[ed/riza; r] A Different Place Title: A Different Place Author:emilie_burns Fandom:Fullmetal Alchemist Pairing: Edward Elric / Riza Hawkeye Theme set: Alpha (1Sentence) Rating: R Wordcount: 2432 Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) is copyrighted by Hiromu Arakawa/Square Enix. This is a work of fanfiction for personal entertainment only. Unless outright stated otherwise, assume AU-ishness for all Ed/Riza fics by me, with Ed 17+ in age. Teaser:He didn't care for how she looked in the moonlight... Original LJ Post Date: August 13, 2006 @ Chaotic_Library
A Different Place
"I've noticed that being with you, I smile more often, I anger a little less quickly, the sun shines a little brighter, and life is so much sweeter. For being with you takes me to a different place: a place called love." - anonymous
#01 - Comfort When he was finally able to convince her to let him court her, knowing they would see each other again soon quickly became a cold comfort on parting, as he wanted his family where he could keep everyone safe, and she was loathe to return to the frozen, shadowy blue world she'd lived in for so long.
#02 - Kiss He asked permission the first time he kissed her; Ed couldn't see how he could not, because she felt too rare, too precious to be treated with anything less than reverence.
#03 - Soft Ed loved watching Riza wake up; he loved the sleepy look in her eyes when she opened them, and the soft way her lips curled into a smile as he brushed her hair out of her face, and the way how he could see, in those brief, contented moments, how safe and happy she looked.
#04 - Pain There were days when she knew his automail bothered him, when the ports and nerves would twinge and ache, and every wince went into her heart as she watched, frustrated with the knowledge there was nothing she could do to ease the pain.
#05 - Potatoes Ed wanted someone who could cook like his mother, who he got in the end was Riza; it wasn't to imply she was a bad cook, just an uncreative one, but she had one potato dish she learned from her grandmother that was quickly becoming his favorite.
#06 - Rain One afternoon while studying, Al compared her to her favorite flower, pointing out that violets needed a bit of shadow and a bit of sunlight, and a bit of rain like the week before (which he'd managed to cajole his brother into telling him about when he'd arrived home, drenched and grinning); Ed flung a pillow at him and called him a girly sap, but privately agreed. [see #42]
#07 - Chocolate Al and Winry had persuaded him that buying chocolate once a month was a good method of survival; it wasn't clear to him why, exactly, or rather, what it did to help with that, so he made it a habit of picking up a box at the start of every month and simply giving it to her then, lest he forgot.
#08 - Happiness He had such a difficult time convincing her that she was fully entitled to her own happiness that Al had to point out that similarity between them and suggest a course of action; when Edward pointed out to Riza that making her happy would be what would make him happy, he started arguing on a logic she found easier to accept.
#09 - Telephone Telephone conversations were always awkward between them; Ed and Riza realized how many subtle, nonverbal nuances had crept into their communication with one another when it became difficult to talk through the wires.
#10 - Ears Ed loved the way he held power over Riza, brushing away her resistance and professionalism with simply a touch of his fingers as he lightly traced the curve of her ear down to the pulse along her throat.
#11 - Name Ed was so used to everyone close to him calling him by his nickname, particularly since he never stood on formality where he could avoid it, but he did rather like how she said his name.
#12 - Sensual He made her relearn the art of lovemaking, made her learn how to receive instead of only give, to submit not just in mind but in body as well, to let him make her vulnerable not just in heart but in flesh, and trust him to protect her, to care for her, to surrender everything she was to his touch.
#13 - Death They both had nightmares about death; she dreamt of Ishbal, of war, of all the times she would have failed in her vow to protect her commanding officer if she had been just a moment too late, and he dreamt of his mother, of his brother, of the Gate and all his failures, real and imagined guilt.
#14 - Sex The first time they had sex was awkward for them both; they had known one another for years in vastly different roles -- since he was almost twelve and she was barely twenty-one -- that the conscious change to their relationship held such an intense degree of surreality with the new ground that they floundered, shy and fumbling and bashful.
