CHAPTER II
Meetings
After Roy's little panic attack over Ellie being in the hands of a stranger, he finally felt confident after seeing that the teacher was a capable young lady; and not a person closer to his mother's age. Alas, he didn't get to meet Teacher Riza yet but he was looking forward to it for no apparent reason.
A few days after that, Maes invited Roy and Ellie over for dinner because he said Gracia's cooking is just heavenly and should be tasted by all. And Roy already knew that, since Maes invites him over once a week, and lo, every time they come over, Gracia prepares food that looks way too much for 5 persons, and now that Gracia's pregnant, he expects to see more.
When they arrived at the Hughes' place – a pretty big house with a playground on the front yard and a pool at the back – Ellie excitedly grabbed hold of Roy's hand. "Daddy, can I play with Elicia?" She asked. Roy nodded. "Of course, just try not to tire yourself too much, you still have to go to school tomorrow." Ellie smiled in response.
Before Roy could even ring the doorbell, Maes came bursting at the door. "Hi, Elizabeth!" He said with open arms, completely ignoring Roy whose hand was still about to press the doorbell. "Uncle Maes!" She happily answered and gave Maes a big hug in which he felt much more like an elf was hugging his knees. Ellie scampered away when Elicia called her over.
After that, Maes looked at Roy who seemed to have been frozen in place. "Heeeey! What are you, a statue? Don't just stand there. Come on in." Roy flashed him a glare. "I thought you just wanted me to stand here forever." Maes laughed out loud and put his arms around Roy's shoulder. "Your sense of humor is as plain as a cloudless sky." Roy sighed and said with a straight face, "Your analogies are just as bad you know." They both laughed.
After dinner, Maes and Roy went to the veranda with drinks on their hands. Maes sipped his wine. "So, are you doing any better with Ellie being in school?" He looked at Roy whose eyes were fixed on an invisible object. Roy leaned his back on the railings and took a sip from his glass. "Yeah, it's been 2 weeks and I haven't had any more freak panic attacks." He paused. "If I had a panic attack every time Ellie went to school, I'd go psycho." Maes laughed, remembering how he was in a similar situation just two years back.
However, Maes knew better than to compare his situation with Roy. He had Gracia, Roy had no one; he was basically a father and a mother at the same time. Which was a concept Maes knew absolutely nothing about. Maes said nothing about it either; he was afraid Roy might think he pitied him.
Maes leaned on the railings, opposite to Roy who was now facing at the direction of Ellie, Gracia and Elicia as they played with Elicia's dollhouse. "Roy." Maes said, "Give yourself a chance; don't punish yourself. You may be a father but that doesn't mean you can't fall in love, you know. I know you, and I know you need someone. Especially now. Go to a bar or a club or heck, even a library." He teased his best friend.
Roy turned his head to raise an eyebrow at him. "I've got better things to do than to be at a bar or a club or a library, Maes. You know that. And God forbid I'd ever go to such extremes just to find someone whom Ellie could call 'Mom.'" Maes laughed. "You act as if you never did it before." Roy smirked and took another small sip of wine from his glass. "That was before Ellie came. I was superficial. I mean, you know how I was in high school and college, I got around." A memory came to his mind which made him chuckle. "Everybody called me a manwhore." He continued. "Now, if I were to fall in love however, I just want someone who I know would be capable of loving Ellie as much as I do. I think it's possible but, man, would it be difficult." Maes patted Roy's head and messed up his hair, a gesture in which Maes would've gotten killed if they were still in high school. "Oh, boy. With a face like that and the fact that you're a lawyer, I can assure you, it would be easy."
A month has passed since Ellie first started school. As Roy strapped her to the backseat, Ellie excitedly told him, "Daddy, teacher said that mommies or daddies should come to school tomorrow." She passed Roy a note which said that it was Family Day, which requires a parent or both parents or a guardian to come and socialize. "Oh, okay. Well, who do you want to come to this? Me? Gramma? Aunt Jill? Or Aunt Rachel?" He asked jokingly. Ellie smiled and clapped her hands. "I want daddy." Roy decided he was definitely going to go for Ellie's sake. So, he took the day off the next day and went to the said event.
