Warnings: yaoi, Ed x Roy pairing (if you don't like then don't read), swearing, and violence

Disclaimer: FMA is not mine, nor will it ever be regretfully.

Hidden Angel: Chapter 1: A Bad Day

He sighed, looked over the glass doors and windows, read the signs proclaiming the durability and softness of the new left weave denim, took a deep breath, hoping it would wash away the dread inside of him, and opened the door to The Gap. It was nothing that he had not done before; in fact he did it just about everyday. It was one of the things that came hand in hand with working in the store. He did not understand how his fellow employees managed to do this almost everyday of their lives and not go insane. He had been working there for less than two months and already was fed up. It was the same thing everyday: fold the clothes, greet the customer, help the customer find that perfect pair of jeans (even if it meant lying through his teeth and saying that they looked great in the denim that was a size or two to small), then watch as that same customer destroyed the stack of shirts that he had just folded, go back to folding that same pile of clothes, and let the cycle repeat itself. Eight hours of that routine was enough to make anyone lose their mind.

"Hey Carly, how's it going today?" He gave a brief wave to the associate standing by the cash register in the kid's department. Not bothering to wait for her answer of 'Good, I just wish that customers would learn to clean up after themselves', he continued into the back room, passing that racks full of clothes that had yet to be back-stocked. With a resigned sigh he set to opening his locker, he had to put the combination in three times before it finally clicked and let him open the door. He threw his wallet, keys, phone, and Ipod into the small, gray space, grabbed his name tag, and slammed the grated door closed. Then he took a seat at the small break table and waited for twelve o'clock to roll around, there was still eight minutes of peace before his day of hell began.

Flipping through the latest issue of InStyle Magazine, he waited. The sound of walkies going off and Terri running stock checks alerted him that it was busy on the sales floor. A manager passed through once, giving him a brief hello on their way to the office. Bored with the magazine he stood up and started wandering, reading the employee appreciation cards taped to the wall, it was no surprise to see that none of them were addressed to him. Next he looked over the chart that tracked Gap Card applications processed by each employee. Jennifer already had twelve for the month, well past making her goal. Running down the list with his finger, he stopped when it reached his name. Edward E. zero Gap Cards, no surprise there. Glancing over at the time clock he saw there was one minute left, with a shrug he walked over and clocked in anyway.

His name badge on and a walkie talkie attached to his jean pocket he made his way out onto the sales floor. Tracking down the closest manager he groaned when he saw that it was Sally Higgins, a bigger bitch was no where to be found in the world. Shuffling over, he ignored the customers swarming the sale section, put blinkers on as he passed the denim wall, and made his way back to the adult cash registers where Sally had already spotted him and turned to get the daily ops board.

"Good, you're here." She did not even look at him as she flipped pages on the board. "You're going to be greeting in concept one for the first hour, work on recovering the floor while you're up there, its still a mess from yesterday. After that you're in the fitting rooms until closing."

He drowned her out after that, feigning interest as she rattled off the monetary goals for the day and went over the promotions that he had heard about a thousand times already. He knew that no matter how many times they asked him to, he would not be informing the female customers of the buy two get one free bra sale in body. After she was finished prattling off his break times he started towards the front of the store. "Oh, and Ed keep watch for shoplifters!"

He turned and gave her a little wave of acknowledgement, but he could not help but think that there was no point in watching for them. It did not matter how much they got away with taking, Gap's no prosecution policy took care of that. All he would be able to do if he saw someone take something was approach them and say something witty like 'Isn't that sweater soft and what a great color. Maybe you'd like a pair of khakis to go with it!'

He had just finished folding one table of shirts and moved to start on the pants folded into the wall when a group of giggling teenage girls walked into the store. "Hi, welcome the Gap. My name's Ed, is there anything I can help you find today?" The overused phrase sounded monotonous even to his ears. The leader of the group turned, looked at him, turned back to other girls following her, and a new fit of squealing giggles erupted. Without saying a word to him, but staring at him through slanted eyes, they made a beeline for the shirts that he had just organized. Without a second thought two of the girls reached into the middle of different piles and pulled out a couple of shirts, destroying the work of the last half hour in less than a second. With a shrug he turned back to the pants that he had just started on, inside he was fuming. Now he would have to work on the stretch T's one more time.

