A/N: I'm currently working on an Avatar fanfiction but while my flash drive was lost I started writing this one. I'll probably focus more on getting the Avatar story done first and hopefully I'll have time to continue this one as well.

Chapter 2

Jean lay on his bed, hours later, moping. He had buried his head under his pillows some time ago in an attempt to block out the mocking tones of the other guys' voices.

It wasn't working.

"Honestly Jean, there's nothing sadder than your love life." Roy stated for perhaps the millionth time.

"Or complete and utter lack of one." Heymans Breda snickered.

"Shut up Breda, you don't even have a girlfriend." Jean's shouting was muffled by the pillows but the others still heard him.

"At least he talks to girls." Maes Hughes pointed out.

"I do talk to girls." Jean snapped sitting up. "I talk to Riza all the time."

"She doesn't really count though, does she? I mean, you've known her all your life." Kain Fuery shrugged innocently. He didn't want to add to Jean's misery but someone did have to be logical in the room.

"So, what's your point?" Jean grumbled into the pillow he was currently hugging to his chest.

"So you'd really be pathetic if you couldn't say five words to her." Roy finished. "Plus, you're not actually interested in her so you don't get nervous."

'Actually, jackass, I've been in love with her since we were kids but you freaking asked her out first in high school. Jerk.' Jean growled, inwardly.

"Well, I'd just like to throw out there, just for the record and whatnot. Bridgette and I had a conversation and she actually said yes she'd go to the spring formal with me." Jean sniffed.

"Wait, I thought you were moping because you got rejected again?" Breda asked to clarify.

"Well yeah…" Jean muttered, shifting uncomfortably. "I haven't quite mastered the art of closing such conversations and so she might have, well, she kind of changed her mind because I got all nervous and stopped making sense but she said she'd let me know. That's got to count for something right?"

"Way to fail Jean." Roy said in mock congratulations.

"Shut up!" Jean shouted before shoving his face down into his pillow.

"How exactly did you turn a yes into a no?" Fuery asked, completely confused by this new information.

"I don't know. I can't even remember what I said." Jean wailed, miserably.

"He needs some serious work." Hughes whispered to Roy.

"No kidding." Roy whispered back, shaking his head.

"You boys aren't being too mean to my favorite guy are you?" Elizabeth Hawkeye asked as she entered Jean and Roy's room. Jean almost sighed, feeling a bit better as she wandered in, in all her magnificence and glory.

"I thought I was your favorite guy." Roy pouted.

"You were, but then you pissed me off, sweetheart." Riza snapped, patting his cheek with rather harsh sarcastic slaps. The others cringed for Roy recognizing Riza's "don't fuck with me mood."

Roy looked genuinely confused, as he scrolled through the day's events in his mind.

"Have I pissed you off today?" He questioned.

"Maybe." She replied succinctly with a short tight smile.

"Maybe?" He asked.

"Who's Ahn?" Riza's sugary sweet smile told them she knew exactly who Ahn was.

"Um…" Roy hummed, avoiding her eye.

"Mmhmm, we'll talk later. Right now isn't about you." Riza snipped shooting him a death glare before sautering over to sit delicately next to Jean on the bed.

"Poor baby." She mused, pulling him into her embrace. Jean was pretty sure he had just died and gone to heaven. She was his definition of amazing.

They had been best friends since Riza's family had chosen a summer cottage next door to his home. After her parent's death she had begun to stay there all year round and Jean's mother would help look after her when her grandfather was away on business resulting in their close friendship. What had started as a little boy offering a pretty girl a flower had blossomed in to an everlasting friendship and even more than that on his part but she was head over heels for Mustang, who was genuinely affectionate towards her but had a wandering eye that he just couldn't seem to control. More often than not it infuriated Jean that she put up with such an open flirt but he'd always take it back when he saw how happy Roy made her. After all, Roy was trying to be good, he just wasn't a monogamist kind of guy.

He was lulled into a lax dream world as her perfume reached his nose and distracted him for the unfortunate events of the day. She was snuggled in next to him and there could obviously be nothing wrong with the world when Elizabeth Hawkeye was sitting that close to you.

But, if that didn't do it for you, the fact that she still had her uniform on from class that day certainly did. There wasn't a guy on campus who couldn't say the girl's uniform made them a little crazy. Roy had even gone so far as to determine that when he grew up he would become the fuehrer and employ the guy who did the girls' school uniform to come up with a new military uniform for all female staff that included a miniskirt. This sort of talk was incredibly popular around the boys' dorm but around the girls it usually ended with a swift blow to the back of the head from Riza.

