertwine many moons over. When Carlos returns to his hometown with a secret, he doesn’t expect his focus to shift, until it does.
Distracted, it's easy to miss the danger looming as close as their shadows.
Rating: E
Ch. 1 - Ch. 2 - Ch. 3 - Ch. 4 - Ch. 5
Ch. 6 - Ch. 7 - Ch. 8 - Ch. 9 - Ch. 10
Ch. 11 - Ch. 12 - Ch. 13 - Ch. 14
Ch. 15 - Ch. 16 - Ch. 17 - Ch. 18
Ch. 19 - Ch. 20 - Ch. 21 - Ch. 22 - Ch. 23 ☾
All these gifs are made by the wonderful @lutavero who I so adored collaborating with! Thank you so so much. ✨ Thanks @herefortarlos and @decafdino for beta-reading this.
Soft!Alpha!Bakugou defending his Omega (headcanons)
A/N: Beloved Anon, I dearly hope that this will help soothe the painfull events that are happening between you and your friend. I think we all need a soft, protective and explosive Alpha every once in a while.
Please forgive me for any spelling/grammar errors I made. My eyes aren’t fully healthy right now and I’’m still under treatment to find out what is wrong with them. So please forgive me, for both writing and reading have become very difficult for me to do.
Enjoy!!
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* Your 'friend' must have a death wish
* It started off slowly, the remarks about your figure, your second gender, mocking your job as a barista
* Last week Bakugou came home, hoping to find his sweet smelling Omega already eating their dinner
* Instead his nose picked up on a hint of a sour smell in your scent
* "Oi, you okay, (Y/N)?"
* You tell him about the behaviour of your friend towards you whilst also reassuring Bakugou that everything would be okay again once you talked to your friend
* Now while Bakugou is very protective of his mate, he also respects you and trusts you to stand up for yourself
* He's convinced that if you're capable of handling his ass, you're capable of everything
* But if there's one thing Bakugou Katsuki is not, it's stupid
* Try as you might, he can clearly see your mood dropping every day and your scent getting more sour, so bad he can almost taste it
* And you try to be as strong as possible, trying to talk things over with your friend because you don't wanna lose your friendship
* But there's only so much degradation one person can take
* Ever since you stepped into the home you shared with your carmine eyed Alpha, you just broke down on the couch
* You truly feel like you've lost someone you cared so deeply about and it hurts to feel like you're not worthy of being their friend
* Miles away from you, a certain Alpha Pro Hero felt something inside him shift
* His whole body on alert while his eyes try to find the source of this feeling
* A villain attack? Nah, everything's quiet on the streets today
* Before an hour had even passed he was able to understand this feeling
* My Omega is hurting
* (Listen here, Hawks may be fast and have big ass wings, but not even he can keep up with Dynamight in 'Protect Omega'- mode)
* As soon as he bursts through the door, he found you curled up in a fetal position on the couch and he was ready to tear apart whatever caused your disstress
* "Hé hé, the fuck is wrong? Did someone-"
* "I can't take it anymore, Katsuki"
* As soon as these words leave your mouth, Bakugou starts fearing the worst
* Is this it? Were you leaving him? Surely, that must be it, nobody can be with such a hot headed Alpha like him for the rest of their life. Did you finally realise that he doesn't deserve you? Did you-
* "They keep degrading me and I just can't take it anymore, Katsuki. I tried, I really did, but... i don't want someone who makes me feel worthless as a friend and I just- I just don't know anymore..."
* Seeing you this heartbroken over that bastard of a friend tore him apart
* One side wanted to hunt down your 'friend' and skin them alive before throwing them in a pit of salt
* And one side wanted to wrap you in his arms and protect you from the rest of the world
* The latter won
* Tonight was about holding you close and wiping away the tears you cried
* Softly telling you that he's so proud of calling you his Omega while tracing words of love on the skin of your back
* His pheromones chasing away your dark thoughts and soothing your own distressed, rotten scent, slowly returning it to it's own roasted marshmellow smell
* Not letting you go as the two of you shower together, washing your hair and massaging your scalp
* Worshipping your body with acts of intimate love while mumbling words of praise
* "Beautiful", "love your pure heart", "your scent is like air to me", "better than the world deserves", "my passionate Omega", "Keeper of my heart"
* He will die before ever making you feel like you're anything less than the Godess he saw you as
* Tonight was all about making his Omega feel wanted
* Tomorrow however...
* You stayed home (Bakugou's advice) to recover from your break down yesterday, while Bakugou went out on a little errand
* Last thing you expected was for the doorbell to ring, smelling your Alpha on the other side of the door
* And another scent, one that's downright terrified
* As you opend the door, you found your ex-friend kneeling on your doorstep with a lookin of utter fear in their eyes
* "What? Katsuki, what is (Y/F/N) doing here?"
* He smirked as he looked down at your friend. "I believe you have something to tell her, don'tcha?"
