A/N: My first FMA fanfic, so I hope you like it. Sorry if I miss anything or get the information wrong, I'm just too lazy to look stuff up :) Thanks and please review!

CHAPTER ONE

"Hohenheim, are you ready yet?" a shrill voice called from the hallway. A young man lifted his head from the book he was reading when his name was called. The source of the voice entered the room with an annoyed look on her face. "I told you ten minutes ago that we would be leaving for the party soon. Ten minutes! Yet here you still sit like a little school child with your nose glued in a book. And you are not ready either!"

"Sorry, mother," the young man, Hohenheim by name, replied rather stiffly. The woman was, he was reluctant to admit, his mother. She was one of those people that looks like her aged face had never even allowed happiness to cross it and a mouth that never had anything pleasant to say to her son, her one and only son. At the moment her aged and sour face was lathered with makeup and her thin mouth painted a deep shade of maroon.

"Be ready within five minutes!" she snapped, and with that she turned heel and marched out of the room. Hohenheim sighed loudly and shut his book with a snap. Bad move on his part, for his mother heard his sigh and was back in a flash. "Listen here, you ungrateful boy, I am an old woman who would rather be doing a thousand different things than allowing her twenty two-year-old son to continue living in her home. I could very well toss you out into the streets any time I wish. However, you are the one who is going to marry into a good family and make us wealthy so we must keep you for the time being. Whilst you are here I suggest you remember who is giving you food, shelter, and clothing!"

"Yes, mother." He'd heard it all before. 'Hohenheim, you are the one who will marry into a wealthy family and share your wealth with your parents.' 'You are so ungrateful, Hohenheim!' 'You will never find a bride if you do not attend the parties.' It was all nonsense to his ears. Why should he be grateful to parents who raised him as though he was a demon or some other inhuman creature? They never loved him or said a kind word to him, so why in the world should he share his 'future wealth'?

"I wonder if Louisa tied that woman's corset too tight again," he muttered to himself as soon as his mother was gone again. He reluctantly set the book back down on his desk and stood up to stretch. It had been a good one too, full of the knowledge of alchemists from past centuries. Hohenheim loved alchemy and was often seen with his nose in some book relating to it. His parents and family thought it odd, for they did not see how alchemy could ever help him in the future. Still, he continued to study it and hoped to one day be so good at it that he wouldn't even need his spiteful parents.

"I have your clean party clothes, sir," a voice at the door said. It was Louisa, one of the house's twelve servants and Hohenheim's good friend. She was very young, around sixteen or seventeen, but cheerful and intelligent. At the moment her face looked stressed and several strands of her dark brown hair hung down fron under her white maid's cap. "Is the Lady yelling at you again? What'd you do this time?"

Hohenheim had grimaced when he took the clothes in his arms but managed a weak smile at her words. "'You still sit here like a little school child with your nose glued in a book!'"

Louisa smiled. She had a pretty smile which made Hohenheim often wonder why she was a maid and not a movie star. "You mustn't get on the Lady's nerves, especially not on party n-"

"Louisa! Come to my room at once!" the familiar voice screeched.

"Be right there, m'Lady!" With an apologetic smile she dashed out of the room and down the hallway to the impatient woman.

Hohenheim closed the door behind her then turned to the clothes that had been brought for him. He hated parties more than anything and was not looking forward to this one. Reason number one was the clothing which was always so stiff and itchy that it nearly drove him mad. Plus it was always warm in the party rooms and the clothes were guaranteed to cause one to become unbearably hot. Sometimes, if he was lucky, he was able to sneak away to the cool night air where he could take off the repulsive neck tie and breathe freely. Reason number two was the party itself. There was ALWAYS someone new to be introduced to and ALWAYS someone who would refuse to leave your side the rest of the night. Hohenheim was unfortunate enough to be blessed with good looks, so giggly young women were constantly at his side begging him to dance.

"'Oh Hohenheim, you're such a gentleman!'" he mimicked in a high-pitched voice as he undressed and enjoyed the last bit of comfort his body would have until quite a few hours later. Women as giggly and snobbish as the ones he always met at parties were enough to give him a headache. And even if they kept quiet the nauseating smell of their perfume would certainly do the trick. Oh how he loathed parties! At times he wish he could strip down to his underwear and dash about the room. Then maybe his parents would finally disown him and send him someplace far far away. But of course he knew this couldn't happen, for until he found a wife he needed a home, no matter how uncomfortable it was.

"Hohenheim!" came the infamous voice of the household. The young man hastily ran a brush through his long dirty blonde hair then tied it back neatly with a hair cord. The clothing was already starting to make him itch. Not a good sign. With one last look at himself in the mirror he then dashed out of the room and down the stairs to wear his impatient parents waited. It was time for the party, and he was absolutely dreading it.

A/N: Sorry it's so short, but I hope you like it. I'll try and get the next chapter up soon, but please let me know what you think!