But right now, Jean could subtly admire how the short cut of the pleated navy blue skirt exposed a creamy patch of thigh and knee before the skin was hidden again by the black knee high socks of the spring/summer uniform. Like most of the girls on campus, Riza opted for the black form fitting t-shirt to wear under her equally form fitting navy jacket. She was well decorated for her many achievements at the academy but her face was a picture of youthful innocence and the red eyes that had previously been glaring death at Roy were now soft and gleaming with a sweet doe like concern.

Jean was an absolute puddle of goo being so close to her.

"So I heard about Bridgette and came right over. Tough break but she was too peppy for you anyway. I think you'd eventually have tried to kill yourself to escape the latest news on 'these super fab new shoes' or 'totally cute new tennis skort.'" Riza shrugged.

"I like tennis skorts." Jean mumbled into his pillow.

"Riza do you hate all of the girls on this campus?" Hughes laughed.

"No, just the annoying ones and the sluts in particular." She replied, purposefully shooting a glare at her wayward boyfriend.

"I just showed her around campus. I swear. I couldn't be jerk to the new kid." Roy begged.

"I'm sure." Riza growled.

"Riz-" Roy's plea was cut off.

"Later Roy." Riza snapped, giving him a silencing look. "This is about Jean right now."

"Don't worry about me. I think I'm just going to mope here for the next fourty-eight hours, then finally get up the energy to slit my throat or something." Jean offered.

"Don't do that. There are plenty of fish in the sea. We'll just have to try again tomorrow. I'll help you." Riza encouraged.

"Actually, I plan to still be depressed tomorrow and dead after that. I'm sorry." Jean said before launching himself back into the safety of his pillows.

"Unacceptable. You can mope for the rest of the night but we start fresh in the morning." Riza commanded.

"What? No, can't I have until lunch?" Jean begged.

"No."

"Until the end of first period?"

She thought it over for a moment. "Fine, but you better be in tip top shape by gym or I'll be some happiness into you."

"Wouldn't get beat up by a gir… never mind." Breda mumbled.

Jean made a face at her which she returned by laughing and sticking her tongue out at him. Their childish exchange was short lived as she turned a stony look on Roy and beckoned him to follow.

The room was deathly silent as the boys watched them disappear into the hallway, Roy looking paler than usual. The only thing they heard before the door was shut was Roy saying, "Aw, Izzie, don't be mad."

"You think she'll kill him this time?" Fuery finally asked after a moment of silence.

"Nope." Breda smirked.

"No?" Fuery asked shooting a puzzled look at Hughes, who simply shrugged back in response.

"I have a theory…" Breda began, stroking his chin to seem more intellectual.

"And what's that?" Jean muttered, not really caring.

"I think he does it on purpose." Breda said simply.

"Well cheating is a choice." Jean griped.

"No, no, not cheating. When you think about it, he's really just a flirt though on occasion I do worry for her but I don't think he'd intentionally hurt her. I think he flirts around so that it will get back to her and piss her off enough that she'll pick a fight that will ultimately lead to make up sex." Breda explained.

Jean choked on the air he'd been attempting to breathe.

"Could we please not put Riza and sex in the same sentence, no… don't even put them in the same paragraph. In fact, let's not even use the two in the same discussion." Jean shouted.

"You do realize she's not a child any more, right?" Hughes asked.

"I know." Jean mumbled.

"Then you should probably accept the fact that she's dating Roy mustang, who is for the most part loyal to her… and, well, there is probably a reason for that and the fact that when one is missing the other is usually missing as well." Fuery reasoned.

"Can we just talk about something else please?" Jean suggested. They were all staring at him like he was some poor misguided child and it made him twice as irritated. "It's just weird, okay. I remember when she used to push me in the mud because boys were stupid."

"We still are stupid." Hughes said. "They just make allowances for us now. Women are such amazingly accepting creatures, a true gift from above."

"Oh God, here he goes again. Someone call Gracia, she's the only one I can think of that actually enjoys his poetic crap." Breda sighed.

"It's not crap. Gracia thinks I'm sweet." Hughes argued.

"But we all think you're gay." Breda laughed.

"You know, if you'd just get more in touch with your sensitive side, you might have a wonderful, beautiful, amazingly sweet, gorgeous, loving girlfriend as well." Hughes reprimanded before stalking out of the room.

"Honestly Fuery, how do you put up with him as a roommate? He's moodier than a teenage girl." Breda snorted as he made his way out of the room.

"I don't know, he's just a nice guy in my opinion." Fuery's words faded as he followed Breda out of the door and up the hall, leaving Jean alone to brood over his rejection and the fact that his dream girl was probably doing naughty things with his roommate somewhere on campus.

'Why not me? I want that? Why can't I be him for just five minutes?'