Blue Waltz: What Everyone Misunderstood

CHAPTER ONE: The Most Innocent Of Beginnings

“Nnn...Roy...” came the softly moaned cry as feather light kisses were trailed from the base of Riza Hawkeye’s neck down over her collarbone, decorating her skin like a necklace. The owner of the sinful lips that were attacking her smirked as he let his tongue trace the delicate bones just below where he had kissed, his right hand gently running over her sheet covered body to cup her right breast and teasingly squeeze it through the silky smooth cloth.

He glanced up when he felt her breath catch and he sent her a reassuring smile as he inched up to kiss the tip of her nose affectionately. She blushed at him and closed her crimson eyes, her head turning from him in a moment of shy embarrassment. The sheet that separated their otherwise nude bodies was pulled up to the top of her breasts and tucked under her armpits, her arms free to let her hands gently hold his shoulders.

“Riza...don’t be so shy with me... Riza please.” he coaxed quietly, ducking his head down to nip at her exposed pulse point. She seemed to tense for a moment, her eyes squeezing painfully shut before she took a deep breath and relaxed, turning to face him, her eyes open wide. He smiled softly at her and leaned down to kiss her gently, his tongue playfully slipping between his lips to lap softly at hers after a moment.

He was rewarded with a soft but pleasured moan and he returned the noise as he let his tongue slide into her obediently opened mouth, his right hand now busy with trying to slip down the sheet over her body.

For one glorious second Roy Mustang knew success as their right sides pressed against each other in his dream before his very real alarm clock went off, buzzing incessantly until he rolled over and quite literally out of bed. He groaned loudly in pain as his still deeply bruised side met with the hardwood floor of his bedroom.

Cursing quietly under his breath, he forced his still sleepy eyes to open and focus on the annoying screaming buzzer of an alarm clock across the room. Despite the slightly dizzying back and forth motion of the clock as it dinged it’s pair of bells loudly, he was able to make out that it was almost seven in the morning.

With a moderate amount of force Roy was able to get up off the floor, rubbing his left side with one hand as he reached out toward the clock. His sluggish steps and moaned complaints made him resemble the popular mummy from the cheesy silent films that played at the theaters. He took a moment to grip the clock in his outstretched hand, then released his aching side just long enough to flip the metal switch in back to off.

He stood there for a moment in a pair of pale blue boxers staring at the offensive piece of machinery before he woke up enough to realize two things: First was that not only was he still rather throbbingly hard from the erotic dream of Riza, her hair all a mess on his pillow and the promise of one hell of a night in her eyes, but that he really had had a dream about Riza, her hair all a mess on his pillow and the promise of one hell of a night in her eyes. The second really wasn’t nearly as significant since it merely was that he really had to piss, and he couldn’t do that with a hard on.

He sighed as he came to the slow and unattractive conclusion that he was stuck having to take care of business himself (as usual of late) before he headed back over to his bed to lay back and relax. As he climbed onto his bed he carefully pulled his boxers down in front to release his cock from the tight space it had been in and he laid on his belly for a moment, bringing up his dream from where it had been interrupted.

His problem with Riza being the woman in his dream wasn’t that it was Riza. That had never been a problem since he was fairly used to having dreams about his female co-workers (and even occasionally the male ones) including Riza. It was the intensity of the dream that surprised him. He had actually thought he could feel Riza’s breath and smell her skin in the dream. That was what had been so disturbing.

He took a deep breath as he neared his climax, his hand working at a steady pace over his erection. Just the thought of how real it had all seemed was getting him that close so quickly, and that was even more disturbing.

His body reacted quickly sometimes, but not usually this quickly.

One breath, two breaths...

He held his third breath, his body arching slightly as he dug his heels into his bed and bit his tongue to keep quiet. Even if he was alone in his room he didn’t like to make noise unless there was someone around to see him in that moment and hear his voice.

He groaned quietly as his body began to slowly relax and come down from the pleasure filled high it had just gone through. He opened his eyes and looked toward the clock.

Five minutes.

That really wasn’t like him. If it was a really spectacular fantasy he could at least hold out for ten.

He slowly got up, keeping his messy hand off his bed as he turned and stood, slowly and carefully stumbling across the floor toward his bathroom where he reached into the shower and turned the knob to hot, letting the spray of water warm up as he turned back toward the toilet and walked to stand over it. He reached out with his left hand to brace his weight against the wall on it as he flipped the lid up with his now dry right and grasped himself (Not too hard, but not too light, he mentally reminded himself in his father’s patient tone) as he aimed for the center and hit it, the sound of the shower actually helping him to urinate faster. When he finished he did the usual shake to get the last few drops out before flushing and stepping into the now fogged over shower.

