I don't own FMA. I only own the OCs and plot.


Micha woke up feeling quite heavy. She's had one sip too many last night. She dragged herself out of bed and peeked outside her door. It was pretty early. It was only five-thirty. As expected, her brothers and father were still fast asleep. But she could already hear someone moving about the kitchen area. She rubbed her dark little eyes and walked on further. She could smell tea and coffee. Usually, they had breakfast in the dining hall. So this set of an alarm for her.

Riza was keeping herself busy. She was making mugs of coffee that no one would drink. She was brewing three cups of tea too. Micha stood a good distance from her and sleepily watched her move about. Hayate was drinking milk by her feet. Micha yawned and stretched a bit. That was the only time Riza noticed her. How strange.

Riza usually feels people a mile away. Micha thought. Her eyebrows furrowed to the center and looked at her warily.

"Good morning," Riza greeted her. "Would you like some tea?" Riza lifted a cup. "Coffee?" she put the teacup down and gestured to the mugs on her left.

Micha sat down on the breakfast table and continued to watch her. "Are you… okay?" she asked hesitantly.

Riza shook it off and answered her hastily, "of course."

Micha raised a brow at her and leaned back on the chair, "are you sure? You seem fidgety."

"I'm fine," Riza said firmly.

Micha stopped prodding but was still suspicious. "I'll have the tea," she said.

Riza took a teacup and placed it silently in front of her. "Excuse me," she said and left the room.

Micha was left alone in the kitchen and looked at all the untouched coffee mugs and teacups. There was no longer any steam coming from the coffee mugs.

(((-)))

Roy was silent the whole morning. But it wasn't that unusual of him. There were certain mornings where he would mechanically get about the day due to stress. His kids and staff usually brush it off. Besides, just because Roy was being nonchalant to everything doesn't mean that his kids don't bother him anymore. This made him feel better, though. Al's constant tugging on his pants and Edward being noisy was always a stress reliever for him. He started paying attention more when he spotted his daughter talking to Angelo.

He kept his eyes dead on them until Angelo sat with his family and the twin girls approached and started talking to Micha. Roy released a sigh of relief and proceeded with his breakfast. Alphonse was being extra clingy and cute this morning for some reason. He kept bugging Roy if he could have a taste of the things on his plate (even if Riza got him the same things Roy did because those were their favorites for breakfast) just so Roy would feed with him.

"Come here you," Roy picked up his youngest son from his chair and sat Alphonse on his lap. Al's bright, golden eyes lit up with joy as Roy started moving the spoonful of eggs around as if it were a plane. He even made matching sounds. Alphonse was too old for "here comes the plaaaane" but he enjoyed the attention from his dad nonetheless.

Edward, Winry and Alphonse proceeded to the game room with Elicia, Gracia and Riza in tow. Micha chose to go around the shops with her friends. So all that was left was Roy and Maes. The two men proceeded to the lounge to socialize with the other people and maybe see some old friends.

They sat on the couch near the fire and started chatting about old times. But when more serious matter came up, Maes knew something happened last night.

"So, Roy, what happened?" Maes asked in a hushed tone.

"What?" Roy asked.

"What happened last night?" Maes said.

"Nothing happened last night," Roy was trying to dismiss the topic.

"Are you sure nothing happened? Because that's not what I heard," Maes said seriously.

"Nothing happened," Roy insisted and crossed his arms.

Maes kept staring at him. Roy couldn't take it anymore.

"I ALMOST KISSED HER. THERE. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?" He blurted out.

The whole lounge stared at them but Maes didn't notice because was laughing heartily.

"Just what are you laughing about?" Roy yelled.

Maes kept laughing and he was holding his gut, "I was referring to Micha's date but thanks for telling me that, buddy," he slapped Roy's back.

Roy could feel multiple veins throbbing on his forehead. He stared at his best friend with such annoyance.

Maes had a good ten-minute laugh and would still have a hard time talking to him seriously. There were times where he would just suddenly laugh out of nowhere and say, "I can't believe you fell for it." And then proceed to having another laugh attack.

