Chapter 1: The Other Side of the Door

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Here I am with another LingFan work oh man someone stop me while you still can haha.. Well this is a college AU so I really hope that Lan Fan isn't too OOC. It's a little hard when she isn't saying "young master" and stuff haha but I kept her personality. Well I hope you enjoy! And reviews are greatly appreciated! :)

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I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist (but I wish I did)

Bold: sound effects

Italics: thoughts/writing

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Knock knock

Lan Fan groaned groggily and turned over, ignoring the sudden noise that occurred in the dark room.

Knock knock knock

Turning again, she slowly opened her eyes, looking at her alarm clock beside her.

2:17 AM

What idiot knocks on someone's door at such an ungodly hour? Lan Fan thought to herself, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes to greet her unwelcomed guest.

"It's my first night here. What do you want?" Lan Fan muttered in irritation, to no one in particular as she hopped off her inviting bed and stepped onto the cold carpeted floor beneath her. She walked blindly in the dark of her new apartment room as the knocking and banging continued.

If it wasn't for her lessons in fighting and self-defense as a child, she would have just gone back to sleep or even considered calling the cops. However, she was confident enough in her skills to defend herself from whomever was outside her room.

The door creaked open, Lan Fan squinted her eyes in response to the burning sensation she felt from the light in the hallway.

"Hello there!" A man's voice called from within the bright hallway. She could barely make out the figure of a tall, lean boy about her age from behind her hand hovering over her eyes.

"Uh hi. What do you want." Lan Fan asked as politely as she could muster. She was exhausted, wanted to rest for her upcoming classes the next morning, and didn't want to concern herself with boys so soon.

"Just thought I should to say hi, I see that you're new here. I live on the opposite end of the hall." The boy said gesturing towards his room with a friendly grin on his face. If she was more awake or perhaps it was actually a bearable hour of the day, she would have at least offered a smile in return to the kind gesture or even thought his smile was somewhat intriguing. However, her mind was too groggy to have such thoughts.

"I don't even know your name or who you are, or even why you are awake this early." The black-haired girl answered, ignoring his greeting. "So if you have nothing else to say.."

"The name's Ling, Ling Yao." He answered, completely oblivious to her deadly look. He stuck his hand out, waiting for it to be shook. "And you?"

She stared at it for a few moments, mind too tired to process. Ling coughed, snapping Lan Fan out of her trance.

"Lan Fan" she replied, ignoring the awaited handshake. He eventually gave up and put it to his side.

"Pleasure," Ling continued, "I'm only awake because my roommate, Edward Elric, won't stop snoring. It was nearly driving me insane." He groaned and scratched the side of his face.

"Sorry to hear that.." Lan Fan replied sympathetically but really she wasn't sorry all that much. She just met the guy nonetheless sympathizes for him.

"Nice pajamas by the way.." Lan Fan looked down at her grey sweat pants and oversized black band t-shirt. She couldn't care less that she wasn't wearing a bra and her hair was rather disleveled and unruly.

"Uh, thanks." The half-awake girl responded, closing the door ever so slowly.

"Wait"

"What do you want now? I need to sleep." She said exasperated. "You know, classes start tomorrow, I get a roommate, books, all those events that occur when you start college."

"So you're a college girl, huh?" Ling replied with a grin. "Well I'm guessing you have an extra bed in there I could use. After all, your roommate doesn't arrive till tomorrow?" He joked but soon felt an excruciating pain on his right cheek.

Lan Fan had punched him in the jaw for waking her up so early, suggesting to sleep in the same room as her, and to hide her faint blush. That was the first time she met Ling Yao, and she hoped it was the last.

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"Hello again!"

Lan Fan groaned as she exited her room, locking it behind her.

"I thought you would get the memo after I punched you." She muttered while swinging her brown satchel across her chest and slipping on her started walking away, causing him to follow after her.

"I don't want to get punched again, but I thought it was kinda cute when you were grumpy." Ling said confidently with his signature grin causing Lan Fan's face to heat up.

She cursed at herself for blushing so easily and turned around to face the man stalking after her.

Ling wore a white bandage on the side of his face from Lan Fan's hit, making him look even more ridiculous than he already did. She felt satisfied that she left a mark. However, Lan Fan would never admit it, but now that her mind was awake, she thought that he actually was quite attractive. His shoulders were broad but not thick. His body was skinny but not scrawny. He looked strong but not too buff. His face was angled, and he was tall. His dark, black hair was long as well, but he wore it in a pony tail.

