#Royai Week

[meggsssart]

Royai week, day 3 - Haunted

Okay so I actually had no idea what to do for this prompt, and I’ve been so busy! I really just wanted to play around, so I went for a manga panel redraw (flipped for L>R reading).

I felt that this panel fits the theme, the reason being that Riza is haunted by her decision to entrust the secrets of flame alchemy to Roy - only for it to be used by the Amestrian military to commit genocide.

(Manga reference below :) )

[chewytran]

raison d'être

happy royai day ❤️

[riveluart]

Royai Week 2023 Day 2 Fake Dating

(Do you mean phone calls with “Elizabeth”?)

[kangdae95draws]

Royai week 2023 Day 5: Dreamers

Naïve dreamers during Ishval rebuild

[dr-fancy-pants]

“Nothing's perfect, the world's not perfect, but it's there for us, trying the best it can. That's what makes it so damn beautiful.”

June 16th prompt "Recovery"

[musing-and-music]

Royai week 2023 fic recs

In honor of Royai week in the Fruits & Roots server, I chose to highlight some of my favorite Royai fics I gathered these past years (not many years, since I've been on AO3 for 2 years and a half only). Each day, I'll recommend a few fics in a particular setting

Day 3: Heredity - Post-Canon fics

There's so many good post-canon fics that I had to make a choice among all the ones I have! Post-canon is so vast, it can go from right after Promised Day to Roy and Riza's old days after they've done everything they had to do. This will be one of the longest rec lists I'll do this week!

Heartbeat (series) by nightofnyx8 / @nightofnyx8

There is only one room in the Mustang household that has never been used. The walls are white, painted with butterflies, and the cradle sits just below the window. A small white dresser stands in the corner, with silver fastenings on each drawer. It holds not patterned clothes or socks lined with lace, just two white boxes that sit right atop. Mother's Day piece for the one and only Riza Hawkeye.

Roy Mustang has a basic understanding of what a father shouldn’t do: don’t run off and abandon your family, don’t transmute your child into a doomed chimera, don’t tattoo your alchemic research onto your daughter’s back— But as to what a father should do…well, that was a different matter entirely. Father's Day Piece for Roy Mustang

You'll end up believing I only rec fics that make me cry, but I swear, if I cry while reading something, that means the author has found the right words to move me, and that's (for me) the best indicator (with laughing) of a writer's quality. And that author is amongst my favorites!

Roy and Riza Observation Journal by hanamuri / @hanamuri

Rumor has it, Roy and Riza are having an illicit affair. No, Riza’s just one name in his list of exes, sprung another one. Actually, nothing is going on between them, buzzed hearsay. The debate remained endless on the unspoken question everyone has on this impeccable duo: what’s up with these two?

A must read (must re-read for me)! Affectionately shortened to RROJ, this fic brings light on Royai through the eyes of the people who know them

on the brink of discovery by vadeofspades / @mayfieldarc

In which Roy and Riza are trying (and failing) to keep their relationship a secret from Team Mustang on their first day back to Central.

You want to smile? Read this one!

The Amestrian Waltz by raisingmybanner

A story about noticing the things that have been under your nose the whole time, and a story about deciding when to finally let them free. An orange sweater, a shape in the clouds, a protector of the stars. "Who are you?" a little boy asks. "I was your lieutenant," replies a woman with a cracked heart, unsure what else to say.

A tag to give this one? #oh my heart

Partiality by Dailenna / @dairogo

Roy is given the chance to take care of Black Hayate while Riza is in hospital after the Promised Day, and it provokes a lot of thought about changes that could occur.

I'm partial about this one, since it's my gift for last year's Secret Santa, but I loved it, and the hope in it is strong!

Your Warmth Against My Scars by lassus / @lassusog

“How have you been?” his doctor asks him after a moment. “Fine,” Roy responds, calmy. He is, really. Mostly he feels numb. And tired. And his scars hurt, sure. On the whole, nothing out of the ordinary. “Have you been experiencing any pain in the areas with scar tissue?” Every waking moment. But it’s fine. Really. “Not much.” Harris frowns. “I want to help you, you know,” he tells him. “I know,” he brings himself to say. His doctor sighs heavily. “How are things at work?” Harris asks, after a minute. Roy has to look away, suddenly. It doesn’t take long for the numbness to wash over him again though, thankfully. “Fine too.” (Or, Roy's still healing wounds, excessive work and an argument with his Lieutenant slowly take their toll on him.)

Such a great exploration of Roy's character and his stubbornness!

and when you can't rise (i'll crawl with you on hands and knees) by starsinherblood / @jedidragonwarriorqueen

Attacked on their way home from a diplomatic trip to Drachma, General Mustang and Captain Hawkeye find themselves contending with a group of insurgents, but the odds are stacked against them.

I'm feral about this one, about the tension and the angst in it!! It's only 4 chapters long, and I can tell you there's no way to get bored while reading!

For better or worse by zipadeea / @zipadeea

Roy and Riza always thought all they needed to be happy in life was each other. Then, they meet two Ishvalan orphans who teach them just how wrong they are. (Or: Mustang and Hawkeye fall in love and start a family. The process is just as conventional as you'd expect; which is to say, not at all.)

