Author Note: For an anon request on Tumblr to have a hurt, stubborn Roy being tended to by Riza. After the fight with Lust, he's got more important things to do than stick around and heal up.
The title of this is definitely because of the Bon Jovi song and I find it fitting. I also picture Roy singing it in the shower and that makes me giggle. Chapter titles from the song, and chapters pretty much because of the title. This was supposed to be a one-shot. However...three chapters to this one.
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or song lyrics.
Blaze of Glory
Chapter 1
A six gun lover; A candle in the wind
Roy closed his eyes as he sat in a chair beside Havoc's bed in their hospital room. He was struggling, avoiding going back to his own bed, trying to convince himself that he had to quit being such a baby and deal with the pain. His side was still on fire as the aftermath of the burn seemed so much worse than the initial act. It was blistering, skin sloughing off, oozing and generally making it impossible to get comfortable or even move without aggravating the injured flesh. Still, he was determined get out of here soon to find a way to help Havoc regain the use of his legs. In order to do that he had to convince his doctor to sign the release forms and send him back home. However, he felt warm and could feel the thin layer of sweat on his clammy skin and was pretty sure he had a fever. That was going to make it more difficult to escape the hospital.
Havoc sighed. "Hey Chief, you look like you're going to fall over. Why don't you just go back to bed? It's not like I'm going to get up and walk out of here if you're not watching me."
Roy opened his eyes and sat up straight. He winced as his bandage grabbed at some burned skin. "Not funny."
"Neither is the threat of that manly nurse coming back in here and offering to take your temperature rectally." Havoc snorted.
Roy groaned. Wasn't that the truth! Of all the nurses available the one assigned to them was a huge woman with man hands and rock hard breasts that bruised anything they touched. The one time he was in the hospital and could probably qualify for a sponge bath was the time he got the most unattractive woman on the staff, one that looked like Alex Armstrong in drag. "She makes sure to poke me with those mammary mountains of hers every chance she gets. I never knew I could be so turned off by breasts since I discovered Major Armstrong liked to rip his clothes off for no reason."
Havoc chuckled as the door opened and Hawkeye entered with coffee and cigarettes. His grin broadened. "You're an angel, Hawkeye!"
Riza tossed the box of cigarettes at him and pulled a lighter out of her pocket. "Now, you keep this away from the Colonel. I don't need to hear about him chasing that nurse out of here with fire because she molested him with her chest again."
Roy looked up at her as she handed him the coffee. "Lieutenant, she's sexually harassing me. I demand you stay by my side and perform your duty as my bodyguard and shoot that woman next time she tries to touch me."
"Are you feeling Ok, sir? I never expected you to ask me to keep a woman away from you." Riza asked mockingly and emphasized her point by putting her hand on his forehead to check his temperature. Her smile faded and was immediately replaced with a look of concern. "Sir, you're burning up."
"Yeah, yeah." He muttered and drank some of his contraband coffee. "I'm hot. I know. It's rough being this ridiculously sexy. It's about time you noticed."
Havoc shook his head and was about to light a cigarette when he noticed Riza turn and pick up a thermometer. "Make sure that's not Nurse Man Hand's rectal thermometer. Unless you kids are finally making something of that sexual tension..."
Riza shot him a glare as the comment made Mustang go tense and put on his stubborn ass scowl. She stood in front of him as he looked up at her defiantly and opted to just destroy his determination by saying something he could misinterpret, "Sir, I'm giving you the oral..."
Roy's eyebrows raised and his mouth opened to say the instant lewd comeback his mind sent past his mental filters, but she stuck the thermometer in his mouth as he stepped into her trap. He gave her a pouty frown.
"You have a fever." She said. "Something I can't tell you without evidence because you're a pain in the ass scientist who wants to debate everything. So, once I prove to you that you have a fever, you are going to get back to bed. You are also going to stop trying to leave before you're healed and quit complaining about the nurse touching you!"
"Get him a hotter nurse." Havoc lit his cigarette and inhaled deeply. "Even if she's just a stripper."
She ignored him and looked at her watch then down at Roy who was eyeing the thermometer. She knew he was thinking about it's composition in case he would find himself in need of mercury or glass at some point to defend himself against the nurse and her unwanted affections. She was glad he was back to himself so quickly after the battle with Lust that almost took his life, but she could do without him being an obstinate idiot right now.
