Fullmetal Alchemist, Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye, 2/5: Time, "Tangled"
Title: Tangled
Author: Sofipitch
Set + Theme: Set 2, Theme 5: Time
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Pairing(platonic or romantic)/Character/Threesome: Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye, Romantic
Rating: PG
Genre(s): Romance
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 2,388
Disclaimer/Claimer: I don’t own Roy and Riza. Or Risenbool. Or Amestris. Only this sadly long list of things I can’t have.
Summary: Their relationship was odd.
They had to spend the night in Risenbool. The next train wouldn’t come till the next day and neither of them had felt the courage to intrude upon poor Misses Rockbell’s hospitality. She had already been patient enough to listen to Mustang as he offered her something completely ludicrous. The kid was young. He seemed to have gone through a lot, a description she didn’t want to even think of exaggerating when thinking of that poor twelve year old. But Mustang seemed confident that he hadn’t just made himself out to be some senseless, irrational scientist from the big city to some humble country folk.
The inn they found to stay at oddly enough only had one room open for them to stay the night. Roy complained and wondered aloud how an inn in this small hick town could have only one room open. Riza simply stated that they were lucky there weren’t none, for then they’d be sleeping outside or making their way back the Rockbell’s. He gave an exasperated sigh and opened the door to their room.
The room was bare and simple. There was one bed; it had metal headboard with white paint chipping off of it, no footboard. The walls housed faded floral wall paper that would look to be white at first. The paper was peeling at the corners of the room. There was a thin but tall wooden dresser and a matching nightstand by the bed. The floorboards creaked as you walked. “Home sweet home,” Mustang took off his overcoat and tossed it up onto the top of the dresser.
“It’s no better than your house sir.”
Agreement began to mold its way onto his face, but as he repeated her words in his head, he became confused. “And when were you at my house second lieutenant?”
“I had to drag you there after you had gotten drunk at party given by the Armstrong’s, you do remember don’t you?”
“I think I do recall something like that happening. 1909?”
“Yes, on May Day.”
“Hmm”, was all he had to say. It didn’t appear as he could recall the incident very well.
It had been the only time she had ever been inside of his house.
Not having brought any other clothing or hygiene articles, they both undressed, getting rid of as many obnoxious layers and pins as they could, till they could undress in front of each other no further. It took only a second for Roy to look at the small bed before he simply laid down on one side, leaving her to rest on the other. She turned off the light before getting in the bed.
Their situation was odd. Riza felt as if they were very close-they had known each other for a long time-and there were things about him that probably only she knew, but at the same time there was a fine line in their relationship which neither of them never crossed nor mentioned: sexuality. He was a male, she was female. And they were friends. That’s all there was to it.
Watching him flirt with other woman always caused a tightening in her chest she’d always rather not feel. She had established a long time ago that she loved him. And that was that. She couldn’t take any further step forward than that. There was mutual understanding between him. He’d play down any differences between them, when she knew he wouldn’t act the same around other women. Maybe it only hurt because she wanted to be his lover, but finding explanations to feelings didn’t make them go away. Riza only felt herself longing more as she looked on to others.
Time wasn’t on her side either. She had skipped the dignified marrying age, so any hopes of finding other love were probably ruined. It didn’t really matter though; most all the men she was around were also from the military. She rarely ever saw any that weren’t, so her chances of meeting someone and not running into the same problem she was having with Mustang (More of my problem than his, she thought.) were slim .
He was soon snoring softly next to her. Frogs croaked from the nearby pond and she felt herself lured to sleep by the sound. It reminded her of her father’s house, and how things used to be before she and Roy joined the military. It seemed as if it had been a lot more peaceful then; she hadn’t been around him long enough to get to know him, he was always studying or off with friends. If she could just shut her eyes and pretend, she was back in her own little bed, and he was just father’s apprentice.
---X---
She was up before he was, so she took the liberty to go outside for a short walk, making sure not to go far enough to where he couldn’t see her if he came outside searching for her.
