This AU has been knocking around my docs for a long time and decided it was time to start actually posting it. It's still being worked on but i promise continued cuteness for all.

Please let me know if people are OOC!

Enjoy!
A.H.

There was no way he would be late for Professor Armstrong's class again. One of these days, she was going to live up to her name and tear him limb from limb.

Just in time. He watched the clock strike the hour as he dropped his bag on the desk. He had to figure out how to be on time or accept that he was going to get murdered by someone like her eventually. The latter was much more likely.

He set out a pen and paper like an attentive student but automatically turned to stare out the window. It was too nice to be inside, and he'd learned everything on the syllabus in secondary school. Most of these classes were an exercise in patience….something Roy didn't have much of.

He was scrutinizing the sky outside his classroom/prison, wondering if it was getting cloudy when a flash of blue and blonde blew past and obscured his view for a moment. It was a quick moment too, but Roy found himself straining to follow her quickly blazed trail. She was gorgeous, and late, but otherwise he had no idea who she was and that was rare on the Central University campus.

After she rounded the corner the spell was broken, Roy blinked. He hadn't been sleeping well; there was a decent chance he imagined her. There were worse things for his subconscious to create than a hot girl, one he definitely would have noticed already if she was, in fact, real. Barely a minute later the door opened and Armstrong acknowledged the disruption with a small nod. He turned and watched the imaginary girl slide a pink transfer slip back into her bag and take a seat across the room. His interest shifted accordingly and didn't seem to be the only one. Her bright blonde hair was pinned up in a clip and he idly wondered how long it was. Somehow, in just a white button up, blue jacket and plain jeans, she looked better than all the other girls in their nearly-fall dresses. More interestingly, she didn't seem to care. She wasn't wearing makeup or jewelry and didn't so much as glance at the students around her, pulling a notebook from her bag and working on catching up to where Armstrong was on the syllabus.

By his next class, Roy was sure he was either crazy or on his way there. He'd taken painting to cover his fine arts requirement and it was usually a relaxing middle to his day. He was good at it and there weren't any papers or tests, Roy's only requirement for elective classes. He settled in to sketch the incredibly boring bowl of fruit in front of him, but it only held his attention for a moment. When he glanced around the room, there she was, again. She didn't seem to notice him and Roy did his best to stop looking over at her. He hadn't seen her before that morning, he was sure of that much. He coaxed himself to stop being weird and focused all his attention on that stupid fruit and not where she had come from, or who she was, or why he wanted nothing more than to know that or anything else about her.

Roy packed his things and was out the door within seconds of the class ending. He needed another round of coffee to get him through his last lecture of the day and stopped to grab one for Hughes. He successfully juggled the two cups all the way to their economics room, passing one of them to Maes while he took the chair previously occupied by Hughes' coat.

"There's this new girl." Roy said, by way of a hello. "She's in my Amestrian History class. And my painting class. Well, she has to be new. I'd remember that hair and those legs and...uh, point is she's beautiful and I haven't seen her before, but now she's everywhere. I think I might be hallucinating because I cannot stress how gorgeous she is."

"Blonde? About 5'5? Nothing like your type?"

"You've seen her too?" Roy paused for a moment and narrowed his eyes. "I don't have a 'type'."

Maes scoffed but otherwise ignored him, choosing not to bring up how many of his former flings were brunettes. All of them that he was aware of as a matter of fact and they'd known each other for most of their lives. "Think she's in all your classes." Roy was at a disadvantage, facing away from the door...only Maes could see his accidental tormentor walk in and start down the aisle towards them.

"Wha…" He looked up, black eyes meeting brown and stopping both in their tracks. They seemed startled and she hurried to the front while Roy stared at the space she'd vacated. Maes tapped, then nudged, him in the shoulder to get him to move again.

"Oh, man. You've got it bad." In all the years he'd known him he hadn't seen Roy chase after anyone. Now he was declaring insanity on day one, and acting the part.

This should be interesting…

She'd taken the first train, to the next train, that would get her to Central the fastest and she still felt late. Even though it was located in the capital of the country, the University took up its own part of the city and seemed to be a nearly different world. The buildings looked old, almost regal, and seemed to be far too many to serve such a small school. There were sizable swaths of trees and grass between paved walkways, handfuls of students catching the last sun of the year spread out on towels and laughing in groups. A larger squad sat further ahead and she quickly moved past the frankly alien-level relaxed slackers.

