all dressed up --- royai

“She looks good tonight, doesn’t she?”

Roy Mustang hadn’t thought anyone had noticed him staring at Riza Hawkeye. He was wrong. Maes Hughes had pulled up a chair beside Roy at the bar. Normally neither man would have the free time to go out for a drink, but Roy had decided to treat his subordinates to a night out on the town. AKA a glass of beer at the neighborhood pub.

Or maybe it was just his excuse to see Riza in a dress. Hughes was right, she did look nice. The white coat, knee-length, that she wore over her dark red skirt and shirt was a welcome change from her usual military uniform, and she’d let her hair down for the first time in forever.

“Yeah.” Roy looked down into his mug of beer, his reflection staring back at him.

“Well, why don’t you tell her that? She looks sort of lonely.” Hughes placed a hand on the Colonel’s shoulder. “You know, when I met my wife, it was a night just like this one…”

“Maes.” Roy rolled his eyes. “I don’t need to hear any more about your wife.”

“…it was snowing, and she didn’t have a ride home…”

“Maes!”

“…so I offered to…”

Roy gave up. Once Hughes had started on his wife, there was no shutting him up. He tuned out the other man’s words, half-heartedly nodding in response, but his mind was on Riza. Was that lipstick she was wearing? The Riza he knew never wore make-up. She must want to impress somebody, he thought, otherwise why would she have gotten so dressed up?

Finally, he couldn’t stand another moment of just sitting there, staring. “I’ve got to go,” he told Hughes as he stood up and grabbed his coat and scarf off the stool.

“Good luck.” Hughes winked and turned back to Havoc, who had been asking him a question. Roy swung the coat over his shoulder as he walked across the darkened bar to where Riza stood, an untouched glass of wine in her hand.

“Are you okay, Lieutenant?”

Riza looked up, not startled exactly, but there was something curious in her expression. “I’m... I’m fine, sir. And we’re not at work. You can call me Riza.”

“Will you be able to get home all right?”

“Actually… I don’t have a ride back to my apartment, sir. Did you happen to bring your car?”

“Absolutely. It’s right outside. Would you like to leave now?”

“Well, it is getting rather late.”

As he watched his two friends exit into the snowy street, Maes Hughes smiled. I knew things would work out between them, he thought.