Risenbool was green. Grass covered the majority of the landscape, and then there was a thick forest farther off to the southwest of the little town. In the distance, Riza could see someone’s cotton field, an enormous expanse of white which from where she was standing, appeared as if never ended. Riza considered wandering farther off to find the pond-or lake, she wasn’t quite sure-she had heard the frogs croaking last night, but decided that that would be too far and that the lieutenant colonel might not see her, so she just stayed walking around town, looking into a few of the little shops.
Roy woke up an estimated twenty minutes after she did. He went to look for her outside found her quicker than she would’ve have thought he would. When Roy saw her staring off to the countryside, he asked her what she was looking at. “The past,” was all she could think to answer. He didn’t appear the least bit confused with her response; he nodded as if he understood before asking her what she wanted to do about breakfast.
If last night had been a quiet affair, breakfast was anything but. Roy had always been more talkative during mornings, since he then had the most energy. Riza could remember him going on and on talking to her father in the mornings, sometimes about alchemy, sometimes not. Roy had always been trying desperately to break most of the formality between his teacher and himself. Roy told her once that he was already living in the man’s house, so why should he be so intrapersonal. Riza didn’t have an answer for his statement, for she was the same way around Roy herself. Roy admired her father, anyone could tell he wanted to impress the man and be more than just a teacher and a student. He was social, he wanted to be friends.
The restaurant was empty except for the two of them. Farmers probably didn’t tend to eat out in the mornings, rather they ate what they had made themselves, and it was later in the day, after the usual designated breakfast time. The five other four-people seating tables in the place were empty. Their waitress left towards the kitchen to talk to the cooks.
He told her of his dreams and plans for the future. He had told her over and over again throughout their time together in the military that becoming a state alchemist only signified that he was talented enough to make it further. He planned to never stop until he himself was Furher. When he asked her what she wanted to do with herself, she said that she wanted to protect people, just as she always had wanted. He smiled brightly and gave her his praise.
He told her he’d hope to keep her at his side, since he needed protection, but at the position he was aiming for, he may be holding her back from protecting as many as she may have to potential too. If he did become Furher, she would have to be completely focused on him. She wouldn’t have time to save anyone else. Riza just says, “We’ll see,” and takes a sip of her-now room temperature--coffee. She liked to believe that if he did manage to make it to the top, she will have protected, and will continue protecting, someone very important. And in turn, that important person will change the lives of millions for the better. Thus, making her existence as a part of the military important.
Roy would sometimes talk as if he were a nuisance to her, as if she could have gone farther and done more if she wasn’t watching his back. They were only remarks, not long sermons, small sarcastic but still holding some kind of a weight in her heart. She knew he wasn’t holding her back, she was where she wanted to be: by his side. She didn’t have to be any closer or farther away from him to be happy.
She would never get the chance to tell him she loved him, but he understood, to some degree, that she cared for him, by her willingness to stay by his side. He may never understand to what extent she cared for him, he may always think that they were just good friends, but that didn’t matter, for she knew that there were women and men all over the world who would never get to see the person they love the most again due to some unruly cause. She wasn’t the only case of forbidden love in the world, and she shouldn’t pity herself for she had the amenity of being seeing him most every day and being able to talk to him as openly and as often as she wished. She considered herself lucky; she was happy; she never looked down at herself and said, “Oh, you poor heart-broken little thing!”
After eating they had a few minutes to spare before they had to leave towards the train station, so they walked about the market place before leaving out northwards to a patch of thick vegetation, with a small little pond towards the center. Roy dipped his hand in the water and deemed it too cold to swim in, to which she answered that she had no such intention of doing so anyways. He chuckled, but held no other remark or contradiction. She tried to catch sight of the frogs she had listened to the night before, but to no avail. They walked a little farther, finding another little pond, before leaving the area.
They didn’t go back to the market place, but rather cut across one of the main roads and took a direct route right towards the train station, walking through blades of grass that grew up all the way towards her knees and his shins. The walk was drudging, but peaceful. Only the wind whispered to them. They were left alone.
“It’s nice, how quiet it is, isn’t it?”
They could see people in the distance, farmers and laborers out working their fields, but no one else was around. And those who were out couldn’t see them. “It is nice,” Riza answered, “Risenbool is even more obscure than where my father lived.”
“The people here seem so detached from the rest of the world and its rules and ideals. I wonder what that must be like, to just live the way you want too.” Roy was looking upwards at the sky while he talked, watching the clouds just drift on through the small little town.