The first building she tried seemed to be correct; it was large, imposing, and everything seemed to be centered around it. She took a deep breath as she opened the door and stepped inside. Her immediate goal was to find the admissions office but she didn't have to look far for help. While there were halls running the length of the place with innumerable doors, the first one to the left had exactly the sign she'd been hunting down.

A young woman looked up from her desk when the door opened, automatically giving her a bright, welcoming smile. "Hi! How can I help you today?" She didn't get a chance to respond, her bag and suitcase giving her away. The woman's smile only grew brighter.

"You must be Riza Hawkeye, welcome to Central University!"

"Thank you." She wasn't really certain what else to say. "I just arrived and I'm not certain who I need to talk to about my schedule and room."

"I'll help you get sorted out. Come on." The smiling woman led her around the desk and handed her a pile of papers. "I'm Rose, by the way." She tossed the introduction over her shoulder, digging through a drawer until she produced a set of keys.

"It's nice to meet you." Rose was almost overwhelmingly nice but Riza recognized that she would need at least a little help and went along with it.

Riza's seriousness took Rose slightly by surprise but she kept on and assumed the new girl was nervous. She gave her a quick tour of the grounds and pointed out where Riza's classes would be. She was concentrating on memorizing the map of the campus. It seemed to radiate out from the center courtyard with class buildings lining the edges. Beyond those were the dorms, shops and cafes staggered through the space left between the campus and the student living.

"...And back there are where some upperclassmen live, though obviously not everyone can stake a claim on a house." A short, stocky red-headed man and a lanky blonde with a cigarette dangling between his lips nearly bumped into them but were engrossed in the story the blonde was telling and the men blew past without looking up.

"So...it doesn't go based on academic achievement?" Her attempt at a joke, something she wasn't accustomed to, seemed to do the job and got the other girl to laugh.

"I'm sure you're aware this is an elite not to mention selective school, believe it or not they probably managed to do just that." Rose started her off towards the dorm she'd be living in, one of the ones closer to campus. Each of the four dorms were built the same-three floors, dark brick exterior, small sitting area and awning out front. They looked nice, if a little old.

Rose walked her through the door and Riza's surprise was clear. "It looks a little dismal from the outside, but as you can see it's way better in here."

The front door opened into a sitting room with staircases set on either side. "There's 8 rooms on each floor and you're in...203." A glance down the first floor was fairly uniform and the second was set out the same.

"I don't know what it was like at your last university, but here the buildings are separated by gender-two for guys and two for girls. You'll need to keep an eye out on curfews and things if someone catches your eye."

Riza was about to say that that wouldn't be a problem, that she was there to get the best education possible and not to hunt for a husband. But Rose had been so nice she just smiled and nodded. "Good to know." Each pale wood door had two girls names on it and a small chalkboard. Most of them had jokes or messages written on them and the one attached to her door simply had a smiling face drawn on, with a nameplate for her next to Rebecca Catalina's.

"I have more work to do, but if you need anything, you can find me in the administrative building." Rose handed over the key and after double checking Riza was fine hurried down the stairs. She loved givings tours and had made herself late, again.

Riza hadn't ever lived anywhere other than her father's home but heard students complain about the housing her old university offered, enough to make her wary to try it. These rooms didn't seem anything like the dingy, cramped spaces she'd heard them whine over, not by a long shot.

There were two twin beds set across from each other in the large room, with enough space for a wardrobe and desk for each as well as a sizable shared bookcase, a table for the phone, and an armchair, still with room to spare. She ducked into a room to the left of the dorm door and found a bathroom, already cluttered with makeup she assumed was her new roommate's. The room itself was plain, bland beige walls and nearly matching carpet with two windows breaking up the monotony. Her side of the room was going to be especially boring compared to the girl who had already moved in. She had pictures and trinkets on her desk, bright blue sheets and stacks of pillows crowding her bed. Riza glanced down at her two bags and back at her side of the room, noting a suspicious package on her bed. She reached towards it gingerly and saw her name on the top, so she elected to open it.