* Through all the sobbing and snot on their face you were able to make out the words 'sorry', 'you're not worthless', 'Omega's are my equal', 'I was a scumbag', 'save me from Satan', 'I beg for forgiveness'
* You... didn't really know what to say besides telling them that what they did to you really hurt your feelings and your friendship is over
* As they started to beg even more, Bakugou grabbed them by their scruff and told them to 'Fuck off, before he'll tear off their head for making HIS Omega cry'
* Slamming the door close, Bakugou picked you up to start walking to your bedroom
* His scent rolling over you like a warm blanket as you softly purr: "Thank you, Alpha. For making me feel safe again."
* A feeling of pride swelling up in your mate for protecting and standing up for his Omega
* He'll carry the world like Atlas for you if you asked him
* He grins. "Anything for you, my mate. You think they got the message?"
* "I think you personally put the fear of God himself in their heart."
* "Good. That should fucking teach them not to come near my Omega ever again."
* He may be the explosive Pro Hero and Alpha Dynamight, but he's left defenseless when it comes to you, his Omega and he'll do everything within his power to make you feel loved every single day of your shared life
I have a request. Something along the lines of like “hey you’re my hot neighbor and I hate to bother but my sink is leaking and I’d normally ask my boyfriend but we actually just broke up please help me” w/ cal or anyone rlly
OOF, YES. I LOVE THIS. Here you go my little berry. Hope you like it!!
Word Count: 1k
Requests always open!
As I get out of the car, I drop my keys. As I leaned down to grab my keys, I drop my coffee cup. I stand up straight and blow a lock of hair out of my face before chasing after the cup that is quickly rolling away. This is just what I need after the absolute shit show work was today. Once I caught the cup, I locked the doors on my car and started to head inside. It was weird walking into the house and having no one to greet. It’s been a week and a half since I caught him in bed with his assistant. My blood boiled at the thought, so I ran my hands through my hair and figured a cold shower sounded amazing.
Just as I predicted, the shower was amazing. My stomach sounded its mating call and I pulled on a pair of pajamas and started running a brush through my hair before walking into the kitchen to make some dinner. I grabbed a pan from the cabinet and put it under the faucet to get some water to boil. As I pushed the handle to turn on the faucet, water sprayed straight out, spraying me directly in the face. Instinctually, I turned the water off and threw the an into the sink, completely and utterly over this fucking day. Just by looking at it, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it. I’ve never been good at fixing things like this, I always had him do it. I placed my hands on the edge of the counter and sighed, “Fuck, man.”
Suddenly, and idea popped into my head. When I first moved in, the guy in the house over came over to introduce himself. I remember him being insanely attractive, we got in a fight that night since I couldn’t control the drool. After grabbing a towel and drying my face, I walked over to the window that when I look through it, I can see his house. The light was on, so maybe he was home. I chewed on my bottom lip for a second, maybe he could help me fix it.
The curtain over the window fell shut as I walked over to the front door and put on the first pair of shoes I could find. My feet made quick work to his front door and I knocked a few times, turning away from the door. There were some clicking noises from the other side that caused me to turn around. He opened the door and a lump formed in my throat. He was wearing a white tank top, the front wet with sweat. Sweat droplets trickling down his temple. He legs covered by some basketball shorts, and some sneakers on his feet. He tossed a towel around in his hands before wiping his forehead. I crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “Hi, uh, you’re Calum, right?” He smirked and nodded. “Great, I, uh, live next door and my faucet just betrayed me and sprayed the fuck out of me.” He laughed and looked at his hands for a second. “I would normally ask my boyfriend to fix it, but turns out he likes to share our bed with his assistant, too.” Calum raised his eyebrows and I bit my bottom lip, “Sorry, too much information. Anyway, do you mind coming over and helping me out just for a second?”
“Sure, let me change really fast.” I nodded and rocked back and forth on my feet. He let out a chuckle. “You can come in, if you want.” Reluctantly, I took a step inside his door, sidestepping so he could close his front door. He smiled as he walked away and down the hallway. Once he was completely out of sight, I covered my face with my hands. He just had to answer the door looking like that. After I dropped my hands from my face, I let out a breath and shook my hands, realizing how flustered I felt.
When he came back out he was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a black t-shirt, making it a little easier to talk to him. He grabbed his keys, dropping them into his pocket and opened the door, motioning for me to lead the way. We were silent as we walked towards my house, but I broke the silence once I opened the door. “Sorry about the mess, still cleaning up his shit.”
He closed the door behind him and waved his hand, “Not a problem. Is your kitchen through there?” He asked pointing in the correct direction of my kitchen. I rubbed my arm up and down and nodded. He nodded back and made his way into the kitchen. As he lifted his arms to check the faucet, I watched his back muscles which were just barely visible through his black shirt. “I think I know what’s wrong with it.” He wiped his hands on his pants as he turned towards me. “Do you have any tools here?”
My mind racked through all of the things that could possibly be laying around this house. “Maybe out in the garage. Let me go look.”
“I’ll come with you.” He smiled causing the lump in my throat to return.
Once inside the garage, I turned on the light and Calum immediately found the tool box he left here. Calum started rifling through until he grabbed the thing he desired and then walked back inside. I followed him around my house like a lost puppy, my arms crossed over my chest, afraid of I-don’t-know-what. Calum used the selected tool to tighten a few things on the faucet and then tested it, the water pouring down like it’s supposed to. “Oh my god, thank you. How can I repay you?” I asked, thankful I could now eat.