“Some were surprised to see the military officers. Some even whispered to each other suspiciously,” Riza smiled when she talked. The military dominated the larger cities where she and Roy worked. It was hard to imagine people standing in such awe as seeing a pair of officers walking through town.
“Talk about detached,” Roy said with a smile and a shake of his head.
They continued to walk in silence and had made it three quarters of the way to the station when Roy stopped in place. Riza, noticing his lack of motion, also stopped. She stood in front of him, questioning crossing her face.
“If they don’t recognized the military, I wonder, if I did something completely irrational and absurd would they recognize it as a sin?” His face was a mask of urgency and Riza felt at loss with this sudden turn of events.
He didn’t give her enough time to answer. He grasped her hand and kissed her cheek before kissing her hand. She didn’t move; she was in such shock. He held her hand all the way to the train station, pulling her, as his pace was faster than hers. He didn’t try to kiss her again, so she couldn’t tell him to stop, and she couldn’t find the power within herself to pull her hand out of his. Her eyes were wide during the entire walk.
He let go at the station only uttering two words as he did: “Thank you”.
She didn’t stop herself from asking, “For what sir?”
“For staying by my side.”
As the train approached the wooden deck shook and Riza found her heart pounding along with it.
No one, not even the two of them, would fully understand their relationship. Their feelings couldn’t be announced vocally, so neither of them understood how much they cared for each other. His kiss could’ve been a kiss between friends, or something more. Riza had hopes, but she didn’t put her faith into them. She touched her cheek, where his lips had burned and a night between the two in Ishval came to mind. They had kissed then too. But that had been a long time ago, in a moment of desperation for human contact. She hadn’t pondered on it too much. She didn’t think it could’ve meant much.
She stood there, contemplating as the train pulled into the station. Roy tapped her shoulder to awaken her from her trance. “Come, let’s get on.”
He led the way, and she followed him. There weren’t many words, but maybe, someday they would be able to reach a mutual understanding. But right now, things were odd and juvenile, and the simplicity of their moments together felt-in no other word better expressed-nice.
Author: Sofipitch
Set + Theme: Set 2, Theme 5: Time
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Pairing(platonic or romantic)/Character/Threesome: Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye, Romantic
Rating: PG
Genre(s): Romance
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 2,388
Disclaimer/Claimer: I don’t own Roy and Riza. Or Risenbool. Or Amestris. Only this sadly long list of things I can’t have.
Summary: Their relationship was odd.
They had to spend the night in Risenbool. The next train wouldn’t come till the next day and neither of them had felt the courage to intrude upon poor Misses Rockbell’s hospitality. She had already been patient enough to listen to Mustang as he offered her something completely ludicrous. The kid was young. He seemed to have gone through a lot, a description she didn’t want to even think of exaggerating when thinking of that poor twelve year old. But Mustang seemed confident that he hadn’t just made himself out to be some senseless, irrational scientist from the big city to some humble country folk.
The inn they found to stay at oddly enough only had one room open for them to stay the night. Roy complained and wondered aloud how an inn in this small hick town could have only one room open. Riza simply stated that they were lucky there weren’t none, for then they’d be sleeping outside or making their way back the Rockbell’s. He gave an exasperated sigh and opened the door to their room.
The room was bare and simple. There was one bed; it had metal headboard with white paint chipping off of it, no footboard. The walls housed faded floral wall paper that would look to be white at first. The paper was peeling at the corners of the room. There was a thin but tall wooden dresser and a matching nightstand by the bed. The floorboards creaked as you walked. “Home sweet home,” Mustang took off his overcoat and tossed it up onto the top of the dresser.
“It’s no better than your house sir.”
Agreement began to mold its way onto his face, but as he repeated her words in his head, he became confused. “And when were you at my house second lieutenant?”
“I had to drag you there after you had gotten drunk at party given by the Armstrong’s, you do remember don’t you?”
“I think I do recall something like that happening. 1909?”
“Yes, on May Day.”
“Hmm”, was all he had to say. It didn’t appear as he could recall the incident very well.
It had been the only time she had ever been inside of his house.
