Chapter Fifteen: Beauty and the Beast (Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson)

A/N: This one's AU, so a little background is required: Our favorite couple and their friends are about ten years out of high school. They all knew each other, which may or may not have been for the best, as you will soon see…

"Are you sure about this, Gracia?" Riza stood in front of her mirror. Gracia had told her to dress casually, so here she was, in nice black flares and a dark red v-neck sweater over a white camisole. Her make-up had been to perfection, with only a few hard-to-do-by-oneself things done by Gracia.

"Of course I am, Riza! A blind date once and a while shows you what you're really looking for!" Gracia chided, admiring her handiwork and absently patting the slight bulge in her abdomen. "You need to settle down, and no, it is not the hormones talking. Anyway, it's not really a blind date; you know him. I'm just not telling you who it is." She pushed Riza toward the door. "Now, come on- we're going to be late."

Riza scanned the pack of people going by for any man she knew. Gracia had been one hundred percent certain that the man would be there, no matter what.

Really, though! It's seven-fifteen! Showing up late for a date is bad enough, but a blind date- now this is tacky.

"Riza Hawkeye?" Someone put a hand on her arm.

Riza spun around. She knew that voice. "You!" she cried indignantly, already getting ready to bolt.

"Wait!" Her date grabbed Riza's wrist. "Please, let me explain!"

"Gracia Hughes, you are dead," Riza muttered darkly. "Setting me up with Roy Mustang- what was she thinking?"

"Actually, this was my idea. Please don't take it out on her," Roy told Riza. "I've been needing to get the guts up to do this for years, Riza. Honestly, ever since that, I've known I'd make it up to you some time, but I'm a coward. It took me… what is it now- eleven years? But please, just listen. You can yell at me or slap me or whatever afterward, but until then, even if it's more than an ass like me deserves, I'd like you to hear me out."

Riza crossed her arms and studied Roy. He seemed sincere enough, and either way, she needed to get off her feet. The shock was making her dizzy. "Alright. You can tell me over dinner."

Roy sighed. "I really didn't date any of those girls. They'd just show up wherever I went. It actually scared me pretty badly. They actually put me off dating until just recently, they were that pushy. None of them got past a kiss on the cheek, really. Some of them tried, though." A grin twitched the corners of his mouth upward. "I remember thinking that if a girl was going to be that pushy, I'd probably wind up having to please her with everything I did, that I'd have to conform way beyond what I would become for someone."

Riza sat silently, just listening. Roy had told her some rather interesting things about himself as a high schooler, and she was finding herself feeling almost sorry for her. But, she reminded herself, there was that. Roy still had yet to mention it, but it would have to come up at one point or another.

And that point was now, apparently. "So, when those girls would ask why I never dated them, I didn't really have the guts to tell them. Like I said, they scared me. I didn't want my name to be slandered, because I knew they'd gossip and I cared enough about my reputation that I wasn't going to let them do that to me.

"Then, one day, a couple of my friends asked me the same thing, and I told them the reason. So, they jokingly suggested that I go out with a girl like you, and when I didn't have anything to say to that, one of them took that as a sign that I liked you." Roy stopped for a moment, as if to prepare himself for what he was going to say. "I panicked. I really did like you. I still do. But I said I didn't, and some girls who heard me yelling at them took that and blew it up."

Riza was being careful not to react, not to say anything that might change anything he would say. She motioned for him to continue.

"I know they made your life hell, Riza. I'm sorry. I hate it when girls do the sorts of things they did to you. I know it wasn't anything physical, but it really must've hurt you, and I never did anything because I was too scared and ashamed to do anything about it. I thought you hated me. Did you?"

"I thought I did at the time. I couldn't understand why you'd say that about me, or what those girls said you'd said. I'd never done anything to you, so I didn't see the justification, but I figured it would be easier to let it blow over than to destroy my own reputation," Riza explained.

Roy ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I was such an idiot. I never said anything. Even your little friend, Sciezcka, was it? I remember her coming up and yelling that I wasn't fit to kiss the ground you walk on, and that I was a complete and total ass for saying all those things. She didn't let me get a word in edge-wise." Roy was smiling ruefully. "If you still keep in touch, you really should thank her for that, or at least thank her for me. She really knocked some sense into me. Unfortunately, by that time, graduation had rolled around, and, well… the rest is history."

"So…" Riza said slowly. "You finally mustered up the courage to apologize, how?"

"It bugged me more than you'd've thought possible. I didn't want you to hate me, and I wondered what I'd done to your social life, who'd met you, if you were going to be forever cynical of men. I know it's presumptuous of me, but I didn't want to be the one who ruined something for you. So, I called Maes and had Gracia set up a date with you. Maes has been my confidant for a while now, so he's heard the stories more times than either of us can count. He was the one who suggested this little outing, actually." Roy chuckled. "He said that if I didn't do it now, I probably never would. I think he's right."

Riza nodded. "I guess you'll be wanting a clean slate, then?"

"It'd be more than I deserve, but I'd really like that…" Roy trailed off hopefully.

Thinking for a moment, Riza decided, "I'd like that, too. Shall we start from the beginning?"

"Nah. If I get too uppity, you'll need some leverage to hold over my head. We'll just give it another try," Roy suggested.

"You mean our first try," Riza corrected. "You never tried before."

"Not hard enough," Roy conceded. "So, I'll pick you up at six-thirty on Saturday?"

Riza smiled. "It's a date."

A/N: In High school!Roy's POV, Clay Aiken's "Invisible" fits this pretty well. I'm sure I'm the only one who thinks this, but he was kinda, "I wish I could have a chance at her." What a goob! "What Hurts the Most" by Rascall Flatts fits nicely, too.

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