Returning from his lunch break, he started making his way back to the fitting rooms. Seeing the pile of clothes that had piled up in the last hour he emitted a groan of frustration and dread. He had just picked up a pair of jeans when Sally popped her head into the processing area. "Change of plans Ed, you're back up front."

Damn it! Why the front of the store again, it's so fucking boring! He thought to himself. He had the feeling that Sally was doing this on purpose, knowing how much Ed hated to be a greeter. With a resigned sigh, he made the trek back to where all of his work from earlier was messed up again. It was not long before his walkie went static and a voice floated through the air. "All available sales associates to the front of the store." Reaching for his walkie he turned down the volume and went back to folding the clothes in front of him, but now his eyes were flicking over the customers, looking for a sign that they were there to steal some of the merchandise. He noticed two more of his co-workers making their way to the front of the store, answering the code that a shoplifter had been spotted somewhere in their mists.

Rylee made her way over to him, her eyes trained on an over-weight black woman. With a brief nod in the woman's direction Rylee told him in hushed tones that the woman was a regular and to keep a close eye on her. Giving a nod he went back to folding, this time with an eye trained on the woman in the pink t-shirt. He noticed that she was already carrying a bag from Gap, with a soft snort he thought of how ludicrous it all was. She looked up at the sound and caught his eye on her, maybe there was a predatory glint in it because she then turned to her friend and said something in whispered tones. The two women then made their way to the back of the store and into the fitting rooms, with clothes of all different sizes in hand.

Ed went back to his folding, assuming his co-workers would watch her while she was in the back of the store. Then his walkie went off again, "Edward, can I see you at the adult cash wrap please." Giving one last glance around his section of the store he then turned and went to meet Sally. She informed him of a piece of drivel that he could have done without hearing and then he started to turn to return to his post. It was at that moment that the black woman in the pink t-shirt and her friend came out of the fitting rooms. When she saw him looking over at her again she gave an offended bellow and marched right over to him.

Although he was short, though he was loath to admit it, this woman was still several inches shorter than him. It was almost humorous to watch the encounter as she told Edward off for keeping his eye on her. There was a malicious glint in her eyes and silently several of his peers came closer, ready to pounce if the woman had the gall to throw a punch at the golden haired sales associate. The wailing of an old Nickelback song was the only sound in the entire store besides the woman's ranting. When she said her peace she turned to leave. This time Ed and all of the other employees on the adult floor followed her to the exit, not trying to be covert in their stares anymore. As she walked out of the store, everyone except Rylee and Ed went back to work. Those two just stood, holding the door open, and watched her walk down the cement sidewalk. She turned one last time, saw him still standing there and yelled out "Look at the bastard, he's still standing there staring at me!"

Unfortunately that was not the last of the unusual occurrences for Edward that shift. A new manager came on at six to relieve Sally, this time he was put onto the cash registers. He thought he would be forever grateful to Donna for the change in position. Then the man who would be remembered as the one who made Ed snap approached the cash registers. He wanted to return some socks, not a big deal in and of itself, except that he had thrown the socks away after they had supposedly fallen apart as he wore them. The man did not even have receipt for the missing socks. Edward calming tried to explain that he could not return non-existent merchandise, especially without the receipt, when the man asked to see a manager.

Calling Donna over, Edward explained the problem and she tried one more time to tell that man that they could not do what he was asking. When he refused to listen to her, she turned to Ed and asked him to call customer service for the customer. With a shrug he dialed the number that was ingrained into his mind, pressed one for English and two for customer service. When a kind, female voice came over the line he told her who he was and explained the problem that the customer was having, and then he handed to phone over to the man.

Turning back to the line of people waiting to be rung up he put the incident to the back of his mind. He had finished with two customers when he noticed that the man on the phone had become increasingly angry. A few seconds later and the man was apparently put on hold because he then turned to Ed and started conversing with him like they were at Sunday's scriptures. When the man turned back to the phone conversation he was having, another customer approached Ed's register. He was just giving the person their change when the man on the phone's tempter reached soaring heights. He started screaming into the phone, attracting everyone's attention. Ed was just turning to ask the man to calm down, that he was making a scene, when the words "FUCKING CUNT!" rang through the air, followed by the angry clang of the receiver being slammed back into it's cradle. The man then calmly turned to Edward and said "Thank you for your assistance, have a great day" in a sincerely kind tone of voice. Before Ed had the chance to respond to the man's erratic mood changes, his receding form was already out of the store.