"Why aren't you taking my temperature?" Havoc asked playfully and saw Roy's eyes light up with that jealous fire. Riza missed it entirely. These two were hopeless!
Riza glanced at her watch again as Roy played with the glass rod in his mouth as he typically played with a pen in the office. "Well the only thermometer left is that...'other' one. Want me to call in the nurse?"
Roy smirked as she took the thermometer out of his mouth. "Go ahead Havoc, I dare you. I bet she considers that first base."
Riza sighed and caught the reflection and saw the reading. Then she looked down at her supervisor who looked like a stubborn child about ready to throw a fit. "You need to get back to bed."
"You're not my doctor." Roy snapped at her. "I don't have time for precautions. I have work to do."
"Sir, your injuries..."
"Didn't stop me from walking down a damned dark corridor to finish off Lust, did they?" Roy grabbed the thermometer and threw it at the trash can. It fell to the floor and broke.
Havoc giggled. "Now you broke it. Our favorite nurse is going to be excited to take your reading. Close the curtain please, I don't want to see your discomfort when she does."
"Asshole."
"Yeah, just figured out what rectal means, huh?" Havoc fired back.
Riza turned and left, determined to go get a doctor to either drug him senseless or talk some sense into him. What the hell happened to the man who was lying on the ground in those tunnels clinging to life? What happened to the man who looked up at her with adoring eyes and asked her if she was hurt despite being cut, burned and on the verge of passing out? Who was he being strong for when both she and Havoc were begging him to just heal?
Roy snorted and tried to stand but felt a little dizzy. Maybe they were right, maybe he was pushing himself too much. He set his precious coffee down on the nightstand before attempting to stand up, last thing he wanted to do was spill the Nectar of the Gods on this dull linoleum floor. He just had to make it six feet to get back to bed before their nurse offered to help. She'd definitely touch him inappropriately while she pressed his defenseless body against her damned boobs. No...he'd get back to bed himself.
"You do look like shit you know." Havoc said and enjoyed his cigarette while he could, knowing Riza was going to be back with some medical staff soon.
"I didn't ask you." Roy mumbled as he leaned onto the bed and groaned. There was no good way to lay down. He was skewered, charred and overcooking from the inside out. He wasn't going to complain, at least he still could walk. Well...kinda.
"Chief, are you going to make it?"
Roy could feel the haze of unconsciousness starting to cloud his mind, his legs began to wobble under him and he grabbed at the sheets as his last resort. They gave way and he crumbled to the floor.
Havoc put out his cigarette and tossed the butt next to Roy as he heard the voices in the hall. The door opened and the nurse they feared entered and stared at him. "The Colonel got up to smoke and passed out." He even coughed a bit to pretend like it bothered him.
Riza and Dr. Jenkins came in as the nurse scooped up Roy like he was a child. Riza noticed that Roy's head found a place right between the woman's breasts before she set him back into the bed. They all looked over at Jean as he started coughing to try and mask his laughter.
"I didn't know the Colonel smoked." Dr. Jenkins flipped open his patient's folder and reread the questionnaire.
"Of course he does!" Havoc cleared his throat as he noticed the nurse lifting up Roy's hospital shirt to check out his seeping and bleeding wound. The woman quickly peeled off the bandage. "I mean, look at him. He looks like a smoked ham."
Riza shook her head as the nurse pulled the curtain shut, then went over to Havoc's side to give them some privacy. She watched him put a new cigarette in his mouth, knowing he just wanted to feel the comfort of it between his lips. She sat down in the chair Roy was previously occupying and listened to what the medical professionals were talking about in hushed tones. They had no reason to tell her anything and Mustang was doing an excellent job hiding everything from her, so eavesdropping was a last resort.
"Sir, what do you think you're doing?" Riza dropped her overcoat as she watched him pull his IV out of his arm.
"Getting the hell out of here." Roy pulled the tape that held the catheter in place and carefully extracted the damned thing from his arm.
"No, you're not!" Riza objected and saw his angry eyes turn on her.
"What? You want me to lay down and quit? Just give up? Sorry, Lieutenant, I think we've already had enough of that from this team for one week." Roy snorted and missed her reaction as he tried to stop the bleeding on his arm with the sheets.