Not having brought any other clothing or hygiene articles, they both undressed, getting rid of as many obnoxious layers and pins as they could, till they could undress in front of each other no further. It took only a second for Roy to look at the small bed before he simply laid down on one side, leaving her to rest on the other. She turned off the light before getting in the bed.
Their situation was odd. Riza felt as if they were very close-they had known each other for a long time-and there were things about him that probably only she knew, but at the same time there was a fine line in their relationship which neither of them never crossed nor mentioned: sexuality. He was a male, she was female. And they were friends. That’s all there was to it.
Watching him flirt with other woman always caused a tightening in her chest she’d always rather not feel. She had established a long time ago that she loved him. And that was that. She couldn’t take any further step forward than that. There was mutual understanding between him. He’d play down any differences between them, when she knew he wouldn’t act the same around other women. Maybe it only hurt because she wanted to be his lover, but finding explanations to feelings didn’t make them go away. Riza only felt herself longing more as she looked on to others.
Time wasn’t on her side either. She had skipped the dignified marrying age, so any hopes of finding other love were probably ruined. It didn’t really matter though; most all the men she was around were also from the military. She rarely ever saw any that weren’t, so her chances of meeting someone and not running into the same problem she was having with Mustang (More of my problem than his, she thought.) were slim .
He was soon snoring softly next to her. Frogs croaked from the nearby pond and she felt herself lured to sleep by the sound. It reminded her of her father’s house, and how things used to be before she and Roy joined the military. It seemed as if it had been a lot more peaceful then; she hadn’t been around him long enough to get to know him, he was always studying or off with friends. If she could just shut her eyes and pretend, she was back in her own little bed, and he was just father’s apprentice.
---X---
She was up before he was, so she took the liberty to go outside for a short walk, making sure not to go far enough to where he couldn’t see her if he came outside searching for her.
Risenbool was green. Grass covered the majority of the landscape, and then there was a thick forest farther off to the southwest of the little town. In the distance, Riza could see someone’s cotton field, an enormous expanse of white which from where she was standing, appeared as if never ended. Riza considered wandering farther off to find the pond-or lake, she wasn’t quite sure-she had heard the frogs croaking last night, but decided that that would be too far and that the lieutenant colonel might not see her, so she just stayed walking around town, looking into a few of the little shops.
Roy woke up an estimated twenty minutes after she did. He went to look for her outside found her quicker than she would’ve have thought he would. When Roy saw her staring off to the countryside, he asked her what she was looking at. “The past,” was all she could think to answer. He didn’t appear the least bit confused with her response; he nodded as if he understood before asking her what she wanted to do about breakfast.
If last night had been a quiet affair, breakfast was anything but. Roy had always been more talkative during mornings, since he then had the most energy. Riza could remember him going on and on talking to her father in the mornings, sometimes about alchemy, sometimes not. Roy had always been trying desperately to break most of the formality between his teacher and himself. Roy told her once that he was already living in the man’s house, so why should he be so intrapersonal. Riza didn’t have an answer for his statement, for she was the same way around Roy herself. Roy admired her father, anyone could tell he wanted to impress the man and be more than just a teacher and a student. He was social, he wanted to be friends.
The restaurant was empty except for the two of them. Farmers probably didn’t tend to eat out in the mornings, rather they ate what they had made themselves, and it was later in the day, after the usual designated breakfast time. The five other four-people seating tables in the place were empty. Their waitress left towards the kitchen to talk to the cooks.
He told her of his dreams and plans for the future. He had told her over and over again throughout their time together in the military that becoming a state alchemist only signified that he was talented enough to make it further. He planned to never stop until he himself was Furher. When he asked her what she wanted to do with herself, she said that she wanted to protect people, just as she always had wanted. He smiled brightly and gave her his praise.
He told her he’d hope to keep her at his side, since he needed protection, but at the position he was aiming for, he may be holding her back from protecting as many as she may have to potential too. If he did become Furher, she would have to be completely focused on him. She wouldn’t have time to save anyone else. Riza just says, “We’ll see,” and takes a sip of her-now room temperature--coffee. She liked to believe that if he did manage to make it to the top, she will have protected, and will continue protecting, someone very important. And in turn, that important person will change the lives of millions for the better. Thus, making her existence as a part of the military important.
