Author's Notes: I felt like writing another teenage Royai fic and this collection of stories was the result. Each chapter will be its own mini-story but there will be an over-arching storyline which is Roy and Riza gradually developing feelings for each other. I currently have 8 chapters planned out but I might add more if I come up with further ideas. If anyone would like to suggest ideas that they'll like to see, feel free to let me know.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.
First Meeting:
16-year-old Roy Mustang stood in front of a large oak door, staring in shock at the state of the Hawkeye residence. A renowned alchemist lives here?? He looked around the yard. Sure, the place was big, but it looked pretty run down as if no one bothered to maintain the property for years.
If it weren't for the lights in the windows I would have thought this place was abandoned.
Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the massive doors. A couple seconds passed before the door slowly creaked open. A petite blonde girl greeted him.
"Can I help you?" she asked, her mahogany eyes eyeing him curiously.
"Umm…Hi. I'm Roy Mustang. I'm here to see Mr. Hawkeye and --"
"Just a moment," she interrupted, shutting the door in his face. Roy stood there, stunned. Well, that was pretty rude, he thought.
A few more seconds passed before the door opened again. This time a middle-aged man whom Roy figured must be his new sensei, stood in the doorway and stared back at him.
"So you're Roy Mustang, eh? It's about time you showed up." He eyed the teen and then moved aside to let Roy in. Roy nervously stepped into the doorway, carrying his two bags.
"Leave your bags here," Hawkeye sensei ordered. "We're just about to have dinner." Dropping his bags on the floor, Roy obediently followed the man into the back of the house.
As they headed towards the dining room, Roy's eyes wandered around the house. The interior of the manor was also in poor condition. There were numerous cracks on the walls and bits of paint were starting to chip. However, despite the dilapidated state, the house still had a distinguished feeling to it, like it used to be a manor for an illustrious family. In fact, Roy was convinced that he saw a few priceless relics resting in dark corners as he followed Mr. Hawkeye. The Hawkeyes were probably well off in the past, Roy thought.
When they reached the dining room Roy could see that dinner was already laid out on the table. The petite girl he had seen earlier was also there, busy setting a new place for their last minute guest.
"Riza," Mr. Hawkeye said, addressing the girl. She looked up at him. "This is Roy Mustang. He'll be staying with us for a while to learn alchemy." Turning to Roy, he continued, "Roy, this is my daughter, Riza."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Mustang." Riza said, curtsying.
"The pleasure is mine," replied Roy, smirking. No one's ever called me 'Mr. Mustang' before…that'll take some getting used to.
Mr. Hawkeye motioned for them to sit down and began eating dinner. Roy and Riza followed and dinner proceeded in silence.
Roy stole a glance at Riza while she was busy cutting a chicken breast. She looked like she was around his age, maybe even a year or two younger than him. At first glance, she almost looked like a boy with her short haircut. Suddenly she looked up at him. Roy quickly looked back down at his plate, a little embarrassed that she had caught him staring at her.
"So Roy, how much alchemy do you know?" his sensei asked as he took a sip of wine.
"Not a lot, sir. What I know I learned from reading books," answered Roy while trying to avoid Riza's gaze.
"So you're self-taught?" Roy nodded. "Then tell me, what made you want to become an alchemist? Most people just learn the bare basics of this science before losing interest and moving on to other things."
"Alchemists be thou for the people', right?" responded Roy. "Alchemy has the power to help improve people's lives and in times of war, it can also be used to protect them. I want to learn alchemy and become an alchemist so I can help the citizens of Amestris."
Mr. Hawkeye chuckled. "You're a really idealistic young man. I hope you're prepared for what's ahead. Becoming an established alchemist requires absolute dedication to the science along with intelligence and talent." He looked at Roy from the corner of his eye. "Anything less than that and you're doomed to failure."
Roy grinned at his sensei. "I'm confident I will succeed in any task you put before me."
His sensei chuckled again. "We'll see…"
The conversation continued in that manner for another 20 minutes in which the two men traded alchemy stories. Mr. Hawkeye briefly shared with Roy his life's research on flame alchemy. Meanwhile, Riza silently finished her dinner and began serving dessert.
Finally, Mr. Hawkeye pushed back his chair and slowly stood up. Taking his wine glass in his hand, he looked over to his daughter. "Riza, I'll be in my study. Please show Roy to his room." Then he turned to his new apprentice. "Roy, we'll have our first lesson in the morning." Without another word he disappeared down the hall, leaving the two teenagers to stare at each other in an awkward silence.