Welcome to Central University, Riza Hawkeye! I wanted to be here to say hi and welcome when you arrived but I won't be able to be back until later so I sent this ahead. Wait for me to drink it! Or don't, I'll get more!

Your loving and fantastic new roommate,

Rebecca! xoxo

She pulled a bottle of champagne out from beneath the colorful paper and smiled. She wasn't much of a drinker but the gesture was more than Riza was used to. She placed it on the bookshelf as her first ever keepsake. She knew she wouldn't be what her roommate probably wanted or expected but hey, maybe she was also quiet and accidentally standoffish.

It wasn't going to take her long to unpack and Riza smiled the entire time. It had been a good day.

He fought as hard as he could, but it wasn't a battle he was going to win. Roy sighed and held his hands up in surrender.

Hughes dropped the pillow he'd been using a weapon directly on his face. "Ok, Roy-Boy, time to get up." It was practically part of their morning routine but Maes never missed the chance to make fun of his life long friend, and after that long life he had plenty of ammunition.

"Jesus, knock it off." He growled and pushed the pillow away so he could properly glare at the sun coming through the curtains. When Roy looked at the clock he groaned. "You're the worst." He could've slept in for at least another...15 minutes. Maybe. If he ran to history.

Which I could definitely do.

"Get moving or you'll miss breakfast." Maes grinned. "I'll only wait so long. Getting you to class is a full time job in itself, and as your best friend it's my duty to do what I can. Which you don't make easy. But you're not keeping me from Gracia and pancakes. Not to mention coffee."

A keyword that never failed to get his attention.

Roy grabbed blindly for clean clothes and matching shoes, running his hand through his hair to try to get it to lay flat and failing as always. Maes led him out of their dorm like a duckling with the knowledge he'd be led to his second favorite vice. "You know school just started. I haven't missed that many classes." His grumble was undercut by childish shuffling.

"Keep telling yourself that." The rest of the group was waiting for them, already assembled at the campus cafeteria with a table's worth of breakfast food. The only thing Roy cared about was caffeine, and after he'd had his first mug and started on a second was feeling something closer to human. He stopped tuning out his friends only to find Hughes gleefully recounting how flustered Roy had been the previous day to a rapt audience of Havoc, Catalina, Gracia, and Breda.

Roy groaned inwardly and decided tuning them out again was for the best. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her sitting by a window and taking notes from one of the textbooks spread out around her. Roy watched her brow furrow as she stopped writing and closed her eyes. Whatever it was it was stressful, but like Hughes had pointed out, they almost had the same schedule. He prayed he wasn't forgetting some test or assignment.

"Hey, Mustang, anyone home?"

"Hm?" Roy looked at the rest of the table, every occupant now focused on him instead of their conversation. Heymans rolled his eyes.

How long have they been watching me? Better question...how long was I watching her?

"You've been staring at that blonde for a creepy amount of time. Is that her?"

Roy cleared his throat, ignoring Breda's question. He hoped the conversation has moved past him but his friends were too observant and he was too obvious….and too entertaining.

"That's her alright, Roy Mustang's mystery blonde."

Rebecca held up her hand to stop him. "Wait. You've been talking about Riza?" She looked at Gracia, both surprised they hadn't figured it out.

All the guys were watching them and waiting for an explanation, Roy most of all.

"My new roommate, the quiet girl you all thought I was going to drive insane and terrify? That's her. I've been trying to get her to eat with us but she's shy." Rebecca held up her hand. "And I have NOT driven her insane." They'd become close quickly as a matter of fact and she had to fight herself not to stick out her tongue like a child.

Gracia nodded in agreement. "Riza's lovely. Quiet, but witty. Kind too. " Both girls hoped she would want to come to meals with the rest of their friends soon, but the guys had slightly larger than life personalities and they weren't going to rush her.

Asking for details was on the tip of his tongue but Roy thought better of it. He had already caught the mischievous glimmer in Maes' eyes and he did not want to stoke that matchmaking fire.

They teased him for a while, the moment a novelty for their normally smooth leader. He did his best to focus on his friends and not the mystery girl-Riza-he corrected himself-but after a few minutes Roy noticed she was gone. Gracia was the only one who saw how his face fell; he composed himself immediately. But there it was. Maes had always half-joked that Roy couldn't get attached to anyone but himself, but Riza could put his theory to the test.

