Writers Month Day 1: Protective/School
Word Count: 3165
Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl
Rating: G/K
Characters: Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye
Warning: NA
Summary: Fourteen-year-old Roy Mustang makes some observations about ten-year-old Riza Hawkeye, and decides to do something about it
Notes: Young Roy and Riza friendship is cute!

Protective/School

Fourteen-year-old Roy Mustang sauntered down the road, a carefree smile on his face. The day was a warm with a breeze, the perfect day for a walk into town, as far as he was concerned. He had finished all of the work that Master Hawkeye had assigned him, and Master Hawkeye was focused on his research at the moment. So focused, in fact, that he had handed Roy a list of supplies and told him to go to town and take his time. Naturally, Roy had taken his master's request to heart.

Roy didn't come into town too often, despite having been here over a year. Usually, he was kept busy with his studies, and when something was needed from town, young Miss Riza seemed to usually have it taken care of. Actually, she seemed to have most things taken care of. She took care of the house, the garden, the animals, the meals, hunting, and her schoolwork too. Honestly, Roy had no idea how the ten-year-old did it. He wasn't half as responsible at her age. Then again, he had a lot of older sisters to look after him. Miss Riza had no one.

Still, he wasn't about to waste a chance to take a walk into town and get out of the stuffy Hawkeye Manor. He wanted to socialize with people, see what was new, and wave at some of the girls. The girls here seemed to find him charming, and he just couldn't disappoint them, now, could he?

Roy figured that most of the girls around his age were either working or in school at the moment, so showing off would be a little more difficult. He knew, though, that his path would take him by the school. He could at least wave to the girls who saw him through the windows of the one-room schoolhouse. Maybe he'd even take his time and walk back by when school let out. He couldn't help the grin that grew on his face as he thought about that.

His grin faded, however, as he grew close to the school yard. Most of the voices he could hear came from inside the building, but he caught wind of a few that were coming from outside of it. He frowned, not liking the tone of the voices at all. They seemed harsh, and he had to wonder what was going on.

The voices weren't coming from the side of the school that faced the road, and so Roy, not liking what he was hearing, walked on to the school property with just a minor glance around. No one was outside to stop him. He had just rounded the corner when he saw a water bucket being thrown down, and a familiar girl shoved back. He watched with wide eyes as she tripped over the bucket, tumbling down, and the three boys laughing at her.

"Can't even carry a bucket of water!" one of them was saying. "How useless are you? Even your own dad replaced you!"

Riza said nothing, just stayed put, and kept her eyes down.

Roy saw red, and he quickly strode forward. "Hey!" he called out, grabbing all of their attention. "What are you doing?"

One of the boys—Thompson, Roy thought his family name was—turned towards him. He was bigger than Roy, but Roy wasn't going to let that stop him. "It's none of your business, City Boy," he sneered.

Roy knelt by Riza's side, reaching down to help the younger girl up, but his eyes stayed on the three boys in front of them. It had been a while, but he had scrapped plenty of times back in the city. These were unfair numbers, and he was pretty sure that these boys were stronger than he was, but he couldn't just let this happen. Especially not to Miss Riza.

Before any of them could reply, the bell began ringing, indicating a break, and students came running out of the doors. The boys obviously didn't want an audience, because they moved away with little more than sneers and muttered promises about "next time."

Roy watched them for a moment, before turning his attention back to Riza. The girl was on her feet now, trying to brush off her dress, and wasn't looking at him. Roy reached down for the water bucket, holding it out to Riza.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

Her cheeks flushed, and she grabbed the water bucket from him. "I'm fine," she said defiantly.

"Are you sure?" Roy asked her again, not sure he believed her.

This time she did look up at him, glaring at him with such ferocity that he nearly took a step back. "I'm fine!" she snapped at him again, and then turned abruptly with the water bucket in her hands.

Not sure of what else to do, he followed her. "I'm sorry, Miss Riza. I just wanted to be sure."

He watched as she attached the bucket to the rope and lowered it down into the well. "Well now you're sure," she said. "So go away. You shouldn't be here anyway. You should be studying whatever my father left for you to do, so I could have just dealt with that like normal and moved on with the day."

Roy's brow crinkled at her words, but he moved passed them quickly. "I'm out on an errand for your father. I think he wanted to be left alone to research today."

Riza's lips pursed, and she hesitated only a moment before she began pulling the bucket back up. "Then it's best you and I both stay away until time to fix supper," she said, not pausing once in what she was doing. "Although you can probably risk going back sooner than I can." She had the bucket back at the top by now and turned away with it in her hands. "I will see you this evening, Mr. Mustang."

It was a clear dismissal, something he had gotten used to from the younger girl. Still, he couldn't help but stare after her as she made her way back up the hill towards the schoolhouse. Something about what she had said bothered him. He didn't want to let it go, but he wasn't sure what else he could do.

