Last Christmas - FMA Secret Santa
Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy new year to @queenwinry!!! I’m your FMA secret santa! I saw that you like Royai and fluff, so I hope you enjoy this cute little Christmas fic! <3
It had initially started as a joke between General Grumman and Madame Christmas. They shouldn’t have been surprised that the residents of Central would jump on the gimmick, and the poorly dubbed ‘Christmas at Christmas’’ became one of the most lucrative nights of the bar’s entire year. After nearly two decades, it was a tradition to spend Christmas Eve under her roof for many single members of the Amestrian military.
The girls had outdone themselves this year. The interior of the bar was festively decorated, but without looking too intense or overwhelming. Most of the light came from strings, and the overhead lights were dimmed low. A deep voice crooned over the radio, serenading the guests with the pleasant tones of old carols.
Riza rarely felt as at home as she did here on Christmas Eve. The distinct smells of fir, cinnamon, and alcohol filled the air, hinted with just a touch of tobacco smoke. She stood behind the bar, pouring her own drink, and watched her comrades enjoying themselves. Kain looked dapper in his dress shirt and tie, doing his best to chat up a girl from requisitions. As if he knew she was watching him, he glanced over to her, giving her a subtle look of distress. She smiled and nodded once in encouragement, and his confidence rose.
Vato had brought a date, to the surprise of the rest of the men. No one knew he was seeing anyone, and, when he’d told them he was considering a proposal, the entire office, as Jean would so eloquently say ‘flipped their shit.’ The woman on his arm was good-looking, and she held his attention like she was the only person in the room. It was incredibly sweet. Riza wanted to introduce herself, but she had decided to wait until her love-lost subordinate was able to tear himself away.
Heymans and Jean were sitting at a table with Rebecca, who had come to spend the holiday with her best friend. Riza hadn’t made plans to visit her grandfather out East, so Rebecca made the unilateral decision that it would be better if she had company in the city. However, with the way things seemed to be going, she’d forgotten that Riza was there. Jean was doing rather well with the attention, and Riza would have to tease him relentlessly for it after the holidays were over.
With a turn of her wrist, she capped the bottle of whiskey and put it back on the shelf. She lifted her glass to her lips and drank, indulging herself in a way she so rarely allowed. As she did so, her plain, silver bracelet slipped down from her wrist to her forearm. It was a gift from Roy, the first he’d given her, back when he first started studying under her father. He’d been so proud of himself for making it, and it was something cherished and rarely worn. She felt a brush of skin against her arm, and she looked to her left.
Roy stood behind her, running his thumb over the links. “I can’t believe you still have it.” The look on his face was nostalgic and soft, unguarded. He reached to take Riza’s glass from her, but she turned her body to keep it out of his reach.
“Get your own.” As an afterthought, she added the necessary formality, “Sir.”
“So cold, Lieutenant.” He chuckled, but he did as he was told. “Whiskey isn’t my drink, anyway.”
“I know. And yet you always try to take mine.”
“It’s better when you pour it.” Roy smirked in her direction as he picked up the bottle of spiced rum.
“That’s illogical, Sir. It all comes from the same bottle.”
Roy shrugged off her comment, having no way to refute the claim. “Come on,” he grabbed her by the hand. “Madame will yell at us if she finds us behind the bar. ‘Get out of the way, Roy-boy, and let me serve someone who’ll actually pay.’”
His imitation of his foster mother was spot on, and she couldn’t help but smile fondly. She allowed herself to be led to a quieter corner, where he released her and leaned back against the wall.
“It’s a shame Edward and Alphonse couldn’t come,” Riza mused, looking at the door.
“If Fullmetal was here, he’d be at the bar, mourning over a glass of juice that his mechanic wasn’t here.” Roy resisted the urge to chuckle at his own comment. Riza never hesitated to tell him that he wasn’t as funny as he thought he was. “Trust me, the boys are much better off in Risembool. Besides, I’m not eager to introduce Alphonse to Jean after his fourth drink.”
“Tell the girls about his limit? Of course. No one wants a repeat of last year.” It was unfortunate that they weren’t completely secluded, and that their presence was sure to be missed should they seek out some place more private. The men loved to make their jokes. All the same, he allowed himself to give into the urge to brush her hair back behind her ear, out of her face. “Do you remember our first Christmas here?”
“How could I not?” Riza’s eyes crinkled in amusement. “Grandfather would have put Santa to shame.”
“Grumps did go crazy, didn’t he?”
“He’d only just met me. Of course, he did. As if he didn’t spoil you rotten, too.”
Roy gave a sly grin. “That’s the year he gave me that alchemy set, isn’t it?”
“The one you set the house on fire with?” Riza nodded. “Sure was. Madame banned grandfather from the bar from a month. He was devastated.”
“Oh, how about the year Grumps took us to the military party? When General Gardner had one too many and stood on the table to sing the national anthem?”
Roy cleared his throat before feigning drunken intonation. “For Amestris, the Country’s Ancestors, We must walk hand in hand, There must not be traitors among us, We must be ourselves’ unique master!”
From the bar, his foster mother shot him a look of combined confusion and disappointment. Riza couldn’t hold back her laugh; when she tried, it came out as a snort. Thankfully, in a room of military officers, no one batted an eye at the boisterous colonel.
“That feels like forever ago,” Riza mused. She’d been thirteen, that year.
“Yeah, we’ve had a lot of these, haven’t we?”
“Somehow, it never gets old. Nothing’s ever been mundane, for us, I guess.”
“Hey, come with me for a second.” He jerked his head toward the back of the bar, where the establishment connected with the apartment overhead. She followed him down the familiar route. Her heels clicked on the tile of the kitchen after leaving the lush carpet.
“What’re we doing?” She looked around, trying to find some clue as to what he had in mind. She narrowed her eyes at him. “We can’t be gone long.”
“Not that.” Roy sighed. “I can think about other things, you know. In fact, I’m insulted you’d say such a thing.” He broke his façade when she arched an eyebrow at him, his mock horror disappearing from his face. “I want to give you your Christmas present.”
“I don’t have yours with me.”
“I can get it later. Don’t worry about it.” He walked over to her and put his hands on her hips, which she thankfully allowed. “I know things are going to get a little rough next year. Who knows what might happen, or if we can even pull this off. I believe we can, and I know you do, too.”
“Roy, what’re you talking about?”
“I need to believe we’re going to make it through this. We need that hope.” He rested his forehead against hers and smiled. “I’m probably jumping the gun, here, but what the hell?” His hand left her hip and reached into his pocket, withdrawing a small box. “If – no, when we make it to the other side, when all is said and done, Riza, will you marry me?”
“Do you even have to ask?”
He kissed her, long and deep, and it felt like an eternity before they broke apart. He pulled the ring from the box and slipped it on her left ring finger. She frowned.
“You know I can’t get away with wearing this?”
“Why not? Say it’s from your hot, mysterious Xingese lover.”
“Say it’s your grandmother’s, a gift from Grumps?”
Riza toyed with the band, moving it around with her thumb. “That could work, I guess.”
“You’ll think of something. You always do.”