I devoured this fic in one night, and I loved every part of it. It's moving and serious but filled with so much love!

Riza Shaves the Day by sootyfeathers / @sootyfeathers

Soaking wet and out of breath, the pouring rain hadn’t stop Roy from sprinting the entire way to Riza’s apartment in the dead of night. He’s convinced her life is in danger, but it’s really him that needs to be saved. And shaved.

From angst to fluff

[podfic] Never knew I could feel like this by klainelynch / @klainelynch (once again)

After their first kiss, Roy reflects on the depth of his affection for Riza.

Short and sweet, a soft moment for Royai

New Beginning by VillainousMiss / @villainousmiss

A small blurb of Roy and Riza's reactions to a particular order Fuhrer Grumman put into place.

So much hope in this short one-shot!!!

[by-nina]

Flowers in the spring

AO3 | FFN Royai Week 2023 | Day 1 – Raison d'etre Rating: K+ Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Romance Word Count: 1,360

A/N: Late again, but like I always say, Royai Week is forever.

The Colonel’s voice is quiet, careful. It almost feels like it has been weeks since Riza last heard him speak, but only because it isn’t the same confident tone with which he has greeted the many visitors to their shared room and conversed with the doctors and nurses. It’s a tone she has heard only a few times before, but one she is deeply familiar with. Vulnerable, almost intimate, even. She remembers it best—bitterly—from the Promised Day, when the flames that had filled the tunnel died down and he fell to the floor, asking for her forgiveness.

He waits before he speaks again. “Are you awake?”

———

A pleasantly sweet scent fills the air; a splash of vivid colors is the first thing Riza sees when she wakes up one morning, sometime after the Promised Day. Her eyes take time to adjust to the striking sight against the backdrop of the hospital’s bare cream wall. Purple, pink, and red flowers sit in a tall glass vase on her bedside table.

Riza doesn’t recognize the kind they are, but they are so beautiful, so full-bloomed that they almost seem like they aren’t real. She finds herself smiling in admiration, then sits up to take a better look—carefully, so that her still-healing body doesn’t ache more. The blossoms’ rounded, delicate petals seemingly form trumpet-like shapes, and they bear hints of yellow, giving the red ones an almost flame-like appearance.

“Lieutenant?”

The Colonel’s voice is quiet, careful. It almost feels like it has been weeks since Riza last heard him speak, but only because it isn’t the same confident tone with which he has greeted the many visitors to their shared room and conversed with the doctors and nurses. It’s a tone she has heard only a few times before, but one she is deeply familiar with. Vulnerable, almost intimate, even. She remembers it best—bitterly—from the Promised Day, when the flames that had filled the tunnel died down and he fell to the floor, asking for her forgiveness.

He waits before he speaks again. “Are you awake?”

Riza doesn’t respond. It isn’t because she hasn’t fully recovered from her injuries yet; while there is a dull ache where her neck had been stitched closed, and speaking takes a great deal of effort, she is capable of short responses. It’s a different part of her that resists acknowledging him, still raw with the heartbreak of witnessing his rage. Her throat aches with the effort of choking back tears.

She lies back down on her bed and looks away from the flowers.

———

Riza witnesses many arguments in their room the next week or so. As the Colonel regains his strength, despite his eyes remaining blind and his hands still largely useless, more and more visitors come by to talk about cleansing the ranks in Central and strengthening ties among the troops from the different regions and moving forward with the restoration of Ishval. He is fiery and fully engaged in each conversation, almost as if they were back in their office and hadn’t just nearly lost their lives in battle.

She prefers this to the tense silence that had filled the room in their first few weeks of recovery. In private, the air had been thick with unspoken apologies and open secrets and things that they have long since accepted could not be addressed with words alone. But in moments that bear resemblance to their old daily lives, there is no burden to figure out what to do next, or what to make of the lines they had crossed in fear of losing everything they have been living for. There is only their work, and the choice to trust each other.

Another week passes, and Riza wakes up again to a vase of fresh flowers by the bed. This time, they come in white, pink, orange, and red, and they have a fainter scent, but Riza finds them just as lovely as the blossoms that had been there before.

“Tulips?”

The Colonel exhales as a small smile forms on his lips. He is lying on his side and facing Riza, his gaze turned vaguely in the direction of the flowers. His eyes are still as blank and cloudy as they had been by the end of the Promised Day, but they are relaxed, almost contented.

“Yeah,” he responds quietly. “I was thinking they would be nice to see in the morning.”

“They’re beautiful.” Riza pauses, then looks up at the tulips again. “That can’t be the only reason you chose them.”

He chuckles. “Well, they’re certainly not for me to look at. But I like what they mean. Pink tulips say that you wish someone well. Orange ones are given to the people you appreciate.”

“I didn’t know that different colors meant different things.”

“They do. White flowers often represent innocence. Or they can mean, ‘I’m sorry.’”