"Can we please talk about something else?" Roy spoke through gritted teeth as he massaged his temples, in attempt to calm himself down. Sometimes his best friend just really pushed his buttons.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure," Maes was still smiling and catching his breath. "Okay. Something serious." He ran his hand down his face and revealed a more serious and calm face. "So, do you know what to wear for later?" He grinned. "My family and I are all wearing pink," he beamed.

Roy blinked a few times and looked at Maes, "what's happening tonight?"

Maes slapped his forehead, "the ball! Don't tell me you guys didn't decide on what to wear yet!"

Sometimes, Maes sounds just like a girl. Roy thought. He suddenly remembered what he was talking about. Oh… "Right, the summer ball. I'm sure Micha has something prepared. Maybe that's why she went to look around the shops?"

"I doubt that daughter of yours will only pick something out today," Maes laughed. "Maybe she'll have it brought over. If I'm not mistaken, I think she ordered a few things made from Leila."

"Of course she did," Roy laughed. Leila's family was famous for their work. They not only owned one of the top modeling agencies, but they also had their own line of clothing, stores and photography studios. "We always wear their clothes, they should start paying us for endorsing it."

Maes laughed and took a sip of his drink, "not a bad idea. I don't think they'll be opposed to that."

Roy smiled and pulled out his phone. "I should text Micha and see what she's up to. I don't want to attend later if she didn't prepare something." He joked before proceeded to texting his daughter and she replied not a second later.

He read the text out loud, "of course I prepared something! Leila's bringing it over. My friends will be here too." Roy hung his head. "Great."

"Why don't you tell Jean and the rest to come, then?" Maes suggested. "I'm sure they'd love to come."

"No one will run my company if they do," Roy looked at Maes flatly.

"Alright, alright." Maes held his hands up and laughed lightly.

(((-)))

Right after lunch, Leila, Daniel, Jadine and Johnny arrived. Their families were with them also. Their families were also quite famous in the elite circle in Amestris.

"Leila!" Micha ran to her best friend and gave her a warm hug. "I'm glad you guys made it in time!"

"Of course. We'll never be absent for a party," she replied. "I got your clothes delivered to your room. The hair and makeup stylists will be in a separate room so, when you're all settled down and ready, just come to room 502. We'll be there," Leila explained.

"Okay, thank you!" Micha grinned. She also gave her friends another hug and left right after. She dragged her family, including Riza, back into their suite.

"Okay, guys, here're your clothes for tonight," Micha pushed in a rack of clothes covered in opaque white bags with the "Schneider" logo written on it. She handed Riza her gown, as well as Edward and Alphones' suit.

Roy plucked out what he thinks was his. "So, do we all get a matching color like the Hughes?" He asked his daughter.

"Yup! And I think you already know what color this will be. We all look good in it," she grinned.

Roy smirked and ran his fingers through his dark hair, "every color looks good when I wear it."

(((-)))

Riza tried to keep her mind clear of thoughts from the previous night. She focused her attention to all the little things she did, no matter how trivial. Like buttoning Al's shirt and fixing Edward's cuffs. She was really quiet. More than usual, that is.

Edward noticed how Riza was keeping to herself but decided not to pry. He might not like the reason behind her silence. Even at a young age, he knew that the truth came at a price and more often than not, it wasn't pretty. The ugly, cold, hard, unforgiving truth was something that most people ran away from. But even if he wanted to, he couldn't. He knew he couldn't. He wasn't like other little boys and everyone knew that. He had to grow up and see things that kids his age can't even dream to comprehend. But for tonight, he told himself to brush it off. The truth will come out sooner or later anyway.

After Riza fixed Edward and Alphonse up, she instructed them to wait patiently in the receiving room. She told them not to ruin their suits. They looked expensive but accentuated their good looks perfectly.

Riza took a quick shower. She didn't want anytime to ponder and let her thoughts loose. Once she got out of the shower enclosure, she pulled on a robe and took a towel to dry her hair. She exited the bathroom. Micha was sitting on her bed. She was already wearing her dress and heels, but her hair wasn't fixed yet. Micha sat there and stared at her. Riza felt herself blush for some weird reason.

