relationships » roy mustang

There is a reason I've listed Roy Mustang on the very top of Hawkeye's relationships, before even her family. And no, it's not entirely due to the intensity with which I ship these two. Roy is the person Hawkeye has spent most of her adult life with, and the one alive person who's known her for the longest time. They met in a time they weren't quite the people they'd become — Roy still not an alchemist nor a soldier, and Hawkeye still growing from a girl to a woman.

These two know each other to a scary degree. A slight change of tone, a certain silence, a precise look, a particular choice of words — any of those are obvious to the other and they can act in accordance to them. They know how the other thinks, as much as a result of all those years together as it is for the influence each has had over the other.

Hawkeye and Roy's relationship is filled with imagery, from the use of the word "back" to repetitions throughout their life to the way Roy speaks of her as the queen in his chessboard (with him as the king). They are what you could call an unbreakable team. They've been together from the start and they'll be together when it ends, meeting once and again through life — some times by chance, most of them by choice. The truth is they repeatedly choose each other's company, and there's no doubt there's no other person they trust more than the other.

Roy is the one who asks her to protect him, but in reality they both protect each other. Hawkeye is his subordinate professionaly, but the power they hold on the other is perfectly balanced. They support each other when in need and call on each other's bullshit when one of them is wrong. They've been through bad times and good times, and they'd do anything for each other. But far more important is to dedicate their lives to make the world a better place and to perhaps atone for their sins while they're at it.

She's the one Roy asks again and again to follow him, to quit at any moment if she wants, perhaps because she's also the one he's the most scared to lose. Hawkeye, in return, is the one who would never leave him. She's there to support him when he's doubting, to protect him when he's reckless and to bring him back to the right path if he gets lost. And he does the same for her. Most of all, they've grown as people together.

Their familiarity shines even through all those layers of professionalism they have to wear, and you can feel they're the most truthful (and playful) when they interact together. It's a bond that doesn't go unnoticed, although it's not obvious but rather subtle and delicate. They may not be involved romantically (yet), but still they're each other's strengths and weaknesses, and even their enemies can see that.

They are at ease and relaxed when they're together. Even that light sexual tension between them is something familiar by now, something they can work around. Their shared silences are neither uncomfortable nor forced. But perhaps most important of all, they are happy together. That much is clear.

Hawkeye: My eye signal... you recognized it well.
Roy: We've been together for a long time, after all. [v25 ch101]

Roy said it. They may be busy with revolutionary country-saving matters, but the one thing that's stayed the same through it all has been their will to stay together, through thick and thin, side by side.