He turned to me, a smug smile stretched across his lips. He held out the tool and I grabbed it from him, both of our hands on it while he spoke. “Don’t worry about it. Just pop on over whenever you need anything.” He let go of the tool and winked before walking past me and out the front door.
The door shut, and a shiver ran down my spine and shooting into my stomach. I let out a staggered breath and mumbled “holy shit,” to myself.
Harrison Roommate!AU with “The guy who wins your heart is so lucky.”
The door to yours and Haz's flat opened up the reveal the man himself. It caused you to look up from your book you are reading. "How was work?"
Haz sighed and sat next to you on the couch. You shut your book and set it on the coffee table, motioning for him to lay on top of you. Smiling he did so contentedly.
"Well darling since you asked, it was hell. I thought it would be a easy day like I was told, but no."
Now it was common with your friendship with Haz to be cuddly and more close than how you and Tom are. Everyone kept insisting you're together, but you're not.
"Well you're home now, Harrison. How about we order some pizza and watch a movie?"
Haz looked up with his ocean, blue eyes into yours smiling with a hint of some emotion in his eyes. You couldn't quite make it out. "The guy who wins your heart is so lucky, y/n."
"Well then I guess that makes you the lucky guy...", you said smiling before standing up and grabbing your phone heading to the kitchen. You dialed your favorite pizza place and ordered, while talking to the guy you knew Harrison followed you without looking. After you hung up the phone, you turned around to see him standing right there.
He didn't say anything as he grabbed your face gently rubbing your cheeks with his thumb, feeling the ring he keeps on his left thumb. Before you could ask the question, he leans down kissing you gently as your wrapped your arms around him. He gently pulls away. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that. Now I can really say I have a girl to get home to after work."
With that you giggled smiling, "good, I always want to be the only girl in your life."
I posted this last night but got scared and deleted it, but I’m going to try posting it again akjbdsfg
Minnie and Jacob decide to have a moment in a church’s upper floor following a sermon
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Minnie fought the urge to move Jacob’s hand to let a finger slide into her mouth as his hand clasped over her mouth. Through his own groan, Jacob told her they had to be quiet, both of them knowing that while the service was over, John and Joseph were still in the church hearing confessions.
But it was hard for Minnie to be quiet when Jacob was fucking her as good as he was that afternoon.
Minnie’s legs were wrapped around Jacob’s waist and pushed up as high as they could go, but she desperately wanted more. The few times she had tried to move a leg to his shoulder, he pushed it back down with a growl and a look on his face that drove Minnie wild. Jacob knew that in that position, Minnie couldn’t be as quiet as she needed to be. Hell, Jacob knew he wouldn’t be quiet.
Having sex in a church, especially with members of said church still inside, wasn’t something Minnie thought she and Jacob would ever do. But Joseph’s sermon was about lust and Jacob’s hand kept inching higher and higher on Minnie’s thigh. They had decided silently together that they couldn’t wait to get back to their cabin.
Jacob pulled his hand back slightly as he felt Minnie’s tongue poke out of her mouth and lick his palm. She giggled at the look on his face, her tongue still sticking out, but her playful demeanor was quickly changed as Jacob’s hand wrapped around her throat. She stared up at him as he squeezed gently.
Minnie whined and arched her back as she felt his thrusts quicken. Jacob’s eyes closed and his breathing was starting to become heavier. He leaned down to kiss her; it was rough and sloppy with the movements of his hips, but Minnie eagerly returned the kiss. It seemed so rare they ever had sex in a position where they could easily kiss each other.
Jacob’s lips trailed down to her jawline, under her chin, and finally to her neck. He found her pulse and placed his tongue at the base of her neck before trailing it up. When he was satisfied by the strangled moan from Minnie, still trying to keep herself quiet, he repeated the action.
“Fuck, Minnie…” Jacob moaned against her skin as she felt her muscles squeezing around him. If he wasn’t close before, he definitely was now. He pushed a hand between them and began rubbing her clit with his thumb, causing Minnie to cry out his name. Below them, they heard the hushed murmurs of confessions stop for a few seconds, as if they were all trying to find where the sound had come from.
“Jacob, please,” Minnie begged, the pleading in her voice almost too much for Jacob to handle. “Baby, I am so close.”
Her nails dug into Jacob’s back as he pressed harder on her clit. She dragged them up and down his back as she felt the familiar tug in her stomach. She silently begged Jacob not to stop; edging wasn’t on her mind at the current moment, although she did enjoy that from time to time.
“Fuck...fuck, that’s it. Good girl, Minnie...” Jacob moaned as he felt Minnie tighten around him again. This time, it didn’t let up and stop like before.
Minnie whimpered at his praise; usually he would find ways to give her praise when he wanted to fuck her, knowing it always got her in the mood almost immediately.
Minnie lifted her hips slightly and Jacob’s free hand returned to her mouth. He loved hearing her when she finished, loved watching her and knowing that it was because of him, but right now he needed her quiet, no matter how it pained him to not watch her entire face as she finished.
