8. "I came here to kick ass and chew gum… and I'm all out of gum."
It was the laughter that alerted the nurses that their patients had visitors over. Visitors weren't an uncommon thing while patients were interned under the hospital's care, but usually visitors kept their conversations and overall demeanor subdued in consideration for the other patients. It was policy for the volume to be kept low to allow other patients to rest as they healed.
But the staff didn't have the heart to tell those laughing to tone down their volume. Nor the energy with the steady stream of soldiers and civilians that were coming through the doors after the events of what was being called "the Promised Day" by some of the soldiers coming through the doors.
But things had finally leveled off and the hospital wasn't being inundated with patients every five minutes, even if they were still as busy with the patients under their care. So when they heard the loud laughter coming from Colonel Mustang and his subordinate's room, they only shifted the materials in their arms and continued their walk past.
"Are you kidding me? You really said that?" Jean Havoc said through his chortle. He was leaning heavily to one side of his wheelchair, attempting to catch his breath.
Mustang never had the chance to answer before the ex-Fullmetal Alchemist opened his mouth.
"He did. We were fighting to keep our faces from being chewed off by the mannequins, and he comes waltzing in there, and spouts of one-liners. I didn't think it was possible for him to be any more dramatic than what I thought he was."
Roy folded his arms across his chest and glared sightlessly at the visitors in his room. Havoc had arrived on the train that morning for the potential to see if Marcoh's philosopher's stone would be able to heal the paralysis of his lower body. Of course, that reason for his visit was kept mum from everyone else. All anyone else could tell was an old friend had come to see his buddy after he was hospitalized. Roy had visited multiple times when Havoc was in the Central Hospital, before he traveled back home with his family.
Edward's visit had surprised them. He had come waltzing in with an update of how Al was managing being back in his own body again, then just never left.
He hadn't objected to their presence at first, Hawkeye was out of the room having a few more tests conducted to determine the soonest when she would be able to leave the hospital, and the isolation of the room was beginning to smother him. Their presence distracted him until Hawkeye could make it back to his side.
Havoc laughed again. Even if it came at his expense, Roy was glad to hear it.
"You don't know the half of it. I once caught him making up one-liners in the showers one day after a take-down. It seems he hadn't been able to come up with something witty on the spot and couldn't afford to let that happen again. I think my favorite one was, 'I came here to kick ass and chew gum...and I'm all out of gum.'"
Havoc's offering sent Edward into a gale of laughter and Roy was desperately wishing for Riza to be finished with her tests and come back to rescue him. Or perhaps Marcoh with the philosopher's stone. Then there would be a reason to boot Edward from his room and separate the two of them.
"But my favorite thing is when we catch him trying out pick-up lines when he's supposed to be working," Havoc continued, obviously not caring that Roy was on the bed near them. "Especially when Hawkeye comes in and attempts to get him to get back to work."
"Please tell me that he attempted those lines on her," Edward snorted.
Roy neglected to point out that he was still in the room. He didn't need their taunting to start being directed at him, rather than just about him. Where was Riza when she needed to save him?
"I wish. His mouth seemed to snap shut whenever she looked at him. Always made this funny croaking noise though."
Roy couldn't take it any longer. His mouth opened and the words escaped him before he really finished formulating any defense on his part. Leaving him to sound as petulant as a child about to throw a tantrum.
"I do not!"
The room suddenly became very quiet and Roy could only assume, that after finally reasserting himself as in the room, Havoc and Edward turned their attention to the man blinded on the bed. He stared blankly at the space where he had been hearing their voices come from. Oh, how he wished he had his sight so he could properly glare at them.
"Is there something going on here that I should be aware of?"
Roy swallowed air as he attempted to greet Riza as she re-entered the hospital room. The only sound that managed to escape was a low croak from deep in his throat. Which dissolved into a hacking cough that nearly covered the snickers of the other two men in the room.
"Nothing, Lieutenant. Colonel Mustang was just demonstrating to us here how he woos women to fall for his charms," Havoc said.
Edward didn't bother to hold back his snickering anymore, and it grew to full laughter.
"I see." Riza's voice was still somewhat hoarse and raspy from her injuries on the Promised Day. The doctors and nurses had wanted her to refrain from as much speaking as possible until most of the damage done to her throat had healed.
"If you gentlemen could give us a moment or two, there's something that I need to discuss with the Colonel privately."