Havoc winced as he saw the look in Hawkeye's eyes. So he chimed in, "Hey! Enough with your cripple jokes!"
"I have work to do." Roy said and threw the catheter to the floor. Havoc knew damned well he wasn't talking about him. "Research. People to find. Anything but sitting around here reading the newspaper."
"Sir..." Riza objected again.
"Lieutenant, either help me or get out of my way." He growled at her. "Where the hell are my clothes?"
Riza bit her lip and saw him wobble as his bare feet hit the ground. "I'll...go get them."
"Thanks."
"Don't be such an ass." Havoc piped up as soon as Riza left. Mustang turned on him.
"Do you understand that time is of the essence? That every second we wait to repair your spinal damage, your nerves and muscles atrophy and die?" Roy hissed.
"Do you realize that if you go stumbling out of here and get yourself killed, that everything we sacrificed for...withers and dies with you?" Havoc shot back.
"I am well aware of the sacrifices everyone has made for me." Roy shifted his eyes to him and taped some gauze to his arm to stop the bleeding. Havoc apparently felt immune to his wrath now, and justifiably so. Guilt was a very powerful emotion to toy with.
"You're just pissed because you didn't realize how much Hawkeye would sacrifice for you." Havoc watched those eyes narrow. Good.
"That is between the Lieutenant and I." Roy growled. "I have enough people trying to kill us, I don't need any of you doing them any favors."
"Especially when she's your Queen." Havoc smiled, it was actually kind of fun to throw things back in Mustang's face. "However you have to remember that the game ends if we lose our King. You. The rest of us are pieces that are supposed to be sacrificed as needed to keep you safe and open up a way for you to advance."
Roy felt dizzy, not sure if it was because of his weakened physical state or the reminder that he had just lost another one of his valuable pieces. A reminder that as much as he wanted to protect them, the enemy was slowly taking them out of play. First Hughes, now Havoc. "That's not how I play my game."
"Hence why Grumman kicks your ass all over the place." Havoc snorted. "It's war, Colonel. Maybe not like you saw in Ishval, but it's war none-the-less. You're going to have casualties."
"Colonel Mustang isn't cleared to leave." The nurse who was the brunt of his jokes was in no way amused by him. In fact she was greatly annoyed by his attitude. She felt like every annoyed grunt, dismissive statement and superior tone was a slight against her profession. He had every right to be cranky, his burn was a very serious wound, but he didn't need to add so much venom to his bite.
Riza swallowed hard. She felt like she was betraying Mustang and knew he would see it that way, however he was going to get himself killed if he left the hospital in this state. "He is trying to leave."
Nurse Amue looked up from her paperwork as the pretty blond officer looked away from her. She was trained to spot subtle tells and knew the woman was trying to get her point across. "Well then, I'm going to have to surprise him with a visit from his doctor and a nice shot of sedative."
Riza nodded.
"But here, sweetie. You go ahead and take that man his clothes so he can do all the work undressing for me. I'm sick of fighting that scrawny man-baby so I can check on his bandages. I'll go find the Doctor." She wished she wasn't professional for just one minute, because it would feel damned good to stab that man with a veterinary needle intended for the wild steed that was his namesake. But alas, that damned professionalism reared it's ugly head.
Roy Mustang was literally caught with his pants down and Havoc couldn't help but explode in laughter. The Colonel tried to escape his favorite nurse, but ended up tripping on his own pants and crashing into the IV stand. He was barely able to stand up without holding on to something, it was a wonder the man even made it past taking of his hospital pants.
"Colonel." Nurse Amue reached down and pulled his pants off his ankles and tossed them onto the chair. "For a military man, you sure do have a problem following orders."
"I don't answer to you." Roy crawled over to the chair and grabbed his pants. He'd just put them on while sitting on the ground.
Riza came in and looked at him sitting there in his bloody white shirt and boxers. Then she winced as he whipped his pants at the Nurse as she grab them out of his weak grasp and slapped him in the face with them.
"We should transfer you to pediatrics." Amue mumbled. "I'm not here to babysit children."
Havoc laughed again.
Roy tried to scramble away from her, but the nurse was a imposing woman who actually reminded everyone of a female Alex Armstrong even if nobody wanted to admit that. No, it was bad enough that looking at her conjured that image, it was best not to vocalize that thought while she was the one tending to their care. It was a silent pact he and Havoc made the first day, and the joking that ensued was a way to cover their discomfort. Right now, however, Roy Mustang cringed in the shadow of the huge nurse and squeaked when he realized he was looking up her skirt.