Minnie threw her head back and moaned into Jacob’s palm as she came, her legs shaking around his waist and her eyes squeezing shut. Jacob buried his face in her chest and grunted as he gave his final few thrusts before finishing inside of her, too lost in the feeling to think of pulling out.
They stayed like that for a few moments, Jacob buried deep inside of her and Minnie’s legs still glued to his waist. Jacob kissed her softly as he pulled out of her and eased her legs down. He pulled her into his arms, knowing she liked to be held afterwards, and smiled softly as she nuzzled against his chest.
“Do you think they heard?” Minnie asked, looking up at him. She didn’t need a visit from Joseph at her cabin about the dangers of sin, and she definitely didn’t want to be told she wasn’t allowed to see his brother anymore.
“With how quiet you were, I’m sure not.” Jacob replied with a chuckle. Minnie lightly smacked his chest at the sarcasm in his voice.
“Well if you weren’t so fucking big and fucked me so well, maybe I’d be quieter.” Minnie said with a huff.
“Sounds like you’re complaining,” Jacob said with a smirk. He opened his mouth to speak again, but John's voice shouting up at them from downstairs cut him off.
“Lock the church up when you leave. Joseph would like to see you both showered and decent for dinner tonight. Same time as always.”
They listened to John’s footsteps continue towards the door. Minnie knew, despite John being the confessor, he wouldn’t judge them for fornicating. She knew he had hopes that Jacob would marry Minnie, and the sins she and Jacob committed could be forgotten.
“Yeah,” Jacob said as the door closed, “I think they heard.”
I recently hit 100 followers which was super exciting for me! I really appreciate everyone who follows me and/or takes the time to like, reblog, or comment on my writing. It’s a huge motivator and seriously boosts my writerly self-esteem, such as it is.
Anyway this work takes place in my Price of Life/Portrait of a Family AU and so while that context will add to the fic (particularly the last time) it can also be read on its own.
Read on A03
The royal palace in Xing’s capital city was nothing like Riza had ever seen. It was massive - at least the size of a city block, she thought upon first seeing it, but after walking the perimeter one humid afternoon she figured it would be big enough for the entirety of the small eastern town she grew up in to fit comfortably within its walls. Sections of the palace were clearly older, and at least one wing was walled off altogether, in need of repairs. When she’d asked their guide one day he told her that the palace had stood for at least a thousand years, although maybe not in its current form.
It didn’t escape her notice that she and General Mustang were given rooms several floors higher than the bulk of the Amestrian party; one floor higher even than Major General Kent, who was the other officer overseeing the diplomatic treatises and trade agreements they’d come here to discuss. Ling never came out and said as much, but she was certain that their rooms were some of the nicer ones in the gigantic palace: her room boasted a bed that could have fit three of her, a huge claw-footed tub, and a floor-to-ceiling window that gave her an impressive view of the city. She’d made a point, several times, to get up early and watch the sun rise over the sloping buildings so different from those at home.
To her immense surprise the official business had been wrapped up around four days into the weeklong trip, at which point General Kent and his men promptly packed up and took the next train out.
“I suppose we’ll be leaving tomorrow as well?” Riza asked General Mustang as they stood on one of the massive balconies that overlooked the city. Nights brought some relief from the wet heat of the day; a gentle breeze blew over the wide river and across the city, making the heavy woolen uniform seem less oppressive.
“Of course not, Captain,” he said mildly. “Our train doesn’t leave for days; it’s far too late to change it now. You might actually have to take some time for yourself and relax a little. I hope that won’t prove too much of an inconvenience.”
Riza didn’t think she’d had a moment to herself to sit and read a book for close to a year and a half now what with the business with the Homunculi, Ishval, and now the Xing excursion.
“Not at all, Sir,” she said crisply, but she was smiling as she met his gaze.
The next few days they drifted around as civilians, generally together as holiday or not she was still his bodyguard, but the amount of Xingese bodyguards lent to them by the Emperor meant that Riza felt comfortable occasionally acting as ships in the night. After all, the museum of alkahestry didn’t particularly appeal to her and the General was none too interested in seeing the wing devoted to the development of gunpowder. At one point Riza looked up from her book across the sunroom - a space with a glass roof to let light in, and a large fountain bubbling away in the middle that had quickly become one of her favorite haunts - to see Mustang in his shirtsleeves, heavily engrossed in something he’d borrowed from the Imperial library, a cup of tea in his hand. Occupying the same space as him and seeing him rested, at ease, living again was a gift she didn’t deserve but would value anyway. As though he felt her staring he’d looked up and offered a small smile. She blushed and ducked her head to go back to reading her book.
It was the morning of their last full day in the country: tomorrow they would be on the noon train heading back to Amestris. They were originally scheduled to go back yesterday- in fact the bulk of their accompanying military personnel had left - but she and the General, with a handful of soldiers, had stayed. She was standing straight-backed at Mustang’s right shoulder, thinking that if she’d been any worse a soldier she would have snuck a peek at her pocket watch already, when the reason for their delay finally entered the imperial throne room.