Something in his mind snapped, he forgot about the money he needed for rent and groceries. Forgot about the responsibilities he agreed to when he was hired by the Gap. Instead of shaking off the incident, he let his body do what it wanted while his brain shut down. All he felt was anger rolling through him. Then he was in front of the man that had screamed in the store. His hands were clutched in tight fists and his legs were braced beneath him. Before he understood what was happening, his arm was moving, his knuckles connected with the older man's chin. He moved to throw another punch when arms grabbed him from behind and he was dragged back through the glass doors and into the manager's office. It did not take long before he was allowed to walk out the door again, this time as an unemployed eighteen year old.

………

Walking down the street, he turned on his Ipod, scrolled through the list of artists, and settled on Green Day. With the music blasting into his ears Ed walked into the post office to pick up his mail. Flipping through the many sized envelopes, he stopped when he saw one that was sent by his university. He was walking down the sidewalk once more when he ripped open the white paper. The other mail slipped from his fingers, his feet stilled on the cement, and his mind did not want to process what he was reading.

Edward Elric,

This letter has been sent to inform you of your dismissal from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill on the grounds of plagiarism. If you wish to appeal this decision please contact the dean of your college within the next three days to set up a hearing.

He read the rest of the letter, but none of it really sank in. Disbelief washed through him as the words plagiarism and dismissed echoed through his head. How was it possible that he was being kicked out of school? He had never plagiarized in his life!

The lyrics to "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" warbled into his ears and he thought that the song was ringing true for his life at the moment. All in one day he had lost his job and his education. Bending down he collected the mail that he had dropped, gathering it all in his hands he finally noticed the chill that had infused the early September air. Straightening himself into a standing position he looked to the west and saw the last of the sun's rays slipping past the horizon line. With a sigh he continued down the darkened street.

It took him a few moment to realize that although there were street lights set at regular intervals along the right side of the road, none of them were turned on to reveal the activity below. Looking around he noticed that all of the houses lining the paved aisle were dark as well, that meant that there was most likely a power outage, they had been happening regularly in recent weeks. He prayed to the god he did not believe in that his apartment had not been affected by it.

He took two more steps when a movement to his left caught his attention. Stopping his forward progression, he stared with golden eyes at the figure that was stumbling out of the shadows. It looked like a man, but there was something wrong with the image. Two dark objects were being dragged behind the back that was hunched over. Looking closer Ed could not help but think that the objects seemed to be sprouting from the person's mid-back. The man took one more lurching step forward and then collapsed with a strangled gasp of pain.

Edward took a step towards the man, not sure of what to do, then he saw a growing pool of glistening liquid and thoughts of caution were abandoned. He hurried forward, pulling the headphones out of his ears in the process. It was not until he was less than a foot away from the collapsed figure, ignoring the blood that was slick underneath his feet, when he finally got a good look at the objects that seemed so out of place on the man. There were feathers, an expanse of dark feathers spread behind the prone form. At that moment his brain froze, refusing to believe what his eyes were seeing. Then there was a groan from the man's throat that soon morphed into strangled words. "Please, please, help me…"

Flipping open his cell phone, intending to call for an ambulance, Edward cursed softly when he saw that there was no signal. Shoving the small device back into his pocket, he knelt down, soaking his knee in crimson liquid. The man's face was deathly pale and the dark clothes were speckled with more of life's liquid. Gently he grasped the broad shoulders, turning the larger body as gently as he could. He had to stop the bleeding or the stranger would be dead before any help could be reached. He saw it immediately, an oozing hole in the man's left shoulder.

Another curse escaped from the blonde's mouth as he pulled off his over shirt and wadded it over the wound then tied it on with his jacket. Putting pressure on the makeshift bandage, Edward looked around in desperation for someone to help him. There was no one and everything was black. Looking down again his eyes caught a glint beneath lowered eyelashes. The dark orbs were clouded with pain, but still seemed to be rational. Ed came to the conclusion that there was only one thing he could do, "We have to go back to my apartment, do you think you can stand with some support?"

There was a grunt that seemed to be an affirmation so Ed wrapped his arms around the man's back, his hand brushed against feathers and a shiver passed through his body. He prayed that when there was light he would see that the wings were being supported by some sort of contraption around the man's torso, but he had an idea that was not the case. As slowly and smoothly as he could Ed brought the man's good arm around his shoulders and then gently pulled himself onto his feet, bringing the larger body with him. A sharp intake of breath alerted Edward to the pain that the older man was in. Gritting his teeth, knowing that the other's pain was only temporary, he rubbed his hand in a gentle circle over the other's shoulder.

