Chapter Text
Thursday night, Roy received a call from Maes.
“Gracia and I are engaged!” he crowed. He then launched into a tirade about how he’d proposed and how Gracia had cried and said yes and how everyone around them had cheered. When he finally quieted down, Roy spoke.
“Congratulations,” he said.
“I’m calling everyone,” Maes continued, not even pausing to say thank you. “We’re having an engagement-slash-Halloween party on Saturday. I know it’s last minute, but I hope you’ll come.”
“Of course I’ll come,” Roy said, rolling his eyes fondly. “You don’t even have to ask.”
That was how Roy found himself in a discount Halloween store on Friday night, frantically searching for a costume that wasn’t too cheesy but wasn’t too expensive either. He wove through the aisles, searching for anything. The men’s selection was slim, and the area with wigs and fangs had been picked through pretty well, too.
Roy rounded the corner into the area with wings and crowns once more and was surprised, and more than a little happy, to see Riza there, thumbing at a pair of sparkly green fairy wings.
“Riza?” Roy asked.
The woman in question started and looked over at him. “Oh, Roy, hi.”
“Hey.” He grinned. Things with the election had picked up at work, so they hadn’t had as much time to talk as Roy would’ve liked. The last time they’d hung out had been at her birthday party, and Roy wouldn’t be the only person to admit that he was a little nervous at the fact that the governor was there. Of course, Governor Grumman had seemed to take a liking to Roy, something he was rather pleased about, though Riza had been pretty pink whenever the two men had interacted.
“Last minute costume?” Roy asked.
“Last minute party,” Riza said. “Hughes invited me to his tomorrow.”
“Oh, that’s great,” Roy said. “I’m going, too.”
Riza grinned wryly. “I figured. You’re his best friend. And I assume the best man.”
“Well, he hasn’t asked yet, but I will be pretty offended if he finds someone else, I won’t lie.”
Riza laughed. Roy smiled at the sound.
“So, you need a costume, too, I imagine?” Riza asked, giving up on the fairy wings.
Roy sighed. “Unfortunately. Usually, I just put on some face paint for the kids, but that won’t cut it for Maes’s engagement Halloween party.”
“You put in more effort than me,” Riza said. “Rebecca picked out my costumes all throughout college, but she’s matching with Havoc this year and told me I was on my own. Gave me a few suggestions, but I don’t know. They’re all a little too…” Riza paused and blushed.
Roy was vastly curious. “Too what?”
She shrugged, feigning at indifference. “Sexy.”
Roy did his best to not imagine what Riza in a sexy Halloween costume looked like.
“So, uh, do you have any ideas in mind?” he asked instead.
Riza shook her head. “Nothing.”
Roy sighed. “Same.”
“Well, I’ve looked all around this place and haven’t found anything. I guess I’ll just have to go through my closet and hope for the best,” Riza said.
“I don’t have that luxury,” Roy said. If he showed up in a lackluster costume, he would never hear the end of it from Maes. Riza gave him a sidelong glance, a smirk playing at her lips. Roy put a hand to his chest, faking offense.
“Are you making fun of me?” he asked.
At that, Riza laughed. “I would never.”
“Uh huh,” Roy said. “Sure.”
Riza shook her head, still smiling. She sighed, but then furrowed her brows, eyes catching on something. She walked over to the shelves and grabbed a black wig. She held it up, surveying it.
“This’ll do,” she said, almost to herself.
“For what?” Roy asked.
Riza glanced back at him. “It’s a surprise.” She winked—winked—and walked away, waving at him. “Bye, Roy. See you tomorrow!”
Roy stood in the aisle, unmoving. It was a little embarrassing, the way his heart had flipped at Riza’s little wink. It was nothing, truly. But it kind of felt like everything.
He stood there a moment more, looking through the shelves across from him for a last minute idea. He noticed a pirate hat and went to pick it up. He could probably pull off a pirate.
Roy was the first to arrive at Maes and Gracia’s, as usual. Gracia answered the door, positively glowing. Roy wrapped her in a hug immediately.
“Congratulations, Gracia,” he told her.
She pulled back, dabbing at her eyes with her left hand. The engagement ring Maes had picked out two months ago sparkled on her finger in the light. She smiled, then took in his costume.
“Should I tell Maes to call you Captain Roy?” she asked, laughter in her tone. Roy fought a blush, reaching a hand up to scratch his ear.
“Very funny,” he said. He’d gone with the pirate idea, putting on the tightest pair of black pants he owned and a billowy white button-up of which he’d only done two buttons at the bottom, leaving his chest exposed. He’d added the hat, some boots, and a gold hoop earring in his right ear—a relic from freshman year.
“I’m kidding!” Gracia said in a way that made it sound very much like she was not kidding. “You look nice.”
“You can be honest,” Roy said. “If it’s bad, let me know, and I’ll go throw on a sheet and be a ghost.”
“Since when are you anything but confident, Captain?” Gracia teased.
“Since he was trying to impress someone,” Maes said, appearing beside his fiancée. He gave Roy a once over and covered his mouth with a hand.
