Woah hey. We did something. And it's beautiful. Or, as our friend Derek says, it's cute. Regardless, this is probably my favorite OC. EVAR. And we even have an ending, and stuff to happen along the way! Anywho... enjoy the first installment of Bittersweet.

Disclaimer: We do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. If we did, Roy would be married to two sixteen-year-old fangirls.

Alice Ackerman liked for things to flow; it had been that way since she was little, for as long as she could really remember. For the most part, things in her life were exactly the way she wanted them. There were no secrets in her world; everything was clear-cut. Alice played the piano obsessively, hated fire, and talked little-to-none if she could help it. The only people she would talk to were her students, the grocer, and her noisy neighbor, Ivy. Alice always found Ivy's name fitting. Ivy had a way of overshadowing and/or suffocating people; this didn't stop her from being fond of the other girl, however.

A week in her life is very consistent. For example, on Sunday, Alice goes outside to get her newspaper at 10 o'clock. She is at that time yelled at by Ivy for being so anti-social. Alice then goes back into her little villa and reads both the paper and sight-reads some sheet music before turning in at 7:30.

On Mondays, Alice goes to the bakery at 11:30 and buys her bread for the week. She then goes home and makes herself a sandwich out of her warm, fresh bread and some leftover cold meats. It's the only semi-hot meal she eats at home. At 12:45, her first piano student arrives. Exactly an hour and a half later, her next student arrives. He leaves in 45 minutes.

On Tuesdays, she goes to the market at 10:40 and picks up her groceries for the week, all cold foods. She goes home to instruct two piano lessons. On Wednesdays, she instructs three piano lessons and goes to the library for more sheet music and books. On Thursdays, she goes to visit her sister on the other side of the Capitol. Since it is quite the trip, she can't accept any students on Thursdays. At her sister's home, she eats a hot meal and plays with her niece and nephew; then her elder sister nags her about wanting her own nieces and nephews.

Fridays are Alice's busiest days; she takes on the most students then, that way she can wholeheartedly reject Ivy's invitation to go drink the night away. A good, hard day of teaching to others wears the woman out, or so she claimed. In reality, Alice just didn't want to leave the house, although she knew that in Ivy's wish would have to be sated. The pianist attempted to keep the other woman at bay for as long as she could.

Saturdays are her lazy days, the days on which the twenty-three year-old does little more than read and partake in the most beautiful piano playing she possibly can. She doesn't take any students on Saturdays, simply so she can have the weekend to herself. Ivy bothers Alice all that a neighbor possibly could, and it always makes the woman grin to know that she has such a caring, if irritating, person next door.

That Friday, however, Alice was in for a rude awakening. Ivy came bursting into her house, with no regard for the fact that Alice's door was shut. The pianist blinked twice, staring at the slightly younger woman who had come rushing into her living room without warning. Ivy raised her index finger, pointing to Alice and then herself.

"You. Me. Bar. Now." Without another word, Alice's book had been flipped from her hand, and Ivy had grabbed her hand, pulling her up out of the chair she'd been reading in.

"W-What?" Alice stuttered as Ivy threw the girl her light wool jacket and dragged her out the front door. Luckily, she managed to lock her door on the way out.

"Come on, Alice! You've got to get out of the house sometime! It's a beautiful spring night and the bars will be hopping!" Ivy grinned and winked.

"But I don't want to though," Alice whined quietly. Ivy didn't hear, fortunately. She figured that her neighbor may start leaving her alone after this outing. Or, perhaps not.

Ivy was, in Alice's honest opinion, ridiculous. She worked all week, as most did, but come Friday and Saturday night, she may as well have been an animal. Alice didn't see how such an obnoxious woman could be docile at work and outrageous at home, but Ivy managed somehow. The walk to the bar didn't seem to take long, however, with Alice's neighbor chattering the whole way there. A high-pitched giggle from inside caused Alice to recoil; this was far from the piano teacher's normal scene, but Ivy took no notice and pulled her right on in.

Alice didn't partake in any of the various "festivities" Ivy did, and reacted with little more than silence to any attempt to converse with the pianist. Hours passed in an ungodly slow manner for Alice, with Ivy growing more atrocious by the moment. Intoxicated Ivy was not an Ivy that Alice was particularly fond of, and when the girl practically fell into Alice's lap, it was all the woman could do not to sigh exasperatedly.

"A-Alice, my darling," the girl drawled, in a rather unattractive way, Alice thought, "I think… I think I love that guy. That one. No, not him; he's ugly. That one." Ivy pointed to a fiery ginger a ways across the room. She looked up into Ivy's eyes, and slurred, "He's freaking gorgeous, Alice…"

Alice's jaw opened, staring at the man Ivy seemed to be infatuated with. "Sweetheart… that's a poster."

"But he's beautiful!"

"…I think it's time to go home, Ivy."

"But we're just having so much fun! It has taken me months to get you out of the house, we can't go home now!" Ivy giggled stupidly. Alice stood up, turning to the bartender and asking a quick question before deftly maneuvering around the room.