"It's not polite to stare," Riza finally said.

Micha raised a brow at her babysitter. "Oh?" She said smugly. "It's not polite to keep secrets either."

Touche. Riza thought. "Why are you here?" She asked.

Micha folded her arms, got to her feet and sighed, "my my, don't you have the guts to be cold?" She gave her a soft glare. She turned to leave and opened the door but stopped half way. "When you're done, come to room 502. Someone will do your hair and makeup." She exited the room and shut the door a little too hard. She was definitely pissed.

When Micha came out of the room, she saw her father looking at himself in the mirror at the receiving room, trying to tie his bow. She approached him and Roy spotted her.

"There you are, just the person I wanted to see," Roy grinned at her but it faded the moment he saw that her face was pissed. "Is something wrong?"

Edward and Alphonse peeked from the couch to see what was going on. They both watched, their golden eyes wide, silently.

Micha proceeded to tying her father's bow and chose to ignore his question. Roy got the message when she made it a little too tight. She left him standing in the receiving room.

"I'll be in 502," she said coldly and shut the door, again, too hard.

"Sister's scary…" Alphonse said weakly.

(((-)))

When Micha opened the door to room 502, everyone was busy. There were around ten people, in all black. Black collared shirt, black pants, black belt, and shoes. Someone stopped in front of Micha to yell at someone across the room for not bringing his hair dryer. That's when Micha spotted the Schneider logo at the hem of his sleeve.

"How can you not bring my hair dryer? How am I supposed to make these people look fabulous?" He was around thirty years old, with fabulously curled brown hair. He wiped his forehead with the heel of his hand and noticed Micha, standing by the door.

"Micha! Darling!" He rushed to her and kissed both her cheeks. "You look absolutely gorgeous, honey." Before Micha could thank him for the compliment, he was already ushering her to a chair. "We will make you look even more fabulous, darling. Just you wait. That Angelo person will not be able to contain himself." He chuckled and sat her down on a leather chair in front of a mirror with lights around it. He expertly put a black cover on her and touched her hair.

"Wait, you know about Angelo?" Micha asked, looking at him on the mirror.

"Honey, everyone knows about Angelo!" He laughed. "Don't be silly."

Micha looked at him with such confusion. She opened her mouth to say something but no sounds were coming out. She opened and closed it repeatedly. Even after he left to get his materials, she was still doing this.

"You look like a fish when you do that," Daniel laughed and sat on the leather chair next to hers.

"How did Fabian know about Angelo?" Micha asked him.

It was Daniel's turn to be speechless. "Umm.. Well." He wouldn't look at her in the eye.

"I didn't even tell Leila or Jadine about it yet!" Micha was more upset than she thought she was. "We just had dinner last night and now everyone knows about it?" Her voice was rising by the second.

"Hey, calm down." Daniel coaxed her.

"THEN WHAT HAPPENED?" Micha demanded.

Leila came up to them and showed her an article on her smart phone. Micha took it and read. There was a photo of the two of them walking to the wine cellar with their fathers, and a photo of the two of them only. It was the time Angelo was walking her back to her suite. The article was quite intriguing as it was suggesting something about how Mustang Corp. was supporting some sort of illegal transactions with the mafia.

Leila took the phone from Micha when she finished reading. Daniel looked hurt and Leila's face was quite blank.

Micha looked at them, aghast, "But… We just had dinner."


It's been a while! I actually wrote this months ago, but only finished it today. I've been terribly busy with majors. :( One more week, and it's summer! Driving lessons, internship, cooking, baking, writing, reading, paining, and taking photos will be free to consume all my time. I've been watching anime again but none really inspired me to write stories about it. Maybe one of them will. I have more than 30+ just waiting to be watched. Hahaha!

Please tell me what you think and what you want to see more of! :) I love hearing from all of you, as well as feedback on how I can improve my writing, and character/story progression. :) Thank you for continuing to support this story. It's my driving force to get back into writing. 3