"Colonel Mustang," Nurse Amue began and put her hands on her hips as the little man cowered in the corner, shutting his eyes and whimpering. Ugh, she hated when her big sister was right, this man was just a spineless cocky little shit. "Let me make it perfectly clear to you right now that your care for your body is a disgrace! Do you understand the beauty of the human form? Do you understand that your body only asks for you to provide minimal care while it slaves away for you and you just batter and abuse it with no regard whatsoever for your well being?"
Havoc ceased his laughing and his mouth dropped open. No way...
"Apparently you don't." She sighed and shook her head. "Now my job, Colonel, is to ensure that I take care of your damaged body not your ridiculous ego. The human body is a magnificent biological machine, so many systems working flawlessly together to provide you with this life you take for granted."
Roy clamped his eyes shut. This couldn't be happening. No! Armstrong's sister was NOT his nurse! Oh God, what if she takes her shirt off too? Oh God, what if her boobs are exposed? What if Strong Arm alchemy was Alex's specialty and this woman had Strong Boob alchemy? No, No NO!
Riza saw a small sparkle and cocked her head in disbelief. Sure, the woman looked like a girl Armstrong but it was just a coincidence, right? Olivier and Catherine looked nothing like Alex.
"Appreciation of the human body has been passed down in the Armstrong family for generations!" Amue Armstrong, second eldest child in the prestigious Armstrong family bellowed. "And if I need to have my little brother come in here and show you how glorious the human form is to remind you to take care of yourself, I will. Not that you can even come close to his glorious muscular form, not even with those surprisingly defined abs of yours."
Havoc shuddered. Why? Why of all the Armstrong women did this one have to be their nurse? Where was cute little Catherine?
Dr. Jenkins returned and watched the show from the doorway. "As happy as I am that you are so eager to go back to work and show me what my tax dollars are paying for, I would prefer you do so next week. I don't want to answer to the Fuhrer himself as to why I couldn't keep one of his prized alchemists alive."
Roy's eyes opened as the sound of someone new gave him hope that this woman had a supervisor she obeyed. He looked up at the doctor and in that split second, the nurse stabbed him in the arm with a needle. She was quick, or he was too damned slow, because as he looked at her she already finished injecting him and was standing up with a glint of satisfaction in her eye. Or was that a sparkle?
"That being said," The doctor said with a smile. "I have no problems sedating you for the duration of your stay. So unless you want to lose another day of work, Colonel, I hope the next time I pay you a visit I can have some good news to report instead of informing you this stunt probably added more time to your stay."
Roy glanced at Riza as she handed him a folder. "Interesting timing the other day, how the staff knew to come in here just as I was ready to leave. With sedatives, no less."
Riza knew he could read her, even when he was half paying half attention to what was going on. So when he was a mere foot from her and scrutinizing every move of her body to see how she reacted, she knew it was pointless to lie.
"I thought so."
She flinched as he pulled the file from her hands and sat it on his lap. "I'm not going to watch you kill yourself by leaving too soon."
Havoc continued to enjoy his cigarette. "Don't be such a bitch, Roy. You couldn't even get your pants on."
"I didn't ask for your opinion, Havoc." Roy snapped. Perhaps he should request a private room.
"I don't care, you're planning on being an asshole and it's not fair to her." Havoc gave him a smile. "Don't like it? Fire me."
Roy glared at him and watched him grin.
"Oh wait, you already did! You cooked me medium well." Havoc chuckled.
"Yes, let's reflect on our encounter with Lust shall we?" Roy snapped his head back to Riza. "If I have to work from my hospital bed, I guess we'll just have to clear the first thing off my list right now."
"Roy..." Havoc wondered how this ass could be a friend of his. How the hell did that happen when he was always such a jerk?
"Shut it Jean." Roy hissed. "I tried to do this privately but someone stabbed me in the back yesterday and had me sedated."
"Oh? So that's why you took off your pants?" Havoc refused to lay off. Riza was standing against the wall practically chewing her lip off and he wasn't going to see pissy Mustang lash out at her. "To go off and have a private conversation with Hawkeye? No wonder you can't get together with her! She's tired of doing all the work for you in the office, I think she deserves better than that in the bedroom."