At that, Roy did blush. “Shut up, Maes.”
“You look good, Roy!” Maes said. “Just maybe…” He motioned towards his chest, mimicking the act of buttoning.
Roy rolled his eyes. “I’m a pirate!”
“Like one off the cover of Gracia’s romance books?” Maes asked. “The smutty ones?”
“Maes!” Gracia hit her fiancé’s arm, rolling her eyes. She turned back into the house, disappearing most likely to the kitchen. Maes watched her go while Roy self-consciously fingered the buttons of his shirt.
“Too much?” Roy asked when Gracia was out of ear shot.
“Button a few more buttons,” Maes said. “Don’t give away the buffet for free.”
Roy was certain his face was bright red as Maes let him inside. He did up the buttons halfway and cursed himself for not doing that in the first place. Maes would never let him live this down.
As Roy walked inside, he saw that Maes had once again gone overboard with the decorations. Garland hung from every available surface, as did cobwebs. There were Halloween themed tablecloths on the coffee table and end tables, and Halloween-themed trinkets sat on top. A large bowl of candy sat in the middle of the coffee table. Roy glanced in it and snagged a blue Jolly Rancher. Maes made a face.
“Blue raspberry? Really?” he said. “Isn’t that a little childish?”
Roy stuck his tongue out. “Is it blue yet?”
The doorbell rang before Maes could answer. He rushed to the door before Gracia could get there, and Roy made himself comfortable in an armchair while more people entered their home. Gracia’s friends and coworkers arrived, as did Hawkeye’s campaign team. Some of Maes and Roy’s college friends showed up as well, and soon, Roy found himself with a beer in his hand, laughing and telling the story about the first time Maes saw Gracia. Everyone hung onto his words, laughing in all the right places. And just as Roy got to the climax of the story, he caught Riza’s gaze, and he fumbled. Because her costume was decidedly sexy.
It was a bright red dress, short and low-cut, her breasts straining against the fabric. Roy forced his gaze away and coughed, trying to remember where he’d left off in the story. It took him only a moment, and no one else seemed to notice until he looked at Riza again and saw the sly little smirk she wore almost as well as the dress. She’d done this on purpose.
After the story was over, Roy excused himself to the kitchen, claiming to want another beer. He got up and squeezed through the throngs of people, past the cluster of teachers surrounding Gracia as she showed off her wedding ring. He made it to the kitchen and threw his beer can in the recycling bin Maes and Gracia had set out. Then, he stood in front of the sink and stared out the little window into the backyard. He focused on the old swing set the last people hadn’t taken with them, taking breaths.
“Hey.” It was Riza, and Roy thanked whatever god there was that he hadn’t flinched. In fact, he’d been expecting her. Roy turned around, eyes firmly on her face.
“Hey, Riza, glad you could make it,” he said, forcing cool calmness.
Riza smiled. “Me too. I like your costume. Pirate?” She made no mistake in the way she raked her gaze over him, and Roy briefly wondered how much she’d had to drink.
“Yeah,” he managed to get out. “What are you supposed to be?”
“Oh, Rebecca actually gave me the idea. I just hadn’t thought it would work until I saw the wig.” Riza put her hand on her head, and Roy realized she was in fact wearing a wig, and a red floral headband with a little veil. He scanned her, realizing she wore combat boots, and that, while the dress was short, it had an almost tutu-like skirt. He wracked his brain for guesses but found none.
“I’m Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice,” Riza told him finally.
“Oh,” Roy said.
Riza faltered. “Does it look bad?”
“No, no, no!” Roy said. “You look great! Better than great, really!”
At that, Riza smiled. “Better than great?”
Roy gulped, resting a hand on the back of his neck. “I mean, you always look great. Very… professional.”
Riza took a step closer, into his personal space, so close he could smell the alcohol on her breath. He wondered when she’d had the time to drink, as she wasn’t holding one now.
“What if professional isn’t what I’m going for?” she asked.
“What?” Roy squeaked out. Before Riza could say anything else, there was a call of her name. Riza stepped back, and they both looked to the doorway to see Rebecca standing there, leaning against the frame.
“We’re doing shots with Gracia! Come on!” Rebecca told her friend. Riza glanced back at Roy and shrugged, a simple smile on her face. She turned and followed Rebecca. Roy blinked, trying to think over what had just happened. When nothing formed coherently in his mind, he went to the fridge and got another beer.
Roy was now four—or was it five?—beers and two shots of whiskey in. Firmly drunk, not enough to be sloppy, but enough that bad decisions seemed like good ones. And when he was waiting for the bathroom, his favorite bad decision walked out. Riza looked up at him, her mouth forming a little o. Her mascara was smudged under her eyes, and locks of blonde hair were falling out from under her black wig. It wasn’t fair that it made her look hotter.
“Riza, hey, haven’t seen you much,” Roy said. He took a step forward and stumbled, catching himself on the door frame. The new position had him leaning over Riza, caging her in with one of his arms. His alcohol-addled brain told him to move, but his arm wasn’t listening. Riza didn’t seem to mind.
