Authors Note: This story will have more than one part, mainly because I'm fighting a really wicked writer's block and struggling like you wouldn't believe to write this. It's a Valentine's Day fic that I actually started last year but never posted. I was determined to finish it this year, but sadly, it won't be done by Saturday. It was meant to be a long oneshot but I'm afraid I'm going to have to turn it into a three chap fic. It's probably because I had a deadline of Saturday (2/14) that I'm having so many problems – creatively, I don't deal well with deadlines.


Roy threw himself down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He had to admit, Hawkeye-sensei had given him a nice room. A nice room on the other side of the house from his own rooms. And those of his teenage daughter.

He smiled. He really couldn't blame his Sensei as the man's daughter was quite beautiful, even though she ignored him most of the time. How long had they known each other? How long had he lived here as Sensei's student? Four years? Five years? He was seventeen now, so it must have been four years now. Four years living in the same house as Riza.

Riza. Elizabeth. Miss Hawkeye. She was the reason he was sprawled across his bed, frustrated beyond words and completely unsure of what to do next. Tomorrow was Valentine's Day and he wanted to get her something. Something that would tell her how much he liked her. Something that wouldn't get himself set on fire by his sensei.

Hawkeye sensei was very overprotective of his daughter. As he'd once told Roy after they'd shared a few glasses of wine one night, she was the last piece of family he had and he refused to lose her. And although it was unsaid, he most definitely wasn't ready to lose her to a teenage boy. She was only sixteen, a year younger than Roy, and Sensei forbid her from going on dates with any of the boys from school. Roy wasn't exactly upset over that order. If Sensei insisted Roy stay away, at least no other boy could date her either.

Roy wanted to give her something special this year. He had never given her anything before, other than small token gifts on her birthday; usually flowers collected from the garden. But nothing for Valentine's Day. He would be leaving in a few months; he hadn't told her or her father yet, but he was going to join the military and take the state alchemist's test. He didn't plan on giving Sensei much advance notice of it because of Hawkeye-sensei's hatred of the military. He kinda wanted to tell Riza but he knew she probably wouldn't approve any more than her father would.

No matter how much time he spent with her, she was always distant. They even walked together to the local high school every morning and home every afternoon and still, she said very little to him. In one way, he was pleased that they could spend time together in such a comfortable silence. But in another, he really wanted to know more about her, about her life before he arrived, to listen to her talk about her mother, to know what she thought about him.

He'd had a bit of a crush on her for years, always watching her when she was around. She was the one who took care of the cooking and cleaning for the household (he and her father). It was obvious the family had money, or did at one time. The house was huge, the common rooms of the house in the center with three wings with bedrooms, obviously constructed more recently than the main house.

He remembered the first day he came here. He'd stood in the rain at the end of the drive for a few minutes just staring at the huge house. He'd never seen anyplace quite so big and never for just one family. His mother had warned him, but he'd never imagined it this big. When he finally gathered enough courage to go knock on the door, he was surprised to see a small girl with short blond hair, not much younger than himself open the door to greet him. Imagining the door would have been opened by a butler in a formal uniform, this girl almost the same height he was left him momentarily speechless. Taking a deep breath, he thrust the letter clenched in his sweating hand toward the girl and he spoke. Roy could even remember he was so nervous he stuttered when he asked to see Mr. Hawkeye.

The girl had cautiously let him into the hallway, had taken the letter and ran off to another room. Roy could hear the soft deep voice of a man, probably speaking to the girl. A moment later, a tall thin man carrying the letter ambled down the hall, the small girl following silently behind him.

"So you are Mai Ling's son. When I heard from her last, she mentioned you were interested in alchemy and would like for me to instruct you. I agreed, even though you are still rather young."

"Thank you, sir!" Roy exclaimed, extremely excited at the easy acceptance of this tall man. He had been afraid he would have to beg, but to get a chance at learning alchemy he was more than willing to fall to his knees and beg. His mother had told him this man was one of the best and that's what Roy wanted to be – the best.

