06172018 hanahaki
a/n A TOTALLY PLANNED COLLAB with my favorite @b-griveros for royaiweek! The known hanahaki disease au because we all know royai + angst is just *italian chef kiss* Hope you enjoy!
Riza Hawkeye’s fingers curve around her throat, clutching it as she coughs erratically. Her eyes feel one strain away from popping out of their sockets and her fingernails dig into the bark of the tree, holding herself up as she gasped for breath.
She regains the ability to breathe freely when a single lily petal sits prettily in center of her palm. It’s fragile and dainty - the shade of a girl’s blush. It looks like something that could have grown in her mother’s garden were it still alive.
Behind her, the grass blades shift, warning her of the approaching apprentice. Her fist closes swiftly and her heart turns into a thrashing animal, beating against its cage at the sight of him. She had left him, abandoned him in the middle of their walk her family’s acres, and escaped when the uncomfortable rattling started in her chest. Blushing, Riza knows it erupted from an innocent comment, a compliment about the color of her dress. How it suited her that summer day.
She doesn’t have to wonder why she encased a crush petal in her hand, blossoming from something he isn’t returning. Roy Mustang talks to her even though she’s quiet. He listens to her for she has words to say, and grows closer as her friend by the day despite her endeavors to avoid him.
He asks if she was okay.He looks so concerned she could melt where she stood or disappear like caught dandelion in the wind, leaving behind only her dress.
Riza doesn’t need feelings for her father’s apprentice, but she has them.