He adjusted the water temperature and smiled faintly when it was perfect. He was never one to spend too much time in the water, but when it was just perfect like this it was enough to relax his sore muscles and make him feel comfortable even on the stressful days. He ran his hand over the scar on his left side just below his ribcage where they had pulled out two slugs. The stitches had been hell to get, and taking them out was almost worse. He relaxed as the water followed his fingers over the small scars and eased his skin before he began to wash himself, checking his sore spots by pressing them and seeing if they were still sore or not.

When he finished scrubbing his body off and he felt that he looked at least half way decent he turned off the water and stepped out. He grabbed the nearest towel and rubbed at his face and body, then walked out to his room again. He stopped in the doorway, his hair still dripping slightly onto his shoulders.

There across the room sat his uniform.

He hadn’t been back to work immediately, instead he had been put on medical leave. And he was mostly healed. It had been almost ten weeks after all. The only thing aside from the bruises and scars on his side that even hinted at what had happened was a scar on the left side of his face that ran almost from the far corner of his eye to nearly his ear. He had been lucky to use the last of his strength and dodge the bullet Archer had fired enough for it to only graze his face so superficially.

As if thinking about the scar reminded him of it he lifted his hand and touched it, the pads of his fingers running over the now familiar new part of his face.

He sighed and padded over to the pile of clothes waiting for him, his footfalls becoming slightly more confident with each step. He stopped just in front of the uniform, the crisp clean cloth almost as intimidating to him as his alchemy was to others.

After a moment of glaring at the uniform he gave in, shoulders slumping slightly as he dropped his bath towel and shook his head to send the excess water on his hair flying away before pulling on his undershirt and boxers. He grumbled quietly as he pulled the uniform on, his side aching slightly before he reached in his pocket and pulled on his gloves.

He looked at the alchemic circle on the back of his gloves for a moment before a slightly cocky smirk took it’s place on his face. He snapped his fingers, creating a small spark with his gloves and using his alchemy to control the spark like a tiny ball of flame before he let it die and headed out the door.

“‘Morning Colonel.” Leaning against the passenger side of the car waiting outside was Havoc, a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he pushed himself up and off of the cab of the military car and turned to open the door to let Roy in.

Roy blinked at the car and smiled softly. “Riza thinks of everything, even when I don’t eh?” he asked as he walked down the path leading from his door to the sidewalk. His step was slightly off as he still had a minor limp from a graze on his left leg but besides that he was walking fairly normally considering the circumstances.

“Aa, Lieutenant Hawkeye said to come get you at 5, but I knew you wouldn’t be up, so I got a coffee for myself and yours is in the backseat waiting for you. Two sugars, one shot of vanilla like you like.” Havoc replied as he waited for Roy to get into the car and situate himself.

“...That’s how the flower shop girl likes it, not me.” Roy commented simply as he smoothly stepped into the car and settled down. He had dated the girl once and had made a night of it so to speak, and he remembered her asking for that sort of coffee the next morning.

Havoc blinked, then became slightly teary eyed as he realized that what Roy had said was true. And there was only one way that a guy knew how a girl liked her coffee if she wasn’t a co-worker. “...You’re right.”

Roy sighed and sipped the coffee in hopes that he could at least drink it to wake up, then grimaced at the overly sweet taste. He managed to glance up into the rearview mirror just as the first tears began to stream down Havoc’s cheeks. He really needed to find Havoc a girlfriend. Someone that would make him a little less psychotic and a lot more balanced. And fast.

The silence between them on the way to work was depressed, one mourning the end of his leave while the other mourned the loss of another female to his superior. Neither were very pleased to see Headquarters looming ahead of them, and both were even more displeased to see they were being greeted by Armstrong.

The tall and overly built man was looming on the steps to Central when they arrived, and he jogged down the steps quickly, two at a time, to open the passenger door for the Colonel.

“Colonel, welcome back.” Armstrong said with a simple salute. He grinned slightly under his mustache as he watched Roy manage to climb out with only the tiniest of winces. Perhaps Roy wouldn’t be in too sour of a mood when Armstrong lead him inside. “I trust you’re ready to go back to work and that all is mostly well if not one hundred percent physically.”

Roy winced again at the tone that Armstrong held. Only one thing could make the larger man so happy. He was about to be surprised.

“I’m fine enough, but the doctor said not to stress it too much.” He hoped the doctor’s orders would be enough to at least temporarily stave off the other’s anticipation of a huge surprise and maybe even postpone the surprise a few more days until he really could take it.

Something flickered in Armstrong’s eyes as he looked Roy over, but he didn’t stop smiling beneath his mustache. “Of course sir. But I wish to tell you about a new military activity that I believe may interest you.”

‘Persistent today eh Louis?’ he asked mentally. “But of course. Please, report.”

Armstrong saluted and stood at attention. “Under the orders of the new General of the Army, we are to have our first annual military ball this weekend at the local banquet hall.”

Roy blinked, then looked confused. “This weekend? But that doesn’t give us any time to set up the hall, or even rent it!”

“It’s an old order sir, and we’ve already taken care of everything for you.” Came Havoc’s response as he walked from the now parked car across the street up to the two higher ranked men. Armstrong nodded to confirm Havoc.