And the road hadn't been easy. Sensei had been a demanding teacher, insisting he continue his formal education in addition to his alchemical studies and still do chores around the house. In all fairness, Riza was the one with most of the chores, but she never complained. Roy was delegated the outdoor tasks – cleaning the stables, cutting the lawn, raking the leaves. Come to think of it, he couldn't ever recall hearing Riza complain. That was just her way.

Sensei still refused to share the secrets of flame alchemy, but Roy knew that if he kept working he could eventually figure them out for himself. But it would be so much easier if he would just show him the secrets. He would use them wisely, he was responsible enough to control this power and he somehow had to find a way to make Sensei realize this. Once he joined the military and became a state alchemist, he would be able to prove it.

But first he had to find a gift for Riza. It had to be something that showed her how much he really cared for her. That he wanted her to wait for him to return from the military.

Wait for what?

Did he really think her father would ever let her marry him? He knew he wasn't ready for marriage, but when he left, he didn't want her to start dating someone else. Besides, where her father was concerned, the devil you know…

But what could he give her that would possibly express all that? Especially when Valentine's Day was tomorrow.


Roy awoke from a sound sleep, a vision burning in his mind. Now he knew what he could give Riza.

Climbing out of bed, he stuck his hand into his clothing drawer and searched around for a heavy pouch. Finding it, he quickly dumped the contents onto his palm. The gold of the coin gleamed even in the sparse moonlight.

His father had given him this before Roy had left with the comment to never use it unless he had to. It had been his father's lucky coin and it had gotten him this far, but if there was one person he wanted to have it more, it was Riza.

As quietly as possible, he snuck down to his sensei's workroom. His teacher had located his work room in an unoccupied study in an abandoned wing, knowing the potential dangers of instructing new alchemists. This suited Roy's purposes nicely as he wouldn't awaken anyone else with his work.

Opening the door of the workroom, he was overwhelmed by the smells of chemicals and dust. This was the one frequently used part of the house that Riza never cleaned. Much to her father's disappointment, she had never taken to alchemy. A few years ago, she had downright refused to even visit the workroom, never giving Roy a reason other than she didn't like the place. If she'd explained to her father, Roy had never been told.

Come to think of it, she had changed a few years ago. He had returned home for his mother's funeral and when he came back she seemed even more reserved. Especially around her father. Had something happened between the two of them? Maybe her father had decided to give her the old 'birds and the bees' talk, warning her that his student was a hornet and should have nothing to do with either birds or bees so she was never to think of him in that way. The thought brought a rueful smile to his face. He was fairly sure she had ignored any such advice or, at least, he hoped so.

After that, she had cut her hair short and acted more formal around him. At least for a while. She eventually started to warm to him again, occasionally asking how his day went on their long walks home from school. He never knew what caused the change in her. And for some reason, she stopped wearing those halter-style dresses she used to wear in the heat of summer. He liked watching a bead of sweat form between her shoulder blades and trickle down her back. Maybe it was just that she – they were getting older. She was starting to fill out a little, maybe those dresses weren't providing the support she needed for her developing chest. and her chest had developed quite nicely…

He wiped the smirk off his face to concentrate on the task before him. He only had a few hours before sunrise and he still needed to get some more sleep.

Taking a piece of chalk, he carefully drew a circle on a workbench and filled in the proper symbols from memory. Let's see… he had to think for a moment but the last symbol came to him as he was gathering the materials from the containers in the lab. A little bit of potash and a bit of lime.

Where was the quartz sand? He knew they had some; he'd been sent to pick some up just two weeks ago. A quick scan of the room found it over by some of the liquid ingredients. Roy shook his head.

One of his duties was to keep the lab clean and tidy, all the chemicals in the proper places where Sensei could easily find them. Hmm… Sensei must have been working on something late last night.