They moved slowly, taking small steps. Ed was surprised at how light the wounded man seemed to be, the strong muscles shifting beneath his helping hands screamed that there should be more pounds weighing him down. Thinking something about small miracles Ed turned the man into his apartment complex. It was not until they reached the stairs leading up to the small one bedroom apartment that Ed realized their dilemma. Although the man was light, there was no way he would be able to carry him up the stairs and the steps were to narrow for them to walk up them abreast. It took him a moment to figure out the only humane way to conquer the problem. He knew it would be painful for both of them; gently he shifted the position of the man. Apologizing for the discomfort he was about to cause he draped the man's torso over his back.

It took them five minutes to make it up the stairs. Ed had to stop several times to catch his breath and to reposition the way the man way lying over his back. He knew that the injured person was trying to help as much as possible, but in his current state he could not do much. When they finally made it to the third floor landing Ed carefully reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys that were buried below his Ipod.

He led the man straight into the bedroom and gently helped him onto the bed. He then turned and tried the light switch, sighing in relief as the glow of a light bulb flooded the room. Without turning around he walked into the bathroom and grabbed towels and the box of gauze that he kept under the sink.

Adverting his eyes from the objects protruding from his patients back, he approached the bed. It seemed like the man had lost his hold on consciousness, his eyes were closed and his body was not moving except for the steady rising of his chest as he breathed. Ed surveyed the challenge that was taking up his entire bed. No matter how hard he tried he could not ignore the wings any longer. He gulped when he realized that that's what they were, wings. There was a man lying in his bed who had wings. They were black, looked like velvet and, remembering that brief brush of his hand across the feathers, they felt like silk. He still harbored a secret hope that he would find that they were attached by some man-made apparatus.

Walking forward he reached out with a shaky hand and untied his jacket. Pulling away the fabric that had been used as a bandage he grimaced at the sight of the blood soaked jacket the man was wearing. It was hard to tell what color the fabric had started out as, but he guessed that it might have been blue. The cut of the clothes screamed military uniform to Ed, but it was unlike any uniform he had ever seen. Then the bleeding started again and he realized that he was going to have to get the clothing off of the man. He moved forward and reached for the buttons on the jacket with shaking hands.

The garments had slits down the back that made it conveniently easy for Ed to get them off. He gulped when he got to the undershirt and understood that the moment of truth was upon him. He quickly realized that there was no way he would be able to remove the shirt in one piece, reaching over he opened the drawer in his nightstand and grabbed the scissors that he kept there. Carefully he cut the shirt up the front and peeled it off, revealing the smooth skin underneath. He could not help but notice that there was no harness there that would be supporting the wings. Ed could not stop himself for peeking over the man's side and seeing where skin and feathers merged seamlessly just below the shoulder blades.

His brain froze, his breathing stopped, and he could not bring himself to move. The blood drained from his face and his hands began shaking uncontrollably. A gentle hand on his arm made him look down into black eyes that were shadowed with pain and fear that was barely checked. Soft words trembled out of dry lips, "Please, help me. You're my only hope."

The soft plea in the voice brought Ed back to reality. Forcing his muscles to listen to him, he steadied his hand and gently pushed the…angel…angel?...onto his back. Taking a closer look at the wound, relief niggled through him when he saw that it was a clean cut. In fact it looked that someone had stabbed the angel. Grabbing the towel that he had dampened in the bathroom, he started cleaning the blood off from around the wound. It appeared to be a shallow cut, again relief passed through him. Grabbing the box of gauze he took out several pads, pressed them onto the wound, and then wrapped a towel around the man's back, tying it into a knot he sat back with a sigh.

Looking over at the face of his patient he was shocked to see that the man was staring at him with steady eyes. Before he had the chance to say anything the angel interrupted him, giving just a name and then closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Ed gave a soft snort, it been a day for the record books. Walking into the kitchen he opened the fridge and attempted to find something to eat. He grabbed a piece of pizza and a soda, sat down on his sofa, turned on the TV, and muttered, "Roy Mustang, you got a lotta explaining to do."

A/N: So anyway, this is my first ever AU fic, it's also my first angel-like work, I hope it went okay. Please review and tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is preferred, but flames are welcome as well.

Wind to thy wings!

-SW