"Thank you, Master. You won't regret this."
I can still remember the day Master Hawkeye took me under his wing. I remember the first night I spent in his library. Even better, I remember how I singlehandedly took care of his daughter that night…
I was buried in research notes and I might have nodded off a little bit. Ok. I wasn't buried in research notes. I was dead asleep in a pile of books taller than I was at the time. Master Hawkeye had come back late that night, stumbling in drunk, so it was pretty safe to say that once he had fallen asleep, nothing was going to wake him.
Not even the rumbling thunderstorm that had kicked up outside. I had been studying with him for a couple months, so I knew the song and dance already. Comes home, goes to the bathroom, falls onto his bed, kicks his shoes off, passes out shortly after. It was a near nightly occurrence. Not very hard for me to notice the pattern.
After one big boom of thunder, an ear piercing scream shook the house and woke me up. Instinctively, I jumped up from the book mountain and ran toward the noise. Master's daughter Riza was curled up in a little ball, covered with the thick purple quilt from her bed on the floor in the corner of her bedroom. She couldn't stop shaking. And as much as I respected the man, how could Master not be woken up by his own daughter's screams?
"Riza?" I spoke softly, "Are you ok?"
"I'm sorry," her voice quaked, "Did I wake you?"
"Don't worry about me," I sat next to her, "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," Riza assured, her hands gripping her quilt tighter. Another thunder clap roared through the house and she pulled it over her head, letting out the tiniest squeal.
"You're fine, huh?" I uncovered her head only to find her eyes bloodshot and her cheeks a bright shade of red. I had never seen Riza crying before. She was the strongest person I knew. I put my arm around her, "Terrible night for rain, isn't it?"
"Uh-huh," she nodded, rolling into my side.
"It'll pass by morning," I comforted, "Don't worry, Riza. You'll be ok."
"You think so?" her shakes began to ease.
"I'm pretty sure," I held her closer, "And I won't leave your side until the rain lets up, ok?"
"Thank you, Roy," Riza said weakly, "I'm sorry if this causes you any trouble."
"It's no trouble," I promised. A few minutes later, Riza was sleeping heavily in my lap, twitching a few times when the thunder would hit. I highly doubt it was me, but for whatever reason, she always seemed more at ease when I was around. I never understood it and I probably never will…
A/N: Surprise! What's this? Lumi posting on a Saturday? Well, I was going through my Tumblr a week or so ago and I found an old headcanon I had that when Master Hawkeye was teaching Roy flame alchemy, Roy would sometimes stay over, studying in his library. And one night, there was a really bad thunderstorm. Roy fell asleep in the books and was woken up by an ear piercing scream. Instinctively, Roy jumped up and ran to Riza's bedroom where she was freaking out and downright terrified. He sat on the edge of her bed, holding her ever so gently, trying to comfort her, saying it was a terrible night for rain. He has no recollection of doing this, so when he says it at Hughes' funeral, it puts a bittersweet taste in Riza's mouth. She resisted wrapping her arms around him, telling him everything would be ok. The same way he did for her all those years ago. And I'm procrastinating something fierce, so I thought, why not turn that into a one shot? And quite frankly, I love a good, fluffy Royai. xx