Roy could feel her gaze being directed towards him. It wasn't something that he could be absolutely positive of, being as he couldn't see her looking at him, but more of a feeling he had developed after years of working together side by side. He always knew when Riza was looking at him. He just wished he knew if the look she was giving him was something he should be worried about or not.
Judging by the haste Havoc and Edward were employing to vacate the room, perhaps he should be a little concerned.
"Right away then Lieutenant." Havoc's voice was cheeky. "C'mon, chief. I'm sure the Lieutenant has important business to discuss."
There was no mistaking the innuendo laced through Havoc's voice. There was also no mistaking the soft thud and small exclamation of pain as Riza's fist connected with the ex-officer as he made his way out of the small room. Roy heard some whispering between those that were vacating the premises, but the words were too indistinct to determine what they were gossiping about.
Roy waited silently as Riza slowly walked through the room to sit on her bed across from him. The nurses and doctors insisted that she ride in a wheelchair due to her injuries, but the longer she was confined in the hospital, the more stubborn she was about using her own two feet before she forgot how to walk. She knew they were worried about her body coping with the blood loss, but she brushed it aside. As she did as often as she was sick or injured.
It was only when she reached out and rested a hand on his knee that Roy spoke.
"What did the doctors say?"
"Everything seems to be healing correctly. They're optimistic that I'll be able to leave in the next few days or so."
While hearing that alone made Roy want to sink into his bed in relief—he had been worried about how the delayed medical treatment on the Promised Day would affect her recovery—he knew there was more that she wasn't telling.
"How long do they want you to recover at home after that?"
There was a small flinch in Riza's hand. She wanted to jerk her hand away and draw in on herself, a defensive measure she had since childhood, but her resolve was stronger now, and she refused to go back to the days of running and hiding from the problems she faced. Still, the hand on Roy's leg was very still as she chose her words carefully.
"At least a couple weeks. Then they only want me on light duty for another few after that." Her voice was pinched.
And there was the problem. Riza Hawkeye was nothing but devoted to her work and vision that they shared for the future of the country. Any moment she spent not striving to make that goal a reality was almost wasted in her eyes. To be prevented to work for that end was hardly going to sit well with his lieutenant.
Roy shifted on his bed to bridge the gap between their two beds and reached out with one hand as the other dropped down to cover her hand on his knee. The hand reaching out for her made contact with her hair first, before brushing against her cheek. There his hand stopped and he gently pressed his palm against her cheek. She leaned into his touch. It went without saying that he missed being able to see her.
Although he wasn't going to complain too much if he could continue to touch her so casually like this.
The muscles in her cheek moved as her mouth slid into a small smile. Which in turn, encouraged Roy's face to break out in a wide smile. His thumb wandered from where it was resting against her cheek, down towards her smile. Where things were headed after that, he couldn't be sure, but he knew he wanted to see.
Not that it would get far in a public place like the hospital.
"Sir, Havoc and Edward are right outside the door."
Roy sighed and dropped his hand from her face, but moved it so it was cupping the hand that had been resting on his knee between his own. A significantly less incriminating position to be found in, even if it still revealed more than it should. He was almost to the point of not caring anymore.
"We're going to have to discuss this," he reminded her.
"Yes, sir." The additional, but not right now, didn't need to be shared out loud.
They fell into a contented silence. Riza reached out with her other hand and rested it on top of his. Her hands were cool and dry when compared to Roy's, which seemed to be in a constant state of claminess he couldn't seem to get rid of. But neither of them minded as they continued to hold hands in their silence.
It was only when a knock on the door did Riza pull her hands away, despite Roy's lingering fingers.
"Who is it?" She called out as well as she could with her strained voice.
"Knox. Marcoh's here too."
For a brief moment, Riza's hand was back on Roy's and she squeezed it encouragingly. But it was taken away as soon as she affirmed that the two doctor's could come into the room. Havoc followed closely behind at their behest, somewhat confused as to what he was doing there. Riza excused herself to give the others some more privacy, and made her way to leave. But not before Roy opened his mouth.
"I expect you'll be a sight for sore eyes when you get back Lieutenant."
Roy didn't hear her response before the door closed behind her, but he could already see the smile blooming on her face. He turned back to where he heard the doctors stand at the end of his bed. He took a deep breath.
"Alright. Let's do this."
A/N: I'm going to be completely honest here and say that I don't know where this came from. All I knew was that it was important for Havoc to be in this one for some reason. Sorry for the delay, but school likes to remind me that it owns me until I graduate.
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