It was still strange seeing Alphonse Elric as a human and not as a suit of armor, but it was refreshing to see him looking robust and healthy, not like the frail wisp of a thing he’d been when they put him on the train, barely strong enough to walk on his own after The Promised Day. He and May Chang, now a young woman, made their way up the long carpeted entryway and bowed to the young emperor. Ling rose from his seat, inclined his head, and the ceremony seemed to be over.
“They certainly like processions,” the General murmured, soft enough that only she would be able to hear, while Ling and May said their informal hellos, which seemed to involve quite a lot of teasing, she noted with a smile. There was going to be a parade in a few hours, ostensibly as a homecoming for May, who had been traveling for the better part of a year, but realistically as an excuse for Ling to throw another lavish feast.
“I don’t see the harm,” she whispered back.
“Six feasts since we’ve been here, and this is the third parade,” he muttered. “It’s a little much.”
“Colonel - Oh sorry, it’s General now right? Brother mentioned in one of his letters,” Al said as he approached, offering a hand shyly but not looking at all upset when the older man pulled him into a hug instead. Not something he would have tried in-uniform but technically they were using vacation days for this last leg of the trip. With the exception of the parade later on they were dressing and acting like civilians.
“Hi Captain Hawkeye,” May said a little shyly, and Riza turned to smile at the younger woman.
“Hello May. You’ve gotten so tall,” she said. It was true; though still on the shorter side, May had grown half a foot since Riza had seen her last.
“And pretty,” Mustang added, ever the charmer. Al came over to wrap Riza in a hug and she was struck again by how much things had changed. He was taller than her, broad-shouldered and with a striking similarity to his brother, although even nearing twenty Alphonse’s face remained cherubic. She’d changed too, of course: there were lines by her eyes that hadn’t been there five years ago, and she’d cut her hair off and grown it out again, so that it now sat a little below her shoulders. Recently the heat had her thinking about cutting it as short as she’d had it when they first moved to East City all those years ago. The General was pulling something out of his pocket; a book wrapped in ribbon, and handing it to May. “I brought you something,” he said.
“Oh that wasn’t necessar- OH, General Mustang! Where did you get this?”
“You can call me Roy, and there’s certainly more where that came from, my connection is very reliable.”
“He’s talking like he got that book off the black market,” Riza said to Al, who just grinned.
“He might have; it was banned thirty years ago for the author’s, ah, unconventional ideas.” He wilted immediately under the look she gave him and put his hands up. “Nothing all that bad, promise, he was just before his time where some aspects of medical alchemy were concerned. His ideas are really interesting, if you-” Riza held a hand up.
“I’m afraid anything else is going to go over my head,” she admitted, still eyeing the book. The cover was roughened leather that still bore traces of gold leaf, and everything about this, from May’s reaction to Al’s explanation spoke to the book being very hard to get ahold of and also very expensive.
“How did you know?” May was squealing, arms clamped tightly around the General’s waist, her precious new book in her hands. Alphone grinned broadly as he pried her off of Mustang, standing with an arm casually slung over her shoulders as she turned the book over in her hands.
“I have my sources,” the alchemist revealed, with a wink at Al. “I do try to stay in touch, even though your brother and I have this game where he hangs up on me the first time and I have to wait for Winry to answer the phone and make him take the call.”
“But this must have been so… I mean, thank you very much,” May said. Riza knew enough about nonverbal communication to know that something in the look Al gave her told her to drop the subject. Her own sharp look at the General was met with careful avoidance. There was of course nothing wrong with bringing a gift to an eager young scholar, she reasoned, and let the matter go.
-x-
This was the third parade, but Riza was no less unsettled than she’d been at the first. Parades were liabilities, plain and simple; you might as well paint a target on the back of every person of interest who set foot within a hundred yards of the garish floats and ostentatious musical pavilions. She would have far preferred being a spectator; they milled around eating thornapples and skewered meats and waving miniature pinwheels. She realized suddenly that she hadn’t really been to an event in years that didn’t involve her acting as bodyguard.
“Stop dancing around me, Hawkeye,” the General muttered after the fourth time she switched from his right side to his left.
“We aren’t properly staffed, Sir,” she replied. “I want to be sure I’m able to spot any possible threats.” He waved a hand dismissively.
“We’re in the center of a platoon of soldiers.”
“And the only ones in Amestrian uniforms in this section of the procession,” she pointed out. “We’re sitting ducks.” Mustang ignored this, tugging at his collar.
“I wish we’d get a move on, it’s sweltering .”
She had to admit it was; wool uniforms and humid summer air didn’t mix particularly well. They’d been in Ishval earlier this year overseeing reconstruction plans but it had been spring and they only had to contend with the dry heat that was more typical of the desert. Here there was no escaping the damp summer air. At long last the parade started moving, snaking its way through the city. They would loop around the outskirts of town and then end up back at the palace. The whole thing would last over an hour.
They were situated at the front of the same float they’d adorned for the previous two parades; a burnished gold monstrosity that Riza supposed was supposed to be a fish. Only this time instead of their military escort they were standing with a handful of Ling’s soldiers, with May seated on an ornately decorated chair reminiscent of a throne that was situated on the dais and Al just below. May had looked slightly uncomfortable at first, but soon adjusted, smiling and waving to the crowd as they trundled along.