After doing Ellie's hair, Roy made his way back to his room to get dressed. He didn't think of what he would wear so he grabbed the first shirt he saw; a white shirt with black elbow-length raglan sleeves. I never bought this, he said to himself. After a few seconds of disagreeing with himself, he still wore it and paired it with black denim pants and black sneakers. He looked at the mirror and observed his reflection. Even with bags under his eyes, he still looked pretty damn good if he were to say so himself. One last thing, he remembered. On normal days, Roy would wear his contact lenses but if it was a non-formal meeting, he would wear his eyeglasses. It makes me more attractive, he told Maes a few years back when he asked why he wore his eyeglasses when he has lenses.
Ellie was watching a cartoon on TV when Roy got out of the room. "Hey, princess. How does daddy look?" Ellie took her eyes off the TV and looked at Roy. "Daddy looks good and handsome because you have your eyeglasses on." Roy hi-fived her to which she giggled. "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about! Let's go then." Ellie jumped off of the sofa as he turned off the TV. He held Ellie's hand, grabbed his car keys and slipped on his leather jacket that was left hanging behind the door. Taking one last look at the appliances, to see if he had left any open, he finally slammed the door shut and locked it.
Roy was, without a doubt, a social butterfly back then, he was good at conversations and he was charismatic. This event, however, made him question that. He wasn't nervous but he didn't go around to talk to other parents. He sat on one of the chairs and let Ellie sit on his lap. She turned around so she was face to face with her father and hugged him then, tightening her tiny arms around his neck. This isn't a bad way to die, Roy thought. "I love you, daddy." Ellie whispered on his right ear.
He couldn't help but be happy and sad at the same time. He was happy that Ellie was very affectionate now but sad that in a few years' time, he might not be hearing those words from her anymore. Instead of worrying, Roy just smiled and hugged her back. "I love you so much, princess."
The small gathering started as soon as the teacher went to the front and introduced herself. "Good morning, everyone and welcome to our small Family Day program. I am Riza Hawkeye and I, well, you guys guessed it, I am the teacher. I've been teaching in this Kindergarten for 4 years and I'm really looking forward to meeting and working with you all." Roy looked at her intently. Ellie wasn't lying when she said her teacher was pretty. Roy saw her sometimes when she drops Ellie off at the Kindergarten but, he never got a close look. He never realized she had brown eyes, her blonde hair was down and it reached down to the middle of her back. Roy caught himself before he could think of worse things. He felt embarrassed at the fact that he finds his daughter's teacher attractive so, he looked away from Riza and just pretended to adjust his eyeglasses.
Roy distracted himself by listening to Ellie's classmates introduce themselves and their parent and/or parents. It was an interesting bunch; there were parents who were soldiers, teachers and doctors. He was the only lawyer. How was he sure? Ellie was the last one to be called thus making him the last one to be introduced.
Ellie's hand was as cold as ice as they made their way to the front. Roy tried to rub her hand, hoping to share some of his warmth to his daughter's hand. As they walked closer to the front, Roy could've sworn he heard whispering; perhaps the parents were wondering where Ellie's mother was or perhaps it was just his imagination and nobody was whispering at all.
Ellie looked up at Roy, waiting for a signal to start. He looked at her, gently squeezed her small hand and nodded. She faced the crowd and spoke with a small voice. "My name is Elizabeth Mustang and this is my daddy Roy. He is a lawyer. He helps people to...uhm...not be put in jail." She tugged at his right sleeve. "Say something, daddy." Roy cleared his throat and adjusted his eyeglasses with one hand. "Hello, everyone. My name is Roy Mustang, I am Elizabeth's father. It's nice to meet you all. I work at a law firm not far from here. So, if you ever need legal assistance, please don't hesitate to ask for my card. I might just be the lawyer you didn't know you needed." He joked, which caused a short burst of laughter.
Eight persons – six women and two men – asked Roy for his business card after the program was over. He was surprised that people actually took it seriously, though he thought four of the women that asked for his card was acting quite flirtatious with him. (Which wasn't new to him at all.)
"Hello, Mr. Mustang." A woman's voice came from behind him as he just finished handing a business card to a parent. He turned around to face her; it was Ellie's teacher, Riza. "Hello." She smiled at him. "Riza Hawkeye, nice to meet you." He shook her hand. "Roy Mustang. Nice to meet you too, Miss Hawkeye." Roy flinched. "Oh, I'm sorry, is it Miss? Or Missus? Pardon my assumption, though." Riza giggled a little. "It's okay. And yeah, it's Miss." Roy sighed from relief, mostly because he got it right and partly because she might actually be unmarried and single. What am I saying?! He just acted naturally after mentally scolding himself."Thank goodness. And how may I help you?"