Riza stares at the Colonel’s face as he seems to wait for her response. His expression has turned somber, but there is far less despair than there was when he last offered his apologies. There is concern and longing and a wish that Riza can guess only because she has wished for this too: for things to return to the way they were before.

She rises from her bed wordlessly, then crosses over to his to sit at the edge. He blinks, still not seeing her, but feeling her weight sink into the mattress. His fingers twitch as she reaches for his hand tentatively, no doubt feeling her warmth and the apprehension of crossing yet another line between them.

The Colonel’s hand is rough, made even more so by the uneven scar across the back of it. Riza delicately skims across the raised red lump, his smooth veins, his knuckles, before slowly sliding her fingers into the gaps between his. He squeezes her hand with what seems like great effort on his part, but his thumb is gentle when he runs it over hers.

“What about the flowers you got before?” Riza asks, finally breaking the silence.

“Freesias. They’re a symbol of trust.” He carefully pulls her hand to rest on his chest. “There were many things I didn’t say back in the tunnel. But what I needed you to know the most was that your trust has meant everything to me.” He pauses. “It still does. And it always will.”

Part of Riza has always known this—the same part of her that broke and hurt when she thought that he had lost his way, the part of her that ached to forgive him even when she wasn’t yet able to. Peace settles in her now and drives away what remains of her doubt. She has always known that she would welcome him back, that he would find his way back onto the path they’ve long shared, but she will never admit the reason that she knows all this.

That this moment came is enough.

———

Roy returns to an almost unrecognizable apartment when he is discharged from the hospital at last. He was barely living in it when he last left home more than two months ago, before the Promised Day; he hadn’t even had enough time to sort the few possessions he has. But it isn’t in disarray like he expected, and for a moment, he wonders whether the Philosopher’s Stone had truly restored his vision or had left him with hallucinations.

He steps inside slowly, like he’s careful not to disturb anything. The place is neat and newly dusted; his furniture is all in place, his books sit in straight stacks and his picture frames are aligned, and other small things like his dinnerware and cufflinks are nowhere to be seen, perhaps kept away in containers. It’s as if someone had anticipated his arrival and made sure that he would be comfortable as soon as he was home.

The most curious detail is something he is certain he’s never had in his place before. A small clay pot sits on his windowsill, bearing a cluster of delicate white flowers that are unfamiliar to Roy. He strides past all his things to examine them up close, with their slightly drooping heads and thin, pointed petals. No name comes to mind, and no recollection of ever having bought them or even having seen them before.

Thankfully, he finds a small brown card on the sill next to the pot. It bears a painted illustration of the flowers, with a typewritten label right below that dispels any doubt of how his apartment was prepared for his return or of where the flowers had come from—and all at once, his simple house seems much more like a home than it ever has.

It reads:

The flowering ash— With me, you are safe.

[klainelynch]

The Fruits & Roots server came up with some Royai Week prompts a little bit ago, so I'm going to use those as inspiration for creating some mood boards for some of my favorite Royai fics!

Prompt: Sleepless nights / Last words

Fic: "oh, it's understood that the both of us are no good" by daisyjohnsons

Rating: T

Word count: 1,876

Summary:

Hawkeye takes his hand and leads it, and Mustang touches her throat gently, right over her bandages. “This could have killed you.” “I know.” “Had it been even an inch to the left—” “I know.” She watches as his face contorts in a mixture of worry and anger. “Were you scared for me?” “I was absolutely terrified.” or, the aftermath of the promised day

Photo credits under the cut

FMAB screenshots by me

eleven (329/365) by Tim Pierce

kiss by Bert Werk

[roysfancyhats]

For Royai week day 1: Triumph

[iamthestormgoddess]

Royai amnesia fic recs pls

I usually just lay dormant until Royai day/week lol but if anyone has royai amnesia fic recommendations please send them my way I’m begging you! Preferably Roy losing his memories. I just want the “he still loves her even without the guilt“ feels. Here’s one that’s been living in my head rent-free: Like You Do by wordslinger

[royaibrainrot]

Happy Royai day everyone! First half of my giant Royai back burning fic out this week! And maybe I can throw together another oneshot to fulfill one of the prompts :)

[chewytran]

happy royai day! 💐❤️

[riveluart]

Royai Week 2023 Day 4 Afterglow

This one really gave me a hard time trying to figure out what I wanted to do

[onthearrow]

The Harder the Rain, the Sweeter the Sun chapter 2 is OUT!!

Featuring: Mounting sexual tension, a “fake” kiss, teenage angst, and Roy Mustang’s bare ass. Please also note the updated chapter count 🤦🏻‍♀️

ENJOY~~❤️ Royai Week may be over, but I’m just getting started--this thing is at 25k and I only have 3/5 chapters done...

https://archiveofourown.org/works/47839417/chapters/120605224

[queen-isabelle-writes]

just finished planning out my royai week fics and everyone get ready for a royai teachers au featuring the classic trope of “she fell first but he fell harder” aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[milekael]

Day 3 of Royai Week: Arrival

Looks like Hayate wasn't the only dog Riza took out of the rain ;)