He carefully shook out enough sand into the circle to cover the potash and lime already measured out there. Then he set his father's coin in the middle of a smaller chalk-drawn circle. He needed to use the gold from the coin wisely. There was only the small amount from the coin and while he could keep it as an alloy, it still didn't add up to much. Placing his fingers on the chalk, the array glowed blue and the coin split into three portions. He waited a minute for the metal to cool while he tried to remember the pattern he'd seen in his dream, the intricate curves and curls over red glass.

Picking up the smallest piece of gold, he set it inside the larger array with the carefully portioned chemicals and placed his hands on the circle. The blue flickering light filled the room, reflecting light off the walls as the ingredients rose from the table and floated in the air. Slowly, they started to spin around, mixing together and glowing with their own orange-white light, spinning until they formed a hot molten ball.

His eyes narrowed with concentration while the ball continued to swirl around, mixing itself even faster until it had a uniform consistency and color. A drop of sweat trickled down the side of his face but he didn't even notice it as his focus changed from mixing the compound to forming it into a shape, and slowly the shape it took was that of a heart.

The glass heart lost its glow but remained floating in the air until it cooled to the red color it was formulated to have. The blue light on the walls faded as the heart lowered to the table. Roy took a deep breath as he visually inspected the glass and a smirk crossed his face in approval. The deep red color of the heart was exactly what he was going for and while it was still too hot to touch, the shape seemed to be correct as well.

Picking up the chalk again, Roy drew another two arrays, only hesitating momentarily as he drew the symbols. Taking one of the pieces of gold, he set it inside a circle and activated the array. In the pale light, the gold alloy took on a life of its own, gradually stretching to form a delicate necklace chain. Leaving the chain to cool, the other piece of gold went into the second circle with the now cool red glass heart.

This would be the tough one. Roy wiped the sweat from the side of his face and activated the array. He closed his eyes and let the memory of the object from his dream take control of the design work. The gold swirls and curls slowly formed around the glass heart until it was completely encased in its golden cage. The heart lowered to the table and the glow faded for the last time. Exhausted, Roy cleaned the chalk from the table and returned all the containers to their proper places. Picking up the heart and the necklace chain he quietly returned to his room. Tomorrow he would give his gift to Riza and find out if she liked him as much as he liked her.


"Miss Hawkeye? I… I have something for you… For Valentine's Day."

The sunlight was bright, reflecting off the recent snowfall and lighting up Riza's face. They were taking the long walk returning from school and Roy had decided now would be the best time to give her his gift. He'd tried to do it this morning, but he couldn't seem to find the right time. Or enough courage. Giving it to her at school wasn't possible and once they got home they'd be risking discovery by her father. Roy would need time and reassurance about how she might feel about him before hazarding an encounter with his sensei.

The act of giving this gift would change things between them. At least, he hoped it would, but only if it was for the better. They were no longer children and he wanted her to know he no longer saw her as one, he saw her as a woman he cared for and maybe even… He couldn't even complete the thought without turning red in the face, so he stopped right there. He needed to give her his gift and he needed to do it before he lost his courage.

At his words, Riza had stopped walking through the melting snow and turned to face him as he thrust a small package at her.

"For me? You've only given me something like flowers on my birthday."

"I know, but this year I wanted to give you something for Valentine's Day." He ducked his head slightly, suddenly a little embarrassed and still worried she wouldn't like it. "Please, open it."

Curiosity piqued, Riza pulled the bright red string off. Slipping a finger under the tape, she opened one edge of the small lumpy package and poured the contents out into the palm of her hand, gasping when she realized what it was. She unknowingly dropped the wrapping in her surprise. Delicate fingers untangled the chain, letting the pendant dangle between her outstretched hands.

"It's… It's beautiful!" she exclaimed and for a few moments Riza found herself speechless. "I-I-I can't accept this Mr. Mustang, it's too much. This is something you give a girlfriend or a wife, not the daughter of your teacher." Folding the chain into her hands, she held them out to him, offering to return the gift.