"I just wanted to tell you that Elizabeth is one of the smartest and most behaved girls in class. But what worries me is that she's not as sociable as the others. During recess, she would eat her snacks alone on her seat and would sit quietly even after that. I'm not implying that there's something wrong with her but I just need to know how I could help her." Roy looked at Ellie who was sitting on a small chair by herself. He sighed. "Well, you should know that Elizabeth's mother left us just a few days after she was born –" Riza gasped, not expecting to hear such a personal matter. "OH. Oh, I'm so sorry for prying." She apologized sincerely. Roy smiled and reassured her. "Nah, it's not really prying when I'm saying it to you directly and on my own will. Anyway, she left us, not in a sense that she's dead, she just walked out of the door and literally left. So, it's just been me and Ellie since then and I guess this kind of environment is so new to her. I feel guilty because I barely let her out to play with other kids. She'll probably start opening up after a few more weeks, she's just a little shy."
"I see. That was all I needed to know. Thank you, Mr. Mustang. And I'll try to help Elizabeth as much as I can." She was about to turn around and walk away when Roy spoke once more. "Thank you and you're welcome and...uhh, if you ever...uhm...need anything please don't hesitate to call me." He handed her his card. "Oh, thank you. I will." She smiled at him and Roy swore his heart was beating like there was no tomorrow. Roy gained his courage and asked, "One last thing, can I have your number for...uhh, when, you know, there are emergencies. If that's okay with you, that is." CRAP. He expected her to shove him and report him to the authorities but she just smiled again. "Sure, I don't really mind. Let me just get my phone, I'm afraid I might give you a wrong number if I base it off my mind." She laughed and so did Roy. When she left to get her phone, Roy sighed and tried to calm himself. The whole day has been one big emotional roller coaster for him.
After tucking Ellie in, Roy called Maes. He picked up right away. "Hughes." He said. "Mustang, my man. Waddup?" Roy exhaled. "Is it wrong to find my child's teacher attractive?" Maes snickered at what he just heard. "Well, you're the lawyer, you would know what's illegal or not. However, personally speaking, I don't see how it's wrong. We are just human you know, it's not like we can control who we find attractive or not. I mean, she is a 10 for you, right?" Roy groaned. "You should know that I don't like rating women, Maes. She is beautiful though, I can give you that but it was more than that. She asked me about Ellie because she was going to try to help her to be more sociable and stuff." He said. "Urgh, don't get too cheesy on me, ple–OH! OH! OH! I get it!" Maes suddenly shouted. "Get what?" Roy asked. "Why you like her!" He responded. "Uhh...okaaay, why?" Roy asked once more. "Because she cared about Ellie first and not you. Which is a shocker for your little boy heart because with all your damn charm and intelligence, women usually only pay attention to you first. But with her case, she asked about Ellie and not you! It's like a slap on your face because she didn't give a damn about you. Oh, my goodness, this will be good. YOU. ARE. ABOUT. TO GET WRECKED. ROY MUSTANG!" Roy sighed. "Are you kidding me? If that's the case then maybe I should just hit on Ellie's pediatrician. Geez, Maes. I can't explain why I like her. I just do. And not just because she's beautiful. Don't get me wrong, she's beautiful but I've slept with prettier girls when I was in college."
"See? You figured it out by yourself. She's beautiful and not just pretty. Those are two very different concepts which couldn't be explained by words. Anyway, I will support you with all my heart if you want to continue this. I won't help you with money because I know you don't need financial help." Maes said. Roy chuckled. "You're crazy. Anyway, thanks. Wish me luck." He answered. "Luck is for suckers. Give it all you've got. Bye." Maes hung up and Roy was left staring at the ceiling of his room. "Maybe, I'll forget about her if I go to sleep." He thought out loud.
A/N: Finally, Riza! I hope you'll enjoy it! And please don't overanalyze things in this story, it's an AU. Haha. Anyway, I know this won't be an excuse but, English isn't my first language (it's like my 5th lol) so, if you ever encounter a grammatical mistake please don't poke fun at me, instead, please correct me, it would be deeply appreciated.
What are your thoughts on this chapter? It sure was fun to write.
And shoutout to Hirude! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this one too! :D
