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Riza played with her thumbs, massaging the edge of her palms. There wasn’t much else to do while she waited.
The restaurant that she had chosen was quieter than she’d hoped. True, the atmosphere was pleasant and the service was excellent, but the silence was nearly deafening.
The door opened and tugged on a suspended wire. The bell rang, and General Mustang walked through the entryway.
“How can I help you, sir?”
“I’m meeting someone here, Elizabeth? She should be here by now, I’m running late.”
“Uh, it looks like -”
“Oh, there she is! Thank you,” Roy cut the hostess short, and walked over to Riza’s table.
“You look incredible,” the General said, his lips parted ever so slightly. He pulled up a chair from a nearby table and sat down across from Riza.
“You look alright too, I suppose.”
“Now Elizabeth, don’t make me suffer too much for my tardiness,” Roy said, that candid smirk still plain on his face.
There it was again, that same old heartache. Riza knew all too well why he couldn’t say her name, and why they had to use aliases in public. But she wished, that maybe, just once, he would say ‘Riza’, and mean it.
“Is there something wrong?” Roy asked. The smirk was gone.
Riza blushed. Had she been that easy to read? Or was Mustang just that good at reading her?
“Oh, nothing. It’s just been a long day with work.”
The General opened his mouth as if he wanted to speak, then closed it as the waitress passed by.
“What can I get started for the two of you?” She asked, pulling a notepad and a pencil out of her apron pocket.
“I’ll take the 8 oz sirloin,” Riza said, faster than she meant to. She couldn’t help it- she was hungry, and she missed the fresh meat she’d had growing up in her Father’s estate.
“You certainly know what you want, Elizabeth,” Roy said, winking. “I’ll have a salad, and a whiskey if you don’t mind.”
The waitress blushed and scribbled down the orders. Before leaving, she turned to Riza and said, “you’re a lucky woman.”
Lucky was one word for it, Riza thought. She was lucky enough to be alive, she supposed, after everything that had happened on the Promised Day. The scar on her throat still stung every once in a while, and her nightmares of Ishval had been all but replaced with the horrors she had witnessed that day.
She was lucky enough to be this close to the General, but it had gotten her burned more than once.
“So, what happened at work?” Mustang asked, helping himself to the complimentary bread.
“Nothing much, it was just a dull day.” Riza paused and looked at Roy intently before continuing to speak.
“Up until a few months ago, my supervising officer was a real pain in my ass. He never did his paperwork or anything, and constantly left everything to me. But then, somehow, he ended up with a promotion. My new boss definitely knows what she’s doing, but things have become so boring.”
Mustang chucked. “Your old boss sounds like a real son of a bitch. You sure you really miss him?”
Riza shrugged. “I never thought I’d say it, but I do miss the excitement a bit.”
Roy smiled. She wasn’t used to seeing him this open, or this happy. She couldn’t help but admit that it was contagious.
“How about your work?” Riza asked, grabbing a slice of bread directly off Roy’s plate. He gave her a look of indignation before signing and resigning himself to the loss.
“It’s pretty boring for me as well. I was recently reassigned, and I miss the people that I used to work with. Especially a subordinate that I had. She was a real buzzkill, with a stick so far up her ass-”
Roy caught Riza’s face and backtracked. “Well, she was great! She always had my back.”
“Your subordinate sounds like a very competent woman. Are you sure there was nothing going on between the two of you?”
“Elizabeth, I promise, it was nothing like that, I swear!” Roy put his hands up as if he was being threatened and cracked a grin.
“You guys had the steak, salad, and whiskey, right?” The waitress was back, balancing the dishes precariously.
“That’s us,” Roy said, helping her unload the plates onto the table.
The dinner was gone quickly, and Roy wasted no time throwing back his whiskey. The fun was over, Riza thought to herself.
“Who do you think should leave first?” Roy asked, his head buried in the tip he was calculating.
“Why don’t we leave at the same time?”
He looked up at Riza, looking confused. “What?”
“You’ve been promoted,” Riza said. Her face was calm, but her hands were shaking. “I’m no longer your direct subordinate.”
“Not now,” Roy said, “but you will be once I make it to the top.”
He was right, and Riza knew it. At the end of the day, as much as she wanted to be seen with him, to stop masquerading as Elizabeth, what she had done in Ishval was bigger. There were changes that she could make as his Chief of Staff that could never be done by a First Lady.
“I know, General,” Riza said, “I just wish things were different.”
Riza knew she was being selfish, and she felt guilty for even saying such a thing. Whatever dreams she had of her happy ending with Roy had long been taken away- and rightfully so.
The pair shared weekly dinners, chatter in the cafeteria, and those sacred nights when he could sneak away and go to her place. To ask for more- she would have to be truly selfish, wouldn’t she?
