A/N: So this is Riza and Roy's first meeting in this AU thing I got going, which obviously precedes the first two one-shots, but I hope chronological order doesn't really matter to you since these are supposed to be short and fun to explore how their relationship could have been if this had happened. Enjoy the chapter!

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Roy didn't know his father was expecting a pupil. Of course, he didn't know anything when it came to his father because he never saw that man. The only people who ever showed up at their doorstep were either shopkeepers with the special research books or one of the town doctors dropping off the old man's medicine. Not some cute, 14 year old girl with cropped hair and fire in her eyes.

"I'm Riza Hawkeye," she said when he opened the door. She stood with such confidence in her step that he was distracted from the nervous shaking in her hands as she gripped a suitcase. "I'm here to learn alchemy."

"Riza girl, I thought I taught you more manners than that," said an older woman from behind. She had two more luggages on either side of her. Roy watched as the younger girl sighed, her cheeks darkening in color as she fearlessly met his eyes.

"How do you do?" she muttered with a bit of acid. He wasn't sure what to think or why this child was acting so sourly toward him when he hadn't even spoken yet, but he forced a smile and tried to keep the shock off his face nonetheless.

"My father is back in his study," he said as he took the luggage from Riza Hawkeye and stepped back to let both her and the older woman in. "I'll go-."

"No need, boy, I'm here." The gruff voice came from behind him and Roy instinctively nodded and shut the door behind the two strangers after they'd entered. His relationship with his father was quiet; neither one of them were quite the same after his mother had passed away in illness. His father had shriveled in on himself while Roy pretended that it didn't affect him in the least and both went on quietly with their lives, intertwined but hardly speaking.

He supposed that it was expected then, that Roy had never heard of an apprentice coming to study alchemy under his father. It just would have been nice so he could have prepared her a room in advance.

Mustang looked up at the older woman and sneered in contempt after taking in Riza's skirt and shirt ensemble. "You didn't tell me she was a girl, Christmas."

The woman shrugged lazily and dropped the suitcases side by side. "I didn't see how that was a factor."

"I don't teach women."

"I'm not a woman!" the young girl insisted suddenly, her face twisted in despair. "You won't even know that I'm a girl, sensei, I promise! I'll work just as hard as any boy, you'll see."

Roy quietly slipped from the room so he could get back to putting away the clean dishes he'd washed earlier. Once he was finished with chores, he could go outside and play ball with his buddies down the block, and for a 17 year old boy, the last thing he wanted to do was worry about what was taking place between his father and a little girl in the parlor.

After a long moment's pause, he heard his father say. "Well, you certainly don't look like a girl." A sigh. "Since you are paying exactly what I asked, I'll make an exception this time. Hey boy!"

Roy left his chores and grimaced before walking back into the room, where the child was expressing her gratitude in the form of a smile. "Yes, sir?"

"Take the Hawkeye girl up to the guest room. Set the bed for her."

"Yes, sir."

Without so much as looking at the girl, he grabbed two of the suitcases and began up the stairs, hearing her follow behind as her luggage clunked; she wasn't quite tall enough to carry it without it bumping into the steps. He had no inclination nor wish to speak to her, and she continued in silence until they got to the room Roy knew his father intended for her.

"I get this whole room to myself?" she said while he dropped her things by the foot of the bed. Her luggage was abandoned as she gasped and launched herself at the dusty bookshelf. "And these?"

"They're mostly children's stories; I read them growing up," he offered hesitantly after a moment.

She smiled brightly and with such childish vigor that Roy himself almost smiled. "I probably won't have time to read any, with all the studying I'll be doing, huh? Did your dad teach you alchemy too?"

"He tried," he told her. He left the room for a moment to fetch some bed sheets from the linen closet and when he came back, he found her sitting on the floor, one of the thicker encyclopedias that had been at the bottom of the bookshelf propped open in her lap. All things forgotten, he took a moment to be awed at this mature girl; growing up he'd only ever seen girls her age whine and talk about dresses. And here this Riza was, sitting cross-legged with her skirt riding up, soaking in the knowledge of an encyclopedia like it was normal.

She seemed to feel his gaze and looked up, her face instantly reddening. "What?"

He shook his head. "You're. . .odd, is all."

"Well, that's not a very nice thing to say to someone you've just met," she retorted, still blushing.

"I didn't say it was a bad thing," he responded calmly as he began to make up her bed.

She was quiet for a moment and he was nearly done with the chore before she spoke again. "What's your name?"

He looked at her quizzically, wondering why she bothered. "Roy."

"Roy Mustang, then. You already know my name. I suppose you're odd too."

"Me?" he demanded, slightly outraged. What ever had given her that impression?

"You aren't very friendly, but that's alright. I'm not friendly much myself," she said, looking back down at the book in her lap. "Master Mustang failed to mention he had a son when Madame Christmas called him about studying, so I wasn't expecting you. I suppose we're stuck with each other, huh."

Roy laughed at her, at this slender girl who was acting as though she was his elder, who knew how to assert herself even if it meant she was biting off more than she could chew. He'd always distanced himself from the pupils his father had tried taking on in the past, but they'd been boys with a confidence far superior to Riza's simple statements. Perhaps she wasn't to be written off as a mere child with a god complex like the others before her.

"Why are you laughing at me?" she demanded.

"No reason," he replied with a chuckle. "You're going to stir things up quite a bit with the old man this summer. I hope you realize that."

"Well, I intend no disrespect, if that's what you mean."

She sounded more intelligent than the girls in his class at school. "You may be right about that, but you have misread me, Miss Hawkeye. I'm quite charming when I want to be."

Her face flushed and she looked indignant as he smiled at her. "Is that so?"

He chuckled again. "I'll leave you to unpack, Miss."

"Roy," she called as he began to leave the room. He turned slightly so that she could see his profile; her face was still red as an apple. "If we're going to be friends, you'll need to call me Riza."

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Reviews are appreciated! Thanks for reading!