Frowning, Roy reluctantly turned away. He had no business being here, and Roy was pretty sure that, if someone had been watching him this whole time, he had vastly overstayed his welcome. Roy continued on into town, taking his time there. Chris sent him a little pocket money each month, although he didn't always have the chance to use it. Maybe today he would.

It was lunch time before he drifted back towards the school, sandwich in hand. The students were out as well, and Roy scanned them to see if he could see Riza. She wasn't in amongst the other girls who were sitting together and eating. She wasn't over with the younger kids who were playing. He didn't even see her among the boys, which, after this morning, was a relief. He finally spotted her up near the school building, looking as if she were emptying out some water. He frowned. Was she working through lunch? Maybe she was in trouble.

"Roy!" A voice caught his ear and he looked over to see Cassidy Wiseman waving at him. "What are you doing here?"

He grinned and made his way over to her and the other older girls. "Just getting some supplies. Master Hawkeye is doing some research and sent me to town for him."

"Oh, I see," she said, grinning at him and batting her eyes a bit. "And what brings you by the school?"

"Curiosity," he said with a grin. The girls tittered with laughter, and movement caught his eye again. It was Riza, still up near the schoolhouse. His own smile faded a bit. "Say, Cass, think you could answer a question for me?"

"For you Roy, anything."

He gave her another dashing grin. "What's up with Riza? Did she get in trouble or something?"

Cassidy and the other girls glanced up to where Riza was just emptying something else. Cassidy's smile faded a little. "Her?" she snorted. "No. She sticks around the school a lot. Teacher's pet, that's what she's trying to be. Besides, even on the days when she's not doing work for the teacher, she's always doing something else like reading, or doing calculations or something. She's a bit… odd. Never does anything with us, even if she has food."

"She is odd," one of the others pipped in. "What's with her hair? She always keeps it so short."

"I heard she cut it off so her father can't use it in alchemic experiments."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Nah, it's because she's trying to hard to be a boy. I mean, the short hair, the hunting—and look at her dresses. Patched and bare and out of style and never any stockings."

"She's hardly respectable."

"She'll never find herself anyone that way."

"Can you imagine what a disaster it'll be when she finally starts maturing?"

The girls laughed, but Roy ignored their gossip for the moment, his eyes back on Riza. Things were starting to add up for him. "I'll be right back," he said. "Forgot something Master wanted me to do."

Without so much as a goodbye, Roy made his way across the school yard and towards the building. "Hey! Hey, Miss Riza!"

Riza stopped, wastebasket in her hands and glared up at him. "What do you want, Mr. Mustang?" she asked him.

He didn't miss the way that her eyes lingered on his sandwich for just a moment. "Not much. I mean, it looks like you're busy. But, well, I bought this sandwich, and I only really wanted a half. I thought you might be interested in the other half."

Her eyes lit up with interest, but they were quickly guarded again. "And why should I need you to give me anything?"

Right. Her pride. Even at ten she was stubborn. "You don't," he said with a shrug. "But it won't last more than a few hours, probably. I didn't want it to go to waste."

She looked at him for a long moment, then sighed, setting the waste basket down. "Alright," she said. "It wouldn't do to have something go to waste—at least, no more to waste then buying a sandwich that you can make for free is already."

She held her hand out, and he reached into his bag and pulled it out for her, giving it to her with a grin. "Hope you enjoy it!" he said.

She just frowned at him. "Thank you," she said, fairly quietly.

There was an awkward pause, and Roy wasn't sure what to do next. "Uh, say," he said. "I still have to finish my half. Any chance I can sit here and eat it with you?"

Riza blinked at him in surprise. "Wouldn't you rather go eat with the other girls?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "Nah. They're busy talking about dresses and hair. I get enough of that from my sisters."

"Oh."

He glanced at Riza, but she wasn't looking at him, just at her sandwich. After a moment, she sat down, and he did as well. But he kept an eye on her as they ate, noticing how her hand came up to her brush her short locks more often than normal.

Lunch was a short affair, and soon he was off, killing more time and exploring the town and the surrounding area. He supposed he could go back to the Hawkeye house, but instead he felt the need to stick around. By the time that school let out that day, Roy was waiting nearby, the supplies Master Hawkeye had requested with him, and a bag of apples as well. He smiled and waved at the girls that walked by, smirked at a boy or two who looked at him jealously, and then grinned when Riza walked up to him. In the distance he could see the boys from earlier scowling at him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, hands on her hips.

He shrugged. "I had to take all of this stuff back anyway. I just thought it made sense to go back together." He paused and held out an apple to her. "Apple?"