"Alright, it's been fun talking about girls but I have a sociology lecture I'm late for, I'll see you all later." Breda sarcastically saluted the table and met the dwindling crowds of students outside.

"I have to go too. History's across campus." Their team disbanded, vague plans about beer at Havoc and Breda's later that evening fading out while Roy picked up his pace. He had a date to deal with instead of his friends and by the end of the day he was once again running behind.

When he showed up at Catalina's friends dorm, he cursed himself for being stupid enough to fall into one of her traps. One side of the dorm was bright pink, and the other all black. One girl had hair that was tinged blue and the other a garish blonde. He couldn't help but compare it to Riza's, and when she introduced herself, telling him she needed about 45 more minutes, he knew it was going to be a long night.

Didn't have to rush after all… Roy sat cross legged in the hallway and leaned his back against the wall, already exhausted.

The evening did not disappoint. His expectations, at least. He was still trying to figure out if she had any interests outside of a very specific brand of purses and pontificating on why alcohol was the devil's drink.

After he dropped her off at her dorm and got back to his, he called Catalina. She knew this would go badly and he'd agreed to it to try to mend fences. She wasn't even being that mean, for Rebecca. But fuck was it a pain in his ass. He was gearing up to tell her exactly that when Riza answered. He clammed up immediately, slamming the phone into the cradle and disconnecting the call.

Roy groaned as he looked through his bag. He'd tried his damndest to be prepared for class for once and he forgot a pen. Hopefully no one would notice him, he'd already snuck in the back after the lecture started and was testing his luck.

He didn't expect her to be even later than him. Unlike Roy, she didn't go unnoticed.

"Nice of you to join us, Miss Hawkeye." Riza met Professor Armstrong's glare evenly but hurried to one of the last empty seats.

Is she not afraid of Armstrong? She hasn't been here that long.

It was obvious she wasn't one to be intimidated, either. Roy tried to hide his smile and failed as her search for an empty seat landed her right next to him. Rebecca claimed to not have had any luck getting her to join them at meals so he hadn't learned any more about her in the past few days. But Riza had no idea who he was and he prayed he had been spared from Catalina's storytelling so far.

Riza was rummaging through her own bag, sighing in defeat as she produced a notebook but nothing to write with. She rubbed her temples, obviously in the middle of a difficult day.

"If you need a pencil, there's two in your hair." He whispered, staring ahead but shifting his eyes slightly to the left to see if she heard him.

She reached up and removed each of them, the bun they'd been holding together coming apart when she did. She handed him the extra pencil, noticing he was in the same predicament the moment she sat down.

"Thank…". He had wondered about it before but her long golden hair somehow made her even more beautiful and he could only stammer out a . "..thanks." She was already taking notes and not paying him any mind.

Though if he was paying more attention himself he would have noticed the occasional glances she stole from the corner of her eye. She'd been wondering who he was since her first day but hadn't been able to find out anything with her limited connections and hesitancy to tell Rebecca anything she'd consider 'exciting'.

"Hughes!" Roy jogged to close the distance between them and tapped his best friend on the shoulder, nearly tripping on a break in the sidewalk. Maes pulled his nose out of the book he was skimming and stopped to let Roy catch up.

"She sat next to me today." He fell into stride next to Hughes, who gave up studying and jammed the book into his bag.

"Did you actually talk to her?"

Roy sighed. "Well, I managed to... mostly say thanks when she lent me a pencil…" Maes rolled his eyes. He had no idea how to go about handling a lovesick Roy.

"How is it that the famous Roy Mustang doesn't have the balls to chat a girl up?"

It was a good question, something he'd been trying to find the answer himself. "There's just something about her, I don't know." He had never had a problem like this..if he was interested and approached a girl, he found no trouble being witty and/or charming. Most of the time he was the one approached. But he'd never choked as badly as he did in class, or when he tried calling Catalina, or in the cafeteria...

"Speaking of things you don't know, you didn't forget about the test in Economics, right?" Roy opened his mouth but didn't make a sound. That's why Maes had been trying to read and walk at the same time.

"How am I never prepared for this shit?" He had absolutely no recollection of Professor Falman saying anything about a quiz.