Roy's heart sunk at her words. He'd made this gift with her in mind and she didn't want it. He really hadn't considered what would happen if she refused it. He had known it was a possibility, but he had tried not to think too much about the consequences of her refusal. Was she doing this because she didn't want the gift or because her father wouldn't approve? Or was it actually because she thought they weren't close enough for her to accept?

Before his brain could really figure out what to say, his mouth started speaking. "Then perhaps you'd consider being one of those."

Riza's eyes flicked up from the pendant she still held in her hands to look at his face, her burgundy orbs shining with doubt, a soft smile of amusement on her lips. "Mr. Mustang, you don't know what you're saying. We hardly know each other."

In a heartbeat, he realized he meant it. He would be more than happy to have this woman as his girlfriend and perhaps, someday his wife. And actually, that was what he'd been hoping for the whole time. "You know that's not true. We've known each other for the four years I've lived in your father's house. We eat our meals together, we walk to school together, we even used to go swimming together."

"But that's certainly not enough to be married on."

Roy gave a rueful smile. "I got a little ahead of myself. It's not enough to be married on, but it's enough to be boyfriend and girlfriend on, isn't it? Forget about marriage and just consider being my girlfriend. Please."

Riza was silent for a moment, mulling the thought over in her mind. It wasn't like she hadn't had a crush on him for years and had thoughts about it before, but that had been only thoughts, not reality. But, two people had to start somewhere, didn't they? And he really was one of the most handsome boys she'd ever met. Not to mention one of the smartest. "Yes, I suppose that's true. But you know we can't tell my father, right?"

"I'll leave the timing of that up to you. I have no desire to become a human torch anytime in the near future." Riza smiled and laughed, making Roy turn to her and smirk. "I really like hearing you laugh; you should do it more often."

"There isn't always something to laugh about around my father. He's just so serious and obsessed by his research."

"Then I'll just have to find things that make you laugh." Roy took the necklace from her hands, carefully threaded it around her neck and clasped it for her. Her hand rose to touch the heart, fingers stroking the cool metal. "It looks nice on you."

"Thank you so much for the present. It's beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it. I made it last night."

"You made this?" the surprise and admiration in her voice made him grin.

"The design came to me in a dream. I'd been trying to think of something I could give you for the past couple of weeks but I only thought of it last night."

"I love it, thank you." Riza looked down at the ground for a moment before turning abruptly and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. Startled, Roy didn't have time to react before she started walking quickly toward home. She called back over her shoulder, "I guess if I'm your girlfriend it's okay for me to do that occasionally, right?"

"Oh, you can do that all you want." Roy said with a cocky smirk. Catching up to her, he grabbed her by the hand and pulled her to a stop. Turning her until she was facing him, he took her other hand. "In fact, now that I'm a little more prepared, care to try it again?"

Riza swallowed hard as it felt like her heart was struggling up into her throat. "Ummm… You think it's okay?" she asked nervously. The way he was looking at her made it hard to breathe.

"I don't see the harm. It's just a little kiss." His smirk turned into a genuine smile as he raised a hand to her cheek to raise her face and lowered his mouth to hers, his lips brushing like velvet against hers. Her eyes flew open at the soft coaxing from his tongue, but she complied and parted her lips, allowing him to lightly caress the inside of her mouth with it. Wrapped around her, his arm drew her closer to him where she could rest the palm of her hand against his chest and feel the soft beat of his heart. After a moment, they both withdrew a slightly glazed look in their eyes and a shared smile on their faces.

Holding hands, they continued on their walk home. "Does this mean we can do away with the formal titles? At least when it's just us? I mean, it's a little awkward to call the girl I'm kissing Miss Hawkeye."

"I think we know each other well enough to use first names, Roy."

"I like the way that sounds, Riza."

"Me too."


TBC...

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