"Um.. Earth to Lan Fan?" Ling waved his hand in front of the said girl's eyes. She blinked and turned away quickly, picking up her pace as she walked down the stone steps of the apartment, Ling trailing close behind her.

What am I thinking. He's like any other boy in the world. Selfish and inconsiderate. She scoffed to herself.

Once she reached the bottom step, Lan Fan turned around and faced Ling once more.

"Don't you have somewhere to go?" She asked him. He was standing on a higher step, making him tower over her. Most people would feel intimidated, but Lan Fan stood her ground, and Ling was anything but intimidating to her.

"Yeah, I actually do." Ling said, walking down the steps till they were side by side. "I go to that university down the street over there."

"You're kidding right."

"Nope, it's the truth."

"Oh.. Well I go there too." She said and stepped ahead. "So what year are you then, Ling Yao?"

"First year, and you?"

"First." Lan Fan sighed. So she wasn't escaping this guy.

"Darn, I thought you were an upperclassmen." Ling muttered disappointedly.

"So? What if I'm not?" She replied cautiously but with a hint of curiosity.

"Oh nothing, I usually go for older women." He said with a smirk as Lan Fan felt surprisingly upset. "Oh don't give me that look." He teased, "I was only joking. Besides I don't have a type."

Lan Fan didn't reply but continued walking, now entering the streets. "That's great." She replied while rushing down the sidewalk. It was her first day, she couldn't afford to be late.

"But I do like that pretty hair of yours." Ling piped in as he caught up with her fast speed. "Wow you're a fast walker, aren't you?"

"And you're a fast talker, aren't you?" Lan Fan shot back, smirking inwardly at her clever remark.

Ling laughed loudly at that. It wasn't a typical boyish laugh, but it was slightly rough yet smooth at the same time. It was ugly, loud, and obnoxious, but yet so genuine. Lan Fan couldn't help the smile that was forming on her lips.

Once he recovered from his laughing fit, Ling took one look at the girl beside him and grinned like an idiot who won a lottery prize. "I didn't know that it was humanly possible for you to smile."

Lan Fan quickly looked away towards the ground, completely flustered. How he does that to her, she would never understand, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop smiling.

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Classes went by quickly and teachers were introduced. Eventually, it was already the end of the day and to Lan Fan's surprise, she was slightly disappointed that so far, Ling was not in any one of her classes. What am I thinking anyway.. She thought to herself and walked down the hall to her final class, Chemistry.

When she entered into the large classroom, she smelt something burning. Looking all around her to find the source, she realized it was none other than the professor himself, burning a piece of paper into a test tube. He had dark hair, swept over his eyes, and a smirk that revealed all sorts of mischief. Lan Fan heard all of her female classmates around her giggling and whispering about how cute the professor was.

Soon enough, the bell rang, and he finished his experiment, standing up from his desk.

"Hello everybody, please take a seat anywhere you'd like. My name is Roy Mustang. You can call me Roy or Professor Mustang, I do not prefer any other names than those I mentioned."

The chattering soon increased immensely as everyone began to file in and take their seats.

The class was small with windows on the right side. It revealed the college campus. A bright green, grassy field with large trees shading a white bench surrounded by red brick buildings. The sun shone brightly through the glass, giving the classroom a little more life.

Lan Fan took a seat in the back row and gazed all around her. Sitting two seats below her was a girl with light blonde hair in a long pony tail and bright blue eyes. She seemed to be scolding a boy beside her who had a golden shade of hair and eyes. His locks were tied in a braid, and a bright red jacket hung on his shoulders. That must be Ling's roommate. Lan Fan thought as she recalled him describing the unique color of his eyes and his strange choice in hairstyles.

"Is this seat taken?" A young, man with dirty blonde hair asked her. He wore a clean collared shirt and black pants. He was the type of boy that every mother wanted for their daughter. The girls around the room chattered and stole glances at the attractive boy.

Ever since high school, Lan Fan was quite popular in her grade due to her large yet dark eyes, and mysterious personality. She was used to the attention and was about to scoot over to allow him to sit beside her, but her actions were interrupted by loud steps coming from outside.

Lan Fan looked up just in time to see Ling running into the room, papers flying out of his back pack, leaving a trail behind him. She watched with slight amusement of how flustered he was as he entered the class, out of breath.