With less people there was more surface area and therefore more blinding gold to contend with. Riza resisted the urge to shield her face with her hand as the sun danced across the multifaceted surface. The General looked to be concentrating deeply on something, but as she followed his gaze she didn’t see anything amiss.
“Cenz for your thoughts, Sir?” she asked and he seemed surprised.
“I’m thinking that the second we get back to the palace I’m getting a pitcher of iced wine and sitting next to one of those massive indoor fountains,” he said, and flashed her a grin. “You’re welcome to join me of course.”
She opened her mouth to say that actually they had some reports they could stand to go over and should probably pack as well when there was a sudden flash of movement overhead, and something hot and bright burst inside their float. Instinctively Riza flung her body sideways, into the General, forcing him to the floor and shielding his body with her own. For a few harsh moments she was far away, both in time and place, in a different desert, with a different threat, following the same man. Her breath caught in her throat as she willed herself back to the present, to Xing and the Parade. A few moments of relative silence passed, and she hesitantly looked up to see Alphonse and May also climbing to their feet, May’s ornate chair merrily burning under the ruins of a massive Xingese firework. There was a snort beneath her and she looked down to find that she was nose to nose with Mustang.
“A rogue firework,” he said, regarding the object. She couldn’t tell what exactly he did but a second later the flame was snuffed out, starved of oxygen.
She got to a sitting position, looking around at the crowd, but everyone seemed to be carrying on as usual, the spectacle over. With the sheer amount of explosives Xing boasted this can’t have been the first untimely detonation they’d ever seen. May was standing at the front of the float waving as though nothing had happened, Al at her side.
“You can probably let me up now,” he remarked dryly and Riza looked down to find she was still straddling his midsection. She got to her feet and offered a hand to help him up and he smoothed his uniform down. Was it the heat of the uniforms, or were his cheeks tinged pink? Hers felt hot too and she looked away towards the crowd. How many times had she pushed him aside, or covered his body with her own in times of danger, and yet she had never been as thrown off-kilter by the feeling of their bodies pressed against each other. Even through two sets of uniforms it was a sensation that made her breath catch somewhere behind her sternum.
Stoically she moved a half-step behind him, and the parade went on.
-x-
After a very long and very convoluted feast, they walked back to their rooms in a comfortable silence.
“You know Captain, I’ve got a bottle of nice Xingese wine and a balcony, if you’d like to watch the fireworks,” he offered. She considered a moment; as the senior officer, his room was nicer. Hers was next door and had a nice large window, but no balcony to speak of.
“All right,” she said, surprising him as well as herself. “Let me change out of my uniform and I’ll be right over.”
She stopped in her room long enough to change into a soft knee-length skirt and hesitated before putting on a lightweight sleeveless shirt she would normally only wear to sleep in, because the top of her tattoo could be seen peeking out of the top. Her hair covered it, however, and the night was warm enough that she’d be glad to wear less fabric. She padded to the connecting door and knocked lightly.
He’d also changed, into a button down and slacks, and handed her a glass of deep purple-red wine as she walked in, which she sniffed at before sipping; they were fond of fortified wine here and so the vintage was peppery with a hint of berries and nutmeg that burned pleasantly on the way down.
“I think they’re about to start-” Mustang was saying, but was interrupted by a loud pop , and a bright display of color and crackling out over the city. Mesmerized, Riza drifted through the room and out the open glass doors to what was admittedly a very nice patio. It was large, with a iron-wrought table and chairs near the doors, a few potted plants, and an actual sofa towards the other end. Bypassing the furniture entirely, she walked to the rail and settled her elbows on it to wait for the next eruption.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” she breathed, as Roy came to stand next to her, elbow barely brushing hers.
“I have,” he replied. “Not for years - they used to set off fireworks in Central every year on New Year’s Eve. But they stopped around the time I went to learn under your father.”
“No wonder you weren’t impressed by the sparklers we got from the village,” she mused, lips quirking upward in a smile. He had the grace to look embarrassed.
“I really was quite the insufferable city boy, huh?”
Two more glasses of the heady Xingese wine and they sat on the couch, her leaning up against the pillows with her legs bent over his lap, him sitting upright, absently tracing a finger around the bruising on her knee that had appeared after the scuffle at the parade.
“That was close, earlier,” he said finally, and she looked up.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been attacked by a firework before,” she said dryly. “They’re very loud up close.” A warm feeling had settled somewhere in her stomach, courtesy of the wine, the fireworks, and the General’s proximity. The General’s proximity which was… entirely too near, now she stopped to think about it. She made to swing her legs off the couch so they wouldn’t be so entwined, but the weight of his arm across the bend in her legs stopped her.
“Don’t, please. Just… don’t. Let’s enjoy this.”
Normally she would protest out of some sense of country and duty but the wine and the warm summer air had affected her in equal measure, so she sat back against the pillows without another word. His hand that was tracing her bruises drifted up her thighs to trace the end of her skirt, however, and she cleared her throat.