#15 - Touch It never failed to amaze him that such a strong and lethal woman would or could bend so easily to his will with just a gentle touch.
#16 - Weakness That spot on Riza's neck, just behind and below her ear, was her strongest weakness, and Ed quite happily abused the knowledge of that discovery without a shred of mercy, taking delight in the way it melted her composed, stern demeanor into raw feminine sensuality.
#17 - Tears She slept so apparently still and calm through the nights that he didn't realize she often had nightmares too, until he noticed the wetness around her eyes, silent tears brought out from whatever it was she saw in her dreams.
#18 - Speed The Fullmetal Alchemist had made a lot of friends in his time, and likewise a good many enemies; Riza had known that and stayed alert, but even then, when someone did try to make a move, her gun had barely cleared the holster before Edward had already neutralized the threat.
#19 - Wind It was a windy spring day, and Riza had clipped her hair back up in its old style to keep it under control, but Edward took the clip and elastic out, insisting a little wind wouldn't hurt anything while reminding her she didn't have to comply with the rigid orderliness of military living while off duty.
#20 - Freedom She had loved the Colonel, but the relationship had always felt too much as if they were cheating on someone, and in a sense they had been -- the military; relationships like that were never on strong enough ground to hold up over the years, and one without the shadows or hidden strings was a new sense of freedom.
#21 - Life It was a twilight world in the shadows, a limbo of neither dead or living, and it took the sun to drive the chill away and bring back life.
#22 - Jealousy There was no reason to be jealous of Mustang, and Ed knew it; even so, it didn't stop him from doubting in the dark hours of the night whether or not he would be enough to make her happy, or if she would leave for someone she was also devoted to, someone who seemed far more in control of his life.
#23 - Hands Edward loved tracing an automail finger along her neck, from just behind her earlobe down to the hollow of her throat, because he knew the shiver it evoked wasn't primarily from the chill of the metal.
#24 - Taste He tasted like heat when she kissed him, like warm afternoon sunshine with a hint of fall, comfortably warm and mellow.
#25 - Devotion It surprised Riza to learn what an attentive lover Edward was; she hadn't expected the same level of devotion he displayed in regard to his brother to carry over to other pieces of his heart, nor the way he put consideration for Al first in everything to actually turn out to be a fundamental part of who he was.
#26 - Forever It took Edward a long time to convince her that despite his youth, he could not see himself finding anyone 'better', as she put it; there were too few in Amestris who understood the bond between his brother and himself, and besides, when he let someone into his heart and family, it was forever.
#27 - Blood The sight of blood never bothered Edward, unless it belonged to his family, as Riza discovered one evening while preparing the three of them dinner, and nicked her finger with the paring knife.
#28 - Sickness Riza took care not to catch cold; not only was it always unpleasant anyway, but she discovered how anxious and fretful Edward would become, and realized he still carried issues related to his mother's death.
#29 - Melody The others in the office knew something was up when Breda caught her humming a quiet, upbeat little melody while filing paperwork, but she rather liked having her secrets, and refused to tell them in favor of the entertainment from watching them engage in amusing hijinks in their efforts to uncover what she was hiding.
#30 - Star Wishing on stars was something she had done when she was very young, when she still believed in such silly superstitions; when she looked out the window that night after getting home from a date, she found herself making a wish again for the first time in years.
#31 - Home Ed was horribly embarrassed when his little brother teased and pestered him into asking Riza out on a date to begin a relationship, but deep down he knew Al was right; in the last several years of growing friendship, she had become part of the family, and home would not be complete in his heart without her there.
#32 - Confusion He didn't get why Riza kept pushing him away and insisting he would likely meet someone better than herself; he understood she was afraid of taking too much of an emotional risk, so was he, but it was lost on him why she wouldn't or couldn't comprehend that she was special in his eyes.
#33 - Fear Riza knew that everyone believed nothing ever bothered her, that her mask and walls were solid, and because of that, even though she had been through war, somehow lowering those walls to let Edward in, to let him see the weaknesses and pains she kept hidden in the dark, was the most frightening thing she had ever done.
