[roy/riza; pg] Where You Need Me Theme: #42, Fidelity in adversity (52_Flavours) Characters: Roy Mustang x Riza Hawkeye Series: Fullmetal Alchemist Rating: PG Notes: Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) is copyrighted by Hiromu Arakawa/Square Enix. This is a work of fanfiction for personal entertainment only. This was written more with the manga version in mind. Thanks to jchaos and yuuo for some of the ideas. Both concrit and comments welcome and desired. Jossed. Title: Where You Need Me Author:emilie_burns Word Count: 1027 Summary:There was reason for the illusion he created with all the women and unceasing flirtations. They were decoys, and too numerous for any particular one to have any special importance. It was behind the illusion that he hid the reality of the true importance his adjutant held in his life. Original LJ Post Date: June 26, 2005 @ Chaotic_Library
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Where You Need Me
Fire, miniskirts, and women. Those three words were the ones which came to mind for most people, in that order, regarding Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist. There were no shortage of women who were drawn in by his looks, his rank, or both, and he knew how to capitalize on that. He was quick with a charming smile, and had mastered a flirtatious intensity which left the women feeling as though they were the only ones on the planet, even in a group. There were even times, particularly when the lady in question was rather attractive and more importantly wearing a skirt, that he would be the one to initiate interaction with them.
Yet, for all his various attentions to the women who crossed his path, he was oblivious to the fact that his closest subordinate was female. First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye was competent, reliable, and absolutely lethal with a gun. Her poker face and professionalism created an invisible barrier of unapproachability around her, and she was as immune to her superior officer's looks and charm as he was oblivious.
Or so it all seemed.
It was no secret that the lieutenant was important to the colonel. Her practical efficiency and no-nonsense attitude were obviously essential to keeping him on the correct path to his goal. His ambition to become the fuhrer was not exactly a card anyone played close to their chest, and on that level, he appeared to the world as a power-hungry playboy socializing his way up the ladder of military politics. An annoyance, even a threat, to others with their own ambitions, but still nothing to truly worry about.
Masks, sleight of hands, deception, and red herrings - they were the ingredients and tools of the façade which Mustang and his command staff lived behind. They played the cards they seemed to hold, all the while drawing everyone's attentions away from the winning hands they were slowly building, the cards hidden up their sleeves.
The truth behind the goals of Roy Mustang's ambition to make it to the top was a deadly truth. The truth was change. To make Amestris better, to raise the collective moral fiber of her military, change was inevitable. And those which posed the biggest threats were also those who would likely find themselves losing the very power which they greedily hoarded.
The closer they drew to the ultimate goal, the greater the danger became. Presently, the worst done was to subtly demote him, not in rank or pay, but in location to the border of the east. Far away from the bustling nerve center of the nation, he would have to work twice as hard, if not harder, in order to garner enough attention to secure his next promotion to Brigadier General.
There was reason for the illusion he created with all the women and unceasing flirtations. They were decoys, and too numerous for any particular one to have any special importance. It was behind the illusion that he hid the reality of the true importance his adjutant held in his life.
He was in love with her.
Likewise, her calm logic, occasionally punctuated with bouts of exasperated annoyance at his antics, was her own illusion. But her lack of any jealousy which he could discern said far more to him than the quiet way she attempted to anticipate his needs and lessen his workload. That lack of jealousy only made him love her all the more.
If she were anyone else, perhaps it would be too maddening to see his attentions turned toward others while they themselves could barely risk even a subtle caress as their hands would meet in the course of the day, exchanging paperwork and other things. But although it had been several years since either of them last gave any actual acknowledgment to what was between them, she knew where his heart still was, as he did hers.
Every so often, it was on the tip of his tongue to ask her to resign, to leave her place as his adjutant so she could be where they both wanted her to be. But logic always overrode reason in the end, and he stayed silent. Such a move would not only highlight her importance to him, it was a wasteful sacrifice. They had a choice to which path to take once, long ago in the time following the war, and they were the path they both chose that night.
The attraction was there, but they were both slow and cautious, neither wishing to move too far out on a limb and say more than what might be welcome. They played with illusions even then, an artificial safety net in an effort to counter the rapid fall. It was happenstance, a mere case of nothing more than being in the wrong place at the right time and in harm's way that made him realize he needed someone with her marksmanship to compensate in the times when his own alchemy was not an option.
That still remained one of the most difficult conversations he held to date. He didn't want to say the words, but neither could he ignore the reality.
"If..." He faltered, almost unable to continue, and could not look at her. "If I had a soldier like you under my command, I wouldn't have anything to worry about."
"I know." Her reply was close to inaudible, so soft he almost missed it. "I... I think that... you could use someone to watch your back. For the times when it rains."
They both knew which course they were going to take, and it was not a path either of them wanted. "I didn't want to have to ask you for it."
"Where do you need me the most?"
That was all it boiled down to in the end. They chose a path of need rather than the preferred path of want, for the sake of his own ambitions for a better world, a burden which she readily took on as her own. And deep down, they both carried another goal left unspoken, set aside for a future someday, in a world more sympathetic to dreams.