Roy would sometimes talk as if he were a nuisance to her, as if she could have gone farther and done more if she wasn’t watching his back. They were only remarks, not long sermons, small sarcastic but still holding some kind of a weight in her heart. She knew he wasn’t holding her back, she was where she wanted to be: by his side. She didn’t have to be any closer or farther away from him to be happy.
She would never get the chance to tell him she loved him, but he understood, to some degree, that she cared for him, by her willingness to stay by his side. He may never understand to what extent she cared for him, he may always think that they were just good friends, but that didn’t matter, for she knew that there were women and men all over the world who would never get to see the person they love the most again due to some unruly cause. She wasn’t the only case of forbidden love in the world, and she shouldn’t pity herself for she had the amenity of being seeing him most every day and being able to talk to him as openly and as often as she wished. She considered herself lucky; she was happy; she never looked down at herself and said, “Oh, you poor heart-broken little thing!”
After eating they had a few minutes to spare before they had to leave towards the train station, so they walked about the market place before leaving out northwards to a patch of thick vegetation, with a small little pond towards the center. Roy dipped his hand in the water and deemed it too cold to swim in, to which she answered that she had no such intention of doing so anyways. He chuckled, but held no other remark or contradiction. She tried to catch sight of the frogs she had listened to the night before, but to no avail. They walked a little farther, finding another little pond, before leaving the area.
They didn’t go back to the market place, but rather cut across one of the main roads and took a direct route right towards the train station, walking through blades of grass that grew up all the way towards her knees and his shins. The walk was drudging, but peaceful. Only the wind whispered to them. They were left alone.
“It’s nice, how quiet it is, isn’t it?”
They could see people in the distance, farmers and laborers out working their fields, but no one else was around. And those who were out couldn’t see them. “It is nice,” Riza answered, “Risenbool is even more obscure than where my father lived.”
“The people here seem so detached from the rest of the world and its rules and ideals. I wonder what that must be like, to just live the way you want too.” Roy was looking upwards at the sky while he talked, watching the clouds just drift on through the small little town.
“Some were surprised to see the military officers. Some even whispered to each other suspiciously,” Riza smiled when she talked. The military dominated the larger cities where she and Roy worked. It was hard to imagine people standing in such awe as seeing a pair of officers walking through town.
“Talk about detached,” Roy said with a smile and a shake of his head.
They continued to walk in silence and had made it three quarters of the way to the station when Roy stopped in place. Riza, noticing his lack of motion, also stopped. She stood in front of him, questioning crossing her face.
“If they don’t recognized the military, I wonder, if I did something completely irrational and absurd would they recognize it as a sin?” His face was a mask of urgency and Riza felt at loss with this sudden turn of events.
He didn’t give her enough time to answer. He grasped her hand and kissed her cheek before kissing her hand. She didn’t move; she was in such shock. He held her hand all the way to the train station, pulling her, as his pace was faster than hers. He didn’t try to kiss her again, so she couldn’t tell him to stop, and she couldn’t find the power within herself to pull her hand out of his. Her eyes were wide during the entire walk.
He let go at the station only uttering two words as he did: “Thank you”.
She didn’t stop herself from asking, “For what sir?”
“For staying by my side.”
As the train approached the wooden deck shook and Riza found her heart pounding along with it.
No one, not even the two of them, would fully understand their relationship. Their feelings couldn’t be announced vocally, so neither of them understood how much they cared for each other. His kiss could’ve been a kiss between friends, or something more. Riza had hopes, but she didn’t put her faith into them. She touched her cheek, where his lips had burned and a night between the two in Ishval came to mind. They had kissed then too. But that had been a long time ago, in a moment of desperation for human contact. She hadn’t pondered on it too much. She didn’t think it could’ve meant much.
She stood there, contemplating as the train pulled into the station. Roy tapped her shoulder to awaken her from her trance. “Come, let’s get on.”
He led the way, and she followed him. There weren’t many words, but maybe, someday they would be able to reach a mutual understanding. But right now, things were odd and juvenile, and the simplicity of their moments together felt-in no other word better expressed-nice.