"Because you're staring into space daydreaming about world domination, or lately, daydreaming about Rebecca's roommate" He paused. "When you show up. Ya'know Roy, why do you even come to class at all?"

"Attendance credit. That 15% saved my ass last year."

"Mmhm. That and charming half the tutors into doing a staggering amount of work for you."

"Might as well use what I have."

Since he was running on Maes' schedule instead of his own, they were a few of the first to the classroom. She was already there, closer to the front of the class than Roy had ever been. Maes grinned like a madman and grabbed the strap of Roy's bag, pulling him the length of the room and sitting down in front of her. They were directly facing the podium and he was grateful it wasn't a lecture day. Professor Falman didn't yell like Armstrong but his disapproval was silent, vaguely parental, and therefore much worse.

Maes turned around, the movement getting her attention. "Hi there!" His excessively friendly demeanor caught her off guard and Riza looked up from her book with a small start.

"Hello." She wasn't sure why the guy decided to talk to her but he was awfully enthusiastic. She recognized his friend, though.

"I'm Maes and this is Roy. You're new, right?" Maes had no idea if he should mention they already knew who she was but ended up deciding to play dumb.

"Yes, I transferred in last week. Nice to meet you. I'm Riza." She wasn't good at small talk, or much talk at all. But now she knew the boy with the messy black hairs name, so that made the discomfort almost worth it. "Are you ready for the test?'

"You have to take it?" Roy blurted it out without thinking. It didn't seem fair, she'd missed more classes than even he had.

"Professor Falman offered to let me take it later but I'd prefer not to fall behind. Besides, I took pretty much the same class last year. I'm more worried about that Amestrian History exam we have tomorrow."

"Ya know, history's Roy's best subject." Maes interjected. "Pretty sure his help is the only way I managed passing last year."

You're full of shit, Hughes, but thanks all the same.

He silently urged Roy to keep talking. If he didn't, he was going to beat the hell out of him later.

"I'm a lost cause here but if you want help with history...it's always been one of my favourites." At least that was the truth.

"Lost cause?" She was surprised, he was always joining in class discussions and seemed to know what he was talking about.

"If I get above a 40% on this you'll see me dancing across campus."

"I can help with that. The classwork, not the dancing, you don't want my help with that one." She smiled a little and Roy did the same.

"Perfect! And that gives me an excuse to bail on ya without feeling bad, I have a birthday present to plan." Roy stopped himself from pointing out he had plenty of time until Gracia's birthday but since it was Hughes, he couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or setting him up.

"I don't know what your plans are after this but this is my last class of the day. If you'd want to get coffee or something we can study for tomorrow…" He was staring holes in the desk between them with Riza turning a little pink at the same time. Maes watched, his amusement barely contained. Roy Mustang was painfully, obviously nervous in front of a girl...he couldn't wait to tell the others. They'd lose it.

"This is my last one too. I don't know the area well enough to make recommendations but I saw somewhere nearby that looked like they had good coffee."

By then the rest of the class had trickled in, as had the professor. "I'll wait for you outside when I'm done flunking this." Roy smiled at Riza, who did the same.

"Good luck, Roy." He strangled out the same before spinning quickly around to the front. Only Maes and Professor Falman saw the shade of red his face became. He had been doing fine but the way she said his name sounded...nice.

Roy noticed a small note on the side of his desk as the test papers were passed around. He opened it and it was covered in a too familiar scrawl. "You're welcome, now man up and ask her on a real date." Roy quickly crumpled the note, stuffing it in his jacket pocket and glaring at Maes, the look intensifying at the sight of his best friend's jaunty grin.

Roy, having left a not insignificant portion of the test blank and answered one of the essay questions with his thoughts on the weather had time to kill once he handed in the damned pieces of paper. He sat outside the building, perched on a low wall scribbling in a notebook when the majority of the students funneled out. Maes waved a goodbye to Riza as she hesitantly approached an oblivious Roy.

"That was quick." He snapped his head up at the sound of her voice and shut the journal.

"Yeah...like I said, I'm fairly without hope." He shoved the notebook in his bag and stood up, gracefully sliding the books out from under Riza's arm and tucking them in his own in nearly the same motion. "However, I'm going to make sure you don't meet the same fate. Ready to go?"

Riza blinked when her books disappeared but nodded. "Lead the way."