Roy blinked and looked between them. “You’re serious? The General of the Army himself agreed to this?”

Both men nodded.

He sighed and nodded. “Then do it. I won’t waste an excuse to get off early and have some fun.”

Both men couldn’t contain their grins.

Colonel Roy Mustang was back.

The three men walked into Central Headquarters together as if this was a normal day and Roy hadn’t been gone at all. A lot of the personnel they passed along the way greeted them with salutes and the occasional flirtatious look thrown Roy’s way. It was obvious that everyone who had ever been even an acquaintance of the infamous Flame Alchemist had missed his presence and they were all beyond happy that he had returned.

This was even further proven when Armstrong waved his goodbye to Roy and Havoc as they turned into the office they shared with their other officers. There in the middle of the desks was a large sheet cake that said “Welcome Back Colonel Roy Mustang!” in red icing in the center of the white cream icing. A few red and yellow strands of crepe paper was draped over his leather chair at the back of the room. There was even a small construction paper sign at the back reading a warm welcome back with a small smiling face next to the words.

Havoc moved to stand at attention next to the desk were his other subordinates were; a shyly smiling Kain Fury standing next to the cake and waving his hello quietly, a happily grinning Heymans Breda, a softly smiling Vato Falman, and of course, the star of his own personal porno from this morning, a stern but happy looking Riza Hawkeye.

He smiled at them all and walked into the office, the door closing behind him.

By the time five o’clock rolled around that afternoon there had already been two incidents that Riza had been forced to resolve. One included a piece of cake that had ended up on the seat of almost everyone’s pants thanks to Havoc and Breda. When she threatened the two with the loss of all privileges they immediately apologized and stopped setting the cake on the other’s chairs.

The second incident hadn’t been nearly so easy.

In the course of looking for an excuse to not work today, Havoc had actually suggested a juvenile game of Truth or Dare. She had seen trouble coming and was about to suggest something with a smaller chance of causing too much trouble when Roy piped up just how much fun it would be. Of course this led to her outnumbering and she sighed, giving in.

It had been innocent and cautious at first, nothing too overly dramatic or painful.

But then Breda got the bright idea of asking Hawkeye a very personal question.

“Umm... I pick...Hawkeye!” Breda looked as if he’d just caught a firefly in a jar. “Truth or Dare Lieutenant?”

“Truth of course.” Hawkeye had already witnessed too many embarrassing stunts even if they were minor to be stupid enough to choose Dare.

Breda grinned knowingly. He had managed to talk himself into getting up the nerve to ask this particular question.

“Riza Hawkeye, are you a virgin?”

With the suddenness of a car hitting a brick wall all the laughter stopped and all eyes were trained on her.

Riza felt herself go hot. “That’s a rude thing to ask a woman.” she commented angrily, her temper growing thin especially when she thought of the love of her life but untouchable Roy hearing the answer.

Amazingly it was if the thought was enough to prod Roy into human sympathy.

“Breda, that really was uncalled for. Apologize and Riza out a punishment. There are three things you never ask a lady.” he held up three fingers to count them off. “One is sizes, two is age, and three is virginity!” Around him the other males nodded in unison.

Breda looked completely cowed and apologized with a red face to Riza whom nodded briskly and promptly ended the game. Luckily the clock finally struck five and the day was ended.

Of course, this wouldn’t be the end of her day. When she wanted most to slip away from Roy, she couldn’t as he had asked her to stay for a moment.

She tapped the toe of her boot impatiently as the others left and watched Roy as he finished packing up what was left of the cake.

“Sure you don’t want to take some of this home?” he asked as he closed the box lid.

“I’m sure Colonel, now can you please say what you were going to?”

Roy looked up at her slowly, then turned his face away to hide the scar. He took a breath and watched her out of his right eye. “Riza, I wanted to ask you, since it’s such short notice and everything for me, would you go to the military ball with me?”

Riza blinked, then looked confused. “Me?” She glanced at the floor and the toes of her boots for a moment, then looked up with accusing eyes. “It’s because you can tell I’m a virgin isn’t it? You’re hoping to add another notch aren’t you?!”

Roy looked at her closely, turning his head back to her. “No, not at all. I wasn’t asking because of that. I was asking... I’m asking to go as friends, nothing more, nothing less. I... just don’t feel like dating yet.”

Riza looked him over for a minute and noticed how ashamed he really was of his stupid scar. She softened and smiled gently despite her inner feelings of self doubt and anger.

“So long as you promise to keep your hands to yourself, I’ll go with you. But on one condition. No checking out other women while you’re within my eye sight or ear shot.”

Roy blinked, then chuckled good naturedly. Of course the immediate feeling of relief spread, and Hawkeye found herself chuckling despite herself.

When the fit of giggles laughed they both looked at each other with an odd mixture of relief, calmness and respect. Roy even dared a wink.

“Deal.”

~*~

End Chapter One.