Roy shifted uneasily in his chair as he tried to think of something to say. Normally he wasn't this tongue-tied, especially around girls but something about Riza made him a little self-conscious. He looked up at her and realized she had begun clearing the table.
"Let me help you with that," he said, getting up from his chair.
"Umm…thanks," replied Riza as Roy took the remaining dishes and followed her to the kitchen. "You can just leave them on the counter. I'll clean them later," she added as she placed the dishes she was carrying into the sink. Turning towards Roy with a smile, she said, "Let me take you to your room. You must be tired from your traveling."
Roy smirked. "Actually, I feel perfectly fine," he began but his body betrayed him and he let out a huge yawn. "Okay…maybe I'm a little tired," he admitted, rubbing his eyes. Riza giggled.
They proceeded back to the main entrance where Roy had left his belongings. Once he had picked up his bags, they made their way up the stairs to the second floor. As they were climbing up the stairs, Roy stole another look at Riza from the corner of his eye. She's actually kinda cute, he thought. But she'd look much cuter if she wasn't so serious all the time.
Riza walked to a door on Roy's right. "This is your room," she said while opening the door. After she turned on the lights, Roy followed her inside.
The room was quite spacious; the only furniture in the room was a double-sized bed which was placed against the wall and a desk and bookshelf that were located near the window. Several pictures hung on the walls, each one depicting one of the four natural elements: fire, earth, air and water. Roy's favorite item in the room, however, was a large Xing rug at the foot of the bed which had a flame motif on it.
"I hope this is suitable," said Riza from behind him. Roy turned around to face her, grinning.
"It's perfect. It's much bigger and nicer than my room back home."
Riza smiled. "The bathroom is next door and if you need anything, my room is just down the hall."
"Great. Thank you."
Roy hoisted one of his bags onto his bed and began unpacking his stuff, unaware that Riza had quietly slipped out of his room. He unpacked his clothes first, trying his best to smooth out the wrinkles before hanging them up in the closet. Next came his shoes, toiletries, and finally his alchemy books.
Roy gazed fondly at his alchemy books. He only had four, but they were his most prized possessions. He ran his hand over the cover of Introduction to Alchemy and smiled. He had found this book at the bookstore near his home when he was 10 and spent weeks saving his allowance and doing odd jobs to earn enough money to buy it. It was his first ever alchemy book and his first real introduction to alchemy. He could still remember the thrill he felt when he did his first transmutation, a toy horse for his little cousin. The toy looked more like a donkey, in his opinion, but his cousin was thrilled by it nevertheless. As he delved deeper into alchemy and began experimenting with more complex transmutations, he realized just how important alchemy was for people. It was then that he realized he wanted to be an alchemist when he grew up.
Roy looked up from the book to take in new surroundings. He had never dreamed that he would someday be studying under a well-known alchemist, let alone the renowned flame alchemist. He was truly living in a dream.
Riza stood next to the kitchen sink washing the dishes. As she placed the clean plates onto a drying rack her mind wandered back to her father's new apprentice. She didn't understand why, but there was something unique about that guy.
Before he arrived that evening her father had told her a bit about him. Apparently, he was from a neighbouring town and was referred to her father from an old family friend. According to his friend, Mr. Mustang showed immense talent in alchemy and he hoped that Mr. Hawkeye would take the young man under his guidance. From his tone of voice, Riza could tell that her father was actually fairly excited about his new student which confused her.
For as long as she could remember aspiring alchemists had knocked on their door begging to be taught under her father but he had sent them all off packing, declaring that he had no intention of wasting his time teaching elementary alchemy. Instead, he devoted his life to his research, spending countless hours hiding away in the library, slowly uncovering the secrets to controlling fire.
So why would he suddenly want an apprentice? She placed the last dish in the drying rack. From what she had heard over dinner Mr. Mustang did indeed seem to know a fair bit about alchemy and seemed to be extremely interested in her father's research, but there had been many other people just like him whom her father had turned away.
What is it about him that would make him different from the rest?
Riza glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall as she dried her hands with the dishcloth. It read 10:38. She sighed as she remembered she still had homework to finish. Making her way up to her room, she made a mental note to talk to her father tomorrow morning about the broken clock in the kitchen.
A/N: I'm not proud of this chapter at all but it had to be written to set the scene for later chapters. I promise the next chapter will be better. Bear with me on the seemingly lack of Royai for the first few chapters though. I don't want to rush it because I'm a firm believer that the best relationships are built on a foundation of friendship.