"So that was the border war in...1710?" Riza leaned over the map at the center of the table with a frown.

"No, that was here." Roy moved a shaker of salt over to the West to demonstrate.

Riza's frown deepened. "Amestris has literally never been at peace.." No wonder she never did well in the subject. Each battle, massacre, or war ran into the next with no breaks for hundreds of years and the same basic formula somehow appeared in each. She glanced at Roy, who was gazing down at where he was pointing and chewing on his pencil.

"Yeah."

"You don't seem too happy about it."

Roy tucked the pencil behind his ear. "Should I be?"

"Well, you said this was your favourite subject." Riza pointed out, taking a sip of tea. "Seems like you would at least find it interesting."

Roy shook his head. "Not because of that. I plan to run this country one day. Have to learn from the mistakes of the past." He tapped the map. "There are a lot of them."

He wasn't expecting Riza to laugh, though, like most of what she did, it was quiet and somehow thoughtful. "You're really going to have to brush up on Economics if you plan on being Fuhrer."

"Well, then, I was lucky to meet you." Roy didn't even register he'd blurted out his big, have-to-keep-quiet-or-else life plan to what was essentially a stranger. They could probably get him on treason just based on that. He shrugged it off, having a feeling she was trustworthy and got back to work.

He retrieved his pencil and spun the map of Amestris to face him, jotting notes directly on it. Before she asked what he was doing he gestured to her notebook. "I'm more or less a visual type of person than anything else, this is how I learned the wheres and whens. If I just took notes I would never have processed anything. So here-" He proceeded to draw lines, mark spots on the map, dates, notes, everything she'd need for the portion of the test she wasn't sure of. He explained his process while he did and when he had finally put the latest Amestrian conquest on the map, she felt her headache start to ease up.

She was comparing his notes to hers but quickly discarded those in favour of Roy's. They poured over the map until they were politely informed the shop was closing. "That made...a lot of sense. Can I keep this?"

Roy folded it up and handed it to her. "Of course, I made it for you in the first place. I'll need to add to that before the midterm though." He stood up, annoyed at the cafe for closing so early. He tossed his bag over his shoulder before grabbing his jacket in one hand and Riza's books in the other. He was compensating for being tongue tied around her with chivalry...if he couldn't say anything, he at least wanted to do something.

I need help.

"Drawing on a map is easy, but economics is glorified paperwork. Good luck helping me." Roy was only half joking. He had been resigning himself to taking the course again since the second day.

They were walking without a destination, and while he was more than happy wandering campus together, she looked tired and it looked like rain. "What dorm are you in? I'm in Johnson." And he was glad it wasn't far. Clouds had been forming all day and he hated rain more than anything. Now that they were outside, it was clear it was only a matter of time.

"Tyler." About a block closer and directly in their path.

"I can walk with you, that's on my way. If you want." He started to stumble but stopped when she nodded.

"Company would be nice."

They continued in comfortable silence until he felt something fall on the top on his head. Followed quickly by another something, and in an instant the sky opened up above them.

Riza gasped when the cold water hit her skin and Roy threw his jacket over her shoulders, sprinting to the front door of her dorm. There wasn't much to protect them from the downpour, so he handed her her stack of books and smiled before running towards his own building. He turned and ran backward for a moment, waving to her.

"See you tomorrow Riza."

He was out of earshot so she felt comfortable enough to respond. "See you, Roy. I look forward to it."

Maes didn't move a muscle when Roy burst into the room, shivering and slamming the door.

"Careful, it looks like it's really coming down out there." Roy grabbed a towel off his hook in the bathroom and started to dry his hair even with water pooling at his feet.

"Nope. You know what? Can't be mad at you right now." He paused. "Not that you should push it."

"Can't be annoyed at me? That must have been good coffee."

"I didn't say annoyed." Roy reached and pulled a brand new, yet thoroughly chewed on, pencil from his bag.

"She lent this to me." He sighed unhappily and went rifling through his desk for one to give her to replace it. He froze in place, patting the pockets of his pants and turning them inside out. He watched his wallet drop to the ground but not what he was looking for.

"Maes...that note you wrote me. I put it in my pocket." Hughes didn't look up from his novel.

"And? DID you ask her?" When Maes didn't get an answer he finally paid attention to the very, very flustered Roy before him.

