I do not own FMA. Enjoy!
The first time Roy ever thought of Riza as beautiful, it was because of a crimson hair ribbon.
When they came across this ribbon, Roy was sixteen and Riza had just turned fifteen. The two of them had been straightening up her room as part of spring cleaning when Roy found a small wooden box that, judging by its light weight, seemed not to be holding much or anything at all. Still curious about it, however, he asked Riza just what, if anything, the box held and, after a quick inspection of it, she told him that it had been her mother's, one of the few things that had belonged to her that Riza still had around.
"After she died, father got rid of a lot of her things. I think it was because he didn't want any more reminders of mom around the house. After all, I'm probably the biggest reminder of her that he has. The only reason why I still have this is because my mom had given this to me a few months before she died," Riza explained.
When she opened the box, Roy discovered that it only contained three things: A single photo of Riza's mother that, due to time and its place in the container, had already started fading, a pair of earrings that, according to Riza, her mom had told her to wear on her wedding day and the aforementioned crimson ribbon. Riza seemed especially fond of the ribbon, as she wrapped it around her fingers for a few moments with the smallest, softest smile on her face before reaching behind her head and, after some help from Roy, using the ribbon to pull her hair up into a high ponytail. When she turned to face him again, Roy couldn't help but notice, not for the first time, how much easier it was to see how pretty his teacher's daughter was when she put her hair back. It was the first time, however, that he didn't just consider her "pretty", as he had a few times before. This time, the word "beautiful" crossed his mind, a word that he hadn't associated with Riza until that day. That night, he spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out why he thought this, why he suddenly thought this about her. After a while, he finally gave up, deciding that the answer could be found another day.
What he didn't know was that, soon, he would realize why he had thought that.
What he didn't know was that he was already beginning to fall in love with Riza Hawkeye.
AN: And after over a month of no updates, I am back and ready to continue on with the updates! Yeah, I'm really sorry this hasn't updated in so long; I not only had the last few weeks of school to deal with, I also was busy all last week with writing fics for Royai Week. I missed this story a whole lot, though, and I thank everyone who hasn't given up on it in the month long absence! Reviews would be liked immensely!