Work Text:
“i don’t know how to ask this.” just outside of the hospital doors, he turns to her and fidgets with his gloves. they’ve each just finished with a check-up and, as usual, they can’t help but linger over their goodbyes.
“don’t make things weird, colonel.” she leans against the wall, but doesn’t take her eyes off him.
“it’s already weird, lieutenant. it’s weird that—no, i’m not going to lead with that.”
riza raises an eyebrow. she can’t help it, it’s instinctive, but she remembers quickly he can’t see her expressions anymore, and informs him of her incredulity instead. “we don’t have any room for awkwardness between us, sir.”
this could be about anything. at some point she knows they need to talk—really talk—about the things that happened on the promised day. she braces herself for any number of difficult topics, and waits.
“i spent the night alone in my apartment last night and i hated it.”
“sad,” she offers. there’s a part of her that knows where he’s going with this, but another part of her that’s so caught up in the details of what that would mean and what it would look like, and so the only part left for talking is the agent in charge of sarcasm. “would you like me to assign an officer to keep you company?”
he scoffs. “you’re making this difficult on purpose.”
she’d also had a hard time sleeping after she got home from the hospital. it was good to cuddle with hayate again, but without the sound of mustang’s snores, she’d stayed awake all night. “ask,” she says.
“the hospital said it would be a good idea to have someone stay with me for a bit, to help me re-learn the apartment, and i was wondering if you’d do me the honor.”
“of course,” she answers.
“i only have—” he makes a noise of hesitation. “you’ve seen my apartment, i… don’t have a guest bedroom.”
“we slept next to each other for weeks here at the hospital, sir. and we’ve done it before.” in ishval, in tents, and on the road, and as kids, and he is making this weird, isn’t he? “what, exactly, is going on here?”
“there’s another thing.” he kicks his feet against the ground.
she’s proud of him for refusing the gift from marcoh. he’s got a long, hard road ahead of him, but now that he’s decided he’s going to be the world’s first blind führer, she knows he’ll manage it. she softens her voice for a moment, finally giving him a break, and asks, “what is it?”
“when you live with me… i’ll want to make you breakfast every morning.” he looks up for a moment, and chuckles. “that’s not what i meant. i mean that i, uh, i wanted to ask for something more permanent with you, but i gave you a medical excuse instead. i want to live with you, because of you. and not because i need your eyes.”
this stuns her into silence. she takes a deep breath before replying. “i need to know if you’re serious,” she says, finally. she can tell that he is, but it’s… she needs to hear it. “are you saying… are you saying that you’re in love with me, sir?”
he stammers for a moment. when he speaks, it’s a little more confident. “i want to live with you, and i want to build my life with yours. i want to make you breakfast and i want to fall asleep next to you. i don’t know if that’s the same thing as being in love.”
riza feels her heart rise in her chest.
“i don’t know if—” he hesitates again. “i don’t know if i’m in love with you. and i don’t know if i want the things that come with that sometimes. but… i know. i know that i love you.” the words come out strangled, and he makes a face like he can’t believe he said that out loud, but he doesn’t take it back.
she sighs. it feels a little something like relief. “i think that’s how i feel too.” actually, she knows that’s how she feels. she has always loved him; she’s never known if that meant she was in love with him. maybe… committing to a life together could be something else. something just as strong. “i think if we got married tomorrow, no one would be surprised.”
“what?” he turns to look at her, and then shakes his head. “i can’t see your face, lieutenant, i can’t tell if you’re joking.”
“i wouldn’t joke about a thing like this, sir. you have to consider how living together looks, and how living together unmarried looks. it doesn’t matter if we don’t—” she runs through a list of euphemisms in her head and gives up, “have sex, because other people—”
“will you, then?”
she laughs. he sounds so sincere. “have sex with you?”
“marry me, first lieutenant riza hawkeye,” he says, but he’s chuckling a little too. “with or without the sex.”
she laughs again. “of course i will. i didn’t have any plans tomorrow anyway.”