(A/N): I literally have no self-control, so I wrote another chapter because I really want to finish this fic! Hope you like the new chapter!


End of summer five: Roy, 16. Riza, 14.


Roy lounged on the only bench at the train station, trying to cover his eyes from the strength of the swelter August sun. He had spent all night writing alchemic formulas for Master Hawkeye and now he had been sent to go pick up Riza at the station. Since they were old enough to take the train, they traveled without Miss Mustang this year. In fact, because they swapped homes on the same day, he hadn't seen her since the end of last summer, when Christmas picked him up. However, this summer was different. He was now going to be staying with Master Hawkeye all year until his apprenticeship was over and he could take the state alchemist test. Although, Master Hawkeye would surely disown him if he told him this plan. For some reason, he hated the state alchemist. He said they were murderous, greedy bastards, and that they were little more than cheap street magicians. Even if that was true, Roy was determined to make a change in this world. He could sense the evil that had been manifesting, soaking into the woodwork of Amestris and his curiosity would not let him go.

This sun is really too much, thought Roy, I will just go sit under the shade of that oak over there until the train comes. He made himself comfortable, leaning against the trunk. He hadn't had even realized he had dozed off until he was awoken by someone one shaking his shoulder. He jolted up, only to have hit his head against something.

"Ow…" Roy said wincing and rubbing his forehead.

"Tch, watch it, pea brain! Why are you such a spazz?!" Another voice yelled back at him.

Roy opened his eyes to see Riza crouched over him, her face close to his as she rubbed her forehead as well. Except she wasn't the Riza he had remembered from last summer. Her hair was much longer, almost halfway down her back. It was blonder than he remembered and neatly combed and tucked behind her ears. She was so close that the ends of her locks were tickling his arms and he could smell the scent of lilacs on her. She was also wearing a light, yellow dress. Riza Hawkeye, in a dress. Roy couldn't believed it. She almost looked… pretty.

Roy could feel his face turning red as he frantically climbed away from her, "So-sorry, I dozed off and I didn't hear your train coming." He offered his hand to help her up as he looked away, hoping his hair would hide his fleeting flushness. He looked over to see Riza brushing dirt off her dress, unphased.

"It's fine. I'm sorry I startled you." Riza rocked back on the balls of her feet and smirked. "It looks like Papa is working you to the bone this summer. You know how I love to see you suffer." She snickered.

"Whatever," Roy snorted, grabbing the heavy suitcase out of her hand, "Let's just go home. Did you brings those books I asked for?"

Riza rolled her eyes, "Yes, I brought your books. But we need to stop at the general store first. I wanted to pick up some things for dinner. I want to show Papa a new recipe that I learned from Chef at the bar and I need to get a few things I know we don't have at home."

"Fine, but that's all. I have to get back to some work, so be quick about it."

They approached the general store, only to find the son of the owner, Jean, smoking stolen cigarettes in the alley between the store and the bank. Roy put down the suitcase and went up to Jean flicking the cigarette out of his mouth and stomping it on the ground.

"Cut that out, moron. You know those aren't good for you. Plus, they are a fire hazard," Roy scolded.

Jean groaned and straightened up, scratching the back of his shaggy, dirty blonde hair, as if this was a routine he and Roy went through every time they saw each other. Standing up to his full height, Jean Havoc was at least a head taller than Roy and because Jean was a year younger than him, this bothered Roy more than he let on.

"Come on, Roy, stop being such a-" Jean stopped mid-sentence, his eyes suddenly fixed on someone else. "Riza?! Is that you? You look so different, so…"

"What?" Roy said indignantly.

Jean collected himself to his usual contrived aura of coolness, "Nothing, Roy, I just so happen to remember that I was talking to Riza and not you." Riza snickered.

Roy shoved Riza towards the store. "Come on, Riza, just buy what you need so we can get out of here. I don't like the idea of us being seen talking next to the alley trash." Roy smirked at Jean. who scowled in return, only to transform that into a smile.

"Riza, since you're back now, I wanted to see if you wanted to go down to the river with me tonight. I found this wide flat rock a couple miles downstream. It's a great place to lie down and look up at the stars."

Riza saw wear this was headed. She had seen plenty of guys flirting with the girls at the bar, so she decided to play along, just to toy with Jean. "Oh really, Jean? I'm not sure if I've been that far downstream. What if I get scared?" She batted her eyelashes a bit, just to get him all worked up.

He took the bait. "Don't worry, Riza," he said pulling out another cigarette from him shirt pocket and sticking it in his mouth, "I'll be there to protect you. Besides, it'll just be you, me, and the stars."