She only managed to lure Ivy out of the bar with the pretty-boy on the poster.

Alice managed to get her ridiculous neighbor a block away from the bar before she plopped down on the sidewalk. "You know," Ivy began, "those little sparkly things in the sky? They're sparkly…"

"Um, okay, I'm glad we had this talk," Alice mumbled under her breath.

"Alice, you know what you need? A hot brother. Then you would never need to go out of your house. Because he'd take care of his hermit of a sister. And I'd be married! And we'd be sisters! Wouldn't that be great, Alice? So just get yourself a hot older brother, and we'd be all set. Okay? Make a hot older brother so I can marry him. And he has to be a redhead, 'cause redheads are hot!"

"Is there a problem here, ladies?" a tall, black haired man asked from behind the two women. He was accompanied by a blonde smoking a cigarette. Alice jumped back a bit at the sight of the cigarette. But she realized that she could potentially use the two men to get Ivy to head home.

"Thank god you're here!" Alice muttered.

"Alice, who are these nice, very attractive gentlemen?" Ivy slurred with a giant grin on her face. The two men walked closer, obviously a bit full of themselves from the compliment.

Alice gave the blonde a quick look-over. It was so crazy (and Ivy was so drunk) that her idea could possibly work. "Why, Ivy, this, of course, is my brother. We were just talking about him, remember?" she gave a forced smile to the drunk girl and mouthed 'play along' to the two men. "Yeah, this is my brother, um, uh…"

"Jean Havoc, m'lady," the blonde squatted down to Ivy's level and gave her a playful wink.

"He's cute! Why didn't you tell me that you have a hot brother? Then who's this guy?" Ivy asked, pointing lazily at the black haired man.

"Him? Uh, he's my, uh…boyfriend," she replied blushing. Alice was so embarrassed that she was forced to claim someone that she had never met or seen in her life as her boyfriend because of drunken Ivy.

"Hey, the name's Roy Mustang," he gave a bemused smile and a slight nod.

"Your boyfriend is hot! Now I know why you never accepted all those invitations to go out drinking! You were too busy fornicating with your sexy boyfriend!" Alice looked down at her shoes and turned bright red. Roy's smirk grew wider by the second.

"Sometimes I wish you'd stop forming coherent sentences…" Alice's cheeks were set ablaze, and she snuck a quick glance at her "boyfriend." "I mean, uh, we really need to get home Ivy. You're… not looking your best."

"Home? How can I even think about going home, when I'm surrounded by such beautifulpeople?"

Jean slipped his arm around Ivy's shoulders, pulling the young woman up from the ground. "Do you two need a ride home?"

"No… I think we can make it back –"

"Alice… I love you and all, but I am not passing up a ride with your brother."

That was going to take serious explaining later, of that much Alice was certain. Roy gestured in a general direction, the way that Jean was already carrying Ivy. If anyone was going to fornicate that night, it was most certainly going to be Ivy. The drunken woman was put into the front seat, next to the blonde, whereas Alice took a seat beside the black-haired military man.

Once Ivy was more than a few inches away, Alice allowed herself to breathe a little easier, despite the proximity of her "boyfriend." The ride was short, and for the most part silent, at least in the back seat. Ivy, on the other hand, couldn't seem to grasp the concept of 'shut up.' Jean didn't seem to mind though, as she kept referring to him as 'hot' and other synonyms.

"…So. Does Alice have a last name?" Roy broke the silence, and Alice continued looking at the floor while she spoke.

"Um… Alice Ackerman." Her conversational skills left something to be desired, but she had at least answered his question. The pianist felt eyes on her, further making her uneasy; it was as if the man was trying to get a good read on her, or maybe he just wanted to make Alice uncomfortable. Ivy, useless as she was, wasn't giving very good directions, and eventually Alice took over, directing him to their homes.

"H-hey! We're home, Alice!" Ivy practically thrust her door open, falling all over herself far less than gracefully. Alice shook her head, and spoke to both Roy and Jean in turn.

"Thank you both, so much. There was no way I would have been able to get her back on my own, mess as she was."

Ivy stumbled to her door, and Roy chuckled a bit. "Hey, what are 'boyfriends' for, Alice Ackerman?"

His wink afterward sent her spiraling into yet another deep blush, and Alice fumbled with the door for a second. When she finally managed to rip it open, she caught, "Have a nice night, Sis," and another laugh before the vehicle drove away.

Ivy seemed to have forgotten how to unlock her house, and after Alice did so, her neighbor gave her a quick, sloppy kiss on the cheek. Alice wiped off the saliva disgustedly, and shook her head before re-entering her own house.

"So?"

"So what?" Roy Mustang raised an eyebrow at his subordinate.

"Don't lie. You were totally looking that one up and down, Colonel."

"Of course I was. I do that to anything female… and human, of course."

Jean put the vehicle in park, turning around to face his superior officer. "I've got a bet for you, if you think you're man enough to take it."

With a threat like that to his masculinity, there was little more Roy Mustang could say than, "What's that?"