The blonde waited politely until Lan Fan finally diverted her gaze away from the tardy boy. "Umm.. Actually it's taken, sorry.." Lan Fan apologized looking directly at Ling. The man looked slightly disappointed but left quickly to take a seat elsewhere. Lan Fan's eyes widened. What did I just say..

Ling's eyes looked over the crowded classroom, looking for a seat while avoiding the professor's glare. He saw the open seat next to Lan Fan and smirked while plopping down beside her, his black coat brushing against her arm.

"Hey" Ling whispered as quietly as he could(which was not quiet at all) into Lan Fan's ear. She tensed as his breathe tickled her skin but pathetically tried to hide it with a dramatic cough.

The moment Ling straightened his back, an object whizzed past his face, leaving only an ink mark on his white bandage. The item was none other than a pen that was thrown by the professor himself. It hit the wall behind them, and the classroom became deadly silent.

Roy looked at the boy with dissatisfaction. "First you arrive late, and then you think you have the right to talk?" Ling shrunk in his seat while Lan Fan saw the golden haired boy chuckle, mocking his roommate. However, his laughter was interrupted by the blonde beside him, who elbowed him in the gut, scolding with an "Edward!".

Due to the prior events, the class was louder than ever, girls gossiping about "the pathetic boy with the bandage", and the cold but sexy Professor Mustang. Lan Fan watched in annoyance at these comments, her temper was resurfacing, and she glanced to see how Ling was taking all of this. But to her surprise, he wasn't even listening at all.

He was writing something down on a scratch piece of paper he had torn out of his notebook. His pencil moved quickly as he scratched a few more letters before folding it immediately after he had written it. Lan Fan snuck glances at the piece of paper to get a better look of it, but was quite too obvious. Ling ended up just slipping the note into her hand underneath the desk. Their fingers brushed before Lan Fan grabbed the folded paper and opened it up. She read the messy letters in her head.

Thank God for that white bandage or else I would have gotten an ink disease.

Lan Fan held back her laughter, a wide grin on her pale face. She wrote below the writing with her ball point pen, and slowly handed it back to Ling, their hands touched and lingered longer than it should have.

I should punch you in the face more often. Ling chuckled earning an angry look from Roy that was completely ignored by the boy, who was too invested in his companion to care.

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Lan Fan fell onto her bed, the dark blue sheets scrunched together beneath her. It was only the first day, and already she had a large work load and plenty of textbooks to study.

She rolled over, now laying on her back as she stared at the white plastered ceiling above her. It was 5 o'clock, almost time to head down to the cafeteria for dinner.

Her window revealed the lowering sun, splashing vibrant tints of orange and yellow across her very bare and plain room. Lan Fan didn't hang anything on the walls, and nothing was on her desk except for the new, thick textbooks laying in the middle, and a picture of her and her grandfather.

As long as Lan Fan could remember, she was alone with only her grandfather to take care of her. Her parents had died in a car accident when she was only 3 so she has no recollections of them.

Gently grabbing the picture frame, she examined it with a sad smile. She didn't realize how much she missed the old man, no matter how many times he had scolded her for doing something wrong.

And now she was alone, in this new apartment, in this new city, attending a new college, with new people to meet, and new adventures to be found.

Well, there's one adventure she already had found, Ling Yao. She sighed at the thought of his idiocy and the way he acted like a madman sometimes, but yet there was something about him that was so exciting and different. And it was risky, but it was new, and maybe it was the fact that she didn't know what to expect whenever she was around him. He was always full of surprises. Or maybe it was because he could make her angry and make her laugh and make her flustered in just seconds. Or maybe it was that grin he gave her the first night she arrived. Well whatever it was, it drew Lan Fan to Ling, whether she realized it or not.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud banging on the door. Lan Fan jumped, startled from the sudden noise in her quiet room, and walked over to the door.

"Ling? What do you need now?" Lan Fan asked, no longer feeling as if he were an intruder, but instead a friend. "Thanks for knocking at a pleasant time today."

Ling chuckled lightly. "Just wanted to ask you how your first day was? And also my roommate is taking a long time in the bathroom, and I didn't want to be there when he came out."

"Thank you for that description. And my day was going fine until that comment." Lan Fan muttered but her annoyed act was ruined by the grin on her face. She felt like an idiot, but she couldn't help herself.

"So I'm gonna need some toilet paper, maybe even a toilet?" Ling asked Lan Fan as sweetly as he could. However, it wasn't convincing enough because Lan Fan shut the door in his face before he could say any more.