Roy snorted, quick to catch on, "Wow, Havoc, I didn't think you were that desperate for a girlfriend. You're going for Riza? Are you kidding?"

Jean moved up closer, towering over Roy, "Why would I kid about that?" He looked down at Roy with a sly smile, "and by the look of it, it sounds like you might be a little bit jealous. Am I stepping on your territory? Do you-" before he could say another syllable, Roy hooked him in the with a punch to the jaw, sending him staggering back.

"Riza is not territory, you bastard." Roy said, his voice dark and his fists clenched at his sides. He moved in front of Riza, blocking her from Jean. "And I'll be damned if I left her alone with scum like you!" Havoc quickly recovered his balance and slammed his fist into back into Roy face, the considerable strength of the blow driving him down into the ground.

Jean spit some blood out into the dirt next to Roy, "It looks like the only scum I see is the worm wriggling in the dirt at my" but before he could finish a giant volume of Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy came crashing down on Jean's head, and soon he found himself dizzy and down on the ground next to Roy.

Riza hiked up her skirt a bit and pinned down Jean's shoulder with her boot when he tried to get up. Up until then, she hadn't said much because she was having too much fun just watching the two of them fight, but her eyes were now more serious than ever. "Listen Havoc, and listen well," Riza said sternly, threatening him with the spine of the book hovering just above his nose. "No one hurts my friends, you got that? And next time you try, you'll come out of this with worse than just a bump on your head." She then shot a glance at Roy, "Go wait for me by the crossroad. Now."

Roy got up, the cut above his brow now starting bleed down his temple. He wasn't quite sure why he was listening to Riza, but the tone in her voice told him that maybe he should just back away, leaving the Jean still pinned to the ground by Riza's boot. Picking up the suitcase he headed for the outskirts of the tiny village and to wait for Riza.

Roy sat on a mile marker stone on the side of the road with his back to the town. He tried hard not to wipe away the blood with his sleeve, knowing Riza would have a fit trying to get the stains out. He must not have been waiting more than twenty minutes before he heard Riza clear her throat behind him. When he turned to look at her, a handkerchief had been pressed to his cut, causing him to wince. Riza gently took his hand and replaced hers on the handkerchief.

"The pressure will stop the bleeding," she said softly, already making her way down the road, a brown parcel in her arms from the general store.

They walked next to each other in awkward silence, the sun beginning to dip towards the horizon. Riza pulled out a bottle of milk from her bag and opened it up and handed it to Roy, the condensation dripping down his fingers.

Roy looked at her and carefully took a sip, suspicious of her sudden kindness. Why was she taking care of him like this?

"Listen, Roy Mustang," Riza said looking him directly in the eyes, "I want to make this perfectly clear. I will make my own choices and I will talk to who I want to talk with and I will be with the people I want to be with and nothing you can say or do will change that. So if I want to watch the stars with Jean Havoc, I will do it. If I want to walk home with you, I will do it, and you can't stop me or get into fist fights because you disagree, you got that?"

Roy grunted, looking back down at his feet. "Fine." More silence.

"By the way… back there..." Roy said quietly, "You said I was… your friend." He took a big gulp out of his milk almost finishing it.

Riza was quiet for a long time before she finally spoke up. "I said it because it's true. I've been thinking about it, and even though we fight a lot, I think… that you were my first real friend. And I will always protect my friends." Riza looked up to smile at him, causing a bit of color to rise to his cheek.

"Well, don't expect any special treatment from me just because you think I'm your friend."

"You are my friend!"

"Okay, okay, I get it. You did get Havoc pretty good, so I guess you get points for that."

Riza laughed, "He's so dim sometimes! Like I'd be scared to walk a couple miles downstream! Ha!"

Roy became serious and quiet again as he kicked a stone up the road, "But if you really want to go to that flat rock, I will take you. Havoc might make you sick trying to sweet talk you."

"Well, we'll see. Havoc did say with would just be him, me, and the stars," Riza teased, kicking the stone back.

"Shut up. What are you making for dinner, anyways? I'm starving." Roy asked, quickly changing the subject.

"I'm making that rosemary steak with blackberry sauce dish that Chef makes on special occasions. Hopefully you've been keeping up with my garden so that I have blackberries to cook with." Riza said, shooting Roy an accusing look.

He held up his hands defensively, "I think you'll find that the garden is more beautiful and luscious than ever! I've been doing some botanical experiments with the fertilizer and I think it is working really-"

"Roy! I told you not to do experiments on the garden and the flowers while I was away! I'm going to deck you so hard, I swear!" Riza yelled, chasing after a fleeing Roy up the hill to the house, but he was already halfway to the house, leaving Riza to wonder if she would really be able to tolerate a whole year with him.