Mustang nodded his understanding and furrowed his brow. “If you really want to, we can try and figure something out.” The words were so gentle that Riza almost burst into tears.
Instead, she took a deep breath in and smiled. “That’s alright. We’ll get there someday. Maybe after you retire as Fuhrer, after the trials.”
“I’ll be a wrinkly old man by then,” Roy said. “You sure you’d still be interested?”
Riza laughed. It was a deep laugh, from her gut. He always knew how to make her laugh. “As if I’m going to age well, after all the stress you’ve put me through. Every time you neglected your paperwork aged me a whole year.”
Roy shrugged. “I suppose that’s fair.”
“I need to get home to Black Hayate,” Riza said, passing the check off to the patient waitress. “I can leave first. Do you want to head to the bathroom for a few minutes? Give me a headstart?”
“Only if I can stop by your apartment in an hour or so,” Roy said with a grin.
Riza rolled her eyes. Of course he could.
There was a knock at the door. Riza sprang from the couch and opened it wide.
Roy stood there, holding a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine. He had replaced his smirk with a gentle smile and greeted Black Hayate warmly.
The wine and flowers had barely been set down before Riza and Roy’s lips crashed into each other.
Kissing him like this, with his arms wrapped around her back, felt just wrong enough to be right. Roy held her tight, slowly moving his arms down her sides. Riza ran her fingers through his hair and tried desperately to memorize the taste of his lips. There was still whiskey on his breath as if he wasn’t intoxicating enough.
Before she knew it, her back was against the wall, and her cardigan was on the floor. Roy moved his lips down to her neck and traced a path from her mouth to her collarbone. Riza sighed and reached for the buttons on his shirt.
There was another knock at the door.
Riza froze, her heart pounding in her chest.
“You can hide in by bedroom,” Riza said. Mustang bolted, and started redoing his shirt buttons.
The knock came again. Panicking, Riza put her cardigan back on, and ran her fingers through her hair. She rushed to the door and opened it.
“Rebecca! What are you doing here?”
“I was filing some paperwork, and I saw that Mustang had requested for you to be promoted to Captain- and to go back to working in his office! I stopped by as soon as I had the chance- The General can be so sneaky sometimes, I figure he didn’t tell you himself. I was honestly surprised he didn’t do it sooner, but it looks like it will be approved pretty soon. What do-”
Riza stood in stunned silence. “I’m sorry to interrupt but, what? General Mustang, a promotion?”
“Yeah, I knew you’d be excited!” Rebecca said. “Oh, is that a bottle of wine?” She pushed past Riza and headed towards the counter.
“Sorry Rebecca, but it’s not for us. It’s a gift.”
“Oh,” she said, setting the bottle down next to the flowers. “Who are these from?”
“You know the flower vendor that Mustang’s worked with in the past?” Riza asked. Rebecca nodded. “He had some extras and passed them out.”
Rebecca looked disappointed. “Jeez, Riza. I was hoping that you would have a more interesting story.”
Riza shrugged.
“Ah well,” Rebecca said. “I’m probably intruding, it’s pretty late. I just wanted to let you know.”
“No, no,” Riza said. “Don’t worry about it! You’re welcome here any time, and I mean it. I really do appreciate you letting me know.”
Rebecca smiled. “Alright, I’ll be out of your hair. Have a good night, Riza!”
The door shut behind her.
Riza breathed out a sigh of relief. She loved Rebecca dearly, but ever since she had moved to Central, she had developed a habit of dropping by unannounced.
“She’s gone, General,” Riza said loudly. Roy bolted out of her bedroom. He saw Riza standing there, looking deep in thought, and sighed.
“The moment is ruined, isn’t it,” he said glumly.
“Yeah,” Riza said with a small smile. “Sorry about that.”
“No need. It’s bound to happen every once and a while.”
The knot in Riza’s stomach grew. She was so sick of having these meetings in private, of the anxiety of being discovered. The guilt that she felt every time they kissed; what business did they have loving each other after causing so much death?
Roy could read her look plainly on her face. “I’m sorry, Lieutenant. I should have told you earlier that I’d requested a promotion and department transfer for you. It just kept getting away from me. If you don’t want to do this anymore, I completely understand.”
Riza shook her head. What she had between herself and Roy was precious, and she understood that. This wasn’t some summer fling, and both of them understood that all too well. They would be patient, love each other in secret, until the time came for them to make it official. That would be enough for her, it had to be.
“No, I really do want this, Roy,” Riza said. She shocked herself with the use of his first name. It was a rare thing between the two of them, even considering the intimate nature of their relationship. “We’re just going to have to be patient, you’re right.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Roy asked, taking a seat next to her.
“When it’s just us, can you call me Riza?” She asked. It was an easy enough request, but first names had been such a taboo between the two of them.
Roy nodded. “Only if you call me Roy.”
“It’s a deal.”