"No, but I left her my jacket, with that in the pocket." After a beat of silence Maes started to laugh.

"That's even better, you can't chicken out now, she'll know. You're welcome, again."

Roy flopped down on his bed. "I don't know what I'm doing, Hughes. Help me navigate being as awkward as you." That got the laughter to stop but just barely.

"Look, I know you're out of your depth here but no turning back now. Like it or not, you'll have to get that coat back at some point. Maybe she won't look through the pockets." He'd seen her tuck the map into one when the rain started so that was unlikely. Still, he could hope.

By the time Riza got out of the shower Rebecca was ready to pounce. She had a piece of paper between her fingers, something Riza hadn't spotted before she'd gone into the bathroom. She assumed it had fallen out of Roy's jacket but didn't have a guess as to why Rebecca was so excited about it.

"What is it? You look like you're up to something." Being roommates with such an extrovert should have been much more exhausting. But the quieter girl had worked to adjust and the louder tried to temper herself so they could meet in the middle. A few more bottles of champagne had been added to the shelf, which helped at the beginning, but was quickly unnecessary.

"Really though. Why are you smiling like that? It's unnerving."

Rebecca, not letting go of the note, slid to the foot of her bed and right next to Riza. "This coat wouldn't happen to belong to one Roy Mustang, would it?" She took her silence as confirmation.

Riza had had enough teasing and snatched the paper out of Rebecca's hand. She had to know what had her roommate acting like a crazy...crazier... person.

"You're welcome, man up and ask her on a real date."

She folded it back up and put it back in Roy's jacket. "You have no idea that that's about me. Speaking of, you seem to have a habit of going through people's things." The tone was neutral but her clothes had started disappearing and reappearing on a regular basis and at varying levels of cleanliness. The small shopping spree she'd gone on with Rebecca and Gracia after she'd arrived had tripled her wardrobe (not that she'd come with much of one), a haul all of them found slightly astonishing. Someone like Riza could wear anything and yet she automatically vetoed most tops and dresses, turning the outing into an endurance contest.

"Hey, your blue dress was all Gracia. But she and Maes look so cute together, I didn't think you'd mind."

The names finally clicked and Riza nodded. "I met him earlier, I think he's Roy's roommate. He's nice. And I don't mind but I'd like that blouse back at some point.." Riza raised an eyebrow at Rebecca's stolen top. She was already on a completely different page though and Riza could see ownership of the shirt slowly drift away.

"When you mentioned a guy in your class I didn't think it would be Mustang...until he started talking about you too."

Riza stopped drying her hair, pausing with the towel still wrapped around the ends. "Talking about me? Why was he doing that?"

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Well, look at you, for one. According to Maes he's been pining after you since like, the second you got here." Riza watched her expression change, obviously a side effect of whatever unpleasant memory had come to Rebecca. And probably why she hadn't said anything about Roy yet.

"You don't seem very fond of him." Her beef with Mustang wavered in intensity and was definitely waning. But she'd never been a fan of how much he could and did get away with. And recruiting Jean and the rest of them to be part of his 'team' pissed her off to no end. Her parent's disappointment after everything was just the cherry on top.

"Word just...gets around, as does he..." Rebecca stopped before the inevitable rant about nearly getting them all kicked out or his questionable past with women. He was still a friend of hers, they sort of had to be; they had all the same friends. And it wasn't like Mustang had NO redeeming qualities.

However. Riza was much to far out of his league and Rebecca hoped he recognized it.

Was the cute, awkward Roy Riza had spent the afternoon with an act? It certainly hadn't seemed that way, but then again, she wasn't well versed in socialization.

"Well he's handsome, I'm not surprised. And now I know that note's not about me." She sounded triumphant but didn't feel it. She was still confused about the man her roommate was talking about and the one she'd spent the afternoon with but they seemed to be the same person.

When Rebecca was sure Riza was asleep, she dug through the pockets and on the opposite side, she left her own message. Mustang loved that stupid coat like it was some kind of childhood stuffed animal and wore it year round, including the dead of summer. He didn't lend this thing out lightly, or, as far as she could remember, ever.

"She's quiet but she'll say yes. Do a single thing to her and it's the last thing you do, Mustang." -R.C.