Royai One-Shots

Two Beating Hearts (Royai Week 2020)

Summary: Though the Promised Day is behind them and they are only a day away from leaving the hospital, the emotional scars Lieutenant Hawkeye and Colonel Mustang had sustained still have a long way to heal.

Roy was exhausted from the study drills on Ishvalan culture Falman and Breda had ran him through. He planned to go right back to work as soon as possible and did not want to waste any time while stuck in a hospital room. As a result, he fell asleep early in the evening, long before Riza.

As he slept, a sequence of the terrible Promised Day played out in Roy's mind. Riza was lying on the transmutation circle, clutching her neck as blood leaked through her fingers. Roy tried to run to her, but was held back by an unseen force.

"Lieutenant!" he cried, but it was muffled and hardly audible, as if he were underwater.

He was completely useless in saving her, forced to watch her eyes fade as life itself drained from his beloved Lieutenant...

Roy awoke with a gasp. For a frantic moment, he thought he was back in that labyrinth below Central. He sat up, rubbing between his eyes with a quiet sigh as he sank back into reality. The light on Riza's bedside table was still on. To his surprise, she was awake, sitting up in her bed with a book in hand. It had to be the middle of the night.

She looked at him with tentative alarm. "Colonel? What is it?"

He thought he heard a waver in her voice, one so slight that only someone who knew her well could have detected it.

He gave her the most sincere smile he could muster. "It's nothing. Everything's fine. I'm sorry if I startled you."

She cut right through his lie, though it was likely not hard to do, with the weak smile and the bead of cold sweat he felt rolling down his temple.

"I heard you muttering something in your sleep. Was it a nightmare?"

"It's not anything to worry about." He laughed quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I've had my share of bad dreams in the past."

"Well, you're welcome to sit with me if you need to. I don't plan on falling asleep soon."

Roy hesitated, but eventually accepted her offer without saying anything. He settled against the pillow next to her, sitting in silence as she continued her reading.

Roy found comfort in being so close to her. He watched her fingers slide down the side of the book as he soaked in the faint, flowery fragrance of her hair, feeling the light bump of her elbow against his arm every time she flipped a page. But the vague remnants of the dream insisted to creep back into consciousness, freezing over the warmth he was so desperate to cling to.

"Lieutenant?" he said.

"Hmm?" She looked up from her book. She was visibly exhausted, but her calm, searching gaze seemed to pierce right to his core. His face grew shamefully hot. He was starting to regret speaking at all, having broken the tranquil silence.

"I...I'm just glad you're all right." He winced inwardly. Words tangled in his brain and he was unable to say what he truly felt. His eyes fell on the bandaging around her neck as the last of his confession died in his throat.

This awkwardness did not go unnoticed by Riza. A solemn understanding dawned her tired face, as if she had caught a glimpse of his tormented mind.

"It was that bad, huh?"

She closed her book and set it on the bedside table amongst the get-well cards and bouquets of flowers that were starting to wilt. Her arm snaked around his shoulders as she pulled him into a hug, her hand gently guiding his head down towards her, now resting on her chest.

Thu-thump. Thu-thump. Thu-thump.

"Breathe deeply, Colonel," she said gently, stroking the top of his head. "Tell me what you hear."

"I hear your heartbeat," he said, hardly above a whisper.

"Exactly. My heart is still beating. I'm still here. We've been through hell, but we're both alive. That's all that matters now — the fact we're still breathing."

Roy could feel the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, and the vibrations of her voice against his ear were soothing. Focusing on the gentle thumping gradually eased the weight off of his chest. She was here. She was alive and safe with him. He clutched the sleeve of her gown as she continued to stroke his head. The terrors of that terrible day retreated, at least for now.

"Colonel?" said Riza. Roy jerked up, having almost drifted off. He sat up, relishing in the fragile sensation of peacefulness inside him.

"What is it, Lieutenant?"

"...I've been having nightmares as well. I woke up only a few minutes before you, actually." She paused, a pink blush spreading across her face. She was never one to share emotional baggage of her own, likely not wanting to burden others with what she believed she had brought upon herself. But now when she was weak and vulnerable and needed another's support the most, she did not know how. Perhaps this was also too much to say out loud.

"What can I do?" he said softly, tucking a loose lock of blonde hair behind her ear.

"This might sound stupid, but can I hear your heart as well?"

Her normally stoic demeanor dropped entirely. That wavering tone returned as she looked down at her hands. He could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She was simply too worn out to keep the guise of cool and collected any longer. This was a broken woman looking back at him.

He immediately embraced her, but was careful not to reopen her wounds. She clung to the front of his shirt, pressing her ear to his chest. Suddenly, her body shuddered beneath his arms as she started to outright sob.

"Lieutenant, what's wrong?" Roy asked, afraid he had done something to upset her.

"I'm fine, Colonel," she said through a veil of tears. "I'm just happy you're alive."

Roy squeezed her tighter, never wanting to let go. He wanted nothing more than to ease her of the burdens she had so rarely mentioned — to be there for her like she was for him.

As the night wore on, her sobs gradually faded to an occasional tremor, in which Roy would answer with a gentle hush. Her breathing became slower and more even as she drifted back to sleep, her face safely hidden in his shoulder.

Roy clicked off the bedside lamp and slowly lied down to a more comfortable position. Her sleeping form was now on top of him, her head shifting to rest over his heart.

He did not plan to go back to his own bed. How could he? He could not bear to leave the warmth of her body against his. And, he thought, perhaps Riza was able to sleep soundly because she knew someone was watching her back while she was at her weakest.

He remembered what Riza told him as he too began to drift off. Simply staying alive was all they could do right now, and that was enough for the both of them.