“That was nice of you, to get that book for May. What made you think of it?” she asked, believing that to be an innocent, diffusing question. Diffusing of what, she didn’t quite know, she just had a vague sense of something needing to be doused. He chuckled, and the warm burning in her belly intensified.
“You’ll think I’m being sentimental but I kind of feel like I owe her one.” At her puzzled look he shrugged. “On The Promised Day, if she hadn’t jumped in to heal you when she did… she saved your life.”
“So shouldn’t I be the one giving her presents?” Riza asked, amused. His eyes were oddly intense, and her smile quickly vanished.
“I almost lost you,” he said seriously, and he reached out, seemingly without meaning to, and caught a strand of her hair between his fingers, and it occurred to her how close they were sitting. “So no, it’s me who owes May Chang a debt I can never really repay.” a firework went up, and popped into the inky black night, illuminating them and for a moment time stood still.
“I’ve always been ready to die in pursuit of our goals,” she breathed, not knowing what else to say, unable to tear her eyes away from his.
“And if that’s what it takes to reach the top, I don’t want it,” he told her firmly. His hand was now resting gently on her chin, and she was surprised to find her own fingering his collar. She wasn’t sure if he was leaning in or if she was, but their noses lightly bumped together and he froze. “Tell me not to,” he said softly, like a prayer.
This was an order she couldn’t obey. She closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to his, just as another firework crackled overhead. This was dangerous, she thought as she slid down on the cushion, using her hands on his collar to pull him down with her, something he was all too eager to comply with, sliding a hand behind her knee to hitch it over his hip. His body was a comforting weight on hers, and made this moment seem weighty and real, a culmination of what she had come to accept as pointless longing for something that needed to remain forever out of reach.
She ran her hand up through the back of his hair, tugging lightly as she kissed him hungrily. He ground his hips against hers and she gasped at the contact, hand resting lightly on the side of his face as he pulled gently away. For a moment they just looked at each other, and she found she was able to read the question in his eyes as easily as ever. Her lip quirked and at her silent response, he bent to trail kisses down her throat.
She wasn’t sure how they’d managed to make their way back into the room, stumbling into door frames, shucking off clothes as they went. How strange that she’d known him for so many years, through so many triumphs and failures, but yet there was apparently still so much to learn. There was a particular sound he made when she grazed his neck with her teeth that was new, and so enticing she half-laughed as she brought her lips once more to his. Her naked back hit the cool silk of the sheets on his bed and she sighed as he kissed his way down her body.
The light from the fireworks lit the room through the open patio doors, but they hardly noticed, engrossed in each other with the heady desperation of people who were seizing an opportunity that may never come again.
-x-
Riza’s first thought upon waking was that she’d had too many glasses of strong Xingese wine. Her second was that there was an arm securely wrapped around her waist. Her third was that she was completely naked. She made to sit upright but the arm was utterly unyielding, so she settled for covering her face with her hands.
“Oh no,” she said out loud, and the body behind her snorted slightly, shifting under the thin topsheet that covered them.
“Wh- Hawkeye?” for there could be no mistaking her for anyone else he might have taken to his bed; he was face to face with her scarred back. She winced, thinking about the rude awakening that must be.
“Good morning, Sir,” she said tightly. The most embarrassing thing was that they hadn’t had all that much wine. Yes they’d been tipsy and she now felt like she needed to drink a whole pitcher of water, but she remembered everything. Oh how she remembered. She felt heat rush to her face as she rolled over, his arm still around her waist, to look at him.
“Good morning,” he said, eyes meeting hers and then drifting lower. She cleared her throat, studiously avoiding looking anywhere but his face.
“So this was a colossal fuck-up,” she said. “Sir.” He sat up on one elbow, leaning over her as he swept her bangs out of her eyes and leaned in to brush his lips to her neck.
“Mmph,” he said, and she took that as assent. The arm that had been situated across her hips withdrew, and his fingers ghosted over her hips, around to her stomach, and dipped lower, brushing between her thighs. She caught his wrist delicately and pulled his hand upward.
“We can’t,”
“We most certainly can,” he told her, kissing her hotly below her ear, “and have.” She sighed. Well the damage was done, it seemed early enough, and the way he was nibbling her earlobe was causing a familiar warmth to pool behind her navel. Using her legs and the element of surprise she rolled him over onto his back. He ran his hands up her thighs to her hips, grinning up at her wolfishly.
“Once more couldn’t hurt, I suppose,” she acquiesced, and bent to hiss him.
After, as she lay in his arms, both of them covered in a fine sheen of sweat, the panic really began to set in. He cleared his throat, apparently, and as usual, thinking along the same lines she was.
“What now?” he asked, seeming to echo her thoughts. “Do - should we figure out how to continue this when we’re back in Central?” She sat up on one elbow and regarded him seriously, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“Do you want to?” she asked. He turned pink and avoided her eyes.
“More than anything in the world, but -”
“Not more than anything,” she finished for him. “I’m glad we agree. We’ve come too far; we’ve lived through too much to risk it.”
“Riza,” he said, and her name on his lips was both foreign and so familiar it made her chest ache and for a moment she couldn’t meet his eyes. “You have to know that I-” she leaned down and kissed him soundly, her hair falling in a curtain as though to hide this brief moment of weakness on both of their parts from the world.