“It seems like they segregated the party a bit,” Riza agreed, “you know, men and women.”
“Yeah, that’s dumb,” Roy said.
Riza nodded. “Very dumb.”
“Well, I, um, need the bathroom,” Roy said, motioning behind her.
“I kind of figured.”
“Right.”
They shuffled around for a minute, and then Roy was in the bathroom, practically slamming the door shut behind him. He stared at himself in the mirror for a minute, but he really did need to piss, so he took care of that. While he washed his hands, he stared himself down and counted all of the reasons pursuing Riza was a bad idea.
She’s four years younger than you.
You work for her father.
You work together.
None of the reasons stuck. He wrenched open the bathroom door, intent on finding her, and was surprised when he saw her still on the other side.
“Riza—” he began, but let out a grunt of surprise when she pushed him back into the bathroom and locked the door shut behind them. Then, she reached up, grabbed his face, and brought him down to her lips.
Riza kissed in a way that was different than Roy expected. He’d thought she would be soft and hesitant, calm like her personality. But this Riza was different. This Riza kissed like it was the last thing she would do, tongue and teeth and—
“Ow!” Roy pulled back, tongue poking at the bit of blood she’d drawn when she’d nipped a little too hard at his lower lip.
Riza looked at him, pupils blown wide. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” Roy said, grabbing her by the waist and hoisting her up on the counter. “It was hot.” He led the next kiss, firmly pressing his lips against hers before sliding his tongue into her mouth. She sighed against him, leaning back slightly, so that he was pulled between her legs. Roy didn’t know how long they stood there, kissing each other like the other’s life depended on it. A loud knock on the door jolted him from her. He pulled back and noticed her lipstick smeared across her face. He was sure he was no better.
“One second,” Roy called. He grabbed a wad of toilet paper and handed it to Riza, who did her best to clean her face then his with a little giggle. He helped her down and pushed her slightly behind him as he opened the door. It was one of his and Maes’s old college roommates, back when they’d shared an apartment for four their sophomore year. The guy grinned and patted Roy on the shoulder as he brushed past into the bathroom. Roy pulled Riza further down the hall and turned towards her.
“Sorry,” he said at the same time Riza asked, “Do you want to get out of here?”
Roy paused, blinked. “What?”
Riza seemed to pale a little bit, but she pushed forward. “We could go back to your place.”
Roy Mustang was many things, but he was certainly not stupid. In record time, he’d whipped out his phone and ordered an Uber.
After quick, and separate, goodbyes, and a fifteen minute Uber ride, Roy and Riza arrived at Roy’s tiny city apartment. As they walked into the lobby and waited for the elevator, Roy tried to remember the last time he’d cleaned, or if there was anything particularly incriminating out and about. But then the elevator arrived, and Riza dragged him inside and pushed him against the wall to kiss him, and most of his thoughts went out of his head.
The elevator ride ended too soon and not soon enough. Roy grabbed Riza’s hand and pulled her after him down the hallway to his apartment door. He fumbled with his keys for a moment while Riza ran her hands up and down his body, thoroughly distracting him. Finally, the door unlocked and opened, and the two stumbled inside.
The first thing to go was Riza’s wig and headband, though it wasn’t a matter of simply ripping it off.
“Rebecca helped me with it,” Riza explained as she carefully pulled out bobby pins. “We pregamed. Maybe a little stupid.”
That explained why she’d been so bold with him when she’d first arrived.
The next to go was his shirt, which Riza unbuttoned as quickly as she could.
“You know,” he’d told her between kisses, “I’d only had the bottom two buttons done.” This had caused her to laugh so hard she’d had to pause for a minute. Roy had pouted, but then she’d put her hand on his belt, undoing it with an ease Roy wouldn’t question, and got down on her knees to make it up to him. Roy fisted his hand in her hair as she worked him skillfully, her lips perfect and her mouth warm. He’d pulled her up before he could finish and led her into his bedroom, eager to get his own mouth on her.
Together, they’d pulled her dress over her head as Riza kicked off her boots. Roy shucked his pants the rest of the way off as Riza made herself comfortable on his bed. Then, he was over her and kissing his way down her body. One hand found a home in his hair while the other gripped his shoulder as his mouth found her. She made the sweetest sounds for him, sounds that Roy knew he would be hearing in his dreams.
After he’d made her come once, twice, he reached over to his nightstand and grabbed a condom out of the drawer. Riza leaned up on her elbows to watch as he rolled the condom on, then hovered over her. He pressed his lips to hers, then her jaw, neck, shoulder as he slid inside of her. She let out a sigh, hands coming up to his shoulders as he reached a steady pace.
Roy kept pressing kisses to her neck as he fucked her, her light laughs egging him on. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so happy, so at peace. Sex was fun, but sex with Riza… it was on a different level. He tried to stay in the moment, to stay out of his head, but he couldn’t help but want to keep this little eternity with Riza, their bodies intertwined, their hips pressed together, her legs over his back, and her laughter in his ears.