Roy started to doodle on his folder. How was this ass his friend? "No, in fact I was going to address a concern that I have about someone falling for a juvenile trick."
"Oh for shit's sake." Havoc threw his cigarette at him before the man could complete the transmutation circle he was drawing. He had been a victim of Roy's amusing abuse of his flame alchemy one too many times to not see what he was planning. "Lust thought you were dead! You probably thought so too!"
"It doesn't matter!" Roy hollered and brushed the damned smoldering cancer stick off his bed. "I didn't give up did I? I didn't just say, 'well the hell with it if you say so, you lying, evil bitch.' I mean, let me just give up and quit right here? Why go on?"
"You know what? If that's all you see Roy..then you deserve to die alone." Jean snorted and rolled his eyes when Mustang threw the folder at him.
"Fuck you, Jean."
"Kiss my crippled ass, Roy!"
At this point Riza would usually step in but she really wasn't all that interested in him turning his wrath on her. Roy was like a wounded animal when he was vulnerable, something that was never present in his youth. No, this was no longer the boy who shrieked in laughter as she accidentally tickled him when pulling a splinter out of his foot. Here was the man whose burden of command weighed on him and forced him to use any means necessary to remain the Colonel they all counted on; The stalwart hero, the man who mastered the most deadly form of alchemy, the confident commander. They were all fixed on him like travelers on the North Star and his injury left them all shaken. If it was bad before the incident with Lust, it was going to get so much worse from here. He didn't consider what would happen to his supporters if he died and that would now be an ever present thought in that overactive mind of his from here on out. How Havoc was crippled and how she gave up on her will to live without him. So now, he was going to grow all the more intolerable when someone tried to step in and threaten his ability to protect and lead the people he cared for. Even if that someone was his own body or his Lieutenant. Especially since he hated that her weakness was him. So she kept her mouth shut because the last thing they needed was to have this argument in front of Havoc.
"I'm trying to get out of here to fix your crippled ass!" Roy shouted back.
"As bad as you look, I think I'd get farther in my wheelchair and teaching myself alchemy along the way. You look like death warmed over and you aren't doing me or anyone any favors by breaking out of here." Havoc frisbeed the folder back at him, papers already strewn all over the ground.
"Well sitting here and filing out my report on how my Lieutenants almost died isn't helping anyone either!" Roy spat.
"Wah, Wah!" Jean wailed.
"Shut up."
"Make me."
"What the hell is going on in here!?" Nurse Amue walked in with her hands on her hips. "You woke up the entire floor with your childish arguing."
"This is how we work!" Roy hollered. "So if you have a problem with it, discharge me!"
Riza went home to shower after Roy was dosed with yet another round of sedatives for his outburst. Jean tried to tell her it was because Roy was an idiot and had no idea how to cope with the fact that he almost lost her. She told him to quit making everything about a mythical romance brewing between his superiors and get some rest.
"Riz, the guy wakes up panicked and calling out for you."
"For me? Or his Lieutenant."
"Don't play games with me. That man calls me Havoc. Lieutenant rolls of his tongue for you like it's some secret pet name doused in some sex sauce."
"Sex sauce?"
Havoc held up his magazine."Breda brings me reading material. Apparently he thinks giving me porn will help my third leg spring into action and save me from a wheelchair. No surprise, but he clearly digs the idea of eating things of naked chicks."
More information than she cared to know about Breda, however it gave her the excuse to leave. She sincerely doubted the Colonel was upset about her near death experience. She gave up and he didn't. He fought on half-dead and she sat there without a scratch and just cried. Whatever he wanted to yell at her about, she deserved.
Unfortunately when she got back to the hospital, he was already gone. She raced out of the building, thanking God that he didn't drive himself there. Roy's driving skills and his injury would have not only left him dead, but probably half of the city as well. He most likely called a cab and went home. Some days she hated that he was so driven and stubborn! It may very well be why she supported him but there were times when the situation called for him to be undeniably selfish and he ignored it.
So now it was time for compromise. If he wouldn't stay in the hospital, then she'd just have to take care of him at his home. He was doing more harm to himself trying to escape than the doctors could continually repair. So, let him have his way. Stubborn bastard.