“Please don’t say it,” she said softly. “It’s going to make it so much harder to forget this.”
“But you know,” he breathed, and she nodded, blinking hard.
“I do. And… me too.”
-x-
Six weeks later Riza stood up from the bathroom floor, wiping her mouth, feeling as though a cold bucket of water had been upended onto her as she thought hard, counting weeks and sinking further and further into a certainty tinged with wild panic. This wasn’t the first time she’d been sick lately, and she had a suspicion it wouldn’t be the last.
She washed her hands robotically, thinking hard.
They had been so concerned with bureaucracy following their… indiscretion, that she hadn’t even stopped to consider biology. That there could be ramifications beyond losing their jobs. Since returning to Amestris they’d been particularly careful not to spend time alone, and a touch formal, and sometimes he looked at her in a way that made her face heat up, but everything had gone back to more-or-less normal. She had thought - they had both thought - that they’d gotten away with it, and they could put it behind them with nothing but a pleasant memory to remember it by.
She pressed a hand to her still-flat lower stomach. What would people say?
Well of course they’d say the obvious. She hadn’t caught wind of rumors regarding her and her commanding officer in years, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t there, simmering gently despite no evidence. They had been very careful never to act improperly towards each other. She would have to come up with a plausible story, and furthermore she would need to make sure that the General reacted in a way that spoke of his innocence in the matter.
Riza eyed herself in the mirror; a hard-eyed soldier stared back at her. As much as it made her feel like a hand was clenching around her heart, this child wouldn’t be able to know its father. Riza would do this alone because she had no other choice. She needed to protect him. She needed to protect them both.
-x-
“Hawkeye you have to talk to me.”
It was four days after her in-office revelation, something she had done specifically not to arouse any suspicion, and yet here he was, on her doorstep in the middle of the night, and she had a strong hunch that he’d been at his aunt’s newly reestablished bar. Riza wasn’t sure what she had expected but he hadn’t been taking the news well, she could see it in the lines beneath his eyes in the office today, in the flat quality to his voice when he spoke to her. She opened the door further and waved him inside to avoid making a scene where people might see.
“You’ve been avoiding being alone with me for days, please,” he said, standing in the middle of her living room and looking utterly lost, dark eyes wide and hair mussed.
“I haven’t…” she trailed off - denial was no good, not with him. “I haven’t known what to say to you. It’s a setback, to be certain.”
“A setback , try a disaster! I can’t BELIEVE we didn’t- That I didn’t - ”
“There’s no use blaming yourself. We can’t exactly take it back now” she said quietly, and brushed past him to put the kettle on. When she turned back around he’d sunk down onto her couch and was running a hand through his hair.
“What do we do now? Do we run away to Xing? We could, you know,” he said, looking up but not at anything in particular. “Ling would find a place for us, you could be his bodyguard and I could be Royal Alchemist or Official Firework-Starter, or-”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We stay, and we work, and I… I’m going to raise the child of a random Xingese courtier who shall remain nameless.” A knot had settled somewhere deep in her chest and she doubted it would come undone anytime soon. “And if the rumors get to be too much and they threaten your career, I’ll disappear.”
“With my child? Like hell you will,” he said, voice rough. This gave her pause. The clock on her mantle had never sounded so impossibly loud in the stillness of her apartment Slowly, she walked to the couch and reached out, not quite touching, fingertips grazing the fabric at his shoulder.
“You realize it can never be your child,” she told him softly. He put his head in his hands.
“I’m aware.”
She sat next to him and hesitated, before wrapping her arms firmly around his shoulders. He leaned into her, and she let her head fall to gently rest against his. For a while all they did was breathe together, in and out, soothing each other by sheer virtue of being present. A heaviness settled over them and Riza doubted they would have another moment together like this again. She turned her face into his shoulder; she would not cry, not now, not in front of him. There would be time for that weakness later.
“This is going to be a nightmare,” he said after a moment.
“We can make the most of it.”
“Can I just ask you for one thing?” he looked up at her. “It might be a bad idea under the circumstances but the baby… if it’s a boy, can we name him after Hughes?” This was a bad idea, she thought. It would be the obvious choice for a child of Roy’s. But she had known and loved the man as well, and it couldn’t be seen as that unusual that she would choose to honor a fallen comrade when naming her firstborn. She nodded, running a hand down his arm and lacing her fingers through his.
“I think we can do that.”
It was a girl, but they named her after Maes anyway.
This is how it goes.
Sitting with a bruised heart and bloody nose.
I've scrapes on the palms of my hands,
all in vain,
for your hand, was dancing gracefully with hers.
This is how it goes.
Your eyes, swimming in hers,
like the lone survivor of a ship wreck.
Guess my heart was on the boat.
But I can fly away.
This is how it goes.
I turn my back for a moment,
And suddenly you'll see me,
just like,
every time I've ever loved before,
If I've ever loved.
This tale is told in such an ugly font,
the colors blare and shame the world.
my heart is too involved,
getting battered and broken,
while my brain is telling me where to go.