#34 - Lightning/Thunder Neither of them ever slept through thunderstorms; eventually, however, they became something each of them looked forward to, after discovering one night that there was something they could do to pass the time, and then easily fall asleep regardless if it were still storming or not.
#35 - Bonds Childish dreams of being someone's one and only faded with age and life, and while she was his only lover, Riza knew from the start she would have to share Ed's devotion with Al, that there was a bond between the brothers that nothing could shatter, and that without that bond, Ed would not be the person she'd come to love.
#36 - Market The first time they crossed paths in the market was happenstance; the later times were no accident, as she later discovered that he preferred to talk to her away from the military, away from the uniform, away from everything that made her the stoic lieutenant.
#37 - Technology Edward didn't know until later that Riza had contacted Winry, and spent her downtime researching and reading up on the technology he depended on, to better understand how it worked, and how to help him in the process.
#38 - Gift Riza complained that Edward was ridiculously difficult to shop for; Al merely smiled and said nothing, certain she would figure it out sooner or later, that the only gift Edward really liked was seeing his family happy.
#39 - Smile Ed took his little victories where he could, when he could, and the most precious were the ones that told him that for once, he was doing something right, when the people that he loved gave him a smile that was meant just for him, and Riza was no exception.
#40 - Innocence There was no more innocence left for them; they gravitated toward each other, retreating for the whips and stings of lives lived too hard for too long, with too many broken hopes too far out of reach, and swept under the rugs out of sight, but never out of mind.
#41 - Completion After he reached the end of his goals and restored his brother, Ed was content to spend a bit of time staying in one place, and although he did visit Rizenbul frequently enough, Central held the books and the research that kept his attention; what had been originally planned to be a few months stretched into years as over time, he started falling for someone else they visited on a regular basis.
#42 - Clouds They hadn't noticed the clouds towering up toward sunset, and were still a block away from her home when the rain hit; she'd taken off her dress shoes to avoid slipping on the pavement as they ran the rest of the way, and his heart stopped as he watched her unlock the door, dripping wet, her cheeks flushed, her eyes alight, looking young and alive for a change.
#43 - Sky Despite the superstitions that rain on a wedding day was considered, oddly enough, to be good luck, Riza was relieved when the skies cleared, because it was being held outdoors, a small afternoon affair that made a half-hearted effort toward being formal.
#44 - Heaven There were old beliefs and myths steeped in a religion long-dead, of an afterlife of paradise; if she'd been dead in a shadow twilight of purgatory all those years, then learning to live again was surely comparable to that mythical heaven.
#45 - Hell They fought - truly fought - only once, over whether or not she would retain her commission in the military; the resulting week of silence between them had been nothing short of pure hell for them both.
#46 - Sun She always thought of him as the sun, burning with incredible intensity and passionate drive, yet never burning out, so brilliant and golden and alive some days that she feared she might get burnt if she touched him, and then there were the moments of warm lethargy, basking under his caress like a cat in a sunbeam.
#47 - Moon He didn't care for how she looked in the moonlight; she did look very beautiful, that much he couldn't deny, but the pale light made her look cold and not quite living.
#48 - Waves It bothered him that she never waved when she saw them off at the station, but instead merely turned and left; when asked about it, she told him that for her, even that much of a good-bye had always carried the implication that it would be the last time, a superstition that had crept in from military life.
#49 - Hair Riza found herself wearing her hair in a clip less and less save for when she was on duty; Ed preferred it down, he told her, and she agreed, especially when his hand would tighten into a fist at the nape of her neck to pull her into a hungry kiss.
#50 - Supernova She likened his anger to a sun going supernova -- an intense and devastating explosion that risked leaving a frozen absence of everything in its wake -- and tried to avoid anything that might set it off; Al was quick to correct that assumption when he'd learned of it -- Ed might have a terrible temper, but he would never let the full impact of it hit his family.