She let out a deep sigh and made her way to her desk to work on homework and to start her studying. Her grades came first before anything else, she couldn't put shame on her family name.

Lan Fan's gaze soon drifted across the room where her soon to be roommate's mattress lay unattended. I wonder when she will arrive..

Again her thoughts were scattered from another knock on the door. Lan Fan scowled, annoyed at Ling's persistent personality.

"Can't you give me space for like 5 minutes?" She asked while closing her eyes as the door swung wide open.

"Oh.. Well, yeah I'm sorry.." said a female voice. Lan Fan's eyes widened in absolute horror. A blonde girl with a pony tail stood in front of her, looking confused and offended. First impressions! First impressions! Buzzed through Lan Fan's mind as she desperately tried to think of an excuse from her unintentionally rude comment.

She was so distraught she almost forgot that the pretty girl was the same one who sat two rows ahead of her in her chemistry class beside Ling's roommate. Oh shoot.

"I am so sorry." Lan Fan began as the girl looked back, hurt etched in her eyes. "This is all a big misunder-.."

"Winry! Give me back my shoes!" Edward Elric yelled as he stormed down the hall, braid flying behind him. Lan Fan jumped in surprise and looked back and forth from the man in the bright red jacket racing toward them to the girl with the blue eyes piercing straight through him. Well she was definitely in a predicament now if not before.

"What are you talking about, Ed?" The girl, Winry, asked with a sigh. Lan Fan guessed that she was used to his loud behavior. "I was only trying to put my things into my new room."She argued holding up her floral suitcase to prove her statement.

New room.. Lan fan thought, and she felt even more miserable than before. Of course she's my roommate... Some luck I have..

"You forgot to give me back my shoes after you messed it up!" The hot-headed blonde replied with a scowl on his face, no longer thinking about what he was saying. He was still making his way down the hall, after all, his room was on the opposite end.

Suddenly, Winry threw her shoe across the aisle where it hit Edward straight in the face. Lan Fan's mouth gaped in complete shock. If things were bad before, it just got a lot worse.

"You wanted a shoe, well here you go!" Winry yelled back, tears surfacing in her ocean blue eyes from being overwhelmed by the events that occurred. "Next time I won't try to fix them now that you think I messed them up!"

Lan Fan stood on the side feeling uncomfortable, conflicted between comforting the poor girl or staying out of it completely. After all, it was sort of her fault as well as the boy's. However, Lan Fan wasn't the most social person. Always quiet during gatherings and parties, and this was no exception.

Edward had a distressed look on his face. He was horrified and unsure of what to say. Typical move from a boy with a temper, making the girl cry again. Lan Fan sighed, knowing too well how all relationships ended. She was just about to return to her room to avoid any unnecessary drama when something stopped her from taking another step.

"Winry." Ed said quietly and gently. So different from his voice just seconds before. He was right in front of her, hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, you know that I love my shoes after you fix them."

The gesture alone was so surprising to Lan Fan. The boy was so gentle and kind. So different than the others. This relationship was unique, and she was curious to understand why it was so.

"Look at you, making a girl cry again?" A voice asked with a teasing edge as he walked down the hallway casually. Lan Fan turned to see Ling arriving right after the chaos took place. They exchanged a look before she turned away quickly, watching Winry rub her eyes.

"Ling! What are you doing here!" Edward replied in his loud voice once again. The soft speech was over in a blink of an eye, and Lan Fan sighed.

"Well I'm here to get toilet paper from this pretty girl right here." Ling said with a grin as he gestured toward Lan Fan, earning an angry blush on her cheeks. Ed looked over, noticing her for the first time since he arrived.

"Not to interrupt your conversation." Lan Fan stated more confidently than she usually was. "I think it's time for my roommate to make herself comfortable so, goodbye both of you."

She slammed the doors in their faces as soon as Winry walked in. The boys exchanged similar looks.

"Anti-social, dark, unfriendly." Ed listed out and glanced at Ling,"she's definitely an interesting character.."

"I know she may seem cold at first, but there's something about her that pulls me in." The dark haired man replied with a pensive face. "Call me greedy, but I think her many personality traits are all amusing.."

Edward just scoffed and turned away, walking back toward their apartment room. "Yeah yeah! Don't come crying to me when she breaks your heart."

Ling followed after him, smirking. "If anything, I'll break her's first."

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Thanks again for viewing! To be continued.. ~MM