Riza still looked at him a little suspiciously, but after a moment she agreed. They worked out the packages among them, and started walking back towards the Hawkeye home, Roy doing most of the talking on the way, but Riza chiming in a little.

Over the next few weeks Master Hawkeye stayed focused on his research, giving Roy some work to do, but mostly leaving the boy on his own to self-teach. He did his assigned work, attempted to help out around the house, and did a lot of exploring of the area. It gave Roy a lot more time to talk to Riza too, and he found himself paying a bit more attention to the things she said or the ways that she acted. He had always known that she was treated poorly by her father. But before now, he hadn't realized that she was having trouble with other kids as well. It was only when she came home one day, her dress torn, and Riza herself looking roughed up, that Roy decided to take matters into his own hands.

Roy liked Riza. Yeah, she was four years younger than him, but she usually seemed a lot older than that. Besides, when you got through her shell, she was funny, caring, and more than capable. He hadn't quite breeched it yet, but he had seen glimpses of it. He genuinely liked the younger girl, like she was a little sister or a neighborhood kid that he was fond of or something.

It was with that feeling in mind that Roy made the decision to walk Riza home from school every day that he could manage it. Riza was suspicious of him at first, but she could find no real reason to object. The few objections that she did bring up—usually that he should be studying or else her father would be mad—he quickly dismissed. After all, what was alchemy without practical application? And wouldn't that be better done outside?

Even as the fall temperatures moved further from the warm summer and towards the cold winter, Roy found himself keeping up this habit. Riza slowly started to warm to it as well, coming to expect him. She offered him little smiles, and small bits of biting humor as they walked. When the harvest came in, he would pick her up with things like apples and squash in bags, and she would turn them into meals and desserts. As the weather grew colder, his jacket often found its way around her shoulders.

Even at the Hawkeye Manor, their relationship improved. He would often sit at the kitchen table with her to study or puzzle out texts out loud in front of her. She would do her homework and start cooking. Roy started doing alchemy around the house more, supposedly as "practice" but really as an excuse to fix up what he could and help Riza in any way possible.

It was only when he presented her with a nice, warm winter coat—one made from several too small and too thin coats he had used as source material—that she questioned him.

She took the coat from him, the coat a soft, deep blue with black buttons, thick wool and in a fashion that he had knew was a classic style his sisters love. She felt it, but didn't say anything, and his enthusiasm for the gift started to fade.

"Miss Riza?" he asked. "Is something wrong?"

For a moment she didn't say anything, just kept her head bowed over that coat, her thumbs stroking the material.

"I don't understand," she finally said.

His brows scrunched up. "What do you mean?"

She looked up at him, and he was surprised to see tears in the corner of her eyes. "I don't understand," she repeated again. "You walk me home. You buy things I like. You help me around the house. You fix things. You help me with my schoolwork. You seek me out to spend time with me. And now you've given me a coat." She shook her head. "I don't understand, Mr. Mustang. I'm no one. I'm just a ten-year-old girl who isn't smart enough to learn alchemy. My own father doesn't pay attention to me. But… you do all of these things. I don't understand why."

Roy was stunned. It had never occurred to him that she might feel this way. "Well, I mean… because I care, Miss Riza."

Her head jerked up at him at that, eyes wide, almost as if she had been struck. And then, she was whirling away from him, coat still in hand. "You shouldn't," she said. "Thank you for the coat, but you should focus on your studies more."

"Wait." Roy reached out and grabbed her shoulder. "Miss—Riza. Riza wait."

She stiffened under his touch, but looked back at him, clearly startled at the lack of formality.

"Why shouldn't I care?" he asked her. "Why shouldn't I care about you?"

"Because Father only wants you to care about alchemy. He wants you focused only on that. He won't stand for distractions, and if he thinks I'm one then… then I'm not sure what he'll do, but he won't like it." She turned to face him a bit more, and he could see that her lip was trembling, and her eyes were wet with tears she hadn't let fall. "I'm not worth caring about. Your studies are much more important. I—"

"No," Roy said, and said it so firmly she stopped, and stared at him. "No," he repeated. "My studies are not more important than you." He knelt in front of her, digging in his pocket for a handkerchief and using it to wipe her eyes. "Listen to me, Riza. No matter what anyone says or does, you're worth caring about. Even if I'm the only one who ever does it, you're worth caring about, okay? But I can promise you that there are plenty of other people out there that will care about you. You just haven't found them yet. But you are worth caring about."

She stared at him for a moment longer, trembling, and then she threw herself into his arms, sobbing. He held the young girl, rocking her back and forth as she silently sobbed on him. Roy was fine with this. He'd take care of her while he could, even if that meant walking her home from school every day until she graduated.

No one deserved to think that they weren't worth caring about. And he'd prove it to her one day.